Never Ending Nightmare #2

[Tom Snyder 4,112]

(OOC: https://mlpforums.com/topic/128270-never-ending-nightmareclosed/)

 

Iron Aurora opens her eyes, but can only see desolation of the entire town; nothing is as she remembered it. The once thriving town, now seems empty; nopony insight. Making her way inward, Aurora finds the first sign of the town's ponies; only this time, the stallion seems like he's having a nightmare, but she isn't exactly sure of what. Trying to nudge him reveals her hoof goes right through him, unable to even physically touch them.

 

"What's going on? I was able to do it before, but why not now?" says Iron Aurrora looking at her hoof; Knowing there's nothing she can possibly do for him. The buildings around her seem to show signs of fire and water damage, eroding and bricks falling to the ground. Folding her ears against her head, Aurora can't understand it; this isn't the town she always looked forward to.   

 

In the town square, she finds a doll of a filly; but its too worn to make out what it is. Setting down the doll, Aurora notices a shadowy figure moving between the buildings; but disappears before she gets to the spot where it once stood. Now confused, she tries to peer through the window, but only sees rotten produce inside. Nothing seems to be different to her; only the crows make any noise, the wind seems rise and fall; small gusts mess up her mane. So many ponies lie asleep, and twitching like if they're in a nightmare.

 

"Hello? Anypony?" calling out, Aurora doesn't seem to get an answer; only the echo of her own words. This confirms it, she's alone and trapped in this nightmare. Shaking off her fears, she runs off into the haze; using a light spell to illuminate the path ahead.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Candy Star

[Trevor Bright 872]

David slowly regained consciousness. Realizing that he had been unconcious and didn't know why, he kept his eyes closed. Laying perfectly still, David moved his ears around slowly, listening for something...anything. "Well...sounds like the coast is clear." 'Wait for it...' David quickly jumps to his hoofs, getting set in a defensive position keeping his horn low, readying his magic. "Nothing." "Told ya so." "Go away Poe. Don't you have somewhere else in my psyche you can be? Rather then annoying me?" "Nah, you're to fun. Besides, we've been over this. I-" "Shut up! I just realized where we are! Look around recognize anything?" "No...but I did notice that our gear is gone. We have no food or water and seem to be in the middle...of...nowhe-...wait...are we...look around. I want to see our surroundings!" David simply sighed, shook his head, then obligingly looked around at his surroundings. "No way....What in Hades happened here? This isn't...is this-" "Ponyville. And there's all the ponies." "They look dead...or asleep?" 

 

David walks over to a nearby pony and waved a hoof infront of their face. When the pony, a minty light blue unicorn, didn't respond, he tried tapping her head. His hoof went straight though her. "WE'RE DEAD! THAT'S IT! WE'RE IN SHEOL! HADES! HELL! IT'S OVER! WE'RE THROUGH! I KNE-" "SHUT UP! Just because you're a voice in my head that no one else can hear doesn't mean you aren't annoyingly loud. Now I'm going to try and figure out what's going on. Just you shut up and wait k?" Saying that, he slowly gets down and touches his horn to where the other unicorn's horn should be. Closing his eyes, he breathes out a sigh, and lets magic envelop his horn, trying to get a connection to the other unicorn. Even though she isn't physically there, if he can see her, something of her must be lingering in this world. He feels the connections snap and his eyes flash wide open. He jumps back, eye's glued to the intangible blue unicorn. "What the heck happened here? What are these...these..." "Nightmares?" "Yeah...let's go see if we can find some pony that's tangible and willing to talk to us...to me..." "You eh? Ha! Keep telling yourself that. Maybe someday you'll believe it...and so will I! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

 

So David ventures off deeper in to the nightmare ponyville, in search of, not only his gear, but another pony hopefully able to help him figure out what's going on in this nightmare, Poe's laughter ringing in his head.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Fictional_Author7

[Alex Van Gamer 230]

Alex Van Gamer

Alex groaned, groggily opening her eyes and shifting herself a little, only to find herself falling out of a stool and hitting the ground with an "Oof!" The young diamond dog groaned, rubbing her rump as she looked around the Ponyville Arcade room. Her eyes suddenly widen in both surprise and horror at what she saw. Ponies all around her were collapsed over their arcade games or even spawled around the floor. The game systems themselves looked old and broken; shattered glass screens, spider webs, and long decaying walls.

