//------------------------------//
// Chapter 83: The Intruder 
// Story: Pandemic: Starting Over 
// by Halira 
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I returned to the house and let myself in. I instantly caught my mom, Devon, and Lauren exiting the kitchen. Devon had a large stack of bowls and a few spoons; Lauren had a massive bowl with a serving spoon jutting out of it that my nose confirmed to be filled with chocolate pudding. My mom was carrying nothing. 

Mom looked at me with a frown. "Sweetie, you should not be out by yourself. You were even the one that set that rule. Can't you follow the rules that you set? I swore I heard a bark a few minutes ago. You need to be careful."

"There were three FBI agents and an alicorn with me when I went out. I think that is more than enough to cover me," I replied. "But, I seem to have lost them all. You said you heard barking?"

"I think so," Mom replied. "It was just one quick bark, so I'm not certain. I might have imagined it."

I looked over at the door leading down to the basement. "Maybe I should go check with security to see if anything came up on the camera feeds."

"So you can wander around by yourself even more?" Mom said with a stomp. "Let the guards do their jobs. They'll tell us if something's up. Have you forgotten who you said these bad guys are targeting? You shouldn't be by yourself. Come join us; we have pudding."

"Pudding I would like to set down," Lauren added on. 

"Setting these bowls down would be nice," Devon groaned. "They aren't heavy, but they are awkward to balance. Come back to our giant holding cell with us."

I flattened my ears. "Holding cell?"

"We do spend an inordinate amount of time in the same room, sweetie. We're in this great big house, with all these gardens, but we never get to see any of it," Mom said in a placating tone. "We understand it helps keep us safe, and being out yesterday was great, but we're all getting tired of being trapped in the same old room. Frankly, I'm surprised we aren't all at each other's throats since we're all under heavy stress, and we can't get away from one another."

I frowned and considered. "Maybe a few of us can go out on our own. Devon or Paul can take a few by car, and another group can go for a walk around the neighborhood. The backyard is most clear and open, so the remainder of us could go outside there and get some fresh air."

"Maybe we could do a backyard barbeque?" Lauren suggested. "If the group with the car can go find us a grill and food that everyone can eat. I'm used to being cramped up in a tight space, but even we went out and gathered crabapples regularly."

I nodded. "We'll go have pudding and then discuss what options we have. If going further away from each other, I want bigger groups of five or more. The more of us who are grouped together and in sight of one another, the safer we are."

"So, let's go in the other room so I can put these bowls down," Devon said as she started walking to the family room. The rest of us quickly followed. 

After we returned to the family room, Lauren and my mom started gathering up children and foals, and Devon started distributing the bowls. The children would get the spoons, and the foals would be licking the pudding up like they might ice cream from a cone. There wasn't enough to go around for the adults, but there was enough to give to most of the teens with Lántiān abstaining since she would be spending her time making sure Qīng Yǔ and Méng didn't make too much of a mess on themselves. 

Qīng Yǔ and Méng, along with Jess, Robby, and Alice, seemed ready to dig in, but the reaction of the others was far more skeptical. 

"It looks like poo," Líng observed loudly as he crouched and looked over the side of the bowl as if spying on its contents. "The wet slimy poo that sprays when it comes out and gets stuck all over your butt."

Jess practically threw her spoon back into her bowl and set the bowl aside. "Thanks for that visual. I've now lost my appetite."

Robby pulled her bowl towards himself. "So, I can have this then?"

"All yours, big bro," Jess said dismissively. 

Lántiān glared at Líng. "Do not say such rude things. The two humans and Ma'am's mother worked very hard to give this to you."

"Standing up for humans?" I asked her with a smile. "I'm glad to see you doing that."

She fluffed her feathers slightly and looked at Jess for some reason. "I'm… beginning to look at things differently. Everyone in this house is in this together. These humans are my comrades."

Jess raised an eyebrow at the blue pegasus. "Why are you looking at me?"

"You… puzzle me with your magic," Lántiān answered in a quiet voice. "I'm starting to wonder if those who follow Ma'am's new teachings may be right."

Great, Lántiān was starting to shift from Shimmerist to Blessingist. I doubted she would turn into one of those ones that worshiped me, but I still wasn't sure how I felt about it. That was compounded by the fact that I was afraid I might agree with the Blessingists as well. I mean… they were following my guidance, weren't they? I really needed to sit down and read up on what Blessingists believed. They probably had factions within the overall umbrella term which varied on different points, and I was clueless on what those could be… other than there were factions that viewed me in an almost religious light and those like Sarah Tanner who understood I was just another pony. 

Jess wasn't impressed with the answer and laid her ears flat. "Well, stop staring. It makes me uncomfor—"

PPPSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAATTPPP

We all flinched and covered our ears as a high pitch noise rattled us. Lántiān accidentally knocked a bowl of pudding off the table onto her already crying daughter's head. Some of the foals tried burying their heads in cushions and hiding under couches. Many adults tried to shout over it, but nothing could be made out. Then, as suddenly as it started, it ended.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jess cried out, near tears. 

"Mama!" Qīng Yǔ shouted in distress as pudding dripped off her. 

Tempest gave Jess an annoyed glare. "It seems that young Miss Middleton's magic is working again."

"Sorry!" Jess shouted again as she pulled her legs up to herself, balled up, and began crying loudly. 

Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. 

……..

All sound suddenly completely cut out. I could see lips moving, but heard nothing. Others were realizing the same thing, looking around in confusion, humans touching hands to their throats to see if they could feel themselves talking. What was going on? Did she manage to make us all—

ROUND ONE! FIGHT! 

