*It's Halloween Night in Jay's Workspace, and all of the usual visitors have been hard at work for the last month or so getting it ready for the biggest Halloween Party in the history of Halloween Parties. Slick Goku, DAU Kermit, TFS Nappa, and Rex have been sending out invites to all sorts of famous monsters and slasher film heroes and villains. The Warner Siblings have been gather as much candy as they can. Hooty is serving as security with Omitraxus to make sure no one kills anyone. GIR and the Eds have been creating all sorts of decorations and attractions based on everything from the Universal Monster movies to Gravity Falls to...name a major slasher film, and it's probably in this. Now, at long last, the party's about to begin, with everyone gathering near a massive stage for a special announcement. Instead of RJ "Jay" Writing Ink, though, a different figure appears when the curtain draws back: the Cryptkeeper from Tales from the Crypt.*

Cryptkeeper: Good evening, everyone! I am the Cryptkeeper. You may know me as the ghoulishly delightful host of an HBO show from the 90s that was like Goosebumps, only for a more...mature audience. Also, my mother was a mummy, and my dad was a two-faced man. Now you may be wondering why Jay is not here telling you this story, and the short answer is...he's been too busy binge-watching every slasher film known to man. Even the ones that shouldn't be mentioned.

In any event, he dragged me out from the crypts of old TV programming for one night only so that I could introduce to you his Halloween Special. It's a fiendishly chaotic story if I do say so myself. What was it that he called this thing? Oh yes: A Nightmare in Castle Dragonfly: A Comet Vs. Halloween Special. When I asked why he didn't just use Hungry Larry, he simply said, "that guy's too scary, even for me." His loss. Now, let's get this show on the road!

Castle Dragonfly, the Mewni Dimension, Late at Night

Mune Dragonfly began to toss and turn in his bed as he slept beside his wife. This itself wasn't out of the ordinary. As the King of Mewni, King Mune had grown accustomed to being woken up in the middle of the night, which somehow translated into him becoming a restless sleeper. What wasn't ordinary, though, was the intense look on the King's face as he slept. If Comet had been there, he would've made some remark about how his old man never let himself relax even as he slept. There was a reason, though, for the way Mune appeared.

Inside the mind of the King of Mewni, Mune Dragonfly was in the middle of a nightmare. He was in a long, winding hallway reminiscent of the one found in his family's castle, with the paintings of all his family members replaced by images of various moments from throughout the King's life. And he was chasing something, or was something chasing him? Mune didn't know. All he knew was that something was trying to hurt him. Trying to make him feel afraid. Vulnerable. Which was not something that Mune could allow to happen to himself, not even in his dreams. So, despite how terrifying this eldritch...thing was, he stood his ground. The chase between the two continued throughout the realm of the mind, the two pursuing the other through memories and illusionary worlds that words alone couldn't describe.

"Where are you, creature? Show yourself!"

Mune knew that he wouldn't get a response from whatever this thing was; it didn't seem to respond to anything he said before, so why now. At last, though, their duel in the mind took them to a particular memory that Mune sometimes dreamt about, though he wished very much that he didn't have to. It was the memory of a very dark day in Mune's life, one filled with rain, tears shed, empty words of condolences being given...and him. The face of the one responsible for it.

Mune, though, didn't care. He had seen this nightmare so often in his life that he knew every detail. Instead, as he stood in the realm of this particular dream, all he focused on was the entity he'd been pursuing.

"How dare you invoke this day, you monster!" Mune called out to his enemy. "Face me, whatever you are, and pray to the gods that they may show you mercy!"

What happened next, Mune couldn't quite understand. All he remembered was the being turning to look at him, its body a mixture of wispy, black smoke, and began to scream. It was an ancient, primordial scream capable of driving people mad had it been real. But it wasn't; it was merely a dream. A dream that Mune soon noticed had begun to crack. His surroundings began to shatter as they were made of glass, from the people to the environment. Soon, everything had shattered into thousands of tiny fragments as the ground underneath Mune's feet gave way. He fell into the endless abyss of nothingness that lay below him and-

"*GASP!*"

Mune awoke with a start. He could feel the beads of cold sweat running down his face and the pounding of his heart in his chest. For a brief moment, he felt the careful composure that he sought to maintain slip away in the face of raw fear. It was only for a moment, though, and Mune quickly reasserted control over himself.

He did, though, quickly look at the sleeping form of his wife. When the King saw that Lake remained fast asleep, he even allowed himself a soft smile to form on his face.

That did little to distract him from what he saw in his dreams just now. He didn't get a chance to look at whatever that...thing was. But what he did see felt vaguely familiar to him. As though he had seen it somewhere before.

Thinking that it was better to be safe than sorry, Mune quickly got out of bed and made his way to the door. There was something he had to check on.

It took a minute or so of walking, but eventually, he reached his destination: a massive, circular room adorned with the tapestries of his predecessors, the Kings of Mewni past. There was an official name for this room, but his son had dubbed it "the Grandpa Room" the one time Mune had taken him to visit it.

As much as Mune wanted to linger and look at a certain King's tapestry, though, he was there for something else. Tucked away in the corner, hidden behind one of the tapestries, was a secret door, one that only the royal family was supposed to know existed. That door opened into a room appropriately called the Room of Relics.

The reason the name was so appropriate was that it housed artifacts and trinkets garnered and collected by the Dragonfly family for generations. The weapon of a defeated enemy, a piece of treasure uncovered, or even something that had sentimental value to the previous Kings. If it was deemed important, then odds were it could be found in the Room of Relics. There was one item, though, that Mune was looking for on this night. One that belonged to his great-great-grandfather, Rhonan the Riddled. To most, it would appear to be some sort of incredibly complex, nigh-impossible puzzle. What many didn't know, though, is that it was also a prison. An ever-changing cell for an entity that Rhonan stopped long before Mune had been born. So long as it remained intact, that jail would hold the being within.

Whatever tired haze Mune still felt clouding, his brain almost instantly faded away. As he finally reached the pedestal where the puzzle was kept, his worst fears were confirmed. There, lying on the ground in a heap of shattered glass and pieces, was the puzzle of Rhonan the Riddled, broken. Its sole occupant nowhere to be found.

"Oh no," was all Mune could say to himself as he looked down at the shattered remains of his ancestors while his mind began to race. He had no idea how the relic got destroyed, but if what he read about in the Book of Spells was true, then it could only mean one thing:

"The Nightmare is free." His dream just now had merely been the being's final taunt before departing for who knows where. Worse, Mune had no idea where to find it.


Echo Creek, California, Earth

Spongebob Narrator: Two days later...

"So, in 1804, the Jefferson administration ratified the Louisiana Purchase with Emperor Napoleon of France, expanding the *yawn* borders of the United States from New Orleans up to what is now *yawn* the border of modern-day Canada. Are there any *yawn* questions, guys?" Marcia asked as she looked up from her textbook to the group assembled on her living room floor.

"Yeah. Couldn't we have rescheduled for some other time?" Ferguson asked as he tried to suppress a yawn he felt coming. "It's way too early in the morning for us to be worrying about stuff like this!" the chubby boy whined, not caring if he sounded like someone half his age.

Much to Marcia Diaz's dismay, she saw that the majority of her Earth-based circle of friends were all struggling to focus. When she proposed this study group, it seemed like a good idea. They could help each other with whatever subjects they struggled with and have an excuse to hang out the rest of the day. What none of them counted on was the fact that everyone looked exhausted.

Brittney and Sabrina looked like they had just gotten out of bed with their messy hair; Brittney prided herself in how much attention she gave herself before starting each day. Today, though, she didn't even put on makeup. Not to mention how poor Sabrina always seemed so stressed, had bags under her eyes. And while Karla usually didn't have the neatest of hair, Marcia had known her long enough to know that she was barely awake. The fact that she used her ax-keytar as a pillow pretty much sold it.

None of the boys looked any better, either, now that Marcia could look at them. Alfonso snored away on Ferguson's shoulder, even as the latter tried to stay focused. Jonah was pulling the old "paint eyes on my eyelids" trick that he used when he wanted to take a nap in class. Comet was fast asleep with Coryn perched on his head and trying to peck him awake, to no effect. CometFan13 was trying to help, but given how tired he looked, he wasn't making any progress on his end. Jackson's poor eyes looked bloodshot like he hadn't gotten any sleep for the past few days.

And yet he still looked hot to Marcia. Focus, girl, she reminded herself.

It was clear to all that everyone was exhausted from a lack of a good night's sleep. And as much as Marcia didn't want to say anything, neither had she.

"Alright, show of hands: who here couldn't sleep last night?" Marcia asked though she dreaded the answer she'd get.

When everyone raised their hands in response (herself included), those fears were confirmed.

"Sorry, Marcia, but I had, like, the worst nightmare last night," Brittney was the first to admit.

"Same here," everyone else said as they finally managed to achieve some sort of waking awareness of their surroundings.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure all of my dreams would scare anyone," Jonah was quick to add. "But this one was different somehow." If Marcia weren't so tired, she'd roll her eyes at the boy. "Like, something was trying to kill me."

"My dreams usually aren't scary either, Jonah. But it was nuts!" Comet managed to get out of his tired mouth. "I was fighting some kind of monster, and whenever I tried to get rid of it, it turned into this weird, blue smoke thing and transformed into something else. Then the next thing I know, I'm...why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?"

Comet had stopped explaining the nightmare he had the night before when he noticed that everyone was not only fully awake but had their eyes fixed directly on Comet. "Please tell me I didn't say something wrong and offended you guys somehow."

"Wait, wait, wait. You saw it, too?" Ferguson hastily asked Comet. "That was the same thing that I saw in my dream! It showed up, and then everything started turning on me and tried to put me six feet under!"

"I saw it go by in my dream, and then the next thing I know, I'm being hunted by the villain from a slasher film," Alfonso fearfully said, visibly shaking as he did so.

"It was witches in mine!" Brittney admitted.

"I thought I was going to die!" Sabrina cried out in a sudden panic.

"It was horrible," Jackson chimed in.

"I swear it took on the form of that killer doll from those movies where everyone's stupid except for the main characters," Karla told the others.

"There was a man with a hook for a hand. He wanted to use my blood for a painting!" Even poor CometFan 13 said.

"So, you mean all had the same nightmare?" Marcia asked, now visibly disturbed by what was going on.

"Sure looks like it, Marcia," Jonah admitted. "Even got me, too," he explained, though he refused to elaborate.

"Well, that's a weird coincidence," Comet stated. It was clear that he wasn't taking the matter as seriously as everyone else did.

"What? That we were all haunted by what sounds like the love child of Freddy Kreuger and the Black Smoke Monster from Lost? Yeah, that is a coincidence," Jonah sarcastically told Comet. "Hear that? That's sarcasm in my voice."

"Jonah!" Marcia rebuked her beanie-wearing acquaintance. "But he's right, Comet," she admitted. "This is way too many cases for it to be a coincidence."

"So, what? You think that this is supernatural or something?"

"Yes," everyone said to Comet.

"Comet, this is obviously some kind of freaky magic at work here," Jonah, the resident expert on the occult and paranormal, argued.

"And you are the only one here who can use magic," Ferguson pointed out.

"So..." Alfonso said expectantly. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the others were implying to Comet.

"Okay, I'm happy that you guys are turning to me in this time of crisis, you guys," Comet told them. He meant it, too. He liked being the center of attention, but he loved helping his friends even more. "But I don't know what to do with something like this," he reluctantly admitted.

Everyone collectively slumped their shoulders at this. "Then, who else can we get to help us deal with our dream monster?" Karla asked as she let her head fall onto the nearby coffee table. "It's not like there are any other experts out there we can turn to."

Suddenly hearing Karla say this, Marcia felt a lightbulb go off inside her head. "Actually, there might be, Karla!" she pointed out. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about this beforehand!

Comet saw the look on Marcia's face, and despite being so tired that he forgot about the spell to give him a full night's rest in a few minutes, he wasn't tired enough to not figure out what Marcia was thinking.

"No! No way am I doing that!" Comet adamantly protested.

Alas, Comet's reaction was enough to pierce the sleepy haze affecting everyone's minds. They quickly realized who Marcia wanted to ask and turned to look at Comet.

"Comet..." Jackson.

"Do we have to?"

"Comet..." Jonah said as he got out his alchemy stuff.

"Look, maybe this will just blow over in a day or two. There's no need to-"

*SLAM!*

All talking ceased as Brittney Wong slammed her palm down onto the table before giving Comet the angriest look he'd ever seen from her.

"Comet, if you do not go up there and do this, and we never have a good night's sleep again, I will make every last moment of yours into a waking nightmare." Brittney looked so angry, Marcia was sure that she could give Tammy Lucitor lessons on how to act demonic!

Comet blanched at this. "Yes, ma'am," he said, defeated.


Two minutes later, the group was in Comet's bedroom, listening as Comet opened up his mirror and began to do the thing he didn't want to have to: call his Dad.

"So, Dad, it seems like last night *yawn* all my friends and I had the same nightmare about this blue smoke monster trying to scare and/or kill us while we slept," Comet spoke into his mirror as he sent his message. "And, if you happen to know anything about it, or if Glossaryck can help us with this, then..." Comet really didn't want to have to add the last part, but he had no choice. He'd been strongarmed into this by majority rule. "...please call me back.*Yawn*. Please, Dad. We want to get a good night's sleep."

"End of message," the automated voice on his mirror said before proceeding to send his message to his Dad.

"Well, now, what do we do?" Ferguson asked. Comet shrugged.

"Guess we have to wait until-"

Whatever Comet wanted to say next got cut short by the sound of scissors tearing, signaling an interdimensional portal opening. And out it rushed, not stepped, Mune Dragonfly.

