I decided to get the military involved from the start. I soon had an appointment to talk with a captain. I never did memorize how the ranks go, but that wasn't a general, if they had any generals? Either way, the captain wasn't quite brave enough to come into easy conversation range, to my annoyance. "What's the situation?" he asked from behind two guards, a short distance away, as if I might lunge at him.

With a grunt, I gestured in a vague circle. "I want to step things up, and I think the military is an important part of that. There are too many people, and ponies, suffering across the nation that we need to get to faster. We need humans and ponies with even heads, willing to work together, to kickstart this process in more than one place at a time, or we'll be going at a snail's pace. Are you ready to help rebuild America?"

The captain barked out a laugh. "Shit, I didn't expect a horse mutant to pull the 'Amurrica!' card. How do you propose my soldiers are supposed to approach ferals without trouble?"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Trusting us would be a nice start." I wanted to be annoyed at her, but she just said what I felt.

I pointed to a pegasus going overhead. "You can send in some ponies first to establish contact with the local ferals, while humans focus on meeting with the local humans. Both sides need talking to and coaching. Make sure to send at least one unicorn per town to clean up ferals. Once their head's cleaner, most will be eager to help. The two sides of the team meet up, and then it's easy, relatively. Get the area stable and secure, and eventually send out another mission to the closest population center you can find. If everyone's doing that, we can get the nation back fast."

He sighed. "Right, well, it's not the stupidest idea I ever heard. I'll pass it through the brass and see what they say. Remind me again why you don't get one of the unicorns to clean you up?"

Cindy fielded that one with a grin, "Can't. Our gift grows back, and we need it. You're going to have to accept us on faith."

He made a dismissive motion and turned. "Faith is something we're short on supply of at the moment. Quartermaster has it on backorder. I'll let you know what they say."

Sandra and Dusk returned later that day. Sandra rushed up and nuzzled into a side. "Missed you. Things are mostly settled in there, if the humans would stop glaring and muttering so much."

Dusk snorted softly. "Don't make them all out to be bad people. Most of them are getting along nicely. Most of them are overjoyed that they aren't going to be attacked again. Let's not blur them together like they're all the same thing."

I pet both of their heads gently. "It can be easy to forget that. Each human's an individual, just like ponies. How are the conditions? They treating everyone alright?"

Sandra nodded. "Word came around about the other towns, both them doing better than before, and the ponies not taking guff. They let us pick a nice tall building and we've been making it cozy." She suddenly hopped to her hooves and grunted before trembling. "Oh... that's new."

Dusk tilted his head. "What? Is something wrong?"

Cindy somehow knew. With a broad smile, she announced. "Egg time!"

Sandra blinked. "Already? It... feels like I have to go." She glanced behind her at the guards quietly watching, then snorted before burrowing into the ground for some privacy. Her head quickly popped back out. "You can... watch, Will. You put it in there."

Her words were relaxed, but her tone implied to me that she wanted me there, and I moved quickly to be beside the hole and look in on her. Dusk sat down beside me and leaned against, but didn't look at the hole.

Below, Sandra turned around again before squatting with her thick tail raised high. Her mouth hung open in three parts, panting softly as she tried to get things moving. She was succeeding, if her widely spreading sex was any hint of it. A reddish shell poked free, then began to emerge inch by inch, pushed by powerful contractions until it was, with a powerful sigh of relief, ejected onto the soft earth. The new egg was fairly large, but flexible, only starting to harden once it was in the air and becoming a foal-sized egg.

Sandra nuzzled the egg carefully. "I think all women everywhere would switch over if they knew how easy that was. Nothing worse than passing a..." she trailed off before she said something entirely unlady-like. "Nothing too bad."

Dusk looked down then with a smile. "Part of it could be because of your mark?"

Sandra turned to look at her flank where her egg-laying cutie mark rested. "Huh, maybe? I don't know. But mine will be among the first new ponies, born as one. I wonder how smart he or she will be, like me, or closer to a feral? I hope more like us, but I'll love them all the same."

I offered a hoof down towards her and she climbed up me, her tail wrapped around the egg. Soon she was topside and set the egg where we could all easily see it. I reached with an uncertain hand, brushing across its surface. It was smooth, with a faint leathery texture to is. "You did well. Where are we going to keep this? Crystal volunteered to keep it safe."

Sandra frowned. "I... Kind of want to keep it close, but I guess that's a bad idea, the way we do things."

A sudden thought hit me. "Hey! Did any of the ponies in there get one of those marks?"

Dusk nodded quickly. "I saw a handful of them."

I smiled with building hope. "Great, tell me about them. Any leaders or spokespeople?"

As it turned out, I was a bit overeager. Most had marks in their jobs, though there was one town gossip and socializer that got a mark that seemed to reflect her outgoing behavior, and she couldn't have been happier about it, from Dusk's report. I decided she might be one of the first to play spokesperson for the ferals. "Tell me, Dusk, did she seem, er, smarter than the others? More acute?"

Dusk nodded. "Oh yes, she's practically a human in a fur suit."

Sandra perked an ear. "Maybe only fully functional ponies can get these marks?"

Dusk sagged at the words. "But I don't have one yet. Am I broken? Or just stupid."

I held up a hand. "Sandra didn't get hers immediately. I think you have to find it. Heck, do I have one?"

Dusk relaxed at my words and nodded. "Alright, still, that's good to know. Ponies that do have one are probably the ones least... reduced."

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Author's Notes:

The herd grows with Will and Sandra's egg, but what lurks within?

Meanwhile, Will considers the typos of the outside world.