I was exhausted. My arms were sore from being locked in 't-rex' arms all evening. My legs were sore from not sitting down for hours, as well as constantly shifting my weight from leg to leg. My fingers twitched occasionally and I could see skin peeling from all over.

The sink was an absolute mess. I'd long since lost any form of organization. Salad pats sat wedged between downstairs plates and the fancier upstairs plates.

Kids lats sat between stacks of the flat plastic plates I hated and the regular small plastic plates we used (most of said plastic plates were covered in stains.

Cups were covering not only the counter but counter in front of the dishwasher, so much so that I couldn't make a place for a rack. There were more than a few sangria glasses that were just sitting on the edge of the counter precariously (and they just had to be filled with wine. Which meant stains.)

Bins (that I hadn't been able to get to during the night) lay stacked haphazardly underneath the sink. I'd tripped on one more than once during the night.

The silverware bucket was overflowing. Forks and knives were covered in slowly drying cheese. Spoons were covered in chocolate sauce. At some point somebody had shoved one of the rubber spatulas into the silverware bucket, and of course it had to be covered in ranch. Because nobody listens.

I blinked. Trying to process everything. It was Friday right? That would explain this.

I looked over to the office and saw Jake clocking out on the laptop. He turn and waved as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Have a good night Jared."

I forced a small weak smile onto my lips. "You too..."

I turned back towards the dishes. However, before I could do anything-

"Hey Jared." The voice of Hanna, one of the waitresses, grabbed my attention.

I looked over at her. She was giving me the shittiest of shit eating grins. "So we'd like to be out of here before Ten. Think you could pick it up a bit?"

I felt the corners of my eyes begin to sting. "S-sure."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Jared?"

I blinked and jumped a little. I whipped my head around to see my mom sitting in the driver's seat. Her graying brown hair was a little unkempt. Her blue-green eyes were filled with worry. "You okay? Was it a bad night?"

I sighed. "You could say that." I leaned back into the car seat and watched the slowly falling snow snow out the front window. It wasn't coming down fast but there was a lot of it. It definitely made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of the car. The car was warm. She'd put the heat on and I had to dual bonus of my warm winter getup and the car's heater.

"You didn't have to come get me. I could have easily walked, I'm geared out as it is." I looked over to Mom as she turned back to look towards the road.

"Hon, it's below zero outside. I don't care if we're just a few minutes away, I'd prefer you not get frostbite just because you don't want to inconvenience me." She briefly turned her head and looked at me. As we came to a stoplight. The angry red glow was thankfully clearly visible.

The light switched to green. I felt the car jolt as it fought to move in slushy road. I turned to look at her. A small smile was her face.

I saw a pair of white lights shine through the driver's side window, slowly making her face fall into shadow. She looked so confused. She looked towards the lights.

"Mom?" I asked.

My vision went black. I heard the sound of screeching metal and shattering glass. I lurched to the left. I felt something pop in my ribs as I was roughly stopped by the seat belt. There was a moment of weightlessness. I felt the sting of cuts as glass flew around me.

My vision returned. I could see Mom hanging there briefly.

Leaving me alone.

Then.

I fell.

Everything became a riot of swirling colors. I felt like I could shut my eyes. Everything was so bright.

Suddenly my spine felt Iike I just slammed back first into concrete.

The air was driven out of my lungs. I couldn't breath.

The lights were gone. Everything was a dull grey. Light blue wispy things flowed around me. I swore I saw faces in them. Hollow, empty faces.... The wispy things floated upwards towards a slowly swirling black hole. Once they entered, nothing remained.

I felt like ice was being injected into my veins. The cold filled me filling an emptiness I didn't know I had.

Once again my back hit something. Once again I couldn't breathe.

The sky was a vile green. Purple lightning crackled over coal black clouds. Meteors wreathed in green fire tore through the clouds. One barely missed me and whirled me around. The ground was black glass. Large jagged mountains disgorged green lava in pulsed like the world itself was hemorrhaging blood. Bipedal... things warred on the glassed ground. I couldn't tell the they were wearing black armor, or it that was their skin. They wielded weapons that looked like they were alive. Things of bone and flesh and eyes.

