//------------------------------//
// Chapter 65: Four Ponies and a Human Get into a Car 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

We filed into the car, with me riding shotgun out of habit, and as soon as the doors were shut, everyone had something to say. Everyone wanted answers, but everyone also had a separate most pressing question, and it wasn't obvious who was asking who what.

"Tell me what's going on," Maggie demanded. "Are you saying I am possibly sharing a bathroom with the next Dreamwarden?"

"What was that about night ponies are all going to die?" Nightscape asked.

"How many people are we getting involved in this?" Ashley asked. 

"What was the test about if it wasn't about the questions?" Sunflower asked. 

"Can we go to IHOP or Waffle House?" I asked. 

Nightscape took control of the situation. "Everybody hush! Let's start with the doll. Phobia put up cameras to watch the case after it vanished last time. I can call Tempest and ask her if it is still there, and if it isn't, how long has it been gone. Be quiet for a moment while I call."

We waited as Nightscape dialed the number, and the phone rang. It only took a few moments. 

"Hello? Nightscape, correct? What do you need?" Tempest asked over the speakerphone.

"Hey, is that doll there right now?" Nightscape asked. 

"It just returned," Tempest answered with a grunt. "I watched the camera feed. It was there, and then it wasn't. No flash to indicate a teleport. It returned much the same way. It wasn't there, and now it is. How did you know it left? Did that pegasus draw another picture?"

"No, it was just sitting around in the lobby of our dorm building," Nightscape replied. "We tried to grab it, but it pulled the same vanishing trick."

We heard Tempest groan. "Keep me advised if you see it again. I am tempted to support Sunset Blessing's suggestion and just burn the thing."

Nightscape blinked. "Sunset Blessing looked at it?"

"Yes, she came in as a consultation after Crystal failed to detect any magic in it. Sunset Blessing examined it and its case closely and found nothing that could cause the vanishing and reappearing, and she has personal experience with unusual teleportation methods. She called it a demonic toy and told us to burn it. However, the Dreamwarden does not wish to destroy it at this time. It has disappeared two other times, for only a few minutes each time. This is our first report of where it ended up."

"It wasn't doing anything, just sitting on the ground near an elevator," Nightscape reported. "Still, it freaked us all out."

"Who is all us?" Tempest asked. 

"Me, Ashley, Sunflower, and Rebecca" Nightscape listed off. 

"All people the Dreamwarden has had an audience with recently," Tempest said in a considering voice. "Audiences I was not partial to the reason for. Phobia and I will need to talk. We have an ongoing security breach with this doll, and I need to understand the connections. Keep me advised if you see it again."

"Yes, ma'am," Nightscape replied. The phone then went dead. She looked at the rest of us. "You know as much as me after that call. The doll just leaves when it wants to and comes back when it wants to, and no one knows why."

"What is the doll?" Maggie asked. 

"Super creepy old doll that Sha'am Maut used to own," Ashley replied. "She left it to Phobia Remedy in her will, but only after Sha'am Maut retired from being a Dreamwarden and Arbiter took her place. No one is sure where the doll was held between Sha'am Maut's first and second deaths. Some lawyer from India just showed up at her door shortly after the Cataclysm with the doll and a hoof-written note from the Queen of Mean herself. The doll's old, like almost a hundred years old, and handmade."

Nightscape groaned. "She died, and then she died again in the dream real—"

"Went into the eternal dream," I corrected. 

"Whatever. It's effectively dying again," Nightscape replied. "Now she's back again? What is she, a cat?"

"The Dreamwardens said they don't detect her presence. They said they would know if she were around," Sunflower said in a low voice. 

"Not if she never sleeps!" Ashley suggested. 

Maggie shook her head. "I write fanfiction, but I've got nothing on your wild imaginations. It's just a doll."

"Someone else could have done something to the doll," I suggested. "To make us think she's back."

"Who could do something that both Sunset Blessing and Crystal couldn't detect upon inspection?" Nightscape asked. "And they would have to sneak into Phobia Remedy's house without being detected. Do you know how many people are guarding that place? And that's just the ones we see. The government does surveillance too! It would have to be an inside job, and there's no mage talented enough on the inside."

"There's Sunset Blessing herself," Ashley suggested. "She knows how to pull some crazy stuff—with someone else casting for her. She could have been lying about not detecting anything and just putting on a show."

"Or it could be the Dreamwardens putting on a show and trying to fuck with you," Maggie suggested. 

Nightscape pursed her lips. "I suppose that's a possibility."

I shook my head. "The Dreamwardens can't make things happen in the waking world. Plus, Phobia Remedy doesn't lie."

"Incorrect," Nightscape said quickly. "Phobia Remedy doesn't say anything untrue—at least as far she knows if it is untrue. That doesn't mean she doesn't lie. She can mislead you."

Ashley held up a hoof. "Or—and hear me out. What if it is one of the other candidates doing it? We all know that Rebecca and Sunflower have freaky weird magic."

Maggie turned in her seat. "Which one of you is Sunflower, and what magic are we talking about?" 

