A Shadow of Myself

"Wakey-wakey!"

Charlotte groaned as she opened her eyes. It was too early. "Five more minutes, Mom."

"I'm not your mom, and it's nearly noon."

She went to pull her cover over her head, and her eyes popped open as she realized that whoever was in the room with her had pulled it off, leaving her butt naked and exposed in front of them. With a shocked gasp, she practically fell out of bed to use it for cover.

"Is this the naked human thing? Seriously, I'm a pony, and I am perfectly straight and married. I don't think anything about your form is the least bit attractive. I don't mean to be offensive, but to be honest, I've always been a little confused how anypony could find humans attractive."

Charlotte peeked over the bed and saw Jordan standing there, looking exasperated.

Jordan shook her head and visibly forced a smile. "Why don't you put on the necklace? You'll feel less embarrassed. I don't want to cause a scene. I just went through getting Auntie Sunset up, and that was a nightmare, so I'm a little annoyed with fighting with grown adults behaving like kids. Nobody wants to get up today, and I understand why, but you can't spend all day in bed."

"Yes, I can!" Charlotte yelled.

The unicorn sat down. "If I had my choice, I would leave you to it, but I don't. I had to get Auntie Sunset up because things needed to be done, and they weren't happening without her. She says you need to get up and dumped the task of getting you upon me as some foalish retribution for waking her. I know I didn't want to get up either when my dad died a few years ago, and I know this has to feel a hundred times worse for you, but harsh as it is, the world doesn't stop just because we lost loved ones."

"Why you, and not one of my parents or my sister?" Charlotte asked, still not moving.

"I told you, nobody wants to get up. Your parents, sister, all of Sunset's foals, Amicus, and several others are all still in bed. I have to be up because I have foals, and I feel sorry for Drizzle because I can tell she wants to stay in bed, and I know how much she loved her uncle, but she's got to deal with a foal too. Sunset needed to be up because she needed to make decisions, and she said she needed you, so I'm getting you. Please, just put the necklace on and see what she wants."

Charlotte reluctantly reached for her nightstand, where she had left the necklace before going to sleep, and slipped it on. It was an odd sensation, turning into a pony, but the necklace acted quickly, and the next thing she knew, she was too short to look over the edge of the bed easily. So she walked out behind it.

"See, you're probably feeling silly about worrying about being seen naked now," Jordan said as she got up. "Sunset is in her room. That whole hallway is…it's still being sanitized. Your sister slept on one of the benches for the guards instead of going to her room. It seems uncomfortable, but whatever saved her from having to walk down that hall. I'm still willing to give you magic lessons later if you want something to distract yourself." Jordan paused and looked in a corner before pointing. "And you might want to bring him with you."

She'd almost forgotten. Empathy had pulled up a mass of pillows and blankets and made himself a bed in a corner. He was still fast asleep, some protector if he didn't wake up to her yelling.

"How'd you get roped into being the one to wake Sunset up?" Charlotte asked. "I doubt it was a task anyone wanted after yesterday."

Jordan sighed. "They figured I had the best chance of escaping unscathed if she lashed out when she woke up, and no, I'm not kidding. She was thrashing in her sleep, so I kept my shield up the whole time."

"Huh…I got visited by a warden last night who helped with stuff. I figured the Dreamwardens would have visited her too and kept the nightmares away," Charlotte replied.

"I don't know. Maybe they had an argument or something," Jordan said with a shrug. She then paused and lifted her leg, and lit her horn to answer her phone. "What do you want, Auntie?"

"Have you gotten Charlotte yet?" Sunset's voice came over the line. She sounded exhausted.

"She's up and about to come see you. Once she gets the elephant up," Jordan replied.

"Tell her to scratch coming to me. I was just informed she has a visitor at the front door. It's Rebecca Rice. Tell her to go see what that overstuffed pegasus wants."

Jordan's brow narrowed. "Why is Rebecca here?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't need Charlotte to ask," Sunset snapped. "I know she's asking for Charlotte. Have her go deal with your chubby friend so I can get that pegasus off my property."

The call abruptly ended, and Jordan shook her head. "Guess you're going downstairs instead. I'll go with you. I haven't seen Rebecca in ages, and I kinda want to know why she suddenly decided to show up."

"Who's Rebecca Rice?" Charlotte asked in confusion. "I've never heard of her. Is she some sort of government official? I don't know many people who can just walk into Wabash Manor as they please, and no one without permission. It didn't sound like Sunset wanted her here."

