Amanda waved a hoof at Devon as she wandered back into the tent. She had eaten her fill, gotten a shower in, gotten Jackie to use the potty and then cleaned her up. Add that to the fact she finally did some earth pony magic and that resulted in her mood being upbeat as she saw her tent-mate.
"Did you have a good evening? You weren't back when I got up," Amanda said as she carefully deposited Jackie back down on her sleeping mat. The filly was awake and alert, but not particularly active yet.
"For the most part yes, I got a loan for a new house and did some walking around to see what was on the market," Devon said with a smile as the human sat breastfeeding Jessie. Robby was beside her flipping through what appeared to be a battered comic book. The fact he was trying to turn the flimsy pages of a comic with hooves was probably why it was battered.
"You're getting a house already? That sure was fast. I was expecting to share this tent with you for a few weeks," Amanda asked in disbelief. In truth she was actually saddened to hear that, even if she was being selfish feeling that. She'd hoped that she and Devon would be able to mutually help each other with their respective foals. There wasn't anything saying they couldn't still, but it felt less certain if Devon was moving out.
"I've still got to settle on a house but I need to move fast. There are only so many houses that are in good repair and if I wait too long I'll be left waiting for renovations to be completed or to have one built. I'd rather not wait for either of those things, or to spend the extra money on renovations. I hoping to have money left over for furniture and appliances," Devon explained.
"Did you find out more about night ponies?" Amanda asked as she laid down to feed Jackie.
"I should have asked more questions, since I thought of several others after leaving, but did find out some things. The basic rundown is they’re exceedingly protective of others when it comes to perceived threats, and will pretty much throw themselves into danger if they think they're protecting someone. Our police system here looks like it's going to be night pony dominated," Devon explained as she glanced down at Robby with a small frown.
"So, night ponies are the guards at night then?" Amanda asked as she looked over at Robby. She caught a glimpse of what comic book he was looking at; Batman.
"That's about right," Devon said as she ran a hand gently over her son's mane.
"Okay, that makes sense. I knew earth ponies were the producers, the unicorns were to run a bunch of utility jobs, and the pegasi were supposed to control the weather. I never really knew where night ponies and crystal ponies fit in. I guess I know where the night ponies fit in too now," Amanda said as Jackie began suckling her breakfast.
"Crystal ponies don't do similar jobs to earth ponies?" Devon asked in confusion. "I thought they were essentially just sparkly earth ponies."
"They don't seem to. Nopony really knows what crystal ponies are supposed to do. The only thing they ever did was act as conduits for that big spell that wiped out ETS. Other than that, they're just kind of there with no obvious purpose," Amanda explained. Then dropped her voice to a lower tone even though there shouldn't be anypony nearby to hear. "And just to tell you, there are a lot of ponies that don't seem to like them. Not only do they not seem to fit in, but the fact they were involved with stopping ETS kind of rubs a lot of ponies the wrong way. I even heard one pony muttering once about how crystal ponies were traitors to their species for that."
"Really? I didn't think ponies had any kind of prejudices. That was one of the big things that ponies like to brag about. And that sounds like they wanted this to spread to all the humans," Devon said with a raised brow.
"Oh, prejudice hasn't gone away, it just shifted to different things, don't let anypony try to fool you about that. There are some ponies that really look down on humans, others that look down on crystal ponies, and many that look down on both. They don't get so worked up about things like sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or color anymore, but they still have prejudice for anything that doesn't fit into their perceived idea of how things are supposed to fit together. Humans and crystal ponies aren't part of their view of the big picture," Amanda explained with a sad shake of her head. "And yes, there are definitely a lot of ponies that wanted every human to be a pony and were angry about the end of ETS."
Her ears dropped as she remembered how she learned for the first time about that. She'd expressed some interest in being human again and there had been a few ponies that had been surprisingly nasty towards her for it. She hadn't even been insistent she wanted to be human, only complained she wished she had hands.
And if she had to admit it to herself she was probably guilty of looking down on crystal ponies too, if for different reasons. Being an earth pony she had access to magic for growing things, the crystal ponies didn't seem to have even that. They were at a disadvantage in every conceivable way. There seemed no way to want to be a crystal pony from her perspective.
"I noticed a lot of ponies just refer to me as human, but I hadn't put much thought into why. I guess that would explain it. It's hard to believe though, all of you were humans until recently. It's hard to imagine you think of yourselves that differently so quickly after changing. Do ponies really think they're that superior?" Devon asked with concern.
"Well, some do, a lot actually. I don't feel that way though," Amanda said with a frown. She decided to take a risk about talking about a forbidden subject and dropped her voice into a whisper again. "Don't tell anypony, but I'd thought about whether it would be better to go back to being human if they found a way to reverse transformations like they said they were trying to do. Some ponies get really upset if you suggest that kind of thing."
