Meanwhile, back at home Sylf was playing with her little pups.

She taught them how to climb upstairs and downstairs safely, always careful to catch them in case they fell, down the stairs, which she had to do a few times already, despite them being only a few months old they could already mostly walk, so she helped teach them.

The twins were very playful and always wanted attention, thankfully they did play mostly amongst themselves, sometimes they would play tug of war on their canine toys, ending up breaking a few, or they would try to hide from each other, the house had plenty of places to hide in for someone as small as they are.

The only place off limits was the security vault and the closets with the weapons, all under lock and key. Every other spots were however available to play hide and seek, now after getting to the middle of the house, they stopped and she turned to the two little wolf-ponies.

"Okay my sweet little pups, ready to go and hide?" She asked in a soft soothing voice to the two, they didn't understand her but they knew this game, they played against themselves usually, and were happy to play against mom.

Sylf usually was the one who tried to teach them words and what they meant with books of drawings for foals, they usually know words only related to games, but slowly they learn more.

"Okay, go now, I'll count to 10." She said and sat down, covering her snout with her paws.

Both of them knew, even if they didn't understand all of her words, they knew this was their queue to run and hide from her when they saw her cover her eyes.

"One" Sylf counted very very slowly, giving them about a full minute to hide.

The foals walked around, going trying to find places to hide, Wander decided to go upstairs to the top floor, she went and hid inside an basket for herbs on the greenhouse, throwing around some of the plants to fit inside.

Lightning instead decided to go to his mom's bed and hide under the pillow, only poking his snout out to breathe, he giggled, hoping his sister was found first.

"Aaand 10! Ready or not, here I go!" They both heard her, but they had no idea what she meant, they wondered if she was going to try finding them now.

Sylf looked around, a smile on her face, and started to check corners and nooks of the second floor first, going around the entire corridor where the rooms where, then going into the twins room, her ears perked for any noises, moving side to side like radar dishes.

She saw nothing that would hind they were here, she couldn't hear anything either so she left the room.

She quickly ran over to the other room, checking around Onyx's room, checking the closet, there was a few articles of clothing thay Onyx rarely wears like a raincoat, several different color hoodies he bought because he said it reminded him of the clothes he used to wear back then, also books he is reading at the moment from the local library and other small trinkets.

She smiled at that, the hoodies were all too big for him but he said he wanted them anyways because of their cool designs, and he may wear them in the future.

Clearly no pup was hiding around here, but she checked under the bed just in case, and in the bathroom.

Now only one room to check on this floor, she smirked and walked over there, a skip in her step as she looked over the room for anything out of the ordinary.

She checked under the bed, then the closet and bathroom, no one was here in her room either.
She was about to leave when she heard a small giggle from the direction of the bed, her head turned quickly in that direction.

"You're here, aren't you little precious Lightning?" The small happy giggles intensified, the little wolf was clearly having fun, not realizing it was giving him away. She sneakily approached the bed and started to look over it, noting that the pillow was not covered by the blanket, and was slowly moving.

Then the pillow was lifted and under it was an adorable winged wolf pony hybrid with black color coat and white belly, who Sylf quickly started to nuzzle affectionately.

"Oh my precious little pup, I found you! Come on, let's go find your sister! She must be on the upper floors, ready?" He nuzzled back and giggled as he was tickled by the snout of the larger wolf, but it was time to get up and continue the game, this time it was a two versus one.

They both headed out the room and climbed the stairs the fourth floor, the greenhouse.

"I think she will be here, we already checked everywhere else." Lightning started to look around and approached anything that could hide his sister.

Sylf just sat and watched with a smile, her whole point of this game was to help develop their thinking ability, and it worked.

Lightning was a smart colt, he figured the only place for her to hide was inside the basket and jumped into it, making the filly inside to gasp in surprise, soon both inside the basket and the plants inside were thrown out to the floor.

Sylf sighed at this and collected them again, dusting them off and placing them bath on their basket once they were both out.

"Please you two... Don't be destructive. This plants are important for Onyx and i, okay?" She said in a soft tone, but looked a bit sternly towards her daughter and son.

Both of them looked at the plants and the basked and seemed to understand, she wasn't sure, they probably were too young to know they did anything wrong.

"Good, you're both wonderful and I love you both! Come here to momma." She smiled warmly and they both knew what she meant, cuddles and milk.

