She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she was aware enough of dreams to know when she was in one. Without taking time to process her surroundings and, therefore, get sucked into the dream’s reality, she decided to rip the proverbial band-aid off.
“Okay, Yinyu. Let’s get this over with. I know you’re dying to harass me,” Jessica yelled.
Whatever the dream had been manifesting was replaced with a perfect black expansion in all directions. The only thing, other than herself, was the familiar sea dragon form of Yinyu Wu Yan.
Yinyu pointed a fin at her. “Do you realize that you are currently a pony who looks to be about six years old? You might want to sort that out before we progress any further.”
She looked at herself; she looked exactly as she had right before the Cataclysm of Riverview. She closed her eyes and reopened them, which put her back to normal.
“That’s better,” Yinyu complimented. “You look less cute this way, but you also look more like someone I can discuss my usual fare with without outraging parents.”
“Great, so get it over with,” Jessica muttered.
Yinyu slowly flipped till she was upside down. “Get what over with?”
“I’m going on my first-ever date on Tuesday,” Jessica replied.
Yinyu flipped right-side up and grinned broadly. “Congratulations! You’re long overdue to explore relationships. I wish you the best of luck.”
“So…” Jessica prompted.
“So…what?” Yinyu asked in confusion.
“Aren’t you going to give me…you know…sex…advice?” Jessica asked in frustration.
Yinyu frowned, looking her over. “Hmmm. No, I don’t think I will. Why would I do that?”
What the heck? “Because I’m going on a date, and you get over-excited about that kind of thing. You’ve been constantly saying that you would advise me on how to do…that stuff. Others tell me that you have done that exact thing with them. Now, all of a sudden, you don’t want to?”
Yinyu sat silent for a few seconds, just watching. “Well…now that I’m seriously considering you with that subject, which I hadn’t before, I don’t think giving you that kind of advice is a good idea. Sorry, no such luck tonight.”
Jessica balled up her hands into fists. “Then why did you constantly offer up until now?!”
Yinyu disappeared.
“I might have-” Yinyu said, appearing a short distance away.
“...possibly…” Yinyu continued after appearing another few yards away.
“...maybe…” Yinyu said sheepishly after appearing yet another few yards further.
“...been teasing you,” Yinyu’s voice said in her ear, making her jump and backpedal away.
“What?!” Jessica shouted in outrage.
Yinyu started flipping again. “Yeah…I do that sometimes. Sorry about that. No hard feelings?”
Jessica blinked and licked her lips. “Is it me? Do you think I’m incapable of having a relationship where…that…happens?”
Yinyu turned on her side. “Well… it is you, but it isn’t as negative as you make it out to be.”
Now she started crying. “How is that not as negative as I think? You’re saying I’m incapable–”
Her mouth vanished, and a pint-sized Yinyu appeared right in front of her face.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, little girl, or I’ll take yours,” Yinyu said with a hint of annoyance. “It is you, but not because you are incapable, but because that kind of advice wouldn't help you. In fact, I think that kind of advice could hurt you. No, most people I can go over this subject with in graphic detail, and they will be eager for it, but there are people like you where that isn’t a good idea. You see, child, you don’t want sex. You’ve never really wanted it. Just thinking about it makes you physically uncomfortable. You can barely even ask me to give advice about it without vomiting, and pressuring you to have it when you don’t want it…well…that’s a bad thing. Now, you can have your mouth back.”
Jessica sat down and looked down at her hands in her lap. “There’s something wrong with me then?”
Yinyu reappeared beside her in night pony form and wrapped a wing over her back. “No. Don’t think that. Everybody is different. Some people just aren’t into sex. You might have an occasional time that comes up, and you do feel like it–like Phobia does, but you can’t force that kind of thing. It’s not healthy to force it. That doesn’t mean you can’t have happy relationships, though you might want to make it clear you aren’t a very sexual person early on in the relationship, just to make expectations clear.”
“But I get sexually attracted to people. I have types,” Jessica insisted.
“You have types of people you are attracted to, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be sexual,” Yinyu softly said. “They are people with qualities you like, traits you might admire, and desire to be around.”
