Marshmallow Dreams

by Halira

Chapter 89: Facing your Fear is but One Battle in a War

Sunflower flew much faster than me during regular circumstances and wearing safety equipment was not making it easier to fly. I really should have stripped it off before I took off, but it was too late for that now. I could strip it all off once I found my friend.

Thankfully, she wasn't hard to find.

She had landed on our airship and was taking deep breaths as she stripped off her safety equipment. There weren't many passengers currently aboard that I could spot. I only saw Iron Will, one of his goats (the other two ships, which were also docked, had other goats commanding them), Wild Growth, and, of course, Sunflower. Wild Growth was discussing something or other with Iron Will on one side of the ship while Sunflower sat off on the opposite end.

I came down for a landing beside Sunflower… or at least, that is what I attempted to do. I was just a tiny bit too low and my forehooves caught the edge of the ship's railing.

CRACK!

Thank you, unreturned safety helmet, for cushioning my head as it collided with the deck. The rest of my body hit the deck a second later, putting me on my back, staring up at the sky. The various other pieces of safety equipment helped cushion the impact, making this one of my softer spectacular crashes. Maybe I should wear equipment like this all the time. Then again, the fact I crashed might have been partially the fault of trying to compensate for it.

"Are you okay? That sounded like it hurt, and you shook the deck!"

I lifted a leg up. "I'm good! My head cushioned my fall. Hey… did you always have two heads?"

Sunflower hovered over me with a worried frown. "I'm serious. Are you okay? I'm used to you crashing, but that seemed harder than normal."

It took a second to turn over and stand up. In the meantime, Sunflower landed again and watched as I got to my hooves. I noted that she was already dry, and I was a little jealous. Pegasi weather magic had a side effect of making our fur and feathers dry out faster—a needed ability if we were going to go out and bring the rain. I say we, but it didn't help me because my weather magic was so weak. I would still be soaking wet right now if I had gone over the falls.

"I'm okay," I said as I gave my wings a shake to try to get the feathers settled back in place. "Are you okay? You took off in a hurry."

She turned away and looked down. "I'm fine."

I took a deep breath and laid a wing on her back. "Sunflower, we're friends. You don't need to fib to save face. Everyone watching saw you and heard you after you got out of that barrel."

No response. She kept her head turned away, staring at the deck. She was breathing heavily.

"That was pretty brave of you, riding down the falls," I said. "I'll be honest, I was looking for any excuse to get out of it. I don't have your phobia, but doing that scared me to death."

She gulped and shivered. "No, you saw it; I ended up freaking out. I screamed the entire way down and thrashed against the sides. I felt...I felt…" She suddenly dropped down on her haunches and began crying. "I was so terrified I couldn't even think! I feel so stupid, thinking that facing my fears was going to make anything better—that it would help me get over my claustrophobia. Now I'm going to look like an idiot to everypony when nothing is better."

"Well, you do look like a fool, but not for that reason."

We both turned to see Phobia's wife land on the deck beside us, quickly followed by her three teenaged foals. All of them were somewhat damp. She briefly lifted a wing to block out the sun. "Not any dimmer in Equestria," the night pony mare muttered.

Arachne stepped forward. "Hey! Give us that safety equipment! You can't just take off with it like that. We're going to get a finder's fee for bringing that stuff back."

Moon snorted. "As if we can spend Equestrian cash back home."

Arachne turned and glared—well, turned and looked up at her brother since he was a head taller than her. "We can do a currency exchange. It's legitimate money we don't have to return to Titi."

"We don't need the money. Returning the stuff is just the right thing to do," Charlotte sneered at her twin.

"Money is money. For a pony that wants to get out from Mom's shadow, you need to learn to value it more. Otherwise, you'll need to come crying back to Mom and Mama," Arachne sneered back.

Rosetta covered her face with a wing and shook her head. She then uncovered and looked at us. "If you ever have foals, value the time you have with them when they're young, tiny, and cute. They spend so little of their life small, sweet, and innocent. After that, they hit their teen years, and once that is done, they will spend most of their life as adults. I find myself nostalgic for when my foals weren't such independent thinkers, and I don't doubt I will be wishing for their teen years again after they reach adulthood—hard as that is to believe right now."

"Hear that? You two are giving Mama a headache," Moon said with a sigh.

Charlotte pointed a wing at their sister. "She's the one being greedy!"

Arachne flapped her wings. "And you're the one being a dipshit!"

"Arachne! Language!" Rosetta snapped with a stomp of her hoof. "Don't use curse words towards your siblings!"

