Friendship is Magic: The Seventh Element

by Master Mr B

"When the sixth element is revealed, a special element can appear that is a combination of the other six. It serves as the controller that bounds the power if the six elements together. But nobody, not even the royal sisters, have ever uncovered this...Seventh Element..." Follow my OC as he takes part in the adventures of FiM. And possibly win the heart of Twilight Sparkle...

109. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep

Pony's Log Number 513: Nothing is more frightening when the cause of your nightmares becomes a threat to everypony else's dreams...

The Mane eight ran as fast as their hooves could take them. They were currently in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Luna was standing in the middle of the throne room. The Mane eight were doing their best to pick up their pace. Back in the throne room, a floating blob of celestial purple appeared behind Luna.

"Greetings, Tantabus," said Luna, "I am ready. Do you worst?" Tantabus floated behind a window, turning day into night. Luna then began to grunt painfully as the Mane eight burst into the room.

"Luna, we came as soon as we...GASP!" Mario and the others all gasped as Luna was encased inside of a black bubble.

"Princess Luna's turning into Nightmare Moon again!" Twilight exclaimed.

"No!" Mario cried out in terror. Soon the dark transformation was complete and Nightmare Moon laughed evilly before them, making everypony wince.

"Yeah?" said Rainbow, "Well, we've got the cure for that!" All but Shenran and Mario's bodies glowed as powerful beams of magic descended upon them, turning all six girls into their Super Pony forms. Once they had all powered up, they made a Power Heart appear above their heads. Mario then made his own Power Heart rise above his head. The seven Power Hearts converged to allow Mario to become Ultimate Mario once again. What about Shenran? Super Fluttershy floated over to him and transferred some of her rainbow power to him. Shenran transformed, now wearing a light blue tunic with white undershirt, cream pants with brown boots. All clothing items sparkled like gems and his mane was longer and tied into a downward pony tail. He also had a circular shield and giant single sword made out of solid diamond. The eight powered up ponies floated into the air together, each of closing their eyes and opening them so they were glowing white. Then they each fired a colored beam that represented their element. (Mario's was yellow and Shenran's was green). Nightmare Moon laughed evilly as she blocked the group's rainbow blast.

"Wait! What's it doing?! No!" said Nightmare Moon as the Tantabus made night turn back into day, ripped a hole through the wall and disappeared, "It's gone!" The Mane eight then fired another magic blast at Nightmare Moon, who grunted as she was returned back into Luna. Luna looked rather baffled as the Mane eight cheered as they happily surrounded her.

Luna then woke up with a gasp, she had apparently been dreaming.

"What? My dream ended...happily?" said Luna in a panic, "That. Cannot. Happen!"

It is safe to say that whatever happened in that dream...wasn't just a dream after all.

(Main Theme)

At the Carousel Boutique, the Mane eight had brought their pets to have them washed and groomed. For those wondering, Shenran and Fluttershy both shared Angel. Another note of interest was the fact that all eight ponies had dark circles under their eyes and were looking very tired. Correction: All eight ponies except Pinkie.

"Ooh, this is amazing!" said Pinkie excitedly. Rainbow just yawned as she gave Tank a bath. Rarity was grooming Opal's tail. Applejack was just petting Winona. Pinkie was just bouncing about as usual. Mario was busy giving Charlie a back message. And while none of the pets wore clothes, Charlie still decided to wear a bathrobe for the occasion, especially since Rarity had made it for him.

"Yeah, Rarity," said Rainbow in a tired tone, "Thanks for setting all this up."

"A grooming day for our pets really was a great idea," said Fluttershy in the same tired tone as she sat on the edge of the table with Angel sitting on her lap. She had just finished brushing the white bunny when she felt something in her mane. She turned to see Shenran was brushing her mane.

"Honey, you're supposed to be grooming, Angel," she said, half-annoyingly but also with half a chuckle.

"You seem to be doing just fine, dear," said Shenran as Fluttershy just rolled her eyes at him. Nearby, Twilight was using her magic to preen Owlowiscious's feathers. She took notice of their conversation and chuckled.

"Honey, can I get a mane brush from you later?" Twilight asked her husband, who just yawned and chuckled.

"Sure, anything for my girl," Mario replied as he continued to give Charlie a shoulder rub. Twilight giggled to herself and went back to preening Owlowiscious. Rarity was continuing to groom Opal's tail, but was starting to nod off when she grabbed the hair brush and poked Opal hard in the back with it.

"YOWL!" Opal screamed as she jumped into the air and landed right on top of Charlie with her claws open.

"OWWWW-YIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! YOW! YIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Charlie screamed painfully as jumped about and sent Opal flying into the top of a nearby banner. Rarity soon realized her mistake.

"Oh, my!" said Rarity to both Opal and Charlie, "Oh, I'm sorry." Opal just hissed at Rarity unsympathetically. Charlie squeaked at her angrily, but then stopped with Rarity was on the verge of tears. Charlie could see Mario giving him a death glare. Charlie then squeaked that he was sorry and then added with his own tears that Opal's claws really hurt his back.

"It's alright, darling," said Rarity as she gave Charlie a very gentle hug, "I've got some cream to help take care of that sting in your back. Just know that I didn't mean it. I didn't get my normal beauty sleep last night." Charlie just nodded as Rarity used her magic to apply the cream.

"You know," said Twilight with a yawn, "I didn't sleep well either."

"Neither did I," said Mario.

"Mm-hmm," said Applejack in agreement.

"Uh-huh," Rainbow added in the same tone.

"I'm totally beat too!" said Pinkie as she cart-wheeled across the room.

"We can tell," said Mario and Shenran said annoyingly. Applejack was about to doze off when Winona barked and woke her up.

"All right, Winona," said Applejack, "Time for your brushin'." But Applejack then accidentally grabbed Gummy instead and tried to use him to brush Winona. Gummy then bit Winona's ear. Despite not having teeth, Winona yelped and shook Gummy off. The little alligator went flying into the air and landed on Owlowiscious. The owl then hovered up, causing Twilight to lean away and lose her balance.

"I got ya, honey," Mario shouted but then found he was now off balance, "Whoa-WHOA!"

SPLASH!

Mario and Twilight tumbled into the water Tank was having his bath. Applejack looked stunned at the chain of mishaps.

"Oops," said Applejack, "I guess I'm too plumb tired out to do this right." Winona just rubbed her ear on the table and glared at the orange pony in reply. Pinkie simply ran after Gummy and Owlowiscious behind her.

"I even went to bed early last night..." Fluttershy yawned as Shenran held her from behind, "but then I had a really scary nightmare."

"Me too!" said the rest of the group.

"Uh, only, you know," said Rainbow, "I didn't think mine was that scary."

"Says the pony who came to our house in the middle of the night crying," Shenran remarked.

"Quiet!" Rainbow snarled angrily. She didn't want to the others to know about that.

"Well, mine sure was, so was Mario's," said Twilight as Mario nodded in agreement, both of them soaking wet, "There was this blue monster and...what?" Twilight noticed that everypony minus Rainbow was staring at her with their mouths hanging out.

"Shenran and I dreamt about a blue smoke thingy too!" said Fluttershy.

"Me too!" said Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity together.

"So what?" Rainbow remarked as she reclined in the air with her fore-hooves crossed, "Probably just a coincidence.

"That's an awfully big coincidence," said Twilight as she and Mario climbed out of the tub and Spike approached holding some towels.

"Yeah, eight ponies all having the same nightmare," said Mario, "That sounds like more than coincidence if you ask me."

"Huh. I wonder why I didn't have that nightmare," said Spike, "I slept great!" Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Shenran, and Fluttershy all gave the little dragon unamused looks.

"So then," said Rarity, "what could've given us all the same nightmare?"

"I don't know," said Twilight as she used her magic to hand Spike her now wet towel and Mario gave the little dragon his towel as well, "but I do know who might. Spike, could you send a scroll to Princess Luna?"

"Sure!" said Spike as he tossed the towels away and grabbed a long piece of parchment, "All set!"

"Dear Princess Luna," Twilight recited as she walked past the rest of the group with Mario following her, "last night my friends, my husband, and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I'm sure you're very busy, but..." Twilight yawned, "...when you have the chance, please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean. Yours..." Twilight yawned again, "...Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Mario Star. You can leave out the yawns." The fact Spike had made some faces and scratched some stuff out was a good clue that he had included them. He then rolled up the scroll and breathed his fire to send the message away.

"Now, all we can is..."

"Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?!" Luna asked as she suddenly burst through the door to the Boutique. The others were stunned at seeing the moon princess before them...and in record time.

"Wow," said Fluttershy, "That was fast."

"I think she just beat Mario for the fastest reply to a problem," said Shenran as Mario shot the Pegasus a glare.

"To answer your question," said Twilight, "We all did."

"Not me!" said Spike smugly as he walked across the foreground.

"Ugh, we know!" said Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Mario, and Shenran together annoyingly.

