Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/

Shining gave out a pained groan as he slowly woke up from a deep sleep. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the morning blur, but once he did he felt something off. Once his vision became clear his eyes widen, for he saw his hooves are now hands like the ones humans Twilight described to him. Seeing this he removed the blanket that was covering the rest of his body, and what he saw surprised him greatly, he was wearing an under shirt and pajama pants with his cutie mark patterned all over it. Also he still has hooves for feet. Shining felt his mind race as tried to make sense of his current situation.

“Okay Shining get a hold of yourself…Obviously you been turned into a human or rather part human creature just get out of bed and analyze the situation. There should be a mirror somewhere around here and hopefully I can find the others while I’m at it.”

Shining jumped off the bed landing on his feet, but once he landed he had trouble keeping his balance and shortly fell to the floor face down.

“Oww…” he groaned as he picked himself off the floor. Shining leaned against the bed he recently jumped out of in order to keep his balance, “This walking on two hoofs thing is going to take awhile to get used to,” Shining slowly let go of the bed before trying once again to stand on his two feet. After struggling for a bit Shining finally manage to keep his balance only to run into another problem; the art of walking, “Okay…if I remember correctly Twilight told me humans walk by moving one leg after another and the first step is dependent on their dominant hand or was it the opposite?” Shining pondered for a moment before coming to a conclusion, “Well…I just used my new right hand to get back off the floor, so I guess that’s my dominant hand. I guess that means I should put my right foot forward.”

After a few attempts at walking Shining finally got the hang of it. With this accomplished he took the time to look around the room he was stuck in. To him it wasn’t much different from living in the Crystal Kingdom though it was less…crystally. After some looking around he eventually found a hand mirror. What he saw surprised him a little, for he still has his equine head though slightly altered, “If this happened to me…that means the others must have been changed has well, but how?” He asked himself, “Looks like I have to cross that bridge when I get to it, but first I need to find the others.”

He looked around finding three more beds in the room with one smaller one in front of one. When he looked at the smaller bed he found a familiar baby dragon sleeping soundly in the small bed, but he wasn’t changed at all. However, before he could think on it further he found one the larger beds being inhabited by no other then Dr. Grey Suture who was changed like Shining himself. Rather than let them continue their blissful slumber Shining decided to shake them awake.

“Hey! Wake up!”

The two slowly woke up with a yawn while rubbing their eyes, “Is it morning already?” Spike said with another yawn as he got out of his bed.

“Yeah is it? I having a nice dream before you started shaking and yelling,” Grey Suture trailed off as his vision cleared. Grey’s eyes widen when he looked at his changed body “Jumping jalopy! What the heck happened to me?!”

“What’s going on Shining…whoa Déjà vu.” Spike added, “Wait! What about me!” The baby dragon quickly checked himself to see if he was changed as well, but soon breathe a sigh of relief as he saw he was still himself, “Whew…I thought I was a dog again, but if I’m still me then what happened to you guys?”

“Well honestly Spike I don’t know how or why we been turned into these half-human half-equine ponies, but what I do know is if this happened to me and Suture then the girls may have been changed as well,” Shining explained.

“Well ain’t this a fine mess we gotten ourselves into, but there is no point in us sitting around,” Grey said as he removed the blankets off his body, so he can jump off the bed.

“Grey wait! Don’t jump off the bed!” Shining yelled, but unfortunately his warning fell on deaf ears. Grey continued his action only for him to fall to the floor face first like Shining before him.

“Oww…”

“I tried to warn you.”

‘This going to take awhile,” added Spike.

After a few minutes of Shining helping the hapless doctor get used to his new legs Grey finally was able to walk around, “Okay that’s a new experience I will be writing in my journal when we get back home, but what now?”

“Well first we should look for the girls we can’t really get a hold on what’s going on until we find them.”

“While I agree with you Shining there’s only one problem. The hallway out that door according to what Paranoia told me when I was brought here the first time is like a maze and isn’t very well lit. In short we can easily get lost out there even thought we were going only straight,” Spike explained.

“Then how do the Nightmare Brothers get around?”

“I don’t know…they just know where go.”

“Great…just great…we can’t risk going out there then, but what can we do?” Grey said with a look of frustration.

Shining scratched his chin in thought, “Then we should look for another way.”

The trio then begun to search the room for any alternative ways out. They continued to search for a few minutes until they heard a knock at the door that leads into the hallway.

“Knock, Knock. Is anyone awake in there?” asked a familiar voice.

