Bonus Christmas Present

Decided to release the third, and last chapter of Partial that I wrote before deciding to shelve it. The story won't ever see publication, but I figure I could release what had been written. This is completely unedited and riddled with grammer and spelling errors as a result, but as I said, it got shelved. so I never bothered to edit it. Still, it is extra content that can be considered canonical. Merry Christmas!

Jessica sat in her room looking over star charts and mathematical equations in frustration when she finally got tired of listening to what was outside her door.

"Come on in, Dad."

The door opened, and he stepped in. "You didn't give me a chance to knock."

She closed her laptop and swiveled her chair around to face him. "You were standing at my door for just under two minutes. You needed prompting. What's bothering you?"

He walked over to her bed and sat down on it. "I got a new case that was specially assigned to me. It's unusual, and I was wondering if you would care to help me out."

She blinked. "I don't know anything about social work, and I'm swamped. What is it? A really smart kid?"

He frowned and shook his head. "I don't know much about how intelligent this kid is. He could be brilliant, or he could be dumb as a brick. He doesn't say or do much at all. It doesn't really matter one way or another; he's a child in need."

"Okay, and how am I supposed to be helpful?" she asked, confused.

He looked her in the eyes. "The kid's a partial, Jessie. First legitimately partial kid the office has seen in years, and he's only four years old."

She looked at her father in disbelief. "It is statistically improbable that there would be a partial that age in the area."

"I know, but I met him," her dad insisted. "This isn't some stray pony features. He has more fur than you, toes fused together, full tail, pony ears, a horn, and a slight gait to his walk. Doctors did some tests, and he is closer to being a pony than a human, but he's no pony. Kid won't talk, but they say there's no medical reason he can't, and he seems to understand what people are saying to him."

"Where are his parents?" she asked.

He shook his head again. "Nobody knows. We think he's been in the care of his grandmother for years and kept out of sight. The old woman recently had a stroke on her way home from the grocery store, and she is in a hospital, completely unresponsive. She has been there long enough that her landlord started evicting her, and when they went in, they found this kid, half-starved and hiding in his room."

"Neglect?" she asked as her ears fell. 

"No, we think he was well taken care of, but his grandmother had been gone for over a month due to the hospitalization. He ate through everything in the house, but it ran out. None of the neighbors knew about him, not even the landlord. His room showed he had plenty of clothes, toys, and comfortable bedding. He has some recent injuries we think he picked up trying to take care of himself, but doesn't have any older injuries we would associate with physical abuse."

She looked away. "And they assigned you the case because you have a partial daughter, so that makes you magically more knowledgeable about how to deal with him, right?"

"That's their thinking," her dad replied. "It might not be correct, but I can see where they're coming from."

"How do you know that was his grandmother if she's comatose and he won't talk?" she asked.

"We aren't a hundred percent sure yet, but based on what we found in the house, we're confident that it is his grandmother in the hospital, and his name is Mark. We don't know the whereabouts of his parents; they've been listed as missing since ETS and assumed to be ponies that took on new identities. There's no other known family."

"And you came to me because you're hoping he might open up to another partial?"

Her dad spread his hands. "I'm grasping at straws here, Jessie. I've got a frightened child who just got put into the system who won't talk."

She wasn't sure she could do anything to help. "Has he seen his grandma yet?"

"Not yet. It has been difficult getting him anywhere. He seems to have severe agoraphobia and kenophobia. I don't think he was born in that apartment, but he might not remember being anywhere else. He's afraid of humans, ponies, being out in the open. We didn't think he was ready to see her yet."

"Heh, definitely not a pony in that respect," she muttered. "And I take it grandma is a human without magic, so the Dreamwardens can't get into her dreams to ask questions."

"They aren't always able to reach people in comas anyway, but you're right. Grandma never got ETS and doesn't have a trace of magic."

"And no go on getting them to go into Mark's dreams?" she asked. 

"Mark is too young to give those kinds of permissions for himself or understand what permissions he's giving. Tonya and Phobia might feel bad for him, but they're not going to violate those privacy lines. People have tried asking Dreamwardens to do that before in social work cases. The Dreamwardens don't take well to the requests."

"Probably just as well. They can only get out of the mind what the person knows, and most kids that age don't understand most of the world around them and are likely distorting it." She paused and flicked her tail. "How do you know he's four?"

