I gave Aiko a great big hug. "So good to have you back, and you brought friends?"

She set down a pony that was riding her and gestured back to a wild eyed stallion with a pulsing pony pecker. "I did that, sorry. I'm getting better at influencing ponies and it was this instead of anger."

I nodded at Aiko quickly. "Well, this is better than angry."

"Mate?"

"Oh! He can talk too." I offered a hoof. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Pinkie Pie."

He looked confused a moment, then slowly reached a hoof out. "I don't remember..."

"Aw, that's okay. You're around friends here. Now put that thing away." I waved at his undercarriage. "It's not time for that, but we are gonna have some fun!"

I led him towards the others, just to feel him sniffing around my tail. He really wanted that private party. I gently swatted him across the snout. "Be good. You'll make lots of friends here, alright?"

That seemed to get through to him and he moved up to be beside me instead of behind, gently rubbing side-to-side as he looked around the hallway.

We came to the other ferals, who I got playing catch with a ball and gently sat him down in the circle to join them. One of the mares spotted his stiff stallion cylinder and unfortunately was drawn right to him. Before I even realized what she was doing, she was nuzzling it up and down, then turned around, and he accepted her offer gratefully. They went at it with the happiest of sounds, and the other ponies just kinda watched the whole thing.

I put a hoof over my face, though as disasters went, that one seemed the least terrible. They were both having a good time. I slipped around them and got the others back to playing. ~Aiko, what's the plan?~

~I'm checking in on the others. Was anyone hurt that you know of?~

~Nah, though now that you brought Zhang back, think she could get the lights on for us?~

~You trust her?~

~To do what, light things? Sure!~

~Not that... Though I suppose there's little else she can do without the military around. Speaking of which, you should speak to the quiet one that followed me. He just turned into a pony and is probably in shock.~

~Oh, sure thing~

I found him sitting in the dim hallway and plopped myself beside him. "Heya, so, that was rough huh?"

"Rough does not begin to describe it." He looked longside at me. "At least I can still have this conversation... I suppose I have her to thank for that."

"Aiko? She's a great mare." I smiled at him. "Being a pony isn't all bad. I mean, if you weren't one already I wouldn't make you be one, but you're already here, so here we sit, chatting about it."

"I gather you are not one of the wild horses?"

"Some call me pretty wild." I giggled a little. "But that's because I like parties and fun times. I would never turn someone into a pony without their permission." I stood up. "Can I look you over?" He gave a little uncertain nod and I began to circle, poking at his wings and looking them over closely. "You're a nice-looking pegasus. I bet you'll fly really good once you get some practice."

"W-what? I can really fly? I thought that was a wild story."

I tilted my head at him. "You never saw a pegasus fly? There are enough of them around."

He sighed softly. "We bind their wings whenever they even might be outdoors. I thought it was just a precaution. I didn't think wings these small could lift something my size." He extended his wings to either side, giving a light flapping. "I didn't think I'd have wings..."

"You're going to want to take care of them." I nodded quickly. "You ever hear of preening?"

"What?"

I leaned in and nipped one of his feathers, gently pulling it straight. "Like this, but slowly and over your entire wing. It's a bit of a chore, but if you want your wings to work best, you have to get in the habit."

He shivered softly and pulled away. "That felt like something that should be private."

"Oh!" I blushed a little. "Well, yeah. Only good friends should be preening each other. I was just showing you what it was. I won't do that again, promise."

He gave a little nod before a smile spread over his snout. "Thank you, for showing me that, and talking. Right now, I really want to talk to my friends, and family, but I know I won't be allowed to do either. As soon as the building is secured, I'll probably join the ponies that live here, or be sent to one of the camps, never to see the people I know and love again..."

Aw, that sounded sad. There had to be some way out of that... "Maybe if you can prove you're still a great and fantastic person, they won't need to lock you up. We saw a pony working for them quite proudly and she even had her own office."

"Truly?"

I bobbed my head quickly. "Uh huh. We have a whole building full of wild horses. They're dangerous to people, but they're not trying to be bad. If you can round them up and bring them here, we can make the building safe, and maybe save their lives. Only a brave pony would do that, right?"

He rose to his hooves fully, wings fluttering. "Yes! I will start gathering them and clear the building. They don't fight, and I'm already a pony. What can they do to me?"

"Exactly!" I thrust a hoof up. "I'll tell them how brave you were when this is all over." He suddenly came up and hugged me tightly a moment, then left without another word, headed for the stairwell.

