//------------------------------// // Chapter 73 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Sunset laid among the quilts and blankets looking out the window at the daylight. Ponies liked to think that she slept in every day. The truth was she was an early riser and simply stayed in bed for long periods after waking up. This was a special time of day for her. This was her time of quiet reflection, thinking things out, and prayer. She hoped the Lord answered her prayers today. Today she was going to go to battle for Tonya's sake and she was at a loss on what to do. From what Tonya described of the trial yesterday it didn't seem much like a trial, but more two sides petitioning for harshness or leniency. There was no innocent until proven guilty described in Shadow Dancer's trial. There was only a determination of what to do with him. She wasn't sure if her original plan to redirect the guilt to herself was going to work under such circumstances. She was still going to attempt it, but this may just come down to how well she grovelled and begged for Tonya's life. If she had to grovel and beg then so be it. Tonya was out taking her own time for quiet contemplation. Tonya had said she was going out to the river to sing to herself. She said it soothed her to just find someplace private and sing. They had actually prayed together a short while ago, something that Tonya would never do. Knowing she might soon meet her maker Tonya had sought his mercy. The fact Tonya had finally found God was a bittersweet joy for Sunset considering if all went wrong today this could be Tonya's final day. Please Lord, protect her today. See that she gets mercy. She truly regrets what she has done. If anypony must be punished then punish me. I'm the one who had murder in my heart. Sunset prayed silently. It was time to get up and face the day. There was still other things that needed to be attended to before the trial. She had to make arrangements with contractors and speak with the town council. She also had to call the Shimmerist leaders in Orlando, New Orleans, Miami, Little Rock, Montgomery, Jackson, Saluda, and Brooks; as well as call the non-Shimmerists who had risen to leadership in Baton Rouge and Tallahassee. She still had high hopes of bringing Houston's leadership into SPEC's fold, but had given up the majority of the rest of Texas as a losing battle against the backward West. The Caribbean islands and Central and South American nations with ports into the Caribbean were also on the radar, as offshore allies would be invaluable if the government ever turned on her. There were lots of ponies down there, and there was strength in numbers. If the worst ever happened she intended on having ponies in the south to have a place to flee to. Having places that could opperate outside government oversight was simply valuable in itself as well. It was a good rule to hope for the best but make preparations for the worst. If Tonya died today Sunset knew she wouldn't have the heart to carry on in such a role in the South. If the worst happened today she had already planned to transition her authority over to Wild Growth. Ponies needed somepony they could believe was somehow greater than them in order to guide them forward and there were only a few good options. Sunrise Storm was her first pick for who should lead ponies forward, due to her universal appeal and ties to Sunset Shimmer, but Wild would be an adequate alternative if things fell through. Number Crunch could help guide her into becoming a strong leader. She rose from her makeshift bed. She did a last weary look around the room at the various reports she had stacked up and her laptop computer. She'd send some emails off in a few minutes and then head to town hall. Sunset slowly walked out of the room and into the hallway. She made a brief stop by the towel closet and grabbed a purple towel up in her magic before turning and heading into the bathroom. She flipped the light switch on with a flick of her magic and hung the towel on a hook on the wall. Then walked over to the shower and turned on the water so it could start heating up. It would take a minute or two to reach a proper temperature. Using a step stool she propped herself up on the sink and gathered up her toothpaste and toothbrush in her magic. Silently making a note to herself that she needed to put an order in for a pony strap for Tonya so Tonya could properly brush her teeth. She loved Tonya, but Tonya's breath was starting to smell rather rank. If it wasn't for the fact it would most likely be very embarrassing for Tonya she'd take the time to brush the pegasus's teeth for her. She started brushing away as steam started to come from the shower saying it had heated up. She'd probably turned it up too high in her eagerness to get warm water, she'd deal with that in a moment. A stray wet feather in the corner let her know Tonya had showered before leaving for the day. Tonya was usually good about collecting up her feathers, and had a growing bin of them in another room. The pegasus had the idea that she could make a few feather pillows eventually with the help of a sewing machine. It would be a good little hobby for her. Tonya's birthday was in another two months. A sewing machine would make a nice present for that. Shipping was probably going to go extremely slow which meant she should probably look into ordering one soon. Maybe she could browse around online tonight for one that looked like it wouldn't be too much trouble for a pony to use. Sunset spit out the toothpaste into the sink and grabbed up the mouthwash bottle in her magic and put some in her mouth to start