"You want to be human again?" Devon asked in a surprised whisper.
"Maybe? I don't really know. I feel helpless sometimes being an earth pony. It feels like if I was almost any other type of pony then things would be better, or if I was human still," Amanda explained with a frustrated shake of her head. She looked at her hooves and then continued. "I did magic for the first time today, and that made me feel better. I'm sure I'll feel better when Jackie stops surging too, and I'm better able to manage her. I just feel like I struggle trying to accomplish certain tasks that would have been simple as a human or if I was a unicorn."
"But do you think you'd be happier as a pegasus or unicorn? If you were one of those would you long to be human again?" Devon asked curiously.
Amanda sat and thought for a long moment. What did she want? That was a hard thing to say. She felt like a pony, not a human in a pony body. What she wanted was ease of doing tasks more than anything else.
"I don't think I'd want to be human if I were one of those. I would be able to manipulate objects as well or better than I did as a human if I was a unicorn. If I was a pegasus I could fly after Jackie when she takes off, and I could share the skies with her when she gets older and starts flying regularly--and the wings could be used for extra grip on things too. Right now, I'm ground bound and having to try to fumble tasks with hooves and my mouth. I don't care about the extra strength I have as I don't actually typically need to do much heavy lifting except for on rare occasions." She stretched out and grabbed the towel with a hoof, hooking her fetlock into it before pulling it back towards her. "You can see I'm getting much better at using my hooves to do what I would with hands, but it's still extremely awkward to near impossible sometimes, especially with trying to grab anything tiny."
Devon sat thinking over on her mat. Amanda wondered what was going on in her friend's head. Did Devon think she was crazy? Did Devon agree with her? This subject was something Amanda didn't feel comfortable talking about with just anypony, not after her past experiences trying, but she hoped that a human might be more understanding.
"I can kind of see what you’re saying, but I can't help wishing I had gotten ETS, too. I kind of see things from the other side of the spectrum," Devon finally said.
"You wish you were a pony?" Amanda asked with a raised brow. She had thought before that Devon might feel like she was better off as a pony if she was raising pony foals, but wasn't entirely sure.
"There are things I just won't ever understand or experience as a human that are going to be considered normal for my foals. I can't do magic at all. I don't have pony instincts so my thought processes will be different. I'm a human in a town which is dominated by ponies, and it will be developed with ponies in mind. My children will look at me and see something that isn't even the same species as them," Devon listed off in a shamed tone.
Amanda could see where Devon was coming from and she wanted to reassure her friend again that these simply weren't as big a deal as Devon made them out to be. She tried to imagine herself in her friend's position. Would she be freaking out about the fact Jackie would look at her and see she wasn't a pony if she was human again? That was actually a troubling thought, a downright scary thought. One that made her seriously reconsider whether being a human would actually be better than an earth pony.
She considered her answer for a long moment, thinking of the positives of being human and Devon's circumstances, before replying, "But there are some things that would be tough for you, too, if you were a pony; things other than what I deal with. Right now, you can adjust your sleep schedule to accommodate either of your foals. You wouldn't be able to rightfully do that as a pony. Unless you were a night pony Robby would get neglected, and if you were a night pony Jessie would get neglected."
"I suppose that's true, but it's hard enough giving them both time as things stand. I'm still stuck dealing with one or the other most of the time," Devon said as she let out a breath.
Robby's ears were perked up, which meant he was listening, but his eyes were focused on his comic. What was the little colt thinking as he heard his mother saying these kinds of things?
"And if you had gotten ETS, and it made you an earth pony like me, you wouldn't be having the bank sitting there trying to fast track you into getting a new house," Amanda said as she grasped for reasons that being a pony wasn't so great.
Devon was going to get herself depressed if she kept thinking like this. Amanda wanted to bring up that if Devon was a pony she might not have any chance of reconciling with her husband. Amanda knew that if her own husband was alive, and still human, that would be a deciding factor to want to be human again. Best not to think too much about that or she'd get herself depressed.
"If I was an earth pony like you at least I would be able to fully relate to at least one of my foals," Devon said in a bitter tone.
There wasn't any real warning to it, Robby just got up and broke off at a full run out of the tent before either of the adults knew what was going on.
"Robby!" Devon yelled out after him as she stood up, causing her to drop Jessie down on the floor. The little filly started crying at being so unceremoniously dumped on the ground.
"I'm sorry, baby girl, I didn't mean it," Devon said as she shuffled from foot to foot anxiously, torn briefly by the urge to comfort her crying daughter. There was no time for that right now though. Devon then looked over to Amanda. "I'm sorry, I know I'm supposed to be watching the foals for you to go take care of what you need to do, but can you watch her a moment? I have to find Robby."
"Why are you even taking time to ask me that? Get going before he gets too far," Amanda said with worry.
