//------------------------------//
// Chapter 62 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Rosetta yawned as she triple checked to make sure the blinds for the bedroom were not going to let too much light in. Phobia was waiting for her in their covers. In a month they'd be getting Phobia's actual bed from when she was human. It was meant for one human, but for them it would be very spacious. Sleeping curled up in some blankets wasn't that bad, but she enjoyed the luxury of a good bed. The two of them would probably come to appreciate it even more as they became fat and bloated with advancing pregnancy.

Tempest stood at the bedroom doorway, still wearing that black dress. They'd told her she didn't need to worry about them seeing her flanks, but the broken horned unicorn insisted on wearing the thing. Rosetta clicked her tongue as she wondered how many days that garment could go before wear and tear made it look raggedy.

"We're perfectly okay, Tempest. We're not foals. You don't have to tuck us into bed," Rosetta said with mild annoyance.

"I'm learning your bedtime routine," Tempest explained. "I've been ordered to make sure Phobia Remedy is kept safe, and I need to know what kinds of habits she typically demonstrates during different points of the day."

Rosetta raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure it's not that serious to know that much detail. We don't want you constantly hovering over us."

"I didn't chose to be in this position, but I will take my orders seriously, little pony," Tempest said in a flat tone.

That earned a blink from Rosetta. "Do you resent being here, protecting Phobia?"

Tempest went stony faced. "How I feel is irrelevant. I was given orders and I'll follow them. Even if it means be exiled indefinitely as a civilian on a different world."

A definite yes then.

"Why do it if you really don't want to be here?" Rosetta asked. "You could be here a long time, why not just say no and worst case resign from your position so you couldn't be ordered here?"

Tempest scowled. "And what exactly should I do instead? I'm a broken horned, blank flanked unicorn. If I'm not being avoided for one then I'm being avoided for the other, and more often than not both. Without being given a purpose by Princess Luna I'm left driving myself insane trying to solve one or the other problems. My horn can't be fixed and if my cutie mark hasn't appeared this late then there's a good chance it won't. This is better than walking around as an outcast on the streets, striving in vain for things that aren't going to happen."

"You dictate your life based on fear of rejection and fear you don't matter," Phobia said softly. 

"I'm not afraid. It's just the way things are," Tempest growled. "You aren't from Equestria, you wouldn't understand."

Phobia sat up. "I'm not from Equestria, but I have seen fragments of what it's like there through Luna's eyes. You're right that there's a great deal of prejudice towards those like you, but there are also far more than you give credit to who would overlook those things. You're angry, hurt, and afraid of so much. You renamed yourself well when you named yourself Tempest Shadow because that's what's in you; an angry storm and shadows."

Tempest stomped a hoof. "How do you know I renamed myself?"

"I told you I've seen fragments of Luna's life, I didn't say how big the pieces were. I don't know everything Luna knows because it was a lot to watch, and I just got done watching fragments of her predecessor who had a whole lot more; but I picked up some information here and there out of it that caught my attention, including her knowing your original name," Phobia explained calmly.

Tempest actually blushed. "Would you please keep my original name to yourself, as a courtesy."

Phobia smiled slyly. "Sure thing, but if the bun in my oven turns out to be a filly I might make it her middle name. It's such a cute name."

Rosetta had no idea what the name was, but by the look on Tempest's face Rosetta hoped that Phobia was bluffing. Still, she couldn't help being curious how bad it could be given how pony names went. 

They already had names sort of picked out for the foals. First naming them after her parents' middle names or Phobia's parents' first names and using their own human names if they went to a third of the gender. That gave the possible named as Alfonso, Thomas, and Matthew for colt names in that order; Tabitha, Charlotte, and Haley for the filly names in that order. 
It gave the foals a connection back to  their human roots. In their opinion pony names should be more a reflection of who the pony is and not given by the parents at birth. If the foals ended up wanting pony names they could pick then out themselves after they got marked.

Tempest got a curious look on her face. "How much of the Princess's knowledge was passed down to you?"

"Hard to say," Phobia said with a shrug. "There are a lot of missing gaps and I paid more attention to some things over others. If it felt really interesting or useful I paid more attention; like how to properly use mind magic and major events in her life after becoming Dreamwarden--some of it I really don't know how to feel about. Other things weren't so useful; like information about magic types I can't use or details on Equestrian government--I'll never need those things."

"Yet you took the time to remember details about me," Tempest said in a flat tone.

"I knew you so I was curious enough to pay more attention," Phobia said as she laid back down. "Don't worry, I'm not going to go blabbing your personal information all over the place. I'd be an incredible hypocrite if I did. We're going to be spending a lot of time together though. I'm not Luna or do I think like her, but I'd like to be your friend. If you ever want to talk about anything I'll be happy to."

"We shall see, but don't hold your breath," Tempest said as she flicked her tail. "I shall go downstairs and keep watch from there. If Crystal Dreams comes to attack you she'll have to come in by the ground floor."

Rosetta flicked an ear. "Can you please actually answer the door and take a message if anyone comes?"

That earned her another glare from the broken horned unicorn. "I'm not a house servant, but I'll consider answering the door."

Well, it's better than a straight no. Rosetta thought to herself as she laid her head down. Hopefully Tempest would soften up eventually if she was going to be here for a long time.

After Tempest left and closed the bedroom door Rosetta wrapped one wing over Phobia and one over herself. Phobia stiffened at the touch of the wing initially, but then cuddled into it before wrapping her own head up. 

Rosetta found herself dreaming almost as soon as she closed her eyes. She didn't take the time to learn what her own dream was about, though she could tell it was a nightmare. After quickly exiting her dream she began focusing on Sarah. She had meant to go to bed earlier to have a better chance of catching the unicorn, but they had been so busy.

