• Published 26th Apr 2018
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Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be - Halira



The ETS pandemic spreads across the southern United States transforming humans into ponies. In the wake of it a boy named Mathew tries to cope with the changing world and finding out what he is becoming.

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Chapter 51: Tempest

An additional surprise came that evening with the arrival of Tattered Wing, brought in a van by a few of the soldiers. It was late when she arrived, and the only ponies up were Remedy, Rosetta, Lavender, and Tempest, as well as a few human guards.

The Broken One smiled as she saw Remedy and Rosetta and walked slowly, and clearly still in pain, over to them.

"Good evening, you have no idea how nice it is to have some new scenery, even of it's just going to be for a day or two," Tattered said as she came over to the couple.

"I'm guessing your here to talk with the town reps and get your injuries looked at by the Equestrians?" Remedy asked.

Tattered's eyes went wide as Remedy said the part about the Equestrians.

"The Equestrians are here? Now?" Tattered said eagerly.

"They just arrived a few hours ago. Most of them are sleeping after their long trip. Lavender and Tempest are awake, but not sure where they are right now," Remedy explained as she took a quick glance around the area to see if the two Equestrians in question would just casually be strolling by.

"I think they are out looking at Wild's woods with a few human guards. I overheard Tempest and Baker talking about them," Rosetta supplied.

"Are these woods far from here? I really want to meet them as soon as I can. Please tell me they're just a short walk away," Tattered pleaded.

"Not even a mile from here, would take us less than a minute to fly to, walking about five minutes," Remedy said as she looked over Tattered's bandaged form.

"Take me over there then. I can't fly, obviously, but I'm not so feeble that a five minute walk is going to hurt me; though it might get extended by a minute or two as I need to take things slow," Tattered said as she looked ready to prance in place, if prancing wasn't likely to aggravate her injuries.

"Are you sure you're up to walking?" Rosetta asked in a skeptical tone.

"I walk all around the medical university just fine and there are miles of corridors there. I'll be fine. Can we please just go?" Tattered said with mild annoyance.

The couple looked at each other and shared a shrug.

"Fly ahead and let them know Tattered's on her way. I'll walk with her. We'll be going at a slow pace. If you don't see us in ten minutes come check because I don't want to leave her alone if she has problems," Rosetta instructed Remedy.

"Sounds like a good plan. Just don't let her over exert herself," Remedy said as she leaned in and gave her marefriend a kiss.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm not made of glass. Stop treating me like a complete invalid because I can't fly," Tattered growled as she tensed up.

The fact that Tattered couldn't fly was not the big concern. The big concern was she clearly was in pain just walking and those bandages were on her for a reason. Remedy understood that Tattered was already sensitive about her inability to fly and she wasn't going to argue with the determined mare about her ability to walk on top of that.

"See you in a few minutes then. Take your time though, you don't want to give the Equestrians more they need to try to heal. You want to be back in shape as soon as possible," Remedy said to the Broken One.

The de facto night pony leader of the region relaxed her posture a bit and then nodded.

Remedy did a quick run with wings flapping before taking to the air. She quickly passed over the trees that surrounded the church and the road that intersected the frontage road that served as a boundary for Wild's woods. Standing around that stretch of road were several human guards who had erected barricades on one side of the intersecting road and the frontage road making each one lane as they passed by the woods. Remedy didn't see a need for this as the woods weren't doing any more growing, and any passing motorist was not in any danger from them.

She came down for a landing near the entrance of the path that had been cleared into the woods. There was a scent of burning wood still in the air even though the fires that had been out had been out for more than a day. The human guards acknowledged her and didn't put up any objection to a pony entering into the woods, least of all the daughter of Sunset Blessing.

After walking in she quickly found Tempest Shadow and Lavender Mist. The two were looking around the woods with great interest, though they kept a fair distance from each other. Remedy took a deep breath as she walked over to the intimidating unicorn.

"Hello, Tempest?" Remedy said cautiously to get the Equestrian's attention.

Tempest literally looked down on her with a single lifted brow.

"Yes? What can I do for you transformed human?" Tempest said in an indifferent voice.

Being called transformed human instead of pony triggered anger in her. Remedy didn't fully understand why, but something made it out to be fake pony in her head. She wasn't going to stand to be insulted by this unicorn.

"See my cutie mark? I'm a pony and I'd appreciate it if you didn't imply I'm not," Remedy said in a controlled voice as she glared at the armored unicorn.

Tempest's eyes moved briefly to Remedy's cutie mark and then back to Remedy's face. The corners of her mouth gave an almost imperceptible twitch that would have been missed in the dark by any but a night pony.

"It seems that humans turned into night ponies on this world have a bit of a backbone," Tempest said with a hint of a laugh. "Very well, night pony, what can I do for you?"

"You shouldn't be so mean, Tempest," Lavender cut in.

Tempest gave her night pony compatriot a withering look.

