//------------------------------// // The Sleeping Human And His Dreams // Story: The Human And The Well // by Zandar13 //------------------------------// ---------- Sunset ---------- The four us of were sawing logs and the three little fillies were twitching in their sleep while they snuggled up to the warm human and thankfully for Adrian he was fast asleep while Twilight stood in the doorway with a huge grin on her face. She had finished up dinner a little while ago and had come up to wake them but when she saw how cute they we all looked she just stopped and giggled quietly to herself and decided to watch us. Only when she had enough did she clear her throat. “Wake up everyone! Dinner's ready!~” she sung as she used her magic to reenforce her voice to stir us awake, which it did and it made all of us snort awake and our eyes fluttered open groggily “Come on you sleepy heads, dinner is waiting for you” she added before walking out of the room. I reached up and rubbed my eyes and I tried to get up but two things prevented me, One: My body refused to move from the cloud bed, its soft and plushy hands clutched my body in its wonderful deathly embrace and Two: the three fillies made it quite difficult to move without launching them off so I was in a standstill. Seeing as I was still in a daze I decided that the best option for the shortest time was to carry them. So with Sweetie Bell still on my chest I lifted the arm that Applebloom was on and scooted her on my chest and I used my other hand to gently lift Scootaloo next to the other two, then I held them tight to my chest as I slowly got off the comfy death trap and headed down. While I walked I looked down to see the three fillies smiling up at me with lazy eyes while they tried to wake up, ugh I am going to die of cuteness from these three one day but when I do I shall do so with a smile. Trusting my memory I found the stairs to the library which eventually led me to the kitchen and I do not know what is was but the smell hit us like a ton of savory bricks which led to the Crusaders fully waking up and leaping from my arms and directly to the chairs which held their dinner. I took another second or two to allow the aroma to sink into my nose before I looked around for a place to sit, unfortunately it seems that pony chairs are not meant for humans. The remaining chairs were all the same size and I even tried to sit on the arm rests of two combined chairs but I decided against it when I heard them creak so I simply knelt down. Thankfully since ponies are mostly small in comparison the table came up to the middle of my stomach and by that time the food was served which to my surprise was spaghetti and garlic bread! It smelled wonderful and I guess my face held a goofy smile cause I heard some giggling from the others before I dug in. “Oh man, that was good” I exclaimed as I patted my stomach in delight while wearing a happy smile. “Well I would hope so, you ate it all” Twilight cheerfully said as she used her magic to float the empty dishes to the sink and began to wash them and by the time we ate everything and washed up it was night time. I was about to say something about walking the three home when I heard a couple of loud knocks “Oh good, they're here! Come on girls, lets get you home” she said as she led the three out and I decided to follow. Once we all got to the front Twilight opened them up and I saw Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash standing there waiting but not for long as all three of their faces lit up once they saw the three fillies rush to them and hugged them. “Hey there big guy! So this is where you ended up huh? Man, here for a day and already living in the castle. Nice!” Rainbow said as she nudged me with her front hoofs elbow with a toothy grin. I rolled my eyes and playfully swatted her hoof away. “So, you ready to get on going Scoots?” she asked which got an immediate response as she nodded gleefully. “Yeah, had a lot of fun today! We tried a couple of new things today before we decided to head to the library and that is when we kinda....sorta....crashed into Adrian. He he” she sheepishly grinned “But once we got past the crash and talked he carried us on his shoulders. Well, except for Sweetie Bell who got to ride on his head” this made Sweetie Bell blush a little and made Rarity smile and pat her head. “Yeah! And when we got here Miss Twi here showed us some books ta read then we played with Adrian a bit before we all took a nap together then we ate dinner and then yall showed up!” Applebloom happily exclaimed while bouncing up and down. “Oh? You took a nap with Adrian dear?” Rarity asked her sister which made Sweetie Bell blush a bit. “Well, yeah. He was really warm” she bashfully said which got a chuckle out of the other girls, this only caused her to blush even more and she began to push Rarity “Come onnnnnnnn, lets go home already” she said irritably. Rarity giggled “All right, all right. Good night dearies!” she said as she began to walk on her own with Sweetie Bell in tow who took a quick look back and I decided to wave at her which made her smile and she turned back around. “Come on squirt, lets get ya home. Ya need ta brush yer teeth before ya off ta bed” Applejack said. “All right, bye Twilight! Bye Adrian! I hope we can play again soon!” she happily said and waved before the two walked off. Scootaloo