//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Making Changes // Story: Partial // by Halira //------------------------------// Scarlet Eclipse sat in her office, lazily flipping through the large piles of paperwork on her desk. To an outsider, it probably looked like a horrible mess, but she knew where every document, chart, and report was. Organized chaos, they called it. As she fiddled with the pile, her phone’s speaker continued to carry the sounds of her outbound call. Come on, Orion, pick up the phone! She thought to herself, chuckling at the thought that her son had hardly changed since going to college. Finally, the phone clicked, and the cheerful voice of her son greeted her. “Hey, Mom!” he replied. “What’s up?” “Oh, not much,” Scarlet smiled. “I just figured I’d give you a call and catch up a little.” “Everything’s good!” Orion quickly replied. Scarlet raised a curious eyebrow, unsurprised that her son was rushing through a call. “How was your first day of class?” “Like… well, class,” Orion replied with a chuckle. “My general classes were pretty boring, but the physics class was super cool.” “Oh yeah?” Scarlet smirked. “That’s the class taught by Doctor Middleton, right?” “Yes!” the colt answered. “I was a little nervous at first, but not as much as she was before class.” “Oh?” Scarlet asked, unsure of what Orion meant. “I feel kind of bad. I think she had a panic attack before class even started. She calmed down, though, and she seemed pretty cool when we talked briefly after class. It made me feel less… weird about wanting to do what I wanna do.” “That’s wonderful, Orion. I always told you that you could go wherever you wanted to as long as you were determined enough, and hopefully, you keep at it.” “Thanks, Mom,” Orion paused. “How’s your and Dad’s work been going?” “It’s been good,” Scarlet nodded. “Your father’s been running his online class and helping me with some of my projects. I’d put him on now, but tonight’s a lecture night, so he’s hard at work with that.” “That’s awesome,” The colt sounded enthused. “What kind of stuff do they have you working on now?” Scarlet smiled and eyed several documents that she had started to organize.  “Well, it just so happens that your professor caused quite the stir at NASA, and I got called in to help with some new project.” Scarlet had spent many years staring into space and just as many working away to get her doctorate. She had been among the first to journey to Equestria to assist with one of their most important astronomy programs— programs to which many of her contributions had been the foundation of her thesis. It was this thesis that earned her her doctorate and, more importantly, landed her a pretty sweet gig as a private contractor for NASA. While she was more than happy with running her own observatory back home, the chance to be a part of NASA was impossible to turn down, even if it meant that her family had once again relocated.  For the last five years, Scarlet had been a very busy mare. She had gotten a pretty good teaching job in Skytree, had regularly spent summers in Equestria, had moved back to Arizona, and now was in Denver for who knows how much longer. The nature of Scarlet’s work naturally meant that days off and vacations were far, and few between, but none of it bothered her— at least as long as she could spend time with her family. The work she was doing was just that important. “Oooh!” Orion interjected, breaking up her thoughts. “Can you tell me what kind of project it is?” “I can,” Scarlet nodded. “But you have to swear a vow of secrecy,” She chuckled. Orion laughed too. “Oh yeah? Are you working in Area 51 or something? Are the men in black going to kick down my door and whisk me and Trinket away to some secret facility or something?” “You wish,” Scarlet continued to laugh. “It’s nothing that cool.” “You work for NASA, Mom. That’s very cool,” Orion reminded her. “If you really wanna know, we’re working on the Starpiercer some more. Studying the distant reaches of the cosmos for… something. This time, we’re looking in the Pinwheel Galaxy.” “Something?” “Mhmm,” Scarlet replied. “I can’t tell you what because… well, I don’t even know yet.” “They’re having you look for something, and you don’t even know what?” “Pretty much,” Scarlet shrugged. “Remember what I showed you when we visited Equestria last summer?” “At Starry’s observatory?” “Yes,” Scarlet confirmed. “If you remember, Starry Skies and Princess Luna had found some odd anomalies while charting out more of their world’s space. Distant echos of thaumic energy that couldn’t be seen but could be heard.” “Kind of like how we can find black holes from how their gravity affects the surrounding space?” “Something like that,” Scarlet smiled proudly. “This is supposed