//------------------------------//
// Chapter 45 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Wild hurried over to the clinic as fast as she could go. Number was in trouble, big trouble, and she needed Sunset Blessing to help her out of it. 

The Enclave second in command Ms. Rivers hadn't realized that Wild had stayed close by in earshot after leaving. Wild had heard Number confess to killing Swift Strike. She had barely gotten any details out of Number about what had happened yet, but she knew that she didn't want Number to go off to jail.

She reached the clinic and hurried inside. The crystal pony waiting at the desk looked up at her in suprise as she hurtied over to him. 

"Is Sunset Blessing awake yet? I need to see her right away, it's urgent," she said hurriedly as she proped her forehooves up on his desk.

The stallion blinked. "I believe so, but I'm not sure if you're allowed back to see her yet. Doctor Patel is asleep and Nurse Mist is out at the moment. I'm the only staff here at the moment and I'm just clerical."

Wild tapped her hooves anxiously on the desk. "What about Rosetta Stone, Phobia Remedy, or Tonya Middleton? Are they here? They aren't patients. Can you get one of them if they're here?"

The door heading to the back opened up and revealed Sunset. "Don't worry about whether the doctor is going to approve her. I'm good to go. What is so urgent, Wild?"

"I need to talk to you in private, right now," Wild said as she hurried for the hallway door. The stallion at the desk held up a hoof like he was going to object, but just lowered it with a grumble as Wild reached the doorway.

"Come on back to where we all are, I guess," Sunset said as she indicated a particular door. 

Wild went where indicated. When she got in the room she spotted three sleeping night ponies, two of which were her sister and Phobia, and the third she assumed was Doctor Patel. Tonya was also present looking at the floor and didn't even look up when Wild entered.

Sunset came in after her and looked briefly at Tonya. "Tonya, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Tonya replied in a low voice. 

Sunset shook her head and gave the pegasus one last worried glance before turning back to Wild. "What's the matter? What's so urgent it has your tail wound up in knots?"

"Number just got arrested for killing Swift Strike!" Wild said, near tears.

"What?!" Sunset exclaimed as she took a step back.

Tonya broke out of her daze and looked up in wide eyed shock. "No! I didn't mean for that to happen. Why are the arresting her and letting me go?"

Wild turned to the pegasus and narrowed her eyes. "Why would they arrest you? What did you have to do with it."

"I..." Tonya got out only a single word before she her mouth was clamped shut in Sunset's magical aura.

"Don't imcriminate yourself to even more ponies!" Sunset ordered as she looked the pegasus in the eyes.

Wild stepped towards Sunset with her eyes still narrowed. "What did Tonya have to do with this Sunset? Did Tonya screw with my friend's mind?"

Tonya may have had her mouth clamped shut by Sunset's magic, but the rest of her head was mobile. The pegasus squeezed her mouth shut and whimpered as she nodded. Sunset let off a groan as she released her hold on Tonya's muzzle.

Wild stared at Tonya. "You mind controled Number Crunch into doing murder?! How could you do something like that? What kind of monster are you? This isn't even a pony thing or a human thing, no one should do something like that! You should be the one jailed right now, not her."

Tonya just shook her head while crying. "I was just so angry, and wanted him to pay. I know that's no excuse. I just had the power to do it and I did."

"Nopony should have that kind of power, it's just evil," Wild said as she was stopped from advancing on Tonya by Sunset's magic. She turned and faced Sunset. "And you knew! You knew the whole time didn't you. Number trusted you and believed in you and you let that...that monster right there do that to her."

Sunset frowned. "Watch your tone, filly. Don't call Tonya a monster. Swift Strike was the monster. He deserved to die, and didn't deserve to be called a pony. No, I didn't want Tonya to do what she did, but from the moment that creature laid a hoof on my daughter I wanted his head on a stick. I would have found a way too. Even your sister wanted his blood for what he did."

"My sister didn't mind fuck somepony into doing her dirty work for her. A pony that more than anything else wanted to be better than what they were before," Wild said as she stepped forward. 

