The Deep Sleepby StevieBondChaptersDeep SleepDeeper SleepThe Deepest SleepDeep SleepWhen you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. - Friedrich Nietzsche A moment of a jolt and Flash suddenly opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom in the crystal castle. He found a silver key on the drawers that wasn't there before. Getting out of the bed, Flash walked to the bedroom door and tried to use the key unlock it, but it didn't seem to fit the keyhole. "That's weird." Flash said. "This key always fits this door, why isn't it now?" Then he saw another drawer that had a slide on it which appeared to be locked, he used that key and it worked with the sound of a click, he slid the draw slide up and found a cyan box that was locked. "Shiny..." he commented. "..well, this isn't so bad." But no sooner he grabbed the box, the whole room suddenly changed. The ceiling and most of the walls evaporated, even the locked door disappeared. "Me and my big mouth." He moaned before looking back at his bed and getting a free shock. "Argh!" There was a skeleton pony lying in his bed, one of the bones however appeared to be loose. Despite his best efforts against his curiosity, he approached the skeleton and took the loose foreleg bone before turning around and leaving the bedroom. Flash was met with three routes, his left showed a stairway down to somewhere, in the middle was a doorway that looked to have been walled up, yet there were cracks in the middle and to his right was another step of stairs but went deeper and darker. He walked to the left first and down the stairs till he heard a ringing noise, into the room he went and the ringing was louder. Unknown to him, it was a telephone, something or someone seemed to be calling Flash for some reason. "Whatever that is, I know that we don't have that in Equestria." Flash said. "Does this mean that I'm dreaming?" He picked up the phone and placed it down on the table to hear the call. "Wake up..." the voice whispered. "...you have to wake up..." "Wake up, so I AM dreaming!" Flash exclaimed. "But why do I feel like I'm awake already?" "...You have to escape..." the message continued. "...the lighthouse...beware of the dark..." The message ended, but then went back to the beginning of the message as if it was on repeat. Flash was beginning to feel disturbed, he looked at the cupboard door and opened it to find a flashlight, but had no batteries. He checked the draws on the right, but the top one was locked. "A flashlight will come in handy, but where can I find batteries for it?" he asked before leaving. Since the middle doorway was blocked off but with a few cracks showing, he took a deep breath and ventured into the deep and dark stairway on his right, he walked into a lightly dimmed room that had a desk with a written piece of paper and a bell next to it. Flash picked up the paper and began to read it, hoping to find some answers about the world he's in. I'm sure this note gets to you somehow. At this point you should know all of this is not real. I hope the inner awakening went well and that you have a full, lucid control over the dream. Sincerely... He stopped reading it the moment he saw who wrote it. "Princess Luna?!" He yelled before looking upwards at the ceiling. "WHY?!" He slammed the paper down on the desk and sighed angrily before he felt a pain jolting through his head. "Ow! What is this pain...wait, I remember now. I was doing my patrol duty around the castle when one of the legs on a crystal statue gave way. It was about to fall on one of the crystal ponies when I galloped and shoved the pony out of the way, but I wasn't able to move away in time and the statue crashed down on me. The impact must've been so strong that I ended up falling...into a coma!" He shook his head and looked into a room that had a pipeline which seemed to be leaking water on the floor which made a puddle. "But if that is true, this doesn't explain why Princess Luna wrote that letter or how I am suppose to wake up." He left that room and went down another flight of stairs to find himself in what was a boiler room. There was a dry cloth in the bucket, he picked up the cloth since he was curious again and then came across a main boiler and a pile of coal. He picked up a piece of coal when he thought back to how one coal can bring you luck, because he was going to need it. He looked closer through the window of the boiler door when suddenly, he saw hoofprints and screaming from inside. "Who or what the heck was that!?" Flash exclaimed, after getting a shock. "Hmm that stand on the right may be missing a lever or something." He then thought of the bone he picked up and to his amazement, the bone neatly fitted in the lever hole. He pushed it to the right and the fires inside the boiler dies down before phasing out completely. He then touched the wheel to try and open it, but the wheel was too hot to be turned. "Ouch! Even in a dream, there's such a thing as pain?" Flash left the boiler room and thought of an idea. "Maybe I could wet this cloth and it'll be cold enough to turn the wheel." He went back into the small room with the pipe and placed the cloth on the puddle, it was now soaked. He went back to the boiler room and used the cloth and his hooves to turn the wheel and then the door opened. He looked inside to find a smaller silver key and he was about to leave till he saw half of a number at the back of the boiler interior. He used his left hoof to sweep away the loose signed dust and soon it revealed a four-numbered code, Eight-zero-three-four. "Hmm, gotta remember that code and hey, maybe that small key I found could unlock that top drawer." Flash left the boiler room and walked upstairs and upstairs back to where he started and went down the lighter stairway and back to the room with the phone. He used the small key and it unlocked the top drawer, he opened it and there was batteries for the flashlight. He put them in and gave it a test on a dark part of the room and it worked, Flash now had one prime and useful flashlight. He went back to the room with the paper and the bell and opened the door next to it. It was completely dark, so he turned on his flashlight and at the far end he saw a short message which showed "Wake up" and a doorway. "Oh I'm trying to..." Flash commented before he went into the dark hallway. He pointed hi flashlight at a shelf and saw a golden statue of a pony, he took it and went into a room on his right and saw a message on the wall with a toy horse in the corner. Little Cody is lost without his plushie tiger. "What does that even mean?" Flash asked before leaving the room and going to the opposite doorway and finding a window at the end that shone a bright light. He walked closer to it until he saw a note on the left in a dark corner. YOU ARE NEXT! It's time to pay a price for things you don't comprehend. "Pay a price? What did I do wrong?" Flash cried before taking a deep breath and walked to the window. He walked over it and found himself on the outside, to his right a stairway to another window, there was a third one above him but it was out of reach. So he went down and walked through the window and came across a bricked room with a metal door and a keypad on the side. "Strange, we don't have that kind of security." Flash commented. "Oh but wait, maybe something will happen if I put in that code. Eight, zero, three and four." He used his hoof to push the numbers he said and a small light next to the numbers went from red to green, the beep also confirmed the code. He looked at the circle lever by the doors. "Got it, now maybe I can push that lever around like a clock to open the doors." He did so and it revealed a dark hallway with no end in sight. He turned his flashlight on and went down the hallway that seemed to last for a while until he came across a few barrels, a door and a pickaxe that was being held on a holder. He plucked up a little, thinking back to the cracked wall at the start, he took the pickaxe off the holder. Suddenly the door flung open and out came a shadow pony of sorts and was moving towards Flash at a quick pace. "ARGH! Okay what is that?!" Flash yelled as he began to gallop away. "HE'S COMING TO KILL ME! GOING BACKWARDS! HEEEEY!" He got out of the dark hallway and back into the lit room and used the lever to close up the doors. "CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT!" The door was then completely shut. He breathed a sigh of relief and looking up. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?!" He left the room through the window and went to the end of the stairs to find a hook, he picked it up. He then reminded himself to trace his steps back all the way back to the room with the cracked wall. He used the pickaxe and made a hole in the cracked wall, he gave it another hole and then after a third hole, the cracked wall evaporated. "Hey look, it's freedom, question mark?" he commented before going through the door way and found himself outside, next to a beach. "A beach net? Hmm, maybe if I combine this with the hook..." after a moment of working over it, he had a hook embedded in the net. "Aha! Maybe I can use this and go up to that unreachable window." He went back inside and all the way back to the windows by the stairs. He threw the hooked net on the unreachable window and the hook landed on the window rim. "Yeah! Now I can climb like Tarzan." He said happily before frowning. "Shining Armour makes me watch those movies as punishment, don't ask." He climbed up the net and into a room to find a table with a blue phone, a tape recorder and a small gold key. Flash now realized that it wasn't a pony talking to him, but a recorded message. Although in Equestria, there wasn't such a thing, so this was new to him. At least he had the gold key now, he thought of the small box, so he used the key on it and it unlocked, he opened it to see a small and shiny gem. He left the room, climbed back down the net and walked all the way back to the beach outside. He saw a lighthouse at the end, and walked upwards and up to the top floor to where there a bulb, but it had no light. "Maybe this gem can be the source of light, I hope." he said as he put the gem in the bulb and then in a flash, the light bulb began to shine around the lighthouse. "I think that did something, other than give the lighthouse what it was missing." He walked back down and out of the lighthouse, only to get a free sudden scare again, there, standing in front of him were a group of shadow ponies and they were blocking the way. "Oh that's just great, I have nowhere to run I guess." Flash moaned. He walked back into the house and saw one of the shadow ponies following to him. "I have to escape...this isn't happening...I have to wake up!" He was back at the top, but he wasn't alone for long. The shadow pony caught up to him, but Flash wasn't about to go down without a fight. "Oh hi...yeah, gonna fight you...get back I say, get back!" He used the levers on both sides to guide the light until it was aimed directly at the shadow pony. "YEAH! Gotcha, blasted ya into dust!" He sighed and smiled before the world began to disappear around him. "Woah...what's happening now?" Before he could say anymore, a massive light enveloped everything. