//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30: Extra Value 
// Story: Partial 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

"Well, we have one stone at least for our mission," Rebecca said, then lightly petted the stone that looked like a small child's attempt to make a pretzel that turned out deformed. "Don't worry, stone. You weren't what we were looking for, but I love you. I'm sure we'll be great friends." The stone glowed with each stroke. 

Jessica shivered at how casually Rebecca touched that thing, knowing how much power it had to contain. What was that stone learning from the pegasus? Rebecca's projection powers were already very unique. And what of her nature? It was still unclear what duplicating her nature meant. Was the stone learning to be cheerful and bubbly?

She took a sip of water from her canteen.

That last thought made her think of these stones as children learning from their parents. That made her think of Mark and what he would learn from her if she adopted him. Realistically, it was unfair to expect Mark to follow her career path or even be capable of doing so. She did want to teach him to be curious about the world around him and to try to understand it. He was very timid, and she wanted to teach him to be less so. Living in constant fear was not a proper life, not one that would make him happy. She had to set an example worth following.

"So, Luna, Smiley, and Terrance, all of you will go out as a group to search. Ashley and Jonathan can continue together in their search. Jess and I will stay here and run some tests while keeping Charlotte company while she sleeps. That also makes it so I don't have to come running back every time someone finds something," Rebecca instructed as she took a bite of her protein bar. She chewed for a moment, then swallowed. "After this round of searching, we can all relax, eat some more, and sleep. I know we have these nice quarters, but we'll all need to sleep out here unless you want to pair up in rooms. Well, aside from me and Jess, we can sleep and go potty in private."

Ashley snorted. "Why even have quarters then?" 

"This ship is getting donated, so it is more for the army's sake," Rebecca said with a shrug. 

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm not going to complain about not having to watch you shit again. As for whoever will watch me, I'm sorry, I had a lot of beans this morning."

"Again?" Smiley asked.

"She and I, along with several other mares, used to share a bathroom when we were in college," Ashley explained. "Six mares sharing one bathroom got a little chaotic at times. I suppose it isn't too different for you guys in the military. I'm used to dealing with her. In case you're wondering, she's always been like this, even before she was a Dreamwarden. She has since developed that I-say-you-do attitude that all the Dreamwardens have, but that's to be expected. A Dreamwarden tells you to do something; they expect you to do it."

"It is hard having absolute authority in the dream realm and then submitting to the authority of another. It is our nature to command," Luna said as she examined her protein bar, turning it in the air with her magic as if unsure it was food. 

"You seem to do it well enough," Jonathan pointed out. 

Luna sighed and put the bar down. "Not always, but I am more practiced at it than your wardens. I know I am not in my universe or the master of this dream realm, so I understand there are other authorities, such as the Marshmallow, who are to be obeyed here, as I expect them to do when they come to my realm. Still, it can be hard. They may have access to knowledge I do not, but there is something to be said for lived experience, and that experience makes it a little easier. I also have made…regretful decisions, trying to assert my authority. That tempers my behavior somewhat and makes me more sympathetic to those trying to reform themselves after doing things they regret."

"Which is why you were so ready to take Sunset Blessing as a student," Jonathan said. 

Luna nodded, looking sad. "I see myself in ponies such as Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Blessing, even Trixie Lulamoon. We have done dreadful things and have nothing but regret and shame for those actions. It seems sometimes as if our entire lives are spent trying to atone for past actions. This is not a healthy way of thinking, but it is hard to keep such thoughts at bay. It helps to have friends who understand how it feels."

Rebecca went back to stroking her stone. "The Dreamwardens of Earth understand that feeling. We have this guy named Joss stuck in our memories. Sha'am is there too, but she's got nothing on Joss or the primordials."

"I have my own memories of primordials," Luna whispered. "So much death. The fear of such a being coming into existence here is part of what made me act with so much haste and disregard for authorities to get a Dreamwarden active here. I stepped into this universe's dream realm and could feel it forming. Those of you who are not Dreamwardens are lucky; you do not know the terror of a primordial. There are monsters that no one can fight."

