If I looked up, I saw scenes which were familiar to me in my happier time and which I had contemplated but the day before in the company of her who was now but a shadow and a recollection. Tears streamed from my eyes. The rain had ceased for a moment, and I saw the fish play in the waters as they had done a few hours before; they had then been observed by Elizabeth. Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
"Mom! Jessie's reading instead of getting ready!" She heard her brother call out.
"Jessie, you can take a few days off from reading. It's a holiday. Get ready to go," her mom called out from the bathroom.
Urgh! Why did her brother have to tattle!
Jessie looked up at the two inspirational posters hanging over her reading desk. One had Wild Growth pointing a hoof towards her with the words We're Earth Ponies, and We're Awesome! spelled out in bright letters. The other poster had Twilight Sparkle holding a book with the words Eggheads are Excellent! spelled out in equally bright letters. Both the posters were autographed. Looking at them always made her feel proud of herself.
Her eyes turned to her MENSA certificate that was framed to the side of the Twilight poster and then to the framed news article that had a headline of Local Earth Pony Prodigy Begins High School at 6 Years Old. She smiled to herself. She was awesome, and she was excellent.
She looked back to the posters of her idols and sighed. "Did your brothers ever get on your nerves?"
Being posters, they, of course, didn't answer.
The yellow earth pony closed her copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. She supposed she was ahead on her reading list for school. English was her most demanding set of exams, not because she wasn't an excellent reader, but because she couldn't just logically work out answers as she could in her math and science classes. She had to read the books, and that took time.
She was planning on taking her SAT test in May, and she wanted to be sure she could make a perfect score. Her dream was to work with NASA and help colonize new worlds in outer space. Kim Ung-Yong had started work with NASA when he was eight. If she worked hard, she could do that too. She just needed to prove she was smart enough to do it.
Today she was going to have to put studying on hold. Her parents were insisting they all go to this big Thanksgiving dinner at her aunt's house. She was dreading it. They were going to put her at the kid table for sure. Foals, her age, were worthless for conversation. She'd much rather be at the grown-up table.
It wouldn't be all bad, though. Wild Growth was going to be there! Her mom sometimes worried about how much she liked to talk about Wild Growth, but that's only because her mom focused too much on Wild Growth's partying. Her mom almost wholly ignored all the great things Wild Growth did all the time. Wild Growth had the right to have fun because she was the most generous earth pony there ever was.
While conversations with other foals were a lost cause, racing and tag were a lot of fun. She was ready to show Jackie that winged ponies weren't the fastest on the ground.
Jessie went over to her bed and carefully put her saddlebags on. She was tempted to try to sneak in her book, but she knew she'd get scolded if her mom or dad caught her reading when she was supposed to be socializing. Her socializing was a big deal to them. They wanted her to attend all four years of high school, so she'd socialize more, but she wanted to get it done as early as possible. It wasn't like she was learning any new math in high school anyway. She'd seen the senior textbooks, that math was easy. Learning math and physics was what would get her into NASA, not socializing.
Instead of grabbing her book, she instead grabbed her stuffed bunny Bunna from her pillow and stuffed him into the bags that already had all her Pony Strap accessories in them. She then carefully put her Pony Strap on and made sure it was adjusted to be secure but not too tight. After a moment's consideration, she lifted her pillow and pulled her notebook from it, and placed that carefully into her bag as well.
Robby acted like getting ready was some big deal. She'd washed and groomed her fur when she woke up. Her blue mane and tail were already brushed, as were her teeth. Getting ready didn't take a lot of time. She could have gotten through another chapter or two before her parents were prepared to go. Her mom had already told her to take a break from reading, though, and she didn't want to come off as disobedient.
Instead, she walked to her door. When she was next to the door, she reared up on her hind legs and braced herself against the wall with her forelegs. She then stretched and just barely reached the light switch to turn it off. After completing that task, she settled back down on all four legs again. Light switches in their house might be lower than the ones for all human families, but they were still higher than the ones for all pony families. It made her grin in satisfaction that she could reach it now. A month before, it had just barely been out of reach.
She walked out into the hallway and swiveled her ears around. Her mom was in the bathroom, still. Her dad was in her parents' bedroom. Robby was out in the living room with the television on. She turned to the living room. She was going to give her brother a piece of her mind for interrupting her reading.
As she walked into the living room, Robby spoke up. "You finally decide to emerge from your cave?"
"It's not a cave," she said defensively. "I have a lot of reading to do. Why'd you have to be so mean and annoying."
The black-furred night pony colt stuck his head over the edge of the couch and grinned at her. "Because I was bored and lonely out here. Figured flushing out my egghead sister to come to talk to me was better than watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade."
"The parade is fun to watch," she replied as she took a glance at the TV.
"We already saw it this morning," Robby said with a groan. Then he looked down at her with an exaggerated pout. "What's wrong? Don't want to spend time with your big brother?"
"You're annoying."
"You still love me, though."
"Doesn't make you less annoying, bat brain."
"Smartypants!"
"Leather wings!"
"Plow horse!"
Plow horse? Oh-it-was-on. She smirked as she prepared her master insult.
"Somnium Vidisse se Dicat Diem!"
