"What a break!" Grundy whispered, his relief about twice as big as he was. "We keep our souls!"

"If I can just rest a little and then fly on to Mount Rushmost," Chex said, "that's all the facilitation I need. But if it takes a bad dream to move Fracto off—"

"It takes time to craft a proper bad dream," the stallion said. "The mares do not make the dreams, they only carry them, though at times they must add dreams from the common pool if the effect is not sufficient. An inferior dream would not properly disturb Fracto, who is bound to be a tough client. Two days is the minimum we can do it."

Chex saw that he was being candid. Now she realized that routine dreams of toothy dragons or ugly spooks would not do the job; it would require something very special to bother a cloud. It was a real problem. If she wanted fast service, she would have to figure out a way to craft an effective dream in a hurry.

Then she had a notion so bright that the bulb shattered over her head. Mare Nectaris flinched. "Fracto—he's not like other creatures!" Chex said. "He hates good things. He hates happiness."

"Yes," the stallion agreed. "That is why a phenomenally horrendous dream must be crafted. It will require the most terrible elements we can muster, integrated so as to leave no ray of hope or pleasure."

"No it won't!" she exclaimed. "It will take a happy dream!"

"You're crazy, feather-face!" Grundy said. "If Fracto's happy, he'll stay forever."

"Not so," Chex said. "The happier it is, the worse Fracto will feel, because that's his nemesis: the joy of others. If he is faced with a happy scene he can't rain out, he will flee in high dudgeon."

The stallion was amazed. "Mare, I think you are correct! Reverse psychology! But we are not equipped to make a happy dream."

"Maybe I can think of one," Chex said. "I am a happy person, normally."

"And the sets," the stallion continued. "Every scene has to be recorded with the proper background, with talented models. We don't have happy ones."

"But you must have scraps and snippets cut from prior dreams that weren't nasty enough for your purpose," she said eagerly. "If those were collected together, there might be an almost-nice effect. You could use up all those wasted bits!"

"Perhaps," he agreed uncertainly. "But the time—"

"It shouldn't take much time just to assemble them," she argued. "They've already been made; they just need to be tied together. The real challenge is the main sequence. Something so sickeningly sweet that Fracto will be revolted."

"Our models could not manage anything like that," the stallion said. "It would make them be revolted!"

"But could they pantomime?" she asked. "If Grundy and I spoke the words?"

"Say!" the golem said, getting interested.

"Possibly," the stallion agreed reluctantly.

"Very well. Collect your sets and models, and I'll try to come up with a suitable narrative."