………


SONIC BOOM! SONIC BOOM!

……….

We were hit with wave after wave of music, strange things being said, and utter muteness, one after another in quick succession. 

Devon and Paul moved in and hugged their daughter tightly, gently rocking her. Mike ran over to one of the arcade machines for some reason and started frantically looking behind it. 

The constant back and forth between ear-shattering noise and deafening silence was not only painful, but it was also making me feel extremely ill. It felt like forever before it stopped, and even when it did, I was unsure at first if it had indeed stopped or if we were just getting an extended period of muteness. The sounds of Jess weeping and Méng, Dusk, and Qīng Yǔ crying were what convinced me that sound had returned to normal. 

"She's stopped. She should be okay," Devon said in exhaustion as she continued to hold her daughter.

Paul wasn't letting go of Jess either, but looked defiantly at everyone else. "Don't blame her for this. She's been under just as much stress as the rest of us."

John looked at the Middleton's in disbelief. "You have to put up with that all the time?!"

"She hasn't had an episode like this in a while," Devon defended, still hugging her weeping daughter tightly. "She's been doing a good job of keeping it under control. It's just the stress and her magic coming back after being exhausted."

Jess seemed like she was struggling to catch her breath, and had to snort to clear her nose of snot. "I've got it under control now. I'm sorry, really sorry. It won't happen again."

John looked uncertain. "Any way we can get another one of those crystal ponies in here to help keep that girl under control? Having magic doesn't seem like it is working out too great for her."

Devon practically snarled. "Oh yeah, what was I thinking? Why don't we just go down to the crystal pony store and buy a crystal pony willing to just live with us and constantly monitor my daughter for magic fluctuations? It doesn't work like that! Wild Growth pays Silvia a pretty hefty paycheck to do what she does, and even then, she only does it because studying human magic is her passion, and Jess is a major case study for her."

John waved a hand defensively. "Okay, okay. I didn't know. Jeez. I've been in a bunker for eight years; I don't know how all this stuff works."

I stood back up and looked around. It seemed like everyone was recovering from the surge well enough. Most of the kids had quieted down; the lone exception was Qīng Yǔ, who was still drenched in chocolate pudding and likely adding that to her complaints. 

"Lántiān, how about you and I take your daughter upstairs for a bath," I said and saw her getting ready to object. "I know you can do it by yourself, but I don't want the two of you off by yourselves. I'm just there to keep you company."

She looked at her upset and filthy foal and grunted. "That seems like a good idea, ma'am." She then bent down, grabbed her daughter by the scruff of her neck, and transferred her to her back. 

"We won't take too long," I assured everyone else. "We can talk about how we can blow off some steam when Lántiān and I get back."

I led the way upstairs to the unconnected bathroom that Lántiān and I shared. Qīng Yǔ quieted down as we walked, perhaps happy to have gotten out of that room at last. I could see where nerves were fraying. We needed to find ways of going out and about some more. Keeping confined to one room so much was too much for already stressed people. 

Lántiān sat her daughter down on the floor of the bathroom as I started running the water. One of us would have to get in with the tiny filly, which was probably going to be Lántiān. 

"I need to go flying after this, ma'am," Lántiān announced. 

I shook my head. "Not an option right now. That requires you to go off on your own."

She spread her wings slightly. "I will be in the air, ma'am. What danger do you think I will be in while up in the sky?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "I just know that I don't want anyone going off by themselves. For all I know, they can do something to knock you out of the sky and grab you."

Her tail flicked. "Then the two night pony mares can join me."

I gave a short laugh. "Those two barely tolerate one another. Plus, it is nearly noon. They don't want to be flying out in the noonday sun. It is hell on their eyes, and they'll be tired as it is. It's not like they could keep up with a pegasus anyway. They'd be making you take frequent stops. Add on to that the night pony foals will have to wait up for them to get back, and it is a definite no."

She growled and looked at the tub. "The water level is getting too high."

I turned and flipped the water off. "I know that—" I paused as my ears twitched at a sound. "Do you hear barking?"

She stopped and listened, and as she turned around, her ears flattened. "Where is Qīng Yǔ?!"

We both charged out of the bathroom into the hall, and instantly found the filly. We found the filly along with someone who did not belong in the house. 

Standing at the stairwell, getting ready to go up, was none other than Dinger the Dinosaur. The mascot's costume had one arm torn off, revealing a woman's arm with small strips of glittery silver fur. Tucked under the costumed arm was the limp form of Qīng Yǔ. Oh no...

"Fain!" I howled in rage and fear. 

Lántiān didn't even hesitate; she took to the air and charged Fain while giving off a feral scream of rage. Fain twisted and slammed her exposed fist right into Lántiān's face, and the pegasus dropped out of the air like a rock, screaming in agony. Fain immediately took off up the stairs. I didn't hesitate anymore. I ran straight after her, unsure how I would take the magic immune human down, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let her get away. 

We entered the third-story hall, and Fain was breaking for the open tower door. I was in a bind; I wanted to lob fireballs at her. She might be immune to magic, but that costume wasn't, but if I did that, I risked hurting Qīng Yǔ. Instead, I started grabbing anything off the wall I could and hurling it at Fain's head. Many things collided, but nothing stopped her progress. 

Fain made it to the door and jumped in. I could see that it opened up somewhere else, but I couldn't make out much detail. If she went through, I was going to go through. I was not letting her get away with Qīng Yǔ. 

I charged in and had a brief moment of disorientation as I landed somewhere far from the house. I turned to try to see which way Fain had run and immediately saw her fist headed right towards my eyes. 

There was incredible pain, and agony like I never felt before, then darkness.