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Well the vaccine held me in bed for a day and a half but at least I got some inspiration to write a chapter after the headache subsided, so here you go!
Hope you like it and ENJOY!
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Ps: The repetition is intentional XD
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Luna ran through the same corridor that so often appeared in her recent dreams.
She wasn't sure why Tantabus wanted to use it so much, but after Starfall saved her in this corridor the last time, he seemed to take a perverted pleasure in proving her that there was no pony who was going to save her this time around...
That abomination was chasing her again...
She knew that Tantabus took it out of her own mind but she couldn't understand when did she saw something so grotesque... But maybe she didn't? What if he just mixed all her deepest phobias into a single monstrosity?
Luna was horrified as she continued to run and run through that accursed corridor. Normally she would have been able to easily take care of anything in the Dream Realm but that thing made her almost powerless from fright. Tears feel down her cheeks and she cursed the realism of this place. What was the point of being the Princess of the Night when she couldn't take care of a single nightmare?...
Suddenly her hoof impacted a brick sprouting from the pavement and causing her to fall on the ground roughly. Her heart beat fast as she saw the monstrosity closing on her but she was inwardly relieved as that meant her nightmare was about to end and she would wake up.
But then her heart sunk into horror as she saw what the monster wanted to do to her.
"N-no please! Anything but that!" The slimy tentacles tried to grab her but she kicked them away and tried to stand up as streams of tears fell down her cheeks...
It wasn't long though when her hoof impacted a brick sprouting from the pavement and causing her to fall on the ground roughly. Her heart beat fast as she saw the monstrosity closing on her but she was inwardly relieved as that meant her nightmare was about to end and she would wake up.
But then her heart sunk into horror as she saw what the monster wanted to do to her.
"N-no please! Anything but that!" The slimy tentacles tried to grab her but she kicked them away and tried to stand up as streams of tears fell down her cheeks...
It wasn't long though when her hoof impacted a brick sprouting from the pavement and causing her to fall on the ground roughly. Her heart beat fast as she saw the monstrosity closing on her but she was inwardly relieved as that meant her nightmare was about to end and she would wake up.
But then her heart sunk into horror as she saw what the monster wanted to do to her.
"N-no please! Anything but that!" The slimy tentacles tried to grab her but she kicked them away and tried to stand up as streams of tears fell down her cheeks...
It wasn't long though when her hoof impacted a brick sprouting from the pavement and causing her to fall on the ground roughly. Her heart beat fast as she saw the monstrosity closing on her but she was inwardly relieved as that meant her nightmare was about to end and she would wake up.
But then her heart sunk into horror as she saw what the monster wanted to do to her.
"N-no please! Anything but that!" The slimy tentacles tried to grab her but she kicked them away and tried to stand up as streams of tears fell down her cheeks...
Her mind suddenly went to her nephew Starfall. How much would she give to see him now. To say how much he meant for her. She could almost feel his touch, but then she realized in desperation that her greatest treasure would be taken by that terrible monster chasing her and she could do nothing about it...
The monster was getting closer and she knew that she didn't have much time.
Suddenly though when her hoof impacted a brick sprouting from the pavement and causing her to fall on the ground roughly. Her heart beat fast in horror as the monstrosity reachiled out to her, clearly aiming to defile her in the most terrible of ways.
"N-no... please..."Somehow, she could feel that she wont be able to wake up before it happens... "Starfall...Save...Me." She whispered The slimy tentacles tried to grab her but she kicked them awayin desperation and tried to stand up as streams of tears fell down her cheeks...
She needed to run... That was the only thing she could do...
She didn't know how many times did she fall and It didn't occur to her that each of her falls was almost exactly the same.
Almost every single fall...But one...
__________
His mind rushed with a number of thoughts when he heard the silent call for help. He didn't know whether Luna knew that he was here and needed help, or if she was having a bad dream where she wanted him to save her, but whatever the case was, Starfall knew that he needed to check it out personally.
He slowly got out of her embrace and lowered his head closer to Luna until their horns touched. He then casted a spell that would made him fall asleep while sending his consciousness into Luna's currently occupied part of the Dream Realm, basically connecting their dreams. That way was much easier than traversing the entire Dream Realm looking for her after all...
Starfall found himself in the same unending corridor as the last time and it was easy to understand that Tantabus was already back, tormenting Luna for the crimes she committed while being possessed by dark magic.
