//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34: Making Preparations 
// Story: There's a Monster Pony Outside My Window 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

Wendy was trying to hold her rage in check. Her daughter could die, and these ponies wanted to sit there and socialize with each other with no sense of urgency. This older version of Andrea said she was in a hurry, but she sat there and had a polite conversion with the older version of Kristin; she even did it with Andrea on her back! Andrea was going to die while these ponies were talking. Miss Newman or whatever they wanted to call her here at least took quick and decisive actions. Why couldn't these other ponies do the same?

Still supported by Charles, she hobbled through a side door into a large room. This room looked like some sort of guard station. Several guards were in attendance, both humans and ponies. One was in an area with camera feeds for what she assumed were all the rooms, and there were benches and lockers. All of them were wearing a uniform labeled S.P.E.C., whatever that was, some security company, probably.

"Miss Portsmith, the Dreamwarden is on the line. She is ready to do a video call with you," one of the guards informed old Andrea.

"Thank goodness; she's being quick. Put her on the big screen," old Andrea ordered and turned to face a big black panel on the wall.

The panel lit up, and a pony was staring at them from it with a messing-looking mane. 

"Aunt Andrea, I take it my mom is back, and there's a problem," the pony on the screen said in a tired voice, then yawned. She then squinted at them. "Don't tell me, that's a much younger version of you draped over your back. Why is she wearing my mom's necklace?"

Old Andrea took a deep breath. "Thank you for being perceptive. Yeah, it's me, probably about ten years old or so. Your mother brought the whole damn family back with her, and she brought the intruders too. There was a skirmish in her workshop, and from what I can tell, the fanatic unicorn blasted little me with a narrowly-focused high-intensity horn blast. It went right through one side and out the other, hitting I don't know how many organs and leaving her short of a lot of blood. I took the necklace off your mom and put it on her. It was the only thing I could think to do."

"And my mom is out for the count. Otherwise, she would be the one making this call, correct?" the mare on the screen asked. She waited for old Andrea to nod before continuing. "That means you need a team of surgeons who can be discreet, and you need them fast. How long has she had the necklace on?"

"Less than half an hour," old Andrea answered quickly. 

"Good, that gives me plenty of time. I'll make arrangements the second this call is over and let you know where to take her," the mare on the screen said. "And you need to do some containment about this incident too; I take it. I'll dispatch the Marshmallow. Expect the Marshmallow in less than an hour, perhaps as soon as in the next few minutes, the Marshmallow's astral form can move faster than Rainbow Dash. Is there anything else that I critically need to know that can't wait until later tonight to be addressed? My mom isn't dying or anything, correct? No further security breaches involving her workshop?"

Old Andrea shook her head. "There are things that need to be addressed, but they can wait until later. Your mother took a blast too, but she took it in human form, and she seemed no worse for wear after I took the necklace off her. I'm still deciding what to do with the intruders, but perhaps the Marshmallow can aid with that."

"We'll see," the other mare replied. "I'll call you back shortly. Stay close to get the call. The faster we get this surgery underway, the better. Goodbye for now."

"Goodbye, Phobia," old Andrea replied, and the screen went black again. 

Wendy felt a little better now. Phobia seemed to be on the ball when getting things done and accessing the situation. However, she seemed to behave oddly for someone whose mother had just been in mortal danger. 

"Phobia seems very...distant," Charles remarked. He must have noticed how odd she was too. 

Old Andrea blinked. "I have only met my niece a few times, but Phobia rarely shows much emotion about anything, is very calm, very serious, and rarely leaves her house except for official business. She is one of the few introverted ponies I know. Most ponies are scared shitless of her, probably because of her titles, Warden of Fear and Queen of Nightmares. Despite all that, she can be very kind and considerate in her actions. I'm just glad she was brief. She has a habit of saying way more than is needed and lecturing people at length. I guess she's saving that for later. She'll definitely be giving her mother a long lecture about all this."

"So, we wait for her to call back?" Wendy asked, fretting about how much time was ticking away while Andrea still hadn't gotten any attention.

"Yeah, take a seat. It may be a few minutes," old Andrea answered. "I hate having to wait, but we have to have this done right, or we lose her because we rushed and messed something up. I suppose I can get her off my back too. I'm not carrying her to the hospital like this. She's not that heavy, but I'm not young enough to be lugging around a filly everywhere without getting a backache."

