//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Tattered awoke with a groan. That was not how she was expecting to spend her time sleeping. She got to her hooves and looked at the window and was relieved that it wasn't sundown yet. There was still time to get over to the clinic before Melissa's rehumanization began. That had felt like a much longer time asleep than it was. Maybe Yinyu had twisted how time flowed, it wouldn't surprise her at this point. Hooray for me, I'm a dreamwalker now. She'd feel more excited about that when she got to do some actual dreamwalking, and not just be some Dreamwarden's abused toy. Yinyu promised that was a one-time thing, provided Tattered didn't break the rules. She definitely wasn't going to do anything to break the rules if that attracted Yinyu's attention. Yinyu being friendly was bad enough, she didn't want to know what Yinyu enraged looked like. The thought made her shiver. Fear of the Wardens keeps us safe. The Oaths were ingrained into her consciousness now. She knew that it was some sort of magic at work that she could remember them so well, and the reason she was that opposed to breaking them. The threat of a Dreamwarden's wrath was enough for her without that though. The fact the Oaths had compulsion to them didn't matter, she wasn't going to get punished. She enjoyed living, and wouldn't have wanted to abuse dreamwalking anyway. Dreamwalking was something that might interest Dan, considering he had limited mobility in the waking world. In the dreamscape he could be whole. Once she had a good grasp of what she was doing she could teach him and any other night ponies that might want to learn. She'd also be able to give them a heads up about the Dreamwardens so they didn't have their first experience dreamwalking be like hers. They could be like Rosetta, and be ready for the Dreamwardens with the Oaths memorized already. Actually, cut the sarcasm. I'm a dreamwalker and that's pretty damn cool. There were other things to do for right now. She'd check on her brother and sister and then head over to the clinic. Maybe she could get Megan to give her a ride to cut down on travel time. She typically had to walk to work and only got rides home. Hopefully after tomorrow she could just fly where she wanted again, but she'd probably have to build up her flight ability again in stages. Between the newly gained dreamwalking ability, soon to be regained flight, and reuniting with her sister she was in a good mood. She did her wing stretches while walking. Alex wasn't in the room with her, and a quick check of Megan's room didn't show her sister there. She lifted her ears to try to hear them about. Her ears twitched a moment later as she heard voices out on the front porch. What had she ever done before she had pony hearing? Well, she'd have probably wandered around the house until she checked the front porch and found them, but still, pony hearing made things easier. Having finally dreamwalked made her feel a little smugger about her strengths as a pony. There was nothing wrong with having some self-love. If she was ever going to move on from her feelings of guilt that caused her nightmares she needed to feel a little more pride in who she was. She opened the front door and had her nose assaulted by the smell of her sister's cigarette. Her sister was free to do what she wanted, but did she really need to pick up a habit that smelled so bad? Once they had money rolling again and were moved into a new place she'd need to invest in something to dull that stench. Maybe she'd just get used to the scent and tune it out in time, but it seemed doubtful. That was hard to imagine though with a pony sense of smell. She'd seen a few unicorns still engaging in the habit and she wondered how they could possibly stand it. "Hi, Tat? Off to work?" Alex asked her as she came out on the porch. Her little brother had a good few feet between him and Megan, sitting on the far end of the porch, likely kept at bay by the scent. Megan was on the steps again and extinguished her cigarette as Tattered stepped onto the porch. "To the clinic, actually. One of my friends who got hurt along with me is getting turned back into a human tonight," Tattered explained. Both her sister and brother stared at her in confusion. Had word not gotten to them about the rehumanization process? She figured that the crystal ponies would have blabbed about it all over town by now after finding out about it. Ponies, being super social creatures, enjoyed to gossip, a lot. Megan might not talk to many ponies yet, but she expected Alex to have at least heard about it. "They found a cure to turn you all back into humans?" Megan asked with a wide-eyed expression. "It isn't a cure because there isn't anything that needs to be cured," Tattered replied as she narrowed her eyes. "Some ponies can be turned back into humans if they choose to do so. My friend is choosing to do so." "But we have to agree to do it? They can't just make us?" Alex said as he laid his ears back. "They can't make you do anything you don't want," Tattered confirmed. "Are you going to do it?" Megan asked. She seemed both hesitant and hopeful. She was about to be let down hard. "No, it wouldn't even be an option for me," Tattered said before pointing a hoof at her cutie mark. "Any pony with a cutie mark cannot be rehumanized. I'm off the table." Megan looked over at their little brother. "But Alex can be rehumanized?" She didn't like the way this conversation was going. "If he chooses to do so. Don't pressure him to go back to being