They both went to her and started nuzzling, eventually they also searched for her nipples and drank from her, playing for a while made them hungry and they still were in the age they needed to drink their mother's milk, but slowly they were moving to solid food.

A few minutes passed, they drank their fill and burped adorably, then Sylf knew it was time to take them to their beds.

They were getting sleepy now, she laid both of them on her back and took them to their respective cribs where they went to sleep quickly.

Meanwhile, Onyx's POV Back in the Adept Dungeon

I pushed the monsters away with a wave of telekinesis, the spell around us dealing damage to any who got close, but this weren't the weak Shadows that had been attacking us nonstop before, this were Ghosts, and they had terrified dad to the point he couldn't move, thankfully that didn't matter as his concentration on the spell held, his Guardian Spirits were burning the ghosts. But it wasn't fast enough to prevent him from being attacked, I had to use shields to hold them back. -30 mp 72/182

Onyx has taken 16 necrotic damage! 212/246
Onyx has taken 20 necrotic damage! 192/246

I cried out in pain as two of them teleported right next to me and sliced at me from both sides, giving me no chance to dodge, my magic was focused on keeping them off him, I couldn't focus on defending myself!

Ghost has taken 33 damage! 47/100
Ghost has taken 30 damage! 46/100

And they were hit by my orbiting spell in return, making terrifying ghostly screeches as the golden mote impacted them in a small flash of light.

I sent a chain lightning that arced across 3 of the ghosts near dad, but they were resistant so they didn't take much damage from it, this was getting really dire! -30 mp 123/288

Ghost has taken 17 damage! 63/100
Ghost has taken 18 damage! 62/100
Ghost has taken 16 damage! 58/100

Coconut wasn't just standing there, he sent out a glowing bolt of radiant energy hurling towards one of the ghosts I had already hit with my chain lightning, the ghost became more visible and easier to see, even when my light from Crown of Stars was dimming as the spell was consumed, I had already hit 2 of them with it, and I was looking for the right target to hit. -10 mp 62/182

Ghost has taken 21 damage! 41/100

Onyx has taken 21 necrotic damage! 171/246

A ghostly set of claws harshly stabbed into my throat, I felt agonizing pain as my scales, skin and muscle started to wither and die quickly, I blinked away from the grasp of the creature. It
was different from the other ones, it was not pony shaped, it was a cat like creature made of black smoke, with wicked claws and yellow glowing eyes, I held it in my telekinesis and inspected it.

Lvl 25 Wraith
150 HP
Undead

Accumulation of negative energy that coalesced into a deadly specter that drains the life of the living.

Incorporeal movement: the wraith can move through other creatures, walls, floors, ceilings and objects at half it's regular speed, but it takes force damage if it stays too long inside a solid object. It can not move through magical barriers.

Sunlight Sensitivity: while in sunlight, the wraith is half as strong in its attack and defense, it also becomes blinded.

Life drain: its melee attacks with necrotic infused claws are life draining, if the target's constitution is not high enough, each attack drains the maximum health points by as much as the damage the attack causes. The reduction effect lasts until the target gets a full night's sleep. The target dies if the draining effect reduces it's health points to 0.

Create Wraith: the Wraith targets a recently killed creature that has died no longer than a minute ago, and transforms it's soul into another of its kind. The only way to free the soul is to kill the newly risen Wraith.

Damage resistances: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder, Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slash from non magical attacks.

Damage immunities: Necrotic, Poison.

Condition immunities:Charmed, Exhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained.

Senses: Darkvision 20m

The situation was worsening by the second. I had to deal with all of this before something worse came along! I needed to get them away from us for at least a little while.

'Father! Grab the Amulet the goddess blessed please! Use Turn Undead on them! It should get them away from us for at least a minute, we can plan from there what to do!'

By now he had been using his guardians for more than a few minutes and I could tell he was barely keeping it up as ghost after ghost clawed at the shield, I had to constantly reform it and the strain was getting worse.

'Y-yes! I need to rest for a bit, I can't keep my spell any longer.' he answered mentally and pulled from the inventory the Amulet of Vitality, lifting him high and making a short prayer, right as his Guardian Spirits vanished.

"By the power of the Goddess, back away you foul beings!" Then a brief white glow spread from the Amulet and struck all of the nearby negative energy beings, causing them to release haunting ghostly cries and run away, they stayed away and I ran over to my father, checking him over for any damage to his armor.

