Finding Lántiān's place wasn't hard since it was only a short distance from the college. I knocked on the apartment door and didn't have to wait long for it to be answered. However, when the door opened, I was not greeted by Lántiān, but instead by a teenaged unicorn colt with red fur and a purple mane. He was at that phase of growth where he still had his foalhood proportions, but was big enough that he was almost able to look me in the eyes—about the same age as Phobia's foals.
He looked me over. "You aren't Wild Growth."
"And you aren't Lántiān," I replied, then stuck a hoof out to greet the colt. "I'm Rebecca, and who are you?"
He gave my hoof a distrustful look, but then tapped his own against it. "I'm her brother, Shǔguāng. What do you want?"
I gave him a beaming smile. "Nice to meet you… can you say that name again?"
"Shǔguāng," he repeated in deadpan.
I know he was saying something, but it wasn't something I could repeat. "Um, how about I just call you Shoey? Nice to meet you, Shoey! I wanted to talk to Lántiān. Is she here?"
He crinkled up his muzzle. "You may call me Shǔ if you prefer, but not Shoey. Sister is here, but now may not be a good time."
"Can you just tell her Rebecca Riddle is here, please?" I begged.
He seemed to be chewing on his tongue as he considered, then flicked both his ears and then sighed before turning his head to look into the apartment. "Sister, a fat obnoxious pegasus named Rebecca Riddle, is here to see you!"
"Shǔguāng, must you be so rude?" I heard Lántiān yell.
"He's always rude," I heard another colt call out.
"Yeah, he's a big meanie!" a third colt said right after.
"It's still unacceptable," I heard Lántiān say in exasperation. "Tell Rebecca that now is not-"
"If you don't mind, Lántiān, I would very much like to meet your friend," another mare called out from somewhere in the dwelling. "Please, allow her in."
"But, ma'am, we are expecting Wild Growth with your… with your thing you loaned her," Lántiān protested. "You are not presentable, and this is my apartment, not yours, and she's not my friend!"
My ears sagged a little upon hearing that, and I prepared to go. However, the discussion was not over yet.
"I have a personal interest in her outside of her relation to you," the unknown mare countered. "I have heard she has been visiting your godsister more than once as of late, and that piques my curiosity. I suppose I can't make you allow her in since it is your home, not mine, but I could walk out to meet her. We could have a discussion while standing on your welcome mat."
"You wouldn't," Lántiān replied in a dangerous tone. "Too many would see you. You wouldn't let that happen. You let your curiosity get you into trouble far too often."
"Perhaps I'm just going crazy in my old age. Who knows what strange ideas my senile old brain might come up with?" the other mare replied.
"You aren't senile, ma'am, and we all know it," Lántiān countered.
"It might just be setting in, and wouldn't it be your duty to protect me from my disjointed thoughts?" the other mare countered in turn.
Lántiān could be heard growling in frustration, literally growling. "Alright! Shǔguāng, let her in, and be polite!"
Shǔguāng grudgingly stepped aside and gestured for me to step inside, and he looked all around the outside like he was expecting an attack or something as I walked by him. He immediately shut the door once I was in, lit his horn, and I heard the lock going into place.
A brown earth pony colt with a blue mane, probably slightly younger than Shǔguāng, watching television, looked over at us. "Shǔguāng, do you have to be so rude and on edge all the time? Just relax for once."
Shǔguāng glared back at the other colt. "Someone needs to be on guard to protect us and Auntie; it sure as hell isn't going to be you."
A very familiar looking mare stepped out of the kitchen area. "Shǔguāng, be nicer to your brother and heed his advice. You do need to relax more. He is just saying that because he cares about you."
"And because him being on edge all the time is annoying," the earth pony colt muttered, but turned his attention back to the television.
My eyes fixed on the legend in front of me. I had never met her, but I already knew I would have to pass by her drawn likeness every day for class. There were some differences from the art on the college wall and her; she had a tiny streak of grey in her purple and yellow mane and tail, she had more crows feet under her eyes, and most strikingly, she had a nasty scarred area with no fur that stretched from her right shoulder up part of her neck. There was no mistaking who it was, though; this was the reclusive Sunset Blessing.
My view was suddenly obscured as a tiny blue pegasus filly jumped up in front of my face and continued to repeatedly bounce while flapping her tiny wings excitedly like a hummingbird. "Hi again! I'm Drizzle, remember me? You aren't all wet this time. Did you come to see Mama or Auntie Sunset? Do you want to see my puppy? His name is Wrinkles, and he's a bulldog. He's really friendly and likes to play. Do you like puppies? I like puppies. Can I show you the Wonderbolts costume Auntie Sunset got me? It's really cool!"
Lántiān walked out from behind Sunset Blessing and grabbed her daughter out of mid-bounce with a wing. "I think you should wait to bother Rebecca. How about if you go check to see if Wrinkles has enough water and food. You don't want him to be hungry or thirsty, do you?"
