As she flew back to the camper there were a several things bothering her.
First off was the obvious, her life had just been threatened. She could imagine Number Crunch just wrapping her up in a magical grip and just steadily applying pressure. How much pressure could her body take before she was crushed? She had a feeling Number Crunch knew. She imagined in her head Number Crunch running the figures on exactly how much and Number Crunch's name took on a sinister second meaning. She was going to have nightmares about that for sure.
The second thing that was bothering her was that ultimately Number Crunch's story didn't fully add up. Her mom knew and had even stressed that transformation magic was well beyond their ability, and not something that they were likely to figure out in their lifetimes. All this paranoia over something that wasn't going to happen. Even if somepony dropped all Sunset Shimmer's research notes into their hooves, fully translated into English, it would still likely be complete Greek to them. They just didn't have the baseline knowledge to even begin to understand it. So why all this irrational fear about it?
The last thing bothering her was she desperately wanted to talk to Rosetta about this, but the fear of Number Crunch hurting one or both of them was all too real. She believed Number Crunch on that. Worse Rosetta would know something was bothering Remedy and that Number Crunch was to blame. Rosetta's own protective instincts could lead to them getting hurt.
Number Crunch had given answers, but she didn't explain what was going on in her mom's head. Ultimately she was going to have to get that information straight from the source. She wouldn't be able to do that tonight though. For right now she was just going to join Rosetta and try to put Number Crunch's threats out of mind as best she could, all the while trying not to worry Rosetta. The thought passed her mind again that it might just be easier to have them move to wherever Rosetta wanted to attend university and just distance themselves from the whole thing. She knew that wasn't going to fly though, not with the rest of the family here, and Wild Growth in particular being tied here. Plus there was the general indignity of trying to flee a problem.
She got back to the camper and went inside. Rosetta was just rousing herself from her sleep as Remedy entered and gave Remedy a smile.
"So any luck getting your answers?" Rosetta asked as she stretched her wings.
"I got...something. Not what I was really wanting," Remedy said carefully with a nervous twitch of her tail.
"She tell you off for asking about your mom's secrets?" Rosetta asked in a sympathetic tone after seeing the tail twitch.
That was certainly one way of putting it.
"Yeah, she did. I got to see a whole different side of Number Crunch. I think I'm going to avoid that mare from now on. My mom might give you the willies, but Number Crunch I've determined is far more scary. I don't recommend making her mad," Remedy said with a shiver.
Rosetta's ears flicked and own tail twitched as she saw Remedy shiver. A slight frown appeared on her muzzle for a second before she shook her head and smiled again.
"It's always the quiet ones. We're quiet ones ourselves, and it can be frightening to think of what we may be capable of if we truly were angry enough; night pony protective instincts and all that," Rosetta said as she came and nuzzled Remedy.
"Hopefully we will never have to find out. Ready for this block party? I'm guessing the family is already there," Remedy asked.
"Sure thing," Rosetta said happily. "Block party? That's what it is?"
"Yeah, heard it from Amber when I was tracking down Number Crunch. The other ponies should be there as well. They were going to go to that before heading back," Remedy explained.
"You know, since they are all going to be over there already we could have a little bit of fun here by ourselves first," Rosetta suggested slyly.
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable doing that in your parents' camper. I have this vision of one of the family members walking in on us and getting a lesbian pony porn show," Remedy replied.
"That would be embarrassing with my parents or Wild walking in, but they'd get over it and laugh. Though I do have to admit that my parents would throw a fit if the twins walked in on us," Rosetta said with a twist of her muzzle. "We do need to get some personal time sometime though. Wonder if we can scout some houses ourselves tonight. Having our own private personal space sounds more and more appealing."
"We can do that, sure. Somewhere the looks pretty quiet. Maybe we can find a quiet spot for just tonight as well," Remedy said with a smile and a kiss to Rosetta.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going to this block party before Wild gets tired and comes back here. If we buy anything it is probably here hoofing the bill," Rosetta said as she headed to the door.
"Unless she says no. We really should have brought our own money," Remedy said as she followed.
"I could puppy dog eyes her if she does. But you're right, I shouldn't get in a habit of begging my sister to pay for things for us," Rosetta said with a giggle.
"Just our house and tuition. We need to have you start doing application letters to these places now that you don't have to worry about how to pay for it," Remedy said as they stepped outside.
"You need to start considering attending too since I'm sure Wild will be willing to see to your education as well. Ponies open up to you easily, you'd make a good psychologist or counselor. Fits in with the dream stuff your doing too," Rosetta insisted.