"Which one of you saw the smoke monster?!" Mune asked, his voice uncharacteristically frantic. It was far from the reserved and collected image he'd projected the last time most of them had seen him.

"We all did," Marcia was the first to speak up, presumably on behalf of the entire group. This did little to calm the King down, though, as he immediately moved towards Comet and began to look him over.

"What happened? Did it attack you? What do you remember? What forms did it take?"

Comet, more than a little embarrassed and annoyed at his Dad looking him over, tried to push him away. "Nothing happened to us, Dad. At least nothing permanent. It just tried to scare us-"

"Not tried, Comet. It did scare us!" Alfonso interjected.

"Right, it scared us and then hightailed it. We're fine. Just *yawn* really tired."

Upon hearing this, King Mune seemed to relax somewhat. "Well, thank the Gods, that was all it did. It could've done far worse. You should consider yourselves lucky. He must still be weak after all this time," Mune muttered to himself as he started pacing around the room.

Comet got an apprehensive look on his face as he heard this. "Dad, do you…know who's been messing with our dreams?"

"Yes, I do, unfortunately," Mune admitted as he finally ceased his pacing and spoke to his son. "And the fact that it's been in your dreams means that all of you may be in grave danger."

"What," squeaked out of Sabrina's mouth, making Brittney move to comfort her former lieutenant.

"Dad, what's going on?" Comet asked. "You're usually not so...panicky," he noted, pausing as he tried to come up with the best way to describe how his Dad usually acted.

"The long and short of it, son, is that what you faced last night wasn't a normal occurrence. It was the work of a Nightmare."

"Yeah, we know. That's what bad dreams are, Dad," Comet pointed out, frustrated at the lack of an explanation.

"No," Mune sighed. "What I mean is that that's what it-just let me explain," the King added before regaining his composure, not wanting to get frustrated with his son. "Comet, what you saw in your dreams was a very powerful Demon."

"A Demon? You mean like Tammy?" Marcia questioned. Mune shook his head at this.

"Not quite, Ms. Diaz," he told her. "What you saw was a Dream Demon. It's a non-corporeal, parasitic creature only in the very depths of the Underworld. Even other Demons avoid them due to how dangerous they are."

"Well, that's reassuring," Karla said, her voice uncharacteristically sarcastic. The lack of sleep was getting to her.

"We don't know how they came into being, but as the other Demons of the Underworld learned, they're only found in the darkest reaches of the Underworld. They exist unseen to the naked eye, searching for other living beings whose minds they can latch onto. When that happens, they invade the dreams of their victims, corrupting them into horrific nightmares and creating fear."

"Please tell they don't feed on that fear to grow stronger, your highness," Ferguson pleaded, clasping his hands in a begging position as he did so to show how scared he was.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that is exactly the case," Mune told everyone, causing the less strong-willed teens to go as pale as a sheet. "The more afraid its victims get, the stronger the Nightmare gets. If left unchecked, they can drive an unfortunate soul mad from fear."

"WHAT?!" came the cry from Comet's group.

"But how did it get here? Why is it after us, specifically?" Comet all but demanded to know from his Dad, not caring how he sounded.

"It's not your fault, Comet. This is something that our family has dreaded for a long time now."

"Oh, no..." Comet already had an idea of what was going on, and he didn't like it.

"Please listen, Comet. This is important," Mune told his son. "Many years ago, our ancestor, Rhonan the Riddled, faced one such Nightmare. Instead of merely feeding on our fears, though, it started to feed on the magic that flows through our veins. This made it stronger, stronger than any of its kind have ever been. If it had been allowed to remain unchecked, it would've drained Rhonan of his very magic. If that happened, then it could gain physical form and..." Mune hesitated to finish.

"...and escape into the real world and cause havoc on a scale Mewni's never seen," Marcia said, putting two and two together in her head.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Mune admitted. "In the end, Rhonan wasn't able to destroy it. He had to trap its essence within a magical puzzle he created, one thought to be impossible to escape. So long as it remained intact, the Nightmare would remain trapped. We assumed that was the end of it. But then, two nights ago...I saw the creature in my own dreams. And when I searched for the puzzle, I found it had been shattered. I waited for it to return the next night, but it never did. And when I got your message-"

"-You figured out that it somehow saw us inside your memories and dreams, bailed, and decided to come after all of us instead." Jonah was quick to finish, making everyone else turn toward him in response. "What? I had a feeling that this was where things were going."

"Jonah! That doesn't mean you should talk over Comet's father like that! He's a king!" Marcia chastised her friend before proceeding to walk over, push his head down, and force him to bow to the King while she did the same. "I'm so sorry about his behavior, your highness. Jonah doesn't really have a filter on his mouth," she nervously told him, trying to hide her embarrassment. Mune may have been Comet's dad, but his status as King meant that she at least treated him with respect.

Mune pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back the headache he could feel coming on. Still, he couldn't deny the fact that Comet's...friend was correct in his assumption. "Ms. Diaz, you do not need to act like this. The boy's right. The Nightmare saw all of your faces in my dream last night and thus learned of your existence. That's why it's chosen you as its new target."

"But why us? Wouldn't it just want Comet?" Ferguson questioned, not following the logic.

"Does it even need a reason, Ferguson? It's trying to hurt us so it can get stronger. And once it gets strong enough-"

"It'll be game over for all of us," Alfonso shuddered. "Maybe even all of Earth."

"Exactly, young man," Mune stated, secretly trying to remember the names of his son's Earthly companions. "Which is why I'm here now." Mune then turned to Comet. "Son, the only way that we can stop this Nightmare before it escapes into the real world is if we defeat it inside of your dreams. Which is why, until this problem has been dealt with, I would have you all spend the night in my family's care."

Most of the teens present perked up as soon as they heard this, especially Comet. "Wait, does that mean...?"

Mune could tell what his son was thinking and was quick to put his foot down. "No, son, this is not going to be what you think it is."

"Really? Because it sure sounds like it's-"

"Well, it's not," Mune reiterated. "This is a very serious problem, and I expect you to treat it as such. Now," he then turned to address Comet's friends. "Would the rest of you please gather whatever effects you may need and return here in the next hour or so? We need to prepare for what will happen tonight."

All I needed to hear, Comet thought to himself. "You hear that, everyone? WE'RE HAVING A SLEEPOVER AT MY PLACE!"

And with that, the dam burst, with the majority of the teenagers crying and cheering at the idea. They were getting the chance to sleep in an actual castle! Even the more laidback Jackson had gotten excited at that notion!

Before anyone could stop them, Comet had led most of his friends out of his room to gather everything they would need for their impromptu sleepover, forgetting the fact that this was his bedroom, much to his dad's exasperation. The only one sensible enough to stay behind was Marcia.

"Is this what it was like for you when he was-"

"Yes. Every day of my life," Mune said, letting out an incredibly weary sigh.

"I feel your pain, your highness," Marcia sympathetically told the King of Mewni. At least the two of them understood the stress of dealing with Comet every day.


Castle Dragonfly, Sunset

Spongebob Narrator: Later that evening...

It took some doing and a lot of explaining to their parents, but Comet's circle of friends had managed to do as King Mune instructed. They had returned within an hour with their sleepwear, sleeping bags, and toiletries, at which point Mune escorted them all through a portal into Castle Dragonfly.

Even though they'd already gotten to see Comet's ancestral home before following the whole Toffee Incident, most of the human teens couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement. They were going to be sleeping under the same roof as royalty! That was something that most of them never thought would happen in their lives! It was only thanks to Marcia's leadership skills (and the occasional glare from Mune) that they managed to keep themselves in a cohesive group. Even that was pushing it, though.

The remaining events of the evening went by in a blur. Due to the size of their group, Mune had settled the group in one of the larger guest rooms of the Castle. Though it was officially a room, in truth, it was more like a wing, consisting of the actual bedroom, a private bathroom, and even an adjacent den and sunroom. The whole thing was bigger than anything that Marcia, Jonah, and even Brittney had ever seen.

And unfortunately for Mune, most of the teens still didn't take things seriously, despite what was at stake. Brittney kept muttering something about "all of this could be mine someday" to herself. Jonah tried pilfering the room of anything he thought would be valuable enough to sell online, only for Marcia and Jackson to put a stop to it. CometFan13 ran around taking photos of everything on his phone and couldn't be stopped, no matter what anyone told him.

Mune felt like pulling his hair out at a few points, but it was Marcia and her more sensible companion (Jackson, he had to remind himself) that said that they didn't mean any harm. In truth, they were all pretty nervous about what they had to do that night and were trying their best to avoid thinking about it. Thus, Mune allowed Comet's friends to do as they wished...to an extent. He refused to let Jonah pocket anything he found.

Eventually, though, the inevitable setting of the sun heralded the coming of the moons and the start of the night. Thus, reluctantly, everyone changed into their pajamas in the provided bathrooms before returning to the bedroom, where Mune patiently awaited them.

A minor hiccup ensued when the girls returned from getting changed into their PJs when Jonah tried to talk the boys into treating the whole thing like their own personal supermodel show. He said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his fellow guy friends and that they shouldn't pass up the chance to see their female peers in their PJs. Especially when they discovered that Brittney Wong preferred sleeping attire that was on the more...mature side.

Fortunately, Ferguson was the only one dumb enough to get sucked into the pace of things. Comet made it very clear to the others that if they so much took a photo of Marcia, Sabrina, Brittney, and Karla in their PJs, he would personally destroy their phones.

Mune didn't say it out loud, but inwardly, he was pleased with his son's behavior. As a teenage boy, he knew his son would eventually have certain…urges. Even so, he made sure his mother taught him to be respectful of girls. It was good to see the lessons had stuck.

Once everyone had settled down somewhat, Mune brought everyone's focus onto him.

"All right, what I'm about to tell you is extremely important, so please pay attention. All of our lives could depend on it," Mune said in a stern tone. He refused to let the Nightmare escape due to the inattentiveness of a group of teenagers.

"We're listening, your highness," Marcia spoke on behalf of everyone.

"Until now, the Nightmare only infected our dreams and our dreams alone. However, the stronger it grows, the easier it will become for it to move on to other people's dreams. And once it gets strong enough...well, I pray that it doesn't come to that."

Alfonso, Ferguson, and Sabrina all let out an audible gulp as they heard that part.

"Fortunately, there is a way to stop it before that happens. Comet and I will use magic to travel into your dreams. From there, we can hunt down the Nightmare and capture it before it can do any further harm."

"Wait, why do I have to help?" Comet asked. "I thought you were going to handle this while we get some shut-eye." After what he saw last night, he was looking forward to a good night's sleep with everyone else. Granted, he had used that spell that gave people a full night's sleep in a few minutes on them before calling his Dad. But he didn't want to be deprived of whatever kickass dreams he'd have.

Mune shook his head. "I'm sorry, son, but if we're to capture the Nightmare, it will take both of us working together. When I faced it on my own, I barely managed to keep up with it. If we want to ensure that doesn't happen again, both of our power will be necessary."

"Soooo..." Comet asked with a sly grin on his face, "what you're saying is...you need my help on this?"

"I didn't say that."

"Because it sounds like you just admitted that you couldn't do this on your own,"

"No, I-"

"Because that, to me, sounds an awful lot like you saying you need my help," Comet continued to prod, much to the exasperation of everyone else in the room (except for Jonah, who was eating popcorn, and CometFan 13, who didn't care).

Before this little back and forth between father and son could go any further, Marcia decided to be the voice of reason and spoke up. "Comet, stop needling your Dad. Your Highness, just let him have this so we can fix this," she bluntly told them both. She hated having to lecture her bestie or his Dad, but she didn't like having to be the adult in the room.

Groaning in defeat, Mune decided to simply drop the matter and gave Comet the win, though he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it. "Let's just start this," he told his still-grinning son before turning to the others. "As for the rest of you, I recommend you go to sleep now."

"Already on it." "Good luck." "Please don't mess this up." "You better not say anything about what you see in there." "Dreamland, here I come." "Bring it on."

The rest of the group was fast asleep within a few moments, leaving Comet and Mune alone in the waking world.

"So, now what?" Comet asked aloud.

"Now, we can begin," Mune told him before motioning him over to his side. Comet did as Mune told him without much of a fuss.

"Wouldn't it be easier to get Glossaryck to help us on this?" Comet asked, the stray thought coming into his head as he got into a cross-legged position beside his father.

"Not in this case, no," Mune admitted. "He said that this wasn't his sort of problem but that he would, and I quote, 'stick around to watch the fun.' His words, not mine."

"Don't mind me," came the voice of Glossaryck as he hovered in the air above them, carrying a bag of popcorn. "I'm just here for the entertainment."

"Can we start now?"

"Yes," Mune and Glossaryck both said in response, now more than ready to begin things.

"Now, hold out your Wand, Comet," Mune instructed his son. Comet did as he was told, holding his Wand out in front of him. "Make sure it's facing toward your friends," the King added before raising out his left hand. Out of the corner of Comet's eye, he saw that Mune's hand began to glow and become covered in a blue hue. It was the same one that Comet had seen him use when he put out the fire's in Dragontown.

Focus, Comet, he mentally reminded himself. His friends were at stake here, not to mention his own peace of mind.

"Now, to do this, we must recite the spell out loud," Mune coached. "Repeat after me: Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso."

"Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso."

As the two royals spoke the mysterious words, the room around them began to glow. Comet could tell something was happening, but he didn't dare break his concentration. Not now!

"Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso. Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso. Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso."

The King and Prince continued to chant the spell as the light enveloped the room, or rather, they glowed brighter and brighter. Everything became a blur until finally-

"Morpheus Metamorphioso Dreamioso!"

-The spell activated. Then everything went white.