Charles helped Wendy over to one of the benches and then went to take Andrea's sleeping form off her older self's back. "Do you have a pony name? Calling you old Andrea is going to get confusing."

Old Andrea shook her head. "Never took a pony name; seemed like a stupid idea to begin with, and immediately after the pandemic, that kind of thing could have gotten me blacklisted in the government and law enforcement, although I ended up blacklisted anyway, on account of Sunset being Sunset. I swear she's the bane of my existence. I don't have any nicknames either. No offense, but I'm not changing my name on account of mini-me. I've had my name longer than she has."

The door opened, and Miss Newman and her unicorn son came in. Miss Newman seemed well and alert, not suffering after her previous injury.

"What did I miss? Where are the other kids?" Miss Newman asked as she walked in.

"Why, thank you, Andrea, for saving my life," old Andrea said caustically. "You're welcome, Sunset. I'm glad you aren't dead."

Miss Newman scowled as she came over to them. "No need to be rude, and, yes, thank you for that. I had hoped someone would be intelligent enough to think to take my necklace off. I'm glad you aren't an idiot."

"More than I can say for you," old Andrea growled. "This is one of the most insane things you have ever done, and you have done some insane things in your day. By the way, why do they all have magic? They said Kristin was the only one who put the necklace on before I had to put it on mini-me."

Wendy gaped. "What do you mean, we have magic? We don't have magic."

"I'm a crystal pony. I can tell if you have magic. I might not be great at telling PREQUES numbers, but you two are at least moderate strength, and Kristin and Charlotte both have a lot for their age. I can't read mini-me correctly while she has the necklace on and didn't pay attention to that part when I first saw her."

Miss Newman seemed as taken aback as they were. "I… I don't know. Maybe it's a side effect of time travel. I haven't had test subjects before this, so I don't know what kinds of complications it could bring. I wouldn't expect that, and certainly not to that extent."

"Of course, you wouldn't. You just do things without a second thought about not knowing what will happen! No wonder they call you the Mad Archmage!" old Andrea fumed. 

"Only you and Sinker call me that," Miss Newman muttered. "I also don't know if it was the time travel. Triss said something about a boon and didn't explain herself."

"You got involved with Triss too, and you thought that would go well?!" old Andrea demanded. 

"I was out of options!" Miss Newman said defensively. "Would you rather I let the military catch them, and they never get a second of freedom again?"

"I would rather it didn't get to that point!" old Andrea countered. 

Miss Newman seemed to notice Andrea in Charles's arms for the first time. "Why is she wearing my necklace?"

"That unicorn shot her. She lost a lot of blood and has a lot of internal damage," old Andrea answered. "Putting that necklace on her was all I could think to do."

All the lights and electric equipment seemed to flicker, and the light seemed to dim as Miss Newman's horn sparked into a furious blaze.

"I'll kill him!" Miss Newman snarled in rage.

Old Andrea seemed to pale and raised her forehooves placatingly. "Sunset… there's no need to go all murderous psychopath. You don't know your strength right now. I have him contained, and he'll see justice done to him. Just calm yourself before you burn down the house."

Miss Newman's eyes crossed as she looked up at her horn, and she did a startled backpedal as it flickered out. "Goddammit, Triss! Nobody asked for this! I don't want this!"

"Don't call the dragon down on us!" old Andrea scolded. 

"Are we going to have stuff start happening around us?" Wendy asked, fearful. 

Old Andrea shrugged.  "Maybe… there's no way of knowing till something happens. Human magic is very unpredictable. We'll need to make sure you're registered. I'm sorry to say this, but we may need to keep you away from the hospital while mini-me is being worked on."

"I'm going to be there; it's my daughter!" Wendy yelled. 

"But human magic has been known to interact with electronics, and the hospital has a lot of sensitive stuff," old Andrea explained calmly as if speaking to a child. "We can't risk you having a surge there of something bad and inadvertently hurting her or the other patients. I know it's hard, but you need to be careful until we know for sure what we're dealing with."

