//------------------------------// // Disturbed Nightmares // Story: To Sleep, Perchance to... Nightmare? // by Draconis187 //------------------------------// To Sleep, Perchance to… Nightmare? Disturbed Nightmares Author: Draconis187 Time: 15:47 Date: Smatterday Location: inside a 24/7 shop situated one mile north of the I-80, twenty minutes from Kearney. We should leave. But we can't leave him/her behind Nightmare. Four times now, four times this past hour. I know but it’s not their fault he has a small bladder. I was standing by the fridges, looking at some of the softdrinks – as the Americans call them, I've always known them as colddrinks – wondering if whether or not I should get one of the two litre bottles. I was getting more confident with the dark Alicorn’s magic but if it came to more complex magic, I would rather let her do it. Thanks to Great Scott’s delays Nightmare has been getting antsy in my head, I swear if he/she didn’t get back soon we might end up with her going on a rampage. Luckily he/she got out from the bathroom looking sheepish. I don’t want to know what happened other than to know that they took care of business. This mix up with pronouns is actually starting to get annoying I’ll have to ask sooner or later. “I have to ask: how am I supposed to address you?” I asked as I picked out a crème soda bottle and shut the door with my flank. “As I am I guess, I don’t really care since I'm no longer a girl to start off with.” He responded. Ok then, he pronouns and the name Great Scott. I checked the cash ‘we’ still had on hoof: from the $600 I started out with, I had spent roughly $50 on food before I left Omaha. Great Scott’s hotel room left me with… $225?! He spent $325 on a hotel room?! Was it the bloody Ritz or something? Even Nightmare was fuming. “What in the name of Tartarus did you spend $325 on?!” I shouted. In my head it was a constant struggle to try and stop Nightmare from tearing Scott apart. “I-I'm sorry!” He said, tears visibly pouring from his face. This made me do a double-take, he just broke down instantly and it made me drop the bottle (luckily it didn’t open up). The real Great Scott must either be a real pansy or he is currently banging his head against a wall in embarrassment. I knew both Nightmare and I would. “Seriously, what the hay did you spend all that money on?” I asked at a slightly lower volume. “I-I have a small spending problem.” He said as he cried. “The things I brought with me I bought with the money. Like I said, I left my home in a hurry so I didn’t have anything on me other than my purse.” “Where did you hide these things? I never saw them when I searched through your room for my things back in Lincoln.” I pointed out. He looked to the side as I said this, clearly hiding something. “That’s because they were consumables, alcohol and some recreational drugs mostly.” He said. That both shocked and angered me even further. “Drugs?! You spent over $300 on drugs?!” I bellowed, the glass doors that covered the fridges visibly reverberated, the Royal Canterlot Voice in full swing. He seemingly shrank as I let him have it. “If it was food I wouldn’t have had a problem. Ointment for your coat or mane would have been acceptable. I wouldn’t have been upset even if you had gotten clothing for Celestia’s sake! Needless things like drugs and booze though… I will draw the line there.” We should end him, or at the very least make his life miserable. Nightmare thought. In my mind I could see her walking into an aircraft hangar with a smile on her face. I physically shook my head, realising that maybe I was overreacting a little. No, people tend to turn to such things due to weakness, peer pressure or experimentation. As much as I will never agree with using drugs in any form other than medicinal, I gather I could sympathise with him. After all he had to keep being a pegasister under wraps and after she became Great Scott he fled so, yeah. I think we are just overreacting a bit, I'm not sure if it’s your personality or mine that is causing it, it could be both. Let’s just cool down. I refocused on the outside world now that my internal conversation was dealt with to see Scott sat on his rump, still sobbing. I went to the counter and got myself some straws, paid for the drink and left. He had to deal with his issues on his own and if he needed help he should ask. It’s the first step to recovery. I flew up to the cloud Nightmare enchanted for us to store our gear. Usually when a Pegasus or an Alicorn step onto a cloud, they exert a natural passive magic that makes the cloud more solid so it can be easily manipulated. Whether this was to move them around, use them by jumping or bucking them or to destroy them, this was a very useful trait to have. All Nightmare did was extend the period of time the effect remained since it lasted for a short period of time, usually a few minutes at best. Although the strength of the magic is dependant on the Pegasus in question, the better flier they are, the stronger the magic. I opened my Ace Combat bag and took out my phone and earphones. Whenever I would get stressed and needed an outlet to get rid of it, I usually used a violent game like a First Person Shooter like Bulletstorm or a Role-Playing game like Dragon Age. These games usually helped me out by letting out my frustrations out on the poor AI controlled enemies. Sadly this wasn’t too