Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces

by Halira


Chapter 9**

Wild Growth tried not to fidget too much as she waited to be called into the meeting. She was all alone in the long hall that stretched endlessly to her left and right with only two big red doors before her to look at. Surely they could have put some decorations out or installed some windows. A nice motivational poster would be nice, a few potted plants would be nicer, all that existed were plain drab concrete floors and walls.

The doors swung open and she immediately lept to her hooves and started making her way into the meeting room. Inside was a long meeting table flanked by bald fat human men smoking cigars at the head of the table was the CEO of Westvaco.

"Aww, Miss Growth, you finally deemed to grace us with your presence. Please come up front," the CEO said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was supposed to wait to be called in. If I had known...," Wild began to apologize.

The CEO cut her off, "No time for that. We need a shrubbery."

Wild blinked in confusion. Had she heard that right?

"A shrubbery? Why do you need a shrubbery?" Wild asked, still unsure if she was hearing that right.

One of the board members scoffed at her and then gestured at her dismissively. "You see? She's completely useless. Can't even give us a shrubbery. Why are we paying her at all?"

"I can get a shrubbery, it's no problem. How big a shrubbery did you want?" Wild said hurriedly.

"A small shrubbery," one of the members said as they held two hands out in front of them close together.

"But not too expensive," another added in as they stood up and waved a finger at her.

"Um, okay...," Wild said as something played on her mind that this seemed strangely familiar.

She started to turn to walk out of the room so she could try growing a shrubbery somewhere.

"Where do you think you're going?" The CEO demanded, slamming a hand down on the boardroom table.

"I was just...," she began to say as she shrunk back at the obvious anger in the room.

"She's shirking her duties and obligations. She's completely useless," one of the board members yelled.

"What did you expect? The little tramp walked in here naked," another added in.

"But I'm always nake...," she tried to say as she rose a leg up to ineffectively cover herself.

"We need to call this little foal's mother!" The CEO declared as he picked up a phone and started dialing.

Suddenly everything seemed so much bigger for some reason and Wild looked down at herself was shocked that she'd been reduced down to a foal.

"Please, I can do this, let me prove it. I'm not a foal!" Wild begged as she laid down, buried her face into her forelegs, and cried. Laughter erupted from the meeting table.

Then all sound abruptly ended and Wild looked up to find out what was going on.

All the board members and the CEO were gone and walking into the board room was a large dark furred mare with both wings and horn, and a sparkly mane that moved like it was caught in a breeze that wasn't there.

"An interesting anxiety dream," the mare said with a grimace as she looked about then looked down at Wild with a harsh gaze. "It is not my present concern though. Who are you and what is your connection to Phobia Remedy?"

"I'm Wild Growth, my sister Rosetta is marrying Phobia. This is just a dream?" Wild asked. She sighed with relief as she noticed her adult form was restored.

"Yes, a dream, and I entered it because you share some connection to my student that I was able to trace. Her dreams are a mass of fear and pain and her magic makes it worse. It is hard for me to even enter them at the moment, and forcing myself in could damage her mind, so I must seek answers elsewhere. What has happened to her?" The pony demanded. It was then Wild realized who she was dealing with, Princess Luna and the alicorn was angry. Maybe not at her personally, but still enraged.

"She was raped, by a pony named Swift Strike," Wild answered with fear at being the bearer of bad news to this pony. The sheer level of magic this pony gave off was indescribable. Wild was really strong in magic, but Luna was stronger by many magnitudes.

"Where is this, Swift Strike, now? I will have justice for my student," Luna said, sounding like she was ready to end John's existence.

"We don't know; the Enclave ponies took him, but he got away. Now nopony knows where he is," Wild said apologetically. She really didn't want Luna angry with her. She could feel the rage in the magic coming off the alicorn and it terrified her.

"My search continues then. I know leader of the Enclave. She and I will have words about her failure to keep my student's assailant incarcerated," Luna said as she turned away and started walking out of the room. Then turned back to Wild. "Why is your sister not asleep? I would have words with her as well."

Wild shook her head. "I don't know. I'd assume she is watching over Phobia. She's really protective of her and might not want her to be unguarded."

"Tell your sister to go to sleep once you wake back up. She does Phobia Remedy no good if she exhausts herself. Plus I can't communicate with her if she isn't asleep," Luna said firmly.

