I reassembled myself from the shadows in my passive form under the shade of a tall tree in the park.

I looked around and saw some foals playing with their family, having a good time, and on such a beautiful day. I sat down and laid my back against the tree and closed my eyes, relaxing as the sounds of children playing, the tree's leaves rustling in the wind, and the chirping of bird are heard.

I stay like this for awhile, just enjoying a peaceful day in Equestria is always a good thing, otherwise, everyone would always be stressed out.

"Hey," said a young voice.

I opened one of my eyes and look at the source of the voice, a young pegasus colt, a familiar one.

'I probably helped with one of his nightmares,' I thought to myself, and responded, "Hello there. young one. What brings you to me this day?"

The colt tilted his head in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widened in understanding, "Oh, hold on," he uncovered a pen and notepad hidden under his wings and held them with his wings toward me, then asked me with puppy eyes of mind control, "Can I have an autograph?"

I blinked, grinned, then nodded, "Of course," I took the pen and notepad in hand, and asked, "So, who am I writing this out to?"

The colt beamed confidently, "Wild Glider," he replied, and I looked at the pen in thought for a moment.

An idea found it's way into my head and looked to Wild Glider, "Do you want a normal, pen-written autograph, or one of my 'specialties'?" I asked.

"What is the 'specialty'?" Wild asked, his head tilted in confusion.

I tapped my chin in thought for a moment, then looked back to Wild, "Well, for one thing, I don't need any writing utensils," I said, handing him the pen.

"Then..." Wild paused in thought then continued, taking back the pen, "how do you do the specialty?"

I, then placed one of my fingers on the paper, closed my eyes, thinking what I want to be written, and some shadow start to move over the paper, turning into letters, which were arranged into words.

When it was done, I looked at the paper and saw that it now said this:

To Wild Glider, a colt so young and brave,
words of shadow on this parchment, here I engrave.
Sincerely,
NIGHTMARE

The words pulsed with energy after being manipulated into the, now permanent form, from shadows.

When I handed back the paper to the pegasus and he looked at it, his eyes and grin widened from pure joy and excitement.

Suddenly, the young colt hugged me.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Wild shouted.

Then he took off towards a couple off in the distance, and I, for some reason, felt a sense of... longing.

My eyes widened in realization, even before being trapped in the void, I had never been thanked by anyone, other than Luna, for doing something for the children, nor have I been hugged by any children, outside of the Dreamscape.

I smiled and closed my eyes again, knowing that things are going to be more interesting for everyone, hereon-out.

'8... 9... 10...' I counted, mentally. At some point, I was asked by one of a group of six foals to play hide-and-seek. I took sometime to think about and agreed, on a few conditions that affected everyone in the game, including me:
1: no flying
2: no teleportation via magic
3: no levitation
4: no moving heavy objects in front of entrances or exits

'14... 15... 16...' I also asked the group if it was OK if I used my Freddles, which I showed them after asking, to which they said, that I could when I hide next round.

"20!" I shouted out loud, then added, "Ready or not here I come!"

I uncovered my eyes and looked around, not seeing any of the foals in obvious places, so I began my search for them near the playground equipment.

After looking around a bit, I found two of the foals: one hiding out in one of the play ground tunnels and the other was following me from behind the moment I began my search. So, since I found one earth pony and one unicorn (and that there was two of each of the normal pony sub-species in the group) I might want to look in places where they could've climbed onto or into. I began looking in some of the trees when I heard the rustling of leaves from nearby, and when I looked I only saw a few ordinary looking bushes, than I-

'Wait... did I just think something was ordinary?'

Now I'm looking suspiciously at the bushes as I approached them, and once I got close, I detected magic, specifically, an enchantment, though weak, was enough to mess with my head a little.

I pushed some of the 'bush' apart, just to realize it wasn't an actual bush, but an enchanted, paper-ma-shay bush with two foals, one a female unicorn, the other a male pegasus.

"I thought you said he wouldn't find us," said the pegasus, scolding the unicorn.

"Well, he wasn't," said the unicorn filly, confused, "the enchantments I placed on this beforehoof should've made us seem too ordinary of a bush to hide in."

"Ah," I said in understanding, then chuckled a bit, "that was your first mistake I'm afraid, you see, anything I deem normal for even a moment, makes me suspicious."

"Why?" both the filly and colt asked simultaneously.

"Well," I thought to myself for a moment, to think of how to explain this to a child, then I asked, "you are aware that I deal with Nightmares, those beings who give you bad dreams at night, right?"

