Year 983 July 16

During the last year railways have been expanded, it seems the princess kept her word, commerce between Equestria and other nations is slowly coming back, gradually.

Now more griffons come to visit Equestria and the trading industry has grown significantly.
But the efforts have been hampered by the civil war recently started by the Griffin Isles who claim ownership of all of the Griffonian empire and want to conquer it completely, bolstered by their economic power over the rest of the nation.

Now I'm 11 years old, and have finished Elementary school.

The last year of school has been a fun experience, we learned more useful subjects than etiquette, we had classes to help us improve on our special talents, of course I didn't get anything specific because I don't have a cutie mark, but I could choose my specialization and I chose basic sword training, something that 2 of my friends decided to go with too, Shining of course, but also Silver Shield, not surprised because he also has a cutie mark for fighting, a sword and a... silver color shield.

He is surprisingly good with a sword, and so is Shining.

It was a more or less even fight, but I had the strength and dexterity advantage and it showed, despite the fact that our technique was more or less at the same level, we were also using shields and that was something I didn't have enough practice with.

In the end I had a lot of fun, having two rivals instead of one was double the entertainment, most of our last year was practical application of our talents, I demonstrated my talent was clearly swordfighting, well technically I had no special talent, but since I wasn't a pony, so they just took what I said was and went along with it.

I learned how to use shields in battle, and I bought a real shield to use in real combat, if anything it was good to protect others, when I didn't have access to my magic, something that has not happened yet but it can't hurt to learn.

Then there was magic school, it was what I expected and remembered from the show, being asked to hatch a dragon egg, specially knowing who would be inside it judging by the colors, I quickly gave up on that exam, because it was just unethical, first of all they wouldn't say who were the parents of this egg, where they had gotten it from, they refused to say anything and I told them I refuse to do this exam on my morals, even if I knew how to hatch a dragon's egg, which I don't, I was sure there was no spell go do exactly that, so it had to be Wild Magic what caused Twilight to be able to accomplish such a feat in the show, maybe her emotions triggered an outburst of wild magic?

How long had Spike's egg been there, waiting to be hatched?

I had little real knowledge about dragons in this world, only that they hatched from eggs, loved heat, they were immune to fire and that was something that I definitively did not share, I was as vulnerable to getting burnt as a pony.

I passed the entry exam anyways because no one managed to do it, it was not much of a real test, I had at least written down possible ways to do it, but I refused to actually use any spells or risk actually getting an extra sibling.

I didn't want to try and many students also didn't even try, mostly because their parents were concerned for the same thing as me, and who would be the one responsible if it did hatch? No one wanted that responsibility, at those who tried didn't succeed.

The other half of the year was very good when it came to learning, unlike elementary here I actually learned new thing, first half of the year was all about everyday useful spells, the most basic being Prestidigitation.

We learned about spell components and went into details about every single one, somatic and verbal components were unnecessary for ponies and most creatures in Equestria, but for example some shamans of the Zebra used them for their ritual spells, as well as other races that didn't have a natural focus built in, I was lucky in that regard, I was not really sure, but my maybe it has something to do with having those powers granted to me, and maybe my really strange blood, which I was too familiar with, maybe it allows me to choose my own magical focus, and since i use my maw for my instinctual breath weapons, it first formed as a focus.

Then my paws, having fingers, my old human instinct of using them to point, and the fact that as a dragon they have roughly a similar shape and function, maybe it carries over. Maybe it's all about practice, it's more versatile than a horn.

I may need to experiment with dad, he's my one free test subject, an individual on the peak of his species, empowered by my shared gift to levels similar to the most magically adept archmages of the nation, maybe just lacking all of the spell knowledge.

When we met him he was just an average or even below average unicorn in terms of power, he only knew a few spells, just like most unicorns, who only rely on their special talent spell and maybe one or two others, mostly telekinesis to do everyday tasks.

Not all unicorns are mages, just the same as not all pegasi are athletes and not all earth pony are muscular farmers, ponies are just like humans were, in a way.

They follow their dreams and focus on what they are good at, or what they like if they have the ability to do so, just like father did, he became an ice cream pony after he discovered his talent and passion for the frozen treat, it may not be the most profitable but it's what he likes to do.

