Wild shifted, ears twitching from the high pitched ring of her phone. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she suppressed a yawn and called out to her leg band she had left laying on her night stand. "Alexa, answer call."
"Wild, sorry to wake you. I have more news," Melissa's voice came over the line.
"What's the news?" Wild asked, as she saw the daylight outside. A quick glance at the hanging wall clock showed the time to be a quarter till eight in the morning. She'd slept in later than she'd wanted to.
"Two more ponies were found drained," Melissa replied. "In a house on the northwestern edge of the pony residential district. A neighbor had plans with them first thing in the morning and went inside to check on them when they didn't come to the door. They're alive, just barely. No trace of your mother, or Bill."
Northwestern edge of that district wasn't too far from where she was at. "How far away from the attack last night is that?" She asked.
"About a little less than two miles away," Melissa replied. "The attack last night was in the northeastern corner of human residential and services district, about a mile south of the Bastion."
At least that narrowed down the region they were likely in. That was about two miles southwest of the fields. The farthest they had moved in eight hours had been two miles, going slow because they were hiding. Unless something suddenly changed they should be within two miles or just outside two miles of their most recent attack. She needed to look at a map and draw out a search area. Melissa likely already had done that, but Wild wanted to conduct her own search.
"I'm trying to get as many people as I can searching for them," Melissa continued. "At this point they are my top priority over the protests. I have already called Sunset and the governor to try to get more help in with controlling these protests so I can focus on finding your mother and Mr. Longfellow." Melissa paused briefly. "Wild, I'm sorry, but I have to arrest them when I find them. This is multiple cases of assault and battery, along with possibly breaking and entering. I can't let that slide."
"There's no evidence they weren't let into that house willingly," Wild protested.
"That is why I said possibly. I can't confirm whether they were invited in or invaded. The victims are comatose," Melissa said firmly. "Wild, if they try this on someone elderly, or a foal, it could be a murder charge. If they drain more than they are now it could be the same thing. They are dangerous, and when I catch them they will be arrested."
Wild's ears sagged as she took a deep breath. "I understand."
"I also know you have your own teams out looking for them. Those teams need to call and report when they find them, and not approach. I'm not dealing with your searchers ending up in the hospital as well."
Wild flattened her ears. "They can't drain me... or Sapphire,” she added quickly. “The two of us should be able to approach at least."
"And can I trust you to call me so I can come make the arrest if your group finds them?" Melissa asked skeptically. "I will see all of you arrested for interfering with police business if I can't trust you to do what needs to be done."
Wild hesitated, but then firmed up her resolve. "I just want this to get fixed. They aren't in their right minds right now, and any court will see that upon review. I'll call you so you can arrest them if that's what has to be done. At least it will get them to where they can be helped."
"Fine then, your team can look but only you or Sapphire Sky can approach, no one else," Melissa replied with audible relief. "I promise they will be treated with care when I have them in custody. They'll get help, but first I have to ensure people are safe from them."
"I understand," Wild said numbly.
"I'm going to do my best to keep the press away from the details on this, but I have to let the public know that two highly dangerous crystal ponies are on the loose," Melissa said before her voice dropped. "Believe me, I don't want this project getting a bad rap. It could help me and my husband a lot. Teddy opened up a little to the idea of him doing it when it seemed to work well with me. He does well on his prosthetic legs, but I'd like to see him able to feel whole again. I also want the possibility of us having our own biological children. I'll keep as tight a clamp on damaging information leaking to the public as I can, but my first duty is to protect the public."
"Muchas gracias," Wild replied. "I don't want this to be hanging over my mama's head later on. I'm sure she'll be feeling guilty enough when she comes back to her senses. Having everyone know what she did, and possibly being afraid of her because of it... it would be too much."
"I need to get going," Melissa said. "I tend to work overnight, but I'm going to be needed during the day and will need to get at least a nap in. You can call the department directly if you find them. My officers know what needs to be done and how to keep it quiet."
"I will," Wild said as she got out of bed. The line went dead after that.
She quickly went into the adjoining bathroom and prepared herself for the day. After a short shower and brushing she returned to her room and attached her PonyStrap and her phone to her legs, as well as a put on a saddlebag with things ranging from her ID cards to her strap accessories inside. From there she left her bedroom and proceeded downstairs.
Her papa was still asleep on the couch. He had spent the night here, and she had given him a room to sleep in, but after he'd passed out from exhaustion she hadn't the heart to move him. Number Crunch was still here and already up. The unicorn was smoking at the hookah when Wild first came down the stairs, but quickly brought an end to that upon noticing her. The team of unicorns and crystal ponies were gone. They'd gone home yesterday and their replacements had been SPEC agents who went out to search. She'd need to get in contact with whoever was searching now, as she was sure that had rotated yet again overnight.
"What's the news?" Number asked as she left the hookah.
"My mama attacked two more ponies sometime over the night. This time in their homes," Wild said grimly. "I want to believe that they asked them for a place to stay and didn't intend on draining them, but I honestly don't know."
Number hung her head. "I'm sorry, Wild."
She immediately went and flipped on the television with a nearby remote. "Alexa, cast to main television, street map of Riverview, South Carolina."
"Casting," her phone rang out.
The television lit up with an overhead Google Maps view of the city. "Alexa, center map on current location, zoom out to box four miles in all directions." She started strapping on a laser pointer from her saddlebags onto her PonyStrap.
"Do we have an area to search?" Number asked as she looked at the map.
Wild nodded and began roughly drawing the outline with the laser. "She was somewhere around here last night. Here is where she first escaped from, and here is roughly where she was during the latest attack. Given that we can guess their general range of where they might be."
Number considered the map as Wild spun the laser in an outline around the area. "That's still a lot to cover. There's lots of pony housing there, and a lot of businesses, as well as some human apartments. The main hospital, central school, the Bastion, and even this house is in that range."
Wild made some gestures vaguely crossing out a few locations. "I think it is pretty safe to say that if they made their way to the Bastion they'd be caught already. Too many eyes at the school or the hospital for them to hide from, and they clearly aren't here. That takes away pretty much the entire north to northwest area. That leaves them returning to the fields, somewhere in the pony housing, somewhere in the human district, or possibly hiding along the monorail lines."
"I don't think flyers are going to do a lick of good for this," Number said as she looked at the map. "Pull up the location of the protests."
"Alexa, add current no fly zones to the map," Wild instructed. A moment later a huge splotch of red appeared stretching over most of the human district and running straight up to the Bastion and right around it, as well as curving out around the pony residential district slightly. "I can see what you mean, and understand Sapphire's frustration yesterday. The pony district and fields are largely clear for flying, but if they're in a house or in all that vegetation no flyer is going to be able to spot them anyway."
"What's the plan?" Number asked.
She looked at the map and sighed. "I can't just go walking around all the protesters. Too much of a chance that some angry person will try to attack me, even with bodyguards. I'm not really concerned about my safety, but something like that could be all it takes to spark a riot."
"Makes sense," Number replied. "So, fields or pony housing for you. Send the agents out to the protest area. I guess I can stay here and help coordinate everyone."
Wild considered. "I guess I search the fields. I seem least out of place there. I can use my magic to search out anyone hiding in the vegetation there too. Pony bodies in the plants should be easy enough for me to read."
Number looked at her with an ear lowered. "Um, how long are you planning on doing that? No knock to your powers intended, but you don't do long sustained uses like that normally."
"As long as it takes. I'll be alright," Wild replied, with a flick of her tail.
Number shook her head while Wild put the laser pointer away. "Wild, you're going to exhaust yourself doing that. That's not only bad for you, it is bad for your foal. Bring some crystal ponies with you. Let them use their powers to do most of that work. The ones Sunset has on payroll are used to searching out magic for sustained periods."
