Badly scratched.

Vinyl Scratch lay on her bed, her room walls covered in various posters ranging from the album cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, (the album currently blaring on her cheap, but big expensive looking headphones) to a poster for the thirtieth anniversary reunion of Woodstock 99. She lay on her bed as the beats of Floyd pounded away in her ears and her eyes followed the antics of one Peter Griffin on her TV, Vinyl was a huge Family Guy fan. She couldn't hear with the music blaring in her ears, but she had seen this episode so many times that she could recite every joke by heart. She chuckled as she watched the Griffin men puking their guts up in a contest as her bedroom door opened and her roommate Octavia stood in the door way. Octavia never liked the fact that Vinyl always left assorted dirty pairs of jeans and socks and some choice blue underwear all over her floor. That, coupled with the crumpled up chip bags and V8 cans, and it was enough to make one wonder why they where even roommates at all.

"Ugh Vinyl! When are you gonna actually clean this trash dump you call a bed room?" She asked but Vinyl was deaf to the world, ears plugged by music, eyes locked only on Family Guy. Octavia scoffed again and strut over to her before lifting an earphone making Vinyl turn her head and smile at her roommate, who wasn't moved.

"Hey Octi! What's up? Hey you wanna kick back with me and watch some FG? I got the whole freakin sweet party pack you know?" She said showing her the novelty keep case containing almost every episode of the show along with a poker set, beer mug cozies, and ping pong (or beer pong) set. Octavia only scoffed again before running her hands through her on again/off again girlfriend's hair. (Octavia considered herself pan-sexual while Vinyl was more into girls but wouldn't mind hooking up with a guy who was "in touch with his femmine side," or was her definition of "cool") Her attentions made Vinyl sigh contently and coo a bit.

"Vinyl...please clean up in here, She said balling up some laundry and shoving it in her friend's hamper. "I know...it's your nature to be a little...messy, but I prefer not having roaches in this house." She said as she softly patted her friend's shoulder and hugged her lovingly.

"Hey I just left these snack remains from a few hours ago, you know me Octi, I'll clean everything up." She said lowering her ruby shades to show her sad puppy dog eyes. Those eyes, how could Octavia deny anything with those eyes looking into hers? She giggled and scratched her behind the ears, she could never understand why, but Vinyl always enjoyed that. Like some pony from Applejack's farm.

"Okay Vinyl, how could I stay mad at you?...just promise you'll at least have this place in order by morning okay?" Octavia asked giving her friend a little nuzzle. "I have a date tonight, a boy from choir, voice like an angel and he's so...Sensitive." She said with her eyes looking almost like big dreamy, fangirl eyes. "and I just think if I should like him enough to invite him in tonight, I'd hope every room in the house is...adequate." Vinyl only chuckled and took her ear phones off.

"Oh really miss Octi? May I ask why MY room needs to be clean when YOUR'RE the one bringing a date home?" She said with a giggle, Octavia loved it when Vinyl played the pronoun game like that. "You plan on inviting your little soprano to a threesome with the bass dropping queen Vinyl Scratch hmm?" Octavia Blushed and put a hand to her lips, she was used to Vinyl's crass and crude remarks but the notion of...well she never!

"Now Vinyl it's nothing of THAT sort, you really should get you're head out of such gutters you know, I like him, but not like THAT...yet, and for your information, Morty is an alto singer. She said beaning Vinyl playfully with a pillow.

"Morty? Like Rick and Morty?" Vinyl said her knowledge of Adult swim show's showing yet again, she always had to make jokes like that at every chance, it was almost like she WAS a walking Family Guy joke sometimes.

"No Vinyl...His name's Mordecai...and yes he is...well...

"A Regular Show fan?" Vinyl asked showcasing her prowess did not limit itself to AS cartoons.

" no Vinyl, he's a...oh never mind it. Just have your room clean for us by the time we get back okay?"

"Alright Octi, I'll make sure the place is nice an tidy for you and your new friend, She said with a chuckle and hearty laugh. "You're sure you don't have any other things in mind with your date tonight that it required MY room to be clean too?" She said with a playful lowering of her glasses again.

"VINYL! IT INS'T LIKE THAT AT ALL!" Octavia said rather peeved now, and a bit shocked at her friend's remark.

"I'm only teasing Octi, go out and enjoy yourself." She said chuckling again at her joke, "Just don't let him try and go dutch on you tonight okay?" She said smirking smugly.

