//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Family Dinner and Activities 
// Story: Pandemic: Monsters We Make 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Tonya watched as the foals were passed their plates and carefully walked with them in their mouths to their spots out in the living room. She'd have preferred the adults had taken the food out to the foals as well, but Sunset hadn't specified it. Hopefully, there would be no accidents involving spilled food on the carpet. It was inevitable that some food would get on the carpet, but that wouldn't compare to a full plate being dropped. 

Oh well, they could afford carpet cleaners. They knew that they'd be needing them after Thanksgiving anyway.

After all the foals had gotten their food, the adults started preparing their plates in the buffet line along the two-foot-high table. She and Sunset would be the last as hostesses of the dinner. With nineteen people getting food before the two of them, she hoped that there would still be some of her favorite dishes left by the time she got to them. They had made a lot of macaroni and cheese, that at least should last...in theory.

"Shit," Sunset cursed.

Tonya flicked an ear and looked at her wife. "What? What's wrong?"

Sunset pointed at the pink earth pony. "Amanda decided to be adventurous and try one of the spiders. Now I doubly have to eat one of those things, or they'll notice."

Of course, it would be Amanda; the other mare Sunset was desperate for approval from. Another meltdown might be incoming.

"Sunset, it isn't that big a deal. You don't need to freak out about this."

"But now they'll both think I'm a coward if I don't try one," Sunset whined.

Tonya gestured broadly at all the others. "Except for Amanda and the night ponies, no one else has gotten brave enough to try one. Not even all the night ponies are, Robby didn't take a chance. No one is going to look down on you."

"What are these?" Tonya heard her brother say as he examined the spiders. "It looks like something for Halloween instead of Thanksgiving."

"They're butter baked tarantulas," Phobia answered. "I brought them. They're an old night pony recipe from Equestria that I learned. You should try one. Don't be afraid. They're just another type of food."

Devon gave her husband a mischievous look. "Go on, Paul, try one. Or are you chicken?"

Paul looked at Devon. "I don't see one on your plate."

Devon quickly reached down with a hand and tossed a biscuit onto her plate--a feat Tonya wondered how Devon performed without tipping over considering the table was low for a human--and smiled sweetly at him. "Oops, it looks like my plate is already full. Maybe I'll eat one later...if you do first."

Paul scowled at her, then turned and purposefully put one of the spiders on his plate. He then turned to Tom and grinned.

"I saw your wife grab one," Paul said. "You wouldn't want your wife showing you up or hurt your daughter's feelings by not trying one, would you?"

Tom looked uncertainly at the spiders. "I..."

Wild gently shoved between the two of them. "What you two need to do is get out of the way because a hungry earth pony is eating for two here. Oh, I'm pregnant, by the way. There's my big family announcement."

Wild quickly took her plate from her back onto the table, added two spiders to it, put her plate back on her back, and then cut around Paul to get more food.

"I suppose I can get one," Tom said with a blink as he watched Wild continue to fill her plate. 

"I'm game. I'll try them," Jose said as he apprehensively watched his sister load more food onto her plate. While keeping his eyes glued to her, he leaned over to his brother to whisper. "¿Sabías que está embarazada?"

Miguel shook his head in bewilderment while watching his earth pony sister finish loading her plate. Tonya heard Amy whisper a question to her boyfriend, asking what he said, and Jose whisper something back.

Tonya could hear Sunset whimpering now beside her. She wanted to reassure her wife, but the thing stuck in her head was the announcement that Wild was pregnant. Tonya was now the only adult female in the family that wasn't a mother. It was time to double down on trying to convince Sunset that it was very personally important that she have a foal.

"I need a minute," Sunset abruptly announced. The unicorn then lit her horn up and vanished.

Tonya looked at the spot her wife just vanished from and started muttering. "Seriously, Sunset? You know you failed your licensing to be doing that. And even if you had your license to teleport, it's meant for emergencies only. This isn't an emergency."

"Um, something wrong?" Jose asked as the family stared at her.

"She teleported, Mommy! Did you see, Jackie?" Jordan said excitedly to Amanda and Jackie beside her and then sparked her horn. 

"Yeah, I saw," Jackie replied, though she didn't seem very interested. Jackie rarely seemed interested in magic from what Tonya could tell.

Amanda rubbed Jordan's mane. "Yes, we know, plum butter." Amanda looked at Tonya. "Is she allowed to be doing that?"

Tonya sighed and shook her head. "No, she's not. She's having a moment right now, don't worry. I'll go track her down and calm her. She's not strong enough to go very far. She'll either be upstairs or outside. My bet is upstairs. I'll be right back."

She took to the air and flew through the living room and up the stairs. When she reached the second floor, she landed. Up here was a large bathroom, her sewing room, Sunset's study, their bedroom, and a room they used for general storage. All the rooms had their doors slightly cracked open to allow Satan easy access. She perked her ears up to listen for any sounds, trying not to focus on the sounds of conversations taking place downstairs. 

Her ears picked up muffled sounds from the bedroom, sounds that weren't the cat. She hurried over to it, cautiously pushed the door completely open, and stepped into the room.

Sunset was on the bed, face buried in the pillows that Tonya had personally sewed and filled with her feathers. Sunset's purple and yellow mane was a mess.

"Sunshine, let's talk about this. You're making a mountain out of a molehill," Tonya said, walking over to the bed. "I know you've been deathly afraid of spiders since you found that big black widow nesting in your tail. Phobia will understand how you feel if you just tell her spiders freak you out. I'm sure if she realized you developed arachnophobia, she wouldn't have brought those."

"Maybe that's exactly why she brought them," Sunset said as she turned and fixed her bloodshot eyes on Tonya. "You know how she is; she wants ponies to face their fears. I'm supposed to face my fears, and I'm failing. I'm failing in front of her, her wife, and Amanda!"

Tonya hopped onto the bed and cuddled up close to her wife. "Do you really think your daughter has it out for you? Is it really that bad just to admit you're scared stiff of spiders? I don't think anyone is going to look down on you for that. If anything, you might be more sympathetic to Amanda, at least. You always try to be this perfect, unshakable pony. Maybe showing a little of your more vulnerable side would be a bit more enduring to the people you want to impress."

Sunset continued to cry as snot ran out her nose. "So they can see how weak I am?"

"You're not weak," Tonya replied as she ran a few feathers over Sunset's face to wipe it clean.

Sunset flinched back. "Yes, I am. You know how weak my magic is. Couldn't even pass the test to be allowed to teleport."

Tonya sighed. "Yes, it's true that you aren't capable of channeling lots of magic into single spells, but that doesn't make your magic weak. Do that thing with the balls of fire, make a few of them."

Her wife gave a doubting look but lit up her horn with its red aura. A moment later, half-a-dozen balls of fire surrounded them in the air.

"Now look at those," Tonya instructed. "You're maintaining six separate balls of fire around us perfectly fine, and those aren't just one spell. You've got separate shield spells and fire spells going in each one, along with positioning spells and other spells on top of that. That's a lot of spells going on all at once. Most unicorns can't do something like this."

The balls winked out of existence. "So what? They're all weak power spells. Barely any magic is going into any of them. Most unicorns could make stronger shields and bigger fires, if they bother to learn the spells."

Tonya nuzzled her wife then pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "But it's still far more spells at once than most unicorns can do. Plus, those spells are combined in ways that are more complex than most unicorns can do. You're pumping out a lot of magic, it just isn't going into one big spell. You're a talented spellcaster who knows a lot about magic."

"Maybe," Sunset muttered as she pulled a pillow into her forelegs and gripped it tightly.

"Not maybe," Tonya said sternly. "You take a lot of little things and make them something more. That's what I've always felt your talent really is, to make something greater with what you've been given. You look at your cutie mark and see your focus as doing God's work. I look at your cutie mark and see your hooves gripping on to the only thing you felt you had at the time, combining your ponydom and your faith into something more. You do that with everything, you gather things together and make them something greater than they were separately. That's how we're sitting in the greatest city there is. You built it by making use of every little thing you were given, and you've accomplished more than any other person in your position would have. You aren't weak."

"Can you just mind magic me to make it so I'm not afraid of spiders anymore?" Sunset begged, seeming to ignore Tonya's reassurances.

Tonya facehoofed briefly before lowering her hoof back down. "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go back downstairs. I'm going to tell everyone the truth that spiders just really scare you. You're going to go wash your face, brush your mane, and make yourself presentable. Then you'll come back downstairs and everything will be fine."

