The Dream Guards

by Lusaminia

Chapter 7 – The Nightmares Come, and Bend Reality to Their Whim

“You know, nightmares and dreams don’t need to be in their birth domain to get that boost of power. That is just a representation of the lesser dream that created their environment. As long as the location they are in is remarkably similar to that of said domain, their strength grows.

“So, for an example, say a nightmare of a bullied pony foal or human child was strong enough to become a living nightmare. Any elementary school would do for it to gain more power, not just that specific school. They can even shift it to envision how their original domain looked, turning the building’s shape into something more… otherworldly. Any civilian stuck within should be greatly concerned if they see this.

“You don’t want to know what happens when a dream or nightmare feeds.”

---

“What in Celestia’s name is causing this flooding? Has every single toilet overflowed?”

Tenderheart was doing her best to not panic at the sight of water – or at least she hoped it was water – flowing down the hospital hallway in directions that didn’t make any sense. Even weirder was the fact that, as far as she was able to tell, it was coming from the roof. At least, the movement on the walls seemed to tell her that, but last she checked a downpour hadn’t been scheduled.

Tenderheart felt half certain she wasn’t awake, but nonetheless she trudged on through the halls. Get down stairs, inform either the Mayor or Princess Twilight, and have whatever was happening fixed. This was a clear health hazard to everypony, patient and staff alike, and seeing as she couldn’t find any of the other staff she was left to do it herself.

As she made her way through the damp halls, slowly wading from the hospital’s second floor to the first, she found herself getting easily turned around. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, noticing hallways that she was certain hadn’t previously been there. Add along with it the strange, almost organic sounds of the walls and nothing looked quite right. The darkness and solitude messed with her; she had certainly not fallen asleep and buildings didn’t simply change on a whim.

Unless Discord was around, though none of this really seemed to be his style.

Suddenly, Tenderheart stopped, ears flicking down a hallway she hadn’t noticed until it was literally right next to her. She turned to look down at it, listening to the sound of something moving through the water. Another pony was nearby, a thought that caused her body to relax a bit. She raised her hoof, briefly looking to her hoof at the disgusting liquid covering it. If this was the water the hospital was getting, she would have to speak with Mayor Mare about getting the plumbing worked on.

“Hello? Who is it?!”

A form appeared a second later, lumbering in an odd manner. The pony was limping, a sign to the nurse that whoever this was clearly was a patient. She had no idea why they were out of bed, walking about, but she could ask that question later. Shifting her immediate direction, she started to make her way to the patient.

“Sir, miss, are you okay?” She called out to them.

“H-help… help!”

The ponies' pained cries made her pick up her pace, patients coming before anything else in her mind. As she got close enough to see their face, the pony fell over, hiding most of his features from her. Her worry increased, especially considering what it was she did see. It made her wonder who this pony was, because last she knew, they didn’t have anypony staying with burns this bad.

Their entire coat seemed to be gone, replaced by charred black skin that seemed as uncomfortable to live in as it was disgusting. Tenderheart didn’t care though, because this was a patient in need of help and she was the only nurse close enough. She placed a hoof on his back… and it sank inward. Her hoof recoiled back, but the dent didn’t leave, a black ooze not that different from the “water” she was standing in seeping out of his body. It also made the patient groan in agony.

“It huts… hurts. A-always hurts,” he said, a barely noticeable distortion in his voice.

Tenderheart, worried about her touch hurting him further, instead kneeled down to try and get a look at his face. “Sir, you really shouldn’t be up and about in this state. Just tell me which room you were in an–”

The “patient” looked at her, and she froze still. This wasn’t a patient, and the more she looked at it the more she doubted it was really a pony. It was like a burnt corpse, eyeless sockets staring into her as if he could still see. His long, pained breath of cold air left a maw more carnivorous and wicked than a pony should have. Tenderheart took another step back, only for the creature to match it.

“Must… get rid of… hurt,” It said. “Must… sate… hunger.”

Tenderheart tried to break left, but the liquid she was stuck in slowed her down exceptionally more than it did for the creature before her. It barreled into her side, knocking her into the wall. The slippery, moistened floor made it impossible for her to stay standing, and her legs quickly found themselves no longer underneath her.

Before she was able to get back up, the creature stomped on her ribs. If it shattered on, it didn’t really care; all it wanted was that scream of pain and the mare’s unwanted cooperation. Tenderheart flailed, trying to free herself to no avail, even as the pressure the creature was putting on her back caused itself to ooze more of the unknown black substance. It wasn’t blood, or at the very least she hoped it wasn’t.

