//------------------------------//
// Bad Dreams and Zebras 
// Story: Dimension Jumper 
// by redtau 
//------------------------------//

	I lay naked on a hard metal table, my limbs bound tight to its cold surface, bright lights shining in my eyes and throwing the rest of the room into impenetrable shadows. I heard hoofsteps to my right, and struggled to shift my head enough to see what was happening.

Twilight walked up, a stained lab coat draped over her. The pockets were stuffed with scalpels, needles and pens. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes had a wild and crazed look in them.

"You're awake! Good, we couldn't begin while you were sleeping. I need to know everything I can about your physiology." Her horn glowed, and a black marker floated up and began to trace dotted lines over my bare skin. "I hate to do such destructive examinations, but it's the best way to learn EVERYTHING I can about you."

'Twilight, please. You don't have to do this. I'm sure there are other ways. We can-"

"Ah ah ah, none of that now." Her horn lit up again and a sharp scalpel cut into my chest just above the breast bone and traced an agonizing line almost to my groin. There was an awful smell like cooked meat, and when Twilight lifted the scalpel up again I saw it was glowing red hot. "There," she said with a satisfied grin, "I've cut you all the way open with only minimal blood loss. Did the cauterization spell hurt really badly?"

I sobbed in pain, my vision clouding slightly.

"Good, nice to see the nerves are all still intact. Hmm." She tapped on my ribcage. "We will have to do something about that." A glow appeared behind the ceiling lights, and a strange device floated down. My eyes widened to see a pneumatic saw with a three inch circular blade. It whirred quietly to life. "Now, I know you can't move very much but try to hold still.

I threw my head back and screamed as the saw tore into my ribs one by one, my vision threatening to black out but never quite getting there. Suddenly I felt a strong tug and realized the saw had been turned off. Looking back down, I saw Twilight had pulled the center of my ribcage off and tossed it aside. 

"Stop trying to black out on me, my spell won't let you till I say you can die. Now," she tore my heart roughly from it's place and held it up, still beating and connected before my eyes, "tell me what this does." Her glowing red scalpel appeared before my eyes next to my heart, "And try and describe where the pain is when I start cutting...."





I groaned and lifted my head slightly, squinting at the clock on the far wall. This night I had managed to sleep all the way to three-twenty in the morning.

You have the most interesting dreams. I'm beginning to think you are going to corrupt me.

I groaned and shut my eyes, scrunching my face up and wondering if I could just get back to sleep. My tossing and turning at night had tangled my arm and a leg in the sheets, and I pulled at them gently trying to untie them.

"You are a specter of darkness and fear who nearly plunged the world into an eternal night and I'm corrupting you?" I kept pulling but I had obviously really gotten the sheets stuck.

I can't help it if your nightmares are so terrifying. The worst I had before was a headless horse.

Becoming flustered I used my free leg to kick all the blankets and sheets off of me and rolled over to see what the problem was. 

I stared down at my wrist and ankle, each bound in thick medical grade restraints that seemed welded to the bed frame.

"LLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"





"Your dreams are manifesting?" Steel asked me as Lance worked at the buckles, trying to free my arm.

"I didn't think anything of it at first," I said, trying very hard not to freak out, "I had a dream a while back about someplace very cold, and when Lance came to check on me the room was so cold his breath fogged on the air."

"Has anything like this happened before?" Starlight asked.

I shook my head. "No, never before with my other companions. It must be something to do with Nightmare."

"The only one who has a lot of experience with the Nightmare is Princess Luna," Lance said, managing to at least loosen the strap. "I don't think she is going to be willing to come chat with you over it."

"OK, so Sarah tied herself to the bed. That's not that bad right. I'm sure more than a couple of creatures might think of that as the start of a good dream."

"Trust me, it was NOT a good dream. It also wasn't my most dangerous. The straps have lasted quite a while now, something else might come out of my head and be dangerous to you. What if I dream of poisonous spiders next? Or a giant forest fire? "

"Looks like we need an expert on spirits," Steel said, tapping his hoof to his chin. "Trouble is, the most mystical thing ponies usually get up to are unicorn spells, and those they treat more like a science."

