Stormy woke up abruptly by a huge pressure on his chest, he was no longer in Canterlot, he was in some kind of hospital, restrained in a table ready to be operated, his raincoat was nowhere to be seeing, neither his other items, a pony he did not recognized was about to operate him and he was much than awake!

He could fell the scalpel ripping his coat, and flesh, he screamed but and assistant put his hoofs on his mouth to prevent him from screaming, he was thinking this was another nightmare, but this one must be new, since he don’t remember that kind of place, neither that the pain felt so real, as the doctor was trying to make the opening in his chest more bigger.

“Mmmhpphph!” Stormy tried to scream, begging them to stop, he could not use his magic either, the base of his horn has an inhibitor ring.

“Doctor, the victim is still fighting,” said the assistant holding Stormy mouth with strength.

“Then we should proceed my friend, bring The Helmet,” The head doctor asked to his assistant coldly.

Stormy mind quickly process where he was, he was in a mental hospital, but he don’t remember one in Canterlot, or Ponyville, but he do not wanted to remain there, so he started to struggle harder in a effort to break his bindings, the assistant let go of Stormy´s mouth to bring “The Helmet“. Whatever that thing is, he doesn’t want it near him! As the assistant left the room, everything froze, he could hear screams coming from outside the surgery room he was in, the head doctor rushed to check, leaving Stormy unattended.

“What in Tartarus is going on here?!” he yelled as he struggle to break free.

He saw a silhouette in the window of the door, of somepony being stabbed with a big knife, and that silhouette was coming to the Surgery Room, with the doctors away, he calm himself a bit, the inhibitor ring was going to prevent the magic usage, so using telekinesis to free himself is out of the question, the girdles that bounded him to the table were elastic, so he tried to pull his right hoof as close to his mouth as possible to bite the bindings and undo the girdles. A snap sound was his cue, his right hoof was off, fortunately for him the inhibitor ring was not sealed so he removed it with his right horn and surrounded in a white magical aura, the other 3 girdles started to undo. As they became loose enough to take his hooves out, he jumped from the table and looked around him; there has to be something he could use to defend himself.

“In cases like these, I wish I had something like Pinkie’s Party Cannon of a Muffing Bazooka,“ he said to himself, joking a little.

As silly as it sounds, trying to joke out in the middle of a bad situation, is something Stormy use to do a lot, especially since is something that Pinkie taught him to do. As he searched the room, he found a rather rusty pipe, what was a pipe doing in the middle of a hospital? Either way he picked it up, the silhouette of the pony holding the big knife was just standing in the door, he put himself behind the stretcher, and pushed with all his remaining strength, forgetting about the pain the surgical opening had caused him for a second

Using the stretcher as a moving shield, when he opened the door with it, the silhouette was nowhere to be seen, and Stormy only manage to get himself hurt when the stretcher impacted the wall, he rose back to his hooves, a little puzzled about where did the doctors went, he still have his cut in his chest, he touched with his hoof, the pain was very real to be a dream, he felt like thousands of electrical shocks racing in his spine to his brain.

“Auch, this is not a normal nightmare, what in the hay is going on?” he said to himself, trying to find a logical explanation to this.

He opened the door which lead to the hospital hallway… his breathing made the surgery cut to spit a little amount of blood, he searched for a bandage on a table in the hallway, thankfully, there was one, his mind told him that could be a trap, but he was without his black raincoat, so there was no other option, he picked up the bandage and wrap it around his chest and torso with his magic, covering his open wound, he tight it up a bit, to make it close, but still the pain was there, as he continued walking in the hallway, he opened a door leading to the examination room, there he found the doctor assistant, or at least half of his body, his stomach could not take it, and he puked in a near janitor bucket, what could be causing this?, and the worse yet, why he wasn’t wake up?, he notices the room he was in, the examination room had some files about patients with traumas and some of them in need of medical assistance due to multiple bone fractures, but he notices a weird pattern in a nearby door that picked his interest, it had a message, it reads:

“Swim in your Past Sins? , what kind of message is this?” he said as he read the message.