"Hey! No fair pulling out languages I don't understand!" Robby protested, briefly lifting himself into the air with his wings before settling back down. "What did you call me, anyway?"
"Daydreamer, in Latin," she replied with a grin and flick of her tail. Her Latin wasn't great, she'd only read the first-year textbook, but she had learned that one just to get one over on her brother. He was the one that started it anyway, using Spanish on her last time when he knew she didn't know Spanish.
Robby blinked. "Are you pulling my tail? That's a lot of words for that."
"It's kind of rough, but that's what it means," Jessie said with a nod.
Robby sighed. "You're too smart for me, egghead. I concede. I'll get you next time."
Jessie stomped her hooves. "That's thirty-one for me to your nine."
Robby grinned at her. "But who's counting, right?"
"Yeah, who's counting," she said with a giggle.
No matter how much he annoyed her sometimes, Robby was still fun to be with. Both of them were very mature for their ages and got along with each other better than other foals. He didn't even think it was weird she was one--actually, now two--grades ahead of him in school. Robby was the only pony that treated her like she wasn't just a little filly. She'd probably go crazy without her big brother to talk to.
She came and hopped up on the couch with him as they waited on their parents to finish getting ready to go. She saw that he had his saddlebags and Pony Strap on. She knew she shouldn't be, but she was jealous as she saw the yellow paintbrush that matched her brother's mane overlaid on a blue moon cutie mark on his flank. She may only be six, but she was a remarkably mature six, and she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. She should have her cutie mark too, but her flank was still blank for some reason. Most of her pony classmates had their cutie marks. They might be in high school, but most of them were less focused than her. Ponies would treat you like a grown-up if you had your cutie mark, no matter what your age.
She spotted his art pad, just barely sticking out of his saddlebags.
"Going to draw about Thanksgiving dinner?" She asked.
He glanced at his pad and adjusted his saddlebag so it could be closed. "Yeah, I've never seen the inside of Aunt Tonya's house. It might make a nice setting for a dream."
Her brother's talent was recreating settings in dreams that he saw in real life. He had to get a good picture of them, though, and drawing helped him remember them best. He was an excellent artist. He'd even drawn a picture of her flying on a rocket to the moon that she had hung on her wall. Their mom was thrilled he took after her art interests. Their parents encouraged her interests too, but Robby and their mom had a bond in interests. Her parents couldn't understand her interests in math and physics.
Being super smart had its drawbacks. Every once and a while, she wished she was just average, so she didn't feel so lonely. Everyone treated her like she was weird because she behaved and talked more like a grown-up. Even the adults had a hard time keeping up with what she was saying a lot of times. She'd come to recognize that vacant look they got when she was talking over their heads. Robby at least didn't treat her like she was weird. He'd just laugh and admit he had no idea what she was talking about, but that was better than strange looks.
She wondered what Wild Growth or Twilight Sparkle would do.
"I wonder if Aunt Tonya will let me fly in the house," Robby said thoughtfully.
"You're not supposed to fly in houses," Jessie scolded.
"Different houses, different rules, egghead," Robby said, then bopped her on the nose.
"Mom! Robby bopped me!"
"Don't bop your sister, Robby. You know that she doesn't like that," her mom called out, now from the bedroom.
"I didn't bop her!" Robby yelled back.
"Yes, you did!" Jessie screamed.
"Did not!"
"You're so fudging annoying!"
"Jessie! Language!" Her mom yelled.
"Ooo, you're in trouble now," Robby whispered. She gave him a scowl and punched him on the base of his wing, making him wince. "OW! Jessie hit me!"
"She's half your size and hasn't developed her earth pony strength yet. You'll be fine," their dad called out. "Both of you behave, or we won't let you spend time with Wild Growth or Phobia Remedy."
Jessie's eyes went wide. "We'll be good!"
"We're being good right now. We were just playing," Robby added in.
Their dad walked into the room and looked down at them, arms crossed. "No more bopping, no more hitting, no more cussing, no more fighting. It's Thanksgiving, and you'll behave. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Dad," the two young ponies said in unison.
"Good," their dad said, and then departed back down the hall.
"Want to watch some cartoons while we wait for them?" Robby asked.
"Sure."
The mare adjusted her tie and did one last look in the mirror to make sure her purple pixie cut mane was adequately groomed. Her human assistant stood close-by, ready to take any last-minute instructions.
"Is the chopper ready, Fatima?" The pony asked.
"Yes, ma'am. They're prepared to get you back into the air as soon as you're on board."
"Any security issues that I need to be aware of?"
"The guards are in place to keep the reporters at bay. The reporters have all been thoroughly searched for weapons, and the roof has been checked for snipers, so none of the guards are at risk."
It went without saying that no conventional weapon could hurt the mare. She wasn't invincible, but it would take more than a gun or a knife to hurt her. The security guards weren't nearly as durable, though. She had to go more than once to give her condolences to families of those who had died when they were supposed to be protecting her. Her demands for heightened security over the last two years had resulted in no further incidents, but she was always concerned with the security's welfare. They were meant to keep her safe, but in truth, it was more her responsibility to keep them, and any other innocent bystanders, safe from harm.
"Perfect, Fatima. I hope you enjoy your holiday vacation. I expect to see you in Riverview bright and early January third."