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the Crystal hospital, Shining Armour was watching over Flash through a glass window. Just then, he saw Flash begin to open his eyes and move his head. Shining gasped and called out for a nurse. "Quick, I think Flash is coming to!" Flash shook his head, sat up on the bed and looked around to see himself in a hospital room. "Am I awake?" He asked. "Flash Sentry." Shining said as he walked into the room with a nurse. "Oh uhhh, hello sir." Flash replied nervously. "What happened to me, sir?" Shining chuckled. "Flash it's okay, I'm not on royal duty at the moment." he then smiled. "According to the nurse, you went into a coma after that statue fell on you." "A coma?" Flash asked. "So everything I did was just a dream?" "What do you mean by that?" Flash shook his head. "Oh it's nothing." Shining showed a hint of concern towards him. "Flash, I want you to be honest here, please." "Alright." Flash replied. "All I remember is wandering around a world, there were too many dark places. There was also a message by Princess Luna and then I was at a beach with a lighthouse and then after getting the lighthouse to be on, I just woke up." Shining breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Princess Luna was able to keep Flash on his hooves and his mind focused whilst in a coma. "The nurse says you should be out tomorrow, just don't worry about your duty. The other guards can take care of your patrol until you get back." "Alright err...Shining, err sir." Flash winked. Shining chuckled again. "Don't push your luck, mister...just kidding." he winked and then left the hospital. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day arrived and Flash was able to go back to the castle, but as he walked on, he kept remembering the deep dream he had. The nightmare was over, but to Flash, his life had changed forever. Was it really all just a dream during his coma or were those creatures real? Flash decided that he had to know, he just had to know the truth and he couldn't stop thinking about it. He had to go back...back to the deep sleep. Deeper SleepOne late afternoon, Flash Sentry was in a deep thought. He was beginning to wish he could have another lucid dream, a dream which he is awake and a dream where he could do anything. But at the same time, the memory of his accident and falling into a coma made his dream go terribly wrong and ended up walking in a world where it was a terrible nightmare. Before he was able to wake up, there were monsters trying to get him. He didn't think they were part of his dream as Princess Luna explained briefly to him a few days after he got out of the hospital. It was like they came from outside, from the depths. The nightmare hasn't faded away like Flash thought it would and he still couldn't stop thinking about it. "What if it was real?" he asked himself. "I've become obsessed with it, I don't know why. Maybe I just want to prove myself wrong." So, before the beginning of the night, Flash got permission to have an hour away from the Crystal castle and with a saddle bag, went to the crystal Library. To see if there were any past records of dreams that were similar to his. "Evening Librarian." Flash greeted as he walked in. The librarian was in the middle of sorting out a bookshelf. "Oh good evening mister..." "Flash Sentry, I'm one of the guards." The librarian felt worried. "Oh, is there a problem?" "No it's nothing serious. I'm just wondering if there are any books about lucid dreaming." "Oh thank Celestia." The librarian "Sure, we have a small section of books on dreams, up on the first floor and to the far left." "Thanks librarian." Flash replied, smiling. He walked up the stairs and to the far left. He found a section of books on dreaming that weren't really interesting until he found one labelled 'Lucid Dreaming'. He picked up the book and opened it, he then noticed a page was missing, as if it was torn off. He put the book back and noticed a small piece of paper on the ground, he picked it up and read a short sentence that was on it. As long as you don't know you are dreaming, you are safe. "What does that mean?" he asked before putting the piece of paper in his bag. Suddenly the view around him changed, the library had completely turned into a small area of rooms with the centre having no ceiling. "Oh come on!" Flash exclaimed. "Don't tell me I'm dreaming again!" He sighed angrily before clearing his throat. "Better find a way out of this one like last time." He looked to his left and saw a book on the floor that wasn't there before. He picked it up and went to the room on the right. There was a bookshelf, but it seemed to be missing a book. He put the green book in the missing slot, he then heard a click and the bookshelf moved to the right, revealing a secret passage. "This book fits here perfectly." Flash said as he stepped into the new doorway and picked up some batteries and a piece of paper. "I have a feeling that this paper will explain some things once I find all of the pieces." he said to himself before opening a door to his right and ventured into the hallway. He past another door that was locked, an elevator that seemed to have no power, at the end was a doorway to somewhere completely dark and a stairway that went down. He took the stairway first and found himself in a room that looked very similar. "Wait, haven't I been in this room before?" he asked before noticing a key on the wooden board, he took the key and put it in his bag. He then went down another flight of stairs to find a door that was locked from the other side and doorway that led to a few sewer drains. As he walked into the drainage room, he spotted a silhouette of a pony behind one of the bars. The mysterious pony looked at him, startling Flash at first. "You again." He said firmly. "Why have you returned? This place is dangerous." Flash seemed confused. "Who are you?" "My name is not important. I'm a traveller, like you." "You are a real, sleeping pony?" "Yes, As crazy as it sounds, I am as real as you are." The silhouette pony turned his head away. "Currently? I'm hiding. Your actions have drawn THEIR attention." "Who are they?" "The Shadow Ponies. But we shouldn't talk about them, here take this. It might shed some light on the matter." The silhouette pony gave Flash a piece of paper. "Oh and one more thing, DON'T go up to the attic! There's a mare up there who was travelling in this world, but couldn't find her way out and went crazy." "I'll do my best, thank you." Flash replied, putting the piece in his bag. "You're welcome. Now, if you don't have any other questions, please leave as promised." "I'll try to escape, goodbye." Flash then walked onwards and saw another piece of paper by a set of metal bars, he walked on and into another room that also looked familiar. There was a flashlight on the floor, he picked it up and placed the batteries inside it, he had one useful flashlight working, same as before. He walked all the way back to the hallway with the doorway that led to a dark room. He walked in and got a free shock seeing bright eyes before he put the flashlight on. It turned out to be an antler's head on the wall. There was a piece of paper in the fireplace that he picked up before going in what looked like a classroom. Looking around the classroom with his flashlight, he got another free shock when a chair flew around the the floor. He picked up a pointer stick and took note of the numbers that were written on the green board. Four-one-seven-two. He picked up another note and left the classroom, past the fireplace and back in the green hallway. "I vow that I must never go back in those rooms again." Flash declared as he walked all the way back down to the familiar room and using his hoof, typed in the four digit code, the light on the side went green and he used the lever to open the doors. "Okay, last time I went in there, a shadow pony was at the end." he said. "But it can't be there this time, I killed one of them back at that lighthouse." He switched on the flashlight and walked slowly through the dark hallway before coming to an opened door and barrels, there was no shadow pony this time, so he walked into the room and saw a doorway, he walked in there to find that it was a foal's playroom. He picked up a plushie tiger and a separate note. As he picked up a needle thread before leaving, he heard a whisper of a filly. Help me... There was nothing of interest left, so he walked back to the lighted room and up the stairs. He came across a small room with the pipes from before. There was a gold key on the top, but he couldn't reach