There's a Monster Pony Outside My Window

by Halira

Chapter 21: Vision of the Future

Wendy quietly watched as Miss Newman flicked through some screens on her tiny little computer.

"You don't have to watch this if you don't want to, but I wanted to share it," Miss Newman said as she pointed at the screen.

"What is it?" Wendy asked.

"Videos, basically home movies of much of the family," Miss Newman replied, smiling slightly. "My youngest adopted son is very good with computers and technology, far better than me. He made these, and I confiscated them. No one knows I kept them rather than destroy them. It's a major failing of mine— not willingly destroying anything, even when all good sense says I should."

"What's so bad about home movies that would need you to destroy them?" Wendy asked in confusion as she grabbed the computer with her good hand.

"Outsiders can use them to determine details about the layout of the house, security within, and where people might be located. They're a security risk," Miss Newman explained. "There are a lot of people that would love to see me dead. Also, many would love to capture me and force me to spill my secrets to them. They sometimes target other family members as potential ransom targets or worse. Sometimes it has nothing to do with me. Sometimes they're trying to get leverage over my eldest daughter, my deceased spouse, or my adopted foals' deceased mother."

"Leverage over your dead husband and your adopted kids' dead mother? How do you get leverage over someone who is already dead?"

"Dead wife, not husband," Miss Newman corrected. "And in the case of the two in question, they're dead, but their spirits live on. It's tough trying to threaten something that isn't alive and has no physical form. They don't take threats against their lives seriously for some reason. So people threaten their loved ones instead, which in this case makes me a target for that in addition to all the things I'm normally a target for. Life is never dull."

"Wife?" Wendy asked, then covered her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. You already said that— Well… we don't… I'm sorry. I should have had some common sense."

Miss Newman chuckled. "It's okay. A smart person once said, and I quote, common sense is not wisdom and intelligence— no, wisdom and intelligence are strictly uncommon things. What is common is self-destructive behavior, panic, bigotry, hate, and a complete disregard for rational thinking. The problem with the general public isn't that there is no common sense, but the fact there is far too much of it."

Wendy blinked. "I don't think I've ever heard that one. It isn't exactly nice. Who said that?"

"My niece, the same one I mentioned who had the sound powers," Miss Newman answered. "Brilliant physicist and astronomer, she has the sixth law of physics named after her. Redefined how we measured distance in the universe by the time she was seven years old. She can be a little naive and clueless when you aren't talking science with her, but every once in a while, she can say something brilliant that doesn't have ten tons of math involved."

"It still isn't very nice," Wendy asserted.

"Truth can be harsh," Miss Newman said with a shrug. "We're all guilty of having common sense sometimes; me far more than I like. You can only catch what you are doing, try to fix it, and move forward."

"Is she Kristin or Andrea's daughter?" Wendy asked, curious.

Miss Newman frowned. "My dead wife's brother's. The entire family tree and connecting trees through marriage are loaded with the people that others want to rub elbows with. Kristin has a son she is always willing to brag about who was recently elected to the US House of Representatives, and I'm not aware of anyone among Andrea or Kristin's descendants that are struggling. I know all of mine are doing quite well."

Wendy smiled, but melancholy quickly set in. "And now that's all out the window."

"It may be on a different course now, but I wanted you to know that you did well by us, and I'm sure your girls can still do great things," Miss Newman said quietly. "I'm proud of my family, all of it. Forgive an old woman for her desire to boast about her loved ones."

"Kristin might not have that chance, according to you," Wendy bitterly reminded her.

The older woman sighed. "That is a possibility, unfortunately. However, I was giving worse-case scenarios. There are still chances she might manifest something much tamer and more easily hidden. I could name several people with magic that isn't so obvious or disruptive, like myself. Don't give up hope. I was merely trying to stress how bad it could be, not tell you that it will be that bad. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Wendy frowned. The last day didn't have her in a mindset to hope for the best. She looked at the tiny computer in her hand, which currently had a black screen with an arrow on it.

"Home movies, huh? What do I get out of watching them?" she asked.

"Maybe a little bit of optimism for the future when things are looking bleak," Miss Newman replied somberly.

"How do I—" Wendy asked as she lifted the computer.

Miss Newman reached over and tapped the screen, and the video began to play.

The lighting was dim, but she could make out a large amount of electronic equipment. Something was moving around in the darkness.

"Starting camera drone test three," whoever was being filmed announced.

The camera seemed to be rising, and Wendy squinted to try to understand better what was going on.

"Yes! Working as— NO!" the voice shouted.

The camera went flying across the room, and the picture went completely black.