"Yeah, Arachne, don't cuss," Moon said smugly.

The cobwebbed cutie-marked teen gave her brother another glare. "Oh, as if you never cuss."

"I don't," Moon fired back.

The twins looked at one another and then turned towards their brother. "Ha!" the two shouted in chorus.

Rosetta groaned. "I'm well aware that you three have mouths your grandmare would be scrubbing out with soap if she had the authority to discipline you—no point in hiding that. I blame all those mares we have hanging about the house. What I said is don't cuss at your siblings. Now, please gather up that equipment and fly it back to the vendor."

Charlotte stepped towards us. "Okay, fuckwads, give us the stuff."

"Charlotte!" Rosetta hissed.

The lookalike daughter gave her mother an exaggerated innocent look. "What? You said don't cuss at each other. You didn't say anything about these two."

Rosetta breathed deep and looked up at the sky. She immediately winced and shielded her eyes again. She muttered something angrily in Spanish I couldn't make out, then she turned and addressed her foals once again. "I hate pulling this card, but I'm going to let you explain your manners to your other mother when we get back home. In the meantime, if you address another person as a cuss word during this trip, I'm going to have Wild not give you any spending money the rest of the time we're here. Do I make myself clear?"

The three bowed their heads. "Yes, Mama," they said in chorus.

I didn't need to be instructed. I started stripping off the helmet and the rest of the gear. The foals gathered it as I took things off and started putting it on themselves—it was the easiest way to travel with it. The twins were the ones who put on the gear while Moon just sat back and did nothing. From what little I knew, based on what I had seen during their duels, the twins were better at flying than him. Moon was a pure brute force fighter who pounded his way through the opposition like an earth pony might, and his sisters were the ones who did most of the fighting in the air. It made sense that the better flyers were the ones to take on extra encumbrances—that and Arachne was the one interested in the return fee.

"Return the items and then return to your quarters. We need to get to bed," Rosetta instructed.

"But, Mama—" Charlotte whined.

"No buts," Rosetta said firmly. "I'm no expert on Equestrian sunlight, but it must be nearly noon or later. Consider it a good thing. You're going to get the rare chance to be included in the ship's adult entertainment tonight, and since Equestria doesn't have a minimum drinking age, this will be your rare chance to get publicly served alcohol anytime before you're twenty-one."

That got their attention right away. Arachne was the one that spoke up. "You're serious? You're going to let us drink?"

Rosetta nodded. "I will, but don't expect to be getting drunk. Equestrian alcohol is not as potent as Earth alcohol. They let foals half your age have some on special occasions. Still, I'll be monitoring how much you consume. I've already been briefed on how much should be a safe amount. Don't expect me to allow you to have comparable amounts back home. Your other mother and I have already mutually decided to start allowing some during Thanksgiving and New Year's, starting this year, but only if you can show some semblance of responsibility with this weaker Equestrian stuff."

That was interesting. I must have overlooked that section of the fliers they had given. I already knew that all of my friends slash other candidates would probably want to go do that tonight. We were younger college students. The promise of alcohol with no consequences was like waving a bone in front of a dog. Then again, Blanche came from Europe, and they had more relaxed views on drinking there, so it probably wasn't a big deal to her. Personally, I had some little bits of it during special dinners at home already, and I never was much of a fan. I never had it at a party with friends before, so it would be worth a new experience for that sake.

Charlotte grinned. "It's still letting us have booze. We can be responsible."

"I can show I'm prim and proper during an adult party," Arachne said in a haughty tone.

Moon rolled his eyes at his sisters' claims, then shielding them with a wing against the sun. "If I'm not needed, I'll go straight to bed now."

"No, you'll stay with your sisters, just in case they run into any trouble," Rosetta instructed. "They are flying with an extra load in an unfamiliar area with air that feels odd. I feel better if there is one of you flying regularly, just to keep an eye out."

"You've got to defend us, big brother, we’re helpless without you," Arachne said with a flutter of her eyelashes.

Moon sneered at her. "Don't you like to remind us all, every chance you can, that you're the eldest? Plus, you two are as helpless as a pack of wolves in a sheep pen."

"Older than you by a month and older than Char by over half a minute, and neither of you should forget it," Arachne confirmed with a smug nod. "But you're physically bigger, little brother. You make a wonderful meat shield."

The colt snorted. "Let's just get this over with so I can go to bed."

