//------------------------------// // Chapter 64: Spider // Story: Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be // by Halira //------------------------------// The block party would have been fun early on, if not for the fact that Rosetta was looking around constantly trying to spot Number Crunch. The unicorn in question never made an appearance. Remedy breathed a sigh of relief at the fact, as it definitely wouldn't look good to the townspeople if there was a pony brawl between Rosetta and Number Crunch right in front of them. The block party was kind of a mini fair of sorts. There were a few carnival games, people that had set up bake sales, and a little bit of live music all provided by the locals. It was all about community and togetherness. It was nice to see and enjoy, and Remedy hoped that this kind of thing wouldn't be lost with the large influx of population that was coming. Ponies were naturally social creatures so there was hope that it would continue with them. Rosetta started to relax as the party went on and even laughed a bit as she watched Wild, and a few of the other ponies that had come, try to participate in doing the electric slide. They seemed to have no problem with most of the stepping for the most part, though there was some initial confusion about how many left or right legs they should be moving on command. There was an additional moment of confusion as the order to clap their hands went out, and the ponies looked down at their hooves in befuddlement. Different ponies decided to take different approaches to this; some reared up briefly on their hind legs and clapped together their forehooves, the pegasi tried clapping their wings-which didn't produce much of a sound, and the remainder took it as another stomp command. There was a lot of good natured laughing about the confusion by both the ponies and the humans. One pony, a yellow pegasus mare named simply Sun Shine, giggled loudly as she declared that this song was speciesist as tripped trying to clap and step. The party didn't go too late in the evening. By the time nine at night had come most had departed, and by ten all the guests had departed. The other ponies that had come by bus all left back for the church grounds via the same bus. Rosetta finally caught sight of Number Crunch right before they left. It seemed the unicorn mare had sequestered herself away on the bus soon after the night ponies had arrived at the block party. There was confrontation between the two at this time though. Rosetta said she would speak with Sunset Blessing first. The insistence to the family to hit the road before dawn was met with some protest. Remedy kept her mouth shut as her fiancee made it clear to all the others the matter was not up for discussion. They realized she was angry about something but got no information other than she needed to talk to her future mother-in-law as early as possible and it was urgent. The two night ponies did their assigned duty for the evening. They spent the night flying all around town and even flew to the next closest towns and back. It was completely quiet, with no humans to be seen at the late hours. A few stray houses here and there with porch lights on, the main street lit by streetlights, and an occasional house that lights could be seen in the windows of, but overall nothing of note. They highly doubted any human even took notice of them flying about. They returned back to the camper shortly before dawn and made sure Roger was up and getting ready to leave. The camper starting up roused the other humans, but Wild slept like a rock through it. The earth pony's circadian rhythm was very firmly in place where she was deep in sleep until the sun was up unless you deliberately roused her. "Did you guys find any interesting houses while we were sleeping?" Remedy asked to break the quiet. "A few, it is going to take a lot more looking. A lot of these places are in need of some renovation and repair since they've been sitting so long. We got a few phone numbers to ask about properties that looked in a bit better condition," Jean explained. "Did you do any house searching?" Roger called back from the driver's seat. "We meant to but got...distracted. We'll get out chance later on," Remedy said. Rosetta continued to sit and brood through the full exchange. "What's got you all grumpy?" Jose asked his eldest sister. "Something I can't talk about that doesn't concern you. Let's just say my protective instincts are on full power, plus some, and a Remedy's mom is going to be getting an earful about some things that happened to Remedy," Rosetta said in a forced calm. "Did Remedy do something wrong?" "No, Remedy didn't do anything wrong at all. I'm not mad at her, I'm mad about what happened to her. Just like I would be mad if somepony did something bad to you," Rosetta explained calmly. "Wild calls me names all the time and threatened to grow a tree under me, but you don't get that mad about that," Jose asked. "Not even close to the same thing in this case. Just drop it, Jose. I thank you for your concern, but it's getting dealt with," Rosetta said crossly. "Are you sure, baby? I'm not used to seeing you like this," Jean said worriedly "We've got this, Mama. It's getting dealt with, and it isn't going to happen again one way or another. I'm going to make sure of that," Rosetta said in a slightly less cross voice. "It's that Number Crunch pony, isn't it?" Jean asked. Rosetta looked up at her mother in mild shock. "She's the only one that wasn't at the block party and you were looking around for someone like a hawk looking for a mouse when you were there." "Don't go digging into this, Mama. I said it's getting dealt with, and I meant it. If Number Crunch comes anywhere near any of you, or says anything to any of you, let me know right away. I'm not letting her pull any more crap," Rosetta said with a growl. Jean looked like she wanted to press the issue. Remedy held up a wing to stop her. "We're going to talk with my mom and deal with Number Crunch. Something will be worked out. But tell us if Number Crunch says or does anything to any of you, even if it is the middle of the afternoon and you need to wake us up. We need to know right away," Remedy said. "Is she really that bad? I thought she was just a bookkeeper or secretary or something," Jean asked. "She's bad news. I don't know the details on her past and don't want to. She was dangerous as a human, and she's probably more dangerous as a pony. Just keep away from her," Remedy said. "So she's like a super villain!" Miguel shouted. "Hush, your sister is sleeping," Jean scolded. "And there are no super heroes and super villains. Just do as they say and keep away from her." Most of the crest of the ride back was done in silence. When Wild woke up she picked up on the mood and apparently decided, wisely, to not ask what was going on just then. When the camper finally pulled back into the church grounds the two night ponies were at the door of it waiting only for the full stop, and quickly opened it once it finally came to one. They were shocked to see Tonya sitting right outside the door waiting for them and