Night Terrors

by TikiBat

Chapter 11: Changing Perspectives

Silver Eclipse was an unhappy pony— or at least he was. As he came to realize far too late; having a dream job turn into a nightmare was a sure fire way to kill the motivation and excitement he had held for some of his favorite hobbies, dream crafting being his favorite. Silver wasn’t quite sure when exactly his passion fizzled out, but it was clear that his frustrations and stresses in the waking world had absolutely bled into other unrelated parts of his life. In hindsight though, that shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Somewhere was the visual representation of his subconscious mind after all.

While the strange alternate realm beyond the great stone gateway (which the group had decided to dub The Other World) was still a little scary to him, his friends’ growing mastery of crafting in that realm helped chip away at his lingering uncertainty. It was this newfound success that helped open Silver’s eyes to the fact that his passion had been poisoned, and the chance to spend some time building wild creative things with some of his closest friends was just the kind of therapeutic experience he needed to respark his creative endeavors.

The day after the vote had resulted in Emily, Phoenix, and Stardust crafting a quaint little bookstore. Two more days expanded that bookstore into a massive library with whimsical towers of books that stretched into the inky black sky. Not far away sat an old west ghost town complete with all the cliche tropes that you might expect from such a place. Silver’s own area was his personal slice of heaven; a beautiful relaxing beach with an endless supply of Mai-Tais and pineapple spears. Prolonged relaxation was a great treatment for burnout after all.

Perhaps most impressive was the work that Morgana, Koruk, and Moonlight had carried out. Their large imposing castle had already been a sight to behold, but in only five days the trio had transformed it into a dark lovecraftian hellscape. The castle’s decrepit towers dominated the skyline, nestled by thorny vines that twisted around them in a tight embrace. Dark clouds surrounded the realm, cracking with thunder and lightning in a perpetual storm. Rocky hills dotted with dead oak trees surrounded the castle, cutting off the realm from its neighbors. As a cherry on top, great stone and wood bridges linked up the other realms in The Other World, connecting Silver and his students’ greatest accomplishment.

“It’s impressive,” Phoenix’s voice called over to Silver, who was currently hard at work drawing up part of the large theme park area he was building.

“Taking a break from your own personal library of Alexandria?” Silver called back.

“Mhmm,” Phoenix nodded. “Still haven’t found a good way to transcribe books in here… I’ve got a running theory on how it could maybe be done though.”

“Oh?” Silver raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Lay it on me then.”

“Crowdsourcing. It’s kind of similar to what we do here in a way, just you know, with books.”

Silver paused his crafting and turned towards his friend. “You have my attention.”

Phoenix grinned. “You know how we work together to build stuff here? Using data and memories from our own subconscious minds to reshape the fabric of this place?”

“Yeah,” Silver replied.

“What’s to say we can’t transcribe something like books here too?”

“Well there’s a couple of roadblocks I can think of…” Silver started. “For one, it’s hard to read actual text in here unless you really train yourself right? And wouldn’t everyone contributing different pages of books from their own memory only give you a sort of similar version of the story?”

“Both valid points,” Phoenix grinned “but this is a world of literal imagination, so books don’t have to work the same way here. While it’s true that most ponies won’t be able to read them, and that they won’t really be word for word transcriptions… what’s to stop us from crafting books that literally pull you into the pages of the stories?”

“Enchanted books?… I kind of like it,” Silver returned a grin of his own, before frowning. “That still seems like a tricky task. Have you tried doing this yet?”

Phoenix nodded. “Yeah. It’s gotten mixed results and the pages are admittedly spotty at best. But it’s a proof of concept. You have to think of the big picture too. If someone like Psychic was helming this then that would give us the processing power this kind of illusion needs and also access to millions of minds that could help contribute.”

“More minds to fill in the blanks… I can see what you’re going for now.”

“Mhmm,” Phoenix confirmed. “Something like this place— a place that’s always around and active would be the perfect great library.”

“It’s still something we don’t know much about,” Silver reminded him.

