//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Shadows and Unease // Story: Pandemic: Monsters We Make // by Halira //------------------------------// The monitoring room had a different sort of tension than it had when Jean was preparing to be transformed. With the previous tension there was the hope and expectation that the spell would give the debilitated woman relief from her ailment. With Tom and Amanda it was tension born of fear of what bad things this spell might do to them. No one was happy as they waited for the experiment to begin. Two soldiers stood guard near the door. In a corner Wild and Rosetta were having an animated discussion with a lot of harsh whispering going on. The two sisters rarely missed the opportunity to bicker and had been doing so most of the morning--with intermittent hugs, crying and affirmations of their familial love. Sunset stood motionless watching the feed from the testing room as doctors and mages explained some final details to the couple in the other room. Phobia stood silently watching the feed as well in her own corner, isolated from the rest of the ponies in the room. Tempest Shadow stood at a midpoint between Phobia and the two bickering sisters, with her eyes focused on the human guards. Tonya felt uneasy as she glanced at Phobia. The Dreamwarden had said nothing on the subject, but her gaze at the monitor was particularly fierce. Phobia had seen what had happened to Velvet and knew what harm this could cause. The rules of dreamwalking prevented Phobia from saying anything about what she learned in the dream realm that could be considered private information, but seeing her father and Amanda subjecting themselves to this must have been curdling the night pony's stomach. Tonya stepped over to her oldest and truest friend and whispered low to her in her ear. "I did everything I could to try to convince them not to do this without describing in detail what I saw in Velvet's dream. I tried to tell your mom to just call it off as well. She finally decided to reduce the time further, but that's the best I could manage. I'm sorry." Phobia closed her eyes for a moment as if pained and then nodded back. "You did what you could. All we can do is hope for the best...or at least hope the worst doesn't happen. I'm all too familiar with that feeling." Tonya glanced over at her wife and then whispered again to Phobia. "Your mom is planning on having this done to herself. I don't know what to do." Phobia's eyes closed again as she whispered back. "I'm aware of it. I don't have any answers for you though." "Wait, you know?" Tonya said in shock and almost broke out of a whisper before catching herself. "Dreamwardens know a lot of things." "How long have you known?" Tonya demanded in a tight voice. "I can't reveal that." Tonya swished her tail angrily. "Why? That's your mother doing this!" Phobia gave Tonya a hard look. "You know why. It's private information I gained in a dream. I can discuss it a little now in the context of the information you just said, but no more than that. It doesn't matter who I got the information from or what it involves; private information is private information. I am bound to protect that no matter what if no mind magic abuses or dreamwalking abuses are involved." "But she could be hurt by this..." Tonya protested as tears filled her eyes. "The rules are absolute," the Dreamwarden said harshly. "If someone had a nuclear bomb set to blow up half this city and was planning to detonate it moments from now. I couldn't even act as if I knew something bad was going to happen if I gained that information from a dream." "The rules are stupid," Tonya muttered. Phobia sighed. "The rules keep people safe from dreamwalkers and even the Dreamwardens. Once you say you can reveal private information gained in a dream you've opened Pandora's box that anything can be revealed from another's thoughts if you can make up some justification for it. Such information must be kept sacred, even the terrible and horrible things that could protect others if they knew." Tonya gave her best friend a long look. "And how many more terrible things do you know?" "Far more than I ever wanted to know," Phobia said in a barely audible whisper. "It's about to start," Sunset announced, bringing a halt to any conversations that were happening. Tonya returned to her wife's side and turned her attention to the feed. Sunset reached over with a hoof and Tonya extended hers out and the two gripped fetlocks in nervous anticipation. As before the mages circled the couple and a sleep spell was cast. Doctors moved in to confirm that the couple was indeed asleep and retreated to their corners after doing so. Then the mages lit up their horns and the spell went into progress. Tonya averted her eyes from it. After watching the recordings of the previous tests, and watching Jean's transformation brought to an early end, she had a hard time stomaching watching the transformation to human again. There was just something disturbing about the retreat of fur, elongation of body, and shifting of hooves to hands and feet that made her feel sick watching. It was probably the Shimmerist in her that made it so the process of becoming a pony didn't disturb her, but the process of becoming a human made her want to empty her stomach. She felt somewhat guilty for feeling this way, but still wanted to avoid the feeling of nausea that it induced. She instead watched the faces of the other ponies in the room. Sunset and Phobia were stoic as they watched, and it was easy at that moment to tell that they were mother and daughter despite their different tribes and mindsets. Surprisingly, the two sisters and Tempest had squeamish expressions on there faces as they watched the process at work; with Rosetta of all ponies looking the most ill while Wild and Tempest simply looked more unnerved than sickened. The human guards she could spot taking curious glances at the feed, but they didn't seem particularly disturbed by it. The looks shifted to anticipation and Sunset tightened her grip on Tonya's fetlock. Guessing that the actual transformation was done she turned her eyes back to the monitor. Where once there were a unicorn stallion and an earth pony now lay a white middle aged man with greying hair and a black woman who could have been anywhere from later twenties to early forties laying naked on separate cots. "It's been a while, the grey in his hair is more pronounced--he's my age," Sunset said in a low voice. "His perception of what he should look like impacts this, he must feel old." The doctors were at work checking them over. The process would take several minutes. "Let's head over now so we can be present right away when they're awakened," Sunset whispered to her. Tonya looked over at the others, but their attention was as glued to the feed. She then turned and nodded to her wife. They stepped out into the hallway without a word and walked down it with only the sounds of their hoofs hitting the white concrete and the occasional human soldier walking by through the plain white hall. Not a word was said between them as they advanced to the testing room. When they reached it Sunset knocked twice and keyed in the security code to the panel beside the door using her magic before the door clicked marking that it