"Be sure you are going to be on your best behavior for Miss Rosetta at the museum," I instructed the colts as I was getting ready to leave the bus.
"We'll be good, Auntie," Shǔguāng and Líng said in chorus.
Méng didn't reply; he was too busy fidgeting with the strap-on sunglasses Rosetta had graciously provided for him while he was out in the sun today. All the other night ponies had sunglasses on as well, although his were the only pair that strapped on.
I looked to Lántiān. "That goes for you too—no giving Rosetta grief. Keep your attitude in check, and help keep the foals under control and with the group. I don't want anyone getting separated."
Lántiān glared. "I don't appreciate you insinuating I will behave like a young foal, ma'am."
"Then make sure you don't behave like one, and there will be no problem," I said in a firm tone.
Jess was practically hopping on her ass in her seat. I was surprised she didn't end up pinching her tail the way she was moving. I didn't think the girl was excited about the museums, but she was as excited as… well, an excited eight-year-old girl, about the observatory trip after. It seemed I picked that one out correctly. Her younger brother, Dusk, caught Jess's excitement, even if he had no clue what he was excited about, and was bouncing in Devon's lap like an over-hyper toad. Robby was watching his two younger siblings while visibly straining not to laugh.
Sinker was much better behaved. It never occurred to me that my little brother had never been outside of Pony Hope before he came to visit me. This meant that everything in Denver was new and exciting to him, and the young colt was glued to the window as my parents explained the things that could be seen.
The Young's children were uncharacteristically nervous looking. It didn't take much to figure out why. This was going to be the first time they and the rest of their family would be in different places in those children's memories. They weren't the only ones who looked nervous; the adults and teens of that family had exited the bus ahead of me and were looking around at their surroundings like they were ready to be attacked and were closely huddled together. Their backs were only turned to each other and the bus.
It was time to get off the bus and stop delaying things. I gave one final wave to everyone on the bus, adjusting my saddlebags on my back as I did so. "See you again shortly!" I then exited.
I stepped off the bus and joined the Youngs in the church parking lot. It wasn't my regular denomination of church, it was Lutheran while I had attended Southern Baptist churches as a human, but I was familiar enough with the differences that nothing should catch me off guard and have me make an ass of myself. I could see from the ponies and humans going into the building that we were underdressed for the occasion, but not every human going in was well dressed, and only about three-quarters of the ponies heading in bothered with clothes at all. I had scouted the church online to find one not too big, not too small, with a mixed congregation of ponies and humans. This church had probably a dozen or so families that attended regularly and was a little off the beaten path. That meant we would stick out most for being unfamiliar guests, not for our clothes—or lack of them in my case.
I could tell that some of the ponies instantly recognized my cutie mark. They kept passing glances back at me as they went into the church before putting their heads close together to whisper. The humans hadn't seemed to catch on yet, but knowing how gossip could spread through a church, I expected that all of them would be aware before I entered the building. I hoped that would not become an issue, but we would see.
"Are you ready to go in?" I asked the Youngs. "I expect most of the congregation will keep their distance from us, early on, because of me. That gives you time to decide when you are comfortable going up and starting a conversation with people."
Lauren looked around. "Ready as we'll ever be," she said. "Aside from the ponies and a few other things like car designs, and fashion, everything looks almost the same as when we went into hiding."
I looked around to see what they were seeing. "Yeah, a lot of things are pretty much the same. Eight years isn't going to turn the world into some science fiction fantasy. As for the cars, electric is becoming increasingly the norm since we ponies don't like car exhaust, and I know the designs for pony cars can look a little odd—even to me. They are still figuring out what works best with those. I don't pay fashion trends much attention since I rarely wear clothes, so I can't comment on that."
"Dying your hair colors like pink, purple, blue, and so on seems much more common among middle-aged and older adults," John said as he looked around.
I looked around at the humans to see what they were talking about and smiled. "I'm sure it is, but some of those may not be dye jobs. Those that rehumanized often had traits left over. Rarely as extreme as in Jess's case, but you see a lot of humans that have hair color tints that they wouldn't have had before, an occasional patch of stray fur, and an unusual eye color are all prevalent remnants of them having been partial or full ponies at some point. Given that it is common enough, those who never got ETS or didn't retain any such traits might be more willing to imitate having them."
