Featured songs:
1. "Once Upon a December" by Liz Calloway (from Anastasia)
2. "Finale" by Bruce Healey & Barnette Ricci (from Fantasmic)
There is also a bit of a reference to the 2005 movie War of the Worlds. I saw that movie when I was little and part of it did give me nightmares, so I figured, why not?
Lamenta and Gabby both opened their eyes to find themselves in what looked like an open field with a nighttime sky surrounding them. And then, they saw everyone who was at the sleepover in the same field, as well as many other folks who were not, as Lamenta engineered this particular casting to include as many other dreamers in range so Nefari couldn't escape so easily by leaping to a stranger's dreams. Everyone looked confused for a moment, as many of them recalled dreaming about other things.
"What is this place?" Goldie asked.
"It's a gathering of everyone's dreams," said Lamenta. "This was the only way we could keep Nefari from escaping from one dream to the next."
"But... where is she?" Ahsoka asked, looking around.
"This is a dream, so anything is possible."
"So, she could be anywhere?!" Comedia panicked.
Comedia quickly got beside her father and was shaking, and Kade did the same with Myra.
"I don't wanna be next!" Kade cried.
"Don't worry, Kade. This is a dream. Nefari can't hurt anyone in the waking world." Lamenta said. "And the good news is, she didn't gather enough nightmare induced fear to escape into our realm."
Suddenly, the sound of a woman cackling echoed all around the dreamers as thunder boomed and lightning flashed. And that was when a certain sorceress popped in with a wicked smile on her face.
"But soon I shall!" Nefari exclaimed. She laughed when she saw that she managed to scare some of the dreamers. "Princess Lamenta has just done me a great favor. More of you all together at once in this realm, and I will be able to feast more easily."
Many dreamers took that as their cue to run, but Nefari just laughed at them and took this as a game.
"Leave them alone Nefari!" Lamenta said, getting out the trap. But Nefari zapped Lamenta and threw the lantern away, causing Lamenta to rush over to get it. But she had a message she shouted to the others. "Remember, this is all a dream! It's your dream!"
While the princess of the night was distracted, Nefari cast a spell that trapped Lamenta inside a magic bubble. Lamenta tried to pop it, but it wouldn't break. So, Gabby tried to pop it from the outside, only for her to get trapped inside too!
"What is this thing?" Gabby said, rolling off her cousin.
"It's an insomni-bubble." Lamenta answered. "It's another spell that can be used to catch dreamers and... wake them up!"
The two girls desperately tried to break free of the bubble, but the only result they got was Nefari laughing at their expense.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you two, but I believe it's time for me to take the night shift." Nefari smirked. And then... she snapped her fingers.
Gabby and Lamenta both gasped as they sat awake in their sleeping bags. But everyone else remained asleep.
"Girls, what happened?" Susy asked.
"Nefari trapped us in an insomni-bubble and woke us up." Lamenta said quietly as to not wake the others.
"Well, the others are still in there!" Gabby said. "We gotta get back in there and help them."
Gabby lay back down and tried to go back to sleep, but found herself unable to.
"Okay, why am I suddenly not sleepy?" Gabby asked, sitting up again.
"They're called insomni-bubbles for a reason," said Lamenta. "Once they wake you up, it's really difficult to get back to sleep. There couldn't be a worse time for this."
"Well, we'd better get at least Lamenta back to sleep quick." Mariposa said. And then she noticed Master Plo starting to toss and turn. "Very quick."
"Mommy, you've had a lot of sleepless nights before, right?" Gabby said. "You should help Lamenta. That way they rest of us can make sure the others stay asleep."
Working in the Senate definitely meant Padme had some nights where she did not get enough sleep, and insomnia hit her a few times in her life. She took her niece's hand and started to look into a couple solutions to help Lamenta fall back asleep while Gabby and the others stayed to make sure no one else woke up.
"I wonder what's going on in the dream world now." Gabby said worriedly.
"Right now," said Padme. "We need to get you and Lamenta relaxed so you can fall back asleep."
Padme had Lamenta sit down and gave her another cup of warm milk to drink.
Nefari was currently taunting everyone with a big storm of her violet clouds and purple lightning, digging into everyone's subconscious to figure out who had the biggest thing to be afraid of that would create the most fear that she could feed on.
"Now, where to start?" chuckled Nefari. "Ah, I know where."
Nefari eyed Goldie, and lightning struck, as a giant cobra snake appeared before the young doresho. Goldie shrieked at the sight of such a serpent.
Ever since Goldie encountered a venomous snake in the forest around her hometown back of Verden, she'd been terrified of getting close to a snake of any size.
"DADDY!" Goldie screamed.
