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// Chapter 58: Off to Foalsit 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
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Miss Seapony had been insufferable through all my dreams. She gave me nothing but suggestions about spicing up my romance and very detailed pictures about how sex with a human could go. On the bright side, Nightscape was now incapable of showing me anything that could shock me. I was pretty sure I had seen it all before the night was over. 

I hoped I could forget some of it before I ran into Russell again; otherwise, I was going to turn pink in front of him.

Phobia Remedy was completely unavailable, and Miss Seapony wasn't able to fill me in on the Warden of Fear's thought process for kidnapping my friend off the street. All she would say was that Phobia Remedy was a being with incredible reach and power, and she was her mother's daughter. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

It was nice to get up and not need to rush anywhere. Sunflower and Julie were already up and out of the dorms by the time I got up, Ashley and Meadow were sound asleep still, and I assumed Nightscape was still out at the Dreamwarden's house doing things that would make Miss Seapony proud and me blush. That left me to do things by myself. 

After showering, preening, and using the potty, I moseyed down to the cafeteria. I checked my phone and was at first happy to see a message from Russell. He said that he really enjoyed the evening—which was great, but he also had to help his parents all day today, so he might not see me again until tomorrow. That second part wasn't that great. I supposed I wouldn't have been able to see him much until tomorrow anyway, given I had foalsitting to do and was going out with my friends that evening, but I had hoped to catch him at breakfast. 

I had another message from Lántiān, asking me to come over even earlier than she had told me yesterday. Now she wanted me over at eleven instead of noon and still have me stay till five. I hoped she had plenty of food stocked because I was going to miss my lunch. This really better not turn out to be her regular pattern. If she kept doing this, she might find herself out another foalsitter. It would be next to impossible for me to make plans otherwise. 

I took my time eating breakfast. I saw Maggie come into the cafeteria, and I know she saw me, but after she got her food, she sat down at a table about as far away from me as she could. I could take the hint on that one. She wasn't ready to talk to me yet. It hurt, but I understood. Well… no, I didn't understand, but I understood she had something personal that was upsetting her, and me possibly becoming a Dreamwarden was tied to that. I'd give her space.

After finishing breakfast, I still had plenty of time before I should head over to Lántiān's apartment, even if I were planning to arrive a few minutes early. It was as good a time as any to get some flying in. I knew I didn't fly as much as I should, and I had an opportunity to get a good hour to an hour-and-a-half in before going to foalsit. I might be a cruddy flier, but that didn't mean I wanted to stay ground-bound all the time. Pegasi were supposed to fly a certain amount every day anyway to stay healthy. Being in college where I was always close enough to everywhere I needed to be to walk, meant I needed to make sure I found flight time every day. I really should start joining Julie for some of her early morning flights. Meadow and Sunflower could use the extra flight time, too; perhaps we could make it a group thing. Maybe that was why they had pegasi stay on the third floor of the dorms; to avoid falling into unhealthy habits.

I flew a wide circle around the monument, keeping a reasonable distance between me and the trees. I wished I could go among their branches to perch, but they had pegasus guards that typically kept anyone from trying to fly in and do that. I didn't know what the harm was, but they didn't want ponies up in the branches. They were massive things, larger than any other trees on Earth or Equestria, taller than any building in town by more stories than I could guess. Scientists said that they should not be able to move nutrients properly through their trunks at their size, but they were sustained by magic all their own. It reminded me that I was living in a magical place, unlike any other in the world. It might have been born of a disaster, but it was beautiful and wonderous. 

My flight lasted over two hours, which was a very long time for me. It shouldn't have worn a typical pegasus out, but I was not a great flier, and if I were honest about it, I was out of shape—round as I was. When it was time to fly over to Lántiān's apartment, I was too pooped to poop.

Lántiān didn't live too far from campus. The particular apartment complex I suspected housed quite a few students for the college that didn't live on campus. It was a simple four-story set of buildings with no halls to walk through. Lántiān lived on the ground floor, despite being a pegasus. Maybe she preferred the ground floor for the sake of Drizzle, or perhaps it was just what was available. As I slowed my descent with a circle around the apartments, I suddenly had a pink teenaged pegasus filly with a blonde mane shadowing me. 

