//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Devon had many things she wanted to cry about as of late. The fact she was looking at having a mere tent that would be home to her and her children for the foreseeable future was just the latest in a long list of reasons. She set down Jessie as she looked the tent over. The tent was a decent size; she could stand inside it, if only because she was short, and there was more than enough space for all three of them and their meager belongings. When she had heard they were being put in a tent she had imagined something smaller that she would have to crawl into, not this larger tent that looked like it could serve as a field base for army officers. It also had several well cushioned mats that she assumed were supposed to be used for beds. What it didn't have was any kind of air conditioning, and summer was coming soon. It would be cooler than out in the sun, but it would still be extremely hot as the temperature rose over the next month. That was a big problem, and meant she would need a new shelter soon. "I'm really tired, Momma," Robby said with a yawn. His little sister watched the yawn in quiet fascination with her big blue eyes. "I know, Robby. Go on in and try to get some sleep. I'm going to try feeding your sister and find out who our neighbors are when they arrive, and I might try to sneak a nap in too," Devon said with her own yawn as she set her backpack down next just inside the entrance to the tent, even though she'd have to move it again in just a moment, as it couldn't be left sitting there. While she did this, her little colt wasted no time in dashing into the tent to get his sleep. They wouldn't have this all to themselves though. She had been told that they'd be sharing the tent with two other ponies. Space to keep the migrants was limited, and they were making it five ponies per tent with no exceptions. All in all, it could have been worse. The shelter for the humans would have been more cramped and had less privacy. She was also less concerned with ponies accidentally stepping on her children than she was concerned about humans doing that, so there were benefits for being housed with ponies instead of humans. Robby picked out one corner of the tent and had already curled up on a mat with one of his wings draped over his head to block out the light. Devon wasn't sure if that was appropriate sleeping behavior or not, but Robby did it consistently and never complained of cramps, so she didn't do anything to halt it. She could hear him softly snoring even though he had just laid down. It had been a long day already, and Robby didn't typically stay up this late. She was shocked he hadn't napped on the bus ride here; she probably should have herself. She sighed and re-picked up the backpack from the entrance and walked over near Robby before setting it back down. She then moved two of the mats close together near Robbie. She grimaced slightly when she noticed that the mat would be too small for her to spread out on, but she could at least lay her upper body on it comfortably, giving that much some cushioning. As she moved things around Jessie followed close by her side, continuing to just watch in fascination and look up at her expectantly every time Devon paused. She was used to her daughter spending most of her time crying, but whenever released to walk around on her own today she had been surprisingly quiet. Jessie would quickly go from primarily angry and upset to a combination of extremely curious and clingy when given her freedom. It was a welcome improvement to non-stop crying and raging. Devon sat down on one of the mats next to Robby and pulled the backpack open in front of her. Jessie having seen her mother sit down seemed to take it as a sign she should follow suit, and quickly cuddled close to Devon. Devon paused unpacking the backpack to bend down and give her daughter a kiss on her head. The little filly let off a happy coo in response to this that brought a smile to Devon's face. It was a rare expression of happiness from Jessie since she was born, and today she had shown happiness many times. Perhaps some things were turning around for the better. Devon pulled out Jessie's bottle and frowned. There wasn't much milk left and it had been out without refrigeration for too long. It might still be okay for her, but it was doubtful. Breastfeeding would be the only option for now. She wasn't sure how she felt about doing that if she was going to have strangers living with her in the tent. The ponies didn't seem to have any problem with being naked, so them seeing her breastfeed shouldn't be a huge concern to them, but she still didn't like the idea of having an exposed breast out for others to see. Jessie needed her milk though, and it was unlikely Devon would have access to store bought formula any time soon. A sound of drizzling liquid caught Devon's attention, making her eyes go wide as she whipped back around to Jessie. "Nononono! Not on the pad! Not in the tent! Come on baby girl, we need to get you outside at least," Devon said hurriedly, as she grabbed the filly up with Jessie letting off a protesting squeal. She brought her daughter quickly outside and set her down. Devon gave her own shirt a disgusted shake as she realized she was covered in her daughter's urine. Looking down she saw her daughter