//------------------------------//
// Chapter 63 
// Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

"Wild! There's a pegasus here to see you," Miguel yelled from downstairs.

Wild sat up from where she was looking out her window. A pegasus? She didn't know that many pegasi personally. Tonya she knew best, but Tonya should be back at town hall under supervision right now. Amber Flowers maybe? Amber did a lot of supervision to tending to the crops and might have questions about Wild's magic.

Nothing to do but go down and find out who it was. She left her room and trotted back downstairs. She spotted the pegasus, a mare with fur so dark blue that  it looked almost black, and didn't recognize her. If this pegasus was in the air she might be mistaken for a night pony at a distance.

The pegasus spotted her in turn and turned to her. "I'm here on the behalf of the Enclave. You're to be released from house arrest. You've been order to make regular payments over the next two years to replace the clinic and ordered to take anger management sessions. You can go to town hall today to get details about each of those. I'm only here to let you know you're free to go where you please. I don't know the details of what you're paying or how or where those sessions will be done."

She kind of expected that was what she was going to be getting as a punishment. It was in the town's business interests to keep her from seeing any sort of jail time. That was going to hurt her investing into research though. The anger management sessions might be a good thing.

"You wouldn't happen to know what's going on with Number Crunch, would you?" Wild asked hopefully.

The pegasus flicked her tail dismissively. "Number Crunch and Tonya were both released this morning and are facing no charges. I think Number Crunch is already back to work and Tonya went back home with Sunset Blessing."

Wild blinked. Just like that? They both seemed like they were in dire positions just yesterday. It seemed kind of absurd that they could walk free when Tattered Wing had confessions. On the good side that meant that Number wasn't getting punished for something that wasn't her fault. On the bad side Tonya was free to go off and do the same thing again. She didn't know if Tonya would actually do that kind of thing again, but just letting her walk free seemed beyond belief.

"Thank you for the news. I appreciate it," Wild said as she tried to figure out the how's of what happened.

"Whatever, I need to get back on patrol. I didn't feel like playing  messenger bird to a house full of humans. There's too many damn humans walking all over town today," the pegasus said as she exited back out the door.

After the pegasus left and Miguel closed the door he looked at Wild with a disgusted look. "I've met her before back at the church. Her name's Joy, but she's one of the meanest ponies I've ever met."

Joy definitely could do with an attitude adjustment. She guessed Joy was a Shimmerist based on her disparaging comment about humans. Wild knew a fair amount of Shimmerists, she had a primarily Shimmerist family and a Shimmerist best friend after all, but they didn't have that nasty an attitude. There was just no call for it. If Joy wanted to show pony superiority maybe Joy should start showing some superior manners.

After that she dismissed Joy from her thoughts and considered what to do. 

"Miguel, let Mama and Papa know I've gone out to go see Number. I'm not sure when I'll be back so tell them not to worry if I'm out late," Wild said as she started heading to the door.

"Did you really go all Hulk smash on a building?" Miguel asked her hesitantly.

She hated that description. Her brothers had been getting better not comparing her to the Hulk lately, but they apparently weren't completely broken of it. 

"Yes, I Hulk smashed a building. It was an accident when I lost my temper," Wild said flatly from the doorway. Feeling worse that she was giving further comparisons between her and the giant rage monster.

"Oh," Miguel said as he took a few steps back."You're not going to get angry with me about anything like that, are you?"

Wild felt a lump in her stomach. "No, I would never hurt you or anyone in the family."

"But your really like the Hulk, and he does things that he doesn't mean to when he's angry," Miguel said slowly as he reasoned out loud. "Sometimes he hurts people close to him. You almost hurt Papa the first time you used your powers."

She chewed on her lip, but honestly didn't have a reassurance. "I'll do everything I can to make sure that never happens."

"You promise?"

"I promise," she assured him. She hoped that was one promise she never broke.

She left the house and trotted towards the center of town. There really were a lot of humans out and about, and lots of construction vehicles. The construction equipment was all trying to roll out to places and having to wait for ponies to clear a path. They just wouldn't get out of the street.

"Hey!" she shouted as loud as she could. "Get out of the street or at least to the sides of the street so the workers can do their jobs!"

