//------------------------------//
// Chapter 53 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Melissa sat staring at the messenger service on the computer. She'd sent a message to her dad earlier in the day, but had gotten no reply yet. She'd tried calling, but again no answer. His social media had been inactive for weeks as well. It was starting to dawn on her that her dad might not be human. She'd thought with him being in the army that he would have been protected from ETS, but now she was having doubts.

Of course, he could just be under orders not to be using social media, or be somewhere where he didn't have access to calls. There was no way of really knowing. She wouldn't be upset if he was a pony, she'd been one up to recently after all, but she just wished she knew something.

She wasn't alone in not knowing what was going on with family. Her social media feed was packed with people posting up messages asking for anyone to provide word about relatives that they hadn't heard word from. There were a lot of scared people out there who didn't know if their family was human or pony now. Some made pleas begging to be told that their loved one was still human, others made pleas saying they didn't care if their loved one was now a pony they just wanted to know they were safe and alright. It had been nearly forty days since the counterspell and so many still didn't have answers.

On a whim she checked her mother's profile. She actually felt disappointed when it came up with plenty of activity. It was probably bad of her to think it, but her mother might have been better off as a pony. Becoming a pony broke all those old addictions, and it would have finally broken her mother's alcohol abuse. She might even be able to reconnect with her mother if her mother had gone pony. Fate wasn't kind though.

Her mother was looking for word about her based on the messages, no requests for information about her dad. There was an urge to just ignore the request. Every day of her life growing up she'd woken up to her mother cussing and berating her; she never needed to set an alarm because she'd always be woken up by her mother shouting somewhere in the house about how worthless she was. Nothing ever pleased her mother growing up, and avoiding her was impossible. Her mother never hit her, but there was never a kind word--only a never ending string of insults. If she sat in front of her mother silently for hours while her mother berated her the second she opened her mouth she'd be cussed out for interrupting and be told how she never let her mother speak her mind. The second Melissa had turned eighteen she moved out of the house to go live with a friend.

Melissa sighed and typed out a reply to her mother's request for information. Just  letting her know that she was rehumanized, safe, and well; no other details were going to be given. If she refused to let her mother know she was alright she'd feel spiteful for doing so.

She left a message up on her Facebook wall letting everyone know the same things; that she was rehumanized, safe, and well. She also put up a request for any information about her dad.

Tattered walked back into the office looking apologetic. "Sorry for keeping you here so long. I finally tracked down where they took Dan to. He's over at the old YMCA and I've already made arrangements for you to get moved in there."

Melissa got up from where she was sitting. It'll had been a long day and it would be good to finally get out of here and go curl up next to Dan. "Thanks, I appreciate the help."

"Megan did most of it. You should give Megan a thank you tomorrow when you come in. She stayed past when she was supposed to go home tracking down the information," Tattered said as they walked by one another.

"Will do," Megan said as she reached the door and looked back into the office where Tattered was taking the vacated seat. "Tomorrow should be another long day. I'm worried that Number Crunch's lawyer is going to eat us alive because we aren't experienced at any of this."

Tattered frowned for a moment then looked up at her with a forced smile. "I think we won't have much to worry about with that lawyer tomorrow. I have a feeling that the whole situation will resolve itself before you even come in."

Melissa frowned. "You know something. What are you not telling me?"

Tattered shook her head. "I'll tell you tomorrow when you come in. Trust me, this whole thing will be resolved and we won't ever have to worry about it again."

"If you say so," Melissa said uncertainly. "Good night, Tattered."

"Good night, Melissa."

Melissa walked down the hall out towards the main lobby. There were three night pony mares standing around socializing and another night pony mare sitting at the desk doing the cleric work. The mares all quieted as she walked out of the hall and studied her.

She looked at them all. "Is something the matter?"

A younger grey mare, who still had a bit of filly to her features shook her head. "No, Broken One."

"More like Broken Two," another one with brownish fur muttered then giggled at her in joke. The third of the social group, a black furred mare with a purple and red mane and martini glass cutie mark, gave the brown one a slap with a wing. 