it, so he grabbed the tallest object in his bag and took out a pointer. It was just long enough to reach the key, he pushed it off the pipes and it fell to the floor. "Got it!" He said proudly. "But what about this silver key, it has to unlock something." He walked back to the green hallway and to the door on his right, he put in the silver key it worked, the door was unlocked. He walked in to find bunks beds, each bed had a name on it. One of them said Cody, he remembered that name from before and then thought back of what the message said last time. "Maybe this is the plushie the message said about, I should put it on Cody's bed." Flash then placed the plushie tiger on the bed with Cody's name and felt a sense that he did a good deed. He left the bedroom and walked back to the main room, he then went into a fourth doorway, he came across an odd poster that had a clown's face on it and a door. He used the gold key and it unlocked the door, he walked and found himself now on the outside. "Well, I'm outdoors, but this place looks nothing like home." Flash moaned, turning on his flashlight and walking into a forest of some kind, picking up a couple of notes along the way, he found a small thread on the ground, a key that was under a pot by a well, before coming to the end and finding a waterwheel, it appeared to be not working, even though there was water flowing down a lake on the side of the pathway. He went inside the machine room and saw a bag with a hole in it, he then thought of an idea. "Well, this may not be royal guard standard, but I once did some sewing lessons." He said, trying not to blush. Shortly after, he used the needle and the thread to make a bag that was mouldy yet no longer had a hole, he threw the needle away as he had no more use for it. With the bag, he picked up a small bag that was full of flour and put that inside, there was pile of dirt and stones outside, he put those in the bag and it was now full. He put the bag on a scale next to it and it went down quickly, opening a door that led to a few pipes and another note. He left the machine and went further onwards, picking up another note before coming to the end and seeing a fountain and yet another note. Flash was thinking that he would be glad to read the paper once all the notes were found. The fountain had some sort of puzzle that needed solving once Flash saw eight buttons on a slab. "Oh joy, puzzles." he said with complete sarcasm. "My favourite...NOT!" After a long while of trying to figure out the puzzle, he finally cracked it. All eight of the buttons were now blue and the fountain sprung to life with water coming out and flowing down to the lake. The water level rose by a meter and ran past the machine which was now switched on. Flash walked back to see the waterwheel now moving and the light above it turned on. "So this water flow must be the source of power, perhaps that elevator is now working." He said as he trotted back to the big house. When he got in, the poster on his right had changed, the strangely happy clown face was now a menacing looking clown with blood around the eyes, this gave Flash a bit of fright, but he tried to stay brave. Going back to the main room, he used the gold key on the locked metal door by the table, it unlocked and when he got inside, there was a note and according to the paper, it was the final note. "Yes!" Flash exclaimed. "Now I can finally read all of this and learn more. "Perhaps now would be a good time to read it." He then put all the notes together and soon, he began to read on what appeared to be a page, perhaps it was the page that was torn out from the book. I first encountered this phenomenon in the early 80's, but it would seem "They" have existed since the dawn of Equestria. Commonly known as the Night Folk, or Shadow Ponies, they live in the realm of dreams but desperately want to get to our realm by possessing vulnerable, unoccupied bodies. As long as you don't know you are dreaming, you are safe... They attack when they sense a mind detached from its body, which sometimes happens during comas, but much more often during OOBEs and Lucid Dreaming. Flash stared in horror, it was all clear to him now. He had fallen into a lucid dream once again and unless he finds a way out, the shadow ponies may catch up to him. He did not want that to happen, so he regained his focus and went up to the green hallway and to the elevator. He pushed the button and the elevator doors opened. There were four buttons, one of which was damaged, there was the current floor, the attic and the floor below him. As much as he disliked the thought, he pushed the top button which took him to the attic. He got out and stepped into the attic, he turned on his flashlight and looked around. He then saw a screwdriver and thought that it may come in handy. But as soon as he picked it up, he almost suffered a panic attack when he saw a mare in a white dress and black mane covering her face. "OH FAUST IN TATARUS!" Flash yelled as he got to the elevator, he used the screwdriver on the button panel, but he dropped it and picked it up again. "COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!" He added, he got the panel off and pushed the elevator button and leapt inside and pushed the button that took him back to the ground floor. He stood out for a moment to take a breather. "What the Faust in Equestria was that?!" He yelled angrily before calming down. "Wait, that must've been the mare traveller that silhouette pony warned me about." He stepped back in the elevator and pushed the bottom button that took him to the basement. "At least this place is lit up and there's a metal box with screws, I can use this." He used the screwdriver on the holes and the lid of the metal box dropped, revealing a long rope. "Sooo, now that I have the rope...maybe I can use it on the well I saw earlier?" He went to the wooden door and he opened it easily, he walked through and back up the stairs to the main room. The well appeared to be where he needed to go next. Going past the exit, he saw the clown poster now just a blank poster, he thought no more of it and went back outside. He then made his way down a narrow path and came across the well he saw earlier. He got out the rope and tied it on the chain at the top. He looked down below in the well, it appeared to be too dark and he knew that was no going back once he goes down there. He gulped, put on his brave face and slid down on the rope slowly into the depths of the well. As expected, it was too dark for him so he put on the flashlight and ventured past the walls of the well, until he found a completely dark room with bright eyes that suddenly appeared. "Oh Faust, help me..." Flash whispered in a high voice... TO BE CONTINUED The Deepest SleepFlash woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't move or say anything and there was something his room. "It's cold outside." he said. "My bed...I can't move...is somepony there?" The shadowy figure away from his bed turn around and screeched at him, moving towards him at a fast pace. "ARGH!" Flash screamed and before he knew it, he was suddenly unconscious. Moments later, a metal noise went off and Flash opened his eyes to find himself in a different room, it was completely dark and there was a flashlight on the floor. He picked it up and looked around to find a green vase and as soon as he picked it up, a door mysteriously opened. He ventured through the door and down a dark hallway before coming to a large room with a cyan blue crystal on either side above the middle door. "Where the Faust am I?" Flash asked. "This isn't the crystal castle." He went through a door arch on his left to find a rope pulley system and a note on the floor, he picked it up and read it: Hello Bert, I'm sure this note gets to you somehow. So you've followed this stupid traveller even though you knew what's gonna happen. You are at the bottom depth now, there is nothing beneath you. It's important that you avoid the bottom feeders. They sense motion, so don't make any sudden moves near them. Also, don't go to the Dark Church, the darkness there will suffocate you. Find a ladder, it should take you back to the surface. Sincerely, yourself. "Yourself?" Flash asked. "I wrote this, is that what this means?" Flash left the room and went to the door on the right, a wooden door on his left in the hallway was opened, he found a hammer, a screwdriver and a opened green book, he picked up the objects and looked at the book that had a bit of useful information. The Bottom Feeders They live at the bottom layer of the realm of dreams, feeding upon everything that comes near there. Even the shadow ponies fear them. They are blind, but can sense vibrations and movement. By staying perfectly still you should be safe. "Well it says safe, even though it appears to be smudged." Flash commented as he left the closet and went down the hallway to see a statue and a locked door. Seeing there was no way through it, he turned to the statue and had an idea. "Maybe this screwdriver will be useful." He used it on the statue's mouth and it worked, he picked up a small cyan gem. Then he used the hammer on the vase and smashed it, revealing another shiny gem. "Well, I have two gems, but I'm not sure where they go, maybe the dark church?" He then gulped and walked to the main room and up the short stairs to the entrance, he came across a skull statue that had two holes in the eyes shaped like gems. He put one in the left eye and the other in the right eye, the statues was now lit up and a doorway on his left slid open. "Well, this may be a really bad idea, but into the dark church I go." he said, putting his bravery first and walked inside. With his flashlight on, he could see the place was totally dark, there was a door at the end, but it appeared to be locked, he didn't want to stay in here for long and suffer the consumed darkness around him. He then saw a small gem on a wall, he