The door was locked, he tried an unlock spell on the door, but it won’t budge a bit, the doorknob was protected from magic it seems, he needed a key to open that door, he approached the assistant corpse, with some disgust in his face, he searched in his body for the key, but all he could find was a map from the hospital, and a scalpel, he don’t have something to store the items so he decided to keep them levitated in the air.

The other 2 doors of the examination room were busted, the doorknob felt to the floor as soon as Stormy placed a hoof in them, he was not going to get anywhere from there, he turned back to the hallway that leaded to the Surgery Room, there was some rooms he didn’t check, he tried every door, but only one was working, they were some automatic doors that lead to the patients rooms, there was nothing in most rooms, just beds in terrible shape, and some of them had corpses in them, he checked a room under the number 402, as he enter the room, he notices that was the only room in the hospital with clean bed and sheets, but something stood in the table next to the bed, a saddle bag with Stormy cutie mark in it, he approached to it, and levitated in the air with his magic.

“Ok if somepony is screwing up with my mind this isn’t funny anymore,” he said a little annoyed.

He inspected the saddlebags to find a couple of things inside, a thing called “ energy drink “ and his ocarina, but mainly, there was a key in the bag, could that be the key to the locked door in the examination room?.

He put the saddle bags on him back and put the scalpel and the map inside of them, but just as he exited that room, some loud noise came from room 405, his curiosity got the best of him and looked to the room direction, the door was open wide, almost as if it was welcoming the stallion.

As expected, it was a little dark, Stormy tried to remember a light spell that the guards use for patrol to shine a little light into the area, almost like a lantern.

“Come on…I know I learned it,” he said in frustration.

Perhaps the recent events were putting a stress in his mind, but after trying a moment, he got the spell going finally, his horn shined the area allowing it to see the room contents. He noticed some bottles on the floor broken, nothing unusual... that is until… a hoof softly touched his spine, Stormy jumped and turned around, he didn’t see anything, until he felt the same hoof on his head, startled, he shook his head to remove the hoof and held the pipe with his mouth.

He checked the room further and what he found almost made him lose concentration of his spells, but a gasp escaped his mouth, making him lose grip of the steel pipe. There was a pony in the room with him… or rather pony kind creature stuck on the walls, slowly crawling to Stormy position, only one hoof was attached to his body, its the eyes were missing, they were replaced with a pitch black holes, its hind legs were missing and he let a blood trail from a open wound on its hip.

“A-are you…Ok?” he asked, afraid of the creature appearance, but appealing to its senses.

“…” the creature stared at Stormy, looking at him with it´s pitch black eyes.

A more detailed look at the creature body could reveal that the cutie mark was marked with a bit symbol, almost as if somepony had iron branded the creature. Although Stormy honor told him to approach and check the creature, he picked up his pipe with his hoof, as soon as he bend over though, the creature leaped from the wall using it´s only hoof, despite missing the other limbs, that hoof was powerful enough to jump almost across the room, the creature opened its mouth to bite Stormy neck, he nearly dodge the creature attack.

“Oi!, stand back!, don´t make me hurt you!” he pleaded with the creature.

A scream from the creature let pretty much clear talking won’t be of any use, Stormy never saw that kind of creature before, not even on Canterlot Bestiary they have something like this recorded, but the fact the creature screams and growls sounded like basic Equestrian language disturbed him.

The creature leaped again when it’s ears caught the noise Stormy made with his hooves, he couldn’t dodge in time but he put the pipe in the middle of the creature and his neck, using his magic, he held the pipe surrounded in magical aura, as the creature tried to pass the pipe by biting it, Stormy increased his magic to make the pipe push the creature back, making it fall over, Stormy then attack with the pipe, hitting it on his left side, the creature felt the pain but it was bending over to jump again, Stormy did not hesitated and attacked further, aiming at the creature only limb, this heavy attack made the creature lost its balance,

“Grawl!”the creature shouted.

“I’m sorry,” Stormy replied, lifting the pipe the best he could.