"I'm coming, Goldie!" Garrett ran to rescue his daughter, but just before he could reach her, Nefari struck lightning in front of him and made... a giant gray and red moth! That made Garrett scream in terror. He tried to run and make his way to Goldie, but the moth grabbed Garrett and carried him up really high.
And everywhere anyone looked, Nefari made nightmarish things happen.
"Back! Back! Back!" Caleb panicked, dodging some Audrey II plants that tried to chomp him. Luckily, Anakin jumped in, but then the plants turned into Darth Sidious.
"There is no escape, Anakin Skywalker." sneered Sidious.
"No... not you!" Anakin said, his breathing starting to get heavy quickly.
"Join me, Skywalker. I can teach you to save your loved ones from death."
Anakin held his head as he started to recall the horrible nightmares manipulated into his head by the Sith before his youngest twins were born. Meanwhile, the others found themselves in a nightmare of a pickle as well.
Master Tinn quickly found himself surrounded by a bunch of bats he was swatting away with Zipp helping.
Carmine was screaming in agony as he was stuck to the ground in front of a huge loudspeaker that was blasting the Macarena song. And no matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears, he couldn't ignore it.
"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" Carmine screamed.
Luckily, Qui-Gon was able to punch the speaker to oblivion and make the music stop.
"I was never too fond of that song either," he sighed.
"Magenta, look out!" Remix exclaimed, getting his sister out of the way of another lightning strike. But... it didn't help much because Nefari sent a minataur after both of them.
"Don't get in front of the minotaur!" Magenta shouted, flying away from the half-man-half-bull creature.
Wrecker was also screaming in terror as he was being hung upside down really high up.
"HELP ME!"
"I gotcha, Wrecker!" Magenta said, getting Wrecker down to the ground.
Crosshair was running for his life as his weapon kept trying to shoot him, and Maybelle and her brothers were running from a bunch of swarms of locusts that tried to eat their hats and attack them too. But Boba summoned a blaster he knew how to use and saved Crosshair by shooting the gun that had come alive. And Omega used bright light to lure the locusts into a big zapper.
Teatra was unable to say anything without singing way off key. Tech was fighting a squid in a lake that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and Echo was trapped in what looked like the computer he was trapped in by Wat Tambor before. But Carousella and Crescent kicked the trap open and got him out.
Kade screamed as a giant robot was threatening to hit him with its huge lasers, but Myra came in with two lightsabers and sliced the robot to bits.
"Mess with my little brother, you face my wrath!" Myra said angrily.
But despite the numerous rescues, Nefari started to slowly feed on the fear that was coming from everyone as they were fighting the nightmares. She could feel herself getting more powerful by the moment. But there was still not quite enough fear for her to enter the waking realm. She needed a lot more fear, and she would need to find someone with something seriously terrifying deep within their subconscious to make a nightmare that powerful.
"Hmm... which of you to pick?"
Comedia found herself in a forest full of bushes with her father nearby while the others were still fighting the nightmares.
"It's alright, Comedia." Ki-Adi soothed. "We are only in a dream. Nothing here is real."
"It looks like everyone's nightmare has come about except mine," said Comedia. She gulped. "But that's not necessarily a good thing."
"In that case, it might be a good idea for you to tell me what your nightmare was. Then we might know how to face it."
Comedia looked down and thought about what her father had said a while back before he adopted her: the only way she would truly receive help for her problems was if she explained what was making her feel the way she did.
"Well... the other night when I was at that slumber party with Myra and her friends, we watched this movie where-"
Comedia was interrupted mid-sentence when a loud THUD! sounded not far from where they were. The green alicorn slowly walked out and saw everyone looking at something that had to be really big.
"Uh oh!" said Comedia. She looked to her left, and there, in the distance...
Was a giant three-legged metal tripod from War of the Worlds! (2005 movie).
A loud foghorn-like sound blared as a light shined on all the dreamers.
"Um... what's that thing?" Hunter asked worriedly.
"Oh no," said Myra. "That's a tripod from a scary movie we watched at my slumber party the other night. They're definitely not friendly."
"In other words...?" Mace said.
"EVERYONE HIDE!" Comedia screamed. "Don't let it grab you!"
Everyone started to run, or at least they tried to; with all the other nightmares surrounding them, it was very difficult to run away from the tripod. For such a slow stepper, it got close pretty quickly. And soon, it brought out its tentacles, ready to grab anyone it could. And it's first unfortunate victim...
"AHH!" Omega screamed as she was quickly lifted up.
"Omega!" Anakin exclaimed, and then he was grabbed too!
"DAD!" Boba cried before he and then Master Tinn were also snagged. And then Diamond was grabbed too!
