I strode away from the castle, yawning. In one hand, I held a large case, a handle attached, while in the other hand, a large bag of clothes (from Rarity, she'd left them as a present while I was knocked out). I stole glances at the wondrous city of Canterlot as I went, whistling, and turning down a side street. As I walked, I moved my hand to my jacket pocket, feeling my journal. I sighed, and looked around, using my memories to find what I was looking for: a manhole cover, the cult symbol emblazoned in small print.

I grabbed the manhole cover, and lifted it easily, finding it to be much lighter than an average manhole. I threw my stuff down, smiling a how there wasn't a crash noise, the glass now reinforced, since the runes were now active on the case. I then began climbing down the manholes ladder, soon hopping onto the cool stone floor of a hallway, and heard the cover moving to closeup the hole on its own, cutting off the light, and leaving me in darkness.

"Llumia..." I said quietly, waving my hand, the torches around me bursting to life. I smiled, picking up my stuff, and moving down the hall, passing many doors, with who-knows-what behind them. Well, I could figure out whats behind them easily, if I took the time to translate the labels which was on the doors.

Soon, I reached the center of the underground base, the conjuring room, coming from the northern passage, and I flinched. You see, thanks to the cults battle with the princesses, the room and surrounding area's had been trashed, many sections ready to collapse, but that wasn't why I flinched. No, this was thanks to the odd sight that was floating in the air at the rooms center. At its center, you could see a faint disturbance, a convergence of lines, showing the ley lines, the lines of magic that flow like blood across the planet. Where these lines met, a glowing white crack floated, energy pouring out of it.

"My creation really did a lot of damage, didn't it?" I asked myself, knowingly. You see, this crack was in the air, floating and crackling gently, and was caused by the overflow of magic that Twilight stopped dead, was either caused by, or created, a fracture in the lines, allowing pure untapped magic to leak out. The area thrummed and crackled with that energy, making the air feel charged. I sighed, looking at how the room was ready to collapse.

'I can't live in a place this messed up. How do I fix it?' I wondered, thinking for a long moment, and not finding any good spells from my memories to fix this predicament, but instead found a weird idea. A sense of confidence in my magic. I put my stuff down on a messed up, slanted and nearly shattered worktable, and moved to the center of the room, echoes of the near past all around me, and I put my hands together.

Letting my thoughts drift, acknowledging the fact that my magic works best when I don't think about it, and soon, they focused on their own, on how this place was created, how the inside of the mountain was carved open, and how each brick was laid. With my eyes closed, I whispered gently.

"Create.".

A new gentle hum filled the air, my magic everywhere. Letting my thoughts drift again, they came to how everything here was innovated and changed over time, made better. I let the words loose in another whisper.

"Innovate.".

The area surged, my body releasing a wave of energy, surging and swaying. I smirked, thinking about how the area was torn apart, how it was changed from before.

"Destroy.".

Another surge, the area humming even louder, causing me to smirk, feeling so close. I finally thought about the room now, and the room before it was screwed up, all at once. I inhaled, opening my arms as I spoke.

"Restore.".

The area seemed to glow as I opened my eyes, the energy flowing over everything. Then, the area began to move. The stone fragments from the floor and ceiling flying into place, the burn marks on the floor fading, until the room, and the rest of the base, was fully restored. But, the magical tear did not vanish from existence, but instead faded a bit, and closed up more, becoming more akin to a healing wound. This use of made me stumble as the spell ended, the restoration of such a large area having drained me.

'Jesus, I need to go back to sleep...' I thought, moving over to my things, and picking them up. 'In fact, where even is a bedroom?'.

I paused and smirked, closing my eyes and looking through my memories, which, to be honest, was always kind of difficult, as they were a large jumbled mess, but soon, I saw the memories of the leader, or what I believed was the leader. I gathered my things, and began moving down a nearby hallway out of the main chamber, heading south, quickly reaching a door to my left, and a door to the right, both a gentle spruce, latin on the doors labels. The left door, 'principes Requiem Tabernam', or 'The Leaders Rest', while the other door said 'Studium', or 'Study', and so I went through the left door, finding it unlocked.

