> Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be
>  by Halira
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Pondering Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And here is the latest update on the ETS crisis. The numbers coming out of Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and various areas throughout the south are staggering. Full transformations to ponies have reached the thousands, and those displaying symptoms have reached the millions. It is now being confirmed that if anyone has had the flu in the last month you are most likely already infected with ETS. Shelters are being put up in all major metropolitan areas to try to take in those with the worst symptoms. It is highly recommended that everyone, whether they have had the flu or not, please stay indoors if at all possible. If you are experiencing symptoms and are unable to reach a shelter we will be providing a support line at the end of broadcast to call for information on how to seek aid. Please be advised that long holds for the helpline are currently happening due to the high volume of calls, but if you stay on the line someone will eventually answer and do their best to assist you."

Matthew sat at his laptop waiting for the painfully slow internet to load a webpage. He was only half listening to the television, pretty much everyone had already figured out that it was the flu at this point, the news wasn't really reporting anything they didn't know. He didn't know why everyone kept watching like it was going to say something they didn't know already. 

He brushed a hand through his dark green hair, and adjusted his position in his seat at the table because his matching tail that he had stuffed down his pants was starting to pull. He wished his parents would turn it off, it was messing with the buzzing in his ears. They both already had pony ears at this point, so they could at least turn it down. They had complained enough about how sensitive the things were. 

His parents were a highly religious sort, they had tried to drill those same values into him. He believed in God, but didn't believe God was so hateful as his parents seemed to depict. When this had all started they had started making nasty comments about how this was how God was punishing the homosexuals for their filthy lifestyle. They had even shouted that kind of crap at people they saw on the street that were trying to cover up their changing hair color. One lady with bright pink hair had gotten into a shouting match with them about how she wasn't even a lesbian. There hadn't been much reasoning with his parents. They had seen this as the end times and for some reason had targeted gay people as the ultimate cause. 

Matthew stopped himself from going further down that train of thought. Thinking about those kinds of things was far too dangerous a subject. Perhaps he was focusing too much on their comments about those kinds of people. It personally stung him a bit more than other things his parents thought were morally wrong and stood out more as a result. 

That had kept up to the point that they started showing symptoms too. His mother sported a mix of yellow and purple hair now, which every day looked more like a mane. His father had a very deep blue. Both had full tails and ears to boot. They were starting to grow fur, even though they tried hard to cover it. They had completely stopped talking about how this was God's punishment now. Now like the rest of the world they just wondered what would become of themselves.

For Matthew himself he had started a few days after his parents with the symptoms. While they both complained of headaches, which they all knew the meaning of now after watching what unfolded with others, Matthew was just dealing with weird sleeping patterns. He would feel sleepy in the middle of the day now no matter how well he rested, and he had trouble falling asleep at night. There were pictures people, or perhaps he should say ponies, had posted on the internet. There weren't a lot of them, yet, but there were ponies with what looked like bat wings, and they said they had gone pretty much nocturnal. Being up all night by themselves left them with a lot of free time to themselves and as a result they tended to be some of the few fully transformed that still made any attempt to use social media just so they would have someone to talk to.

He pulled up one of the more popular social media sites that the night ponies posted on frequently. The first one to start posting was a girl..mare..filly?-named Josie who lived where what was pretty much ground zero for the ETS epidemic. She had started posting soon after her wings had appeared and had gained a large following quickly. Others started posting similar pictures over the last few days, though Josie herself seemed to have withdrawn to mainly giving short one word responses on the site; trying to operate a keyboard with hooves was likely not any easy task. She had gotten a full body selfie up though and it was the first fully transformed night pony picture he had seen.

He stared at that photo now, taking in every detail like he had many times since he first started suspecting this was the fate he had in store. Despite the dire implications that this was a loss of humanity it didn't seem such a terrible thing, she looked actually kinda cute, in a cartoonist type of way anyway. He looked at her leathery wings and wondered what it would feel like to have two entirely new limbs attached; walking on four legs didn't seem as alien a concept as having six limbs. Did you even still count as a mammal if you had six limbs? Were the ponies they were becoming as a whole even something that could be classified under the normal taxonomy that existed or were they something completely different unto themselves? Everyone called them ponies, but their bodies clearly were put together in ways completely different from horses. The term pony was extremely misleading.

He looked at some of the messages that were posted up among the others like him that suspected that they were on their way to being night ponies. A common thread ran among all their lives, no matter how varied they might seem at first. Each had something that deeply terrified them that others might not understand, and that terror impacted their lives every day. For Josie the fear was night terrors when she slept, others had overwhelming social anxiety and shyness to the point they could barely stand to be in public without breaking down, others had life circumstances that led them to fear for their lives daily, but for all there was an element of fear that regularly impacted their lives. Matthew was no different in that aspect.

Realizing his thoughts were going to uncomfortable places he shut his laptop and resolved to distract himself. He needed to get out of the house and do something.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going down to the church shelter to help out for a while. I'll be back in two or three hours," Matthew called into the living room.

"They're saying we're supposed to stay inside," his mother called back out to him.

"I'm not going to stop anywhere else and everyone at the shelter is already infected so I can't spread anything to them. There might be one or two full ponies there now, a few were really close yesterday," Matthew called back.

"Let him go Charlotte, it isn't hurting anything and it is good that he is wanting to take care of those in need. It might not be too long before we all need to go down there as well and we should hope that someone will be good enough to come help us too," his father said. 

"You're right...be home by dark," his mother said in a resigned tone.

"Um, actually, can I stay there a little bit later? I seem to be having trouble sleeping at night anyway. I might as well put myself to use if I'm going to be up. I promise to be back by eleven," Matthew asked hopefully.

"Nine, and no later," his father answered. "And I doubt they have any more, but can you check to see if they can spare any more canned vegetables? They might have some still, the food bank had been really full before all this started. I never thought the day would come I'd be eager to get a hold of a can of peas, but we're getting really low on food that doesn't make us spew our stomachs."

"I'm pretty sure they won't with all the mouths they're feeding, but I'll ask," Matthew replied. He was worried about it. All the fresh produce was gone at all the grocery stores, and the only sections of the stores that weren't completed empty of food were those that contained meat products. People had stood in line waiting for the delivery trucks to arrive at the stores so they could buy the food straight off the truck; at least they had until the trucks stopped coming.

Matthew put on his jacket wondering how long he would have until he couldn't wear it anymore. It wasn't too cold outside so it really wasn't needed, but he had a habit of wearing it all the time outside the house anyway, even in the hot southern summer. People sometimes mocked him for it, but he kept doing it anyway. He felt less comfortable if he wasn't well covered up, and he would rather put up with the sweat than the anxiety that came from being uncovered.

He stepped out of the house and took off at a brisk walk through the neighborhood. Summerville wasn't a huge city, but it wasn't a small town either. It was best described as a large town he guessed. The borders of the town ran straight into the borders of the neighboring towns of Goose Creek and Ladson, and those ran straight into North Charleston making it one large suburban-metropolitan area that if they weren't all separate towns technically would count as a fair sized city.   There were small churches everywhere, but few large congregations. The church he was going to was an exception. It was a massive thing with a few thousand in it's congregation. It was actually visible from his front door. He could have reached it in five minutes if he just jumped his neighbor across the street's backyard fence. He wasn't about to trespass though, so the walk would take about twenty minutes. He didn't really mind.

The street through the neighborhood was completely clear of anyone driving or outside. There were no kids playing outside, people mowing lawns, nothing at all. Everyone was hunkered down inside their houses afraid to go out. Most stores were closed right now anyway, too many people out sick or afraid to be out to keep them open; though he heard that the Waffle Houses somehow were still open through all this. 

He walked out of the neighborhood and out onto the frontage road. Looking out past the fence at the interstate he saw that similarly empty of cars for the most part. At this time of day the interstate should be packed with cars of people returning home from work, instead all he saw were a few stray cars going far over the interstate speed limit. The police didn't seem to care about the cars pushing ninety in a sixty-five mile per hour speed limit area though. 

A quick two or three minutes walking through down the road brought him to the church. The church unlike everything else was a huge hub of activity right now. While the local schools had been converted to shelters as well, they simply didn't provide near enough space. Since this was a large church it became a shelter as well, but even it was holding far more than it should. All the sports fields around it had their own small towns of tents affected within them, and people in various later stages of transformation could be seen milling about. 

What caught his eyes was the fact that for the first time he had come here there were now a few full ponies walking about as well. This was his first time actually seeing a fully transformed pony in anything but pictures or videos. He expected there might be one or two today, but he counted at least four or five just outside, which almost certainly meant more inside. Were the transformations speeding up? 

He cut through the grass onto the church grounds and caught sight of her. The one person he really wanted to see, who had been close yesterday, was now a full pony, and she was the center of a lot of excited attention by several medical personnel. She was now a light orange pegasus with a bright purple mane who despite the constant pokes and prods by the ETS infected doctors seemed to be simply glowing with pride. He could guess why that was easily; today she had validation, because until a week ago Tonya had been biologically a guy despite insisting he was a girl. She was clearly now a mare. 

"Tonya? That is you right?" he asked cautiously as he approached where the doctors had her all but surrounded.

She was standing up on a table where doctors could get a good look.. at her more personal areas. Still completely unperturbed, and even proud looking, that her business was being inspected she looked at him and gave a big smile and wave of her hoof.

"Matthew! I'm glad you came by today. How do I look?" Tonya called out happily. Then she struck another proud seeming pose. He could see one of the doctors roll his eyes at the strutting she was doing.

"You look different, that's for sure. It must be nice to move around again without help. How do you feel?" Matthew asked with bemusement, deciding not to bring up the very obvious change in sex. The fact that she was clearly now a she made him deeply uncomfortable, but he tried his best not to show it.

"Yes, it's great being able to get around on my own again, but these bozos won't let me try flying. There's another pegasus mare here too, and she got to fly, but they won't let me. They didn't really let her either, but she at least got to for a minute," Tonya said with a tone of excitement laced with a small undertone of annoyance. Matthew had caught a slight drop in her ears towards the end of her speaking.

"You didn't answer how you feel? What's it like being like what you're now?" He had read the stuff on the internet from the night ponies, but he wanted to hear from her about it.

"It feels great, like it's what I was always meant to be. Plus I had at least one thing I knew before this confirmed for every pony to see," Tonya said with a little prance in place. The doctors gave her annoyed glances as she did.  Matthew guessed that the prancing made it harder for them to examine her.

Unfortunately annoyed glances weren't all she was getting. Some of the people who were the least far along on their transformations were looking at her with baleful expressions. None of the people further along with transformation were, but it was clear that many of the most human of them were not as pleased with her having been right all along. Tonya didn't seem to care at all that she was a pony now, she was basking in the fact she was right all along. Matthew was not

"So you aren't upset you aren't human anymore?" Matthew asked as he gazed at her quivering wings.

"Why would I be?" she asked with confusion. "Sure it's different, but it feels natural. I can fly, if they ever let me, and I'm at peace with my body for the first time in my life. I'm not just going to accept this, I'm going to embrace this; as it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Upset about not being human? I don't want to be human."

He had heard that the fully transformed had an unnatural acceptance of their new form, but with Tonya he wondered if she really would feel this way no matter what. It was hard to really counter what she was saying with any firm logic. All that came to mind immediately was you should want to be human, but it fell a little flat in this case. He also was not sure how she dealt with the people staring at her. It made him want to add another jacket on just thinking about those eyes on him. 

"Well, I guess I'm happy for you then," he said warily. 

"You'll be happy for yourself too when the time comes," she responded with a tone of certainty that was a little bit creepy. "I had the most vivid dream last night. I can feel that everything will be alright. All of us will be happy and we will take better care of one another than humans do. Once we're all ponies we can make a better world than humanity ever did. The day is coming soon."

That was extremely creepy. She had already defined humans as something else and she was also defining everyone as a pony like it was a foregone conclusion that no cure would be found. She sounded like she didn't want a cure to be found, and instead have the whole world transformed. She had a tone of religious zeal to her that made his flesh crawl.

In the few minutes that they were talking his ears had started to have a low buzz in them. That was another in the progressive signs of ETS. He would likely be sporting a pair of pony ears by tomorrow. It was a strong reminder that soon enough he too would be a pony. Would he feel the same way then?
> Chapter 2: Changing Perspectives
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Matthew was extremely tired as he walked home. There were far more nearly transformed at the shelter than he had expected. Most of them were not capable of doing much of anything for themselves. He had spent most of his time doing things like feeding them, typing out text messages to relatives for them, and helping them with their clothes. The fully transformed seemed to need little help by contrast. The most any pony had asked him to do was take a picture of them to send to friends and family. A few of the ponies had even managed to do it on their own, with a great deal of trial and error. Most of them seemed determined to prove their self sufficiency.

By the time he had left the doctors had more or less lost control of the ponies doing whatever they wanted to do. There wasn't anyone here that could really enforce any rules on the fully transformed anyway. Tonya had been cooperative with the examination, but that was more her trying to rub in the fact she was female, most of the rest weren't having that.

That isn't to say they were making a nuisance of themselves. They also sat like he did with many of those who were at a stage they couldn't help themselves in order to offer aid. Fetching things for the afflicted and offering comforting words. He saw more than one embracing an individual who was clearly having anxiety problems. Tomorrow that population of fully transformed would be much larger, and Matthew hoped that they would all be equally as eager to help out.

He finally reached home again and entered the house. He could hear the television still going. That meant his parents must still be awake, or had fallen asleep watching the television. He made his way into the living room to check on them. 

His father was passed out on his chair, snoring softly, but his mother was not in the living room. With a brief glance around he noticed the bathroom door was closed and a light leaked out from underneath the door frame. He decided to just go knock on the door and check on her since she hadn't called out to him when he had entered. As he got close to the door he almost turned and walked away, as he could hear his mother softly crying inside the bathroom. He was torn for a moment on what to do, but decided the more decent thing to do would be to check on her.

"Mom, I'm just letting you know I'm home. Are you okay in there?" He called out after giving a brief knock.

"I'm okay. I'll be out in just a moment. I've just gotta wash my face," his mother said in a clearly forced upbeat tone. 

Deciding not to press the issue that he had heard her crying Matthew instead went back into the living room and plopped onto the couch. Looking at his passed out father again he noticed the beginnings of a horn now peaking out of his forehead. Matthew stared at the thing wondering if he would see it grow if he kept staring. It didn't seem to be, but after a long minute of staring he was questioning if it was the same size as when he started or if it was bigger now; it was hard to tell for sure if it had grown or not. 

"Matthew, don't stare at your father like that. It's rude," he heard his mother chide as she walked into the room.

He turned to look at her as she sat down on the couch as well. She had a slightly more obvious horn now protruding from her head. Had that grown from nothing in the short time he had been gone? It wasn't full size yet, but it hadn't been there at all when he had left to go to the church. He couldn't help noticing a dull ache in his own back as he wondered how much these changes were accelerating.

She saw him staring and tried to cross her eyes to look up at her own horn. She gave off a disgruntled snort as she lifted one hand up to touch it, before bringing the hand back down.

"It looks like I'll be a unicorn," his mother said matter-of-factly, like this was something Matthew hadn't figured out already. Perhaps saying it aloud made her feel better about it. "I broke down when I noticed it. The headache is mostly gone now, but I'm not sure if I'd rather have the headache gone or this horn on my head. Why is God doing this to us?" 

"Why do you even think it's something that God specifically is doing?" Matthew asked as he diverted his eyes from his mom's horn to her face. "Most of the people on the news and internet are pretty sure it's some sort of biological attack and just haven't figured out who to blame."

"This is something supernatural, far beyond what some human could do, so it must be God," his mother said with certainty, glancing at a small cross hanging on a wall as if she were looking towards the Almighty himself. "When this all started I thought it was his punishment to sinners; turning the unclean and perverted into beasts of the field. It's pretty obvious that isn't the case now. I just don't understand. I pray for understanding, but my prayers aren't answered."

"Maybe God will give you understanding in his own time. If you really think it's God at work then he must have a plan, right?" Matthew reasoned. He still didn't think God had any hand in this. God was probably looking down at them from Heaven wondering how they had managed to get themselves into such a mess. 

"That's true, I suppose. If this is God's work everything will work out in the end. I'm just so scared. I don't know how we'll take care of ourselves. I don't know what we'll do for food. I don't even know if we'll even still be able to think anymore after all this or if we'll just be du..du..dumb animals," his mother said breaking at into a stuttered sob near the end.

He couldn't stand seeing his mother this upset. Yes, she said and did things sometimes that made him angry or feel ashamed, and sometimes he thought the worst of her, but she was still his mother. Matthew wrapped an arm around his mother and hugged her. She turned and cried onto his shoulder. 

After a few moments of crying she seemed to calm down, though also seemed in no hurry to break away from the hug. Matthew admitted to himself that he wasn't in a hurry to let his mother go either. There was a need for closeness and signs of love now that was always there before, but was now stronger than ever since the pandemic had struck.

"There are a lot of fully transformed at the church now, more than I expected anyway. There'll be a lot more by tomorrow. They all seem to be able to think and talk perfectly fine. Maybe you and Dad should make your way over there as well tomorrow. Your symptoms are getting worse," Matthew said, again glancing briefly at his mother's horn. It definitely looked bigger than when she first sat down.

"We live close enough that if we need help someone can get to us without any problem. The church has enough people to worry about right now," his mom said as she finally pulled away back to her seat. She then looked over to him. "Tell me about them."

"Well, you remember Tonya?" Matthew asked, knowing his mother was well aware of who the trans girl was, and had voiced her displeasure about her life choices more than once.

"His name is Thomas, don't indulge his fantasies. What about him?" She responded in a harsh tone of voice, as her mouth pulled up into a sneer.

"Well, she is definitely a mare now. When I was first walking up to the church I saw her being examined by the doctors. There was a whole team of them looking her over while most of the fully transformed were just walking around like they didn't matter. I think the fact that she became a mare caught everyone off guard. Everyone except her, she was practically strutting about it," Matthew said, wondering what his mother's reaction to the news would be.

His mother just stared at him unblinking for a long moment, not saying anything. She didn't have any sort of emotional expression on her face, like she didn't know what sort of reaction to have to this news. Finally she slowly turned and dipped her head, looking down at her lap. Her mouth worked like she was going to say something, but she didn't. She ran a hand over her face before leaving it lingering on her nose with her mouth covered. Finally she sighed and closed her eyes, bringing her hands together low in front of her.

"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I have behaved in a way unbecoming of someone who professes your name. Worse I have blasphemed by using your name to curse another, and cursed your creation. By your precious holy blood I beg your forgiveness, and vow to do what I can to make this right," his mother prayed aloud in a determined sounding voice.

This was not the sort of response Matthew had been expecting, not even close. It was a rare thing for his mother to confess she might be wrong about something, but he had never seen her just flip from insisting one thing to saying she was not only in the wrong, but begging forgiveness for sin so quickly. Was this the transformation altering her mind or was this her way of trying to process and adjust to what was happening. Both his parents were religious, but since this had started they had dialed their religious nature up by a factor of ten. He wanted to embrace his mother again after seeing this change of heart, but decided that might make her feel uncomfortable.

"Well," his mother said as she turned back to him after the prayer. " I guess I was wrong about her. If God has decided that she is a she, then it's wrong for me to say otherwise. However, she still should not have strutted like a peacock over it. She should've had some humility and gratitude that God listened to her prayers to make her more as God intended."

Matthew was pretty sure Tonya was either an atheist or agnostic, as she had never seemed to have anything good to say about religion in the past. The way she was speaking today made him question that a little though, as it seemed to have that same religious fervor to it that his parents had as of late, but that might have just been him being sensitive. He wasn't going to contradict his mother about Tonya praying though. He also couldn't help but note that his mother was still finding things to criticize Tonya over, so things weren't completely changed. Still this was a momentous turnaround for his mother.

"Well, she certainly seemed happy at least. By the time I left she had gotten to flying. It's amazing how quickly she figured it out. All of them seem to have a fair idea how to function in their bodies, and determined to prove they aren't helpless," Matthew explained.

"Are there any unicorns?" She asked in a tentative voice. Her arm was rigid, like she was forcing it to be still rather than reaching for her horn again.

"There were three of them, and by the time I left they were all in strong demand to come help the people that were having trouble doing things with their hands. They just light up their horns and things move. They weren't so great at it when I got there, but by the time I left they all seemed to be reasonably good at it," Matthew said, hoping it would make his mother feel better about her own circumstances.

"I guess God provides us with the tools we need to get through trials," his mother said stoically as she broke down and reached back up to touch her horn. It now looked full grown. The acceleration of speed in the transformation was really alarming. How soon would it be till she was using that just like she used her hands now? "What about you? Were there any of the ones you think you are becoming? I know you seem certain you are turning into one of those..what do you call them?..night ponies? You spend a lot of time looking at them on your computer. If you have a sense that is what is happening to you then that must be God talking to you in your heart."

"No," he said as he looked down at the frayed beige carpet. "There aren't any there, and none of the people there seem to be turning into them either. I asked the doctors about it and they heard that there were a few over at the university, another one or two at the hospital, and another over in one of the local high schools, but most shelters don't have any. I'm the only person in the immediate area that is handled by that shelter or the elementary school shelter that is displaying any signs of being one. They say it seems to be pretty rare overall."

"Well, that just means you are special," his mother said with a smile. "Maybe ones like that are supposed to keep us safe at night, like police officers and firefighters."

"I'm pretty sure police officers and firefighters work just as much in the day," Matthew replied in a flat tone.

"Yes, but the really bad things they deal with happen at night," his mother insisted. Again he wasn't going to contradict her. She seemed to be trying hard to make her peace with all this.

"I needed to tell you that they couldn't spare any food," he said, changing the subject. "They said there are supposed to be trucks coming sometime tomorrow that will deliver food to the shelter here as well as the others, but they aren't sure when tomorrow it'll come. They said that there are a lot of trucks coming down from up north to try to get food to everyone. The transformed that are calling themselves earth ponies..you know the ones without wings or horns, they were talking about setting up farms and seemed pretty confident they could do it."

"I'm not sure where they would do such a thing even if they're capable," his mother said with a raised eyebrow. "Most large tracts of undeveloped land are marshy and not good for farms. There's just no where to make big farms that can actually hope to feed this many mouths. Not unless they start tearing up parking lots or something to make space."

"Um, I think that's exactly what they're talking about doing. They said we aren't going to need them anyway. Who is even going to be able to operate a car as a pony?" Matthew said with a grimace.

"They're right," his mother said as she looked at the carpet consideringly. "I say let them go ahead try. If some pony gives them hell about it I'm in their corner. We all need to eat more than we need parking lots."

He had heard a lot of the people fully transformed and most of the far along saying pony to refer to people at the shelter; not only today, but over the last few days as well. This was the first time he had heard his mother do it though. She likely hadn't even realized she had done it. Matthew decided not to point it out. He'd likely start doing it himself soon enough without realizing it, maybe he already was and just hadn't caught himself.

"I'm getting sleepy. Your father passed out maybe thirty minutes before you showed back up, but I'm not going to go upstairs to bed. If I suddenly start having trouble getting around I prefer to not have to deal with the stairs. Can you do me a favor and go up to my room and bring some blankets down for us?" She requested with a yawn.

"Sure thing," he said. 

Matthew got up from the couch and headed up the stairs to go find the requested bedding. His parents' room looked a mess, which was out of character for how they typically kept it. He supposed that the recent stresses might have made them go lax on their normal routine. As he grabbed up the blankets from the bed he noticed that there was a lot of purple and yellow hair on the floor by his mother's side of the bed, and a discarded pair of scissors. She must have cut it all off last night only to have it grow back by this morning. He hadn't even realized she had tried doing that.

He wasn't really sure how he felt about the changes happening. Logic said he should be in a panic, scared, at least worried; instead he felt kind of numb to it all. He knew that people got more accepting of it as time went on, even eager towards the end, but he shouldn't be at that stage yet. Did that mean something was wrong with him? He typically didn't have a lot of emotional impact from most things, but this wasn't most things.

He left the room and walked back down the stairs to find his mother had been more tired than he thought, as she had passed out spread across the couch. He carefully spread one blanket over her and then took a second blanket and set it over his father. 

He debated going to bed himself then, but he really wasn't tired. Instead he went back to his laptop to see if there had been any more news. He intended to check around to see if any of the closest people turning into night ponies actually posted online as well. 

When he got the computer connected to the Wi-Fi he was surprised to be greeted immediately by an instant message. What was even more surprising was who it was from, Tonya. Fully transformed didn't tend to use computers much except for the night ponies, and he had never chatted with her online before for that matter. They just knew one another from school, and from church while Tonya had still attended when she was younger and still calling herself Thomas.  He recognized her human photo on the avatar right away though, so there was no mistaking her.  

Hi sorry to message you like this, but wanted to see if you were coming by again tomorrow I got someone to turn on the thing where I can talk to text for me but am getting really tired so might not get your reply right away I should have just caught up to you before you left or flown after you but I don't think your parents like me and me flying up to your door and knocking might have been weird I wanted to talk to you about something I smelled about you today I am sure I wasn't the only pony to smell it so maybe you already know I would have called but every pony says the phone is too staticy lately and I am blabbering but I am so excited so please come and talk to me tomorrow.

He had to re-read it a few times to be clear, since the complete lack of punctuation made things harder to understand. She was concerned about something she smelled on him? That seemed kind of rude. Maybe it is some weird pony thing with sense of smell. He had heard some say that they focused a lot more on smell now.

That was a mystery for tomorrow. He resolved to make sure he took a shower right before heading out tomorrow, at least once he had checked on his parents to make sure they would be alright without him still. How long did they have before they got to the stage they couldn't walk around anymore? Two days maybe? It was hard to tell with how things seemed to be going faster now.

Resolving to just try to force himself to sleep with some sleep aids he closed his laptop up. This might be his final night sleeping if he was going to go nocturnal soon. He wondered how he was even going to function on a pure night schedule if everyone else was committed to days. It made wanting to find others like him more urgent.

He paused in his thoughts. Why was it so urgent to him all the sudden? He really hadn't cared about how much time he spent with others before. Were his thought processes changing already. Maybe it didn't really matter. It seemed the way things were going that it was an inevitability. He could fret about it, or he could embrace it and do what he needed to properly adjust.

Shaking his head to try to ignore those kinds of questions, he focused on making his full plan for tomorrow. Get some actual sleep tonight if he had to chug the full bottle of the sleep aid. Get up early and check on his parents, if they were okay walk back to the church and see what Tonya wanted. Then he would make the long two hour walk to the university and see if he could track down the night ponies or soon to be night ponies there so he could have someone to talk to at night.

He raised an arm and sniffed himself, but didn't smell anything. What in the world had Tonya been going on about? Even if her more sensitive nose picked up a little stench it shouldn't get her that excited. Well, he would add taking a shower back into his plans too. He wasn't going to have a bunch of ponies telling him he smelled funny.
> Chapter 3: Uncomfortable Conversations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew hadn't slept well. Even with the big dose of sleep aid he had been awake off and on all night long. He didn't feel rested at all as a result. There were things to do today though so there was no sitting around in bed all day, much as he would like to do so. He got up and noticed right away the fact that his ears weren't buzzing anymore and they felt distinctly different than yesterday. He didn't panic though, he knew this was almost certainly coming today. He would see the change as soon as he got in the bathroom. Standing or sitting up straight was a little bit of a struggle and he just let his posture slump a little.

Running a hand across his chest he paused at an oddity. He looked down just to make sure he was sure about what he was feeling. He confirmed in an instant that he was right, his nipples had started migrating down his body. He wasn't sure why this struck him as really odd. Ponies had that area much lower on their bodies so it wasn't really shocking that those should move, it just wasn't anything anypony had really talked about. It was the kind of thing you just kind of overlooked with all the other body changes. There were probably dozens of other little things he wasn't even noticing that were moving or changing in ways he might think of as weird.

He got up and wandered out of the room at a slow pace. He took a quick look over the balcony to the living room downstairs to see if his parents were up yet. Both seemed to still be asleep, it was actually still dark outside so it wasn't really surprising. He was up ahead of the sun because he couldn't sleep right and hadn't expected them to be up until after dawn. He kept staring down at them for a long minute though, their positioning seemed very awkward; that might be a sign they were entering into the final stage of transformation. He would need to wake them up and check on them before he went out of the day. If they needed him here then Tonya and finding other night ponies would have to wait.

He left the balcony and wandered into the upstairs bathroom, flipping on the light while yawning. Looking into the mirror he first looked at his new ears. They had dark grey fur and little tufts on them that gave them a more angular and rugged look that many other ponies. His green mane combined with them gave him an idea of what he would end up looking like, at least a little bit. It was still hard to imagine, but the picture was getting clearer.

Somehow looking over moving nipples and new ears he had overlooked the two stubby appendages which were starting to bloom from his upper back. They didn't look much like wings yet, they looked like little deformed arms, or misshapen tentacles. No pony had ever shown pictures of what they looked like when they were in the process of coming in, most just woke up with them suddenly fully developed. Maybe the fact that he wasn't sleeping right was causing him to see things at a different stages of development than normal; like his body was programmed to have them do most of their growing while he was sleeping but he wasn't sleeping when he should. 

They didn't hurt, he could feel a tiny bit of sensation in them, but he couldn't make them move at all. The muscles were likely not developed in them yet, it was dealing with the limbs of a fetus. They weren't causing any pain, just some stiffness in the upper back. Between his slightly slumped posture and those sticking out of his back he imagined he might look like some sort of gargoyle rather than early stages of a cute little pony.

Putting any sort of shirt on was going to be next to impossible due to the half formed wings, much less his jacket. Perhaps he should just cancel out on all his plans for the day. His parents likely needed him anyway. Maybe he could just message Tonya and find out what she wanted. She seemed like she might be expecting a reply last night, even though he hadn't given one.

With that in mind he decided to just skip the shower. He would write Tonya a reply and then see to his parents. He might as well see if there was any new news also.

He walked carefully down the stairs and went to the laptop. There were no further messages, but he figured she would still be asleep anyway at this hour. He typed up a quick reply apologizing and saying he was at a stage it wasn't good for him to be traveling, but he would keep in touch on the computer while he could still type. That completed he went into the living room and sat on the floor to watch the never turned off television.

"Continuing with our developing story; the government has issued a notice that at noon today most of the communication grid will be taken offline in terms of civilian use. This channel as well as well as a few other selected channels will remain in operation to provide continuing updates. A complete list will be displayed below. Local area landlines will also continue to function though there may be some interference with long distance calling. Cell phone coverage by major providers will cease to work outside of Wi-Fi. Expect severe internet slowdown as well. The government is going to be using the grid for emergency services and the lack of available workers is seen as too much of a strain on the system," the television reporter rattled off.

Hopefully Tonya gave a reply quickly if she was going to give one. It didn't seem likely she was going to be getting or receiving anything once noon hit. Sadly this made it next to impossible for Matthew to further keep up with any night ponies that might be out there as well.

He got up as the reporters continued on about current infection statistics and news of rioting. He wanted to do as much searching on the internet as possible before it became next to impossible to use. As he came up to his computer he noticed that there was a reply waiting for him from Tonya.

Really want to talk though so be there in a little while your parents will just have to deal with me maybe talk outside so they won't hear its important

He again had to re-read her message more than once to be clear on what she was saying. Tonya's messages gave him new appreciation for punctuation. The meaning was obvious from the start, she would be showing up soon. She was an earlier riser apparently.

A knock at the door declared that soon was actually now. Tonya didn't have to worry about walking to his house when she could fly to it in less than a minute from the church; he was mildly jealous and it made his new half-formed appendages twitch.

"Huh? Somepony at the door?" Matthew's father said sleepily. 

"I've got it, Dad. Don't try to do any walking around. I'm pretty sure it's someone from the church. I'll see what they want and be back inside in a few minutes," Matthew called into the living room, before hurrying to the door. 

He quickly opened the door and slipped outside without even waiting to see if it was Tonya. When he closed the door behind him and looked he did indeed see Tonya, but also a fully transformed night pony mare and stallion.

"Hi! Sorry for bringing guests with me, but they insisted on coming to meet you. This is Haley and John," Tonya said with an embarrassed blush.

"Pleasure to meet you," Haley said with a smile. John smiled and dipped his head in greeting.

"Um, nice to meet you two as well. I'm Matthew," he replied, unable to keep from smiling at actually meeting some night ponies.

"Matthew? That seems an inappropriate name," Haley said with a tilt of her head. "Are you really planning on keeping that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Matthew said with confusion. Was he supposed to come up with some pony name now? Was that a thing?

"I don't think she has figured that part out yet. That's why I said you two should just come tomorrow," Tonya said with a huff towards Haley.

"Figured what out?" Matthew said with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, this is going to be a weird conversation," Tonya said with a bemused expression. "Can you two kind of just leave the two of us for a few minutes? I don't think she really wants to have an audience for this conversation."

John mouthed an "oh" and Haley blushed fiercely. They both nodded quickly and silently took to the air like they had been doing it their whole lives. Matthew saw them fly back over towards the church where they flew in a circle around it.

"So what's this about, Tonya?" Matthew asked the pegasus.

"I really don't know how to talk about this if you haven't consciously realized it yet," Tonya said slowly. "I was really excited when I realized it, but standing here trying to explain it to you I suddenly can't figure out the best way to go about this."

"I'm not going to date you," Matthew said, partly in jest.

"What?" Tonya said with confusion, before shaking her head. "Why would you even suggest that? Do you have the hots for me? Because if you do that's going to really mess up some of what I was going to try to explain."

"No, no interest at all in that," Matthew replied.

"Well good, that keeps what little bit of explanation I had in order," Tonya said with relief. Matthew actually was a little hurt that she had no interest in her. 

"Anyway, how am I going to say this?" Tonya said. "Let's start with the fact you don't have that kind of interest in me, but you have a lot of interest in me."

"Say what?" Matthew said with a raised brow.

"Ugh, I'm not good with words! You've always had a lot of interest in me in a non-sexual, non-romantic way. Have you ever wondered why? I have, but haven't ever voiced my opinions," Tonya said with frustration.

"I don't know. You're just unique and different," he answered without giving it much thought.

"Okay, maybe not the best place to start. How about how you always cover yourself up?...except today apparently. Wearing hot jackets in the middle of the summer where it has to be uncomfortable to have that much insulation on. Why do you do that?" Tonya asked. 

"I just do. I feel less comfortable without a jacket on," Matthew said with embarrassment. 

"In the heat you have to be anything but comfortable," Tonya said flatly.

"I just do," he asserted.

"Alright, and how about how you always complain about your parents' saying bad things about LGBT ponies? They say a lot more about other stuff, but you focus on that. I know they've been bigots, but in terms of that they aren't nearly as bad as you make them out to be. Believe me, I know when it's really bad," Tonya continued. 

"It's just wrong, and you don't know how much they actually say. You don't live with them," he asserted as well.

"You're overly focused on it, everypony can tell. They can say horrible things about anything else, but you'll flinch like they struck you when they go into that subject, and hardly seem to notice the rest," Tonya pressed.

"This all seems completely unrelated stuff, Tonya. What's your point?" he said with anger now rising. He didn't want to be having this conversation, it was uncomfortable.

"Okay fine, going to just say it straight out. You're like me. Well, not exactly like me, as you're so closeted you can't even let yourself admit it or see it, but you're just like me. I always had a kind of feeling that it was that way with you, but never said anything because you just don't say that to somepony," Tonya said all in what seemed a single breath. "I'm sure of it now though, instead of me just guessing."

"What do you mean just like you?" Matthew said with a sinking feeling.

"Really? You're going to play dumb?" Tonya said with an exasperated sigh. She then turned around, lifted her tail and rump high towards him, putting her marehood on full display. She then quickly lowered it all back down and turned to look at him. "You're trans just like I was; not sure if it still counts or not for me, or will for you, but it's the truth."

"All those things don't sound very convincing. They could have any number of other reasons. I've never tried to pass off as a female," Matthew insisted. He was shaking and didn't know why. He wanted to just tell her to leave and never bring this up again.

"Yeah they could mean anything, and I never said something about it," Tonya conceded. She then took an exaggerated sniff and smirked. "But now I smell you. You'll figure out fast once you're done becoming what you should be that a pony's sense of smell tells them a lot of things. You've got the smell of a mare. It's even stronger today than it was yesterday. 

"You're crazy," Mathew replied dismissively. He wanted to just slam the door in her face.

"I get it, I really do. I know you don't want to admit it. You're so scared and ashamed of what ponies will think that you won't even let you admit it to yourself. You come from a family where it would go even worse than mine went when I finally admitted it. We've got to come out to ourselves before we can come out to anypony else, and that can be hard. It can take a lot of years for some ponies, it doesn't make it less true though. If it were different circumstances I wouldn't be even talking to you about this no matter how sure I was," Tonya said with a sympathetic tone.

"Why are you talking to me about it then?" Matthew growled.

"Because if you're really that ashamed I don't want you to carry that over into what should be the best thing to ever happen to you," Tonya said with concern. "I don't want you feeling hate for yourself, like I once did. Yes, we get all comfortable being ponies, that comes naturally, but I'm not sure that extends to peace about being who we are as a whole. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying to find a way to make this better for you. Ponies are supposed to be honest, ponies are supposed to be kind, and ponies are supposed to take care of one another."

"Well, you could be wrong about the whole thing," Matthew said in a low voice.

"And you could deny it, but you aren't," Tonya said with a half smirk. "You've pointed out how I could be wrong, but you haven't once told me that I am. We're better as ponies than humans, but I'm not so naive that I don't think all that baggage from humanity can't still affect us. I want to be sure you aren't carrying around that shame over. Just think about the truth. I can tell you from experience that once you open up that closet you can't shut it again."

"Just go, Tonya. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to try to forget we even had this talk," Matthew said wearily. 

"I'll go, and I'll tell Haley and John to come back later tonight after you've rested. They do want to talk to you about other things, but you're clearly tired right now, and I'm sure they are too. I'm pretty certain none of the three of you should be up for long during the day," Tonya said.

Tonya was probably right about that part. Matthew just nodded and gestured for her to go. Tonya gave a sad look before taking to the air.

Matthew turned and went back into the house. Tonya didn't know what she was talking about. Maybe Matthew's parents were right and Tonya had not been right in the head this whole time. Matthew couldn't let Tonya get into her...his head.

Crap, she was already in Matthew's head. A seed of thought had been planted and it was going to grow. 

He jumped, startled to see his mother standing in a slumped over position just in front of him. She did not look physically comfortable at all, and should likely be in bed. Her toes were clearly fused together and on their way to becoming hooves. 

"Mom, you look like you might need to go sit or lay down. You look rough," he said calmly.

"Keep your voice down, your father fell right back to sleep after the door knock. I don't know how, with how loud you and her were being out there, but I would rather not get him involved with this, not yet," his mother said in a determined tone, then grimaced as she took a step. "Walking is really uncomfortable right now, but I want to talk to you in private. Let's go back outside and sit on the bench out on the porch."

Shit, she had heard them; curse pony ears being so good. Matthew started to sweat at what kind of conversation might be coming.

They exited out the door with his mother taking careful slow steps. Once they sat down on the bench she kept her posture slumped over.

"You might have already guessed this, but I heard that whole conversation you had with Tonya. I want you to know I'm not mad. I'm confused, but I'm confused about a lot of things lately," his mother said slowly and carefully.

"You don't need to worry about it," Matthew replied.

"I think I do. You're my foal and as your mother I'm concerned about your well being. She's right, you never denied her, and I want to either hear you deny it or confirm what she said," his mother said in a choked voice.

"I don't know," Matthew said quietly.

"What do you mean you don't know? Do you think of yourself as a female? It should be a simple yes told no question," his mother pressed.

"I don't know if I've thought of myself in any way. I haven't been thinking of myself as female, but I can't say that I've thought of myself as male either. I just kind of exist. The subject is uncomfortable for me to think about," Matthew answered.

"That other pony that spoke seemed to think you're female, and I heard the talk about smell. That seems like there's more to this than some fantasy from Tonya," his mother said again as if she were measuring each word.

"Maybe, I don't know," Matthew said with his head lowered.

"Do you know I love you no matter what? If this is God's will, then it is what it is. I don't want you to feel I would reject you," his mother said in a pleading voice.

"If this had come up without all the ETS ever happening would you feel the same about it?" Matthew asked. 

"I don't know," his mother said with a sad short laugh. "I'm having to re-examine a lot about what I believe and who I am right now, we all are. I want to say yes, but if I'm honest with myself, the answer is probably no, and admitting that makes me feel ashamed. However, we're dealing with this under different circumstances, and it's letting me possibly do better. God works in mysterious ways."

"Do you think there's anything to what she says?" Matthew asked tentatively.

"There were some things, when you were much younger, that I won't go into, that I'm thinking back to now in a new light. You were too young to remember them, and we broke you of them. I'm questioning now whether we did the right things. You say you don't have a sense of self, and that makes me think you might be suppressing something. I can't make excuses for all of what I would have done under different circumstances, but I can promise that as of now I'll accept you no matter what. I don't want you to feel ashamed of who and what you are," she said, tears in her eyes.

"So you think she is right then," Matthew said in an even tone.

"I'm saying there might be something to what she says, maybe. I don't want to make you feel like I'm suddenly pressuring you to go along with what she said either. I really don't know what I want you to do other than to feel at peace with yourself one way or another. I also don't know how your father will feel about all of this either. With the way things are progressing I've a feeling that he and I will be finished tomorrow, I just have a sense of it. Maybe we'll smell whatever it was Tonya was smelling too. Do...do you want me to tell you if I do smell it?" her voice was strained through it all. 

"Yeah, do that please," Matthew said as he stared down at his exposed chest and his migrated nipples, he never had put any shirt on. Didn't male horses not have nipples at all? Why'd they move rather than vanish?

"I don't think there is any more we can talk about right now about this, you need to get some sleep. I might look rough, but you're the one with two partially formed wings sticking out of your back. I'm shocked those ponies didn't say something to you about that. It can't be good for them having them out here in the cold. Go get some sleep, your father and I'll be alright for most of the day I think. I expect it'll be later in the afternoon or tonight we'll have to have some help; I can't be certain, but have a sense of it," his mother said as she rose from the bench and started walking back towards the door to go inside.

"Alright, Mom. And thank you, I love you," Matthew said as she opened up the door.

"I love you too. Get some sleep," she said with an honest smile as she went back into the house.

Matthew sat outside still for a few minutes. It really wasn't that cold outside. The cooler air helped with keeping him alert though. He needed to think about all this now that he had both his mother and Tonya talking to him about it. Most things about this whole transformation hadn't even struck a chord with him, why had this? Was the fact that it really bothered him a sign that it was more likely to be true?

Everypony seemed to smell the fact he was becoming a mare, perhaps it was best to start with just accepting that part of the new reality and work from there. One way or another he was going to be a she, she was confident that her parents would smell the same thing tomorrow. So start with trying to think of herself in those terms. Was it really that upsetting?

She sat and considered, just getting a sense of what it felt like to refer to herself that way. It was something that felt a little uncomfortable at first, but the more she did it the easier and more natural it felt. Was that just the ETS at work trying to give her peace with her new form? Did any of this even matter in that case? If she was going to be at peace with it one way or another why was everypony worried she wouldn't be? 

Well, the question is whether it bothered her now and if that would carry over into after she transformed completely. If she came to this revelation on her own with no ETS involved what would she be feeling? It was hard to say. Most likely terrified of what her parents would say, really terrified. She realized she was terrified right now about what her father would say. He was far more dogmatic than her mother was. Even transformed into a pony she doubted he would just accept that kind of change. Plus there was dealing with everypony else. They would know what she was before, and they might say something. She wasn't Tonya, this wasn't something that everypony just knew about, and even Tonya got looks from some. What would she get with this coming out of nowhere?

This wasn't answering the question though. She was thinking about what others would think, not what she felt. If some person had come along with a pill like from The Matrix and said that if she took it she could live happily as a female for the rest of her life would she take it if she was given a choice? It was hard to say without factoring in how everypony else would feel, and that might be the most telling thing; if given the choice with no outside pressures she thought she would take it. 

So, that was it then. She was a closeted transgender girl who was about to have that closet thrown wide open, and that scared her. The fact she was having no problem at all with thinking of herself in female terms might have been ETS, but already it felt like male terms were more unnatural after just a few minutes. She had been ashamed of what ponies, specifically her parents, would think of her, ashamed to the point she wouldn't admit things to herself. If her mother had not come out and talked to her she was pretty sure that she would still be feeling that way, but knowing her mother would love her no matter what felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders. There was still the matter of her father, which terrified her beyond all belief, but she had enough courage now to at least admit the truth.

She yawned. It was far too late, or early, depending on how you thought about it. She was going to go back to bed and let her body do what it wanted with sleep. Only a few more days and her new life started, and now she felt a small amount of eagerness for it.
> Chapter 4: Anger at Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew woke up to the sounds of what sounded like yelling. After letting herself focus a bit she could tell it was a heated argument between her parents and it was the worst possible one to be hearing.

"He's not a female, bottom line. If God wanted him to be a female, he would have made him a female to start with," her dad's harsh tone was heard.

"God might be taking corrective action with all of these transformations. What're you going to do if your foal turns out to be a filly?" Her mom's voice fired back.

"You saw the news report. There was some terrorist who was the cause of this, and they caught them. It's all some big demonic tampering across the human race that is trying to take control of our minds and bodies. We might not be able to resist the body change, but we should do everything in our power to resist the mind and keep our souls intact," her father said.

"So, Matthew is supposed to just pretend that she hasn't changed that way? That's ridiculous. Why would you even think of doing that to your foal?" her mother said angrily.

"Child, not foal, I'm not giving into the mind control. You need to start using the proper terms again too," her father snapped. "I do it because it's the correct thing to do. It's what God intended and no child of mine is going to disgrace this household by pretending to be something they aren't."

Matthew pulled herself to a sitting position, quietly tugging the covers off her now fully developed wings. Her ears sagged as she continued to listen on.

"God would not let this happen if it wasn't intended. Whether that is my son or my daughter up there he or she has my devotion and support. You will treat him or her with respect," her mother growled.

"I'm treating him as God intended him to be," her father replied.

"Well, maybe that's the problem then. Perhaps God has seen how horrible humans are and he decided to send this person to start the world over with something better, because it's disgusting to think a parent should turn away their own foal. That terrorist is a hero sent by God. I'll be glad come tomorrow when I'm a full pony and I can shake off any humanity I have left, because humanity clearly isn't worthy if it has its families turn their backs on their own foals," her mother all but screamed.

"You don't mean that. You aren't going to just abandon your humanity,," her father said dismissively.

"Oh, you bet your ass I mean it," her mother could be heard saying. She then heard her father give off a gasp.

"Watch it! You are going to set the house on fire," her father yelled.

"It's just some sparks, not fire, you dolt. You've got me so worked up this thing is reacting. I need to just get away from you for a few minutes and calm down before I say something I regret later," her mother said.

"You can barely move! You aren't going anywhere," her father shouted.

"I'll goddamned crawl down to the church if I've got to, but I'm not dealing with you right now after what you said about Matthew! We can calm down and continue this conversation tomorrow when you might have some lick of sense, you horse's ass," her mother answered with fury.

Matthew couldn't let her mother do that, not under normal circumstances and definitely not when this was all her fault. She got up and slowly got out of the room.

"You! You finally decided to get out of bed. What in the hell has gotten into your head," her father yelled up to her as she exited out of the room.

"Don't yell at him, Matthew has done nothing wrong," her mother scolded.

"Oh, so we're back to calling him a him now. I guess we're making progress," her father sneered. 

"I don't know what to use right now, but that's my foal and you will not say a harsh word to him when he has done nothing wrong," her mom snapped back.

"Mom, I'll help you get where you want to go," Matthew finally said, trying to ignore her father.

"She needs to stay where she's at instead of associating any more with those demon possessed ponies," her father snarled.

"The only pony acting demon possessed is you. Matthew do you think you can still operate the car? I don't think we're ever going to use it again so no point in preserving gas," her mother asked.

"I think so. It'll be slow and uncomfortable trying to operate the gas and brake, but I think I can manage," Matthew replied.

"You two aren't going anywhere," her father yelled. He tried to get up, but planted his face straight into the carpet.

"You can't stop us. You can come over to the church tomorrow when you can walk again and we can see if you have seen some reason by then. Until then enjoy eating the carpet," her mother said as she started crawling towards the front door. She really couldn't walk, they were too bent over to keep their balance on two legs and their forelegs weren't developed enough for them to walk on all fours properly.

"Get back here! I'm the man of this house and you will obey me," her father yelled. The two of them just ignored him.

Matthew tried to give her mother as much assistance as possible, but was forced in the end to just watch her crawl as her efforts at supporting herself up proved futile in Matthew's own stooped state. She got gathered up the discarded car keys from an end table and watched every painful creep of her mother towards the front door. 

When she opened the door she jumped with shock and her wings shot out to either side of her. Standing right outside with hoof pulled back to begin knocking were John and Haley. They looked at her, looked down to her mother, and then back to her with wide eyes.

"Um, is this a bad time again? Did you need some help with something?" Haley said.

"Yeah, this is kind of a bad time to talk, but we might need some help. Do you think you can help my mother get to the car in the driveway? I'm trying to take her to the church," Matthew said with some relief.

"We can do that," John said with a dip of his head. "Haley, do you think you can help hoist her up over my back? I'm pretty sure I can carry her over to the car; she doesn't look too heavy."

"Thank you," Matthew said with a sigh of relief.

"Just the one? We can help anypony else too," Haley said as she tried to peer into the house.

"There's no helping that bastard in there," her mother said through gritted teeth. She really was pissed, well beyond anything that Matthew had ever seen her before. She could be hot-headed and stubborn at times, and occasionally say something cruel, but this was the first time Matthew had seen her like this. The fact that rage was directed at her father was just as shocking. How much had been said before Matthew woke up?

"Okay ma'am just push yourself up to your hooves as best you can and I'll get you over on my partner's back. It isn't going to be comfortable being carried like a sack of flour, but it'll only be for a minute or so until we get you into the car," Haley said soothingly to Matthew's mother. "What's your name by the way? I'm Haley and this is my partner John."

"My name is Charlotte. Thank you for helping us," her mother answered.

"Ponies always give help, ponies are kind, ponies are loyal to each other; we're happy to help," Haley said as if reciting from memory. Tonya had said something like that too before. Was there some sort of pony guidebook everypony else was reading that she had missed hearing about? 

"If that is so then I know some person who doesn't deserve to be called a pony," her mother said with a last baleful glare back into the house, spitting out the word person like it was the worst curse she could think of.

"Maybe he'll come around tomorrow after he calms down," Matthew said as she watched Haley help her mother onto John's back as John lowered himself to make it easier.

"I hope so," her mother said as John lifted her up. "I don't know what I'll do if he's still turning his back on his own foal."

"Maybe I can try to be what he wants me to be. I've done an alright job of pretending so far," Matthew said glumly.

"You'll do nothing just to placate him...wait, pretending? Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah, saying that. It was easy to make my peace with once I opened myself to the fact it might be true. I don't know if that is because of ETS or if it would be that way normally, but I don't think it matters. It is what it is," Matthew said with a guilty tone.

"Don't you dare feel guilty. My filly is not going to feel ashamed of herself. God is giving us a chance to start over on the right hoof and we aren't going to have you start over feeling guilty for being what God made you. We're leaving all those stupid human concepts about what you are supposed to be behind and embracing what you are," her mother declared.

"My father hates me, there isn't anything to feel good about with that," Matthew said, letting tears loose from their confines.

"I'm hoping your father is just confused right now, and everything will be better once he is a full pony," her mother said in a more subdued tone as they reached the car.

"And if not?" Matthew said as she opened the car door.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If he's going to keep condemning his own foal then he has no place in my life until he sees the truth," her mother said in a low voice. It sounded like she was holding back tears. "I likely didn't carry myself the best tonight either, and when I calm down completely maybe I'll be able to talk to him better. I know I said some very harsh things. I meant most of it, but I was escalating the situation all the same."

John and Haley, who had both been very politely silent through this entire exchange, carefully deposited Matthew's mother into the back seat of the car where she could lay down. Then turned back to Matthew.

"John will fly ahead to the church and make sure somepony is ready to help when you arrive. I'll keep an eye on you above just to make sure you get there alright. You already look like trying to operate that thing is going to be hard to do, and on top of that there have been a few humans out and about today that have been harassing ponies. They haven't hurt anypony yet, but they still are ones we want to avoid if possible," Haley said as the car door closed behind Matthew's mother.

"No good humans," John grumbled. Matthew heard the sound echoed within the car by her mother. Was everypony so quick to cast off humanity as something to be distrusted and disposed of? It didn't feel right. Yeah, there might be many bad eggs, but this seemed like a blanket judgement of the race everypony had been a member of as recently as two weeks ago and most partly were. It stood out to her due to its hypocrisy.

The stallion took off into the air as Matthew positioned herself in the driver's seat as best she could. She hadn't realized how much she had shrunk till now, despite the fact she had cut her pants back a few days ago due to their getting too long. Even with the car seat pushed all the way forward it was going to require her to stretch to reach the pedals. She could do it, but it was going to be kind of stop and go the entire trip. 

"Are you sure you can work the car? This isn't built for ponies, or halfway complete ponies," Haley asked as she looked between Matthew's legs and the pedals. It was like an elementary school student was trying to drive a car.

"I'll get through it. I doubt there are any other cars out on the road right now to get in a wreck with, and it's just a drive around the block in essence," Matthew replied as she gave up on trying to get her seat-belt fastened.

"If you say so," Haley said doubtfully. "I'll be right above you. If you have problems where you can't do it I'll come down and help. Worst case scenario I can probably carry your mom on the ground the full way. Not the fastest or most comfortable way to do it, but if it has to work that way I'll do it for you."

"We'll try getting the car there first, but thank you for offering," Matthew said as she closed the driver door.

Matthew started up the car and realized right away that she wasn't going to be able to twist her body around to look behind her as she backed the car out. She would need to rely completely in the mirror. Her foot really was just short of reaching the gas and it required her to slump down to reach and tap the gas. She pulled the car out of the driveway with a series of small jerks, and one bigger one that she didn't intend that nearly put her over into the neighbor's mailbox. 

It wasn't much better after she put it back in drive. She wished that this car had cruise control so she didn't have to keep trying to reach the pedals and could pay attention to the road in front of her completely, not to mention not have such a jerky trip. Her mother put up no protests about the quality of Matthew's driving though. 

Haley eventually flew down next to the window, causing Matthew to jump in her seat.

"Sorry for startling you. John and I need to take off. There is some trouble back towards the hospital and we need to go help. We'll find time to talk later," Haley said. Matthew just nodded as Haley took off again without further word.

The trip took longer than it should have, longer than it would have taken Matthew to walk just yesterday. Eventually the church came into sight though, and it was a shock to see.

The first and most obvious difference from yesterday was that every car on property had been moved to form a crude  wall along the road with only the normal driveway not blocked off. The entrance into the newly constructed wall had several ponies standing around it along with one or two who were still mostly human sitting to the side. The most human ones had guns at the ready.

The next thing to notice was the unicorns and earth ponies were pulling up the concrete of the parking lot. It looked like a few of the pegasi were trying to help too, but the bulk of the work was being done by the other types. Most of the tents had either been taken down or had been moved to a more central location of the church grounds, all out up close enough together that there was no room between them aside from some narrow paths than ran along stretches of ten or more tents. 

These ponies were preparing to be attacked. She didn't have to know much about military tactics or anything to see that. What in the hell was going on?

As the car pulled up to the entrance to the newly formed compound she brought it to a complete halt and opened up the driver door.

"Stay in here, Mom. Something is up here and I'm going to see if they're even going to let us in," Matthew instructed.

"I couldn't leave if I tried. What's happening? I can't see anything from here," she responded.

"The church has set up a barricade around it and has armed guards watching the entrance. It looks like they're worried somepony might attack the church," Matthew answered. 

"Likely worried about humans," her mother said. There was a hint of hostility in the use of the term humans. Her mother wasn't a full pony yet, but just like Tonya seemed to have divorced herself from the human race. Her heated words from earlier didn't seem to be just heated words.

As Matthew got out of the car one of the guards shined a light on her. It wasn't full dark yet, but it still hurt her eyes to have it shine right in them.

"What's your business? Are you here for shelter?" One of the ponies called out.

"Yeah, me and my mom, she is at a stage she can't walk. Are we welcome in? Why's there a barricade?" Matthew asked.

"Sorry about the suspicion. Group of humans attacked the high school last night. Didn't end up hurting anypony, but they started a fire and scared a lot of ponies. Some of the other shelters have been reporting similar things on a smaller scale. We're just making sure no pony here gets hurt," the same pony said as they dropped the light. Matthew could see now it was a pegasus stallion with purple fur and equally purple mane. 

"We'll get a stretcher out here for you to help get her inside. It'll be just a minute, what type is she?" The pony asked.

"Unicorn, or at least she will be by morning," Matthew said.

"Okay, we'll see about making sure some of the horn heads are about when she wakes up to help her figure things out. She likely can on her own, but having a friend that has already gone through this makes it easier. My name is Paul; these other ponies are Timothy, Amber,Tom, Jeff, Rico, and Juan just to introduce everypony. Since you're a night pony, we are really happy to see you here. I know you'll want to be with your mom through the night, and we don't want to impose on new guests, but we could really use a hoof out here overnight if you're willing. You ponies see better in the dark than the rest of us, and are more alert that late at night," Paul said.

"I wouldn't mind helping normally, but really want to stay with my mom through the night tonight. She's had a really rough time today. I doubt I'll be much use tomorrow, but can try to act as a set of eyes then if you need help," Matthew answered, hoping she wouldn't disappoint them too much, or worse have them insist.

"That's understandable, and we can respect that. We'll accommodate you," Paul said with a quick headbow.

The stretcher was out to them quickly and her mother was quickly taken into the church itself. There was a legion of ponies in their final stages in the main chapel, hundreds maybe. There were also scores of fully transformed making their ways around them all trying to take care of everypony. A few sat down in front near the altar that looked like they were praying.

"Matthew? I wasn't expecting you here," came the voice of Tonya. Matthew looked up and saw the pegasus hovering just above them.

"My mom needed to be here away from my dad, they had a fight...about me," Matthew said with shame.

"Oh," Tonya said guiltily. "This wouldn't happen to be about the stuff I said this morning?"

"Yes," Matthew said in a flat tone.

"I'm sorry, I should've maybe kept my big mouth shut and just let things run their course. I wanted to help, but I ended up hurting you," she said with sorrow.

"Don't you go apologizing for it," Matthew's mother said. "She needed to hear it, and I needed to hear it too. I was listening the whole time."

"You were?" Tonya said with lowered ears. "I didn't do a very good job trying to talk about it."

"You did a good enough job, even if it wasn't perfect. She says she accepts it, so you couldn't have screwed up too badly. I know it wasn't the best talk, but your heart was in the right place," her mother said.

"I can talk for myself, Mom," Matthew grumbled.

"Just want to make sure she understands I love you as my daughter. Which reminds me," her mother said as she turned her head back to Tonya. "I owe you an apology for behaving in an unChristian way towards you and condemning you. You are a mare and you are a good mare. I hope you accept my apology."

"Ponies forgive," Tonya said with a smile.

"I just want to get my mom settled in and sit with her through the night while she finishes up. Can you help me get her up near the altar area? I think she would prefer up there," Matthew asked Tonya.

"Oh, sure. I'll help your mom settle in," Tonya said as she flew down and landed next to the stretcher.

"You can call me Charlotte, Tonya," her mom said with a smile.

"Sure thing, Charlotte," Tonya answered back with a warm smile in return. 

It was a very strange day. First finding out she was a she, then the talk with her mother that she would never have imagined she would have had in a million years, then waking up to her mother standing up for her to her father. On top of that there were apparently humans attacking ponies, and there was some sort of terrorist that she still hadn't heard the actual news about. Now her mother and Tonya were going from hissing and spitting about one another to being friends. The world truly had gone mad.
> Chapter 5: Shaping Hearts and Minds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew sat watching over her mother through the full night. Her mother had insisted on having all her clothes removed before going to sleep. That had bothered Matthew at first, because there was nothing to cover her mother with, but the fact that a large number of others in the sanctuary seemed to be taking the same actions made it easier to accept. Most of them were asleep by midnight, leaving Matthew to watch over them all in rapt fascination through the night.

Transformations really did move at an accelerated rate while ponies slept. She could actually watch changes happening right in front of her and not have to wonder if she was imagining the changes happening before her eyes. She could see fur advancing up their torsos, see their arms reshaping themselves into proper forelegs, see muzzles growing, eyes expanding, and bones resettling. If this was a movie it would seem like some sort of extreme body horror, but it didn't cause that kind of disgusted reaction from her. It was actually kind of soothing to watch.

By four in the morning most of the ones that had been in the last stage of transformation were now all fully ponies, her mother among those. She was now a definite unicorn, with an eye jarring match of red fur combined with yellow and purple striped mane. Soon after her transformation had ended Matthew had watched a contented, happy smile appear on her muzzle. Whatever she was dreaming about was a seemingly good dream at least. That made Matthew smile as she saw it.

Around five in the morning she got some visitors, as John and Haley came into the sanctuary. They looked tired, not in terms of being sleepy, but as if they had been working hard. Haley had said there was some sort of trouble earlier, but Matthew hadn't given it much thought at the time. Putting the pieces together now she wondered if there had been an attack near the hospital like the one near the high school. 

"Hello, sorry if we look a little out of sorts, it has been a long night," Haley said as the two of them carefully landed from a hover next to Matthew and her mother.

"That's an understatement," John said with a yawn.

"What happened?" Matthew said as she looked at the two tired ponies.

"Humans, again. Bunch of teenagers in two or three pickup trucks; they decided that they'd have fun by taking some guns and shooting out the windows of the hospital," Haley said with a sneer.

"That's horrible! Where were the police?" Matthew exclaimed in shock.

"The police are pretty much shut down at the moment. The ones that are transforming aren't in any shape to do their duties, and the rest of them are all held up behind closed doors trying to wait out ETS. The few who have fully transformed are trying to help out at the different shelters as it is, but they aren't taken seriously by humans," Haley said with a sigh.

"So how did you deal with them?" Matthew asked, wondering what kind of defense ponies could mount against humans with guns.

"We got a lot of mane clippings and started dumping those on them from above, it panicked them so much they took off," John said with a devilish smile. 

It was pretty well known by this point that the ETS virus was easily transmitted by contact with infected hair. Matthew wasn't sure how she felt about that means of defense. Yeah, it seemed to work, but that was essentially forcing ETS on humans. At the same time the humans had been attacking ponies and didn't deserve to be treated gently as a result. There was an ironic cruel justice in making them become those they tormented, but she wasn't sure or not if it crossed some line. If they had done that to a hospital full of humans they would have deserved just as harsh of consequences. What would possess someone to shoot at a hospital?

"This'll all pass eventually, once everypony on Earth is transformed. We just have to keep us safe until then," Haley said as she looked around the ponies sleeping in the sanctuary with a smile on her face.

"Do you think it'll really come to that? Everypony on Earth? I didn't hear the full news, but remember hearing they caught whoever was responsible for all this. I figured that they'd be finding some way to cure or vaccination or something now that they had whoever caused it," Matthew said with her voice coming out with a bit of a squeak.

"Aww, that's so cute with your voice shifting. The mare smell is really strong on you now, but it's kind of cool hearing the signs of it too. Most ponies don't have their voice change, but guess you're a little different," Haley said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's new, but you didn't answer my question," Matthew said with a blush, her voice was still doing the squeak. It was really annoying, and she hoped it settled out into something less off-pitch soon.

"Well, I definitely think that it will spread still. Yeah, they caught the one who started this, but that doesn't mean they know how to undo this. Transformations are still happening right now after all. Even if they figure out something it's far too late for them to put a stop to it, and I've heard very few ponies say they would want to go back to the way things were before. Why would anypony want it to go back to how it was before anyway? We can do all these amazing things, we don't worry about race anymore, and ponies who are like you get to be what they should have been from the start. This is all the best thing that ever happened in the history of the world," Haley said with confidence.

"Look at what happened tonight, the ponies in that hospital were at the complete mercy of a bunch of random teenage humans. We don't have the ability to operate cars so we can't transport goods or food over long distances. What if we get sick? We had generations of immunity built into us, does that carry over now or are all just going to get sick and die of any little bit of flu bug that comes around in the future? This world isn't built for us this way, not without humans alongside us at least," Matthew explained.

"I think that you might be exaggerating the need for humans. Unicorns can do anything a human can do with their horns, more in fact. If we're able to produce food locally we don't need to be transporting large amounts of stuff over large distances; and I've yet to see any pony be sick, once you get over the initial flu we're about as healthy as you can get. The world isn't built for us right now, but we can reshape it so it is in the future, just takes a little time," Haley said with a furrowed brow. 

"It doesn't matter to you that there isn't any choice about accepting this new life?" Matthew said in her still squeaky voice.

"No, it doesn't, it's better and everypony should be happy about it. I understand that the humans are scared, we all were when this first started, but they'll come to embrace it like we do. There's at least a few humans transforming in that same hospital that was just attacked that insisted on others infecting them since the transformation cures all illnesses. As we get more established the non infected will come in droves to be transformed too," Haley insisted.

This felt wrong to Matthew, and the idea of "this is better so accept it" felt chillingly close to what her father had been shouting. Did she want this herself or was she being compelled to want this? The fact that she was going to get to be an unquestionable mare definitely had a strong appeal, but she could undergo transition as a human too even if it wasn't as thorough, Tonya had after all before she even transformed. But beyond that was the impact on others where everything they knew was going to be forcibly changed, and she didn't doubt that some of her concerns were indeed legitimate.

Perhaps Haley was right in that it was an inevitability though. Was it wrong to not try to move it along faster if it was? The sooner all were ponies the sooner society could adjust, at least if it was a sure thing all would be ponies eventually. These were all questions for ponies other than herself, she didn't factor into deciding any of this, she was just one mare. There were things at work far greater than herself.

"Maybe you're right. I'll be happier when this all is over no matter what," Matthew finally said. She didn't feel like they were right, but she didn't know how to argue her point. She wasn't dumb, but she wasn't smart enough to construct an argument.

"I am right, and you'll be happy. Speaking of which, we've been trying to talk to you about what it means to be a night pony. The rest of the types all seem to know what they should be doing, except those crystal ones. You can feel rather lost when you first finish transforming because our jobs aren't as obvious. We wanted to kind of take you under wing and help you start off on the right hoof," Haley said.

"And what do we do?" Matthew asked with interest.

"We do a lot of things; watch over ponies while they're sleeping at night to make sure they're safe, but we also make sure everypony knows what it means to be a pony," Haley said with pride.

"I don't understand the second part," Matthew said hesitantly, again feeling a sense of unease.

"We can touch their dreams and give them a vision of what it is to be a pony, of what ponies can achieve. John and I haven't been doing too much of that sadly, because we've got to keep watching out for humans, but the others are working hard to do so. I'm certain everypony around you now was or is being given the vision. We'll help shape society through this," Haley said proudly.

"Oh," Matthew squeaked. Alright that sent a million red flags up in her head. That felt like borderline mind control. Trying to indoctrinate ponies to a belief was one thing, but invading their minds to do it? That was horrible and she knew already that she wanted nothing to do with it. But again, what could she do about it?

"You'll learn a bit more about that after you are done. Things are moving really fast now with the transformations. You may well be done by tomorrow. We need to get back on patrol again, a few hours left till everypony is back awake. Take care, we'll be in touch," Haley said with a smile, before taking back to the air and flying out of the door, John following close behind. Flying seemed great but did they really need to fly indoors?

Matthew settled back down to just watching her mother sleep. She pulled her own shoes off as they were really starting to hurt. They had been too big for the last day or so, but she had worn them anyway. Now looking at them she saw that her feet had now started going through the final stages of becoming hooves. When she woke up next they were almost certainly going to be done. Fur had appeared on them as well, more grey, night ponies didn't seem to get as many bright and colorful fur types, at least she had her bright green mane.

Hours passed by and soon some of the newly minted ponies started to rouse from their sleep. The reactions to their transformations all had the same range with little deviation. They instantly took interest in exactly what they looked like, which was definitely understandable, and then they started walking around even if it just resulted in milling about. A few waved at her and asked if they looked good, and expressed their happiness that it was all over with now. No pony seemed upset that they were no longer in any way physically human.

Her mother wasn't the last to rise, but she was definitely one of the deeper sleepers who slept in longer. By the time her mother was opening up her eyes Matthew was trying to stifle a yawn and the sun had been up for some time. Her mother's first reaction was to bring a hoof up in front of her face and just stare at it, then she booped her own muzzle, causing her mother to giggle as she did it. Her mother then pushed herself up to a standing position and carefully lifted up and set down each hoof trying them out. She seemed positively thrilled at the whole experience. It took her mother a full minute to take notice of Matthew.

"How do I look?" her mother said with a happy smile.

"Like a happy red furred unicorn that would make any small human girl squeal with joy," Matthew squeaked.

"What's with your voice?" her mother said with a raised eyebrow and tilt of her head.

"Guessing my voice is going to change with everything else with me. No stallion voice for me. Hope it doesn't come out in this pitch when I'm done though," Matthew continued to squeak. She sounded like she had a dog's chew toy in her throat.

"Oh, guess that makes sense," her mom said as she took a few steps around and swished her tail.

"I'm really happy to be in a proper functioning body again, you'll be just as glad when you're done too," her mother said as she did a little prance in place.

She then looked at Matthew and gave a big sniff. 

"I don't know how I know other than instinct, but yes, you definitely smell like a mare," her mom said as she glanced around. "Everypony around here seems to have their own distinct smell, but there are things that you can kind of pick out of each one. I can smell if it is a mare or stallion, whether they're a foal or an adult, whether they have feathers, all kinds of things I can tell about the ponies around me without even looking at them. It's like a radar sense..with my muzzle. I know I should be surprised that I can keep track of all that information and know all of that with just a little sniff, but it all just feels like the most natural thing in the world."

"I got confirmation about my smell again by Haley and John while you were sleeping, but nice to hear it from you," Matthew said as she looked down. "Um, did you have any weird dreams?"

"Yes! I had the most vivid dream I ever had actually. It showed me what ponies could do if we all work together and how we should all treat one another. There was this big white pony, like an angel, in it that was showing me all kinds of things," her mother said excitedly.

"Guess that confirms what I was told," Matthew said with a sigh.

"What were you told?" Her mother asked with a tilt of her head.

"Mom, the dream came from night ponies, they've got powers of their own just like every other pony. They use those powers to spread that dream to ponies, or at least ones close to it," Matthew explained.

"Hmm, that's interesting. You seem upset about it. Why?" Her mother asked.

"Why? Are you serious? Your mind was invaded and there were ideas planted, didn't you just hear me?" Matthew said incredulously, spreading her wings wide as she did.

"Oh, I heard you about how they spread the dream. I wouldn't say they planted ideas though, nurtured them perhaps. They more or less reconfirmed things that were in my heart already. Ponies are just being given a reminder of what it is to be good, and there is nothing wrong with that," her mother said with a smile.

Matthew didn't know what to say. She had just told her mother that her mind was invaded and her mother just shrugged it off like it was nothing. No, she shrugged it off as something that was perfectly good and she did it without much of a thought. Where did anypony go from that in trying to say it was wrong? Defeated she just hung her ears and shoulders, not knowing what to do.

"If they do this with everypony you'll have it done to you as well soon enough. You can get a better idea then why I don't really care that I was evangelized by a few ponies. They didn't say anything I didn't already believe in," her mother reconfirmed.

"Might not be a long wait, things are going really fast. These transformations seem to speed up each day," Matthew said as she looked at her almost hooves. 

"I'm looking forward to seeing you in a proper mare's body. I don't know if I should have recognized the signs earlier, or if it was just normal foalhood stuff, but I feel bad for stifling that part of you for so long," her mother said as she walked over and gently touched a hoof up to Matthew's face.

"Why do you feel personally responsible for it?" Matthew asked, still uncertain what her mom was talking about.

"When you were really young you never seemed to be able to conceptualize the idea of sex or gender. It took us forever to get it to where you understood there was a difference between male and female. Though looking back now it seems you might have had some as it was the little fillies you were constantly associating with. Your father had to pull out an actual anatomy diagram and break it down that way. It was such a crazy thing to do with a preschooler, but you just didn't seem to get it. Even after we got you convinced you were a colt we still had to go explaining for a while who was a filly and who was a colt," her mom shook her head with remembered frustrations.

"Really?" Matthew asked, remembering none of this.

"Yes really, and you really didn't like the fact most of the ones you seemed to like more were fillies and you were told you had to play with colts."

"That went on? I don't remember any of that," Matthew said as she gazed at her mother.

"Holy lord, it definitely went on, from the time you were not quite three up until you were nearly ready to start kindergarten. We were worried you were going to end up making a scene of yourself in school if you didn't get it, but it did finally seem to stick. Though there were a few particularly embarrassing instances along the way," her mother continued.

"Like what?" Matthew asked, afraid of what she might hear.

"You made me have to cover my face in embarrassment as you told a doctor that we said you had to play with colts because you were a colt. Therefore you wanted the doctor to take your penis off since that was what you were told made you a colt. You said it with such a straight face too. It took being extra firm about it constantly and a lot of paddling your bottom, but it finally stuck," her mother said with frustration, then lowered her ears. "Turns out we were just teaching you to be ashamed of what you are. I am a horrible mother."

"I really did that?" Matthew said with an embarrassed laugh, bringing a hand up to cover part of her face.

"Oh, you definitely did that, and I think your father and I about had a heart attack due to embarrassment at the time. I should have paid more attention to the fact you didn't see yourself that way. I thought it was just a weird stage. Maybe it was a sign I should have caught, or maybe it really was just a stage of being a foal, but now it just makes me feel bad about how things ended up," her mother said with a frown.

"Are you going to try talking to Dad again today?" Matthew asked in a low tone.

"I should, at least I need to go check on him. If he isn't here in the next few hours I will trot over there and see how he is. It should take me far less time on my own hooves than in that car last night," her mother replied as she did a shuffle of said hooves.

"Are you sure that is safe? If there are humans attacking ponies you could get hurt," Matthew said with concern.

"There are lots of pegasi around that can keep an eye on me from the air to make sure nothing bothers me. I never get a mile from the church so they should have no problem seeing me from the air. I will figure out how to use this." She gestured at her horn. "Then if he isn't here I will go check on him and tell him if he wants to talk to come back to the church with me."

"Just be careful," Matthew said, still deeply concerned. There was a lot of area that might be hidden by trees along the path back to the house. She was not confident her mother would stay in the sight of the pegasi the full time as a result.

"I will, you get some sleep now. I know you were staying awake for me, but you can't be staying up late like this or you are going to exhaust yourself. I'll try getting up a little earlier from now on so we can get time together before you need to go to bed each day. I'll be here when you wake up tonight and we can talk some more before I need to get some sleep myself. Things will be better tonight, you'll see," she said as she reared up on her hind legs and wrapped Matthew up in her forelegs. 

"Okay, Mom," Matthew said, knowing that her mother was right about the sleep.

Matthew curled herself up into a tight ball, that would have been uncomfortable as a full human, and laid down as she heard her mother's hooves walk away.
> Chapter 6: The Final Wave
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was evening in the countryside. A number of small farmhouses were spread out in front of her forming a small little village all was calm. It was late and no pony stirred within the houses, and not a single light shown from any window. There was just the light of the stars and moon to illuminate the scene before her, but that was more than enough.

She sat sitting on a hilltop overlooking this little community, just watching. She felt the wet grass underneath her hooves, a slight breeze running along her fur and mane, and the smell of the ponies crops in her muzzle. It was peaceful and serene, and she couldn't help but smile. 

A large white mare came up beside her. "It is such a lovely little village don't you think, Matthew?"

"Yes, it is. It's like something out of a storybook," Matthew replied as she drank in the sights and smells.

"The ponies here live simple lives that make them happy. They take care of each other and are generous to all who desire food or shelter. There is harmony here, but harmony is a thing that must be maintained, for there are always dangers. Look there," the white mare commanded as she pointed out in the distance.

Out in the distance crept a pack of wild dogs. There had been so many of them left behind by the humans and they had gone feral and vicious. They were now creeping towards the village looking for a meal.

"The night is not always safe. See there how suddenly a pony can be imperiled. Have you not yourself observed how helpless a pony can be?" The white mare asked as she pointed back towards the house the furthest out from the center of the village. 

A little filly who couldn't yet be five years old wandered out of the house, perhaps to go relieve herself. She wasn't aware of the dogs, but the dogs were aware of her, and they were starving. She was small and easy prey.

She couldn't let this play out this way. Without thinking she jumped into the air and snapped her wings open in a single moment, pushing herself through the air towards the dogs. She quickly flew over the head of the little filly, startling the filly out of her sleepy walk with an audible gasp. She didn't concern herself with that, the dogs were still advancing.

She hit the lead dog at a high speed from the air sending it tumbling to the ground. She didn't need to concern herself with the other dogs she knew, this was about showing dominance over their pack leader, if the pack leader fled her the rest would follow. 

The dog got back up and growled at her. She held her ground unafraid, night ponies were the conquerors of fear, not slaves to it. It charged her and she jumped up, dancing nimbly through the air and landing a hard buck to the dog's side. This process repeated itself another two times, and finally the alpha lost its nerve, and the rest of the pack with it. They fled.

"It is a brave and kind thing to put yourself in danger for another pony's sake. You are loyal to your fellow ponies, providing them with security. You are generous with your life so they may keep theirs. This is good and right isn't it?" the white mare asked. 

"Yes it is," Matthew said as she looked back towards the houses. The filly had fled back inside her house, but she would be okay.

"But is everything okay?" The white mare asked. "You have fought the physical danger off, but the filly now suffers in her sleep, terrified now of the world around her."

Matthew could feel it. The sense of the dreamers in the houses around her, most slept soundly and with pleasant dreams, but the little filly's dreams were now troubled, she was having a nightmare. Matthew's heart went out for the poor filly.

"You can take that fear away, this would be the kind thing to do. Let her keep her innocence, she need not lose it, she has you to protect her from the horrors of the world," the white mare said.

Matthew almost sent her magic out to do just that, then paused. Something wasn't right about this. She turned to the white mare with a questioning expression.

"And what if something were to happen to me? Are they just defenseless then? Wouldn't letting them fear things that they should be legitimately afraid of be the kinder thing? That allows them to keep more alert for danger, and so avoid it. It lets them make plans to keep dangerous situations from happening, because they are aware and care, because fear makes it matter," Matthew questioned.

"But there is more than just you, there are many night ponies, all ready to keep your fellow ponies safe. All ponies have their place in the world, and as a night pony you are best suited for such a task. Why should they have to worry about such things when there are plenty of night ponies to see to their safety and care?" The white mare said in her own questioning tone.

"Because they aren't sheep to be tended, they are my fellow ponies. Yes I want to protect them, but I don't do that by keeping them unaware of the danger around them and suppressing the instinctual things they do in response to fear," Matthew asserted.

"Truly? You are one that knows that individuals and groups can do terrible things because of fear. Do you want to let your fellow ponies fall into the same traps? That can lead to a lot of sorrow, ponies should be given joy and laughter instead. You must help keep them from falling into such things," the white mare said with a tilt of her head.

"There are risks, but I think the alternative is worse..,"Matthew was going to try to answer further, but something happened. The entire world lurched and grew less distinct. The white mare looked around in surprise before looking back at her as the world continued to fade away.

"It seems that we shall not be continuing this conversation, little proponent of nightmares. I am not the one to tell you what you should do, as every pony must find their own purpose. I only show you what the world can be when we maintain harmony and try to guide you towards it. There are many ways to help your fellow ponies while maintaining harmony, but many that may break that harmony. May you find your place in harmony with the world rather than at odds with it," the white mare said as she faded away.

Matthew wake up!

She became aware that she had been asleep and this had all been a dream. Somepony was forcing her awake, shaking her violently. The voice that she had heard was not one that she would have been expecting.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake," she said in a half aware tone as she pushed whoever had been shaking her away with a forehoof.

"Matthew, are you feeling okay? You aren't in pain are you?" Came her mother's voice. Why would her mother think she would be in pain?

"I'm fine," she said as she finally opened her eyes. She blinked as she did, as the world seemed to have far more vivid color than she recalled. 

Realization dawned on her as she went cross eyed to stare at her own muzzle. She realized next that she was laying on her back and having her wings crushed between her and the floor was really uncomfortable, so she rolled over.

Now in a more comfortable position she extended out a foreleg and looked at it. It wasn't a particularly remarkable foreleg or hoof, but it was her foreleg and hoof. She smiled as she realized it was over, though it had come sooner than expected. 

She used her forelegs to push herself up into a sitting position and then pushed  backwards further on her rump into an extremely awkward position so she could get a better look at her personal area; it was a bit of a lewd position, but she needed to inspect this. A quick inspection brought a smile to her face; everything down there was mare parts, not stallion. 

"Can you please not go inspecting that and sit in a proper position," came the voice that had woken her. She frowned as she realized the owner and recognized his scent. This was unfair, most ponies got to wake up whole and be happy to start learning about their new bodies. She was waking up and getting thrust back into dealing with her father.

She turned and looked towards him. He was a green unicorn with a blue mane and on his face was a mixture of fear, concern, and revulsion. It made her stomach sink as she realized that things were not suddenly going to be better. Her mother stood beside him with a look of concern and fear as well, but thankfully no revulsion.

"Are you sure you are okay? The changes were happening so fast with you and every other pony that it was scary to watch. The ones who were awake when it started had a very hard time," her mother said with a tone soaked with worry.

"I feel perfectly alright," Matthew said as she adjusted her position to stand and brought herself up on four hooves for the first time. "How do I look?"

"You look great, a perfectly pretty young mare," her mother said with a smile.

"No, you look like a perversion of what should be," her father hissed, making her recoil as if she had been slapped. He softened his expression then and added. "You look unhurt though, and I suppose that is something to be thankful for."

"I told you that you were not going to make her feel ashamed," her mother said as she brought her muzzle up close to her father's face in challenge.

"Matthew might be in the form of a mare, but that doesn't mean he has to accept that this is right," her father said back in a deadly calm.

"And she was supposed to accept that it was right before? I think you should leave. I'll not have you spoiling this for her. I thought you might come to your senses, but I was mistaken. God gave us a miracle and you just continue to trash on it," her mom snarled at her dad.

"None of this is God's will, and what's going on with him just highlights that," her dad snapped back.

"Until you can show some kindness and compassion to your daughter I don't want to see you or have you near her. I'm not sure I want to see you even if you can bring yourself to be civil. You have contempt of her, you have contempt of me, you have contempt for yourself, you have contempt for God's will, and I want nothing more to do with all that vileness. We are starting new lives and should be happy, but you seem determined to make us all feel ashamed of wanting to have that joy. Just go, get out of here," her mother said in a dangerous tone towards her father. Her mother's horn was lit brightly even though there seemed to be nothing happening; Matthew sensed that her mother was ready to unleash that power violently if need be.

"You're all under some sort of mind control, you aren't acting like yourselves. Why can't you see it? You'd never have accepted this before," her father insisted as he backed up a few steps. 

"Tom, just go," her mother said in a low voice as she stared down at her hooves. 

"Fine, but I'm not going to give up on trying to bring you all back to sanity. We may have these bodies, but we can still retain our minds with some work. I can't be the only sane pony around still," her father said as he turned and stormed out of the sanctuary, earning dirty looks from all the ponies he passed.

Her mother rushed over to her and threw her forelegs around Matthew's neck, then buried her face into Matthew's shoulder, and cried. Matthew wrapped one of her wings around her mother protectively as her mother just let it all out. She let some tears of her own fall, but tried not to break down completely while her mother was in need. This seemed like an end of their marriage, it had come on suddenly in the last few days, and it was enough to make Matthew's head spin. She had no hate for her father, just hurt, but she wasn't the one who had been arguing with him. How much had been going on without her hearing?

"We don't need him; he had the gall to call you an abomination when I said that you might be becoming a mare, he called me brainwashed for saying that I wanted you to feel comfortable as a mare if it was so, and he called me possessed for saying that this was God's will. We've been married almost twenty-five years and after all this time he goes and says such cruel things about the two of us. Why is it he is going through the same things as we are but having so much hatred?" her mother said she continued to cry.

"He is just scared, Mom. Everything he ever knew is changing. What he understood to be true doesn't completely fit into this new world. I can kind of see where he is coming from as I look around and see everypony just accepting everything without question. I might not be lashing out like him, nor do I agree with him about a lot of things clearly, but there is a lot going on that makes me uneasy too," Matthew said as she tried to sooth her mother.

"So do you agree with him that I'm just brainwashed?" Her mother asked in a far too calm tone.

"I think that you might need more time and perspective to get a better idea of what is going on," Matthew said, considering her phrasing carefully.

"I suppose that is a fair statement," her mother said as she pulled away and sat down. She looked over at Matthew and gave off a little laugh. "I'm taller than you now by a small amount. I'm used to having to look up to see your face. You really need a new name, it's odd calling my daughter Matthew."

"I haven't had time to really think about that. I'll change it sooner or later, once I feel I have something that fits me," Matthew said with a smile, glad they were moving on to less tense topics, but also aware her mother was trying to distract herself from what had just happened.

"What do you suppose pony names should be? Do we just keep using human names?" her mother said. 

"You could just call me Pretty Pony," Matthew said with a smile, hoping to get a laugh.

"Be serious," her mother said with a scrunched up muzzle.

"Oh all right, how about Night Mare?" Matthew said with a roll of her eyes, pushing still to try to lighten the mood.

"That sounds like you're trying to scare foals in a very cheesy way. You better be messing with me," her mother said as she covered her muzzle with one hoof to hide a small blooming smile. Mission accomplished in trying to cheer her up a bit. 

"You never know, it is descriptive," Matthew said with a smirk that said she wasn't actually serious. Actually, it might be something that could be incorporated in the future, something felt like it fit. She wasn't going to just call herself Night Mare as that was like calling herself Blonde Woman, but her saying that the filly in the dream should keep her nightmares did seem to resonate with her.

"Mom, are you going to be okay?" Matthew asked. It was no secret her mother was avoiding trying to think about the fact her marriage could well be over. Matthew didn't know how to feel herself; that was her dad who just got sent off. He did seem to care, in his own messed up way, about them. 

"I don't know. I really am starting a new life it seems, and it hurts that he will not be a part of it or even want to be a part of it. Sure, we would fight sometimes, but every couple does. This is just too far though. Part of me wants to just be what he wants me to be, and to try to make you what he wants you to be, and have it all go back to the way it was. It isn't right though, and I need to accept that my old life is completely over. I still have you at least Matthew," she said. 

Her mother scrunched up her nose and looked at Matthew. "And until you figure out a name for yourself I'm just going to start calling you Mattie. Maybe I need a new name too for a new life, so we both have names to think about."

"Mattie it is for right now, until I think of something better," Mattie said in agreement. "He may still come around. I hope he does. He is going to need to take time to figure himself out though and we will be taking out time figuring ourselves out too. It is going to be a while before the world settles down into something we can consider normal."

"Yeah, a lot still to figure out about ourselves," her mother said as she looked up at the large crucifixion hanging on the wall above the altar area, as if looking for answers. "So let's see you use those wings God has given you. Every other pony with wings would have already started trying to fly, but you've had your first moments derailed. You'll feel better flying and I will feel better watching you do it. It will be a pleasant distraction from all this and I am determined to see you take joy in what God has given you."

Mattie flexed her wings. She knew she could fly because every other pony with wings seemed able to do it almost right away. She felt an ache she wasn't aware of up to this moment to get into the air and enjoy that freedom. Looking around she saw some freshly transformed pegasi shouting with joy as they enjoyed their own first day being able to fly.

