//------------------------------//
// Chapter 51: A Short Talk 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
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We got back to the room and gave the supplies to Meadow, who promptly changed Sunflower's bandages and lightly disinfected around the stitching again. I saw the place Sunflower had injured. It didn't look pleasant, but the stitching looked like it was done right, at least as best as I could tell. Sunflower insisted that it was okay and that it was just a little sore, only hurting when she put pressure on it. 

We all agreed that we would decide if Sunflower needed to see a doctor after looking at it in the morning. Sunflower relented to this but didn't seem to think it was necessary. 

It felt horrible not being able to talk to Sunflower about what had happened, but Meadow and Julie were right there, and they couldn't be told about Sunflower and me being candidates to be Dreamwarden. I wondered if that was part of why Sunflower was being detached, not being able to say the truth safely. I was tempted to insist we tell everything to our remaining friends we lived with, but telling friends about what was going on hadn't worked out for me very well thus far. 

Instead, Ashley and I took a shower, so we wouldn't need to rush in the morning, then I made my way to bed. Julie was already tucked into hers by the time I was out of the shower. The lights were off, but I could make out Nightscape working quietly with her legos by the light of the moon. She had earlier told me she would head out to the Dreamwarden's house after we were all sound asleep, and she'd be back before we woke up. Nighttime was like daytime for her, and we couldn't expect her to stay in the room awake all night any more than she could expect us to seclude ourselves in the room during the day. 

I laid down, set my alarm, and fretfully let myself drift off to sleep.

"You seem troubled, Rebecca. Do you want to talk about it?" Miss Seapony asked before she even appeared. A dream hadn't even taken form yet; it was just darkness. I had dreams like this before, dreams with no images, no sound, only concepts. Miss Seapony wasn't really speaking with sound to be heard; she was wordlessly relating an idea that my mind put into words. 

"You have my permission to respond to my thoughts and memories," I replied. An old permission that gave Dreamwardens rights to respond to things they already knew. It seemed silly sometimes that I had to give such consent, but the rules were the rules, and the Dreamwardens were beings governed more tightly by regulations than any other—even if those rules seemed few in number. 

"I'm sorry things went the way they did with Maggie. I know how much her friendship meant to you," Miss Seapony said sympathetically. 

"What went wrong? Why did she get so upset?" I asked as I took shape in the void and immediately started crying. "I just don't understand."

"Nor do I," Miss Seapony replied. "I'm not even saying that as a way of guarding her secrets. She is without magic, so her mind is beyond my reach." She took form and gently laid a fin on my head. "I'm very sorry."

"It just seemed so out of proportion, even if she didn't believe me," I continued. I was taking advantage of my first real time to air my frustrations. I had been brief with Nightscape and Ashley since they were looking at the basic rundown of what had happened.

"Well, then examine why," Miss Seapony replied. "On review of your memories, I see her visible distress began when you mentioned you were a candidate, and it became heightened exponentially when you explained how likely your chances of becoming a Dreamwarden might be."

"She thought I was lying," I muttered. "Why would she think I would lie to her?"

Miss Seapony swam around me in a circle. "Have you considered that the problem isn't that she thinks you're lying, but that she believes you?"

"But she said I was lying!"

Miss Seapony shook her head. "Denial can be a reaction to truths we don't want to accept but secretly believe. The problem may not be that she doesn't believe you, but that the idea of you becoming a Dreamwarden is a terrifying thought to her that she refuses to accept."

I considered it but shook my head. "But why would that upset her? It isn't like I'm going away or anything."

"I know that this isn't very fun, but consider her earlier conversation with you," Miss Seapony said as she lowered herself in front of me and curled up. 

"Where she was talking about secretly having prejudice for ponies?" I asked in confusion. 

Miss Seapony nodded. "That was a hard conversation for her, one that left her feeling very vulnerable and afraid. Immediately after she told you that, you told her that you might become what many view as the most powerful and fearful of ponies."

"Dreamwardens aren't always ponies, so that shouldn't matter," I objected. 

"My little brother is often overlooked since he stays out of sight. Many don't even believe that he is human and that he is just another pony who happens to claim they are human and that their authorities are lying to them," Miss Seapony explained. 