“True, but this is just the prototype. I’m still trying my hardest to make my own Somewhere and once I do it’s going to be my own little slice of history.”

“Scientia potentia est”

“Knowledge is power,” Phoenix smirked. “In here it literally can be. Just imagine, the new great library could be a place where information is literally free for everyone.”

“It’s an admirable goal,” Silver smiled. “So keep dreaming that dream, I can’t wait to see where it takes you.”

The yellow night pony softly landed on the cobblestone road that Silver had been laying out a few days prior. “So what’s your goal here?”

“Kinda similar to you… just less altruistic I guess.”

“Making a place where people can be free?”

“Mhmm,” Silver nodded. “It’s dorky but I thought making a fun experience that people could run through could be a cool way to sneak some education into a dream.”

“And what lesson does an English settlement in the Caribbean teach?”

Silver paused for a few moments and laughed. “The… history of global trade in the seventeen hundreds?”

“Hey I’m just kidding around. Not everything’s gotta be a history lesson. This is a dream after all, I’d be more surprised if you didn’t make it a medium for wish fulfillment.”

“You see wish fulfillment, I see a way to free one’s self from the demons that burden them,” Morgana flew in and softly landed next to the pair. “I have something big I want to show you, Eclipse.”

“Oh yeah?” Silver asked. “Well? What’re you waiting for then?”

“For everyone to arrive, of course,” the mare said with a smirk.

“And let me guess, we’re the two holdouts?”

She nodded and Silver and pointed towards her citadel with a wing. “Let’s get the lead out and hurry over to Castle Illusion, I’m dying to test something out.”

Not really seeing any reason to hesitate, Silver looked towards Phoenix and shrugged. “Alright, let’s take a look.”

The trio effortlessly soared through the open dreamscape and towards the imposing edifice that sat in the very heart of this strange realm. However, as they neared closer, a strange feeling began to well up within Silver. It was as if his own instincts were warning him that this was still unknown territory and that they were all being too relaxed with it. It would only take one mistake for there to be serious permanent ramifications after all…

Those feelings at least took a seat in the back of his mind once the group had actually entered the castle, which was decidedly less eerie on the inside than the outside. A lavish grand hallway greeted them on the inside. Regal red carpets and intricate velvet tapestries decorated the immense space that seemed to twist and loop back into itself in a seemingly improbably way, or at least in the context of the waking world. In here? It was just another reminder of what could be done inside the boundless realm of a dream.

With a triumphant spring to her step, Morgana waved the pair forward through a large set of double doors and into an elegant ballroom that was flanked by gorgeous stained glass windows portraying the group’s different endeavors in the dream realm.

“Alrighty everyone!” Morgana spoke to the assembled group. “Now that we’re all here, I think it’s high time I show you something I’ve been working on!”

With a dramatic wave of her hooves, the room began to fill with a dense fog, and before the group had a chance to react they suddenly found themselves in a dark forest.

A loud echoey howl sent a shiver down Silver’s spine and suddenly he realized that he was alone. Through the fog he could hear the startled yelps from his colleagues, but he got the sense that they weren’t sounds of genuine fear, but rather surprise.

A pair of glowing red eyes pierced through the fog, and a shadowy phantom began to slowly saunter over towards him. His heart began to race as he recalled the nightmare come to life that had chased him out of Sapphire’s dream, but before he could confront the monster, a flash of lightning revealed it to be no more than the shadowy form of Morgana.

“This… is this what you meant to show us?” He asked, confused.

“This is the light version of it,” she corrected. “Do you know what this is though?”

Silver glanced around at his surroundings as the gears began to turn in his head. “You’re projecting an illusion inside of a dream?!” He guessed.

“Bingo!” Morgana cheered. “I don’t know how I discovered it, but about a week ago I learned that I could cast illusions in here, and that they could build off of the surrounding pony’s fears. I didn’t quite know what I discovered yet, but spent some time with Koruk and Moonlight to figure out how to refine it and gain a better control over it. I suspect there’s a passive mind magic element to it, but not one that actively alters the thoughts of the other person.”

