Nightmares by Daylight

Daylight woke up, his vision had become blurry and dizzy. All he could appear to make out was being a bit high off the ground, and the ceiling above him was moving. His legs were dangling, so he only assumed he was on somepony's, or something's, back. Was he being carried away by something? Could it possibly be a ghost? Was it a pony with malicious intent? Such as the one he had encountered in the forest? Was he gonna... die? As Daylight began to question his surroundings, and his very fate, he got ready to call out to whoever it was who was carrying him off, but he could feel himself slipping away once again into unconsciousness . He tried to fight against it with all he could fearing what would happen if he let this stranger carry him off, but to no avail. Daylight had submitted to the inevitable as his vision was once again filled with darkness...

There was nothing but an empty void before him, nothing but darkness for miles. Daylight looked down at himself, and checked his surroundings. His slow movements had soon become faster and more frantic as he turned his head. His expression soon went from confused, to scared, and eventually, to horrified. Daylight had soon realized that he had just found himself in not only one of the worst-case scenarios, but one of the many cases he feared the most.

Isolation.

"H-Hello?! A-Anyone?!" Daylight screamed out, his voice echoing for what seemed like miles, but his voice was lost in the endless void, as nobody responded. He decided to try to find an exit from what felt like hell to him. He ran and ran and ran, but it did him no good. There was no escape. The only thing running did was tire him out. He sat down, surrounded by complete silence as he looked down at his bright blue hooves, which were quivering.

Soon, his left forehoof started to get dark, and the bright blue color was being drained from it. Daylight looked down as darkness enveloped his hoof, soon reaching the point where his hoof was no longer visible. Daylight placed his right forehoof where his left was, only to feel nothing but cold, empty space. Soon his right forehoof started to become engulfed by the darkness. Daylight began to panic as his legs started to fade away into nothing, soon feeling his who body begin to get swallowed by the void. He felt the void reach up to his neck and go past it, being unable to do anything but watch. He could not even tell if his vision was blurring out, or if he was blacking out as he soon was erased from existence...

He soon found himself jolting up from the stone flooring of the building in cold sweat, his eyes wide open. He took deep breaths as he frantically pulled up his forehooves.

Intact.

Daylight soon exhaled in relief, thankfully all he experienced was a nightmare. As he no longer felt his injuries, he started to wonder where he was, and how he got there. As he was about to look up, the familiar, soft voice of a mare spoke up.

"It's alright Daylight, you should be safe in here."

Daylight looked up to see who it was, to reveal the Stallion who had given him the PVM, and a familiar looking unicorn right beside him. She had a snow-white coat of fur, and a long bright red mane and tail followed by bright pink eyes and a bright red heart as her cutie mark. She looked down at Daylight, seeming concerned for him.

"Is this one of your friends kid?" The stallion asked Daylight curiously. "I found her at the lobby, claiming to have been looking for you. I was fortunately able to lead her here before the ghosts could find us. She was worried for you and then set out to find ya, thankfully she didn't run into trouble on the way. Who knows what could happen."

"B-Brooke!" Daylight exclaimed happily, as he ran up and hugged her, she looked down at him and smiled softly before speaking up once again.

"It's been hours since you returned... So I went out to go look for you..." Brooke said worryingly. "I didn't expect you to be in here... Why are you in such a treacherous place? If what this stallion said is true then it's far too dangerous to be here..."

"I-I know... I-I didn't expect t-to come here either..." Daylight quietly responded. "I-It's just... I-It may be hard to b-believe.... But I came out t-to find my friends... Th-This stallion told me th-that they went m-missing in here... I-I found F-Fallen and A-Alice in here... they had become ghosts..." Brooke looked down at Daylight, doubtfully, but soon thinking as the doubt began to fade as she looked down at his saddened expression.

"Well... If... If what you say is true, then we have to get out." Brooke told Daylight with more worry in her voice. "I know you want to help your friends, Daylight, and help free them from this curse, but I'm just not sure if you should risk yourself like this. It may be best if we told the royal guard... I just don't want you to get hurt again... Or become one of them... I'm sorry, but we have to leave." Before Daylight could speak up, the stallion stepped between the two.

"Look miss, I'm sorry to inform you, but as far as we know, once you enter this place, there is no way out." He told Brooke with icy assurance. "All we could do is send him out to find an exit, but he also must defend himself at the same time from these wretched spirits. But the only thing the two of us can do is wait in here, where it's safe." Brooke seemed a bit scared herself as he mentioned there being no exit. She was about to object, but kept quiet, the stallion soon speaking up once again.

"But look kid. You said you found two friends of yours?" He asked Daylight "If so, connect the nozzle of the PVM to this machine here. So we can start to free them. I can explain to them what's going on here once we free them."

Daylight nodded before trotting up to the machine with the nozzle of his PVM ready. Brooke began to watch with curiosity in her eyes as he connected the nozzle with a rectangular hole on the front of the machine. They could see the PVM pump two large lumps into the machine, they assumed being the spirits of their friends, as the machine began to hum. Soon, a portrait emerged from the device. Brooke and Daylight both watched in amazement as the machine printed out a portrait of Fallen with a dark blue background, followed up by Alicja Gazer in a bright yellow background, both pictures picked up by the Stallion and laid against the wall.

"Their souls are encased within this painting" The stallion spoke up. "If we can find a way now, we can free them. But I do believe I know. On my way here, I think I dropped my dark-light device in the lobby. When I went to go find it, it was gone... I believe it was taken by a ghost. Unfortunately, I will need your help once again Daylight, you need to get out there and-"

"No. I just can't let him go back out there..." Brooke interrupted, looking at the two, "It's for his own safety... I don't want to lose him to these... things..." Before the Stallion could speak, Daylight was the one to intervene this time. Looking up at Brooke with a reassuring look in his bright yellow.

"I-I have to do this... F-For my friends... Th-They are counting on me... I-I'll be fine... I-I promise..."

Brooke looked down at Daylight worried, about to object, before looking down at him again. She leans down and hugs him softly.

"I understand Daylight... Just promise me you'll keep yourself safe..." Daylight smiled softly and hugged back, soon she let him go and Daylight looked up at her.

"I-I will... Th-Thanks... M-Mom..." Daylight took a second before he realized what he had accidentally called Brooke. She appeared to look off-guard at this.

"M-Mom...?" Brooke asked curiously, still taken aback, Daylight seemed really nervous, thinking she might not be happy with this.

"Oh no... I messed up..." He thinks, soon snapping out of it, and pretending it never happened. "W-Well I should get going... B-Bye M-Mo- I-I mean Brooke!" He said quickly as he left the room at a quick speed.

Brooke watched Daylight leave, soon facing towards the Stallion. "I never did get your name sir."

"Oh." The stallion spoke up. "The names Classic"

"Brooke Heart. Nice to meet you." She smiled warmly. "Oh, and that's Daylight Shine, just in case he didn't tell you. He's very shy around people."

"Ah, I see..." Classic responded, as he and Brooke continued their conversations, awaiting Daylight's return...