Devon took off at a full run out of the tent, leaving Amanda to deal with the fillies, one of whom was bawling her eyes out.
The earth pony mare carefully got up which led to Jackie getting upset that her feeding was interrupted and she then had two crying fillies on her hooves.
She sighed as she gathered Jackie up onto her back, and then made her way over to the crying earth pony filly. All the while she wondered what had gotten into that little colt's head. Hopefully Devon would be able to track him down quickly, but there was no way she was going to keep up with a pony's run speed.
As Amanda tried to soothe the foals she couldn't help feeling that maybe Devon was right. Perhaps it was time to make her full peace with being an earth pony, because if Devon was any indicator being human again wasn't going to make things any easier. Devon had also instilled a small fear in her about Jackie rejecting her if she wasn't a pony.
Having a magic horn or wings would still be nice though.
Devon looked in all directions as she tried to spot where Robby went. There was no sign of him, but there were so many tents blocking her line of sight that he could be hiding anywhere.
She looked around and saw a few Earth ponies standing around outside their tents nearby.
"Did any of you see a night pony colt come running through? Do you know where he went? It's my son, I need to find him," she asked.
They pointed with their hooves towards the back of the tented area. She yelled a quick, “Thanks!” and took off in the indicated direction.
She had to keep pausing to ask ponies passing by if they had seen Robby run through. Not every pony had, so it sometimes took an extra moment or two to find one that could direct her. The answer was always the same though, leading further and further towards the back of the tent encampment.
She finally reached the back and spotted Robby taking a drink of water from a water fountain set up by some haystack.
"Robby!" She yelled with a mix of fear, worry, and relief.
Robby turned to look at her and let off a squeak. He took off yet again at full run straight into the woods that bordered the encampment.
"Robby! Get back here!" She yelled before taking off after him.
Before she could reach the forest two night pony stallions came down in front of her, blocking her path.
"Why are you chasing that foal, human? We won't tolerate humans terrorizing ponies, much less foals," one of the stallions growled at her.
"That foal is my son and I'm not terrorizing him. He just took off and I'm trying to get him back," Devon snapped. "Help me catch him or get out of my way. He's five years old, he shouldn't be running off like this."
The two stallions looked at one another and then back at the woods. One shrugged to the other at if passing the choice of what to do to his companion.
"Alright, we'll help you find him. We're going to want to question him about why he ran off to begin with, though, to find out if he had a reason to run from you," the same stallion said.
"Are you accusing me of abusing my child?!" she demanded in outrage and disbelief.
"We're just double checking after the colt's welfare," the stallion replied with an even tone.
"Of all the...," Devon began, barely containing her temper at what was being implied. She drew her temper in. She hadn’t done anything and Robby would confirm that. She was only letting Robby potentially get lost on his own if she sat here and argued. "Fine, whatever you want. Just help me find my little boy."
The stallion who was silent looked like he was making ready to correct her about the term. She didn't give him the opportunity. Without any more talk she ran between the two into the treeline and tried to pick up on Robby's trail. A moment later the two stallions followed her on foot into the woods.
The dirt was not so hard packed back here and despite not being any sort of tracker she could still spot the occasional hoof print that told her which direction to keep going. The two stallions moved through the trees a few feet away on either side of her.
It wasn't long before the entrance into the woods was far behind them and on glances back the end of the woods wasn't visible anymore. Even so, Robby's tracks continued on deeper into the woods with no sign of her son.
"Brick! There are stallion tracks out here, few hours old, heading in the same direction. Think it might be Swift?" The talkative stallion yelled out to the other while still moving.
"It's possible, but let's not jump to conclusions. Keep an eye out though," the silent stallion, Brick yelled in answer.
Devon didn't know who Swift was and didn't care. Finding Robby was all that mattered. Why was he even doing this? Had she done something wrong? Was it a foal thing? A night pony thing? A night pony foal thing specifically? It didn't make sense.
They kept going for at least half an hour. Devon had never been in woods that went this deep. Back home there were plenty of woods, but you couldn't go half a mile most the time without clearing them or at least without running into some sign of civilization. Here it was just endless trees, and a canopy above that shut out the daylight.
Finally, the sound of crying reached her ears and she zeroed in on it. The ponies heard it as well and sped ahead of her towards the source. As a result they reached Robby before she did.
Robby was deep in the brush, and there was no visible clearing anywhere near him. One night pony stallion lay near him quietly questioning and the other seemed on high alert. It had taken her a full minute and a half to reach them after the stallions had already made it to Robby.
"It seems you have a bit of a misunderstanding on your hands with your son. I think he needs a long talk to clear his head of some misconceptions," Brick said as Devon bent down to reach for Robby.
"Misconceptions?" Devon asked as she pulled her crying son into her arms.
"He'll tell you. Just talk to him," Brick said as he rose up to his hooves. His snout crinkled in disgust after that. "What is that awful stench here?"
