Redmint simulated a cough.
"So...what do we do? Same as before?"
"Yes," Licorice answered. "We're becoming more organic with each passing day, and so we need to gather what we can."
Louis hopped towards the road and looked across the horizon, hoping to find something of interest to the group.
"But we can't go back to the city. What if they're like those weirdos we met before?" Redmint stressed. "They'll probably try to put us in some kind of quarantine! I'm happy being like this! I don't want them to try and stop that."
"I understand, Redmint, but I don't think we have a choice in the matter.
"Hmmm...There's a camp over there," Louis noted. "It looks like it's pretty large, but I'm not sure. I can't see it very well."
"Really?" Sour shouted with excitement. "Let me check."
"Why can't Louis just fly? He's a pegasus."
Sour pouted and looked at Redmint with puppy eyes. "But I just wanted to climb the van."
Redmint tried to look away but couldn't get himself to do it fully, and Raspberry amused herself in torturing him by jumping in front of the neuropony's face when he closed his eyes.
"AHH! STOP IT! STOP DOING 'the face'!"
Licorice bapped Sour on the back of her head, causing her to yelp in sudden pain. "Stop that."
Louis, meanwhile, tried to work his wings again. Using what he remembered, the neuropony spread his wings out, revealing some fleshy bits and feathers. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and flapped his wings as best as he could, his body gradually taking to the skies.
"You know, I just thought about something," Sour pondered whilst staring at Louis.
"And what's that?" Redmint asked.
"What do we call Louis? He or she?"
Redmint opened his mouth, but a single grunt existed it and he became confused.
"Well," Licorice started. "I imagine it's still 'he' for now despite having a female body. It's not technically fully organic, so the body can't be assigned a sex, I guess?"
Raspberry scratched her head. "That's confusing."
Licorice groaned and clutched his head. "Please stop. You're giving me a headache."
Louis landed next to the group and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you three?"
"N-nothing!" Raspberry blurted out with a sheepish smile.
"Well...I think you should relax. Look at Starburst!" Louis pointed to the apathetic neuropony with a bored expression on her face. "Look at her. She's so calm she looks like she's dead inside!" she joked.
"Heeeeey!" Redmint shouted. "Don't say that about her!" he yelled angrily.
"Well, while you bicker like goats, I can say that there really is a camp on the outskirts of the city." Louis scratched his chin. "I'm not sure, but I think that there's neuroponies there as well."
"Then let's go!" Sour shouted.
Redmint mumbled angrily to himself. "Fine. Okay."
The group took their mobile home and parked next another group of similar vehicles in the large area. Louis looked outside and frowned. "I feel like a hippy..." he groaned.
The camp was quite sizeable, with several hundred people and neuroponies wandering about the area. Several campfires were sizzling in the sunlight, and many tables, chairs, and toys were being set up. Large groups were talking with each other, although none seemed to care about the new arrivals, save for a gray neuropony with transparent black film serving as a mane and tail.
Knocking came upon the door before the pony arrived to it, and Starburst opened it without the input of Redmint. She looked up to see a very tall human with scraggly blonde hair, a red shirt with a faded pattern on it, and black jeans. He fiddled with his fingers whilst giving a nervous grin to the neurobot in front of him.
"H-hello there," he stuttered. "Are you here to join us in our escapades?"
Starburst's only response was blankly staring at the man, unnerving him even more. Louis was going to step forward, but Licorice stopped him. When he was about to ask why, he noticed the black pony muffling his laughter. Seeing the man become more and more befuddled and disturbed the time that Starburst stared at him was amusing to the unicorn.
"So..."
The gray neuropony Louis had spotted earlier pushed the man away, said person protesting against the aggressive treatment.
"Looks like an AI got stuck in one of the bodies," she mused. "Anyone else here?" she asked.
"Yes," Louis answered quickly. He stepped next to Starburst who took several steps to the side. "There's us all." She presented everyone around. "We were just curious about what's going on here and if we could get some supplies for our trip."
"Trip?" the mare repeated. "What kinda trip?" She glared at the mare with a wide, bright eye. "Anything we should know about you?" Her voice became more sinister.
Louis heard the clinking and clanking of weaponry around him and felt his nonexistent heart lock up. "L-l-like what?"
Licorice intervened instantly. "We're not here to cause you any harm. We're just here to find the creators of these neurobots so we can get Louis here back into his original body."
"And you?"
Licorice smiled and straightened himself. "I'm content like this."
