Yet again the nightmare persisted. Some aspects of it might change day to day, but one thing that never changed was the fact that when Tattered Wing slept she would be forced yet again to relive that night in some shape or form. While her friends at the clinic were enduring physical pain she endured this pain. Perhaps it was penance for the harm she had caused them.
One thing that had changed in the past few weeks was she had gained an awareness of the fact this was a dream. Constant exposure to it and the expectation that it was coming each time she laid down to sleep had dulled it slightly. She now looked on cursing that she had to watch this yet again instead of experiencing first hoof the horror of it by feeling her own victimization.
This time she refused to look at what was happening. This night was already burned into her mind to the point she would remember every smell, every word, and every cry that happened. If she thought about it she could feel every wound inflicted on her yet again. It was best not to do that though, otherwise she might find herself being attacked again.
She looked around the dream. What if she just went somewhere else? What if she decided to take off to some other part of this memory of Charleston? Could she explore the city? Could she go places she had never actually gone? What existed beyond these few buildings and the street within the dream?
She laid her ears back as the screaming began. Whatever was out there had to be better than here.
She spread her wings and took to the air. Unlike the waking world they worked perfectly fine here in the dream. The feel of flight lifted her spirits just a little. Hopefully starting tomorrow she would begin to fly again for real.
After flying for a moment or two she noticed something odd. All the edges of the city were bathed in a thick fog that she couldn't see through. It seemed that her dream version of Charleston really did have boundaries. What would happen if she flew out into the fog? Was there something beyond it? Would she just find herself looped around to some other part of the dream? This was a dream, so trying to do that couldn't actually hurt her, it wasn't real. It was worth trying, if only to get away from the never ending nightmare.
Beating her wings hard and picking up speed she zoomed through the air towards the fog. When she went in she didn't feel what she was expecting. She had expected to feel dampness, it was just loose water vapor after all. There was no dampness though, this didn't feel anything like real fog. It was pressure, and the deeper she got into the fog the greater the pressure increased, making her ears pop.
She couldn't see anything in the fog. There was no way of knowing if there was ground below her, there was no sign of the sky above her. She could see nothing but grey behind her and before her. All that existed was her in the greyness. Her and whatever kept putting increasing pressure on her.
It didn't want her to keep going forward. She wasn't going to be detoured back though. She wanted away from the nightmare. Even if she kept going forward and finding nothing but more fog it was something other than the nightmare. If the pressure got to where it was painful it was still nothing compared to what the nightmare could inflict. She pushed forward.
It felt like she had been going hours into the fog, time didn't seem to flow right. It just wasn't ending. Flying forward was doing nothing. There had to be something else, the pressure was intense. There had to be a final wall or something at the end.
Tattered abruptly stopped flapping her wings. This should have made her plummet to whatever ground there was below. There was no sensation of falling though. In the grim fog she just remained suspended, not even drifting, just sitting still. There was no telling anymore which way was up, down, forward, or backward. The pressure was everywhere, and there was no visual cues about anything. She might as well as had her eyes closed due to the lack of information they gave her.
There was light here, that only displayed the grey, but there was light. There was no source of light though. It aggravated her, some primal part of her night pony brain yearned for the dark. There was no shade here though, no shadows, no where to escape the light.
With nothing left to do she closed her eyes and focused on her other senses. Maybe she could smell something, hear something, or even taste something that could get her beyond the fog.
Almost immediately after closing her eyes the pressure vanished altogether. In the darkness of her closed eyes she reappeared, eyes somehow open again even though she knew she hadn't opened them again. She gasped as all around her a million tiny points of light appeared around her in all directions, like stars. There was no ground; there was just her, the darkness, and the stars.
"Congratulations, little dreamwalker. You just entered the dream realm for the first time on your own," came a loud female voice from all around her.
She looked frantically around for who was speaking but saw nopony. There was just the stars.
"Who are you? Where am I?" She called out into the dark.
The voice chuckled, toning down the volume, but still coming from everywhere. "I just told you, little dreamwalker, this is the dream realm. As for who I am, I'm a guardian for all those points of lights you see, a Dreamwarden. I'm here to lay down the rules you must follow if you're to be allowed here."
Princess Luna had said something about Dreamwardens. What had she said? Phobia was a Dreamwarden, right?
"Is that you, Phobia? You can cut the crap, it isn't funny," Tattered called uncertainly, ears flattening as she continued to look around for the source of the voice.
The voice gave an excited gasp. "Oh! You know my sister! I'm hoping to meet her very soon, if her marefriend ever bothers to fall asleep."
