//------------------------------//
// Chapter 123:The Binding of Rebecca Riddle 
// Story: Marshmallow Dreams 
// by Halira 
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The weight of the Oaths had seemed crippling at first, and it still hung on me like chains, but it was bearable now. I looked up again at the Dreamwardens, and they looked back at me with sympathy and compassion. I wasn't one of their number just yet, but the first part was done.

Miss Seapony swam forward and touched a fin to me. "I know that was hard, and I'm sorry it hurt. Now you have to endure the worst part. You have to let our forebearers' experiences and memories become your own. We all experience their lives, but we all focus on different things. I cannot tell you what you will see in your focus compared to what is in the background, as you are your own individual. Just know that you are still you, no matter what you may see and experience. I look forward to seeing you at the end, and greeting you as a sister."

Arbiter then stepped forward. "I may have taken no part in your Oaths, but I will be helping with your binding. I will do all I can so it doesn't overwhelm you. The binding is dangerous, and it can kill you. I was forced to do mine with no one attending to my body, and I was lucky to have survived it. Your parents and friends are standing by in the waking world, and they will ensure your safety on their end. I would tell you to prepare yourself, but there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself. This is your final chance to back out and decline; there is no going back from here. Do you wish to continue?"

That was ominous, and no one had said a thing to me before today about this could kill me. "Has it happened before? Has anyone died doing this?"

She frowned. "It has been a very long time, long before any human or pony lived, but it has happened. It is unlikely, but a warning should be given. You'd still be Dreamwarden, but you'd be trapped here with us."

I gulped. "I trust all of you and my family and friends. I'll do it."

"So it begins," Phobia Remedy said with a nod, and the six surrounded me.

There was no warning. There was just pain. Millions of images flooded my brain. Some of them were vivid; some could not be called images at all, but rather fragments of concepts. Soundless words, songs, emotions, and more passed into me from the dreams and nightmares of every magically gifted mind that now slumbered. I wished I could say what even a tenth of it all was, but it was so much, and all so different, and it just kept coming. 

I screamed.

Then abruptly, I was someone else. 





I was in darkness and became aware of the lights. Their flickering and chaos repulsed me for some reason. I ended them, and so ended myself. 





It shifted. I was aware of the gases around me. Through those gases, I altered the temperature around me, and so communicated and spoke with others like myself. I briefly marveled that my body was a contained group of gases in an almost liquid membrane, floating among plasma. Then that passing thought excited my awareness and memory, a strange idea. 

I sent out a streak of heat into the plasma and was greeted by another familiar one, my mate. We came towards one another, guided by the currents and the remembrance of our touch, and we touched. We came together, and my mate's touch committed me. Joined together, yet still individuals, I let my awareness drift, and I dreamed. 

It was time, it was the time that the old watcher of dreams would pass its mantle to me, and I would become the new. In a time long before the watchers had slain many, or so the ancient watcher so communicated with me, in ways that I had never experienced before. It said that it should happen no longer, it would bind to me for the first time an assurance to the dreamers, and life would grow and flourish in ways beyond what could be conceived. It would be given a chance.





I stood among the ruins of Jeg'galla'gamp'i, staring up at the stars above. If I looked hard enough, I could see the darkness between the stars. What would it be like to go out and visit them? I'd never know. I was born in the shadow of the ruins. I would die in the shadow of the ruins—if I were not taken by the ghosts of the Old Ones first. 

"Stop staring at the sky, Joss! Come play with me!"

I stopped looking up and smiled at my soul-friend. "You always want to play. We are supposed to be scavenging for junk."

Triss came up to me and rubbed up against me, giggling. "We can play and scavenge at the same time." She suddenly scampered off down one of the empty streets of the ancient city. "Come on! I bet you can't catch me!"

I wiggled my rump and dashed off after Triss, laughing the whole way. I didn't need the stars; I only needed her. As long as we were together, the universe was right.





I was Ter'ronel the Dreamwarden, and I was not tired, but my time was nearly upon me. 