One by one, the tripod grabbed everyone who wasn't fast enough with its tentacles, and lifted them high up into the air, everyone screaming as they were abducted. No man, woman, child, or equine was safe from this monster!
"Myra, you saw this movie." Mace said. "Do you remember how this thing was defeated?"
"Yes! In the movie- AAH!" But then Myra was grabbed too! And so was her father!
"OH NO!" Comedia cried, seeing more of her friends get grabbed. She took off running for her young life and prepared to start flying, when she heard a familiar voice call her name.
"That is what you have been dreaming about?!" Ki-Adi said, coming out and seeing the tripod.
Comedia gasped and urged him away.
"Daddy, you have to get out of here!" Comedia said, pushing Ki-Adi, but he resisted.
"Comedia!" Ki-Adi scolded. "Comedia, it's only a dream, and you-"
"You don't understand! In the last nightmare I had with this thing, I- AAAAHHHHH!"
But Comedia was stopped mid-sentence as the tentacle wrapped itself around her stomach and lifted her up. Comedia shrieked as she was lifted high up away from her father.
"NO!" Ki-Adi screamed.
And the tripod started to walk away to grab more victims. Ki-Adi didn't know really anything about this monster, but he did know he had to save his daughter and their friends. He got out his lightsaber and threw it at one of the tripod's legs... or he tried to. But the whole thing seemed to be protected by some force field, and the lightsaber bounced right off. It didn't stop the tripod, but it did make it turn around and see the Cerea.
The tripod reached out another one of its tentacles, wrapped itself around Master Mundi, and carried him high up into the air like the others, and then placed him in a basket where many of the others were trapped. It turned out there wasn't just one basket. There was another on the other side that had other people in it as well.
Ki-Adi looked around and saw everyone struggling to find a way to break the cage open, but it was made out of some super strong material. He saw some of his friends as well as some folks he didn't know, and they all looked terrified.
"Where's Comedia? Had anyone seen Comedia?" Ki-Adi asked around.
That was when Ki-Adi saw a familiar purple propeller beanie and then a head that wore it.
"Comedia!"
"Daddy! Get down!" Comedia warned him.
"What exactly about this thing makes it so terrifying?" Ahsoka asked.
Inconveniently, that was when the cage lowered itself slightly and opened up, but something else red opened to reveal something fleshy, and out came a tentacle that reached down into the cage.
"That!" Comedia squeaked.
The tentacle grabbed a random human woman and pulled her right up to the mouth. The poor woman screamed for help, but she was sucked in before anyone even had a chance to grab her. That terrified the children especially, and the same thing happened to someone else in the other cage. No wonder Comedia was terrified of this thing.
"It's okay, kids." Anakin said, comforting the twins. "It's just a dream. It's just a dream."
But he was hyperventilating too.
"This is what you dreamt about before that frightened you?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yes. But it wasn't being trapped in these baskets that was the scariest part. It was when-"
Suddenly, the cage lowered itself again, as the tripod was ready to eat someone else! Everyone panicked and tried to hide from the tentacle. And this time, it wrapped around Master Mundi's leg!
"Ahh!"
Comedia's eyes went wide with terror as she saw a repeat the very thing that occurred in her nightmare before. Immediately, she sprung into action!
"DADDY!" Comedia quickly wrapped her forelegs around her father and flapped her wings frantically to pull him back down with all her might. "PULL ME! PULL ME! Help me save my dad!"
Quickly, Anakin jumped in and started to help Comedia pull, and soon many others came in and started to pull too, but the tentacle pulled harder, trying to pull Ki-Adi in like it did the other two people.
"Let my dad go, you three-legged, overgrown metal octopus!" Comedia demanded to the tripod, still holding onto Ki-Adi, pulling as hard as she could, it becoming a terrifying game of Tug of War at this point with her father as the rope.
Comedia pulled harder, but the tentacle was really strong, and she was starting to lose her grip.
"Comedia, let me go." Ki-Adi said.
"NO! I'm not gonna lose you now!" Comedia said, tears forming.
"Comedia, it's only a dream."
"But it feels real."
"Comedia, this monster isn't real. It can't hurt you. There's no need to fear it. It's just-"
"It's not the tripod I'm afraid of, okay?! I'm afraid of losing you!" Comedia cried. "I've lost so much in my waking life. I can't go through that again!"
That, however, was when Zipp had an idea. She was a lucid dreamer most nights, and currently, pretty much everyone was in a lucid dreaming state, given that many were aware they were dreaming. If that was so...
"Comedia," said Zipp. "Did you let your awful parents stop you from having control over your own imagination?"
"No."
"Well, this is your dream. You can do anything in a dream. Are you gonna let fear get the best of you?"