It took several hits to finally knock it out, he did not wanted to kill it, even though he had the perfect chance to deliver the finishing blow, Stormy lowered his pipe, but the creature again tried to stand up and jump one last time, this time however, it succeeded in thrusting it’s fang on Stormy left hind hoof, Stormy screamed in pain as he felt how the cold teeth of the creature injured him, trying to rip his flesh from him, with few other options he took the pipe one more time and hit the creature with all his strength, breaking the creature neck in the process, with a loud crack and a splashy sound, the creature finally stopped moving this time, dark red blood flowed from it’s mouth.

“I…I kill it?” Stormy grip of his magic loose and the pipe felt to the ground, also his light magic turned off, he was still in shock. “I took a life… but…it was me or him… but why do I feel so bad about this?”

Stormy took a minute to breathe and recover himself from the impression, all his time as Lunar Guard, he never had to take a life, he only injured enemies or knock them down, but never killed them. This was his first time killing a living thing, he exited the room still in shock and couldn’t take it anymore, he ran outside to breathe in.

His mind recovered a little, he picked up the creature and tried to examine it, the creature didn’t had eyelids, its teeth were sharpened on purpose and had several surgical stitches on where the other limbs should be. After he was done, he picked up his rusty pipe again and exited the room, returning to the hallway, once he was back at the examination room, he placed the key in the keyhole for the magical locked door, a click was heard, the door opened up without any problems.

A little hesitant, Stormy moved forward to what it seems a corridor, he tried the doors again, to see if something was usable to defend himself… or some bandages for the previous wound he got, he entered to what it seems a hatchery, there were a lot cribs for baby ponys, some of them were broken, or with bloodstains, just imagine what could have happen made Stormy tremble with fear

He noticed a large window in the room it was strange, the mirror was reflecting him, but it reflected a shinny object in one of the cribs, he used the mirror reflection to check the right crib, as he removed the sheets, he found out some kind of radio, he took the radio with his hooves, and sat down in the floor, trying to make it work, the only sound it made was static.

“Crap…I’m not a tech pony… maybe I will keep this for later.” He said as he levitated the radio and put it inside the saddlebag along with the other items.

Stormy did not know why a radio was doing in a baby crib, but he better take it, he exited the hatchery and continued to explore other rooms. All this time he has not encountered a normal pony, with exception of the doctors that tried to operate on him, he didn’t want to think about it, but maybe he hit his head hard on the floor back at Celestia secret room and he is trapped on another nightmare, or maybe he had finally lost it, not even a foal would believe this that’s for sure.

As he was reaching another hallway, the radio started to make a loud static noise, Stormy taking notice turned around, but he saw nothing… he turned around to continue forward, that is when a creature felt on him, it was the size of a young pony, but had a knife instead of front hooves, it’s face was skeletal and had flesh about to fall off, it have hind legs but his torso had a large cut that extended from it’s neck to its belly, like a surgical cut, also on half of his head, where it’s mane used to be, now has screws on it.

“Oh come on!, look get off!, don’t make me kill you like last creature!” Stormy pleaded, jumping to remove the creature from his back.

The creature seems stuck, he couldn’t shake it off, this foal sized enemy raised and thrust it’s knife on Stormy back, causing the saddle bags to fall off, the radio keep launching a loud static as the creature continue to stab over and over again it’s victim, Stormy could not take it anymore and with the rusty pipe he started to hit the creature.

“Dream or not I’m already sick of this!” he yelled as he swung his weapon against the monster.

The strength he put on the pipe was more than enough to knock the creature to the floor, it immediately tried to get on it’s hooves again, Stormy jumped on him, putting all his weight on his front hooves, the weight and the strength was more that enough to finish the creature, his previous bandages were starting to turn from white to red, as the blood from his back escaped from his body… Stormy felt weak, he checked the saddle bag, and took the energy drink.

“I must be crazy to think this will heal me… but I do not have other options here… let see,” he pondered as he read the label on the bottle. “Let’s see; One sip and you will fell like a newborn foal, made with herbal medicines… little amounts of apple cider and other nutrients?, meh, worth the shot.”

