Back at the orphanage.

First thing I did after getting back was running to the bathroom, then taking a shower to get the nasty spider ichor of myself, I hated spiders but I hated having to fight them and kill them even more. Why wouldn't they just have stayed away? I am not food dammit!

To be fair most creatures are not sensitive enough to magic to tell how strong something is, but there are other clues, well it's too late now, I don't regret what I had to do.

Their blood smells disgusting, acrid, and like rancid oil and wet dirty clothes left in a bag for too long.

I scrubbed myself completely clean and polished my scales back to a decent shape, they weren't as shiny where I had gotten splashed by the acidic blood, but it was something.

I applied some scented oils to my scales, hoping to return the glow and help healing them faster, I had bought them in Canterlot, they have lots of delicious smelling scents, including essential oils that have various smells, I chose the sweet orange peel ones today, as I loved the smell of citrus even if it make me sneeze a bit, damn overly sensitive noise.

Another 'perk' of my sense of smell, I would sneeze to get strong scents out sometimes and while I could suppress it, that just felt wrong to hold back a sneeze, I always covered my nose and maw to prevent the frost sneeze to get into anything or anyone.

Standing over the fire earlier was not a very good idea.

My paws were burned slightly, I had forgotten about that, but as the cold water touched the small blisters I got on the sensitive skin between the toes I whimpered as the pain came back, the disadvantage of having webbed toes, good for swimming, yes but more susceptible to getting hurt, the rest of my paw was fine.

After a bit of time, the water cleaning fully the area the pain lessened, the burns would heal on their own by tomorrow.

After the shower I dried myself with a clean towel, throwing the dirty towel I used to clean the ichor off in the trash. I felt much better, more refreshed and relaxed.

I headed to my parent's room, not bothering to knock, and she was indeed doing like she told me, massaging and overall just giving affection to the unicorn who almost worked himself unconscious.

"You have some explaining to do but first come here and let me hold you, my good little pup." Mother ordered and I obeyed quickly, approaching and climbing onto the bed, laying between them in the middle, feeling their warmth and in turn cooling them down, both clearly glad to have some relief from the summer heat.

"Goodness Onyx, you had us concerned... But I'm glad you're back and you are so refreshing to cuddle with, I think you will need to keep doing this every year during the summer, even when you're older, right my sweetiepie?"

I was sandwiched between the two of them, hugging Coconut from behind and having Sylf hug me from behind, only way it's really acceptable to cuddle with them, I love being in the middle anyways.

"I-i think I have to agree with your mom, you're very refreshing... I love that!" I had a slight smile, which only grew in response to the kind compliments, I started to massage his back, shoulders and neck, he sighed contently.

It felt really good to make them happy, to make them both feel good and comfortable.

"By magic... You would make anyone happy with your paws if you became a masseuse my colt, this feels just perfect, keep going while you explain please?" He spoke softly, making noises of enjoyment, I made sure to release all the tension in his muscles, a magic hand spell wouldn't be quite as precise or strong as a real set of hands like mine, even with one less finger, i could certainly help relieve stress.

"Always glad to help, you really deserve to feel good after what you did for those griffons and for helping me, but didn't mom just gave you a massage too?"

"Yes she did, in fact you did amazing and I am so thankful for your massage earlier my beloved wolf! I can't wait to return the favor sometime, hooves can feel good too you know?" He answered me then turned to his wife, my momma, she smiled and looked excited as well at the prospect of being massaged by him later too, or at least that's what I hope that look she gave him means.

"Now dear Onyx would you please tell us what happened? Everything, don't leave out any details please, I'm sure your mother will not be happy if you don't tell us everything." She nodded right away, confirming his words.

"So you know what my mission was, right?" They both nod and I pull the golden idol out of my inventory, holding it in my paw firmly for them to see.

"This artifact, the Idol of Boreas is a direct connection to the griffon deity, Boreas.
He has a connection to the griffons, he will help them prosper, I just need to help them gather together, anyways back to what happened, here's the long version. It gets a bit weird, so pay attention.

After that I explained everything that happened since I tried to get the Idol, including having obtained a gigantic skull and a lot of ore from what seems like valuable metal. I explained how I could get even more if I had a decent pickaxe but I only grabbed the ore that I could dislodge that was exposed on the rock, but there were clearly veins of the metal there.