When Comet opened his eyes next, he wasn't in Castle Dragonfly anymore. He was lying on his back underneath a beautiful blue sky, with the sound of waves lapping against land filling his ears. After shutting his eyes for a second to adjust to the glare of the sun overhead, Comet got up and looked around. Instead of being in Castle Dragonfly, Comet found himself in the middle of a pristine, tropical beach that felt vaguely similar to the home of the main character in Kingdom Hearts.

"Okay, so I'm definitely not in Mewni anymore," Comet remarked to no one but himself. "But what is this place? I thought we were supposed to travel into my friend's dreams."

"We did, Comet."

Comet let out a light yelp as he wheeled around, his body jumping into a battle stance to defend against whatever snuck up on him...only for him to relax when he saw that it was just his Dad.

"Dad! Don't go sneaking up on others like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Comet yelled.

"Oh, well, now you know how I feel when you do that," Mune told him, his voice carrying the tiniest hint of smugness in it.

Sighing, Comet had no other choice but to admit, "touche," before relaxing his...body? "So, did we use magic to transport ourselves into a dream, or is this one of those things where we're mentally projecting ourselves into one of my compatriot's minds?"

"The second one," Mune said as he approached Comet. "That's also why you're wearing your...*groan* usual attire."

Comet looked over his body and saw that, instead of pajamas, he was now wearing his usual mixture of a hoodie, horned boots, and a horned hat. The only thing he was missing was his Wand.

Choosing to ignore the jab at his sense of fashion (which he knew was amazing,) Comet decided to focus on the more immediate issue. "So, what now? How do we find this Nightmare freak?"

"Well, according to Glossaryck, first, we need to find the person to who this dream belongs to. The Nightmare will be instinctively drawn to them like a magnet," Mune said as he motioned Comet to follow him down the beach.

"And then we just wait for it to show up and beat it up? Sounds simple to me," Comet said as he slammed his fist into an open palm.

"It might sound simple, son, but it's anything but," Mune cautioned Comet. "When I saw the Nightmare in my dreams, I was barely able to keep up with it."

"Well, there's an easy explanation for that, Dad: you didn't have me," Comet cockily told his father, eliciting an eye roll from him in the process. "Hey, I'm being serious, Dad. Between my friends and me, there's no way that this thing's going to get away. All we need to do is find them in here, and we'll take care of the rest."

"Don't let your power cloud your judgment, son. That's gotten you into more trouble than I would like in the past. Remember the Warnicorn Incident?"

"Oh, come on! I didn't even have magic back then!" Comet complained before groaning. "Let's just find which of my friend's dreamed this up and get their help."

"Yes," Mune agreed. "Comet, you've known longer than I have. Do you know whose dream this is?"

"Way to go, Jackson!"

At that moment, Comet and Mune heard a familiar voice calling out to someone in the distance, prompting the former to begin running in its direction, much to Mune's dismay. There was good reason for Comet to run, though. There, standing a few dozen feet ahead near the water, was Marcia Diaz, now clad in a modest red-and-white striped bikini with black sandals covering her feet. Comet couldn't help but smile as he saw his best friend standing in the surf, smiling under the bright sun.

"Oyyyy! Marcia!"

Marcia turned her head as she proceeded to look for whoever called her name. Just like Comet, her face lit up as she saw the Prince of Mewni running towards him.

"Comet! There you are!" Marcia said as she proceeded to run toward her roommate. "Wait, you are the real Comet, right? Not something that I came up with?"

Comet pretended to be shocked by this question. "Marcia Ulberta Diaz! I can't believe you! I thought that after all this time, you would be able to tell your best friend apart from a figment of your imagination! I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!"

"Calm down, you big crybaby," Marcia said, playfully punching his shoulder. "I knew it was you. Why else would your Dad be with you right now," she said, gesturing to the King of Mewni, who had just caught up with his son.

"Hello again, Miss Diaz," Mune politely said to his son's guide. "Have you seen any sign of the Nightmare yet?"

"Nope," Marcia admitted. Given how it was a demon that fed on nightmares, though, she was perfectly fine with this. "It's just been me so far."

"Nice dream, by the way," Comet complimented. "I can't help but notice that you were calling out to...someone."

Marcia's face fell at this. "Comet-"

"Oh, come on, Marcia. You didn't think I wouldn't notice? The gorgeous beach, the swimsuit-it's obvious what this dream's about!"

"I'm sorry; what exactly is going on here?" Mune asked, not following what was going on.

"Isn't it obvious, Dad?"

"Comet, please don't say anything!" Marcia begged her friend. "Please, just let me have this here!"

Before anyone else could say anything else, another familiar voice called out to them. "Hey, babe!"

The group of three then turned towards the water to see, standing there with a surfboard in hand, Jackson Lee Thomas. Except it wasn't the real Jackson. How did Comet know this? Because one, he didn't think that a real person could appear in another person's dreams without magic.

That, and this version of Jackson had notably longer hair and more muscle than he should've.

Oh yeah, it's one of those dreams. The fact that Marcia's face was blushing and she had some drool coming out of her mouth confirmed it to Comet. He honestly didn't think that straight-laced Marcia could make a face like that.

"Ohhhhh," Mune realized as he saw how Marcia looked at the other boy. Young love is such a beautiful thing. Reminds me of Lake and me.

"Comet?"

"Yes, Marcia?"

"If you tell anyone about this, I will make you suffer for the rest of your life," Marcia sternly told her best friend.

"My lips are sealed," he told his best friend. "Well, Dad, it looks like the Nightmare isn't in here. I guess we can move on to the next-"

At that exact moment, almost like it had been waiting for someone to say that exact line, the Nightmare struck. A giant, mutant shark with arms and legs suddenly jumped out of the water. And, in a sequence that was far too graphic for the author to describe properly, the shark proceeded to bite dream Jackson clean in two. The only thing left of him was the blood-soaked torso.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Marcia let out the loudest scream that her mind could conceive as her face went white with absolute horror! "JACKSSOOOOONNNNN!"

"HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK!?" was all Comet managed to say. Even though he knew that that wasn't the real Jackson Lee Thomas (and Marcia also knew that,) seeing one of their friends/Marcia's crush die in such a gruesome manner was traumatizing!

Marcia, still processing the horror of what she had just witnessed, fell to her knees as she felt the tears beginning to well up. "Jackson, no! My dream boy, taken from me in the prime of his life!" she began to sob uncontrollably at the absolute nightmare her dream had become. All Comet could hope to do was console her at this point.

Mune, on the other hand, was too busy to comfort his son's companion. He was scanning the area for any sight of that monstrous fish that was responsible. He knew that only one thing could do something like this, and if he was right, then it was likely that the creature they were hunting wasn't done yet.

Then, in the corner of his eye, Mune spotted it. Something was moving underneath the sand, burrowing at an incredible speed as it made its way toward them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was what he and his son were looking for. It had even changed form to do so!

"Comet, focus! The Nightmare's here!"

Hearing his father call out to him, Comet reluctantly left Marcia's side and entered a fighting stance, waiting for the Nightmare to come to them. At last, the creature of the dreaming world rose from the sandy depths. The only problem is that it was non longer a mutant shark. Instead, it had taken on a more...reptilian appearance.

The Nightmare was now in the form of some kind of freak of nature. It was a massive, bipedal lizard creature that boasted massive horns jutting out of its head, a mouth of razor-sharp teeth, and spikes jutting out of its back. What was most terrifying, though, were the massive claws extending from the five digits on either hand.

"What in the...?"

"Dad, look out!"

Caught off-guard by the creature's freakish appearance, Mune almost didn't realize that it had raised a clawed hand, ready to bring it down on him, until it was too late. Fortunately for him, Comet wasn't so distracted, ironically. Jumping in front of his Dad at speeds faster than what should've been possible, Comet threw up his arms to protect his Dad. As he did so, though, a massive, green shield appeared in front of him, protecting them both from the attack.

Not wasting any time trying to question what had just happened, Comet refused to let up.

"RAINBOW FIST PUNCH!" On command, a massive, rainbow-colored fist shot out of his arm and hit the Nightmare right in the kisser, knocking it back a dozen feet into a crater in the sand.

For his part, Comet wasn't really sure how he did that. But he wasn't going to look a gift warnicorn in the mouth. Especially considering that this thing had just traumatized his best friend.

Not even bothering to wait for his Dad to take stock of what happened, Comet then surged-no, he flash-stepped forwards to the Nightmare, preparing to land the finishing blow right then and there. However, he soon found that this was easier said than done. The moment Comet tried to flatten the creature with a giant mallet, the Nightmare turned into a fine, smoky mist. With its ghostly natural form, it then phased right through Comet, leaving with an odd, tingling sensation and chills running down his spine.

Is this what evil feels like? It's cold!

"AHH!"

Comet was brought out of his thoughts when he saw that the environment around them began to change. The sand began to mutate into a series of hideous creatures. A set of teeth with arms and legs, this woman with snakes for hair and yellow fangs, and this freaky fish-man.

No, that last one wasn't something like a Merperson, or a reference to One Piece. It was like this hideous amalgamation of man and fish from that horror story Comet had to read for English class.

"Hang on, Marcia, I'm coming for ya!" Comet said as he prepared to charge in and save his bestie...only for Mune to hold him back.

"Dad, what are you doing!? Marcia's in trouble!" He yelled in protest.

"There's no time! The Nightmare's already escaping to the next dream!"

Sure enough, Comet looked up in the sky and saw the smoky form of the Nightmare flying away before vanishing in a flash of light.

"We need to leave now if we want to catch it and stop this madness!"

"Wait, just give me a second!" Comet pleaded. Before Mune could even answer him, Comet held out his hand and shouted, "Teddy Bear Tank Brigade!" On cue, a group of half a dozen teddy bears wearing eyepatches and helmets and driving miniature tanks appeared on the sand.

"Men, defend General Diaz at all costs!" Comet shouted to his newly created soldiers, who all saluted in response before charging into battle.

Before Comet could do anything else, though, he found himself enveloped by a bright light.


The next thing Comet knew, he wasn't standing in the middle of a beach anymore. Instead, he found himself standing in a courtyard outside some sort of temple. Standing a few feet away from him was his Dad, his face contorted into a frustrated scowl as he looked around.

"Gods damn it, we lost it!" Mune cursed in frustration. "We almost had it just, and now it's gone!"

"Dad?"

"Comet, there you are!" Mune said, finally acknowledging his son's presence. "We lost the Nightmare when we made the jump. Now we're back to square one. Well, no matter. If we keep looking through your friend's dreams, we should be able to find it."

"Speaking of which...whose dream is this, anyway?" Comet asked aloud, very confused about where he and his Dad had ended up now. "Wait, why am I even asking you that?"

Just then, Comet spotted someone walking up the steps to what appeared to be a giant temple. Who it was, though, was impossible to discern, as the figure was completely covered in a black coat and hood. Not one to be discouraged, though, Comet allowed his curiosity to get the better of him and sprinted over to the hooded figure.

"Um, excuse me?" Comet politely asked. "Hi, I don't know where me and my old man are, but if you could tell us what this place is, then we would be very grateful." Yet Comet didn't seem to get any response at first as the hooded figure continued to climb the steps to the large, ornate building.

"Hey, man," Comet spoke again, now a little upset that this person (or dream-person) seemed to be ignoring him. "All I'm asking for is a little help." When the figure did not seem to acknowledge him, Comet proceeded to step in front of them, blocking their path forward. This finally prompted a proper response from them. Except, it wasn't the kind of response he was expecting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The next thing that Comet knew, he was surrounded by and being carried by a bunch of people in the same black hoods. "Okay, so this is happening!"

"Comet? Comet!" Mune cried out as he saw his son being carried off by the strangers into the building. Not willing to let these people take his son, even if inside a dream, Mune pursued them into the building. It was there that he found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a massive congregation of these black-hooded people, with the group that had Comet carrying him all the way up to some sort of stage.

"Um, I like being the center of attention and all, but don't you guys think that this taking this too far?" Comet asked in a half-joking tone as the group finally set him down next to a podium that contained a massive statue hidden underneath a blanket.

"Okay, seriously: whose dream is this, anyway?"

"At last...you have arrived..." came an eerie voice, revealed to be coming from another hooded figure standing on the podium. The main difference between this one and the others is that this one had a heart symbol on the brim of his hood.

"Ummm, hi? Do I know you, or are you someone that one of my friend's dreamt up? Because this is sounding an awful lot like something Jonah would think of," Comet asked, doing his best not to seem nervous or anything.

"Ohhh, Comet, you should know who we are," the lead figure told the Prince of Mewni. "After all... we're all your biggest fans!" The figure then pulled down its hood to reveal its face to be that of...

"CometFan13?"

Sure enough, the figure standing before him was none other than Comet's biggest fan, CometFan13, with crudely drawn heart marks and everything. In fact, everyone present was CometFan13.

Then, as if things couldn't get any weirder, the blanket covering the statue came down, revealing it to be Comet Dragonfly in statue form, Wand-Staff in hand, as he donned a heroic pose.

"Oh my gods..." Comet said breathlessly. "It's an entire fan club dedicated to me."

...

"THIS IS SO COOL!"

Mune felt the overwhelming urge to face-palm but resisted it. Instead, he finished making his way to the stage and his son, now gushing over the evident worship of himself.

"Comet, snap out of it," Mune scoldingly told him. "Can't you see that the Nightmare might have already infected this place?"

"Hmmm...nope," Comet disagreed. "Everything looks normal to me."

"How is that normal?" Mune incredulously asked as he pointed at the statue.

Comet shrugged his shoulders. "Just is. I've always known that CometFan13 is my biggest fan. We wallpapered our lockers with pictures of each other. We're friends, Dad!"