"So you've encountered the smoke monster too?" Twilight asked.

"The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares," said Luna as she walked up to the group, "It escaped from my slumbers yesterday."

"How did it get into your nightmares to begin with, Aunt Luna?" Mario asked.

"But how did it get into ours?" Fluttershy asked as well.

"The Tantabus is like a parasite," Luna explained and purposely avoided Mario's question, "My dreams must no longer be enough for it. Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt. It must have learned of you eight from seeing you in my dream."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa," said Spike, "So what you're saying is...you dreamt about all of them, and not me?" Spike couldn't help but whimper at feeling left out.

"Uh, so Smokey gave us bad dreams," said Rainbow dismissively, "No biggie."

"I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful," said Luna, "but I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams. If it's power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the real world. It could turn all of Equestria into a living nightmare!" As Luna explained, a visual was seen of the Tantabus growing in size and piecing a hole through the barrier of the dream world and the real world. Then another visual was seen of Ponyville as the Tantabus engulfed it whole.

"Okay, okay, okay, I take it back!" said Rainbow, no longer hiding the fact that she was panicking, "That does sound bad! Really bad!" Rainbow then rushed to Mario.

"Hold me!" she pleaded as Mario held her close and rubbed her back to help her calm down, but deep down, Mario was also panicking as well.

Later that night, the Mane eight and Luna had all gathered at Twilight and Mario's castle.

"We've prepared everything exactly as you requested," said Twilight as the group entered hers and Mario's bedroom which now had several extra beds gathered around the room in a large circle. As expected, the married couples were sharing a bed.

"Good," said Luna as she walked inside, "As you eight slumber here, I will pursue the creature into whichever of your dreams it infests."

"Ooh!" said Pinkie as she, Rainbow, and Rarity snuggle into their own beds, "It'll be like a princess sleepover!"

"Speaking of princesses," said Twilight as she and Mario climbed into their own bed, "aren't you gonna ask Celestia for her help as well?"

"Mom would certainly be willing to help," Mario added.

"There is nothing my sister can do," said Luna, "She has no power in the realm of sleep. Only I can move from dream to dream. I am afraid nopony can help me tonight."

"Even us?" Applejack asked with concern.

"Especially you," said Luna, "You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams." Luna then took notice that Mario was giving her a very stern look.

"Mario, I know what you're thinking," said Luna firmly, "My sister may allow you to openly protest her judgment, but I ask you to respect my decision to do this alone."

"Very well," said Mario, "But you are forgetting that you're not the only pony who can access the dream world. You've been teaching me your dream magic for years now. Is there a reason why you choose not to have me assist you if I can at least ask that much?" Luna hummed, finding that Mario was not judging her decision but asking a question of concern.

"Because your magic isn't strong enough to travel between dreams," Luna answered, "I need all the energy I can to pursue the Tantabus."

"Understood," said Mario with an understanding nod but also a worried look on his face, "Good luck Aunt Luna." Luna then flinched when she felt something tug her ever-flowing mane. She looked down to see Spike standing before her.

"I know you said nopony can help," said Spike, "but I'm no pony! I'm going to stay up and watch over you guys just in case!"

"Aw, thank you, Spike!" said Twilight as Mario smiled in agreement.

"One good thing about not sleepin' well last night," Applejack yawned as she turned to her side to go so sleep, "shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep now."

"Hope you're right, Sis," said Mario as he and his wife got comfortable on their sides of the bed. It was then Applejack was given the fright of her life when Pinkie appeared from her blanket beside her.

"Are you kidding?!" Pinkie exclaimed, "This is so exciting, I don't know how I'm ever going to-ZZZZZZZZZ..." Pinkie was instantly out like a light bulb and was snoring. Applejack just looked rather annoyed and didn't bother kicking the pink pony out of her bed, scooted toward the edge, and went to sleep. The rest of the Mane eight did the same. Luna looked about to make sure that everypony was fast asleep and Pinkie somehow had made her way back to her own bed. Luna then closed her eyes and hovered into the air. She then made the rings around her horn glow white, which caused eight strings to connect themselves to the dreams of the eight ponies. It was Luna's personal dream network. She then increased her magical power to travel to the first pony of choice, which happened to be Shenran.

In the dream world, Luna found herself hearing the traditional tunes of the imperial unicorn empire as she stood before what appeared to be a rather large pagoda style mansion.

"Haven't seen architecture like this in hundreds of moons," Luna said to herself as she approached the main doors and allowed herself in. She soon stopped when she saw that she was standing on the genkan.

"Dream or not, you still gotta respect the customs," Luna told herself as she removed her shoes and headed down the hallway when she came upon a sliding door and opened. There inside was Shenran, wearing a blue kung-fu style shirt and was mediating on a large round cushion. Behind him was a vast collection of dual swords.

"I had no idea you were this interested in the old unicorn imperial empire," said Luna as she walked inside, keeping on alert.

"My father may have been a Pegasus," Shenran replied with his eyes closed, "But my mother was a unicorn, a descent of the families that once roamed the imperial unicorn lands. It is my dream to continue the pride that is part of my heritage for generations to come."

"I see," said Luna, "forgive my rudeness, but I still finding it baffling that a Pegasus would take pride in a culture that was part of the unicorns."

"The way of the sword does not belong to just the unicorns," Shenran replied, "knowledge of the arts belongs to everypony and every creature."

"Wise words indeed," Luna replied, "now if only..."

"Wait!" said Shenran quickly as he opened his eyes. There was a long silence as Shenran remind stiff. Suddenly...

CLANG!

Shenran did a fast one-eighty and was now in a sword lock with a pair of swords that had now come to life. Luna gasped and then looked up to see the Tantabus roaming about, passing through the collection of swords and bring them to life. Shenran then knocked the monster swords attacking him away. Using a combination of fast swiped and agility, Shenran quickly battled and knocked away several of the monster swords.

"Luna, I've got the swords," Shenran called out, "Get after the Tantabus! Hurry!" Luna nodded as she saw the Tantabus slip under what appeared to be a bed made out of bamboo and disappeared underneath it. Luna then used her magic to slide under the bed to follow it, but not before magically putting her shoes back on first.

Meanwhile, Rarity found herself surrounded by various pink dresses that were dancing and flying about the room.

"Oh, my!" said Rarity, "This is simply divine! How avant garde!" Unknowing to Rarity, the Tantabus was floating behind her and it passed through a dress, the two ribbons on it rose into the as the dress turned into a monster. Rarity barely had time to turn around when she saw the dress about to attack her.

"Forget avant garde!" said Rarity, "I should have said en garde!" Rarity then gasped before she fired a magic blast to knock the dress away. The dress sleeves then turned into claws to attack, but then the dress exploded, revealing Luna.

"It is here!" Luna shouted as the Tantabus turned three more dresses into monsters. The two ponies then fired magic blasts at the monster dresses, destroying them. Rarity gasped at the ruined remains.

"It was such a pretty little chiffon...!" Rarity lamented dramatically, "What kind of monster would do this?!"

"The Tantabus," said Luna as she walked up to her.

"Then let's stop it!" said Rarity with determination.

"No, please!" Luna begged, "I don't want you to suffer anymore because of me. I will catch it." Neither pony noticed that as Luna was speaking the Tantabus increased in size. It then hovered past some more dresses, turning them into monsters that roared at the two ponies. Luna fought the monster dresses off but then saw the Tantabus make its way out of a nearby window and put up bricks to block anypony from following it.

"Is has jumped into another dream!" Luna told Rarity as she blasted away another monster dress, "I am sorry, but if I am able to stop it, I must follow it where you cannot."

"Go!" said Rarity, "I should be able to handle things here." Luna then blasted away the bricks and flew off. Rarity soon found that she was clearly overwhelmed.

"I hope," she whimpered as the monster dresses surrounded her.

In another dream...

"La-la-la-la-la! Whee, ha-ha!" Pinkie cheered as she trotted free-spiritedly about. Every time she jumped, the background scenery would change. First, she was trotting some open woods, then inside of a cavern, then in the bottom of a gorge where a dragon roared and tried to bite her, but Pinkie casually jumped out of the way and was now in Cloudsdale.

"La-la-la-la-la!" Pinkie sing sang when she saw Luna.

"I followed the Tantabus here," Luna told the pink pony, "Now I need only find-" Luna then found that they were now in the middle of the jungle.

"Sorry, can't help it!" said Pinkie as she jumped again and the two ponies were now someplace else, "An idea pops into my head, it-" Pinkie then gasped when she found they were now in Sugarcube corner and the room was filled with lots of cakes, "Ooh, cake!" It was then the Tantabus appeared and passed through a cake. As Pinkie was about to take a bite out of the cake, the cake turned into a monster, spat out frosting at Pinkie's face and growled at her.