Melissa gave them all a hard stare then focused her look on the black one who was the only marked of the group. "Your friends seem to have a problem with me, care to explain it to me?"

The black one gave the other two a quick glance then looked back at Melissa. "You'll have to excuse our behavior. You make us...uneasy, Broken One."

Melissa felt a lump in the pit of her stomach. "Uneasy? Care to explain that better...I didn't catch your name."

"Nocte Bellatrix, or you can just call me Nocte," the mare answered. "We don't fault you for your reasons, Broken One, but seeing a rehumanized night pony makes us uncomfortable. We have no issues with humans, but seeing rehumanized ponies walking around disturbs my unmarked companions."

The name sparked a memory. "I recognize your name; you're the pony that led the charge on that rapist a few weeks ago."

Nocte smiled. "I am indeed. I don't have any regrets about what happened. That human was scum for what he did to that poor human girl, and he deserved what he got. I'm sure you would want to do the same to those humans that hurt you and killed your friends. Again, none of us blame you for rehumanizing with the extent of your injuries. I'm sure my friends will be less uneasy once they've earned their marks."

Melissa kept looking at Nocte. "But you aren't going to have anymore incidents like that, right? We're a legitimate law enforcement group, we don't brutalize criminals. We follow the law when dealing with things now."

Nocte kept smiling. "Of course, if we didn't follow the rules then we'd be probably letting that unicorn go. Swift Strike deserved to die for what he did and who he did it to. But passing judgement isn't for us."

Who he did it too? We're they upset that Swift Strike had raped another night pony? She wasn't sure that was what they meant. Maybe it was the fact she wasn't a night pony anymore that she didn't understand, though she felt like she should still be able to pick up on that kind of thing. 

"Well, good," she said, hoping she sounded confident--she doubted she sounded confident. She then turned to the brown furred pony. "And you, chuckles, what's your name?"

The mare lowered her eyes. "Amy, ma'am. Sorry about the Broken Two crack, didn't mean anything by it."

Melissa gave her a smile. "Actually, I kind of like it. It makes it so there is less confusion about who's being talked about, and it shows a chain of command. Keep on calling me Broken Two, and let other ponies know that's how to address me from now on."

"Yes, Broken Two," the mare said quickly.

Melissa left without saying anything else to the ponies. She felt a little satisfied with herself, having asserted herself a little bit--maybe not that much, but a little bit. She also had the general knowledge that the Enclave didn't resent her decision to rehumanize they just felt uncomfortable with the idea if it. Knowing that made her feel a little better. 

Nocte made her a little uneasy though. Not only did that pony have a bloodthirsty streak, but she gave her that that feeling night ponies were keeping things from her again. She hated being in the dark about things because she was now human. Tattered seemed to be secretive again too. It made her want to scream.

After heading down the stairs of town hall she did a quick look around the street. Most the day ponies were back where they were going to sleep for the night or eating, so there weren't a lot of crowds about. 

There was a small group with a two unicorn stallions, a unicorn mare, a night pony mare, a night pony colt, and a human speaking together in front of a restaurant. It looked like they were just socializing after the place had closed for the night.

Looking up at the tops of the buildings she spotted several night ponies about. One building had three mares sitting on it, another a single stallion, yet another two more mares and a stallion. Tattered said the night ponies tended to gravitate towards the center of town at night for socializing. It wasn't that late yet, so it those numbers she saw now would likely grow in the next few hours.

She started walking down the street, keeping her eyes on ponies as she went. She had always been wary of walking around at night, and the instinct to watch everyone else for potential danger was still in full effect. She was the only human out walking around, but there were a fair number of ponies in the air and some scattered ones about on the street.

She past by an older earth pony stallion that was working late trying to paint the door of an old shop. Inside the window she could see crates of produce stacked about. He was painting the door a bright yellow that matched his fur.

She looked up and saw a pegasus stallion hovering over head speaking with two more night pony mares. She couldn't hear what was being said, but by the body language she was pretty sure that the two mares were flirting with him and he wasn't used to the attention.

After another minute or so she came upon another human. An older man who was working in a garage on an old red pickup truck. An earth pony stallion sat beside him and passed him tools occasionally, a pegasus filly was laying a few feet away and looked ready to just go to sleep where she was at.

