//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: Nostalgia // Story: Partial // by Halira //------------------------------// Amicus looked out at the expanse of stars and breathed. She rarely visited the dream realm, even though the Dreamwardens had granted her dreamwalking abilities. She honestly had no clue how to use those abilities, even though she’d had them for years. However, she could pull herself into the general realm and request services. Again, that wasn’t something she often did, but a mood had overtaken her, and she could afford to splurge a few dollars on an experience.  “Arbiter, I’m feeling nostalgic now that we have this new young mare in the house. It makes me want to remember when I was young. Can you pull up one of my memories of me, Andrea, and Sunset when we were young? I know we fought a lot back then, and good memories might be a stretch, but can it be something where we were getting along?” she asked. “You don’t have to give me the full disclaimer and explanation of terms. I know them, and accept them.” The scene shifted to their house they lived in when they were in South Carolina, or at least, its backyard. It was a sunny day. Amicus’s younger self was laying back in a a pool chair, sunning herself in a string bikini, reading a biography of Jimmy Carter, while smoking a cigarette. An open can of soda sat on the ground beside her. If she had to guess, she was fifteen or sixteen at the time. She’d forgotten how vain she used to be about her appearance.  Andrea’s younger self, wearing blue jeans and a red flannel shirt, stepped out the backdoor and lit up her own cigarette. Andrea took a few puffs before walking over, leaning down to get a look at what Amicus was reading, then laughed.  “Kristin, you are such a dork. You’re reading about Jimmy Carter?” Andrea asked with amusement. “Is that for some class? If it isn’t, that just makes you even more of a dork.” Amicus’s younger self glared up at her older sister and took a long draw from her cigarette. “He is a great man and humanitarian. I respect him and look up to him. Plus, it is always good to educate yourself about US history. You could stand to study more.” In Amicus’s humble opinion, her sister still could stand to study more. Andrea shrugged. “I’ll study in college when it’s stuff that matters. This is my senior year. It only comes once. I’m going to have as much fun as I can. For the rest of this year I am only studying enough to coast through my classes. I’m not stressing myself out.” Her younger self rolled her eyes, brushed out her cigarette, and flicked it out into the yard. Andrea scowled and marched out to where the butt had landed, and picked it up. Then Andrea returned to the back patio and put the cigarette butt in the soda can.  “Hey! I was drinking that!” Amicus’s younger self protested as she slammed her book shut.  “Who cares?” Andrea replied and took another puff. “Don’t flick your shit into the backyard. It will make the backyard look trashy.” On this one, Amicus had to agree with her sister. Amazing what several decades can do for a perspective. Honestly, the fact the younger versions of themselves were smoking at all was kind of disgusting.  “I thought you weren’t going to stress yourself out. Why are you having a cow about this?” Kristin grumbled.  “Messes stress me out,” Andrea answered as she took another long draw and then put her own into the can as she let out her plume. She then sighed. “Actually, I wanted to ask a favor.” “Help with what?” Kristin asked.  Andrea scratched her arm. “I’ve got a date coming up. Would you help me with my makeup? You’re better at that stuff than me.” She spread her arms. “Look at me. Do I look like I know anything about eye blush and lipstick and whatnot? I’m not fuckin’ Cindy Crawford like you.” Was Cindy Crawford even still alive? It seemed probable, but she must have dropped off the map into obscurity in her old age.  Kristin smiled. “You think I look like Cindy Crawford? That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about me. It’s eyeliner, by the way. Blush you put on your cheeks.” “See, I had no idea! Anyway, don’t let it get to your head, or I’ll tell your boyfriend you spend like an hour every day playing Mortal Kombat,” Andrea snapped back.  Kristin laughed. “For starters, I play Mortal Kombat 2 for about an hour every day. The first Mortal Kombat was sooo last year. You need to keep up with the times. Second, Danny knows I play. He likes that his girlfriend can actually put up a fight against him in a video game. I even let him win, most of the time. I can’t let him win all the time, or he’ll know I’m letting him. Boys don’t like that.” Amicus rolled her eyes. Guess she had to please the patriarchy. She was going to miss having Méng around. He was the only person in the house she could sit down and play that original Street Fighter 2 arcade machine with. The whippersnapper had learned the hard way that even as a pony, she still had the translated muscle memory to pull moves off without effort. She’d tried getting Sunset and the other colts to try, but they quickly got frustrated with the controls and called the game unbalanced and unfair–the unicorns saying that to an earth pony seemed very ironic. As for her husband… poor Legal Brief was a lost cause at any gaming past Pong, and he was even bad at that. Méng had taken a while to get good, but he eventually became a fairly even opponent to face off against, depending on character matchups. Maybe Jordan might be willing to play…if she didn’t auction off the arcade machine. Amicus hoped she hadn’t auctioned off that machine.  