"Yes, ma'am," Wild replied as she inched away from the alicorn.

"You have been helpful, and I'm sorry for letting my anger show to you. Know it is not directed at you," Luna said in a gentler tone. "I now recall my servant Tempest Shadow mentioning you and your capabilities. Wake from this dream and remember you are more capable than you give yourself credit."

Wild Growth bolted up from where she had been sleeping, finding herself still on Number's couch. The unicorn was in a chair across from Wild with a book held in her blue aura and a cigarette in her lips.

Number raised an eyebrow at her as she removed the cigarette from her lips and snuffed it out with her magic. "Bad dream?"

"Yes, but more than that," Wild said with a hurried nod. "Princess Luna found out about what happened to Phobia, and she's pissed."

Number let out a surprised gasp. "Princess Luna, as in the alicorn that Phobia has been in contact with? She reached out to you? Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"

"Yes! And I need to get home right away to let Rosetta know that Luna wants her to go to sleep in order to be contacted," Wild said in a rush as she roused herself from the couch.

"Be careful, you haven't had enough time to completely sober up. You should be alright for the most part now, but try to take it easy," Number said with concern. Then gave her head a shake before sighing and hopping down from the chair. "Actually, I should probably walk you home just in case, at least most of the way. Hopefully your sister won't assault me if I leave before I get too close to the house."

Wild was going to protest she didn't need to be watched over, but then realized she had a splitting headache. That made her just nod in response. "Don't worry about Rosetta, she doesn't control who I spend time with. She isn't my mama, and even if she was I'm a grown mare."

"It isn't just her being protective of you, she doesn't want me anywhere near Phobia. Combine her protectiveness for both and the fact that she's likely on edge right now and that adds up to a night pony ready to break bones," Number said as she levitated a few things out of the way of Wild's path to the door.

"So why are you walking me home then?" Wild asked with annoyance.

"Because just because I think you're good to walk now doesn't mean you are. I have experience being drunk, but no experience with pony drunkenness," Number explained as she came up beside Wild. "I'm only going part of the way, as I said, just to make sure you're okay. I'm trying to be a better pony, and that partially means trying to look out for others."

"Whatever you say," Wild replied while trying to not seem too irritated that Number was foalsitting her again. Her headache was painful and she was not in a good mood as a result. She wanted to go back to sleep, but wasn't going to ignore an order from an angry alien pony that could probably turn her into a bug or something. She'd get this done quickly then go curl up on her bed till morning.


"How many times am I going to have to relive all of this until you leave me alone?" Tattered asked her dream. The dream, not actually being a pony, didn't answer.

This time wasn't as bad as most of the rest of the times. She was only an observer this time around and fully aware that this was only a dream. That didn't make what she was seeing hurt much less though. She was just now sitting helpless as she watched her friends get massacred doing something she had encouraged them to do.

The bloody form of Gail crawled towards her and she averted her eyes so she wouldn't see this again.

"Mandy, I told you this would happen. Why didn't you listen to me?" Gail's pain filled voice called out to her.

Tattered shut her eyes, refusing to look at the specter. "You're not real. You're just a memory in a dream. You aren't really here."

"Why, Mandy? If you had just listened to me everything would have been okay," Gail's voice demanded as it hardened.

"I screwed up. I'm sorry," Tattered replied as she started crying. "I know saying sorry isn't going to make this right. Nothing is ever going to give this a silver lining or anything like that. You're dead and it's because of me. All I can say is I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough. You should be dead like..." The voice suddenly cut off.

"Well, this dream needed to come to an end anyway," came the familiar voice of Tattered's savior. "I would have words with you Tattered Wing."

Tattered looked up at the scowling form of Princess Luna and took a few timid steps back. Seeing a pony that was effectively a god scowl was not a thing you wanted to be around for.

"What can I do for you, Princess?" Tattered asked after she regained some of her courage.

"I've spoken to you about calling...never mind, I have more pressing concerns than your insistence on showing fealty. Tell me about this Swift Strike who assaulted one of my intended Dreamwardens and how did he escape you?" Luna said still scowling down at Tattered.

Tattered gulped and tucked her tail under herself. "He's dead, or at least I'm pretty sure that he is. The body that we found was a mangled mess that was barely recognizable as a pony. I still don't understand how he escaped, but somepony murdered him. And I heard of dreamwalkers, but what's a Dreamwarden?"