to be something similar… just, well, unknown to us.” “Sounds cool,” Orion replied, perhaps a little too longingly. “You want to see it, don’t you?” Scarlet asked. “I… well…” Orion tried to sound disinterested. “Maybe?” Scarlet’s grin grew wider. Nothing could make her more proud than having her son be so interested in her work. “Maybe? Orion, you know I could probably pull some strings and get you in here sometime.” “For a top-secret project?” “I guess it depends on what we find,” She admitted. “But you never know.” “Okay… that would be incredible.” Scarlet glanced at her watch and frowned. “I gotta get back to work soon. The Starpiercer’s calibration process should finish soon; then, I have to investigate some anomalies before sunrise.” “I’ll let you get back to that then.” “It was nice talking to you, Orion; tell Trinket I said hi.” “Of course,” Orion replied. “You guys have to come over for dinner sometime; I know Trinket would love it.” Scarlet smiled. “I’ll talk with Dad, and we’ll find a good time. I love you, Orion.” “I love you too, mom.” The call ended, and Scarlet closed her eyes for a moment.  “Starpiercer’s ready to go, Mrs. Eclipse,” Came the voice of one of Scarlet’s long-term assistants, Tyler Anderson. “Perfect,” She sat up in her chair and stretched out. “Is Sarah already in the lab?” “Mhmm,” Tyler responded. “She’s inputting the coordinates now.” “Better get this show on the road then,” Scarlet stood up. As she and Tyler walked down the hallway, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anxiety. Scarlet had been working on these kinds of projects for a long while now, but the reality of her work was that she was privy to things that were both exciting and frightening.  “What do you think they’ll have us look for tonight?” Tyler asked. “Probably more breadcrumbs,” Scarlet shrugged. While she wasn’t always given the exact details of the stuff she was looking for, she was one of the few who actively knew the reality of the cosmic horror that existed in deep space, a horror that was slowly making its way toward Earth—the Devourers. Many laughed at the idea that intelligent life could exist in the rest of the universe, but Scarlet’s research and findings painted a different picture entirely, which is why her work was so important to her. “You don’t think we’ll find something?” “Oh, I think we’ll find stuff alright; it’s just a matter of whether it’s what the director’s looking for.” “What is the director looking for?” “Honestly,” Scarlet paused and looked at Tyler. “I don’t know. All I know is that they’ve given us the go-ahead to alter The Starpiercer’s position to get a better look at the Pinwheel Galaxy, and the administration’s diverted resources away from other projects to do so.” “You think it’s something big?” Scarlet nodded. “Has to be, right? I mean, you’ve seen the preliminary readings; it’s not just your average black holes or dying stars.” “Guess we’ll find out.” The two entered the control room and were greeted by Scarlet’s other assistant, Sarah Conners.  “Ah, the two intrepid explorers have returned!” Sarah excitedly greeted the pair. “Is our baby ready?” Scarlet asked. “Mhmm, she’s all calibrated and awaiting instructions.” Scarlet sat down at her terminal and pulled on a headset. “Alrighty, let’s dance.” Tyler and Sarah both took their seats and typed a few commands. Scarlet’s terminal lit up with activity, and she began to make some finer adjustments as the telemetry slowly updated. It would be more than a few minutes until they had any images, and it would take even longer for those images to actually render at a resolution that could give the team any usable data. It was Scarlet’s hope, however, that the initial findings would tell her something… anything. The computers began to beep, and Scarlet glanced over to Sarah, who was noting something down. “We’re locked onto the region,” Sarah said. “Should be getting the initial data shortly.” “Perfect,” Scarlet replied. “How are the readings, Tyler?” “Still waiting on the data to download.” “Alrighty,” Scarlet nodded.  