"Happy holidays to you, ma'am. I hope you enjoy them. I hope everything goes well with the delegation."
"Happy holidays to you too, and I also hope everything goes well with the delegation. This is the culmination of years of effort."
"Demeter is about to exit the plane," her inside security detail said into his comm. She hated that call sign. The call sign was descriptive of her, but if the wrong ears heard that, there would be an uproar. She was never really clear why they couldn't just call her by name over the comms. There was some reason, but she'd never learned it.
The pony made one last adjustment of her tie and checked her suit over for lint. Then stepped up to the airplane door. She put on her best fake smile and stepped out the door.
Cameras flashed as the green earth pony mare got off the plane. Reporters from a dozen different newspapers and twice as many paparazzi as well. She could see the microphones being held out on long poles to try to bypass her bodyguards. The distance from the plane to her private helicopter was only about a hundred yards, but it seemed like several miles.
She waved at the reporters then descended the ramp, still smiling as if she were thrilled by the mob of reporters and flashing lights. Her eyes quickly glanced up at the top of the airport building, making sure there indeed weren't any snipers up there. Paranoia about that had saved lives in the past. If she spotted trouble, she could force the crowds away from her, so the bullets only came at her. She could take a shot and be alright. Reporters annoyed her, but they were innocent people who didn't deserve to be shot while just trying to do their jobs.
"Miss Growth, how do you feel about the results of the Sahara project?"
"I'm very pleased with what was accomplished, but there are many barriers to be overcome and research to be completed yet before we do any more with that," she replied calmly as she continued walking forward.
"Chairmare Growth, is it true the board of directors for PonyCo is leaning towards Michael Isinright to take the position of CEO?"
"The board is not prepared at this time to discuss its decision-making process. Mr. Solomon will continue as acting CEO through the remainder of the year, and we shall announce our decision on a permanent CEO sometime after the new year," she replied with a more neutral expression.
"Chairmare Growth, do you feel that the PonyCo sales figures for this holiday season will steady investor confidence following the death of the CEO and the poor western market performance last year?"
"We have corrected our distribution problems from last year, so sales figures should rebound. I know many western ponies will be getting PonyCo products this holiday season," she replied. "Ms. Takkagawa's sudden death was tragic and a sad loss, but it has no impact on our business outlook this holiday season."
"Miss Growth, do you have any comment on what's taking place in Riverview that is drawing government, United Nations, and Equestrian delegates to it this weekend?"
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I cannot comment at this time. All details will be revealed Sunday. Until then, you'll have to speculate as you wish."
"Miss Growth, how do you feel about the increased school security that has reportedly been put in place to protect the Dreamwarden's foals? Do you feel that taxpayer dollars should go to protecting your nieces and nephew?"
She wanted to growl. Ensuring foals and children were safe shouldn't be an issue people worried about spending such a small amount of tax revenue on. Some people would allow anything to happen to make a political statement about how they felt about the Dreamwardens.
She gave a tight smile. "I'm not part of that decision-making process, but I feel that increased security benefits all the students, not just the Dreamwarden's. I'm sure no one wants a terrorist attack on a school."
"Miss Growth, as the second-highest-ranking member of SPEC, what do you say in response to Venezuela's claims that SPEC is carrying out pony imperialism in South America?"
"President Alvarez has a long history of claiming the United States has imperialistic intent in his country," she replied dismissively. "This is just a continuation of that same populist rhetoric."
That bastard had been trying to push legislation to effectively make ponies be treated like farm animals in his country, though the press didn't seem to want to cover that. The average person in the United States didn't know or care what was going on politically in other countries. If SPEC wasn't there funneling money to his opposition, he might have already succeeded in getting it passed. He had already been warned by the UN and hadn't seemed to care.
"Miss Growth, is there any truth to the rumors you may be preparing for a congressional run when you become eligible in two years?"
She didn't want to consider doing that. Sunset wanted her to do it. There was an excellent chance she could win the election too. However, she couldn't make the same amount of contributions to the world in Congress as she could be out in the world, actually doing things. If Sunset wanted a pony congressperson from South Carolina, then Sunset could try to run herself.
She gave a smile. "I'm not currently making any such plans. Nor have I considered running for office. The rumors are baseless."
She was almost to the helicopter—just a few more steps.
"Miss Growth, can you tell us why it has been announced you will be taking time off next year from Westvaco? Is it a health concern?"
She frowned. "No comment."
She boarded the helicopter and sighed with relief as her bodyguards closed the door behind her. Dealing with reporters was always exhausting. She had years of experience doing it, but she still wished they'd just leave her alone.
"You look like you could use a drink," Number Crunch said from her seat across from her.
Wild groaned. "I wish I could get a drink. I need to watch drinking, though. I'll have a glass of wine at dinner today, but doctor's orders are to avoid any regular or heavy drinking."
Number nodded knowingly. "Have you told your family yet?"
Wild shook her head. "No, I'll tell them tonight during Thanksgiving dinner. My papa is going to have a fit."
"Well, it isn't like they'll be completely taken off guard. We all figured it was coming sooner or later. You have a reputation. The tabloids are all speculating on it," Number said with a smirk.
"The tabloids always speculate on that," Wild replied flatly. "They have claimed with reliable sources every year that I'm pregnant."
