Partial

by Halira

Chapter 8: Homes

The apartment complex was gated and a short drive from the college. It was within walking distance, although she wouldn't be taking any strolls; those were dangerous. They'd been almost completely abandoned for a few years after ETS for various reasons–former tenants becoming ponies, rent prices escalating, and nearby roads getting destroyed by earth ponies, but they'd been purchased and completely remodeled. Now that rent prices were back down after that bubble finally burst, they were packed with students and staff of the university, with rooms rarely opening up. With how fast the vacant apartments filled, Jessica felt lucky she was even getting the chance to rent one.

That chance felt very iffy at the moment.

The apartment manager sat across the table from her, Robby, and Nightscape. The manager was human, as Jessica heard was common in housing positions; she was in either her late thirties or early forties, white, shoulder-length brown hair, with a gray business jacket and pants. The woman was primarily smiling, but the smile slipped each time her eyes drifted to Jessica's ears.

"Your income seems to be in order, but you have no credit history I could find. Do you have any car loans, previous rentals, personal loans, credit cards, or anything you can present?" the manager asked.

Jessica shook her head. "No, I've never had any need for them. I own my car outright, bought it piece by piece, and put it together myself. I've lived with my parents up until now."

"No student loans?" the woman asked.

"None; I had a full scholarship for my undergraduate degree, and scholarships and grants covered my entire post-graduate education," Jessica explained.

The woman frowned. "So, no history of payments to anyone? Car insurance and phone bills? Do you have those, at least?"

Jessica nodded. "I do have those and a perfect payment history. I can pull them up and email them to you if you need proof."

The woman looked at Jessica's ears again, frowning.

"Do you have an issue with my sister's ears, ma'am?" Robby asked.

The woman quickly looked down. "No, nothing wrong with some differences…..I don't mean to pry, but is there a reason you didn't rehumanize?"

"This is me rehumanized. I was an earth pony from one week old till I was six," Jessica said through gritted teeth.

"Didn't you see In the Shadow of Demeter?" Nightscape asked the apartment manager.

The apartment manager blinked. "What does…." She then looked at the application again and covered her mouth as she gasped, "Oh…my…god! You're her! You're the Jessie that movie is based on!"

Her ears flattened slightly, though it was due to sheer force of will that it was only slightly. How her tail was reacting, even she didn't know, but the apartment manager shouldn't be able to see it from where she was sitting. She even forced a smile. "Please, call me Doctor Middleton. I prefer to be remembered for my contributions to science."

What she said didn't seem to register, as the manager was now looking at Robby. "And you must be the Robby who flew from the school through the storm to get Wild Growth."

Robby rubbed his head. "Yeah, they made that scene a lot more exciting in the movie than it really was. I was exhausted when I found her; that part is true."

The apartment manager turned her eyes to Nightscape. "And are you one of the Three Demons of Fear? What were the girls' names, Tabitha and Charlotte?"

The Three Demons of Fear? Jessica had always heard them collectively referred to as the demons, not the more elaborate title.

Nightscape shook her head and held up her forehooves. "Nope! I'm just Robby's wife. I was just a filly in Florida at the time, watching it all go down on the news. I did move to Skytree years later and meet them all–my introduction to them was them ramming my face into the dirt when I scoffed at younger teens trying to fight a grown mare."

"Don't worry. They did that to all the ponies at that house except for their mothers, including me. It was all part of self-defense training, so don't worry, they weren't beating up random ponies," Robby explained. "So, what about my famous hero sister's application?"

The apartment manager grabbed some keys and stood up. "Yes! We would be thrilled to have such a famous celebrity living here. Let me show you the available apartment right away." She paused and pulled out her phone, holding it out to Nightscape, who grabbed it deftly with her wings. "Before seeing the apartment, can you take my picture with these two? My friends won't believe I met them without visual proof."

Jessica groaned in her head. At least it seemed like she was getting the apartment and didn't have to worry about discrimination. Being famous had its perks.

