//------------------------------//
// Chapter 39 - Reunion 
// Story: Pandemic 
// by ASGeek2012 
//------------------------------//

The peasant girl stands among the trodden flowers and the flattened grass. She has no words for the scene of devastation. Broken splinters and a large hole in the ground are all that remain of a once proud mansion. Perhaps to the lord of this manor, it was not considered a mansion, but to someone of the peasant girl's pedigree, it was palatial.

Lingering breezes tug at her threadbare skirt, and thunder rumbles in the distance as the storm that executed the savage wrath of the Fae Queen fades into the distance. Despite the storm's passing, the danger was still ever-present. The Fae Queen herself stood nearby, not a stone's throw away.

The Queen stands absolutely still. She stares at the devastation as if she herself cannot believe what has been wrought. The peasant girl's heart hammers, and all she can do is repeat the same thought in her head over and over, the same forbidden knowledge which seeks escape from her lips despite knowing full well the risks.

"I know your secret."

The Fae Queen turns towards the girl, but the gasp the girl gives is half-hearted at best. Etched into the Fae Queen's face is worry and regret, something quite unexpected. "There is no secret," the Queen states. "Only a mistake."

"But I've seen it."

The Fae Queen suddenly smiles. No, this is not what the peasant girl expects at all. "You don't have to see it."

"I can only see, I cannot unsee."

"But all things are possible with me, little girl."

The peasant girl realizes she should know this. Of course, all things are possible where the Fae are concerned. As the Fae Queen approaches, the girl feels the magic wash over her, like a pleasant warmth. She feels it change her like it did so many of the Queen's subjects. Past concerns fade away, and new ones take their place. With a small whimper, the peasant girl falls to the ground when her senses begin to fail her.

"Forget," the Fae Queen whispers.

"Forget ..." the little girl intones, her eyelids suddenly very heavy.

"And forgive the weather wizard for her failure."

"F-forgive ..." the peasant girls says with barely a breath as her eyes close and her morphing body grows still ...





Jenny awoke with a jerk.

She blinked rapidly and had to remind herself she was still in the shelter, as that was the first full night's rest she had since arriving. She tried to hold on to the dream, but it slipped away as she became more alert.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of a fore-hoof, and only as she was lowering the appendage did she realize what she had seen. She stared at it for another moment before slowly placing it on the floor, her now fully wakeful brain imparting its wisdom that she was in a perfectly normal form. Her tail swished around her haunches before she rose to all four hooves with only a momentary lack of grace until her new mental wiring asserted itself.

Jenny looked around. Color exploded about her, the already bright hues of her fellow ponies now slightly more saturated. Neither wings nor horn had ever appeared upon her, but that seemed right as well. She didn't desire either one, as it was not meant to be part of her, certainly not unless the Fae Queen had decreed it.

Why would she be thinking of her fantasies at a time like this? Had she not slipped into an ongoing one? No, that made no sense, either. She was an earth pony filly because that's what she was supposed to be. To think it was a fantasy was to think it shouldn't be happening.

"Jenny, are you all right?"

Jenny had started to turn around just before she heard her name, a familiar scent already making her curious. Her gaze fell on the orange-furred unicorn mare whom she already knew was her mother. "Yeah, I think so," said Jenny in a slightly bemused voice.

Sarah stepped up to her, hooves clopping against the floor. "I heard you whimpering in your sleep a little while ago."

"I was?"

"Did you have some sort of nightmare?"

"I can't remember what I was dreaming about," said Jenny. "Sorry if I worried you."

Sarah looked around. "I'm just glad this is finally over. Maybe they'll let us reunite with your father now." She sighed. "And I still want to see Laura."

Jenny stared at her mother. Her mother was a pony, just like her. No, they hadn't always been that way, but she struggled to think why that should matter. Why would she want to question something that simply was? She might as well question why the sky was blue; it had an answer, but it didn't matter in the long run. The sky would still remain blue.

Jenny's gaze rose to her mother's head. "Have you tried it yet?"

Sarah turned her gaze back to her daughter. "I'm sorry?"

"Your horn," Jenny said with a small smile. "Have you tried it?"

Sarah hesitated. "Not yet."

Jenny glanced around and found the paperback novel she had been reading. She nudged it towards her mother with her fore-hoof. "Here, try it on this."

"I'm not sure I should. Nopony else has yet."

"Then be the first! I'll bet you anything that Laura was the first to try her wings."

"This isn't a competition, Jenny."

