Journey to The Subconscious Part 3 (Edited by BS)
As the temperature of the castle kept falling, the monsters of Nightmares kept patrolling the hallways, in search of their prey, none of them aware of how they too were being hunted from the shadows until it was too late, as two humanoid creatures with snakes had their heads blasted or bitten off by a giant wolf as the small group advanced, doing whatever they can to be as silent as possible.
"So, are we back at the castle, or is this just another dream?" Applejack questioned as everything seemed reasonable again minus the monsters roaming the castle. Both she and her friends were now sporting a darker shade in their fur, fangs, reptilian eyes, and waving manes and tails, as well as being taller than usual.
"You could say that you are closer to being awake partner" Her counterpart answered, "Think of this dream like three levels of an underground bunker. When that varmint tossed you inside, she placed you at the bottom of this place. Where she has complete control over space and dictates what is and isn't real. The second sub-level is where dreams become reality. Like the assembly line of any factory, in here, she can turn thoughts into monsters, but that is all she can do. And finally, the first level where we have headed. That's the root source of this whole place, the original dream. In there, things work like any other dream you have visited before princess Luna, so once there, you are home free." Her counterpart explained as they made their way to their destination
So during his fight, Blueblood was using the second level and only moved to the third briefly? Fluttershy pondered, remembering the prince's duel with the Jet Set and Upper Crust.
"Finally, some normality, I was starting to lose my mind with all that weirdness back there" Dash voiced her frustration. "So, if we are back at the ruined castle, then all we have to do now is get the elements and blast Nightmare away, right?"
"Not so fast there rookie, like the Sheriff, said, we are in the second level, and the elements are probably outside the building. The parasite in her paranoia made sure to keep you as far away from them as possible."
"Of course, she did. Well then, I suppose we will only have to fight our way out and then kick her flank."
"Now you're talking my language," Robo Dash and Dash fist-bumped at the prospect as they continue flying.
"This is fascinating," Twilight mentioned as she merged with a close-by shadow. "The nature of this shadow magic is something else. I have never experienced this before, it's oddly soothing, while at the same time invigorating, princess Luna by chance is this…?" Twilight inquired, exiting the shadow.
"…I will stop you right there, Twilight," Luna stopped her with a glare before she leep onto another humanoid snake monster. By the particularly brutal way Luna disposed of it, one could tell that she was venting her anger. Unlike the others, when Luna and Celestia took the magic into themselves, the only visible change in their forms was that their coats became gray. "This is nothing like what happens when I transform. Furthermore, I will appreciate it if we don't discuss the subject at the moment. This is hard enough for me, and I don't want to add more to it."
"Oh…right, sorry" Twilight ears flattened in guilt and embarrassment for almost asking about a delicate subject
"I understand that you are curious, Twilight. I have several questions myself." Celestia calmed her down as they continued on their way. "Maybe we can talk about it when the times are less dire, and we all have calmed down a bit, but for now, we still need to solve this problem."
"You are right, princess. This is no time to get sidetracked." they kept moving until they all reached the throne room. There in the middle of the hall, Blueblood was laid out on the floor, engulfed in a semi-transparent purple tower of mist shaking occasionally.
"Blueblood!"
"Careful now," Flutterknight warned, stopping Celestia as she saw her nephew "That mist is there for a reason. If you touch it or try entering his dreams with that mist there, you will be tossed right back into the nightmare you were before. To say nothing of the fact that the parasite most likely has some form of alarm on it. The moment we try something, she will detect us and throw everything she has at us."
"Meaning this will require delicate touch darlings," Formal Rarity finished speaking for Flutterknight.
"So we need to divide our forces in two, right? One group takes care of the mist while the other buys as much time as possible?" Daga looked back at the entrance alongside her sister.
"Well, actually, we were also thinking of the princess." DJ Pinkie turned to look at Luna, who stared back in confusion. "Your body is somewhere in this level too your highness, soundly asleep as well, and acting as a secondary power source to make the monsters unstoppable."