“Dully is that you?” Shining asked.

“Oh so you are awake. That’s good…what about the others?”

“Whoever you are the dragon and I are awake as well,” added Grey.

“Great! Can you let me in?”

“Uh…sure,” Shining said as he open the door for her.

“Thank you,” she said as she walked in much to Spike’s and Grey’s shock.

“Wha?! How is your head disconnected from your neck?!” both shouted in surprise.

“Oh this? I was imagined this way,” She responded flatly as her body pointed to her neck, “By the way my name’s Dully we haven’t met before,” her body offered a friendly handshake which the two reluctantly took.

“Now that introductions are out of the way, I’m here to deliver a message from Sir Paranoia.”

“Sir? You mean he’s knighted?” Shining asked with a raised brow.

“Yes and so are his brothers.”

“Huh…what a strange bunch of knights.”

“What was that?”

“N-Nothing…anyway what’s the message?”

Dully pulled out a scroll and opened it up,

“Dear equines, if you’re wondering what has happened to you the answer is simple I genetically modify your DNA to become anthros. Now the reason for this is because you have been selected for further challenges by our lord, but these challages require you to be bipedal and have some sort of human characteristics. If you’re wondering no, the change is not permanent and you should revert back to your normal selves in a month or a few weeks at the least. Anyway I best recommend you stay in your rooms for tonight because currently our lord is unavailable at the moment until then dinner would be brought to your rooms in a few minutes. Also on a side note you’ll have some new roommates two for the men and one for the women they will come along once dinner arrives. Oh and before I forget if you’re wondering about your precious Princess Luna I wouldn’t worry about her. She’s alive and making a full recovery in the infirmary, but she won’t be joining you for the next three days until she full recovers. Well that should wrap what needs to be said Dully you can stop reading now…Oh... how embarrassing,” she finished as her body placed her head on a nearby table and closed the scroll.

“Well…that’s a lot to take in,” Grey said, “Well at least we know the girls are safe and Luna is recovering.”

As much as that was good news Shining still was aware of their situation, “Yeah, but we’re their prisoners.”

“Well at least they made us comfortable prisoners,” Spike added.

Dully nervously shifted a bit after noticing the tension that surrounded Shining, “Anyway I should get going, I need to give the same message to the girls a couple of doors down the hall so…thanks for letting me in,” after she finish her sentence she walked out of the boys room and closed the door ignoring the sudden looks she got.

“Wait what!” yelled Shining as he quickly open the door to chase after her, but as he open the door he was met with a single long dimly lit hallway. Seeing no other option Shining immediately ran down the hallway ignoring the protests of his friends.

“Shining wait! We don’t know what wander these halls!” shouted Grey as he followed Shining.

Spike sighed to himself as he reclosed the door, “I tried to warn them…I wonder how long it would take to make it back to this room?”

/

Meanwhile…while the two colts are running around the halls, the girls already have gotten used to their new forms and are currently just as lost as the boys.

“Yaahh!!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she ran out the door and into the darkness.

“There she goes again,” said Applejack as she sat on the edge of her bed thinking of a way out.

After a few moments the girls in the room heard Rainbow’s yelling again as she immediately ran into the room for the fifth time, “Seriously! How is this happening?!” she yelled in frustration as she got ready for another attempt only to be stopped by Fluttershy.

“Rainbow please stop, you’re only to wear yourself out if you keep this up,” she said with concerned. Rainbow Dash looked to the ground and mumbled a few words before sitting on her bed in the room.

“She’s right you already helped proved that running out that door is pointless. At this point it would be a waste of energy,” Nurse RedHeart added with a sigh sigh.

“Something on your mind nurse?” Applejack asked as she noticed her downcast expression.

“I’m just worried about the boys…Grey especially.”

“Aren’t we all?” Rarity added as she gave a wistful sigh.

The mood in the room became heavy for a moment until a certain nightmare made herself known, “Is this a bad time?” asked the nightmare as she entered the room.

“Dully!” shouted an excited Pinkie as she ran up to the Dullahan and hugged her.

“Whoa! Nice to see you too, but can you please watch the head?” pleaded Dully as her body did its best to prevent the head from being crushed.

“Whoops sorry,” said Pinkie as she let go Dully and gave her a sheepish smile.

“Don’t worry about it, but just remember next time okay?”

“Okey dokey!”

“So what brings you here Dully?” asked Applejack curiously.

“Yeah what brings you here?" added Rainbow Dash as she eyed the nightmare in suspicion, for she didn’t really trust nightmares from her experiences.