She wasn't sure what the right way to do it was, so she just started beating her wings as she closed her eyes. A moment later she felt her hooves leave the ground and her mother give a whoop of encouragement. Mattie opened her eyes and looked down at her mother's smiling face and saw a few other ponies nearby give her smiles as well, a smile spread across her own muzzle. She was hovering in the air and it was awesome!

Looking around she let instinct take hold and she moved through the air around the sanctuary as if she were a fish swimming through a pool. There were lots of pegasi in the air as well throughout the sanctuary, but they all easily avoided colliding with one another in the air. She now started to see why Haley and John did more flying to place to place, even indoors, than walking. There was a sense of freedom, a sense of fulfillment, in flying. She could never give this up if somepony came up with a way of reversing transformations, it would be like taking part of her soul.

"It's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Came a familiar voice as she brought herself in a hover near the highest part of the sanctuary. She turned and saw Tonya flying near her with a knowing smile.

"I can't believe I've lived my whole life without this," Mattie said with unabashed enthusiasm.

"I know what you mean. I know I'd rather die than have this taken from me. You look good by the way. I'm a little jealous to tell the truth, you've had more than a few admirers watching you. Night pony mares tap into that desire for something exotic. How can a pegasus mare compete," Tonya said with a giggle.

Mattie looked around her and at various ponies on the ground. There actually were a lot of stallions sneaking glances at her, and more than a few mares trying to hide glances at her too. It made her blush; this was not attention she was used to, and wasn't something she knew how she felt about yet.

"Aww, you're cute when you blush. So, are you happy to be a proper mare at last? No shame about being what you are?" Tonya asked.

"I feel more at peace with what I am than I ever have in my life," Mattie said with a contented sigh.

"I'm glad. I saw and heard what went on with your father; I like to spend time in here watching the newly transformed, so I was here watching when you were first waking up. Don't worry, he'll come to understand in time. He can't deny what he is or who you are forever. I know you and your mom are hurting from that right now. I'm here for either of you if you need some pony to talk to, let your mom know," Tonya said sympathetically.

"I will tell her, if she didn't hear you already due to how much we can hear. So you spend your days just watching ponies in here?" Mattie asked. She wasn't so sure she could agree with Tonya that somepony couldn't deny who and what they are indefinitely, hadn't she been doing that herself most of her life?

"Well, not all my time, but I set aside a lot of time every day to do it. Though we seem to be running out of ponies still in the process of transformation around here so I might end up losing that hobby. I spent my whole life trying to be what I knew I was, and just watching ponies coming to realize for the first time that they are now something wonderful makes me feel happy," she said as she smiled down at the room full of ponies.

"What do you mean we are running out of ponies in the process? There are lots of them here," Mattie said with confusion.

"Um, look around you. There are none that aren't fully transformed in this room now. I don't know how it happened, but today everypony's transformation process went like it was on fast forward. Changes that should have taken hours are done in minutes, changes that should have taken days in a few hours. It caught everypony off guard. Things had been speeding up, but this was way more than that. There are barely any that are in the transformation process anymore in the entire area. There are some, but they had been very early in it or not showing symptoms yet. Didn't you think it strange you finished up now rather than say tomorrow? Because that's what I was expecting it to take," Tonya explained.

Mattie did look around, closer this time. It was true, there wasn't a single individual with human features, every single last pony in the sanctuary was complete. The sanctuary was where most of those who had been still undergoing transformation had been at so it was unlikely there were any untransformed on the church grounds at all. There had been well over a thousand at the church alone. If she started considering all the other shelters and those that had stayed at home the numbers became massive. There were now possibly hundreds of thousands of fully transformed in just this state if that pattern held true elsewhere, there had to be millions around the world.

"I don't know why things suddenly sped up so quickly, but the ponies outnumber the humans in this area now. We aren't going to be at the humans' mercy any more," Tonya said with unquestionable glee.

Mattie didn't say anything in response. There had to be a reason things had escalated so much today. It was good that the ponies now had the numbers to not be so much at the mercy of humans, but this would terrify the humans even more for sure; that was a dangerous thing. She had no desire to try to control the thoughts of her fellow ponies by invading their dreams, but she had a feeling she may soon need to try to help defend them.
> Chapter 7: Purposes of Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mattie spent her first night as a full pony largely in the air. The mass completion of transformations had her on edge about what humans would do and Paul had asked her to help with keeping a lookout over the church compound at night anyway. She was more than happy to oblige his request.

She didn't ever go far, but she kept a large circle in the air going about a mile around the church, her eyes always focused on the ground below for any movement. Thankfully it seemed to be a largely quiet night. The only activity that she saw were a few stray humans at their houses that stayed up late barbecuing meat in their yards. She guessed that they were more willing to come outside more at night when most ponies were sleeping. None of them seemed to be interested in causing problems, just enjoying one another's company and cooking their food. The smell of the roasting flesh made her feel a little sick to her stomach, but it wasn't too bad at the distance she kept in the air. She couldn't begrudge the humans the fact they needed to eat and have time they felt was safe to come together.

The church compound itself stayed completely still through the entire night. The only ponies awake at it were the few guards that watched the gates. They took shifts changing out every two hours so none had to spend the entire night awake.  
They were tense about the prospect of human attacks, and seemed a bit jumpy as a result. She would fly down occasionally just to let them know she still saw no danger about at the moment, to try to ease their tension.

With her vision now adapted to the dark she could see other night ponies in the distance, no doubt guarding other shelters. None ever flew far from their seemingly marked off territory. Most of the day ponies seemed blissfully unaware of the potential threats they may face now. Those that were up at night couldn't help staring at every shadow though. There would be no leaving their areas unattended tonight to go off and explore or socialize, there may not be any of that for many days yet to come; not until they were confident that the ponies they guarded were safe.

She had fallen into doing all this with little thought, it just came natural, and it all felt right. This was a duty to her fellow ponies that she could embrace. With the embrace of this aspect of her new self came a sense of fulfillment that she was doing what she was meant to do. There was always the question of whether she was being compelled by her new form to want this duty and whether she was at the mercy of alien instincts. There seemed no reason for her not to want this though, and no reason to question whether she really should feel a sense of peace with herself for complying with those instincts in regards to guarding the ponies sleeping below. It was a good thing, a decent thing, and a thing worthy of being proud of. Her opinions on God were not as all encompassing in her life as her parents, but she couldn't help feeling that if God was watching her that he would be pleased with her.

There was one thing that troubled her throughout the night. She was painfully aware of the nature of the dreams of some of those sleeping below her. She couldn't tell what any dream was about, but she was aware of dreams that brought fear or anxiety. They were like little patches of darkness on the edges of her vision that she couldn't quite look at. There was an urge, a compulsion, to try to do something about those dreams, their presence offended something deep in her core, but she resisted it. She would not invade the minds of her fellow ponies, no matter how kind it might seem to be to do so. Let them fear, because the world was a hostile place that fear helped keep them safe from.

When the sun finally rose over the horizon she landed back down in the church compound, eager to see who the early risers among the population happened to be. She needed to talk to other ponies as much as she needed air to breathe. She had never been particularly social as a human, but perhaps now that she was at peace with herself she felt the need to make up for all that time withdrawn from others. That at least is what made the most sense to her.

Most were still asleep though as the sun first came up. Some slept in tents, many slept within the church or its outlying buildings, but a great many seemed to have no problem with sleeping outside exposed. She could understand, their fur kept them warmer anyway, and inside the buildings were very cramped quarters. Ponies didn't seem to have any problem cuddling up close to one another with nothing sexual meant by it, but that didn't stop them from still wanting to get up and walk without tripping over their fellow sleeping equines.

Most of the early risers were half awake it seemed. There were a few ponies making their way over to some of the newly shifted farming soil to relieve themselves; many ponies felt the soil needed fertilizing and that was just the easiest way to go about it. They had the decency to at least bury their waste typically so ponies weren't walking in it.

There were a few unicorns who were using their magic to work can openers for themselves or others so they could eat breakfast. For the time being there was still a strong reliance on those precious can goods and food was being carefully rationed. Hopefully either farms would get going soon or there would be another relief shipment of goods. There were a lot of mouths to feed. Maybe they could figure out other things they could eat, but Mattie was not eager to see if she could simply eat grass. If something didn't happen with food soon they all might be reduced to trying that though. The prospect of starvation was a very real fear, and it was not just the ponies, as the humans were not getting any new food shipments either. It was grim to think about, and made Mattie's ears droop.

"Hi there," came a timid sounding voice off to her side.

She turned and found the speaker to be a stallion, one of those rare ponies with the glittery coats. He was the only one she had actually seen though she had heard about there being a few about. He had a light blue coat and darker blue mane, all with that crystalline nature to his fur and mane. It was very pretty to look at. They were as rare a type as the night ponies, perhaps rarer. He was giving her a shy smile.

"Hi, I haven't seen you before. Did you just finish the transformation yesterday like me?" She asked as she looked at him. 

"Yeah, I did. My name is Calvin by the way. I know I tend to keep off in a corner to myself most of the time. I saw you yesterday in the chapel, flying around. I wanted to get to know you since you are kind of like me, not having any others like you around at this church," Calvin said.

"You can call me Mattie for now, still figuring out my name, but that is what I am using for now. I have met a few other night ponies, but kind of not eager for their company. We have some differences of opinion on some things. So yeah, feeling a bit of an outsider too, and happy to talk and get to know you," Mattie said with a smile. She didn't have to exaggerate, she was eager to make more friends, and friends that felt a little on the outside of everypony else were something extra special.

"Why are you trying to figure out your name?" Calvin asked with confusion.

"Um, before the transformation I kind of had a male body and name. I am like Tonya in that way if you have met her. I wasn't out of the closet before all this started, but kind of got tossed out of it. So far it has been great for the most part," she said as she proudly spread her wings, and did her own little happy strut.

"Oh, hadn't realized that. Yeah, I know Tonya, everypony knows Tonya around here. She's a nice enough pony, a little forward with all the stallions and mares, but nice. I guess you feel a little weird about stallions checking you out then," Calvin said hesitantly.

"Um, a little bit. Tonya was teasing me about that yesterday. I really don't know how I feel about that kind of thing yet. Before all of this I never really had any attraction for..um..males, but I never really had any for females either. I never went on any dates, or checked anyone out myself. Transforming hasn't magically given me any insight into my feelings on that yet either. What do you mean Tonya is forward with all the stallions and mares?" Mattie said with a bit of a shuffle to her hooves.

"Tonya makes it abundantly clear she's ready to roll in the grass with just about any pony that is willing. I'm not sure if anypony has taken her up on it yet, but that mare has libido to spare. If she hasn't tried propositioning you yet with how attractive you look I am a little surprised," Calvin said with a laugh. Then his eyes got wide and quickly added. "Not that I think you're attractive..or I do, but not in a creepy kind of way. I am just acknowledging you are really pretty, you know?"

"Okay, this conversation just got a lot more uncomfortable. How about we try to forget you said that part. Though thank you for the compliment, I think," Mattie said with a raised eyebrow. He must have been one of the ones that had been checking her out yesterday. She hadn't noticed him, but he said he always was off in a corner. She didn't know how to feel about his awkward admittance that he thought she was sexy, but she wasn't ready to just give up on getting to know him yet. 

"I'm sorry," he said with lowered ears. "I always put my hoof in my mouth when I am trying to talk to others. I did it as a human, and now I am doing it as a pony. Some things just don't change I guess. Like everything I say comes out in the worst possible way. It is why I always keep to myself."

"Well, I am not the best with wording things either. I am not like you say Tonya is in terms of being comfortable with ponies hitting on me, at least until I figure out who and what actually appeals to me, but if you can try to lay off doing that we can be friends. Outsiders need to stick together after all," Mattie said in a consoling tone, offering up a hoof to shake.

Calvin sighed with relief and gripped his fetlock around hers. He gave her a broad smile as they griped hooves.

"So, what's it mean to be all..crystally?" Mattie asked as she looked at him.

"I've absolutely no idea," Calvin said with a frown as he lifted a hoof to look at it. "I don't have the same drive that the earth ponies have about farming. I mean, I try to help out a little, but it really just isn't my thing. I've no idea what my thing is at all. I look different and lack the same drives, maybe I am just defective. You figure that ETS was a virus, so viruses mutate right? Maybe I am just some weird mutation."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. All of us seem to have some way we benefit all the ponies around us. I am sure there is something special about you too. You aren't the only one with the crystally mane and coat. Once things settle down a bit you can seek out others like yourself and you can all find what you can do together," Mattie said. 

"Maybe it is just a full defective strain with us," he responded with a sigh. He looked around at all the other ponies out on the church grounds with a gaze of longing. "Every other pony seems to fit together in this whole new society thing that we have going, it is like it is by design, but I just don't see where I fit into it. I want to be part of this and do my part, I really do, but I've got nothing. I highly doubt there is some big design space needed for awkward ponies that make fools out of themselves when they speak."

She didn't know what to say to cheer him, but some of what he said felt important to her. This all did seem to be by design, they were all too clearly assigned tasks by their type and all too eager to do those tasks. Maybe there was something to her mother going on about how this was all God's will. Even the stuff with influencing dreams with her had a strong compulsion to it, one that she had to fight to resist constantly. She was resisting that compulsion though, and that meant that any pony could do the same. They didn't have to be just whatever they were designed to be. 

"Calvin, maybe you shouldn't focus so much on finding what you should be doing and how you fit into all this. Maybe you just need to focus on figuring out what makes you happy. We can't all just be gears in a machine, there has to be more to it than that. Maybe that is the point of you, to remind us all that there is more than just jobs and tasks," Mattie said with a smile and a light brush of her wing across the stallion's face.

"Maybe," he said, not sounding confident in that at all. 

She sympathized with him. He feared he had no place in this new world. It was something to be concerned about for sure. No pony wanted to feel like they didn't belong. She felt a little like she didn't belong either. Her fellow night ponies were determined to stamp out fear and to spread this message of harmony to all ponies. She didn't feel like she was the right type of pony because that didn't resonate with her or feel right to her. The more time passed the more she came to appreciate fear as something to be treated with respect, not stamped out. She didn't want ponies to be slaves to fear, but she wanted ponies to really think about what they feared and understand it. Understanding fear felt like what her true purpose was, not eliminating it. It was like something tied to the core of who she was, some kind of destiny..

"I know you'll want to be settling back down to sleep soon. I won't keep you any longer. Can we talk again tonight maybe?" Calvin said, breaking her out of her thoughts. 

"Yeah, I'd like that. Maybe if things stay slow again tonight I can fly out a little further and check with the other night ponies to find out where more ponies like you are in the area. Maybe set up where you can all get together," Mattie said with a smile.

"I'd like that a lot. I hate feeling so alone. I didn't mind before, but now I would do anything to find more ponies like me to talk to," he said gratefully. 

"Then I will do just that. I know you are afraid of being alone, so we will figure out how to address that. I will see you tonight, right now I am going to go have a talk with my mother before I get some sleep. Hopefully she hasn't slept in again today," Mattie said as she started walking towards the church building.

"You sleep well then, and thanks for being so nice," Calvin replied.

"No thanks needed. Ponies should be kind after all. See you later, Calvin," Mattie said as she went to go find her almost certainly still sleeping mother.
> Chapter 8: Time and Purpose for All Things
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mattie was in a dream again, one she knew was shaped by magic. There was no dreamscape this time, just her and the midnight blue mare before her that had both feathered wings and horn. She knew somehow this was a being of great power, something otherworldly, something divine.

"Hello, my dear night pony. I'm sorry to come unbidden into your dream, but I'm working in haste. You're among the last I will try to contact in the little time I was given," the midnight blue mare said.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Mattie asked with suspicion.

"I have little time so I will be brief. I am Princess Luna, you will very likely learn more about me in the near future. I am the leader of the night ponies on another world, a world that is sadly the source of your world's current affliction. We think we have found a way to prevent any further infections, but we need help," the mare said with a tone of authority.

"What kind of help?" Mattie asked. She wasn't sure she trusted this mare. Her explanation of who she was was far fetched, but so was turning into a small magical pony, so who was she to judge? Luna could just be some construct of the other night ponies to try to convince her to fall in line. But ponies were honest was one of the mantras said most often, so she would try to believe this wasn't a trick. The fact that the princess was talking about a cure for the humans, or some sort of vaccination by the sound of it, didn't seem like the kind of thing that would come from Haley.

"There are among your population crystal ponies. They have the power to spread the cure to all the humans who have not yet transformed, but we must have the crystal ponies' agreement to use them to cast this spell. I have been at work all night making contact with night ponies so they may make contact with the crystal ponies. I might make the contacts myself, but my connection to the dream realm here is not as easy to manipulate. It is easier for me to work through those more in tune with this world," Luna explained.

"Even if you could convince me to go invading the crystal ponies dreams and subverting them it is daytime where I am now. Most of them are now awake near me, so I have no dreams to go into," Mattie said.

"You seem to have a very different view of what we do than most of your fellow night ponies. If I had time I would like to converse with you more about that, and may find time in the future if events allow. But if what you say is true could you at least seek them out in the waking world and make this request for us? What is going on to your world is wrong, it is something you were forced into. We are not going to force you to return back to what you were or have the means to do that yet, but we must stop any more from being forcibly transformed. We are desperate to make this right and intend to take action today before this grows too far. I have little time and must try to reach more of your fellow ponies yet. Please answer me quickly," Luna pleaded.

"I will go and tell the ones I know about what you said. Only because you are offering them a choice. I am not going to pressure anything," Mattie said.

"Good. I will seek you out again in the future so I might learn more about you. You can explain your feelings at length then to us so we may try to understand your concerns. There are many concerns in this universe; some deeply troubling ones, as I can feel a primordial Warden already beginning to form, which must not be allowed to happen, but that is a crisis for another day. For now, I am going to force you awake. Make haste my little pony. Time is of the essence," Luna said as she faded away.



Mattie woke with a start. She had chosen to sleep off in the woods just north of the church compound rather than in it so she could sleep without any disturbances. It seemed she didn't account for magic pony gods in her list of possible disturbances. Looking at the sun she could see she had barely gotten any sleep at all, perhaps as little as a few minutes. It was still very early in the morning. 

Well, ponies kept their word. She pulled herself to her hooves and then kept into the air. She didn't have much work to do, she only knew one crystal pony. It seemed she and Calvin would be catching up again much sooner than either expected. She didn't have a clue how she was going to explain a magical pony god wanted him to help with a spell to stop the spread of ETS to any more humans. 

Did she even want him to help in this? If there really was some way of stopping ETS from spreading how long before the next thing was curing those who had transformed? She had no desire to change back, and she feared the prospect of being forced to. 

Of course from what little she could tell this cure was going to be happening elsewhere already. The pony had said she was one of the last contacted. Did the pony really contact all the night ponies out there? Sure, they were a smaller number than most of the other types, but if you counted all the world that was still an enormous amount of ponies. There had to be thousands, perhaps as many as a hundred thousand if she was taking the whole world into account. Was that really possible to do quickly with dreams and visions? She felt that her knowledge about her capabilities and the capabilities of this one pony were extremely lacking. Invading a ponies dreams still seemed wrong, but suddenly she felt that she might actually want to learn exactly what she and others like her were capable of doing.

Arriving back at the compound she found most ponies still asleep. Her mother had been still when she left and likely was still now. She had left a message with another pony to let her mother know that she was going to sleep early and would try getting up earlier tonight instead. Seemed that message was going to be pointless; something big was happening today. Whether Calvin agreed to help or not the others all deserved to be told. She just hoped she didn't sound like a madmare trying to explain it.

She spotted Calvin quickly. He was waiting his turn for a unicorn who was opening up cans of food for ponies. She quickly landed next to him, so quickly she started him and the others around them.

"Mattie? I didn't expect you coming by to see me again so soon. I expected you would be with your mom or going to sleep. Is something wrong?" Calvin asked.

"Yes, no, have no idea. This is going to sound crazy, just call it a night pony thing if you are looking for an explanation on how, but I was contacted with a message to give to any crystal pony I could find. There is something big happening today, and they need your help," Mattie said hurriedly.

"Somepony needs specifically crystal ponies to help? As in something we can do that other ponies can't?" Calvin said with his eyes widening and a look of excitement creeping onto his face. "What do they need? I want to know what I can do, and how I fit into all this, you know that."

"Today somepony somewhere else is going to do something big. It is going to cause there to be no further humans going through transformations. They can't spread it to all the humans without ponies helping them, specifically crystal ponies," she explained.

"So like a vaccination against ETS? What about those of us who are still ponies?" Calvin asked, no longer seeming as eager.

"She said no pony will be forced to change back and I believe her," Mattie said. She believed the pony didn't intend that at least, she wasn't sure she believed others might try to do that instead. Cooperation with helping with this vaccination might help the humans see that ponies weren't a thing to be feared. If the humans learned that ponies had a way of putting a stop to further transformations and didn't then the hostility towards ponies would explode. 

"I'm not sure. Am I betraying my fellow ponies if I help in this? Aren't we better off if ETS doesn't stop?" Calvin said with uncertainty. The few ponies awake and nearby were watching them now closely, various emotions spread across their faces.

"Look around you. We have set up a wall because we are afraid of what humans might do. We are trying to grow food, but with so many mouths to feed we might not have time before crops start being ready before we run out of food. Imagine if you add all the humans to that figure that we need to figure out how to feed. We will starve, they will starve. Plus on top of that the humans are scared, far more scared than we are, and being scared makes humans or ponies do terrible things. We aren't ready to have their number joining us, and we are helpless if they finally panic enough they do something drastic and start trying to purge us. We need to do this," Mattie pleaded. She said she wasn't going to pressure him, but the more she thought about it the more dire the consequences of not doing this seemed to be.

"Okay, you make some fair points. What exactly am I supposed to do?" Calvin asked as he looked at the pile of cans sat out by the unicorn to distribute, no doubt picturing them all gone. He wasn't the only one, the others watching looked at the cans and could be seen doing the math for the first time in their heads. Fear of starvation was an excellent motivator, it was a legitimate thing to be afraid of, something they should be thinking about.

"I wasn't told that. I was just told you had to agree to help or they couldn't do it. The pony that told me was in too much of a hurry to explain," Mattie said with frustration, wishing she could give a better answer.

"I don't know how I'll help if I don't know what I am even supposed to do, but I'll try my best," Calvin said apprehensively.

"That's all that was asked. Just be ready for whatever comes. I think I might need to find the others in the area. I am not sure if the other night ponies will or not," Mattie said as she considered. She didn't know most of the other night ponies, what John would do was a bit of a mystery as he never said much, but Haley didn't seem like the type who would be on-board with helping stop ETS.

"I guess I will just wait and see what happens. If you find any pretty crystal mares out there let me know," Calvin said with a smile.

"If Tonya is as forward as you say how has she not gotten you in her thrall yet with how much your mind goes to that place?" Mattie said with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, it is one thing to be looking at a mare's flank and having a little fantasy, it is a whole other to have one in your face offering to make that kind of fantasy real. She really is that up front about it. I kind of panicked and bolted," Calvin said with an embarrassed whinny.

What in the world was going on in Tonya's head? Some sort of extreme mating instinct or was she really just that into sex on her own? It didn't seem healthy. Something to confront her friend about later, not something to be concerned about now.

She took off into the air and flew towards the hospital and university. The two were right across the street from one another, and also had a variety of hotels near them that also served as shelters. This caused that area to have the highest concentration of ponies in the region by far. If she was going to find more than one or two stray crystal ponies that would be the area to check.

She brought herself to a stop as another pony approached her in the air halfway to her destination. It was John, without Haley with him.

"I take it you were visited by Luna as well?" John called out to her. 

"Yes, I was hoping there were crystal ponies I could find towards the hospital," Mattie said, not sure if John was opposed to her or not.

"You need not worry about that. I have already attended to it. Most are still asleep and I gave them their dream from Luna. I was just going to check on the one back at your shelter since he was awake early today. Have you already seen him?" John asked.

"I have, and he agreed. So is this happening? Where is your partner in crime?" Mattie said. It seemed that they were going to help with this vaccination.

"Haley was of the strong opinion that Luna could go to hell. I was of the strong opinion that Haley needed to go see a doctor about the black eye that she suddenly developed after saying that," John said with a smirk, lifting his hoof up and making a punching motion in the air. "So near as I can tell this is happening, and soon. I am going to stay up and watch the fireworks. Hopefully after this the humans will ease up about us."

"I hope so," Mattie said, still a little shocked John had apparently decked Haley with a hoof. It went against how she was raised to have a male strike a female like that, not that Haley didn't likely deserve it. Something else John said caught her attention though. 

"You said fireworks. Do you know what is coming?" Mattie asked.

"Of course I do, didn't you get the vision to spread?" John said with confusion.

"Um, kind of skipped that and went straight to trying to find crystal ponies awake," Mattie said, not willing to say she had rejected doing such a thing at all.

"Oh, well, there is going to be some beam of magic that is going to come in and seek out the crystal ponies. If they accept it they will power it further and spread that magic around. They are like cell phone towers or something for it. It should be a pretty spectacular light show," John explained.

"I better get back and let Calvin know exactly what to expect then. How many crystal ponies are in the area by the way?" Mattie said as she glanced back in the direction she had come, wondering how soon things would start.

"A little over two dozen in the immediate area, a few more scattered out in the boondocks further out. More than enough to cover the entire area and get the spell moving on to the next place, even if some say no," John said as he looked from horizon to horizon. "I would find a television and flip it on. Figure there is going to be all kinds of news coverage of this once it starts, most likely some sort of government statement afterward. I know I want to see how the humans react to it all. I just want them to leave us in peace, and let us build something special here."

"I hope this calms them as well. Maybe with time we can show them that what they were afraid of was change, and that we are no threat," Mattie said as she looked at the trees below her. "There is a projector in the sanctuary of the church, and I'm pretty sure the church has access to basic television channels. No pony has messed with it so far, but figure it might be a good time for everypony to sit back and learn a thing or two about what is going on outside our area, and see what kind of announcement they end up making. This impacts all of us after all."

"I'll come with you. I was a bit of an electronics nerd and I doubt being a pony now has made me forget how to connect cables properly. We can set it up together, will keep us both from falling asleep too early," John said as he flew up alongside Mattie.

"I appreciate it. Let's get going. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of scared and confused ponies we will have to be talking with soon. They believe in the spread of ETS being a good thing. It was I think, but only to an extent, and I think we have reached that for right now," Mattie said thoughtfully. 

"You say that like you want it to come back after we clear it out," John said with a tilt of his head.

"Maybe, but not right now. The world isn't ready for these levels of changes all at once, it scares too many, and we aren't aware enough of what we need to be beyond what our types compel us to be. We need to know more and be better prepared on all fronts, and we need the humans to want it. If someone started this then it can be done again, under more controlled and less frightening conditions. We need to figure ourselves out and get harmony with the humans first though. Then maybe someday we can see this done the right way, without anypony having to fear it," Mattie said.

"Come to have abandoned your humanity as well then?" John asked quizzically.

"Not sure that is the right wording. More aware of who I want to be might be a better way of saying it," Mattie said with a frown.

"Well, time to stop lollygagging about here pondering the deep meaning of it all. We have ponies to attend to," John said as he started flying in the direction of the church. Mattie hurried quickly behind.
> Chapter 9: Re-Evaluation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As John had predicted it was indeed a very spectacular light show. The beams of light had descended upon the region in more than a dozen places, exploded without force, spread the magic in great expanding domes, and then ricocheted back out to where other crystal ponies were waiting to repeat the process. It was something beautiful and it was also something that brought fear to many ponies.

Mattie sat sleepily watching the news play out on the projection screen within the church. In a pony pile with her were her mother, Tonya, and Calvin. John was up in the AV room making sure everything was running well. The entire sanctuary was packed to the brim with ponies watching the news, waiting for the moment of the President's announcement. Many others chose to just like together in groups as the quarters were simply too cramped to fit everypony otherwise.

They watched news reports of smaller towns out west where ponies were coming to the aid of humans, they saw humans interviewed who expressed happiness that ETS was gone, but also often apprehension about the still present pony population. There was still no word about exactly how and what had happened, only that it had stopped ETS. 

Occasionally a pony would be interviewed and what they said was often reflected in the whispers of those that huddled together within the church.

"I don't want to change back. I'm happy as I am."

"You aren't taking my wings from me! You might as well kill me!"

"We just want to be left alone."

"Why should we be happy for the humans? They treat us like dirt. We tried to help them out, but they refuse it."

"I don't know what I am going to do. Half my family are ponies, and the other half aren't. Are people going to demand I choose between them?"

"I suppose it is good that the humans don't have to be afraid anymore. I am happy for them."

"I didn't think there was anything stopping this. I don't know what that means for me now."

"I'm pregnant and my foal will be born a pony. Nothing is going to make me go back to being human. You could hurt my foal!"

The fear was oppressive. Yes, there were many who were happy that the humans weren't getting forced transformations anymore, but even they had an undercurrent of anxiety about what that meant for themselves. They said there was something like half a billion ponies in the world, about a quarter of the US population were ponies. That was a lot of ponies, but there were still far more humans, and this was still the humans' world. That left the ponies feeling very much at the mercy of their previous species.

"I am glad I got my cutie mark now. They can't take being a pony away from me," Tonya said. 

One of the surprises on the day was Tonya had gained a mark on her flank. The abstract symbol for male and female. It could mean something about her previous nature as a trans person, or it could represent the fact that she just really was into expressing her sexuality, maybe a bit of both. They knew the term for it now by the news reports, cutie mark. Mattie had asked in fascination how Tonya had gotten it, a lot of ponies did. Tonya had refused to say, and the blush from her mother told her she didn't want to know for sure what she suspected. That blush spoke volumes and had managed to be a bigger shock than talking to an alien pony princess had been. All things considered her mother being replaced with some sort of doppelganger seemed as likely an explanation as any. 

Between Tonya getting her cutie mark, seeing reports of them on the news, and the rumor that this is what made things permanent, there was a strong desire for cutie marks now among all the ponies of the church, Mattie included. She could feel she was almost there. She just needed to find some final piece.

"We interrupt this news report to take you to a live transmission from the President of the United States addressing the end of the ETS outbreak."

All the sanctuary went silent as a tomb as the screen shifted to the image of the president. He still looked human at first glance, but on closer inspection his hair seemed a little too silver, and the matching eyes confirmed the story. If they had just had another few days they might have had the leader of the free world among their number. No telling if this would stick now.

"My fellow Americans, both human and pony, and all those tuning in around the world; today marks the official end to Equine Transformation Syndrome. I know many of you are confused, scared, and have questions. I am here to answer them to the best of my ability.

"There is no simple way of saying this, so I will say it straight out. Equine Transformation Syndrome was the result of a single alien invader from another world. That pony, Sunset Shimmer, had been living in secret on this planet for more than twenty years preparing to unleash this pandemic upon us. Her goal was nothing less than to forcibly change the entire population of Earth into her own species.

"Fortunately, we were contacted and assisted by the world that she was native to. With the combined efforts of Earth and Equestria we were able to eliminate the terrorist Sunset Shimmer, and find a way to counteract what she had done.

"I am making sure I am clearly stating this now. This government and our allies put no blame on the ponies of Equestria for the actions of one mad terrorist. It has come to our attention she had been branded an outlaw before she ever arrived here by their government, and they were under the mistaken impression that she was deceased. It was pure luck that they were able to even determine that she had escaped to our world and have any time to try to stop her. They took action on our part, with no personal gain for themselves, and they have our gratitude for that.

"We are now opening formal diplomatic relations with the first extraterrestrial species we have ever encountered. They plan to work with our world to develop a full cure for Equine Transformation Syndrome, but for now, there will be no further outbreaks of it. 

"Their government has concerns about the safety and security of the fully transformed, and discussions regarding those ponies are ongoing. For now I wish to assure any pony that may be watching that this government will not tolerate any attack on its citizens by other citizens, and that our pony citizens' safety is a top concern. Until regular order can be restored, any human attacking ponies will be punished in swift order. We are still under martial law, and violence will not be tolerated.

"I will be dispatching all branches of the military, along with FEMA workers, to the hardest hit areas. We will be maintaining order, and bringing much needed relief supplies to both humans and ponies. We understand that while there are no new occurrences of Equine Transformation Syndrome there are many that are still in varying stages of it already. We will establish official government regulated shelters in all major metropolitan areas to meet the needs of these citizens. It is the Equestrian government's belief that those in the earlier stages of this may still have the changes reversed.

"In a few moments I will transfer this transmission to an undisclosed location where Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria will address the people of Earth as a whole for the first time. She has worked tirelessly and selflessly with our ground crews for some time now, and we would have lost all of humanity without her efforts. It is my sincerest hope that her continued work as official ambassador of her world will help bring us to a new era of peace and prosperity."

The image faded out and was replaced with that of an empty podium at some other place. The image on the screen split in two with commentators giving their opinions and recapping the President's speech as they waited on this Princess Twilight Sparkle to come and give her own address.

"So that's it then, they are going to force us to change back," Mattie's mom said with a sob. 

"They didn't say that, Mom," Mattie said. 

"They definitely implied it," her mother snapped. "They are going to try to subvert God's will."

"Let's wait to see what Twilight Sparkle has to say, so we have more information before we start panicking. I understand your fear Mom, and would be lying if I didn't feel the same thing, but we have to get all our information before we start deciding what to do," Mattie said with a sigh.

"Why'd they have to kill Sunset Shimmer? She was just trying to help us," her mother cried.

"I don't know, we will see what Twilight Sparkle has to say," Mattie said through gritted teeth. She was getting frustrated, and it wasn't just her mother, those same fears were being echoed throughout the sanctuary. There were even a few prayers that could be heard begging God to protect them from being changed back.

"For now we know there is food and protection on the way, and we needed those things. We have to do our best to show them that we are fine as we are while they interact with us," Mattie said, trying to get her mother to focus on the immediate concerns.

"God intended us to be ponies, why is he suddenly doing this?" Her mother asked.

"Because we are not ready. If we are careful, and if we gain the trust of the humans we can make it so in the future. Think about Dad, and how unready he was for this. There is just too much fear," Mattie said, trying to reason with her mother in a way her mother understood. She wasn't sure how she felt about such things herself, but she wanted to calm her mother's fears.

"You use that word a lot you know, fear," Tonya said with a laugh. "I'm about to start calling you the fear pony." Nopony seemed to pay her quip much attention.

"So, you are saying like spreading the gospel? Bring the humans to want this to happen?" Her mother said, no longer crying, and completely disregarding Tonya. 

"Something like that," Mattie said. Maybe not with the full religious overtones, but through time and reason they could secure themselves a place and get the humans to join them of their own free will. Whether that was the right thing or not was still in question, but it was clear they needed to show they weren't a threat. She knew one thing, she had no intention of changing back.

"Sunset Shimmer was misguided, but she brought us a great gift. I think that makes her a martyr. You're right, we should do our best to continue her cause in the right way. By earning the trust of hearts and minds," her mother said with devotion. Not quite what Mattie was saying, but close enough.

"Hush you two, somepony is coming to the podium," Calvin said. He was extra crystal-like since the spell. And despite the fact it still felt like normal fur, which Mattie was laying on at the moment, it reflected the light around it in prism-like ways.

Coming to the podium was a purple mare with a two tone mane, who had both feathered wings and horn. The white mare from the vision had those features, so did Luna, but no pony from Earth seemed to have those two features combined. It seemed there was another type of pony out there; one, that as far as Mattie knew, was native only to this Equestria place.

"Hello everyone and everypony. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, but you may all just call me Twilight, as I hope to be seen as a friend to you all. In my short time here I have been very impressed by your culture, technology, and other achievements. I hope that both our worlds will have much to gain by working together in the years to come.

"It is unfortunate about the circumstances that brought about our first formal meeting. I want to reiterate that Sunset Shimmer was acting on her own, without any cooperation with us. She tried this exact same thing before, and we had to take action about it then as well. We're sorry that we were slow in realizing she had escaped justice to here, and beg your forgiveness for that.

"I need to stress that she almost succeeded in her plans. If we had been any slower, and without a few lucky breaks on our part, we would not have been able to implement this counterspell. She was a brilliant mind, and we're still trying to understand everything about her spell. There are some aspects of this transformation that are well beyond our current scope of knowledge. And the scale on which things have happened is mind boggling. There are now ten times more ponies living on this planet than there are on my own, and their well-being is a top priority to me personally, and for my world. Equestria will not tolerate the mistreatment of ponies, even newly transformed ones. If you're a pony watching this address let me assure you we will not allow any more to be done to you against your will."

A small cheer went out across the sanctuary at this statement from Twilight. These ponies from the other world would try to protect them. Mattie liked the sentiment, but she was not sure they could do it in practicality. The princess had just admitted they didn't have the numbers. There were less ponies on that other world than were likely in the United States alone. The ponies here would still need to see to themselves for the most part.

"We will be sending ponies out to help with pony communities, and helping them become more self-sufficient. We understand a lot has changed in very little time, and it isn't possible to just put things back the way they were. We have hope that the ponies of this world don't all choose to abandon the many great achievements they accomplished as humans, and continue to work alongside humanity as they did before. This would be a tragedy if they lost those things, and one of the many horrible things that Sunset Shimmer would have caused had she been successful." 

The ponies of Equestria thought that the ponies here should hold onto the old technology? That was interesting. She had complained about the lack of transportation options for food, and there were likely numerous things she hadn't considered too. Things would need to be reconfigured for pony use, but she saw the value in them, plus it made them more relatable to the humans, which meant less fear and suspicion. It was a job for more technical minds than hers on how to go about it, but the need to be one of the ones encouraging these things was definitely growing. Ponies were not sheep, but you had to encourage them to think. They needed to be concerned about their well-being to choose to think about things, just like with the food, but they were not simply brainwashed drones just doing their jobs.

Twilight's speech continued, and Mattie half paid attention. She was caught up in her own world of thoughts. She thought of her father, and how he had rejected both her and her mother. She thought of her mother, and her mother's attempts to rationalize all this in a way she understood. She thought of how the ponies had in a few hours put up a barricade around this church ground and set guards. She thought of how quickly she had gotten in line with curing ETS, and how Calvin had done his part after he realized what might be if he didn't.

Fear was something she spoke of a lot, that was true. There were two types of fear, rational and irrational. Both of her parents before their transformation had an irrational fear of what was different, and what didn't fit their views of the world. They didn't try to understand their fear, as there was nothing that could be understood, and they ended up saying and doing hateful things. But her father's fears after the transformation had some legitimacy. They gave her hope that he could still be reasoned with in time, if she reached out to him. Rational fear could breed rational thinking as long as you didn't let it control you. It was the great motivator. 

She would embrace the fear, help ponies understand why they feared, and recognize why others feared. She would address the underlying reasons they had that fear and help them do the same. She was not here to invade ponies minds and soothe them into not thinking beyond a few simple cares, she was here to make them think and to be aware. That was her purpose, that was her destiny.

As she thought this, a bright glow went up from her flank, attracting the attention of every pony nearby. After a brief second it ended, and there sat a cutie mark upon her flank, declaring her purpose, though it was not very cute.

"Um, congratulations on your cutie mark. It is a little morbid though, don't you think?" Tonya said with apprehension as she looked at the mark with mild revulsion.

"I hate to say it, Mattie, but she is right. That mark is a little scary, please tell me that you aren't destined to be a murderer or something," her mother said as she too looked at it with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"What is it? She is laying on me and I can't turn my head enough to see it," Calvin said from beneath her in their pony pile.

"It is a mark of fear. I want ponies to see their fears and understand them. If you don't fear you become apathetic and ignorant. We will not be that; we are not brainwashed, we are free thinking beings," Mattie said as she looked at her grisly cutie mark, a pony skull, and smiled.
> Chapter 10: Ponies Behaving Badly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After many hours of watching the news, and endless commentary, most ponies had finally had enough and gone outside. Mattie was far too tired to go outside and socialize though. She had been up far too long into the daylight hours, and her circadian rhythm was punishing her for it. She couldn't even manage to bring herself into a hover as she made her way to the AV room so she could fall asleep in peace.

Once she reached the room, and went inside, she found John passed out already, drooling in his sleep. There was no telling how long he had been asleep. The projector was still displaying the news on the screen out in the sanctuary, and a smaller screen within this mirrored it. She figured she should probably turn it off, but she had no clue how any of this equipment actually worked. She didn't want to risk damaging something out of ignorance, so she just let it continue to play. Hopefully some other pony who knew what they were doing would come by and switch it off without waking the two of them.

She briefly wondered if Luna would visit her again when she slept. It seemed unlikely, at least for today. If she was a princess like Twilight Sparkle she was likely far too busy right now dealing with government officials to bother to follow up with one otherwise inconsequential pony out of half a billion. Luna might find her a curiosity, but Luna was likely being drowned in curiosities right now. 

She carefully stepped over to where John was passed out, and very gently settled down next to him so they could be snuggled close together. One of the great things about being a pony over a human was you could do something like this with your fellow ponies and nopony thought anything about it. They all enjoyed their closeness with one another, and understood physical contact didn't imply anything sexual in nature. She had just spent the last few hours in a large room where ponies piled on top of one another without thinking anything unusual about it. If they were humans they would have treated it like they were having an orgy or something. Perhaps it was just the fact ETS had altered her thinking, but she found humans, at least the ones in her previous culture, were strange pricks like that. Maybe they were better elsewhere in the world.

She got herself in a position where she and he could use each other as pillows and let her eyes finally close and herself drift off to sleep.

It felt like she had just closed her eyes when she found herself being shaken back awake. She knew she had to have slept some, but it was nowhere near enough.

"Dad, let me sleep five more minutes. I've got the snooze alarm set," Mattie said without opening her eyes. 

"Very cute, or at least you would be if not for the cutie mark on your flank that says you're an ax murderer or something. Come on, we need to get up so we can patrol. The army isn't here yet to keep the peace, so we still have a job to do," she heard John say.

"What time is it?" She opened one eye halfway as she asked.

"A little after nine. We slept in by an hour or two," John answered as he looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Speak for yourself. I don't think I went to sleep until around six. I spent basically the whole day awake," Mattie whined.

"Sounds like you just have to deal with the consequences. I was asleep well before that. I remember the President's speech and waiting for that pony to come out to the podium, but don't think I made it to her ever coming out," John said.

"Think that was around four, not sure," Mattie said with a yawn as she slowly pulled herself to her hooves.

"Well, you can catch me up on her speech as we patrol. Normally I would be patrolling with Haley, but don't think she and I are on speaking terms after yesterday," there was a hint of regret in his voice.

"Why were you two always together anyway?" Mattie asked.

"She is...was my fiancee before ETS started. Not sure she is now, boxing her in the eye isn't something she is likely to get over," John said.

That made Mattie's eyes pop open wide. She had a lot more sympathy for Haley, rather than wishing she was getting what was coming to her now. Somepony really needed to check on her to see if she was alright, and not in terms of the black eye. She had her differences with the mare but..crap. Mattie wasn't sure she wanted to patrol with John either now.

"I think we should patrol different areas for tonight. I am going to go see Haley," Mattie announced.

"Are you going to talk to her for me?" John asked.

"I'm not sure if I'll be saying anything on your behalf or not. That was your fiancée, and you hit her. That is not cool, that is not okay. It doesn't matter what I think of her as a pony, that is simply not okay. You god damned bragged about it too. Ponies are not supposed to do this kind of crap," Mattie said heatedly. "I do know she is likely hurt, confused, angry, and afraid of what comes next, and she needs somepony that isn't the focus of all that to talk to her."

"But the patrol...," John started.

"She's a night pony, she'll be on patrol, it's in her blood. She and I can talk and patrol at the same time. You just focus on this area," Mattie said harshly. John lowered his ears and nodded his head in response.

Mattie left the room without so much as another word to John. She needed to get something to eat and think before she went out to patrol and find Haley. She decided to see if her mother was still awake.

Walking into the sanctuary she found a number of ponies had re-entered it for the night. Her mother was easy to spot up by the altar, flipping through a Bible with her magic turning the pages. Mattie flew over to her.

As she landed she noticed a change in her mother. On her mother's flank now was the image of a Bible being gripped by two pony hooves. Her mother caught her staring at it and gave her a smile.

"Seems to be the day for earning cutie marks, a lot of us got them today. I think seeing all the stuff on the news made us think about who we really are," her mother said in a contented voice.

"I'm glad you found what makes you happy. Want to tell me about it?" Mattie said with a smile. 

"Not much to say, it's pretty clear with me. I'm a pony dedicated to her faith and determined to spread it, using whatever tools I have. Once I focused on that fact the mark came. I've decided to take up a new name as well, Sunset Blessing," her mother said as she continued to smile.

"Naming yourself after a pony that most consider to be a terrorist might not be the best way for us to endear ourselves to others, particularly the humans or the Equestrians," Mattie said apprehensively. 

"I'm making my beliefs clear as crystal with my name. I believe we're all better off as ponies, and I want to encourage the humans to want what we have, and to not be afraid of it. There is so much peace between us all, the old prejudices are gone, everypony just naturally wants to help one another and be kind to one another," Blessing said with enthusiasm that she rarely used in the past.

"Can't humans do that too?" Mattie asked.

"We also have all these new abilities that we didn't have before. The pegasi were making rain earlier today, actually making it! Those crops the earth ponies are tending? They are growing already after such a short time, in soil that has no business sprouting anything because it just got dug up under a parking lot. You can touch the dreams of others! I may just be turning pages in a Bible right now, but I could feel before I even saw the news that there could be much more I could do with my horn; seeing what the Equestrians were able to accomplish with their magic excites me, and makes me wonder what we can do in the future," Mattie's mom continued on extolling the greatness of ponies.

"But why name yourself after that terrorist?" Mattie asked. 

"She wasn't a terrorist, she was a pony doing God's work, and I name myself after her because I want to see that work continued. We can find a way to make transformations happen again in the future, once we learn enough, and we can do it a better way. It might take us a long time to learn how to do it, perhaps longer than I'll be alive, but we will figure it out, someday," her mother..Sunset Blessing said with excitement and  conviction.

"Just be careful, we don't want to make the humans uneasy. Maybe focus on the Blessing part more than the Sunset part. At least until things settle down," Mattie replied. She didn't want her mother getting herself into trouble; she agreed with her mother on some things, but caution was needed. Sunset Blessing, as she called herself now, was a little too in-your-face about things that had every human fearful.

"I don't want to be misleading about what I believe," Sunset Blessing said firmly.

"You don't need to be, but we need to be settled and find out how things are going to go now. See where we will be living, and all that. I doubt that we can just head home after this is all said and done, our house isn't built with ponies in mind. Not to mention the fact dad's name is on the mortgage," Mattie said. 

"Oh, I was trying to put him out of mind," Sunset Blessing said with lowered ears. "I had thought we could stay here though."

"Mom...we are on private property. I'm already starting to worry that the church is going to freak out when they see what we did to their parking lot after letting this place be used as a shelter. The church staff is not here, they fled, and I doubt they expected us to start doing massive remodeling to the grounds. It isn't likely that they are going to allow us all to just keep staying here when they come back," Mattie explained patiently. 

She had a suspicion that a lot of ponies seemed to have lost the concept of personal property somewhere along the way. In the last few weeks there had been this sense that all the old world was just going to fade away so there was no need to worry about who owned what. She knew she had lost it herself, and had only regained it as she started considering how things were going to go now with the end of ETS.

"So where do we go?" Sunset Blessing said with lowered ears.

"I'm sure something will be worked out. All the ponies have this kind of problem. Even the ones with homes to go back to can't possibly keep up with house payments now when most of us won't be able to return to old jobs. All of us need somewhere to go. They won't leave a quarter of the population just homeless," Mattie said as she looked at the other ponies spread about the sanctuary.

"I hope they don't," Sunset Blessing sighed sadly, as she continued flipping through her Bible.

"I need to ask. What...happened with you and Tonya?" Mattie said hesitantly. Her mother blushed an even brighter red as response. 

"I am not judging you," Mattie continued. "I'm just trying to understand why. You were one of the ones condemning people on the streets for being gay or lesbian, and the day after you sent Dad away you are suddenly having sex with a mare half your age."

"It's complicated," her mother said as she laid her face down on her Bible. 

"Try to explain it for me," Mattie insisted as she walked over and cuddled close to her mother.

"It is a lot of things. I'd just lost my partner through life. I was feeling like no pony would want me that way anymore. I was talking to Tonya about all the stuff I didn't feel comfortable talking to you about, and I don't know how it escalated to that. I was also talking about how I had spent a lot of my life hating ponies that I didn't understand, and feeling so emotional, and she was there, and she had all this obvious sexual tension in her that she was trying her best to not show. I just out of nowhere kissed her, and the next thing you know we were rolling around in one of the private rooms of the church. I won't give you the full details on that part," Sunset Blessing said, using only one or two breaths to get through saying that.

"So are you into mares now or something?" Mattie said, feeling uncomfortable discussing her mother's sexuality.

"I don't know, perhaps my beliefs blinded me to being open to those kinds of relationships for myself. I'm not certain if I was closeted like you, but it is a possibility. I'm not checking out mares as I look at them, if that is what you mean," Blessing said with a flick of her tail. 

"But Tonya? She is three months younger than me. You condemned her for being trans for years, even if you recently apologized," Mattie said, still feeling disbelief about the situation.

"I don't think that is the beginning of any sort of relationship, or anything like that. Just the two of us giving each other something we needed right then. It was a one time thing, and I don't regret it. It was a needed release," Sunset Blessing said with a shrug.

"Oh," Mattie said, not sure what to say about all that. Again, this was not something a foal wanted to think about in regards to a parent. It did drive home the fact that it was over between her mom and dad though.

"I don't think there is anything else to discuss about this particular subject. I don't think it matters who either one of us decides to spend that kind of time with, though I do hope I get some grandfoals out of you eventually. Have you eaten anything yet?" Blessing asked, deftly pivoting the conversation away from the subject. Her mother had indeed come up with an excellent way of escaping the conversation. Food sounded like a great subject over the prospect of continuing the discussion and talking about the possibility of grandfoals. She just got the capability to have foals this week, she wasn't ready to actually think about having them. 

"Yeah, food sounds great, if you can get a can open for me. I need to get out patrolling soon. I'm going to be outside the normal area tonight, I have somepony I need to attend to," Mattie said, hoping her mother wasn't going to push the subject of grandfoals.

"Somepony somewhere else? Who? We haven't really gotten to really go anywhere since the transformation completed," Sunset Blessing said with confusion as she began walking away from the altar.

"I need to talk to Haley, she and John have some..issues that I found out about. It is kind of a private matter, and I doubt either of them want me talking about it to anypony. I doubt Haley is going to be happy I know," Mattie said as she hovered along with her mother, the lower part of her body hanging limply as her wings carried her along.

"Well, if it is private why are you putting your muzzle in it?" Blessing said with a raised eyebrow as they walked by the pantry and she grabbed up a can of food in her magic, sliced peaches in this case. Mattie scrunched up her muzzle as she looked at them, she longed so much for fresh produce.

"I think they really prefer I not say. I think it is important enough that I need to do something though," Mattie said simply. She wasn't ready to break her mother's belief in ponies being perfect beings incapable of doing horrible things to one another. The idea that she was dealing with a pony that hit his fiancee deeply bothered her. She supposed that while the transformation had gone a long way to make them nicer to one another it didn't fix all problems, her father was another example of a pony that still had a streak of cruelty about him. Deviations from the norm they might be, but they still existed.

"Well, don't stress them too much if they tell you that it is none of your concern. I know you were sleeping, but wanted to let you know we haven't really heard anything about when the military is supposed to be getting here yet. Some pony is sitting next to the phone just in case some government person tries to call the shelter," Blessing informed her as she passed the now open can of sliced peaches to Mattie.

Mattie nodded agreement as she stuffed some of the much too soggy peaches into her mouth using a wing. All the while she sat and tried to think of what she was going to say to Haley.
> Chapter 11: Broken Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mattie was somewhat miffed as she flew around the area of the hospital and the university. There was no sign of Haley being on patrol. So much for Mattie's declaration that guarding over ponies was in Haley's blood. This particular area was much larger than the church complex, and she realized it really did need more than one pony watching over it at night. There was simply too much to watch over. This made her doubly annoyed that there was no sign of the other night pony.

The ponies here had been hard at work, and those that owned the properties nearby were going to have their work cut out for them putting things back together. All the parking lots had been stripped of concrete to try to make way for farms, as had the university's fields for baseball, football, and track. The stripped slabs of concrete had been used to erect walls, not only around the green areas and newly planted farms, but also making barriers in the streets in places. The entire area was going to take a lot of work to be usable again by humans, and she could already imagine the anger that would be directed at the ponies. Further, with those barriers in the streets it was going to be that much harder for the military, FEMA workers, and other relief to get through here. Thinking about it all gave her a headache due to the stress.

This kind of thing was likely being played out in every area with a large amount of transformed, so there wasn't much to do about it all at this point. At the time it seemed the logical thing to do, ponies were not at fault about doing what they thought they needed to in order to survive and adapt. Hopefully there would be enough humans who saw it that way too. 

The ponies needed some charismatic spokesponies who could do a good job of playing up the conditions they had been operating under. That wouldn't be her. Aside from being a night pony, she also had a skull for a cutie mark; she doubted that combination would make her the most trustworthy looking pony to the humans. This was somepony else's headache to explain. Being largely unimportant had its advantages.

As she made another pass by the hospital, she spotted movement near one of the formally glass covered windows. It looked like one that had been deliberately cleared of glass, and the marks near the window indicated it had been one of the ones that received gunfire the other day. It seemed somepony had chosen to just kick out all the glass from the window, rather than have a bullethole ridden pane of glass in it.

She hovered for a moment, watching, and saw what she was looking for. Haley was there, that window was apparently her quick exit and entrance from the hospital. The other mare didn't seem to be making any effort to come out, but she was watching Mattie from the shadows within. It seemed a quiet night again so she decided it was worth her time to go fly over and see exactly how Haley was holding up.

She flew over to the window and the other mare within just watched her approach. When Mattie was right outside she looked within but Haley continued to just sit silently staring, not ordering her away, not inviting her in, just staring. It was kind of creepy.

"Can I come in for a minute?" Mattie finally asked, breaking the silence.

Haley continued to stare for a few seconds, and Mattie was about to just give up on the endeavor, but finally Haley nodded.

"I am wondering why you aren't out watching over ponies right now," Mattie said as she entered.

"What's the point?" Haley said dismissively as she jumped up on a hospital bed and laid down.

"It is kind of our job as night ponies," Mattie said flatly.

"Yeah, I am kind of over that whole thing. I thought if I threw myself completely into this, then things would be better than when I was human. I was sorely mistaken. Humans, ponies, all a bunch of jerks that I shouldn't bother caring about," Haley said coldly.

"I heard about what happened with John. I know he hit you, and I know you two were a thing," Mattie said sadly, but getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, that was a wake-up call for sure. Screw being a pony," Haley sneered.

"I know, ponies shouldn't do that to other ponies," Mattie replied.

"Ha! No pony or human should do that to one another, but guess what? They still do it. It was supposed to be different when we were all ponies, everything was supposed to be sunshine and rainbows. Then guess what? He hits me again, after I thought being a pony would magically just make him better! Oh, we're in these nice new bodies, and can do all this other stuff, but it doesn't matter, because despite the new coat of fur and accessories we are still the same sorry excuses for humans we were before we transformed," Haley snarled before breaking down in a sob.

"He hit you before this? You seemed so confident and the one in charge when I saw you two together," Mattie asked in confusion.

"Oh, that was only the first time he hit me as a pony. I thought everything was better when we finished transforming. He was so much nicer, and we had this whole new experience to explore together. I embraced it completely, and was eager to keep pushing to be the best pony I could be. For the first time in my life I did feel like I mattered, and I was doing something great," Haley said through tears, wiping a foreleg across a clearly swollen eye.

"Why were you even with him before all this if he treated you so badly and abused you? Why put up with that?" Mattie asked, completely confused by what she was hearing. This was not the same mare she had met before.

"Because I am completely unlovable. He at least wanted me, nopony..nobody else was going to want me. He wanted me and I could put up with a few flares of temper, if it meant I wasn't going to lose him. Then ETS happened, and I became this super powerful magical creature like you might daydream about in your spare time, and I thought that it made me worth something. I was fooling myself," Haley said as she glared at her hooves.

"Haley, you can't expect to be happy if you think of yourself like that. I don't know anything about who you used to be, but it couldn't be that bad," Mattie insisted.

"It was that bad. The things I care about no other person cared about. I just bored everypony that came near me. No pony wanted to be around me because I bored them so much. I wasn't dumb, but I wasn't really smart enough to keep up with the nerds. I wasn't pretty, I wasn't funny; I really didn't have much of a sense of humor at all. There was nothing to like or want about me. It was all supposed to be different now, but it is just the same with a new paint job," Haley lamented.

"I can't believe there was absolutely nothing to like about you. Were you mean to anypony? Were you nice?" Mattie asked. She had no idea how to deal with this. Haley clearly had no self confidence. She had built a little bit up after becoming a pony but the incident with John had brought that crashing down before it actually became legitimately strong.

"I wasn't mean to anypony, but nopony cared. I always watched as other mares who were just plain cruel to others still had ponies wanting to be around them, but everypony ignored me," Haley cried, continuing to find ways to show she didn't matter.

"So what were you into that you couldn't seem to find anypony to care about?" Mattie asked, looking for something to get Haley into a better mood about.

"History, but not the kind that anypony cared about. I would read about things like ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Harappan Culture, Hittites, Etruscans, Minoans, all those ones. Really old history that didn't matter to anypony else. It was just my thing. Ponies might seem interested, for like five minutes, and then they just got bored. I tried to show interest in the things they liked, but I just couldn't ever really get into anything else. Don't go acting like you are interested in any of that just to try to cheer me up. It ain't going to work. I know that trick well enough at this point," the mare laid her head down in her forelegs.

"At least you had something you were really passionate about. I never really had that. I was completely boring growing up too, and was just as boring after I grew up. I guess, to tell the truth, I am pretty boring now," Mattie said, trying to show some empathy. Not sure if she was doing it right. Was she just playing the who had it worse game?

"I see you have a mark on your flank, pretty interesting looking one, you couldn't be that boring," Haley said dismissively as she looked at Mattie's flank.

"This?" Mattie said as she gestured a hoof at the skull on her flank. "It isn't as interesting as you would think. It just means I try to understand what causes fear, and try to get others to address the things they fear. It is completely utilitarian. It isn't anything interesting about me," Mattie insisted.

"So then work your magic on me then. Tell me all about what I should be doing. Tell me about how I am just scared of the world, or failing, or some other crap like that fresh out of some TV movie. Better yet, let's not do that. Let's have you do that to yourself since you seem to believe you have issues worse than mine," Haley sneered.

Mattie wanted to scream at the other mare. That wasn't what she was trying to say at all. Haley clearly had some serious issues. But if that was what Haley wanted, that was what Haley was going to get, at least Mattie could say that she was listening to the other mare. 

"Fine, let's do this then. You, as an observer, what do you think my issues are?" Mattie demanded.

"I don't really know you, so that is really impossible to say. I know you didn't realize you were a mare until a few days ago. I have no idea how you manage not to know that, but that seems a thing. I know you seem to care about your mother. I know you are a night pony, so you had something that was really scaring you all the time. Maybe you were some little mama's boy afraid of disappointing his mama," Haley said with contempt. She gave Mattie a considering look before softening her expression and then continuing. "That was probably mean of me. But the truth is I know very little about you. So tell me about yourself, and I will tell you what I think your issues are."

"I told you about me," Mattie insisted.

"No, you just said you were boring and had a mark that was boring. Tell me about you as a human. Tell me about who your friends, if you had them, were. Tell me about your hobbies. I told you about mine, you tell me about yours," Haley said.

"I really didn't have any hobbies," Mattie said.

"Bull. What did you do with your free time?" Haley snapped. 

"I just got on the internet. I never really went out and did anything," Mattie said while letting out a breath and taking a seat.

"What internet sites did you go to?" Haley asked.

"I had been going to the site about the night ponies," Mattie replied.

"Way to avoid the question. Before ETS started up. Stop avoiding answering. I can already tell you one issue you have, you're apparently afraid to say anything about yourself," Haley said with a sigh.

"I went to a lot of different things. I would watch random top ten lists on YouTube, I'd read news articles, I would read books," Mattie listed off.

"Watch porn?" Haley asked.

"No, never, why would you even ask that?" Mattie said as she was offended.

"What? You are like late teens early twenties. Ponies that age have huge sex drives. You had to be getting your hard on somewhere," Haley said with a scowl. 

"No, I wasn't," Mattie said with her own scowl in return.

"So you were sexually repressed too. Add that to your issues," Haley said with a smirk.

"I am not sexually repressed," Mattie sneered.

"So tell me what turns you on then. Did you date any mares? You weren't that bad looking as a human male. Or were you into stallions instead?" Haley continued on.

"I didn't date anypony. I wasn't into anypony," Mattie said, shuffling her hooves as she spoke.

"Sounds pretty sexually repressed to me. But let's not dwell on that. You said you read books, what kind of books?" Haley said, now sitting back up partially with her head resting on a hoof.

"Fantasy mainly. A few other things like the old Anne Rice novels," Mattie said.

"So escapes from reality. I read Anne Rice too, they had some ancient history stuff mixed in them. I think you were reading them for a different reason than that though," Haley said knowingly.

"What would that be?" Mattie asked, again confused. What could Haley possibly be reading into with those.

"I'm just thinking about Tale of the Body Thief, and how you could imagine just going into another person's body. Think that might have appealed to you. I don't think you had no clue about the whole transgender thing. I think you had fantasies all the time about having a woman's body, but you are too ashamed to admit it. They had all kinds of movies and shows like that. Did you ever watch them?" Haley asked. She wasn't sneering and didn't seem mocking anymore. She seemed legitimately interested in the answer.

"Yes," Mattie answered with a twist of her mouth. "I remember when I was young, like eight or so, my parents were watching some science fiction anthology show. The plot of that episode was about this business that would switch your sex back and forth as you wished for a price. I was supposed to be in bed, but I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to watch it around the corner from my room."

"Did you do that kind of thing much? Try to watch what your parents were watching on television?" Haley asked. 

"No, it was just that one time. I just was really interested. I still remember doing that and that show vividly," Mattie said thoughtfully. 

"Anymore stuff like that?" Haley asked. 

"Yeah. Okay, I admit it. Pretty much every time the subject came up on anything, for as long as I remember," Mattie said. 

"Yes," Haley did a hoof pump. "Score one for Haley! I knew there was stuff. And did you fantasize about switching bodies with others, like I said? I am putting money on that you did."

"Maybe," Mattie muttered.

"Woohoo! Two for Haley!" the mare on the bed said, now putting both her hooves into the air in an exaggerated cheer. 

"Okay, so what is your diagnosis?" Mattie said, glad that at least Haley was now showing energy and enthusiasm again.

"I think you were just so ashamed of what anypony would think you just shut down expressing your gender or anything else for that matter. I think you are still doing it even if you don't have the ability to hide the fact you're a mare anymore. You've been doing it so long that you don't even know how to not do it. You got that shell pretty hard around you. But you really are wanting to get out of that shell. You are also like me. You drink the pony kool-aid because you think that it will suddenly make everything better," Haley said as she flew down off the bed and landed close to Mattie.

"I enjoy being a pony," Mattie said flatly, looking Haley in the eyes.

"It has its charms. I can admit it," Haley said looking herself over, now smiling. 

"You seem to be feeling better now," Mattie said, now breaking into a small smile of her own. 

"I am," Haley responded with a grin. "Thank you for coming to see me. I know we spent a lot of time talking about you, but it mattered to me that you came. You also helped me see that I do have some value."

"I don't know how. As you said, we spent more time talking about me, and the time we were talking about you I wasn't doing a good job at making you feel better," Mattie said tilting her head. 

"You helped me by letting me try to help you. I think I might have made a little progress too, if just a little. I didn't need any magic pony powers given to me from a space pony from another dimension to do that. It was all me helping," Haley said with a sincere smile. 

"Well, we'll see what comes of that. You gave me things to think about," Mattie said with a little blush.

Haley gave Mattie a sly look and took a step towards her. Bringing her muzzle into contact with Mattie's making Mattie go bright red.

"Suggestion," Haley said with a purr, then gave Mattie a quick kiss on the lips, making Mattie's wings to snap open. "Don't spend all your time thinking, analyzing, and considering all the consequences. Sometimes you just need to do things. I'm bi by the way, and think I need to explore new options in partners."
> Chapter 12: Pillow Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Considering she now had a stallion hit on her, and had a mare hit on her and only reacted to the mare with any sort of excitement Mattie was pretty confident she could put the question of her sexuality to rest, she was a lesbian, and she was happy with that. They hadn't gone back out on patrol, though Haley to her credit, had offered. It had been a slow night, and if humans were going to do anything they would have done it earlier, maybe it was the threat from the government of repercussions if they did, but it was nice. However, much as Haley didn't want her to sit and overthink things she had thoughts running through her head, ones that seemed to be pertinent.

"So what are you going to do about John?" Mattie asked the midnight blue mare with the purple mane curled up next to her.

"I thought that was obvious. I found somepony that will treat me with respect and I'm going to dump his sorry flank," Haley said as she laid her head down on Mattie's forelegs.

"He's still going to be around and you're going to cross paths with him. I'm going to definitely cross paths with him since he's back at the church compound," Mattie explained, dreading running into the stallion and having to deal with the confrontation that would come when he heard Haley had dumped him for her.

"Do we need to worry about this right now? I would rather just cuddle. I'm going to break you of all this overthinking things. Stuff is going to happen, it probably isn't going to be pleasant, and whether we worry about it or not it is still going to happen," Haley said as she snuggled her head closer. "You want to concern yourself about what to be afraid of? He might get violent, he might not, don't know. If he does there are two of us and one of him. If he just yells and screams and makes a scene, then he yelled and screamed and made a scene and that's that. You worry about how everypony else is not thinking straight due to fear, but don't apply the same things to yourself." 

"So you're not stressing about it? This was your fiancée and I can't imagine you can just dump him as easy as that, not when you felt dependent on him for feeling secure for so long," Mattie asked, laying her head down on Haley's neck. 

"It isn't that I'm not stressed about it, because I think I'm going to piss all over myself when it happens, and will likely be crying for a while after, but I don't want to worry about it right now if I know it is going to happen no matter what. He's going to try to make me feel guilty, because that is what he does, and it works most of the time. Just be with me when it's going on; if you're with me I don't think it will work. Please don't make me think about it too much otherwise I'll be freaking out about it. I'm doing a good job holding things together, and I don't want to start doubting myself," Haley said.

"You seemed pretty confident when you walked up and kissed me. It really took me off guard," Mattie said with a smirk.

"I've never done something like that before, but you're just so closed up. I wanted to get you to open up and felt I needed to do something crazy and bold. If you didn't end up liking mares I would have felt really stupid for doing that. I took a risk, it paid off, it felt awesome," Haley giggled.

"I'm surprised that it worked too. I have a confession to make. I didn't really like you at all for a little while," Mattie said. Her body was tense as she worried about hurting Haley's feelings. 

"Why?" Haley asked. Mattie could feel Haley tense up as well.

"You were invading ponies dreams, making them not concerned about dangers. It's a part of being a night pony that I just don't feel okay with," Mattie explained. 

"Invading dreams? You make it sound like I was trying to mind control ponies. We were just spreading the vision. We didn't tell ponies what to think. We didn't even make the vision, it came to us," Haley said as she pulled back and sat up.

"You didn't make it?" Mattie said with confusion.

"No, of course not. I have no idea how to do that. If somepony else knew how to do that they know way more than any night pony I know. I just took it as what it seemed to be, a vision, and spread it. Even after it changed," Haley said with mild offense.

"It changed?" Mattie asked with confusion. "When? How?"

"It changed right before Luna came knocking. It started including humans as part of the world to be helped in the vision. Most the ponies were already transformed all the way by the time it changed, but it did change. Did you really never learn about sharing the vision?" Haley asked with a tilt of her head.

"No, I didn't learn. I kind of rejected it when it first came up," Mattie said as she sat and thought. "So it changed right before the cure happened?" 

"Yeah, about then. Soon after Luna shows up and starts telling us to do stuff that would stop ETS from spreading further. At the time I was still kind of enraptured with the idea that everything was just going to be better once we were all ponies so I told her off," Haley said as she lowered her ears with shame.

"Do you still feel we're better off as ponies or do you want to be human again?" Mattie asked. She wasn't sure how she would feel if Haley said she wanted to be human again. She wasn't sure that there would be any changing ponies back to humans, but now that they were stopping further transformations that seemed the next logical step. Mattie knew she had no real desire to be human again, she was definitely in the camp of you could take her wings over her cold dead body. That wasn't even taking into account she had no intention of having a male body again.

"I still want to be a pony, but I'm not as sure the world as a whole is any better off as all ponies anymore. If it's going to still have the same cruddy people I'm not sure changing them to ponies makes much of a difference," Haley said while looking at her hooves. Then she looked up at Mattie. "I know with the whole gender thing you're likely not interested in being a human again, but what do you think about everypony else and the humans? Do you feel like ETS should have kept going?"

"No," Mattie shook her head. "But not for the reasons you think. I think that the humans would have panicked and done something to destroy us all first. Plus there are just too many humans that are just not up to being ponies and forcing them to be was wrong. I do think we're all better off as ponies in the end, but not like that, not with so many scared and possibly lashing out as a result. Someday maybe, but that day isn't today, and won't be anytime soon. Plus the way so many were thinking right after transforming would have left society in the dark ages in no time at all. The Equestrians admire our achievements as humans, we shouldn't be quick to throw away the good things. Both ponies and humans need to find a way to live together and eventually we will transform the rest of the humans as they ask for it."

"So you're one of those ones that say Sunset Shimmer was misguided but not completely wrong?" Haley asked with no accusation or suspicion.

"Definitely misguided and definitely needed to be stopped. She should've made it our choice. She should have worked to make the world ready," Mattie said as she looked at her own hooves. "My mom is determined to start trying to do the things Sunset Shimmer should have done. I don't know how successful she will be, and I am not sure if it is good or not mixing religion into it like she is, but I think it shows we have hope of doing it right someday. All of that doesn't matter right now though. Right now I just want to be able to have ponies live in peace with the humans, the rest can come later."

"Well, I think that is a nice sentiment. I'm not concerned with the big picture myself though. I just want to find what makes me happy," Haley said as she turned and gazed at her blank flank. "I wonder if I'll get one of those cutie marks. My big thing was ancient history. I don't think that is going to work as a pony."

"Could be worse. Tonya seems to have gotten one that just makes her want to sleep around with everypony," Mattie snorted.

"Really? What in the world does that kind of mark look like? Is just a silhouette of two ponies doing the deed?" Haley asked with bemusement.

"It is that weird symbol for male and female sex classification," Mattie said running a hoof on the floor in imitation.

"Are you sure that is what her mark means?" Haley said with a puzzled expression.

"Um, she got it after having sex with somepony," Mattie said looking down at the ground, still not wanting to think about the fact her mother and Haley had done that.

"Did she say that was what it meant?" Haley said, still clearly unwilling to accept that a pony's purpose in life could be sex.

"Well, no, but it seems obvious," Mattie said with a shake of her wings.

"Maybe you should ask her what she thinks it means. If I just had to go by looking at your cutie mark I'd assume the worst about you too. It might mean something very different to her. It's unfair to assume," Haley said and then ran a wing across the side of Mattie's face.

"Maybe you're right, I'll ask. I might be asking soon too. It's almost sunrise," Mattie said as she looked outside at the light on the horizon.

"Guess I'll have another day sleeping by myself then," Haley said with a pout.

"You can come back with me. You'll have to deal with John along with me instead of putting it off though. I'm sure I'm not going to be having an easy time with him when I get back," Mattie said as she looked at her new marefriend. She was actually wondering if she was about to get into her first hooves on fight as a pony. John was bigger than her and she wasn't sure she would come out of it without breaking something. 

Haley stared out the window for a long moment herself. She worked her muzzle like she was chewing and tasting words before she decided whether they were worth saying. 

"Yeah, I'll come back with you. The longer I wait the more chance I have of second guessing myself and convincing myself that it was just one hit since we've been ponies, and that means it is alright. I need another pony to be with me to keep me from doing that to myself, so I need to be with you," Haley finally said.

"It isn't a good thing for you to get dependent on me for that kind of thing," Mattie said with caution.

"I know I'm using you as a psychological crutch right now, but right now I need a crutch. Maybe later I can stand on my own, but right now I need you," Haley said as she looked Mattie in her eyes.

"Okay, just so we're clear on that. I'll be with you through this in the meantime," Mattie said as she gave Haley a nuzzle.
> Chapter 13: Getting Pieces Back Together
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the sun came into view Mattie and Haley approached the church compound. There wasn't going to be any time to settle or even land as John spotted them in the air and went to meet them. 

"Haley, Mattie you brought her back with you to talk, thank you," John called to them.

The two night pony mares gave each other a shared unreadable glance between one each other. Mattie gave a silent gesture to the same woods she tried to sleep in previously. This was going to be a scene, and there was no need to do it in the air where ponies in general could just watch it all unfold. Haley caught her gesture and curbed her flight towards it with Mattie following after. John followed silently after the two of them.

The woods weren't dense or deep by any means, a mere acre or two deep barrier between where the where the frontage road was and the housing beyond. It was enough to provide cover for three ponies in need of keeping a conversation private. They all landed and Haley moved to put more distance between herself and John as he tried to walk over by her. He seemed to take the hint and sat down where he was.

"I'm going to get straight to the point with no arguments. We're done John. I can't trust you to control your temper around me. I wasn't even in need of you controlling your temper, I could deal with yelling and I yell back, but hitting me is a line that has been crossed one too many times. I thought we were beyond that since becoming ponies, but I was wrong. We are done," Haley said out calmly and firmly, a forced calm, like she was just getting through reading a paper in front of an audience.

"Haley, it was just one slip, and you were completely out of line. You can't expect me to be perfect all the time when you say and do such stupid things. You're overreacting," John said like he was lecturing a foal.

"We didn't even argue this time. You heard me say something you didn't agree with and you decked me in the eye and took off without so much checking on me," Haley said in a rising tone.

"You were doing something that was going to get us in trouble with the humans. You were being stupid," John said with a rising tone.

"You didn't even try to talk to me about it. You just hit me and took off!" Haley yelled.

"I didn't have time to deal with you acting like a foal. There was urgent work to do and you would have gotten in the way. If I had time to walk you through how you were wrong I would have, but stuff needed to get done," John hissed.

"I'm not a foal. I'm a grown mare! And is that the way you would treat any foals of ours if we had them? Just give them a black eye if they say something you don't like?" Haley demanded.

"Spare the rod, spoil the foal," John spat.

"It's spare the rod, spoil the child. We don't have to ponify old sayings," Haley snapped.

"We don't have to ponify old sayings," John repeated in a mocking voice. "This coming from the mare that wanted to let ETS just keep going and have all the humans ready to wipe us out because she never thinks."

"I do think. Yeah, I'm not the smartest pony, but I'm not stupid. I can figure stuff out," Haley said with tears welling up in her eyes.

"You aren't thinking now. You're trying to toss aside the only pony that will put up with you. No pony but me will be willing to deal with you acting like an idiot," John hissed.

Mattie had enough at this point. This bastard was going to keep browbeating Haley, and Haley was right about his tactics. She was not going to let Haley get what little confidence she had shattered by this oaf.

"That is enough!" Mattie shouted as she glared at John. "You repeatedly denounce her intelligence, have the nerve to make her feel like crap about herself, mock her, and try to justify hitting her. She doesn't need a horse's ass like you. She's not perfect but she doesn't deserve that, no pony deserves that. You're a night pony, you're supposed to protect ponies, but you've got her living in fear of you! Get away from this area."

"It's no concern of yours, keep your muzzle out of it," John said as he spread his wings threateningly towards Mattie.

"Are you going to hit me too?" Mattie asked with a glare.

"If you can't keep out of other ponies' business I'll do far more than just hit you," John growled.

"Don't you dare!" Haley yelled as she now took a fighting stance. "If you're so determined to just beat others into submission come at us. We might be smaller than you by a little, but there are two of us and one of you. I like our odds of shredding your wings."

Mattie took her own fighting posture as well and she and Haley sat ready for any sign of attack from him. He glared between the two off them, seeming to weigh whether he could come out on top in this fight.

"Fine, I'll leave. But we're done Haley. Don't you dare come crawling back to me hoping I'll take you back because nopony wants you. You made your bed, now lay in it," John say before spitting on the ground and launching himself in the air. He glared down at them for just a second more from the air before taking off further north.

Haley deflated like a balloon once he was out of sight, laying down on the ground and wrapping her forelegs and wings around her face. Mattie could hear her crying.

Mattie came over to Haley and snuggled her body close while laying down as well. She extended one wing over her marefriend's back and brought a hoof up to gently brush Haley's purple mane in a soothing gesture. Haley uncovered her face from her own wings and instead turned her head and buried it in Mattie's fur, still crying. 

"We don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to. We can stay right here and get some sleep. I know you're tired, and I'm well beyond tired myself. Hopefully sometime today the military will be showing up to keep the peace and we won't need to patrol tonight. I think we both could stand for a full night to just relax and take it easy," Mattie said as she continued to run her hoof over the other mare's mane.

"I'd like that," Haley mumbled into Mattie's fur. Then pulled her head up and gave Mattie a quick kiss on the lips. "Thank you, for being there for me when dealing with him. We don't have to stay right here though. I'd like to get out of the sun, and not have to deal worry about bugs crawling on my fur."

"If that's what you want I have no problem with that either. It's only a short glide back over to the church. We can see what ponies are up. If my mother actually wakes up early for once I can better introduce you to her as my new marefriend. She used to be a bit of a homophobe, but I'm pretty sure she has completely gotten over that since becoming a pony," Mattie said.

"Are you sure she has? Ponies don't necessarily change. You saw that with John," Haley said with a tinge of anxiety to her voice.

"I'm pretty sure in this case. The pony Tonya had sex with was my mom. Um, don't mention that I told you that to anypony. It really isn't anypony's business but theirs, but I wanted to make clear I think my mother is over her homophobia," Mattie said with a little shake of her wings.

"Guessing your mom and dad's little fallout we were seeing when we helped you get her to the church never got any better," Haley said with lowered ears.

"She basically told him she didn't want to see him again after they both finished transforming," Mattie said in a near whisper. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about this, it hurt.

Haley picked up on Mattie's mood and nuzzled her head up against Mattie's neck in comfort. Mattie couldn't stop herself, she started crying. She hadn't really cried about this yet, but it was coming now. As the tears started to flow Haley wrapped a leg and wing around her and pulled her close, reversing their earlier position of who was crying on who's fur.

"What all happened? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to right now. But talking about it might make you feel better," Haley said in a soothing voice as she in turn started brushing Mattie's green mane.

Mattie was quiet for a moment and just let herself enjoy the feel of Haley's wing embrace and brushing. It felt good to have a pony giving her this kind of comfort. It was something that she never had gotten when she was growing up. Her parents just didn't think that was something you did with males. Males were supposed to be strong and not show emotion and not need such comforts. They were supposed to just be the rock in the storm that didn't budge no matter what. She wondered if she had been trying to hard most of her life to live up to that kind of standard because it was what her parents expected of her. It was stupid, even if she were a male that was just going to make her emotionally stunted. She wondered how many others were like that. It was a cultural thing so it was likely an epidemic of its own. 

"My dad didn't take kindly to the transformation. He had a lot of prejudices that carried over with him. One of those was him insisting I was a male and that was what God intended. He called me an abomination, a perversion, and my mother didn't take well to him saying that," Mattie started to explain. 

"I thought you said she was a homophobe before. What made her suddenly get angry about this?" Haley asked.

"She'd been a lot like him before, and I'm not exactly sure why things changed with her but didn't change with him. She took to the transformation itself like a fish to water. She embraced everything about being a pony, she figured it was what God intended. He on the other hoof resisted," Mattie answered. 

"She still feels that it was what God intended after hearing the news?" Haley asked with confusion.

"It doesn't seem that she has given up that belief even after learning about Sunset Shimmer, she just shifted her belief to Sunset Shimmer was trying to do God's will. I think she thinks of Sunset Shimmer as some sort of prophet of God or something to tell the truth, despite the fact none of us ever met the pony and know next to nothing about her," Mattie said with a roll of her eyes.

"I can't find it in me to hate Sunset Shimmer for making me a pony either, but worship of the mare seems a little extreme," Haley said with an odd smirk.

"But even before all that she had changed her mind about me. She found out I was becoming a mare physically and I guess she just embraced that as God's will as well. My father called her demon possessed for that, along with her embracing being a pony; he said that we shouldn't be happy to be ponies, and should try to keep our humanity. The two of them fought and she told him she didn't want him around me or her anymore," Mattie explained.

"So your dad rejected you?" Haley asked as she continued brushing Mattie's mane.

"Yes, no, it's hard to say. He rejected the fact that I'm a mare, or at least that I should be a mare. He seemed to be concerned about my well being from what little I could tell. It's complicated," Mattie said with her face turned down and shoulders slumped.

"Where's he now?" Haley asked.

"My best guess? He went back home. If not he went to some other shelter then I haven't a clue which one. Most likely the elementary school since it's closest. We didn't really ask where he was going and not sure he knew either. He didn't seem to want to be around other ponies, so most likely just back home," Mattie said with a shrug. 

"I haven't met any ponies that wanted to just avoid everypony yet. It seems like we all have a drive to be around other ponies. I've seen ponies have no problem with just cuddling up next to a complete stranger as a pillow, and try to make friends with just about every pony we talk to. We night ponies even have it, and we're up all night while the other ponies are asleep. We're like the most touchy-feely creatures in existence by design, it's hard to imagine he would just avoid everypony," Haley said with slight disbelief. 

"He seemed determined to not be very ponyish. He was forcing himself to say human terms for things instead of pony ones. I know it takes me putting thought into it to say things like woman instead of mare, or boy instead of colt; it's hardwired into us, but he seemed to be doing it fine," Mattie responded with a glance in the direction she knew her old home was at, wondering what her father was doing now.

"Maybe you can still talk to him, without your mom. Maybe since some time has passed he might be more willing to talk. Plus having him have to deal with you as a mare might make it hard to deny facts. I think it's at least worth trying," Haley said as she nuzzled Mattie again along the neck.

"Maybe, not right now though. I'm way too tired for any more confrontations today. Let's just head back to the church for right now," Mattie said with a nudge to her marefriend to let her know that she was about to stand.

The two stood up without any further discussion and Mattie took the lead back into the air towards the church with Haley following quickly behind. 

As soon as they came into view of the church they got a small shock though. There was a lot of activity going on at this early hour that must have just started in the last few minutes as it had not been going on when they first flew over the grounds. Every single last pony seemed to be up and active. The unicorns and earth ponies were working tirelessly to try to move the pavement back to where it belonged, which was not an easy task since it was mostly rubble. She could see them working in pairs to try to smooth it out, but it wasn't exactly working well. The earth ponies looked particularly unhappy as they worked as the area they cleared to farm was being covered again. The pegasi were hard at work trying to dive in and gather anything that might resemble food from the farms before the farms were gone forever. A few other earth ponies and unicorns were trying to deconstruct the barrier around the compound.

"Maybe we should have just stayed in the woods. Actually, maybe we should find somewhere further away than that if we intend on getting any sleep. This looks like it's going to be a loud and noisy day here," Haley said as she stared at all the activity. "What're they even doing?"

"I think they're trying to put the church grounds back in order. Not sure how they are going to end up doing that with all the stuff we did, or why the rush to do it now. There must have been a some news about the humans coming. Let's try to get some information real fast then we can figure out what to do about a place to sleep," Mattie said as she gestured towards the pegasi that were in the air.

"As long as they don't try to rope us into helping too. I need my sleep," Haley said with a cautious voice as she continued to watch all the activity happening.

They quickly found Tonya in the air looking a little lost about what she should be doing. The pegasus gave them a big smile as she saw them approach.

"Hi! Wondered where you were off at. Not sure if you're getting any sleep today with all this noise, but you're welcome to try to find a room somewhere in the church," Tonya greeted them, giving a quizzical look at Haley's presence.

"What is even going on? When we flew over just a few minutes ago this place was mostly still asleep," Mattie asked as she gestured down at the activity below.

"Oh, guess you didn't hear. Humans are arriving this afternoon. We got the call really late last night. There's going to be a bunch of soldiers, doctors, census takers, and relief workers going to all the shelters. We're going to have like six trucks worth of humans and supplies coming specifically to us at our shelter," Tonya explained with excitement.

"What's everypony doing though?" Mattie said as she gestured again at all the activity in case Tonya missed it the first time.

"They said they needed us to make sure they had space to operate. Earth ponies are really grumpy about having to cover over their farming, but the government guys were really insistent. Everypony got up early to get to work on making sure things are ready. I'm kind of confused about what I should be doing right now though, seems the unicorns and earth ponies have this all in hoof," Tonya said as she continued to glance around with some uncertainty.

"Maybe you can go around and make sure all the shelters know. No telling if anypony at each shelter took the time to actually stay near the phone," Mattie suggested.

"That's not a bad idea actually," Tonya said as she looked up with a smile. Then glanced off in the distance at the housing. "Maybe some pony should go door to door letting anypony or human that's still out there that the government is on its way." 

"Maybe, but I would suggest doing that in groups. You don't know how the humans might react to a pony knocking on their door," Mattie cautioned.

"Probably a good idea," Tonya said as she scrunched up her muzzle. 

"Completely off topic, what does your cutie mark mean? I know all about how you got it, but didn't ever ask what it meant," Mattie asked, stressing the part about knowing all about how Tonya got it.

Tonya was visibly taken off guard by the question and looked very uncomfortable as she considered. 

"Um, this seems like a sit down and talk about it thing. Don't think we can do that right now. I promise to stay up and talk to you tonight about it though. You aren't...mad about the how are you?" Tonya squeaked near the end.

"That part is none of my business. Just trying to understand some stuff is all," Mattie assured her. Tonya let out a visible sigh of relief.

"Sure thing then. Talk to you tonight in the sanctuary. In the meantime you might want to go somewhere quieter. I suggest the duck pond. Nice and quiet and far from all the shelters. Has a little bit of bushes for cover too," Tonya said as she looked off in the appropriate direction.

"We'll do that. Thanks Tonya," Mattie replied.
> Chapter 14: By the Pond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The duck pond in question was in the middle of all the residential neighborhoods. It was in the center of a circular road and ducks were the residents year round without ever migrating. A few benches surrounded the pond and it was perhaps the half the length of a football field. Mattie and Haley noticed that they were not the ones who decided that they were going to go out to the pond today as there were a few humans that had decided to brave leaving their houses on the far end of the pond. There was a tense moment where they and the humans stared at one another across the pond, but nothing came of it. The humans went back to what they were doing, which was yet another barbecue, and the ponies started trying to find some bushes with a decent amount of cover. 

The problem with the bushes was that the ducks made their nests within them. At the investigation of each bit of foliage  that looked like it was big enough to give them a little bit of privacy they found a duck, and on one occasion a very angry Canadian goose. It took all of two seconds for the two ponies to discover that a goose that felt you were disturbing its eggs was more than a match for a pair of sleepy night ponies. 

"This just isn't going to work," Haley said with frustration. "We're going to have to go sleep somewhere else."

"I'm not sure where we can go without going far afield or invading some human's property," Mattie said as she looked around. "I mean there's plenty of woods around once you get far enough out, but that requires us to fly further out from the church than I think is a good idea to do."

"It isn't that far to find some woods. There are also drainage ditches that run behind the houses of all this area. I used to go out into them all the time when I was a foal. You can go for miles just following them, and that area is much more private than this. I feel kind of exposed out here to tell the truth," Haley said as she glanced nervously at the humans.