"No, it's what we are," said Jenny in a softer voice.

Jenny had never quite envisioned unicorns in her fantasies as having this sort of magic, but that could be proof that this reality was correct. Of course it wouldn't align perfectly with her made-up imagery, because she had no real foreknowledge that this was going to happen.

James' words came back to her again, but she pushed them aside when she saw Sarah looking down at the book with a mix of trepidation and longing. Jenny smirked and turned to some nearby ponies. "Hey, who wants to see my Mom try to use her horn?"

Sarah face-hoofed. "Jenny!"

"I do!" cried another unicorn.

"Yeah, do it!" said a pegasus.

Jenny grinned. "Three votes for, none against."

"I'm against it," said Sarah, but her conviction was weak.

"You might as well be against walking or breathing," said Jenny.

Sarah stared at Jenny for another moment, then glanced at the others before looking down at the book. She took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on it. Slowly, a faint glow suffused her horn, and a few seconds later, a similar one cocooned the book. Sarah's breath quickened as she concentrated harder, and the glow brightened. The book jerked and twitched before rising an inch, then fell with a faint thump.

"I did it!" Sarah cried. "I actually moved it! I mean, not much, but--"

As nearby ponies cheered, Jenny threw her forelegs around Sarah. Things were as they should be. It would help silence any remaining nagging doubts in the back of her mind. "Things are going to be okay now, Mom. They have to be."

A slightly dazed Sarah hugged her back. "I hope so. I really hope so."





Laura had discovered to her delight how flexible her neck was, which helped in matters of personal hygiene. She could easily reach much of her own body with something held in her teeth, though manipulating shower controls designed for hands was still a challenge. The humans tending them assisted with this, though several unicorns had already tried using their horns instead. This went fairly well until Kelly accidentally broke off the knob, causing water to jet from the wall. This had amused her fellow ponies far more than it had the humans.

Despite her self-reliance, she found the simple act of being tended to by a friend to be rather comforting. Thus she and Emma helped brush out each other's mane, tail, and coat, as well as preen each other's wings. "You've got a broken feather on your right wing, but I'm not sure it's ready to come out," said Emma.

Laura swept the brush in her teeth a few more times over Emma's tail before she set it down to respond. "Want to ask Joan about it?"

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea."

"Did I hear my name?" came a bright voice to the side.

Laura turned and smiled as she saw Joan winging her way over to them, landing smoothly without breaking stride, folding her wings against her sides in a single smooth motion.

Emma stepped back from Laura. "We wanted your opinion on this." Emma pointed to a bent feather in Laura's right wing with a fore-hoof. "This one."

Joan stepped up. "Hmm. I could go either way. If it's not causing any discomfort, I'd just as soon leave it in."

Laura folded her wing. "Then I think we're done." She smiled. "You want to hear something funny? When this was first happening to me, I worried about how I was going to deal with all this hair and feathers on top of it. I thought I'd have to spend an entire morning just tending it."

Emma grinned. "I guess you didn't think you'd have somepony to help you with it."

"Hey, speaking of keeping clean and all that," said Joan. "Am I the only one who thinks the water tastes kinda funny now?"

"It has a funny smell, too," said Emma. "I know some of it is just the mineral content that Colorado water tends to have, but there's something else off about it."

"Maybe some other kind of contamination?" Laura suggested. "They can purify water only so much."

"Rainwater would be more pure, right?"

"I think it would depend on what it picked up from the air on the way down," said Joan.

"But Emma's right, it would be more pure when it started," said Laura.

"Wouldn't the clouds have the same pollutants or whatnot that the atmosphere does?"

"Not if you made the clouds correctly in the first place," said Laura.

Emma giggled. "Made the clouds?"

"Well, yes," said Laura. "Then it would be as pure as you can ... um ..."

"Make the clouds," Joan said softly.

Emma stopped giggling. "Why doesn't that seem so strange an idea anymore?"

"It's not!" Joan cried. "We've been puzzling over what else we can do. What if this is it?"

Laura's eyes widened. "But making clouds would mean we could ... w-we could ..."

"Control the weather," Emma said in an awed voice. "That ... that would be amazing if it's true."

Laura's eyes glistened as she stood absolutely still, utterly thunderstruck.

Laura had known of Jenny's story about the failed apprentice of the weather wizard, having heard it indirectly via her Aunt Eileen. During that terrible storm, Laura had screamed herself hoarse at the tempest as if in hopes that would somehow make it go away or at least spare them.