Both nodded.

"The Nightmares have some of the same abilities I do in dreams," I explained, this made the children tilt their heads with interest, "one of these abilities allows them to make almost anything from nothing, this also means 'disguises'."

I lifted the bush-disguise to get the point across, then I noticed to craftsman - er... craftsponyship? - of the enchantment, yet continue with my explanation, "Their main idea of a disguise is something that your mind would... quickly think is normal, so after so many years of dealing with Nightmares, I have become suspicious of anything that I would see as normal."

Both of the foals 'oh'ed in response, apparently my explanation making some sense to them in some way, shape, or form.

"Also," I began again, looking to the unicorn with a raised eyebrow, "You said you added these enchantments?"

The young unicorn's chest puffed up with pride, "Yep!"

"By yourself?"

"Yep!"

I looked over the enchantments again and found only a few minor faults, but nothing that would give anyone an injury, maybe a small shock at most, then looked back to her, "I don't think I caught your name young one..."

"Spell Nexus... Junior," she said a bit hesitantly, "I never got to meet my father, but my mother says I look so much like him, with how much I currently know, she says I might get to know more than my father did."

'Spell Nexus? That sounds like a name that could be for either gender...' I thought to myself before asking, "Was your father's name Spell Nexus?"

"Y-yeah," she answered sheepishly, "anyways, he used to be a scientist..."

~~~POV: 3rd, Nightmare~~~

They spent some time talking and learning about Spell's father before she had to go, she was living in Vanhoover with her aunt and uncle (from her father's side), while her mother worked as, what I believe to be called, a Magic Archaeologist, traveling and finding magic artifacts. Every now and then her mother comes to visit her on her time off, telling her of the adventures she has had and of the artifacts. Now that I think about it, I never asked her mother's name... oh well. Her father, Spell Nexus Senior, had been a scientist working directly for Princess Celestia at the time when he... left... the cause, he was on his way to investigate some ruins in the Everfree Forest, but was... well... some animals in the forest got to him.

Nightmare then made a mental note to keep a close eye on her dreams just in case, and to remember her unique ability with, at least, magical enchantments, then continued to search for the remaining hiding kids (spoilers: they were all found).

I had the last few hours, after I finished playing with some of the children, making my presence known throughout Vanhoover reassuring those that met me that I'm not a threat to them.

Afterwards, I had left, headed towards the 'abandoned shack', near Galloping Gorge (as I've learned it is called now), went back into the portal. and headed to my bedroom.

Instead of sleeping like I did last time, I just headed straight for the full length mirror, getting in a head start on some of the dreams.

"Zorox ahrk ro hahnu," I chanted, "Zorox ahrk ro hahnu, Zorox ahrk ro hahnu, Zorox ahrk ro hahnu, Zorox ahrk ro hahnu..."

The mirror, once again, displays the Dreamscape in all of its beauty, and I meld into the shadows before entering.

I'm looking around find few nightmares haunting children, so I make quick work of them, just in case more showed up in other dreams, but surprisingly, not many nightmares tonight. Then suddenly, a door, one leading to an adult's nightmare, appeared before me, seemingly a rather severe nightmare if the glow it gave is any indication. I ignore it, but it stays, so in an attempt to be rid of its annoyance, I do as I always have to easily get rid of the doors that adults are connected to. It worked, yet... it didn't at the same time.

Every other door that was connected to an adult, except for this severe nightmare, had disappeared, leaving me with only the children doors and this one. Finally, after wearing my patience thin, I examined the information about this dream, and my eyes had widened.

Name: Star Flyer (Adult)
Gender: F
Species: Pony (Pegasus)
Nightmare: Watches as her child dies before her eyes, and she can't do anything about it.

I looked to the door, then to the information, and back again, before making a decision and entered her nightmare.

Once inside, what I saw, was rather... disturbing... the mare, Star Flyer, watched, eyes widened (almost seemingly held open), as a foal (unable to discern gender), began to wither in place as if time went faster on the child's body. Once the child was nothing more than dust, everything, for lack of a better term, 'Reset', and there was another child this one holding their throat, as if choking. I felt as if I were in a trance, unable to do anything to save this child, no, not again-

"NO!" the mare screamed in desperation and despair, "NOT AGAIN, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP! SOMEPONY, ANYPONY, PLEASE SAVE MY BABY!"

