Dimension Jumper

by redtau

Frightful Dreams

Panic.

Utter blind Panic. It coursed through my veins, it pounded in my ears. A cold sweat ran down my face, and I walked stiffly through the castle towards my camp in Princess Luna's private chamber.

I was lucky the trio of guards had already separated from me, intent on drawing three large concentric circles around the castle to protect them from D. There was no way I could keep the panic and fear off my face right now. I was trying very hard not to completely flip out.

Sarah?

"I didn't hear that." I muttered to myself, walking just a little faster. You would think after years of hearing voices in my head one more wouldn't matter that much.

Sarah, can you hear me?

"No." I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that responding was bad, but I was panicking. Nobody thinks stright while they are panicking.

You can! This is great! I was worried that you couldn't and-

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP! I can't hear you! You're sealed, trapped by the Elements of Harmony themselves! The last time that seal held for a thousand years!"

Lucky me it's wearing off so much faster this time. I wonder if I've built up a resistance.

I closed the door to Luna's chamber and pulled a chair in front of them. With only one arm and my leg still sore from D's claws I was in no place to go dragging anything larger around. That done, I paced back and forth quickly in the small room, my mind running in circles.

"You can't be getting out. I'm already banished AND imprisoned. If the Princesses find out you are wiggling your way free-"

There was a knock at the door.

"Yes?"

"Miss Sarah?" The door was pushed open, the chair sliding uselessly along the polished tile floor. A gruff looking earth pony guard stepped in. My eyes immediately fell on his sword.

He is going to find out. He is going to find out and cut the tattoo off my back and lock me bleeding in the basement with no food and then he and the other two guards are going to leave me there to bleed and starve and the Princesses will come and send me to the moon with no air and then I will suffocate and bleed and starve and never see home ever again and-

"Miss Sarah, are you alright?"

"YES!" I shouted, grinning manically, feeling my heart racing in my chest. "It- It's just that a lot has happened and I need to do a lot of repairs so I'm turning in early to get a fresh start tomorrow."

He stared at me, completely unconvinced. ".....Ooooh kaaay. Do you want some sleepy tea?"

I nodded, and the guard backed out of the room and gently shut the door. I practiced taking very deep breaths, trying to breathe slowly.

I can't go to sleep! He knows! He's going to kill me in my sleep!

Sarah, are you alright? You need to calm down.

"How in the name of all that is holy am I supposed to calm down?!" I felt like I was hyperventilating.

Tea?

There was another knock at the door, and this time a unicorn guard came in without waiting for a response. "Steel Strike told me to bring you this." He floated the steaming kettle and a cup in front of him, setting it down on the floor. I noticed that he had leaned his spear against the door, and his magic wrapped around it as soon as the kettle was down.

I knelt and with a shaking hand I poured the steaming tea into the cup, spilling a little. I picked up the cup and blew across the tea, trying to cool it a bit. "Thank you, um..."

"Bright Lance."

There was an edge in his voice, a lack of formality and an overly critical look in his eye. His stance was formal, but there was a bit of jumpiness to him, like he was ready to run for the hills.

"Thank you Bright Lance." I downed the cup and pulled a face. "Gah, that's strong."

Lance's face looked confused. "Shouldn't be, I put one teaspoon per cup of water like the package said." Lance held up the spoon.

"Lance, that's a table spoon." I was trying to remember, were tablespoons two times or three times as big?

"Oh," He looked at the spoon and then at me. "Is that a problem?"

I stood up to tell him exactly how big a problem that was, and found myself falling sideways. Ah, now I remember. Three times.

---

I looked at my vibrant purple salad and the small bowl of lumpy brown soup. I had tasted a bit of each and found neither to be palatable.

Salad contains high concentrations of a range of chemicals, most either toxic, cancerous, or just deadly. The soup is better, with only two thousand percent your daily sodium intake.

I could probably cure you of anything you got from eating, but you'd still have a massive bout of indigestion while I did.

That settled it, I was skipping this course all together.

"I must say it is nice to have such a charming young woman visit us this time of year." The local duke smiled at me and waved his right arm at me. "Tis not often ARCO sends one as friendly as you. Most are very business like. All, 'here is your payment, thank you for the anchor, where are your scholars?' blah blah blah."

I smiled at him. He had been charming, even allowing me to sit in on a short meeting of affairs of state. I had not cared much for the way the palace was staffed with what looked like slaves, but the duke assured me they were all treated well. He had even offered one to me, and I had chosen one in the hopes of setting him free with a small bit of money.

