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// Chapter 86: Filling Missing Pieces of Different Puzzles 
// Story: Pandemic: Starting Over 
// by Halira 
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All our talk ended up being very productive. We managed to identify the unknown speaker who delighted in my torture before Fain clobbered him, the man that had put the hood on me, and the pony that had told Fain to calm down. The one who had told Fain to calm down was none other than Dog Bite, aka Howler, which conclusively tied him as being involved. The human man was Henry something or other, whose entire family ended up as ponies of the Shimmerist variety, but had missed ETS by being in prison at the time and the prison actually taking steps to keep the prisoners from getting exposed to the virus raging outside—a little surprising, but it was what it was. 

The one who had been initially calling the shots during my torture was the big white stallion with the purple mane who had decided to try to lynch me in the streets of Pony Hope, destroyed my old phone, and given me an unpleasant burn. His name was Royal Bearing, and he had a personal vendetta against me outside of everything else. His wife had been one of Water Wing's mages that I had the FBI arrest, and he wanted my head on a stick ever since then. There would be no reasoning with Royal; he was looking for excuses to hurt me. It was very likely that if it came down to a choice between getting the ETS spell and breaking every bone in my body, he would choose the latter. He had several cronies that were probably involved if he was, other ponies who had relatives arrested in that raid. This was all according to Honey Dew, my admirer from Pony Hope, who asked three more times if she could call me Sunny, despite my repeated objections. 

The police and FBI were getting all these names, and they would be looking to make arrests. They still had to figure out where the hell we were even being held. All our captors we knew about were from different parts of Colorado, aside from Rossman and his team, who had a history in Nevada, Arizona, and California, but not Colorado—until now. Everything pointed to us still at least being in Colorado. 

The question of who was funding this whole operation was still a big one. Rossman, Royal Bearing, Dog Bite, Fain, and all of Human Henry's family combined couldn't pool enough pennies together to pay for one of these cells. There was still a substantial financial backer, and I had no idea who. 

I tried to think of any others on this side of the country who could be involved. Candace? That freaky pony was a pure mad scientist and would be interested in transformation magic, but I didn't think she would be willing to resort to these tactics to get it. The ponies down in Oasis? That was almost a joke. While they could possibly be inventive enough to create these magic-proofing rooms and might be able to fund some minor things on their own by this point, I didn't see them as getting involved in any criminal activity or teaming up with crazed psychopaths for the sake of science. Their leaders might have heart attacks at the very idea. 

No, I was coming up empty on who else could be involved, except for one possible suspect, Qiánchéng De Érzi, leader of Communist-Shimmerist China, and as close to untouchable as a pony could get. Heller was right; if he was funding it, there would be no way to prove it. Even if we got out of this and arrested everyone in the states that had been involved, he would still end up looking squeaky clean. The bastard, God needed to strike him down with a meteor or something. If anyone deserved it, Érzi did.

It reached a point where we had nothing left we could pull out for clues from our talks. At this point, the Dreamwardens started letting family members into the dream to see us, plenty of ponies happy to see that their loved ones had lived another day, and in for some terrible news about what was coming. 

I was not left out of this reunion. Lántiān, Shǔguāng, Líng, Sinker, both of my parents, Number, Jess, Starlight, Trixie, an older crystal pony mare I didn't know, and an older earth pony mare I didn't know, all showed up to greet me.

"I thought you were taking me to my daughter!" Lántiān shouted in rage at the sky. 

Hi to you too, Lántiān. I couldn't blame her for being eager to see Qīng Yǔ, but she could have at least shown a little concern about me. 

Yinyu appeared in front of Lántiān, gently cradling Qīng Yǔ in her fins. The filly looked disoriented for a second until she saw Lántiān. She then beat her wings, escaping her grandmother's grasp, and flew straight to her mother. 

"Mama!" Qīng Yǔ yelled with joy as she collided with Lántiān and grabbed on tight. 

"My baby is flying!" Lántiān said as she hugged her daughter and wiped a tear from her eye. 

"No, she is not," Yinyu corrected. "This is a dream. She can fly here because she got an impulse to do so, and the dream obeyed. She won't be flying in the waking world for years yet."

Lántiān glared at her mother. "Do you have to ruin every happy moment!"

Yinyu flinched back. "Lántiān… I'm trying my best. Please, let's not fight, not right now. I am just as upset as you are about what happened."

"You sure don't seem like it," Lántiān sneered. "Can't you show your true feelings to me for once? Is this not a big enough deal for that?"

"Lántiān… please, she's your mother, and she is worried sick," I said gently. "I know the two of you have… issues, but now is not the time."

Lántiān gave her mother one last glare then refocused on her daughter. "Alright, I thank you for helping me see my daughter. I am grateful for it."

She didn't sound grateful, but that might be as good as it was going to get. At least the two weren't going to fight the whole time they were here. Those two needed some serious family therapy. 

My mother tackled me before I could get any further in thought. "My baby filly!" she cried. "Are you alright? Have they hurt you?"