---

Josie yawned and adjusted her sunglasses as she sat in an alley, waiting for her contact. Rebecca better be grateful that she was willing to do this. She still needed to do her meetup with Rebecca after this too. They were both out of range of one another, which required they both project to meet at a central point. The fact she was going to get fined for whatever she was going to do with the information she got from Rebecca stung, made worse because Rebecca was likely to be the one to fine her. That's how Rebecca pulled loopholes; she had Josie do the stuff and get punished. At least it was just money. Back in Sha'am's day, it would likely be torture.

She yawned again and then coughed as she breathed in the stench of the alley with the yawn. There was a dumpster not far from her full of rotting meat. The rancid smell was nauseating. Why did she agree to meet with the thief in an alley? Privacy was needed, yes, and most ponies would avoid this place, making it unlikely they'd be overheard, but surely there was somewhere better to meet. The fact it was so hot made it all the more miserable.

Covering her mouth and nose with a wing, she backed a little further from the dumpster.

"Josie Woods?"

She turned and saw a muddy red mare with a scarlet red mane and tail; her cutie mark was a globe of the Earth.

Josie lowered her wing. "Carmen Sandiego, I presume? No big red hat?"

The mare nodded as she stepped forward. "I only wear the hat when on a caper. I hear you have some work for me, something to push the skills?"

"My employer does," Josie replied. "I'm not sure why she's bothering with some mare so obsessed with a nineties video game character she dresses up as the character and takes their name. Seems kind of cringy to me, but I don't make those calls."

The mare chuckled. "I intend to be who people think of when they hear that name. Someday, most people won't know I've based my name and wardrobe on anyone. It's all about the thrill. If the Dreamwardens are the ones hiring me, I'm sure that it must be good."

"If you get caught, you better say nothing about Dreamwardens being involved," Josie said.

The mare smirked. "I won't be caught."

Josie sighed. "We'll see. Your target is the vaults in Wabash Manor."

Carmen raised an eyebrow. "Sunset Blessing's place? Sounds promising. What am I stealing?"

"Anything, as long as it came from her vaults," Josie answered. "We aren't interested in obtaining anything. We want the defenses tested."

Carmen took a step back. "You don't want me to steal anything? This sounds like a bad job. I'm a thief; I steal things. It doesn't do my reputation any good to break in for no reason."

Josie rolled her eyes. "You want to test your skills. This is Sunset Blessing's place. Do you have any idea what that means? Her defenses in Riverview were able to thwart Princess Twilight Sparkle. She's had years to develop new ideas on how to defend her stronghold, and Wabash is her stronghold. What would it be like to accomplish what even Twilight Sparkle couldn't by circumventing her security? You surpassing Twilight Sparkle sounds like some serious street cred to me."

Carmen blinked and looked down to the left, seemingly thinking. Josie waited as about thirty seconds passed, and Carmen looked back up at her.

"That does sound impressive, but I still don't have a target to steal, and it needs to be something impressive," Carmen finally said.

"Fine," Josie replied. "I'll give you a target, but I've got to get a promise from you. If you fail to obtain the item, you can't speak of its existence to anyone."

Carmen smirked again. "If I fail to get something, I don't want anyone else to know about it so they can try to steal my thunder, but I'm going to get whatever it is, so it isn't going to matter."

Josie smiled.."You've heard that Sunset Blessing had a temporary transformation spell, right? In the depths of her vaults is a necklace, and whoever wears the necklace will be impacted by the spell. I've seen the necklace in action; it works. Get the necklace."

"That is a prize. I'm assuming I'll get paid well for this. That's a major thing to steal," Carmen said as she rubbed her chin.

"Very well, if you can get it," Josie confirmed. "Um, we also need to know who you want us to compensate if something happens to you."

The mare gave a confused look. "I'm not getting caught, but why would you compensate someone if I fail to get the target?"