Devon became self-aware that she was still wearing clothes that Jessie had pissed on and hadn't been changed in days.
"I apologize, there hasn't been an opportunity or way to do laundry," Devon explained.
The stallion seemed to ignore her and went off exploring the brush, sniffing the air. She then looked at Robby and brushed back his yellow mane as she held him.
"I'm sorry, Momma," Robby pitifully cried as Devon started pulling twigs out of his black fur.
"What was wrong? Why did you run off like that? You scared me half to death," Devon asked, trying not to yell at him.
"You said you couldn't take care of both me and Jessie. I figured you didn't want me anymore because I'm up all night, and you spend all your time with her now. You talked about becoming an earth pony so you could be with her," Robby said through tears.
"Robby..." Devon paused in her answer as tried to think of how to best address his fears.
She didn't want to upset him further. This seemed the type of thing only a five-year-old could interpret in such a manner, but he definitely had convinced himself of it.
She took a deep breath before trying to explain as she resumed running her hand over his mane soothingly.
"Robby, you are both important to me. I'm not getting rid of either of you, and me thinking it might be better to be a pony makes no difference at this point since that isn't happening. Jessie gets more attention from me right now because she is just a little baby, she can't do anything for herself. You’re bigger than her so you’re more capable. I know I've been neglecting you, and I'm sorry if that made you feel unloved. I do love you very much, just as much as your sister. You're both my babies. Do you understand?" Devon asked.
"But you've talked about how you can't get enough sleep because of me. That means I'm hurting you," Robby said with full seriousness.
"I can't deny I've been running low on sleep. I want to say I'm fine, but because I love you I'm not going to lie. It would hurt me more not to have you around anymore. I'm going to figure out how to get enough time with both you and Jessie. I just haven't figured out how yet. I will though, just try to be patient with me," Devon said mournfully as she hugged him a little tighter to her.
She hated the fact she had no clue as of yet what to do, but lying to her son right now wasn't fair to him.
"I don't want you hurting at all. I'm supposed to protect you," Robby protested as he pushed back against her and gave a sullen stare at the ground.
Devon tried not to frown. Those night pony instincts were really strong for him. Maybe because he was a foal he was more driven by instinct? She decided to play on those if that was what got through to him.
"And if you run off how're you going to protect your little sister? How will you protect us if a bad guy comes to get me or her? Your sister needs her big brother to protect her. You can't do that if you've run away, now can you?" Devon asked with as serious a tone as she could muster.
Robby seemed deep in thought about this, with an almost comical amount of seriousness. She wanted to laugh, just like the other times he had gotten protective. She scolded herself in her head for that though. This was very serious business in Robby's view of the world. He was a night pony and that protective nature was part of him, and she needed to take that as seriously as she took his nocturnal habits.
"I guess I wouldn't be able to, and that would be bad," Robby said after much consideration. He then looked distressed as he seemed to realize something else. He then tried to wrap his little legs and wings around her in embrace. "I'm sorry I was bad, Momma, I'll be better."
"It's okay, Robby," she soothed as she hugged him tight and gave him a kiss on his the bridge of his snout. "Everyone gets scared and confused sometimes, and we do silly things when that happens. You were just scared and confused today, and that's okay."
Robby paused in his sobbing for a minute and seemed to be thinking again. She let him do this uninterrupted as she waited for him to answer.
"Mama? What if I became human again? Like the Miss Amanda talked about maybe wanting to do. Would that make everything better?" Robby asked timidly.
Devon wanted to say yes. She had to restrain herself from saying yes. What was best for Robby's welfare and hers was for him to change back to human so she could better care for him. There was one major element that overrode what she thought was best though.
"Robby, do you actually want to be human?" She asked in a serious tone, hoping that he said yes, and feeling hypocritical about having just expressed she wanted to be a pony a few minutes before in earshot of him. "I don't want you to think about pleasing me or what would make things easier for me. I don't want you to think about what you think you are supposed to answer. I want you to tell me what you really want; to be a pony or be a human."
"I want to be a pony, but...," Robby started to answer and she put a finger over his mouth to cut him off.
"If you want to be a pony you're going to remain a pony, and I'll make sure no one ever tells you that you're wrong for it. If your feelings ever change I'll back those too, but right now all I need to know is you want to be a pony. Don't change that for me or anyone...or anypony else's sake. That would hurt me knowing you did that and didn't really want to," Devon explained calmly. She wanted to cry but she meant every word of it. She would not take this away from him if it was what he actually wanted. This was his choice, not hers, not anyone else's. Plus if he was going to grow up here being a pony might be for the best anyway.
Brick returned just then, interrupting Robby's chance to answer. The stallion had a grim look on his face, he kept glancing back the direction he had just been.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to ask your son something important," Brick said.
