Wild Growth walked the edge of the barrier, triple checking to make sure that there were no breaks in it. She actually trusted that others had already done this, but it was a convenient excuse to take more time. What she really was doing was trying to get into the mindset she needed to actually do what she was supposed to do.

She had gone out of her way to find things to make herself angry that day. They had all ended in failure. Her sister had been her best opportunity to get herself angry, she and Rosetta had gotten into it pretty heatedly the other night after all, but Rosetta had been surprisingly reasonable and Wild wasn't going to argue with her for no reason. The reason she had gone to Rosetta was completely honest, but she had hoped that it would have the side effect of raising her temper.

Tom and Amanda had each said things which might have gotten her frustrated a few days before. The fact that she was now going to be doing what she could to advance research that could give those two and those like them what they wanted took the fight out of her about how great being an earth pony was. How could she be upset with them when she was going to be fighting for their right to feel that way?

Phobia had been another possible outlet, but there was no getting mad at her future sister in law right now. Not when Phobia was acting scared of her own shadow, even if other ponies cowered in fear of her while she was scared of said shadow.

Why did it have to be so hard to just get angry? This town was depending on her using her powers, but she needed to get angry to actually use them. If she didn't get angry she'd fail them all, and ponies and humans would be short on food for days yet. It wasn't just a matter of looking like a fool if she failed to do this today, it was real consequences to others. She couldn't let them down.

She glanced briefly to her side. Standing out there was partly the entire town. Thousands of ponies and hundreds of humans all out to see her in action. The only ones not present were the night ponies, who were all sleeping right now, and a few stray humans and ponies organizing shops for the arrival of the bounty that she was supposed to be producing. Many humans and ponies had jobs that were starting today that depended on these crops; produce stores, restaurants, harvesters, logistics, transport. It wasn't just food at stake here, it was livelihoods. There were many others who would be possibly employed by Westvaco that needed to see that she could do what she said she could do, or they may not think such a job would pan out.

Wild looked up and saw Tonya hovering in front of her, wearing a golden medallion. Wild put on a forced smile.

"Sure, just making sure everything is good to go with this barrier, don't want any magic getting loose," Wild said in a cheerful tone.

Tonya frowned. "I might have bought that the first three times you went around the thing, but you are wrapping up lap five. Ponies are starting to mutter. Sunset sent me over here to check on you."

Wild's posture slumped. She hadn't realized how many laps she had made already. She was looking like a fool in front of everypony already. She was letting them all down.

"I can't get angry," Wild said in a near whisper. "I can't do this if I don't get angry."

Tonya landed in front of her and tilted her head in consideration. "Angry huh? You just need to get angry? Want me to start insulting you and see if that helps?"

Wild gave Tonya a flat look. "I highly doubt it'll work if I know you're just trying to get a rise out of me before it even starts."

Tonya shrugged. "You never know. Not that I would expect a stupid ground-bound dirt pony to actually know anything."

Wild snorted. "You are trying way too hard with that one. You could have replaced dirt with shit and emphasized that I dig around in shit. It wasn't even imaginative."

"Grief, I'm trying to be insulting, not nasty," Tonya said as she stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I've got that image stuck in my mind after hearing it. Now I'll be afraid to ever touch hooves with an earth pony again until I watch them wash their hooves. Way to go Wild."

This didn't get Wild any closer to being angry. If anything, it amused her a little bit, which was the complete opposite direction she was trying to push her mood.

Tonya landed and fidgeted with the gold medallion hanging around her neck, looking at it with a frown on her face.

Tonya sat down and grasped it in her forehooves. "This thing stops me from using mind magic when I'm wearing it. Can't influence a pony whatsoever with it on. I was wondering if you wanted me to take it off and give you a little push to help you out. The thing is...I don't know if that would even help. I focus on wants, and I know you want to grow these crops, and are already focused on that. I'm not sure what I could add to that."

"What I need is anger," Wild said as she looked at the medallion warily. "And I don't think I'm comfortable with the idea of you messing with my head to give me that."

Tonya sighed. "You're right. I'd probably bungle that and make you permanently angry about something to the point you go off in rage every time it is mentioned."