Charlotte walked out the backdoor at that moment, wearing black…everything. Oh, yeah, this phase. The phase that Sunset had gone to great lengths to destroy all photographic evidence of ever having gone through. The fact that Sunset’s thirteen year old self was wearing a pentagram necklace was downright hilarious. Sunset would never live down this phase…ever.  “Hey, look, Wednesday Addams has arrived,” Andrea said snidely. “What are you doing outside? I thought getting sun was against your religion or something.” “Can I get a cigarette from one of you two?” Charlotte asked.  “No! These are ours. Steal one of Mom’s,” Andrea snapped.  “She doesn’t have any open packs laying around,” Charlotte countered, stompping a foot.  “Just grab a whole pack from the carton. Believe me, unless it is like one of the last three packs, she won’t notice. I used to pull that all the time when I first started. You’d better hurry if you’re going to do it. Mom and Dad should be both getting home in the next hour or so,” Kristin said, seemingly unconcerned she was advocating stealing another person’s property or promoting delinquency in a minor. Amicus wanted to cover her face in shame.  “What if she catches me doing it?” Charlotte whined.  Kristin shrugged. “Then the cats out of the bag. She lets me and Andrea smoke; she’ll probably let you. Yeah, she’ll probably yell, but can she really be that surprised between the whole goth thing you’ve got going on and having two older sisters who smoke? It’s like a given that you’ll be smoking. She probably already knows and hasn’t said anything. Mom’s not stupid.” That had ended up being true. She wasn’t sure how long it had taken for Charlotte to get caught in the act, but what followed had gone as her younger self had described. There was some yelling, lots of declarations of how disappointed their parents were with Charlotte, then they just let her do it because stopping her was going to be next to impossible and holding her easy access to cigarettes as leverage for maintaining good grades and keeping her room clean was too effective a tactic not to use–they’d done the exact same thing to Amicus and Andrea. Well, they had tried to stop Andrea for a while, then gave up after it was clear that wasn’t working, then barely put up a fight about it with Amicus, since they’d already conceded with one kid and couldn’t let one get away with it and not the other. Was it the best parenting tactic? That was debatable, but sometimes you just had to assess the situation and do your best to find something that works. It doesn’t always work out to an ideal solution, but sometimes there are no ideal situations to be had. All three of them had ended up quitting long before their mother.  “Earth to Kristin! Are you going to help me or not?” Andrea fumed.  Kristin waved a hand at her. “Okay, okay. I’ll help you with your makeup. Maybe we can do something about your wardrobe too. You look like a dyke.” “I can help with makeup,” Charlotte offered.  “I don’t want to go to my date looking like the Bride of Frankenstein, thank you,” Andrea said. Charlotte frowned and looked away. “Hey! No retort? Did I hit a nerve? What gives? Have those girls been picking on you again?” “Don’t worry about it,” Charlotte mumbled.  “Bullshit! Nobody picks on my sisters!” Andrea growled.  Sunset always ended up rubbing people the wrong way and making people want to come after her. In Sunset’s younger self’s defense, the abrasive additude normally came after she’d already been targeted for bullying. However, the abrasiveness made the bullies more insistent on repeatedly targeting her.  “You literally pick on Charlotte all the time, including right before you asked her if those girls were picking on her again,” Kristin said dryly.  How Andrea managed to keep out of the same situation as their youngest sister, Amicus never understood. Andrea was always abrasive, then and now.  “That’s different,” Andrea countered. ”I’ll go beat those girls’ skinny asses.” “No, you’re old enough that you get tried as an adult if you do that and they decide to press charges. So you can’t,” Kristin reminded her.  Andrea pointed at her. “Then you’ll have to go do it.” Kristin pointed at herself. “Me?! What the hell am I supposed to do?” “Something,” Andrea answered flippantly.  