Ascension, Abdication, or Abduction?

(October 25th: 9th Day Since Capture)

The sun was just about to peak at the final leg of its evening journey when Rainbow called his torture- training session to an end. Any minute now, Celestia would supercharge the giant ball of flaming death's trajectory and banish it beyond the horizon, as was typical in Equestria.

But Neil couldn't give a single fuck about the absurd physics that ran the world at the moment. He was far too focused on taking things one step at a time as he slowly turned towards the direction he thought the castle might be. Of course, he wasn't the only one making the journey back. Bulk quickly found his place at Neil's right side now that Rainbow called their session. Rainbow was also flying nearby. He could hear her wings flapping somewhere above him, but he didn't have the energy to look up and track her movements.

He had to admit, after all the times he collapsed in this field, a not-so-small part of him wanted to curl up right then and there in the foot-high grass. It was softer and far more comfortable than a shipping crate, at the very least. But he knew Rainbow and Bulk wouldn't allow him to do that as he slowly approached the treeline.

Speaking, or thinking of the ice-cold blue devil as the case may be, Neil felt Rainbow gently prod his sore left shoulder with a hoof. Adding an extra little spark of burning pain on top of everything else as she spoke. "Uh, Neil. If we're going to make it to the castle before sunset, you're going to have to move faster."

Neil only gave her an irritable grunt as he continued forward. If she wanted to get back to the castle within a timely manner, she should have thought about that before running him into the literal ground time and time again.

Her lazy flaps shifted to his right, hovering around Bulk. "You think I might have overdone his training?" She asked quietly, though he still managed to hear her.

"Yep," Was Bulk's not-so-silent response.

"Okay, that might be my bad." Rainbow conceded as Neil broke through the treeline at a snail's pace. "Uhhh... Hold on, Alicorn, duh! Just give me a second," She offered, giving up on the quiet approach as she shot off into the sky.

Neil would have shrugged at her sudden disappearance if he knew it wouldn't hurt. Instead, he focused all of his remaining energy on listing lazily towards the left of the nearest tree and its cantankerous root system poking out of the ground.

He managed to pass another three trees slowly but steadily before Rainbow returned at a more sedate speed than when she had left. The reason was obvious, however, as she pushed a fluffy white cloud about the size of a trampoline in front of her. "Hop on! This way you can take it easy, and we can get to the castle faster."

His first rebellious instinct was to veto the idea outright and walk the rest of the way despite her training. But then, his memory flashed, reminding him how soft the cloud Bulk created in the castle felt. If this one was anything like that... He couldn't deny that sort of comfort was something he could use at that point.

A hint of nervousness broke through Bulk's guard facade, but otherwise, he said nothing one way or the other about Rainbow's idea.

So, with aching muscles and a few noticeable pops from his joints, he climbed onto the unnaturally formed cloud mattress. Unlike before, he didn't notice any of the white fluffy clouds darkening into a dreary grey. But he didn't care, either, after his first step. Once he was near the center with all four hooves on the cloud, he couldn't resist. The soft allure was too much as he collapsed into incomprehensibly soothing water vapor. Allowing the cloudy sea of white to support his weary body as if he was one giant fuck you buoy in the name of physics.

It could have been his aching body speaking for him, but this was by far the best mattress he'd ever felt. He made a priority note to himself in the back of his mind. If, for some reason, the ponies never converted clouds into beds, he would do just that (If he couldn't find his way back home).

He didn't feel a thing as all three flew above the treeline. He barely even saw it, as his eyes were level with the cloud's cottony texture. For some reason, it was a struggle to keep his eyes open as he constantly blinked away the dark fuzziness at the edge of his vision...

By the time the sun fell, only to be replaced with the ever-glowing moon, Neil was out cold and gently snoring. Quickly and silently, both Rainbow and Bulk pushed the cloud through the clear evening sky toward the Castle of Friendship.

~~~***~~~

Luna could have had a better evening. Between informing her sister of the possible scenarios where the Tantabus could grow out of control, the raising of her Moon, and cancelling Lunar Court for a second night in a row, she only managed to wolf down a single thermos of coffee and a lone plate of pancakes. Nary enough to last through a whole night's work, but it would have to do as she teleported directly to Twilight's castle.

She chose the map room, as that was the most likely spot for everypony to gather. In that regard, she was correct. Mostly. As the light of her spell dissipated, she found five of the six Elements and Spike the hatchling sitting in their respective thrones around the table.

They had been talking while enjoying an open box of baked goods sitting on the table. But the moment Luna's presence was noticed, all noise ceased. At least, it would have if one of the Elements had not been a party pony. Laughter immediately bounced in front of her with a white confectionery delivery box. "Hi, Princess! I thought you might be hungry, so I made these for you."

Before she could reply, Pinkie Pie had already opened the box, revealing twelve large double chocolate chunk muffins baked to perfection. The scent alone had her mouth watering as she graciously took the box in her magic and placed it on her back. "I thank you for the gift."

"You're welcome," Pinkie answered, suddenly back in her throne and bouncing with another two boxes resting on her back.

"Unfortunately, we have no time to spare." She warned the ponies who were present. "I was unsuccessful in my attempt to lure the Tantabus into my dreams, which means I must now hunt it through yours."

Princess Twilight quickly spoke up, "Princess Luna, we've prepared everything exactly as you've requested."

"Good," Luna appraised her prompt work. "As everypony slumbers, I will pursue the creature into whichever of your dreams it infests."

"...But as you can see, Rainbow still hasn't returned with Neil and his guard," Twilight continued, pointing out the flaw she had noticed earlier. "Shouldn't we wait?"

While a problem she did not foresee, it was a minor one at most. Gathering magic into her horn, Luna focused her mind on the same tracking spell she used earlier in the day. This time, she keyed it towards the essence of Rainbow Dash, Bulk Order, and Neil before releasing the spell.

She didn't have to wait long for a response. All three were in the airspace over Ponyville and moving towards the Castle of Friendship. What alarmed her the most was that Neil's essence was already tethered to the dream realm. "They are travelling here as we speak. However, we must hurry if our plan is to succeed. Neil has already fallen asleep."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am!" Pinkie Pie saluted, wearing a combined white captain's hat and sleeping nightcap with a pom-pom that matched her coat. "Operation Princess Sleepover is a go. Wheee!" With that, she joyfully pronked across the room and out the door nearest the stairs.

"I reckon we might as well get comfy while waiting on Rainbow and those stallions Twilight mentioned." Applejack seconded as she slipped out of her throne and followed Laughter out of the room.

Each pony left the map room one by one until only herself, Princess Twilight, and Spike, who was riding on Princess Twilight's back, remained near the door.

Twilight was next to go but paused at the threshold long enough to look back and ask, "Speaking of Princesses, aren't you going to ask Celestia for her help as well?"

"She has been informed about the situation, but there is nothing my sister can do," Luna informed her, following right behind the other Alicorn. "She has no power in the realm of sleep. Only I can move from dream to dream. I am afraid nopony can help me tonight."

Twilight's ears wilted a little upon hearing that. "Even us?"

"Especially you," Luna stated, reinforcing the notion as they made it to the stairs. "You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams."

A contemplative silence followed as they ascended the steps. However, once both Alicorns reached the landing above, Luna felt an odd sensation. One she remembered from her more adventurous lovers who had long since passed, but hadn't been reacquainted with in the modern era since the end of her banishment.

Looking to her side, she saw a slightly nervous but determined Spike release the lock of the ethereal mane he'd just tugged on. "Um, Princess? I know you said nopony can help, but I'm no pony. I'm gonna stay up and watch over you guys, just in case."

Twilight smiled as she took the lead to her bed chambers. "Aww, thank you, Spike."

Despite the impropriety, Luna couldn't help but smile at the dragon hatchling's offer as well. The likelihood that he could stave off sleep was unlikely, but she appreciated the gesture all the same.

After a short walk, the two Alicorns approached the doors leading into Twilight's bed chambers. One of them had been left open, allowing both to hear the last of what Applejack had to say. "...Shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep now."

"Are you kidding!?" An overly excited Element of Laughter countered, "This is so exciting; I don't know how I'm ever going to- Zzzzz-hoooo..."

Only three of the nine single beds were occupied as they entered the room. Kindness and Generosity were already sleeping in the two beds closest to the entrance. For some unknown reason, Honesty and Laughter had both claimed the same bed, leaving plenty still available to choose.

As Twilight shifted towards her bed, Spike hopped off her back and scuttled across the room quietly to claim the bed furthest away from Fluttershy. Once on top of the covers, he braced himself against the pillow in a sitting position. Allowing him to watch over the room easily, as he promised he would.

Now, it was a waiting game as Luna watched her fellow princess drift off into the realm of slumber. It would be counter-productive to cast the spell now and exclude Rainbow and Neil. Doing so would allow the Tantabus multiple free havens to escape beyond her tightening net.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to wait long. If she correctly guessed their current rate of speed, then the three remaining ponies should reach the castle...

A faint tapping could be heard on the window next to the telescope. Glancing to her right, Luna saw Private Bulk Order and Rainbow Dash hovering next to the glass with an errant cloud behind them. Peeking over the two pegasi, she noted Neil's messy, dirt and grass-stained form unmoving on the cloud.

It was just as she feared, as her magic unlatched the window and pulled both panes aside. This allowed Loyalty to swoop in silently while Private Bulk flew around the cloud before pushing it carefully through the window.

"We have no time to waste," She whispered to Rainbow while gesturing towards the many unused beds. "The Tantabus may already be on the move, but you must be asleep before I can cast the spell required to capture it."

Rainbow did just that. With only a quick nod, she hopped to the open bed next to Generosity and threw the cover over herself. Within seconds, Luna felt her essence link with the dream realm and knew she was asleep.

By then, Bulk had maneuvered Neil above the bed closest to the window, exactly where the Alicorn stallion needed to be. As the guard lowered the cloud, the bed disappeared into the mist without resistance from underneath. Only for the bed to break through the top layer and lift Neil off the cloud, as the cloud pressed against the floor.

When Neil touched the sheets, the entire cloud began to glow a faint, dull orange. With Neil in place, the chaos ward activated. This would hopefully neutralize any trace of chaos magics circulating through Neil's system. Allowing her to bolster and then enter his dream without shattering it.

With Neil in place, Bulk quickly removed the remnants of the cloud. Allowing the glow to become slightly more prominent now that the active glyphs were uncovered.

But she had no time to appreciate Princess Twilight's glyph work. With everypony in their proper place, it was now time to dutifully play her role as the hunter. With a silent flap of her wings, she found herself halfway up the room. Giving her clear sight over all the ponies she needed to tether herself to.

Unlike most castings, she first needed to focus on the spell. Only after that could she gather magic to fuel her will. Every drop was filtered into the spell, preventing the typical casting aura from appearing. Instead, a single ethereal thread that only she could see wove around her horn. Once it reached the tip, the thread split. Several separate threads then spread out, each finding the forehead of a pony to tether to. This allowed her rapid access to a pony's dream and to lay more potent wards to detect unwanted beings.

The moment Rarity was connected, she felt the foreign essence of a spirit. At long last, she had irrefutable proof she could track the Tantabus down. She only had to wait a moment for all ponies to be connected before the chase was on.

When the final thread reached Neil and pressed against the base of his horn, Luna felt something different and entirely new. His dream was just as wispy and frail as before, but now it felt as if the instability was typical for him. However, without the chaos magic interfering, she could now strengthen the framework, so to speak, and allow herself into his dream without a collapse.

If she was required to do so. She focused on the thread connected to Rarity and dove into the unknown.