picked it up and the door behind him slid shut. He quickly the gem on a blue hole by the door and it opened, he trotted quickly and after a while, he was at the end of the church and saw a handle on a pedestal. "That must be for the rope pulley thing, time to grab this and get the heck out of here!" he exclaimed, grabbing it quick and turning back. The darkness was getting thicker as he tried to escape. He was back at the room with the shiny gem on the blue hole, realizing he had to put it back into it's original hole, he took out the gem and placed it in the grey hole, the exit door slid open and he galloped out of there. He exited the church and went back to the left room with the rope, breathing a sigh of relief. He put the handle on the pulley and it locked in. He then used it to pull the rope up and thought of what that did, he walked back to the hallway on the right and saw that the door he though was locked was now open. He looked up to see a rope pulling it up and commended it for being a clever system. "Maybe the Crystal castle should have one of those." Flash said. "I could ask Shining about it...if I ever find a way to escape from this place." he walked through the doorway and stepped in a low water level, he was now in the sewers and kept on walking to find a door to a room in front and a bar gate on his left. Suddenly, a low humming noise was heard from the far end of the tunnel and something odd moving by. "Oh Faust!" he exclaimed. "That must be one of the bottom feeders, better make no sudden moves if I go down there." He walked into a room and gasped at the sight, there was a clown and he appeared to have been hanged by the rope. Flash shook his head and learnt at what he had just done. "Oh no, no, no, no...that must be Bert." Flash cried in horror. "Did that rope I just pulled killed him?" But he knew this wasn't the time to break down, he had to get on with escaping from this world before it's too late. He looked at a display of a lock system with the rope on a board and he picked up a small stool by the corner. "Maybe if I use this stool under a door, I can use it to raise those bars and continue my progress." He went back to the hallway and placed the stool under the wooden door. He then went to the room with the rope pulley and used the handle to bring the rope down until it stopped. He walked back to the hallway and saw that the stool was blocking the door's way, it worked and all Flash had to do was crouch down, it was wide enough for him to squeeze through. He was back in the sewers and the bars on his left were raised upwards. He moved slowly down the newly opened tunnel and to his left, there was nothing, but he got a free shock on his right. There was a bottom feeder the letter and the book mentioned, he wanted to gallop away, but doing so would end him up being free food for the monster. So he very carefully looked around and saw a lever on his left, he pulled it gently and a door to his right opened, but there was a ticking noise. He had to get through that quick before it shuts, he was able to do so and just in time, he jumped through the doorway before the bottom feeder could sense the sudden movement. As he stepped into the new room, the door behind him shut tight and he pulled the curtain over it. He explored the new room he was in. He saw a locked box on a table and on his left was bathroom. He went inside there and found a gold key and a piece of paper that had a weird diagram on it. "Well, that's a nice T or F, but I see no I or G." He commented. "But then again, it may be an answer to a puzzle, I should keep hold of it." He came across a locked door and used the gold key to unlock it, he stepped into a different hallway that had bricked walls and some shades of blood on the walls. He then was in the centre that had a wheel on a pedestal and a display with open slots on the far end as well as a hatch. "That hatch must have the ladder, I've found my exit." He said happily as he tried rotating the wheel, but it seemed to be stuck. "Dammit, guess I can't do that yet." He went further down the hallway and came across two wooden rooms and another smaller room. He went through the smaller room and saw a mushroom stuck on a few bits of wood, feeling curious, he used the hammer to crush the mushroom which spilt out oil. "Yuck!" Flash said in disgust before noticing a stone tablet on the side, he picked it up and left the room. He went to the smaller room and found a tiny locked hatch and a grease can. He picked it up and went back to the other room and used the can to scoop up some oil, thinking that it might come in handy. He explored the rest of the big room and picked up a wind-up key and saw a stone tablet across a window, but it was too small for him to reach. He walked all the way back to the wooden room on the far side and placed the wind-up key in the locked box. As the box began to play a bit of twinkle music, the room around him suddenly began to go darker and a doorway was then opened on the left which revealed nasty spike traps. "Yikes!" Flash exclaimed. "I better not go in there, unless I can find a way to shut it down." He then went back on the room that had the metal door, but it was now gone and instead, there was a skeleton body as well as a stone tablet, he picked it up and left. He trotted back to the other wooden room and went into the smaller room. The tiny hatch was now gone and there were a few cogs spinning in motion. Flash took out the screwdriver and threw it inside, the cogs began to squeak until it stopped completely. He heard the noises of a machine far away grinding to a halt. So he went back and saw that the spike crushers had stopped, he gulped and walked past them before coming across a kitchen room with the window he saw earlier. "Now I can get the stone tablet, that means I have three now." He said. "There must be one more around here...oh look, a cinnamon toast, but I'm not hungry." He left the kitchen, back down the spiked hallway, past the room, past the bricked hallway and back to the other room. He went to the end and saw a wheel hatch that needed something. He poured the oil from the can on the hatch and it began to loose it's grip, he was then turned the wheel and it opened. He climbed down a ladder and found the final stone tablet, but it was guarded by a bottom feeder. He went to the doorway to a room on his right carefully and there was pile of barrels and boxes and on the far end were a stack of plates, he then had a cunning idea. "Maybe if I throw this hammer at the plates, it'll get it's attention and then I can grab that stone tablet, but I only have one shot at this." Flash sighed. "So long, hammer." He threw the hammer at the plates, they smashed on the floor and the bottom feeder began to move to that area. Flash quickly grabbed the stone tablet on the far end by the ladder and climbed up on it quickly before the bottom feeder came back. He breathed a sigh of relief and closed the hatch. Flash now had the four stone tablets, so he went back to the bricked wall and to the centre with the wheel and the stone tablet display at the other end, it was time for a bit of puzzle solving. Using the diagram on the paper he found, he placed each stone tablet to the corresponding slots. Once all four were in the correct slots, he heard a click and the hatch above the hell flew open and out came a ladder. "Alright!" he said proudly. "This is my ticket out of here!" He then began to turn the wheel and the ladder began to come down. But just as he was halfway, the wall with the stone tablet display was knocked down and out came a bottom feeder, closing in towards Flash. "Oh Faust! Gotta turn this faster!" He exclaimed as he began rushing the wheel till the ladder was in his reach. "Argh! I'm out of here!" He climbed up the ladder and made it out of there just in time, he then closed the hatch and with his flashlight he looked around the dark room. "Wait, that looks familiar." He said before he looked at the mirror, suddenly the trembling around his hooves began to shake. There was a reflection of not Flash, but a shadow pony. "Is that...me?" Suddenly, he had flashbacks of the well, the dark tunnel, the shadow pony at the end, to him it all made sense now. "Now I remember..." he said, shaking. "...I was in that well...they got me!" He tried not to cry in anger. "All this time I've been...ONE OF THEM!" He then cried, certainly not the emotion a royal guard would be proud of. "I'm a monster, one of them...where's Princess Luna when I need her?" He walked to the room through a doorway and saw a wooden door and then saw a flashlight peering into the room, He kept his hidden away, hoping he wouldn't be seen. "Oh my Celestia!" he whispered. "Is that me or is it another traveller who is stuck in this world?" As soon as he opened the door, the traveller began to turn around and gallop away. This was Flash's way out of a here, a chance to finally wake up. He just had to catch him, perhaps posses the sleeping body, a body he would wake up in. "But do I really want to?" Flash asked. "Have I really become a shadow pony too easily, a monster I feared so much?" But whilst he was contemplating his options, the traveller got away and the doors began to close tightly. Flash knew that this was it for him, he hesitated and he let that traveller go, believing that this cycle cannot continue. He would remain here forever, here in the deepest sleep... ...or so he thought when the one and only Princess Luna appeared from above. "Flash Sentry..." she boomed gently. "...awaken." Flash nodded and closed his eyes, he then felt his mind beginning to shut down...and when he woke up, he was back home. On his bed in the crystal kingdom, he smiled and began to cry tears of happiness to himself. He was back in Equestria, back to the living where he truly belonged, he wasn't the shadow pony, he was his normal self. He then vowed that from this day on, he would pray to Luna to keep his dreams safe and sound. THE END!
