We were sped along, not in a helicopter, but along the ground that time in a jeep. As we went, Sandra squirmed a little before she casually announced. "I think I'm ready for a fresh egg." She glanced around. "Not right this second, of course. I'm not doing it in the back of a jeep."

Dusk tilted his head a bit. "That puts you ahead of most." He looked up at me, then her, looking like he had a question he dared not voice.

Cindy stuck out her tongue. "She's ours."

Dusk clopped his forehooves together meekly. "But I don't have a foal yet that I'll ever actually see. We're all family, a herd, right?"

This new world had strange new family dynamics. I reached for Dusk's head, softly petting over his ears. I didn't feel jealous towards the unicorn. He had been a good friend, and didn't ask for much in return. "If Sandra wants it."

Sandra perked an ear and looked surprise before looking between us and Dusk. "Oh, sure, make it my decision." She leaned forward and nuzzled at Dusk gently. "A challenge! Whichever of you two gets their mark gets the next egg."

Dusk frowned a little. "That's a little mercenary for love, isn't it? I... I just love you, Sandra. You're smart and collected and I want to have a foal with you, if you'll have me. I want to be a full part of this herd."

The human driver had, to his credit, managed to be quiet during the exchange. He raised a hand off the wheel to point at a small mountain up ahead. "That's the operation zone. You're going to have to hike the rest of it." The jeep came to a smooth halt and he waited.

We climbed free and I stretched out, thankful to have room for my large form to exist in. The jeep turned around in a wide circle before vanishing along the highway we came in on, leaving us to our own devices. I had a radio to call for a ride back, assuming we didn't get roasted in the mission.

Dusk rubbed alongside Sandra. "Let's focus on the mission, but I meant what I said."

Sandra nipped at his cheek and ear, her tongue wrapping around him like a hug as natural as her form ever would be. "I'll consider it. Let's go meet a dragon."

We set off towards the glorified hill we called a mountain, eyes locked to the sky for signs of a reaction, and were not disappointed. A small dot became a small figure with flapping wings. As it approached it became larger and larger, until the full magnitude of the beast became clear. It was six stories tall, easily. It appeared vaguely tauroid, at least in the sense that its two front limbs had hands, while the back four had hooves. What broke the illusion was that it was clearly bipedal, meaning the middle limbs looked useless, just hooves held up with no particular function.

It landed in front of us and made the ground shudder beneath our hooves. "You're intruding on my land." Well, it started with talking. It could have already gone worse. Its nose twitched, horse head leaning in and nudging Sandra over. "You. Flip over and spread your legs and I'll spare the others."

Sandra paled instantly. "You're... how? You'll kill me!" She scrambled to her hooves and scurried behind me. "I don't want to be split in half, thanks."

The dragon-pony huffed softly, fur rippling under its massive bulk as it, no he, looked at me directly. "What do you plan to pay then, to not be eaten?"

A thought came to me. The dragon hadn't actually hurt anyone yet, just made noise and gotten concessions. "We're not here to offer things, except maybe a way to not be alone out here."

Ears large enough to double as cars perked up. "Oh? You want to join my herd? How flattering!"

Dusk smiled a little. "Not exactly. We've been making peace between the ponies and the humans. They would like you to join them. You'll have to work, like everyone else, but you get food, shelter, water... friends?"

With surprising speed, the dragon suddenly snapped up Dusk and slurped him up. Cindy fired a comparatively tiny bolt of energy at the dragon, only making him laugh. "He's not dead, yet." He opened his mouth and showed the panicked looking Dusk was sitting on his tongue before closing his mouth.

I decided to stick to my guns. "You don't want to eat him. You're a pony, even if you're a large one. Put him down and let's talk, like reasonable people."

With a dark flash, suddenly Dusk was standing beside me, looking frazzled and singed on the edges, but intact. "I did it!"

The dragon's reply was to snap me up next. This wasn't going as well, or as poorly, as I had hoped. Its tongue ran up along the underside of me. It was huge, warm, and wet. It also didn't stop moving. At first I thought it was just a bit slimy and gross, but it kept rubbing, and soon I was both hard and wet from the attention. It was saying something, but it was surprisingly hard to understand while I was inside his mouth. Its distracting tongue caressing only seemed to get worse over time, and I was soon grinding my hind-hips against the tongue. I had no fear that it would actually eat me. For some reason it felt pretty safe in there, and I wondered why Dusk had been so scared.

I was suddenly exposed to cool air as he extended his tongue with me on it, showing me to my friends even as I ground wantonly against the tongue. ~He's drugging us,~ came Cindy's voice ~We should fight it.~ Easier thought than actually done. Climax came hard and we sprayed across his tongue, hosing it down as we trembled in pleasure. We were allowed to limply fall from the tongue between our friends, and the dragon reared back up, swallowing the small gift we had given it.

Sandra rushed up to check on me, only to stop and put a hoof over her nose. "Oh wow, you stink. Are you alright?"

"They're fine," said the dragon. "Now, as you were saying?"

Author's Notes:

Negotiations with the dragon don't go smoothly, but no one's been fried or swallowed yet. It could be worse?

Typos don't negotiate.