Since waking up yesterday Tattered had dealt with an ongoing series of events that made her wish that she had never gotten up yesterday evening. Now she was facing yet another.
"Director Baker, how in the hell am I supposed to enforce the law in this town if I'm covering up the biggest crime it's likely seen in decades?" Tattered asked the government suit sitting across from her in her office.
The human man's posture was slumped, he had heavy lids under his eyes, and his normally confident voice was nowhere to be found when he answered. "I'm not asking you to cover up the murder. I'm asking you to order all details be kept quiet while you maintain an ongoing investigation, be clear there is an ongoing investigation. Once you actually have a full case to bring against someone then you can charge them and bring them to trial."
"Only letting ponies and humans know there has been an incident, not even mentioning it was a murder or who, that certainly sounds like covering it up. And speaking of me bringing formal charges against somepony; at the moment I'm still a vigilante by all rights, when do I get the authority to do that?" Tattered asked as she leveled a hard look at the human that had talked her into trying to have the Enclave become a legitimate police force.
"The governor will be sending papers by the end of the week for you to sign that will give you law enforcement authority answerable to the state. As well as detailing a salary, and identification marking you as a legitimate law enforcement officer. You will be given authority to hire on whoever you choose as an officer of the state under you, though you'll have to work with the town to develop a payroll for those. The state is only paying you," Baker explained. "Be thankful, they were very hesitant to grant any pony law enforcement authority, and most see this as a PR stunt."
Well, that was a mild relief. She was actually going to have some authority. Fuck anyone who considered her position a PR stunt; she was going to be a legitimate officer of the law, and she wouldn't be answerable to Sunset Blessing.
That was particularly good because suspect numero uno in this murder was Sunset Blessing herself. The unicorn spent the night at Phobia's house, and she had her husband, daughter, and future daughter-in-law all as alibi for that. That just meant she had some pony or a human do it for her. Tattered needed to find out who, and get firm evidence linking them to the murder. Then she could hopefully try to get them to rat Sunset Blessing out as the pony that put them up to it.
Unfortunately she had to wait for that paperwork to come down to make her official. Anything she or any of her Enclave did before then could potentially be dismissed. In the meantime Swift Strike's body was just decomposing in the woods with orders to keep ponies and humans out, and the evidence was not being gathered. By the time she had authority to order an autopsy done the evidence might have already been eaten by bugs.
She also had to worry about what would happen in the afternoons when her night ponies weren't there to guard it. They were unquestionably loyal to her, but any other pony could potentially do things on Sunset's behalf. She needed ponies outside the night ponies in her Enclave; earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, crystal ponies, and even humans that she could trust. If the Enclave was going to operate as the police force of Riverview she couldn't leave Riverview unpoliced for several hours a day while night ponies slept, or policed by those loyal to somepony like Sunset Blessing. She was hopefully going to get some of the glitter bombs mascarading as ponies tomorrow, and they'd be helpful with restraining arrested flyers and unicorns if what she was told about them was true, but she needed more than just them.
"I also am required to stress, we need Sunset Blessing. I know how things look right now, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't also think she's involved somehow, but the United States needs her here," Baker said in a slow monotone.
Tattered almost fell out of her chair in shock. "What?! You expect me to just let her walk free if I can connect the murder to her? Without getting into how much that flies in the face of what's right, why?"
"She performs a variety of services that far outweigh the life of one pony rapist. If she is involved we do not condone that, but for the greater good we'll turn a blind eye," Baker' tone suggested he didn't like it either. Tattered guessed that order came from well above him.
"So I have to let that fanatic get away with murder," Tattered growled.
"If this happens again the powers that be won't be so willing to overlook things. If her connection to this comes out by accident we can fabricate some explanation about how it was self defense or something. However, as things stand now we need this community and the benefits it provides the United States. That means we need to show strong support and trust in its leadership," Baker explained, returning to his tired voice.
Tattered slammed a hoof onto her desk. "I'm not even official yet and you're already making me into a crooked cop!"
"We aren't saying don't find the killer and see that they're held accountable for murder, just don't go connecting them to Sunset Blessing. As I said, we need her--for now--and we'll be on the lookout to make sure this doesn't become a trend," Baker said apologetically. He still hadn't sat up straight. At least he had the good grace to look ashamed.
"When is it a trend? After she's done this twice? Three times? A dozen? This shouldn't be allowed to happen at all. I wanted Swift Strike prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but this isn't anything resembling justice," Tattered said with fury. Her black mane fell into her face as she bobbed her head in anger forcing her to brush it out of the way.