That sounded vaguely familiar, like Sunset Blessing was sometimes described. Wild hadn't been present for any of these rages, except for one that had happened with Tempest. Tonya had been present at that outburst from Sunset Blessing as well, and had been the pony that had brought Sunset's temper under control. Wild hadn't known at the time about Tonya's mind magic.

Tonya looked over at the crowd then perked her ears up before looking at Wild again. "Maybe anger isn't what you need. You just need strong emotion. What if we gave you a strong positive emotion?"

Tonya grinned. "A strong feeling of love and confidence. I've got a mental block over my own powers that makes it so I can only use them certain ways. Maybe you have your own mental block we can break down and move past."

That actually made sense on some level. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the pegasus. "What do you have in mind?"

Tonya came over to her and laid a wing on her shoulder. "Let's talk about what hypes you up."

Robby was tired, and the sun was too bright. It was behind the clouds, but it was still too bright. He wanted to go to bed, but his momma and dad said that he had to wait for Miss Wild Growth to do her magic. Miss Wild Growth was taking a very long time.

His momma looked down at him and ran a hand over his mane, brushing it over his ears. That always felt good. "I'm not sure. If it takes too much longer then I'll take you back to the car and let you lay down in there. Just a few more minutes first."

He tried to see what was going on but everypony was bigger than him and blocking him from seeing. Miss Amanda looked around at him while he was trying to find a way of looking past her, and she smiled at him.

He was five and a big colt, so he didn't want to be picked up like a little foal. He didn't want to tell his dad that though.

Miss Amanda giggled. "Believe me, you aren't too heavy. I could pick up your mom and dad together if I wanted to and it'd feel like I was carrying a few feathers."

Robby glanced at his parents. He wasn't sure is Miss Amanda was fooling with him. His momma and dad were really big, like really really big. He had to turn his head up a lot to look up at them. He sometimes wished they were ponies too, just so he didn't have to look up so high. It hurt his eyes when he had to look up really high and the sun was out.

Without any warning he was lifted up in the air by a green magic aura and set carefully on Miss Amanda's back. He turned his head and saw Mister Tom's horn all lit up.

Robby adjusted himself so he wouldn't fall off Miss Amanda's back and looked over to what everypony was looking at. He spotted his Aunt Tonya and Miss Wild Growth off in the distance talking and nodding to one another. Tonya would start hopping around with her wings out on and off and that looked kind of funny.

"I don't know, hun. I think she's trying to help Wild Growth with something, but I'm not sure what," Devon replied.

They two ponies stopped talking and Aunt Tonya walked a little towards the crowd. She then took the thing hanging around her neck off and set it down on the ground. She then walked a little closer to the crowd and gave them a big smile as she hopped into the air and hovered facing them all.

"Everypony and every human, listen up! Wild Growth is going to get this done, but we're all going to participate in helping her. These are not just her crops, they're our crops too and we're going to help out. To do that we're going to sing a song and by the time the song is done she'll be ready to unleash her magic!" Aunt Tonya shouted.

Amanda shook her head. "I haven't heard of any pony doing it that way. I don't mind singing a song if that is going to help her out, it could be fun."

"Seems kind of silly to me...but I suppose it isn't hurting anything," Tom grumbled.

Aunt Tonya looked around the crowd as the crowd talked and spread her legs wide while still hovering in the air. "Are you all ready to help out and make some magic happen?"

The crowd yelled back that they would sing, as well as Miss Amanda, Mister Tom, and Robby's parents. Jessie and Jackie both let off yells too even though it was with no words. Robby decided he should yell yes too since everypony else was yelling it.

Aunt Tonya gave off a happy yip and did a somersault in the air. "I'm very glad to hear that! Now how many of you have seen the Lorax movie they made a few years ago? Not the original one, the not as great remake one."

Aunt Tonya flipped herself so she was upside down looking back at Wild Growth. "And I'm glad it makes you happy, you can't deny the greatness of the classics though. Now let me talk to the nice crowd."

Laughter came from all around the crowd. Robby smiled as he heard it; Aunt Tonya was crazy.

Aunt Tonya got herself right-side-up and faced the crowd again. "Anyway, our song for today will come from that movie, it's called Let it Grow; which for some reason inspires Wild Growth to grow things, no idea why." The crowd laughed again. "I'll start it off...with some modifications, and the rest of you can join in when it time comes for the chorus."