Devon nodded, wondering what the stallion wanted now. They'd already established that she wasn't abusing Robby. The stallion bent down to look Robby in the eyes.
"Robby is it?" The stallion asked. Robby nodded in response before the stallion continued. "Robby, this is really important. Did you see anypony, or human for that matter, out in these woods other than your mom, me, and my friend?"
"No, nopony," Robby answered with a shake of his head.
"And you didn't go to the spot that smell is coming from?" Brick asked.
"No, it smelled really wrong. I didn't like it," Robby said with a look of fear.
Devon felt a cold chill. She sniffed the air herself but couldn't smell anything other than just the general smell of the forest. Ponies had better senses of smell than humans, so it wasn't shocking that they could smell something that she couldn't, but Brick seemed extremely concerned about whatever this was.
"Is there something dangerous out here? Some sort of bio-hazard?" Devon asked the stallion.
"No, no bio-hazard. I'm going to escort you and your son back into town while my partner looks around here some more. Then I'm going to get my boss out here. Keep out of these woods in the future," Brick said in a grave tone.
"I wasn't planning on coming in here, but why?" Devon asked.
"It isn't something we can discuss with you. Please just follow me out and let's get you and your foal out of here," the stallion said as he motioned for them to follow. He glanced back at her then added, "And I heard your conversation with your son. You're a good mother and he's lucky to have you."
"Um, thank you. I'm just trying to do right by him," Devon answered, unsure how to feel about being easedropped on. The stallion just nodded back in answer.
Devon looked deeper into the forest for a moment, wondering what the problem was, before she and Robby started following the night pony back out of the woods.
Wild Growth didn't know what she should be doing at the moment. Right now most of the family seemed to be focused on helping Rosetta and Phobia out following the break-in and rape that had happened. Wild felt guilty that she wasn't over there too, but it seemed like there were already too many over there trying to give comfort. Phobia was not in a state that she could really deal with so many ponies and humans together, and it had to be stressing Rosetta out as well while Rosetta was trying to comfort her fiancée herself.
So instead Wild was the only pony back at her human family's house. She wasn't the only one there, Abuelita was somewhere in the house upstairs, but Wild was essentially alone.
She really wasn't in the mood to be unpacking at the moment, though it might help give her something to focus on. Instead she was just wandering around the house, checking locks on doors and windows. There was no real reason to expect the same to happen here, but the incident at her sister's house had made her a bit more safety conscious overall.
It still didn't sit right with her at all-not that a break-in and rape should ever sit right with anyone. It just doubly didn't sit right with her because ponies weren't supposed to do things like that. Ponies were supposed to be kinder, gentler, and more considerate than humans by their very nature. She had heard about the Enclave from her sister, but they were a special case brought on by special circumstances; circumstances that most ponies could sympathize with. What had happened last night wasn't some special circumstance, it had been just plain evil.
It made her feel disgusted with herself for ever thinking her sister should marry John. She'd been a naive little filly that had ignored the clear signs of abuse that went on while the two had been together as humans. Her parents' clear animosity to John was now completely understandable to Wild. Last night had been a wakeup call to her about a lot of things.
Welcome to adulthood, where you need to pay attention to everything going on around your loved ones, because if you don't somepony is possibly going to get hurt. She thought bitterly to herself.
And she had a lot of responsibilities to her family. Her sister and future sister-in-law would need to have a security system installed since Swift Strike had escaped custody. Phobia's father was going to stay there with them, but they needed more. Wild would be paying the bill for that, and gladly. She'd probably do the same for her parents' house and her own house, after it was built anyway. There was no telling if Swift Strike would go after them in some sort of warped vengeance. She needed to see to it that her family was protected.
Phobia would need medical and psychological care as well, and it would fall on Wild's shoulders to make sure that Phobia got that. Phobia was her sister's fiancée and that made Phobia family, and by extension that made her part of Wild's responsibilities. As the pony with the resources to care for them all, and it fell to her to do just that.
She just wished that throwing money at it was all she needed to do to make it better, but that wouldn't undo the hurts that had already been done.
With a frustrated glance around at all the half-unpacked boxes in the living room she decided she needed some air. She'd take a walk, clear her head, and hopefully come back home with a clearer picture of what to do next.
<Are you awake, Abuelita?> Wild called out in Spanish. Her grandmother knew perfect English but would pretend like she had no idea what you were saying if you didn't speak to her in Spanish.
Her ears were perked to hear any response, but no answer came. That answered that question; Abuelita must be sleeping.
"Crap," Wild cursed to herself. She'd have to leave without letting anypony know where she was at. She'd prefer to let somepony know given the general anxiety everypony was feeling, but there was no help for it though. She was a grown mare and she could go for a walk without letting anypony know.
