As we hopped across the country, we arrived on a roof in a small town. We would have skipped right on past, but there were obviously people there. Not just people, but ponies as well. It seemed each kept to their side of the town and they were avoiding each other, but were cohabiting the town without one side infecting the other or violence. I quickly confirmed that the ponies were still gifted, which made the whole situation a bit odd.

Sandra reared up on the edge of the roof for a better look. "They've settled things down on their own. Is that bad? We should be happy for them."

Hope tilted his head. "But if they have the same urges, they should need to pounce someone the moment they passed by an uninfected person. How are they resisting?"

Neon just smiled before she hopped up on the ledge, then down. She slid down with great agility, using her hooves and tongues to slow her descent until she was at the street level. "Hello! Could someone tell us what the story is around here?"

She had landed on the human side, and they were quick to remind her. They pointed towards the poinies. "Git back on yer side already. If ya can't keep the peace, then we'll have to get rid of ya."

Neon held up her hooves placatingly, then dashed across the road to the pony side. The ponies there were unashamed to start sniffing over her even as she asked again, but it seemed the ponies weren't terribly interested in idle chatter. They sniffed her, and some even rubbed up against her, but then they moved on.

Dust Kicker scowled. "The ponies here are barely above animal level. That doesn't explain why they're docile, but they're not hurting anyone, or themselves."

An idea came to me. I wrapped a bubble around the others and we joined Neon swiftly. I held up a hand and moved for one of the ponies. "Hey, you." The pony looked up at me quizzically, but said nothing. "I want to talk to the jungle princess."

The mare bowed her head before she shuddered powerfully. She looked up with bright eyes. "What is it?" She spoke in her own voice, but the accent was familiar. The jungle princess had returned. "Is something wrong?"

I smiled a little. "No, no. You've made a very peaceful town here, we think? How'd you get all these ponies to not lash out?"

The mare shuffled nervously a moment. "I'm not proud of it, but these ponies were dying... I... I had to burn out their aggression, permanently. They're like puppies now, toothless puppies. Now the humans tolerate them, so long as they stay to their side. They know they can punish them without being infected, and they do, but they aren't needlessly cruel, or I would lead them away. We're helping each other, and they survive, for a price."

Dust Kicker raised a brow at the mare. "What price?"

She looked away. "They're slowly turning. They don't seem to have noticed, and I don't think they'll turn all the way, but they are turning. This town will eventually be nothing but ponies, and pony people. I think food prepared by the still-gifted has an effect after long enough..." She turned slowly in place and pointed. "Look at that one."

We turned where she directed and saw a man napping on his porch. He had long ears like a pony. I became confused a moment. "Does it, I mean, is it affecting all of them? How are they not freaking out about this?"

She shook her head slowly. "I think it is affecting all of them. None of them have complained, and I can feel them drawing closer to me, so slowly. I'm sorry, I truly am. This is far from an ideal solution! But it was that or watch most of everyone die. I didn't want that..." She perked an ear sharply. "I have to go." And the light went out from her eyes. She smiled simply at all of us and sniffed at Dust Kicker before wandering off.

Dust Kicker shivered in revulsion. "Well they're alive, there is that. Your boys should overtake this place soon enough. It'll be some story for them, si? We should keep going."

We hopped up to the tallest building, and moved on, leaving that town behind with its docile ferals and soon-to-be half-pony humans. We were certain we were headed in the right direction, but we didn't have a map or GPS, so we couldn't say how close we were getting. We didn't have a clue until we reached another rooftop and heard a cheer of a whole mass of ponies dancing while a human played a fiddle or some similar instrument. It seemed to be an old-fashioned hoe down, with ponies for dancers.

It seemed harmless enough, until Dusk Hope spotted the glint of a collar around his neck. Looking around more carefully, we could see that the few humans in sight were similarly adorned, most of them with a leading trail of a leash or chain to an owning pony. None of them appeared to be being converted, just subverted.

Sandra frowned. "The ponies don't have any gift. Do you think they have a princess with them?"

I shook my head slowly. "I wouldn't think so. They're supposed to be beyond rare, and we've already located three in the Americas, one in Europe and Africa too. Whatever cleaned them out has to be something else." I idly wondered how Europe and Africa were doing. It would be nice to think that old conflicts had died out facing this new issue, but there was no assurance of that.