"Are you Rebecca? You seem like you should be," the filly asked in an upbeat tone. She was a younger teen, thirteen or fourteen from the look of her. She had a cutie mark of three lightning bolts pointed east to west, and she was surprisingly muscular for a filly her age. 

"Um...yeah, that's me," I answered in confusion. Wobbling a little as I turned my head to answer her. "Who are you, and how do you know me?"

The filly gave me more space. "Wow, you don't fly too good, do ya? I'm Jackie. You met my stepsister Phobia and little sister Jordan. Grumpy Blue told me she was expecting you and that we could leave when you arrived."

"Who is Grumpy Blue?" I asked, even more confused. 

"Ya know, Lántiān," Jackie replied. "Don't tell her I called her that. That's just what I call her because she's always grumpy. She is taking me with her to watch her exhibition today. I'm on the junior flight team at my school, but I want to see the colleges mares do it."

"Oh… nice to meet you," I replied. "You might want to give me more space. I have a habit of crashing."

She might have moved an inch or two further away. "Why are you taking so long to land? Why all the circling?"

"To slow down and come in easy," I replied. 

"Uh… you aren't going that fast," Jackie replied with skepticism. "You must be really bad not to be able to land safely at this speed. Come on, just land."

Tact and patience were clearly not this filly's strong suits. No wonder Jordan louded out Jess on her personal information if this was her sister. These sisters just spoke their minds without a thought. That made me slightly anxious about Jordan knowing about my powers. However, Jackie seemed to put her sister to shame in terms of speaking her mind. 

I looked around. Maybe she was right. Perhaps I was taking too long to ease into a landing, and I was just overly cautious because I had been in the air for a while. Also, it could be that my pegasus pride was being pricked by having a filly make fun of my flying, even knowing she was completely correct. I banked towards the apartment to come in for a landing. 

This turned out to be a bad idea.

Banking so suddenly put me into a tumble, and I struggled to right myself. Have you ever tried to right yourself while spinning in midair where you can't immediately tell up from down? It isn't an easy thing to do. Maybe some fancy professional fliers who do tricks all the time could pull it off with ease, but that wasn't me. Doing a barrel roll tumble from the sky at this height could seriously hurt me, depending on what I landed on. I started to panic, which only made matters worse, but I couldn't help myself. I closed my eyes and prepared to have a big splat.

Something collided with me much sooner than I expected and with a lot less pain than I expected, bringing my tumble to a halt. 

"Start flapping your wings, you winged goat. You weigh a ton, and I can't hold you for long."

I opened my eyes to see that Lántiān had caught me in midair and was now struggling to hold me aloft. I immediately started flapping my wings again to go into a hover, and she let go of me and glared through her now messy black mane. 

"Leave the tricks to the flight team. Now, get down on the ground," Lántiān ordered harshly. 

I started to salute with a wing, which was another bad idea, but I managed to catch myself before I began to fall. My speed had been quenched, so it wasn't hard to just slowly descend now. I went down to the ground, and she followed after.

After we landed, we were quickly joined by Jackie. "That was awesome!"

Lántiān turned her glare on the filly. "No, that was dangerous!" She turned back towards me. "What in the hell were you thinking? Were you trying to show off? You aren't aerodynamic enough to be pulling something like that. You could have gotten hurt or killed!"

I cringed. "I didn't mean to go into a tumble like that. I just banked to the side and lost control. I'm not very good at flying. I tend to crash a lot. Thank you for saving me."

She glared for another moment, then snorted and flicked her tail. "Some ponies with wings don't deserve them. You are the worst pegasus I have ever heard of. Let's just get inside the apartment. You foalsitting, thankfully, doesn't require flight."

I followed her with my tail between my legs. Jackie ran ahead and walked backwards while asking Lántiān questions—at least until Lántiān snapped at her for not looking where she was going. At least she wasn't being testy only to me. 

We entered the apartment, and I was a little surprised to see Jordan reading a book with Drizzle. 

"You should have seen it, Jor," Jackie said excitedly. "Rebecca here went spinning out of control, and Lántiān came speeding out of nowhere to save her flank."

Jordan looked up at her sister. "I saw it. We watched her go running out of the apartment, and we watched the whole thing from the window."