My limbs were on fire. My nerves screamed. A lance of burning pain erupted in my chest. It warred with the cold, yet I could feel that neither side would give. The fire and ice swirled in my core. Where the icey cold ebbed, the fiery heat took its place. Where the heat died, cold grew. Every moving. Never stopping.

Reality cracked, a spiderweb of veins spread out in every direction.

The world shattered like glass.

Everything was a riot of shifting greys and greens Things coiled and moved within the nothing. Tentacles covered in teeth. Flailing and coiling. Blobs of flesh covered in eyes and mouths. Forming faces. Screaming soundlessly. Mouths distending and disgorging. Creating more faces. Sobbing tears of blood.

Like a droplet of ink into water, a point of purple light struck the nothing. It spread out, a ring of violet light expanding and leaving a dull bruised purple in its wake.

Something came out of the purple. A black, slender, bony hand. Reaching towards me.

"ENOUGH!"

Everything shattered and I was suddenly flat on my back, or mostly. (My back spikes prevented lying down fully.)

I blinked up as a blue sky. I could see hints of orange, showing that evening was coming.

I blinked again. I could feel a cool, faint breeze on my skin.

Sitting up was easy. I found myself on a balcony of white stone. Nearby sat a couple fancy gold chairs and a small white round table. I stood, which also felt quite easy. I noted that I was wearing some sort of brown dress robe around my waist. I walked over to the edge of the balcony and the view took my breath away. I was on a parapet looking over a castle of white stone. Below was a grand white city. A castle in its own right. Far below fields and forests dotted the landscape. In the distance the evening sun slowly fell behind tall snow capped mountains. Puffy grey clouds reflected the evening light.

"We figured that thou wouldst like a better view, being that thou are stuck in a rather boring room." A familiar voice spoke up softly behind me.

I turned, both feeling and hearing my back spikes strike the wall behind me. Princess Luna (Thankfully clothed in her armor. As opposed to the last time I'd seen her.) stood only a few feet away.

"Luna?" I asked, my voice, for once gave voice to my confusion and surprize.

Luna nodded. "T'was quite the nightmare Jared. It shone like a beacon across the Dreamscape."

I blinked. "Wat? Dream?"

"You are dreaming Jared." Luna responded with another nod. "Though not for long. Though I saved you from that wretched place, your body still reacts. You are waking." Luna smiled softly at me. "It may be for the best. That nightmare was one of the fiercest I've seen in many an age. It took some time to get you out."

"Luna." I sputtered, still trying and failing to process. "Thanks."

"You are most welcome." Her smile faded into a look of sadness. "We... I am sorry... about your mother."

My eyes snapped open. My heart was racing. I'd seen. Something. Dishes. Snow. Colors.

I blinked a few times as my vision adjusted. Whatever I'd dreamed to make me wake up like this had faded.

There was a strange faint green light illuminating the room. Confused, I look of the source. It wasn't far away. My right arm was hanging off the bed. The glow came from there. As I raised my hand saw a small flicker green flame hovering within the palm of my hand. It slowly pulsed like a tiny heartbeat. I could feel it. A thin line of warmth that spread from my chest, down my arm, and out my palm.

I heard a faint, irritated moan. I looked down to Pinkamina. The mare was still on top of me. Her face was scrunched up cutely and she sleepilly shifted and arm to cover her face.

I glanced towards my hand and clenched my fist. The light died as the flame went out with a faint hiss. The room fell into darkness.

I looked down at the sleeping mare as I slowly dropped my arm back onto the bed.

The quiet of the dark room was broken only by the soft breathing of Pinkamena. I did my best to lay back and wrapped an arm around the pink mare, doing my best not to disturb her too much. It was still dark and I needed the rest.

My mind is blank. I closed my eyes and slipped into the dreamless void.

Author's Note

First time writing a nightmare. I hope I did okay.