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// Chapter 35: The Other Candidate? 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
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We were all staring in rapt attention at Ashley.

"I'm only saying this because you'll either keep staring at my scars and be afraid to ask, you'll hear things about me, or you will finally break down and ask at a time I can't bear talking about it," Ashley explained. "I’d rather get it over with now rather than watch you stare for weeks before you get the nerve to ask. I'm also mentally prepped to do it right now. I might not be later."

We all nodded in understanding. 

"My brother, who was just a year younger than me, and I were playing together out on the public playground," Ashley recounted. "There wasn't much we could do, other than chase each other around the equipment, since it had been built for humans. Our mom was talking to some other ponies a short distance away from us, and only half paying attention. It was all ponies around that day, and everyone knew you could trust other ponies, or at least that's what we had believed.

"A unicorn stallion came up and talked to us. He had a funny beard and had a weird way of talking. When I told him my name, he called me Ash-Lee like it was two different words."

Nightscape abruptly turned towards the bathroom and started walking away. "I'm not sure I want to hear this story. Pretty sure Sunflower should skip it too if it is going to go the way I think it will."

Meadow looked nervous and uncertain. "Is it going to be that bad?"

"I'll leave out the worst of it," Ashley replied. "But it is going to be very unpleasant even then."

Meadow laid her ears flat and looked at Sunflower. "Maybe you should go to the other room until she's done with this story."

Sunflower shook her head. "No, I want to stay and listen. I want to know about the ponies I'm living with. I can take it."

"If you need me to stop at any point, just let me know," Ashley said in a low voice. Sunflower nodded, and Ashley continued. "He asked us to follow him so he could show us something. We did, and he led us away from the playground. About the time I started to think it was a bad idea, the world went black, and I was waking up somewhere else."

She took a deep breath before going forward. "I woke up in a dog cage. It was a big room, and there were lots of cages. Each of them had two or three foals in them. All the foals seemed hurt, hurt bad. I won't say the things I saw, but most of them had worse done to them than these scars. Many of them were already dead, and he had just left the body in the cage with the other foals."

The four of us who remained listening all whimpered in chorus. The story had hardly begun, and it was already one of the most horrible things I'd ever heard. I wanted to leave. This was too terrible. I sat still instead. I needed to know how she had escaped. 

"I thought I was going to die there. I watched so many foals die in terrible ways," Ashley said, barely above a whisper. "I lost a lot of blood, and he never bandaged us up. He always just let us bleed to death, and left us in our cages rotting even after we died. We weren't allowed to make noise, or he'd hurt us more. So in my dreams, I called out to anyone to help us, since it was the only place I could. Finally, she came, the Warden of Death herself, ready to give us our last rites, and some final comfort."

"Wasn't the Warden of Death a monster?" Julie asked fearfully.

Ashley shook her head. "I know what everyone says she did, and I believe them, but she was the only kind face we got to see in there. She said life is filled with misery, but no foal should have to endure such misery and pain. She gave us comfort and good dreams. She was the main reason why those of us who lived through it didn't end up crazy. I'll never say an unkind word about Sha'am Maut. Whatever she may have been to others, she was a hero to us."

"How did you get out?" I asked, wanting just to get the story to a happy ending. There had to be a happy ending to this. After all, Ashley was here.

She licked her lips. "We pleaded with Sha'am to tell anyone where we were, and get help. She couldn't reveal information only our tormentor knew- such as exactly where we were, but we were allowing her to reveal all we knew. She brought in Ghadab, who was enraged at what had been done to us. They listened to all the foals, and gave that information to every night pony in the Houston area. The night ponies went to the police, and using our descriptions of our surroundings, they were able to figure out where we were being kept. They raided the place, freed all of us, and caught the bastard."

Ashley went silent, and I could see her eyes were red with tears. She'd made herself ready to tell this, but that didn't make it an easy thing for her to do. I couldn't imagine going through something like that. The other three were crying, and so was I.

"I met Phobia Remedy because we all had horrible nightmares after that, and she tended to them. Psychic Calm did the same. One time Krik accompanied Phobia Remedy into my dreams and just watched," Ashley explained. "Arbiter I met soon after she became Dreamwarden. She told me that the pony who had done those things to me and the other foals had been the last thing she saw while alive, and she wanted to tell us that he would never hurt anyone ever again."

Ashley turned her head and looked at her cutie mark. "I did get my cutie mark soon after I was freed. I learned about how they had people draw things that we had described and used those drawings to help figure out where we were. I knew that was what I wanted to do too. I wanted to help other people just like that."

Julie was on top of Ashley's bed in an instant, and had the unicorn wrapped up in a feathery hug. "That's the saddest story for a good cutie mark I've ever heard!"

A glow enveloped Julie, and she was pulled away and set gently on the floor. Ashley took a deep breath. "Thanks for the affection, but I don't feel comfortable being touched that much. Sorry about that."

Meadow wiped a tear from her eye. "We'll respect your boundaries. I'm sure we all understand."

Sunflower was still whimpering and crying. "I can't believe a pony could do something like that."

