I convinced my mother that I needed to shower before I returned downstairs and instructed her to tell everyone I would be back down shortly to order food for everyone. She agreed that I smelled like a toilet and that a shower would help relax me, though she told me not to take too long.
After going back to the second floor, I did a quick check of my room to make sure the saddlebag with Twilight Sparkle's notebooks was still under the bed. I didn't think it was likely anyone would take it, but I wanted to be sure. It ended up still being right where I left it, and with me satisfied it was safe, I went and took a quick shower.
Once completed, I walked back downstairs, noting as I went that most of the SPEC guards had cleared out. Number must have decided to pull them. There was one guard still near the entrance, and another stood by the family room door.
I walked into the family room, and this time I was not bowled over by foals. I looked around to see what was happening.
Sinker, Shǔguāng, and Líng were engaged in a game of action figures again and had my father standing close by watching them. My mom, Starlight, and Trixie were quietly talking together in a close huddle. The younger human children were watching the colts play and seemed torn between fear of ponies and a longing to participate. Paul and Josie were talking to one another, and Josie seemed to be trying to get Mèng to socialize with Paul, but the night pony colt seemed to have come down with a sudden case of shyness. John and his eldest son stood with their backs against the wall, observing the ponies. John's expression was neutral, while his son was more hostile. The most surprising group was Jess, Lauren, and the teenaged Young daughter. Jess seemed to be tolerating them touching her ears and tail, and Lauren seemed to be questioning Jess at length. Malcomb had returned and was sitting in a corner with the still glowing Silvia, whispering. There was also no sign of Lántiān and Qīng Yǔ.
Things seemed peaceful enough and going more or less as I hoped they would—better, with the Young women engaging Jess. I wouldn't have expected Lauren would be the first to try to make some tentative steps towards talking. That eldest son still seemed a potential trouble maker, but he wasn't causing trouble yet.
So what did I need to be doing? Food. I needed to order food. That meant asking what people wanted. The ponies would probably accept whatever was given them, but I needed to figure out what the humans wanted. With that in mind, I walked over to John and his son.
"Hello again, John," I said as I walked over to them. "Sorry, I cut out like that. I was having a moment."
John didn't reply. He just looked at me and nodded. His son sneered at me.
I focused on the son. "And I have yet to get your name. I'm Sunset Blessing, and you are?"
"Mike," he said through gritted teeth.
"Hello, Mike. Can you fill me in on your siblings' names? I don't want to have to keep calling them teenaged girl and younger children."
He seemed like he was going to refuse, but his father nudged him in the side. "Alice is my sixteen-year sister; the other two are Grace and Bobby."
"Grace, what a lovely name," I replied with a smile. "I am a former preacher, so I'm very fond of the concept of grace. I'm assuming you're familiar with most fast food from before you went down in the bunker. Just about everyone delivers. How about you pick what I should order for your family? Just name a place, and I'll tell you if it is available."
He blinked. "Um… Burger King?"
I frowned and shook my head. "Unfortunately, that company didn't stay in this part of the country after ETS. McDonald's is still in business, would you like that? Believe there is still Subway, Taco Bell, and most pizza places too. I ordered pizza from a place called Zombie Carl's the other night that said it had been around thirty years."
Mike gave me a shocked look. "Zombie Carl's survived the apocalypse?"
"No apocalypse happened, but I ordered from there the same day your father and I encountered each other in the kitchen," I replied. "Do you want food from there?"
"We have been in a shelter for eight years, and the first thing you want to get for food when you get out is food from that place?" John asked with a mix of disdain and disbelief.
Mike scowled at his father then looked back at me. "Zombie Carl's changed up their items all the time. You said you had internet access?"
"Yes…" I said slowly and held up my leg. "The tiny screen on my phone would be hard for you to read. Give me a moment to get my laptop or a regular cell phone." I turned and looked at Starlight. "Hey, Starlight. Do you still have that human cell phone?"
She looked at me and lit her horn. The cell phone appeared, floating in front of my face. I wondered where she kept that when it wasn't in use. I grabbed the phone with my magic. "Thank you."
I passed the phone to the human with my magic. "The Internet browser works more or less like it did back eight years ago. There's some minor differences, but nothing that should throw you off. Look up the menu. Get an order together for your family, and let me know when it is ready."
"They can just hold onto that cell phone to do what they want with. It is just a backup and doesn't have any sensitive data saved on it," Starlight called out. "I'll give them the charger later."
"Trixie insists they delete the search history!" Trixie yelled in horror.
"Trix, no one cares that you've been researching old human sleight of hand tricks," Starlight said in exasperation.