Within the dream realm, my people slept and dreamed beautiful dreams, utterly unaware that this would be the last time they would ever sleep. 

"Dreamwarden, I would speak to you one last time."

I turned my attention to her. The ancient enemy of Dreamwardens, but the only other being that knew what was coming, she had seen it so many times before.
 
"I take it that you were unsuccessful," I said, actually feeling sad that my enemy failed. "There will be no one who ascends, no one who survives."

She shook her head. She was weeping. "It is like every time before. There is just not enough time. My students and I have made some preparations to help whoever might come next. It is a bold plan, and it will be many ages before we find out if it will work. None of my students will live to see if their work shows positive results."

"I am sorry," I replied, and I meant it. I wished that someone, anyone, would somehow live, but it was not to be. "How much time do we have left?"

"Not long," she whispered. "Your people will not get to wake."

"I thought as much," I said. "I wish we could have been more, that magic could have waited to come to us so we would have had time to make some defense. It isn't fair. In times long gone, your people were able to see other worlds. Mine have yet to even see the lands beyond the sea, never flown through the air, and never mastered sailing beyond the horizon. They will never get that chance, and it is through no fault of ours."

"You all had such potential," she wept. "I know that in moments it won't matter anymore, but thank you for letting me try, Dreamwarden."

"What else could I do with the end coming?" I asked ruefully. "It was the only chance to save anything. I should hate you more for failing, but I know you made every effort."

She looked away from me. "I will be going now. I know you may want to wake… while there's a chance."

"Yes, that is wise," I replied. "I wish you good fortune on your next attempt. I hope you bring an end to all this. Keep the hope, Triss."

"Keep the hope, Ter'ronel. May the songs of your people be sung again by others," she replied and was gone.

I awoke. The evening air ran through the windows of my house, and the smell of vegetation outside was sweet; the beasts of the farm made the same grumbles they always did in their sleep. There was nothing to indicate morning would never come. 

I got out from under the furs that covered my mat and walked silently over to where my daughter lay. Tri'bel looked so peaceful. I knew she was dreaming of that stonecutter's son from across town, the one she thought I didn't know about. I knew she found opportunities to seclude herself with him. He was a gentle mind and would have been good to her. They could have made a great household and had many offspring. They could have…

I bent down and gently laid a hand on her covers. "I treasure you, and you've brought me joy. Your mother would be so proud of you. We shall see her soon."

My tears escaped, and my body shook; it could not be helped. What could anyone do in this situation but weep? 

She stirred from her covers and looked up at me and sat up quickly as she saw my distress. "Father? What's wrong, Father? Have one of the beasts taken ill?"

"No… I am just overcome with emotion," I replied weakly. 

She embraced me. "You are a good and gentle one, Father. I treasure you. Are you certain nothing is wrong?"

The truth was not something I could tell her. I didn't want her to live her last moments in helpless fear. "I only am thinking of how much I treasure you. Will you stay awake with me until I am in control of myself?"

"Yes, Father."

She kept ahold of me as the moments passed, and then there was no more.





I was Luna, and I was yelling.

"Weeee! Faster, Tia, faster!"

My sister galloped through the snow, laughing and pulling me along on our sled. The snow was knocked back onto my face as Celestia ran, but I didn't care. The trees whooshed by us, and I spread my wings and imagined I was flying. Surely this was what it felt like to fly. 

Tia made a turn and abruptly tried to stop. She was able to stop, but the sled and I weren't stopping just because the unicorn pulling it had. We collided with her, and suddenly I was no longer the only passenger. The reason my sister intended to stop became obvious a second later as the sled hit a steep slope down. Celestia and I gripped one another tightly and let out a louder combined yell as the speed of the sled accelerated. 

Down the slope, we sped. I instinctively shifted my weight from side to side to help us dodge obstacles while my sister tried to clear branches out of the way with her magic. The trek down the mountain was dangerous, but we were a team. Neither of our tribes may have entirely accepted us. They saw us as polluted. Still, I would say we were the best unicorn and pegasus fillies in the world, and no mountain was going to stop the unstoppable team of Luna and Tia!