She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. On any other night, she might have slipped into a waking dream to discuss stuff with her husband, Silver, or her team members back at her observatory in the Oasis. Tonight was different, though. She could feel it— in some cases, literally. “You think we’ll get anything back from this?” Sarah asked, looking up from her computer. “Funny, Tyler asked the same thing,” Scarlet laughed. “I have a good feeling, though.” “Luna’s Sight giving you some good vibes?” Scarlet nodded. The sight in question referred to her special talent— an ability to get a good, almost instinctual understanding of the stars and other celestial bodies in space. It wasn’t Scarlet who discovered the particular region they were looking at tonight, but after looking at some of the initial data and findings, she had a good feeling that something would be out there. Her talent might not have been as strong as Orion’s, but she could still read pictures of that region of space like a book, even if the significance weren’t readily evident to her. “Data’s coming in now,” Tyler cut in. Scarlet perked up in her seat and checked her monitor. “I’m getting the low-res images too.” The pictures, as blurry as they were, were still nonetheless clearer than any they had gotten before. Tyler suddenly gasped, drawing Scarlet’s attention over to him once more. “This can’t be right; you sure you calibrated it correctly, Sarah?” “Pretty sure,” Sarah replied. “What’s up?” Tyler stood up and waved Scarlet over. “The data is showing incredibly high amounts of Thaumic Energy. We’re talking off the charts. Bigger than anything we’ve ever seen before.” Scarlet raised a skeptical eyebrow and slid over, using her wings to quite literally propel her chair. A quick look at the data readings showed that, indeed, they were far higher than usual. She quickly slid back over to her desk and pulled up one of the images, trying to discern what might be the cause of the spike. “This is…” Scarlet started to speak, but couldn’t find the words. “Something’s weird.” “What is it?” Sarah asked.  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Scarlet shook her head. She tapped away at her keyboard, and suddenly an image filled the giant screen before the trio. “I won’t know until we get the high-resolution images in, but it almost seems like the energy Tyler saw is coming from an impossibly small object— perhaps the size of Neptune. I'd have expected something bigger, like a star. The only reason we are seeing it, even with Starpiercer, is because of how much energy it is giving off.” She pointed at a seemingly insignificant point in the image. “We need to call the director and forward this to the rest of the team.” “What do you want me to say?” Sarah asked. “OH, You found it!” A voice suddenly squealed in glee, scaring Scarlet nearly to death. Scarlet’s head snapped to the side, noticing the strange ethereal form of The Marshmallow, who was floating in space with an enormously large grin on her face. “What?!” Scarlet asked in surprise. “What is it, Scarlet?” Tyler asked. Scarlet waved him away and lowered her voice. “You? Reb—” She caught herself and refrained from invoking the Warden’s proper name. “Marshmallow… What have we just found?” Rebecca, of course, was one of her former students. While the chubby pegasus might not have been the most stellar student in the world academically speaking, she had an enthusiastic attitude and an optimistic side that set her apart from the rest. Scarlet was never the kind of pony to judge someone on appearances alone, and Rebecca was the perfect example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Especially given her private role as one of Earth’s Dreamwardens. For this reason, Scarlet had no doubts that it was Rebecca who had pulled some of the strings that landed her a job here. The fact that she was observing Scarlet and her team’s progress was no surprise to her, but Scarlet still hated when she made surprise entrances.  “Hey! No name-dropping! Now I have to send agents in there to do all that swear-to-secrecy stuff," Rebecca huffed.  "Hey, I didn’t! That’s not fair—” Scarlet paused, took a deep breath, and asked her question again. “Marshmallow, what did we find?" The ethereal Marshmallow beamed excitedly and seemed to flutter around the room, invisible to the two humans but perfectly real to Scarlet.  "Exactly what I thought you would! I think you’ve all earned a big plate of cookies!” The Warden cheerfully exclaimed."You found Jeg'galla'gamp'pi, the first and last place." Jordan yawned and rolled over in her bed. Well, it was a bed, anyway. It had been there when she arrived. She hadn't asked whose room this had previously been. Whoever it had been, they had an affinity for red since all the upholstery was scarlet. She doubted it was Auntie Sunset's. Auntie sunset wouldn't have been able to tell where her boy began and ended in this sea of crimson. Maybe one of her sons found the color comforting, reminding them of their mother. That was kinda creepy to put too much thought into. She needed to redecorate this place. She needed more income than her allowance allowed to do that. Her allowance made sure she could pay for her essential needs, but it didn't provide anything beyond that. She was living in a mansion, but she wasn't rich.  She put on her jewelry and wandered into the bathroom. After a quick shower and a drying spell, she walked down to the kitchen. Legal Brief, Amicus's husband, was eating a salad on the floor.  