Trixie let off a loud gasp. "Don't tell them!"
The phone was still floating in front of Mike, and he hadn't taken it yet. I rolled my eyes. "It is safe to grab it. It's floating using the same technique that restrained everyone earlier, just a lot weaker."
Mike reached out and timidly grabbed the phone, and I released my hold on it. He started swiping things and getting a feel for the modern apps, and I figured he would be fine.
With Mike occupied, I focused on John. "So, do you have any questions?"
"This is still the United States of America?" John asked.
I nodded. "Yes, it is still the same old country. What's different is a quarter of the population is ponies—primarily in the midwest and south. There's fifty-two states now instead of fifty—we admitted Guam and Puerto Rico not long after ETS ended, and there's talk of adding even more states. Magic is a fact of life that everyone has just gotten used to. And finally, there's a whole new host of government agencies to regulate various types of magic."
John looked over at Jess. "That girl. You said she was human. She did something, something like you ponies do."
I sighed. "Rehumanized people keep some sliver of magic after retaining their humanity. This actually applies to anyone who caught ETS, whether they transformed or not. For most of them, it is such a minuscule amount that for most practical purposes, they can say they don't have magic since they can't do anything with it. Often it is such a small amount that only the deepest magical probing can detect it. However, there are others where that magic has begun to manifest into abilities, and it can be rather unpredictable how human magic works. There are trends in how it tends to operate that have started to emerge, but these powers haven't settled into a clearly defined set of rules that apply to every human in every situation. It is best to call them human magics in the plural since there are a lot of variations. Jess has just another random variation; hers seems to impact sound waves in some way. She is still learning to control it."
John stared at Jess, who was still talking to Lauren and Alice. The same information was probably being given over there.
"How about tech?" he asked. "You say Starlight is an alien. Do we have spaceships and warp drive and all that now, or are the aliens keeping it to themselves?"
"Starlight's world is technologically behind Earth, with a few rare exceptions, and those exceptions aren't space-age tech, unless you consider better blimps world-changing," I answered. "They have trains, blimps, steam-powered ships. Their cars are rare and more a curiosity than a practical mode of transportation. These aren't people who would be making spacecraft."
"Then how did she get here?" John asked in confusion. "Can they teleport across the universe?"
I smirked. "Her world isn't only a different planet; it is a whole different universe. It just happens that our universe and her universe brush up against each other sometimes, and things cross over. Scientists say that most of these crossings may actually have been our world dumping stuff into theirs over the last few million years and drastically speeding up the evolution of their planet from a lifeless chunk of rock to a planet with ecosystems very similar to ours, but that hasn't been proven yet. There's physics involved that I don't fully understand, and others are still trying to work out."
"It would explain the eyes," John said thoughtfully. "So, you're saying our world has been dumping plants and animals into hers since prehistoric times, and those transplanted species have developed and evolved in an alien environment in complete isolation from Earth, and that's why you all have mammalian eyes?"
"I'm not a biologist, but that's what I heard the popular theory was," I answered. "Although I have to note it is only a popular theory on Earth. Many Equestrians tend to dislike the theory. It implies they have an Earthly origin—or at least whatever prehistoric creature they are descended from had one, and that doesn't sit right with them. It's a pride thing."
"Equestrians? Seriously? That is what they call themselves?" John asked in disbelief.
"It's the best translation of their name that we have in English," I replied dryly. "The method used to translate ends up creating a lot of horse puns by accident that they never intended and tries to match names of places to names similar to places here, just with puns. Likewise, I'm told that many of our place names translate into their language as a bunch of puns related to apes that try to mirror their place names. It's one of the oddities of the translation spell; call it a glitch."
"Speaking of names, why do you have some hippy name for being a pony and those two, you called them crystal ponies, don't?" John asked.
I shrugged. "A lot of us took names patterned after Equestrian naming styles after we became ponies, as a sign we were starting new lives as ponies, but not everyone did this. It is more common to keep their human name among the crystal ponies, though many still change it. Josie, that's the mare with the leathery wings over there, has her human name still. Jess, that's the girl your wife and daughter are talking to, had kept her human name when she was still a pony. My spouse had kept their human name up until the day they died and was only given a different name after their death. Everyone has their preferences, and there were peer pressures in many cases. Ponies are instinctively herd creatures, and we're more prone to going along with what the group is doing—and yes, we do have some altered instincts from when we were humans."
Líng suddenly broke from his group to come bounding over to me. "Auntie Sunset, when can we go outside and play?"