The tripod pulled again, but this time, Comedia's demeanor changed right from afraid to determined. She decided, the first thing to change about this dream: make herself strong enough to pull her father out of the tripod's mouth, as it had him nearly halfway in by now.
Comedia pulled hard enough to bring her father out all the way and a bit of the tentacle that trapped him. Then, she grew fangs and bit the tentacle hard, making it release her father, but the tentacle let go so fast he fell immediately and landed on Carmine.
"Are you okay?" said Omega.
"We're good." Carmine said.
"Now what?"
"Comedia. This is your nightmare." Zipp said. "You have to change this thing into something else."
"Like what?"
"Something that won't eat us!" Boba screamed as the tentacle came out again, and this time it grabbed him!
"Hang on, Boba!" Anakin exclaimed, grabbing his son's hand and pulling, Omega assisting him.
Ahsoka also jumped in to help.
"Don't let go!" Omega screamed.
"Obviously!" Boba said, screaming again as the tentacle pulled him harder, the mouth opening ready to devour the boy.
"Think of something! Quick!" Ahsoka exclaimed as more people came to help save Boba.
Comedia had to think fast! Quickly, she shut her eyes tightly and turned the tripod into... a big pile of spaghetti?
Everyone screamed as they fell to the ground, landing in a big soft pile of spaghetti.
Boba breathed heavily as Anakin hugged him; dream or not, he couldn't recall when he'd last felt so terrified.
"I've got you." Anakin soothed, hugging his son tighter.
"Odd decision to turn that thing into... pasta." Hunter pulled some spaghetti out from his hair.
"Yum!" Wrecker smiled, slurping up some noodles.
"That has been on the ground, Wrecker." Tech said.
"It's dream food. But it would be better with meatballs."
"Spaghetti? Really, Comedia?" Myra said.
"It was the first thing that popped in my head." Comedia shrugged.
She saw the tentacle, it was long and kinda floppy, she had to think of something that wouldn't eat them, and spaghetti was long and floppy, and didn't usually eat people.
"I'm a silly-corn, remember? Cut me some slack."
But, even with the tripod gone, there was still the matter of Nefari spreading fear within the realm of dreams, and she was continuing to feed on more of it.
"Just a little more," sneered Nefari. "And I shall be a human in the waking world again!"
"Uh oh!" Comedia said. "She's at it again!"
Comedia quickly flew up and summoned a megaphone.
"Attention, everyone! This is probably the biggest fight any of us could dream of." Comedia said. "And since Princess Lamenta isn't here to fix the dream for us, we have to do it ourselves!"
"But most of us don't have any magic!" said one boy.
"Maybe not in real life," said Carousella, joining Comedia. "But this is a dream. You can do anything, including turning a giant robot into a big pile of spaghetti."
"If anything can happen in a dream..." Citrus got to thinking.
And poof! Citrus turned himself into an alicorn with a golden horn and dragon wings.
"WAHOO!" Citrus took flight and blasted Nefari with magic to throw her off balance. "Ya got owned, Nefari!"
Nefari growled and prepared another spell.
"You're going to wish you hadn't done that!"
And Nefari barely missed Master Plo. So, Ahsoka decided to do a little dreaming of her own, giving herself two double bladed lighsabers and a dazzling new outfit to look like a warrior princess.
"And you're gonna wish you hadn't messed with my father!" Ahsoka said.
"You forget one thing, Nefari!" Zipp called. "This is our dream!"
Omega decided to do something cool with her dream. And with just a snap of her fingers, she was wearing black and red armor that looked like Iron Man's with the Bad Batch's skull symbol on it. And, she even added blasters on her wrists.
"Why not dream big?" Omega said.
Soon, everyone started dreaming, and there were those who dreamed big. The only limit: their imaginations.
Padme had just finished reading the book "Stellaluna" to Lamenta and Gabby; it always helped Gabby fall asleep, but it didn't work for either of the girls this time. So, Shmi tried hugging Lamenta and singing her Anakin's lullaby. Caroline even started reading some facts from a science book she found in Omega's room, knowing that science usually put Lamenta to sleep. And eighth grade level sounded like it would be advanced enough to sound boring to a six-year-old.
"Feeling sleepy yet, Sweetie?" Caroline asked, stroking Lamenta's hair to relax her.
"A little." Lamenta said. "But I still can't sleep."
Susy had an idea then; she recalled plenty of nights when Carmine was young and had trouble sleeping. She brought out a music box and wound it up.
"Maybe this will help," said Susy. "When Carmine first arrived at Melody Academy, I noted that he had many troubled nights. Even after he moved in with me, insomnia was an occasional issue. So, I did for Carmine a special trick my grandmother used to do when I had nightmares as a little girl."