It and the aftermath had proven just how powerless she had been. Now she dared to contemplate that she actually had that power. The fear she had harbored towards bad weather of any type now seemed silly.

Emma draped a fore-leg around Laura's barrel. "Laura, you all right?"

Laura nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of a hoof. "Sorry, I was just thinking, i-if I had this back when Jenny was little ..."

Emma drew her into a hug.

"Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself again," Laura said.

"But as I said before, Laura," said a familiar voice as it approached. "You have to start somewhere."

Laura broke off the hug and smiled widely as she turned towards the voice. "Sunny, you really think I could do something like that? Actually stop a storm?"

Sadie smiled as she stepped up to Laura. "Well, I wouldn't advocate jumping into a tornado anytime soon, but it's like what you've said all along: you had a feeling that you could do some amazing things."

Joan looked pensive for a long moment. "I want to try this. I mean, not a storm or something like that, but I feel like I could at least work out the basics."

"I know what you mean!" said Emma excitedly as she leaped into the air and hovered in place. "Now that I've been thinking about it, I may know how to create a small cloud!"

"But they're still not letting us outside," said Laura.

"Who needs outside?" Emma said. "Remember that mishap Kelly had with the shower? It took them forever to shut off the water. This whole place feels really humid now. I'll bet you anything there's enough moisture to squeeze out of the air for at least a tiny cloud."

Laura looked up. She could feel it herself. She had a sense for the atmosphere -- even that confined to the microcosm of the auditorium -- that felt almost instinctual. She extended her wings, and they tingled with a power that she had failed to understand before but now suddenly became very clear. Manipulating weather wasn't a matter of using hooves and wings in a certain way, it was more basic than that. It was application of will.

Joan was hovering now as well, and she smiled at Laura. "So, do we try it?"

"I want to," Emma said. "I really want to."

Laura glanced at Sadie.

"This is up to you, Laura," Sadie said. "All I'll tell you is: you don't know exactly what you can do until you try."

Laura took a deep breath. She knew the moment they started, their human caretakers would have a fit. She was well aware that the National Guard soldiers had tasers, but would they really risk a pegaus falling out of the sky and hurting herself?

Yet at the same time, agitation was running high among her fellow ponies. Negotiation had gotten them only so far. They were still being denied the right to do what came natural to them. Maybe this would finally convince them that they needed to give them more freedom. The quarantine had no purpose anymore. They were all perfectly healthy ponies.

Too much of her life had been defined first around her guilt over Jenny, and then her disruptive transformation. Now she had a chance to take control of her life back. She could choose to be who and what she wanted.

"All right," said Laura in a determined voice. "Let's do it."





Fred entered the shelter with a small degree of trepidation despite all his attempts to treat this like any other mission back in Afghanistan. The moment he laid eyes on so many ponies, he felt a kinship to them that made his heart ache. He again regretted all those lost years, when he could have at least been making friends in town and wouldn't feel like such an outcast.

The good news was that he didn't have to worry about somehow recognizing Sunset Shimmer. He had been told that there were plans to let the genders mix once all transformations were completed, but obviously that had not yet happened. All he could see -- and smell -- were stallions. The only wisps of mare came from the direction of the cubicle-like wall that had been erected down the center of the auditorium.

Fred heard the clop of hooves approaching him, but it wasn't until he heard a cheerful "Hello there!" did he turn around. He gazed at another earth pony stallion, one with a blue-gray coat and a very light green mane with a streak of white through it. The eyes were bright cyan.

"Um, hi," said Fred.

"I don't remember seeing you before."

Fred recognized the voice. He swore he almost recognized the smell as well. "You're, uh, Chris, the guy who runs the grocery store on Elm."

The stallion smiled. "Yeah, that's me. You seem familiar as well, but ..." He trailed off, and his eyes widened. "Fred Turner??"

Fred had considered going under an alias, but he was glad he didn't try. Voices hadn't been modified by this transformation, and he figured Chris relied as much on smell as now Fred seemed to. "Yeah, I'm Fred."

"Wow, I, um, hadn't expected to see you," said Chris. "Rumor is that you were the first pony."

"I was," said Fred. "Apparently I caused it to spread to you and whoever was in the store that day I was sick."

Chris nodded, then tilted his head, his ears swiveling.

"Something the matter?" Fred asked.

"You're not exactly ... what I mean to say, you're not ... er ..."

"Crazy?" said Fred with a small smirk. "Amazing what becoming a pony does to you."