~~~

...Almost. If not for her moment of hesitation, she would have surely captured the beast inside Princess Twilight's dream. Alas, after chasing the Tantabus through multiple dreams, its power was far greater than she initially anticipated. After shattering its prison of crystal, the beast immediately dove into the nearest book as an escape into the next dream. She followed soon after, leaving poor Twilight to fend for herself against an army of animated texts.

Not her proudest moment, to be sure, as the scent of decay almost overwhelmed Luna in the dark and decrepit stone passageway she now found herself in. Once her horn was lit, she could tell at a glance the structure would have been magnificent at one point in time. Now, the grand blocks of stone hewn from purest white marble were the foundation for layers of slime, mold, and moss, except for a singular, lightly trodden path.

To the average dreamer, the expectation would be to follow the path, wherever it may lead. But for Luna, she instead sent out a faint pulse to find where the dreamer was currently residing. After all, if she were to find the pony, she would also find the Tantabus, as had been the case the last six times.

Within a second or two, she felt a flutter as her magic reacted to the north of her position, leading her directly through the moldy stone wall. A problem, to be sure, if she wasn't the most skilled dream-walker to ever exist. She shot another quick application of magic into the facsimile of a wall and watched as the stone became as malleable as clay while a portal to the dreamer slowly formed.

She never knew exactly what form the gateway would take. Only that it would fit the theme of the dream, or in this case, nightmare, as the material transmuted itself into an old, thick, rusty metal door fit for a dungeon. Thinking on it, this dream's framework reminded her of the tales parents would use when she was but a filly to scare their foal into compliance. Grogar, the Vile Father of Monsters in particular, going by the decrepit state of the dungeon.

Would she find herself beset by horrific monsters dripping in blood while Grogar transformed the dreamer against their will? With the door almost complete, she would find out soon enough.

As soon as the hinges formed, Luna pushed open the barely functioning metal door with her magic. Oddly, she stepped through without even a single squeak from the rusty hinges into another passageway.

This one was far brighter, with two lit torches casting an acceptable amount of light from a distance. The stonework was also cleaner, but not by much, revealing platter-sized patches of bare white marble instead of being fully covered by grime. At the very least, the fungal scent was overpowered by the smoke from the torches and a noticeable hint of iron and rust.

Yet, no living creature was in her sight. Odd. Usually, she would be transported directly to the dreamer... No, now that she was closer, she could feel his essence. This was Neil's dream, which miraculously hadn't shattered. Meaning the chaos suppression wards worked. Now, if only she could find-

"Oh look, Dear Sister, it appears as if our new toy is finally waking up for some fun."

Though she barely heard the words, Luna recognized the voice immediately. There was no doubt in her mind that the voice belonged to Celestia, her sister. However, not once in her entire life had Luna ever heard her sister speak in such a taunting, almost playful tone... Whatever type of dream construct it was, it wasn't her sister as Luna quietly trotted toward the torches.

Silence passed, allowing Luna to get closer to the torches and the open passageway they flanked before another pony spoke. This time, it was Luna's voice she heard. "Prithee, dost thou wish to claim the first ride?"

'Toy? Fun? Ride?' Something about this dream didn't sit right with Luna. Why was her sister acting so odd? Why was she speaking ancient equish? She had become much more proficient in the modern vernacular over the last year, to the point she and Celestia could hold entire conversations... But that was beside the point as she attempted to get closer.

Annoyingly, once she reached a certain point, the passage started moving along the wall at the same speed away from her.

"Nay, Luna. After your prolonged exile, I felt it only fitting for this to be a celebration of firsts. Go, enjoy yourself."

Moments later, she heard a third voice join the mix, this one distinctly Neil, though woozy. As if he was still partially sedated or worse. "What's goin' on... Hey, what're you- Get the fuck off of me, Sto-Mmph!" The escalation of fear in his words drove a spike into Luna's heart. She may not have liked the stallion much, but the sudden shift in tone alluded to something horrific. What set fire to her hooves was the sudden cut off of his angry yell.

Luna ran as fast as she could, quickly gaining on the torch-flanked passageway. Whatever made it move could only go so fast, but not fast enough as she closed the distance. Once near the passageway, she gave her all in one final leap. Her wings extended as much as they could in the passageway before providing a single, mighty flap, pushing herself past the threshold and through the entrance into a large ritual chamber.