"I'm just stating facts. None of these ponies were born ponies. None of them have even lived a full month as ponies, none of them even chose to become ponies, and shouldn't be just casually accepted as ponies," Tempest said coldly.

"Um, actually, a number of ponies from the hospital deliberately got themselves infected with ETS. There are ponies that chose to be ponies here," Remedy contradicted her.

"I stand corrected," Tempest said with a raised brow. "And were you one of those that chose to become a pony?"

"Well, no, but I'm happy as a pony and wouldn't want that taken from me," Remedy said defensively.

"As is the typical for most of you sad little things," Tempest said with a shake of her head. "Regardless, what can I do for you pony?"

Remedy made a note to herself that next time she had lessons from Luna she would speak her mind about Tempest to her. Right now there was Tattered to worry about.

"The leader of the night ponies in this area, Tattered Wing, is on her way over here. She was promised by Princess Luna personally that you Equestrians would see about healing her and her friends. She was also promised that you would try to help her find better ways of protecting without having to resort to breaking bones over minor offenses," Remedy explained as calmly as she could.

"I'm aware of the second matter and will see to it in time. The first was not something I was informed of and can only assume that is why the princess chose to send that more spineless example of your breed along," Tempest said with a gesture at Lavender, which caused the night pony in question to spread her wings with anger at the casual insult. Tempest ignored her. "What kinds of injuries does this pony have?"

Remedy really didn't like this unicorn, and she could understand why the other Equestrians didn't care for her either.

"She tried to stop some humans from terrorizing a neighborhood during some riots. She and her friends all were severely injured and two of them actually died. Tattered's wings are just that, tattered. She was told that she would never be able to fly again," Remedy explained.

Tempest's expression softened, and a legitimate look of sympathy appeared on her face.

"As you can see I understand the feeling of hearing that kind of news," Tempest said with a gesture at her shattered horn. "I can still do some magic, but basic things like normal levitation aren't things I can do anymore. What I can do is often wild and destructive. She has my sympathies and I hope that she can be healed."

"How did it happen?" Remedy asked impulsively as she looked at the horn.

"Being foolish as a foal. I chased a ball into the cave of a...I'm not sure you have a name for the creature in your language...anyway, it was big and angry, and it shattered my horn and scarred my face in one swipe. There's no known way to heal such an injury," Tempest said with her eyes turned upward where she should have been able to see a horn if it were whole.

Tempest shook her head as if warding away bad thoughts and turned her attention back to Remedy.

"Unicorns in Equestria look down on those like me. Things weren't made any easier by the fact my attempts to use magic resulted in undesirable results. I hope those here are kinder to their crippled. I was lucky Princess Luna eventually found me, and found value in me, before I gave in to despair," Tempest said with a sigh.

That explained the general nasty attitude. Tempest had likely been treated with contempt most of her life if what she said was true. Equestria seemed less and less some pony utopia the more Remedy heard about it.

"Speaking of your friend it seems she has arrived," Tempest said as she looked down the path at Rosetta and Tattered walking down the path. She then looked at Lavender. "Go see to her, this is why you're on this world. I'll continue inspecting this stretch of woods. I want to be in bed soon, but the princesses will want a full report on this and I prefer to inspect them without them crawling with the transformed."

"My future sister-in-law was the one who grew these woods. It seems to be her special thing," Remedy supplied.

"Your sister has magic that only a few earth ponies in history have possessed," Tempest said as she looked around. "With as many who now possess pony magic on this world it seems that random chance has produced another. There are none living in Equestria at the moment that could accomplish this."

"So there aren't any that can help her better understand what can do? She's really worried that she will have to do this in a fit of rage each time," Remedy asked.

"Strong magic is tied to strong emotions. Rage is a strong emotion, but it isn't the only one. Whatever emotion she is feeling, if it is strong enough, it will power her. It doesn't have to be anger all the time," Tempest explained as she looked around some more.

"So positive emotions would work too?" Remedy asked for clarification.

"Yes, if they are strong enough. If she wishes to duplicate this then she simply must learn to feel more deeply and strongly however she is feeling," Tempest confirmed.

"I'll pass that along to her. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that there are other ways. I'm going to go see to my fiancee and Tattered. Thanks for telling me about that," Remedy said as she prepared to take her leave of Tempest.

"I didn't catch your name, night pony," Tempest said before Remedy could leave.

"Phobia Remedy," Remedy answered.

"Phobia? An interesting choice for a pony that displays bravery for her friends. Be sure to continue to do so, little pony," Tempest said in dismissal.

Remedy wasn't sure talking to Tempest qualified as bravery, but she would take the compliment from the unicorn after the initial reaction of contempt. She also noted Tempest put no special emphasis on pony as if to question it. This made her smile a little as she walked back to her future wife.

Author's Note:

Saturday night day 11 after counterspell going into Sunday morning day 12 after counterspell.

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