I gave the little colt a tight smile. "I'm sorry, but it's getting dark. We can all go outside tomorrow."
"But Sister took Qīng Yǔ out to play!" Líng protested with a stomp.
So, that was where Lántiān had gotten off to. "I'm sorry, but you'll still need to wait for tomorrow. I promise you'll get plenty of outside time then."
His ears sagged. "But that's not fair that Qīng Yǔ got to go outside, and we didn't."
Mom came to my rescue by shepherding Líng back to the other foals. "Don't bother her right now. She's promised you can go outside tomorrow. Come with me, and I'll teach you all a new game."
"Okay," Líng said reluctantly as he walked away with his tail between his legs.
I looked over to the night pony mare. "Josie, I know you are in desperate need of a night off, and I thank you for staying last night when you were supposed to have the night off. Can you do one more thing for me, and then you can take the rest of tonight off? It shouldn't take much time."
She stood at attention. "Sure. What do you need?"
"Can you track down Lántiān and tell her I want her back in the family room?" I requested with a sigh. "I'm guessing she is outside on the grounds somewhere. I wouldn't think she would be far from the front door, considering she has her filly with her."
Josie nodded. "That's no problem. You want me back tomorrow night?"
I considered it. "It's your call on that. My daughter-in-law and grandfoals should be here tomorrow, and she can watch him if you need another night off. Although I'm sure she won't mind the help."
Josie's eyes went wide and nervous. "The Warden of Fear's wife?"
I should have known that might make her jumpy. "It's your choice."
She hesitated and flapped her wings lightly. "I think I'll take an extra night off and be back the night after."
"Rosetta's going to be here?" Paul asked. "Is Robby coming with her?"
I pursed my lips. "I don't know. I'll call and check that, then get back to you."
He nodded. "Okay, because if he is, Devon might want to come over here with Dusk. We were planning a trip down there next month to see him, but seeing him earlier than that would be great."
I gave Paul a sympathetic smile. "I'll call as soon as the food order is done. If they haven't left yet and I can try to insist your son be brought along. I know being separated from him has to be rough on all of you."
Josie moved towards the door, and Mèng went scampering after her. She turned and pushed him back with a wing. "No, I need to go. You stay here with Paul." She pointed a wing at my brother-in-law. "Paul."
Mèng shook his head. "No. Josie."
The mare narrowed her eyes at him. "Paul. Yes."
"No!" Mèng reasserted.
"Paul. Stay," Josie said firmly.
"No. Josie. Please," Mèng begged, near tears.
Josie shook her head. "No. Josie go. Mèng stay with Paul."
And the waterworks began, followed quickly by bawling. Paul moved to grab Mèng, but the little night pony colt must have noticed the movement and dodged him. Paul was now chasing the colt around, trying to catch him, and being evaded at every turn. Josie took this opportunity to duck out of the room.
I watched for a few seconds before sighing and tapping my hoof a few times against the floor to get the colt's attention. "Mèng, <come to> Auntie Sunset."
The night pony paused in his running tantrum and perked his ears. The pause was so sudden that Paul wasn't able to stop and went stumbling by him.
I tapped my hoof a few more times. "Come on, you little demon. <Come to> Auntie Sunset."
Mèng squeaked with joy and came galloping over to me. I braced myself for the collision so I wouldn't get knocked over again. The night pony gripped onto me and buried his face in my fur. I gently ran a hoof over his mane and let him sit where he was at.
"We'll try him with you again in a bit, Paul," I said as Mèng settled in. "I think he is getting a little overly attached to his normal foalsitter. He doesn't get to see many ponies of his tribe. It will be good for him tomorrow when he gets to meet my grandfoals."
Paul rubbed the back of his head. "He seems pretty attached to you too. All the foals do. How do you do it? Do you bribe them with candy constantly?"
I shook my head. "I have no idea. It's a mystery to me. I'm not the most pleasant pony to be around."
"Well, they must sense something about you that they like," Paul replied. "I can tell by how they all tackled you earlier that they adore you."
I shrugged. "Maybe I just smell good. Who knows. Go take a breather; I have him for a few minutes."
"Thanks, Sunset," Paul replied before walking off to go talk with the crystal ponies.
I looked up at John and pulled Mèng against me. I needed to make sure I didn't say mom or mama around him, to avoid another crying fit. "Don't mind this little guy. His m-o-m passed away recently, and he's been trying to fill that void with someone. All the foals in my care have. They're siblings. There's no telling who their fathers are since their mother was a prostitute, hence the variety of tribes between them. It was like she was trying for a full set."
"Is he an alien?" John asked as he stared at Mèng.
