The town didn't seem very terrible to me. The people were polite when I greeted them, even if they didn't recognize my kind of pony. They became curious, but in a polite sort of way. The humans were all subservient and busy, which I admit was kind of nice. Maybe trying to convert all of them was a mistake. They made excellent workers, and the people here seemed to enjoy it.

"Excuse me?" came a male voice behind me.

I spun around to regard a middle-aged male human looking at me. "Ma'am? Are you new here?"

I perked an ear at the human with confusion. Why had he boldly approached me? "What business is it of yours?"

He made an elegant bow. "Pardon the interruption, but it is my duty to welcome newcomers and see they find everything."

That made sense to me, and I relaxed. Wondering the limits of this, I tilted my head forward a little. "I could use a little scratching." With only the delay of him stepping in, he began to stroke over my head and around my ears. He had been trained well, it seemed.

"Are you from in-state?" he asked as he worked.

"Not exactly," I admitted. "Is that an issue?"

"Oh no, ma'am, but are you part of things then, or just visiting?"

"Just visiting." His hands withdrew which prompted me to look back up at him. He kneeled in front of me.

"I will trust your good nature then. I'm not young enough that I've forgotten what was, at most, a year ago. I'd prefer to be free, ma'am. I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you could help? If not, I'll pretend we never had this chat, and we'll have a nice day." His eyes darted towards any other pony that came remotely close, but most of his attention was on me.

He wanted me to be his savior. A part of me wanted to tell him to buzz off, but a younger part, encouraged by Sandra, Will, and the others, said maybe that would be the right thing to do. He must have seen my indecision. "I don't have much to offer, besides my services. They took everything I owned besides my clothing."

I sat up and nodded. "And if I save you, you can be mine, but I'll be nice about it and let you do what you want to do. I'm usually out and busy anyway. I'd leave you with a lot of other humans, free humans. That would be nice, rig--"

"Yes! Please. How?" He cut me off with an eager expression that he quickly fought off, returning to careful neutrality.

I prodded the human in the knee with a hoof. "Does someone own you, or are you community property?"

"Community, miss. Would it be alright to learn your name? I'm Roland." He made one of those fancy bows again.

I dipped my head. "Yeah, Neon. You're pretty well-dressed for a slave, Roland. Come on."

I led him to an important looking mare. She was fat too. If she wasn't in charge, I'd eat my hat, after I got a hat. "Hey, are you in charge?"

She tilted her head at me. "Yes I am, exotic visitor? Did you patch your fur to have those colors?"

I chuckled at the thought of it. "All natural. I like this human right here." I pointed at Roland. "I want to have him. Say we trade for him?"

She frowned at Roland thoughtfully a moment. "Are you even from in state? He may try to run away from you the moment he thinks he can. Humans are very clever when it comes to escape routes."

Roland dipped his head. "The madame has impressed me with her personality as colorful as her pelt, ma'am."

She scowled at Roland. "Speak only when spoken to." Her eyes returned to me. "He is usually very polite, but sometimes... What do you have to trade with?"

I released my tongues, all three wagging in the air. "I can help fix up the wounded or sick or even just tired. I'll get them back on their hooves if you let me keep this one."

She became curious at that. "Hmm, does it work on humans? We have a fair collection that are tired or injured from working in the quarry. Their downtime is miserably high. Get them going and that would be a fair trade." Roland made a vanishingly brief flash of negativity. He likely didn't like the idea.

I didn't care much what he liked, and I followed the leader to a small building that had a nurse-looking pony overseeing about six humans laying there. Some were missing limbs, most just looked exhausted. Being assigned to the quarry must have been close to a death sentence for any human. "Nurse, I'm going to drain you a little. You'll feel tired, but it'll pass faster than it would for everyone I help."

She looked frightened and uncertain, but the leader was there and stomped the ground. That made her give a quivering nod. I wrapped all three tongues around her and drew gently. I might have also taken the opportunity to examine her curves while I was there. She was a pretty enough mare, and the way she quivered in fright while I worked was a little bonus. I drew from her, letting her slump to the ground in a dizzy euphoria.

With glowing tongues, I got to work on the wounded first, stabilizing each one. They would still need rest, but they wouldn't die, and it would be faster. The tired were much easier, and my touch banished their soreness and fatigue, at least for a while. They didn't seem completely thrilled by the idea.