We zipped down the mountain, going faster and faster. Then both of us screamed as we saw a new cliff approaching. There was no way to stop; we were going to go over. 

The sled went over the cliff, and we were airborne. I beat my wings savagely, trying to get a lift. I was too little to fly, but maybe I could help, at least a little. My sister lit her horn and tried to help as well. It seemed an eternity that we were in the air, and then, suddenly, we hit the ground and were zooming forward again. 

We survived! I knew no mountain could stop us! I laughed with relief and joy, and so did Tia as we sped towards town. Our laughter stopped as we saw a new obstacle, a great mound of snow that had been piled just on the edge of town. I closed my eyes as I braced for the inevitable collision. 

The sled hit the mound, knocking snow everywhere, and flipped. Both my sister and I fell and landed on our backs in the snow. We both stared upward for a moment before we broke out into a new round of giggling and laughter. 

Tia pumped her legs upward. "Take that mountain!"

I imitated her action. "Yeah, you aren't so tough!"

We continued to laugh and giggle for a moment more before we realized we were being surrounded by other ponies, ponies that looked angry. Uh-oh. 

"You little half-breeds, look at the mess you made!"

"Don't know why that crazy unicorn keeps them around, should have let the little abominations just freeze and starve!"

"I worked all day clearing that snow from the road, and they undo all my work in an instant!"

"They'll never be worth anything! Just trouble for the rest of us!"

Tia pulled me into a hug, and we both shivered as one insult after another was hurled at us. Why did they have to hate us so much? We were just having some fun, and it wasn't our fault we had different tribes of parents. It shouldn't matter; Tia was just as good a unicorn as any other unicorn, and I was just as good a pegasus. 

The shouting died down as a shadow fell over us, and we looked up at the source. Star Swirl had arrived, looking down at us with a raised eyebrow. He must have been eating because he still had gruel caught up in his tiny black beard and mustache. 

"Are you two uninjured?" he asked us. 

"We're good," Tia responded; I nodded in agreement. 

He nodded and lit his horn, levitating our sled over to us. "I think we should go home then."

"Yes, Mister Star Swirl," the two of us replied together. 

We got back to our hooves. Tia grabbed the reins of the sled, and we started walking. 

As we passed by all the huts, I noticed ponies whispering worriedly to one another and looking at the sky. They barely paid us any attention at all. Usually, they'd be glaring at us, but today, aside from when we made a mess with the snow, they barely even cared. Starswirl was quiet too, and he usually lectured us.

"Is something wrong, Mister Star Swirl?" I asked as we walked.

He seemed to be startled that someone had spoken to him. He must have been deep in thought. "It's a sad day, little fillies. Clover the Clever has burnt himself out trying to raise the sun."

"Oh, no! Not Mister Clover!" Tia gasped. 

Star Swirl nodded. "It is sad but true. He is being taken care of but will never be able to use his horn again. It's the unfortunate reality that raising the sun is too much for unicorns to do over and over, even participating in teams, even if they are as great and powerful as Clover. I fear that our tribe may not survive this. It is our penance for breaking the sun."

"You won't burn yourself out, will you, Mister Star Swirl?" I asked worriedly. I'd seen burnt-out unicorns before; they looked so sad and broken.

He gave me a small smile. "No unicorn intends for it to happen, but I won't stop assisting in raising the sun. We all depend on it rising each day, and that's more important than any one unicorn, even me. All tribes depend on this…all life depends on this."

My sister and I looked at one another and met each other's eyes. We didn't have to speak; we knew what one another was thinking by our eyes. 

"But let's not think of that now," Starswirl said. "You two are going to be having a special lesson today. You're going home and taking a nap."

"A nap? What kind of lesson is a nap?" I asked in confusion.

He chuckled. "Your grandsire on your father's side was one of those leathery-winged mountain ponies. They have special magic that works with dreams. I am trying to see if either of you inherited this."

