Pandemic: Starting Over

by Halira

Chapter 59: Brooding Teenagers and Magic Princesses

I'd been reading back over Twilight's notes for over an hour, and a clear idea had come to me. It seemed so simple and straightforward that I had to assume something was wrong with it. Anything that seemed like an obvious answer had to be something the princess and her other mages had already considered and found a problem with, yet I saw nothing in the notes indicating they had.

I didn't have all the information I needed to make a complete spell, but I could make a basic framework and have the princess plug the missing elements in. That could be the reason she hadn't considered this option; she could be lacking those vital final elements. However, her notes elsewhere made me think she might have ways of finding that missing information. I knew it would be entirely dependent on her to finish the spell since those particular things were outside my ability to gather information about.

I also had a second option that I was considering, an evolved form of my temporary transformation spell that was more stable than my previous incarnation of the spell. Twilight had considered and developed this, but it wasn't really an answer to the problem, more of something that could buy time to come up with a real solution. Unfortunately, my idea of expanding it even further seemed like it would take too much time to finish, and by the time it was in place to buy time, Bursa could be out of time. It might have been helpful to her if we found her at an earlier point, but as it stood, there was no way of completing it before her organs failed. Still, I would stow that idea away. I had a personal interest in how Twilight improved my work, and I was pleased to see it had not been abandoned. It was impossible to ignore something I had dedicated years of my life to making and now suddenly seeing new possibilities in it.

I shook my head and scolded myself. Focus, Sunset. You aren't here to further develop your temporary transformation spell. You're here to help a victim.

I hadn't planned on starting to develop spells until tomorrow, but that first option needed to be reviewed. I could draft up the basic idea and have Starlight get in touch with Twilight Sparkle to let her know I had an idea. Hopefully, Twilight would come straight away, and she could tell me if I was onto something or if I was pursuing a dead end. She also would be able to verify if she could fill in the blanks in my spell work. Even if this worked, I wasn't entirely sure what type of creature Bursa would be, only that it should have a stable resonance.

I started drawing the spell's runes, leaving open the spaces that would need to be filled in. It was an interesting exercise, drawing a puzzle with missing pieces. It was an exciting one since it had me utilizing my talent in a completely different way than I usually did. I was not just taking what I had to make something more, but designing something that someone else could make into something more if they could find the right parts. I prayed Twilight had those parts.

"I can hear you breathing, Auntie Sunset," Jess’s voice came from right next to my ear.

I jumped and almost had a heart attack. After landing, I took a few deep breaths and turned to glare at Jess.

Except she wasn't there. No one was. The door was still closed with my bags in place against it where I left them.

"Are you outside the door playing a trick on me?" I demanded.

"I'm on the big staircase," Jess's voice said, once again sounding like it was right in the room with me. It wasn't even loud. It sounded like she was talking at a normal volume. "I'm practicing my powers. I can't keep this up much longer. I'm sweating from keeping control this long and getting a headache."

I was impressed but also peeved. "Well, you got your laugh by scaring me. Don't do that again."

"Sorry," Jess said contritely. "I wanted to tell you I heard the dogs again. I was trying to get closer to the room so I could try to hear into it, but the room has some weird interference about it."

I grumbled and didn't care if she heard. "I already knew that the thaumic energy was off in that room. Just keep away from it."

"Thaumic energy?" she asked in interest. "You know, my big paper that got me famous involving the interaction of thaumic energy with classical and quantum physics. Since it is thaumic energy impacting sound, I would love to study how it lines up with Middleton's Law."

"Middleton's Law?"

"Well… it’s not confirmed as a law of physics just yet. They are still doing experiments to show it applies in every situation, but I'm confident they'll come out showing that I'm right."

I shook my head and had no idea if she would know I did. "This is an unexplained phenomenon outside a lab; you can't set up controls. We don't know if it is dangerous. You are to keep away from that room and let the adults deal with it."

"Fine," she said with a huff. "I was just trying to be helpful. I'll leave you alone!"

And the room went silent.

I sighed. The girl's input might be useful if we kept studying it and couldn't come up with a reason why it was happening. Still, I didn't want to involve any member of my family, especially a minor, in dealing with something I had no way of knowing how dangerous it was. I was going to have to move everyone off that hall tonight. I didn't want any incidents.