"Now, this is more like it!" I exclaimed, observing the room. It was grand, but old, like a haunting reminder of the cults former glory. Beside the door was a key rack, holding a nice key ring. Then there was a few dressers, and a closet, probably filled with the past occupants belongings. Then, there was an ornate, large mirror, for when you wish to dress up. Next, there was a nice, gigantic, ornate bed with large pillows and a blood-red blanket, the bed having 2 nightstands, one on each side. Above the bed, at the ceilings center, was a glass orb, a sphere of fire within, bathing the room in light.

Before I took another step, I let my senses run wild, as I didn't trust the fact that I hadn't ran into any security. I opened my eyes, feeling that there was something off about the walls.

"Revelare." I had instinctively spoken in latin, having said 'Reveal'. Instantly, the lines on the walls revealed themselves, showing themselves to be sensor runes, and trap runes. If I had entered the room, err, stepped any further into the room, the entire thing would have exploded. I paused, thinking for a moment.

"Averte." I said easily in latin, having said 'Deactivate/turn off'. The runes hummed, appearing to shutdown, the lines going black, like ink. Then I said 'Conceal' in latin. "Celare.".

The runes faded, becoming invisible to the human eye once again. I sighed, planting my stuff down beside the bed, and jumping onto it, sighing happily, but quickly growing annoyed, thanks to the light. "Llumia off".

The orb dimmed at my command, making the room dark, perfect. I smiled, closing my eyes, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

My eyes gradually opened, observing the area around me, noticing that I was back within my dream study, sitting at my desk. I smiled, summoning an empty spell book, and quickly copying down the restoration spell from my memory, 'Create. Innovate. Destroy. Restore.'. Then, in a small notepad, I scribbled down the useful note about the fact that my magic, and the cults magic, works especially well with latin, probably because latin was a dead language, and the cults form of magic is a dead one as well.

Smiling at my notes, I poofed the spell book and notepad away, and I summoned my invention notebook, finding that it had come from the real world without a scratch, and the changes I had added while in the real world had stayed. The book appeared upon the desk, opening on its own to a blank page, with my pen appearing beside it. I grabbed the pen, filling the tip, and writing down the problem, 'How to create an instant messaging system that you can take anywhere.'.

I paused, thinking to myself, watching my book, before a lightbulb appeared above my head, since this is a dream, and I can have my fun with its physics. I quickly began scrawling notes, drawing a sometimes soft, sometimes hard, stone slab, with a pen-like device. I didn't notice the eyes watching me at that moment, until a yellow, clawed hand gave my shoulder an easy tap, causing me to jump, startled. A being laughed, revealing its full form.

"Calm down, very-young man! Weren't you expecting me? You did ask for me, after all.".

"Yeah, I suppose I should have been expecting that, Discord." I paused, slowing my breathe quickly. The draconequus chuckled warmly, floating down from above, and summoning a floating arm chair, which he quickly sprawled out in. I smiled, enjoying his antics.

"That reminds me: Why did you want to talk to me?" he asked, looking around at his surroundings. "Nice place, by the way.".

"Why thank you, and the reason I asked for you was that I was hoping you could explain something to me." I said, drawing many complex runes on my paper to give the invention its magical properties. Discords brow raised, curious.

"What question could I, the lord of chaos, answer?" he asked, thunder sound effects playing, the area flashing, even though there were no windows for lightning to shine through to cause that effect. I clapped my hands, enjoying his personality more and more.

"I wanted you to explain your kind of magic, since its so similar to my own. I'm hoping to learn how to control it." I explained, continuing to draw my plan for the communication device, having finished the design and functions, but running into problems with how the runes would fit on the device, as currently, the device would have to be gigantic in order to hold all of the runes. Discord laughed heartily, smiling at me.

"Your bizarre, creepy-pasta pony! I love it!" he paused, thinking for a moment while stroking his beard. "Our form of magic is similar because its the same!".

"What do you mean..?".

"Well, our magic is the same! You see, when unicorns use magic, they pull it from the ley lines, but are only able to really harness a small percentage of the energy, while the rest is wasted. Alicorns are able to handle a larger percentage, but still waste some of it." Discord explained, while using puppets to show his point as well. "This kind of magic-use allows for far more controllable usage, at the cost of effectiveness, and so, most beings use it the most, and some have even evolved to only be able to use this kind of magic.".

"But then, there's beings like you and I. We have more of a connection to the lines, as if they are part of our very being, and this grants us access to the full extent of the lines magic." Discord explained, grinning as he played with a cube formed via magic. "The magic is more chaotic, but far stronger.".