"The living fart is using you like a battery. It's clear that it will be well defended too, but if a third group goes with you and recovers it, her control will start to crumble in a matter of minutes. That would give us a chance to re-establish order soon after." Robo Dash mentioned.
"I see, the idea is to stretch her attention thin, am I right? Synchronized attacks at equally important targets, so that she has no choice but split her forces, or sacrifice one" Daga deduced
"Exactly" The Sheriff nodded "The first wave will be the hardest one, but if we split forces, we increase our chances of winning one way or another" She then drew out her weapons, "My forte is mostly long, and middle-range attacks, but I can get along in close combat so I will go with the searching team. I can give you support from the back and tell y'all if the varmints are closing in behind us."
"Same here, I'd like a chance to pummel some monsters," Robo Dash adds.
"Luna, I feel terrible for falling for Nightmare's tricks and not noticing when she was controlling you. Please let me help you recover your body." Celestia offered to Luna.
"Our chances are better when we are together sister, now that I have more of my power, I'm confident we can overcome any trap she has in store for us." Luna agreed.
"Yeah! A rescue mission," DJ Pinkie invited herself along, hugging Celestia's neck.
"To dispel this level of magic you might need extra help, allow me to assist," Mage-Twilight tells her counterpart
"We have the most experience with guard duty your highness" Daga commented "Please allow us to remain here and mount a defense while you headed inside" The pair of sisters saluted to both of them
"You have our permission," Luna answered with a short nod.
"We will remain on guard duty too," Flutterknight and Rarity stepped forward. "It will be best if we fortify our defenses as much as possible. As for the rest of you, take care of dispelling the mist, elements or not you have the most experience dispelling negative emotions, and with the shadow magic in you, reaching him will be that much easier" She instructed to the group as Dash and Applejack eyed up Formal-Rarity with a raised eyebrows.
"Are you sure you'll be ok on guard duty sugar cube?"
"Yeah, no offense or anything, but fending off monsters might get…messy." Dash tried to use the right words, still unsure.
"Oh, you! I'm touched that you're both worried about my well-being darlings, but there is nothing for you to worry about. Indeed, I prefer not to resort to such a brutish and violent solution…" In one motion, she grabbed the shoulder of her dress and tossed it aside. Revealing a one-piece leotard covering a well-muscled body underneath, "…but I'm no stranger to snapping ruffians in two like twigs if the situation calls for it!" She exclaimed in anger, before leaping into the air and calling forth her magic which wrapped around her body in a glowing nimbus—fading only to reveal formal-Rarity clad in a full suit of armor with blue diamonds jutting forth from her pauldrons. A massive maul with sharp diamonds embedded in its striking faces and a tower shield floated nearby, and she retrieved both up with ease. Returning to the ground, she looked back at the group whose collective jaws just hit the floor.
"Truly outrageous, am I right darlings? Even in combat, my presence is simply captivating!" she exclaimed in pride
Once they recover from their shock, Dash and AJ look back at her friend. "Ah Rarity, quick question, how often do you go to the gym?"
"I will not answer that," Rarity replied tersely as she prepared herself alongside the others. "Ok, everyone, stay vigilant. Nightmare might still have a surprise or two waiting for us," Luna instructed as her group left in search of her body while the mane six and Mage-Twilight circled the prince and prepared a spell to erase the mist. Just as suspected the moment they did that, the fog shrieked loudly, undoubtedly alerting Nightmare of their actions. "Everybody, stay focused, in order to dispel the magic we will need to awaken the prince's inner self, just remember all the times you were at peace or happy, I will use it as fuel to give him more energy" Mage-Twilight instructed. Everyone closed their eyes and nodded as she surrounded herself and the group with her magic. Fluttershy, in particular, tried to recall past events with him. Blueblood…please come back
Soon a small figure took form on top of the prince before diving inside his mind.