Wild left the house and set off at a brisk walk towards the center of town. After a minute or two of walking she decided to really stretch her legs and go at a full run. It would feel good to just let loose and run, it was a way of blowing off steam after how upsetting the night had been.
This was her first time really pushing herself into a run since becoming a pony and she was surprised at exactly how fast she actually was. She'd never have been able to go half this speed as a human or been able to do it without exhausting herself in seconds. She wasn't sure but she thought she could easily keep pace with an athletic human sprinter. An excited whinny escaped her lips as she pushed her muscles hard. She loved being an earth pony.
"Slow down, you'll run somepony over!" A crystal pony that she ran close by yelled at her. She snorted annoyance at this and got a little angry. She just wanted to unwind with a run, was that too much to ask?
She had to pause to mentally draw her emotions back into check. She didn't want to accidentally cause trees and who knew what else to start sprouting up as she ran. That ability she still didn't have fine control of, and she did it while angry. Best not to take risks. She lowered her ears as she slowed her pace back to a walk as she neared main street.
A lot had changed over the course of one day. More than half the vacant shops had signs up declaring businesses that were going to be opening soon. One that caught her eye made her laugh and shake her head sadly, it was a video game shop, her little brothers were going to love that.
As Wild reached the previously existing businesses she saw signs marking them all closed until able to restock. They promised to open again as soon as they were able with expanded merchandise, or in the case of the two restaurants expanded vegetarian menus.
One area that looked like it was active and open was the storefront that had been set up as the First Pony Bank. Her current account was held by Wells Fargo, but it seemed unlikely they would be opening a branch here in town anytime soon. Perhaps she should make arrangements for her money to be deposited in this bank going forward. She'd rather deal with somepony local that try to deal with a bank by phone or internet. Setting that up was something productive to be doing with her time so she made her way into the bank.
Inside the bank there were three tellers set up and then four more agents set up at tables helping an almost even amount of humans and ponies. That was a little surprising considering how much ponies outnumbered humans in town. Maybe humans were just more eager than ponies to get financial things settled?
"Um, excuse me?" She asked, interrupting a human working at one of the desks with a human couple. "Where do I go to see about transferring large amounts of money from another bank to this one?"
"I've got this one Kelly. Wild Growth is a very important pony that I want to be the one to assist personally," a familiar voice that meant trouble could be heard.
She turned to face the source of that voice, a blue unicorn mare with red mane and tail, and a cutie mark that was an abacus, Number Crunch.
"It's great to see you here, Wild Growth. I was hoping that you would choose to take your business to us," Number Crunch said with a smile and light sway of her tail.
"Rosetta said that I shouldn't be around you. She was very adamant about that. I should have realized you work here. I'll be going," Wild said with her ears laid back as she turned towards the door.
Number Crunch's ears flattened, and eyes widened as she rushed to block Wild's exit.
"What went on between me and Phobia was a bit of a misunderstanding. I said some things I shouldn't have while under a lot of stress. I'm still a bit confused about how those words even escaped my mouth. Please, don't hold that against me. If you're looking for financial services you'll find no better pony than me for the job," Number Crunch said in a placating tone as she held one leg up in a stopping gesture.
"I don't even know what went on between you and Phobia, but I've never seen my sister so insistent that I stay away from somepony. I'm leaving, right now," Wild said as she flattened her ears and tried to step around the unicorn.
"It was a little misunderstanding, that's all. If you come into my office I can explain myself and I then I can help you with whatever you need," Number Crunch insisted as she continued to try to block Wild's exit
<Get out of my way, bitch,> Wild growled in Spanish as she lowered her head into a fighting posture.
<You're right, I'm a bitch, but please let me explain myself> Number Crunch responded firmly back in Spanish as she took a few steps backward.
That caught Wild of guard. She used Spanish sometimes when saying something insulting or trying to throw others off in a conversation. She wasn't used to those outside the family or of Hispanic heritage being fluent. Of course, it was much harder now to tell who had Hispanic heritage as ponies.
"Fine, we'll talk in your office," Wild gave in and backed up. She was at least curious about what the mare had to say for herself.
Number Crunch sighed with visible relief. Then gestured for Wild to follow her to a door off to the side. Wild did as indicated and the two quickly entered the office and shut the door behind them.
Wild Growth took a seat facing Number Crunch's desk as the unicorn made her way around to her seat.
The office was extremely plain; having just the desk, a trash can, a computer, a filing cabinet, a small refrigerator, and a cup with a few pens in it. A window on the wall gave an excellent view of the red bricks of the next building over, and much of the plaster on the walls was chipped away revealing their own red bricks beneath. The chairs were old puke green plastic with metal legs, and very uncomfortable. It was a place that could use a few potted plants to add some life to the room. Maybe a small potted tree or two.
"Please, excuse the spartan surroundings, I haven't really gotten to do much other than get the bare essentials in here. The entire bank is a work in progress, but we needed it up and running right away," Number Crunch explained as she took her seat behind her desk.