had unlocked. A moment later a human guard within opened it for them and they walked in. The guard shut the door behind them and the sound of clicking again marked that it was once again locked to the outside. The doctors were finishing their examination as they walked in and stepping away from the couple. Tonya and her wife stepped off to a corner as one of the mages lit his horn and cast the counter to the earlier sleep spell. The two reminted humans started to stir. Amanda was the first to sit up. Her motor control seemed to be working well enough, but when she rubbed her eyes she rubbed them in an odd looking way with the back of her hand. She looked over at Tom first before looking herself over, but after seeing him she put her hand back up to examine closely; flexing her fingers joint by joint and looking at them with an odd expression before turning her attention back to her stirring husband. "We have some robes for you so you don't need to be naked. We didn't cover you with blankets because we needed to make sure no problems happened during the process," one of the human doctors said with embarrassment. Amanda looked at the doctor with a puzzled look before it seemed to register to her what he was talking about or why. "Don't worry about the robes. I'm not concerned about wearing anything. It's not like I'm going to be walking down the street like this to upset humans with our nakedness. You sound...strange." "That would be because your hearing has shifted from pony to human, ma'am, things are going to sound different because of that," the doctor said as he tried to avert his eyes from Amanda's chest. Tonya noted that Amanda's breasts were fairly large and human males typically had some strange fascination with staring at those. She wasn't sure if Amanda picked up on that yet. Next time they'd need to insist on covering them right away as they'd have a larger human audience. "How are you feeling?" Tonya asked. "I want to be sure Tom is alright before I start trying to process all this," Amanda replied. "Tom, can you hear me?" Sunset called out. "Charlotte...?" Tom said groggily as he started to sit up. "It's Sunset Blessing, we've gone over this I don't know how many times. Charlotte is our granddaughter," Sunset replied with a hint of annoyance. "How are you feeling?" The man sat up slowly, pushing himself up with his hands. "Something about the sound of your voice made me think Charlotte." "Probably the change in how you hear it reverting to human hearing reminded you of Sunset when she was human," Tonya interjected. "Tell us how you're feeling." "A little tired," he replied as he came into more of a sitting position. He then seemed to finally register that the transformation had happened and started examining his chest which had patchy dark hair on his pale skin. "You look a bit older than the pictures we were looking at last night," Amanda commented. She squinted at him. "At least I think so...everything looks a bit off with my vision: like color is dull and out of focus." "Human vision, you're used to pony eyesight and it's different," Sunset commented then looked back at Tom. "As for difference in appearance: I'm not sure on the answer for that. The pony to human spell I haven't perfected the resonance warping as well as the human to pony one." Tonya knew why on that, though she wouldn't mention it. Her wife was working with her namesake's spell as a base, and the Equestrian hadn't been interested in turning ponies into humans. Sunset had spent a lot more time trying to figure out this version. Sunset Shimmer had done the hard work on developing the working concepts, but it was still a challenge doing adjustments with less advanced knowledge of magic--it had taken years of research and development even with Sunset Shimmer's spell available to study and build off of. "Do you think you can try to stand up? We can have one of these fine doctors brace you while you're trying to find your center of gravity." "You're pushing them pretty fast," Tonya whispered. "We are short on time and I want to keep them occupied as much as possible," Sunset whispered back. Tonya settled down. She understood what was unsaid. Distract them from thinking too deeply about this and have an existential crisis as a result. She wasn't sure how well that would work, but she had much the same idea with the puzzles for Amanda that were even now sitting in the corner. Tom looked around him and then to the floor. "Floor looks a lot closer than it did a before I fell asleep. I think I can manage it on my own. Walking on two legs should be like riding a bicycle, once you learn you never forget how." Tonya chose not to comment on the fact that for the last six years riding a bicycle had been all but impossible for anyone who was a pony. The doctors didn't seem to put much stock in the idea he could just go straight back to standing on two legs either, as they moved closer to him in case they needed to step in to catch him. Tom carefully moved his legs over the side of the cot as he prepared to stand up. He had his hands planted on the cot but didn't seem to be instinctually gripping the edge to better support himself. When he pushed off he gave it more of a jump down than just stepping down, likely because ponies typically had to do a bit more of a hop when doing such things. His legs immediately buckled when coming in contact with the ground, Thankfully the doctors had been anticipating it and were also pretty fast. As a result they were there to grab him from either side before he fell on the floor and possibly hurt himself. "Please be more careful, Tom. You might accidentally hurt yourself," Amanda said worriedly as she watched this all unfold. "I'm fine," Tom replied dismissively as he tried to stand up straight. Standing up straight looked like it was more complicated than it should have been, even when the doctors supporting him. It was as if he was having to put a lot of thought into what he was doing. The memory of how to do that was in his mind, but it had been a long time since such memories had to be used. This spell supposedly drew a lot on those old suppressed memories but it didn't automatically suppress his natural instincts on how he instinctively as a pony would have done things. It took him a minute, but his mind seemed to find the long unused instructions on how to properly stand on two legs. The doctors held his sides until it seemed he fully had his balance before letting go, but they kept close by him after releasing him. At this point he did started doing a more thorough examination of himself, starting with his arms and hands. He flexed each finger starting with the outer joints first and working his way through all of them. He then rubbed his arms with the palms of his hands before looking down at his toes and moving each of them in turn. He gave an involuntary shiver. "It's a little more chilly in here than it was a few minutes ago." "You don't have fur anymore and aren't wearing any clothes," Sunset pointed out. "Do you want to put on a robe?" "It might be a good idea," Amanda said quickly, to Tonya's complete surprise. "I'd somehow forgotten human male...um, organs...hung out for everyone to see in the front." That better explained her sudden feeling of nervousness about nakedness in Tom's case. Stallions