Charlotte stomped. “I can deal with my own problems. I don’t need you two getting tangled up in them and getting in trouble!” Andrea walked over to Charlotte and hugged her. “We’re family. Your problems are our problems. Don’t you ever forget that. Family stands or falls together.” Kristin fluttered her lips. “Fine. I’ll do something, but it won't be kick their asses. Maybe I can scrounge up some dirt on them. That’s how you beat popular snots. You hit them where it really hurts, their popularity and egos. Charlotte can help me help you with the makeup. She does know what she’s doing, and has a steady hand. I doubt she’ll try to goth you up. It can be her way of paying me back for helping her out with those bitches.” “Fine,” Andrea conceded. “I do appreciate you two helping.” “What’s family for?” Kristin answered.  The memory faded, leaving her again I'm the starry expanse. It wasn’t the most heartwarming or special memory, but in terms of her and her sisters when they were teens, it was as close to the best she was going to get. There were flickers there of who they would become, and things they always were, despite the change in species. Sunset had been the one to change the most, but she was always the most adaptable of them, and there had still been echoes of her present self back in this memory. Still, it was hard to remember them being like that…the perils of becoming a pony and of getting old.  “Thank you, Arbiter. I’d like to get back to regular dreaming now.” The starry expanse faded, and so did the awareness she was asleep. Jordan yawned as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. Today hadn’t been so bad. She’d made half-a-million dollars for herself. Despite her messing up letting Carmen onto the property, it was hard to be sad after that. Plus, the auction had made a lot more money than that.  Tomorrow, she would go out scouting for new furniture. She could maybe bring Amicus along with her to help pick things out. Perhaps she could go scout the college and speak with the admissions office after Jessie got back in town. Getting admitted shouldn’t be an issue. She’d made mostly A’s in high school, her SATs scores had been fairly high, and although she had dropped out of Winthrop, there had been an excellent reason, and she hadn’t had time to fail anything there–not that she would.  She took a sip of her drink. Things had started off kind of rocky when she arrived, but they were looking up. It was an adjustment period. She had this.  Her phone started ringing, and she looked to see who it was. It was Jackie. A quick tap answered it.  “Jackie, what are you doing calling this late?” Jordan asked as she answered. “You’re two hours ahead of me. You should be in bed.” “I’ve been at the hospital the last four hours,” Jackie answered, sounding exhausted. “Dad had an episode. He started coughing and it just wouldn’t stop, and he was struggling to breathe at all. Don’t worry, they took care of it. He’s on oxygen right now and resting.” Jordan’s eyes bulged. “Four hours?! Why are you just now calling to tell me?” “What were you going to do when you’re halfway across the country?” Jackie asked. “The anxiety about Dad was making Mom act crazy, and I had to focus on watching her. She just fell asleep. This is my first free moment tonight. I’m calling to let you know what happened, and to tell you he’s okay, at least for now.” Jordan felt her stomach tighten. “What do you mean by for now?”  Jackie sighed. “Dad’s going to have to have regular oxygen treatments from now on, likely for the rest of his life. His lungs are never going to get better The Cataclysm just did too much of a number on them. He shouldn’t have ever gone out searching for us in all that smoke.” “He was worried about us,” Jordan reminded her.  “And now we have to be worried about him because of that,” Jackie said bitterly. “Jordan…I can’t do this. Mom isn’t taking this well, and I’m not sure she can help him if something goes wrong. Her mind gets all screwy as the stress goes up, and she can’t function. It’s been like dealing with a toddler dealing with her today. Heck, I think a toddler would have been easier to deal with. If she doesn’t get her head back together, she’s not going to be able to work, and Dad really shouldn’t be working. That’s no income for either of them, and I can’t support them. I would have to drop out of college and take two jobs working full time to support them, especially with Dad’s medical expenses and if Mom needs therapy–which she does, believe me.” “So…what are you going to do?” Jordan asked.  Jackie sighed. “I’m sorry for asking this, but do you still have that chunk of wood? Skytree wood is super expensive, more expensive than platinum. If I could sell that, I could pay for all this stuff, and get nurses to do at-home visits for Mom and Dad. I can set aside some to help cover food and their utilities. I’m not sure what either of them have for retirement, and now isn’t a great time to be trying to question them about it–I honestly don’t even understand how all that crap works; I’m nineteen, retirement funds shouldn’t be on my mind. I know they both still have some time to go before social security kicks in.” Jordan blushed. “I kinda already sold it. I was auctioning off a bunch of Auntie Sunset’s stuff today, and I felt like I should auction at least something of mine, so I did, but I can give you the proceeds. It was a lot more than I thought it would be for that wood. half-a-million dollars. I was thinking a few thousand at best, since it was all burnt up.” “Half-a-million? Really” Jackie asked in amazement. “If only we knew that stuff was going to be worth a lot. Everyone would have been out gathering it after the Cataclysm. It was everywhere.” Jordan took a deep breath. “Would it be better if they were moved here? I have all these guards who can keep an eye on them. You shouldn’t have to be watching them all the time.” “I’m the eldest kid, it should be my responsibility,” Jackie said, sounding flustered.  “Phobia’s the eldest, not you,”  Jordan reminded her.  “She was grown-up and out on her own before Dad married Mom or you or I were in the picture, so she doesn’t count,” Jackie asserted.  “Well, both Phobia and I have resources you don’t, and you were just saying you couldn’t do this,” Jordan countered. “I’m the best choice to do something. I have this big mansion and guards who can keep an eye on Mom and Dad. Even Phobia wouldn’t already have an easy solution ready to go.” “But you’re the youngest,” Jackie pouted.  Jordan flicked an ear. “Is this a pegasus pride thing? I might be your little sister, but I’m not that much younger than you. I’m not even a full year younger than you; for the dozen days between our birthdays we’re the same age. I’m in the best position to handle this; let me do it. I’ve got extra support here with the guards. I have two lawyers living with me who can help me make sense of what is going on with the medical bills, retirement, and all that if I need help figuring that out–which I probably will because I don’t know any more about that stuff than you. I have lots of support. The support you have is going to me or Phobia, and even with that support, you could end up having to make big sacrifices that could impact you for the rest of your life, especially if you have to drop out of college to take care of Mom and Dad.” “I don’t know. Mom and Dad might not even agree to doing it,” Jackie said.  “Then that’s how you can help out most, by convincing them that moving in with me is for the best,” Jordan replied.  Jackie let out a long sigh. “Fine, let me see what I can do. Let me get some sleep. I’m exhausted. I just wanted make sure I called you before bed.” Jordan smiled. “Okay, sis. I love you.” “Love you too. Good night .” “Good night.” Andrea stepped into the room as Jordan disconnected the call. “Did I hear that right? You are trying to move your parents here?” Jordan frowned. “My dad isn’t well, and my mom might have some mental issues going on. They need to be somewhere they can be taken care of.” The old crystal pony grimaced. “I only met Tom once when Sunset married him. I didn’t like him.” Jordan quirked an eyebrow at the crystal pony. “You don’t like anyone, and I’m sure my dad has changed a lot since you met him. I’m told he mellowed out a lot after he became a pony. He hurt his lungs back during the Cataclysm by spending too much time out in the smoke and fire, and made it worse by trying to head towards the heart of the blaze before the police forced him back. He was trying to find me and Jackie and save us.” “They are on the welcomed list, though I have no idea why,” Andrea remarked.  “Mom and Auntie Sunset never got along, but Dad got along with Auntie Sunset,” Jordan replied. “Seems weird, honestly. I figured a divorced couple would hate each other more.” “Phobia,” Andrea answered. “They both loved your older sister, and both wanted to be there for her. Plus, they had each gotten involved with someone else before they finalized the divorce. Your dad was still married to my sister when you were conceived. You’re technically a foal born from an affair.” Jordan blinked. She had never really known exactly when her dad and Auntie Sunset divorced. She had just figured they were already divorced by the time she was conceived. Andrea looked at her expression and her expression softened. “Well, it is a technicality. I think that their divorce happening was a moot point after ETS. That’s when Sunset finally admitted what Amicus and I had known since we were kids–that she was a lesbian. Believe me, it was so god-awfully obvious to us, even if our parents didn’t see it, and Sunset would never admit to it. The nineties and turn of the millennium were a different time, and unless you were living in a very liberal part of California or something, you didn’t ever admit you were attracted to the same sex. I’m not even sure our parents would have accepted it back then, and after Sunset got caught up in all that church stuff, she sure as hell wasn’t going to come out. That makes her refusal to admit to it understandable. Anyway, South Carolina has weird laws about you have to be separated for so long before finalizing a divorce, but my sister sped up the process by submitting pictures of her and Tonya doing the dirty to prove she had cheated on him. Pretty sure your mom showing up to court heavily pregnant showed that your dad hadn’t been faithful either.” “Can we not talk about this?” Jordan said, feeling uncomfortable.  