The three of them flew off with the equipment, leaving us with their mother—one of their mothers, anyway. I wondered, who was the father? Were they artificially inseminated? Phobia Remedy used to be male. Was Phobia the father? That didn't make complete sense either. I was pretty sure that someone said she gave birth to Nightmare Moon. It would probably be really rude to ask questions about all that. Not as rude as Roger trying to take a peek underneath Phobia Remedy's underside, but still rude.

"I should have never let them hang out with that foul-mouthed filly," Rosetta muttered as she watched her foals fly off.

Rosetta took a moment more giving us an appraising look before she spoke again. "Phobia keeps me in the dark about most matters involving her...career, but I can put two and two together. You two are Dreamwarden candidates. I narrowed down the others as well. I see that they're still sticking to the policy of no night ponies. I understood last time that they were dead set on picking a human, but I'd hoped after two Dreamwardens in a row where night ponies were passed over, they'd at least start considering them again. If this keeps up the tribe may think the Dreamwardens have abandoned them."

"I'm sorry," Sunflower peeped.

"What are you sorry for?" Rosetta asked. "You aren't the ones making those calls...yet."

"Sorry," Sunflower whimpered.

Rosetta shook her head in frustration. "Don't take my vents that seriously. I'm just a passionate advocate for my tribe. It used to be advocating for my tribe and advocating for the Dreamwardens went hoof and hoof, but those days are passing."

I blinked. "Why is that?"

The night pony shook her head. "They give out dreamwalking abilities freely to whoever wants it. In the meantime, much of what made my tribe unique is more and more trivialized. Before long all the world will think of when they think of night ponies as a bunch of nocturnal malcontents rather than a race of proud dreamwalkers. When everyone can do your special ability, it ceases to be very special."

That sounded like she and her wife had a few disagreements. Hopefully, it didn't interfere with their marriage. That wasn't the thing to focus on, though.

"You said Sunflower was being foolish?" I asked. Sunflower hung her head in shame.

Rosetta nodded and focused her eyes on my friend. "Yes, she is. Do you honestly think facing your fears is going to just make them go away? It isn't that easy."

Sunflower fluffed her wings. "But you said I should. You said Phobia would be proud of me."

"That I did," Rosetta confirmed. "However, I didn't say your fears would go away. Facing your fears is about a few things, and forgive me for being long-winded. I'm basically repeating my wife, and she tends to monologue. Yeah, facing your fears repeatedly can lessen their effect on you. Not in one shot, but the more you are exposed to something the less scary it is. Another reason to face your fears is that it helps you understand your fear, which goes with the first point. Fear can be born of ignorance, and facing them head-on can help you learn why you fear something or shouldn't fear something. Finally, facing your fears is a sign that you won't let your fear rule you. Fear is important; it is a survival instinct to keep you safe. However, we can become crippled trying to avoid what we are afraid of, and that is when it has gone too far."

"So, why is she foolish?" I asked.

"I apologize again for mimicking my wife, but I spend a lot of time with her. The reason your friend is foolish is that she did exactly what she needed to with facing her fears, and she feels bad about it for some reason," Rosetta replied and quickly yawned again. "She exposed herself to her fear, which will help her better cope with it in the future. She also showed she was not going to be at the mercy of it, but is crying because she is still afraid. She's still going to be afraid, that can't be helped in one go. The only thing she didn't do is try to understand why she is claustrophobic to begin with."

I turned and looked at Sunflower. "Any ideas why you're claustrophobic? Did you have a traumatic experience in an enclosed space as a foal?"

Sunflower shook her head. "No, I just never had to deal with places like that growing up on a farm. Everything was big and open back at home."

"Well, you may need to just stay on the ship when we get to our stop at Mountainshade then," Rosetta said after yawning.

"What's wrong with Mountainshade?" I asked, looking at the trembling form of my friend. "Is it cramped?"

"The primary part of Mountainshade is built into the caverns of the Foal Mountains, or so I've been told," Rosetta explained. "I'm sure there are bigger caverns that seem more open, but there will be a lot that're tighter. It's the largest night pony settlement in Equestria, and night ponies are more comfortable underground or in caves."

Sunflower whimpered even louder now.

Rosetta gave her a sympathetic look. "There is supposed to be an earth pony part of the city just outside the entrance of the mountains—primarily miners, some merchants, and a few farmers. Maybe you can spend time there instead."

I patted Sunflower's back. "Don't worry. I'm sure it can't be that bad. Imagine it as one big building, like our dorms. You don't have any problem with the dorm hallways and rooms. It has to have at least that much room. Just don't think about the fact you are in a cave system."