swishing about. Tom was going to be bringing back the bed from the their bedroom and had said that she could have it. It would be nice to curl up in an actual bed with Tonya. After spitting out the mouthwash she looked up at her reflection and just stared at it for a long moment. The mirror shattered with cracks going out in huge circular waves from a central impact point. Sunset didn't react right away, and it took her several seconds to register what had happened, as well as release her magic and stop clenching her teeth so hard her jaw hurt. She stared at the broken mirror for a minute before throwing herself to the floor and crying into her forelegs. Why did she send Tonya out that night? Yes, it was pretty vengeance that drove her, petty vengeance that was going to cost Tonya instead of her. Tonya could claim responsibility all she wanted, but Sunset was the one who put her angry lover into a position where Tonya would act against her better nature. Even the best of ponies when angry enough and given the opportunity could do horrible things. Sunset gave an already enraged Tonya that opportunity, so this was her fault. What had her vengeance done for her? Phobia had been raped and the vengeance didn't undo that or sooth her daughter's fractured emotions. For that meaningless action there might be a very steep price. She had gained nothing and never had anything to gain, and it might cost Tonya her life. "Lord, I've taken your blessings and shown myself unworthy of them. I'm no better than a human, worse even. I'm not worthy of being a pony. I'm so sorry. I beg you, please don't make Tonya pay for my failings. Punish me as you will, but please, grant her mercy. She doesn't deserve this," Sunset begged and prayed as she laid on the bathroom floor. She laid there for several minutes, unsure of how much time was passing. Eventually the steam from the shower ceased as the shower depleted the hot water from the house's old water heater, and the temperature of the bathroom began to drop. There would be no shower for her this morning. Sunset stood back to her hooves and went and turned the shower off. She took the towel from the hook and wiped her face with it, before letting it just fall to the floor. After one last look at the shattered mirror she sighed and walked out of the bathroom. The world didn't stop because she was going to have a bad day. There was work to do before noon. The distraction of it was sorely needed. She didn't spend any more time about the house and was on the street within a minute or two of leaving the bathroom. Her house was set on a side street away from the main and it took her two or three minutes to walk to the main street. She could have simply called for a ride, but she wanted to walk to clear her head a little before reaching town hall. When she reached the main street she was met with the normal high amounts of pedestrians. The ponies she walked by seemed to be in high spirits. Things were happening; ponies were getting jobs, houses were being built, everything that was promised to them was going according to plan. She kept her head low and scowled at their happy faces. How dare they be happy today when Tonya was going to trial. She shook her head and forced herself to release her scowl. There was no reason to be angry at these ponies. They were blissfully unaware of the impending doom Tonya faced. It would come and go without ever impacting their lives in any significant manner. They had a right to their happiness. That still didn't improve her mood or make her any more eager to see smiling faces today. The walk to town hall took awhile to do. She didn't really notice the time though as she kept her gaze low and tried not to look any pony in the face. When she finally reached the foot of the steps of town hall she found the same bustle of activity that had been going on the last two days. It was time to get her game face on. She couldn't show weakness to these ponies and humans. She had to show strength and confidence as she took command of whatever issues the town was facing today. She took a deep breath and forced an impassive expression onto her face. She then marched up the steps of town hall with her head held high and her posture saying she knew she was in charge and expected to be obeyed. As she entered the lobby things seemed well in order. No one, pony or human, seemed to be confused or simply waiting for direction. Megan and two unicorns were working away at the information desk and didn't seem particularly stressed at the moment. She took these all as signs that things were running smoothly. That was good, she really didn't want to have to deal with workers running around like chickens with their heads cut off today. She walked over to the desk. "Do you have my morning report ready?" She asked Megan. Megan looked up and nodded and held out several sheets of paper for her. "Everything's in order, Ms. Blessing. The representative from New Orleans left a message saying he wanted to get in touch with you as soon as possible." Sunset took the papers and started browsing through them. "How long ago did he call?" "About twenty minutes ago. He didn't tell me what the reason for his call was. I simply told him that I would inform you as soon as you came in about his call," Megan explained. "Try to find out some details in the future," Sunset instructed. "Is his phone number in the directory you emailed me?" "Yes, ma'am," Megan replied. Sunset nodded. "I'll go take care of that while I read over these reports then. I should have your instructions for the day ready in about thirty minutes. Have we heard anything back from that cable company?" "Yes, ma'am," Megan answered. "I have the details included in the report. They have proposed several times to meet with you and are expecting a reply by this afternoon. PonyCo and the A.P. Moller–Maersk Group also have correspondences that I have forwarded on to your email. Senator Scott also is seeking a meeting with you." Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Have you met Senator Scott before? What are your impressions of the man?" "I've met him," Megan said with a frown. "He's pretty typical in serving the interests of those who are funneling him the most money, but he can occasionally make a stand on social issues in opposition to his lobbyists' interests. He's an evangelical and an alumni of the same college as you. With enough focus on business interest, some hefty campaign funds, and some talk about your shared evangelical beliefs you should be able to establish a good working relationship with him. He hasn't made any public comments about ponies as of yet beyond saying he hopes to rebuild US business interests now that the crisis has passed. His name has recently come up as a presidential candidate as well as speculation about the state governorship, but I think it's just speculation without substance." Sunset nodded. "Thank you, I'll keep all that in mind. We could use some potential allies in the Senate." She walked back to her office and set the report down on her desk as she jumped into her chair. She quickly looked through her email and found the contact information for Book End, the Shimmerist leader in New Orleans. She then dialed up his number and put it on speaker phone. After a few times ringing it was picked up. "Hello? Blessing, is that you?" "Speaking, what can I do for you this morning?" Sunset replied as she started reading reports. "We're having trouble with the humans, Blessing. They're trying to force ponies out of the French Quarter. Many of our ponies have lived there for generations and the city council here is dead set on uprooting them." Sunset set the papers she was reading down and grimaced. "Fuck." "Yeah, that's how I feel about it too," Book End replied. "They're demanding payments of rent and property taxes and we haven't got most of our ponies working again yet. I have more than two dozen families facing eviction here, Blessing. I need help." Sunset nodded to herself. "I'll channel some funds to you to help pay those taxes and rent payments for the short term. They aren't putting ponies out on the street while I'm on watch. I'm in discussions with a few shipping companies and will see about cutting some sort of preferred employment deal with them for ponies in your region. I'll find them jobs, you just have to sell it to the city council and the ponies there." "Half of them are up for re-election this November and are in precarious positions. I could make some much needed friends with some campaign donations," Book End suggested. Sunset frowned. "Agreed. Get me the list of city council members. I'll get ponies looking into who we can persuade with money to support us and who we can dig up dirt on and support opposition with. Send me a ledger by the end of the day and I'll have the money to keep those ponies in their homes by tomorrow evening. You said two dozen families, right? That can be managed without drawing too much attention to ourselves." "How are we going to not draw attention to us channeling campaign money though?" Book End asked. "SPEC is going to finance it and SPEC is going to be financed through a number of shell companies for the moment that are hard for anyone to track down the actual owners of. Soon we'll have legitimate companies putting funds in and can back off using our nest egg options. Things are in so much disorder that we should escape any thorough audits before we have a chance to cover our tracks. The IRS was already opperating far too understaffed to function correctly even before ETS broke out, they won't have the resources to launch a full investigation into our finances for years--if ever. The IRS is long passed its glory days of being a threat, and ETS may well have been the final deathblow to their auditing capability." "If you say so," Book End replied, not sounding completely convinced. She didn't blame him. She'd been shocked at how incapable the IRS had been shown to be when Number Crunch had gone over the IRS's staffing and budget issues. It was no wonder businesses had been getting away with bloody murder for years. The IRS was perhaps one of the most underfunded areas of the goverment with each major party taking opportunity to cut it further. Lobbyists on all sides hated the IRS and lobbyists got what they wanted, even if it was cutting government ability to properly collect taxes. SPEC would act as a lobbyist group as well, and would have far more political results than trying to push ponies into official government positions. The keys to power were not democracy but whoever could apply the most financial pressure. Ponies would win rights through capitalism, not the pleas of the masses. "Get me those figures and data as soon as possible," Sunset instructed. "Is there anything else you needed me for this morning?" "No, nothing else if you can follow through with what you say," Book End answered. "For a pony world then," Sunset said in dismissal. "For a pony world," Book End echoed before ending the call. She went back to reading reports and making plans. Her focus could not afford to stray or she'd start thinking about what was happening starting at noon. That was a battle she could do nothing to prepare for, but there were battles to fight now that she could impact.