//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Megan smiled as she drove back towards town hall and the bank next to it. It had been a good day all and all. She had gotten a job, gotten to see something spectacular, and made a few friends. Now she was going to be making arrangements for a house she would own. She had no complaints about today at all. In her car with her were Number Crunch and Melissa. Number Crunch was going to be going through paperwork with both Megan and Melissa for mortgages. Melissa had expressed shock when Number had insisted on doing paperwork for the Broken One as well. The idea that she was entitled to the town's economic help for humans hadn't occurred to the rehumanized woman. Megan really wanted to be able to sit and talk with Melissa with no ponies around. The woman didn't act particularly ponyish. Melissa had seemed just as overwhelmed as Megan by the extreme social nature of ponies, and seemed uncomfortable with dozens of complete strangers trying to strike up conversations with her. Southerners were social and friendly typically, but these ponies took that to a whole new level. Finding out Melissa's perspectives on ponies would be very interesting. Her ulterior motive was she was secretly hoping that her brother would still rehumnaize and that Melissa would help encourage him. She just didn't know how Melissa felt about that kind of thing yet. Plus, there was the additional complication that her new employer might not be too happy with the idea that she was wanting her brother to rehumanize. With what little she had spoken to Sunset Blessing so far she could tell that would go over badly. Sunset may have incentives galor for humans to cooperate, live with, and do business with ponies, but it was clearly ponies' benefits the unicorn was thinking about when she did so. A development of a society where things became more and more dependant upon ponies and being human became more and more something that put you at a disadvantage. Her incentives to humans were a bait to pull them into the economic system she was building. Did working for Sunset Blessing make her a traitor to her species? The benefits for humans were real, and would remain benefits for years to come before the tide turned. Megan might be old and grey before that time came, and Sunset Blessing in the grave. In the meantime, what Sunset Blessing was doing could get the south back on its feet in ways nothing else could. Plus, there would be many economists and politicians that would realize what Sunset Blessing was doing. They could find ways between them to counteract the long term ramifications of accepting what she was doing now. Sunset was likely expecting that too. There was going to be a lot of moves made in this game. For right now being at Sunset's side was probably the best place to be. It gave her the chance to help people now, and time to understand how the unicorn thought if she needed to be countered someday in the future. Between the two that not only meant Megan could do a lot of good, it meant her future being involved with major things was secure. "The two of you are being very quiet," Number Crunch said from the backseat. "Penny for your thoughts?" "Just thinking about my new job," Megan answered. "I'm thinking about my job too," Melissa said with a small frown. "I'm thinking about how little experience I have in a management position, and how I'll be managing hundreds of ponies. When I was a night pony I had this reckless bravery. I ignored fear until the point I decided to rehumanize, and only then did fear start to get to me. I don't have that bravery anymore, and I'm feeling a little intimidated now." "Is that a night pony trait? Being fearless?" Megan asked. It made her worry about her sister thinking about that. "To an extent. I wouldn't say night ponies are fearless. Being brave kind of requires you to be afraid. We...they value fear as a virtue," Melissa replied. Melissa leaned forward and hunched her back. "I had a friend, Gail, that urged us to be more cautious, to not get in over our heads. She had been afraid. If we had all listened to her I'd probably still be a night pony now, and both she and another friend of mine would still be alive." Megan had worry rise again. That was the incident that had gotten her sister hurt. Would her sister continue to do things that could put her in that kind of danger? Mandy had been pretty lily-livered, their parents had even constantly criticized Mandy for that, but since becoming Tattered Wing she was in so many ways a different person. Mandy was still her sister, but she was radically different in more than just form; Alex was too, to a lesser extent. "And do you regret not being a pony anymore?" Number Crunch asked. Megan held her breath, she really wanted to hear this answer too, but hadn't thought it would be a good thing to ask in front of ponies. "I'm don't have any longing to be a pony," Melissa said in a low voice. "I didn't have any longing to be human either when I was a pony. There are positives and negatives to being either one. In perfect health I would be still content to be a pony but being in constant agonizing pain was a negative that I couldn't deal with. I have no regrets about being pain free." "Do you have any regrets?" Megan asked as she pulled the car into park in front of city hall. Melissa scrunched her face up, and it looked for a moment like she might cry. "Do you know what my friends are doing right now? They're