"He has a string of birthday cards from his grandma taped to his bedroom wall, first, second, third, and fourth birthdays. Nothing beyond that. She was also tracking his height in one of the doorways, marking each year. She addressed each birthday card to Mark and signs Love Grandma[/]. It isn't proof he isn't just someone she adopted, but it is pretty clear she's cared f9r him for years. 

She picked up her old rubber ball from the table and squeezed it. "It seems like she loved him, but why'd she hide him? Being partial is rough, but it isn't worth keeping him hidden from the world. Having no contact with others can only hurt him in the long run."

Her dad shook his head. "I know this sounds bad for me to say to you, but I think you fail to appreciate how rough being partial can be."

She slammed her ball down on the ground, and she and her dad both took cover as it bounced off the floor to the ceiling and ricocheted around the room, knocking a picture off the wall. At least it didn't hit her computer. 

Once it finally came to a stop, she glared angrily at her dad. "I know full well the way people look at partials and the things they say! I can't help but hear the things they say! You have no right to say I don't!"

He met her glare with a sad look. "I know you have it rough, Jessie, and I know I can't fully understand what you go through, but you need to remember that you're something of a celebrity, and that protects you. Most partials don't have it as good as you. You said it was statistically impossible we have a partial kid in the office. Do you actually know how many partials were born in this country last year, at least ones that were documented?"

She broke her gaze. She knew what the chances were, and she paid close attention to every news story about a partial birth, but she didn't like people, even family, knowing she did that. Her mom was bad enough without knowing she still secretly wished for the ability to have a successful pregnancy— at least one day, once the world was saved. 

"I try to avoid hearing those numbers," she lied.

"Four. There were just four in the entire country. It is literally a one-in-a-million birth. Partials tend to hide away from the rest of us because of how badly they get treated. Almost all of them live in extreme poverty, and if it weren't for the generosity of a few isolated pony settlements giving them a chance, there would be more starving. His parents were probably thinking of that when they left him with his grandmother, and she was probably thinking about how cruel the world can be when she hid him away."

She crossed her arms but couldn't meet his eyes. "Maybe. I still think it would be better if he wasn't kept away from people. He has to deal with them eventually."

He sighed. "I don't disagree with you. I'm just trying to speculate about how things got to this point. Until grandma wakes up, there's no way of knowing the truth."

"Is she going to wake up?" she asked.

Her dad shrugged and didn't give any other answer. Well, that was just peachy. 

Her phone started buzzing and she picked it up and looked at it. It was Jordan calling, probably done with her first day of classes and wanting to know how her first day of teaching went. Her dad sat quiet while she answered.

"Hey, Jor. What's up?" Jessica asked.

She heard Jordan blow a raspberry over the line. "What's up? Is that the way you greet your best friend in the world after such a big day?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I'm kind of dealing with something at the moment. Give me a sec." She covered her phone's speaker and looked at her dad. "I'll come by and help you tomorrow before I go to work. We can talk more after dinner."

He got up and headed for the door. "Thanks. Means a lot to me. If we're lucky, it will mean a lot to Mark too."

She took her hand off the speaker as her dad left the room. "How was your first day of classes?"

"It was okay, but I'm mad at you!" Jordan replied with a huff. 

Jessica blinked. "Why are you mad at me? What did I do?"

"You told me I needed to read all the textbooks before classes started! I got into class today and found out that nobody does that! I spent the last month reading them all cover to cover when I could have been reading anything else!"

She had to stop herself from laughing at her friend's indignation. "You read them all in just a month? I'm impressed."

"Don't you try to compliment me to deflect this!"

She still was smiling as she replied. "Oh, you would have probably just been reading more clop anyway. I didn't say you had to do that. I said that was what I did when I was still taking classes. I would be overjoyed if my students all did that, but I doubt any did. Your semester should be easier, since everything is now a review."

Jordan snorted. "I read classy romance novels, thank you very much. Some of them may have a few steamy scenes, but that is not any reason to look down on them."

"Okay, I apologize for implying your favorite books are trashy. Do you forgive me?"

"I guess, but only because I like you," Jordan replied. "Anyway, classes were fine. My roommates seem to be nice. I feel kind of isolated out here, though. It isn't like Skytree; there aren't a lot of ponies at this school."

"Humans aren't so bad. You're friends with me," Jessica reminded her. 

"I know. I just look around and don't see many people like me. I think I have seen like five stallions, and none of them are my type!"