Sunset's eyes went wide as Wild continued to advance despite her magic and the unicorn visibly poured more magic into holding her back. It didn't do much good, as Wild continued advancing. She knew Sunset couldn't hold her back, she wasn't just any ordinary earth pony. She was Wild Growth, and that meant there was no pony short of an alicorn that had the strength of magic to stop her.

"Wild, stop!" Tonya yelled. "I'm sorry, I didn't know they were going to go after Number and not me. You're right, Number doesn't deserve this, I do. We'll fix this somehow. You have to keep control of your temper."

Wild's temper was indeed ready to blow. Tonya had ruined Number's life with her mind magic. The more she thought about it the angrier she got. 

"Fix this?!" Wild exclaimed as she stopped walking. "How do you plan to fix this? With more of your mind magic? I hope Phobia shows you no mercy for what you've done to my friend."

Tonya looked at her while still crying. "I'm sorry for what I did. Number was my friend too. I tried to help her."

"What kind of friend uses their friend like that?" Wild demanded. 

"I made a mistake. I'm sorry," Tonya sobbed.

"I'll make you sorry!" Wild said as she reared up. The magic gathered in her hooves and both Sunset and Tonya's eyes went wide with terror. As she saw that she suddenly realized what she was doing, but it was too late. She'd pulled forth her magic and it was about to strike. She couldn't stop it now.

Her forehooves both came down on the ground, and as with many a time before the silent sound of magic echoed in their wake like a bell. For a moment there was just stunned silence between the three of them as they held their breaths to see what was about to happen.

Sunset started thinking first. "Wake them up quick and let's get out of here. I don't know what's about to happen, but I can feel the magic still moving. Everypony needs to get out of here now."

A small tremor was felt that broke Wild and Tonya out of their stupor. They immediately sprinted into action to rouse the night ponies, though Rosetta and Rudra were already stirring due to the tremor.

"Sis, we need to get you and Phobia out now," Wild said urgently to her sister as a second tremor followed the first.

Rosetta looked at her blankly for a moment as the door swung open and the crystal pony from up front came in.

"What's going on? I felt a crazy huge surge of magic back here and now there's tremors," the stallion said as he gasped for breath from his quick sprint back to them.

Sunset ignored him and turned to Rudra. "Doctor, if there is any other pony in this building we need to get them out now. Wild just lost her temper and I don't know what's about to happen, but it's not good."

Rudra snapped awake. "The third Broken One, he is still back in his room."

"Get him out of here if you need to carry him," Sunset said in a rush as she turned back to the still somehow sleeping form of Phobia. "Move now, don't wait." She looked at Rosetta then. "Why isn't she awake, we have to get her out!"

Rosetta shook Phobia frantically, panic rising. "I think it's the sedatives we gave her. They have her completely out. I can't get her to wake up."

Sunset was quick to adapt. She quickly grabbed Phobia up in her magic and deposited Phobia on her back, still keeping her aura on Phobia in order to steady her and lighten the load. She then turned to Wild and pointed to a wall as a bigger tremor rocked the building and made a light fixture come tumbling down from the ceiling out in the hallway. 

"I can tell right now that whatever you did, this building isn't going to survive it. Break down that wall and get us a quick entrance out of here," Sunset commanded.

Wild didn't even think about other alternatives, she just did as ordered. She ran head-on towards the wall and jumped towards it with her shoulder going into it. The brick wall shattered as assuredly as if she was trying to smash through a wall of empty cardboard boxes. 

A full on earthquake began as her hooves touched the ground. She turned to see Rosetta and Tonya flying out, followed quickly by the crystal pony and Sunset with Phobia on her back. The earthquake intensified and the group put more distance between them and the building. A second later Rudra came hurrying out by hoof with a night pony draped across his back.

No sooner had he cleared the threshold an ear splitting crack went out and they all watched in horror as the entire building literally snapped in two. On one side the ground was sinking into the earth at a fast pace, taking it's side of the building with it. The other half had it's ground rising up at a fast pace, taking it's part of the structure with it.