 

"Wha... What in Equestria happened here?!" She asked herself aloud. Getting up onto her feet, she walked over to her gaming friend, who was slumped ontop of the arcade game they had been playing. Upon closer inspection, she could see that he was asleep, and more than that, he seemed to be experiencing some kind of nightmare... This was very puzzling... Was everyone asleep...? So then, why wasn't she? She shook her head, it wouldn't have made sense if she was either way. The young canine, tried waking her friend, but was horrified to see that her paws simply went right though him! She yelped, jumping back and looking at her paws in fear... What was going on here?!

 

She had to find somepony that could help her... Maybe this was some kind of pony magic thing... Could ponies do that?! She wasn't sure, but she had to hope so.. Then that would mean somepony would know the cause, and even better, the way to fix this... So Alex slowly made her way out of the Arcade. And, much to her disapointment, the outside world seemed just as bad —if not worse— than where she just came from.

 

She growled a bit in frustration, seeing even more ponies, but none that were actually awake... Was there NOPONY that could help!?

 

No, there had to be somepony... Anypony that could help her solve this mess... Hold on... She had heard there was a library here in Ponyville... The building itself looked like a tree from when she remembered hearing... Then that's where she would go. So with a huff, she marched off in search of this tree, in hopes of finding the answer to this strange phenomenon...

[HigurSan 195]

Steeleye Sungazer

 

As he opened his eyes, the smell of burnt wood and mud filled his nostrils. Rolling onto his belly, he sneezed viciously to try and expel the all too familiar scent. He had already smelled it too often in his life, and he had no desire to keep it longer than needed. But with each breath he took it only became stronger. Wiping his dirt caked eyes allowed him to get a slim view of the area around him. Now the subtle taint of decay was wafting across his nose. It made him want to gag, but he had been trained long ago to dampen such reflexes. Wearily climbing to his hooves, he turned his head to get a better look at his surroundings.

The claustrophobic twilight all around him made it hard to make out much other than what was nearby. In the mud around him he could see the bodies of his squad. They seemed to be asleep, their chests rising and falling slowly with deep breathing. As he tried to stir them, he was somewhat disturbed to find that his hoof passed straight through their bodies as if they were made of mist. Tentative pokes revealed that all of his squad mates were the same. After a couple of minutes, he gave up. Wasting more time could only make things worse. Snorting in exasperation, he left his squad in the mud to explore his surroundings and find out what was going on.

He knew that he and his squad had been waiting around in a little rail-side cafe near the train station. There had been some mishap with loading cargo which had held up their expected departure. They were supposed to be shipping out to southern border to patrol against the encroaching Changeling infestation. This was still Ponyville, so far as he could tell, but it was drastically different from what he remembered. It reminded him of a small town in the northwest he had once been assigned to, where a plague had wiped out most of the population in a matter of days. He and over a hundred other were tasked with burning what was left to the ground to prevent the disease from spreading. It wasn't a happy memory, but this wasn't a happy place.

As he headed towards the center of town, he found other ponies stranded in sleep. They seemed to have fallen in the middle of whatever they had been doing. Some lay in the street, others were strewn in doorways and across tables. They all proved to be as incorporeal as his squad. His eye was drawn by a flash of green in the corner of his vision. Snapping his head around, he focused on the movement and started heading towards it. Coming out from behind a building, he would be likely be a shocking sight to Iron Aurora as he was, tall and covered in mud, his normally pristine mustache and mane plastered into spiky locks.

 

"You!" he said authoritatively. "Do you know what is going on here?"