That was a worry for later on. Right now, I needed to worry about Bursa, and that meant contacting Twilight Sparkle.

I dialed up Starlight and listened as the phone started ringing. It kept ringing for about thirty seconds, and I was about to hang up when it was finally answered.

"Sunset? What is it? Is something wrong? I'm in a meeting," Starlight said in a hurried whisper.

"I need to speak with Twilight Sparkle, directly, face-to-face, as soon as possible. My calls are monitored, and that means people I'm not approved to tell information according to my compulsion could be listening. I think I have part of the solution to the problem she and Wild gave me, but she needs to fill in the rest."

Starlight paused, and I heard movement, maybe her going somewhere more private. After a few seconds, she stopped moving.

"How confident are you about this? I know you are good, but that was pretty fast," Starlight said, continuing to whisper.

"I don't know. It seems obvious to me, but I don't think about spells the same ways you Equestrians do. I wasn't brought up learning magic from foalhood. That means I have a more open mind to what magic can do and how things can work since I'm not following as strict a set of rules, while at the same time some things you might feel are straightforward are incredibly complex ideas to me."

Starlight went silent for a few seconds, and all sound was muffled. I wondered if she hung up on me.

Sound returned. "Okay, I'll call her and let her know. I know she will hurry to you as fast as possible. You might want to wait outside for her someplace in the open. I'm not sure how long she will take, only that she will be there soon."

I smiled. "Thanks, Starlight."

"Now, let me go, so I can call her and get back to what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll talk to you in the morning since I expect you'll be in bed before I get back," Starlight replied. "I hope you and Twilight work this problem out. Good luck."

After the call ended, I quickly gathered up Twilight's notebooks and my notes into the saddlebag and put it on. If this turned out to be the answer we needed, I wouldn't require these anymore, and they were too dangerous to be left with me indefinitely. They may have security measures on them, but others could find a way around those, given enough time.

I left the room and headed downstairs, but found an obstruction on the stairs, Jess was fast asleep on them, and Robby, Paul, Silvia, Trixie, Rosetta, and my grandfoals were all down at the base of the stairs talking.

I carefully walked around Jess with my eyes fixed on the others. "What is going on? Why is Jess sleeping on the stairs?"

Silvia turned and gave me a worried look. "She exhausted herself. She got bound and determined to force her hearing powers into that room upstairs, and the effort was too much. She passed out."

I blinked and looked at my niece. "Fool girl. I told her not to mess with that room, and she did it immediately. She isn't hurt, is she?"

Silvia shook her head. "Not hurt, just worn out. We were debating how to move her and where."

I considered for a second. "Just put her on a couch in the living room for now. I want to move everyone out of that particular hallway until we figure out what's going on with that room. We may have to double or triple up in some rooms in the meantime."

Trixie lit her horn. "Trixie is not used to doing heavy lifting, but I can carry her to the other room."

"Just don't drop her," Paul cautioned worriedly. "I'd carry her, but she's gotten a little too big and heavy for me; she weighs in at just under two hundred pounds now. I miss her being a little filly.

Trixie hadn't gotten around to lifting Jess yet, but her horn's light went out. " She weighs how much? Trixie can't do that much lifting."

I rolled my eyes and lit my own horn. Jess was enveloped in my magic, and I carefully deposited her down on the base of the stairs.

"I thought your magic was weaker than most unicorns," Rosetta said in confusion.

"Everypony keeps saying her magic is getting stronger," Trixie said, giving me a considering look.

"I didn't think to even read it," Silvia said in embarrassment.

I shrugged. "It's no big deal. I have always been much better at levitation than other things. I couldn't go carrying her around like that for long, but I can at least get her off the stairs. Number or Wild can help you move her to the living room, or maybe Mike and Paul can do it together." I looked around. "Where's Tempest."

"Already asleep on one of the couches," Rosetta replied. "She tends to sleep five hours or so every afternoon. Since Crystal usually is around to watch us at that time."

Made sense. "I know all the night ponies are going to need to go to bed soon. Just double up in the rooms on the second floor on this wing. We don't need them in the day, aside from Mèng. He can share a bed with the demons."

"We have to share a bed with Alfie?" Charlotte whined.

"He wets the bed!" Tabby complained.

Alfie flapped his wings slightly in embarrassment. "I don't do that!"

