A ruined Vacation

Sven reclined in his leather chair, ran his light skinned hand through his light brown unkempt hair, looked at the monitors with his mischievous green eyes, drummed the fingers of his other hand on his red clad chest, and sighed with minor irritation "where the buck futter is he?" He looked at the main hall, which was a shining medical white, he looked at the horizontal stairwell, also a medical white, and finally looked at the monitor with the Iron-Bound-Door on it.  "Well... Fuck." Sven growled "I can't seem to find me anywhere!"

Just then there was a flash of dark blue light on the main hall monitor, and almost immediately the intruder alarm went off, along with a cage that sprang up around the flash, with another irritated sigh Sven gave the monitor a sidelong glance and stated "What now?" His interest perked up slightly when he noticed the intruder was a quadruped "Well that's interesting... and blue." The creature on his monitor, and in a cage; was a dark purple/blue, with hair that seemed to be made from the night itself and waving in the air like there was a slight breeze, had a horn and wings, and had a mark on it's flank that was similar to a crescent moon in the night sky. He reached over to the intercom button and asked "Well hello there, how are we today?"

The creature looked confused and scanned the room for the source of the sound, finding a computer screen she responded with "I am doing well, but your body isn't doing so well."

Sven was taken aback "I am just fine, as you can seem, Now you can jog on for I am a busy man..." and he went back to searching the screens for signs of his old friend.

The creature eyebrow started to twitch and it stated through a forced calm "I come in here to help you and this is the thanks I get?" Sven waved a dismissive hand at the creature and the self- deceptive calm broke and the creature shouted out "Why do you insult me, is it because you are afraid of me?"

Sven looked back the the monitor the creature was on and said "Yes I just quiver in my boots from my bladder draining fear of a horse thing in a ca- Wait..." The bars in front of the creature glowed a deep blue, similar to the blue that was now surrounding it's horn, and Sven sputtered "S-stop that, t-that's cheating!" as the creature bent the bars of her cage like they were made of over-cooked spaghetti and walked through with a irritated but pleased look on it's face. "I said STOP THAT!" Sven hit a button to slam another cage around it. The creature just proceeded to the exact same thing as before and walk on through to the other side, no cage closed on it this time as it walked up to the monitor and glared at the person inside it "You know," Sven said with a scowl "this isn't as climactic since your on the other side of some glass..." The creature just glared indignantly. "Well... If we're going to be such CLOSE friends I think we should know each others names," Sven said with a slightly amused look on his face "I," he paused for a second for effect "am Sven The Ever Wonderful and Prominently Awesome, and your name... Horsey?"

That last remark set her off on a tirade, much to Sven's amusement, "I am Princess Luna, sister to Princess Celestia, Co-Ruler of Equestria, you-you moronic fool!" she finished with stomp of her hoof and an indignant glare.

Sven couldn't help but smile "that was so," - He grinned from ear to ear - "poetic."  Luna seemed even more put off, if that was even possible as she was stamping her feet and shouting threats and curses at the screen. Sven giggled a little bit and managed to stammer out "I-I think we've gotten off on the *giggle* wrong..." looks at her legs, "hoof." he smiled even more and said "Let us try this again. I am Sven Wilhelm, pleased to make your acquaintance." he said with a little bow.

Luna seemed a little confused by changed in behavior, but adopted a regal pose and said "I am Princess Luna, it's a... Pleasure to meet you." she finished with a small curtsy, then added "about your health..."

Sven looked at her like she had just proposed to have a paint tasting party "As you can see, I am completely fine, so no need to worry!" he said as he spun in his chair with his hands in the air. "... But, if you want to help me, I need to find someone who's gotten loose..."

Luna looked like she thought about it for a minute and said calmly "If that means you'll wake up, I will gladly help, do you have any leads as to his location?"

Sven looked slightly more irritated by that "If I knew I wouldn't be asking for your help." he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Then after a thoughtful pause Sven stated "I have an associate that will help you look for him, ta ta!" and the screen shut off as he waved.