Edited May 15, 2015 by HigurSan

[Trevor Bright 872]

@,

As David made his way through the ruined town, he tried to recall where he was. The last time he'd visited Ponyville, it had been before the...incident. "So that's what you're referring to it now? You're calling it 'The Incident'?"  "What do you want me to call it? The 'I was tortured until I went bonkers and developed a second personality holiday'?" "Actually it is kinda my birthday..." "That is one birthday that I am never celebrating." "Oh come now. I'm not that bad am I? It's gotta be nice to have someone to talk to? You're never lonely!" "Yeah...but you never shut up. And you're always attempting to take over my body. I can barely sleep without worrying that I'll wake up in the back of my own mind. Anyways, I...wait, is that somepony?" It was then that David spotted some...thing moving in the darkness. "That's not a pony." "Yeah, is it walking on two legs?" "The only thing that I know that walks on two legs is a dragon...oh, and diamond dogs. But what are the odds that either one of those would be in ponyville? Especially this version of ponyville? We haven't seen another living thing yet." "Everypony we've seen has been living, they've just not been awake. I'm going to go talk to it." "No don't! This is my body too! I think you're making a mistake. You're gonna get us killed!" "No. I'm not going to get myself killed at all." Saying this, David made his way towards Alex.

 

'You were right, it is a diamond dog.' "And is that...a she?" Out loud, he mutters "Let's find out." Louder, he yells "Hello? Miss...Uh...Diamond Dog?" 

Edited May 15, 2015 by Fictional_Author7

[Tom Snyder 4,112]

@@HigurSan,

 

Stopping dead, Aurora's ears perk to the sudden voice and a spell is cast in his direction; nearly missing his mane. Seeing the pony, she realizes her error and casts a flare spell; a newly created spell, near his hooves. This illuminates the area around him; she can now see him, but still remains cautious in case this is a trick. 

 

"I'm not sure myself, but who are you? I've never even seen you before as far as i can recall." Aurora stops just short him, looking the stallion over, she casts another spell; this one allows her to check if something is physical or ethereal. To her relief this one is physical, so this means he's in the same boat as she is. 

Edited May 15, 2015 by Candy Star

[HigurSan 195]

@,

Steeleye Sungazer

 

He snorted in irritation and moved his head to the side with ease, allowing the spell to whiz off past him. The flare spell bothered his fully open irises, making him squint until they adjusted. "I am Sungazer," he said directly. "We have not met before now. I would remember otherwise. Trying to see if I am a ghost?" His tone remained strong even as a touch of sarcasm passed his tongue. A faint glow lit up from his horn as he used it to scrape mud off of himself. Looking around them, he frowned.

 

"We would be best served to keep moving," he continued. "This place is foul and I am loathe to stay in it." He turned back to look her directly in the eyes, his deep orange irises seeming to burn in his head. "Have you seen any others, others who are awake? You are the first mare I've seen who is... up and walking." Standing up to his full height, he shook the last clumps of mud off of himself. He stood at least a full head's height above her, making him look down to stare her in the eye.

[Alex Van Gamer 230]

Alex Van Gamer

The diamond dog sighed, brushing a paw through her hair. She didn't know where she was going. Ponyville may not have been that big, but the only place she usually ever went to was the arcade, the Cake's shop, and the food market area. Finding a giant tree shouldn't be that hard to find, right? "I'm never gonna find this library..." She mumbled under her breath as she turned a corner.

 

@

She grit her teeth as she glanced around, still trying to find this library, but she eventually snapped to her senses when she heard someone call out... It took another moment before she realized the voice was refering to her, since she knew there were hardly, if ever, any Diamond Dogs aside from her that lived or visited this place... or rather, Ponyville in it's less, terrible state.

 

She turned around and saw the stallion slowly approacing, sighing inwardly at seeing another pony that wasn't asleep like all the others she'd seen. "Oh thank goodness, you're actualy awake... uh... Pardon me, but... Do you have any idea what's going on here?" she asked.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Alex VanGamer

[Trevor Bright 872]

@,

 As David walked towards her, he heard her question and sadly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what's going on. I only just woke up myself. You haven't, by chance seen a brown vest covered in pockets have you? I feel rather naked without it." "And we have no supplies without it. What happens if we're attacked. No knives, no-" "I know, you...uh..." David's voice trails off as he looks at Alex. "Sorry, I uh...talk to myself sometimes. Bad habit I can't break." He lets out an uneasy laugh to try and clear the tension. "Anyways, like I said, I have no idea what's going on...."
 