Josie shook her head. "I don't think you understand. This is Wabash Manor with Sunset Blessing's defenses, and she cares a lot about protecting those vaults. She may be gone, but I'm confident there are flat-out death traps in that place. You don't just risk getting caught; you risk death with this job. The stakes for you are much higher, and you need to approach this with the gravity it deserves. This isn't some random warehouse, office building, or even minor military installation; this might as well be the temple of doom. I don't want to see you dying because you were too cocky and didn't take it seriously. I know Sunset Blessing, and I know the lengths she goes to."

Carmen took a step back again. "Do you want me to do this or not? I'm getting mixed signals here."

Josie lowered her wings. "I just want you not to go in there thinking you're invincible. We want you to do the job, but you must be careful. You've got skills. We'd be asking The Night Shadow if we didn't think you could do this, but either of you could get hurt or killed if you go in there without adequate caution."

The earth pony mare's eyebrows went up as high as they would go. "Night Shadow?! You'd hire that pompous, backstabbing piece of horseshit?! No, no, NO! I'm doing this job. I'm not letting him get the glory instead of me–we're not having Carson City all over again!"

Josie suppressed her grin. So much for honor among thieves. There was some competition between this mare and the other most notable thief that Josie knew of, though the number of thieves who boldly broadcast that they committed crimes was admittedly small. Carson City? Who the heck cared about anything in Carson City? She'd passed through Carson City before; nobody lived in Carson City. Skytree was ten times the size of Carson City. If they were stealing things in Nevada, it seemed like there would be better places…like a little place called Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. Even Reno was more notable.

She couldn't contain her curiosity. "What were you stealing in Carson City? It's like the biggest piece of nowhere in Nevada."

Carmen looked offended. "Carson City has a lot of history. A time capsule was being excavated from the mint building, which is now the state museum, but that bastard stole it! Like he could even appreciate the significance of what he took! He just wanted some silver."

Okay…social studies nerd. That tracked.

"Okay, so, safely raid the vaults, get the necklace, and deliver it to the McDonald's three blocks north of Wabash Manor," Josie instructed. "I still need to know who your beneficiary is if you end up dead. I'm not kidding about that. This is likely the most dangerous job you've ever done. Be quick about telling me. I want to get out of this alley."

"My little brother, Pablo," Carmen finally answered, then her eyes narrowed. "Why are you so intent on me going into such a dangerous situation if you seem unconcerned about getting anything? You don't even seem legitimately interested in that necklace."

"Honestly, we expect and hope you will fail. If you get caught, we can arrange for you to be set free with no consequences, along with suitable compensation for your time and effort," Josie answered.

Carmen's face hardened. "Using me to scout the defenses for yourself then?"

Josie shook her head. "Wabash Manor is coming under new management. We need to ensure the new management can keep the vaults safe. The fate of the world could depend on it. There are far more valuable things than that necklace in those vaults. If you succeed, then we need to talk with the new lady of the manor about getting her act in gear. Don't worry; we aren't going to warn them."

"Oh, you'll be talking with the management because I'm walking out of there with a necklace," Carmen said confidently. "So, do you have any intel to help me out?"

"The vaults are under the house; the access is through the basement. Armed guards are patrolling the place, and teleportation spells will end with you encased in stone, so don't do that. The head of security is a crystal pony, always looking for magic she doesn't recognize. Beyond that, I don't know. Just be aware that the traps may be lethal. Be very careful," Josie explained. "If you obtain the necklace, the OMMR gives you ten million dollars. If you make a legitimate attempt and fail, you get ten thousand. If you die, your brother gets a million."

"Easiest ten million I'll ever make, but not enough to make me retire. It's all about the game," Carmen said with a smirk.

Josie turned her back to the mare. "Right, whatever you say." She spread her wings. "We'll be in touch. Just don't die. I've got enough shit on my conscious without that."

She then took to the air, leaving the thief in the alley.