typically had those parts mostly hidden by their natural body position, and while ponies typically didn't have the same concepts of modesty a human would that one particular part being put in easy viewing range of every mare could be considered indecent. Tom looked down at his offending parts and actually blushed before silently nodding. The doctors quickly moved to get robes for both Tom and Amanda. Tom's went on fairly easily. "You're going to need to stand up, ma'am," a doctor instructed Amanda. Amanda looked down at the floor and then tentatively moved her legs over the edge of the cot. She allowed the doctor to support her while she stepped down. He gave her a moment to find her balance after she got into a standing position and then proceeded to dress her. "This feels weird," Amanda muttered as she rubbed a palm of a hand over the sleeve of the robe. Tom didn't say anything, but was doing a similar action. "We'll need you in those tomorrow because we'll have a bigger audience. Try to get used to them as best you can now," Sunset instructed. "Tom, try to take a few steps--with a doctor helping." Like Jean before him the first step nearly sent him tumbling--in his case much more severely, but the doctor was ready for it and braced him back up. Tonya held her breath as the next step wasn't much better, or the one after that, or even the one after that. Amanda let off involuntary gasps each time Tom almost took a tumble. It took many attempts before the knowledge of how to walk on two legs finally seemed to come back to him. The doctor standing by Amanda put a hand on her arm. "Are you ready to try, ma'am?" "Not particularly," Amanda said with a mutter as she looked at the floor. "I suppose I should though. This place feels a lot more cramped than it did earlier. I'm feeling a little claustrophobic to tell the truth." "How bad is the claustrophobia?" Tonya asked quickly on hearing something that might be interpreted as distress. Amanda shook her head. "It's manageable. Between the walls and ceiling feeling a lot closer, standing close to the same height as these men, and looking down at you below me it is just a little jarring, and combine all that with my vision and other senses feeling off and it's just uncomfortable all around. This really wasn't the experience I'd thought it be." Tom let off a grunt that might be interpreted as agreement as he continued his slow guided walk. Tonya wondered what was going on in his head, and was tempted to reach out with her magic to try to probe their emotions. She wasn't very good at doing that unless sitting close one-on-one though. Any idiot could see that they weren't enjoying this like Jean had enjoyed her transformation, but she wished she had a better idea how much less. "Once we see if you can walk I have some jigsaw puzzles for you to try. That should let you appreciate having hands a bit more," Tonya said with a reassuring smile. "Yeah, that might be cool," Amanda agreed while staring at her feet in preparation of trying to walk. She wiggled her toes a little and gave them a slightly disgusted look. Amanda wasn't taking the same risks as her husband and reached an arm out to let the doctor brace her. The first step nearly had her twist her ankle despite that and only the support of the doctor prevented that. She took a deep breath and tried again. After a few false starts she seemed to get the hang of it. Tonya and her wife watched them walk about with doctors following close by for a few minutes. Neither of the reminted humans looked particularly happy. She couldn't help feeling a little bad for Tom. He'd been wanting this so long and now that he was getting to do it things weren't anywhere near as pleasant as he expected. Without suppressing the pony mindset this just wasn't going to be workable. Sunset had a frown on her face as she watched. She no doubt was thinking about how she was going to be coping with this herself tomorrow. Hopefully this showing would give the unicorn second thoughts about doing this to herself. Tom and Amanda at least had some nostalgia for being human coming into this, Sunset had nothing of the sort. Sunset might have decided that seeing humans eventually as pony equals in magic was the worthwhile and proper course for Shimmerism, but the red furred unicorn had a hatred for her past human self that had to make the thought of this horrifying to her. Tonya was unsure if even the upgraded spell that gave a human mindset would offset that; those feelings were deep set and impacted much of her ways of thinking. "How are their PREQUES ratings?" Sunset asked the crystal ponies. "Hard to say for sure because of the spell itself overlaying things, but I'm pretty sure they are unchanged from as ponies; mid three range for each," one of the crystal ponies replied. The other nodded in agreement with this. Sunset grunted and went back to watching the couple walk around. Tonya checked the time on her phone watch and then stepped forward. "I think it's time for some jigsaw puzzles. Come on over to the corner here and take a seat to rest those legs. This should be a little more fun than just walking around and should hopefully get your minds off how cramped you feel this room is." "Puzzles aren't that interesting," Tom commented as he looked over at them, absently scratching at his skin. Tonya tried to ignore the scratching, it reminded her far to much of the recording of Velvet trying to scratch her skin right off. Instead she gave him a smile. "This will be fun for your wife. She normally can't do them. It's an activity you can work on together." "I'm game to try," Amanda said with a tight smile as she too scratched at her hand. Tonya nervously checked her watch again and saw they still had twelve minutes. The couple walked over to a table at the corner of the room and Tonya directed them to take seats. She then flew up on the table and indicated the puzzles she had picked out. "I have a few to choose from since I didn't know your preferences; I have a puzzle of Skytree with a bunch of crops around it, a puzzle of the Statue of Liberty, a hot air balloon, Twilight Sparkle's Castle in Equestria, a bowl of fruit, and an older one of the castle in Disney World." "Um, Disney World, I guess. I always wanted to go to Disney World but never had an opportunity to," Amanda said without much consideration, then turned to her husband. "Is that okay with you?" Tom nodded in turn. Tonya pushed the appropriate box of puzzle pieces across the table towards Amanda. Amanda stared at it for a moment before gripping it on either side of the box using the palms of her hands and shaking the top of the box off. It was technically not the wrong way to open the box, so not worth correcting--even though Tonya would have preferred that Amanda put her fingers to use in opening it up. Amanda and Tom stared at the various puzzle pieces without doing anything. Tonya gave a small smile then tipped the box over so the pieces fell out, then pointed at their hands. "Time to see if you can put those fingers to use. They're one of the big advantages of humanity, so see what you can do with them." She really didn't think they were that much of an advantage, but she had to admit that this task should be much easier with fingers rather than hooves. Time to see if the novelty