was now standing in a growing yellow puddle, a puddle right at the entrance to the tent. "Just great, now whoever is going to be living with us is going to be having their first encounter with us be walking through a puddle of piss," Devon said with exasperation as she raised a hand to cover her face. Something was going to have to be done about diapers for Jessie. Normal human diapers wouldn't fit her right, that meant she would need custom made cloth ones that she would need to wash regularly. That was going to be a major chore but seemed the only way. First, she would need to find someone to make them. In the meantime, it was going to be constantly trying to get Jessie outside and away from walkways when Jessie needed to go. Hopefully if her baby girl was as smart as that one night pony had said she was then she could learn to start giving Devon some sort of signal when she needed to go. Another problem occurred to Devon at that moment. Where were she and Robby supposed to go to the bathroom? Was there an outhouse or something around here? She hadn't been told anything about that. It seemed a silly thing to be freaking out over, but it was a basic need. Maybe the tent wasn't so great after all. "Oh, some little filly had an accident?" Came a friendly voice near them. Devon looked up from her hand and saw a familiar rose-pink earth pony mare with orange mane, with a very unhappy pegasus foal with the same coloration and white tips on her feathers strapped to her back with a large bag hanging on her side. It was Amanda, a pony she had spent time talking to on the bus ride here, she looked almost as tired as Devon felt, though she was smiling. "Looks like we are going to be tent mates. Hopefully Jackie here doesn't try to fly through the top and knock it down," Amanda said with a glance back at her scowling foal on her back. "I'm sorry about the mess at the door. Jessie just started going and I tried to hurry to get her out of the tent," Devon said with consternation, looking down at her daughter's mess. "Oh, don't worry one bit about that. It doesn't begin to compare to the mess Jackie and I have on us due to her accidents along the way. Keeping her strapped up there is the only way to keep her from taking off until the surges end though," Amanda said as she hung her head and ears. Then looked back up at Devon with a smile again. "Anyway, if there is one pony who won't complain about what your foal might do to inconvenience us it's me. I'm far more worried about what Jackie might do to be concerned about what little Jessie here might be doing." "This is going to seem a really silly question, but where do we go to take a shower or use a toilet ourselves?" Devon asked in a hopeful tone. "I was told that they have an outhouse at the end of each row of tents. That's where we need to go to take a dump. As for where we go to bathe," Amanda shook her head in despair, as her posture slumped further. "Nopony told me; and believe me, if I knew where that was I would have been there first before coming here." "Great," Devon muttered as she looked down at her daughter, who was still standing in her puddle of piss with seemingly no concern about it. "I think I can hop that, hopefully it will dry up soon. I want to set this bag down, wipe some mess off as best I can, and get to feeding Jackie before she gets crankier," Amanda said as she gestured to the unsanitary puddle at the entrance to the tent. Devon jerked up her head from staring down as she realized she was blocking the entrance. "Of course, let me get out of your way," Devon said quickly. Then looked at her daughter. "Come to mommy, baby girl. We need to get out of Miss Amanda's way." Devon took several steps back into the tent, so she was back near their things. Jessie quickly rushed over to her. Devon was fairly impressed with Jessie's coordination and speed even though today was her first day walking. As soon as Jessie trotted in Amanda came through the entrance of the tent with a bounding leap. When the earth pony landed inside the filly on her back gave an excited giggle and started trying to flap her wings. After it became obvious the filly wasn't going to get airborne, strapped down as she was, the filly's giggles were replaced with a distinct wail of displeasure. Devon looked at her son, worried that he might get woken up by the crying, but she heard him still snoring. It did seem that he had tightened the wing wrapped around his head though. She had guessed before that he was doing that to block out light like a sleep mask, but now she realized he was blocking out sound too. The action made a little more sense on multiple levels for a pony that slept in the day. "I know, I know. You want to fly, you're messy, and you're probably hungry too," Amanda said to the filly on her back as she walked over to one of the remaining mats. "We'll take care of the food and cleaning soon enough. I've got to get you leashed so you can't take off from me though." "Leashed?" Devon asked in confusion. "You put her on a leash? Like a dog?" "It's the only thing I could think to do. I bought one right before walking over here; it took nearly an hour to even get into the store due to how long the lines were. Do you mind helping me with this, so I can start cleaning her up?" Amanda asked as she held out the harness towards Devon draped around her