Wendy glanced at Miss Newman. "Are you sure this is the correct video?"

"Just keep watching," Miss Newman instructed.

The screen lit up again and showed a close-up of a dark blue pony face. It grinned and then backed away, and she could now see that it had webbed wings and a black mane.

"That's Mèng, my youngest," Miss Newman explained.

"Starting camera drone test four. The ceiling fan is off, so the drone won't hit it again," Mèng announced as he went over to what looked like a computer.

The camera rose again, slower than last time. It then moved around the room. Wendy was able to see electronic gadgets everywhere, a very low sitting bed that was unmade, what she guessed was a television, although it was huge and flat. There were some framed pictures on the walks that had both humans and ponies in them, but she couldn't make out much detail in the dim light. She also spotted the window, and despite it having heavy curtains over it, some daylight flickered in around their edges.

"He's the same...breed... of pony as that mare I took out of the sky. They prefer things to be dark and can see exceptionally well in it. He started playing with these drones because they could be sent out in the daylight, and he could filter the light on screens so the sunlight wouldn't be so harsh on his eyes. He is perfectly capable of going out in the sun if he wants to. However, his vision would be impaired," Miss Newman explained as the camera continued to move around the room.

Wendy already gathered he was the same type of pony as the one the girls had seen days before, and she just nodded, still trying to make out details in the background.

"Drone seems to handle well. Time for a field test. Field test one of the camera drone commencing now," Mèng announced.

The camera or drone or whatever had a mechanical arm, and it was fumbling to get the bedroom door open.

"What kind of name is Mèng?" Wendy asked. "Isn't that the name of the Flash Gordan villain?"

"Hǎo Mèng is his full name, but everyone just says Mèng," Miss Newman replied. "The three colts and one filly I adopted are all from China, and I never attempted to change their names. My eldest daughter is the only one I gave birth to."

"What's her name?" Wendy asked as the drone continued to try to get the door open— it seemed Mèng was still working on getting the bugs out.

"Phobia Remedy."

Wendy turned to look at the older woman. "You have bizarre tastes in names."

"She named herself," Miss Newman said with a chuckle. "At least half, if not more, ponies renamed themselves after their transformation. I was one of them too. My legal name when I'm in pony form is Sunset Blessing— Charlotte Newman is legally my name too, but it's an alias provided by the government for me to operate under as a human, complete with a birth certificate, SSN, and a paper trail of fake history. Though, the last name they gave me is a little on the head. New-man? Seriously? How blatant do they want to be about it?"

"Really bizzare tastes in names," Wendy reiterated. She refocused on the screen as the drone finally made it through the door.

She'd been expecting some futuristic building like something out of Star Trek or Star Wars; instead, the halls looked like the building was some old-timey mansion. There were doors going down either side of the hall. The screen suddenly split, with the top half looking forward and the bottom half looking backward.

The drone went down the hall into a stairwell, where an armed guard, an armed human guard, suddenly came to attention and pointed a gun at the drone.

"Whoa! Herb, it's Mèng! It's my drone! Don't shoot it down!" Mèng's voice cried out in alarm.

The guard lowered his gun and touched his ear. "Miss Portsmith, ma'am, I have a drone in the house that has your nephew's voice on the intercom. How do I proceed?" He paused a few seconds, then nodded before looking back at the drone. "Your Aunt Andrea wants to know if you're recording or not."

"Of course not," Mèng blatantly lied without even sounding a trifle bit guilty.

The guard touched his ear again. "He says no, ma'am. Understood, ma'am. I'll tell him." The guard lowered his hand. "She says that if she finds out you're lying, she is going to come confiscate your hard drive and your drone."

"Sure thing!" Mèng replied, and the camera went flying past the guard and down the stairs.

There were more stairs heading downward, indicating there were at least three stories to this mansion, but the drone instead went down a hall on the next floor down. There was a voice speaking somewhere, and it gradually got louder as the drone approached a cracked open door.

"—and the DA's office should be issuing a statement about that within the next day or two," an older woman, not Miss Newman, said as the sound became clearer.

The drone pushed through the doorway, revealing what looked like an office. A pony with no wings or horn was pacing back and forth, seemingly talking to herself. There was something familiar about her.

Wendy's eyes went wide, and she almost dropped the tablet. Her fumbling with it somehow paused the video, giving a still picture of the pony. "Oh my God! That's Kristin? Isn't it?" It was the exact coloration as Kristin, except she was Miss Newman's size, had glasses, and a fair amount of grey in her now faded green mane.

