//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Missing Perspectives 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
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Back when I was really little, right after the ETS pandemic, the alicorn and Dreamwarden Luna came to Earth. Luna looked around and was scared; there were all these new night ponies that didn't understand how much they could hurt others dreamwalking, and there was a big evil thing slowly forming on its own in the dream realm that was going to hurt everyone. So Luna decided to make six ponies the new Dreamwardens of this realm. They would make sure the night ponies behaved, and their being there made the big evil thing go away.

What is a Dreamwarden? It is the most powerful thing in the dream realm, like a dream god. They've got all these rules they can't break that tell them when they can do things, so maybe dream god is a bad term, maybe dream genie instead? The original six took their jobs really seriously, like too seriously. They made all the night ponies really afraid of them all. There was one, a big meanie by the name of Sha'am Maut, that was scarier and meaner than all the other Dreamwardens put together. She was so mean that the other original Dreamwardens eventually turned on her, and forced her to retire from the job-- but that is a different story. 

Another one of those Dreamwardens was a pony named Yinyu Wu Yan, but I've always called her Miss Seapony. Miss Seapony tried at first to act like a monster, to scare all the night ponies into being good-- kind of like how parents will tell you some monster will come gobble you up if you do something bad. Miss Seapony wasn't really mean, and the more bad things she saw happen, the less she could pretend to be a meanie; until one day she just stopped trying to pretend she was a monster. I was still a young foal the first time I met Miss Seapony in my dreams, but this still all happened before that.

As I said before, I remember my dreams from when I was a little foal much better than I do what happened in the waking world. My dream that night had a pastel colored world, like a cartoon, and everything had a smiling face; the sun, the flowers, the houses, the cars, everything. My dream was populated by humans and ponies of every size and shape. When I say every size and shape, I mean it. I had humans with antlers, ponies that were more giraffe than pony, people with one eye or three, people that were anthropomorphic birds or chipmunks. These may have been the dreams of a naive foal, but they are still to this day the ones I cherish most.

I was playing with my various made-up dream friends, and along came this big seapony, flying through the air. I knew right away she was different than anything else around me. I looked up at her with a big smile. "Hello! Who're you!"

The seapony gazed down at me and smiled. "Just a curious observer. My name is Yinyu. What's your name little dreamer?"

Young foals and children typically have no problem answering questions, it's just that the nature of the answer might not be what you were expecting. "I'm Rebecca. Do you want to have a tea party with me, Miss Yinyin? I'm six, and my mom's a ballerina!"

My visitor had simply rolled with what I had said. "Is she now? And six you say? My, I think that is even older than five. But my name is Yinyu, not Yinyin. Yinyin means something very different."

"Yanu?"

"Yin-yu." She replied back slowly and patiently. 

I wasn't getting it. "Why are you yining me? What's yining?"

The seapony didn't get upset. She just laughed. "How about you just call me Miss Seapony, how does that sound?"

I nodded vigorously. "Okay, Miss Seapony. Are you going to have tea with me and my friends?"

Miss Seapony looked around at our surroundings, and the various smiling faces, before looking down at me again, showing her--  very out of place with my dream-- fangs. "I don't scare you?"

I shook my head. "No. You're pretty! I've never seen a person that looks like you."

Miss Seapony looked at all my crazy make-believe friends, then back at me again. She then drifted down to my tea party. "I'd love to have tea with you. What kind of tea are we having?"

I showed her my teapot. "Purple tea!"

"How about some proper green tea instead?"

"Only if it has orange spots. Orange spots make it taste better."

Miss Seapony laughed again. "I think you've made yourself a deal, Miss Rebecca-- who is six, and has a ballerina for a mom. We can sit and talk, and you can tell me all about yourself, and your wonderful friends."

And that is how I made friends with Miss Seapony. Or at least, that's how I remembered it for a long time after. Memories are funny things, they don't always tell us the whole truth. When you are with another person, you only remember your perspective, and only get half the story, or even less. It took me a long time to remember everything that happened that night, and to realize how much I had missed. 





The Skytree College of Art and Design had triangular shapes to all their main buildings, and the administration building had painted murals displaying the Remembrance Monument, but also murals showing the massive church known as the Bastion that had once stood where the monument now covered. 

I had to admit, based on the drawings, the Bastion must have been an impressive sight back in the day; part church, part fortress, and very very large. It had been built to impress, but I couldn't help feeling that there was a certain coldness to the design. A place that sacrificed beauty for the sake of strength. Looking at the opposing murals I saw the hearts of two different cities that occupied the same location. 

"We'll never get anything done today if you stop to gape at everything, Bec," Maggie chidded. 