"Vinyl, sometimes...you're terrible." Octavia said as she left.

"Oh you know you love it Miss Octi!" She shouted in response to her bedroom door, before laughing hard at her own jokes and laying back on her bed sleeping soundly.

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you.

Three, four, Better lock your door

Five, six, grab a crucifix.

Seven, eight, Gonna stay up late.

Nine, ten, Never sleep again...."

These were the words Vinyl heard as she drifted off into that mysterious and still unknown world we call our dreams. There was no matron of sleep, no precious princess of the night, no royal batpony gaurd or miasma of slumber for her to protect on this side of the Mirror. It had free range here, to manipulate the land of the awake and the dream world as well. The barrier between life and death so often kept as thin but close together when one chooses to sleep. Became as thin and malleable as a paper door. This was where Vinyl Scratch found herself. She "woke" with a fright, to find her bed had been transported outside, a chill as real as any cold Autumn's night shivering her to the marrow of her bones. She looked around to find her princess sized bed sitting on a patch of dying brown grass, it was the dead of night, yet somewhere, children were playing.

"What the fuck?" She asked only herself as she looked around at her limited surroundings. A little boy in his best white Sunday clothes and pressed black pants looked up at her, a red balloon in his hands, his skin deathly white and his eyes had the thousand yard stare, not the eyes of a little boy.

"You shouldn't use words like that, it's why Fre...Mr. K punished me." The little boy said with a blank dead eyed stare piercing Vinyl through her ruby shades. She clutched at her chest to be still her beating heart as she looked to see Three little girls not far from her. Applebloom skipped rope as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon held the rope for her, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders waiting to take their turns, out of the corner of her eye, Vinyl swore she say the glint of metal claws out of the darkness.

"Listen kid...I'm a big girl."

"He likes big girls as much as little ones...calls us his little sheep, because our blood is so pure, he bathes in it to wash himself clean of his sins." The little boy said as nonchalantly as if he'd been talking about his favorite toy. "He put my favorite toy in the fire, said it made me spoiled..I gotta go now." The little boy hopped away on one foot as Vinyl sat up and got off the bed, she continued to watch the little children playing, an almost...maternal instinct kicking in as she struggled to move, frozen with fear. She didn't dream of things like this, ever. Why now was such a dream happening to her? It was then however, that the realization kicked in. A dream, that's all this was, a bad dream. Vinyl pinched herself expecting to be roused from this ludicrous event, but...she didn't.

"OWW! What the?" She said as she pinched herself again. This wasn't...normal. Traditionally the idea of pinching yourself was supposed to rouse you from a bad dream, then why had this only left a red mark on her arm she had pinched? Vinyl looked around again, the children were gone. In their place was a looming white house with a pine green roof and blood red door. The numbers 1428 etched over the doorway. "Okay, now I know I'm dreaming." Vinyl said still in total denial of her situation. "Come on girl, you've seen every Elm Street movie ever made, even the remake everyone but you hated." She said with a chuckle to herself. "This is just a bad dream brought on my marathoning my Elm Street Box set, the same thing happened that time I watched the original eight Star Trek movies and dreamed the borg had gotten me." She said to herself as she walked away from the house...only to find herself walking up to the front door again.

"Forget it brain!" She shouted at seemingly none save her own self consciousnesses. "I'm not doing this, so why don't you just let me wake the fuck up already?!" Vinyl said as she took off running, only to find her feet sinking with every step, the ground had turned to inky black tar that held her firmly in place.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk, a little lady like you shouldn't be using such language." A voice as cold as ice, as if the speaker's throat was coated in slime and razor blades came from all around Vinyl. "Still you deny that what you see isn't real? Still don't know where you are do you? Taking over this world is gonna be almost TOO easy! HA HA HA HA AHAH AHA!"

"You're just a movie, dreamed up by Wes Craven before I was even born!" Vinyl Shouted at the empty blankness, though at this point her suspension of disbelief was wearing thin. She struggled to get her legs to move as it felt like the black, tar like ooze threatened to swallow her up. Her breath began to still as the winds grew louder and howled like some giant from the deepest, coldest circle of hell. King Nimrod the builder of Babel or Atelus. The later who guided the poets into the treachery.