Drizzle gasped and squirmed out of her mother's grasp, and immediately took off down the hall. "Wrinkles, I'm coming to feed you!"
Lántiān turned and looked at another colt that I had failed to notice because he had dark fur and almost perfectly blended in with the dark blue couch he was laying on, tapping away with his wings on a tablet. "Mèng, can you go keep Drizzle busy, and help her reach the sink?"
He looked up from the tablet and laid his ears back. "But I'm playing a game!"
"Take your game with you, just keep Drizzle out of here," Lántiān instructed.
"Please, do it and don't argue, Mèng," Sunset Blessing instructed.
He pouted, but got down from the couch, tucking the electronic tablet under one of his wings. "Yes, Auntie." He then walked down the hall that Drizzle had just run down.
Lántiān turned her attention to the colt watching TV. He noticed her and held up his forehooves defensively. "I'm not doing anything! I'm being good and quiet."
She then looked at her other brother, who was still standing by the door.
Shǔguāng pointed at the door. "I'm still guarding the door and looking out for Wild Growth."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, you two can stay. Just be quiet."
"I still can't believe you let your daughter change her name," Sunset Blessing muttered. "She's too young to be changing her name. She should wait until she has a mark."
Lántiān turned and glared at Sunset Blessing. "She is my daughter, and I shall decide if she's too old or too young, ma'am. She said the teachers and other foals couldn't say her old name right, and she wanted to change it to something English."
"They should have just learned how to say it correctly," Sunset Blessing countered. She then glared back at Lántiān. "And don't you take that tone with me, young mare."
"I'm no longer in your care and will speak as I choose, ma'am," Lántiān coldly fired back. "I would think you'd be happy she chose to take an English name."
Sunset Blessing stomped. "I'd think you would fight her doing something that moved her further away from her heritage."
Lántiān looked like she wanted to say something angry back, but bit her lip instead, then shook her head. "It's a careful balance. If I try to push it on her too much, she may resent it, and I'd push her away. I'm trying to be a good mother." She looked down. "Do you think I made a mistake, ma'am?"
The fight seemed to go out of Sunset Blessing at those words. "Well, I can't fault you for doing your best to be a good and caring mother. I also don't know if it was a mistake or not. Maybe I'm just old and resistant to change. You do as you see fit. You're an excellent mother, and I'm proud of you."
Lántiān lifted her head slightly and smiled as a tear fell from her eye. "Thank you, ma'am."
I watched this and tried to decide what it all meant in my head. The two of them seemed at points antagonistic but at the same time profoundly caring for one another. I also noticed that Sunset Blessing expressed the one thing Lántiān said she never got from her mother, pride. It wasn't a mother-daughter relationship between the two, but it felt similar. It was hard to place exactly what kind of relationship it was.
Lántiān turned her attention to me at last. "What do you want, Rebecca Riddle? You have come at an inopportune time. As you can see, I already am dealing with inconvenient and unwanted company. I didn't need more."
"It sounds like she didn't appreciate us showing up without calling first," the earth pony said snarkily. "If only some ponies had listened to the wise, handsome, and intelligent earth pony."
Sunset Blessing sighed. "You were right. Showing up as a surprise was a bad idea, but try to be more tactful in telling us, I told you so."
"Yes, Auntie," the earth pony replied.
I shuffled my hooves as I looked at Lántiān's disapproving expression. "Oh! Um, Julie told me that you were having a tough time finding foalsitters consistently on the weekends and that it could put your place on the flight team in jeopardy. I kinda need a part-time job to make some money, so I’m not broke all the time, so I figured we could help each other out."
Sunset Blessing rounded on Lántiān. "Your spot in the flight team is in danger because you've been unable to find a reliable sitter? Why didn't you mention this to your sister or me? We would have done something."
"Phobia Remedy is not my sister, and this is not either one of your concerns, ma'am," Lántiān said crossly. "I want to deal with things on my own."
"But part of your scholarship money comes from being on the flight team. You aren't going to be as independent as you want if you lose that," Sunset Blessing protested. "You should let me and Phobia help. There's no shame in asking your family for help."
"Whenever either of you helps, you both go completely overboard," Lántiān replied with a tense calm. "I appreciate that you both care, but it's more stress than it's worth, and Shǔguāng is learning to emulate the two of you. It's no wonder he's so uptight and overprotective."
"Hey! I'm not uptight!" Shǔ protested.
The other colt chortled. "Oh, you so are." He abruptly stopped laughing and held his hooves up. "I'm quiet. I'm good. You don't even see me."
Lántiān sighed and looked at me. "You promise you are reliable every weekend? I only need you two or three hours a day on Saturday and Sunday, and can only afford to pay you minimum wage. I'm a college student too and have to worry about paying bills and taking care of my daughter, so I can't afford to pay more. I really shouldn't have let her get that dog because vet bills could break me."