of it--as Amanda had put it--would make this experience more enjoyable. Anything to further delay a freak out. The newly human woman reached over, and with all her fingers clamped together, tried gripping a puzzle piece. Tonya was about to correct her about her methods before Amanda seemed to realize what she was doing wrong. The woman lifted her hand back up, spread her fingers, and started flexing them as she watched how each joint moved carefully. She then looked back down at the puzzle pieces and then over at one of the human doctors who was writing something on a notepad. She stared at the way he was holding the pen for a moment before turning back to the puzzle pieces. She reached down and carefully gripped her fingers around the puzzle piece in an odd manner and lifted it up. She had a small smile of satisfaction on her face as she did. This was short lived though as she tightened her grip on the puzzle piece and crushed it so it was folded in on itself. This wasn't a cheap puzzle, it was firm plastic. Tonya had gotten puzzles with less flimsy pieces that were designed for unicorn foals coming into their magic specifically because she expected that they'd be rough with the pieces. "Don't worry!" Tonya quickly said before any distress could happen. "You just seem to have your earth pony strength still. You could consider that a good thing; having the benefits of being a pony carry over to this form." Amanda dropped the crumpled piece, closed her eyes, and bit her lip before replying. "Is time up yet?" Tonya checked her watch as Sunset sat silent. "You've got three minutes. If you want to head back to the cots that should be alright." Amanda nodded and started walking back. Sunset stepped forward and raised her head. "Tom, are you alright?" Her ex-husband looked down at her with an unreadable look. "It hasn't been what I remembered it was. Maybe it has just been too long since I was human. Maybe tomorrow will be a little better since I got a little acclimated this time." "You still want to do tomorrow?" Sunset asked with her ears lowered. "You two don't have to do this. Or we can go with the improved version that doesn't let this be so weird." Just tell them it isn't happening. Tonya pleaded in her head. Amanda looked at her husband. "It's your call on whether we do this again or not. I can be satisfied with this being the only session. I'm more convinced than ever that thinking about being human again is just not right. This isn't what I am anymore. I'm ready to finally completely let it go." Tom looked down at himself then took a deep breath. "One more time, just like today. If it doesn't feel any better then I know this just isn't for me. I listen to our daughter and Rosetta too. I know how important this is for a lot of the night ponies, or even severely injured ponies. Even if this isn't for us I want to do what I can to help." "You should at least take the improved version of this then," Tonya said hurriedly, eager to see a stop put to anything going wrong like Velvet. "Since we know this version isn't working out." Tom shook his head. "No, Amanda's right. I want to know that I personally don't want this. Not have my head messed with to say I do. I always hated that my head was messed with years ago. No matter what they were back immediately after ETS my thoughts right now are my thoughts through years of development--they're mine. I know how mind magic works from Phobia, there's no reset button to just go back after all this time--only forcibly changing them, and I don't want to have my thoughts messed with again." Sunset lowered her head. "As you wish. Your participation tomorrow will at least help show that we can do this, and I'm grateful for you helping do that. For what it's worth, I'm sorry this isn't what you thought it be." Tom grimaced. "Well, you can take cold comfort in the fact you were right for all these years and I may have been the fool." "I don't," Sunset said in a whisper. Tonya silently seethed in her head about this entire thing. The delegates could be told there would be a delay for a few days because of complications. If Sunset really was committed to doing this to herself she could have dismissed these two and gone forward with herself as the lone subject using the better version of the spell. How could this be stopped? "If I volunteer to have the newer version of the spell cast on me will you dismiss these two now?" She whispered harshly to her wife. The other ponies in the room apparently heard and gave her surprised looks. Sunset turned to her and frowned. "No." "What do you mean no?" Tonya demanded, voice rising. "I mean I will not be dismissing these two. I owe this to Tom," Sunset said as her jaw set. "If you wish to volunteer it can be for a later test." "You don't owe Tom anything. He's not your husband anymore," Tonya said as her face started getting hot. Sunset sighed and looked at the confused couple that stood standing by the cots. "I have a confession to make. Years ago I got inside information that told me that the Equestrians that came to the church were going to take ponies back to Colorado for rehumanization testing. Because of my interference they weren't able to gather anyone from our area...if I had not been so overzealous...and misguided...they very likely would have taken you, Tom. You're a pony today because of me." "And now you wish to make it up to me somehow," Tom said in a low voice as his hands gripped into fists. Amanda laid a hand on Tom's shoulder and he looked up at her. He then brought his fist up and laid it on her hand before turning back to Sunset with an angry gaze. "I can't even express how angry I am right now. I don't even know if I want anything to do with you after tomorrow." Sunset's ears sagged as she looked downward, and a tear ran down the side of her face. "But.. I suppose I should thank you in one way." Tom said slowly, making Sunset look up at him. "I never would have met Amanda without all your meddling. I would have never gotten my two other wonderful daughters either. You might not have intended it back then, but it's what happened. I'll do the test tomorrow, because this might help others, but I am done with you after tomorrow." Amanda put her other hand on her husband. "Tom, don't cut her off." Which shocked both Tonya and Sunset to hear come from her lips. "I don't like her, but we both know what kind of pony she is and what kinds of things she would do. Is this really that much of a shock to hear? You don't need to interact with her because you like her, but instead because you have another wonderful daughter that she happens to be the mother of and wonderful grandfoals from that daughter. Don't cause a rift in the family that may hurt them when we've known she'd have done anything back then to keep you a pony." "They're your daughter and grandfoals too. You're my wife, not her," Tom said firmly. Amanda shook her head. "I had no involvement in raising Phobia, but she did. I have no more claim to the title of mom to her than Tonya over there does. I'll be a grandmare to her foals--old as that makes me feel--but I can't step in and replace her actual mother." Tom grunted then sighed. "You're right, you're always right." He looked back at Sunset. "Don't believe that I'm just going to forgive you messing with my life