Sunset cringed. "You're going to tell them? Why?"

Tonya put a wing over Sunset's back. "Because, I need to explain why you bailed like that and the truth is better than anything else I can give. They aren't going to look down on you for it. That's your family down there. They care about you. Rosetta and Amanda care too, even if it's only for their spouses' sakes."

Sunset sat stiffly beside her. Still not responding.

She tried another tactic; try to get her competitive nature going. She put on a playful smile. "You know that the foals are going to end up getting into a race at some point after eating. I'm sure you want to cheer your namesake on. Rosetta said the demons have learned new tricks so Charlotte might win this time around, even though I'm sure it will be Jackie. I'm ready to take the ten dollars you're going to lose."

The unicorn didn't rise to the bait. It was time to go to the tried and true method of getting Sunset to focus. It wasn't something she wanted to do on a holiday, but sometimes things just had to be done.

"By the way, you have some talking to do when you get down there. Paul was asking about having Jessie tour some of the research facilities to try to get her interested in more than just NASA, and he was also asking about the testing we have going on now."

Her wife blinked and seemed to get more ahold of herself as thoughts of work entered her head. Sunset could always be distracted from problems by making her think about work. She was a goal oriented pony, and if she was getting too caught up in one area with no progress all that needed to be done is get her to focus on a separate goal for a few minutes.

"Paul's trying to get Jessie interested in eventually working with us?" Sunset asked with building excitement. "This is great news. She might still be years away, but that little filly has a mind for equations that's unmatched. I'm shocked she still doesn't have her cutie mark, even though she's much younger than most would normally get theirs. It seems so obvious what her talents are."

"He's only trying to broaden her horizons," Tonya cautioned. "Don't get too pushy with her or you'll push her away. Just try to sell it to her that important things are being done by great minds in our facilities."

"I really don't like losing the chance at an asset like her," Sunset said. "I want to get her excited about the idea of working for us."

Tonya nodded. "I think we've got a few ex-NASA people working for us. Maybe you can have her meet them. She can hear more about what NASA is actually like and why they chose to work with us. It gives her a well rounded perspective that will make her appreciate you doing this more. That way she still has a good opinion of us even if she does end up going to work with NASA and might choose to move on to us later."

Sunset tapped her hoof to her chin. "That's a good idea. She'd be just as excited talking to them and grateful we got her the opportunity. I could also sell the idea of this being a stepping stone to NASA as well. I think there was a pony that got recruited from one of our labs to NASA. I hate losing assets, but it builds our credibility."

Tonya smiled. "See, plenty of good things can come of this as long as you don't upset the filly." Tonya then narrowed her eyes. "Speaking of fillies, you know what I want to discuss now that Wild is pregnant. I know you had to have known that before today since she has to alert all the businesses she's involved in about any pregnancies. You kept that from me because you knew what I would say."

Sunset frowned. "You know how I feel about that. I can't be a proper parent at this stage. I'm too busy and too old."

"You're not too old, and I'm not too busy. I can be a stay at home mom," Tonya replied in a strained voice. "A lot of foals have at least one parent that's very busy and don't get to spend as much time with them. I want to have a foal Sunset. I'll carry it. I'll be there for it. I'm at the age I want to start seeing to the next generation. You love Phobia and your grandfoals. I love them too, but I don't have that kind of bond with them. I want foals we can share that kind of bond with."

Sunset looked uncertain. "How about Monday you go to the doctor and find out what your options are...just for information gathering. After that we can sit down with a family planner and discuss things together with them. I'm not saying yes, I'm saying I'm open to changing my mind. This is a big thing, and it impacts both of us--even if you take on most of the parenting responsibilities."

She gave Sunset a hug. "At least you're willing to consider it." She released the hug. "Now get yourself ready. I'll go deal with everyone while you do."





Wild sat in front one of the low sitting tables of the living room away from everyone else, trying to avoid too many questions about her pregnancy. Right now most of the other adults seemed to be content to huddle into separate groups away from her. She had no chair, but the table was designed for ponies so she really didn't need one. She had her spoon attached to her pony strap and was at this moment using it as a shovel to shovel food into her mouth. She hadn't been joking when she said she was hungry and eating for two. 

Her ears picked up the sound of someone coming down the stairs. She turned and looked to see Tonya walking down. The pegasus stopped as she saw them all eating.

"Did someone say grace?" The pegasus asked sternly. "Sunset and I will be very disappointed in you all if you didn't say grace."

"I led us all in grace. Don't worry," Tom answered. "We didn't know how long you'd be and it's hard to stop the foals from eating when they've got food in front of them. We figured you and Sunset were more than capable of saying your own blessings over your food."

Tonya gave another look around and examined everyone with a critical eye. The purple maned pegasus had picked up some of her wife's religiousness over the years. Wild supposed it was one of the inevitabilities of being married to a preacher that Tonya became religious. Tonya was normally nowhere near as adamant about things as Sunset, or as quick to bring God into her discussions, but there were a few things that would transform Tonya into a nagging church lady. 

Tonya seemed to accept that grace had been said and looked around the room with a smile. "Okay then. Well, Sunset will be down shortly. The entire ordeal was because she's terrified of spiders and the watching people getting Phobia's butter-baked tarantulas caused her arachnophobia to go into overdrive. Please, don't give her a hard time about it. She's really embarrassed about it."

Wild raised an eyebrow at that. She guessed that was a common enough fear. She'd seen plenty of people panic about spiders before. That Sunset had that kind of crippling fear was a little surprising, but completely believable.

The baked spiders didn't bother her personally because she'd eaten spider before on a trip to Cambodia. They tasted kind of like what she remembered lobster tasting like when she was a human--only unlike lobster they wouldn't make her vomit. There were supposedly some types of lobster that ponies could eat without getting sick, but she hadn't come across those yet in her travels. Night ponies in Equestria apparently raised the appropriate lobster types, but transport of those across dimensions was still prohibited. Tarantula was one of the few meats ponies could eat that were found on Earth, and with her eating for two now she'd take any meat she could get.

She watched Tonya leave the stairs and walk to the kitchen, greeting many again as she passed. When Tonya passed by Wild there was no verbal greeting, by either of them. Tonya may have found God, led a choir once a month, do counseling, and be generally friendly to all; but Tonya's past deeds still made Wild wary of her. Wild had forgiven but not forgotten what Tonya had done to Number Crunch.

If didn't make her happy that mind magic would need to be employed to make the temporary transformations a true success, and that was primarily because the top pony Sunset had on staff for mind magic was Tonya. The Dreamwardens were the ideal choice to help, but they would refuse to get involved in anything beyond making sure the rules were being followed. Sunset had enough experience dealing with them to dot all her i's, so angering them wouldn't be an issue.

"Hi, mind if I sit with you?" She heard Devon say.

Wild looked up at the very heavily pregnant human. Humans who lived in Riverview made her wary. The fact that Devon was intending on giving her upcoming child a pony name was the first red flag, but the confirmation was in the silver necklace hanging around Devon's neck--a cross embedded on Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark. This was the first time Wild had seen the woman openly wearing such a thing. The Shimmerists in Riverview we're getting bold in displaying their beliefs. 

"You may," Wild answered. Devon might be a Shimmerist, but Wild did work alongside them. She didn't even have problems with humans that wanted to be ponies and had no reason other than personal desire, that was perfectly fine. It was the insistence that they were all better off as ponies that bothered her. Wild felt each tribe brought something of great value to the world, and she personally counted humans among the tribes--even though almost everyone looked at her strangely for saying so.

Devon crouched down and crossed her legs under her. It looked like a lot of work to just sit down in her state. After watching many mares and women go through pregnancy Wild was not thrilled with the idea of reaching such a state. At least it was only a temporary thing and the timing put it to where she might actually be able to clear her schedule to take care of her foal now. After Sunday she could start getting more into the motherly spirit. Her years of work were finally about to pay their dividends.

Devon smiled at her. "How are you feeling about your pregnancy? I know how exciting and scary the first time can be."

Well, there was no way she was going to completely avoid these conversations. She rubbed her tummy with a hoof, trying to imagine the life growing inside her. "It hasn't fully registered yet that it's happening. Other than my sex drive getting under control and having a bigger appetite I really haven't had anything to keep me reminded it's happening."