"For a pony that operated with vigilante justice, that involved shattering the bones of common thieves, you seem suprisingly adamant about this. Especially since by all rights you and your Enclave should be facing trial yourselves," Baker observed dryly.
Tattered stared the director in the eyes as she spoke, "And you shouldn't be surprised by that. You're the one who sold me on the idea that we could be something legitimate, and that we needed to bring our tactics back in line with the law so humans wouldn't fear us. That we could make night ponies be seen as trustworthy protectors of the innocent, for pony and human alike. That we should come to this place so we didn't have to worry so much about a criminal pulling a gun on us. I bought that, and my Enclave bought that. We want what we were promised; to be real protectors enforcing the law."
"All of that could be lost if members of the leadership of this community are shown to be involved with serious crimes and put on trial. It would be a public relations nightmare. I know you don't like it, and you have every reason not to like it. I don't like it either, but it's a sacrifice we'll have to make for the sake of your future," Baker said in a firm voice.
Tattered wanted to fire off another angry retort, but knew it would do no good. What kind of future would they have if news broke that not only had Sunset arranged murder, but the ponies responsible for enforcing the law had ignored it knowing that she was responsible? She couldn't help feeling that if Swift Strike had been human this conversation would be going very different. If a human had been killed hell would be raised and Sunset Blessing would be in hot water right now.
It seemed to Tattered that the government was setting it up so they could discredit them all in an instant if it chose to turn on ponies. There was nothing she could do for the moment. She'd write up a report about this meeting and what was said as soon as Baker left and while it was fresh in her mind. It might not accomplish much, but leaving a paper trail documenting her dealings with the government, Sunset Blessing, and others might be useful if things went badly. If things went bad she'd whistleblow this loudly.
The brown night pony leaned back in her chair before speaking again. "Very well, changing subject since my hooves are tied on this matter. Do you have any idea what my salary will look like? I have myself and a brother to support. I'd rather not be dependant on Sunset for all our needs. It leads to some serious conflicts of interest if she does more reprehensible things in the future."
"I only know it's a definite living wage. How much more than that I haven't a clue. Not my business to know those kinds of details, but I'd expect they aren't going to pay you as much as they would a human," Baker said with a shrug.
"If it's a living wage that's good enough. Worst comes to worse I can tell Alex in a year or two he needs to find a job," Tattered said as she crossed her forelegs in front of her.
"I read the reports about you and your family. You have my condolences that they're treating you like that. It's sadly not uncommon. That's part of the reason we need this community to succeed. We need to show ponies are capable of maintaining perfectly functional and respectable society so we can change people's perceptions," Baker said with sympathy.
She wasn't having his sympathy, not with him pressuring her into doing what she knew was wrong. "Yeah, well, I'd feel a little more proud of myself if I wasn't being told to keep my mouth shut. I'm going to be watching Sunset. I'm not having this place be built on the bodies of those that cross her. I don't buy the sunshine and rainbows, I've seen too much nastiness to believe in that, but I want to help build a secure future. I don't want this kind of thing to be the foundation of that future."
"That's the burden of maintaining stability, doing things you don't always like or agree with. Welcome to working for the government," Baker said mirthlessly.
"Yeah, but am I working for the government or being worked by the government?" Tattered asked with a sneer.
Baker stood up and leaned over the desk to whisper to her. "Tattered, I'm not your enemy. I want you all to be able to live here with as little interference as possible. There are things going on right now that could put that all in jeapordy if this place gets too much bad press. They're already drafting measures in Washington to clamp down on the ponies out west. There'll be lesser legislation passed for the communities in the south restricting pony activity as well. I'm on your side and I want you all to keep as many freedoms as you can."
"What's going to happen out west?" Tattered asked as her brow furrowed.
"From what I hear it's restricting where ponies can live, what magic they're allowed to use, military surveillance, and more. There are rumblings that Equestrians are getting close to a rehumanization spell and there's a lot of powerful people wanting that to be used on all of you if the Equestrians do produce one. Do you want them trying to force you to change against your will again or to make you second class citizens if they can't?" Baker whispered in a harsh tone.
Tattered's heart started beating rapidly. "The Equestrians won't let that happen. They promised that we wouldn't be forced to do anything else against our wills, that they'd protect us."
"You ever hear of conversion therapy clinics? Places some people like to send their kids to convince their kids not to be gay? Think of that on a wide scale, only directed at ponies," Baker replied with a hiss.