Jordan looked at him. "Why are you sitting on the floor? There's a perfectly good dining room table in the next room. Are you okay?" "It's built for humans," Legal Brief replied. "Sunset and Andrea are happy using the old human furniture, but Ami and I prefer things built for ponies. There's an entirely different size and scale between things built for humans and things built for ponies. Most human things are not ergonomic for ponies at all. We're old enough that if it makes us physically uncomfortable, we'll not use it. The floor is clean, and it's less work on our old legs to sit down here." She blinked. "Aren't you both lawyers? I'd think you'd be used to human furniture since most wealthy people who can pay for lawyers are human." Legal Brief chuckled. "Lawyers for ponies, filly. We were lawyers when we were human, accurate, but we didn't continue to be lawyers just because of that. You're too young to remember, and you grew up in Sunset's little Shimmerist city-state, but elsewhere ponies had to deal with humans and human law, and the world was not always kind or just to ponies. Someone had to fight for them in the courts. Someone had to be ready to represent them and understand what ponies went through. It wasn't right; the stuff people tried to pull and human lawyers who would legitimately make an effort to represent ponies were few and far between, especially for ponies who were dirt poor."  He pointed at his cutie mark, a stack of papers with a stylized set of justice scales on them, very similar to his wife's, who had the same stylized scales over a heart. "It was our calling to help them. It is who we are." "Seems like a calling that isn't needed anymore. There are laws protecting ponies now," Jordan replied.  Legal Brief shook his head. "Things are better than they were back then, much better, but there are still incidents where ponies are victims of discrimination. Prejudice is not something that can be eradicated in a generation or two or by the mere passing of a law, and a world and law code made by humans for humans unintentionally discriminates against ponies by its nature and needs to be redesigned to be just for all, often by challenges in court. That's why my Ami still keeps taking cases. I would, too, if I still had the vigor for it, but age is catching up to me faster than it is her." "Well, I'm not taking on the whole system, and I don't exactly have lots of money, so I can't replace the furniture. If you and Amicus want to buy new furniture, I'm not stopping you. I'm sure you have more spare cash than I do," Jordan replied.  Legal Brief smiled. "You know, a lot of this stuff is vintage or antique, dating back to the Gillded Age in some cases, and has the added notoriety of having been owned by Sunset Blessing. If you put some of it up for auction, you might have some money to redecorate–and space to do it." Jordan blinked. "Can I do that?" "It's your stuff now. As long as it isn't in the vaults, the real estate, or something owned by one of the other house residents, it's fair game to do what you want with it," Legal Brief answered.  "Huh," Jordan said thoughtfully.  She did want to redecorate and make this place feel more like home. Getting this old stuff out and having money to buy things that suited her tastes would go a long way toward that. It was also something to do while applying to colleges in the area and waiting for responses.  "Can you help me with that?" she asked. "I don't know anything about setting up a huge auction." He nodded. "You'll have to get a list of things to auction. You might want to bring in an appraiser to tell you what's worth auctioning and what you're wasting your time with." "Um, I can't afford to hire an appraiser," Jordan replied as her ears sagged.  "I'd be willing to front that bill if it means we can get some furniture that is built for both humans and ponies here," Legal Brief replied, then took another bite of his salad.  She smiled. "Thank you. I'll be happy to have this place feeling more like my home instead of Auntie Sunset's, and I'll be happy to have you not eating on the floor." "Did I hear something about selling the furniture?" Jordan turned and saw Amicus enter the kitchen, heading to the fridge. "I'd like to redecorate," Jordan replied   Amicus pulled a gallon of milk from the fridge and set it on the floor. "I have no problem with that, but it might be a little more difficult than you think. I'm assuming my husband told you that you'll need to get the stuff appraised. That is true, but you can't let an appraiser walk around the house. The decore will have to come to the appraiser. There's a lot of stuff in this house. At the very least, you'd have to take it out to the yard for the appraiser to look over." That was a lot to haul outside. She could levitate a decent amount if only trying to move it a few feet, but trying to carry furniture with her horn across the house, especially this older furniture that could weigh a few hundred pounds, seemed more than she could do. Teleporting the furniture outside was impossible with the house defenses. Amicus and Legal Brief had earth pony strength, but they were also older, and she couldn't ask them to do all that heavy lifting for her. Jessie might help her, and Jessie was strong like an earth pony, but she was just one person.  