"The Great Comet calls us his friends!" one of the CometFans called out from the assembled crowd, prompting cheers to erupt.

"Comet, son, while I do not want to question your decisions-"

"Yet you often do-" Comet couldn't help but snark at this.

"-but this seems less like being a fan and more like a cult!"

"Isn't that the same thing when you think about it?" Comet retorted.

"ALL HAIL COMET!" The CometFan13's chanted, much to Mune's exasperation.

Unfortunately, the King and Prince were so distracted by the fan that CometFan13's mind was a cult that worshipped Comet they failed to pay attention to their surroundings. If they did, then maybe they would've noticed the blue smoke monster that had made its way inside the building and proceeded to sneak its way up to the stage before leaping inside the statue of Comet.

*Creeaaakkk*

They did, however, notice the loud creaking from the statue as it began tearing itself off its base.

"What in the-?"

"Oh no, our effigy of our great one has come to life! Have we done something to anger Comet," one of the CometFan13's exposited/questioned, prompting the actual CometFan to look at Comet. All that Comet could do was shrug his shoulders, being just as lost as his biggest fan.

The statue, though, wasn't done yet. It's face, which had accurately captured Comet's handsome features, began to twist and contort into something hideous. Its eyebrows got bigger and noticeably bushy, and its smile became far more crooked. The piece de resistance, though, was that the horns on its hat grew to monstrous size, twisted like that of a ram's.

The statue then began to let out an unearthly roar so powerful that everyone had to cover their ears. Caught off-guard, nobody could stop it as it proceeded to leap into the assembled crowd, landing on some of the duplicates of CometFan. Screams ran out as blood and visceral began to pour on the floor, horrifying all those present.

Panic began to set in. The demonic statue began to attack the remaining CometFans, crushing them underneath its steely boots and slamming them against the wall with its fists. It was an orgy of violence and carnage, one that began to take its toll on the actual CometFan13.

"No! My beautiful dream has turned into a nightmare!" CometFan cried out, now on his knees and reduced to tears.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that some outside power was responsible for this horror. Comet and Mune immediately sprang into action, jumping into the crowd and rushing towards the statue.

"Comet, get its attention!"

"Right!"

Without even thinking about it, Comet conjured up an RPG in his hands, the same one he used at Sgt. O's.

"Nobody messes with my friends or my likeness, you jerk! Strawberry Panzerfaust!" Pulling down on the trigger, the RPG launched into the air, colliding with the back of the statue's head with a fiery, fruity explosion. The statue roared in pain before looking around to see Comet and Mune rushing towards it. The statue roared, this time in anger, before bringing its gigantic fist down on the approaching Mune.

Mune, with years of battle training kicking in, deftly dodged the blow before conjuring up a sword made of pure magic. In a flurry of motion, almost too fast for Comet to see, Mune sliced through the fist before traveling up its arm. The end result spoke for itself as the entire arm proceeded to fall to pieces on the ground.

Luckily, none of the CometFans got hurt. Comet used his magic to pull them to safety. Real or not, he figured that CometFan had been put through enough trauma for one nightmare.

As he did so, Mune didn't let up, slicing through the rest of the statue until it was nothing more than a head writhing on the ground in a heap of gold and steel. Out of its mouth came the familiar blue smoke of the Nightmare, fleeing once more.

"No!" Was all Mune could cry out as the Nightmare fled once more.

"Comet! It's getting away again!"

"No, gods damn it!" Comet then turned to CometFan13. "I'm really sorry about this, buddy, but I gotta go!"

"Do not worry about us, Comet! We can hold our own against this abomination that dared to pervert your likeness."

Comet chose to ignore the fact that he said that last part in a very deep and ominous tone and moved to his Dad. "Chewie, get us out of here!"

"Who the heck is-you know what, it doesn't really matter. Let's go!" And in a flash, Comet and Mune were gone.

As for CometFan13 and his fan club, they got right to work against the still-writhing statue head.

"MY BRETHREN, DESTROY THE ABOMINATION!" Everyone then grabbed torches and pitchforks and prepared to do battle.


"And now, everyone, the moment that you've all been waiting for. Brittney Wong is proud to present the upcoming summer season's hottest swimwear!"

As the announcer finished making her introduction, Brittney Wong stepped out from behind the curtain and onto the runway, flashing a big grin and showing off her flawless teeth, and she and her fellow models strutted out and showed what they had to the cheering crowd.

This was one of the first fashion shows that Brittney had gotten to put on since her Dad made her VP of fashion for Wong International, and she wanted to make as big a splash as possible. She spent days designing the flashiest, most form-fitting, and sexiest swimsuits she could think of. The kind that would make girls look amazing and would make the guys drool over them.

As an added bonus, Brittney even managed to call up some of her old friends from high school and convinced them to serve as models alongside her. It took some doing, but she managed to convince Sabrina and Marcia to do it, and even though the two girls were a little nervous as they walked down the runway and struck poses in their swimsuits, they didn't show it. It also helped that all the people in the crowd started cheering even louder.

But now it was time for the piece de resistance: Brittney's swimsuit. The moment she finally made her way down the runway, clad in her black bikini that wrapped around her body like a ribbon, made the crowd go wild. Her bikini was perfect, fitting close enough to the skin that it let her flaunt her curves but loose enough that it didn't feel constricting, especially around her breasts. She even researched a new type of fabric that wouldn't chafe even if sand got in it. She felt amazing in it, and everyone else seemed to think so.

Of course, the only person whose opinion Brittney cared about was her beloved fiance, Comet Dragonfly. Standing there at the end of the runway, microphone in hand as he served as the MC, Comet had never looked more amazing than he did at that moment. As she reached the end and began to strike poses, she couldn't help but see her fiance's gaze on her. He liked her in this, and she knew he couldn't wait until later tonight at the hotel so she could wear it again just for him. Brittney had never felt happier than at that moment...

...which only made it more horrific when, out of nowhere, a kitchen knife came jutting out of the back of Comet's neck. Comet's blood came spurting out of his neck as he let out an unearthly gurgle as he desperately tried to breathe, only for him to choke on his own blood before falling to the ground.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Brittney screamed as she saw her future husband lying on the runway, dead in a pool of his own blood. Everyone in the audience began to scream and run around in a panic, only for more people to be cut down by, it turns out, an army of Chucky dolls.

Brittney could only lay on the ground in shock as the Chucky that killed her fiance laughed like a madman before turning in her direction.

"Aww, don't be so sad, dollface. You won't have to worry about being alone for the rest of your life...since you're about to have your life cut short! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"No, no, no! Stay back, you little freak!"

"Aw, now that's just hurtful. Didn't Mommy ever tell you it's not nice to say shit like that to other people? Then again, who am I to talk, heehehehehehahahahahahaahahahahahahaha!"

As the Chucky doll began to charge straight at Brittney, she tried to bolt, hoping that she could outrun a killer doll. Sadly, she forgot that he had a knife. A knife that, while large and not meant for it, could be thrown. Which Chucky did, hitting her in the leg and sending her falling to the ground, screaming.

"Oh, come on, Brittney. Don't think that you didn't know that this wasn't coming. You practically wrote the ending yourself with how you've treated your so-called friends," Chucky told her before raising the knife. "Now, let's get ready for the big finale!"

*Bang*

Chucky's "finale" never happened. At least not in the way he thought. A loud gunshot rang out in the building. Blood came pouring out of Chucky's chest, making him drop the knife as he clutched his chest.

"Movie's been canceled, pal. Executives said it wouldn't track well with their target audience."

Standing there, in a black suit and matching glasses and holding a Colt 1911 automatic in his hands, was the actual Comet Dragonfly!

"OH, FUCK YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT BAG!" the Chucky doll roared as it sat there, lying on the ground while flipping Comet off. "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS?! I'VE GOT A FUCKING ARMY AT MY-"

*Bang*

Comet popped another cap in the Chucky doll's head, shutting it up for good. Then, just to be safe, he emptied the rest of his magical gun into it.

"Yes."

"COMET! OH, THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE!" Brittney cried as she practically leapt into the boy's arms, relieved to see the real Comet in this nightmare.

"You're welcome, Brittney," Comet said in a soothing tone. "Don't worry. Dad and I will take care of this."

"Why am I wearing this?" Mune wondered aloud as he questioned why he was suddenly in a matching outfit. "And Comet, the Nightmare is getting away again! We have to leave!"

"But Dad, we just got here, and there are still a ton of Chucky dolls!"

"We don't have time to deal with them! We need to stop this at the source!"

"Don't worry, Comet," Brittney reassured him. "I can handle things on my own," she confidently asserted. "Besides, I've seen the movies, so I know how to deal with these rejects."

"All right. If you say-"

Comet was gone in a flash before he had a chance to finish that sentence. But the Chucky Dolls were still there, and they were still murdering everyone that they could get their little hands on. And Brittney had to deal with all of them on her own.

"Bring it on."


Of all the nightmares that Jackson Lee Thomas had experienced, this had to be one of the weirdest.

Here he was, in the middle of some New England woods on his U-Board, running for his life. Who was chasing him, you might ask? None other than an all too familiar figure on a demonic-looking horse, sword in one hand and what looked to be his head in another. And no matter how fast he made his U-Board go, the Horseman seemed to be able to keep up with him. On horseback! That shouldn't even be possible!

"Why am I even dreaming this stupid stuff?! I've never even read Sleepy Hollow before!" Jackson complained as he found himself forced into the role of Ichabod Crane, albeit on a hoverboard. It didn't make any sense.

Not helping matters was that the so-called Headless Horseman had started throwing exploding jack-o-lanterns at him. And that it seemed to have an infinite amount of them. It was taking all of Jackson's skill to keep himself from getting knocked off his board to a potentially gruesome death.

"Why can't I go back to dreaming about being Tony Hawk?" Jackson complained as he felt the heat from another exploding pumpkin singe the back of his neck. Just then, he noticed that he was making it out of the woods to a nearby creak, upon which lay an old, wooden bridge. Now, Jackson had never read the story before, but he knew that the Horseman shouldn't be able to pass beyond that point for...why couldn't it do that?

Who cares? Anything to get out of this, the normally cool and collected teen thought to himself as he stepped on the proverbial gas and gunned it. Just then, Jackson saw two more figures approaching in his direction on horseback, making his heart sink. That is, until he noticed that they were riding on what looked like a Unicorn on steroids.

"Eat shit, dirtbag!" Jackson recognized the voice right away to be that of Comet Dragonfly, charging into battle with reckless abandon.

The older of the figures, whom Jackson was sure was Comet's dad, suddenly brandished a magical sword. As in, it was a sword forged from pure magical energy. Anyway, Mune held his sword high as the pair charged toward the Headless Horseman. Avoiding the oncoming pumpkins that it kept lobbing their way like a newb from Call of Duty or Fortnite, the father-and-son pair closed in. Then, with a single flourish from his sword, Mune struck the head of the enemy's horse from his body while Comet proceeded to tackle the rider to the ground. Using his legs to kick the Horseman's sword away, Comet called out to Jackson. "Jackson, go! We got this!"

Jackson didn't need to be told twice as he proceeded to bolt for the bridge, not stopping until he had made it across. Then he just decided to keep going because while he had never read the story, he knew how the Horseman threw his head at the Crane guy, and he didn't want to stick around for that.

"I think we finally got it, Dad! Let's get that puzzle thing ready, and then we can-"

Comet's assertions got cut short, though, when the Horseman under him began to fade away into dust and smoke, while the blue, smoking figure of the Nightmare began to dart away into the night sky.

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" And just like that, Comet and Mune's hunt for the elusive Nightmare had to start once more. Comet was starting to understand just why Mune had been so worried about this thing."


The next dream that Comet and Mune found themselves in was located inside a dimly lit hospital. Though dimly lit would be overselling it. Some of the lights were barely attached to the ceiling, and the doors were torn open or ripped off their hinges. It was like something out of a slasher film that Comet had seen with Marcia one night.

Neither he nor his Dad had time to take in the scenery, though. They were too distracted by the blood-curdling screams that they heard coming from one of the few rooms that looked to be in working order. Without a word exchanged, the duo knew that this could only be the work of the Nightmare and ran as fast as they could in the direction of the sound.

"NO, NO, PLEASE DON'T!" Came the familiar voice of someone that Comet knew well. That was Sabrina, and it sounded like she was in even more trouble than usual. Picking up the pace, Comet then heard another, more sadistic voice talking to her.

"Oh, relax, child. In just a few moments, you won't need to worry about any of those pesky dental problems ever again. In fact, you won't you won't worry about your teeth for much longer!"

"No, no! Please let me go! I'll do anything. Just let me go!"

"Oh, come on, kid. It's not so bad. It's just a mouthful of metal and wires for the rest of your teen years! And the gas will make it all feel like a dream-for me, that is!"

Comet rounded the corner and rushed into the hospital room to find something that looked like a cross between a horror movie and some kind of sadistic-masochistic fantasy gone wrong. Sabrina was currently handcuffed to a chair while some guy that looked like a caricature/fusion of Steve Martin and that janitor from an old Nickelodeon sitcom about middle-school standing over her, laughing maniacally as he held a drill that was way bigger than necessary, and about to plunge it into Sabrina's mouth.

Comet wasn't really sure what was going on, but he could tell that Sabrina was scared for her life, even if this was just a nightmare.

"Hey, Dr. Scrivello!"

The sadistic dentist whirled around, wondering who would dare to disrupt him. That's when he saw Comet standing there, looking pissed.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here! Get out of here! I don't need help with this!"

"Look, I know I don't know much about medical practices, but I'm pretty sure this violates the whole 'do no harm' thing." Without even waiting for the crazed doctor (dentist, from the sounds of it) to even respond, Comet raised his arm and shouted out, "Piranha Plant Devastation." In an instant, a Piranha Plant shot out of his hand and rushed at full speed toward the dentist, tackling him into the nearby wall with a devastating headbutt.