quickly ran back and hugged my leg “It was awesome to meet you! Don't be a stranger alright?” she said before she began to walk off. Rainbow fly over to my head and ruffled my hair again. “Thanks for looking out for her and the girls big buy” she said with a grin before she flew off to catch up with the filly. I took one look at them again and shook my head while smiling before Twilight and I heading back inside. “Hey I have a question, is Rainbow Dash Scootaloos big sister?” I curiously asked. “Not technically by blood like Sweetie and Rarity or the apples. But a while back Scootaloo asked Rainbow if she could be take her under her wing and be like a big sister and from then on they have pretty much been like sisters” she stated. I gave a little chuckle which earned me a confused look from Twilight. “Guess that means that Rainbow is a bit of a softie under that awesome exterior of hers” I said with another amused chuckle which Twilight joined in with. “Just don't let her hear you say that or you might get a horseshoe to the head, he he” she nervously chuckled while she rubbed the right side of her head for a second while we walked back to the library. “Just one more question, if you don't mind Princess?” I asked and for a brief second I saw her face contort with worry and she looked like she was gonna say something before she shook her head and smiled. “Of course, I don't mind. Usually though I am the one asking the questions” she said while laughing. I looked at her for a second and thought to ask if everything was alright but decided to hold off asking and opted for the original “I don't mean to pry but does anyone else live here? It just seems awfully big for only one....pony to live in all by herself” I carefully asked. Fortunately Twilight did not seemed to be bothered by the questions and with a cheerful attitude she answered “Oh! Yes! I totally forgot to tell you, I live with Spike! He is my number one assistant and best friend! He is a baby dragon that I hatched as part of Princess Celestias magic test, which allowed me to become her personal student! Everything I know and have become is thanks to her!” after she said she almost seemed to have a dreamy face as her thoughts ran wild and only with a subtle cough from me did it snap her out of her fantasy. “Ahem, as I was saying Spike lives here with me and that is it. It has always been us two together though I do see what you mean by living in the castle with barely anypony but the castle is new so I am getting used to it as well. I have barely touched any of the rooms except to store books and make a few guest bedrooms just in case and as you can see that notion was correct!” she beamed as her future planning skillset was put to good use. I nodded at this and was about to ask another question when I remembered something about Spike..... HE WAS A DRAGON! “Wait! Hold on! Spike is a DRAGON?!?” I worryingly exclaimed, now don't get me wrong the thought of living with a dragon was very cool but at the same time it also brought many more concerns that outweighed the positives in my mind. “Yes he is. Why? Is that a problem?” she asked innocently. “Bu-but is he nice and small and highly intelligent or something? Has he burned down a village or have a hoard of treasures or anything?! I mean, this castle is huge but for a dragon to live here?!” I said with a hint of fear and a lot of concern. Twilight saw this and strode over to me and place a hoof on my leg. “Normally yes, most dragons are very much like that, teenage dragons are even worse though. Ugh, so rude and thick headed. But ever since I hatched him he has been living with ponies and has grown up learning our values and knowledge and making friends. But while he has been living here in Ponyville he did have one out burst of dragon hoarding which made him grow greedy and gigantic until he remembered that he selflessly gave up a ruby he had been making to Rarity and he returned to normal” “I will admit that after that he had starting going through different phases, like trying to figure out his past or how a normal dragon should act and what not. He saw this first hand and realized that he is not a normal dragon and he did not have to become them to be a true dragon of his own. But secretly I have been trying to acquire dragon lore and history for him but with little to no success as we simply do not have that knowledge anywhere I know of. I hope that clears any problematic thoughts you have of him Adrian” she finally said and took a deep breath. Hmmm, a unique dragon born and raised separate then his kin. I'm sure that when he gets older there will a hard transition for him to make without the proper knowledge but I will let his friends cross that bridge when the time comes. I took a breath “Yeah, it does. Sorry for freaking out, guess I let my imagination get the better of me and I apologize” I said and took a quick little bow. “So, where is he then if he lives here? I would of thought all the commotion during the day would of brought him here by now” I asked. “Oh! Well he usually likes to spend most days helping Rarity with whatever she needs" she said whatever with a little more emphasis which I quickly picked up on. “Ah, he likes her then. Does she know?” I asked inquisitively. She gave an annoyed sigh and rubbed her forehead “Thatssssss.......an interesting question. She is a very smart