Time to work smarter, not harder. "I'll take pictures of all the stuff and share them with the appraiser. Problem solved." Amicus gave her a thoughtful frown. "You'll still need to put up sheets or something to hide the area around each item. With the number of pictures you'd be taking, someone could put together a layout of the house by looking at the backgrounds." Jordan stomped a hoof in frustration. "Isn't that being paranoid?" The old mare shook her head. "It might sound like I'm trying to shut this idea down, but I'd love a change in decor as much as you two. However, it would help if you thought harder about how to do this while maintaining our security. I would be remiss in my duties as my little sister's lawyer if I didn't try to ensure her instructions were followed. Those instructions are for our safety. My sister, and I acting as her agent, may seem paranoid, but you'd be amazed at what past intruders have used to try to get around security." Jordan groaned. "Fine, what about the rec room? We let those representatives go in there. Can we do something in there instead of the yard?" Amicus seemed to think about it. "That is acceptable. The rec room and the foyer are selectively open to visitors." "I'll call the appraiser," Legal Brief joyfully said. "Phone, call Melanie Stutts." Jordan raised an eyebrow. "You have an appraiser on speed dial?" "Needed her for certain legal cases. You have to establish the value of property someone lost if you're going to argue about financial compensation for the property," Legal Brief explained as the phone was still ringing.  The phone line picked up. "Mister Brief, nice to hear from you. It's been some time since you called. Is your wife in need of my assistance?" "No, Miss Stutts. The new owner of Wabash Manor, Miss Gilmore, wants to do some housecleaning and get all this antique furniture out of here. She wants to do an auction. A lot of the furniture is as old as the house." "Hmm, some of that furniture is over a hundred and fifty years old. Now's the best time to do such an auction for those items. Guilded Age is all the vogue with collectors right now," Miss Stutts said happily. "Frankly, even if it wasn't antique, anything said to have been owned by Sunset Blessing has value on the market. You could see used toilet paper sell if she used it. The Blessingists will pay top dollar for it, and Blessingists, unlike Shimmerists, tend not to be broke." "Does that extend to her sisters?" Legal Brief asked with a chuckle. "I'm sure my wife would be more than happy to contribute used toilet paper." "Not likely, sadly," Miss Stutts answered with a laugh. "I don't think any preappraisal is needed. If you want to go straight to auction, I would be happy to attend to appraise on the spot to help give opening amounts for bids." "Let me check with Miss Gilmore about that," Legal Brief said.  "That sounds like it's faster. Do that," Jordan said quickly.  "We have a yes," Legal Brief told the appraiser. "I think she wants this done ASAP. It needs to be done on the property, likely out in the yard." "ASAP it is then," Miss Stutts replied. "I can set up the whole thing for Friday or Saturday evening. That would normally be too soon, but given the notoriety of who the owner was and the fact you are letting people past the gates, even to just the yard–something people would pay for, even if there was no auction, we should have a good turnout. Let's discuss commissions. My standard fee for something like this is one percent. I know the auctioneer will request two. Given where the auction is happening, we could charge participants an entry fee, just enough to keep the gawkers out, and you would get five percent of the entry fee proceeds while the auctioneer would get ninety, and I get five. I cannot say for sure what we should expect in profit since I have not yet seen the goods, but it's reasonable to expect this auction will raise several million dollars." Jordan gaped. Several million? She hadn't expected anything like that. She'd expected a few thousand dollars, enough to redo the furniture in a few rooms with something simple, not enough to make her a millionaire. She wouldn't even have to worry about getting new scholarships for school; she could pay for school out of pocket.   "Friday or Saturday is good," Jordan whispered, keeping her voice down so she wouldn't seem to be freaking out. What was she even going to do with all that money? Mellanie Stutts hung up the phone with a smile. Having such a potentially lucrative job land in her lap was a rarity. If this was half as good as she expected, she might end up making almost as much as she usually made in a year. Collecting just one percent of sales could net her a five or six-digit payoff. She doubted there was anything that would push it into a seven-figure payout for her, but there was always the dream of it.  However, she needed to put in a lot of work today, despite it being her off day. She had some clients to call and an advertisement to draw up to distribute. She also needed to contact the auctioneer, who was likely to be excited as she was about this. There was one client who had already been asking if there had been inquiries about appraisals since Wabash Manor had changed ownership. Whether that client had some inside information or was just taking a chance was unknown, but they'd be first on her call list. She placed the call.  "Hello, who's this?" the voice on the other side of the line asked.  "It's Mepanie Stutts, the appraiser in Denver you contacted yesterday," Miss Stutts answered. "You called me a day too early. The new owner is setting up an auction, and it will be performed on Wabash Manor grounds. May I put you down as an attendee? There will be an entry fee of a hundred dollars." "Yes, put me down. I'm excited to come," the voice answered.  Miss Stutts nodded. "Glad to hear it, and will be happy to see you there at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." "I'm overjoyed to be invited. Send me an email with the date and time, and I'll be there. I'll pay the fee in cash." "Will do," Miss Stutts replied and hung up.  That was quick and easy. She made a quick note to start her list that C.S. Diego would be attending. Jessica entered the living room and found her parents sitting on the couch. She'd slept in, and her older brother and his family had all gone to bed before she woke up. There was a lot to do today, and she was already behind schedule. Strangely, that didn't bother her. Her mind was on other things.  "Look who decided to join the land of the living," her dad said as she entered the room. "What time did you end up leaving the hospital?" She thought about it. "One, I think. I wasn't paying attention. And no, I didn't get into arguments with any nurses, although that same nurse looked at me like I was some criminal when I finally took Mark back to his room and tucked him in." Her dad frowned. "Why so late then?" She shrugged. "I waited for Mark to fall asleep before taking him to his room. We were forced to leave his grandmother's room before he fell asleep, and he wasn't ready to go back to his room. I sat in the nearby lobby for a while, with him on my lap, until he finally fell asleep. He stirred a little on the way back to his room but didn't fight me." "That was nice of you, but you didn't need to do that," her dad said.  She sat down on the couch beside her mom. "I wanted to. Someone had to be there for him, and he trusts me. Hold one second." She reached out with her powers to her brother's room. She heard him playing on his Playstation Delta. "Hey, Bro, I'm going to eat some lunch, but after that, do you want to work on the Oldsmobile?"  "Sure thing. Are you going to have time to pack after that?" "I figured you could help me with that after I help you with your car. It's extra time together." He went silent. She heard a game over on his video game. She had a feeling that he had let his guy die because the control had stopped clicking seconds before the sound of the game over, too many seconds for the end to come by accident. Was it distress? His heartbeat did seem a little off. She knew he was unhappy with the fact she was moving out.  "Yeah, we can do that," he answered after a moment.  "Okay, see you in the garage in a few minutes then," she replied, trying to sound cheerful.  Her parents had been waiting quietly for her to finish her conversation and could recognize the signs it was finished. "I never understand how you manage to hold verbal conversation without opening your mouth," her mom said with a shake of her head. "I mean, I understand you are manipulating sound to create your voice, but if I were doing that, I'd still need to talk out loud." "It's like saying things in your head," Jessica answered. She then stood up. "I'm going to get something to eat, work with Dusk on the car for a little while, and then he and I will start packing my room." "Want some additional help?" her dad asked.  