Rosetta nuzzled her son. "Your brother will make sure he goes potty before going to bed. You'll be fine."

Robby looked at the door. "I'm going to stay up until my mom and little brother arrives. I haven't seen them in months."

I forgot Devon and Dusk were coming. Where was I going to put all these people? That was a worry for later. Right now, I needed to worry about meeting Twilight.

"Where are you going?" Rosetta asked. "You have saddlebags packed and on. That's not typical for going around the house."

I frowned. "Cool your suspicions. Princess Twilight is coming, and I'm going to deliver these to her. They're her property anyway, on loan to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wait outside for her arrival. I shall see you this evening. Have a good afternoon and sleep tight."

I then calmly marched out the front door.

There was no immediate sign of Twilight. Wild's limo was still parked here, so she must still be here. I heard laughter and giggles in the distance. Looking around, I spotted Alice sitting in the shade of a tree with Mèng curled up next to her, sleeping with a wing draped over his head.

I walked over to her. "Where is everyone else?"

Alice pointed out towards the gardens, which were a maze of bushes and low walls. "Mike is watching all the kids play, except for this little guy. The foals got freaked out by flying quickly, and the two pegasuses—"

"Pegasi," I corrected.

"—pegasi left them here and went out flying higher," Alice finished, then pointed up.

I took a few steps back to get a better view of the sky. There were two ponies up there, but I couldn't make any details out from this distance. They were high, really high. Pegasi had the best long-distance vision among ponies, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were still monitoring the foals from that height.

"I'd forgotten how bright daylight was," Alice said as she gently ran a hand over Mèng's sleeping form. "We came out here from time to time to get crabapples, but that was always at night. This is the first time I have been out in the day since I was a kid. Bobby and Grace don't remember daylight at all; they've spent their entire lives with artificial light and moonlight."

I perked an ear and continued to hear laughter. "They seem like they are adjusting to it well."

Alice nodded. "I hope Mike brings them back soon. They aren't used to all this activity or heat. It can make them sick."

"You're surprisingly mature for your age," I observed.

She shrugged. "You don't get much of a childhood living in a bunker," she muttered, and I detected a strong hint of bitterness. "Eight years… all for nothing. My parents are so stupid, and Mike and I were stupid ever to believe them."

Great, another damaged teenager. I had enough at the house to start a support group. Was Robby damaged? Probably. He just wasn't as overt about it. “I’m not going to disagree that what they did was rather foolish, but given how bad things were, especially in this area eight years ago, I don’t blame them for trying to protect their family.”

"But they didn't protect us. They ruined our lives," Alice practically hissed.

I frowned. "My daughter-in-law, Rosetta, once taught me an old Assyrian proverb. Don't curse the day until you have seen the night."

Alice gave me a confused look. "What does that mean?"

I sat down. "It means that the day isn't over until the night is through, and that goes for life as well. You are young, girl. You're still in the morning of your life, and you have a lot more life to live. Don't say your life is ruined because you don't know how your life will turn out yet. When you're old, like me, with less life ahead of you than behind, is when you can start making judgments about whether your life was good or bad."

“Sounds like you read way too much into that, but whatever," Alice said and went back to petting Mèng like a sleeping cat.

I wasn't ready to give up. "How about we use my parents as an example. They thought they had lost track of all their kids, and I had cut them off; my mother had lung cancer. They aren't young; they're pushing eighty years old. Yet look at them now. They had another kid in their seventies, they've reconnected with my sisters and me, and are meeting all the family they never got to see. Ten years ago, they might have said their lives were a ruined mess, but now they are happy and fulfilled."

Alice didn't look impressed. "Well, they got to turn into magic ponies. My siblings and I didn't get that chance."

That fell too close to Shimmerist thought for my liking. This girl might not know what a Shimmerist was, but I knew she was very susceptible to what they'd be preaching. I wanted to head that off now.

I sighed. "Very few people had any choice in it, and it was a frightening time for many. Two years ago, I would have agreed with you that becoming ponies would make it all better, but I can tell you now that isn't so. I made the biggest mistakes in my life after becoming a pony and wouldn't have been able to make those particular mistakes if I had stayed human. Jess used to be an earth pony, and I honestly can't think of anything useful she would have gained by staying an earth pony. In fact, given she wants to be a scientist, she probably will have an easier time doing that as a human. I used to think becoming ponies made us better people, but the truth is we're all still just people, and people screw up. You can be upset you've lost eight years of your life, but don't ever be upset you're human."