"That won't work," Wild objected. "My magic is still saturating everything there for another day or so. It will throw their senses off. I'm looking for physical bodies. I do want to go there though. Maybe Mama and Bill have learned how to sap the magic I left behind there. If they have that would be the ideal place for them to be because they don't have to drain ponies to keep their magic up."
"And if they haven't learned to do that then the ideal place is the housing," Number countered. "They can isolate a few ponies by themselves out of sight in the housing. Hardly any pony locks their doors. It's an ideal feeding ground."
"Don't talk about my mama like she is some monster out stalking ponies!" Wild snapped as she rounded on the blue unicorn.
Number took a step back and laid her ears flat. "Wild, we have multiple ponies in the hospital right now. It's not her fault, but that's exactly what she is at the moment."
"What's all the yelling?" Her papa asked as he sat up.
Wild shook her head. "Nothing important. Mama and Bill struck again last night. We're planning out how to search for them." She gestured at the map. "I might need you going door to door in the pony district, asking if anyone has seen them."
Number groaned. "A lot of ponies might be at work right now. Which is going to lead to a lot of no answers. The thing is, if there is no answer it could also be because the two of them are there."
"It's the best we can do," Wild asserted. "And I'll be searching the fields."
Number cut in again. "Another thing to consider with you searching, your mother knows your magic. If she's trying to avoid you then all you walking around is going to do is push her to move. Getting some pegasi up over the fields as you go through would be a good idea then. They may be hiding in all the crops, but they can't hide as well if they are desperately trying to get away from you. You wouldn't be finding them, you'd just be flushing them out."
Wild frowned up at the map. "You may be right. I'll see if-" Her phone started ringing and she hastily answered it. "Hello? Who's there?"
"It's Melissa. I've got bad news. Two more ponies found drained. These ones on the southeastern edge of the central green. It had to have happened in the last hour."
Wild looked up at the map. That really didn't change much at all in terms of locations. The central green where the Bastion and a few other major buildings were bordered all those areas. It was much closer to the Bastion than she had anticipated they'd go, though. "Thank you. I'll be going out to the fields with some pegasi. I'm sending SPEC agents into the protest areas to search, and will have people go knocking door to door in the pony district."
"Wild, the time between attacks is decreasing with each occurrence," Melissa said grimly.
Wild chewed on her lip. That was true. Was it because they weren't getting enough magic from each drain to keep the spell going, or because their desire for magic was just rising? She hoped it was the first. She didn't want to consider what it meant if the second option was what was happening.
"I understand," Wild said, in what felt like endless repeat. "We'll do all we can to help you get them into custody...are the two you just found going to be okay?"
Melissa sighed. "Another two in the hospital, but they'll live. I'm at the point I have to tell the press something, and make a public safety announcement to stay in groups over three people and to beware two unmarked crystal ponies."
"Saying two unmarked crystal ponies might just broadcast who they are," Wild objected. "There aren't that many unmarked adults and having two crystal ponies after my mama and Bill being shown to the world makes it pretty easy to put two and two together."
"I have to give some sort of alert of what to be on the lookout for and that's the most obvious description," Melissa said in a strained tone. "I won't confirm or deny who they are, but I can't go without giving some sort of warning about what to beware of."
Wild closed her eyes and went back to her mantra for the situation. "I understand."
"I guess I'll be skipping that nap," Melissa said with resignation. "Thank Yinyu I'm human instead of a night pony, or I'd never make it through today. Give me a call if you find them, and I'll call you if I do or if I have any more information."
The line went dead and Wild sat silently for a moment. As the silence dragged on Number took a step towards her.
Before the unicorn could say anything Wild looked up at her papa and her friend. "We need to get going. I'll call Sunset on the way, and confirm with her. The longer we wait the more chances someone else can get hurt. We need to find them and fix this, now."
The drive to school wasn't going smoothly. They had to keep stopping, getting redirected, and then stopping again. When they left Phobia Remedy's house Jessie had thought they were leaving too early. Now she was pretty sure they'd left too late.
"We're going to be late for school!" Jordan yelled out in anguish.
Jackie removed her wings from covering her head and glared at her little sister. "Who cares? It's just late. We aren't going to miss it. Don't cry."
"I won't get my gold star for being on time," Jordan sniffled. "I've gotten every gold star so far."
"Mom and Dad can get you stickers. Please, don't cry," Jackie pleaded.
The car had been stopped for a while now. They were waiting to be redirected yet again as some protest had moved suddenly. The two sisters were in the back, and Jessie was up front with Crystal. Her location had let her listen in on conversations when police officers had come up to the driver window and explained the situation.
A lot of them were really surprised that Crystal was driving, and spent an extra minute or so each time asking questions about the car and how it worked. The questions seemed more interest and curiosity than Crystal being in trouble, and Jessie was starting to get an education in how cars worked. It wasn't what she'd normally be learning right now, but she still found it interesting just because it was unfamiliar. After each time the officers left she'd taken the time to ask Crystal about things ranging from how cylinders in an engine worked to how the ignition in the car worked. Crystal didn't have all the answers on this, but she did seem fairly knowledgeable, and these talks helped pass the time.
Crystal let off a loud groan. "Today is teaching me that I don't want to do any long drives in this van. Short drives around town are fine, but to spend hours strapped up like this is torture. They had a separate driver seat design that would have had me on my back looking up at a console above me. I think that might have been more comfortable. Maybe I can trade it in for that still."
"How did you get fooled by the salespeople but know so much about cars?" Jessie asked.
Crystal didn't have much range of movement, strapped in the way she was, but she turned her head to look at Jessie. " My stepdad was a mechanic. He was always talking car stuff, and trying to get me interested. I did learn some things...learned enough that when I ran away from home I helped hotwire them."
Jessie picked up on the bitter tone. "What's hotwiring?"
"Starting them up without a key, in my case to help steal them," Crystal muttered. "Told you, kid. I've screwed up a lot in my life."
Jessie flattened her ears. "Why'd you do that?"
Crystal sighed. "I was an angry kid who fell into some wrong crowds, got myself hooked on drugs, and kept on doing the wrong things till I hit rock bottom. If ETS hadn't happened, I'd probably be dead or in prison now. ETS might have been what gave you a chance at life, but for me it was my second chance. If it weren't for Phobia Remedy I might have blown that one too. Guess this is my third chance when you think about it. I don't intend to strikeout."
"Strikeout?" Jessie asked in confusion.
"Baseball reference, kid. It isn't that popular a sport anymore, so I understand if you don't get it," Crystal said with a weak chuckle. A human police officer came up to the window as she finished speaking and she rolled the window down.
"We're going to get this line moving in just a minute," the officer said. "You said you're headed to the big central school? We're diverting traffic onto Rutledge Avenue. Follow it about a quarter mile down and you can turn right onto Martinez Circle heading east. You should have a clear shot to the school. These foals won't be the only ones late to class, there's lots of buses stuck out in this jam. My kids attend there too, and I heard they were actually debating canceling classes for tomorrow due to the protests, but don't quote me on that."
"Aww, we don't get to go down our street," Jackie griped.
Jessie looked back at the pegasus. "Your street? We're pretty far from your house."
Jackie shook her head. "No, Gilmore Street. We usually go down it on the way to school. Mom says it was named after us."
"Oh," Jessie replied. She wondered if there was a Middleton Street somewhere in town. She never paid much attention to street names before, and her parents never mentioned it. Martinez was Wild Growth and Rosetta Stone's family name, and they were both really important people. If Martinez Circle was the big road the school was on it was an important road. Now she wanted to know what road she was on now and start figuring out how all the roads got their names.
