A Vivid Dreamer

by Kronoxis

Ch5: Nightmare 1-Opened Flood-gates

A Vivid Dreamer – NM2
Opened Flood-gates

The platform finally completed its descent leaving both Luna and Celestia in a chamber similar to the one they just left, but instead of a ramp leading outside the wall before them had a single door flanked by two green lights. Looking down Luna could clearly see that the shaft continued again till all there was left to see was darkness, looking over to her sister Luna could that her sister was also perplexed by the fact they after such a long descent they had not reached the bottom. As they disembarked from the platform they had only managed to get a few steps towards the doorway before a shiver went down Luna’s spine, her sister shuddered. Both princesses hackles began to rise, Celestia was the first to comment.

“You sense it was well don’t you?”

“Yes, the very air down here seems wrong.” Once Luna put her feelings into words she noticed it; the air, it was an extreme contrast to the air of the swamp they were in just before hand. The swamp air was hot, humid, and carried the sounds of wildlife. The air this far underground was cold, stale, and silent. So silent in fact that Luna could hear her sister breathing. The silence seemed almost supernatural; as if waiting for Luna to make the wrong sound before bringing untold horrors down upon her. Luna tried to think of something to say in order to bring comfort, “It is but a dream, we cannot be truly harmed. Although it does show the symptoms of a nightmare.”

Luna could see her sister forcibly calm her body before putting a stoic expression upon her muzzle. “I believe we should find our dreamer before he wakes.” With this said they made their way to the only door set before them. Neither of them dared to speak after that, the silence was all encompassing.

When Luna was within legs reach of the door it hissed open, splitting into three pieces which receded into the surrounding frame. The door opened to reveal a corridor that was barely wide enough to accommodate the two alicorns side by side. The corridor had lead to a cross way where two of the four doors were flanked by red lights; they didn’t respond when Luna approached, she assumed them to be locked. Leading her sister, the remaining door opened for them Luna crossed its threshold closely followed by her sister Celestia.

Entering another chamber Luna found herself on the second floor, each corner of the chamber containing a pillar. These supported a platform that circled the chamber allowing access to the doorways mirroring those on the ground floor but halfway up the wall. Luna could observe eight in total; two for each wall. Many were flanked by red lights indicating it to be locked. Catching her sister’s attention Luna directed with her horn the doorway the dreamer had taken; the doorway of the far side of the room, on the second floor. Spreading their wings they quickly covered the distance and went through the door.

The sisters trotted in silence, with only the sound of their hooves to keep them company and break the silence. Both of them were still not talking, uncertain of what wraith breaking it would cause. Occasionally they would reach a fork in the corridor, or a wide open chamber similar to the first one they encountered after their lift ride into these catacombs. Some of these chambers were empty but others would have large machines of unknown function situated in the center, all of them bearing the same odd angular designs found etched into the flooring and certain walls. Whenever they were presented with multiple paths of travel that were not barred by locked doors, Luna would call upon her magic to trace the path that dreaming creature had taken. They were gaining ground; while their target was still a ways off they were indeed getting closer.

Luna was leading her sister down a ramp, what lay in wait at the bottom was another door. This one however was different from the others as the lights on either side flickered occasionally; one was red while the other was green. But on the door itself was a strange box, the surface facing Luna held a large green button. Luna calling upon her magic once again found that the dreamer had indeed passed through this door. Luna turned to her sister, “be prepared, our dreamer has traveled this way.” Celestia took on an aggressive stance; horn aglow and wings flared. Luna tentatively reached a hoof out and pressed the button, the door immediately hissed open.

A shadowed figure nearly as tall as Luna lurched forward through the door way. Luna gasped and stumbling backwards nearly fell to her haunches, just then Celestia threw the figure into the chamber beyond with a wave of telekinetic magic. The air that washed of the sisters was horrid with the smell of black powder and the reek of iron; it was so overwhelming Luna began to taste copper on her tongue. The look of disgust was evident on Celestia’s face as her nose scrunched up, but what could be sensed under all the reek raised both their hackles and set their hair on end. It was death.