He paused for a moment, playing with the cube. I watched, interested, until finally speaking up. "So, how do I control it?".

"Well, you use every fiber of your being, body, mind, and soul. Use your emotions, and your link to the source, to not control your magic, but guide it instead." he paused, giving me time to think over his answer. "Does that answer your question?".

"... Yes, yes it does. Thank you." I smiled warmly at him, grabbing his cloven paw and giving it a good shake. He pointed at the devices designs, the image seeming to become 3D, and split into multiple, very thin layers, and upon each layer was multiple runes, and then, the layers reconnected, showing the full schematic. I stared, wide-eyed, amazed at how easily he had solved my dilemma.

"Your welcome~." he sang, blowing me a kiss, and disappearing, leaving me smiling, moving to my invention, observing the intricate ways the runes were interwoven, like clockwork.

"Is that the device my sister commissioned..?" a voice echoed, from seemingly everywhere. I nodded, having sensed the presence for a while now.

"Yes, and should the princess of night be spying? Or, are you supposed to not even be trying to be clever about it?" I said, pointing at a bit of empty space nearby, my hand sparking with silver, and her invisibility spell was disabled with a jolt, her eeping as she was revealed, and her voice projection spell was disabled as well.

"Hey! Be careful with your magic!".

"Then don't spy on people, and be reckless while doing it.".

"Listen, Silver!" Luna shouted, grabbing my full attention. She sighed, appearing a bit frustrated, moving to a chair beside the desk, and taking a seat. "I was planning on visiting! I wanted to check on you.".

Luna was silent for a long time, allowing me to take a good look at her. Her figure was fairly similar to her sisters, a lovely hourglass, but, she was smaller, a younger form of Celestia's body. The noticeable difference though was in the hips and bust. You see, thanks to Tia's large diet of cake, she had the hips and ass of a goddess, but Luna had much smaller hips, but instead, had a mouthwatering chest, each orb far bigger than her head, which would be a problem if she didn't have a strong skeletal structure, thanks to the fact that she was an alicorn. This lovely figure was trapped in a beautiful black dress, her royal attire on as well, glittering, complimenting her sparkling, flowing hair.

"Silver, can you explain your new device?" Luna asked, snapping me out of my perverse ogling. I cleared my throat, looking over the design, closing my eyes, and letting my magic flow, and in a silver poof, the design became a prototype, a 3D model, stylus included. I snatched it, putting it in my lap, stylus in my right hand.

"Well, this device is made to enter/connect to a network of these devices, using a number on the front as a sort of address. You'd write an address..." I pressed the stylus against the light stone, and it began to draw gentle, dark lines, like paint, upon the device. "Then, you'd put your message and when done, say 'Send'.".

"Any security measures?".

"Yes. This device is linked to my magic, or my physical aura. Every being has a kind of aura, even non-magic users, allowing for any being to use this a device, but once used, it will lock into their aura, linking the device, and the user.".

"Very interesting... Silver?".

"Hmm?" I looked up, catching her eyes with my own. Only kindness stared back at me.

"We need to address a few things... for instance, your magic.".

"Okay... what about it?".

"I've seen your magic, and Discords, and it is incredible, especially since you were born only a few days ago, but..." she paused, appearing unsure, which wasn't as odd as it should have been. You see, everyone puts alicorns upon a pedestal, but, they are still people. They are imperfect, just like everyone else. Luna cleared her throat, locking eyes with me, and seeming to gather up her courage. "You need to be very careful with your magic, especially when it comes to dreams.".

"You mean, you don't want me messing with your domain?~".

"ITS NOT JUST THAT!" she stomped her foot, curves jiggling, making me blush a bit. "Silver! Your magic can take dreams and make them reality. That kind of power can cause real problems!".

"Fair point. I honestly hadn't thought about that.".

"Its okay, now you know. Just, promise me you'll be more careful, okay?" she asked, giving me adorable puppy-dog eyes, but I was more focused on mentally undressing this beautiful woman. I shook my head a bit, throwing the thoughts away.

"I promise..." I said, wondering why these thoughts were appearing now. Perhaps a form of pubescence? I then took note of the awkward silence that had fallen between us. Glancing at her, I saw that she was smiling at me, but it was clear that there was more on her mind besides that. I cleared my throat, smiling back at her. "Anything else you want to discuss?".