"Are you hurt dad?! Please tell me they didn't get through the shields somehow! I'm here, I'll keep you safe, I promise." I held him gently, but winced as my wounds came into contact with him, the areas where the ghosts had slashed with their necrotic claws hurt horribly as if I had many long burning needles digging in, the neck was the worst.

I had to let go of him as soon as I hugged him since it hurt badly when my neck touched his chainmail.

"Aghhh! My neck!!" Coconut looked at me with concern at my sudden pained cry, then he looked at my neck and his face went a bit pale.

"Don't worry about me. What happened to you?! Your neck! It's... The scales and skin is sloughing right off! Oh my goddess... It looks horrible! I'll take care of it right away, please do not move until I'm done." He looked at my wound from various angles, examining it and also checking the rest of my body to see how to most effectively use his divine spells.

"You also have nasty wounds like this on both of your sides, but I'm most worried about your neck, hopefully there is no damage to the blood vessels there, let's start." He then gently presses the side of his horn to my neck and before I have time to cry out in pain, a glowing energy washes over my neck and the wound is completely healed, the pain vanishing completely, then he uses one more spell on each side. -60 mp 2/182 mp

Onyx has regained +60 hp! 231/246

I exhaled with relief, the pain was almost fully gone, just soreness remained from the previous fights, but the most painful necrotic wounds were dealt with. "Thank you! now... Let's try to finish them off one by one, shall we?" I ask, feeling ready to kill more of this things, they are a pain to deal with to be honest but worth the risk.

"I'm all out of mana now Onyx, it's going to be up to you now, sorry..." He admits with a sigh, clearly concerned about himself too.

"I'll heal you if you get hurt, but there is not much else I can do at this point, I can try using my sword, but this ghosts can teleport and become intangible, magic seems to be the most useful thing against them, and sorry but I am... Developing a headache from magic exhaustion." He admitted with a tired look, he clearly was out of juice and I wouldn't ask more of him.

I ran over to the vaguely feline looking ghost that attacked me last, the Wraith, and I sneered at it with disdain. Preparing one of the deadliest spells I know, a spell that was effective even against ghosts, in this case it was just as good as my radiant attack, but with them combined, I had a much better chance.

"I don't want you to exist anymore and threaten us. Disappear!" A thin green ray shot forward from my pointed claw, hitting the Wraith right in the center of mass, but I wasn't enough, I didn't falter, I didn't miss. -30 mp 93/288

Critical hit! Wraith has taken 124 damage! 26/150

The ghostly Wraith recoiled from the attack, a large hole from where black smoke billowed was the result.

It lunged at me as soon as the impact ended, it was not slowed down at all, it had no care for its wounds, of course it didn't seem to feel pain as it were, but approaching me was a mistake it paid for dearly.

As it got closer and it's arms extended towards me, two motes of deadly radiance flew right at it, and my telekinesis grabbed a hold of it, even if I could only stop it for a few seconds, it was more than enough for the projectiles to impact against it's already half destroyed form.

Wraith has taken 20 damage! 6/150
Wraith has taken 6 damage and is destroyed!

I turned towards the nearest ghost, now that the main threat was dead, and used another disintegrate spell, the attack hit it right in the middle of its shadowy form, where it instantly consumed the entirety of the entity and turned it into nothingness, not even smoke remained as the spell encompassed the Ghost and removed it from existence. -30 MP 63/288

Ghost has taken 78 damage and is destroyed!

I was starting to feel my magic running low, having no real chance to fully rest didn't allow me to recover any of my mana, and still there were four damn ghosts left!

The turn undead seems to have stopped working, as all the four ghosts that remained rushed at me, I quickly prepared

A more spells, this time from the paws as I rushed the two nearest ghosts, grabbing them by the head with my claws, and as they were attacking, they became solid for a few seconds, that's where I unleashed the spell point blank into their bodies, even as both of their ghostly claws grabbed a hold of my chest, they died quickly enough to prevent them from tearing me apart, but multicasting the spell consumed almost all of my mana. -60 mp 3/288

Onyx has taken 14 necrotic damage! 217/246
Onyx has taken 16 necrotic damage! 201/246

Ghost has taken 70 damage and is destroyed!
Ghost has taken 80 damage and is destroyed!

I winced at the painful sting of the necrotizing claws before they died, but the last two ghosts had decided to attack from behind while I was busy dealing with the first two.

