Dreamwalker

There was a gargantuan bunny eating the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, being assaulted by a small pony with a large bow on her head. “Stop that Angel! We need these apples!” Applebloom shouted, ramming her face into Angel’s foot.

Applejack blinked the sleep from her eyes and groggily stared out her window. It took her almost a full minute to realize what was going on. “What in tarnation?” She headed outside, accompanied by Big Macintosh. “Got your lasso?” She asked him. “Eyup” he replied.

“On three! One… two… THREE!” She flung her lasso around the giant Angel’s tail while Big Macintosh flung his around Angel’s neck. They struggled to hold him still, and it seemed to be working.

And then Angel decided to jump, launching the two ponies into the air, where they landed in some apple trees a good distance away. “I don’t think this is working.” Applejacks brushed some leaves out of her hair and groaned. “Nope.” Big Macintosh shook his head.

It was not very difficult for Luna to track down the enormous rabbit. She summoned the full power of the Royal Canterlot voice. “Halt, Angel! Thou are dreaming and must wake up!” The bunny ignored her and kept munching on some dreams. “Princess Luna!” Applebloom was on the ground, jumping to get her attention. Luna descended.

“Applebloom? Tis’ too dangerous for a young filly to be fighting nightmares such as these.” Applebloom glared. “That’s our farm he’s attacking, and my home! Besides, he’s not a nightmare! He seems plenty real to me!” As if to prove her point, a large cloud of dirt blew past their manes with a thud of Angel’s giant feet.

“It is complicated and we do not have time to explain. Just trust that we can fix it.” Luna said. “And get indoors before thy body be crushed.” She picked up Applebloom with her teeth and set her gently down on the porch.

“All right, but he destroys any of Granny Smith’s zap apple trees, I’m holding you responsible!” Applebloom shouted as she headed back indoors. Meanwhile Granny Smith stirred at the sound of her name, peered outside, noticed an enormous bunny, and went back to sleep. “Really must stop drinkin’ so much cider before bed.” She mumbled.

  Luna charged Angel with all of her might, managing to pick him up by a tuft of hair on his head. He was lighter than his size would suggest, but still fairly heavy. She struggled to move him with a combination of might and magic to an area where he would do less harm to the Apple Family’s livelihood. The strain of it all had caused her to close her eyes, and she was just flying blindly for as long as she could hold out, but anywhere was better than here.

Eventually, her strength and magic gave out, and a very annoyed giant bunny was released into her surroundings. Luna slumped down on the ground. “Princess Luna? Are you okay? What’s Angel doing here, and why is he so big?” Twilight’s voice? But she lived in the middle of Ponyville. This was not good.

“Twilight Sparkle, we have no time to explain, but trust that we can handle it. Please stay safe. This is no place for a student.” Luna nudged Twilight back towards her library, despite the latter’s protests. “Are you sure I can’t help? I have been improving my magic you know.” Luna shook her head. “This is far too dangerous, and though we recognize the might of thy power, thou does not yet know enough about dream magic. I cannot risk any harm you may cause to Angel or yourself. Please just stay here for your own safety.” Twilight gave in. “All right. But if you need any help, you know where to find me.”

Luna flew off towards Angel, who had been heading towards Fluttershy’s cottage. This was not good. “If only we could fly faster.” Luna thought to herself. She barely made it, cutting off the giant Angel before she could reach the cottage. She took a glance back. The cottage showed no signs of activity, so Fluttershy probably had not yet noticed or was too scared to look outside. Either would work.

“Angel. WAKE UP!” Luna shouted, summoning whatever strength she had left, using an awakening spell she had picked up from the Royal Canterlot Library and tripling its power. The spell struck the giant Angel directly in the forehead and he closed his eyes, shaking. The cottage doors flung open. “STOP!” Fluttershy flew outside and knocked Luna out of the way. “You’re hurting him!” Indeed, the small Angel in her arms was writhing in pain.

Drained of magic, drained of strength, Luna could only stare helplessly into Fluttershy’s eyes. “Please, run away and be safe. I can handle this.” The first rays of dawn broke over the sky. Celestia would be up soon, she would find out the horrible mistakes that Luna had made.

“Just go… Please. I… Can’t handle this.” The sun fully rose and a booming, stern, yet familiar disembodied voice echoed all around. “Princess Luna.”

“Sister?” Luna called. “We are sorry. We have failed.” Luna looked weakly up at the sky to see Celestia descending, oddly calm considering the situation. Then she realized that the giant Angel was gone, along with the rest of ponyville. They were resting in her favorite clearing in the Everfree Forest. Her body was no longer sore and her magic felt full.

Luna stammered. “What is this? What spell could thou have used, surely this amount of magic is not within our limits of-“ Celestia put a wing around her sister and smiled. “Oh? Can the Princess of the night really not tell when she herself is in a dream?” Of course. It all made sense now. “I am here to tell you it is time to wake up and raise the moon. I was also investigating a nightmare, but it seems you took care of that yourself.”

Luna was confused. “We did? But we failed. If you had not intervened, Ponyville would have been destroyed!” Luna pawed at the ground with her hoof.

“I was watching the whole time. No matter how questionable of an act you committed, it was always in the name of the greater good. And in the end, you faced your worst fear- your irresponsible use of magic and the consequences that followed. By admitting that it had grown out of your control, you have conquered your demons, however interesting a form they may have taken.” She added with a smirk. A large bunny rabbit hopped by in the background, smiled, and waved.

“Now I suppose you’ll be needing this. It’s time for the rest of the ponies to get their sleep.” Celestia held out one of the scrolls Luna had discarded during her raid on the Royal Canterlot Library. “Awakening spell, to wake oneself from nightmares.” Luna read, then blushed deeply. If only she had used that spell sooner, so much of this could have been avoided. “Not as useless as you may think.” Celestia added, then flew off, into the sun.

“I’d use that spell soon if I were you, I’ve had a long day and could use some sleep.” The disembodied voice echoed. Luna smiled and unrolled the scroll, casting the spell and waking herself from her dream. “Once again, we raise the moon and welcome in the night.” She mumbled groggily.