"O-oh. Yes. I'd like to discuss the cult. For instance, their involvement with my transformation into NMM..." she explained, a silence filling the room as I processed what she'd just asked, and me trying to formulate a response. I then began explaining, firstly, the cults transformation through history.

"Then, there's the Nightmist, my sibling. Through reports through history of drastic personality changes, it was tracked by the cult. You see, nobody fully knows exactly how it corrupts, but one theory from the cult is that it makes an offer, and if its accepted, the Nightmist gives you a piece of itself, to fester and grow into a evil form. That's what Nightmare Moon was." I explained, her thinking it over.

"And, that reminds me... In the scythe is a fragment of the Nightmist... and a fragment of Nightmare Moon." she seemed to pause, a knowing look appearing strewn across of her face.

"Tell me: What do you plan on doing with the scythe, and the Nightmist fragment?" she asked, seeming to not wish to discuss parts of Nightmare Moon being alive, at all. I decided to let it go, and thought about her question genuinely.

"I plan on studying the fragment, and the scythe, to better understand my magic." I explained, moving to a nearby book, writing down useful information. Luna pondered my answer.

"What about the base? We left it in a mess..." she gave a slight giggle, and I chuckled in response.

"I have already fixed the damages.".

"Really? How?".

"I... created a spell. Its able to restore things to their former glory.".

"That's... Incredible! But shouldn't your magic not require words, like Discord?" she questioned, seeming puzzled by this, and that made me truly think, as I hadn't thought about that before.

"Well... The magic we both use is fairly chaotic. Discord thinks like a madman, which allows him to better grasp how the magic works, and there's the fact that he has been alive for far longer than me, giving him the time to gain mastery." I explained, then realized I hadn't actually answered the question, and so, I continued. "I... think my way of controlling my magic is treating it kind of like normal magic.".

"But, back to the base..." I paused once again, but would continue, now knowing what I'd say. "I am going to 'update' the place, change it so it reaches my standards. So then the base isn't so... old-school.".

Luna smiled a bit, and then appeared to come up with an idea, looking at me.

"I know my sister has repaid you for her rudeness via granting you the base, so, it would only be right if I give you something for the problems I caused. If you'd like, you may have the funding to pay for the construction, err, reconstruction.".

"That's very kind of you, Luna." a short pause, as I took notice of how long she'd been here. I cleared my throat, gazing at her. "Anything else?".

"No. I need to go anyways, there's plenty of dreams that I need to tend to. Goodbye." Luna rose to leave, but before she could, a thought popped into my mind, like magic.

"Wait!".

"Hmm?".

"How do you and Celestia have visions? What sends them?" I asked, thinking about the vines and the scythe. Luna stopped, mulling over my question for a long moment.

"... I don't know where they come from, all that I know is that they occur to those with a part to play, not just alicorns and royalty, but it tends to be alicorns and royalty, since we have power over many things. Does that answer your question?" she paused, horn charged, ready to leave. I nodded.

"Yes.".

"Good. Have a peaceful night." Luna said, vanishing, probably off to handle others dreams. I turned back to my desk, aiming to get back to work...

I don't know how much time had passed, but I knew it was a lot, but, in the end, I couldn't turn my focus back to my work, as a question had become stuck in my head, aimed at a nearby being. I sighed, closing my journal, and moved to a nearby clear space, and moved my hands slowly and sensually through the air, whispering.

"Et ego in te, Nightmist..." I said 3 times in latin, having said 'I let you in, Nightmist', and when I finished, in a grey flash, a door appeared which seemed to lead to nowhere, but when opening it, it did, revealing a black, shifting void. At that moment, from the darkness, a shape appeared to rush the door, yet I did not stop it, allowing it past. The smokey being pushed into my dreamscape, shivering and shaking, and took the form of a young woman, but its body continued shifting like jello, as it appeared to be trying to keep morphing, yet it managed to stay mostly stable.

"Man its been a long time since someone allowed me in, knowing what I was!" it said, voice sweeter than before, but still distorted and echoey. "What do you want?".

"... where's the rest of you?" I asked, voicing the question that had plagued my mind.

"I have no idea what you mean.".