mare and I would not put it past her to have figured that out but either she is doing nothing about it or something else is going on that I am unaware of. It is frustrating but Spike has not complained or asked for my help even though I have asked mulitple times and he always says “Everything is perfect”. Sigh. I will watch out for him but until I see a need to intervene then I am going to keep my distance for now” she said and I pondered this for a moment before I gave a happy smile. I walked over to her and patted her head “Your a good elder sister to him, he is lucky to have you watching over him” I explained to her with a grin which she gave one in return. “Well of course, I love him too much to see him get hurt. Now unless you have some more questions, lets retire for the night. You have a big day tomorrow!” she said gleefully as she happily trotted off to the stairs. Now I was confused and I quickly followed her to ask why. “I do? Why? What is happening tomorrow?” She gasped “Oh! I totally forgot to tell you during dinner! Well, while you were taking your little nap with the girls, which was adorable by the way!” she squeaked a little at this which made me blush, but only a tiny bit “I had some extra time and I decided to write to Princess Celestia about you so we could discuss how you got here and possibly how to send you back home and she wrote back saying that she would be coming over tomorrow to meet you and take things from there” she told me as we walked. I stopped in the middle of the hallway as her sentence hit me and made my mind spin. During the course of meeting everyone and having fun and learning all the new things I had not thought about going back home or anything! But now that she said about possibly being able to send me back, which told me that she did not know if they could or not. Would I be able to go back? Am I stuck here forever? What about everyone back home? Did they know I was gone? On and on the questions in my mind multiplied. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt something touch me and I snapped back to reality to a very worried looking Twilight looking at me with concern and worry “Adrian? What's wrong? Are you feeling ill?” she asked while she took a hoof and felt my forehead and she stuck out her tongue while glancing off and trying to determine my temperature “You don't feel hot”. I took a deep breath and threw on a fake smile “Yeah, I'll be fine. I just had not thought about going back home, got caught up in the momentum of learning about a whole new world and magic and talking ponies!” I said before I laughed, even though what I said was actually true it was mainly to cover up my fear. For the moment it seems that Twilight bought it since she smiled. “That's understandable, I would be thrown in a loop if I was in your hoofs” she said and in my mind I face palmed at the reference but was glad that Twilight did not prod more as she landed and began to walk to my room. Once we began to walk again my mind picked up the pace and internally I was in a panic but I did not want to worry Twilight again so I put up a front for now. I almost ran into Twilight when she stopped in front of my room, but thankfully I saw her in time and did a quick turn into the room and I breathed a quick sigh of relief before I turned back around “So, what time should I wake up tomorrow Princess?” I asked. She placed a hoof on her chin and started to think. “Well, I was thinking early morning so we can get you cleaned up and presentable for the Princess and we might be able to get you in to see Rarity and hopefully she can work her magic and make you something nice to wear. Hmmmm, what else?” she said as she continue to think out loud. But I was too busy looking over myself and giving myself a smell. What I really bad smelling? And I guess my clothes do look a bit too plain. I guess I was frowning and stretching out my clothes too much because Twilight looked up suddenly and gasped. “OH MY GOSH! NO! No, no, no, no! I-I-I didn't mean that you don't look nice or anything! I just wanted Princess Celestia to have the best first impression of you! I-I mean you of her! No! I-I mean!” her face was all flustered as she once again tried to find the words and for a moment my thoughts swirled away and I just laughed a good laugh before I walked over and placed my hand on her head and rubbed it. “I understand, you'll probably have to wake me up since my inner clock is probably messed up. So you better be off to bed Princess, we have a big day tomorrow” I said while flashing a smile which seemed to calm her down and her face gave way to a slight blush while she quietly laughed to herself. “Alright and don't worry, I have gotten used to waking up a baby dragon. You. Won't. Be. A. Problem~” she smugly sounded as she left the room with a giggle. These ponies are certainly a handful and crazy to boot. But a good kind of crazy that you want to be a part of or something like that. I dunno, my mind is in a bit of a tizzy. I went over and quietly closed the door and went over to the bed and threw up my shoes and socks and took off my long sleeved shirt, I can't believe that I was not boiling in this thing with the weather outside, must be magic. Heh, I can use that excuse now. Now just wearing a black short sleeved shirt and pants I crawled my way into bed since the only light was the moon coming