He was not going to wait, he opened the bottle and drank the drink to calm his thirst, the drink itself tasted bitter and it was like a combination of cupcake frosting and herbal medicine, he almost didn’t notice the apple cider. His stomach was happy to receive the drink though, he started to fell better, but not enough to say 100% fine, he continue onward to a empty room, were he found a bandage to heal up his recent wounds, and a door with a label on it that says “Main Lobby“, thinking it was the exit of this weird dream, he entered, he opened up without giving second thoughts..

What he found there was a large hallway separated from the rest of the room by a large fence, there was 2 doors, one lead to the Director’s Offices and the other one to the Nursery, he checked the Fence, for his surprise, there was somepony there, but the radio didn’t make a sound, he approached the pony to get a closer look at him, he was a little colt, with Stormy raincoat on him serving as a makeshift cover to hide his face, he was drawing a picture, the lack of horns or wings revealed it was an earth pony, the filly face lift when Stormy came close to the fence separating them.

“It….it can’t be” Stormy said looking at the little pony almost tearful. “l-little bro?”

“…” no response from the colt came in.

“M-mistshine, bro, is me Stormy” he said, smiling.

Mistshine, Stormy little bro stopped his drawing a moment, looking at the stallion with a confused look. Even though the mark hid very well his body, Stormy could recognize the wrench, gears and lightbulb that made his cutie marks, indicating his little bro talent for machinery.

“What do you want?” replied the colt

“Eh?... Bro, don’t you remember me?, it’s me Stormy, your big brother,” Stormy could not believe his ears, but was positive that the young cold was his little bro, he sounded just like him

“Stormy?, funny, you have the name of my big bro,” Mistshine replied, lowering his view to continue to draw

“Mistshine please!, seriously don’t you remember me? “ Stormy sat the ground, he felt terrible that his bro forgot him

“The only Stormy I know is my big bro, he give me my Posey doll,” replied the colt, again, without looking.

“Posey doll?“ he did remembered that doll, one time he saw it in a gift shop in Canterlot, and actually he had to beg to Celestia to get it “what are you doing here Mistshine?”

“I’m looking for my doll “answered the colt, referring to his Posey doll “can you please find it for me?, I can’t get out of here,“ the colt asked

“Little bro, ok I will, just sit thigh, “Stormy stand up ready to look for the doll.

The little colt did not say anything, but Stormy was positive that colt was his young brother Mistshine Brave, he did not saw him since he left Manehattan, he held his head a little due to remember, why he didn’t visited him on Manehattan?. His head started to hurt a lot, almost to a point where it was almost impossible to remember beyond that point, but as soon as he stopped thinking about it, the pain stopped.

Back on the topic at hoof though, if he was going to get his bro trust, he must find the Posey doll, there were only 2 rooms he could search for it, he tried the Director Room, but all he manage to find was a drawing of 3 ponys, the drawing was made by Mistshine, Stormy looked at the ponys, one of them was him, jumpy and happy, the other one was Mistshine holding a little wrench, but the last pony was a mare, same coat color as Stormy and Mistshine, but her mane was brown color and had silver shield with hearts surrounding it, Stormy tried to remember that last pony, surprisingly, his head didn’t hurt this time.

“A shield with hearts surrounding it?, isn’t that my big sis Sunnybreeze´s cutie mark?” Stormy remembered, his eyes opened as the memory flashed for a moment in his mind.

He was the second of 3 brothers, his big sister and first one to born, Sunnybreeze Brave, was a police mare on Manehattan, then he came along, Stormy Brave and after finishing his studies, he went to Canterlot to become a guard and then, Mistshine Brave came last, he developed a unique talent for anything related to machines, from prosthetics hooves to fake horns, what was this dream trying to tell him?, Stormy stored the drawing in his saddle bag, there was nothing else in the Director Office, so he moved to the Nursery.

As he entered he heard a faint “yay “, he searched for the room itself, finding a large medical kit in the process, Stormy used the bandages on his back, healing his wounds from the previous encounter, another yay could be heard, he followed the sound until he found out the doll on the wall, something was pulling it to inside the wall, making it sound.

