We kept an eye on all the ponies, our attention slipping away only when the soldier mare came back. Each time she, er, he, came with a few more ponies. A few he'd be kicking off roughly, not in the mood for 'private parties', but he kept right at it. "Are you sure you don't want any help?" I smiled at him. "The ponies here seem mostly alright."

"Someone has to calm the ones I bring." He gave a sharp salute. "We're all doing our part. Please treat them well. Some of them used to be my friends." He slipped out with a flutter of his wings, leaving me to welcome the new wild horses, uh, ponies. They had me doing it!

I had gotten them all playing games and gently having fun. No more special parties! Encouraging them to, you know, socialize and have fun seemed to be having a good effect on them, so I played along, and it made the entire floor a bit happier. Even some of the civil ponies dared to slip in and join us, having little better to do than sit in their rooms and mope.

"Hello?" came a hoarse whisper from the stairs and I went to peek. I poked my head out and ran into a lady human that went pale at the sight of me. "Stay back! I don't want to be one of you things!"

"Easy there. You're safe." I smiled at her. "I won't do anything to you, and you can hear me. I'm not a wild pony."

"There are wild ones and... not wild ones?"

"Exactly." I pumped a hoof. "How'd you get this far without getting hurt, or hooved?"

"I really don't know... One jumped on me and gave... I don't want to talk about that, but I haven't turned into a pony at all."

I held up my forehooves, standing on my hind. "Alright, stay calm. Now, I don't mean to panic you, but you might already be turning into a pony."

She shuddered. "I don't want to be a monster, hunting people down!"

"Well that's where you're in luck!" I smiled. "Talking with people and having friends makes it easier, and you'll become a smart, nice, pony just like me." I pointed a hoof at myself. "Want to come inside?" I pointed into the floor. "You're safe here. If the wild ponies give you any trouble, you just call Auntie Pinkie and she'll clear everything up."

She didn't look all that sure, but she decided to follow me, and we went back inside. Curious ponies, wild and civil alike, came to inspect her, but I kept them a little away to give her space, and to avoid any more nasty pounces. "Be good if you want special treats later." My little threats were enough to get the wild ones to back away, but weren't enough to keep the more civil ones from being curious.

The colt pointed at her. "It's the first human that wasn't a soldier that's been around us for ages. Miss, why are you here?"

She sank against a wall. "I wish I knew. I was just quietly doing my job when everything went right to hell and back. One of them burst up through the floor of my office and tackled me off my chair. I barely wrestled it away and it was just a lot of running after that."

One of the adult mares nodded. "We're sorry for that, but it wasn't us. We've been confined on this floor for weeks." The others murmured agreement and nodded.

I heard new clopping and saw Aiko entering the area. "Who's your new friend, Pinkie?"

I pointed at our new friend. "One of the people that worked here. She was being bullied by wild ponies and ended up here." I crossed my forehooves. "I said I'd protect her."

Aiko smiled. "You would do that. Thank you, Pinkie." She looked to the lady. "You feel odd."

"Odd?"

"I can feel the pony inside of you, but it hasn't spread out."

"What's going to happen?" Her voice became a soft whisper. "I don't want to be a monster."

I smiled at her brightly. "You won't be a monster, promise."

Aiko nodded. "We won't allow that. May I come closer?" She nodded and Aiko stepped in, looking at her intently. "I can definitely feel that." She lowered her horn to point at the lady and closed her eyes, going still for several long moments before they snapped open. "There. It's like a bunch of embers that didn't quite light, but still smoldering. May I burn it out?"

"Burn it out? That sounds painful, and horrible." She hugged her knees. "Please, I just want to go back to work."

"What did you do for work?" asked Aiko with a little smile.

"I'm a secretary." She wriggled her fingers and I wasn't sure why. "I typed notes." What did human typewriters look like with all those fingers?! "Kept track of papers, you know, that sort of thing."

"What if I made you better at that?"

"W-what? You can do that? No! Please, I just want to be what I woke up as."

Aiko stepped across the hallway towards our new guest. "One way or the other, I'm increasingly certain it'll catch fire without me, and you'll be whatever the fates decide. This way, I get to decide."

"And you can't decide human?"

"I don't think I can, but I'll try. I'll focus on keeping your hands, and a little gift."

She brought her trembling fingers to her cheeks. "Fine. Fine, get it over with. Make me a horse like everyone else here."

"I'll be trying not to." Aiko sat before her and touched her long horn to the woman's head, going still. The woman went stiff, then the screaming started. I put my hooves over my ears to spare them as Aiko did whatever she was doing that obviously hurt, a lot.