The creature chuckled, despite the fact it’s body was falling apart. “You will do perfectly. The perfect bate… and the perfect appetizer.”

Tenderheart screamed as loud as she could before its mouth closed around her barrel, in hopes somepony would hear her.

---

Applebloom was surprised she only seemed to have a mild headache, considering the fall she had taken. No, not only had she fallen, but she had fallen head first into the hard ground below. She may not know a lot of medical stuff, but she was pretty certain that was typically never a good thing. Did she also have a concussion now?

She shook her head to dismiss the thought, and then immediately regretted it by collapsing back onto the ground. Knowing that the pony-like creature was still somewhere, she forced herself back up and looked around. Her eyes immediately fell to her bow, having somehow made its way from her mane to the ground. As if to make it more confusing, somepony had placed a strange blue pin in it.

Now that Applebloom thought about it, how she had fallen from the roof made no sense with just her and the creature there. Has somepony tried to save her? Are they the reason she was not dead?

…

She had almost died.

“D-don’t think about it,” she muttered to herself. “You're alive, Applebloom. That is what matters.”

She placed her ribbon back in her mane, deciding to leave the pin in; that was a question for when she was certain she was out of danger. She paced around in a circle, looking for any sign of Yolina’s phone. A strangely illuminated place in the dark, grassy field caught her eyes. With haste she worked her way over to it, finding the device in question.

The phone was still working; the phone call was still visible on the scream.

“Miss Melissa? Are you there?” No answer. “Miss Melissa!”

Still nothing. She looked at the call timer, only for a cold shiver to work its way down her spine. It wasn’t moving; the fall must have broken something inside of it. Applebloom picked it up and turned the phone around on all sides, trying to see exactly where it was she had broken the device. She found nothing. The damage was all on the inside.

“Oh no. Oh no no no,” Applebloom muttered as she picked it up. “What am I gonna do? That thing could be anywhe-”

“Stay calm, dear dreamer.”

Applebloom swerved around, trying to find wherever the strange, almost ethereal voice had come from. When she saw nothing, she started trotting backwards until her back was against a tree. It wasn’t Applejack, Big Mac, or Granny Smith, and it wasn’t the creature. Whatever she had heard, it was something else.

Which, against the voice’s intention, was making Applebloom very scared.

“Calm, dear dreamer. This is not the time or place for panic.”

“Wh-who are you?!” Applebloom shouted. She did her best to look tough, but instead her expression grew more terrified. “Show yourself.”

“If possible, I would,” the voice said. It was rather maternal, sweet, and caring despite the fear it was giving Applebloom. It reminded her of how she always pictures her mother sounding. “Unfortunately, I am not there. I never expected to talk to you and, truth be told, the fact I am worries me. Who gave you that cursed thing?”

Applebloom looked down at the phone, hugged it close to her chest, and scrunched her muzzle. “If you want it, you can’t have it. This is somepony else’s, and her friends are counting on me to keep it safe till it gets to her.”

“I didn’t… you don’t know,” the voice said in a quieter tone. “It seems this is not the situation I thought it to be.”

Applebloom, feeling a moment of distraction from the unknown being talking to her, took that chance to run. She wasn’t sure where she was going, just away from wherever it was the voice was coming from. Nearly dying once that night was enough for the filly, and she didn’t want to find out if this new voice wanted her dead too.

Applebloom soon found herself lost in her family’s own orchard, tired, panicked, and working mostly on adrenaline. When she felt she was safe, the filly flopped onto the grass. Hey eyes once again looked at the phone’s screen. The call timer had still not gone up, Melissa’s voice nowhere to be found. She felt terrible; Yolina’s friends were looking for her, and now the thestral was unable to contact them.

“Applebloom, please.”

The unknown voice forced a panicked yelp as Applebloom looked around her for the source of the voice. Still the pony or creature in question eluded her sight.

“I understand your fright, but I am not here to hurt you. I wish we never had to meet this way, but…” A terrified breath hit Applebloom’s ears, only serving to make her feel more afraid. “We don’t have time. With each moment we say those compulsive words will grow stronger within you. The moment they are spoken, everything resumes.”

“What the hay are you talking about?” Applebloom shouted in hopes that somepony might hear her. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because if you don’t you’ll find yourself in the middle of an orchard-sized battlefield. You must get out of here.”

“But Big Mac and Granny–”

“They will be fine. A Magral Knight wouldn’t allow them to get hurt.”