"I know a pony who specializes in helping humans get a grip on their magic," Miss Newman said, giving them a sympathetic look. "Andrea's right. Until you have it figured out, it's best to keep you away from electronic equipment keeping people alive. Speaking of medical stuff, Shǔguāng, can you please help her with that leg and arm? I'm not sure if you can fix the arm, but the sprained ankle I'm sure you can fix."

The other unicorn walked up to Wendy and lit his horn. "Hold still; I need to scan you with my magic to determine the extent of the injury before attempting to repair it. This part will not hurt."

Wendy shied back. "This part?"

"The actual mending can cause a brief sensation of pain. Consider it like ripping a bandaid off. It hurts while it's happening, but it's quickly over with," Shǔguāng explained. "Please, don't move around. I'll tell you whether I can treat the injury in a moment."

She tried to hold still as he gazed at her, horn still lit. It was unclear if anything was happening. She didn't feel anything, and he was just standing there doing nothing. 

Almost a minute passed before the light of his horn went out. "The sprained ankle I could fix in a second, it will be no problem. The arm has already healed enough that I can complete the process, but I would need to sustain the spell for about five additional seconds and would need you to be held relatively still for those five seconds. It would be intense pain for that entire duration. It's up to you whether you want me to do it or wait until it finishes healing naturally, which will still be a few days. Five additional seconds of pain can feel like an eternity, so you might decide not to. Do you want me to heal the ankle and then decide about the arm?"

"If you can do both, then do both. I can stand six seconds of pain," Wendy assured him. It was worth it to get her full mobility back. 

He nodded. "You'll need to be restrained to keep you from jerking around. Auntie, can you do it?"

"Give a second to get a grip on this enhanced power. I don't want to hurt her by accident," Miss Newman quickly said and lit her horn. 

A nearby bench glowed the same blue color as her horn. It was only glowing for about a second before the entire bench was crushed into a ball. 

Miss Newman gasped, and the light went out on her head. "No! No way! I'm not going to even try to lift my Bible until I'm used to this. How much fucking power did that dragon give me?!"

"A lot," old Andrea said grimly. "She didn't just push you into the strong territory; you're up there with Starlight Glimmer levels of strength. Heaven, please help us. The world did not need that."

"I was trying to be gentle!" Miss Newman exclaimed. 

The guards were whispering to one another in fearful tones. Old Andrea was shaking her head in exasperation. Shǔguāng blinked and looked at his mother in disbelief. Wendy was staring at the bench with her eyes so wide they felt like they might pop out. Miss Newman was not going to touch her with any magic ever after that. Holy shit!

Charles took it in incredible stride. He set Andrea carefully down on the floor and sat down next to Wendy. "I can hold your leg still. We don't need magic for that. I'm not sure I can keep the rest of you still for a full six seconds. I'm guessing he means very still. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked Miss Newman."

"Auntie's name is Sunset Blessing, not Miss Newman. She only uses that name when she is going out in public as a human," Shǔguāng scolded, sounding offended that they'd addressed his mother by the wrong name. Wendy found that hypocritical, considering she was his mother, and he called her Auntie.

"The arm can wait. Being able to walk again is good enough," Wendy replied. "Go ahead, Charles, grab the leg."

Charles nodded and took a firm grip on her leg. Even that much hurt and Wendy tightly gripped the side of the bench with her free hand and eyes closed. 

"Whenever you are ready," Charles said. 

The discomfort suddenly surged into a massive spike of agony, and Wendy screamed and involuntarily jerked her leg back, but Charles had a good grip. It was over as fast as that, without even any discomfort. 

"You can open your eyes. It's over, and you should be able to stand pain-free. I'll see if I can find a unicorn later who can hold you still without breaking every bone in your body in the process."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea I was that strong!" Miss Newman said in a pleading tone. 

"And think, you could have turned all four of those fanatical freaks into paste instead of letting yourself and mini-me get shot," old Andrea said dryly. 

"I didn't know! Triss didn't tell me!" Miss Newman fumed. 

Old Andrea snorted. "Perhaps it is for the best. Yeah, it would have been good to have avoided this, but you'd probably have leveled the entire house in the process and killed all of us."

Wendy stood up, testing her leg. It seemed perfectly fine, like she'd never injured it at all. Charles picked Andrea up and stood up beside her. Andrea stirred in his arms and began opening her eyes. 

