Remnants

After the meeting with the victims, Princess Luna climbed into her bed and closed her eyes as she rested. This time, she braced herself for the nightmare that would inevitably come. She was caught off-guard the first time, but never again. She was prepared to confront her own creation. The Tantabus was a mistake she never should’ve made, but like the other deeds she made in the past, she can fix this one.

But how would it affect the others? That’s something she had to consider carefully. She was used to reckless maneuvers to solve her problems, but now she had to think about how it would affect other lives as well. She thought the Tantabus would extract all of its malice towards her and leave the others be. Sadly, it looked like it had the same sadistic ruthlessness towards everyone else. No one is safe from the evil curse. Knowing that her evil creation is growing stronger, she is determined to stop it before it traumatizes the rest of the world. Five victims were already bad enough.

In her dream, Princess Luna finds herself in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters again. This was similar to yesterday’s dream with the only difference being the time of day. The moon and the stars were probably from last night’s dream. Is Nightmare Moon out and ready to strike already? Her ears pricked at every noise she heard in the forest next to her. Every sound made her jump. She was a coiled spring ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

The princess narrowed her eyes when she saw the orb of the Tantabus float in the sky from the destroyed roof of the castle. Strangely, it was in its original form and not in the shape of anyone else. Then the Tantabus
slowly floats away into the forest. Luna had no idea what it was trying to do. Should she follow, or was this a strange trap? At that point, it didn’t even matter. Even if the Tantabus attacked her, she’ll always wake up eventually with no lasting bruises or injuries. Still, even when she ascended to the air with her wings, she followed it from a safe distance away.

She had no idea how far she had flown, but now she was getting deep into the wilderness. She was flying above trees next to barren landmarks and tall mountains. This was foreign land to her. She eyed the Tantabus warily, who was still flying away slowly and steadily. If the Tantabus saw her or not, it didn’t show any signs. Did it want her to follow it? Luna was more perplexed the more she flew.

Strangely, while she was still following the curse, she was stopped by a glowing forcefield that separated her from the Tantabus. From how painful the impact was, it was like hitting a brick wall. The Princess flew back a few meters as she rubbed her cheek. Where did this come from? Princess Luna squinted her eyes to spot the Tantabus through the glowing barrier. The Tantabus was a dot to her eyes by the time it stopped. Suddenly, for no particular reason, it dipped down into a tall tree. After it did, the tree started to rot and bend in a rather uncanny shape. From what she can see, all the leaves fell from the tree and were turned to ashes that blew away in the wind.

Did the Tantabus want to show me something? She looked at the mountains to mentally remember the landmarks. Whatever it was, she had a feeling it was important. She needed to memorize her surroundings as best as she could. She didn’t trust the Tantabus one bit. Its mannerisms were unpredictable, which is what made it dangerous. Still, she couldn’t help but find the whole thing odd.

Odds and secrets seem to be a theme for the Tantabus. Even when it was under her control, there was always something off about it. Her own creation became self-aware and not just a slave for her own self-hatred. It gained a mind of its own, which was how it was able to escape from her dreams and into the real world. Could it be that the last remnants of the Tantabus escaped to only punish her and other innocent creatures as revenge?

The Tantabus led her to that spot for a reason. It must be where it was located. The location of where darkness festers, and it wants her to go in. Luna has no idea what it’s in store in the unknown forest, but if that’s where the Tantabus wants her to be, then so be it. She’ll do everything in her power to erase the Tantabus from the world, and nothing will stop her determination to finish what she started a long time ago.

“S-So many bodies at the school… everything was red. It w-w-was like a horror movie that came to life.”

Princess Luna nodded in pity for Sunset Shimmer, who came to the meeting with Starlight’s escort. She was reminiscing about the nightmare at Canterlot High. From her story, it seemed to be a gruesome sight to see, one that she would never wish upon her worst enemy. It made her feel worse knowing she’s the primary blame for everything that happened.

“My heart goes out to you, Sunset,” the Princess acknowledged with a dip of her head.

Trixie, Stygian, and Discord also gave their condolences to the mare. Luna stared at Discord, who was uncharacteristically apologetic and remorseful. Perhaps he was so tired that he was in no mood for his sarcastic remarks and standoffish personality.

“Is it just me, or have the nightmares gotten worse than last time?” Starlight told them all after she let Sunset alone for now. “I was falling from the sky because my magic wouldn’t work. When I fell to the ground, I encountered this forest with darkness surrounding the trees and everything in sight.”

Her statement caught Luna’s attention. “Repeat that?”

“Oh, so it’s not just me,” Stygian commented after a yawn.

Discord rolled his eyes. “Ugh, tell me about it. After seeing Fluttershy and her home burn in front of my eyes, the forest seemed to be the only normal place for once.” He paused mid-sentence. “You know it’s bad when the Lord of Chaos of all creatures wants a bit of normalcy!”

Discord drinks from a flying teacup and lets Trixie speak next.

“Do you think this forest means something if all of us found it?” Trixie questioned.

“It must be, because the Tantabus showed it to me as well,” Luna states in a firm tone. Her voice softened when she talked to Sunset again. “Did you encounter the forest too?”

Sunset shakily nods her head.