Luna watched the dead screen as it went into the ceiling "Well he's... eccentric. Now, who am I look-" she was interrupted by an elderly man hitting her in the face with a cane.

Luna rubbed her face and gave the old man a contemptuous look, he was a squat fellow about three feet tall and a hunched back, clad in a drab brown cloak, sported a simple cane, and had a face hidden completely by gray hair that seemed to come from everywhere on his head "And what might your name be, Elder?"

The old man just stated simply through a raspy voice "Hemlock."

Luna sighed and asked "Where should we Mr. Hemlock?" to this the old man's only response was to grunt and walk down the hall, all Luna could do was follow.

Wilhelm laughed loudly in his security room. "This is priceless!" Then Wilhelm fell off of his chair laughing.

|*|

Luna grunted in frustration and asked the old man with as much calm as she could muster "How much longer is it going to find this "Someone", your body is wasting away as we speak!" The old man eyed he with irritation, grunted, and continued to walk. Luna was also irritated, it's hard to tell the passage of time in the mind of such an odd creature, but it's been ages since she entered his mind. She looked around and noticed they were indeed in another room; it was richly furnished, with red velvet exhibit fences, red velvet drapes hanging from the walls at even increments, and in between the drapes were paintings. The fences had gold and silver on them any where they could, to the point of being in bad taste. The drapes were hanging down the wall, from near the ceiling, pinned near the ends so the center could be let out at full length, with even rolls in the fabric from top to bottom. The paintings were beautifully brushed, with a wonderful color palate, and seemed to be chronicling a story.

From what Luna could tell the story seemed to tell of a group of about twenty of beings, all seeming to be the same species... but only just so, walking out of the darkness and then immediately start to battle each other. Luna noticed that in each picture there was one less being every time, until about the fourth to last one, this one showed a set of cold, dead eyes on the horizon looking at the group of battling beings. In the third to last one three beings were missing, and the remaining ten beings were looking at the eyes, their own eyes showing fear and anger. The second to last painting showed only four beings. The beings in the center that were dominating the painting were two looking similar young men; one of which had blue eyes and dark brown hair sporting a short and wavy blade in his left hand, with his body left side forward, and the other, who was on the first on's left hand side had green eyes and light brown hair with a spear in his right hand, pointing it towards the painting's viewer, with a mirth only the insane can comprehend; one being that was off to the right hand side, a little behind the group, was an elderly gentleman, the same one that accompanied her, who was leaning on his cane like all of his years were set loose upon him at once; and the last being, who was just behind the center being's left, was a strongly built, square jawed, middle aged man with purple eyes, who was sporting no weapon at all, but was in a fighting stance that was right side forward. In the last painting it had the two young men standing in front of a large decorative iron door, the green haired one with a dagger behind his back and the old gentle man off to the side looking sadly at the door. The door was huge and had Scroll work all along it, skulls on the top and flames along the bottom. There was space for one more painting, but it was blank.

|*|

They exited the room a short time later and were on a stairwell... that was anything but a normal stairwell. Luna just sighed to her self, this was the same in every mind; if there was a stair well it didn't go up and down like a normal stairwell, it had to be sideways, or upside down. the old man grunted at Luna and continued to walk on the stairs. Luna just continued to look around, and noticed herself on a different stairwell. The other Luna was walking on an upside down stair case, Luna waved at her other self who simply raised her head higher and huffed then carried on up the stairs like she was late for the "Prissy Princess Talent Show" or something to that effect. "Well, that was rude of me." Luna mumbled under her breath as she carried on to the next hallway.

|*|

This hallway had a door to the side, the first door Luna has seen in the whole place; It was large and made from iron, with scroll work that resembled flames long the bottom and Skulls with demons horns along the top and as she stared the scroll work seemed to move and the door exhumed an unbearable, ungodly cold that chilled more then your bones. "Mr. Hemlock, what is behind that door?" Luna asked the old man as they walked past, never talking her eyes off of the door.