"Ew, cake!" Pinkie exclaimed as she found herself surrounded by monster cakes. But then one cake appeared next to Pinkie and exploded, revealing Luna inside of it. Luna then created a barrier to protect Pinkie and then expanded the barrier to knock away all the monster cakes in one shot. Pinkie smiled with gratitude when the Tantabus ducked inside of a box, making Luna gasp as she tried to dive after it when she smacked into...Spike's statue in the Crystal Empire?!

"No!" Luna exclaimed in disappointment.

"Sorry!" Pinkie apologized as Luna exited Pinkie's dream. Pinkie then jumped again to find herself in Ponyville and standing next to a giant ice cream cone.

"Who wants ice cream?!" Pinkie shouted as several ponies came out of their houses and stared at her.

In Fluttershy's dream, the yellow Pegasus was just sitting quietly as a Giant Angel bunny was brushing her mane.

"Now don't tell Daddy that Mommy said this Angel," Fluttershy said, "but...mmm, it's so nice to be the pet for once." It was then the Tantabus appeared and zapped Giant Angel's tail, turning him into an evil monster. Fluttershy didn't notice until Giant Evil Angel was using his now razor sharp claws to brush her mane. Fluttershy turned around and Giant Evil Angel roared at her.

"N-n-n-n-nice...giant...evil Angel...!" Fluttershy quivered fearfully. Giant Evil Angel went on the attack. Fluttershy screamed as Luna swooped in and carried her up to the top of the tree.

"Phew! Oh, thank you, princess!" said Fluttershy. Luna then saw the Tantabus enter a birdhouse. Luna then made a door appear in the sky and entered it to continue to the pursuit. Fluttershy just watched her leave until she noticed that Giant Evil Angel was trying to bite the side of the tree.

Elsewhere, Applejack was on the farm polishing a giant apple.

"Now this is what I call an incredible dream," said Applejack. Above her, the Tantabus had arrived and turning some healthy apple trees into wilted lifeless trees. It was then an apple flower blossomed and Luna appeared. She quickly looked around and saw the Tantabus. Applejack then saw the Tantabus in the reflection of her giant apple and turned around to see it destroying the apple trees. Before she could react, the Tantabus went through the giant apple, turning it into a wilted apple core. Luna flew into the core and soon found herself out of Applejack dream and inside a new one. Inside what appeared to be a dark cavern, Rainbow was fighting several changelings. She even took three down in slow motion and smiled smugly until one tried to grab her from behind until Luna blasted it away.

"I can see the Tantabus has already turned your slumbers into a nightmare!" said Luna.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow replied, "This is my favorite dream!" Luna was left rather stunned until the Tantabus appeared and turned the entire area into one of those happy landscapes one would see in a preschool television show. Then some sunflowers sprouted and started humming to "This Old Man" before singing in a tone that was anything but sweet and happy. Actually the tone was just downright creepy.

We are such happy flowers
We will now sing for hours
Aren't we unbearably cute?
Watch me solo on jazz flute

The flowers all had evil smiles on their faces as one sunflower did a flute solo.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Rainbow screamed. Luna looked a little disturbed until she saw the Tantabus take off into the air and she quickly followed after it.

In Twilight's dream, she was just sitting in the middle of a vast library surrounded by lots of books. As she finished reading one book, it flew away and another rested itself on her desk so she could read it. The Tantabus then made its presence known as came out of one book.

"Huh?" Twilight said and then gasped when she saw some of the books had turned into monsters. Twilight quickly dodged and flew off as the monster books chased after her. She then gasped again as the Tantabus monster appeared before her. Before she could react, Luna appeared between her and the Tantabus and fired a magic blast at it.

"Luna!" Twilight exclaimed as Luna encased the Tantabus in some crystal. Just then Luna turned around to see Twilight being overwhelmed by the monster books as they attacked her. Luna wasn't sure of what to do when the crystal shattered and the Tantabus escaped.

"Stay strong Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called out as she jumped in a space between some books to chase after the Tantabus.

Somewhere inside a dark castle that had pits filled with molten lava. There was single floating block that had a question mark on it.

(Cue favorite Mario "castle level" theme)

"Whoa!" Luna yelped as somepony punched the question block from below and she popped out of it.

"That was unexpected," said Mario as Luna floated down next to him.

"I would ask if the Tantabus has already turned this place into a nightmare, but I feel as if you wanted this to happen," Luna remarked.

"Yes and no," said Mario as they ventured down a hall filled with rotating fire bars, "You see, Twilight is so strong and powerful. I often wonder what it would feel like if she played damsel in distress and I could rescue her. Guess I like her thinking of me as her hero."

"And I guess your sub-conscious came up with this?" Luna remarked as she flew upwards and Mario wall jumped up a narrow vertical passage.

"Pfft, I think my sub-conscious over did it," Mario remarked as they started jumped across several lava pits, some of them had some fireballs jumping up at them, "This is the thirty second stage I've been through! Seven of them were castles with Angel telling me at the end of the castle. "Sorry but your princess is in another castle"! UGH!" It was then they came across a wider pool of lava and a single large pit of lava and a single rope dangling from it.

"Wouldn't it be faster to just fly?" Luna asked.

"Tried it, but I nearly got my wing burnt," said Mario, "Parkour is alot safer." Mario then used his magic to pull the rope over and swung from rope to rope, doing some rather stylistic jumps as he did so until he did a front flip and landed on his hind legs. Luna then ventured forward and then saw the Tantabus floating overhead. Luna tried to pursue when Mario put a fore-leg before her.

"Hold up!" said Mario and pointed upward. There above them were several giant blocks with stone scale edges and fierce looking faces. Luna then yelped when Mario put her into his back and charged. Luna gasped and held Mario for dear life as the giant block monsters came crashing down at them, but Mario was just fast enough to avoid being crushed. Mario then made another leap over a wide lava pit and stopped to let Luna get off as they stood before a bridge. They were both shaken when a giant kimono dragon wearing a spiked tortoise shell appeared and roared loudly at them.

"Sweet Celestia!" said Luna and then noticed the Tantabus floating behind it. Luna went to charge at it, but then her focus was broken when she just barely missed getting hit by barrage of flying hammers. Mario had already moved under the monster's throwing arc and then jumped over him with ease and stomped hard on a red switch. This cause the bridge to collapse. The monster tried to chase after Mario, but was left floating in the air before it screamed and sank into the lava below.

"That takes care of that," said Mario when he noticed the entrance on the other side opened. And he saw the Tantabus enter right after, "Oh no! Hurry Luna before that thing turns my princess into a monster!"

"Is that what happened last time?" Luna asked.

"Yes and..." Mario then saw a pony with their back facing against them sitting in the shadows of a dark room, "Um...princess? It'sa me! Mario! I've come to rescue you?" Mario couldn't help but feel cautious. He soon heard some giggling. The giggles sounded happy...but then got...too happy.

"My dear prince," said a voice that made Mario's body turn into ice, "What makes you think I wanna be saved by the likes of you?" Mario froze stiff when the pony walked out of the shadows. It wasn't Twilight and it wasn't a monster either. It was worse!

It was Buttercup!

"Now tell me why such a poor pathetic little pony like you would waste their time winning the love of somepony who thinks you're completely worthless?" she asked with an evil smile on her face.

"Momma..." Mario squeaked as tears streamed down her face. Luna was about to intervene when she saw the Tantabus floating above. Lune tried hard to fire magic blast to stun and capture the Tantabus, but her efforts were in vain before it found a way to evade her. Luna grunted as she went to chase after it when...

"HELP! MOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Mario screamed. Luna looked to see Buttercup had picked Mario up with her fore-hooves and held him above her head before a deep chasm filled with hot steaming lava.

"You heard me!" Buttercup yelled ferociously, "You should've stayed under that rubble where I left you! You don't deserve friends! You don't deserve to be an Apple! You don't deserve to be my son!" Before Luna could react, Buttercup threw Mario into the pit of lava!

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Mario screamed and just as he splashed into the lava...

GASP!

All eight ponies woke up with a start, all of them sweating heavily. Spike was reading a book when he heard the collective gasp and, to nopony's surprise, rushed to Rarity's bedside first.

"What happened?" Spike asked worriedly, "Are you guys okay?"

"That...that was terrible!" said Fluttershy, "I-I never want to have that nightmare again!" Fluttershy shivered in her bed as Shenran held her close for comfort.

"Me neither!" said Rainbow as she shivered in her bed before she held her hind hooves and started rocking back and forth in her bed, humming to herself.

"But Luna caught it, didn't she?" Spike asked.

"I'm so sorry, my friends," said Luna as she landed in middle of the surrounding beds, "I failed. It will be back to infect your dreams the next time you sleep."

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she ducked under her blanket to hide. But then everypony attention was directed toward Mario, who was suddenly hyperventilating.

"N-n-no, not again..." Mario stuttered before screaming, "I CAN'T DO THAT DREAM AGAIN I JUST CAN'T!"

"Mario, Mario," Twilight called out.