She didn’t know why this made her uncomfortable. Nothing was changed about her relationship to anyone in her family by it, but the idea that her dad had still been married to Sunset Blessing when she was conceived just felt…she didn’t know what to say it felt like, only uncomfortable. Maybe it felt like she was more directly tied to Sunset Blessing than she thought. Even though there was no reason to feel that, it still did. Maybe the fact that there was infidelity going on made her uncomfortable, even if that marriage had been over in everything but name. She probably wouldn’t care about any of this, only count it as gossip, but she was made during all this, so it felt personal.  “Okay, filly. If that’s what you want,” Andrea replied. “I need to get to bed anyway.” The old mare turned and left.  Jordan shook her head to clear it. She was getting worked up over nothing. This was something she should have realized years ago, if she’d bothered to put two and two together. It was just the shock of having someone else point it out to her.  It was time for bed.  Paul stood on the balcony of his sister's temple, looking out at the green rolling hills, pristine forests, and clean rushing rivers, waiting for his daughter to fall asleep. There was a massive full moon, yet no sun in the cloudless blue sky, and the area still seemed filled with daylight. Devon and Robby waited along with him, standing close to the pillars. Oil lamps hung on many pillars, glowing softly in the daylight. Why his sister chose to have these when she let the area be filled with sunlight, he did not know. Tonya was not visibly present; her golden throne sat empty on its dias, but this entire temple existed at her will, and she was present in everything in the dream realm.  "Amazing that Tonya can make all of this," Paul said wistfully.  "Not that big a deal, Dad," Robby said as he walked over and joined Paul at the balcony. "You know my talent is for making dreamscapes. I could do something like this. It would take some work, but I could do it. As a Dreamwarden, Aunt Tonya is barely even trying with this," Robby looked up. "But she must be feeling a bit anxious." Paul frowned down at his son. "Why do you say that?" Robby gestured with a wing at the sky. "No clouds in the sky. Aunt Tonya is still a pegasus at heart, and pegasi enjoy clouds. She's in a mood–not a bad one, not a good one, just a mood. Moods get complicated. You learn to read the symbolism of dreams as a dreamwalker,  and you pay closer attention to those details when dealing with Dreamwardens." Devon joined them on the balcony. "We could guess she was in a mood because she's hiding. You'd think she would be more eager to talk to us since she never gets to see us. She isn’t even paying attention to us.” "She sees you every time you sleep, even if she doesn't interact," Robby reminded her. "A lot of the Dreamwardens do this. They don't make themselves appear present unless there's some need, but Arbiter, Yinyu, and Ghadab are always watching and listening." He pointed a wing at a river. "Hey, Aunt Tonya, can you please put a rainbow over that river?" A rainbow immediately appeared over the river, and Robby lowered his wing.  "See, she's listening." Paul still wanted to actually see his sister. “Tonya, can you please appear and talk to us? I rarely get to see you.” The entire field of view reoriented itself, and now they were standing before Tonya’s golden throne. On the throne sat Tonya, in her Dreamwarden form, towering over them like the Statue of Zeus, her copper staff in one hand and a wooden bowl filled with fruit cupped in the other. The sky beyond the temple’s pillars had darkened, and the lamps glowed brighter.  “This wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Paul muttered.  She smiled down at him. “This is a reminder of who you’re dealing with, brother. I may be your sister, but I am also the Warden of Song and the Bringer of Death’s Dream, and this is my domain, and I appear when and how I choose. While I try to accommodate those who seek an audience with me, I am at no one’s beck and call, even yours.” A fire sparked, and a pony consumed by flames appeared. “You forgot to mention most full of yourself, Sychopate.” The fiery pony looked around. “Whore! You were supposed to join me in making quips! We are supposed to be a team when it comes to this! Are you going to force me to team up with the gluttonous blob for quipping? I will, if it comes to it. Stop moping about!” “Let Yinyu have her space,” Arbiter instructed. “She’s still depressed about her foals leaving for Equestria. She’ll recover.” Ghadab turned his head towards Arbiter. “You aren’t moping…as much.” Arbiter grimaced. “I’ve gotten more used to the idea of Sunset not being there. I’ve been quietly trying to get her to cut the chord for a decade–now she has. Her not being here hurts, but I’ve been bracing myself for it for a while. Even after a decade of getting myself ready, it still hurts, and Yinyu must be feeling much worse.” Devon stepped forward. “Not to be disrespectful for how you are feeling, but when do we get to see my daughter?” Arbiter’s grimace intensified and so did the darkness. “I have no control over when she falls asleep. I can only have you prepared to meet her. I understand your eagerness to see her. I’m eager as well. Like us, all you can do is wait. Waiting is what we do when the dreamers are awake, and every time we have to wonder if the dreamer will ever sleep again.” Paul rubbed his arms. He didn’t want to think about Jessie not ever falling asleep again because she was dead, lost on some alien world where they would never even know what happened.  “Tonya, you guys have memories of many alien worlds. What are…were…they like?” Paul asked.  The pair of Dreamwardens looked at one another before looking back at him.  “Alien,” Ghadab said bluntly.  “Yet strangely familiar,” Arbiter added. “Life tends to evolve similar types of creatures. If a design works, and isn’t overly complicated to evolve towards,, it is likely life will evolve toward it. Call it convergent evolution. Wings are a useful way of getting around, so creatures evolve wings. Legs are useful for getting around on dry ground, so things evolve legs. Typically, it makes sense to develop an even number of limbs, and then some of those limbs may specialize. Fur and feathers are useful adaptations against the cold and protecting the flesh underneath. You may look at some alien, and think it is alien, but the longer you look, the more you see a reflection of something that could have evolved on Earth.” “Not all things,” Ghadab corrected.  Arbiter shook her head. “True, there are some creatures that defy everything we understand about body plans or how life works, but most creatures that have risen and died follow the same basic rules. Even intelligent life tends to follow the same general path. Humanity is kind of an outlier, since it didn’t develop magic early on, but if you look at types of shelters they make and the tools they use, it is basically the same range of stuff, despite some different cultural styles. The same goes with societal styles, and you can see this same thing play out in Earth’s history. Ancient cultures on Earth that never had contact with one another often developed similar societies, even built simulate monuments and buildings, like pyramids, but it wasn’t because of some cross-cultural contact; it was because certain ideas just work. You’ll see the same comparing alien cultures to Earth’s.” Jessie appeared in the air and then fell flat on her face to the ground.  “Speaking of creatures that defy understanding, hello, niece,” Arbiter said. Jess rolled over with a groan and glared at Arbiter. “Was that really necessary?” Arbiter smugly grinned. “No, it wasn’t, but as some have mentioned, I’m in a mood.” “Take your BEEP mood out on someone else,” Jessie said as she sat up. “Did you just censor me?!” “I prefer less cursing in my dreams. I like to think of my dreams as family friendly. If you wanted the non-family friendly, have Phobia cook you up a nightmare, have Ghadab make an adventure, or deal with one of Yinyu’s errotic dreams, and you never know what the Marshmallow is going to give you,” Arbiter answered, then gestured at her. “There you go. She’s here. I will remove this avatar so you can have some semblance of privacy. Ghadab, I suggest you do the same.” The flaming pony flickered and vanished. Arbiter vanished without the flicker, taking her throne with her.  Paul walked over to his daughter to help her up. “Are you okay?” Before he could lay his hands on her to help her up her form flickered and shifted to a yellow earth pony mare.  “What?” Paul gasped in confusion.  Jessie looked at herself and groaned, closed her eyes for a second, and then shifted back to her normal form. She then reopened her eyes and, looked herself over, nodded, and stood up on her own. “Sorry, you saw that. That happens here, at least for me. I go full human as well. The shifts happen without me even noticing half the time,” Jessie explained.  “An unstable sense of self,” Robby explained. “The dream realm can be sensitive to that type of thing. She tends to shift with her mood. Several people have offered to try to help-” “They don’t need any explanation of it beyond it happens sometimes,” Jessie said, maybe a little snappishly. “It happens, and then I correct it. It isn’t anything to worry about.” “She can shift ages too, just to warn you,” Robby added.  Jessie gave him a dirty look. “I haven’t done that in a while.” Robby shrugged. “Just giving them the heads up, just in case. It can be a little weird watching it happen, and they’ve never had to deal with you here. It can catch people off-guard. You aren’t the only person I have ever seen it happen with. It isn’t extremely common, but it’s common enough that most experienced dreamwalkers have encountered it happening to less experienced dreamwalker at least once.” Jessie shifted again, this time losing her pony ears in favor of regular human ears, as well as having her hair shift from blue to brown and her fur on her legs vanishing. She seemed to notice the shift and was just as dissatisfied with this as the pony shift. After giving herself a shake, her features shifted back to her typical ones again.  