Stormy surrounded the doll with his magic, but as soon as the doll started to move, the thing pulls it deeper into the hole, and if he could not see the object, he cannot pull it out via magic, the hole was big enough to put a hoof in it. Although he was not liking where this was going, he put his hoof inside the hole, trying to recover the doll, as soon as he felt it, a sharp pain ran from his horseshoe to his spine, as if something was trying to rip his hoof apart, he continue to pull to his direction, trying to free himself, not letting go the doll, as the doll no longer emitted the yay sound, it sounded like a soft scream and gasp, he charged his magic in a form of magic blast to pull himself out, it worked, but his right hoof was injured.

“Son of a hoof!” he yelled, holding his injured hoof with his magic.

Stormy quickly used the remaining bandages he had from the large health kit to wrap his hoof and recover from the damage. Once he regain his hoof mobility, he looked at the doll, it was without a single scratch, he touched the mane softly and pressed the doll belly, a soft “Yaaaaay” came from it, making the stallion smile. He walked to the door, but when he put his hoof on the doorknob, it was locked, it cannot be opened.

“I’m locked in?” he questioned, trying to push the door.

“Oh wow!, a Posey doll!, big bro you are the best! “ said a familiar voice that echoed the room.

“Huh?, Mistshine voice,” Stormy said as he turned around.

Stormy turned around and saw on the dirty bed sheets what it seem to be 2 ghosts, one of them was of course him, the other was his little brother, and he was in bed holding the Posey doll that Stormy has at the moment.

“I’m glad you like it little brother, so…is it true what I heard around Manehattan?, that Posey is very similar to a mare you have a crush on?” the ghostly Stormy said, holding his laughter.

“Stormy!, don’t say it aloud! “ Mistshine voice screamed a little ashamed, but he continued. “B-but yes… the resemblance is uncanny.”

“That voice… that’s when I— “Stormy said to himself as he felt a bump on his rump.

The bump was the door moving, followed by the sound of unlocking by itself, he exited the Nursery, and searched for the fence again, Mistshine was still there, Stormy took the Posey doll out of his saddle bag and show it to his brother, hoping he could remember him know.

“Yay,” the doll sound activated when Stormy pressed her belly

“That’s my Posey doll, may I have it back?” asked the little colt, standing up, still he did not looked at Stormy, his mane was covering his eyes

“Of course bro, “ he said, levitating the doll until Mistshine took it

“…“ Mistshine said nothing as he unlocked the door next to the fence, he went into the room in there and opened up a door, however, on Stormy side there was no door, Mistshine did a quick drawing of a door hidden by a fake wallpaper from his side of the fence, Stormy began to search until he could feel the texture of paper in the wall, he ripped the paper to reveal the opened door that Mistshine opened for him, inside, Stormy could find a couple of healing energy drings, and a large medical kit, along with a foal drawing, the drawing pictured him and Pinkie Pie sharing a cupcake. Once he finally exited that room, he was now face to face with his little brother.

“Thanks Stormy…” he replied finally

“Not a problem Mistshine, just, don’t lose her again, “ Stormy said smiling kindly.

“How did you know my name?” Mistshine asked curious.

“I’m your brother Mistshine, Stormy Brave” Stormy replied, hoping that his bro might remember him now.

“My brother?... but he died a few days ago,” Mistshine replied, still confused.

“That I what?! “ Stormy screamed, confused and surprised.

Mistshine ran away, as he ran, a little scared probably due to the stallion scream, but he could still hear his brother galloping on the second floor. Confused, Stormy looked at Mistshine drawing in the floor, it contained a pony with an iron mask, and a message behind the picture, it read “Run love!, you can’t fight him“, looking at that pictured, filled Stormy´s Soul with dread.

Stormy galloped, in the same direction as his brother, as he turned around in the corner, he found his raincoat on the floor, and some bloody hoofprints that leaded to the double doors of a hospital elevator, Stormy picked up his rain coat, and put it on himself again, feeling complete.