in from the small balcony. I thought that my raving mind would keep me up but I did not comprehend the true, terrible power of the cloud bed as it slowly sucked me away into a deep slumber....... I was running through the open plains of a grassy plane while the ferocious and terrible beast breathed fire behind me but as a knight set out to save the princess and slay the dragon, the very same dragon who gave chase for its next meal, I could not back down from the challenge and after scaling a mighty mountain I finally saw eye to eye to the beast. With my sword in hand I let out a roar rivaling the most terrible of demons and charged the man eating leviathan and swung my sword when suddenly the- “Adrian! Dinner's ready!” my mom called from the porch in my backyard. “Coming Mom!” I called out as I dropped my stick on the ground and ran around the weird looking stump and onto the porch but before I went inside my mom stopped me and pointed at my dirty shoes. With a groan I untied my shoes and set them to the side before I was allowed to come into house which smelled like meatloaf and potatoes, my favorite! I went to wash my hands since I knew my mom would make me anyway and soon enough I was sitting at the table and eating away! Soon after I found myself in the living room with my head in my moms lap while she scratched my ear and hummed a tune which she always sung. Just as I was about to fall asleep I felt my shirt being lifted up and she started to blow raspberrys into my stomach and as a normal eight year old I immediately started to laugh and failed to push her away with my arms. After a few more and many laughs out of us both we started to calm down and I lied back down in her lap “I love you mom” I suddenly said which got a surprised coo out of her before she rubbed my head soothingly. “I love you more Adrian” she replied as she leaned down and kissed my cheek “But why did you leave me?” she asked grimly but before I could turn to her confused I felt something wet drop on my face. So I reached up and took it off to look at it and I saw something white skinned dripping with a red liquid, it looked like blood! I freaked out and I quickly turned to see if my mom was alright before I fell off the couch in fear. When I looked up I saw that my moms face was falling off as patches of skin peeled off and blood started to drain from her face and white bone started to shine through, I turned to run and while I felt myself running I stayed in place yet everything around me started to shift and change. I felt my body grow and age and many bad and sad memories started to fly by me and after what felt like an eternity of bad dreams and memories I found myself in the woods and it was winter. I felt the chill of the wind blow through my face and fly through my hair while the frost bit at my nose but I still continued to run and this time I ran forward into the woods for a few minutes until ran into a familiar looking well. I finally stopped running and stared it before I heard a terrifying cry that seemed to echo all around me and I covered my ears with my hands to try and block out the horrible sound but to no avail. I spun around to try and find the source until I saw a dark shadow approach and I backed up until I felt my foot bump into the well and I turned and saw that the wall had crumpled and I saw the shimmer in the water but I turned back around and was face to face with a skeletal face. My entire body froze as it started at me with eyeless sockets that bled and its mouth started to slowly open and said in my mothers voice “Adrian, why did you leave me? Why? Why? WHY?!” it suddenly shouted and caused me to fall. I fell further and further into the darkness and the only light was the opening of the well where a blood crying skeleton shouted at me in my mothers voice “Why did you leave me again? Why did you leave everyone? Why? Why? WHY?!” I said nothing as tears erupted from my twenty two year old body as my limp body fell through the eternal darkness that had swallowed me whole. I heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. As I continued to drift into eternity my mind went blank and my eyes simply started into the void but after a brief moment of silence and when all seemed to stand still my eyes bursted open and I screamed in agony and pain as I felt my body split open and saw many things erupt. Fire, water, lighting, earth, and many other elements came forth and circled my body like electrons orbiting a nucleus before they struck back into my body one by one but now I could feel them swirling inside of me and I saw my body glow. But before anything could sink in and allow me peace I felt the elements within me burst out again but instead of floating around me they all seemed to explode around me and strike the building that had appeared suddenly. Fire shot down like meteors and exploded and caused the buildings to ignite, water flooded over others and wore them down to their foundations, lightning streaked across the sky and struck multiple houses but when they did a sphere of electricity surrounded them and when they dissipated nothing was left but random arcs of static. I watched in horror as the elements continued to cause chaos and destruction but then I saw a form move from the burnt ashes of a building and I saw that it was the partial skeletal body of my mother and half of her body