Applebloom was lost, but a large part of her didn’t really care anymore. Getting up, she quickly ran in the direction she hoped would be towards Ponyville. If somepony could help her and get this unknown voice away, it was Princess Twilight.

---

Slowly and methodically, Yolina crept her way through the hospital halls. A bulava was gripped in her hooves, helping her stay upright and out of the seemingly rising tide of black ooze. She prayed that the other patients were safe and asleep, and then did the same for the staff that she knew was awake. Staff that were no doubt in danger because they were trying to take care of her.

Well, it was her turn to return the favor, no matter how much they would yell at her later.

It was greatly concerning how fast the living nightmare (this sure as hell didn’t come from a living dream), had asserted control of the building. Typically it took much, much longer, but this wasn’t Earth’s nightmares she was dealing with. It was entirely possible Equus had a closer connection to its realm of dreams compared to her own. If that was the case, how quickly her environment had transformed into something out of a horror movie.

Her eyes went from the wall to the ceiling to the liquid covered floor below her. Her adversary could be practically anywhere around her, and she needed to make sure it didn’t get the drop on her. That went especially true with her ability to walk as limited as it was. She didn’t want to find out if the ooze was real enough to drown her.

Turning the corner and looking down the hall, Yolina’s eyes went wide as she spotted a figure laying limp in the middle. Quickening her pace as much as she could without hurting herself too much, she waded her way over. Her grip on her bulava tightened in case it was her enemy, but the closer she got the clearer it became that they were not a living nightmare. It was a nurse, laying there and breathing weakly.

Despite the fact she was looking straight at Yolina, Tenderheart didn’t take notice of the thestral. Her stare went off into the distant beyond, her expression forced into a terror that the knight before her knew all too well. With a full circle turn to make sure there was no clearly visible threat, Yolina allowed her guard to slightly drop as she reached the mare before her.

“Miss, are you okay?” the thestral asked, knowing full well that the mare was definitely not okay. When she didn’t receive an answer, she placed her free forehoof on their shoulder. “Miss–”

Tenderheart suddenly came alive, screaming and smacking Yolina’s hoof off of her. Flailing her hooves around, she managed to get enough of them under her to back up. It was only when she had put four feet between herself and Yolina that she realized it wasn’t the creature who had attacked her. She watched from a distance as a heavily soaked thestral got her forehooves back under her.

“Thank god I didn’t land on the head of this thing,” Yolina muttered as she picked her bulava back up. The sight of the weapon made the nurse before her shrink. “Look, I have a feeling what happened to you, I just need you to stay calm and–”

“You have to get out of here!”

Tenderheart’s fear-laden interjection caused everything Yolina said to fall apart. The way the mare’s breath had gone from invisible to on the verge of hyperventilating, Tenderheat’s entire body shivering as if she had been trapped outside in the middle of winter, was telling. As the nurse backed away, a far softer sloshing sound hit Yolina’s ears. A sound that was moving far too fast for a normal being.

“Please, before it gets you. You got to run.”

The sound came from behind Yolina, so that was where the Magral Knight faced. Her eyes bore into the water, taken as best a defense stance as possible with a leg broken. Her ears caught the sound of the nurse behind her running off, which was probably for the best; they had already experienced enough dread that night. As one sloshing sound grew quieter, the other grew louder, before finally an entity rounded the corner in a blur too fast for Yolina to comprehend.

Then again, she didn’t need to see what it was. Spreading her wings for extra balance, Yolina acted. With it lunging at her, she used her one good hind hoof and free front hoof to stand upright, allowing her to swing her weapon into the creature. It burst apart, splattering her with more black ooze. A normal pony would have declared it a quick and easy victory, but Yolina knew better.

That wasn’t what a nightmare looked like when they died, and she was unhappily proven right when a wheezing laugh cut through the air.

“Her majesty was right. You knights truly are reckless.”

The ooze on her body slithered off her, collecting just a couple feet to her left. With a hop, wings still splayed out, Yolina snarled as a creature formed from the very ooze she stood in. Burnt flesh conjured into existence, wrapping around the ooze in a desperate attempt to keep it all together. It’s hold was thin, the substance underneath it seeming to pulse. When all was done, the same figure that had attacked Tenderheart once again stood, staring at Yolina with psychotic glee.

“It is an honor to stand against you, Magral Knight.”

Author's Note:

The middle section of this chapter proved a lot harder to write then I thought it would. I'm very happy with how it all turned out, however.

Comments

[kvazar]

You will fight so that others may flee.

[midnight arrow]

Great chapter

[Randompegasus168]

My interest has been peaked can’t wait for more