She gave the Dreamwarden a dirty look. “I admire being prissy or macho, not intelligence?’
Yinyu shrugged. “Maybe you do. We often look at ourselves and fantasize about what it’s like to be radically different, or want a partner with the traits we believe we lack. Relationships are partnerships, and each partner brings something to the relationship. Plus, being prissy or macho doesn’t mean someone is dumb. They can be those things and be intelligent as well. You’d be in a bad spot if you found a partner who didn’t appreciate all your physics knowledge or have the ability to hold an intelligent conversation.”
Well, Adam had intelligence going for him, even if he wasn’t the prissy or macho type–not as intelligent as her. Still, she was dramatically lacking in a lot of knowledge that didn’t involve her fields of study. What was she without her physics? The world’s best eavesdropper? That wasn’t an appealing thing to be.
“You just went pony again,” Yinyu said.
She grumbled and closed her eyes again, willing herself back to her proper form. After reopening her eyes and checking to ensure her form was correct, she looked pleadingly at Yinyu.
“Can’t you fix me so I have a regular sex drive?“ she asked, hating to refer to it as regular since that was close to saying normal, and she hated saying she was abnormal.
“There is nothing wrong with you to fix. There are plenty of people like you who have perfectly fulfilling relationships,” Yinyu replied.
“You do it for the night pony mares,” Jessica countered. “I know it isn’t the same thing, but it’s in the same vein.”
Yinyu frowned. “I have ceased to do that. It served its purpose at the time because there was an extreme gender disparity in night ponies, and they were literally at each other's throats over the few stallions that there were. A full generation has passed, and while those numbers haven’t fully corrected, they are good enough now that I don’t need to worry about night pony mares constantly trying to beat the crap out of each other to get a guy. That had been a case where they did have an extremely damaging situation going on because they were seriously hurting each other and causing strife in their communities. You aren’t hurting anyone.”
“You are still doing it. You gave Charlotte your blessing just earlier this year,” she countered once again.
Yinyu rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone because she can get into a lot of trouble for it, but I didn’t give her anything.”
Jessica blinked. “She lied and is faking it? Why?”
Yinyu shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe she wanted to be known as the last night pony to get my blessing.”
“She’s never made that claim or even hinted at it. I thought you were still doing the thing,” Jessica reminded her.
“Well, I’ve got no answer for you then,” Yinyu replied. “And don’t say I know what she was thinking. I can’t reveal that.”
“But you suggested what she was thinking,” Jessica said in annoyance.
“Yep! Maybe is a very helpful word. It lets me get away with saying so many things. One of our best loopholes," Yinyu said with a grin.
Jessica crossed her arms. “You’re as bad as Rebecca.”
“Aww, thank you!” Yinyu said, grinning even more broadly. “You know, before she came along, I was the crazy-fun Dreamwarden. It’s nice to hear I’ve still got it after being dead and all. She was my student, and I’m proud of her, but she sometimes overshadows me.”
Jessica rubbed her arms. “You’ve got the crazy part down; not too sure about the fun.”
Yinyu disappeared and then reappeared some distance away as her sea dragon form and pouted. “That just hurts my feelings.”
Jessica sighed. “Sorry, I just don’t get much fun from dealing with any of you. I’m tired of Dreamwardens in my life. I’m sure many other people would find you amusing.”
Yinyu did a flip. “Thank you. That makes me feel a little better. You know, Rebecca is trying to convince me and Ghadab to do some Christmas Carol thing with certain dreamers at the end of the year since Ghadab wants her help with other things. I’m supposed to be something called the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Ghadab is the Ghost of Christmas Future. We are going to terrorize some stingy businessmen. It sounds fun.”
Dreamwardens had odd senses of fun.
The Warden of Lust tilted her head. “Since you seem ready for some Dreamwarden-free dreaming, is there anything else I can assist with before I release you?”
She almost said no before remembering something. “Phobia’s creepy haunted doll showed up in my bedroom. Can you tell her to make it not do that?”