Deep SleepWhen you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. - Friedrich Nietzsche A moment of a jolt and Flash suddenly opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom in the crystal castle. He found a silver key on the drawers that wasn't there before. Getting out of the bed, Flash walked to the bedroom door and tried to use the key unlock it, but it didn't seem to fit the keyhole. "That's weird." Flash said. "This key always fits this door, why isn't it now?" Then he saw another drawer that had a slide on it which appeared to be locked, he used that key and it worked with the sound of a click, he slid the draw slide up and found a cyan box that was locked. "Shiny..." he commented. "..well, this isn't so bad." But no sooner he grabbed the box, the whole room suddenly changed. The ceiling and most of the walls evaporated, even the locked door disappeared. "Me and my big mouth." He moaned before looking back at his bed and getting a free shock. "Argh!" There was a skeleton pony lying in his bed, one of the bones however appeared to be loose. Despite his best efforts against his curiosity, he approached the skeleton and took the loose foreleg bone before turning around and leaving the bedroom. Flash was met with three routes, his left showed a stairway down to somewhere, in the middle was a doorway that looked to have been walled up, yet there were cracks in the middle and to his right was another step of stairs but went deeper and darker. He walked to the left first and down the stairs till he heard a ringing noise, into the room he went and the ringing was louder. Unknown to him, it was a telephone, something or someone seemed to be calling Flash for some reason. "Whatever that is, I know that we don't have that in Equestria." Flash said. "Does this mean that I'm dreaming?" He picked up the phone and placed it down on the table to hear the call. "Wake up..." the voice whispered. "...you have to wake up..." "Wake up, so I AM dreaming!" Flash exclaimed. "But why do I feel like I'm awake already?" "...You have to escape..." the message continued. "...the lighthouse...beware of the dark..." The message ended, but then went back to the beginning of the message as if it was on repeat. Flash was beginning to feel disturbed, he looked at the cupboard door and opened it to find a flashlight, but had no batteries. He checked the draws on the right, but the top one was locked. "A flashlight will come in handy, but where can I find batteries for it?" he asked before leaving. Since the middle doorway was blocked off but with a few cracks showing, he took a deep breath and ventured into the deep and dark stairway on his right, he walked into a lightly dimmed room that had a desk with a written piece of paper and a bell next to it. Flash picked up the paper and began to read it, hoping to find some answers about the world he's in. I'm sure this note gets to you somehow. At this point you should know all of this is not real. I hope the inner awakening went well and that you have a full, lucid control over the dream. Sincerely... He stopped reading it the moment he saw who wrote it. "Princess Luna?!" He yelled before looking upwards at the ceiling. "WHY?!" He slammed the paper down on the desk and sighed angrily before he felt a pain jolting through his head. "Ow! What is this pain...wait, I remember now. I was doing my patrol duty around the castle when one of the legs on a crystal statue gave way. It was about to fall on one of the crystal ponies when I galloped and shoved the pony out of the way, but I wasn't able to move away in time and the statue crashed down on me. The impact must've been so strong that I ended up falling...into a coma!" He shook his head and looked into a room that had a pipeline which seemed to be leaking water on the floor which made a puddle. "But if that is true, this doesn't explain why Princess Luna wrote that letter or how I am suppose to wake up." He left that room and went down another flight of stairs to find himself in what was a boiler room. There was a dry cloth in the bucket, he picked up the cloth since he was curious again and then came across a main boiler and a pile of coal. He picked up a piece of coal when he thought back to how one coal can bring you luck, because he was going to need it. He looked closer through the window of the boiler door when suddenly, he saw hoofprints and screaming from inside. "Who or what the heck was that!?" Flash exclaimed, after getting a shock. "Hmm that stand on the right may be missing a lever or something." He then thought of the bone he picked up and to his amazement, the bone neatly fitted in the lever hole. He pushed it to the right and the fires inside the boiler dies down before phasing out completely. He then touched the wheel to try and open it, but the wheel was too hot to be turned. "Ouch! Even in a dream, there's such a thing as pain?" Flash left the boiler room and thought of an idea. "Maybe I could wet this cloth and it'll be cold enough to turn the wheel." He went back into the small room with the pipe and placed the cloth on the puddle, it was now soaked. He went back to the boiler room and used the cloth and his hooves to turn the wheel and then the door opened. He looked inside to find a smaller silver key and he was about to leave till he saw half of a number at the back of the boiler interior. He used his left hoof to sweep away the loose signed dust and soon it revealed a four-numbered code, Eight-zero-three-four. "Hmm, gotta remember that code and hey, maybe that small key I found could unlock that top drawer." Flash left the boiler room and walked upstairs and upstairs back to where he started and went down the lighter stairway and back to the room with the phone. He used the small key and it unlocked the top drawer, he opened it and there was batteries for the flashlight. He put them in and gave it a test on a dark part of the room and it worked, Flash now had one prime and useful flashlight. He went back to the room with the paper and the bell and opened the door next to it. It was completely dark, so he turned on his flashlight and at the far end he saw a short message which showed "Wake up" and a doorway. "Oh I'm trying to..." Flash commented before he went into the dark hallway. He pointed hi flashlight at a shelf and saw a golden statue of a pony, he took it and went into a room on his right and saw a message on the wall with a toy horse in the corner. Little Cody is lost without his plushie tiger. "What does that even mean?" Flash asked before leaving the room and going to the opposite doorway and finding a window at the end that shone a bright light. He walked closer to it until he saw a note on the left in a dark corner. YOU ARE NEXT! It's time to pay a price for things you don't comprehend. "Pay a price? What did I do wrong?" Flash cried before taking a deep breath and walked to the window. He walked over it and found himself on the outside, to his right a stairway to another window, there was a third one above him but it was out of reach. So he went down and walked through the window and came across a bricked room with a metal door and a keypad on the side. "Strange, we don't have that kind of security." Flash commented. "Oh but wait, maybe something will happen if I put in that code. Eight, zero, three and four." He used his hoof to push the numbers he said and a small light next to the numbers went from red to green, the beep also confirmed the code. He looked at the circle lever by the doors. "Got it, now maybe I can push that lever around like a clock to open the doors." He did so and it revealed a dark hallway with no end in sight. He turned his flashlight on and went down the hallway that seemed to last for a while until he came across a few barrels, a door and a pickaxe that was being held on a holder. He plucked up a little, thinking back to the cracked wall at the start, he took the pickaxe off the holder. Suddenly the door flung open and out came a shadow pony of sorts and was moving towards Flash at a quick pace. "ARGH! Okay what is that?!" Flash yelled as he began to gallop away. "HE'S COMING TO KILL ME! GOING BACKWARDS! HEEEEY!" He got out of the dark hallway and back into the lit room and used the lever to close up the doors. "CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT!" The door was then completely shut. He breathed a sigh of relief and looking up. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?!" He left the room through the window and went to the end of the stairs to find a hook, he picked it up. He then reminded himself to trace his steps back all the way back to the room with the cracked wall. He used the pickaxe and made a hole in the cracked wall, he gave it another hole and then after a third hole, the cracked wall evaporated. "Hey look, it's freedom, question mark?" he commented before going through the door way and found himself outside, next to a beach. "A beach net? Hmm, maybe if I combine this with the hook..." after a moment of working over it, he had a hook embedded in the net. "Aha! Maybe I can use this and go up to that unreachable window." He went back inside and all the way back to the windows by the stairs. He threw the hooked net on the unreachable window and the hook landed on the window rim. "Yeah! Now I can climb like Tarzan." He said happily before frowning. "Shining Armour makes me watch those movies as punishment, don't ask." He climbed up the net and into a room to find a table with a blue phone, a tape recorder and a small gold key. Flash now realized that it wasn't a pony talking to him, but a recorded message. Although in Equestria, there wasn't such a thing, so this was new to him. At least he had the gold key now, he thought of the small box, so he used the key on it and it unlocked, he opened it to see a small and shiny gem. He left the room, climbed back down the net and walked all the way back to the beach outside. He saw a lighthouse at the end, and walked upwards and up to the top floor to where there a bulb, but it had no light. "Maybe this gem can be the source of light, I hope." he said as he put the gem in the bulb and then in a flash, the light bulb began to shine around the lighthouse. "I think that did something, other than give the lighthouse what it was missing." He walked back down and out of the lighthouse, only to get a free sudden scare again, there, standing in front of him were a group of shadow ponies and they were blocking the way. "Oh that's just great, I have nowhere to run I guess." Flash moaned. He walked back into the house and saw one of the shadow ponies following to him. "I have to escape...this isn't happening...I have to wake up!" He was back at the top, but he wasn't alone for long. The shadow pony caught up to him, but Flash wasn't about to go down without a fight. "Oh hi...yeah, gonna fight you...get back I say, get back!" He used the levers on both sides to guide the light until it was aimed directly at the shadow pony. "YEAH! Gotcha, blasted ya into dust!" He sighed and smiled before the world began to disappear around him. "Woah...what's happening now?" Before he could say anymore, a massive light enveloped everything. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the Crystal hospital, Shining Armour was watching over Flash through a glass window. Just then, he saw Flash begin to open his eyes and move his head. Shining gasped and called out for a nurse. "Quick, I think Flash is coming to!" Flash shook his head, sat up on the bed and looked around to see himself in a hospital room. "Am I awake?" He asked. "Flash Sentry." Shining said as he walked into the room with a nurse. "Oh uhhh, hello sir." Flash replied nervously. "What happened to me, sir?" Shining chuckled. "Flash it's okay, I'm not on royal duty at the moment." he then smiled. "According to the nurse, you went into a coma after that statue fell on you." "A coma?" Flash asked. "So everything I did was just a dream?" "What do you mean by that?" Flash shook his head. "Oh it's nothing." Shining showed a hint of concern towards him. "Flash, I want you to be honest here, please." "Alright." Flash replied. "All I remember is wandering around a world, there were too many dark places. There was also a message by Princess Luna and then I was at a beach with a lighthouse and then after getting the lighthouse to be on, I just woke up." Shining breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Princess Luna was able to keep Flash on his hooves and his mind focused whilst in a coma. "The nurse says you should be out tomorrow, just don't worry about your duty. The other guards can take care of your patrol until you get back." "Alright err...Shining, err sir." Flash winked. Shining chuckled again. "Don't push your luck, mister...just kidding." he winked and then left the hospital. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day arrived and Flash was able to go back to the castle, but as he walked on, he kept remembering the deep dream he had. The nightmare was over, but to Flash, his life had changed forever. Was it really all just a dream during his coma or were those creatures real? Flash decided that he had to know, he just had to know the truth and he couldn't stop thinking about it. He had to go back...back to the deep sleep.
Deeper SleepOne late afternoon, Flash Sentry was in a deep thought. He was beginning to wish he could have another lucid dream, a dream which he is awake and a dream where he could do anything. But at the same time, the memory of his accident and falling into a coma made his dream go terribly wrong and ended up walking in a world where it was a terrible nightmare. Before he was able to wake up, there were monsters trying to get him. He didn't think they were part of his dream as Princess Luna explained briefly to him a few days after he got out of the hospital. It was like they came from outside, from the depths. The nightmare hasn't faded away like Flash thought it would and he still couldn't stop thinking about it. "What if it was real?" he asked himself. "I've become obsessed with it, I don't know why. Maybe I just want to prove myself wrong." So, before the beginning of the night, Flash got permission to have an hour away from the Crystal castle and with a saddle bag, went to the crystal Library. To see if there were any past records of dreams that were similar to his. "Evening Librarian." Flash greeted as he walked in. The librarian was in the middle of sorting out a bookshelf. "Oh good evening mister..." "Flash Sentry, I'm one of the guards." The librarian felt worried. "Oh, is there a problem?" "No it's nothing serious. I'm just wondering if there are any books about lucid dreaming." "Oh thank Celestia." The librarian "Sure, we have a small section of books on dreams, up on the first floor and to the far left." "Thanks librarian." Flash replied, smiling. He walked up the stairs and to the far left. He found a section of books on dreaming that weren't really interesting until he found one labelled 'Lucid Dreaming'. He picked up the book and opened it, he then noticed a page was missing, as if it was torn off. He put the book back and noticed a small piece of paper on the ground, he picked it up and read a short sentence that was on it. As long as you don't know you are dreaming, you are safe. "What does that mean?" he asked before putting the piece of paper in his bag. Suddenly the view around him changed, the library had completely turned into a small area of rooms with the centre having no ceiling. "Oh come on!" Flash exclaimed. "Don't tell me I'm dreaming again!" He sighed angrily before clearing his throat. "Better find a way out of this one like last time." He looked to his left and saw a book on the floor that wasn't there before. He picked it up and went to the room on the right. There was a bookshelf, but it seemed to be missing a book. He put the green book in the missing slot, he then heard a click and the bookshelf moved to the right, revealing a secret passage. "This book fits here perfectly." Flash said as he stepped into the new doorway and picked up some batteries and a piece of paper. "I have a feeling that this paper will explain some things once I find all of the pieces." he said to himself before opening a door to his right and ventured into the hallway. He past another door that was locked, an elevator that seemed to have no power, at the end was a doorway to somewhere completely dark and a stairway that went down. He took the stairway first and found himself in a room that looked very similar. "Wait, haven't I been in this room before?" he asked before noticing a key on the wooden board, he took the key and put it in his bag. He then went down another flight of stairs to find a door that was locked from the other side and doorway that led to a few sewer drains. As he walked into the drainage room, he spotted a silhouette of a pony behind one of the bars. The mysterious pony looked at him, startling Flash at first. "You again." He said firmly. "Why have you returned? This place is dangerous." Flash seemed confused. "Who are you?" "My name is not important. I'm a traveller, like you." "You are a real, sleeping pony?" "Yes, As crazy as it sounds, I am as real as you are." The silhouette pony turned his head away. "Currently? I'm hiding. Your actions have drawn THEIR attention." "Who are they?" "The Shadow Ponies. But we shouldn't talk about them, here take this. It might shed some light on the matter." The silhouette pony gave Flash a piece of paper. "Oh and one more thing, DON'T go up to the attic! There's a mare up there who was travelling in this world, but couldn't find her way out and went crazy." "I'll do my best, thank you." Flash replied, putting the piece in his bag. "You're welcome. Now, if you don't have any other questions, please leave as promised." "I'll try to escape, goodbye." Flash then walked onwards and saw another piece of paper by a set of metal bars, he walked on and into another room that also looked familiar. There was a flashlight on the floor, he picked it up and placed the batteries inside it, he had one useful flashlight working, same as before. He walked all the way back to the hallway with the doorway that led to a dark room. He walked in and got a free shock seeing bright eyes before he put the flashlight on. It turned out to be an antler's head on the wall. There was a piece of paper in the fireplace that he picked up before going in what looked like a classroom. Looking around the classroom with his flashlight, he got another free shock when a chair flew around the the floor. He picked up a pointer stick and took note of the numbers that were written on the green board. Four-one-seven-two. He picked up another note and left the classroom, past the fireplace and back in the green hallway. "I vow that I must never go back in those rooms again." Flash declared as he walked all the way back down to the familiar room and using his hoof, typed in the four digit code, the light on the side went green and he used the lever to open the doors. "Okay, last time I went in there, a shadow pony was at the end." he said. "But it can't be there this time, I killed one of them back at that lighthouse." He switched on the flashlight and walked slowly through the dark hallway before coming to an opened door and barrels, there was no shadow pony this time, so he walked into the room and saw a doorway, he walked in there to find that it was a foal's playroom. He picked up a plushie tiger and a separate note. As he picked up a needle thread before leaving, he heard a whisper of a filly. Help me... There was nothing of interest left, so he walked back to the lighted room and up the stairs. He came across a small room with the pipes from before. There was a gold key on the top, but he couldn't reach it, so he grabbed the tallest object in