"Mama is the bestest flier ever!" Drizzle said excitedly, flapping her wings as she did and unintentionally buffeting Jordan with them.

Lántiān's expression softened into a rare smile as she walked over to her daughter and gave her a nuzzle. "Maybe not the best, but I can be pretty great, sometimes. Mama has to do some flying for a few hours. Do you think you can be good for Miss Rebecca and Miss Jordan?"

Drizzle's excitement dropped into despair in an instant. "But I want to come watch you, or you to stay with me!"

"I know you do," Lántiān said regretfully. "But I can't watch you and do my flying at the same time though, and you have a bad habit of running off, and I have yet to find a foalsitter who can keep you contained outside. This is Mama's last year doing this, and then Mama can spend more time with you. Can you please behave for them, for me?"

Drizzle muttered some noncommittal response, and Lántiān sighed. 

"So… Jordan and I are both foalsitting?" I asked in confusion. "I thought you could barely afford a foalsitter, much less two."

The other mare's face turned sour again. "Ma'am and Wild Growth decided that you provided inadequate protection and may need guarding as well. Jordan here was drafted to do just that."

"And get my first paying job! No more relying on an allowance for me," Jordan said happily. 

My mouth hung open. "We are being bodyguarded… by a filly?"

"I'm thirteen! That's practically a young mare!" Jordan protested. 

Jackie grabbed her sister into a headlock and started nuggying her. "Yeah, so grown up, and staring at colts' butts. What's the name of that colt in your class you want to hit the flank of?"

Jordan writhed in her sister's grasp. "Jackie! Don't embarrass me, and let me go! I'll tell Mom and Dad!"

I pointed a wing at Jordan in disbelief. "She's bodyguarding us? Why do we even need a bodyguard?"

Lántiān took a deep breath. "There are still… individuals out there who might try to foalnap my filly or me to try to use us for leverage against my mother. I don't think this is likely, but it is a possibility. We are no longer with Ma'am, so she can no longer protect us. Be happy, this is probably a pointless precaution, and it gets you help and higher pay. Wild Growth is paying you now, not me."

"And no one can fillynap anyone when I'm around!" Jordan proclaimed as she pushed her sister off her using her magic. "Tempest has been drilling us all since we were little on how to stop people from doing that. She said she didn't want us ever to be helpless again after what happened when we were little."

"And Tempest is merciless in her training," Jackie said with a shiver. 

"I can grip things strongly in my magic, make strong shields, and teleport two of us in a pinch," Jordan explained proudly. "Auntie Sunset also taught me some tricks… but I don't want to try to use those if I don't have to."

"I'm familiar with Ma'am's tricks that she may have taught you and can testify they are effective, but extremely risky, nor effective against humans," Lántiān said gravely. "Avoid using such magic except as a last desperate resort. You could hurt yourself or Drizzle attempting to do them, and even Ma'am will only try them under the most dire circumstances."

"What kind of tricks?" I asked in confusion. 

Lántiān shook her head. "I will not give away Ma'am's secrets, especially ones capable of defeating even the mightiest ponies in some circumstances. Just know that they are dangerous and unpredictable magic, the results of which can be just as deadly to the caster and bystanders as those they are casting at. They are how Ma'am got her scars. You can fell a mighty foe that seems insurmountable, but you may fell yourself doing it. Ma'am was lucky to escape with just burns after her one use of such techniques. Jordan should not attempt such magic unless out of all other options and lives are on the line."

"That's what Auntie Sunset said," Jordan replied. "I'm not even sure if I could do them. It sounds really complicated from what she was explaining. I don't know how anyone is supposed to do what she described quickly. I think it is too hard, not from a power perspective, because even a weak unicorn could cast this, but because of how much you have to figure out in a short period of time. It seems impossible. It's like having a thousand keys and being given a second to identify the right one for the lock. Maybe she can pull it off because of her unique talent, but I don't have that."

"And even if you are able to do it correctly, it might literally blow up in your face and kill you," Lántiān said. on a grim note. "My advice is never to try, and never get in a situation where you must consider such options."

I gulped. "That sounds like a good idea. I don't want to be a roasted-toasted marshmallow."