"Hold the line everypony the first wave will be here any minute now" Flutterknight invoked her warriors once more as they left the room closing the door behind them
"Ladies, let's break some skulls." Rarity calmly said while maintaining her same sophisticated smile and gripping her maul when the ground started to tremble. In the distance, they could see an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, as well as a werewolf, rushing to their location. Led by none other than Gascoigne.
"No holds bar, ladies! They might not be as strong here, but we are still outnumbered!" Flutterknight warned them as a giant archer appeared behind her and prepared his bow, nocking an arrow.
At the same time in the platform of magma
As their battle continued, the once blazing arena was losing its heat as the magma grew cold. The fires around the rider started to dim down until both he and the Tantabus found themselves in a frozen wasteland. The snow began to slow its movements, and at the same time, Nightmare could feel her forces being revitalized by the change in weather.
"Hmm, fear, doubt, uncertainty, such magnificent emotions from my beloved heir, feeding me by the second. Can you feel it, you freak of nature?! I've won! His mind is now mine!" Nightmare gloated as the rider movements slowed even more and became erratic until the cold became too much for it, and he was forced to kneel on the ice, seconds before being rammed into a pillar of ice from one of Nightmares blast of magic. "To think I used to consider you a threat." She enchanted the pillar so that tendrils of ice burst forth and restrained the creature against it before starting to pull it into the ice embedding it deeper in the ice until only one of his arms and the heads of both unicorn and human remained outside, as their armour start to crack. "You and that insufferable wide-eyed brat were the biggest torn in my frog, but now with this much negativity in the air, it will only be a matter of time until I take full control of his mind. Maybe I will force him to watch as I smash you apart piece by piece."
Her threat, were answered with a lance piercing through her chest and pinning her down until the rider lost its strength and let her go. Gasping in shock and pulling the weapon out of her, Nightmare held her gaping wound until ice and scales started to spread from the injury while she glared at the creature. "You little...fine if you want to be smashed to pieces so much, allow me to oblige!" She turned around and was about to smash the rider with her rear legs when a scream alerted the two and filled Nightmare with dread. "No, it's impossible! There is no way they could escape that dream. I made sure of it!"
Without any further preamble, Nightmare forgot the rider and lifted off into the air, "I'm not gonna let them ruin everything once more."
The rider continued to huff as he watched her go. It was only after she was gone that it became translucent and disappeared, leaving nothing but melted or cracked ice.
Meanwhile, at the original dream.
Blueblood continued to tremble from the cold, as he couldn't shake off or rationalize what he just witnessed, making him question himself, and his aunt.
"In retrospect, she did warn you didn't she?"
"Huh?" Opening his eyes, Blueblood, was surprised to see a luminescent, colt version of himself sitting next to him with a curious expression on his face. "Don't remember? She told us that the path of ascension is a brutal and titanic task to go through. Boy was she serious, am I right?" The child commented with a light chuckle.
"Wha…who are you?" Blueblood questioned, blinking a couple of times at his presence, making him smirk.
"You don't know? It was so obvious! Come on! Think, we are in the inner parts of your brain, I'm a child that looks like you, so that means that I am…" He extended his hooves, hoping that Blueblood would finish the sentence, "…my inner child?"
"YAY! You got it!" the colt exclaimed in happiness, hovering in the air, revealing a pair of tiny wings shocking the prince too "You are an alicorn too!?"
"Yep, I'm your adorable and powerful inner child that guards and represents the purity of your dreams and desires!" He replied confidently before landing and drooping into sadness all of a sudden "I used to have two other friends with me too…but then that meany mare appeared one day and tried to get rid of us so she could take over your mind. I managed to escape but my friends…she did something to them, and turned them into your biggest fear." He trembled at the memory before pointing at Blueblood "Blue. You can't trust that mare no matter how much she looks like our aunt. She is simply evil, and the only thing she wants is to control your mind and get rid of what makes you, you. Just like dad tried to do a long time ago." He says worriedly before recovering and smiling again, "But we are smarter than that, right? No one knows mind games better than we do! Nothing she says or does will be able to bring us down!" He exclaimed confidently which only managed to depress the prince again
"What is the matter Blue?" The inner child asked, looking hurt and confused,, "You didn't buy that egomaniac's speech, right?"