"No, at least not like you mean. He was born in Beijing, China. You might call him a political refugee," I explained. "He knows very little English. What you heard him saying to Josie was close to the extent of it."
"And how did his—" I shook my head rapidly as he was about to say the M-word. ”—parent die?" John asked, seeming to lighten up and show some sympathy.
I nuzzled Mèng gently before replying. "Long story short, she was a very important pony who had a great deal of influence and sensitive information they wanted. The Chinese government was threatening her foals to try to force her to assist them. So she tried to flee with them. While she managed to get them out, she had to sacrifice herself to do it. You're a parent; I think you understand doing anything to keep your kids safe."
He looked deep in thought as he nodded in confirmation.
"Can we pet him?"
I looked over and saw that Grace and Bobby had crept up close, and we're looking at Mèng. I looked at the youngest colt in my charge and tried to decide what to do.
"I'm sorry, kids, but he is really young, and you're much bigger than him," I said gently. "He might get scared and not understand that you aren't trying to hurt him. He also isn't a pet; he's a person like you."
The two children flinched back. "Oh," they said in chorus. How did kids manage to do that?
I looked over at the three older colts, which my mother seemed to be occupying with a game of Simon-says. "Those three over there are older, and they might let you join them in their games. It would be up to your father. He has to feel safe about it."
The two children looked up at their father with hopeful eyes. John looked over at the colts, then hardened his features. "Not... yet."
"Aww," the two said again in chorus. Really, that was creepy. Did some fairy come at night and teach kids how to do that? Grace was not entirely dissuaded, and she pointed at me. "Can we pet her?"
"She isn't an animal; she’s a person," John replied. Well, that seemed to be an upgrade over being called a mutant. He also wasn't shouting that I was dangerous. We were making real progress here.
Grace still wasn't giving up. "But she's a pretty unicorn, and I want to know what she feels like. Please!"
Starlight is the pretty unicorn; I’m not even my real color right now, I grimaced. "I'll let them touch my fur, mane, and tail, as long as they stay on the opposite side of me from Mèng. I don't want them startling him, and if I say don't touch somewhere, I mean it. No touching my face, horn, ears, butt, or anywhere underneath, and no pulling anything or trying to ride me—and I would like for them to introduce themselves to me first."
John looked extremely uncomfortable with this suggestion, and indecisive.
I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Paul. I need you over here."
Paul walked over. "Ready for me to take Mèng now?"
"No, I need you to… pet me," I replied.
He gave me a confused look. "Pet you? Why do I need to—"
"Come on, Dad. Pet the pretty pony!" Jess yelled out, looking ready to burst out laughing.
"If you laugh, I'll tie your tail in a knot, girl," I said menacingly to my niece. "I still know temporary transformation spells and am not restricted on using them. Do you want me to turn you temporarily into a pony they can ride?"
Jess lost all signs of mirth. "You're bluffing."
Lauren and Alice hesitantly stepped back from Jess, likely afraid they would get caught up in whatever magic I would work.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Try me." I was bluffing. I didn't have enough power to cast such a spell and couldn't instruct anyone on how to do so without Twilight Sparkle's approval, but Jess couldn't be sure of that.
Jess's human sense of self, the innate desire to preserve that, and her overwhelming teenage need to avoid anything resembling humiliation must have quickly won out because she immediately backed down and went back to her conversation. Lauren and Alice still seemed a little wary, but did resume talking to the girl—be it from an extra step or two back.
I looked over to John and whispered. "I can't actually do that, it's an empty threat, but she doesn't know that."
John looked over at Starlight and Trixie. "Can either of them cast that spell?"
I shrugged. "Starlight easily could if she knows the spell. I don't know if she does, but I know she wouldn't do so in any case." I looked at Paul again. "So, can you please pet me and show them it is safe?"
Paul crossed his arms. "I don't know… are you going to turn me into a pony for a few minutes?"
"Paul…" I growled.
"Because I wouldn't mind being a pony for five minutes. It's on my bucket list," Paul continued.
"I'll put your head in a bucket if you don't hurry up and pet me."
Paul grinned and started rubbing my ears like he would a dog. I would be indignant about it, but it felt pretty good.
John watched Paul with a frown. "Is that true? You want to be temporarily turned into a pony? Why would you want that?"
Paul shrugged and looked over at his daughter. "For most of the years after ETS, I had two kids, my sister, and my parents, that were full ponies. I always wanted to know how they experienced the world. You would think that ponies and rehumanized people would be able to describe the differences well, but their ability to remember what it was like to be the other species suppresses quickly as a result of permanent transformation."
