//------------------------------//
// Chapter 44** 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Rosetta continued to watch over Phobia even though she was exhausted. It was getting to be mid-afternoon and she still hadn't slept. The urge to sleep was not just biological right now, she wanted to find Phobia in the dreamscape and find out what was going on.

The thrashing in bed, whimpering, sweating, and occasional cries out in pain had gotten bad for just a minute an hour or so ago, and everypony watching over her had panicked when it started. Surprisingly, it had been Sunset Blessing that had stood her ground and refused to let anypony wake her. Whatever had happened subsided quickly, and Phobia had been sleeping with no more signs of distress since that moment.

Waiting with her were Tonya, Sunset Blessing, and an equally tired Rudra. Lavender hadn't returned with Tattered Wing or anypony else, which was surprising because she had been gone a while. 

She looked at Tonya. What was going on in Tonya's mind was probably the biggest mystery out of those waiting. On one hoof this was Phobia, Tonya's best friend from childhood that they were all waiting to see wake up. Tonya had to be worried about her best friend. On the other hoof this was Phobia Remedy the Warden of Fear, and Tonya was guilty of crimes using mind magic. 

Sunset presented a similar set of conflicting views. One one hoof this was her daughter, on the other this was one of the ponies that would punish her lover. This had to be playing havoc with Sunset's emotions. The fiery preacher was doing a remarkably good job keeping her emotions in check for once though. Perhaps it was just shock.

Rosetta turned to Rudra. "Doctor, go get some sleep. We'll fetch you if there seems like there's a problem. What I really want to ask you to do is check on her in the dreamscape and then let us know what you see before going back to sleep again."

"That's one way of making that request," Rudra said with a yawn. "I'll do exactly that. I'm tired enough that I should be asleep as soon as I wrap a wing around my head."

"If you can, can you tell her what I said I did? If you are able to find her that is," Tonya said as she looked at him with her ears flattened.

"I'll do so, and I'll check to see if Tattered Wing is somehow still asleep and Lavender has just failed to find her," Rudra said. He then just went over into a corner instead of somewhere private. Within a few seconds he was laying down with his tail wrapped close to his body and his wings wrapped over his head.

"This waiting is going to drive me insane," Sunset said as she watched Rudra fall asleep.

Rosetta nodded. "Me too. Just to distract from the waiting, I did have something that I needed to discuss with you."

Sunset kept glancing between Rudra and Phobia. "Can't say I'm in the mood to discuss anything right now, but what is it?"

"There's a pony that could really use your help with funding her archaeology work. She's made some big discoveries about possible pony contact with our world a few centuries ago and has been hitting roadblock after roadblock on continuing her work," Rosetta explained.

Sunset's ears perked up a little and she turned to look at Rosetta. "Would that happen to be Sarah Tanner?"

Rosetta flicked an ear in confusion. "Um, yes. You've heard of her already?"

Sunset glanced at the two sleeping forms again and then back to Rosetta. "I have done some reading on a number of ponies elsewhere that are notable for various reasons. Her family is a fascinating one that I'd hoped to contact and be on good terms with, though I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Her oldest daughter and her nephew were the most interesting ponies in that family, but all three did seem to be the ones worth developing a business relationship with. I'm a simple mare of God, it doesn't hurt to make friends with more notable and capable ponies."

Sunrise Storm had been friends with Sunset Shimmer so of course Sunset Blessing was interested in her. Sarah's work wasn't exactly secret, so it wasn't too surprising that Sunset was also interested in it if she had heard about it. Rosetta knew nothing about Sarah's nephew so she couldn't guess what Sunset found interesting there. What was interesting, and a little disturbing, to Rosetta was the fact that Sunset Blessing was making plans to contact ponies on the other side of the country though all her efforts seemed to be based in the south. In any case, if Sunset was already interested in Sarah's work it would be easier to convince her to help fund Sarah.

Rosetta smiled. "Well, I have spoken with Sarah via dream and she is still looking for funding to continue her work. It can get very expensive and without government funding or any university funding she has been stuck doing nothing. I told her that I would ask you if you were interested in funding her."

Sunset rubbed a hoof to her chin. "I can't deny the fact her research could be invaluable. How much money are we talking about when we say she needs funding?"

Rosetta's ears sagged a little. "She was saying that between paying for all the workers, equipment, lawyers, permits, and security it could easily pass a million a year. She'd be willing to give you exclusive access to her research findings though."

Sunset's eyes widened just a bit. "I hadn't realized how expensive a career archaeology was. Let me think and I'll give you an answer in a minute. I'm not saying no, but her research alone might not be enough repayment for that kind of bill. Plus there is the matter of how I get the money to her without broadcasting I have the kind of money to casually give such projects."