To her complete surprise ponies listened to her, looking at her with embarrassment and calling out apologies to the humans as they made a clear path on the majority of the street. The equipment picked up speed and the operator driving it waved at her and shouted thanks as they went by her. 

She wondered if it was pony goodwill towards her that made the ponies move, or if it was fear of her after yesterday. She knew which she would be feeling in their position, but as she looked at their faces she didn't see the fear she'd expect. They were still looking at her much the same way they had when she grew the crops. Were they just going to ignore the fact that she could be extremely dangerous?

As her anxiety rose she hurried deeper into town. It only took her a few minutes to reach the center of town and the First Pony Bank. The bank was packed with customers, with a long waiting line. Getting in and trying to find Number Crunch was going to take forever, if her friend had time to talk to her at all.

Maybe it would be better just to go around back and wait for Number Crunch to take a break. With that many people being dealt with she had to be making sure she took a break when she could, she knew she'd personally go crazy without a break.

As she walked around to the back of the bank she found an unexpected sight. Both Number and Megan had a long work table set up along the back wall of the building and both were sitting in white plastic patio chairs typing away furiously at two respective laptop computers while smoking. Piles of paperwork and files were set all over the desk.

"Are you working or taking a break?" Wild asked as she stepped up to them.

"Yes," Megan replied without looking away from what she was doing.

Number took a second to stop typing and look at her. "We're getting away from the throngs and trying to get work done. We have plenty of other helpers inside town hall and the bank, there's things that have to be done without having to deal with all the construction."

"If I have one more contractor come up asking the same damn questions they heard me answer the one right before them I'm going to be the one arrested for murder," Megan growled around the cigarette in her lips. She then paused took a drag off it, flicked some ash, then put it back in her lips and started typing again.

"And I'm doing everything I can to catch up after my being held yesterday afternoon and this morning," Number explained. "It's hard explaining why I missed appointments under the circumstances without raising some eyebrows. Told them a part truth; that we had a situation where an old building collapsed."

Great, hopefully they didn't hear how it collapsed. The story was believable without bringing in the details that she was involved though. It was an old town with old buildings that supposedly had lots of ponies and humans now going into old buildings which may or may not be structurally sound.

She wanted to ask Number the details about what exactly happened with Swift Strike. Number had never told her when she initially opening up about killing him. Now Tonya was claiming that she brainwashed Number into doing it, but Number was claiming to others it was self defense. She wanted a straight answer from the horse's mouth about what happened that night.

Asking about all that wasn't going to happen with Megan sitting right there though. For right now she'd have to stick to strictly business.

"Do either of you know any of the details about how much I'm supposed to be paying the town and when and where I'm supposed to attend these anger management classes?" She asked.

Megan paused in her typing and pulled up her email. "Yes, there was an email about it. Give me one second and I'll find it...Here it is. You owe the town four thousand a month for the next twenty-four months. As for the anger management sessions you are responsible for hiring a councilor and providing a recording every two weeks of your session to Tattered Wing for the next six months."

The bill wasn't as high as she thought it would be. They might have undervalued the clinic deliberately since it was her. Sure, that would break any normal pony in terms of payments, but it was a slap on the wrist for her. She couldn't imagine hiring on a councilor would hurt her in terms of money either. All said, this was pretty light for consequences.

"I have things I need you to do," Number said and pointed to another chair a few feet away. "Pull up a chair and I'll get you to work."

Wild walked over to where the other chair was. There were actually several of these plastic chairs in a pile, but only one that was standing up properly already. She pushed the chair back over to the end of the desk in Number's side and hopped up into it.

Number stopped her typing and levitated over a folder in front of Wild. The folder opened up and Wild could see what looked like engineering designs for products and a few photos of the items.

Number took a drag from her cigarette and levitated it out of her mouth briefly to speak clearly. "Those right there are the designs for an item named the Pony Strap. We're hoping to have them start mass producing them here. The initial target customers will be primarily earth ponies and crystal ponies. They want to make you a spokespony for the product."

Wild looked at the photo on top of what looked like just an odd wristband. "Um, what's it for, and won't Westvaco object to me being the spokespony for another company in addition to theirs?"