Sunflower hung her head. "That's me. I draw things."

"Wow, how terrifying. Please, save me; she has a crayon," Maggie said flatly. 

"You'd have to have been there," Ashley said with a shiver. "Anyway, if all the top five candidates are here in town, and all of them match a similar profile, then we must assume that the other three candidates have weird magic of their own."

"And the doll led us to the elevator right before Maggie came out of it, and she unintentionally blabbed about another potential candidate," I pointed out. 

"Am I going to get hauled off again for this by the men in black?" Maggie demanded. 

I shook my head quickly. "No, we won't let them do that to you again. Will we, girls?"

"Think once was enough," Nightscape replied and gave Maggie a sheepish smile. "We're sorry about reporting you to Phobia. No one expected her to do that."

"We should tell Meadow and Julie, too," Sunflower said as she laid down and looked miserable. "I hate keeping secrets from friends."

Ashley raised an eyebrow. "You tried telling Meadow just a few minutes ago. Luckily, she thought you were delusional. Are you done with that, announcing you are a Dreamwarden candidate to everyone? It's technically your business, but it can't help your chances, and it makes my job of guarding you much harder."

"Sure, but I think I blew it anyway. Last night was bad, horrible," Sunflower said mournfully. She then looked at me and jerked her ears. "You said that you don't think the answers mattered. Why?"

"Because they deliberately blindsided us," I replied. "If they cared what we thought about all that stuff, they would have prepped us a little or at least mentioned any of the stuff at some point in the past. All the delegates might have cared, but the Dreamwardens didn't."

She lifted her head. "So why'd they do it?"

"The obvious answer is to see how you would respond to the stress," Nightscape replied.

Ashley took a deep breath. "And you don't seem like you are doing so great with that, no offense. I doubt this is the end of it for you. They aren't going to can you over one bad day where they were deliberately trying to make you stress out."

"And you took the time to ask them questions back to clarify things you didn't know," I reminded her. "I should have thought to do that. I know there were a few questions that I completely made up answers to because I was too embarrassed to admit I had no idea what they were even talking about. Remember that one about allowances or whatever?"

"Civil allowance credits in developing nations?" Sunflower asked. 

I pointed a wing at her. "That one. I had no idea what they were talking about and made something completely up. I bet you took the time to ask what the heck those were."

Nightscape looked at me in horror. "Tell me you aren't serious. You didn't just make up something out of the blue without even knowing what the subject of the question was about."

I nodded. "Sure did. Talked about them making sure they do their chores and learning responsibility."

Nightscape slapped a wing to her face. Sunflower actually chuckled. 

I looked back and forth between them. "I'm guessing that answer made me look like a complete and total fool."

"Putting it very kindly," Nightscape replied, not exposing her face. "You probably gravely insulted a bunch of third-world nations. What were you thinking, fat for brains!"

I shrugged. "Whoops!"

Maggie looked at me in disbelief. "Did you hear what she said?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but there's nothing I can do about it now. It already happened. I hope I do better next time."

Ashley took a deep breath. "In summary, Sunflower showed at least some modicum of wisdom by asking about things she didn't understand, but blew the stress test. Rebecca breezed through the stress test but managed to look like the biggest damn jackass idiot there could be when answering questions. It doesn't sound like this human girl that Maggie shares a bathroom with did great on the stress test, and who knows how she did on the questioning. I think that you are still in the running, Sun."

"I'm not perfect on the stress thing either," I pointed out. "Chubby pony wants her cookies and cake! When are we leaving the parking lot?"

Ashley chuckled. "Gotta love Rebecca; she keeps her priorities clear."

Maggie started the car. "She's supposed to be on a diet. All that stress eating isn't good for her. It's going to come back and bite her eventually. I'm tempted to skip this trip to protect her from herself."

I perked my ears. "You still care about me?"

I flinched when she gave me a dirty look. "Yes, I care about you. I have a lot of complicated feelings about this Dreamwarden thing, but I don't hate you. I don't know Sunflower or the girl that shares a bathroom with me either, but I also don't hate them. It's just complicated, okay?"

"Maybe you should talk to us about it," Sunflower suggested. "We aren't Dreamwardens yet, and we might never be. If you don't like Dreamwardens, then it isn't just helping you to tell us; it lets us know a perspective about Dreamwardens that we didn't before—maybe it will change our minds."

"Proud of you, Sun," Ashley congratulated. "Saying stuff like that is why you deserve your shot at this."

"It's up to you, Mags," I quietly said. "We promise not to get mad if you say stuff we don't like. No judgments. You're upset at Dreamwardens for a reason. Telling us helps us make decisions about what we want to do, and if one of us does become a Dreamwarden, it lets us know what to avoid doing. Plus, I want to be able to hang out with my best friend again. You're important to me."

She banged her fist on the steering wheel twice, making me and everyone else cringe. She then shut the car back off and took a deep breath. "Fine. Just… give me a minute."