She did a mental sigh of relief when she found that Sarah had slept in and quickly dived into the dream.

The dream wasn't the most well formed of dreams. The landscape was indistinct in form. From her limited experience this wasn't really that uncommon. Many dreamers didn't use fully formed settings all the time. 

What was fully formed was a lightning storm and a tornado. Sunrise Storm was trying to deal with both of these weather conditions at once while Sarah called out to her daughter to reach safety. 

Rosetta flew down by Sarah startling the unicorn into forgetting about the storm and letting it vanish.

"You're in a dream Sarah, sorry it took me so long to get to you," Rosetta said slowly, hoping it registered through Sarah's foggy dream filled mind.

Sarah blinked a time or two and the tornado and Sunrise Storm vanished in turn. "Late? What time is it?"

Rosetta did some math in her head. "For you? At least ten, but not quite eleven."

Sarah's eyes widened. "I'm sleeping in that late?! Everypony is going to think I'm sick or something now."

Rosetta dug a hoof across the grey nothingness as she looked down in shame. "Sorry again. I really wanted to get here earlier, but it's been a crazy week. Thank you for staying in bed so late to see me."

More things seemed to register, and Sarah's eyes lit up with excitement. "What did she say? Is she going to fund me?"

"Yes, she's going to fund you," Rosetta said slowly as Sarah pumped a hoof in triumph. "She has conditions though."

Sarah's excitement died as she narrowed her eyes. "What kind of conditions?"

Rosetta sat down. "First, she gets to choose who your security team is and will provide them. You get to pick everypony else you have working with you, but she has control of security."

Sarah flicked her tail and flattened her ears. "Okay, I'm not happy about that, but if I get to actually control my research team and pick them out I suppose I can live with that. You said that's first, what else is there?"

"She wants to have unicorns of her choosing get a look at any artifacts that you may eventually find. They won't take them, but they want to examine them," Rosetta said slowly as she looked Sarah in the eyes.

Sarah's face hardened. "She wants me to let her have strange unicorns have access to historical treasures that belong rightfully to the tribes that live on the reservations?"

"She said they won't take them and I believe her on that," Rosetta said with a frown. "She's hoping you find more Equestrian artifacts, and that they have runes on them that ponies here don't currently know. From what she says she fully expects you'll learn those runes too. She wants you to keep any runes you learn to yourself."

Sarah crossed her forelegs. "That's a deal killer. That's me providing a black market spread of illegal magic. That would ruin my career if the government found out."

Rosetta shook her head. "Not in this case. Sunset Blessing is employed by the government and she's telling them exactly what you find and discover, including magic runes. She says as long as you keep your discoveries in terms of runes from going public the government will turn a blind eye to it."

Sarah blinked and looked worried. "They could seize my research and notes at any time then."

Rosetta smiled. "I told you. I'll keep copies of that stuff for you too. She isn't going to go after me, or let the government do so if she suspects I have them. She's far too protective of family for that. I'll make sure your research is safe."

Sarah chewed on her lip with her ears flattened. "I really don't like this. I just wish I had other options."

"There's something else you should know," Rosetta said with hesitation. "She already knew about you and had been researching you. Not just you, but also Sunrise Storm and your nephew. Both she and the government have their eyes on all of you."

"Why would they..." Sarah began then shook her head. "Bob has a head for magic better than any other unicorn I know, my research could be valuable to the right parties, and Laura...oh god. I can look after myself, but what am I going to do for Laura and Bob? I don't want them getting pulled into these things, they shouldn't have to be shouldering those kinds of responsibilities. They should just be worrying about normal teenage stuff."

"What's normal teenage stuff anymore?" Rosetta asked with a laugh. "I know how you feel. My little sister is about Sunrise's age. She's an earth pony and she's really powerful...like crazy powerful. She tries to take on responsibility for everything; our food, jobs for everypony, fighting deforestation, my protection, my parents' health, the list goes on. She's seventeen years old, she should be worried about school. Instead she's worried that if she loses her temper she'll level whatever building she's in with a single stomp of her hooves."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Sarah said sympathetically.

Rosetta sighed. "No, it's probably worse. She did level a building yesterday with the stomp of a hoof. She just lost control of her temper. Nopony got hurt, but it could have killed somepony. This big corporation has her signed to a multi-million dollar contract to have her grow forests now too. Earth ponies look at her like she's the biggest celebrity ever. She shouldn't have to be dealing with all this."

Sarah nodded and looked down. "That's like Laura...or Sunny like she named herself. Ponies all around look up to her and look to her for answers. When we were in the shelters she really stepped up and took responsibility for everypony. She's always been so level headed and responsible, and I'm proud of her for it. This is all so much now though, and I worry about all the things she's taking on. She's seventeen just like your sister. She shouldn't have to have everypony coming to her for answers."

"And that's not even getting into my fiancee," Rosetta said mournfully. "We're not that much older; I'm twenty-two and my finance is only twenty. I can't even tell you how much she's taken on herself. I get this mix of pride and unease as I see other night ponies look at her in awe and dread. I love her more than anything, but I feel like I'm with somepony so far beyond my comprehension when I'm with her sometimes. She has so much power yet she's so scared and vulnerable, and she's so scared and vulnerable because I failed to protect her."

Sarah stared downward with a sad expression. "So much power and responsibilities put into the hooves of foals. The world has truly lost all its bearings."

Rosetta nodded in agreement. She wouldn't call them foals, certainly not Phobia, but it was insane that so much power had been invested in so many so young. She hoped that Phobia, Wild, Sunny, and whoever else could bear the weight.