"You're sure of this?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the question about Dreamwardens.

"There's no way to be sure with the shape the body was in, but I'm fairly certain. We found the body just a few hours ago. I'm almost certain Sunset Blessing or somepony acting on her behalf killed him. It had to be a unicorn or an earth pony, no other pony type could do the that kind of damage to a body," Tattered explained, hoping the Princess wouldn't get angry at her for letting it happen.

"How well did you know him?" Luna asked in an even voice as she continued to stare down at Tattered.

"I talked to him daily for several weeks. He helped gather the Enclave together for me," Tattered explained.

"That means I can get an impression of his mind from you, enough to track it down if he is still living and asleep, or track the dreams of anypony thinking of him. I'll find time to visit the dreams of Sunset Blessing as well. I have heard enough talk of her at this point that I think she and I need to chat. As for Dreamwardens, that you will learn about in time when they are fully trained. When that happens they will make themselves known to the dreamwalkers," Luna said in a hurry as she turned to depart.

"Is there anything you want me to..." Tattered let her question end as the alicorn vanished without even saying goodbye.

What the heck was that about Dreamwardens? Luna had made it sound something distinct from dreamwalkers. She'd have to ask Phobia about that when Phobia was feeling better.

After a moment a smile appeared on her lips. Sunset Blessing was getting a visit from Princess Luna, and Tattered wished that she could have front row seats for Sunset Blessing actually getting divine judgement.


Tonya barely slept, and after only getting an hour or so of sleep over the course of the morning finally just gave up on trying to get any real sleep on the day. She'd just have to spend the day exhausted. She silently cursed Sunset Shimmer for giving them all such over-exaggerated instincts that made things like sleeping through the full morning so hard to do.

Of course, it could just be her mind was running and she was doing this to herself. It felt better blaming a dead unicorn from another world though. Get a bad cramp in a wing muscle? Blame Sunset Shimmer for giving you wings. Ever need to shirk responsibility? Just blame Sunset Shimmer for not strengthening your sense of responsibility enough. Stub you hoof? Blame Sunset Shimmer for giving you hooves. You could blame Sunset Shimmer for anything, and since the unicorn was dead she couldn't defend herself. Tonya was a Shimmerist and she had no problem blaming Sunset Shimmer for any perceived problem.

The question now was what to do with her time now that she knew she was going to be up.

Sunset Blessing was out doing a long list of tasks that ranged from organizing town affairs, keeping lines of communication going between her and government officials, recruiting unicorns and crystal ponies for the research facility being built, and trying to slowly trying to expand her sphere of influence to other communities like this one that were soon going to be forming throughout the south. She was busy enough that Tonya knew she shouldn't bother her. That left a few options still.

First, she could try to see about seeing how Number was doing. The big problem with that was Number probably wasn't very happy with her right now, and had right to be unhappy. It was probably best that she gave the unicorn some space for a day or two at least after last night.

The next option was to go check in on Phobia. She had a feeling that Phobia might be asleep right now and she definitely didn't want to disturb her if that was the case. Rosetta might still be awake, but not for much longer. Plus the prospect of dealing with Phobia's magic when Tonya didn't have her own emotions in check might be a very bad idea.

The last option was to try to follow up with her sister-in-law, Devon. Before last night she hadn't seen Devon in years, not since before Tonya had started actively trying to transition and things had gone to hell with her family. She hadn't gotten to know Devon when Paul had been just dating her, and hadn't been invited to the wedding. She'd already become persona non grata before that point. Tonya hadn't even been aware she had a niece and nephew before last night.

The chance to actually have blood family again was something that she didn't dare hope for before today, but she and Devon had something in common now; being tossed aside by the family when they became inconvenient.

She got to her hooves and started making to leave the house. Getting to know Devon and the foals was probably the best thing she could be doing with her time right now. She'd need to go check the census logs to find out where Devon was being sheltered right now, but being Sunset's number two had it's advantages with getting that done.

Plan decided on she left the house and took to the air as she headed off to town hall.

When she reached town hall she made her way into Sunset's office and got to work on trying to find the various census files and locations each human had been placed.