Tattered flicked an ear and looked around in confusion. "I didn't know Phobia had a sister. Who are you?"
"Well, sister in a figurative sense. We're both Dreamwardens, even if she isn't done with her training yet. We share a special purpose and will be spending most of eternity together," the voice explained. "Maybe I should bring you along when I go to meet her today. That might be fun."
Eternity? That required some explanation. It wasn't the most pressing thing to worry about though.
"Are you ever going to come out where I can see you?" Tattered called out. "I'd feel a lot more comfortable talking to a pony face to face."
"I'm Yinyu Wu Yan, Dreamwarden of Lust, and it isn't needed for you to feel comfortable--quite the opposite really," the voice said with amusement. "But if you really want to have a face to talk to I suppose I can accommodate that."
After the voice finished speaking a large number of the stars shifted and rearranged themselves. Within seconds there was a massive set of eyes staring down at Tattered, and an even bigger mouth grinning. The eyes gave her a wink.
"Now that I've given you a face to speak to we should get down to business. So much chatter and not enough giving of Oaths," the face said to her.
Okay, that was seriously creepy for some reason. Tattered debated asking for Yinyu to just go back to being a disembodied voice again.
"What are you talking about? What Oaths?" Tattered asked as she resisted the urge to flee. There was nowhere to run to anyway, she was locked in place just like she had been with the fog.
"My sister hasn't told you yet? Shame on her! And here I am playing around with you as if you know what is expected of you," the face said as if it was embarrassed. Then Tattered let off a small yelp as the face grew in size but still seemed to get closer at the same time.
"Getting down to business," Yinyu continued. "First up the rules. The rules are very important. The rules keep you safe. If you break the rules we Dreamwardens will either lock you out of the dream realm, or if you're really-really bad we will take your itty-bitty little brain and rip out every itty-bitty thought and instinct from it. You don't want me to completely destroy your mind, right? It makes things like...well...being alive really difficult. Don't think we won't find out, we will always find out. You can't get away from us either, because every pony has to sleep."
"Are you threatening me?" Tattered said in terror as she spread her wings defensively.
"Threatening? Little dreamwalker, I don't threaten. I just explain how things work here. If you follow the rules you're perfectly safe. This is our dream realm, and while you are in it you will follow the rules. You are welcome to be banished from it if you wish," the face said with a big grin. The teeth now looked jagged, meant for ripping and tearing flesh.
"Um, what are the rules then?" Tattered asked. Princess Luna trained these things? It seemed Princess Luna was very unforgiving about certain things. She made a mental note to herself that she should never make Princess Luna angry at her. Hopefully she wasn't too angry about what happened to Phobia.
The face rotated until it was completely upside down before it started speaking again. "The rules are simple. One, you will never use dreamwalking to deliberately hurt another pony. There are no excuses why you did it, it's off limits. Only the Dreamwardens dispense justice in the dream realm. That is not for you."
The face rotated again so it was now facing right side up. "Two, you will never use information that you learn in a pony's dreams against them. You have a sacred trust with the dreamers, you shall not violate it."
The face rotated again so it was upside down once more. "Three, you will never use mind magic in a malicious way to mind control or cause harm to anyone, pony or human. Nor will you use dreamwalking in attempt to gain control of another's thoughts. You should be disgusted by the very concept of it."
The face rotated to where it was right side up again. "Finally, you will respect the Dreamwardens and respect our authority. You shall give Oaths to us on demand to show you understand that we decide your fate here in the dream realm, and to break the rules will end in consequences."
Tattered's eyes narrowed. "You had me up until that last rule. Telling me that I must swear allegiance and obey doesn't fly with me."
"Do you wish to be banished?" Yinyu asked.
Tattered shook her head. "No, I just don't want to be at the mercy of some dream monster. I'll stay, and won't be swearing any oaths."
"I'm soo glad you said that," the face of Yinyu said with joy.
"Why...?" Tattered asked, as she started to get worried, wishing again that she could somehow flee
The stars condensed again briefly into the outline of a night pony mare and the outlined mare looked at her with an evil smile. "Because that means we get to play."
Before Tattered could respond all the stars that made up the pony turned into glowing white bats and scattered into all directions. With no warning, Tattered started to fall.
It was hard to say what was involved with falling. There didn't seem to be any ground, just the endless expanse of stars. She started trying to flap her wings on instinct to try to fly, then realized to her horror that her wings were gone.