his bag and took out a pointer. It was just long enough to reach the key, he pushed it off the pipes and it fell to the floor. "Got it!" He said proudly. "But what about this silver key, it has to unlock something." He walked back to the green hallway and to the door on his right, he put in the silver key it worked, the door was unlocked. He walked in to find bunks beds, each bed had a name on it. One of them said Cody, he remembered that name from before and then thought back of what the message said last time. "Maybe this is the plushie the message said about, I should put it on Cody's bed." Flash then placed the plushie tiger on the bed with Cody's name and felt a sense that he did a good deed. He left the bedroom and walked back to the main room, he then went into a fourth doorway, he came across an odd poster that had a clown's face on it and a door. He used the gold key and it unlocked the door, he walked and found himself now on the outside. "Well, I'm outdoors, but this place looks nothing like home." Flash moaned, turning on his flashlight and walking into a forest of some kind, picking up a couple of notes along the way, he found a small thread on the ground, a key that was under a pot by a well, before coming to the end and finding a waterwheel, it appeared to be not working, even though there was water flowing down a lake on the side of the pathway. He went inside the machine room and saw a bag with a hole in it, he then thought of an idea. "Well, this may not be royal guard standard, but I once did some sewing lessons." He said, trying not to blush. Shortly after, he used the needle and the thread to make a bag that was mouldy yet no longer had a hole, he threw the needle away as he had no more use for it. With the bag, he picked up a small bag that was full of flour and put that inside, there was pile of dirt and stones outside, he put those in the bag and it was now full. He put the bag on a scale next to it and it went down quickly, opening a door that led to a few pipes and another note. He left the machine and went further onwards, picking up another note before coming to the end and seeing a fountain and yet another note. Flash was thinking that he would be glad to read the paper once all the notes were found. The fountain had some sort of puzzle that needed solving once Flash saw eight buttons on a slab. "Oh joy, puzzles." he said with complete sarcasm. "My favourite...NOT!" After a long while of trying to figure out the puzzle, he finally cracked it. All eight of the buttons were now blue and the fountain sprung to life with water coming out and flowing down to the lake. The water level rose by a meter and ran past the machine which was now switched on. Flash walked back to see the waterwheel now moving and the light above it turned on. "So this water flow must be the source of power, perhaps that elevator is now working." He said as he trotted back to the big house. When he got in, the poster on his right had changed, the strangely happy clown face was now a menacing looking clown with blood around the eyes, this gave Flash a bit of fright, but he tried to stay brave. Going back to the main room, he used the gold key on the locked metal door by the table, it unlocked and when he got inside, there was a note and according to the paper, it was the final note. "Yes!" Flash exclaimed. "Now I can finally read all of this and learn more. "Perhaps now would be a good time to read it." He then put all the notes together and soon, he began to read on what appeared to be a page, perhaps it was the page that was torn out from the book. I first encountered this phenomenon in the early 80's, but it would seem "They" have existed since the dawn of Equestria. Commonly known as the Night Folk, or Shadow Ponies, they live in the realm of dreams but desperately want to get to our realm by possessing vulnerable, unoccupied bodies. As long as you don't know you are dreaming, you are safe... They attack when they sense a mind detached from its body, which sometimes happens during comas, but much more often during OOBEs and Lucid Dreaming. Flash stared in horror, it was all clear to him now. He had fallen into a lucid dream once again and unless he finds a way out, the shadow ponies may catch up to him. He did not want that to happen, so he regained his focus and went up to the green hallway and to the elevator. He pushed the button and the elevator doors opened. There were four buttons, one of which was damaged, there was the current floor, the attic and the floor below him. As much as he disliked the thought, he pushed the top button which took him to the attic. He got out and stepped into the attic, he turned on his flashlight and looked around. He then saw a screwdriver and thought that it may come in handy. But as soon as he picked it up, he almost suffered a panic attack when he saw a mare in a white dress and black mane covering her face. "OH FAUST IN TATARUS!" Flash yelled as he got to the elevator, he used the screwdriver on the button panel, but he dropped it and picked it up again. "COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!" He added, he got the panel off and pushed the elevator button and leapt inside and pushed the button that took him back to the ground floor. He stood out for a moment to take a breather. "What the Faust in Equestria was that?!" He yelled angrily before calming down. "Wait, that must've been the mare traveller that silhouette pony warned me about." He stepped back in the elevator and pushed the bottom button that took him to the basement. "At least this place is lit up and there's a metal box with screws, I can use this." He used the screwdriver on the holes and the lid of the metal box dropped, revealing a long rope. "Sooo, now that I have the rope...maybe I can use it on the well I saw earlier?" He went to the wooden door and he opened it easily, he walked through and back up the stairs to the main room. The well appeared to be where he needed to go next. Going past the exit, he saw the clown poster now just a blank poster, he thought no more of it and went back outside. He then made his way down a narrow path and came across the well he saw earlier. He got out the rope and tied it on the chain at the top. He looked down below in the well, it appeared to be too dark and he knew that was no going back once he goes down there. He gulped, put on his brave face and slid down on the rope slowly into the depths of the well. As expected, it was too dark for him so he put on the flashlight and ventured past the walls of the well, until he found a completely dark room with bright eyes that suddenly appeared. "Oh Faust, help me..." Flash whispered in a high voice... TO BE CONTINUED
The Deepest SleepFlash woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't move or say anything and there was something his room. "It's cold outside." he said. "My bed...I can't move...is somepony there?" The shadowy figure away from his bed turn around and screeched at him, moving towards him at a fast pace. "ARGH!" Flash screamed and before he knew it, he was suddenly unconscious. Moments later, a metal noise went off and Flash opened his eyes to find himself in a different room, it was completely dark and there was a flashlight on the floor. He picked it up and looked around to find a green vase and as soon as he picked it up, a door mysteriously opened. He ventured through the door and down a dark hallway before coming to a large room with a cyan blue crystal on either side above the middle door. "Where the Faust am I?" Flash asked. "This isn't the crystal castle." He went through a door arch on his left to find a rope pulley system and a note on the floor, he picked it up and read it: Hello Bert, I'm sure this note gets to you somehow. So you've followed this stupid traveller even though you knew what's gonna happen. You are at the bottom depth now, there is nothing beneath you. It's important that you avoid the bottom feeders. They sense motion, so don't make any sudden moves near them. Also, don't go to the Dark Church, the darkness there will suffocate you. Find a ladder, it should take you back to the surface. Sincerely, yourself. "Yourself?" Flash asked. "I wrote this, is that what this means?" Flash left the room and went to the door on the right, a wooden door on his left in the hallway was opened, he found a hammer, a screwdriver and a opened green book, he picked up the objects and looked at the book that had a bit of useful information. The Bottom Feeders They live at the bottom layer of the realm of dreams, feeding upon everything that comes near there. Even the shadow ponies fear them. They are blind, but can sense vibrations and movement. By staying perfectly still you should be safe. "Well it says safe, even though it appears to be smudged." Flash commented as he left the closet and went down the hallway to see a statue and a locked door. Seeing there was no way through it, he turned to the statue and had an idea. "Maybe this screwdriver will be useful." He used it on the statue's mouth and it worked, he picked up a small cyan gem. Then he used the hammer on the vase and smashed it, revealing another shiny gem. "Well, I have two gems, but I'm not sure where they go, maybe the dark church?" He then gulped and walked to the main room and up the short stairs to the entrance, he came across a skull statue that had two holes in the eyes shaped like gems. He put one in the left eye and the other in the right eye, the statues was now lit up and a doorway on his left slid open. "Well, this may be a really bad idea, but into the dark church I go." he said, putting his bravery first and walked inside. With his flashlight on, he could see the place was totally dark, there was a door at the end, but it appeared to be locked, he didn't want to stay in here for long and suffer the consumed darkness around him. He then saw a small gem on a wall, he picked it up and the door behind him