I used my tail as a weapon, coiling it to the side and then extending it as hard as I could while swinging it to the other side like a whip, I wasn't exactly very strong but my tail was big and would as powerful as a large wooden club if anything, I felt it impact them both, sensing them aside but one of them managed to grab onto my tail, the ghostly claws coming out of their hooves was a painful reminder that I wasn't safe at all, if I got careless they would tear me apart, my scales were falling off where I have been struck, and the skin underneath blackened and dried up.
It was extremely painful every time.

Ghost has taken 10 damage! 31/100
Ghost has taken 10 damage! 48/100
Onyx has taken 10 necrotic damage! 191/246

I started slamming my tail desperately on the ground until the ghost let go of me.

Ghost has taken 10 damage! 38/100!
Onyx has taken 10 necrotic damage! 181/246

Finally dad ran over to help me, I heard his hoof steps approaching, he had his sword held in his telekinesis but he clearly was struggling, a tired look on his eyes.

'I'll help you son! You fight one of them and I'll get the last, we can do it! Just this last two and we can go back!' his muzzle was covered in sweat, and he was panting as his mana was all but drained, even then he held the sword in a fighting stance, but I could tell he was not in a condition to fight.

'No! Please stay back, your magic is too exhausted to fight now! You'll pass out if you try using telekinesis to fight, please just try to keep away and dodge any of them that come close okay? Trust me please.' I begged in a soft tone of voice.

He slowed down and backed away, thankfully the ghosts still were focused on me and not him.

'Yes but please be careful, if you are in serious trouble I'm gonna help you, like it or not!' His tone left no room for argument, and I could agree with him on that, I didn't want to die after all.

I immediately lunged at one of the vaguely pony shaped ghosts, biting it right on the head with all my strength, it tasted nasty, but I didn't let go and kept crushing, dealing as much damage as I could before the ghost forced me to let go by stabbing at my neck with its claws, my scales protected me from most of it but they soon started to slough off as well as the skin underneath, leaving exposed muscle to the air, I finally felt the ghost dissolve into nothingness, my claws digging into its sides too for extra damage.

Ghost has taken 14 damage! 17/100
Onyx has taken 20 necrotic damage! 161/246
Ghost has taken 17 damage and is destroyed!

I know the other ghost is closing in, having recovered by being pushed back earlier by my tail, it appears behind me from the shadows and swings at my backside, earning itself a swift kick of my hind legs, pushing it away.

But this monsters can't be knocked prone, they always float.

I turn to face it, my last target and the only thing keeping us from going back, I realized I couldn't just escape back with dad unless I wasn't in combat, or at least far enough from this things.

The horrifying face of the ghosts was nothing to be underestimated, they had hollow sockets and their maw was like a nightmarish mish mash of needle fangs going in all directions, but thankfully they didn't bite, their muzzle couldn't open as it was partially sewn closed, the fangs and the visage was meant only to strike terror into the hearth of living creatures like us, but I was capable of rationalizing it all as a simple tactic to immobilize their prey to be able to kill it easier.

Coconut now too could see that they, as dangerous as they were, couldn't posses us anymore, we were too strong after he had leveled up to past level 20.

Their main weapon were the hooves, intimidating claws infused with negative energy, necromantic energy that would render flesh from bone on any weaker creatures, even on myself if they overwhelmed me.

I winced at the multiple nasty wounds I had on my neck and body, including my tail. I wouldn't let it get a hold of me again! I growled and stood on two legs, pulling out my sword and holding it in a defense stance, lifted at my eye level and waited for it to attack.

When it did I dodged to the side, jumping and using my tail to stabilize myself, the pain was barely tolerable, but the adrenaline helped lessed it as my wounded tail served me to stabilize myself.

I thrusted the sword forward and right into the ghost before it could move away or go into its intangible state.

Ghost has taken 10 damage! 28/100

It instantly turned intangible to reposition, but I could see it clearly thanks to the light of the Crown of Stars, I only had 3 out of 7 orbiting motes of light left and I was reluctant to use them all because we would be in the dark again.

The ghost even when intangible absorbed the light around it like a void, it was noticeable when near light like this.

It finally appeared to my side, I didn't even turn to defend and instead sent all remaining motes but one, causing it to explode into black smoke with a ghostly cry that send shivers down my spine.

5 Ghosts and 1 Wraith defeated! 8750 EXP earned by the party! (7000EXP+1750 bonus)
Onyx has leveled up to lvl 31! 5934/28470
Sylf Has leveled up to lvl 31! 311/28470
Kari 19295/23725
Coconut has leveled up to lvl 23! 3860/6621

Side mission: Ghost Village is 30% complete, 50 Ghosts and 10 Wraiths remaining.
Alternative path available: ancient earth pony burial practices.

