Pandemic: Starting Over

by Halira


Chapter 39: The Infestation Below

Unsatisfied with our initial failure to find an intruder, I called upon every person I could to help. In a short period of time, I had Number back at the house with several SPEC agents, Starlight Glimmer, and Trixie. Every inch of the house was going to be searched. 

The foals were all gathered in the family room, including Méng. I was out by the staircase, awaiting any word that anyone found something. 

Starlight came out from the east wing and gave me a shake of her head. "I understand you are being precautious, Sunset, but there isn't anyone here. There aren’t even any teleport signatures."

Trixie followed Starlight in and raised her nose high. "The great and powerful Trixie has performed many an amazing disappearing act in her day, but Trixie feels that you are a smidge paranoid." 

"I am not paranoid!" I growled as I stomped. "I know what I heard. Someone went through that cellar door after knocking all that stuff in the kitchen over. That door didn't open and slam on its own, and that stuff didn't get scattered because of a draft. There wasn't even a draft!"

Starlight sat and spread her forelegs. "Earthquake? I know those are more common here on Earth than Equestria."

"There was no earthquake. Someone was there," I snapped. 

Number came down the stairs, followed by six agents. "We searched everything upstairs. There's no one there, just a bunch of antiques, and none of those seemed to be disturbed. I even sent people into the attic. No one is up there."

Malcomb came up the stairs from the basement and shook his head. "Nothing. I have felt around the house for magic as well. The only magic I can detect is coming from ponies we can account for. There's a camera feed for the fence's perimeter that I can view back in my cottage. I'll review it to make sure no one went in or out, but there isn't anyone here."

"This is an old house. Does it have secret passageways or anything that we can search?" I asked, getting increasingly anxious as one thing after another came up with no results.

"Secret passages?" Malcomb replied in a bemused tone. "You’ve watched too many old movies and read too many stories. There aren't any secret passages here." He paused. "Except for an old passage into the sewer system, that's where all the piping for the fountains and everything runs through, but that's outside. The way down is a sheer drop that has a ladder. A night pony or human could manage it—if that ladder isn't ready to rust off, and that's a big if, but your average pony would probably break their neck trying to climb down even if the ladder is stable, and it's too tight a passage for pegasi to try to fly through."

"I want the grounds checked, that sewer checked, that video feed checked. I want no stone unturned," I frantically ordered. 

Number scowled at me. "You aren't the absolute master of Riverview anymore, Sunset, and even if you were, we aren't there. I understand you are scared and concerned about the welfare of you and the foals, but you can't be barking orders at us. We're here to help, as your friends, but you need to calm your flank down."

"Trixie and I can spend the night to help you feel more secure," Starlight offered. "I can deal with any intruder if I catch them. I can easily deal with an armed human, and I'm not going to be magically overpowered by anypony."

"Didn’t Sunset Shimmer defeat you?" Trixie reminded Starlight. 

Starlight scowled. "Sunset Shimmer was the greatest mage of her generation, and she caught me off guard."

"And there was that icky Queen Chrysalis…" Trixie continued. 

"She's not a pony, and she had me at an unfair advantage where I couldn't use my magic," Starlight protested. 

"Queen who?" Number asked in confusion. "I have read about most of your adventures, but don't remember that person being mentioned."

"No one important. The journals are not comprehensive," Starlight replied quickly. "Can't expect us to mention every minor villain we have run up against."

"A queen doesn't sound that minor," Number countered. 

Starlight waved it off. "Ohhh, it's just what she called herself, just a crazypony, nopony to ever worry about."

"Trixie thought that—" Trixie began, then got a Starlight's hoove shoved in her mouth. 

"Trixie… we don't discuss certain things for specific reasons," Starlight said gravely. She then turned to us. "Okay, not a minor villain, but not someone who would ever be on Earth. Her existence is classified information when it comes to Earth, only to be discussed with certain people in authority for security purposes. I think everypony here can appreciate that we don't tell you everything about every threat on Equestria, just like we don't hear about every possible dangerous thing from governments here. There is information that would cause panic, even if there is no reason for panic."

"I am not worried about any monster from Equestria. I'm worried about Shimmerists, either the homegrown variety or the ones from China," I snapped.

"I highly doubt they'd even know you are here yet. You just arrived today," Number said in a long-suffering tone. "Even if they somehow found out and wanted to make a move, it wouldn't be on your first day here, especially when they had plenty of time to get you at the condo. If there was an intruder, it is unlikely to be Shimmerists—more likely a burglar or a squatter, or your runaway imagination."

Was everyone going to question my senses? "I know what I—"

There was a knock at the door, and Number went and answered it. Josie stepped in timidly and looked around, then spotted me. "Um, am I at the right place? This place is huge, and right now, it is crawling with men in black."

"You are at the right place," I confirmed. "We had an intruder."

"Possible intruder," Trixie corrected. "Probably just paranoid."

Starlight rolled her eyes at her friend's statement, then smiled at the newcomer. "Josie? Josie Woods from Lazy Pines?"

The night pony seemed just to take notice of Starlight and blinked. "Yes… hi, Miss Glimmer. What are you doing here?"

Starlight walked up to Josie and hugged her. "Just helping figure out what Sunset got spooked about. How are you doing? You've filled out. You were practically a filly last time I saw you. What are you doing here?"

Josie smirked when she was released. "I was seventeen last you saw me, which is kinda on the border. I'm doing well, trying to save up for a new place. Dreamwardens might finally be getting around to forgiving me since they recommended me as a foalsitter. I'm the overnight foalsitter for her night pony foal."

Starlight gave her an initially confused look, which shifted to one of horror. "Dreamwardens forgive...oh Celestia, I didn't even think…"

"It's okay; it was probably best everypony forgot about me," Josie replied. 