"I don't know if I want to wait another three weeks for the next shipment in the hopes they will send a shrink, a mystic, and a witch doctor," I said, finally pulling my arm free. I went to work on the strap on my leg, managing better than Lance had.

"Oooh, we might not have to wait," Starlight said. "I was talking to Bon Bon earlier, and she said there was a witch doctor in the Everfree Forest. A zebra named Zecora."

"And you have an address?" I asked, good feelings fading as I saw Star's ears droop.

"No, but I know how to find her from Ponyville."

"So you have to leave the castle, go to Ponyville, go back into the Everfree, find Zecora, and then retrace your steps to get back here? How long will that take?"

"A couple of hours at best," Steel said. "Do you think we can leave you alone for that time? The circles around the castle are intact so whatever is out there can't get to you."

They are all looking for a way to run away. They don't want to be near me if I have a total breakdown and become a full monster. "S-sure," I said with a slight waiver. "The sun is almost up, so you'd better get going."

I watched them all leave and huddled under the blankets on my bed. I was tired, but sleep now was too dangerous to indulge in.

They will be back in just a few hours, then I'm sure we can sort this out. I'm not sure why my power is running rampant within you like this. Maybe it has to do with the way the Elements sealed me up?

"Maybe they won't come back. Maybe they will go talk to Twilight or get a letter to the Princesses and everyone will realize that I'm too dangerous."

Isn't that a little bit much?

"What if I actually manifest that icy bitch? What if I call up cannibals or zombie-ponies. Even my memories are dangerous. A forest fire is tame, I was almost at ground zero for a nuclear war."

A what war?

I thought for a moment, "Ever seen a meteorite fall out of the sky and hit something?"

Oh, yes. One of my earliest hosts had one that burned down a barn, I think the thing was about the size of a baseball.

"This world made artificial ones the size of houses, and used them to threaten and fight each other. They threw hundreds, maybe even thousands of them at different nations. I was almost there when one hit. I saw.... I..." I started to sob. "I'm a monster. A ticking time bomb waiting to wipe out anyone too foolish to get away."

I felt a dark depression start to overtake me, saw the lights and candles dim as that horrible power fed on my fear. I shut my eyes and began to beg silently. 

Please. 

Please let Lance and Steel and Star find the zebra. 

Please let her be able to help. 

Please let them get here in time. 

Please....  


please... I don't want to be a monster.





Anderson crouched in the woods just beyond the three tiny moats that had been carved around the ancient castle. He watched and waited patiently as three guards departed. The minotaur had to admit, this was all a stroke of luck, he had been worried he would have to wait weeks for a chance to get into the castle instead of just a few days. 

Lord Bright Herold was a bastard, but he was a bastard who paid up front. Of course, for such forthright payment he expected, nay demanded the best. So when he had approached Anderson of Anderson and Folly's Beast Busters, Anderson decided to take it as a compliment, and as a minotaur he appreciated a good challenge. After all, he was the one responsible for most of the company's big successes. The wall of his office had the heads of two manticores, a serpent, a dozen changelings, and three hydra heads, all personal victories.

Anderson slipped into the castle through one of the holes that littered the outer wall, carefully and quietly threading his way through the servants passages and back hallways. He paused as he neared the ancient private royal chambers, listening quietly.

Soft sounds, like a child weeping, drifted through the partially open doors to the Moon Princesses ancient quarters. Anderson quietly checked over his arsenal. On his belt hung three short swords, each edged with a different metal that creatures were weak to. He had a small pouch filled with vials of herbs and poisons that worked against everything from parasprites to hydras. Finally he pulled and readied his favorite weapon, a heavy crossbow.

Slowly he crept in and peered into the room. Heavy curtains covered most of the windows in the room, and it took a few long seconds for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. The splendor of the room was not lost on him, and he marveled how the ancient mural of stars painted on the ceiling still glowed softly. Most of the room was clear, save for a nest of pillows against in a distant corner and a bit of wood next to an empty fireplace. He listened for the soft sobbing sound, and found his target huddled against the far wall.

It looked like a small deformed minotaur, its arm wrapped around its knees, head down and crying softly. Its face was hidden in long black hair that flowed over its shoulders and pooled in the shadows near its waist.