"And that's how we do it in Smash Bros,mofo!" The plant shouted in glee. "That's right, we're re-enacting Little Shop of Horrors up in here!"

"Comet, I made it! Did you get it!"

"Yeah, I caught it! You get the puzzle thing ready. I need to get Sabrina." Comet then rushed toward the chair that Sabrina found herself strapped to and quickly smashed the handcuffs, keeping her chained to it.

Sabrina, at that moment, felt absolutely embarrassed. Not because of the fact that Comet had had to save her from this mess. It was more because, at that moment, he looked like her knight in shining armor. And that was making her think of things that she really, really, really didn't want anyone to know about.

Comet, for his part, remained oblivious to how she was feeling. All he said was, "So, dentists, huh?"

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah. I used to have this really mean one when I was younger," Sabrina admitted. "He always liked drilling for cavities and recommending people get these hideous braces, even when we didn't need them. He ended up getting arrested when it was found that he wasn't using anesthetic on patients."

"Well, if he was anything like that guy just now, then I totally get why that would freak you out," Comet admitted. Silently, he thanked the gods that he was blessed with amazing teeth. He heard stories that dentists on Mewni were even worse!

"Comet! The Nightmare got away again!"

Comet turned out to look at his father, and sure enough, the sadistic dentist was nowhere to be found. All that was left was an upset Piranha Plant and an irritated Mune.

"OH, COME ON!" Comet complained as he finished getting Sabrina free before walking over to his Dad. "I know the drill. Let's go, Dad." Comet wasn't enjoying his night so far.

After the King and Prince left, Sabrina was left alone with the Piranha Plant, the two just awkwardly looking at each other.

"So, um, you free for the rest of the night?" The Plant said, trying to make small talk.


If the abandoned Hospital wasn't weird enough already, then the next place that Comet and Mune found themselves in was weirder still. They found themselves in what seemed to be some sort of underground laboratory. Instead of being abandoned like the hospital, though, this place was alive with activity…and not in a good way. Alarms were blaring while the ground was littered with the bodies of dead soldiers clad in riot gear and bearing an insignia that Comet swore he'd seen before. Multiple doors, which seemed to be made from solid steel, were dented or torn open, like whatever had been inside having forced its way out.

"Please don't tell me that the Nightmare already made its way in here," Comet worriedly asked as he looked at the absolute carnage they now found themselves in. In a nearby hallway, gunshots and the sounds of fighting could be heard amidst the cries of whatever monstrosities the Nightmare had taken the form of this time.

"Come on, Comet!" Mune told his son, prompting the two to run down the hallway in search of their enemy.

As the father and son ran through the facility, they were surprised to see just what sort of creatures were in this dream. They saw this ancient, old man with a hideous, skull-like grin dripping with this black mucus from his body, appearing out of a wall and dragging an unfortunate soldier into a black portal of the same ooze. In a nearby room, they saw another man wearing what looked like the mask of a plague doctor and speaking in some kind of accent, looking over another soldier, now restrained in a chair. Amidst the soldier's cries for mercy, Comet could hear the Plague Doctor mutter something about curing "the Pestilence," whatever in the Seven Hells that was. In the corner of another hallway, they saw this absolutely mammoth of a man kneeling over the corpse of another poor fellow, and…let's just say that it was enough to make both King and Prince gag.

As they finally made it to the source of the gunfire, they saw another group of soldiers firing on what appeared to be a vague crocodilian creature that looked dead than alive. Its entire upper body was covered with scales that partially obscured its eyes, but its sides were exposed down to the ribcage, giving them a view of its innards. Despite everything suggesting that it should be dead, the creature showed no signs of dying. In fact, it looked downright enraged as it lunged toward them.

"Shit! NARWHAL BLAST!" Comet shot a bunch of narwhals at the angry lizard, all of them impaling it with their horns. Yet the beast didn't slow down. It just got even angrier! Then Mune tried to blast it with a wave of magical energy that should've destroyed it, only for it to shrug that off, too. By this point, the beast had reached the nearby soldiers and began to tear into them with a mouth of razor-sharp teeth. Blood and chunks of flesh spilled everywhere as Comet and Mune looked on in horror. This was too much, even for them.

"Disgusting…" the creature suddenly spoke before turning to look at the two. As the strange, hideous monster lunged towards them, the floor underneath it gave way, causing it to fall into what seemed to be a vat of acid. The creature screamed and roared as it tried to get free, to no avail. It was impossible for it to escape from its new prison.

"I'd step away from there if I were you guys. That stuff will only hold him for so long."

Comet and Mune looked behind them to see that someone was standing there in a doctor's lab coat with a stylized raven on it.

Comet breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he saw who it was. "Jonah!"

"Sup, Comet?" Jonah casually said as he raised a hand.

"Thank the Gods that you're alright, Jonah! It's been an absolute mess trying to find that Nightmare!"

"I can see that it's already made its presence known inside of your dreams, turning them into an absolute nightmare," Mune grimly stated, to which Jonah just laughed.

"Are you kidding me, your highness? This isn't a nightmare!" Jonah said before lobbing a grenade into the acid pool, causing even more damage to the creature inside. "This is my favorite dream! I get to run around and fight monsters and freaks in the SCP Foundation! What more could I want?"

"Oooh," Comet said as a look of realization came over him. "Yeah, that makes sense. I didn't know you had a thing for this SCP stuff."

"I'm terribly sorry, but how is any of this considered a good dream?" Mune questioned, not understanding why anyone in their right mind would dream about fighting monsters like this.

"Dad, this is just normal for Jonah. I'm honestly convinced that there's nothing that really gets to him, in fact," Comet said with a shrug.

At that exact moment, though, the lights in the facility began to flicker as the alarms went silent. Out of the corner of his eye, Comet swore he saw something whoosh down the hallway past him and his Dad.

Then, out of nowhere, something appeared in the hallway behind Jonah. It was large but only reached halfway up to Mune's height, gelatinous in form and orange in appearance. It moved around like some sort of blob, grinning happily as it did so before finally looking at Jonah.

"Oh, no…" Jonah began to feel chills run down his spine as the creature approached, making a series of gurgles that Comet swore sounded like laughter.

"Awww," Mune cooed, and for once, he had to agree with his Dad. The blob creature looked absolutely adorable. He couldn't understand why Jonah looked so freaked out.

"Comet, get that thing away from me," Jonah cooly stated, beads of sweat running down his face.

"But why, Jonah? It looks harmless," Comet asked, not believing his friend would act like this.

"Just get it away from me!" Jonah asked as the creature finally reached Jonah and, with a pair of fingers and arms, began to reach out and touch his leg. "Oh no, it's happening…."

"What is?"

"The tickling! THE TICKLI-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" At this point, the little blob monster proceeded to force Jonah down onto his knees and proceeded to cover most of his body in it. Jonah began to laugh uncontrollably as it did so!

"NO! NO, STOP! THIS IS TERRIBLE! I DON'T WANNA FEEL HAPPY!" Jonah cried amidst the sound of uncontrollable laughter. It was the most bizarre thing that Comet had ever seen happen to Jonah. It was almost enough to make him think that he was somehow dreaming all of this!

The telltale shape of the Nightmare, blue smoke and all, though, was enough to make him realize that this was the work of their prey. Realizing that there was nothing that they could do, Mune and Comet began to chase after their elusive quarry, leaving Jonah to handle…whatever this was. Needless to say, Jonah was not amused in the slightest.


"Well, it took me forever, but I've finally managed to finish my masterpiece," Ferguson said as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. "I've finally managed to create…the world's biggest ice cream sundae!"

Ferguson stepped back and began to admire his creation, a twenty-foot-tall mountain of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream so large that it had to be fitted into a mobile bathtub. It was covered in a bevy of sprinkles, hot chocolate, and assorted candy items that he thought would look great on it. At the very top of it stood a maraschino cherry the size of a watermelon, completing the display. It had been a work of blood, sweat, and brain freeze, but Ferguson was proud of what he had created. And soon as he finished documenting it and sending it to the Guinness book of world records, he'd get to chow down.

As Ferguson turned his back on his creation to get the camera ready, he remained unaware of the fact that blue smoke had dove inside the sundae and began to change. Nor was he aware of the growing sounds of scraping across the ground, somehow. He was too engrossed in getting his name and picture in the book of world records. It wasn't until he noticed a dab of chocolate ice cream fall onto his nose that Ferguson finally felt prompted to look back. That's when he finally noticed that his beloved creation had come to life. As in, it developed a hideously distorted face that looked like something that Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes would create out of snow. Then, it started to roar at him.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" The ice cream monster then leapt out of its makeshift bowl and began to divebomb towards Ferguson, its mouth wide open, ready to swallow Ferguson whole.

"FIRE FIST!"

Then, out of nowhere, a huge blast of fire appeared and hit the ice cream monster dead-center, causing it to melt into a massive puddle. The screams it emitted as it died, though, were almost too much to bear. Or that might have been Ferguson.

Scratch that. It was Ferguson. He was crying over the fact that his frozen treat had been destroyed. Comet Dragonfly, though, could do nothing but offer him a look of sympathy as his dad ran into the studio where this dream was taking place. Once again, the Nightmare escaped, forcing Mune and Comet to continue on to the next dream.

Ferguson was thus left alone to look at his failed creation…until it came to life once more and attacked him once more.


When Comet and Mune made it inside Alfonso's dream, they didn't know what to expect. Well, Comet did. He expected him to be re-enacting one of his favorite video games or something cool like that. As it turns out, he was right on the money, but in the worst way possible. Alfonso wasn't playing just any video game: he was in the middle of one of Call of Duty's infamous zombie modes, and he was fighting for his life.

Having played a little bit of the zombie mode from COD, Comet knew the basic premise: a group of players would face off against waves of increasingly powerful zombies, trying to survive to the next wave until they either completed the requirements to end the story or they died. When Comet and Mune made it into Alfonso's dream, though, they saw that this wasn't a normal zombie game. They were smarter, ducking behind cover and throwing furniture at Alfonso as he tried to stay in cover. Their zombified hands reached out and tried to claw at his face as he tried desperately to shoot at them, but all he had was a tiny pistol. It was like he was stuck on the weakest form of weaponry, while the zombies were several dozen levels above him in power. It was taking all Alfonso had to keep his cool, reminding himself that this was just a dream.

That's what he tried to tell himself, at least, as he ran out of ammunition, forcing him to bolt from his hiding place with the undead in hot pursuit behind him, with Comet and Mune forced to fight their way through the zombies to try and reach him.

Alfonso ran and ran and ran as the horde of zombies chased after him. He ran until he found himself in the middle of a courtyard or central plaza or something. Then, he saw something that made his blood freeze. Standing there, in the middle of the ground, was a hideous abomination of nature. It was a blob of writhing zombies fused into an amalgamation of putrid, rotting flesh and limbs. Decaying arms flailed about in an aimless fashion, faces missing eyes and noses looked around in search of prey, and unearthly growls came from its mouth.

And against all of this, all Alfonso had to fight was a lousy pea shooter.

"Wake up, Alfonso! Just wake up, already!" Alfonso shouted at himself as he desperately tried to force himself awake. This wasn't fun anymore!

Unfortunately, the hideous blob monster finally noticed the boy, and it began to charge straight at him in response to this. Alfonso could only stand there, petrified, as his legs refused to obey his orders to run for it.

"CHAINSAW BLADE DEVASTATION!"

At that moment, a guardian angel appeared out of nowhere to save Alfonso from his terrible fate. Or rather, a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed prince came to save him. Somehow sporting a pair of massive, rotating chainsaws jutting out of his wrists, Comet jumped down from his vantage point and began to tear into the zombie monstrosity. Blood spilled everywhere as he hacked the creature into pieces, leaving nothing left. By the time Comet was done, all that was left were several smaller pieces of the blob, somehow still alive, that began to crawl away in fear. Alfonso didn't care, though. He was just grateful to see his friend.

"Comet! I've never been so happy to see you before!" Alfonso cried out in joy, practically jumping in Comet's arms as he tried to hug him.

"Hey, Alfonso. Sorry, it took so long, but my Dad and I have been running ourselves ragged, trying to get our hands on this stupid thing."

"You haven't caught it yet?!"

Comet shook his head in disappointment. "I wish I had, Al. But this thing's smarter than it looks, and it really doesn't want to go back to prison. But don't worry. I have a feeling we're wearing it down."

"Comet!" Mune shouted as he called out from a nearby doorway that led into the courtyard. Much like his son, the King of Mewni was currently covered in blood, with the still moving pieces of zombie lying on the ground and trying to crawl away. "Did you get it"

"No, Dad. It looks like it was already gone by the time we got here."

"Damn it!" Mune cursed. "Then we have to move on. This thing can't keep running forever."

With a sigh, Comet knew that he had to leave. He did, however, make it a point to hand Alfonso the two chainsaw blades he created. When asked why, he simply said, "I have a feeling that you're going to need them."

As soon as Comet and Mune left, disappearing in a flash of light, Comet's fears proved to be well-founded, as a ton of other zombies appeared out of nowhere and began to attack him once more. At least this time, though, he had something that he could use against them.


"All right, Dad. If memory serves me right, then we've managed to chase this stupid thing through every single one of my friend's dreams by now," Comet said as he got down to brass tacks as soon as they entered the next dream. "Which means that it's got nowhere left for it to run."

"I believe that you might be right, son," Mune stated as he and Comet continued walking down a dark corridor.