"No morning sickness or strange cravings?" 

Wild shook her head. "Maybe a little more craving for high protein stuff, like the spiders, but nothing too odd. I haven't gotten sick at all. Doctors think I just have a much stronger stomach than most ponies. Doesn't surprise me, I tend to be much stronger in everything physical than most ponies."

Devon nodded along. "I know, you're a regular living legend. Your work and powers make you an icon for everyone. Jessie looks up to you so much. I worry about how much she looks up to you given your." She coughed into her fist. "Sexual exploits."

Wild frowned. "My sexual exploits are a result of an extra magically fueled sex drive. After I have this foal I'll be talking to Yinyu Wu Yan about curbing my sex drive. Having lots of sex helped for a while with my stress and loneliness, but I'll be backing away from a lot of projects to focus on raising my foal. Work stress and loneliness might be less of issues going forward, though I know having a foal is its own bag of stresses. For what it's worth, I doubt you need to worry about your daughter ever becoming a raging sex machine when she grows up."

Devon glanced over at where her daughter was currently sitting and eating next to Robby. "I have reasons to worry about a lot of things with her. She's not even seven yet and she's wanting to graduate high school by spring, despite me insisting she should spend all four years there."

"I'd think you'd be really proud of her," Wild replied, unsure where this conversation was going.

Devon looked flustered. "I am, but I wasn't even really comfortable with her being in high school to begin with. She's being exposed to all kinds of social situations that a filly her age should not have to be exposed to. She barely knows how to socialize properly, but once she does learn that it's going to open a whole new can of worms as she deals with others discussing adult subjects. She's going to be exposed to so many subjects long before she's ready to be thinking about those things. Hell, she's already read the sex education textbooks, even though I really rather she hadn't."

Wild frowned as she picked up where this was going. "It isn't my intention to encourage foals into risky behavior. I don't promote it. I can't help that the media like to broadcast that stuff. I really rather they didn't, but I can't do much to stop free press. I'd rather they focus on my charitable campaigns, work raising public awareness about many issues, trying to facilitate positive climate change, and my efforts to roll back deforestation."

"Not your business dealings?" Devon asked with a raised eyebrow.

Wild waved it off. "It's a means to an end. Though I'd rather hear the press talking about those than who I slept with."

Devon pressed her lips together tightly before continuing. "Look, I'm not condemning you for what you do in your free time. You're a grown adult and if you want to sleep with a lot of partners that's your business. I also know that you dedicate your life to making a world a better place, and that you do make a difference. But do you see why her idolization of you makes me nervous after what I've told you? Right now she's focused on those wonderful things you do, and that's great, but as she gets more exposed to adult concepts her idolizing you might carry over to what you do in your private life. It could normalize those kinds of things for her, and in a few years she could be engaging in the same things."

The woman certainly mixed a lot of condemnation in for not meaning to criticize. Wild took a bite of food to give herself a moment to think before answering, and her eyes passed over the room as she did. Everyone else was in their own little groups still, but she noticed an occasional person here and there glancing in this direction.

"I can see your concerns," she said after swallowing. "I was an impressionable filly myself just a few years ago, and I picked up some of my bad habits because of it. What I'm unsure of is why you're discussing this with me instead of your daughter."

Devon glanced over at Jessie again before turning back to Wild and leaning close to whisper. "She worships the ground you walk on. I was hoping you could give her a talk about what she should and shouldn't look up to you for. She'd take it more seriously coming from you."

Wild looked at the human in shock. "You want me to give your daughter the birds and the bees talk?!"

Devon gave her a steady look. "And the sobriety and say no to drugs talk."

"I don't do any drugs," Wild said with a growl.

"Reporters have said you've been known to smoke...stuff."

"Regular tobacco, not anything illicit. Don't believe everything you read in the tabloids," Wild said with an annoyed flick of her tail as she started to feel defensive. "I've also seen you at a hookah bar after a long week at work, even you do that on occasion, and you drink sometimes too."

"Not to the extents that you do. You spend an extraordinary amount of time in those places," Devon said firmly as she crossed her arms. "Again, I don't want to to criticize you, but I don't want this to be something Jessie learns she should be doing. She's a sponge, and she looks to you more than she does me. You're the great Wild Growth. I'm just her dumb mother."

Wild looked wide-eyed at Devon. "Do you really think your daughter looks down on you?"

Devon hung her head. "Right now, no. In the future...maybe? I used to worry about just trying to understand my foals because I wasn't a pony, but she isn't a normal pony. I look at her and see a foal that should be playing pretend, learning how to read, and having sleepovers with her friends. Then she starts talking and I'm reminded I'm dealing with someone who is so much more educated that me I just feel dumb in comparison. I try my best to address the gaps in her development, and try to slow her down so I can, but she sees it as me holding her back for no reason. At some point I wouldn't be surprised if she started to resent me from trying to hold her back. She's my baby girl, but I feel so lost dealing with her."

Wild really had no clue what to say to that. Devon was in a position that not many mothers would be in. How was she supposed to help with this? She wanted to help, but felt as clueless as Devon did to figure out what the best course to take was. Something needed to be done, for Jessie's sake and Devon's.

She glanced over at the small filly in question then back to Devon. "If you really  want me to talk to her I will. I'll do what I can to make this better."

Devon gave a grateful smile and slowly lifted herself back to her feet. "Thank you. I'll send her over to you."

Wild's eyes widen slightly. She hadn't meant this second. She hadn't even had a chance to think about what to say to the filly. There was no help for it now, as Devon was already up and walking over to Jessie.

Her ears swiveled in their direction as she heard the excited gasp Jessie let off at being told she could go talk to one of her idols now. A second later Jessie hurried over to her so fast that if Wild hadn't been paying attention she would have sworn the little filly had teleported.

She smiled down at the yellow furred, blue maned filly. "Hi there, Jessie...or do you prefer Jessica now?"

"Jessie's fine. My mom only calls me Jessica when she's mad at me," Jessie replied. She gave Wild a questioning look. "Ms. Growth, why do you think I would prefer Jessica?"

Wild's smile slipped a little. "Mom's like to pull out your full name when they want to let you know their serious about things. My papa will on rare occasions still call me Catherine when he really wants to get my attention. As for why you might prefer Jessica I know you're trying to impress people, and using Jessica sounds a little more professional."

"So, people might not look at me like a little filly if I ask them to call me Jessica instead of Jessie?" The six-year-old asked with a cock of her head.

Wild bit her lip. She really didn't want to encourage the filly into insisting on using her full name when her parents were fond of calling her by the nickname. Devon was already upset that her daughter was growing up much faster than she could keep up with. At the same time she wanted to make Jessie feel her questions were treated seriously.

"I think it depends on the setting," she answered after a moment of indecision, deciding that honesty was the best policy. "With friends and family I think Jessie is appropriate, because it's better to be informal then, but with more formal or professional settings Jessica is better. There are different social contexts to how we present ourselves. Presenting ourselves in the appropriate way for each social context can help us succeed. You can call me just Wild instead of Wild Growth or Ms. Growth, because the two of us are friends."

"Is there a book to explain the right social context for using different names, Wild?" Jessie asked curiously.

"There may be, but it isn't going to be completely correct," Wild said as she smiled down at the filly. "Nothing substitutes for observation and experience when it comes to that type of thing."

"But you asked me if I preferred to be called Jessica, but you said we're friends. Why'd you ask me that then?" Jessie said as she tried to better understand the the concept.

"Because if you don't actually like being called Jessie it wouldn't be very friendly," Wild explained. "Your feelings about your name are important too. Do you like people to call you Jessie?"

"I never really thought about it. They just do," Jessie replied.

"I guess you have something to think about. There isn't a right answer either. It's about what makes you happy."

The yellow filly sat and considered this for a second. "I guess I'll just keep it the same for now while I think about it more. If that's okay."

Wild brightened up her smile. "That's perfectly alright. How has school been going for you, Jessie? You must have been excited to start the ninth grade."

Jessie frowned slightly, which was a little confusing. "I'm technically in tenth grade now. I challenged out a lot of my classes. I'm trying to challenge out more so I can be in eleventh grade by Christmas, but my mom keeps stopping me from studying."

Jesus...they weren't kidding when they said this kid was moving at breakneck speeds through her education. 