The traffic started moving again and after a few minute drive they were on the road that was known as Martinez Circle. Martinez Circle went around in a huge loop that circled the Bastion at the center. Expanding out from the Bastion were a few smaller roads within the circle and some small parks that made up the central green. Beyond this was the outer part of the circle that had some government offices, as well as the large central hospital and their school. There were other schools and hospitals in town, but they weren't as large or as fancy. A number of other things were also on this road, including a museum, a massive library, the main police department, the central office of the weather team, and the central monorail station. In the distance, just on the border of the fields, Skytree could be seen looming over everything.
They pulled into the visitors parking lot for the school and parked. It took a few minutes for everyone to get unbuckled because Crystal first had to unbuckle herself, and then work on unbuckling each of them in turn. By the time they were out of the car with their saddlebags it was nine-thirty, and Jessie had already missed her Latin class for the day. She knew that she was going to be missing a good portion of her Calc four class as well at this rate. They still needed to get to the main office and check in since they were so late.
The school was the second tallest building in town, even taller than the Bastion. It was twelve stories tall, with the first story being the largest by far, the next four stories being still pretty big, and the last seven being half the size each of floors two through five. Each floor was a grade level except the bottom floor which held both kindergarten, first grade, a cafeteria, two gyms, and a library--hence it being so large. There was actually a basement that had an additional cafeteria and a bunch of other stuff related to maintenance as well. Outside were two playgrounds, several sports fields, and two large swimming pools. Jackie and Jordan both attended classes on the first floor. Jessie's classes were all on the eleventh and twelfth--except gym. The higher up you went the longer your school day ended up being, but you also got more time between classes as well. Jessie was allowed a full twenty minutes between classes to get to the next, which really helped right after lunch or when she was going to or from gym.
This wasn't a normal school. To go to this school you had to be special. What being special meant varied from person to person though. For kids like her and a lot of others that went all the way to the top two floors they needed more advanced classes than what a normal high school in the area would offer. As you went down from there the definition of special got broader. A lot of the students on the lower floors were very intelligent or showed high academic aptitude, others were there because their families were rich or important. As you advanced through grades every year they did a review on whether you were best served going to this school or a regular public school somewhere else in the city. After you got past floor five it didn't matter how good your connections were or how rich your family was, if you didn't perform well enough you got cut. It was very competitive. There were only so many slots for students to take on in each new grade level, and if you didn't earn one of those slots you didn't move up the floors.
Her brother had gotten in by his connections to their auntie Sunset, and the fact their mom taught here, but he'd managed to survive through the dreaded floor five and the proceeding floors after that. The most recent one he had just barely gotten a spot on, and their parents said he needed to do extra well this year to keep moving up here. Jackie and Jordan's mom taught here too. Jessie doubted Jackie would make it past floor five with her attitude towards school, but Jordan seemed like she would. Jordan was right to worry about those gold stars. They looked at everything when deciding if you should move up, and that included attendance. The demons were all here because their mom taught here and they were the foals of a Dreamwarden. The last fact might keep them moving past floor five even if they wouldn't normally, just because of the fact they always had to have security.
Jessie would have gotten in because her mom taught here, but it was her brains that got her up to the top floors. She guessed with all the competition here she could understand Layla's anger at possibly being displaced as valedictorian. Being the valedictorian here was a bigger deal than being the valedictorian at a normal high school. It said you were the best of the best Riverview had to offer, and was an almost guaranteed acceptance letter at any college in the world.
"Let's get you kids checked in and to class," Crystal instructed, as she led them towards the main doors.
The three foals followed the crystal pony in. Just inside the doors was a large open space with a wide hallway going forward and two still spacious hallways going to either side. Off to their right was the doors to the cafeteria and one of several stairwells. The hallway next to it went down to one of the gyms. To their left was a series of doors that housed the main office, principal and vice principal offices, and the counselor department. The hallway next to this led down to the other gym and looped around into the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. At the end of the wide hallway were several elevators, doors for staircases, and to the far left another hallway that completed the loop for the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Bright murals with smiling suns, moons, clouds, trees, and gems filled all the walls. On the ceiling above the area with the elevators was a large Shimmerist insignia, and closer to the front doors smaller insignia for Lunites and Harmonists decorated the ceiling. A lone human security officer stood near the elevators.
Crystal led them into the main office. Beyond the counter inside several ponies and a human were all busy on the phones. The earth pony mare at the front desk acknowledged their entrance with a nod as she finished up her call.
"Don't worry. We aren't counting any absences against students today. We'll be making a decision by noon about whether the school will be open tomorrow. Thank you for calling in," the mare said into the phone, then tapped a hoof on the speaker to hang it up. She then smiled down at the three foals. "I'm guessing you need late passes for class? I recognize each of you, just give me a minute and I'll have those ready. It's been a busy morning. Jessica Middleton, Jordan Gilmore, and Jacqueline Gilmore, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Crystal said for them. "I tried to get them here on time, but the protests were causing a lot of traffic problems."
The earth pony waved a hoof dismissively. "Don't worry a thing about it. We've still got whole busloads of students waiting to arrive. We're used to the protests, but even we were caught off guard with how bad they are today. Crystal Dreams, right? I almost never forget a name, it's kind of my talent."
"That's me," Crystal replied. "And that's a useful talent for an attendance clerk at a school."
The earth pony's ears sagged as she scribbled out passes with a strapped on pen. "And I don't think it will be enough to save me having to look foals up today. The classes are all but half empty, and many of these students have never been tardy or absent. You may want to stay close by. We may be dismissing school early today, if it's logistically feasible."
She pushed the late passes over to the edge of the desk and each of the three foals reached up with their mouths and grabbed them. Jessie and Jackie put theirs in their saddlebags right away, Jordan just kept holding hers in her teeth.
The mare looked back and forth between Jackie and Jordan. "I'd normally have someone escort the two of you to class, but we just don't have the staff today. Students aren't the only ones unable to make it in. I will have to trust you to get to class on your own."
"I know where my class is," Jackie said confidently. She then looked over at Jordan. The young unicorn didn't look as confident, in fact, she looked a little scared.
The mare looked down at Jordan with a gentle smile. "Are you going to need help, sweetie? It's okay to admit you don't know the way. You won't get in trouble."
"I can help her!" Jackie said enthusiastically. "I know where Miss Daisy's room is. It's right next to Mom's room."
"I'll allow that, provided you head to Miss Albright's room right away once you're done," the attendance clerk replied. "I'll make sure to tell Miss Albright to give you a butterfly sticker for being kind to your sister." She turned to Jessie. "And I trust that the school's star student can find her way to her classes, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Jessie replied with a nod.
"Are the Dreamwarden's foals going to be able to get home alright?" Crystal asked.
The clerk gave a dejected look at some papers next to her. "There may be a delay. The bus schedule and routes for getting the younger night ponies and the adjusted schedule humans home is completely thrown off. The older night ponies may he able to fly home, and some of the older humans have their own cars, but we're still trying to figure out how to get all the younger ones home in the safest manner. We have less than an hour till their dismissal and we still don't have a plan. Thus just caught everyone off guard. Today has been a nightmare."
Crystal looked down at the three of them. "Go ahead and get to your classes. I will be around. I need to find out how Rosetta wants to deal with the demons. I'll check on each of you later."
The three fillies didn't need to be told twice, and promptly left the office. Jackie turned to her little sister and gestured with a wing. "Come on, I'll show you the easiest way to get to your class. I know all about everything down here."
Jessie watched as her friends hurried off down an adjoining hall and then turned and trotted over to the elevators. Pushing the pony height button and ignoring the human ones far above her ability to reach, she waited briefly before the far elevator opened up and she hurried in before the doors closed. Using the lower set of buttons, she pressed a button for the twelfth floor, and watched as the door shut.