"I've never heard of that. Surely that can't be taken seriously, you can't convince a gay person they aren't gay, and you can't convince a pony that wants to be a pony that they want to be human," Tattered said in disbelief.
"No, but you can convince them to feel ashamed for feeling the way they do and agree to try to conform or bury how they feel. Those clinics were banned by several states as forms of abuse, as suicide rates from those that went to them were astronomically high and flat out physical and emotional abuse of the patients was common. Now people are really considering them for persuading ponies to rehumanize, even in those states that banned them before," Baker continued to whisper.
"That's just evil," Tattered said as she laid her ears back.
"That's why we've got to make sure these communities in the south show they're upstanding and productive so things don't come down as hard here. In all honesty it's probably in your best interest to just sweep this murder under the carpet so nothing is ever heard about it," Baker said as he sat back down in his chair. "You and I are alike, we want to protect people. I still consider all of you who are now ponies to be people. Help me do what needs to be done to protect them."
"I'll...I'll consider what you told me," Tattered said in a low voice as she sat back in her seat.
She had experienced cruelty by humans early on as a pony, but she had hoped that was something isolated. The humans here weren't like that. She couldn't be mad at Baker either, he really was trying to help them. This was all so wrong though.
Baker got up and started walking to the door. "I'll see you again tomorrow morning at the meeting with the crystal ponies. Please, think hard about things in the meantime."
Baker left to probably go attend some other private meeting with Sunset Blessing about the military presence here. He and the national guard had a command center of a few vehicles just outside town for the time being. Supposedly a full army garrison was going to be built nearby sometime in the future. Tattered didn't like the idea of an army garrison being there, but had no say in the matter.
She looked at the time on the computer and realized she had nearly two hours to go till her doctors appointment. Baker's talk of rehumanization appaled her, but there were two ponies she knew at the clinic that it might be best for. One of the big benefits of the transformation was it healed the seemingly unhealable. Maybe it would work again with rehumanization. That conversation was likely to be tense, Dan resented humans for his injuries and even seeing Melissa was painful.
After typing up her account of the meeting she stepped outside her office and let Joy know that she was going to be taking a short nap and to wake her in an hour and a half. She also let her know that she'd be late in to work tonight as she was going to bed late today.
As she walked back into her office and curled up in the chair she couldn't help being glad this day was almost done.
Number's house was much like the one that Wild had bought her parents, fairly large, and like most houses in town it was old. Most of Number's belongings were still in boxes and plastic crates spread out across the house. Her friend had explained that she hadn't really had time till today to really get to unpacking.
Wild was going to help, and that was her intent when coming over, but instead she was regulated to laying on Number's couch as the unicorn worked to unpack boxes. She didn't think that it was really necessary, she had only tripped once on the trot over here, and she was sure that the unicorn was overreacting to that. Number insisted that she just lay down though.
Wild squinted her eyes as she tried to focus her vision on the lone decoration already on the wall. After a moment of staring at it curiosity loosened up her tongue.
"Why do you own an ugly painting of a parrot, and why did you bother to hang it up before you got anything else up?" Wild asked the older mare.
"It's not mine, it's William's. His sister painted it shortly before she died, so it has high sentimental value to him," Number Crunch explained as she looked at the painting. "I don't really like the painting myself, but I understand his desire to have it up."
"What happened to her?" Wild asked as her ears lowered.
"She died back when he was in college, colon cancer. I met William after she already died, and despite him insisting on displaying that thing he and his side of the family never really talk about her to me. It's just a painful subject to them that I don't try to dig up," Number said as she started looking through another box.
"That's so sad," Wild said as tears started selling up in her eyes.
"Hey, watch it with the strong emotions," Number scolded as she looked up from her task. "Neither of us wants you sprouting trees up in my living room."
Wild twisted her mouth into a grimace. "That's not going to happen, I'm not angry."
"You don't need to be angry to do that, you just need strong emotion. On top of that you're drunk, and who knows what that does to how magic behaves," Number said with a sigh.
"I'm not drunk, I only had like two, not even a full two, more like one and three quarters. And that was spaced out over an hour and a half. I'm sure my sister drank more than that in one sitting before," Wild said defensively.
"I'm guessing that your sister did that as a human. Humans are bigger than us; we are smaller and weigh less, that means our blood alcohol level rises much faster per drink. Take it from some pony who's been drunk many times in her life; you're showing classic signs of being intoxicated" Number explained calmly. Then her ears dropped. "I'm sorry for not having thought about how much easier it is to get drunk at our size before letting you have that much, I should have done the math on that. That's my screw up and I shouldn't have let it happen."