Three of them that were only tired were then standing and ready. As the mayor began explaining how they would be returned to the quarry, one of them grabbed the fat mare and shoved her to the side. ""Every man for himself. Split up. They may find one of us, but not all of us!" They fled. When I didn't try to stop them, they just ignored me. I looked around for Roland, but he wasn't there either. Did he flee with the others? It seemed likely.

I huffed annoyedly. "Your quarry humans are miserably trained."

The leader pulled herself up to her hooves and shook off. "I'm afraid I agree. Pardon me, I have to organize a search quickly." And off she went. I didn't get paid anything for helping out. Fine...

I left the nurse station and ran into Dusk and Dust. Dust pointed at me accusingly. "There you are! Where have you been hiding? Did you have something to do with all the people that came running out of there a moment ago?"

Dusk Hope shook his head as he threw a leg over Dust and hugged her. "Let's not assume. We're friends. What's up, Neon?"

I rolled my eyes along with a hoof. "Nice to see you. I didn't set them free, just healed them, and they took advantage of the situation. Whatever, where--"

Dust snorted in the middle of my words. "We should get back together with Sandra. I've seen enough of this place to not like it much. It's even worse than what you made, Neon."

I walked past her, ignoring her specifically, but she wouldn't have that. She leaped at my back and we went down in a pile. She tried to get my legs pinned right away, but my tongues cared little for that sort of thing. I grabbed her around the neck and sucked the fight out of her, and she slumped to the ground. "You're forgetting who was in charge of who, Dust Kicker? Sandra might have beaten me, but you don't have that credit." I smiled at the worried looking Dusk Hope. "Dusk there had more to do with beating me than you did. Clever little boy, and so well-behaved."

He went stiff as I hugged him, as I planned for him to do. "Don't look so worried. We're friends, Hope." I began to cuddle him warmly in direct sight of Dust Kicker, making her so very angry. I could see her struggling to stand up and do something about it, but I left her with so little energy.

Hope pointed at Dust Kicker. "Please, give it back to her, and let's stop fighting? We're supposed to be one herd."

I gave him a little nuzzle before I swiped Dust with a tongue, restoring her. She shuddered with the sensations of being fed and sat up with a frown. "Fine, if we've had our fun? Did you find anything besides trouble?"

"Nothing worth talking about," I said, letting Dusk Hope go and giving the town a fresh look. "I really think we should get back to Will. What we have to do is much larger than this town can offer us." The two of them followed after me as I strode through town. I'll admit, it was kind of nice being the leader again, even if I didn't begrudge Sandra her position. "Hey, either of you seen Sandra? We should all go back together."

They shook their heads in the negative. Dust sighed. "We should look for her, but let's stay together, alright? If we split up, then we'll lose each other, again, and we'll never get anywhere."

I waved a hoof at her. "Yeah yeah, fine, come on." I turned away from her and looked for crowds. We found a search group that was quickly organizing the find the fled humans, but they didn't have much time for us before they scattered in groups of three. The leader was there, so I asked her, "Have you seen another pony that looks like me? Larger, brighter?"

She smiled brightly. "Yes! She purchased a human too, come to think of it, an abandoned girl. She was right over there." She pointed at where a stockade was set up and a human was locked in it miserably. "Don't talk to him, by the way. He's a merciless killer, even worse than the ones that ran away."

Dusk Hope came up with a dipped head. "Pardon, ma'am, but would it be bad to ask him if he saw which way she went?"

The leader looked uncertain, but ultimately shrugged. "No harm in that, I suppose. I doubt he'll feel cooperative. If you'll excuse me. I'll tell her if I see her first." And off she went.

I patted Hope on the head. "That was a good idea, let's do just that." And so we approached the condemned human as one. He noticed our coming and scowled with obvious doubt.

"Come to throw things at me? That's against your own rules. Piss off and leave me to die in peace." He flipped us the bird with his hand, the one act of defiance being put there allowed him. Talking to him was certain to be a real treat.

Author's Notes:

Neon explores a bit, and things happen, which could be said to be her fault, but she tried to do the right thing, right? I blame typos.