I was pinned to the ground but not having any trouble breathing. It was a dream; she couldn't squeeze me to death here. "Let's not revisit that at the moment. I have spent what feels like hours here, watching and rewatching myself get tortured, in hopes of finding clues to where we are and who is doing this. It wasn't a fun time."

"There wasn't much to see, but the sounds were nerve-racking to listen to, and my nerves were already frayed beyond the edge," Silvia said from somewhere nearby. She and Malcomb must have come over and joined the group. 

"Torture!?" Mom screamed as she gripped me tighter and started crying louder. 

"They didn't hurt my baby, did they?" Lántiān whimpered. 

Mom let me up at last, and I shook my head as I got back to my hooves. "Not as far as I know. They said they weren't planning on touching her until they got through everyone else. They said they have her sedated, but she isn't with me. I don't know where they are keeping her. I'm hoping she is not in a pitch-black cell like mine."

Yinyu pouted. "I wish I could tell you, but she doesn't understand how to give me that consent or what I would be asking to reveal. The rules—"

"Leave it be, Mother. We understand your stupid Dreamwarden rules," Lántiān said in a tired voice. Yinyu seemed to deflate further. 

Everyone seemed eager to ask questions and see me, but my dad headed them off. "Sunset, I'd like to reintroduce you to your sisters. Andrea was the one who tipped off the FBI that the local people weren't doing their jobs right. I know now might not seem like the best time to reconnect, but… we don't know if there will be another chance."

That was a heavy feeling to leave sitting in the air. 

The crystal pony I assumed was Andrea stepped forward. She was light pink with an exceedingly light baby blue mane, cut short, that had several large strips of grey; her mark was a magnifying glass and a pair of handcuffs over a rolled-up sheet of paper. 

Her smile was tight as she looked at me. "Getting stuck as a paper pusher and occasional extra body when they are trying to take down a magical creep actually paid off for once. I couldn't believe it when Mom and Dad told me what was happening with your investigation… Well, actually, I can, but that is a whole lot of ongoing stupid crap you don't want to hear about right now. It's just good to see you again. Maybe we can try doing a more proper reconnect after everything is said and done. If you want to do that, that is."

I smiled back at her. "I'd like that. You know, they sent Heller in after what you did."

Andrea brightened up at that. "They did? That's great! That man is something of a legend around the office. If he is working on your case, it is in the best of hands. I feel better just hearing that."

I nodded and turned my attention to the brown earth pony with the greying blue mane, Kristin—now Amicus Curiae. I wasn't sure what the term she chose for a name meant, only that it was some sort of legal term.

Amicus took a hesitant step forward, then sprung forward the rest of the way, wrapping her forelegs around my neck and crying on my shoulder. 

"I'm sorry we haven't stayed in touch all these years," Amicus cried. "I know we were all always doing our own thing, and you were hard to deal with when you were a teen, but that's no excuse. I just want my little sister to come out of this safe. I won't ignore you anymore. I'll bring my foals and grandfoals to meet you and yours. Just… make it through this, okay?"

Ponies get too emotional. She was going to make me cry. I patted her on the back. "I'll get through this. I'm Sunset Blessing; I'm practically a legend. Legends always face impossible odds and come out on top. I'll get through this, and we will be one really big happy family. We'll need to rent a stadium to hold us all."

I wished I had as much confidence in that as I was boasting, but things looked dire for me. I didn't think Royal Bearing was going to let me get out of this alive, not even if they managed to pull any transformation magic secrets out of me. 

We managed to separate ourselves from one another, with Amicus sniffling and wiping her nose with her leg. No sooner than she had gotten a step or two away was when Líng and Shǔguāng took their chance to grapple me, one on each foreleg.

"Auntie Sunset!" Líng cried. 

"Mama!" Shǔguāng cried, then instantly released me, eyes wide in horror, as he covered his mouth. He uncovered his mouth and fearfully looked at his actual mother. "I don't know why I called Mama that, Mama!" He yelped and started weeping. "I don't mean to keep saying that. I mean to say Mama… why do I keep saying that?!"

Yinyu came swimming over to him and transformed back into her standard pony form before gently touching a wing to his crying face and nuzzling him. 

"The dream realm always translates things perfectly," she said as she soothed him. "If a word means something to you, then it is what you will say. I understand. I am not hurt or upset. Dry your eyes. Both your Mamas are here, and we love you."

Líng looked at all of us in confusion. "You can have more than one Mama?!"

Yinyu gave him a soft smile. "Yes, yes, you can."

His eyes got bigger. "Can you have five, or ten, or a hundred!? I want all the Mamas!"

Yinyu blinked. "You know, foals speak faster than they think. It is a challenging experience for a mind reader. How about you focus on smaller numbers for now. Being a Mama is a big commitment, and not just anyone can do it."

I was half-expecting Lántiān to make some discouraging comments about her mother's commitment, but the comments never came. She seemed very focused on her little brother, even as she held her daughter tightly. 

Líng looked at me with a serious expression. "Can you be my Mama too? Two sounds like a good number of Mamas, at least to start."

I choked out a laugh and hugged him tightly. I didn't say anything, but I think he understood my answer anyway.