That sentence knocked me back into reality (ignore the irony), and I moved quickly, I got to the child and did the Heimlich maneuver. Somehow, that did it and dislodged whatever it was that was stuck inside the child's throat, before I could get a look at it, it and the child vanished before our eyes.

"W-what? W-w-what's going on?" Star asked looking around in confusion as if she just now realized she was in a pitch-black void.

"Right now," I began, "you are currently having a nightmare, I'm here to stop this one, normally I don't do adult nightmares, but yours is a special case."

"Wait," she stated, "so none of this is real?"

"Oh, BuT It iS," said the Nightmare being as it crawled out from the void, sounding like a young and old pony at the same time, looking like a bigger, demonic version of the child from earlier, "aS YoU CaN SeE, yOu aRe tHe rEaSoN I DiEd, mOtHeR." It then charged at her at breakneck speeds.

Fortunately, I was quick enough to get in the way of said attack, between the time it began his charge and I moved, I had already turned into my aggressive state. I looked at this being with a rage filled expression.

It looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "hAvE We mEt sOmEwHeRe bEfOrE? YoU SeEm qUiTe... FaMiLiAr..."

I looked it over and 'felt' it's presence... then my eyes widened in recognition.

"... Vokun...?" I asked, disbelief clear in my voice.

It's eyes widened at the name I said and looked me over, before it said, "By tHe sTaRs..." it then clears its 'throat', then speaks with a more mature male voice, with just a small amount of echo to it, "if it isn't my favorite Nightmare? I honestly thought one of the others finally got to you, and that you bit off more than you can chew."

"Well...," I began, as I reverted back to my passive form, "I'm here now..." I looked back at Star, who is now beyond confused at this turn of events, "listen, let's talk later, for now, I'd like it if you stopped making this one's dreams into nightmares for tonight, OK?"

"Aw," Vokun said in the most immature way possible, "but this has been the best chance at a good meal in a long time..."

"I understand," I said firmly, then continued, "but, with the way this nightmare has been going, it had been forced into my jurisdiction until this nightmare is confirmed to not happen, you know how I am about adults' dreams."

"Too true, unfortunately," Vokun nodded its head, "guess I'll see you around, old friend."

"Alright see ya," I said as it went through a portal to... where ever the Nightmare beings go whenever they aren't terrorizing the dreams of creatures.

I looked back at Star, who is now in a daze of sorts, and asked, "How recent?"

Snapping out of her daze, Star looked to me with a confused expression, "Huh?"

"Let me elaborate," I stated, "this is the first nightmare you've had about your child's... passing, correct?"

She nodded, and I asked, "How recent was the event in which your child was taken away?"

Star started shaking, looking like she would fall over any second, "Th-the doctor s-said that my l-little C-C-Cloud Glyder had... had..."

I moved to her side and supported her, physically, by having her lean against me, and mentally, by petting her mane and giving some advice.

"Shh, it's OK, it's OK," I stated softly, "I'm here, don't fret, I just need to know-"

"R-right," Star said with a sniffle, no longer shaking like a leaf in the wind, "the doctor *sniff* said it was about three days ago, maybe *sniff* four days now?"

"Thank you," I stated, then I waved in front of both our views of the dream, making it a true dream, the first I've done for an adult in... ever.

After that, I left her dream, allowing her to dream peacefully for the rest of the night.

Once I had finished dealing with Nightmares for the night and the children began waking up, I headed into a... unique part of the Dreamscape. This would be the fourth time I've been to this portion, the first time was on accident, the second was to study and experiment with it, and the last time... was to use it for, somewhat, selfish reasons. This time, it wasn't about me, this time, it was to undo a wrong that has been done.

I looked around seeing the usual starfield, but also noticing, what seems to be a massive well. I looked into the 'well', and saw what appeared to be and endless spiral of light, made-up of glowing orbs with small tails following them in the direction they moved in. Each had slightly different details, few were noticeable while in the 'water' of the well, while the rest remained hidden from mere glances. I examined the closest 'orbs', until I found one that seemed to shine brighter than the others. Then I reached in, flinching at the pain I felt only a few times before from this same 'well', and watched as the orb that I reached towards suddenly flew towards my hand. Once I caught it, I pulled it out of the water and let the orb float next to me.

Suddenly, it began to take shape of a young pony foal, then I stated, unfazed by what is taking place before me, "I want to make a deal."

Author's Notes:

Holy SH**, when was the last time I touched this story?!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, hopefully I'll get another chapter out sooner!