Mike looked at a human couple with a blue tint to their hair. "So… how do you tell? How do you tell if it is a dye or if they are rehumanized?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, and I know that for some, that is the idea. If unusual colors and such are common, then no one has to feel like a freak. It gives a sense of solidarity in communities. ETS was the biggest event to happen to this planet in human history. Living through that can bring people together."
"I guess so," John replied as he looked around. He continued to look around as if searching for something. "It looks like most of the congregation is inside already. I guess we should head in as well."
"No need to be nervous; it is just a church," I said with a smile as the bus drove off.
He shook his head. "I'm not nervous about it being a church. I'm nervous because it is this church."
That made me flatten my ears. "What is wrong with this particular church? I know I didn't consult you about which one we had been attending. I just picked a close-by one with a moderate-sized congregation that I didn't think would be overwhelming. Do you have a bad history with this congregation from way back when? If there is going to be a problem, tell me. I can call the bus back before it gets too far away."
John continued to look around nervously. "No… no bad history. It is probably nothing. I haven't seen— let's just go inside."
He wasn't telling me something, and now I was nervous that I was going to walk into some sort of drama. I had already readied myself for any kind of problem that might arise from people recognizing me, but I had failed to account for the fact that the Youngs had a history in the area before ETS.
We entered through the main doors, and ushers passed us the printed bulletins for today's service. The Youngs didn't get any odd looks, just smiles from the ushers. Those same smiles got much tighter when they were turned to me, but nothing was said other than welcome to our church as I took the printed bulletin in my magic.
The inside of the chapel was simple enough. The roof was low on the sides and got higher as you went towards the center of the building and was done in a dark varnished wood. There were sets of pews to the left and right of the center walkway. To our immediate right when we entered was the church organ and a projection screen to display hymns, and the organist was currently playing some music. The altar area had a small rail blocking its location off, with a separate podium set to the left and right just inside the railing, but no center podium—not a setup that I was familiar with, but I never attended Lutheran churches, so it could be standard for a Lutheran service.
There were plenty of open spaces for us to sit and whole sections that were empty. Most of the congregation was in small groups in the middle left, front right, and back left of the church, and every single set of eyes was on me as we walked in. Never underestimate the speed of church gossip.
All eyes were on me except for one set.
"Johnny?!" a beige earth pony mare with a chocolaty brown mane sitting towards the front shouted as she stared at John. She wasn't there for long. The name was barely out of her mouth before she left her seat and came galloping towards us.
The music came to an abrupt halt as the earth pony slowed and cautiously approached us. She seemed near tears. "Johnny? Is that really you?"
John did a complete double-take. "—Claire?"
The mare broke down crying at this point. "It is you!" Her tears didn't last long before she laid her ears back. "Where the f—" She sat down with her eyes wide and covered her mouth with both her forehooves as she remembered she was in a church. She uncovered her mouth and continued without much of a break. "Where have you been?! I searched everywhere for you after ETS! I worried you had joined some commune in the wilderness and got eaten by a mountain lion or something! Everypony has been worried sick! I have prayed every day—"
She paused and looked at Mike and Alice. "Is that Michael and Alice? You've gotten so big! And here's Lauren, and… where are the younger ones?"
"Aunt Claire?" Mike asked in shock. "You're a pony?"
The mare stood up. "No, it's just a really good costume. Yes, I'm a pony!" She pointed a hoof at the pastry cutie mark on her flank. "And it is Eclair Cream now; I'll have you know. I haven't gone by Claire in ages."
I held a hoof up to my mouth and cleared my throat. "Not to break up this unexpected family reunion, but we might want to take our seats. I think we're holding up the service."
Eclair looked around at the congregation sheepishly. "Sorry! Sorry!"
There was a chorus of people telling her it was alright, hallelujahs, and people saying God answers prayers.