"I think I noticed them as we were flying over. I kind of knew they were there but never really thought about them before. I suppose finding a secluded area in those might be the best thing to do," Mattie said as she studied the humans across the pond as well. Their barbecue didn't seem to consist of much, hardly anything being cooked at all. There were about a dozen humans, all of different ages. It was likely two or three different households together. They were cooking hot dogs and if she had to guess there might be one hot dog per person, with no bun. There wasn't any other food visible and they were drinking what looked like water. They were clearly hurting for food. The youngest children looked like they couldn't be older that three or four.

"Give me a moment, I'm going to do something reckless and probably stupid," Mattie said as she lifted herself into a hover still looking towards the humans.

"Are you planning on going over to the humans? You know you're still the bat winged pony with a skull on her flank, right? If there was ever such a thing as a scary looking pony that would be you," Haley said with worry as she looked between Mattie and the humans.

"As I said it's probably stupid," Mattie said as she started flying towards the humans.

As she crossed the pond the reaction from the humans was quick. There were gasps of fear and they all huddled closer together, aside from one woman who just took off down the street. One of the older women actually threw a rock at Mattie, or at least tried to; it didn't even come close enough to make her consider trying to dodge it.

She landed at the edge of the water with as much ground as she could put between her and the humans possible while still being on the same shore of the pond. She closed her wings and held one hoof up in greeting, hoping that they would recognize the gesture from a pony, or even pay attention to it.

"Get out of here! We don't want any trouble. We just wanted to get together without having to deal with any of you things," one of the men shouted at her. The man was a white guy, clean shaven, maybe about thirty years old. The fact that he was clean shaven struck her as odd as no humans had been working for days so there was no need to bother with that kind of routine. Maybe he just didn't like facial hair at all?

"I'm not here for trouble, I just wanted to talk for a minute. You know there isn't any more getting ETS, so being around me isn't going to get you sick or anything. I won't get any closer if that makes you feel better," Mattie said as she held the man's gaze.

"I'd feel better if you weren't over here at all. What do you want?" The man said while the rest continued to watch her like she was a dangerous animal.

"I'm not sure if you know or not but the government's people are arriving this afternoon. They have doctors and more food. I couldn't help noticing that your food looked a little on the slim side. They are going to be arriving in large numbers to all the ETS shelters. We can't infect you anymore and there will be help there. I have no idea when they're going to start bothering to wonder about all the humans still living in the area, so it might be in your best interest to go make sure they don't forget to take care of you too," Mattie said in a calm voice she hoped would come off as non-threatening as possible.

"How do you know this?" The man asked.

"The shelters got a call late last night. I'm not even sure all of them are aware they are getting visitors today since most ponies aren't exactly expecting phone calls. Please, get some of the food, and let any other humans in the area, or ponies still hiding in their houses, know about it. I don't want anyone or anypony to go hungry. The ponies aren't out to get you or hurt you. Every single one of them in those shelters came from these neighborhoods and many of them may have been your direct neighbors, coworkers, and friends. They still are the same individuals just in a new packaging. They don't want you going hungry either," Mattie said calmly, gesturing to the various houses around the pond for emphasis.

"We'll think about it. Just get out of here. Scat!" The man ordered with a shooing gesture like she was some dog.

Mattie snorted, annoyed that she was being treated like an animal. It was something that needed to be endured. The only way that they ever were going to have peaceful coexistence with humans was if ponies reached out to the humans, and kept reaching out. She knew logically that meant a lot of being treated like this, but it still made her want to fluff her fur and say why bother. Minds were rarely changed in just one day though.

She flapped her wings and pulled herself into the air, ready to just go back to Haley and find somewhere to sleep in peace.

"Pony!" She heard the man call as she was about to leave. She stopped herself and turned to look at him.

"Thanks for the info," he called out to her.

She smiled. Then again there were days you could see a little bit of progress with just a single attempt. Her heart lifted up a little bit.

"You're welcome. Take care of yourself," she said, then took off back to Haley.
> Chapter 15: Census
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two of them ended up sleeping in an ditch area between several subdivisions that provided a little more space between the back fences of various houses. Almost as soon as they were able to find a spot that was likely to be shady through the whole of the morning and afternoon they were off to sleep, cuddled close to one another. 

It felt too soon when Mattie was gently nudged awake by Haley. She stifled a yawn as she opened her eyes and debated in her head telling Haley to just let her sleep in. The sun wasn't even all the way down yet, surely she could sleep till full dark. She had been so far behind on sleep before this. 

"Come on lazy wings, we need to get back to your church so we can see all these humans that have come in. Maybe they have food that's better than too old fruits and vegetables from cans," Haley said as she nudged Mattie's head with her muzzle.

"Fresher food does sound good. I am not so sure they are going to have anything other than more can stuff though; not on such short notice anyway. Hopefully they have a better selection of stuff to eat though," Mattie said as she brought herself up to her hooves. 

Haley suddenly gave her a deep kiss on the lips, which made Mattie's wings to snap open once again. It took her a moment to even register what to do before returning the kiss on her end. After a few seconds Haley pulled back and gave Mattie a sly smile.

"Maybe after we get what needs to be done complete we can spend a different type of private time together. We don't need to patrol if the military is here and the night is ours. There is plenty of time for us to play over the course of a night," Haley said with a purr.

Mattie just sat there blushing with wide eyes. She had accepted having Haley as a marefriend and was happy about that, but somewhere in there it hadn't occurred to her that she and Haley might end up doing things with their long periods of time with just the two of them together in private. She had never let herself even think about doing that kind of thing before. Her loins were screaming at her yes, and the rest of her body was quaking in terror.

Haley looked her over and gave her a sympathetic look. 

"I let myself forget you are a sexually repressed virgin. We can take it slower if that's what you prefer. I'll be honest, I am nervous too. I might have always found mares attractive, but I haven't actually done anything with one. My whole experience with sex is with John. I am not exactly an expert on how to do great lesbian sex. I am hoping instinct will just help us figure it out," Haley said as she nuzzled Mattie along the neck.

"We never established I am sexually repressed," Mattie protested with a blush. She tried to ignore the feeling in her nether regions. The rest of her body had decided to just go completely stiff.

"Right..well, be that as it may, if you are not comfortable with doing anything I am not going to pressure you into it. We can take it slow and see what happens when it happens. Just cuddling and nuzzling feels good; I enjoy just having your company," Haley said with a smile as she continued to nuzzle.

"So what do you suggest we do with our night instead?" Mattie asked, trying to move onto a subject that didn't put her body at war with itself.

"We'll figure that out after we see what is happening with the church. I seem to recall you wanted to talk to Tonya and you also wanted to reintroduce me to your mother. After that we can just wing it. If we don't get moving they are going to be asleep though. It is the one thing I hate about being a night pony, being on opposite schedules with the majority of ponies. Maybe we need to make friends with some night owl humans," Haley said as she pulled away from her nuzzle, which made Mattie want to pout, and spread her wings to indicate she was ready to get flying.

Mattie was torn in a way she had never been before. On one hoof a large part of her wanted to tell Haley that they definitely could play later on tonight, despite her nerves. On another hoof Haley was still a mare she had just started to get to know well and it felt wrong to just get into a physical relationship with her so quickly. On another hoof she was worried that if she didn't respond in a clear positive way to Haley saying she was interested in sex she would hurt Haley's feelings. On yet another hoof she could just be over thinking all this and she should just take it as it went. Thankfully she only had four hooves to list considerations.

"I guess we should get going then. Don't want them wondering where we are," Mattie said as she spread her wings and jumped into the air.

Haley quickly joined her and within less that three minutes they were coming back upon the church grounds.

There was definitely a lot to take in, as it seemed the church grounds had been transformed yet again. There were indeed six large eighteen wheelers parked in a line on one corner of the property. Where there had been rubble from the broken pavement before it now all looked like gravel and Mattie's best guess on that was that the earth ponies had used their strength to pulverize the pavement down into small manageable parts. There were also large stacks of hay that had been piled high in another area of the grounds. Mattie hoped that wasn't the government's idea of food for them. She guessed they could eat it if they were equine, but something seemed offensive about it. 

She saw the humans all with different types of uniforms. Some were easily recognized as soldiers and others easily recognized as doctors, but some that were sitting at tables with laptops in front of them and a line of ponies she wasn't so sure about. Perhaps those were the census takers.

They flew down and found her mother standing at the back of one of the lines looking bored. As her mother saw her the corners of her mother's mouth picked up a little bit.

"Mattie! I'm glad you are back. Tonya told me that you were off sleeping somewhere else but I was still worried that I hadn't seen you at all yesterday. John seemed to have taken off and I was confused as to what all was going on. You are alright, right?" Sunset Blessing said as she looked Mattie over.

"I'm fine mom. I had some personal business that needed to be taken care of over the last day. Is this a line for the census?" Mattie said as she looked down the line of ponies towards the seated human.

"Yep, they want to find out who all is a pony, what type we are, status of family, blah blah blah. They could have started this earlier or waited till tomorrow, but they seem to be in so much a rush about everything," Blessing said with a disgusted scrunch of her muzzle directed towards the front of the line.

"I guess we should get in line too then. Mom, you met Haley before; Haley this is my mom, Sunset Blessing," Mattie said using a wing to gesture between the two.

"I remember you. You were the one that followed us when we were coming here for a little while before taking off," Blessing said as she looked over at Haley.

"Sorry about that, it was kind of a crisis at the hospital at the time. I'm glad we haven't had to deal with that kind of thing in the last few days thankfully," Haley said with a smile.

"Don't worry about it, dear. You were nice enough helping us in our time of need. Where did your partner, John, take off take off to today?" Blessing said as they took another few steps forward as the line advanced.

"My partner is Mattie. As for John I don't know, and I don't want to know. He can stay gone and I hope he does," Haley said with a venom filled tone.

"Oh, um, sorry to hear that. I guess I can empathize with that. I don't know what happened, but I am sorry to hear about it," Blessing said with a sound of sincerity. Then her brow furrowed and Mattie could see the puzzle pieces going together in her mother's head. "You said your partner is Mattie. Are you two..together..now?"

"Yes," Haley said as she came up next to Mattie and have her a nuzzle.

"I see," Blessing said as she gave Haley a much more appraising look. "You and I will have to have a longer talk in private at some point. I would like to know a bit more about the anypony dating my daughter."

"Okay..," Haley said, looking a bit less confident now. Mattie was somewhat concerned too. She was pretty sure her mother had tossed her homophobic tendencies, all things considered, but that didn't mean Blessing was not going to be an overprotective mother. Mattie had never dated before so it was a new experience for Blessing as well. Despite the fact Mattie was an adult there was a chance her mother could still have the drive to guard her foal.

The line kept advancing and finally came to be her mother's turn to be counted.

"Okay, name please?" Said the man at the desk as he looked at Mattie's mother. He was a younger black guy with a completely shaved head and very neatly cut beard and mustache.

"Sunset Blessing," Blessing announced proudly.

The man gave her a flat look.

"Are we really going with that? That's the kind of name that puts you on lists. In fact you are going on the list, not going to lie. I will note it as your preferred name, but legal name please," the man said in a exasperated tone.

"Charlotte Renee Gilmore..actually can I list that under maiden name?" Blessing asked. The man gave her a nod. "Okay, then Charlotte Renee Portsmith."

"Known infected family? Legal names please," the man continued as he made some notes on his laptop. 

"Husband, count as former husband, Thomas William Gilmore. One foal, Matthew Tyler Gilmore. I don't know about the status of my siblings or my parents. I haven't spoken to them in years," Blessing informed the man. 

"Alright, that makes this part short. Known pony type for Thomas and Matthew?" The man asked as he continued to type. 

"Tom is a sorry excuse for a unicorn, and Mattie is a night pony," Blessing said with clear distaste for talking about Mattie's father.

"Okay, good. I have here your place of residence is forty-three Oakdale Avenue, is that correct?" The man asked.

"I am not sure I live there anymore, but that was where I lived before becoming a pony," Blessing said, deflating a little.

"Noted. Can you please go over to that gentleman over there and he will be taking your profile picture and will want a picture of your cutie mark as well. After that you are done," the man instructed as he gestured to another man who had an impromptu area set up in the back of an eighteen wheeler for taking photos.

"Name please?" The man said as Mattie stepped up to the front of the line.

"Matthew Tyler Gilmore," Mattie said with a scrunch of her nose.

The man gave her a flat look much as he had given her mother. 

"It has been a long day for all of us, please take this seriously. What is your name, ma'am?" The man said with irritation.

"That is my legal name. I went through a sex change when ETS happened to me. I can get other ponies to verify that if you want. I have been using Mattie lately until I can think of something better," Mattie said defensively.

"Alright, we'll just roll with that for now I guess because I have no way of saying you are lying or telling the truth until the actual Matthew Tyler Gilmore shows up. Until then I will just copy and paste miss Gilmore's answers to yours since I have them right in front of me. Putting you on the list as well. Please go over to that gentleman over there and he will take your profile picture and will want a picture of your cutie mark," the man said with a dismissive gesture towards the truck.

Mattie stomped a hoof before walking away. She didn't know why the man not accepting her legal name annoyed her, but the fact that he had and then treated her like some potential troublemaker pissed her off. 

"Haley Rosemarie Martinez," she heard Haley recite off to the census taker as she walked away.
> Chapter 16: Presumptions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mattie was a bit apprehensive about leaving her marefriend alone with her mother, and it didn't help that Haley looked even more apprehensive about it. Haley insisted that it was alright despite her obvious nervousness of dealing with whatever possible judgement Blessing might come to about her fitness to be Mattie's significant other. Mattie finally left them to talk together in private despite her uneasiness about it. 

Tonya was easy enough to find. She was in the sanctuary as she said she would be. She looked at first like she was flipping through a Bible when Mattie approached her, which would have been surprising. On closer inspection it turned out to be an old hymnal, and Tonya could be heard humming along notes which Mattie recognized as music to various hymns.

"Hi Tonya, not the activity that I would have expected you to be found doing," Mattie said as she touched down next to the Pegasus.

"Some of the lyrics are not my style, they get a little too religious for me at times, but I do like the tunes for a lot of these. Some of the songs that can be taken outside if a strict religious context appeal to me as well," Tonya said as she studied another hymn.

"You can read music notes? I didn't know that," Mattie said as she cuddled close to her friend to look at the pages as well.

"I took music all through middle school and high school; band, chorus, everything I could. I loved music and wanted to study it in college too," Tonya said sadly as she continued to look over the various notes that were incomprehensible to Mattie.

"Why didn't you?" Mattie asked curiously.

"Came out in my sophomore year as transgender and everything kind of got real stressful for a long time after that. It really impacted my progress on my music and grades, and by the time I graduated high school there really wasn't any hope for a scholarship. A lot of the ones with chorus programs, which were my passion, were also religiously affiliated and being trans kind of blacklisted me with them," Tonya said with lowered ears. 

"I vaguely remember you doing music back in high school, but didn't realize it was that important to you," Mattie said amazed to learn a side of Tonya that she hadn't realized was there despite knowing her for years.

"Yeah, it was a big part of my life for a long time. I had to make some hard choices and sacrifices when I came out. I don't regret it, but I get a little wistful every once and a while about might have beens," Tonya said as she closed the hymnal with a sigh. She looked at Mattie then and gave a little smile. "You wanted to talk to me about my cutie mark, right?"

"Yeah, I think I might have made some assumptions and Haley called me on it. So asking you what it means to you," Mattie said with an ashamed glance down at her forehooves.

"Okay, so what did you think it meant? I can guess. I hear ponies talk. Go ahead and say it. I won't get mad," Tonya said with a comforting smile.

"I don't think it would be right for me to say what I was thinking," Mattie half mumbled.

"I'll say it for you then. You thought that it just meant I am so hypersexual slut of a mare who was transgender, right?" Tonya said with a giggle.

"Um, yes," Mattie said with an embarrassed blush.

"I am very sexual, there is no denying that. But that has nothing to do with this," Tonya said as she pointed a hoof back at her flank. "Nor does it have to do with me being transgender..or was transgender..not sure if I count as cis or not now. At least not in any way you might be thinking."

"So what does it mean then? I apologize for saying it, but you have gotten really forward with ponies lately, and with the trans thing it all kind of just seemed to fit that way," Mattie said with some confusion but trying to sound apologetic too.

"It has to do with what that symbol means to me, not what it means to any other pony. You know how I just told you about I had to make hard choices and sacrifices when I transitioned? It is kind of tied to that. For me that symbol is representative of the fact I had to move on from some things that were very important to me for the sake of some things that were more important. If I had been too concerned about how transitioning would impact my ability to do music I would never have transitioned, and I would have been miserable as a result. It is about moving on and leaving things behind, even when it hurts, because we have to recognize what is most important to us and knowing what we need to leave behind, even when it hurts," Tonya said as she gazed at her cutie mark with a sad smile.

"I am still confused. How did you get that then after..," Mattie started to say but found she couldn't actually bring herself to finish saying it. 

"After Blessing and I spent well over an hour kissing, rubbing, biting, caressing, and repeatedly giving each other the sixty-nine treatment?" Tonya said with a smirk. 

"I really didn't need to hear details," Mattie said with her face going bright red. She tried desperately to banish the images that Tonya had just conjured up in her head, but it was to no avail. 

"Oh, believe me that is not even close to going into detail," Tonya giggled. "But to answer your question. I was helping her move on and abandon those things that got in the way of what was really important to her. Maybe not all by myself, but I helped a lot. She needed to move on from your father, and that hurt. She also needed to move on from old prejudices that were holding her back. I helped her with all that. It wasn't all sex either, we did a lot of talking too, sex was just the final big release. When we were finally worn out and she told me thanks for helping her I knew what was important to me."

"So you help people move on..through having sex with them?" Mattie said with increased confusion.

"Urgh! No!" Tonya growled in frustration. "I helped your mother in that way, but that was just that time. I want to help however I can. The fact that I am an extremely horny mare is just me being a very horny mare. It is an aspect to me, not some defining feature, and one that will likely fade away eventually. What is important to me at the core is helping ponies realize what is most important to them and moving past the things are in the way of that."

"I guess I get it, sort of anyway," Mattie said, not feeling like she was getting the full picture. "But you still like music, doesn't that mean you didn't leave it behind?"

"I left behind in terms of it being the primary focus of my life. You're mom is always going to have some feelings for your dad, she invested decades in him after all, she can't let those feelings get in the way of the things that matter most to her though. She was in a position where she had to choose between satisfying him and being a good mother to you, as well as trying to let go  completely of past old prejudices. She wasn't half as confident and resolved about all that as she was trying to show. She needed help moving on; I helped with that. Are you getting this at all?" Tonya tried to explain getting increasingly frustrated that she didn't seem to be clear.

"Alright, I understand that better now," Mattie said with a smile that she hoped eased her friend's frustrations. She really did get it. 

"Good, because I was running out of ways to try to explain things," Tonya said with a laugh. "So moving on ourselves from that subject, tell me what is going on with you, Haley, and John."

"How did you know that something was going on with us?" Mattie asked, tensing up a little.

"You are gone through the full night leaving him here, then he takes off and you and Haley show up. When you two show up she is making for eyes at you even though she is hiding it. Plus we are cuddling close so just felt you go all tense when I brought it up. That is all kinds of interesting," Tonya said with a hearty laugh that made Mattie blush further.

"John and Haley broke up, and Haley and I are now together. There were some things that John was doing to Haley that just weren't right," Mattie said with a grumble towards the end.

"He was abusive to her wasn't he?" Tonya said with lowered ears.

"How did you know that?" Mattie asked. Not thinking she had given out enough information for that. 

"I have eyes and I saw her eye. Even with that dark blue coat of hers I could tell that some pony had given her a black eye," Tonya said with a snort. "I'm not the only pony with eyes either. Other ponies will notice too."

"Maybe I should get her to see one of the doctors," Mattie said. 

"Might be a good idea. We are comfortable in our own fur but that doesn't make us experts on our bodies. I am still figuring out proper preening. Not that preening is comparable to having an injury, but you get the idea," Tonya replied. She then reached her neck around a plucked a broken feather from her wing and spit it to the side. Mattie just noticed for the first time how many feathers from countless pegasi were actually on the floor of the sanctuary. Was Mattie supposed to be doing something to take care for her wings too? She felt uncomfortably ignorant on the subject. Perhaps she needed to consult with a doctor too, if they even knew if she should be doing something.

"I am getting pretty sleepy. It has been a very busy day around here. I know we never get to spend much time together, but I guess that just comes with the territory of being a night pony," Tonya said as she stifled a yawn. "Well, congratulations on getting a marefriend."

"Thanks Tonya," Mattie said as she rose back to her hooves. "I think I might need to go rescue her now. Left her alone with my mom."

"Blessing won't be too hard on her. Don't worry too much about it. I of course don't know your mom as well as you, but I have a sense about her. She is not the same as she was as a human. See ya soon, Mattie," Tonya said as she laid her head down on her forelegs.

"Get some sleep. See you soon too," Mattie said as she launched herself back into the air and flew out of the sanctuary.

Haley and her mom weren't hard to find. Both were sitting near the huge stacks of hay, munching away on the stuff.

"So is that as bad as I think it is?" Mattie asked as she landed.

"It is a little..bland, but not completely awful," Haley said with her mouth full. "Maybe we could add some spices or sauce of some type to it, something to give it more flavor. Maybe it can be cooked or something. Eating it straight like this is alright I suppose, but will get really old really fast. It is something to eat at least."

"The humans said they would be really pushing hay production until ponies could start feeding themselves en mass. They said some areas where ponies are they are already farming like we started here, and they can likely deal with their own food. Those of us where we didn't really get to start are going to need assistance for a while. We should be thankful for the help that we receive," Blessing said after she finished chewing what was in her mouth.

Mattie picked up a little bit in her mouth and had a taste. Bland was definitely the word for it. It wasn't flavorless, but the flavor felt muted. It was like chewing on gum that you had chewed on for well past the point that the gum had lost all its flavoring, though somehow grainy at the same time. It was tolerable, but it would definitely not go down under her top ten favorite foods. 

"If we are stuck eating this indefinitely I really am going to find some way of flavoring this somehow. Even some salt would make this much more appealing, Haley said with a grunt as she stared at the hay. "Actually, I kind of have a salt craving for something salty now that I said that."

"Aren't salt licks supposed to be like some sort of treat for horses or something?" Mattie asked.

"Well, we aren't horses, we are copies of some other things that vaguely resemble horses from another universe. But who knows, they are feeding us hay after all and we are eating it," Haley said as she looked at the pile of hay.

"We need some of those Equestrians to show up so we can ask them basic questions; hygiene, diet, what our life expectancy is.." Mattie said as she too stared at the depressing foodstuff.

"Whether we get periods, whether we get estrus, or something else," Haley continued. 

"Okay, not a subject that I had even begun to put thought into," Mattie said as she paled. How a pony could pale she had no idea, but it apparently worked just as well as blushing.

"That is not conversation to have while eating! Crap, now I've lost my appetite," Blessing said with disgust as she spit out some hay. Hopefully no pony would end up eating what she had been chewing on.

"Sorry, Blessing," Haley said with a blush.

"Sorry, Mom," Mattie echoed.

"It is alright, those are conversations worth having, just not while a mare is trying to eat," Blessing said with a sorrowful look at the hay she spit out. "Anyway, Haley here was telling me about her family and she had told me that she hadn't told you anything about them yet, Mattie. If you don't mind telling me more now that Mattie is here I think it will pass some time till I get too sleepy."

"Um okay, I might as well," Haley said, still looking a bit embarrassed. "I am pretty sure most of my direct family is still human. None of them were showing symptoms when I went into the shelter and none of them had gotten the flu. I think they did what a lot of the humans around here did and just locked themselves down when it started getting clear that things were getting serious. They don't live far from here, just over in Hannahan."

"Have you made any effort to contact them since becoming a pony?" Mattie asked with interest.

"Not a lot," Haley said with ears down. "I kept in contact while still transforming through the internet. I never went to see them much before this since I moved out with John..they really didn't like him..and just kind of lost track after getting distracted by my first day or two as a pony and then the internet went down." 

"That shouldn't take too long to fly too if you want to see them. How big a family are we talking?" Mattie asked.

"My mama and papa, my little sister Catherine, my little brother Jose, my other little brother Miguel, and my abuelita..um that is the what we call my grandmother. We have a lot more family down in Florida near Miami, and I can only guess most of them are ponies too down there," Haley said.

"Well, let's make a plan to go visit them soon," Mattie said. Then she furrowed her brow as she thought of something. Debated with herself whether to ask the potentially offensive question. "Um, do they all speak English?"

"Yes, with me and my siblings it is our main language. I can't even keep up trying to speak Spanish most of the time, but can follow what is being said most of the time. My parents are completely bilingual, and my abuelita is fully fluent in English," Haley said, and then smiled. "Don't worry you didn't offend me. We get that a lot. Though I admit that one of the things I like being about a pony is ponies don't look at me and start calling me Mexican, that is really annoying; I'm Puerto Rican by the way..or at least I was. Not sure if that still counts or not now that I am a nocturnal magical pony."

"I think it counts if you want it to count," Mattie replied as she came over and nuzzled her marefriend.

Haley happily nuzzled back, then pulled back and gave a sad smile.

"We'll see after we find out if my family wants anything to do with their already distant before this daughter who now isn't even the same species," Haley said sadly.
> Chapter 17: Reaching Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The humans had set up for the night in one of the side buildings of the church that normally operated as a private school. After the census takers had finished with all the ponies on site all the humans had retreated back into the building for the night aside from a few soldiers from the national guard that stayed awake to watch over the area overnight. Mattie and Haley approached this building with the intentions of having a doctor look at Haley's eye and giving them a brief checkup.

There were three members of the national guard on duty around the entrance on guard. They didn't seem to be actively worried about anything as one sat in a chair by the entrance, another was playing on his phone, and the third was trying to look over the shoulder of the one playing on his phone. The one sitting seemed to be trying to pay attention to the area, but it was pretty clear none really expected any trouble. The fact the one was playing on his phone made Mattie wonder if the internet was back up and working again.

"Excuse us, but any chance we could see one of the doctors. Haley here took a blow to her eye the other day and we just wanted to make sure everything is okay," Mattie said after they came up to the guards.

"I'm sorry but you'll need to come back when the doctors are working in the day. Orders are the doctors and the rest are to be left undisturbed at night unless there is an emergency," the soldier who was sitting said to them. The one who had been playing on the phone put it away and the he and the other were now clearly on alert.

"We are night ponies, we sleep during the day. The sun comes out and we start getting sleepy. I am even pretty sure that keeping ourselves awake too long after sunrise isn't healthy for us. Surely somepo..someone in the government anticipated that night ponies would need attention at night, right?" Mattie complained as diplomatically as she could.

"I admit that we were not given any special instructions about how to deal with night ponies. I agree that your concerns seem to be perfectly legitimate and show signs of a possible oversight, but I can't do anything to help you with those tonight. We have orders to make sure the team inside is undisturbed for the evening unless there is an emergency. A black eye does not qualify as an emergency. I will pass along your concerns to the doctors and my superior officer when our shift ends, but for now you have to accept that nothing is happening tonight," the same soldier said apologetically.

Mattie bit back a nasty retort. The fact was the guard was just doing his job, and he wasn't doing anything to personally earn her ire. He was being polite and even seemed sympathetic. He didn't deserve her yelling at him, much as she very much wanted to. She took a breath and tried to calm herself down.

"Fine, but please pass that along as soon as you can in the morning. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the fact your higher-ups were shortsighted in their planning, and night ponies seem to have been completely forgotten about somehow. We'll try again in the morning before we go to bed," Mattie finally said. Choosing her words carefully so nothing came out wrong. She had already been somehow listed as some sort of troublemaker, and arguing with a guards that were just doing their jobs wasn't likely to help out with that. There was no need to dig herself a deeper hole.

"We'll make a point of doing so on our debriefing in the morning. What we can do is make an incident report about however she got a black eye. It may have happened before we got here, but we can still take a report on it," the guard offered.

"That won't be necessary," Haley stepped up and said before Mattie could open her mouth. "We should be getting on our way and find something else to do with our time. Is the internet back up? We'd like to be able to get and send word with our families. Plus we have been out of the loop on what is happening elsewhere for a while."

"It is working just fine. Been watching videos with no problems. Don't figure most ponies would be using the internet though. Hooves and all that," the guard that had been on his phone said as he glanced down at their hooves.

"Nothing that can't be overcome with patience and a stylus; or a pencil to tap keys with if dealing with an actual computer," Haley said with a smile. 

"Well, there isn't any restriction on you using it, so go have at it if you have some way to get on it. So much stuff going on right now it is hard to keep up with it all. Probably why the whole night ponies are only awake to be seen to at night thing slipped through the cracks," the cell phone using soldier. 

"Come on, Mattie, let's go find something to get on the internet with," Haley said as she nudged a somewhat confused Mattie away from the guards with her wing.

"Why didn't you want to report John for domestic violence?" Mattie asked once they were out of earshot.

"I want John out of my life, I don't want to have the army locking him up or anything," Haley said with a glance back at the soldiers.

"I doubt it would come to that," Mattie said skeptically.

"Under normal circumstances yeah, but who knows what they will do when they hear about a pony being physically violent. They have you and your mother on some sort of watch list already, and you two haven't even done anything wrong. What will they do to a pony who actually has done something wrong? Maybe I am just being paranoid, but I didn't see anything to gain from reporting him in any case," Haley explained.

"I do think you are being paranoid, but if you don't want to report him that's your call. Were you really wanting to go check what's going on by the internet? I am pretty sure there is a computer in the AV room of the church that we could try to use if you want to," Mattie said with a gesture of her muzzle towards the church.

"I do, but mainly because I want to try to get in touch with my family before we try showing up. You know, to buffer the shock of me being a pony and let them know I am planning on visiting rather than scaring them half to death by just showing up in the middle of the night," Haley said with a sheepish grin.

"That sounds like a good idea actually. If they are actually checking the internet. Worst case scenario I suppose you could just call them. If we can work a computer then we can work a land line phone. Just have to put it on speaker," Mattie replied with a smile of her own.

"That's a good idea too. Just lead the way and let's get to it," Haley said as she nuzzled Mattie.

The AV room did indeed have a computer in it. It was a few years old, but not some ten or twenty year old relic that some churches with less money would have. It took them a few minutes to track down a pencil to use in order to manipulate the keyboard, and the computer also took a few minutes booting up once they got it turned on. Thankfully it did connect to the net quickly after everything loaded and there was already a icon for a messenger that was easy enough to click and the mouse was surprisingly easy to manipulate with hooves.

"Twping wit a penssel in ma mout iz not ffun," Haley mumbled around the pencil as she typed in her username and password. Then paused and glared down at the keyboard before reaching around with a wing and using the end of her wing to hold down the shift button in order to capitalize a letter.

"Maybe we can figure out a way of typing with our wings with enough practice. You are pressing that one key with no problem," Mattie suggested as she sat and watched.

"Urgm," Haley mumbled incoherently as she clicked the mouse to finally get signed in.

Immediately when it signed in about a dozen messages for Haley popped onto the screen. Haley spit the pencil out onto the desk and began clicking them to check them.

"Seems there were a lot of pon...people trying to get in touch with you," Mattie observed as she came over and stood on her hind legs while placing her forelegs up on the desk.

"Looks like it. Most of these are family too. I am going to take a few minutes reading through it all before I try responding to anything," Haley said as she started manipulating the mouse to click through the images. It really did seem she could manipulate the mouse just as easily with a hoof as a human could with a hand.

The messages were what they both expected. Requests for her to tell them how she was doing, pleas for her to call or text her family. There were a few surprises. One was a message from Haley's mother saying that her little sister Catherine had gotten ETS and was isolated away from everyone else. It said all the ponies and transforming had been told to stay in one part of their apartment building. All these messages were dated before the internet went down. 

"So Cathy is a pony too," Haley said with a blink as she looked over the messages.

"How old is she?" Mattie asked.

"She just turned seventeen. Not sure if she is considered a filly or a mare at that age," Haley said as she stared at the message.

"How old are you by the way? I never really asked," Mattie asked.

"Twenty-two, you?" Haley said with a glance at Mattie.

"Twenty," Mattie replied.

"Not a huge age difference. Anyway, I suppose I should try replying to all this," Haley said with a sigh as she glanced sadly back down to the pencil.

"I think it might be better to call if they have a land line. Since none of these are from today they might not be checking the internet for messages and still think it is down," Mattie said as she looked over at the office phone.

"I suppose it isn't too late for them. It is only like ten. Late for ponies but not really too late for humans. Alright, let's try this. If you hear a lot of yelling in Spanish in the background don't worry about it, my parents and grandmother tend to do that between one another when on the phone," Haley said with a blush.

The midnight blue mare grabbed up the pencil again in her mouth and used it to deftly dial out the number and put the phone on speaker, before spitting the pencil out again and cuddling close to Mattie.

The phone rang about a dozen times and Mattie thought it was going to end up just going to voicemail. But the line was picked up and a female voice gave cautious greeting.

"Hello? Who is this?" Came a woman's voice.

"Hi, Mama. It's Haley," Haley said in a sheepish tone.

"Haley!" The voice exclaimed. An excited string of words in Spanish followed which were quickly echoed in the background by voices of others in both Spanish and English. "Are you okay? Are you safe? Where are you? Are you a pony?"

"I'm fine, Mama. I am a pony, a night pony. I am over at that big church you can see from the interstate when you are driving into Summerville. Is everypony..everyone, excuse my pronouns if I slip, okay over there?" Haley replied.

"We are all well as can be expected. Catherine went and got ETS and she is a pony too now. We just got her back over with us after the news said that there wouldn't be any more ETS. She is one of those earth ponies, all green furred and has a purple mane and tail. She keeps messing with my potted plants and I keep fussing at her about it, but otherwise she seems to be happy with her lot.  We are all just kind of adjusting. It is disconcerting looking at this furry little thing and thinking that is my daughter," the woman said with a hard to read tone. A string of things were yelled in the background that Mattie and Haley could make out. "Miguel wants to know what color your fur, mane, and tail all are. I kind of want to know what my other pony daughter looks like now too."

"I have really dark blue fur, and a dark purple mane. I'm a night pony so I have the bat-like wings, and I have eyes that match my fur," Haley said.

"Did you stop smoking? It was never healthy, but that must be really unhealthy for ponies," Haley's mother questioned her. Haley rolled her eyes in response and Mattie raised an eyebrow at her marefriend.

"Yes, Mama. I haven't touched a cigarette since becoming a pony. I don't even know how I would manage to light a cigarette with hooves. I am not feeling any cravings though. Is this really important? You are embarrassing me in front of my marefriend," Haley said with a snort.

"Marefriend?" The voice said with confusion, and then another string of sentences in Spanish were said which were answered by a chorus of voices. "Did you finally leave that terrible excuse of a boyfriend? Did becoming a pony make you a lesbian somehow? I am not judging you if it did, anyone is better than that piece of crap you were dating."

"Yes, John and I are done. I always liked females too. So no, I am not just suddenly a lesbian, Mama," Haley said with a sigh.

"Oh praise Mary mother of God, the jackass is gone. Your new girlfriend is there? What is her name? I am assuming she is a pony too. When are you two going to come visit your family?" Came the succession of questions in rapid fire.

"Um, hi? My name is Mattie. I don't really know what to say, but nice to..meet you?" Mattie stumbled through answering. Haley giggled at her.

"She sounds nice, but needs more backbone." Mattie raised her eyebrows in response, unsure if she was complimented or insulted. "You didn't answer the question. When are you going to come see your family? We want to see that you are alright. We got word from some of your cousins down in Florida who are all ponies down to the smallest child, but it has taken forever for you to get in touch with us. We were worried sick about you, Haley," the voice continued on. 

"We can come by tonight if you wish, Mama. It should only take the two of us a few minutes to fly over there and we don't have anything else pressing to do," Haley said.

"Please do so we can stop worrying so much about you. I will see if I can get your sister up. I don't know how she can sleep with all of this going on, but she is still out like a light. You will be here soon?" the voice asked.

"We'll leave right away, if it takes thirty minutes I will be shocked. Flying is much faster than driving," Haley said. 

"We shall see you soon. Bring your girlfriend for sure so we can get a look at her too," the voice said. "I will let you go now and will see you soon. And Haley, I know I don't say this enough sometimes but we all do love you."

"I love you all too," Haley said, tearing up. "We'll see you in a few minutes."

Mattie realized that she was about to be put on display and judged by Haley's human parents. The thought of that gave her a sudden desire to go anywhere else than to go see them.
> Chapter 18: Something Old Something New
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two left the church and were in the air within a minute and a half, with Haley guiding the way. The flight to Hannahan was longer than any previous flight that either had done, but not by any extreme amount. 

The flight took them over the hospital and university and Mattie saw that the relief crews were having all the problems that she expected them to have with that area. There were a lot more trucks than at the church, at least twenty, and they were all on the opposite side of the interstate over the bridge from the hospital and surrounding shelters because the roads were completely impassable on the other side of the bridge. There was a great deal of foot traffic by humans going back and forth over the bridge, and Mattie had to take a guess there was almost certainly a doctor that was still up and alert in all of this. It was going to be a long night for these humans, and likely a few long days until some sort of order was in place. She could see that they were trying to take census but the overtired ponies weren't helping matters. She had nothing but sympathy for human and pony alike dealing with that mess.

It wasn't Mattie or Haley's concern though. They flew on past and crossed over the actual Goose Creek. Haley had to pause in the air and look around as seeing the area from up above was much different than seeing it from the ground, and while she realized that just going the normal way wasn't the fastest route, landmarks looked very different and had her lose her sense of where she was at from time to time.

Eventually they finally flew into Hannahan and found the apartment building. It took longer than it should have due to trying to figure out topography from the air, but they still managed to reach the destination in about twenty-five minutes of flying. 

The apartment building complex was a group of about eight buildings, all two story, with all the apartments having exterior doors and no interior corridors. That was the way most apartments in the area were but there were a few exceptions. Mattie breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to go walking through narrow hallways with the possibility of running into who knew who along the way.

Haley silently landed on the second floor of one of the buildings and Mattie landed right after. Their landing was soft enough that it was unlikely that any of the residents had heard it, and they didn't see any residents out and about around the complex at this hour, human or pony.

Haley looked at one of the doors warily and Mattie walked over to her and have her a comforting nuzzle, bringing a small smile Haley's face. The blue night pony took a deep breath and walked over to the door with the grey night pony trailing close behind. With a moment's more hesitation she finally raised her hoof and knocked on the door.

The door swung open almost immediately, startling both the mares. Standing in the doorway was a middle aged Hispanic man with short cropped hair, glasses, and a clean shaven face. He was wearing a Clemson University t-shirt and a pair of baggy sweat pants, all of which looked like they hadn't been washed in days, and the scent coming off them more or less confirmed it. Be stared down at Haley for a long silent moment, taking a quick glance at Mattie, and then returning his gaze at Haley.

"Papa?" Haley said hesitantly as the silence stretched on. 

The man's face lit up with a huge smile after Haley spoke and he reached down and grabbed her up in a tight hug.

"My little dust bunny! We were so worried about you. Sorry I was silent, I was just processing the change," the man said happily as he gripped his daughter in a tighter and tighter hug.

"Ack Papa! I like breathing! And no calling me dust bunny in front of my marefriend! You'll embarace me," Haley said as she was caught up in the grip. She didn't seem to be putting up any actual fight to escape the hug, much the opposite despite her protests. Mattie giggled at the nickname and wondered what had earned Haley that one. 

"Roger! Bring them in, don't keep your daughter and her partner sitting outside the door. Where are your manners? Bring them inside so the rest of us can see them," came the voice that Mattie recognized as the voice of Haley's mother.

"Yes, right away," Haley's father, Roger, said. He seemed to hesitate about putting Haley back down and Mattie wondered if the man was just going to carry Haley in for a moment. He did end up putting Haley down and then stepped aside so the two mares could walk through the door.

As they walked in they were greeted with shouts of enthusiasm from most of the family at a volume that hurt Mattie's ears, and looked to hurt Haley's too. Standing was a middle aged woman, also with glasses, who was wearing a nightgown that was much cleaner than her husband's clothes. There was an extremely elderly woman who looked so withered that you could sneeze and knock her over. Sitting on the floor with a forgotten video still playing were two younger teen boys that looked like they could be twins. On a couch behind the boys was a green earth pony mare who's mane and tail were a very bright lavender color, she had softer facial features than typical for a mare despite her being mare sized. The mare too had her ears lowered like the volume in the apartment was hurting her ears. 

"I am happy to see you all too, but..volume..," Haley said with a forced smile as she brought her wings over her ears.

"Yeah, not so loud. Pony ears, remember?" the mare on the couch whined.

"Sorry Haley, sorry Cathy, sorry Haley's girlfriend," one of the boys said in a much lower voice. Then volume from him picked up again slightly. "You have bat wings and can fly. That's so cool. Cathy didn't get bat wings."

"Cathy can probably bench press a car though so there is that. She is like the Hulk, super strong and green. I wish I could have gotten super powers too," the other boy chimed in. 

"If you two keep comparing me to the Hulk I am going to show you how much of a rage monster I can be," Cathy snapped at her brothers.

"Catherine Abigail Martinez! Do not threaten your brothers. Miguel, apologize to your sister, you know she doesn't like that," Haley's mother scolded.

"But it isn't an insult! It is cool that she is super strong," the boy, Miguel protested.

"Miguel, now," Haley's mother said firmly.

"I'm sorry for comparing you to the Hulk," Miguel muttered to his sister.

"Just stop doing it," Cathy grumbled back. The mare then brightened up her face a bit and hopped down from the couch and trotted over to them. She grabbed Haley up in her forelegs and gave her sister a big hug. "I am so glad I am not the only pony in the family. Well, I knew you were going to be since you had symptoms way before me, but it is a relief to actually see you."

"I love you too, Cathy, but please ease up on the hug. You really are strong and I'm not as durable as you. I think you might be bruising my ribs," Haley said in a strained voice, clearly struggling to break her little sister's vise-like grip.

"Sorry," Cathy said as she broke off the hug suddenly and took a few steps back and sat down with her head lowered. "I'm still getting used to trying to control my strength. I have broken a few things by accident, but I am getting better at it."

"We just need to get you around a few more earth ponies so you have ponies as strong and durable as you to let loose with. I heard you were messing with Mama's potted plants too. I guess you are eager to try growing things too like all the other earth ponies. I can understand, even if those aren't my things," Haley said sympathetically.

"What are your things?" Roger asked as he looked down at his daughter. Mattie just noticed how all the family had been silent as the two sisters greeted one another. 

"Um, kind of just being protective. Ponies for the most part sleep during the night, but night ponies like me and Mattie here stay up all night and just instinctively try to guard. We do a few other things that are really hard to explain, and I am not sure I should try to explain. Just count It as mysterious night pony stuff. We have our own magic and it involves things that I don't think a lot other ponies or humans would take too well knowing about. We protect ponies in lots of ways, let's leave it at that," Haley said with a shuffle of her hooves. 

Mattie could tell what was avoiding talking about. Subduing nightmares and spreading the vision, those seemed like things that most humans would feel exceedingly uncomfortable with. It seemed to Mattie that most ponies should too, but she only had her mother as an example and her mother seemed not to care at all; if not fully endorse it. It also occurred to her then that she didn't know what Haley's current feelings on those things were. Haley had been a full advocate for them before her disillusionment, was she an advocate for them still?

"You haven't properly introduced us all to your girlfriend," Haley's mother said. Mattie stiffened up, unsure if she should be happy they weren't going to push Haley on what night ponies do, or terrified that her own time had come.

"Of course," Haley said with a smile, clearly happy she was off the spot. "Everyone, this is Mattie. Mattie this is my mama, Jean; my brothers Jose and Miguel, and yes they are twins; my abuelita, who is a lot tougher than she looks; my papa, Roger; and of course Cathy."

"Um, hi," Mattie squeaked, suddenly eager to just cover her face with her wings. Her wings actually did twitch to start moving up to do so, but Mattie pulled them back in time to prevent it.

"She is a little closed up, so don't be upset if she isn't very talkative about herself. We are working on getting her to open up a bit more. We are both kind of fixer-upers. She is much more talkative when she is concerning herself with others," Haley said with a smile before giving Mattie a quick kiss. Mattie couldn't help herself, her wings snapped open, prompting laughter from the family.

"How did you two meet? Was it at the shelter? What happened to John?" Cathy asked excitedly.

"John and I had..a disagreement, and John lost his temper," Haley said carefully. Her siblings didn't seem to catch it, but her parents' and grandmother's faces darkened, and Mattie could tell that both of Haley's parents were now carefully looking at the slight swelling still around Haley's eye with tightly controlled anger. They apparently knew what went on with John's temper. "After Mattie heard about it she came and tried to see if I was okay. We talked for a little while. Things just kind of happened from there. I expressed my interest in her, not even knowing for sure if she was into mares, and she ended up having interest in me. The next day Mattie stood by me as I kicked John to the curb, she gave me the confidence to say I didn't need him anymore."

"Well, it is a good thing that he is gone. I can say that is at least one change that is definitely for the better. You never should have gotten involved with him, you are better than that. If Mattie here helped you see that then she is starting off on the right foot..um..hoof with me," Jean said with a smile, though she still had a concerned look in her eyes as she looked at Haley's eye.

Mattie decided to address the eye without actually addressing the eye.

"We barely know anything about our own bodies, and are hoping those Equestria ponies show up here to explain things to us soon. I tried to get Haley to the doctor tonight, just to make sure everything was okay. There are a lot of relief workers that came to the shelter today. They said to come back in the day, which is a pain for us because we are nocturnal. We are going to go back in the morning and try again though," Mattie explained.

"Just dealing with some swelling since right before Mattie checked on me. I am okay, don't worry," Haley said with a single blink of her eye to her mother to cement what she was talking about. 

Unfortunately this was all lost on Cathy.

"Swelling? You aren't pregnant, are you?" Cathy gasped.

"Pregnant? No! At least, I better not be. I definitely don't want to be having a foal right now. One of the benefits of being with another mare is I shouldn't have to worry about that," Haley said in a flabbergasted tone at her sister. 

Mattie filed that away in her head as something to ask the doctors to check as well with Haley. Haley had been a pony at least a full day or two, if not more, before her falling out with John. She assumed that the two of them may well have done things in that period of time, and pony reproductive systems were one of many things they had no clue about yet. It was most likely not an issue, but better safe than sorry. For all they knew two mares could somehow get each other pregnant, unlikely as that seemed to be for a possibility. They really needed to get some of those Equestria ponies to give them full explanations of these things.

Things settled into just casual conversation for a while after that. With Haley's family recounting what it was like being isolated in their apartment, and the two older mares telling about the shelters and what they had seen flying around. Cathy eventually just fell asleep on the couch, far too exhausted to stay up. The two boys were ordered to bed, and it was just the adults left to talk. 

"So Mattie, tell us more about yourself. What you were doing before all of the world just turned upside down," Roger finally asked. Mattie felt a surge of panic rush through her as she realized the time of her being judged had arrived.

"I worked at the local grocery store as an overnight stocker. It paid alright, but not nearly enough for me to get my own place, so I was living with my parents while I saved money," Mattie said, keeping to the safe parts of her former life.

"Were you in college?" River asked.

"No, never went. Never really had a pull towards any particular job field and didn't want to spend money on college if I didn't have some goal in mind. I heard horror stories all the time about people who went to college and were drowning in debt for the rest of their lives," Mattie said. Haley blushed at hearing this and Haley's mother sighed.

"Oh don't speak of that. We are all too aware of that with Haley. Girl gets a degree in Ancient History, not even archaeology. We tried to encourage her go on and at least finish her masters and then doctorate so she could at least teach at a university, but she got involved with John and that went out the window. Now she is saddled with student loan debt for the rest of her life and nothing worthwhile to show for it. What a waste," Jean said with an irritated huff.

"Maybe I could go back. I only graduated with my bachelor's last year, not much time has passed," Haley spoke up. 

"Dear, you are a pony. I am not sure the universities will be willing to accept you because of that," Roger said in a sympathetic voice. 

"I had an almost perfect grade point average, only classes I didn't have A's in were a few of the liberal arts core things that they make everypony take, like calculus, and botany. My history grades and writing grades were all perfect. None of it requires me to operate machinery or anything like that. I can still do it as a pony," Haley said defensively. 

"Dust bunny, I know you loved history and invested a lot of time into it, but things have happened that make that impossible. Maybe if they come up with a way to change you back to human there might be a chance, but as a pony it just isn't going to happen," Roger said in a consoling tone.

"I don't want to go back to being human if there is some way they come up with for doing that. I want to be able to follow my passion as a pony," Haley said with her tone rising.

"You weren't so adamant about this when you were with John," Jean said.

"John held me back and I was a stupid filly that let him. Just talking about this made me realize how important that part of my life is to me. They have to integrate ponies into society, they can't just shove us all aside. I can find a way to make this work as a pony. I proved that I could do it as a human, I can prove it all over again as a pony. I want to learn all I can about ancient history and I want to get other humans and ponies to care about it," Haley said with passion oozing from her voice. Mattie could only smile as she watched her marefriend's flank briefly glow, and then leave behind the unmistakable declaration of Haley's commitment. It was a large clay tablet with writing in several different types of ancient scripts. Mattie recalled the object from her own history classes, the Rosetta Stone.

Haley looked around at her flank and grinned with victory as her parents let off shocked gasps. She then turned around and announced proudly.

"That confirms it. No going back. Think it gives me a new name too, Rosetta Stone," Rosetta declared happily.
> Chapter 19: What's in a Name?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually Haley's..Rosetta's parents got too tired to stay up. They were still very apprehensive about the idea that Rosetta could go back to school as a pony and end up teaching ancient history. Mattie could tell that they seemed more than a little upset that Rosetta got her cutie mark and was cemented as a pony for life now, though they had tried to hide the fact it was bothering them. Rosetta on the other hoof was in high spirits; she had a goal and purpose beyond simply guarding ponies at night. It seemed to Mattie that are chosen path might be at odds with what she was for a different reason. How many classes would she end up being able to teach, if she even did manage to earn a masters and doctorate, if her body demanded a nocturnal schedule? Mattie put on a smiling face, but she was worried just as much as her marefriend's parents were that Rosetta was setting herself up disappointment.

"We really need to get you a new name. Your mother has a new name, I have a new name. Neither of us actually needed to take a new one, but you who has a name that needs to change haven't gotten around to it," Rosetta said as they flew back towards the church.

"I am open to suggestions, nothing is really coming to mind," Mattie replied.

"Well, let's work through what is appropriate considering your cutie mark and nature," Rosetta said happily, still hyped up about her cutie mark and plans for the future.

"I am not putting skull into my name," Mattie said quickly, heading off any possibility of the name.

"Aww, but it would make you more intimidating," Rosetta whined playfully.

"It would make me sound like some emo chic who is trying too hard to be dark and forbidding," Mattie said with a grumble. "And we want humans to like us, not have me be intimidating."

"I don't think you get to get off with a cute and cuddly name with a skull on your flank. It would be kind of weird," Rosetta said with a laugh.

"I want something very pony, but something that could sound like a human name too," Mattie said after a moment of thought. "Kind of like me your's and less like my mom's. Rosetta sounds like something a human might be called even if Rosetta Stone is a distinctly pony name."

"Hmm, that still has to tie back to who and what you are. Your talent involves trying to like take fear seriously, right? How about Phobia? It sounds like it could be a woman's name and it ties directly to your whole fear thing. I know it is about irrational fear, and you are about rational fear, but it could work since being afraid of you is just irrational," Rosetta suggested.

Mattie considered it. She really didn't have any ideas herself, as in no ideas herself. Her closest ideas had been involved using nightmare somehow in her name and those all sounded corny; Nightmare Chaser, Nightmare Defender, Waking Nightmare, Nightmare Breeze, Nightmare Moon. She highly doubted any of those names could have her taken seriously. Phobia was as good as any, she was just eager to shed her human name. Needed a bit more than just Phobia though. Plus she wanted to have it line up with her cutie mark rather than be a parody of it.

"Phobia Remedy," she finally said after much consideration. It wasn't the best, but it was more in line with what she wanted to be thought as. Fear, at least rational fear, was suppose to spur you to remedy the cause. Again not perfect, but it got her a name that wasn't Matthew. 

"That has a nice ring to it. Even if it is just a completely made up name. Phobia Remedy it is then, Phobia; or do you prefer the Remedy part? Both could work as a shortening,," Rosetta asked.

"Think the Remedy part. I am not out to scare any pony or human," Remedy said. "So I have a name now. Hopefully everypony will stop asking me about it."

"You don't seem particularly excited about your name. Are you sure you actually want that one? You don't have to feel pressured to adopt something if you aren't ready," Rosetta said as they flew over the hospital area, which seemed to have finally settled down from the activity of the night before. Too bad it was almost dawn it the area was about to have to get right back up.

"A name is just a name to me. At least in regards to myself. I wasn't happy being called Matthew, but Mattie was okay. I did need a cleaner break from it though. If you think this one works then it is good enough for me," Remedy replied.

"We really need you to start opening up to yourself more. You should have stronger feelings about your own name. I'm excited to have a new name that better represents me. I want you to feel that way for yourself," Rosetta said sadly.

"I am happy, just it doesn't really stack up to changing into a pony, or getting confirmed as a mare, getting a marefriend, and I had my cutie mark for a little while before the name so the excitement was kind of delayed and weakened for it," Remedy said with a shrug.

"I suppose, though a lot of that I had we all went through. I went through all of it except the whole sex thing, and I also dumped a rotten partner who abused me in there. I know you have problems opening up though, with that emotional shell of yours. We'll work on it. Maybe we should have named you Shelly," Rosetta said with her own shrug.

"Definitely not," Remedy said with a scrunch of her muzzle. 

"Oh, a reaction. You sure? We could name you Shell Game, Grey Shell, or Crabby Patty," Rosetta said in a teasing tone.

"Crabby Patty? Seriously? No, Phobia Remedy is perfectly great. I'm Phobia Remedy, and let's never bring up any of those suggestions ever again, ever," Remedy said with exaggerated disgust. 

"Good to hear a preference! We will keep getting those out of you over time. I'll chip that shell away yet," Rosetta said with a smug tone.

"So what do you want to do while we wait for the doctor?" Remedy asked, changing the subject.

"Um, play doctor?" Rosetta said with a hopeful tone, then sighed. "Actually, forget I suggested that; not pressuring you. Maybe we could see about some of the universities that I can apply to. I had been considering Chicago before everything started with John. They have the Oriental Institute there. They are one of the only universities in the States that you can study things like Akkadian, and Ugarut, and Hittite. It would be awesome to be able to go there."

"I don't even know what those words mean. You never have given yourself enough credit for being intelligent. You are very focused in your interests, which makes it seem like you aren't as well studied as some others, but you seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge on what you are focused on. You even said it yourself that you that you made straight A's in those subjects in college. You're a specialist, and that's a good thing," Remedy said with a grin. 

"I suppose so. I just want this all to work out as I hope," Rosetta said with with a lowered voice as they came in for a landing at the church. "Remedy, do you think I am being naive, trying to get into a university?"

Remedy considered her answer, and she could tell that she might have hurt Rosetta's feelings by taking time to consider rather than affirm right away.

"I think it is too early to tell. I can tell you that I will do everything I can to support you and try to help you reach that dream. I am actually more concerned about what if you do end up getting accepted and we end up moving to somewhere like Chicago. We don't know if there is any significant pony population out there. I would follow you regardless, but it seems a bit overwhelming to consider not having many ponies around," Remedy said after a long moment of consideration.

"I am glad you give me honest answers," Rosetta said as she came over and nuzzled Remedy. "Since we are just sitting around waiting it might be a good idea to just hop back on the internet and figure out what the demographics of the country are looking at. Chicago is my first choice, but there are a few others. Maybe there is a place that has a good balance for all our needs. I need to figure out a convincing argument about why they should accept a pony who doesn't have a source of income."

"Money is going to be a big issue for a lot of ponies. I really wish I knew how this is all going to work out. It would be nice to just form our own little communities and not have to worry about that, but we have to accept that we are still living under many of the same old rules," Remedy said. 

"With ponies like you who are thinking about these things now something will be worked out. You can't be the only pony thinking about all of this rather than just going with the pony flow. We will be okay because of that," Rosetta said as she kissed Remedy.

"I hope so.." Remedy replied quietly.
> Chapter 20: Idle Hooves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They spent a few hours browsing the internet while they waiting for the world to wake up. The first thing they did was finding out where the ponies all were concentrated in the US; the answers were a little surprising.  In their state the greater Charleston area, which included them, had a significant population of ponies, but much of the rest of the state had much lower cases of ETS outbreaks, with the exception of a few small areas. They were a large community of ponies surrounded on all sides by primarily humans. Georgia to the south of them had scattered pockets of high pony density and high human density. North Carolina had small pockets of high pony population, but not to the extreme of the Charleston area, and the further north you went after that the rates of transformations got lower and lower. Florida on the other hoof was more pony than human from what the news implied, with the bigger cities being much like the Charleston area, kind of half and half, and suburbs and rural areas were largely pony.  They knew that areas further west were largely pony already from news before they themselves had finished transforming. In terms of states on the east coast north of Florida their immediate area seemed the largest concentration of ponies and it was nothing compared to what was going on in the west or in Florida. 

Rosetta laid her ears down in disappointment as she observed that most of the universities that she really wanted to attend  were in areas that had low transformation rates. This included Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Chicago. Remedy's eyes about popped when she saw the list of what universities were even on the list, these were all Ivy League schools. There were a number in higher pony density areas too though, several on the west coast. It would mean moving out to like California, Arizona, or Washington state, but there were options. Remedy actually wondered if these universities were still going to be able to operate if most of the local population were ponies with no interest in the universities, schools in lighter pony population centers seemed  to be less likely to suddenly have problems. Rosetta said she would look over the options more as things settled  down. She still had to figure out how to market herself as a pony to these schools. 

After the sun was clearly back out they decided to make their way back to the building the housed the relief staff. It seemed that most of the ponies were awake now, and having breakfast out of the hay. The two did a quick detour to get their own breakfast and try to catch up with their usual crowd of ponies. 

"Morning, Mattie," Tonya said as they walked over towards where Tonya and Blessing were eating along with a few other ponies that Remedy didn't personally know.

"It is actually Phobia Remedy now, and Haley is Rosetta Stone now," Remedy said as she sat down next to the large depressing stacks of hay. 

"Phobia? Really? Isn't that a little on the nose about your cutie mark? That name isn't one that makes you seem likable," Blessing spoke her concern.

"Complaints about how my name might be taken by humans from the pony that's name is an homage to Sunset Shimmer?" Remedy said with a bit of disbelief.

"She's got you there Blessing, you have a name that gets you added to lists" Tonya giggled. "I am going to be the only oddball pony with a human name in no time at all at this rate. I've changed my name once, and fought hard for that change; I'm not changing it again."

"You weren't added to any sort of list?" Remedy asked curiously.

"Nope, I'm a good pony," Tonya said with a smirk.

"How did you avoid being put on a list and I got put on a list for the sex change?" Remedy asked with consternation.

"My name matched up, they saw a female name, they saw a female, they didn't ask any questions. I didn't realize they gave you a hard time about it. You want me to go with you and talk to them? I might end up on a list too, but I am willing to stick my neck out for a fellow trans sister," Tonya offered.

"No," Remedy sighed. "I figure I will be on a list no matter what as being related to my mom. No need to get you added to the list of troublemakers. They don't even bother keeping it from you, just you're on the list and we're watching you now, be good or we'll get you."

"Well, you aren't going to do anything bad so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I highly doubt you are going to become the next pony terrorist at large, even if you do have a skull on your flank; you are never going to live that cutie mark down you know," Tonya replied as she checked out Remedy's flank. 

"Don't worry, I love you're scary cutie mark. You aren't scary to me, and you'll never get judgement from me," Rosetta said as she kissed Remedy.

"Aren't you the one who points out that it could make others nervous around me all the time," Remedy said as she looked Rosetta in the eyes.

"Well, I don't personally judge you. I just keep you abreast of the fact you might look scary to others. Scary things often aren't really as scary as they seem. Being scared of you is an irrational fear, a phobia, Phobia" Rosetta said as she nuzzled her marefriend.

"Whatever name you are satisfied with I'll be happy with. You're Phobia Remedy and I'm Sunset Blessing, we've moved on from the old human names," Blessing said with a shrug as she took up some more hay in her mouth and chewed it up for a moment before swallowing. "This hay really is bland. Maybe the idea of getting some sort of seasoning or spices wouldn't be a bad idea. I was actually thinking about how we still have a fair amount of can goods here at the church and there are likely more at the other shelters that we can do without now since the humans brought us this and will be bringing more. Perhaps we can distribute the cans to the humans still living in the area who are likely low on food and have no clue when stores are going to open again."

"That's not a bad idea. We aren't eating that stuff. It shouldn't go to waste. Maybe it will get the humans around here to like us a little better," Tonya said as she finished chewing her own hay. "It is weird thinking about humans as the other, considering two weeks ago we were all human. I can't even think of myself that way now. I mean I remember everything about being human, but that just isn't what I am. There are a few ponies, not a lot mind you, that want to be human again and I can kind of understand, but at the same time I just want to stare at them like they are crazy."

"I can get it kind of," Rosetta said as she looked at her own flank for a moment, "I want to get a doctorate in ancient history. It seems like a rather daunting task as a pony. I wouldn't give up being a pony as that would be giving up my marefriend. I am starting to really have confidence for the first time in my life as a pony. Plus you'd have to be crazy to give up flying. Seriously, if any pony with wings says they want to be human I really will ask them if they are crazy. It is like saying they want to have their eyes removed or their legs chopped off; you don't give up your ability to fly."

"Hear hear! My fellow flying pony," Tonya shouted with a laugh. Remedy couldn't help but echo the sentiment in her head, giving up flying was like giving up giving up the ability to walk, maybe worse. You had to be some sort of masochist to do that. Maybe going back to human might be a thing for some of the earth ponies, crystal ponies, maybe even a stray unicorn, but pegasi and night ponies thinking such a thing was just insanity.

"So, want to help me try to organize some ponies to start trying to go out to the humans, Tonya? Maybe you could get the word out to the other shelters?" Blessing asked the pegasus. 

"I have a few ponies I know who would be glad to help out. I would be happy to help you do this thing. Not like we are doing much of anything else around here while the government figures out what to do with us," Tonya replied.

"We'd help too, but that sounds like a daytime type job. But tell us if you run into any humans that don't mind ponies who seem to stay up all night. We get a little bored with no guarding to do," Remedy said.

"I think we are all feeling a little restless," Tonya observed. "Government has clamped down on us just doing our thing and now we're sitting around shuffling our hooves. It will be good to be doing something. A lot of ponies will get involved just to be doing something with their time."

"Speaking of doing things with our time; Remedy and I need to check on seeing a doctor. Probably need to find one of those census guys again and get them to take a picture of my cutie mark and give them our new names," Rosetta said as she looked over at the building the humans occupied which was now showing signs of activity.

"Yeah, and it is getting late. We need to get that done so we can get some sleep soon," Remedy yawned. "Tell us how your food drive is going tonight when we see you again."

The two night ponies then left their fellow mares and went over to the building. It was now a fresh set of guards, so hopefully the others had done as they had said they would.

"Hi, we were here last night to see a doctor but none was available to see us at the time. Any chance we can get to see one now?" Remedy asked the new collection of guards; four now instead of three.

"Sure, we were told about you already. Doctor will be seeing you shortly. Fourth room on the right when you go in. Might need to wait a few minutes, but they'll come," one of the soldiers said as another soldier held the door open for them. 

"Um, thanks. Nice to know we were paid attention too," Remedy said gratefully as she started walking through the door.

"Don't thank me yet, team director wants a chance to chat you up too. Don't know what for, but she will be by the room as well. Not sure before, during, or after your check up. We were told to inform her about when you came back, to let you see the doctor, and make sure she had a chance to talk to you," the same soldier said.

"So what happens if she doesn't show up by the time we are done with the doctor?" Rosetta asked with a hint of anxiety.

"Going to just have to insist you stay until she does. Sorry, orders and all," the soldier replied apologetically.

Remedy ground her teeth but didn't snap. She had to remind herself the soldier was just doing his job, and this hopefully wouldn't take too long.

They went into the assigned room and sat down to wait. The room looked like it had been a classroom, or was still was technically. There were small desks and a large dry erase board on the wall. Posted on the walls were lots of drawings of Christian sayings, signs saying God Loves Me, Noah's ark themed version of the alphabet in a banner along one wall, and other things meant to indoctrinate young students. There were also essays and artwork of various students posted up on the walls for all to see. The quality of the work combined with the comic Christian motifs, not to mention the smaller desks, indicated this was likely elementary school students.

"They lay the religion on pretty hard here," Rosetta said as she glanced around.

"Eh, a bit. It isn't so bad. Both me and Tonya attended a private school like this for elementary school. Yeah, they like to bring up God, constantly, but it really isn't worse than a typical elementary school," Remedy said as she looked around at the artwork displayed.

"Not middle and high though?" Rosetta asked.

"Parents didn't feel like paying for it and thought getting me to see more people would be good for me. In Tonya's case I think it was becoming clear to her parents that she was going to embarrass them if she kept going to a Christian school," Remedy said with a look of mild displeasure. "It was probably a good thing for her and for me. That much time we didn't get it ground into our heads we were freaks."

"But you weren't out, even to yourself back then," Rosetta said with confusion.

"Didn't mean it didn't get under my skin still. I had to know on some level, it just was under the surface," Remedy said with lowered ears as she looked at a child's artwork that showed a child who didn't look particularly happy, and looked particularly small next to the drawings of their parents. She touched a hoof up to it wondering what went on with that child, and what that child feared.

"Aww, sorry to keep you waiting," a woman in a doctors coat said as she entered the room. "Your my first patients on the day. First patients at all actually. Well, pony ones that is."

The doctor came in and sat a pair of larger overstuffed bags and a laptop down on the desk. Then turned to them with a smile.

"Hi, I'm doctor Susan Muller, and you two are?" She asked cheerfully.

"I'm Phobia Remedy, but you can just call me Remedy. This is Rosetta Stone," Remedy said. "Do you need our legal human names?"

"Not right now if you prefer not to use those. When writing up my report I will need them. If you want to be called by these names that is fine with me. Nice to meet you both," she said with a smile. Then she went into her bags and shuffled around for a moment and pulled out a notepad and pen. "Okay, so is this just a regular checkup or are you experiencing any sort of problems?"

"I got hit in the eye a few days ago. I had some swelling and still have some. I figure it isn't a big deal, but better safe than sorry," Rosetta said with a gesture of a wing towards her eye.

"I'm not having any problems. Just need a regular checkup," Remedy said.

"Alright, this all seems easy enough. I'll look at that eye in just a moment. Normally I would ask you both to fill out forms of medical history and so on first, but that might not be productive if you are stuck doing that by mouth. I do need that information though still. Do you each prefer me ask you about those things private one on one, or do you both want to just answer together?" Susan asked.

"I don't mind Rosetta hearing about mine," Remedy said.

"I suppose I have no problem with that," Rosetta quickly said herself.

"Good," Susan said as she pulled a laminated chart out her bag and set it on top of her notepad. "Alright, first question; were either of you on any sort of medication right before your transformation or since?" 

Both of mares shook their heads no.

"Okay, next question; did either of you use any illicit drugs before or after your transformation?" Susan asked.

Again both mares shook their heads.

"Any use of alcohol or tobacco before or after the transformation?" Susan asked.

"Um, pack a day smoker before transformation. Drank recreationally once and a while but never drunk, maybe had maybe two or three drinks a week, both before transformation. Nothing for either since," Rosetta said. Remedy just shook her head no.

"Last time you had sex before or after transformation and whether you used protection," Susan continued.

"Never had sex before or after," Remedy said.

"Um, day after transformation I had sex with a stallion. I had no protection. Not even sure what I could do for protection as a pony. Had sex maybe three times a week on average with same partner before transformation with him using condoms," Rosetta said, now looking a little worried. Remedy was actually relieved as she wouldn't have to try to find a way to bring up they needed to at least check on that.

Susan continued asking questions for a few minutes. She would from time to time ask follow up questions, making notes the whole time. 

"Okay, going to do some other basic stuff. Take your blood pressure, heart rate, listen to your breathing, all that. We don't actually have guidelines yet on what normal is for any of those things for a pony, but the data will eventually get combined against others and we will be able to form an idea. So this part is more for science than anything unless something seems seriously wrong," Susan said as she started pulling the appropriate equipment out. The two mares accepted this with grace.

After a string of such tests, and a lot more notes Susan finally pulled out her ophthalmoscope and got to inspecting Rosetta's eye. She spent a few minutes at it, and did a bit of light touching around the edges of the eye and lid with a gloved hand to check swelling and tenderness. Rosetta took it all in stride, only involuntarily blinking a few times.

"I think the eye will be fine, the swelling seems minimal and you indicate it is on decline. Pony eyes seem to be far more resilient and durable than human ones. That is a good thing considering how much bigger they are. I would like to do a basic pregnancy test, but it is probably too soon if there is anything to get a proper reading, and we don't have good ideas on what the right readings on such things are yet. I will be getting more information on that as soon as I can as I highly doubt you are the only mare who has unprotected sex and pregnancy is going to start happening. I am not trying to scare you, but I would like you to come back to me or another doctor in a week to see if we can follow up on that. Other than that you both seem perfectly healthy from what I can tell at this point. Let me get your legal names and I will write up your reports on my own time if I don't have an army of ponies beating down the door to see me. We are going to start doing a full regional checkup in a day or two but you two are excused from that since you just had one," Susan explained.

"I'll make sure you are given their legal names shortly doctor, but if you wouldn't mind stepping outside well out of earshot I would like to talk with our resident night ponies. I am sure they are tired and I am in a hurry," came a voice from the doorway.

Standing in the doorway was a shorter dark haired, dark skinned woman, with an air of authority to her and a suit on that could have come out of Men in Black. Susan gave a hasty goodbye and hurried out of the room, leaving her items to be picked up in a few minutes.

"Which one of you happens to be Matthew? We have some things to discuss," the woman said as she walked in. 

Remedy really started worrying about those lists now.
> Chapter 21: Fear of Shimmerists
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Matthew is my legal name, but I am calling myself Phobia Remedy now," Remedy said in an even voice as the woman walked all the way into the room

"Phobia it is then." The woman gestured to Rosetta and then to the door. "You can wait outside the front door of the building. I will not be keeping your companion long."

Rosetta gave an uncertain glance first at the door and then to Remedy.

"I'll be right outside," Rosetta said as her her ears dropped and her tail dragged behind her out the door.

The woman walked over and shut the door. She stood by it for several seconds, probably listening to be sure Rosetta had actually done as she was told. When she seemed satisfied she turned back to Remedy.

"Well, Phobia. I am agent Shaquana Simmons. It is my secondary job is to make sure everything runs smoothly at this site. My authority doesn't extend beyond the grounds of this church and I have my own director that I report to in the area. My primary job is to communicate onto my superiors anything that may be of concern about the ponies at this shelter. Do you know why I am choosing to have a discussion with you in particular today?" Agent Simmons looked down at Remedy questioningly.

"Let me guess, you are concerned about my mom," Remedy said evenly.

"I actually had more than one reason, but I was curious which your mind would go to," Agent Simmons said with a smirk.

"What other reason?" Remedy asked.

"Well, you reported a possible oversight in our setup here and wish to question you briefly about anything else you may have noticed. Also my director made it clear that we should get a feel for the night ponies in the area after it seemed there had been oversight. I am personally focused on the reason you gave though," Simmons said.

"My mother is not a bad pony or any trouble," Remedy said as her tail twitched and her wings fluttered slightly at her sides.

"We have plenty of reports of ponies that see Sunset Shimmer in a favorable light. We have acknowledged that most of these Shimmerists are harmless. However, most of them aren't ponies that go and name themselves after her who also happen to be unicorns that can possibly cast spells somewhere down the line. You can see where we might be a little concerned, all things considered," Simmons said in a lecturing tone.

"I told you. She isn't dangerous. She is a sometimes Sunday school teacher that just wants to be a good Christian. She is out there now trying to organize a food drive for humans; she isn't out to get humans," Remedy said as she flattened her ears and glared.

"She is organizing a food drive? As in right now?" Simmons said with a raised brow.

"That was what she was planning before Rosetta and I came over here. Idea kind of just came to her this morning. There isn't anything objectionable about that, is there?" Remedy questioned.

"Nothing objectionable, no. It is something concerned about from my standpoint and the standpoint of my superiors. Ponies are herd creatures, and now she is doing something that might have ponies start looking at her for directions. We saw it play out already in other places. Once they start listening to a pony they tend to keep looking at that pony for direction," Simmons explained.

"Look, I understand where you might be fearful after what has happened, but my mother is not the second coming of Sunset Shimmer. She knows that what Sunset Shimmer did was wrong," Remedy said slowly.

"But she still named herself in a way that seemed to honor that terrorist. Explain that to me," Simmons sneered.

"She thinks Sunset was wrong for forcibly changing us into ponies without a choice. She does believe we are better off as ponies, but she believes in choice," Remedy explained, hoping she wasn't digging her mom a grave.

"So she thinks humans should choose to be ponies?" Simmons asked.

"Yes, they should choose. It doesn't matter though, she can't make humans ponies. She knows that is beyond our abilities right now, and won't likely be in our abilities any time in our lifetimes. No pony is capable of doing that kind of magic right now,"  Remedy replied. 

"So she is looking at long term goals is all then. We already know it is possible, you and all the other transformed in the world are living testimony of that. The fact you said right now indicates even you know this is something that can happen again eventually," Simmons said darkly.

"If it does it won't be my mother who has anything to do with it. We will likely all be dead for centuries. If the ponies on that other world barely understand what she did and they are thousands of years more advanced than us in the use of magic then it isn't going to happen any time soon here," Remedy said in a matter-of-fact tone. She didn't like this Agent Simmons.

"And what do you believe?" Simmons said with a furrowed brow.

"I just told you. There is no danger of it happening and my mother is a good pony," Remedy snapped.

"No, what do you believe in terms of humans being better as ponies?" Summons said in a stern tone.

"I believe I am better off as a pony, and there are a lot of ponies this is nothing but good for. My gender and sex were out of line, they aren't now. I am told that some of the ponies at the hospital are from humans that chose to be infected because they had terminal illnesses. Are you going to tell them they shouldn't have done that?" Remedy as she gestured to a window.

"And the rest?" Simmons interjected.

Remedy lowered her hoof and considered how to answer. She looked at the open door for a long moment. 

"There are some that might have been better off staying human. My marefriend desperately wants to earn a doctorate in history. She got a cutie mark because of how important that is to her. She doesn't want to give up being a pony, but I have to admit that being a pony right now is probably something that will get in the way of that. I am going to do my best to help her reach her goal, but it seems like everything is stacked against her," Remedy said in a sad tone. 

"History seems to be a very human concern for a pony," Simmons observed.

"Yeah, it is. It is a big part of who she is though. A lot of ponies seem to want to just abandon all their human concerns. But we need to worry about a lot of that; I know I do. It is still a human world, and we have to exist in it with humans," Remedy said, feeling tired. It was getting extremely late.

"Interesting," Simmons said. She sat silent for a moment considering Remedy. "So, food drive? She is planning on trying to help humans. I will tell those above me that it is seems harmless, but that is not my call on whether they will view it that way."

"I'll appreciate the kind word," Remedy said with surprise.

"I'll be honest with you, Phobia. There is a great deal of concern that ponies are just brainwashed and not in their right minds. There have been individuals that seem to have more free thought. The way you express yourself makes me think you might be one of those. Consider yourself, and your history loving marefriend, on a different type of list. It isn't a bad one, trust me," Simmons said with a smile.

"I could do without lists. I am still angry about being told I was on the last one despite doing nothing wrong," Remedy said, tone darkening.

"I did review that. I agree you should have been put on the list because of connection to a very blatant Shimmerist. I do apologize for the agent's questioning your identity. He has been briefed at length about it since," Simmons said.

"Thank you for that too," Remedy said, warming up a bit to the agent.

"Let me tell you a counter argument to situations like yours just being better. You aren't the only one that showed no previous record of transgender expression who changed sex, there are a fair number. Hardest one to read over was about a mother in Sarasota Springs, married for years, had children; now a stallion. He was devastated when his husband turned on him. Doesn't deny that he should be a stallion though. Only sign of anything was periodic depression medication seemed to have no impact on. I don't doubt he was a closeted trans man, but not sure that becoming a pony and having what he really was put on display worked out for him," Simmons said as she gazed at Remedy. 

"I will consider that," Remedy said. She couldn't help thinking about her dad as that was said. 

"I will let you go now. Expect to be hearing from me or others in the future. We still want keep tabs on your mother's doings, and we want to be able to talk with the ponies that seem to be thinking for themselves about different situations. Go see your girlfriend and get some sleep," Simmons said. 

Simmons didn't wait for a reply and left without another word. Remedy got back to her hooves, wondering about what being on this list meant for her. What she should be telling her mom. And with doubts about the well being of more ponies being ponies.
> Chapter 22: Luna Returns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what did the suit want with you?" Rosetta asked as Remedy walked outside.

"Mainly concerned about my mom. They seem to think that she might be dangerous or something. Plus they were interested in figuring out how I think. Oh, sorry to tell you, but you're on a list too now. Different list they insist isn't bad, but still on a list," Remedy answered. She flicked her tail towards the building with annoyance. 

"Why am I on a list now? Association with you?" Rosetta asked

"Actually no, they think it is interesting that you have an interest in something they don't consider very pony to have an interest in. They think ponies are all brainwashed and you and I might be less brainwashed or something," Remedy grumbled.

Rosetta scrunched up her muzzle and looked back at the building. "Okay, not sure if that is insulting or complimentary. Any immediate impact from being on that kind of list?" 

"Not sure, Agent Simmons in there said she would be in touch," Remedy replied.

"So we're not going to worry about it for the moment then, and get ourselves worked up about it. Only thing we need to concern ourselves with for the moment is bed. Same place as last time? It is pretty quiet there," Rosetta spread her wings as she asked.

"I'm going to worry about it, but you are right; it is way too late, and we need to sleep. I won't be thinking straight while overtired. The same place sounds good," Remedy said. She gave one last look at the ponies that were up. She could see Tonya talking to several ponies who were eating, with at least a dozen other ponies seeming to be listening on. The guards seemed to be watching too. Tonya was no doubt going to be added to a list before the day was out.

Remedy sighed. There was no help for the fact that the humans were going to be suspicious for the moment. Hopefully they would realize after a while that her mother was no threat and simply wanted to do good; the same with the rest of them.

Remedy spread her wings and gave Rosetta a nod. Rosetta smiled back and took into the air, and Remedy followed quickly behind. 

Their flight path happened to pass near Remedy's old house. She looked down at it and had to resist the urge to stop the two of them and go check it out. Her father was indeed at the house. She saw him in the backyard, tending to her mother's little garden. He had never really had interest in such things before, and that was more an earth pony thing than a unicorn thing to suddenly take interest in. He glanced up and she imagined that their gazes met for a moment over the distance. 

"Do you want to stop and talk to him? He is family and has had a few days to process things," Rosetta asked, startling Remedy out of her focus.

"Yes, but not right now. I am tired and have a lot on my mind. Better to try when I am going to be thinking clearer. Maybe tonight?" Remedy suggested.

"That sounds reasonable. Do you want me to be with you when you do, or would you prefer to keep it private?" Rosetta asked. They hadn't stopped flying and the house was now behind them.

"Not sure yet, I'll figure that out tonight," Remedy replied. 

"I know it is going to be emotional for you. If you need me standing by you while you do it I'll do that, and if you just need to cry it out after I'm here for that too. However you choose to go," Rosetta said in a loving tone.

"Thank you," Remedy replied. Her father was another thing she had no idea how to deal with. For all her worries about the fear the humans might have and trying to figure out how to present ponies favorably to them, her own fears were still something she struggled with immensely.

They flew down to the same spot they had slept before and found the same bit of shade. Without further word between the two they cuddled up close, with Rosetta giving a kiss and a nuzzle, before very quickly drifting off to sleep.

Remedy looked around herself and saw a pleasant looking countryside, bathed in moonlight. She knew instantly that she was in a dream, and the vivid nature of it meant one of two possible things. She looked around again to find which mare was going to greet her this time. 

"Hello again, my little pony" came the voice of Luna from behind Remedy, despite the fact Remedy had just looked behind herself and seen nothing. It was a dream though and things like that weren't really that shocking with that context.

"Hello, Princess. Is there some other urgent task that you are going to try to convince me to do?" Remedy asked. 

"There is no need for you to address me as princess. I have no authority over you. I am just here to talk. A close friend of mine wanted me to follow up with any ponies that caught my attention as different, and I am doing so," Luna said as she came and sat down next to Remedy. Remedy felt like a foal sitting next to a grown mare by the size difference.

"Okay, so what do you want to talk to me about?" Remedy asked, still feeling a little guarded.

"You are one of many I will be talking to. I just want to get a feel for who you are, how you think, how you feel about your changing world. Perhaps we should start simply; what is your name?" Luna asked.

"Phobia Remedy, though you can just call me Remedy," Remedy answered.

"I am not well versed in human names as of yet, but that one seems to not fit the patterns I have noticed just far. Is that a newly adopted name? I know many of you try to emulate our naming conventions," Luna asked as she looked down at Remedy.

"I took it just today actually. I didn't really want my human name," Remedy answered.

"I see. So you are eager to shed away all your ties to humanity as many others are?" There was a hint of disappointment to Luna's voice.

"Not really that. I just didn't want to have a male name. It is just awkward and uncomfortable," Remedy said with a shrug.

"Oh, you are one of those ones. I hadn't realized that before. So you have personal reasons to want to say this transformation was a boon then," Luna said.

"Yeah, it let out a part of me that I had caged up so well I wasn't actively aware it was there," Remedy sighed.

"I see. So I must ask about something from our last conversation that made you stand out to me; do you object still to trying to help ponies with their dreams?" Luna asked.

"I don't know. I don't like the idea of taking away their nightmares," Remedy shuffled her hooves as she answered.

"That seems on the surface rather cruel. Would you care to explain why?" Luna asked in a skeptical voice.

"They have those nightmares for a reason. It is better for them to have the nightmares so they can care about the reason. There are a lot of legitimate things to be afraid of, and they shouldn't walk around blissfully ignorant of those things. It isn't right, it does more harm than good," Remedy stared the alicorn in the eye as she spoke. 

"So you are concerned about their ability to be aware of the dangers around them then?" Luna asked. There was no harshness or judgement in her voice, just seeking understanding.

"Yes, exactly that. I want them to think about what their doing and why. I want them to do what is needed to keep safe," Remedy said letting her tone rise with conviction with each word.

"And what kinds of things do you think they have to fear, right now?" Luna continued to question.

"How the humans will react to us mainly. I was terrified that the humans would do something drastic out of fear of ponies, I am still afraid actually. We have to have ponies thinking about how the humans will react to anything we do, or we won't be safe," Remedy replied as she turned her gaze back at the peaceful countryside.

"Do you really think the humans would do something to hurt you and your fellow ponies out of fear?" Luna asked in a serious tone.

"People do terrible things when they are afraid and don't understand their fears. I know humans can do it, and have the means," Remedy answered harshly.

"You don't think your fellow ponies would do terrible things themselves out of fear?" Luna asked.

"My fellow ponies don't have access to weapons of war that can kill hundreds of thousands in a single shot. We are at the mercy of humans, and we have to care about upsetting them too much," Remedy said with a growl.

Luna seemed shocked at the declaration. She sat blinking for a moment or two before continuing.

"And you honestly think that they would use such terrible instruments against you out of fear?" Luna asked.

"I don't doubt that if they felt threatened enough they would. Making sure that we can find some sort of peaceful coexistence with humans should be on every pony's mind right now," Remedy spoke in a sad tone.

"I was not fully aware of their capabilities. Twilight had told me about some things, but I hadn't fully believed..," Luna shook her head and turned back to Remedy. "Do you fear this is a likely reaction still with the end of Sunset Shimmer's spell?" 

"Less likely now, but not something to disregard as a possibility yet. This planet has a long history of doing the worst to those that are different," Remedy said mournfully.

"I will have to consult with Twilight and my sister on some things then, as that is extremely worrisome. To get back to the subject of dreams though. Would you be objectionable to the idea of entering another pony's nightmare to try to help them understand their nightmare, rather than simply banishing it?" Luna asked.

"I suppose not, actually I might enjoy doing that. Understanding fear is kind of my thing." Remedy pointed a hoof at her flank.

"I was going to ask about that. It seemed a rather..unpleasant looking cutie mark. That in mind though I may be willing to teach you some things. I myself tend to let nightmares play out with some and then help those ponies to come to understand the nature of their anxieties. It is a bit more advanced than simply banishing the dream or the spreading of the vision Sunset Shimmer taught the pony Josie to make, but it might be most worthwhile for a pony of your disposition," Luna said.

"Wait, Josie made that vision? As in Josie the first night pony who lives out at ETS ground zero?" Remedy asked in disbelief.

"I am unsure how much of it was her and how much of it was Sunset Shimmer. I know Josie willingly adjusted the vision to show humans as part of your world after I spoke with her. I can assure you she had no malicious intent to her actions. She seems to be very talented and I wonder if Sunset Shimmer had done some meddling to make her talents stronger. It wouldn't suprise me considering she was in close proximity to Josie for years, and seemed to have meddled in the lives of at least one family and another human extensively. What would be one more who was critical to her plans?" Luna said with a sigh at the end.

Remedy just sat and considered that bit of information. She had not known Josie personally, but had spent a long time obsessing over things Josie had said and posted on the internet. It was hard to imagine her as an accomplice to a terrorist's plans, even an unknowing one. She wasn't sure how she felt about knowing that.

"So, you want to teach me to do what you do? Help ponies understand their nightmares? Is that why you visited me again?" Remedy finally asked.

"I am interested in teaching you to do such if you are willing. That isn't the reason I visited you though. Your government, and other governments of your world are convinced that the ponies of your world are not in their right minds, and aren't capable of thinking for themselves. I admit that there is a great deal of concern from us as well about the extent that you are all thinking differently. I was searching out those that struck me as being a break from that sort of mold that I encountered before. We want to prove you all as being able think rationally. Your fears of humans being afraid is not unfounded," Luna explained.

"You aren't the first to bring that up. I had some government official questioning me today who brought that up. Put me and my marefriend in some sort of list of possible free thinkers," Remedy grumbled.

"Your marefriend earned this distinction how?" Luna asked with curiosity.

"She is really into ancient history, even got a cutie mark for it. She wants to go off and study at a university and earn a doctorate in it so she can teach about ancient history. I am not sure how she will do that as a pony, or if the humans will even give her a chance. But I want her to succeed in her dreams," Remedy said as she went back to looking at the countryside yet again, looking for some answer somewhere in the calm of the scene.

"Hmm, I might know of a pony who would be interested in meeting her who shares similar passions. I will pass your marefriend's name along if you wish. Perhaps something can be done to help her reach those dreams," Luna said with a smile.

"Her name is Rosetta Stone, but her human name is Haley Martinez. She is a night pony too. I appreciate anything you can do for her. Even if nothing works out I appreciate you trying," Remedy said with gratitude.

"Rosetta Stone. An interesting name to choose. I need to learn more of your world and its history to understand the context. Your name is a little odd, but with me being able to understand the language it at least makes sense to me," Luna said.

"Rosetta actually came up with it. I tried coming up with names, but think the best I came up with was Nightmare Moon, and that just sounds completely cheesy. I doubt anypony would be able to avoid laughing at me with a name like that," Remedy giggled.

Luna sat extremely still, and Remedy could see her eye twitch a few times. Maybe it was more funny a name than she thought and Luna was trying not to laugh at her?

