//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

There was one thing that Devon was learning about her husband and Tonya, they went together like oil and water. It was a new day, and a new issue.

Paul fumed at his sister as Tonya tried to hide under the table. "Why won't you give me any answers about any of this? You won't talk about why Phobia scares all of you, and you won't talk about why Robby is going on about you have night pony magic. Why's this all so big a deal to talk about?"

"I promised I wouldn't say anything about Phobia, and she'd be really pissed at me if I said anything," Tonya insisted.

"I'm pissed at you now for not saying anything," Paul said as he slapped a hand on the table, making everyone flinch.

"You're my brother, and you can be pretty scary, but you've got nothing on Phobia when it comes to intimidation factor," Tonya said as she looked warily at Paul's hand. "I promised, and I'm not breaking that promise; even if Phobia didn't end up getting mad at me. She's been my only friend for years, I'm not going to betray her trust."

"What kind of friend has you terrified of them?" Paul demanded. "That sounds like an abusive relationship, not a friendship."

"She looked out for me by telling me the things that make me afraid of her. If she hadn't I might have made some serious mistakes," Tonya said as she emerged from trying to hide and looked Paul in the eyes. "And Robby is a hundred percent safe with her. Probably safer with her than with any other pony in town. She's a good pony."

"Yeah, Dad, Ms. Phobia is good. Listen to Aunt Tonya," Robby piped up.

Devon pulled Robby close to her. "Hush, let your Dad and aunt talk."

Paul looked around at the others at the table as if looking for support. Devon shrugged, she really didn't know what to think. Did some of the things she heard worry her? Yes, there was no denying that; they worried her a lot. At the same time Robby seemed excited rather than distressed about all this, and kept insisting he needed Rosetta to teach him how to be a good night pony, something Devon had no clue on. The fact was she had no idea  what was appropriate to do with Robby's education because she wasn't a night pony. She had already decided she was going to go to Tattered Wing to see what she thought, and if this was normal for night ponies.

Amanda shrugged her shoulders as well. "Don't look at me. It sounds as crazy to me as it does to you. Teaching a foal that they are dangerous and need to learn all this stuff so they won't be dangerous? Talking about fear like it's the best thing ever. That's insane!"

Tonya bent forward into a pleading position. "Just talk to the other night ponies, talk to the Equestrian one, Lavender Mist, at the clinic if you want one with an outside opinion. Lavender has helped me with understanding things before. I'm not an expert on night ponies. I just know Phobia won't hurt Robby."

Devon saw that this wasn't going to go anywhere. She had already made up her mind to talk to Tattered Wing, and now she'd add Lavender Mist to that list. It was time to move on from the subject.

She looked at Tonya while still hugging Robby. "Can you please explain why Robby is insisting you have night pony powers and what those are? He was going on about your singing."

Tonya laid her ears flat. "Oh...um...can you please not tell Phobia about that."

"She already knows, and to hear her and Rosetta talk about it so does every night pony in town," Devon answered.

"Oh fuck me," Tonya said as she looked around. Tonya froze as she spotted a night pony on the far side of the cafeteria. Devon realized that the night pony wasn't socializing with anyone, which was strange, and he was in a position where he had a unobstructed view of Tonya. 

Devon leaned forward and whispered. "Tonya, what did you do? Why do you have night ponies watching you?"

Tonya shook her head with rising panic. "This is bad, this is really bad."

Paul looked over at the night pony and got up to walk over to the stallion. Devon Immediately released Robby and hurried after him, fearing that he was about to cause a scene.

"You there, night pony, why are you watching my sister?" Paul demanded as he pointed back at Tonya.

The night pony calmly looked up at him with just a small twitch of an ear. "Because I was told to watch her. Not my job to do anything else involving her. Easy job, just watch the crazy pegasus."

"Who told you to watch her?" Paul demanded. 

"Tattered Wing of course, she's my boss. She got told from higher-ups to have Tonya watched, so she tells me to watch Tonya. I'm watching Tonya now. End of story," the stallion said with a shrug.

"And who are the higher-ups? Is it Phobia?" Paul asked as he clenched his fists.