Fur, bright yellow, swept up and over her body quickly as her face pushed out into a bit of a snout. Her tongue got a little wider to match and her nose and mouth met, more like a pony mouth than a human one. Tall yellow ears jutted up, her human ones gone. Despite being covered in fur, her hands were still there, being all hand-like. Her feet burst through her shoes as they became hooves, and a tail erupted, black as the hair on her head. She was kinda half and half, then she was quiet. She slumped over, panting for breath as Aiko sat back.

"She'll be fine, but she needs rest." Aiko turned to me. "She feels odd."

"Odd?" I looked her over. "Well she looks funny."

"Not that." she waved a hoof. "She doesn't feel.. as pony... as everyone else."

"She doesn't look as pony as everyone else."

Another pony came up with a hopeful expression. "Can you give me my hands back?" He held up his hooves. "I don't care if it hurts. Please."

Others began to nod eagerly. A mare pointed at him. "Please try, Miss Aiko. If you can give us hands back, that'd be wonderful!"

I rubbed behind my head a little. "Can you even do that?"

Aiko nodded uncertainly. "I can try." She pointed at the stallion that had approached her first. "Come with me, let's spare everyone else the noise." She rose up and led him off into one of the side rooms, evicting the ponies in there into the hallway, though they went from angry to excited quickly as the others told them what they were doing in there. Soon everyone was waiting and listening for what was going to happen.

I decided to play doorpony and slipped through the crowd with a hop, skip and a jump. I cut off the crowd, even as their faces poked in under my fore and hind legs, getting in their peeks all around me, but I kept them from crowding into the room or bothering Aiko at least.

Aiko and the pony sat across from each other and she leaned forward. He met her and they touched foreheads a moment before she began to glow softly, then he glowed in response. We all heard a loud snap come from him, but he just wasn't going to cry about it. He grit his teeth and began to sweat, but he didn't say anything, at least until the next snap, that got him to shout.

Despite him being in Capital Ouchland of Eektonia, he lifted up his forehooves slowly and forced his hooves apart, showing his fingers had come back, sorta kinda. They had big nails at the end, way bigger than humans should have. A loud snap made him fall over, squirming. "Keep going," he begged. "Don't stop."

"I can't," said Aiko, sounding tired and a little sad. "The fire's out." She let out a slow breath. "Are you alright?"

"No." He pushed up slowly, then stood up, laughing a little. "I'm better than alright. Look at me!" He gestured down at himself, mostly pony, but upright and with thick fingers. "She did it!"

The crowd couldn't be kept back any longer and practically ran me over to push in around the changed pony, congratulating him and looking him over.

I sat up to see the colt sitting in front of me. "I won't be doing that."

"Oh?" I tilted my head at him. "I thought everyone wanted that."

"Nah. I'm alright being a pony." He waved a forehoof at me. "I'd rather be all pony than sorta not. I bet some of them will change their minds once the excitement dies down."

I bobbed my head at him. "You won't get a complaint out of me. I like being a pony!"

He leaned forward suddenly, stealing a kiss from my cheek. "I like you as a pony."

That rascal! I laughed and hugged him briefly before bouncing off to check on the ferals, making sure they weren't too upset by all the commotion, but they seemed to be mostly alright.

"What's going on?" The soldier was back with two ponies in tow. They didn't look feral, just subdued.

I smiled at all three. "Welcome back. Who are your new friends?"

"Old friends." He turned to the earth pony and unicorn. "They were in my unit before everything went down, but we're made of tough stuff, right guys?"

"Two of us are girls..." replied the unicorn, also female.

"But we made it," said the earth pony, smiling. "Even if we are horses."

The pegasus mare bobbed his head. "Exactly. I'm not giving up just because I have a tail, forget that! Pinkie, please, what's up with the crowd over there?" He pointed into the filled room. "Something happen?"

"Aiko figured out how to give a pony back their fingers, but it takes a lot out of her, so don't push and shove."

He scowled. "Need us to restore order?" The other two perked up, looking ready to do their job.

Author's Notes:

Last time!
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...1 vote
2: The lights don't seem to be coming on, and the leader speaks through the intercom, which seems to be working at least.1.83 votes
3: Oh merciful fates, what's that noise?!5 votes
4: Zhang wants to make up for her mistake, and it all goes great, mostly...3.83 votes
5: Aiko keeps digging in to her magic while they work. There's so much to learn!4.34 votes

Not much interest in the Chinese folk getting involved at this time, except maybe soldier boy/mare. Let's find out what that noise is...

This fic makes me wish I could set pre and post notes! This was written before the fic. The rest will be after.

And now over~

That noise was apparently a lost human, desperate for help, and she found some. Aiko learned something very important. She's so close to the most important thing! SO CLOSE!

1: Aiko gets swept up changing ponies as she can.
2: Pinkie decides to go exploring instead, leaving the soldiers to keep the peace in her stead.
3: The lights, they're back!
4: Ding? The elevator's working?
5: It's been a while... What are we eating for dinner?

VOTE NOW!