Susy remembered that special routine from her childhood by heart. After her own parents died when she was a baby, she was raised by her grandmother like Carmine was. Susy and her grandmother were very close, and their favorite thing to do together was dancing. And if ever little Susy had a nightmare, her grandmother had this special trick she did with her.
"When scary dreams cause you dismay, take my hands and together we shall dance your fears away." her grandmother would always say.
"When I was your age, Lamenta," said Susy, taking Lamenta's hands. "my grandmother's best method of helping me to sleep was to perform a waltz and sing me an old song about distant memories."
Lamenta held her grandmother's hand and followed her through the steps just like she did whenever she danced with her father.
Susy:
Dancing Bears
Painted Wings
Things I almost remember.
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December.
Someone holds me safe and warm.
Horses prance through a silver storm.
Figures dancing gracefully across my memory.
Lamenta was slowly turned a few times as her grandmother guided her to imagine she was dancing on a cloud among many other figures dancing in the clouds in a nighttime sky. She pictured such a thing in her mind, and she found it rather soothing. The image of a royal ball in the clouds, people dancing gracefully while stars twinkled all around. And slowly, Lamenta started to feel sleepier.
Someone holds me safe and warm.
Horses prance through a silver storm.
Figures dancing gracefully across my memory.
It was then that Susy picked Lamenta up and danced gracefully while rocking her in her arms the way her grandmother used to do it, holding the child close to her heart.
Far away,
Long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart
Used to know
Things it yearns to remember
And a song someone sings
And the last line, she sang quietly into Lamenta's ear.
Once upon a December
Slowly, Lamenta finally began to close her eyes.
Lamenta opened her eyes once more and found she was no longer in her adoptive grandmother's arms, but rather in something she definitely was not expecting to see.
"You're going down Nefari!" Boba shouted. He snapped his whip to get the flying carpet he was riding on to charge, and Boba was dressed like Indiana Jones.
Carmine suddenly flew in, piloting a ship that had loudspeakers instead of blasters on it that were blasting Nefari with loud pop music. And Magenta flew in making lots of spotlights shine in Nefari's eyes while Remix turned some tables to add to the musical ammunition.
"Cowabunga!" Tech shouted, riding a surfboard on the soundwaves.
But that wasn't the strangest thing Lamenta spotted.
Ponies fighting with lightsabers like Jedi, Omega firing laser blasts from her wrists, Myra being a guitar superhero, Obi-Wan controlling weather patterns like some kind of god, and Garrett riding a bull like a real cowboy.
"Yeehaw!" Garrett shouted.
"Okay, not the first weird dream I've seen," said Lamenta. "But this... this is a strange gathering."
But as everyone kept throwing whatever they could dream up at her, Nefari threw more nightmarish stuff at them.
This time, she made more than a dozen snakes appear and surround Goldie, who screamed as she saw them.
"Goldie!" Lamenta called. "You can do anything in a dream, remember?"
Goldie heard Lamenta's voice and looked at the snake. She thought, and had an idea. Using her imagination, she gave herself big golden butterfly wings, which had a pattern that looked like eyes, and scared the snakes away!
"Take that, scaredy serpents!" Goldie laughed victoriously.
Boba didn't even scream when Nefari made the demagorgon come at him and roar. Instead, Boba lassoed his whip around the flower-like monster's mouth and hog-tied it with some chains he dreamed up.
"Talk about Stranger Things that have happened." Boba chuckled.
Nefari even tried to scare Qui-Gon with... elephants?
Qui-Gon didn't like to talk about it, but he recalled a traumatic experience with elephants that occurred when he was eight. He hadn't been able to go to a zoo for years. But, this being a dream, Qui-Gon was able to shrink the giant elephants to the size of toys.
"Nefari just won't stop trying to scare us!" Anakin said, punching another vision of Sidious in the face.
"In that case, it's a good thing I came back," said Lamenta, getting out the lantern.
"Impossible!" Nefari said. "How did you get back here?!"
"Anything can happen in a dream," said Lamenta. "Including being your worst nightmare."
Lamenta started to open the lantern and say the words to trap Nefari
"Subconscious powers of the mind, creator of dreams of dark and fright-"
But Nefari struck Lamenta's hand and made her drop the lantern.
"You don't know when to quit, do you little one?"
Nefari found herself struck by yet another dreamer as she attempted to feed on more fear and open a portal to the waking realm.
"None of us will quit until you are out of our dreams!" Hunter said, blasting Nefari.