"Let's..be glad you didn't choose that name. I think we might be having a very different conversation if you had. And the name is definitely not a silly name," Luna finally said in a very obviously tightly controlled voice.

Remedy gulped. She wondered if she had just said something culturally insulting or something. Asking about it seemed to be a bad idea though. She simply nodded in response.

"I will meet with you again sometime soon and start teaching you about helping ponies understand their nightmares. For now I must move on. As I said you are not the only pony that stood out to me, and I have many more to visit tonight. It still amazes me how many night ponies there are in this world. Proportionally you are still a minority of ponies, but the number of ponies on this world is an overwhelming number to consider," Luna said breathlessly.

"Thank you for talking to me. I look forward to having lessons from you," Remedy said giving the alicorn a hug.

"It is an experience for me as well. I leave you to sleep soundly now. Take care until we meet again, Phobia Remedy," Luna said before she faded away and the dream shifted to a more natural one. 



> Chapter 23: Love and Other Drugs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy was the first to rise of the pair that evening. She didn't wake her companion right away, and instead enjoyed the feel of Rosetta nestled up close to her as she looked at the sky as it gave off a brilliant orange shade as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful and peaceful few minutes. 

Unfortunately, she remembered that she had plans to go try visiting her father tonight and that soured the mood for her. It wasn't that she didn't want to try to make peace with her father; it was the dread that she wouldn't be able to.

"Rosetta, Haley, Cuddle Wings, it's time to get up," she said as she nuzzled her marefriend to wake up.

Rosetta half opened one eye and gave a smirk.

"Cuddle Wings? That's going to be your pet name for me?" Rosetta giggled.

"If it gets a smile out of you then I guess so, Cuddle Wings," Remedy said with her own smirk.

"As long as you keep it for when we're in private, Sweet Flanks," Rosetta said, still smirking.

"Got it, pet names for private time," Remedy replied. She then let out a sigh and looked in the direction of her house. "I decided to go see him by myself. If he gets nasty I don't want him getting nasty at you."

"However you want to deal with it. Do you want to meet me back at the church when you are done?" Rosetta asked. "I can go and see how your mother and Tonya got along with setting up their food drive while you are dealing with that. I won't even tell them what you're up to," 

"That works. I don't know how long I'll be though," Remedy said as she nuzzled her companion.

"If you take a long while I'll just go to the AV room and hop on the internet. I'll leave my family a few messages, do some more research, maybe find a funny video or two to watch. If it takes too long I'm going to come check on you though," Rosetta said.

"That reminds me, Luna visited my dream last night," Remedy said as she stood up and turned to face Rosetta.

"Really? Well, special you get all the important humans and ponies to take notice of you. Though you're pretty special. What did her royal highness want?" Rosetta said smirk returning.

"We talked a little longer this time around. She was just getting to know about me, trying to get a feel for how and how much I think. Apparently the Equestrians are half wondering too if we're all brainwashed, and trying to verify that we can think for ourselves," Remedy explained.

"So, did you convince her you aren't a mind controlled zomb-pony," Rosetta giggled.

"I'm pretty sure. I told her a little about you too, and she said she knows another pony that has an interest in history. She said she would pass your name along to them and they might see if there is anything they can do to help you out with the whole university thing," Remedy said with a smile.

Rosetta's eyes got wide and her mouth dropped open. She then got a big ecstatic grin on her face and grabbed Remedy up in a tight hug and planted several kisses on her.

"Thank you, thank you! You've no idea how much this means to me," Rosetta said as she squeezed harder. 

"They only said they'd try to help you, don't get your hopes too high yet," Remedy cautioned.

"Even in the worst case scenario I could have a princess on my list of recommendation letters. Do you have any idea how big it is to have that kind of endorsement? A lot of these places it can be more important who has a good word about you than anything else when trying to get in. You have no idea how much this helps," Rosetta squealed and started hoping on her hind legs while still hugging Remedy tightly.

"I'll take your word for it. If you think your chances just increased dramatically then I'm really happy for you," Remedy said as her marefriend continued bear-hugging her.

"I do think it will. Thank you for putting a good word in for me," Rosetta said happily. Her eyes then widened and she released her hug and took a few steps back. "Um, sorry for getting so happy and excited when you're about to go do something that's going to be extremely difficult for you. I'm very happy, but now might not be the best time for showing that."

Remedy came over and kissed her marefriend long and hard on the lips, causing Rosetta to hum with pleasure. She broke the kiss and stepped back leaving Rosetta giving a brief pout that it had ended sooner than she wanted.

"You go off and do your research and let yourself be giddy about it. Don't worry about what's going to go on with my dad and me. You always say you don't want to worry about things you have no control over and are going to happen no matter what. Don't stress over me, go and enjoy yourself for now and I'll be with you again later," Remedy said with a soft smile.

"It isn't the same if I know you're not going to be happy at the same time. You matter a lot to me. You came and comforted me when I was at my lowest point, you stood by me when I told John I didn't want him in my life anymore, came with me when I had to face my parents as a pony for the first time, you're always honest with me and supportive of me, now you do this for me, and you never ask any favor or anything else from me. Your happiness matters to me," Rosetta said voice filling with emotion.

"And your happiness matters to me too, which is why I don't want you worrying about me when you should be celebrating the good things that are going on with you," Remedy said as she passed a wing over to touch the side of Rosetta's face.

"You don't understand. Your happiness matters to me more than John's happiness ever did. I wanted John's happiness for my sake so he wouldn't abandon me. It feels selfish saying that, but it's true. I want you to be happy purely because I want you happy. I think.." Rosetta caught herself from saying whatever she was about to say.

"Is it really important to you that you be close to me while I do this?" Remedy asked. 

"If you'll let me be there," Rosetta said in a hopeful tone.

"My dad might say some terrible things about me, and possibly about our relationship. I'm not going to get in a fight with him if he does. I'm trying to make some peace between us, not widen the divide. Can I count on you to not escalate tensions further?" Remedy looked Rosetta in the eyes as she asked.

"I won't escalate anything, but I won't promise to zip my muzzle if it becomes clear he is refusing to listen to you and is treating you cruely. I'll do my best not to interfere no matter how much I want to until I'm sure that point is reached though," Rosetta said firmly, meeting Remedy's gaze.

"That's fair, and probably for the best. Sometimes we all need to be told when we are wasting our time. Just make sure I get my chance to really try, okay?" Remedy said in a lowered voice.

"Of course, I want this to work out with your dad. I just don't want you getting hurt more than you need too. I'll sit and watch and be patient, I promise," Rosetta said as she came over and gave a nuzzle.

Remedy have her marefriend a quick kiss and then spread her wings. Rosetta stepped back and mimicked her action. As soon as Remedy to to the air Rosetta was right behind her.

The flight was done in silence and only took a minute or two. Remedy quickly found herself landing in the yard of her childhood home. She was a little surprised to see the front porch light was on even though it was getting dark. It also made her wonder how much longer the power company would wait before cutting the power on delinquent payers. She didn't know how much money her parents had in savings, but it couldn't hold out forever.

She stared at the grey painted door and brown welcome mat for a long moment, trying to build her courage. She also debated with herself whether she should ring the doorbell or just let herself in. She did technically live her so she didn't need to treat herself as a guest. 

Rosetta waited quietly and patiently behind her, just silently watching. The other mare made no attempt to urge her into action, or to ask her if she wanted to return some other time. She just waited for Remedy to come to come to some decision.

Remedy took a deep breath and walked silently up to the door. As she looked at the doorknob she realized that the decision over the doorbell or just letting herself in was pretty much made for her. She wasn't sure she would be able to turn the normally tight doorknob with her hooves, not without a great deal of trouble. That was assuming it was even unlocked. The doorbell was what she was going to have to do.

She gave one last look back to Rosetta for encouragement. Rosetta glanced at the doorbell and made a gesture with her head to go on. Remedy turned back around and held her breath as she brought her hoof up to the doorbell and pressed it, causing the familiar bell chime to go off.

A long moment passed, and she wondered if the bell was going to go ignored. Finally the sound of movement came to the other side of the door.

"Who's there? What do you want?" Her dad said gruffly.

"It's your foal, Dad. Mom isn't with me, can we talk?" Remedy said loudly to the through the door.

The door clicked, indicating it had indeed been locked up to this point, and then the doorknob turned and the door opened. Standing before her was the green unicorn with blue mane and tail that she knew to be her father. He looked somehow older than he had just a few days ago, and she could see bags under his eyes that had not been there before.

"Well, come in. I won't leave my own blood sitting out on the porch. Is that one behind you coming in too?" her father said with a point of his hoof towards Rosetta.

"Yeah, she stays with me. That's my marefriend, Rosetta," Remedy said as looked back at her companion.

"Marefriend, huh?" Her father asked as he eyed Rosetta. He seemed torn for a moment on what to do, but good manners eventually won out. "Well, come in then, both of you. I'm not going to sit here standing at the doorway all night."

The two of them silently entered into the house, and Remedy saw Rosetta bow her head in silent greeting of her father as she walked in. There was no smile or scowl on Rosetta's face, just caution. Her father simply eyed Rosetta as if trying to read her, unsure how to react to her presence.

"Go in the living room and make yourselves comfortable on the couch while I close this back up. I'll be just a moment," her dad said as he lit his horn and the door shut behind them.

Remedy nodded and started in the direction of the living room with Rosetta practically on her tail. She heard the television going and when she entered the living room it was just as she had left it days before. She made her way over to the couch and hopped up on it, and Rosetta quickly joined her. Remedy suddenly had a strange wave of anxiety and checked her hooves to see if they were muddy, thankfully they didn't seem to be. Rosetta gave a small chuckle at the action though.

Her dad walked into the room, lit up his horn, and the television shut off. He then strode over to his typical chair and hopped up in it. The size difference between him as a human and him as a pony made it seem almost like he was in a loveseat rather than a chair. Remedy noted blankets and a pillow on the chair and assumed it to be where her father slept as well.

"Well, I see you have one of those marks on your flank now. No return to humanity for you. Care to explain your mark for me or am I just to assume you to be a killer pony?" Her dad asked as he gave the mark a long look.

Rosetta stifled a giggle and Remedy suppressed a groan. Why did every pony assume she was a murderer or something?

"I help ponies understand their fears and what they should be afraid of," Remedy said, keeping it brief.

"Like a psychologist or something?" Her father asked with a raised brow.

"Something like that," Remedy replied.

"Hmm." Was all the response that she got back from her father.

"I took a pony name too, Phobia Remedy. It felt like the most appropriate thing given my mark, and my legal name ended up getting me in trouble with the authorities briefly. They weren't at first prepared to accept my name as Matthew. I have been just using Remedy for short," she explained.

"I see. Did your mother go and toss away her given name too for some stupid pony name?" Her dad asked her while frowning.

"She renamed herself before I did. She named herself Sunset Blessing. I told her it wasn't a very wise name to take, but she didn't listen. The government is keeping tabs on her now because of it," Remedy answered.

Her dad didn't say anything to this. He just sat staring at her.

"She has a cutie mark too. Her cutie mark is a pair a hooves gripping a Bible. She says her faith as a Christian is a core part of who she is, and she intends to try to do God's work," Remedy explained further.

Her dad just sat still considering her silently. It was starting to worry her. She expected yelling or something. Not this silence. The silence stretched on uncomfortably for several minutes.

"So, that mare there's your romantic partner? Does that make you gay or straight?" Her dad finally broke the silence by asking.

"I see it as making me very much a lesbian. How do you see it?" Remedy asked, hoping to get some sort of actual reaction from her dad.

"I'm not sure. If you have a cutie mark I assume you're in that form forever. I have to accept the reality that you're a mare, whether I like it or not. By that logic you are engaging in homosexual activity. I'm not sure how to feel about that, because I feel I would be more bothered if you were with a stallion. Things feel so muddled now," her dad said. He looked down at the ground and lowered his ears. Remedy was again struck by how much he seemed to age in the last few days.

"Dad, I came here hoping to keep you in my life. Mom has made it abundantly clear she wants nothing else to do with you, but I'm not ready to say that. You're my dad, and I'll always love you. I don't ask that you agree with me about everything on my life; I just want the opportunity to have you in it," Remedy pleaded, getting emotional.

"I've thought about this at great length. You'll always be my son to me, or daughter if that is how things are going to play out. I appreciate your attempts to reach out to me. Believe me when I say I really do want to just be there for you, even if I don't know how to feel about a lot of things involving you. I can't do that right now. I can't afford to do that," her dad said in a pained tone. 

"Why? Why can't you be there?" Remedy demanded. She was getting angry and she didn't know why. Her dad wasn't doing anything hostile. Why was she the one getting angry?

"Because I want my chance at getting my humanity back. I don't even know if it's possible or not. I do know that if I give in and be the father you need to me to be that I'll lose myself, and end up sooner or later with one of those marks. Then there won't be any chance," came his response. His voice was extremely tight, like he was trying to keep his emotions in check. 

"Would it be so bad? To just let yourself be a pony? To just let yourself be my dad?" Remedy cried.

"You have no idea how much I want to give into that. I have to struggle every day not to just give into this, and it's very hard. None of us were meant to be this though. There may be no going back for you, this is what you are now and forever, but there may still be hope for me. It's important to me to be what I'm meant to be. If you and that Tonya mare really are right about the whole gender..sex..whatever thing, and expect me to respect that, then can't you respect my feelings on this?" He said as he gave her a heartbroken look. 

Remedy was about to fire off a heated response, but jumped slightly as Rosetta laid a hoof on her flank.

"Remedy, we should respect this. You know he loves you still, and that's more than you knew for sure an hour ago. If I didn't have my cutie mark yet and I wanted to go back to human because it would make chasing my dreams easier would you protest that too?" Rosetta asked.

Remedy just stared at her marefriend. What Rosetta said struck her like a hammer to the head. Was she being selfish in this? 

"If you somehow get turned back into a human will you make an effort to get back in touch with me? I don't care if you end up being a human and me a pony, I want my dad," Remedy begged.

"I promise. I can't promise that there won't be yelling and a lot of criticism thrown both ways, but I do love you. I don't even know if it's possible or not to be changed back. At some point I might end up getting a cutie mark as I wait and will have to figure out some way to make my peace with this life. I promise that at some point I'll get back in contact with you and keep in contact," her dad promised.

"I guess that's the best I can hope for," Remedy said glumly.

Her dad hopped down from his seat and gestured for her to follow his example. Remedy got down from the couch with a slow roll off of it.

"So, Phobia Remedy is it?" Her dad asked her as he stood facing her. She nodded back. "Well, Phobia Remedy come give your old man a hug before you go so you know I do love you. Just in case I don't see you for a long time."

Remedy didn't even say anything she just wrapped her forelegs and wings around her dad and and squeezed tightly. She broke down crying and started sobbing onto his shoulder. She felt him cautiously begin patting her on her back as he hugged her on return.

"And you, Rosetta was it?" She heard father address her marefriend. She tensed up, fearing he may have saved some final venom for her. 

"Yeah, that's me," Rosetta answered cautiously.

"Keeping doing right by my daughter," she heard her dad say. 

She broke down into a new series of overjoyed sobs after that.
> Chapter 24: Spreading the Good Word
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy and Rosetta stood out in the yard of Remedy's old home for several minutes. Remedy wanted to better pull herself together and Rosetta was giving her the time she needed. 

Strapped onto Rosetta and Remedy's backs were some old backpacks that contained a few personal belongings of Remedy's that her dad had insisted that she take the time to gather up in case she ended up wanting them. There were some old family photos, her laptop computer, a few books, her high school diploma, birth certificates and social security cards for her and her mother, an old stuffed dragon she had kept from foalhood, an old personal Bible, her mother's old Bible, and a few spices from the kitchen. All of this was what she had to connect her to her human life. She didn't know if she should feel sad about that or not.

Remedy gave the house behind her a final glance. It was officially not home anymore. She didn't really care about that part though; she cared that in some shape or form she would maintain a relationship with her dad, even if there would be some time before she got to do so.

"Thank you for coming with me for this, and thank you for keeping me focused on what's important," Remedy finally said to her marefriend.

"You would've done the same for me. Don't feel guilty about the little slip that I caught you on. We don't always think the best when our emotions are running high, and I am happy you listened to me," Rosetta replied.

"It definitely wasn't the conversation I was expecting to have with him. I came in expecting a fight. I let my fears of that get the best of me for a moment. ," Remedy said with a twitch of her ear.

"Didn't I just tell you not to feel bad about that?" Rosetta said with a sigh.

"I know, it is just..thank you for being there for me, and thank you for speaking up before I sabotaged myself. It really made a difference," Remedy said in a tender voice.

"Anything for you. You are the best thing that has happened to me. It was good seeing you get emotional too. Getting a little more of that shell off. Thank you for appreciating me," Rosetta said back just as tenderly.

"Don't thank me for that. You make it sound like I am doing some favor to you by thanking me for that. I appreciate you because you deserve to be appreciated, not as some token prize for doing good; if that makes any sense," Remedy said, feeling she wasn't explaining herself well.

Rosetta just stared at her for a moment. She seemed like she wanted to say something and her wings were twitching. She looked down and did a shuffle of her hooves. Remedy was about to ask her what was wrong, as something clearly was bothering her. Had something hurtful been said by accident?

"We need to hurry back to the church if you expect your mom or Tonya to still be awake to hear about what progress was made on that food drive," Rosetta finally said as she spread her wings.

"Did I say something that upset you?" Remedy asked with concern.

"No..the opposite actually. I'm just trying to work something out for myself. Can we not talk about it just yet? I'm really want to figure this out on my own," Rosetta said with more twitching of her wings.

"If that is what you want. Just tell me you are okay," Remedy said doubtfully.

"I'm okay, I'm good, everything's great. I just want to make sure everything stays that way. John was not entirely wrong, I do say or do some really stupid things sometimes, and I am just trying to make sure I have had time to really consider something to make sure it isn't something stupid. I promise you that it isn't bad, or at least I hope it isn't. I just need time to think about it. Can we please just go for now and we will talk about this when I have had a good think?" Rosetta pleaded.

Rosetta was clearly flustered about something and Remedy was definitely worried about what it might be. Thoughts ran through her mind about what it could possibly be. Was Rosetta considering dumping her? Was Rosetta thinking she was actually pregnant? Did Rosetta want to go back to being human even though everypony pretty much agreed that there was no going back after getting a cutie mark? Was she not giving Rosetta enough space? Had she not taken enough effort to learn more about Rosetta's interests? Was she taking too long to get sexually active with her? 

"Okay..if you say so," Remedy said. She smiled but she hadn't been able to keep the worry from her voice. 

She spread her wings as well and with a few quick beats was into the air, quickly joined by Rosetta. They immediately turned and headed over the houses across the street and the treeline behind them, and were almost immediately back over the church grounds.

The grounds were like they were most evenings around this time, largely winding down to where ponies would soon be sleeping. There were a number of ponies eating, Tonya among those, and Remedy took note that the amount of hay had rapidly declined in the last two days. It wasn't in any immediate danger of running out, but it definitely showed that they would need new shipments if this carried on too long.

It took Remedy a moment to pick put where her mom was but eventually did. Her mother was sitting in the middle of a large circle of ponies of various types and seemed to be reading to them. It wasn't hard to guess what her mom had in front of her for reading material. It was kind of surprising seeing the audience as her mom read aloud, but not completely. As far as she knew there was no pastor or priest on site, and her mother was filling a type of need to ponies that valued their faith. It was a time of big changes for everypony, and her mother wasn't the only one who turned to God for answers.

One concerning thing was that there were at least two human guards standing not far from the Bible reading, watching it intently. They could be just listening in for their own sakes, but evidence from before suggested they were doing this just to keep watch on her mom for any growing influence on other ponies. This probably wasn't helping soothe those fears, despite the fact it was completely harmless.

Deciding that they shouldn't interrupt her mom, and should concern themselves with food anyway, they flew down to where Tonya was at.

"Hi Remedy, hi Rosetta," Tonya said cheerfully through a full mouth of hay. She chewed for a second more and swallowed. Then began gesturing to her companions who were eating. "Have you met Amber, Joy, and Match Stick?"

The surrounding ponies all turned and greeted them, and Remedy looked each over.

Amber was a pony Remedy had met while Amber was partially transformed, the pony was now a pegasus who had fur and mane that clearly matched her name. She lacked a cutie mark as of yet. Remedy recalled from her short meeting before Amber being very serious seeming, but she seemed to be much more cheerful seeming now.

Joy was a pegasus mare who had dark purple fur and a mane and tail in straight black, very night pony like, despite her feathered wings. Joy didn't look like a particularly joyful pony though and wore a scowl. There was no cutie mark yet on her flank either. Every few seconds she would turn her eyes to the humans and her scowl would seem to deepen.

Match Stick was a blue unicorn stallion with red mane. He did have a cutie mark, unlike all his companions but Tonya, a lit match. Remedy picked a faint smell of tobacco off him, making her wonder if there really were ponies that still had that habit. Her nose told her that was a yes. It was probably a good idea if Rosetta didn't spend too much time with him if that were so. 

"How has the whole food drive thing been?" Rosetta asked Tonya. 

"It's been great so far," Amber chirped in happily before Tonya got a chance to answer. "All the shelters have lots and lots of ponies that want to help out."

"We started taking inventory of the food that we have at all the locations. We're trying to figure out how to best dispense it," Tonya added in with her own happy smile.

"It is a fucking waste of time though," Joy added in with a somehow deeper scowl.

"Aww, don't be like that, Joy," Amber chided the other pegasus.

"It is," Joy said again harshly. "We shouldn't be wasting out time dealing with these stinking humans. If they aren't going to let us do what we need to do here we should just find somewhere else to go. That's what we should be organizing to do."

"We don't know where we can go yet," Match Stick spoke up.

"We'd figure it out," Joy replied with a snarl. 

"Okay..anyway," Tonya said uncertainty as she turned back to the two night ponies. "Things should get going on that real soon. Don't mind Joy too much, there are a lot of ponies grumpy about the government right now."

"Grumpy isn't the word for it," Joy mumbled.

"What's it like being night ponies? I heard a lot of night ponies go and gather up in Charleston every night. What's it like doing that?" Amber asked them, ignoring her companion's sour comment.

Remedy and Rosetta looked at one another with confusion. 

"We weren't aware of any gathering of night ponies in Charleston until you just mentioned it," Remedy said.

"Oh, you should go then! Ponies need plenty of friends, and I can only imagine it must get really lonely for you two," Amber said excitedly. 

"Yeah, you should," Joy added in to their surprise. "All the night ponies are organizing to do their own thing, like the rest of us should be. You shouldn't miss out."

"We'll look into it," Rosetta said as she and Remedy shared another glance between them. 

"Tell us about it after you do. Maybe we can convince Sunset Blessing to take more seriously getting us doing something other than feeding humans. I am happy she is getting us organized, don't get me wrong, but I want us taking care of ourselves," Joy said with less scowl than before. 

"The feeding humans thing can't last that long, Joy," Match Stick said. "We only have so much food to give out after all. After that maybe you can get her to start thinking about getting us all moved away from here."

"Hopefully," Joy muttered.

Remedy and Rosetta got started on eating as the others continued talking with one another. Remedy couldn't help but take notice that they were talking about her mom like they were expecting her mom to give them leadership in getting the community moved. Actually this was the first real talk she had heard of talk about what ponies wanted to happen soon. The fact her mom was who Joy was talking about convincing gave credence to what Agent Simmons had said. Once ponies started listening to a pony they tended to keep looking to that pony for direction.

The others soon retreated from the hay stack. The pegasi all claimed exhaustion from flying all over three counties all day long, which surprised the two night ponies. How big was this food drive thing going to be? Also, have many ponies were going to be looking to Remedy's mother for direction after this?
> Chapter 25: Connections to the Human World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two night ponies eventually retreated to the AV room as more and more ponies went to bed. Rosetta quickly booted up the computer and pulled up the messenger icon.

"Um, Sweet Flanks, I'm going to be messaging my family and with a pencil in my mouth I won't be able to do much talking to you for a little while. Maybe you could watch the news and get caught up with that while I do this?" Rosetta said.

"I could try to help you type. I don't mind just sitting and watching either," Remedy replied.

"Some of the talk might be a little private. I don't mean to keep things from you, but trying to work some things out and really rather not have you know about them yet. Do you trust me?" Rosetta asked in a worried tone.

"You're worrying me with all this, but if you say you will talk to me about whatever this is eventually then I trust you. I'll be right over here watching the TV when you are done," Remedy said with half drooped ears.

Rosetta leaned over from the chair and gave Remedy a kiss, which picked the ears back up.

"I really don't want you to worry, but I promise I'll talk to you about it soon," Rosetta assured her.

"Okay, just let me know when it is alright for me to come join you back over there on the computer. I'll watch the news until then. It is about ten and if I remember right the local news was still running right before me and my mom left the house," Remedy said as she turned towards the television. 

It took a lot of fiddling with the television to get it on and to the right channel. The frogs on Remedy's hooves were actually very agile, but there were no helping the fact the buttons were too small for her to easily press without accidentally hitting others. Maybe with more practice, but at the moment it was just clumsy fumbling.

She eventually got the television to the right channel with a minute or two left before the news was about to air. The credits were running for some other show that she assumed to be a rerun, as there seemed no possible way any station was airing anything new at the moment. The humans probably appreciated it the presence of regular tv shows to pretend everything was still the same though. 

The news started and Remedy's eyes went wide. Sitting at the news desk were two news anchors, one a human male, but the other a yellow unicorn mare with teal mane. She wanted to grab Rosetta to come look at their fellow pony that was still doing her old human job despite everything, but decided to let her marefriend get what she needed done instead.

"Welcome to a very special edition of your local ten o'clock news. I'm Paul Rutherford," the man said.

"And I'm still Carolyn Stafford," the unicorn said with bemusement.

"We will be covering a lot of important news tonight, but I would like everyone to join our team in welcoming Carolyn back to the work," Paul said as he clapped for his coworker.

"I appreciate that more than you'll ever know, Paul," Carolyn said, seeming to tear up slightly. She then giggled. "Our first story on the day is..well..me."

"Carolyn, for our viewers who don't know, had been doing field reporting about the ETS pandemic for the majority of the time of outbreak. Viewers may have noticed the clear signs of infection as time went on. We are overjoyed here at NBC that she has chosen to come back to us, despite her transformation. We will start off by having her tell her story. To you, Carolyn."

"Thanks, Paul," Carolyn said with a smile. She lit her horn up and levitate a cup of water up for her to sip from before putting it back down. "As it is very obvious to anyone looking at me, I am now a unicorn. I finished up my transformation the day before the cure for ETS went out. I can't even describe in words what the actual transformation was like, and I am glad I never have to deal with that again; and I definitely won't be as I have a cutie mark on my flank."

Carolyn then stood up in her chair briefly and showed her flank. On her flank was a microphone, a pencil, and a notepad. She quickly sat back down.

"That mark certainly seems to indicate you are intent on reporting the news," Paul said. 

"I actually got it when I was told I would still be welcome to do so. I had been terrified to tell the truth that I wouldn't be allowed to," Carolyn explained.

"Well, we are all glad to have you back," Paul said. He then cleared his throat before continuing. "Carolyn, there has been a lot of talk about how the transformed seem disinterested with their human lives and have had radical changes in personality. As an insider to this phenomenon would you care to say anything about it?"

"I can't deny there have been a lot of changes in how I think," Carolyn said slowly. "You might notice I am doing fine with pronouns, but I have to consciously think of the correct pronouns to use them. Instinctively I will use pony terms if just talking quickly. I was always social, but I am much more social now. I have to remind myself too that most humans aren't as easygoing with physical contact as I am now. And of course I am as comfortable in my pony body as if it were what I was born with."

"You also seem to have no problem using that horn to levitate objects," Paul observed.

"Yes, it is impossible to describe how much things just come naturally to me now. Aside from the fact I am clearly shorter I have found I can do most tasks that I could do before along with a host of others I couldn't. The only thing that I can't seem to figure out is driving," Carolyn laughed.

"Why driving?" Paul asked.

"Hooves don't reach the pedals and I can't properly work the pedals with my magic without actually watching it. I kind of have to have line of sight to work, at least for now. I am trying to get better at it. Constantly applying pressure to the gas for extended periods of time by magic seems like it would be exhausting though," Carolyn explained.

The two continued talking on for several minutes, with Carolyn telling about life as a pony. Remedy just watched in fascination the unicorn that had just gone back to her old life and just reintegrated herself into human society. 

She nearly jumped out of her fur when Rosetta came and cuddled up with her suddenly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Rosetta giggled.

"My fault, just really focused I guess," Remedy said as she caught her breath.

"It's okay," Rosetta smiled. The dark blue mare turned her attention to the tv. "Seeing her do a job like that gives me more confidence that I can end up in that professor job someday."

"Hopefully this isn't something the station is just doing to boost ratings and use her," Remedy said glumly.

"No need to be cynical," Rosetta pouted. "But I hope not too."

"Did you get whatever you needed to get done finished?" Remedy asked.

"Yes, no, who knows. Family wasn't very helpful. Of course it's hard to keep up with their typing by tapping keys with a pencil. I think it kind of just drove in the idea that I have to figure this out on my own. At least that's what little I got from them," Rosetta grumbled.

"Oh," Remedy said. She wanted to ask more, but didn't want to press.

They sat and finished watching the news together. There actually was a good bit of news that was interesting. The gas stations, at least the majority of them, were going to be pushing to open again as soon as possible. Corporate offices of companies were making calls to find out who of their workforce were still present in the area. They were going to be doing everything they could to open again by the end of the week even if they had to bring employees in from elsewhere. 

Most major utilities and a lot of the larger chains of companies that operated grocery stores had similar plans with less ambitious time scales. They did seem to be determined to all begin operating soon and would be hiring humans locally for temporary to permanent work as well, just as soon as they took assessment of the situation. 

Some companies were even open to hiring ponies for some positions supposedly. Though they made it clear that in those cases unicorns would be preferred for many of those positions if they did. Humans apparently didn't have much faith in most of the pony types to be able to do tasks. Remedy could see the reasoning, but believed that many were still things any pony was still capable of doing.

She wasn't sure how many ponies would actually be interested. Ponies like this news anchor and Rosetta seemed a minority.

"Well, I had some very special research planned for tonight," Rosetta said as the news came to an end.

"What's that?" Remedy asked with curiosity.

"Luna said she knew a pony that shared my interests. I figured we might try to figure out who that might be," Rosetta said with a smile.

"Um, how're we going to possibly figure that out?" Remedy said in confusion.

"We can't for sure," Rosetta admitted. "But we might take an educated guess based on a few facts. We have to guess that if it is a pony from this world that he or she is likely at or near ground zero, Lazy Pines, if Luna has actually met them. My best guess is that if this all started there that the Equestrians made their first contact near there," Rosetta said in a slightly lecturing tone.

"That makes sense I guess. Not sure that is certain, but there is a certain logic to it. I'm not sure how helpful that's going to be," Remedy said uncertainty.

"It just takes a little bit of research to narrow down things down. Start looking on social media to find who had such interests in that area before everything started. It was a small town right? There can't be that many ancient history buffs out in it," Rosetta explained.

"That makes sense. So, we're just looking for anypony that posted up history stuff on social media or listed a job involving history from that area," Remedy confirmed.

"Exactly, not that big a place so should be a short list," Rosetta said happily.

In short order Rosetta was back on the computer with Remedy looming on as another set of eyes. Once the general search parameters were in Rosetta didn't have too much typing to do, and just navigated through sites with the mouse. After several minutes of searching Rosetta gasped as she seemed to hit the jackpot.

"This has to be her, Sarah Tanner. She has her own page for research and theories. They aren't exactly my type of history, as this is all pre-Columbian America stuff, but look at this stuff," Rosetta said with excitement.

"It is all kind of over my head. I can tell it is a history stuff. Is she an archaeologist or something?" Remedy asked.

"Archaeologist slash anthropologist from the looks of it. Her most recent stuff is the most interesting. See these?" Remedy said as she pulled up a recent article this Sarah Tanner had posted.

"Is she talking about Indians having contact with ponies," Remedy asked with wonder as she looked at the article.

"Native Americans, not Indians, but yeah, that's what it looks like. Do you know what this means? She could be like the most important archaeologist and anthropologist living today if she was looking at this stuff before ETS even broke out," Rosetta said excitedly.

"But these aren't exactly your thing," Remedy said.

"Oh, who cares about what my exact fields were up to this point? This stuff is big and a whole new field of history just opening up! And if this is who Luna was talking about I am so excited," Rosetta said in a near squeal.

"I can see why. This is like finding ancient pony history on Earth," Remedy said as she continued reading the page on the screen.

"And if I can get in contact with her I could be right there at the start of it. Like one of the first Egyptologists or Assyriologists," Rosetta now squealed on earnest excitement.

Remedy looked at the screen and just kept reading. It could definitely be exactly as Rosetta said, and definitely something they would expect ponies to be looking to get involved in. She would definitely have to ask Luna about this Sarah Tanner next time Luna visited.
> Chapter 26: Rain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The majority of the evening was spend internet browsing for things of Rosetta's choosing. Remedy was much better informed about any number of things she never knew even existed. A lot of it was extremely interesting; there was a temple somewhere off in the Middle East that had this massive block of stone that was heavier than anything any modern crane could lift, yet it had been put on top of two other massive stones to form the massive doorway to an ancient temple, and no one really knows how those ancient humans actually managed to do it. Rosetta was quick to gush about the ingenuity of ancient people working with limited technology to accomplish big tasks. Remedy had to agree with her on that, and wondered what kinds of things the ponies of today could accomplish with the limited knowledge they had of their own abilities.

All of this was actually much more interesting to Remedy than what she would have initially guessed it would be before today. A good part of that was probably seeing her marefriend's enthusiasm for the subject be shown. Rosetta all but glowed as she talked about ancient temples, religions, philosophies, rulers, battles, and various achievements. Her passion was impossible to mask, and Remedy found it impossible not to smile as Rosetta happily carried on and explained things. A pony caught up in their passion was a beautiful thing, and Rosetta caught up in her passion was doubly beautiful.

As the night wore on though the endless listing of names and places that all sounded almost indistinguishable from one another to Remedy's ears started to get to her, and despite not being tired her eyes started to get heavy. Rosetta caught sight of it and closed out the browser, before kissing her companion.

"You lasted longer than just about anypony ever has before you started getting bored," Rosetta said with a smile. 

"A lot of it really was interesting, but the thing that made it most interesting was you. I think you will do well if you ever get that professor position. You transmit that enthusiasm well when you're talking,"" Remedy said.

"You're just saying that because you're my marefriend," Rosetta said with grimace. 

"No, I am just extra caught up in it because you're my marefriend. We have been at this for a few hours now. If you were dealing with say a class for just an hour or hour and a half at a time you would definitely keep their attention and get them almost as caught up in it as you are," Remedy assured her.

"You really think so?" Rosetta said doubtfully.

Remedy gripped her marefriend with her forehooves and turned her so Rosetta's cutie mark was being put on display. Looking her marefriend in the eyes Remedy spoke. "Look at your flank. See that mark? That mark means you are good at this and this is what you have passion for. You have every reason to be confident in yourself. If you get your chance you will be able to do that job and be good at it."

"You make it really hard for me not to just start trying to bump fuzzies with you, do you know that?" Rosetta said with a sigh.

"Bump fuzzies?" Remedy said with confusion.

"It's a euphemism dear, for sex, one that feels very appropriate since we are both very fuzzy. You are somehow even cuter by being so completely ignorant about things like that," Rosetta giggled and gave Remedy a kiss.

"Is the fact that we haven't done..that yet the thing that is bothering you?" Remedy asked as her mood dropped.

"No," Rosetta said with a shake of her head. "And don't worry about it. I told you it isn't a bad thing. And yeah, you not having sex with me yet is frustrating, but..actually forget I said anything about the frustrating part. I am not pressuring you. If I did that I wouldn't be..," she caught herself and gave herself a shake. "I am really bumbling this up."

"Maybe I don't mind being pressured," Remedy suggested helpfully.

"Sweet Flanks, you can't even say the word with a straight face," Rosetta said with a long suffering face.

"Well, isn't that a good thing? I am a lesbian after all," Remedy smirked.

"A joke? I think I heard a joke. We are making progress still. Say the word, I'll pressure you on that," Rosetta said with a half contained chuckle.

"The word," Remedy said with a completely innocent tone.

Rosetta gave her a flat look back. 

"You're still adorable, and you're still avoiding saying sex," Rosetta said, crossing her forelegs in front of her and smirking back.

"Um, sex," Remedy said in a whisper that was barely audible by even pony standards.

"I think that a dog whistle might be more audible than that," Rosetta said. She then got a slightly thoughtful look on her face. "Do you think we can really can hear dog whistles now? We've much better hearing now. That would make the dog whistle more audible than you for sure."

"Okay, sex," Remedy said, looking like she swallowed a full lemon.

"Better, but still proving my point. You're still uncomfortable just saying the word. That means you're even more uncomfortable doing the deed. We're not going to do any of that till you're comfortable, no matter how horny you get me. I'm not going to do that to you," Rosetta said as she booped Remedy on the muzzle with a hoof.

"I just want to make you happy," Remedy said dejectedly.

"And you do that, constantly. Which is a big part of why I'm so eager to do more than just cuddle with you. I won't be happy if I make you uncomfortable doing something intimate though, okay?" Rosetta said fondly.

"Alright," Remedy said without looking up from her hooves.

"You're getting yourself all worked up over nothing. By the way, that was two pieces of humor from you too. You're loosening up a bit, that makes me happy to hear too," Rosetta said. She jumped down to the floor and nuzzled her companion.

Remedy nuzzled back but still seemed down.

"I used to be very focused on John's happiness with no concern for my own. Please, don't do that to yourself for me. There has to be some balance to it," Rosetta said. Then she looked down at her hooves for a moment and took a deep breath. "You want to talk about what has been on my mind? Let's talk about it. I'm clearly hurting you by not doing so."

Remedy looked up at her marefriend. She briefly considered saying that Rosetta didn't need to do that, but Rosetta was right, it was hurting her. The grey night pony instead considered how to best consider both their needs as asked. 

"Let's go take a quick flight, get a little air, and find somewhere more comfortable to talk. That gives you a few more minutes to think about what you want to say," Remedy offered.

"Thanks, I probably need that. I really don't want to screw this up," Rosetta said with a smile.

"Come on then. I'll lead the way and find us somewhere peaceful," Remedy said as she started to the door.

Rosetta nodded and followed close behind.

The two left the church sanctuary and did a quick glance around. The human guards watched them as they exited the church, but considering the two of them were likely the only things to look at that wasn't very surprising. Those guards must get very bored late at night.

Remedy quickly took to the air with Rosetta close behind. She did a brief circle around the church grounds as she decided on a direction and then went south towards the hospital. Following the interstate highway.

After a few minutes of flight, but before they could get to the hospital area Remedy spotted a spot that looked appealing. She angled her path slightly east and over a large stretch of marsh and woods. There was a little clearing in the trees made by one large old oak that likely made it difficult for any other tree to get enough room to grow in its immediate clearing.

They came down into the clearing and did a brief look around. The area was a little oddity in geography as most the rest of the area was pine trees, marsh, and Cyprus trees out in the marsh. This was like a little meadow in an island of marsh. Remedy spotted several old bricks laying about, whatever they had once formed back in the pre-Civil War days long since forgotten.

"This was probably part of a plantation ground two hundred years ago. This tree was likely planted here deliberately by some long dead human," Rosetta said as she glanced around at the bricks. "No trace of the place now though. It's amazing to think that this area likely looked extremely different just a few short centuries ago. It seems so recently to me since I study ancient history. I wonder how soon all of human civilization would have been swallowed up again by nature if ETS hadn't stopped."

"It's amazing to see how thoroughly it all can vanish," Remedy said as she looked around, trying to imagine this place as the farmland it must have once been. The only hint of that was this tree and those few scattered bricks that indicated something once stood here. Actually on closer inspection she saw traces of where an old dirt road might once have been, with traces of it going through the meadow and disappearing into the trees on either side.

"So let's talk," Rosetta said as she came and laid down next to Remedy. Remedy laid down close and cuddled.

"Whenever you're ready," Remedy said.

"That's a problem," Rosetta said with a dry laugh. "Actually, that's the problem, sort of."

Remedy tensed up a bit at hearing that for some reason.

"Okay, here goes nothing," Rosetta said as she took a deep breath, held it a moment, and let it out. "I..I want to say that I love you. Like not like you, love you. And that scares and confuses me."

"Why?" Remedy asked.

"We've been together just a few days is why. It seems like it is way too soon for me to feel certain of that kind of thing," Rosetta said with a sigh. "I'm sitting here second guessing myself because of that. Am I feeling that because it is true? Am I feeling that because I get too attached too easily? Is it a pony thing where it's just that easy to fall in love? If it's just a pony thing is that something I should be worried about or just accept? Is this some sort of bounce back thing? I just got out of a relationship that I committed myself to when I shouldn't have, so I've got to sit and question myself."

"That all seems like things to worry about," Remedy said carefully. 

Remedy herself was filled with fear right now. She understood now why Rosetta didn't want to talk to her about this until Rosetta had more time to think about it. Knowing how scared she now felt her heart went out to her marefriend too, Rosetta must be really scared now that she was going to mess up something special. Remedy needed to focus on Rosetta and her fears, and help her understand them. It was her job after all.

"Alright, so let's start by stripping away the illegitimate fears from the legitimate fears, okay?" Remedy said as she focused.

"Alright, fear is your thing, I trust you. What are the things that I really am just being silly about?" Rosetta said hopefully.

"Is it a pony thing to fall in love quickly and whether you should worry about it if that is so. We're ponies and we don't think exactly the same way we did as humans. If you fall in love easier as a pony then it just means it is easier to fall in love legitimately. I think the fact that my mom and Tonya got physically intimate and continued being friends without a single thought of a relationship is evidence that ponies don't just fall in love too easily," Remedy said. 

"Anything else?" Rosetta asked as she seemed to be thinking over that part.

"I'm not John. He hurt you and I won't, I promise you that," Remedy said.

"So, does the rest of that stuff I said seem legitimate then?" Rosetta asked quietly.

"Yeah, those likely are things you need to think about, and I'm not sure I can help you with those," Remedy said as she looked down.

Rosetta sat in thought for a long few minutes with Remedy saying nothing.

"There is me to consider; whether you're wasting your time or not with me," Remedy said slowly.

It was now Rosetta's turn to tense up. Remedy took a moment to consider her own feelings.

"And?" Rosetta asked worriedly after Remedy didn't continue immediately.

"I never even let it enter into my mind that I wouldn't follow you to any school somewhere across the country while you chased your dreams. All the great things you say about me I can say about you too. I don't want ever be without you. It brightens up my night to see you smile. I think I love you too. I am just as attached to you as you are to me," Remedy said finally.

Rosetta smiled and sighed. The two nuzzled affectionately, and Remedy kissed her marefriend on the lips with much more passion and eagerness than normal. Rosetta responded on kind.

"I think we should go cuddle up underneath the tree over there, I think it might rain," Remedy said after they broke their kiss.

Rosetta looked up at the sky in confusion, there were clearly no clouds in the sky. She then turned and looked at Remedy and Remedy's intentions suddenly dawned on her. She looked for a moment like she was going to think up some objection, but then instead smiled and nodded.

The two settled down under the oak and got back to cuddling, and nuzzling. Kissing resumed and soon progressed into caressing and love bites.

Then it rained.
> Chapter 27: The Good Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two mares were far too worn out to want to do the flight back to the church in the morning, and there was no pressing reason to need to get back. They instead choose to stay for the day in their lovemaking spot beneath the oak and sleep. 

Remedy stirred from her sleep that evening to light nibbling on her ear. 

"Come on, Sweet Flanks, time to rise and shine. Or maybe it is rise and shade since we are out at night? Not sure, we need a better terminology for that," she heard Rosetta say playfully in her ear.

"Are we doing round two?" Remedy said as she opened an eye.

"I think we already did, along with rounds three, four, and five. You definitely got that tension out of me," Rosetta giggled.

"Did I do okay?" Remedy asked. 

"You did great, and by round three you were definitely hitting all the right spots consistently. I take it you're feeling very comfortable with sex now if you are trying to tempt me into round six?" Rosetta said then gave Remedy a kiss.

"Definitely," Remedy sighed with contentment.

"Well, that's going to need to wait. We can't just go missing for a full day without a word to anypony or we'll worry you mother," Rosetta said with her own disappointed sigh.

"They can wait a little while longer," Remedy said.

"I love you, but sleep schedules don't love us. Get up, or I'm going to tickle that spot by the base of your tail," Rosetta said with mock sternness.

"That's blackmail," Remedy moaned and attempted to wrap her tail around the offending spot.

"Hey, that's what comes from rolling around with your marefriend. She finds out where all your spots are," Rosetta giggled. "I'm serious though, we need to get going. We'll catch up with everypony, get something to eat, and the rest of the night is ours."

"Food does sound good, I am hungrier than normal," Remedy said as she ran a foreleg over her stomach.

"You burned a lot of energy last night and didn't eat any food this morning, so of course you're hungry," Rosetta said as she nudged Remedy to stand.

Remedy noted the wording and blushed a bit. She brought herself to her hooves and gave a kiss to Rosetta.

"Alright, let's get going then. We can stop by the AV room, get those spices, and see what we can do about making hay more interesting," Remedy said as she spread her wings.

"I was going to bug you about this morning, but we got distracted," Rosetta grinned as she spread her wings in turn.

They took off into the air and in a few short minutes came back to the church grounds. 

There was a fair amount of activity going on. Actually, there was a lot of activity going on.

There were ponies walking in from down the road, and there were far more pegasi in the air and on the grounds than had been living at the church. Most notably there were many humans at the shelter that definitely were not part of the government relief crews. Way more humans than ponies.

The two night ponies just hovered and stared at this silently for several seconds when they came in sight of it.

"Now that we're here I'm reconsidering what I said a few minutes ago. Do we really want to eat? I'm not sure I want to fly into whatever all this is," Rosetta said as she gestured with a foreleg at the regular circus of activity.

"We've got to unfortunately. Time to find out what the hell is going on," Remedy replied with trepidation. She then flew down into the center of the church grounds.

They came down and landed on top of one of the many trucks the the government workers had come in. The census guys were out working again, and the two ponies got a dirty look from the nearest one for their choice of landing spot, but weren't ordered away. They got an entirely different and unexpected response instead.

"Can you ponies please tell Sunset Blessing we need some of her unicorns to come give us a hand, hoof, horn, whatever? We are drowning in work here,"  the census worker called out to them.

"Um, okay," Remedy called out, completely baffled still about what was even going on.

"Looks like all the local humans are coming out off the woodwork. Sure are a lot of them. Way more than I expected," Rosetta said as she glanced around.

"They've all been pent up in their homes so it was kind of hard to tell," Remedy observed. "Where are we going to even find my mom in all this mess?"

"Why are we even looking for your mother to begin with would be a good question," Rosetta replied.

"Best guess is she's somehow responsible for all of this. Perhaps this is a continuation of the food drive?" Remedy asked rhetorically. 

"There're so many ponies and humans here. Let's just find some pony or human that seems to be trying to direct this chaos and ask them," Rosetta said as she picked herself back up into the air.

It took them a few minutes of looking around, a surprising feat considering the church grounds only took up so much space, but they finally found Tonya in the mass of activity.

The pegasus had set herself up on top of a pickup truck and had other pegasi coming down to her, speak for a moment, and then depart again. She was definitely doing some sort of directing with them.

"Tonya!" Remedy shouted as she flew down toward her friend.

Tonya looked up and gave a tired smile and wave as yet another pegusus came down to her.

"Good to see you two. Give me two seconds and I can talk..maybe," Tonya said hurriedly. She then turned to the pegasus stallion that had just landed. "Is everything in order around the Wal-Mart?" 

"Been making sure roads are clear, parking lots usable, and checked around inside three more times to make sure there were no more squatters. The police haven't gotten there yet though," the stallion replied. 

"Well, you'll have to just camp out there until they do show up. That place has got food that the humans need. Some people from their corporation should be here tomorrow to see what can be donated and start getting a timetable on when to get it open. We can't have the place getting looted any more till then. Sorry about that, but just the way it is," Tonya told the stallion.

"Yes ma'am," the stallion replied. He didn't look too thrilled with the idea of camping out at the Wal Mart, but he flew away without complaint. 

"Okay, you two. Am I supposed to be giving you orders about something?" Tonya asked them with obvious exhaustion in her voice.

"No, not as far as we know anyway. We just got back. What is going on and where the heck is my mom?" Remedy asked bewilderly.

"Oh, makes sense I guess. Sorry really tired, not thinking straight," Tonya said with a yawn. "I've been at this all freaking day. What's going on? Let's see; food drive, census of the humans, trying to see what we can do to help them get going again, dealing with like a hundred shelters of all sizes, dealing with all the ponies that were held up in their houses just like the humans were. It's a clusterfucken cockamanny cookoo house. Somehow we ate getting it all done though. Gonna sleep a week after this is all done."

"Okay, so where is my mom in all this?" Remedy asked again.

"Oh, right, you asked that. Sorry, tired. As soon as the last few pegasi report in I am calling it for tonight," Tonya said with another yawn. "Anyway, Blessing went into the school a little while ago with the suits."

"What?!" Remedy shouted.

"Oh, pretty sure it ain't bad. Think they were all impressed she was getting so much done so quickly. This whole thing is her doing after all. I'm not mad at her, just tired," Tonya said sleepily.

"We'll leave you to finish up your..stuff you're doing then. Thanks, Tonya," Rosetta said to her.

"They took my mom into their building," Remedy fretted.

"Don't worry. They can't do anything to her. If all this is happening because of her then there would be a riot if the touched one hair on her tail. She's protected by her own popularity," Rosetta assured her.

"I suppose so," Remedy said slowly. "But they were already convinced she was some new Sunset Shimmer in the making or something. And they were worried about what kind of influence she might be gaining. I can't imagine they are going to just let this all go without trying to intimidate her at least."

"We just need to go see her. Come on," Rosetta said as she took off to the church's school. Remedy followed close on her tail.

They found their way blocked again by a collection of guards when they arrived.

"Any chance we can get inside? My mom is in there," Remedy asked them.

"Your mother is Sunset Blessing?" One of the guards said skeptically.

"Yes, my mom is Sunset Blessing. Why is that a surprise this time around?" Remedy said with frustration.

"Well, she's a unicorn, and you're a night pony," the guard explained, as if that made a lick of sense.

"It doesn't matter what type of pony she is and I am. We have lots of parents with foals of different types than them. ETS didn't really seem to care about matching types between families. Can I see my mom?" Remedy asked evenly.

"She'll be out sooner or later, you'll just have to wait till then. The big wig for the whole region is in their with her," the soldier explained.

"Wonderful," Remedy muttered as she glared up at the building.

So they sat and waited. Time passed by and pony activity around the church seemed to slow down, and eventually there were a large host of ponies together at the haystack getting well deserved food. The census of the humans continued on though. The census workers and the humans waiting in line were getting visibly frustrated with the amount of time it was taking, but it didn't seem any of them were losing their cools, yet.

After the sun had completely set, and most of the ponies had finished eating the door finally opened to reveal a very tired looking Sunset Blessing walking out.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Remedy said quickly as her mother exited the building.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? A little tired, it has been a long day, but a productive one," Blessing said with a sleepy smile.

"What did they want with you?" Rosetta asked.

"They are going to be bringing in some humans from some small towns on and off over the next few days. Going to ask me to sit and talk to them. They actually want you two to talk to them too, and a few other ponies," Blessing explained.

"Talk to them about what? Why are they going to be here?" Remedy asked.

"They want to get to know about ponies, and what we can do; get a feel for what it is like dealing with us. Most times towns ETS all but skipped over aside from maybe one or two infections. All small places, very rural without a lot of contact with bigger places," Blessing said.

"And why are these places interested in ponies? Why is the government asking us to talk to them to begin with?" Remedy asked.

"Most of us want our own place. These little towns are all dying out. Their foals move away to places that have better opportunities, their older populations are getting too old, so few foals in the towns they can't even have their own schools anymore. They're desperate for a chance to revitalize their towns and get population in before they just vanish altogether. Most of us want somewhere to go, it is a perfect match," Blessing said as she stifled a yawn.

"And why were they asking you in particular to talk to them? They've been suspicious of you since they got here," Remedy asked. 

"I am no threat to anypony or the government. They're impressed with how much I accomplished today, and want me to help convince ponies that this exodus is a good thing; which it is," Blessing explained.

The unicorn let out a big yawn and looked towards the haystacks.

"I'm going to eat and turn in for the night. Wish I could talk more, but tomorrow is going to be a long day too. More organizing ponies, more talking with humans. The Lord's work is never done," Blessing said as she left towards the haystack.

Remedy and Rosetta just looked at one another, unsure how to feel about any of this.
> Chapter 28: Late Night Shopping at Wal Mart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The haystacks would be refilled in two days they were told. The fact that they were being refilled rather than replaced with something else was a depressing thought.

"We forgot to get the spices out of the AV room," Rosetta lamented as she finished chewing a mouthful of hay.

"We can still go get them if you want," Remedy said.

"No, we can just do that the next meal, I guess," Rosetta replied. "Too bad we can't feed this stuff to the humans."

"I think I heard somewhere humans can eat hay. It just doesn't digest right for them. Trade off is they can digest meat fine and while it makes those who can digest things like hay sick," Remedy said as she bent down to bite into some more.

"Maybe we can eat more things like grass and leaves that could bring some variety to this. If our digestive tracts can handle hay they can handle those, right?" Rosetta mused.

"Probably, but a lot of it might make us sick too. It would be trial and error with threat of being poisoned along the way," Remedy said after she finished chewing.

Rosetta sighed, bent down and took up some more hay in her mouth. She finished chewing that up and then got up and walked a few steps away from the hay in a sign she was done eating. Remedy joined her a moment later.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Rosetta asked.

"Maybe we should go help that one pegasus stallion out. You know, the one that Tonya told to stay on guard duty at Wal Mart. Guy is probably beyond exhausted and we're the natural guards at night anyway," Remedy suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. It'll be nice to get back to patrolling. I've got to admit I've been feeling a little antsy about not doing that lately," Rosetta said as she looked towards the human guards over by the school.

"Let's get going then, and let that stallion get some rest," Remedy said as she spread her wings and hopped into a hover.

The two flew over the interstate with a course northward. It quickly occurred to Remedy that they didn't know for sure which Wal-Mart they were actually supposed to be going to, but this was the closest, and this the most likely Tonya would have been giving instructions about. 

There was no activity on the interstate at all, not a single car on the road. There hadn't been any for days now, aside from when the government relief workers had rolled into the area, but hopefully that would be changing soon. Things really needed to get back into action again around here soon for the humans sakes. Seeing the shear volume of them at the church had been a wake up call about how many were in the area still. There were a lot of ponies, but there were still more humans. There were plenty of humans that had fled the area too. When they came back the pony population in the region would likely be outnumbered considerably.

They came up to the Wal-Mart and quickly spotted the very tired looking stallion perched on top of the building looking over the parking lot and entrances. They descended down and greeted him.

"We'll take it from here, go get some food and sleep," Remedy said to him.

"Oh thank God, you have no idea how much I was dreading having to spend all night out here," the stallion said with a grateful smile.

"Anything we should know about?" Rosetta asked as she landed.

"A few humans have been creeping about, most of them are easy enough to chase off once they realize they've been spotted. Place was partially looted inside over the last few days, but most the stuff they have in their backroom hasn't been touched yet. There were a few squatters my friends and I chased out. Felt bad for that, just homeless saps," the stallion explained. 

"Police are supposed to be coming I heard?" Remedy asked.

"Supposedly they are. Haven't seen any sign of them. Of course haven't seen sign of them in days anywhere. They're supposed to have gotten back to work, and some ponies got told they'd be coming, but ain't seen them yet," the stallion answered, before yawning.

"Okay, well, we've got this. Go take care of yourself," Remedy said as she took up his previous position.

"Much obliged. See you gals in the morning after I get some sleep," the stallion said.

The two night ponies settled in on the edge of the building where they could get a good view of the entire parking lot, entrances, and surrounding area. All the lights for most everything were off, including the parking lot lights. In the distance they could see the traffic lights were flashing yellow rather than going through their normal cycles, and provided the only other illumination in the area aside from the stars and moon.

"So what do you think about all the ponies moving to wherever these towns are?" Rosetta asked.

"Not sure what to think. I know ponies are frustrated they can't do their own things here, but there are clearly some that still want to continue their old lives," Remedy answered.

"It feels like a bad idea, like segregation. Like the humans want to just push us off into ghettos or something," Rosetta said doubtfully.

"The idea of us living apart from most humans doesn't seem like something that would get most humans feeling more trusting of us," Remedy agreed.

"Exactly, it just reinforces distrust between ponies and humans," Rosetta said.

"What do you think your sister would want to do?" Remedy asked.

Rosetta sat silent for a moment not answering.

"Not sure to tell the truth. For the earth ponies in particular it seems hard to see a future without letting them get to farming. It's just so ingrained in instinct. I know our instincts aren't the end all and be all of who we are, but it's hard just try to separate ourselves completely from them, you know?" Rosetta said.

"We're out here guarding a Wal-Mart and it feels good to be doing so. Hard to argue we don't feel the need to give into instinct considering that wouldn't be something either of us would be thrilled to be doing before becoming night ponies," Remedy observed.

"Yeah, it does give a sense of contentment, like an itch that's getting scratched. Human me would likely have dreaded doing something like this," Rosetta said as she looked over the area, looking for signs of movement.

"You can kind of see where the humans get the idea we are all brainwashed when you think about it that way," Remedy said. She too, was scanning the area for movement.

"It's our choice to actually follow through with our instincts. We could fly away from here if we wanted to," Rosetta said.

"But we don't, and that's where the fear we are not thinking for ourselves comes from," Remedy said.

"So do you think we're brainwashed?" Rosetta said, turning her attention to Remedy rather than the area she had been watching.

"I'm saying we should be aware that humans are going to see that. Ponies like my dad who really don't want this are resisting it. We have pony instincts now, and we accept those. We had human instincts before that impacted our thinking too that we just accepted," Remedy said, still watching the area.

"Like what?" Rosetta asked.

"Fear of things that are different seems an obvious one. We seem to have much less prejudices based on others being different than we did as humans. We can try to deny it, but we all were prejudiced in some way shape or form. I think that was just human instinct," Remedy said.

"Are you suggesting ponies aren't capable of prejudice?" Rosetta asked skeptically.

"Ponies are not as naturally prone to it is what I am suggesting, not that we are immune to it," Remedy explained. "Look at my mom. Even look at my dad who is trying to hold onto his humanity. Prejudice is just less a thing for ponies."

"Anything else?" Rosetta asked.

"I think humans are instinctually more greedy than ponies too. I have yet to hear a pony give a damn about owning or acquiring anything. All those ponies at the shelter and how many have you heard even mention anything about their stuff?" Remedy asked.

"You don't paint humans in a very positive light," Rosetta said with a laugh.

"Oh, it is how you look at things. Greed and prejudice can be perfectly good survival instincts and can have positive parts too," Remedy said.

"I suppose so. Like how companies looking to make more money find new and innovative ways of doing things to earn an extra buck. It's motivated by greed, but it pushes innovation," Rosetta said thoughtfully.

"And you heard Twilight Sparkle on the news. She was impressed by how much humans had achieved. Since we have lost that greed instinct it will be harder to keep pushing new innovations that way," Remedy said. "Prejudice has its uses sometimes. A bit of skepticism about strangers rather than quick trust is probably safer in the long run, and something that could hurt ponies for not having as much of. We should have some fear that others may not have our best intentions at heart. Ponies are way too trusting."

"It is an interesting concept, how much humans were driven by instincts rather than thought. One of the things you learn studying history is that humanity never really changes. Our circumstances did, but it kept repeating the same cycles of things over and over. Looking at the past you can kind of see the blueprints for how societies think," Rosetta said as she got back to looking over the area.

"Amazing to see how much you weren't in control of your actions before due to instinct after those instincts are gone. I hated myself because I was trans and couldn't bring myself to see it, being trans was something different and I was as guilty of prejudice as my parents. I see that now, but human me was a slave to human instinct," Remedy said thoughtfully.

"And now we're trading our old instincts for new ones," Rosetta said.

"And just like before we should be aware they influence us and try to resist them when they are going to lead us into something bad," Remedy said.

"You're a bit of a thinker. Perhaps you should be enrolling in a university too, Sociology, Psychology, or something. Get to where you can better understand all this stuff and help other ponies understand it too," Rosetta suggested.

"Maybe, let's worry about getting you enrolled first before worrying about me," Remedy said. 

Remedy tensed up as she spotted movement, and Rosetta immediately caught the tensing as well. Both stared as they saw a human dressed all in black, with a hoodie on to further obscure seeing them, came into sight at the edge of the large parking lot heading clearly towards the Wal-Mart entrance.

The human continued until he was almost to the entrance before the two night ponies decided to warn him away.

"Store's closed, buddy. You'd best scram," Rosetta shouted down to him. 

The human, a man, jumped as they startled him. He looked around frantically before finally glancing up and scowling at them.

"You mind your own business, pony girl," he shouted up at them.

"Our business at the moment is making sure no one breaks into here. Beat it, before we beat you," Remedy shouted down menacingly.

"What's you gonna do? Bite my ankles? Why da fuck do you even care anyway? Keep your furry faces out of my business," the potential looter yelled up to them. He then started heading towards the entrance once again.

"Have it your way," Rosetta said quietly as she spread her wings. Remedy followed her gesture.

The two night ponies dive bombed the looter, striking him hard on the side and sending him down hard to the asphalt parking lot. They quickly retreated back a good distance in opposite directions of one another as they watched him get back to his feet.

"Oh hell no. You ain't getting away with that," the man said as he got back to his feet. 

Remedy spotted a glint of metal as the man reached into his hoodie, and recognized what she was looking at right away.

"He's got a gun," she called over to Rosetta.

"Hell yeah, I've got a gun. I'm giving you two little beasts one last chance to leave or I'm gonna start shooting," the man said threateningly as he pointed the weapon at Remedy.

"You can't aim that thing at both of us at once," Rosetta growled. The man turned around quickly and aimed at her instead.

"Yeah, but I can sure as hell take one of you out. You want that, pony? Which one of you is it going to be? The green maned one or you? Which one of you is going to end up dead?" The man threatened.

"Rosetta, yield," Remedy called to her marefriend in defeat. The bastard had a point. This wasn't worth one of them getting shot over. 

Rosetta looked defiant for a moment then relaxed her posture. "Go ahead and do what you want in there. How much can one creep loot anyway," she said defeatedly. 

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. Do what's good for you, and both of you get!" he shouted at them. 

The two night ponies glanced at one another and then took to the air and away from the Wal Mart.
> Chapter 29: Police? What Police?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pair retreated to a nearby building that overlooked the parking lot of the Wal Mart. Both were angry, but Rosetta was noticeably angrier.

"I can't believe we failed at keeping this place safe. Where the hell are the police? If they're supposed to be coming where are they?" Rosetta growled.

"There wasn't anything else we could do in this circumstance, we can't fight humans with guns. Not without one of us getting hurt or killed. I wasn't going to see you get shot," Remedy said as she looked back towards the Wal Mart.

"And I wasn't going to see you get shot either. It still isn't fair, this is what we're supposed to be doing as night ponies and we had to let that bastard do what he wanted. Now I know how the earth ponies feel about not being able to do their thing," Rosetta continued to fume as she stomped her hooves and flicked her tail angrily.

"Where is the police department at Summerville anyway? I know where some police departments are, but they are like county offices, or other cities not the local office," Remedy asked.

"I don't know, I just know where the North Charleston office, and the Goose Creek office are, but not the Summerville one. I guess we can look it up, but we would have to abandon watching over here to go do that," Rosetta said as she glanced back towards the Wal-Mart still flicking her tail.

"I can stay over here and keep an eye. I won't mess with that guy if he comes out, but can scare away any others that might show up. The pegasi managed to keep this place secure all day, there can't be that many armed robbers," Remedy said.

"Urgh, don't remind me that the featherheads got the job done and we didn't. It's supposed to be our job not theirs, but they managed it and we didn't," Rosetta said with frustration. Her face softened as she gazed at Remedy. "Are you sure though? I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll be fine. I'm not going to go tipping over any humans who have guns. If you do find the police somepony will need to be able to tell them what they are walking into. You just find out where that station is and then get them over here," Remedy instructed. 

"Okay, I'll try to be quick. Nervous about it though; I haven't been separated from you since you came to me at the hospital. Maybe I sound a little clingy, but I'm still nervous about it," Rosetta said with lowered ears.

"You weren't as upset when I suggested you go do something else when I dealt with my dad," Remedy said.

"I wasn't leaving you somewhere some human with a gun had just threatened you before," Rosetta said as she walked over and nuzzled her lover gently.

"You're being protective. Remember what we just said a few minutes ago about being aware of your instincts and not letting them get the better of you? I'm going to be fine. Not going to do more than shout at any others that come up. I promise," Remedy said as she nuzzled back.

Rosetta pulled back and glared at her partner.

"I don't think worrying about the safety of my marefriend is me just letting my night pony instincts getting to me; me fussing about the guy getting past us maybe, because that has me pissed, but not your safety," Rosetta said sternly. 

"Fair point, but I promise I will be safe. Just find where they are at and why they aren't out here doing their jobs," Remedy said.

"Okay, I'll be as quick as I can. Flying back to the church to look it up and then going who knows where after that to find the office will take some time," Rosetta said as she unfurled her wings.

"We have all night. I'll be right here waiting for you," Remedy replied.

Rosetta took off into the air and was quickly out of sight. Remedy sat down and just started surveying the area again. 

After what felt like at least an hour Remedy spotted their robber exiting the building with a shopping cart. It was laden with two massive big screen TV's and what looked like a ton of medicine. The television sets were likely not a big deal, would annoy the company, but they didn't matter in terms of helping the humans. The medicine could be a bigger deal, but there wasn't much she could do about that right now. Once he cleared the area she took to the air and just started circling the parking lot; hoping that making her presence clearly visible would dissuade any would be looters.

Time passed. At one point she thought she saw Rosetta cutting across the sky in the distance heading west, but her marefriend was too far away to call out too. It was probably best not to anyway, as she was likely heading to wherever the police department was.

A few other humans did come into the parking lot of close by a few times. She made a show of dipping down in front of the entrance when they got close and they promptly adjusted their course away from the building. There didn't seem to be any others this evening that were willing to chance trying to get by her.

There was one human she spotted trying to break into the gas station across the street. She briefly considered intervening, but eventually decided not to. This Wal-Mart was her charge to guard and the focus was on protecting food. The gas station might have some food, but nothing of significance. It was a concern for the humans when they tried to get things going again. She wouldn't be surprised if the place had already been looted anyway.

Time continued to tick by and she started to worry. She didn't have a great sense of time, but the moon had crossed a significant portion of the sky. Rosetta was taking a very long time to get the police. All Remedy could do was keep waiting though. At least there didn't seem to be any more trouble to worry about for tonight.

Finally, as the first rays of the pending sunrise could be seen in the distance, Rosetta came flying back into the area. She didn't look happy at all.

"Any more trouble?" Rosetta asked wearily as she came close.

"Nothing of note, a few that lost interest after they saw me. Our gun guy is gone, took off with non-food stuff," Remedy answered.

"So just a common crook and not a person that was hungry. Not sorry I knocked him down on the ground," Rosetta grumbled.

"So what's going on with the police?" Remedy asked as they continued to hover in the air.

"Bad news," Rosetta said as her ears dripped down. "They lost a lot of their officers to ETS. They don't even have a proper skeleton crew of officers to cover all the shifts. They pretty much are only sending officers out on call at night for the biggest emergencies, like murder or something. The day shift has a little more coverage and they will get some coverage here then, though it is likely only going to be one officer."

"Just getting a police car parked out front will dissuade a lot of would-be robbers," Remedy sighed. "So, mostly ponies huh? And unless they end up being unicorns they are just as helpless as us against armed robbers, if they even bother returning to work."

"Yep," Rosetta said dejectedly.

"What are we supposed to do? We can scare off most of them, but we clearly can't keep them all out," Remedy spread her forelegs wide as she spoke.

"Maybe we can get the soldiers the government sent down to help out? I don't know," Rosetta said uncertainly.

"There has to be a better way for us to do this. I can't believe we are just going to end up being helpless every single time a human pulls a gun. If that is so our entire race is in deep crap," Remedy as she flicked her tail towards the Wal Mart.

"Perhaps the night ponies that are gathering up in Charleston have some clue? We can see if other night ponies have any ideas, see what kinds of things they suggest?" Rosetta asked. 

"Who knows? We can try it. Won't be tonight though. It would take at least forty-five minutes to fly down to Charleston and another forty-five to fly back. It is coming up on dawn now," Remedy said as she looked towards the south where Charleston was located.

"We just wait here until we are relieved by the day ponies and try finding them tomorrow night. We can ask the humans about whether they can spare some guards when we get back to the church," Rosetta said.

"That works I guess. It means we might end up having this place unwatched tomorrow night though," Remedy replied.

"They weren't planning on us watching this anyway. We kind of took it upon ourselves," Rosetta said simply.

"That's true I suppose. Still feels like it was our job. Guess that is just night pony instincts," Remedy lamented. 

"Yeah, instincts suck sometimes," Rosetta grumbled.

The two settled in back to their earlier perch on top of the Wal-Mart and waited. 

The sun was well up by the time the pegasus that they had relieved earlier returned along with another pegasus stallion and a pegasus mare. The two night ponies were more than ready to see them by that point. It was going to be a late breakfast and late to bed.

"There's supposed to be one police officer showing up later. So hopefully you won't be here all day," Rosetta informed them as they came in for a landing.

"Any trouble last night?" The stallion from the before asked.

"Mostly ones that were easy to scare off. There was one guy that had a gun though. We weren't going to be able to stop him from getting in. He took off with things that weren't food though," Remedy said with a hint of shame that the robber had made off with anything at all.

"Can't blame you for not doing more in that case. Your lives aren't worth a bunch of human junk," the mare said. The other to pegasi nodded in agreement.

"Still makes us mad, but no help for it," Rosetta grumbled.

"We won't be back here tonight. We'll be elsewhere, hopefully the humans will figure something out so ponies aren't left guarding their stuff all night," Remedy said. 

"Hopefully," the stallion agreed.

The two night ponies took to the air and headed quickly back to the church.

On arrival back at the church it was again abuzz with activity. Most ponies had already been up for a while and eaten. As they came in for a landing they saw Sunset Blessing speaking with several ponies who all sat listening intently to her, Tonya among those. It was most likely Blessing making arrangements for how the daily activities were going to play out.

They stopped briefly by the schoolhouse and let the guards know that the ponies guarding the Wal Mart could definitely use some relief tonight and informed them about the state of the police department. The guards simply said they would pass the information on to Agent Simmons. Remedy pressed to try to see Simmons now, but was refused flatly. 

The two didn't bother with stopping by the AV room to get the spices before eating. They were simply too tired as it was nearly noon by the time they were done dealing with the guards. They simply eat their breakfast quietly, and then retreated to the AV room to get their day's sleep.
> Chapter 30: Uncle Sam Needs You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy and Rosetta were finally getting to eat their hay with some sort of seasoning and spices, and it was glorious.

"I know that I am just tasting the garlic and just the garlic, but after days of just plain hay I think I'm in heaven," Rosetta moaned with pleasure.

"Cinnamon and sugar hay over here, it's like cookies," Remedy said blissfully.

"Whenever the earth ponies start growing things for everypony we really need to insist they grow some of these. It really makes all the difference," Rosetta said through a full mouth of food.

"Excuse me, ma'ams," came a voice from behind them.

They turned with food still in their mouths to see one of the soldiers standing there.

"Yes?" Remedy asked with mouth still half full of food, completely not caring about her table manners.

"Big boss director for the area wants to speak with you two for a few minutes," the soldier replied.

"Can we finish eating?" Rosetta asked.

"He insisted on getting you right away. You two are apparently hard to catch at an opportune time," the soldier said apologetically.

The two mares looked at one another. Remedy gave Rosetta a shrug which Rosetta responded with an annoyed flip of her tail.

"Fine," Rosetta relented sourly.

They were led into the school and then into one of the various classrooms. Inside were Agent Simmons, a tall pale balding man in his fifties or sixties, and Sunset Blessing. Agent Simmons was just staring at Blessing as the site director lounged against a wall. Blessing had a notepad, on which she jotted notes with a pen held in her magic. The older man was reading through some things on an electronic tablet. 

After the two night ponies entered into the room the guard shut the door behind them. Simmons looked over at them and gave an impassive look. Blessing looked up at them and gave them both a smile, before turning her attention back to whatever she was working in. The older man didn't seem to acknowledge their arrival in any way.

"You're lucky we let you sleep today. Do you know how it is to find either of you at any given time? We half worried you took off into Charleston like the other night ponies in the area after the other day when no one saw you return," Simmons grumbled.

"I never heard anything about you needing to know where we are at all times. We aren't prisoners here; we can come and go as we please, right?" Remedy said coldly, not liking Simmons' tone.

"No need to rile the night ponies up Simmons. We're trying to be friends here, remember?" The older gentleman spoke up without taking his eyes off the tablet. 

"Yes sir," Simmons said quickly.

The man did a few quick notes with his fingers on the tablet and then set it down on the desk, before turning to the couple.

"I am Director Baker. I am in charge of all operations from Charleston to Columbia in South Carolina. The majority of you ponies in the state are concentrated in these three counties, so they are my primary focus," the director introduced himself. "You in the grey with the green mane and tail are Phobia Remedy, correct? And you in the dark blue and purple are Haley Martinez?"

"It's actually Rosetta Stone now," Rosetta corrected.

"Aww, forgive me. I wasn't briefed on that update to your name. But I see I have the right ponies," Baker said with a smile.

"So, what do you want with us?" Remedy asked.

"I'm hoping you can help us with a little..problem..we're having with your fellow night ponies in the immediate area. Specifically all the ones who have migrated into Charleston proper over the last week. Are you familiar with them?" Baker asked.

"We actually aren't. We heard about them recently and had planned on checking that out tonight," Remedy said.

"Have you heard what they have been doing in Charleston?" Baker asked.

The couple shook their heads.

"Okay, then I can give you some idea and let you know the predicament I am in with dealing with them all at once. Please, make yourselves comfortable while I explain. You might want to listen carefully as well Sunset," Baker said.

Remedy raised an eyebrow at the name. Sunset? Not Blessing? Not Sunset Blessing? Not even Charlotte? Why would these humans be highlighting that part of her name? That seemed like there was a purpose to it.

The two night ponies went and sat near Blessing and the three all turned and faced Director Baker.

"The night ponies in Charleston have been growing in number for days, migrating in from all over the Lowcountry. That in itself is rather atypical behavior compared to what we have observed elsewhere in the country, but it is not my primary concern with them," Baker began.

"Then what is?" Remedy asked. 

"They are engaging in vigilante behavior. Not simply vigilante behavior, particularly violent vigilante behavior," Baker answered.

"You must be mistaken Director," Blessing said with a frown. "Ponies are non-violent. We are Instinctually peaceful creatures."

"Not to completely disagree with you, but we have observed elsewhere that night ponies are moderately more aggressive than other pony types, at least when they feel they are protecting something," Baker said in a conversational tone.

"Well, yeah," Remedy said uncomfortably. "But we aren't that violent. Rosetta and I spent last night guarding a store, and we did knock down one guy who wouldn't just leave. But we didn't do anything that would actually seriously hurt him."

"Your fellow night ponies In Charleston do far more than just knock people over unfortunately. I have reports of shattered bones being the most common result of their attacks, and in one instance death," Baker said sternly.

"Ponies don't kill!" All three of the ponies present shouted the mantra, almost in unison. 

"I'm sorry, but in at least one case they have. I will say this is again extremely atypical behavior from what has been observed from night ponies elsewhere. It is concerning not only because of what is happening, but because it does seem completely outside normal pony behavior; night pony or not. You can see my concerns and the concerns of those above me?" Baker said in a serious tone.

"If it is that bad why haven't you just sent the army in and rounded them up?" Rosetta asked.

"Because at the moment we are walking on eggshells with all things involving ponies. If this were humans we would have already gone in and rounded every one if them up and arrested them all. If we didn't have the Equestrians declaring they will get extremely angry if anything is done to ponies we might still have. We can't for fear of starting either a civil war with the ponies in this country, a war with an opponent we know nothing of the capabilities of, and no hope of maintaining peace going forward," Baker said in frustration.

"I don't understand why they would be doing this," Remedy said in confusion. "It is against everything pony to do things like you are describing them doing."

"In some defense of them I did say vigilante. Those attacked were always in the process of committing a crime. In the case of the victim who died it was rape and murder, with witnesses who leave no shadow of doubt about it. In the past forty-eight hours the crime rate in Charleston has plummeted to the point it is likely the safest city in America, but vigilante justice is not acceptable. Nor can I have reports of ponies doing violence to reach the national press," Baker explained.

"Why doesn't the army just go into the city and establish regular order then? If they have no justice to dole out they can't attack any criminals. We are under martial law, so where is the army?" Blessing asked.

"The army is stretched extremely thin. We lost much of the army to ETS as well. We are trying to enforce order across most of the country right now and we just don't have the manpower to spare for a city that doesn't even rank in the top ten by either overall population or transformed population standards," Baker explained. 

"So what do you want us to do? What are we going to accomplish that the government can't?" Rosetta asked, clearly shaken by the news of ponies behaving this way.

"All attempts by government personnel to speak with these ponies have fallen flat. I'm hoping that they might be more receptive to talking to other ponies," Baker said as he ran a hand over his chin. He then turned to Remedy. "Phobia, I've heard reports that you are at least on the same page as the government with wanting to keep the peace. Maybe they'll listen to reason from another night pony who understands what is at stake, and stop this before we have a situation that blows up in our faces." 

"Do you honestly think there is any chance they will listen to me? I'm nopony, they don't have any reason to listen to us. Maybe they will listen to my mom since all the ponies around here are doing that, for the most part, but not me," Remedy said.

"Phobia, I have no idea to tell the truth. I am grasping at straws trying to prevent a crisis. I'm exploring every avenue that doesn't seem like it will lead to conflict starting. My best bet is getting a night pony to talk to them and you are my best option in the region," Baker said with a sigh.

Remedy sat and considered. The whole idea that there were ponies getting extremely violent, even if that violence was directed at criminals, made her feel sick to her stomach. Ponies were not supposed to do that. The idea that they had killed some human, even some human that might have deserved it, was enough to make her want to vomit. It was all just wrong, and went against everything her instincts as a pony told her. She had to find out why this was happening, even if she didn't end up being able to stop it. She had to know why her fellow night ponies would do something so un-pony.

"We were planning on going to see them tonight anyway. Guess we just have some idea what we're flying into now," Rosetta said mournfully.

"We know the what but not the why," Remedy said. She then turned to Director Baker. "We'll do everything we can, and we will let you know in the morning what we find out."

Hopefully they would have some understanding of this by the morning, and hopefully it wouldn't make them feel worse for knowing it.
> Chapter 31: City of Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The flight to Charleston proper took around thirty minutes rather than forty-five. Remedy had factored in too much time because of how long it took them to reach Hannahan the other day, forgetting that they had taken a bit of a zigzag course to Rosetta's home. Charleston was more of a straight shot following the interstate.

The city was as inactive as the towns that fed into it, without a soul in sight. What was different was every single possible light, be it street lamp, porch light, or old gas lamps were lit. A large number of houses also had every single light in the house turned on. It they quickly started realizing that the only darkened houses had no occupants.

"Charleston wasn't this brightly lit before ETS started. Why are they wasting all this power?" Rosetta asked as she glanced at all the houses. 

"Maybe they are on edge about the night ponies," Remedy answered. 

"But the night ponies only go after criminals. I highly doubt that every resident of the city is up to no good," Rosetta said with a flick if her tail.

"They might be worried those attacks will progress to them, or it may be simple anxiety knowing there are large amounts of night ponies prowling at night," Remedy replied as they slowly flew through the city.

"We haven't seen another night pony yet, we haven't seen a human yet either. This place is silent as a tomb. Where is everypony?" The blue furred pony asked as she continued scanning all the buildings for signs of life.

"Don't know. It does seem strange that we haven't run into any night pony on patrol or spotted any in the air. How many night ponies do you think could be here?" Remedy kept her gaze divided between the streets and the sky above.

"Well, they said it is most of the night ponies from this part of the state. I know there were at least six nearby the hospital. Except for you I haven't seen any of them in days. Using that dismemberment of night ponies as a guide for how they might have been dispersed over the entire Lowcountry and the number gets large; dozens, perhaps more than a hundred," Rosetta said as she worked it out in her head.

"With that many night ponies we should be colliding into some on patrol, if patrolling is what they are doing. Judging by the way the humans are turning on all their lights it's a safe bet they think the night ponies are out and about," Remedy said as she glanced at a well lit house.

"Okay, so are we going to just keep flying aimlessly through the city until we run into them?" Rosetta asked with a sigh.

"There must be somewhere they can find us. If almost all the night ponies in the region are here and came in from elsewhere they had to join in somehow. Where is the most obvious place to be found at?" Remedy asked after some consideration.

"That's easy, the old exchange market. Easy to spot us and almost certainly an area that needs to be guarded," Rosetta said as she altered her course.

They flew a little higher and easily picked out the appropriate landmarks for where they wished to go. In a mere minute they were settling in for a landing at the old merchant's exchange.

"Look, over there. Not a night pony, but maybe a human might have a clue where they are at," Rosetta said as she pointed a hoof at a woman walking down the street.

"First soul we have actually seen here. Might as well try," Remedy said as she picked herself back into the air. She quickly angled herself into a slow glide towards the late night pedestrian with Rosetta close behind.

The woman didn't notice them at first, despite them landing clearly in sight not far ahead of her. She didn't seem to be noticing much at all. Remedy could pick up the scent of alcohol even at a distance and realized that the woman was likely completely inebriated.

"Um, ma'am?" Rosetta said after the woman was almost on them.

The woman looked around like she was confused about the source of the voice. Eventually her eyes settled on them and widened in horror as she took several steps back.

"I ain't done nothin' wrong. I'm just walkin' home from my friend's. I ain't hurting nobody or no thing. Please let me go," the woman begged. She was clearly expecting them to attack her at any moment.

"We don't want to hurt you. We just wanted to ask you a question," Remedy said. The woman being terrified of them seemed further confirmation that the entire city was on edge about the night ponies.

"You ain't gonna hurt me for havin' too much to drink?" The woman asked hesitantly.

"No, you aren't hurting anyone. Why should we do anything to you?" Rosetta asked in a calming tone.

"They'd just says that y'all rough anyone up for any bit of little sin," the woman said, her back plastered against a building.

The two night ponies exchanged a glance between them. Hopefully something like this wasn't something the ponies here would attack over. 

"At most we are concerned about your safety getting home on your own in your condition. We would want to make sure you didn't get hurt, not hurt you," Remedy explained.

"That's a kind offer, but I cans get home fine. What's you want to ask me?" The woman asked, still not relaxing her defensive posture. 

"Do you know where all the other night ponies are at? We just flew into Charleston and haven't seen any sign of any," Remedy asked.

"Oh theys here. Theys likely all around us rights now, watchin' from the shadows. You never spot them less they wants you to, but theys always watchin'. Theys here, you bet your bottom theys is," the woman said as she glanced around all the buildings with fear. 

"Alright, do you want us to escort you home? You seem a little..well, it doesn't seem like you should be walking around by yourself," Rosetta offered.

The woman broke out laughing, further confusing the two night ponies. 

"I just said theys always watchin'. If they ain't gonna hurt me then theys ain't gonna let anything hurt me either. I ain't need you to watch me get home. Theys already do'in that," the woman said, relaxing her defensive posture at last.

"O..kay then," Remedy said as she glanced around the area again for any signs of other night ponies. "Just get home quick and hope your hangover isn't too bad."

The woman didn't need to be offered a chance to leave twice. She took off at a brisk walk quickly, after first crossing the street to put herself on the other side of it from them. The two mares just silently watched her take off.

"You two looking to join the enclave?" Came a deep voice from behind them.

The two jumped in startlement and quickly turned to face the speaker. It was a night pony stallion with fur so dark it was nearly pitch black, with a blue mane several shades darker than Rosetta's fur. He seemed mildly amused that he had caught them by surprise.

"God dammit, you are sneaky. You about gave me a heart attack," Rosetta said as she caught her breath.

"I'll take that as a compliment," the stallion said with a smile.

"Have you been following us around the whole time?" Remedy demanded as she finished catching her own breath.

"Not me personally. I've only been watching you since you came down in the exchange. You've been watched by somepony or another since you came into the city though. We're spaced a bit apart through all the city like a net, but where we can easily signal the next in line. So, we've all been aware you're here for a while," the stallion explained.

"And you just let us flap around all of town, without doing anything to greet us or let us know you're there?" Remedy demanded as she narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail.

"Sorry, we're supposed to watch all new arrivals for a while before approaching. Have to gauge intentions and all that. We know ponies aren't likely trouble, but the Broken Ones insist," the stallion said with an apologetic shrug of his wings.

"What did you ask if we wanted to join?" Rosetta asked.

"The Enclave of the Night,"the stallion said with a laugh. "Sorry if the name seems a bit presumptuous. The Broken Ones let Tattered name things, and I think she played way too much Dungeons and Dragons or something. Whatever they want to call us all doesn't really matter in the end I guess."

"These Broken Ones are the ponies in charge?" Remedy asked.

"Yep, they make the rules, get ponies trained, organize all the coverage of the city, and all that. They're the ones that got us together," the stallion explained.

"Is there any chance we could meet these Broken Ones?" Remedy asked, feeling stupid asking about such a silly named group. Really, this wasn't some fantasy adventure, this was real life; despite the fact they were all magical ponies. The idea that she had what might be considered a silly sounding name never entered into her mind.

"Sure can do. I'm kinda supposed to take you to them anyway so they can give you the talk. You two got names?" the stallion asked.

"Phobia Remedy," Remedy introduced herself.

"Rosetta Stone," Rosetta said quickly after.

"All these silly names ponies come up with. I don't know how we show our faces in public..oh wait..we night ponies don't," the stallion laughed at his own joke. "My name's Gerald by the way. No silly name for me."

"Speaking of silly names, why are the ponies you're leading us too called the Broken Ones?" Rosetta asked.

Gerald's good mood seemed to evaporate in an instant as he went stiff. 

"That one's not so silly unfortunately. A little dramatic, but not silly. You'll see when you meet them," he said. Remedy picked a hint of anger in his voice as he spoke. "Come on, were going to the medical university. See which ones are up to speaking right now, and make sure none of them have gone and died on us."

Gerald took a quick trot and then jumped into the air with his wings spread. The two mares gave each other a quick glance before following his example.
> Chapter 32: Tattered Wing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The medical university was a host of buildings, and some of the most modern ones in a city where more than half the buildings were one to three centuries old. Before ETS it had been probably the largest employer in the Lowcountry, with well over ten thousand employees associated with it in some way shape or form. It was also one of a host of hospitals in the city that helped form a combined medical and college district within the city.

"The hospitals are kind of an even split between ponies and humans," Gerald explained as they landed in the courtyard of the university. "Some parts provided shelter to those transforming and other parts quarantined off already existing patients when ETS broke out; though part way through the pandemic they started shifting some of their more hopeless cases over to the pony areas after they learned ETS could cure just about anything."

"So we have both pony and human doctors here now?" Remedy asked as she gazed around at the well lit buildings, noting one building that was surprisingly dark.