~Aiko, we're going to have more wild ponies soon.~

~Oh? Are you headed out?~

~Our newest good pony volunteered to go fetch the wild ponies for us.~

~That's very kind of him. Did you get his name?~

~How did I forget that?!~ I swatted myself with a hoof. ~I'll ask him when he gets back. How are folks holding it together?~

~They're scared and nervous, as they have every right to be. I'll keep them calmed down, why don't you speak to Zhang. She probably won't be as immediately scared of you as me. She probably thinks I'll do something terrible to her, and part of me wants to, so I'll leave that to you.~

~Okey dokey lokey. I don't think she's a bad pony, just scared.~

I found her quickly. She was awake and huddling in one of the corners of one of the rooms, not talking to ponies much at all. "You alright?"

"No."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"It'll make you feel better."

"No."

One of the other ponies sitting around shook her head. "It is very rude to say 'no' like that. She either doesn't like you or is not herself, but it's also impolite to keep pestering her after she refuses."

I tilted my head at the new pony. "But I have to talk to her." I turned back to Zhang. "Look, I know you did some not-fun things, but that's over. Aiko's willing to forgive you if you're willing to move past that. She rescued you, didn't she?"

"You saw that?" She looked up at me, one ear up, the other flipped back.

"Sorta. You felt what that's like. She was tempted to leave you behind, but she tries to be a good pony." I offered a hoof. "Are you ready to be a good pony too?"

She swatted at my hoof. "I don't want to be a pony at all!"

I wasn't going to be turned away. I reached for her again, but poked her horn that time. "You don't like making things glow?"

"I liked having hands, and standing upright, and clothes." She clopped the floor. "I'd trade those for stupid glowing any time."

I nodded. "Well, if we figure out how to do that, we can do that, but until then, you could make a lot of people really happy if you did the stupid glowing thing a little?"

She shrank. "He said I was harming the building doing that. I might be the reason all these wild horses are here..."

Oh. "Well, that makes sense to be worried. What did he say hurt it, exactly?" I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way. "We'll avoid that."

She breathed softly, not speaking a few moments. "Well... I think it was the lights." She pointed up at the not-lit bulbs. "Making them light up was messing things up."

I nodded. "Alright, so can you just glow yourself? Or maybe the flashlights whose batteries ran out?! That'd be keen." I suddenly dashed off, rounding up all the dead flashlights and bringing them back to Zhang in a circle around her. "Here! These aren't attached to anything, so nothing to lose."

She sat up and looked around at all those flashlights. "I never tried before..."

"We won't blame you if it doesn't work." I smiled brightly. "We're all learning, together."

"Right..." She closed her eyes. "I'll try..." Her horn began to glow, gaining in brightness quickly until the room was illuminated like a little sun had come on it and set up shop. Her magic reached out for the flashlights and the first one popped loudly, breaking her concentration. The room went back to dimness as she yelped.

"You're on the right track, but take it a bit more gentle with them," I coached, rolling a hoof. "You can do this, I'm sure of it!"

She nodded slowly and reached with her magic for the next one first, then began working up her light. She didn't get as bright, but the flashlight began glowing with her. I reached and snatched up the flashlight. "Let's see how far away this works."

I pronked out of the room, flashlight held in my mane as I bounced down the hallway, and it stayed lit from one side of the floor to the other and back. When I poked my head back in the room, she had half the flashlights going. It was working! "It's not super hard, is it?"

"It's not so bad." She smiled a little. "Does she really forgive me?"

"I do." Aiko stepped in around me and I gave her a quick hug. She nuzzled a moment, then turned back to Zhang. "I'm still a bit angry, turning against me like that, but... Things are tense, and people are scared. I won't hold that against you. I'm afraid I can't trust you in my net again, but as a person, I want to do right by you. Understand?"

Author's Notes:

So last time:
1: Pinkie and Aiko go out and start hunting ferals to bring back and calm down.3.93 votes
2: Wait for help to arrive.0.33 votes
3: Focus on the ponies they have already and get all the ferals there calm and cooperative.5.91 votes
4: Get sweet sweet revenge on Zhang! Sell me out will you...2.25 votes
5: Time to bust out of this building!0.58 votes
Very little support for running away, or waiting passively. Most think the ponies at hoof should be tended to, and if there's time try to go out and round up the other ferals. So let's write that! I wrote this before the chapter if you didn't guess.

Alright, so, unnamed soldier boy is rounding up ferals, leaving Pinkie and Aiko to be the alpha mares of the floor. Things are working out reasonably so far, but now...
1: The crisis ends with the lights flicking on, but the soldiers want to come and inspect the floor, and there are a lot of wild horses here...
2: The lights don't seem to be coming on, and the leader speaks through the intercom, which seems to be working at least.
3: Oh merciful fates, what's that noise?!
4: Zhang wants to make up for her mistake, and it all goes great, mostly...
5: Aiko keeps digging in to her magic while they work. There's so much to learn!

Note that 3 of these choices are outside factors, but you, yes you, the reader have that power. You are the weavers of fate! CHOOSE NOW!