"Fred, I'm really glad it worked out," said Chris in a sincere voice. "I always felt a little sorry for you, and--"

"Don't," Fred declared. "It's a long story what happened to me, but it doesn't matter anymore. I finally got my head screwed on straight, and that's all I care about."

"It's helped me, too," said Chris. "Had a hip injury that never healed properly."

"Yeah, I remember now. You used to limp when the weather got really hot and humid."

Chris turned around once. "Not anymore! And it would be bothering me now, because it's practically sodden in here."

"I noticed that," said Fred. "Somepony got a humidifier on overdrive or something?"

"Accident in the mares' shower." Chris chuckled. "A unicorn accidentally broke a pipe or something is what we heard 'over the wall' so to speak."

Fred looked at the wall. "Yeah, what's with that stupid wall, anyway? They think we're going to go on a frenzied mating spree or something?"

Chris laughed. "Good lord, I hope not! Putting two kids through college is enough for me, thank you. I don't need any more foals."

Fred looked back to him. "You put those kids through school from what you earned from the store, right?"

"Indeed, yes."

"You think you're going to go back to that?"

Chris hesitated. "I'm actually not sure what I'm going to do yet, to be honest."

"It looks to me like a lot of us don't have a purpose anymore."

"But obviously there has to be a point to all this," said Chris. "It's just a matter of finding out what it is, isn't it?"

Was this what Twilight was worried about? Were all of them waiting for somepony to tell them what they were supposed to do next? He looked around and saw other ponies apparently delighting in practicing their new abilities. That was all well and good; Fred ached to test his own limits, but what purpose did all that serve?

Fred turned to face Chris eye-to-eye. "So you think somepony is going to swoop down and tell you what your new purpose is, is that it?"

"Well, not necessarily in so many words," said Chris. "But some sort of pointer would be nice. I mean, come on, it's obvious everything we had in our old life is not suited for ponies. We've already left one life behind, so obviously we--"

"You keep using that word a lot," said Fred. "In my experience, nothing is ever obvious. We may be ponies, but snake oil is still snake oil."

Chris' ears drew back slightly. "Just what are you saying?"

"I'm saying, don't latch on to the first thing you see just because you have nothing else."

"Well, I'm not. I mean, my priority is my family. Whatever I do, it has to benefit them somehow."

Fred nodded. "That's better. Keep sight of that. Don't let anypony tell you otherwise."

While they had been talking, a ruckus had risen around them, and it exploded into shouts expressing everything from alarm to encouragement.

"What the hell?!" Fred cried.

Chris gasped and jabbed a fore-hoof in the air. "Look!"

Fred lifted his head, and his eyes widened. Three pegasus mares flew in a circle overhead, much to the consternation of their human caretakers. Their shouts were drowned out by the whoops and hoof-stomps of other pegasi.

The air around Fred felt faintly electrified, and a breeze ruffled his fur and mane. At once the air became decidedly drier, and a faint mist collected just above his head and rose further.

"Laura, it's working!" came the delighted cry of the mare with the tri-colored mane.

"I can feel it, too!" cried the white-furred pegasus.

"Yes, I think we're doing it!' said the pegasus with yellow fur and orange hair.

Fred recognized that voice. That was Laura Tanner. She had been in the grocery store that day as well. His ears drooped when he remembered how he had frightened Laura's little sister Jenny and her boyfriend. He sorely wished his lucidity had come back to him before that day.

His attention soon became focused on the main event. The mist had risen and concentrated itself in the center of the whirling winged ponies. At first it resisted their efforts, roiling and rippling as if in a primal need to free itself from their control.

"Ugh, we almost had it," said the one with the tri-colored mane as all three came to a stop and hovered.

"Don't give up yet, Emma!" Laura cried.

"But it needs to be concentrated more, right?" said the white-furred one.

"How do we do that?" Emma asked.

"Girls, we're overthinking it," Laura said. "I think we just do this ..."

She flew forward, her fore-hooves pointed towards the wispy fog of moisture. By all rights and everything Fred had ever known about physics, her hooves should have just slipped on through. Instead, they found purchase, and Fred was not at all surprised. Her companions gasped and surged forward as well, and together they squeezed the mist into a tiny, puffy cloud.

"We did it, we actually did it!" Emma shouted. "That was so amazing!"

Fred was startled by a loud cry from his side of the wall. "Joan, that was incredible!" He turned towards the sound and saw a chocolate brown earth pony with a caramel colored mane and tail looking up and smiling widely.