I turned and looked at her. "But there's so much to see." I noticed more murals on some of the classroom buildings, and felt a strong urge to go look at them as well. 

"Bec, you'll be here every day after we get moved in. You'll have plenty of time to look at everything as much as you want after that," Maggie replied impatiently. "Let's just go check in, get our class schedules, and find out our dorm information. You're the one that said we're on a tight schedule today."

That was true, and Maggie was right. I gave a quick longing glance back at the classroom buildings, and then nodded back to my friend.

Inside the main lobby of the administration building there were several tables set up where incoming freshmen could check in and get the information they needed. There were about ten different tables, some with lines, some without. We spotted the table that was taking care of students with last care of students with last names or pony names beginning with R or S. That covered both of us, and it didn't have a line right now. 

I hurried towards the table at a partial gallop, and Maggie had to do a jog to try to keep up. I tried to slow down when I realized I was running indoors, but instead I ended up faceplanting on the ground and sliding along the tile floor. 

The human lady and unicorn stallion that had been at the table tried to come around it to come check if I was okay, but I waved them off with a wing. "I'm okay. It happens all the time."

"Are you sure? We have a nurse on staff who can help if you're hurt," the human lady asked. She looked older, with lots of lines around her eyes, and short iron colored hair. 

I stood back up and gave my best reassuring grin. "I'm fine. I've got a lot of extra padding on me, so when I fall down it is more of a SMOOSH-SPLAT instead of a CRASH-CRACK."

"Except for when you knock other things down," Maggie reminded me.

I spread my wings and then hopped from back and forth between my starboard and port sides. "That is more of a CRASH-BANG-CLANK; usually followed by me yelling I can pick that up or I'll pay for it."

The unicorn blinked a few times. "Such a-" he seemed to be looking for the right word. "-colorful way of describing things." I'd earned a small audience among those nearby, and a few nearby students were laughing. I was a klutz, and I'd rather own being a klutz than be embarrassed. People need to be willing to laugh at themselves to be happy. 

The human lady looked bemused. "Try to avoid this becoming a habit. We don't want any crashes or cracks. I take it you're one of our new freshmen?"

I gave a broad grin. "Yes, I'm Rebecca Riddle." I gestured at Maggie. "This is my friend, Maggie Smith."

"Margaret Smith, technically, but I go by Maggie," Maggie corrected. Becoming suddenly much more shy, now that I wasn't the sole source of attention. 

"Well, Miss Smith, I should have your information over here," the human lady said, as she walked back to her seat. She pointed me towards the unicorn. "Telly here will have your information Miss Riddle."

It took a few minutes to explain to us where the dorms were located, and how to match the codes on our schedules to the appropriate books in the bookstores. It never occurred to me that the exact same class taught by two different professors might have two entirely different requirements for books; not that I minded, it just meant each professor was a unique experience. Maggie and I spent another few minutes looking over our first semester schedules and comparing them. We did have two classes together, English 111 and Art 101. Those were really lucky, because those were both classes that every student had to take their first semester, and therefore there were a lot of different possible times and professors that we could have ended up with. 

The dorms were towards the back of the campus. Both the male dorm building, and the female dorm building, were shaped like massive letter U's; with two separate wing towers and a central gathering area. Students from the opposite gender were allowed in the central gathering areas, but not into the tower wings. The left tower was reserved for primarily human dorms, and the right were primarily pony dorms (although there could be some occasional mixing of those, based on how many of each were enrolled at any given time). 

We entered the female dorm building and looked around. Scattered around the common area were lots of couches, ping pong and air hockey tables, arcade cabinets, meeting tables, vending machines, public computers, and even a big swimming pool. There was also a security desk, where the guards on duty seemed to be carefully monitoring the few men and stallions that were hanging out with their female friends. On the entrance wall was a big sign listing off the building rules-- among those rules was no flying in the halls or common area, which wouldn't be an issue for me.

"So, I'm supposed to be going to FL 209. What's your room number?" Maggie asked me, as she looked on in interest at the swimming pool. 

"My dorm number is FR 512, I'm guessing that's on the fifth floor," I replied. I hoped there was an elevator. I did not want to have to go up and down five flights of stairs every day.

Maggie started to shift back and forth from one foot to the other. "I guess we should go check them out, and meet our new roommates. Um, meet you back down here in an hour? After that we can go reserve our books and I'll take you back home."

"That works," I replied. "If I end up having to go up five flights of stairs on hoof I might need an ambulance, but here's hoping it won't come to that."

Maggie pointed at the far right wall, near some vending machines. "That looks like an elevator over there." 