"I don't wanna be blowed up!" Drizzle said fearfully.

Jackie gave her sister a worried look. "Yeah, don't blow yourself up, Jor. You're my favorite little sister."

Jordan cocked an eyebrow at Jackie. "I'm your only little sister, and I'm only a year younger than you, meathead."

"You silly bookworm," Jackie retaliated with a smirk. She then hugged her sister. "See ya later tonight. I'll tell you all about the stunts I see today."

Jordan rolled her eyes while still being held by Jackie. "I guess so. You put up with me telling you all about the stuff I read, even though I know you think it is boring. I can listen to you talk about flying stuff in return."

"Hey, some of the stuff you read is kinda cool. Maybe you'll think some of the flying stuff is cool," Jackie protested. 

"Only when I watch you doing it," Jordan said with a chuckle. "Love you, sis."

"Love you too," Jackie replied, hugging her sister tighter. She then released her hug and backed off.

Lántiān looked at me. "You will be paid upon our return. There is plenty of food stocked, but don't overdo it with the meals and snacks. Drizzle is to have just a simple lunch of either soup and fruit or a sandwich and fruit, and she can have a small snack once in the mid-afternoon to help tide her over fir dinner—which I should be back to prepare. She may play within sight of the apartment, but should be supervised at all times. Make sure she gives Wrinkles food, water, and exercise. Also, make sure she gets her reading practice in."

"I've got the reading covered!" Jordan declared happily. 

"And I've got the rest," I answered confidently 

Lántiān narrowed her eyes. "I hope so. Be aware; she can be deliberately difficult with her foalsitters. She is trying to force me to be home with her more, but I have to do my flight team participation to maintain my scholarship. If she misbehaves too much, you may send her to her room for an hour at a time. Her window does not fully open, so she'll stay put."

I nodded. "I understand. I'm sure she won't be too much trouble."

"We shall see,"  Lántiān replied. "There should be a light rain shower this afternoon. Drizzle will want to go out during that. This is acceptable. Just make sure that one or both of you keep your eyes on her at all times because she tends to wander. She should not have Wrinkles out in that weather, so she should exercise him before or after. She should also thoroughly dry herself before getting on any furniture."

"That all seems reasonable," I said in affirmation. 

"Lastly," Lántiān continued. "She is free to watch television or play her video game as much as she likes. However, you should monitor what she watches on television to make sure there is no violence, cursing, sexual content, or content that would be scary for a young foal. I have an age restriction set in place on the streaming service, but sometimes things slip through—or she figures out my password to override it."

"Uh...does she figure out your password a lot?" I asked. 

"Often enough," Lántiān answered. "Drizzle explores and pushes her boundaries all the time. Knowing there is something there that she can't access is an invitation for her to try. Watch her closely."

"We've got this. Don't worry!" Jordan proclaimed. 

Lántiān didn't look fully confident in that. That just made me want to prove to her all the more we had it handled. She'd learn I was reliable and dependable, and then maybe she wouldn't hate me as much. 

She turned back to Drizzle and gave her a muzzle and smile. "You be good for these two ponies, my little yǔdī. If you can stay good all weekend, then maybe you can come to watch your mama fly next weekend."

Drizzle laid back one ear and perked the other. "You promise?"

Lántiān nodded. "If you behave yourself all weekend, then it is a promise. You have to be good, though, and show me you will do what your sitters say. That way, I can trust you to be in the stands and not wander off. Can you promise me that?"

Drizzle still looked like she wasn't happy, but nodded. "I promise, Mama."

Lántiān nuzzled her daughter again then kissed her on her nose. "That's my awesome little filly. I love you, and I'll bring you back a treat tonight."

Drizzle jumped up and hugged her mother around the neck. "Love you, Mama. Go win the thingie and show them how awesome you are."

"I'll do that, just for you," Lántiān chuckled as she gently detached her daughter from her neck. She then looked at me. "We're leaving now. You have my number if you need me, but try not to call unless it is an emergency. I need to stay focused. Don't disappoint me, Rebecca Riddle."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied. 

Lántiān gave me one final frown, then left, taking Jackie with her and leaving me with Drizzle and Jordan. This would be fine. How much trouble could taking care of a filly be?