"You were going to explain to me how you're poor and misunderstood," Wild replied flatly as she tried to adjust how she was sitting to be more comfortable, it was a lost cause though.
"Well, certainly not poor. I'm probably the one pony in town richer than you," Number Crunch laughed. "All the employees of this bank are paid from my own personal accounts. I plan on opening new branches soon and will be financing the payroll for those as well. At least until we start making profits."
"Which is why you're so eager to get me to have your bank handle my money," Wild observed.
"Guilty as charged on that. We must have money in the bank to make loans of our own rather than these government loans. I want to make this a credible financial institution, but that takes attracting ponies like you to use it," Number Crunch said as she stretched out her forelegs in gesture at her surroundings.
"Well, first you're going to have to explain to me what happened between you and Phobia," Wild said as she met Number Crunch's eyes.
Number Crunch broke eye contact and turned to stare out the view-less window for a moment considering her reply.
"I'll be completely honest with you. I don't know what came over me when she was talking to me. She brought out a side of me I hate. I shouldn't have said the things I did, and they were inexcusable," Number Crunch said sadly as she turned back to Wild.
"That's not really a good enough answer. What was said?" Wild pressed as she leaned forward in her seat.
"This is between you and me. I do a lot of things for Sunset Blessing; things I can't talk about. You have to realize she's in deep with the government and many other things, and I can't disclose what those things are to you or anypony. Phobia was digging and pressing me for answers, and she was bringing up aspects of my past that I'm ashamed of. I lost my temper and told her in so many words that I was going to plant her deep in the ground if she uttered a word of any of that to anypony," Number Crunch said in a shamed voice as she looked down at the desk rather than at Wild.
"You threatened to kill my sister-in-law?" Wild asked in shock as she pulled back in her seat.
"Oh, I threatened her, and indirectly threatened all the rest of you too. I can only ask your forgiveness on that. I was not in my right mind at the time," Number Crunch said as she returned to looking at Wild with a pleading gaze.
"So, it's all supposed to just be fine now? Ponies aren't supposed to do that. We're supposed to be peaceful and caring. We don't just randomly start making threats on ponies' lives," Wild said harshly, almost spitting.
She started making a move to just leave. She hadn't heard anything that would make her give Number Crunch a chance. In fact, what she had heard only lowered her opinion of the unicorn.
"I didn't have to tell you about that. I can also tell you that after what happened with Phobia I was punished severely. Has your sister told you what happened to me?" Number Crunch asked in an urgent tone as she leaned forward over her desk and reached out towards Wild with one hoof.
Wild sat back down in her seat.
"No, I don't know. What happened to you?" Wild asked with an exasperated sigh.
"I went and told Sunset Blessing on my own what had happened. I was ashamed of myself for what I had done, and she responded by hurling me around her office into one wall after another while I did nothing to resist," Number Crunch answered with her eyes and ears downcast.
"Sunset Blessing, as in Phobia's mother, did that?" Wild asked in disbelief, ears flattening. "She never mentioned anything like that. And she still has you working for her?"
"I was punished, and I took my punishment. I'm still useful, and still committed to doing right by this community. I don't know what came over me that day, but I'm not going to be a bad pony," Number Crunch insisted firmly.
"Not going to be a bad pony? Were you a bad human?" Wild asked with a raised brow. The phrasing seemed odd to her for some reason.
Number Crunch pressed her lips tightly together and seemed to be considering her answer again. The fact that she had to consider it pretty much declared to Wild that the answer was a resounding yes. Again, there seemed no reason to give this mare a chance.
"Phobia confronted me about that, and it was the thing that set me off...I'm not going to go off on you for asking though," Number Crunch said slowly.
The unicorn raised a hoof to her muzzle and looked down, as if considering what to say again. She clearly didn't want to talk about this, but the fact she was trying to be honest kept Wild listening--if only out of morbid curiosity.
"I was a horrible human. I'm not going to go into details, but I wasn't a person you would want to be associated with at all," Number Crunch said after her long pause. She took another deep breath before continuing. "I'm determined to try to leave my past behind me. I'm not perfect, and I still do things from time to time that leave me questioning myself. I've got to believe that I'm doing things with purer intentions and that I'm doing good."
"You're going through a lot of effort to try to get me to do business with your bank," Wild said in a dry tone.
"You know what? Don't do business with me. Let that be my sign that I'm not just telling you this to get some financial gain out of you. Maybe when I brought you back here that was a case, but I think I realized talking to you I want something else," Number Crunch said sadly.
"And what's that?" Wild asked skeptically. What did this unicorn want to gain if there wasn't money involved?
