Andrea wasn't sure if she was dreaming. She had woken up as a pony, and nobody had told her why. Being a pony didn't seem weird at all, which meant this had to be a dream. That was the only thing that made sense. Everything made sense in a dream, even when it shouldn't.
So when she stared at the Marshmallow, she was not afraid because she knew that it too was a dream, and dreams can't hurt you.
"W-what is that thing?!" her mom asked in a frightened tone.
The Marshmallow got smaller and rounder, but kept the smiling face. "I'm the Marshmallow! I just said that. Weren't you listening? The bestest, greatest, funniest, Dreamwarden there is! Relative to the tastes of the particular people I chose to survey, of course. Which is no more biased than most political surveys, I'll have you know."
"Dreamwarden?" Andrea's dad asked. "Isn't that what you said that creepy poem about while we were at Denny's?"
"Phobia is a Dreamwarden too," grownup Andrea pointed out.
"Phobia isn't a blob that appeared out of nowhere and gives me the creeps," Andrea's dad replied.
The Marshmallow bobbed up and down in excitement. "Oh! I know that poem! I wrote new verses. It goes, The Marshmallow is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah! The Marshmallow is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Miss Newman worked her mouth as if unable to get words out for a few seconds. "You're supposed to be the Warden of Creativity. How was that that bad? It wasn't even poetry!"
"I never claimed to be a poet. I work with more physical mediums, which is hard because I can't touch things, but I make it work. I'm creative," the Marshmallow answered, giggling.
"She's impossible," Miss Newman muttered.
"Hey! No dropping identifying pronouns!" the Marshmallow protested. "Now everybody here knows! It's supposed to be a secret!"
It paused and looked away for a second as if listening. Then turned back towards them and floated close to Andrea. She was still in her dad's arms, and he took several steps away from the floating white thing.
"Sunset Blessing, who is this little pony that your sister broke the rule with? She and your sister look like twinsies, but Arbiter… oh… Phobia just told me. Hi, little Andrea! You're so cute!" The Marshmallow floated away suddenly like it was jerking backwards. "You're a crystal pony, though, and one that doesn't know its powers. I think I'll keep my distance. Crystal ponies eating me give me such a headache."
That was more confirmation that this was a dream. Only in a dream could that last sentence make sense.
The Marshmallow turned and looked at Andrea's grownup self. "Sorry, I'm only partially asleep, so all of them talking at me at once gets confusing. Which they know! Be kind to your Marshmallow friend, guys! Talk one at a time! Anyway, I think I'm supposed to talk to you to get directions."
Grownup Andrea blinked. "Yeah… so, Sunset did some time-traveling and brought my family back with her from sixty years ago. Many of the guards saw, so we need the situation sworn to secrecy, your kind of secrecy. There are also some fanatics that are locked up that we need to keep quiet about this. Maybe there can be a plea deal or something where they get off easier if they take a warden vow of secrecy about the time travel and the family Sunset brought back with her."
The Marshmallow smiled wide. "Got it! Phobia says that the OMMR has agents and lawyers on the way. Is everybody still at the house? Nobody I need to track down?"
"Everyone should still be in the house," grownup Andrea answered.
"Goodie! That makes it easy!" the Marshmallow exclaimed, then seemed to listen to something no one else heard again. "Phobia needs to talk to you guys! I'll put her on."
The Marshmallow shifted shape and now appeared as a mirror and in that mirror was another pony or a pony shadow with glowing eyes.
"Sorry about the Marshmallow. I did send her in unprepared," the pony in the mirror said. A giant banner appeared around the edge of the mirror that read, She did! And she's a poopy head for it!
Grownup Andrea raised an eyebrow. "She is giving newsfeed commentary about what you're saying."
The banner shifted and now read, Snitch!, and shadow pony sighed. "Since my mother already compromised the Marshmallow's gender to you, I can say she and her, but please, keep that to yourselves. It is for her protection. We have male red herrings, including our two most prominent ones, and it would be best if the public didn't eliminate them as possibilities to the Marshmallow's true identity. As for the commentary, whatever makes her happy. It's not like this is a government meeting or press meeting, where it would be unprofessional and make us look bad. The Marshmallow does a lot for me, and I appreciate how hard she works. She is an essential part of the Dreamwardens who makes our jobs easier through her efforts. If she is unhappy with the position I put her in today, then she can express her displeasure however she wants."
The banner shifted again and now had just a bunch of hearts and smiling faces. Andrea guessed that what the shadow pony said made the Marshmallow happy.
"Getting back on track. I have arranged doctors for Andrea," the shadow pony continued. "They will not be in Denver until late tonight. They have to be flown in. Agents are already arranging with your closest hospital for a secured operating room. Doctor Patel will oversee the surgery and has picked out a team for this; they've been ready for something like this for years and have already been briefed on the procedures they need to take for working with a temporary transformation patient in critical condition. A team of trained guards in a regular car will arrive to take her there when the doctors are touching down at the airport. I know it may be traumatic, but you may need to quickly reset the necklace tonight before she leaves. I don't want anything to go wrong, and it may be very late tonight. I must also advise that this will be unlikely to be a short operation. It could take days due to its delicate nature. The doctors will need rest throughout it, and so will Andrea. How many days of charge does the necklace have left? I need to advise Patel how much time they have to work, so he knows how to partition their time."
"Is my daughter going to make it through this?" Andrea's mom asked, interrupting and sounding afraid.
The shadow pony looked at Andrea's mom. "You are the young version of my grandmother. I'm sorry we have not been properly introduced. I'll take time to meet with you in person soon enough. As for your question, Doctor Patel is an outstanding doctor with more than forty years of experience, and his team is among the best. I cannot guarantee anything, but I have strong faith in their ability to accomplish this. As I said, they've been prepared for years for this. It is a very high likelihood they will be successful. I would trust my own foals and grandfoals to them, and I am trusting a version of my aunt. I do not do that lightly. My family is just as important to me as it is to my mother."