"You know...your folks had a good time watching said movie back in the day... a REAL good time, let's just say...you lost an elder sibling that would have been from what they did while watching the so called "movie." The voice said again as a shape in the ooze took form, the ooze stretched out as a single gleaming claw reached out of the tar and slit along it, cutting it as Atropos cuts a mortal's lifeline to begin the transition to our life after life.

"Wake up Vinyl, it's only a dream it's not real. IT'S ONLY A DREAM IT'S NOT REAL!" She shouted as she shut here eyes, opening them again to see the grinning burned face of Freddy Kruger getting closer and closer. His eyes glowing yellow as his hooked nose shifted as he took in the breaths of air. His skin peeling in holes exposing the sinews beneath, and the long black cape fluttering in he harsh breeze. Vinyl Then noticed that he didn't have the traditional Freddy glove on his hand. This one was like bones jutting out of he muscle of his hand with long steel hook like claws on the bones and even the thumb possessed a claw.

"Not real," Vinyl said her voice as squeaky and timid as a little girl's. A little girl who held her favorite teddy close as he wished away those shadow monsters moving in her closet, or the coat she swore was walking off its hook by itself toward her. "Not real." She recited again with the air of a little girl telling herself there's no green monster under her bed talking to her, trying to convince her to come down under the bed. That was just an old Rugrats episode, and nothing more. Just tv, just pretend, not real at all. A black crow cawed with a scratchy throat somewhere in the darkness, as lighting clapped loudly above her. She repeated her mantra gain. "NOT REAL!" The grown girl voice coming back as she finally opened her eyes and looked up to see a half skeleton, half burned and peeling fleshy face nose to nose, his long steel claws and bone over sinewy muscles of a hand raised as a gleam shined off the ends of his blades. The blades were hungry for flesh, thirsty for blood, her blood. He shouted with a loud,

"RAWR!" His wickedly sharp hand came down oh her, the world went black and..she screamed.

"VINYL! VINYL! WHAT THE DEVIL IS GOING ON IN THERE!" Octavia called banging loudly on Vinyl's door. Vinyl shook and struggled to free herself from the blankets, sticky with the accumulated sweat. In her terror, Vinyl had torn almost all her night clothes from her body, only her tee and underwear remained. Her breath and heartbeat finally steadied itself as Octavia stood in the doorway, her date waited for her in the hallway, she was still dressed in her fine charcoal grew dress shirt and skirt from dinner. Vinyl looked around and shook her head, shaking the nightmare from the cubic meters in her skull.

"I'm okay Octi, it...was just a bad dream is all." She said as Octavia folded her arms over her chest and responded with,

"Some dream if THAT is anything to go by." She said pointing to Vinyl's blanket. Which had four big rips along the fabric, her tee shirt had four short cuts in the fabric along her chest just above her heart. "Now Vinyl, I don't mean to sound more like your mother than a roommate, but either stop watching horror movies before bed, or stop that kind of dreaming." She wagging her finger at her in an almost...maternal way.

"But...But Octavia I didn't...Oh okay no more horror movies before bed." she said, if she had long floppy pony ears, they'd be folded by now, in shame. Octavia walked over to Vinyl and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Join me and Mordicai downstairs for tea and come grands? He baked them himself." Octavia said hugging her friend close. Vinyl only shook her head and lay back down.

"I'm good Octi, you have your fun okay?...Is Morty Cute?" She asked quickly with a giggle.

"He's no Calvin klien model, but he's definitely easy on the eyes." Octavia said with a sigh.

"You know I like my dudes a little less meat head jock and more...art house poet right?" Vinyl replied with a soft flip of her hair.

"Goodnight Vynil." Octavia said as she went out the room to join her new male friend for tea. Vinyl's head fell back against her pillow and she sighed heavily.

"G'night Octi." Vinyl said as her eyelids shut again, she didn't dream at all the rest of the night. The sun woke her up in what felt like only a few seconds as she shut her eyes. For once in her life, Vinyl was glad she blacked out without dreaming a little dream, she was glad she missed the first bed to Slumber Land for once in her life.

As she got up and dressed herself in the rising sun, rising of its own accord because her school principal didn't have the power to raise the sun the way her pretty pony princess self did, no more than her vice principal of a sister could have helped her last night in her nightmare, the way her pony princess of the night self could have. She could almost hear children singing that haunting song in the early morning hazy fog, just as it began to burn away for reality to sink in.

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you."

Then all was silent again, silent and normal in Vinyl Scratch's bedroom...For now...