The night pony stallion went wide eyed for a moment and glanced around. "Careful what you talk about, human. Some names should not be said in public in regards to what night ponies do. For the record, I don't think it was her that gave the order. Though if you have an issue with Tonya being watched you can go to her about it."

"Is every night pony in town involved with whatever this thing is involving rules?" Devon asked in exasperation.

"Every night pony in town for sure, probably every night pony in the world very soon. The higher-ups move quick," the stallion explained. 

"And Phobia is one of these higher-ups?" Paul asked. 

The stallion seemed torn on what to do. "I can't say, it's against the rules. Just take your best guess on that."

Devon touched Paul's shoulder. "Come on, we're not getting any more out of him. Phobia already extended an invitation to talk to us tomorrow. Let's focus on finding out why your sister is freaking out so when we talk to Phobia we can address it."

Paul gave the stallion another glare, which the stallion seemed indifferent about then nodded back to her. 

They returned to the table where Robby was trying to cuddle and soothe his aunt and Amanda was carefully guarding both fillies. 

"Get anything?" Amanda asked as they sat down.

"Just a referral to talk to Phobia, and that every night pony in town is involved with whatever this is," Devon explained with a sigh.

"Every night pony everywhere from what he said," Paul added in. "It's like some worldwide conspiracy. Whatever it is, Phobia is one of the ponies at the heart of it."

Tonya wrapped her wings around her head and whimpered. 

"What did you do by singing? We're going to talk to Phobia and try to help you, but we need to know what is going on first," Devon asked.

Tonya slowly brought herself to a regular sitting position and took a few deep breaths. "Okay, you have to promise you won't tell anypony. Maybe it's not so bad, and Phobia will be okay with it." She then glanced at the stallion again and then jerked her head back. "Then again, now they've got ponies watching me."

"We promise to keep this between us, just tell us what's going on," Paul said in a soothing tone.

Tonya took a few more deep breaths then let out one final long one before continuing. "Earlier today, I might have kind of...sort of...used mind magic to help get everypony involved with the song. Just kind of encouraging it to happen. I can do things to other people's minds, it's a night pony thing normally, but somehow I can too. It's just part of me, I can't help it."

Devon blinked. "Why?" 

Tonya tapped her hooves together nervously. "Wild needed encouraging, and with a pony of her power I didn't want to go messing with her mind. Plus, I wanted her to know the whole town supported her. They wouldn't have responded to my magic if some part of them didn't want to sing along."

"So, instead of messing with just one pony's mind you thought it would be better to mess with the entire rest of the town?" Amanda asked incredulously.

"Well, when you say it like that it sounds pretty bad."

Paul rubbed his head. "And that's why you suddenly have all the night ponies concerned about you. They don't like that you used that magic on everyone?"

Tonya went back to trying to compress herself as small as possible. "Phobia warned me not to do that kind of stuff. I suppose they aren't too mad, otherwise I wouldn't just be watched. I don't even know how they found out."

Robby shuffled in his seat. "Sorry, Aunt Tonya. I didn't mean to tell on you."

Tonya looked at Robby. "You told the night ponies about me? You're getting demoted to second favorite nephew or niece, Jessie's my new favorite."

"Aww," Robby whined. Jessie stared at Tonya with her head cocked to the side, likely recognizing her name being mentioned, but unsure what was being said.

"So, what else have you done?" Devon asked.

Tonya started to visibly sweat, a very impressive feat for a furred creature. "A little here, a little there, some of it was a complete accident I didn't mean to happen." She shook her head and fluffed her wings, then held up the medallion from around her neck. "But this thingy here blocks my powers, so I can't have any more accidents. The Equestrians gave it to me."

Paul gave her a flat look. "But you can still take it off and do something on purpose, like you did today."

Tonya bowed her head. "Yeah, I can. I thought I was doing something good this time. I really want to do good things with my magic. I just can't seem to get it right, and I have a hard time resisting the urge."

"I don't think what you did today was bad," Amanda said thoughtfully. "And as you said the night ponies are only watching you, not coming for your head. We all heard about what they did in Charleston. I figure if they were really out to get you they'd do it quick."