[Alex Van Gamer 230]

Alex Van Gamer

@,

Alex frowned a bit upon hearing the unicorn's answer, "Oh horseshoes..." She growled, shaking her head before looking back up at the stallion. "And uh, no. I haven't seen it. Maybe I—" She paused a moment at the stallions sudden outburst. "Oh, no that's quite alright." She replied with a smile. "I tend to talk to myself a lot too, though I usually do that when noponies around. But I have been caught once or twice from time to time. So no worries..."

 

She glanced around at her surrondings before returning a gaze. "One more question by the way. I'm not sure if you're familar with the area or not, but do you by chance know where the library is here? My friend Comet hasn't given me the full tour of the area yet... Er, well, until I can help find a way to fix whatever this is-" She threw a paw in the air, displaying the obviously terrible state of the town, "-he may never get to... I'm just hoping their might be a book or something that could give me some answers."

[Trevor Bright 872]

@,

David nods somberly at her question. "I believe I remember where it is. I was here on a mission once and Twilight...um, never mind. Yeah...If I remember correctly, it's this way?" His tone isn't definite, he's obviously not entirely sure he's going the right way. "If we go down this street and take a...left?" "Right, it's a right." David stops and changes directions. "Right, we take a right. Then if we go straight down here and um...take a..." "Another right."  "Another right? I think...Then we...uh...ah..." David here's a sifled laugh in his head as Poe just manages to get out "Another right!" before he loses it and starts laughing. David, for his part, stops and scowls. "This isn't funny! I...um..." Stopping to look back at Alex David blushes. "Uh, sorry. I'm a bit tired still....um...yeah, I got nothing. Everything as deteriorated way to much for me to recognize anything." He looks down gloomily and sighs before perking up and looking at Alex. "I must apologize. I've been terribly rude. I haven't even introduce myself. I'm David. David Pocket." He indicates his pocket shaped cutie mark. "Or I was, I feel weird and useless without my vest. I had a compass in there that would've been useful right about now...anyways, what's you're name?" 

[Tom Snyder 4,112]

@@HigurSan,

 

"My Mistake. I had to be sure that you're not one of them, you can't be too careful these days." She casts another light spell to light the way through the haze, but its still a bit hard to see through. This place doesn't feel right, every second feels like somepony is watching her; Aurora doesn't like it one bit. "If you wish to, you may come with me or stay here; but i'm going to the look for any others that are awake." this may have sounded cold, but she doesn't want to spend anymore time in this place than she has to. Moving on ahead, Aurora looks around for any sign of a street or path, there's only one she can see; a path leading to the Town square. 

 

"Yes, but i don't think it was a friendly one; it moves to quickly to be a pony, I would know. I have defended this town from many creatures, but this one isn't in any known book; so watch your flank." Aurora can only wonder how these ponies ended up like this, she knows of many spells; but this somehow looks familiar. "Could it be? No, I'm sure it can't do this; Besides, that magic hasn't been used ever since Sombra." the more she thinks about it, the more it started to confuse her; if it was indeed dark magic, then...this will mean trouble if the one using it decides to eliminate them.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Candy Star

[HigurSan 195]

(Shorter post due to mobile, summarized.)

Steeleye follows Iron Aurora, but says little. He does begin casting anti magic wards around himself. As they go closer to the town center, he grows wary of Iron's muttering. He does seem concerned at the mention of Sombra, and keeps a magical light floating around him. He also keeps looking around for others.

[Alex Van Gamer 230]

Alex Van Gamer

@Fictional_Author7,

Alex frowns a bit, not quite believing that he said he knew where to go, but gave the stallion the benefit of the doubt and followed after him. She mentally questioned when the pony suddenly shifted directions, then again when  he said to take a second another right, seeing as he phrased it as much more confirmed question compared to the last one.

She then suddenly jumped in surprise at his sudden outburst, her ears wilting back a bit from the scare. When the stallion looked back at her, she faked a smile as he apologized and explained his connection of his name with his missing vest.

"I’m sure you’ll find your vest soon..." She replied. "And my name is Alex Van Gamer." the young canine glanced around at their surroundings before sighing. "It's unfortunate that neither of us knows where the library is... But maybe if we just pick a direction we might be able to run into someone else who knows where it is. Chances are, that if I found you, there could be a few others that are awake like us." She took another looke around, before pointing in the direction of her choosing. "Let's try this way." She said before walking in that direction.