The white-furred pegasus turned in the air and waved a fore-hoof frantically. "Frank, yes, it was great, wasn't it?"

As another round of cheering rose, a voice blared out so loudly over a megaphone that Fred drew his ears back and winced. "YOU WILL ALL COME DOWN AT ONCE OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO TRANQUILIZE YOU!"

Joan was the first to swoop down from the air and into the waiting fore-legs of the brown earth stallion. They hugged each other tightly, even as a technician came rushing over and shouted, "You're not supposed to be here!"

Joan broke off her embrace and snapped, "Well, you wanted me back on the ground. Make up your mind!"

"You're supposed to be with the other women."

"Oh, this is just stupid. I'm not leaving my husband, and that's it!"

Before the technician could protest, Emma winged her way over the wall. "Dad! Dad, did you see me?!"

A smiling unicorn stepped out of the crowd and hugged her as she landed. "I did, Emma. You were great."

The technician let out an exasperated sigh. "Please, everyone, return to your proper side of the--"

"The hell with that!" a pegasus stallion said as he snapped out his wings. "You're not keeping me from my sister any more!"

"Wait, please!" the technician cried, but the pegaus ignored him and flew over the wall to a joyous female cry on the other side.

A unicorn approached a section of the wall. "Hey, Stan, c'mere and help me with this. I think we can work the pins loose holding this sucker together."

"You got it!" said another unicorn as he cantered up.

"I'll repeat what I said before," the technician declared. "We'll start tranquilizing you if you don't--"

"What, you gonna do that to all of us, huh?" said an earth pony.

"Yeah, I'd love to see you try that!" said a hovering pegasus.

"We're not your damn prisoners!" said a unicorn.

Fred glanced over to the front of the room. About a dozen National Guard soldiers had entered the room, their tasers drawn and ready. This was going to escalate into a human-on-pony brawl if something wasn't done to stop it. He supposed this was where his leadership skills would come in handy.

Yet before he had taken a step and could open his mouth to speak, Laura landed hard in their midst. "Wait, please! There's no need for a confrontation."

Several of the ponies exchanged looks. By now, more female pegasi had come over the wall, and many were looking to Laura expectantly. The males were slower to come around, but as if heeding some unheard cue, they also fell into silent solidarity.

Fred raised an eyebrow. They already had a leader?

"If anypony is to blame for this, it's me," said Laura in a soft voice. "I just wanted to figure out what we can actually do. Maybe you don't want to let us outside yet, but at least give us this. Let us reunite with our families."

Fred blinked when a droplet struck his eye. The cloud the mares had created had drifted over them. While it was losing cohesion even as he watched, it was actually sprinkling rain which pattered softly against the floor in the ensuing silence.

The technician took a deep breath. "We're doing everything in our power to accommodate you. We just need some cooperation."

Laura considered, glancing at the others.

Fred stepped forward. "Want my take on this?"

Laura's gaze snapped to him, and her pupils shrank slightly.

"I think we need a little more democracy here," said Fred. "Last I heard, that actually counted for something in America. Show of hooves. Who wants this damn wall down?"

Every pony raised a hoof. Several pegasus mares flying above the other side of the room raised theirs. "Every hoof is up on this side!" one said.

"And several hands!" came a shout.

Laura smiled at Fred before turning to the technician. "Take the wall down, and I promise we'll cooperate, but only if you can assure us that we're not going to be cooped up in here much longer."

The technician glanced up as the light shower abated. "You can't keep doing things like this."

"I promise, no more indoor rain showers," said Laura.

"And I can't make promises, either. Some things are not decided at my level."

"Then at least give us this," said Laura softly. "Please?"

The technician glanced at the ponies who were still embracing one another, his eyes shimmering. "Stand down," he said to the soldiers. "And help us take down the wall."

The soldiers' acknowledgment was lost to cheering and hoof-stomps.

Laura let out a shaky sigh and fell to her haunches. Fred approached her and said, "That was some fine negotiation you did."

Laura looked up. "Thank you, but I feel like I didn't do much."

"You stopped a brawl. That counts for something."

Laura stared. "You're Fred Turner."

"Guilty as charged," said Fred. "If it helps any, I'm a helluva lot saner than I ever was." He looked around. "Is your sister Jenny here?"

Laura's ears drooped. "She's in another shelter, like the rest of my family."

