The King's Son

The party continued for quite a while, only calming down when it was late in the night. During that time, Solaris talked to quite a few ponies and properly introduced himself to them. After a while, the party was over and everypony went home.

"Wow, that was an amazing party." Shooting Star said while patting her full stomach.

"It was a Pinkie party. Of course this was going to be a good party. I'm just glad I was invited." Spike replied, while yawning. after Spike yawned, Solaris followed suit and then Shooting Star yawned too.

"I guess all of us are tired after a long day." Spike giggled. "How about we all get some shut eye."

"That sounds like a great idea, but... Where will I stay and sleep?" Solaris asked.

Twilight, overhearing the question, walked over with a kind smile. "Solaris, you can stay here at the castle. We have plenty of guest rooms."

"Really? That's very generous of you, Twilight. Thank you," Solaris replied, feeling a sense of relief wash over him.

"It's no problem at all," Twilight said, leading the way. "Let's get you settled in."

Spike, Shooting Star, and Solaris followed Twilight through the castle's winding corridors. The crystalline walls shimmered in the dim light, casting a soothing glow. Eventually, they arrived at a cozy guest room with a comfortable-looking bed and a small window overlooking Ponyville.

"Here you go, Solaris," Twilight said, opening the door to the guest room. "I hope you find it comfortable."

"I'm sure I will. Thank you, Twilight," Solaris said, stepping into the room.

Spike and Shooting Star stood at the doorway, smiling. "We'll be right down the hall if you need anything," Spike said.

"Goodnight, Solaris," Shooting Star added.

"Goodnight, you two," Solaris replied, feeling a warmth in his heart from their support.

Spike and Shooting Star closed the door, leaving Solaris to his thoughts. As they walked down the hall, they arrived at the castle's main doors.

"I have to get home to Derpy and the Doctor. I haven't seen them in 2 days and I think they're worried." Shooting Star said while Spike nodded in understanding

"Ok then, goodnight Shooting Star." Spike said before giving her a hug. Shooting Star hugged back before opening the castle doors and going out into the night.

Spike walked to his room and opened the door. He went in and put things from the party away. After he did that, he climbed into bed and layed down, before he fell asleep a few minutes later.

Spike's dream

Spike was walking around Ponyville with no particular destination, he was just walking around. The streets were bustling with activity as ponies went about their daily routines, smiling and greeting Spike as he passed by. The sun shone brightly, casting a warm glow over the entire town. Spike felt a sense of peace and contentment as he wandered aimlessly, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere.

He then saw Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity looking at him with smiles on their faces, gesturing for him to go over to them with their hooves. So he did just that, and they cheered and Pinkie unleashed and banner that said "Happy Birthday." Spike smiled widely that they were finally celebrating his birthday after they missed his last one, choosing to celebrate their friendship anniversary instead.

Just then, Spike saw something peculiar through the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw a creature of blue smoke with a wisp of black smoke leaving the dream. He saw the blue smoke descend before it touched the ground with a light tap, and suddenly, the mood changed.

Ponyville was in complete ruins and now Twilight and her friends were now glaring at Spike, their smiles replaced with harsh, judgmental expressions. The once warm and inviting atmosphere of Ponyville grew cold and ominous. Spike's heart pounded in his chest as he tried to understand what was happening.

"Twilight? What's going on?" Spike asked, his voice trembling.

Twilight stepped forward, her eyes filled with an eerie intensity. "Spike, how could you let this happen?" she said, her voice echoing unnaturally.

"Let what happen?" Spike replied, taking a step back. Before anything else happened, Rainbow Dash flew over and struck him in the nose. Spike could feel blood coming out of it and the pain along with it.

"You tried to destroy Ponyville with your growth spurt, you monster. You deserve to be executed." She yelled at him.

Spike could feel tears threatening to come out of his eyes. "I'm not a monster, I don't let my greed consume me. It was just a one time accident."

"And what then Spike?" Twilight asked, her glare unforgiving. "You could turn into a monster at any time. Did you really think we could trust you after that?"

"We gave you so many chances, Spike," Rarity said, her voice cold and distant. "But it seems you are nothing but a danger to all of us."

Spike's heart sank as he saw Fluttershy, usually so kind and gentle, looking at him with fear and disappointment. "We can't trust you anymore, Spike," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Just as Spike was about to respond, the ground beneath him cracked open, and he fell into a deep abyss. He screamed, reaching out for help, but no one moved to save him. The darkness swallowed him whole, and he felt an overwhelming sense of despair and loneliness.

Out of his sight, the creature of blue smoke left the dream in a burning building.

Spike woke up with a cold sweat, his breathing erratic. His heart was racing and tears were spilling out of their eyes after a few seconds of waking up. Spike buried his face in the pillow and began to sob.

"Is that all they see me as? Am I just a monster to them?" he asked himself, his voiced muffled by the pillow. He tried to find sleep, but the nightmare was on his mind too much and he struggled to find sleep.

The next morning, Spike woke up very groggy, since he barely got any sleep after the nightmare. The morning sunlight streamed through the window, casting a gentle glow across Spike's room. He rubbed his eyes, feeling the remnants of his tears dried on his cheeks. As he stretched and slowly sat up, he couldn't shake the lingering sense of dread from his nightmare. His heart felt heavy, and he wondered if the others would really see him that way.

He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, hoping to clear his mind. The cool water was refreshing, but it did little to erase the haunting images from his dream. He left he bathroom to the main hall where nopony was at the moment. Just then, he heard a knock on the front door, he answered it and saw that it was Shooting Star.

Shooting Star didn't look too good either. There were bags under her eyes, and she was yawning every 2 minutes.

"Are you Ok Shooting Star" Spike asked groggily.