Now out of the shade of the alley, the sun was even worse than before. She suppressed another yawn as she headed toward the hotel where she was staying. Traffic moved smoothly through the streets below her. A few scattered pegasi were flying about. Some looked at her, curious about what a night pony was doing in their skies at this time of day. There was a plane landing at the airport far off in the distance, with additional pegasi flying security patrols near the airport, keeping stray flyers from getting too close. Those feather brains sometimes flew without direction and often zoned out when they did. When that happened, they could fly straight into the path of oncoming aircraft. That never ended well for anyone if the air patrol didn't catch them and turn them away. The ease of which they flew made them lazy flyers. That wasn't an issue with night ponies, flying took more work for her tribe, and they couldn't zone out like that. When they flew somewhere, every move was made with purpose.

Her hotel was in sight, the Omni. It was the best hotel in the area, extraordinarily fancy and luxurious. She didn't need to stay at such a high price place, but after years of living in slums, ostracized by her tribe or having originated Sunset Shimmer's vision, she was enjoying being able to afford luxuries. Being Rebecca's bodyguard came with a very hefty income, more than she knew what to do with. She donated generously to charity and had a lovely house now, but she still had more money than she knew what to do with. The house didn't mean much since her job kept her traveling most of the time. She deserved to be pampered a bit after everything she went through as a kid and the first few years after ETS.

She landed next to where the chauffeurs were receiving vehicles. The guests were almost all humans. Even nearly twenty years after ETS, there was a huge economic disparity between humans and ponies. There were wealthy ponies out there, but as a percentage of ponies, compared with a percentage of humans, ponies were a minority within a minority. She didn't know the exact numbers, but if a hundred pony millionaires lived in the USA, she'd be shocked. If there were a thousand pony millionaires in the world, she'd be doubly amazed. Ponies didn't stay at hotels like this. She'd only seen one pony on staff, and he had just been a busboy.

Guests tried to hide dirty looks as she walked by them. She couldn't care less. The looks would be worse if they knew who she was and what she had done nineteen years ago. It would probably be worse than looks if they knew; it could escalate to violence. The staff knew her, but the people here were paid to keep things confidential. None of them wanted to lose their jobs by gossiping about her to guests or on social media.

She walked into the hotel. The lobby had not one, not two, but three three-story water fountains. As you walked by them, you felt a gentle mist coming off them, like soft rain. The hotel was four stories tall. All the rooms faced the water fountains, aside from the fourth story, which looked down on them. Greek and Roman columns with mermaid statues were placed throughout the lobby. There was even a lady with a toga working at the information desk–separate from the main desk, and another lady in a toga working as a hostess at the entrance to the restaurant. She didn't know if the whole place was tacky or classy. She wasn't sure anyone staying here knew, but the hotel said it was classy, and with no one feeling confident enough to disagree with that assessment, it was therefore classy. They certainly paid for it to be classy. Consequently, they were inclined to believe it was classy rather than tacky and defend it as such. Otherwise, they'd just look like fools.

It was much nicer than a shack in the slums, even if she paid for it to rain inside instead of getting the service for free.

A short walk to the glass elevator, up two stories, and then a short walk and she was back to her room. The classical columns, white walls, and high ceilings were the highlight of the room. There was also an entire wall window, letting in too much sunlight.

"Omni, close shades," she instructed the room as she closed the door. The shades immediately started blocking off the accursed sunlight.

"Onni, turn on the air conditioner, lower temperature by five degrees Fahrenheit," she instructed as she checked for messages on her phone–there weren't any.

She heard the AC start. It might have been too quiet to hear for a human, but it was loud to her. It wasn't annoying, just background noise. She stripped off her sunglasses and phone before turning and going to the bathroom. She then started the shower and stepped into it.

"Ah, that's nice," she said as the water poured over her.

She controlled her breathing and let her mind drift. It was difficult to say how long it took, but she found herself looking at herself.

"Wish I could take more time to enjoy the shower, but there's one more task to do; then I can sleep and help those kids with their nightmares," she said before sending her projection out of the room.