He is a great test subject, and he is easy to convince, and I'm his taste tester for ice cream so it's only fair he be my test subject for magical experiments, you may think this is all just perks to being an ice cream maker, but he sometimes makes extravagant flavors like bacon ice cream, that one time I told him I love bacon with my breakfast, I was talking about a savory food, but he thought I meant i wanted him to make bacon ice cream.

I still feel a bit bad for having to say it wasn't very tasty, sweet cream does not go well with the meaty bacon, even if I like both salty and sweet foods from time to time, it doesn't work for everything!

Maybe it was just me but I didn't think the flavors played two well together, I asked him to make parmesan cheese ice cream instead, he was confused but gave it a try, I gotta say it was much much better, the right amount of salty and sweet, no meaty flavor either, cheese worked well for ice cream the same reason it worked for cheesecake.

Coming back to the present day, we were exiting the train and walking towards the harbor, this train was a cargo train but we managed to get tickets anyways because it was the only way to get to Griffonstone, and I paid good money for the transport, gold was a good way to convince others that you were serious about something.

The train line has been expanded and now goes north from Manehattan, following the coastline, there is a project under construction for a rail bridge that will go over the sea at its most narrow point, far north where it's shorter.

It's still about 5 years away from being completed, but it's clearly making progress, in the meantime they have constructed a harbor to transport both passengers and cargo directly to the docks near Griffonstone.

This time we decided to go vacation together there, to the ancient city.

Of course the idea of going to vacation on a war stricken fractured nation was less than popular, that is why Sylf only accepted if we left the twins back in Ponyville with the Apple family, who were glad to watch them for us.

But now, as we walked the ramp over the cold sea water near the frozen north and into the ship, our main concern was arriving to our destination and seeing how we could help, it was not just a vacation, but I have a duty to accomplish and it requires helping those in need and stop the spread of negative emotions.

So this was more of a humanitarian trip, or whatever the equivalent of that word is for my current species.

As we set foot on the ship, we were greeted by a group of sailors, most of the griffons wearing a belt with a sword and sailor hats and nice well kept uniforms.

"Welcome! You must be the passengers from the train heading to Griffonstone, and what a diverse group you are. A pony, a dragon and a... wolf? Welcome to the Cirice! My beloved ship, I'm captain Warble. I'm going to show you to your rooms just below deck, please follow me." The middle aged griffon with a fancy looking uniform and hat greeted us, waving one of his large wings to us in a friendly gesture, then turning and gesturing for us to follow.
His feathers bright yellow in color, with gray bluish wings, his feline half was also the same yellow, I think his other feline half was some sort of leopard, because it had black rosettes like one.

"Thank you Mr. Warble, my name is Sylf and yes we are headed for Griffonstone, how is the situation over there? I heard there is a civil war going on, is it bad?" Mom was the first to speak up, as we walked behind the large feline, he was larger than a pony but shorter than Sylf, then again she was larger now than when we met, mostly because of her increase in muscle mass.

"Oh! You can talk? Sorry I meant no offense I just never saw one of your kind miss Sylf. And to be honest the situation is frankly terrible, the war affects every aspect of our lives, most of us have to forage and hunt our own food because it's cheaper than buying it, I'm fact there is really few jobs and if things keep going so poorly then we may lose the war, not because of losses but because we can't maintain our nation's economy afloat." The griffon looked crestfallen as he walked down a corridor with various sections separated by a few wooden planks, most of this sections had cargo inside, various items from food to construction materials and who knows what else, mostly covered in tarps.

The room all the way at the back of the ship was the best looking one, there were others around but they just were thin small mattresses laid on the floor without even a pillow, but they all were large enough to fit an adult griffon so for me any of those was more than enough.

"But you shouldn't worry about that, here it is, the best room we have! however there is only space for two, so... Who wants to take another room?" His demeanor changed quickly, trying to show a more professional and cheerful attitude.

"I see, I'm sorry that things have gone so badly in your nation, it's a real shame because i have read what it used to be like, in times past. But maybe... Things will improve once again? I think they will." Mom offered softly, in a hopeful tone, Coconut and I both nodded in agreement.

"I... I certainly hope that comes true miss Sylf, for the sake of our nation and every griffon living there. Well... Who is going to take the other room? Im sorry to say but it's not as good and there is little privacy, but there is room for your bags." The yellow griffon asked again, I quickly stepped forward because I don't want to share a room with my parents, and I don't really care about privacy either.