As the brick crumbled, bushes and other plants started trying to grow from the side if the newly risen earth. Then it all stopped, and all that remained that gave any indication a building had stood there was the broken bricks and remains of paneling and light fixtures mixed among the new plant growth.

Luckily the building had no immediate neighbors that were caught up in it's sudden demolition. Part of the street had been caught up in it though, and the two lanes of the street in the immediate area near where the clinic had been were now only only one--with a similar split of the earth extending out halfway across the road.

Wild could only stand staring in horror at what she had done in a brief moment of anger, one that she had desperately tried to rein in far too late. Tonya wasn't the only monster in town. Wild knew that it was a miracle she hadn't killed anypony just now. This wasn't the first time she'd been given that miracle either. It made her feel like the biggest hypocrite ever staring out at her magical devestation.

Sunset carefully set Phobia down on the ground and did a quick visual survey of the situation before relaxing her posture. "It doesn't look like anypony got hurt, thank the Lord. I'll come up with some excuse for this; I don't know what, but I'll think of something."

Wild just gazed at the damage she had done and felt a tightness continue to grow in her chest. 

Suprisingly, it was Tonya who stepped over to Wild and laid a comforting hoof on her. "I know you didn't mean to do it. Pony or human, we all sometimes do things we regret when we get angry." Tonya looked at the damage again with her ears laid back. "I'm going to go see what I can do to try to repair the damage I've done with Number. Will you come with me? I can't fix everything, but I can try to do the right thing now."

Wild sat and looked back and forth between the pegasus and the broken remains of the clinic. She finally just gave a silent nod. She was still angry at Tonya, and would probably never forgive her for what she had done, because it was unforgivable. However, she could understand doing something terribly wrong when angry.

Tonya gave a sad smile. There was none of her normal playful mirth about her right now. She was as serious as Wild had ever seen her. The pegasus looked back at Rosetta. "My human family is coming to see you and Phobia later to talk about Robby. If I can't be there can you tell them what I did to them...that I got mad and used mind control on them to make them think the way I wanted, and that it was an accident. I wanted to tell them myself, but I might be locked up."

"You're not going to be locked up, and I'll figure out something with Number Crunch as well," Sunset insisted.

Tonya turned and looked at Sunset. "Sunset, let me do the right thing. I know you've got my back, and will fight for me, but I'm not letting Number take a fall for what I did to her. I'm just like her; I want to be a good pony. That means facing up to what I've done. I'm tired of worrying about everypony finding out. I'm tired of the constant feelings of guilt. I need to do this for me. You put a lot of stock in the Bible; well the Bible says I need to confess my sins and make an attempt to do right by who I've sinned against."

"You don't need to go announcing what you did," Sunset said firmly.

Tonya blinked. Then held up a hoof like she was saying a pledge. "From Proverbs...um...unsure about the verse number...Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. I did read the Bible and some things did stick." She lowered her hoof and looked tenderly at Sunset. "You want me to believe in this stuff, right? Well, let me follow through on what I believe is right from it."

Wild looked at Sunset. "Let her do this. You know it's the right thing to do."

Sunset looked at Rosetta as if looking for backup from her. Wild's sister kept silent and stoney faced though. 

Sunset stomped a hoof. "God damn it, why'd you have to choose now to go trying to be more Christian. I don't want anything to happen to you. I've already got one trial for you to worry about, why make it two?"

Tonya shrugged. "Maybe it won't be two. Tattered might look at whatever the Dreamwardens do to me and say justice is served. Number needs her justice though, and whatever punishment I get from the Dreamwardens doesn't get her out of the law looking at her like she's a murderer."

Wild signaled to Tonya to follow her as she set a course around the rubble. "Come on. The sooner we get to town hall the sooner we can get this straightened out." 

Before leaving Wild turned back to Sunset Blessing. "And don't try to pass what I did off as anything other than me. I did this, I'm taking responsibility for it. I'll find a way of making amends for it somehow."