We followed Eclair Cream back to the pews in the front, and she quickly introduced us to an orange earth pony stallion and a pair of young colts that looked much like the adults in coloring that she identified as her husband and sons. The Youngs seemed just as taken aback by this as when meeting Eclair, and the three other earth ponies looked just as bewildered as us. I was shepherded in next to her family with the Youngs to my left, and Eclair sat at the end of the pew so she could be seated next to her brother.
I took this time to take off my saddlebags and noticed the stallion—who I hadn't caught the name of in the hurried exchange— staring at me with fearful eyes, and his ears laid back. "Hi, I don't bite," I assured him. I wasn't sure that reassured him at all.
The music resumed, and everyone stood up with their hymnal facing the back. I had to hurry to find mine under my seat and was still flipping through pages before I realized the words were posted on the screen in the back anyway. The pastor and two others entered in procession through the center, and the congregation kept facing them as they walked towards the front—which means I did end up needing the hymnal—or Lutheran Service Book, as it was labeled. I wasn't the only one who ended up looking like an idiot while rapidly trying to find the hymn; John and Lauren were just as caught off guard, and Mike and Alice were red-faced with embarrassment as they pretended to sing along but were just moving their lips without saying anything.
After that was done, the pastor, a human man who looked to be in his sixties, took up a spot behind the left pulpit. He smiled out to the congregation. "Greetings! Welcome everyone to our Sunday service. I hope that you are all in good health, and if there is anything troubling you that God may help you find peace today."
He looked over at the Youngs and me with a grin and a joyful glint in his eye before refocusing on the congregation. "I'm sure by now everyone has noticed that we have some guests with us today. I'm also well aware that we have a particularly famous pony among us. Miss Blessing was considerate enough to contact me by email yesterday, asking if she could attend a service without it causing any fuss. I replied that all of God's children are welcome in his house, and she may share communion with us. She also mentioned she would be bringing guests, but I don't think she knew at the time that she was going to be doing God's work in answering a long-standing prayer of one of our dearest members. Sunset Blessing, you have helped deliver a true blessing from God today. God is good!"
"Amen," I said earnestly and smiled. I was sure John would take time to get used to his rediscovered sister, but this was a prodigiously good turn of events. Things had been going well with the Youngs and finding their pony family only improved things further.
The service progressed as most services do. There were some Lutheran traditions that I was not used to, but all in all, they weren't anything objectionable. John, Lauren, and I all took communion with the church, but Mike and Alice abstained at their parents' insistence. It seemed they weren't fully versed in religion, and it was proper they did not take communion if they were not believers.
When the service ended, I checked my phone and saw a text from the bus driver saying he was waiting to take us to the museums when we were ready. According to my schedule, we still had about twenty minutes before we needed to leave the church, and I intended to let the Youngs get their socializing in. Originally I had planned on Mike and Alice to spend time talking to some of the teens and younger twenties members of the church, of which there were several, but Eclair Cream and her family were an excellent alternative.
However, I could see a mounting problem occurring. With the service over, the whole congregation had begun descending on the Youngs. Eclair seemed oblivious to hearing her lost family's growing discomfort, but I could see them inching away from people and slowly huddling together. Worse, Alice was starting to breathe more heavily, and I recognized that as the onset of an anxiety attack. Ponies were notorious for being dense about humans becoming uncomfortable about personal space being infringed upon, and the humans here seemed to have picked up that bad habit as well.
The congregation hadn't been attempting to engage me, and while many glanced at me here and there with uncertain expressions, many others seemed to have forgotten I was even there with how caught up they were with the reunion. That meant no one took notice when I lit my horn ablaze with magical light.
"Excuse me!" I shouted, using a sound amplification spell. The volume wasn't on the level that Jess was capable of, but it got the job done in directing everyone's attention to me.
I released the spell and continued in a normal volume. "Sorry, I know you likely all have some history and want to express your happiness to see family reuniting after so long. But the Youngs have lived a very secluded lifestyle the last few years, and this may be too many people for them to deal with at once. Can we all agree to give them some space to come to terms with all the big and small things we all have become used to since ETS? I’m sure they would appreciate some space and time to meet all of you again at their own pace."