After several minutes looking Tonya decided that she could stand being a director or supervisor with no problems. She could also deal with going off and doing any sort of manual labor or flying that was asked of her. At this moment she decided that one thing she would never be is a mare that spent her days in an office. Reading through papers and reports was boring.

Sunset had all the census records loaded into her computer. This should have made it easy for Tonya to quickly find all the information on Devon and her foals. Unfortunately, Sunset seemed to have an organization system for files that completely dumbfounded Tonya as she tried in vain to find the proper records; there wasn't even a search option she could find. It might make sense to her lover, but to her it was pure chaos.

"Adding to my list of things to do; find Sunset a proper secretary or office assistant," Tonya grumbled to herself as she continued to just randomly click through files hoping to find something that resembled what she was looking for.

After several minutes the door to the office opened revealing her very surprised lover.

"Tonya, what are you doing here? I thought you would be trying to get some sleep after being up all night long," Sunset said with concern as she entered.

"Couldn't really sleep, so decided to try to do some research. Whatever system you have for organization really sucks by the way," Tonya said with a yawn as she continued to click away. She wasn't even sure what files she had already checked at this point.

"Well, it works for me," Sunset said as she walked over beside Tonya and looked at the computer screen. "What are you trying to find? I can find it for you."

"Information on a human that migrated here with us named Devon Middleton," Tonya said in a dejected voice.

"Middleton? Is this a relative of yours? I thought you had no contact with any of your family," Sunset asked in suprise as she grabbed the mouse from Tonya with her red magical aura.

Tonya leaned back in the chair as she let Sunset take over the search. She stifled another yawn before answering. "She's my brother's wife. She's still human but has pony foals. Apparently my douchebag of a brother couldn't stand to have pony foals for children and just abandoned them. You can see where I might have some empathy for them."

"Yes, I definitely understand," Sunset said as she rapidly moved through a file string. A moment later Devon's file was open on the screen. "Here we are, all her information."

"She's out in area four? Why would a human get assigned there?" Tonya said with shock as she read through Devon's information.

"You'd have to take that up with the Broken One. Your sister-in-law has a night pony colt, and I conceded decisions about the placement of any night pony to that cunt when trying to get her cooperation," Sunset said with a sneer.

"You really should try being nicer to Tattered Wing. She's not a bad pony," Tonya said as she tried memorize details from the file.

"If she had taken action against that bastard, like she should have, before he had a chance to rape Phobia, or put him down maybe then I'd be nicer. As it stands she doesn't like me, and I don't like her," Sunset said with barely restrained animosity.

Tonya frowned as she turned to look at her lover. "It's going to cause problems for us if you and the Enclave are at odds."

"I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time letting her negligence go all things considered," Sunset said as she sat on her rump and crossed her forelegs in a sulky position.

"Do you need me to help you with that?" Tonya asked as she looked down towards the older mare.

Sunset let off a long breath as she lowered her forelegs and went back to a proper pony sitting position. "Probably. I actually will need help getting through a few things. We're still at a critical stage in getting this town in order and I need to be able to focus on what needs to be done. Let me think about what I need you to help me with and I'll let you know later tonight."

"Alright, we'll talk about it tonight. Just remember you owe me some serious cuddle and smooching time sometime soon," Tonya said as she lowered her head down near Sunset.

Sunset leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips before pulling back to look Tonya in the eye. "I know, I've been neglecting you the last few days, and we both could use a little bit of that kind of comfort."

"I know you've been busy," Tonya said, then sighed. "So, what's on the agenda still that wasn't earlier?"

"I've got to speak with Baker again later about the level of military presence that will be here. I have a string of video calls scheduled early tonight with other southern pony leaders who will be working with the government for similar arrangements as we have here in Riverview. Supposedly they are supposed to come in person sometime next week to tour the town and discuss with me what I've learned setting this place up so they have a smooth start," Sunset explained as she propped herself up on two legs while leaning onto the chair.

"I'm guessing the suits want you to try to assert a leadership role with those ponies," Tonya said as she scooted over in the chair to make room for Sunset.

Sunset hopped into the chair and cuddled close to Tonya. "That was heavily hinted at. I'm going to keep doing all I can do to be their pony. They're having trouble with the more heavily populated pony areas and might start cracking down hard on them soon. If I can get these other southern communities to listen we can hopefully not have the same happen here."