human. This is a choice, unlike the lack of choice we were denied when we became ponies. If he wants to rehumanize that's his call, but it's also his call to stay a pony." "I think I want to stay a pony. If it's my choice," Alex spoke up. He glanced at Megan and his ears dropped slightly. It looked like Megan was going to question why or put up an objection. Tattered decided to just head that off for the moment. Alex would not be browbeaten into rehumanization. "Megan, do you mind giving me a ride to the clinic? I'm not back up to flying yet and prefer to get there as soon as possible to see Melissa before she gets taken in by the doctors," Tattered asked as she gestured at Megan's car. Megan glanced briefly at her car and then gave Alex another look. "Yeah, that's no trouble. Just give me directions, that wasn't on my site seeing tour earlier." "Can I tag along? I'm not interested in being rehumanized, but I kind of want to see it done," Alex said as he walked across the porch. "You won't get to see it. They won't let anypony watch it happening, and they told me it would take around seven hours. They won't be done till early in the morning," Tattered explained. I'm going to be essentially skipping a day of work for this, but they know where to find me if they need me. "Oh," Alex said looking disappointed. "Can I at least come along to meet your friend? At least then I could meet her before and after. It would be interesting, seeing the differences." She considered that for just a moment before shaking her head. "Melissa is doing this because she is in constant pain. She got it much worse than me during the same incident that landed me in the hospital. Just talking takes a lot out of her. I'd rather not overwhelm her. You can meet her after tomorrow, if everything goes right." She paused and thought for a second before turning back to Megan. "After you drop me off do you think you could donate some clothes? I have no clue at all what size clothes Melissa is going to need, but I figure that if her human instincts come back she'll be wanting clothes. Ponies don't care if humans are naked, but humans do." "What do you consider human instincts that aren't pony instincts?" Megan asked with a frown. Tattered shrugged. "I don't put much thought into that kind of stuff, I leave that to Phobia or psychologists. They seem similar enough to me, except for a few tribal personality quirks, but I do know about the human nudity taboo at least; ponies don't have that. If she starts thinking like a human again I'd rather not have her freaking out about being naked." "Maybe she'll become a nudist, but it makes sense. I'll see what I can do," Megan said as she got up. "Let me grab my purse and keys really fast. My car isn't locked if you want to get in now." Tattered nodded and walked over to the car while Megan hurried into the house. After getting to the passenger side of the car she took one look at the handle on the door and flicked her tail, before sitting down to wait on Megan. "Why haven't you gotten in the car yet?" Megan asked after coming out of the house again. "The way your door is made is not hoof friendly at all. I'd need you or Alex to open this one," Tattered explained as she pointed a hoof at the door handle. "Seriously? A door handle is stopping you?" Megan asked as she walked over to the passenger side door and opened it. Tattered hopped up into the car and once her tail was clear Megan closed the car door behind her. The human sister then walked around the car and got into the driver's seat. "I could have gotten it eventually, but it would take a lot of work and would have ended up with me scratching up the car's paint job. It was better to just have you or Alex open it for me," Tattered explained as Megan started the car. Megan pulled onto the road before responding. "Why are you all so enamored with remaining ponies again if you struggle with simple tasks like that?" "We're comfortable as ponies and feel right as ponies; the idea of being human just doesn't feel right anymore," Tattered explained as she pointed the direction to take. "Plus, there are things we can do with ease that you'd struggle with or just not be able to do at all." "Some examples?" Megan asked as she waited for some ponies to clear out of the road in front of her. "Depends on what type of pony, since we're all kind of specialized," Tattered replied as Megan started advancing the car again at a slow pace. "In my case I can fly, see better than any human, and as of today I can enter the dreamscape." "Dreamscape? I think we might need the doctors at this clinic to check you out again," Megan said skeptically without taking her eyes from the road. "You've seen magic in action, Megan, you shouldn't be dismissing the dreamscape," Tattered insisted. She was hoping that they could get along better than they had in the past going forward. Why was Megan being so difficult again? "I haven't heard anything about anything called the dreamscape on the news in conjunction with night ponies, or anything else for that matter except some junkie's delusions, so forgive me for being skeptical," Megan said calmly. "It seems to be tied to night ponies and takes us a little bit longer to figure out on our own, just like unicorns take time to learn spells other than levitation. It'll no doubt get talked about more as more night ponies start figuring it out," Tattered said as she thought about it. "I've known about it for a few weeks, just wasn't able to access it myself until today. The government set up a meeting with me by way of a