She might have clipped the tip of her wing against the unusually clean stone, but that was a small price to pay as she looked up into the room.

All thoughts of the moving door quickly departed from her mind as her eyes took in the depraved scene before her.

~*~
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~*~

Neil was on the ground, forced to lie on his back. Each of his limbs, front legs, back legs, wings, and tail were spread out and held down with iron straps bolted into the stone floor. Even his neck had a metal collar affixed just below his chin, which was not only attached to a short chain (That was also bolted to the stone floor) but was the base for a large leather gag stuffed into his snout.

The only appendage that wasn't bound in some form or another... was his rather large and erect black and gray penis, which was currently being massaged by an exact dream replica of herself. The fake Luna allowed Neil's tool of fornication to glide up and down between her perky posterior cheeks, all of which were slick with her feminine arousal.

The entire room reeked of genuine leather, looking at all the various straps, restraints, and toys lining the walls. But the unmistakable, almost overpowering scent of Alicorn musk and estrus was a notable contrast.

None of the ponies in the room reacted to her presence. Not even Neil, whose terrified eyes were firmly affixed on Celestia as she made her way up from a spot on the wall that seemed to be empty. To Luna, she looked exactly as her sister should, except for two very un-Celestia-like details. The first was the maliciously playful grin on her muzzle as she slowly pranced up to Neil, clearly savoring the fear in his eyes. The second was a massive, fake purple phallus attached to the underside of her belly with leather straps. It was even more significant than Neil's girth as it bounced and slapped against Celestia's belly, slicking her fur with pre-applied lubricant with each lurid step.

"Did you know, Dear Sister, that massaging a stallion's prostate not only enhances his endurance but the volume of his seed?" Dream Celestia asked the fake Luna, who appeared to be more focused on lubricating Neil's member and her entire rump with her physical lust. "So please, take all the time you need and enjoy this. By the following morning, both of us should be pregnant with the next generation of Alicorns."

Celestia had closed the distance by the time she finished speaking, blocking Luna's view of the most explicit actions taking place. However, there was no room for interpretation of what Dream Celestia was planning to do as she positioned herself behind Neil and started lining herself up. "Even so, that doesn't mean we can't practice for the next set of foals after tonight. Neil won't be going anywhere for a long, long time, will you, Stud?"

The thought alone must have aroused Dream Celestia since she gave a fervid wink as she spoke. Unfortunately, Neil didn't give her a proper answer. He couldn't, given the gag stuffed down in his snout. But that didn't stop his panicked, unintelligible yells during Celestia's speech.

Throughout the brief exchange, Luna stood frozen as she watched everything but couldn't quite process what was happening before her. This was an insult to everything she and her sister stood for! To know that these were the sorts of nightmares Neil was having, daily? That his greatest fear was to be raped by herself and Celestia?

No. Just as Luna had done in Pinkie's dream, she quickly charged the two fake Alicorns, gathering as much magic as possible to the tip of her horn while focusing on a cleansing spell. Once she was close enough, she released a shock wave of dream magic to undo the corruption brought about by the Tantabus.

Dream Celestia, fake phallus included, took only a second to fade out of existence. Long before any actual penetration happened to the poor stallion's exposed orifice. The same thing happened to Neil's muzzle, though the rest of his restraints remained. The fake version of herself, however, did not fade away. Instead, her form seemed to lose shape and shift until it was little more than a starry void in the vague shape of an Alicorn.

The Tantabus' malformed head looked back directly at her, uncaring of Neil's terrified plight underneath it. A mouth-like void opened up, releasing a warning hiss akin to a chimera's. Immediately afterward, the Tantabus jumped down, forcing its amorphous form down a panicked and swearing Neil's throat-

~~~***~~~
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Neil reacted on instinct, gasping for much-needed breath as he shot up. His recently freed wings immediately formed a protective shield around himself. Both hooves rushed to his chest and neck, looking for any out-of-place bumps or bulges that may or may not have been the monster that...

His mind shut down that thought, instead focusing on the fact that there weren't any out-of-place, tumor-esque lumps expanding out of his body as far as he could tell. Though he couldn't see due to his wings, he finally noticed he wasn't alone, as his ears picked up a voice.

"That... that was terrible," An unknown, soft-spoken mare said. "I- I never want to have that nightmare again!"

"Me either," The familiar voice of Rainbow Dash seconded, informing him there was at least one person in the room that he knew.

Was that a Tantabus-induced nightmare? It felt so real, the way the metal dug into his skin despite the layer of fur or the pain that tore through his muscles as he tried to break free from his restraints. The warmth from- A shudder ran through his entire body as that image flared into his mind. Nope. Ignore that and focus on the room around him.

"But, Luna caught it. Didn't she?" Spike asked from the same area as the soft-spoken pony, his voice tinged with worry.

"I am so sorry, my friends," Luna spoke, her voice originating from the ceiling. Neil immediately looked up, over his wings, to see a strange sight. Instead of the cold, almost formidable presence that he was used to, she lowered herself to the ground with her eyes closed as she spoke. Sadness and failure radiating off her in the strange, orange shimmer that reflected off the ceiling. It was a shocking contrast compared to the perverted glee from mo- 'No!'

"I failed," She continued as her metal horseshoes made contact with the crystal. She then started to walk around the room methodically, as if each step enhanced the point she was trying to make. "It will be back to infect your dreams the next time you sleep, again and again, every night until it grows powerful enough to infect the waking world!"

Peeking over his wings, he noted that Luna had ended her warning near the window next to Twilight's four-poster bed, and she also had the rapt attention of all six ponies in the room with him. Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight, he recognized. From the direction of the soft-spoken voice, he could see a yellow mare with a pink mane. She had partially wrapped herself in her bed sheet and was still visibly shaking from the ordeal she just survived.

He couldn't tell much of the other two other than the fact that they were sleeping in the same bed. One had a puffy pink hairstyle and ears that were a lighter, less vibrant shade of pink. Squeezed next to the pink hair was a pair of orange ears with a small amount of blond hair. Strangely enough, hanging off the curved headboard, somehow, was a cowboy hat next to the orange mare.

"It'll be okay," The pink mare cheered despite her nightmare as she raised a hoof high. Enough to be seen over the headboard, at least. "Everypony makes mistakes."

"Spike, please send a letter to my sister. She is no longer safe from the Tantabus' reach," She ordered as she turned and walked back to the center of the beds. For a moment, her eyes caught his with a flash of unknown emotion, before she looked to the rest of the ponies with... genuine resolve? Or it might have been a facade, he couldn't tell. "However, as long as none of you dreamt about any other ponies, the Tantabus remains confined to a set number of dreams."

A gout of green flames sprouted between Rarity's and the soft-spoken mare's bed, temporarily lighting the room with a bright green glow. "I still have a chance to catch it before it's too late.

"Phew, that's good to hear," The pink one said with a relieved sigh, airing the feeling throughout the room... Only to then burst everyone's bubble as she torpedoed Luna's hope with the speed of a machine gun. "Although after you left I did have a dream that I was eating a giant ice cream cone with all of Ponyville and taking a test I didn't study for. See? What did I tell you, everypony makes mistakes."

Neil couldn't follow her jumble of words but caught ice cream, Ponyville, and test. However, the look of abject shock on Luna's face hammered the message home. The entire town. All those innocent ponies who had nothing to do with this, whether adults or children, could be having the same severity of vivid nightmares that he had just suffered?

"But that means the Tantabus could be turning every dream in Ponyville into a nightmare!" Twilight shouted with worry, the very same expression marring her face.

"It is far worse than that," Luna warned, spinning to look over each of them as she spoke. "Infecting all of those dreams gives it more and more power. Soon, it will be able to escape into the real world and infect Equestria with its nightmare plague."

"Then you must let us help you stop it before that happens," Rarity demanded, sternly, her determined eyes locked onto Luna.

"But how?" The yellow mare asked as she slowly unwrapped the blanket from around herself. "The Tantabus would be able to escape Luna when it only had seven dreams it could get to."

"It is true," Luna conceded, looking lost. "With so many dreams to hide in, I do not know how I can catch it."

The room fell into a slight lull of silence and defeat at her words, except for the tiny pitter-patter of feet against crystal Neil associated with Spike. He followed the sound and caught a glimpse of purple and green scales between multiple headboards as the little lizard climbed onto one of the unused beds.

After that minor distraction, he looked across the room once more. None of the mares seemed to be moving. Twilight was deep in thought. He couldn't see anything of Rainbow beyond her still hair above the headboard. Rarity was watching Luna closely. And the yellow ma- Neil froze.

The yellow Pegasus' wings were partially flared, and her cyan eyes, looking directly at him, were wide with shock.

'Fuck!' Neil thought as he quickly ducked his head under his wings. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why in the world did one of them have to look his way?' He thought, fuming at his stupidity and lack of vision as he stared at his interwoven feathers.

Thankfully, Twilight chose that moment to come up with a bright idea. "What if everypony in Ponyville were having one dream?"

"I... can create shared dreams, yes," Luna admitted, with both hope and worry intermixed in her voice. "But for so many ponies at once? I have never done anything like that. The amount of power it would take..."

The mare who spotted him spoke up next. Strangely, she did so without mentioning him as she encouraged Luna. "Well, it is worth a try, isn't it?"

"I agree with Fluttershy, Luna," A new mare spoke up with the opening of a door, one that sent a spike of dread through his chest. The visage of a malicious grin that promised a whole night of forced pleasure and pain clouded his mind. Celestia was now in the room. "Anything is worth a try to save our little ponies."

The following silence was marred by the sound of metal horseshoes against crystal. Neil felt that it might be Celestia, but he couldn't be sure until it stopped, only to be followed by the strain of an Alicorn even larger than him settling down on a bed that was too small.

There was a muffled giggle that might have been from the fast talking, hyper sounding mare, but he didn't know for sure. Once that died down, however, a country twang that gave Bulk a run for his money spoke up. "Uh, not to take away from the current crisis everypony, but who in tarnation is that?"

Neil's nerves spiked. He wasn't positive, but he felt that question was directed towards him like a spear.

"That would be Neil," Luna supplied neutrally. "Please, leave him be for now. The nightmare wrought upon him by the Tantabus was particularly... savage." She finished with a hint of anger in her voice.

Still, the country mare continued, sounding more confused than anything else now. "Twi, didn't you say that Neil fella was a unicorn?"

"Neil is an Alicorn like myself, Luna, and Twilight," Celestia told the room, dropping his secret like a bombshell as anger sparked within him. "We can discuss that later, however, after the current crisis as Applejack put it."

"Agreed," Luna followed immediately afterward. "All of you must now go back to sleep. And hope... that I can create such a dream."

Go back to sleep? With the current mix of emotions roiling throughout his system, there was no way in hell he could go back to sleep! However, the rest of the ponies in the room had no such qualms. He heard ponies yawning as they shifted in their beds. How? How could they go back to sleep with the pressure of an entire town at stake and the visceral reality that they had to take on a monster eerily similar to Freddy Kreuger?

He didn't have to wait long before a sudden weariness fell over him. It was almost as if a switch were flipped internally, as his wings limply fell to his sides and his body sagged. At that point, as he fought to keep his eyes open, he could see Luna hovering in the air with her eyes closed in concentration. A faint part of his mind guessed that this was some sort of mind magic bullshit. That same part tried to spark something. Anger, rage, anything to fight against it.

Strangely, he settled into it instead. Of course, she would use some sort of mass sleep ward as a precursor. An entire town was at stake. And he couldn't allow anyone else to suffer a similar fate... he...