Fred's eyes widened. "Shit, you don't even have family here and you fought for that anyway for the others?"

"It was the right thing to do."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Fred smirked. "Kid, I've known people double your age who were only half as mature as you are."

Laura smiled faintly.

"Anyway, I wanted to apologize to Jenny. I never meant to frighten her like that. I wasn't in my right mind, and I was only halfway through all this. I would never have hurt her."

Laura rose to her hooves and turned to face him. "I think I know that now. Were you really the first one to become a pony?"

"That's what they tell me, for what it's worth."

Another cheer rose as a section of the wall was removed, and ponies poured through in both directions. As Fred watched, a pale yellow unicorn with bright yellow and red hair stepped up to Laura, smiling broadly. "I am so very proud of you," said the mare as she hugged Laura.

"I almost can't believe I did it," Laura said in an awed voice. "I created a cloud and made it rain!"

"I don't mean just that," said the unicorn. "I mean what just happened now."

"I still don't know how I'm going to get through to them before something else happens. Especially from the earth ponies. They more than anypony need to be outside."

"Yeah, I can attest to that," said Fred.

The unicorn looked over to him. "Have we met?"

"Likely not. Fred Turner."

The unicorn smiled. "Sadie Sommers, but everypony calls me Sunny."

The name meant nothing to him, but that wasn't a surprise, considering how few people he knew in town. At the same time, he had been trained to observe, and it was already obvious that Laura was looking up to this older unicorn mare as a surrogate mother while her own was absent.

He saw no recognition from Sadie, even after hearing his voice. Perhaps she was one of the few people in town who never paid attention to the gossip of the "crazy prepper," or she was just kind enough not to mention it. Maybe he was grasping at straws, eager to see something out of place, but he did file it away as a possible oddity.

This was more like it. He felt like he was doing something useful now.

"Would you like to meet some of my other friends, Mr. Turner?" Laura asked.

"Sure, I'd like that," said Fred. "And, please, call me Fred."





As Bob had surmised the other day, once Harold got his mind focused on an objective, it was very hard to sway him otherwise. He spared his complete transformation not a moment of introspection. That he was a red-furred and blue-haired earth pony did nothing to change the fact that he wanted to see his family again. He was thus just a tad impatient with some of his friends who greeted their induction into ponykind with some initial bemusement.

"Are you still with me, Ken?" Harold asked.

"You bet I am," said Ken as he trotted over. "My wife can be a nag, sometimes, but she's still everything to me."

"Where's James? I thought he might want to see Jenny again."

"I'm here!" came a voice accompanied by galloping hooves. An earth pony with dark blue fur and olive green mane stepped into view, standing a little shorter than his father. His ears drooped slightly. "I just hope she wants to see me again."

"Why wouldn't she?" Harold asked.

"She was kinda upset the last time I talked to her, just before we came here," said James.

"I'm sure she's over that now. It was just that stupid awkward in-between phase. It made everypony on edge."

"Yeah, I'm glad that's over," said Ken. "Never felt so helpless in my life than I did last night before going to sleep."

"Hang on a sec." Harold turned away from them. "Bob? Where are you?"

"Over here."

Harold trotted towards his adoptive son's bedroll. "You all right?"

Bob was sitting cross-legged, dark green fur covering his calves. Two pony ears covered in the same fur swiveled towards Harold's voice. "As well as can be expected," he said in a low voice.

Harold hesitated, unsure of what to say. He wanted to comfort Bob that this would be over soon for him as well, and he could stop feeling so uncomfortable in this transitional state. But what would that mean? That Bob would be a pony soon, and then everything would be okay? He had trouble dealing with the juxtaposition of what his own sense of self was saying about what he should be and what his senses were telling him about Bob's state.

"Sarah's going to be glad to see you, too," Harold finally said.

"I'm not sure I could relate to her just yet," said Bob.

"Bob, you're still family. That hasn't changed."

"You're all ponies now."

Harold exchanged a confused look with the others. "Well, yes. Does that matter?"

Bob stared at him with glistening eyes. "It matters in a way that I don't think you'll understand anymore. I'm struggling harder to understand it myself. It's making things awkward."

Harold thought maybe he could grasp it, but it was as if it didn't matter. He was who and what he was, and he had more important matters to deal with, like keeping his family together and safe.

Harold took a step towards Bob. "We've been through a hell of a lot, more than I think any family should be put through. I could say doubly so for you, considering how you came to us. You spent so long isolated from us because you didn't know how to fit in. Don't let the fact that I have hooves and you don't isolate you again."