"But what about the ponies where the crackdowns are going to occur?" Tonya asked with a raised brow as she laid down in the chair, wrapping her tail around Sunset.

"I'm trying my best to do what I can. I'm listening to reports and trying to plan a course of action. That pegasus, Laura Tanner, that I told you about, she seems to garner a fair amount of respect. I'm hoping that once I get the chance to reach out to her she'll help get ponies in line with the big picture," Sunset explained as she laid down as well to cuddle.

"And if she doesn't listen to you?" Tonya asked as she laid her ears back in worry.

"Then hopefully those ponies will realize what must be done on their own before it's too late,"Sunset answered with a frown. "And if they don't we'll do our best not to have the south pulled into that mess."

"I don't like it. We knew we were going to have problems with humans and the government, and the only option was appease as much as possible and maintain the fiction of business as usual. Why don't they see that too?" Tonya asked as her ears wilted.

"Because of numbers," Sunset answered. "It isn't like over here. They dominate in terms of numbers over there, and as a result they're more determined to do things the pony way than the way we've done things forever. They think they can be autonomous. We know what would happen if we tried to pull that, Phobia ingrained that idea onto me. We can't risk conflict with the government. The long route working from within human society is the only way we or our descendants will ever see an all pony world."

"How's she doing?" Tonya asked, changing subject.

"She's asleep, but she's having nightmares according to Rosetta. Rosetta is being stubborn and staying awake to guard over her when Tom is right there to do the same. The physical injuries don't seem that bad other than...that one area," Sunset said as her face hardened.

Tonya restrained from grimacing at the name of Tom. It wasn't really rational that the name should make her anger rise, but she always got mad she heard that name on anyone. She really needed to get over it, that hadn't been her name in a long time. It still felt like the worst curse word imaginable though.

"What about your ex? Have you talked with him now that he's marked?" Tonya asked, keeping worry about the idea of Sunset rebounding with him from her voice.

"Not much, just about Phobia. We'll talk more in the weeks to come; Phobia needs all her family right now...," Sunset trailed off as she turned and gave Tonya an appraising look. "You're worried I'm going to get back with him, aren't you?"

"A little," Tonya mumbled.

Sunset pulled Tonya into a hug. "You don't need to worry. My feelings for Tom had shifted well before we became ponies. The drama that followed pretty much cemented that we're done. I'm not going to abandon you to get back with him."

"So you don't have any feelings for him at all?" Tonya asked. She shouldn't be feeling this way, but she wanted to hear more reassurance straight from the horse's mouth.

Sunset seemed to consider her answer and that made Tonya's heart drop. After a long moment of silence Sunset finally answered. "I'm not going to say I feel nothing, that would be a lie and I won't lie to you. But I don't have any more romantic or sexual feelings about him. He's Phobia's father and the stallion I spent more years of my life married to than you've been alive. I hope that while dealing with Phobia he and I can shelve the hostility and become friends again--for Phobia's sake, but it's over between him and me."

"I believe you. I just can't help worrying about being abandoned," Tonya said as she nuzzled her head up against Sunset's.

"Well, hopefully you will find some family in that human. She's a human, so it isn't the best family, but it's something. But we are going to stay Riverview's odd couple," Sunset said then shifted and kissed Tonya.

"That's the word for us. Who would have thought I'd be coupled up with the Sunday school teacher who paddled my bottom for wearing nail polish as a child," Tonya said with a giggle.

"I don't actually remember that. I just vaguely remember you being a brat from the little time I had you as a student," Sunset said with a frown.

"Well, I might have been. I was seven at the time so I can't remember all the details well either," Tonya said with a shrug. "I remember the spanking you gave me over the nail polish though."

"I'm don't remember that, but I'm really sorry. I'm not that human anymore," Sunset said remorsefully.

"Oh, don't get all pouty about it. I know you're not the same. I wouldn't be with you if you were remotely the same. Ponies forgive," Tonya recited before yawning.

"That we do," Sunset said with a smile. She then rose to her hooves and jumped down from the chair, which left Tonya pouting about the loss of her cuddle buddy. Sunset looked back at her still smiling.

"Try to take a nap. You really need to get at least a little bit of rest if you intend to play bedroom twister with me tonight," Sunset chuckled. "It would be a little insulting if you fell asleep on me in the middle of that."

"I'll try," Tonya acquiesced. "See you tonight."