The sensation of moving up always bothered her a little. She didn't know exactly why, but suspected that as an earth pony she had some primal instinct that objected to going up in the air, and the rising sensation caused instinctual worry. To distract herself she looked at the murals on the elevator walls, which had a smiling tree behind her, a smiling sun to her left, a smiling cloud to her right, on the left door of the elevator a smiling gem, and a smiling moon on the right door. One of her teachers had told her that this was supposed to represent each of the pony tribes. She took note that the tree mural was the biggest, and that the earth pony tribe was the biggest. The gem and the moon had the smallest murals and they represented the crystal ponies and the night ponies. She always wondered why there wasn't a mural for the humans though. Humans went to this school too, but she couldn’t remember seeing anything to represent them here.
The intercom dinged and made an announcement. "Maintenance members Finch Song and Pole Position, please report to the administrative office." Then went quiet again.
The elevator came to a gentle stop and the doors opened. She hurried out into the twelfth floor hall. There weren't a lot of classes up here. From what she had counted before there were only about forty students in all that used this floor, and the class sizes were much smaller than the ones down below. The walls up here didn't have colorful murals, and instead had a few lockers as well as some posters advertising events. She didn't typically use her locker, as the lock and shelves inside were just too high up for her, being placed more at a grown-up pony height. Instead there was a cubby reserved for her in the floor administrator office on the eleventh floor. She didn't need to go there yet, though.
She hurried over to her Calc four class with professor Anderson. She didn't know why he insisted on being called professor instead of Mr. like most teachers. Her biology teacher, Dr. Richards, was the only other one that didn't want to be called the same as all the other teachers, but she had a doctorate, so that made sense.
She gently pushed open the classroom door and stepped in. There were even less students here than normal. Layla was here, along with a human and a unicorn she never learned the names of...she really should learn everyone's names, it felt kind of embarrassing not to actually know who her classmates were, especially with such small classes.
"Jessica, glad you could make it," Professor Anderson said from where he was writing on the dry erase board. "Since we have a smaller class today everyone is sitting up front. Please take a seat between Layla and Abigail."
Well, considering the unicorn was a young stallion it kind of narrowed down which of her classmates was Abigail. She quickly took a seat between Layla and the human.
The stallion bent over his desk and waved at her. "Um, wrong seat pipsqueak. He said between me and Layla."
She lowered her ears in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. I didn't actually know your name."
The young stallion blinked in confusion. "We've been in class together since August. How have you not learned my name yet? I'm like the only stallion in school with a name like that."
"She just learned mine the other day, Abby, don't feel bad," Layla said with a chuckle.
"I'm Elizabeth, in case you didn't know mine either," the human said with annoyance. "Thought you were some super fucking genius. How have you not learned anyone's names?"
"Elizabeth! Watch your language in class," Professor Anderson scolded. "Most of you aren't children, please, don't make me treat you as a child." He turned to Jessie and pointed a finger over to the appropriate desk. "Take your seat, Jessica. We are going over any questions any of you had about your homework. I'll collect yours shortly."
Jessie quickly hurried over to the appropriate desk and after taking her seat pulled out her notebook, textbook, and homework. She then hurriedly got her own pen strapped on. Professor Anderson finished writing what he was doing on the board and looked at Abigail. "Do you see how the holomorphic functions work now?"
Abigail nodded. "Yes, Professor. I see where I got myself confused." He then lit his horn and scribbled out a few notes with his pen.
The professor looked around the rest of the class. "Does anyone else have any questions about Cauchy's integral formula? It's okay to ask questions if you're confused, this is extremely advanced stuff for most high schoolers."
Jessie shook her head, it had been extremely easy for her, but math was her best subject. She caught sight of the others shaking their heads as well.
Professor Anderson looked them all over. "Are you all sure? Layla, Jessica, no questions from either of you? I know you are both brilliant at math, but if you aren't sure of anything just let me know."
Layla shook her head again. "I understand it perfectly," the night pony said confidently.
"It seems pretty easy to me," Jessie replied.
Their teacher turned and looked back at Elizabeth. "And do you have any further questions about your earlier problem?"
"No, professor," Elizabeth replied.
The professor sat his marker down and then crossed his arms as he looked at the four of them. "Since no one has any further questions, and I don't want to have your missing classmates fall behind, we're going to do something a little different with our remaining class time. We're going to back off academics for today and get to know each other better. It's obvious that Jessica has not properly learned who each of her classmates are, so I think a fresh get to know each other session is in order."
"Just pamper the little foal more…" she heard Elizabeth mutter. She didn't think the teacher heard it though, he didn't have pony ears.
"It looks like Layla had an eventful break," Professor Anderson said as he looked at the night pony's wings. "Come up and tell us about it." He then went and sat down at his desk.
The night pony left her seat and flew over to the front of the class. She didn't land, instead she stayed hovering about two feet off the ground. "Well, I turned eighteen just two days before Thanksgiving. Right away I took Yinyu's Blessing."
"So, your a lesbian now, but weren't before?" Elizabeth asked.
Layla nodded. "That's pretty much how it works. I didn't want to get caught up in all the night pony mare drama and that's the easiest way of getting away from it."
"Any mares you think are cute?" Abigail asked coyly.
Layla glared at the unicorn. "That's kind of private information. I'm still getting used to it. I'm not in a hurry to get a marefriend. Maybe when I'm in college, but not yet."
"What else you do to celebrate your birthday?" Elizabeth asked.
Layla dipped her head in embarrassment. "Um, my Aunt Rebecca took me to a...hookah bar. It was my first time ever going to one. It was kind of fun, and different; except we went after full dark, so it was full of other night pony mares. She kept asking me who I thought was cute. That was really uncomfortable, and I know she was doing it just to embarrass me. My aunt does stuff like that sometimes, but she's cool. She then took me to a tattoo parlor to get my wings done, and after that she helped signed me up to be a volunteer guard for the Dreamwarden."
The night pony then frowned. "After sunrise we went and visited my parents' house, and they freaked out that I had taken Yinyu's Blessing and gotten my wings tattooed, even though I told them over and over again I was going to do it. Aunt Rebecca stood up for me, though."
"Are your tattoos math equations?" Abigail asked as he tilted his head while staring at them. "I know we're all kind of nerds, but that's like super nerdy."
Layla landed back down on the ground and snapped her wings to her sides. "Math is my thing. I have a math cutie mark and I've got math tattoos. I might get some non-math related tattoos later. I just didn't want to get dull abstract designs like a lot of mares get for their first ones. I wanted something more me."
"What's it like guarding the Warden of Fear?" Elizabeth asked, with seemingly genuine interest. "Is she really as scary as everyone says?"
Layla shook her head. "Nah, she isn't very scary. She's really good looking-"
"You have the hots for the Warden of Fear?" Abigail called out in shock.
Layla narrowed her eyes. "I'm allowed to think she's good looking. Doesn't mean I have the hots for her." She then dipped her head slightly. "I'll admit, I did find her kind of sexy. Maybe it's the power and the looks combined, but she's married, and my overall boss, so she's kind of a- just-look-at kind of mare."
Snickers came from Elizabeth and Abigail. Professor Anderson did a single loud clap of his hands. "Let's leave discussion of Layla's sexual interests outside the school, please. It isn't school appropriate talk, and even less so because we have Jessica here."
"I think Phobia Remedy is really pretty," Jessie chimed in, not wanting the conversation dampened because of her age.
This caused all three of the other students to start snickering loudly, and Professor Anderson to cover his face with a hand. Abigail was the first to say something. "Looks like you aren't the only one, Layla. Jessie hasn't reached puberty and apparently already knows which way her barn door swings."