"All that's left now is Karla's dreams, meaning we have to catch it here if we want to end this mess," Comet said, his voice incredibly serious. "And while I feel the same way about all of them, I really don't want this thing messing with Karla's dream, whatever it may be. So let's get a move on." Unexpectedly, Comet took the lead, leaving Mune puzzled as to the sudden change in his son's behavior. He didn't have time to ponder it much, though, as the two of them rounded a corner and then found themselves in a massive, open-air theater packed with tens of thousands of beings.

Mune was at an utter loss as to what was going on. There were countless people of all shapes, sizes, and species crowded into this theater, all of them cheering loudly on the stage. It was so loud Mune could barely hear his own thoughts. Comet, in contrast, was busy craning his neck around as though he were looking for something.

"Come on, Dad. I think I know where it's going to strike next," Comet urgently told his father before abruptly grabbing his hand. Before Mune could protest his behavior, Comet led him through the crowd, trying to get as close as possible to the stage.

"Son, what on Mewni are you doing? I don't understand how we're supposed to find the Nightmare like this. We should be looking for your friend first, as they're the ones that it will come after."

"Why do you think I'm trying to get us closer, Dad?" Comet stated matter-of-factly.

Somewhat taken aback by this, it took a few moments for Mune to understand his son's logic. Though, it helped that at this moment, a loud, booming, masculine voice could be heard through the theater.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and those who identify as neither, we are proud to present tonight's main event. The one, the only….KARLA GREEASSSON!"

At that moment, the curtain on stage began to part as colorful lights and fog began to flash. The lights in the theater went dark until only the silhouettes of a group of figures could be seen as they walked on stage.

Then came the music.

Play "UTA from ONE PIECE FILM RED FULL SONG | New Genesis/新時代 by Ado 歌詞 Lyrics"- /nQDtvco_9No

It was a lone voice, at first, singing against soothing music in a language that Mune didn't understand. His son, on the other hand, seemed to know what she was saying. Before Comet could say anything, though, the stage was lit up once more, revealing an entire band. Standing at the center of it all, clad in a rocker girl's outfit with her axe-bass on her back, was Karla Greason. And as she started singing again, the crowd went wild.

Mune didn't really notice, though. The main thing that he noticed was the look on his son's face as he watched Karla perform. He had never seen Comet look stare at someone with such intensity before. Having been young himself once, Mune knew right away what was going on with his son.

So that's how it is, then, Mune thought, but he kept those thoughts to himself. He didn't think that after his break-up with Tammy, his son would be so eager to be looking for love again. Still, his son was nothing if not capable of surprising him.

Whatever thoughts he had about that, though, became secondary. Out of the corner of his eye, Mune noticed something near the stage. Something that was hiding in the shadows and making its way into the rafters.

"Comet, I see it," Mune told his son, which instantly got his son's attention. He then noticed the creature, as well.

"Let's go, Dad," the two said as they ran backstage. At the speed at which they were going, it didn't take long for them to reach their target, working its way behind the backstage area like it was looking for something. Just what the thing was, though, was hard to tell, as its face remained obscured by a hood.

"Hold it right there, freakshow!" Comet yelled. "You're not getting away from us this time!"

In response to this, the creature dropped the hood covering his body, revealing that it had merely been crouching low to the ground to hide how big it was. It was massive in size, standing close to forty feet, and it didn't remotely look like a normal person. Its flesh was the color of rust, its body was emaciated to the point that it was more skeleton and bones, and it had arms and legs almost as long as the rest of its body. What was most disturbing of all, though, was the fact that it didn't have a head or face. Its "face" consisted of a long, pole-like neck and a bunch of sirens. And it looked very angry.

"What on Mewni-?"

"Who cares? Just get it!" Comet shouted as he ran forward, magic ready to start blasting at it. The creature was far faster than it seemed to be, though, as it deftly sidestepped Comet's attempts to bind with a magical lasso. Then, with a wave of its massive hands, it hit Comet squarely in the abdomen, sending him flying into a nearby brick wall.

"COMET!" Mune cried out in a panic at seeing his son like this. "Get away from my son, you monster!"

Seeing the other one beginning to charge at it, the Nightmare's current form chose to flee, using its limbs to make its way up into the rafters above the stage, with Mune close behind. Mune wasn't going to let this thing get away from them again!

"BRUTUM FULMEN!" On Mune's command, bolts of lightning began to shoot out of his hands, arcing their way towards the Nightmare as it climbed to the rafters. To Mune's surprise, though, they missed, with the Nightmare somehow shrinking down to better accommodate the smaller area.

Not one to be deterred when its target was so close, Mune refused to give up. "Neon whip!" In a flash, a bright, neon-colored whip shot out of Mune's right hand before making its way to one of the steel girders holding up the roof of the stage. Using that as leverage, Mune then lunged upwards until he was standing on the rafters.

"Dad, wait up!" Comet cried out from somewhere down below, but Mune was too focused to listen. He continued to chase after the Nightmare in a blind fury, determined to bring it down.

The chase continued for less than a minute or so, but to Mune, the seconds felt like hours. The Nightmare continued to evade his attacks at every turn, making him more and more frustrated. How could this creature prove to be so difficult to bring low?

Down below, Comet tried to keep up, only to see that his Dad was nowhere close to catching the Nightmare. As he tried to follow them, he happened upon the area directly behind the stage, giving a clear view of Karla singing and playing her heart out. He was determined not to let her dream become a nightmare!

Out of the corner of his eye, Comet then noticed something that filled him with dread: there, directly on the roof of the stage, stood the Nightmare in all its hideous glory. It was staring down directly at Karla, and in a second, Comet understood what it's intent was.

Comet didn't think about what came next. He didn't have to. His body was already in motion, running onto the stage, readying his next spell as he saw the Nightmare drop down from above just as Karla finished her song.

End Music

"BULLA SPIRO!"

Obeying Comet's commands, the magic in his body manifested in the form of a giant, pink bubble that then shot outward towards Karla. Before the girl even understood what was happening, she was safely encased inside the magical construct, just as the Nightmare came crashing down onto the stage and creating a massive crater.

The crowd in the theater began to panic at this, just like it did with CometFan13's dream. Karla stared up at her attacker, stunned to see the monster that had ruined her concert in her dreams. When the creature raised both of its spindly arms and prepared to bring them crashing down on her protective bubble, she found herself being unceremoniously kicked out of the way by Comet Dragonfly. Unfortunately, Comet's act of protecting his friend meant that he had no time to block the Nightmare's attack.

What happened next was a blur to Karla Greason. The sound of splintering wood, broken lights falling onto the stage as the band began to panic, and most of all, the creature that tried to kill her began to flee into the crowd, swatting people left and right as it did so. Then, just like that, the creature transformed into its natural, blue smokey form before fleeing.

"Oh, come oonnnnnnnnnn…."

"You've got to be kidding me…it got away again?!"

As Comet and Mune regrouped on the stage, they looked at Karla, their faces etched with sadness and frustration.

"So, that was the um…Nightmare, then?" The nod from Comet confirmed Karla's question.

"And you guys couldn't- "

"Capture it? No. And the worst part? As of now, it's made its way into all of your dreams. Which means- "

"Which means that we have no idea where it could be anymore," Mune grimly stated.

"I don't think that the others will like this," Karla couldn't help but point out.


"WHAT?!" "NOOOO!" "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Just as Karla predicted, when Comet and Mune pulled themselves out of the dream world and woke everyone up to tell them the bad news, they were not happy.

"Sorry to tell you kids, but it's true," came the voice of Glossaryck from above their heads. "I was watching the entire time, and it would seem that our royal duo managed to royally screw up. Such a disappointment," the tiny being said with a shake of his head.

"I'm afraid that Glossaryck is correct, children," Mune sadly told them. "I'm afraid that the Nightmare remains inside your dreams. The next time you go back to sleep, it will return to infect your dreams and turn them into your worst nightmares. And it will continue to do so every night until it finally gains the strength it needs to escape the world of dreams into our reality."

That last bit was more than enough to break the dam of calm and rationality in the group, giving way to a flood of panic. In other words, everyone began to freak out.

Marcia started to cry like crazy as she proceeded to glomp onto Jackson. "No, no! I don't wanna lose you again, Jackson! I don't want my life to be a real-life Jaws!" she cried in between her blubbering.

"I can't deal with running from that freak every night, you guys. I just can't!" Jackson admitted, too afraid to comfort Marcia.

"Comet! Forgive me for letting that thing to blaspheme your likeness!" CometFan13 cried as he held tightly onto Comet's body, too afraid to let him go. Brittney proved no better, considering how her dream had seen a version of Comet murdered right in front of her.

"Please don't leave me alone like that again, Comet! I don't want to deal with that stupid doll by myself again," Brittney cried in a panic.

"No more braces, Mom, no more braces, Mom, no more braces, mom," Sabrina continued to repeat like a broken record.

"Do you have any idea what I went through? I might never be able to eat ice cream again without thinking about what happened to me!" Ferguson did not like what he went through.

"Game over, man! Game over!" Alfonso cried as he gave off a thousand-yard stare, haunted by what he had to do to survive those zombies.

"I don't think I'm ready to be one of those musical greats that's gone too soon," Karla said as she thought about how close she came to biting it in her dream.

Even Jonah looked freaked out by what he went through. He was currently curled up in a ball, rocking himself back and forth in a vain attempt to comfort himself. That was one of the worst experiences he'd ever gone through.

Amidst all of this, Comet couldn't help but look at everyone, guilt-ridden that he'd been unable to help them. It was a terrible feeling and one that he didn't like having to go through.

"Dad," Comet turned to his father. "Isn't there any way that we can fix this? Some other means that we can take this thing down?"

Mune shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Rhonan's warnings were very specific. The only way that we can capture or destroy the Nightmare is inside the world of dreams."

"Glossaryck, you taught Rhonan, right? You have to know something about how he stopped that thing?"

"Hate to tell you this, kid, but no. Rhonan really didn't want to talk about it. Or he might have. That guy really loved his riddles, so it was hard to tell at times," Glossaryck admitted, which didn't help matters in any way, shape or form.

"Well, there's no other way around it," Mune said with a sigh. "The only way that we can get this whole thing to end is to try again and hope for a better outcome."

At this, everyone began to vehemently protest. "No! NO WAY!" "WE ARE NOT GOING THROUGH THAT AGAIN!" "NO AMOUNT OF THERAPY WOULD HELP ME GET THROUGH THAT AGAIN!" "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" "YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYER IF YOU FORCE ME TO DO THIS!" "I'LL NEVER DO IT. YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!"

Seeing everyone refusing to go through that mess again, Mune tried to make them see reason. "Everyone, please. I'm sorry, but this is the only way to fix this. The only way to defeat the Nightmare is inside our dreams, and it can only be caught inside the dreams of someone it's already been in. It already knows that it cannot risk entering my dreams again, so it has to be someone else. It's the only way."

At the mention of this last part, Comet suddenly got this weird look on his face. It was like a lightbulb had just lit up inside of his head.

"Wait, Dad. It just has to be the dream of someone it's already been inside of before, right?"

"Yes, Comet. And since they're the only ones whose dreams its infected, it can only escape to them…unless it saw someone else in your dreams."

"Nope. All of the people in my dream were either you guys or just some random people I came up with," Karla admitted. Brittney also nodded at this.

"Actually, Dad…we do have one other person that we can use," Comet cautiously told his father. Everyone stopped talking as soon as he said this and started looking at Comet in concern.

"Comet…" Marcia hesitantly said her best friend's name. Mune, for his part, was lost.

"What is it? Why is everyone looking at my son ...like…that," Mune's voice began to trail off as the realization hit him as well, forcing him to look directly at his son.

"Comet, no…" Mune sternly told his son.

"Dad, just hear me out on this," Comet started to say, only to be shut down by his Dad.

"Comet, the answer is no. I am not going to use you as bait to capture the Nightmare!" Mune adamantly told his son and heir.

"No, Dad, this could work. Maybe the problem before was that we gave it too many places for it to run to. So, the most obvious solution is to take that away. Trap inside of a single person's dreams, and it won't be able to escape," Comet hastily explained.

"Hmmm…" Marcia pondered this idea for a few moments, and as much she didn't like the prospect, "Your majesty, I think that Comet might actually be right."

"Miss Diaz-"

"No, he is right. If we only give it one person to jump into, it won't be able to run. It'll have no choice but to fight back-" Alfonso concurred.

"-Giving us a chance to capture it!" Ferguson excitedly said.

"Or mentally scar my son for the rest of his life," Mune pointed out. "There's no telling what having that thing inside his head could do to him in the long term."

"Dude, it's actually a good idea," Jonah told the King. "I mean, it sounds crazy-"

"Oh, no, it is crazy," Jackson commented.

"But it could end up finishing all of this in one fell swoop."

"Besides, Dad, it's not like I'll be alone in there," Comet told his father, who could look at him with even more concern.

"Comet, it would still only be the two of us fighting that thing. And as has been made clear, that might not be enough to stop it. Especially now that it's fed on the fear, it's generated in all of your friends."

"You won't be alone, Dad. You'll have all of them to help you," Comet pointed out as he gestured to his friends.

"I'm sorry, what? You really expect them to come with me into your dream and fight the Nightmare?" Mune asked, incredulous that Comet would put his friends in even more danger. "I thought you were trying to keep them safe, Comet!"

"Trust me, Dad, they will be safe in there. I can't explain why exactly, but I just have this gut feeling that if they go back into the dream world, they'll be able to put up a better fight this time!"

"Comet, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you put your friend's lives, or your own life, in danger because of a 'gut feeling,' as you put it," Mune said as he made air quotes.

"Dad, let me ask you something," Comet said, changing tactics. "How were you able to use magic in the dreamworld?"

"I'm sorry?"