Nefari began getting really frustrated now. She started to think. Everyone here was able to do something using their dreams to fight her nightmares... everyone but Lamenta. As far as Nefari knew, Lamenta rarely had dreams of her own; being one who entered others' dreams to act as their guardian from nightmares, Lamenta didn't have nearly enough time to dream for herself while she was sleeping. Chances were, she wouldn't be able to stop her own nightmare if she didn't even recall how to dream happily.
"Well, if I can't scare you into feeding me, I will just have to do this!"
Nefari gathered up as much strength as she could, and then trapped all the dreamers inside insomni-bubbles.
"Oh no!" Lamenta tried to pop the bubbles without trapping herself, but found herself being held in a choke by purple fog wrapping around her neck.
"Lamenta!" Carmine exclaimed.
"Thank you all for pointing out the one person who could give me the power I need," said Nefari. "I believe it's time for all of you to wake up."
Nefari raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
Everyone in the ballroom sat up with a gasp or a yell as they woke up. Lamenta was the only one still asleep.
"What happened?" Mariposa asked her husband.
"Nefari trapped us all in bubbles," said Goldie. "And then we all woke up."
"Lamenta said that was an insomni-bubble," said Gabby. "Nefari made them to wake you guys up on purpose, and make it impossible for you to go back to sleep."
"But she said she didn't get enough power to enter our realm yet," said Echo.
"Why would she do that if she needs us to be sleeping in order to gain power from nightmares?" Ahsoka asked.
"And why didn't she trap Lamenta?" Boba asked.
"Yeah, especially while she has the lantern to trap her?" Omega added.
"Carmine?" Anakin looked at his twin. "Has Lamenta ever had any nightmares she's never been able to confront?"
"I don't think so." Carmine said. "Lamenta says she generally face all kinds of things when she enters dreams, so it takes a lot to frighten her."
"Oh no," said Garrett. "I just remembered something."
With night wielding magic being awfully similar to black arts, Garrett took a special interest in Lamenta's powers and her involvement with dreams, but during his research, he'd discovered that it was unhealthy for night wielders to spent too much time entering dreams and not experiencing any of their own. It had a bad impact on how they fought nightmares, and more than half the time had a negative psychological impact on a majority of night wielders in their waking lives.
"How often does Lamenta enter other people's dreams?" Garrett asked.
"I'm not sure," said Carmine. "Lamenta doesn't talk about her own dreams, though."
"Do you recall the last time Lamenta ever spoke of her own dreams?" Caroline asked.
"Not since just before she got her powers. I think she said she dreamed she was dancing with a bunch of swans. Pretty dream, but she hasn't spoken of her own dreams since."
"What about other people's dreams?" Garrett asked.
"She's mentioned a few times," said Caroline. "But she says she can't say what she saw in their dreams because of what she calls dreamer-seer confidentiality."
"If that's the case, chances are Lamenta hasn't spent enough time dreaming for herself, and she could be in trouble."
"Then we have to help her!" Crescent said. He walked around in a circle three times and lay down again and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. "And... I can't sleep."
"Curing the effects of insomi-bubbles on a single vicitm is one thing." Mariposa said. "A whole group is another story. Unfortunately, it looks like Lamenta may be on her own."
"Maybe not," said Gabby. "We still have the mirror."
Lamenta found herself in what looked like a dark forest of some sort. The grass was black and brittle, there were creepy trees of black with no leaves, and a misty fog filled the air as Lamenta passed through it. And she quickly found she didn't have the lantern in her hand anymore.
"Hello?" Lamenta called, the only response being her own echo.
Lamenta heard laughter. Nefari's laughter.
"Nefari! Where are you?!" Lamenta said angrily. "Show yourself!"
"I thought you enjoyed things that cannot be seen, Darling." Nefari chuckled. "Or being invisible yourself at least."
"If you think a forest is going to induce fear in me, Nefari... I've seen scarier things."
"Oh, I know things about you Lamenta Jinn. You and I are very much alike. We see things most do not because they are deep within our minds, some so deep even we ourselves do not realize they are there."
"I'm nothing like you, Nefari. I don't feed on fear, and I'm not afraid of you either."
"Perhaps, but I know what frightens you."
Lamenta suddenly found herself within a swirling vortex of some sort that made her very dizzy until she found herself in what looked like a hospital of some kind. She looked around and she saw... her parents.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Lamenta ran to her parents, but she went right through them. "Huh?"
Lamenta was confused at first. She looked at her parents again, and she saw that they were looking at a small bundle in Caroline's arms. A baby.
"Look at you," said Dream Carmine. "Aren't you just the sweetest thing."
"Nine months of carrying you, and it was all worth it." Caroline smiled.
"Is that the new baby?" Lamenta said, except... her parents didn't respond. "Hello? Anyone there?"