Silver was fascinated by this development.

“Interesting,” he commented. “Very interesting. So, what do you intend to do with this then?”

Morgana glanced around. “I’m not sure yet. I can’t actually make out what you’re seeing, but I’d imagine it’s something spooky, at least to you.”

Silver chuckled. “I’m in the middle of a dark forest in the dead of night.”

What he didn’t mention was the quiet rhythmic rustling of the foliage or the sound of the wind blowing through the trees that he could almost swear was whispering.

“Not a fan of that sorta thing?”

He shook his head. “Me and my wife lived in the mountains for a short while, and while it was beautiful, I could never quite get used to the weird sounds I’d hear at night. Probably had something to do with that classic fear of the unknown.”

Thunder crashed around him, and before he knew it he was standing back in the ballroom with his students.

“So uhhh…” Phoenix started. “Anyone else get sent back to their first day of high school?”

There were a couple of laughs at his question.

“I’d hope not,” Morgana cut in. “Because you should have all gotten your own unique experience… which I hope wasn’t any more than a mild surprise,” she added.

“So is there any reason why we needed to all be present here for this?” Silver asked.

“Yes, actually,” Morgana answered. “I don’t quite know why, but this castle seems to be the center point for weird stuff in this realm. I couldn’t tell you what it is, but I’ve only been able to cast those kinds of personal illusions here. It’s almost like this place is a tuning fork for my own abilities.”

Silver’s thoughts drifted back to his own creative playground here. An idea suddenly formed in his head. “It’s funny you say that, because I feel like my own abilities are a little sapped here. In fact, the only place I don’t feel that is in my little slice of the world.”

“Same, actually,” Phoenix blurted out.

With the exception of Koruk and Moonlight, the other three Dream Seekers nodded in agreement.

“I felt that back at my place,” Stardust added.

“Mhmm, same with mine,” Emily confirmed.

“The two of us have been working away on this place with Morgana,” Koruk answered for both himself and Moonlight.

“So I feel like I’m drawn more to this spot,” Moonlight clarified.

Silver’s jaw dropped. “This is amazing!— I mean it’s almost like this place has an intelligence of its own or something.”

His heart started to beat faster as he was reminded of the reality that they knew frighteningly little about this place.

Morgana giggled. “It sure feels like it. Remember how the castle seemed to grow organically after we laid out the groundwork?”

“Yeah,” Silver nodded.

“Well, that got me thinking about this place. What if we were meant to be here? What if it was made just for us?”

Silver shook his head. “I don’t want to be a pessimist, but that’s very unlikely.”

“You said it yourself though, Eclipse. Nothing’s impossible here.”

“Except the possibility that we have even a remote understanding of what this place even is,” he reminded her. “This is all impressive, but we need to remember that we’re explorers in an unknown frontier. We need to play things safely.”

“But things have been safe,” she reminded him. “We all played it safe until we had enough evidence to agree that it was.”

Silver nodded. “I know, I just can’t help but feel on edge for some reason,” he paused. “This place, it’s just…” he started, but seemingly couldn’t find the words.

“Unbelievable?” Suggested a booming voice that was all too familiar to Silver.

The stallion’s eyes widened in both fear and shock as her shadowy form materialized in front of them.

“You!” He shouted back. “I… how?!”

“Surprised?” The nightmare form of Sapphire replied with a smirk. “Don’t be. You brought me here after all, and I should really thank you for that.”

“Thank you? Why would I want to do that. You’re just a nightmare after all. A figment of another pony’s imagination run amok.”

Her evil cackle echoed through the halls, shattering the windows around them and filling his heart with dread. “Oh, I’m much more than that, my little dreamer. This place we’re standing in? It’s a realm where all imagination comes to life when fueled by the right kinds of magic. And you? Well you were the spark that jump started all of this.” She slowly trotted towards him. “I thought it was fortunate having one strong dreamer to grow from, but then you brought me a whole slew of creative minds to feast from.”

