//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: Troubled Thoughts // Story: Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be // by Halira //------------------------------// After being escorted back out of the hospital Gerald said his goodbyes to them and let them know that the night ponies made their day sleeping spot out on Fort Sumter, and a number of pegasi made similar sleeping arrangements there during the night. The spot made since as a sleeping spot for a large number of night ponies in Charleston as it was easy for them to defend against the average person up to no good who might try to get to them in their sleep. This left the couple to contemplate how to deal with the situation. "Well, at least we understand now. I don't think tonight is the best night for trying to talk with them though," Remedy said. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to listen to anything with somepony close to me dying either," Rosetta said with a mournful glance back at the hospital. "We're going to have a hard time convincing them to stop. I'm not sure we can," Remedy said. "Am I wrong for saying that it is actually tempting to join them?" Rosetta asked, casting a worried look at her marefriend. "It isn't wrong to be tempted. We just dealt with the same worries they're addressing when that human pulled a gun on us. We felt helpless to do what we were supposed to do, and angry," Remedy answered with a sigh. "I just kept thinking back to that, and thinking about how you could have died because I held back on how hard I hit him. My pony instincts to not hurt others could have cost you your life," Rosetta said with building emotion. "It didn't happen though. We didn't get hurt," Remedy replied. "But we could have, and we let him get away with just robbing that place. We said it then and I will say it again now; are we just going to let ourselves be helpless in every single one of those situations?" Rosetta demanded. "There is something to what they are trying to do. They aren't wrong in recognizing our failures in instinct," Remedy said carefully. "But there is still problems that they're making for themselves and all ponies by doing this. This city is terrified, and the government is jumpy. Baker is right that this could boil over into something much worse." "What kind of middle ground is there in this though? We can't afford to be gentle because any human we try to stop from doing wrong might be secretly armed. Once we lose the element of surprise in our attacks we're helpless to some human pulling a gun on us," Rosetta said with frustration. "I don't know, but the police and army aren't that brutal with trying to subdue common criminals. Simple burglary and vandalism shouldn't end in being crippled. We can't protect with fear of punishments that don't fit the crime," Remedy said. She was getting frustrated herself, because the situation was unfair. Tattered was right, they were designed for a gentler world, and now that they found themselves in a harsher one they had to find some way of adapting. "So what do we do now?" Rosetta asked. "We go back and talk with Baker and let him know what we learned, explain in the simplest of terms we can that protecting is a big deal to night ponies and we can't be left feeling like we aren't up to the job. Then we see if him or any of those above him have any solutions. They aren't stopping this unless some sort of solution to that problem is given to them," Remedy said. "Why don't they just reinforce the police? We know how short on personnel they are, surely the Enclave could help," Rosetta suggested. "That might not work, as I said they are being much more brutal than the police and doing things they should be arrested for themselves. Not sure what help they can give if they aren't able to take those tactics over with them into helping, or if the police would even allow them to help at all. We'll see what Baker says, but something has to give somewhere," Remedy said. "Hopefully Baker is still at the church and hasn't gone off somewhere else," Rosetta said as she looked back towards the north. "I think he will be, my mom is there, and keeping close to her keeps him aware of what is going on in the region," Remedy said as she flicked her tail back and forth as she thought about that. "Does that bother you?" Rosetta asked as she watched the tail move. "It's hard to say. It's just weird having my mom suddenly being the pony organizing and doing all this stuff. She was just a housewife and Sunday school teacher, and minor bigot. Now suddenly she is leading all these ponies, essentially forming her own denomination, renaming herself after a known terrorist, and somehow working closely with the government after naming herself like that. She is like somepony completely different than she was as a human," Remedy said as continued to flick her tail. "Sunset Shimmer being a terrorist is kind of based on your point of view. I wouldn't call her that, but I can understand how the humans feel," Rosetta said with a dismissive flick of her own tail. "But anyway, isn't most of that good things, even if there is a negative connotation to her name? Is it hard to believe she might have had her own shell that she needed to come out of and turning into a pony helped her do that?" "Maybe, it just feels like there is the whole other mom than the mom I knew," Remedy said with lowered ears. "She likely is feeling a lot of the same with you. Heck, my parents are probably feeling that a little with me, though not to the same extreme. If I told them I was furious that the other day some guy with a gun got away from me rather than being scared to death I was going to get shot they would be asking me who I was and what did I do with their daughter," Rosetta chuckled as she finished speaking. "Yeah, don't figure I would expect my old human self would have had that same reaction either; that's just night pony instincts though. It would be more surprising if a night pony didn't feel that way. What's going on with my mom is way beyond simple instinct changes," Remedy said. "Well, talk to her if it is really bothering you. She's your mother, she isn't going to get mad at you for wanting to understand," Rosetta said as she came over and nuzzled. "We are way off topic anyway. We should be focused on what's going on with the night ponies," Remedy said as she returned the nuzzle. "Definitely, miss never-did-anything-and-had-no-real-goals-grocery-store-stocker-turned-diplomat," Rosetta