Bob met Harold earnest gaze with a shimmering one of his own, and he finally nodded. He slowly stood up. "I'm just not going to be all that fast. My feet are kind of stiff."

Harold smiled faintly. "I understand. Just hold the fort for now."

He turned back to the others. By now, six more ponies had gathered, mostly earth but one unicorn and one pegasus.

"So, are we ready to do this?" Harold asked.

"You bet we are!" Ken said to a chorus of approval from the others.

Harold smiled. This was the largest circle of friends he ever had. He had always been on good terms with his immediate neighbors and a few parents he knew from PTA meetings, but he never really had close friends like these. It felt good, like something he should have done a long time ago. Maybe it would have made the stress of all the events of the past two weeks more bearable.

Harold turned towards the front of the auditorium, and his friends fell into step with him. Other ponies gave them curious glances. A few seemed to sense Harold's purpose and joined the group. It had doubled in size by the time they reached the technicians who now regarded them with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. One of the technicians finally stepped forward and said, "May I help you with something?"

"Yes, you can." Harold pointed a fore-hoof towards the wall. "Take down that wall, or we'll take it down ourselves."

The technician uttered an exasperated sigh. "I know I'm probably asking a lot of you, Mr. Tanner, but could you please be reasonable?"

"What the hell is reasonable about keeping our families apart?"

By now, more ponies joined his group. Another technician leaned over to the first and whispered, "Should I call in more security?"

"I heard that," said Harold. "You don't need more security because this isn't a violent uprising. The problem we have is with that wall, not you."

The first technician frowned and said to the other, "Call the other shelters. See if they're having the same problem." He turned back to Harold. "We don't know yet what kind of, um, social dynamic that will trigger."

Harold's eyes widened. "Social dynamic? We're not some sort of science experiment! Maybe we let you poke us and prod us before, but that's kind of a moot point now, isn't it?"

By now, almost the whole male contingent of ponies had joined together. Even Bob stood in the rear ranks.

"You are not well," said the technician.

"That's news to me," Harold snapped. "I feel pretty good, actually. I can move properly again. I'm not stuck wondering what's going to happen to me anymore. By all rights, we should be just trotting out of this stupid quarantine, but we're not even asking for that."

"We have no idea what your interaction would be with ... with naked and potentially fertile females."

Stunned silence followed from the assembled stallions and colts until one of them snorted and amused laughter rippled through the others.

"Oh, good God, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," said Harold. "There's a time and a place for that sort of thing. This is neither. We're not some dumb farm animals."

The second technician returned and conferred with the first, this time being more careful about being overheard. The first technician frowned. "Oh, you're not serious. What is it with this Tanner family?!"

Harold smiled, pride swelling in his heart for his daughter Laura.

"You remember what Doctor Marlowe said--" the other technician began.

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware, thank you!" He turned back to the ponies and sighed. "All right, we'll take the wall down."

A cheer went up, and hoof-stomps shook the floor. Several ponies clapped a fore-hoof on Harold's shoulder. He smiled faintly. While he had appreciated the solidarity, he hoped this had not made him into some sort of leader. He only wanted to see his wife and daughter again, and he knew he wasn't the only one. What he had done was not so much out of leadership as impatience.

After the first section of the wall was removed, the technicians were momentarily overrun by ponies pouring through the gap. Another section fell with a loud bang when a unicorn mare figured out how to pull the locking pins out with her magic. Some newly-minted pegasi were too impatient and took shaky flights over the wall, usually ending in a tumble that was more embarrassing than it was painful, as if they were built to handle the occasional fall.

Harold was one of the first to rush through the initial gap. "Sarah!"

"Over here!" an achingly familiar voice shouted.

Harold galloped in that direction, but he skidded to an ungainly halt when his gaze met that of the orange unicorn mare with red and salmon-pink hair and the blue-coated, pink-haired filly next to her. His hesitation was very brief as the alien suddenly became wonderfully familiar again, and he rushed to embrace them.

"I know it's only been two days, but it feels like a lifetime," Harold said in a quavering voice.

"In a way, it has," said Sarah. "Things are never going to be quite the same again."

"What difference does that make?" Jenny asked. "We're together again, that's all that matters."

Sarah drew back enough from the embrace to look Harold in the eye. "Just tell me one thing, Harry."

Harold sighed. "I know that look. Becoming a pony hasn't changed it one bit. What did I do now?"