"Sigh...Here we go again..." He muttered sadly. Luna really had to suffer a lot and he was still looking for a way to help her, but going with the canon solution seemed to be the best approach at the moment... albeit he wasn't really convinced that she needed the involvement of the entire Ponyville.
He started to walk down the corridor while making himself turn invisible. While he wasn't really there in a physical sense, The Dream Realm worked mostly based on the person's imagination, experience and knowledge. Of course magic power was also important but it was mostly in order to perform stuff like dream jumping, mind linking, or other things related to affecting the dream realm itself or the other beings residing in the Realm.
As he was walking down the corridor imagining more and more powerful concealment spells, some of them that were yet to be made and were still in the theoretical stadium, He finally found what he was looking for.
Luna was crawling away from a Lovecraftian horror in an endless loop of the moment she tripped. Probably the reason why he had to walk all that way to find her.
He was surprised that a nightmare could be set on a loop because it never occurred to him, but it also made him realize that Time was much more mouldable here than it was in the Real World. He wondered whether it was possible to use it as a sort of Mental Time Travel Magic but it was not that much important at the moment.
He looked around using his mage sight that he recreated very easily, seeing as he was using it almost his entire Pony life, to look for his target.
He quickly found Tantabus...or maybe it was Tantabus 2? Nah. He made almost the same nightmare as the last time so it was most likely the same...whatever it was...
He teleported silently behind the unsuspecting magical manifestation that hid in the endless black space outside the corridor, before casting a powerful sealing spell that formed a purple transparent bubble around the being. As the spell wasn't just a dream creation, it took quiet a lot of power from Starfall but the problem had been mostly taken care of, at least temporarily...
He decided to seal it instead of blasting it into smithereens because it had a higher chance of keeping the creature at bay for a long time unlike blasting it and waiting for it to recover.
With only a bit of his will, the corridor started to crumble as the darkness started to slowly get illuminated as a full moon rose above the horizon of the dream...
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Luna was crawling from the monster yet again but suddenly something happened.
The horrifying creation suddenly started to break down into dust and disappear just as the corridor started to break down to reveal a beautiful starry sky.
She didn't know why it happened but it wasn't long before she found out.
There he stood...
Starfall...
The Stallion who saved her time and time again...
The only one who accepted her without any qualms and treated her like an equal...Well there was her sister but she doesn't count...
Her hooves involuntarily pushed her forward making her stomp on the grass that appeared on the ground out of nowhere.
They looked at each other and she could see Starfall smiling at her with that heartwarming smile of his.
"Hi there Luna. I heard your call and here I am..." He said and it was the last straw for Luna.
She lunged at him in a crushing hug as tears started to fall down her cheeks with a renewed vigor. She didn't realize that her height was currently different from her real size, making her more resembling her teenage self than her Adult Alicorn self...
"You're here!...I knew you'd save me..." She cried in happiness happy that her beloved Starfall came to her rescue.
"Of course I'm here. And I'm not going to let anything happen to you ever again. You don't deserve all this pain and I forbid you from thinking otherwise. Do you understand?" He said trying to make her agree, but he didn't expect what happened next.
Luna looked at Starfall in the eyes still hugging him as something finally snapped inside of her.
She didn't know when it happened, but their lips were suddenly locked in a passionate kiss and she would be a fool if she tried to stop it.
Starfall didn't know what to think. Luna kissed him! Did she like him? but why?
A thousand thoughts went through his mind but when an idea of stopping the kiss finally appeared, it was long overdue as their tongues were already fighting for domination for way over a minute...
When they finally separated, Luna had a very happy expression on her face.
"I understand...And I wanted to confess something..." She said causing Tantabus in the seal to start shaking uncontrollably.
"I-I love you Starfall..." Their eyes met again and Starfall could see the sincerity In Luna's words. His own heart skipping a beat as he felt warmth spreading through his chest.
Despite having three Mares in his herd, He couldn't help but reciprocate the feelings of the immortal Mare.
"You do know that I already have three mares, and three more are on their way if things go alright?" He asked making sure that she knew what she was getting into.
"I know...and I'm ok with that." She said, clearly waiting for some type of answer to her confessions.
She received it soon in the shape of a kiss initiated by Starfall. It lasted even longer than the first one and at the end Luna gasped for air despite being in a dream and needing no breathing whatsoever.
"I hope that answers all your insecurities then Luna." He said with a smile while caressing her mane.
They laid there in the grass looking at the Stars and talking about random stuff and neither realized that a certain blue gaseous creature turned into dust on its own and disappeared forever.