She went over to her bed and laid down. "Are you seriously already on the hunt for a stallionfriend? You just started college! Give it time."

"Jackie had a stallionfriend within her first week of college. Rebecca had a boyfriend within her first week and she wasn't even trying. Arachne is already married and Moon already has foals," Jordan listed off. 

"That's them; you don't need to compare yourself to them," Jessica said, trying to keep annoyance out of her voice. "I've never been on a date. I don't think Charlotte has either."

"I don't think Charlotte has any interest in anybody," Jordan replied. "Yeah, she took the blessing and all that, but I think it was just for show. I think she is one of those people like her mom who just don't have a drive. And you… I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking about it like this to you. I'm being insensitive."

"Don't worry. I just spent a few minutes a while ago dealing with my mom trying to pressure me into letting her play matchmaker," Jessica said, this time letting the annoyance slip into her voice.

"She didn't!" Jordan said in shock. "What did you say?"

"Told her I don't have time for it and to leave it alone," Jessica muttered. 

"Speaking of you not having time; what did you reply to that letter?" Jordan asked, deftly changing subjects. 

Jessica blinked. "What letter?"

"That company that made In the Shadow of Demeter wanted to get us all together with the cast for some big fan thing in Skytree. They were offering a lot of money to come. I figured you would turn them down, but I wanted to ask."

"I didn't get a letter."

"But they said they sent you one, and I know you have to be the main person they want to get since you're the star and all."

"Filly Stardust was the star. She just happened to play me in the movie."

Jordan sighed. "I know, but she might have asked you personally to come. Maxine Mind included a letter to me with the one from the company. I only met her that one time when she came to meet me to help figure out my character, and she wasn't a big movie star then. I was her breakout role. Me! Can you believe it?! It would be kind of neat to meet her again, now that she's famous."

"If you want to go, then go," Jessica replied. 

"I don't want to go if you aren't going to be there. I don't care who else agrees, I'd just want to have a chance to spend time with you."

Jessica sighed. "Why would I go? I've never even seen the damned thing."

Jordan gasped. "You haven't? Why not?"

"I don't have any desire to relive those days, even if they embellished things. Have you watched it?"

Jordan was quiet for a second before replying. "I watch it every few weeks or so."

Her eyebrows went up. "Why? That's re-exposing yourself to that trauma over and over again."

"Because I'm not a super genius who remembers everything like you do, and I don't want to forget!" Jordan exclaimed. 

Jessica was taken aback and at a loss for words. "I don't understand."

Jordan sighed. "Look. I was five when it happened, and I don't have a memory like yours. I remember bits and pieces. I remember being scared. I remember lots of running. I remember you telling us what to do, but not what exactly. I remember the tree and that crystal pony creeping towards me, and I remember being scared shitless about you after you fell, but it's all like a dream. Watching that movie, even if some things are wrong in it, helps me remember things. It was one of the most important things that ever happened to me, and I don't want to forget anything."

Jessica stared at her ceiling, for some reason remembering the ceiling she had as a filly that was covered in glow-in-the-dark stickers of stars and paper mache planets. 

She took a deep breath. "If this is important to you, I'll see if I can find that letter."

"You don't need to do that."

"Yes, yes I do. This thing is a big deal to you, and I never realized that. You're my best friend and it is important to you, so I can stand to put up with this just this once. It won't kill me."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to be miserable just for my sake. I know you're always busy too," Jordan said, sounding half-hopeful and half-worried. 

"Jordan, if you're there it won't be the worst thing ever, and you said some of the others might be too. I know I'm busy, but I can take my work with me and record some lessons for the class. I'll find a way of clearing time for my friends. You know I made time for each of your eighteenth birthdays when they came up. I can make time for this. I'll make it work."

"Thanks, Jessie!" Jordan exclaimed happily. "If you were here I would hug you."

"You can hug me when I get there. When is this thing?"

"Um, I forgot. In a few weeks, I think. They said they'd cover travel expenses. I need to find that letter again."

Jessica smirked, good old Jordan. Fairly smart, but a bit of a scatterbrain about important details. "I'll find the letter. My mom probably intercepted it out of the mail and didn't tell me because she knows how I feel about that movie."

"I'll sit next to you when they go do the viewing. You can squeeze me if you need to— just not too hard; you're really strong," Jordan replied.

