[MLP FIM] Bridle Shores Dream World/Time Bubbles Thread

[Benson]

"You guys...come on this is our chance," Spark declared as he started to trot off. All this....subterfuge was making him restless. He went toward a tunnel that some dogs had exited from figuring that the tunnels they were entering to find him, Thunderbolt, Pyrite, and Dawn were obviously not tunnels that could lead them to Charger.

[Deme]

"Works for me."

Pyrite whispered, following close behind. He didn't like this sneaking, but the alternative -- getting beaten up by a bunch of dogs twice his size -- lacked appeal in a deep and meaningful way. As Daffy Duck once wisely said, "I'm not like other people. I don't like pain -- it hurts me." To Pyrite, those were words to live by.

[Thanqol]

As they sneaked around into the new tunnel they could hear distant electrical crackling and the sounds of rocks breaking. The dogs could hardly see their own noses in the helmets they wore, so the foals weren't spotted.

[Deme]

"That's electrical discharge right there!" He whispered with enthusiasm, at finally having found a sign of Charger. He crept that way, amused at the dog's incompetence.

[Benson]

Spark let his own excitement of finally maybe finding Charger get the best of him. He leeroyed it and dashed towards the noise.

[Hawkflight]

Dawn crept forward, keeping an eye out for danger. Thunderbolt frowned, getting a bad feeling....

[Thanqol]

The good news was they found Charger.

The bad news is that Charger was being chased around by a Scorpos.

It was an enormous scorpion, made out of stars and night, a cousin to the Ursa Minor. The Scorpio constellation ran through the scorpion's body, where it wasn't blacked out by the scorch marks that covered the monster. Charger was running, looking exhausted and haggard. She lunges behind a rock just in time to dodge a strike from the stinger, and launched a desperate thunderbolt from her generator. It struck the Scorpos squarely, blackening a bit more of it's hide.

She'd been at this for half an hour and she'd knocked off maybe one percent of the monster's hit points. Pure stubbornness was keeping her going.

[Benson]

Spark Chaser


"Gyaah!" Squeaked Spark as he saw the Scorpio. He flushed and tried to compose himself and put on a brave face.

"Charger!" He called out to the electric filly. He likely drew the attention of the Scorpio but he was confident in his speed to evade its attack. He looked at the Scorpio and sported a look of grim determination.

"Hey ugly...why don't ya try to catch me!" He bucked a rock at it to get its attention if his shout didn't do it. He wanted to get the aggro off of Charger.

[Deme]

Pyrite froze. He...did not have enough bug spray for this. He wasn't sure exactly what he had for this, in fact.

Well, besides lots of rope, but he didn't know what to do with it... But he realized that he did at least have his first-aide supplies, but that wouldn't be helpful until he could get Charger away...

He just sort of sputtered in place and darted behind a rock.

[Hawkflight]

Dawn Blossom frowned as she saw a scorpio chasing Charger. While Spark tried to draw his attention, she set about worrying why it was here in the first place. "Charger!" she called. "Over here!"

Meanwhile, Thunderbolt readied himself to assist Spark should it be necessary.

[Thanqol]

The Scorpos turned it's attention to Spark Chaser. It swung it's stinger at him. Fortunately, the beast was slow and dodging would be easy. The downside was that you only had to mess up once to be smeared.

Charger began building another charge in her backpack generator. "Dawn? Get back! It's not safe here!" She shouted between gasps for breath, barely glancing around.

[Hawkflight]

"Yeah! Not safe for you either!" Dawn called back. "So get out of there and let's haul flank!"

[Thanqol]

"Yeah! Not safe for you either!" Dawn called back. "So get out of there and let's haul flank!"

"I've almost beaten it! I just need a few more hits!" Charger said, though this statement was clearly missing reality by a fair margin.

[Hawkflight]

"Charger!" said Dawn Blossom, a small frown crossing her face. "I've met one of those before, and I can tell you for certain, it's not gonna go down so easily! Now come on!"