Devon looked at Amanda in confusion. "What did the night ponies do in Charleston?"

Paul answered instead. "It was on the news after you left. The night ponies in Charleston had gone full vigilante justice. They would attack in swarms for even minor crimes, breaking bones and things like that. They even killed one guy; he was a rapist caught in the act, but they were still excessively violent. The whole city was terrified of them "

"They were just protecting. They weren't doing anything wrong," Robby insisted.

Devon whipped her head around to look at her son. "Did Rosetta tell you that?"

Robby's ears sagged. "Well, actually she told me they were being bad, but I don't understand how. They were stopping the bad guys. Why is that bad?"

Devon let out a long breath. Maybe there was something to Rosetta's night pony lessons and teaching how to be a proper night pony that she could understand.

She laid a hand on her son's back. "You have to do things the right way. If you stop the bad guys the wrong way you'll turn into a bad guy yourself. Think of it this way, say you stole a cookie from the cookie jar. You'd have done a bad thing. Now, what if I decided because you stole a cookie from the cookie jar I'd throw away all your toys?"

Robby's ears flattened. "No, that's unfair. Stealing a cookie from the cookie jar isn't that bad."

"But you weren't supposed to do it, and I'd need to punish you. Why not just throw all your toys away?" 

"Because that's not fair! I'd need to have done something way worse to get my toys thrown away," Robby insisted.

Devon smiled. "And that's why what they were doing was bad. They were giving too much punishment for what happened."

Robby blinked. "Oh, that makes sense. That's just like Ms. Rosetta was saying about how easy it is to become a bad guy or monster. About how we needed to fear what we do, and we're the scariest things. Do you think you're a scary thing sometimes too?"

"Uh..." Devon was taken aback by the logic. Suddenly the whole night pony philosophy seemed to make more sense. It was a weird way of teaching responsibility, fairness, and restraint, but that was what this was about; with an extra focus on what wrong they could do if irresponsible.

Looking to her sides she saw Amanda had a thoughtful look on her face as she looked at Robby. Both Tonya and Paul looked stricken, like what Robby had said had struck a chord with them and they felt that fear that he talked about.

Paul finally laid a hand down on Robby's back right atop of Devon's. "Yeah, I understand exactly what it feels like to think I might have done something that makes me a scary monster."

Tonya nodded solemnly in agreement. The pegasus was blinking her eyes and seemed near crying. Whatever chord Robby had struck with her was really upsetting to her.

It was time to drop this conversation for right now. "Paul, we're going to just talk to Phobia and Rosetta about what they're teaching our son tomorrow. I think there are clear signs we're misinterpreting some things. Maybe it's just a failure to communicate how night ponies think to how we think, and I believe we're jumping to conclusions."

"I'm still not sure about them," Paul said. "The fact they have Tonya so scared and how they bathe everything in secrecy is wrong."

"Which is why we're having a going to have a good talk with them," Devon said firmly. "I don't like all their secrecy either; it just doesn't sit right with me, not even going into terrorizing your sister. Maybe if we make it clear we aren't going to run off and tell all their secrets they'll be more open. We can't be the only parents, human or pony, dealing with a night pony foal when we aren't night ponies. Some type of accommodation so we can understand what's going on has to be made. How can we raise our son if we don't know their rules and what he is dealing with?"

"When you go over there, I'll come too," Tonya said as she stared down at the table. "I need to talk to Phobia and both of you about something, something important. I want all three of you there so I can get it out all at once. Hopefully neither you or Phobia will kill me."

"Stop being over-dramatic," Paul scolded. "I can't imagine you've done anything that bad."

Tonya brought her forelegs over the table and laid her head down in them. "I hope you and Phobia feel that way tomorrow night after I tell you."





Patience was a virtue. By that measure Rosetta felt she should be considered one of the most virtuous mares on Earth.

Rosetta, Phobia, and Sunset Blessing had been waiting patiently in one of the clinic's many rooms for close to an hour now for Lavender to return with the test results. Pregnancy tests should not take this long, especially when you already knew what the result was going to be anyway. Phobia was in edge about being out of the house, and Sunset Blessing was headache inducing by virtue of being Sunset Blessing.

