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// Chapter 4: Plane Trips 
// Story: Pandemic: Starting Over 
// by Halira 
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The trip back home was to involve several flights. First would be the flight from Tokyo to Honolulu, the next would be from Honolulu to San Francisco, and the final stretch would be San Francisco to Denver. Adding in expected layover time, it would be nearly sixteen hours to get back to Denver. 

On a positive note, the government paid for us to travel in private luxury aircraft for each leg of the trip. This wasn't so much to make us more comfortable, although it greatly helped with that, but because it was easier to keep us safe. There was the fear that some Chinese nationals would try something, but even before I took custody of the foals, there were some who'd have loved to put a bullet in my head. While most of the public didn't have a significant problem with me, and many even saw me in a positive light (to my complete and utter shock), there were still ponies that had an exceedingly deep hatred of me. I was not one to argue that I had earned that hate, but I did generally object to them trying to kill me, and some hated me enough to try.

The flight from Tokyo to Honolulu had been mostly quiet. We'd left early enough that most of the foals had decided to go right back to sleep when getting on the plane. Hǎo Mèng was the exception. The young night pony had made quite the fuss about getting on the plane and continued to fuss for some time after. Even though his responses were mostly one or two words at a time, he made it very clear he wanted his mother, and he was very unhappy about being taken to yet another unfamiliar place. Thankfully, the crew and I finally managed to distract him with some cartoons. He stayed occupied watching Chip and Dale shorts well after his siblings woke up, and eventually passed out watching them. Shǔguāng and Hé Líng took up watching the same cartoons after waking and presented me with no trouble. 

The layover in Honolulu didn't take much time at all. It was perhaps thirty minutes before we were back on board a plane heading to San Francisco (different plane, but still a private luxury craft). I had managed to get a quick call in to confirm that Wild Growth knew I was bringing five foals back to the condo and that security there wasn't going to try to block them. I didn't get much time to discuss my allowance on a short call, and my phone wouldn't work out over the ocean. The plane had Wi-Fi, but it was only for authorized devices, which mine wasn't. 

To keep the two older colts occupied, I found some Disney movies and put them on autoplay for the trip, and they were both sitting on the floor right in front of the screen. The cabin had several couches set out in a semicircular pattern with the television centered on the wall where everyone could see it, and I was laying on one of the sofas to the right, watching cartoons along with the two older colts. Mèng had stayed asleep through the entire layover, and I'd been forced to carry him on my back from the last plane, to the airport, and back onto this plane. He was now resting peacefully on the couch next to me and hadn't stirred in the slightest. If it weren't for the signs he was breathing, I might have thought he was dead instead of dead tired. 

Lántiān was on the couch opposite me and was finishing preening Qīng Yǔ. She had a few feathers set aside, but not many. They looked more like feather fluff than proper feathers, but that might be because they were coming off an extremely young filly, and she didn't have as many mature feathers. I really didn't have much experience with young pegasus foals, so I could only assume. The older filly, having finished preening, smiled down at her daughter and gave her a nuzzle. Qīng Yǔ gave a happy giggle in turn.

Lántiān glanced over at me, and her smile slipped for a moment, but she then turned her attention back to her daughter and forced her smile back. "Say mother. I am mother."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really want her calling you mother?"

The older filly looked up at me and laid her ears back. "No, ma'am, but you told me to teach her English as her first language. I am doing as instructed."

I grimaced. "That's not what I meant. The term mother feels so… formal to be teaching a young foal."

Lántiān blinked, obviously not expecting that reply. "Is it not the correct word, ma'am?" There was no snark in her response, only honest confusion.

"There are less stiff terms for a mother in English," I explained. "Maybe mom, or mama?"

"Mama?" She asked, emphasizing the A's differently. "That is the Mandarin term I had been using previously. Is this acceptable to your standards, ma'am?"

The way she said mama wasn't that different than English and would fit in with many accents perfectly fine. I realized now that the words were pretty much identical between the languages, although it hadn't occurred to me before needing to use the term in Mandarin. "That's acceptable. I guess familiar terms for mothers and fathers are fairly universal. If there was a primitive language all other languages came from, I'd assume that would be one of the few words in it."

Lántiān didn't seem to want to speculate about theoretical prehistoric languages. I hadn't wanted to speculate either. I was just making conversation. She ignored me and turned her attention back to her daughter and began again. "Say mama. I am mama." 

Well, that was an easy enough compromise. If every compromise went that easily this would be a breeze. I doubted there was any chance in hell of that happening, but I could hope. 

The current movie was ending, and the colts were starting to stir as the credits rolled. I had spent most of our time learning about their sister, which was as good an opportunity as any to take some time to talk to them. We had several more hours before we were going to be done with these flights, and I was going to focus on being productive with that time. 

I sat up on the couch while trying not to disturb the sleeping night pony. "<Shǔguāng, Hé Líng, come to me. We need to speak together.>" I mentally groaned at my Mandarin. It sounded even more formal and stiff than Lántiān's English. Maybe that was part of why she always sounded so stiff, other than she was understandably angry and upset about the entire situation.

The two colts did as instructed with no fuss and with no hesitation. Other than Mèng, they all seemed extraordinarily obedient and never dragged their hooves about anything, nor put up any protest about anything they were told to do. Mèng was a toddler, and his temper tantrums were understandable in that light, but I was still surprised at how well behaved all the others were. It felt almost unnatural how well behaved they were. I was positive that Phobia hadn't been this well behaved at their age. She'd never been bad, but she wouldn't do things right away, and she'd protest anything she didn't want to do. It was just normal child behavior to do so. This strict obedience didn't feel natural. 