She shook her head. "I think this should be a thing with only me and Dusk. He's taking me moving out pretty hard. We need some brother-sister time." Her mom smiled. "I still remember you, at half his current age, promising him you would be the best big sister ever, who'd always look out for him. That was also around the time you told us off for being Shimmerists. It's an interesting experience, being given a wake-up call by a six-year-old." "Wish I could remember exactly what I said. That entire week's events are kind of fuzzy for me. I buried a lot of those memories, and I think I buried some of the good with the bad," Jessica replied. "Maybe I do need to call up the old head shrink or let Phobia do her dirty work in my dreams. Memories keep coming back to me lately. What kind of example do I set for Dusk if I keep being afraid to face those memories?" Her dad frowned. "I'm happy to hear you're considering getting help with that, but it's a rather sudden turnaround. Is it only Dusk you are thinking about setting an example for?" Her ears flicked. "Who else would I be setting an example for?" "Someone else who is scared and needs to learn to face their fears," her dad gently said. "Someone who needs someone to look up to." "You're talking about Mark," Jessica said in realization. She hesitated. Was she even going to be part of his life anymore? He was going to a foster home. "Will I be able to visit him while he's in foster care?" Her dad nodded. "If you want to. It is foster care; it's not prison, even of some kids feel like it is. If it weren't for the fact you'll be busy moving your things into your new apartment, I'd be asking you to help get him settled into the new foster home. He might be less agitated if you were helping him through the process." "Is he eligible for humanization or ponification?" Jessica asked.  Her dad sighed. "He is a different type of case than most partials. He was born partial, so he's never been fully human or pony. It would take Princess Twilight or your auntie with help casting the spell to change him into a full human. Neither of those options is likely. Princess Twilight isn't exactly on call, and your auntie isn't around anymore–not that she'd trust anyone with her knowledge in order to assist her or be allowed by the government. He's never been transformed, so he technically still has his two full transformations available. He's also too young to make that kind of choice, so it isn't worth discussing yet." It was shameful to say, but part of her didn't want him to change from what he was. Yeah, he should learn to have pride in himself, but did pride extend to making life that much harder on himself? He was always going to be hunched over. He'd always be tiny. He wouldn't be able to reproduce. He'd be mocked and jeered at. Perhaps that part of her that didn't want him to change wanted affirmation she wasn't the only unusually built person around. How she felt about it wasn't what was important, it was what he came to feel about it as he grew older. Chances were, he would see it as only a choice between being human or being a pony–both of which would mean going to Equestria. In a kinder world, he might see remaining as he was a legitimate choice, whether he decided to or not. The world was not kind, and the world would make that choice unbearable. It wasn't fair. He should have all three options, no matter what he eventually chooses. "I think I can make some time for Mark tomorrow," she said after consideration. It wouldn't give her much downtime during the day, but she was used to being busy. "What time is he supposed to be moved?" "Nine in the morning," her dad answered. "Are you sure? You've spent more time with him than intended almost every time you've visited. Moving is a big ordeal, you still need to go rent your moving van, and you have work the next day." "I'll manage it, and I won't lose track of time. He needs me there," Jessica replied.  He would need her even after he arrived at the foster home. She'd have to figure out how to arrange regular visits. She hoped she was done with the search for what the Dreamwardens were looking for; that would free up so much time to do things like help care for a kid. It would open up time to try to live her life before the world's end.  The only thing she needed to do was figure out what she wanted out of life. She had never given it a lot of consideration because she assumed she'd be searching for star charts for years yet if she ever found what she was looking for at all.  Her phone started ringing. "Doctor Jessica Middleton speaking," she answered.  "Doctor Middleton, we think we found what you directed us to. Now tell us, what the hell are we looking at?" the director at NASA asked breathlessly.