"Can't your daughter tell you?" John asked. "She seems like she still has one foot in being a pony."
Paul shook his head. "Jess can barely remember much at all about being a pony, despite spending almost all her life as a one. She can describe events that happened while she was a pony in detail, but not what it was like to be her in a pony body, even though she rarely forgets anything. Ponies are much the same way about being humans. They don't know how to compare being a pony with a human because they're missing a point of reference, even if they remember everything else that happened to them when they were humans."
"I'm surprised her psychologists didn't try to preserve that," I commented. "It can be done if you catch it early enough."
"The first few tries upset her a great deal, so she fought them about it, and they stopped trying," Paul explained. "Maybe if it had been the other way around, they'd have kept at it, but as it stood, they were content to let those memories fade."
"That's your only reason?" John asked in continued disbelief.
"Well, gaining magic, even if it ended up being too little to actively use," Paul said in a sad voice. "I'd be able to talk to my sister again if I had that."
John narrowed his brow. "Why would that—"
"That requires a lot more explanation of hard-to-understand magical concepts than we have right now," I said quickly. I didn't want to have to go into talking about Dreamwardens right now. It was best to get him used to ponies first before hitting with the idea of dream gods. Further, I just didn't want to talk about Tonya right now and risk getting upset. "When my daughter-in-law arrives tomorrow, she can do a better job explaining those concepts than anyone currently here if you would like to know more."
John relented. "Alright. I'll do that."
I looked over at Mike. "Hey, do you have that order ready yet?"
He jumped. "Sorry. I got distracted looking at other things."
"You can browse the internet to your heart’s content after you're done. Just get that order together," I replied. I then looked up at Paul. "You can stop now."
John looked over to his kids with a frown and then sighed. "Okay. Say hi to her, and ask her permission to pet her."
The two children hurried over to me, but I held up a hoof to stop them. "Introductions first. I'm Sunset Blessing. Who are you?"
"I'm Bobby," Bobby said.
"I'm Grace," Grace said immediately after. "Can we pet you now, Miss pretty unicorn Sunset Blessing?"
I gestured off to the side between John and me. "Hello, Bobby and Grace. Nice to meet you. Come over slowly and stay on this side of me, so you don't scare Mèng. Please don't touch my face or horn, because I don't like that, and don't pull my tail or mane. You wouldn't want me pulling your hair, would you?"
"No," they said together, shaking their heads. They then came over to my side and timidly touched my fur.
"It's so soft!" Grace exclaimed and rubbed her hand against me. Bobby giggled and rubbed both his hands against me. They quickly went on to feeling my mane and tail.
Mèng was not oblivious to all this and crawled under my tail to peak at the humans.
"The little baby pony is looking at me," Grace said as she gave him more space.
"Let him look at you. I'm not sure how used to humans he is," I said as I turned and glanced back at the colt hiding under my tail. "Mèng, <foals. Safe>."
The tiny night pony did not emerge from under my tail and continued to stare at the human children. That was worrisome. He certainly wasn't dangerous, but he was a night pony, and when night pony foals got scared or felt like their loved ones were being threatened, they could try to bite or make threatening gestures; it was just their instincts. I didn't want him doing either of those things with the human children and undoing any progress we were making.
"You wanted to see me, ma'am?"
I turned and saw Lántiān standing a short distance away with Qīng Yǔ on her back. Qīng Yǔ was looking at the humans curiously, but Lántiān was giving them and me the evil eye.
"Can you take your baby brother to the other side of the room and try to get him feeling safe with Paul so he can take care of him tonight without any fuss?" I requested in a calm voice, ignoring her expression. "I don't want him accidentally getting scared or scaring anyone."
She gave me a disdainful look. "Which one is Paul, ma'am?"
Paul raised a hand. "That's me."
Lántiān looked absolutely disgusted by this, but didn't put up a fuss. "As you wish, ma'am." She then walked around me, keeping me between herself and the human children, and grabbed Mèng in her mouth by the scruff of his neck. She then casually walked away, flicking her tail at us as she left. Paul hurried after her. Qīng Yǔ, bless her heart, turned around on her mother's back and waved bye to us. I didn't know she knew what that gesture meant until now. I'd need to note she understood what some gestures meant, even if she didn't understand much language.
Potential crisis averted, the children went back to petting me, and I endured it. Whatever it took to make these humans feel safe around ponies. Thankfully, everyone was helping me out. My parents were keeping the colts occupied; Jess was being surprisingly social, even Lántiān wasn't giving me any grief—at least not much. We could do this.