Yinyu blinked. “It showed up at your place? That’s unusual. Phobia doesn’t have any control over what that doll does or any way of containing it. She doesn’t even have it in her possession anymore. It is back with its proper owner, but I’m not sure they have direct control over it either. We don’t understand how the doll works, especially since it doesn’t seem to have any magic of its own. It’s operating on some other set of rules. Ignore it, and it will go away. From what I can tell, based on experience, it can’t stay away from where it's supposed to be for long. Consider it a scary little nuisance, not a threat. It’s even been helpful on a few occasions.”
That seemed unlikely. “How has that doll ever helped anyone?”
“It helped lead someone through a warzone and helped them find good people that they wouldn’t have known were there otherwise. Sometimes it isn’t just watching you; sometimes it is trying to tell you something,” Yinyu answered. “Consider it the doll’s way of nudging you in the right direction…or it can just be watching you. You never know with that thing.”
Great. Nudge her towards what? She sighed. “Alright, release me into my dream.”
“Have fun!”
Mark crawled deeper under the bed covers, shivering. It was dark, but the dark didn’t bother him. He was used to the dark. It had been dark a lot when Grandma was gone, and it had been scary at first, but he got braver. The dark didn’t scare him anymore.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
But monsters outside; that scared him.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
His ears perked as he heard Mister Jack and Misses Jill talking on the other side of the wall. “Honey, is there anything you can do about that dog? Caleb and Wishing have school in the morning.”
“I could knock on the Pages’ door to see if they’ll bring their dog in for the night, but I don’t want them getting mad at us and calling us a bunch of Karens because we told them to do something about their dog. Maybe he’ll stop howling soon. Someone was probably out late walking, or he spotted a night pony flying or something. As soon as they are gone, the dog will stop. He always does.”
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
Mark pulled the blankets closer around him.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
“Hey! The neighbor’s dog is howling again!” he heard Caleb yell from the hallway.
“We all hear it. Go back to bed. It will stop soon enough,” Mister Jack yelled back.
“Can I get some water?” Wishing yelled from a different part of the hall.
“You don’t have to ask. Just remember to use the potty so you don’t wet the bed,” Misses Jill answered.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
“Okay,” Wishing answered.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
“I guess everyone’s up. Thank you, Rover,” Misses Jill said, sounding annoyed. “I’m going to go check on Mark.”
“He hasn’t made a peep. I’m sure he’s alright,” Mister Jack said.
“He never makes much of a peep, and we don’t know how he responds to dogs,” Misses Jill said.
“I’m sure he has heard dogs braying before.”
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
Mark huddled up as tight as he could in his bed.
“I’m still going to check. I’ll be right back.”
He heard her approach and saw the light come in through the door through his covers when she opened his door.
“Mark? Are you okay?” Miss Jill asked.
He didn’t uncurl.
“Oh…Mark, what are we going to do with you?” Misses Jill sighed. He heard her stepping towards him; then the bed shook as she sat on it.
“I’m not going to tell you to come out from hiding,” Misses Jill said. “Are you still mad at me about dinner?”
He’d forgotten about dinner until she said something, but he didn’t care about the icky food anymore. There was a monster outside.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
He tried to curl tighter, but he had curled the tightest tight he could.
“Have you had bad things happen to you because of dogs?” Miss Jill asked. She waited for him to answer, but he wasn’t going to say anything. When there was danger, he had to be extra quiet, more than normal quiet. Grandma said so.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO! HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
“He’s really going at it tonight. What has him so worked up?” Misses Jill said, sounding more annoyed. “The dog is next door, behind a fence. He can’t get you. His name is Rover, and his owners leave him out in the cold all night long. They really should bring him inside at night. I don’t know why they do that to their dog. Rover is probably cold and feeling alone.”
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
Rover was scary. Rover was better alone because there needed to be no more Rovers. More Rovers would be bad.
“HHHOOOOOWOOOOOO!”
There was a crashing sound outside that made him cringe.
“Dang nabbit, Rover! Get inside! You're going to wake the whole neighborhood! Ya better not piss on the carpet!” someone yelled angrily outside.
Misses Jill grunted. “Sounds like that’s the end of that for tonight. He was going at it for a while. Normally, he stops quickly, but he must have finally lost sight of whoever he’s howling at. Anyway, you can relax and get some sleep. You might not have school tomorrow, but I have activities for you to try, and Miss Jessica is coming to visit. You don’t want to be tired. Get some sleep, kiddo.”