"Death." Hemlock rasped and walked on

Luna stopped for a moment and stared at the door a little longer, trying to remember if she had seen anything else like this in all her years of dream diving. Hemlock coughed not-so politely further up the corridor, that snapped Luna out of her trance and she trotted back beside him

|*|

The next room was large... And empty; there were no doors, windows, or any other defining feature in this blank space. The Old Man just calmly walked to the center of the room and stood there, not bothering to even look at Luna. She walked up beside him and waited... and waited... and looked around the room again, and waited some more. Finally, after what seemed like years she got sick of waiting and finally said irritably "What are we supposed to be doing, what are we waiting for?" To this the Old Man just started to cough out a raspy laugh and as he laughed the years seemed to shed off of his frame; his back grew straighter, his voice shed it's raspy quality and took on the octaves of a much younger man.

By the time the transformation was done he was rolling around on his back, having a gay old time, and through sobs of laughter said "YO-You should have seen the look on your F-F-F-FACE!" he dropped back into cackles of mirth.

Luna jumped a step back from the derange man and said "What are you talking about?" the look of shock still fading from her face. "Wait... Your the man from the Box!" To this the man stood up, and while still shuttering from laughter, took a bow like he had just done a performance.

Sven laughed a little more before calming down enough to say "Ah..." he wiped a tear away from his eye "Priceless... your a jolly good old time, you know that?" She just looked at him irritably. "Well, I've had my fun, and you didn't find him so... you can leave now!" He slipped into the floor and a monitor comes out of where he was standing, his face taking up the whole screen. he leaned back in his chair, put his fingers together and said "Well, I said leave!" and hit a button. The floor slid out from underneath Luna, she just flapped her wings and stayed where she was. Sven's happy face fell like it had steel clogs and had decided to go base jumping. "That's," Sven slammed another button "Cheating!" and the pit grew teeth and tried to bite her. Luna just flew higher to avoid the gnashing maw with a faint smile on her lips, It seems like it's my turn to enjoy myself She thought happily.

"Is that all?" Luna said with more then a little amusement in her voice. Sven scowled and hit another button. A cage fell where Luna was and she just moved a few feet off to the side and smiled at Sven like he just made a funny, but not too funny, joke. Sven's face looked like it was going to tear from it's foundations by the look of that scowl

|*|

"STOP DOING THAT!!" Sven shouted as he went to hit the thirtieth button in a row which sent a glob of florescent pink goo to go flying out of the wall towards Luna, who just calmly accented higher in the air. Fuming Sven went to hit yet another button, but then there was a loud, meaty "TWACK" and he slumped over the console. Luna looked at the screen, a single eyebrow raised.

Another man; his skin an off shade of peach, with a dark brown, unruly mane, with a light grey shirt. He grunted as he threw Wilhelm out of the seat. "Hmm?" he said as he looked at the monitor with his piercing blue eyes "I see why he stopped looking for me , and who might you be?" he looked down at the console for something.

Luna just eyed him suspiciously "for the third time today, I am Princess Luna; Sister to Princess Celestia, and co-ruler of Equestria... you are Sven I presume?"

The Man just looks up at her "I am..." he pause for a moment, seeming to be looking for the right words, "The closest to the original Sven. I am Kitran, charmed to meet a non-me for the first time and who happens to also be a princess"  Sven looks down at the console again.

Luna looked at him with an eyebrow raised "So that other one was..." she paused a moment to allow him to fill the gap, but when he didn't she finished her sentence "... a doppelganger?" Sven just continued his search. "The things that Mr. Hemlock said about that door... were they true?"

Kitran stopped and looked up from the console, stared her dead in the eyes with his piercing stare and said authority "That door houses a being of so much power that it took ten of us just to subdue it, that door must never be opened." and looked back down at the console again

Sven stopped at a big red button, and before Luna could say anything, mumbled under his breath "It's always the big red button isn't it," he looked up at the screen "Ms. Luna?" She just looked at him a little nervously. "I assume your not a denizen of my mind?" She just nodded, "Well if that is the case, I will either see you when I wake up or not wake up at all," he continued "Well, thank you for your help." Then he pushed the button.