"What on God's green Earth is taking that damned Equestrian so long? Did she have to run back to Equestria to get the results?" Sunset Blessing fumed. The fact that Rosetta's thoughts were in line with her future mother-in-law's just dampened her mood further. The idea that she could see eye to eye about anything with Sunset Blessing made her want to be sick.

Phobia had her ears flattened, and was laying on the hospital bed with her head on her hooves. "Mom, less yelling."

Sunset then seemed to calm down and switch to her other mode for the evening. "I'm sorry, baby. I shouldn't be doing anything to upset you. I know this must be very scary for you. Especially after all you've already been through. Maybe I should stay at your house tonight."

"Sunset, we are fine without you being there. I'm taking care of her," Rosetta said with a roll of her eyes.

Sunset humphed and glared at Rosetta. "That's all well and good, but I'm her mother and my baby needs me."

Rosetta narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail. "I'm her fiancée and I'll take care of her. She doesn't need you smothering her with attention that you only bother to show now that she's pregnant."

Sunset narrowed her eyes back. "Are you calling me a bad mother?"

Rosetta advanced towards Sunset. "Maybe, you managed to miss that she was trans through her whole childhood. You've only come by twice since she was raped; well, three times if you count tonight. You also don't show anywhere near this level of affection normally that I've seen."

Sunset bared her teeth. "At least I'm not some stupid tramp that got in a relationship with a damn rapist and inadvertently caused Phobia to get raped."

Rosetta spread her wings threateningly. "Nope, you just rob the cradle and sleep with a mare that's not even half your age. Tell me, when Phobia and Tonya we're kids did you fantasize about undressing and fucking Tonya even then?"

Sunset lit her horn up. "You fucking bitch!"

"Mom! Rosetta! Will you two please calm down!" Phobia screamed. She then pushed herself up to her hooves and shot glares at each of them while swishing her tail violently about. "I'm trying to keep it together and you two insist on antagonizing one another. I know you're both stressed and taking it out on one another. I need you to sit in opposite corners of the room and chill out!"

"Are you going to let her get away with calling me a tramp?" Rosetta demanded.

Sunset pointed at Rosetta. "Are you going to let her get away with how she talked about my relationship with Tonya and calling me a bad mother?"

Phobia's smacked a hoof to her head and shook it. "Fine, both of you apologize to one another. Mom, you will not talk to my future wife that way. Rosetta, my mother is not a horrible mother and both she and Tonya are consenting adults who are free to have a relationship."

Rosetta and Sunset looked at each other briefly then both looked off to the side rather than look at one another. Both of them had their ears laid back and tails twitching. 

"I apologize, you aren't a tramp," Sunset all but mumbled.

"You aren't a cradle robber, and I suppose there are worse mothers out there. I'm sorry, I was out of line," Rosetta said stiffly.

They then went back to waiting in silence for several more minutes. After another half hour past by the door finally opened and Lavender Mist and Rudra Patel entered the room. 

"We apologize for the delay. There was some complications getting the equipment for testing together," Lavender apologized.

"So, is she or isn't she pregnant?" Sunset asked.

Rudra came forward with a tablet clenched in one leg and held it up to read. "Yes, Ms. Remedy is definitely pregnant. There is no question on the test results in this case. Multiple tests run consistently produced the same result."

Sunset rushed over to Phobia and wrapped her forelegs around her. "My poor baby, having to carry that monster's foal!"

Rosetta rolled her eyes. Damn drama queen. 

Rudra coughed into his hoof. "We'd like to sit and discuss their pregnancy with the two future mothers, in private."

Sunset stared at the two clinical ponies in shock then pointed a hoof at Rosetta. "Why do I have to leave and she gets to stay?"

Rosetta looked at the unicorn as if Sunset was stupid. "Maybe because I'm pregnant too, unless you somehow forgot, and Phobia and I are co-parents for all these foals."

She was surprised when Sunset blinked as if that was just registering. The damned bitch had forgotten in all the stress and yelling. It made her want to buck the mare straight out of the room.

"Go on outside to the lobby to wait. I'm sure your husband will want to hear the news. We won't keep these two too long," Lavender said calmly.