"Rebecca technically has the authority to go where she pleases, but I've never known her to use that authority," Jordan said thoughtfully. "I can't say why, but she's a big deal. She's nice. You don't need to worry about her hurting you or anything. Rebecca is about as pacifist as it gets. I don't think she could hurt anybody if she tried. She's normally very cheerful."

"She's your friend?"

Jordan nodded. "Yeah. She used to foalsit Drizzle with me when I was much younger. She's fat, and my sister Jackie called Rebecca the worst pegasus she's ever seen because Rebecca is horrible at flying. That's a little harsh, but she is a terrible flyer. She's a nice pony, though."

Charlotte frowned. "That doesn't explain why she can just walk into Wabash Manor when Sunset doesn't want her here."

"Rebecca is a lot more than she seems, but I can't talk about it. You can ask her, and she might tell you, but she might not. Hurry up and go see her."

So, no answers. Well, all she could do was meet this pegasus. She doubted this was some assassin from Phobia if Jordan said she was a pacifist and Sunset wasn't keeping them apart.

She started to take her necklace off, but Jordan swatted her hooves with magic. "Sorry, but you need to keep that on. No mishaps, remember?"

Charlotte rubbed her swatted hoof. That had stung. "But she's going to see me looking like a younger version of Sunset and find out about the necklace and who I am."

"I'm sure she knows about both already. Get your elephant up. I'm sure she wants to meet him too, and it wouldn't be fair to him if he woke up and didn't know where you were."

Plus, he was supposed to stay supervised, but it seemed like that could be relaxed a bit. Wasn't he supposed to be checked out by the Dreamwardens last night? He was still breathing, so he must have checked out okay. Not that she had any doubts. Empathy was a sweetheart.

She walked over to him, and just before she was about to nudge him awake, he let out a very long, thunderous fart. She waved a leg in front of her muzzle. Man, that was rank! Maybe Earth food didn't agree with him. His farts smelled like death.

Her eyes started to water up. Stupid smelly farts…they were making her…

It was all suddenly too much, and she broke down on the floor sobbing.

She wasn't sure if seconds or minutes passed when furry legs and furry arms embraced her, as well as a furry trunk. Nothing was said; Jordan and Empathy just held her as she cried.

It was at least a few minutes before she could manage to speak. "I-I'm sorry. The smell from Empathy's gas was so bad…."

"We understand," Jordan said gently, not correcting her lie, even if it was an obvious one. "It's okay. You can cry. There might be times you have to put on a brave face, but this isn't one of them. Take your time. Rebecca will understand."

"My flatulence upset Miss Charlotte?" Empathy asked in alarm.

"No, it didn't," Jordan replied.

"But she just said-"

"I'll explain it to you later," Jordan said with a sigh.

Charlotte kept crying. She cried so much her head hurt, and her eyes burned. The two didn't let go or move away, although she was sure she was getting their fur wet and covered in snot. They didn't seem to care. She felt bad. She hadn't even known these two before yesterday, and here she was putting them through this. She did everything she could to bring her crying to a halt and pulled away from the two, wiping her leg against her face to clear the tears and gunk. Great, now she was going to meet this important pony, and she looked a complete mess.

Jordan patted her on the back. "If you want to take a shower, I can go tell Rebecca it will be a few minutes. She's a busy pony, and I'm not sure what her schedule might look like, but I'm sure-"

Charlotte shook her head. "No, let's just get it over with. I don't know if a shower will make it better or if I am holding her up from other things. You make her sound important, and if she's important enough that she can walk into the manor when it is locked down, I don't want to cause her any trouble."

"Who are we seeing?" Empathy asked curiously.

"An important pony. That's all I know, and now we are on the same page," Charlotte said with a shake of her head. "You can go hang out with Andrea or my parents or someone if you want. I know I'm probably not nourishing you when I'm wearing this necklace."

"I still want to stay with you, Miss Charlotte."

Jordan smiled. "That's a super loyal friend you have there, don't do him wrong."

She followed Jordan out the hall and to the stairwell. Before reaching the stairwell, her ears twitched at the sounds of…foals laughing.

"Sweet dreams are made of this! Who am I to disaaagreee!"

Foals were laughing, and some adult was singing terribly.

