Weightless. How Starlight hates these endless falling dreams. There are no stars, lights, or floating lanterns around her like the last time nor any tenseness and dread. The expanse around her is as blank as her boredom with it all. She wonders if it is weird to find her own dream tireless and predictable.

Princess Luna suggested clearing my mind before bed to avoid bad dreams, I'm not sure this is what she had in mind. Is it possible to fall asleep in your own dream? Her horn lights up and a pink teacup and saucer appears before her face full of pure espresso.

Honestly, how hard could Twilight's research paper be that she needs EVERYPONY'S help? Oh how she enjoys making new friendship lessons 'fun,' I'm worrying over nothing. Right? When she tries to take a sip from the cup a series of brown bubbles sprout from it and change into spinning ribbons. Starlight can only sigh and toss the teacup up to see what happens to it too. To her amusement, it inflates rapidly, flashing brilliant colors, squeaking loudly as it transforms into a kaleidoscopic painting.

Ugh. That's the last time I eat ice cream and yogurt before bed, still at least something is happening now. A smile graces her face and she throws up the saucer like a frisbee. It stops mid-air still spinning and showers everything below it in stars. The whole area begins to brighten more as Starlight laughs. She sets her mind to something else when an awful feeling creeps up on her slowly and lingers uneasily long. A sour, chilling nausea weighing thick on both her shoulders until she forces herself to turn toward what she believes to be the assailant. A sweeping glare blinds her and the feeling of falling at once stops. When Starlight opens her eyes, she sees dimly lit cave walls around her with a light source coming from a small opening at the top.

"Bewildered, lonely little unicorn." a strange voice crones. Starlight's ears perk up and she comes face to face with a twisted looking floating mask. The face carved on it curls slightly on either side into asymmetrical patterns as if the artist's steady strokes turned violent and unstable at the ends.

"Goody, because nothing about this shouts 'creepy' at all. Has to be that ice cream." Starlight shrugs it off. The floating mask careens around and up along the dry cave walls erratically.

"Oh so small, so energetic little thing. Do you know me?" the mask asks her.

"I'm sure I read about repressed memories somewhere..." Starlight mutters.

"Call me Needling Shivers, if you please, and give me your energy." the mask speaks frankly, "Or you will never go home, nothing simpler than that." It kicks up dust with each pass close to the ground.

"It figures, you know what Needy Simpleton I'd rather go back to that dull falling dream than stay in this one. You're weird and all but I've seen worse, trust me." Starlight begins to lecture, "And you know what else? I got over my issues with taking magic a LONG time ago, so whatever you represent is way behind. I'm hoping I'm not interrupting Princess Luna whenever whatever this all is starts trying harder to be scary." The mask Needling Shivers presses hard against her snout in bitter resentment.

"Ooo look at me I'm a special snowflake that puts down other's hard work. Well you aren't, smart aleck." Shivers sneers. Starlight turns her back on the entity and starts walking away indignantly.

"Go ahead. There's only one way out, unicorn. I pulled you from that precious dream and only I can put you back." Shivers follows her too close for comfort. Each step on the rock floor echoes as the Shivers mask lets the silence lay heavy on Starlight's mind. At last she can see an exit and races toward it. She beholds a wide expanse of stone and fire, rolling jagged hills that emit a sickly green smoke, and screeching flying monsters diving at each other. She stands petrified.

"Behold unicorn! The soft world you know is gone! Tartarus is your new home!" Shivers shouts gleefully. Starlight whips around in a mix of angry shock.

"What're you trying to pull?" she demands.

"Simple, submit your energy to me and you can go home. If not you can rot here." Shivers crows. Two snapping ghouls claw at each other over head and fly away as quickly as they came. Starlight growls irritated.

"Princess Luna!" she calls out. Shivers grins happily too close to her face. "Quit it! Princess Luna!" Starlight backs up into a crumbling wall, a nearby greenish glow lighting her worried expression.

"This place is no dream, you are trapped little pony until I say so." Roaring over head and ambience suited to the cruelest haunted house in Equestria ring in her ears. The rubble beneath her hooves and the off-putting smells all around tell Starlight plainly enough. This is Tartarus.

Author's Note

I'm really hoping that the hook before things go south isn't too clumsy.