She didn’t go straight home. She swung by McDonald’s drive-through to pick up a cheeseburger Happy Meal with a mango shake and a garden salad. She could only eat the burgers at McDonald’s since her stomach could only tolerate so much meat, and their burgers were tiny little things. It was hard to differentiate a single from a double, or a triple, for that matter. The patties were all so small. She enjoyed meat but would never get to eat much more than that in a single sitting, at least safely.
The drive-through cashier stared at her ears for an uncomfortable amount of time when collecting her payment and giving her her order. Maybe she should have just had it delivered instead, but she’d already been passing by the McDonald’s on her way home, and she was trying to be a little more careful with spending money and had wanted to avoid the delivery fee. She resolved not to visit that particular McDonald’s again.
The Happy Meal toy was for Furton’s Cat, which made her smile. She’d watched Furton’s Cat all the time when she was a young foal. It seemed like it was still popular. She usually just tossed the toys from these things or gave them to Dusk until he outgrew them, but maybe she could give this to Mark. It was an excellent gateway to introduce him to her favorite cartoon from when she was his age.
Snacking on some fries as she drove, she headed home.
She got home, ate her food, and then bathed. With those things out of the way, she was ready to move on to the next important task. After getting her pajamas on, she sat on her bed and called Mark’s foster home.
“Hi, Jessica?” Jill answered, sounding strangely annoyed.
She blinked at the tone. “Yes. Is everything okay? You sound unhappy.”
Jill sighed. “Sorry about that. You called at a bit of a bad time. Mark is being difficult at the moment, and I don't want to encourage that behavior by giving him a reward–which would be getting to talk to you.”
Jessica frowned. “Difficult, how? He isn’t hiding again, is he?”
“No, he isn’t doing that,” Jill replied. “He wanted cereal for dinner, and he was served a fruit salad instead because he needs a more well-rounded diet than just grains all the time. Now, he is just sitting there, refusing to eat or say anything. Kids do stuff like this sometimes, although it is usually slightly older ones who pull this tactic. They don’t get their way, so they go completely defiant. Consider it the equivalent of a temper tantrum without the yelling, screaming, and crying. At some point, he’ll eat, if only because he wants to move away from the table. I’m not going to require him to eat all of it, but he has to eat at least some of it, enough so he doesn’t go hungry. There are several different types of sliced-up fruit on his plate, so he can pick his preferences.”
“Can I try to convince him to eat?” Jessica asked.
“Not this time,” Jill replied. “Getting told he can see or talk to you if he eats is like a bribe, and that is a bad habit to get into. When good behavior only comes from getting something out of it, kids stop behaving when they don’t think they’re getting anything. Good behavior, especially unprompted good behavior, does deserve to be praised, but it's not a good idea to get into a reward cycle.”
She’d wanted to talk to Mark, but she didn’t want to get in the way of how Jack and Jill handled things around their home. How would she handle Mark refusing to eat his food? She’d never misbehaved…well, she hadn’t misbehaved that much, and she couldn't recall a time she refused to eat her dinner because she didn’t care for what was being served. Had Dusk ever done that with her parents? Maybe, but she must not have paid much attention to how they handled it. She hadn’t even considered how to deal with Mark being defiant or misbehaving or how she would handle discipline. Those were important things to consider and things social services would want to know. Honestly, she’d barely considered the fact he could be defiant or misbehave, even if that was extremely naive on her part.
“Well, after he’s finally eaten, tell him I called and plan to be by for a brief visit tomorrow,” she said after much consideration.
“I’ll do that,” Jill agreed. “Don’t worry about this. Kids do things like this all the time. People stereotype teenagers as moody, which they are, but small children can be even more moody, and unlike teenagers, they’re nearly impossible to reason with. They don’t have discipline over their emotions at this age. If Mark didn’t have this extreme need to be quiet ingrained in him, this would probably be an episode of crying and screaming. However, that means this can drag out longer since he isn’t wearing himself out crying and screaming. It’s frustrating, but you have to be firm, clear, and consistent in expectations so they learn they aren’t going to get away with acting out. It can take a long time to break them of it, but they’ll come around.”
She ended the call, disappointed and unsure what to do next. Unpacking was what made the most sense to do. That seemed like a lot of work at the moment, and she had only gotten home today. Tomorrow after she got home from shopping. That was when she would sit down and get everything unpacked. At times like these, she’d generally start adjusting her calculations to find what she now knew was Jeg’galla’gamp’pi. There was no need for that now. If she wasn’t unpacking and she wasn’t working, what was she going to do? She’d already called home…her parents’ house right before she had gotten into the car at Wabash, so there was no need to call again today.
