//------------------------------// // Chapter 52: Things that Won't Stay Gone // Story: Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be // by Halira //------------------------------// The night pony couple were chewed out at length by Lavender Mist for allowing Tattered Wing to walk even as little as she did in her condition. After the nurse looked over Tattered's injuries she said she was fully confident that they could be healed, though the scarring would be severe. She was very adamant that she wanted Tattered put into surgery early the next morning, even if she had to drag that snobby unicorn doctor from Canterlot to the operating table by her ear. After getting back to the church they lounged about just chatting with Lavender and Tattered deep into the night, since it was a night off from work and they had no where pressing to go. They were social creatures, and the opportunity to be able to just socialize with other ponies for the long hours of the night something to cherish. The main topic of conversation was each of them basically telling their life stories. They were a little shocked to learn that Tattered had just been a regular employee at a local McDonald's before the transformation. Her seeming promotion to leader of over a hundred night ponies certainly showed how much it didn't matter who you are as a human. Remedy's mom was yet another example of this, and Lavender mentioned something about how out at Lazy Pines a regular high school teenager had emerged as an early leader of ponies there. It was a new world, one that the old one had little bearing on. Most of the interesting conversation was learning about Equestria though. "Wait, you have minotaurs, dragons, and griffins in your world? You're pulling our legs, right?" Rosetta said with disbelief. "Forget those, if we can accept we're all talking ponies that seems almost normal. But whole cities made out of clouds? That's absurd," Tattered said with a snort. "It's true. Why do you think it's absurd?" Lavender said in confusion. "It's freaking water vapor. Even if you can get me to believe pegasi can just stand on clouds like they would the ground, you can't make me believe you can get it to just perpetually keep it's shape and not just dissipate. That's not the way water vapor works, it can't be shaped into solid structures, and even if you could it would just float apart in seconds," Tattered said with certainty. "I'm not sure how it works, it just does. It's a pegasi thing. Personally, aside from the comforts of a cloud bed I would hate living in one of those places," Lavender said with a shake if her head. "Why?" Remedy asked curiously. "There just aren't any nice dark places to go during the day. Clouds filter in lots of light. Too much daylight for extended periods of time makes most night ponies start getting depressed," Lavender explained. "I guess that makes sense. Back when we were human extended periods with no daylight could make us depressed, but now we're nocturnal so that is kind of flipped around," Rosetta said thoughtfully. "Exactly," Lavender nodded. "Give me something nice and dark like a cave any day. I live in Canterlot so that isn't an option, except for some well-to-do night pony families that have homes in the old mines. But my home has very few windows, and the ones it does have are covered by heavy curtains during the day." "Guess that is more incentive for us to get a house once we get moved out of this area. We need somewhere we know can keep dark during the day," Remedy said to Rosetta. "I still don't see why we need to move at all," Tattered complained as she shook a wing in irritation and then winced at the resulting pain. "This area is our home, it didn't stop being our home when we turned into ponies. My family has lived in Charleston since the before the Civil War, and in the same house for over a hundred years. My roots are there, and I want to stay there." "No pony is making you move," Rosetta said calmly. "If they want all the Enclave to dissolve and move off to this new place they are," Tattered grumbled. "Even if some ponies stay behind the ones leaving are my responsibility. If I don't go they don't go, and Baker convinced me to try to persuade them to go. I actually do understand, but I still hate it." "You could just pass responsibility onto some other pony. Most those ponies didn't have homes there so there's no reason for them to stay, but you did and should stay if you want to," Remedy said as Rosetta nodded in agreement. "But they're my responsibility. The Enclave was my idea, and I have a duty to them. I can't just abandon them after all that," Tattered said as she kicked a loose stone away. "How did you form the Enclave anyway? You can't fly or dreamwalk, and from what I gathered the other Broken Ones haven't even left the hospital. So how did you get all those ponies to come to you?" Remedy asked. It had been a mystery that had been bothering her. It just didn't add up. "There was a night pony that flew into town the day after the counterspell. Said he didn't feel welcome in the area he came from anymore and was looking for other night ponies and a place to live. I brought him into the hospital and all of us talked to him about what we had in mind and he took right to it," Tattered explained. "He actually took to it faster than any other pony after. He had a much greater deposition towards violence than most ponies. Not something to be proud of, but suited us just fine. We sent him to find and gather other night ponies." "And he went everywhere and brought every night pony he could find back?" Remedy asked as she started getting a sinking feeling. "Yes, surely he talked to you too. You aren't that hard to find and are close enough to Charleston," Tattered said. The sense of dread deepened. They had been easy enough to find, but no pony had come to them. It could be just blind chance, but the Broken One's messenger had seemingly found every other night pony in the region but ignored them. "What's his name?" Remedy asked. "Swift Strike...excuse me, but is something wrong?" Tattered asked as she picked