leg. "I'm sure I could do it myself, but I want to make sure she and I are securely leashed together so she can't take off. I don't know what I'd do if she got away from me in this place without me even knowing my way around." She couldn't fault the pony's logic. Devon's own first encounter with Jackie earlier that day had been Jackie hurtling towards her like missile as Devon had boarded the bus, so she knew the filly could take off through the air quickly. Amanda fished from the top of her bags what was almost certainly a harness meant for a small dog with a standard looking leash attached. She pulled a dark towel out as well. "Now to see if we can get this thing on her without pinching her wings. I don't want it accidentally hurting her," Amanda said as she looked the harness over. "Can you tie the leash tightly to my foreleg before we start? I want to make sure I'm secured to her the moment we get this on her. I've got a feeling as soon as we let her go she's going to try to bolt. I haven't been wrong yet when I've made a guess it's coming; just wish I could anticipate it every time." Devon walked over to her and started tying the leash onto Amanda's foreleg. She tried to make it tight but didn't want it hurting Amanda either. She gave a few quick tugs at it once she was pretty sure she had it on well just to test to see if it would hold. The smell from the accidents Jackie had finally reached Devon's nose as she sat close by the two ponies. "That seems good. Now see if you can get that thing on her. I could probably do it, but I wouldn't be able to keep her secure at the same time. This is one of those instances that I miss having hands," Amanda said with a frown as she looked at her forehooves. Devon grimaced at the mess of crap and urine that coated Amanda's back as well as Jackie's posterior. Rather than comment on it she decided to make some conversation as she worked to get the harness in place as Amanda held Jackie tightly. "What did you do before you caught ETS?" Devon asked as she tried to get the filly to step into the harness, Jackie was not cooperative. "Well, I was on maternity leave at the time, but I was a teacher; first, second, and third grade depending on the year," Amanda answered as she tightened her grip on the struggling filly. "Really? I'm an art teacher, or at least I was. It seems we've more in common than just having newborn foals," Devon said with a little bit of excitement. "Sounds like they didn't just haphazardly assign who was rooming with who," Amanda said with a chuckle, then winced as she got smacked in the face by Jackie's wing-beats. Devon finished getting the harness around the filly's legs and worked to get it into place around Jackie's torso without hurting her wings. She couldn't help noting another thing she and Amanda had in common, there was no sign of the fathers anywhere. She debated asking about it but decided not to say anything. If Amanda wanted to talk about what happened that was up to her. Devon didn't know if she was ready to talk about her own absent partner yet either. "I think she's secure if you want to let her go," Devon said after triple checking the harness. She crawled backward to give them space and accidentally bumped Jessie, who tumbled over as a result. She turned around quickly to check on her daughter. "I'm so sorry baby girl. Are you okay? I'm not used to having you standing, much less standing so close to me yet," she asked worriedly as she looked over her daughter. The little filly gave herself a shake, pulled herself back to her hooves, and then came right back over to her to cuddle up against her mother. Devon let out a relieved sigh as she ran a hand down her daughter's mane and bent down to give her a kiss again, which earned another happy coo. Devon turned around just in time to see Amanda release her grip on Jackie. The little winged filly didn't waste any time, she tried to take straight to the air and zoom. The little pegasus let off a surprised squawk as she found her zoom was brought to an abrupt end as she ran out of leash, causing her to come crashing back down. The filly then got back to her hooves and stared at the leash attached to her, following it with her eyes back to her mother. "Not getting away from me this time, my little magic missile," Amanda said with a satisfied smirk as she reached down to grab up the towel almost as easily as a human would with their hands. The little filly gave the leash another glare, then walked back over to her mother. As Amanda started getting to work trying to wipe them both off with the towel the little filly started running around rubbing against the mare's lower abdomen. "I know you're hungry. Come on, I'll lay down and let you eat," Amanda said as she finished the wipe down and tossed the towel away, still smiling. She then laid on her side and giving the foal access to her teats. Devon watched the other mother breastfeed in mild fascination for a moment. "Those aren't even noticeable unless you're laying down on your side like that. Do they not swell up or anything?" Devon asked with curiosity. Then she got embarrassed and added in quickly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare, I just haven't seen ponies feeding their foals before, and was curious about the differences." "My teats? Not on the outside they don't. I can feel it swell