Maybe she could get on the internet and check some things.
She looked over at her computer and jumped back when she saw two pitch-black eyes staring at her.
“Holy sh-” she gasped. She took a second to take one breath as she looked at the sackcloth doll now sitting on her keyboard.
She raised a finger and pointed at it. “No! No! I’m not getting caught up in any of your crap. You go back to wherever you normally are and leave me alone. I’m not fudging with you.”
The doll, over a hundred years old, sat limp, staring at her with lifeless black button eyes.
“I’m going to call Phobia and have her-” Jessica said agitatedly as she reached for her phone but jumped again when the phone rang. She looked back at her computer after taking her eyes away briefly, but the doll was gone.
“Stay gone!” she ordered the spot where the doll had been. She picked up her phone and answered it. “Hello?”
“It’s Wild,” Wild Growth replied. “Is everything okay? You sound flustered.”
She shook her head, even though the pony wouldn’t see. “That damn creepy doll Phobia used to keep in a glass case decided to show up. It’s gone now, but it gave me a scare.”
“It decided to show up? How does a doll decide to show up?” Wild asked, sounding baffled.
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know about the creepy haunted doll?”
“I noticed it while visiting her house a few times but never asked about it. It’s been gone for ages. Figured she got rid of it or put it in storage," Wild answered. “The thing isn’t really haunted, is it? I don’t do ghosts. If you have a ghost problem, you need to seek help from someone else.”
“Who am I going to call?!” Jessica replied in disbelief.
“Ghostbusters,” Wild answered. “Sorry, automatic response.”
“It's fine,” Jessica said with a sigh. “I heard she gave it away or something, but I know it’s never gone from wherever it came from for long, and I never heard of it doing anything but just showing up at random places for a moment or two. It just scared me; it’s harmless.”
“If you say so,” Wild said in a bemused tone. “Anyway, I obviously can’t just rush over there to help you with your stone problem, but I contacted Number, and she will get you a case to suppress the stone within the next few days. She’ll personally deliver it. This isn’t something you send in the mail. Don’t ask for any favors for a while; that case is not cheap–the most expensive box I have ever bought.”
“Thank you, Wild. I appreciate it,” Jessica replied with relief. “I already had a crystal pony on the street staring at me. I know he felt the stone. I should have asked Andrea to run some experiments with me to find out how far away they can detect it. “
“If it is as strong as you say, it could be strong enough that even a non-crystal pony can feel it. I remember back in the day that every pony and many humans for miles could feel it when I used my powers. I don’t know how alicorns are able to cast spells without everyone always reeling from it,” Wild said.
“They contain the thaumic bleed,” Jessica said. “Every time you do anything with magic, thaumic energy is dispersed. You don’t even have to actively do anything; magical creatures radiate off a steady stream of thaumic energy through your conduits, but not as much as when casting spells. If the bleed is strong enough, anyone with magic can feel it, and crystal ponies are hyperaware of thaumic bleed and absorb some of that thaumic energy as it hits them–up to whatever personal limit they have. When directing their magic sensing abilities, they’re absorbing thaumic energy; that’s why they can get overwhelmed just checking out a powerful pony. As for alicorns, they have much more magic, so one of the things they must learn early on is how to limit or mask the thaumic bleed that they and their spells radiate; otherwise, they’ll constantly overwhelm other ponies with their power. I presume powerful unicorns, like Starlight, do the same. They might not have known how to teach you to do the same with your bleed since you’re an earth pony.”
“I presume those conduits that thaumic energy radiates from are the ones I fried,” Wild said glumly.
Jessica’s ears sagged. “Yeah, those are the ones.”
“Not your fault,” Wild said. “Be expecting Number in the next few days. I hope you don’t run into too many crystal ponies. I will keep it on your person until then.”
When she got off the call with Wild Growth, she took one more look around the room just to make sure the haunted doll wasn’t lurking in some corner like Chucky, ready to stab her. The doll seemed to be gone back to wherever it came from. Why the heck it decided to visit her, she had no clue. The last time she heard about it moving around, it had been terrorizing Rebecca, and that had been years ago, right before Phobia gave the thing away. She had no idea how much range that thing had. It seemed like it should be on the other side of the country, but it popped up here like it was right around the corner. She was sick and tired of things that operated on their own rules outside the laws of the universe.
There was tension in the air. All the mares that generally filled the yard and on top of the house had moved to neighboring houses and were watching from there. Wallace was staring defiantly at the unexpected guest, as was Rosetta. Phobia took this all in stride and sipped her tea.