"I should mention a few things right now," Yinyu's disembodied voice said calmly as if bored. "First, this is a dream, or at least, this is the dream realm. You can't actually die or get hurt here."
That didn't really do anything to help with her panic.
"The next is that because this is the dream realm you're at my total and complete mercy. I manipulate all you see at will. You're falling right now because I chose to have you fall," Yinyu continued in the same calm voice.
Alright, Dreamwardens were flat out sadistic, mentally noted.
"The last thing I should mention is that my patience is not endless. You will give me the Oaths, or I will eventually tire from our games and simply lock you out of the dream realm; never letting you dreamwalk again," Yinyu finished as a pair of normal sized red eyes appeared right in front of Tattered's, making Tattered flinch backwards from them.
Next thing Tattered knew there was something below her, and it added to her panic, a huge monstrous mouth filled with sharp jagged teeth. It opened wide and was sucking her towards it. She tried desperately to change the course of her fall but she had no wings to fly with.
"Please Luna, come and stop this," Tattered prayed as she was sucked towards the monstrous mouth, feeling the hot breath of it on her fur.
Her prayers went unanswered. She hurtled towards the maw. Right before she thought she was going to be eaten she covered her eyes with her hooves and braced herself for the pain that was certainly coming when those teeth started to dig into her flesh.
After a moment or two with no teeth ripping into her she timidly uncovered her eyes and gasped at what she saw.
Doors, endless doors in all shapes and sizes, were all around her as she continued to fall. It was a bottomless well and the walls were all made of doors. She still couldn't correct her fall at all to reach any of them since she still lacked wings. All that had changed from a moment before was her scenery.
"Now, let's see, where should we go?" Yinyu's voice asked, this time not from everywhere, but instead directly behind Tattered.
Tattered whipped her head around backwards and she gasped as she spotted Yinyu. Yinyu had a face like a pony, but she was no pony type Tattered had ever seen. Instead of legs she had flippers, and her tail was a long bulky thing like a mermaid's tail. She also sported the same webbed wings of a night pony on her back. Yinyu's colors were equally strange, a plethora of different colors that kept shifting dramatically as the Dreamwarden casually swam through the air as if she wasn't falling as well. Despite the whimsical appearance Tattered still felt dread looking at her.
Yinyu swam by her and stopped in front of her, watching the doors fly by as they continued their fall. She--Tattered assumed Yinyu was a she anyway--held one of her flippers up to her head as if thinking.
"What is all this? What are you?" Tattered yelled as she helplessly tried, and failed, to reach for anything to stop her endless fall through the well of doors.
"This is but another interpretation of the dream realm. I've only chosen that dreams should be represented to you by doors instead of stars, nothing has changed," Yinyu explained as she gestured to their surroundings with a flipper. "We've already established what I am; I'm a Dreamwarden. You must be slow on the uptake. To explain that a way you might understand better; I'm effectively a god here in the dream realm, and you're...well...not even close to that."
"You're just another pony dreaming somewhere, you aren't any god!" Tattered snarled as she kept her eyes locked on Yinyu. If she kept her eyes locked on Yinyu she could almost forget the fact she was plummeting with increasing speed.
"Effectively a god," Yinyu corrected as the Dreamwarden continued to watch the doors go by, not bothering to turn to Tattered when addressing her. "And only here in the dream realm. I'm a night pony too, and my body is sleeping very peacefully back in Beijing. But we're not in Beijing or Riverview right now, we're in the dream realm. The rules of the waking world don't apply here."
"You're on a power trip. Gods aren't mortal ponies that were until recently humans." Tattered jabbed a hoof toward her tormentor as the wind whipped her mane upwards. "If somepony comes and kills you in your sleep you're still dead like the rest of us. You aren't any better than anypony else."
"If somepony came and killed me while I was sleeping I'd be very upset with them. That's a highly disrespectful thing to do to a Dreamwarden, and it would deny me my more normal life," Yinyu said as she turned and looked down at Tattered with a grimace, as if considering an annoying bug. Her ears slumped as she continued. "I'd persist here though. That's one of the sacrifices me and the others made when agreeing to become a Dreamwarden, we don't get to quit the job. Our vigil shall never end, and we will never learn what lies beyond death. Our consciousness is chained to the dream realm for as long as anything with magic dreams, and we're prisoners to far greater oaths than the ones you shall give. We will only get our final rest when all the dreams are gone."
Either this pony was crazy or that job really sucked.
"Aww, here's a good one to start with," Yinyu said with a Cheshire grin.
