We patiently made our way around the city. Sandra peeked over her shoulders as she worked. "I'm starting to change my mind about Cindy."
Cindy's ears perked. "Hmm?"
"You really saved my fuzzy rump back there. Two heads are better than one." She turned her head forward. "Not that I hold it against you, Will. It was so sudden. I hope they didn't shoot the guy we were talking to."
I shook my head. "He looked alright, at least in the initial fire. As long as they didn't go crazy afterwards, he should be fine." I agreed with Sandra, Cindy did have her place, and saving Sandra meant a lot to me.
We arrived at their paltry farm with the sun already sunk and the temperature falling. I was thankful for being covered in fur at that point. We peeked out at the farmlands to see they were barely worth the name. Though the darkness made it harder to see all of them, what we could see showed a some effort, but only minimal results. They'd need a huge farm, like they had before the industrial revolution, to feed the number of people that likely lived in this one city.
We could spot lights and people, but they were far closer to the city. It seemed the farm wasn't deemed important enough to patrol at night, or they didn't have the safe means? It was a bonus for us. "Let's get to work, Sandy."
Sandra turned to face us. "Us? Are you helping too?"
Cindy and I nodded. "Cindy said before we have the power of the three tribes, which is earth included. Let's put that to work. We need to work fast and make a miracle no one can ignore."
Cindy smiled brightly. "I approve of this plan. We'll show them what ponies can do."
Sandra dug up onto the surface and shook herself out as we joined her. She turned to us. "Be careful and quiet. They could notice something, especially since we're going to be remodeling in here."
We nodded, and then all of us got to work. Soft caresses of hooves against the ground revitalized the crops they had set down and hastened their growth along. I became curious and asked Cindy, "Where does the energy for this come from?"
Cindy swiveled an ear at me. "A little from us, mostly the plants grow themselves, we're just... signalling them. Doing this at night will be harder, and they'll drain the earth harder. We should rotate the crops afterwards, if the humans listen to us. If we just keep growing them recklessly, we'll turn this into a desert." A thought suddenly came to her. "Oh! If you have to go, well, go ahead. It'll only help."
I made quite the face at the mental image, but that made sense enough. Sandra apparently heard from the faint 'eww' that came from her direction.
We worked quietly for hours, coaxing their crops of potatoes, and corn. We spied a small fruit garden and made it a tantalizingly delicious smelling thatch of brightly colored fruits waiting to be eaten. Sandra tilted her head up at us. "Now we need to leave a calling card."
Cindy's horn glowed brightly a moment before bolts of light fired into the sky, exploding in brilliant fireworks that lit up the area. "We should go now."
I cringed. "That'll catch their attention, but yes, let's get the hell out of here."
We fled to our tunnel and collapsed the exit, but didn't move far, curious to see their reaction. I felt around for ponies and detected a curious soul moving to inspect the fireworks. Being a lone pony I could feel more about it than normal. The little unicorn felt unusually bright and clever. I could feel his fear about approaching the city, but there was also loneliness and hunger. I gently nudged him towards part of our tunnel, and we were there to greet him, by grabbing his legs and pulling him into the safety of our tunnel network.
He squealed in surprise, squirming wildly until he realized he wasn't being attacked. "Are you going to hurt me? Rape me?" The unicorn was a stallion, though it was hard to pick out details in the darkness. "I didn't mean to intrude!"
Sandra tilted her head. "Well, hello there. I'm Sandra. That big one there is William and Cindy."
He stopped shivering as Sandra calmly introduced us. "Oh? I'm... not the only one?" He smiled a little. "I've... been wandering for so long. Do you have any food?"
Sandra tapped her chin with a hoof. "This is going to sound super strange, but I think I do, but it's not the sort you'd expect."
He perked an ear at Sandra. "I'm past caring for the most part. Oh! I'm..." He squinted. "It's hard to remember."
I reached for the unicorn, gently rubbing over an ear. "It's OK, you're with friends now."
He let out a sigh of relief. "Where's that food? Not to be rude."
Sandra rolled onto her side and nudged her lightly swollen breasts that rested low on her torso. "I'm preparing for being a mother, and I've been fed."
His eyes went wide. "You want me to...? Seriously?"
I felt a flush of jealously, but pushed it aside. I'd done far worse, right in view of Sandra. I felt it'd be a terrible thing to get bothered then. "We didn't bring rations. If you can wait, we can probably get some plants tomorrow."
He apparently couldn't wait, and advanced on Sandra, nuzzling her lower belly with his snout before taking one of her sensitive teats between his lips. He nursed from her like an oversized foal, and from the wet noises and faint trickle from the corners of his snout, I could see he was being rewarded for it. He relaxed against her, flopped across the ground as he suckled. Sandra kicked out her legs a little, seemingly trying to resist little sounds of pleasure.
I moved behind her and gently rubbed her shoulders. "It's OK..."
With my support and assurance, she began to softly moan and sigh, clearly enjoying the role of wet nurse, at least until the unicorn gave a nip and she jumped away from him into my arms.
He looked ashamed. "Sorry... I didn't mean to. Thank you." He got up to his haunches. "I feel better already. It's... like I needed company as much as food. All the other horses I met were... They didn't like talking much. Most of them were clever animals at best. Can I stay with you? I'll behave."
Sandra slid back to the ground. "Just keep your teeth to yourself. Come on, we need to get moving."
We headed back to the farm as a team, or would that be a herd? Nah, I didn't feel like he was part of any family of mine, but I'd keep him safe until we got him back to Crystal's at least.