“Well I’m here to deliver a message from Paranoia and it’s something you might want to listen to..,” Dully then begin to relay the same information she told the boys.

“So that’s what happened to us,” Applejack said as she adjusted her hat.

“But through genetic modification? I thought only unicorns can do transformation through magic not through the use of experimentation,” added RedHeart as she thought more about it, “Although, that Paranoia guy isn’t unicorn and he still pulled it off. I would be impressed if we weren’t prisoners.”

“Well at least it’s temporary. I prefer my own body than this one I mean look at me! My wings grew bigger and in a close and small space like this I can’t even use them!” Rainbow gave a small pout before lying on her bed, “Did Twilight really have to go through something like this when she entered the human world?”

“My best guess is yes Dashie,” added Applejack.

“Oh don’t such downers. At least they’re giving us food to eat,” Pinkie said in an effort to change the subject.

“Pinkie’s right I mean they gave us a room with beds, a bath big enough for all of us, and a window with a beautiful view of outside. Honestly, I feel more like a guest than a prisoner,” added Fluttershy.

“I have to admit the décor does speak royalty and these clothes do fit our new bodies very well even though they’re just sleep wear. Where did you get these anyway?” Rarity asked.

“Well they were mostly bought from stores from the waking world, but some of them are made by our very own professional clothing designer and tailor.”

“Ooh a professional. I would like to meet this professional whoever he or she is.”

“Well…he is currently unavailable at the moment, but I will let him know you wanted to meet him when he does.”

“Thank you darling.”

The RedHeart gave Rarity a raised brow while Applejack sighed at the situation.

“What? If we’re going to stay here I might as well gain more ideas.”

Not wanting to prolong the conversation any further RedHeart dropped the subject.

Dully was again feeling awkward in the following silence and decided to leave the room, but before she left RedHeart spoke up, “How are the boys doing?” she asked with a worried expression.

Dully gave her a small smile before responding, “Honestly, they worried about all of you just as you are of them,” With this said Dully took her leave and closed the door to their room leaving them to wonder what to do.

/

Spike lay on the bed with a bored look on his face. It has been a quite a while since the other guys charged into the dark hallway despite his warnings. He let out a yawn as he took a book nearby and looked at its cover, “Dream Fairies and Nightmares: know the differences and their Purpose,” he said plainly as he opened the book.

“Let’s see…Dream Fairies are a race of beings that exist on a different plain of existence which is today is known as the dream realm. Dream Fairies used be imaginary friends of individual mortal children with strong imaginations that causes them to be real to them. These imaginary friends become Dream Fairies when the child has a dream that they wish to reach and trusts their imaginary friend to help them reach that dream. At this point these Dream Fairies are recruits and only become true Dream Fairies when they helped the child reach their dream,” Spike raised a brow after reading the passage, “So that’s how Dream Fairies are created…Twilight will love to read this.”

Before he could read the entry on Nightmares he heard something running towards the door to this room. Spike gave out an annoyed sigh before getting off the bed and walked towards the door while mentally counting, “3…2…1…” he then opened the door to see Shining and Grey rushed passed the door and crashed into the farthest wall in the room.

“So…how did it go?” he asked sarcastically as he closed the door.

The only response he got was some groans of pain.

“I thought so.”

The two recovered after a moment and immediately begin asking questions in a bewildered manner.

“What in the name of my wife just happened?” Shining yelled.

“We just ran straight and we ended up back here!” Grey responded.

“How did that happened?

“I don’t know! I just as confused as you are!”

The two continue to talk to each other endlessly not making any progress in answering their questions. That is until Spike made a small cough bringing their attention to him. “It’s like I said you guys, the halls is like a maze you can easily get lost even if you’re running straight.”

Grey and Shining looked at each other for a moment before remembering Spikes word minutes before they took off into halls, “Oh…right…” they both said as they looked at the ground in embarrassment.

Suddenly they heard a violent knocking coming at their door. Everybody then stood up on edge already sensing danger and the knowledge that it isn’t Dully at the door. They waited for a moment before there was another violent knock however this time it nearly broke the door down.

“O..pen…do…or…” said a slow voice that Spike immediately recognized.

“Fear!?” he yelled as the door was busted down.

There standing where door the used to be was the nightmare himself, but he also seemed to be carrying two unconscious beings that isn’t known to any of them. Fear walked into the room while looking at the other inhabitants in the room. He also seems to be wearing a new gas mask since his old one was destroyed before. Fear stopped in the middle of the room and in front of Shining, Grey and Spike.