I frowned—more magic stuff. Magic stuff was typically Tia. Mister Star Swirl thought we might be stronger than normal ponies because we had mixed heritage. All the other ponies thought he was crazy. Other ponies said we could only be weaker because of it. I was sure I wasn't weak, and I was just as good as any other pegasus—maybe better, but I wasn't confident I would be able to ever do unicorn stuff or earth pony stuff. We were just normal fillies, not anything special. 

"Maybe this will be your thing," Tia said hopefully. 

"I doubt it," I muttered. 

"I wouldn't be so sure," Star Swirl said. "I know that neither of you has been able to demonstrate earth pony traits, but you, in particular, are very much like the mountain ponies. They tend to have darker colorations and are nocturnal. You wouldn't happen to know a filly that absolutely refuses to go to bed at a decent hour, would you?"

I blushed. "But the stars are so pretty, and you can't see them during the day!"

"I agree," Star Swirl answered. "I just wish you wouldn't keep me up because you are so eager to see them." We reached our hut, and he pulled the curtain aside. "Now, if you can't manage it, don't feel bad. I think that ponies are stronger if our tribes intermingle, which is why I spend so much time trying to see if you can do anything outside your normal tribal abilities. However, even if I turn out to be wrong, you are still just as good a pegasus, Luna, and you are just as good a unicorn, Celestia, as any other pony, and I won't stop loving and caring for you both. The other ponies are fools for thinking we all need to be purebred, and it may lead to our destruction. It almost has already. I'll be casting a spell to try to help you two break through to the dream realm. If you can do it at least once with my help, you should be able to do it on your own after."

"We'll show them, Mister Starswirl," Celestia declared. "I bet I'll raise the sun all by myself someday, then they'll see."

Star Swirl blinked and laughed. "That would be quite a feat, but, please, don't try anything so foolhardy. I don't want you burning yourself out trying to do the impossible."

I wanted to cry thinking about it. "Yeah, Tia. Don't hurt yourself!"

Tia didn't relent. "It's only impossible until somepony does it. I feel it, a connection when I look at the sun. It's like it's part of me."

I wanted to tell her she was being silly, that the sun couldn't be part of her. She'd burn up! But whenever I looked at the night sky, I felt the same thing, so I understood. We'd show all these stuck-up ponies. We would do great things. 





I was Lakshmi Dhar, and I was happy. 

I sat in the servants' quarters, sewing the buttons onto a doll to make its eyes. I paused and touched a hand to my belly and smiled.

"Why are you sewing a doll? You don't know yet if it is a boy or girl," my friend Ananya said from where she sat, mending her clothes.  

I giggled. "It will be a girl, I know it. I have already picked out her name. Her name shall be Chaaya."

"You would have been better served spending your money on food than materials for that doll," Ananya said in a tired voice. "Major Salisbury had me toiling all day in the kitchens to fix him a meal, yet they claim we have to keep sending our crops back to Europe for the war. Soon there will be nothing left to eat."

I looked over at her and frowned. "You exaggerate. No war so far away could take all our food. The major won't let us starve, even if food were to get harder to find."

"You're blind if you think that," Ananya said bitterly. "These British, they only consume and care nothing for us."

I looked around hurriedly before turning to whisper. "Don't say such things! Do you wish to be put out!"

She bit her lip and shook her head. "You should watch yourself too. You think yourself privileged because that's the major's child, but he won't claim it."

I went wide-eyed and made a shushing gesture to her. "Keep silent. If the madame knew…"

She laughed. "She already does and doesn't care. I don't think you understand; you aren't a person to her. Therefore his sleeping with you was not a betrayal. You are a thing to be used and thrown away. All of us are. These British are not humans; they are beasts."

I wanted to yell at her, but getting agitated would hurt the baby. "You are wrong, and I will not discuss it further."

I settled back into sewing the doll. I may never be rich or have much power, but I didn't need it. As long as I had my daughter, everything would be right in the world, and that I would ever need. Love would sustain us.