[Benson]

"Gyah!" Yelped the reddish orange pony as he dodged a near encounter with the stinger. Okay, this was...not best laid out plan.

[TheAmishPirate]

Dream World

A solitary Nightmare approached the sleepy town of Bridal Shores, oblivious to the age shenanigans of the day. Despite his eons of dreaming experience, the thought of an assignment in Bridal Shores made him shudder. He'd heard the stories, how simple ponies from a backwater town in the middle of nowhere could drive even experienced Nightmares batty.

At least it wasn't the bar owner...what was she called again? Smooth Service? Ugh, there was a mad pony if ever he saw one. No, this night was a short shift; a few ponies due for some mild bad dreams, a few decent dreams, and one pony long overdue for a nightmare. The beach caretaker, Sandy Shores. Or...at least he thought that was the only assignment. The darn pages kept sticking together, so there might be more ponies there as well.

The Nightmare approached the bubble of Sandy's mind, figuring he'd get the hard assignment out of the way first.

(Jormong can either stop him, or just tag along for the ride)

[Thanqol]

"What makes you think I'm going to take it easy!?" Charger shouted, slamming her forehoves together and arcing out another dramatic bolt of lightning across the room. It ineffectively bounced off the Scorpos' hide.

For it's part, the Scorpos brought around a slow and clumsy pincer to try and grab Spark. It was designed to hunt much bigger prey than ponies, so it would have extreme trouble getting a grip.

[Deme]

"Do these guys actually need defeating right now, Charger?!"

He asked over the bustle of the fight. In the abstract, when it involved other people, he was fine with heroism. But working for foal-kidnappers, or just picking fights with random monsters... That was not heroism.

[Rodny]

A Nightmare appeared out of nowhere and looked at this new commer. He then asked. Who might you be?

[TheAmishPirate]

A Nightmare appeared out of nowhere and looked at this new commer. He then asked. Who might you be?

Said newcomer nearly leaped out of his coat and extinguished his mane from surprise. "Gah!"

After some undignified scrambling, he attempted to regain some semblance of composure. He gave a slight bow, assuming this Nightmare to be his superior. "Dusk Phantom, sir. On orders for the Bridle Shores route tonight."

[Rodny]

Oh? So Berathor is still requesting aid against Moro is he... Jormong nightmare and daymare extraordinary. Jormong said doing a little bow himself.

[TheAmishPirate]

Oh? So Berathor is still requesting aid against Moro is he... Jormong nightmare and daymare extraordinary. Jormong said doing a little bow himself.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be getting on my route. Short one tonight, but no sense in delaying." He began to head in the direction of Sandy's mind, or however geography works in the Dreamworld. In any case, Jormong would know he was heading for Sandy's noggin.

[Rodny]

Jormong whistled and then quickly dissapeared, reappearing again inside Sandies head to wait and see what this new nightmare could do.

(Just to mention Jormong is the only one that can teleport because of his Daymareness.

[Thanqol]

"Do these guys actually need defeating right now, Charger?!"

He asked over the bustle of the fight. In the abstract, when it involved other people, he was fine with heroism. But working for foal-kidnappers, or just picking fights with random monsters... That was not heroism.

"Yeah! I didn't come down here to not defeat this thing!" Charger shouted, darting in to land another ineffectual jolt of lightning on the invincible hide of the Scorpos.

[TheAmishPirate]

The Nightmare popped into view a few moments later, and set to work constructing a dream. Jormong would immediately notice something off. Whenever he or another Nightmare would visit Sandy's head, there would be some sort of reaction. A little darting of the head, a wince, some sort of reaction to their presence. Tonight, there was no such thing. Sandy continued dreaming, completely oblivious of his two watchers.

In no time at all, the first dream was ready...