Lamenta's vision suddenly changed. And she saw... a royal ball where everyone in the family and lots of guests were bringing presents for a baby laying in the bassinet at a special designated area.
"Isn't she just precious?" cooed one woman.
"The sweetest little thing ever," said another.
"Prince Carmine is so lucky, he's finally a father."
"Finally?" Lamenta questioned. "He's been a father! He has me!"
But, no one seemed to acknowledge or even notice Lamenta.
"Daddy, tell them!"
But, Carmine didn't even notice Lamenta.
"Mommy?"
Caroline didn't either.
Lamenta ran to her grandparents, her aunts, her uncle, even her cousins. None of them could see or hear her, and just kept gawking at the new baby. Not even Crescent, Luke, or Leia seemed to acknowledge her.
And reporters asked Carmine and Caroline all kinds of questions.
"How does it feel now that your new baby has finally arrived?"
"Any comment on whether you'll have another after this one?"
"How does your elder child feel about this new addition?"
But Carmine said, "What elder child?"
Lamenta's eyes went wide at that. Her own father not remembering he had a child before this new baby? But not just him, the whole family forgetting she existed! And it didn't help that she spotted what used to be her room being turned into a nursery for the new baby, and Caroline found Lammy on the floor.
"When did we get this?" Caroline said.
"No idea," said Carmine. "But I'm sure our baby will have fun playing with this little lamb."
"No! That's my lamb! I'm your little lamb!" Lamenta cried, tears coming to her eyes. "I'm your little girl!"
"They don't seem to think so, Lamenta." Nefari said. "I know your greatest fear. You want nothing more than to be seen... to be known... to be heard. Yet you were granted a power to become invisible, and your power is only truly visible while no one is awake."
Lamenta held her head as she started to feel Nefari getting into her. She could feel the fear being sucked right from her for Nefari to feed on. Nefari laughed at Lamenta as she continued to taunt her.
"Life's not fair, is it? Your family tells you they will always love you no matter what. But the moment a new baby enters the picture... you no longer exist. And this will be coming to you very soon. Your new baby will be here soon, and your parents will forget all about you within a matter of hours. Never again will you be their little lamb, or even a princess of the royal family. You will always be overshadowed by someone. Your new baby sibling, and your older, popular cousins."
Suddenly, Lamenta heard voices calling her name.
"Lamenta! Can you hear me?" Caroline's voice called. "Lamenta!"
"Lamenta, Baby. It's us!" Caroline's voice echo. "Don't listen to Nefari! She's trying to scare you."
In the waking realm, through the silver mirror, Lamenta's parents could see more clearly than anyone else that very deep down inside, Lamenta had one thing she was scared of more than anything else: being forgotten, being unseen. That was just another result of the curse of seeing the truth all the time; seeing so many people who only pretended to be her friends but in reality were using her to get to a big celebrity; that made Lamenta fear that she would never be truly loved by anyone other than her parents. And now that they were having a new baby, she wouldn't be the only child in her parents' lives anymore.
Technically, she wasn't even the only kid in her parents' lives even before the baby was conceived; her cousins were kids, but she didn't count them because they were part of her family and the closest thing she had to siblings, and she knew they already had parents of their own, so they had no reason to steal Lamenta's. But still, deep down, Lamenta hid her truth of fearing that she would be forgotten, and she wouldn't even need to use her powers to become invisible.
"Lamenta, you know we would never forget you." Caroline said. "The new baby will need a lot of attention, but we will not live them more than you."
"If you're scared of the way things will change, Lamb, don't be scared." Carmine said. "It's a big change for all of us."
"You don't know that!" Lamenta said. "So many people have tried lying to me, and even though I can see the truth, I don't know who I can trust."
"But you know you can trust us, Sweetie." Caroline said. "Who's been there for you during your bad times as well as the good ones? Who knows you better than anyone else? Whose dreams have you helped stay good dreams the most?"
"Lamenta, you spend so much time making other people's dreams peaceful, but clearly not enough time on your own dreams." Carmine said. "You need to face Nefari yourself. Take control of your dreams. Your imagination."
But, naturally, Nefari tried to stray Lamenta away from her parents' words.
"Don't listen to them! They'll say anything to make you think they're your friends. Parents will butter you up when they want you to act as free servants-"
But Lamenta's demeanor changed to being more determined than ever before, and furious at Nefari for daring to mess with her head and how she perceived her relationships with her family. Her fear still resided in her uncertainty for the future, but she knew no one in her family would ever forget her. You don't forget the people who are your true, loving, devoted family.
"No! They're right. My family would never replace me with anything. Not even a new baby. And you may think you're so powerful with your nightmare spells and such, but this... is my dream!"
And so, Lamenta sprouted her wings and cast a powerful spell on Nefari and the forest surrounding them.