[Trevor Bright 872]

David nodded and started to follow. "This is stupid. Give me control." 'Poe, we're not doing this right now.' "Give. Me. CONTROL." "NO." David yelled allowed. He held his head as pain spiked through it. He'd fought Poe off before. He could do it again. He wavered back and forth before falling on the ground his hooves on his head. His horn flashing magic, changing from a dark natural green to a deep oceanic blue. Finally his horn's magic was two colors at once that seemed to be chasing each other back and forth around his horn. Then in a flash of magic, David slumped to the ground. His magic went out. He was in a deep slumber. Dead to the world around him. Comatose, just like the other ponies that littered the area. 

Edited May 31, 2015 by Fictional_Author7

[Alex Van Gamer 230]

Alex Van Gamer

 

Alex jolted a bit, turning around when she hear the stallions sudden outburst. She watched his inner struggle in horror, gasping as he fell to the floor and his horn flashed dual colors. What was going on?! Suddenly however, he stopped moving all together, appearing to be asleep like everypony else.

 

"D-David!" She excliamed, rushing over to him, trying to touch him, but finding that she couldn't, just like her friend at the arcade. Her eyes shot even wider in horror. "H-how...? W-what...? C-could that happen to... m-m-me?!" She was deathly frightened now, "O-oh... Oh dear Celestia I... I-I have to find a way to fix this... Now!" She exclaimed, running off in hopes to find the answers she needed. Lucky by chance, that the path she decided to take was leading her to Town square, the same place another pair of awake ponies were heading towards.

[Tom Snyder 4,112]

@@HigurSan, 

 

Iron Aurora can only manage to bare pierce the haze, but that feeling of dread is still there. Looking to see if Steeleye is following; she turns her attention to a shadow of a building; a tree as it were. This must be the library she sought, here everything about magic can be found or maps of the area; which will be needed if they are to find their way around. But trying to approach the door results in a glyph appearing, any attempt at offensive spells fail to break it. 

 

"This glyph is made by dark magic, I know it; but i may have something for this. So i'd back away, don't need you getting hurt." says Aurora. She begins casting a spell of light, but seems to struggle in casting it. Frustrated, she keeps trying, but fails at every attempt. Why would her magic fail now? It worked last time. But now it seems they've hit an obstacle, something erected to keep them out or to test them.

 

"She's clever, i never thought it would come to this; but i have to try..." Aurora thinks to herself, but finally realizes whats wrong; this glyph, it prevents magic from being used. A pair of eyes watches the scene play out, interested in seeing if these two could make it through. 

 

"So its just two of them, hm? The green one seems strong, yet lacks any-" before she can finish her sentence, Aurora backs away from the glyph, and it seems to fade. Tilting her head, she wonders what she's up to, surely she couldn't break it that easily. Before she can say another word; Aurora casts a light spell and shatters the glyph completely, with little effort. A smile is brought to the to the face of the shadowy figure watching, interesting how this one figured it out so quickly. For now she will observe and keep the two on watch.

[HigurSan 195]

@, @,

Steeleye Sungazer

 

Steeleye remained close behind Iron Aurora, despite his concern over her muttering. On the outside, he didn't seem to be overly phased by their surroundings. But inside, his danger sense was screaming at him to get out. It wasn't a sixth sense per say, but it was more like the instinct all creatures have that tells them when a predator is nearby, sharpened to a razor edge by his soldier training. "Dark magic?" He asked mostly to himself. "Bad stuff. Only seen it once or twice. Kicks normal magic around like its made of chaff." He could feel his wards struggling to compensate. It'd suck him dry eventually. Then there was a flash of light, and the glyph was gone. The magic been sucked from him snapped back like whiplash.

 

"Standard light spell? Perhaps a touch of personal flavor. Not overly complicate, but the power base required means only second year students at the Canterlot Magic academy can use it." He turned his gaze on Iron Aurora. "Where did you study? I'm fairly certain that there's not been any ponies of your description enrolled. Would have notice as you went through the gates." Peeking through the library door, he frowned. It was a mess, just like everything else around. "LIbrarian is going to have a fit if she see's this. Met her once. Another student bumped into her, made her drop her books. Just about lit the whole building on fire. Bit of a temper, that one."