"Of course not, that mare is as subtle as a bowling ball to the face. I know what she has been trying to do since the beginning."
"Then why are you so depressed?"
"Because beneath all of her trickery and empty promises, she was right in one thing. I have no future planned out." He confessed feeling remorse.
"Of course you do silly! Don't you remember? Clean up our messes. Earn our title as the prince, and be the best nephew ever!" The kid listed off in excitement.
"That's not a plan, it's a 'to do' list," Blueblood argued back, as his legs were claimed by ice due to his worries. "I mean, let's think about what I have been doing so far, acting my way into a comfortable life? Throwing parties like a spoiled brat? Solving a financial crisis? Finding a way to become a pony of shadows? All I have ever been doing is copying others, my father, my aunts, and even the pony I'm supposed to be replacing. I realized how Nightmare was right about my wish to be an alicorn, ever since I found out about them. I have wished to be one, but I never stopped and thought about why I wanted it in the first place, what if she is the right kid? What if I've only been jealous of my family having wings and am just acting out like a spoiled brat wanting a new toy?" He lowered his head in shame. "What if aunt Celestia really is terrified of what I could become, and that's why she visited Tartarus?"
"And what if, in reality, she is a giant ice-cream mare of Neapolitan flavors?!" The kid added, getting in Blueblood's face. confusing the prince. "Oh, sorry, I thought we were just saying nonsense."
"Kid, I'm serious."
"And so do I!" the colt responded, staring the prince down with a stern face. "Haven't our aunts shown us how much they love us? Haven't they already proven that they would never harm us?…although they might go a bit momma bear if someone else tries." He mumbled the last part. "Hmm? Haven't they? If we are doing the remembering game, why are you purposely avoiding the good parts?!" young Blueblood scolded his counterpart before stomping the ground which transformed the whole place from a desolated desert into a blooming garden in the middle of a starry night, where the tree they were hiding inside moved to be behind the two and in its fruits appeared all the instances his family showing affection toward him, genuine, honest unquestionable love, as well as all his good deeds helping other ponies. Coming clean on his lies, the intentions of his party, the reasoning into why he wanted to be a pony of shadows.
"It easy to play the blaming game with one's self, but as much bad as you may have done, there is also good, so much good to counter it. Starting with your wish to change and be better, so what if you're jealous of their wings? Being jealous isn't inherently a bad thing; it's letting that emotion consume you and dictate your every action that is wrong. Have all the steps you have made been to earn those appendages been fair and square? With no more shortcuts? No more deception or lies to obtain them? Tell me what is so wrong with having that kind of goal in life?" The entire scene was enough to bring a tear to the prince and melt the ice
"My aunties…I remember now, that is why I want to be an alicorn, I don't want power, I already know how empty power leaves you, what I truly wish, what I'm really after is to fit in as part of this family, not as a burden or a spoiled child but as an equal. That is why I trained so hard to be like aunt Luna. I'm starting to remember this place. I made it. This is my first creation as Blood Moon, a gift I wanted to show aunt Luna." Blueblood looked up, and the sky started to move, to form an image in the sky "An homage to her, and her hard work. A demonstration that others see her night for what it truly is. How could I forgot all of this?"
"Because that is exactly what that mare wants. To control your mind, and keep you afraid and unsure, so she could keep feeding off you! Don't you see it? All this effort to keep you down? Refusing to let you go? Getting desperate to make you her pawn? It obvious why she is doing all this…especially considering where we are."
"She is…afraid of me?" Blueblood answered no, believing his realization as the colt eagerly nodded, "And for good reason, that mare knows what is coming to her if she gets us mad. Or worse, hurts our friends and family. Are you going to lay down and let her do as she pleases?"