"A broken clock is correct twice a day," Number quoted off. "Next thing will be the speculation on who the father is."
Wild groaned again. "I honestly don't have a clue. I sleep with so many stallions in so many places; it all kind of runs together in my head. That's the part my papa is going to pitch a fit about, not knowing who the father is."
"Your wild lifestyle during your free time was going to catch up with you sooner or later. I warned you," Number chuckled.
Wild gave the blue-furred unicorn a dirty look. "Really? You had to go and use that running pun?"
"It is accurate," Number said defensively.
Wild crossed her forelegs in front of herself and pouted. "Doesn't mean you need to use it."
Number sobered up. "Anyway, you haven't asked me about how testing has gone yet."
"I'm assuming since we're calling in the delegates that it's gone well," Wild replied. She was eager to hear about this but didn't want to rush to the subject. "Is it a hundred percent ready?"
"I don't want to commit to saying anything, but the test with Ms. Rivers went well, and the test with Ms. Rutledge and Ms. Nightshade had...mixed results."
"Mixed results?"
Number ran a hoof through her red mane nervously. "They seemed alright at first, but they got increasingly anxious as time went by. It lasted about six hours for Ms. Nightshade, and by about the five-hour mark, she was in an awful mental state. It lasted about eight hours for Ms. Rutledge, but she was jittery by three hours, and we sedated her for her own good at five."
That was disappointing to hear. Number was her best friend, but Number had a habit of downplaying bad news. Very bad mental state was almost certainly her way of saying completely out of their minds.
"Can it be ended early?" She asked.
"With the aid of a crystal pony to remove the spell, yes."
That was better than nothing. "How long did Melissa last?"
"She lasted eight hours. She was thrilled the whole time. She said she'd love to do it again, both Ms. Rutledge and Ms. Nightshade gave us firm refusals to have anything more to do with it." Number paused. "We found out afterward that some of the rumors about Ms. Rivers were, in fact, true."
It was interesting to hear that the rumors concerning Melissa were right. No one who had ever listened to the stories had been shocked when Melissa signed up as a volunteer. That was not important at the moment, though. Those rumors didn't apply to everyone else.
Wild narrowed her eyes. "This doesn't seem completely ready then."
"We'll be running more tests. Perhaps we just have to find some sort of failsafe to end it early. If we can get enough volunteers for testing after we go public Sunday, we can get a better gauge on what the appropriate time limit is. Tests begin again tomorrow. We'll also be increasing our use of mind magic, and we are even now writing up the legal consent forms to satisfy those requirements. If we can avoid them getting distressed, we can hopefully get more repeat volunteers. This won't be perfect by Sunday, but we can hopefully show enough promise to get an endorsement from the government."
Wild laid down and sighed. "I hope so. After so much time and work, we're so close to having this. My mama needs this, Number."
"Are you going to tell them tonight about it?" Number asked.
"Better them hearing it directly from me than on the news. I've just got all kinds of things to talk about over dinner," she said with resignation. She then shook her head and looked at her cell phone leg-band. "Alexa, call contact sister."
"Calling sister," the leg-band responded. A second later, the sound of ringing could be heard on the band.
It took a moment to be answered, "Hello? Wild? Is that you?" Rosetta's voice came over the phone.
"Yes, I'm..." Wild began.
"Hold that thought! I'll be right back," Rosetta said in a hurry. Sounds of crashing and giggling could be heard in the background.
"Sounds like your nieces and nephew are up to their normal routine," Number observed with a smirk.
Wild nodded in agreement as she waited patiently for her sister to come back on the line.
"¡Pequeños diablos!" Rosetta shouted from somewhere away from the phone. Sounds of more crashing could be heard.
"Yep, definitely up to their normal routine," Wild observed.
Number raised a hoof and chuckled into it. "Listen closely, that's your future going on over there. Doesn't it make you thrilled at the prospect of mothering a foal for eighteen long years?"
Her nieces and nephew were a rambunctious bunch. It was rare she ever encountered them when they weren't play fighting with one another to work out the natural aggression they had as night ponies or putting their collective minds together to get into greater mischief. Her sister actually encouraged a lot of it on. Rosetta said it was good for their more playful natures to be nurtured. The three demons, as they were called, would be perfectly prim and proper around Phobia by contrast. It seemed an interesting parenting method where one parent taught the foals to behave, and the other taught them how to be little devils, but somehow it worked in their case. The foals did seem to know when their mischief would get them in trouble and when they needed to behave themselves.
Moments like this put her mind more into thinking about her impending motherhood. It wasn't often at the forefront of her thoughts yet. Right now, she had a lot of other things that took priority, but she had her moments still. She ran her other foreleg briefly against her tummy as she sat waiting for her sister to come back on the line. She wondered if it would be twins for her, as was extremely common in the family. She had a doctor's appointment coming up next week, when she was supposed to find out.
Other little thoughts like wondering what gender and tribe her foal-or foals-were played at her thoughts.
Having to deal with foals that had to work out aggression regularly wasn't likely. She was pretty sure that she had never slept with a night pony stallion. No matter how drunk she got, she wasn't ever drunk enough to try that. The night pony mares would attack if any non-night pony even considered sleeping with a night pony stallion. She was tough enough to fight those mares off with ease, but it would kill the mood of just wanting to have a fun roll in the grass with a stallion. There was no chance the new life inside her was nocturnal.