"I don't feel drunk. I'm talking fine," Wild insisted. Then went to demonstrate. "Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers. Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers. See? No trouble talking."
"And yet you stumbled somehow despite using four legs, you couldn't walk in a straight line, and you're clearly having some issues with your vision from what I can tell. You might be talking fine, but one more beer and you'd be slurring your speech right now or already be passed out," Number continued in a firm voice. "Please trust me about this, you need to just relax and let it filter through your system. I want to make sure you'll be okay."
Wild laid her head down between her forelegs. She was tired despite it being too early for bed. That might be another sign Number was right. If this was what it was like to be drunk it wasn't what she'd expected, she'd expected something worse; this wasn't really that bad.
Still, if she was drunk her parents were definitely going to be disappointed in her. That made her want to cry.
"I'm such a stupid filly. I don't know why I let you give me beer," Wild muttered as her ears slumped down low.
"I was going to just give you one; you're the one who insisted on more. You probably would have been okay at one," Number reminded her. "Again, I do take blame for not thinking about how much more it likely effects us. I shouldn't have acquiesced."
That was true, Wild had been the one asking for more. She had wanted to prove she could handle it. So much for that.
"Let's look at this from the positives," Number said in a more perky tone. "We learned about pony limits with alcohol. I only had most of one and got a nice little buzz from it, which is where we want to be at. In the future if we sit down and have a drink together we know one is all we need."
"My parents are going to kill me," Wild muttered.
"You're parents aren't going to find out. We're going to have you sober up, and then take a shower before you return home. No one is going to be paying you much attention anyway with everything that's going on with your future sister-in-law," Number replied in that same perky voice.
Guilt flooded Wild as she heard that. She turned to Number in shame. "I can't believe how selfish I am. My family is trying to help Phobia and my sister cope with what happened and here I am, getting drunk."
"And pray tell, what exactly is the appropriate response to that kind of situation? Smother your sister and her fiancée with attention so they feel overwhelmed? Mope around the house and get yourself increasingly frustrated?" Number asked with a inquisitive brow raised. "You went out and tried to relieve some stress, and there's nothing wrong with that if it isn't hurting anypony. Plus, I'm pretty sure you aren't going to make a habit of getting drunk; you're too much of a goody-goody for that. Don't beat yourself up over it."
Was that true? Wild had already determined that she wasn't doing anypony any good by doing the other things Number said, and up till now she had been feeling less stressed. Maybe she was being too hard on herself. And was that how others saw her? As a goody-goody who did no wrong? That felt like additional pressure that she didn't want.
"How long do I need to wait?" Wild asked.
Number put a hoof up to her chin and seemed to consider before she answered. "Let's see, you haven't had anything in the last hour, and it is just after noon. I figure by the time four or five rolls around all the effects will have largely passed, except for maybe a headache."
"Don't you have work back at the bank? You don't have to foalsit me," Wild asked. A mild headache actually was starting; she didn't know if that was stress or alcohol induced.
The blue unicorn waved a hoof dismissively. "I hired on plenty of agents with excellent qualifications. I can take some time off to unwind. Don't consider it foalsitting either, I'm just looking out for you. If our positions were reversed I would hope you'd do the same."
"I might try, but I don't really know anything about being drunk. I'd be a little lost on what to do," Wild said as she scrunched up her snout.
"Well, you have some first hoof experience with being drunk now. I told you this was a learning experience," Number said as she started shifting through her belongings again. "Now, where did those movers put my laptop?"
"Maybe your husband knows," Wild suggested. "Where is he at?"
"Probably scouting real estate," Number replied with a roll of her eyes. "He had plenty of time to do that before the move but didn't seem to want to put any effort into it. I think he's intending on mass producing saddlebags and other pony garments and accessories. He found a mare who has a lot of ideas about pony fashion and he sees money in it. I suppose that could be profitable, provided most ponies are earning some sort of living. If things work out as planned they will be."
"What kinds of clothes would ponies be wearing? Why would we even bother?" Wild asked in confusion.
"I haven't seen the designs yet so I can't say what they look like. As for why; the saddlebags are extremely utilitarian, and as for the rest I suppose it presents a sense of style. Ponies will want to look good or professional in certain situations and there is only so much we can do with our fur, manes, and tails. There are also businesses that will want to have uniforms for pony employees," Number explained as she continued her search through the boxes.