"That's really impressive. I skipped one grade level back when I was in school, but you seem like you're ready to redefine skipping school," Wild joked. It wasn't much of a joke. How much time had this filly actually spent in school? A year and a half maybe? Here she was on pace to finish all her primary schooling in just two years.

Jessie didn't seem particularly impressed or proud of her achievements though. "It's not that big a deal. The classes are all really easy. I can usually get by just reading the textbook and taking the final exam, except for the reading classes that I need to read a lot of books for."

"So is there anything academically that does challenge you?" Wild asked curiously.

Jessie brightened up and showed some excitement again. "Yeah! I've been working on some equations in my free time trying to show how soon the Devourers could reach Earth based on all possible speeds up to the speed of light!"

Wild's mouth dropped. "You what? How can you figure that out if you don't know for sure where they are?"

Jessie reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a notebook with her mouth and put it on the table. "It isn't perfect, and I'm still trying to figure some things out, but based on the assumption that they are in the observable universe, since we have observed the solar flares that are supposed to indicate them, that must happen within forty-six billion light years of us. While this is in the particle horizon we can dismiss most of that because it is beyond the cosmic event horizon, which is about sixteen billion light years away, and therefore not relevant. We only need to concern ourselves the with activity within the CEV. We can create a range of data points based on where we've observed otherwise unexplained solar flares within the CEV based on varying speeds and use those to determine location, trajectory, and speed. It would help greatly if we could determine an event zero for mapping, but I'd need far more data to accomplish that. That's why I need to get into NASA, to get the data for my equations."

Wild just stared. Holy shit! Jessie was on a whole other level of intelligence. This was big stuff she was working on. It was uncertain how much work had actually been done on this so far by others, but this was definitely something that needed people studying it.

Her befuddled expression must have been evident, because Jessie had a look of hurt and disappointment on her face. Before Wild could say anything Phobia walked over and grabbed the notebook up with her wings and began examining it.

"Hmm," Phobia hummed to herself. "You've made calculations for expanding space time?"

Jessie blinked then looked excited again. "Yes, on the fifth page, you can see where I was working on that."

Phobia turned to the appropriate page and started examining it.

"You understand all that?" Wild asked the Dreamwarden.

"Dreamwardens understand a lot of things," Phobia said absently as she flipped through some more pages of the notebook. "This still needs work, but it's very good. Very good indeed. Mind if I hold on to this for a few minutes? I promise not to mess anything up and will return it to you before you leave."

"Um, sure. You really think it's that good?" Jessie asked excitedly.

"Truly brilliant," Phobia replied, still reading. "As I said, it still needs work, but what I'm seeing here is very important work in progress." Phobia closed the notebook and tucked it under her wing. "I need to speak with your mother. I'll leave you two to continue your talk in peace."

Wild watched Phobia casually walk over to Jessie's parents and motion them into a huddle to speak quietly. She turned back to Jessie who also had her eyes and the night pony and two humans.

"Well, it seems someone here understands what goes on in your head and approves," Wild said to the young filly. "I apologize for blanking out there. That's not my field of expertise and it was clear it was well beyond my understanding. I was trying to figure out what the right thing to do was, but Phobia clearly seems to know."

Jessie looked back at her and gave a sad smile. "It's okay. Everyone seems to do that to me when I start talking about this stuff. Miss Phobia is the first person who has ever seemed to understand what I'm talking about. Do you think she'll help me get into NASA?"

Wild glanced over to the night pony and humans again and couldn't tell much about the conversation from what she saw. "I don't know kid. She's got her own connections to different things. She is a very powerful pony with a lot of pull though, and she seemed very impressed. Until today I didn't know she cared about anything with that subject."

"I hope she helps me, that would make this the best Thanksgiving day ever. Mom can't hold me back if Miss Phobia says I need to be at NASA," Jessie squealed excitedly.

Mention of being held back brought Wild's attention back to what she was supposed to be talking to Jessie about. She did a quick glance around the room and decided she wanted even more privacy than her isolated spot. "Jessie, while Phobia is talking with your parents how about we step outside for a minute to talk about something important. It will be me talking to you like you're an adult."

Jessie went even more wide eyed. "Okay, we can do that."

Wild stood up and removed her spoon from her pony strap. Making a mental note to herself to remember to wash it before she left. She then started walking towards the door, taking only a second to make sure Jessie was following.

The two stepped outside and Wild sat down on the edge of the porch. She glanced around the outside grounds . Sunset and Tonya kept pretty elaborate gardens with walkways with many different types of bushes and walls with vines climbing them. She couldn't imagine either as a gardener and wondered how many gardeners they hired to tend this. It was pretty, even at this time of year. Settings like this helped put her at ease.

She turned to her small companion. "Your mom wanted me to talk to you about my lifestyle. She's concerned you might get the wrong ideas about what you should do. I normally wouldn't talk to a filly your age about these things, but you understand things well enough that I can talk to you like you're much older."

Jessie seemed to get irritated and flicked her tail grumpily. "She's always saying things about what you do are bad. They aren't so bad, you don't hurt anyone. You do so much good that she doesn't seem to pay attention to."

"Well, you heard that I'm pregnant, right?" Wild said uncertainly. Talking to a filly about these things was weird. "I'm guessing with how well read you are I don't have to explain to you how that happened."

"You had sex."

Wild nodded. "Yes, I had sex. I had a lot of sex. While talks of orgies is a gross exaggeration by the tabloids they aren't wrong when they say I have a lot of sex with a lot of stallions. I also drink a lot and do other things like that. Your mom is worried that when you get older you might start thinking you should be doing these things too because I do them." 

She groaned to herself as she finished speaking. When out in public her responses to things were careful and rehearsed, but with family she dropped a lot of her guards when speaking and ended up saying way more than she should with them. Now she was saying things she especially should not say to a six-year old.

"I don't care about those things, all I care about is doing my math," Jessie replied. 

Wild took a deep breath before she continued, she'd already started down this path so no turning back. She'd promised Jessie she'd speak to her like an adult anyway. "Right now you don't. Right now your biology hasn't started pumping you full of hormones and started messing with that big brain of yours. You aren't going to stay a six-year-old forever. Even with your mom trying to slow you down you're going to be getting out into the adult world way before you actually reach your teen years. You're going to be seeing those around you involved with this kind of stuff, you'll feel pressures you never felt before. When I was seventeen I had been pretty sheltered from the world, and when I got into it I got to doing a lot of things I probably shouldn't have--which has culminated in me having a foal inside me from an Algerian stallion that I can't even identify, and I was a pretty smart filly too."

"That's just another reason I shouldn't be socializing then," Jessie asserted as she laid her ears back.

Wild shook her head. "Jessie, it doesn't work that way. We're ponies, we're some of the most social creatures there are. Extended isolation is literally torture to us. I saw how disappointed you looked when I didn't understand what you were talking about. I also saw your glee when Phobia did. You want belonging just like every other pony. Whether you think you will or not, you'll put yourself in positions to be part of the group, part of the herd. Understanding how to properly socialize and recognizing the dangers you can get into is important to learn or you'll ruin your future with NASA--and I do think you have a bright future with them if you play your cards right."

Jessie looked up at her with her ears held high. "You do think I can join NASA?"

Wild gave the filly a serious look. "You definitely have the brains and the know-how to be a big part of NASA. The only thing that could mess you up from being a major part of NASA for years to come is yourself. Even with how smart you are you can screw it all up if you don't learn how to socialize in a healthy way. I have gotten away with social failings others wouldn't because I'm indispensable with my magic; they won't be so kind to you with your brains."

Jessie's ears fell.

"Take your mom seriously when she wants you to learn how to better socialize, because she loves you and wants you to reach your dreams. Your most important lessons that will make or break you aren't in the classroom, but in the schoolyard."

Jessie looked down at the ground. "I think I understand."

Wild put a hoof on the filly's back. "I hope so, because I want to be friends with Doctor Jessie Middleton at NASA. I'm told you idolize Twilight Sparkle as well. Remember that she didn't think friendship was that important when she was younger either. She didn't come into her own until she came to understand how wrong she was. Now let's go back inside. You need to start making sure your future is a great one, and that starts with the foals in there."

That might not have been her best handled conversation ever, but hopefully she hadn't screwed up too much. Learning how to deal with foals was going to be a whole new experience for her. Just like Jessie she had a lot of practice she needed to get in. 