Every other tribe was a possibility, though. She had heard horror stories about surges from the various tribes. Crystal pony foals were typically the worst of the horror stories; crystal ponies on Earth weren't much like their Equestrian counterparts. A surging crystal pony foal could seriously hurt non-crystal pony parents and others by sucking too much magic out of them. Sometimes to the point of leaving the adult comatose in the worst-case scenarios. They typically had to be given into the care of a crystal pony until the surging ended, and then everything would be fine after. With her ungodly magic levels, that shouldn't be an issue for her, though. An army of crystal ponies could go at her all day and not put much of a dent in her magic.
Sounds of crashing objects and random curses in Spanish were continuing on the other line. This was taking a while.
"Your sister seems a little busy," Number said, still looking very amused. The foalless unicorn seemed to take great joy in knowing others were dealing with foals and not herself. Number was more than twice Wild's age, so it was unlikely that was going to change. "Maybe you should call her back later."
Wild about agreed before her sister came back. "Sorry, sorry. The foals were trying to make off with Phobia's contribution to dinner tonight. Actually, they did make off with part of it, but Phobia anticipated it and made extra. You better eat your share; tarantulas aren't cheap!"
Wild nodded, even though her sister wouldn't see that. "I just got off the plane and am on a flight back to my home. I wanted to ask how Mama was doing."
"You just got off the plane?" Her sister asked in astonishment. "You were supposed to be back yesterday."
"Weather delayed me. I didn't want to risk a plane crash."
"You're tough enough to survive a plane crash. You can afford new planes too."
She gritted her teeth just a little. "Sis, be reasonable. I might be able to, but my staff and pilot wouldn't. Even if I were flying alone, a plane crash would hurt like hell and have me missing Thanksgiving and be in bandages. I'm pretty damn hard to hurt, but I'm not invincible. I might even hurt someone on the ground with the crash."
Rosetta huffed on the other line. "I know that. I'm just frustrated you're running behind, even if it isn't your fault. I'm guessing you're not bringing anything to eat for Thanksgiving in that case."
Wild frowned. She didn't know how to cook, but she'd honestly forgotten to have a caterer provide something for her to bring. "No, not this time."
"No worries," Rosetta said with a sigh. "Anyway, Mama's not doing so great. That medication your doctors came up with helps with the tremors and twitching a lot, but it makes her mind so blurry she's not aware of much around her. Papa is spending all day every day with her and only medicates her when he absolutely needs to so she can try to talk. Things are getting progressively worse, though. Been on a steady downward spiral for her since Abuelita passed away."
Wild watched as Number lost her amused expression and adopted a more somber one. Number could seem like a heartless bitch sometimes, the unicorn's propensity to laugh at others' troubles and focus on money gave off that vibe, but Number did have a heart. Number would laugh at Wild's unplanned pregnancy, but she wouldn't laugh at people suffering or struggling. It was Number who would suggest needing charities most often to her and did the bulk of the research on them to make sure the money would go to meet actual needs instead of some CEO's or politician's pocket.
She frowned as she looked at her leg band. "Don't worry, sis. I'll have a better way to deal with this soon. We'll talk about it when I get there."
"I hope your doctors have come up with something that can let her be more clear-headed when medicated," Rosetta replied. The sound of fighting foals started up in the background. "I'm sorry, but I need to get going. Be careful on the way here. There are a lot of protesters in from out of town. They're protesting about Dreamwardens, how taxes are spent, the United Nations, the supposed New World Order, and any other thing they can think to be mad about. If you told me they were protesting about the sky being blue, I wouldn't be shocked."
Those protesting the United Nations probably came to town when they heard about the delegation. The rest likely latched on as soon as they heard protest in Riverview. Riverview was a magnet for people from outside it to protest in. It didn't help that Sunset Blessing would feed the protesters when significant events were happening. The preacher unicorn said that was her way of turning the other cheek. The actual residents of Riverview didn't get involved with the protests. They only tolerated them because Sunset Blessing would preach about loving those who curse them, free speech, and how time and kindness would teach the protesters the truth.
"I'll be careful," she said quietly. "Talk to you in a while. Love you."
"Love you too." The phone clicked off after that.
She looked at Number. "One way or another, the procedure needs to be working by Sunday."
"Thank you for doing this, Mrs. Blessing. My sister just hasn't felt right in the last few days," the blue unicorn stallion said as they walked up the stairs.
"It's the least I could do. I consider Megan a friend," Tonya replied.
The night pony mare walking with them let off a low growl. "She wouldn't need this if she hadn't signed up for that fool experiment. I don't know what the hell she was thinking."
Tonya didn't want to fight. She knew what Megan had been thinking. Megan had thought she wanted better to understand her siblings and the ponies of the town. Megan also had a colt that had somehow managed to catch her attention despite the species barrier. Tonya hoped that she could help her human friend recover.
They reached the third floor. Like most houses in town, there was just one window at the end of the hall that didn't let much light in. Most of the light was provided by electrical lighting, though some unlit candles were placed in sconces along the wall as well just in case there was a power outage. The ceiling was too low to fly in, and for a taller human, they'd no doubt hit their head on the ceiling if they so much as took a small hop.