Both of us were back to full power and energized again, after leveling up. But mentally we were exhausted, I read the last part carefully, was the system for real?! How the fuck were we going to deal with all 50 of those things?! And more Wraiths on top of that!

I groaned in frustration, I wanted a break, just half a dozen ghosts were a scary threat, even if all my wounds were gone I felt a bit weary from the fight but... What was this about alternative path? I read it carefully, it mentioned ancient earth pony burial practices... Oh!

I immediately knew what this was talking about when I remembered what happened to the ponies here. This was a way to atone for that, a symbolic way at the very least, but symbolism was a powerful thing in this realm, maybe enough to dissipate the Ghosts at least.

I wasn't sure what we needed to do, but I knew someone who may know or at least had an idea.

"Hey, do you know something about ancient earth pony burial practices father? I know it's a long shot but you probably know some pony history right?"

"Hmmm I don't know for sure about ancient, but I know earth ponies have always had a philosophy about burying their dead with a sapling from a three, that way they say that their bodies would nurture new life even after they are long gone, and the tree would be a reminder to those who remain that she or he who passed away is protecting and watching over them from the next life, while also giving them shade to relax and play in the hot days of summer."
I smiled warmly at such a wonderful tradition, it was wonderful honestly, and I knew what to do now... We would need a lot of saplings, and a VERY strong stomach, something I wasn't sure I had.

And definitively I was sure Coconut did not have, he was not made for this. I could somewhat disconnect myself from the emotional side of handling a dead body from another species but I really doubted Coconut would find it easy to do, he has been a pony all his life, and I know he has past trauma with the passing of his father, on top of that maybe he feels guilty about what happened to his mother too.

"I know what we have to do, I think we will need to go back home, we will need to grab many tree seeds and come back, in fact I think I will go do this alone dad. I don't want you to be exposed to such sights as this." I gave him a look that told him I meant that, he really didn't.

"You're going to do that with all the bodies here, aren't you? I want to help... But you're right, I don't know if I'm really going to be able to do something like this with so many dead ponies, I don't think I'm ready to see them like this, I'm sorry." He avoids my gaze in shame of his perceived failure, but I move in front of him and hold his muzzle, forcing to look at me.

"Do not be sorry, I don't even think I'm myself, but someone's gotta do it, in no other way this place will get better, i don't think we can just fight all the ghosts and be done, if i don't fix this, more and worse things will come nest here, I don't want to deal with this ghosts anymore, they are extremely annoying to fight with their resistances to almost everything." I sighed, dreading the idea of fighting enemies like this more, they could disappeared and reappear, becoming intangible and then attacking from the back, they were very sneaky and the amount of resistances and immunities to every possible condition made it much harder to fight them in large numbers.

"I... I agree with you, I hate fighting ghosts too, they are really hard to get rid off, the first ones were weak but hard to kill off, and they kept attacking from all angles, thanks to you I didn't get hurt more than once during all of this, I thank you for that, you've been extremely protective and... Really empathic with me during this, even when sometimes I was acting a bit loopy or dumb, even when I became overwhelmed with fear you protected me perfectly." He smiled softly and nuzzled his forehead to mine, then hugged me.

"Mom is not going to like the fact you even got hurt a single time, but I did my best, let's go back?
I'll go and grab some seeds from a nice forest I can see from the top floor, then come back and put them to rest. Ready? I know going to the actual village where this happened in the real world and burying the dead there would have far more effect, but I don't have those memories, the only memories I have from the guy I sort of absorbed are mostly magic theory and spells, and information about unicorns."

"Let's go back, I'll ask any questions I have at home, I already feel sick of being in here, the smell is horrendous." I nodded and held onto him, and then we appeared right where we left in an instant.

We were in Sylf and Coconut's room, seems like she isn't here, we looked around, I headed straight to my room just stopped at the door of their room and spoke to him.

"I'm gonna go shower, despite being healed I still have that nasty rotten smell from those necrotic attacks and my own flesh rotting away, you can take your armor off yourself right? If you can't I'll help you after I'm done showering, 'kay? I just can't stand to smell so bad..." I pinched my nose as best as I could with my claw.

He nodded and gestured for me to leave, telling me he had it under control.
"I'll be fine, I recovered all of my energy and now I know how the pieces are on so I can take them off too with my magic, and yes you definitively need a shower, and so do I."