Scenery zoomed by at speeds too fast to process. There was no way of knowing where she was from one second to the next. She just knew she was moving.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…. She counted in her head as her mind tried to process what it saw, only to break down and show her white light. Then she stopped moving as she counted twelve.

She looked around. Corn, lots and lots of growing corn. Traveling at super high speeds by projection was hardly an exact science. There were some places she could get to quickly and accurately if she left from somewhere familiar and knew the exact spot she wanted to land. She'd left a hotel in a city she didn't know well and was headed to a place she'd only been a few times, so her aim wasn't that great. It was like shooting an arrow off into the distance at a target you couldn't see but had a general guess of where it was. You took your best shot and then figured out how close you got. You then keep firing until you finally get the arrow to the target.

Josie rose her projection into the air, out of the stalks of corn. She needed to get the lay of the land, so she knew where to aim next.

This was definitely at a farm. It looked like corn was the primary crop, though some other things were growing that she was unsure of the identification of–wheat, perhaps? The fields extended for some distance, with pegasi and earth ponies tending them, along with a few humans with farm equipment. None of them saw her since her projection was invisible. The sun was bright in the sky, but her projection didn't technically have eyes to be sensitive to the light, even though she still observed things. It wasn't something she understood the mechanics of; maybe Bob or Sunset Blessing or some other brilliant unicorn understood how sight worked with projections, but she didn't care to have her abilities' mechanics explained. It was good enough for her to know they worked, not the nitty-gritty of how. She was the first and most magical of night ponies, at least on Earth. It was good enough to know she could do this…among other things.

After rising several hundred feet, she spotted a city in the distance. Hopefully, that was the right one. If it was, her first shot wasn't too shabby.

She zoomed toward it, though not as fast as she had previously moved. This time, she could process the flow of the environment around her, and she stopped once she was entirely in the city. A quick survey of the place told her she was in the right one. She recognized several landmarks.

After descending into an alley, she made her projection visible. She exited the alley and entered a bar next to it. The room was very dim. This was primarily a night pony bar. It was well after noon; most of the patrons should have been home in bed or passed out next to their drinks. A human barkeeper was polishing glasses behind the bar as a calico cat sat on the bar, cleaning itself. There were four patrons, all night pony mares, sitting isolated in different corners of the room. Their eyes flicked to her briefly, and she saw their eyes glint with recognition. Of the four, two were too young to remember ETS well and may never have experienced the early days of the Dreamwardens, but the older two had looks of disgust on their faces as they looked at her. For them, she was forever guilty. It didn't matter, they knew who she served, and they wouldn't cause her trouble.

She went over to the bar and had her projection take a seat. The barkeeper eyed her and put a bottle of brandy and a glass in front of her, although he knew she had no power to drink it. The fact that she had literally walked through the closed front door indicated she wasn't there.

"The pony has been hired on to do the job," she said as she sat there. "I had to give her a target, so I told her the preacher's necklace."

The cat stopped licking itself and looked at her. "That could be a problem if she actually gets it and doesn't give it to us to return."

Josie shrugged. "I doubt she'll be able to get it, but if she does, I'll track her down and remove it from her. It would be my mess to clean up."

The cat walked across the bar and sat down in front of her. "No, you were right; she needed an appealing target. If she keeps it, I'll deal with it. I have ways of persuading that you don't, and I prefer to avoid fights, and that's what we'd have if you took off after her, a fight. I hate violence. People get hurt, and I don't want her getting hurt."

"No, worries about me getting hurt?" Josie asked.

The cat tilted its head at her. "You against her isn't anything resembling a fair fight."

Josie chuckled. "Nice to know I have your confidence."

"Always," the cat replied. "Anyway, you can return home. I'm not sure how long you'll be at home, but you deserve at least a little break."

"Not sending me into some other wretched hive of scum and villainy right away?" Josie asked. "That's a relief. When you became Dreamwarden, and I agreed to be one of your bodyguards, I didn't expect to spend so many days hiding in alleys and places like this. It just never seemed like your kind of thing."