Those veins of ore could be mined by a full team with proper tools, there was an amazing source of what seems like a very valuable metal, it was pretty light too, but I'm not sure how good it is, I would need an armor made of it to try, I certainly had enough ore for a few full sets and weapons.

I also explained all about the creatures I fought down there, and the confirmation of another, much more dangerous being that was probably deadlier than any other monster I had fought before.

There was a nest down there, and a passage to deeper areas that promised to have more riches and resources, likely way more than what I could carry in a single trip.

That got the attention of both of them, but it was way more interesting to me, despite the danger, I know there must be something worth finding down there, so deep below the surface, but we would need to fight something that could very well turn us into its meal.

Securing the cave was also important if we wanted to give Griffonstone the resources necessary to jumpstart their economy once again, a profitable mine with no gigantic spiders would be ideal as a start.

I need to get rid of the giant spider, the matriarch pale spider, I explained my thoughts to them too, everything.

Even my idea of going in and clearing the cave, I wasn't particularly excited about having to fight it, but having a clear and safe cave was important.

After the long and detailed explanation, some questions and having to clarify some things, they both were seemingly satisfied.

"There's only one thing you did wrong, that I would have done differently, you could have just teleported back up to the surface before even falling all the way down, but I understand being overwhelmed by your fear of heights while falling, what I don't understand is why you didn't immediately teleport back once you could, explain that." I scratched the back of my head, avoiding eye contact.

"W-well... You see, I wanted to explore." I focused and explained in more detail, trying to sound less unsure.

"I mean I haven't ever been there and... Okay... I'll be honest, I let my sense of curiosity get the better of me, you can't tell me you wouldn't be curious about a cave at the depths of a large chasm, you and I know we have been through much worse together. Now I can deal with this alone, I could probably deal with the largest one myself, but I didn't try to, instead playing it safe and choosing to return and do the right thing, do you two trust me, right?" I sigh and shake my head trying to not sound rude.

"I think it's time that I start to have more confidence in my own abilities as a warrior, I learned how to use a weapon by myself you know? After fighting and slaying 2 huge beasts, and I know I could have dispatched them with just my magic, but I wanted to save mana in case something worse came along." They both were more at ease now, not looking concerned, even if dad looked a bit green still after hearing how I demolished the big spiders with hammer strikes and spells, he clearly didn't like the detailed explanation, despite the fact that such a thing would be pretty useful to know when fighting one, I knew all of their weaknesses, their exoskeleton was not too resilient, fire destroyed them well.

Mom was the one to speak first. "Onyx, we have complete confidence in you, you are trained by the best after all!" She said proudly, smiling at me.

"And even if you haven't yet tried the warhammer, I believe you would have an easy time learning it on the fly, it's not a good weapon when fighting a sword user but it definitively can do a lot of damage to an opponent who isn't wielding a weapon of their own, it's a bit of an unbalanced weapon and that is why i prefer my longsword, but i can understand why you prefer it." She smiles and pats my back with her paw.

"You did a good job on those spiders, I'm proud of you! Next time we will go together, all three of us and we will hunt the mother of all this spiders, do you think we should spare the one that didn't attack? Because it could turn on the griffons that will go mining there in the future, it could succumb to it's baser instincts when it's hungry enough, unless they feed it ocasionally." I have to think about that last part, at least she seems to approve of my reasoning, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill that spider, would it be safe to leave it there? What would we even do with it? Its will not be able to live in the surface, that's for sure.

It has light sensitivity, so being outside would probably kill it in the long run.

"I think we may need to kill it, we can't really do much else, we can kick it out of the cave and that's it, but getting in and out of the chasm is the main issue, it's simply not easy, the griffons can't use magic, as far as I know... There are other options like digging a hole down and making a tunnel going down but it would also be pretty dangerous, not to mention take a long time to excavate." I theorized while scratching my chin, I don't really want to kill that one spider but it's not like we can keep it as a pet, it can't be out in the sun and probably would need to eat live prey, it would be terrifying to anyone we came across and maybe make them attack us on sight.