"Miss shadow pony talks a lot," Andrea observed out loud.
Her dad rubbed her head behind the ears. "Don't be rude, hun." The ear rub felt good.
"No, she's right. I told you that Phobia could carry on," grownup Andrea said with a grin. "Just don't get her started on philosophy. She'll never shut up."
The shadow pony blinked. "I apologize. I try to be thorough in what I say, but I know I have a tendency to monologue. I hope I have at least given some reassurance. Mom, I am still awaiting your reply. That is pertinent information that the doctor needs to know."
"It has four and a half days of charge. I can get a more accurate number, down to the hour, in a little bit, but I need to confirm some times with the younger versions of your grandparents. The last few days have been hectic," Miss Newman answered.
"The rough estimate helps. Thank you, Mom. If someone who got a good look at the wound can take a nap soon, that would also be helpful in getting information to Patel," the shadow pony replied, not saying as much this time. Maybe she was embarrassed she'd talked so much a second ago?
"I can take a nap if that will help, but I don't understand," Andrea's dad said, looking up at the mirror.
The shadow pony looked unhappy. "Thank you for offering, but I need someone with magic to—"
"He has magic! They all do!" grown-up Andrea shouted.
The shadow pony blinked. "I see. I will concern myself with getting an explanation for that later. In the meantime, Arbiter can meet you in your dreams and extract an image of the wound, as well as additional information about the incident itself. She can pass the information onto Patel with your permission to do so. It isn't perfect, as memories can be far from perfect, especially during a highly stressful situation, but every piece of information the doctors have going into this helps."
Andrea was bored. The shadow pony talked too much. Where was the fun of being a pony in her dreams if she had to spend the whole time listening to grownups talk? "Dad, let me down. I want to walk around."
"I'm not sure—"
"Keep her calm and happy!" Miss Newman hissed at him.
Her dad bent down and placed her on the ground. "Okay, hun, but stay close by and in sight."
Andrea took a few steps around, getting used to the feel of walking on four legs. It felt easy enough, like something she had been doing her whole life. Then again, this was probably a dream, which meant it should be easy. It would be a pretty cruddy dream if she couldn't even walk right.
The grownups were still talking, and she had no interest in listening. It seemed like they were talking about her, but none of it had made sense before, and it still didn't now. Maybe they were talking about the old and ugly version of her. She knew that version couldn't be real, because she would never get so old and wrinkly. Charlotte's old version didn't look so wrinkly, and Charlotte was only four years younger than her, so all those wrinkles didn't make sense. Plus, Andrea's mane was green; she could see it. That old pony's mane looked like it was metal or something because it was both shiny and grey, not just standard old person grey. It wasn't the same at all. It was a dream, so it didn't matter. There had to be something more interesting around her than their boring talking.
She walked over to where a man was sitting in a chair, looking at a bunch of TV screens. She'd seen this kind of stuff in movies before. This was where the cameras watched all the rooms in the house. There were a lot of TV screens. Not all of them looked at rooms; some of them had pictures that looked like the outside. She spotted a pool with two really really old ponies lying next to it under an umbrella. Why were there so many old ponies around here? Was this like one of those… what were they called? Old people's home? Nursing homes? Retirement homes? Funny farms? Her dad listened to a song about funny farms before, but she wasn't sure what those were, but it seemed like where they locked crazy people up. There were lots of guards, and some of these people seemed crazy, like the Marshmallow thingie, so maybe this was a funny farm.
After looking from screen to screen, she spotted her sisters. They were in a big room with pinball games, arcade games, television, paddleball, and even a tiny stage with a microphone. There were three more ponies, stallions, in there, watching them. Her sisters were both sitting on stools playing an arcade machine! Why did they get to hang out in the fun room while she had to sit in this boring one with shadow ponies who never shut up?
She looked at her parents and pointed a leg at the TV. "Can I go play with Kristin and Charlotte? They look like they're having fun."
Her parents looked at each other as if each was asking the other to make the decision. That was good. She usually got what she wanted when that happened.
"It should be fine. We can't keep her under lock and key for hours," Miss Newman said. "Andrea, take young Dad…. take Charles to one of the bedrooms. It's best just to address them by name instead of saying titles. You can be Auntie Andri."
"Fine, I can live with Auntie Andri," the wrinkly version of Andrea conceded.
"You hear that, Andrea?" her mom said with a smile. "Call the future you, Auntie Andri, from now on. Won't that be easier?"
Andrea rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever, but can I go play with Kristin and Charlotte?"
"I'll lead you and your mom to them," Miss Newman said. "Just remember, keep that necklace on."
The Marshmallow had resumed being a big white blob. Andrea guessed the shadow pony was finally done talking. The Marshmallow smiled. "I'll go find all those guards and start talking to the bad ponies!"
"Turn into something less conspicuous!" Miss Newman ordered.
The Marshmallow seemed to quiver and think. Then it went down to the ground and turned into a black-haired lady in a business suit. "Inconspicuous it is!" The Marshmallow then turned and walked straight through a wall.
"Sure, walk through the walls like they aren't there. That's normal," Auntie Andri said with a shake of her head.
Andrea thought it was a good idea and wondered why she hadn't thought of that. This was a dream, so walls didn't mean anything.
She turned and looked at the nearest wall and wiggled her rump a little as she prepped herself, then took off running.
"OWWW!"
"Did almost dying give mini-me brain damage or something?! Why did she do that?"
Okay, maybe this wasn't a dream. Ow, that hurt.