"I DON'T WANNA HAVE THAT NIGHTMARE EVER AGAIN!" Mario screamed in terror as he shook Twilight firmly before he burst into tears. The others just looked worried.

"What happened buddy?" Shenran asked gently.

"Was it one of those nightmares where one of us said hurtful things to you and then hurts you really bad?" Fluttershy asked. Mario cried harder as Twilight pulled him close to offer him a hug for comfort.

"Mario, take it easy," said Rainbow, "Even if it was Twilight, you know she'd never say or do something awful like that to you."

"It wasn't her," Mario hiccuped, "it was somepony much worse!"

"Celestia?" Twilight asked. Mario shook his head. The others didn't know who could be worse than that, but then Applejack gasped loudly and put a fore-hoof to her mouth.

"Mario," Applejack asked, fighting back her own tears, "Are...are you saying...Ma did that to you?" Mario looked at his little sister with tear filled eyes.

"She broke my heart," Mario sobbed, "and then threw me into a pit of lava." The others looked at Mario sadly as Applejack headed over to the bed and sat in front of him.

"Look at me, sugarcube," said Applejack gently as Mario slowly obeyed, "I knew Ma. She would never do that to you."

"Really?" Mario whimpered.

"Of course I'm sure," said Applejack, "You know I love you and I always tell you the truth." Mario gave her a teary smile and the two siblings hugged each other tenderly. Applejack gave him a comforting smile as they pulled away and she snorted.

"Yeah," Applejack remarked as she turned to face the group, "I reckon I could live without seeing that thing ever again."

"But you will," said Luna as she got into Applejack's, Mario's, Pinkie's, and Twilight's faces, "Again and again, every night, until it grows powerful enough to infect the waking world. After what I did as Nightmare Moon, the fact that I am once again responsible for harming others is more then I can bear." Luna than looked at the moon as she spoke.

"It'll be okay!" said Pinkie, "Everypony makes mistakes!"

"As long as none of you dreamt about another pony," said Luna, "The Tantabus remains confined to your dreams. I still have a chance to catch it before it's too late."

"Phew, that's good to hear!" said Pinkie, "Although after you left, I happen to dream that I was eating a giant ice cream cone with all of Ponyville while taking a test we hadn't studied for. See, what'd tell ya? Everypony makes mistakes." Luna winced fearfully.

"But that means the Tantabus could be turning every dream in Ponyville into a nightmare!" Twilight pointed out.

"Oh no!" Mario exclaimed frantically.

"It is far worse than that," Luna pointed out, "Infecting all those dreams gives it more and more power. Soon it will be able to escape into the real world and infect Equestria with its nightmare plague!"

"Then you must let us help you stop it before that happens," said Rarity firmly.

"Rares is right," said Mario, "That thing needs to be stopped now and we're just the ponies who can help you do it!"

"But how?" Fluttershy asked, "The Tantabus was able to escape Luna when it only had eight dreams it could get to!"

"And it certainly made the effort to overwhelm each of us from trying to help Luna or capture it ourselves!" Shenran added.

"It is true," said Luna, "With so many dreams to hide in, I do not know if I can catch it."

"Too bad you can't just make a power pellet appear and chomp it into oblivion," said Pinkie. The others gave her funny looks.

"Pinkie, the Tantabus isn't a ghost," said Mario as a matter of fact.

"Sorry, just a thought," Pinkie replied.

"Hmm...What if everypony in Ponyville were having one dream?" Twilight asked.

"That...would be a good idea," said Mario, "It would certainly make tracking the Tantabus much easier."

"I...can create shared dreams, yes, but for so many ponies at once?" Luna pondered, "I have never done anything like that. The amount of power it would take..."

"Well, it is worth a try, isn't it?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Of course," Luna replied, "I will do anything to end this, including accept your help. I cannot allow the Tantabus escape into the real world. All of you must go back to sleep and hope that I can create such a dream." Mario was nervous but Twilight gave her an encouraging smile as they both went to sleep. The rest of the group did the same, including Spike. Luna then closed her eyes and hovered into the air. Using her magic, she then created a dream network that expanded to all the ponies of Ponyville and soon the network engulfed the town in a bright light.

Now entering Dreamy Ponyville!

As the dream came into existence, some muffins with wings were flying to across the sky. Several of the townsponies were surprised to see each other in the same dream. One Pegasus flew by backwards on her back while Mayor Mare moved backwards nervously until she bumped into something. She looked behind herself to find that Muffins was now a giant! She will be called Mega Muffins.

"Meow" Mega Muffins replied to Mayor Mare before she walked away. Elsewhere, Lyra and Bon Bon were surprised to see each other and that they were connected to each other as a two headed pony. They hugged each other in reply. It was then the Mane eight and Spike, minus Mario, were walking by when they saw Berry Punch holding her head on a string like a balloon, Cherry Berry was rowing a boat across the sky and a lamppost came up to say hello and walked away.

"Princess Luna did it!" Twilight said happily.

"Except I don't see Mario anywhere," said Shenran.

"You don't think he didn't make it..." Rarity said worriedly.

"I'm over here," said Mario as they group found him hiding behind a house.

"Why are you over there, honey?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Um...w-w-well," said Mario nervously, "Y-y-you see dear...well..."

"What did you do?" Shenran asked skeptically.

"I..." Mario stuttered and sighed, "I called some extra ponies to come and help us." The rest of the group cringed in shock.

"Are you crazy?!" Twilight snapped, "That just gives the Tantabus more power with more dreams!"

"Uh, technically that's not true because we only exist in the dream world and not in the real world," said a voice, "thus the Tantabus having ability to gain more power from us is null and void."

"Interesting theory, but...WAH!" Twilight then shrieked and back away when she found a filly standing beside her. But this wasn't just any filly. This filly was an alicorn. She had a peach colored fur with a blonde mane and tail that had a magenta streak running through it. The filly's mane and tail style were also styled exactly like Twilight's and she even had the same eye color as well.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked as Mario stood beside her. The filly giggled.

"So nice to meet you. My name is Cinnamon Sparkle, "Roll" for short," said the filly formally to the group, "I'm the daughter of Twilight and Mario." Twilight felt her heart stop beating as the pupils of her eyes shrunk in pure shock. The others were just as surprised.

"Oh! I get it," said Pinkie, "Cinnamon Roll! That's adorable!"

"Thank you Auntie Pinkie!" Roll replied. The others were still stunned.

"She's your daughter?!" Rainbow exclaimed in surprise as she hovered beside the petrified purple pony, "I'm not seeing it. I mean how in Equestria does she have blonde hair?" Cinnamon Sparkle, or Roll, looked indignant.

"Recessive genes," Roll replied as she made a book appear with her magic and flipped through the pages, "According to our family genealogy, the gene comes from the fact Daddy is part of the Apple family. Auntie Applejack and Great-Granny Smith have blonde manes! Daddy said my blonde hair is how I represent the apple family. I can buck an apple tree as good an any Earth pony! Plus I love Auntie Applejack's apple cinnamon rolls!" Rainbow blinked.

"I take it back," said Rainbow with an eye roll, "She's definitely your daughter, Twilight." Twilight was still in too much shock to reply. Fluttershy and Shenran giggled. They found Roll rather adorable. Then Rarity jumped when she felt something nuzzle her hind leg.

"Oh...um...I'm...I'm sorry," said another small Pegasus filly timidly who looked exactly like Fluttershy but had brown eyes, "I didn't mean to startle you Miss Rarity."

"How do you know my name?" Rarity asked, feeling rather frazzled at seeing a miniature Fluttershy. Just then a young Pegasus colt appeared that looked just like Shenran but with blue eyes.

"My sister is a big fan of your fashions," said the colt shyly, "I kind of enjoy sewing myself but I prefer training in the dual swords like Dad."

"I...see..." said Rarity, still rather overwhelmed at the sight. Shenran and Fluttershy both looked stunned at seeing small versions of themselves.

"Mario...who...who are they?" Fluttershy asked in a small voice.

"Oh, um...r-r-right," said the colt shyly, "My name is Broly and this is my twin sister Allison. Our parents are Fluttershy and Shenran." Fluttershy stared but soon she broke down in tears.

"These are my...my...my babies?!" Fluttershy sobbed with a big smile on her face, "These are my babies?!" Fluttershy then sat and opened her fore-legs for them to come and embrace her. Broly and Allison wasted no time rushing into their mother's arms as she hugged them tenderly and cried tears of joy. Shenran was soon crying as well as held his wife and two children. The others smiled at the tender moment, but then Twilight remembered Roll, who was just standing a short distance away, feeling sad, shunned, and ignored.

"Roll, dear," said Twilight, "Come here!" Roll smiled excitedly as she hovered over to her and nuzzled Twilight's fore-leg. Twilight then embraced her as a few tears left her eyes. It was very tender moment between the two ponies until Twilight realized something.

"Wait a minute here!" said Twilight as she gave Mario a firm look, "why is our daughter and Fluttershy and Shenran's children here in this dream anyway?!"

