Ch14: Nightmare 2-Things get rusty
A Vivid Dreamer – Ch14
NM: Things get rusty
As Luna began to take in her new environment she felt slightly disturbed, every dream she had seen so far piqued her interest. They were so alien to her she couldn’t help but get excited, even the first nightmare she had witnessed. But this disturbed her because it was a familiar place, only twisted. Luna stood in one of Canterlot Castles many hallways; it was easy enough to tell. But there was no stone work to be seen, everything was metal. The walls were either metal plating or the occasional grating, the windows were barred over and the glass fogged and opaque. There was a hint of blood in the air and everything was covered in rust.
Lighting her horn she began her search for Ryan, her magic telling her that his trail started somewhere further down the hallway. Luna made her way down the passage, occasionally passing buy a wall grating that exposed massive rusted pipes or grinding gears that squealed through the rust. As Luna continued she became aware of her nerves, while she was unsettled by the perversion of her castle something else irked her. She soon realised it was the loneliness; the last time she had traversed Ryan’s nightmares she at least had her sister with her. But now she was alone, and had no idea what she was going to face. But she had to continue as four ponies relied on her finding a way to wake them.
When Luna entered the foyer she took in the perversions around her, from the plated walls to the grated stairs; showcasing a set of rusted pipes spewing brown sludge through some king of drain. Looking up saw what was now the chandelier, it was now a jagged ring of barbs and metal; a ring of thorns ready to drop.
It was then when Luna noticed something near the entrance, which had proven to be rusted shut. It was a stand and on it was a single pamphlet, looking it over she discovered it to be a tourist’s guide to the castle; complete with a map of each level. Luna placed it back on the stand; she didn’t need a map because she already knew the castle like the bottom of her hoof. And with that she picked the closest exit her magic pointed her towards, that was neither locked or rusted shut.
As Luna trotted down another rusted hallway she heard somepony call out, “get…away!”
The voice was far too feminine to be Ryan’s; it was most likely a projection. Luna sped towards the source if she aided the projection she could use to locate Ryan himself, but at the very least she wouldn’t be alone. As she approached the source of the voice Luna would occasionally hear a loud thud or a thump.
Just as Luna approached the doors the sounds emanated from, they burst open. And out flew a vaguely pony shaped entity; it was the size and shape of the average pony, but it had no eyes, mouth or nostrils. It was as if someone attempted to make a pony out of white clay, but they stopped when they had the basic shape. Luna observed the thing twitching on the floor, until a cream coated Pegasus mare with a green mane bolted out the door as well. The mare ran up to the twitching creature before rearing up and bringing her fore hoofs down on its barrel with a sickening crunch before it stilled. “And stay down!”
The mare watched the pony shaped monster for a moment, waiting for it twitch again. When it remained still she finally noticed Luna looking down upon her. “Princess Luna? What are you doing here, it isn’t safe.”
It took Luna a moment to place the voice; it belonged to one of the guards stationed at the dungeons. One of the guards, Luna now realised, that now lay unconscious on a table. She was not expecting to see the pony, much less without the enchanted armor that gave the guards their uniform appearance. Luna stepped forward and with her magic scanned the mare; she was indeed the same pony but as to how she was in Ryan’s dream perplexed her. “Daisy Cutter, are you well? Have you been injured?”
“Yes your highness, I am fine. But I am at a loss as to how I got here.” Daisy waved her hoof about motioning to her surroundings. “One moment I’m sitting at my station when I hear a noise. I went to investigate I found Frost Fire and Marigold knocked out, I went to help but I must have tripped and knocked myself out cause next thing I know I’m here.”
Luna gave a quick nod in response, “We are uncertain as to the circumstances but we are in a nightmare.” Daisy gave a quick look down the hallway then back again at the creature she had bested.
“I’m not really seeing it, sure it’s creepy and all. But to call this a nightmare would be pushing it.” Daisy looked up at Luna thoughtfully, before raising an eyebrow in confusion, “wait if this is a nightmare how come I haven’t woken up yet?”
“Because this isn’t your nightmare.” Luna’s brow creased as she began to think over their current predicament, “We are still uncertain as to why this has happened, but you and perhaps your fellow guards have been pulled into the nightmares of your charge. And it would seem that as long as he is dreaming we cannot wake you.”