Three doors flanked the hall as well as a second staircase that led to the next floor that had the living room, with a final ramp that led out to the roof. The floor below was the kitchen and storage area. The ground floor was the bathroom and laundry area, as well as where deliveries were made. This was the typical pony built house design in the city. If you had seen one, you had seen them all, except for whatever decorations and furniture the occupants chose to have.
Tonya was a little surprised that Megan chose to live here with her siblings rather than live in one of the human apartments that were better suited for her size. There were plenty available, and the prices were low. All three of the siblings were adults, and each made decent money. She'd assumed they'd all want their own places. It wasn't her place to question family wishing to live together, though.
The unicorn went to the door of the master bedroom and knocked. "Meg, it's Alex, you awake? Tonya Blessing is here and is going to see if she can help you feel better."
"I'm awake," Megan called out in a pained voice from within the room. "I don't want to sleep. If Tonya can help, send her in."
Alex opened the door, and Tonya looked at the night pony and unicorn. "Let us have some privacy. I need to talk to her about some confidential information while I'm helping her. Some of this comes from my wife, and some of this comes from Sha'am Maut."
The night pony narrowed her eyes. "I guess I'll let you have some privacy. I wouldn't want to upset the Warden of Death."
"Or my wife," Tonya added on. "Sunset's not your enemy, Tattered. She didn't mean for this to happen."
Tattered Wing flicked her tail. "But she's still the cause of it. I'll leave you two alone, but only for the Dreamwarden's sake." The night pony then turned and marched to the stairs, headed upward to the living area.
Tonya just now noticed that Tattered had the ends of her wings now tattooed; that was new. They still were red from being freshly inked. Another night pony had succumbed to the pressure and had taken Yinyu's Blessing in desperation. The concept of having wings tattooed sounded painful, but night ponies liked to pretend things like that didn't bother them. She was glad she wasn't a night pony; otherwise, she'd be expected to have hers done that way. Well, that or be treated like crap for the rest of her life. She had no idea how Tattered had endured the stigma as long as she had.
Alex gave Tonya a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry about her. She's just anxious about Meg. Please, help my sister out. We'll be upstairs waiting for you when you're done." Alex then turned and followed his night pony sister up the stairs.
Tonya took a deep breath and walked into Megan's bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Megan was sitting on the edge of her bed with her arms wrapped around herself. She had lamps turned on, flanking both sides of the bed, the light on the ceiling was on, and a small fan was running in the corner. The human's eyes were bloodshot from crying, and she looked exhausted on top of that.
"Hi, Meg," Tonya said as she walked over to the bed. "Care to talk about it?"
"I don't want to think about it," Megan said in a tight voice. "Can't you just mind magic away the memories or something so I can't remember it anymore?"
Tonya gave a few flaps of her wings to join Megan on the bed, leaving a stray orange feather she'd failed to preen earlier on the floor.
She draped a wing over Megan's back once on the bed. "I can maybe do some mind magic to help you feel better, if you consent to it, but I can't just make the memories go away. I prefer using mind magic as a last resort. We need to talk about it no matter what, though."
"Fine, ask whatever you want," Megan replied tightly.
"So, let's start with how the first few hours went. Those weren't so bad, right? Don't focus on thinking about the sensations or anything; just focus on your actions and emotions from then."
Megan rubbed her arms for a moment before answering. "I was disoriented when I came too. Everything felt weird, and I was having a hard time processing it. The mages were saying things, but it was hard to understand them. Like sound was distorted. It smelled like I was buried in a dumpster. I tried moving one limb just to have another end up moving. Everything was blurry, and I couldn't see things clearly at first."
"You kept your cool through that, though."
"I was just focused on trying to get my body to work right," Megan replied. "Eventually, my vision and hearing cleared up some. Everything still seemed distorted, but I could make out what I was seeing and hearing if I focused. My sense of smell was overloaded still. The mages said it was a success, but damned if I could tell. I eventually got to where I could get my neck to work right. That was when I got my first look at myself."
"And what stood out to you?"
Megan shook her head absently. "At first, I thought I must have had a blanket draped over me; that's kind of what it looked like in my blurry vision. Then I realized that I was looking at wings hanging limply to my sides. I couldn't even tell with how blurry my vision was if they had feathers or not at first. Took a lot of staring to tell they were leathery."
"And how did you feel about seeing those wings?"
Megan let off a low chuckle. "My first thought after figuring out they were leathery was that Tattered was going to gloat. They said it would be like ETS and pick the most appropriate tribe based on my personality and mind. I guess those saying I would have made a good night pony were right...except for the fact it felt so wrong."
Tonya nodded with sympathy. She hadn't seen the event, but she'd heard Sunset describe how badly things had gone downhill with Megan and Velvet Nightshade.
"Is this when you started getting upset?" Tonya prompted.
Megan shook her head. "Not right away. I was just curious at first. I tried to get my wings to flap, or do anything for that matter, but at first, all I could get was random parts of my body to twitch. My hearing and vision continued to get clearer, though, and the mages were asking me all kinds of questions."
"You could understand them, though?" Tonya asked. "They said they weren't sure if you could or not at the time."