"Because we can help you Princess Twilight," said Allison as she and her brother pulled away from their hug.

"Allison, how many times have I told you just call Mom, Twilight," said Roll, "she's a friend of the family after all. Do I need to show our family book of friendship again?"

"No thanks," said Broly, "It's bad enough you always have make checklists and triple check them all the time!"

"Hey, every good plan needs to have some sort of organization!" said Roll firmly, "without organization there's nothing but pure chaos!" Roll couldn't help but make an exaggerated face when she said that. Rainbow and Applejack snickered.

"Roll is totally Twilight's daughter," Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

"Wouldn't be surprised if Roll's favorite place in the world is a library," Applejack remarked.

"Did somepony say a library?!" Roll said excitedly as she zipped up to them, "Where? Where? Where?" Mario chuckled as Twilight just blushed and rolled her eyes.

"Let's get back to why you three are here," said Shenran.

"We are overjoyed to see our future babies," said Fluttershy, "But this is a very dangerous situation."

"We know," said Broly, "But we're alot stronger than you think."

"It's...it's true," said Allison timidly, "We...we've got magic from the elements of Harmony."

"Really?" said Twilight.

"Yeah," Roll replied, "I can do the same magic abilities as you and Daddy. And I can share that magic with Broly and Allison, who are my best friends. Turn battles, copy abilities, and so much more. Plus I've been doing some research and I've uncovered a special magic spell that the Tantabus is weak against. If you, Daddy, and your friends have any trouble dealing with the Tantabus..."

"...we'll be ready to step in," said Broly bravely, "We're not afraid to protect our friends and family, right Sis?"

"R-r-r-right," said Allison, shaking a little fearfully, "W-w-we're b-b-brave." Fluttershy giggled at Allison's timid behavior. The little filly certainly took after her in terms of being super shy. Applejack couldn't help but feel a little baffled that these two Pegasi and a filly alicorn being so smart and strong. She then noticed a small pony running away from a regular sized Opal and shivered at the sight. Then she noticed a familiar stallion appear.

"Big Mac!" said Applejack, "Boy, I'm glad to see somethin' familiar!" Applejack jaw dropped when she saw that the big earth pony was now a unicorn.

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied as he made a giant talking apple appear from his horn, which flew across the sky. Roll giggled.

"Uncle Big Mac always said he wished he could have been born a unicorn," Roll said to Applejack. Applejack wasn't sure how to reply.

"Ponies!" somepony shouted. It was then everypony turned to see Princess Luna trapped inside a white bubble and pushing her magic power to the limit. They immediately bowed down to her.

"There is no time for bowing, my friends!" Luna told them, "There is something coming, something terrible! No, it is already here!" Luna then pointed to the sky and the ponies all looked to see the Tantabus above them, growling menacingly at them. The ponies all screamed in terror.

"I am so sorry!" said Luna, "I brought this upon you! But I will end it now!" Luna then fired a magic blast at it, but it was no good. The Tantabus just groaned and continued its attack on the rest of the ponies, who were running for their lives. The Mane eight, Spike, and the three foals approached the moon princess.

"Princess, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"What's wrong Aunt Luna?" Roll asked.

"It...is taking all my strength just to hold this massive dream together!" said Luna, not noticing the three extra ponies before her or the fact the Tantabus had flown past behind her, "You will have to stop it! I truly wish I did not have to ask this of you!" Twilight and Roll smiled.

"Then you're in luck," said Twilight.

"Because we're ready for battle!" said Roll, making Twilight smile.

"Yeah! We're already on it!" said Rainbow.

"Then listen up everypony," said Roll as she hovered before the group, "Let's split up into smaller groups, get anypony in danger somewhere safe, and then we can attack this monster from all sides!" Twilight couldn't help but smile at seeing her daughter come up with a plan on the fly.

"Good plan!" said Rarity, "I see you've got your parents' leadership skills."

"Heh...um...I'm still learning from the best," said Roll modestly, making Mario and Twilight beam with pride, before she recomposed herself, "Now let's do this!"

"Yeah!" Everypony shouted as they charged at the Tantabus together and then split up. It was then the Tantabus went through a house, turning into a living monster. It then did the same to another house, causing a pony to run for their life.

"Dad! Look!" Broly shouted as he found one of the monster houses had cornered Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Shenran looked about but couldn't find his dual swords on him.

"I got this!" said Broly as he pulled out his own swords and flew toward the monster house.

"Broly, wait!" Shenran called out, but was then surprised as Broly held the two swords together. He hovered in front of the monster house, made his swords glow brightly, and sliced the house into two perfect halves from top to bottom. The monster house looked stunned as it split in two and poofed away. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were very relieved.

"Thank you so much," said Mrs. Cake. Shenran was most impressed.

"That's my boy!" Shenran called, making Broly smile happily. Elsewhere in Dreamy Ponyville, one monster house had grabbed Filthy Rich.

"Please," Filthy Rich begged, "I'll pay you anything!" The monster house just roared in reply as Rainbow and Mario arrived in the scene.

"Double team!" Mario shouted as he and Rainbow did a karate kick at the monster house's face. This made the monster house drop Filthy Rich.

"I got you!" Rainbow managed to catch the business pony before he could fall.

"You alright my friend?" Mario asked.

"I am thanks to you," Filthy Rich replied as he ran to safety while Mario and Rainbow battled some more monster houses. In another part of Ponyville, several ponies were running and screaming for their lives. Twilight and Roll were flying overhead.

"Mom! Over there!" Roll called out. One pony, named Mane Moon was straining to keep himself from getting eaten as he was wedged between the monster house's mouth. Twilight and Roll then fired two strong magic blasts at the monster house's face, which allowed Mane Moon to escape and landed comfortably on Applejack's back. Roll then charged for the monster house, shocking Twilight. Twilight was shocked even more when Roll curled into a ball, launching several homing attacks at the monster house until she reached the top of the house.

"POINT OF IMPACT!" Roll shouted, making her fore-hoof glow.

SMASH!

Roll slammed into the monster house, reducing it to pieces.

"Yee-haw!" said Applejack excitedly, "That's showing that monster house who's boss!" Roll giggled until Twilight hovered over with a stern look on her face.

"Cinnamon Sparkle!" Twilight scolded, "That was completely reckless, crazy, destructive and...and..." Twilight was soon smiling as tears streamed down her face, ..."the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Momma's so proud of you!" Roll smiled and flew into Twilight's fore-legs for a warm hug. Then they heard some more screams nearby.

"Uh, maybe this isn't the best time for a hug," Roll remarked.

"Agreed," said Twilight, "Let's go, sweetie!" Roll nodded as the two alicorns flew away. Not too far away, Fluttershy and Allison found a pony trapped between the toes of the monster's houses foot.

"Momma!" said Allison, "what if we..." Allison whispered her idea to Fluttershy and shyly pulled away.

"That's a good idea, Allison!" said Fluttershy, "Let's give it a try!" They both transformed themselves into bat ponies. They used their new fangs to give the monster's foot a good chomp. The monster howled and loosened it's grip on the pony as Fluttershy and Allison carried him to safety.

"It actually worked!" said Allison, "I'm so happy I could cheer!" Allison then breathed deeply and gave a very soft "Yay!" Fluttershy was sent into a fit of giggling hearing it, finding her daughter's cheer absolutely adorable.

Then another pony was at the mercy of a giant venus fly trap when Applejack used a lasso to shut the plant's mouth. Mario then appeared, grabbed a fire flower to turn into Fire Mario, and launched several fireballs at the venus fly trap to make it poof into non-existence. Applejack then looked to the side to see Big Mac overwhelmed by flying muffin monsters.

"Big Mac!" Applejack called out, "You can do anythin' in a dream, remember?" Big Mac then closed his eyes as red stars appeared in them. He then rotated three hundred sixty degrees as he floated in the air before he got golden shoes on his hooves, a gem studded horse collar, and a crown on his head and now had his own pair of alicorn wings. He was now, and this is the name given to him by the fans not me, Princess Big Macintosh. He then blasted the muffins away with ease and took to the skies.

"Wheeeeee!" Big Macintosh cheered as he flew about and Applejack and Mario, his fire power already removed, watched him soar.

"Come on!" said Rainbow. She, Applejack, and Mario ran across the foreground as Mega Muffins chased after some monster muffins in the background, "If that Tantabus thing turns any more of this dream against us, we'll be too busy saving ponies to catch it! And it'll grow powerful enough to escape into the real world!"

"How are we even gonna know when it's able to escape?" Applejack asked as they caught up with the rest of the Mane eight, spike, and the three foals. They watched as the Tantabus created a cosmic sword and sliced an opening out of Dreamy Ponyville and tried to go through it.

"Momma mia!" said Mario and Roll together.

"Oh, I think we'll know," said Rainbow. Roll pondered for a second before a determined look appeared on her face.