"Oh, I suppose that makes sense," Wild said as she considered the bigger picture.
"Yeah, I'm actually considering having some sort of garment made for myself, just to have those visiting the bank to recognize me as the pony clearly in charge," Number said as she levitated a few books from a box onto a nearby bookshelf. "You might look into some business attire for yourself too. You're an important pony and you should display that, mainly for the sake of humans viewing you with respect. A well dressed human commands more respect than one who is shabbily dressed, and it's likely they'll respect a well dressed pony more than a naked one. Plus it might make them believe you think more like a human and take you more seriously by extension."
"But I'm rich and can grow forests in seconds. Shouldn't that be enough to command respect on its own? Clothes feel so unnecessary," Wild asked as she watched the unicorn unpack.
"It should in a perfect world, but you'd be surprised how petty humans can be. If you want respect from them you have to look like somepony who should be respected," Number said as she pulled an old business suit out of a box and frowned at It. She then levitated the human clothing over to a trash can and stuffed it in.
Wild blinked as she considered that, though her headache was getting worse. She'd heard this kind of thing growing up on and off, but somehow those kinds of lessons just went out of her head now that she was a pony. Was she so far removed from her old self that she'd forgotten much of what she'd grown up learning? How much else was there that she should know that just didn't occur to her anymore?
Thinking about all this with a growing headache was hard. She laid her head back down and closed her eyes, listening to Number unpack until she drifted off to sleep.
Devon sat and watched with a smile on her face as Jessie and Jackie played with one another. They'd bat at each other's tails, gallop around each other a bit, then go into a detailed search of one another's fur. Jessie would let off a giggle every time Jackie flapped her wings, and the pegasus filly would do it just to get a reaction.
Jackie on and off would try to go suddenly airborne, but she was firmly leashed to Devon. Jackie's attempts to fly ended with spectacular crashes and angry glares at the leash. Jessie would look concerned for her fellow filly and come to investigate each time, which distracted Jackie from her glares at the leash. The two would quickly go back to playing again after that. Despite having extremely short attention spans, how active and aware the two were, despite not being a full month old, was amazing.
Jessie decided at that moment to re-notice the snoring form of her brother and started creeping towards him, with Jackie following close behind.
Devon stretched a leg out to block their progress. "Oh no you don't, baby girl, you're brother needs his sleep. Don't go bothering him."
The yellow earth pony filly stared at the leg, following it along with her eyes back to Devon, then tracing it back down again to Devon's foot. While Jessie examined the leg Jackie decided to start playing with Jessie's tail, though Jessie seemed too focused to take notice of what the rose colored pegasus was doing. Devon smiled to herself as she watched Jessie try to figure out how to get around the barrier.
Her daughter then stretched one of her own forelegs out and held it out in front of herself, examining it; Devon's smile died as she pictured what was going on in Jessie's head. The little filly, while still balancing on three legs, turned her gaze back and forth between her foreleg and Devon's outstretched leg. Devon held her breath as she was being examined.
The filly then looked at Devon's arms and gave a slow blink of her eyes before looking back at her own foreleg again. Devon extended her hand towards her daughter so Jessie could look at it. The yellow furred pony looked at the fingers and frowned as she turned back to the frog of her hoof. She was clearly noticing the differences and Devon couldn't help feel as if her worst fears were playing out right now.
Jackie at this point must have had enough of being ignored by her playmate since she chose that moment to bite onto Jessie's tail and give a good yank. Jessie was unable to hold her balance on three hooves with her tail being pulled, and fell to the ground. The earth pony filly then turned to her pegasus playmate and pounced back on her. Within seconds they were back to prancing about with one another, examination forgotten.
Devon breathed a sigh of relief that Jessie's examination of her had been brought to an end. She couldn't help feeling a sense of dread that Jessie would reject her if the filly understood they weren't the same species. Hopefully her daughter would be old enough to have a simple conversation by the time this fully sunk in. Why did foals have to be this intelligent and aware? Jessie was just coming up on a month old, she shouldn't be able to process these kinds of things yet.
Devon gave a startled jump as Jackie let off a pained cry. She looked over to see that Jessie had yanked the harness and now it was out of place and pinching one of Jackie's wings.
"Baby girl, you need to be more careful when playing," Devon scolded Jessie, who still had the harnass in her mouth, before quickly going to Jackie's rescue.