"And bulldogs are notoriously expensive to maintain," Sunset Blessing said with a grimace. "Why couldn't you have gotten her a nice little terrier or a nice cat?"
"My friend was giving away bulldog puppies, and Drizzle fell in love with Wrinkles," Lántiān explained. "He isn't aggressive, and he adores Drizzle, so I can't complain. Please stop trying to convince me to get a cat. I know you like cats, ma'am, but not all of us do."
"I don't mind minimum wage," I said happily. "It's more money than I otherwise would have, and the hours that won't interfere with my classes. Just text me every Thursday or Friday what times you'll need me for the weekend, and I'll be here."
"I suppose that is settled," Sunset Blessing said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get to know Miss Riddle and find out why she's been hanging around my family."
Lántiān glared again. "There you go again—being overprotective! Does this tub of lard look dangerous to you?"
Sunset Blessing blinked in shock. "That is surprisingly rude for you to say, and about a friend at that. What did she do to you? You're normally much more polite."
Lántiān looked back and forth between us. "She… it is a private matter, and I shouldn't have said that. I'm displacing my anger about something else and have already noted that I shouldn't." She then focused on me. "I'm sorry, Rebecca Riddle. It's hard to let go of anger that's been held so long. I apologize for insulting you… again."
I forced myself to smile. "I understand, and I know you're trying hard to let go of that anger. I'm sorry for ever making you feel like I was between you and your mom."
She sniffed. "No need, it wasn't your action; it was hers. She's the one that I'm angry at, not you." She looked around and wiped another tear from her eye with a wing. "I'll text you or have Julie speak to you soon. Please excuse me; I need to check on my daughter. They are too quiet, and that is rarely a good sign."
She left to check on Drizzle, and I found myself being scrutinized by Sunset Blessing.
"So… you're the one. The one Yinyu picked out as her heir years ago," Sunset Blessing said with extreme bluntness.
I took a step back. "I never said-"
She shook her head. "You didn't need to. There is only one pony my goddaughter could feel came between her and her mother. If I wasn't sure of it before, your body language now confirms it."
"I didn't want that to get out," I replied. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"Me and my sons are excellent at keeping things to ourselves, even better than my goddaughter," Sunset Blessing replied; she then tilted her head slightly as she looked me over some more. "I'm guessing you have unusual powers as well."
I took another step back. "I-"
She shook her head again. "Filly, you really need to get a better grip on your body language. You give away too much. How are you supposed to make a competent Dreamwarden if you let yourself be read like a book?"
My eyes went wide. "How did you-"
"Again, I took a guess, and your reaction just told me I was right. It would be best if you stopped doing that," she replied with a smug grin.
I wanted to turn this conversation away from me. I looked at her scars. "How did you get those scars?" I asked nervously.
Her grin dropped as she glanced at her shoulder. "Sometimes we all do stupid things, or get in over our heads, and people that play with fire get burned. How I got these scars is a long story, which I prefer to keep to myself. I regret many things I have done in life, but what earned me these scars is not among those things. I'd do it again, even if I were to be scarred worse—even if I might die. Some things are too important to worry about getting hurt over."
There was a knocking at the door that made me jump. Shǔ hurried to the door and cracked it open. A moment later, he smiled and stepped back, letting the guest pass in without protest. Wild Growth walked in and froze as she spotted me. Her eyes went back and forth between Sunset Blessing and me as if trying to put together why we were sharing a room.
Her gaze narrowed and focused on Sunset Blessing. "Why is she here, Sunset?"
Sunset Blessing gave her what I assumed was her best innocent look. "Happenstance. She was looking for a foalsitting job. I would tell you that you need to educate her on how to control her body language so she doesn't give all her secrets away, but it seems you're getting rusty yourself. Do you have my talisman I loaned you? I have been eager to have my freedom returned to me. I'm sick of being sore and being forced to keep out of sight."
Wild Growth blinked and dug into her saddlebag, revealing the necklace she had used on my stepdad to turn him into a pony. Sunset Blessing gave a look of glee and lit her horn, grabbing the necklace and floating it back to herself. She then put it on and instantly transformed into a human.
She transformed while sitting, and I gaped as she slowly stood up after the transformation happened. "Aww, that's better. My shoulder was killing me, and I was getting tired of being cooped up in houses. It will be nice being able to go into the senator's office again, too, instead of having to work remotely. Shǔguāng, be a dear and fetch my clothes from my luggage. It won't do for me to walk around naked."
I now realized something about Sunset Blessing's seeming reclusiveness. She was out doing things regularly, even being politically involved, just in human form so that no one would know. The once Shimmerist preacher had re-embraced her past humanity and lived her life with one foot in it and one hoof in ponydom. She was either the most human pony or the most pony human, I wondered which was the better description.