"How could you use magic inside all those dreams?" Comet repeated.

"Well, that's simple. I know how to dip down, so I can use magic without the Wand," Mune plainly stated.

"Well, then…how could I use it?" Comet asked. "I haven't fully mastered dipping down yet, and in case you didn't notice, I didn't have the Wand with me when we went in."

"Don't be silly, Comet. Of course, you had it. I saw you use it when we…." Despite his best efforts, Mune couldn't recall Comet using the Wand while they were in the dream world. "Well, then…how were you able to use magic like you did?" Mune asked, now confused.

"Okay, I think I see where this is going, so I'm just going to skip to the end," Glossaryck finally said, taking a break from his snacking. "In a nutshell, when people dream, anything they imagine comes true inside the dream. It seems, Mune, that your son understood this idea on a subconscious level, thus allowing him to create things inside dreams like he would with actual magic."

"Ohhhhh…" Jonah finally put the pieces together. He had seen this before. "You mean like how those people in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies could do the same thing when fighting Freddy Kreuger!"

Everyone in the group that had seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Street films felt their eyes widen as they realized the truth of the matter.

"Oh my god, this is just like Nightmare on Elm Street," Marcia realized.

"I'm sorry, but I fail to understand the context. What are you talking about?" Mune was at a loss, as were Brittney and Sabrina.

"Basically, a serial killer murdered by vigilante parents got pissed off and came back from the dead to haunt and kill all their kids in their dreams. The kids figured out how to fight him in their dreams, though, so it was all good," Jonah said as he explained the premise to the Elm Street films. "That's basically what Comet wants us to pull off."

"And it's not a bad idea, I must admit," Glossarcyk told everyone. "I think that you should give it a shot, your highness."

"Glossaryck, you can't be serious!" Mune snapped at the little blue man.

"All right, putting an end to this," Brittney said as she took charge. "All those in favor of going through with Comet's crazy plan to end this so we can all get a good night's sleep, raise your hands." Everyone in the room except for Mune Dragonfly raised their hands in support. "Well, that settles it. The majority wins, your highness. Let's do this."

"But-"

"Dad, we both know that I'm going to do this no matter what you say, so why don't we just skip the debating and get down to business," Comet bluntly told his father.

Realizing that Comet was dead serious on this matter and that he couldn't talk him out of it, Mune sighed in defeat. "Very well, Comet. I may not approve of this plan, but I fail to see any alternatives."

"Good," Comet said with a coy smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some shut-eye while you do what you did with me before." With that said, Comet let out a yawn that he was quick to cover with his mouth before going over to his sleeping bag and getting himself ready for what was to come next. Surprisingly, it only took a few moments before Comet Dragonfly was fast asleep.

"All right. Are we all ready?" Marcia said as she looked at everyone else present.

"I think I can handle this," Alfonso confidently said.

"I've got a few good ideas on what I can do," Ferguson responded.

"This could make for a pretty cool song, so I'm down for it," Karla told everyone.

"I'm ready for some payback, and I normally don't like that idea," Jackson chimed in.

"It's going to regret what it did to us," Brittney coldly said.

"This is going to be fun," Jonah said with a wicked grin on his face.

"For Comet," Sabrina was able to say.

"It will pay for what it did to us!" CometFan13.

Seeing that he had no choice but to go through with this, Mune let out another weary sigh before saying, "All right, everyone. Gather around in a circle. I want to make sure that we do this correctly."


"All right, then, brain. What sort of dream do you have for me tonight?" Comet wondered aloud as he found himself inside Castle Dragonfly. Only this time, he was alone; it was how he was able to figure out that he was dreaming.

That, and he saw that he saw that Castle Dragonfly had more than a few…redecorations that Comet had always wanted. For example, all of the steps had been replaced with swirly slides.

"WHOOO-HOOOO!" Comet knew that despite the danger that he was likely in, he couldn't help but have the time of his life. Castle Dragonfly as he always wanted it to be. Swirly slides instead of those ornate stairs, chocolate fountains in the dining room, and an indoor movie theater stocked with all of these favorite foods. There was even a room that had been designed to eliminate gravity, letting someone float in zero g's. Seven Hells, Comet felt tempted to go into his Dad's private study and re-enact that one scene from that old Tom Cruise movie with that catchy song.

Comet's favorite part, though? None of his pretentious, self-serving relatives to bother him! Not even-

"COMET DRAGONFLY!"

Comet groaned. And there it is.

It didn't take much of a genius for Comet to figure that this was likely the part where the Nightmare would come after him, ready to ruin his dreams. And, of course, it would decide to take on the form of the one person that Comet couldn't stand. The person he hated the most.

There, rounding the corner, was the continual bane of his existence, his Great-Uncle Eternia Dragonfly.

"What do you think you're doing, young man?" Eternia said, his voice as stern as ever. Not that Comet really cared. He knew that all of this was fake.

"What I'm doing is having a little fun, Eternia," Comet said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What do you want, old man?"

"What I want is for you to act like the future King you're supposed to be training for, not gallivanting around the Castle like it's your own personal funhouse," Eternia told him.

"And here we go," Comet said, not even bothering to hide his disgust at how stuck-up his uncle was.

"Don't you take that tone with me, young man!"

"You're not my Dad, Eternia. You're not even my grandfather, so I don't think you have the right to say that to me," Comet sniped back.

"How dare you, boy!" Eternia roared. "I'll have you know that I practically helped your father become the man that he is today!"

"Oh, well then, I guess I have you to thank for all the times that he snubbed because he had a Kingdom to run. Because gods forbid that Mune Dragonfly shouldn't have time for his own son. Well, guess what, Eternia? I'm not my Dad, and I'm probably never going to be my Dad, so stop comparing me with him. Because if you do, the second I become King, I can make sure that your wrinkly old ass is out on the street with all those people that you seem so insistent on looking down at! And there's not a damn thing that you can do about it!"

"YOU LITTLE BRAT! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO YOUR ELDER LIKE THAT!"

"I can talk however I want to you because guess what? None of this is real, and you're not even my real uncle! You're just some relic pretending to be one in an effort to scare me. Well, guess what? I'm not afraid of you, you Nightmare!" By now, Comet had practically walked right up to Eternia's face, so close that he could spit right at him.

"What are you even talking about, you stupid little br-gaagh!"

At that exact moment, a long, sharp set of claws began to protrude out of Eternia's back as blood began to spout from his mouth, much to Comet's surprise. Even more surprising was the fact that Eternia then fell to the ground in front of Comet, dead.

"Okay, seriously. What the fuck?! That wasn't the Nightmare?"

Comet then saw that the environment in his dream had changed. Where it had once been day, it was now suddenly night. Scratch that. It wasn't just night. The whole place had become pitch black. The only light seemed to be the one surrounding Comet and the body of Eternia.

"Okay, what is going on now?" Comet was thoroughly confused. He had no clue as to what was happening anymore.

"Oh, poor little Dragonfly…haven't you figured it out yet?"

A cold shiver ran down Comet's spine. He knew that voice. He knew it all too well.

"That's right, boy. It's me,"

"Toffee...where are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know…not that I wouldn't tell you," the voice admitted, still speaking in Toffee's voice. "And you're only half-right on that. Toffee is…simply a form that I chose to take. When I went inside your dreams the first time, I couldn't help but notice the importance of this being in your memories. That's what dreams can often be. Memories. Reflections of how mortals view the world and how they view themselves."

"So what?" Do you think that you can just scare like that by pretending to be that guy? How are you even talking to me right now? I thought that you were some kind of mindless beast."

"I was at first. I was much like the rest of my kind. Nipping at the dreams of the physical realm, seeking out food for myself. Until the day came when I happened to stumble upon your ancestor. Rhonan, was it? After that, I was-"

"You were able to feast on the power of his dreams, and thanks to our ability to use magic, it somehow made you even stronger and for you to gain self-awareness, is that?" There was now a deafening silence, which only made Comet smirk in response. "I take that I hit the nail right on the head?"

The voice began to chuckle. "Well, aren't you a clever boy? You take after your family more than you realize. But yes. After what happened with Rhonan, I became aware of what I was and, more importantly, what I could do. With my powers in the waking world, I could do whatever my heart desired, and no one would be able to stop me. BUT THEN YOUR WORTHLESS FAMILY HAD TO IMPRISON ME FOR THE LAST 180 YEARS! TRAPPED INSIDE OF THAT ACCURSED PUZZLE, NEVER TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" The voice then stopped talking for a moment as if it was trying to compose itself. "No matter, though. I'm free now, and I'm more than ready to make up for lost time. And thanks to your friends, I have almost all the power that I will need to escape into the waking world. All that's left is one more helping from the Wand-bearer."

"Good luck with that, Nightmare," Comet told the unseen figure. "You may think you've got me, but I don't scare that easily!"

"Well, considering what you think about this person, I would disagree. But no, I don't need to scare you…."

Before Comet could even react, he felt a long, clawed hand shoot out from the darkness, reaching for his neck and grabbing it in a chokehold.

"…I just need to suck the life out of you until there's nothing left." The creature's voice now sounded different. It sounded like a strange amalgamation of a bunch of different voices. There was Toffee, Eternia, Ludo, and even a few noteworthy voice actors that Comet liked. "Oh, and don't call me Nightmare anymore. I've grown beyond the name of my kind. From now on, the Universe shall know me as MALORUM, THE LORD OF NIGHTMARES!"

"Seriously? You're going with a Latin name? That's so cheesy," Comet ribbed the Nightmare (now going by Malorum) even as he was being choked out of existence. "Oh, and for that matter, this whole thing's starting to reek of Freddy Kreuger," he said with a cheeky grin, even as his face started to turn purple from the lack of color.

"Insolent child! You just can't resist mouthing off at me even as you're about to die, can you?!" The distorted voice of Malorum hissed.

"What can I say? I've got this thing about rebelling against jerks in power, I guess," Comet said as he brought his hand up. "RAINBOW FIST PUNCH!"

A massive, rainbow-colored fist leapt out of Comet's hand and hit Malorum so hard his neck twisted around until his head was facing backward. That was still enough to free Comet from death by strangling, though. Sadly, that wasn't enough to put Malorum down. Instead, the creature just looked at Comet and started to cackle like a maniac as his body started to morph into something else. Instead of the distorted form of Toffee, Comet was now facing a tall, blonde man in blue spandex and a cape designed after the American Flag, his face covered in blood.

"Ohhohoho…kid, you shouldn't have done that," Malorum said as his eyes began to glow.

"Oh, crud." Comet then began to run for it. How he was doing so in the middle of a dark void, he didn't know. All he knew was that he was running through a bunch of different places in his life while Malorum started shooting at him with blasts of heat vision.

"Okay, Comet. He may have caught you off guard, but don't let him get to you," he said to himself as he ducked underneath Miss Skullnick's desk, not sure how he got to his school. "This is your mind! You are in control! You can think of whatever you want!"

"Is that so? Then why are you running from me?"

Comet barely had enough to roll out of the way as Malorum smashed the desk with a pile driver.

"Oh no, you don't! This is still my dream, and what I say here goes! Shrink ray blast!" Comet stuck his fingers out like a gun and hit Malorum in the chest with a blast of magical energy that managed to shrink him down to the size of an action figure. Then, for good measure, Comet quickly created a giant, padlocked cell that he could use to keep him locked away.

It was a great idea until Malorum simply turned himself into a cloud of gas and phased right through the bars before taking the shape of that massive reptile from Jonah's dream before lunging at Comet, forcing him to jump out of the opened window into the courtyard.

"You call that a lizard? I'll show you what a real lizard looks like!" Thinking that he had nothing left to lose, Comet then willed himself to transform into the biggest animal he could think of at that moment. According to his friends, it was some sort of ancient reptile that had roamed Earth millions of years before Humans ever existed and was one of the most famous predators of all time.

"Now is coward-killing time!" Comet shouted in his new form as a T-Rex before charging at the mutant crocodile, the two attacking each other with claws, teeth, and tails. It was a vicious battle between apex predators that ended when Comet bit down on Malorum's neck and severed his head from his body.

"HA!" Comet jubilantly cried in victory as he turned back into his normal self. "Nice try, jackass! But you can't beat me at my own game!"

"I'm not trying to play your game, boy. I'm playing my own!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ground beneath Comet crumbled as a massive hand punched through it. Comet was barely able to jump out of the way before he saw the form of the Attack Titan from Attack on Titan gazing up at him as he floated in the air. The beast began to roar before picking up some of the debris and throwing it in Comet's direction.

With incredible speed and skill, Comet managed to dodge the oncoming projectiles like they were nothing. However, when he looked back down at this enemy, he was surprised to see that they were no longer there.

"Now, where is that thing?!"

Comet didn't need to wait to get his answer when he felt a scalding blast of heat vision on his back, hotter than anything he'd ever experienced in his entire life. The heat was so intense that Comet almost passed out, falling onto the hard concrete ground as he did so.

It was only thanks to his quick mind that he remembered that this was all still a dream, and thus he was able to turn the ground into a nice, soft Jell-O. It didn't really help with the fact that he was in a really bad spot, though, with Malorum hovering over him with an absolutely sadistic grin on his face.

"Ohohoho, if only Rhonan could see it now. The heir to his bloodline, lying beaten and broken at my hands! This almost makes all those years imprisoned by your family worth it. Key word: almost.

Comet tried to raise his hand once more to cast another spell, but in a flash, Malorum's hands were once again around the boy's neck.

"After I'm done draining all the fear and magic out of you, I'm going to pay all your friends in the real world a visit and watch them weep over your dried-up husk before I kill them! Then, I'm going to level Mewni, Earth, and every worthless place that you know!" Malorum began ranting.