"Mom! Double blast now!" Roll called as she and Twilight fired magic blasts at the Tantabus, causing it to back away from the portal. Princess Luna used all the spare magic she could muster to seal up the tear as the Tantabus floated across the foreground.

"Hurry, my friends!" Luna shouted in a strained tone. Rainbow then went after the Tantabus and charged straight at it, but the Tantabus shifted shape into a ring for Rainbow pass through it without damaging it.

"What the?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I don't think head on attacks will be able to damage it, Aunt Rainbow!" Broly called out.

"It might be weak to something else," said Allison.

"You're right Allison," said Roll, "I've been studying dream magic in the castle library."

"You're always in the castle library Roll," said Broly annoyingly.

"And that's why she's smarter than you, dumb head!" Allison said smugly. Broly just gave his twin sister a raspberry. Fluttershy and Shenran chuckled, glad to see their daughter also had a sassy side.

"Getting back to my point," Roll remarked, "The Tantabus is made of pure nightmare magic. A good dose of good dream magic should weaken it so Aunt Luna can capture it."

"It's a good idea...in theory, sweetie," said Twilight, "But where can we find good dream magic that we can use against it?"

"Right here!" said Roll as she held out a red and white magic wand that had a golden star on it.

"Is that the...Star Wand?!" Luna exclaimed in shock.

"You know what that is?" Twilight asked.

"The Star Wand is an ancient relic that once served to protect dreams during Aunt Luna's days on the Moon," Roll explained, "It was strong enough to vanquish nightmare magic in the past. Now it can help us defeat the Tantabus." The Tantabus roared as it tried to attack Roll. Broly and Allison hugged her, creating a pink barrier and blocked the Tantabus from reaching Roll or the Star Wand. The others were amazed.

"What is that?" Spike asked curiously.

"The magic of friendship, Spike," said Roll as she raised the Star Wand into the air and shouted, "From one to another! Together we are friends! Through the power love and friendship, there is magic without end!" Suddenly, Roll, Allison, and Broly had beams of magic descend upon them, causing them to glow golden yellow and now they each had a Star Wand in one of their fore-hooves as they hovered into the air. The Mane eight and several other ponies were amazed.

"Now let's get that monster!" Roll shouted. The three foals flew high into the air as the Tantabus morphed into a large sphere.

(Cue favorite Kirby "final boss phase one" music)

The three foals hovered sternly before the Tantabus as he charged at the three. Since each foal raised their Star Wands in front of them, the Tantabus was knocked back a few yards.

"Fire!" Roll shouted as they spread out and waved their wands at the Tantabus, which caused multiple gold stars to fly at the Tantabus. Each star that hit the nightmarish monster did damage to it, causing it to roar and distort. Soon it started trying to attack back by shooting black nightmare stars at them and even tried doing some fast charges at each of them, which made the three foals have to dodge. Twilight, Mario, Shenran, and Fluttershy grew worried as they saw their children were quickly being overwhelmed since the Tantabus was moving very quickly and their attacks were barely hitting it.

"They need help!" Twilight said nervously. Fluttershy then hovered over to some other ponies.

"Please, we need your help too!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"They can't fight that thing by themselves!" Shenran added. Twilight then tried to fire her own magic blast at the Tantabus orb, but her blast went right though it unharmed.

"AAH!" Roll yelped as she barely dodged the magic blast in time, "Watch it, Mom!"

"Sorry sweetie!" Twilight shouted, "I was just trying to help!" Twilight then turned to the other ponies Fluttershy was speaking to.

"Fluttershy's right!" said Twilight, "We've all got to work together to stop it from escaping!" The other ponies seemed very unsure about the idea.

"But how can we help?" Mr. Cake asked, "Nopony in Ponyville has your magic, or your speed, or Shenran's sword skills!"

"That is true," said Rainbow smugly before adding as a matter of fact, "in Ponyville!"

"But this here isn't Ponyville!" said Applejack, "It's a dream!"

"Eeyup!" said Big Mac as he flew by firing his own magic blasts at some renegade flying muffin monsters.

"And not just any!" Twilight added, "This is your dream! Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now!" The ponies remained quiet for a moment before Mario hovered before them.

"Listen everypony," said Mario, "I know this all feels overwhelming, but what my wife and friends are saying is true. You don't have to wait for a hero in the dream world. You can be the hero and make that hero anything you want it to be! Now you're chance to shine and show everypony what you can really do!" Spike smiled, feeling inspired as he got an idea as he snapped his fingers and transforming himself into a taller, more muscular, and, in his mind, more handsome, dragon knight.

"Well, if you're gonna dream, might as well dream big, right?" said Spike and then jumped into the back of Mega Muffins, "Hi-yah!"

"Whoo!" Muffins shouted as she took to the skies. The ponies cheered as they charged toward the Tantabus, which created a piece of scissors to cut another opening into the real world.

"Guys, it's trying to escape again!" Roll called out as Allison bravely got in front of the Tantabus and did some spins with his Star Wand block the Tantabus from getting to the opening.

"We've got this!" said Spike as he made a sword appear as Broly hovered beside him. Together Spike used his sword and Broly used the tip of his Star Wand to slice the Tantabus orb into three pieces. Filthy Rich came by wearing a cape and creating a layer of bits to surf about as he fired a beam of bits at the Tantabus to damage it. It also knocked the Tantabus further away from the newly created portal for a moment but then it tried to escape once again and Allison barely avoided getting knocked away. The Cutie Mark Crusaders took notice. Then Scootaloo got an idea and gave herself some giant wings, flew to the sky, and used them to create a gust of wind to blow the Tantabus away from the portal. Rainbow hovered over to her and nodded for a job well done. Rainbow then turned herself into her power pony form and created a tornado that sucked the Tantabus inside of it as Roll, Broly, and Allison hovered around the tornado and fired a steady stream of gold stars to damage it.

"It's working!" said Rainbow.

"But it's not enough!" Twilight shouted as the Tantabus broke free of the tornado and roared angrily at the ponies.

"Geez, this thing's more annoying than Angel on bath day!" Broly remarked.

"Try during lunch time," said Allison, "he's always throwing his food dish at my head!" Fluttershy just looked rather stunned as she stood nearby.

"Note to self, give Angel a long talk about being nice to my babies," Fluttershy told herself.

"Then do more!" Pinkie shouted, "This is a dream, remember?" Twilight then headed over to the remains of the Golden Oak Library. She quickly restored the library as several books came flying at the Tantabus. The Tantabus soon found itself overwhelmed by both the gold star attacks the flying books. Applejack then turned herself into her power pony form and had her telepathic lasso at her side. She quickly lasso the tip of the Tantabus and pulled it away from another opening to the real world. Rarity then used a magic needle and thread to seal up the portal. Then the Giant Evil Angel appeared, but unlike before it was now at Fluttershy's command as she stood on its head and on her hind legs while commanding it to attack the Tantabus.

"We're doing it everypony!" Roll called out, "Keep it up! We've almost got it defeated!" However, Luna wasn't feeling so confident.

"I cannot hold this dream together much longer!" Luna cried out, "Equestria will fall because of me!" As soon as Luna finished speaking that the Tantabus recovered from all the damage it had taken and tripled in size, knocking several ponies away from it. Pinkie and several ponies on the ground winced at the sight, especially when the three foals lost their power and were knocked away.

"AAAAHH!" Broly and Roll screamed as they tumbled back to the ground. Shenran and Mario both caught Broly and Roll in their fore-hooves respectively. But knockback had also destroyed their Star Wands as Roll saw the remains land in the ground.

"No!" Roll cried out, "That was our only weapon against that thing!" Allison, who had managed to recover from the sudden power down and knockback, saw her brother and best friend looking spent and sad about their lost wands. She had lost her wand as well and was also sad, but seeing her friends sad and hurt made her feel very angry.

"Excuse me!" Allison said sternly as she hovered before the Tantabus sternly with her fore-hooves at her hips, "How dare you strike my brother and my best friend! Who do you think you...AAAAHHH!" The Tantabus created a fly swatter and smacked Allison away. The little filly screamed as she tumbled to the ground when Fluttershy caught the filly in her fore-hooves and hovered gently above the ground.

"I'm sorry, Momma," said Allison sadly in tears, "Guess I'm no good at The Stare..."

"That's alright sweetheart, you did your best," said Fluttershy as she held her daughter protectively. Spike and Muffins winced as the now enlarged Tantabus roared and Filthy Rich landed on the ground nearby.

"Am I crazy, or did it just get even bigger after Luna said that?" Spike pointed out. Roll had barely been put back on the ground when she heard that and then blinked in realization.

"If that's true..." Roll pondered, "then this nightmare isn't feeding off the fears of everypony. It's feeding off only one pony! Aunt Luna herself!"

"You're right, Roll," said Twilight, "I think it's feeding off your guilt, Princess Luna!"

"If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place!" Luna realized.

"Say what now?!" Applejack remarked as she stood on a rooftop as the Tantabus created another portal to the real world.