Neither Luna nor Celestia were prepared for what they saw through the doorway. They carefully entered the elongated room, several doors running along each side of the chamber and a single door on the far wall. As Luna continued into the room her hoof clinked against something; sending it skittering across the floor. Looking down Luna found that the floor was littered with tiny brass cylinders, with the occasional red plastic tube. Levitating one close to her face for inspection Luna realised that they were the source for the smell of black powder. It was upon hearing a strangled gasp Luna looked over to her sister. Celestia was standing over the figure she thrown into the room with her magic, a look of shock clear across her muzzle. Celestia was looking at a corpse.

As Luna walked over to her sister she began to notice the rest of the room. There were drying pools of blood scattered throughout the chamber, it was also splattered on the ceiling and streaks smeared across the walls. As Luna scanned the destruction a thought entered her mind, there is too much blood; there should be more than one body. That was when Luna turned her gaze to the corpse that lay before her sister. Celestia was snapped out of her stunned state when she noticed Luna moving.

Luna had occasionally walked the dreams of griffons; being omnivorous predators they would occasionally dream of hunting. Having seen them hunt both in dreams and the waking world Luna couldn’t help but be awed at their grace, stalking their prey till it was the time to strike. What Luna noted most was that when griffons went for the kill it was quick and clean. Looking at the remains that lay before her she nearly gagged; this creature was brutally mutilated. Glancing over to her sister before investigating the carcase, Celestia was scanning for threats while trying to avoid filling her vision with the signs of death. Being rulers of a nation both princesses were familiar with death, but Celestia ruling through nearly a thousand years of peace had softened her to the cruelties. Luna being banished to the moon had no such luxuries, for a thousand years all Luna had were her memories.

Looking over the corpse in closer detail Luna came to her first conclusion, based on the shape she was able to observe it was not like anything she had seen in Equestria. Other than the fact that this creature was wearing armor; its body was covered in a fabric with a green camouflage pattern with olive green plates along the straight surfaces of its limbs. She was unable to piece together any discernible features due to the massive bodily damage it had received. Its head was smashed in; all that remained was a pulpy mess of muscle, bone and a few scattering of teeth. Tracing the damage down to the creatures barrel Luna gagged once again; its chest was cleaved open from its lower abdomen to its right shoulder. Both the creature’s ribs and chest plate were pried apart exposing a surprising lack of internal organs; the remains of which were sitting above its groin as a shredded mass of browning flesh. Moving back to its shoulders Luna’s gaze traced down its forelimbs only to find that they ended abruptly, after its elbow joint all that remained of each forelimb was the shattered shards of bone, its marrow exposed, surrounded by browning muscle.

When Luna finished her observations she turned to her sister, a little shaken at being surrounded by the signs of such death and destruction. “Sister we should prepare ourselves, we will most likely run into whatever caused this in any attempts to get to the dreamer.”

Celestia’s response came after a heavy pause, “This creature’s mind frightens me, to have something so violent so close to our little ponies. It scares me Luna, I need answers.”

“And We shall have them once We are able to glean them from its mind. But in order to do that We have to find it first.” Luna’s attempt at comfort did not go unnoticed.

Celestia was about to thank Luna for the gesture when she was interrupted. A loud crash was heard from the door on the far end of the room. Luna and her sister immediately dropped into a combat stance, horns glowed as they prepared spells for whatever they would face. The crash sounded again and then for third time before the room was filled with screech of metal, the door being sheared from its frame revealing what stood on the other side.

Author's Note:

A/N: if you still haven't gotten the crossover yet, SHAME ON YOU. when coming up with ideas for this story I originally intended to use a recent nightmare as a bases for Luna's little venture. but i doubt Luna would know what to do with a human being bounced around in a mile long tumble drier while a fifty foot teddy bear spectated. so i decided to go for the nightmares i had when i was younger.
The first time i played Halo i was around 12 or 13 years old, when i got my first glimpse of the Flood i had nightmares for a week. the terrified me, and in next chapter ill be going over that aspect of the Flood scared me the most.

Q: What nightmare, if any, can you not forget?

Comments

[Sandman]

One of the few that I do remember, I was trapped in a sinking car and slowly drowning as it filled with water.