"Triss survived them; this place survived them," Jonathan pointed out. 

Rebecca shook her head. "Nothing that sleeps and has magic can survive a primordial. All it takes is for it to be in a bad mood, and every dreamer is dead. Jeg'galla'gamp'pi does not sleep, and Triss can escape to another plane of existence beyond the physical or dream realms, a place where she needs no sleep and the monsters can't find her. That is how she survived countless primordials and how she survived the Devourers. Unfortunately, that plane can only be touched by those worthy of ascension and glimpsed by some Storytellers. Only Luna could touch that place from those of us gathered here. That is what Triss seeks. She seeks the worthy, or those who could become worthy, all so she can save them from the monsters in the dark and not be alone anymore. Not everyone has it in them to be worthy, and even those that do don't usually achieve it. Triss wouldn't be so alone if it were an easy thing."

"Seems like the best defense is to have a race that does not sleep," Terrance observed. 

"I have known a fiend that did not sleep," Luna replied, gritting her teeth angrily. "His name was King Sombra, and he was wicked. He mind-controlled ponies to be his slaves, and while under his control, they did not sleep either. To have such a monster doing such things to my subjects and not being able to do anything about it filled me with rage, the likes of which you cannot imagine. He ruled over the Crystal Empire, and when it returned, my sister had to restrain me from charging in to slay the tyrant! She said Twilight and Cadence would deal with it. I was hardly reassured, and it took great restraint to let them try while keeping a calm face."

"How did the Crystal Empire vanish to begin with?" Smiley asked.  "I remember being taught about it returning in school, but no one ever says why it was gone to begin with."

Rebecca suddenly stood up. "I think we have had enough downtime for the moment. It's time to get back to work."

Everyone looked at one another, save for Rebecca, who looked like she wouldn't accept any objections, and Luna, who was staring downward, not meeting anyone's eyes. The answer to Smiley's question may not be spoken, but everyone now knew the truth of the matter. The hows weren't important; they knew the who, and they knew the why. Luna had much in her past that she regretted. Jessica wasn't the sentimental type, but she wanted to hug the alicorn. 

Everyone stood up, unsure what else to do but obey the person in charge of the mission. When Luna stood, Rebecca walked over to her and pulled her into the hug Jessica had been considering. 

"I love you, and I forgive you for the Crystal Empire. I forgive you for Nightmare Moon. I forgive you for Sha'am Maut. I even forgive you for the Hollow Shades. No one is perfect; everyone ends up doing things they regret. Sometimes, it is huge regrets, and you've had more time than the rest of us to have regrets. It's all in the past. You are loved, and you're our friend," Rebecca whispered to Luna.

You know what? What the hell? I already wanted to do the same thing, Jessica thought to herself.

Not putting too much thought into it, she walked over and joined Rebecca in hugging Luna. There was no shame in showing compassion. Ashley and Jonathan quickly followed. Smiley followed, perhaps unable to resist a group hug, and Terrance followed after that, maybe not wanting to be the only one not involved. That released the floodgates, and Luna broke down crying. 

Sometimes, everyone needed a hug.





"And for our final piece, we have something special, donated directly from Miss Gilmore!"

Andrea raised an eyebrow at Jordan, but Jordan just shrugged. She wasn't expecting this last thing to bring much, and she was already delighted with how the auction had gone. The total proceeds were over eleven million dollars! Once she refurnished the house, she would pay for any tuition she couldn't get covered by scholarships. What remained, she was going to donate. She didn't need that much money. 

The auctioneer put a chunk of burnt wood on display. "We have legitimate Skytree wood! Weighing in at three point four pounds. Bidding starts at seventy-five thousand dollars!"

Jordan's eyes bulged. She had been sitting on seventy-five thousand dollars for years? Surely, no one would pay that much for a burnt chunk of wood. 