Elizabeth turned to her. "Aren't you like cousins or something with the Dreamwarden?"
Jessie shook her head, then thought about it and shrugged. "My aunt is her step-mom, which I guess makes her my step-cousin. Not sure if that counts as anything." She turned to Abigail. "What do you mean which way my barn door swings?"
Abigail lowered his ears. "Um...I'm not sure if I can talk about it if you don't actually know what that means." He looked to the professor for help.
"We're dropping that entire subject now," Professor Anderson stated firmly. "As I said, it is inappropriate for the setting, or for Jessica." He turned to Elizabeth. "How about we take a break from Layla and have you share about your Thanksgiving."
Elizabeth crossed her arms tightly in front of her. "I'd rather not."
"You can be brief," Professor Anderson replied. "Share something."
Elizabeth leaned back in her seat with a defiant look. "Fine. My aunt spent the whole time fighting with my mom, trying to get her divorce my dad because he's a pony. My older brother has foals with five different mares. Five! And that dipshit brought them all to Thanksgiving. They all acted like they wanted to murder each other, and when they weren't getting into it with each other they were teaming up to yell at my aunt in defense of my parents. The whole damn thing was a fucking train wreck, like every other holiday. I spent most of my time hiding in the backyard with my dad, trying to keep my nieces and nephews away from the fighting and yelling inside the house. The end."
Professor Anderson frowned, and Jessie wondered if he was going to punish Elizabeth for cussing. "Elizabeth, I think it might be a good idea for you to visit one of the counselors to talk about this more."
"I'm fine," Elizabeth said crossly. "The holiday is over."
Professor Anderson sighed. "See me after class. Abigail, it's your turn."
The stallion still had his ears flat from Elizabeth's talk, and cautiously went up in front of the class to the spot Layla had vacated a moment before. "Um, my Thanksgiving was good. My family went up to my grandparents' house in Greenville. Most of my family is human except for me and my mom. This Thanksgiving was great because for the first time they all seem to have started accepting I'm a stallion. I know the rest of you already know, but Jessie might not; but before I transformed six years ago I was a girl. So the fact I transformed into a colt was kind of a double shock to a lot of my family. I was always kind of a tomboy back then, but I knew other tomboys that transformed, and none of them switched sex. Heck, Layla and I were actually friends as humans, back in Augusta. She was a tomboy too, still is."
"Still can kick your flank any day of the week," Layla said with a grin.
"Do you two still spend lots of time together?" Jessie asked.
Layla frowned slightly and shook her head. "The separate sleep schedule makes it kind of hard to spend a lot of time together. We're still friends, but it is mainly here at school."
"Oh," Jessie said as she lowered her ears. She was hoping that they were closer. It would have given her encouragement she could still keep close to her friends when she went off to college.
Abigail continued. "Anyway, I don't know why it happened to me, but it just felt right, and the fact that my family finally seems to be okay with it after all this time is great. I normally dread visiting family because of how they'd look at me and treat me. But this time they treated me like just another one of the guys when we sat down to watch the football game. It was a good feeling. Um, that's all I really have to say."
"Why didn't you change your name?" Jessie asked in confusion.
Abigail blinked. "I just never wanted to. A lot of other ponies took pony names, made them feel more unique and personal, I guess, but I was kind of unique with being a guy with a girl name. It had been my name my whole life, and I liked my name, so I just kept it."
"Raiders or Seahawks fan?" Layla asked.
Abigail grinned. "Raiders."
Layla stuck her tongue out. "I accept you for who you are, except for that. Raiders fan, get your flank back in your seat. Seahawks are the best."
"Your turn, Jessica," Professor Anderson said with a smile.
Jessie left her seat and walked up in front of the class as Abigail returned to his. She had a very busy holiday break and wasn't sure what all she should say. Getting up in front of the class like this might normally be a little intimidating, but there were only four people watching her, and that made it easier.
"Well," she began. "I spent Thanksgiving day at my aunt’s house. My auntie is the mayor, Sunset Blessing. A lot of important people were there, like Phobia Remedy and Wild Growth. Everyone that showed up is kind of loosely family with Phobia Remedy."
Abigail whistled. "Wow, you're super well connected. Are you rich too?"
Jessie shook her head. "No, I think just Wild Growth is rich...and maybe my aunts, I'm not really sure where they get all their money. I guess being mayor pays a lot, but don't think it’s enough to make you rich."
"Phobia Remedy is like middle class, at least from what I've seen," Layla quipped in. "I was kind of surprised that she lived in just a regular old house with regular old stuff. If it weren't for the army of guards on the roof you wouldn't think it was anything special. I'm told she even spends a lot of time baking cookies for her foals in her spare time."
"The Queen of Nightmares as a middle class housewife is kind of a funny concept," Elizabeth said with a smirk.
Jessie didn't want to interrupt, but she didn't know how to continue after the interruption. When they all looked at her to keep talking, she shuffled her hooves and just said the first thing that came to mind. "All of us foals had a race. I thought I might win, but I ended up getting stuck in a bush and came in third. I have a notebook with some math I had been working on to try to impress NASA that I tried to show Wild Growth. It just confused her, but Phobia Remedy took it and was really impressed with it."
"What kind of math?" Professor Anderson asked curiously.
Jessie hurried over to her saddlebags and pulled out her special notebook and brought it over to him. He took it and started slowly flipping through it. She grinned. "She sent it off to a bunch of colleges, NASA, and Twilight Sparkle! The colleges already emailed her back, and said that I needed to redo it as a proper academic paper with citations, and also requested my school records. Can you help me with that Professor Anderson? I haven't done a paper like that before."
Her professor looked at the pages with narrowed eyes. "I see the math, but you'll need to explain to me what they are in relation to. The terms and concepts that I see written down are Greek to me."
Jessie lifted her head proudly. "I'm demonstrating that models of universal expansion to this point are wrong. Thaumic energy, which we now know makes up a great deal of what is in dark energy, does fit into Einstein's theory of relativity, and it is part of what drives universal expansion. However, when it is converted into what we consider magic that push is weakened, and with enough weakening we could reach a more constant speed or even deceleration. When charting the supposed Devourer events with this in mind we can postulate a more irregular expansion pattern than what current models indicate, because significant changes in the amounts of thaumic energy converted.
Scientists already figured that out, but they never really looked at it. So, I took the anomalous changes in redshift and cosmic cold spots between one-half and three billion parsecs away, found clumps at about the same distance, and calculated how much they differed, and by how much. The numbers didn’t make sense, so I took the values for a hypothesised Devourer gamma burst, and started checking what numbers and speeds made sense. Analysing the variance, I found that adding in Devourer events explains certain unexplained circumstances in current cosmic expansion. With some work this could lead to a working theory of quantum gravity! "
"Come again?" Abigail said in confusion.
Jessie looked up at the professor hopefully. "Can you help me?"
Professor Anderson didn't answer right away, he was gaping as he continued to read through her notebook. He licked his lips. "Hold on- are you saying that you did a 3-D ANOVA test on cosmological expansion itself, and then applied succeeding models to determine both their speed and distance? By hoof?"
She rubbed a hoof against a leg and lowered her ears. "Well, I borrowed ideas and combined them together. There were lots of people studying the effects of gravity on magic, others studying the cosmological impacts of the Devourer events, and some researching the impacts of thaumic energy on acceleration of universal expansion, but they weren't really combining those things. They just seemed to fit so well together to me, and it made it all make sense to combine them. I even saw that either the Devourer bursts vary by thirty percent more than we thought they did, or our distances are at least ten percent off of our expected standard deviations! I had to do a little figuring on how they could connect, but I did that part. The math all works."