Before Tattered could ask "a good what" Yinyu swam through the air with lightning speed behind Tattered and swatted Tattered hard from behind with her tail, sending Tattered hurtling toward the walls of doors. Tattered raised her forelegs to brace for impact, and just before she hit a door it swung open and let her hurtle through.
Just a moment later she collided with the ground leaving a small trench and got a muzzle full of dirt. She got up and looked at her surroundings. It was woods, and she was on an incline that made her think she was on a mountain. It reminded her a little of the woods in the Appalachian Mountains where she and her family had gone camping in when she was a child. She could hear birds chirping, smell the grass and trees, and feel the sunlight on her face. If this was a dream still it was very realistic.
A nearby boulder sprouted a face and Yinyu began speaking. "Welcome to somepony's nightmare. This is where you get to reconsider giving the Oaths. You won't be allowed to interact with the dreamer, or escape this dream. I have you locked in it until I decide otherwise."
"It doesn't seem so nightmarish," Tattered said as she glanced around. It was actually very tranquil and serene. If it weren't for her captor she might be able to enjoy her surroundings.
"Oh, that's because I effectively hit the pause button on it for the moment, at least for this section that is away from the dreamer," Yinyu explained as the eyes floated aimlessly around the boulder until they regained their proper position. "Now let me tell you the Oaths you're supposed to say, and shall be bound by."
The face melted back into the rock and writing started appearing across it, narrated by Yinyu's voice.
"Psychic Calm, we promise ponies shall dream in peace.
Yinyu Wu Yan, we shall not allow our passions to lead us to folly.
Ghadab, the Wardens' anger is unyielding and just.
Phobia Remedy, fear of the Wardens keeps us safe.
Tikhiy Krik, we shall keep the secrets of the Wardens.
Sha'am Maut, better to die than to face the Wardens' justice."
Tattered read the rock slowly after the narration and raised an eyebrow at it. "These are oaths? Some of them maybe, but some just look like statements. And what's this about secrets of the Wardens?"
"The magic of the Oaths are what make them Oaths, they shall imprint upon you the rules. As for that part about secrets, that means you won't talk about us with anypony or human except for other night ponies. The world as a whole doesn't get to know about us. Chances are they'd take it badly," Yinyu's disembodied voice explained in a bored tone. "If anypony ever asks you how dreamwalking won't be used for evil you can just say there are controls in place or that no sane night pony would risk what would happen to them if they tried abusing dreamwalking, and say nothing more on the subject."
"Fear of the Wardens keeps us safe?" Tattered read aloud questioningly.
"If you fear the consequences of misusing your powers you're more likely to be safe from making a boo-boo and making us do something unpleasant to you. If you don't do anything bad we won't hurt you," Yinyu said as her tone regained some cheer.
Tattered wondered which the monstrous night pony got more glee from; night ponies behaving or night ponies being punished.
The section mentioning Yinyu glowed as Yinyu continued, now seeming full of pride. "My part means that you won't let your emotions get the better of you and make you go do something that you shouldn't be doing. We are judge, jury, and executioner here, not you. And we only judge dreamwalkers on their dreamwalking--or those that use mind magic. Those ones are a little trickier to track down since we aren't aware of what goes on in the waking world like we are aware of what goes on here, but we'll find them eventually too."
Tattered shook her head. "These don't seem unreasonable, but I'm still not saying any damn oaths. Especially if they have some sort of magic that is going to force me to obey."
A human woman, a completely naked human woman, appeared right in front of Tattered, Making her jump back again in fright.
"The Oaths assure that all the night ponies don't run amok in the dream realm sowing chaos. Controls must be in place on dreamwalkers to prevent that, or the waking world would be doomed. We Dreamwardens are those controls and the Oaths are our contract with the dreamwalkers," Yinyu said then bent down in front of Tattered.
Yinyu ran a finger down the side of Tattered's face in a sexually suggestive manner. "The compulsion only works on those who want to see order maintained. The Oaths protect you if you're a good pony. If you're a vile pony, who actively wishs to do harm to your fellow ponies, then you will find little difficulty violating the Oaths, but you shall face the consequences for violating your contract with us. We Dreamwardens are harsh in our methods, but the waking world must be protected from what can be done here, and night ponies must be protected from destroying themselves."
Yinyu lifted then the hand up and gave a snap of her fingers, vanishing before continuing in her disembodied voice. "I just restarted this nightmare. This pony has a terrible fear of flesh eating zombies. Since this is a dream you can't die here, but I promise that if they catch you that you will feel it. I recommend you start running; I'm not giving you back your wings for this. Let me know when you've changed your mind about the Oaths, or if you just never wish to dreamwalk again and wish the ability stripped from you--that's an option too, though I think we'd both prefer it not come to that."