"About that, I think there might be something else going on. The getting ponies to open up to me thing," Remedy said as her ears dropped.
Rosetta halted and looked at Remedy, and a concerned look came on her face as she saw Remedy's posture.
"What's wrong?" Rosetta asked as she walked back to Remedy.
"I think I might be doing something magical without meaning to. Drawing out ponies fears, anxieties, and anger to the surface. I did it with you, I did it with Tempest, and I think I just did with Number Crunch. Ponies confess personal information to me in no time at all with me doing only a little digging. Ponies that are normally very closed up about those things. Luna seemed to think there was magic at work," Remedy explained.
"Well, that just means you are better able to help ponies if you can get them to open up about things that bother them. Your entire thing is understanding fear, it makes sense in some way you would be able to have ways of finding out what those fears are," Rosetta said as she ran a hoof over Remedy's mane.
"It feels unfair that I can just do it, without meaning to. It's like I violated the other pony," Remedy said.
"I don't feel violated. I felt like a burden got lifted. You helped me. Did you help Tempest or Number Crunch?" Rosetta asked.
"Not sure on Tempest. With Number Crunch I got to see anger, paranoia, and...let's just say I will walk small around her from now on," Remedy said with a involuntarily shiver.
Rosetta gave her another concerned look as Remedy shivered. Her ears laid back and her brow narrowed as she realized why.
"You're afraid of her now, physically afraid," Rosetta said in a low growl, and the growl deepened as she continued. "What did she say or do to you?"
Remedy tried to think of a way of answering that didn't reveal exactly what was said and the threats made. Her hesitation worked against her and Rosetta became even more enraged as she saw that as further confirmation of Number Crunch's guilt.
"Tell me what she did so I know why I'm going to make her bleed," Rosetta demanded again.
"You shouldn't get violent like that," Remedy said with alarm.
"She has you fucking trembling at the thought of her, fuck me not getting violent. And you aren't some random pony or human on the street, you're my fiancee. If somepony does something to you it's beyond personal. Screw pony pacifism," Rosetta fumed.
"Rosetta, it isn't just ponies are not supposed to be violent, you're pregnant and shouldn't do anything that could end up with you or the foal getting hurt. Believe me when I say Number Crunch is cold blooded, and will not hesitate to hurt you bad enough that it hurts the foal. For all our sakes, back down on this," Remedy said as calmly and evenly as she could.
Rosetta seemed to waver a bit after being reminded of her pregnancy.
"Just tell me please why you're afraid of her," Rosetta said in a more controlled voice as she glared at the ground. "If you don't tell me I'm going to go demanding the information from her."
Remedy was between a rock and a hard place. Rosetta was not going to let this go. She cursed herself for letting Rosetta pick up on something being wrong at all.
"She threatened me, as in threatened to kill me, if I discuss with anypony, even you, what she and I talked about. I believe her when she says she will. She's fully committed to keeping my mom's secrets. I got her to open up to me, but I'd really rather I hadn't. I got to see her self hate, her paranoia, her fanatical devotion to my mom's goals, and it scared the piss out of me," Remedy said in a low voice.
Rosetta looked like she was withstraining herself from taking off into the air and going on the hunt for Number Crunch, but the withstraint held. She looked back to Remedy and came up to where she was touching.
"Do you think she is going to hurt you if you keep whatever damned secret she has?" Rosetta asked in a low voice.
"I don't think she'll hurt me if I don't reveal what was said. She insists she doesn't want to be that way. I think she is terrified that she's even capable of murder," Remedy's eyes widened in realization. "That's her fear, the fact she might not be a better pony than she was a human. Human her would not hesitate to step over dead bodies to get what she wanted, and she's secretly terrified she's still that same human. She had a lot of things she was paranoid about, but that's what she was most emotional about."
"So is that a confirmation she won't hurt you?" Rosetta's asked, her anger bleeding a little over towards Remedy.
"She won't hurt me if she doesn't feel she must. It would break her," Remedy nodded.
"Then I won't ask what those secrets are and you can be an honest mare if she asks if you've told anypony. I'll try to pretend in the meantime that I don't want to rip her throat out," Rosetta said with another low growl.
"I'm sorry I have to keep information from you," Remedy said as she began to cry.
"Oh don't be sorry. You won't need to for long," Rosetta said in a neutral tone. "We are going to your mother as soon as we return to the church in the morning. You're going to explain to her that Number Crunch threatened you, and she is going to explain to me why I should continue to not make Number Crunch pay for doing so, as well as whatever else is going on, and it better be a good explanation."