great an option since I wanted to conserve as much battery life as possible so I did the next best thing: listen to music. ”Fading, falling, lost in forever will I find a way to keep it together…” I softly sang. I tended to sing along with a song I found particularly enjoyable and I enjoyed Disturbed’s Pain Redefined. Now try and picture Nightmare Moon standing on a cloud with bullet earphones in her ears, softly singing to a Disturbed song with her eyes closed and doing a small dance. I probably made PSY’s Gangam Style Dance look respectable. I hoped that there wasn’t anyone with a video camera to put this on YouTube, otherwise I'm sure Nightmare would try to kill me. How I wouldn’t know but I guessed it was probably a bad idea to find out. As I was about to stop though, I noticed Nightmare was doing something unexpected in my mind: she was headbanging and singing along as well! Huh, I never pictured you as a Disturbed fan Nightmare. I thought as Pain Redefined was ending. I will admit this song has a certain aspect I find enjoyable, what other music you got? She thought back with that evil looking smile across her face. Flipping through my playlist I found another she might have liked: Ten Thousand Fists and played that. I was right though, she enjoyed that song as well. She was standing on a cliff surrounded by a huge thunderstorm and an army of featureless ponies of varying type and colour behind her. She only made a few alterations to the song as she sang it though. “Ponies can no longer cover their eyes. If this disturbs you then walk away! You will remember the night you were struck by the sight of, ten thousand hooves in the air!!” She bellowed from the edge of the cliff as the waves below broke against the rocks while the lighting flashed and the thunder rolled. As she said the ‘in the air!’ part, the ponies behind her all raised their hooves into the air as she did the same. “Excuse me Nightmare, are you ok?” A voice said, I snapped out my little excursion into my mind to notice Scott standing in front of me with those – now becoming trademark – tear marks on his muzzle. He looked concerned. “Nah, I'm fine. All I need is a little music to get me back in a cheerful mood.” I responded as I removed the earphones from my ears and stopped the music player. “But I am still a little shocked over the fact that you spent that much money in such a short span of time. I mean I must have arrived at that hotel a few hours after you checked in.” “Well you have heard the saying: ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way?’” He asked. I slowly nodded. “Well you’d be surprised how easy it is to find things like that if you know who and what to look out for.” I shook my head in slight disgust. “But don’t get me wrong!” He said, raising his hooves. “I am glad you let me come along. I will never do such a thing again.” “Do you promise?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes to scare him into answering honestly. He was visibly shivering as I did so. “Y-yes I do.” He said. “I Pinkie Promise!” He said with a salute. “Cross my heart and hop to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” I rolled my eyes at how enthusiastic he was being. I wonder how he knew that if he had only seen Hurricane Fluttershy, maybe Great Scott knew it. “Right, well if it’s all the same I think I will be handling our financial issues from here on out.” I responded as I grabbed the two litre bottle and two Styrofoam cups that I grabbed earlier on from a water cooler that stood just inside the 24/7. “Here.” I said giving him the one cup as I poured some of the soda in. “As much as it would probably be a bad idea for me to give you a drink since you seem to have the smallest bladder in the known universe, I still think you should have something to drink. It will help get some moisture back into your system as you seem to be losing a lot from all of your toilet breaks.” “Thanks.” He replied with a meek smile as he drank. You are too nice, you realise that don’t you? Nightmare thought to me. Somepony has to bring the balance to this world of self-centred people Nightmare. That and I still want to improve your image. I replied. Why? Why are you so hell bent on me being good? She thought with her forelegs crossed, pouting. Well, I have always seen you as more misunderstood and underappreciated. I think that if Celestia-would you stop doing that! I snapped at her. I know for a fact that it’s you causing this! I know you don’t like her but I would like to go through a day where my stomach is not trying to audition for the Cirque du Soleil! Oh but it is so fun to see that look of anguish on your face. It’s your face Nightmare, I lost mine when I turned into you on Wagnesday, remember? So in other words you are actually seeing your own face. Is that what you are trying to do? Cause yourself this much pain and anguish, for what? I can tell you now - and you can search through my mind if need be - you will find out that I am talking the truth: I know that there is more to you than all this hate and rage. I know that there is a part of you that wants to be loved, a part that wants to be cared about and if the both of us work together I'm sure we can do that. Nightmare was visibly taken aback at this, I guess she didn’t really expect this kind of response from anypony, let alone from the one she was sharing a body with. “Are