Relocating it to some other place could work, but where? There is no other biome that would suit such a creature nearby, it has to go. But it i find another place for it, I may transport it there with magic.

But most likely we would have to slay it, as I don't have a way yet to change a creature into another permanently, True Polymorph would work, but that was a much more advanced spell than what I could cast, maybe in the future I can find a way to deal with it non lethally.

That's the reality of it, if we want to exploit the resources we need to clear out the mine fully and make it safe, we need to kill everything that could be a threat in those caverns, or at least find a way to contain it, but those were plants for the future.

But that was enough, I yawned, feeling sleepy after a long day of exploring and mining. "I'm going to sleep... Please wake me up early if I don't, I need to... Get things done." I yawned again wider, my eyes becoming harder and harder to keep open.

With that I drifted off into dreamland, thinking of something I tried to enter the dream area where the second dungeon had been before, now being a purified area of the dream realm.

I just really missed seeing those rainbow skies and the now tastefully decorated castle, I wanted to see this place again tonight, dreaming of being in it.

Surprisingly it worked. It worked right away, I didn't even have to imagine anything, just by wanting to be there, it felt as if I just teleported in, right at the throne room I was familiar with, but changed, now having multicolor banners with our party's flag, a symbol for each of us, they were stylized in a simplified way, but still showing details like precise colors and proportions. The background of the banner was indigo like my magical energy.

I realized I was not like I normally was in the waking world, I was translucent, as if I was just a ghost or a spirit, something that maybe symbolized that I was dreaming, this was a dream, yet knowing that didn't wake me up somehow...

Leaving that aside I decide to explore my surroundings, there was much to see in this place and I hadn't had a real chance to explore, now that there weren't any murderous specters trying to get me I had that perfect chance.

I looked around the throne room, the damage caused by the battle completely removed and the only thing that remained was a broken horn piece, something I decided to keep in case it could be useful for something later, it weighted almost nothing anyways.

Unicorn's Horn added to your inventory

I decided I may as well explore the other rooms while here, because every other time we were in this castle it was for an urgent mission, or coming back from one, not able to relax and not having any free time to check things out, this time I wasn't in a rush, and I had nothing else to do so...

The throne room had adjacent doors that were locked, but looking around the throne, I found a compartment at the bottom that you can open, inside there is a key ring.

I unlock the room and open it, inside there is a bedroom, fairly fancy but not overly so, a nice large four post bed with blue blankets and white sheets, made of dark polished wood and with decorations of stylized unicorn heads on each corner, next to the bed there was a table of the same wood, with a small magic lamp that now was turned off, on the bedside table there was a small diary.

I approached and red the title, when I did, I didn't dare open it yet, this diary was Post Mortem's... I decide to move on for now, making sure to remember to read it later after making sure the room was clear of threats.

The room also has a small bookcase, about a dozen books on it, a tea set, a full sized silver mirror that looks very fancy and well crafted, and a closet. Right across from the entry door to the room there is an entrance to the balcony, and when I look at it, I can already tell there must be something there, no one would be dumb enough to leave a balcony unguarded considering the amount of defensive glyphs used all across the castle, the paths to access this room were all minefields of glyphs, so clearly a balcony would have at least one or two nasty glyphs on it.

I use a spell to detect any magical signatures nearby, and there were two of them. The balcony, as I suspected is full of glyphs, with who knows what deadly effects... But also the diary, it has at least a few spells but I can't properly tell until I open it, something I decided to do just now, throwing caution to the wind.

I figured the spells in the diary weren't dangerous, maybe they were meant to keep it preserved or safe from accidents, but just in case I opened it outside in the hallway, where there isn't anything that can break or burn, or get wet.

Staying a few meters away, enough for most spells to fizzle out before reaching me, I opened the diary using telekinesis and tried to read it, thankfully nothing happened, maybe he wanted others to find this and read it...

I started reading out loud to no one in particular, since I was alone here.

"Week 1

I can't be sure how long it has been since I arrived here, but I can guess around a week and I've decided to keep a diary to document what I think may be my final days in this place... I have no way of getting out, no coordinates, nothing. Worst of all my supplies are running out, there is nothing here to eat or drink, I have a month at most." I took a little pause to absorb the information, so he seemed mostly sane when he got here, this diary despite the years seems perfectly preserved, maybe he used this spells soon after starting his diary.