I left after that with a nod, and headed straight to the shower, turning it on and grabbing my sponge, plenty of soap and started to scrub myself all over until I was clean of that filthy, then a second time just in case.
My scales were shiny and I sniffed myself, I smelled good again, what a relief! I will need to be much more careful when I go deal with the bodies, I will need a shovel and a lot of tree seeds.

Maybe pinecones would be ideal, or any I can find... A shovel or two, maybe five shovels, all digging at the same time would be much faster than only one.

I decided to stop thinking to myself and get out of the shower, I was clean by now.

Heading out of my room I came across Coconut who was also going downstairs so we walked together.

There in first floor's the sofa with my little sister and brother cuddling next to her, was mom, sleeping comfortably in a relaxed posture, on her side with her legs hanging from the side of the long sofa.

Despite what we just went through, dad and I shared a look, a smile on our faces as we watched them sleep peacefully, then we both decided to let them sleep and slowly went back up the stairs.

I gestured for him to follow me and after grabbing some money from my room, a few hundred bits in a pouch, I handed it to him.

"Can you go and buy a few shovels for me? Doesn't matter if they're made of cheap iron or carbon steel or anything, I just need them to be somewhat decently wide, and I need 5 of them, you know where we can buy that, right?" I asked because honestly I didn't know exactly where, but he nodded as if was obvious.

"Of course, the blacksmiths don't only make weapons and armor you know? They make most of the tools, in fact that is their main source of income, metal tools can be a bit expensive, depending on the material, and I'd say five shovels will cost you like 100 bits, give or take if you get the cheapest possible quality, it will still be good and work fine of course."

"So... How do you know all of this? I didn't take you for the hard working type of pony who would use such tools, no offense intended of course." He just gave me an offended look but smiled.

"Hey! Don't judge a book by its cover, but you're right... it wasn't me, my father was a hard working stallion, during his youth he worked as a blacksmith, at least as an apprentice of one when he was short on bits, we ponies dont only work on our special talent related jobs you know?" He had a distant look about him as he seemed to remember something from a long time ago.

"He didn't teach me how to forge, but he told me stories about his job, and what they did, like making nails, making tools and even made parts for machines and nails for the railways, but that was back in the day when they were expanding the various train tracks across the country." That helped put things into perspective a bit, if anything it was nice to learn more about his late family.

"So he was a very hard working pony clearly, kinda like you! Well at least now you're more or less in a financially stable situation, which I'm glad for! So... To the blacksmith?" Mentally I was preparing a spell to teleport us right to the area.

"To the blacksmith." He answers and we are both enveloped in the familiar energy I have come to associate with teleportation, to then blink into existence in an alley not far from our destination.

The smell of trash is the first thing that greeted us as we arrived in the side alley, the both of us scrunched our nose in disgust and quickly walked out, taking a deep breath from the fresh and clean air in the street itself.

Using alleys to travel in less attention catching fashion was still worth it in my opinion, I was a bit paranoid after being the target of a large manhunt, but I still preferred the convenience of teleportation more just walking everywhere.

"And we're here! Sorry about that, I didn't expect the trash to stink as much as it did, tho I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, it's summer after all."

"Don't sweat it, it was just next to the trash cans, here it's fine, now let's go before the stores are closed for the day, it's at most half an hour before they do." I did as he asked and followed him, shortly after we got to the store he was looking for, and spent about 150 bits in 5 cheap shovels.

An hour later, back at home.

After getting the shovels, I decided to go on my own and teleported him home to his wife and children while I gathered the necessary seeds from nearby parks, I figured instead of traveling far and using more magic I could walk around a few parks and in about an hour I had everything ready.

Returning home with everything in my inventory I woke up mom and dad, and explained everything to them, the twins were already asleep so we prepared briefly and teleported into the dungeon, this was only going to take a few hours, I hope.

"You'll owe us after this Onyx, but I understand why it so important and urgent, I think we should get it done right now, do you need our help?" Sylf asked me gently and I shook my head at her right away.

"No, I need to do this alone, I don't want him to have to see this, I mean you dad." He looked down in shame.

"I'm not ready either, I think watching something like that will stay with me forever and... I'd rather be spared that sight, I'll make it up to you someday okay? Please take care of them and give them a proper rest, after you're done take me there and offer a prayer for them, both of us will." He answered me, gesturing to Sylf next to him. He was clearly really tired.