like that, no matter how it turned out. I'll keep polite with you, for Phobia and the foals' sakes, but don't expect much warmth from me." "That's...fair," Sunset said as she looked downward again. "I know you won't believe me right now, but I hope you'll eventually see I've come to regret that action and find it in your heart to forgive me." Tonya's ears sagged too. She wasn't innocent in those events either. She'd advised Sunset in how to make Tempest Shadow blow her top, ending the chances anyone from the area would be taken away for testing before they even knew that was a possibility. She looked up at the camera. Could Tempest read lips well enough over the feed to tell what was being said? She knew that was one of Tempest's skills. What was Phobia's bodyguard thinking right now? What were the others in that room going to think when they found out what was being said here? "It's over forty-five minutes now, let's just get you turned back," Tonya said in a neutral tone. At least this conversation seemed to have distracted them where the puzzles had been a bust. Sunset looked over at the crystal ponies. "Be sure to get a good reading of their PREQUES ratings before and after. I'll be standing outside." Tonya flicked an ear at this and gave her wife a considering look. She and Sunset left the room so the work could be done. As soon as the door closed behind them Tonya turned to her wife and flattened her ears. "You're hoping to increase your magical strength through this, aren't you?" Sunset raised an eyebrow at her. "It may have crossed my mind, and wouldn't you say that's a nice silver lining to what will be an otherwise miserable experience? But no, that's not my primary goal, just a small hope. My goal is to do everything I can to make tomorrow's display earn approval. Seeing the spell cast on me will change the perceptions of some who have reservations about this." "And what about my reservations?" Tonya demanded crossly. "This could hurt them. This could hurt you. You saw how they were doing with just under an hour with this. That was with them being previously more comfortable with the idea of being human again for a short time. What do you think that will do to you? You don't have any sort of nostalgia for your humanity. There are few things you hate and fear more than your past human self." Sunset swished her tail. "And I'll go into this knowing how disgusted I'll be to have that form again, and be safe in the knowledge that it is only for a short while in order to serve a greater purpose. Tom sees a greater purpose here too. You know I love you with all my heart, but this isn't your call." "Why do you have to be so stubborn," Tonya muttered in frustration. Sunset came over to her and gently touched a hoof to her wing. "Delaying this when we've set a date will make doubts grow about how ready we are to expand testing to the greater public beyond Riverview. I won't give anyone more reason to doubt this than they already have." Tonya had no idea how to respond to that, so she kept her mouth shut. Her wife already knew the obvious, that seeing the pony to human subjects freaking out in front of that crowd would sink this even faster. "Go escort my daughter and the others out," Sunset instructed as she turned back to the door. "I'll see to it escorting these two out after I'm done explaining to them about what to expect tomorrow." Tonya nodded in defeat. There was no stopping this. She just had to hope for the best. She was not looking forward to whatever their other guests had to say about what just went on in that room. Wild Growth turned her head from the feed as the spell on Tom and Amanda was brought to an end. Phobia, Rosetta, and Tempest were all grim faced. Knowing what she did about how the last pony to human test Wild was mildly relieved that Tom and Amanda simply didn't look thrilled rather than went into panic. It was a better alternative at least. The door to the monitoring room opened and Tonya stepped in by herself. Wild caught sight through the corner of her eye Sunset stepping into the testing room. Tonya looked as grim faced as the other ponies in the room. The pegasus made a brief glance at the feed then turned to the assembled audience. "I can take some questions for a minute or two. After that I need to escort you all out," Tonya announced. "I will say my peace specifically to Sunset Blessing," Tempest said tightly. Tonya's ears sagged low at that. Wild didn't know what was up with that exchange, but it sounded like there was something private involved. Phobia shook her head. "How much security do you have for tomorrow? The protestors outside have been extra rowdy as of late." Tonya nodded. "We're going to have some extra reinforcements from the army due to the presence of all the delegates. We're taking security tomorrow very seriously." She gave Phobia her direct gaze. "It would help if you could perhaps tell us if there's any specific threats. I know you've got insights the rest of us don't have." Phobia shook her head. "I see threats everywhere, all the time. If I were to try to guard against them all directly and call authorities to arrest someone for what was possible I don't know who would be free from jail. It is a world of shadows and it fills every Dreamwarden with dread. The ban on us divulging private information thankfully keeps us from hunting down every perceived threat whether it ends up being legitimate or not. Seeing what we see, combined with our desire to protect, makes us far too paranoid about the shadows." Tonya rolled her eyes. "A simple yes or no would have sufficed. Yinyu forgive me for saying it, but it feels like it's all but impossible to ask you a simple question without getting a monologue." Phobia actually looked mildly hurt. "I thought I was being brief in my answer. I just try to clarify things as best I can. And what do you mean Yinyu forgive you?" "Well..." Tonya said sheepishly. "Saying God forgive me feels like taking his name in vain to me. So I need something else to swear by, and Yinyu fits the bill. I hear some ponies say Luna for that, but I don't want to swear by an Equestrian." Wild turned her head to side as she stared dumbfounded by the pegasus. It took her a few seconds to process this before she could form words. "You do realize that Phobia is exactly as strong as Yinyu--and she's sitting right in front of you--and she's the pony you might want to ask forgiveness from since you kind of hurt her feelings, right? You featherbrain." Tonya ruffled her feathers and glared back. "Okay, I'm being stupid. You didn't need to be so rude about it." "Takes rubbing your muzzle in it to make you realize the obvious," Wild said simply. "Screw you, Wild," Tonya hissed. "My sister only screws stallions, so you're out of luck on that one," Rosetta said nonchalantly. Wild turned her glare to her sister, unsure who Rosetta was taking a jab at because it felt more directed at her than Tonya. The orange pegasus gave Phobia a sad look. "Anyway, forgive me Phobia. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. These tests are causing me a lot of stress. I appreciate that you always try your best to make yourself clear." Phobia walked over to the pegasus and gave her a hug. "Forgiven." Wild was actually happy for Phobia's little monologue. She inadvertently addressed one of the concerns that had come up with the discussion with Rosetta much earlier about mind policing. Phobia seemed to make it very clear that kind of tyranny wasn't going to be happening, and it was a relief to hear it. She could also sympathize with the Dreamwardens. Going out in public she found herself imagining threats all around her. What must it be like to know the secret dark dreams of others and not know if that was just a product of a dream or what they actually intended to do? She lifted her head up. "The obvious question that hasn't been asked yet is whether or not Tom and Amanda are going to do that again tomorrow. Are they?" Tonya nodded. "I actually wish they weren't going to." She licked her lips before continuing. "I should warn you now so you aren't taken off guard; Sunset is having it done on herself as well tomorrow." "That's...surprising," Rosetta said slowly. Tempest nodded in agreement while Phobia seemed unfazed by the information--probably already having known it. Wild frowned. "Why didn't she tell me about that. I've been helping bankroll her research, shouldn't I get to know?" "She just told me today," Tonya said through gritted teeth with a small stomp. "The exact same spell version as what you just saw. We have a better version that should make people more comfortable with the human body. I've begged and pleaded for them all to do the better version, but the three of them are being so stubborn. I want to just...it doesn't matter; I'm just passing the information along." Tonya wasn't Wild's favorite pony, but she had to give her credit for having more sense about this than the ponies in the testing room. If Tonya had tried to dissuade Sunset and failed then it wasn't likely anyone else would be able to have any more luck trying. Hopefully for the sake of Tom and Amanda, and the project as a whole, nothing would go wrong with this tomorrow. Sunset at least might be able to fake not being bothered by a human body, the unicorn knew how to put on a fake smile better than Wild. "We've also got another human lined up for tomorrow with Jean," Tonya continued. "Poor guy fell off a ladder yesterday and shattered his lower back, can't use his legs. I might have actually been at the hospital when his family came in." "Any more last minute additions?" Wild asked, trying to keep the annoyance about not being kept in the loop from her voice. Tonya shook her head. "Sunset didn't even tell me about the fact she was doing this to herself till today and I found out about the other gentleman on the trip over here. If there ends up being more don't say I didn't say anything--I don't know about anymore." "I don't have any more questions for the moment," Wild said with a sigh. Hopefully Sunset didn't get too ambitious for her own good tomorrow. Her doing this to herself would gain some more credibility to this, but this new man was untested going in and they didn't know for sure this would fix his legs without the test. It was blind faith that things would go well, and if that didn't work out that would lose them far more credibility than Sunset's stunt with herself would gain. Sunset was being reckless and it might cost them government approval to open up testing to the public, set this entire project back, or worse get it shelved. The big question was why was the fanatical unicorn being reckless to begin with? Sunset normally did everything with care and did nothing that could jeopardize her long term goals. Something was off, and the only one who might know other than Sunset herself was Tonya. This wasn't a conversation to have in front of her sister and Tempest though. Rosetta, Phobia, and Tempest didn't seem to have anything else to ask either. Tonya directed them all to follow her out into the hall with Tonya taking the lead and Wild pulling up the rear. The human soldiers walking the halls were a relief from the oppressive white, but Wild wondered exactly what they even were doing walking around like that. Were they patrolling? Going to and from different locations? If they were going to and from locations what were they doing at each location? Most these doors had security codes of some sort to get through, some seemed more elaborate in security than others. There were so many doors, did they all represent different projects? What all went on down here other than this project? They started passing by a room that was well guarded by crystal ponies and Wild realized where they were, though they hadn't come down this way. "Tonya.... Blessing, I know you're out there. I know your hoofsteps anywhere," came the oily voice from the other side of the door as they passed by. "Oh, and you've brought friends. You should bring them in here to meet me. I would love to tell them a secret." Rosetta paused and turned as Phobia paused and let her ears lay flat. Rosetta gave the door a curious look. "Who is..." Tonya stepped in front of Rosetta quickly. "No one you want to talk to. Just a sick freak that I'd love to see buried in the deepest darkest hole forever." "Believe me sis, this bastard isn't someone you want to be anywhere near," Wild said in a disgusted tone. "I've got a secret." Poly Glot sang. "I could tell you...just come on in and so I can whisper it to you," he finished with a cackle. A crystal pony guard banged on the door. "Enough of that! You be quiet. You've been well behaved all day. Don't start now." Rosetta rounded on Tonya and pointed at the door. "You're treating whoever that is like a prisoner. Since when do you keep prisoners down here? What did he do? Why is he here?" Wild stepped up to her and laid a hoof on her. "You really don't want to know. Just trust us and move on." If Rosetta heard the truth she might very well try bust into the room just to rip his throat out. "Who are your friends Ton-ya?" Poly Glot asked in a whimsical voice. "That one sounds so full of passion. I like them like that." "He's a foalkiller, Rosetta," Tonya said in a grim voice. "He deserves death, but he got off on an insanity due to becoming a pony plea." Rosetta got right into Tonya's face and looked ready to box her. "What the fuck, Tonya!" "Oh, that's such a poor description," Poly Glot cackled again. "I'm a visionary...I just want to figure out how they work. I used to run so many experiments. You know, once when I was still human I found this dear sweet little girl...." Wild didn't want to hear whatever this was. She just wanted to flee before he could speak whatever horror he was going to share, but he had attracted Tonya's attention now and the pegasus was staring at the door. "...I took her in and showed her pictures, brought her guests, and taught her how to play special games while stimulating the pleasure centers of her brain," Poly Glot said lovingly. "I kept her with me for a year. Then I took her back to her family, and she played those games that made her so happy with her family. Oh...how I wish I could have watched." "What the fucking hell did you do?" Tonya growled. "Me? I didn't do anything. I just taught her to play games, and she had so...much...fun," Poly Glot said as if he were in pure bliss. "What did you do to that child?" Rosetta demanded. "I'm a mother, and I won't tolerate sick things being done to foals or children." "Perhaps one day I could teach your foal to