Greetings, Tantabus. I am ready.
Do your worst.
Princess Luna is turning into Nightmare Moon!
Again!
Yeah, well, we've got the cure for that.
Wait.
What is it doing?
No.
It's gone!
What?
My dream ended… happily?
That cannot happen!
This is amazing!
Yeah, Rarity. Thanks for setting all this up.
A grooming day for our pets really was a great idea.
Ooh, my.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't get my normal beauty sleep last night.
You know…
I didn't sleep well either.
I'm totally beat, too!
All right, Winona. Time for your brushing.
I guess I'm too plum-tuckered out to do this right.
I even went to bed early last night.
But then I had a really scary nightmare.
Me, too!
Uh, only, you know,
I didn't think mine was that scary.
Well, mine sure was.
There was this blue smoke monster, and
What?
I dreamt about a blue smoke thingy, too.
Me, too!
So what?
Probably just a coincidence.
That's an awfully big coincidence.
Huh, I wonder why I didn't have that nightmare.
I slept great!
So, then, what could have given us all the same nightmare?
I don't know,
but I do know who might.
Spike, could you send a scroll to Princess Luna?
Sure.
All set.
"Dear Princess Luna,
last night, my friends and I all dreamt
of a creature made of blue smoke.
I'm sure you're very busy, but…
When you have the chance,
please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean.
Yours,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
You can leave out the yawns.
Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?
Wow. That was fast.
We all did.
Not me!
Ugh, we know.
So, you've encountered the smoke monster, too?
The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares.
It escaped from my slumbers yesterday.
But how did it get into ours?
The Tantabus is like a parasite.
My dreams must no longer be enough for it.
Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt.
He must have learned of you six from seeing you in my dream.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. So what you're saying is,
you dreamt about all of them and not me?
Uh, so, smokey gave us bad dreams.
No biggie.
I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful,
but I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams.
If its 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.
Okay, okay, okay. I take it back.
That does sound bad.
Really bad!
We've prepared everything exactly as you requested.
Good. As you six slumber here, I will pursue the creature into
whichever of your dreams it infests.
Ooh! It'll be like a princess sleepover!
Speaking of princesses,
aren't you gonna ask Celestia for her help, as well?
There is nothing my sister can do.
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?
Especially you.
You have all suffered so much because of me.
You need only slumber
while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams.
I know you said nopony can help, but I'm no pony.
I'm gonna stay up and watch over you guys, just in case.
Oh, thank you, Spike.
One good thing about not sleeping well last night
Shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep now.
Are you kidding?
This is so exciting I don't know how I'm ever going to…
Oh my!
This is simply divine!
How avant-garde!
Forget avant-garde!
I should have said en garde!
It is here.
It was such a pretty little chiffon.
What kind of monster would do this?!
The Tantabus.
Then let's stop it!
No!
Please.
I don't want you to suffer any more because of me.
I will catch it.
It has jumped into another dream.
I am sorry, but if I am to stop it, I must follow it where you cannot.
Go.
I shall be able to handle things here.
I hope.
I followed the Tantabus here.
Now I need only find…
Sorry, can't help it. An idea pops into my head and…
Ooh, cake!
Ew, cake!
No!
Sorry!
Who wants ice cream?!
It's so nice to be the pet for once.
N-n-nice, giant, evil Angel.
Oh, thank you, Princess.
Now, this is what I call an incredible dream.
I can see the Tantabus has already turned your slumbers into a nightmare.
What are you talking about?
This is my favorite dream.
We are such happy flowers.
We will now sing for hours.
Aren't we unbearably cute?
Watch me solo on this flute!
Luna!
What happened? Are you guys okay?
That… that was terrible.
I-I never want to have that nightmare again.
Me either!
But Luna caught it,
didn't she?
I am so sorry, my friends.
I failed.
It will be back to infect your dreams the next time you sleep.
Oh no!
Yeah. I reckon I could live without seeing that thing ever again.
But you will.
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 than I can bear.
It'll be okay.
Everypony makes mistakes.
As long as none of you dreamt about another pony
the Tantabus remains confined to your dreams.
I still have a chance to catch it before it's too late.
That's good to hear!
Although after you left, I did 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 I tell you!
Everypony makes mistakes.
But that means the Tantabus could be turning every dream in Ponyville into a nightmare.
It is far worse than that.
Infecting all of 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.
But how?
The Tantabus was able to escape Luna
when it only had six dreams it could get to.
It is true.
With so many dreams to hide in, I do not know how I can catch it.
What if every pony in ponyville were having one dream?
I can create shared dreams, yes.
But for so many ponies at once?
I have never done anything like that.
The amount of power it would take…
Well, it is worth a try,
isn't it?
Of course.
I will do anything to end this,
including accept your help.
I cannot allow the Tantabus to escape into the real world.
All of you must now go back to sleep
and hope that I can create such a dream.
Princess Luna did it!
Big Mac!
Boy, I'm glad to see something familiar!
Ee-yup.
Ponies!
Princess Luna!
There is no time for bowing, my friends!
There is something coming, something terrible!
No, it is already here!
I am so sorry! I brought this upon you!
But I will end it now!
Princess, what's wrong?
It is taking all my strength just to hold this massive dream together!
You will have to stop it!
I truly wish I did not have to ask this of you!
Then you're in luck.
Yeah, we're already on it!
Please!
I'll pay you anything!
I got it.
Oh, no.
Big Mac,
You can do anything in a dream, remember?!
Come on!
If that Tantabus thing turns any more of this dream against us,
we will to busy saving ponies to catch it.
And it will grow powerful enough to escape into the real world!
How are we even gonna know when it's able to escape?
Oh, I think we'll know.
Hurry, my friends!
What the?..
Please! We need your help, too!
Fluttershy is right!
We've all got to work together to stop it from escaping!
But how can we help?
Nopony in Ponyville has your magic
or your speed.
That's true.
In Ponyville!
But this here isn't Ponyville,
it's a dream!
And not just any!
This is your dream.
Anything you can do in your dreams
you can do now!
Well, if you're gonna dream, might as well dream big, right?
It's working!
But it's not enough!
Then do more!
This is a dream, remember?
I cannot hold this dream together much longer.
Equestria will fall!
Because of me…
Am I crazy or
did it just get even bigger after Luna said that?
I think it's feeding of your guilt, Princess Luna!
If that is so,
then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place.
Say what now?
I created the Tantabus
to give myself the same nightmare every night,
to punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon.
But why would you do that?
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.
But that means you might just be the key to stopping all this.
Yeah!
If it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon,
then you've just got to stop feeling bad for what you did!
How can I forgive myself?
I am no better now than I was then.
My creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare.
But look at what you're doing!
Nightmare moon would have 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 knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past.
We all trust you, Luna.
Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?
I do.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Luna did it!
She sure did.
Only, I'm not exactly sure what she did.
Luna created the tantabus to punish herself.
The worse she felt, the more power it had.
But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did…
Poof!
Wonder what she's dreaming about now.
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