She glared at her brother as she stood up. “Not a word.” “I didn’t say nothin’,” Robby said, shaking his head.  Paul really wanted to say something about it, but Jessie had a prideful stubborn streak at times, and this seemed like it was going to be one of those times.  “So…you’re safe and sound?” he asked instead.  “Safe as I can be on a sentient planet that can just choose to poof me out of existence at a moment’s notice,” she replied.  “A planet that can what??!” Devon exclaimed, rushing over to their daughter and poking her with a finger, which wasildly comical, since Devon didn’t even stand as high as Jessie’s shoulders. “You told us this was going to be a simple scientific expedition! You didn’t say anything about being poofed out of existence!” “Well, the Dreamwardens didn’t give that detail until we were already several galaxies over,” Jessie replied.  They heard Arbiter cough. “As a reminder, anything information learned here cannot be shared with anyone in the waking world. You may discuss it amongst yourselves in the waking world, but please be careful not to be overheard.” Jessie looked upward. “I can give them permission to share it.” “Not if we choose to restrict it,” Arbiter replied. Jessie shifted to earth pony form again, but didn’t seem to notice as she continued to glare upwards in anger. “Since when?! I know the rules. If I give them permission, it is free game for them to discuss what I said. It’s always been that way.” “We are changing the terms for this arrangement, pray we do not change them further,” Ghadab said. “This is information transmitted across the dream realm, we have jurisdiction to put any restriction we want. Jeg’galla’gamp’pi is very sensitive information.” “We could always just censor you when discussing it,” Arbiter added in. “I could treat you talking about it like I treat curse words, and don't think you can find some clever way of getting around it. I can read your mind, and I’m very experienced dealing with clever dream walkers who think they can find loopholes. We have a lot more experience looking for loopholes than you. We can spot you trying.” A floating white blob appeared. “Oh, Miss Angel Lady, you’re making this waaayy too complicated. We can just have them make one of our super special promises not to talk about it. We do that with everything else that’s classified. What’s with all this talk of censoring them talking together about it here and whatever? It’s just making this stressful. Do the easy thing if you’re worried about it. I think you’ve got too much bureaucrat in you.” “I’m trying not to bring those types of agreements on my brother,” Arbiter grumbled.  “Aww, I never realized you were so considerate of me,” Ghadab said.  “Not you, flames-for-brains,” Arbiter snapped.  “Hmm, and here I was considering easing up on the quips,” Ghadab replied. “Gluttonous Slob, do you wish to be my new quipping buddy? The whore is not being very active right now.” “Mister Grumpypants! Are you trying to cheat on Miss Seapony?” the Marshmallow gasped.  “Well, she’s not cooperating!” Ghadab said, sounding flustered.  “And you want me to be your quipping harlot?!” the Marshmallow shouted. “For shame!” “I didn’t hear a no in that. Please, don’t be his quipping harlot. I have a hard enough time dealing with just your nonsense without you teaming up with him,” Arbiter lamented.  Robby held a wing up to the side of his mouth and whispered. “They’re like this all the time, at least when you get two or more of them together. You just wait them out, and they’ll get back to paying attention to you eventually. I think it has to do with the fact they can’t read each others’ minds, so they seem more real to each other, while we’re like background noise.” The disembodied voices continued. “I’m only saying that we need to quip at these stuck up prigs like the sycophant, the Queen of Nightmares, and the germaphobe. They are so full of themselves and try to take themselves so seriously—like some sort of royalty.” “I’m not serious all the time or treat myself like royalty!” Arbiter protested.  “You literally make dreamers greet you on your golden throne!” Ghadab yelled.. “He’s got a point,” the Marshmallow said. “Don't get me wrong, it is a very nice throne, very spiffy, but it is a bit much. Plus, you’re always bonking us on the heads like Little Bunny Foo Foo.” “You are pretty handy with that staff of yours,” a new voice chimed in.  “Oh! Now the whore decides to be included in our discussions!” Ghadab shouted. “Why weren’t you assisting me with my quips!” “Wait, does this mean I don’t have to be your quip harlot now?” the Marshmallow asked.  “You still do; you’ve been drafted,” Ghadab asserted.  “Man, I don’t even remember signing selective service paperwork,” the Marshmallow said in confusion.  Jessie sat back down, ignoring the debate above them. “So, how is life back on Earth?” Paul looked upward, as if he would be able to glimpse the conversation above, but only the white glob that was the Marshmallow was visible.  “Um, Dusk is already missing you since you moved out of the house. He’s been pouting, but you didn’t hear that from me if he asks,” Paul said with caution, afraid the Dreamwardens would cut him off. “Mark seems to be getting along okay with his foster family. He apparently said a few full sentences, though he is still very reserved with saying much. He took the time to ask me when you were coming back.” “I’ll be seeing Mark as soon as I can on Monday, and I’ll see about dropping in to visit Dusk as well,” Jessie said. She just then took notice that shape had shifted to pony. She closed her eyes for a second and it went back to normal. How did she not take quick notice of that? “We’ve agreed to letting you do a Dreamwardens contract to secrecy,” Ghadab announced. Paul looked upward again. “When? You four have been squabbling like children up there the entire time.” “We were having more than one conversation, actually, we were having several, but we only allowed you to hear the one,” Yinyu explained.  “Not counting the ones we are individually having with other dreamers right now,” the Marshmallow added in. “I’m currently having fifty-two conversations as we speak.” “Only fifty-two?!” Ghadab fumed..”You are such a lazy sloth! I’m having one-thousand thirty-four!” Tonya appeared and raised a hand. “Nine-thousand seven-hundred and nine here—make that nine-thousand seven-hundred and thirteen…urgh, back to nine-thousand seven-hundred and twelve…that dude was so rude. He won’t be speaking to me again anytime soon.” “I’m doing even more than that,” Yinyu said. “I won’t say anything exact number, since the figure is fluctuating too fast, but it’s staying in the five digits.” “I consider it quality over quantity,” the Marshmallow replied to them. “Plus, I can only do a few hundred max. You undead wardens have higher limits.” Phobia’s shadow appeared and looked around. “What are we discussing?”  “Number of conversations we’re having,” Yinyu answered. “How many are you having?” “Counting the five we have going, I have eighteen,” Phobia answered.  “Eighteen?!” Ghadab scoffed.  The shadow shrugged. “I just fell asleep again, and it is only going to be for a few minutes, So I do not plan on initiating much and hope there is little urgent I need to take care of. Do you really prefer that more people have more of my crafted nightmares or have recurring nightmares of their own that are so bad I feel the need to step in and help them work through them?” “Suppose not,” Ghadab grumbled.  “Anyway,” Tonya cut in. “You may speak freely and we’ll do the contracts later. We’ll leave you in peace, for now.” Even the white blob vanished after that.  “Well, with that said,” Jessie began, then took a deep breath. “Where I’m at isn’t what I was expecting. The planet is alive, and I don’t mean that in any figurative sense, or that it has life forms living on it. I mean the planet actually is alive. It thinks, it reacts, it changes its environment by choice. The entire planet is covered in ruins of some prehistoric civilization. It is one massive city, but no markings or decorations anywhere.” Robby grinned. “Sounds like you have been waiting for the second you could get that all out.” “You have no idea,” Jessie replied. “Still, there isn’t much to see here. The buildings might vary in size, and there is the occasional tower or bridge to break up the monotony, everything looks the same alabaster white every which way you look. Even the ground is the same thing. It is all one object, you can't even find pebbles laying around.” She paused. “That last part isn’t entirely true. We have found nine of these strangely shaped stones. They look like they are purposely shaped, since I can’t imagine anything shaped like they are forming naturally. One of those stones glows when the Marshmallow touches it…and another one glows when I do.” “So what does it glowing mean? What are these stones?” Devon asked.  Jessie shook her head. “They are super-dense thaumic matter. Essentially, they are the thaumic equivalent of a black hole—the entire planet technically is, only on a much more massive scale. Thaumic matter behaves differently than regular matter. It doesn’t…or shouldn’t…except any gravity. So, despite the fact they are so dense and full of mass that if they were regular matter I would be spaghettified if I got within a million miles of one of them, they can be picked up and handled. They emit a massive amount of thaumic energy.” “But what does it glowing when you touch it mean?” Paul asked.  “The Marshmallow says that stone is meant for me,” Jessie answered. “She’s insisting I keep it. It supposedly will learn about me and my magic, and can enhance my magic and my nature.” “”Your nature?” Devon asked in confusion.  “I have no clue what that means either,” Jessie said with a sigh. “I performed tests on it. It doesn’t seem to be harmful, but it needs more testing. So far, all it has primarily done is glue. It is also warm to the touch for me, where every other stone and the planet is cool to the touch. When any of the others touch my stone, they say it is cool to the touch. When I get back I’m going to hide it away in my apartment.” “Just be careful, Jessie,” Paul said.  She nodded.