The mare neuropony eyed the unicorn up and down, then smiled. "Alrighty then! Welcome to our camp!" Everyone around loosened up from these words. "I am Ankorage, and the nervous nelly you met is my boyfriend: Andrew."
"Ankorage?" Louis repeated. "A strange name."
Everyone stepped out of the vehicle and stretched themselves out a little more. Redmint tried getting Starburst to do the same, but her movements were very slow and static.
"Oh yeah? And what are your friends called?"
Louis pointed to each individual when she called them by name. "Licorice, Sour Raspberry, Starburst, and Redmint."
Ankorage frowned. "Oh. You're the kind who name yourselves after foods." She clicked her tongue. "That's a shame."
Raspberry hopped in front of the 'welcoming' mare with a huge smile on her face. "You're in a relationship with a person? I thought you would've gone to others like us, now."
"Pffff. As if," Ankorage laughed. "When I was stuck in this body, I..."
"S-she said she wanted to leave me," Andrew interjected. "But I refused. I said I would be with her forever, even if it meant something otherworldly and bizarre."
Ankorage looked away and would have blushed, were she capable. "Nerd."
"That's so cuuuuute!" Raspberry squee'd.
"Nnnnn-no it's not!" the gray neuropony stuttered. "Sh-shut up!"
"And she's all flustered, too!"
Andrew held in his laughter at the sight of Ankorage blushing. "I still think she's super cute like this."
The man, despite his scrawny physique, scooped up the neurobot with ease and cradled the increasing furious mare.
"If it's supplies you need, though, then we can help you out. We won't give you a lot, though," the man explained. "It all depends on how much we have." He put his 'girlfriend' on the floor and scratched his chin. "Although you don't look like you need food and water yet."
"Not yet," Licorice said. "We're preparing for it as we're going to the sea. That's supposedly where the creators of these machines reside."
Andrews frowned. "What are they, super villains?"
The unicorn shrugged.
"Fair enough."
"So what was with the aggression earlier?" Louis asked.
Ankorage slapped her cheeks to regain her composure. "It's because of all these weirdos that have been popping up everywhere."
Redmint stepped forward with Starburst close by. "Like the reverse-religious-fanatics?" he asked.
"Y...yes." Ankorage was astonished. "How do you know about that?"
"We had a run-in with them in a city further down the road, opposite this one," Licorice explained. "Bunch of weirdos trying to force us into a dungeon until we're done with our 'evolution'. We ended up getting chased by a military force of some kind. Not sure who they were, really."
"At first we thought they were the police," Louis added. "But cops don't have explosive rockets and stuff."
"We've seen similar weirdos, honestly. It's why we're all here together and heavily armed." Ankorage scratched the back of her neck. "Groups if neuroponies attaching weapons to themselves and using fancy contraptions to still be able to use them, and people who drive around from place-to-place with kitted out vehicles. Like some kind of Mad Max movie."
"What? What do they want?"
"The ponies want everyone to get into the neuropony bodies and abandon their old ones behind."
"And those that don't comply?" Redmint asked.
"Oooo. 'Comply'. Gettin' fancy on us," Starburst teased.
"They kill them, or beat them within an inch of their lives and force them into a neuropony body." Ankorage looked around and pointed to a group of neuroponies sitting in a circle, surrounded by people trying to console them. "They're some of the victims we managed to save."
"What the hell?" Louis mumbled under his breath.
"And the humans?" Redmint continued.
"They just kill us because they think we're a disease that will eventually spread to normal humans. The more 'sane' ones capture neuroponies and shove them into the hands of quarantine officers for study. You aren't imprisoned or treated like a test animal..." The mare looked away and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm...As far as we know."
"These are really bizarre times," Licorice sighed then glared at the neuropony. "And what is it that YOU do?"
"We're the one who just want to live as we chose. Those who want to stay as neurobots, and those who want to stay as people. There's no forcing anyone. And those who become neuroponies, we help so that the transition is easier and they don't have a really hard time trying to use things like they used to as people."
"That's a really good plan. We might just join you after we help Louis," Licorice said happily.
"So..." Louis stepped in. "Do these 'groups' have names yet?"
"No. Not that we know of. They're just starting to pop up, but I imagine that they'll start naming themselves eventually and then you'll have the 'biggest' and 'baddest'," Ankorage spoke in mockery. "that will unite everyone under their respective banners and become proper organisations."
Louis panicked internally at the sound of that.