Sounds of agreement went through the crowd as Aunt Tonya landed back down on the ground. Robby watched in anticipation of what his aunt was going to do next.

"You know don't her, but her name's Wild.
She's just a mare trying to make us proud.
It seems to me we should help her out.
So I say, let it grow!"

"That lady's Wendy and that that man's Moe.
Their cupboard is kind of low.
And that's not good, so Wild supposed
We should let it grow."

The crowd all around Robby, everypony except him and the foals that couldn't talk started singing back. Robby felt something weird going on though, like a weird itch.

"Let it grow, let it grow
Like it did so long ago!
You can't reap what you don't sow!
Plant a seed inside the Earth;
Let's celebrate the world's rebirth.
We say let it grow!"

Robby heard everypony still singing and stomping their hooves with the beat. Even his parents were stomping their feet along with the music as they sang. Robby didn't do any of these things. His eyes were glued to his aunt. He didn't know how to express what he was feeling right, but his aunt was doing night pony magic, really strong night pony magic. It confused him because she wasn't a night pony.

The magic was definitely coming from her though, he could feel it. It was coming from her and going out all through the crowd. It was like it was helping them sing along.

The song seemed like it was coming near its end and Robby watched as Miss Wild Growth stood up and walked to where she was looking at the ground on the other side of the big line. The green earth pony raised a hoof up high and he felt more magic, a lot more magic. There was so much magic it made the magic coming from Aunt Tonya feel completely drowned out.

Miss Wild Growth slammed her hoof down on the ground and it was like a massive bell rang without making a sound, and the crowd went quiet very suddenly.

There was a low rumbling sound as Miss Wild Growth stepped back with a big smile on her face. The crowd watched with their breaths held.

A moment later the surface of the ground started breaking where the hoof had been stomped and it spread rapidly out away like ripples in the water when you through a rock in a lake, only this kept spreading and spreading far out of sight. Only being held back by the big line they had made.

Then plants grew. It wasn't slow either. They all but exploded out of the ground and grew rapidly all across the area that the ripple had just gone through. Vines, bushes, melons, pumpkins, corn stalks as tall as trees, tall grasses, and more just kept shooting out of the ground as it rumbled, and they heard the earth split.

A massive tree burst out of the ground somewhere in the middle of it, and Robby could see apples quickly start to grow on all its branches. The tree kept on growing till it was the biggest tree Robby had ever seen.

"Oops, guess we missed one," Amanda said with embarrassment. It didn't seem like anypony cared as they all gasped in amazement at what was happening.

As suddenly as it had begun it came to a halt. And where there were empty fields stretching for miles before now sat endless rows of plants filled with fruits and vegetables.

"Is it even possible for an apple tree to get that big? I can't even see the top of it because it's so high," Tom asked as he stared upwards. Robby tried looking up as well, but he couldn't see where the tree ended either. It was the most ginormous tree he had ever seen.

"That thing is like the size of a California redwood," Devon said as she looked at it, she looked back down at the other crops. "All the plants are huge. You're right, Paul, holy shit!"

Robby had rarely heard his parents say bad words so much, but they didn't seem angry. Maybe there was a right time to say such words and this was one of those times. Amazing as all the plants were, they were just plants, so he wasn't that interested in them. What he wanted to know about was what his aunt had been doing when she was singing.

She looked down at him with a confused look. "She was just leading us in singing a song."

Amanda turned her head to look at him. "What do you mean? All I saw was her sing and dance."

He looked around the crowd to find another night pony, another night pony must have felt it too. There were no other night ponies in the crowd though.

"We're going to see if we can get Tonya to eat dinner with us tonight. You can ask her about whatever it is then if we can get her to come eat with us," his dad said.

Robby let his ears sag. He hoped he remembered then. He was really sleepy right now.

As he yawned he heard his momma talking to his dad. "I'm going to take Robby and Jessie back to the car. That way Robby can lay down and nap for a few minutes before we get him back to the tent and I can feed Jessie."

"Alright, I'll hang around here until the rest of of the ponies are ready to head back. I figure it might be a while with Wild though," Paul replied.