The said three looked at Fear with angry looks and battle ready positions. That is before Fear spoke up.

“N…ew…room…mates…” he said as he dropped the two bodies onto the floor, and walked away into the halls disappearing into the darkness.

The group looked at each other before examining the bodies. One was a strange cricket looking humanoid while another was a wolf man. The cricket’s legs have stitches and braces, “Oh boy,” Grey said as he looked at the stitches.

“What is it?” asked Spike.

“These stitches are not just covering surgically open wounds. This poor bug man had his femurs crushed then put back together again.”

“What?! How?” Shining said shocked.

“Only a master surgeon could have that kind of knowledge and the only one I know is me!” Grey said with a panicked expression, “Who else could have this knowledge?”

The group looked at each other before remembering who turned the two colts into half-human half- pony creatures, “Paranoia!” they shouted in unison.

“If he’s this advance with medical arts then in turn he could easily take us apart and put us back together again!”

“Argh…quit yelling if I wanted an alarm clock then I would’ve stayed home,” said a new voice.

The group stopped in their tracks and looked at the source of the new voice; it was the wolf man. The wolf man looked at them with a confused look before getting off the floor, “Uh…yeah…the name’s Lucain…and you three might be?”

The group didn’t moved for a moment that is until Shining stepped towards the wolf man to greet him, “My name is Shining Armor the baby dragon over there is named Spike, and the grey colt is named well…Grey Suture.”

“Nice to meet you all, considering the circumstances that brought us here,” Lucain said as he remembered how he ended up captured. His mind then drifted to his friends who he last remembered were fighting Paranoia, “Shit! Hey Shining! Have you seen a rabbit or cricket around here?”

Shining looked at his friends who in turn looked at the body on the floor, “So that’s what type of insect he is” Grey said with a fake smile in a failed attempt to make the mood lighter.

“Damn it all! Hopper! Hopper!” Lucain yelled as he kneeled next to his friend and attempted to shake him awake.

“I wouldn’t bother doing that…I’m pretty sure he’s unconscious and not waking up anytime soon,” Grey said flatly.

“I know that! C’mon help me get him onto the bed.”

The two colts didn’t waste any time to help the wolf man lift his friend onto a nearby bed. Once that was done Lucain gave out a small growl, for he saw the braces and the stitches on his friend’s legs, “That bastard! When I get my hands on him I’ll make sure he’s going to be drinking his meals through a straw for the next few years!”

“Well…if it makes you feel better the work on his legs is done so well he’ll make a full recovery in the next three days,” Grey said trying to cheer Lucain up, but only received a snarl in response, “Okay…I get it you need your space, so…I’ll be standing over there,” he said nervously as he backed away and hid behind Shining.

Shining sighed at this act, but understood his fear. Treading carefully he walked closer to the wolf man, “So Lucain why are you along with your friend Hopper?”

Lucain grumbled under his breath, but looked at Shining, “We were sent here to investigate the sightings of forbidden magic use; in this case other world travel.”

“What makes it forbidden? I mean we used the same magic to get here.”

“Well it may not be forbidden in your world, but in my world forbidden magic can’t be used by non-god entities unless supervised by a god.”

“Interesting, but how did you get caught?”

“Paranoia knew we were here he tracked us down and considering what happened to Hopper captured us. I just hope Kiki didn’t get hurt or else I will be bringing more hell than I promised before.”

Shining was going to question about Kiki, but guessed he or she is another friend of his. So he mentally moved on to the next question, “So who or what are you exactly?”

“We are Dream Fairies. In short we help protect the dreams of mortals in our world from nightmare attacks on the waking world.”

“Not exactly what I imagine a fairy to be.”

“Well I’m sorry we can’t all be tiny people with butterfly wings,” Lucain replied sarcastically as he made little flapping motions with his hands, “Anyway…considering that we are stuck in the same situation we should work together. I need to find evidence of forbidden magic use and you need to rescue your friend if we team up we both get what we want.”

“Her name is Twilight and she’s my sister, but you do have a point.”

“So do we have a team up or what?” Lucain then brought out his hand hoping for a handshake.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long for the handshake, for it took Shining less than a second to return the handshake. The two smiled at each other now having developed some respect for each other.

“Uh…excuse me?” spoke a well-mannered voice.

The group turned to the door way to see a giant spider in a tuxedo standing at the doorway. The spider was carrying multiple plates on its arms which everybody except for Lucain knew what that meant.