[omega-ze-wargod]

oh my god the flood as a kid *shivers*

[Atropony]

Somekind of monster is chasing me down an endless hall way. Jaw dropped low to the ground, saliva falling from its gapping maw as it's head swing from side to side. Three legs, two on the adjacent walls of the hall, the third digging into the ceiling. I can still hear it howling at me during my worst nightmares... no matter where I am... It will always be Somewhere in my mind, hell even when I play games like deadspace my brain tricks me into hearing it.... I'm probably going to dream of that bastered tonight, so you know, thanks for that...

I just realized I never named it got any names for the monster of my mind?

[Radon18]

Lets see the worst nightmares I've ever had came after watching "The Thing" the first remake (look it up you'll know why) and the 90s remake of "The Blob" (Don't laugh that movie is more gruesome than The thing by quite a lot.) I think I have a deep fear of things that are shapeless.

[Radon18]

2593664
Almost sounds like the Shivans from Freespace sept they have five limbs and a laser built into their foreheads

[RedvsBlue327]

Why must you tease me so with the reveal of the flood!
And wait, if the dreamer isn't in that room, the end of the line... where the heck is he? Hiding behind a pillar in the same dream?
----------
And I actually very rarely have, or remember my dreams, let alone nightmares (The only dream I can even recall ever can be summed into me watching a real life military squad storm through gmod looking backyards, while the "camera" is pointed toward the sky, showing abunch of different size and colored suns...)

Anyways, the only 2nd other dream (Dis bein teh nightmare, I think...) I can remember is sitting in the car while my mom drove me to school, like usual. Except when we pull up to the elementry school pickup, my mom exits the car and goes into the building. As soon as she's out of sight, the car starts driving itself, the wheel and pedals reacting accordingly, and the car begins to take the same path home, except once it gets onto the highway, it stays on the highway. And I just keep sitting in the backseat doing nothing.

This goes on for awhile, then at some point the van starts to go subtly faster. By this point, there are no more cars in front of me on the highway. The next bridge it comes across, it makes a sharp turn on a path toward the barrier and the dream stops before I even get close to the rails.

I've had this dream 3 times, and what I find very strange is that my older sister described the near exact same dream at around my age, except hers ended much more quickly, at the very first bridge some ways from the school.
This was all when I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade. Same for my sister.
I have 0 idea of how to interpret it.

[Word Bearer]

The first time I heard the bucher's nails

[Kronoxis]

2593717
It always the monsters we can't see that scare us the most, our imagination runs away with what we fear. That's why you lose half the thrill when you can actually see it. It's also why most older horror games like silent hill and resident evil were so scary. Low polygons caused the developers to either hide the monster or they were so vague that our mind filled in the rest. The water monster in amnesia doesn't even have an in-game model yet it's one of the scarests parts.

[Kronoxis]

2593793
There is more than one exit to the room, Luna only knows where the dreamer has been in nightmares.

The next chapter I'm going to melt the princesses minds.

[Radon18]

2594707
That's defiantly part of it but I think it goes a little farther in that the most frightening monsters are the ones that you can't really nail down even after you see them.

Monsters that are always changing shape and using that aspect to gain the advantage over their prey are the scariest mofos in the book. IMO

[Bomarck]

Anything to do with body horror usually sends me on the creepy train.

I actually had a dream/nightmare dealing with that subject not to long ago. We had entered a building to find out what had happened to the occupants when to our horror we found out the place was infested with these insect things. Best part was that those insects would burrow into your body and set up residence. Needless to say I was fairly certain near the end of the dream I had been infected and was contemplating suicide by fire....

[DAT GUY]

The dreams where your continuosly running from some unseen monster, the one that always seem one foot away and is going to maul you, on a happyer note the dreams where your neigh invinsable are fun, (falling off a building as high as tge empire state building just to get back up again shouldnt be fun)E

[Shpoople96]

The worst dream I had was one where I was trapped in an alternate dimension that contained an endless construction yard filled with bulldozers, excavators, etc. I was trapped there forever, supposedly.

[theultimatebrony]

So the main character's dreaming he's Master Chief.

[undead darkness]

OH GOD DONT REMIND ME OF THE FIRST TIME I MET THE FLOOD. THE HORROR

[Rain_Bow_Dashie]

Whelp, i didn't get the crossover, the flicker lights and whatnot... the red casings (shotgun shells?) and whatnot... i figured it was METRO 2033...

[DrakeRenar1]

OMG It's the flood!!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!