Tattered heard the moans of the undead start to pick up in the distance and she cursed the fact that she decided to see what lay beyond the fog of her dream.
Rosetta paced her dream as she waited for whoever her substitute teacher was to arrive. They were certainly taking their time.
"Mrs. Stone-Remedy, can I go to the bathroom?" One of the spectral students from her dream asked after raising a hoof.
"Yes, but go straight to the bathroom and come right back," Rosetta answered, with a dismissive wave of a wing, playing along with the dream.
"I will!" The dream student said as they took off out of the dream classroom.
Rosetta sighed. Of course she was having this kind of dream, she was Riverview Elementary School's new Spanish teacher. She'd have four hours of classes in the mornings and two hours of classes in the evening five days a week once the school year began. Not quite full time, but she got paid a little more per hour because she had to come in twice every day, so it evened out to her making what other teachers would make. It would be enough to pay bills and take care of basic needs for her, Phobia, and the foal. She'd even get paid maternity leave. Their dad might need to get a job too, but they were going to be alright.
Alright if Phobia got better anyway. Where was this Dreamwarden?
Her brooding was interrupted by a flash of light and Tattered Wing suddenly tumbling on the floor out of nowhere. Another flash of light occurred and an dark orange night pony mare with red mane stepped into the room casually.
Rosetta looked quizzically down at Tattered Wing as the Broken One groaned.
"Rosetta, I hope your wife is not as crazy as this pony," Tattered said as she blinked and then gave a fearful glance back at the other newcomer.
"Aww, it wasn't that bad, and we had some fun. Well, I had some fun, and you learned a few things," the orange night pony said as she spread her wings and the dream faded away into the star filled expanse of the dream realm. "To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have let the zombies get you before I just banished you. Sha'am might have let them get you, but that's just not me. I don't like all that pain and suffering, but there's nothing wrong with some jump scares."
"Are you the Dreamwarden that's supposed to be filling in for Luna tonight?" Rosetta asked the orange mare.
The mare grinned at her and nodded. "Yep, that's me. I'm Yinyu Wu Yan, Dreamwarden of Lust. I wasn't told that my sister had such an attractive mate. Maybe the three of us could have some fun later on. For now I'm assuming you know the Oaths to give to me?"
Rosetta was definitely not taking the Dreamwarden up on her offer, but she wasn't sure how to properly respond to that without offending.
Instead, she held her head high and calmly recited. "Psychic Calm, we promise ponies shall dream in peace. Yinyu Wu Yan, we shall not allow our passions to lead us to folly. Ghadab, the Wardens' anger is unyielding and just. Phobia Remedy, fear of the Wardens keeps us safe. Tikhiy Krik, we shall keep the secrets of the Wardens. Sha'am Maut, better to die than to face the Wardens' justice."
Yinyu rose on her hind legs and clapped her hooves together excitedly. "Very good! Since that's over with quickly we can get on to business."
Tattered turned and looked at Yinyu in shock and disbelief. "Wait, Rosetta doesn't get the full being terrified out of her wits experience too?"
Yinyu looked at Tattered in confusion. "Why would she? She knows what a Dreamwarden is, recited her Oaths perfectly, and understands the rules. There's no need to do all the other introductions. It's not her fault you took your time saying your Oaths."
Tattered must have started dreamwalking today. Rosetta felt a small amount of pity for the Broken One on getting what was probably a very nasty introduction to it. She also felt a small amount of envy as well, since Tattered seemed to have figured out how to do it on her own. It was doubtful that Yinyu just brought Tattered here if Tattered wasn't already dreamwalking.
"You, me, and Phobia are going to have to have a long talk about this Dreamwarden thing sometime when we're all awake," Tattered said as came over to stand by Rosetta.
Rosetta flicked her tail and smirked. "Just make sure you're respectful. I'm not sure what Yinyu put you through, but Phobia is a Dreamwarden too, and will be able to do the same to you once Luna has her trained."
"Believe me, I definitely won't be doing anything disrespectful to a Dreamwarden," Tattered said as she laid back her ears.
Yinyu clapped her hooves together to get their attention. Rosetta noticed that Yinyu had briefly shifted them into being hands while doing that before returning them to hooves.
"If all the pleasantries are out of the way we have work to do," Yinyu said commandingly.
