Bad Dreams

by Synthetic Soul

Healing the Broken

The Nightmare Realm is never silent. It is filled with the maddening laughs and shuffling of the ghouls who used to be normal living creatures. These sounds nearly drowned out the cries of the others in the cells, who are desperate to resist the maddening effects of the place they were confined in. But their resistance is of course in vain. There was no escape. There was no freedom. Not until they gave in to the madness.

The sound of shoes tapping on the floor could be heard along with slithering, as Nightmare and the snake Nhilese traveled through the dungeon. Nightmare walked slightly hunched, with his hands behind his back.

The two came to a stop in front of one of the cells, and looked at the creature inside it. A once proud griffin lied within, now reduced to a hellish creature, with fleshless wings, and bald spots in its fur. It’s eyes were wide, and unblinking, one of them hanging from it’s socket. That didn’t matter though; these creatures no longer needed eyes to see.

The griffin sat in its’ cell, using its talons to claw at the flesh on it’s face, ripping and tearing out bloody chunks.

Nightmare looked at the creature with his unblinking eyes, and lipless smile. He raised his hand and tapped on the bars. The griffin stopped its self-mutilation, but kept its head in its hands, not turning to face Nightmare. Regardless of this, the former human spoke.

“How are you feeling?”

The griffin responded with pained moans escaping from its cracked beak. But gradually, the moans morphed into giggles, which in turn became manic laughing. Moments later, the laughing died down, to be replaced by a broken voice.

“WonDErFuLl!” spoke the griffin. Nightmare looked at the creature before him. It’s soul was no longer permeated by it’s own fear. It now generated that emotion, projecting it on those around it. Nightmare smiled as best he could, before waving his hand in front of the bars.

“Excellent.” The bars to the cage rose, opening the cell. Slowly, the former griffin rose to a standing position. It carefully made it’s way to the opening of the cell. It looked left and then right, as if crossing the street. It then directed its gaze to its master, nonverbally asking if it had permission to leave its cell. In response, Nightmare nodded his head.

“Go. Join your brethren.” The ghoul bowed before its master. It then rose back up, and started traveling down the halls, going to join the others like it.

Nightmare started walking again, passing the cells, inspecting those inside. He released 2 other newly made ghouls. After releasing the second ghoul, a sound made itself known. It sounded like…crying. The former human made his way in front of the cage, with Nhilese in tow. The two came to a stop in front of the cage, and observed the creature inside.

Inside the cage was a young earth pony colt. He had dark blue fur, with a lighter blue mane, with a white stripe zigzagging along the bangs. The colt kept himself confined in the corner of his cell, hugging himself for comfort.

Nightmare cocked his head to the side as he gazed at the colt. After a few moments, he waved his hand, opening the cell. The colt, hearing this, looked up at his captor. As the man and snake entered the cell, he squealed in fright, and tried to back up even more, but to no avail. Nightmare kneeled in front of the sobbing child. After a few moments of the boy whimpering in fear, Nightmare extended his hand, and ran his finger along the side of the colts face. The colt flinched, but didn’t make any attempt to stop the former human.

“P-please…I wanna go home! I miss my mama!” cried the colt, his voice almost as high as a filly’s. Nightmare inhaled deeply through his nose, before cocking his head to the side.

“Oh, I know. I can feel your emotions. I taste your fear. And…it saddens me. So young, so vulnerable. So susceptible to being crippled by fear. But that is what I aim to fix. Once you turn and become like the others, you will know no fear. You will be happy. And you will never feel pain again.”

“No! I don’t wanna be like them! Please, I want to go home!” cried the colt, now breaking into full sobs. Nightmare retracted his hand, looking at the child with pity.

“I can’t bear to see your sadness. I hate seeing others in pain. I will end your fear right now, using a different method. It will be over in less than a minute.” The colt stared at the man, trembling before him. “Nhilese…do it,” said Nightmare as he looked down to his companion. The snake nodded, and then started slithering towards the child.

The colt’s eyes widened in fear. He began screaming, his eyes widening in fear, even though there was nowhere for him to go. The snake started slithering around the colt, who in response sobbed, and sniffled. Once the snake was fully coiled around the child, he moved his head towards the pony’s neck. He opened his mouth, revealing his long, curved fangs. Quickly, like giving someone a shot, the snake bit down into the colt’s neck.

The child screamed in fear and pain as a new venom entered his blood. As soon as it entered his system, Nhilese retracted from the colt, and unwrapped himself from the pony, returning to Nightmares side. The colt began screaming, clutching his neck with his hooves, and rolling on the floor. Nightmare and Nhilese backed up, and gave the colt room for his transformation. This is the method Nightmare employed on those who were less courageous than others. It speeds up the process, and in his opinion, reduced the amount of time his prisoners suffered before transforming. After all, there was no force in this world greater than fear.

The colt writhed on the floor. It felt as if his blood was on fire. As he rocked back and forth, the change started setting in. His fur lost its color, with patches falling out. His teeth rotted, and chipped, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, revealing nothing but the whites, along with the veins. His screams morphed into giggles as his cheeks tore, widening into an unhinged smile.

‘What was I so afraid of?’ thought the colt. As the pain ebbed, and the transformation finished, he realized that he had no reason to be afraid. He had nothing to be afraid of, because now, he was an object of fear! He didn’t feel that emotion, he made others feel it! And that made him feel…happy.

As the colts giggles rose, so did he, coming to his hooves. He stood up, and with his laughs filling the air, turned to face Nightmare.

Nightmare once again kneeled before the former child, looking him in the eye.

“So my child…how do you feel?”

“He he…I’M sO gidDy…I cOUld…I couLd just giGGle!” replied the newly made ghoul.

“Excellent,” said Nightmare as he rose from his kneeling position. He then turned and gestured to the exit of the cell.

“Go and join the others. They’re waiting for you.” The colt nodded, and then started shuffling out of the cell. Once he exited it, he started shambling down the halls, eager to find his brethren. Nightmare watched the colt leave, a feeling of pride coming to him.

“We have eased another’s suffering. Soon no one will ever feel fear again.”

“Of courssse my masssster,” said Nhilese as he slithered up the humans body. “We ssshall do it together. A world without fear, without pain.”

“Yes…no pain…no fear…just peace. For all,” said Nightmare.

“Yess master…we will have peaccce….Now, let usss join the otherssss.” Nightmare nodded his head, and then walked out of the cell, going to join the others he has saved.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long, I'm working on finishing my other story; "I'm your son too." Anyway, enjoy

Comments

[Leather]

...
I think we're in for a little bit of a ride here, eh?
Hate to see what happens to that kids parents, when they find him...
@_@

[Synthetic Soul]

7628794 Ok, thanks for the tip!

[SkylordF]

the snake is mind-warping him god damnit

[Synthetic Soul]

7718014 I'm one chapter away from finishing another story, but once that's done, I'll get to work on this

[HellBreaker]

If this happened to me, there is only on way i would want it to go

I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!!!