Jessica frowned. "You know, you're wrong about one thing. I have forgotten some things. Mainly, I've forgotten anything that reminds me I was a pony. I can barely remember that anymore. I can remember events, but not that I had four legs and hooves. I'll sit there remembering things and think it weird that I wasn't using my hands until I remind myself that I was a filly."

"That's the rehumanization spell's doing, right?" Jordan asked. 

"Supposedly," Jessica replied. "I feel like my memory should be good enough to override that. I remember everything else. I remember things from as far back as when I was three with high clarity, and bits of things from before then. Things from when I was six should be easy, but that one part is like a huge hole that has been cut out. It bothers me sometimes. It's like something important is missing."

"You could ask Phobia or your aunt to help you access those memories," Jordan suggested.

"No, I don't want them messing with my head," Jessica said in a firm tone. 

"Why not? It's not like they don't see it anyway," Jordan countered.

Jessica sighed. "Call me crazy, but I like having the illusion I can keep them out of my head. I know it isn't true, but even the illusion of control is something."

"Oh…" Jordan replied, seeming unsure what to say. "So, uh, how did your first day of teaching go?"

"I got in trouble with the dean for using my magic on students to mute them."

Jordan gasped. "You can't do that! They go over that like a dozen times in my Philosophies of Education textbook. No using magic on students! They'll sue you!"

"I know that now, and it won't happen again. I got off with a warning," Jessica said with a grumble. "But before you dig too deep into it, I will tell you what I told my mom. Teaching is your thing, not mine. I think I was insensitive to her, so let me stress that I appreciate that it is your thing, and I think it is great that it is, but for me, this is just a means to an end."

"I don't think you look down on me or anything like that, and I don't think your mom does either. We just want to have something else to really connect with you about," Jordan said placatingly. "I mean, we listen to your math and physics stuff, even though we don't understand it. It's important to you, so of course we will, but we aren't really connecting as much with that. You teaching is something that me or you mom can go, hey that's something I can relate to."

She rubbed her head and considered. "I'm sure something will come up where I want to talk about teaching. Maybe someone is struggling with the material, and I need advice on how to better get through to them or whatever. I have a freshman class starting tomorrow, and I can already imagine I might be talking over their heads. I can try sitting down with my mom and seeing if she'll help me go over the lesson plans."

"I can help too! I did student teaching last year," Jordan said excitedly. "It would give me bragging rights too if I could tell my class I was helping the famous Doctor Middleton with her college lesson plans."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Whatever makes you happy, Jor."

Jordan muffled her phone for a moment and was talking to someone in the background. Jessica could hear it fine since electronic devices seemed to help carry her powers, but she did her best to tune it out. 

"Hey, Jessie, I've got to get going. My roommates want to all go out and do a pledge thing. I'll text you tomorrow," Jordan said in a hurry. 

"Sure thing, you have fun. Don't do anything that you'll regret. I hear some of those pledge things get pretty wild," Jessica said with a smile. 

"My mom already gave me the lecture, don't worry. Talk to you later!" Jordan hung up the phone. 

Jessica sat her phone down. She didn't doubt for a second that Jordan's mom gave her a lecture. Jordan's mom had a policy of not telling her foals not to do things, but spending a lot of time educating them about how to do things responsibly. Jessica's own mom tended to have whiplash going back and forth between saying don't do X because it is bad and then wondering why she never did X and left out the whole responsible middle-ground part. Jessica assumed it was because her mom assumed she knew what that middle ground was already. It irked her that her mom didn't think her being responsible as she could be was normal. 

She hated that word, normal. So many connotations involved with it, connotations that said she was anything but normal.

Comments

[PiMan]

I haven't seen your previous remarks on it; why did you decide to shelve this?

[Kek lel]

Ty for the snippets <3
These little side things always make me happy. Ghost of a chance has a little semi chapter that was left out and thrown into a dropbox or something, and it still remains one of the most interesting descriptions and side events that I've read. Thank you for all you write!

[Halira]

5705150
A few reasons, I've been trying to move out of the Pandemic universe. Marshmallow Dreams is intended to be the final canon story for me. Monster Pony Outside my Window and Shadow of Myself are their own things outside that canon. They have small canonical pieces to them, but they vere way out into right field and also take some characters in a very different direction than the cannon does (Sunset Blessing's turning into a powerhouse would be a prime example, but there are other characters who are much different as well). Writing another canon story just wasn't something I wanted to do.