Jessie walked inside beside Wild Growth. Her feelings were really mixed. On the one end both Wild Growth and Phobia Remedy seemed really impressed by her math skills, and really seemed to take notice. On the other end was the dire warning from Wild Growth about how it could all go terribly wrong and she lose her chance. Her mom had never really expressed things like that to her, she'd only stressed that learning to socialize was extremely important. What Wild Growth had said made learning to socialize what her dreams depended on.

For the first time ever she was feeling real doubt about whether her intelligence was enough. She had to learn how to properly socialize and learn what was appropriate when and where. That was a scary thing. This had always been something she failed at. It just didn't come naturally to her like math, reading, and science. She barely had to work on those subjects to succeed in them, but this...this was something she actually struggled with. 

"Jessie, can you come over here?" Her mom called to her. "We need to talk to you about something."

She looked over to her mom. Both her mom and dad were sitting with Phobia Remedy, and her notebook was sitting open in front of her mom. Her mom knew about her notebook, but never really was able to understand what was in the notebook. All three of them were looking at her. Phobia Remedy was smiling.

"Yes, Mom," Jessie replied as she walked over to the three adults. 

Her mom watched her approach and pointed at the notebook when she reached them. "Miss Phobia was explaining to us in terms we could understand exactly what you've been working on. Your father and I had a discussion with her about it, and she has a proposal for you."

Jessie turned to Phobia Remedy. The Dreamwarden smiled at her. "I was very impressed with your work and do want to see it continued. Your parents have expressed concerns about how this will impact your upbringing and I have listened. Here is then what I propose to satisfy all involved."

The Dreamwarden pointed at the notebook. "I'm going to make copies of this and send them to Twilight Sparkle and NASA. I'm going to advise the Princess of Friendship along with the government about the importance of your work and the contributions I think you can make. I'm also going to advise Twilight Sparkle about the fact you've been struggling with making friends and she can help you with that. Between her time helping you improve your friendships she can help you with what you've begun in this notebook."

Jessie's eyes widened and her mouth went agape. "You're...going to tell Twilight Sparkle...and NASA...about me?"

Phobia Remedy nodded. "I originally was going to just tell NASA and the government. I don't like getting tangled up with Equestrians, but your parents stressed their concerns that you need help with your social development. You can thank your parents for me going to her because of that. I believe Twilight Sparkle finds me enough of a friend she'll listen when I recommend you to her. She won't fix all your friendship problems for you, but she'll help if you make an effort. Will you make an effort?"

Jessie nodded enthusiastically. "Ms...I mean Wild--just talked to me about how important it is that I try."

Phobia smiled. "My sister-in-law is a smart pony. I'll make arrangements over the next few days and get back to you sometime next week."

With that, Phobia picked up the notebook and walked towards the stairs. Sunset Blessing was walking down the stairs as she did and a few quick words were said by the Dreamwarden. The unicorn listened, nodded, and made a few quick gestures that seemed to indicate the location of something. Phobia nodded back and went up the stairs, notebook still tucked under her wing.

Best Thanksgiving ever!

"Now, I think you need to get back to trying to socialize with the other foals," her mom said to her.

Oh yeah, she was supposed to be doing that. Agreeing that she would take it more seriously and having any idea what she was doing were to entirely different things though. 

She looked at the other foals. Jordan was clumsily trying to take bites of her food with the spoon attached to her Pony Strap. It didn't look like the unicorn was used to silverware at all. The three night pony foals were wrestling with one another, and it looked fairly rough. Ms. Rosetta, Mr. Tom, and Ms. Amanda were all sitting pretty close by and talking, but none of the adults seemed to care about the roughhousing going on right next to them. Her brother was drawing in a corner, and she knew he wasn't who her parents wanted her to socialize with. 

That left Jackie, the pink pegasus with a yellow mane was watching the three night ponies and seemed to be debating whether to join in or not. She seemed the best bet at the moment, provided the pegasus didn't decide to join in the fighting before Jessie got to her. Jackie was the closest to her age too, only a week younger. Jackie could be a little difficult sometimes, but she didn't really treat Jessie that weird.

Jessie went over to the pegasus and Jackie gave her an appraising look as she approached. 

"What do want? You never come over to play," Jackie asked suspiciously as Jessie approached.

Okay, so Jackie was in a difficult mood...great.

"Well, I want to try to play now," Jessie replied. 

Jackie looked her over. "What do you want to play? Not number stuff again, that's boring."

Math isn't boring! Jessie thought loudly in her head. She wanted to yell it at Jackie, but that would get her in trouble. 

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" She asked instead. 

Jackie looked over at the three fighting night ponies, who were all pulling on each other's wings and tails while kicking each other. She hoped Jackie didn't want them to start fighting too. Why were all the adults alright with the three night ponies doing that? Her best guess was because they were giggling rather than screaming, and because they were night ponies and everyone just expected night ponies to do that. Her brother pulled her tail sometimes and no one seemed bothered by it. 

Jackie seemed to dismiss the night ponies, to Jessie's complete relief. The pegasus turned her head towards the door and swished her tail about a few times before turning back to Jessie.

"We should race now," Jackie answered. 

That was great. She had no problems racing. There wasn't much talk involved with racing and she'd been ready to show Jackie up in a race today anyway. Racing was one of the few fun physical activities.

"Yeah, we can race," she answered. 

"Race?" Charlotte asked. She still had her brother tugging on her tail and her sister on her back, but her attention was on Jackie and Jessie. "Are you gonna race?"

Jackie looked at the dark blue night pony and nodded. "Yeah, we're going to race. Do you want to race too?"

Charlotte slapped her brother with a wing and shook her back to dislodge her sister before turning to her purple twin. "Tabby, they're gonna race!"

Tabby blew some of her dark blue mane out of her face and looked at them. "We're going to race too!" She then kicked her brother, who was still attached to Charlotte's tail. "Stop fighting, Alfie. We're going to race now."

"Did I hear race?" Ms. Amanda asked in a loud voice and all the adults around the room focused on her as conversations came to a sudden halt. "I'm putting ten dollars on Jackie. Who's betting against me?"

"Ten on Jessie!" Her dad chimed in.

"I've got ten on Tabby!" Mr. Miguel called out.

"Ten more on Jessie!" Her mom yelled a second later.

"Ten on Jackie!" Aunt Tonya yelled.

The human girl that Jessie didn't know looked around in confusion. "You're all going to gamble on your kids' race?"

Mr. Jose laughed. "Foal races are serious business, Amy. It's like competitive sports. Foals are all on a close to even playing field because they haven't developed their specialized magics yet. We've been waiting for them to decide to race since they finished eating." He raised  his hand up. "I've ten on Alfie!"

"Ten on Charlotte!" Sunset Blessing called out.

"I'll put ten on Jordan," Phobia Remedy said as she returned down the stairs with the notebook still tucked under her wing.

Jordan's head popped up high and blinked a few times as she found that she had suddenly been drafted into the race by her eldest sister's bet.

Ms. Rosetta looked at her wife in disgust. "Jordan? Really?"

Phobia Remedy shrugged. "Someone has to bet on my little sister. Go show them, Jordan!"

"Wha..?" Jordan said in confusion.

Ms. Rosetta shook her head and looked down at Charlotte. "Okay, my money's on Charlotte. Earn Mama back the money Mommy is losing us."

"Jackie, make your dad proud, money's on you," Tom said.

"I'll put money down on Tabby," Mr. Roger said. 

"My money's on Jessie. Earth pony pride," Wild said. 

Sunset Blessing stepped forward and did a quick glance at Ms. Jean before looking back at the rest of the family. "Alright, think all bets are in. Let's take this outside. Robby, you can fly above and give us commentary while the rest of us sit on the porch."

"Okay, Mrs. Mayor, ma'am," Robby said as he stood up and closed his sketch pad.

They all took a moment getting outside. The adults boasting about their picks for who would win and why. All the foals went out in front of the porch while the adults all stayed on the porch. Jackie seemed eager to get running, as did the three demons, Jordan still seemed to getting into the spirit of it and was giving her eldest sister that showed some faith in her a big smile. Jessie didn't really think Phobia Remedy expected Jordan to win. The Dreamwarden was probably just being nice. Jordan wasn't very fast at all.

Robby flapped his wings and got in a hover over them. "Okay foals, listen up! Rules are simple. Three laps around the house though the gardens. First one to finish three laps wins. If at any time you're bleeding or crying you're out! Other than that, anything goes!"

