Dawn gave a moan and shifted uncomfortably, her tummy ached and nothing felt right, the air felt strange and she was seeing colours, her sense of smell was normally incredibly harsh but this was just ridiculous. Maybe that was why that rabbit didn't run as fast as it should have, the roots twisted and churned around her like they were trying to grab her and hold her down. Her legs bunched beneath her as panic took hold and she ran away as fast as her legs would carry her . What was going on? She ran into the wall of her den 3 times in a row before finally escaping the tangled limbs grasping at her like a set of talons.
It felt like the earth was breathing as she bolted from her sanctuary. Apparently that rabbit had been young and had not learned the golden rule, do not eat the blue flowers , ever. Now Dawn was rapidly learning the same lesson by proxy. The trees around her turned and screeched loudly and slashed out with clawed limbs as her legs pounded the soft earth, feeling like they were turning to jelly with every step she took.
But she couldn't stop running now, panic had her in it's grasp, and being a cruel bastard it took delight in tormenting her.
No matter which way she turned it seemed there was something very weird going on, the sun wasn't usually purple, and didn't normally make a habit of smiling down at her with big, big pointy fangs . The big orange Cyclopean eye in the very centre of it's forhead seemed to be a new experience for her too. she was fairly sure she'd have remembered something like that wouldn't she? Just what was going on here.
The big sky rabbit floating around in front of her face probably didn't know, and if it did she still had no clue how to ask it. Her ears were practically glued back to her head at this point, she knew for a fact this wasn't her usual territory. It looked wrong, it felt completely alien to her. To make matters worse her body felt tingly and tickly all over, normally she would have been giggling like crazy by now but she was too busy freaking out and fighting to make sure she didn't hyperventilate.
She needed to get back to her territory but had no idea which way to go, or how far away it was, or how she even got here. So she did the silliest thing she possibly could. She picked a random direction and started running, she had to get there eventually, right? In her addled state that made perfect sense to her.
The world blurred, twisted and warped around her as she ran away as fast as her little legs could possibly carry her , more than once she could have sworn she saw the winged monster from yesterday night appearing around her spouting it's usual gibberish at her. It kept disappearing and reappearing around her as if guiding or nudging her. It kept flashing images in her mind of a trail from a metal beast, and a strange forest made of polished white stone with yellow branches.
By this point nothing seemed right in the world at all,time itself made no sense. Then gradually a bit at a time the world around her started making to pull itself together again, starting with a massive orange stone spire that's colours became less and less vibrant as time went on until eventually almost as if making up their mind settled on a rusty sand colour. Then everything stopped moving around and squirming like it was alive. She was extremely glad about that one.
Next the sun returned to normal, she really wished that had waited till last though, it was far too bright, the world was still splashed with nauseatingly garish colours and something inside her head felt like it was trying to pummel itself free. Probably her brain after the pounding it just took. To make matters worse her mouth felt like she had gargled swamp water, accompanied by a pudding consisting of deadfall and woodlice. To make matters worse every joint in her body hurt in ways that defied all description , and that annoying buzzy noise was not helping either. Where in the world was that coming from anyway?
Glancing around her she started to wonder if perhaps she was still seeing things, around her a dozen black shelled creatures buzzed about busily on shimmering insect type wings. Their shells seemed to reflect the light back a little bit in all the colours of the rainbow. They completely ignored her though and didn't move like prey so she left them be.
After a while one by one the hardshells concluded their business and started to drift away from her. Soon she noticed they were all heading in approximately the same direction. Realising that must be the direction of their den she decided to follow them, she had no clue of the way home now anyway and without food or shelter she would not last long out here, the sun was too harsh. Plus she couldn't see a single thing to eat, and those spikey plants everywhere did not look like a good idea to try. So she took a deep breath, steeled herself, and set off behind them being as careful to avoid being noticed as best she could. Not that these strange beasts seemed to care all that much whether she followed them or not.
Exhausted the lunar Diarch of Equestria lay back in her bed with a sigh. Just what the Tartarus had just happened. She had wandered a great many dreams before but that had felt like a nightmarish bastard love child of a creation of discord and Pinkemina Diane Pie . At that thought the pony princess who had once being the literal vessel to a living nightmare gave an involuntary shudder. Some things just did not bear thinking about.
She had done her best despite the barriers to direct the little one towards a place where help could be found. The strange little filly being semi conscious the entire time had been of some help to her in keeping them away from the worst of hazards. Even so it had taken Luna every ounce of dream walking experience she had gained over the millennia to spot those hazards, much less keep her away from them. So sadly There was just not enough time or coherent information for her to piece together any kind of clue as to where they could be found .
Gasping for breath as she recovered from her exhausting trip she racked her brain to remember as much about that bizzarre twisted landscape as as she could. then she tried her hardest to search those memories for any clues that would aid her search. She knew now it would probably be days, if not weeks before she could even consider treading into that ones dreams again. She'd be lucky if she could even conduct her most basic of duties beyond the moving of the moon at all tomorrow. If she didn't know any better she would say the dreamer had eaten poison joke or something similar. She quickly dismissed the notion though, surely nopony would be that foolish.