As he approached the elevator doors, he started to hear a loud metallic noise from behind him, it was the same noise he heard when the head doctor and assistant were killed, he had to get out now!, just the metallic echo was enough to make Stormy tremble with fear, he tried to open the doors, but they were lucked. The elevator wasn’t coming.

“How did Mistshine get out if the doors are locked?” he questioned, as he pulled the pipe and tried to pin open the doors.

The sound became more louder, Stormy turned around and saw the shadow of a big pony, almost the same size of him, and Stormy was almost royal size, he was more short that Princess Luna and slightly more taller than Twilight thought, the shadow took out a giant knife, and it was carrying something in his other hoof, the corpse of the head doctor, he threw the corpse making it impact the wall, Stormy saw how the corpse hit the wall, Stormy started to lose concentration

“S-stay back!, don´t come any closer!” he panicked.

They say that an unicorn must stay calm and collected to perform spells, so naturally, being prey of fear make his focus drift away, and his spell for light ended up turning off, he started to kick the doors down with his hind legs, the doors were not moving, the lights of that hallway lit up, something unusual, and Stormy manage to see the pony coming to him, he was wearing a Iron Mask, he was visibly male, with fangs and was bleeding from one eye, his big knife carried blood, and his body was covered by some kind of suit, like a butcher or chef apron, his cutie mark was a bloodstain with a knife, he had bloodstains in his hooves, torso and back hind legs, he only part visible from his face, was his mouth, which smiled showing it’s fangs teeth when he saw the unicorn.

“S-shit!, come on… come on, work damn it!” Stormy panicked and tried to force a magical blast.

Although the magic responded he was scared to death, he remember a spell that allowed him to change a magical blast into magic bullets, he stood and prepare to shoot, the spell worked and fired 3 bullets to the Iron Mask Pony, but neither of them did any damage or stop him, Stormy continue to shoot, missing most of the time due to his fear, the Iron Pony raised his big knife, Stormy screamed in terror as he pulled the pìpe to the defend, sadly, the knife moved towards him, cutting him in half, a large scream could be heard… everything faded to black with the sick smile of that pony burning into Stormy subconscious.

Stormy woke up abruptly, he still screamed from the nightmare he just had and he was sweating cold, he noticed he was still in the Canterlot room where Celestia left him, but somepony was there trying to making him woke up faster. By instinct alone, Stormy hugged that pony, this pony in turn hugged him back, the scent of cotton candy was enough to make him calm down, at least enough to talk.

“Pinkie!, dear Luna I’m so happy to see you!” Stormy suddenly started to cry, he was so happy to see her, but also he could not take it anymore, not just after what he had seen.

“huh huh huh?, Stormy please calm down, I never saw you like this, what happen?” Pinkie was confused but she has hugging her friend.

“I have nightmares Pinkie, very awful Nightmares!, I need you help! “ said Stormy, as he got ready to explain it all.

Stormy explained all the contents of his nightmare, including the most recent one, Pinkie usual smile turned into serious and listen to Stormy nightmares, when she mentioned the blood and murder, or the creatures, Pinkie suddenly froze for a moment, when he mentioned his brother Mistshine, Pinkie Pie shut Stormy up by using her hoof, almost as incerting her hole arm in his mouth.

“This is super serious Stormy, but, I know what you are experiencing,” Pinkie replied, smiling as she took out her hoof.

“I know, I know, but I need you help in forgetting this nightmares, what should I do? Please sis help me“ he asked Pinkie, trembling from the memories of the nightmare.

“Good thing the princess called me, the letter Celestia send me, said that I need to bring Twilight along with me, she helped me with a nightmare I had a long time ago, she could help you out too with the same spell, but I warn ya, you might not like it,“ Pinkie Pie said, touching a red ribbon she had on her mane

“What kind of spell?, I tried everything, from mint tea, to platform videogames,” he asked with a little confusion.

“The Mind Delve Spell, a spell that will let us know the root of your nightmares, this can help you out to stop the Nightmares,“ said a voice with an air of trust and knowledge in it.