you ok Nightmare?” Scott asked again. He had finished his drink and was looking at me with concern written all over his face. I gave him a smile. “Yeah I'm perfectly alright, just… just talking with Nightmare.” Think about it a little, it will make sense to you in the end. I thought back to her before keeping my attention in reality. “Well that’s nice, Scott does nothing but complain.” He replied looking slightly agitated. “Well, what does he complain about?” I asked, tilting my head to the side in curiosity. “He complains about my purse and no matter how many times I tell him I didn’t have anything else to take with he still complains about it.” He said with a hint of anger or frustration in his voice. It’s both. Nightmare chipped in. “Look, I would have to admit that I am inclined to agree with Great Scott on this one. That purse is killing his pride and I would gather his masculinity. I doubt that even Nightmare would carry that, I know that I sure as hell I wouldn’t no matter how much somepony would pay me to do so.” I said, pointing to the offending bag. You’re right, I wouldn’t. It clashes too badly with my coat colour. Nightmare thought. “OK, I guess you're right then, but what can I do? We can't really go and get myself a bag can we?” He said with a sad smile. “Hm, I guess we could try and get some cash in Kearney but we’ll need to get there first. Do you think your pea-sized bladder can hold out for the next twenty minutes?” I ask while I put away my phone and hauled my bag round my neck. “I think so.” Scott replies nervously as he opened his wings. I smiled and opened my own. Time: 16:34 Date: Smatterday Location: Kearney, Nebraska. Flying above 2nd Avenue. I could see Scott needed another potty break so I gestured to him to land as I did so myself. We found a simple American diner which was interesting to me since I was from South Africa. He walked – actually he nearly shot through the door with almost as much speed as Rainbow Dash herself – into the bathroom while I got out my laptop and ordered a salad. The waitress that was serving me just gave me one hell of a glare but I could’ve cared less. I had no reason to in any case. I logged into Facebook and found some more ‘We hope you die spawn of Tartarus!’ messages, I chuckled at a few. ’I hope you get the worst conceivable disease ponies can get and die a slow, agonising death!’ Is this how these people perceive me? Nightmare thought. I shook my head. Remember Nightmare: you were the bringer of doom and darkness, of course people won't like you. I saw Nightmare hang her head slightly and I could’ve sworn I saw a small tear running down her muzzle. I am not one of them Nightmare and neither are these people, look. I looked at some other comments. I received twenty more friend requests. There were several comments from them saying: ‘you’re Nightmare?! I'm so jealous dude! Or lady, whichever you prefer.’ There were also some: ‘Nightmare is best pony!’ or ‘Nightmare for ruler of Equestria!’ See? Not everyone hates you as much as you may think or wish to think. But if you ever need somepony to talk to… I will always be there to listen. You realise you don’t really have a choice on that? The decision lies with you on whether you want to talk or not. I'm just saying that if you want to talk about anything, you don’t have too far to look. I thought back. Th-th… That’s as far as she was prepared to go before Scott got back, holding my salad? He placed on the table with a grin. “I found the salad you ordered. Weird that they put the bathrooms near the kitchen. Don't they have hygiene issues with that sort of thing?” He said as he sat on the opposite side of the table. “Mind if I ordered myself one as well?” “Like you need to ask me but go ahead.” I replied as I took a bite of some lettuce. I know I was dealing with our finances but that didn’t mean I was going to be a dictator about it. Our waitress arrived with a small scowl on her face that was directed at Scott. “What did he do?” I asked. She turned to me. “He took the plate I was carrying when I told him I was bringing it here.” She replied. I just shook my head. “Ma’am, I used to waiter back in South Africa before this started and I can tell you that if something like that happens, you should never arrive at a table looking angry. It gives a bad impression of what kind of person you are. Now can you get Scott here the same salad I'm having if you would be so kind?” I said with a neutral expression on my face. She nodded her head and left. Scott gave a low whistle. “Wow that was amazing how you just stopped her from venting at me.” “I meant every word I said Scott. I did use to be a waiter and I was pretty decent at my job. My usual complaints were about the food rather than the quality of my service. No matter how bad a day you have, never and I mean never show it to your customers. It makes them uneasy and reduces the chances of them returning and the amount of your tip.” I said casually. Scott stared at the table for a few minutes until his salad arrived. The salad in question was identical to mine as requested. Tomatoes, onions, lettuce and some cucumber made up the rather cheap salad. Rather bland but when you have salt or salad dressing it makes it taste several times better. Scott was having some small issue with his knife and fork so I had the waitress take it back to be cut up into very small