"Week 2

I have learned a lot about this place, in time since I've arrived here. For instance, it seems I have no need of drink or food anymore, even so I can still partake in the pleasure of eating and drinking, but I rarely do so because of my limited supplies, yet I know I will eventually run out of food, I will not starve or die of thirsty, that gives me hope for eventually finding a way out of my predicament, I must start researching in earnest about the dream realm and it's properties." He was changed by the dungeon itself? Interesting, that would explain why he didn't die of thirst or hunger.

Week 4

I've explored the lands around here completely, and found this place is the same damn village I condemned to death to star the war, while the plan sort of worked it wasn't as effective as I had hoped and it got Celestia on my trail, this same place was the reason I had to escape here and I was trapped, it's ironic in a way... The ponies that I had tortured and executed, they are still there rotting hanging from poles, just like they were back in reality, their decaying corpses stink badly, their heads were all thankfully removed and buried somewhere, I cant exactly remember where.

I tried getting out of this place the old fashioned way too, walking towards the distant forests and mountains shrouded by darkness, but when I got a few hundred meters from the village, I encountered something unexpected, an invisible barrier or wall, I tried digging under it with magic, I tried throwing objects over it, but nothing works, I even walked all around it, and it was clear that the barrier is meant to enclose the village, like if it was its own pocket dimension of sorts. No spell, no matter how potent does anything, they all dissipate upon impact with the barrier.

There is no way out.

There is something else I haven't mentioned, somehow all the ones who I have made my thralls in the past, they are here too, they respond to me as if still under my control, that is the Griffon army and the former Duchess who was the ruler of this village, she is totally under my control.

There is a big difference however, a big one however, she and the others are undead, they are as close to living as they can be, at first I thought they were alive, they still look and feel alive, except the fact they are cold and they have no emotions, they are like dolls.

If anything, she can provide some company and entertainment that I haven't had since coming to this cursed place." After this, seems he had not written much for a long time, there was a slight difference to his writing style too.

"Year 1

I have found nothing, after all this time... There is just not enough information and I can't find anything of note, all the books on this library have unrelated topics and are completely useless, mundane facts about farming, caring for animals, managing workers and some everyday spells that don't help me at all.

All useless garbage, this place... this is my punishment, isn't it? I should have let Celestia get to me, she would at least have given me a swift end.

I am trapped here, and I feel my hold on sanity slipping with every passing day, the only thing that keeps me sane is my pet mare, but even then it's extremely dull... She has no emotion, she obeys without question, she's a shell and doesn't even moan unless I order her to, she is nothing more than a toy, slightly better than using my hooves, I even have to warm her up with magic before using her. I don't know how long I can keep my sanity and it's getting worse every day.

Year 2

I have a new purpose now, a being came to me in a dream and I felt it connect with me, it whispers to me every day, every second, I have shunned the whispers at first, I kept my mind closed, but the more I heard the more I felt my resolve crumble.

I have accepted, it told me I needed to be here and eventually I would be free, I just had to wait, it promised me I wouldn't feel so alone anymore, it will stay with me here, forever...

I write this, my last entry in this diary while I retain a little bit of my willpower, whatever you do DO NOT LISTEN TO ITS WHISPERS." Those were the last words, scribbled in urgency with a shaky barely readable font, it was like he was fighting to control his telekinesis, some blotches of ink were left on the page, staining other pages as well.

The rest of the diary was blank.

I shivered, imagining what having a centipede in my brain trying to take over my mind and body would feel like, if this is what the nightmares could do I had good to fear them.

I focused back on the task at hand instead, it was at least a good way to distract myself from the dread that I'm feeling, working to disarm traps was better than dwelling on this.

Time to dispel the spells, it will take most of my mana to do but its better to rid this castle of this dangerous spells before someone accidentally flies in and gets turned into a pile of ash and blown by the wind.

None of my companions can fly but that may change in the future and while I hope the next one to fly is me, at this point I don't know when that will happen.