"Well, we have a bunch of doctors who are human and a bunch who happen to be ponies, but the lot of them don't seem to understand proper care for ponies yet," Gerald said with a sad shake if his head. 

"What about all the students in the area? I went to the College of Charleston which is right by here," Rosetta asked with interest.

"College of Charleston has a lot of the students as ponies now, just like MUSC. All of them going in classes close together and living in dorms huddled up together let ETS spread through quick. This part of the city probably has the majority of the ponies in Charleston, rest of the city is largely human," Gerald explained as be led them to the entrance to one of the brightly lit buildings.

"I don't see any signs of earth ponies having tried to convert anything to farms around here," Remedy observed.

"Humans put a stop to that before it even got started. The day ponies around here are still figuring out what to do with themselves. I know there has been some increased flying back and forth with the pegasi in the last day, with them flying out into the north, but not sure what that's about. Enclave doesn't get too involved with day pony business," Gerald said as the reached the entrance, which had two human guards watching it.

As Gerald talked to the guards Remedy thought about those pegasi. That was almost certainly them in contact with the food drive that her mom had started. She wondered how involved the ponies here were with it. 

The guards opened the door to let them all in. As the three passed through it was not lost on Remedy how warily the humans watched them. Even with them working close by the night ponies these humans were still scared. How horrific were these vigilante attacks that they inspired such fear in the whole city? What ideas about ponies, specifically night ponies, were being created by all this fear? Also worrisome was the fact that these humans were doing nothing to stop this from going on. Was that motivated by fear or something else?

They walked through the halls of the building and the sterile smell assaulted Remedy's muzzle. She never liked the smell of hospitals as a human, but as a pony the smell was much more intense. She could see Rosetta struggling with the smell as well. Gerald seemed to have no issue with it though; perhaps he was just used to it.

They came up to a desk area which had two human nurses stationed there. Gerald spoke quietly with one of the nurses and Remedy was tempted to turn her ears to eavesdrop on the conversation, but ultimately didn't. Rosetta on the other hoof definitely had her ears alert and turned in the direction of the two speakers.

"He's asking about the health of some pony, and nurse is telling him the pony is in surgery right now," Rosetta whispered to Remedy.

Remedy just nodded. She had gotten that there was something physically wrong with these Broken Ones by the conversation earlier, if the name alone hadn't given that away. What had happened to make them like that though? They needed to understand these ponies if they were going to try to reason with them.

Gerald directed them to a nearby elevator and punched a button for the forth floor. After a short ride on the elevator the door opened revealing a hall much like the one they had left, but with bits of medical equipment on wheels pushed to the sides of the hall waiting to be wheeled into use.

They continued to walk silently through the halls until the came to another nurse's station. One of the humans on duty pushed a button that opened a secured door past the station that led into more hall. Gerald dipped his head in gratitude to the nurse and continued leading them on their progress through the hospital. Remedy noted that these nurses hadn't even questioned why they were there and seemed very used to just letting ponies through.

She also noted that they stared uncomfortably at her flank and its cutie mark as she walked by. With the whole city afraid of night ponies being a night pony with a skull on their flank likely made her even scarier than normal. She could already imagine them assessing her to be some sort of killer pony. The thought made her grimace.

Gerald came up to a regular door with a basic handle at the end of a hall. He opened it up and as they passed through they found themselves in a waiting room. There were several other night ponies in the room already, including one that instantly caught the attention of both Remedy and Rosetta and made them wince as they looked at her.

The night pony mare in question looked to be younger, perhaps around their age, or close to it. She had a black mane and tail and dull brown fur. On her flank was a cutie mark of a night pony wing that had been ripped to shreds, and her actual wings they could tell, even while folded to her sides, didn't look right. Their were cuts and lacerations that were only partially healed all over her body, some bandaged and some not. A few areas of her body looked like the fur had been burned right off and bright pink flesh tinged with charred black could be seen. She had to be in pain, and looked like she had been crying.

"Any news, Tattered?" Gerald asked the mare that held their attention.

"They don't think Derrick is going to make it through the night. They have been working on him all night long and part of the day, but there is just so much infection that has gotten out of control," the mare, Tattered, said in a near whisper. She was clearly trying to hold back sobs.

"I'm sorry," Gerald said as he hung his head and ears low.

"We knew it wasn't likely he was going to pull through. He had it the worst, we are lucky he lasted this long," Tattered replied without looking up from the floor.

"I know this is not the best time, but I have some newcomers. I can try to find some of the other Broken to have them talk to if you aren't up to it," Gerald said.

"They are resting, doctor's orders. Doctors are all trying to keep from them the fact Derrick is likely going to be dead tonight. They don't want them aggravating their wounds. I am in the best shape of all of us, so it is my responsibility," Tattered said forced determination.

"If you say so," Gerald said with a doubtful voice. He spread a wing to gesture at the couple. "This is Phobia Remedy in the grey, and Rosetta Stone in the blue. Phobia, Rosetta, this is Tattered Wing of the Broken Ones. She will explain what we are all doing here."

"I'm pleased to meet both of you," Tattered said as she looked at both of them in turn, with a cheerful voice that rang hollow. "Addressing the elephant in the room you are probably wondering why I am in the state I am in. That requires a story. Before I tell you that let me ask an question with an obvious answer; what is a night pony's job? What are night ponies  supposed to do?"

"We guard and protect," Rosetta said without hesitation, Remedy nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes, that's something ingrained in us. That is the heart of what we are above all other things. Whether it is patrolling to keep others physically safe, protecting ponies from their nightmares, or finding other ways of protecting that is what we are and what we are meant to be. Whatever other interests, hobbies, wants, or goals we have none of that comes before that basic instinct. Whatever else we might end up doing we won't stop protecting," Tattered said.

"Protecting other ways?" Remedy asked.

"We have a doctor here who is a night pony, he protects us in his own way by trying to heal ponies, protecting can be done many ways. I also have no doubt that he would be quick to react if immediate danger threatened," Tattered explained.

"Guess that makes sense," Remedy said.

"Agreed. Anyway, now on to my story and how it ties to what I just went over. By the time I am done you will understand what the Enclave is about and what we are doing here," Tattered said and then drew herself up into a lecturing stance.

"When ETS was still active things got bad here in Charleston. There was rioting, looting, and worse. For those of us who reached full transformation we saw the world as being reborn and this was just a passing thing, but to the humans this was the end of the world. My friends and I did our best to try to help protect ponies and humans from the worst of things at night. There were six of us to start, soon there will only be four out of that original group," Tattered said. 

She paused, regathering herself before continuing.

"The night before ETS came to an end my friends and I were out patrolling, trying to do our part, like we normally did. Things had been getting progressively worse with some of the humans. There was this one group of humans, about a dozen of them, that were being just really horrible. They were just walking around town smashing cars, street signs, harassing people, just being general hoodlums. My friends and I watched them for a little while and eventually decided to intervene before they went and hurt somepony or some human."

Tattered paused again as a scream could be heard somewhere within the hospital. She looked at a nearby door with a stricken look on her face and looked like she was going to break down crying again.

"We don't have to do this right now, Tattered," Gerald spoke up.

"No, this is my job, and it doesn't stop because of what is going on down the hall or how I am feeling right now," Tattered said as she leveled her tear filled eyes at the stallion.

Remedy's heart went out to the broken night pony. Tattered Wing was trying to put on a brave face while she had a friend dying not far away. From what she described she already had one friend die, and the way this story was progressing and the evidence before her eyes showed that Tattered had gone through hell. She was starting to see what motivated these ponies; she just had to hear the rest of the story.

"Anyway, back to the story," Tattered continued. "We did what instinct gave us the knowledge to do. We went in, tried knocking some of them over, did a lot of shouting, tried to look intimidating. The things that work on animals or a rowdy pony. Unfortunately those kinds of instincts and skills do nothing to help against humans behaving worse than wild animals."

Tattered looked mournfully at her wings and ran a hoof over one of the more healed scars, still wincing as she touched it.

"I don't need to go into details about what happened. You can see me and see the results. I don't think I will ever fly again. The only reason most of us survived at all was some of the medical students and guards here stepped in. Poor Gail was dead from blood loss before the night was done, now we are going to be losing Derrick," Tattered almost broke into a sob again.

Rosetta looked long and hard at Remedy, and Remedy could see Rosetta imagining the same thing happening to one of them.

"Then the domes of light came the next day and the news that ETS was over and the world would remain primarily human. With that news realization dawned on us that we, and by we I mean all night ponies, had a choice to make about what instincts to follow and which to force ourselves to disregard. We were made for a different world than this, one where the worse we had to worry about dealing with was some wild animal. We weren't given the tools to deal with violent humans, at least we weren't given the right ones. Our instincts as ponies make us too soft to fulfill our duties in protecting," Tattered said as she stopped to take a breath.

"We have a choice, either not protect, or go against our natures and do what needs to be done to stop the most violent and dangerous out there. We can do it, we can collide from a dive at fast enough speeds to shatter bones of our enemies without hurting ourselves. The physical ability is there, we just have to force ourselves to do what must be done. This is what the Enclave of the Night is doing, making a choice that protecting is more important than our gentler natures. Ponies and humans can't be protected by us being soft," Tattered Wing said as she finished her story and explanation of the Enclave.

It was silent for a moment after the Broken One finished speaking. The silence was broken quickly by a human nurse opening the door and looking urgently towards Tattered Wing. 

"I have to go say goodbye to a friend. I hope you will join us, but that choice is yours. Just remember you have a choice that needs to be made. If you'll excuse me I must hurry," Tattered said before taking off quickly where the nurse had just been.
> Chapter 33: Troubled Thoughts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After being escorted back out of the hospital Gerald said his goodbyes to them and let them know that the night ponies made their day sleeping spot out on Fort Sumter, and a number of pegasi made similar sleeping arrangements there during the night. The spot made since as a sleeping spot for a large number of night ponies in Charleston as it was easy for them to defend against the average person up to no good who might try to get to them in their sleep. 

This left the couple to contemplate how to deal with the situation.

"Well, at least we understand now. I don't think tonight is the best night for trying to talk with them though," Remedy said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to listen to anything with somepony close to me dying either," Rosetta said with a mournful glance back at the hospital.

"We're going to have a hard time convincing them to stop. I'm not sure we can," Remedy said.

"Am I wrong for saying that it is actually tempting to join them?" Rosetta asked, casting a worried look at her marefriend.

"It isn't wrong to be tempted. We just dealt with the same worries they're addressing when that human pulled a gun on us. We felt helpless to do what we were supposed to do, and angry," Remedy answered with a sigh.

"I just kept thinking back to that, and thinking about how you could have died because I held back on how hard I hit him. My pony instincts to not hurt others could have cost you your life," Rosetta said with building emotion.

"It didn't happen though. We didn't get hurt," Remedy replied.

"But we could have, and we let him get away with just robbing that place. We said it then and I will say it again now; are we just going to let ourselves be helpless in every single one of those situations?" Rosetta demanded.

"There is something to what they are trying to do. They aren't wrong in recognizing our failures in instinct," Remedy said carefully. "But there is still problems that they're making for themselves and all ponies by doing this. This city is terrified, and the government is jumpy. Baker is right that this could boil over into something much worse."

"What kind of middle ground is there in this though? We can't afford to be gentle because any human we try to stop from doing wrong might be secretly armed. Once we lose the element of surprise in our attacks we're helpless to some human pulling a gun on us," Rosetta said with frustration.

"I don't know, but the police and army aren't that brutal with trying to subdue common criminals. Simple burglary and vandalism shouldn't end in being crippled. We can't protect with fear of punishments that don't fit the crime," Remedy said. She was getting frustrated herself, because the situation was unfair. Tattered was right, they were designed for a gentler world, and now that they found themselves in a harsher one they had to find some way of adapting.

"So what do we do now?" Rosetta asked.

"We go back and talk with Baker and let him know what we learned, explain in the simplest of terms we can that protecting is a big deal to night ponies and we can't be left feeling like we aren't up to the job. Then we see if him or any of those above him have any solutions. They aren't stopping this unless some sort of solution to that problem is given to them," Remedy said.

"Why don't they just reinforce the police? We know how short on personnel they are, surely the Enclave could help," Rosetta suggested.

"That might not work, as I said they are being much more brutal than the police and doing things they should be arrested for themselves. Not sure what help they can give if they aren't able to take those tactics over with them into helping, or if the police would even allow them to help at all. We'll see what Baker says, but something has to give somewhere," Remedy said.

"Hopefully Baker is still at the church and hasn't gone off somewhere else," Rosetta said as she looked back towards the north.

"I think he will be, my mom is there, and keeping close to her keeps him aware of what is going on in the region," Remedy said as she flicked her tail back and forth as she thought about that.

"Does that bother you?" Rosetta asked as she watched the tail move.

"It's hard to say. It's just weird having my mom suddenly being the pony organizing and doing all this stuff. She was just a housewife and Sunday school teacher, and minor bigot. Now suddenly she is leading all these ponies, essentially forming her own denomination, renaming herself after a known terrorist, and somehow working closely with the government after naming herself like that. She is like somepony completely different than she was as a human," Remedy said as continued to flick her tail.

"Sunset Shimmer being a terrorist is kind of based on your point of view. I wouldn't call her that, but I can understand how the humans feel," Rosetta said with a dismissive flick of her own tail. "But anyway, isn't most of that good things, even if there is a negative connotation to her name? Is it hard to believe she might have had her own shell that she needed to come out of and turning into a pony helped her do that?"

"Maybe, it just feels like there is the whole other mom than the mom I knew," Remedy said with lowered ears.

"She likely is feeling a lot of the same with you. Heck, my parents are probably feeling that a little with me, though not to the same extreme. If I told them I was furious that the other day some guy with a gun got away from me rather than being scared to death I was going to get shot they would be asking me who I was and what did I do with their daughter," Rosetta chuckled as she finished speaking.

"Yeah, don't figure I would expect my old human self would have had that same reaction either; that's just night pony instincts though. It would be more surprising if a night pony didn't feel that way. What's going on with my mom is way beyond simple instinct changes," Remedy said.

"Well, talk to her if it is really bothering you. She's your mother, she isn't going to get mad at you for wanting to understand," Rosetta said as she came over and nuzzled. 

"We are way off topic anyway. We should be focused on what's going on with the night ponies," Remedy said as she returned the nuzzle.

"Definitely, miss never-did-anything-and-had-no-real-goals-grocery-store-stocker-turned-diplomat," Rosetta said with a chortle.

"Okay, point made," Remedy said with a roll of her eyes. She then took a few steps forward and spread her wings. "Let's head back. We can have some time to eat if we get back quickly before trying to deal with the director."

The two took off into the air headed back north. As they passed over the city they tried to pay extra close attention when they passed back over the city from higher above to try to spot any night ponies moving about that may be more visible from above than street level. From this angle they did indeed spot several moving about on tops of buildings, but only a few. It seemed that they most were very good at keeping themselves hidden. Remedy wanted to learn how they managed to do that. 

Remedy watched as Rosetta gave a long look out over Hannahan as they passed that area.

"We can try visiting them again soon. It is likely way too late tonight for that," Remedy said as she watched Rosetta's gaze.

"I'm wondering about what's going on with my sister. Wondering if I could convince my parents to let her come to our shelter. Gas stations are opening soon and they have a car so she wouldn't have to walk the full way," Rosetta said as they flew by.

"Would she even want to be there? It isn't like she would get much time with you with us being active at night," Remedy replied.

"She needs to be around other earth ponies," Rosetta asserted.

"Not necessarily," Remedy said with a glance over to her lover. "We have seen for ourselves that one unicorn that seems to spend her time with humans on tv."

"Unicorns can't accidentally seriously injure their human friends with what they consider a playful tap, and can use almost any human gadget as well as if not better than a human," Rosetta replied flippantly.

"I would say it is up to her," Remedy said as they now flew over the local hospital. 

"I'm going to talk to her about it as soon as I can. I don't think she is going to be happy cramped up at my parents apartment like she is now. They all need to be counted for the census anyway, and Hannahan hasn't been dealt with at all yet by the humans," Rosetta said.

"Just remember it might take a few days. We are almost certainly going to be sent right back out to Charleston again tomorrow. Plus we have to meet with whoever these humans from the small towns are sooner or later, and who knows if we will be needed to guard something overnight. We have a pretty full plate," Remedy said as they came into view of the church.

"Want to go sleep by that oak again when we are done with telling the humans about the Enclave and getting something to eat?" Rosetta asked hopefully as they came in for a landing.

Remedy just turned and gave her a sly grin in response.

First stop was by the school to see if Baker was even there. They were informed that he would be available to see them in just a few minutes, and they decided to take the time to get a quick bite to eat.

Over at the ever shrinking haystack they found Sunset Blessing, Tonya, and several other ponies they didn't have names for having breakfast as well. Blessing seemed to be trying to give instructions through bites of food.

"..the truck stop at the end of the frontage road will hopefully be open by nightfall. They have three human employees from the area including the manager and we have two unicorns that will be helping them out. It will be a staging area for the gas trucks that should be arriving tomorrow. If they need help with anything I want a team of two earth ponies, pegasi, and additional unicorns there to help," Blessing was instructing the ponies around her. 

"What kind of help do you think they will need out of the earth ponies and pegasi?" Asked a pearl white earth pony stallion with golden mane.

"Help moving any abandoned vehicles and running messages most likely. There are bunch of abandoned semi trucks there and while they can be put in neutral it will take earth pony strength to actually get them moved. We need to make sure this goes smoothly so the humans can get businesses going again," Blessing explained.

"What about the Wal-Mart?" Asked a pale blue unicorn mare with a red mane. Remedy spotted an abacus on her flank as a cutie mark.

"Corporate guys showed up late last night. I got woken up by the pegasi that were guarding. They are supposed to be getting a list of who they still have available for employees from the suits sometime this morning," Tonya said as she finished chewing a bite of hay.

"Hopefully that will get open quickly once they start making calls," Blessing said. "Tonya I want a team of pegasi out inspecting the area for anywhere that looks like there is severe problems with gas stations reopening and getting a list together. Let Number Crunch know what you find and she'll get a report put together."

"Any word yet about these small town reps that are supposed to be coming?" The earth pony stallion asked. "Me and the rest are eager to have somewhere to get to work."

"Director Baker said he will have the first few here tomorrow to meet with me. He is going to give me maps and demographics for each one today to look over. I promise I will be well prepared tomorrow when they arrive," Blessing answered. She looked over at the two night ponies and gave a smile.

"Not going into details about what you were up to last night, but any luck?" Blessing asked them.

"Eh, consider last night a fact finding mission, Mom. We found out a lot, and will be talking with Baker about it soon," Remedy said.

"I'll tag along with you. I'm eager to hear what you found out," Blessing said cheerfully. And then leveled a serious look at Remedy. "I heard about some trouble back at the Wal-Mart the other night that you two neglected to tell me about. I can see you're alright, praise the Lord, but you made me worry about you. You haven't had any similar incidents have you? I don't want you getting hurt."

"We're both fine, Mom, and nothing else like that has happened," Remedy said slightly more defensively than she intended.

"I pray to God that you continue to be safe. I know you are nocturnal, and there is no help for that. But nighttime can be dangerous, please be careful," Blessing said in a softer tone.

"We will be, Mom," Remedy replied with an encouraging smile. Glad to see her mom being more mom-like and less alpha-pony like. 

Still, watching how her mother organized everything made her wonder how much of that was motherly concern and how much of that was her mother dealing with just another part of her herd.
> Chapter 34: Pony Instincts and Hearts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So you see, this is a big deal to them. Night ponies' instincts were given to us with the idea humans wouldn't be in the picture. So they are doing their best to adapt to the way the world actually is," Remedy finished explaining.

"It's a big deal to us too. We kind of feel the same way. If night ponies are in a situation where they feel their purpose as night ponies is being sabotaged by their general pony instincts they'll force themselves to disregard general pony instinct," Rosetta added.

"So you aren't going to get them to stop unless they feel they're able to fulfill their purpose as night ponies," Remedy finished.

The room had the same lineup of the night pony couple, Director Baker, Sunset Blessing, and Agent Simmons. Simmons was standing close by with her arms crossed as she listened. Sunset Blessing was listening intently but had the pen moving on her notepad without her looking at it, which was a sure sign she was getting better at using her magic. Baker was sitting against the desk his fist balled up against his mouth in thought.

"This seems to be horrible planning on Sunset Shimmer's part," Blessing said with distaste as she scrunched up her muzzle.

Agent Simmons looked over at the unicorn in surprise.

"I thought you considered that terrorist as God's chosen savior of the world or something," Simmons said with confusion.

"I never claimed she was perfect, much the opposite really. Even Solomon and David in the Old Testament did a large number of things that were clearly wrong or mistakes," Blessing said with a tight lipped smile back at Simmons. "I have already gone on record that her forced transformation method was wrong. If I heard more about her life and actions I am sure I can find any number of failings on her part. I can be thankful that her actions made me a pony, and opened up a possibility of a future where humans want to be ponies, while still being critical of the mare."

"There is no future where I want to be fuzzy and running around on four legs," Simmons stated darkly.

"Well, thankfully for you then it's likely farther in the future than any currently living will be around. I highly doubt there will be a new ETS in our lifetimes. The fact you are so repulsed by the idea just highlights how much humanity isn't ready," Blessing said with a shrug.

"Simmons, we have already discussed Sunset's Shimmerist beliefs at length and found them to be of no threat to anyone. Please don't pick any more arguments with her about her religious views," Baker said in a long suffering tone.

"Yes sir," Simmons said stiffly.

"That being the case, this situation makes it harder for me to present a case that you all aren't brainwashed individuals not to be trusted with thinking for yourselves if you are just going to tell me this is just all instinct driven," Baker said as he turned his attention back to the night ponies.

"Everything that is capable of thought has instincts, even humans. Yes our instincts are different from what we had as humans, and some of them are very strong, but that doesn't mean we are slaves to it," Rosetta said in their defense.

"The very fact they're doing this shows they're capable of going against instincts. If they just obeyed instinct they would be trying to protect using the same gentler tactics that we were are predisposed to using," Remedy continued in their defense.

"It seems to me that the solution is simple," Blessing said with a smile. "They are trying to adapt to confront human violence. All you need to do is get them to join us in our exodus to an area where such a thing will be much more a rarity. In the meantime your bosses can think up ways to give them what they want, an effective method to deal with humans with weapons. A means that we would all find less objectionable."

"You find what they are doing objectionable?" Simmons asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I object to it. It is extremely non-pony like behavior that should not be allowed to persist," Blessing said with a snort.

Simmons nodded back, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

"I am going to message back to Washington and the governor's office here and ask for suggestions; with a special request that the Equestrians get consulted for ideas. It can be assumed that their night ponies on their world know how to subdue criminals without being so violent. At least I would hope so, we know very little about their methods of dealing with things," Baker said with a sigh. 

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" Remedy asked.

"Meet again with that one pony, Tattered Wing,  since she seems the de facto leader. Let her know we're working to find ways of addressing their concerns about protecting, and that I'll be coming down myself tomorrow night to discuss the situation with her. I'll even put in a request that the Equestrians send some sort of doctor to look at the Broken Ones to see if they know how to better treat their injuries, though I can't promise that will be approved. Now that I know who to speak with, and where to find them, I can deal with much of negotiating myself," Baker instructed.

"We can do that. We'll let you know what she says tomorrow morning," Rosetta said with a hint of relief. Remedy shared that relief, they wouldn't be asked to try to deal with this situation themselves. After tonight it wasn't likely they would be needed for much more in trying to deal with their fellow night ponies in Charleston. 

"Thank you both for providing this intel. Hopefully it will help us bring resolution to this before it gets out of hand," Baker said with a smile. 

"Now that this is dealt with for a moment, do you have that information you promised me regarding these towns that my ponies can resettle in?" Blessing asked. Remedy couldn't help raising an eyebrow at the use of the term my.

"I have a flash drive with all the information you requested. I know there are several computers between this school and the church that you can use to look over it at your convenience," Baker said as he pulled said flash drive from his pocket and held it out to Blessing. Blessing quickly lit her horn and grabbed the drive up in a red aura and floated it over to herself.

Sensing an opportunity to get some time to talk to her mother Remedy spoke up.

"I have my laptop computer here if you want to use it, Mom. That way you can be out with the ponies that are working as you look it over. It has a pretty good battery life once it is fully charged up," Remedy offered.

Blessing gave her daughter an questioning look.

"Did you go back to the house recently?" Blessing asked.

"Yeah, picked up a few things. Dad helped pack them up in some backpacks for me," Remedy said, hoping it would spur her mother to ask how he was doing.

"Was he rude to you?" Blessing asked in a tight voice.

"He didn't say a lot. He seemed to be trying to be nice to me. He called me his daughter, and seemed uncertain what to feel about me and Rosetta being a couple. He asked if you had taken a pony name too after he heard mine, and didn't really say anything about it after I told him," Remedy answered.

"I suppose that is an improvement all around," Blessing muttered. "So is he coming to his senses and accepting the way things are now?" 

"Um, he says he is doing everything he can to not get a cutie mark so if some way of reversing this is found it will work on him. He wants to go back to being human," Remedy lowered her ears as she spoke.

Blessing just sat staring back at her daughter silently. Her jaw was clenched tight and her ears were laid flat. As the deafening silence continued tears started welling up in Blessing's eyes. 

"I thank you for the offer of your computer. If you would charge it up for me in the AV room I will come pick it up later," Blessing finally said in a tightly controlled voice. "Right now..right now I think I need to go find Tonya."

Without any further word, or gestures of goodbye, Blessing dashed out of the room at a full run with the flash drive floating close behind her.

"Seems changing to ponies doesn't fix broken hearts," Simmons observed as she shut the door again.

Remedy just shook her head sadly, feeling guilty for hurting her mom without meaning too. Chances were her mother and Tonya were about to have another talk and screwing session. She wondered if her mom actually had affection for Tonya despite her insistence otherwise, since Tonya was the pony she went running to right after getting upset. The pairing seemed less strange and improbable now.

"If you don't need us for anything else we should be seeing about getting to sleep soon," Rosetta said to Baker as she laid a wing comfortingly over Remedy's back.

"Nothing right now," Baker said as he gazed out a window at something. "Will your mother be fit to continue helping today?" 

"Probably," Remedy replied. "She will talk with Tonya for a while, then will likely do other things with Tonya, and then throw herself back into work."

"Really? She doesn't seem that type. Not with all her super conservative God talk," Simmons said as she glanced at the window. 

"A whole other side of my mother has come out since she became a pony. Don't ask me to explain what all goes on in her head; I'm still learning about it too," Remedy replied as she was pulled into a hug by Rosetta.
> Chapter 35: Visions of Sunset Shimmer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After putting the laptop in an easy to find spot in the AV room and plugging it in the couple did a quick check online of what was happening in the world. 

It seemed that many pony communities were well underway on their own, most out west. The largest of these was Denver, which many commentators jokingly called Pony Town due to it having the largest pony population in a metropolitan area, and others called it the pony capital of the world. The south was a bit slower in forming up communities though.

Rosetta left a few messages for her family. The task was more difficult than it had previously been as her trusty pencil was nowhere to be found. This left her forced to try to carefully try tapping keys with her wings. She managed to do it, but it took a great deal of time to force the fingers on the ends of her wings to do the unfamiliar task.

With those tasks completed the two left the church and retreated back to the oak's grove. After an hour of sexual horseplay they settled in and went to sleep.

Remedy realized quickly she was in a vivid dream once again as she looked at the start sky all around her and complete lack of ground that somehow didn't leave her plummeting.

"Princess Luna? Are you there?" Remedy called out.

"Yes, Phobia Remedy, I am here. Also, I must say again that I hold no title over the ponies of your world, so there is no need to address me as princess," Luna said as she flew before the much smaller pony.

"I'm sorry, it just feels disrespectful not to. You are like the closest thing to a pony god there is," Remedy said apologetically.

"I would prefer that belief not take root. Part of our problems with Sunset Shimmer was she had for a time a faith in my sister in such a way. The place she had her portal anchored in our world even had a makeshift shrine," Luna said with a difficult to read tone.

"Is your sister Twilight Sparkle?" Remedy asked curiously.

"Oh definitely not, simply a very dear friend and alicorn, though perhaps in a few centuries Twilight may come to feel like an adopted sister, she is still very young compared to my sister and I, though she is talented and wise in her own ways," Luna chuckled. 

"The fact you live for centuries kind of reinforces the idea of you being a pony god you know," Remedy said with bemusement.

"In terms of the powers we can safely make use of with only a few exceptions most ponies are capable of equaling us in skill on most tasks. As for what we can't safely do..we won't speak of those things nor choose to do those things. Ponies like Sunset Shimmer and even Twilight's student Starlight Glimmer likely have much more knowledge and capability in areas I have little to no knowledge. I would feel but a foal trying to make sense of some of those things, which is why I am glad Twilight is much more adept at understanding those. It is best not to put alicorns on too high a pedestal. In theory we can do things that are far beyond your comprehension, but in practice we are not nearly as impressive," Luna said with a smile.

"I can only take your word for it," Remedy replied, wondering what kinds of things that Luna could do that she would not talk about or supposedly choose to do. 

"And my word is good," Luna said still smiling. "So let us get to the matters at hoof. You still wish me to train you in how to help ponies with their dreams?"

"Yes ma'am," Remedy said eagerly.

"Good, then we begin now. Do you see the many points of light all around us? Those are not stars, even though they may appear so, those are dreams," Luna explained.

Remedy did look around her at all the lights once again. They certainly looked like stars, they all glowed like stars, and there were more than she could ever hope to count. She would have to simply accept that they were dreams, this was a dream itself after all, or something close to it.

"How do I even reach this place on my own?" Remedy asked.

"We will not being going over that until I am satisfied you are well versed in properly caring for others dreams. I would not have you wandering into dreams unsupervised when you are not yet prepared to properly deal with things unattended. You could do more harm than good. Have patience, this will not be something you learn in a single session. It would be negligent of me to not see that you are given full and proper training in this," Luna said in a consoling tone.

"Okay, that makes sense. So you are going to do things, explain to me what you are doing, then after a while start letting me try to do things while supervising me to make sure I don't accidentally break some pony's mind. You'll keep that up till you ate satisfied I know what I am doing then you'll teach me how to get here," Remedy said.

"Very good. I take it training methods are not too dissimilar between our worlds then," Luna said with relief.

"Good training methods anyway. There are still plenty of times a job will just toss you in a position with a brief explanation, and expect you to figure it out. Then they get mad at you for doing something wrong you had no training to explain how to do right," Remedy said with a shrug. 

"You sound as if you had experiences of this type," Luna said with a smirk.

"First job was at a fast food restaurant. You would be surprised how many things you can screw up in what you thought would be the simplest job in the world. I have nothing but pity for new employees at Burger King..that's the name of the store," Remedy said, realizing that the princess might have no clue what fast food was if she was from another world.

"Well, those experiences doubtlessly make you more appreciative of receiving proper training. Tonight we will simply enter into a nightmare and observe. This is for you to get the feel for what it is like being in the dreams of another. It can be a terrifying experience to you too, and if you are not used to it you can find yourself at the mercy of the terrors ponies conjure in their minds," Luna explained. 

"So how do you know if a dream is a nightmare or not?" Remedy asked as she looked around at all the millions of lights.

"Again, that is a lesson for another time. So please be patient. I have a pony picked out who has been having frequent nightmares as of late, for the whole short time I have known of her actually. The reasons for these nightmares are understandable, but I have not yet decided the best course of action, if any, to take with her. She is not one of my ponies, and I am not sure she would appreciate my efforts. She will serve as a good place for you to learn the feel of a nightmare though," Luna said as she gazed out at the dreams. 

"Alright, I'm ready to start whenever you are," Remedy replied.

"Before we begin I must stress that we are only watching. I understand that night ponies on your world have an even greater drive to protect than those on mine do because of Sunset Shimmer's meddling with your instincts. You must keep those instincts under control. I will not allow us to be able to interact or be seen, but I still don't want you trying to interfere with the nightmare. They are in no real mortal danger despite what you may be seeing. It is important that you learn to watch and observe for some time first in all nightmares. Do I make myself clear?" 

"Yes ma'am," Remedy said with a bow of her head. 

"Good, now we begin," Luna said as she gestured wing out towards the lights.

Immediately the entire starscape shifted and it was they the they were rushing by them all without moving. Finally just one came into view and grew and enveloped both Phobia Remedy and Luna.

Remedy had shut her eyes briefly as they had been enveloped by the dream, and she opened her eyes now to behold what looked like a simple living room in an ordinary looking house. In that living room sat a young girl.

"It is early in the nightmare, but this is not the first time this dream has played out tonight for this one," Luna said sadly. "She should likely be waking after this time around though."

A tv emergency broadcast signal started blaring loudly though there didn't seem to be any tv present. The girl took on a panicked expression and started rushing for the basement, then paused as a scream rang out across the house of an even younger child.

"Jenny!" The girl yelled as she turned and raced to another part of the house. The dream shifted and Remedy and Luna shifted with the scene.

They were in a kitchen now and there was a terrified younger child crying and screaming. The sound of the emergency broadcast signal was still blaring loudly, almost drowning out all other sound.

"Laura, I'm scared!" The younger child cried. 

"I'm here Jenny, I won't let her hurt you," the girl who was the center of the dream assured the smaller child.

The younger girl suddenly stopped crying and stared creepily at the dreamer.

"You can never stop the Fae Queen," the child said in a monotone.

Suddenly the entire side of the house was ripped away. It was a tornado Remedy realized. Only Luna's restraining wing kept Remedy from trying to leap into action to try to protect these girls.

"Remember, this is just a dream, and we are just watching. This is more horrific than what occurred in real life, a product of fear and anxiety. Just watch," Luna said calmly.

The younger girl screamed as she was ripped away from her sisters arms by the wind and drawn away towards the sun. It was not a normal sun, but a stylized drawing of one in the air, half gold and half red. 

"Jenny!" The older girl screamed in anguish.

"The Fae Queen decides everything for us," came the disembodied voice of the younger girl.

Two adults were suddenly standing over the girl. Remedy assumed this was her parents. The woman looked oddly familiar but she couldn't place where she seemed to remember her from.

"Why weren't you more responsible? Why did you let Sunny hurt your sister?" The woman demanded.

"I'm sorry. I tried hard to protect her. How was I supposed to stop Sunny?" The girl cried.

"Be more responsible!" The man yelled at her.

The scene shifted again. They were still in the kitchen but the girl was now a young adult yellow furred pegasus with a very curly orange mane. She was still on the floor crying.

"Why did you do this Sunny? I thought you were my friend," the young mare sobbed. 

Suddenly an amber colored unicorn mare with a a two toned mane of red and gold appeared. On her flank was the exact same stylized sun that had appeared in the the sky just moments before.

"I am Sunset Shimmer, everything I do is for a purpose. I needed to use you to get ponies to do what I wanted. You did such a good job, Laura," the unicorn sneered at her.

Remedy's heart about stopped. This was Sunset Shimmer? This was the pony that was responsible for all of ETS? She seemed somehow less imposing and more imposing than expected. This mare seemed to know her personally too. Who was this mare and what connection to Sunset Shimmer did she have?

"I trusted you, was none of it real?" The young mare said as she looked up at unicorn with pleading eyes.

Another version of Sunset Shimmer appeared next to the other, and what ensued seemed like something to be expected out of Golem from Lord of the Rings.

"Of course I cared about you. You made me so proud of you as I saw you take charge and really start to show the world what you could do. I'm your friend," the new version said in a motherly tone.

"Yes, very proud, you turned out just as I wanted," the cruelest version sneered.

"But you did it all on your own," the kinder version said softly. 

"With me pushing you into it," the other sneered.

"I just don't know which of you was real," the pegasus blubbered.

Suddenly a great blast of magic blew away both the Sunset Shimmers, making Remedy jump in startlement. The source was a menacing version of Princess Twilight Sparkle that seemed to stand too tall.

"It doesn't matter, she is dead now," Twilight Sparkle said.

"But I never figured it out. I thought I did, but I still feel so confused," the Pegasus continued crying. 

Suddenly the dream just vanished and Remedy blinked at the abrupt ending. They now stood in the endless expanse of dreams again.

"She woke up suddenly, which brought an end to the dream," Luna explained as Remedy looked around.

"Who was that? I got the name Laura, but what the hell went on with that pony that she was tied up with Sunset Shimmer?" Remedy asked.

"A pony that is dealing with her own anxieties and working through them. I won't explain her situation as it is not my story to tell, but she is getting better. These nightmares are far less intense than they were before. I think she will eventually stop having them as regularly as she further makes peace with what happened. But anxieties can take a longer time for the subconscious mind to let go of than the conscious one, hence she is still having these dreams," Luna said with a sigh. 

"And you have watched this nightmare play out many times already with her?" Remedy asked in disbelief.

"No, this is one is one is the least horrible version of it I have seen, which makes me think she is working through this on her own without need to interfere. The ones from before were much more detailed and more intense," Luna said as she gazed down at Remedy.

"It is going to take me a while to get used to this," Remedy said with a sigh.

"Well, we shall give you the time to learn. This is but your first taste of a nightmare of another," Luna said as she carefully laid a wing over Remedy.

Remedy steeled herself for the next experience Luna had for her, but her mind couldn't help drifting back to wonder who that pegasus was and the actual face of Sunset Shimmer.





> Chapter 36: Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The journey into the nightmares of others continued. Much of what Remedy saw was common nightmares; showing up to class unprepared for a test, being chased, falling, and things like that. There were some variations on these themes due to the dreamers being ponies as well; being the only pony in a class of humans and getting mocked for that rather than being naked in class, wings suddenly stopped working, fur falling out, those kinds of things.

There were of course also nightmares much like Laura's had been. Things that seemed to be tied to some specific traumatic event. Nightmares where the event replayed or some terrible distortion of the event replayed in the dreamers mind. It quickly became apparent there was a clear line between those dealing with general anxieties and those that had something specific really upset them.

Some of the general anxiety nightmares she honestly considered worthy of simple banishment as they were so laughable. Those that were of the second type were the more concerning ones. These were the dreams she was most in need of helping ponies with, real fears; fears of being separated from family, fears of violence, fears of not being able to provide for their families, wondering what would happen to them. There was a pony that she guessed was like her father that was trying desperately to assert her human form in the dream and struggling, but displaying the struggle in a graphic display of body horror out of a horror movie.

They moved from dream to dream to dream, experiencing countless fears and anxieties. The dream world didn't function on the same concept of time as the real world so there was no telling how long they were at it when they came up to a dream of a pony that Remedy recognized.

"This is Tattered Wing's dream, can we go on to the next, please. If what I think is coming ends up coming I don't want to see this. She had a friend die last night and has been through a lot of physical trauma. I definitely understand what kinds of things she must be feeling, but I really don't want to have to see this, at least not yet," Remedy pleaded.

"You are going to see some horrible things in dreams happening to friends and loved ones from time to time. You need to learn to steel yourself so you can be of aid to them too," Luna said in gentle voice.

"Not sure if I would call Tattered a friend or not at this point, we only met once last night. I'll stay and watch if you insist I should, but I am scared of this dream," Remedy said as she watched things start to occur.

"I admit I am interested in seeing for myself what inspires such dread in you after all that you have seen so far tonight," Luna said as she turned her attention to the dream.

It was in Charleston, which was no surprise. The dream seemed very realistic at the moment; it was night and the scene was from the top of one of the buildings of the city. At this point Remedy could easily sense who the dreamer was as she looked at a blank flanked version of Tattered Wing who was not hurt in any way, looking over the edge of the building along with five other night ponies.

"I'm not so sure about this, Mandy. That group looks a lot meaner than most the other ones we have stopped," a dark purple mare said apprehensively.

"Don't worry so much, Gail, we've got this. It will be a quick swoop down, knock a few over and dash out. Keep it up till they finally just give up and leave," Mandy/Tattered Wing replied as she watched down below.

"But they're got baseball bats, knives, and that one there is setting fire to things," Gail said worriedly.

"You worry too much, Gail," a larger black stallion said. 

"Derrick you are like twice my size, you can take more of a hit than if they do something; me, I'll get my bones broken if one of them takes a good crack at me with a bat," Gail said with annoyance.

"Don't be such a scary cat, it will be fine. We've got this," a grey furred mare said.

"Just follow me and it will be okay," Mandy/Tattered Wing said as she spread her wings in preparation for a jump.

The rest spread their wings as well, with Gail hesitantly doing the same at the end.

Mandy/Tattered Wing leaped off the building and did an angled dive down, clipping the vandal that was in front of the group and knocking him down as she pulled back up into the air and landed on the building across the street.

Things rapidly went badly after that though. The next pony in line, Derrick, was caught full on with a strike of a bat across his head, causing him to falter and tumble to the ground instead of curving up and flying to the same building. Most the others pulled up and avoided that fate, but Gail was caught in a blast of fire from an aerosol can and a lighter and also tumbled to the ground hard, with some obvious burns.

The vandals moved quickly and began attacking the downed ponies, bringing down bats on top of them, stabbing, and setting fire to them. The four remaining above quickly rushed down to the aid of their friends trying to knock the humans away from their friend's downed forms. This time the other four were knocked down as well, with Mandy/ Tattered Wing being the only one who managed to somehow right herself into a glide slightly away, despite taking a blow to the side from a bat.

The humans went to work on the other three closely downed night ponies. Shouting insults and laughing as they attempted to beat the life out of what they were calling dumb animals.

Mandy/Tattered Wing pulled herself to her hooves and gave a wordless shout of anger as she charged back towards the humans recklessly, desperate to save her friends. They were all shouting and crying out in pain, with Gail's cries being particularly sharp and high pitched. 

The charge was brought to an abrupt end as yet another bat came down on her back, forcing her down to the ground. A pair of the vandals stepped down on each of her wings and her back, pinning her to the ground.

"Aww, widdle pony forgot how to fly. I think her wings might be broken. I think we need to perform some surgery, what do you think guys?" One of the humans mocked as he stood over her and drew a knife. The ones pinning her gave off cruel laughs. 

Mandy/Tatter Wing screamed in panic, adding her voice to the chorus of pain and misery.

"Enough!" Luna bellowed.

The scene paused frozen in time and then all the ponies, humans, and scenery blew away like dust in the wind. All that was left was Remedy, Luna and Tattered Wing.

Tattered Wing's sounds of panic turned to cries of anguish as her mind snapped back to the present. 

Luna walked over to the crying night pony and Remedy followed close by. 

"It's my fault, it was my idea. I said we could do it and I got Gail and Derrick killed. I did this," Tattered Wing sobbed as her form reverted back to her current disheveled one.

"Hush my little pony," Luna said gently as she brushed a wing over the crying night pony. "We all make mistakes, and this one was not yours alone. Most of your compatriots were just as eager as you to try to deal with these humans."

"Gail wasn't," Tattered Wing said as she gazed up with tear filled eyes at Luna. "Gail didn't want to chance it. She knew what would happen, but I pressured her. She was my best friend and I got her killed."

"She chose to follow. That was her call," Luna assured her.

"No, she was driven to it by my prompting and instinct," Tattered said angerly. "It isn't fair, it wasn't supposed to be like this. We shouldn't have to had to deal with those kinds of monsters!"

"Even in Equestria there are dangerous threats. It was naive and shortsighted of Sunset Shimmer to give you a belief it would be safe to defend others. The actions of these particular humans were truly heinous and there isn't anything I can say to you to make it better," Luna said sorrowfully.

"You are Princess Luna? Where are we? Is this another vision? And you over there, you are Phobia Remedy, right?" Tattered said as she took in her surroundings. 

"This is the dream realm, my little pony. There are many ways to defend other ponies, and one of the ways you can do that is defending them from their anxieties and nightmares," Luna said as she spread her wings in gesture at the starry expanse.

"Maybe I should learn about that, I won't be doing much other defending anymore," Tattered said mournfully as she looked at her wings.

"They do look painful and severely damaged, but such wounds can be healed," Luna said as she looked at the wings.

"What??" Tattered gaped at the alicorn with wide eyes. 

"It requires some magical remedies, and time, but your physical wounds look to be ones that can be healed. It is primarily the webbing of your wings that is damaged, and that can be reknitt with magic. There may be some scarring but it is treatable as the wings are still intact otherwise," Luna explained. 

"I can fly again?" Tattered said with in a tone that bordered between disbelief and worship. 

"In time, it will require an Equestrian doctor, and time to mend after that, but you will be able to fly again," Luna said in a kind voice.

"What about my friends? They are in far worse shape than me, I think that the rest are going to live. They need care more than me though," Tattered said as she looked around as if trying to find them in the stars.

"I cannot make any promises on that, as I have not seen them to judge their states. I can say that I can see that what can be done for them will be done. I only need know where you are located and I can have doctors ordered to you, or you brought to us, as soon as possible. I know little of your world, but I am sure others will be able to find you if you let me know where," Luna explained. 

"Charleston, South Carolina, in the medical university. Phobia there knows exactly where to find me. Where are you?" Tattered said with wonder as she gazed as the princess.

"I am admit full ignorance with your place names, it is a region near a high range of mountains in the west and plains to the east," Luna said. 

"You are in the midwest, I am guessing you are near Lazy Pines in Colorado. That makes sense. With how everything has all but shut down it will take a while to get anypony to me or longer for me to get to you. Considering flying is about the same speed as traveling by car that is like a three day trip for a winged pony still. I don't mind, I had no hope for anything before now, and now I do," Tattered said with gratitude. 

"If so far away it may take even longer than that, as it will take time just to get the ponies willing to make the extended trip. It isn't a hard task, as many are willing to help, it is just making arrangements to allow them to do so. I will do my best, and will remember the feel of your dreams to let you know when I have an update," Luna said.

"Thank you," Tattered said as she let loose happy tears. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was kind of suppose to talk to you tonight and was wondering if I could just get that over with now while I am here," Remedy said, ashamed that she was butting into the conversation.

"Talk to me about what? Were you planning on joining the Enclave?" Tattered asked with a quizzical look.

"No, not intending to do that, I was supposed to talk to you on behalf of the local government relief effort director. He wants to meet with you tomorrow and discuss..um..the Enclave's methods in protecting. It is causing a lot of worry for the government and they're worried about what'll happen when news breaks about it to the rest of the country. They're worried it could cause increased human and pony hostilities. They also were wanting to make arrangements for you to have the night ponies in Charleston added to the census," Remedy explained.

"I'm not concerned with increased hostilities, I'm concerned with keeping those we protect safe and my ponies safe," Tattered said in a much harder tone than she had been using to this point.

"If hostilities get too high you might have an army to contend with, and what you are doing won't work against that. They promise to try to work with you to address your concerns, the director for the area just wants to talk to you and discuss options. They don't want things to go sour. You've got to realize how afraid the humans in Charleston are of you right now, even if you mean them no harm. We don't want that spreading to the rest of the country because scared people will lash out after a while," Remedy explained.

"What is this that is being discussed?" Luna asked in a stern voice.

"Tattered here is a leader of a large group of night ponies named the Enclave of Night that have decided that the most effective ways of dealing with humans that are trying to rob or loot is to attack quickly and break their bones," Remedy explained.

"And to what purpose is this done?" Luna demanded as she leveled her gaze back to Tattered.

"You just watched what happened to me and my friends. We lack an effective means to deal with armed and dangerous humans without completely taking them down on our initial attacks. We also can't anticipate which humans are going to be armed. If one of them is doing robbery or worse we don't hesitate, we break one of their legs or arms," Tattered explained. 

"How many of you are engaged in this activity?" Luna asked in a slow tone.

"By my last count there were one-hundred and four helping keep the peace," Tattered answered. 

"In one city?" Luna asked with some disbelief in her tone.

Both the night ponies nodded.

"The government is supposed to be asking the help of your world in figuring out what to do with the situation," Remedy said.

"How long ago was this request made?" Luna asked.

"Not long ago, if it was made yet at all. They said they would put in a request not long before I went to sleep," Remedy explained.

"That might explain why I have not heard word of this yet. I will pass word along and find out if we can find more peaceable ways of dealing with your concerns. In Equestria night ponies would not be working by themselves at night bearing the full burden of overnight protection, and often act as scouts for others who will do the subduing in such cases, but I understand sleeping patterns are more heavily ingrained in the ponies on your world. Sunset Shimmer's tampering has led to negative consequences in many unforeseen ways it seems," Luna said gravely. 

"As I said, this isn't fair, we weren't made for the situation we are facing and we are doing our best to adapt," Tattered explained.

"I will see what can be done for you all to address the problem in a more amicable way. I urge you to meet with the humans and speak with them to try to find a better resolution as we do not want humans to have any more reason to fear you," Luna said.

"If that is what you order," Tattered said with a bow of her head.

"I order nothing. You have no allegiance or fealty to me. I simply highly recommend. I hope you do heed my advice though," Luna said.

"I will," Tattered said. 

"We shall depart you then. My purpose for now was helping Phobia Remedy with learning the feel of nightmares and we have become distracted. Take care, Tattered Wing, I will check up on you in a day's time," Luna said.

"I look forward to it, Luna," Tattered said, a sound of worship still in her tone.
> Chapter 37: Rosetta's Secret
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy found herself a bit disoriented as she found herself back at the church. There were little details off though that confirmed this to be yet another nightmare though; angles of the buildings were not right, there was no sign of the treeline that bordered the church, and it was well lit despite no apparent source of light.

Within seconds Remedy spotted the dreamer and felt like she was violating some sacred trust. The dreamer was Rosetta.

"Luna, this is my marefriend's nightmare. I don't think I should be seeing this," Remedy said anxiously.

"I was only aware it was somepony close to you when I chose this one, but I chose it specifically for the reason they are close to you. You seemed to have a harder time with the dream with another pony you knew only in passing. I need to see how you hold up to a pony more important to you. Here it will be easiest for you to be trapped into the fantasy of the dream. It is something you must experience at least once to understand it," Luna said as she glanced around at their surroundings.

Rosetta was here, with her head buried in her forelegs she propped herself against the side of the church. There was no obvious sign if what was upsetting her. There were no monsters about, no tormenting ponies or humans, just Rosetta. Why was she crying?

Remedy approached her marefriend's dreamform with care. Rosetta didn't seem to be hurt in any way.

Her marefriend paused, seeming to sense Remedy's presence. Remedy had thought that Luna had masked their presence from dreamers. How was Rosetta noticing her? She took a chance and spoke.

"Why are you crying?" Remedy asked with concern.

"I'm scared and don't know what to do," Rosetta replied in a tear filled moan.

"Remedy might leave me, my parents might pressure me to get back with John, I might have to abandon all my dreams," Rosetta cried.

Rosetta apparently had no idea who she was speaking to. Remedy decided to ask Luna about that later. The primary focus now was Rosetta was scared, for reasons Remedy didn't understand.

"Why would any of that happen? All of that seems like the least likely things to happen," Remedy said in a comforting to one. Hoping to calm her.

"Because of this," Rosetta moaned.

Rosetta turned while still standing on her hind legs and revealed a massively distended belly, a sign of very heavy pregnancy. Remedy had to remind herself that this was just a dream so to not recoil in shock.

"You think you're pregnant?" Remedy asked. She had considered the possibility herself, but hadn't realized Rosetta was this worried about it. 

"I know I'm pregnant. I just know it," Rosetta sobbed.

"How?" Remedy asked.

"I just do, I can feel it. I don't need any doctor to tell me," Rosetta said as she ceased crying and stared down at her distended lower body.

"And you haven't said a word about this to anypony?" Remedy asked as she looked at the swollen area.

"I'm just so scared. Even if none of that happens what if the foal isn't a night pony too? There seems no rhyme or reason to every other family's types. How am I supposed to take care of a foal that needs to be up during the day if I need to be up at night? What if they are a unicorn and I've no idea how to teach them how to use their horn? What if their father wants to be involved with the foal he sired? What will my parents say when I tell them I am having a foal and not married?" Rosetta listed her fears off in quick panicked succession.

"Are you sure this isn't just some anxiety from knowing you had unprotected sex with John?" Remedy asked.

"I'm sure. I don't know how I'm sure, but I'm sure. I'm just waiting for the doctor's visit to confirm it before saying anything. What is Remedy going to think?" Rosetta said still sobbing.

"Rosetta, focus and look at me. I'm Remedy, and I'm here for you," Remedy said lovingly.

Rosetta looked at her and stared. It was surprising to Remedy that a mind could be so clouded in a dream that you could hold a full conversation without ever questioning or realizing who you were talking to. If it is a dream it might be considered talking to yourself, she guessed anyway. Still it was a shock her voice and appearance didn't register to Rosetta right away in a dream. It registered to Tattered, but the dream had already been banished by that point and Tattered pulled into the dreamscape. This was a still active dream.

"Remedy? I'm sorry, I don't know how I didn't realize it was you. I'm just confused. Please don't be angry with me," Rosetta said as realization dawned on her. 

"This is just a dream, it isn't real, but I'm real and I'm here for you," Remedy said as she wrapped a wing over her marefriend.

"A dream but your real? How...," further realization bloomed in Rosetta's eyes. "Princess Luna."

"She's teaching me. She brought me into this dream. I didn't come here on purpose," Remedy assured her.

"It's okay, you would have found out soon anyway. It's good that you are getting a chance to learn about dreams. I should have already talked to you about this. I'm sorry," Rosetta said as her now normal form gripped Remedy in a hug.

"We can talk about it when we are both awake. We will find a way to make this work and John doesn't need to even learn you are having a foal. For all we know this is just an anxiety that feels very real, but we will get you to a doctor to be sure. I'll be there for all of it though," Remedy said as she hugged her partner back tightly.

The dream faded away suddenly and Remedy found herself gripping nothing. Rosetta must have awoken, and would now be gazing at Remedy's sleeping form.

"Is the father a night pony as well?" Luna asked from behind Remedy. Through the course of the dream Remedy had completely forgotten Luna was even there.

"Yeah he is. He was abusive to Rosetta though and becoming a pony didn't just take that all away it seems," Remedy said with a sigh.

"Another aberration from instincts, if an unfortunate one. It at least further makes the case the human turned ponies are free thinking," Luna said with a glum tone. "If both parents are night ponies it is highly likely the foal will be as well, though I cannot assure that. In my world pairings of the same type of pony tend to produce the same type of foal, though there are chances of a different type being born still. Perhaps one in ten foals born might be of a different type than either their parents if there is recent ancestry of other types."

"So ninety percent chance it will be a night pony foal if there is indeed a foal?" Remedy asked.

"I can only give you that number based on what goes on with those in my world. I don't know enough yet about your fellow ponies here to make any assurances about that," Luna said in a cautioning tone.

"I'll keep that in mind, but will tell Rosetta that it is more than likely a night pony foal, if it turns out she is pregnant," Remedy said as she looked down at her hooves.

"I think this is a good stopping point for tonight. That last dream was your only real mistake. You shouldn't have allowed yourself to become part of the dream, but it is a forgivable mistake. Dreams where you share a strong connection with the dreamer can easily incorporate you into them, and you are untrained. We shall work on that in the future," Luna said in a pleasant tone.

"She didn't seem to know me at first. Why was that?" Remedy asked.

"Her mind was looking for a voice to talk to but hadn't specifically chosen anypony in particular. You were taken in as that voice, but not given proper form as one had not been selected. Once you told her your identity it then gave you form for her to see," Luna explained.

"And if I hadn't been taken into the dream?" Remedy asked.

"Eventually her mind would have chosen somepony and we would have watched her speak to that phantom, with it likely echoing her fears back to her," Luna said.

"I guess I understand. Thank you for taking time with me tonight. I know you must be really busy," Remedy said as she looked at the princess.

"It was an informative night for me as well. I learn much interacting with the ponies of your world. I will find time again soon to continue with teaching you, though likely in shorter sessions going forward. You're right that I have much to," Luna said with a smile.


Without any further goodbye the dreamscape faded away, and Remedy awoke.

> Chapter 38: Commitment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy opened her eyes to see the concerned face of Rosetta looking down at her. She gave a brief yawn and stretch; it had been a long day.

"Did you really enter my dreams last night or was that a figment of my imagination?" Rosetta asked.

"Yes I did. You said you weren't upset with me about it, is that true?" Remedy asked.

Rosetta came over and laid back down to cuddle close with Remedy.

"No, I'm not upset. It's what you're supposed to be learning to do. But we need to talk about what you saw," Rosetta said in a serious tone.

"So do you really think you're pregnant?" Remedy asked, cutting to the chase.

Rosetta laid her head down across Remedy's forelegs and lowered her ears.

"I really don't know. I know I felt convinced for sure when I was dreaming, but not as certain awake. I've been feeling funny the last day or two and the thought has been on my mind," Rosetta said.

"And do you really think I would leave you if you were?" Remedy asked.

"No, I know that is just anxieties speaking. It's just scary thinking I might be. It wasn't ever anything I planned on happening. I never wanted foals. I'd even considered getting my ovaries removed before ETS started, because I just really didn't want foals," Rosetta said in a somber tone.

"That much against it? Why?" Remedy asked curiously.

"Mix of reasons; figured I'd be a horrible mother, John was rough with me and figured he would be rough with any foal, thought it would get in the way of school plans, but mainly just never had a desire for it," Rosetta explained as she stared ahead at nothing with her head resting still on Remedy's legs.

"And if you end up being actually pregnant?" Remedy asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea how to feel. It's one thing to say you never want something to happen and another to figure out what to do if it actually does. I won't abort, not even sure if that is an option, but won't do that regardless," Rosetta said as she kept laying there. 

"Luna said it's a high likelihood that a foal will be a night pony if both the parents are, but said there's a small chance it might not be," Remedy explained.

"How small a chance?" Rosetta asked.

"About one in ten if we follow the same patterns as the Equestrians," Remedy answered.

"I think I can say that if I'm pregnant, and it turns out to be anything other than a night pony, that giving the foal up to be adopted by some other mare is the best option," Rosetta said with a sigh. "I really don't see me being able to properly raise a foal of any other type. It's questionable enough if I can properly raise a night pony."

"Well, you aren't in this alone. I'm not going anywhere. If you're raising a foal then I'm raising a foal right along side you," Remedy reminded her.

Rosetta lifted her head up and looked Remedy in the eye.

"Do you want to? Help raise a foal, that is? You didn't sign up for a foal when you said you want to be with me," Rosetta asked.

"I don't know how to feel about raising a foal either, but we're in it together no matter what. If you're raising a foal I'm going to be right there raising the foal with you," Remedy assured her as she stroked Rosetta's mane with a wing.

"It feels better hearing that, at least a little," Rosetta said in a relieved tone. Then she sighed. "I guess that I should be seeing the doctor again like she asked. See if I'm getting myself worked up over nothing."

"We can go take care of that now, sun isn't setting for another hour. They might see you now," Remedy suggested.

"We told Baker we would go take care of talking to Tattered and we're going to see my family again right after," Rosetta reminded her.

"Actually, I already took care of telling Tattered Wing about Baker wanting to meet with her, and she accepted the offer," Remedy said with a smile.

"When? Wait...you went into Tattered Wing's dreams too? How many dreams did you go into last night with Luna?" Rosetta said as she picked her head up and looked at Remedy.

"Lost count of how many. They were all nightmares of one sort or another. You and Tattered Wing are the only ones I actually talked to the ponies in, most I just watched," Remedy explained.

"I'm glad I'm not doing that. I can only imagine what dreams like Tattered Wing's are like," Rosetta shivered.

"Exactly what you think. I didn't want to see that, but Luna insisted. Luna brought an end to that dream herself actually. She couldn't even stand to watch that play out," Remedy said with a matching shiver.

"It was probably just re-traumatizing Tattered again if she was reliving what happened. Banishing the nightmare was likely the best course of action," Rosetta said thoughtfully.

"Anyway, I need to let Baker know that Tattered has agreed to meet with him and listen to what he has to say. While I'm doing that you can be seeing the doctor," Remedy said as she nudged Rosetta back into a standing position.

"I suppose so, then we can get something to eat and head over to see my family early enough that Cathy isn't going to be struggling to stay awake," Rosetta said hesitantly.

Remedy rose to her hooves and put a wing tip under Rosetta's chin.

"No matter what the doctor says tonight me and your whole family are going to be here for you," Remedy assured her, and then leaned over and kissed her.

"You are family, but I get what you're saying and appreciate it," Rosetta said as she gave a kiss of her own in return.

"Let's head back and get it done then," Remedy said as she spread her wings with Rosetta following her example.

It was a short silent flight back to the church. There were plenty of pegasi flying about the area too, though they didn't come close enough to be able to greet any of them.

When they arrived back at the church they saw that the haystacks had been refilled sometime over the course of the day and a new truck was parked on the grounds that the hay had likely arrived in. There were a few extra humans that were being censused as well that were likely stragglers from coming out the days before, as well as a few ponies.

One standing in line to be counted in the census caught Remedy's eye, her dad. 

Rosetta followed Remedy's gaze and gave her marefriend a sympathetic look.

"Do you want to stop and talk to him?" Rosetta asked.

Remedy shook her head.

"Maybe in a few minutes. I don't figure he'll be gone by the time I'm done talking to Baker. More wondering if he ran into my mom or is going to run into my mom," Remedy said as she glanced around for her mom.

"Let's get to doing what we need to do. If I am not waiting for you when your done with Baker I'll find you on my own, as long as you stay around here. Do what you need to do," Rosetta instructed.

Remedy nodded agreement as they pulled out of their hover and flew down to the school.

"What can we help you gals with today," the soldier on duty said as they approached. Remedy was pretty sure he had been on duty at least once previously when they tried to gain entrance. All three of the current guards looked familiar.

"I have news for Director Baker that he'll want right away," Remedy said.

"And I need to see a doctor if they're still seeing patients," Rosetta said in a brave tone.

"We'll let the director know you are here miss Phobia, your requests have been listed as priority requests to see to, and will see if there is a doctor for you as well ma'am," the guard said as he nodded to one of the others. The guard that was nodded to went inside the school promptly.

"My requests are a priority? Since when?" Remedy asked in confusion.

"Since the director said so. Note that we only prioritize letting someone know you are making a request. No promises that they will be acted on," the soldier explained.

"Understood," Remedy said with a nod of her head.

The guard that had gone inside quickly returned a minute later.

"Director Baker is in the principal's office with Sunset Blessing and Number Crunch. He will says that he will see you right away," the guard said to Remedy. He then turned to Rosetta. "Second classroom on the left, doctor Muller will be there shortly."

The two night ponies nodded and went in as the guard held open the door for them. They paused briefly in front of the room that Rosetta was going to be seen in.

"Hopefully they heard how to do a pregnancy test by now," Rosetta said as she eyed the room warily.

"They've been getting information for days now, it can't be that hard to check. Don't get yourself too stressed about it before it happens. It could be nothing," Remedy said.

"We'll see," Rosetta said uncertainly.

Remedy gave her a kiss and a hug. Rosetta gave a small smile in return.

"See you in a little bit, love you," Rosetta said as she turned to walk to into the room.

"Love you too," Remedy replied.

Remedy watched as Rosetta fully went into the room and then sighed. She took the long walk then down the hall to the clearly marked principal's office. 

She lifted a hoof and knocked on the door and a moment later the handle lit up with her mom's familiar red aura if magic and turned, letting Remedy in.

Inside director Baker was seated at the desk flipping through reports on a laptop. In the corner was the unicorn mare with the abacus cutie mark, flipping through a large amount of papers with her magic. Blessing was sitting in a chair opposite Baker with Remedy's laptop open in front of her. They all looked up at her as she entered.

"What can I help you with, Phobia?" Baker asked as her mom shut the door with her magic.

"Wanted to let you know that Tattered Wing will meet with you whenever you arrive, though I recommend doing the trip at night so she's up and alert," Remedy informed him.

"Really? I hadn't expected word back from you on that till morning. You did that much quicker than I anticipated," Baker said with surprise.

"I had an unexpected encounter with her last night, it is a night pony thing that led to it," Remedy explained.

"Care to explain that a little better?" Baker asked.

"I was in her nightmare last night kind of by accident. It's night pony magic. I am just learning how to do it and my teacher was taking me to random nightmares," Remedy explained further, unsure if she should be saying anything about this. Being honest with the humans would help build trust though.

"Who is your teacher that has already mastered this enough to be teaching you?" Blessing asked.

"Princess Luna of Equestria, she thinks I am a natural fit for helping ponies understand their nightmares. Distance doesn't seem to make any difference to her. I told her about the situation in Charleston too, and she said she would look into ways to help. Tattered seemed really impressed by her," Remedy answered, hoping she didn't sound crazy.

"I've been briefed about this Princess Luna and been given a brief description of her capabilities. What you say does line up with what I was told. You'll have to forgive me that a foreign power being in contact with you unauthorized is something that I have to be cautious about, and report on," Baker said thoughtfully.

"I understand your position. I'm doing my best to be open and honest about it," Remedy said with a slight bow of her head.

"Ponies are honest," the unicorn in the corner, Number Crunch, recited.

"Is there anything else I should be informed of?" Baker asked after a brief glance at Number Crunch.

Remedy thought for a moment just to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.

"Luna promised to try to get Equestrian doctors out here to look at the Broken Ones. She was pretty sure that Tattered could be healed even though Tattered was under the impression her injuries were too severe from the doctors here. The fact Luna said she was going to try to heal Tattered made Tattered very agreeable with whatever Luna wanted, and Luna advised her to meet with you and try to find more peaceful ways of dealing with things," Remedy said after a moment.

"I see...anything else?" Baker asked.

"Luna said she was concerned about their behavior as well. She explained night ponies in her world wouldn't normally bear the full brunt of trying to protect at night and against many simply acted as scouts to alert others who would do the subduing. She said she'd consult around and see what could be done to address the night ponies in Charleston's concerns," Remedy finished.

"Thank you again for all you do for us, Phobia. This is all very helpful. Please keep me abreast on your training with Luna. My superiors would be very much interested in knowing the ins and outs of night pony dreamwalking before it becomes a common phenomenon," Baker said.

It was unspoken that the idea a pony could get into another's dreams was something else that might scare humans. The government knowing everything about what a night pony could and could not do before that information broke could help keep calm.

"I'll be going then. Rosetta is seeing the doctor again right now and there are a few other things I need to take care of," Remedy said as she made to leave.

"Why is she seeing the doctor again so soon?" Blessing said as her ears perked up effect.

"She may or may not be pregnant. We don't know, and she is finding out," Remedy said, feeling uncomfortable saying anything about it.

"I see...," Blessing said slowly. "We'll talk about that later after you've heard an answer."

Remedy wondered what was going on in her mom's head now. If there was going to be a foal and Remedy was going to help raise it that kind of made Remedy a stepmother, which would make her mother a grandmare.

Remedy made her last goodbyes and exited out of the room. 

Rosetta wasn't waiting for her outside in the hall, which meant she was likely either still waiting to be examined or in the process. Remedy went up to the door and listened for a moment.

"I am going to take a little blood sample and also have you pee in this container if you can manage it. I'll step outside the door if you prefer some privacy while you do that," she heard doctor Muller saying.

Apparently they now had some idea how to test for pregnancy. This seemed like it might still take a little while though so there wasn't much point in sticking around. Remedy briefly considered joining her marefriend as a show of support, but decided against it in the end. Rosetta expected her to go take care of things with her dad while she was doing this.

She exited out the building and jumped into a hover so she could get a good look around for her dad. She found him quickly. He was standing by the haystacks looking at them in clear distaste. 

She came in for a landing next to him causing him to jump as she startled him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Wasn't ever expecting to see you here again," Remedy said.

"Food's pretty much out, had to come or starve," her dad said as he glared at the haystack again.

"It tastes as bland as it looks," Remedy said with an apologetic smile.

"It's food for livestock," her dad said with contempt.

"It works for us, even if it isn't that appealing. It's better than starving," Remedy said with a shrug.

"Another reason to want to be done with this pony business," her dad grumbled.

"How's that holding up for you?" Remedy asked. There was nothing confrontational about it. She was genuinely curious.

"About the same, thankfully no cutie mark still," her dad said, still not touching the hay. He looked at her. "How are you doing? Your friend still treating you right? You getting enough sleep?"

"Rosetta's been nothing but great. We're in love," Remedy replied.

"A little quick for knowing that don't you think?" Her dad asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It is quick, but I think it is legitimate. Also, there's a chance Rosetta is pregnant," Remedy answered.

"Hate to break this to you, but two women can't produce a baby, that ain't yours if there is one. Not unless you were doing some screwing around with her before ETS behind everyone's backs," her dad said scornfully.

"She had a stallionfriend before. He was abusive to her and she left him," Remedy said with lowered ears.

"Abusive how?" Her dad asked as he tensed up.

"Hit her, degraded her, just about everything you could think of," Remedy replied with flattened ears.

"A real man shouldn't hit a woman. Good for her for getting out of that," her father growled.

"Thank you for saying that. You're a good...man, Dad," Remedy said as she hugged her dad.

Her dad didn't seem to know what to do about her sudden show of affection, but did eventually give her a light pat on the back as she hugged him.

"I try to be," her dad said sadly.
> Chapter 39: Family and Relationships
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy finally got her dad to eat, with him doing it begrudgingly. She spoke with him a bit about what she had been doing as of late; the guarding of the Wal Mart, the learning about the Enclave of Night for Baker, and the tutelage she was receiving from Luna.

"This Luna sounds like a demon if there ever was one. Going into ponies dreams is downright evil," her dad complained.

"Are you calling me evil?" Remedy asked in a cross tone. She did her best to be friendly and loving with her dad, but then he turned around and said crap like that.

"You're well-intentioned, but it is just wrong," her dad asserted. 

"Then perhaps we should drop that subject before it escalates into a fight. I don't want to fight with you," Remedy said in a tightly controlled voice.

"Very well, I had best be going back home, anyway. I just needed to get some food and let myself get counted as being alive. I can't stay here or I'll end up running into your mother," her dad said as he gathered some hay into a duffle bag he had brought along with him.

"It's too late for that, Tom," came Blessing's voice from behind them. 

Remedy started to question whether her nose was working, because ponies kept sneaking up on her.

They both turned to find Blessing standing there, with Tonya and Number Crunch in tow. She had been carrying Remedy's laptop in her magic but quickly passed it over to Number Crunch who took it up in her own blue aura.

"Charlotte, I'm not here to start any fights, I was just getting something to eat. I'll be leaving and out of your hair," her dad said in a pleading voice.

Her mom scowled at him in return.

"That hay is for ponies. We're working hard to see that humans get food. Don't you make the claim you want nothing to do with being a pony?" Blessing demanded harshly with her ears flattened backwards.

"Blessing, I think you're being a little too harsh. I know your emotions are running high with him, but you can't compromise your values. You don't let any pony or human go hungry if you can help it,," Tonya said as she gently touched a wing to Blessing's flank.

Blessing looked at Tonya and her expression softened slightly. When she turned back it was still clearly angry, but not as severe.

"My name is Sunset Blessing, not Charlotte. I meant it when I said I was abandoning my humanity, and that means every aspect of it. If you're determined to be human you and I are completely over forever. I am not sure formal divorce is something that'll still be done with ponies, but I am not your wife. Do I make myself clear?" Blessing demanded.

"Crystal," her dad said in a tone like he had just be struck in the face.

"With that said, you don't need to go scurrying back to your house. It's a stupid waste of time if you're just going to need to come back in a day or two for more food. Who knows, maybe some mare around here might catch your eye who shares your damned sentiments about abandoning ponydom and won't bore you as much as I did," she said in a harsh tone.

"Bore me? What are you talking about?" Remedy's dad asked in confusion.

"You hadn't touched me in years, Tom. After I turned thirty you only touched me on occasions like my birthday and anniversary, by the time I was forty you didn't touch me at all. I hinted and tried to initiate, but it always fell flat. I have needs that you didn't fulfill for a long time," she hissed.

Okay, this was a whole side of pent up anger that Remedy was completely unaware her mom had been harboring for her dad. It made her mom initiating sex with Tonya make a whole lot more sense than it had before. It also highlighted how little Remedy had understood what went on in her mom's head even before ETS.

"And are these needs getting filled now?" Remedy's dad asked in a dark tone.

"Those needs and emotional ones as well," Blessing growled.

Remedy's dad just stared at her mom for a long moment. He then turned and silently finished closing up the duffle bag and floating it onto his back in his blue magical aura. 

"There isn't any more to say then. I won't be staying here as one of your herd to order around. I hope you find happiness, Sunset Blessing," her dad said before spitting on the ground. 

Before leaving he turned to Remedy.

"You're always welcome to visit me. I'm still your father and still love you no matter what. But please, don't ever mention your bitch of a mother to me again," he said to her, before finally trotting off.

Blessing just stood stiffly watching him walk out of sight. Every other pony, as well as the humans, stood watching Sunset Blessing.

"Tonya, was I too harsh?" Blessing asked shakily without averting her gaze from the edge of the treeline where her former husband had just vanished beyond.

"You were very harsh, but you were also very emotional. You can't be blamed for letting your temper get the better of you. Could that've been dealt with more tact? Yes. But it needed to be done," Tonya said in a consoling tone.

Then to the shock of all onlookers Tonya walked around in front of Blessing and gave her a kiss on the lips in front of every pony and human. Blessing seemed a bit shocked by the action as well, but put up no objection, and gave a look of adoration to the younger mare after.

"Amber," Tonya called out to the amber coated pegasus standing nearby. "Deal with what needs to be done with the pegasi for the rest of the night. I'm sure Number Crunch can deal with the rest. Right now my marefriend needs me." 

"Yes...of course, Tonya," Amber said as she looked between the two mares.

"We've got this for now. You go take care of yourself, Sunset," Number Crunch echoed.

Blessing just nodded. As she was turning to walk towards the church with Tonya her eyes met Remedy's.

"Yes, it's a full relationship. Yes, I'm bisexual and not ashamed to admit it anymore. Yes, I know she's less than half my age. And yes, Tonya makes me happy. Please don't judge me," her mom said in an even tone as they looked at one another. 

"Mom, we really need to take time and just talk. I don't think either of us knows the other half as well as we thought we did," Remedy said with bewilderment.

"I'll find time to do just that, just not tonight. I'll see you sometime tomorrow," Blessing said as she turned back towards the church and started walking again. 

As they walked away Tonya draped a wing over Blessing's back. Tonya turned and looked at Remedy as she walked. 

"And the feeling between the two of us is mutual in case you're worried about that. See you soon, Phobia," Tonya called back.

All Remedy could get to register in her head at the moment was that being nocturnal really sucked sometimes. All this stuff went on during the day and she didn't ever get to witness it as it was happening, leaving her blindsided later on.

The other ponies got back to whatever they were doing as Remedy stared at the church. After a moment she felt a wing wrap around her comfortingly.

"Emotional night, huh?" Rosetta asked.

"Definitely," Remedy said with a nod.

Remedy heard Rosetta take a deep breath before Rosetta dropped the news.

"Well, it's going to stay emotional; I'm pregnant. We're going to be mommies."

Remedy turned and looked at her marefriend. Rosetta was looking down at the ground though she had one foreleg raised and rubbing against her belly.

"We'll get through it. You won't have to give up on your dreams either. I'll see that he or she is cared for and watched as you attend classes, write papers, and do whatever else you need to do," Remedy assured her.

"You don't have to bear all that burden. Maybe I should just put that all on hold, or just abandon it. Would I be a good mother if I didn't devote all my attention to my foal?" Rosetta asked.

"You'd find time for your foal too, and you'd be a good mother by setting a good example for the foal by not letting circumstances stop you from reaching your dreams. You aren't in this alone," Remedy said and then bent her head around and kissed Rosetta.

"If that's so then I want you to be the foal's mother too. You aren't just somepony helping raise them, I want you as co-mother with me and treat this foal like it came from your own womb. One of us can be mama and the other mom or whatever, but I want us to be a definite family," Rosetta said firmly.

"I will do that," Remedy said as she nuzzled her marefriend. Then she got a mischievous smirk and giggled.

"What's funny?" Rosetta asked in confusion.

"I think you just proposed to me," Remedy said with a loving smile.

Rosetta blinked.

"I suppose I did. What's your answer to that then?" Rosetta asked.

"I don't know. Where's my engagement ring?" Remedy questioned innocently.

"Phobia Remedy! We can't even wear rings, you goof!" Rosetta laughed.

"It's good to hear you laugh," Remedy said with happy contentment. "I accept."
> Chapter 40: Mixed Relations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The newly engaged couple ate their dinner in peace and quiet. Activity was winding down at the church for the day, and despite being delegated temporary authority it seemed that Amber and Number Crunch didn't have much to do, and soon joined the couple in their meal.

"I hope Sunset has herself pulled back together by tomorrow. Those reps from the small towns are supposed to be showing up and the gas stations are all supposed to be opening. I know the Wal Mart is really pushing to try to be open in two days along with a few other businesses. I can deal with the numbers and data, obviously, but I can't organize ponies," Number Crunch said said as she sat the laptop down in order to eat.

"Same with Tonya, she takes care of organizing all the pegasi teams. The other ponies listen to her, but I have to argue about every little detail. Oh, where's Tonya? Where's Sunset? I just want to clarify with them. It's not like I question you know what your doing. I don't want to have a full day of that," Amber moaned.

"Did you two know about the two of them being a serious thing together?" Rosetta asked the Pegasus and unicorn.

"Not a clue," Amber said with an annoyed flip of her tail.

"I suspected, but wasn't sure until they went and traded saliva in front of everypony," Number Crunched said with a chuckle.

"So it wasn't something that only we were in the dark about then?" Remedy asked.

"What just happened a few minutes ago was the only confirmation of it. Caught me by surprise even with me suspecting; I knew your mother back in high school and college, and would never have suspected her barn door swung that way," Number Crunch said with a smirk.

"Well, I'm kind of glad I am not the only one taken by surprise," Remedy said with a strange sense of relief.

"She wasn't always so much of a Bible thumper you know. She got that way in college. The college was run by the Southern Baptist Convention and they really push evangelical indoctrination. She went in as a business major, like me, but finished as a religion major. Place really changed a lot of her world views," Number Crunch explained.

"I knew she has a religion degree from college, but didn't know she started off as a business major," Remedy said with suprise.

"She was a bit of an radical feminist in high school. Wanted to show herself as a strong independent woman and all that. She intended on getting into corporate management and assert herself over a male dominated field," the blue unicorn mare said as she levitated up some hay to her mouth.

"How'd she change so much?" Remedy asked, still amazed at what she was hearing.

"Don't know what happened to all that. Maybe it was just the peer pressure of all that ultra conservativeness around her. She lived on campus and you could get ostracized by a lot of the students and professors for not walking the line right," Number Crunch said with a shrug.

"So not the first time she has gone through a massive re-branding of herself," Rosetta observed.

"Nope, definitely not," Number Crunch agreed and then laughed. "We're getting version three of her now, I wonder if there'll be a version four."

Remedy definitely hoped not.

"Time to face your parents with the double whammy news," Remedy said to her marefriend.

"Triple whammy, still going to try to convince them to let Cathy come here, but compared to the other two things that seems kind of small," Rosetta said mournfully.

"I'll be right there with you," Remedy said as she kissed Rosetta on the lips.

"Am I behind the curve? Am I supposed to be a lesbian now? Because I'm still staring at stallion's flanks," Amber said as she watched them.

"Don't think it works like that. Stare at those flanks and don't feel guilty about it. That one stallion that Sunset has in charge of the earth ponies has a nice one. If I weren't married I would want a piece of that," Number Crunch said with a happy hum.

"Okay, time for us to get going before these two devolve into comparing every stallion's flanks," Rosetta said as she quickly spread her wings.

Remedy nodded in agreement as she spread her wings as well, and was in the air before Rosetta.

It was a quicker flight this time around than the last time they flew out to see Rosetta's family. They came in for an easy landing at the apartment and Rosetta didn't hesitate nearly as much knocking this time, though she looked just as worried.

The door was opened by Miguel who gave an excited whoop at seeing them.

"Haley and Haley's girlfriend are here!" The boy shouted eagerly, though Remedy could see that at least half the family could easily see them from where they were.

"It's Rosetta now twerp," Rosetta said as she ran a wing over her brother's hair, ruffling it.

"And watch the volume Miguel!" Cathy could be heard fussing.

"Expect some mistakes along the way, you are still my dust bunny," Rosetta's dad, Roger, called out.

"Papa!" Rosetta said in a mock offended tone.

"Don't keep standing at the door, come in, come in," Rosetta's mother, Jean, said with a gesture.

The two walked in and instantly Jean could be seen on alert.

"What's wrong? I have had enough experience with Catherine now to tell when a pony has something on their mind," Jean asked with concern.

"Um, can you have the boys go play in their room or something for a little bit? I want to deal with adults first. Where's Abuelita?" Rosetta asked as she looked around.

"She's sleeping, turned in early for the night. Do you want me to leave too?" Cathy asked. The young mare was laying on an over-sized pillow on the floor.

"No, you definitely count as an adult. Plus I have some stuff I wanted to talk to you specifically about too," Rosetta said as she glanced at her little sister.

"Do we have to go to our rooms? It's not fair if Cathy gets to stay out here," Jose whined.

"Cathy is seventeen and your sister says she has things to say to her. Go to your room and no complaining," Jean said sternly to them while pointing down the hall.

The two boys got up and went down the hall, with Jose doing melodramatic stomping.

Jean visibly listened for a moment and relaxed her posture only after the sounds of a video game unit could be heard.

"Thank you, Mama," Rosetta said as she walked towards the unoccupied couch.

"Of course, now what is bothering you?" Jean said as she sat down in a rocking chair. Roger took a seat in an overstuffed armed chair.

Rosetta hopped up on the couch and Remedy quickly joined her. 

The blue night pony took a deep breath and then spoke.

"I'm pregnant."

Jean instant got up from her chair and rushed over to her eldest and grabbed her up in a comforting hug.

"Oh, my baby, it'll be okay," Jean assured and she gripped Rosetta tightly.

"How long?" Roger asked in a serious tone as Jean released Rosetta.

"I think I got pregnant right after my full transformation, it was the only time I had unprotected sex with John. I don't know how long pregnancy lasts for ponies," Rosetta said.

"Are you going to get back with John?" Cathy asked in full ignorance.

"Cathy, John was abusive. He hit me and degraded me regularly. I know that was kept from you, and I want to keep it still from the boys, but I'm not letting him anywhere near my foal," Rosetta said in a firm whisper to her sister.

"He what?!" Cathy said in confusion. "Even after turning into a pony too?" 

"Even after turning into a pony too," Rosetta nodded.

"I don't understand...ponies are kind, ponies are loyal," Cathy said the mantra in shock.

"Not all ponies, Cathy," Rosetta said sadly.

"So how are you going to take care of this baby?" Roger asked in a still serious tone.

"The term is foal, Papa, I'm a pony and I'm having a foal; either a filly or a colt. Remedy is going to help me," Rosetta said with a sigh.

"Who's Remedy?" Roger asked.

"I'm Remedy, Phobia Remedy. I had a name change since I was last here," Remedy spoke up.

"She told us that in her messages, Papa," Cathy reminded him. 

"Sorry, just a little out of sorts with this," To her said as he gripped his hands together in front of his lap.

"Which brings us to the next matter. I asked Remedy to be my wife, mate, spouse, whatever you want to call it. She accepted," Rosetta said in a hesitant voice.

Rosetta's family members all stared in even greater shock at this announcement than the last.

"Haley...Rosetta," Jean began carefully. "I understand you are under a lot of stress right now. I am sure your friend is a wonderful person, but it might be too soon for that kind of commitment."

Rosetta rested a wing on Remedy's shoulder to pause Remedy from speaking up. She then looked her mother in the eyes and spoke.

"I know it is quick, but I'm sure I love her and she loves me, and this foal is going to have two loving parents when they're born to take care of them. The matter isn't up for debate any more than we can debate that a foal is coming," Rosetta said in a firm tone the allowed no argument.

"What if it isn't a night pony?" Cathy asked. 

"I have two options in that case, as I'm not capable of properly taking care of a day pony," Rosetta said in a low voice.

"I am assuming you have some other pony adopt the foal is one option, but what is the other?" Jean asked as she sat down on the couch next to the two night ponies.

"See if someone or somepony in the family is willing to take guardianship of them," Rosetta said with her head hung low.

"I don't know, we don't know what to do for your sister most of the time as it is," Roger said with a shake of his head.

"Cathy is an option herself," Rosetta suggested as she stared down at the floor. 

The suggestion caught all present by surprise, including Remedy.

"What?! I'm seventeen. I can't be responsible for a foal," Cathy declared with shocked outrage.

"I would honestly rather have a seventeen year old pony taking care of my foal than a human. No offense to Mama and Papa. They just don't have whatever instincts to know what the foal needs. You probably would have more clue than them what the foal needs," Rosetta explained. 

"The fact remains your sister is seventeen and barely knows what to do with herself as a pony. It isn't an option. I'm shocked you even suggested such a thing," Jean scolded.

"It's a ninety percent chance this will be a night pony foal, but I'm looking at all options if it isn't. Even if they don't seem realistic. Do you want your first grandfoal raised by strangers or family?" Rosetta said in a tired voice, close to tears.

Silence was the only answer. 

For several minutes no pony or human spoke. Remedy cuddled up close to Rosetta and wrapped a protective wing around her. Cathy stared at her hooves like they contained some secret knowledge as did her parents stare at their hands.

"We'll...we'll talk more about what to do as you get closer to term and maybe can be sure what type of pony you've got growing in you. Your right, that is my grandchild pony or not, and we need to find an option to keep them with family," Jean finally said.

"Maybe if I knew more about even being a pony," Cathy said as she lowered her ears.

"Catherine, you are seventeen, you are not raising your sister's baby," Roger asserted.

"Foal Papa," Cathy corrected with her ears laid back. "And I'll be eighteen by the time it's born. But even if I don't help take care of it I need a chance to learn to be more of a pony than I do sitting here in the apartment all day."

"This isn't the time for this again Catherine," Roger said with a sigh that said this was not a new discussion and was indeed a frequent argument.

"That's actually the final thing I wanted to talk to you about tonight. It was actually the thing I wanted to come talk about before I realized for sure that I was pregnant," Rosetta said as she looked over at Cathy.

"You think they are keeping me too pent up too?" Cathy said as she glared at her parents.

"We are looking out for your safety," Jean said in the same tired voice as Roger.

"You're penning me up like a pet," Cathy said with barely contained anger.

"Cathy, please control your temper. I'm here to offer help with that," Rosetta pleaded.

"What kind of help?" Roger asked apprehensively.

"The gas stations are opening back up tomorrow. The ponies all around the region have been working really hard to help all you humans up and running again," Rosetta said. Then she paused and took a thoughtful look. "I know it sounds bad with me referring to all you humans, but me, Remedy, and Cathy are not human anymore or think of ourselves in any way as human. Cathy needs to be around other ponies and I think she should come to our shelter."

"We keep telling you both, she's seventeen," Roger asserted.

"Yes she is, and soon will be eighteen. Physically she is already a mare instead of a filly. She isn't a little human child, she can take care of herself as much as any other grown pony trying to figure out their place," Rosetta said calmly.

"Let me go there, please. I need to get out of here. I spend all day either laying in my bed, laying on the couch, or laying on this pillow. I can't even help out around here because it's like everything is made of glass," Cathy said pleadingly.

Jean gave Cathy a mournful look and then turned her gaze to her husband. Roger held it for a moment before slumping his shoulders.

"Okay, how about a compromise. We take you out there each morning and pick you up each evening. Provided the gas stations are indeed up and running tomorrow," Roger conceded.

Cathy jumped up from her pillow and ran over to her father. She was about to grab him in a hug then stopped herself, instead very carefully propping herself up on his lap and carefully reaching around him with her forelegs.

"Thank you, Papa," Cathy said with a quiet joy.
> Chapter 41: Employee of the Month
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the couple finally left Rosetta's family for the evening it was with mixed feelings. Things could have gone better, but they could have gone worse. 

