//------------------------------//
// Chapter 111: Back to the Dorms 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

After a nice meal at the local Perkins, where my family got me lots of food, and Russell spoon-fed me apple pie with vanilla ice cream, it was time to return to school. Russell was the one who gave me a lift– we were going to the same place anyway. It was time to return to dorm life, cafeteria food, sharing a bathroom with five other mares, and classwork. Luckily, being stuck in bed for three days gave me plenty of time to write my report for Architecture class. Blanche was even friendly enough to proofread it. I'd also caught up on my reading. 

"You're being unusually quiet," Russell commented as he drove us back to school. 

"Just reflecting. That's what you are supposed to do when coming home from an adventure," I replied. 

"Is that a rule?" he asked. 

I nodded. "I think it is. I think you are supposed to learn things after being on an adventure."

"What did you learn?" 

"That adventures make one late for dinner, and lunch, and breakfast, and brunch, and linner."

He chuckled. "Is linner an important meal?"

"Is there such a thing as an unimportant meal?" I asked him. 

He laughed. "I'm going to start calling you my little hobbit. Is that all you learned?"

I didn't smile. "I guess I learned what is and isn't okay with me, or maybe what I can and can't endure or tolerate would be a better way of putting it."

He took his eyes off the road briefly to glance at me. "That took a serious turn. We're alone right now. Care to spill the beans about what happened during your trip."

I supposed it was okay. "I went to another place called the Well of Shade. It's some ruins a short distance from Mountainshade. It was the original home of the night pony tribe's monarchy, a huge underground complex. It was a bad place."

"Bad how?" he gently asked. 

Tears welled up in my eyes. I had put my feelings for it on hold throughout the entire adventure. I'd been looking for Bursa, and then running from a shadow monster, and then in an epic battle that left me scarred forever. I didn't have time to express my feelings about the horrors I had seen. 

"A thousand years ago, Luna murdered them all," I cried. "It was a war. The night ponies started it, but Luna ended it. The bodies… they were all still there, lying in piles, right where she cut them down. She begged them to stop fighting, but they wouldn't, and she killed them in droves. Ultimately, it was an almost complete genocide, with only a small fraction of the tribe surviving, the ones who couldn't fight. I had to go through there. I didn't have time back then to cry about what I saw. There was a shape-changing bug monster that had foalnapped Roger's mother, and then Roger's mother was possessed by the remains of the night ponies' collective dark mind magic. It was horrible being surrounded by all that death!"

Russell turned the car into the parking lot of Walgreens. He parked the car and unfastened his seat belt before reaching over and unfastening mine. I looked up at him in confusion.

"Why did we stop here? What are you-"

He picked me up and pulled me into a hug. I gasped, then l leaned into him, crying my little eyes out. 

"My little spotty and stripey Rebecca, you're meant for happy things. I'm sorry you had to see all that. There's some things no one can smile or joke about, not even you."

"Death is never funny," I agreed.

We sat like that for several minutes. I was crying, and he was cuddling me, and I learned that if I were ever to do the job of Dreamwarden, I would need to be able to do this from time to time because fear and sadness were part of the job, and the only thing anyone could do sometimes was cry about it. Sometimes the people that laugh the most hide terrible pain, and they need an outlet to let it all out, or it would devour them from the inside out. Crying gives you the strength to laugh. It was a funny irony, and I smiled as I nested into Russell's embrace. 





We eventually got back to the dorms, and sadly, this was where we had to part ways for the moment. Boys weren't allowed past the social area of the female dorm building, but Russell did help get my luggage into the building. 

"About time!" 

I blinked as I suddenly had a beak jammed in my face, a very big and very predatory beak. 

"Beak," I said, looking at the sharp mouth appendage touching my snout. 

"Do you have any idea how late it is?" Greta demanded, backing up just a smidge. It was a good thing she did; her beak would have clipped me otherwise.

"Um…no…to tell the truth. Sometime after seven?" I ventured. 

"It's nearly midnight!" the angry griffin RA snapped. 

Russell stepped between us. "Sorry, it's my fault. I kept her out-"

"I don't care! Get out of here, human," Greta growled. 

He turned and bent down, setting down my luggage as he did. "I guess I'll see you in the morning." He then leaned over and kissed me, giving me a very different rumbly in my tummy. 

"Ick, gross! Move along," Greta retched. 

Russell stood up and raised his hands. "Moving along, avian boss lady." 

Greta hopped and flapped her wings while swishing her feline tail. "Faster!"

"I'm getting," Russell said as he scatted out of the dorm. 

I smiled at Greta. "It's so nice of you to stay up waiting for me."

She raised a talon and pointed it at my face. "I'm not being nice, I'm just confirming you made it back. Your bathroommate came back hours ago and said you couldn't be that far behind her. As your RA, I must see that you arrived back safely after being gone so long. So I decided to wait around to make sure…and I waited…and I waited…."

"Did you play solitaire?" I asked. 

She blinked at me. "How did you- that doesn't matter! I could have been doing something fun or something constructive, but no, I got stuck sitting in this room for hours waiting for your fat flank to show up. I was about to throw in the towel and call your parents in the morning. If they didn't know where you were I was going to file a missing student report. I hate filing missing student reports!"

"Good thing I showed up then," I said with a grin. 

"Get to your room!" 