“Dear me! What happened to the door?” The Spider said as it walked through door before stopping in its tracks, “It was Fear wasn’t it?” it said flatly.

The group just nodded in response being too shocked by the giant arachnid to speak.

“Of course it was…anyway here are your meals,” the spider then brought out several tables and laid each plate on top of them, “Now I looked into each of your biology given to me by the head chief, so I guess these two piles of cooked hay sided with carrots and apples belong to you two gents,” The spider then pointed to Shining and Grey who only stared at the food with confused looks. “And for the growing baby dragon we have something rather unorthodox, for you get a pile of gems which contain several different rare gems such as rubies, sapphires, and emeralds just to name a few,” The Spider then moved closer to Lucain and Hopper “As for you two…the wolf man gets lamb ribs sided with mash potatoes and peas, and the cricket gets a salad laced with honey.”

The spider then took at a look at the sleeping Hopper, “Oh dear…still asleep. I got a remedy for that,” The spider then crawled next to Hopper and whispered a simple word, “Boo.”

Shortly after saying that Hopper woke up screaming before jumping onto the ceiling shaking like a wet dog, “Spiders! Spiders everywhere!” he yelled.

“Terribly sorry for that sir, but your food is ready. So would you please get down from the ceiling?”

Hopper looked at the source of the voice only to see a giant spider staring at him from below, “Sp-sp-spider! Giant Spider!”

“Oh dear…I guess that’s my cue to leave, but before I do let me fix the door for you,” The spider then walked to the busted down door and after a few minutes of hammering and webbing the door was back in place. With a quick goodbye the spider left the room leaving the guys with their thoughts and meals with Spike already starting on his pile of gems.

/

To say the girls were confused was understatement. First, Paranoia appeared in the room carrying an unconscious rabbit in his arms after a few words he placed the rabbit on a nearby bed and left. Second, the rabbit eventually woke up and introduced herself as Kiki she explained briefly about herself and what she is to the group before remembering and freaking out about her friends. Once the group managed to calm her there was a knock at the door. Pinkie opened the door letting in a giant Praying mantis into the room. Of course everybody in the room freaked out though a certain mare fainted at the sight of the creature. Strangely the creature freaked out as well and after small squabble the creature was pinned down by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Considering its situation the creature explained why it was present in their room telling them that it was bringing the food to them. To prove it the praying mantis whistled bringing out three other smaller mantises’s appeared bringing food carts serving food to the girls.

A little bit later, the mantis left leaving the girls to themselves and their food. After eating their given meals they heard a voice echo around the room.

“Testing...testing 1, 2, 3 testing. Okay it is now 8:00 P.M officially this is the time to go to sleep for those who do not naturally belong to the world of sleep. This means you, our special guests…so I recommend getting some sleep for tomorrow. Thanks for your cooperation and have a good night.”

The voice then stop speaking signifying it was done by the sound of a small beep noise.

“Ya’ll hear that? We should get some shut eye, who knows what they’re planning for us tomorrow,” Applejack said as she climbed into a bed near her.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean we are in the nightmare realm after all they might attack us while we sleep!” Rainbow Dash said with concern.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m a dream fairy after all, so I don’t need sleep. I’ll watch over you guys, although…I might be bored throughout the night,” Kiki said easing the group’s worries.

“Wait you don’t need sleep? How can you do that?” asked RedHeart.

“As beings that live in the world of sleep. It’s not necessary for us to sleep though we can simulate it and feel its effects.”

“Wait does that mean can dream fairies and nightmares can have dreams and nightmares?” Pinkie asked with innocent curiosity.

“Not really mostly for us it’s just a blank room for our thoughts, so in other words we can see what’s going on in our own heads. However, should we get a dream or nightmare its mostly prophetic telling us of good or bad things to come.”

“Wow that’s amazing I would never thought that,” Rarity said.

“Well I will probably tell you more about it later, but like your friend Applejack said you guys should go to sleep.”

“Okay then good night!” Pinkie said quickly before jumping into her bed and falling fast asleep.

The others after saying their goodnights to each other turn off the lights in the room, and fell asleep leaving Kiki alone in the darkness of the night.

Kiki slowly rocked herself on her bed wondering what happened to her friends until she heard a familiar howl. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, for she grew to recognize Lucain’s howling from other wolves. In response she gave howl of her own or at least her best version of it to let Lucain know she’s okay. She kept doing this throughout the night without waking up her new friends all the while giving out a small smile.

/