Someone raised a sign.

"I see seventy-five! Do we have eighty?" the auctioneer asked 

Someone raised a sign. 

Someone raised another sign. "Ninety!" the bidder yelled. 

"Ninety-five!" another bidder shouted. 

"One-hundred-five!"

"One-twenty!"

"One-forty!"

Jordan couldn't believe it. It wouldn't add much to the overall total, but she couldn't believe her little chunk of wood was worth that much. It wasn't even good wood; it was at least half char! She listened in amazement as the bids grew higher and higher. 

"Five hundred thousand!" a woman with a Russian accent thundered. That was a full hundred and fifty thousand higher than the last bid. Everyone who had been in the bidding war suddenly seemed far less eager. 

"Any further bids?" the auctioneer asked. "Going once…going twice…sold, for five hundred thousand!"

The appraiser stepped forward. "That concludes today's auction. Your purchases will be packed and waiting for you at the gate."

The crowd began to exit the area, heading to cars. Guards oversaw each person. 

"Expensive piece of wood," Andrea observed as she stood up. "That thing was yours. I think you should put that money in a personal account. The rest of this was my sister's, so that's the household's, but that money should be yours and yours alone."

"A good suggestion," the Russian woman said as she approached them. She pulled an ID from her shirt and held it out. "Stephanie Adams, OMMR, elite bodyguard of Arbiter."

Jordan blinked. "What does Arbiter need with a bodyguard? She's kinda already dead."

The woman passed her ID to a nearby guard, who started checking it. 

"It tis more formality to be called bodyguard, more personal agent," Stephanie confessed. "I am one of the elite; each Dreamwarden has at least two, some more. I believe twenty of us are in total, last checked. I do as my Dreamwarden commands. Those that serve the living are better fighters. Those who serve the dead fill other roles. Forgive my accent; I hope tis not too much. I spend much of my last month in Russia. My magic lets me have local language and flavor become my own after a few days of immersion. I will be thinking in Russian for another week and will then revert back to English and speak my native language more naturally. You may not believe, but I am from Wisconsin."

"Someone with magic that helps them better communicate with the local populace and feel more like a native rather than a foreigner; sounds like something a Dreamwarden named Arbiter would value," Andrea said and looked at the guard who was checking the ID. 

"ID checks out, ma'am, and she is on Miss Blessing's list to be allowed in," the guard informed them. 

"Why pay so much for my chunk of wood?" Jordan asked. 

"Arbiter and the Dreamwardens desire items of great power, and such things are hard to find. Skytree wood is an item of great power. Most Skytree wood, except that are still in living trees, is now held in private collections," Stephanie answered. "Obtaining it was not my goal when coming, just bonus. I have more discretionary allowance than some of my comrades for such things. I am here for the mare, Carmen Sandiego. Promises were made. Dreamwardens honor their contracts."

Andrea nodded. "I'm confident Miss Gilmore has no complaints to that. Am I right, filly?"

"Yes! Of course, she can take our intruder away," Jordan said. Then her ears flattened. "You aren't going to hurt her, are you?"

Stephanie shook her head. "We shall pay her for her efforts, take her somewhere that she gets medical treatment while she recovers, and send her on her way. It seem that defenses are good. The Marshmallow shall be pleased. The Marshmallow helped design them."

That pointed to the OMMR as Auntie Sunset's secret funder for the vaults. All those fines they gave out for lesser dreamwalking rule violations, private meetings they hosted, and unbreakable NDA contracts they had businesses and the governments pay them for must have added up to a lot of funding. That was Arbiter's doing. She had reformed the OMMR into a money-making machine by emphasizing the services Dreamwardens could provide beyond counseling and maintaining order in the dream realm, then charging for those side services with little overhead costs beyond record keeping. Before that, the Dreamwardens had a fraction of the funds and depended on government and private donations to pay the bills. Now, the OMMR could pay for all kinds of side projects and purchases they could never pay for when Jordan was a little filly, like throwing half a million dollars out to buy a burnt piece of wood. 