was aflame while the other half was a shining skeleton that looked at me in despair and started to walk to towards my still form. My body once again froze while the once glowing figure of motherly love now slowly stalked me as the harbinger of death and during this time the figure slowly lifted an arm and while doing so bits of burning flesh fell off and fell into a small stream of dark water that reflected everything. “You......you did this......to me.......you.....killed....me” the figure declared while its eyes glowed red with hate and it seemed to shift closer to me “You...killed....me” it said again while pointing at me and shifted again right in front of me and I could smell the scent of death wafting from her walking and burning corpse. Her voice became so clear that it sounded like her vocal cords were not burnt while her soulless eyes stared into my being before her voice erupted from everywhere and nowhere “YOU KILLED ME!”she shrieked like a banshee and caused my ears to bleed and I felt my body become limp and even my tears burned as they fell. “ENOUGH!” a strong yet feminine voice boomed from the horror that caused the flames to stop, drain the water, calm the air, and made my mother return to her normal smiling self for a split second before she faded into nothing along with everything else around me, sending me back into the eternal darkness. “GASP!” I let out as I awoke from the horrible nightmare that had consumed my sleep and when I shot up from the bed I found myself falling onto floor and soon onto my hands and knees gasping for air. A cold sweat had drenched my body while my breaths were ragged, like I had just got done running a ten mile race and my body shook in fear. During the brief moment of silence I felt bile starting to rise up within me and using whatever strength I had I stumbled into the bathroom to get rid of the vile in my mouth. During all of this I failed to notice that the ceiling had been sparkling with electricity until the moment I ran into the bathroom then it peacefully dispersed into the air and vanished. When my stomach was empty I had recovered enough stamina to walk somewhat normally as I found myself walking to the cool air wafting into the room from the balcony and after a few failed attempts I found myself standing outside and letting the brisk cold air envelop me. I stared at the beautiful night sky and gazed upon the hundreds and hundreds of stars shined like velvet while the moon illuminated the town below and it looked beautiful and helped calmed me down a little. Unfortunately that calm lead me to break down into tears and though my hands refused to let go of the railing my body slunk down to my knees and my head hung down low and tears started to pool below me. Minutes went by as I unloaded all my feelings, my fears, my soul through my tears as I continued to see that nightmare replay itself over and over again and it was not until I felt myself calm down did I feel that a wing was laying itself over me but I refused to let my eyes leave the floor “Pr-prin.....Twilight?” I somberly asked with a quivering voice but the voice that replied was not one that I recognized. “No, I am not Princess Twilight. My name is Nightingale and I just want to let you know that everything is going to be ok” her voice told me and when I listened I felt every word vibrate and flow through me like a river that just seemed to carry all the weight of the dream away and I felt myself grow a little bit lighter. After sitting in silence for a few moments I decided to take a look at this new being and once again I saw another new sight in this strange world. Her body was like that of a typical mare that most of the girls seemed to share but the one big difference was that her wings, instead of looking like that of a birds, resembled that of a bats and they appeared to be quite large as well. Moving up I clearing saw the color of her mane in the light of moon that it was red but it seemed to shine in the light and when I traced the curly but spiked hair back up to the head I saw staring at me a pair of beautiful emerald eyes that just seemed to stare right into my very soul, like my nightmare mothers. But instead of fear they inspired strength and offered beauty while I looked into them. I tried to break away from her gaze but when I found myself looking down and away for long I found myself drawn back to them and soon I felt my eyes start to water again, though I was amazed that I had any left to shed. She saw this and offered a sincere smile and used her spare wing to wipe them gently away. “Take a few deep breaths then we shall have a little talk, alright?” she kindly offered to me, to which I gladly accepted and I immediately drew in deep breaths using my nose and exhaled with my mouth and I repeated this until I felt my heart slow down to almost nothing. Once I felt a stillness inside my body I soon realized that my body had stopped shaking as well and she could feel this as well because the next moment she wrapped her other wing around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I leaned gently into the crook of her neck and shoulder and took one more deep breath using my nose and realized that her coat smelled like violets. After my breath I finally asked “What kind of pony are you?” which took her by surprise cause I felt her flinch for a second before I heard her