pieces. When it came back, Scott ate it the same way one’s dog does: his face wedged in the wide bowl it came in. “That was a delicious meal.” I said to the waitress as she took my empty bowl. I used a serviette – or napkin to the Americans – to wipe my muzzle of any offending marks. I may be in the body of an evil Alicorn but I did have an image to maintain. Scott meanwhile had a piece of cucumber lodged in his mane along with a few pieces of lettuce. I couldn’t help myself and burst with laughter. The diner’s occupants looked over and once they saw what I was laughing at, joined in. Scott was bewildered at why we were all laughing at him until I levitated the objects out of his mane. He laughed as well. Time: 18:45 Date: Smatterday Location: sidewalk of Central Avenue. Kearney, Nebraska. Scott wanted to walk down the sidewalk to work off the late lunch we had. I wanted to head to a store to get some more food so we had something to munch on during the trip to our next location: North Platte, which was going to be a one and a half hour flight at least. That was if Scott’s bladder could hold it for that long. We now had $190 on hoof because I decided to leave the waitress a decent tip since I know the job doesn’t always pay well. We received quite a few looks from bystanders as we walked down the sidewalk. There were a few children that went: ‘Ponies!!’ We did stand out quite a bit though, even more so due to our contrasting colours. I was a black Alicorn after all and he was white, it tends to stand out. Well, that and the fact that we seemed to be the only ponies in Kearney. As we stopped by the traffic lights, a group of young ‘hooligans’ – would be the appropriate term – walked up next to us. There were three in total: one looked like a piercing artist’s experiment, he had three rings on his nose; two pins on his left ear and four rings with a chain that ran up his left forearm. He also had a red snake tattoo across the right hand side of his face. He looked fairly normal in terms of build. The next guy looked like he lived in a gym with more muscles in his one arm than I had in my whole body when I was human! He was bald and looked like he was in a mood to start a fight with anyone who looked at him funny. The last one was a girl. She wore a short skirt and her hair was a bubblegum pink colour arranged in a Mohawk. She was quite thin, hell she looked anorexic at best actually. Her shirt showed off her abdomen and I almost wanted to throw up. Is this what American teenagers do with their lives? Damn, I'm glad I live in a second world country. You may want to pay attention to what their apparel is saying and less at what they look like. Nightmare pointed out. PAPA, why did it have to be PAPA?! “Scott, we had best get going.” I said softly. He shook his head. “These are the friends I was talking about, they were attending a PAPA seminar earlier today. I remembered earlier on while we were eating that they told me about it before all of this happened and thought they could help out.” He said slightly cheerfully. “Well now, if it isn't our dear old Jackie!” The tattooed one said with a smile that made Nightmare cringe. This was a terrible idea. Nightmare thought. How are your teleporting skills? It’ll be ready when you need it. Just give me a signal. “So then Jackie, you're one of these ponies now are you?” He said as he clenched his hand over the aluminium baseball bat he was carrying. I didn’t notice it since he seemed to have been carrying it behind his back like the swords of old. The bigger guy popped his knuckles with a smile. “Yes I am Arnold. I need some help with money for my trip with Nightmare here.” He said confidently. I looked at him and saw that despite the tone of his voice, he was shaking visibly. The three friends got closer, uncomfortably so. “I warn you, if you intend to do us harm I will return the favour.” I said, stepping forward. ‘Arnold’ just smiled at me. “Oh ho, looks like we have a hero. Chuckles, teach her a lesson.” ‘Chuckles’ came at me and swung his left fist in a haymaker. I dodged it and saw Arnold’s bat come at me in an underhand swing. Nightmare! I screamed in my head. On it! She shouted back. We switched places as she teleported Scott and us to the other side of the busy street. Arnold called us cowards as we flew off into the skies. Once we were outside the city limits I turned to Scott in anger. “What in Equestria were you thinking?! You could’ve gotten us killed!” I shouted with the RCV. I just about blew him off the cloud we were sat on. “I was thinking we needed money and I got us some.” He said, pulling out three wallets from his purse. “Doing these things properly doesn’t mean they are one pony shows you know.” I started to laugh. “So while they focused on the larger Alicorn, you picked their pockets?” Scott nodded his head. “As much as I don’t agree with this, I don’t care since they were affiliated with PAPA. How much we got?” We turned out the wallets and gathered up the notes and coins. Altogether it amounted to $467.45 which gave us a grand total of $662.45 to spend with. I threw the wallets into the wind since we didn’t need their IDs or anything else. “Now I suggest we get some more distance between us and Kearney.” I said, Scott nodded his head in agreement. Putting away the cash and making sure my bag was secured around my neck, we flew off into the emerging night.