"Of course, take time to think it over. I told her I'd get an answer to her in about two days, but if you need more time to think it over..." Rosetta began before Sunset held a hoof up to cut her off.

"I do intend to make her an offer on funding. I just have to consider how much and what conditions I want attached to it. This is a big investment on my part. I want to be sure I get a good return on it. I'll let you know in a few minutes," Sunset said quickly. The red unicorn turned her attention back to looking at Phobia's sleeping form again, but Rosetta could tell that Sunset was deep in thought.

And that left them back at waiting in silence for several minutes. Only having it broken when Rudra stirred from his brief time asleep with a groan.

"What's the news, doctor?" Sunset asked before Rudra had even finished pulling his wing back to his side.

Rudra shook his head as if clearing it and then glared at Rosetta. "You could have warned me not to try to find Phobia Remedy the same way we find any normal dreamwalker or dreamer. I eventually got in touch with her, after I got temporarily blinded."

Rosetta clopped her forhooves together excitedly. "Yes, yes, yes, you got blinded; that's great news "

Every pony in the room stared at her like she'd gone insane. She smiled sheepishly then coughed into her hoof. "Well, not great for you that you got temporarily blinded, but it means she succeeded in what she was doing. She's going to live!"

Sunset let out a long breath. "I'm very relieved to hear that, but can you please explain that a little better."

"I'm kind of limited on what I can say," Rosetta explained. "I guess what I can say is if Phobia became what she was supposed to become the dreamscape would react badly to anypony that tried to track her down in it the way they normally would."

Rudra snorted. "You could have told me that before I got my vision fried by every dream in the dreamscape flaring to blinding light. I assume you want to know what she said, right?"

"Please," Rosetta said as she settled back down. 

Rudra gestured towards Tonya. "She was very distressed to hear of what young Ms. Middleton here confessed. She said that when Ms. Middleton is brought to trial this will now be the primary charge she is facing judgement on. As for when that will be she must consult with the others, partially the pony directing Ms. Middleton's trial. It won't be until after Shadow Dancer's trial still, so she has time to prepare a defense."

"And what about Tattered Wing? Did you find her?" Sunset asked.

Rudra nodded. "We were interrupted by her being presumably woken up, but we did speak briefly. Tattered Wing will take no action against Tonya until her trial is settled. Tattered Wing also said that she would be requesting to be a prosecutor."

"Great..." Tonya muttered. "We both get to prosecute Shadow Dancer together then she gets to turn around and prosecute me. Maybe Tattered is trying to change careers."

"What's Phobia doing now? Why hasn't she woken up?" Rosetta asked.

"She says she is attending to her brother's training and dealing with some fresh dreamwalkers. She'll wake up on her own around the time the sun sets," Rudra answered. "She also said you should get some rest, Ms. Stone. She was concerned you weren't asleep when she checked on you."

"Brother?" Sunset said in confusion. "She doesn't have a brother, she's an only foal. I'm her mother, I'd know if I have given birth to more than one."

Rosetta rolled her eyes. "She means brother in a figurative sense. I've heard some of the others like her talk that way, like they're siblings. The old bitch even calls Phobia her sister."

Sunset didn't reply to this, she just sat and seemed to consider it. Rosetta was personally glad that there was not more demands for explanation. What was Phobia going to do about ponies like Tonya, Wild, and Sunset that knew at least some things about the Dreamwardens? Rosetta also hoped she wasn't going to be personally punished for taking initiative to tell Sunset some things just to make her cooperate. If a punishment was coming she hoped Phobia wouldn't have to be the one to inflict it.

Rosetta made her way over to the bed and started using her teeth to unstrap Phobia from the restraints they had her in. A moment later Sunset walked over and started helping using her horn. After they were done Rosetta curled up close to Phobia to sleep with her.

"Before you go to sleep I have an answer about Mrs. Tanner," Sunset said before Rosetta could bring a wing up around her head. "As long as I have access to all information in her research, I can have one of my unicorns at least look over any artifacts she might find, and I choose how much security she has and who is on the security teams I will be willing to do whatever funding she needs."

Artifacts? Of course Sunset would want access to any artifacts found, Rosetta hadn't even thought of that. Equestrian artifacts were most likely magical tools, and Sunset would have access to learning Equestrian magic she might not otherwise have access to through them. The security team thing sounded fishy too, but the artifact requirement was clear.

"You promise you won't try to take any artifacts for yourself?" Rosetta asked with her eyes narrowed. "That could be a deal breaker for her."

