//------------------------------// // Roodaka // Story: The Nightmare in the Corner // by Kaffeina //------------------------------// I stepped down from the stage I had summoned, deep in thought. "What sounds fun... What sounds fun... Tormenting children?" I tilted my head before shaking it, "Not right now, sounds fun but boring. Creating more Nightmares?" I pondered for a moment, "Too easy. Perhaps... DO DO DO INSPECTOR GADGET DO DO DO, " I grinned to myself, the Nightmares unaware. "Now," I ripped my first hole open to the real world. The bubblegum is so sticky, I reached in and grabbed the article I had subconsciously located, "La la la...." I muttered as I pulled the item in. It was interesting... And there were several of them. The first was a stone, I should probably stop smoking, it had a wee little face on it. It turned it over, seeing the message on the side, before I could translate, a voice came from the stone. "Those who have need of the shadows, who want to spread fear and desolation, who want a terror in the night, call on me, The Makuta, Emperor of the Shadows!" "Oh. OH. Him, I like,", having translated the message before I touched the stone on said message, sending out a tendril of nightmare. It soon reached his home world, and discovered the person, the machine who created the stone was dead. Shame. "Too bad, he sounded fun." I delved deeper, following the time stream, witnessing the 'War of Understanding'. "Wonder why he was killed, poor Teridax just wanted some Sunny D.", I placed the stone off to the side.   "What are these others, I do pooh wonder," I muttered, the second item, an odd spear with the same symbols as the previous one, though in red, and a little cloth. It fluttered and I tapped it, "Oooo. Nice color choice," I twirled it, noting its lightness. It took a moment, but a voice came from it too. "I am He who Dwells in Darkness...Evil and Good are merely titles, used to label one’s enemies...and mean little to me.  If you seek security, call upon me and I shall shroud you from your foes.  I am Nothing...I am Makuta Teridax..." "Makuta Matata," I said, noting the information before calling up another tendril, singing lightly as I did so, "it means constant fear," the tendril vanished into the spear, "FOR ETERNITY~," I sang loudly as the tendril reached the universe this spear had come from, "It's our nightmare filled, philosophy~", the nightmare reported in, apparently, the subject of the spear was a, thankfully not rusty, robot. That's pure gold, isn't it? "Makuta Matata~ I finally dropped the spear and turned to another token, another stone, kind of looked like a speaker, but an odd tan-gold color. This caused me some interest, because, as I looked at it, it spoke differently than the other two. "I am Arthur, the great Kanohi Ignika! If you need aid or a friend I will be there, just throw this stone at where you want me to land." "Friend?" I mused. Seemed foolish to offer such a concept to simply anyone who found your little object here. I couldn't help but wonder... "If I summoned him, would he try to kill me for simply pushing people into nightmares so deep, Death plucked them up? It was likely, from a 'Mask of Life' wasn't it?" I snickered and placed his token back with the other two. There were still a few more, it would seem. I smirked as I picked up what looked like a dragon scale made of metal. It wasn't like any metals from the reality, yet... I touched it, the symbols on the side glowing briefly. The message that gave was not all that fancy like the previous items, and it was rather boring. "I am Makuta Miserix, like the fire of a dragon, I will down my enemies and carry my allies to victory. Envy me. Become me." I laughed. "What a fool, what a fool. Dragons," I giggled, "make terrible allies and are easy targets for a strong mind!" I sent a tendril to this one as well, it quickly reported back with a similar person to the living Teridax, only instead, he was of brighter more fire related colors, which invoked laughing from both myself and my little tendril. He was dragon shaped as well. I turned back to the items, laughing still as I tossed the scale to the pile, "I wonder if the rest are as foolish," my giggling toned down to mere snickers as I lifted another item, only for it to flash brightly, and I found myself underneath a feminine looking robot with a snake-like head. Her eyes glowed a vibrant blue as she sat up.         “Urgh, my head… What happened?” She groaned as she rubbed the sides of her head.         “Miss,” I said from beneath her, good thing I’m mostly incorporeal, “It would seem you are sitting on me. Would you mind moving so that I may be able to explain what I believe your situation is?”         “Huh?” The robot said before looking down. When she saw me she yelped and jumped to her feet before backing away a good distance. “W-what's going on!?”         I stood up, brushing my knees off, “Well, first off, I am Tantabus, previously Dave Staton of Earth. As for you,” I looked at her, “You have clearly been put into my situation, meaning, you’ve been sent here to a world of horses, small ones.”         “A world of… Wait, Dave!? thats you!?” The robot gasped as she stared at me in disbelief.         I raised an eyebrow, “Indeed, my prior name was Dave. Why do you ask, rather, why are you so surprised?”         “It’s me, Cora! I have been trying to find you ever since you disappeared!” The robot said before she tackled me in a hug.         “...How long had it been for you?” I asked, still in the hug though not returning it.         “Almost a year! what happened to you?” Cora asked.         “I made a deal with a man for this amulet,” I held up the necklace, a sun glowing on it, “And woke up here like this.”         “Wow, I… I dont even know what to think about that…” Cora sighed as she facepalmed. “What happened to you?” I asked, she would have to learn of my actions in a moment.         “I… I don’t remember. One moment I was crossing the street the next I’m waking up on top of you…” Cora wondered as she tapped her chin.         “Sounds like a Friday night in Vegas,” I grinned, before speaking, “I should tell you. I have done some dark things here and will continue.”         “Like what?” Cora asked, slightly intrigued.         “I’m a Fear Incarnate,” I said, waving my hand around, “I have given everyone, children included some extremely graphic Nightmares. If you look around at the Fair, you’ll notice some things.”         “Sounds like a Friday night in Vegas.” Cora replied back, a devious grin spreading across her face.         “I was hoping you’d agree,” I returned her grin. “That being said, who are you supposed to be?”         “Who am I what?” cora asked before looking at herself before freezing in place. “Seriously!? How in the world did I turn into Roodaka!?” She shouted after her mind finally processed what was going on.         “It would seem the people who do this have a trope about doing this,” I gestured to the items on the ground, “I’ve found people like us. Makuta Teridax, two of them. Makuta Miserix. And, an Arthur character who is a ‘Mask of Life’.”         Cora did a spit take when I said ‘Makuta’ and ‘Mask of Life’, “Seriously!? What the heck?” she said, eye twitching.         “Indeed. It’s a very odd occurrence,” I mused.         “So what is there to do around here?” Cora sighed, considering her situation and the ups and downs that come with it.         “Honestly,” I said, “Nothing for you. Corporeal beings are not meant to live in the Mindscape. Its very dangerous, and, after an hour or two, you’ll soon start dissipating. Of course, this is Fearland Fair, so I’m not entirely sure how long you have.”         “Wait what!? Get me out of here!” Cora screeched, panicking like a chicken with its head cut off.         “Calm down,” I said, walking over to a tent and opening it, revealing a portal to Reality, it was rarely used. I myself had a massive amount of trouble getting through and my Nightmares didn’t last long out there. “I do need your help. If I remember your rantings,” I said, “Then Roodaka and the ‘Vortixx’ are quite good with metals and such. If I can provide materials and such, along with small portals to create attachments to this realm,” I said, looking back to my sister, “Could you make bodies for my Nightmares?”         Cora calmed down after I said that then thought about my request for a minute. “I guess I could help, but what are you planning to do?” She asked.         “Take the land for me and my Nightmares,” I said, holding up my hand with a small version of Equestria, “This realm knows little pain, war, or anything dark for that matter. The worst they’ve faced is a Chaos Deity, one who I hope will side with us,” I showed her as my Nightmares in their metal bodies invaded and took Equestria.         “After that,” I closed my hand, “I’m not sure. I may do other worlds, or simply feed off the fear here. Both are intriguing.”         “Hmm… Sounds fun~” Cora purred. “Let me know when you want me to get started, until then I’m going to go get settled in. And it's nice to see you again.” She said while walking towards the portal before slipping through it.         And with that, I turned myself back to the somewhat smaller pile of items, “So, which one to look at now?”