Sunset looked unhappy about her removal, but accepted with a nod and exited out the door. Rudra shut the door behind her and to Rosetta's surprise he held his ear to the door to make sure Sunset actually did exit out to the lobby. After he was satisfied she had done as expected he nodded to Lavender.

Lavender looked at Phobia nervously. Rosetta felt a tightness build up in her chest. Was something wrong with Phobia's pregnancy?

"Is Rudra required to give you Oaths even though we aren't in the dreamscape? We weren't clear on that, and didn't want to offend you," Lavender asked.

Oh, that's what was going on. Phobia being a Dreamwarden was already having ponies treat her different while awake.

Phobia shook her head. "My authority is strictly in the dreamscape. In the waking world I'm just another night pony. If I have a reason to address you as a Dreamwarden in the waking world I'll let you know."

Rudra and Lavender let out relieved breaths. Lavender then smiled. "That's a relief. I was scared that we would have to watch every last thing said to you. Rudra had a rough time with Sha'am."

Rudra shivered. "I will never cross a Dreamwarden again."

Phobia smiled. "Please, you don't need to be so tense around me in the waking world." She then narrowed her eyes. "Though if you do get deliberately rude with me, that I might take offense to. You don't have to tip-toe around me or worry about the Oaths, but keep in mind that I'm still to be treated with at least a minimum level of respect you'd treat any other pony with. In the dreamscape I do expect you to be on point with your Oaths and full respect. Understood?"

Rudra gulped. "Understood, Dreamwarden. By the way, Sha'am Maut is Warden of Death, Krik is Warden of Silence; what are you Warden of?"

Phobia looked him in the eyes. "Isn't it obvious? I'm the Warden of Fear."

Rudra shuddered. "Of course, Dreamwarden."

Phobia gave a comforting smile. "Just call me Phobia while we're awake. You're my doctor and I'm your patient. That's all you need to worry about right now."

Rosetta walked over to Phobia and placed a wing on her lover before turning to face Rudra. "Rudra, stop worrying about her being a Dreamwarden. Right now she's being brave about it, but she's the one who's scared at the moment. She needs her doctor to tell her everything is going to be alright, not some pony who's scared of her."

That seemed to snap Rudra out of his funk and back into normal action. After a quick blink he went back to reading over his tablet for a moment and then looked back to Phobia without fear. 

"Everything seems to be perfectly good at this stage. It is far too early to tell much about how your pregnancy is going though. I would have you return in four weeks for another appointment unless you note some sort of problem before then. I'll have Scott assign you an appointment time."

"Is there anything I need to do before then?" Phobia asked.

Rudra shook his head. "Just make sure you are eating right, getting enough sleep, and getting a small amount of exercise, avoid any narcotics or heavy alcohol, all things I would recommend for all ponies--even if they weren't pregnant. You shouldn't have to do any major lifestyle changes at this stage."

Rosetta looked to Lavender and braced herself to ask a question that may make her look stupid. "Phobia brought up a point to me that might not be a big deal, but wanted to ask about it. She didn't have a period from what we could tell before the rape, and never has had a period in her life since she's only been a biological mare for a month. I haven't heard any other ponies talk about having periods either."

Lavender looked confused at the question. "I don't understand your question. What're you talking about when you're talking about periods?"

Rudra cleared his throat. "I believe she is asking about menstrual periods, Lavender."

Realization dawned on Lavender's face. "Oh, that! From what little I learned about humans you might be confused by the differences. Actually, I was kind of shocked when I learned the way human menstruation worked. It isn't too different from pony menstruation to tell the truth, but the big difference is when an egg fails to get fertilized with ponies we reabsorb it into ourselves, while humans purge it from their bodies."

Rosetta blinked. "So we don't bleed during our periods? Are you serious?"

"No bleeding," Lavender confirmed with a nod. "Most of the time you won't even notice you've gone through your monthly cycle, unless something is wrong. You might notice a very small uptick of sex drive for a day or two when the egg is at the absolute best point for fertilization, and you'll give off a very faint musk that can heighten sex drive in males at that point, but nothing else."

"Wait...are you saying we go through heat every month?" Rosetta asked with dreading.