night pony dreamwalking to me and making arrangements." "And what'll you do with the ability to enter this dreamscape?" Megan asked as she gave Tattered a quick glance before turner her attention back to the road. "Probably help ponies with dealing with nightmares; I know I have bad ones" she responded. Then she thought about where Yinyu said she was sleeping. "There doesn't seem to be any distance restriction on it, so I can use it as a communication tool too. I figure as long as me and another pony I know are both sleeping at the same time I can get in touch with them no matter where they're at." Megan frowned and brought a hand back to rub her arm. "You just go into other ponies' dreams with this? Just ponies, not humans, right?" "That's correct," Tattered confirmed. "Pretty sure if they don't have magic I can't get into their dreams, or find them for that matter. I don't think human dreams are part of the dreamscape at all." "Alright," Megan said, smiling slightly with visible relief. "But isn't that a massive invasion of privacy?" You have a sacred trust with the dreamers, you shall not violate it echoed in her mind. "Believe me, I wouldn't ever use their private thoughts against them," Tattered said as she scrunched up her muzzle, disgusted at the concept. "I'm glad you wouldn't, but what's stopping another night pony from doing that?" Megan asked firmly, clearly bothered by the idea. "There are controls in place, no sane night pony would do that," Tattered answered even more firmly. "And if they aren't sane, or they try to violate whatever these controls are?" Megan asked in a skeptical tone. Tattered shivered as she thought about the Dreamwardens. "Then that night pony will suffer some horrible consequences. I can't talk about how. Just believe me when I say that no night pony would risk it." Megan stopped the car in the middle of the street and looked at her in concern. "Something has you scared. What happened?" "It's not your concern, Megan. It's night pony business. I know I'm not going to do anything wrong with dreamwalking," Tattered said firmly, not looking at her sister. "Did you get threatened?" Megan pressed. Tattered could tell Megan was getting angry and actually felt pride in Megan's protectiveness. She still couldn't talk to her sister about this though. "I know the rules and consequences and won't be violating them. Just drop the subject, Megan," she responded back even firmer than before. "If someone is threatening you..." Megan kept on. "I said drop it and I meant drop it! This isn't human business, this isn't any pony's business but night ponies. It isn't something that is discussed with family either. It will not be discussed, and that's final!" Tattered bellowed. Megan flinched back from her. Tattered felt a pang of guilt as she saw tears start to form in Megan's eyes as her sister's face contorted into a look of hurt and anger. Megan then reached across the car and opened up the passenger side door. "Get out," Megan said harshly as she started crying. "If you aren't going to talk to me about this, and scream at me when I'm just worried about you, then you can just walk the rest of the way." Tattered lowered her head and nodded. "I'll get out. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. There are just some things I can't talk about. It's not the exact same thing, but I'm guessing if you get more involved with politics you might understand. There's a duty and trust put on us to keep secrets that we can't betray." As she was turning to get out she heard Megan say tightly, "I'll calm down in a little while, just get out for right now." She hopped out of the car and pushed the passenger door closed behind her. A moment later her sister pulled into a side street, presumably to turn around and head back to the house. She was almost to the clinic anyway, so her sister had helped her out. The temptation was there to try to fly the rest of the way, her wings weren't feeling stiff anymore, which should be a sign they were good to go. Lavender had stressed not to attempt anything without approval though. Hopefully this was the final night of no flying. With a sigh, and a hope that Megan wouldn't hold any hard feelings for too long, Tattered started walking the remaining distance to the clinic. Paul yawned, he hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep after being up all yesterday, all night, and on till early in the afternoon today. Jessie was passed out in his arms, and he was a little jealous of her sound sleep. The fact they were out walking helped wake him up more, but he was still exhausted. He was getting used to it. This had been an ongoing thing for the past month, except for a few recent days he'd rather not think about. "Are you okay, Dad?" Robby asked from beside him. He looked down at his son's concerned face and gave a smile. "Just a little tired. I'll get some more sleep soon, that's why we are out right now." "I still don't want a foalsitter," Robby grumbled after the reminder about why they where they were headed. Devon turned and looked at their son. "Your father and I need time where we can sleep. You'll like Miss Rosetta Stone. You want to spend time with other night ponies, don't you?" Robby seemed to struggle with his answer. The conflict of not wanting a babysitter warring with his love of all things night pony. Paul wanted to laugh at the seriousness which Robby seemed to consider the two concepts. Eventually Robby just nodded in acceptance that he wanted to spend time with night ponies. Paul turned to his wife. "Can you tell