I saluted her with a wing. "Yes, ma'am. Good to see you again, ma'am."

"Damn ponies," she muttered as she started to walk away, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I know Equestria can get dangerous. It seems like it gets worse every year with some end-of-the-world thing always ready to happen. I don't know what trouble you and that whimpering coward got into, but for what it's worth, I'm glad you two survived– reminds me of one of the reasons I was eager to get away from there. Get a good night's sleep. I'm sure you've got a busy day tomorrow after being gone so long."

Awww! That was sweet of her. That was the nicest thing Greta ever said to me. Still, I needed to get back to my room. Everybody was going to be fast asleep already, except Nightscape. I was a little bummed out by that. Guess my reunion with the rest of my friends would have to wait till morning. I honestly hadn't thought it was that late. Usually, I'd be fast asleep at this hour too, but I guess the universe-jumping jet lag was still impacting me. 

I pulled my luggage to the elevator, hyper-aware of the sound of its wheels grinding across the laminate floor. I wanted to apologize to the night security guard on duty at the desk for making so much noise, but they didn't seem to be paying me much attention. I must have been exaggerating the sound of the wheels in my mind with how quiet it was. 

Up the elevator I went, humming to myself as it ascended. It came to a stop and opened to reveal a scowling face. 

I grinned at her. "Hi, Nighty! Did you miss me?"

Instead of letting me off the elevator, she stepped on, blocking my exit, and waited for the door to close. 

"What in Phobia's darkest dreams were you thinking?!" Nightscape snarled at me.

My ears flattened slightly and I stepped back. "Um, I've never been in Phobia's darkest dreams, so I don't know."

She stomped. "It's an expression! Sunflower told us about you trying to bash your brains out and having to be hospitalized. Let's not even get into the fact the lot of you had no business going off into those ruins, to begin with. What were you thinking? I know you act like an idiot sometimes, but I never thought you might legitimately be one until I heard that!"

My ears flattened further. "You didn't yell at Sunflower, did you?"

"I didn't have to, Ashley was ready to tear into her. You're my concern, Sunflower is Ashley's. I'm sure Yolanda is giving Blanche a piece of her mind too. We are supposed to be protecting you and as soon as you get away from us you pull this shit!"

Yolanda might be in for a shock if she tried chewing Blanche out. The Blanche that left was drastically different from the Blanche that returned. I hoped Blanche didn't respond too harshly to her bodyguard trying to chew her out. Sunflower was a different story. While Sunflower had built up a bit of courage while we were on our trip, having one of her good friends scream at her might have put her in tears. I knew it was giving me the urge to cry, but I was an old pro at keeping up a brave face while people were saying hurtful things about me. 

There was a time and place for everything. Nightscape wanted a serious answer, and I suppose the best thing was to give a serious answer. No jokes, no trying to play it off. 

I raised my head. "You're right. Going off to those ruins was dumb and could have gotten us all killed. Luckily, we were that foolish, otherwise, the Element Bearers might not have won. We had a friend who was insistent on going to find his mother, and there was nothing we could reasonably do to stop him, so we accompanied him. I know trying to break that crystal wasn't the most intelligent thing I've ever done, but my concern was there was a monster that was getting more powerful by the second, and I saw an opening to try to help stop it. I'm sorry that happened while we were away from you, and you weren't there to help protect us, but we had no choice in that and neither did you. I made a choice in the moment. Protecting myself wasn't worth not trying to save everyone else."

Nightscape glared at me for a few seconds, then turned away and gave a small shake of her head. "How am I supposed to argue with that? You're supposed to make some joke that I can yell at you for making."

"Sunflower and I are the last two candidates standing. Phobia impressed upon me how important her bodyguards are to her and how important other Dreamwardens' bodyguards are to them. Not just important for guarding, but important because they listen to each other and trust each other. You're my bodyguard. I need to be straight with you when you ask me a serious question."

She turned back around and smirked. "You two came back tougher. Yeah, Ashley laid into Sunflower, but Sunflower didn't put up with it. Meadow was all ready to jump in and defend her like a little filly, but Sunflower stepped up first and said if Ashley could think of a safer place to be than protected by the Element Bearers and Wild Growth, she was welcome to elaborate. She also gave you props for distracting the monster and only seemed ashamed she couldn't have been more use."

"She was useful," I replied. "Fluttershy and I would have been whimpering in a corner without her help, hers and Pinkie Pie's. Everybody had a role to play."

Her smirk slipped. "You're wrong about one thing. When I graduate, my time as your bodyguard is over. I'm going to be getting married and starting a life, one that hopefully doesn't involve much danger. When I heard about the delay and the fact you'd been hurt, I was beside myself with worry. If you win this thing, I wish the best of luck to your future bodyguards. Try not to worry them so much."

She used a wing to tap the button to open the elevator door, and stepped out. I was sad that she didn't want to stay my bodyguard after she graduated, but I guess I couldn't blame her. Her life shouldn't have to revolve around me. It was still a big what if I'd even need a bodyguard in a month, much less till when she graduated. Nightscape was still my bodyguard for now, and I was pretty sure my adventuring days were over. This fluffy body was not made for adventures. At least I wouldn't worry her anymore. 

I stepped out of the elevator, pulling my luggage behind me. They said Psychic Calm was going to speed up his retirement  I wondered how much time I had left and how hard the tests were going to get.