We approached slowly and carefully, and made a little hole up through the ground so we could watch people mill back and forth from a short distance.

Ian looked a little agitated. "It's stuffy in here. Are we really safe here?"

I reached for him but paused. I didn't want to even risk infection, so I pet Sandra instead and pointed her to him. She was quick to close the distance and offer nuzzles and warmth, which seemed to calm the kid. "You're kind of cute, in a scary way."

Sandra snorted with a smile. "I guess having two jaws will do that. We're going to get you back to safety, promise."

Opportunity came when we saw a lone militia man with no backup in sight in either direction. The tall fence blocked off view of what would happen to the man from his friends. "Sandra, time to move. I'll immobilize him, you grab his gun. Try not to touch him though. He'll freak out if he thinks he's already infected."

Cindy smiled. "I'll help! leave the gun to me."

Just as he got closest to our vantage point, I reached out with my magic and grabbed him in place. Cindy yanked away his gun before I slipped an invisible band over his mouth to cut off the screaming that was likely to start. Man, telekinesis felt like cheating. I pulled him over quickly as Sandra burrowed out of the hole, allowing us to escape.

I held up a hand at the frightened soldier. "We're here to talk, not fight, or infect. We have one of yours, but he's not a hostage. We want him safe. Can we give you Ian right now?" Ian stepped forward, looking a bit nervous. "He's clean, but if you want to hold him separate for a while to be sure, go for it, but he's just a kid." I let the band over his mouth fade.

"Holy shit on a stick! Let me go!"

Sandra tilted her head. "That's hardly an appropriate thank you."

"I have a wife, don't turn me into a damn horse!"

Ian pointed at me. "She's really nice. She won't hurt you."

The soldier seemed hardly convinced. "Let me go."

"I will, as a sign of good faith. Tell your superiors what happened. Oh, your gun's over there, minus the bullets." I pointed in the grass. "I'd give those back too, but I like breathing." I released the grasp on him and he quickly scrambled for his empty gun, though he had another clip at the ready on his hip, fuck. We didn't wait to see how quickly he'd reload, or how many other clips he might have, we retreated into the hole in a hurry and collapsed it behind us as we fled the city.

Sandra dug up and out, only to make new tunnels, backed up on herself, and branched out, making a strange and confusing maze that brought us eventually far from the city with a daunting mess behind us for anyone that'd want to follow along. "You know, now that I've tried it, digging is kind of fun." She smiled at me in the darkness of the tunnel. "Maybe being an earth pony isn't so bad. Do you think I can do the plant thing too? I tried to have a garden once and everything died in a week."

I softly pet over Sandra's back, making her thick tail sway back and forth. "I'm sure you'd be a lot better at it now. Do you think we did the right thing?"

Sandra tilted her head. "I'm not sure, but we did it. At least Ian's in a safer place, I think. Assuming the soldier tells the others what happened, it might make them curious if nothing else. We had a nice, if brief, chat without anyone getting shot or infected in the end. That's probably new."

Cindy nodded her head. "We did the right thing, and we should be proud of that. I'm just not sure what the next step should be... I wish we could get some normal people to talk to."

Sandra blinked at Cindy. "He looked pretty normal to me. I don't even think he was really a soldier. I bet a real soldier would have put a few holes in us before we got away."

I rolled a hand. "Well that works in our benefit, I think. He's more likely to talk about what happened to him. The shapeshifters have it so easy. If they wanted peace, they could just walk right up to them as a human and start talking."

Sandra snorted softly. "Well we aren't those. I don't think? You have a lot of magic or whatever? Did you try?"

It was so silly a suggestion I felt stupid for not trying it already. Cindy spoke up though, "We can't do that. We have the power of the three tribes. Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn. The shapeshifters are a fourth tribe."

I perked an ear towards Cindy. "What about the crystally gem ones, like Crystal?"

"A fifth," said Cindy. "But we do have a faint tie to that one. It's weak but present."

Sandra suddenly burst into laughter. "You mean you could go all sparkly?" She licked over her lips with several tongues. "That reminds me... I've been quietly putting up with it, but what are we, exactly? I haven't let any strange ponies shove their things into me beside you, but you've been with, what, over a dozen people! Part of me wants to brush it off like it's no big deal, but, no. I want to clear this up." She sat up on her haunches. "I love you, William. Our lives might have gone from normal to bizarre, but I want you."

I winced a little. She wasn't wrong. I wasn't being very faithful to her at all, though we hadn't formally made ourselves anything. She didn't look angry, just... "That's fair. I... I kind of had a little crush on you since forever." I reached for her and we curled on each other, furry bodies rubbing together. "Do you want me to be yours? I'll beat the other horses off with a stick if you want me to."

Sandra smiled gently. "I would like that... but... I know you're literally eating for two." Her eyes turned to Cindy, then back at me. "You're as much girl as boy, and you're literally... of two minds. It's kind of freaky. Cindy, what do you want?"

Cindy smiled at Sandra. "I think we're lucky to have such a great marefriend as you, Sandra. We can't ignore being a mare too though."

Sandra nodded quickly. "Then it's a deal. Your freaky horse cock is mine." She reached with a hoof, nudging at my sheath. "But I'll let you decide who you want on the other end, and we're boy and girl, so we talk things out, together, and live together, and all that sappy married stuff, alright?"

We consummated our new agreement in the darkness of the cave and fell asleep in the warmth of one another's embrace, the nervousness of our current mission forgotten for the moment in favor of the joy of knowing we would be together.

Author's Notes:

Ian is successfully dropped off, but are they any closer to any meaningful peace? At least nopony got shot in the deal, but I got dirt all over the writing, sorry for any resulting typos.