"Your only a fragment of the full being. Where's the rest of you?" I asked, looking her in the eyes, or what it had chosen as eyes. She smirked returning the look.

"Some of me is left buried with my past... victims. Other fragments merely lay dormant in the cold ice." she explained, managing to be both helpful, and not helpful, all at once.

"Your not going to actually answer me, are you?" I questioned, eyebrow raised.

"No.".

I sighed, angry, but not at the same time. I should've expected this. I should've expected that she or it wouldn't answer my questions, but instead dodge them and be fairly vague. That was her nature.

"What about my siblings?" I asked, actually curious about my own 'technical' family, and the Nightmist giggled.

"Which one? We have quite a few.".

"... well, are there any with vines?" I asked, hoping to find an explanation for my vision. The Nightmist seemed to pause, thinking, before finally answering.

"You mean Evie?".

"Who's Evie?".

"The spirit of the Everfree, of course! You see, long ago in one of the cults many bases, the 'ritual' was performed, and failed to create a body, thus leaving a consciousness with lots of magic. Since it had no vessel to contain itself, it latched onto the largest, nearest living thing, which was, the forest the base was located within. Once connected it was overwhelmed by the wildness of the forest, and the pain it received from being cut down, which put it into a angry frenzy." she explained. "It made the forest grow out of control, consuming the base, and was eventually stopped by the tree of harmony, which didn't really STOP its growth, but merely SOOTHED it so then it'd stop.".

That information dump nearly overloaded me, forcing my legs to give out from underneath my body, and making me land in my desk chair. It made sense. The being in my dreams had vines, and my sibling was the spirit of a forest. Why had nobody noticed the cultist base? Well, its in a very dangerous forest! Why is that forest so unstable? Because it can feel everything done to it! Why is there so much magical fauna and flora inside? The entire forest is supercharged with magic!

"Hey, Silver, you there?" she asked, wondering why I was still silent. She leaned in, staring with wide, misty eyes, and reached out to poke me.

"Leave." I said quietly, noticing that the door behind her creaked open. She leaned in, not having heard me.

"What? I can't hear you, speak up!"

"Apage!" I yelled, having said 'Be gone!'. The Nightmist yelped, being thrown through the door by an invisible force, and once on the other side, the door slammed shut, my mind now separated from the scythe once again. I sat there, appearing frozen, almost seeming dead. I didn't even breathe, but to be fair, in a dream you don't have to.

"Thank god she's gone." I sighed, turning back to my desk, and laughing gently. "Man, I've only known her for a short time, and I already hate my older sibling.".

I laughed a bit more, shaking my head gently at how that had played out, and moved on to my journal, as there was work that was needed to be completed. I sighed, not needing this notebook, and so I summoned my To-Do notebook, and planted it before me, opening the new pages and grasping my pen in my hand, beginning to scribble down what I needed to do. I'd need to renovate the base, perhaps by adding a few teleporters, and possibly renovate the study that I had seen, or even add a few entrances. I'd also need to stock up on food, water, research gear, and supplies. Perhaps the school would have the proper equipment, in which case I could 'borrow' some things, and pay them back at some point. Hopefully. Hey, its for good reason! For the gathering of knowledge! But, then there was the problem of this base being a labyrinth, so I'd need to either find a map, or fabricate one.

Finally, there was what I was going to do about the Everfree. Once I was done with my home and gathering supplies, I would travel to Ponyville and meet with Twilight, to gather additional information and perhaps have backup in case I didn't return for a while. Then, once within the Everfree, I'd gather information on it, and perhaps learn how to help nearby settlements with traversing it, or perhaps even containing it indefinitely.

The area around me shook as I closed the journal, signaling that the dream was coming to a close, and my body was trying to wake up. I grinned, hoping that this journal would come with me as well, just like my invention journal. To be honest, I'll probably need to purchase a bag to carry all of this around, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I closed my eyes, accepting that the dream was ending, which would allow it to end quicker.

It was time to make my base feel...

Author's Note

Hey! I bet you guys missed me! Well, I've been working very hard on this, and I hope you've enjoyed these 2 chapters, and please know that I am already working on the next 2!

Do know that this story is a sequel to 'Dreams and Demons', and before the 3rd book will be released, this one will need to be finished.

As I have already said, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you are ready for chapter 9 - Like Home.