As they reached the stairs, they saw an extremely flabby pegasus mare dancing, dancing on two legs! How did a pony that fat manage not only to keep her balance on two legs but to also dance? She was singing away happily as an unfamiliar woman clapped a beat. There were lots of foals watching and parents smiling along. Charlotte and the others stared on in amazement; even Jordan, who already knew this pegasus, seemed taken aback that the pegasus was someone defying all laws of gravity by maintaining balance with her colossal girth.

The pegasus looked up the stairs at them while still dancing. " Aww! There you are! I've been waiting for you. I'm Rebecca Rice, but you might better know me as—" She stopped in mid-twirl, spreading her forelegs and wings wide. "The Marshmallow! Look upon me in all my physical glory!"

The Marshmallow promptly lost her balance, tried to correct it by flapping her wings and waving her forelegs, but still ended up falling backward with a loud crash as she hit the floor.

She lifted her legs into the air. "I'm alright!"

The woman who had been clapping a beat scowled at the fallen pegasus mare. "You jumped the gun announcing your identity. You aren't supposed to come out and say that till the press conference later this week!"

The pegasus rolled over and returned to her hooves, all four of them this time. "Meh, it will be fine. Do we really need to do the whole conference thing? I could just post a video up on social media and have the OMMR and government put a stamp of approval on it."

"Yes, you need to do the news conference," the woman said firmly. "And you need to make this visit go quicker. You're going to be late for your appointment with the tailor."

"We could skip the tailor," the pegasus said in a hopeful tone.

The woman waved a finger in the pegasus's face. "You're not getting out of this. You are getting a suit for the news conference."

"You won't even let me get one with stripes and spots to match my fur!" the pegasus protested, spreading her wings wide. Her fur was completely white, and her mane a sunny blond. There was no sign of any spot or stripe on her.

The woman bent down to stare the pegasus in the eyes. "I told you no. You need to show the dignity of your station."

The pegasus blew a raspberry with her tongue and flipped her mane. "Party-pooper!"

"She's a Dreamwarden?" Charlotte asked skeptically, raising a brow.

Jordan nodded. "I wasn't going to say so, but apparently, I can. I know Rebecca isn't what you might think of when dealing with a Dreamwarden, but she's The Marshmallow."

The woman clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "That's all the show The Marshmallow will be doing today, kids. Go play; maybe you can go practice your own dancing moves."

"Um…Blanche, that might be a bad idea," The Marshmallow whispered loudly. "Stuff knocked over and broken, kids falling down, lots of crying, and none of them as fluffy as me, so more likely to get hurt. Bad idea." She turned and smiled at the kids. "Don't try this at home, kids! Or here…for that matter. Dancing is a lot of fun, but you shouldn't attempt it on two legs— if you're a pony— unless you have a dancing instructor and lots of cushy mats to fall on. Nobody is having fun if they get hurt. Safety first! If you want to dance like me, you should ask your parents to sign you up for dance classes. I took a lot of them to learn to dance like this. It was hard work, but it was a lot of fun!"

Parents were suddenly swarmed by their kids, asking them if they could take dance classes. Charlotte wasn't sure if the parents were going to be thankful for The Marshmallow suggesting that, but they were probably grateful the fat pegasus headed off the chaos that could have resulted if they had tried dancing like that on their own.

"Maybe we should migrate to the dining room to talk?" Jordan suggested as she walked down the stairs slowly.

The Marshmallow looked her over. "Looking plump, Jordan. This is number five, right?"

Jordan nodded. "Probably the last one. I could keep going, but kids are expensive, and our house is getting cramped."

"Understood. I'm going to get around to adopting one of these days. Maybe after I retire," the fat pegasus said wistfully. "Anyway, Charlotte, Empathy, and I can go to the dining room, but you and Blanche need to stay out here. It's a private conversation, and I'm sure there are those who don't want me broadcasting their business to you. But let me give you a hug first. We don't get to see each other enough."

Jordan finished descending the stairs with Charlotte and Empathy following close behind. The two pudgy ponies gave each other a warm embrace.

"How do you manage to afford all those kids if you are constantly on maternity leave?" Blanche asked.

Jordan broke from her hug and smiled at Blanche. "My hubby might be stay at home, but he writes, and his books sell well. They are very sultry. We roleplay scenes in them all the time…for the sake of accuracy, of course."