give a quiet laugh. “Out of all the questions you could and should be asking, you ask me what kind of pony I am? You certainly are a strange one, a kind but very strange one” she said with another quiet giggle “I am a bat pony and no I do not suck blood. We are a rare breed of ponies that are born into the night, so I suppose you could say we are the night time version of a pegasus” she explained. Taking another deep breath and accidentally taking another whiff of her violet scent I asked “Why are you here?” in a voice that sounded tired and defeated but had somehow retained a sense of curiosity. “Heh, now that is the right question. I am part of the Night Guard of Princess Luna, Co-Ruler of Equestria and the Protector of dreams. As part of her Guard we serve two purposes, One: To watch over the night and protect the citizens from any threat and Two: To help the citizens conquer their nightmares. Having said that though, Princess Luna as well as myself sincerely apologize to you with all of our hearts” she said with a heavy voice filled with regret, Before I could ask she went on “We are sorry that your nightmare lasted as long as it did, normally we would of stepped in as soon as we identified your fear and help you realize you could fight it and conquer it forever. But when we saw your dream we could not enter it and until we realized that you were not a pony were fought with all our power to enter and eventually we did. But at that point you had lived through the majority of it and we were to late to help you defeat it. We failed you” she said with a voice full of regret and despair. Hearing her voice a spark ignited within me and I felt my arms rise and wrap themselves around her “It is not your fault, you tried your best and in the end your best won through or else I would still be confined in that nightmare. So you still performed your duty, good job Nightingale” I softly said. After a moment of silence I heard her start to laugh again “You really are a strange and kind creature. Thank you” she said before she withdrew her wings and slid back a bit to fully look at me “Now, thanks to the ten mares in town that met you today who are dreaming about you, we know that you are a human being and we now know how to protect your dreams. So from this day forward we solemnly swear that we shall never allow you to witness that nightmare until you are ready to face it. Do you understand, Adrian Frost?” she sternly said with a voice that definitely showed that she was a Guard and a good one at that. I nodded my head which caused her to relax and return to a normal posture “Good, now lets get you back into bed. According to Princess Twilights dreams you are set to meet with Princess Celestia tomorrow so you need all the rest you can get” she said with a happy smile. The moment she said those words I suddenly felt really tired and heavy with sleep that I almost fell over which made her quickly rush to my side “How about we get you to your bed first?” she said playfully but I only nodded and I rose to my feet and eventually found my way to my bed and got in. Once I found a comfy spot I saw that, while she was flying, she was using her teeth to grab my blanket to cover me and once she was done she gently landed on my chest and smiled down at me. “Good night Adrian, sweet dreams” she said before she leaned down and gave me a kiss on the forehead which made me blush for a second before I found myself passed out. After giving it a full minute and seeing that I was fully asleep she reached to the small necklace that she had hidden in her fur and touched it. It let off a small blue glow before she leaned down and touched my forehead with hers as she inspected my dreams to make sure nothing bad invaded. I was sitting on a grassy plain with a checkered cloth beneath me and I was about to reach for a sandwich when I heard someone behind me shout “Hi Adrian!” I turned and saw that Pinkie Pie was bouncing to me with the rest of the girls behind her, including the three cutie crusaders. They all said down and pulled out their own lunch and we all got to talking. “Sorry I'm late!” another voice called out and I looked up to the sky to see Derpy carefully gliding in and just as she was about to smoothly land she tripped on air and crashed the last few inches right next to me. She groaned but smiled and said “Whoops, did it again” but I only laughed as started to scratch her ear which made her happy as a clam again and she sat up and ate lunch. The invisible eyes of Nightingale watched as the peaceful dream unfolded and just as she was about to leave she saw me stand up and reach beside him and set up a huge parasol that covered a huge area next to him in shadow. She was about to wonder why when she saw herself, while carrying an open umbrella, fly to the group and landed next to him in the shadow. “Hi Nightingale! I am happy you made it!” then her dream clone proceeded to mingle and unfortunately for Adrian the real version watching could hear his dream thoughts which said “She is really pretty and has beautiful eyes” which made both his dream self and her real self blush. Nightingale leaned back and opened her eyes and still felt the blush on her face before she shook it off and gave an amused smile “You silly thing” was all she said before she flew off into the night, leaving behind a smiling human enjoying a very good dream.