> Through A Dream, Darkly > by The Amazing Horse Man > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Into the Nightmare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** "Okay, okay" muttered the Pink Party Pony, "Eye of a Newt... Check! Cinnamon... Check! Provolone... Check! Okay, time to pour this mixture into my mold and let my best dream ever begin! *** "Hey Rainbow Dash!" Yelled out the befuddled Twilight. "Yes Twilight?" Responded the Cyan mare. "Have you seen Pinkie anywhere, I haven't seen her for two days... She never forgets to see her friends. Even if she is sick, she would still send Gummie to see us and to tell she's sick." "I haven't seen her either, should we check Sugar Cube Corner? She may be there baking something and lost track of time." "Let's hope she's there" *** The mares searched the whole house, except for Pinkie's room, and asked the Cakes if they knew. "Lats we saw of her was that she was mixing an odd brew and pouring it into a diamond shaped mold, then said something about a dream. She is a strange one, eh dear?" Said the male Cake. "Eeyup" Said his wive, mimicking a stallion we all know and love. So, the two trotted into Pinkie's room to find her out cold, and with an odd necklace on her neck. "You think this necklace thing is causing her to be out cold like this?" Questioned Rainbow, hoping her question to be fact. "Only one way to find out" Replied the Lavender Element. Though, no matter how hard the pulled tugged or snagged, they couldn't get the cursed thing off. They then tried to wake up the slumbering Party Pony, but to no prevail once again. "Rainbow, get all the girls to meet back here in an hour, I know one being in Equestria that can help us." "And who would that savior be?" Asked the Dash. "Discord" *** As soon as the letter was written by Twilight, and sent by Spike to the Royal Celestia herself, the odd looking mammal appeared before the two spooked denizens of the Library. "You called?" Asked the God of Choas, completely ignoring the two hosts current position. Once the room was clear of the sounds of worried panting and hooves and claws were removed from the chests of pony and dragon, Twilight began: "Our friend Pinkie..." "Yes I'm quite aware of your predicament, and your poor poor friend being all asleep, but I assure you, everything's fine. Here have a nice juicy lamb-chop." The odd god reassured slipping a freshly cooked, and perfectly spiced lamb-chop into the mare's mouth, which held a dumbfounded look as she chewed slowly on the tender cooked meat. After all meat was swallowed, and stupid expressions wiped from faces, the mare began again: "No you don't see, she was wearing a weird necklace of some sort-" The god was paying no attention of the words coming out of her mouth until he heard "Weird Necklace" "Wait Wait Wait, Hold Up, did you say 'Necklace?'" "Yup" Responded the mare, glad they were finally getting somewhere. "Was is an aqua-blueish" A nod. "Heptagon shaped?" Another nod. "Did it not come off mo matter how hard you tried?" Another Nod. "Oh no..." He trailed off, "I knew that mare was crazy but not that crazy." "What? What'd she do?" "She made the Dreamworld Amulet, I thought that type of enchantment was gone years ago. We need to get her out. Now." The foolish god, now deadly stiff, this was not a good sign at all. "We need to get to her right now!" So as they needed to, the left right for Sugar Cube Corner, getting some odd looks from the citizens, since there was the god of Discord, as the name employs, running down the main street of Ponyville. Once they finally got to the sweets store, they sprinted into Pinkies room, meeting the other elements, slightly confused by the whole situation. "Okay, what the hay is goin' on Discord?" Asked AJ. "Okay, so your friend performed a very dangerous type of enchantment, that I may or may not have invented, that causes a constant lucid dream, only if an an outside force gets inside her dream and tells her to wake up, can she be awoken. Make haste." Said the draconequus, deadly serious. "This is nice and all darling, but how does this affect us?" Asked the beautiful Rarity. "As I said, I may or may not have invented this enchantment, so I just need to cast a simple spell, and you all need to ly on the floor, as long as you are as close to her as possible, Just be careful. Whatever happens to you in that dream, happens to you in real life. No redos, do not pass go, no green mushrooms, it's do-or-die. And remember, everthing, besides Pinkie herself, is not real, and will act as the mare wants her to." "Can't Luna just be able to fix this herself" Asked a light voice from behind everypony. "Fluttershy, my sweet, I wish it was that easy, but this is far beyond her domain." "How so?" Asked Rainbow. "She deals with the natural sleep, and the dreams derived from your deep, inner psyche, not ones derived from this specific enchantment, the creator of it made sure of that." Clearly beating himself up over what he did. "Just hurry, the more time you waste, the less likely this pony," he gestured to Pinky, "will make it out. Now just