"I'm so confused. Did we cover this in class, and I just somehow missed all of it?" Abigail asked with wide eyes. "If we did, I think I'm going to fail."
"She's doing this at six years old…" Professor Anderson mumbled.
"I'll be seven in March!" Jessie yelled out defensively.
Elizabeth looked at her rump. "Are you a computer, android, or something like that, and have a power cord plugged in somewhere?"
"Elizabeth! Don't be rude!" Her professor scolded, as he continued to flip through the pages, occasionally tracing a finger over equations. He then closed the notebook with care and looked back at Jessie. "Even figuring out how to combine these concepts, and seeing the connections the way you're mapping them out here is genius. I'm not familiar with much of what you’re doing here, because I'm neither a statistician nor a physicist, but I would love to help you convert this into a proper paper.”
"Upstaged again," Layla muttered. It didn't seem as angry as she was before, but didn't sound happy either.
Professor Anderson looked over at Layla with a considering gaze. "Actually, I think I know something better. Layla, I have an extra credit project for you." Layla perked her ears in interest, Jessie did as well. "I want you to be the one to help Jessie convert this into a proper paper. You intend to be a math major in college? This will be a good opportunity for you. You don't even have to understand the material, just get it in a proper academic form. With Jessie's permission you can be cited in helping prepare her work for academic review. It will look exceptionally good on your college applications to have your name in any way tied to this, believe me. I'll make sure you do it correctly, and provide you with a writing style guide, but I'll keep my name out of this. I'm here to help my students, not myself."
"You get to say you taught two students tied to this big important paper. That makes you look good by itself," Elizabeth said cynically.
Professor Anderson leveled a flat gaze on the human. "That kind of shrewdness will get you far, Miss Ferro, but only if you can get your attitude under control. Don't forget to see me after class."
The intercom let off two loud dings, marking an announcement. "Attention teachers and students. The decision has been made to dismiss classes early today at noon. Classes will also be canceled for tomorrow. Night pony students who normally leave at ten-thirty will be leaving at noon as well, and we ask you to report to north gym when done with classes today. All students who normally drive themselves or fly to school we ask to report to the south gym at eleven, including older night ponies. If any student needs to contact a parent, or have additional help getting home, please come to the main office immediately so we can make arrangements to help you. Jessica Middleton, Robert Middleton, and Mrs. Rosetta Stone-Remedy, please report to the principal's office as soon as possible."
"So what am I supposed to do between ten-thirty and eleven? Just hang out?" Layla asked the intercom as if it would answer.
Professor Anderson looked up at the clock. "It is almost ten-thirty now. Since you are officially a volunteer guard for the Dreamwarden how about you head down to the principal's office with Jessica. I believe your duties include guarding the Dreamwarden's wife and foals, and they may need to give you instructions." He handed the notebook back to Jessie, who quickly grabbed it with her mouth. "Gather up your things and do as instructed. Leave your homework sitting on your desk and I'll collect that after you leave."
The intercom dinged twice again. "Maintenance members Finch Song and Pole Position, if you are still in the building, report to the administrative office. This is the second call for you."
Jessie hurried over to her desk and quickly repacked her saddlebags, leaving her homework sitting on her desk. When she finished Layla was standing waiting for her.
"Come on squirt, don't want to keep the principal waiting," Layla said as she turned towards the door, Jessie quickly followed.
As they waited on the elevator Layla glanced over at her. "So, this notebook of yours is a big deal? How do you not have a cutie mark yet in math or physics?"
"Everyone thinks it's a big deal," Jessie replied. "I didn't mean for it to be, but Phobia Remedy said it's really important. She says it demonstrates that the Devourers will be here much sooner than expected. She said our lifetime." She then pouted. "And I don't know why I don't have a cutie mark yet, it isn't fair."
Layla gasped and glanced around hurriedly, then down at Jessie. "Are you serious? Our lifetime?"
She flattened her ears. "That's what Phobia Remedy said."
Layla gaped for a moment then shook her head. "Jessie...do me a favor and don't tell anyone else that. You could start a panic. If the Dreamwarden said that then I believe you, but you can't go spreading that around." She shook her head again. "Holy fucking shit."
Jessie cowered down a little. "I'm sorry."
Layla looked at her again and for a third time shook her head. "I'm not mad at you. It's just you basically just told me doomsday is coming soon and you have the math to back it. If it weren't for the fact the Warden of Fear is saying that I wouldn't believe you, but since she is I have to." She looked at Jessie's saddlebags. "And I get to read over the math that says it, and then try to put it in a presentable report. That's some fucking pressure." She looked Jessie in the eyes. "How does this show doomsday is right around the corner anyway? How long do we have? Our lifetime could mean sixty years from now or it could mean tomorrow."
Jessie pouted further. "I don't know. Phobia Remedy says it involves things the Dreamwardens know. She didn't explain it to me. She said a few decades, but she didn't really seem sure about that. I think they still need to figure that part out. Maybe they need more data."
"Fuck," Layla hissed as she snapped her wings open then closed.
The elevator dinged and the door opened up. The two of them headed inside quickly, and Layla hit the button for the first floor.
"You're saying a bunch of bad words, doesn't that mean you're mad?" Jessie asked timidly.
Layla looked at her in surprise and then laughed. "The world is ending and you're worried about cussing? There are times and places where cussing is fully appropriate, finding out that the apocalypse is happening soon is one of those fucking times."
"Oh," Jessie said. "Um, fuck?"
Layla bit her lip and her eyes started to get wet, then she burst out laughing even louder. "Oh, Yinyu save me! You're downright adorable when you try to cuss. I needed that. I mean, the world is still fucking ending, but that is still priceless!"
Jessie turned her head away and frowned. "You don't need to make fun of me."
Layla touched a consoling wing to her. "I'm not trying to make fun of you. Now, there it would have come out naturally if you mixed some cussing in what you just said. You need to have some emotion behind it. You can't sit there and say it all straight faced and innocent like you did. It's good you don't really cuss, it means you aren't that angry and are more innocent. There's something comforting about the fact that the person who predicted the end of the world can still be so innocent."
"If being treated like I'm not just a little foal means I'm less innocent, then I guess I would rather be less innocent," Jessie grumbled.
Layla looked at her and tilted her head. The elevator stopped at their destination and they both stepped off. Before they headed to the principal's office Layla put a wing out in front of her and stopped her. "You know what? I get it. You're caught between being super smart and mature in some ways, and just a normal little filly in other ways. I get that can be frustrating and feel confusing. I was always kind of mature for my age, and it was frustrating for me at times that people treated me like just a kid, and I know that must have been nowhere near the extremes you're going through now. I guess we'll be spending time together working on this paper of yours, but if you just want someone to talk to and vent your frustrations to, I'm here for that too. We're a lot alike."
Jessie perked her ears up. "You want to be friends?"
Layla gave her a bump with her flank and grinned. "We can be friends. I'll try to balance not being too bad an influence on you with not walking on pins and needles just because you're a kid. Um, just don't implicate me if you inadvertently learn anything from me that people don't think is age appropriate for you, like cursing. Friends don't sell friends out on minor stuff like that, not unless someone is in danger or something."
"Oh," Jessie replied. Then thought of something that was said earlier. "What did they mean about my barn door? I don't have a barn."
Layla flattened her ears. "Right out the gate with the not age appropriate stuff. This is going to be interesting." The night pony looked around. There were a lot of students out in the halls going to the gyms and to the main office, but no one near them. She bent down and whispered in Jessie's ear. "They think you have an attraction to mares over stallions, a lesbian, like me. You're six, don't think too much about that stuff. You really don't need to be thinking about that stuff until after you've hit puberty or later, and right now you have no way of knowing how you feel about those things for sure."