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Hooray! No need to resuscitate me today!" I noticed Maggie was still nervously dancing in place. "Don't worry. I'm sure you and your new roommates will get along fine, and I'll be right across the building from you."

Maggie took a deep breath, and smiled. "I've got it. Just a little jittery. I'll see you in an hour. Don't join any cults or get pregnant without me."

I laughed. "I'll try not to, but no promises."

As Maggie turned and headed to a stairwell to our left, I walked over to the elevator. It opened right away, and a pair of unicorns waved at me as they got off and I stepped on. I didn't even get a chance to hit the button to go up before I saw the light for it pop up. I guess that meant someone on the fifth floor had beat me to it. I just sat there, humming to myself, as the elevator started to ascend. 

When it came to a halt, and opened, I was met by a green pegasus who immediately looked at my cutie mark with wide eyes. "Are you Sunflower Smiles? You weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"Um, that's not me," I said apologetically, stepping around the pegasus. "My name is Rebecca."

The other mare looked relieved. "That's good, I was worried my new roommate was showing up a day early, and was going to freak out because our room is kind of a wreck right now." She looked me over. "You said your name is Rebecca? I'm pretty sure you're in the room next to mine. Nightscape and Julie are both there waiting on their new roommate, and I think they said their new freshman was named Rebecca. I'm Meadow Leaf by the way, but just call me Meadow."

I looked left and right trying to decide where to go. Meadow must have figured out what I was doing. "Oh! Sorry! Down the hallway to the right. It's like five doors down. Most the ponies on this floor are pegasi, except for Nightscape, and Greta down at the end of the hall. Greta is a griffon exchange student, and the RA for our floor. Don't be too scared of her; she's normally really friendly-- unless she catches you trying to sneak a stallion in, or smells alcohol or drugs on you."

I giggled. "That shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the help. I'll be seeing you around."

The room was easy enough to find. I gave myself a little shake, made sure I didn't have any feathers out of place, then gave the door a knock. It opened right away to show a yellow pegasus mare with a straight white mane and tail-- white as my fur. She gave me a big smile and pulled me into a wing hug. "You must be Rebecca! I'm Julie. Come on in; me and Nighty have been waiting for you."

Julie was really strong for a pegasus, because she all but dragged me into the room with just one wing. The room was simple looking. It had three small desks, lined up in a row along one wall. It had a huge glass door with curtains over it that looked like it let out onto a balcony, and there was a bunk bed stacked three beds high in a corner. On the middle bunk there was a grey-blue night pony with a red mane looking at me. 

"Eyes on you, Rebecca Riddle," the night pony greeted. 

I blinked, that was a kind of a weird greeting. "Hi! Um, eyes on you too. Nightscape, right?"

"Nighty! What kind of way is that to greet our new roommate?" Julie asked in consternation. 

Nightscape grinned. "It's kind of a private thing. She'll know what I meant by it. If not now, then soon enough." Okay, that just got weirder. Nightscape looked me up and down. "I didn't expect you to be so... round. Well, do you know how to fight? Like any martial art? Anything at all?"

"I can sit on someone, that would probably do the trick in a fight," I said, jiggling my flank. Night ponies were known to be aggressive, so her asking about me being able to fight didn't really put me off. I noticed that she didn't have any tattoos on her leathery wings. Night pony mares tattooed their wings if they were lesbians; I'm not sure why, it was just a weird night pony thing. Her not having any tattoos meant she wasn't hitting on me, or anything like that. 

Nightscape blinked. "Ohhh dear."

I tilted my head. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Julie stepped forward. "Yeah! What's up with you? You're acting strange all of the sudden."

The night pony shook her wings briefly. "It's nothing, just not what I expected." She then smiled at me. "I apologize if I came off as disrespectful. I didn't mean to be. What are you majoring in?"

My mood brightened up. "I'm in the architectural design and engineering program."

Nightscape's eyes seemed to light up. "Really? Me too. Most of the people in that program are humans, earth ponies, and unicorns. This whole past two years I've been the only pony with wings with that major."

"That's great! Maybe you can help me out with things." I turned to my new pegasus friend. "What are you majoring in?"

Julie lifted her wings high. She had a really impressive wingspan, and looked really muscular. "I'm an athlete, here on a flight team scholarship, but my major is in cloud design. I'm hoping to get drafted out onto a professional speed flying team, but after my sports career eventually dries up I'll probably go into the business of making custom shaped clouds. There's a growing market for it."

"Custom shaped clouds?" 