~~~

Neil jolted, surprised to find himself awake and standing outside in a strange, almost mystical version of Ponyville after dark. However, he wouldn't describe the night as dark with the amount of silver light the moon gave. Strangely, the moon now looked like a pale blue-white sun at a glance.

But what was he doing there? Why was he outside? Wasn't he in bed, in the castle?... Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember climbing into bed in the first place. But that wasn't important. He had to figure out what the hell was going on, and quickly.

Looking around, he was somewhat surprised to find himself in an area of Ponyville he knew. He didn't know the street name or any of that nonsense, but it was the cramped street between the candy shop and the town hall plaza. Not wanting to deal with any possible crowds, Neil turned around, heading north towards the candy shop despite the lateness of the night.

The castle was at the northwest edge of town. Logically, if Neil went northeast, he should reach the edge of town in roughly the same amount of time. And from there? He could figure out what to do once he was safe and secure.

At least, that was the thought until Neil walked past Bon Bon's Bonbons. As he turned the corner, he immediately spotted Lyra, the musician from earlier that day, and another mare colored a pale yellow, with hair in equal amounts of blue and pink, standing not even ten feet away from him. However, that wasn't the shocking, jaw-dropping aspect that made him freeze like a statue. No, that feat belonged to the fact that both mares were somehow two front halves connected at the belly as they hugged as if they were a strange pony facsimile of the old CatDog cartoon.

Unfortunately he stood at the spectacle, frozen, for just a little too long as Lyra opened her eyes and spotted him. Her already content smile blossomed even more as she immediately pointed a hoof at him. "That's the stallion I was telling you about Bonny! The one who tipped the huge pile of bits."

Lyra's... other head? Whose name was Bonny, turned to look at him, not looking nearly as enthused as she raised an eyebrow. "You failed to mention this generous stallion of yours was an Alicorn, Lyra."

'Alicorn!?' Neil thought as he immediately panicked. He whipped his head around to look at his back, only to find his cloak wasn't there. To add insult to injury, his stupid wings choose that moment to ruffle sheepishly as if to say, 'It ain't our fault, Boss.'

As he turned back to the two-in-one pony, something wasn't adding up. "And you don't find anything odd with, well, that?" He countered, waving his hoof vaguely at where they were connected.

"I do. I mean, Bonny and I are close; really close. But this is a little ridiculous," Lyra admitted with a faint blush as she used the same hoof she pointed at him to poke at their connection.

Then, to add to Neil's confusion, a pink Earth Pony mare with vibrant yellow hair crested over a nearby roof... with a rowboat? Both oars were rowing along at a decent clip as the mare looked up into the starless sky with a dreamy expression.

Lyra also spotted her quickly broke the mare out of her daze with a greeting and a wave. "Hi Cherry!"

"Hi Lyra, Bon Bon," The mare named Cherry called back as she looked towards land, taking a break from her flight as she released the oars. The boat immediately slowed down but continued coasting at a more sedate speed. "I always knew you two were tied at the hip. Making your herd official anytime soon?"

"Why do you ask? Want to join in on the fun?" Bon Bon countered, sounding equally flirty and snarky as if this was a familiar exchange.

"I don't know. I think I prefer to keep my back end, bits, and bum included; thank you very much." Cherry teased right back, shaking said rump at the two conjoined mares. "Besides, you know my one true love is the sky."

The three mares clearly would have enjoyed talking the night away. Something Neil would have taken advantage of to slip away if not for the blaring voice loud enough to cut through all of Ponyville.

"PONIES! THERE IS NO TIME FOR BOWING MY FRIENDS. THERE IS SOMETHING COMING. SOMETHING TERRIBLE!"

It clicked right then and there. This was a dream. Not only that, but Luna was here. Despite her misgivings, she must have succeeded. Every single pony, mare, stallion, and child were all in a dream...

"NO, IT IS ALREADY HERE!"

... With that Thing.

Neil's eyes narrowed as he felt the smoldering coals of rage reigniting in his chest. Luna's voice came from the town hall plaza. The monster was near her. And this time, he wasn't chained to the fucking ground.

Before he ran off, however, he looked at the three confused-looking mares who just had their conversation interrupted. "You three, get somewhere safe. Believe me, this thing is a fucking nightmare!"