The black mass of Phobia's nightmare came into view before the three of them. They hadn't gone anywhere, the dream realm had just shifted and moved it to be in front of them.
"What in the hell is that? Another round of torture from you?" Tattered said as she gave the mass a wary stare.
"This is Phobia Remedy's nightmare. Her magic makes it hard to get into," Yinyu said as she briefly expanded to a massive size more than a hundred feet tall and touched a hoof to it. She immediately withdrew the hoof and sucked on it like it had been stung, reverting back to her original size.
"And you expect us to go into that when it seems like it can hurt you?" Tattered said in disbelief as she pointed at the mass.
"It can't hurt me, it's just really difficult to deal with. It I tried to force my way in on my own I could, easily even, but I'd probably rip my sister's mind in the process. You don't want a truly crazy Dreamwarden, do you? That's how you get a crazy Dreamwarden," Yinyu said as she looked the mass over.
"I have to be the one that goes in. My bond to Phobia makes it so I can get in without hurting her," Rosetta explained to Tattered. Well, in theory anyway. So far it had ended with her just getting tossed out repeatedly with a strong desire to vomit.
"Exactly," Yinyu said with a smile, swishing her tail eagerly. "Now, try again to get in so I can watch your progress and see where we're at. Luna told me you were getting really close. I want to have you actually make it in today. If you can make it in then we can piggy back on you into her dream."
Great, once more into to the stomach churning depths.
She spread her wings and closed her eyes as she plunged into the swirling blackness once again. Immediately she felt it, the winds ripping at her wings, the blackness invading every orifice of her body. Her wings faltered for a moment and she had to force herself to continue.
She opened her eyes and kept beating her wings as hard as she could, but the winds were so intense. It really was like flying into a hurricane. After a minute she found herself exhausted and the flapping stopped. The winds took her and hurled her out of the dream again.
She found herself colliding with a giant velvet pillow that she had no idea where it came from after exiting the mass. A moment later the pillow vanished and she was left were she landed.
"Hmm, you know, I think Luna is babying you too much if she's having you do it that way," she heard Yinyu say. "Don't get me wrong, I love Luna as a mentor and friend, but she is just too nice sometimes, or maybe she just doesn't have the same imagination we Earth born ponies have."
"What would you do instead?" Rosetta asked the Dreamwarden cautiously. Luna was too gentle? That did not bode well for whatever she was about to endure from Yinyu.
The orange night pony sat and thought for a moment, a disembodied hand rubbing her chin as she considered the mass. Then a literal light-bulb appeared above her head before vanishing.
"I've got a great idea! Slingshot!" Yinyu said with excitement.
"Slingshot?" Both Rosetta and Tattered responded in confusion in unison.
Yinyu looked at both of them and laughed. "Oh that's a great idea, you two are so creative!"
Yinyu transformed her hooves into hands again and snapped her fingers. Immediately after Rosetta found herself drawn all the way back as the projectile for a massive cartoonish slingshot.
She can't be serious.
Yinyu snapped her fingers again and suddenly there was a rope tied from Rosetta binding her to both Yinyu and Tattered. Tattered immediately realized what was coming and started trying to run away.
Oh shit, she really is serious!
Yinyu giggled maniacally as she snapped her fingers one more time and the slingshot released, sending Rosetta hurtling back towards the mass. She felt the rope go taunt, but not slow her progress, as the other two ponies were carried along behind her.
Into the black mass she went and this time there was no slowing down due to winds. She cut through the mass like a bullet shot at point blank range. She screamed and covered her eyes as the mass rushed by her.
The next thing she knew there was a gasp as she collided hard with something with a sound of bones crunching.
"And that, ladies, is how you get into a difficult dream," Yinyu shouted triumphantly from somewhere nearby.
"I hate my life so much right now," she heard Tattered groan.
Rosetta was on top of something lumpy, wet, and squishy. She opened her eyes to see what it was and screamed as she backpedaled in fright.
What had been under her were what was left of John. She had collided with him and completely crushed him on impact. She started hyperventilating as she realized she was covered in his guts.
"Oh, I should put a stop to that shouldn't I?" She heard Yinyu say. A second later the dream vanished, leaving them all out on the dream realm again and her clean of her old boyfriend's remains.
Rosetta took a few deep breaths and repeated to herself in her mind that it was just a dream over and over. She stopped as her ears picked up the sound of another pony also taking deep breaths. She turned and saw Phobia with a leg up to her chest, breathing heavily, sitting among them in the dream realm.