10 minutes later I was sitting on the ground, recovering my magic slowly over time, having spent over half of it dispelling glyphs, having failed a few times with lower level spells i decided to use the higher powered one, clearly this glyphs were extremely deadly and if left intact they would cause death to anyone who was reckless or didn't know, I would need to do this with all of the balconies in the castle, since it made total sense that they were all heavily protected.

I spent the next several hours going around and checking all the balconies in the castle and securing them, none thankfully were as heavily protected as the sleeping quarters next to the castle's throne room, where the previous ruler of this castle slept, and knowing who he was it made perfect sense.

That psycho would rather kill first and ask questions later, I was surprised I could even use spells and things I would normally do in the waking world while here, don't I need my body to cast spells? Maybe I am using my body but just channeling the spells in the dream... I am unsure how this works, but there is another thing to try.

With a thought, I attempt to open the familiar semi transparent menu, and surprisingly it works, I check around for anything out of the ordinary, since its been at least a week since I opened this, at the very least since I checked the notifications.

Let's see what I didn't read...

Enemies slain, warhammer proficiency gained, items obtained, more of the same... Wait a minute, what the-

I had to sit down as I read the text in bright red bold letters.

NIGHTMARE POSSESSION PREVENTED, COUNTERMEASURE UTILIZED, WARNING: COUNTERMEASURE HAS A HIGH RISK OF DAMAGING THE BRAIN DIRECTLY, EVEN CAUSING BRAIN TRAUMA, SEE NIGHTMARE BESTIARY ENTRY FOR MORE INFORMATION.

I was shaking with fear and worry, I faintly remember waking up in the middle of the night, only to fall back asleep, but oddly enough I can't tell when it happened, just that it did at some point, by the order of this, I would say a few nights ago.

I have somehow prevented a fate worse than death, most likely, feeling my throat dry and my dual heartbeat thundering in my chest quickly, I opened the bestiary section with growing concern, hoping for some good news, subconsciously trying to think if I had lost any of my memories or knowledge because of the countermeasure, I was terrified of having lost memories, important memories...

I could think about that later, now I focused back on the task at hand, pulling the bestiary tab on the menu, the different monsters, creatures, even ponies that I've scanned or read information about were cataloged there, including the nightmare.

I quickly found the correct section, ignoring the stats and other useless info right now, and went to the new clearly deferent section at the end, it was an addendum. I decided to read it out loud to myself, if anything to calm myself by focusing on doing something.

"Nightmare parasites are parasites that need a living and sapient host with heightened negative emotions to feed on, they are beings of pure negative energy and therefore a way of safeguarding your mind from them while you sleep is keeping your unconscious mind anchored to a safe zone the dream realm, for example a hallowed area that is specially made to prevent this kind of beings from entering, or a zone within the world of dreams that shares the same properties."

I paused, thinking and digesting the new information, this meant that I would be safe here on this keep, from what I understand this place has a safeguard against this exact type of beings, pure negative energy that makes up nightmares should not be able to enter, I kept reading just in case.

"In such a place, no nightmare parasite can enter, however, a fully developed Nightmare being (a creature that willingly gave in to the parasite, who normally can't take full control of the host) is no longer made of negative energy, taking on the properties of the host, and their abilities to enter places where nightmare parasites would burn by trying to enter." So that means... For the Nightmare to take over fully it needs to have the consent of its host... But it manipulates the host to make taking the deal seem like the only option. This explains a few things.

"This means that the newly matured Nightmare can, without any issue, enter an area meant to keep negative energy beings out, and in this form, it can be extremely dangerous, depending on how powerful the host is, usually a Nightmare parasite will only target those who are powerful enough to make a good host, and magically able enough that they can use their spells without suspicion, for example, an earth pony would not be targeted by a nightmare parasite, nor would a pegasus or griffon." Now this was really worrying, was there more brings besides Luna that have taken a Nightmare in, willingly and in her case, purely to get more power?

The last paragraph read the most interesting tidbit of information.