"We need to help people who have nothing. To do that, you need to spend time with people who have nothing," the cat replied. "Poor criminals are often criminals because they're poor. If you want the most wretched scum and villainy, look at the rich criminals. I'm still pushing for harsher sentences on the rich for crimes. Poor criminals are often redeemable if you can get them a path out of poverty. Rich criminals are often beyond redemption. Fines punish the poor harshly, but they do nothing to the rich."

"Dreamwardens aren't supposed to be concerned about legal matters outside dreams and mind magic," Josie reminded her.

"Dreamwardens are here to serve the dreamers. If the dreamers are suffering in the waking world, that bleeds into the dreams, that makes it Dreamwarden business," the cat said. "My siblings might not feel the same, but they aren't me. I'm not here to play politics. I'm here to help people."

"I don't think our newest hire is in it because she's poor. I think she might have some sort of early onset cutie mark madness," Josie replied.

"That's a terrible illness," the cat said sadly. "We, along with the medical community, are studying those that're afflicted to see if there is anything we can do to help them, but it is unfair for you to say that this mare is suffering from it."

"Yeah, that's true. I'm sorry," Josie said. "Anyway, I guess I'll be leaving. Got to get to those flood victim dreams."

The cat flicked her ears. "There is one other thing."

Josie rolled her eyes. "Of course there is."

"Brush up on your Spanish in your free time, or find a mage who can teach you Spanish," the cat said.

"Why?" Josie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You might be sent to Mexico soon," the cat answered.

"Is this going to turn out to be more scum and villainy?" Josie asked.

The cat nodded. "More scum and villainy."

---

It was early evening when Jordan got off the plane. She had only brought a pair of saddlebags with her, filled with some personal items such as her old copy of The Chocolate Touch, one of her sister's feathers, a photo of her and her dad when they went fishing together, a photo of her and her mom working together in the garden, a small piece of charred wood from the Cataclysm, and a few other things like that. Aside from the piece of wood, none of it would be of any value to anyone else, but to her, they were cherished keepsakes. There were also a few practical items, like her laptop, a couple of books, her birth certificate, IDs, and the charger for her phone, but overall, it was minimalistic. Everything else had been left behind. Today was the beginning of a fresh start in a new place.

A limo pulled up to where she was waiting in front of the airport, and the window rolled down, revealing Amicus, her lawyer.

"Get in," Amicus said as the door opened for her. "We've got a lot to do, and I want to get to bed soon. I'm too old for all this running around."

Jordan did as instructed. The inside of the limo was filled with red upholstery and a big TV screen. The driver couldn't be seen, but she assumed it was a human based on the car's design. The door shut on its own behind her. It was motorized, not magic; she could hear the motors at work.

Amicus smiled at her as Jordan took a seat. "Sorry if I was a little snappy right then. This jet lag is playing havoc with me, not to mention all the things I've had to do in such a short order for my sister. I think she expects me to be a legal miracle worker."

Jordan blinked. "Is there a problem?"

The elderly earth pony chuckled as the car began to move. "No, because this old mare knows a lot of tricks, and I can pull off some miracles. I'm rather proud of myself for getting everything in order so quickly. I had to call in some favors, but I got it all done."

"Oh, that's good," Jordan said with relief.

Amicus nodded. "So, how was your trip? I hope everything went smoothly. You seem rather lightly packed. You didn't lose any luggage, did you?"

Jordan removed her saddlebags. "I don't need much. The mansion is fully furnished, right?"

"It is, but I doubt there's much in it that makes you feel at home," Amicus said.

Jordan shrugged. "I'm only eighteen. I don't have that much stuff. If there are books, that's good enough for me. I can make my mark on it over time."

"There are certainly plenty of books," Amicus said and glanced at Jordan's ears. "Now, before you arrive, we must review a few things. I see your ears are already pierced. That's good because we'll be giving you an earring that allows you to teleport on the manor grounds without fear, but until you are wearing that earring, you aren't to attempt even the smallest of teleports on the property. There are defenses in place that redirect teleports, and they redirect them down into the mantle of the Earth. I'm guessing that you understand what the result would be."