"I will take the other room mister Warbler, I'm Onyx by the way, I have a few questions for you if you don't mind me asking."

"Oh this room right here, next to the other one, thats okay right? Or you want another one? We aren't exactly carrying many sailors today, just enough to handle the cargo and raise and lower the sails, and for questions you can ask anything, I'll answer honestly." Good, I need to know what we are dealing with here.

"Thank you! First question, what are the two sides fighting the civil war? Second question, do they operate other ships? From the fact I have seen cannons mounted on the sides of this ship I can guess. Third question, how likely are they to attack us? And last question, what is the plan of action in case we are attacked?" Warbler stared at me with narrowed eyes for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Fine... It's Griffonstone and the loyalist provinces against the Isles, Trottingham included, they used to be on our side but they were coerced into joining the enemy." He was clearly not happy to talk about this, his feathers along the back of his neck and head were slightly raised.

"And for the second question, yes they do operate other caravels like this, they have half as many as we do but they are able to make more, slowly they are growing their fleet, and yes they sometimes capture vessels to steal our cargo, that is why we have cannons, thankfully they don't have resources on their lands to make cannons so they mostly resort to flying in and boarding, and... As for how we deal with them?" He gestured to the belt around that held a scabbard.

"We, all the crew are armed and have received training in using swords, we will defend the ship and cargo, including you to the best of our ability, so rest assured that you are safe." He finished in a professional tone, polite but leaving no room for argument.

"Thank you, but I have to ask please if they attack, send someone to alert us! So at least we can prepare ourselves, okay?" I still dared to ask and he gave me a look that he really wished I would stop talking, but nodded.

"You will be informed, but we don't know, we may need all crew on deck to defend the ship, depends on how things go, now I must take my leave, i have other duties on the ship so if you need me, go near the back of the ship above deck." With that he gave us a small polite nod and left quickly.

"Wow, he really didn't like those questions." Coconut was the first to break the ice.

"Yeah, his face immediately changed when I asked him any details about the war, I still am unsure why it even happened, but I doubt we will get a straight answer outta him."

"It's clearly something of a sore spot for that griffon, I could also tell, maybe he has fought or lost someone he cared about on the battlefield." Sylf said in a solemn tone, maybe she was right... I doubt anyone would react so strongly over something if they weren't involved somehow.

"Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this, but for now let me take care of the luggage, I'll keep it in my room okay? This trip should not take more than a few days, now... I wonder where one goes to the bathroom on a sail ship? Uhh caravel he called it? I don't think there even is a bathroom. Ugh I already miss indoor plumbing." I lamented while absent mindedly taking the three large bags of things we carried with us and moving them into my "room" leaving them stacked in a corner.

After that I headed up, I have not really been on anything larger than a rowboat in my life, and I wanted to see the sights, my parents decided to stay in their room and probably got busy together.

I walked towards the exit and climbed the stairs going outside where the sailors were working, untying the mooring and preparing for departure, one of them was up on the crow's nest, it was a good thing griffons were great fliers because a fall from that height would hurt.

The ship had 3 masts, the middle one being the largest and the front one the second biggest. There are 3 cannons on each side above deck and another 3 below deck that I passed on the way to the stairs, this caravel is basically ready for war... Was this normal? Well hopefully they would see the enemy coming, if anything happened, with that thought I went to the front of the ship and sat down next to the wooden railing, watching the clear blue water and the waves splashing on the beach, the clouds drifting across the sky... The sound of the waves was relaxing and the scent of sea water was different but not unwelcome.

The preparations seem to finally be done, because the ship started to move, slowly floating away from the docks and picking up speed. The sailors pulling ropes to move the partially extended sails to one side to catch the wind, them the ship really started to go, picking up speed as the wind pushed and the sails were fully lowered, the mooring lines were pulled back into the ship.

After that was adjusted correctly the ropes were secured, keeping the sails in that position and the sailors finally relaxed, apparently they weren't expected to be paying attention 24/7 and it made total sense, the wind does most of the work, and they just have to catch it right and maintain course.