The night pony yawned again and stretched her wings. "Blasted sun, sapping all my energy. I'm going to head to bed. Stop feeling bad because you were scared. It's okay to be scared. You faced it, and that's something to be proud of. Anyway, I'm going to beddy-bye, have a good afternoon. If you see my foals trying to stay up, tattle to my sister and let her know I told them to go to bed. She'll take care of it. They won't cross their titi; she has control of the purse strings."

We watched her walk off towards the cabins.

"What does titi mean?" Sunflower asked.

I shook my head. "I think it is a way of saying aunt in Spanish, but I'm not sure. I'm not very good at Spanish."

"Oh."

I walked over and hugged her. "Are you going to be okay for the rest of the day? I know you were pretty shaken up, but it's over now."

She leaned into me. "I suppose so, as long as I don't think about that cave city coming tomorrow night."

I released her and looked her in the eyes. "Hey, don't fret about it. You want to see amazing places, right? It is a cave city! How cool is that?"

"Like a dwarven city in Lord of the Rings," she said in a low voice, looking down.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "Won't that be exciting to see?"

"The most famous dwarven city in Lord of the Rings had a Balrog in it, and it and the orcs killed all the dwarves," she said to the deck.

"That's depressing," I said with a frown. "Well, good thing this isn't that story. Come on, it is the only night pony city anywhere! There isn't even a night pony city on Earth, and we might be some of the first ponies from Earth to see it."

She half-perked her ears and looked up at me at last. "Sounds like an adventure. Let's hope it doesn't make us late for dinner."

"Late for dinner?! What?!" I said in shock.

That got her to giggle. "Just keeping with the Tolkien vibe. Don't worry, I'm sure we won't miss dinner."

I smiled. "Good, because that would be a real tragedy."

She then grabbed me into a tight hug. "Don't ever change, Rebecca."

Comments

[PiMan]

The conversation with the trio kinda dragged a bit, but otherwise a decent chapter.

[badninja]

Yea I can see why they are going to choose Rebecca. She is what they will want to help change their image in the future.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Arachne stepped forward. "Hey! Give us that safety equipment! You can't just take off with it like that. We're going to get a finder's fee for bringing that stuff back."

Moon snorted. "As if we can spend Equestrian cash back home."

Arachne turned and glared—well, turned and looked up at her brother since he was a head taller than her. "We can do a currency exchange. It's legitimate money we don't have to return to Titi."

"We don't need the money. Returning the stuff is just the right thing to do," Charlotte sneered at her twin.

"Money is money. For a pony that wants to get out from Mom's shadow, you need to learn to value it more. Otherwise, you'll need to come crying back to Mom and Mama," Arachne sneered back.

Rosetta covered her face with a wing and shook her head. She then uncovered and looked at us. "If you ever have foals, value the time you have with them when they're young, tiny, and cute. They spend so little of their life small, sweet, and innocent. After that, they hit their teen years, and once that is done, they will spend most of their life as adults. I find myself nostalgic for when my foals weren't such independent thinkers, and I don't doubt I will be wishing for their teen years again after they reach adulthood—hard as that is to believe right now."

"Hear that? You two are giving Mama a headache," Moon said with a sigh.

Charlotte pointed a wing at their sister. "She's the one being greedy!"

Arachne flapped her wings. "And you're the one being a dipshit!"

"Arachne! Language!" Rosetta snapped with a stomp of her hoof. "Don't use curse words towards your siblings!"

"Yeah, Arachne, don't cuss," Moon said smugly.

The cobwebbed cutie-marked teen gave her brother another glare. "Oh, as if you never cuss."

"I don't," Moon fired back.

Kids! KIDS!

[Chrome Masquerade]

The night pony shook her head. "They give out dreamwalking abilities freely to whoever wants it. In the meantime, much of what made my tribe unique is more and more trivialized. Before long all the world will think of when they think of night ponies as a bunch of nocturnal malcontents rather than a race of proud dreamwalkers. When everyone can do your special ability, it ceases to be very special."

In other words: When everyone is super, no one is.

[Halira]

10983791
Don't always trust google translate. It doesn't under stand regional dialects. In Puerto Rican Spanish (and some other Carribean dialects) the term titi is used. Tia is more commonly used in Mexico or Spain. Wild Growth, Rosetta Stone, and the rest of that side of the family use Puerto Rican Spanish. However, each generation uses less and less. The three demons only use a few terms regularly, such as titi as a term for Wild Growth (but they do understand considerably more).

[Chrome Masquerade]

10984064
Not to be confused with Portuguese, I suppose (tia is ""apparently"" aunt in Portuguese too).

Either way, withdrawn.