"Keep her calm," Miss Newman warned. "We can't afford for her to have a surge. It could fry the necklace. Honestly, it would be best if she were kept asleep."

"I don't know how to do a sleep spell. You never taught me," Shǔguāng said accusingly. 

"I haven't taught you a lot of spells I never had the power for," Miss Newman replied. "I'm not going to try. The way things are now, I could put her into a coma. Just keep her calm."

Andrea blinked a few times and looked around. "What's going on? Why's everybody looking at me?" She spotted Andrea and Shǔguāng and gasped, then tried to scramble out of her father's arms to safety. 

He gripped her tighter. "Andrea, it's okay! These are friendly ponies. One of them is future you, the one with the sparkly fur. Say hi."

Andrea stopped struggling and turned around to look. Wendy was unsure if it had even registered to Andrea yet that she was much smaller and had a tail and four legs. Andrea focused on old Andrea and blinked some more before waving a hoof timidly. "Hi."

Old Andrea waved a hoof in return. "Hi, kid. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling okay," Andrea replied, then noticed her leg for the first time. She stared at it for a second before crossing her eyes to stare at her muzzle. She then took her hoof and booped herself in the nose. After that, she started reaching for the necklace. 

"No, no, no! Hooves off that!" Miss Newman said, rushing forward. "That stays on till we tell you to take it off, and you don't touch it with your hooves at all."

Andrea withdrew her hoof and turned her head to look at her backside. She looked at her tail and flipped it a few times. "Huh, that's not as weird as I thought it would be," was all she said.

"But it is a violation of Dreamwarden code… I need to learn what numbers we assign things. Arbiter, Yinyu, Ghadab, can someone help me out here? What's the code number? I don't normally do all this legal rule stuff," a disembodied voice rang out. 

Miss Newman's face fell. "Oh, no. Is that who I think it is?"

Old Andrea nodded. "Yep, the Marshmallow has arrived. Time for even more insanity."

"Three-D? Really? Do we actually have a code that is labeled Three-D? That's kind of funny, considering I don't always operate in three-d," the voice continued. "Okay, violation of code Three-D! Something- something- something, you didn't ask permission to use mind magic, yadda-yadda-yadda."

"Kill me now!" Miss Newman whined. 

"Well, I don't think it's that serious," the disembodied voice said, sounding confused. "We would need to have a trial for that, and I don't think there would be enough votes to kill you over it. I wouldn't vote to kill you."

"I didn't mean that literally!" Miss Newman yelled. 

"Oh, that makes more sense. Um, did you do the thing or… oh, wait, Phobia is telling me now. I'm up to speed—I gotcha. I'm cool. Andrea Portsmith, you're fined five-hundred dollars," the disembodied voice said happily. 

"Are you seriously fining me for saving someone's life!" old Andrea bellowed.

"Um, oh...wait, they just told me it was a life or death situation, and I shouldn't have done that, sorry about that," the voice said. Wendy still couldn't tell what gender the voice was. It didn't sound like a computer either. 

Old Andrea snorted. 

"But…" the voice continued. "Since I said it, now it is a Dreamwarden issued fine, and it stands."

"WHAT??!!" old Andrea screamed. 

"Uh… you could try to dispute it with the OMMR guys. Once I say it, it's in their control. They're quick like that. You can say I made a boo-boo. I can confirm it, if that helps," the voice said apologetically. 

Miss Newman slapped a hoof to her face. "I'll just pay the damn fine for her."

"I'm sorry. Phobia didn't really give me direction when she sent me over here, and I normally don't do this stuff without direction," the voice continued to apologize. "I'm the messenger and ears, not the enforcer. I don't know all this procedural stuff well."

Miss Newman shook her head. "Just don't make any more decrees without clearing it with the others, okay? Your words are as binding as theirs."

"Yeah, okay. They're already chewing me out and glaring at me," the voice answered. "Well, and laughing."

Little Andrea looked around. "Where is the voice coming from?"

"Probably a speaker, hun," Charles assured her. 

A giant white amorphous blob appeared in the air above them, sporting a smiling face that looked like it was drawn on paper by a small child. 

"No, speaker, well, other than me, the person speaking, which is technically a speaker. Hi! I'm the Marshmallow!"