"I don't need to have them if one of my unicorns can just look them over. There's no guarantee she'll even find any more," Sunset said as she flicked her tail. The unicorn then took on a serious expression. "I know both of you aren't stupid ponies, so I won't deny why I want them looked over. You know why I want them looked over, and she'd figure it out herself quickly since she's a unicorn. Once my unicorns get a good look at the runes we have no need to actually have the artifact and she can deal with them as she wishes. I doubt there'd be any Earth shatteringly strong spells on simple survival equipment, but every little bit of knowledge helps."

"And if the government steps in and does anything with the artifacts? They'll be on guard for that type of thing," Rosetta asked. 

"As long as Mrs. Tanner keeps any artifact discovers from reaching public ears I'm sure the government won't do anything, especially once they learn from me than I have the situation already being watched," Sunset said with a proud smile. "It isn't that they don't want magic to be learned, it's about control of what gets out and when. If Mrs. Tanner can be responsible about that she has no need to fear."

"That's why you want control of who's on security. Big sister Sunset Blessing is watching on the government's behalf," Rosetta said as she resisted gritting her teeth.

"Among other things, but yes," Sunset grinned. "Those are my terms you can take to her. If she agrees I'll have a representative contact her about the financial details. Her location was already being tracked by the government as a pony on a list, so I can find her."

Rosetta had honestly only brought this up to distract from the waiting. She hadn't actually expected Sunset to take the time to consider it right away with everything she was worrying about with Tonya and Phobia. Sunset apparently couldn't stop herself from trying to advance her agendas when given an opportunity, no matter what else was going on.

Rosetta grunted and put her wing up over her head. It only took a few seconds to fall asleep.

Rosetta found herself in her own dream and didn't wait to find out what she was dreaming about before exiting it into the dreamscape. 

Once into the star filled expanse she did a quick glance around as if something might have changed about it since Phobia was now officially a Dreamwarden, but it was just like it always was.

"Phobia? Can you hear me? I wanted to check to see if you were alright," she called out.

Almost instantly the dreamscape shifted and she found herself in the little clearing where she and Phobia had first made love beneath the old oak tree, though the star filled expanse of the dreamscape still was overhead. She smiled at Phobia's choice of setting and her smile got larger when Phobia stepped out from behind the tree.

Phobia gave her a smile back. "Now it's appropriate for you to give your Oaths."

Rosetta dipped her head into a small bow. "Psychic Calm, we promise ponies shall dream in peace. Yinyu Wu Yan, we shall not allow our passions to lead us to folly. Ghadab, the Wardens' anger is unyielding and just. Phobia Remedy, fear of the Wardens keeps us safe. Tikhiy Krik, we shall keep the secrets of the Wardens. Sha'am Maut, better to die than to face the Wardens' justice."

"Good," Phobia said. She then shook her head and sighed. "Would you believe I've already had to punish a pony over trying to avoid giving the Oaths? Couldn't get through the full first day without having to be firm."

Rosetta's ears flattened out. Given what Tattered described Yinyu and Sha'am doing she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what Phobia did. "You didn't hurt them too much did you?"

Phobia shook her head. "Nothing too severe. Just made her worst nightmares come to life and intensified them a bit. She was much more compliant after that."

Of course, Phobia was the Warden of Fear, nightmares would be her thing. Hopefully she wouldn't scare any pony to death in their sleep. 

"How bad was the binding?" Rosetta asked, not wanting to dwell on the fact that Phobia was already having to discipline ponies.

Phobia looked out at the stars and her eyes went distant. "I saw terrible things. The casual way that my predecessors in each universe would just end lives...the monstrous things that they did...you have no idea how many have died by the Dreamwardens over the ages. Whatever nightmares I might have had before I think will be permanently replaced now with the memories of what they did. We're talking about complete extermination of magical life...done repeatedly on a universal scale."

Rosetta laid her ears back. "But.. I thought the Dreamwardens were supposed to defend the existence of dreams."

Phobia still had that distant look in her eyes. "Now we are, because we've imposed rules and restrictions on ourselves over the ages, but it wasn't always so. We're supposed to maintain an order in the dreamscape, that's why magic spawned my earliest forbearers; more often than not that order was achieved by simply eliminating the dreamscape--which meant eliminating the dreamers. It just took a single thought to kill an untold amount of magical beings, effort wasn't even put into it."

"And you have that kind of power now?" Rosetta asked wide eyed.

Phobia shook her head. "Yes and no. Technically I have the power to end everyone who is dreaming's life at once with only a whim. We imposed our own Oaths on ourselves, baked them in as Yinyu said to me, and those stop us from doing that kind of thing. There's several restrictions in place, not nearly enough. When I get old and tired I'll probably have had plenty of time to think of more to bake into the next generation. Progress through increasing restrictions, it's strange but true."