I was Yinyu Wu Yan, and it was just days after the end of ETS, and I was filled with dread.

When I had the vision, I was one of the few night ponies in my area who refused to spread it. It seemed a beautiful world, but also a dull one, far too mundane. There was no adventure to it, no going out and trying new things, just having your job assigned by what tribe you were. There was no room for a wide variety of passions. The world needed passion.

Now my fellow ponies were making me wish they were not so passionate. 

I stared down from my perch atop a building as soldiers gathered earth ponies into vans. I'd warned them this would happen. They couldn't go digging up the land without government permission. It could only end in sorrow. They hadn't listened, and now they were being taken away, perhaps never to be seen again. 

"We should fly down and save them," one of my fellow night ponies said from close by. We were gathered together, five of us on the roof, all watching the arrests happen.

Part of me agreed. In fact, all my instincts screamed at me that I needed to defend my fellow ponies, but I held myself back. "No, we must stay here. We can't save them. We will only make things worse."

"They are being arrested. You know what that could mean. How could it be worse?" my comrade demanded.

I shook my head, nearly crying. "They have guns and numbers; we can't fight them. We'd be shot and killed. We'd also raise their anger at all the ponies here. Right now, they are only arresting the earth ponies that destroyed property. They are leaving the rest of us alone. What happens if they think that all the ponies are their enemy? It won't be just us and those few earth ponies suffering; it will be everypony. We must stay put, and not obey instincts that will lead us into ruin."

"The prostitute speaks the truth. Sadly, she has wisdom and the rest of you do not," another of the night ponies said. 

I didn't feel any shame at being called a prostitute, it was what I had been, and my mark said that I still very much continued to be. I was also a night pony, and as a night pony, it was my job to defend my fellow ponies. Sometimes defending my fellow ponies meant speaking out against them when they were going to do something that could hurt us all. 

The vans were loaded, and the soldiers dispersed, at least all the extra ones who had shown up. 

"The sun is high. We should be going to sleep," another night pony mumbled. 

I stood up and spread my wings. "I'll join you soon. I need to check on my daughter. If anypony is still awake when I join you, maybe we can have some fun."

Stiff laughter greeted that declaration, but no objections. I almost let myself smile, but my heart was too heavy for that. 

I flew down into the camps and to where I knew my daughter was waiting for me. It didn't take long for me to find her, and the little blue pegasus filly looked at me with adoring eyes.

"Mama! You were gone so long. I was afraid," she exclaimed as she grabbed into my legs.

I wrapped a wing around her in a hug. She was so tiny now. "I must sleep soon, but I wanted to be sure you were safe."

Disappointment immediately came to her face. I felt bad that I couldn't spend as much time with her since our transformations, my nocturnal nature was a serious hindrance. Luckily, there were others who were willing to help her. I was with foal now, it was recent, since ETS. I didn't know how I knew, given it could only have been a few days, but I knew. Would they be another day pony I could not properly watch grow? My cutie mark had come earlier than most other ponies, and I knew in my heart that it meant I could never go back to being human and would forever be bound to the night.

"You will stay with the Chu family, and wait for me?" I asked. 

She gave me a sad nod, then her face brightened. "Mama! I practiced flying earlier, and I can almost do it. Watch me and see."

She began rapidly flapping her tiny wings, and she did manage to get a little bit of lift, rising perhaps a half-meter off the ground before she let herself drop, panting to the ground. Her wings were still too small and her magic still too weak for her to properly fly, but she put her heart into trying. She would grow, and grow stronger, I wished I would be able to see every moment of that, but it might not be possible.

"That's excellent progress," I praised. "Soon you'll be flying beside me, and eventually you'll be better in the air than me."

"Is that true?" she asked excitedly. 

I nuzzled her. "Yes. I'm sure you'll be the best flyer there ever was. Just keep trying." 

"Yes, Mama."