said with a chortle. "Okay, point made," Remedy said with a roll of her eyes. She then took a few steps forward and spread her wings. "Let's head back. We can have some time to eat if we get back quickly before trying to deal with the director." The two took off into the air headed back north. As they passed over the city they tried to pay extra close attention when they passed back over the city from higher above to try to spot any night ponies moving about that may be more visible from above than street level. From this angle they did indeed spot several moving about on tops of buildings, but only a few. It seemed that they most were very good at keeping themselves hidden. Remedy wanted to learn how they managed to do that. Remedy watched as Rosetta gave a long look out over Hannahan as they passed that area. "We can try visiting them again soon. It is likely way too late tonight for that," Remedy said as she watched Rosetta's gaze. "I'm wondering about what's going on with my sister. Wondering if I could convince my parents to let her come to our shelter. Gas stations are opening soon and they have a car so she wouldn't have to walk the full way," Rosetta said as they flew by. "Would she even want to be there? It isn't like she would get much time with you with us being active at night," Remedy replied. "She needs to be around other earth ponies," Rosetta asserted. "Not necessarily," Remedy said with a glance over to her lover. "We have seen for ourselves that one unicorn that seems to spend her time with humans on tv." "Unicorns can't accidentally seriously injure their human friends with what they consider a playful tap, and can use almost any human gadget as well as if not better than a human," Rosetta replied flippantly. "I would say it is up to her," Remedy said as they now flew over the local hospital. "I'm going to talk to her about it as soon as I can. I don't think she is going to be happy cramped up at my parents apartment like she is now. They all need to be counted for the census anyway, and Hannahan hasn't been dealt with at all yet by the humans," Rosetta said. "Just remember it might take a few days. We are almost certainly going to be sent right back out to Charleston again tomorrow. Plus we have to meet with whoever these humans from the small towns are sooner or later, and who knows if we will be needed to guard something overnight. We have a pretty full plate," Remedy said as they came into view of the church. "Want to go sleep by that oak again when we are done with telling the humans about the Enclave and getting something to eat?" Rosetta asked hopefully as they came in for a landing. Remedy just turned and gave her a sly grin in response. First stop was by the school to see if Baker was even there. They were informed that he would be available to see them in just a few minutes, and they decided to take the time to get a quick bite to eat. Over at the ever shrinking haystack they found Sunset Blessing, Tonya, and several other ponies they didn't have names for having breakfast as well. Blessing seemed to be trying to give instructions through bites of food. "..the truck stop at the end of the frontage road will hopefully be open by nightfall. They have three human employees from the area including the manager and we have two unicorns that will be helping them out. It will be a staging area for the gas trucks that should be arriving tomorrow. If they need help with anything I want a team of two earth ponies, pegasi, and additional unicorns there to help," Blessing was instructing the ponies around her. "What kind of help do you think they will need out of the earth ponies and pegasi?" Asked a pearl white earth pony stallion with golden mane. "Help moving any abandoned vehicles and running messages most likely. There are bunch of abandoned semi trucks there and while they can be put in neutral it will take earth pony strength to actually get them moved. We need to make sure this goes smoothly so the humans can get businesses going again," Blessing explained. "What about the Wal-Mart?" Asked a pale blue unicorn mare with a red mane. Remedy spotted an abacus on her flank as a cutie mark. "Corporate guys showed up late last night. I got woken up by the pegasi that were guarding. They are supposed to be getting a list of who they still have available for employees from the suits sometime this morning," Tonya said as she finished chewing a bite of hay. "Hopefully that will get open quickly once they start making calls," Blessing said. "Tonya I want a team of pegasi out inspecting the area for anywhere that looks like there is severe problems with gas stations reopening and getting a list together. Let Number Crunch know what you find and she'll get a report put together." "Any word yet about these small town reps that are supposed to be coming?" The earth pony stallion asked. "Me and the rest are eager to have somewhere to get to work." "Director Baker said he will have the first few here tomorrow to meet with me. He is going to give me maps and demographics for each one today to look over. I promise I will be well prepared tomorrow when they arrive," Blessing answered. She looked over at the two night ponies and gave a smile. "Not going into details about what you were up to last night, but any luck?" Blessing asked them. "Eh, consider last night a fact finding mission, Mom. We found out a lot, and will be talking with Baker about it soon," Remedy said. "I'll tag along with you. I'm eager to hear what you found out," Blessing said cheerfully. And then leveled a serious look at Remedy. "I heard about some trouble back at the Wal-Mart the other night that you two neglected to tell me about. I can see you're alright, praise the Lord, but you made me worry about you. You haven't had any similar incidents have you? I don't want you getting hurt." "We're both fine, Mom, and nothing else like that has happened," Remedy said slightly more defensively than she intended. "I pray to God that you continue to be safe. I know you are nocturnal, and there is no help for that. But nighttime can be dangerous, please be careful," Blessing said in a softer tone. "We will be, Mom," Remedy replied with an encouraging smile. Glad to see her mom being more mom-like and less alpha-pony like. Still, watching how her mother organized everything made her wonder how much of that was motherly concern and how much of that was her mother dealing with just another part of her herd.