She ruffled the covers right where he was, which made him flinch again, but then she got off the bed and went to the door. He saw the door close and heard her checking on Wishing Well.
He waited a long time under the covers, listening for the monster Rover. He heard little bits of talking in Wishing Well’s room but couldn’t tell what they were saying. He then heard footsteps across the hall and some more talking in Misses Jill and Mister Jack’s room. They were saying that everyone could sleep now. He thought he heard music in Caleb’s room, but he wasn’t sure.
Feeling a little safer, he uncurled under the covers. He still waited a little more before he stuck his ears out. He didn’t hear anything but a little snoring in the adults’ room. He knew what snoring sounded like. Grandma had snored a lot. Snoring wasn’t scary.
Everything seemed okay. He peeked his head out from under the covers. No monster jumped out to eat him. His stuffed bear was there, and he could see his blocks on the floor. He turned and looked around and then immediately hid back under the covers.
There was a small brown thing, as small as him, with black eyes watching him from the closet. It wasn’t one of his toys. It had to be a monster. He curled up tight again.
There weren’t any sounds of anything moving around or anything breathing. There was nothing. It took him a long time to get brave again. He only got brave enough because he figured that the monster was too small to eat him. Maybe he was big enough to fight the monster. When he stuck his head back out, there was nothing there anymore. Still, he recovered his head, curled up tight, and didn’t stick his head out again.
The crackling of the fire brought forward a slew of fond memories in Zipper’s mind. As he gazed into the inferno his thoughts drifted back to home and the many nights he spent in the field with his team. In his line of work, those work days would typically culminate in group bonfires to raise team morale and help the group unwind. The fact that his new associates had decided to build a fire for the night brought him an almost subconscious comfort and made his thoughts drift back to home.
Hopefully, we won’t be gone long, he thought to himself.
His thoughts drifted to Sine Wave and Ink Rose, and despite not even being away for that long, he already felt a longing for his companions, even if the warm embrace of sleep would bring them together in the dream realm. That kind of contact was more than enough for many of the night ponies he knew, but Zipper wasn’t a night pony. He was a pegasus, and to him, nothing was better than being close to the people he loved.
As Zipper glanced back over to the flames, something caught his eye. On the other side of the campfire sat an almost ominous sackcloth doll that he knew was not there moments ago. It reminded him of the doll from Little Big Planet, just much uglier. Something about the eerie hollow eyes staring back at him gave him goosebumps, and the fire's flickering light didn’t help to make it any less creepy.
“Uhhhh…” Zipper started to say, but the more superstitious part of his brain told him to keep his mouth shut.
He was by no means an expert on this kind of stuff, but The Oasis was a hotspot for strange and unusual occurrences, and he had enough unexplainable encounters in his life there to keep him on edge when an absolutely haunted ghost doll was suddenly staring him down.
As if to answer his concerns, Tempest poked her head out of the van. “Did you say something?”
Zipper slowly nodded and silently pointed to the doll with a wing. “T-that wasn’t there before.”
The mare nodded, stepping closer to the doll, before turning away. “I am familiar with that doll. It’s nothing you need to be concerned about.”
That did nothing to answer his questions and, in fact, only made him think of even more.
“But…” he started, hoping to tread carefully. “Did one of you put it there?”
Tempested shook her head. “You need not concern yourself with the matters of the dead,” she repeated.
“That’s not an answer,” Zipper protested, his eyes widening at the implications of her response.
The woman shrugged. “It’s not an answer you want to hear.”
“What’s up?” Josie asked, joining the duo.
“The professor is asking about the doll,” Tempest replied, her voice curiously concerned.
“You mean the creepy ghost doll that just showed up,” Zipper pointed at the doll again. “I mean— I’m sorry, I don’t want to disrespect you!” He followed.
“I don’t think the doll gives a damn if you disrespect it, prof,” Crystal snickered.
Josie followed Zipper’s gaze and then looked back to Tempest. “What is it? Is it dangerous?”