Remedy felt unwanted. The family didn't seem happy with the idea that Rosetta had essentially proposed to her. Through the entire evening she had said little and none had really attempted to engage her in conversation. Rosetta had kept cuddled close to her through the conversations and been the only one to say anything to her.

Rosetta's pleas for help with raising the foal if it was not a night pony not getting the full unquestionable support she wanted also weighed on them. The family hadn't rejected the idea, but they seemed very unenthusiastic about it. 

Surprisingly, the member that seemed to come around most to the idea was Cathy, who seemed to increasingly share Rosetta's concerns as the night went on that the foal be raised by a pony. This didn't mean Cathy was all on board with raising the foal herself; her assertions that she shouldn't be trying to raise her older sister's foal at her age were still there. She did seem to indicate that she would begrudgingly do it before it fell to human family trying to raise the foal, even her own. She seemed to have a great deal of pent up resentment about her parents not giving her any freedom to explore her new form and abilities up to this point.

Cathy was likely the one in the best mood by the end of the night though. Tomorrow she would finally get out of the apartment. Nopony could fault her for being in good spirits about that.

The mare couple didn't take the direct route back to the church. There was still plenty of night left. They decided to just go do more exploring and seeing what other parts of the region they rarely visited were looking like. 

They flew around Hannahan first. Hannahan was most a ghost town but not without activity. There was a large gas station that doubled as a truck stop as well. That station had a string of three fuel trucks sitting at it. One refilling the gas tanks of the station and the other two waiting in line to add their loads in as well. Three cars were also pulled up in front of the station and the lights were on. This was doubtlessly employees getting the station ready to reopen.

The turned their flight path back around into Goose Creek. Similar activity could be seen going on at the larger gas stations there as well, though the smaller stations seemed to remain abandoned. The sheer amount of stations in activity indicated that many would indeed be ready to open in the morning. One or two already people in cars camped out waiting for the reopening.

The local Bi-Lo and Publix grocery stores in Goose Creek seemed to have activity going on at them as well. There were several cars pulled up at each store and the Bi-Lo actually had a delivery truck being unloaded in the back. It must have taken some care to get that truck in unnoticed, as Remedy would be sure there would be plenty of humans at the store eager to get the goods right off the truck again if it had been. The truck was unmarked with logos, so that likely helped.

The Wal Mart of Goose Creek also had the same activity going on, minis the delivery truck. It also had people putting up signs around it declaring that the store was now hiring all positions, with promises for competitive pay. The Wal Mart had likely employees upwards of three hundred people at that location previously, and if they lost a third or more of that to ETS they likely were very understaffed as a result. Unemployment rate in the area was likely about to plummet with businesses trying eagerly to replace staff.

As their flight path looped back towards Summerville a thought occurred to Remedy. 

"Do you think my old job would let me work nights?" Remedy asked.

Rosetta looked at her with confusion.

"Why would you want to?" Rosetta asked.

"Just keeping active at night, and money might not be completely useless to us. Plus it gives me an opportunity to get more work in trying to get agile with my wings and hooves," Remedy explained.

"What would we be needing money for? I figured that once we get a pony community actually going the earth ponies would provide food, we aren't particularly concerned about whether we sleep outside or not so we don't need to worry about housing, at least not somewhere like here where it almost never snows," Rosetta said as they pulled into a hover.

"They are talking about moving us to small towns that are afraid of dying out, right? Those small towns need ponies spending money or they might get the idea we aren't doing anything to help them. Those humans have mortgages, businesses, and jobs that they are trying to keep afloat. They're interested in bringing us in order to save their towns, if we don't do that they will turn on us," Remedy explained.

"But it still question still stands, what would we need to be spending money on at all?" Rosetta pointed out.

"I'm sure we can find things. Spices and sauces for our food, internet service so you can do online classes, a computer and place to put it to do those online classes on, not to mention possible tuition. Plus even though we can stand to be outside without shelter in the rain and cold, it isn't something I look forward to; being able to have an apartment, house, or something would be nice," Remedy looked up at the clouds above wondering if they were going to dealing with rain in the next few days.

"Well, the pegasi would regulate when it was raining, but you are right about the rest I suppose," Rosetta conceded.

"I suppose we could go see," Remedy said.

"What am I supposed to do though if they let you? I worked at a call center before and that's no where near ready to open. Not that I could keep up with the typing while on the phone anyway," Rosetta said with frustration.

"Um, maybe they could give you a job too? Or you could just go do some web-surfing while you wait. We aren't even sure they will let me," Remedy suggested.

"I don't like being separated from you. Herd instinct kind of makes isolation torture," Rosetta said miserably.

"There's the ponies in Charleston," Remedy added to her suggestion.

"Too late in the evening for that and not sure hanging around the Enclave too much is a good idea. I'm already tempted by their ways of doing things and I know that's a bad idea. Trying to avoid getting myself into trouble," Rosetta said flatly.

"Or I could just not check if it's really bothering you," Remedy said in defeat.

"No, you're probably right that we still need money. We'll see if they will let me help out too. Even if I've got to work for free I'll do that if it keeps me around others at night," Rosetta said as she flicked her tail while still hovering.

"Let's see then. If they won't let you hang around and help but are willing to let me work I won't do it. You're my priority," Remedy said as she flapped over to her marefriend and gave her a nuzzle in the air.

The flight over to the appropriate grocery store was a short one. The Summerville Bi-Lo was much like the Goose Creek one, and also had activity going on at it indicating they were trying to get the store back to running. They flew down to the entrance where one of Remedy's old managers, Carla, was standing outside taking a smoke break.

"Need some extra help?" Remedy asked as she advanced up to the apprehensive human.

"Probably, we are definitely hiring and will consider ponies at this point if they are willing. Do you have any stocking experience?" Carla asked.

"Um, I actually am kind of already employed here, Carla," Remedy giggled.

"I don't recognize your voice. Who are you?" Carla asked as she took a closer look at Remedy.

"Voice changed so you wouldn't. I'm Matthew from the overnight shift. Though I am going by Phobia Remedy now," Remedy said.

"Matthew? ETS did a number on you if it turned you into a girl," Carla said with a laugh.

"I'm perfectly fine with being a mare. So do I still have my job?" Remedy asked, deciding not to get into the specifics of her gender identity.

"If you want it, and can do it, you've got it. Are you able to start back tonight? We need every hand or hoof we can get," Carla said before taking a long drag from her cigarette.

"If you're willing to offer a job to my marefriend here as well, or at least let her hang around and help. She insists on staying near me," Remedy said with a gesture towards Rosetta.

"Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth when looking for employees," Carla laughed with a wheeze. "What's your name girl?"

"Rosetta Stone, I would want to start right away if Remedy is starting right away," Rosetta said as she stepped forward.

"That your pony name or human name? I can't really tell with that one," Carla said with a raised eyebrow.

"Pony name, my human name is Haley Martinez," Rosetta said. 

"Well Rosetta, I can get you started tonight, but will need to get your documents sometime in the next few days. If you're working for us we have to get that, we don't do anything under the table here," Carla said as she looked down at Rosetta.

"I can probably find them. Hopefully they're still where I left them at the hospital," Rosetta said uncertainly. 

"Let me know if you can't find them. Have to keep things all legal," Carla said.

"I'll do that, as I said, I think I know where they are," Rosetta assured.

"Great," Carla said. She turned to Remedy. "There are pallets out on all the aisles already. Need you two to take the cereal aisle and get to work. Matthew...excuse me...Phobia, you can train Rosetta on what needs to be done. Shift is over at six so we have another four hours, you'll get a fifteen minute break in two hours."

"Got it, thanks Carla," Remedy said as they turned to enter the store.

"Thanks for showing up to work. Any employee that still shows up after having their species and sex changed, not to mention not having hands, gets to be employee of the month," Carla said with a laugh.
> Chapter 42: Mom Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The actual task of stocking was not as difficult as it first might have seemed without hands. The two mares started out slow, being really clumsy with trying to use their fetlocks and wings like hands, but within an hour or so working them in that manner they found they could easily grip boxes and cans in a single fetlock or wing with as much ease as they had used their hands as humans; with the added benefit that they now had effectively four hands between their forelegs and wings.

Of course they couldn't make use of all four options for gripping at once. They had to make a choice on whether they would grip with their fetlocks and fly or grip with their wings and walk, but it was nice to know that they were more than capable of holding objects almost as well as a human. Some things they might be able to grip with their mouths as well, but they believed the humans might find it more objectionable to buying products that had been in a stocker's mouth than the ponies would.

By the end of their four hours they had easily completed their assigned aisle and moved on to help with others. Proving to all they were up to the task.

The work shift was not without its stresses though. These humans were almost all coworkers Remedy knew from before ETS and dealing with them had been uncomfortable. Once they had gotten past convincing the humans they were capable of doing the job they had to contend with her coworkers trying to explain where things went or certain policies. This was perfectly good advice for Rosetta, but Remedy knew all this. Eventually she let it drop to the employees in general that she already knew all this because she worked her up till when ETS struck, that was an error. 

What ensued was a great guessing game of who she was since she wasn't forthcoming with who she was. The other employees proceeded to list off every single female employee that they could think of that hadn't returned to work. Eventually she tired of it and just let them know her actual identity. 

Giving them this information set off another wave of uncomfortable comments. It was a mix of complete denial, displays of pity, and braying laughter depending on the employee. Remedy just reasserted to use her current name and dug into her work more, trying to ignore all the comments. Rosetta seemed like she wanted to go into night pony protective mode more than once, but managed to restrain herself. Remedy hoped that these comments wouldn't be something that persisted.

"Thanks for your help. Next truck isn't due until day after tomorrow, so you have tomorrow night off. Will be every other night for the next week until we get some sort of regular schedule going again," Carla said to all the employees as they were leaving that morning.

"I'll see about tracking down my drivers license, social security card, and all that on my off day. I'll have them when we come back," Rosetta said to Carla as they walked by.

"No rush, just as soon as you can. I'll mark your time. Starting pay is two dollars above minimum wage, but everyone is getting paid double time for the next two weeks, so first paycheck should be pretty good," Carla said. 

It was left unsaid by the two ponies that they weren't likely to stay here indefinitely depending on how soon the resettlement happened. It was nice to hear they would be paid well for their time. Remedy had actually been making more than the starting pay by about an additional two dollars so it likely would be a pretty large paycheck for her. She made a note to herself to revisit her dad and get her debit card and a few other things along that line from the house.

They took to the air and were happy to note that the gas station next door to the store seemed to be open now, and very busy. It had cars waiting out in line to the street and the sun wasn't even up yet. Hopefully there were more gas shipments coming soon because of it kept like that all day it would run out of gas before it reached noon.

The flight back to the church let them see a few cars out on the road now. As the neared the interstate they could see that it had some cars travelling it as well. It was like everything was waking up after days of sleep. It was refreshing to see, but made Remedy more anxious to see what came next for the ponies now that human civilization was getting back in order. Most ponies had little personal interest in rejoining human civilization. 

Many humans likewise felt ponies weren't in their right minds, which would no doubt lead to more friction. Her fellow employees had done some muttering about brainwashed ponies that they hadn't realized she was capable of hearing. They couldn't comprehend how she could be happy with being a pony, or a mare for that matter. In their minds it was some strange bit of mind control done to her. By her perspective she had gained much and lost little in becoming a pony. She imagined if she'd been given the choice she'd have taken it willingly. The fact that she was happy and content with it, despite not being given the choice, was what she believed disturbed the humans most of all.

How to convince the humans they were all free thinking beings was something that would be a major concern for all ponies for some time yet to come. Her generation might never accomplish it, but future generations would have an easier time of it.

They flew into the church and saw activity was back to a smaller lull now that the gas stations were opening up again. Less ponies had chosen to rise early, but there were still a fair number that were up eating, talking, and milling about. The town representatives should be arriving today, and hopefully soon this migration would give the ponies something to get them active again. Sitting around bored caused discontent, and only so many would be interested in doing jobs with humans still, if they could even return to their old jobs in many cases.

Laying behind one of the buildings reading on the laptop computer were Remedy's mom and Tonya. Blessing was focused on the screen and had her horn lit as she manipulated keys and the touch pad, Tonya didn't seem particularly focused on the screen and was simply enjoying being nuzzled close to Blessing with one of the pegasus's wings draped over Blessing's back. Any pony could easily find them where they were so they weren't making any effort to keep their relationship secret at this point. If the pairing didn't still seem so jarring to Remedy she might have found it adorable. 

"I want to try messaging my family to see when Cathy is going to be getting here. I want to be up when she arrives. If you want to try getting a talk in with your mom while I do that I don't mind," Rosetta offered. 

"Not sure, I'm not catching her alone right now," Remedy said as she continued watching the other two mares. 

"Your mom is rarely ever alone anymore, if she and Tonya are a couple anything you say to your mom is likely reaching Tonya's ears anyway. That's about as private as you're going to get," Rosetta said with a half smile.

"I guess so, still feels weird," Remedy said uncomfortably.

"Not any weirder than changing species," Rosetta smirked.

"Point taken," Remedy said with a sigh.

Rosetta flew off to the church to the AV room within, leaving Remedy to build her courage to talk to her mom with Tonya present. After a long moment and a deep breath or two she flew down to greet them.

"Hi Phobia," Tonya said happily as she looked up.

"Hello Tonya," Remedy said with a quick deep of her head in greeting. She then turned to her mom. "I was hoping to get in that talk in with you we discussed."

Tonya stood up and looked down at Blessing.

"I'll make myself scarce. What are the orders for the pegasi, Mon Capitaine?" Tonya said snapping her wing into a mock salute.

Blessing raised an eyebrow at Tonya and gave her a half smile. 

"Your capitaine wants you to keep focus on what is going with the ponies in West Ashley, but she also wants you to have patrols making contact still with the Charleston ponies, and send at least one team out to check Mount Pleasant. Tomorrow we'll get a team out to the islands, but I want to be clear on everything going on down this part of the coast by the end of today," Blessing instructed. Then she gave a little giggle. "She also demands a kiss before you go."

Tonya went over and gave the requested kiss with just a brief kiss on the lips and then smiled before taking off, barking orders to pegasi that she saw to come to her as she took up a spot where they could gather around her.

"You seem almost flirty with her," Remedy observed. 

Blessing gave a happy sigh before replying.

"It's refreshing to be with somepony who tries to inject fun into what they do. It helps keep the stress of everything manageable. Ponies should laugh," Blessing said.

"You said you weren't ashamed anymore. I'm guessing that means you definitely believe you were bisexual before?" Remedy said as she walked over and cuddled close to her mother.

"I do. I got some distorted ideas in my head somewhere along the line and wouldn't let myself admit it. For a long time it didn't really matter, I was mostly happily married," Blessing said as her expression saddened.

"You sounded like you had a lot of pent up frustrations with Dad last night. I also heard some things about how you were when you were younger from Number Crunch last night," Remedy said carefully.

"Annette was always a gossip as a human. It seems she still is as a pony," Blessing said with annoyance. Then softened up her face and tone. "As for what went on with your father, last night might have made it look worse than it was. Yeah, I felt a bit neglected in bed, but it wasn't as much a big deal as I made it out to be. I was angry and throwing what I could at him. It isn't something I'm proud of, and wish I could do over, because it was unponylike of me."

"Angry he wanted nothing to do with being a pony?" Remedy asked for clarification.

"Exactly that. There is no getting around that kind of gap between us. No matter how he might improve on other things, if he thinks being a pony is wrong then we have no business being together. It's a personal insult to God; I can tolerate it in others, but definitely not in my spouse," Blessing's tone hardened again.

"So why Tonya?" Remedy asked.

"She is the pony that listens to me when I'm trying to sort out complicated emotions, that I feel comfortable crying on the shoulder of. She makes no judgments of me, as well as always having my back. Plus there is the bonus she is cute and responds positively to my physical advances," Blessing said with a smirk.

Remedy for uncomfortable again as she thought about the two of them screwing. Blessing picked up on that discomfort though.

"Oh don't be a prude," Blessing scolded. "Is it really that bad that your mother having opened herself to the fact she enjoys mares as well as stallions would be attracted to an energetic and caring young pegasus mare?" 

"It just feels so different than the mother I grew up with," Remedy confessed.

"Coming from my daughter who I always assumed was my son?" Blessing asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that hard for you to take in?" Remedy asked.

"It has been to tell the truth. Being with Tonya helps with that, as I can't imagine her as being male at this point. I do my best to show support to you, but I have to question how much I know you. Now that we're talking I want to find out who my daughter is," Blessing said in a hopeful tone.

"What do you want to start with?" Remedy asked, happy that her mom was wanting that connection to her.

"You question me about my love life, tell me about this Rosetta mare. Also, is she actually pregnant?" Blessing inquired.

"Yes, she is. If it's a night pony we'll be raising the foal together. She said she wants us to be co-mothers," Remedy explained.

"And if it isn't a night pony?" Blessing asked gravely.

"We're still exploring options. It's kind of hard to properly raise a foal if you're nocturnal and they aren't," Remedy said with lowered ears.

"I suppose that's a bridge to cross when you get to it," Blessing said as she lowered her own ears. She picked them up again a moment later as she continued. "Co-mothers? She wants you as a spouse then?"

"Yeah, she pretty much proposed, and I accepted," Remedy said with a cautious smile. She was still disappointed in the lackluster response from Rosetta's parents, and held out hope her mom would give a more positive response.

Blessing sat considering her response for a moment. Remedy felt a sense of dread as her mom did. She really wanted some support for her and Rosetta.

"I need to get to know her to really know how I feel about that completely. If she ends up making you happy that should be good enough. I just know less about her than you, so I can't know how to feel," Blessing finally said.

Remedy lowered her head down to the ground where she lay. She supposed that wasn't a negative reaction, but she had been hoping for more.

"Don't be like that, I'm just being honest with you. I can't say I'm thrilled if I don't know anything about her, nor can I condemn it, because...well...I know nothing about her. I'm guessing by her chosen name that she's into history or languages?" Blessing asked.

"History, like ancient history, though she has recently picked up an interest in possible pony history on Earth," Remedy explained.

Blessing gave Remedy an odd look.

"Ancient pony history here on Earth? There shouldn't be any ancient history for ponies here," Blessing said in confusion.

"There's an archaeologist out in Colorado, in Lazy Pines actually, that had found evidence of them making contact near there several centuries before. She isn't just some crackpot either, she found this stuff before ETS even started," Remedy explained.

"How'd you learn about this pony?..I'm assuming she is a pony now if she was in Lazy Pines," Blessing asked in amazement. 

"Remember how I mentioned Princess Luna was teaching me about helping ponies with their dreams? Princess Luna had let me know she knew a pony that had an interest in history as well when I mentioned Rosetta did. Rosetta did a bit of research assuming that Luna was near Lazy Pines and found out about who it was, a Sarah Tanner in Lazy Pines," Remedy explained.

"That's certainly some interesting news," Blessing said with clear interest. "I really should hear more about your training with Luna. Have you actually started with helping ponies with their nightmares?"

"Mostly just observing things for the moment. Most of them are general anxiety nightmares everypony had when they were humans, but there are a few that stood out a bit more," Remedy said with a shiver as she remembered the dream of Tattered Wing.

"Care to tell me about any of them?" Blessing asked.

Remedy hesitated. This was kind of personal information. She wasn't sure that she should be disclosing this to even her mother. She hadn't even gone into detail with Rosetta about the dreams. On the other hoof she was bonding with her mom and she didn't want to put up any barriers between them now. Perhaps one that was of a pony that she would likely never meet. She knew one that would definitely hold her mom's interest because of one big detail.

"There was the first one, it was of a pegasus in Lazy Pines, that was having a nightmare about Sunset Shimmer. She actually had Sunset Shimmer in her dream. It seemed she knew her," Remedy said, knowing that any mention of Sunset Shimmer would instantly be of interest to her mom.

"Sunset Shimmer, or at least a vision of her, was in this pegasus' dream? So you know what Sunset Shimmer actually looked like now?" Blessing said with excitement. Remedy smiled as she knew she had her mother hooked.

"Yes, I do. An amber colored unicorn with a primarily red mane with some stripes of gold in it. She had a red and gold stylized sun for a cutie mark," Remedy described.

"You'll have to help me with drawing a picture of that mark sometime. I was looking around online since you had let me use the laptop, and found a fair number of fellow Shimmerists that would be very interested in knowing that," Blessing said excitedly.

"Sure, I can help you with that," Remedy said with a smile. 

"Now tell me all about this pegasus and why she was having nightmares of Sunset Shimmer," Blessing said. 

Remedy proceeded to tell her mom all about what she had seen, blissfully unaware of the glint in Blessings eyes.
> Chapter 43: The Gospel According to Tonya
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy lounged on the edge of the roof of the church as the morning was advancing towards noon. She was waiting for Rosetta's family to come drop Cathy off for the day and was getting very sleepy. Rosetta was in the air anxious flying in a loop above the church, on the lookout for her family's SUV. She had been at this for most of an hour now since being messaged that the family was on its way.

Looking down at the church grounds there wasn't much actual activity going on. The a large number of the unicorns and earth ponies had gone out for the day. Remedy had been curious where they had all vanished early on and done a quick fly around herself. She found a fair number of earth ponies in a few acres of woods nearby trying to sneakily build a farm with the woods as cover. Where the unicorns had gotten off to Remedy wasn't able to figure out on her brief patrol of the area.

The pegasi weren't present, except for Tonya. Tonya had taken back her spot on the back of the pickup truck and would occasionally another pegasus would briefly fly in, report to her, and be sent out again by her. Number Crunch or Blessing would occasionally wander out of the school to speak with Tonya before wandering back inside.

What Tonya was doing with her time as she sat around waiting for her patrols to report surprised Remedy. Tonya was laying down with a Bible open in front of her, occasionally turning to the next page with a wing. It shouldn't have been super shocking, given she had a very religious marefriend, but Tonya had a history of being very critical of religion in general. Reading a Bible didn't necessarily mean Tonya was taking up some newfound faith of course, but it still seemed at odds with what human Tonya would have done.

Eventually curiosity and boredom got the best of Remedy. She flew down to talk with Tonya.

"Hi Phobia, I'm surprised you are still awake. Did you have a good talk with your mom?" Tonya said as Remedy came down next to her.

"Yeah, it was nice to sit down and talk to her for a while. Get to know one another all over again," Remedy said with a smile.

"She's seemed more upbeat this morning after having talked to you, so pretty sure she agrees," Tonya said cheerfully.

"Are you reading a Bible to try to please her?" Remedy asked as she looked down at the book.

"Yes and no," Tonya said as she put a hoof onto the book. "Her faith is really important to her, obviously, and I want to be more informed about the things that matter to her. She has dreams and goals involving her faith, and I want to fully understand them."

"She didn't really talk to me about those. What kind of dreams and goals?" Remedy asked.

"She says she wants a purer form of Christianity that embraces ponydom as God's will," Tonya said as she glanced over at the church building.

"What's this purer form involve? What needs purifying in her eyes?" Remedy asked, genuinely curious. Also a bit uneasy again.

"Well, for starters she thinks the majority of the Bible is too concerned with strictly human things, she says this distorts the message. She wants it to be a complete focus on the Gospels, Acts, and an eventual additional book that will record various versions of the vision we all had. She views pony-ness as godliness, and those as best representation of pony-ness," Tonya explained.

"That's pretty radical for her," Remedy said with shock. "She just intends to toss out the majority of the Bible as too human?"

"Not sure," Tonya said with a shrug. "I think she is still developing her ideas. Which might be why she didn't talk to you about it."

"I said she was forming her own denomination to Rosetta the other day thinking I was half exaggerating. Turns out I didn't state it extreme enough," Remedy said with a shake of her head.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Tonya said with a giggle.

"It seems strange to have you being all on-board something involving radical views on Christianity," Remedy stated as she looked at the smirking pegasus.

"It's like that quote from Gandhi, or whoever, I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. I actually do like the stuff described in the Gospels and Acts a good bit. It is what the politicians would call extremely liberal. Heck the church in Acts is essentially an example of communism, which is beyond even what I would have been on board with as a human," Tonya said as she pointed her hoof at the book.

"So you are converting over to this new Christianity of my mom's? I thought you didn't believe in God," Remedy questioned in mild disbelief.

"I'm not sure if I believe in God or not," Tonya admitted. "What I do believe in are the principles I see on display here in the books your mom wants to focus on; care for the poor, care for the outcast, treating the sick, actually giving a damn because you give a damn instead of a set of rules telling you to or not to. Those are things I do believe in, and it's the complete opposite of what I was seeing from so-called Christians growing up. She has my full support."

"Not all Christians are like the ones you dealt with growing up," Remedy said a little defensively. This was her faith too, even if she wasn't as religious as her mother.

"A minority aren't and I can appreciate those," Tonya said coldly. "But those fake Christians who try to boil life down to a set of strict rules without context or compassion, that's what I dealt with at almost every turn growing up, and it's those your mom sees as a problem too. There's a chance now to have a fresh start with Christianity done right, and it needs to happen."

Remedy wasn't sure what to say to all that. Sure there was definitely plenty of those who fell into the categories Tonya described, and Remedy could definitely understand Tonya's feelings of resentment that came as a result of dealing with those. She could also understand her mom's own sense of guilt upon realizing that she had been one of those. Something just felt off a bit in a way she couldn't put words to.

"And what's this about a new book?" Remedy asked.

"Just something that has a compilation of various versions of the vision we all had; for the humans who never experienced it or for any future foals that might not get it. Your mom feels it fits well right alongside the Gospels," Tonya explained. 

"But that vision was produced by either Sunset Shimmer or Josie...a night pony in Lazy Pines, and spread by night ponies. Not sure which of the two was the ultimate creator of it, but Josie was the first spreader of it,," Remedy explained.

"Your mom told me about the spreading, but that's the first I heard about the original source," Tonya said with interest. "Are you sure?"

"I'm completely sure it came from one of those two," Remedy assured Tonya.

"Guess we'd call it the Gospel of Sunset Shimmer or the Gospel of Josie then," Tonya said without any seeming concern about the origin. "Probably the Gospel of Josie, that name would upset the current humans less, and is accurate enough no matter what if she was the first to spread it."

Remedy just shook her head in bewilderment; Tonya was definitely committed this new version of Christianity her mom was envisioning. Tonya was definitely not the pony she'd have pegged as a religious reformer.

Before the conversation could continue Rosetta flew down cheering happily.

"Just spotted the car. They'll be here in just a minute or two," Rosetta squeezed.

"Who?" Tonya asked with a tilt of her head.

"My parents are letting my little sister spend her days here with other ponies. My family is mostly still humans, but my little sister is an earth pony. I'm just eager to see her get out of the apartment," Rosetta said happily.

"Oh," Tonya said with a smile. "Well, be sure to show her where the earth ponies are all hiding their little farm right now. I'm sure she'll love that."

"Definitely," Rosetta nodded, then turned to Remedy. "Come on, lets go out by the road to meet them."

"Sure thing," Remedy agreed. She nodded her goodbyes to Tonya and followed her lover to the edge of the road. Putting thoughts of religion out of her mind.
> Chapter 44: Communes and Coffers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rosetta's parents didn't just drop Cathy off at the front of the church as the couple thought they would. Instead the SUV pulled onto the church grounds and parked on the freshly made gravel. This wasn't a bad thing, as the family likely needed to be counted in the census and from what they had seen there was no location to do that at in Hannahan, on account that Hannahan had no actual shelters. 

Despite the fact they were both up past their typical bedtime they weren't that tired yet, and Rosetta had an extra bounce in her step as the doors to the SUV opened.

"Hi Rosetta, hi Rosetta's girlfriend," Jose said as he was the first to exit out.

"You got my name right, good for you. But can you please start calling her Remedy or Phobia? Also the term is marefriend not girlfriend when it is ponies," Rosetta said good naturedly.

"Phobia, marefriend, got it. Sorry Phobia," Jose said with an extra wave at Remedy.

"No problem, Jose. You get an A for effort since you are trying," Remedy said with a smile.

"I thought this place would be more crawling with ponies," Roger said as he stepped out of the vehicle and looked around.

"The pegasi are mostly all out flying to different places and will be back later on. The earth ponies are off in the woods trying to do some farming without being noticed," Rosetta explained, then turned to Remedy. "I have no idea what the unicorns are up to, do you, Remedy?"

"I've no clue. I should've asked Tonya about it when I was just talking to her. I saw some of them go out, but most must still be in the church or other buildings," Remedy said as she looked back towards where the pegasus was now taking a report and giving instructions to a team of three pegasi lead by Joy.

"So where are the other earth ponies?" Cathy said excitedly as she hopped out of the back of the vehicle.

"I'll get you to them in a little while. We've got to get you counted in the census. Are the rest of you able to hang around long  enough for that to do the same?" Rosetta asked.

"We were actually planning on spending all day here with her today. We all needed to get out and about anyway, and we want to try to understand our daughters a little better now that they're ponies. You kind of stressed that we didn't get you two at length last night," Roger explained.

"You're only going to get a little while with me. I've got to get to sleep eventually. This's going to be really late going to bed as it is for me and getting up early if I want to see you off. Called a night pony for a reason," Rosetta said with a glance up at the sun. "Not heading to bed yet though."

"Where do you sleep?" Jean asked as she stepped around the car.

"Remedy and I found a nice little clearing by an oak in the woods. That's kind of our private spot to sleep," Rosetta said gesturing north with a wing.

"You sleep in the woods? Like out in the open in the woods?" Miguel asked, the two parents looked concerned.

"I have fur and it is getting pretty warm, so sleeping outside doesn't bother me. Don't worry, Remedy is insisting we find somewhere indoors to stay after the migration so we aren't out in the elements when it isn't so nice outside," Rosetta said with a smile before going and giving a head nuzzle to Remedy.

"Migration? What're you talking about with migration?" Roger asked.

Rosetta looked to her marefriend to explain. Remedy already saw a potential conflict brewing as she took a breath to explain.

"The government is not really that keen on trying to keep us all around here. There have been some small towns that have expressed interest in letting large numbers of ponies move into them. Places where ponies would be more free to do their own thing, particularly the earth ponies who are bound and determined to farm and the pegasi who want to be able to control the weather. First ones are supposed to be meeting with my mom today to start discussing the move," Remedy said, and then waited for the reaction.

"So they want all the ponies to just leave the area?" Jean asked as she gazed Cathy.

"They are strongly encouraging it. Ponies won't be forced to leave, but if they stay here many will be very limited in what they can do," Remedy said, also looking at Cathy.

Cathy shuffled her hooves as she felt the gaze off her family on her. 

"And earth ponies in particular are being encouraged to do this?" Cathy asked as she pointed a hoof back at herself.

"They are the ones that feel most confined and stifled here. Nopony is going to force you to leave though," Rosetta said sympathetically to her sister.

"Are you leaving?" Cathy asked.

"Probably," Rosetta admitted.

The parents looked between one another and their younger daughter with growing concern. They then turned to Remedy again.

"These towns will have humans in them as well though, right?" Roger asked.

"Yes, they will. They're all smaller towns eager to inject new population and business in, even if it is ponies. The town residents want to save their towns, not abandon them to us," Remedy said with a wide gesture at herself and Rosetta.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow my daughter," they heard Blessing say from nearby startling them all. Remedy wondered how she kept managing to do creep up like that unnoticed.

They all turned to see Blessing with Number Crunch and the pearl white earth pony stallion in tow. 

"What do you need me for?" Remedy asked.

"Reps will be here in about an hour. You're on the list of ponies they need to meet and I need to brief you all on some things before they get here. So I need to get you and Tonya," Blessing said in a matter of fact tone. She then turned to Rosetta. "Ideally I'd have you meet with them too, but I'm guessing you're dealing with family right now. I can spare you for that as long as I've got at least Phobia."

"I've got this, you're the one who has a bit more foresight about what to talk about with them anyway. I wouldn't know what to do with myself in a meeting like that," Rosetta said as she came over and kissed Remedy.

"You are Remedy's mother?" Roger asked. As he looked Blessing over.

"Yes, I'm Sunset Blessing, you can call me by either part of my name. I'm guessing you are Rosetta's family?" Blessing said cordially.

"Yes, we are," Roger said with an odd look. "You named yourself in honor of Sunset Shimmer?"

"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I'm not out to forcefully transform the world into ponies. Sunset Shimmer was a fool and in the wrong for that, such things should be a willing choice," Blessing said.

"I would say it a was a bit more than in the wrong," Roger said gravely. 

"Regardless, her methods weren't something I agreed with or would want to occur again. I'm grateful to be a pony, and think all are better off as ponies, but you're free to feel differently about the benefits of ponydom. My current focus is making sure the ponies here can flourish. I'm sure you want nothing less for your foals," Blessing said as she glanced between Rosetta and Cathy.

"Perhaps we could sit down to a meal sometime and get to know one another better. We want to know about the family our daughter...filly...is planning on marrying into," Jean suggested hesitantly.

"Daughter works fine there, but that was an excellent attempt to use pony terms," Blessing said with a smile. "I confess I'm still very much in the dark about your daughter, though I've heard some positive things. I would like that kind of sit down as well. We'll see when something can be arranged. I keep fairly busy, but finding time for family's important."

"Let us know," Jean said.

"Of course," Blessing said, then turned to Remedy. "We need to hurry, there's things that really need to be discussed. God bless to the rest of you for now."

Blessing took off towards one of the side buildings of the church that she knew little about the use of. Remedy gave Rosetta's family a sheepish smile and wave before following, wondering how much more questionable her mom had made her look to Rosetta's family.

Blessing gathered up Tonya, leaving Joy to deal with Tonya's task while Tonya was away. They entered into the building and Remedy noted it looked like an extension of the school, or perhaps a building used exclusively for Sunday school. It was newer than the original school building, and still have that freshly constructed look inside. Blessing had them enter into one of the various classrooms and shut the door behind them all.

"Alright, what gets said in here stays in here, not to be discussed with the humans or other ponies. Everypony understand?" Blessing said as they settled into spots to sit.

With a few raised eyebrows by every pony but Blessing and Number Crunch they all nodded.

"We have reviewed the information for all the towns. The one we are most interested in for our needs is a town named Riverview. It has just under two hundred humans living in it, but once was home to almost five thousand as recently as sixty years ago. Lack of work as old factories closed, distance from the closest interstate highway, poor financial decisions by a string of town councils, and failure to keep up with modern farming methods till it was too late was the downfall of the town. This one most fits our needs in terms of area to develop and existing human infrastructure to re-purpose. It's also central in location to a few other towns, and if we have enough population there we could eventually incorporate them as well," Blessing explained.

"So we focus on this town's people?" The pearl white stallion asked.

"They are the ones we are most interested in, but don't neglect the others. We want to be appealing to all, and will want to have the ability to transplant smaller groups of ponies into those others near Riverview, as well as having fallback options," Blessing said.

"And what other than population are we bringing to these humans? They're going to want to know what they are going to get out of it," Remedy asked.

"Excellent question, and good foresight. First we will be revitalizing the farming in the region. The government has already discussed a contract with us for large scale exporting of our produce. This will open up the need for some of these factories again for the humans, as well as warehouses. We will also be trying to encourage some ponies to take up shops in their many abandoned ones to pursue some of their interests outside farming, and weather management," Blessing said with a smile. Then got a more serious expression.

"We also are in possession of a large amount of communal funds to start with that we will use to selectively re-inject into their economy and spend on behalf of our ponies. Only Number Crunch and I will be aware of how much, but the amount is considerable. This in particular is information that doesn't leave this room," Blessing said in a tone the allowed no argument.

"Where did we get these funds?" Remedy asked skeptically. The others seemed to have the question on their tongues as well.

"With as many ponies as we have in this region we were blessed enough that there were a fair number who had considerable wealth as humans. Many of them have generously donated the majority of this wealth into a communal fund for us. I won't discuss how much we have, but financially we probably have far more working funds than the South Carolina state government even before our government contracts begin. We don't wish the government to be fully aware of how much we have, and Number Crunch has devised some ways of masking how much we actually have. Again, this is for our ears only," Blessing said gravely.

This felt somehow dishonest. Why were they hiding how much money they had to work with? It wasn't greed that was the motivation. What other plans did her mom have that involved this money?

"Why are we hiding how much we have?" Remedy asked.

"Three main reasons; first, we want to make sure we have fallback options for funding if the government ever turns on us. Second, we want to make sure that we can help keep the humans in our community financially well off if a crisis occurs. Third, we want to be able to help secretly fund ponies elsewhere when it is needed without the government being aware. We have to always assume that the government may turn on us at any given time, even if we hope they don't," Blessing explained.

Remedy guessed that made sense. Hopefully none of those reasons would be necessary.

Blessing went over describing the town at length, and after about forty minutes finished.

"Alright ponies, they should be arriving any minute. Best faces forward as we talk to them," Blessing declared as she led them back out.
> Chapter 45: Forming Bonds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy wasn't sure what to do with the town representatives, and found herself sitting in a corner of the room just watching for the most part. 

There were five different towns that sent between one to three representatives a piece, all middle aged or elderly. A total of eleven representatives in all. This was their first face to face exposure to ponies for most of them. Only one town had any ponies at all for residents, which happened to be Riverview. They had a lone crystal pony mare, which Remedy found somehow strangely ironic.

Most of the representatives seemed highly interested in Peter, the white earth pony stallion, and spent a great deal of time talking about farming. He really seemed to hit it off well with all of them. Turned out that Peter had been a frequent shopper at the local farmers market over the years and was actually familiar with several of the various towns farmers from when they attempted to do business at the market. It led to story swapping about said farmers and discussion of the crops currently grown in the area. All and all adding up to a lot of smiles and a little friendly laughter between them all.

Tonya was eager to talk about what the pegasi could do for these towns, with scheduled controlled weather. Some of the representatives seemed her skeptical of her claims, and after some pestering Baker gave in to allowing a small scale weather demonstration later on, localized strictly to the church.

Blessing and Number Crunch weaved through the representatives exchanging pleasant small talk. Blessing did the majority of talking of the two, and would occasionally ask some questions to clarify some details that her reports of the towns were hazy on. Number Crunch would dutifully record the answers on a floating notepad as they were given. The humans seemed very amazed with the levitation, and had asked about things about weight limits, strain from extended periods of doing it, and what it felt like to do it.

All the while Remedy sat in a corner watching. From time to time one of the humans would come over and inquire about night ponies. She would give simple answers that didn't delve too much into night pony capabilities; mainly informing them about the fact night ponies were nocturnal, had excellent night vision, and had a strong protective nature. She also talked about how they were all perfectly capable of doing various more mundane jobs at night. The few representatives she spoke with seemed to get the impression that they were a nighttime police force and enthusasticly talked about how they support the boys in blue and would be glad to have the bat winged ponies watching over at night. 

Overall this was mainly a meet and greet rather than discussing the actual resettlement. They would all be out doing tours of different shelters and seeing ponies in action over the next day or two, with most of the ponies here acting as guides. After that the actually details of resettlement would start being hammered out between Blessing and the towns. And it was an unspoken assumption by all the ponies that Blessing would be the one leading those discussions.

Baker informer her she wouldn't need to tag along for all this. She was here today just to make a positive first impression about the night ponies, and she was doing that. He expressed his hope that once he spoke with Tattered Wing that evening that they would have her act as representative for the night ponies considering her sway within the Enclave. Having an Enclave leader actively involved with these talks would go a long way to getting the Enclave included in the migration and out of trouble in Charleston.

Remedy had mixed feelings on that. On the one end she wanted to be involved and wanted to help bridge the gaps between humans and ponies. On the other end she wanted to focus on her training with Luna and better connecting with Rosetta's family; plus there was a foal on the way, even if the full implications of that hadn't hit her yet. There wasn't anything stopping her from doing all this, but she felt the need to keep focus, rather than divide her attention between too many things. 

There was also no denying the logic of having Tattered Wing be the one involved either, provided she could downplay the degree of violence the Enclave had been using. Her injuries might actually work in her favor as the humans might be more sympathetic to what the the viewed a law enforcement officer injured in the line of duty. That kind of thing had always been positive police and military propaganda through much of small town America, and it was easy to see where it could be carried over to night ponies if marketed right. She would have to talk to Tattered Wing, her mom, and Baker about that; it was what little contribution she could provide by doing so.

After a two hours of this she finally excused herself, claiming the need for sleep. She wasn't lying, she was very tired. She just wanted to find Rosetta and go cuddle up next to their oak and sleep.

She had a fairly good idea where to find Rosetta once she got outside. With a few quick flaps of her wings she was in the air and flying to the patch of nearby woods the earth ponies were working in. 

There was plenty of pony activity to be seen as she landed. There wasn't much organized farming going on though; most seemed focused on there own little patches of land. Remedy quickly found Rosetta and her family sitting around watching a very focused Cathy patting a freshly moved bit of dirt.

"How did the meeting go?" Rosetta asked sleepily as Remedy came up to them.

"It was alright, mainly just getting to know one another. I didn't do a lot of talking, though don't be shocked if they start offering you a police badge after we move. They took the idea of night ponies protecting and immediately clung to the idea of us being police," Remedy said as she sat down next to her marefriend to watch Cathy do whatever earth pony thing Cathy was up to.

"You didn't miss too much. We spent a few minutes getting everyone recorded with the census takers. Then we came over here and introduced Cathy to some of the earth ponies. She found some seeds somehow for some apples, don't ask me how, it must be an earth pony thing to track down seeds. Now we're watching her trying to get an apple seedling to sprout.

"That kind of takes at least days if not longer doesn't it?" Remedy asked as she watched the young earth pony mare stare at the dirt intently.

"A few of these earth ponies seem to be able to get things to sprout within minutes of planting them. There's one here who managed to get some tomato seeds to sprout within a minute if planting them. Farming seems overall boring to me, but I've got to admit that it's impressive what some of these earth ponies can do," Rosetta said as she gestured a wing towards some of the other earth ponies nearby.

"If Cathy can do this them she is like the Hulk crossed with Poison Ivy," Miguel said excitedly as he watched his sister.

"Miguel, we've gone over you comparing your sister to comic book characters. She doesn't like it and you need to stop," Jean scolded.

"Okay, fine. I still think it's cool and wish I could be a pony so I could have cool super powers," Miguel said as he crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Why couldn't you have just let Cathy stay with us when she got sick and let us all get the pony stuff too? It's unfair that Haley...I mean Rosetta and Cathy get to be ponies but the rest of us are stuck being human," Jose added to his twin's complaints.

Remedy couldn't help but think that her mom would get along great with the twins.

The parents were actually taken aback by the twins complaints and seemed unsure how to answer. It was easy to imagine the kinds of things going on in their minds, but those weren't things they would want to say in front of their daughters, or have overheard by the many earth ponies that were working close by. 

Luckily Rosetta came to their rescue.

"Boys, Mom and Dad did what they did to try to protect you. They didn't know if everything would turn out right if you all turned into ponies, and had lots of reasons to think it wouldn't. Ponies still have things that they've got to worry about that're very scary to think about. Cathy and I can do a lot of things to be sure, but you've got a lot of opportunities as humans that Cathy and I'll struggle to have access to. Mom and Dad love you and want the best for you, and they did what they did with that in mind," Rosetta explained calmly.

The two boys muttered half-hearted acceptance of this, but voiced no further complaints. Rosetta's mother quietly walked over and sat down next to the night pony couple.

"Thank you for that," Jean said quietly.

"I meant every word of it, Mama. They should not blame you for trying to do right by them," Rosetta said with a sigh.

"Do you think we made the right call though?" Jean asked in a near whisper than would only be clear to the ponies.

Rosetta looked at her mother and then turned to look at Cathy. She then turned back to her mother again before speaking.

"It would be easier on me and Cathy if you had chosen the other way, but the two of us are grown mares that can take care of ourselves. There is no way of telling if you made the right call or not, but you made the best decision you could under the circumstances. Do I think we're better off as ponies? Yes, but my views are pretty prejudiced in that area. I won't have you second guessing yourself on my account or Cathy's," Rosetta said in an even tone.

"That's very fair of you," Jean said. 

Rosetta wrapped a wing around her mother and embraced her. 

"My mama taught me to be fair and kind, and I'd like to hope I don't disappoint her," Rosetta said with a smile.

"When did my little girl become such a wonderful adult?" Jean asked as she hugged her daughter back. 

"When her world got turned on its head. I just hope I'm half as good a mama to my foal as you're to me," Rosetta said back quietly.

They broke their hug and resumed watching Cathy. Cathy seemed to have ignored all these exchanges and had her hoof planted on top of the dirt with her eyes shut, seeming to listen to something else completely, focus never broken. Eventually Jean rose back to her feet and looked at Remedy.

"Remedy, can I speak to you alone for a moment or two?" Jean asked.

Remedy and Rosetta looked at one another, ears lowered and worried expressions. Remedy looked back at Jean and then nodded as she stood back up.

The two walked a little distance away. When Jean paused Remedy shook her head to her.

"If you want to be out of earshot of Rosetta we need a little more distance. Remember ponies hear better," Remedy reminded her.

Jean nodded and resumed walking till they doubled their previous distance. This actually much farther than needed, but it definitely allowed them privacy.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Remedy asked as she sat down.

Jean took a deep breath before speaking.

"You seem to understand I'm apprehensive about my daughter proposing to you as she did. You seem a nice enough pony but she has barely had any time with you, and she has just gotten out of a very poor relationship. You seem better than John, but the fact she was with John at all shows she might not have the best judgement in romantic partners," Jean said.

"Are you asking me to leave her?" Remedy asked coldly.

"No, I'm not, and I apologize if it came off that way. I just want to understand you a little better. I don't want my daughter hurt again, and I also worry about what kinds of influences you may have on her," Jean said carefully.

"You are worried that I will try to get her to turn on her human family because my mom is a very blatant Shimmerist," Remedy said. There was no question in what she said, only a clear statement.

"I do worry about that," Jean confessed.

"I can see your fears and understand them. See my cutie mark?" Rosetta asked as she lifted a wing to give a clear view of it. "My cutie mark might look a little off-putting, but it means I try to help ponies-and humans for that matter,- understand their fears."

"That seems commendable, but it doesn't address my current worries," Jean said as she looked at the mark.

"My mom has the same worries as you, though she hides them better. She says she's got to get to know Rosetta better to say whether she approves of our pairing or not. As to what influences I have on her in terms of how she views humans, I can say that I'd never want Rosetta to turn her back on you, and I want to be able to say you're my family too," Remedy explained.

"And why are you so ready to commit to her after so short a time and why is she so committed to you?" Jean asked.

"I found out that John had hit her from John himself, the bastard had even bragged about it," Remedy recounted, anger at the memory entering into her voice. "My earlier encounters with Rosetta made me think she was a lot like my mom is now, only far more extreme; in short very hostile to humans. Despite my negative first impressions of her I couldn't stand to know that the pony that she loved had done this kind of thing to her. I told him off and went to check on her."

"I knew it went on. I tried so hard to tell her that she needed to leave him. She never listened to me, or her father," Jean said sadly. 

"Well, she had been under the mistaken impression that he was just going to be a better pony than he had been as a human. The fact John had gone back to hitting her again completely disillusioned her about the idea of a perfect pony utopia though. I didn't find a zealot like I had met earlier when I found her again, I found a mare angry, depressed, and withdrawn," Remedy continued.

"So you came to her in her hour of need and she latched onto you," Jean stated.

"No, I came to her in her hour of need and she proceeded to try to tell me how she was worthless and unlovable. I didn't have much luck with anything I tried to convince her otherwise. She even mocked me at points," Remedy said sadly.

"So what happened that changed that?" Jean asked as she stared at her crossed arms. She was no doubt trying to keep her emotions in check as she heard about the state John had left her in.

"She realized on her own that she was lashing out at me but turned the tables. She started trying to figure out what my problems were. I went along because nothing else was working. I ended up realizing a lot of things about myself from that, and she gained confidence in herself as she realized she had helped me," Remedy said, edge of her mouth just slightly curling upwards as she remembered that part.

"So you two then became friends. How did this progress to relationship?" Jean asked. 

Remedy blushed as she remembered. She also got a little worried because it would make it seem like it went really fast...which it had...to Rosetta's mother.

"She came up and kissed me and said she was in the market for a new partner, and that she had no objection to mares. She didn't even know when she did it if I was into mares or not," Remedy said still blushing.

Jean gave her a baffled look.

"You must be lying," Jean said.

"I'm not," Remedy said with a shake of her head.

"Haley was always afraid of her own shadow with other people. I can't imagine any scenario where she would have gotten that bold," Jean said in complete disbelief. Her tone said she really did think Remedy was lying.

"You can ask her yourself," Remedy said as calmly as she could when being accused of being a liar.

Jean stared at Remedy for a long moment. It seemed like she was ready to storm off in anger for a moment. Instead she turned back towards where they came and put a cupped her hands around her mouth to call out.

"Haley! Come over here please," Jean shouted.

A moment later Rosetta came to where they were in a low glide.

"It's Rosetta, Mama, not Haley. What's wrong?" Rosetta asked as she looked worriedly between her mother and Remedy 

"Is she lying to me or telling me the truth when she says you kissed her out of nowhere and asked her to be your marefriend?" Jean demanded as she pointed to Remedy.

Rosetta blushed in response, but took on an angry look quickly as she realized what was going on.

"Yes, that's exactly what happened. I know that's very unlike me, and it was something that could have blown up in my face. I'm glad I did it though as she has been nothing but wonderful to me. She listens to me, she encourages me. She's there for me and I'm there for her. Even when it seems I'm trying to do the impossible, like follow my dreams of teaching university, Remedy will caution me about the challenges, but is still supportive and trying to help me achieve that in any way she can. She's fully deserving of my love, Mama, and I'm asking you to never to question her intentions or honesty ever again," Rosetta said harshly, wings spread aggressively as she verbally defended her lover.

Even though Jean was not especially familiar with the body language of wings she got the idea.

"I apologize, Remedy. I'm sorry I implied you were lying to me," Jean said with slumped shoulders.

"It's okay, you're just trying to look out for Rosetta. I can appreciate that," Remedy said with a more relaxed tone.

Rosetta gave another angry glare to her mother before looking at Remedy. Then her posture relaxed and she sighed.

"I suppose if Remedy has no hard feelings about it then it would be silly of me be resentful about it. It'll be a little bit before I completely cool down over it though. It isn't just angry daughter coming to the defense of her lover, it's an angry night pony daughter coming to the defense of her lover. Night ponies are very protective by nature so you have to deal with a double dip into me getting riled up with this. I'll settle down, just give me a few minutes," Rosetta explained to her mother in a controlled voice. 

"How's Cathy doing with her seed?" Remedy asked, hoping to distract Rosetta back into a better mood.

"She claims she can feel it's alive down there, but isn't having much luck getting it to grow faster than it normally would. Not all the earth ponies seem to be as good at that as others. She still seems disappointed though," Rosetta said with a saddened look backwards.

"Well, she was always the only one of you that really wanted to be like her dad and follow in his footsteps. She had actually just sent her college application for Clemson off before ETS started," Jean said.

"What's Roger do for a living?" Remedy asked as she realized she never had inquired about that kind of thing.

"He works for Westvaco. He helps them develop new strains of trees that are more resistant to certain plant diseases and insect infestations. He has a dual masters in botany and microbiology," Jean explained.

"Always sounded kind of cool, but exceedingly boring to me. Cathy thought it was the greatest thing ever though. Guess that's why she ended up an earth pony, she's just really into plants like Papa is," Rosetta chimed in. 

"We'll get her out here every day. Maybe she'll get better at it, or realize there is something else she can do. I want my baby girl to be happy," Jean said. 

Then Jean looked at Remedy and then back to Rosetta. 

"I want both my baby girls to be happy. If Remedy does that for you, then you two have my blessing," Jean added onto her previous statement.
> Chapter 46: Camper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the next morning and the night had been largely uneventful. They had gone to the hospital and tracked down Rosetta's old backpack which had her stuff in it;  documentation she needed to be employed, her bank information, and a few personal items. The personal items consisted of her work badge for the call center-which was pitched, a few history books-which were kept, some no longer needed hygiene supplies-that were pitched, her cell phone and charger-which were kept, a no longer needed change of clothes that was pitched, and a stuffed green dinosaur named Steggy-which was given a big hug by Rosetta and kept. 

They then looped around and picked up Remedy's bank card and information from her dad's house, and spent most of the rest of the evening just watching television there while her dad slept. He had said he didn't mind the company. They had even taken the opportunity to take a proper shower while they were there, which made them re-appreciate some of the comforts of living in a house; though drying each other with towels was a cooperative effort.

Around dawn they returned back to the church to have their breakfast in peace. They were quickly greeted by Sunset Blessing and Tonya, who both looked like they had just woken up.

"When the stores open up tomorrow I'm going to buy some coffee. Coffee is the one human item I could really stand to have back in my life," Tonya said with a yawn.

"Do you have money for that?" Rosetta asked. 

"Yeah, I've got my debit card somewhere in my purse, and have my purse somewhere in one of the storage rooms here. I'll track that down sometime later today," Tonya turned to Blessing. "Anything you want from the store tomorrow when I grab myself some coffee? I don't have a lot of money, but I can afford to pick you up something."

"If you want to you can pick me up some chocolate. I have a craving for chocolate," Blessing said.

"You know it's going to be a madhouse there tomorrow. Rosetta and I'll be working overnight at the Bi-Lo tonight trying to help stock it. We can be in line first thing in the morning with what you want, and out again before the insanity starts," Remedy offered. 

"You went back to your old job?" Blessing asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's something to keep us busy at night and the money will likely be useful," Remedy said.

"Was it still your old coworkers there?" Blessing asked.

"The ones who're still human. Guessing the rest are out in the shelters. Think a few of them might actually be here, though I don't really talk to them," Remedy said, then added after hearing herself say that. "I really should at least go say hello sometime to the ones here."

"And do your human coworkers treat you alright?" Blessing asked with a furrowed brow. Remedy's mom might not have the same protective instincts as a night pony, but she had the protective instincts of a mother, and Remedy could tell that those were in full swing right now.

"They didn't give us much of a hard time about being ponies, but a few seemed to treat it as a joke that Remedy's a mare after they found out who she is. Only a few of them though. There are always assholes," Rosetta said grumpily.

"You don't have to work right now. If you want to do something for pay something can be found after the exodus. Somewhere you'd have a fresh start and don't have humans that knew you from before," Blessing said with concern.

"They'll give me odd looks still, once they see my ID and all that they need to officially hire me. It isn't something I'm going to get away from," Remedy said with a sigh.

"Well, it should be. Stupid human things that we should be able to free ourselves from; something needs to be done about it," Blessing muttered with rising anger.

"Well, as somepony who went through similar things for a while, I understand how you're feeling about that. Actually, I imagine a lot of ponies that have taken new names might be feeling something similar if they try getting fresh jobs. Perhaps you can talk to your government buddies and see if some sort of legal accommodation for all these ponies looking to leave behind their human identity," Tonya offered as a suggestion.

"That might take a bit of doing, but it does sound worthwhile. I'm pretty sure Baker can't make that happen, it would take an act of congress or something. I'll ask him to see if he can pass the suggestion up his chain of command though," Blessing said in a defeated tone, then continued. "I try to be as cooperative and friendly with the humans as I can be, but then I keep finding stupid horseshit like this to contend with."

"Just keep doing what you're doing. Get us moved, help us be successful in this new place, make friends with all these suits, and then you'll start to have the influence to get these things changed. I believe in you," Tonya said adoringly to Blessing, before coming over and kissing her.

Remedy averted her eyes. At some point her mom and Tonya's relationship would stop feeling weird to her, but that point hadn't come yet. She was sure that if Tonya were a few years older than her instead of a few months younger she would have felt more comfortable.

"So, what's on your agenda today with the humans?" Remedy asked in order to move the conversation on.

"Tonya's going to be putting on a weather show for our guests. They'll get to practice a little bit out out in the woods before they show off for the humans. Other than that we'll be taking some tours of the other shelters to meet more ponies," Blessing said.

"Are you sure you'll be able to put on a good show with the weather? None of you have had much practice since the government clamped down on that," Rosetta asked Tonya.

"That's why I'm taking a team to get some practice in first. I have several ponies that had a little practice at it, before it got halted, picked out. It's just going to be one quick rain cloud," Tonya said confidently.

"Maybe we should sleep indoors today so we don't get accidentally drenched," Rosetta said to Remedy.

"Are you two getting ready to sleep soon then?" Blessing asked.

"Nope, Rosetta's family is coming again so we are aiming for a noon bedtime again," Remedy said.

"Are you getting enough sleep?" Blessing asked with concern entering back in her voice.

"We're fine. Consider noon to be like midnight to us. It's late, but not so late we can't still fit in six to eight hours of sleep," Remedy said with a glance towards the sun.

Blessing looked doubtful, but didn't put up any arguments about it. 

"They said they were going to be here earlier than they were yesterday, so maybe we can get to sleep a little earlier than that. Actually, if what they said is true they should be here in the next few minutes...," Rosetta tailed off on her sentence as she watched a large camper pull into the parking lot.

"What they hay are they doing?" Rosetta said as it came into park.

"Is that your family?" Tonya asked as she looked at the camper.

"Yes, they had that thing in storage. Dad mainly uses it when he has to go out for extended trips on the road so he doesn't have to rent a hotel room," Rosetta explain, still looking in disbelief at the camper. 

"So I guess they aren't planning on heading home today?" Remedy asked.

"Guess not," Rosetta said with bewilderment.

The four mares, led by Rosetta, walked up to the camper as it came into park. A few other ponies that had risen early and were looking on with interest from a distance. The driver door of the camper opened up and Roger stepped out.

"Hi, Dust Bunny!" Roger called out to Rosetta. 

"Papa, no Dust Bunnies in public! That's way too close to sounding like a pony name, and I'll end up with everypony calling me Dust Bunny," Rosetta complained loudly.

Roger paused and seemed to consider what she had just said. Then gave her an apologetic smile. 

"I hadn't even considered that." he said thoughtfully. "Okay, I promise no more nicknames in public."

"What's with the camper? Are you planning to just camp out here?" Rosetta asked as the other doors of the camper opened up.

"Yes, we are. Your mother and I are out of work indefinitely and it'll save on some gas and electric costs to just stay over here. It also let's us be close to you and let's Cathy do her own thing at her own pace. The boys could stand to spend more time outside; their turning into regular couch potatoes," Roger explained as the twins shuffled out of the camper with Cathy eagerly waiting for them to get out of her way.

"What do you mean you are out of work indefinitely? Does Westvaco not have a timetable on getting the lab reopened?" Rosetta asked with worry. Remedy could see what she was afraid of, that her parents would be unemployed and unable to keep up with bills. 

"Worse, they are considering just shutting it down altogether. Studying what ponies can do is the new focus that I heard through the grapevine," Roger said with a defeated spread of his hands.

"May I interject?" Blessing said.

"Yes?" Roger said with a confused look at Remedy's mom.

"We're going to be doing a lot of farming after out migration. Perhaps something could be arranged where you and your coworkers still in the area could relocate with us? I know I wouldn't mind letting humans study what our earth ponies can do, and I'm sure that wherever we end up would love to have Westvaco establish an office there," Blessing offered calmly.

"I thought you were largely focused on just the well being of ponies," Roger said skeptically.

"It's in the well being of ponies to have a cooperative relationship with humans, and it's in out best interests to have humans eager to be working with us. I want there to be a pony world someday where humans have willingly chosen to be ponies. That is best achieved by them seeing over the years that they have every reason to want to be," Blessing explained with a smile. Remedy had to give her mom credit that she didn't make any attempts to be duplicitous about her intentions. 

"It isn't a decision that can come from me, but I'll definitely speak with my supervisor and our regional director about it. I do think there might be several of us interested if it can be worked out," Roger said carefully; not seeming to know what to make of Blessing.

"Wonderful! Plus I admit that I've a personal ulterior motivation. If Rosetta is going to be my daughter-in-law I want to see that all of you are well taken care of," Blessing as she passed a glance at Rosetta. 

"We appreciate the generosity," Roger replied back, still bewildered.

"Ponies are generous and kind, and God will surely bless us all. I'll pass the idea on to the town representatives today so they might make their own contacts with your company," Blessing said with clear pride in herself for coming up with the idea. 

"Speaking of Rosetta and Remedy's engagement. Do you think it might be possible to sit down for a meal tonight and have a chat? We do have plenty of vegetarian options with us and a stove to cook with here," Jean asked.

"I'll definitely take time for that. I'm free anytime after seven tonight. And is Tonya here free to come as well?" Blessing asked, which made Tonya blush for some reason.

"I don't think we've met," Jean said as she looked at the pegasus. "Are you Remedy's sister?" Jean asked.

"Tonya's Blessing's marefriend. So definitely not a sister, maybe stepmother someday," Rosetta explained before Tonya could answer for herself. 

Tonya's eyes bulged as this concept apparently never occurred to the mare before. Remedy was torn between wanting to shout for joy that some other pony had finally gotten weirded out by the relationship, and feeling bad because that some other pony happened to be Tonya.

"We're...not quite to that point yet," Tonya said after she got control of her face again.

"Still very early on in the relationship," Blessing agreed as she gave Tonya a sympathetic touch to the wing. Tonya turned to her and smiled in gratitude.

"If she's your marefriend she counts as family in my book, and is welcome as well," Jean said as she covered her mouth to cover a smile.

Remedy wasn't completely sure before, but Rosetta's family seemed to be very accepting of everypony. They didn't bat an eye about her and Rosetta-on principle at least-and they weren't bothered by her mother being with a mare half her age. They were actually more ready to accept Tonya as family than Remedy was after a short self reflection.
> Chapter 47: Earth Pony Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was late morning. Remedy and Rosetta were lounging in the woods, watching Cathy continue to care for her planted seeds. Roger was walking about looking at the plants grown by other earth ponies. Jean had taken the twins on a walk up to the gas station to get a little exercise. 

The area in the woods had changed dramatically over the course of a day or two. Flowers of all different types were blooming; there were the beginnings of corn stalks, vines that could belong to any number of plants, and more. It was a chaotic farm filled with every plant imaginable, with no rhyme or reason about what was growing next to what. 

The lack of uniformity or order didn't seem to concern anypony. This was not meant to be a proper farm; this was meant to be a testing ground for what earth ponies could do. Many of the earth ponies working here also were earning cutie marks dedicated specializations in growing different types of plants, flowers, and vegetables. It was interesting to see how many earth ponies got so fascinated with single types of plants. Not all, of course, many either still lacked cutie marks, or already had cutie marks focused on something non-plant related, but it was a large number all the same. 

Cathy could be seen glancing away from her planted seeds to the other ponies from time to time. She would look at the plants that were growing, and the flanks of ponies with cutie marks with open longing. She would then turn back to her own piece of dirt and lay her head down as she laid a hoof over the patch of dirt again, careful not to knock over the watering can she had brought with her today.

"I don't understand why it's not growing faster. I can feel it down there," Cathy said dejectedly.

"Maybe apples aren't your thing, or it's because you are trying to grow a tree. Most of the other ponies aren't trying to grow anything that large," Rosetta suggested.

"Maybe they aren't my thing," Cathy conceded. "But it still seems like I should be having some impact on the seeds."

"There's also the possibility that growing things isn't your thing in general. I am pretty sure not every earth pony is going to turn out to be a farmer," Remedy said.

"But I want to tend plants. I wanted to do that even before becoming a pony. Being an earth pony just makes that want more intense. It feels unfair that it was what I wanted to do as a human, and now that I'm a type of pony that is supposed to be great at that, and I'm having no luck," Cathy said sadly.

"Well, perhaps you can have a different purpose with plants than growing them. Papa helps make trees not get sick and protects them from bugs. You might be able to do something like that," Rosetta suggested.

"Who knows, I just want this to grow," Cathy said as she brought her muzzle up closer to the patch of dirt.

Roger came walking back, shaking his head in wonder. 

"What these ponies are doing is amazing. Most of the things growing here are completely out of season, but seem to be growing quickly and well. Everything is healthy and not showing the slightest sign of blight," Roger said as he looked about.

Rosetta put a hoof up to her muzzle in a shushing gesture and pointed a wing at Cathy.

"Still no luck?" Roger asked sympathetically as he looked down at his other daughter.

"Nope," Cathy said dejectedly.

Roger sat down next to Cathy and rubbed her behind the ears. Cathy leaned her head into the scratching, and a contented smile started to bloom on her lips. Remedy's ears twitched as she watched, and she wondered if getting ears scratched really felt that good. Cats and dogs had similar ears, and they certainly enjoyed that kind of scratching; so it made some sense. Maybe it would work with using a wing to scratch? Wing fingers weren't as adept as human fingers, but they might work. She would have to try it out with Rosetta later.

"Do you mind if we sleep in the camper today? The pegasi are going to make it rain, and we would rather not be outside for that," Rosetta asked her father.

"I don't mind, though you might have to contend with your mother making some noise in there later on if you do. I'll try to keep the boys out until this evening," Roger replied with a shrug. 

"If the noise is low in there, we won't have much of a problem sleeping," Remedy said as she cuddled closer to her marefriend.

"What happens if you stay up all day and try to sleep at night? Are you able to put yourself on a daytime schedule?" Roger asked curiously as he stood back up. Cathy pouted as he stopped scratching her ears and went back to pouting

"We can try to force it, but it doesn't work out too well. Lots of daylight makes us sleepy, and we have too hard a time sleeping at night, no matter how tired we are by the time night falls. We can stay up all the daylight hours if we force ourselves, but it just exhausts us, and there's no way it's healthy," Rosetta replied.

"We have work to do tonight as well, so we definitely aren't staying up all day," Remedy added in.

"Work to do? What're you doing that late at night?" Roger asked.

"For now, stocking a grocery store a few miles from here that is reopening tomorrow. Remedy went back to her old job two nights ago, and I got hired on as well. It's not too bad, and it's good to have some income for the time being," Rosetta said as she stifled a yawn.

"Should you be doing that while pregnant?" Roger said with concern.

"Papa, I'm not even close to showing. I'll be fine for now," Rosetta said with a flick of her tail.

"How long is a pony pregnancy anyway?" Roger asked.

Rosetta's muzzle scrunched up in irritation at the answer she had ready.

"I don't actually know; we're still waiting on the Equestrians to give us basic knowledge about stuff like that. What the doctor looked up about small horses to try to get an idea on the time frame said it could be up to eleven months. I hope it isn't that long," Rosetta grumbled.

"Maybe it won't be. You aren't actually related to horses in any way, your more or less an alien," Roger said.

"Thanks for calling us all aliens," Rosetta said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, just pointing out your species isn't something native to Earth, and it shouldn't be compared with horses. Ponies on Earth aren't intelligent, can't talk, don't come in the variety of shades and colors you do, have much smaller eyes, have completely different skeletal structures, don't get wings or horns, and definitely don't have access to magic powers. In short, you aren't a horse," Roger said.

"Might as well call humans monkeys," Remedy agreed. 


"Arrgh!" Cathy yelled in frustration, startling everypony around. Then she stood up and glared down at the dirt where her seeds were planted. "Why don't you grow? What am I doing wrong?"

"Cathy, calm down. It isn't a big deal, you can try something else," Rosetta tried to soothe her sister.

Cathy refused to be soothed, though. She paced around the dirt, swishing and flicking her tail violently.

"No, it's a big deal. It should be growing. I'm doing what everypony else is doing, and it should be doing something, but it's not. Grow! Come on, grow!" Cathy said as she pulled herself up on her hind legs to stomp.

Remedy might not be a unicorn, but she felt the buildup of magic that was centered around Cathy as she drew herself up, everypony felt it and turned to stare. She wanted to yell out to Cathy to stop whatever she was doing, but was too slow.

Cathy's hooves came down hard on the dirt, and it was like a silent gong went off across the area, something that only those with access to magic could feel. Everypony stood still in shock at the sensation.

Cathy realized then that she had just done something, something big. She walked backwards a few steps in confusion.

"What just happened...?" Cathy breathed out.

A few other earth ponies crept closer, stepping gently and staring down at the ground. They paused as a soft rumble could be heard from the earth.

"Everypony, out of the woods now! This is about to go very badly and we can't be here. It's not safe," one stallion said as his head jerked up in realization of something.

Ponies started running away at full gallop while Cathy continued to back up in fear. Another low rumbling sound went out.

"I don't understand...what did I do?" Cathy said in near tears.

"Cathy, I don't know what just happened, but I think you and Papa need to get out of the woods now. All my instincts are screaming at me that you need to get to safety," Rosetta called over to her sister. Remedy nodded in agreement as they both got to their hooves and spread their wings.

"Come on, Cathy, this way. It's the quickest route to the road," Roger gestured urgently as he took a few steps in the direction. There was no way he had felt the magic, but it was certain he had heard the rumble.

Cathy shook her head to clear it as survival instinct took hold and started running. It was just in time too.

There was a massive shake of the earth and a loud crack as the seeds that Cathy had planted suddenly started pushing full-grown trees straight out of the dirt. It wasn't just her seeds either; everything in the woods began growing at a frightening pace. All the trees, flowers, other trees, and vines were growing at a horrifying rate. In seconds full-sized pine trees sprung from the ground, spreading their branches rapidly, blocking out the sun.

Remedy and Rosetta were in full protective mode, but it didn't seem there was much they could do in this situation. They tried following close at a low glide behind Cathy and Roger, but that quickly became an impossibility with the newly spreading branches popping up dangerously in front of them. They were forced to take to the air above the woods in order to not collide with the new growth. The two quickly glided back down to the road just beyond the woods and waited anxiously for the other two to clear the woods. Due to how dense the foliage was rapidly growing, they couldn't even see Cathy or Roger trying to get through. They couldn't even pick up a scent on them because of how of all the smells of vegetation.

Remedy took to the air to see what she could from above after they didn't come out within a minute. Rosetta stayed on the ground pacing back and forth nervously as she waited. Other ponies just sat and stared at the spectacle happening. Pegasi flew in from all directions and watched the forest effectively explode with growth, and Remedy could see ponies and humans coming up the road to see what the commotion was. The woods quickly knocked down the fences of yards that bordered it and began spreading into the backyards beyond, though it did come short of actually overrunning the houses; concrete seemed to be the barrier for the growth.

Eventually, Cathy and Roger stumbled out of the woods. There were twigs and leaves caught up in Cathy's fur and mane everywhere, but she didn't seem otherwise hurt, just scared. Roger did look like he had several small gashes but nothing that seemed too severe. The way he stayed close to Cathy, and was the one bleeding, indicated he might have been trying to shield her from the woods.

Rosetta rushed over and grabbed up Cathy in a relieved hug as Cathy and Roger just sat down as soon as they were safely on the road. Remedy flew back down next to them as they settled. Cathy gently returned Rosetta's hug.

Baker, Blessing, several of the town representatives, and a few soldiers came running up and stopped and stared at the massively overgrown woods.

"Sweet baby Jesus, what the hell happened here?" Blessing asked as she stared at the woods.

"I don't know what I did. I was just so angry the seeds were not growing, and then this happened," Cathy said through tears.

"You did this?" Blessing asked in astonishment as she gazed wide-eyed at Cathy.

"I didn't mean to, it just happened," Cathy said as she stared down at her hooves.

Blessing looked from Cathy to the woods and then back to Cathy. She then lit up her horn and picked away some of the leaves and twigs that were caught up in Cathy's fur. Beneath it all, on Cathy's flank, now sat a cutie mark, a tree sprouting from a crack in the ground. She looked at it intently for a moment before turning to look at Cathy's face.

"We all know it was just an accident. No pony blames you. You seem to have an extraordinary gift. We just need to get it where you've got a little finer control. Be happy, I think you've got far more magic in you than most earth ponies, and you're going to be a blessing from the Lord to all your fellow ponies and the humans," Blessing said with a gentle smile.

"Are you sure?" Cathy looked up at Blessing. "I don't want to hurt anypony or human doing something like this again."

"It just takes practice in a more controlled environment. You'll master this in time. Might I suggest a pony name for you, though? I think I know something appropriate," Blessing asked.

"What?" Cathy sniffled.

"Wild Growth," Blessing said as she looked back at the woods.
> Chapter 48: Job Proposition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Rosetta was satisfied that Cathy and her father were alright, the two night ponies excused themselves to go to sleep. They added promises that they would be up early enough for the family dinner.

When Remedy awoke early that evening, she found Cathy a foot or two away staring at her. Rosetta was still asleep, and Jean was at work trying to get dinner together for nine.

"Sorry to wake you up," Cathy said.

The young mare still looked distraught from earlier. Remedy could understand. It certainly had been a traumatic way of finding out what she could do. She still thought of her as Cathy, though. Cathy was still Cathy to Remedy until she claimed her pony name for herself, even if the suggestion of Wild Growth had been made. Names were something personal.

"You didn't wake me up. At least I don't think you did. Are you feeling any better?" Remedy asked quietly as she stretched, trying not to disturb her marefriend too much. 

"Not much," Cathy admitted with lowered ears. "The humans that had houses near the woods are really angry that I just moved the woods right up to the edge of their houses. On top of that, I'm still thinking about how I could have hurt somepony. I did hurt Papa a little."

"I think he was more worried you were going to get hurt; it seemed like he did his best to protect you from what I saw," Remedy replied as she carefully got up. 

"But he did get hurt, at least a little. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life, not even when I realized that I had ETS. I just keep thinking about what I did," Cathy said mournfully.

Remedy glanced down at Rosetta and considered whether to wake her to help talk to her sister. She finally decided against it. She'd let Rosetta get some more rest; Rosetta had dealt with a lot of anxiety from what happened as well, and sleep would be best for now.

She got up and gestured for Cathy to follow her just outside. Cathy seemed hesitant about going outside the camper, but eventually got up and followed. 

It was late afternoon, maybe around six, but it didn't look like there were many ponies about the church grounds. Tonya was in her usual spot for directing pegasi teams, a few ponies were munching on haystacks, and Remedy could see pegasi in the distance, over where the woods were, trying to bring rain to the area. Cathy looked around with fear at the other ponies and the human guards, but most didn't give her too much notice.

"So what went on after your sister and I went to bed?" Remedy asked.

"First, the government guys had to calm down the humans that I wrecked the backyards of, that took a little while. Those humans really don't like me, and I can't blame them," Cathy said quietly as she stared down at her hooves.

"Yeah, I can see how they would feel that way. On the plus side, at least none of them got hurt, and their houses seemed to contain the spread," Remedy said as she glanced at the pegasi bringing rain down on the woods.

"Then a bunch of other ponies carefully went into the woods to check it out. They said that the ground was filled with magic and the woods were feeding on that rather than the normal nutrients. They couldn't tell if that was doing anything to the plants still, but they wanted to figure out how to get more nutrients in the soil for when the magic ran out. They said the magic is lessening, and they didn't think it would last a full day," Cathy explained, less hesitantly this time, and her ears picked up slightly.

"Which is why they're watering the woods right now I guess," Remedy said.

"Yeah, they also tore down a few trees to make paths, and said they are going to do a little burning, just enough so everything doesn't choke everything else out," Cathy explained.

"So anything else?" Remedy asked.

Cathy lowered her ears again. 

"Your mom took some earth ponies somewhere else, and tried to see if any of them could do the same thing. I'm not sure where they went, but they came back and said none of them even came close to doing what I did," Cathy said with a frown.

"Guess that does make you special," Remedy said with a small smile.

"I don't feel special, I feel like a monster or a freak. I just wanted to make plants grow the way the other earth ponies did, I didn't want this," Cathy said as she broke down in tears.

Remedy came over and gave her a hug and patted her back as Cathy cried into Remedy's fur.

"Hey, it's okay. No pony could have predicted that would all happen, but just like my mom said you can learn how to better control this with practice and do a lot of good," Remedy said soothingly as she tried to sooth the younger mare.

"But it's like your mom called me, it's completely wild growth. I don't know how I'm supposed to control that, and it's dangerous," Cathy wept.

"It was dangerous and wild in a random set of woods. Try to think of it in a more controlled setting. A clear field where you know where every seed is planted. You send your magic into that and if the seeds are planted in an organized fashion they should grow in an organized fashion. Those woods everything was just everywhere haphazardly; everything was trying to grow over everything else and there was no telling where anything would sprout from. It doesn't have to be that way," Remedy explained calmly.

"That seems like it involves a lot of work just to make what I did safe," Cathy grumbled.

"A lot of work that may well be worth it," Blessing's cheerful voice cut in. Remedy rolled her eyes as her mom had managed, yet again, to sneak up on her. Her mom's cutie mark should have been a ninja.

They turned to see Sunset Blessing smiling and with an extra bounce in her trot as she came up to them. She certainly seemed in a good mood despite the disaster today. Remedy had figured that today's events might have scared some of the town reps into reconsidering whether they wanted ponies settling with them.

"You seem in a good mood," Remedy observed skeptically as her mom came up and joined them.

"I'm in a great mood actually. Besides having to deal with humans complaining about property damage, and how much of a menace we are, today has been full of God's gifts," Blessing said happily.

"I don't see how," Cathy muttered.

"Oh, you just don't understand yet how much good you've done yet. I'll be telling you all about it shortly. Let your mom know I am just going to gather up Tonya and be right over," Blessing said without lessening her cheer. Then she turned to Remedy. "Can you go find her father and her brothers and bring them back? I want to be able to tell everypony and human the great news together."

Remedy looked at Cathy. Cathy blinked a time or two in confusion, but Blessing's positive mood seemed to calm her down. Cathy nodded and turned and went inside.

"What's going on mom?" Remedy asked.

"No spoilers before everypony is here, dear. Just get them all here and you'll find out soon enough," Blessing said with a smile.

Remedy gave her mom another look before shrugging and taking to the air.

She quickly found Roger and the twins inspecting the expanded woods Cathy had grown. Roger had a few bandages on him, but seemed no worse for wear. The boys were of course babbling on about their super powered sister. Remedy smiled as she thought about how the twins seemed nothing but proud of their sister, Rosetta and Cathy were very lucky to have such supportive family.

She alerted the three that Blessing had arrived at the camper and dinner would be served soon. Roger said he would get back with the boys right away. It was only about a five minute walk at a brisk pace.

She flew back and saw that Tonya had already delegated out to Amber directing duties and had now joined Remedy's mom outside the camper. Cathy, Rosetta, and Jean were all outside as well talking to them. Remedy came in at a low glide and landed easily near them.

"Not enough space inside the camper for all of us eating dinner. Mama's going to bring a pair of folding tables out here to serve dinner," Rosetta explained as Remedy came up and nuzzled her.

"What's for dinner?" Remedy asked.

"Vegetarian chili," Jean said, as she briefly paused her own conversation with Blessing and Tonya, before turning and resuming her previous conversation.

"Will definitely be better than hay again," Rosetta said happily to Remedy, then her brow furrowed a little before she continued. "I was a little worried when I woke up and you weren't right there. I figured out what was going on quickly when I heard you talking to Cathy, or Wild Growth if she prefers that, outside. I'm just used to having you right there though."

"Yeah, I figured you needed your sleep and let you be when I woke up. Also I'm not sure what name Cathy prefers yet, haven't heard a preference. Think she's still so shaken up that she hasn't really thought about it at all. I'm not calling her Wild Growth until she says that's her name," Remedy explained.

"I can hear you two you know, pony ears," Cathy said as she turned to them with an annoyed grimace and pointed a hoof at her ears.

"Sorry, didn't mean to talk about you like you aren't right there," Rosetta said with a blush.

"And just to let you know I don't know about my name yet. I'll think about it," Cathy said in a tone that said she was not comfortable with the subject.

"I do think it's a good name, but it kind of requires you to be comfortable with what you can do. We won't pressure you," Rosetta said tenderly.

"Are you comfortable with what I can do?" Cathy asked timidly.

"It needs to be in a more controlled setting, sure, but it really is great. You're like a one pony answer to deforestation. Remedy's mom is right, that's a miracle, and you should be proud of what you can do," Rosetta said as she got up and placed a wing lovingly on her sister's shoulder.

"Maybe, perhaps I'm just not thinking about it right. I just need to get the right perspective in my head," Cathy said as she hung her head.

"You're about to get some help with that now that I see the rest of your family is here, and I can tell you all the good news," Blessing cut into the conversation.

"Do you want to wait for dinner before telling us?" Jean asked.

"No, we can talk about the details over dinner, but want to get the big news out right away," Blessing said happily as the family gathered around her and Tonya cuddled up close to her. 

Once she had her audience in place she launched into her explanation. 

"Alright, you definitely turned a lot of heads with what you did today, young mare," Blessing began as she looked at Cathy with a smile. "I had already brought up to the town representatives the idea of Westvaco possibly being persuaded to set up shop in their towns to observe pony farming, and it had gotten some interest. That's a big business, with potentially many employees, and money talks to humans. Then you went and showed you can grow a forest in a few minutes time. Do you have any concept of what that kind of value a pony of your abilities has to a company that specializes in paper products?"

"I was actually thinking the same thing," Roger confirmed with a nod.

"Some of them already contacted Westvaco and have already heard back. Westvaco is extremely excited to hear about you, and are going to be sending their CEO himself down to talk to you and to meet with these towns. You'd be providing potentially hundreds of jobs for humans in the region and securing the ponies here a safe and secure place to live," Blessing said with unrestrained glee.

"So I'd be helping everypony and I'd be helping Papa keep his job?" Cathy asked with her mood picking up a bit. 

"All that and you would be doing a dream job for somepony who wants to grow things. You get to grow whole forests, and since you can do it in just minutes you can have plenty of free time to sit back and grow other things at a more normal rate or whatever else you might want to do. I told you, you will be a blessing for everypony and everyone," Blessing said with a smile.

"That's if she agrees she wants to do that, you seem to be making promises on her behalf," Roger said severely. It was understandable that he was being protective of Cathy. Blessing really did seem to be taking it for granted that Cathy would just sign on for this. 

"That's up to her, Papa. Ask her what she wants to do," Rosetta said evenly.

All eyes turned to Cathy, who shrank back under all the attention. She looked around at all the other ponies and pulled herself up in to a rigid perfect posture.

"Papa, are there any downsides to me doing this? You work for them so you would know," Cathy said as bravely and maturely as her seventeen year old self could manage.

"They may try to pressure you into moving elsewhere, or to go on extended trips for months at a time to regrow forests in multiple locations. This company has branches in thirty different countries. If you do this you would need to have someone make sure you aren't roped into being a tool with no freedom," Roger said, still showing serious concern.

"So I need a lawyer or something to help me negotiate my services?" Cathy asked.

"That would be a good idea. Without that they may try to take advantage of the fact your seventeen and a pony to sign you onto some contract that is completely unfair," Roger answered.

"You've got a large amount of leverage as the only pony that can do this, and I'm sure I can find you a good lawyer. All these towns want you to stay local so they'll do whatever it takes to try to help you," Blessing interjected.

"Um, just to add onto that," Tonya spoke up for the first time. "If you really are that valuable to them they aren't going to ever stop pestering you to do this if you say no. All you can do is either get a good contract or deal with the fact they won't ever leave you alone."

Cathy looked determined as she looked at Blessing.

"You promise me you will get me a good lawyer who will sit down with me and to help get me what I want before they start trying to pressure me?" Cathy asked.

"I promise, you're too important to this community and I won't see any pony get hoodwinked on my watch," Blessing assured her. Then added in more. "Plus you're going to be family, and family takes care of one another."

Cathy took a few steps back and turned around so she could see all her family at once.

"Call me Wild Growth then, and I'll do my best to help everypony and all the humans in those towns," Wild Growth said with a smile, and her cutie mark briefly glowed as she spoke.
> Chapter 49: Equestrians
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next two nights were not very eventful for the night pony couple. They stocked the grocery store twice. They lounged about watching the activities of the day ponies and humans through the mornings, and they slept.

Luna had come again one night and taken Remedy on another tour of nightmares. She started instructing Remedy on being able to track down nightmares and be aware of how severe a nightmare she was getting into before she dived into one. And she demonstrated some tricks to help cause a pony to think about the nightmare without directly confronting the pony face to face in the dream. 

Other events of note in the days were that the towns and Blessing really were able to wrangle up a full team of lawyers on short notice; both for Wild Growth's sake and for finalizing the resettlement negotiations. When Remedy asked her mom how she had gotten so many lawyers to her so quickly Blessing simply replied that you could make just about anything happen quickly with humans when enough money was involved.

Roger actually walked all the way back to Hannahan in order to pick up the family car and bring it back. When Remedy asked him why he and Jean didn't just drive the camper to Hannahan and then each one drive a vehicle back she was told that he just really needed a long walk. Remedy didn't fault wanting exercise, but on foot for a human that was close to a five hour walk.

More businesses reopened over the next few days. Things like the Wal-Mart, Lowes, and a few smaller shops. The first restaurant to get itself back open was of course Waffle House, but there was word of mouth a few other restaurants would be reopening again soon. 

Many businesses had no such timetable though, and only displayed now hiring signs with phone numbers to contact. A large number of others didn't even have the now hiring signs, and looked like they may never reopen. There were some ponies that returned to work, but the vast majority didn't, and there simply weren't enough individuals in the area looking for work to fill all the positions needed. Unless more humans moved into the area soon to fill jobs many of these businesses would be forced to shutter their doors forever.

On the third evening  from when Wild Growth had accepted her pony name, Remedy and Rosetta were startled awake by said pony yelling in frustration within the camper that they had taken to sleeping in.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Wild Growth bellowed as she threw herself down on her bedding.

"Good evening to you too," Rosetta muttered grumpily as she shook her head to further wake herself.

"What's wrong with you?" Remedy asked the green earth pony with a stretch.

"To get my powers to really work I've got to be angry. They don't work unless I'm mad. Don't you dare make a Hulk comparison!" Wild Growth fumed.

"I'm guessing one of the twins already did," Remedy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," the younger mare spit out the answer.

"Care to tell us how you figured this out?" Rosetta asked, now fully awake.

Wild growth sighed and then sat up with her ears lowered in shame.

"The Westvaco guys were here and they said they wanted a demonstration of what I could do," she said.

"That's understandable, it's a pretty bold claim that a pony can grow a forest," Remedy said.

"I know, and everypony including me expected them to ask. Sunset even arranged with the government people to have a place I could do it," Wild Growth said with a sad shake of her head.

"So, what happened?" Rosetta prompted.

"I couldn't do it!" Wild Growth cried. She snuffled and then continued. "At least not at first. I was trying hard to make it happen again, but nothing was happening at all. They were getting impatient and angry with me, and calling us all liars about me being able to do it. I got so angry and tried again, and *poof*, we had a new track of woods where there'd been a completely clear field."

"And they changed their tune right away I'm guessing," Remedy said with a nod of her head.

"Oh definitely, they went from disbelieving to offering me literally a seven-digit salary a year to work for them," Wild Growth said with continued irritation.

Remedy counted out the digits in her head and her eyes widened.

"Wait, seven digits? As in over a million a year? That's like CEO type money," Remedy said with amazement.

"Yeah, I know, and the lawyers and I are going to be talking to them about the details and all. The company says I'm worth every penny in terms of their profits. But don't you see? It still requires me to be angry every single time. I don't want to have to be a fucking rage monster to do my job," Wild Growth started crying as she spoke.

Rosetta got up and walked over to her sister. She grabbed her sister up into an embrace and patted her on her back and smoothed her mane as Wild Growth sobbed into her fur. Remedy felt bad for her future sister-in-law. Yes, Wild Growth was set to be a very rich pony, and everything seemed like it would work out with Westvaco, but no pony wanted to have to be constantly angry doing their work. 

Remedy got up from where she was laying and walked over to the two sisters. She sat down and looked at Wild Growth's cutie mark and considered the younger mare's fear. It didn't seem right that what a pony got their cutie mark for was something that would require them to be inherently unhappy when doing what it indicated. 

"Maybe it is like flexing a muscle, you have to do it often enough to be able to do it when you want. That would mean after a while you wouldn't need to get angry anymore in order to use your abilities," Remedy suggested.