“So it must be a connection,” Luna whispers to herself. She wanted to say something important, but from how tired and traumatized all of them were, it would be nearly impossible to get their full attention. They were so close to passing out, it was remarkable they hadn’t already. Unless…

Of course! Why didn’t I think of this earlier? She felt like an idiot for not remembering this spell because of her tiredness from yesterday. With a glow of her horn, she cast an advanced spell onto all of the creatures in the room. In a blink of an eye, the five looked energetic and well-rested again.

“Finally! I haven’t felt like this since the Tantabus came!” Discord exclaims excitedly as he stretches his long limbs. “I never thought I would feel this way for a good while.”

“Savor it well before it comes back again,” Princess Luna warned. She put her hooves on the table with a little slam.

“Now that all of you are capable of listening for long periods of time, I want to tell you something important. Something that could shape our future with this treacherous curse.” Princess Luna’s voice grew firmer and a little louder with each sentence. The effect seemed to work. All of them had their eyes on her and were seemingly focused.

“Listen, the Tantabus showed us that forest for a reason. It wants us to find it, and it practically showed us the way to its location. The forest is far from our home and is in deep uncharted territory. It’s no wonder it hadn’t been detected for so long. The Tantabus clearly doesn’t want to just torture us in our dreams. It wants us to come and confront it face to face for some reason.”

Princess Luna made herself taller by standing up from her seat. “The decision is hasty, but I feel it’s how we can get our dreams back: we must leave our home and venture to this forest together.”

She sat down as she watched for their reactions. She watched each member closely to see how they felt about the matter. From what she can tell from her silent assessment, they were nervous. She didn’t blame them one bit.

“Won’t the Tantabus just kill us if we come close?” Trixie asked nervously, breaking the awkward silence. “I think this thing is more powerful than it lets on.”

“Valid question,” Princess Luna remarked. “However, I don’t believe the Tantabus is lethal enough to take our lives. All it could do was give us horrible visual aids and injuries only obtained in our dreams.”

In reality, Princess Luna had no idea just how powerful or dangerous this thing actually is. She was mostly trying to convince herself more than the others. She knew it didn’t take long for one keen eye to point out this insecurity.

“But you don’t fully believe that, don’t you?” Stygian retorted with flattened ears that screamed inner insecurity.

The princess sighed. She didn’t want to lie for the sake of acting strong. “The truth is, I’m just as scared as all of you. But we must make sacrifices to save our sanity and potentially others.”

“Are we even strong enough to face the Tantabus?” Sunset raised her voice. It looked like she had stopped shivering from the trauma. “What makes you think we can take it on in the real world if we can’t even do it in our own dreams?”

Starlight and Stygian nod in agreement from her question. They all looked to Luna for an answer.

“Because the Tantabus’ primary power is only in dreams. In the real world, its power might be weaker than ours, which we could use to our advantage.” The Princess replied swiftly.

She put her two hooves together. “Think about it, would you rather continue to suffer in your nightmares and woe to Celestia for pointless grace, or would you rather take the risk and be the hero of your own story and save Equestria from another disaster? I know it’s dangerous and scary, but all of you have put yourselves in harm's way to save the land and the ones you love. How is this any different than that?”

The room fell silent as it took time for the others to think about her proposal. The looks they gave went from nervous to determined after a minute of inner confliction. With little nods from each of them, Trixie raised her hoof.

“I’ll do it.” The magician called.

Discord raised his lion paw. “So will I,” he followed.

Starlight spoke next by also raising her hoof. “If this is what it takes to save Equestria, then so be it,”

Stygian said nothing but he too raised his hoof in agreement.

The others looked to Sunset, who hadn’t raised her hoof yet. Princess Luna still felt horrible for her. It was a lot for her to take in in a short amount of time.

“I know that being haunted by the Tantabus isn’t exactly what you wanted in your trip to visit Twilight, but as long as you stay in this world, you will be tormented. Unless you go back,” Princess Luna reminded her gently. “If you wish, you can go back to your world and be unaffected by it all.”

Yet the Tantabus called you. Princess Luna thought in the back of her mind, but she kept it to herself. This was Sunset’s decision regardless.

Sunset looked at her, then at the others, who were eagerly waiting for her response. She took a deep breath before speaking in a calm voice.

“I may be many things, but a coward is not one of them,” She looked at the princess and raised her hoof, the fear apparently gone from her eyes. “I’ll fight alongside all of you.”

Seeing the group all raise their hooves pleased her. They were going out of their way to put themselves at harm’s risk to save their dreams and the future of Equestria’s dream realm. Princess Luna is proud to have gathered such brave creatures. Twilight had taught them well about the meaning of sacrifice.

“We don’t have much time to waste,” Princess Luna got up from her seat. “If we want to defeat this evil, we can’t wait for too long.”

She opened the castle doors before looking behind her shoulder. “Meet me at the edge of the Everfree Forest at sunset. You will have time to say farewell to your loved ones before then.”

Her magic glowed around the doors. “Know this: be brave in the face of danger. Even if you’re scared, know that you’re stronger than the Tantabus could ever be in its lifetime.”

The members watched her leave with unwavering resolve before she closed the door. The war with the Tantabus has now begun, but instead of the Tantabus fighting mere chickens, it would be facing hardened warriors; and Princess Luna is more than ready to take the lead of the charge.