"No," Blueblood growled out with a renewed sense of confidence, "You are right, this is my mind, my dreams, and I'm done being pushed around. However, she was right about one thing. I am the heir of Nightmare Moon" His eyes flashed, and his body transformed into that of Blood Moon, as the colt does the same turning into a miniature version of Blood Moon with bat wings. "And as such, I must honor her legacy, by erasing that cheap knockoff who insists on soiling her image." He glared into the distance as the stars align and formed a frame of light in front of them.
The kid flew next to him and points at the portal. "Let's go teach that bully what happens when you mess with our family!" Blood Moon nodded, and together, they stepped forward and exited the dream.
While that is going on, the royal sisters made their way through the castle guided by their companions, and Lunas link to her body to find it until they reach their objective in the middle of what used to be the royal garden next to a dying bonfire.
"Everyone stay cool, that varmint left the body as bait for us," Cowgirl-AJ warned the group as she looked everywhere for any sort of trap, Robo Dash going ahead to scout for any hidden monsters.
"I don't see anything here either, but I have a bad feeling about this, girls. It just too easy."
"Agreed, our best route of action is to spring the trap, with the confusion our friends are making. Adding problems for Nightmare might work in our favour.
"Sounds good to me," Robo Dash agreed with a shrug.
"Same," Cowgirl-AJ agreed.
"Ok, in that case, let make some noise!" DJ-Pinkie exclaims as she pointed her sonic cannon at the bonfire and blasts it with sound waves, resulting in it exploding into a cacophony of flames, surprising everyone, as it covered the ground with fire beneath it.
"How did you know that was the trap?" Celestia asked.
"Who puts a bonfire in the middle of an indoor garden?" Pinkie questioned back sarcastically.
"Oh, ho! Everyone get ready!" AJ warns them as she pulls out her weapons when the rider slowly emerged from the flaming ground panting before rising to meet the group. Part of the helmets on the horse and riders' heads cracked open, revealing part of its faces.
"Is that…the rider?" Celestia looked at her companions as they nodded.
"The varmint very first victim and the manifestation of Blueblood biggest fear…" Upon closer inspection, the sisters gasp when they recognize Blueblood's face "…becoming a monster once more."
"I was always a monster" To their surprise. The rider started to speak in stereo using both mouths. "Ignorant or not, how many lives did I ruin? How many families did I deprive of shelter or food? And for how long did I do that, aunties? Did I start at eighteen, maybe sooner? I always listened to my father, and I still did it! And in here, in a land whose economy is centuries behind the one from my world was? Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to consume it all!? I have the attentions of kingdoms, all at my beck and call!"
"Blueblood, how long have you been feeling like this," Celestia whispered to herself, feeling pity for the creature.
"No matter what I try, I will always be a monster, so if I must be a monster, then I will play the part!" He yelled before charging at the group.
As that happened, Nightmare got closer to Luna's body when suddenly a wall of fire blocked her way and preventing her from claiming the body. "What? No, NO!" She keeps blasting the fire repeatedly, but with her power dwindling, and any breach, she made turned out to be too small for her to pass through and quickly sealed up. "I gonna turn that freak into ice cubes once I recover control."
Her worries only increased when she detected Blueblood approaching his own body as well. "What is going on? How is this happening?! If he recovers controls of the dream…" Her eyes widened in horror as she dashed away at top speed to intercept the prince and bar his way by trapping them both in the original dream and refusing to let the prison burst. "Blueblood! I will not be ignored again! Do you hear me? This is my time to rule Equestria! MINE!"
Back with the primary six, the mist started to dissipate, and the ground began to tremble. "We did it! The link is severed. The Tantabus can no longer feed off his emotions. The dream is starting to crumble" Mage- Twilight exclaimed
"Then why isn't he waking up?" AJ questioned confused, as they see the prince twitch, and the tower of mist remained in place.