play special games with you," Poly Glot continued, sounding hopeful. "That little girl loved her mother very much....loved her so much she cut her up and ate her. She loved her whole family. I had taught her a new way of expressing love, and it was beautiful." Poly Glot started laughing as Rosetta charged the door. Wild had to move fast to tackle her sister before she could make it to the door. "Stay back Phobia!" Tonya shouted from where she was blocking a growling Dreamwarden. Poly Glot bit off his laugh. "Phobia? Would that be Phobia Rem-ed-y...the Dreamwarden? Oh, how I'd love to get my hooves on you. You're such a prize." "Keep your hooves away from my wife or I'll rip them off!" Rosetta shouted in rage from beneath Wild. He continued on as if Rosetta hadn't spoken. "Tell me Dreamwarden...how far do those oaths of yours stretch? Does it make you angry you can't reveal what goes on in my head? How angry does it make you? How much do you hate being so powerless? I wonder what it would take to make you break those oaths. Surely there's a way...the rumors say Luna snapped and became Nightmare Moon...what kind of nightmare will the Warden of Fear become?" "You'll never find out, and if I have my way you'll be out of here within the week," Tonya said darkly. Then smiled like she just won a prize. "You screwed up this time you sick bastard." Tonya turned around to a human soldier who had stopped in the hall to watch the commotion. "Find someone to research every single case in the database until one is found that matches what he just described. He claims to have done that as a human, so there's no blaming this on becoming a pony. Find where it happened if you have to research other countries to find it. Something that disturbed has to stand out in a record somewhere." "But the director..." One of the crystal pony guards started trying to protest. Tonya spun around and got right in the crystal pony's face. "I don't care if he's one of my wife's assets. That bastard needs to hang! I outrank all of you in security here, and I'm giving you an order!" "That authority is more a formality," one of the soldiers muttered. Tonya turned and sneered. "Unless I choose to actually use it. I'm choosing to do so now." "Yes, ma'am, but I'll still have to report this to the director," the soldier replied. "Go ahead, I'll be discussing it with her tonight," Tonya said as she backed away. "She'll see things my way. Sunset may not have been inclined to have him rot in an institution if he could be put to use, but some dogs need to be put down, and if there's a clear route to legally doing that with him she'll take it, you'll see." "Ton-ya, you always impress me with how bloodthirsty you can be," Poly Glot giggled. "Is it you've hung around night ponies so much, or you have such similar abilities to them? I wonder how your brain compares with theirs...oh how I'd love to pick...it...apart." Wild slowly got off her sister after Rosetta stopped struggling to get away, though she kept ready to jump again if need be. She gave a sickened glance to Poly Glot's door. The idea of executing anyone was abhorrent to her normally, but even she had to agree that this pony was enough of a blight on the world that it was worth considering. No matter how brilliant he may be that was nowhere near enough to justify him breathing in the face of everything he had done and clearly wanted to still do. Unredeemable was a rare word to throw at any criminal, especially a pony, but it definitely matched Poly Glot. Tonya turned back down the hallway and looked over her shoulder at the rest of them. "Let's get going. My soul feels polluted just being in proximity to him. I promise, I'll see something done about him. I won't let his little slip up go to waste." "See you soon Ton-ya. I have so many secrets to share with you, and so many of your secrets to learn," Poly Glot sang. Wild walked up to Phobia who was still glaring at the door. "Don't worry, they have him secure. Tonya and I don't get along, but both you and I know that when she wants justice she'll go to any lengths to see it done." Phobia glanced around and grimaced. "You're right, I'm probably just jumping at shadows." Jessie sat in her seat and looked around the hospital lobby with her head and ears held low. The hospital didn't feel like a good place. She couldn't explain why as there didn't seem to be much logic to it being so unnerving to her. It smelled strange, but a lot of places smelled strange. It had long hallways, but so did the school--and she liked the school. The hospital made her feel small and afraid though. She'd been here a few hours now, but really didn't feel any better about it. She didn't want to be here. Her grandmare sat beside her, anxiously looking up at the clock at regular intervals and keeping an eye on Jackie and Jordan when not looking at the clock or the hallway. Jackie and Jordan had picked up on Jessie's mood and were giving her space while laying on the checkered tiled floor quietly coloring. She wished Robby was here to protect her. She wasn't sure what she needed protecting from, but she felt like she needed her big brother there to protect her all the same. Occasionally a doctor or nurse would walk into the lobby from one of the connecting halls and both she and her grandmare would look up at them expectantly, only to have their heads sag again as the person walked on to another hall without stopping, having only been passing through. Every time the phone rang at the nurse's station they'd look up again with ears erect to catch any sliver of conversation from the nurse that may relate to Jessie's mom or Dusk, but time and time again the calls didn't seem to involve them. The waiting was agony. "Jessica, you know you could be coloring with your friends. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing crayons with you," Grandmare Nocte gently suggested. Jessie laid her ears back. "I don't want to color right now. I want to see Mom." "It may still be a while yet. You should find something to distract yourself. It will make time seem to go by faster." "You're not doing anything but waiting either," Jessie replied, maybe a bit more tersely than she should have. Her grandmare looked down at her with a tight frown. "Watch your tone, young filly. I know you're stressing, but that's no excuse for speaking to an adult like that." "Sorry," Jessie muttered as she swished her tail. Her grandmare sighed. "You're right that I should be taking my own advice." She raised her leg with her phone up. "Alexa, call contact Ferris Wheel." "Calling Ferris Wheel," the phone echoed before it started ringing. It took several rings before someone answered. "Hello? What's the emergency? Why are you waking me up? It's like four in the bloody afternoon." "Sorry Ferri, it's Nocte," Grandmare Nocte said apologetically. "Nocte?" The female voice said in astonishment as it seemed to wake up more. "I was worried when I didn't find you in the dream realm. What are you doing awake at this time of day? Is everything okay?" "Devon went into labor," her Grandmare explained. "I'll probably be up all day and hitting the hay around dawn." "Oh! I completely understand!" Ferri replied. "How are you holding up? I know how anxious you were. Seems you were right that you needed to leave early." Jessie