Andrea looked around to make sure there were enough guards on duty. "Come along then. Let's go get Miss I-Wanna-Be-A-Kids-Educational-Game."

"Why do you call her that?" Jordan asked in confusion. 

"I am also curious," Stephanie said.

"Young people," Andrea lamented. "Her name is based on a late-twentieth-century video game character who was always stealing historical artifacts and even sometimes stealing the entire historic site. The players had to track her down and catch her. It was a fun way to educate kids about geography and history. Amicus used to play it all the time when we were teens, and she roped me into playing with her on and off. It had a cartoon that Sunset watched and had the most infuriatingly catchy theme song. Urgh! Now I've got it in my head. I'm glad the Marshmallow isn't here; that damn blob would be singing it; I know it."





"Where is Carmen Sandiego, Carmen Sandiego? Where on Earth can she be?" Rebecca sang as Jessica wrote down her plans for experiments. 

Jessica paused and stared at the fat Dreamwarden. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Singing," Rebecca answered with a grin. 

"Why?" Jessica asked. 

"Because I feel like it."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Can you do it a little quieter? I'm trying to think."

"Sure thing!" Rebecca answered, then started humming. "Hmmm hm hmmhmm hmmhmhmhm, hmmhmm hmmhmhmhm. Hmmmm hm hmmm hm hm hm."

That wasn't exactly what Jessica had meant, but she could ignore the noise. It wasn't the worst distraction Rebecca could be doing, and being around Rebecca, you had to accept that nothing would be calm and quiet. She wanted to adopt a kid, so she needed to learn to deal with a bit of noise. Mark made very little noise, but it would be unlikely he would stay that quiet; at least, she hoped he got a little louder. Kids were supposed to make noise. Auntie Sunset had once told her she should be more worried if a kid were quiet than loud; those keeping quiet were trying not to be noticed, and if they were trying to be unnoticed, it rarely meant anything good. 

"Do you think I would be a good mother?" she asked.

Rebecca stopped humming. "That's an odd question to ask for your experiments. The stone isn't a baby. You can't accidentally starve it like you could a child, and it won't wake up crying at night. No worries about that!"

Jessica's ears flattened. "You think I would starve a child?!"

Rebecca pursed her lips. "Well…maybe not on purpose, but I have heard about your cooking. You might end up poisoning a kid by accident. If you want, I could give you cooking lessons. I'm a great cook! You might have fun. Cooking is chemistry and physics. You love those things."

Viewing it in that light, it did seem strange she was terrible at cooking. Maybe a few lessons would help her out. Not lessons with Rebecca. She could find someone else who was a little more focused. 

"The reason I'm asking if I would be a good mother is that I'm trying to adopt a partial child named Mark. He's four," Jessica explained. 

"I suppose you would understand him better than others, and that's a good thing," Rebecca answered, sounding hesitant.

Jessica bit her lip briefly. "I hear an unsaid but in that."

Rebecca sadly nodded. "You need to do some work on yourself first. I don't want to be disrespectful. I want to give you an honest answer so you can be a great mother. I love kids, and you are my friend. I want the best for everyone. Please, don't take my feedback as anything other than me trying to help you and Mark be that happy family."

"Okay, I accept that," Jessica agreed. "And I do appreciate the honest feedback. I want what's best for Mark as well."

"Wanting what's best for Mark is the best starting point in doing right by him," Rebecca replied with a grin. Her grin quickly faded. "I need to explain some things; otherwise, you might get the wrong impressions. Anything you have discussed with anyone or anything involving this situation, I can't use any of that information if I learned it in the dream realm. So, assume I don't know what you have said to anyone or whatever other advice you may have already gotten. If I know that stuff, I must behave as if I don't until you tell me. I can be more forthcoming in the dream realm if you permit me to read your mind, but I know you don't care much for that. Honestly, I don't either. I hate knowing what's happening in others' heads—especially friends and family. I don't think any Dreamwardens like it."

