Moondancer moved forward carefully as she explored the land identified as 'Nightmare'. It looked like a dark and gritty outline of what should have been a bright and colorful hamlet, somewhat reminiscent of Twoson but built to Moondancer's scale, if slightly warped. Ponies like herself wandered around, but they were all slightly distorted as though viewed in a fun house mirror. The only place she could see in the distance that looked to be of interest was a library inside a tree...that sometimes flickered into a strange castle that looked like someone had tried to apply to colorful stones the essence of a castle, a tree, and a library without fully understanding the functionality behind the three. Moondancer tried to make her way there, only to find the path blocked by an invisible wall.
"I think you'll need to find another way," Buzz Buzz told her carefully as he looked around, trying and failing to make sense of what he was seeing...and struggling not to let it show when something from what was obviously Ness' hallucination in this area didn't quite mesh with Moondancer's and faded right through him.
"I don't suppose you have any suggestions on how?" Moondancer asked curiously.
"You could try...talking to people?"
"But that's Ness' job," Moondancer pointed out nervously.
"He's not here though, is he?"
Swallowing nervously, Moondancer approached a bright pink pony. "Uh...hello?" she asked.
"Hello!" the pink pony greeted happily. "And...goodbye!"
The world swirled around Moondancer and Buzz Buzz, and they found themselves in a different part of town. "O...kay?" Moondancer asked carefully. "How...did that happen?"
"That must be how we can move past the invisible walls," Buzz Buzz pointed out. "I see...quite a few of those bright pink ponies bouncing around...and they seem to be repeating 'Fun' over and over again when we aren't talking to them. If we find the right one, we might be able to progress."
"Well, our first goal should be finding out how to get to that castle-" Moondancer froze as a nearby pink pony began waving eagerly to her. "...is a hallucination trying to be helpful?" she asked nervously.
"Only one way to find out," Buzz Buzz offered.
Curiously, Moondancer approached the waving pink pony.
"Hello...and goodbye!" the pink pony declared, and the world warped around them.
Moondancer found herself on a path around the side of the shifting building, the only path that led to its far side. Blocking the path was a brown pony with an odd smile. "Well isn't this a fantastic place?" he declared in interest. "Seems like a negative reflection generated by a powerful psychic amplifier drawing from the darkness of the heart of the one affected, shaping some sort of story. Fantastic! But no, I can't stay and study, there could be problems..." He turned to Moondancer. "Oh, hello. What can I do for you?"
"I'd...like to get past," Moondancer offered somewhat uncertainly. "You're...kind of blocking the path."
"Oh, so I am," the stallion allowed. He tapped his chin for a time. "Nope, sorry, just can't do it."
"Why not?" Moondancer demanded irritably, doing her best to keep from actually getting angry.
"Beyond me is the focal point of this whole place," the stallion explained readily. "If something happens, this entire place could collapse...and I can't just leave my companion behind. If you can bring me the muffin mare, then I'll move. Until then, I'm staying right here." He sat firmly in the path. "Oh, and don't bother trying to force me to move with your telekinesis. The rules of the narrative are being strongly enforced this close to the focal point, and that simply won't work."
Moondancer sighed. "So...I find this 'muffin mare' and bring her to you, and then you let me by?"
"That's right!" the stallion agreed. "But don't you think there's someone you should find before you try to leave?"
Moondancer blinked in surprise. "Ness and Jeff," she murmured in shock. "They're here somewhere too, aren't they?"
"...more or less," Buzz Buzz explained cautiously. "You and Ness are each being affected by this 'narrative force' in different ways. Jeff stayed close to Ness, and I stuck with you. So...there's no way to be sure what Ness will look like to you in this place...and vice versa."
"Of course things couldn't be simple," Moondancer grumbled to herself, turning to head up the path.
Moondancer searched carefully through every building she could enter. There was a hospital, a bed and breakfast, a bakery, and several ordinary houses...though when she tried to enter those, the residents would get grumpy and upset and try to kick her out. Some of them were quite effective at doing so. Her ears still rang from what that blue-maned unicorn had done with the sound system. "How am I supposed to find this 'muffin mare'?" Moondancer demanded irritably. "I don't even know what I'm looking for!"
"Maybe you should try asking people?" Buzz Buzz suggested helpfully. "That worked when you were trying to get to the castle."
"What, I should just walk up to one of the pink ponies and ask, 'Do you know the Muffin Mare'?" she suggested sarcastically.
"The Muffin Mare?" a nearby pink pony inquired.
"The...Muffin Mare," Moondancer replied nervously.
"Yes, I know the Muffin Mare!" the pink pony sang out happily. "Hello and goodbye!"
The world warped around Moondancer and Buzz Buzz, and they found themselves in another part of the town behind a few buildings they hadn't been able to go around.
"...well, that seems to have put us on the right track...maybe," Buzz Buzz allowed nervously.
Moondancer groaned as she approached another nearby pink pony. "This is going to give me a headache..."
"Oh, you want the hospital?" the pink pony asked curiously.
"What, no!" Moondancer declared hastily. "I want-"
"Hello, and goodbye!"
The world warped around them, and the pair found themselves in the hospital. "...I'm going to have to go through all that again, aren't I?" Moondancer demanded irritably. "Seriously, I said no! Why did she send me-"
"That is how things fare, here in Nightmare," a zebra standing nearby said warmly. "The thing that you must always know, is no is yes and yes is no."
Moondancer groaned ruefully. "That would have been useful to know last time I was in here. Why didn't you tell me then?"
"That is my task," the zebra responded readily. "But you did not ask."
Groaning, Moondancer walked to the nearest wall to press her face against it, not wanting to bang her head when she wasn't sure if the surface was really solid or just an illusion.