The two were standing attentively in front of me. "<Sit. You do not need to stand.>" The two immediately plopped their rumps down on the floor. "<I want to learn more about the two of you. We are going to talk, and you will learn some English.>"

"<To understand the cartoons?>" Shǔguāng asked. 

I glanced over at the still rolling credits. It hadn't occurred to me they didn't understand a word of what was being said in the movies since they were in English. They still had devoted all their attention to them despite that. "<To be able to understand and speak English at all times. You are going to be surrounded by English speakers from now on, and you need to understand English.>"

"<Yes, guardian,>" Shǔguāng answered. His little brother just mouthed the yes and nodded. 

I considered the two of them. "<I know the magic that can teach you the language right away. It is a very powerful spell, and I can only cast it on one of you at a time. I was told that they tried to cast this spell on you before, and you refused. Will you let me cast it on one of you now?>"

The two didn't seem very comfortable about having powerful magic cast on them. "<Will it hurt?>" Shǔguāng asked. 

I shook my head. "<It might feel strange when I am casting it, but it will not hurt. You seem to be a brave colt. Will you let me cast it on you first? That way you can tell your brother it will be alright.>"

Lántiān snorted loudly to get my attention. "You nearly fell when you cast this spell on yourself, ma'am. Will my brothers fall down? I do not want my brothers injured."

"No," I answered. "That was just the strain on me casting the spell, not the impact of having the spell cast on me. My magic is not particularly strong, and a single spell that uses that much magic takes a lot out of me. Your brothers will be fine."

She narrowed her eyes. "So, will you hurt yourself casting this spell, ma'am? I do not want the pony that is seeing to my brothers' care to be injured before we have even reached our new residence. We need you in this new country."

It was nice to know where my health held importance to the filly. If I wasn't crucial to taking care of her family, she could care less if I collapsed from exhaustion or burnt myself out. "I'll be winded, but I'll be alright. I figured I could get Shǔguāng done today, and try to do Hé Líng tomorrow. Mèng can learn English on his own, since his vocabulary is already limited, and having the three of you help will make it easier to teach him."

She nodded. "I have no objections, then, ma'am." She turned to her brothers. "<She will not hurt you. She is our guardian and will not let harm come to you. Mama has told us to listen and to trust her.>"

"<When is Mama coming back?>" Hé Líng said with a small peep of a voice.

Lántiān's expression softened to sympathy. "<It was explained to you. Mama is sleeping forever. She is no longer able to be awake. We have a new guardian while awake.>" 

That was one way of saying dead. However, it might be the best way of describing Dreamwarden death. I wondered if it would soften the pain to think of Tonya that way, just sleeping forever. It wasn't likely to happen. I still loved her and longed for our time together, but the being she had become was a stranger in so many ways. I could tell she still loved me, but there was an alien nature to her now, something I would never be able to understand fully, and it hurt knowing that was between us. I wondered if these foals would feel similarly about their mother as time went on, and Yinyu moved further and further away from the mortal pony she'd been. 

Shǔguāng lifted his head high, perhaps putting on a display of bravery for the sake of his brother. "<I will let you cast a spell on me.>"

I nodded and gestured to the open spot on the couch to my left. I inched my rump in that direction so that there was more space between Mèng and me. "<Climb up beside me. I need to touch you to do this correctly. Casting this spell on you is harder than casting it on me.>" I looked back over at his sister. "If I pass out, make sure that I am put back on the couch and that I didn't hit my head on anything. Knock on the door in the back to inform the staff what had happened. They have a doctor with them who will check me out."

The filly blinked. "You just assured me that you would be well… ma'am."

I chuckled. "Exhausting myself isn't going to hurt me seriously. I've exhausted myself plenty of times in the past few years. I might be able to wait to find a unicorn skilled enough to do the spell that I trust, but that will take time, and we need to start acclimating your family now. Just do as I say."

She didn't look happy about it but nodded. "As you wish, ma'am." I was going to have to have a talk with her about how often she said ma'am. That was getting annoying hearing it every time she spoke to me. It was respectful, but it was still excessive. It made it sound like she was some indentured servant or something.

The unicorn colt climbed up onto the couch with me. He really did look like he could have come from me due to his coloration. I could understand the rumors, as Qiánchéng De Érzi also had red fur and a purple mane and was also a unicorn. I'd like to think that our shared colors were all Érzi and I shared, but I knew that he and I had shared similar shimmerist philosophies. My days as a shimmerist were over, but I recognized how effective those philosophies were at gathering followers, and Érzi had done it on a scale that put what I had done to shame. Had he really based his methods directly on my own? Had I really inadvertently helped shape Shimmerist China? I prayed it wasn't so, but saw no reason for Lántiān to have made the claim if it wasn't true. 

I shook my head, trying to banish the demons in my thoughts. There was work to do. "<Just hold still. I am going to touch you with a hoof, then perform the spell. It will only take a few seconds.>" 

The colt nodded, and I gently touched a hoof to his head. My horn flared with its red-colored magic, and I began casting the spell. I didn't feel the tingling sensation this time; that would be for Shǔguāng to feel. I did, however, feel the strain, and sweat started to bead beneath the fur near my horn. The few seconds of casting the spell felt like an eternity, but I managed to complete it.

I pulled my hoof back as my horn went dim. I was breathing heavily. "There, you should be able to-" I lost my ability to speak as the room seemed to be spinning. It suddenly felt like a good time for a nap, and everything else could wait. I closed my eyes and let myself fall into the cushions.