Daisy was suddenly concerned; she now faced being held against her will in a setting that did not quite feel homey. “You mean the dog… but how?”
“We are just as concerned, We believe it to be the use of magic—“
“Wait magic? But he is diamond dog how can he be using magic.”
“We as of yet do not know, We have not seen anything like this before and We do not understand the implications of it. We believe that the safest way to awaken you and the other guards is to find Ryan and awaken him from his nightmare.” Luna beckoned Daisy to follow her and was about to head off when the mare stopped her.
“Ryan? The charts said the dog’s name is Lodestone.” Daisy’s eyes were narrowed as she focused on Luna.
“Yes well he refers to himself as Ryan within his dreams. Come we must make hast, to either insure the wellbeing of your fellow guardsponies or to awaken Lodestone and return you to the waking world.” To this Daisy brokered no complaint, she had received an order from a princess and her fellow ponies could be in danger. Luna and the unarmoured guard traveled down the hallway at a decent trot, following a trail she had picked up using her magic. The trail led to a huge set of double doors, opening them with her magic Luna was confused at the sudden change in scenery.
There on the other side of the door was a dining hall, but it was not crafted out of the plated metal the hallways exhibited. The large dining hall was constructed as it should have been; tiled floors, stone walls even the tables were set out. But just as Luna took in the familiar sights, the oddities began to show through. The walls showed signs of crumbling, the tiles were water damaged, the cutlery on the tables were tarnished and the food rotten. Luna was so busy taking in the creepy display she barely felt somepony prod her foreleg. Looking down she saw Daisy as she began pointing upwards, “your highness, up there do you see?”
Looking up towards the third floor Luna saw the balconies that overlooked the hall. They were currently barred over making them look like bird cages. But what caught Luna’s attention was that one of them was currently glowing blue. Before Luna could even mouth words of caution, Daisy had taken to the air. Turning around mid-flight she waved Luna over, “come on let’s check it out.”
Luna followed Daisy up to the glowing balcony, and while she was surprised by the sight she was also relieved. There amongst some debris were two unicorn stallions, one with an ice blue coat and red mane while the other had a green coat and a two toned blue mane. Daisy being ahead of Luna was the first to make the introductions, “Hey Frosty your alright—“ Daisy suddenly let out a gasp when she saw the second stallion’s condition, “Mint! What happened?” Frost Fire, the red unicorn, had his horn glowed a bright blue as he tended to the Mint Floss.
Frost was waving his horn over the prone form of Mint, using a rudimentary healing spell. Mint lay there a small gash on his fore leg and a bruise showing through on his chest, Mint gave a grunt as he looked at the new voice, “Daisy? Princess? Oh thank Celes—thank Lu—I mean you’re okay!” Frost following the prone ponies gaze met eyes with Luna and Daisy; he gave quick nod before returning to his spell.
Luna suddenly grew concerned when she saw the condition of Mint, “What happened? How much does it hurt?”
Mint gave a dismissive wave of his gashed hoof, earning a concerned frown from Luna and a scowl from Frost as he forced it down before focusing on it with his magic again. “Oh this? It’s nothing, got it when I misstep on a grating. As for the bruise, those monster ponies sure can pack a wallop. I’ll be fine though once Frost finishes up.” As the gash on his leg faded Mint began to stand up. Turning to Luna he asked, “your highness do you know what’s going on, one moment I’m guarding the prisoner and then the next moment I’m wondering castle rust with Frost here.” Frost Fire just gave another nod.
“You are all trapped within a nightmare, as far as We can tell.”
“I wouldn’t really call this a nightmare, maybe creepy. But wait if—“
“It’s not your nightmare; we have all been pulled into the dog, Lodestone’s nightmare. And it seems that to end it we need to wake him up.” Daisy interjected, when both Mint and Frost turned to Luna for confirmation she gave a curt nod. As Mint began to put weight on his leg he turned to Daisy.
“So all we need to do to end this is find the dog and tell him to wake up?” Daisy nodded. “Well then I suggest we split up, Daisy take the princess and search the ground floors. Frost and I will search the top and we will meet in the middle, got it?”
“Got it, let’s go” Daisy saluted.