dreamwalking. I don't mind that I can't dreamwalk; dreamwalking actually seems strange to me now that I'm human, but the fact they're doing things without me hurts a little. I don't want to be excluded from doing things with my friends. We've been through a lot together in the last month, and now I'm suddenly the outsider." Megan didn't really know what to say to that. She couldn't even offer to spend time with Melissa because she had no idea how much free time she would have at all. From the sound of how the town, soon to be city, was going to be developing Sunset was going to be working her ragged for the time being. "Well, you'll be working with them still, so it isn't like you won't be seeing them or spending time with them," Megan said. While she was talking Number Crunch lit her horn up and opened the door to the backseat. Melissa sighed as she unbuckled her seat-belt. "I suppose so, there are some other things that are bothering me, but they're personal and I don't want to talk about them. I'll adjust." Megan considered what she had heard as she unbuckled her own seat belt and opened the car door. Melissa didn't seem as content as she claimed to be. She might have felt human and found pony things strange now, but that didn't make her content with her decision. That put the idea of pushing for Alex to rehumanize into a different light. She didn't want to make her brother unhappy. He had different circumstances than Melissa, he wasn't going to go dreamwalking with friends in any case for example, but she wasn't sure what his circumstances were yet. She and Melissa got out of the car and followed Number Crunch over to the First Pony Bank. It looked much the same as most the buildings in town, and was only identified by the sign hanging over the door. Inside there were a few tellers sitting around chatting, there weren't any customers in the bank at the moment. Everyone was probably still back at the fields socializing. A woman came hurrying over to Number Crunch. "Ms. Crunch, a representative saying he was from Ponco Accessories called while you were out and wanted you to call him back as soon as possible." Number Crunch got a broad smile on her face. "I'll call him back right away." The unicorn turned back to them. "I apologize. I really need to speak with this gentleman. Bringing his business to Riverview would mean a great number of jobs for us, and would introduce some of the first pony-only products to the market here. I will only be a few minutes if you don't mind waiting." "Go right ahead," Megan said with a spread of her hands. "That's helping all of us out. Just let me know about the details after so I can put it in my report for Sunset Blessing tonight. I'm sure she'll want to know about it." "I hadn't originally planned on being here to begin with, so I don't mind either," Melissa said as she crossed her arms. "Thank you both. I'll try not to take too long," Number Crunch said with a quick bob of her head. She then took a brief glance around. "I don't really have much for places to relax in here. If you wanted to wait outside you can do that as well and I'll come out and get you when done. At the very least you can sit down on the town hall steps out there. I'm sorry about that, I'm still getting things together here." Megan glanced around. The place did look a little low on seating. She could possibly sit at one of the teller's desks, but they didn't look very comfortable. At least it was a nice day outside. Megan and Melissa went back outside and stepped over next door to the steps of town hall before sitting down. Megan fished around in her purse for her cell phone and when she found it she saw that the signal was horrible. The signal bar drifted back and forth between a single bar and no signal. She put it back in her purse with a sigh. "So, you're Mandy's--excuse me--Tattered's sister? Sorry, I really need to break the habit of calling her Mandy," Melissa asked. Megan gave a sad smile. "Don't worry about the mistake, I'm still trying to get used to saying that name too. I spent my whole life calling her Mandy. I'm still learning who Tattered Wing is though. She's the same person, but then again she's not." "I understand, better than most. I've been a few different people this month," Melissa said with a dry chuckle. "Take your pick which version; pre-ETS human, night pony on the prowl, night pony stuck in a hospital, rehumanized person. They are all different people." "How different are you from where you started?" Megan asked as she looked over at the other woman. She couldn't help noticing the eyes; those yellow eyes might have not been as noticeable on a pony, but they stood out on a human. If she looked at those eyes too long she started to feel uncomfortable. "Hard to say, get back to me in a month and I'll be better able to answer that," Melissa said with a grimace. "I can say that my life goals have been turned in a completely different direction, and I seem to do a lot more thinking about questions I'd never have bothered with before. I'm also getting into a relationship with a pony. I don't see the old me trying that." Megan went wide eyes. "With a pony? How does that even work..." Melissa crossed her eyes at her. "We aren't having sex if that's what you're thinking about. I'm not sure how the physical end of things is going to work or even be present. But Dan and I have an emotional bond that goes past being friends. We're going to try to make it work. Your sister even said she