Celestia most trusted pupil, Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, when Celestia mentioned she was going to contact her she was not joking, specially with the introduction of the Mind Delve spell, Stormy of course nicknamed it “The Cure”, in reference to that spell to be the cure of his nightmares, and whatever the heck might be causing them, sadly, he knows almost next to nothing about what exactly that spell do, Twilight looked Stormy with a confused look when she mentioned if the nightmares were really that bad.

“Hold up, how much has Celestia told you?” Stormy said to Twilight

“Enough to let me know you are dropping out of the Lunar Guard,” she replied.

“Pinkie, when this is over, remind me to make a prank on the princess,“ Stormy said a little annoyed, Celestia didn’t need to go into full detail with Twilight.

“Stormy, she is busy right know, she also have a problem similar to this one” she said, trying to prevent Stormy prank on the princess.

“Ok, I take it, so what are we going to do?” Stormy replied, Pinkie was next to him.

“ We will use the spell to find the source of your nightmares, for what you told to Pinkie, it may be related to Mistshine” Twilight replied as she stood in front of Stormy.

“Could be, Pinkie has been like a Big Sis for me since I know her,” he said remembering his childhood with her

“That’s Right, oh by the way, that bloody blue suit…” Pinkie also remembered the moment and a specific suit.

“I don’t remember it where it was, I think is lost,” Stormy said, trying to remember but he was in blank.

“Well… are you ready Stormy?” Twilight replied ready to use the spell.

“Yes I am, I want this to end” Stormy answered, ready for the spell.

“Whatever you do Twilight, I will not leave him alone,“ Pinkie Pie said, putting a cover on both him and her, getting for the spell.

“Not this time Pinkie, the Princess herself told me you must make sure his body is ok, his body temperature might drop, a lot,” Twilight replied, thing that Stormy did not wanted to hear, but Pinkie nodded in agreement.

Twilight’s horn touched Stormy´s forehead, next to his horn base, Stormy felt how his mind started to loosen up, the room once again started to felt cold and the images of Pinkie and Twilight were disappearing, he felt as his body was feather weight and he even felt a little pain, like if he were falling from a high altitude towards the ground, he screamed but his voice was absorbed by the darkness.

“Gaah! O-on second though… Cancel the spell Twilight?” he yelled feeling a little pain on his head. “Twilight?, Twilight!” Stormy yelled again, but no response came in.

His mane and tail moved as he as continue to be in a freefall, until he lost consciousness. The sound of water and something cold awoke him, he lost track of how many minutes he was knocked out, when his senses began to work again, he noticed that he was back on the secret room, he never moved from his place, with the exception that the place was far more darker than before, that and, the edge of the room appears to be flooded, but other than the scenery, he noticed that his friends were nowhere to be seeing.

“ uuuughhh… my head, I fell like I have been inside a tornado, I think using that spell was not a good idea, Oi, Pinkie?, Twilight?” he called to his friends, but there was no answer. “Girls?, come on this isn’t funny!”

He tried to walk forward but he almost felt to the ground, he was dizzy from the spell, and had problems breathing, a constant headache was hammering his skull, but since the area was dark, he used his light spell to see his surroundings as if it was a lantern, he found out everything in the same place, except, no trace of Twilight and Pinkie, is this their idea of a prank?, they knew he need help, why leaving him alone?, he noticed something on the floor where Twilight was standing, a saddle bag, Stormy face instantly reflected a mixture of fear and worry as he took a look at it, it was the same one as his dream,

“D-did I pass out again and Im trapped on another nightmare?, Luna!, Princess can you hear me?” he called out to the Princess of the Night.

Of course!, why he didn’t think about this before?, if there is anypony that can interrupt his dream and wake him up is her, Princess Luna, but sadly for him, no matter how many times Stormy called her, there was no reply. With few other options he looked inside the saddlebags, inside was the Canterlot Castle Map, as he put the saddlebags on, he checked himself to find he still had his sword and his ocarina in his raincoat pocket, making sure it didn’t get damaged he decided to take it out and store it on the saddlebags. It was a mother memento after all, so the ocarina could get damaged if something happens to his raincoat.