"Bleeding?" The human girl asked in shock.

Mr. Jose shrugged. "Told you, foal races are serious. They can get pretty rough sometimes."

"Now line up all facing that direction," Robby instructed as he pointed a hoof to a clear way to the left. 

They did as instructed. Jessie crouched into a running pose, as did most of the others. The ones with wings spread them slightly in anticipation. Jordan just stood in the line. Jessie was ready to show earth ponies were the fastest on the ground.

"On your marks. Get set. Go!" Robby yelled.

Jessie took off as fast as her legs could carry her, and she quickly took the lead past the others. She didn't look behind her to see how much of a lead she was starting off with. Trying to turn her head to look could trip her up. 

She quickly reached the edge of the house and had to slow down to make a turn. When she did Jackie darted by her, using her wings to better keep her balance at high a full run while she turned. The three demons all came up close enough that she could see them, doing the same maneuver that Jackie did. Jackie seemed to be faster than them though.

She worked to build up her speed again following the loss of speed on the turn. As she ran down the next side of the house she quickly gained back lost ground on Jackie and put some distance between her and the demons. 

She caught up to Jackie again, but a garden wall that extended out from the house made her have to make a turn and she lost a little ground. She quickly made up that ground again after turning and got just ahead of Jackie again. This lasted until the reached the end of the wall and she had to make a really hard turn to go around it. At that point Jackie went around her again.

When they did get around the wall she was shocked to see the three demons had somehow gotten ahead of both of them. How the flying freaking fudge were the demons ahead? They were behind them both. She never saw them pass her.

The demons inexplicable jump ahead of them had given them a solid lead over both her and Jackie. Jordan was assumably somewhere far behind them.

"And Tabby is in the lead, with Alfie and Charlotte close behind her," Robby announced high above them. "Jessie and Jackie are going back and forth between who is ahead further back, and way in the rear, just now reaching the garden wall, is Jordan! It's still early in the race, and it's still anyone's race!"

It was still anyone's race. 

Jessie did the best she could to add push her speed when running in a straight line. That was when she was at her advantage. Jackie and the demons could do turns faster than her, but when they were going straight forward she was faster. She needed to catch up to the demons and get as much distance as she could between her and Jackie before she hit the next area that required her to turn a lot.

This side of the house wasn't helping much though. There were actually a series of garden walls and fences with vines growing up them. She could run straight for short periods, but not long enough to get a good distance between herself and Jackie before having to turn. As a result they remained pretty close together, and the demons had gotten far enough ahead that they weren't even in sight.

They finally cleared the the series of walls and fences and came upon the turn to go to the next side of the house. Jackie pulled ahead of her again briefly, but she was right on Jackie's tail. This new side of the house had a steep incline upward and a few spaced apart. This was her opportunity to make up some ground because there wasn't much here she'd have to dodge around. There was still no sign of the demons, which meant they had already cleared this side of the house. That was worrisome.

She pounded her hooves as fast as she could get them to carry her as she went up the incline. She got to where she was clearly past Jackie and she didn't look back to see how much distance she was putting between them. 

The human security guard was back here at the moment. "You better run fast little fillies. You're way behind the other three."

"And the three demons have had a small collision in the bushes as they try to work their lead farther! I don't see any blood or crying, but they better sort themselves out fast or Jessie and Jackie will catch up to them! Right now they seem to be arguing though," Robby announced. That was good news. She could shorten that lead if they were taking time to fight with each other.

"¡Deja de discutir y corre!" She heard Ms. Rosetta scream from the front of the house. Jessie didn't know what that meant, but it was probably directed at the demons. The adults were just as competitive as the foals.

"And the demons are back on their hooves! They've lost a lot of momentum, and they aren't in a good area to get it back. Hopefully they can gain that back when they begin lap two," Robby called out from above. "Jessie has a small lead over Jackie as she nears the back of the house. Jordan has gotten into a good steady stride and is nearing the end of the garden walls!"

Jessie came to the end of the house and made her turn. She had to brace herself as it began a sharp slope down suddenly leading to a twisting batch of turns the flower beds and bushes. From her raised vantage point she could see the demons snaking their way through the twisting paths.

This was bad. Jackie would be able to make up a lot of ground here and possibly get past her. On the plus side, she'd seen all four sides of the house now and could formulate her strategy for the remaining two laps. The front of the house and the back of the house were where she could do the best. The math was simple, just get as far ahead as she could when at the front and back of the house and try not to lose too much ground on the sides. The demons were still an issue, but their tendency to get in fights with one another might give her a chance to overtake them yet. Jordan was a non-issue for the most part, but based on where Jordan was reported last it was best to avoid and falls or collisions to make sure Jordan stayed behind. With the slower pace Jordan was less likely than the rest to make those kinds of mistakes. 

Each foal had their path to victory still. Jessie by taking advantage of the areas with few turns. Jackie taking advantage of her better maneuverability on those areas with turns. Jordan on the higher chances of crashes by the others. She had to figure out what the demons were doing to get themselves in the lead still, but once she did she could try to figure out how to counter it.

She headed down into the bushes and carefully started weaving her way through them. Being careful was critically important here because she could easily skid and go off into the bushes themselves if she tried to take a turn too fast. That was probably what happened to the demons. About halfway through she had that confirmed when she saw a bush near one of the turns that had lots of leaves knocked loose and broken branches, along with the marks in the dirt that showed that several bodies had gone skidding through it at this point.

As expected, Jackie made up lost ground here. It took much longer than expected for Jackie to do so though. These tight turns didn't allow Jackie to build up much speed between them, and even though Jackie could do the turns at higher speeds she still had to take them slower than she would running in a straight line. As a result it wasn't until Jessie was three-fourths of the way through that Jackie finally overtook her and took a small lead over her. Jessie was fine with this, she knew she could take the lead back at the front of the house, and she had enough momentum to push it farther.

They escaped the bushes and rounded around the front of the house. Jessie took this moment to try to push herself harder after conserving energy through the bushes. Cheers went up from all the adults as they ran by.

"Come on Jessie! You can do it!" Her dad yelled out.

"Come on Jackie! Show these other ponies pegasi are the fastest!" Her Aunt Tonya yelled. 

"They're gaining on you three! Don't fight!" Ms. Rosetta yelled. 

"Come on Jessie! Earth pony pride!" Wild yelled.

"Where's Jordan?" Phobia Remedy called out.

"Jordan is well behind and just entering the bushes section as everyone else has started lap two!" Robby announced. "Tabby and Alfie are neck and neck for first place right now with Charlotte right on their tails, but their lead over Jessie and Jackie is rapidly narrowing!"

The lead over Jackie was hers again as she rounded the corner. She could see the three demons ahead of her on their way to the garden walls. They could take those turns better than her just like Jackie could, but they were much slower than Jackie in a overall. She might be able to overtake them behind the house.

Her eyes widened as she saw they did not turn, but instead start scrambling straight up the wall at a fast pace.

"Those little cheats!" Jackie yelled out from right behind her.

"There are no rules other than make three laps and no crying or bleeding!" Robby called down to remind them.

This was a problem. The demons could effectively get through this section so much faster than everyone else that they were going to be hard to overtake. She could gain a lot more ground on them in the front and back of the house than she could Jackie, but she was running dead even or slightly slower than them through the bushes. This section of the race was where those three had their strongest advantage, and they were doing all they could to use it.

Tabby turned to mock them as she reached the top of the wall. "Na na! Night ponies are the best because we can cli....aaaahhh!"

Tabby lost her balance while trying to do a mocking gesture and came down, face first, into the ground. When she lifted her head back up it was clear she had a bloody nose.

"Tabitha Stone-Remedy takes a tumble off a wall and gets a bloody nose! Tabby is out!" Robby declared.

"Aww!" Tabby whined loudly.

"Tabby, come back to the porch so I can look at your nose!" Ms. Rosetta yelled out. She had very good lungs.

Jessie ran by the night pony as the night pony started walking back to the front of the house. She didn't say anything to the other pony as she passed by. She was focused on trying to get a little more speed on her turns this time around. Charlotte and Alfie were still  ahead of her, and they climbed really fast. If she didn't do something to lessen the gap the other two demons were still ahead by.