Neon shrugged. "Well they like ponies, so why don't we just go and ask?"

Hope nodded. "You're right. They seem perfectly nice, so long as you're a pony."

Not wanting to startle them all, we teleported to ground level outside of town and walked in with our hooves like normal ponies.

"Stop right there." A pony called out to us, and he had some kind of firearm strapped to his side. "This is a restricted area. We can't let wild ponies in, or they'll damage our humans. Go on, git."

Dust Kicker frowned at the gun-wielder. "I'm perfectly clean, so unless you want to argue about it face-to-face, I'm going in."

The pony tilted his head faintly. "Huh, well you can argue about it, that's marks for you, but it doesn't assure anything. How'd you manage that without being a citizen?"

I wondered how they knew which ponies were citizens or not. Were they wearing something small we hadn't spotted that revealed their affiliation? "I cleaned them personally."

The gunpony directed his rifle at me. "You did?" He squinted at me suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to be... What's your name?"

I put a hand to my chest. "William, and this is Cindy." Cindy bobbed at him. "We're just visiting, no harm. We'll be careful around your humans."

He raised a brow. "Huh... You know you're practically a folk-lore around these parts? You could be a faker, hoping to cash in on that reputation. Can you prove it?"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Besides us having two heads, and a pony taur body? Are there a lot of those?"

"Well, no," confessed the riflepony. "But that don't explain why the great peacemaker's come to our little town of all places. We don't have nothing worth your time, and we don't want no trouble."

Neon suddenly lashed out her tongues and ripped his gun off his side. She pulled it quickly and set the gun down gently. "There won't be trouble as long as you don't give us trouble. Alright? Will won't touch your humans."

The riflepony seemed quite alarmed to be without his rifle. He took a step back. "I-I guess I won't be stopping you, but this is illegal. E-even if you kill me, the other guards'll be on you."

I shook my head. "Woah, ease that up. We're not forcing our way in, and we don't want to fight. Come here." I held out a hand. He looked severely doubtful. His eyes darted to his dropped firearm but he slowly came closer. As soon as he was in range, I gently began to scratch him behind both of his ears. "We just want to see your village, get some food maybe? We're just travelers, not bandits."

He let out a little rumble of pleasure at the petting before he pulled back sharply. "Hey! I'm not a beast." He snorted with an angry little huff. "I suppose... So long as you're not here for trouble. Can I have my gun back?" Neon lifted the gun easily in her tongues and set it before him. "Uh, thanks." He flipped the gun up and caught it in his holster, readying it against his side. It seemed to calm him with its presence. "Send your friends in. You, um, William. You stay here, with me. I don't want to risk the humans, even if you say you'll be good."

~He doesn't know about Sandra,~ came Cindy's voice.

~Who's that?~ came Karen, Sandra's guest.

Sandra looked around with some confusion. ~Oh god I hope I'm not going crazy.~

I tried to keep a neutral expression as I replied in mental voice, ~Calm down, Sandra. You're hearing Cindy and the rest of us. We can all hear each other's thoughts when we try to be heard. Cindy's right, he doesn't realize you're still infected, or a princess. Don't let him know.~

The others proceeded without me. I sat down beside the guard and he seemed to relax once it was clear we weren't going to try to force the issue. When the others were gone, he looked up at me. "Isn't that uncomfortable? I mean, being caught between human and pony. All the hybrids I ever met were kind of sad things. They don't fit in right with ponies or humans."

I raised an ear at him. "I have a herd. You just met them. They like me just the way I am."

He tilted his head. "Herd? You mean you're all... married?"

Cindy nodded at him. "Sure are. We love them, and they love us. Why, is that bad?"

He rubbed behind his head with a hoof. "I suppose not? If you're happy about it and all, fine. Now, me personally, I'm happy with just one mare. She's a gorgeous purple charmer that can bake the best damn pie in the town. You ask me, I'm the lucky one, and I got her to myself, without having to play turns."

I chuckled a bit at his story. "I'm glad to hear you've found a family worth being proud of. We're very happy with ours. It's a little complicated sometimes, sure, but it's ours, and we do love them."

He held up a hoof. "I won't argue that. Well, good luck to them. Hopefully they'll finish up their shopping and you can get a move on."

Author's Notes:

Will is locked out of this leg of the journey. It may be time to hop into someone else's eyes, but who?! Vote! Vote or the typos will eat you!