I heard that before but had never given it much thought. Now that I might soon be joining the Dreamwardens, it seemed like something I should consider. 

"Maybe Dreamwardens shouldn't keep their identity secret then," I said. 

Miss Seapony frowned. "Hmm, you and I would be in disagreement over this, but that is not a bad thing. Dreamwardens shouldn't all be of one mind on everything. Our debate with one another lets us consider more points of view. You may understand why I don't feel the same, considering there are three of us who are dead, and I have no desire to add to that number."

I cringed. "Does me not agreeing with you hurt my ranking?"

She sat silent for a moment. "Not with me, but we shall see how the others feel. It could hurt it with some, have no effect with some—like me, and it might help it with others. Do not compromise yourself to satisfy what I or any of my siblings might want. We look to you to be your own individual."

"I still don't know what to do about Maggie," I said mournfully. 

"I don't know either," Miss Seapony said in a sad tone. "Keep in mind that what I suggested for reasons is only speculation, and I'm not the best to speculate about these kinds of things. You would be better served asking Phobia, Psy, or Avtandil—our living members."

"Avtandil?" I asked in confusion. "Is that the Warden of Order's name?"

Miss Seapony nodded. "Yes, that is his name."

"That's a weird name."

"So is the name Rebecca on my ears, and I'm confident your name might sound odd to him as well. He isn't from your country or anywhere near it. He's from Georgia by birth—the nation, not the region of your country," Miss Seapony explained. "He should be in your country at the moment. He is making preparations to see you. He may already be in your city for all I know. I'll know when he tells me."

"What's he like?" I asked with budding interest. 

She sighed. "An odd little man who is utterly terrified of germs and almost entirely bereft of magic. He can seem quite timid in public, although that is mostly an act, aside from the germ thing—don't sneeze on him, or you'll give the poor man a heart attack. Not someone that anyone would suspect was a Dreamwarden. I try not to pick on him about his fear of germs. Things people have a deep terror of are typically something I keep out of bounds. I'll pick on his height, though; he hates that but takes it in stride." She giggled. "Humans are his primary concern, being human himself, but he will occasionally take an interest in the doings of certain ponies. His other concerns are keeping the OMMR's business dealings in order. He is a very business-focused individual but isn't that hard to get along with, as long as you keep yourself clean and don't have any anti-human sentiment. Mess up on those things, and you'll have a problem."

"I guess I'll look forward to meeting him then," I replied. 

Miss Seapony tilted her head. "Be advised, just because he isn't objectionable doesn't mean he won't be thorough. Expect your visit with him to be a long one, with him demanding a lot of information."

My ears flattened. "How long are we talking about."

She rolled her eyes. "Expect your schedule to be cleared for the day when he arrives, and get a good meal that morning, because you might not get another chance to eat until dinner."





I paused in talking to look at the man sitting across the table from me. "She definitely wasn't lying about that."

Avtandil looked at me, and even though I couldn't see his expression hidden behind his face covering, I imagined he smiled. "I don't have the benefit of being able to see into your mind that my brothers and sisters have, and like Phobia, I enjoy seeing who I'm talking to in person. Maybe I have gotten it from her; I was never so sociable before becoming a Dreamwarden."

He didn't seem to be that sociable now. I was the one doing all the talking.

"Continue, Miss Riddle, the day is not getting any younger," Avtandil instructed. 

I decided that one of the first things I would do as a Dreamwarden would be to make some witty comment about his height. I would need to devote lots of hours until then, figuring out just the right play on words.

He held up a hand. "And if you are considering making a joke about my height. If you become a Dreamwarden, I'll personally see that you have a team of poison testers to check all your food before you eat anything. They will be very thorough as well. You might get two bites out of every meal."

My ears flattened. "That's cruel and unusual punishment!"

He laughed. I guess he could show emotion after all.





"I wanted to talk to my parents tonight," I said as Miss Seapony went back to swimming through the nothingness. 

She stopped swimming and hovered in front of me, nearly touching snouts with me. "That may be possible; give me a moment to see if they accept your invitation to speak to them."