Megan nodded. "Yeah, I could understand them. What I couldn't do was answer back. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't get words to come out right; trying to talk felt weird. Pony voice boxes work a lot differently than human ones. I kept trying to get different parts of my body to work and eventually got to where I could make the limbs I wanted to move. Actually using any of my limbs was a whole other story. I didn't even have the motor control of a newborn baby."
"When did the panic set in?"
Megan licked her lips. "Somewhere around the time, my brain started registering that there were more than four limbs. It wasn't like my arms and forelegs equated to one another like I imagined it does for all of you. It was like my brain was trying to equate my forelegs as my two legs, my hind legs as my two legs, my wings as my two legs, and at the same time, it was trying to equate all of these with my arms. My tail, my brain just didn't know what to do with, and it felt so alien. Everything felt wrong; my sight was wrong, my hearing was wrong, my smell was wrong, my taste was wrong. I was getting other sensations that I didn't even have a way of classifying in any of the senses."
Megan started breathing heavily, and her eyes could be seen dilating. She also started rubbing her arms rapidly and rocking herself as she sat. Tonya gripped the human tighter and tried to soothe her.
"I couldn't control any of it, and there was just too much to try to process," Megan continued as her tone started rising and getting faster. "Then, when I should have started trying to hyperventilate, my brain couldn't even figure out how to make my body do that right, and I just started twitching all over--which just made me panic more."
Tonya put a hoof up to Megan's head and turned the terrified human's face towards her. "Megan, calm down. It's over; you're back to being human; all your body parts work right; everything is okay. Take some deep breaths and calm down."
Megan did as instructed, and after thirty seconds of deep breaths, she seemed to calm down. The two sat in silence after that.
Sunset's mages had underestimated how many adjustments had to be done to a mind to accept a body, or even to control a body for that matter. This could have gone even worse. At least her pony body had seemed to do things like essential breathing without special adjustments, and keeping the heart beating. It was terrible to think that they might not have done that, and they just got fortunate.
They had such high hopes after Melissa had been thrilled the entire time with temporarily having a pony body again. The head of the police force had been disappointed that she had reverted to a human when it was done, but didn't show any signs of distress. It wasn't until after that Melissa had disclosed how much of a pony she had already been in terms of her thoughts and instincts. There had been rumors and jokes before, but this was the first time having them verified as accurate.
Melissa's successful session had lulled them into a false sense of security. Velvet's had been very rough, but not nearly as rough as Megan's early on. That was probably because Velvet still had the basic operating instructions for a human body filed somewhere in the back of her pony mind. That hadn't stopped Velvet from going into her own full-on panic eventually as well. If anything, by the end of it, Velvet had taken being turned into a human worse than Megan had being turned into a pony.
Tonya needed to pay the distressed night pony another visit first thing in the morning. She had already drafted a letter to get Velvet to a fully licensed psychologist, but the pony needed daily checking before her first appointment. Velvet was not well, and Tonya was experienced enough to know when she was out of her league. She was a counselor, but not for things this serious.
Perhaps she could set up some sort of group therapy session between the human and the night pony where they could talk about what happened. It may have been one freaking out about a pony body and one freaking out about a human one, but the extreme body dysphoria the experiment had caused was something they shared and could relate to each other on. That might help them cope while she was waiting to get them to certified professionals. She could temporarily help them a bit with mind magic, but they needed to sit down and talk about their feelings so real healing could happen.
Still, something needed to be done for Megan for right now.
"With your consent, I'll use a little mind magic to try to keep you from thinking about what happened for a day or two," Tonya said, breaking the silence. "I don't want to try to force any solutions that way; it just leads to trouble. This isn't something we should have just suppressed indefinitely. Saturday, I want to sit down and have a session with both you and Velvet Nightshade about your experiences. Maybe, you can help each other cope. I'd like to refer you to a fully licensed psychologist as well. I can help some, but I'd prefer to refer you to someone more educated and experienced. I can have a referral letter drafted tomorrow."
Megan nodded. "You have my consent for all those things. How's Velvet doing? She'd seemed so eager for the chance to be human again for a while. She was hoping for this to turn into something that could let her rehumanize despite having a cutie mark."
Tonya shook her head. "She was as traumatized as you were. We had to restrain her from hurting herself while transformed. Her first words when it was over was she never wanted to even think of being a human again. I think she firmly wants to stay a pony for good now. The idea of being a human terrifies her."
There were other concerns with Megan that she hadn't addressed yet that Sunset would. The crystal ponies registered that Megan had a meager PREQUES number now where she hadn't registered as having magic before. While Megan was temporarily a pony, her PREQUES number had been surprisingly high with at least a five. Sunset would be calling Megan in soon to discuss it with her and give her the legal talk about being a human with magic. Sunset had considered it a silver lining to a failed experiment that she'd inadvertently found another way of giving humans magic.
"What about the Dreamwardens? What did they say about me?"
Tonya frowned. "You took Sha'am Maut by surprise when you showed up in the dream realm dreamwalking. She didn't know what to make of you. She gave us a good chewing out about it. She made sure to tell me to tell you that she hopes she didn't scare you too much. She knows you were terrified and did what she could to help you."