get to nice, comfortable sleeping position on the floor, don't want any cricks in your back. And just close your eyes, and I will do the rest. So, all mares obliged, and lied down on the floor, waiting for the unnatural sleep to take them, which eventually did to all of them. *** Finally, the mare stared to drowsily wake up, each thinking of "such a crazy dream from last night" until they wiped the sleep from their eyes, and took in the surrounding area of a pristine Candy landscape. > Sweets!... or so you Think > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wave of fresh scent of baking breads, pies, and other assorted pastries and sweets hit the five mares first, nearly sending them on a hunt for the delicious aroma. Once they got the scent to a near natural smell to their nostrils, the five they took in the surrounding area, which was a delicious looking paradise of sweets. Taffy lakes. Peppermint Trees. Cotton Candy Clouds, which some Pegasus rested, or snacked on. Gumdrop Rocks, and far off in the distance was a Marzipan Fortress, with Ice Cream Cone Turrets, Delicious Battlements, and Delectable Parapets. Not forgetting the Cola Hot Springs, or Ginger Bread Houses with Candied Ponies walking around, casting odd glances at the newcomers. Rainbow came to first, heading straight for a candied cloud to take in the delectable whipped sugar. When she was about to succumb to her primordial sweet-tooth, a voice popped up inside of her head. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said the voice, "These sweet aren't so sweet" "Is that Discord?" Asked the flying mare, mainly to herself. "Yes you nilly, what other Gods of Chaos that can go into other ponies' minds?" Asked Discord. "Okay," answered Dash "But why can't I eat them?" Sending a mental image of the ponies of this place eating the landscape. "Okay, have you ever eating another countries food and had terrible stomach problems?" The mare mentally nodded in response. "That's because your body's not used to the spices, or the ingredients inside the food. Only, this type of 'pain' is much, much, worse. Bodily functions shut down worse, please send this message to your other four legged friends, don't want to lose our best friends do we?" Discord said, leaving the mind of the Rainbowed Mare. The mare shook her head, and went down to her friends, who were finally getting out of their trances. "Guys! Don't eat the sweets on the ground! Or on the Trees, or in the Lakes, or anywhere!" The Mare huffed. "But why?" Asked the Apple of the group, picking a candied apple from a nearby tree, examining it, "they look perfectly fine to me." "Discord says so, and he is the inventor of this plain, just not in this form," explained Rainbow, half pulling the 'facts' out of her arse, "Would he lie to his five new-found friends?" There were a few mmhmms, and "Oh"'s form her four friends, and they dropped the candied foods they had in hooves and magic and kicked aside, some with saddened "Ah"'s. Then they hoofed it to the castle, thinking that is where their Party Pony friend is. While they walked to the Marzipan Masterpiece on the Horizon, the group got solid glares form the Candied Inhabitants of the Dream. *** They were on their way, when they saw a weird beast strutting through the forest, and the dark, melancholy feel of the thing didn't fit right with its surroundings. The ponies quickly hid behind bushes, or in trees, wondering what the hay was this thing. *** Discord gave a worried sigh. What if he lost his newest, and only, friends? What if They never make it out. What if he never saw Fluttershy --- "Okay, that is not going to happen" the distraught God thought, he was not going to lose the one pony he cared for since... the other one. Though he can't bend rules, even if it was his domain (where he spent most of his time, in stone and of dreams), nor if he was a God. Rules were Rules. In Domains were the mortal and conscious could not tread, he couldn't do horseapples. Dreamstate had no Gods, even the one who came up with the current state it was in. Nightmares were dreams, and, even if they were locked tight in a strong box of their worst fears, could not be kept securely in a land of Dreams themselves. They roamed free, which brought the fear that a nightmare could harm the five of the mane six. He needed to communicate to the five, but, after his whole thought process, and already communicating with the unconscious Rainbow "Sonic Boom" Dash, he was wasted of energy and was nearing treading into the open arms of sleep and his own Dreamscape, were everything wasn't as he wanted, and filled with his own thoughts, haunting his ancient mind. So he needed one thing, Caffeine. Conjuring his favorite spot from Fluttershy's house, and a cup of a potent energy drink, his own recipe, he began to relax and drink his liquid escape of the escapade of sleep. Though the Cup of caffeine was able to delay the lull of sleep, the able hooves of the Sandmare was able to bring him to his own Dreamscape. The one name going through his head as he drifted to the land of the unconscious... Sunny Meadows