Lavender's eyes went wide. "What? No! Where do you ponies on this planet get these weird ideas? I said a slight uptick, not turn you into a raging sex monster. If you've already got a moderately high sex drive you won't even notice the uptick, only lower sex drive mares typically do. Even then, it's just their thoughts drifting to lewd subjects a tiny bit more than they typically would. It's a small encouragement to have sex, not some gripping need."

"What about the stallions responding to the musk thing?" Rosetta asked. Would every mare just have to avoid going out when at that point to avoid every stallion trying to roll in the grass with her?

Lavender looked at her like she was crazy. "You have to pretty much go out of your way to get them to smell it. I said it was a faint smell and I meant it. They have to either have their noses already in your dock or you to be deliberately fanning the smell on them with your tail. Otherwise they aren't going to smell it under normal circumstances. You ponies on this world need to get your minds out of the gutter."

"Maybe we should do community informational courses on this kind of thing," Rudra suggested. "You have to remember that our biology is still very new to us, and most ponies are ignorant about much of it."

"Yeah, a good sex ed course seems like a good idea," Phobia chimed in. "Mix in some other health stuff too: how to preen your pegasus, horn care and you, protecting your eyes as a night pony, properly washing your hooves and mouth, everyday stuff."

Lavender frowned. "I suppose in a sense you're all like foals that need these things explained to you. Fine, I'll talk with Sunset Blessing and see what can be arranged."

Rudra cleared his throat again. "Now that we've discussed Ms. Remedy and menstrual cycles I would like to follow up on your progress, Ms. Stone."

Rosetta ran a hoof over her belly and nodded. "I had my first case of waking up sick today. I felt better after everything was out, and feel fine now, but earlier I vomited out in my hallway before I even made it to the bathroom."

Rudra nodded. "That would be about right for the timing. This should go on for about another nine weeks or so, with varying severity. We might be able to moderate it somewhat with diet, crackers, toast, lemons, tea. Also, eat earlier in the morning before going to bed. Those should help limit the severity of morning sickness."

"Should I be eating more, since I'm eating for three?" 

"You do need to eat more, but I would recommend eating more often rather than gorging in single sittings. Try to get some nuts and beans into your diet for extra protein, make a habit of having snacks throughout the day," Rudra said.

Rosetta scrunched her muzzle up. "I'm going to get fat doing that."

Lavender giggled. "You're carrying twins, getting fat is a given. You can work the weight off after they're born."

"It just means I get to admire your growing bubble butt," Phobia said with a smirk.

Phobia must have been really struggling with this a lot. Phobia only started cracking jokes, getting snarky, and making sexual comments when she was nervous or afraid. It was a coping mechanism. Phobia was very serious most of the rest of the time. Much as Rosetta wished she could get some more of that lighthearted nature to bleed into her regular behavior she knew what was going on right now. It was best to play along.

Rosetta looked at Phobia's butt and smirked back. "Good thing you're pregnant too, you barely have an ass on you. Now that will be remedied."

Phobia turned and tried to look at her own rear. "Am I really that small?" The Dreamwarden asked self consciously. 

"Yes, you are. I'll enjoy seeing you develop some sexy mare curves back there."

Phobia looked at Rosetta with a few light twitches of her ears. "Do you think I'm not really feminine?"

Great, now Phobia was getting self conscious about her femininity. Not the reaction she was hoping for.

"You're a mare, that's all you need to be feminine. You're plenty feminine enough for me," Rosetta assured her.

"Ms. Stone, I believe we have gone off subject again," Rudra said with annoyance.

"Rudra, do you think I'm not really feminine?" Phobia asked, undeterred from the subject.

Rudra looked like he was caught in a trap. On one end he could say that Phobia was very feminine and risk having a Dreamwarden question his sincerity. On the other he could say she was not very feminine, which aside from her delicate features she wasn't very stereo-typically feminine, and risk offending a Dreamwarden. 

Rudra chewed on his lip and then answered. "It's not my place to say."

Rosetta suppressed a groan as Phobia visibly started to give into stress and hormones and began to cry. The rest of the year was not going to be much fun.