"I want somepony that has a low opinion of me to give me a chance to show I'm not a horrible pony. Sunset and Tonya give me that, but I'm just a tool to Sunset, and Tonya and I have some issues between us after last night. I had a very bad experience of my own last night, one that is leaving me questioning again who I am, and I want to know I'm good," Number Crunch said as she stared off at nothing.
"What happened last night? You did something like threaten a pony again? Did you threaten Tonya?" Wild asked with a hard gaze.
"I can't tell you. I wish I could, but I can't. It seemed like the right thing to do, but I feel guilty for it. I didn't do anything bad to Tonya, if anything she did something to me--or failed to anyway. It's really messing with my head and I'm feeling betrayed right now," Number Crunch said as she went back to staring at the floor.
"So you are going to me because I'm a pony convenient to talk to?" Wild asked with a confused shake if her head. Her mane got in her eyes again and she had to brush it out of the way before continuing. "Aren't you married? I'm pretty sure somepony told me that you're married. Why don't you just go to your husband and talk to him if you really just need somepony to talk to?"
Number Crunch started laughing like Wild had just told the final punchline of an extremely funny joke.
"My husband? No, I'd never go to my husband for anything. I'm still shocked as hell that he even followed me to this place instead of filing for divorce and trying to take me for half of what I own. We were a marriage of convenience that filled financial purposes. There's no love between us. The man, and I mean man since he's still human, is gay," Number Crunch said as she wiped a tear from her eye as she stopped laughing.
"Why would you even get married to somepo...someone you didn't love? Someone who wasn't even capable of loving you?" Wild asked eyes widening in still further disbelief.
"Because I was a greedy human and he is a greedy man. We mutually benefited one another by being married," Number Crunch said with a shrug.
"But he followed you to Riverview, despite having no real affection for you and still being human. Why?" Wild asked with a baffled expression upon her face.
"He's probably seeing economic opportunity here. Rest of the country is almost certainly going to go to shit for a while. Might as well go where there is a chance at profit. He's greedy, and he's pragmatic," Number Crunch explained with a snort and a flick of her tail that could be heard even though not seen. "The fact that I'm a pony doesn't change much in terms of our relationship. He wasn't attracted to me as a middle-aged human woman, and he's no more or less attracted to me as a blue furred unicorn."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Marriage shouldn't be that way," Wild said with legitimate sympathy. She couldn't imagine living in a loveless marriage.
"Bah," Number Crunch said as she waved a hoof dismissively. "Marriage is overrated as an institution. Humans have this fairy tale notion of marrying and never thinking about wanting someone else or ever losing interest in who they're with. Marry for the sake of something not tied to love, that's more likely to last."
The unicorn then lit up her horn as she opened up the refrigerator in the corner. Out of the refrigerator floated two cans of beer in her blue aura. She popped the tops of each with her magic and took a long drink from one, setting the other down in front of Wild.
"Um, I'm seventeen years old. I can't be given a beer," Wild said with an uncomfortable look at the offered can.
"Dear, all you or I would get around here is a fine for me giving you alcohol. Do you know what a fine means? It means legal to the rich," Number Crunch said as she sipped from her floating can. After she finished sipping she added. "It can actually be seen as doing a public service if we do get fined. That's money for the town coffers that they didn't have before."
"I'm still not sure I should, my parents would be disappointed in me," Wild said as she continued to stare at the drink.
"Your parents have no say on what you do. You're the one paying their bills, you're the one providing for their needs. What you do in your free time is your business. You can't live your life just trying to always please others with no consideration for your own needs," Number Crunch paused briefly to take another sip of her beer before continuing. "I know that there has been a great deal of stress in the last day in your household. I'm not the only one here that needs to take time to sit back and decompress away from our normal company."
Wild considered that, and it seemed to actually be completely true on all accounts. She wasn't doing anypony any good at home with her just getting stressed out herself, and they depended on her for most things. She needed to be able to get away from it from time to time and spend time with a friend away from family.
She looked at the blue furred unicorn mare sitting across from her. Number Crunch admitted to being not the best pony, but she also said she wanted to do right and be better. The unicorn was clearly trying to reach out to her to be a friend. The mantra that ponies forgive ran through Wild's head as she considered what to do. Was Number Crunch the ideal choice for a first real friend in this town? Probably not, but they were both ponies in need of a friend to help them cope with their stresses.
She reached out a leg and grabbed the forbidden drink in one fetlock, then brought it up to her mouth for a small sip. That small sip almost made her gag, and her mouth twisted in disgust, it tasted awful. How did anypony stand this stuff?
"It takes some time to get used to beer, just like it does with coffee," Number Crunch said with an amused glint in her eyes as she watched Wild's reaction.
Wild just nodded and took another hesitant sip of the disgusting beverage, giving an involuntary shake as she swallowed the stuff without choking on it. She then set the can down for the moment.
"So Number, what kind of hobbies do you have?" Wild asked as she gave a slightly forced smile to her new friend.