We waited, and it was almost a full minute before she started talking. "There are no ponies in my family, but there is one person, my aunt on my dad's side, who is rehumanized. My aunt had been a night pony for a little while after ETS. She had been all onboard with the pony thing and the great new world we were in."

"Why did she rehumanize?" Sunflower asked. 

Maggie scowled. "It was Sha'am Maut. Sha'am caught her trying to spread visions and tortured her. My aunt didn't give up the first time, but after the second time, she was done. She rehumanized so she would never have to deal with Dreamwardens again and got critical of ponies after that, and it kinda spread to my dad and the rest of the family. There's always been some prejudice of ponies since then in our family, but we especially hate Dreamwardens."

My ears sagged, and I looked at Sunflower. Sunflower seemed confused. "But we aren't Sha'am Maut. Everypony knows she was bad. We'd never do stuff like that."

"I don't even want anything to do with her evil little haunted doll," Ashley added in. "I can promise you, Rebecca and Sun aren't at all like her."

Maggie slammed her steering wheel again."I know that! I have known Rebecca for years. I know she would never even think of doing that kind of stuff. It just horrified me that she is associated with the group that Sha'am Maut was in. It's like hearing she not only signed up for but was being put in a position of leadership in the Communist Party. I am sure there are plenty of communist people who are great people with great ideals, but there's this whole history of bad people you can't help associating with them. I'm not sure that works as a comparison, but that's the best I can do."

"Um… we aren't communists," Sunflower replied. 

Maggie shook her head. "I was trying to think of something with bad connotations which isn't bad in and of itself. I know you aren't communists. The term Dreamwarden carries a lot of bad history with it—a bad history that involved them torturing a member of my family. It's hard not to hate them. Phobia Remedy even talked about giving my family reparations and gave me a personal apology for what happened, and offered to present the check to my aunt personally. It helps, but only a little. However, getting dragged off against my will didn't make it seem as good as it might have otherwise been. They are still doing crappy things."

"I still need to yell at her about that," I said. 

Ashley looked at me in shock. "You are going to march up to the Warden of Fear and yell at her?"

I nodded. "She did something wrong and needs to get called out for it. It doesn't matter how powerful and important she is. If she votes for someone else because of that, then I didn't want her vote anyway. Miss Seapony said we shouldn't be worrying about doing whatever any Dreamwarden wants anyway. We're supposed to be individuals and stand up for what we believe is right. We can't be afraid of them. Miss Seapony says she supports me, but she might not always agree with me, and I might not always agree with her."

Sunflower sat up and blinked. "I understand. We are being judged by the strength of our convictions, not about whether we agree with theirs."

"Exactly," I said with another nod. "That's how Sha'am Maut got so out of control anyway. None of them were willing to stand up and say this isn't right until she had already done tons of terrible things. We can't be like that. If one of the Dreamwardens does something wrong, we have to have the courage to say something."

"So, what are we doing about the doll, and are we going to try to meet the other three candidates?" Nightscape asked. 

"I can try to get you in to see the girls across the bathroom from me," Maggie offered. 

"When did you become a member of this team?" Ashley asked. 

Sunflower blinked. "We're a team?"

Ashley frowned. "Well, the team is more Nightscape and me trying to keep you guys safe and help you have your best chances of being elected Dreamwarden."

Maggie pointed a thumb back at herself. "I'm on the team because I got hauled off by Phobia Remedy's goons and because I want to help Rebecca out."

My eyes watered up. "You want to be best friends again?"

She looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "You would make a nicer Dreamwarden than any of those creeps that currently are, and if we have to have Dreamwardens, I would rather they be people like you who give a damn about how they dish out justice." She paused. "And it has been lonely without you to talk to. Who else is going to listen to me as I go through my existential crisis and pretend to be interested in my bad fanfics?"

I smiled. "Jordan seemed to like your fanfics."

Maggie laughed. "Jordan is a horny little thirteen-year-old who will take any piece of smutty writing she can get her little hooves on. I don't think she cares if it is good or not."

"Phobia Remedy's little bookworm sister?" Nightscape asked in shock, and both Maggie and I nodded. Nightscape gave an evil chuckle. "Oh, that's rich. I need to tell the other mares on night duty at the Dreamwarden's house. They'll start passing her books every chance they get."

Ashley glowered at Nightscape. "Don't go trying to corrupt the youth."

"Sounds like I don't have to do anything on that front; seems like she is corrupt already," Nightscape sniggered. "I'd never have pegged her as the deviant. It's always the quiet ones."

"Leave her be, Nighty," I chided. "Jordan's mom knows and is reviewing the… the smut… with Jordan, so she doesn't get unhealthy ideas. I don't think she would appreciate Jordan getting too much reading material for her mom to keep up with reviewing." I looked at Maggie. "But can we please go get snacks now?"

"Low-fat snacks," Maggie suggested.

My eyes bulged. "But that stuff never tastes right!"

"Keeping you safe from yourself, Bec," Maggie replied as she started the car again. "Anyway, everyone needs to strap in. I don't want any bored morning cops ticketing me because you weren't wearing your harnesses."