Hey there boys and girls want some PAIN!?

Because that is all Ash felt as he lay on the hard dirt... Dirt? Hmm, smells like dirt, feels like dirt, and from how far his face was mashed into it he could tell it tasted like dirt. He was able to open his eyes for only a moment before lancing pain shoot through his eyes, nearly blinding him. Why was everything buzzing? It felt like he was in constant contact with an light electrical current, except instead of the usual feeling of electricity this sensation also including feelings bordering on burning and being frostbitten. There were other sensations somewhere in that haze of feeling, but these were the most prevalent at the time.

Then the sensation began increasing, getting stronger and stronger until it felt like he was grasping an electric fence whilst burning at the stake in the coldest circle of hell. All he could do was scream and writhe on the ground as this sensation of painful energy flowed over his body, until at last it began slipping inside him. With this pain he could feel every nerve, vein, and everything else inside his body pulse with this energy only for it to pulse back out of his flesh into the air around him. He lay like this for untold hours, his shrieks of pain slowly dying as the vocal chords that sustained them began to wear out. After another hour or so, the pain began to fade into the background of existence and even though he could still feel this energy it wouldn't bring the same pain as it once did.

It was still later when Ash finally recuperated enough to be considered fully conscious by a drunken man, but so exhausted was he that he simply edged a piece of cloth over his eyes and fell asleep. He could not care about his surroundings or what threats might be lurking there, the only thing that mattered was the painless realm of sleep. At least, it's usually painless.

Perspective of Luna

It was not often that the lunar diarch felt as she did now, a mix of curiosity and trepidation playing through her mind as she approached the strange dream that lay before her. The strange magical burst that had appeared earlier did nothing to alleviate her worries, as no information regarding it had been uncovered so far. Only that it was felt across much of Equestria. Though she normally stayed away from the dreams of non-ponies, this one was clearly having a nightmare and a nasty one at that. Fearing that it may have consequences if left unattended, she steeled her resolve and made to enter the dream.

The only major issue that presented itself to her though was that she would have to enter through the beings mind, rather than directly into the dream as this was a creature she had not done this with before. Though little danger existed, the creature's mind was still alien in nature and would be difficult to navigate if she lost her way. So she tried to pierce the veil of it's mind closest to where she thought the nightmare was located. When she entered it's mind, she immediately saw two things; a door the left that emitted darkness and a sense of dread, as well as a door to the right that was merely covered by a silk sheet with soft light emanating from it.

"Oh dear, oh dear. Why are you not in uniform deary?" A voice behind Luna spoke, making her hairs stand straight. Not out of surprise, but because the voice will motherly and caring was at the same time like something out of a nightmare.

Slowly turning around she saw something that truly surprised and somewhat frightened her. An enormous spider that was clad in silken nightwear. If not for the absurdity of what it was wearing Luna would have likely attacked it on the spot.

"Oh my, oh my. What a pretty one you are." the nightmarish spider crooned, as if to soothe the pony before it. "Just wait right here deary and we'll get you something absolutely wonderful!"

As the frightening creature moved down the hall that had been behind the lunar diarch when she had first arrived, she saw more similarly clad monsters lounging about. From the feeling of the first door and the sounds coming from the second, she came to the realization that this was the space in the creatures mind where Fear and Lust met... At least she had ended up near the source of his nightmares.

Luna then hurried to the first door before the strange spider came back with her 'uniform.' The thought giving her the 'Hee bee gee bees' as some of her little ponies would say.

Ash was alone... everything was so quite and muted, nothing would come into focus. He was in a great room, so high was it's ceiling that it faded into blackness before he could see it and the edges of the room were what seemed like miles away. In this titanic space, were giants could stride there was simply... nothing. It was in fact the great vastness of this place that made the hollow feeling inside of him grow exponentially, trying to spurn him on. To do something foolish. He knew this nightmare well, he had been here often enough. He would either have to bear the great weight of this hollow space until he woke, or the nightmare would drag some innocent person to suffer a worse fate alongside him.

He of course did not have any say in the matter of someone else barging in.

Luna burst forth from the doorway, closing it in a mad dash as she heard a terrible, yet oddly comforting voice call out to her, "Oh dear, oh dear. Please wait! This one would perfectly accentuate your-!" The door slamming shut before the creature could finish.

"NO!" Some distant figure called out to her in distress as great chains burst from the floor and circled around her neck, dragging her towards the being that called out to her. Before she could make out any of it's details however, a sudden roaring form above drew her attention as what seemed like an entire ocean bore down on her. After it washed over her with the weight of a small mountain, she began to make her way to the waters surface until the chains that had dragged her towards the center halted her efforts.

As she gazed through the murky waters of the nightmare she spied an interesting shadow, and the shadow gazed back at her, only it eyes visible through the watery depths with an intense gaze and little else. As it did she wondered, 'what does this creature think of me?'

Author's Note

Well kiddos, that's all for this chapter. More dreamland awaits next time as well as a fun surprise.
As always please leave anything useful that you wish to share in the comments. Thanks.

P.S. Yay! Only blacked out three times whilst staying up finishing this one.