Charlotte winced. She did not need to know that! She saw Blanche do the same. Someone was regretting asking a question. She wondered if Jordan would use that for a story when her kids got older. 'And this is the scene your daddy and I played out when we produced you.' The kid might immediately be turned off of ever reading anything even slightly steamy.

Rebecca seemed to know her way around and directed Charlotte and Empathy to follow her into the dining room. The two did, and once they were inside, Rebecca promptly shut the door behind them, and her cheerful demeanor vanished into a look of seriousness.

"First off, I need to apologize; Phobia threatening you like that was bad, and she will be giving her own apology soon enough."

Charlotte blinked. "Does that mean she isn't going to try to kill me if I stay here?"

The Marshmallow nodded. "That's been put to the vote, and Phobia lost the vote. Honestly, she's happy she lost. She didn't like making threats, but Phobia is Phobia, and she always votes for what she thinks is necessary and logical. I see where she is coming from, but I vote the way that leaves me happy seeing myself in the mirror afterwards. Votes are binding; you're under no threat from us."

Charlotte sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

"However…"

Why was there always a however or a but?

"I will still recommend that you get off the planet or be permanently transformed," The Marshmallow continued. "We won't take action against you if you don't, but we're pleading with you. You need to understand. This is a very delicate period of time. Evil space robots of death will be arriving in our solar system before the year is out. We have been preparing for this for decades. We think we have a fighting chance where every other world has failed. The fighting chance depends on no major catastrophes getting in the way of our plans. You have no idea how much danger you could present or how terrified we are. We need you to be off-world, at least until we have won. If we lose…well, Phobia is going to be standing by in Equestria to advise the princesses when they need to seal the portals, if it comes to that. She knows how much time we have to get refugees across if the defense fails. She'll be counting the seconds. Regardless, you'll be safe."

Charlotte gasped and covered her mouth. The wardens always talked about the coming Devourers and the threat they faced. They made it out to be an end of the world type event, an end to all things. They were always vague about when this supposed doomsday was coming, and most people treated the Devourers as some made-up boogeyman, something the wardens used to scare people. Now, The Marshmallow was giving a timeframe, and it was scarily close.

"Why aren't you evacuating people now!" Charlotte yelled. "If it will be happening in less than a year, why aren't people being evacuated already? Why is there nothing in the news? Why hasn't any government said anything? Do they know?"

"They know," The Marshmallow answered. "All nations are united in this, regardless of how deeply divided they may normally be, because all life is on the line— every nation survives, or none do. Preparations have been made in secret for some time. Press about this has been suppressed or discredited, and those who have shown any talent for detecting the coming enemy have been conscripted into our defense. We haven't told the world because it would cause panic, riots, and general upheaval. We cannot afford that; it could interfere with our ability to mount a defense. The week before, worldwide martial law will be declared, and evacuations will begin. We can't save everyone, Equestria can only safely receive so many, and they have already agreed to go well beyond that number, knowing the position it will put them in. Hopefully, we win, and it will only be a temporary relocation. They can yell at us for the flagrant violations of their rights; at least they'll be alive to do it. There come times when even I have to say we do whatever is necessary. I want people to live. I can live with myself if they're angry at us. I can't live with myself for letting them die without doing everything I could to save them. Enough ponies are already fairly certain to die, even if we win."

"How are you going to win if no one else has?" Charlotte asked worriedly.

The Marshmallow shook her head. "Dangerous as they are, they're still robots, still computers that do what they were programmed to do. They have directives that they cannot override. As a Dreamwarden, I understand all too well the power of such directives since I am bound by several myself, and I know the precarious position they sometimes put me in. We don't understand everything about how the Devourers function, but we know those directives. We can use those directives to our advantage. Sunset Blessing helped craft certain elements we needed to make this plan work, so yea for you….I guess? That's all that my promises will allow me to say."

Empathy put a hand on Charlotte's side, and she looked at him as he gave her a reassuring smile. It looked forced, but she appreciated the gesture.

She turned to look at the Marshmallow. "I can return from Equestria if I go? It isn't permanent banishment?"

"Once this is over, and we are still alive, you can do whatever you like," The Marshmallow assured her. "The Dreamwardens won't block your return."

They were only asking for a year. That wasn't that bad a deal. It was like an extended vacation. And she definitely could use some time away right now. The idea of going back to school in the fall right after…

She nodded before she could start crying again. "I'll do it. I'll go to Equestria of my own free will."