slid shut. He quickly the gem on a blue hole by the door and it opened, he trotted quickly and after a while, he was at the end of the church and saw a handle on a pedestal. "That must be for the rope pulley thing, time to grab this and get the heck out of here!" he exclaimed, grabbing it quick and turning back. The darkness was getting thicker as he tried to escape. He was back at the room with the shiny gem on the blue hole, realizing he had to put it back into it's original hole, he took out the gem and placed it in the grey hole, the exit door slid open and he galloped out of there. He exited the church and went back to the left room with the rope, breathing a sigh of relief. He put the handle on the pulley and it locked in. He then used it to pull the rope up and thought of what that did, he walked back to the hallway on the right and saw that the door he though was locked was now open. He looked up to see a rope pulling it up and commended it for being a clever system. "Maybe the Crystal castle should have one of those." Flash said. "I could ask Shining about it...if I ever find a way to escape from this place." he walked through the doorway and stepped in a low water level, he was now in the sewers and kept on walking to find a door to a room in front and a bar gate on his left. Suddenly, a low humming noise was heard from the far end of the tunnel and something odd moving by. "Oh Faust!" he exclaimed. "That must be one of the bottom feeders, better make no sudden moves if I go down there." He walked into a room and gasped at the sight, there was a clown and he appeared to have been hanged by the rope. Flash shook his head and learnt at what he had just done. "Oh no, no, no, no...that must be Bert." Flash cried in horror. "Did that rope I just pulled killed him?" But he knew this wasn't the time to break down, he had to get on with escaping from this world before it's too late. He looked at a display of a lock system with the rope on a board and he picked up a small stool by the corner. "Maybe if I use this stool under a door, I can use it to raise those bars and continue my progress." He went back to the hallway and placed the stool under the wooden door. He then went to the room with the rope pulley and used the handle to bring the rope down until it stopped. He walked back to the hallway and saw that the stool was blocking the door's way, it worked and all Flash had to do was crouch down, it was wide enough for him to squeeze through. He was back in the sewers and the bars on his left were raised upwards. He moved slowly down the newly opened tunnel and to his left, there was nothing, but he got a free shock on his right. There was a bottom feeder the letter and the book mentioned, he wanted to gallop away, but doing so would end him up being free food for the monster. So he very carefully looked around and saw a lever on his left, he pulled it gently and a door to his right opened, but there was a ticking noise. He had to get through that quick before it shuts, he was able to do so and just in time, he jumped through the doorway before the bottom feeder could sense the sudden movement. As he stepped into the new room, the door behind him shut tight and he pulled the curtain over it. He explored the new room he was in. He saw a locked box on a table and on his left was bathroom. He went inside there and found a gold key and a piece of paper that had a weird diagram on it. "Well, that's a nice T or F, but I see no I or G." He commented. "But then again, it may be an answer to a puzzle, I should keep hold of it." He came across a locked door and used the gold key to unlock it, he stepped into a different hallway that had bricked walls and some shades of blood on the walls. He then was in the centre that had a wheel on a pedestal and a display with open slots on the far end as well as a hatch. "That hatch must have the ladder, I've found my exit." He said happily as he tried rotating the wheel, but it seemed to be stuck. "Dammit, guess I can't do that yet." He went further down the hallway and came across two wooden rooms and another smaller room. He went through the smaller room and saw a mushroom stuck on a few bits of wood, feeling curious, he used the hammer to crush the mushroom which spilt out oil. "Yuck!" Flash said in disgust before noticing a stone tablet on the side, he picked it up and left the room. He went to the smaller room and found a tiny locked hatch and a grease can. He picked it up and went back to the other room and used the can to scoop up some oil, thinking that it might come in handy. He explored the rest of the big room and picked up a wind-up key and saw a stone tablet across a window, but it was too small for him to reach. He walked all the way back to the wooden room on the far side and placed the wind-up key in the locked box. As the box began to play a bit of twinkle music, the room around him suddenly began to go darker and a doorway was then opened on the left which revealed nasty spike traps. "Yikes!" Flash exclaimed. "I better not go in there, unless I can find a way to shut it down." He then went back on the room that had the metal door, but it was now gone and instead, there was a skeleton body as well as a stone tablet, he picked it up and left. He trotted back to the other wooden room and went into the smaller room. The tiny hatch was now gone and there were a few cogs spinning in motion. Flash took out the screwdriver and threw it inside, the cogs began to squeak until it stopped completely. He heard the noises of a machine far away grinding to a halt. So he went back and saw that the spike crushers had stopped, he gulped and walked past them before coming across a kitchen room with the window he saw earlier. "Now I can get the stone tablet, that means I have three now." He said. "There must be one more around here...oh look, a cinnamon toast, but I'm not hungry." He left the kitchen, back down the spiked hallway, past the room, past the bricked hallway and back to the other room. He went to the end and saw a wheel hatch that needed something. He poured the oil from the can on the hatch and it began to loose it's grip, he was then turned the wheel and it opened. He climbed down a ladder and found the final stone tablet, but it was guarded by a bottom feeder. He went to the doorway to a room on his right carefully and there was pile of barrels and boxes and on the far end were a stack of plates, he then had a cunning idea. "Maybe if I throw this hammer at the plates, it'll get it's attention and then I can grab that stone tablet, but I only have one shot at this." Flash sighed. "So long, hammer." He threw the hammer at the plates, they smashed on the floor and the bottom feeder began to move to that area. Flash quickly grabbed the stone tablet on the far end by the ladder and climbed up on it quickly before the bottom feeder came back. He breathed a sigh of relief and closed the hatch. Flash now had the four stone tablets, so he went back to the bricked wall and to the centre with the wheel and the stone tablet display at the other end, it was time for a bit of puzzle solving. Using the diagram on the paper he found, he placed each stone tablet to the corresponding slots. Once all four were in the correct slots, he heard a click and the hatch above the hell flew open and out came a ladder. "Alright!" he said proudly. "This is my ticket out of here!" He then began to turn the wheel and the ladder began to come down. But just as he was halfway, the wall with the stone tablet display was knocked down and out came a bottom feeder, closing in towards Flash. "Oh Faust! Gotta turn this faster!" He exclaimed as he began rushing the wheel till the ladder was in his reach. "Argh! I'm out of here!" He climbed up the ladder and made it out of there just in time, he then closed the hatch and with his flashlight he looked around the dark room. "Wait, that looks familiar." He said before he looked at the mirror, suddenly the trembling around his hooves began to shake. There was a reflection of not Flash, but a shadow pony. "Is that...me?" Suddenly, he had flashbacks of the well, the dark tunnel, the shadow pony at the end, to him it all made sense now. "Now I remember..." he said, shaking. "...I was in that well...they got me!" He tried not to cry in anger. "All this time I've been...ONE OF THEM!" He then cried, certainly not the emotion a royal guard would be proud of. "I'm a monster, one of them...where's Princess Luna when I need her?" He walked to the room through a doorway and saw a wooden door and then saw a flashlight peering into the room, He kept his hidden away, hoping he wouldn't be seen. "Oh my Celestia!" he whispered. "Is that me or is it another traveller who is stuck in this world?" As soon as he opened the door, the traveller began to turn around and gallop away. This was Flash's way out of a here, a chance to finally wake up. He just had to catch him, perhaps posses the sleeping body, a body he would wake up in. "But do I really want to?" Flash asked. "Have I really become a shadow pony too easily, a monster I feared so much?" But whilst he was contemplating his options, the traveller got away and the doors began to close tightly. Flash knew that this was it for him, he hesitated and he let that traveller go, believing that this cycle cannot continue. He would remain here forever, here in the deepest sleep... ...or so he thought when the one and only Princess Luna appeared from above. "Flash Sentry..." she boomed gently. "...awaken." Flash nodded and closed his eyes, he then felt his mind beginning to shut down...and when he woke up, he was back home. On his bed in the crystal kingdom, he smiled and began to cry tears of happiness to himself. He was back in Equestria, back to the living where he truly belonged, he wasn't the shadow pony, he was his normal self. He then vowed that from this day on, he would pray to Luna to keep his dreams safe and sound. THE END!