As she walked by that she saw four more night ponies fly overhead towards the center of town, three mares and a stallion. They were quickly followed by two more mares and another stallion who all seemed a little slower.

She came by another red brick building that had day ponies up working late trying to prepare it. There was a unicorn mare and stallion working. The mare was using her magic to paint three red dots which typically indicated a place that sold liquor. The stallion was trying, and largely failing, to try to weed a small patch of grass next to the building. He really should have just ask an earth pony to help out. On top of the building was another night pony mare who was just chatting away at the unicorn mare and didn't seem really concerned the painting mare wasn't chatting back.

She spotted the school and the neighboring YMCA building just ahead of her. There were a few humans talking outside, one or two of them she spotted hair colors on that indicated they were partials. On top of the school building she saw more night ponies, six more mares and a stallion. 

She frowned as she looked up at them, noticing a disturbing trend. There seemed like there was a severe gender inbalance with night ponies. The other tribes seemed more balanced in their gender ratios that she had seen, but from what little she had observed so far mares far out numbered the stallions when it came to night ponies. It could be chance that she just kept happening upon far more mares than stallions, but she had a feeling if she looked over the census information it would confirm the same thing. There was only a little over a hundred night ponies in town and she had observed about a quarter of those in the last few minutes. That was a sizable cross section of the population observed.

Why was there such an inbalance with just the night ponies? She wondered if there was a tribe that had more males on average. More importantly, was that going to cause any sort of problem? 

These were not questions she was qualified to really figure out. She would talk to Tattered since Tattered was more or less in charge of every night pony in town save a few. She walked up to the old building and let herself in.

Inside the lobby there was an information desk with, of course, another night pony mare sitting at it. She walked over to the desk and the mare sat to attention.

"Broken One, we were expecting you much earlier," the mare said, seeming a little flustered for some reason.

Melissa frowned. "Go with Broken Two when referring to me from now on. How do all of you know me on sight anyway?"

The mare spread her wings slightly. "Ponies like to gossip. There aren't that many night ponies in town so word filters through all of us fast. It's pretty much the same as in Charleston where we would spread word of who we were watching, only more social and less patrol oriented now."

"Makes sense," Melissa admitted. She should have figured her description would have passed to every night pony in town quickly.

"You need to hurry to the cafeteria, the other Broken One is really getting irritated with the humans," the mare explained. "We have a pair of ponies in there watching, but I think you'd do much better at calming him down."

Dan, what are you doing? She thought with a groan. 

"Where's the cafeteria?" She asked quickly, looking down both hallways.

The mare pointed towards the door she just walked in. "Next door, at the school. It serves food for here and there."

Melissa left and hurried next door. Inside the school she was greeted by yet another night pony mare and quickly pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. She hurried through a pair of hallways and went in a pair of large double doors.

"All of you humans need to stop staring at me! You never seen a crippled pony before!" Dan's voice rang out.

Dan was in a wheelchair, parked at the end of a table, and he was jerking his head left to right in an aggressive manner as he tried to stare down every human in the room. The humans for their part looked just uncomfortable and confused as he glared at them, though a few looked like they were ready to get hostile back. The only reason they likely weren't already was they didn't want to pick a fight with someone in a wheelchair.

Time to defuse this as best I can. "Daniel Castillo! Behave yourself!"

Dan actually flinched at her voice and slowly turned around to look at her. His ears picked up as he saw her and she hurried over to him and grabbed him into a hug.

"I was so worried about you when they said the clinic collapsed.They said you weren't hurt, but tell me your alright, please," she said as she hugged him. She saw the other humans in the cafeteria look even more confused now, but the hostility dropped in the room.

"I'm alright, now that you're here," Dan said as she released him. "I don't like it here, the humans keep staring at me."

"I'm staring at you now, are you going to yell at me for doing that?" She asked in her best serious tone.

Dan went wide eyed and shook his head. "No, I'd never yell at you. You aren't one of them."

She took a seat at the table. "In case you haven't noticed, I am. Try not to let people looking at you bother you so much. Can you do that, for me?"