I nodded and held them both, transporting the three of us into the castle where we fought the necromancer many months ago. "We are here, I should do this as quickly as possible so we can finally get some rest, I know we are all exhausted, so am I... Sorry about dragging you both into this, but I have a good reason, and you'll see." I truly hope they won't be too mad.

"I'll get going now, see you in a few hours, I promise to stay safe, love you mom, dad!" They both waved as I walked down the stairs heading for the exit to the castle.

"We love you too! If anything dangerous tries to attack you, teleport here right away!" After that I was out of earshot and ran outside, heading for the edge of town where we have cleared all the specters.

I had to assume the rest of the ghosts and the new things were inside the houses, hopefully we had gotten rid of all the wandering monsters around.

The smell of death was stronger but I kept running until I reached one of the doors, which I opened and headed outside.

Almost gagging in disgust at the smell and the sight of dozens upon dozens of mutilated headless bodies, my eyes were watering from the smell alone, I had seen this before but looking at the corpses up close was something different, I tried to not look too much, to not feel, this was no time to feel emotions, it was time to get to work.

I started to count them, all in all there were almost a hundred of them, all missing their heads, I wondered where their heads went.

I changed my mind, I don't want to find out where they were.

I started to look for a proper place to bury them, and decided that the dead grass around the village was a good spot, I started to dig and dig, took about 2 hours to dig all hundred graves using all five shovels at the same time, and lifting the dirt off, used much less magic this way than if I just didn't use shovels, the hard part was now, bringing all of them here.

I had to do several trips back and forth, carrying a two dozen at a time, but eventually all of them were put to rest, now I started to grab the seeds and break off one by one, dropping them in, one in each and pushing the dirt back in, covering the corpses.

A few more hours have passed since then, but I was done.

At last, I grabbed a nearby large rock and placed it in the edge, using my claws I inscribed some words in it as a memorial, my stone carving skills weren't stellar to say the least but I could understand it.

'Here lay to rest the residents of the nearby village, may their souls find peace in the next life.'

I hoped that the ponies who lived in the real version of this place were had long ago moved on to the next life, but this is all I could go with, I didn't even know the name of this place.

After I was done I returned to the castle and found mom and dad there.

The two of them were asleep in a wooden bench by the time I arrived, I nudged them awake slowly, I felt bad enough having to drag them all the way here now and this didn't help at all with my guilt, I definitively would need to make it up to them later.

"Hmmm huh? Oh is it time? How long has it been?" He said with a yawn and Sylf joined him too, looking grumpy but slowly they got up and stretched.

"It's been a few hours, sorry but there were just so many... It has been slow even with my magic, I also had to be careful carrying them, believe me, you don't want to know the details. But I'll take you there now, ready?" Sleepy slow nods were my only answer.

In a few seconds we were all on that field with a flash of teleportation. They looked around in astonishment at the high number of graves I prepared. But Coconut didn't hesitate, and pulled out the amulet his goddess blessed and held it in his hoof as he began praying.

"Please Goddess Faust, give peace and calm to the souls of this ponies who suffered so much for no fault of their own, I know you care for them as you do for all of us, thank you." With that he smiled a much happier smile, then a soft and gentle voice in our mind spoke to us all.

'I hear you Coconut.
its done my champion, the ponies who you honored with this, they have been watching you all this time, we know what you have done for them, they appreciate your gesture and your actions. Onyx, you and your companions have brought justice to them too, all of them pooled their powers together to send you this gift.' that voice, it didn't command authority or fear, but kindness and compassion, I wanted to meet her.

After that, the dark sky lit up as a light started to descend into the village, a large pillar of white light started in the castle, then spread slowly outwards and washed over the entire village, washing away all of the darkness and returning the colour to it, everything seemed somehow less muted, the sky became filled with all sort of different colors like a rainbow, it all felt magical as it happened.

The light spread more and more, eventually reaching outside of the village and washing over the dead and rotting plants, it restored them to life, the poles where the ponies had been hung from dissolved into dust and were blown by the wind into the fields and grass around.

The graves around us became a forest, with small trees coming out from the ground, growing taller and larger with every second until they became mature trees.

Plenty of time for us to get out of the way, as we moved outside the area of the former cemetery, now turned small expanse of forest.

The sky itself was beautiful to look at, unlike before when looking at it made you feel uneasy, now it felt like a nice dream... A dream! Of course! This was the dream realm, now that the negative emotions weren't flooding this place and it was purged of them, it went back to just being the dream realm as it was meant to be.