Jessie's ears snapped back in horror. "Wait, me thinking Phobia Remedy and Rarity are really pretty, and me liking to look at Rarity is a hormone thing?"
Layla blinked in confusion. "Rarity? The element of generosity? Well, she is kinda-" Layla shook her head and grumbled. "I don't know. It's mainly just Abby and Beth being perverts and taking things out of context. I guess I did too, and I'm sorry about that. Maybe you just admire the way they look because you want to look that way too. It's perfectly normal for a little filly to see a pretty mare and want to be pretty too. Don't read too much into it."
Jessie laid down and covered her head with her legs. "It's starting already. I'm going to go crazy because of hormones!"
Layla bent down and whispered to her. "You're certainly getting the drama queen part of being a teenager down way ahead of time. Get up, people are staring at us, and they're going to think you're crazy now."
Jessie looked around. Students were staring at her. She quickly got up before anyone thought that she was crazy, if she wasn't already going crazy.
"Come on," Layla instructed. "Rosetta's already at the office. I see Crystal standing outside the door."
Jessie nodded and followed her new friend to the principal's office. Crystal gave Layla a quick glance and then turned to Jessie. "Go on inside, and get comfortable. We might be staying at the school for a while after it closes." The crystal pony then turned to Layla. "We might want some extra guards here. Are you willing to hang around? Do you think your aunt will mind if you stay?"
"I'd like to go home, but if you need me, I'll stay," Layla replied as she stood up proud and straight. "Aunt Rebecca won't mind. She'll be proud of me for doing it. I'll need to call her to let her know what's going on, though."
"Go do that," Crystal instructed. "I don't have a timetable on when we are getting out of here. You might not be getting home till late tonight. I'll try to find time for each night pony to nap in shifts."
Layla saluted with a wing. "Yes, ma'am." She then looked down at Jessie. "Sounds serious. Keep safe."
As Layla hurried off Crystal turned back to her. "I told you that the two of you could get along if you tried. Head inside the office now."
Jessie walked into the office as instructed. Her brother was sitting off to the side and looked at her as she came in. The principal, a pegasus named Merry Weather, was sitting at her desk with Ms.Rosetta across from her.
"Jessica, take a seat next to your brother," Principal Merry Weather instructed with a gesture of a wing.
Jessie did as instructed and her brother immediately draped a protective wing over her.
Ms.Rosetta turned to the two of them as the principal sat back in her seat. "I have some bad news. The protests outside have gotten much worse, and there is a real danger of violence breaking out. Because of who some angriest groups are everyone that is connected to Phobia is getting security near them. We briefly considered having your parents take you back home, but you and your parents could be potential targets as well and we don't want anyone of you going out in that."
"What are we going to do?" Robby asked.
Ms.Rosetta sighed. "When the school closes we're going to remain here. This place has storm doors and can be locked up tight. It is one of the safest locations in the city. We'll sit tight here until the protests can be brought under control. When violence breaks out...and it is looking more and more to be a when rather than an if, we'll be safe."
The intercom dinged again. "Finch Song and Pole Position, this is the final time we're calling. Please report to the main office, now."
Jessie looked up at the intercom. "Why do they keep calling them?"
Principal Merry Weather let off a huff. "We're short staffed on everything, including maintenance people. They showed up for work today, but in the last hour they've just vanished off the grid. I'm wondering if they took off because of the protests and didn't say a word to anyone. It's disgraceful. At least tell us that you needed to leave. How are we supposed to have responsible students if the staff isn't even responsible?"
Ms. Rosetta looked back at them. "Anyway, looks like my foals and you, Robby, may be sleeping here, along with me. Crystal will be here if you, Jessie, or Phobia's sisters, need anything. Consider it an adventure."
Jessie gave a weak smile. Things sounded really bad outside, but at least they were safe here. There were worse places to spend the day than at school.
Tonya hovered in the air behind her wife while Sunset glared at the reports coming in on her laptop as if glaring at them would make them go away. They were at home, and since they had gotten up it had been non-stops calls and reports coming in that meant more and more bad news.
"Why did it have to be two night ponies that were found this morning? It could have been almost any other pair of ponies, but it had to be them," Sunset snapped.
"I don't think Jean and Bill are really in a position where they are considering who their victims are at this point," Tonya replied in a low voice. "Melissa did send out the warning."
Sunset slammed her coffee cup down with her magic. "And the night ponies and the pro-Dreamwarden groups think it's just trying to cover-up of a reprisal attack from the anti-Dreamwarden groups or Friends of Humanity. No one wants to see sense. This is going to escalate into a full fledged riot!"
"The national guard will keep the peace," Tonya said, without much confidence. "If we can catch Jean and Bill soon that might help."
Sunset sighed and rubbed her head with a hoof. "I hope we catch them soon, but I don't have any faith that is going to stop the fire they lit. We need to start preparing for the worst."
"What are we going to do?" Tonya asked.
Sunset turned in her chair and looked up at her. "I'm going to go out there myself and try to direct efforts to help get these protests under control. You're going to go to the Bastion's basement, and stay there."
Tonya lifted an eyebrow. "What am I doing at the Bastion?"
"Staying safe," Sunset replied. "It is the safest place in the city when violence breaks out. No matter how bad the violence gets, nothing can penetrate the Bastion's underground. It's built to withstand assault from anyone, even an alicorn.. in theory. Rioters have no chance of getting in there, but they have a slim chance of getting to our house."
Tonya narrowed her eyes. "I don't need to be protected like that. You need me by your side. You aren't well."
Sunset hopped down from her chair and looked up. "I have tasks to do, and that will keep me focused. I don't want to have to worry about you being safe...I almost lost you once. I won't let that happen again."
"I can take care of-" Tonya began, but paused as Sunset's phone started ringing again.
Sunset tapped the phone on her leg. "What now?"
"Mayor...Twilight Sparkle just teleported into the police department. She's looking for you. What do you want us to do? She violated city ordinances by teleporting straight in here. Everyone is on edge, and she scared the bejesus out of us doing that."
Sunset's eyes widened. "We're in an emergency situation, so overlook the unauthorized teleport. She has diplomatic immunity anyway, and I'm not going to ask she be expelled over that. Give her my location and tell her that she has permission to teleport to my house. Just let her know that I need two minutes to alert security here that she will be arriving that way. That way no one here gets caught off guard."
"Yes, ma' am," the voice on the other end of the line replied, and then hung up.
Sunset let off a sigh. "Well, at least we have that for good news. Give me a moment to call the guards." She lit her horn and entered a number into her phone, rather than use a voice command. "This is Sunset Blessing, expect iminent P-nine to P-ten arrival via teleport, view as non-hostile. Allow entry."
"P-nine to P-ten? Information correct?" The security head asked in astonishment.
"Correct. Repeat, iminent," Sunset replied.
"Understood, ma'am. Passing order."
Tonya looked at her wife. "If you're going to be talking to her you really should have me here."
Sunset shook her head. "No, I'll go find Phobia if I need assistance with the princess. I would like Phobia to be in the Bastion as well, but already know that she can't safely make the trip, and is best sitting where she's at with her guards. You can fly higher and faster, so you can make the trip."
"This isn't necessary. I'm no less capable of keeping safe out here than you," Tonya snapped as she crossed her forelegs.
Sunset flattened out her ears. "It would take a load off my mind to know that you're safe. You'll be in there, surrounded by military. There won't even be experiments going on there because I didn't want any of the unicorns braving the trip today. It will be just you and the military, with it on lockdown. I have enough to weigh on my mind today, can you please just do this for me, and save me that little bit of worry?"
Tonya snorted. "Fine, but I'm staying here long enough to see that you and Twilight Sparkle get off on the right hoof. Is that fair?"