was going to be looking into something that might help us out." "What's that?" Megan asked. "I think she's going to try to have Dan dreamwalk into my dreams." Megan was confused, and a little fearful. "Wait, she told me that ponies couldn't dreamwalk into the dreams of humans." Melissa turned to her and looked her in the eyes. Again, Megan felt a little uncomfortable looking into those yellow eyes. "I'm not completely human though. I have magic still in me, just a small amount. Tattered is hoping that'll be enough. I want that too. It would open so many possibilities if Dan could come into my dreams." "So why does she have to look into anything first? Why not just let him try if you really want him too?" She wasn't sure if Melissa was crazy for wanting some pony to come into her dreams. She supposed that in a dream they could take other forms and then they could...get physical that way. Best not to think about that too much. She wasn't going to judge if she could help it. Melissa picked up a stray rock and tossed it out into the street. "Some damn rules. Rules I don't get to know about because I'm not a night pony anymore. See what I mean about being excluded?" That reminded her of her fight with her sister yesterday, and she found herself getting angry again just thinking about it. Not only was someone threatening her sister, that same someone was putting up barriers for Melissa. It made her want to kick someone's ass. She picked up her own pebble and hurled it out into the street. "Something wrong?" Melissa asked with a raised eyebrow. "I wish I knew who was bossing my sister around about this stuff. She won't talk to me about it. She said the same stupid thing to me. I don't get to know because I'm not a night pony." She let off a frustrated growl and tossed another pebble. "I'm sure she was threatened but she won't talk about it with me so I can go do something about it." Melissa looked at her for a moment then laughed. "What's funny about that?" Megan asked with annoyance. Melissa waved a hand. "Sorry, it's nothing really. I shouldn't be laughing. You just seem like you would have made a good night pony yourself just then." Megan didn't really care to think about what type of pony she'd have ended up as if she had gotten ETS. That wasn't even worth speculating on. She went back into her purse and pulled out her cigarettes. After opening the pack up she realized she was actually getting low, she hadn't realized she had gone through so many. She took a moment to count in her head when she had smoked and it came out about right. Maybe with how much Sunset Blessing would be keeping her busy she could lay off these. Pulling her lighter out she flicked it and as it the flame appeared she heard Melissa gasp and shuffle away. Immediately Megan pulled the cigarette from her mouth and turned to face Melissa, feeling flabbergasted. "I'm so sorry, I should have asked if it was okay if I smoked. I apologize for that." Melissa wasn't looking at the cigarette though, she was staring wide-eyed at the lighter and breathing heavily. Some things clicked into place in Megan's head at that moment. "I hadn't realized you were afraid of fire," Megan said as she stuffed the lighter away. "I'm really sorry." Melissa put a hand up to her chest and took a few deep breaths before she glanced back up. "I hadn't realized it till just now, so don't feel bad. There's something else for you that isn't the same anymore. I wouldn't have cared about the cigarette; I actually used to smoke before ETS. Just seeing an open flame again though, even a little one...I think I need to talk to my psychologist." "It's some sort of PTSD type thing then?" Megan asked. She wasn't sure if it was appropriate for her to even be asking this kind of thing, but the conversation had already started. Melissa seemed to gather herself together a little better. She lifted up the side of her shirt revealing scarring on her side. "When your sister, me, and my friends were injured the way I was hurt involved me getting burned really badly. I essentially had a homemade flamethrower used on me, among other things. I still have burns even after rehumanizing. They don't hurt anymore, but I'm guessing I'm still kind of nervous about flames." "That was a little more than nervous," Megan observed dryly. Melissa hung her head as she stared down at her knees. "Yeah, here I am trying to act like I can keep a leadership position with the Enclave and I'm freaking out about a little flame." "Hey, don't worry about being afraid of fire," Megan stated firmly. "Your job is essentially going to be a deputy chief of police from what I understand. You're responsible for directing people...or ponies in this case...to combat crime, not be out there yourself. It's a supervisory position." "I suppose so," Melissa conceded, posture still slumped. Megan wished she knew how to cheer the other woman up, but wasn't exactly sure what to say to do so. Time would tell if Melissa was up to the pressure of her new position. Paul looked over the electric box of the house and sighed. This entire thing would need to be replaced for the building to get power. The sad part was this house was in the best shape of the available properties that they had seen so far. Everything still on the market was in poor repair and basically unlivable. Everything that was in moderate to good repair had already been purchased in the last few days. "I know it needs some serious TLC, but I've already got contracts with electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and so on who are eager to get started as soon as possible," Lashanda, a sky blue pegasus mare from the bank, explained apologetically. "You're sure that there isn't anything better still on the market?" Paul asked as he looked over at the air conditioning unit that also would need to be replaced. Lashanda sighed, brushing some of her orange mane back. "I'm really sorry. Most of the houses in town have been sitting a very long time with no upkeep whatsoever. This one has the least damage of the ones remaining on market. Most of the wiring, plumbing, and air ducts inside are in still perfectly good condition. Dry rot and termite damage is at a minimum. If you purchase this one we could have it ready to go in a month, maybe as soon as two weeks to move in if you're willing to deal with work continuing after you move in." There was a lot of work to be done. The circuit box needed replacing, the air conditioner, the roof, the front porch, as well as areas inside the house that had water damage from the roof leaking. A month seemed a pretty enthusiastic estimate to him. The house had possibilities if fully repaired, but he wasn't sure how much work getting it fully repaired would be. It had three bedrooms that we're all decent sized. It had a large kitchen and living room. It had only one bathroom, but it was also fairly large. There was no laundry room, but the back porch had washer and dryer hookups and was covered and screened--even if that screen needed replacing. The front and backyard were small, but looking at the amount of overgrowth that might not be a bad thing. He just didn't know. If it weren't for the fact he was eager to get his family out of a tent he would just say build a new house. That could take much longer though. He glanced down at his daughter, who has crawling along the ground following a large beetle that she had found. The little filly seemed completely fascinated by everything in the yard and had been examining everything with rapt attention. He had made several walks around the yard just to make sure there was nothing that could possibly hurt her. The only thing he had found was a large anthill on the opposite side of the house. This side seemed safe for her. "You said we could possibly move in after two weeks. What would actually be done in two weeks?" He asked. Lashanda seemed to get some more life to her after being asked. "I can be sure that we can get the bathroom ready for use and the box fixed in two weeks. It wouldn't be the best, but it would be better than a tent. You'd have to spend most of your days outside the house while we continue to work on it, but you'd have a dry roof over your heads at night, with lights, and a place to bathe." The problem with that was Robby. Robby needed to sleep during the day and he wouldn't have that option if they were going to be having work done throughout the daylight hours. He'd have to have somewhere to go in order to sleep. That would leave him in the care of others for upwards of sixteen hours a day or more between others watching him overnight and while he was sleeping. "Are you really certain that this place can be fixed up decently?" He asked. Lashanda nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the mark on her flank, a cloth rubbing dirt off a vase. "I'm really good at figuring out what can be salvaged into something good, I've got a great eye for restoration projects. Miss Number Crunch said I was the perfect pony for figuring out what houses were worth the time and money." "And how much experience do you have at this?" Lashanda's ears sagged a little. "Well, being a real estate agent is new to me, but I know I can do this. There are houses in the area that should just be torn down and be done with, a lot of them, but this isn't one of those. Give me a month, I promise we can make it a great place to raise foals. The price is low because they understand the work that will go into it, but I promise the investment is worthwhile, ponies are honest." Paul wasn't sure how much he trusted a tattoo on a pony's ass as a job qualification. This place looked rough. Whether they agreed to wait to have this place repaired or decided to wait to have a place built, they needed to get out of that tent, sooner rather than later. "And you're sure this is the best that's still available on the market?" He asked as he shook his head in disbelief. "Sorry again. As I said, the really good ones were grabbed up early. If you want something better you will have to wait for it to be built." Well, a decision would need to be made soon then. "I'm going to go talk to my wife. We'll have an answer for you in a few minutes." He bent down next to Jessie and talked to her. "We need to go back over to your mommy. Can you follow me like a good girl?" She abandoned what she was doing and got close by him as he stood up. Did she actually understand anything that he had just said? He really wished he knew. Devon had said that foals started figuring out what was said to them around a month old. It would have to be very limited understanding if so. She hadn't made any attempts to say anything other than baba so far, despite him and Devon both trying to get mama and dada out of her. He walked around to the other side of the house where Devon was examining it for areas that would need replacing. "This place needs some serious work. It will be a month at least before it's habitable if we signed a