The hour was hard to tell for me without a clock, and I never really thought about it much at home since I have one in my room, but from the point of the sun in the sky I assume it must be around 6pm, getting close to dusk, i turned and looked back to where we came from, the shore was so far away by now that I could not see any small detail other than the land on the horizon, I relax and feel the swaying of the ship, it's not as bad as I thought it would be, but it's there.

Then again, the sea is calm and there is not a cloud in sight, I could stay out here until late in the night, maybe tonight it will be perfect to stargaze, something that I love but rarely get the chance to do as my daily life makes me go to bed early for school or stay studying until late at night, indoors with a magical lamp, specially so since I started magical school.

Sadly only a few of my friends went to the same school as me, those being Ruby Ray, the only other unicorn of the group, as well as Cadence, both of them want to learn magic after my classes opened their eyes to the amazing world of spells and runes, meanwhile Shining and Silver have decided to study in the Royal Guard Academy, other friends have gone to different schools, some focused on their talents like business and economics, I'm sure they have bright futures ahead.

I lose myself in thought, looking at the distant horizon, I feel like I want to fly above the sea, dipping my tail in the water and splash it around, go directly from flying into the water to diving in like a bird, then go back up and fly again, how long will it take, I wonder, until I get my wings?

I heard clawed footsteps coming from behind me as I dangle half of my body over the edge of the ship, feeling a bit paranoid I pull myself back in fully, turning around to look at who is coming over.
It's the captain of the Cirice.

"Hey Capt." I greet him casually, I was neither happy or unhappy to see him, I just felt like he pulled me out of my thoughts, but I wasn't opposed to having company here.

"Hey, Onyx was it? didn't expect to see you here at my spot, sorry about earlier, I just didn't expect those questions from someone your age." His tone was apologetic and sincere as he greeted me.

"You look a bit young compared to the other two you came in with, not to mention you're a dragon, so what's your story?" I raised an eyebrow as he pulled out a pipe from a pouch on his belt and added something to it before lighting it up with a match, it took him a few seconds, and I was just staring openly, confused as I had never seen a single pony smoke before, not that I went to adult parties that much, drinking sure that happened at like... Every party, but smoking? Never seen it before.

I decided it wouldn't hurt to tell him my story, no one knows me here and I haven't done anything noteworthy yet.

"I'm adopted, I hatched from an egg in the frozen north, near the Crystal mountains, then Sylf, mom found me, and adopted me because my parents left the nest before I even hatched, to this day I have no idea where they could even be, but I don't care because Sylf and Coconut are my parents now, and that's more or less my story, what are you smoking there?" I asked with curiosity, it smelled somewhat similar to cigarettes from back then, but it was not as bad, it lacked a lot of that noxious smell of tar that cigarettes have when they burn, it was more herbal and natural, clearly it wasn't weed, I knew weed very well, was it just tobacco? Im almost sure it is, but it's been so long I'm not sure.

"Well, that explains a lot about you, I haven't seen a dragon personally before but from what I've been told, they're much less polite and they don't like to interact with other races often, you on the other hand act like a polite pony that lets their curiosity get the best out of them, and about my smoke?" He paused, inhaling from the pipe, holding it in his lungs for a few seconds and then exhaling puffs of smoke with a content sigh.

"Its Griffonstone's main export, pure high quality tobacco, a very wonderful herb that grows plentifully around our nation, are you curious? You've been staring for a while." I shake my head and look away, realizing I was staring like an idiot.

"Oh, no no I didn't meant to stare, I was just really... Confused because I've never seen anything like that, do you export the tobacco, right? To which nations?"

"There are a few, even inside Equestria there are some who enjoy it, like the Buffalo tribes near Appleloosa, the various Deer tribes and the Caribou near the Crystal mountains." He takes another hit of his pipe, sighing in enjoyment.

"Then outside of Equestria you have the Minotaur nation, the Abyssinian nation, and a few others."

"The issue with the former tribes inside Equestria is that until recently, Celestia enforced a law that forbid the selling of tobacco inside their territories, and the problem is that they have so many other tribes and groups that aren't Equestrian that still live inside Equestrian territory and are our clients, so those clients inside have to be supplied in secret, it makes transport and delivery much more difficult and expensive..." He paused to take a hit from his pipe, then continued.