"I've already discussed it with Westvaco. Since this is not a product that they are likely to try to compete with or produce a similar product to they are willing to let you, especially since this product can help ponies be more productive workers at certain jobs," Number explained.

"And it does what?" Wild asked again as she looked the picture over.

"Ponies will strap this on to their preferred foreleg or have one on each forlegs," Number said as she raised her forelegs as examples. "It has a special area that can attach different tool accessories. There are specially designed pens for writing, silverware such as forks and spoons, basic tools like wrenches and screwdrivers, styluses for phones and typing, flashlights, and several kitchen gadgets initially planned. They have many others planned for eventual development if this catches on, some of them pretty ambitious."

Wild looked more closely at the designs now. This did sound useful, if very simple and basic. Things didn't have to be complicated to be good products. The fact it was so simple actually probably made it better as a product. 

Number continued on. "As spokespony they would want you to learn how to use all the attachments and be seen using the product in public. They would want six commercials taped of you endorsing the products a year. In exchange they will provide you with thirty-five percent ownership in the company, and will pay you a hundred thousand dollars after tax for each commercial done this year, with the rate renegotiated years based on product performance in the marketplace."

"Is that good or bad in terms of what their paying me?" Wild asked curiously.

Number went back to typing. "Hard to say. If you were a human celebrity you could expect a minimum of five-hundred thousand a commercial, but non-celebrity commercial appearances are only a fraction of that. Given we haven't fully gotten your name out that would be considered a very generous offer, especially the ownership part. As it stands they're overpaying drastically, but in a year it might end up looking like they got a bargain. They are banking a lot on you becoming a household name with ponies so their marketing is a success."

"When would this start?" 

"I have a pair of Pony Straps for your legs at my house, complete with carrying bag for the accessories," Number answered. "We can get you learning to use them all later today. Once we're satisfied you can use it with ease we'll get back in contact with the company and a schedule will be set."

Wild flipped the folder closed. "That seems simple enough. I can do that."

Number floated a thick folder over. "Good. I'm going to have you turn around and reinvest in the company if this looks like it will take off, and I think it will. Hopefully in a year or two you will have over fifty percent ownership." She flipped the folder oven. "Here are a listing of companies that are currently far underperforming on the stock market following ETS. I've picked out a selection that I think have a strongest possibilities of bouncing back. Start reading up about them, because you're going to be buying stock."

Wild's eyes bulged as she looked at the massive amounts of papers in the folder. "There's a lot here."

Number gave her an evil grin. "That's just folder one. I have eight more just like it. Each company has a six page report. The first two pages are a written overview of the company, the next four are all financials. I'll explain how to read and be able evaluate the financials when you get to them."

Wild's ears wilted. "Eight more?"

"And I also have an appointment scheduled for you tonight with a mane stylus and with that tailor," Number continued. "You have a lot of work to do. It should ease up after we get things rolling, but you need to start getting used to this if you want results."

Wild stared down at the reports and then over at the other folders.

"Stressed?" Number asked. 

Wild numbly nodded her head. 

Number sighed. "I know it's a lot to take in, but I'm going to be here helping you every inch of the way. As for the stress right now there really isn't much I can do for you except give you a cigarette and my promise you can do this as you buckle down and start learning. We're on a time constraint to pounce on opportunities before others do. As things settle down there'll be less of the high reward high impact opportunities readily available. We have to do this now."

Wild looked over at Megan. The human hadn't been paying attention to them really. She was completely focused on her work. Whatever stresses Number was asking her to take on Number seemed to be putting herself through the same ones too. These two may have had to sequester themselves back in an alley to work, but they were focused and getting things done. It wasn't right for her to let others do all the work when she was capable of making an impact.

Wild looked down at the folder again. "Okay, I'll take every last bit of anything you can do to help me, and I promise I'll pay you back by learning this and doing everything I can to help myself reach my goals."

Number smiled. "Good mare, hopefully in a few weeks we can start to breathe easier. For right now start reading."

Wild brought her forehooves up on the table and focused on reading. This is what it would take for her to get the money to properly fund the research for her mama's medical treatment so it had to be done, for her mama's sake and so many like her.