His warning delivered, he spun around and ran back down the cramped road he came from.

"I AM SO SORRY, I BROUGHT THIS UPON YOU." Luna called out again, her voice covering all of Ponyville. "BUT I WILL END IT NOW!"

An incomprehensible wail of amalgamated pain came after her statement, only to be followed by the distant screams of terror from regular people.

His mind raced as he galloped around the sharp corners of the tight, winding street. He didn't have any supernatural powers. He could barely even attempt to fly. What, exactly, could he do against a nightmare monster? Only for the answer to jump out at him immediately. 'Nightmares and dreams are all in your head, aren't they?'

Suddenly, as he swerved around an unusually sharp-looking corner, a realm of possibilities opened up. He could potentially do anything if a shared dream followed the same rules as a regular one. Magic, sci-fi, power armor, 'weapons'-

He felt himself weighed down immediately as his mind jumped to the first compatible armor and weapons combination. An extra thirty to sixty pounds of perfectly fit armor coalesced around his entire form. He might have thought a sudden change like that should have been uncomfortable, except it wasn't.

His whole body was cushioned by a gel-like substance he couldn't quite place. This included a fully enclosed helmet that blacked out his vision for a fraction of a second, only for the lens to become transparent again with a very familiar VISR start-up sequence.

Curved lines of dull gold filled his vision, forming a simple but informative HUD straight out of Halo: ODST. Grenades? Fully stocked. Weapons? His favorite combination, each indicating infinite ammo. His visor updated, flashing an urgent message underneath the scrolling compass at the top.

Objective: Find Luna.

Simple enough. Neil was already heading south towards her voice as he turned a final corner and caught sight of the plaza. Even though it was just a small piece of the overall picture, he could still see the absolute chaos as ponies ran in all directions, chased by flying vampire cupcakes, or buildings turned into monsters.

Once the severity of the situation dawned on him, the smoldering coals inside his chest burst into flame as he charged down the rest of the street and into the fray. Mimicking Lyra, Neil ignited his horn. He didn't feel anything different, but a dull gold aura burst into being just out of view of his visor.

In the bottom right corner of his HUD, his weapon selection switched to the shotgun as two ghostly hands ripped the weapon off his back from between his wings and brought the instrument of death next to his helmet.

He had no idea how to aim a gun as a pony. But thanks to his VISR system, his targeting reticle followed wherever he aimed the barrel. So when a terrified pair of ponies swerved around him, putting him between themselves and the large, cat-like cottage with dagger-like fangs for a front door, he instinctively placed the reticle over the monster's window-shaped eye and pulled the trigger.

He not only heard but felt the dampened explosion of the shell right next to his helmet as the window shattered. The monster cottage, structural integrity be damned, immediately came to a stop as it curled in on itself. Screeching, cat-like yowls of pain emanated from the beast building, informing him that it was injured, not killed. But it wasn't chasing anything anymore, and he had more pressing matters to attend to as he ran into the chaos.

Terrified screams intermixed with various monsters' yowls, hisses, and growls. The cacophony of sounds would have been almost overwhelming if not for the dampening provided by his helmet. Not to mention the clouds of vampire cupcakes chasing pegasi through the air, the random homes coming to life, or the occasional murderous-looking lamp post with spindly, whip-like filigree arms he put out of commission.

Still, Neil ran through it all toward the most unusual aspect of the dream. It was a bundle of white-blue ethereal threads, reaching into the sky and connecting with the moon. He knew Luna was there, not only because of the symbology between Luna and the moon but also because the diamond shaped objective marker hovered over the base of the beacon-like oddity.

The fact that the starry, house-sized amorphous form of the Tantabus was also harassing the area made it a foregone conclusion. It wasn't allowed to assault Luna with impunity, however, as the monster was being attacked from multiple angles.

Both Rainbow Dash and Celestia were attacking it from the air. Rainbow was physically punching through it with her speed as Celestia wove around the beast, firing golden lasers from multiple directions.

At this distance, he couldn't tell, but Celestia also had some sort of staff or pole-arm circling about her, decimating anything hostile that came too close. On top of that, even more reddish-pink lasers shot holes into the Tantabus' form from below.

Neil's brief scan of the upcoming battlefield didn't come without consequence. He was brought back to the here and now as something heavy slammed into his side and pinned him to the ground. His first instinct was to thrash and kick at the creature, but whatever it was, it was big enough to pin all of his limbs.

He could feel the barrel of his shotgun pressing against his neck, unable to move. He was sure some of his bones would have already snapped under the weight of the creature if not for his armor.

The only thing he could do in his enraged but panicking state was wrench his head around and take a look at the monster he was at the mercy of. He first noted the gigantic, pinkish-purple paw that held him down, thankfully without claws. Following the gangly, curved, and almost cartoonishly proportioned limb, he was met with a giant gingerbread-looking building.

Except it wasn't just a building, as the cupcake steeple leaned over the gingerbread roof. Its single circular window eye leered at him with unbridled triumph.

Images from his previous nightmare flashed in his vision. Thoughts of once more being bolted to the ground, powerless, as another monster looked at him with glee... The decorative icing just below the railing grinned, revealed many foot-long fangs. Another gangly limb, a wooden arm with a warped metal weather-vane pony as a hand reached down...

Only for a large, but blurry mint green and pale yellow bola to latch itself around the monster's neck. Neil couldn't see much more due to the gingerbread roof. Still, judging by the building's sudden wailing and choking, and the sound of hooves smashing against wood, it was caught by complete surprise from the attack. So much so that it reared back, taking a half step back before it regained its balance.

That half a step was a godsend, as Neil suddenly found himself free. Rolling onto his back, he instinctually took aim and unloaded on the beast. His first two shots each took out a window, sending shards of pink glass everywhere before the remaining seven shells were emptied into the front porch. By the time his shotgun refused to fire, the entire door was gone, along with the candy cane columns and most of the steps.

That was apparently enough, as the gingerbread house gave one last piteous whimper before the foundation slammed back down to the ground. The sound of snapping timber followed before the cupcake steeple started to sag away from him like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

as Neil slowly stood back up relishing a few deep, unrestricted breaths, he also discovered what the odd-coloured bola was. Lyra and Bon Bon, still firmly attached at the hip, hopped down from the roof and landed right in front of him. "First lesson when dealing with a Ponyville Tuesday," Bon Bon stated, her words immediately digging into him, "Never run off on your own."

"Yep! It's a lot easier getting through a Tuesday when you have a friend," Lyra seconded as she looked him over with a hint of concern. "Speaking of, are you alright? I can't imagine having Sugarcube Corner standing on you was any fun."

As he looked at the deceased building, Neil could only guess that was the business's name. While the two mares spoke, he allowed his ghostly hands to autonomously reload his shotgun. He might have been wearing the damn thing, but he had no idea where the reserve ammo was stored in his suit of armor.

"I'm fine; the armor protected me." He told them before making a sudden, rash decision based on Bon Bon's words. "If you're going to stick with me, I need to get where the Tantabus is, which is over there," He finished, pointing towards the rising threads.

"The evil-looking smokey star monster thing is called the Tantabus?" Lyra asked, looking towards the beacon.

As Lyra asked, the final shell on his ammo counter lit up, confirming his weapon was fully loaded. Neil took control of his ghost hands and, with a satisfying ka-chink, loaded another shell into the chamber. "Yep, and we need to stop it. Hurry up!"

Neil took off running towards Luna again, though he was far more cautious this time as he continuously scanned his surroundings for monsters. Nothing stood out as a direct threat, but he caught sight of a nearby, almost black pegasus stallion with a small grey foal held in his front legs doing his best to fight off a flock of vampire cupcakes. Without thought, he aimed and unloaded a shell.

It didn't do much, but the sudden splattering of muffin remains caused all the others to scatter in confusion. Giving the stallion a slight reprieve to fly away before Neil focused on the road ahead.