"Its Nightmare, she's refusing to let him go. Which means the princesses succeed, Luna got her body back."
"Awesome! Then this bubble-bunker thing will collapse any second, right?"
"It's still too soon. The parasite seems to have some hold. She will not go down without a fight. Everyone keep your focus. The real fight starts now"
Everyone nodded and remained engaged in their respective duels, fighting for control of the dream, as a particularly starry lock of mane find it way as a result of the disturbance and wrap itself around a familiar crystal tree in the basement.
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Nice, can't wait to see what happens next
So Blue painted a 'goodly home' for Luna, huh? He's in the Painted World of Steve? (or whatever his name was, I forget) i can't really think of any other games that had an artificial world of supposed safety and serenity outside of dark souls and bloodborne.
Alright, time for the friendship and love and rainbows!
Once you get past the disorientation things get easier. Now we just need to check for deadmare's cantrips...
It's rather difficult to novelize a layers story like this, but we followed pretty well.
Keep going! ;)
Talk about being two of a kind.
Famous last words...
Kinda reminds me of
buffy.mlpforums.com/monthly_08_2013/post-14385-0-79298400-1375501227.jpeg
Brilliant! Unless it's a trap trap.
Like if you get that reference.
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Just for reference, the armour is based in Tarik design
Treat should be threat, I'd presume.
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Change it, thanks
10399793
They don't come from anywhere (as far as I know) I made those up, referring to the 'clank' noise a guard makes when they walk with their full set of armours, and 'dulcy' from the sweet treats Blueblood constantly order the maids to bring him
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Yep! Happy to help
We're reaching the finale to this showdown, time for this fake-Nightmare Moon to see what a true nightmare is!
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Indeed it is, if it any consolation that subject is actually something that I want to address later on and in more than one point. The situation is that they are things that are out of their control, and replacing it was a bit fast because sadly not many people new Blueblood other than either a pawn or an spoiled brat and out if family the only one that got to know him more was Celestia (she is possible the only one that genually love him and that loved him, and his brattiness to her was just a form of punishment for letting that happen and letting down his parents) . Over all the sad truth was that despite been surrounded by nobles all the time, he had a very lonely life where he push everyone away.
It happens in real life and like the old saying: 'you reek, what you plant'
Also it too soon yet but believe me when I said Celestia didn't replace him that fast although so far it looks that way, she simple had to deal with her emotions in a different way as to avoid something like Daybraker, he barely interacted with Cadence and never saw her as family so their relationship was a bit cold and more like tolerating each other with her outwitting him and keep him in check, and Luna…well she only knew him for maybe 5 or 6 years more or less and all that time the short interactions they had, wasn't pleasant at all with him trying to manipulating her or viewing her like another source to be more notices.
Hope that helps a little why things end up the way they did, and know that the original story doesn't end just yet.
Living fart? Really?
Just... no matter how hard I try I just cannot get past this point. Unfortunately, this is where I need to stop. There is just way to much going on. It burned me out. Which is sad because I liked this story when it started.
Nothing can be explained...
But its entertaining non the less
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I almost lost a kidney laughing so hard at that line!
I think this chapter has been the best one at explaining Blue’s motivations for these tribulations he’s enduring. I don’t think it was clearly laid out as bare until now: desire to be equal and accepted by his loving family. I am unsure if he needs ascension for that, but it’s still a beautiful reason.
Twilight did a couple of things prior to ascension, but I think Harmony is really giving it to Blue with both barrels in this story. But he is also paying penance for the sins of another which he’s voluntarily accepted responsibility for in addition to his own. So I suppose it makes sense why he’s got a longer road than Twilight had.
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At it core, the real reason he wish to be like them and fly around side by side. He know they love him, but he kind of feel out of place with them be able to play in the sky and he having to either use a spell or be grounded. He wants to had his own pair of wings to play with them, had a feeling of fitting in better, and a sense of accomplish by having achieved by himself.
Okay Primary Six is kinda cute
Man those are some good friends