As expected, Jackie started to catch up with her. Jessie narrowed her eyes as she came up to the next turn and tried to take it faster. This didn't go well at all, and she ended up sliding so much she almost collided with the wall. She managed to avoid the collision, but Jackie was able to capitalize on it and get ahead of her. Now she'd have to run even faster at the back of the house to gain back her lead over Jackie. She was no better off right now than she'd been on lap one, with the one exception being she only had two night ponies to worry about instead of three.

When she reached the back of the house she was a full foal length behind Jackie. She pushed herself hard and was able to bring herself to where she was just ahead of Jackie by the time they were nearing the end of this stretch. 

"And it looks like Charlotte and Alfie are being more careful as they go through the bushes this time," Robby called from above. "That's good for them because they aren't having another crash this time around. It's bad because Jessie and Jackie are making up lost ground. Jessie and Jackie are almost to the bushes, and Jordan is nearly through the garden walls again."

Jessie's eyes widened. Jordan was closing the gap behind them, slowly but surely. There was still a good lead over Jordan but there was a chance that the unicorn could still catch up in the remaining lap. Clearly everyone had underestimated the shy filly. The chances of Jordan overtaking them with one lap to go were low, but couldn't be completely dismissed. It was good it was only a three lap race, because it seemed a four lap race might have favored Jordan.

She rounded the corner and was ready for the rapid drop in elevation this time. This section she just had to avoid crashing and she could keep things even with Jackie. As for the the two remaining demons she might be able to catch up to them if they lost enough momentum now. She could see them a little closer than they were last time she reached this point. There was still the chance those two could sabotage themselves since they were prone to fighting with one another, and as the fall from Tabby and their earlier crash indicated they were also a bit more clumsy.

Jessie and Jackie started weaving the bushes at a steady, but not reckless pace. A mistake here could doom either one of them and Jessie wasn't the only one who realized it. When they finally cleared the bushes they could see Charlotte's distinct purple tail zipping around the corner to the front of the house and the beginning of the final lap.

As the rounded the wall the adults were shouting their encouragement to each of them.

"Come on Charlotte! Get a good lead with your wall trick again and then get past your brother!" Sunset Blessing called out.

"Come on Jackie! Don't let those two beat you!" Ms. Amanda yelled out.

"You're doing great, baby girl! Close those gaps and win this!" Her mom yelled out. 

Jessie could catch the sight of Ms. Rosetta holding a cloth in her wing up to Tabby's nose. The eldest night pony filly looked annoyed that she had been disqualified from the race.

"Where's Jordan?" Phobia Remedy called out again. 

"Jordan is about halfway through the bushes. She's slowly gaining ground on the others," Robby informed the adults.

Jessie took full advantage of her straight shot and pushed herself hard through this section. As a result when she was nearing the turn she was right on the night ponies' tails. They'd retake a strong lead again with climbing over the walks, but she was close enough she might be able to overtake them in the two sections after since they seemed to be slowing down.

They rounded the garden walls and the night ponies slower speed turned out to be a ruse. They'd been conserving energy and we're now pushing hard to make it to the walls. As Jessie was reaching the turn  around the walls they started scrambling up them. To her shock Jackie zoomed by her.

"Not this time!" She heard Jackie shout. 

The pegasus made a large jump and managed to clip Alfie off the wall with her wing while still turning in the air. Alfie came crashing down off the wall and down on top Charlotte's head as Jessie ran by the pair.

"Ow!" Alfie yelled.

"Alfie get off me! We're gonna lose!" Charlotte screamed.

"Don't yell at me!" Alfie could be heard yelling back as Jessie turned around the first wall. 

"We're gonna lose! Mama!!" Charlotte shrieked.

"And I see tears starting to flow from Charlotte. There's no crying in foal races! Charlotte Stone-Remedy is out!" Robby announced. "Ouch! Make that tears from Charlotte and Alfie, because Charlotte just boxed him in the nose really hard. Alfonso Remedy-Stone is out as well!"

Alright, that meant this race was mainly down to her and Jackie. Jordan might have gained some ground, but Jessie had enough speed left in her to keep Jordan behind her. She just needed to get ahead of Jackie and keep Jackie behind her.

That was easier said than done though. Jackie had taken the lead in what was likely her strongest section of the race. If Jackie extended that out too far Jessie wouldn't get enough of a new lead back in the next section, and she knew Jackie could outpace her through the bushes as well. Things heavily favored Jackie right now, but Jackie hadn't won yet.

She did her best to clear through all the garden walls as quickly as she could without getting reckless, but it was getting to the point she was going to have to start doing something more daring or she'd lose. Jackie had taken a chance with that move that had taken Alfie and Charlotte out of the race and it had paid off. She wasn't sure if there was anything similar she could do to Jackie, but on the other hoof she didn't think there was much Jackie could pull to knock her out of the race either. 

She reached the back of the house and again pushed herself hard to retake the lead. She did manage it, but wasn't sure based on past experiences if she had enough of one to make a difference.

Robby chose then to commentate loudly. "And as we go through the last lap Jessie currently has the lead! Jackie isn't far behind her though, and we're approaching the bushes which is where Jessie struggles the most. Jordan is coming around to the end of the garden section and seems to be putting her all into it now as she continues to close the gap between her and the two ahead of her. She should be reaching the bushes while they're still in them and she's gotten to where she's the fastest in the bushes. Still anyone's race...well...except for the night ponies. Better luck next time demons!"

As Jessie reached the turn that would lead downward into the bushes she did the math in her head. She couldn't win this if she took the bush run like she normally did, but if she tried to round those corners too fast she was going to go tumbling. The only thing left to do was something reckless and daring. She was going to lose if she didn't anyway. It was now or never.

After rounding the corner to where the path rapidly dropped down she didn't try to slow herself down. Instead she used the downward slope to increase her speed as she headed straight for the bushes. This could go so wrong, but she had to try.

She narrowed her her eyes to protect them as she didn't turn to try to go through the paths, and instead tried pushing full speed straight through the bushes and flower beds.

"Wow!" Robby exclaimed. "Jessie has made the daring move to run through the bushes. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on her in case she scrapes herself and draws blood and...wait... what's Jackie doing!"

Jessie barely paid attention to Robby's commentary as she exited out the first round of bushes and braced to go into the next. Suddenly something hit her from above and she tumbled into the bush ahead of her. She suddenly had a face full of branches and feathers.

"Jackie just tried to do an unsuccessful glide from the high ground and landed right on Jessie!" Robby shouted. "The two of them are now completely stopped and tangled in the bushes! I can't tell if there is any blood or crying from here, but they both are definitely lodged in there well. Jordan's coming around hard as can be around the back of the house, this could be her chance!"

Jessie struggled to free herself from the bush and pegasus. Jackie did the same. Her reckless attempt to win the race had just inspired Jackie to make her own reckless move. Now they were both stuck and Jordan was rapidly approaching.

"Hold still a second and let me pull free," Jessie ordered the pegasus. "If we both struggle we won't get anywhere!"

"If you get out first you'll get a lead on me!" Jackie protested.

"If neither of us gets out Jordan is going to win!"

"Do you guys need help?" Jordan's voice said from right outside the bushes.

"Just run Jordan!" Jackie yelled. Jordan could be heard running off right after.

"And for the first time in this race or any other Jordan takes the lead!" Robby yelled.

Fudge!

"Okay," Jessie said. Her only hope was to try to get through the bushes from the rear. Jordan wouldn't try it, and Jackie's wings would only get tangled in them if she tried. "I'll hold still and you can pull yourself out first."

"Okay," the pegasus replied.

Jessie held still as Jackie untangled herself from the bushes. When the pegasus got free Jessie rapidly got to work with freeing herself. It took a second, but she did manage it.

Now it was time to just try to push it through.

"And that's a wrap! Jordan crosses the finish line and is the winner!" Robby declared.

Fudge!

She dejectedly started walking the path through the bushes and her brother came down from the air and joined her. 

"Tough break, egghead. I thought you were going to win when you started running straight through the bushes like that," he said as he draped a wing over her.

"Well, Jackie messed that up," she muttered.

Robby chuckled. "Yeah, that was crazy. She knows she can't even glide yet. She got some pretty good distance with that jump though."

"And we both lost because of it," she replied as she laid her ears back.

Robby slapped her back with his wing. "Hey, don't be like that. Look on the bright side. You had Jackie so certain she was going to lose she tried something stupid to try to get past you. I was watching and it was kind of a freak accident she landed on you. You got unlucky. Jackie isn't mad about it."

