There are many types of pain. Physical pain comes in as many varieties as there are body parts to experience it. Emotional pain comes in many, many more forms. Some of which can do more harm than any amount of physical pain can ever achieve. A broken leg, a sprained wing, a burn, a scratch, an amputation, all of these things and more were as nothing compared to the pain of losing a loved one, or having the love of another taken from you.
Shut Eye was in pain. His muscles ached. His joints burned. He could barely keep his eyes open. Every time he tried to open them, they ached with strain. Whenever he tried to use magic, he felt an intense burning pain in his horn. These were all of the physical manifestations of pain he was feeling in this dream, this nightmare, that Lyra was trapped in.
“Lyra... “ he repeated, stepping closer to the curled up and sobbing mare. She ignored him. Or she could not hear him. He did not know. There was little that he could do, though, besides try and get her to wake up. With protesting joints, he knelt down beside Lyra and settled on the ground. Once he stopped moving, the pain went away and he could unclench his jaw to speak again.
“Lyra… it’s okay. You do not need to be afraid. You’re not alone.” Shut Eye was not used to comforting full grown adults. He had to, from time to time, when they were caught in particularly vivid nightmares, but in those cases the subject of their fear was clear. This was very… vague. Vague and dark, and very literally unclear. The red miasma of fear and hatred already made it hard to see things more than a few yards away, and the dark shadows were disorienting at best what with their appearence of being empty voids that were as easy to fall into as walk through, but everything Shut Eye could see was very out of focus.
For lack of a better plan, he reverted to trying to comfort Lyra as he would comfort a foal. He needed to find out what exactly was worrying her if he had any hope of calming her down enough to wake her up.
“Shhh, its okay Lyra. Its okay,” Shut Eye repeated, “It’s okay. Nothing here can hurt you. It’s just a bad dream. Just a little bad dream.” He gently stroked her mane as he spoke. Her shuddering began to lessen and Shut Eye felt he might be able to get her to wake up at this rate. Of course, this was a nightmare from Nightmare Moon so it was hard to know for certain. But he had to hope.
“B-Bon Bon,” Lyra muttered. Shut Eye might normally have made himself look like Bon Bon in this dream in an attempt to further comfort Lyra, but any more magic was out of the question. The constant pain and discomfort he was currently feeling was already pushing his limits of concentration.
“Bon Bon is waiting for you,” Shut Eye said. He tried to get his leg under Lyra so that he could lift her up and get her on her own hooves.
“She’s lying to me.”
Shut Eye had to think quickly. One of the reasons he never snuck into ponies’ dreams without permission was because it was far too easy to get sensitive information from them unwittingly. Bon Bon was Shut Eye’s friend, and he did not want to jeapordize that friendship by sticking his nose into hers and Lyra’s business, purposefully or inadvertently. Lyra did not know she was still having a nightmare. Her thoughts were unconstrained and she was more likely to say something she would not have otherwise said.
“Everypony lies,” Shut Eye said, trying to keep her from speaking too much more. If Bon Bon came to him with her problems, he would listen and he would help. He did not want to get involved without invitation, however. “Sometimes it’s the only way we can-AAAHHHHHHHHH!”
Shut Eye collapsed, feeling as though his mind had been physically assaulted. Figuratively ‘struck’, literally ‘down’, the red and black of Lyra’s nightmare realm vanished instantly. Instead, Shut Eye now saw half a dozen ponies floating in the air in front of him. He had no idea where he had gone to, and his gaze was fixed unblinkingly, disbelievingly, at the ponies before him.
They were surrounded by a bright light that grew brighter as Shut Eye stared. His eyes were glued to the figures, unable to look away or close. Then a beam of light, prismatic in its multicolored brilliance, arced through the air towards him.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” he screamed, but the voice he heard was not his own. He would never forget the beautiful and terrible voice of Nightmare Moon as long as he lived, he was sure of that. He screamed in her voice as the rainbow completely enshrouded him. Everything seemed to explode in a dazzling light and he felt as though he were being ripped into pieces.
Then there was nothing.
Something cold and wet splashed across Shut Eye’s face. He flinched, opening his eyes and shaking his head. He saw Bon Bon and Lyra looking at him, both frowning. Worry filled their eyes.
“Shut Eye? Are you alright?” Bon Bon asked, stepping a bit closer as the bucket that Lyra was levitating drifted away.
“Uh… yeah, I think so,” Shut Eye said, blinking uncertainly. He shook his head and felt the water whip off. “What happened?”
“I was going to ask you that,” Bon Bon said, smiling. There was an evident air of relief on her face, and on Lyra’s. “After you cast your spell on Lyra you were really quiet for a few minutes, then you muttered a lot and then you screamed and fell over. The blue stripe on your horn, er, evaporated off, I guess, and Lyra woke up.” Bon Bon turned and gave Lyra a hug. Lyra returned the hug and the two kissed affectionately. Shut Eye, meanwhile, stood up off of the sofa that he had been laid on.
“We picked you up off the floor and put you on the couch,” Lyra said, “We didn’t know what else to do. You’ve been out of it for over an hour. When you started muttering again I got the idea to splash you. Sorry.” She gave him a sheepish smile.
“No, er, thanks. I needed that,” Shut Eye said. Not really a lie, but not really the truth either. The time between him passing out from the pain to the present seemed like an instant, not a couple of hours. He reached up to touch his horn, feeling it, as though the stripe had been tangible in the first place.
“Really Shut Eye, are you alright?” Bon Bon asked, “You saved Lyra, if there’s anything I can do for you just ask.”
“Me too!” Lyra said.
“No, really, I don’t think I-” Shut Eye was trying to explain that he was not entirely sure he did anything, that the nightmare ended in some other, really bizarre way, when he was cut off by both mares giving him a kiss on either cheek. Shut Eye blinked in surprise as a blush formed, and he gave them a bashful smile.
“Er… I think I just need to get home and get some sleep,” He muttered, heading for the door.
“You sure?” Bon Bon asked.
“Yeah,” Shut Eye answered, stopping at the door to wave to them. “Have a good day.”
“You too, Shut Eye!” Lyra said, waving back.
“Thanks Shut Eye,” Bon Bon said. Shut Eye gave them both a smile and left. The sun was high in the sky, probably Celestia trying to catch up for the lost hours. Everyone in town was out talking and celebrating, but Shut Eye was not the type of pony to get involved in mass celebrations. He did not do crowds or parties too well. All he wanted was a good night’s sleep at this point, and the moment he got home and crawled into bed, that is exactly what he got.