"I hope so. It isn't just the fact I've got to get angry to do it that upsets me. What if I get so used to having to get angry for doing it that I can't get angry anymore, and then can't do it at all? Or I just get angry all the time even when I don't have to be growing anything?" Wild Growth asked as she continued to cry into her sister's fur.

"We really need the Equestrians to be more active in telling us about stuff. It seems like there has to be a better way. I keep meaning to ask Luna things and always forget to," Remedy muttered.

Wild Growth lifted her head up and blushed, which gave her a pinkish tint to her green fur.

"Um yeah, I was supposed to tell you two about that when I came in here," she said with embarrassment.

"Tell us what?" Rosetta asked in a low tone.

"The Equestrians are on their way, like right now. They had a plane land just before I came in, and were going to be driven over here," Wild said still blushing over her forgetfulness.

"What?!" Both night ponies shouted in unison, wings snapping open.

Rosetta's wing caught Wild's muzzle as it snapped open. Wild back away from her rubbing her muzzle with a hoof.

"Sorry," Rosetta apologized to her sister.

"If they're going to be here any time now we need to be out there. We're the only night ponies north of Charleston and they definitely will want to be seeing you too Wild," Remedy said as she headed towards the exit to the camper.

"They said they have some doctors, researchers, and a few other ponies coming. What I heard is they're really interested in ponies with no cutie marks, which isn't the three of us," Wild explained as she stood up.

"Why ponies with no cutie marks?" Rosetta asked as she too stood up.

"Don't know, but the mutters are about them trying to reverse ETS eventually. Sunset seemed really pissed about it," Wild said with her ears lowered.

"Well, with my mom that's kind of understandable," Remedy sighed as she pushed the door open.

Rosetta hurried her pace and came and touched a wing on Remedy's back to get her attention. 

"If that's so you need to make sure they talk to your dad. You know how much he wants that," Rosetta said. 

"If it's eventually that means it isn't happening right now, but I'll make sure he knows and talks to them. Maybe they'll put him on some sort of list of interested ponies," Remedy said with a nod.

They all exited out of the camper and quickly found Blessing, Tonya,  Number Crunch, agent Simmons, Baker, and Pale Oak-who had previously been named Peter-all standing around awaiting the Equestrians' arrival. The three  of them quickly went over and joined them. It was clear that Blessing was not in a good mood at all and Tonya was trying  to calm her down. The humans looked more anxious than anything else.

Remedy quickly decided upon viewing the group that her mom was not the pony to talk to at the moment, nor Tonya who was just barely keeping Blessing from completely losing her cool. Hopefully Tonya would continue to keep Blessing from losing her temper after the Equestrians arrived. She made the decision to strike up conversation instead with the pony who's job it was to keep track of details.

"So any word how many ponies we should be expecting?" Remedy asked Number Crunch.

"Three unicorns, an earth pony, a pegasus, and one night pony, not sure on their exact lineup of genders or jobs. Know two are doctors, two are researchers, not sure what the other two are exactly. Assume one is just the head of the group, but still leaves at least one random why are you here pony," Number Crunch said lazily.

"You don't seem to be as bothered as my mom is," Remedy whispered as low as she could.

"Oh, I am. I just don't have the same level of temper as your mom does. I can't do crap about this and we need to be able to talk to the Equestrians about many things even if their stated goal here ticks me off," Number Crunch said with a shrug.

That more or less confirmed what Remedy had suspected about Number Crunch being as much a Shimmerist as Remedy's mom. She wondered if the same was true of Tonya or Pale Oak. She really didn't know much about Pale Oak other than a lot of mares thought him sexy, and the big white earth pony seemed more or less bored right now. Tonya was likely going to back anything her marefriend said or did, which one way or another put her in the Shimmerist category. It wasn't likely that any pony of Shimmerist leanings was going to be happy with these Equestrians.

A few minutes of silent waiting eventually led to a small bus finally pulling into the parking lot with a military jeep escort. Soldiers from the jeep got out and did a quick glance around the area before heading to the bus and signaling it to go ahead and open up its door. First out was a human man, dressed much like Baker, who stepped quickly to the side and gave an over-dramatic welcoming gesture for the occupants in the bus to exit.

The ponies filed out in short order. First out was an plain brown earth pony stallion who didn't have coloring that would be too far off of a brown horse from earth, he had an hourglass for a cutie mark. 

Second out was a pegasus stallion who was a deep orange with shortly cut yellow mane, it looked like he had some sort of vase or something for a cutie mark. 

Third out was a night pony mare who had a light purple fur with darker purple mane. She seemed to have some sort of purple flowers for a cutie mark. 

Next out was a yellow unicorn mare with a mane that looked like a close match to the color of the night pony's. She had what was clearly a magnifying glass and beetle for a cutie mark, and surprisingly wore glasses; the first Remedy had seen any pony wear glasses.

Fifth out was another unicorn mare that could have been the other's twin, minus the glasses. Her cutie mark was an almost cartoon-like picture of a squirrel wearing a sling over a leg.

Last out was a pony that made every pony take a step back in shock and horror as they saw her. She was a tall unicorn, extremely dark purple with a magenta mane. There was no telling what her cutie mark was because she was wearing armor engraved with Luna's cutie mark. Other than being taller than most other unicorns and having an imposing appearance the thing that immediately caught every Pony's attention was the fact her horn was clearly shattered, and the sight of the injury made Blessing and Number Crunch look a little ill as they saw it.

The broken horned mare took a brief glance around and then marched over to the group with movement that screamed confidence and being used to being in command. She paused and appraised them all with a half mixed gaze that seemed almost bored.

"I am Tempest Shadow, captain in her highness Luna's Night Guard. In the name of the princesses and Equestria I greet you," Tempest said.
> Chapter 50: Parental Education
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most of the Equestrian were tired from their trip. Most just wanted to get some food and get to sleep. It amused Remedy to no end that most of them turned their noses up at the concept of eating raw hay. The one pony that seemed unbothered by being offered raw hay for food was Tempest Shadow. The only other one of them that showed anything resembling interest was the night pony mare, named Lavender Mist, who asked if there was at least somewhere to try to cook it and something to cook with it. Several ponies' ears picked up at the prospect of somepony that might actually know how to prepare hay into something appealing.

While Tempest ate her hay everypony kept their distance from the haystacks. Pony friendliness was one thing, but Tempest was probably the most intimidating pony anypony had every seen. She ate in silence and didn't seem to take notice of any of this, or at least didn't care. Even Lavender Mist kept her distance from the unicorn, waiting for Tempest to finish eating before making her own attempts.

Remedy and Rosetta had no problem with this because it gave them a chance to try to engage the alien night pony in conversation.

"Hi, you're Lavender Mist right? Mind if we chat with you a bit while we all wait to eat?" Remedy asked.

The purple pony seemed a little unsure what to do, but nodded after a moment.

"That's fine. I haven't really talked to many ponies since coming to this world, so I'm kind of conversation starved. Most the others that came with me don't talk to me much," Lavender said.

"Why?" Rosetta asked in confusion.

Lavender looked at Rosetta with a raised brow like Rosetta was missing something obvious. Then looked at the other ponies around who were looking at the conversation from a distance.

"Um, I'm a night pony like you. Other pony types don't talk with us much. Is that not something night ponies deal with here?" Lavender asked curiously. 

"Um, no. Everypony is perfectly friendly with us. We didn't realize Equestrians had prejudices," Remedy said, feeling uneasy about hearing that implied.

"Oh thank Luna, that definitely makes this trip feel so much better now," Lavender said with a relieved sigh.

"So then, none of your companions like you?" Rosetta asked as she glanced at Tempest.

"Not sure that is the right way of saying it; more like they feel uneasy around me. Kind of like everypony feels about Tempest, though not sure if Tempest likes anypony. She's kind of... I'm not sure of the right word in your language," Lavender said with a shake of her head as she grappled to find a word to describe the unicorn.

"I'm sure we'll all find out soon enough," Remedy said before the mare could get frustrated at her lack of language skills. "What's your job here?" 

"I'm a nurse," Lavender said with pride. "Princess Luna asked me specifically to come because she was told there were some night pony injuries that needed to be...observed...considered...what's the word?" 

"Assessed?" Rosetta supplied.

"Assessed," Lavender said with a nod. "That stuck up unicorn doctor, Dawn Mend, might be needed to actually do a few spells, but I'm the one who will need to direct her. She doesn't know as much about night pony physical problems and illnesses as I do."

"Do you know about pregnancy issues too?" Rosetta asked eagerly.

"Um, yes, I'm guessing one of you are pregnant then?" Lavender said with a blink.

"I am, a little over a week along," Rosetta said with a gesture at herself.

"Okay, I know nothing about human pregnancy, so I really don't know what you might have gone through with as a human. I can't think it is too different though. Pregnancy lasts about nine to ten months, normally closer to ten, after about five months you shouldn't do any flying if you can help it, and definitely no flying after six months. Make sure you have plenty to eat, trust any cravings you might have, and avoid trying to fly in weather that could cause you to crash at any point in the pregnancy. That is base advice to give to all expectant mothers this early in the pregnancy," Lavender said.

"Anything else I should know about early on? About just raising a foal in general? This is completely new to us and we have no idea about anything," Rosetta said pleadingly.

"Alright, well, foals should be up and walking by the time they are a week old. They will get a pretty good grasp of language fairly quickly, usually within a month they can understand most simple sentences if you talk around them a lot; though might take a year or more to actually say their first word. Feeding can be done with your udders or with a bottle for two or three months, but you then want to get them on more solid food," Lavender explained.

"Are they going to swell up? My udders that is," Rosetta asked.

"No...why would...okay just no, they won't," Lavender said in slight bewilderment.

Rosetta sighed with relief.

"If they have an older sibling typically the older sibling will take control of parental care once the older one reaches adulthood if the age difference is more than five years. Is there an older sibling?" Lavender asked.

"No, this is my first, and likely last. Do you mean to tell me that back on your world you just dump the younger foals on the older ones once the older ones grow up?" Rosetta asked, mildly horrified.

"If there is enough of an age difference it is common, but not a rule. You'd raise the younger till they would likely be entering school and let the adult sibling take it from there. Big sisters and big brothers are a big part of our culture. It helps give the adult sibling experience raising foals before they have their own, and gives you more freedom, also gives the younger foal a parental figure that is more able to be seen as a friend. You don't do something like that here?" Lavender asked, clearly interested.

"Not ideally...I mean, it kind of happens in some families, but that's because of bad circumstances. It's not something we want to happen when it does," Rosetta stumbled to answer.

"Count it as a cultural difference then?" Lavender shrugged. "I don't see where that absolutely needs to be done, and some ponies back home don't. I was raised by my sister from age nine, and if I have multiple foals I'll do the same with them. It better prepares them to be parents in my opinion. If you aren't going to have multiple foals it isn't going to be something for you anyway. If you do have multiple foals spaced out in age I would recommend at least considering it."

The look on Rosetta's face said that wasn't going to be considered under any circumstances. 

"Anything else to note about dealing with young foals?" Remedy asked.

"Just don't panic when the surges start. So many first time parents do. They don't last that long, about a week or two at most. Make sure you have cleared your schedule when it starts because you'll be busy," Lavender explained with a smile. 

"Surges?" Rosetta asked with lowered ears.. "What kind of surges?"

"Magic surges from young foals, you didn't have something equivalent as humans?" Lavender asked.

"I don't think so; we had no magic. What happens during these surges?" Rosetta responded.

"Winged ponies will start flying around all over the place at full speed, start walking on the walls and ceilings. Night pony foals might randomly start invading your dreams...scratch that...night pony foals will start invading your dreams. Unicorns will start firing off spells that you would think only a highly trained spell-caster would be able to do; teleportation, transmogrifying objects, turning invisible, random magic blasts. Pegasi might start a rain shower inside. That kind of thing. Lasts a week or two and then they are back to having no clue how to do any of that until properly taught," Lavender said as she looked sympathetically to Rosetta.

"All foals do this?!" Rosetta squeaked.

"If they're healthy," Lavender replied. "If they don't sometime within their first two months you likely need to take them to a doctor. Most start it soon after walking, a few start before even that, and some take a little longer."

Rosetta's eye twitched in response. She stood silent for a moment before replying.

"I think I need to go somewhere and take a few deep breaths. Thank you for telling us about all this," Rosetta said.

Rosetta gathered up Remedy and the two walked behind the nearest building for a little privacy.

"Okay, if I ever see John again I am kicking his flank seven ways to Sunday," Rosetta said as she let out a breath. She turned to Remedy then and gave a sheepish smile. "So...I hope you really really love me a lot if you're going to help me with the part where they go all possessed."

The description of what went on with surges kind of freaked Remedy out as well and for the first time the full implications of what Rosetta having a foal that she would share the title of mother with meant. She was definitely in over her head, but she was committed to Rosetta and the foal.

"We'll work through it," she said before giving her marefriend a quick kiss. "Ponies on their world deal with this as a fact of life. What's the worst that could happen?"
> 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.
> Chapter 52: Things that Won't Stay Gone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night pony couple were chewed out at length by Lavender Mist for allowing Tattered Wing to walk even as little as she did in her condition. After the nurse looked over Tattered's injuries she said she was fully confident that they could be healed, though the scarring would be severe. She was very adamant that she wanted Tattered put into surgery early the next morning, even if she had to drag that snobby unicorn doctor from Canterlot to the operating table by her ear.

After getting back to the church they lounged about just chatting with Lavender and Tattered deep into the night, since it was a night off from work and they had no where pressing to go. They were social creatures, and the opportunity to be able to just socialize with other ponies for the long hours of the night something to cherish.

The main topic of conversation was each of them basically telling their life stories. They were a little shocked to learn that Tattered had just been a regular employee at a local McDonald's before the transformation. Her seeming promotion to leader of over a hundred night ponies certainly showed how much it didn't matter who you are as a human. Remedy's mom was yet another example of this, and Lavender mentioned something about how out at Lazy Pines a regular high school teenager had emerged as an early leader of ponies there. It was a new world, one that the old one had little bearing on.

Most of the interesting conversation was learning about Equestria though.

"Wait, you have minotaurs, dragons, and griffins in your world? You're pulling our legs, right?" Rosetta said with disbelief.

"Forget those, if we can accept we're all talking ponies that seems almost normal. But whole cities made out of clouds? That's absurd," Tattered said with a snort.

"It's true. Why do you think it's absurd?" Lavender said in confusion.

"It's freaking water vapor. Even if you can get me to believe pegasi can just stand on clouds like they would the ground, you can't make me believe you can get it to just perpetually keep it's shape and not just dissipate. That's not the way water vapor works, it can't be shaped into solid structures, and even if you could it would just float apart in seconds," Tattered said with certainty.

"I'm not sure how it works, it just does. It's a pegasi thing. Personally, aside from the comforts of a cloud bed I would hate living in one of those places," Lavender said with a shake if her head.

"Why?" Remedy asked curiously.

"There just aren't any nice dark places to go during the day. Clouds filter in lots of light. Too much daylight for extended periods of time makes most night ponies start getting depressed," Lavender explained.

"I guess that makes sense. Back when we were human extended periods with no daylight could make us depressed, but now we're nocturnal so that is kind of flipped around," Rosetta said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Lavender nodded. "Give me something nice and dark like a cave any day. I live in Canterlot so that isn't an option, except for some well-to-do night pony families that have homes in the old mines. But my home has very few windows, and the ones it does have are covered by heavy curtains during the day."

"Guess that is more incentive for us to get a house once we get moved out of this area. We need somewhere we know can keep dark during the day," Remedy said to Rosetta.

"I still don't see why we need to move at all," Tattered complained as she shook a wing in irritation and then winced at the resulting pain. "This area is our home, it didn't stop being our home when we turned into ponies. My family has lived in Charleston since the before the Civil War, and in the same house for over a hundred years. My roots are there, and I want to stay there."

"No pony is making you move," Rosetta said calmly.

"If they want all the Enclave to dissolve and move off to this new place they are," Tattered grumbled. "Even if some ponies stay behind the ones leaving are my responsibility. If I don't go they don't go, and Baker convinced me to try to persuade them to go. I actually do understand, but I still hate it."

"You could just pass responsibility onto some other pony. Most those ponies didn't have homes there so there's no reason for them to stay, but you did and should stay if you want to," Remedy said as Rosetta nodded in agreement.

"But they're my responsibility. The Enclave was my idea, and I have a duty to them. I can't just abandon them after all that," Tattered said as she kicked a loose stone away.

"How did you form the Enclave anyway? You can't fly or dreamwalk, and from what I gathered the other Broken Ones haven't even left the hospital. So how did you get all those ponies to come to you?" Remedy asked. It had been a mystery that had been bothering her. It just didn't add up.

"There was a night pony that flew into town the day after the counterspell. Said he didn't feel welcome in the area he came from anymore and was looking for other night ponies and a place to live. I brought him into the hospital and all of us talked to him about what we had in mind and he took right to it," Tattered explained. "He actually took to it faster than any other pony after. He had a much greater deposition towards violence than most ponies. Not something to be proud of, but suited us just fine. We sent him to find and gather other night ponies."

"And he went everywhere and brought every night pony he could find back?" Remedy asked as she started getting a sinking feeling.

"Yes, surely he talked to you too. You aren't that hard to find and are close enough to Charleston," Tattered said.

The sense of dread deepened. They had been easy enough to find, but no pony had come to them. It could be just blind chance, but the Broken One's messenger had seemingly found every other night pony in the region but ignored them.

"What's his name?" Remedy asked. 

"Swift Strike...excuse me, but is something wrong?" Tattered asked as she picked up on Remedy's anxiety.

"Do you know his human name?" Remedy asked, almost certain she knew the answer.

"Yeah, it was John. What's the matter? Is there some kind of problem between you two and Swift Strike?" Tattered asked confused.

"You could say that," Rosetta said in a near growl. 

"He's Rosetta's ex, and he was abusive to her. The reason he didn't come to us was that we told him we didn't want to ever see him again," Remedy said.

Tattered's expression darkened.

"I see," Tattered said slowly. Then took a deep breath. "I can't just cast him out of the Enclave. The Enclave wouldn't even exist without the aid he gave. I'll be on the lookout for any signs that he's mistreating any other pony, and I'll make the other Broken Ones aware of this. If he's caught in the act then we can take action."

"I don't know what we'll do if he migrates with the rest of us. I don't want to have to see him again," Rosetta said with a sad shake of her head.

"There'll be a huge number of ponies in this new place, tens of thousands. You can surely just avoid him," Tattered suggested.

"Tens of thousands of ponies yeah, but just over a hundred night ponies. We're going to inevitably run into him. With that few ponies sharing social circles at night it's just going to happen," Remedy pointed out.

"You can still just do your best to avoid him. Yeah you might see one another out on the street, but that doesn't mean you need to talk to one another," Lavender suggested.

"My big concern is I'm pregnant, and he will find out no matter how much we avoid him. He'll know right away that he's the one that got me pregnant and might try to get involved with my foal. I don't want that abusive bastard anywhere near my foal," Rosetta said as she lowered her head to the ground.

The four went silent for a long minute after that. Neither Lavender or Tattered seemed to know what to suggest to try to soothe Rosetta's fears. A thought occurred to Remedy, but it wasn't one she thought Rosetta would like at all.

"There is another option," Remedy finally said, deciding to at least put it out. 

Rosetta's ears picked up as she looked at Remedy.

"What?" Rosetta asked.

"We can move again after we're sure everypony else is settled in okay. You want to go to university, that wouldn't be here anyway," Remedy answered.

"I don't know, having a foal seems like it's more important to stay near family. Our family is all going to be together there; my parents, my sister and brothers, your mom, and I guess you can count Tonya in with that too. We still don't know if this foal's even going to be a night pony for sure. If it isn't I want it to be raised by family and have us close by," Rosetta said doubtfully as her ears dropped again.

Remedy turned to Lavender.

"How soon are we able to find out the breed of our foal?" Remedy asked.

"You can find out for sure at two to three months with a few tests whether it has wings or not, or has a horn. It takes another month or two before you can tell if it's going to be a night pony or a pegasus if it does have wings," Lavender explained.

"No way of finding out sooner?" Remedy asked.

"No way that I know of, and I've dealt with a lot of pregnant mares that want to know the breed of their foal," Lavender said with a shake of her head.

"How soon before it is obvious to everypony that she's pregnant?" Remedy asked.

"Um, depends. Usually by four or five months you can tell if your looking for it. It will be obvious to almost everypony by six or seven months," Lavender said with a shrug.

"So if we don't advertise it then he won't find out for a while?" Remedy asked. Lavender nodded back.

"I suppose that gives us time to consider options and find out for sure if this foal is one we can raise ourselves," Rosetta said as she looked at her side as if imagining she could see the foal within her.

Tattered looked up at the sky and then got to her hooves with a few painful grunts.

"Sun is starting to rise. I'm going to go get something to eat. Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but how soon do you think it'll be before your unicorn is ready?" Tattered asked Lavender.

"I will join you in breakfast then see about getting her roused and ready. She'll grumble about it, but she can keep her complaints to herself. We're here to help and you need help as soon as possible," Lavender said as she got to her hooves as well.

As the other two mares left to go eat Remedy took the opportunity to wrap a wing and a leg over her fiancee and hugged her tightly.

"It'll be okay. I won't let him hurt you or our foal," Remedy assured her.

"I know you'll do everything you can. Worst comes to worse I suppose you could sic your mother on him," Rosetta sighed.

"That's an option I hadn't considered, she definitely has the influence to do things. Not sure it is a good Idea to go running to her for help if we can avoid it. She can get pretty fierce and protective, for a unicorn," Remedy replied.

"Not sure I want her protecting if we can avoid it either. She seems to take to controlling everything around her really quickly. I don't want her trying to dictate our lives," Rosetta said in a neutral voice. 

Remedy just nodded. She loved her mom, but there was no denying that since the transformation Blessing had taken on a new persona of commander-in-chief to every pony in the area.

"Something will work out," Remedy reasserted.

"I hope so," Rosetta said as she turned to give Remedy a kiss. "I love you, and trust you. We'll get through this."

"I love you too. Let's just focus on what comes next for us and not worry about this anymore until we get more information," Remedy said as she returned the kiss.

"Are you alright with us formally getting married as soon as we get moved? I don't want to put it off," Rosetta asked.

"Definitely, and that's something we can start making arrangements for now and find out if there are any weird legal issues with us being ponies trying to get married," Remedy said.

"Urgh, you are supposed to help soothe fears, not add new ones, Sweet Flanks," Rosetta said with a playful growl. 

Remedy just chuckled, hoping that wasn't a legitimate fear as well.
> Chapter 53: Sermon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rose in the sky and day ponies stirred from their sleep. Today was going to be something different than normal. Today was Sunday, and Sunset Blessing felt that a church service was long overdo for many of the ponies. 

Remedy and Rosetta made their way way into the church. Remedy had told Rosetta's family they had best keep their distance and stay away from this. This was her mother's moment to preach her new pony doctrine of Christianity and it might be best not to expose the impressionable twins to something that was likely going to be heavily influenced by her mom's Shimmerist beliefs. The two of them were going as a courtesy and to try to gauge how much ponies took to what Blessing was selling.

Wild Growth was also not going to be in attendance. She was getting examined by the unicorn with the magnifying glass and beetle for a cutie mark. Rosetta had been mildly relieved at the news. She dreaded that her sister might start adopting Sunset Blessing's views of the world now that she knew the power she possessed as a pony and the fact Blessing did a lot on her behalf.

The church sanctuary was filled with ponies all sitting facing the central alter. Almost all of them were casually chatting with one another as they waited for the service to start. The couple did a quick flight down to the front and found their own seats being held by Tonya. They quickly settled in next to her and were greeted by her smile.

"Glad you chose to make it, Sunset has been wanting to do this for a while. It will mean a lot to her that your here," Tonya said happily. 

"Never expected you to be front row seat for a sermon," Remedy said.

"Well, as I said, it's really important to her. What kind of marefriend would I be if I skipped out on this? It would really hurt her feelings if I wasn't here. Plus I helped her a good bit with this so this is kind of my moment too," Tonya said as she looked towards the door that the preacher would typically enter in through.

"Well, we're eager to hear what you two came up with," Rosetta said in an even tone.

"It will be great, you'll see," Tonya asserted. "By the way, I heard Tattered Wing arrived last night. Any idea if she's going to try to get the night ponies to join us all in the exodus?"

"She seems committed to it, though she's upset about having to leave her home. Her family has apparently been here a long time," Remedy explained

"Are they human or pony or a mix now?" Tonya asked.

"She didn't say. I'll ask her sometime. We all talked for most of the night. We spent a lot of the night just trying to find out things from the Equestrians. Got a lot out of Lavender...that's the night pony mare, and I got a little bit of interesting information out of Tempest," Remedy said as she just took notice of the aforementioned unicorn standing off in a corner watching the room.

"You didn't tell me what went on with Tempest. I saw you two talking but didn't get to ask," Rosetta cut in.

"Got an idea why she's a grump, found out some information that might be of help to Wild, and got the impression she generally considers us all fake ponies," Remedy said with a her voice dropping to a bit of a growl towards the end.

"What about the other one, Lavender Mist? What did you two find out from her?" Tonya inquired.

"A lot about pony pregnancy, dealing with young foals, and she told us about a lot of things from her world. A lot of it is hard to believe," Rosetta said, shaking her head in wonder.

"I'd love to hear about it later on. Sunset wants me to try to find out everything I can about them, what they can do, and all that while they're here," Tonya said as she too glanced at Tempest.

"She wants you to spy on them?" Remedy said with a raised brow.

"Spying's a dirty word. Call it actively educating myself about them," Tonya said with a smirk.

"Why?" Rosetta asked with a narrowed brow.

"Get a better idea of what they're planning. They were the ones who stopped ETS and that makes us a little cautious. They say they're only interested in ponies that want to be human again, but there are still rumblings about forcing us all back to humanity. Lastly they're way more experienced in using pony magic than we are, obviously; the easiest way to learn what all we can do is to watch them do it," Tonya explained at length.

"I doubt we can just duplicate what they can do by just watching," Rosetta said.

"Yes, but we can learn what's possible, and once we know it can be done we can start trying to figure out how it's done," Tonya said with a sneaky smile.

Remedy was sure Tonya would be interested in learning about things like cities in the sky made out of clouds. Also about how strength of emotion increased strength of magic. The emotion thing was going to be applied soon with Wild anyway. Figuring out how to make a city out of clouds? That was going to take longer to crack. 

Tempest was right in one thing; the whole of them had access to pony magic for two to three weeks. Their knowledge of how it worked and what it could do was essentially in the stone age compared to the Equestrians. There were far more ponies here on Earth though, and more ponies meant more minds at work trying to figure this stuff out. With them watching the Equestrians for examples of what could be done rapid advancement might be possible.

It occurred to her that the government might actually be concerned about that fact. Ponies were outnumbered by humans considerably, but magic was already something that had been used against the humans to great effect, and that took only one lone unicorn. There were now millions of unicorns in the world, and some like Remedy's mom dreamed of a pony world. 

So why was the government so willing to basically hand Remedy's mom power and influence practically gift wrapped? It wasn't the first time she wondered that, and she still was confused by it. There was something she wasn't seeing. She had a lot of ambivalent feelings about everything involved; from how she felt about her mom's beliefs, to this migration, to what the government might be up to working with her mom. 

A hush descended upon the church as Remedy's mom entered into the sanctuary and walked towards the alter, a Bible floating in her magic close behind her. She looked like she had taken extra care in styling her yellow and purple striped mane and tail today so they had a curly wave, and her red fur had an extra luster to it today as well.

Sunset Blessing carefully sat the Bible down next to the altar and turned to face the congregation with a contented smile on her face. 

"I greet you all and thank you for your attendance. I'm extremely pleased that so many ponies have turned out to hear the Lord's word. 

"Some might question with all that has happened why our faith should still be important, and some might question if it should still exist at all. We are ponies, and as ponies we are not something that contradicts the word of God, we are the sign that there is hope that this world can still live in harmony with the word of God," Blessing began her sermon.

A few scattered shouts and speaking of Amen could be heard through the church, but quickly died out as Blessing surveyed the congregation.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ lived an example of what we should be to the world. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, stopped cruelty, and he did it all without want or care for reward. He did it because that is the right thing to do. Throughout the Gospels we see this time and time again. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing," Blessing paused as another wave of amens went out across the church, one of those surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, from Tonya. 

"We even see him get unhappy with the towns he visits that he performs many miracles in, yet they don't believe in him still. As God he had to know that this would happen, yet he still went to these places and did those things. Do you know why? It's because it was the right thing to do. Kindness, compassion, generosity these are always right, and come with no price tag."

Another wave of amens greeted her.

"When we do things that go against these principles, if we truly have a good and caring heart we are burdened by shame. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge they did something selfish, dishonest, and disloyal to God. They felt shame though because they were still genuinely loving beings. They marked this shame by covering themselves up, and constructing clothes to cover their bodies as if this would somehow mask the shame they were feeling. There was no sin in their nakedness, it was a sign of their innocence. The shame was in their innocence lost. Their betrayal of what is right."

Blessing paused and looked over the congregation as they waited for her to continue. She smiled at them before beginning again.

"I look around this congregation and see nothing but naked ponies," Blessing declared. Them she paused with narrowed eyes at Tempest. 

"Well, almost all naked ponies," she corrected flicking her tail dismissively at the Equestrian unicorn.

She turned back to the congregation and continued. "We're all naked yet feel no shame. We're ponies and we know in our hearts what is right and good. We know of kindness, generosity, honesty, loyalty, joy and we know we give those freely without asking for presents from God. We do those because they are right. Because we shouldn't be thinking about our rewards in Heaven to come when we feed the sick, we should be thinking that it is horrible that the individual is sick and hungry and we should want to make it better. That is what Jesus would do."

Another wave of amens. This time more numerous.

"Now our earth ponies can produce crops at astonishing rates, our pegasi can calm storms and help end droughts and hurricanes, our unicorns in time will find ways of treating prevalent illnesses. We ourselves were cured of our own maladies and perhaps none worse than the maladies of the spirit. We've been given a gift from God and we'll do the work of God, not because of any fear of judgement or reward in heaven, but because it is right. We've already been shown the compassion of God and we will share the compassion of God with the world. This is our covenant with the Lord."

A loud roar of amens went out across the church, as most of the ponies present got caught up in the call to action. Remedy and Rosetta were among the few who weren't giving loud amens in response.

As Sunset Blessing sat waiting for the church to quiet Remedy sat and thought. There were two ways to interpret what her mom had just said. On the surface there was the pledge that ponies would do all in their power to make the world a better place. However, carefully put into the wording was the idea that to be a pony was to be blessed by God and that blessing should be spread across the world. 

Remedy noticed that the way it was worded was not lost on all members of the audience either. One in particular who had a raised brow was Tempest, who turned and exited out of the church as Remedy's mom called for a hymn to be sung.
> Chapter 54: Research
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The couple left the church service with intent to go find out how Tattered was doing post surgery. Most of the ponies that had attended stayed inside to socialize and talk.

"You didn't buy into any of what your mother was saying up there, did you?" Rosetta said in a worried whisper.

"Some of it was okay, up until she started in with claiming ponies were blessed by God and implying humans aren't," Remedy whispered back. "I can see why ponies eat it up though. Pony or human, they like being told that they are special."

"How does she intend to justify all the humans that weren't turned into ponies?" Rosetta asked, still keeping her voice low. 

"Divine providence, something like that, who knows. It worked on worshipers before they were ponies it will work now," Remedy said with a shake of her head.

They hushed up as they saw Tempest approach them. When she got up to them they were both given a critical eye.

"I have some questions to ask," Tempest said flatly. There was no asking permission.

The night pony couple looked at one another and then back to Tempest. Remedy gave her a nod.

"I'm assuming that was some kind of religious ceremony. How prevalent is this particular religion?" Tempest asked.

"It's kind of hard to give a straight answer to that. The belief in Jesus Christ as God is very widespread, with billions of followers of that. On the other hoof what Blessing was saying in there seems to be a new brand that brings ponies into the mix," Rosetta answered.

"I gathered as much about it being a newer form as you didn't have ponies before a month ago. How many among the transformed do you expect follow this broader religion, and how many are likely to be receptive to this new brand from among those?" Tempest asked in the same flat tone.

"It's hard to give good estimates on that. At least half this country is Christian, if not more, and the south where there are more ponies had a higher amount of Christians. So yeah, there are going to be a lot of Christian ponies. As for how many are going to buy into this?" Rosetta gave an exasperated shake of her head. "There's no way of knowing."

"Can I assume neither of you are followers of this religion? Neither of you seem particularly enthusiastic about Sunset Blessing's speech," Tempest asked.

"Eh, we're loosely Christian, not as fervent as my mom clearly is," Remedy said.

Tempests eyes narrowed as she looked down at Remedy.

"Sunset Blessing is your mother? The same pony that was speaking in that building?" Tempest questioned.

"Yeah, that's mom. You might have noticed her cutie mark; that's a Bible, and that's the holy book for Christianity. Religion is extremely important to her. She's actually gotten much more accepting of other things since becoming a pony, so she isn't that bad," Remedy said in defense of her mother. 

"She basically declared your true race an inferior race to ponies and has named herself after a criminal guilty of crimes on two different worlds that held similar views; a criminal that I should note was determined to wipe away races on both our worlds in favor of ponies. She has shown hostility to the presence of me and my compatriots. On top of all that she seems very much in league with your government somehow despite these facts. To say I have concerns would be understating things greatly," Tempest said harshly.

"I don't have a good answer to the government thing, kind of curious about that myself. My best guess is that she just gets what they want done effectively. As for the rest...she's a good pony. Does she want the power to transform humans? Definitely, but she isn't going to forcefully transform any humans even if she somehow found out how to do so. She thinks that was wrong. What she'll do is try to convince them to become ponies," Remedy said evenly. Then looked Tempest straight in the eyes. "And the chances of her actually getting that power are near non-existent so it's a moot point. So you don't need to worry about it."

Tempest glared back for a moment then closed her eyes and chuckled.

"I do enjoy a pony with backbone," Tempest said in a low laugh. "You make a good point about your mother's lack of capability. Charismatic though she may be, she doesn't strike me as a magical genius. Still, she'll be watched, and I'll be advising the princesses of her religion and leave it to them what actions to take, if any."

"Is there anything else you want from us?" Rosetta said coldly. Tempest was clearly rubbing her the wrong way, though that seemed par for the course.

"Yes actually," Tempest said with a small smile. "Is Sunset Blessing going to interfere with my team's primary task of investigating the blank flanks and seeing if there are any that wish to return to humanity? If so what can be done to make her less of a nuisance?"

"I can give you a lead on a pony that wishes to turn back into a human. He's not at the shelter and I promise that my mom will keep far away from that pony," Remedy said, ears picking up.

"An actual transformed that definitely wants a return to his natural state would be nice to find. The impression I was given from your government officials was those were near non-existent, and I was dreading trying to interview thousands just to find at least one," Tempest said in something that sounded almost like a tone of gratitude...almost anyway.

"That would be my dad. He and my mom are about polar opposites when it comes to accepting being a pony. They are refusing to talk or see one another. He's still living in our old house, not far past the treeline over there," Remedy said as she gestured with a wing to the back of the church grounds.

"I'll fetch our researchers now if you have time to take them there. The princesses stressed that we move as quickly as we could with this," Tempest said as she glanced in the direction Remedy pointed.

"Can you do it? Turn him back?" Remedy asked.

"I obviously can not. My team won't at this time either, they'll simply be running some tests and reporting their findings back to Princess Twilight Sparkle. It's up to her or her personal student to reason out a way to do that. If she determines a way he'll almost certainly receive it once it becomes available," Tempest explained.

Rosetta gave Remedy a quick nuzzle.

"Go ahead and take care of your dad. I'll check in on Tattered and then head back to the camper to wait for you. I want to talk to Mama about what I learned about the pregnancy and the joys of dealing with a young demon possessed foal," Rosetta said, rolling her eyes at the last sentence and flicking her tail. 

"Well, probably will scare your sister into abstinence once she hears about it. We didn't even hear what kind of trouble an earth pony foal could cause during a surge," Remedy said with a smirk.

"Extreme strength, easily capable of lifting just about anything despite their size. Also capable of bucking through solid stone like it is wet paper," Tempest supplied.

Remedy giggled, she shouldn't of, but the image of Wild having a foal carry her around was just too silly an image not to laugh at.

"A strong encouragement for abstinence for every mare once they hear about it. Luckily I don't have to worry about having any more foals married to another mare," Rosetta said in agreement. Then got an odd look on her face as she turned to Tempest. "Stupid question, but I'm right about not being able to get pregnant with another mare, right? It seems obvious that I can't, but our knowledge on basic pony things is really lacking."

"There are spells that can cause it to happen with two mares, but generally speaking that isn't going to happen on it's own," Tempest confirmed, looking like she found the question amusing.

"Spells huh?" Rosetta said with a sly look at Remedy that gave Remedy a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Maybe somewhere down the line we can get a foal from you then."

Remedy was not going to even consider the possibilities of that at this time. The fact that she could get pregnant in any way was still a very new concept to her. Besides, it sounded like one foal was much more than enough for her and Rosetta to worry about.

"Let's get going. We have delayed long enough and there is work to do. I've no time to sit around listening to ponies talk about copulating," Tempest said in a commanding voice and leaving any easier going signs of personality behind again. It seemed too much to hope for that she would stay lightened up for any length of time. At least there were occasional signs Tempest wasn't a complete bitch, just mostly one.

Remedy and Tempest swung by the school which was housing the Equestrians in addition to all the government workers. Tempest gather up the unicorn with the magnifying glass and beetle for a cutie mark-who happened to just be named just Beetle of all things, and the pegasus who was inappropriately named Crumb Cake. She then seemed to debate bringing the earth pony, but eventually ordered him to come as well; his name was Time Turner. 

Two for three with names that lined up with their cutie marks seemed a pretty good ratio. Did Equestrian parents know what kinds of cutie marks their foals would get,did they change their names to adjust, or were they born with them? It was a question for another time.

Tempest next had the good grace to actually request transportation from Baker, rather than just order transportation provided. Baker quickly obliged her after Remedy explained the situation and the short distance involved. Within another ten minutes Remedy found herself standing on the front porch of her old house with four Equestrians and a human soldier in tow.

She knocked on the door and within a few seconds it opened to reveal her weary looking dad. 

"What's going on? Who are they?" Her dad asked with alarm as he glanced back and forth between the soldier and Tempest.

"Hi dad, these ponies are from Equestria and they're researching how to turn ponies back into humans. I told them about you and they were eager to meet you right away," Remedy explained as she gestured to the Equestrians.

Her dad's eyes widened and a spark of hope could be seen in them as he smiled. 

"That's great, come in all of you. Make yourselves at home in the living room," her dad said as he stepped aside and pointed a hoof in the appropriate direction. 

Remedy led Tempest in and the rest of the group followed after the tall unicorn. When they got into the living room they all remained standing about. The Equestrians glanced around the contents of the room. Time Turner seemed particularly interested in the television.

"I'm just letting you know they're just gathering research at the moment to see if it can be done. Don't expect to get turned back today. I'm not sure exactly what they are going to do, but I know it's just information gathering right now," Remedy warmed her dad as he came into the living room.

His good mood seemed to drop a little at hearing this, but it didn't completely disappear.

"Alright, well, whatever I can do to help. If studying me helps them crack this I will be a guinea pig for anything," her dad said.

"We're happy to hear that. Beetle and Crumb Cake will be doing some tests on your harmonic resonance along with some other tests," Tempest said more cordially as Remedy had heard her speak to anypony. Tempest then turned to Remedy.

"Are you willing to be tested as well, Phobia? They need to get as much information about different ponies as they can," Tempest asked.

"You aren't going to try to forcibly change me back into a human somewhere down the line are you?" Remedy asked back with narrowed eyes.

"If you're determined not to then that's not our intent. The choice may not be up to us though, I have to warn you. I do promise this is just gathering more data for now and nothing will happen to you while we do so," Tempest answered.

Remedy's dad cleared his throat loudly to get everypony's attention.

"I need to be promised that you will do everything in your power that my daughter is not turned back into a human against her will. If I don't get that I'm not cooperating," her dad said with flattened ears.

Remedy and the rest looked at her dad in confusion. He wasn't somepony she expected to come to the defense of ponies staying ponies.

"I was under the impression you were as opposed to the transformation to ponies as your estranged wife was in favor of it. Judging by what I've seen of her that makes this a little surprising to hear," Tempest said slowly.

"I spend a lot of time by myself thinking and I'm pretty sure at this point that there are some, some, ponies that it's in their best interest to remain ponies. My daughter has a marefriend and that marefriend is pregnant. I expect that foal isn't going to be eligible to be human. I think if she's intending on starting a family with that mare it's probably better that she remain a pony. On top of that she has some complicated circumstances with her life as a human that I would rather she not be plunged back into. She still has her problems to face, but they are problems she wants to face, and I can't in good conscious do anything that would deny her that. I try to be a good father, and that means thinking about what's best for the welfare of my child...foal. This is what's in her best interest. Plus, I'm pretty sure she would hate me for it if she was changed back against her will, and I've enough family that hates me," her dad explained, ears still lowered sadly.

"You have my word that I'll give full recommendation that Phobia remain a pony. I'm under the impression that those with cutie marks are locked in their forms based on the Princess's early research. Our focus is primarily on blank flanked transformed and her assistance is mainly for helping establish differences in those with cutie marks and those without," Tempest assured him.

Remedy walked over to her dad and wrapped him up in a hug.

"You're an awesome dad, and I love you," Remedy said adoringly.

"I love you too, and you've turned out to be a pretty awesome daughter," her dad said as he hugged back.
> Chapter 55: Dread Thoughts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy couldn't return to Rosetta right away after the testing was done. She was in too desperate need of a bath. The testing had involved in parts Crumb Cake rubbing some sort of gunk all over both her and her dad, and then Beetle doing something that made the gunk glow different colors. They made lots of notes and did rubbed new gunks on from time to time. By the end of it both Remedy and her dad felt positively disgusting. 

Her dad said that she was free to make use of the shower first after it was all said and done. Remedy let the Equestrians know that there was no need to wait for her as she could easily fly back to the church on he own. 

It turned out to be no easy chore to separate Time Turner from inspecting various things around the house.The earth pony gained over everything from the microwave, the television, the air conditioning unit, and even the fluorescent bulbs in the kitchen. With an endless string of questions about how things worked, how wires were insulated, and where the power station was at. It quickly became apparent what his role in the team was; he was here to find out about human technology. 

Eventually Tempest bit into the scruff of his neck and literally threw him out the front door once her patience was exhausted. He put up some complaints about how he was a scientist and should not be treated in that fashion, but a hard glare from Tempest hushed him quickly. 

After the Equestrians had left, and Remedy was finally clean, she thanked her dad for his hospitality and promised to visit again soon. She then made her own quick exit and within just a minute was coming in for a landing next to the camper. Rosetta was waiting outside for her.

She went over to nuzzle her marefriend and was given a kiss for her efforts.

"You took longer than I expected at that," Rosetta said as she finished her kiss.

"I let them run tests on me too just so they could gather more information. They didn't tell me ahead of time it involved rubbing goop all into my fur. I had to take a shower to get all the crap out," Remedy said with mild annoyance at the amount of scrubbing it had taken.

"They give any hints about whether they can change your dad back to human?" Rosetta asked.

"Nothing certain. They did indicate they highly doubted their was any return to humanity for those of us with cutie marks. We all felt that before, but it's nice hearing that from the Equestrians too," Remedy answered as she sat down.

"Even if I wasn't pregnant I think the idea of turning into a human is just scary to think about. I mean yeah, that was my life up until three weeks ago, but it's hard to conceptualize some things. Not the concept of having hands, but like the feel of hands. All those fingers...I just have a hard time imagining that feeling natural anymore. It isn't just that our parts are all different, it's like the memory of their sensation and use are gone too. I might as well try to imagine being a jellyfish. In theory I can, in practice it's just-for lack of a better word-alien," Rosetta said as she looked over to where her brothers were playing catch with a football in the distance.

"It makes sense when you think about it," Remedy said as she watched the boys too. "If we kept that muscle memory we might end up trying to take actions like we still had human bodies. It would cause all kinds of anxiety."

"That would certainly mess with our ability to be content in our pony bodies. On one hoof I'm happy it's that way, on another it makes me feel manipulated by things beyond my control," Rosetta said with her ears laid back.

Remedy gave her lover a sad look.

"Are you having second thoughts about being a pony is a good thing?" Remedy asked 

"It's far too late for that. It was too late from the moment I got pregnant, and even further too late when I got my cutie mark," Rosetta said with a shake of her head. "I'm just feeling stress between new foal on the way, seeing the passive speciesism of your mom, and feeling guilty for wishing the rest of my family were ponies too."

"You hadn't said anything about wishing they were ponies before," Remedy said with a raised brow.

"I just admitted it to myself today. I was so happy that Wild was a pony too when I found out. On top of that I'm terrified this foal will be something other than a night pony, and want to keep it with family if it isn't a night pony, but can't help feeling that my parents aren't up to the task because they aren't ponies. Wild said she'd help if she had too, but they're all correct about that being completely unfair to her," Rosetta said in a shamed voice.

"I wonder if that's where that Equestrian foal raising custom came into effect. Have a foal you feel completely helpless in raising because it's not the same breed as it's parents? Just pass it on to a family member that is that breed. Get so accepting of doing that and after a while the idea of passing younger foals off to the older seems less a big deal," Remedy said thoughtfully.

"If I ever get to get back to studying ancient cultures your sociological perspective will be a lot of help," Rosetta said with a small smile. It slipped quickly though. "Are you disappointed in me for thinking these things?"

Remedy wrapped a wing around her lover and nuzzled her.

"Of course not. It's okay to be scared and unsure. You're trying to figure out what to do and taking a good look at yourself in the process. I'm pretty sure your parents would understand how you're feeling too, and feeling something similar themselves. You saw how unsure they looked when the boys challenged them about why they didn't deliberately get the rest of the family infected when both you and your sister were. I'm betting they are still questioning themselves if the did the right thing," Remedy said as she continued to nuzzle.

"And I'm probably making them feel worse because I make it clear I don't trust them to raise our foal since they''re not ponies," Rosetta said as her posture slumped.

"They're ready to rearrange their entire lives to keep the family together. Both you and your sister are grown mares, they don't have to do that, but they're doing that because they love you both so much," Remedy reminded her.

"I know, which makes me feel more guilty," Rosetta said.

"Sit down with the two of them and tell them how your feeling. Get it off your chest. Let them be open with you about how they're feeling too. It might hurt a little, but you're all better off if you don't keep it bottled up," Remedy advised.

"I'm afraid they'll think I resent them staying human," Rosetta said in a near whisper.

"But you don't, do you?" Remedy asked.

Rosetta shook her head. 

"No, of course not. They did what they thought was best under the circumstances," Rosetta said.

"So remind them of that too. It'll work out," Remedy said softly She shifted subject then. "So, how is Tattered doing?"

"She's doing better. Her wings are in casts, but they seem to be whole again. She slept through what they did and is still sleeping. Lavender says Tattered needs to rest and heal, but will be able to fly again in a week or so," Rosetta said with a grateful smile at the change of subject.

"I'll not bother her while she's asleep, but it's good to hear it worked. Hopefully they will get to the others soon," Remedy said with her own smile.

"Oh, and your mom was looking for you. She said to tell you she would be in her office working all day, but wanted to see you before you went to sleep," Rosetta said as she remembered.

Her mom's office was actually the pastor's office, but still no word when he would actually return. She had pretty much decided that roll was hers and taken up shop there as a result.

"She say why?" Remedy asked.

"Nothing, didn't imply it was urgent either; just before you go to sleep today," Rosetta said with a small shake of her head.

"I'll go see about that then. You and I could both use some sleep, it's been a long morning," Remedy said with a kiss.

"I'll be in the camper. If I fall asleep without you just come cuddle up with me when you get in," Rosetta said as she gave her own kiss in return. "Love you."

"Love you too," Remedy said as she left Rosetta and headed towards the church.

Remedy quickly made her way to the office her mom furiously claimed and knocked at the door. She briefly wondered why it was necessary to even have the door closed, but quickly reminded herself that her mom did keep secrets from the government. It bothered her because it made her wonder if her mom was keeping other secrets from ponies as well. Her mom's personality transformation over the past two weeks and Shimmerist beliefs still left her feeling uneasy about her mom, despite what gaps between them had been closed.

The doorknob and door lit up in her mom's red magical aura and opened, and Remedy walked in. She found her mom sitting at the desk with piles of paperwork to either side of her and the laptop computer in front of her. Her horn was still glowing as she used her magic to continue typing as she simultaneously used her magic to reshut the door behind Remedy. While doing both those things she levitate a cup of coffee to her mouth and took a drink.

"You're getting very good at doing lots of things at once with your magic," Remedy observed.

Her mom paused her typing and set the coffee mug down with a sigh.

"All basic levitation though. Still don't know much more than that. I can move things and use my horn to make light. Oh, and Match Stick taught me how to light a candle too. Not the most impressive list of spells, but we're still learning," Blessing said with a small shake of her head.

"What did you want to see me about?" Remedy asked.

"Word reached my ears about you taking the Equestrians to see your father this morning. I'm not mad, if that's what that bastard wants let them dissect him for all I care. I was just wanting to inquire about their methods that you saw," Blessing said.

"They put some gunk all over us and did some tests that made it glow different colors," Remedy explained, then quickly added in. "And before you say anything; no, I don't want to be changed back and they assured me that they wouldn't attempt anything like that. They were testing me to in order to compare the test results of a pony with a cutie mark to one without."

"Hmm, that's interesting information," Blessing said slowly. 

Blessing lit her horn back up and began typing up something else with the keys of the laptop being typed very quickly. After a moment she stopped to look over whatever she just written and lit her horn one more time for a single keystroke, before closing the laptop and looking back at Remedy.

"Another thing I wanted to ask you about was this; tomorrow I'm sending a few ponies over to Riverview to just check the place over and get a feel for it. Reports and the assurances of their representatives can only be trusted so far. Also sending Number Crunch to possibly arrange a few acquisitions of property that we researched in town. I would like you to go with them and get a nighttime perspective of the place as well, just spend one day and night. You can take Rosetta and her family with you, make it a family outing. This is their future home too after all," Blessing said.

"I can do that, and will talk to Rosetta and her family about whether they want to go," Remedy said with a nod. "What kinds of property acquisitions is Number Crunch doing? Fields for farming? Housing for ponies?" 

"No, those kinds of things are already being negotiated here, and are all just awaiting signatures. She'll be looking into things for some completely independent projects. I'm sorry, but I can't really talk to you about them yet, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention word of them to the Equestrians," Blessing said with a small frown.

She had just said Equestrians, not the government. That implied it was something the government either knew about, or wouldn't have a problem with, but something that the Equestrians would. Questions flooded her mind, and the general unease about her mom and the government's cooperation resurfaced.

"Alright, my lips are sealed. Anything else?" Remedy asked.

"Nothing else. Just make sure you're getting enough sleep and eating right, and that Rosetta is taking care of herself. If they agree to go I'll pay for gas and give them some spending money for the trip. They are doing this as a favor after all and I don't want to cause them any burden," Blessing said as she reopened the laptop.

"Aren't you afraid of Number Crunch spending money will attract the government's attention to how much money you have?" Remedy asked curiously. 

"Number Crunch had considerable wealth herself, and frequently did land speculation as a human.  The government won't raise an eye to it. In fact they know about this particular set of purchases and will help her negotiate if need be, but only as a last resort. There is nothing to worry about as long as the Equestrians keep their muzzles out of it," Blessing explained as she began typing again.

Remedy nodded again and made her goodbyes. As she left she couldn't help trying to guess what the hell her mom and the government were doing that they didn't want Equestria to know about.
> Chapter 56: Peer Pressure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two night ponies and Wild Growth sat eating food with the rest of the family. They were enjoying the fact they were capable of gripping spoons in their fetlocks and using them. It was just soup so they were more than capable of just drinking it straight from the bowl, but the clumsy display that they could do it made them smirk at Rosetta's gaping brothers.

"Okay, that confirms it. There are no downsides to being a pony," Miguel declared.

Remedy looked at Rosetta as her ears dropped. Wild's ears angled towards Rosetta and a look of concern came to the younger sister's face. Rosetta had been planning on talking had been with her parents about her feelings after dinner, and that declaration made things harder.

The parents caught that something was up as well.

"Boys, finish up your dinner outside. I think it is time for the adults to have some time to talk alone," Jean said.

"Why's Wild get to stay," Jose complained.

"Wild's an adult. Ponies are adults at seventeen. Plus she has a career, and is the main breadwinner of the family. When you pay all the bills you can be counted as an equal adult too," Jean said. 

Remedy didn't know if seventeen fully counted as an adult or not for ponies. Adulthood age was partly a cultural consideration though and it seemed perfectly acceptable to her that any full grown pony was an adult, which counted Wild Growth. The argument seemed to work on the boys as they shuffled out.

"You know, it hadn't even occurred to me that I'm going to be paying all the bills for a little while. I don't mind at all, but it hadn't occurred to me," Wild said thoughtfully.

"You don't actually have to if you don't want to. It's your money, not ours. We would appreciate it if we could get some help getting on our feet after the move though," Jean replied.

"Of course I'm going to do everything I can for all of you. I don't need seven million dollars a year. I'm going to make sure you all have somewhere big and spacious to live, pay off your debts, pay off Rosetta's debts, and pay for college for Rosetta and the boys," Wild insisted.

"Wait, your going to pay for me to go back to school for my masters and doctorate?" Rosetta said in shock.

Wild looked at her older sister like her sister was asking if fish had fins. 

"Definitely, you want to do that and I want to help you. Do you think I'm willing to be a guardian of your foal if the need comes and not willing to help you with school? What good's all this money if I'm not helping my family?" Wild said in disbelief that anypony had failed to anticipate that she would.

"Thanks sis, that's very generous of you," Rosetta said in still shock.

"Ponies are generous, ponies are loyal," Wild recited off in response.

"Why do you all do that on and off? The reciting ponies are this and that creed like it has been drilled into from birth?" Roger asked in confusion.

"Um, in a way it has, at least from the day we fully transformed. You'd have to have experienced it yourself. Even knowing it is night pony meddling it still leaves a strong impression," Remedy answered. She then realized this conversation could go really off the rails if they start discussing the vision, and decided to head that off. "We'll tell you about that in detail sometime, but for right now I know Rosetta wanted to say some things and I have some things I needed to ask about after that."

Rosetta gave Remedy a uneasy smile and Remedy gave her a kiss for reassurance. Rosetta took a deep breath and looked at her family.

"I need to apologize. I realized this morning that I was wishing you had been infected and turned into ponies too. That was unfair of me and stinks way too much of the stuff that Remedy's mom prattles on about. I shouldn't have been wishing you were forcibly transformed against your will," Rosetta said quickly as she stared at the floor.

Jean and Roger shared a silent look for a moment. Remedy was a little surprised to note that Wild's gaze turned to the floor in shame as well. Rosetta wasn't the only one that had been thinking that, or was perhaps still thinking that.

"If we had known how things ended up turning out we may have done just that. I know it might seem unfair, but if the twins had gotten infected we definitely would have gotten ourselves infected as well. We thought the two of you were better able to take care of yourselves if worst came to worst and we had the boys to worry about," Roger said.

"If we're all being honest I do kind of resent you for isolating me away from the family when I was infected. I was scared and alone and you weren't there for me," Wild said as she continued to stare at the floor, a sob entering into her voice.

"Catherine..Wild...my little baby girl, we're sorry. We were all scared and didn't know what to do. If we had it to do over again we'd have kept you with us," Jean said.

"Wait, you're saying you would rather be ponies?" Rosetta asked in confusion.

"Probably, now that you're having a foal that you don't trust us to help with because we're still human, the twins constantly clamoring about it, moving to a pony dominated community, and hearing constantly about the joys of ponydom from Sunset Blessing. Now we're hearing this from you two. If that unicorn came up with a way of transforming humans tomorrow we would likely sign up right away and tell the boys they're getting their wish. Maybe it's just stress talking, but at this point that seems about right," Jean said as she slumped against Roger and he wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her arm.

"Mama...I don't even know how to respond to that. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point," Rosetta said. Wild nodded sadly in agreement.

"I do understand why you did what you did, I really do. I'm just waiting for my emotions to catch up to what I know in my head. They'll get there. I still love you," Wild said as she tried to wrap her forelegs around her parents, failing because they were too short.

"I'm sorry if we made you feel pressured about this. That was unfair and wrong. I love you both too," Rosetta said as she came and joined in the group hug.

Remedy sat and watched, wondering what her mom would say if she saw this. Would she feel happy at the family bonding? Mad that Rosetta was backing herself up from saying she would be happier with them as ponies? Did her mom Even consider pressure like this on humans a bad thing? 

It occurred to her that might be what she was hoping to achieve in part. The new town would have a minority of humans, and the pressures to want to be ponies themselves was going to be real after a while. Her mom's goals were Shimmerist humans first and foremost. Her mom likely didn't see this as being forced into transformations, it was exactly what she herself had gone through in college when she reinvented herself under peer pressure. In her eyes this was a simple willing choice to be a pony, never mind the fact they might not make that choice under no pressure.

"Come over here and join in the hug, Remedy. You're family too," Roger called over to her.

Remedy smiled as she gave into a different type of peer pressure and came and wrapped her wings around as many family members as she could.

After a long minute they finally broke the hug and went back to their respective spots.

"Okay guess it's my turn to talk now," Remedy said with a smile.

"Hopefully something less emotional," Rosetta said as she fanned a tear away with a wing.

"Definitely less emotional," Remedy confirmed. "My mom asked me to go tomorrow for a day and night to go scout out Riverview and get a feel for the place. She suggested we all go and make it a family outing. She said she would cover any gas costs or other costs we might have on the trip."

"We could look around and see where we might want to live," Wild said as her ears picked up.

"It sounds like a good idea. What exactly does she want us to scout for though?" Roger asked.

"She wasn't very specific. She said she just wanted us to get a feel for the place since reports only told her so much. She is sending other ponies too," Remedy said.

"We'll happily take her up on that offer. We could all use a family day out away from here, and it will be nice to see this new place," Roger said with a smile as he gave Jean another hug and kiss.

Just then the camper door slammed open and Jose stuck his head in looking worried.

"All of you might want to get out here. It looks like Remedy's mom and that weird unicorn with the broken horn are about to have a fight," Jose said hurriedly.
> Chapter 57: Duel of Tempers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're going to explain to me why you're not doing what you came here to do," Blessing said in a growl at Tempest.

"I don't answer to you pony. And certainly don't need to explain myself to some creature that wants to follow in the hoovesteps of Sunset Shimmer," Tempest replied coldly.

"Isn't it insubordination for you to be refusing to let your researchers do their tasks?" Blessing demanded. "Are the Equestrians so lacking in loyalty to their princesses that they disregard their commands at will?" 

"My loyalty is unquestioned. My job is to see first that their best interests are served. There will be no further testing at this site. The tests can be done with other teams elsewhere. We have at least some data to give back. I'll explain my actions to them and they'll support my decision," Tempest said as she stood still and defiant.

"I'm sure it'll be interesting explanation. It doesn't seem your team agrees with your decision. Do you have something against ponies on Earth?" Blessing said as she glanced at Crumb Cake and Beetle, both of whom were doing their best to hide themselves in the growing audience for the argument.

"My team don't make those calls, I do. I see what you were up to with them, even if my half blind team cannot. I'm no fool, Sunset Blessing," Tempest spat.

"I'm seeing to it they can accomplish their task quickly and efficiently so they can go home to their friends and families. I'm sure none of them wish an extended stay on what is to you all a strange alien world," Blessing said back.

"They'll go home soon enough, after we have attended to these night ponies injuries and I demonstrate a bit of how to defend themselves in a merciful manner," Tempest said as she too glanced at her teammates.

"You have a doctor and a nurse for treating their injured. What are your researchers supposed to do in the meantime? They clearly want to be able to do their jobs, and volunteered themselves for this from what I understand. The only thing standing in the way of their duty is you," Blessing snapped.

"My duty is to protect the best interests of Equestria and this planet. As I said I'm no fool. When we suddenly have a huge number of volunteers come for testing, far more than most other locations with teams combined, that is a sign something isn't right. When it turns out that there are a disproportionate amount of them that are unicorns, and the leader in the region subscribes to a belief in continuing the work of Sunset Shimmer I say no. I'm no fool, and I'm disgusted that you think I wouldn't catch on to what you're doing," Tempest barked.

Tempest got a smile on her face then.

"Of course it is no surprise you are so incredibly incompetent. You take after Sunset Shimmer. She had her plans loaded with mistakes and sabotaged herself and all of you in the process. Only the most stupid and incompetent ponies would want to emulate her. You want to finish what she started? She was at least an actual pony. You're a pale imitation of even that," Tempest sneered.

Sunset Blessing's eyes narrowed as she stared at Tempest. Her horn was sparking due to rage at being publicly called out and insulted.

"Don't try it pony. Even with a broken horn I'm far more than a magical match for you. As if you will ever have the ability, little fake unicorn. The idea is as pathetic as you are. Though I admit, I kind of want you to try. I'd enjoy an excuse to hurl you through a wall. Go ahead little pony give me an excuse," Tempest said with her horn sparking in turn.

Tonya rushed over to Blessing, planting herself directly in front of Blessing's line of sight.

"Sunset, don't do this. She sees you getting angry and is goading you now. Remember how we discussed your temper getting the better of you and how you needed somepony to tell you to reel it back in? I'm telling you now, reel it back in or your going to cause yourself problems. You're no fighter, she's a trained soldier, this can only end in you getting hurt and embarrassed," Tonya pleaded.

Embarrassed seemed to be the magic word to get Sunset Blessing's attention. She backed down as she realized how much she had already likely embarrassed herself. 

Tonya leaned in and whispered something in Blessing's ear. Remedy and every other pony were too far away to make anything out, even with pony hearing. Whatever was said cleared the anger from Blessing's face and a small smile came to her muzzle as she stared knowingly at Tempest.

"Very well," Blessing finally said in a calm voice. "Go deal with the night ponies and renege on your job. We offered to help, but you seem scared of your own shadow. It's no concern of mine what some broken, paranoid, unicorn does. I have other things to attend to anyway."

Tempest's face darkened further and her horn started sparking anew.

"It's a shame really," Blessing continued. "The secrets of what Sunset Shimmer did cured so many ailments and injuries. Too bad so many wish to maintain their disabilities because they're so used to their own misery. Fight to stay as you are if that's your wish then," Blessing said as she turned her back on Tempest and began to walk away.

Tempest bellowed in rage at the line of personal insults. Blessing kept on walking, and for the moment it looked as if Tempest would be the one to finally lose it and let loose an attack on Sunset Blessing. 

Instead Tempest turned and directed her rage filled magic on an abandoned car. Her shattered horn crackled with what seemed like lightning for a moment before the blast came. It was quickly drowned out in sound by the sound of the car exploding. Beetle quickly did some sort of spell that put some sort of magic dome around the car, containing the explosion. 

Sunset Blessing didn't even glance back as it all went down. She just calmly walked into the church with Tonya in tow.

Soldiers quickly came flooding out of the school at the sound of the explosion and the ones who had already been outside fingered their weapons with uncertainty. Remedy was afraid another fight between humans and Tempest Shadow was about to break out. 

Tempest glared around her as she took deep breaths to try to calm herself. Ponies kept a large distance between themselves and her. Eventually Baker came out and faced Tempest.

"What in the flying fuck is the meaning of this Tempest?! Give me one reason I shouldn't have you arrested right this moment for that," Baker demanded angerly as he pointed to the burning remains of the car.

Tempest looked at Baker then grimaced at the burning car. She lowered her ears as she realized the level of political faux pas she had just committed. She gave another glance at the church before looking down and finally chuckling to herself.

"I'm still waiting for an answer Tempest," Baker reminded her.

Tempest looked at him and smiled.

"It seems I was out-dueled in a battle of self control. I'll give your resident fanatic credit, she has nerve. I can only offer my apologies and tell you it won't happen again, as I'll be returning to Equestria to answer for my actions to Luna. My actions are my own and should not reflect on my team or Equestria. I expect a formal apology to be coming from the princesses soon for what I did," Tempest said, seeming in disbelief still that Blessing had managed to turn the tables on her.

"So you'll all be returned to your homeland?" Baker asked. 

"I would leave Lavender Mist and Dawn Mend to complete their duties. They had nothing to do with this outburst and they promised themselves in aid of your injured night ponies. There is no more reason for the rest of us to stay. I'll no doubt be disciplined for my actions by Princess Luna. I would recommend my deportation as soon as possible," Tempest said.

Baker was quick to oblige. Tempest sat under guard as preparations were made to have them transported back to the airport.

"What was that all about?" Jean asked in confusion.

"My best guess is my mom apparently decided that she was going to learn about some of the processes involved with transformation by having unicorns spy on what the Equestrians did with their tests. Tempest realized right away what she was up to and immediately ended testing. My mom confronted her about it and we saw the rest," Remedy said as she glanced at the church where her mom was at the moment.

"I wonder what Tonya was whispering to her that made her smile," Rosetta mused.

"I would say that she was advising my mom to goad Tempest instead, but that's really not something Tonya would do. Tonya gets really sensitive about bullying, and that bordered on bullying. I expect she's having some choice words about that right now. I don't really have a clue what she said that would have made my mom smile in all that," Remedy said with a shake of her head.

"I think she might be right about Tempest being paranoid though. There's no way any unicorn here would even be able to figure out what the Equestrians were doing with their tests," Rosetta said.

"It's information, even if they don't understand it. Get enough puzzle pieces together and things start forming a picture," Roger reminded Rosetta.

"And they still ended up getting something. They saw that forcefield get made. They might not be able to make one yet, but they saw it done," Remedy added.

Something seemed off about the whole thing still though. Like there was something that didn't fit right. After a little bit of thinking Remedy realized what it was. It didn't make any sense for her mom to have ever confronted Tempest to begin with. She had to have realized Tempest was onto her and it was better just to drop it. Why go through the full confrontation at all? Her mom could be short tempered, but she didn't actually seem to be losing her temper till Tempest started goading her. Why was she acting like she was offended before that.

The only answer was that her mom had been trying to orchestrate something by pulling this, and based on the smile she had as she left she felt she had accomplished it even before Tempest lost her temper.

What was her mom up to?
> Chapter 58: Wild Goals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

That evening the two night ponies did a full shift stocking at the grocery store. It had been a much larger truck than had previously come and by the time morning finally rolled around they were more than ready to just lay down in the camper and sleep as the family drove to Riverview for the day. 

Jean and Roger were in the church talking with Remedy's mom. They were going to be getting the money for gas and food for the trip. They were taking much longer than they should have and Remedy had a sneaking suspicion why, though she wasn't going to bring it up to anypony right now. Her mom wasn't going to be getting the power to turn humans into ponies. Saying something about them being interested in that happening would likely just embarrass them and cause unnecessary tension. It wasn't something she was going to be the cause of, especially over something that wasn't going to happen. She might talk to them in private sometime, and see what she could do to help them with their anxieties. 

"I'm so excited. I get to help pick out a new house for everypony in the family," Wild Growth said as she pranced in place.

"Everyone not everypony; Mama, Papa, and the twins aren't ponies," Rosetta reminded her.

"Well, same thing, I get to help pick out three different houses. It is like the biggest Christmas present ever," Wild said happily.

"Three?" Remedy asked with a raised brow.

"One for you two, one for the rest of the family, and one for me," Wild said as if stating the obvious.

"You're moving out from Mama and Papa?" Rosetta asked in surprise.

"I'm going to be making more than enough money to support myself comfortably. There's no reason to be still living under their roof if I can do that. Your houses are going to be your spaces, but I'm going to have my own place with my own rules," Wild insisted a little defensively.

"Why can't we get our house too?" Miguel chimed in from the other side of the camper.

"Because you two are kids. When you grow up, and get good jobs, I'll be more than happy to help get you out from Mama and Papa's hair. You won't be freeloading off them or me though," Wild said sternly back at them.

"Your making us get jobs because we compared you to the Hulk, aren't you?" Jose asked.

"No, but that didn't win you any brownie points either," Wild said crossly.

"You got a lot less fun since you turned into a grown up," Jose pouted. 

Wild showed how grown up she was by blowing a raspberry at her brothers. The night ponies had to stifle giggles.

"I don't disagree with you getting your own place, sis, but have you told Mama and Papa yet? It might be a little bit of a shock to them if you haven't mentioned anything yet. They'll still have the twins, but you're still the baby girl to them," Rosetta said after she finished her giggle. "By the way, is Abuelita coming? I know she stayed back at the apartment for now, but you can't leave her here alone."

"I'll tell them about it when we get on the road. And of course Abuelita is coming. It's just a matter of who she wants to stay with, that's up to her," Wild said as she flicked her tail dismissively.

"Do you know if Baker ended up saying anything to my mom about what happened last night?" Remedy cut in.

"Nope, I even asked about it," Wild said. "He said while her getting into a shouting match with Tempest wasn't something he enjoyed hearing about she didn't do anything legally wrong. She wasn't the one to detonate a car. She never came back out last night though. Tonya eventually did, and said that Sunset was busy dealing with some things."

"Your mom gives me the willies," Rosetta said. "I don't mean to be rude, but she does. She is nice enough to everypony-with a few notable exceptions-and nice to all the humans, but she's a plotter and she makes me nervous. I know you love her because that's your mom, but I sometimes feel like she's a mob boss or something that will put me in cement shoes if I cross her."

"Sunset's nice," Miguel protested. "She says that me and Jose deserved to be super powered ponies like you and Wild, and asks us how we're doing all the time."

"No comment," Rosetta said in a neutral tone as she looked at Remedy.

"How do you feel about my mom, Wild?" Remedy asked, curious about where her future sister-in-law's leanings went.

"She's nice to me. She got me those lawyers, and she encourages me. The government guys like her and think she's okay too," Wild said in defense of Blessing.

"How do you feel about her believing humans are better off as ponies?" Remedy pressed. She could feel Rosetta tense up next to her.

"Um, if they want to be they should be able to be. It seems unfair to tell them they can't be," Wild said slowly.

"Because it is unfair!" Miguel shouted.

"Hush," Rosetta yelled over to the twins."What about ponies that want to be turned back into humans?"

"I suppose that's okay too, if that's what they really want," Wild said with a confused tilt of her head. "Why are you even asking these questions?"

"Just figuring out how you feel about things. My mom's what is called a Shimmerist. That mean's she wants an all pony world and thinks ponies are inherently better than humans. She isn't very kind to ponies that want to be humans again, at all," Remedy explained. 

"I kind of got that she was a Shimmerist from everypony, and I vaguely knew what that meant. I didn't know about the part about her not liking ponies that want to be humans. I haven't actually met anypony like that so I didn't think about it. If they want to be human I have no problem with that. I guess that makes me not a Shimmerist," Wild said with a shrug.

"I'm a Shimmerist!" Miguel yelled.

"You're annoying! And nopony cares what you are," Wild yelled back at her brother.

Remedy actually begged to differ. Her mom almost certainly cared if a human was a Shimmerist. In fact, she probably cared more if a human was a Shimmerist than if a pony was. She didn't need to convince most ponies to be ponies, she did need to convince most humans to be ponies though.

The door to the camper open up and Jean and Roger filed in. They were immediately beset upon by the twins.

"Mama, Wild won't buy a house for just me and Miguel, but she's buying one for herself," Jose ratted to his parents.

"You don't need a house for yourselves for a long time yet," Roger said to the twins. He then turned to Wild. "But what's this about you buying a house for yourself?"

Wild gave a glare at her brothers. She then sighed and looked back at her parents.

"I'm going to get a house for you and the boys, and another one for Rosetta and Remedy, but I'm going to get out on my own with my own place. I make more than enough money to support myself. I'd still come by often; I just want to be under my own roof with my own rules," Wild explained calmly.

"Are you sure your ready? I don't mean to be offensive but a lot of times when kids go away to college or whatever and aren't living with their parents for the first time they go a little...well, wild," Jean said carefully.

"I wasn't going to bring it up yet, but I'm going to be away from you regularly anyway. Part of my new contract is I do two months of traveling a year for Westvaco. We set it up so it's two months straight rather than two days here and three days there because that could inadvertently cause it to end up with more than two months and just be exhausting. I'm going to be out of town with just executives for those two months every year though," Wild said with a sigh.

"I thought you were going to focus on remaining local, when were you going to bring this up?" Roger asked.

"I will do local work for seven months of the year, but two months will be spent elsewhere, and I get three months of paid vacation every year. There are some other things in there too for different circumstances; sick leave, personal days, maternity leave, bereavement leave, short term disability leave, signing bonus, there's pages and pages of stuff. They initially offered three times as much money, but wanted me on the road for eight months a year. We talked them down from that," Wild explained.

"Thank god," Jean breathed.

"When do you actually start?" Roger asked as he sat down.

"Technically I already have. I'm just starting my time on vacation. I have three months of vacation, seven months working local after that, and then I need to hit the road for two months. I already have my signing bonus in a bank account, and will be getting my first paycheck at the end of this week," Wild said in a low voice.

"That's moving really fast," Jean said as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Everything is moving really fast these days, Mama. In less than a month everything we ever knew has changed," Rosetta said.

"Speaking of moving fast we should probably get going. Rosetta and I need sleep in the afternoon and we'd like to see what the place looks like in the day too," Remedy said.

"And I want to get as much time looking at properties. I want to see if there is a green house for sale anywhere," Wild said excitedly.

"Green? Really?" Rosetta said with a mock chocking gag.

"What? I like green. Haven't you noticed I wear it all the time?" The green earth pony said with a smirk.

The rest of the family facehoofed or facepalmed depending on the species.
> Chapter 59: Riverview
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The drive to Riverview took a while. After getting off the interstate they had to take a lot of old back roads to reach the place. The family glued themselves to the windows as they got their first look at their new home. Eventually they saw the sign saying Welcome to Riverview which had metal set of number panels marked Population:120. The population count had a fourth metal panel for digits that sat blank and looked more worn than the other three panels. Someone had attached a bright poster under the metal panels saying More coming soon! with a smiling sun drawn on it.

Remedy appreciated the enthusiasm for the coming ponies. However, between being a night pony, and the ongoing shadow of Sunset Shimmer's legacy, the sun seemed a much less welcoming image. It was not the maker of this poster's fault though; whoever that happened to be was just trying to be welcoming. Perhaps she would suggest to the maker if she met them to add a smiling moon. The night ponies would feel welcome seeing that.

As they rolled into the town they saw a large host of older houses right away with faded paint and overgrown yards. For sale signs dotted most of them, and many of the signs were faded with age. There were a few houses that had fresher for sale signs and looked like they had very recently gotten attention paid to their yards. The first human they saw was actually trying to give a fresh paint job to one of the vacant houses for sale. He paused in his task and waved as the camper drove by.

There were of course houses that were clearly still occupied. Well maintained buildings with gardens, patio furniture and various knick-knacks across their porches. These often had US flags proudly displayed, and on occasion would be flanked by the old Confederate battle flag-something not uncommon in the south. Cars could be seen sitting in driveways, and a larger number of pickup trucks. One pair of houses that were clearly both occupied seemed to have a bit of a rivalry going; as one house brazenly displayed flags and memorabilia of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, while the neighboring house did in equal measure displayed the same types of things for the Clemson Tigers. 

"Boo Cocks! Go Tigers!" Both Roger and Wild shouted in unison, with the two breaking out into laughter right after as the rest of the family rolled their eyes. 

"Go Cocks! Go! Fight! Win! Kick ass!" Rosetta shouted right after with a grin.

"Heresy! I think I must disown my daughter!" Roger yelled back playfully.

"I thought Rosetta was a lesbian now," Jose said with complete innocence.

"Jose!" Jean scolded as the twins broke into laughter and the three ponies did their best to contain their own snickers.

Remedy smiled. Playful family banter like this was not unheard of between her parents and her growing up, but it seemed far more common with Rosetta's family, and it was something she enjoyed.

They drove into what looked like the commercial district. Here too sat many vacant shops with for sale signs and for lease signs everywhere. Most of which looked like they had not been occupied in a very long time. The architecture was like stepping back in time to something out of the 1950s. With brick buildings built close together, with vacant large storefront windows. On the brick old murals and names of shops, faded so much that they were nearly impossible to make out were present. A few could be made out though; Remedy made out Woolworths on one larger building, Revco on another, and Al's Auto Shop on window of yet another. An older abandoned gas station also clearly had a turtle on its rusted metal sign, something she thought might be a very old Shell logo. This was truly a place that seemed the remnant of a lost time half a century before or more. The town itself was effectively a museum, and not one by choice.

As they drove deeper into the business district they came upon shops that were still occupied. They were all huddled together in one area as if banding together against the encroachment of vacancy beyond. There was a corner store, a gas station, a small bank, a fishing and tackle shop, a pair of restaurants, a small post office, and what looked like the town hall, along with a few harder to determine businesses. Here is where they finally started seeing more humans. The humans in turn immediately all took note of the non local camper coming down the street, and stared as Roger pulled it into a public parking lot.

"Time to meet the locals and get some lunch," Roger said as he switched the engine off.

The twins excitedly rushed the camper door to be the first ones out.

"Boys! Don't take off once you get outside, we stick together. Got it?" Jean shouted at them.

"Yes, Mama!" The twins shouted in unison as they all but tumbled out the camper door together.

"Time to face our future human neighbors," Rosetta said as she got to her hooves and did a quick flap of her wings to loosen them up.

"There's supposed to be one pony resident here already, though I forgot what type. So it isn't like these humans have never seen ponies at all in person. Still probably their first exposure to night ponies though," Remedy said as she joined her lover.

Wild Growth was peaking out the back window of the camper at the score of curious onlookers. She seemed to be developing a sudden case of shyness as she looked at all the humans staring at the camper.

"Come on Wild, time to come see the town. You aren't going to find any houses hiding in the back of this camper," Rosetta called to her sister.

"I know, it's just that its a bunch of unfamiliar humans and no ponies. It feels a little intimidating," Wild said as she pulled herself from the window.

"These humans want us here, just remember that," Remedy said reassuringly.

The ponies filed out of the camper last behind all the human members of the family. Immediately on exit Remedy's ears picked up the sounds of excited gasps and chatter from the humans across the way. She turned towards them and gave her best smile and waved a forehoof at them. She was happy to see a number of humans wave back with smiles on their faces. 

Almost as soon as they were all put of the camper they were greeted by the surprise of a small bus pulling into the parking lot with them, which caused more excited chatter from the humans. After it pulled into park and shut its engine off the door opened and six more ponies filed out of that bus as well. Most Remedy didn't know the names of, but she recognized Number Crunch and Amber. Amber and most of the others were looking around excitedly while Number Crunch adjusted with her magic a backpack that she was wearing. The other mares seemed to have all brought purses around their necks, and even the stallions had less feminine looking purses with them as well. A human Remedy recognized as one of the soldiers exited out behind them wearing his civilian clothes. 

"We'll get some food and mingle with the locals for a bit before we get to business. I'll cover all costs with the cards I gave you and you can be free with making purchases...within reason. You're carrying anything back that you buy. After two I'll be in town hall and then onto my tasks, so make sure any shopping you do is done before then because you have work to do as well. Got it?" Number Crunch instructed loudly to the ponies with her.

"Got it, Crunchy!" Amber said gleefully. This elicited an eye-roll from the unicorn mare.

Amber immediately headed over to the family and gave them all a big smile.

"Hiya Phobia, Rosetta, Wild Growth, and human friends; mind if I tag along with y'all for a bit? Crunchy is kind of a stick in the mud," Amber asked with a near imperceptible flick of her tail at the unicorn.

"I can hear you, Amber," Number Crunch called over.

"Oh! I was talking about Robert over there. Trying to sell him on the name Crunchy," Amber said as she pointed a wing at an orange pegasus stallion who looked completely befuddled at the suggestion. Number Crunch just glared at the amber colored pegasus before shaking her head and going back to readjusting her backpack.

The three ponies looked at each other and gave a collective shrug. Remedy almost suspected Tonya was spying on them since Amber was more or less Tonya's primary go to pony when she needed to delegate tasks. The only thing was there wasn't much to spy on so the idea was silly. They all turned to Roger and Jean to confirm they were alright with Amber's company.

"Sure, you're welcome to tag along. Amber? Was it?" Roger asked.

"Yep, just Amber. I got kind of lucky with the fur color so no pressure to change my name yet. Still need to get a cutie mark anyway," Amber said as she displayed her blank flank briefly. "No need to rush that though. I just want to enjoy myself and when it happens it happens. Whenever it does I'll think of some appropriate pony name."

"We've seen you around. You seem to be a very busy pony," Jean said.

"Yeah, Tonya's a real slave driver, so she keeps me busy. It's not so bad, she at least has a good sense of humor, and appreciates my sense of humor. Plus I get to feel moderately important, like an assistant manager or something. I've had way worse jobs," Amber said with a smile and a shrug.

"Well, nice to meet you, Amber. I'm Jean and this is my husband Roger. These are our sons Miguel and Jose, and it seems you know our daughters and Remedy," Jean said with a smile.

"Pleased to meet y'all too. So ready to go eat?" Amber asked as she looked across the street.

"Yeah, can we hurry up," Jose whined.

"Jose, if you don't stop being so annoying I'm going to sprout a tree up right under you and leave you stuck on top of it. Just watch me do it if you think I'm bluffing," Wild shushed her brother.

"Please don't threaten your brothers, Wild. You're supposed to be the responsible adult, don't stoop down to their level," Roger chided. He then turned towards the street. "Come on, all the others went in that one restaurant, so it's going to be a bit crowded if we go in there too. We'll head over to the other one so we don't completely crowd out the locals."
> Chapter 60: Generosity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The restaurant that they chose had a sign posted on the door explaining that it was open for business, but was sad to say that it would be closing down at the end of the month. The family that operated it thanked the town for years of visiting, and said that they were no longer able to keep up with the costs of maintaining it. 

The family plus Amber entered into the restaurant and were immediately greeting with the gazes of all the patrons. There was no hostility in any of the gazes. It was primarily open curiosity mixed with tinges of anticipation. 

Remedy tried to picture what was going through their minds. Being caught off guard by seeing ponies in town already? Trying to imagine droves of such ponies roaming the town? Wondering if the problems and decline of their town were finally coming to an end? Trying to connect the idea that ponies were people and not furry little animals? A mix of all these things most likely. 

"Do we just take our own seats or are we seated or what?" Amber said as she looked around the possible places to sit.

"I think we seat ourselves," Rosetta said as she looked around. She then pointed to a pair of unoccupied booths next to one another. "Over there, we can have the boys, Amber, and Wild in one booth, and the rest of us in the one next to it."

"Why are you sitting me with the brats?" Wild demanded. Then quickly turned to Amber. "Not you, my little brothers."

"Couples and singles, plus the four of you're more likely to break down into telling jokes with one another and who am I to get in the way of a good time. On top of that I want to be able to talk to Mama and Papa about some stuff and prefer to do that without trying to talk between booths," Rosetta explained.

"Yeah Wild, have fun with us, like you used to, before you got so serious and grouchy," Miguel pleaded with his sister.

Wild looked like she was going to protest. Her mouth was open to do so as she paused and closed it. She looked at her brothers thoughtfully and then nodded that the seating arrangements were okay with her. 

Remedy knew exactly what had just gone through her mind; Wild was scared of becoming angry all the time and Miguel had said the exact thing to get her attention. She smiled a little at seeing Wild realize she had been getting a little too cross with her brothers as of late. There was no denying the twins adored both their older siblings, and Wild was the one closer in age that they looked to most.

They all took their seats and quickly found menus at the far ends of the tables to browse. While the two couples started focusing on reading the menus the other table could be heard starting to chatter with one another.

A waitress who looked like she was in her sixties came over to the tables within a minute to be the first human to break the ice and to start on taking their orders.

"Hello folks, we're happy to see some fresh faces in here. We don't see too many. Are you passing through to somewhere else?" The waitress asked as with a smile.

"Actually, we're planning on moving into town, all of us. We are only in town for the day today, but are planning on scouting houses. It seems like a lovely town," Jean answered with a smile.

Remedy could see every patron of the restaurant trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. Most weren't even trying to hide the fact they were doing it either. She wondered how much they all knew about how negotiations were going and what deals had already been arranged.

"Oh, that's great. Are you from Charleston?" The waitress asked.

"Charleston area, there are a lot of us planning on moving out here actually. We're just here early to get a look and tell the others about what we saw. Get the first impressions and stuff, you know?" Remedy decided to answer. She wanted to see the reaction to the news.

"We had known there were some talks going on about trying to get some interest from ponies moving here. I guess it's not hearsay. How many ponies are we talking about if I might ask?" The waitress asked in anticipation.

"Well, some will be coming to some nearby towns as well, but all told it is well over ten thousand, probably even more than since I don't know the actual figures. There'll be some more humans too, Westvaco is talking about opening up a site here," Remedy answered and waited for the reaction.

The reaction was shock across the whole restaurant. Gasps could be heard and the number ten thousand could be heard bring muttered in disbelief throughout the establishment. 

"Are you really serious? Ten thousand? As in a thousand times ten?" The waitress asked with wide eyes, she looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

"Probably more than ten thousand. I don't know the figures. If the town isn't interested in us moving here we could pass that news along. There'd be a lot of disappointed ponies, but..." Remedy began before the waitress cut her off.

"No, I mean yes. I mean...we'd be thrilled to have so many interested in moving here. It's just hard to imagine. The last time this town had over a thousand residents I was just a little girl. Most people have just moved on. We were worried that in twenty years there wouldn't even be a Riverview anymore. Now we're hearing we won't just survive, but swell to a hundred times our current size. It's a lot to take in," the waitress said with a hand across her chest like she was checking her breathing or heart rate.

"Actually I do know the figures and Phobia is understating them by a lot. We're talking about closer to fifteen thousand between who's moving to this town and it's closest neighbors. And that's before y'all count the eight hundred some humans that decided to come here as well with their pony relatives. There'll probably be enough new development that they'll end up building right up to one another and more or less fusing into a small city," Amber chimed in.

The waitress's eyes about popped. The shock that had been in the restaurant somehow increased. 

Remedy was taken off guard by the news too. She certainly could believe that her mom had gathered far more ponies than she had originally thought, but she had heard nothing about that many humans. It made sense, and Amber would be among one of those to know since she spent the better part of her days flying from place to place as messenger, search party, ambassador, and minor organizer. It was just now occurring to Remedy how much work these parties of pegasi that Tonya sent out on Remedy's mom's behest were actually doing and accomplishing. To put it in church terms like her mom thought in the pegasi were her missionaries. Tonya was definitely working them hard, but their labor was definitely yielding results.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you looked at it, the twins were oblivious to the situation.

"Can we order now?" Miguel asked.

The waitress blinked a few times to clear her head. She then got to taking orders.

The food selection for the ponies at this point was not the widest. What most ended up getting was either mushroom or vegetable soup, though Wild had insisted on trying spaghetti without meatballs. The rest of the ponies warned her that it might not work out still, as there may still be traces of meat in the dish even after the meatballs were taken out. Wild insisted and the rest shrugged it away, with mutters about if she spent time vomiting later they told her so.

Eating in peace was not going to be happening though. Other humans frequently found excuses to walk by them and start up conversations. There wasn't any ill intent, just curiosity. There were questions about what kind of work each of the adults did, with Wild Growth describing herself as a tree expert rather than saying what she was capable of doing. There were questions about what kinds of jobs might be coming with the ponies. Questions for the ponies about what it was like going through ETS and what their new lives were like. 

Right before the meal was done Wild Growth made a quick run to the camper and returned with a purse. She then insisted on covering the meal for the family and Amber herself. After requesting the bill from the waitress and getting it she carefully considered the tip. Amber watched Wild fill out the tip section, carefully using a pen in her mouth, and gasped at the amount that Wild had given.