me a bit more about more about who we have watching him? I'm comfortable with Amanda, and understand why she can't, but would like to know more about who is taking care of our kids." "Rosetta is a night pony who will be teaching part time at the school with me and Amanda. Her future mother-in-law is Sunset Blessing, who is more or less the leader of the town. Sunset Blessing is also who your sister is dating and it's pretty serious relationship from what I understand," Devon explained, then let off a little giggle. "You might be gaining a niece or two, Paul." "How old is Rosetta if Tonya is possibly going to be her mother-in-law?" Paul asked with bemusement. Devon laughed. "She's actually older than Tonya, she's twenty-two. I'm not sure how old Sunset Blessing is, but I figure she's at least in her mid-forties if she has a daughter around Tonya's age. Rosetta is a lesbian by the way, she's marrying Sunset Blessing's daughter, Phobia Remedy." Paul sighed. It was news to him that Tonya was into other females, he had always figured she was into guys due to the whole gender thing. It was sad that he really didn't know much about his sister. "Have you heard anything from Tonya? I really wanted to apologize to her for the other day," he asked. Devon shook her head. "Not a word. I even asked Rosetta about her. Rosetta says she hasn't seen Tonya since before we last saw her. She said that if anything had happened to her Sunset Blessing would have probably said something to them about it." "She's probably just avoiding us because of her fight with me," Paul said with a frown. "That's a bad habit we both always had, running from conflict." "We can ask Rosetta and Phobia to pass word along that you want to apologize," Devon said as she came back near him and laid s hand on his shoulder as they walked. "I really am glad you seem to have gotten over things and are actually wanting to bond with her." "All I can do is keep on trying to fix my mistakes and do better going forward," he said. He looked down at Jessie sleeping soundly in his arms. She might not be human, but she was happy and content. The same with Robby, who had a fierce protective nature that was beyond commendable. How had he ended up running from them? How could he have been that stupid? "I think that is the place," Devon said as she withdrew her hand and pointed at a house. "I think I see Rosetta on the porch waiting for us." Paul looked where his wife was pointing. They were at the edge of town now and it was literally the first house in town before anything else. Sitting on its front porch was a dark blue night pony mare who was looking expectantly at them. It did make him uneasy leaving Robby in the hands...or hooves in this case...of someone else for hours at a time most days. Devon was right though, they needed to have time they could both sleep. Robby's sleep schedule was something that made their sleep schedules go completely out of whack, and caused them difficulty getting important things done together. As they walked into the yard of the house the mare came out to greet them. "I'm glad to see you. I hope you didn't have any problem finding your way here," Rosetta said as she trotted out to them. "First house in town if you are following the main street is pretty easy directions," Devon said in a cheerful tone. She looked at Robby and then pointed at Rosetta. "Robby, this is Rosetta Stone. She'll be teaching Spanish at your new school in the fall." Robby stared up at Rosetta wide eyed. Paul frowned wondering what the problem was. After a long moment of staring, Robby blushed and then finally gave a small hop while raising his wings high, "You're a pretty pony!" Paul and Devon started laughing and Rosetta blushed fiercely. How did ponies have the ability to blush with fur? However they did it, Rosetta's dark blue fur definitely darkened in her face, making it look almost black. "Thank you for the compliment, my fiancée certainly thinks so too," Rosetta said after she finished blushing. She then looked back to the adults. "Follow me on in. We don't really have furniture yet, but I have a few mugs and running water. I can also offer a shower if you really want one, and we have towels to dry off with after you're done with that. I know getting one when you're living in the tents might be a hassle." "We don't want to intrude too much," Devon said. Paul noticed that her attention had been caught at the word shower. Rosetta waved a hoof dismissively. "You're fine. Dad and Phobia are both up. Please be mindful of Phobia though. She gets nervous if anypony gets too close to her right now. Part of why I agreed to do this was I figured having Robby around might help her get a little less off edge." Paul raised an eyebrow. Ponies all seemed very social creatures that you had to go out of your way to discourage from being overly friendly. Hearing Phobia was nervous around others was strange. Of course, with a name like Phobia that might be all the explanation he needed on that. They followed Rosetta into the house. It was indeed pretty empty, and dimly lit. There was one heavily laden bookshelf on one wall, a small computer desk with a computer, an ottoman that served as the chair for the computer desk, a throw rug, and a single lamp which was turned off; that was the extent of the furniture in the room. Also in the living room was a green unicorn stallion reading a book by the light of a small candle, and a grey night pony mare who laid in the shadows of a corner watching them warily. "Phobia, you remember Devon and her foals, right? This