looking uncharacteristically grim. "Sunset's waiting for you in the pastor's office. Don't worry about bumping into Number Crunch today, she had a rough night and will probably be in bed for a few days," Tonya said with no greeting. "Rough night?" Remedy asked with a raised brow. "Yep, rough night. She seems to have fallen down the same set of stairs at least three times and run into several walls at full speed, all over the course of a few minutes. At least that's how Sunset said it went. I told her that pony was nuts but she didn't take me serious enough. As I said she is going to be resting a few days before getting back to work, and thinking about how she should be more careful with stairs and walls," Tonya said in a neutral tone. The two night ponies looked at one another. It seemed Blessing had heard about what went on last night already. There was only one way she could have heard already, if Number Crunch had told her. Was Number Crunch so loyal to Blessing that she would tell her information that she knew would enrage Remedy's mother to the point of physical violence? "I'll be sitting in with you for the talk. Sunset is still feeling a bit out about Number Crunch and canceled all her appointments for today," Tonya said as she turned and gestured with her head for them to follow. The two night ponies didn't have a reply for this, all they could do was nod and follow the orange pegasus with the bright purple mane and gendered cutie mark. When they came to the pastor's office Tonya simply called out that they were there and the door quickly glowed in a red aura and opened. They all quickly filed on and the door slammed shut behind them. Sunset Blessing sat at her normal spot behind the desk. She stared at them with a steely gaze as they they filed in before her. Tonya quickly moved to place herself to Blessing's side and ran a wing soothingly over against her lover. Papers were thrown chaotically around the room and a shelf of books was toppled. The place looked ransacked. "Are you okay?" Blessing asked in a controlled time. "Yeah, I was a scared last night, but I'm alright," Remedy answered as she met her mom's gaze. "Good, if you weren't Number Crunch might be spending a lot more time in bed and I need her back to work soon. She won't be troubling or threatening you ever again. Nopony threatens my foal. Nopony!" Blessing snarled. "Don't scare them, Sunset. You aren't angry at them," Tonya said soothingly. Blessing looked down at her marefriend and her expression softened as she nodded. Then she turned back to the two night ponies. "I'm assuming you heard about what happened?" Blessing asked Rosetta. "I heard what happened and had to be practically restrained by Remedy to not go hunting an accountant. I want to know why. Why do you employ that creature of a pony?" Rosetta said in a measured tone. "Number Crunch is indeed very good with the things that she claims to be. I need a pony like her to put on a legitimate show," Blessing said. "Show?" Remedy asked. "Yes show," Blessing nodded. "Number Crunch is part of a big show, though she doesn't know it. She makes me look like a more legitimate ally and friend to the other Shimmerists by having a pony like her seemingly doing dirty work for me. Makes it look like I'm playing the government and slipping the Shimmerists information that the government doesn't want them to know and little bits of funding here and there." "And why is that important?" Remedy asked. How many layers of duplicity was her mom pulling. "It's a matter of gaining trust. If I'm trusted then they slip me information back, and I pass that back on to the government if there is anything to legitimately be concerned about, which doesn't necessarily mean transformations. I'd been trying to exert control over them, but it has become clear that's a lost cause. I won't be the one to unite the Shimmerists, I can only try to manipulate them a bit from within," Blessing said with a sad shake of her head. "What about all that stuff Number Crunch told me? About developing transformation spells, and what happens if some of them get it first, and the rest," Remedy asked. "All very true concerns...as far as they go anyway. You know that's a bunch of malarkey and so do I. A lot of them don't, and lot of humans don't, so it's something to take advantage of for the moment. Any path to transformations in any reasonable time falls to getting the Equestrians to do it for us. That's going to take a lot of maneuvering of them and the government here, as well as moderating the other Shimmerists, to have any hope of happening. I'm laying some groundwork, but ultimately it's going to take somepony more charismatic than me to pull all these threads together. I have some ideas on candidates for that pony, one in particular seems very promising, but it's still too early to know for sure. I'm sure the Lord will provide the perfect pony," Blessing said. "So what is there to legitimately be afraid of?" Remedy asked. "Legitimately? Well, there will always be fanatics like Number Crunch that need to be kept in line. There will be humans that are exceedingly hostile to ponies in general," Blessing shrugged. "I hope that whoever assumes leadership eventually will deal with those fanatics well, and the government will attend to the anti-pony elements once they realize how much benefit we are giving them. All that research we are doing is going to straight to them after all, and can only encourage their desire to protect ponies and eventually perhaps start seeing the value of a pony world. They are giving free reign to do it right now out of fear, but that will change in time. Paranoia gets our hooves in the door everywhere." "Okay, but back to what I mainly want to know; are you just letting Number Crunch go back to work?" Rosetta demanded. "Yes, she's valuable. And she won't be pulling that crap again. If she does I'm going to test how long I can maintain a flame spell-inside her skull," Blessing said with a flick of her tail. "I don't want her near Remedy or any of my family ever again," Rosetta said. "I'll see the only family she is around is me. She'll eventually be moved on to projects elsewhere. I'm not going to unite the Shimmerists behind me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit on my haunches. She'll be traveling the Bible Belt doing the Lord's work soon enough," Blessing said with a smile. "Can you trust her not to betray you after beating the crap out of her?" Remedy asked. "Number Crunch put up no fight against Sunset when it was going on. She knew it was coming. She considered it her penance. She's determined to move past the human she was. She'll stay loyal," Tonya said. "If there's nothing else you want from me you're free to go. I need to start putting this room back in order. Tomorrow we start making final arrangements for the exodus and getting all the ponies, and humans that are coming too, mobilized to move in one week. It's a massive undertaking to move so many, and will require my full attention," Blessing said. The night pony couple looked at one another. There was nothing left for now. They left Sunset Blessing to her work.