"Thankfully a few years ago, they simply removed that law and now openly trading inside Equestria is allowed, as long as us not directly to pony cities."
Maybe my deal with her was not such a bad compromise then, she is starting to change at least some of the laws.

"Well, that sounds like wonderful news! And I was worried Celestia would keep those anticompetitive laws in place forever. But she did the right thing this time, she has no right to control the lives of those who aren't her people, even if they live in the territory she claimed, because I seriously doubt those territories were ever originally part of Equestria."

"She did claim the land where other nations nations existed for millennia as part of Equestria for convenience, and she didn't even care if those that lived there accepted it, there are a few examples but the Buffalo tribes of Appleloosa would agree with me, she not only took their land but imposed her laws, it's a miracle that she has loosened the noose around our necks, I wonder what reason or scheme she came up with now." I looked out towards the darkening horizon, nodding along with his words, it was hard to disagree, I had many reasons to dislike her too, and there was no better way bond than over your dislike for someone.

"I can't stand her, I would punch her in the face if she wouldn't instantly vaporize me afterwards, what would you do if you had complete impunity?" I asked with a smirk, I didn't really hate Celestia but I think she deserves a punch to the face, one that would hurt, something I doubt I could do.

"Hmm... Let me think... Maybe something that would annoy her a lot, she's got a bright white coat right?" I nod to confirm his theory.

"Then I would pour bolognese sauce on her so her coat gets all red and greasy, really smear it on her so it's hard to clean, that would be fun and probably really humiliating, and I'm surprised to hear you say you would punch her... isn't she your princess? You're from Equestria right?" He smiled to himself as he confessed what he would do, if was pretty tame all things considered, but he looked confused and concerned I would go as far as to punch her.

"Okay okay maybe I'd just slap her on the muzzle, but yeah, I've grown up in Canterlot, we got a house there and now i just finished elementary school and started magic highschool, this is out little vacation trip, I consider myself Equestrian but I don't really worship Celestia like most ponies do, but I'll admit she's very scary when you aren't one of 'her little ponies' and she clearly doesn't see me as one of them."

"I wonder what possessed you to visit Griffonstone of all places, specially while its at war...
Well I'm not going to complain, we get too few tourists as it is, hopefully you will find some reason to come back, eh? Our country is beautiful, its just sadly going through hard times..." His tone is bitter and sad as he says this and I can tell he loves his nation, and this is messing with him.

"I hope I find plenty of reasons to come back, maybe when I'm older I'll come visit again, first I have to get there." I answer him with a smile, which he returned after a few seconds.

After that we stood in silence, looking at the setting sun until it was under the horizon, the sky darkening quickly as night fell, the moon rising into the sky gradually from the other side. It always felt weird, but after years of watching the same I grew used to the new normal. It had been a few hours of us just standing in silence, he then says goodbye with a nod and leaves to either sleep or go back to his duties.

Its a peaceful night. I was sitting down and looking up at the stars, the beautiful night sky, thousands of stars, some forming shapes, sometimes shooting stars went across the sky, there were nebulae, galaxies, and of course, the largest and brightest moon looming above, the shadow of a horned head on it, I stayed for hours looking at it all, feeling a sense of inner peace, oddly enough I didn't feel sleepy, I ended up staying all night long just laying down outside, enjoying the rhythmic sound of the waves splashing against the sides of the ship, the occasional drip of cold sea water on my body, I really wanted to go for a swim...

There were a few of the griffs here on watch, and maintaining the ship on course, there always were at least a few out here, you couldn't leave the ship fully unattended it seems.

I approached the one at the wheel and spoke to him. "Excuse me, sir? I wanted to ask if its safe to go for a swim in this waters, are there any dangerous predators underwater?"

Thankfully he was not startled and turned around to me with a concerned expression. "What do ya mean you wanna go for a swim? yer a dragon, right? dragons don't like cold! the water here is freezing cold, you're likely to go into shock once you jump in, and you'll inhale water and drown, so no, ya can't.
At least there's no monsters here, maybe Orcas at most, the real bad ones are further south, near the dragon lands."

"Oh, I understand, so in theory there shouldn't be anything too bad in the waters then? Okay, and don't worry about me, I'm different, wanna see?" I asked him with a smug smile, he chuckles and gives me a challenging smirk of his own.