Lamenta started doing as her parents advised and let herself dream, and she found herself standing on cliff side above a beautiful sparkling body of water with a starry night sky up above, and she made all kinds of beautiful things appear. White swans dancing gracefully, silver pegasus ponies flying through the sky with shooting stars and northern lights of many beautiful colors. And the creatures Lamenta summoned through her dreams broke out into a little song.
See it in your mind
And you will find
In your imagination
Mysteries and magic
Visions fantastic
Leading to strange and wondrous dreams!
Dreams are make believe
But could they all come true?
Lamenta made the colors of the lights shine brighter, and the swans began to fly in a graceful pattern with the pegasi like an amazing flight show, and Lamenta dressed herself in the most beautiful ballerina dress and she danced on the clouds so gracefully with no thought of any nightmares coming to her mind.
Aaah, aaah, aaah
In your imagination!
Aaah, aaah, aaah
In your imagination!
Here in your mind
It's magic you'll find
When out of the night
Dark forces ignite
To blind you with frightening speed
You use your might
To brighten the light
Creating a night of wondrous deeds!
Nefari found herself being struck by Lamenta's dreams. She tried to cast another spell to make Lamenta's dream into another nightmare, but soon Lamenta was joined by all her friends as they finally managed to get themselves back to sleep and into the dream realm to help Lamenta fight off Nefari. All together, using the power of their imaginations, those who didn't have magic gave themselves powers and held Nefari in a strong bind long enough for Lamenta to get out the lantern and suck Nefari in as a cloud of purple smoke. Nefari's scream echoed as she was pulled into the trap until it was sealed shut.
The sun soon came up on Naboo. Everyone was fast asleep in their sleeping bags. Even those who'd stayed awake to make sure everyone else stayed asleep had dozed off and snuggled up aside their husbands or leaned on one of the horses as a pillow.
Lamenta was first to open her eyes, and she found herself cuddling with Lammy in a sleeping bag instead of her bed. Rubbing her eyes she yawned as she awoke from a good night's sleep. She looked around to find everyone else was still asleep, and she looked at the lantern beside her bag to find that Nefari was indeed trapped inside.
"Lammy, we did it!" Lamenta exclaimed, but froze as she nearly woke some folks up. And she lowered her voice. "Time to go back to jail Nefari."
Lamenta called over the EHC officers and gave them the lantern with Nefari inside it.
"The galaxy owes you a great deal of thanks, Princess Lamenta." said the officer.
"It wasn't all my doing. My family and our friends helped." Lamenta said. "No one, not even Nefari can mess with our imaginations."
"Where are the rest of your family?"
"Resting. I think everyone needs a chance to catch up on sleep right now."
The officer chuckled and said, "That makes sense. Either way, you've all done a great service and wish you the best of luck moving forward."
The officer patted the girl's head, took the lantern, and headed on their way to get Nefari back to jail.
At M.A.R.E.D. Headquarters...
"We got another one, Captain." said the officer. "Nefari Navarro."
"Excellent work, Officer Nesbit. Put her in to get re-evaluated."
The officer placed the lantern in a room where prisoners were to be placed with their special ankle bracelets. Except, when another officer came in for Nefari, they didn't take the lantern to the step of putting the anklet on. Instead, they put the lantern into a special case and walked down the hall and attacked one of the guards and knocked them unconscious.
Eventually, the officer made their way to an area they could safely apparate unnoticed, and they arrived...
At Mariverde's doorstep.
"Delivery for you, my lady." said the hooded figure.
"Excellent work, my pretty." Mariverde said. She tapped the figure and changed them back into a butterfly before bringing them inside.
Mariverde brought the case to her chambers and opened it to uncover the lantern, and adding a little magic, she opened it, and out sprung Nefari, but as a human!
"Where am I?" Nefari said. She looked at her arms. "I'm... human?"
"Not to worry, dear Nefari." said Mariverde. "You are here for a good service. I saved you, now you have something I want."
For what must have been the first time in her life, Nefari looked scared. Mariverde snapped her fingers and had a bunch of her moths swarm Nefari. Nefari tried to use her magic to defend herself, but the moths just kept coming, and no matter how loud she shrieked, no one could hear her. And Mariverde just stood and watched as this happened.
"Don't worry, Nefari. It will be over soon." said Mariverde. She pulled out a necklace with what looked like a purple orb of some kind. "My moths are merely so you cannot attempt to stop me from what I am about to do."
The orb glowed, and Nefari continued screaming as she felt some powerful force draining energy from her painfully until she collapsed to the floor.
"I thank you for your contribution to my cause, Nefari." chuckled Mariverde. "Take her away."