“Can you repeat the question, General Wilson?” Phobia said as she returned her teacup to the saucer.
“You heard me the first time! Why the fuck did you send our stones to Equestria??!” General Wilson yelled.
Phobia nodded. “That is what I thought you said. I just wanted to be sure before answering. To begin with, the truestones are not our stones. They belong to specific individuals, and we happen to be able to make use of them. Second of all, if the individual they belong to passes away, whether they have claimed their truestone or not, the stone disappears, but we believe that being in another universe prevents this from happening, so consider it a way of ensuring we don’t have any of them vanish on us. Third, they are incredibly powerful, and if they fall into the wrong hands or hooves, it could be devastating. Equestria can better hide them. Fourth of all, we want a few individuals in Equestria to test if any of the truestones belong to them. Consider that last part a science experiment. And, finally, the Dreamwardens went to great efforts to claim these truestones; no one else even knew about them until my daughter gave you that report, so no promise was ever given that you would be given the truestones. You were only promised a ship. If you negotiate with the alicorns, perhaps one of them will power it to take you to Jeg’galla’gamo’pi if you can figure out where it is. Have I stated my reasons clearly enough for you, General Wilson?”
“You used an illegal portal,” General Wilson said, switching tactics.
Phobia shook her head. “You are mistaken, general. There is no law about the creation or use of portals. Therefore, there can be nothing illegal about our portal. There are laws about unauthorized crossing of borders, including into Equestria from Earth, but OMMR agents acting on Dreamwarden orders are exempt from border crossing laws, per the UN agreement. They crossed the border into Equestria at my behest. This is allowed under the current laws.”
“Yeah, so get out of my Dreamwarden’s face!” Wallace yelled.
General Wilson looked disparagingly at the young stallion. “Isn’t there still an outstanding warrant for your arrest in Colorado for the destruction of police property, assaulting an officer, evading arrest, and shoplifting?”
“But, in case you are confused about what state we are in, this isn’t Colorado; this is South Carolina,” Phobia said with a small smile. “We are in negotiations with Colorado to settle Wallace’s warrant. They were all things he did while he was a colt, so there is some precedence for lenience. Did you never get into any mischief as a teenager? He does have a bounty on him, but I feel sorry for any bounty hunter who tried to bring Wallace in.”
Wallace sat and rubbed his forehooves together menacingly while grinning at the general. Bits of gravel fell here and there from his hooves.
General Wilson sneered and looked back at Phobia. “Where are your real bodyguards? Why are you being guarded by the second-rate hoodlum instead of the other two?”
“Busy elsewhere. What they are doing is not going to be discussed with you. Wallace can handle guarding me by himself for a week or two,” Phobia answered.
She jumped out of her seat as General Wilson brought his fist down on the table. “DON’T YOU BE DISMISSIVE OF ME, DREAMWARDEN!”
Phobia shivered as Rosetta jumped on the table and spread her wings. “YOU DO NOT MAKE THREATENING GESTURES TOWARDS MY WIFE!! Get out of here. You aren’t welcome.”
“You’ve been ordered off the property. You have until the count of five to start walking towards the door, or I will remove you,” Wallace growled as he stood up. “One!”
“I am a general of the United-”
“You’re a trespasser on private property who has been warned they need to leave. Two!” Wallace said coldly
The general shook a finger at the earth pony. “You are not going to lay a hoof on me!”
“Oh, that’s cute. You think I need to use my hooves? Three!” Wallace said, menacing grin back.
“I’ll charge you with assault!”
“Add it to my rap sheet. Four!”
She was still shaken, but she pulled herself to her hooves and steadied her nerves. “Wallace, stop your count. General Wilson, there is no more productive reason for you to be here, and while I’m sure you’re salivating at the prospect of charging Wallace with some sort of crime, you don’t want to deal with being filmed tossed out in the street like garbage. I know your fears; you fear humiliation.”
“Tossed out in a stone blanket,” Wallace mocked. “It will not shatter from that little impact, and you don’t want to hit anything with enough force that it will. Nobody around here is going to help you out of it. Your men will have to chisel you out, which may take hours. The mares will take lots of pictures as they laugh at poor little General Wilson, all tucked snug as a bug in his blankie wankie. You might charge me with assault, but you’ll still be a meme for years.”
“You would wish Tempest were here instead. She’d just beat the shit out of you and leave it at that. No need for the humiliation, just a few broken bones, but I think you’d prefer that. It’s always the same with men like you. You have such a fragile ego, and you’d rather have your bones broken than someone laughing at what a joke you are,” Rosetta snarled.