His momma led him back to the car and opened up the back door for him to get in. He jumped in and immediately curled back up where he had been before. It was nice and cozy in that little spot, and not as bright. He wrapped a wing around his head as he got ready to sleep.

Robby was in his room back at the house. It was daylight outside and he tried to hide from the light peeking in from the windows, but he had no covers to cover up with. He tried covering with a wing, but it did no good.

He thought about trying to hide in the closet or under the bed. He was just about to go climb under the bed when he realized that the closet, under the bed, and in holes in the walls was where Miss Phobia lived. She was always there ready to gobble up bad night ponies. He hadn't been bad, but he felt it might be better if he didn't intrude into Miss Phobia's home--just to be safe.

He still needed to get out of the sunlight though. It was like noon sun with no clouds. Noon sun with no clouds was one of the worst things ever. Worse than the meat his momma had put in his mouth, and that was really bad.

Once he got into the hallway it was better, the hallway was nice and dark. His parents' room was at one end, the living room was at the other, and across the hall from his room was the room for his sister and the bathroom.

There was a sound out in the living room and he crept towards it. The sound made him tense, like something was wrong. Something was in the house that didn't belong. He wished then he was a big pony so he could better fight off whatever intruder was there.

The living room was full of sunlight, which made it scarier. He imagined the scariest monsters came out in the daylight. He'd be brave though. He'd go into the bright living room and scare away whatever was not supposed to be there. He was a brave night pony and it was his job to scare away the monsters.

After taking a deep breath he charged into the room with wings spread wide, hoping he was scary enough to scare away whatever scary thing was in the room. He yelled his fiercest sounding night pony yell as he went.

His charge came to a skidding halt as he almost collided with a short, orange creature.

It was no taller than him, covered in orange fur, and had arms and legs like a human, but it was no human. It had no real neck, no clothes, no cutie mark. It only had eyes, an enormous yellow mustache that was half the size of its body, and a mouth. It looked at him and grinned.

"Hello you, I am The Lorax, and I speak for the trees." The thing said with a bow.

"Um, hello, Mr. Lorax. What are you doing in my house?" Robby asked in confusion.

The thing eyeballed him and grunted. "Not Mr. Lorax, The Lorax. I speak for the trees."

Robby didn't know how to properly address a The. "Okay Mr. The Lorax, who speaks for the trees. Why are you in my house? You aren't supposed to be here. You need to go away...or I'll chase you away."

The Lorax took a step towards Robby and Robby jumped back. "I wanted to know why you didn't sing my song or stomp your hooves along."

Robby remembered the song and shook his head. "I didn't know your song's words. So I didn't sing along."

The Lorax advanced towards him again and Robby crept backwards. "But I gave you the words. Didn't you feel it? I gave them to you parents, Amanda, even grumpy Tom sang it."

Robby remembered the magic that nopony else seemed to notice. "I just didn't."

The Lorax frowned at him and Robby didn't like that frown. The Lorax's eyes were narrowed as he scowled, and The Lorax was not afraid. He took another step towards Robby, as Robby tried to back away.

Robby's tail hit the wall behind him as he realized he was backed into a corner. The Lorax kept walking forward, not going any slower.

The Lorax opened his mouth, and his teeth were sharp. Robby found himself much more eager to escape to the dark.

Robby cowered down in place and shut his eyes. He wished he could be anywhere but here.

"Well, this is a surprise. I call most ponies foals, but you're the first actual foal that has managed to come here."

He didn't remember opening his eyes, but in front of him was a very old night pony mare, covered all over with necklaces and earrings. She also had a weird dot right in the middle of her head. She had a bowl for a cutie mark, and she was looking down at him with a smile on her face.

He looked around and found he was in a big room filled with all kinds of desserts. His mouth watered as he looked at each of them.

"Congratulations are in order. You've just dreamwalked for the first time. It's a very important part of any night pony's life. I am very impressed, you're the youngest I've seen yet. You should be proud of yourself. Such a talented little colt," the old mare said.

Robby stopped staring at the desserts and froze. "I'm dreamwalking? Like a big pony?"

The old mare covered a laugh then went back to smiling at him. "It would seem so, little colt. I'm Sha'am Maut. I doubt you've heard of me. I'm a Dreamwarden, and I'm here to tell you the rules."