up on Remedy's anxiety. "Do you know his human name?" Remedy asked, almost certain she knew the answer. "Yeah, it was John. What's the matter? Is there some kind of problem between you two and Swift Strike?" Tattered asked confused. "You could say that," Rosetta said in a near growl. "He's Rosetta's ex, and he was abusive to her. The reason he didn't come to us was that we told him we didn't want to ever see him again," Remedy said. Tattered's expression darkened. "I see," Tattered said slowly. Then took a deep breath. "I can't just cast him out of the Enclave. The Enclave wouldn't even exist without the aid he gave. I'll be on the lookout for any signs that he's mistreating any other pony, and I'll make the other Broken Ones aware of this. If he's caught in the act then we can take action." "I don't know what we'll do if he migrates with the rest of us. I don't want to have to see him again," Rosetta said with a sad shake of her head. "There'll be a huge number of ponies in this new place, tens of thousands. You can surely just avoid him," Tattered suggested. "Tens of thousands of ponies yeah, but just over a hundred night ponies. We're going to inevitably run into him. With that few ponies sharing social circles at night it's just going to happen," Remedy pointed out. "You can still just do your best to avoid him. Yeah you might see one another out on the street, but that doesn't mean you need to talk to one another," Lavender suggested. "My big concern is I'm pregnant, and he will find out no matter how much we avoid him. He'll know right away that he's the one that got me pregnant and might try to get involved with my foal. I don't want that abusive bastard anywhere near my foal," Rosetta said as she lowered her head to the ground. The four went silent for a long minute after that. Neither Lavender or Tattered seemed to know what to suggest to try to soothe Rosetta's fears. A thought occurred to Remedy, but it wasn't one she thought Rosetta would like at all. "There is another option," Remedy finally said, deciding to at least put it out. Rosetta's ears picked up as she looked at Remedy. "What?" Rosetta asked. "We can move again after we're sure everypony else is settled in okay. You want to go to university, that wouldn't be here anyway," Remedy answered. "I don't know, having a foal seems like it's more important to stay near family. Our family is all going to be together there; my parents, my sister and brothers, your mom, and I guess you can count Tonya in with that too. We still don't know if this foal's even going to be a night pony for sure. If it isn't I want it to be raised by family and have us close by," Rosetta said doubtfully as her ears dropped again. Remedy turned to Lavender. "How soon are we able to find out the breed of our foal?" Remedy asked. "You can find out for sure at two to three months with a few tests whether it has wings or not, or has a horn. It takes another month or two before you can tell if it's going to be a night pony or a pegasus if it does have wings," Lavender explained. "No way of finding out sooner?" Remedy asked. "No way that I know of, and I've dealt with a lot of pregnant mares that want to know the breed of their foal," Lavender said with a shake of her head. "How soon before it is obvious to everypony that she's pregnant?" Remedy asked. "Um, depends. Usually by four or five months you can tell if your looking for it. It will be obvious to almost everypony by six or seven months," Lavender said with a shrug. "So if we don't advertise it then he won't find out for a while?" Remedy asked. Lavender nodded back. "I suppose that gives us time to consider options and find out for sure if this foal is one we can raise ourselves," Rosetta said as she looked at her side as if imagining she could see the foal within her. Tattered looked up at the sky and then got to her hooves with a few painful grunts. "Sun is starting to rise. I'm going to go get something to eat. Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but how soon do you think it'll be before your unicorn is ready?" Tattered asked Lavender. "I will join you in breakfast then see about getting her roused and ready. She'll grumble about it, but she can keep her complaints to herself. We're here to help and you need help as soon as possible," Lavender said as she got to her hooves as well. As the other two mares left to go eat Remedy took the opportunity to wrap a wing and a leg over her fiancee and hugged her tightly. "It'll be okay. I won't let him hurt you or our foal," Remedy assured her. "I know you'll do everything you can. Worst comes to worse I suppose you could sic your mother on him," Rosetta sighed. "That's an option I hadn't considered, she definitely has the influence to do things. Not sure it is a good Idea to go running to her for help if we can avoid it. She can get pretty fierce and protective, for a unicorn," Remedy replied. "Not sure I want her protecting if we can avoid it either. She seems to take to controlling everything around her really quickly. I don't want her trying to dictate our lives," Rosetta said in a neutral voice. Remedy just nodded. She loved her mom, but there was no denying that since the transformation Blessing had taken on a new persona of commander-in-chief to every pony in the area. "Something will work out," Remedy reasserted. "I hope so," Rosetta said as she turned to give Remedy a kiss. "I love you, and trust you. We'll get through this." "I love you too. Let's just focus on what comes next for us and not worry about this anymore until we get more information," Remedy said as she returned the kiss. "Are you alright with us formally getting married as soon as we get moved? I don't want to put it off," Rosetta asked. "Definitely, and that's something we can start making arrangements for now and find out if there are any weird legal issues with us being ponies trying to get married," Remedy said. "Urgh, you are supposed to help soothe fears, not add new ones, Sweet Flanks," Rosetta said with a playful growl. Remedy just chuckled, hoping that wasn't a legitimate fear as well.