She gave him a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

He used his other wing to rub his ear. "She's proud her little sister won. We older siblings like seeing our little sisters win. You'll probably cheer for Dusk in a few years when he wins at things."

"Dusk is going to be human. He isn't going to do foal races," she replied dryly.

Robby waved his free wing dismissively. "He'll have other things to win at. You'll understand when you're a big sister."

That brought up an interesting thought. The only one that had cheered Jordan on was Jordan's oldest sister, Phobia Remedy. How had Phobia Remedy known that Jordan was going to win? Did she use her magic Dreamwarden powers to alter the race somehow?

She picked up her pace and Robby hurried after her. "Hey, egghead. What's up?"

She didn't answer and hurried out of the bushes to the front of the house. In front of the house the whole family was standing around and talking. Charlotte and Alfie were sitting with their backs to one another, both still mad at each other for disqualifying themselves in the race. Tabby was still sitting with Ms. Rosetta with a cloth held up to her nose to catch the blood. Adults were passing Phobia Remedy her winnings, which the Dreamwarden deposited into a small purse under the edge of her dress. Jordan was being congratulated by her parents, with Jackie sitting next to them doing a major preening of her wings.

Her parents came over to her as she approached and her dad bent down in front of her while her mom stood.

"Hey, that was a valiant effort you put up," her dad said to her as he checked her over. "You were neck to neck with Jackie and we were cheering for you. You did a good job."

She looked over at Jordan. The little unicorn was excitedly telling her parents all about how she won. How she won was what was on Jessie's mind too. There was only one person who knew the answer to that, and it wasn't Jordan. 

She looked back at her parents. "I need to ask Phobia Remedy something."

Her parents gave her a confused look. Her mom then smiled. "Alright, go ask her."

She took a slow trot around her parents to the porch. The Dreamwarden saw her approach and gave a smile. "I get the sense you want to ask me something."

Jessie glanced around to make sure no one could overhear her and whispered to the Dreamwarden. "How did you know? How did you know Jordan was going to win?"

Phobia Remedy's smile slipped slightly and she glanced briefly over to the filly in question. Jordan was still soaking in the praise and attention from her parents. The Dreamwarden looked back at Jessie. "Come, walk with me. We'll talk about it." 

The Dreamwarden then walked off the porch and started walking the path that the race had just followed. Jessie hurried after to catch up. Once she caught up she kept pace easily with the night pony, who walked calmly and peacefully as she went.

After they passed the corner and started walking towards the vined walls Phobia Remedy spoke. "You want to know what deep dark Dreamwarden secrets and magic I used to predict Jordan's victory? Many would consider that impertinent."

Jessie gulped. "Yes, I do. Only you seemed to think she'd win. Jordan didn't even think she'd win."

The Dreamwarden came to a stop before the first wall and looked down at her. "And are you prepared to learn the truth?"

The sun set at just that moment and the world grew darker. She wondered now if it was a good idea to question a Dreamwarden. Her tail was held so tightly between her legs it hurt as she nodded back. 

Phobia Remedy looked down at her stoically. "Very well. The secret is...I didn't know."

Jessie blinked. "You didn't? But did you use your magic or something to help her win?"

Phobia Remedy looked at the direction they had come. "I helped her win, but I didn't make her win. Nor did I use magic or do anything to interfere with any of the rest of you."

That was confusing. Did the Dreamwarden give Jordan some drug or potion to help Jordan run better.

The great night pony sat down. "Sit down. Let me tell you some things about my baby sister."

Jessie did as instructed and the Dreamwarden continued. "Jordan is a wonderful little filly, but she is really shy. Jordan, like you, isn't a very social filly. She also doesn't feel like anyone believes in her. Did you notice how quickly she got upset with you when she thought you were saying she couldn't read well?"

Jessie didn't think much of it earlier, but she nodded.

Phobia sighed. "Jordan doesn't feel like she can do much. When she thought you were saying she couldn't read well it felt to her like you were attacking one of the few things she could do well and enjoy. She might not have your reading ability, but she is a good reader for her age, and she likes to read; just like you."

Jordan had done very well reading that book she pulled out. There ended up being very few words she needed help with. After they had been reading for a few minutes Jessie had wondered why Jordan thought she needed help. It had seemed Jordan was fully capable of reading the book without aid.

"What does this have to do with the race?" Jessie asked in confusion. 

"Jordan lacks confidence," the Dreamwarden answered. "She has two big sisters, me and Jackie. Jackie is more than a year older and can outperform her on most things because of that, and I cast a very long shadow. Jordan doesn't believe she measures up. As you may have noticed the adults can get very competitive and none of them seemed to show any faith she could win. That reinforces this feeling of inadequacy. What I gave her was someone who showed faith and seemed to believe in her. That can be a powerful thing to a person who feels the way she does."

"But she wouldn't have won still if the rest of us hadn't messed up," Jessie observed. 

The Dreamwarden shook her head. "She would have lost even with your mess-ups if she didn't give it her all, but she did give it her all, and was rewarded with a victory. All because someone had shown a little faith. Some of the most powerful magic you can work on a person doesn't involve magic at all." 

Phobia Remedy brought her face down close to Jessie's. "And I'll tell you another secret. I have faith you can make friends with her if you try. You made her feel really happy when you helped her read. You didn't do it for her, you let her do it, and let her show she could. She needs a friend like that. I hope you'll be that kind of friend to her. If you are I think you'll find she will impress you with how much she can do when you show her a little faith and encouragement."

Jessie lowered her head. "I'm not sure I can be a good friend. I'm kind of bad at it. I just came questioning you about why she won, and that doesn't seem very friendly."

Phobia Remedy chuckled. "Oh, don't be so harsh on yourself. You never questioned her innocence in doing a fair race, only mine."

She went wide-eyed as she realized she really had implied that the Dreamwarden had cheated. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

The night pony cut her off with a wave of a hoof. "Think nothing of it. Just know you have what it takes to be a good friend to my sister. I've already given you some leads on how to start. It's up to you to follow through. You should go try to talk to her now."

"Okay," Jessie said obediently. She got up and started walking away and noticed the Dreamwarden wasn't following. She turned and looked back. "Aren't you coming too?"

The night pony shook her head. "In a few minutes. I'm going to sit here in peace and doze a moment or two. I have tasks to attend to, and they aren't on hold for the holiday."

"Oh," Jessie said, bemused. The Dreamwarden was actually going to just go to sleep sitting right there for a minute or two? At this time of day when night ponies were normally up? She supposed if all the work the pony did was while sleeping that being able to just fall asleep at will for a minute or two was a useful skill. Phobia Remedy's eyes were already closed now and the night pony was just sitting there very still, there was even a very faint snore. She'd never seen her brother, grandmare, or any other night pony do anything like that.

She walked back around to the front of the house where some of the family had started heading back inside. Jordan was still outside with Ms. Amanda while it looked like Mr. Tom and Jackie had already gone inside. 

As she approached them Jordan looked down with sagging ears. "I'm sorry you didn't win. I know you were trying really hard."

That made her blink. "Um, don't worry about it. You were trying really hard too. I was worried you might win even if I hadn't got caught in a bush. You were really good at running that one part and the rest of us were bad it. That's why Jackie and I tried doing stupid stuff there." 

That wasn't entirely true. She'd been primarily concerned about Jackie. Jordan was the best at that section though, and another lap through that section would have put Jordan in the running to win without the crash. Jordan had found just the right pace to make turns without slowing down. 

Jordan raised her head and blinked while her ears raised a little. "Oh, okay. I'm still sorry you got stuck in a bush."

"Want to keep reading that book?" Jessie asked. "You were reading it really well, and I want to know how it ends."

Jordan looked shocked. "You want to keep reading with me after I beat you in a race?"

Ms. Amanda bent her head down and talked into Jordan's ear. "She wouldn't ask you if she didn't want to. You want to finish reading her the story, don't you?"

Jessie decided to just try to put herself out there. Phobia Remedy said if she tried to make friends with Jordan it would work out. "You're nice to be around. I want to be friends."

Jordan's eyes went wide as saucers. The filly then reared up on her hind legs and grabbed Jessie into a hug before Jessie knew what was happening.

"Wellest Thanksgiving ever!" Jordan declared happily.