"Th-that's still not going to make your name any cooler, you know,"

"SHUT UP, BRAT!" Malorum screamed. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST DI-"

"RASENSHURIKEN!"

Then, out of nowhere, this giant, whirring shuriken made out of wind appeared and sliced Malorum in half. There was no blood, either. It was like the wind had just cauterized the whole thing. Either way, Malorum fell to the ground in a heap for the second time in as many minutes.

When Comet saw who happened to be standing a few feet away from him, he grinned.

"It took you guys long enough," he joked as he brushed himself off, his appearance instantly restored to normal by his mind.

Standing there was his Dad and, more importantly, his friends.

"Hey, man, have you ever tried finding someone in the middle of one of your dreams?" Ferguson complained. "That shit's hard!"

"It's like you've created an entire universe inside your head. It's so big," Alfonso told Comet.

"I kind of like it," CometFan13 said, to which everyone else responded by saying, "We know!"

"Comet! Are you all right?" Mune cried out as he rushed to his son's side.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. Just a little shaken up," he admitted.

"So, what happened while we were getting ready?" Karla asked as she strummed her axe guitar (how did she have it in here?!)

"Basically, the Nightmare's become self-aware, trying to kill me so it can drain my magic or something stupid and escape to the real world and destroy everything…or something dumb." Comet then thought to see if he had missed anything. "Or, and it's also calling itself Malorum now."

"Pfft, that's lame," Jonah scoffed.

"Oh yeah, really lame," everyone agreed."

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT'S LAME, MORTAL FOOLS!" a deafening voice called out, its voice as loud as a jumbo jet. That's when Comet noticed that Malorum's body was gone. That, and the dream world was starting to fall apart.

Like, every last part of the entire world began to disintegrate, leaving only this blood-stained void that seemed to encompass all. Eventually, all that was left was a scant few islands of solid ground upon which the group of ten found themselves, albeit everyone was now separated from each other.

Play Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain- /iCEDfZgDPS8

As if that wasn't bad enough, they then saw the form that Malorum had now taken. Calling it massive would've been an understatement. It was the size of a battleship, towering over everything and everyone. Its form had also changed, as well, now taking on the shape of some form of demonic entity. Not one of the Demons found in the Underworld, but one found in Earthly myths and legends. The wings on its back looked ready to blot out the sun, while its powerful body looked capable of destroying everything with the barest minimum of effort. And atop its shadowy face were yellow, smoldering eyes.

"Behold, my true power, mortals! I am Malorum, the lord of nightmares! And I shall rule for all ETERNITY!"

"Oh…"

"…shit."

Sabrina and Brittney began to hold onto each other as they whimpered in fear. "Please let us wake up already!"

"I didn't sign on for this! What the heck do we do now!?" Someone called out.

"Meh. I've seen bigger," Jonah said, as confident as ever. In reality, though, he was just putting on a front.

"Yes, yes! FEAR ME! FEED ME! Your bodies shall serve as the building blocks upon which I shall build my throne and-"

*ZAP*

End Music.

Malorum's monologue ended prematurely when a single, solitary bolt of magical energy hit him square in the face. And the one who was responsible for it…wasn't Comet or Mune.

It was Karla, holding her Ax-Guitar, with the end of it smoking like a gun.

"What? I got tired of him monologuing," Karla admitted. "Guys, he's just trying to scare us, remember? But this is still a dream, and whatever we want-"

"-becomes real...ohohoho, this is going to be fun!" Jonah then began to reach his hands out before surrounding himself with a beam of light. When the light had faded, his blue jacket was now longer, reaching down to his ankles, and he was now holding a pair of Colt Python revolver pistols. "Guys, let's waste this dirtbag so we can go back to our sleepover."

Rather than go into some bigass speech about the power of believing in oneself and believing in each other (because that can be seriously overused,) everyone decided to simply say, "Yeah, let's."

"Any ideas on how we put that thing down?" Jackson asked as he got on his U-Board, which then proceeded to envelop like a suit of armor straight out of Iron Man until he was completely covered in it.

"Nice suit, Jackson," Alfonso said, "but we can do better." Following Alfonso's mental commands, a giant Gundam appeared out of thin air and encased Alfonso within itself.

CometFan13 proceeded to create an entire legion of himself where he was standing. "We are the legion of Comet! We will rain down judgment upon those who harm our Prince!"

Sabrina managed to summon one of the dragons from the Game of Thrones franchise (Syrax, to be specific).

"Oh la la! I didn't know you were a fan of Game of Thrones, Sabrina!" Brittney said, genuinely surprised to see this aspect of her friend. "I didn't even know your parents let you watch that."

"They, um…don't," Sabrina admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "Don't think less of me for it."

"Hey, Sabrina?' Brittney gave her friend a coy smile before surrounding herself in a strange light. When she was done, Brittney was dressed like one of the Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon, much to the surprise of everyone there.

"I've got so many attack ideas that I want to try out right now," Ferguson admitted. Off to the side, Marcia began to stretch her legs. She may not have magic in the real world, but she was going to use this chance to do things that she'd only seen in anime.

"Dad, you know how to make a new prison for this thing?" Comet asked his Dad, who was…frankly, he was surprised at what he was witnessing.

Managing to gather his senses, Mune responded. "Yes. It will take me a few moments, but I should be able to construct a new puzzle that it will be unable to escape from."

"Good. We'll keep it busy until then. Ready, guys?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Marcia admitted.

"Karla, do me a favor, would you, and make something that can play something epic."

"Already on it," Karla admitted as she conjured a music player that began playing one of the most dope action songs in anime history.

Play You Say Run- /iYZIUtDAFIw

"Huh. My Hero Academia. Dope," Jonah admitted.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Charge!"

And with that, the fight was on.

The battle that erupted was epic, too epic to be put into mere words alone. Malorum threw everything it had at the group. Blasts of fire, dark matter, even things that couldn't be discerned by the human eye, but the group would not be thrown back down. In his Mecha, Alfonso picked off projectiles at long range with a specially engineered sniper rifle, while he used a massive claymore to shatter through anything that got too close.

Meanwhile, Sabrina rode atop her dragon, firing off blasts of fire capable of melting the flesh off of bones. When Malorum spawned a bunch of demonic cherubs in an attempt to throw her off, Jackson comes out of nowhere. Sporting a pair of chainsaw blades protruding from his wrists, the skater boy sliced the tiny enemies to ribbons.

Jonah used his alchemy to its absolute fullest potential, turning anything thrown at him into new, powerful weapons that he then telekinetically controlled to fire off rounds at Malorum's face. Any minions that got too close got a bullet in their heads, courtesy of his dual pistols.

CometFan13's legion rained down fire support from the heavens. By which they meant they shot arrows that were as hot as the surface of the sun into Malorum's face.

Brittney danced across the battlefield like a ballerina, using a combination of magical attacks and straight-up melee to reduce sections of Malorum to ash and rubble.

Ferguson took a page from the book of Shonen anime and started using all sorts of attacks. What he seemed to favor, though, were ones that could alter his size and shape. IE, he made his arms and legs grow to absolutely massive proportions and then laid the smackdown on Malorum.

Karla floated to and fro throughout the battle, using her axe to cut through Malorum and his creations. Or, if she felt like it, she would strum the guitar part and use it to fire off music in the form of physical notes. Music truly was her greatest weapon.

Marcia, though? She seemed to take to this stuff the best out of everyone. She was moving at speeds faster than any human could ever hope to achieve, channeling her energy into her body to create devastatingly powerful kicks and punches. And this was on top of the fact that she was flying and shooting energy blasts out of her limbs!

It was a long and arduous battle, but one whose outcome was decided from the start. Alone, they couldn't stop Malorum. But together? Malorum couldn't stop them. They quickly forced Malorum into a corner as Comet made his way closer and closer to the heart of the beast. Once he was within point-blank range, Comet ordered everyone else to get clear and then began to perform a certain technique that any anime fan worth their salt would at least be somewhat familiar with.

End Music.

"Ka-me-ha-me….HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Comet fired off a Kamehameha into Malorum's face. By his own estimation, this blast was strong enough to destroy Earth several times over, and he hit Malorum with every ounce of it. Malorum could only scream in utter agony as it took the sheer amount of magical energy point-blank. And even when the screaming had ceased, and Malorum's gigantic form seemed to vanish, Comet continued to blast away. It was a full minute before Comet finally ceased his actions. Finally finished, he fell to the ground below.

Oh, and upon the end of the fight, Comet somehow mentally returned his dream to what it had once been: a mixture of Echo Creek and Castle Dragonfly.

As everyone proceeded to run towards Comet to see if he was all right (it may have been a dream, but still), Mune wasted no time. He had spent the minutes his son and friends bought to review Rhonan's original prison for Malorum, then improved upon ten-fold. The result was a magical cube containing an infinitely changing prison within a prison, one that would take someone inside millions of years to escape from. But by that point, it would not matter. Mune could only hope that whoever found it one day would have the means to deal with this threat once and for all.

And just like that, it was over. The nightmare was over at last.


When everyone opened their eyes next, it was almost dawn at Castle Dragonfly. No one had gotten much sleep, though, considering what had happened during the night. In the guest bedroom, everyone looked at each other, nervously wondering the same thing.

"So, did we do it?" Sabrina worriedly asked.

"Dad? Please tell me you got it?"

Mune didn't say a word. He just held out his hands, revealing a small, bizarrely cube-like structure. It was the prison of Malorum.

"It's over, son. This whole nightmare is finally over."

Everyone then began to breathe a huge sigh of relief as Mune got out of the chair he had been sitting in.

"Thanks to you all, the Universe has been protected from a dangerous menace. I cannot express my gratitude to you all enough for helping us deal with this great evil."

"You don't need to thank us, your highness," Ferguson humbly said.

"Comet would've done the same for us. We were just returning the favor," CometFan13 told the King.

"Though, if you wanted to bestow lands and titles on us…." Jonah slyly implied.

"Jonah!" Marcia scolded him.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Jonah held up his hands in a placating position. "But seriously, if you want to reward us, we would not be opposed to that."

Mune couldn't help but chuckle. "It's nice to know that my son has found such good friends in his time on Earth. I hope you will continue to look after him in the future." That statement alone made everyone present smile some more.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take this and ensure that it never sees the light of day again. No more keeping it in Castle Dragonfly," Mune then got up and made his way to the door. "I understand that the events of last night were tiring, so if you were to choose to stay here until you've rested up, I would not be opposed."

"Oh, yes, please!" Brittney said. It wasn't every day that she got to sleep in the home of royalty!

As Mune exited the guest room, everyone then looked at each other and then at the sun that began to rise over Mewni.

"So, what now?" Ferguson asked.

"We should probably get ready for the day if you ask me," Marcia said.

"Oorrrrrr…." Comet got this mischievous grin on his face as he came up with a brilliant idea. "Hey, Glossaryck!"

"You called?" the little blue man asked as he suddenly appeared.

"Any chance you could show me how to do whatever spell Dad used to bring everyone into my dream?"

Glossaryck smiled at his student. "I believe that can be arranged."

00000000000000000000000000000

"Ahhh…" Comet said as he relaxed on the beach inside of his mind. "Now, this is the kind of dream that I could get used to."

"Amen to that, mi amigo," Marcia muttered as she happily bathed in the warm sun. Everyone else was either relaxing, riding on various fictional animals, or playing in the water. Whatever they were doing, though, everyone was just happy to get a good night's sleep and some quality time together as friends.

Cryptkeeper: Well, now. That was quite the terrifying tale, wasn't it? It's almost like the guy who wrote it was trying to cram in a bunch of horror ideas at once and see how well it would go together. Not that well, if you ask me...

?: SILENCE!

*Everyone begins to panic as they wonder what the heck is going on, only for the sound of evil laughter beginning to echo throughout the Workspace. Then, suddenly, the stage erupts into a ball of fire and brimstone, and from it appears a massive cloud of smoke. And in that smoke...is the face of RJ "Jay" Writing Ink.*

Jay: Hahahahaha! I got you guys good, didn't I? Well, even if I didn't, I'm sticking with this shit. So, how's everyone doing. Sorry for the month long hiatus, but I really needed it to write this special. In hindsight, I only needed two weeks of cramming, though, but beggars can't be choosers. So, who liked the story I just told? Yeah, I know that it was a bit all over the place, but hear me out.

See, I realized that with Comet's magic, there were a lot of threats that he could just bullshit his way through. Which sucked, because I had a bunch of ideas. I had one parodying the Halloween films, or an anthology story like Terror Tales of the Park or the earlier Treehouse of Horror specials. But then it hit me: let's do Nightmare on Elm Street, but make it bigger. So, I came up with this whole "Nightmare" concept and ran with it. I think I managed to cover a lot of scary things. And hey, if you guys manage to name all the references to horror movies, or guess which monsters I used in Jonah's dream, you're going to get my respect. Now that that's out of the way, though, I'm happy to tell you that chapters of the story will resume on Veteran's day like normal. And hopefully, they'll be back to a weekly release schedule. But for now, let's party!

*Thus the biggest Halloween Party in the history of the Universe began. Besides the normal people from the Workspace, Jay had invited every major monster and characters from all sorts of horror films. Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers were celebrating their fight on Death Battle! with DAU Kermit. Alucard and the Wolfman were chatting with DIO. The many Ghostfaces were dancing on stage while Ghost Rider and the Headless Horseman raced. Imhotep was dancing with the Wicked Witch of the West. The Alien and the Predator were arm-wrestling while Bill Cipher refereed. And in the middle of everything was Kimi, aka Yog-Sogoth, the star of Toonami's recent limited series, Housing Complex C, having fun for once. Jack Skellington and Sally were dancing together while the Addams Family did the tango.*

Well, I did say I invited everyone, didn't I? HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!