"Nightmare parasites need strong negative emotions to feed, they thrive in the worst emotions, hate, jealousy, betrayal and many other emotions, they not only feed on their host's negative emotions, but those that their host causes on other beings, pushing them towards evil with constant suggestions and manipulations, while the parasite can take over a weaker host mind by itself, for stronger beings it needs to be let in, usually with promises of power, something it can fulfill as it fuses with its hosts mind and soul, and that's the reason it's impossible to remove by most mundane or magical means once this process has finished."

Is this what happened to Luna? Is Nightmare Moon a fully fused parasite that became a new being? I could see how that made sense, but hopefully the exception to the rule were the Elements, they should in theory be able to save her, to restore her soul as it was before, if they didn't... We would all be screwed and all the things I'm working towards would be for nothing.

Trying to clear my mind of depressing ideas I focus instead on the information I just finished reading, this was... A huge relief when considering the facts, for one, its possible to remove nightmares before they take over a host's mind, and also possible to resist their influence, but they will constantly be whispering in your mind, something that I don't want if I can help it, I had already enough of that with my overthinking brain and having a passenger along for the ride that is directly in my brain is not something I want under any circumstances.

I need to warn them, mom and dad! Both of them have magical potential, dad can use divine spells, maybe he has some sort of divine protection from this parasites? I still would prefer if they were both protected here, was this considered a form of dream walking? If I was able to be here... But I couldn't exactly interact with anyone else's dreams or even go outside this place, I would say it's more like lucid dreaming, knowing I'm dreaming and being able to sort of control the dream... But not really as I couldn't manifest objects into reality out of nowhere.

I could interact with objects as if I was physically here, this was just... Dreaming while aware but without the crazy benefits, maybe it's just that this place is less malleable.

I open the menu once again, looking party's list, it shows me the levels and names of everyone, along with their respective distance, for my parents is 0m and for Kari is 3 thousand kilometers, after all we haven't really traveled that far, if the whole trip was a few days by sail ship and train, thinking about it, that meant that the known world was only a small part of the planet, if this planet was as big as earth that is, I can't remember for sure but something like 10 thousand kilometers in diameter.

I wonder if it's a sort of Pangaea with one large continent or there are many others, and what would it be like to explore the far distant lands that are yet to be mapped out.

Stopping my mental tangent I focus back on the menu indicator, mentally selecting Sylf, and I had many options upon doing so.

Inspect
Invite to dream
Telepathy options
Remove from active party
Remove access to Power

I that last option I would never pick, she deserves this power more than I do, she is the whole reason I'm alive and healthy, and I got an education, I made friends... Everything I have is thanks to her.

I invited both of them, even tried to invite Kari but I got a notification saying she was awake so she couldn't, good to know distance doesn't limit this feature.

It would be perfect as a sort of long distance communication method now that I think about it.

A few seconds later they pop in, one after another not far from me, they look around in obvious confusion before recognition sets in, then they look at each other and at me.

"Wuh? Huh?! How am I back here? Is this some new dream? Aww come on! I was just dreaming about a castle of ice cream floating in the sky, well... At least you're both here in dream version, I guess we could have a picnic together?" Coconut was the first to break the silence, looking at us with a warm smile, and giving bedroom eyes at mom, who just looked confused and slightly embarrassed, before seemingly regaining her wits.

"Dreaming? What do you mean? A-and what are you doing here?" She looks at me, confused and blushing a bit, before turning back towards dad.

"I... Wait is this a dream? But... I was just with you, w-we..." She trailed off, blushing more, even noticeably through her fur, covering her eyes with her paw shyly.

"I'm sorry for pulling you both here, this isn't a dream, well it is a dream but it's not your imaginations, the three of us are real, we are here in the dream realm and we are in this place that is technically unreality but... It's more stable than the regular average dream sphere, does that makes any sense?" From the look they were giving me, it seems it wasn't as clear as I would have liked, but they thought about it for a while.

"S-so... This is the real you, and the real you? Oh goodness I'm glad I didn't... Just forget it, why did you bring us both here my sweet little dragon? I suppose it's quite nice to spend time together in our dreams but... Do we get a normal night's rest if we do this?" I honestly didn't know the answer to this question, and it was something I didn't think about until now, did I want to reveal the reason I brought them all here?

I have to, they have a right to know of the danger, hope they don't take it too badly... I sighed and walked closer to them, pulling them both in a hug close together and to me.