Dan looked down at the table. "I can try...for you."

Not the most enthusiastic response, but she hadn't expected much. She knew that he was generally hostile to humans since the night everything had gone to hell. She couldn't help feeling he might resent the fact she rehumanized. She could deal with any of the other ponies feeling that way in the end, but not him. 

She decided not to press the subject. "What happened today? I got the reports, and Wild Growth showed up confessing to  losing control of her magic, but I want to hear from you what went in."

Dan shrugged. "Your reports probably can tell you more than me. I woke up to this crazy magic surge going off. You know it's huge when you can feel it going off all through your body and you still know that's not from you. Then everything started shaking, a tremor or two to start, but it got worse. Rudra suddenly rushed in and just ordered me to get on his back. I didn't even argue or say a word, I just climbed off the bed on to his back. He took off running and then the shaking dialed itself up to ten and the entire place started breaking apart. We got out just in time before it all came crashing down."

Melissa balled up a fist and hit the table. "Damn that pony. I want to give her a good punch in the face. She could have killed you with her temper tantrum."

Dan looked up at her. "You know, if you tried punching Wild Growth in the face I think it might do more damage to your fist than her. That pony is built. I pretty sure she punches much harder than you considering she just KO'ed the clinic in one blow."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I know. She was even pulling her punch when she did that, if you believe her. No telling what she could have done if she had unleashed her full force on it. I was just so scared for you."

"It wouldn't be the worst thing if I had..."

She leaned over angrily and shoved a finger against his nose. "None of that! I won't have you talking about how it's not a bad thing if you died. Do you know how much it would hurt me to lose you? Do you think I'm trying to have a relationship with you and not care deeply about you? Do you think I would care deeply about you if you didn't matter?"

"I'm just a cripple though; a burden," Dan said quietly.

"You've got some baggage but you aren't a burden," Melissa said firmly. "Want to talk about being a burden? First day on the job and I about fucked up a murder investigation because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Tattered chewed me out for it. She said it wasn't a huge deal after that, and I'll learn to do better, but that doesn't make me feel better about it. Only reason it's not screwed up now is everyone involved came forward and confessed on their own. The universe had to toss me the biggest bone ever to fix my screw ups."

"Well, at least it's fixed, and you can get better," Dan offered.

She crossed her arms in front of her and laid her elbows on the table. "Yeah, and Tattered is apparently going to have everything dealt with before I come back to work tomorrow. Not even bothering to tell me how. She's probably afraid I'll find some way of fucking it up in the meantime if she tells me how she's dealing with it."

Dan gave her a flat look. "I'm sure it's not that."

She really did have no clue how Tattered was going to deal with everything before tomorrow afternoon. Number Crunch's lawyer might not even be there until afternoon if he ended up running behind schedule. It was strange, Tattered went and talked to Sunset Blessing and the unicorn stopped pushing for Tonya to get a lawyer. Tattered clearly had something in the works.

She shook her head again and stood up. "I don't know. I'm going to just get something to eat and then you can direct us to what room we're staying in."

"You're staying with me?" Dan asked wide eyed.

She looked at her boyfriend like he was stupid. "Yes, where else would I be staying? I need to cuddle up with my teddy bear after a long day."

Dan looked down at his cutie mark. She had noticed it when she woke up, but she wasn't going to wake him up to ask him about it. It actually made her a little sad because if things worked out there had been a possibility that he might rehumanize too and it would make some things easier. She'd never have pressured him to do that, and she felt selfish thinking about it, but she had still been a little sad all the same.

She really wanted this to work. Hopefully he'd find her dreams when they slept together this time. He clearly hadn't last night. 

She headed over to the serving line and got in it. Woman in front of her did a quick glance back at her and then did a startled jump.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Melissa apologized.

The woman shook her head. "It wasn't you standing there. It was your eyes. I haven't seen a partial with just the eyes changed."

"I'm not a partial," Melissa said, feeling annoyed.

The woman looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, it's just that they are so yellow, and they caught the light, and... I'm going to just shut up now."

Yeah, do that. Stupid human. Melissa grumbled in her head.