up on the inside though, like I'm bloated or constipated or something. It's a physical relief to me sometimes when she eats, and I've been running late on feeding her," Amanda explained. She looked over at Devon and gave her a smile and chuckle. "And don't worry about watching me do it or me seeing you do it. I've seen human breasts before, I used to have them." Devon felt relief that she hadn't offended one of the few ponies she seemed to have made friends with. Sitting down Indian style, with her back turned towards the tent entrance, she opened her shirt and motioned to Jessie to come over to her. The little filly blinked for a moment or two as she tried to process what Devon wanted, and didn't seem to understand until Devon finally exposed a breast for her. The little filly then immediately hurried over and tried climbing into Devon's lap to get to the source of food. Within a moment she was latched on and drinking with contentment. "Was Jackie born a pony?" Devon asked as she shifted position a little in order to be a little more comfortable with her daughter eating. "Yeah, she was. I finished transforming just a week before she was born, and she apparently transformed in my womb right along with me," Amanda confirmed as her mouth shaped into a content smile. "I'm guessing based on the fact you're still human and Jessie's a pony that she was already born before she transformed." "Yes, she was, she was born just week before everything happened with ETS," Devon confirmed, running a hand over Jessie's mane. "She was premature, at only twenty-seven weeks along, and was so small. Her doctors said her immune system wasn't working right yet. Plus, she couldn't digest anything right, and she was having trouble even breathing. We didn't think she was going to make it; especially when she seemed to have caught the flu even with all the efforts to keep her isolated." "It sounds like getting ETS saved her then," Amanda said as she looked at the filly in question. "She looks like she's healthy now, and she's about the same size as Jackie here, rather than a premature yearling." "Yeah, it did save her. It also broke the family apart though," Devon said with a touch of bitterness. "What happened? If you don't mind me asking," Amanda asked in a sympathetic tone. "Her father, Paul, and I were already under a lot of strain from the stress involving Jessie's birth, then after that her and Robby getting ETS, and us not being able to see either of them through their entire transformation," Devon started crying as she recounted the events of the last month. "When we finally got them home it was a struggle dealing with them. Robby was awake all night long and sleeping during the day. Jessie was fine at the beginning, but then she started lashing out, and she was frighteningly strong. I believe the final straw for Paul was when he was trying to feed her, and she kicked him. The kick knocked him back into a wall hard enough to dent the wall, and it cracked two of his ribs. He wouldn't go near her again after that, he feared her." "But that was the surges, right? She can't do that anymore if those are over like you told me on the bus. He was still afraid of her after those went away?" Amanda asked as she frowned with concern. "Yeah, he was. There was no convincing him that she was safe to be around. I wasn't even sure she couldn't do it anymore until today when that one pony that escorted me to the bus told me about surges," Devon explained as she absentmindedly patted her feeding filly. "So maybe there's a chance he could reconcile if he finds out for sure that she isn't able to do that anymore," Amanda offered hopefully. "I don't know. I'm too upset to even reach out to him right now. He just dropped us off at the convention center this morning and left us. I know he was scared, and under a great deal of stress, but I was too. It feels like he betrayed us," Devon sobbed. "I don't know what to say to that. I don't know how I would feel in your situation. My husband, who was named Paul too by the way, passed about six months ago in a car wreck. I'd do anything to have him back. I can empathize though about suddenly finding yourself with a newborn filly and knowing you've got to raise her alone," Amanda said as her ears wilted, and she wrapped a foreleg around the feeding pegasus filly. "I'm sorry for your loss," Devon said, unable to think of an appropriate response as she wiped her eyes free of tears. She felt bad for not having something better to say, but she just couldn't think of anything. "It's okay, I just take this one day at a time. Most of the time I'm fine, then it just hits me again, and I'm a sobbing mess. He's gone, and all I'll ever see of him again are pictures and his tombstone. Jackie will never know her father," Amanda said as she reached up and wiped own her eyes with a hoof. Devon wanted to give her a hug. She wanted a hug herself honestly after everything that had happened up to now. That wasn't happening with a Jessie drinking away at the moment, as she wasn't going to stop her daughter from eating. Amanda seemed to have the same thought as she looked between the two fillies. "We'll make it through. These little ones are counting on us to be strong for them. Today is the start of a fresh life, and we'll give them the best life we can," Amanda said before she bent her neck