“I’ll see you all in court!” General Wilson said as he headed towards the door.
“Good luck with that, too,” Wallace chuckled.
The general left without any further word. Wallace followed him out the door to ensure he didn’t make any trouble. While Phobia was collecting herself, Rosetta stepped close to her.
“May I hug you?” Rosetta worriedly asked.
Phobia nodded. “You may. It wasn’t that taxing on my nerv-” She paused briefly as Rosetta wrapped her forelegs around her. “-es. It's just a jump scare. I’m getting better at dealing with those types of fright.”
“He still scared you,” Rosetta growled.
“You know that isn’t hard to do,” Phobia responded. “I was expecting him to do something, so I was braced for it. I am still shocked he managed to show up so quickly. Charlotte couldn’t have made that report more than two hours ago. He arrived with incredible speed.”
Rosetta released, and her ears sagged. “I don’t know why she hates you so much to do something like that. “
“She doesn't hate me,” Phobia assured her wife. “She loves me just as much as you.”
“Funny way of showing it,” Rosetta muttered.
Phobia sighed. “She knows that in the end, the government presents no real threat to me. They can yell and scream, but I’m too essential for them to do anything to, and it would look extremely hypocritical for them after they made an impressive show of letting the world know what China did to Yinyu. She didn’t volunteer for this anti-Dreamwarden task force, and I reckon she doesn’t want to be part of it. Charlotte is a good soldier who does her job, but if she ever thought she was going to legitimately hurt one of us by doing it, she would disobey whatever order she was given, even if it meant court martial. Let her do her thing. I can live with whatever conflict she brings, and she has enough faith in me to know that I can. Have a little faith in our filly.”
Rosetta grumbled. “How did she even find out about you having a mage create a private portal? I didn’t even know about that. I didn’t even know that was a thing that could be done.”
“She does know how to keep her head down and eyes open. We should have known something was up when she took a long time to leave the farm,” Phobia answered. “Be happy. You are the one who taught her how to sneak. She certainly did a good job sneaking. I was confident we would be able to hide the portal. I was wrong. I should never underestimate my foals.”
“And the portal? How did you manage a portal?” Rosetta asked.
Phobia coughed. “It required people casting spells simultaneously on both our side and the Equestrian side. I had a unicorn ready for it here; my adopted brother may have given us some assistance from the other end.”
Rosetta blinked. “Really? Not your mother, but your brother?”
“People underestimate Shǔguāng because he stays in our mom’s shadow, but he is talented and driven. Since he’s been practically glued to my mother’s side for the last eleven years, that gave him time to watch and learn. Do you think he picked up nothing in all that time?” Phobia chuckled. “He was nearly as important to get off the planet as my mom was. He’s leverage on Yinyu, and unlike my other adopted siblings, he has knowledge of many of Mom’s spells and has picked up on how she crafts them. He had to go, but he’s still willing to do favors for me.”
Rosetta shook her head. “You rope too many young people into delinquency with your schemes.”
“Young people?” Phobia said, raising an eyebrow. She touched a wing gently to her wife’s face. “You act like you’re old, but you look as beautiful as the day I snuggled up under that oak tree with you.”
“I’m forty-two; that feels old. We’ll see how you’re feeling next year when you get to join me with the Big Four club. We’re grandmothers. As soon as someone can legitimately call you grandma, you’re old,” Rosetta replied with a smirk. She then sighed and leaned her face into the wing. “I miss those early days. I wish they had lasted longer. We never got much time to be young and in love. Everything that came after we moved here came so fast. I just want to go back to that tree sometimes.”
Phobia considered. “You know…I could stand to get out more often. Once Tempest and Crystal get home, how would you feel about taking a few vacation days down to Charleston? We can see if that old oak is still around, walk around Charleston proper, and see what became of that church we sheltered in. It could be fun.”
Rosetta raised an eyebrow at her. “You get vacation days?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go on a trip,” Phobia replied. “I can take a vacation from doing any work while awake. We also have that trip to Germany coming up. I have to do some work for that, but we can extend it a bit and tour Europe. We can look at all the Roman ruins. I think you’d like that.”
“Maybe see some dolmens?” Rosetta asked in a hopeful tone.
“I don’t know what those are, but if you want to see them, I’m sure they’re worth seeing. We can try,” Phobia agreed.
“Offering to take me to a big tree and some big rocks. You know how to show a mare a good time,” Rosetta happily hummed. “I need to help brush you up on your German. You haven’t been keeping up with your lessons.”
“Die Arbeit ist nie erledigt,” Phobia lamented.