"She goes by Amicus Curiae," Miss Newman answered. "That's Latin; it means something about friend— excuse me not understanding Latin well enough to give a proper definition. I don't think it is worth my time to learn dead languages, but it is some legal term. That's why I kept slipping up with Kristin's name after she put the necklace on. She's the spitting image of my sister in my time, aside from being a little filly. I wasn't certain they would come out the same tribe and coloration. Her resonance is apparently close enough for the necklace to remember it." She reached over and tapped the screen.

The video started again, and the future Kristin looked up at the drone. A look of terror flashed across her features, and she went diving under the desk. "Guards! Sunset! Andrea! Shǔguāng! Anybody! I'm under attack!"

"It's just me, Aunt Ami!" Mèng shouted over the speaker.

Future Kristin stuck her head out from under her desk. "Mèng? What the hell!? Get that thing out of my office immediately! I'm on a call with a client!" Her eyes went wide, and she touched a hoof to her ear. "I'm very sorry, Mister Fierro. My nephew just flew a drone into my office space, and I mistook it for an attack on the mansion. Expecting ponies to try to assault your home is one of the joys of being Sunset Blessing's older sister. Again, very sorry. Where were we?"

Wendy looked to her side. "Is it really that bad?"

Miss Newman shook her head. "No, Ami is just overreacting. Oh, there's always someone or another trying to sneak in, that's true, but there have only been three successful invasions in the seventeen years I've lived there, counting this most recent one where they nabbed the time travel spell, and none of the invaders has ever been in the same room with her."

"Three home invasions in seventeen years are three too many," Wendy said dryly.

Miss Newman shrugged. "I wish I could stop it, but it comes with the territory with me. It's part of why I can't leave the mansion in pony form."

"Because they hate you that much?" Wendy asked in disbelief and dread.

"That and I have exceedingly valuable knowledge. The only others who know what I know are too difficult to pull the same crap with. Them try to kidnap an alicorn? Ha! That's a laugh; not going to happen. Despite having twenty-four-seven armed guards at my home, I'm still the easiest target to reach and capture."

"You aren't making me feel better about the future by telling me that," Wendy remarked with a frown.

"Well, I'm only pointing out that we've done well for ourselves. Nothing is ever perfect."

While they had been talking, the drone had migrated outside through a window, revealing lush gardens and plenty of trees in the distance. Wendy had half expected it to be some burnt-out post-apocalyptic wasteland outside, but it was actually very pleasant.

The camera focused on five more earth ponies. One was sleeping, one was working in the flowerbed, and the last three seemed to be helping the one gardening. The one sleeping and the one gardening were very thin and very wrinkled, with manes that were straight white from age. The other three weren't as old, but she could tell the one with the sparkly orange fur was of similar age to future Kristin, despite the shimmering grey mane, while the others seemed considerably younger.

The glittery one looked up at the drone as it approached and scowled. "I already told you that thing better not be recording."

Wendy gasped again. "Is that Andrea?"

Miss Newman reached over and paused the video. "That's my Andrea. The two really elderly ponies I think you can guess at the identities of too."

Wendy tensed up as she refocused on the pony gardening. The mare lacked the odd fur coloration as the rest, being only a plain brown. She was so thin that it seemed like a good breeze would pick her up and carry her away, yet she seemed to be working on replanting flower bulbs with ease, smiling contentedly as she did so.

"That's me?" Wendy asked, shaking. Her eyes drifted to the other elderly pony, who had faded blue fur. "And the blue one is your father?"

"Yes, the older brown one is my version of you. The older blue one is my dad. The young brown stallion is my son, Hé Líng. The young blue one with the orange mane is my baby brother, Sinker," Miss Newman said smugly.

That last one was as much a shock as seeing herself. "B-b-baby brother? I'm having another kid?!"

"Not for a long while yet, but yes," Miss Newman replied, smirking. "One of the side effects of the transformation was it more or less reset your biological clock in regards to fertility, a fact you learned not long after transforming. At the point that this video was taken, enough time has passed that you've gone through menopause again, but it was only a few years back. That was a fun ordeal, having you, Andrea, and Kristin going through menopause simultaneously. I haven't had it yet, but I've been aging at a slower rate for the last seventeen years."

Wendy handed the tablet back to the older woman. "I think I've seen enough. You showed me the whole family that I know, plus some. I need to go to bed and process this."

"As you wish."

Comments

[harts fire]

we so need a huge spider something the size of a truck ,, something to really get Sunset Blessing worked up.
ok so a itsy bitsy spider will do.
this is a grate chapter and all of the movies are safe as the time line has changed.