around to give her rose colored filly a kiss. "I wonder if there is a school around here. With the sudden population boom I'm sure they must be interested in hiring some teachers if there is one. I need to be thinking about work as soon as possible," Devon said as she tried to move on to thinking productively. "I can watch the foals if you want to go out and get a look around. If you find a school, we could possibly work together there. Though I'm not looking forward to writing things on a board," Amanda said with a small smile returning to her lips. It took Devon a moment to completely understand the comment about writing on boards. Then she realized Amanda had no hands, she had to do that by mouth if she was going to try manipulating something as small as a marker or chalk. It inadvertently caused her to start thinking of all kinds of things Robby and Jessie might have trouble with in the future, and she had to bury such thoughts before she gave herself an anxiety attack. "Are you sure that's no trouble? I'm not sure, what if Jessie gets hungry again, or needs to go to pee again?" Devon asked worriedly. "If she gets hungry again I have more than one teat. As for using the potty, I need to find out where Jackie's going to be doing that too. I'll let you know what I figure out. Go ahead and find us somewhere to work before everypony takes up all the jobs. I got this here," Amanda said with a wave of a foreleg. She then took a sniff of herself. "And can you find out where the heck we are supposed to get ourselves cleaned at?" Devon looked at her own shirt, with daughter's accident drying on it. She was going to add wash clothes to that list too. It felt like her daughter was done eating but hadn't released her yet. She really needed to get Jessie a pacifier to suck on; Jessie had destroyed all her old ones with overpowered jaws in the past few weeks. That wasn't an issue now, but those hadn't been replaced. Add to that figuring out what to do about diapers, work, long term living space, food, and it got overwhelming. On the plus side there was a potential babysitter, or foalsitter, for each of her foals now. That gave her more personal time to tackle these problems. Devon gently pulled her daughter from her chest. The little filly gave a small moan of protest at being separated from the nipple but didn't go into a crying outburst. The filly just looked sullen for a moment, before she blinked and looking about to determine what was going on. Devon wondered exactly how smart her newborn daughter was. There were certain expectations for a human baby, but pony foals seemed to have far more awareness early on. Did this translate to overall higher intelligence due as a pony or was it just a foal thing? "Amanda, do you think you've gotten smarter since becoming a pony?" Devon asked as she considered her daughter. "Not really, I mean, I adjusted right away, but a lot of how to function just kind of came downloaded. Nothing seems any easier to figure out. Why do you ask?" Amanda asked in confusion. "Just wondering if ponies are just naturally smarter or if it's just the foals," Devon explained. "Well, does your little night pony colt...forgive me I don't remember his name...seem any smarter to you?" Amanda asked as she glanced over to the snoring form of Robby. "I don't know, I'm usually too exhausted to pay Robby the attention I should when he is awake. He seems more considerate, but he knows the strain I've been under," Devon said as she looked over at Robby's sleeping form. "Well, I don't know everything there's to know about ponies, but I know that newborn horses typically are capable of walking and running about before they take their first nap. Comparing ponies with that we might seem almost stupid, yet no one is going to claim a horse is as smart as a human or a pony. I think it's just a difference between human babies and pony foals, not a sign of intellectual superiority," Amanda said with a chuckle. "I suppose that makes sense," Devon said as she watched her inquisitive daughter watching everything that happened around her. "And don't go thinking you aren't up to the task of taking care of your foals because you're still human and they aren't," Amanda firmly stressed. "You're still their mother, and still just as capable as you ever were. I'm just as lost as you about how to deal with a foal and I'm a pony. I read all the guidebooks on how take care of a baby while I was pregnant and those are pretty much useless to me now. You at least have some parenting experience under your belt already." "You're right, I've taken care of a baby before. It might have been a bit different, but at the end of the day Jessie's still just my baby girl. I got through Robby and I'll get through Jessie," Devon said with a small feeling of confidence starting to build. She turned to face Amanda. "Thanks for the pep talk. I needed that." "No, problem. It's what friends are for and I hope we're friends," Amanda said with her own smile. "We are, and I'll take you up on your offer to have you watch these two for a bit, so I can go explore and see about what the next step is," Devon said as she stood up and adjusted her shirt so she was properly covered again. It was time to start taking steps to build their lives here. She was going to work hard to make it the best one her children could possibly have.