(Spoiled for intensity/scary dreams, I'm keeping this pony as best as I can)

Spoiler

Show

The pale blue foal lay in bed, his strength and stamina completely gone. Only with all his might could he manage to open his eyes a crack. All around him were ponies. Stallions, mares, Short, tall, young, old, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, ponies of all shapes and sizes. Each face spoke of a distant memory, an old aquaintance, friends left behind; he knew each and every one of these ponies. Out of the corner of his eye, a magenta unicorn trotted to his bedside and gently touched his cheek with her snout. To Sandy’s horror, she began to fade away into nothingness, giving him one last smile before disappearing. Once she was gone, he felt a mote of strength return to him, and he could open his eyes all the way. Before he could think on what just happened, another stallion approached him and clasped his hoof. He too vanished, leaving Sandy stronger still.

As pony after pony went to touch a hoof to him, Sandy felt his own panic grow. Soon he was strong enough to speak again, and he mumbled out, “No...stop...ah can beat this...just don’t...not fer me...” The ponies didn’t heed his plea, and continued disappearing one by one. Sandy could sit up now, and tried pushing away ponies before they could reach him. But they just grabbed his outstretched hooves and vanished all the same. Fear gripped him as yet another friend disappeared for his sake. “Ah’m fine! Ah swear it! Just-just cut it out guys! Ah’m better now! Ah don’t need-ah don’t need-” His words fell on deaf ears. Once he was strong enough to get out of bed, he galloped away from the dwindling crowd. But no matter how fast he ran, they always caught him. His pleas turned desperate as only a hooffull of ponies remained. “Please! Ah beg you! Don’t do this, ah’m not worth it! Ah can git better mahself, you don’t have to-”

He blinked, and realized he was shouting to an empty room. He sat down hard, shaking his head in disbelief. “All gone...all gone...” His voice cracked as he finally stopped holding back the tears. “All ‘cause of me...they’d be here if it weren’t for me...” He broke down sobbing in the middle of an empty room.

[Rodny]

Letting out a quite whistle Jormong thought. "This ones good... He has what it takes to be part of the teachers!" He then became visible to the nightmare and stood there laying on the floor waiting for him to notice him.

[TheAmishPirate]

Letting out a quite whistle Jormong thought. "This ones good... He has what it takes to be part of the teachers!" He then became visible to the nightmare and stood there laying on the floor waiting for him to notice him.

The other Nightmare bowed again, letting Jormong speak first if he so wished. Otherwise, he would get on with his work.

[Rodny]

"I have to mention something, seeing your skills. At the Nightmare Dwelling here you will meet a nightmare named Berathor. He is the leader there. Avoid him. He is trying to organize a rebellion against HQ. Something else, There is another nightmare named Moro, you might have heard of him, he controls another part of the dwelling that is currently floating through the dreamrealm around Bridle Shores. Avoid them too, they are trying to stop Berathor. Heck I suggest you find a pony and lodge yourself into his or her head for the day once you finish."

[TheAmishPirate]

The Nightmare shrugged as he watched Sandy. "I wouldn't worry about me, sir. I just follow my orders, never had a mind for all that political nonsense. Get the dreams done, that's what matters, I say." He did crack a smile at the subtle praise. "Nothing to it really; he had fear of helplessness and a self-sacrificing spirit. Two birds with one stone, as it were."

After another look at his charts, he let out a sigh. "Almost feel sorry for this one, but that's what you get with a weird dream schedule. Sometimes things pile up, and sometimes it's the bad ones. If you'll excuse me, I think two more ought to keep him set for a long time."

[Rodny]

Really? I haven't really been paying too much attention to his dreams that much... Well I won't be stopping your job then. But really. Consider finding a head to reside in after this. Also just so you know. He will remember all of this in the morning. He had a Nightmare trapped in his head fora day so feel free to choose him if you want. Just make sure he doesn't see you. Finished off Jormong and then dissapeared again. He was going to continue watching his work tho.