He remembered the name. Miss Rosetta had told him that name. He immediately started crying.

Sha'am gave him a raised eyebrow. "Perhaps you have heard of me then. Don't worry, little colt. I'm not here to punish you. Just here to explain the rules and get the Oaths from you. Please, eat and feel better."

Robby lifted his ears a little. "You promise you aren't here because I'm bad?"

Sha'am laughed again. "I wouldn't think a little colt could do anything he should be punished by the likes of me for. Tell me, what do you know about the rules and me?"

His ears picked up more. He knew a lot of stuff. "Night ponies aren't supposed to do bad things in dreams. Night ponies aren't supposed to steal others' secrets from their dreams. Night ponies shouldn't try to control anypony's mind. Night ponies are supposed to always be good to the Dreamwardens and give them oats."

"Oats huh?" Sha'am said with a twinkle in her eye. "While that might be a nice gift, the thing I'm looking for is Oaths, not oats. Do you know the Oaths?"

Sha'am went over to a nearby table and sat on a pillow by it. She then poured a drink. "Tell me them as best you can remember for right now, and then we shall work together on getting you to say them correctly. Do not worry, you shall not be punished if you are actually trying."

Robby sat and tried to remember what Miss Rosetta had told him. She said she would take more time to teach them to him since it was supposed to be a long time till he needed them. He guessed a long time was a few hours if that was true. He would have to remember that was what a long time meant if any grown-up ever told him he didn't have a long time to wait. They said that all the time.

He took a deep breath and tried as best he could. "Psychic Com, we promise ponies will dream in pieces. Yinyu Luann, we shall not allow our fashions to leads us to folly. Gadbab, the Warden's anger is unyielding and just. Phobia Remedy, fear of the Wardens keeps us safe. Ticky Krik, we shall keep the secrets if the Wardens. Sha'am Maut, better to die than face the Wardens justice."

Sha'am laughed into her drink, nearly spilling it. "Oh my, that was an excellent first try. You did get a few parts right, and most of the rest just needs a little practice and we shall have it right. You did much better than I would have expected a colt your age to do, and better than many adults do their first time."

Robby beamed at the compliment. "Miss Rosetta started teaching me today, with Miss Phobia watching. Miss Phobia said I did very good too. Miss Rosetta said it would be a long time till I needed them, and she'd practice with me more. She's teaching me all kinds of night pony stuff, and how to speak Spanish."

"Is that so?" Sha'am asked. She stopped and seemed to listen for something for a moment before turning her attention back to him. "I will have to tell Miss Rosetta she's a very good teacher. If this was your first day trying to learn and she didn't think you would need these yet."

Robby nodded. "I thought I would have to be a big pony first before coming here."

"You seem to be very talented," Sha'am agreed. "Tell me about how you came here. I'm very curious to hear your story."

Robby thought about the nightmare and his ears sagged. "I was having a bad dream. A monster was wanting to know why I didn't sing."

"Earlier before I went to sleep. Everypony in town was singing, but I wasn't."

"And why were they singing and why weren't you?" Sha'am asked before taking another sip of her drink.

"Because I think Aunt Tonya was making them sing, and I was busy watching Aunt Tonya trying to figure out what she was doing," Robby explained. "She was doing night pony magic. I could feel it, but she isn't a night pony."

Sha'am set her drink down and stared at it for a moment. "I see...can you think really hard about your Aunt Tonya for a moment? What she looks like, what she acts like, what you felt when she was making ponies sing. Just as a favor to me?"

Robby sat down and did his best to do just that. He sat and tried to remember every single thing he could about his Aunt Tonya.

A moment later a painting appeared across the table from Sha'am, a painting of Aunt Tonya, except there was weird wisps of light coming out of her mouth.

"And this is your Aunt Tonya, little colt?" Sha'am said as she examined at the painting.

Sha'am smiled at him. "That's good. For now, we shall work on getting you to where you can say your Oaths right. We'll take it verse by verse. I think it is just that some of the words are unfamiliar to a colt your age. I'll explain them to you. We Dreamwardens know a lot of things.

Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces

by Halira

Chapter 28**