The distance toward his objective counted down reasonably quickly. 250m, 200m, 100m... Strangely, the closer he was to Luna's position, the fewer monsters there seemed to be... Only to hit a veritable wall of them patrolling around the 50-meter point. Most of the monsters were facing inwards, their eyes drawn to Luna's position, allowing Neil to rush up to and fire on an animated chaise sofa. All but destroying it as he, Lyra, and Bon Bon broke through the enemy lines, much to the enemy's shock.

A matching chair and footrest tried to follow, perhaps to avenge their larger sibling, but a single shotgun shell each made quick work of them.

While Celestia, Twilight, and Rainbow kept the Tantabus occupied, the other four Elements appeared to have created a safe zone around Luna. Rarity and Applejack were the two ponies primarily keeping the monsters at bay, with the posh unicorn firing off beams of blue energy or diamond shards at the various monsters. Applejack preferred to be up close and personal, taking on any groups willing to push the line with kicks strong enough to dent his armor and multiple conjured lassos.

On the other hand, Fluttershy and the pink mare would fly off or just vanish. Only to return a short time later with another pony or two, adding to the growing crowd. As Neil, Bon Bon, and Lyra trotted up to the townsfolk, Fluttershy flew over them, leading the pegasus stallion and his foal from earlier.

Unfortunately, that looked to be the only good news. Luna was surrounded by some sort of translucent bubble ward. She appeared to be under severe strain if the sweat dripping down her brow was any indication. An untold number of ethereal threads were connected to her, all centred on the tip of her horn as she focused. However, her unblinking eyes were locked onto the Tantabus' position.

The VISR system chimed, startling him briefly before text flashed underneath the compass again.

Checkpoint... done.
You have reached Princess Luna.
Hold position. Defend the Princess. Defeat the Tantabus.

.... Easier said than done, after what the ponies used against it. If lasers and physical attacks didn't do anything, what would ballistic weaponry do to the Tantabus? Tickle it?

Neil put that thought aside for now. Three of the Elements were gathering around Twilight, and he could see both Rainbow and Applejack coming into the safe zone at a distance. Something big was happening if the line was left practically unguarded except for a few of the braver citizens... including a large red Alicorn decked in gold and jewels while flying about and blasting vampire muffins.

As much as he wanted to listen in on their plan, he also knew one of his objectives was to hold the line. Besides, his bullets still worked on the minions, at least. And he would need a lot of bullets, as he switched the shotgun out for his favorite weapon from the very first game, the 'ol spray and pray battle rifle.

Glancing to the side, he was slightly surprised to see Lyra and Bon Bon still there before looking back at the prowling animated monstrosities. "You can rejoin the townsfolk if you want. Maybe see what the Elements are planning?"

"And leave you alone again? I don't think so." Bon Bon countered as she and Lyra took positions near himself and Luna.

"Suit yourself. Just cover your ears or something," Was all the warning Neil gave as he spotted a pair of quadrupedal dresses slip over the line. It was as simple as pointing the gun and pulling the trigger. Allowing the rifle to do what it does best, as it riddled the dresses and an unlucky armoire behind them full of holes.

Many of the monstrous eyes staring at him looked a little less bloodthirsty and a little more wary as he allowed his hands to automatically load a new clip. He didn't dare look back to see how the ponies reacted.

"... Know when it's able to escape?" The voice of Applejack suddenly fed through Neil's helmet. It sounded a little tinny, but having her voice come out of nowhere still shocked him.

Rainbow Dash was the second to speak, sounding worried. "Oh, I think we'll know."

It was the pained grunt from Luna that finally convinced Neil to look around. A giant gash marred the starless sky, allowing bright light to pour in from an unknown source. Rarity quickly fired a beam at it, sealing the rift almost immediately. But it was clear to Neil. Too much of that, and Luna would lose control of the dream.

Celestia was fighting with the beast currently, keeping it occupied as Luna called out, "HURRY MY FRIENDS!"

Once more Neil was very glad that his helmet had automated sound dampening.

Rainbow quickly flew off and engaged the Tantabus again while Twilight fired off supporting lasers to help keep it occupied. Seeing they were back in the fight, Neil turned to the line again. He was happy and a little annoyed to see that no monster was willing to cross the line.

Fluttershy's voice was the next to come through his speaker as he finished his first sweep across no-man's land. "Please, we need your help too!"

Twilight's voice followed almost immediately, backing her up. "Fluttershy's right. We've all got to work together to stop it from escaping!"

Neil was half expecting someone else to talk, but nothing came through for at least ten seconds before Rainbow's voice came through. "That's true, in Ponyville!"

By then, Neil was reasonably sure he was missing a good chunk of the conversation. But why? Why could he only pick up the Elements on his radio and no one else?

"But this here isn't Ponyville," Applejack continued, building upon Rainbow's statement. "It's a dream."

"And not just any; this is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now!" Twilight affirmed with quite a bit of force behind her words.

What followed next confused Neil as he heard the roar of a giant... kitten? His curiosity got the better of him as he turned around a second time, only to be dumbfounded by what he saw. Spike, the little lizard dude, was not so little anymore. Now, he was dressed in knight's armor and launching into the air on the back of a giant grey pegasus with offset golden eyes.

Half the townsfolk were cheering with renewed morale as things started to get wild.

In contrast, a frustrated roar blanketed the entirety of the dream as the Tantabus rippled... in anger? Fear? Neil had no idea, but it felt as if something changed. It sped away from Celestia, outpacing the Alicorn as it circled around the town at speeds he'd only seen Rainbow accomplish. Once it was far enough away, a pseudo-pod sprung out of its mass in the shape of scissors and cut another tear into the sky.

Celestia was too far away to prevent its escape, and Neil had nothing designed to fire at that range. For a moment, it looked as if the Tantabus had the perfect opportunity to slip into the newly formed tear and escape.

It was Spike, armed with a jousting lance and his mighty pegasus steed, that saved the day as they swooped up from below. The lance easily tore through the Tantabus, nearly ripping it entirely in half before the monster recoiled away and reformed into a single mass.

Reinforcements had also arrived in the form of a stallion riding a wave of gold coins. Once the stallion interposed himself between the Tantabus and the rift, he simply raised a hoof and released an absolute torrent of gold coins, blasting the beast away with the strength of a fire hose.

Seeing its opportunity lost, the Tantabus ignored the pests around it. The monster formed a second claw-like appendage to tear another gap into the sky. This time a little orange foal with giant wings simply blew away the inky mass before Rainbow of all ponies flew up next to her and... transformed into a superhero before sucking it into a tornado? Ponies had those?

All the while, Rarity was solely focused on the various tears. Stitching each up with a giant needle and thread, which she conjured and controlled with expert ease.

"It's working!" Rainbow's cheer rang through his helmet.

Neil had to admit, even he was feeling better about their odds as he watched the tornado spin on the opposite side of the plaza.

Only for a worried Twilight to cut in, "But it's not enough!"

She was, unfortunately, correct as the Tantabus extricated itself with a bloodcurdling roar.

"Then do more!" The normally happy-sounding pink mare urged from right beside Neil, shocking him. He hadn't even noticed the mare walk up to him! "This is a dream, remember?"

She then gave him a smile and bounced... somewhere out of sight. Pushing that out of his mind, she was right. This was a dream. And while an ODST was the best of the best, not including Spartans and their horrific augmentations and genetic experimentation, he could think of one thing better.

Seconds later, the earth shook as a sixty-plus-tonne scorpion tank landed beside him. Gasps followed, coming from the few remaining ponies unwilling to fight. Neil had to blink, amazed at how it worked... before an uncontrolled giddiness took over. He leapt onto the armour plating of the tank and dove into the cockpit without a thought. An actual chance to drive a (relatively) real scorpion tank!

The metal cage came down automatically, and the roar of an engine that matched the Tantabus' worst overwhelmed his speakers momentarily. And then, as if to add a cherry on top of the scorpion's turret, an artificial female voice spoke.