perked her ears up as she put two and two together. Was this Grandmare Nocte's marefriend? What kind of name was Ferris Wheel? Did she work at an amusement park? Curiosity did act as a good distraction; better than trying to color anyway. There were things to learn. Her grandmare glanced down at her then back to her phone. "I'm a bundle of nerves, but I'll be alright. Say hi to my granddaughter; she's developing quite the habit of eavesdropping on others' conversations." Jessie flicked her tail. Grandmare Nocte was literally right next to her on a speaker phone, how was she not supposed to eavesdrop? And it wasn't a habit, she'd only done it a few times...today. What was wrong with her listening in anyway? How was she supposed to find things out if she didn't pay attention? "Hello," Jessie greeted uncertainly. "Oh! She sounds like a cute little thing!" Ferri gushed. "Nocte, I really must find an opportunity to introduce you to my grandcolt!" "Are you an amusement park pony, miss Ferris Wheel?" Jessie asked, unhappy about being treated as a discussion piece like she wasn't there. Ferri laughed. "My name give it away that easily? Yes, I currently travel with a fair that tours all around the south. I help with making sure all the rides are put up right and every little bolt and screw is secure. Don't want things getting loose on the rides and hurting anyone. I live for fairs, amusement parks, and carnivals. I've been involved with them my whole life ever since I was a filly...or young girl anyway, just do it better since becoming a pony--don't need ladders anymore." "Are you going to come to Riverview sometime?" Jessie asked. She'd never been to a fair, but she'd read about them. "I was by there about four years ago actually. That's when I met your grandmare," Ferris responded. "Not sure when we'll be back that way again. We had wanted to make it a regular stop every year, but your mayor keeps building the city over all the places we can pitch it." "Oh," Jessie said as her ears fell. "But miss preacher mayor keeps telling us she'll figure out a place eventually," Ferris assured her. "She just isn't willing to prioritize it while that city of yours keeps having to expand its belt. Hopefully soon the growth will slow down and she can tell us a good place that she isn't planning on bulldozing any time soon." The sound of hooves coming down a hall made her look up and she spotted Jackie and Jordan's parents coming towards them. The two of them looked tired, but they smiled as they spotted their foals. Grandmare Nocte spotted them a second later and looked down at her phone. "Have to go, Ferri. I've been watching some foals and it looks like their parents just arrived." "Okay, Nocte," Ferri said with understanding. "Don't stress too much. I'll talk to tomorrow in dreams. I love you." "Love you too," Grandmare Nocte said with a smile as she touched her phone to end the call. "Mommy! Daddy!" Jordan shouted excitedly, dropping her crayon and galloping to greet her parents. Jackie followed after her little sister looking just as excited. "Oooppff," Mr. Tom said as Jackie collided with his legs, causing him to lurch just a little. Jordan hit her mother's legs just as hard, but without causing any similar lurch. "Tackled by my own daughter. Have you been well behaved?" "Yes, Dad," Jackie said as she gripped her father's legs tightly. "I wasn't expecting you to be done with...what you were doing for some time," Grandmare Nocte said as she stepped over to them. "Did you actually go through with it?" Amanda glanced around before looking back at Nocte. "That's not really a conversation to be having in public. The short of it; Jean's seemed to have gone very well, and ours..." Amanda shivered. "We're just happy we didn't go for as long as originally planned." Jessie shook her head in annoyance as she listened in. Why did adults have to be so secretive about everything? Maybe it was something else hormones did to the brain. Would she get secretive when she got older because of that? If it was a hormone thing it could be involuntary. She could write herself notes reminding herself not to be secretive then. Tom lifted Jackie into the air with his magic. The pink pegasus started giggling and flapping her wings as if flying. Jessie couldn't help but smile at the display, but it also made her miss her parents more, and made her go back to worrying about her mom and Dusk. As Amanda picked Jordan up on her back to give a pony ride Jessie turned her attention back to the halls. How long would it take to get a nurse to them to come tell them how her mom was doing? She'd watched her dad walk down the halls to an elevator at the far end. She looked down the hall and started making estimates with what little information she had. She knew that the maternity ward was one floor up from them. If the halls had a similar layout as the halls down here she could estimate the time within a range. Since the elevator was in that direction it was safe to assume that the area that her mom was at was in that quadrant of the hospital, which narrowed the range of time it could take. She'd watched many ponies and humans walk the halls already and using their sizes as a guide she could determine the distance between each door going down the hall and the total distance to the elevator as a result. Her vision partially blurred as she started drawing diagrams and charts on her mental whiteboard, more aware of it than she was of her actual surroundings. Geometric lines were sketched out on it and formulas were jotted down. This wasn't really that important to know since she lacked the critical information of when Dusk was actually going to be born, but she was still eager to know all the same. She let herself get lost in thought and the workings of the imaginary whiteboard. "Jessie, are you alright?" A voice said, breaking her out of her concentration. She looked up and saw miss Amanda giving her a concerned look, with Jordan giving her a puzzled look from atop Amanda's shoulders. "She's fine," Grandmare Nocte said dismissively. "She's just in her own little world. She does this sometimes. Freaked me out the first time I ever caught her doing it, but Devon and Paul explained that she's just deep in thought." Jessie nodded in embarrassment. "I'm fine. I just want to know how long this is going to take." Amanda smiled. "I understand. This must be very scary for you." Jessie hunched her shoulders and bowed her head low. "I don't like this place. I don't know why. It just doesn't feel right." The pink earth pony frowned and started muttering. "I wonder...she couldn't actually..." Then shook her head before smiling again. "It's alright. Hospitals make a lot of people uncomfortable. Your little brother will be born soon and you'll be too interested in meeting him to pay this place much attention." The phone rang at the nurses' station again and Jessie directed her attention to that. The crystal pony nurse spoke quietly on the speaker with whoever was on the other end and Jessie strained her ears to try to make out anything. The call ended and the nurse looked up at them with a smile. "That was a nice, easy, and quick birth. I'm happy to announce that Riverview has a new healthy resident. Someone will be down in just a moment to bring a few of you up to meet him."