That was going to be almost certainly a yes, but permission still had to be obtained. I could have possibly found my mom's dreams—with a lot of work, and bypassed permission to see her, but my stepdad was so weak in magic that it would have been impossible, nor could I have linked them both into one dream. This was one of those things you needed a Dreamwarden to do, and the Dreamwarden had to seek permission for, even if that permission seemed obvious. 

Miss Seapony shifted form into a big smiling face made out of stars. "They accept! I will put you in a shared dream in a moment. However, I need to tell you that I have a request to see you from another, an Equestrian I know very well. I would recommend you speak with her, but I can tell her to wait a few minutes, if you'd like."

I blinked. "An Equestrian? What Equestrian would want to speak with me? What Equestrian would even know about me?"

She rotated her face around, so it was upside down. "More than one, actually. This one we already told you would be visiting at some point. She's very near and dear to my heart, especially since I inherited so much from her."

Oh, I knew exactly who was being talked about now. 

"Should I expect another long interview?" I asked.

Miss Seapony giggled. "Time is measured differently here. A few seconds can feel like hours in some circumstances—but yes. Except this to seem like a long interview."

"If she could wait a few minutes, that would be nice, if it's not a bother," I said meekly. "What's she like?"

Miss Seapony spun her face. "She's kinder and more lenient than most of us, but she is a demigod in the waking world, so best not to make someone who can move a celestial body mad. I can't imagine having the moon dropped on you would feel good."

My eyes went wide. "She wouldn't do that, would she?" It would destroy the earth if she did. 

My friend scattered her stars and let them spin about randomly. "Who can say? She went crazy once." She then giggled. 

That made me feel more nervous, but I couldn't help noticing something more curious as I arched an eyebrow. "You seem more cheerful than normal all of a sudden."

"I enjoy her visits; it is like a visit from my mom," Miss Seapony replied. She then rematerialized her seapony form and put a fin up to her head. "Actually, scratch that, better than my mom visiting. I would hate my mom calling; that would be very awkward, given the way things went down." She paused and grinned. "And she is one of the few beings who can come here that I can't read the thoughts of. It's wonderful!"

I remembered Arbiter being ecstatic about not being able to read people's thoughts. Was it really that bad?

"Oh, you have no idea," Miss Seapony groaned as she did an exaggerated flop onto nothing. I hadn't voiced my thought, but my permission was still in effect until I woke up. 

Well, Princess Luna couldn't be that dangerous if Miss Seapony was practically giddy about her visit. Miss Seapony was trying to get a rise out of me. It was nice seeing Miss Seapony so happy. I hadn't seen her this happy since I was a young foal—before she died. 

"One of the few? Who are the others?" I asked.

She waved a fin. "Ohhhh, the normal crowd. Each other, obviously, we can't read another Dreamwarden's thoughts—including foreign ones, like Luna. We can't read Triss's thoughts, but we don't like her, only tolerate her presence. The Narrative's thoughts are a mystery, but it doesn't talk to us or cause trouble, so we ignore it most of the time. On rare occasions, Discord will show up, and we can't read his mind either, but he is more an unwelcome invader we're more concerned about purging, especially after an event a few years ago that could have gone horribly wrong. We haven't figured out how to keep him out yet, only how to make him flee our wrath, and I swear he shows up sometimes for the sole purpose of taunting us with that fact."

This was interesting. I had just today learned the Narrative existed. Miss Seapony had said passing things about Triss before, but always refuses to elaborate. I'd read about Discord in the Friendship Journal and had no idea he ever came into our world, until now. They said he came right into the dream realm? What had he done to make the Dreamwardens mad at him? 

Miss Seapony was sharing more information with me that she had typically kept back. Did that mean my position in the rankings had become more secure? That made me feel sad because that meant that Sunflower's chances might have suddenly been hurt, and the only thing that had happened that could cause that was her hurting herself while in a trance. I could see why the Dreamwardens wouldn't like that, even if it wasn't Sunflower's fault. 

I wondered how Sunflower was feeling right now. I knew I would be scared if I were in her position. I could imagine her wishing she never developed the powers she had. Competition or not, I decided that I needed to step up and help her feel better. 

"Come. Your parents are waiting."