"That's a little...excessive, don't you think?" Amber said as she looked at the amount.

"Sunset had told me to make a big splash spending money early on when we moved to town. We aren't moved in yet, but figured why not?" Wild said with a grin. 

"How much did you give to them?" Roger asked.

"Just wait," Wild said still grinning.

The waitress returned and picked up the debit card and initially didn't look at amount she had been asked to run on it. She made it all the way to the register before finally looking at the amount of gratuity that Wild had listed and literally stumbled back, which caused all the patrons to look over at her to see if she needed help. 

The waitress then took a deep breath and walked with forced calm back to their booths with debit card and bill in hand.

"Is this some kind of joke?" She demanded as she held out the bill towards Wild.

"It's no joke. I know how much I listed on there, and it really isn't a big deal to me. I have a lot of money and ponies are generous. Go ahead and run the card, it won't be declined," Wild said.

"Um, I kind of am supposed to get your ID if I run a card for an amount this high," the waitress said like she was uncertain what to do. 

"Got that too, though I do look a little different than the picture on it," Wild said with a smirk before fishing into her purse with her muzzle. 

"We're her parents and we have our ID's if you need them. We can verify her identity if you need us too. She's good for whatever she listed as a tip. How much did she tip you?" Roger asked as he watched his daughter pull her ID from the purse and pass it to the waitress's trembling hand.

"That won't be needed, I'll take your word she's your daughter," the waitress said as she quickly checked the name on the ID against the card. "Catherine Martinez, correct?"

"That's her," Roger nodded.

"I can't say what it is out loud," the waitress said with a shake of her head and then showed the bill with the written tip on it. 

The two parents blinked as they looked at the bill. All of this had gathered the attention of all the patrons in the restaurant once again. 

"She's good for it. Though I hope she doesn't make a habit of tipping that much, no offense," Jean said slowly.

"Um, none taken. I'll just go run this card and see what happens," the waitress said slowly. 

She returned to the register and took a deep breath. She entered in the amount that was written down on the bill and everyone in the restaurant watched with anticipation as she swiped the card and waited for the response of approved or declined.

"It's approved," the waitress said letting out a gasp that quickly descended into happy sobs. 

"Are you okay, Wend? How much did the pony tip you?" One of the older patrons called out.

"I can't say, that's private information," the waitress, who Remedy assumed was named Wendy, said with a shake of her head. "I can say one thing though."

The waitress walked to the front door, and with a smile and tears still in her eyes she ripped the sign announcing the closing down from the door. She then very deliberately and gleefully ripped it to shreds.

"We aren't shuttering our doors at the end of the month, or anytime. This place is staying in business," she said happily and was greeted with a chorus of cheers.
> Chapter 61: Interrogation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It turned out that the amount Wild Growth had tipped was fifty thousand dollars. Remedy asked how Wild had that much if she hadn't gotten her first paycheck. The answer was Wild had already gotten her signing bonus, a figure of a million dollars taxes paid. Fifty thousand dollars was literally like her spending five dollars out of a hundred; not something she could make a habit of, but something she could do once and a while if she took care.

Wendy had assured them that the restaurant would be expanding their vegetarian options soon, and if things went well after the rest of the ponies arrived they would likely be hiring on a pony or two to help out. Roger and Jean were quick to congratulate Wild about how proud they were of her, though they did caution her again to not do stuff like that too often or people would start expecting it from her and try to take advantage of her. She was rich, but she wasn't so rich she could give amounts like that out non-stop.

The two night ponies needed their sleep at this point and went back to the camper. The rest of the family was going to walk around town and get scout some houses as well as just get to know the local population. Their was word of some sort of community get together that evening and the night pony couple agreed to meet up with the family at that when they woke back up.

Soon after Remedy had fallen asleep she found herself pulled into the dreamscape again. She spotted Luna right away and while Luna didn't seem angry, she didn't seem to have as friendly a look to her as she normally did. Remedy approached her in dream form and greeted her.

"Hello, Luna. I hope everything is going well wherever you're at," Remedy said.

"It's been an interesting few days, but all days are interesting as of late. Between trying to maintain my duties on my world and dealing with issues involving yours much of my waking hours I'm very weary," Luna said with a sad shake of her head. 

"I take it today is going to be a short lesson then. I don't want to be a burden," Remedy said.

"Unfortunately today there won't be any lesson. I'm here on other business. A captain of mine returned to Equestria today with much to tell. Do you know of whom I speak?" Luna asked.

"Tempest," Remedy said with a sinking feeling.

"That is the pony. I do have to say that she did seem to have a favorable opinion of you, of which I'm glad. She was unaware that you were in my instruction and said that she thought my choice in teaching you was not a poor choice," Luna said with a small smile.

"Um, I'm glad to hear that. She was a little...difficult of a pony to deal with, but she seemed very concerned about doing her duty to you," Remedy said, unsure how to respond to Tempest's endorsement.

"If by difficult you mean she's temperamental and abrasive to most around her I can only agree. I'd hoped that this particular posting might bring out a little more empathy from her due to the injured night ponies. She's a loyal guard, very vigilant in her duties, and very effective in subduing criminals, but her ability to make connections to other ponies leaves much to be desired. The trip was not a complete loss on what I hoped to accomplish with her, but I had hoped for more," Luna said with a sigh.

"She did seem to really care about the night ponies. She opened up to me about what happened to her as a foal. Even when she said she wouldn't continue tests she was still wanting to help the Broken Ones," Remedy said, again defending Tempest.

"She opened up to you? She failed to mention that to me. How much time did you spend with her?" Luna asked with a tilt of her head.

"Not long really, we only talked a few minutes in all. She actually told me that pretty quickly after I asked about her horn. She also told me about the kinds of things she went through as a unicorn with a broken horn. I got to understand her fears and anxieties," Remedy explained.

Luna stared at Remedy for a long minute, and it made Remedy feel uncomfortable. 

"It seems there might be some yet to be fully realized magical talents of yours I was not initially aware of if you drew that information out of her so quickly. Those will have to be addressed at some point in your education, but not yet," Luna said to break the long silence. 

Remedy blinked. She had magical talents? Other than just simple night pony magic involving dreams? She certainly didn't feel like she had done anything else magical. She wanted to ask about it more but Luna already was ready to move on from the subject.

"Regardless, I must apologize for her actions that led to her returning back to Equestria. I'll be sending formal apologies to your local officials soon," Luna said with a sigh.

"She wasn't completely at fault for what happened," Remedy said in the unicorn's defense.

"Yes, which brings me to the pertinent matter for our talk today," Luna said as she gazed down at Remedy. "Tell me of your mother, the one called Sunset Blessing."

"I know what you must be thinking. I get worried by her beliefs too, but she's a good mare," Remedy said in automatic defense of her mother.

"I can believe that. She certainly seems legitimately concerned about the ponies and humans around her. Believe me when I say that your world has examples of vile ponies among its numbers, and I don't consider her among their thankfully small number. That doesn't mean she isn't a concern due to her not having an evil nature," Luna said naturally.

"Vile ponies?" Remedy asked in confusion.

"You truly don't want to know. Sunset Shimmer's instinctual compulsion towards pacifism that she laid in all of you was not as effective in a minority of ponies. Almost all of them were monsters as humans and that carried over with them into being ponies. Believe me, there are far worse ponies we're getting word of than your mother. Don't make me go into detail about their atrocities," Luna said firmly.

"Okay, so why are you concerned about her if she's not so bad a problem, comparatively?" Remedy asked.

"She is hardly the only pony that falls into the Shimmerist group. Nor is she the only one amassing power quickly. Those instincts we spoke of definitely facilitate leaders among you taking control at rapid pace amongst the current chaos. The fact she seems adamant about the need for choice would normally put her far down the list of Shimmerists we're concerned about. What makes her different is your government's willingness to cooperate with her where elsewhere they do everything to hinder Shimmerist's efforts. That is worrisome, and we desire to know why this is happening," Luna said with a narrowed brow.

"I really don't know the answer to that. I've been wondering that myself. All I've been able to come up with is that she gets things accomplished. That she's a means to an end for them," Remedy said as she spread her wings to demonstrate her lack of answers.

"The question then becomes to what end they seek. But tell me, do you believe that she has any ulterior motivations? I understand your hesitation if you don't wish to say. That is your mother after all, and your own protective instincts make it all the more difficult for you to say anything that might work against her. I promise that I don't plan any direct action against her, but I need to guard the humans and ponies of your world from threats and it helps if I know what they are," Luna said.

"I don't know, I really don't. She keeps secrets from everypony, even me. I know that she is planning things, but I don't know who or what they involve, or why she's doing them," Remedy confessed. "Actually, I know one thing. She mentioned some land purchase for an independent project, but refused to give me any other information about it. She also has a lot of money. I'm guessing it's legal for her to have it, but she doesn't want the government to know she has it."

"It seems to me that she is preparing for war. She's gathering resources, setting up a stronghold, forming an alliance with your government. She has no reason to fear an attack from us, and from what is described she operates within the boundaries of the law so she has no reason to fear your government either. She might be planning something that will earn her the ire of your government, but that doesn't explain her seeming alliance with it and it helping her build a stronghold. Who is she afraid of then?" Luna mused.

If Luna was right that was a very good question.






> Chapter 62: Answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remedy woke up before Rosetta. She was deeply troubled after her meeting with Luna. The question of what her mom was up to was something that had been bothering her more and more, but now it seemed more urgent to find out. If he mom was really getting herself dug in for a fight she needed to know against who, she needed to know why, and she needed to know before that fight actually happened. She didn't want her mom or anypony getting hurt.

She looked at the sleeping form of Rosetta and it occurred to her that if there was something or somepony that was going to come at her mom it could very well hurt Rosetta, their foal, and the rest of the family too. She needed to start getting answers tonight, and there was one pony nearby that might have some.

She nudged Rosetta to wake her and was greeted with one half open eye.

"You're up a little early. I can still see the sun isn't setting yet. We went to bed pretty late, why are you waking us up?" Rosetta asked sleepily.

"I'm going to go out and deal with something. I didn't want you to worry when you woke up and I wasn't here. You can go back to sleep, I just wanted to make sure you knew," Remedy said.

"Okay, I guess I'll meet up with you at whatever gathering the town is having. It shouldn't be too hard to find. Is everything okay? You seem a little agitated," Rosetta said with concern.

"I'm going to go find Number Crunch and find out some answers about what my mom has going on. I'll talk to you later about it. I just don't like not knowing what goes on in my mom's head," Remedy explained.

"Alright, just come back to bed if you finish up with her quickly. I don't think you're going to get much out of her," Rosetta said sleepily.

"Maybe I will maybe I won't, but if it goes fast I'll be right back. I love you," Remedy said.

"Love you too," Rosetta said as she closed her eyes again and quickly fell back asleep.

Remedy actually thought she might have a chance of digging some information out of Number Crunch. Her mom had called Number Crunch a gossip. On top of that there was what Luna said about how Remedy had gotten Tempest to open up to her. Maybe she could do the same with Number Crunch.

She quickly left the camper and took to the air. The first thing to do was figure out where Number Crunch even was. That shouldn't be too hard. If she didn't find her quickly she just had to ask any of the ponies that had accompanied the unicorn here.

It didn't take her long to find one of those ponies. Amber was in the air high above the business district. Remedy gained some altitude and met the pegasus.

"Hi Phobia, you are up kind of early aren't you?" Amber said as Remedy reached her altitude.

"Was wanting to find Number Crunch. Any idea where she might be at?" Remedy asked.

"Definitely. She's over at the old high school for the town. Big building at the far end of the east side of town, can't miss it. Place hasn't been used in years apparently, not enough students. She said something about trying to buy it and some other run down buildings near it," Amber explained as she pointed a hoof off in the appropriate direction. 

"Thanks for the info. What are you doing anyway?" Remedy asked.

"Just checking to make sure everything lines up with the maps we saw before of town. Easy enough to do from the air and pegasus eyes are better than fuzzy satellite images. Some of the others are checking out the land that is supposed to be set aside for us to develop on the outskirts of town in each direction. We should all be finishing up soon," Amber explained.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at the thing the town's doing if all of you are hanging around for that," Remedy said.

"Yeah, you will. Supposed to be like a block party or something. Crunchy said we could spend time at that before we headed back to the church. See you soon," Amber said as she went back to doing her assigned task.

Remedy quickly lowered her altitude and took off in the indicated direction. It didn't take long to find the place. The school was a large three story building of brick that looked like it was built to accommodate more students than there were currently residents in the town. Her best guess was it might have served as the local high school for the nearest towns as well to be built for so many. Many of the windows were boarded and it clearly was long abandoned. She couldn't imagine the last time this might have been used.

A quick look around the grounds had her spot the unicorn in question. She had a camera in her magical aura and was taking pictures of the school. Remedy flew down to meet her.

"Hello, you are up early, and by yourself as well. I'm guessing you sought me out if you're over here. What can I do for you, Phobia?" Number Crunch asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I wanted to find out what my mom is up to. Why is she having you buy this particular place? What kind of special projects is she intending?" Remedy asked as she gestured a wing at the dilapidated building.

"That's sensitive information. I might like to talk, but I am very careful about anything involving business," Number Crunch said cooly.

"And what kind of business were you involved in before? You know how to hide money from the government, you seem to be an accountant or something but you're rich in your own right. You seem like you might be pretty shady. Why is my mom trusting a pony like you with all the financial things?" Remedy asked with narrowed eyes.

Number Crunch stared at her for a moment and seemed to be considering how to respond. Traces of anger at the accusations could be seen on her face. Finally she sighed and put the camera back in her backpack before sitting down.

"Alright then. You want to have this talk, we'll have this talk. Sit and listen, little mare, because my first thought is whether to see how well you fly with six feet of dirt piled on top of you. Your mother would likely throw me to the wolves for that though. You'd better keep your muzzle sealed about this," Number Crunch snarled at her.

Remedy's first reaction was wondering if she should just take off. Number Crunch had just threatened her. She knew there was no escaping the unicorn if she tried though. Number Crunch could ground her in an instant if she tried to fly away. All that she could do was comply. She sat her rump down on the ground and did her best to meet the angry accountant's gaze.

"Your mother knows all about me. I confessed all my sins I did as a human to her. You might not believe it, but I'm doing my best to be a good pony instead of the despicable human I was. I've never personally killed anyone, but I've arranged for people to die. All in the name of money and power. When it came to business you didn't get much dirtier than me," Number Crunch said through gritted teeth.

Remedy gulped. Rosetta might fear Remedy's mom, but Remedy's mom didn't have anything on Number Crunch right now in terms of intimidation factor.

"She makes use of me because I know how to get things done better than any other pony she has available when it comes to money. As I said I'm determined to be a better pony than I was a human. I believe in what your mother is doing. I believe what she is doing is for the good of all, and I want to be part of that. Lucky for all of us she has you and Tonya to keep her moral compass straight. If she relied to heavily on me there's no telling what direction it might point," Number Crunch said as she worked to calm herself. Remedy thought she could see tears in Number Crunch's eyes.

Number Crunch paused to catch a breath and Remedy continued to sit still in silent. Number Crunch lit up her horn and Remedy flinched at the sight of it. All that happened was Number Crunch floated a pack of cigarettes out of her backpack and removed one from it with her magic, putting it in her muzzle. She floated the pack back into her backpack and used her magic to ignite the cigarette. She took a long draw and then floated the cigarette from her mouth as she let loose a plume of smoke.

"Fuck it. Between dealing with these crazy townspeople that want to demand prices for this old dump like it's a New York skyscraper in Times Square, and then dealing with you, I'm back to this. Was over this after the transformation. I'm just stressed out though," Number Crunch said irritably.

The unicorn returned the cigarette to her mouth and took another draw before taking it away again.

"You want to know what buying this property is for? Place is an old bomb shelter from the days everypony was living in fear of nukes coming down from the skies. Everything about it from the ground floor up is a waste of space, an asbestos ridden piece of crap. Down below though is a reinforced concrete and steel basement. We need a place for unicorns to experiment with magic without fear of hurting anypony. We're dealing with forces we don't understand and if something blows up in our face it's better it happened where it can be contained. We don't have the time to be careful, we need to learn and we need to learn fast," Number Crunch said in a calmer voice.

"Learn what fast, and why the urgency?" Remedy finally spoke as she gained a little confidence at the fact Number Crunch seemed to be calming down.

"We need to learn everything we can about magic. Long term we hope to be able to duplicate the transformation spell, and we hope we are the first to figure it out. We aren't the only ones in search of that information though. There are other Shimmerists out there, and they don't care about free choice and things like that. Somepony is going to crack how to do it eventually, and if it isn't us first this world is fucked," Number Crunch said as she glared again at the school.

"Why is it so important that we learn how first?" Remedy asked.

"Weren't you listening? There are other Shimmerists out there, and they will unleash a new ETS if they get it first. If we find it first we will know enough to stop them. It needs to be a choice. If they do that then every nation will turn on us, and it will be genocide. Who knows what those damned Equestrians will do either in that case. Maybe they'll just try to purge magic from this world. We can't let that happen," Number Crunch said as she looked down at the ground and then took another draw from her cigarette.

"Which is why the government is willing to help my mom. She is giving them their own team of magical researchers separate from Equestria," Remedy said.

"Bingo," Number Crunch said as she snuffed out the embers. "There is no telling if and when they might turn on us as well though. So we have to have insurance against them as well. They say that they are willing to let us do transformations to humans if the humans choose it, but who knows how that'll actually play out. It's doubtful they will be okay even with us doing things the right way. We have to be prepared to defend ourselves against them as well if they stab us in the back. We have to be able to defend both the ponies from the government and the humans from the other Shimmerists," Number Crunch said.

"It seems a very wretched way of living, scared of everything around you being out to get you," Remedy said with a sad shake if her head.

"Your mom is working hard to try to make sure we don't end up like that. She has a plan to try to turn Shimmerist thought in our direction instead of the one involving forced transformations. I have my doubts about it but she seems pretty confident in it. You'll have to ask her about that if you really want to know," Number Crunch said with a sigh. 

"I guess I got my answers," Remedy said as she looked at the school.

"Yes you did, but let me tell you something now. You had better not discuss this with anypony. Not your family other than your mom, not the Equestrians, not the government, not some random pony on the street. If you do I'll bury you so deep worms won't find you. Your mom may murder me in response, but I'm expendable and so are you. We will not lose this war though," Number Crunch said with a menacing stare.
> Chapter 63: Threats and Counterthreats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As she flew back to the camper there were a several things bothering her. 

First off was the obvious, her life had just been threatened. She could imagine Number Crunch just wrapping her up in a magical grip and just steadily applying pressure. How much pressure could her body take before she was crushed? She had a feeling Number Crunch knew. She imagined in her head Number Crunch running the figures on exactly how much and Number Crunch's name took on a sinister second meaning. She was going to have nightmares about that for sure.

The second thing that was bothering her was that ultimately Number Crunch's story didn't fully add up. Her mom knew and had even stressed that transformation magic was well beyond their ability, and not something that they were likely to figure out in their lifetimes. All this paranoia over something that wasn't going to happen. Even if somepony dropped all Sunset Shimmer's research notes into their hooves, fully translated into English, it would still likely be complete Greek to them. They just didn't have the baseline knowledge to even begin to understand it. So why all this irrational fear about it?

The last thing bothering her was she desperately wanted to talk to Rosetta about this, but the fear of Number Crunch hurting one or both of them was all too real. She believed Number Crunch on that. Worse Rosetta would know something was bothering Remedy and that Number Crunch was to blame. Rosetta's own protective instincts could lead to them getting hurt.

Number Crunch had given answers, but she didn't explain what was going on in her mom's head. Ultimately she was going to have to get that information straight from the source. She wouldn't be able to do that tonight though. For right now she was just going to join Rosetta and try to put Number Crunch's threats out of mind as best she could, all the while trying not to worry Rosetta. The thought passed her mind again that it might just be easier to have them move to wherever Rosetta wanted to attend university and just distance themselves from the whole thing. She knew that wasn't going to fly though, not with the rest of the family here, and Wild Growth in particular being tied here. Plus there was the general indignity of trying to flee a problem. 

She got back to the camper and went inside. Rosetta was just rousing herself from her sleep as Remedy entered and gave Remedy a smile.

"So any luck getting your answers?" Rosetta asked as she stretched her wings.

"I got...something. Not what I was really wanting," Remedy said carefully with a nervous twitch of her tail.

"She tell you off for asking about your mom's secrets?" Rosetta asked in a sympathetic tone after seeing the tail twitch.

That was certainly one way of putting it. 

"Yeah, she did. I got to see a whole different side of Number Crunch. I think I'm going to avoid that mare from now on. My mom might give you the willies, but Number Crunch I've determined is far more scary. I don't recommend making her mad," Remedy said with a shiver.

Rosetta's ears flicked and own tail twitched as she saw Remedy shiver. A slight frown appeared on her muzzle for a second before she shook her head and smiled again.

"It's always the quiet ones. We're quiet ones ourselves, and it can be frightening to think of what we may be capable of if we truly were angry enough; night pony protective instincts and all that," Rosetta said as she came and nuzzled Remedy.

"Hopefully we will never have to find out. Ready for this block party? I'm guessing the family is already there," Remedy asked.

"Sure thing," Rosetta said happily. "Block party? That's what it is?"

"Yeah, heard it from Amber when I was tracking down Number Crunch. The other ponies should be there as well. They were going to go to that before heading back," Remedy explained. 

"You know, since they are all going to be over there already we could have a little bit of fun here by ourselves first," Rosetta suggested slyly.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable doing that in your parents' camper. I have this vision of one of the family members walking in on us and getting a lesbian pony porn show," Remedy replied.

"That would be embarrassing with my parents or Wild walking in, but they'd get over it and laugh. Though I do have to admit that my parents would throw a fit if the twins walked in on us," Rosetta said with a twist of her muzzle. "We do need to get some personal time sometime though. Wonder if we can scout some houses ourselves tonight. Having our own private personal space sounds more and more appealing."

"We can do that, sure. Somewhere the looks pretty quiet. Maybe we can find a quiet spot for just tonight as well," Remedy said with a smile and a kiss to Rosetta.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going to this block party before Wild gets tired and comes back here. If we buy anything it is probably here hoofing the bill," Rosetta said as she headed to the door.

"Unless she says no. We really should have brought our own money," Remedy said as she followed.

"I could puppy dog eyes her if she does. But you're right, I shouldn't get in a habit of begging my sister to pay for things for us," Rosetta said with a giggle.

"Just our house and tuition. We need to have you start doing application letters to these places now that you don't have to worry about how to pay for it," Remedy said as they stepped outside.

"You need to start considering attending too since I'm sure Wild will be willing to see to your education as well. Ponies open up to you easily, you'd make a good psychologist or counselor. Fits in with the dream stuff your doing too," Rosetta insisted.

"About that, I think there might be something else going on. The getting ponies to open up to me thing," Remedy said as her ears dropped.

Rosetta halted and looked at Remedy, and a concerned look came on her face as she saw Remedy's posture.

"What's wrong?" Rosetta asked as she walked back to Remedy.

"I think I might be doing something magical without meaning to. Drawing out ponies fears, anxieties, and anger to the surface. I did it with you, I did it with Tempest, and I think I just did with Number Crunch. Ponies confess personal information to me in no time at all with me doing only a little digging. Ponies that are normally very closed up about those things. Luna seemed to think there was magic at work," Remedy explained.

"Well, that just means you are better able to help ponies if you can get them to open up about things that bother them. Your entire thing is understanding fear, it makes sense in some way you would be able to have ways of finding out what those fears are," Rosetta said as she ran a hoof over Remedy's mane.

"It feels unfair that I can just do it, without meaning to. It's like I violated the other pony," Remedy said.

"I don't feel violated. I felt like a burden got lifted. You helped me. Did you help Tempest or Number Crunch?" Rosetta asked.

"Not sure on Tempest. With Number Crunch I got to see anger, paranoia, and...let's just say I will walk small around her from now on," Remedy said with a involuntarily shiver.

Rosetta gave her another concerned look as Remedy shivered. Her ears laid back and her brow narrowed as she realized why.

"You're afraid of her now, physically afraid," Rosetta said in a low growl, and the growl deepened as she continued. "What did she say or do to you?" 

Remedy tried to think of a way of answering that didn't reveal exactly what was said and the threats made. Her hesitation worked against her and Rosetta became even more enraged as she saw that as further confirmation of Number Crunch's guilt.

"Tell me what she did so I know why I'm going to make her bleed," Rosetta demanded again.

"You shouldn't get violent like that," Remedy said with alarm.

"She has you fucking trembling at the thought of her, fuck me not getting violent. And you aren't some random pony or human on the street, you're my fiancee. If somepony does something to you it's beyond personal. Screw pony pacifism," Rosetta fumed.

"Rosetta, it isn't just ponies are not supposed to be violent, you're pregnant and shouldn't do anything that could end up with you or the foal getting hurt. Believe me when I say Number Crunch is cold blooded, and will not hesitate to hurt you bad enough that it hurts the foal. For all our sakes, back down on this," Remedy said as calmly and evenly as she could.

Rosetta seemed to waver a bit after being reminded of her pregnancy. 

"Just tell me please why you're afraid of her," Rosetta said in a more controlled voice as she glared at the ground. "If you don't tell me I'm going to go demanding the information from her."

Remedy was between a rock and a hard place. Rosetta was not going to let this go. She cursed herself for letting Rosetta pick up on something being wrong at all. 

"She threatened me, as in threatened to kill me, if I discuss with anypony, even you, what she and I talked about. I believe her when she says she will. She's fully committed to keeping my mom's secrets. I got her to open up to me, but I'd really rather I hadn't. I got to see her self hate, her paranoia, her fanatical devotion to my mom's goals, and it scared the piss out of me," Remedy said in a low voice.

Rosetta looked like she was withstraining herself from taking off into the air and going on the hunt for Number Crunch, but the withstraint held. She looked back to Remedy and came up to where she was touching. 

"Do you think she is going to hurt you if you keep whatever damned secret she has?" Rosetta asked in a low voice.

"I don't think she'll hurt me if I don't reveal what was said. She insists she doesn't want to be that way. I think she is terrified that she's even capable of murder," Remedy's eyes widened in realization. "That's her fear, the fact she might not be a better pony than she was a human. Human her would not hesitate to step over dead bodies to get what she wanted, and she's secretly terrified she's still that same human. She had a lot of things she was paranoid about, but that's what she was most emotional about."

"So is that a confirmation she won't hurt you?" Rosetta's asked, her anger bleeding a little over towards Remedy.

"She won't hurt me if she doesn't feel she must. It would break her," Remedy nodded.

"Then I won't ask what those secrets are and you can be an honest mare if she asks if you've told anypony. I'll try to pretend in the meantime that I don't want to rip her throat out," Rosetta said with another low growl.

"I'm sorry I have to keep information from you," Remedy said as she began to cry.

"Oh don't be sorry. You won't need to for long," Rosetta said in a neutral tone. "We are going to your mother as soon as we return to the church in the morning. You're going to explain to her that Number Crunch threatened you, and she is going to explain to me why I should continue to not make Number Crunch pay for doing so, as well as whatever else is going on, and it better be a good explanation."
> Chapter 64: Spider
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The block party would have been fun early on, if not for the fact that Rosetta was looking around constantly trying to spot Number Crunch. The unicorn in question never made an appearance. Remedy breathed a sigh of relief at the fact, as it definitely wouldn't look good to the townspeople if there was a pony brawl between Rosetta and Number Crunch right in front of them.

The block party was kind of a mini fair of sorts. There were a few carnival games, people that had set up bake sales, and a little bit of live music all provided by the locals. It was all about community and togetherness. It was nice to see and enjoy, and Remedy hoped that this kind of thing wouldn't be lost with the large influx of population that was coming. Ponies were naturally social creatures so there was hope that it would continue with them.

Rosetta started to relax as the party went on and even laughed a bit as she watched Wild, and a few of the other ponies that had come, try to participate in doing the electric slide. They seemed to have no problem with most of the stepping for the most part, though there was some initial confusion about how many left or right legs they should be moving on command. There was an additional moment of confusion as the order to clap their hands went out, and the ponies looked down at their hooves in befuddlement. Different ponies decided to take different approaches to this; some reared up briefly on their hind legs and clapped together their forehooves, the pegasi tried clapping their wings-which didn't produce much of a sound, and the remainder took it as another stomp command. There was a lot of good natured laughing about the confusion by both the ponies and the humans. One pony, a yellow pegasus mare named simply Sun Shine, giggled loudly as she declared that this song was speciesist as tripped trying to clap and step.

The party didn't go too late in the evening. By the time nine at night had come most had departed, and by ten all the guests had departed. The other ponies that had come by bus all left back for the church grounds via the same bus. Rosetta finally caught sight of Number Crunch right before they left. It seemed the unicorn mare had sequestered herself away on the bus soon after the night ponies had arrived at the block party. There was confrontation between the two at this time though. Rosetta said she would speak with Sunset Blessing first.

The insistence to the family to hit the road before dawn was met with some protest. Remedy kept her mouth shut as her fiancee made it clear to all the others the matter was not up for discussion. They realized she was angry about something but got no information other than she needed to talk to her future mother-in-law as early as possible and it was urgent.

The two night ponies did their assigned duty for the evening. They spent the night flying all around town and even flew to the next closest towns and back. It was completely quiet, with no humans to be seen at the late hours. A few stray houses here and there with porch lights on, the main street lit by streetlights, and an occasional house that lights could be seen in the windows of, but overall nothing of note. They highly doubted any human even took notice of them flying about.

They returned back to the camper shortly before dawn and made sure Roger was up and getting ready to leave. The camper starting up roused the other humans, but Wild slept like a rock through it. The earth pony's circadian rhythm was very firmly in place where she was deep in sleep until the sun was up unless you deliberately roused her.

"Did you guys find any interesting houses while we were sleeping?" Remedy asked to break the quiet.

"A few, it is going to take a lot more looking. A lot of these places are in need of some renovation and repair since they've been sitting so long. We got a few phone numbers to ask about properties that looked in a bit better condition," Jean explained.

"Did you do any house searching?" Roger called back from the driver's seat.

"We meant to but got...distracted. We'll get out chance later on," Remedy said.

Rosetta continued to sit and brood through the full exchange.

"What's got you all grumpy?" Jose asked his eldest sister.

"Something I can't talk about that doesn't concern you. Let's just say my protective instincts are on full power, plus some, and a Remedy's mom is going to be getting an earful about some things that happened to Remedy," Rosetta said in a forced calm.

"Did Remedy do something wrong?"

"No, Remedy didn't do anything wrong at all. I'm not mad at her, I'm mad about what happened to her. Just like I would be mad if somepony did something bad to you," Rosetta explained calmly.

"Wild calls me names all the time and threatened to grow a tree under me, but you don't get that mad about that," Jose asked.

"Not even close to the same thing in this case. Just drop it, Jose. I thank you for your concern, but it's getting dealt with," Rosetta said crossly.

"Are you sure, baby? I'm not used to seeing you like this," Jean said worriedly

"We've got this, Mama. It's getting dealt with, and it isn't going to happen again one way or another. I'm going to make sure of that," Rosetta said in a slightly less cross voice.

"It's that Number Crunch pony, isn't it?" Jean asked. Rosetta looked up at her mother in mild shock. "She's the only one that wasn't at the block party and you were looking around for someone like a hawk looking for a mouse when you were there."

"Don't go digging into this, Mama. I said it's getting dealt with, and I meant it. If Number Crunch comes anywhere near any of you, or says anything to any of you, let me know right away. I'm not letting her pull any more crap," Rosetta said with a growl.

Jean looked like she wanted to press the issue. Remedy held up a wing to stop her.

"We're going to talk with my mom and deal with Number Crunch. Something will be worked out. But tell us if Number Crunch says or does anything to any of you, even if it is the middle of the afternoon and you need to wake us up. We need to know right away," Remedy said.

"Is she really that bad? I thought she was just a bookkeeper or secretary or something," Jean asked.

"She's bad news. I don't know the details on her past and don't want to. She was dangerous as a human, and she's probably more dangerous as a pony. Just keep away from her," Remedy said.

"So she's like a super villain!" Miguel shouted.

"Hush, your sister is sleeping," Jean scolded. "And there are no super heroes and super villains. Just do as they say and keep away from her."

Most of the crest of the ride back was done in silence. When Wild woke up she picked up on the mood and apparently decided, wisely, to not ask what was going on just then. 

When the camper finally pulled back into the church grounds the two night ponies were at the door of it waiting only for the full stop, and quickly opened it once it finally came to one. They were shocked to see Tonya sitting right outside the door waiting for them and looking uncharacteristically grim.

"Sunset's waiting for you in the pastor's office. Don't worry about bumping into Number Crunch today, she had a rough night and will probably be in bed for a few days," Tonya said with no greeting.

"Rough night?" Remedy asked with a raised brow.

"Yep, rough night. She seems to have fallen down the same set of stairs at least three times and run into several walls at full speed, all over the course of a few minutes. At least that's how Sunset said it went. I told her that pony was nuts but she didn't take me serious enough. As I said she is going to be resting a few days before getting back to work, and thinking about how she should be more careful with stairs and walls," Tonya said in a neutral tone.

The two night ponies looked at one another. It seemed Blessing had heard about what went on last night already. There was only one way she could have heard already, if Number Crunch had told her. Was Number Crunch so loyal to Blessing that she would tell her information that she knew would enrage Remedy's mother to the point of physical violence?

"I'll be sitting in with you for the talk. Sunset is still feeling a bit out about Number Crunch and canceled all her appointments for today," Tonya said as she turned and gestured with her head for them to follow.

The two night ponies didn't have a reply for this, all they could do was nod and follow the orange pegasus with the bright purple mane and gendered cutie mark.

When they came to the pastor's office Tonya simply called out that they were there and the door quickly glowed in a red aura and opened. They all quickly filed on and the door slammed shut behind them.

Sunset Blessing sat at her normal spot behind the desk. She stared at them with a steely gaze as they they filed in before her. Tonya quickly moved to place herself to Blessing's side and ran a wing soothingly over against her lover. Papers were thrown chaotically around the room and a shelf of books was toppled. The place looked ransacked. 

"Are you okay?" Blessing asked in a controlled time.

"Yeah, I was a scared last night, but I'm alright," Remedy answered as she met her mom's gaze.

"Good, if you weren't Number Crunch might be spending a lot more time in bed and I need her back to work soon. She won't be troubling or threatening you ever again. Nopony threatens my foal. Nopony!" Blessing snarled.

"Don't scare them, Sunset. You aren't angry at them," Tonya said soothingly. 

Blessing looked down at her marefriend and her expression softened as she nodded. Then she turned back to the two night ponies.

"I'm assuming you heard about what happened?" Blessing asked Rosetta.

"I heard what happened and had to be practically restrained by Remedy to not go hunting an accountant. I want to know why. Why do you employ that creature of a pony?" Rosetta said in a measured tone.

"Number Crunch is indeed very good with the things that she claims to be. I need a pony like her to put on a legitimate show," Blessing said.

"Show?" Remedy asked.

"Yes show," Blessing nodded. "Number Crunch is part of a big show, though she doesn't know it. She makes me look like a more legitimate ally and friend to the other Shimmerists by having a pony like her seemingly doing dirty work for me. Makes it look like I'm playing the government and slipping the Shimmerists information that the government doesn't want them to know and little bits of funding here and there." 

"And why is that important?" Remedy asked. How many layers of duplicity was her mom pulling.

"It's a matter of gaining trust. If I'm trusted then they slip me information back, and I pass that back on to the government if there is anything to legitimately be concerned about, which doesn't necessarily mean transformations. I'd been trying to exert control over them, but it has become clear that's a lost cause. I won't be the one to unite the Shimmerists, I can only try to manipulate them a bit from within," Blessing said with a sad shake of her head.

"What about all that stuff Number Crunch told me? About developing transformation spells, and what happens if some of them get it first, and the rest," Remedy asked.

"All very true concerns...as far as they go anyway. You know that's a bunch of malarkey and so do I. A lot of them don't, and lot of humans don't, so it's something to take advantage of for the moment. Any path to transformations in any reasonable time falls to getting the Equestrians to do it for us. That's going to take a lot of maneuvering of them and the government here, as well as moderating the other Shimmerists, to have any hope of happening. I'm laying some groundwork, but ultimately it's going to take somepony more charismatic than me to pull all these threads together. I have some ideas on candidates for that pony, one in particular seems very promising, but it's still too early to know for sure. I'm sure the Lord will provide the perfect pony," Blessing said.

"So what is there to legitimately be afraid of?" Remedy asked.

"Legitimately? Well, there will always be fanatics like Number Crunch that need to be kept in line. There will be humans that are exceedingly hostile to ponies in general," Blessing shrugged. "I hope that whoever assumes leadership eventually will deal with those fanatics well, and the government will attend to the anti-pony elements once they realize how much benefit we are giving them. All that research we are doing is going to straight to them after all, and can only encourage their desire to protect ponies and eventually perhaps start seeing the value of a pony world. They are giving free reign to do it right now out of fear, but that will change in time. Paranoia gets our hooves in the door everywhere."

"Okay, but back to what I mainly want to know; are you just letting Number Crunch go back to work?" Rosetta demanded.

"Yes, she's valuable. And she won't be pulling that crap again. If she does I'm going to test how long I can maintain a flame spell-inside her skull," Blessing said with a flick of her tail.

"I don't want her near Remedy or any of my family ever again," Rosetta said.

"I'll see the only family she is around is me. She'll eventually be moved on to projects elsewhere. I'm not going to unite the Shimmerists behind me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit on my haunches. She'll be traveling the Bible Belt doing the Lord's work soon enough," Blessing said with a smile. 

"Can you trust her not to betray you after beating the crap out of her?" Remedy asked.

"Number Crunch put up no fight against Sunset when it was going on. She knew it was coming. She considered it her penance. She's determined to move past the human she was. She'll stay loyal," Tonya said.

"If there's nothing else you want from me you're free to go. I need to start putting this room back in order. Tomorrow we start making final arrangements for the exodus and getting all the ponies, and humans that are coming too, mobilized to move in one week. It's a massive undertaking to move so many, and will require my full attention," Blessing said.

The night pony couple looked at one another. There was nothing left for now. They left Sunset Blessing to her work.
> You Decide Mini-Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Days passed, and it was two days till the move to Riverview. Remedy, Rosetta, and the rest of the family were back in route to Riverview with intent on getting their own places picked out before the place was flooded with ponies and humans. Shelters were being set up and a tent city for the the migrants on the outskirts of Riverview. The ponies weren't as picky about having roofs over their heads right away, but the humans would have to housed. Technically there was enough housing in Riverview, but it wasn't up to code yet, so the shelters were going to be needed for a few weeks. The family was prepared to go into the shelters as well if need be, but there was still a chance that they might find somewhere habitable that they liked still.

"We could just buy something temporary. I don't mind spending money twice, and can just resell them as better become places available. I just got paid and the housing prices aren't that high right now," Wild Growth said as they sat in the back of the camper in route to Riverview. 

"We might have to do that. I don't want to have your grandmother staying in a shelter," Jean said with a sigh. 

"Abuelita's still doing okay back at the apartment?" Rosetta asked.

"Your papa went and checked on her the other day while you were sleeping. He did some grocery shopping for her and got her out of the house for a little while. She's been packing things for us and most of the house is ready to go. We'll all head over there to finish up and get her tomorrow, your papa has already rented a truck for moving," Jean explained.

"How're you planning on getting a truck, a camper, and the car down there? You have only two drivers. We ponies might have our licenses, but those are kind of pointless now as we can't reach the pedals," Wild asked, lifting her forehooves in front of her in demonstration.

"Driving is the bane of all ponies," Remedy agreed. 

"They need to make you little cars so your feet reach," Miguel said helpfully.

"Hooves, not feet, and it would take more than little cars. The entire vehicle would have to be redesigned from the ground up if you expect us to drive it," Remedy said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure the automakers are already trying to figure that out," Jean said with a roll of her eyes. "In any case we're just going to hitch the car to the back of the camper and haul it. Your papa will drive the camper and I'll drive the truck."

"Alright, we just need somewhere to unload the stuff into then," Remedy said, and happily smiled as she realized the your papa talk included her as well. It was nice to be considered family.

She glanced out the window just in time to see the Riverview sign. The sign had removed all the numbers from the population listing and had a new poster put up over it with a question mark. Another poster was tacked on under that saying welcome home ponies. This made her grin wider as she pointed out the sign to Rosetta.

"We'll see about our own place later, but Remedy and I want to head to the town hall as soon as we stop. We have a marriage license to get," Rosetta said with her own smile.

"Is there going to be any trouble with that? Since your ponies?" Jean asked.

"Shouldn't be. We have all our documents and we have the money for the fees. I'm pretty sure we can even update our names at the same time. Getting married bypasses a lot of the hurdles in changing legal names," Rosetta explained.

"So what's your last name going to be?" Jean asked.

"I guess it's going to be Stone-Remedy or Remedy-Stone if we're going to a shared last name. We could flip a coin for it," Rosetta said with a shrug. Then looked at Remedy. "We might need to just call you Phobia around everypony to not cause confusion, but that's up to you."

"Why not? It seems that most ponies want to call me Phobia anyway," the grey furred night pony said with a shrug.
> Chapter 65: New House
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, it could use a little TLC, but it has potential," Phobia said as she looked at the house. Rosetta and Wild nodded in agreement with the sentiment.

The house in question was a two story building with extremely faded and chipped paint that was once white. The yard was overgrown with grass that stood taller than all of the ponies. It once had a low fence around the yard, but that had long since fallen, with only a few old posts to testify of it's existence. There was a wooden shed in the back that was so termite infested it would be better to just call it a termite mound than a shed.

That was not to say the building didn't have it's desirable traits. For starters the house itself seemed structurally sound, with all its glass windows clearly intact, and no sign of the termite infestation that plagued it's secondary building. There was an attic of sorts, that to a human would have been a mere crawl space, but could work as effectively a third floor to those of their stature. There was one small balcony on the second floor that would make a great secondary entrance and exit for flying ponies. The location also seemed to be somewhere that would be low noise during the day.

"We'll need to see the inside. It looks sound on the outside, but who knows what the inside looks like," Remedy commented to the current owner standing near them, an older dark skinned man who looked to be in at least his seventies if not older who spoke with a strange accent that no one else in town seemed to have.

"We a'can, ma'am. I's assure ya though it's solid. I's grew up here in this here house. I's come a check on it every once and a while, though I'b b'gettin too old to be doing all the upkeep on the yard. Built by my great grandpapi, back when this here was sharecroppin land. I's promise, my great grandpapi built this place well," the older gentleman said with his odd heavy accept.

Phobia raised a brow at the fact that this man who could easily be a great grandfather himself saying this was built by his great grandfather.

"How old is this house?" Phobia asked.

"It were built about ten some odd years after the war between north n south. My great grandpapi been a slave, but had a trade as a carpenter. And he'd done good for himself after becomin a freeman. He knew how to build dis house right. He went and added on to it a few times before he gots too old to work with his hands no more. He'd gone and died before I's was born, but my ma told me all about him," the man, who happened to have the last name Freeman, said with pride for his ancestor.

"How's the wiring in the house? I assume that got added latter on," Rosetta asked.

"Oh, it good miss. Got added back in the fifties. By time my ma passed away in da late nineties it had lines for satellite and such added, though ain't no more dish anymore," Freeman explained.

"How long has it been empty?" Wild asked.

"Bout twenty odd years hereabouts," Freeman said with a scratch of his head.

"Let's see the inside, the biggest concern right now is if it's safe and dry. We can do work on most other things later on," Phobia said.

"Sure thing ma'ams. I's take ya right in," Freeman said as he pulled out a set of keys and started walking up the sidewalk to the front door. The grass on either side the the sidewalk formed walls, at least from the ponies' lower to the ground perspective.

"I like the walkway, you should keep it like this," Wild said as she looked around.

"I think your cutie mark is going to your head," Rosetta said with a shake of her head.

"What can I say? I admit it wouldn't have been my thing before, but since I got to where I can cause wild growth it just appeals to me," Wild Growth said with a giggle.

"Maybe cutie marks really do impact how we think. They're supposed to represent out identity, maybe they reinforce certain types of thoughts as a result," Phobia mused.

"And if that's so I have no problem with it," Wild asserted. Freeman gave the ponies an odd look in response to this conversation. 

Phobia wondered if the older gentleman had heard the rumblings on the news about ponies being all mind controlled. Talking about how the marks on their flanks might impact their thinking was probably not something that would sit well with most humans. Ironically ponies saw their marks as greater displays of individuality from one another, rather than a sign of a mind controlled mass. Most humans wouldn't interpret them that way though.

The old man opened up the front door and signaled them to go ahead inside. The three ponies crossed the threshold and came right into a larger empty room. The ceiling would be considered low by human standards, at maybe about nine feet. That was no issue for a pony of course. There was a short hallway at the back of the room that looked like it went straight on to a kitchen and had two doors and a staircase. The hallway was flanked by a brick fireplace. The front room took up the full front of the house's first floor and had three windows on each of the walls facing the sides of the house, and two windows facing the front. 

"Definitely will need to invest on curtains for this room," Rosetta said as she looked around. 

"Feels like a sun-room. I need to make sure my house has a room like this," Wild said.

"It'll be fine at night for us, but we prefer a bit more dark. We're nocturnal after all," Phobia said as she walked around the perimeter of the room. Listening for squeaks in the floor, locating outlets, and things like that. "Floor seems sturdy, can't find any signs of wood rot. More than enough space to host some friends. Paint in here seems fresher than outside."

"It is miss. I'd ain't able to keep up with the outside too much no more, but I'd still come by and attend to the inside. Won't find no rot any dern place here," Freeman said.

"Mind if we walk around the house freely?" Rosetta asked. As she started walking towards the hallway.

"Feel free, feel free. Get'cha a good look a'roun. The two doors there be a washroom and a closet. Be'yon that be the kitchen and dining room. Ain't no 'pliances in there, you'd be getting those yourselves, but rooms in good shape. Upstairs be three bedrooms and a bathroom," Freeman explained as the three ponies wandered around.

The three ponies continued to walk around. Phobia found the kitchen and dining room in good repair, with all the cabinets intact and painted white. What looked like another closet in the kitchen opened to a small cupboard, also in good repair, though some spiders had taken up residence. She noted a spot in the wood that seemed just slightly sunk in that she assumed a refrigerator once sat. The kitchen also had the backdoor to the house and a window that looked into the very overgrown backyard. It looked like the backyard would need to be trimmed down just to open the backdoor from where she observed.

She wandered upstairs where Rosetta was already at and Freeman and Wild followed close behind. The upstairs consisted of a long hallway with five doors. A panel in the ceiling marked an entrance into the crawlspace above. One of the doors was open already and she wandered there finding Rosetta within.

It was a smaller bedroom, but unlike most the rest of the house had some faded wallpaper on the walls. The wallpaper looked grey but she could tell it once was a baby blue, and pictures of anthropomorphic rabbits playing were spread along it like a banner. There was nut one single small window. Rosetta was gazing up at the rabbits with a small smile on her face.

"Like this room?" Phobia asked as she came up to Rosetta and nuzzled her. 

"It feels like a nursery. I'm picturing it with a crib and our foal here. I already looked at the other rooms up here, they are all serviceable, though the bathroom might need a new shower-head," Rosetta said as she looked around the room.

"So are you satisfied with this house? It seems perfectly fine for the two of us and a foal. Needs some furniture and a few things to make it home, but it's in good shape downstairs too," Phobia asked.

"It will be more than enough. I can picture us here. We need to check the breaker box and make sure we have no problems with the power, but if all checks out I say we tell Wild to pay the man whatever he's asking for it," Rosetta said with another happy look around the prospective nursery.

"I's glad ya like it," the heard Freeman say as he entered into the room. "I's assure ya the power box's good. I's asking sixty thou."

"Sixty?!" Rosetta said in shock.

"If the price be to high..." Freeman started.

"No! You're undercutting yourself too much is the problem. This place is worth at least twice that," Rosetta said, stomping her hoof, surprising all of them.

"Sis, you do realize that's my money you're spending," Wild said with annoyance. 

"I's grateful ya think so ma'am, but I'don need that much," Freeman said with wide eyes.

Rosetta looked at the man with disbelief, everypony else stared at her in disbelief.

"How many houses in this town are this old?" Rosetta asked Freeman.

"Um, guessin maybe the Hobskin's house is older, but not by much," Freeman answered with a scratch of his head.

"Exactly, this place is a historical landmark. If this was in Charleston it would be selling for a large sum of money.  I don't feel comfortable going below a hundred grand," Rosetta asserted.

"Okay, now I get the thing about cutie marks impacting our thinking; Rosetta and her history," Wild groaned as she shook her head. She then turned to Freeman. "My sister seems to think I'm just made of money since I'm green. Will you accept ninety thousand and we consider the extra thirty thousand you didn't ask for something to get us at town hall today turning over the deed rather than wait?"

"Ya ponies deal kind'a crazy like," Freeman said in disbelief.

"Yep, apparently so. Ninety thousand?" Wild offered again.

"I's ain't crazy. Ya gotta deal," Freeman said with a big smile.

"This counts as your wedding gift by the way. What last name did you two finally decide on anyway?" Wild asked.

"Taking each other's second part of their name onto the other," Phobia explained. "I'll be Phobia Remedy-Stone and she'll be Rosetta Stone-Remedy."

"So a stone that's a remedy and a remedy for stones then? Stones are the remedy for stones?" Wild asked with a giggle. 

"It's not that funny," Rosetta said with a roll of her eyes.

"Let your wonderful little sister who is spending her full first regular week's paycheck on you have a laugh," Wild said with a smile.

"You get paid ninety thousand a week?" Phobia asked.

"Well, think it was like sixty something thousand after the taxes, and like one hundred forty something thousand before, something like that anyway. Didn't pay attention to the exact figure. Still have most my bonus anyway," Wild said with a shrug.

"Well, we do appreciate it," Phobia said.

"You know your going to regret this place though, right?" Wild said with a sly grin.

Phobia and Rosetta looked at one another in confusion.

"Why?" They said in unison.

"Well, you are moving into a century and a half old house with lots of history, and if you have a night pony foal that foal will be invading your dreams. You two are going to be having haunted nursery nightmares. Have fun with that," Wild laughed.
> Chapter 66: North Charleston Coliseum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phobia reflected as she looked about that having fifteen thousand ponies within a mile of one another was probably one of the most impressive things she would ever see.

It was the early evening before the migration and every pony and human that was going had been gathered together in and near the North Charleston Coliseum. The building itself technically only had capacity for about thirteen thousand and the nearby outlet mall was being used for overflow. In addition to this hundreds of buses, massive semi truck sized flatbed trailers used normally for hauling lumber, and a few hundred cars were parked in the nearby parking lots. All standing by to transport a fair sized town's worth of ponies to their new home.

Not all the ponies in the area were moving. Phobia had heard all and all there would be about three to four thousand still on the immediate area that intended to try to continue their old lives as best they could. A higher amount than she had expected. A few of those still wished a return to humanity, but the majority of those remaining simply didn't see where becoming a pony should require themselves to uproot themselves from their homes and jobs. The majority of those remaining were unicorns or pegasi. A surprising amount of crystal ponies, in terms of percentage of crystal ponies, were determined to stay as well; more than half the crystal pony population, though the entire population of crystal ponies in the area only amounted to about ninety ponies, the only type of pony night ponies outnumbered.

The night ponies were almost all here as well. Three large buses and an ambulance were here to carry them on to Riverview. Only six of the night ponies had chosen to remain behind, and one of those was a Broken One that simply could not be moved at this point. Much to the distaste of Phobia and Rosetta John-or Swift Strike as he was now known-wasn't among those few staying behind. They had spotted him early on, and he had spotted them as well. Glares were exchanged, but nothing more so far.

Set up just inside the entrance of the coliseum was a station that had a crew working to assign transportation for which buses or other transportation to be boarding in the morning, as well as giving information about where they would be staying for the time being when they arrived at Riverview or one of the other participating towns. Sunset Blessing, Number Crunch, Tonya, Tattered Wing, Pale Oak, over three dozen other ponies, and sixty government workers were working frantically to process each and every one of the fifteen thousand here. They had been at it since morning, and would be at it for hours yet. Phobia didn't envy them at all.

Every pony and human that had already been processed was now wearing a red band on either their foreleg if a pony or arm if a human. Teams of pegasi, and a few night ponies who had been drafted by Tattered Wing, moved through the area searching for any that were not yet wearing an identifying band to get them moving to the coliseum to be processed. Amber and Joy were the ones coordinating the searchers, and aside from the few night ponies Tattered had ordered to help had chosen every pony searching.

Phobia and Rosetta were not part of those searching or trying to process ponies. They hadn't escaped work though. They were out by the various means of transportation, standing on the front of a bus with a banner declaring this was where to go to get directions for where to find the appropriate bus or whatever else a pony had been assigned. A few ponies were boarding early rather than try to deal with the chaos that would come in the morning. Most simply wanted to be sure to know where to go in the morning.

"Nine-T? Okay, the T's are over in the outlet mall parking lot. Letters are in order in rows over there with the M's being closest to the mall buildings and each letter further out in order. Since you are a T you'll actually be on the other side of the street from the mall. Once you find your row they're in number order going down the row. I'm pretty sure they're all buses on that row," Rosetta explained to an earth pony couple who had three foals with them.

"Are you sure you heard that right? There is no sixty-A. The numbers don't go that high in any of the rows. I think they might have said sixteen. Please go back and check that again. You want to be sure that you're going to the right place," Phobia explained to an older pegasus stallion.

"I know what I heard, I'm not deaf," the stallion insisted.

"I'd don't mean to imply you are, but there is a lot of noise going on in there, and anypony could have misheard anything. Or maybe whoever told you misspoke," Phobia said as patiently as she could.

"Well, I was told sixty-A and I want to know where sixty-A is," the stallion insisted.

Lord save me from this pony. Phobia thought to herself as she resisted facehoofing.

"Sir, I already told you, there is no sixty-A. You need to go back and double check with whoever gave you that assignment and let them know that they gave you the wrong location," Phobia said slowly and deliberately. 

"So where am I suppose to go?" the stallion demanded.

"I don't know, sir. That's why you need to go back and check with the pony that told you the wrong information," Phobia said through partially gritted teeth.

"Why don't you tell me where I'm suppose to go? I don't want to have to go back there and wait in line again," the stallion said with a huff. 

Phobia lowered her ears and stared down at the stallion. 

"Go to sixteen-A. That's the row closest to the coliseum. It'll be the sixteenth bus down the line," Phobia said in a flat tone.

"Is that where I'm supposed to go?" the stallion asked.

"Sir, I can't confirm that, but if you're unwilling to go check with the ones that do know then that is my best possible guess given the information you gave me," Phobia said in an overly sweet tone.

"But what if that's not right?" the stallion whined.

"Then you are up shit creek without a paddle. I really recommend biting the bullet and standing in line again. If you go to Tattered Wing-that's the night pony working-and tell her that Phobia said you needed clarification on what you were told you can bypass the line," Phobia said in a tired voice.

"Why didn't you just tell me that to begin with?" the stallion demanded with a stomp of a hoof.

"Because if ponies see one pony cutting in line a lot of ponies might start trying the same thing, and the ones processing everypony have enough to deal with right now. You're going to be special, and you had better make it loud and clear you were ordered to go to her directly," Phobia instructed.

The stallion finally flew off and Phobia shook her head in exasperation. She hoped she didn't get chewed out for ordering the pony straight to Tattered. She figured Tattered was the scariest looking and less ponies would try cutting to her.

"Um, excuse me, where is twelve-R?" Came another voice right away from below her.

Phobia looked down at the source. There was a human woman who had to be in her twenties. She had a very young night pony colt following close to her and a very unhappy looking early pony filly that had to be under a year old bundled up in a baby blanket in the woman's arms, and she had a large overstuffed backpack on her back. The woman had obviously been crying very recently. 

"Rosetta, I hate to do this, but do you think you can deal with these ponies by yourself for a few minutes? This one looks like it needs personal attention," Phobia asked her fiancee.

Rosetta turned from the pony she had been dealing with and gave her an annoyed look. The midnight blue mare then glanced down at the woman with the foals and her expression instantly softened as she took in the nature of the problem. She then nodded back to Phobia it would be alright.

"Ma'am, I'm going to walk you over there. Please walk with me," Phobia said without giving the option of rejecting aid. She was afraid if she did she would be told it wasn't needed. 

"Thank you," the woman said with a sniffle.

"She's just like me, Momma," the young colt declared happily.

"I see that, sweetie, but don't be a bother to the nice pony," the mother said in a tired voice.

"He's no bother to me. Though I can imagine he might be a hoof...handful for you. He's the first night pony foal I've seen so far," Phobia said as they began walking.

"He's...he's a good boy. I'm just not sure how to cope with his sleep schedule just yet," the woman said with a shake of her head. The filly in the bundle started crying and the mother tried to urgently calm her. "Hush, it's okay, please calm down. Please calm down."

"How old is she?" Phobia asked the woman with a gesture at the foal.

"Just under a month old. She's had a rough time. She was born premature and we didn't think she was going to make it. She was so tiny. They had her in isolation and we thought we were going to lose her. Then she somehow got the flu and we lost hope. But then it turned out she had ETS and everything just went so crazy after that," the woman said with a joyless forced laugh.

"She seems to be healthy now," Phobia observed. "Is she walking? An Equestrian doctor told me foals start to walk at about a week old."

"I didn't know that," the woman said with a sob. "Yeah she's been trying to, but I keep stopping her. I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. I guess she deserved to lash out like she did."

"Lashed out?" Phobia asked.

"She kicked my husb...her father, and hurt him. She's just so frighteningly strong. For two weeks straight she was breaking things left and right. She seems to have calmed down the last few days, at least she isn't breaking anything anymore, though she's clearly still very unhappy," the woman said, sniffling again.

"I was told about that too. It's called a surge. All newborn foals apparently get them. For about two weeks their magic goes all crazy, and they do things they wouldn't even be able to do as adults. It sounds like that's what you dealt with, and if she hasn't done it the last few days then I guess it's over," Phobia explained.

"Oh thank God," the woman said with a deep breath. "That's one less thing to worry about with them."

"How did they both get infected but you didn't?" Phobia asked.

"Robby was staying with some friends while we were staying at the hospital dealing with Jessica here," the woman said, indicating each of the foals in turn. "I still don't know how Jessica got it, but the friends Robby was staying with all got it while we were at the hospital. We were kept in isolation after everything started happening. They wouldn't let me in to my baby and they took Robby to a shelter and wouldn't let us go there with him."

"Is your husband here?" Phobia asked, afraid of the answer that was coming based on the woman's earlier correction.

"No, no he's not. He dropped us off here and left. He said he couldn't deal...," she paused and looked at her son. She looked ready to break down crying again. "I can't talk about this right now."

Phobia nodded in understanding. The woman gave a look of gratitude for not pushing the subject before continuing. 

"Now I'm taking them somewhere we can get a fresh start. I don't know how I'm going to do this," the woman said as she started tearing up again. "Robby is awake all night long and I can't get him to sleep at night. Jessica is awake all day long. Both of them need my attention, Robby's only five. I don't know when I'm supposed to sleep, or what I'm supposed to do for them, or how I'll support them, or anything. They're my babies and I don't know what to do."

The woman paused and just started sobbing into her hands. Ponies all around paused and stared with sympathy. Her little colt, Robby looked particularly distressed.

"Momma, what's wrong," the little colt said as he came up against her leg.

"Your momma just needs a moment, kid. You've all had a rough month. Give her a minute, okay," Phobia told the colt.

"Okay," the colt said uncertainly.

The woman bent down and grabbed her son into a hug with her daughter still in her other arm. She sat there hugging him for a moment before the filly started crying. The woman then sniffled as she released her son and stood up to try to sooth her daughter with light rocking.

"It's okay, baby girl, it's okay. Momma's alright. Momma loves you," the woman said lovingly. She looked over to her son and gave him a little smile. "I love you too. Even if you keep me up all night."

"I can try harder to sleep at night if it will make you feel better, I can stay in bed," the colt said with concern.

"I have a feeling that isn't going to be possible. We'll figure something else out," the woman said with a sad shake of her head. She looked at Phobia next. "I'm okay, you can finish showing us where the bus is at. I don't want to hold you up."

"It's no trouble ma'am. I'm here because you looked like you could use somepony taking some extra time and care for you," Phobia said with a comforting smile, as they resumed walking.

"You didn't need to do that. I'm not the only confused human around here," the woman said.

"You're the only confused human dealing with two foals that are on completely different biological sleep patterns wandering the area with just yourself and them. You need somepony to care and help right now. I have a foal on the way, and my spouse and I are scared stiff that it'll be a pony type that needs to be awake during the day while we need to be awake in the night. I can only imagine the difficulties that you're having now, not even taking into account everything else going on in your life. It's not wrong to say you need help," Phobia said as she looked the woman in the eyes.

"What kind of help can you give?" The woman asked 

"Well, being kind right now for starters, but after today? If you need a foalsitter for Robby for a few hours overnight from time to time my wife and I have a house and can keep an eye on him. We're night ponies like him so we'll be up. You need time to sleep, you're no good to your foals exhausted. I've made friends with one of the local restaurants in town that intends on hiring some more staff if you need a job. There's lots of things that I or others can do to help. You just have to ask," Phobia insisted.

"Thank you...," the woman said.

"I'm Phobia Remedy-Stone," Phobia introduced herself. She technically wasn't Remedy-Stone yet, but close enough. 

"Devon Middleton," the woman, Devon, answered.

"Well, Devon we're here," Phobia said as they came up to the bus. She noticed the bus had a few ponies in it already and motioned for Devon to follow her on.

After they both got on the bus a cry went out.

"Watch out! Flying foal on the loose!" Some pony yelled.

Phobia was lower to the ground, but Devon had to duck as a very fast and energetic pegasus filly that was no older than the one she was carrying zipped by her head, and collided hard with the front of the bus.

"I'm so sorry, she just got completely away from me. She's been doing this constantly the last two weeks," a frantic earth pony mare said as she tried to climb over the seats to reach her, for the moment, stunned filly. 

"See you already have a pony in here you have something in common with. Newborn filly doing magical surges. I'm sure she is feeling just as overwhelmed as you right now," Phobia said to Devon.

"Oh you have no idea. How am I supposed to deal with a foal that takes off like a rocket through the air without warning?! I don't have wings, I can't go chasing off after her if she's in the air," the earth pony mare said as she reached her filly and gathered her up in her forelegs. "At least she seems to be durable. I about freaked out the first five times she collided with something at full speed. Now that she has done this at least thirty times I'm more concerned she'll do it outside and fly somewhere I can't find or reach."

"It's called a magical surge, it should go away in a few days and it should be years before she can fly again after that. You just have to endure it for a little while longer," Phobia told the mare. Then gestured to Devon. "This is Devon. She'll be on this bus with you with her two foals. She just finished dealing with surges from her earth pony foal. I'm sure she can empathize with you."

"Well, it will be nice to have somepony...," the earth pony looked again at Devon as she corrected herself, "someone to talk to who's been dealing with a foal that as a human shouldn't be crawling yet, but somehow becomes the daredevil from hell now that she's a pony."

The mare set her foal down and gave her a nudge. 

"Can you walk it off? Come on I know you can, get up," she said as she continued to nudge.

The little filly gave herself a shake and ruffled her feathers. She looked up at her mother with a slightly dazed expression and then stood up and came and nuzzled against her.

"Two weeks old and can walk just fine already. She keeps close to me most of the time like a fly on honey, except when she decides to take to the air and scares me half to death. I should be dead ten times over from heart attacks in the last two weeks," the mare said with a shake of her head.

"I'm Devon, and these are my...foals, Robby and Jessica," Devon said as she seemed to gather some confidence.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Amanda and this little missile is Jacquelyn. Come sit by us and we can talk about dealing with foals," Amanda said. Then tilted her head. "Is Jessica not able to walk yet? I know I only have Jackie here for experience, but figured it was just a foal thing that they could walk early in."

"Um, I don't know. She tried but I stopped her. I didn't realize that it was even possible yet and I've been so scared for her," Devon said uncertainly. 

"Well, let her try. If she's like Jackie here she'll keep right by you," Amanda encouraged.

Devon looked down at her foal and then carefully bent down and set the blanket and foal down in the ground. She then carefully untangled the foal from the blanket and gave Jessica a smile.

"I know you're grumpy, but do you want to try? Maybe you're grumpy because I've been holding you back. Come on, try," Devin encouraged.

The little filly looked up at her mother and then looked around with seeming confusion at her sudden freedom from her mother's arms. The filly then carefully set her hooves underneath herself, and very carefully and shakily pushed herself to her hooves. Once standing she blinked as if unsure what to do next, then looked back at her mother again for some guidance.

Phobia watched silently as Devon seemed to struggle with what to do to encourage her filly. 

"Come on, come to Momma," Devon said.

The filly blinked again and then looked down at her hooves. She then lifted one up and put it back down with a slight shakiness to her balance. She repeated this a few times with each of her legs until it seemed she had her balance under control. She then turned and once again looked at her mother for guidance.

"You're doing great," Devon said with a happy gasp as she briefly covered her mouth with her hands. "Come on, you can walk. I believe in you."

The filly blinked as she tried to process far more language than she likely was capable of. She did pick up on her mother's encouragement and let off her own excited giggle. She then looked down at her hooves again as if trying to figure out what to do with them.

Phobia took a few steps backwards to give them some more space. The filly's ears swiveled towards Phobia as the filly heard the hoovesteps, and she watched Phobia backing away. Her eyes were briefly glued to Phobia's legs as if figuring out a puzzle. After a second she seemed to realize what she was supposed to be doing with her appendages.

The filly looked at her mother again and her face took on as much determination as a two week old's face was capable of taking on. She looked down on her legs again and took a tentative step. It was a bit shaky, but it was a successful step. Pleased with herself she took another. When the second ended with no disaster she turned back towards her mother and took a series of rapid shaky steps that ended with her colliding into her mother's legs.

Devon held her breath, apparently waiting for an outburst to start as a result of the fact her filly had fallen down.

No such outburst came. The filly gave herself a shake, and then carefully brought herself to her hooves again, much quicker and more sure of herself this time. Then stared up at her mother again as if looking for direction.

"Go ahead and walk forward, she'll follow you. She knows who her mommy is," Amanda assured Devon.

Devon stood up with a look of doubt and then carefully stepped over her filly and then took a few steps down the aisle of the bus before turning back and looking at the little earth pony filly.

The filly stared for a moment before carefully, one step at a time, began to follow after her mother.

Phobia smiled. She knew that family would make it through. They just had to do like that filly, take things one step at a time.
> Chapter 67: You Compel/I Compel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most of the organizers went into Riverview ahead of the rest of the migrants. The plan was for the same ponies and humans to be there waiting when the rest arrived. They would help get the migrants to their appropriate places once they got off the buses before they overwhelmed the town with their shear number.

Phobia and Rosetta, along with most the other night ponies were drafted into making sure everything was absolutely perfect for the morning. Checking tents for the ponies and making sure each and every tent was correctly labeled. Going into the shelters for the humans that had been prepared, in this case in what had been an old elementary school and flanking YMCA building. The humans were afforded a proper roof over their head as they were more vulnerable to the elements than the ponies.

Signs had been posted at each shelter for the aptly named First Pony Bank. One of the vacant shops near the still occupied shops had been taken over by Number Crunch and was going to be offering what it promised would be extremely low interest loans for buying houses, construction, and starting businesses. Phobia's mother had let it slip to them that humans would be given priority for the moment with the loans as they wanted the over nine hundred humans, counting the original residents, to feel they were flourishing as quickly as possible. This policy entire that would not be admitted to of course. 

Phobia had asked how the government was going to be kept in the dark about how much money the ponies had if they were opening a bank. She was told that most of the bank's funding was actually from the government itself. The bank was largely a front for federal loans for the moment, with that detail hidden several pages into the loan contracts. It would eventually become a proper bank in its own right after a few years. None of the money they had hidden away would ever touch this bank though, it would be far too easy to trace if it did. There were plans in place, just like there were always plans in place.

The current human residents had put up banners and flags all along the main street of town to welcome the newcomers. They all planned to be out ready and waiting as the ponies rolled into town. It wouldn't be a parade, but it would have the atmosphere of one. The townspeople that had stayed up working late had expressed to Phobia how excited they were at the prospect of vacant shops and homes being filled, schools reopened, and the first new construction in decades soon being underway. They didn't care that most of this would be occupied by ponies, it was a return of life to a town that had been on its last leg.

After a long night of double checking details and making last minute fixes the sun could be seen starting to rise of the horizon. Right at this moment ponies back in the Charleston area would be rousing from their sleep, and if not yet boarded on their transportation they would be soon enough. By the time the clocks hit ten thirty the street in Riverview would fill with spectators. By eleven the first bus would cross into Riverview. By mid afternoon this town would be engulfed by ponies.

And tomorrow the engaged night pony couple would formally get married after a mere three weeks together. A major thing to do after just three weeks, but it seemed small in comparison to the amount of changes everything had undergone in the last month. A quarter of the country's population wasn't even the same species anymore. Fifteen thousand in just this region were starting fresh lives in a new place, and it could be expected that the vast majority of those had no intention of doing any such thing a month ago. The world was changed, and it would take a while before the new normal was established.

The rest of the family had temporarily moved into a house two doors down from the night pony couple until new houses could be built. The majority of them had spent the previous day unloading the moving van while the two night ponies helped out with the migrants and Roger shopped for food that didn't require refrigeration. 

Phobia and Rosetta spent the early part of the daylight hours looking through the things that the family had dropped off at the couple's new house. This including a small work desk, an older computer that was still serviceable for internet browsing, plenty of old quilts that made for a more pleasant bed than dry hardwood floors, an old shag throw rug that must have been in storage for ages, a pair of old bookcases, and all of Rosetta's old books. It wasn't enough to furnish the house, but they had to start somewhere.

it became pretty obvious quickly that there was one major disadvantage to having more than one story in the house. Getting anything up the stairs that they could not easily grip in a wing or in their mouths was not something they were going to be able to do. They needed help from either humans or a unicorn to help them get anything bigger than a breadbox up the stairs. They eventually settled with just dragging the quilts up the stairs by mouth and making a bed for themselves in the second largest bedroom; bypassing the first because it had two large windows and large windowed balcony doors that all let in too much light during the day.

As the hours ticked by and it neared ten in the morning the two night ponies decided it was time to go get in place along with the townsfolk to watch everypony arrive. They flew into the main part of town and took up a perch on top of one of the various buildings. This seemed to be a popular decision among the night ponies that had come into town to help make sure everything was in order, as they saw several doing the same.

One night pony in particular that they saw made them consider just leaving though. John-Swift Strike was at the building across from them, and he had seen them too.

"Are we going to do this every time we see him? Do a glaring match from a distance and wait to see if he takes off before we do; acting like a bunch of territorial cats?" Phobia asked with exasperation as the staring match began.

"If that's the way it needs to be, then that's the way it will be. He is not coming anywhere near me or our foal," Rosetta said with a growl directed at Swift Strike.

"And what do we do if his animosity towards us spreads to the other Enclave members? He is essentially the one that brought them together, and we're not part of that group. There's a good chance some of them will get hostile to us," Phobia said as she glanced at some of the other night ponies in sight.

"If we have to we get your mother involved. She's going to have incredible leverage around town," Rosetta answered.

"In the day she will, but at night the Enclave is who'll be the ones exerting pressure. She has no authority over them, Tattered does," Phobia reminded her fiancee.

"And Tattered gets along with us. She already said she'd be on alert about him. Tattered isn't going to turn in us. You're the one who got Luna to send those ponies to come heal the Broken Ones," Rosetta replied.

"I think Luna decided that on her own after seeing the situation. It was only by chance shifting through dreams that she even found out," Phobia corrected.

"Regardless, I like our chances that Tattered and the rest of the Broken Ones are in our corner," Rosetta said with a flick of her tail.

They ceased talking as they saw Swift Strike take to the air and fly towards them. They backed up defensively with their wings held out threateningly as he came in for a landing.

"Haley, Mattie," Swift Strike said in neutral greeting as he nodded to each of them.

"It's Rosetta Stone and Phobia Remedy, Swift Strike; soon to be Rosetta Stone-Remedy and Phobia Remedy-Stone. You aren't welcome near us," Rosetta hissed.

Swift Strike's gaze hardened as he focused his glare at Phobia. 

"So that's how it is?" Swift Strike growled. "You turn my mare against me then seduce her for yourself. I heard that she's pregnant with my foal. Are you planning on stealing that from me as well, Matthew?"

"You might have sired this foal, but it'll never be yours, or have anything to do with you, you bastard," Rosetta growled.

"I wasn't talking to you, whore, I was talking to your backstabbing bitch of a lover," Swift Strike snapped.

"What did you call her?!" Both Phobia and Rosetta yelled in unison.

"I called you both what you are," Swift Strike spat. "Answer the question, are you going to try to steal away my foal too, Matthew?"

"Rosetta wants you no where near that foal and neither do I. You're an abusive prick who shouldn't be allowed to be around any foal," Phobia growled.

"I'm going to make you regret turning her against me, stealing away what's mine," Swift Strike said as he stepped forward menacingly.

"Ladies and prick, I'd appreciate it greatly if you would all hush your mouths and calm down," came Tonya's voice in an overly sweet tone from above them.

They all looked up just in time to watch Tonya descend and place herself between them.

"I can appreciate the fact you all have some strong feelings to work through, but we've got humans coming in below you that will hear your little conversation. We don't want to upset the nice humans that invited us to live in their town right before our fellow ponies arrive, now do we?" Tonya said in a seemingly cheerful voice.

"This is none of your concern Tonya," Swift Strike growled.

Tonya put a hoof up to her chin and exaggerated thinking about what she had just been told.

"You're right! It isn't! I guess I need to go talk to Tattered Wing about how one of her Enclave members is disturbing the peace and getting ready to start a brawl on the day we've all been working our flanks off for weeks to make sure goes smoothly, and that the brawl will be between three night ponies which will make night ponies in particular look bad. I'm sure she'd love to hear all about it. She's right over at town hall, it will only take me a moment if you like," Tonya said with a big grin.

"I'm not intimidated by her," Swift Strike said with a half mumble.

"Oh, I'll be sure to tell her that too. But if it came down to your whole flock of Enclave members being told to mess some pony up who do you think they'd listen to, you or her?" Tonya said with a curious tilt of her head.

"Fuck you, Tonya," Swift Strike growled.

"No thank you. I have Sunset Blessing for that. You know her? The big kahuna pony herself? And she happens to take great personal offense to ponies threatening Phobia. She will almost certainly give you an entirely different type of fucking if you continue this," Tonya said with a chuckle. 

Then like a snap Tonya dropped her mock pleasantries as her brow furrowed.

"I mean it prick. Get lost right now or there will be consequences. Worst comes to worst I'll deal with you myself, and you don't want to know how I'll deal with you," Tonya said with a degree of menace. She continued in a commanding tone. "You want to leave now. You want to remain in Tattered's good graces. This isn't the time or place for this."

Swift Strike shook his head as if to clear it. Then gave them all another glare.

"You're right, I don't want to make a scene right here. We can deal with this later in private," he said as he turned to go.

"I'm so glad we could move past this for now," Tonya said with her happy smile returned.
> Chapter 68: What you were meant to Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phobia was glad she had wings and could perch on top of buildings, that saved her from some of the crowds; repeat some. 

The streets of Riverview looked like New Orleans during Madi Gras or Times Square during New Year's Eve. It was a mass of ponies with a few humans mixed in. Even the tops of buildings were not safe havens from the crowds as pegasi swarmed on top of them to catch a break from the crowd below to the only slightly less crowded tops of buildings.

Phobia could only imagine the what the original townsfolk were thinking now about their decision to invite ponies into the town.

Their were lines reaching down the street to get into all the stores that the town had. Actual line monitors had to be put in place and the amount of ponies that were allowed in any at a given time was monitored closely so there would be space to move around. Phobia would not be surprised if every single one of those stores was sold out of merchandise by the end of the day. She was actually mildly shocked that the fishing and tackle shop had a line just like the others. What were ponies going to do with fish?

Another store front that was getting a lot of activity was the First Pony Bank. Loans were being made at an astonishing rate. There was an official from town hall that spent a great deal of time making his way back and forth between the bank and various vacant storefronts removing for sale signs and posting notices about incoming shops. A cheer went up when the Woolworth building had it's for sale sign removed and notice put up. A pegasus let the night ponies know that a grocer was planning on setting up a fruit and vegetable market in the large building.

In a short time the night pony couple decided to take to the air and see what was happening away from the packed business district. They saw that most of the rest of the town was no where near as congested with hoof and foot traffic, but was still very active none the less. 

In the housing area there were lots of humans who were all looking at all the houses posted for sale. A few were actually being given tours by the owners. Many others had notepads or their cell phones out and were taking notes about properties that they were interested in finding more information about. 

Moving out further into the completely non-operational industrial district they found a few ponies and humans doing the same kinds of note taking there as well.

They continued flying on the past this to one of the shelters for the humans. A few were standing around outside and looking on in interest as an older man hammered a sign into the ground. The night ponies flew down to take a brief look at what it said before taking off again. It was declaring that the school was looking to reopen in the fall after years of being closed, and giving a phone number for anyone with teaching experience to call if interested in a job, as well as declaring it would be looking to fill cafeteria and custodial positions.

On to the edge of town was the tent city, this like the shelter had few individuals actually at it currently, as most of them were running around elsewhere in the town. Phobia was shocked to spot Devon among those occupying the tent city. She would have to discuss that with her mom. That must be an oversight on the organizers' part that a human got put into the tents rather than in one of the shelters. There was nothing to do for it at this moment though so they didn't stop their flight.

Flying beyond the tents they came upon the farmland. There was a lot of fallow fields covering far more area than the actual town did. That was a good thing, those fields would be hopefully growing crops soon and very soon or the town wouldn't be able to keep up with the strain on food. There was no major chain grocery store in town and that meant less food coming in from the outside. There were over fifteen thousand mouths to feed between ponies and humans. 

Thankfully there were already teams of earth ponies starting to look over the fields and seemed to be discussing what crops should go where. This had been one of the big sticking points of the ponies coming; the earth ponies were getting those fields. 

A certain amount would be used for the production of hay, which would act as a ration crop. All ponies would get hay from the ration crop on a regular basis at no charge, and the rest of the crops would be produced for sale; with the town grocers and restaurants getting a discount on prices and the rest to be exported. Earth ponies they were assured could grow hay at a remarkable rate, eventually all ponies in town would pay a small hay tax for their ration and the tax would be used to pay the workers and costs of distribution. No pony would ever be left to starve, even if hay might make them wish they were. It was considered encouragement to have them buying other foods and frequenting restaurants. A pony could only go so long eating hay before they would do anything for an opportunity to eat something else.

They considered flying on further to see the sister towns that had received ponies as well, but the hour was getting late for them and they were supposed to meet Roger soon to take care of an important matter before they got married tomorrow. They turned in their flight and went to the house the family had chosen. Roger was waiting for them by the family car as they came down from their flight.

"I was starting to wonder where you two were at. It's past noon and know you must be tired. We can do this tonight if you want instead," Roger said.

"We'll get a little nap in during the drive there and get another nap in when we get there. Thanks for doing this," Phobia said.

"I know I'd be pretty upset if I wasn't at my daughter's wedding. Of course I'm going to help you get your dad to come see it," Roger said with a smile. 

"Still, it's very last minute. He doesn't even know yet that the wedding is tomorrow. He doesn't really have anything else to do right now, but I'm not sure if he'll come or not," Phobia said with worry.

"I haven't met him, but I assure you that he'll probably want to be there," Roger assured her as she opened the door to the back seat. "Get in, get comfortable, and get your nap in. I've got the address and will wake you two up when we get there."

The two night ponies were asleep before the car even got out of the driveway.

"Alright we're here," Roger said as he gave each of the night ponies a shake to rouse them.

"Five more minutes...," Rosetta mumbled beside Phobia.

"You said he'd let you two nap inside. Come on, you just have to get up and walk a few feet. Tell him what's going on, and then you can collapse in bed," Roger said.

The two ponies managed to get themselves to their hooves and out of the car. Phobia stretched her whole body like you might expect a cat to do. Rosetta came up next to her and gave a sleepy nuzzle. They then walked to the front door and gave a knock. It took about half a minute before the handle and the rest of the door lit up in a blue magic aura and opened.

"Who's this?" Phobia's dad said as he looked up at Roger.

"This is Rosetta's dad, Dad. Mind if we come in? I needed to tell and ask you something, and then I Rosetta and I need to crash for a few hours. We had a busy few days and it will be busy again tomorrow," Phobia said before yawning.

"Of course, you know you're always welcome here," her dad said as he opened the door wide for them. He then looked at Roger. "I'm Tom, good to meet you."

"I'm Roger, likewise," Roger said with a smile.

The group filed into the living room and the two night ponies quickly took up spots on the couch, leaving enough room for Roger to sit. Her dad grabbed up the television remote in his magic as he walked into the room and muted the TV.

"Take a seat on the couch, Roger," Phobia's dad said as he went and took his typical sport on his chair.

As Roger sat down Phobia turned to her dad.

"Dad, we're getting married tomorrow. It isn't going to be anything big and formal. Just us and immediate family. We'd really like it if you came," Phobia said.

"Is your mother going to be there?" Her dad asked with a slight hardening of his features.

"Yes, she will be. I know you two don't want anything to do with each other, but do you think you could put it aside for a day just for this?" Phobia pleaded.

Her dad stared at them for a long moment before taking a deep breath and and letting it out.

"If she can manage to be civil for the sake of you for a day I can too," he finally said.

"Thanks, Dad. This means a lot to us," Phobia said with relief.

"So who all is going to be attending this shindig?" Her dad asked.

"On Rosetta's side it will be her parents, grandmother, two younger brothers, and her sister. All of them are human except for her sister who's an earth pony. On my end it will be just you, Mom, and Tonya," Phobia listed off. 

"If this is just family why is that Tonya mare coming?" Her dad asked with a look of confusion.

"Um, I'll tell you, but you're really not going to like it," Phobia said with hesitation.

"Tell me what?" Her dad said with his expression darkening again.

"Mom and Tonya are kind of...a thing...together. It's been going on for weeks," Phobia said, nervous about the reaction that was inevitably coming.

"Tonya...as in Tonya who was your classmate, and was a boy named Thomas," her dad said slowly.

"That would be her," Phobia confirmed, still waiting for an explosion.

"And just to make sure I'm understanding the rest of this correctly. My wife has gone lesbo and they're screwing. As in my wife and that mare," her dad said in a growl.

"I'm lesbian dad, and about to marry another mare. Do you still have an issue with lesbians?" Phobia asked in a tight voice.

Her dad looked at the two night ponies and blinked. Looked like he was about to say something, then reconsidered. 

"I apologize...I didn't mean...," he struggled for a moment with what to say. "She wasn't attracted to women before, you were. I know she is attracted to men because she was with me."

"I'm attracted to both, your daughter isn't the one that got me pregnant," Rosetta cut in. "Sunset is clearly just like that too. She was just closeted, like your daughter was."

"Okay, but it still doesn't change the fact that she immediately threw herself on some other person as soon as she tossed me away, and that this mare is the same age as her own child," Phobia's dad said defensively. 

"Dad, at this point does it matter to you what Mom does with her life?" Phobia asked with a sigh. "The two of you are through; there is no getting around that fact. I struggled with it when I found out too, but I have to admit that Tonya seems absolutely devoted to Mom. She also does a good job with calming Mom down and stopping her from doing things she will regret. Remember that it was Tonya that called her out when Mom was going to deny you food."

"I do remember that," her dad answered. He then looked down at the carpet and sighed. "It's just hard to wrap my head around. You're right though, it's none of my business what she does. Tonya seems to be a decent person and I guess I wish her the best of luck with dealing with your mom. Lord knows that's not an easy task."

"So are you coming to the wedding?" Phobia asked hopefully.

"Yes, I'll be there, and I'll be civil. Just make sure your mother remains civil too. Better yet, tell Tonya to make sure your mother is civil if Tonya is really able to keep her under control," her dad said.

"Thanks Dad," Phobia said and then yawned involuntarily. "Rosetta and I really need some sleep right now. Mind if we all stay here a little while and when the two of us wake up you can ride with us back to Riverview? You can spend the night with us there and we can show you our new house."

"You have a house all your own already? You'll have to explain that to me after you wake up. To ahead and get some sleep. Roger and I will keep each other company and swap embarrassing stories about each of you while you do," her dad said with an honest smile.

Phobia rolled her eyes and then directed Rosetta to follow her up to her old room. 

The old room was much as she left it, it even had the same discarded clothes on the floor. Rosetta had been here a few times now, but she still rolled her eyes at the room.

"I still can't picture this room as yours, no matter how many times I see it," Rosetta said with a laugh.

Phobia looked around it. "I suppose it isn't mine. I'm not the person who lived in this room anymore."

"Are you happy or sad about that?" Rosetta asked as she kicked away some of the dirty clothes piled on the floor.

Phobia laughed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm happy to be who I am today. I'm content with who and what I am, and I'm going to be married soon to a very pretty and sexy night pony."

Rosetta blushed a little at the compliment before she came over and kissed Phobia. She seemed like she was getting ready to do much more than kiss for a moment based on how she brought her hooves and wings up against Phobia, but she broke it off and stepped back before things advanced to that.

"I'm glad, and you make me very happy. I'm looking forward to spending my life together with you," Rosetta giggled.

Phobia felt a warmth in her chest as she thought about that. Tomorrow was the start of a new life elsewhere. There was still a lot of uncertainty about the future, but she was satisfied that this was what she was meant to be.





Phobia found herself once again in the dreamscape and instantly knew that Luna was near to her.

"Luna? Are we going to be doing some more training?"

The dark alicorn stepped out in front of her and smiled. "That we shall, but there is another matter that I must discuss with you first. I have a proposition for you, for your world has urgent needs that I cannot fill and take care of pinies back on my own world."

Phobia looked at the alicorn in confusion. "What kind of needs can I fill that you can't? What kind of urgent needs."

Luna looked at the stars of the dreamscape. "It has become increasingly clear the extent of damage Sunset Shimmer's vision has done to the ponies of your world. There has been a severe abuse of mind magic, and I fear with the large number of night ponies that other abuses will soon arise in great numbers. I have already had to put a stop to many such abuses and I cannot spend my entire time in your world's dreamscape to keep watch."

"So, you want me to watch out for abuses?" Phobia said while wide eyed. "How am I supposed to do that? Even if I caught them how would I stop them?"

Luna looked down with a serious expression. "I have picked out five others along with you to combat this problem before it becomes a plague. As for how...it requires a certain sacrifice on your part, but you will gain the abilities in the dreamscape that would be equal to mine."

Phobia backed up a few steps. "You aren't talking about trying to make me an alicorn or anything, right. I'm not up for that."

Luna laughed. "No, not an alicorn, something else entirely. And it would only be a position you held while asleep. You're waking life would continue down a normal path. This position is not one I give lightly, and it carries a heavy burden of responsibility to go along with power. I will not force you to take it if you are uninterested. As I said, there is a sacrifice to be made in taking this, but you could be an important force for stability with the night ponies and prevent things like the Sunset Shimmer's vision from ever happening again."

Phobia blinked. She wanted to preserve free will, and this seemed like what Luna was offering. 

"I need to know a little more about this before I accept," she replied.

Luna nodded. "Of course, to explain further I have to explain what else I am in addition to an alicorn; the thing I am and I hope to make you is called a Dreamwarden..."





Story continues in Pandemic: Picking Up the Pieces