But before anypony could leave Luna spoke up, “you won’t be looking for a dog, what you are looking for is a tall hairless biped and responds to the name Ryan.” The guards surrounding Luna gave her a series of extremely confused faces.
“What, why?” Frost broke his silence.
“Do not question it; We are still trying to figure out how you were dreamnapped.” Luna said, perhaps a little too sternly. But all she got was a serious of nods before Frost and Mint headed through a doorway at the back of the balcony. They were still guardsponies and they would follow her commands.
Luna descended with Daisy back down to the ground floor. As they landed Daisy raised a hoof and pointed it towards a servant’s entrance, “shall we start with the kitchens?”
With an affirmative Luna and Daisy worked their way through the tables towards a set of door. That was when the lights suddenly went out, plunging them both into to complete darkness. Daisy let out a slight ‘eep’ as Luna light her horn with a light spell, but it barely did anything except illuminate Daisy and the closet tables. They stumbled their way around tables making for the last known location of the door, when the lighting suddenly reappeared allowing both ponies to see that the dining hall was now populated.
Every seat in the dining hall had a ponikin in it, there were a few spare around tables acting like waiters but most were seated in a manner that made them look like they were either eating or conversing. The ponikins themselves were unremarkable, taking on the basic shape on a pony but without any features other than ears, and covered in a yellowed aged fabric. Daisy whispered to Luna in a hushed tone, “perhaps we should leave.”
“We agree.”
Just as they began making their way towards the door again, avoiding contact with the closest ponikins the lights went out. Luna and Daisy stood there frozen, not daring to move. Luna’s light spell could not cut through the darkness, as they stood there surrounded by silence. she dared to take a step, as soon as her hoof touched the floor the lights returned. What Luna saw in the new light was that every ponikin in the hall, more than a hundred, were now looking at her. Each and every head of a ponikin was twisted to face Luna, regardless of whichever way the body was facing. But what had unsettled Luna was the fact that each and every muzzle piece of the ponikins were stained in blood that streaked down their necks.
“Like… now!” whispered Daisy.
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smoke
Weed
A feather
2650598
thinly veiled innuendo?
This needs more DDO, Flying in airships made from beds and bookshelves, wile fighting giant eyeballs(beholders), Changing gravity and ghost spiders jumping at you from trees. (not to mention the regular vampires,gargoyles,oozes,brain eating octopuses that overtake someones body to walk on 2 legs(and sometimes make abominations of twisted flesh), fire eating spiders and so on). Not to mention the walls shifting from being made out of flesh, back to regular walls. Most level 15 to 17 (and one level 20) quests are really nightmarish
Jews! *shot*
(I'm sorry...)
2650652
His next nightmare should be a silent hill theme...
It's...
jumpscare time!! 
2650684 Yay silent hill
That would be pretty cool.
2650782
Let's see how Luna reacts when the sirens blare...
2650684
I thought the theme for this nightmare was the Otherworld from Silent Hill.
It's an umbrella
Woah, creepy. Love the new chapter by the way!
This dream is definitely the suspense/thriller. This one will mess more with their minds.
Nice chapter. Looks like the ponies will soon regret their opinion of the nightmare not being creepy enough.
Spottet a few typos.
"a ring of thrones ready to drop"
"the closest exit he magic pointed her towards"
"she heard somepony callout"
"the next I’m wondering castle rust"
"Frost and I with search the top"
"as they stood there surrounded by silence. she dared to take a"
2651654
Thank you, the errors ill fix tonight.
The scene reminds me more of the living plastic from Doctor Who.
Riddle: 42 (I have no idea)
2660781
i enjoyed that story greatly. which reminds me that i should probably ready proper published works if i want to improve on my grammar and writing. reading only fanfics isn't doing me any favors aside from interesting stories. someone commented long ago that i should read novels to improve, but ive got way too many stories on my read later list here on fimfiction.
Riddle: Smoke
Oooooh, rookie mistake, Luna!
YOU might know the castle as well as you know your own twat...but Ryan doesn't! You forgot: you're not in YOUR castle, you're in HIS! He doesn't know how your castle's supposed to be laid out, so it's going to be in whatever design existed in his head canon!!
Good example of what happens if the Checkov's Gun is NOT picked up!
And well played about how she ends up paying for that mistake, too!