"Hello, and thank you for activating the M808 Main Battle Tank. You may call me Sheila."

Neil would forever deny that he squeed as his golden hands went on autopilot for him. They took hold of the human-styled controls and quickly sorted through the proper start-up sequence for him. Sadly, that cut off Sheila's tutorial, but he didn't have time for that.

"I CAN NOT HOLD THIS DREAM TOGETHER MUCH LONGER!" Luna cried out in agony. This distracted Neil from his exciting new toy, only to see tears falling down Luna's pained face. "EQUESTRIA WILL FALL... BECAUSE OF ME AND MY WEAKNESS!"

Neil immediately thought that by summoning weapons, superpowers, and otherwise powering themselves up, everyone put too much strain on Luna's control. However, that thought was just as quickly pushed aside as the sky behind Luna darkened into a starry void as the Tantabus, once the size of a building, now grew in size to match the entire fucking town!

Not only that, but its amorphous form was shifting. It was becoming less of a blob... and more like the form it took at the end of his previous dream, as a horn sprouted from its half-formed head.

Twilight landed beside his tank, ignoring him as she spoke over the rumbling engine. "I think it's feeding off your guilt, Princess Luna!"

Even if she only had seconds to come up with her theory, Neil couldn't deny it as he watched the Tantabus' new horn rip another gash into the remaining untainted sky. But he couldn't sit back and listen, either, as he kept his eyes and the targeting reticle locked onto the Tantabus' head while his hands activated the turret.

Celestia was still trying to fight the beast, firing beams of golden light against the darkness. Unfortunately, by that point, she was little more than a gnat compared to both its size and power.

"If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place," Luna admitted as the gears controlling the scorpion's turret finally stopped. However, her strange admission started the gears in Neil's head, almost distracting him from his main focus.

Thankfully, it only took a small, almost insignificant thought for his ghost hands to pull the trigger.

BOOM!

The main gun fired, leaving a trail of smoke for every single pony in the dream to follow as the tank shell ripped through and completely severed the Tantabus' horn from its head. The following bellow of pain was somehow even louder than the tank shot, as the lesser cloud that was once a horn fell from the tear and back into the dream as a formless blob. Even in pain, the monster still had the frame of mind to catch and reabsorb the piece with one of its pseudo-hooves.

A new horn quickly replaced the old one before the next shell was loaded.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Neil yelled, his thoughts frayed by both her admission and the apparent ineffectiveness of his tank.

Whether it was the shock of the tank firing or the strain of the dream itself, Neil didn't know or care. But for some reason, Luna heard his demand and answered him. "I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night. To punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon."

"But why would you do that?" Twilight asked in a more concerned and sympathetic tone.

"To make sure I never forgave myself," She admitted, her voice strained from the pressure of the dream. "For how much Equestria suffered because of me. It seems I have not learned my lesson; for now, I have only made you suffer more."

"You fucking think so!?" Neil yelled as he kept his eyes on the Tantabus, watching as it and the hole it tore into the sky swelled in size with every word Luna spoke. A second resounding BOOM! shook the town as he fired another round where its eye should have been. It blew a hole through the monster's head, inadvertently creating an eye hole too small for its form, but it did little else.

Frustrated, he slammed his armored hoof on the marked cage release button. The protective cage sprung into its open position with a loud clang, allowing Neil to abandon the still-running tank and jump to the ground next to Twilight.

By that point, Luna had almost collapsed under the strain. Tears streaming out of her closed eyes. It was a pathetic sight, to be sure, but at that moment, Neil only saw the creator of the Tantabus. "So because of a fuck-up one thousand years ago, you decided to repeat the same damn mistake and create that fucking thing? To torture yourself? How does that make any fucking sense!?"

Slowly, her eyes opened up, and she looked directly at him. However, even that small action seemed to be a trade-off, as her back legs lost their strength to stay upright and collapsed. "You're right... How can I forgive myself? I am no better now than I was then. My creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare!"

Once more, as if the suit sensed his boiling anger at the mare before him, it flashed his objectives underneath the compass.

Hold position. Defend the Princess. Defeat the Tantabus.

The reminder may have been subtle, but it was needed as it caused a fracture in his anger. Was this beaten, downtrodden, whimpering mess of a mare before him really a princess? Where was the Imperial Bitch that demanded his obedience and respect? Where was her holier-than-thou attitude and the power to raise the moon?

"Like hell, it will!" He lashed back at her, causing her eyes to grow even wider. "What? Are you going to give up now? Are you going to allow that Thing to molest every single innocent mare, stallion, and foal in Equestria? Or are you going to man up, learn from your stupid fucking mistakes, and put that piss ass monster in its place!?"

"Yeah, you just got to stop feeling bad about what you did!" Rainbow added, landing right next to him. Neil wasn't sure how much she heard over the idling tank engine. Still, she decided to back him in a more positive fashion, at the very least.

On the other hand, Twilight had heard everything he said. If not for the situation, Neil was sure she would have glared at him the entire time. Instead, she took advantage of Rainbow's uplifting message as all the Elements gathered around her. "Look at what you're doing! Nightmare Moon would have wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare. You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That-"

BOOM! Another tank shell fired, causing Neil to spin around with a loud "Fuck!"

He expected to see a tank with an empty cockpit, possibly under the full control of Sheila's AI system. Instead, two foals were clamoring around in the seat while the small orange pegasus with her gigantic wings sat on the cage. "You missed!"

One of the foals in the seat with a country accent yelled back at her, "I don't know how to aim this thing!" Unfortunately for them, the tank turret was still aimed at head height, so the shell passed well over the Tantabus' hips.

Neil felt the urge to berate Luna some more. But between that and preventing an unintended death like Church, Neil felt the latter was more important as he jumped back onto the tank. "I need you three to get out of my tank. Now." He asked as politely as he could, suppressing as much of his anger from his voice as possible.

As he did so, he heard the conclusion of Twilight's little speech through his radio over the collective, disappointed Awww from the three fillies. "Everypony here knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past. We all trust you, Luna... Do you trust us?"

"... I do."

It was so simple. So easy. With only those two words, the Tantabus let out a confused shriek. Then, before anyone could even fathom what was going on, the Tantabus was shunted back into the dream as if they were an annoying pet being pushed back inside before the door, or rift in this case, closed on them.

Celestia, pulling on a telekinetic lasso attached to the base of the Tantabus' tail with all of her strength, was entirely caught off guard by the sudden shift as the Tantabus' rump slammed into and pushed her back instead.

And the cherry on top? When the Tantabus looked back towards the town in confusion, with a single, too-small eye and a jagged, fanged mouth, a final BOOM! cut through the town. The shell impacted the Tantabus, but unlike the others, it exploded on contact instead of passing through it's ethereal skin. Creating an even larger eye amid the smoke cloud that looked particularly dopey.

"I hit it, I hit it! Did you see that?" The white unicorn filly cheered with a squeaky voice, ecstatic at her accomplishment. Only for Neil's golden hands to scoop her up and place her outside the tank's cockpit for a second time. They must have somehow switched from armor-piercing to high explosive during their fiddling. Something he didn't think was possible with the scorpion.

By the time he collected all three of the fillies and put them well away from the cockpit (and the machine gun turret), the Tantabus was little more than a pony-sized speck in the distance. Neil was still wary, however, as it flew towards them with Celestia nipping at its heels. That was the only reason preventing him from putting one final round down range and finishing the thing off for good.

Instead, to prevent any further accidents, he gave one of the giant treads a firm pat. This earned him odd looks from the Elements and the surrounding townsfolk, but he didn't care. "It's been good working with you, Sheila."

"Thank you, PMC Davidson. It's been a pleasure to work with you as well." The tank blared through its speakers, shocking some ponies and confusing others.