"Physically, yes. Every other thing, nooo-" was all Shooting Star could say before she started dozing off. It was only when she hit the floor that she snapped awake again. "TWO, NO THREE!!"

"You both didn't sleep well either?" came a voice from behind them. They turned around and saw Solaris, bags under his eyes and a tired expression on his face.

"Looks like none of us had a good night," Spike said with a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess so," Solaris replied, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "I had some... unpleasant dreams."

Shooting Star nodded in agreement. "Me too, like last night, this blue smoke creature entered my dreams and turned it into a horrible nightmare."

Spike's eyes widened at that, so did Solaris'. Shooting Star looked at their shocked expressions and said, "What?"

"That's exactly what happened in my dream. A blue smoke turned my dream into a nightmare." Spike replied.

"The same thing happened to me. But why did the same thing happen in all of our dreams?" Solaris asked.

"I don't know." Spike admitted. "But I do know someone who might. Let me write a letter to Princess Luna."

Unknown to Spike and Shooting Star, Solaris gasped slightly. "L-Luna is back?" he barely whispered.

Spike grabbed a piece of parchment, a quill and some ink and began writing his letter.

Dear Princess Luna,
Last night, my friends and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I'm sure you're busy, but whenever you have the chance, please let us know if you have any idea what the creature could mean."

Yours Truly, Spike.
P.S. Maybe you should check on Twilight and her friends too. They might have dreamt of the very same thing as well as us.

With the letter finished, he rolled it up and blew his green fire onto it and the smoke travelled out the window. Not even a second later, they all heard a sound of teleportation outside the door and the door burst open to reveal Princess Luna.

"Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?" she asked.

"Wow, that was fast." Shooting Star said in surprise.

"We all did. So you encountered the smoke monster too?" Spike asked Luna.

"The tantabus is a creature of my nightmares. It escaped from my slumbers last night with the help of another wisp of black smoke. I don't know what that black smoke was, but it helped the tantabus get stronger, until it was strong enough to escape my dream and enter the dreams of others and turn them into nightmares." Luna explained.

"So that must be why we had those nightmares, and that also explains why I saw another wisp of black smoke before it terrorized my dream. But what did you dream about last night?" Shooting Star asked.

"I dreamt about the elements of harmony defeating my alter ego because the tantabus wasn't there. It must have learned about them by the dream which means... OH NO. We need to find Twilight and her friends at once." So Luna captured Spike, Shooting Star and Solaris in her magic and teleported to the Carousel Boutique.

Upon entering, they saw Twilight and all of her friends in a rather messy boutique. Animals were scattered everywhere, and so were grooming equipment. They were all in the same state as Spike, Shooting Star and Solaris.

Twilight walked up to Luna groggily and began talking. "Princess Luna, this is actually perfect timing. We were actually about to wri- Forgive me for interrupting, but this is important, did you see a blue smoke monster in your nightmare last night?" Luna interrupted.

Twilight and the others were surprised at this. "Yeah, we all did." Twilight explained.

"Spike wrote to me about this earlier and I had to see if you had the same dream."

"What was that blue smoke monster anyway?" Rainbow asked.

"It's called the Tantabus, my own creation. It escaped from the sleep because of another black smoke creature making it stronger."

"But we didn't see any black smoke, just blue." Fluttershy explained.

"I saw the black smoke enter with the tantabus, but left before the tantabus terrorized my dream." Spike explained

"Me too." Shooting Star and Solaris replied in unison.

"So that must mean that the black smoke creature was just seen by us." Solaris said.

"So that thing just gave us nightmares." Rainbow cockily explained. "No biggie."

Then Luna explained. "If the power of the tantabus grows into something we can't control, it will find a way into the real world, where it will turn everything into a living nightmare."

That made everyone terrified. "Okokokok I take it back. That does sound bad, really bad." Rainbow said in a scared tone.

"There is something that can be done about it though. I need all 9 of you to sleep in the same room tonight. That can help me jump between dreams easier and I can pursue the tantabus easier as well." Luna explained

All nine creatures nodded and ran to the castle as quick as possible. They opened the door and ran to Twilight's master bedroom.

"We need to find a way to get 8 beds in here." Twilight said. "Can anyone help with that?"

"I'm on it." Rainbow saluted but before she could zoom out of the room to get beds, 8 beds appeared in a fire of flames.

"You're welcome." everyone heard Solaris say.

Twilight and her friends were surprised. "Ho-How did you do that Solaris?" Twilight asked.

"I have my ways." was all Solaris said.

They chose to dismiss it and wait for the night to come to resolve the issue.

Later that night, Luna arrived at the castle and went to the room with all 9 beds, which was Twilight's room.

"The time has come everypony. I will pursue the tantabus and stop it from infesting your dreams."

Everyone got into their respective beds while pinkie cheered that it was like a princess sleepover.

"Speaking of Princesses," Twilight wondered. "Won't you ask Celestia for help?"

"There is nothing my sister can do. She doesn't have the power to enter dreams. Only I can, so nopony can help me tonight."

"I believe I can help." Luna heard Solaris say. "You said nopony can help, but I'm a dragon. I can help more than you think."

Spike and Shooting Star were unsure about this. "Are you sure Solaris?" Shooting Star asked.

"I know what dreams are like and what to do with them, so I can help." Solaris explained.

"No Solaris, you already suffered enough because of me. I can't put you through that again." Luna reasoned.

"That doesn't mean I can- NO!" Luna yelled at Solaris. He flinched at her tone and untimately backed down.

"Fine."

"Alright everypony, let's get some sleep and destroy a parasite." Twilight announced. And soon, one by one, everyone fell asleep. The last one to fall asleep was Spike, who still had doubts. Once everyone fell asleep, Luna rose into the air and her horn started to glow. 9 strings unraveled from it and connected to the sleeping creatures.