"What would I lose being a pegasus, like them up there?" Alice asked, gesturing upwards.

I smirked. "You think being a pegasus is easy? They have to spend a certain amount of time in the air every day to maintain their health, hours in the air. Do you think that doesn't impact their lives? It makes many of them get pigeonholed into jobs requiring flying, regardless of what else they might want to do. On top of that, there are lots of places they aren't even allowed to fly, which feels like discrimination to them."

I pointed to Mèng. "And night ponies have it worse. They are stuck, due to their strict nocturnal natures, unable to do things during the middle of the day. They aren't as good at flying as pegasi, and they face constant discrimination because of several factors. As for earth ponies and crystal ponies, can you imagine having to do everything with your mouth?"

Alice narrowed her brow. "And unicorns?"

I pointed up at my horn. "You want to talk about design flaws? Our horns are one of the most sensitive and delicate parts of our body, yet they're in an extremely exposed position. We also tend to magically exhaust the fastest since we use magic less efficiently compared to the passive abilities of the other tribes. Magical exhaustion isn't fun. We're practically helpless in every situation when exhausted. I've done it to myself more than once. We ponies are far too dependant on our magic; humans, even humans with magic, are far more adaptable to most situations."

The girl didn't look convinced. "How do I adapt any better than a pony?"

I pointed at Mèng. "I'm guessing he made for the shade on his own. He's a night pony, and he doesn't do well with bright daylight. You might not be used to sunlight, but you'll adapt to it more than he will. The light is blinding for him, and that's biological, not something he can just get used to. Also, you spent the last eight years underground. If you were a pegasus, that would have made you very weak and sick and may have died. You seem healthy. These are just some examples, but I could give many more."

She finally seemed to accept she wasn't strictly inferior to ponies, at least if I was reading her body language right. She still seemed unhappy. "We still lost half my life."

"Half your life so far, but you have far more life ahead of you," I corrected. "Be positive. You have a whole new world to learn about and explore. It's an adventure."

Alice still wasn't perking up. I watched as she continued to pet Mèng.

"You know," I said slowly. "Mèng seems to trust you. One of the limitations I have is I can't be up to take care of him at night. Would you possibly be interested in helping take care of him on some nights? Your parents would need to approve, but it could be a great help. I can pay you."

She seemed taken aback. "I don't know. I wouldn't know what to do."

I spotted a car driving up. That must be Devon. Where the heck was Twilight?

I focused back on Alice. "Rosetta and Josie can show you the ropes and let Mèng get even more used to you. My goal is to have someone who can rotate nights with Josie, so he doesn't get too used to just one sitter."

"I don't know," she said. "I need to talk to my parents."

I nodded. "Do so, and get back to me." I turned to face Devon as she was getting out of the car and gave her a wave. "Hi, Devon! Your family was just inside the door, last I checked. They might have gone off to the room to the immediate right when you enter. You can let yourself in. Jess just magically exhausted herself, so she's out like a light. She's not hurt."

"She what?!" Devon yelled before quickly hurrying to open the back seat to collect up her youngest.

There was a sudden flash, and Twilight Sparkle appeared at the front door.

I called out to her and waved before she could start knocking. "Over here, Princess."

She turned and gave a double-take at the sight of me. "Sunset Blessing? Why are you yellow?"

That did it. I was going to go back to my natural color. I was so sick of that question.

"A temporary fur dye," I explained. "Do you want to go somewhere private? This place is crawling with people at the moment. Maybe take a walk out in the trees? I think I have part of the solution for the Bursa problem, and I pray you have the rest."

She looked around, then nodded. "Let's do that."

Comments

[Gargon94]

I like that everyone asks why Sunset Blessing is yellow, it's become a running gag it seems.

[Shrouded Lunes]

10737065
I think the "best" part about that is, once she finally really does get fed up and switches back to her 'natural' fur color... I mean, of course everyone will stop asking her why she's yellow, but they'll start asking her why she switched back.

[Gargon94]

10737750
That's true.

[harts fire]

it's looking like some of the Young's children have a good chance of being close to normal with time.

Sunset Blessing is yellow wonder what color she will turn as this grows out??
really hopping Sunset can come up with a way to help Bursa..