Silver scowled and stepped forward. “So just what is your plan then? Live out your existence here? Scare us all with a little smoke and mirrors?”

“It’s cute that you think my ambitions are so shortsighted.” She sauntered past him and towards the broken windows that revealed the labyrinthian realm that sprawled out from the gateway and Somewhere beyond. “I have a vision for the future. A future that you and your little friends just so happen to be the keys to.”

“You’re just a nightmare.” Silver insisted again. “All it takes is one thought and you’re gone.”

“Silver…” Phoenix began. “I think you need to rethink this.”

“Why’s that?” Silver briefly glanced over towards him.

“Because I’ve outgrown that mantle,” the Nightmare Sapphire gloated. In an instant she suddenly dematerialized in a swarm of bats that stretched into the air and began to spread throughout their shared world. “And into something much more powerful!”

The world began to shake, and in an instant the realms that they had worked so hard to create were entombed in cutesy looking snow globes that were promptly cast off into the void without even a moment’s thought. A shower of glass and rubble peppered the ponies as they were suddenly cast out to the landing that overlooked the castle.

Realizing the severity of Phoenix’s warning, Silver took to the sky and began to make his way towards the gateway.

“We need to get out of here!” He screamed back to his peers.

The swarm of bats recombined into a large shadowy wraith that blocked his escape. The wraith cackled with a terrifyingly smooth voice that shook Silver to his very core.

“Leaving so soon? I think not!”

A snap of fingers rang out, and no sooner than he had taken flight, Silver found himself rolling onto the floor, his wings seemingly stolen away from him.

Sitting up, he rubbed his hooves against his temple and blinked his eyes a few times as the world stopped spinning. Much to his own surprise however, when the world righted itself, something else became ever more apparent.

“I—“ he gasped at his higher pitched voice. “What— what did you do to us?!”

The shadowy mare laughed again. “I figured you could all use a new perspective perhaps.”

A large silvery mirror materialized around the group, and no sooner than it appeared, the group began to jump back and surprise and shock. True to the nightmare’s word, they had all been changed in some way. The best way Silver could describe it, was as if someone had thrown them into a character creator and had simply hit random, and it was clearly not sitting well with the rest of the group.

Silver gasped back as he saw his new form. An uncanny chill coursed through him as he saw an unfamiliar reflection mirror his every move with perfect precision. As much as this didn’t sit well with him, whether he liked it or not, he was going to be stuck with this form for the time being. At least he found solace in the fact that he wasn’t alone, but if his students were finding this just as uncomfortably surprising, then he knew that they too were probably coming to the same conclusions that he was.

They had to get out of here and get help as soon as possible.

He shook his head and angrily turned back to the wraith. “So you changed all of our dream forms, is that supposed to scare us?”

“Oh, no. Not at all.” She laughed. “Let’s just say that there’s an even bigger surprise in store for you later, and you’ll just have to wait to see what’s in store.”

“Eclipse…” came a masculine sounding voice from a tall purple earth pony that Silver could only assume was Morgana. “What's going on?”

Silver shrugged, but kept a cool face. “I don’t know, but we can’t let it bother us. She’s just playing games, and we can’t let her tricks give her more power.”

“We’re well past the stage of you giving me power, now it’s time for me to see what I can really do.”

She snapped her wraith-like claws again, and before Silver could see what had happened, he found himself bolting straight up in bed in a cold sweat.

It was all just a dream… he thought to himself. The ruffling of his feathered wings told a different story however, and a sharp, very feminine sounding EEP! Confirmed that something was definitely awry.

“Silver?!” Scarlet sprung awake. “What’s…”

She jumped out of bed, tripping and knocking over the end table in the process. Dropping into an aggressive stance, she flared her wings and let out a hiss. “Who are you?!”

Comments

[ProgAltRocker]

I was wondering when this would pick back up, and it most certainly has. Looks like Silver has a Nightmare to deal with, an Equestrian one at that.

[Numinos]

Good to see this story back! And with such a twist too! : )