She nodded. "Yeah. People order them made for special events, or for movies, or all kinds of things. Rich people will pay a lot of money to have every cloud in their event to look just right, and ponies that know what they are doing with detail cloud shaping can make a lot of money. Any pegasus can make a cloud, but it takes an artist to make a perfect cloud for the mood."

"I've never heard of that. I also didn't know we had a speed flying team, since this is an art school," I said in astonishment. 

Julie hopped back. "Are you kidding? This place has one of the best speed flying teams in the country. I guess you aren't a local. Back when the city blew up Sapphire Skies did a lot of really high power pegasus magic stuff, and it inspired every little pegasus filly and colt around here it seemed. This school is packed with flying athletes."

I gave a birdlike tilt of my head. "Who's Sapphire Skies?"

Julie went wide eyed with shock. "You don't know who Sapphire Skies is?! She's like the best pegasus ever!"

"Now you've done it," Nightscape said in a lamenting voice. "We're about to be presented with the monologue of praise of Julie's hero."

Julie gave Nightscape the stink-eye. "I'm not that bad!"

Nightscape snorted. "You've got your bed surrounded with posters of her, like some sort of shrine. I'm surprised you don't pray to her at night, with how much hero worship you have."

"Well, you've got your weird Dreamwarden worship thing going," Julie shot back. Dreamwarden worship? That could make this arrangement kind of uncomfortable. 

Nightscape laughed again. "My fiancé has Phobia Remedy for a sort-of-godmother. Which kind of makes her almost like my future mother-in-law. Trust me, I don't worship my future pseudo-mother-in-law, but I do listen when she tells me to do something." 

I didn't know how to feel about that. Phobia Remedy was like Miss Seapony, a Dreamwarden. She was said to be the only Dreamwarden that the meanie Dreamwarden Sha'am had been afraid of. Phobia Remedy lived in Skytree, but I had never met her. Miss Seapony didn't talk a lot about the other Dreamwardens, so I really didn't know what they were all like. I just knew that anyone that Sha'am Maut had been afraid of had to be really scary. 

"Is Phobia Remedy really scary?" I asked, unable to withhold speaking my mind out loud. I wanted to take a break and go see what was in the vending machines.

Nightscape seemed taken aback by my question, then shrugged. "What's more scary than me making my future mother-in-law, or pseudo-mother-in-law, angry with me? I can't think of anything."

"You've never told me how you get along with his actual family," Julie cut in. 

Nightscape flapped her wings, and flew down from the bed. "I've never really met them. His little sister is supposed to be arriving in town later today, and she is going to be going to the clinic with me and him tomorrow. I'll let you know what she's like after that. I'm going to meet his actual parents and little brother over Thanksgiving Break."

"You got engaged without meeting your fiancé's parents?" I asked, gaping in amazement. 

Nightscape shrugged. "I'm a night pony. We try to get that engagement promise ASAP. There's a night pony saying; those that hesitate, don't get a wedding date."

"But, is the rest of his family night ponies?" I asked.

The mare shook her head. "No, but I'm sure his actual family will understand, if they know anything at all about night ponies, which they obviously should. I'm actually being very conservative with him, any other night pony mare would have made sure he had them pregnant by now. But I agreed to hold off on that until after we graduate, hence the visit to the clinic tomorrow to discuss birth control options."

I perked up. "I'm actually going by the doctor tomorrow for birth control."

Nightscape gave a mischievous smirk. "Ohhh, are you going to be going on some midnight rendezvous off campus?" 

"No, I-"

The night pony went wide-eyed. "Oh! In that case, I can try to help cover for you sneaking a stallion in here, but I'm not sure how Julie feels about that."

"No!" Julie shouted. "No stallions! You aren't getting me in trouble. I'd lose my scholarship."

"I'm not going to be having any sex!" I shouted. "I'm a committed virgin. My mom just insists I get on birth control, and I'm humoring her to make her feel more at ease."

Julie let off a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Yinyu! I thought we were about to have some drama in here before you even got moved in."

Nightscape just looked even more confused. "You aren't at all what I was expecting. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

The fact that Nightscape seemed to have had a lot of expectations still felt strange. 

"Anyway," Nightscape continued, before covering a yawn. "Maybe I'll run into you tomorrow at the clinic. If I do, you can meet my fiancé. He's a great guy, and he attends here as well. I'm sure you'll be as surprising to him as you were to me. I'm getting some much needed sleep now. I was only staying awake this long to meet you. Have a good day, and I look forward to helping you move in later on."

Nightscape then pulled a curtain around her section of the bunk bed. Still leaving me feeling as if I was missing half the conversation somehow. I could only smile and wonder.