"If I had known…" Starlight whispered. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Josie looked down. "Not directly, because Luna spoke up for me, but it wasn't a fun time. Let's not talk about it, it’s over with."

"Still, if I had known—" Starlight repeated.

The night pony pushed her back. "If you had known, it wouldn't have made a difference. Nothing stands between a Dreamwarden and taking their justice out on ponies that do wrong. As I said, forget about it." She looked around. "So what's this about an intruder?"

"Sunset says something knocked some things over in the kitchen then ran down into the basement," Starlight explained. "We've searched the basement. We've searched the whole house. We haven't found anything."

Josie stared at me for a long moment, frowning. "You seem very convinced, I can tell."

"I know what I heard," I grumbled. 

The night pony looked around. "Where's the basement?" 

I pointed to the door that led down to it. "There it is. Do you want to take a look? Maybe someone who can see in the dark can see something everyone else missed."

She nodded. "I'm sure they gave it a good look over, but I have other tools to find things."

"No offense, but I'm not sure what seeing in the dark will do," Starlight said. "We lit that place up bright as day. Nothing is hiding in the corners."

Josie chuckled. "You don’t know everything about me. If someone is hiding down there, I'll find them."

"I'm willing to give it a go. Follow me," I said as I marched back to the basement. 

She followed me back down, and Starlight, Trixie, Malcomb, and Number followed after her. When I reached the bottom, I went to turn on the lights. 

"Leave them off. I see better in the dark," Josie instructed. She then flew over me and out of my range of vision in the dark.

I heard her moving about. Night ponies could fly around cramped quarters better than pegasi, nature's trade-off for them not being as effective flyers in the open skies. I was pretty sure she was landing on top of each of the shelves, and I hoped she wouldn't knock anything over. I heard her move a few times and tracked her general location by sound. She opened the door to the furnace room, and I could hear her going inside.

"Stay where you are and stay quiet," she called back to us. "I'm going to do something where I am not going to be making any sound or moving for several minutes, and it is best not to disturb me."

Whatever she wanted. Each of the unicorns in our party had our horns dimly lit, and I looked back at the others. Trixie looked bored while Starlight had a puzzled expression on her face and seemed to be fighting the urge to check on Josie. I could imagine why, she shared my curiosity about what Josie's unique ability might be and wanted to go see. Number was checking her phone. I could make out Malcomb through the light of everyone else, and saw he was focused and gazing in the direction of the furnace—probably tracking Josie's magic. 

"She's doing something...odd," Malcomb whispered as he continued to stare. "And she's strong, really strong, strong like Miss Glimmer. I don't think a team of crystal ponies could subdue her, not unless it was one huge fucking team. Miss Glimmer, don't take this wrong, but you and that night pony are terrifying."

"You haven't had the pleasure of running into an alicorn or Wild Growth," I mumbled. On the day of the Cataclysm both Twilight Sparkle and Wild Growth had pumped out so much magic that the crystal ponies that were still at home when evacuations were underway had to be carried away because they were so overwhelmed, even if they weren't trying to absorb magic, and that was with them being miles from the alicorn and the earth pony. 

"I've heard stories. I didn't believe them, but now I do," Malcomb replied. "How can anyone hold that much magic? It's unreal. Why aren't you screaming in pain, Miss Glimmer?"

"It’s just normal for me," Starlight replied. "Didn't realize Josie was that strong as well. We need to hush and let her work in peace."

"I don't think we can disturb her," Malcomb replied. "Her magic, whatever it is, it is moving around through the walls and it’s moving fast."

"Let her work; she can explain later," I said. 

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Malcomb grunted. "She’s finished. Whatever that was, it's done."

He barely finished talking before Josie flew over us. "Okay, you'll want to come upstairs. This is going to bowl you over when you hear it, and you'll want to be on level ground instead of stairs."

She flew over us and was through the door before we could turn around. We shuffled in the tight quarters to get ourselves turned around and marched back upstairs with me, bringing up the rear. When we exited the stairway, we found Josie giving us a satisfied smile. 

"You've got a major infestation of humans living in your walls," she announced smugly. 

I flattened my ears. "What?"

"Humans living in your walls," she repeated. "Actually, below the house, but they've got secret passages that go throughout the house, and even out to the sewer. You should have figured there were secret passages with a house this old."

"There's no secret passages!" Malcomb insisted. 

Josie shook her head. "I found four separate entrances into the passages. There's one inside the cabinets of that cupboard down there. There are separate ones in each of the towers on the opposite sides of the building, and there's another that leads into what I assume is the sewer. Pretty sure they have been siphoning off the water that should be going to those fountains outside."

"You said they. How many are we talking about? Are they armed? How do you know?" I asked, dumbfounded at what I was hearing, and more than a little ticked that Malcomb had these people living underneath his nose for years. 

"Six of them. Three adults, a teen, and two older kids. Two men, a woman, a teen girl, a boy, and a girl," she listed off. "They are decked out with supplies. They have jars filled with crab apple preserves, a little indoor garden with UV light, enough canned goods to feed an army, some bunnies and squirrels in cages, and a nice little living area. Looks like a family. I don't think the people that used to live here ever left. They went full fallout shelter mode."

"They must have gone to ground when ETS broke out," Number said thoughtfully. "Which means they must think that they are living in a post-apocalyptic world that has been conquered by alien equines."

"They've got guns too," Josie said soberly. "Placed at the entrances to their living space so they must be ready to defend themselves. I don't recommend we go barging in."

I definitely didn't want any terrified humans coming out and opening fire on the first ponies they saw. 

Starlight turned towards me with a worried look. "So, how do you want to deal with this? Those people have been living scared, cut off from the world for years. Who knows how rational they are."

That was an excellent question.