The majority of the congregation looked abashed as they backed up and said hurried apologies. A few of the ponies who didn't look as ashamed instead backed up, looking in awe at me, as if Sunset Blessing addressing them was beyond belief. At least there didn't seem to be any Shimmerists here ready to snarl and bite my head off—not that I expected any to show up to a church with a mixed congregation led by a human pastor.
"Thank you, Sunset," John said as he let out a long breath. Lauren and Mike focused on checking on Alice, who was still shaking and breathing hard.
Eclair turned her attention to her brother. "So where were you?" she demanded to know. "What does she mean by a secluded lifestyle?"
"They've been living in a bunker underneath Wabash Manor," I answered, not sparing the Youngs the embarrassment, but at least sparing them having to be the ones to say it. "I moved into the mansion recently, and I discovered them after Alice tried to raid the kitchen. They had no contact with the outside world and thought aliens had conquered it."
Eclair's mouth dropped. "You're shitting me." This time not remembering she was standing in the middle of a church. "You've been at your house the whole time?! Do you know how many times me, Mom, and Dad went by that place in the first year and a half looking for you? We kept checking right up to the day the state seized it. We kept hoping you'd come back, but you were there the whole time!"
John's eyes narrowed. "You let them seize the house?"
Eclair raised her forehooves defensively. "Hey! We didn't have that kind of money. Mom and Dad had their retirement, but their retirement couldn't pay the taxes on that place, and they ended up giving all their money away to charity; and what did you expect me to do? ETS hit while I was a senior in high school. I didn't even graduate because of it. I only got my GED last year. I definitely didn't have that kind of money. Orange and I just officially opened our bakery this year, and we still don't make that kind of money."
"They gave all their money to charity?" John asked in disbelief. "How are they surviving?"
Eclair shrugged. "They transformed too. Mom decided she wanted to farm, and Dad said he wanted to do weather work while he was still spry enough to do it. They moved out to one of the small pony towns that sprang up, and they are happy. I didn't want to leave Denver, so I stayed and started making my own life."
John looked at his sister"s husband, Orange Cream, and the two colts, who were both younger than Líng but older than Méng. "I can see that—my baby sister, married with kids. I missed a lot. I was wondering if I was going to run into Mom and Dad here, not you. You never were the church-going type."
Eclair blushed. "Things change. When Mom and Dad left, I started coming here for the sake of something familiar. This is where I met Orange, and the people in this church are who we can thank most for helping to get our bakery off the ground with their regular patronage of our cart."
"—We started out cooking stuff at home and selling it from a cart," Orange Cream explained. "At least one person from the church came by every day, and they recommended us to their friends. It was a long road to getting our own store."
"But worth it," Eclair grinning before she gave her husband a quick smooch. She then walked over and gave each of her foals a quick kiss on the head. "Now we have Whipped and Banana here to take care of, so we had to hire employees so we can take time off. Sunday is always a family day for us."
Eclair Cream, Orange Cream, Whip Cream, and Banana Cream… good grief. Sometimes pony naming conventions got downright embarrassing. I'd put down money they put the term Cream in their bakery name. At least the family kept it consistent and formed a solid family identity. Most pony families had nothing to tell by name that they were all connected unless they kept their human names. It had not been that uncommon for teens as young as sixteen to strike out on their own after ETS rather than stay with their parents. The breakdown of families had been something I had worried about for some time. However, the worst long-term consequences I had envisioned regarding that hadn’t come to pass—at least, not as of yet.
"So, are you living back at your old place again?" Eclair asked her brother. "I would love to show the kids their uncle's big place and introduce them to their other cousins."
That snapped me back to being fully alert. "I don't think that's a good idea yet. We are dealing with a barking problem that needs to get resolved."
Orange waved a hoof in dismissal. "Oh, we are used to dogs barking. There is this nasty pony that lives down the street from us who hates humans and keeps a ton of guard dogs that never seem to shut up."
"Yeah," Eclair confirmed. "It has been nice this past week or so. He must have gone on vacation or something and taken all his dogs with him because it has been quiet, but we are used to barking."
It had to be a coincidence, but the timing and the fact it was a Shimmerist raised the fur on my back. "Do you mind telling me more about this pony?"