I was crying as well, but I hugged Sunflower, and she cuddled into it. I looked over at Ashley. "You said Ghadab was your favorite. I guess it's obvious why."

She nodded. "I still talk to him all the time. He's got a mouth on him. He can say things that hurt my feelings sometimes, but he's always honest with me and helps me work through my problems. He's my best friend."

"Well, we're all going to be your friends too, so you have some actual living ponies for friends," Meadow declared, then her eyes went wide. "I didn't mean-"

"It's okay; I know what you meant," Ashley replied, smiling softly. 

Meadow looked around the room. "Maybe we should delay the rest of the introductions for a little while. Let everyone calm down. I think it's a good time to have lunch together, and hopefully, they'll have some ice cream. They did last year during first-year move-in day. I know that Nighty will be glad if we go to lunch sooner so she can get to bed before it's late in the day for her. I think her first class of the year starts tonight, and she'll want some shut-eye."

"I could definitely use some food and ice cream," I said as I released my grip on Sunflower to rub my tummy. 

Sunflower stopped crying to look up. "I've never had ice cream."

I turned to her in astonishment. "You poor soul!"

"I think we can all tell you've had your fair share of ice cream before," Ashley said. Everyone gasped, and she looked around. "Hey! I hang out with Ghadab all the time. I picked up being blunt. I didn't mean to be mean."

"It's fine," I giggled. "This marshmallow is round and lays on the pounds! I'll probably lose a few pounds living off just cafeteria food. I might try going to the gym with Julie too."

Julie pumped her wings. "Woohoo! Workout buddy! I'll help turn you from a beach ball to a bowling ball!"

I cocked my ear. "Huh?"

Meadow and Ashley both looked equally confused. "Are you saying you'll make her heavier?" Ashley asked in confusion.

"I feel stupid asking all these questions, but what's a bowling ball?" Sunflower asked timidly. 

Julie looked around at all of us. "Muscle is heavier than fat and is more condensed. So, if she is filled with fat, she's like a beach ball, but I'm going to tone her up and replace that fat with muscle so she'll be smaller and more solid. Maybe this wasn't the greatest analogy."

"I think that might be the first time I've ever heard comparing a person to a bowling ball as a compliment," Ashley replied. "I'm not sure it works, but I'll remember that one. If only to watch people trying to figure out if they've been insulted or complimented. Ghadab gets a kick out of that kind of humor."

"I'll go get Nightscape," I announced, and started back towards the other room. 

Nightscape was seated at her desk and pulling out her legos as I walked in. "Hey, Nightscape, we're all planning on going to lunch now."

She glanced back at me. "Okay, I'll be right out."

I came up closer to her. "Are you alright? You left in a hurry."

She frowned. "I still heard it from here. I just didn't want to be in there with you guys when I heard it."

"Why not?"

She shook her head. "You're not a night pony, so you wouldn't understand. Hearing that kind of thing makes my blood boil. It's in our nature to be protective, and when we hear about things like that, all we want to do is find whatever was hurting whoever and attack."

"But whoever did that is long gone," I replied. 

Her shoulders and ears slumped. "Still makes me go on edge. I don't want you all seeing me like that," she said in a soft voice.

"But it's part of who you are," I said as I touched a hoof to her. 

"Not something I want to be defined by," she explained. "Don't get me wrong; I'm not ashamed of it. I wouldn't be doing what Phobia Remedy asked me to do if I was ashamed. I just don't want people to have their first impression of me being me hissing and spitting because I want to maul something."

I wasn't sure I had fully formed an impression of Nightscape yet. She seemed like she enjoyed poking fun at Julie, although it seemed good-natured. She was one of my bodyguards- like my personal bodyguard since she slept in the same room. Just like me, she wanted to be an architect. She was marrying a Dreamwarden's godson. Even knowing all those facts, I still hadn't gotten a full feel of her personality yet. 

"I think you should be next up to share in the introductions when we start doing them again," I said in decision. 

She chuckled. "Might be late tonight. I've got my computer modeling class starting tonight. Three hours straight of listening to a guy talk about computer stuff. I'm nocturnal, and I still worry that I'm going to fall asleep tonight. Especially since Professor Thomas is notoriously dry. At least it is a one night a week class."

My ears folded. "Am I going to have to take that class?"

She nodded. "It's part of the major. However, you might have a little more freedom on what time of day to take it. I had a choice between late night once a week and early morning three times a week. I'll suffer through once a week."

I needed to look over and plan out my future classes. I hadn't even spoken to my advisor yet, or looked to see who it was. I should probably do that soon. Was I being negligent not having done that yet? Now I was worried I was being a bad student. 

Nightscape hopped down from her seat. "Let's go eat. I want to get into bed in the next two hours. You can call me Nighty if you want, everyone else does."

I smiled. "And you can call me Bec or Becky if you want. A lot of my friends and family do. Or you can just call me The Marshmallow, with a capital T."

"Well, The Marshmallow, I think I'll just call you Bec most of the time. Now let's get some grub."