This was supposed to be like this, a place where creatures dreamed and where things were nonsensical but still plausible, or at least somewhat based on real life.

This looked exactly like a lovely dream now, the castle now had colorful banners with new symbols.
An outline of an unicorn, a wolf, a dragon and a lion.
It was us!

I stayed wide eyed and looking around in wonder for several minutes, unable to speak, as I took in every detail I could see from here.

Then I was taken out of my reverie by the HUD notifying me of something.

Area of dream realm purified can safely be traversed, now no negative energy entities can form here, this area is returned to the natural state of the dream realm, and the seal holding it enclosed has been moved back.

Other creatures capable of dream walking can now enter here too, as long as they aren't evil in alignment.

Second dungeon has been purified and all negative energy beings have been vanquished, your party earns 122500 experience (70000+52500 bonus)
Onyx has leveled up to lvl 34! 24804/49196
Sylf has leveled up to lvl 34! 19181/49196
Kari has leveled up to lvl 34! 14440/49196
Coconut has leveled up to lvl 31! 17117/28470
Coconut has obtained various spells and the knowledge to use them from his goddess.

The somewhat familiar sensation of growing in power hits me like a truck, it's intense and extremely pleasurable, in a way it's both physical and mental, i haven't felt such large jump in power in a long time.

I felt as if I was getting the best massage ever all across my body, it was really pleasurable and I felt a bit embarrassed to make little whimpers like that, but the sensation didn't last too long, only a minute at most, I uncovered my face, I had been too lost in the moment to notice what the others were doing.

Mom was fine, seemingly just a bit flustered, if her face was any indication, I turned to check if dad was okay, he was passed out on the floor on his side, facing away from me, I was about to run over and check on him but she was faster.

Sylf ran over to him in worry and checked up on the poor stallion, she gently pressed her snout oh his neck to check for a pulse, thankfully her face relaxed, becoming a bit flustered as she looked at me.

"Don't worry Onyx, he's fine... Just don't come to look on this side, he's just... overwhelmed." Sylf reassured me but her words made me confused, I shrugged and just stayed there, laid on the ground and relaxed, looking up at the colorful sky.

The sight filled me with hope, it makes me feel like I could save them, my friends and my family would be okay, and every single issue would be solved.

The sky was beautiful, pastel pinks, oranges, reds and yellows, along with the blue and white.
It was akin to the sky at dusk, just way more colorful.

All the clouds were constantly changing in shape and color and I loved the unpredictability of it all.

I bet this place would be something even Discord would appreciate.

It seemed like Sylf managed to wake Coconut up, he is yawning and stretching like a sleepy cat now, laying on his back too.

Ah, I see why she told me not to go check up on him, I quickly averted my gaze, I suppose I can't blame him for that, he had increased like 10 levels in an instant, he must have felt so much in that moment that he was overwhelmed in ever way.

I would have probably reacted just the same had I been older.

"Morning dad! We may want to go back now, we left the twins alone for too many hours, ready to go back?" I asked, not caring about his current state, I am feeling very sleepy myself, we all were, but we had to check on the little ones first.

"Wha? What happened? I- oh gosh! S-sorry!" He quickly turned around and covered himself with his hooves. Probably had not realized what just happened to him, I could empathize with such an embarrassing situation, but a sleepy giggle still escaped me at the absurdity of it all.

"Heheh Calm down, I don't care about that, let's go back before I fall asleep, we have to check up on them, I'm worried because we left them alone for hours." He seemed to snap out of his stupor and nodded firmly, walking over, where the three of us touched our heads together and teleported back to the place where we left.

Immediately I ran to their room, followed by them, Coconut being the slowest.

I checked on the two foals and found them to be sleeping peacefully.

'Relax you two, they're fine, now I'm going to sleep, goodnight!' I smiled and informed both of them before running back to my room and jumping on the bed.

I had not felt this good to get something done in a long while, but there was still much to do if I wanted things to go right, I needed to go out there and help, but I couldn't do this alone.

The next day I will explain to dad how to allocate his new points to make himself much stronger, those were my last thoughts right as I drifted into my dreams.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading! hope you liked this chapter, it closes up the combat encounters in the second dungeon, turning it into a dream hub of sorts, technically it could count as divine intervention, but it was actually the real souls of the ponies who passed away here that were responsible for helping, for obvious reasons.