"That was you I heard speaking before, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you were planning to do something either stupid or brave if they didn't agree to take the wall down, weren't you?"

Harold rubbed a fore-hoof through his mane. "Yeah, I was."

Sarah slowly smiled. "I love you."

Harold grinned. "I love you, too."

Sarah craned her neck and glanced around. "Where's Bob?"

Harold turned his head. "I thought he was right behind me."

"I'll go find him!" Jenny said as she galloped off.





Bob had felt the urge to lend his own voice to the cheering when Harold got what he wanted. His heart had ached at the solidarity the other ponies had shown. The need for a sense of belonging had finally prompted him to take up a position in the rear, and it had assuaged it somewhat.

Once the wall came down, and the ponies of both genders came together in very open displays of affection, that sense of needing to belong became almost overwhelming. He had initially been right behind Harold, though Harold had easily pulled ahead. For just a moment, Bob hated his feet. They were slowing him down. He would have kept pace if he had hooves.

That thought had stopped him in his tracks, and Harold had quickly disappeared into the storm of color. Bob was losing the battle against the transformation, if it had ever really been a battle at all. He knew from the persistent headache that he was a unicorn.

Going to be a unicorn. Already it had started to overwrite his sense of self, his remaining humanity almost superfluous, just something that he needed to get over so he could get on with his life.

Bob had had his reservations about going into a shelter where nearly everyone was more advanced, but he didn't want to meet with Harold's resistance against breaking up the family even further. He wondered if the presence of so many ponies was drawing him into their herd mentality faster than if he had been, say, at the shelter Tina had gone. Perhaps that was why he had resisted calling her, that he had not wanted to admit to his vague sense of failure.

"Bob?"

Bob flinched slightly and turned towards a voice that was familiar but lower in height than expected. He blinked when his eyes fell on the blue-furred earth filly, her wavy mane bright pink, regarding him with purple eyes that held a mix of curiosity and confusion.

Her final transformation had been hidden from him, but even without hearing her voice, he would have known on some instinctual level that this was Jenny. "Uh, hi."

Jenny smirked. "What are you doing over here?" She jabbed a fore-hoof back the way she had come. "The family's that way."

Bob stared at Jenny for a long moment. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just barely see her in his head as a human girl. It had the taint of old news, something that was of vital importance in the past but was relegated to historical trivia now. He held onto it long enough to blurt out, "Have you questioned anything about this at all?"

To his surprise, Jenny hesitated, looking uncertain. "Maybe a little at first. It's not quite what I expected."

Bob admittedly had never pegged Jenny as one for critical analysis. She flew through life by the seat of her pants, as much as that expression had meaning anymore. Whatever had sparked that tiny bit of doubt, it must have had some other source.

"What difference does it make now?" said Jenny.

That was more like Jenny. Just go with the flow and to hell with what the consequences might be. "I guess it still makes a difference to me," said Bob. "Though maybe not as much anymore."

"Then just come back with me and--"

"Jenny, tell me the truth," Bob said. "Do you hope I'll become like you and the rest of the family soon?"

Jenny sighed. "Why do you always ask such silly questions?"

"But can you answer it?"

"I, uh ... I mean ... you're going to anyway, right?"

"Most likely, yes."

"Then why are you asking me? Since when did you ever ask my opinion on anything?"

Bob hesitated. "Maybe that was my fault for not socializing with the rest of the family more, but--"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Every time you talk, it sounds like a science experiment."

"Just answer the question, please?"

"Well, yeah, I guess I do. For one thing, I won't have to get a crick in my neck looking up at you."

Bob frowned. "Is that a serious answer?"

"Bob, all I know is that you're family," said Jenny. "So, yeah, maybe you being fully pony would let me relate to you better."

"You never really related to me as a human."

Jenny averted her eyes and scraped the floor with a hoof. "Yeah, well, that was me being in my own little world. I'm not quite like that anymore. At least I don't want to be."

Bob saw he had two choices: reject his family, and perhaps it would let him hold on to his remaining humanity a little longer, or accept his family and possible hasten his fall.

For the longest time, he had felt in-between families rather than part of one or the other. That had started to change for the better over the past few years, only to be shattered again when the financial woes had led to words being said between Sarah and Harold that he never should have heard. He wanted desperately to put that all behind him, even if it meant embracing a transformation that he had not desired or requested.

He didn't want to be alone in the crowd. Or in this case, the herd.

"All right," said Bob softly. "Let's go join the others."