"Prove it lad, what can you do that makes ya different from a regular dragon?" I turn towards the side of the ship, we are already next to the edge, so I look down into the water, my element starts to coalesce, the heat draining completely from the air inside my third lung, the air rapidly lowering in temperature faster and faster, then more air is pumped as I inhale until my third lung is full, then I open my maw and squeeze the powerful muscles around my third lung, propelling the supercooled air forward in a 6m long cone.

The result is still satisfactory enough, the frost propels out fast and hits the water, creating a layer of floating ice chunks, but they quickly begin to break apart, my breath attack isn't strong enough yet, It's a nice ability and doesn't require magic to function, but its still nothing compared to one of my spells. I take a few deep breaths afterwards to get air back into my lungs flowing normally again, and turn to the griffon with a victorious smile.

He looks confused but impressed. "Nicely done lad! yer the first dragon I've seen or heard that can breathe ice! Are you a different sub race? Since you can breathe ice, I don't see a reason as to why you cant just go for a swim in the sea, just don't stay behind, the ship looks like it's still, but its moving along at a decent pace, if you can't swim fast enough you may be left behind. Okay?" he explained and patted my back, but his tone was serious at the end.

"I'll show you I'm not a bad swimmer then, watch me!" I exclaim and stand on the wooden railing of the ship, balancing myself and preparing to jump, putting a lot of effort into jumping further away I end up leaping forward about 3 meters, not a great jump but well enough to get me directly into water, where I dive straight into, and go a few meters under the cold water, it must be around 8 degrees Celsius or less here, I loved this cold, around me there was only darkness, but I could still see up to some distance.

I couldn't see the bottom, only darkness all around me, a sense of dread washed over me, as I realized I was floating in the open, empty dark abyss.

Not being able to see the bottom of the sea, not being able to see anything but the ship I just jumped out of, the safety of the ship, I felt an like I could be grabbed from below by something, just pulled down and down until I couldn't survive the pressure, then I would implode, knowing about the dangers of water pressure made this fear even worse, then i heard the distant sounds of creatures, wails and clicks underwater, were those orcas, wales? I don't know if they would ignore me or bite me, it was time to go back, that's what I was sure of.

I located the ship and quickly started to swim in that direction, my tail propelling me as fast as I could.

I got back to the ship and swam beside it, seeing there is a rope ladder to climb gave me relief, and I gladly started climbing back up. I probably should have thought about it more before diving right in. I was sure my face was a bit pale as I climbed aboard and the same griffon from earlier was there waiting for me, he chuckled a bit at my terrified face and patted me on the head.

"Ya got spooked bad, didn't ya little drake? What got you so scared? Be honest now, no sense in hiding it." He doesn't sound mocking, despite laughing at first, he is genuinely curious so I answer honestly.

"I-i couldn't see the bottom of the sea! And I couldn't... see anything around other than the ship." I took a few deep breaths to calm my rapidly beating hearts, it was just the sea, of course the sea is deep, you can't see the bottom, it's not a river or a swimming pool, I'm just an idiot who didn't think before jumping in.

"I felt like at any moment, something horrifying would emerge from the darkness around me as I floated there, and maybe that something would pull me down into the depths, I just felt defenseless." I said in a soft voice, not feeling as confident as before and a bit demoralized, maybe during the day I would dare to go into the water and look around, maybe it was just not being able to see far away that freaked me out so much? I wasn't sure, but my mind definitively hated that sensation of floating in the endless void of darkness.

"Ah, yeah that'd pretty normal lad, yer not a coward, it's yer survival instinct telling you that you're in a bad place, it's not as bad during daytime, but it still gives me the chills, we just need landmarks to give our mind some sense of safety, or that's what I think, you did okay, first time in open seas?" I nodded, feeling a bit better, at least he didn't mock me too much for my reaction, to be fair I have never been in a spot on the sea where I couldn't see the bottom, let alone during the night, note to self, don't go swimming in the open seas at night without a quick way out.

"Thank you mister, what's your name by the way? I thought I'd ask before I head to bed, thanks for your time, even if I just sorta embarrassed myself for your entertainment." I scratch my head and laugh nervously, feeling a bit stupid about my fear of open waters in the dark.