"Ah ha, here we are." The duke stood and smiled as six slaves brought in tray after tray of covered fare, setting them down around the table. Many a guest's eyes brightened at this signal for the main course to begin, and even I lifted my fork in hope of something more edible.

The covers were lifted.

There was the slave, his head sat, still smiling at me, his eyes wide and empty. The right half of his face had the skin carefully peeled away, revealing tender cooked meat underneath.

The woman to my left leaned over and pointed with a fork.

"Do you mind if I take an eye?"

---

I woke and was instantly heaving the small contents of my belly onto the floor. Somepony had been kind enough to drape a blanket over me, though they had left me fully clothed and lying on the cold stone floor.

Shaking with cold and sick, I grasped about in the dark until I found the box of matches near the fireplace. It took two matches to find the candlestick, and another two to light it. Shadows danced about me, and I huddled under my blanket and shivered.

"Jerks. Just leave me on the floor? Who does that to a person?"

Probably too scared of you to move you.

I let out a sigh. "You're still here?" I didn't have the energy to try and fight with her right now.

Where would I go?

I moved about, piling small logs and kindling into the fireplace.

Sarah, what was that about?

"I'm cold and I can't see in the dark."

No, the dinner. Why did they cook that man?

I froze. "You saw that?"

Nightmare, remember. I can see dreams.

"Can you hear my thoughts as well?"

Would I have been asking if you could hear me if I could?

"Maybe," I went back to building a fire, "You might be that devious."

We sat in silence for a while.

So what was with the dinner?

"That world treats slaves as beasts of burden and livestock, creatures to work and be eaten."

The slaves are another race from their masters? Another species?

"No, just poor people. Literally poor people. When you can't afford your debts, you're sold into slavery."

They didn't look sad.

"I think... I think they cut out the part of them that lets them be sad. They are always happy. Happy to serve, happy to work, happy to be cooked and eaten."

The image of that poor man's grinning head resurfaced in my mind, and I worked hard not to throw up again.

You should climb in bed and try to rest.

"I don't think I can sleep anymore tonight."

I sat staring into the crackling fire in silence, waiting for Celestia to bring the dawn.

Author's Note:

Nightmare is back. Maybe not quite at full power, but still this doesn't bode well for Sarah.

As with all my other chapters there may be corrections to spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Comments

[Dragonfox]

It look like Sarah had a bad time of it when she was working her old job. I like to know if Nightmare Moon is on her side? For sum rezun Sarah thinks this is a bad thing that Nightmare Moon is free within her. Is Nightmare Moon a pees of Luna dark side or was she a evil sprite bent on killing all life? Nightmare Moon was born from Lunas unhappiness. She has all of Lunas memory's. Did she really Intend to Kill all life on Equestria? Was she just trying to fores them to love her? We know that fores love is not real and you can't git it by fear. In anger, you can't see the hole truth except when it to late. That is why Nightmare Moon is in this miss in the first plays. What Nightmare Moon do you have in this story?

On the story, good job. a bit short but still good. I do hope to see more Chapter soon. Keep up the good work.

[redtau]

3164593
If you were Celestia, and you had just watched your guards get their flanks handed to them and then behave so idiotically, would you really want to leave them in that situation?

Their last mistake nearly killed Machina, in the Everfree another mistake like that could cost them all their lives.

Without the guards there is little defense for the contractors. Attempting to renegotiate, especially on the fly, would be costly. Attempting to force them to work on the existing contract would be cruel.

Don't worry, most of the guards have not escaped this encounter unscathed.

[nighters]

hey did Sarah deal with other sentient creature that aren't human in dimensions? i know humanity can be mean but i bet there are sentient out there who could make us look like puppies and kittens for all we know did she ever had to deal with aliens and there scary confusing culture's the good and the bad? a lot can happen so there has to be good memory of travel as well as the bad but that the risk of explorers for all who travel.

[redtau]

3169636
Typically ARCO would send unmanned probes into dimensions before sending live people. There are a few worlds that have mostly human or humanoid race in charge and Sarah has visited quite a few. At this point in time ARCO has been lucky as there have been no Dimension Jumpers lost or killed on the job.

Sarah has had to deal with...alien things and ideas (another flashback has already been planned for a later chapter) that were far meaner than either ponies or humans.

[EvilEnchantress]

That made me sick to my stomach... Good job.

[Pluff0]

Nightmare seems to be a very affably evil character.

[redtau]

7010315 Nightmare is somewhat unintentionally evil, as explained in later chapters.