At that moment, the rest of the party exited the van.
“Oh, heck no,” Crystal mused as she stepped further out. “Don’t worry about it, it’s harmless.”
“Ummm…” Blanche started to say as she caught sight of the doll. “How long has that been here? I don’t like that thing being around."
“See?! I’m not the only one!” Zipper exclaimed.
“Our friend here noticed it a few moments ago,” Tempest replied. She shook her head, scowling simultaneously, then walked away.
“Do you know what it is, Blanche?” Josie asked.
Blanche nodded. “Mhmm, I do. Let’s just say it’s relatively harmless and leave it at that. It’s better to ignore it and go on with our evening.”
“Relatively?” Zipper asked. “So you’re saying it’s not entirely harmless?”
“Don’t worry. It can’t do anything. I could pick it up, and it wouldn’t react. But do you want to know the story behind it?” She asked.
Zipper nodded. “It’s either that or I assume it’s a haunted doll, and I call off my side of this mission because I’m not going to piss off a ghost or demon or whatever is haunting it.”
Blanche shrugged. “During the Second World War, when Sha’am Maut was a young woman living in India, she made that for her soon-to-be-born daughter. However, famine broke out soon after the daughter was born, and the child eventually died from malnourishment–Sha’am nearly died as well. She ended up keeping the doll, and when she eventually died, she willed the thing to Phobia Remedy. The thing sat in Phobia’s care for years without ever doing anything, but then it started vanishing for short periods. This wasn’t noticed right away, but we now know that it was turning up in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and so on for minutes at a time. It did this for weeks without anyone being aware; then, it stopped making excursions for a few years. It began again during the last Dreamwarden selection process. I was a candidate in that process, and I and the other candidates encountered it several times. This is when Phobia finally noticed the thing was making trips. She gave it away shortly after, and as far as I know, it hasn’t made any excursions since then, until now.”
“So it is haunted!” He exclaimed.
“I don’t know if haunted is the right word, but there is something supernatural about it that defies our understanding of how magic should work,” Blanche replied, looking at the doll with distaste. “By all accounts, it shouldn’t be able to just take off the way it does, with no regard for distance. It has no magic, and no pony is casting any spell to move it. I believe it is Sha’am watching us.”
“This has been a thing for years? Why hasn’t anyone destroyed it?” Josie hesitantly asked.
“I’m not sure we can, and Phobia would be mad if we tried. Believe me, I hate it too,” Blanche admitted. “The doll isn’t going to harm us, but I understand if you have reservations about its presence, given your history with Sha’am.”
Zipper had only been a novice dreamwalker when Sha’am was an active Dreamwarden, and he thankfully had never encountered her often. However, Sine Wave and Ink Rose’s own personal testimonials, along with those of his other night pony friends, were enough to make it clear that this was a topic that did not need to be discussed deeper. Josie’s body language painted a clear enough picture that didn’t need further explanation.
“I… I don’t know how to feel about that,” He admitted.
“I do,” Josie spat back with venom in her voice. “I know enough not to question its presence, but believe me when I say I would gladly kick that doll into the fire.”
“I’m not saying you wouldn’t be justified in doing that, but I’m unsure that would destroy it. It would probably just go back from whence it came,” Blanche stated. “But we do need to focus on the mission at hand. If Sha’am wants to spy on us from beyond the grave, so be it.”
Crystal huffed. “You make this so much more complicated than it needs to be. Everyone just needs to turn their backs and take their eyes off the thing. If no one sees it, it will vanish within a second or two. It’s only still here because it has an audience. Ulga said when they came across the thing back in her home country, they always lost it as soon as they took their eyes off it. They even tried putting it in their packs, but it would always be gone when they checked for it. Just stop giving it an audience.”
Blanche nodded and looked at Tempest’s retreating form. “Right now we need to do what Crystal suggested and ignore it. It’ll go away sooner rather than later.”
“Right,” Zipper nodded his head. “Well, every occult and spiritual nut I know back home would say we need to bid it farewell and leave it in peace,” He turned towards the doll. “So, thank you for visiting us, and we hope you have a nice night.”
With that, he turned his back to the doll and gazed up at the stars above him.