"I'm Archie, the ships navigator when the capt is asleep, if he is up I usually either I'm sleeping or checking the navigation charts, making sure we are in the right path and all dat." He offers me his talon for a handshake, I grip and shake his talon briefly.

"Goodnight Archie, I'm Onyx now I'll head to sleep, bye!" After we shook hands I left for my room.

That night I dreamt about being out there in the dark waters, floating aimlessly, this time there was no boat to go back to, there was nothing around but darkness and the cold sea.

I was alone, vulnerable, I tried to go to the surface but there was some barrier, I couldn't even use my magic, I still could see the distant glow of the moon and stars.

It was almost peaceful, until it wasn't.
Countless impossibly long appendages emerging from the unfathomable depths as I floated in the darkness, they were trying to grab me, there were thin, long insectoid limbs with hook-like claws at the end.

There were also small tentacles that burnt whenever they touched me, like acid, and they stuck to me by the hundreds, I ripped them off but chunks of them stick to me like glue, and more appeared to replace them.
I fought with claw and fang, trying to free myself, but there were always more coming, sharp hooks piercing my scales more and more often, it felt like I struggled for hours before I couldn't fight anymore and I gave up.

I was slowly dragged down into the dark depths, away from the glow of the moon and stars, in the darkness, I finally felt like I could rest, my fear and worry going away as I started to fade into dreamless unconscious sleep.

But right before I could, I feel a powerful pulse of energy seemed to come out of myself, not by my actions, it was as if some kind of power I wasn't aware off was triggered, but it felt similar to my telepathy in a way, but much more powerful, lashing out as if it was an attack, and focused above me, on top of my head.

Instantly after, something right on top of me started screeching, a mind shattering sound, causing me to try to squirm, to move away from it, but my body doesn't respond, I'm helpless, it's close, I feel like the sound is cutting into my mind and it hurts in a completely new level of pain.

The sensation was agonizingly, lances of pain into my mind, If I could have screamed I would have ruined my voice by now, but my body was paralyzed completely, I couldn't even feel more than my mind and the pain it was going through.

It's like something atop of my head that was halfway in the process of digging it's way inside my mind was painfully killed and it's death screech caused me real damage and pain, after a few seconds the screeching stops, and so does the pain, at least the worst of it, I begin to regain control over my body, and then I lose consciousness completely.

Mental Countermeasure Alpha-01 psionic pulse against Nightmare parasite has been utilized, protecting user's mind from becoming infested.

Warning! Nightmare parasites share a hive mind, and they have your scent, risk of future attacks is increased exponentially. Memories of incident removed by system to prevent severe mental instability, information about preventing future parasite infestation added to the bestiary in the Nightmare Parasite section.

I awake in the bed startled and in pain, holding my head and groaning, I felt as if someone smashed my head over and over with a metal hammer, what happened last night? Why do I feel so awful?

Its still nighttime, probably haven't slept much.

I felt something wet dripping from my nose and below my ears, I rub my eyes and try to become fully awake.

I see the room is slightly lit up, pulling a small towel from my inventory I wipe my wet nose and see it's actually my blood that was causing that glow. I clean it quickly and hold the towel in place there until i feel no more blood is dripping out.

Looking at the floor I realize I've been bleeding for a while, small puddles of glowing blood have formed and I start to grow concerned for real now, this isn't normal fucking normal!

I check my ears, and confirm it's also blood, I wipe it away and clean the floor, using a small spell to get it all off myself and the floor, what the towel didn't clean. Is now gone with prestidigitation.

What... What did just happen to me? I can't remember... Why can't I remember? Ugh... My head is killing me, I haven't had such a bad headache in forever!

Am I getting sick? Maybe the switch from land to sea made me a bit sick, I'm going back to sleep, maybe by tomorrow the pain will be gone, but if anything else happens when i wake up, I'll have dad give me a checkup, and heal me.

I stored the bloody towel back into inventory, yawning and wincing as doing so caused pain, I decided it would be best if I just went to sleep.

This time I was dreaming of being hugged by my friends and feeling their warmth, grabbing the pillow and hugging it tightly, it was my happy place, and it felt right, helping calm my fears and worries.

I already miss those wonderful ponies.

I fell asleep feeling happy and despite the headache, I had a good night's rest.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading! Hope you have fun with this chapter, there will be a second part to it tho.