I regretted again that I couldn't spend time with her, but every pony needed to sleep, and my body demanded that I do it during the day. I'd tried to fight that, but my body refused to cooperate. I flew over to where the other night ponies slept and found them all already asleep. That meant there would be no final bits of fun, but today was not a day that my heart was truly in it anyway. I cuddled up with them and draped a wing over my head

It didn't take long to find myself in a dream. My dreams had become so much more vivid since becoming a pony, and I was aware they were merely dreams. It was expected by this point. What wasn't expected was seeing that I had a visitor, one that I had met once before in a dream.

Luna smiled at me. "Hello, Yinyu Wu Yan. I am sorry to intrude into your dream, but I wanted to discuss a possible job position with you. An important position that will let you help ponies everywhere."





I was myself again, but I was not where I expected. Colors swirled and glowed around me. I could not feel any dreams—or more accurately, I felt like they were there, but beyond a curtain.

"Hello?" I called out, or more accurately, projected out my thoughts. "What's happening? I don't remember this happening to anyone else."

"Hello, Rebecca Riddle—that is your name, is it not? Moses knows you, therefore so do I."

I knew the voice, but couldn't place it. It was like the knowledge of it was also behind that curtain. 

"Who is there?" I called out again. "I don't see you."

An image of a woman materialized in front of me, and I felt shock as I recognized her.

"Lakshmi?" I asked in confusion.

She tilted her head. "Lakshmi? Yes, that was one of my names once. It feels like an eternity ago, and I've had so many names since, and so many times that I had no name. So much pain, so much death, but also so much hope and joy. There have been innumerable people that I have lived as, and not just humans and ponies. I have lived as species long extinct and alien to your understanding of life– though you have undergone the binding, so you may understand some. How long has it been since I last was in the dream realm?"

I gulped. "Eight years. It has been eight years since you were bound in an Eternal Dream. You shouldn't be here. Are you a memory, a figment of my imagination, or something Moses is doing?? 

She looked surprised. "Only eight years? I have endured so much. But I must assume that it is true. I am no figment, and to call me a memory would be inaccurate. Calling me a soul might be best, or at least a portion of one. I am fully aware, at least for now, soon I'll be lost again, and back to sleep within Moses."

"How are you here? It shouldn't be possible?"

She looked around herself. "And do you know where here is? You're somewhere you may never be again, or at least hope never to be. You are on the border between realms where the dream meets the story. Dreamwardens can only touch this place twice, once when they are bound, and again when they have nowhere else to go."

"Yet you're here a third time," I replied. 

She smiled. "Well, I'm a Dreamwarden no longer, so that makes me a special exception."

I shook my head. "I don't understand what's going on. How are you here? Why are you here?"

"It is best not to try to understand the workings of the Story. It is much like Equestria's Harmony. However, Equestria's Harmony seeks to maintain order. The Story isn't interested in order. The Story is just interested in not getting bored. You only need to know I'm interceding," she said with a smug grin. "The Story is allowing it. I wish you to give a new Oath. One that the others have not taken."

I gave her a suspicious stare. "What Oath do you want me to give? You don't have the best reputation."

She nodded. "Understandable. I do not fault you for being wary, but I was a different person with a different name the last I was here. Hear my Oath and make your own decision. I wish that if you ever have severe doubt about your worthiness, enough that you're confident you were a mistake, that you either retire or banish yourself to the eternal dream."

"Is it wrong to doubt myself?" I asked, uncertain of why she was asking for this. "It seems like I should be better off questioning myself. Everyone should question their actions and take feedback."

"A little doubt can be good, but a lot of doubt can be poison," she replied. "The universe cannot abide such a poison festering in one granted such power and responsibility. We have seen it before, and no good ever came of it. Take this Oath, and help guard the universe against any who are unworthy of the mantle– as I was and as Joss was."

I sat and considered, weighing whether this was a bad or good thing. Adding an Oath was no small thing. It would carry over to the generations that followed me. My decision impacted every Dreamwarden to come.

"I swear it."