She pulled the harness from Jessie's mouth and lightly pushed her backwards to give her space, and then got to work trying to straighten Jackie's harness. The upset cries coming from Jackie were no different than those that would come from a human baby, with the exception of an occassional whinny that escaped. The little filly struggled against both Devon's efforts to adjust the harness and the harness itself.
Eventually she got it back into proper position, but the crying persisted. The filly could crash full speed against a solid surface and just shake it off in a second, but having where her wing joined her body pinched was grounds for a temper tantrum. That must be a very sensitive area.
Devon gathered the pegasus up in her arms and tried to soothe her with some patting and a light rocking. She brought the filly back to her mat and sat down again while still rocking her.
Jessie sat watching this with curious blue eyes for a long moment before coming over to join them. Then to Devon's shock her daughter started trying to climb up into her arms as well.
"Are you jealous? You never want to be held, but the second someone else is getting held you want to be held too," Devon said with an amused smirk at Jessie.
Jessie continued her efforts to be picked up and Devon let off a small chuckle.
"Okay, baby girl, I'll pick you up too. Give me a moment to adjust how I'm holding your buddy," she said as she tried to shift Jackie to just one arm with the filly propped up on one shoulder.
Once she got Jackie in place she grabbed Jessie up in her other arm and positioned her so she was draped over her other shoulder. It was really awkward holding both fillies like this, but both of them seemed content for the moment.
"If I had a camera I'd take a picture of that," came a giggle that was unmistakably Amanda from the tent entrance.
Devon looked up at her friend and gave her a smile. Amanda looked like she was in good spirits.
"Was Jackie any problem while I was gone?" Amanda asked as she walked in and set her bag back down next to her mat.
The filly in question stirred as she realized her mother was home and struggled to get free from Devon. Devon set her down on the ground and Jackie tried to rush over to her mother, only to be brought back to a crash on the ground as she ran out of leash. She quickly pulled herself back to her hooves and bit into the leash and started yanking it with rage. While this was going on Devon set Jessie back down on the ground to free up her other hand, and her daughter quickly cuddled close to her.
"She was largely no trouble, she did get her wing pinched in the harness for a moment and that upset her a lot. I was actually trying to comfort her after that, poor little girl," Devon said as she gestured to Amanda to come take the leash from her.
"Aww, my poor little filly!" Amanda cried out in concern as she walked first to Jackie. The foal stopped her assault against the leash as she realized her mother was in range and quickly started rubbing against Amanda. Amanda laid down and kissed her filly and wrapped her forelegs around her in a hug.
"She was still trying to take off flying while you were gone, no sign of the surges ending yet," Devon said as Amanda finished nuzzling Jackie.
Amanda let out a sigh as she got up and walked over to Devon to have the leash transferred back. "I hope not too much longer. I found the Equestrians that are in town when I was out, a unicorn and a night pony. I was shocked that the night pony was awake but she said that the night ponies in Equestria only prefer being up at night, they aren't as strictly bound by sleep patterns as night ponies here."
Devon blinked at the news in confusion, causing her to pause in trying to get the leash ready for transfer. "There are Equestrians here? I hadn't heard that. What're they doing here?"
"They're here treating the wounds of some badly injured night ponies and helping train a few ponies in how to treat pony illnesses and injuries. I was directed to them after I expressed frustration about Jackie's surges," Amanda said as she outstretched a foreleg to have the leash attached to.
Devon got back to work transferring the leash. "What kind of advice did they give?"
"They told me that Jackie should be done surging in another day or so based on how long it has been going on. They said that they determined crystal ponies can temporarily bring a surges under control for at least a few hours by siphoning off the wild magic from a foal. That would have been nice to know earlier, but thankfully won't be important soon if this is near its end," Amanda replied while smiling.
Devon finished transfering the leash and gave it a yank or two to assure it was secure before settling back on her mat.
"Did you find a phone? I really want to make that call as soon as I can about that teaching position," Devon asked.
"Town hall has a few phones set up for public use.There's a time limit on using the phones though. You only get ten minutes," Amanda explained as she started walking back to her own mat with Jackie following close beside her. "I called the number and had somepony tell me an interview time and place in a few days."
"I'll have to go back by there later to make that call too. I really need a nap for just a few hours though," Devon said with a yawn.
"I'm here now and will keep an eye on your foals. Get some sleep, I know you have to be exhausted after being up all night and morning," Amanda said as she settled into place.
"Thank you," Devon said as she laid down. She was so tired that didn't even know if Amanda had responded before she fell asleep.