gentleman is her husband, Paul," Rosetta said with a gesture of her wing back at them after they all entered in. Phobia sat up and gave them a small smile. "I remember. Sorry I didn't get to help out sooner, it has been...difficult since the day I last saw you. I hope everything is going well for you since we last met." "Do you mind if I turn the lamp on now since we have guests?" The unicorn asked as he looked up from his book. "Go ahead, Dad. You know you don't have to stay in the dark down here if you don't want to," Rosetta said, then glanced back at Paul and Devon. "This is our dad, Tom. He's not the most social of ponies, but he's a decent guy." Tom lit his horn up and the lamp flicked on, giving a great deal more light to the room. He then turned to them. "I'm not anti-social, I just prefer not to get sucked into the herd mentality like the rest of you. Just because I'm stuck as a pony doesn't mean I have to think like a pony." Rosetta looked apologetic. "He has had a bad week, we all have. Hopefully having a foal around will lighten him up too." Tom gave Paul a long look. "So, you're the brother of the pony that's dating my wife." Paul frowned as he looked back at the unicorn. Yeah, that was a pretty awkward thing to bring up. "I really didn't know about that until today. I haven't even met your wife." Tom gave a good-natured chuckle, earning a look of confusion from the humans. "Don't think I'm upset with Tonya. The pony leading this town bears little resemblance to the woman I married, and I'm not talking about the species change. If Tonya finds her appealing, then more power to her; Tonya seems better at reasoning with her than I am anyway. Phobia is the one who'll have to have her best friend for a stepmother, not me." Phobia groaned as she wrapped a wing over her head. "Please don't bring that up, Dad. I've been doing a good job getting over the weirdness." "You grew up with Tonya? Do I know you?" Paul asked as he looked Tom and Phobia over closer, not that looking at pony features would give him any clue. "I remember you, though Dad might not. You might remember us best from church, the Gilmore family," Phobia said as she uncovered her head. Paul thought back and tried to place the last name. "I remember Charlotte Gilmore, the Sunday school teacher. I'm not sure that's the right Gilmore family, don't remember her have a daughter." "Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise to everyone, my human name was Matthew," Phobia said with a smirk. Alright, he did remember Tonya's friend Matthew; weird little kid, wore a heavy jacket even in the summer. Guess Tonya's friendship with him made a little more sense if Matthew turned out like Tonya. He'd always just thought it was just the freaky kids joining up together for mutual defense. That also made another realization go off in his head and his mouth dropped in shock. "Wait...Tonya is dating Mrs. Gilmore, the Sunday school teacher? The same Sunday school teacher who got on Tonya harder than just about anyone else at church? The one who took a switch to me and told me I was going to hell because I read Harry Potter?" "Yep, that's was my wife," Tom said, then lowered his ears. "That was me too. That's one of the few things both she and I agree was wrong about our old lives. Having to see what went on with my daughter opened my eyes about how much of a bigot I was. That's wasn't Christianity, that was a sick perversion of it." Devon gave him a look of disbelief. "Your Sunday school teacher beat you with a switch for reading Harry Potter? Is that why I can't get you to sit down and watch those movies with me?" "Um..." Paul said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the ground. "The crimes of Sunset Blessing are much worse than I thought," Rosetta said as she raised a hoof to her mouth to cover a giggle. "Banning Harry Potter; I knew there was a reason that mare makes me angry every time I'm around her. Who would ban Harry Potter of all things?" Rosetta then turned to Phobia. "I thought you liked fantasy novels. How'd you get away with reading them if she was like that?" "Libraries mainly," Phobia said with a shrug. "The Anne Rice books I got away with because I showed Mom some books from her Christian phase. She didn't investigate the rest." "Who's Anne Rice?" Tom asked as he turned to face Phobia. "She writes erotic vampire stories, Dad," Rosetta answered for the other night pony. Tom just sat with a befuddled look on his face as he stared at Phobia. Phobia covered her head with her wings in response. "Very erotic vampire stories," Rosetta said with a devilish grin. "Et tu Rosetta? Your betrayal hurts, you know that?" Phobia said as she peeked out from behind her wings. "And I wasn't reading them for the eroticism anyway." "You were reading erotic novels behind our backs?" Tom asked, letting his mouth hang open as he looked at his daughter. "They are very well written!" Phobia protested, still hiding behind her wings. "Well, I'm eager for that shower if it's still being offered," Devon announced, cutting off the conversation. Paul looked at his wife with a small pout, he wanted to hear this conversation keep going. "Of course, just follow me and I'll get some towels for you. My parents even left us some shampoo and conditioner. They'll do you more good than us. You don't want to know what that stuff does to tails," Rosetta said as she started walking towards the stairs. Robby nudged Paul's leg and Paul looked down to see what his son wanted. "Dad, I think these ponies are crazier than Aunt Tonya."