"I'd be dead," Jordan answered with a shiver.

"Very, very dead," Amicus agreed.

Jordan shivered. "Has anyone died from that?"

Amicus frowned. "Considering where they're sent, we have no way of knowing. There are warning signs posted on all the fences explaining that trying to breach the property with teleportation is lethal. I like to believe that every unicorn thinking about it has read the sign or been told about it and taken it seriously. This is a case where not knowing is best for everyone. If it makes you feel any better, we haven't had anyone demanding we give their friend who attempted to teleport on the property back to them. That might be a sign no one has tried it."

Jordan shivered again. "How'd she afford security like that? I know she had a lot of money from book sales, but if I remember what I heard about that kind of defense in the Bastion, it took a lot of magic crystals. Those things cost a lot of money, even for a rich person. She used to have the full financial backing of SPEC. She doesn't have that anymore."

"A very astute observation," Amicus replied with a smile. "You're right; she could design the defenses but couldn't afford them. However, interested parties financed them for her. Who those parties are is a mystery, even to me. I have a short list of guesses, and anyone thinking about it could come up with the same list. I don't have any insight on which one it might be."

It wasn't too hard to come up with a list–Wild Growth, Number Crunch, the Dreamwardens, the government, and the Equestrian government. It could be any of them. They were all either friends or people who had an interest in keeping Sunset Blessing's work hidden away. It was probably not the government. The government would have tried to seize it. It could be any of the others or a combination of them.

"My sister also left an approved guest list of who could come to the manor," Amius continued. "This list is to hold until your twenty-first birthday, at which time you may edit it as you please. There is also a list of people strictly forbidden to come to the manor; you may never remove someone from this list, although you can add to it as you see fit."

Jordan's ears sagged. "No stallionfriends?"

Amicus shook her head. "Sorry. I was your age once, believe it or not, so I get it, but your romance and coitus will have to take place off the grounds, at least until you're twenty-one and can approve your guests to the list."

"Well, that sucks," Jordan lamented, looking down. So parties and having a stallion over for the night were out of the question. At least Amicus seemed like she was cool and not judgmental. Jordan looked up. "What about Jessie?"

"Doctor Middleton?" Amicus asked.

Jordan nodded.

Amicus tilted her head. "You want to have sexual relations with Doctor Middleton?"

Jordan's eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly. "No! Definitely not. The idea of doing it with a human is just ewww, and I only have interest in males. She's my best friend, and I was looking forward to seeing her more often. I wanted to know if she could come to hang out."

"Doctor Middleton is on the approved list, as are your parents, your sister, and most of the rest of the extended family, along with a selection of other individuals she trusts. She is welcome at the house whenever you wish," Amicus answered. "For how distrustful my sister can be, it is a shockingly extensive list. I even had to look up who some of these people were because I'm sure they'd never been to Wabash before. I'll be giving you a copy when we arrive. I make no judgment call about who she allowed or banned. I'm not Sunset, but I honor her wishes."

Jordan nodded. "I'll be sure to look it over."

Amicus looked at a notepad beside her. "Next up, residents of the manor. My sister, Andrea, and I both live at the manor, along with my husband, Legal Brief. We will not be vacating just because you are moving in. My husband and I only care about our bedroom and my study. We can't stop you from entering our rooms since it is your house, but we request that you respect our privacy. Andrea has her room, and she's in charge of security, and she, along with the rest of the staff, are paid salaries out of the funding Sunset left you. I am paid on a case-by-case basis, not a regular salary, and I still take some outside clients. There are always guards on duty, but it is rotating shifts, not guards that live on the property. There are six limo drivers, but there is only ever one on shift at a time, and there is only one limo. There are three eight-hour shifts for both the guards and the drivers. Both Andrea and I have cars, but those are our personal property, not yours. If you want to go somewhere, you need to get the limo driver on shift to take you. There is no butler, governess, gardeners, or cleaning staff. My parents used to do the gardening, but both passed away recently within days of each other."