Stormy pushed the door and to his surprise, it was no longer locked, that door leaded to the stairs, he was going upwards until he got to another door, this ones was locked from his side, he unlocked the door, and exited the secret room, he was now in the Elements of Harmony Hallway, the door leading to the secret room closed by itself and locked again, as the wall appeared on it, returning is impossible now, not that he want to return there, but that was not the strange thing by far, it was the silence, a silence like if there was no pony in the castle and he knew it was still daytime.

“Noirstar?, Noirstar are you here?” he raised his voice, calling, but no answer came in. “Somepony, Anypony!”

He did not get any answer, he checked the room where he was, the lock where the elements were hidden before the Discord Event is active, but the unusual thing, are the windows, one of them had a different picture that the one the castle had before, it was the picture of Luna only, and next to her was the Iron Mask Pony, the one Stormy saw in his dream, he started to worry for the princess, maybe that’s what the windows tried to tell him, that the same creature that haunts him, might haunt Luna. But how can that be?, did the spell that Twilight used teleported him to an alternative reality?, if that is the case, it is a very sick screw up.

Stormy tried to go to the Princess Bedrooms, when he exited the Elements of Harmony hallway and enter the castle gardens, he almost felt to a bottomless Pit, he held to the stairs as he almost lose his balance, after pulling himself up, he looked at the pit, it was almost as if an earthquake had tore Canterlot apart, he checked the map, trying to find where to go, he could not get to the princess bedroom from the gardens.

“Ok, gardens out of the Question, but… what’s with this fog?, I can cut it with a knife, that and I can barely see what I have in front,” he said to himself, trying to keep his sanity intact with a silly joke

Stormy noticed the fog that was present the whole area, he stepped inside the Elements of Harmony hallway again, he then took with one of the windows to see Canterlot, it was completely covered by the fog, preventing the view of the city, however, there’s was a way he could get to the Main Castle Area, since the Elements of Harmony hallway seems to be cut off from the rest of the castle, he will have to use the hallway bridge controls to connect to Canterlot´s Archives, from there he will have to travel down the main street towards the Castle Gate.

“This hallway will not last long… if this section was cut off from the main area, it could fall at any moment, besides, is not like the elements are here anymore,” Stormy though for himself, as he put the map away.

Stormy turned around and opened the door that leaded to the hallway lobby, sadly a creature leaped towards him, it was the same creature of his dream, the one with one hoof and half body missing, Stormy fear kick in again, and he used his sword as a provisional shield, the creature continue to try to bite the colt neck, he pushed harder, making the creature lost its balance, Stormy did not hesitated this time and cut the creature with a slash from his sword, the blood feel more real this time, as a matter of fact, it gave an odor very peculiar, an odor only found on rotten corpses.

“This is not a nightmare anymore is it?” he questioned, as he picked the creature head and look at it, closing it’s eyes.

In the last dream, Stormy didn’t have his sword or ocarina, but this time he has them, the blood of this creature is sticky and coagulated. This amount of detail is too real to be a dream, and if Stormy is pretty much awake, then his previous theory about going to an alternative world became more powerful.

Dream or not, one thing is for sure, he was starting to regret in having used the mind delve spell, either way, the only living pony he has found so far was the Hopping Pony he killed earlier, and he feared about the situation depicted on the hallway windows. He tried to open the door to the bridge control, but it was locked with a special key, he turned around and opened a different door, this one lead him to the Custodian Room, a room designed for a Guard that looks who enters and exit the building, as also responsible of maintain security, but when he entered, the fog was present, he tried to see what happened, and saw a hole in the wall that leaded outside, but also found a corpse in the custodian bed, it had bite all over his neck and hooves, the window was broken and several books were scattered on the floor, grabbed from the wall sides to prevent falling and looked outside via the hole. With the little he could make out the shapes of the buildings due to the fog.

“N-no! This is a bad joke right?!” Stormy yelled, scared.

He saw at the distance the tallest buildings of Canterlot falling down to the abyss, some of them were balancing over the edge. It looks like Canterlot was destroyed.

Author's Notes:

Didn´t want to upload the story without the first chapter hehe. Hope you liked it everypony.