Thinking about that kind of thing was not what she wanted to associate Phobia with. She had other reasons for needing to talk to Phobia here anyway.

"Phobia...what are you going to do about Tonya?" She asked, worried about what kind of answer she was going to get.

Phobia shook her head. "She'll be tried. We won't kill her if that's what you're worried about. I'm not sure what kind of judgement will come down, but not death."

"Sha'am said that Krik killed somepony," Rosetta pointed out. 

"Really?" Phobia asked with a frown. She then paused and seemed to be listening to something, an action Rosetta had recognized both Luna and Sha'am do when checking information. She assumed waiting for some other split of their consciousness to find something out. 

When Phobia turned her attention back to her Phobia was wearing a small frown. "That changes some things."

Rosetta's heart dropped in her chest. "Your mother is wanting to defend Tonya when Tonya's trial comes, I do too. Will we be allowed?"

Phobia raised an eyebrow at her. "And my mom knows there is even going to be a trial because...?"

Rosetta looked down. "Because first we were having to tell her something about what happened earlier, then Tonya started freaking out and confessed to what she did to Number Crunch, then I had to give some explanation, then your mother took a willing compulsion to secrecy from Tonya in order to get more out of me. She's your mother, what was I supposed to do when she wants to know why I'm worried about you dying and Tonya's insisting you're going to kill her? I had to give her something."

Phobia sighed then looked up at the stars again. "Sha'am, Psy, Krik, Yinyu, Ghadab can you all come speak with me and Rosetta a moment?"

The collective group, thankfully all in their forms that reflected their mortal bodies, came into the clearing.

"We need to make a decision about an ongoing problem. Ponies and humans that for whatever reason need to or should ideally know about us," Phobia announced.

"What kinds of situations would prompt them needing to know before we left our vow of secrecy?" Sha'am asked.

Phobia glanced at Rosetta then back to the assembled group. "First we have the trials where we are already planning on allowing non-night ponies to participate as defense, prosecution, and witnesses. We need to have them clearly understand what's going on. I've also had parents of a night pony foal become very insistent on knowing what their foal is being taught. I know there are more night pony foals already in wombs of non-night ponies and elsewhere. In fairness we need to have a plan for these parents."

"Agreed, our vow of secrecy is important, but under certain circumstances it can be our undoing. A clear procedure for dealing with such circumstances is needed," Psychic Calm said.

"A modified Oath just for secrecy?" Yinyu suggested. "We can go to the ponies dreams and give it to them. Explain that if they want to know they need to do this. We don't even have to be all mean to them if they refuse, just tell them they aren't finding out anything if they refuse."

"Human parents with no connection to the dream realm would be a problem in that case," Sha'am said thoughtfully. "We wouldn't be able to lay a compulsion to secrecy down without seeing them in the flesh. That could be difficult."

They all looked at Krik for a long moment and then they collectively nodded. Rosetta never heard Krik utter a sound. They must have some other method of speaking with him.

"I suppose that could work in most cases, brother," Sha'am said thoughtfully. Then looked at Ghadab. "And what're your thoughts on the matter?"

Ghadab snorted. "I don't fucking care. I just want the rules enforced. If the rest of you determine a rule I shall see it's kept and punish if it isn't."

"We're in agreement then. An Oath of secrecy, no attempts to force them to say the Oath, just the ultimatum that it's the only way they shall learn," Phobia said with a nod. "If it's human untied to the dreamscape we shall find an agent or go ourselves to administer the Oath."

"Agreed," the rest chorused back, with the exception of Krik who simply nodded.

Rosetta was surprised. It was a surpisingly gentle and quickly resolved decision. 

The rest of the Dreamwardens quickly departed leaving her alone with Phobia once again. 

"What did Luna have to say about all of you forcing the binding through?" Rosetta asked as she realized Luna had been absent still.

"She still hasn't found out. Not sure if she's off world or..." Phobia stopped and her eyes widened briefly. "Never mind, she just came into the dreamscape. You might want to excuse me for a little while. I have a feeling the six of us are about to get a lecture on being reckless. I'll catch up with you when Luna runs out of things to yell about."

"You're going to get a spanking from your other mother?" Rosetta giggled.

Phobia snorted. "She is no more capable of spanking us than we are her, she's going to have a lot of words to say though. Best to spare you dealing with angry Luna."

"Have fun with that," Rosetta said with a smirk. "If she keeps you listening to lectures the rest of the day I'll see you when you wake up. I'm betting she isn't going to run out of steam for a little while.

Phobia flattened her ears. "That's a pretty safe bet so I won't take you up on it."