Sunset nodded. "That's fair."
A knock sounded at the front door and Sunset lit up her horn and opened it. The alicorn immediately walked in. She was taller than the time Tonya had seen her at the trial of Shadow Dancer six years ago, and at that point Twilight Sparkle had still been slightly taller than most ponies. Alicorns got much taller than most other ponies from what she understood, and it was clear that Twilight Sparkle was still growing. Luna was an imposing height, and though Twilight Sparkle wasn't there just yet, she was getting closer.
"Thank you for coming quickly, princess," Sunset said as she approached the alicorn. "Our situation has gotten more complicated since we last spoke."
Twilight glanced around the living room briefly, perhaps taking in what she could learn about Sunset from how she lived. "I heard the situation here has deteriorated. I also had an independent source tell me that whatever is going on down here, it's extremely serious, though that source was maddeningly cryptic."
"Jennifer Tanner?" Sunset asked in surprise.
Twilight's eyes narrowed. "You know about Jenny?"
"I gather and repurpose knowledge," Sunset said proudly. "Plus, any information about powerful magic users the government gets passed into my hooves. It is up to me to make a threat assessment, and method of neutralizing, if necessary."
"Keep your hooves away from her," Twilight warned. "I heard about how you threatened Bob, and threatened others."
Sunset frowned. "I never did anything of the sort. I had some agents out west who got too enthusiastic at times with trying to secure aid. They've each been dealt with, in turn."
Twilight snorted. "Who you surround yourself with says a lot about you. If you hired those agents, you had to realize what kind of things they would do."
Sunset waved a hoof. "In any case, I deemed her seeming precognitive ability nonthreatening, but too unreliable to be harnessed due to its unpredictability in manifestation. Any threat she presents comes in her mind magic abilities, along with illusion abilities. Since those are joined together that's the OMMR's business, not mine."
Tonya landed and stepped between the two, and glared at the alicorn. "This isn't something to discuss right now. Sunset has a very wide network and she can't be in control of what everyone does all the time. She has her regrets about how some things happened. What matters right now is figuring out how to find Jean and Bill and get them help."
"The Faithful Attendant," Twilight’s eyes unfocused as she muttered cryptically. "You're right. We're getting off topic, and time is of the essence."
"I propose taking this talk to my daughter's house," Sunset said quickly. "She can help keep the peace between us, and see to it that if I have to reveal any secrets to you that you keep them."
Twilight grimaced. "I'm not comfortable with that, but given the urgency I'll be open to the possibility, if it becomes necessary."
Tonya blinked. "What changed your mind on that?"
"Jenny," Twilight said flatly. "What I got from her was vague, but all implications were that whatever is going on here has bigger implications beyond Riverview."
"Well, that's not concerning or anything," Tonya muttered.
Twilight nodded and turned back to Sunset. "Considering I'm getting these dire warnings I want to actually see what goes on in the Bastion. What I heard about your two temporary ponies is a priority, but it doesn't seem to match the scale of danger I've had described to me."
"We have the riots about to start too," Tonya added in. "That could be it."
Twilight shook her head. "Those are still just things that only impact here. They’re important and I’m deeply concerned about them, but there's obviously something else that is being missed or hidden. Jenny indicated something more, plus, Jessica Middleton that just popped up with world shattering information here just a few days ago. There's a lot going on here, and the biggest unknown to me is what's going on below." She paused. "Is Jessica safe?"
"I made sure that she, along with my daughter-in-law, as well as my grandfoals are secure," Sunset replied, she then turned an ear to the side. "If you tell us what these dire warnings are, we can better figure out how to resolve them."
Twilight licked her lips. "Given your reputation… I’d rather not. I don't know if the warning is about something you're doing on purpose, and you won’t tell me without forcing me to submit to secrecy that could make it even worse."
Sunset glowered at the alicorn. "We called you for help. Don't treat us as the villains because of young Miss Tanner's story."
"I don't know for sure who the villains of this story are, and until I do you're high on the list of suspects," Twilight replied back curtly.
Sunset snorted. "Well, if you want in the Bastion you will need to get those compulsions for secrecy. It might be a delay even after that as clearances will need to be processed, even with a Dreamwarden's compulsions."
The alicorn’s eyes narrowed into slits. “You begged me to come to your aid. A trusted source told me that there were greater issues I should be involved with. I don’t appreciate these manipulations.”
Sunset snarled back. "It's a government research facility, and you're a foreign delegate and military force unto yourself. I can pull strings to get you in, but I still have to follow proper procedures. As an ambassador I would have hoped you understood that."
Just then Sunset's phone started to ring startling everyone in the room and the unicorn sighed as she reached to tap it. "Hope this is good news for once today. Hello?"
"This is Pop Tart on a recorded line. Can I speak to Tonya Blessing?"
Everyone just stared for a minute. Before Sunset answered. "In regards to what?"
"This is Capital One."
Tonya draped a wing over her head. "Oopsies, I forgot to pay the credit card bill. Um, I'll call them later."
Sunset shook her head despairingly. "She says she'll call back later. Bye." She then clicked the phone off without allowing for a response, and looked at Tonya. "Why'd you even give them my phone number?"
Tonya dipped her head in embarrassment. "They asked for a home phone, a mobile phone, and a work phone. I just gave them yours for the work phone. I didn't think they'd actually call it. This is like my first time ever being late, and it couldn't be more than a few days. It has been a busy week and I got distracted."
"Get my number off that. It's officially your card, not mine. I don't even have my own card on your account," Sunset instructed. "Anyway, you need to get going to the Bastion."
Tonya fluffed her wings. "I don't-"
"Give us a moment," Sunset said to the agitated alicorn as she gestured Tonya back towards the kitchen. Tonya followed her wife with a grumble, and when they were out of sight Sunset whispered to her. "Not only do I want you safe, I have something else I need you to do now."
"If this is about the stupid credit card-"
Sunset shook her head. "No, I need you to get in contact with Sarah Tanner. Have her find out what is going on with her daughter. The princess isn't going to be forthcoming, and if Jennifer Tanner's ability is giving information that is urgent then I want to know what the hell it is. Sarah might be able to find out without giving away that we're trying to find out."
"I'm not sure she'll tell us," Tonya said slowly. "We already ask a lot out of her with invading her nephew's privacy…espionage, really. Now we're asking her to invade her daughter's?"
"It could mean the welfare of a lot of people from the way Twilight Sparkle is going on about it," Sunset said hurriedly. "The princess doesn't trust us, but Sarah does."
Tonya gave a flat look. "I've got my doubts about it. I don't think this is something that Sarah can pry into without being suspicious, even if she's willing to help--which is a big if."
"Just explain to Sarah about our current situation, and let her make that call," Sunset instructed. "Be open and honest about it. She's earned our trust, and we should show her we trust her."
Tonya looked sadly down "I think it's her family's trust that she's going to be worrying about, but I'll do as you said; I'll tell her everything and let her make the call." She paused. "Can I tell her that we don't need her to spy on her nephew anymore? If you're quitting after all this we don't know who that information will be going to in the future."
The unicorn considered, then nodded. "That's true, and a fair concern. If you are bored while in the Bastion see to it that our agents closest to important individuals know that their services are no longer needed. I can’t be sure that Wild will succeed me as leader of SPEC and director of the Bastion's underground operation. I’d trust Wild with that network, I don't trust some random individual I don't know."
Tonya glanced back at the living room. "Okay, I'll go to the Bastion, but only because I can make myself useful there. We shouldn’t keep Twilight waiting any longer so we can start getting this mess fixed."
Hopefully they could. The fact that the alicorn seemed convinced that there was more that could go wrong was frightening to contemplate.