"I think so ma, but I'm not sure, I think we would rest just fine here, and the reason I brought you both here is because I discovered something really worrying when reading my notifications, you know those that you get when you slay monsters or when you level up, and more things?"

Both of them nodded and I continued, they looked a bit worried now, but as we were in a hug they returned it gladly.

"Remember the parasitic nightmare centipede that came the head of the unicorn who tried to kill us? Well one of them tried to get IN my head a few days ago when I had a nightmare, and I didn't realize until I checked today on the notifications, I was lucky that the whole deal I made gave me this powers, this system hidden safeguards against this... I'm not sure if the same applies to you both, and now I learned that being in this place safeguards us from those parasites."

"Wait wait I'm not sure I know what you mean, are you saying there's a parasitic centipede that gets IN YOUR HEAD?! But only when you have a nightmare? G-goddess... why?! Why would such a thing... Why would such a being exist at all!? That sounds evil! I don't think I'll be able to sleep again knowing that!" I shook my head at him and held him close in a tight hug to get his attention.

"Don't panic please, I don't think you are at risk dad, I'm pretty sure this creatures only have my scent and maybe Sylf's. But you mom, no offense but you're not in the same level as a magic caster as myself, I don't think you would make a good target, the reason I brought you in here is to just inform you about this, please don't panic and don't worry about yourselves, only I am at risk of being infected by the parasite, but inside here..." I took a second to think how to explain it.

"In here the dark centipedes can't appear, they can't enter this space, and we can all stay here, you two are basically able to do anything you could in reality..."

"I'm more worried about you, I don't think I can have any sort of fun here or calm down until I'm sure you won't get taken over by some terrible parasite." Mom was really upset, I wanted to make a joke but this wasn't the time.

"Sorry, you're right, I am completely safe here, I promise! Ask dad if you don't believe it, tell him to ask Faust."

"Are you sure you'll be safe here? How do you know?" Mom always concerned for my safety asked worriedly, while dad grabbed his blessed item and prayed for my protection from nightmares, he relaxed and sighed in relief shortly after, giving his wife a reassuring nod.

"He's telling the truth my love, this place is safe from those monstrosities, it was given to us specifically by the ponies who we tried to help, to protect us from negative energy beings.
And... Let's just say that they had the blessing of a certain goddess that makes the entire area probably the safest in all of the dream realm, we can rest here and even enjoy peaceful nights together" I suppose he would be able to ask about that, using his amulet.

"Ill trust you both then, I'm really worried about you Onyx, you... I really hope here you're safe and able to sleep well in here, but if that's true... We could do a lot here! Imagine training here to learn how to use weapons, and then in reality you wake up knowing new things, would that work? Because if it does, and you get a good night's rest then... It would be incredible!" Her tone was much more excited now that she wasn't super worried for us all.

"I think so? I suppose it would work but not be as effective as in reality, because we aren't actually using our bodies, it would just be like remembering a dream, I doubt we will remember much of what happens here." I theorized, unsure but glad I could at least use magic here, I decided to climb on mom's back now that I said all I had to say and relaxed as I laid on her.

"So... We're still gonna have a picnic?" I could only laugh at that, lifting the mood was always what he did best, and I knew I could use some relaxation after what I learned here.

"Definitively, and while we are at it, you can tell me what happened when I was busy getting back the artifact."

After that we headed to the fields outside the village, they were full of ripe veggies of all colors and sizes, they were of course merely decorative, lacking any nutrition or use other than to make the fields look more lively.

We laid on the grass, just outside the fields, after enjoying the sights, it smelled wonderful here, the wildflowers and grass under us as we laid down releasing their fragrance, we laid near each other looking up at the sky and watching the clouds fly by, some had shapes and others we just tried to imagine what they resembled, this would be my usual dream space from now on, at least until I figured out a way to protect my mind from being infested.

This was my safe haven, our safe place to dream and rest in peace, and tomorrow we will hopefully finish our objectives here, I will give the old griffon running the orphanage a good amount of gold so he can keep taking care of young ones and educate them far into the future, he has at least a few decades more in him from what I've seen, surprisingly healthy for someone blind in one eye.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading this episode, more will come soon!