Jessica nodded. "I understand how Dreamwardens rules work. I'm still open to any advice you might have."

"Good," Rebecca replied. "First thing is that you need to lighten up. You're way too serious all the time. You don't have to be Miss Non-Stop-Fun, but you have to relax and be playful sometimes. I know you can do it because I've seen you with your brothers. You're like a whole other person when interacting with them. You're warm. You joke around. You even get silly sometimes. Your relationship as a mother to a child would be much different than with your siblings—you are their caretaker and the person who has to lay down structure and order for the kid, but Mark needs to see that lighter side, too. No one is going to accuse Sunset Blessing of being the Element of Laughter, and she can get very bossy and strict with her kids, but she does lighten up around her sons in private. If Sunset Blessing can do it, I know you can too."

Jessica nodded. "Alright, that seems reasonable."

"Next…sarcasm…I know you use it when joking around. It would be best not to use sarcasm with a young child," Rebecca instructed. "When Mark gets older, like a teen or preteen, using sarcasm is something you can do, but young kids just don't get it, and it can make them get the wrong idea or feel bad. Be careful what you say in general. Young kids are very literal about everything. If you say something, they will hold to exactly what you said, regardless of what you meant. You can use analogies and metaphors, but you have to explain what they mean immediately. Also, most people aren't as smart as you, so you shouldn't assume the kid learned it after you explained it to them that one time. If it comes up again, you should explain it again. Repetition of the same lesson helps it set in. That goes for any lesson you give him about anything. You can ease up on the explaining once it is clear they have absorbed it, but be ready for a lot of repeating yourself over multiple sessions. Teaching a child anything takes patience."

"This seems like good advice…" Jessica said slowly. "...but…this sounds like things you might say to anyone. What is getting in the way of me being a good parent?"

Rebecca sighed. "Well, the lighten up thing was specific to you, along with telling you about laying off sarcasm and reminding you to have patience with others learning things—the biggest thing you would need to have more confidence in yourself for more than your smarts. You have to show the world and Mark that you are someone to be proud of. So he has someone to look up to—so he knows he can be proud of himself too."

"You sound like Violet," Jessica muttered. Adam had said as much as well. If people were telling her the same thing about her repeatedly, it was worth paying attention to it. 

"Oh! You met Violet?" Rebecca asked cheerfully. "She's great. Miss Seapony might think she's a tease with the whole, I look sexy, but you can't touch thing Violet has going on, but if that were a big deal, I'd be in trouble. I mean, look how sexy I am! Anyway, I met her when I passed through Denver—physically. She doesn't know I'm the Marshmallow, but she likes the way I carry myself. You work at the same school, don't you? She could be a good friend."

Jessica rubbed her arm. "She says she's going to try to help me out." She looked down at her stone. "Let's get back on track. I have some experiments plotted out. You said this ship can take various readings. You've already demonstrated many of those when you were getting readings on this planet. I want to start with getting readings on this thing's mass and thaumic output. I also want to weigh it. Thaumic matter, in theory, shouldn't have weight or personal gravity, yet we're standing on a planet that clearly has both, and this stone isn't just floating off into space. I'm curious where its weight comes from. We've never had access to thaumic matter on such a scale, only trace amounts artificially made in a lab, which is not behaving as expected. That tells me that either there's something else at work, or our current understanding of how thaumic matter should work is in error. Perhaps when it reaches a certain level of mass, it starts behaving more like non-thaumic matter. I will publish a paper on this when I'm done."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and softly smiled. "We can check that. I'm assuming you want to check my stone and the neutral stone as well?"

"Yes!" Jessica replied. "I hope the others find plenty of other stones. We need as many examples to study as possible. We also need plenty of non-bonded stones to compare against the bonded stones for comparison."

"Whatever makes you happy," Rebecca said.