contract today," Paul said as he stepped up next to his wife and put an arm around her. Devon didn't reject the gesture, instead she sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's my fault for taking so long to do this. If I'd gotten on this as soon as I had the loan filled out maybe we wouldn't have to wait." Time to suggest what needed to be done. He looked down at the ground where Jessie was now examining a dandelion. "I think it might be best to agree to it and then go back to the apartment until things are done. We need to pack and get everything back there settled and resolved. One month and then we'll be good to go." Devon scowled. "That would be a month separating Robby and Jessie from other ponies. It isn't just bad for them, it's bad for us. We have no support system there." "You had a lot of friends at the school, couldn't we call some of them and see if we could get some help watching the foals?" Devon looked uncertain. "I don't know. I lost touch with everyone around the time Jessie was born and for all I know they are all here already, as ponies. Schools are breeding grounds for viruses and they would have been still teaching up until everything shut down." "We could possibly get Amanda to come along too. She may need to settle some things with where she had been living as well," Paul said as he hugged her tighter. "It confuses me how all these ponies just up and dropped everything about their lives and came here. Just up and left everything behind without so much as a second thought." "Amanda has a bag of stuff, and I'm pretty sure I've seen other ponies with the same. I'd assume most of what they left behind just wasn't useable by ponies." "They could have taken time to sell it off or something," Paul insisted. Devon shook her head. "Not likely. The market is probably going to be flooded with goods that ponies don't need anymore. I think it would be kind of liberating to just be able to toss aside most the crap that we worry about and say we don't need it anymore. We didn't get ETS though, so you're probably right about us needing to get everything in order." Paul smiled. "Alright, let's go tell the mare that we'll buy and be back in a month." Tonya sat on top of the roof of town hall gazing down at Megan and Melissa. The two humans hadn't taken notice of her. They hadn't even looked upwards once. The acoustics here were excellent, and even though they weren't talking loudly she could hear their conversation with ease. She had seen Melissa's reaction to fire, and the conversation afterwards. Melissa had some things in her past that she needed to put behind her. Tonya had to work hard to resist rushing down there to try to help. That was her purpose after all, she was supposed to help others get past their...well...pasts, to bring the important things to the surface and push the other things aside for them. She longed to help Melissa overcome her past. The medallion felt heavier around her neck at the moment. It wasn't actually any heavier, but at that moment she was much more aware if its weight. She glanced over to the building next door: Number Crunch was in there. Thinking about the unicorn was all the incentive she needed to keep sitting where she was at and not bringing attention to herself. Again she couldn't help wondering how Number Crunch had found out. The only pony that knew what she had done was Sunset, and Sunset wouldn't have told Number about it. Phobia, Rosetta, and Wild knew what Tonya could do. Phobia and Rosetta wouldn't have gone to Number though; that left Wild Growth as the sole pony that could have said something to Number. That didn't make any sense either. Wild showed her no hostility, and if she had known the earth pony would have said something. Actually there were two more possibilities. There was Lavender Mist and Luna. Luna had seen her nightmare, Luna could have known. If she did she could have told Lavender about it. That didn't feel right either though. Lavender didn't seem to have any issues with her, and Luna would have had Lavender doing something for sure if Luna knew. The last possibility of how Number knew was a scary one. That was that her powers wore off and those she used them on became aware of what had been done to them. That wasn't only scary for the sake of Number Crunch knowing what she had done, it was scary because it would mean that it was only a matter of time before Paul and Devon had their effect wear off. As if thinking about them had been a summons, she saw a car pull up in front of the bank and a moment later her brother and his wife get out of the car. Another pegasus flew up near them. She didn't know the pegasus, there were far too many to keep track of, but they seemed to know the mare and went into the bank with her. She looked up at the sun. It would be setting soon and she had an appointment for dinner with her family after that. They were obviously not ready yet if they were going into the bank, so she still had time, but she was dreading it. The world would probably spite her and have what she did wear off on them while dinner was in progress, leaving her having to be confronted by her sins. She shook her head and sighed. There was no help for it. Spreading her wings, she jumped off the roof and into the air, quickly gaining altitude and heading towards the tents. She'd wait there for her brother, and hopefully have thought of what she could do to make this right in the meantime. She didn't have a lot of faith in that.