This? He thought, This is the threat that bastard of a Lord needed me for? He crept forward till he stood in the middle of the room. It felt more like murder than hunting. It just didn't seem fair. He lifted his crossbow with a soft click.

It shifted, hearing the noise and raised it's head. Two glowing blue-green eyes stared up at him through the hair.

"Sorry dearie, it's just business." He steadied the bow and aimed between it's eyes.

A third eye opened, above and between the first two. Then another above that one, and another. Anderson looked up and realized that the eyes were not within the creature but instead in the shadows on the wall. His eyes traced upwards into the darkness and he felt a shock of fear fill him as he looked upon the ceiling mural.

What he had taken for stars and constellations were eyes. Dozens of eyes, surrounded by something between living shadow and moving hair. The ceiling bulged downward towards him, like a tarp filled with water. A long seam formed on the underside of the bulge, and the shadows split to reveal a massive maw filled with row after row of sharp teeth.

Anderson raised his crossbow and fired as the massive jaws came crashing down.





"Sarah? Sarah, we are back!" Starlight called as she ran up the steps and into the bedroom. "Sarah?" She looked around the darkened room and found her target asleep on the pillows. "There you are!" she went over and shook the one armed creature awake.

"Wha?"

"Come on Sarah. We found the zebra witchdoctor and she needs to look you over before- Wah!" Star slipped slightly and looked down at a thick puddle on the floor. Carefully she bent down a sniffed at it for a moment. "Ugh, blood. You must have had another nightmare. Come on, we need to get you some help before someone gets hurt."





I struggled to sit still, an anxious tingle shivering through my skin as the zebra walked around me. She poked and prodded, inspected the tattoo on my back and looked in my ears and mouth.

"It is no wonder you look so beat. It's clear to me that you need meat." Zecora said.

Starlight looked a little green at the thought. Steel stepped forward. "We aren't interested in her diet, we are more concerned about the Nightmare's power bound in her."

"The answer may cause you to shout. To restrain the power, she must let it out."

"Let it out?!" Lance cried.

"The power is a river, and she's dammed it up at first. But no dam can last forever, and it's about to burst. Skillful and controlled release would be ideal. The best creature to do that resides within that seal." Zecora pointed at the tattoo on my back with the last rhyme.

"We can't break a seal set by the Elements of Harmony," Starlight said in a worried tone. "Not before this whole castle is a giant fright fest."

"The seal that was put in place is already part undone. Though I cannot say if it was magic, time, or the actions of this one."

"That doesn't matter right now. We know a way to keep me from unleashing horror on the castle and surrounding countryside. Starlight, Steel Strike. I need you to gather my research notes on circles, along with paper, pens, ink, and some books from the library, any will do. Bring them to the Night Court. Lance, I want you to work on sealing the Night Court. We can lock me in at sundown and let me out at sunrise." I turned to Zecora. "How can I repay you for your kindness in coming to see me for this unusual need?"

"A tale of your journeys without any censure will repay me for this venture."

I smiled. "We have a little time while the guards prepare. Let me tell you about this one world where the masters ate their servants..."





Are you sure about this?

I looked around the room at the various things I had stacked to pass the time, nodding. "D and I did something like this once. He needed control of my body to barter for my freedom from a daemon. The principle is sound."

What will you do, while I am in your body? What will I do?

"You just have to expend your power. Read, draw, dance. Just don't hurt me." I wrapped my arm around myself, sitting down on the throne. I was shaking.

You are scared.

"I don't really know what will happen. It's a risk, but it's a risk that only threatens you and me."

I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes.

"By my will and mine alone, I lend myself to thee. Till the time the sun does rise, in it you are free."





Lance peaked in through the main door. It had been an hour since Sarah had been locked in and he hadn't heard anything since. That could have been good or bad, but his nerves wouldn't let him rest till he cracked the door and checked.

Sarah appeared to be just sitting on the throne, slumped to one side and resting. He watched her chest rise and fall softly for a moment before closing the door and reassembling the barricade.

He never saw Sarah's head raise and open her eyes. Her eyes that belonged more in a serpent than a woman, and that glowed with starlight and magic.