"I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night," Luna explained as her eyes filled with tears, "to punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon!"

"But why would you do that?!" said Fluttershy as the Tantabus started to take shape.

"Why would you want to punish yourself?" Allison asked, crying as well because she, like Fluttershy, had a very tender heart.

"You learned your lesson didn't you Aunt Luna?" Roll asked, feeling her own eyes water.

"All actions have consequences my little ponies," said Luna as she began to cry, "I had to make sure I never forgave myself for how much Equestria suffered because of me! But it seems I have not learned my lesson, for now I have only made you suffer more!" Twilight cringed as the Tantabus was now a gigantic shadow version of Nightmare Moon and made the portal even larger so it could walk through it.

"But that means you might just be the key to stopping all of this!" said Twilight.

"Yeah!" said Rainbow as the Tantabus started making its way into the portal, "If it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon, then you just gotta stop feeling bad for what you did!"

"How can I forgive myself?" Luna croaked, "I am no better now than I was then! My creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare!"

"You're wrong Aunt Luna!" said Roll sternly as she, Broly and Allison hovered over to her, "You are not Nightmare Moon anymore."

"And you are not evil either!" said Allison in the same tone, "You just made a bad decision."

"You don't need to keep punishing yourself about the past," said Broly, "Because what happened is just that, the past."

"You can't change the past, but you can change the future," said Roll, "You can't let what happened in the past prevent you from being happy. You deserve to be happy just as much as anypony."

"You do so much for ponies today, both in the real world and in the dream world," said Allison, "but all that good doesn't mean anything to you because you're stuck dwelling in the past."

"Ponies these days don't care anymore about what you did in the past," said Broly, "especially your friends. All we care about what you're doing now, which is helping ponies with their fears and insecurities and helping them though their dreams and nightmares! Alot of us would still be dwelling in our problems and having nightmares about what could happen if you hadn't given us the courage to take action and know that everything will be okay."

"That's true," said Twilight as she walked in front of the hovering foals and spoke to the moon princess, who still had tears in her eyes, "Luna, look at what you're doing! Nightmare Moon would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare! You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That proves you're not the same pony you were then! Everypony who knows you, even my future daughter and Fluttershy and Shenran's future foals, knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past! We all trust you, Luna!"

"And we love you too!" Mario added.

"Yes! Yes! We love you so much!" Roll, Allison, and Broly chanted together. As the rest of the Mane eight smiled at her.

"Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?" Twilight asked Luna. Luna looked at the group, who all gave her smiles. The Tantabus was more than halfway through the portal as Luna shed a few more tears.

"...I do!" said Luna happily. The Tantabus suddenly was pulled right out of the portal with a shocked look on its face. Suddenly it began to shrink as the portal was sealed. Then the Tantabus was no bigger than Luna herself and walked into her white bubble and disappeared into her moon necklace.

"YAY! LUNA DID IT! SHE DID IT!" Roll, Allison, and Broly cheered as they jumped up and down on their hind legs. Luna smiled at them.

"Thank you," said Luna, "Thank you all." Luna went to end the dream.

"Wait!" said Fluttershy, "Please let us say goodbye to our children before you end the dream!"

"Very well," said Luna, "But please hurry." Fluttershy and Shenran pulled Broly and Allison into a warm hug as Mario and Twilight hugged their only daughter.

"I'm going to miss you," Fluttershy told them as she began to cry and Shenran held her close, "Please take care of each other...and...be nice to one another..." Allison and Broly began to cry as well as they hugged the yellow Pegasus.

"Don't cry Momma," said Allison, "now that you've met us, we can meet you in your own dreams next time."

"R-r-really?" said Fluttershy with a teary and hopeful smile.

"Uh-huh," said Broly, "We'll be waiting for you and Dad and we can have some fun together as a family."

"You bet," said Shenran as they all shared another hug. Twilight then gave Roll a little kiss on the cheek.

"I'm so proud of you," said Twilight, "I hope I can see you again too."

"Sure," said Roll, "we can read books, bake cinnamon rolls, read books, practice magic, read books, go dancing, and...did I mention read lots of books?" Twilight laughed excitedly.

"You bet," said Twilight. Roll then put on a serious look.

"Please don't be mad at Daddy," said Roll, "I don't want you thinking he's trying to pester you into having a foal because he let you meet me." Twilight blinked but then remembered that she did have those suspicions in her mind and chuckled.

"I am not mad at Daddy," said Twilight, "I'm just amazed at how talented you are. You certainly understand the magic of friendship."

"I hope I can be just as talented if I do get to exist in the real world," said Roll.

"Even if she's not," said Twilight, "I'll still love her as my precious baby girl." Roll shed tears of joy and gave Twilight a hug and kiss on the cheek. Then gave the same to Mario. The three fillies then hovered side by side of each other.

"It was nice meeting all of you!" said Roll to the group as they waved goodbye. The others said their comments of agreement as well as their own goodbyes. Mario then gave Luna a nod and gave off a bright light to end the dream.

The rooster crowed loudly as the Mane eight and Spike woke up from their slumber. Twilight couldn't help but wake up with a start.

"Luna did it!" said Twilight.

"Thanks to help from our daughter and her friends," said Mario as Twilight smiled in agreement. Rainbow just yawned and stretched from her bed as their others woke up as well.

"She sure did! Those three ponies were certainly somethin' special," said Applejack, "Only...I'm not exactly sure what Luna did."

"Luna created the Tantabus to punish herself," Twilight explained, "The worse she felt, the more power it had! But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did..."

"...Poof!" said Spike as she climbed up the couple's bed.

"Shh!" said Fluttershy as she and Shenran lay on their stomachs at the front of their bed.

"Luna is asleep!" Shenran whispered quietly. The others just watched with curiosity.

"Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming about now," said Spike. In the dream world. Luna was just sleeping underneath a giant flower on an island in the middle of a tranquil lake surrounded by exotic flowers. It was the first time she had slept so soundly in a long time.

The rest of the Mane eight had had a busy day. They did feel a little tired, but it wasn't as bad as it was the other day. They were able to complete their routines without any mishaps. Apparently, alot of the townsponies could remember the dream is was a regular conversation piece about town. The Mane eight didn't mind at first, but soon the subject became a bit overbearing and they were glad to finally go back to respectively homes and try to move on from the whole event. The sun was just setting when Twilight and Mario returned to the castle. They were surprised to see Luna just sitting in the library room reading a book.

"Hi, Aunt Luna," said Mario, "I'm surprised you're still here."

"I...wanted to speak with you before I headed back to Canterlot," Luna replied rather uneasily. Mario and Twilight grew worried.

"Is there another problem at hoof?" Mario asked.

"No, not at all," said Luna, "I...just...well...umm...how about I go raise the moon first and then we can talk in private please?" Twilight still looked worried but Mario just gave her a soft smile.

"We'll be waiting for you Aunt Luna, just take your time," said Mario as the moon princess gave him a small smile and headed outside. Twilight just gave her husband a puzzled look, especially since he was still smiling.

"What's got you so happy?" she asked. Mario just let out a long deep breath.

"Well, for starters, I've been concerned about Luna all day after what happened," Mario answered, "The fact that she was punishing herself like that...just worries me. I'm hoping she'll open up with us so we can find out why..."

"I think she said why dear," said Twilight.

"No, I mean why she didn't feel comfortable telling anypony about this," said Mario, "I think I can guess her answer...because it's an excuse I gave about myself when I first opened up with our friends."

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

"I don't want to burden anypony," Mario replied as Twilight gave him a sad but sympathetic look.

"I expected you would figure out what I wanted to discuss with you," said Luna as she made her presence known, "Is there even a point of discussing it now?" Mario gave her a sympathetic look.

"I love you Luna," said Mario simply to answer her question. Luna just took a slow deep breath as she entered the room. Mario then set up some large pillows for them to sit on the floor as the three ponies got comfortable. Luna just stayed quiet.

"I'm not sure how to begin," said Luna honestly, unable to look at Mario or Twilight.

"Take your time," said Mario, "We're not here to rush you." Twilight nodded in agreement.

"I guess when you've been alone for a thousand years," said Luna, "You get used to keeping things to yourself and handling your own problems alone."

"Loneliness can give you that false sense of independency," said Mario.

"Indeed," said Luna, "I'm well aware of your past thanks to our chats in the dream world, Mario. I guess the only way to say this is...I was afraid to tell Celestia how I felt."

"Why was that, Luna?" said Twilight.

"We were apart for over a thousand years," Luna explained, "All because of my foolishness. I didn't want Celestia to know about this. She would obviously disagree with what I was doing and it would just lead to a fight and the two of us hating each other again."

"Were you afraid of turning back into Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked. Luna just stared at the floor and nodded.