Megan was still in her temporary transformation when they sedated her. Somehow her night pony magic had surged and tossed her into the dream realm while asleep. This led to a very confused Dreamwarden meeting what appeared to be a terrified human dreamwalking. You appear in the dream realm as you see yourself, and Megan's mind was fully human.
"Tell her thank you for me. I appreciated her putting me into a dreamless sleep," Megan replied.
"I'll let Phobia know, and she can pass it along. Talking to dead night ponies is something I prefer to avoid doing. Phobia is the only Dreamwarden I ever want to have to deal with again," Tonya said with a light chuckle.
Megan laughed briefly. "Yeah, I can see where that could feel creepy. It didn't even register on my creep meter at the time that I had a pony that had died two years ago talking to me."
Tonya sobered up her expression. "That being said. Sha'am has locked you out of the dream realm, in case the ability somehow resurfaces. She wants you to keep your mouth shut about having entered into it. The Dreamwardens have only recently gotten the United Nations to start fully cooperating with them, and word of humans wandering into the dream realm would cause a lot of tensions to start again."
"I understand," Megan said with a nod. "I consider that part of my confidentiality agreement I signed before agreeing to this experiment."
Megan's ability to shake off facing the ghost of the Warden of Death was encouraging. The undead Dreamwarden gave Tonya the willies. She was glad the Oaths were primarily a thing of the past now. The Dreamwardens still visited you on your first dreamwalk to lay down the rules, but they had lightened up a lot...provided you didn't do anything to abuse your dreamwalking.
Tonya wondered how she would react to Phobia's ghost if Phobia ended up passing away first. How awkward would it be to attend a friend's funeral and then run into said friend again that very night in the dream realm? It gave her chills just thinking about it. She also wondered how Phobia would deal with seeing her foals, grandfoals, and so on pass away while the Dreamwarden persisted. It was kind of depressing to think about.
"Anyway," Tonya said as she shook her head to ward off creepy and depressing thoughts. "I need you to look me in the eyes, and I'll do my best to give you some temporary calm. It's Thanksgiving, and I'm sure your brother and sister want you to be able to enjoy it with them."
"Think you can add in not feeling disappointed there's no turkey?" Megan quipped.
Tonya stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Eww, don't mention eating turkey. You'll make me lose my appetite. That you can manage to joke about that is a good sign, at least. Now, eyes on mine."
"Not really joking," Megan replied with a grumble, but did as she was instructed and locked eyes with Tonya.
Tonya stared into the human's eyes. "You want to put what happened out of mind and not let it come back to mind till we meet again. All the tension you have been feeling since the experiment I want you to let drift away for today."
Megan blinked and shook her head. "Wow, that feels weird."
Tonya shrugged. "Sorry about that. Never have been able to get that completely under control except for when I'm singing. At least I have a better idea of what I'm doing than I did years ago. It's good that I can be helpful with my powers now. It took so long to get to this point."
"I'm not going to complain," Megan replied as she stood up. "Thanks for the help. I guess I'll see you Saturday?"
Tonya hopped down from the bed. "Yeah, meet me at the front of the Bastion, and you, me, and Velvet can find a private room to talk there. Let's say nine at night; that way, we don't have to rush Velvet."
"I'll be there," Megan said with a nod. "Feel free to exit out the roof. I know you're probably eager to get home."
Tonya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, likely need to get home quick. Guests should be arriving soon there. They probably already have started to arrive. There's a fifty-fifty chance Sunset's about ready to have a meltdown if they have. She gets so worked up when trying to impress the family. She has no problem with officials, businesses, congregations, or random whoevers, but family gives her an anxiety attack."
Megan cocked an eyebrow at that. "Really? That's surprising. I would have never have guessed it."
Tonya walked towards the bedroom door. "Yeah, everyone else, she couldn't give a damn if they like her or not, but with the family, she's got this desperate need to be liked and loved. I can't get it through her head that Rosetta and Amanda are probably never going to go beyond simply tolerating her. Every big family occasion, she sits there trying to impress them, though. I'm not even liked by every member of the family. Devon and Wild are polite, but I doubt they'll ever like me. Can't be friends with everyone."
"Um, about Wild," Megan said, making Tonya come to a halt. "I found out that my brother ended up sleeping with her."
Tonya flicked her tail. "Wild sleeps with a lot of stallions, that mare has a libido about as strong as her magic. It isn't that big a deal hearing some stallion slept with her."
Megan ran a hand through her hair. "The thing is...I don't think Alex understands the concept that Wild Growth just does a lot of one-night stands."
"That sounds like a personal problem," Tonya said flatly. "The chances of him striking up an actual relationship with Wild are pretty slim. I don't think she's the committed relationship type. She's on the road more than she's at home. Heck, she's out of the country more than she's at home anymore. That doesn't work well with actual courtship. She has her fun, and sates her monster libido, but she's just not in a position to settle down."
"That's what I figured, but I wanted to check on his behalf," Megan said with a sigh.
"He won't be the first or the last stallion pining after Wild with no real chance at anything more than a few hours in bed," Tonya said with a shrug.
"He'll get over it." Megan went and opened the door for her "Thanks for coming by. I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving."
Tonya smiled and nodded before leaving the bedroom. If she hurried home, she could head off the inevitable meltdown that would happen when either Amanda or Rosetta gave Sunset the cold shoulder.