Jordan gasped. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry to hear that."

The elderly earth pony shook her head. "They were old, and it was their time. They both passed peacefully in their sleep without any pain. They'd been sleeping sixteen to eighteen hours a day for the year or so before that, and we knew the day was coming that one or both wouldn't wake up. I'm glad my dad didn't have to linger on for years without my mom–just three days. It was kind of romantic, in a way. Still, thank you for the sentiment."

"My parents aren't doing so great," Jordan said. "My dad has been sick since the Cataclysm, and it's worsening. Now something is going on with my mom–I'm not sure what, something with her mind."

"Is it cutie mark madness?" Amicus asked.

Jordan shrugged again. "I don't know. I don't know anything about psychology. I had only two days in my Introduction to Psychology class this semester before this happened. I called Phobia to help, and she said she would investigate it. Jackie's worried. I'm a little worried."

"Hmm, I wish her luck and good health," Amicus somberly replied. She looked at her notepad again. "I doubt it, but I never know what my sister gave out–do you have any magical items we need to be aware of?"

"Um, I have a charred piece of wood from a skytree," Jordan answered. When Amicus gave her a blank look, she knew she had to explain. "Chunks of the wood from the skytrees that grew during the Cataclysm supposedly have some of Wild Growth's power. The stuff is extremely strong for wood, and it has a magical charge."

Amicus blinked. "Learn something new every day. Okay, we'll have Andrea look it over before it comes on the property. We don't want it interacting with any of my sister's defenses. I don't see how it would, but better safe than sorry."

"Okay."

"There is one last thing to cover. My sister did some…remodeling…in the last few months. Some of it is obviously related to the security of the manor's vaults. Some of the remodeling has no obvious purpose. She has instructed that these changes are never to be undone. You can cover them up if you wish, but you may not remove them."

Jordan blinked. "Cover up what?"

Amicus shook her head. "You'll have to see it, but let's just say I hope you don't have any objections to Bible verses."

---

The boy stared out the window, watching the people far below, so many strange people. They weren't the ones he watched back at his window at home. There were lots of cars too. Some of the cars had flashing lights.

Suddenly, He heard someone walking towards the room. He held still, holding his breath, barely breathing. Ready to hide.

The footsteps went passed his door. He started breathing again.

He looked at the toys on the ground. It might be nice to play with them, but they were from a stranger, and Grandma said never accept gifts from strangers. He felt bad that he'd eaten the food they brought, but he was hungry, and Grandma wasn't here to make him food. She'd understand why he broke the rules.

He rubbed the bandage on one of his arms. Strangers were bad. They hurt him. You can't trust strangers.

The lady that was like him hadn't come back today. He hoped the strangers didn't get her. She seemed so sad, but she told him stories, just like Grandma did. She wasn't a stranger, she was nice. Some of the strangers tried telling him stories too, but he knew they were just trying to trick him. They must have heard the nice lady tell him stories and try to do the same thing. He wouldn't fall for their tricks. He was smart; his Grandma said so.

Thinking about Grandma made him cry again. He wanted to go home. He wanted her to kiss him on the head and tell him stories. He wanted to go away from this bad place. He wanted it to all go back to the way it was, and he'd be happy. Maybe the nice lady could come too, then she could be happy. That would be nice. He didn't want her to be sad.

He looked out the window again. Thinking about home.

Comments

[AvoidingFever17]

Josie smiled.."You've heard that Sunset Blessing had a temporary transformation spell, right? In the depths of her vaults is a necklace, and whoever wears the necklace will be impacted by the spell. I've seen the necklace in action; it works. Get the necklace."

Oh?
Neat

[harts fire]

awesome chapter.

and yes i know Carmen Sandiego rather well as i have watched it a few times grin.