Neil was both mildly shocked and annoyed that the tank knew his last name and that it was stated out loud for all the ponies to hear. But, he intended to finish what he started. So he closed his eyes and focused on vanishing the sixty-ish tonnes of death from the dream before something else could happen. It took a few seconds, but he knew it worked when the loud rumbling of the engine suddenly ceased.

When he opened his eyes, the tank was gone. Vanished into thin air, or whatever held this dream together. With one less risk to worry about, he turned around. Even though it was a span of seconds, Luna was already looking better. Sure, the fur on her face was matted with tears, and multiple pieces of her royal finery were sitting lopsided, but she was standing upright, relatively speaking while hovering inside her bubble.

As he looked around to see how the rest of the ponies were doing, he quickly picked out a pair of eyes looking at him with nothing less than contempt that belonged to none other than Twilight. The moment his visor paused on her, she stepped towards him.

"Do you know what you could have done, saying all those mean things towards Princess Luna?" she asked, not loudly, but loud enough to catch a few of the closer townsfolk off guard with her accusation. "If not for Rainbow-"

Luna was quick to intervene. She sounded tired, but there was a firmness to her words that made Twilight stop. "Hold, please, Princess Twilight, before something is said that we all may regret. Neil's words were harsh, but they were truthful. I needed to hear them just as much as I needed to hear about your trust in me in order to... What was it you said? Man up?"

"Yes," Neil confirmed, giving Twilight one last look before turning to Luna. "But that still doesn't make up for the fact that you created that fuc- Ouch!" He cried as a hoof hit him square in the back of the head. Pushing the unconnected data port built into the back of his helmet into the base of his neck.

"What did I say about swearin' in front'a the foals, Neil?" Asked an irate and tired voice with a very familiar country twang. "Or is it Davidson now? Either way, you've earned yourself a thorough scrubbin' when we wake up."

Ripping off his helmet with a ghostly hand, Neil turned to see Bulk standing in his natural colour. He was still wearing his golden armor, but most, if not all of it, was smeared with cupcake icing, half-cooked batter, and chunks of baked goods. He was also sporting a very long, pointy tan upgrade, adding him to the small but growing ranks of Alicorns stallions... at least in this dream.

"I was wondering where you went," Neil fibbed a little as he rubbed the spot where the data port gouged him. In truth, once he realized this was a shared dream, he assumed Bulk was the only pony left awake to guard the door to Twilight's bedroom.

"I was patrollin' the area with my cousin, keepin' as much of those flyin' varmints away as I could," He stated before looking to the Elements, and Applejack in particular, as he gave her a slight nod. "Good evenin' Cousin."

"I wasn't expectin' to see you, Bulk, but boy howdy I'm mighty glad you're here." Applejack returned in kind with a big smile. "How's the family up in Manehattan?"

Before the scene could devolve into pleasantries, Luna stood up even taller and with more authority as she looked to the north. She kept her smile, however, as the Tantabus... not flew, but hovered over the crowd of ponies towards Luna under Celestia's watchful eye. It came to a complete stop only a foot from Luna's shield.

Neither spoke, though Neil was sure the Tantabus couldn't talk in its natural form. The urge to pull his battle rifle from his back and riddle the thing full of holes was also there. Even if it was useless, Neil knew it would have felt gratifying. But he held. Contrary to what Twilight said, he didn't trust Luna, not really, at least. But this was her creation, so he could give her the benefit of the doubt, for now.

Ultimately, his wariness went unwarranted as the void Alicorn walked into Luna's shield and... dissolved itself in light? That's what appeared to have happened until it was gone entirely. At which point, the moon on Luna's peytral flashed a bright white.

"Thank you. Thank you all!" Luna cheered over the crowd as a softer light emanated from her horn. The ethereal strings started to disconnect rapidly from her horn. And with each string that faded out of existence, so too did one of the Ponyville townsfolk. Even Lyra and Bon Bon, though they faded away together. Neil suspected it wouldn't have been a pretty sight if only one had faded away.

By the time all of Ponyville was evacuated from the dream, he was expecting to see the Elements fade away. Or to see how it looked and felt to be removed himself. Instead, the light dimmed from Luna's horn, leaving exactly nine threads left tethered. Six for the Elements, one for Celestia, and two for himself and Bulk.

"Now, before I release you all," Luna began, looking over each of the remaining ponies in the dream before she paused on him. "I believe there are some topics that need to be discussed."

"Oh, oh! Is it a We-Defeated-the-Tantabus-and-Luna-Doesn't-Feel-Guilty-Anymore party?" The pink mare asked, bouncing in place with the springy sound effects included.

"A party sounds wonderful, Pinkie Pie," Celestia cut in while finally giving him the name of the final Element. "But I think my sister Luna was talking about the Alicorn stallion in the room, as they say."

All eyes shifted to him, while Neil did his best to ignore that and looked to Bulk... who was back to being a regular Pegasus guard with pristine, sparkling armor.

"Are we talking about the whole don't tell anyone about me rule?" He asked, knowing his chances of escaping the upcoming Q&A session were slim to none. "The one you two in particular keep breaking?" He finished, looking directly at Celestia and Luna.

"That is one of the topics," Celestia admitted, slightly glancing toward Rainbow Dash. "Though I was curious about the loud war machine you created in defence of my sister."

"Or which of your names is your real one," Rarity jumped in, surprisingly. "Is it Neil or Davidson?"

"Or what's the meaning behind your strange cutie-mark?" Twilight asked as well, pointing to his butt.

Even in full armor, he couldn't escape the wandering eyes of a mare. But a cutie mark? His curiosity piqued, Neil looked to his own flank. There, emblazoned in gold against the dark steel grey of his armor, was the outline of an ODST drop pod. Not only that but etched into the gold was a flaming human skull and a ribbon, which proudly displayed ODST.

"That's the ODST insignia." He told her bluntly.

"And what does O.D.S.T. stand for?" She followed up immediately.

Before Neil could even contemplate an appropriate answer, another pony responded to the question for him as she popped up next to Twilight. "Silly filly! Everypony knows it stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, some of the most elite United Nations Space Command soldiers. Riding in a drop pod would be super fun!" She cheered, jumping high into the air... only to come crashing back down next to him hard enough that he felt it through the ground. She didn't even flinch. "...Even if I don't like the one in fifty odds of burning up during reentry. Anyway, which name is your real one, Neilie?"

If this wasn't a dream, Neil was pretty sure those super-human feats would have scared the piss out of him. But, the fact that she knew that much about a sci-fi series that didn't even exist in Equestria? That made him wary of the mare as her face loomed closer to his. He was forced to take a step back, his confused mind partially reeling from the fact she knew all of that about Halo but didn't know about his name.

"Both," He admitted, sidestepping closer to Bulk. "Neil is my first name. Davidson is my last name."

"Ohhhhh. Okay. Well, I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie offered, ignoring what little of his personal space he had left as she bounced beside him and hugged his armored neck. "Pinkie is my first name, and all my friends call me Pinkie, and you can call me Pinkie too!" But then, her mane seemed to deflate just a little as she got in really close. "Unless you go all Meanie McMeanie Pants again." She whispered.

Before he could answer, she bounced away, emulating a prong-horned antelope perfectly as she landed next to Fluttershy.

After a second or two of silence, Celestia cleared her throat, bringing most of the attention back to her. "And that machine?"

Neil just pointed to the unimaginable being in the form of a pink Earth Pony. "Same as the armor and everything she just said. It's all fiction, just part of a story I enjoy."

"Fiction? Does that mean you like to read?" Twilight asked, any traces of confusion, anger, and suspicion being replaces with a cautious curiosity.

This earned a melodious little chuckle from Celestia. "Neil has spent most of his days in the castle doing nothing but reading. It reminds me of a certain young filly I used to teach." She teased, looking at Twilight.

Despite the light blush peeking through her fur, Twilight was now staring at him. Almost as if she was analyzing him. For a mare that hated his guts just minutes ago, Neil was feeling even more nervous about the desire for knowledge now smoldering underneath her purple eyes.

'Waking up in the same room as her is going to suck.'