"Luna," said Mario, "I can assure you that wouldn't have happened. You turned into Nightmare Moon because you allowed years of resentment, anger, and hurt to build up inside of you. Then when all that bitterness hit its breaking point, you gave into all that hate, which caused you to transform. Something like this wouldn't put you at risk of turning back into Nightmare Moon. In fact, what you were doing recently with the Tantabus actually would have put you at risk of becoming Nightmare Moon again." Luna's eyes widened before she gave the two alicorns a very sad look.

"You're right," said Luna, "I was torturing myself, convincing myself that Nightmare Moon was still a part of me. Even if it hadn't escaped, I could have easily convinced myself that I was still Nightmare Moon and eventually the transformation would have happened again."

"The bigger concern is," said Mario, "Why did you feel the need to torture yourself like this? I know guilt isn't the only reason. Because other than imprisoning Celestia, the only other thing you did was give all the girls tests that proved they were the Elements of Harmony. And by the fact I helped them pass their test, was the first step to me realizing I was the Seventh Element. Aside from scaring a few ponies, you didn't do anything that damaging to anypony." Luna just felt her eyes water.

"You have no idea what evil thoughts crossed my mind when I was Nightmare Moon," said Luna sadly, "I can still remember those awful thoughts. All filled with hate and revenge. All because I wanted something and I thought I'd never get it."

"And what was that Luna?" Mario asked gently. Luna bit her lips as she felt the tears building up in her eyes and looked away.

"Luna please talk to me," said Mario, "I wanna help you. Don't hold it in anymore. Just talk to us. You know I love you. You're more than just my aunt, you're my friend." Luna felt her tears slowly stream down her cheeks.

"I hate crying!" Luna blurted, "Crying is for the weak!" Mario looked at her sternly.

"That is the biggest lie I've ever heard in my life," Mario replied, "I cry all the time! Am I weak?" Luna looked at him, her eyes leaking tears, as she shook her head.

"Then neither are you," said Mario, "You are surround by a nephew and niece-in-law who love you and care about you. Just like I told Mom, I wanna be your friend. Mom even said I am her best friend and I would love to be your best friend too. If there's anypony you can cry..."

"I just wanted ponies to love me!" Luna shouted as she began to sob, finally letting go, "I thought that I wasn't important and Celestia used to rub it in my face growing up that I would never be as great as her! It hurt me! I believed her. Instead of telling her the truth, I kept it to myself and...you know the rest. I made ponies fear me and not want to even get to know me. Yes, I do think of you as my best friend, but I don't deserve it! I still don't even know how you were able to even get near me after I was defeated!"

"Because I didn't see a bitter pony after you were defeated," Mario replied, "I saw a pony who was looking lost and broken. A pony who was looking for a little love and needed a friend who would think they were special. I know how that feels."

"Don't you compare my situation with..." Luna snapped.

"No, I will!" Mario shot back sternly, making Luna flinch, "Remember when Celestia found me, I was a abandoned foal who had nothing to my name! And plenty of ponies went out of their way to make me feel like I didn't deserve to be loved either! I may have never turned evil and tried to destroy Equestria, Luna. But I did have a moment when I thought fame and glory would fill that void in my heart and really got some sense knocked into me. Hard! I remember feeling like nopony would ever love me either! I understand that struggle when you've made so many bad mistakes that you think you could never forgive yourself or ponies would never forgive you. Forgiving yourself isn't easy, but it is necessary in order to move on with your life. Sometimes you need to cry in order to get the pain out of your system. So don't be afraid to let go. Your best friend is here for you and he loves you." Luna allowed Mario to hold her as she opened the floodgates and cried loudly. Twilight just stayed respectfully silent and held Luna for extra comfort, which the moon princess accepted as she cried herself out. Once she felt like she had no more tears to shed, Luna pulled away and wiped her sticky cheeks. It was then she noticed that Mario's eyes were watery and his cheeks tear stained as well.

"Why were you crying?" Luna asked in complete puzzlement.

"Because I love you," said Mario, "and I wasn't going to let you cry all by yourself." Luna chuckled.

"You're too kind, nephew," said Luna, "Now I feel like I understand better why you were chosen as the Element of Love. You have a deep compassion, sympathy, and empathy for other ponies that makes it easy to open up to. I apologize it's taken me this long to do so."

"It's alright, Luna," said Mario, "I'm sure Mom will be pleased that you've found somepony to open up to."

"Celestia knows about this?!" Luna exclaimed.

"No, not this conversation," said Mario, "Just that...I've been trying to get you to confide in me. I've known that this whole Nightmare Moon situation still troubled your heart. I wanted to help you with the healing process. I just...never expected to do it by helping you fight a parasite dream monster."

"Yes, that probably could've been avoided if I...had just tried to be honest with you, or Celestia," said Luna quietly.

"Why don't you find Celestia worth confiding in?" said Mario, "I know she hurt you, but she's not that same pony anymore. And while you were gone, Mom used to confide in me about how much she missed you and how she regretted not reaching out to you. I don't know if you knew but, during our Alicorn party, she confided in me. Mom wept on my shoulder because she was worried about you and she didn't know how to get you to confide in her without causing an argument."

"I...I did hear about that," said Luna, "I just...figured she wouldn't understand."

"It never hurts to try Luna," Mario continued, "The important thing is that Mom wants to listen to you."

"Mario's right," said Twilight, "Give your sister a chance. After all, she wants to make peace just as much as you do and keeping this to yourself won't make things better." Luna just sighed.

"You're right," said Luna, "If we're ever to truly get passed this, I need to talk things out with her and get everything out in the open. I'm just afraid...she'll get defensive."

"She won't," said Mario, "as long as you show her the same respect when she vents her own feelings. I know that isn't easy to do. Even Twilight and I forget that sometimes when we have disagreements and need to speak our minds"

"That is quite true," said Twilight, "but as long as you're both willing to hear each other out. You both should be fine discussing things." Luna took a deep breath.

"Understood," said Luna as she rose to her feet, "Thank you for hearing me, nephew. Same thanks to you as well, Twilight Sparkle. If...you don't mind me asking..."

"Our door is always open if you ever need another chat," said Mario, "Even if you don't feel ready speaking with Celestia just yet, feel free to let me know if you need to speak your mind. The more you learn to open up with your thoughts and feelings. The easier it will get."

"And I'm sure you speak from experience," said Luna and turned to Twilight, "My nephew is very special. Always remember to cherish the love he gives you."

"I always do," Twilight replied as she nuzzled his cheek.

"Very good," said Luna, "My patrol of the dream world will be starting soon. I'll meditate on what we discussed and find the right time to speak to my sister. I promise you that I will open up to her in good time."

"That's all we can ask," said Mario as he gave her a warm hug, "Always remember that you're not alone anymore. You have friends now who love you."

"I will," said Luna, "it's thanks to those friends my heart feels lighter for the first time in many centuries. I can't thank you all enough for that." Luna then surprised Mario by kissing his cheek. Mario was surprised and also touched as he returned the gesture. Luna giggled.

"As I said before, my nephew," said Luna, "You make opening up very easy. Have a nice evening to you both." With that, Luna teleported away. Mario sighed as Twilight rested herself against his side.

"Looks like Luna is going to be okay now," said Twilight.

"Indeed," said Mario, "Now that Luna knows that she's loved and no longer alone, her recovery is going to be much easier."

"Thanks to you," said Twilight as she kissed his cheek.

"Not just me, my love," said Mario softly, "but also our friends...Fluttershy and Shenran's future children and our future daughter." Twilight chuckled but then sighed.

"I'm sorry for making you wait..." Twilight began.

"No, no, it's fine, dear," Mario interrupted, "I'm not ready to start a family either. But rest assured that when we are both ready..."

"...We'll bring Cinnamon "Roll" Sparkle into the real world."

Well? I said I had a surprise for everypony and I wonder how many of you had your minds blown that I introduced Twilight and Mario's future daughter as well as Fluttershy and Shenran's future twins into the story. While Cinnamon "Roll" Sparkle was my own idea, the names for Fluttershy and Shenran's children was given to me by the very brony and best friend that Shenran is based off of. I don't mean to make them sound so mature, but keep in mind. This was a dream.

Also, let me make this loud and clear, unless season nine is the final season, it won't be until after the show ends that they will be born. So...it's gonna be awhile.

Hope you enjoyed the tributes to both Super Mario Bros, original and new, and Kirby's Adventure. Plus Shenran's rainbow power outfit is basically Link's outfit from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

It was also VERY HARD making Buttercup evil during Mario's nightmare. I don't plan on doing that again. And from Shenran's dream you learned that his mother was an imperial unicorn who lived in the lands of the old imperial empire of Unicornia!

Plus I was requested by a reader that Mario and Luna have a tender moment together so that is why this episode has a more heartfelt alternate ending.

And we're at the half-way point in season five! The Time Travel arc is coming up quick as well as my favorite episode of the season: Crusaders of the Lost Mark!

Next Time: Rarity and Mario's fashion empire takes its first steps to expanding beyond Ponyville! Are they ready for it?

Peace Pony Fans!