The activity around the garden grew more intense over the day. More people came out to see it that looked decidedly unarmed. One of them, a woman, pointed at it. "Why are we just staring at it? Is it that hard to accept something good happening anymore?"
A man guarding the patch shrugged. "The horses did it. It could be some new way of attacking us."
"Or," started another man. "It could... not be that? I mean didn't you hear about Eastside?"
A kid was present, and didn't look happy at all. "Why're we just standing around? Are we waiting for something?"
The more the discussion went, the less the will of the crowd to wait was left. The scientific capability of the community was anemic, with no electricity and vanishingly tiny supplies. I had an idea. I squeezed Dusk gently and whispered. "I want you to go out and make friends. You're the most normal looking pony here. Cindy and I will cover you, so if they start shooting, focus on running. Tell them we just don't want them to starve, and that we're not like the feral ponies."
Dusk looked over his shoulder at me with an understandable fear before he rose to his hooves and started pulling himself free of the hole. The attention of the crowd quickly focused on him, guns raising into position. One triggerhappy fellow squeezed off a shot, but it was as ill-thought out as it was poorly-aimed, damaging little but dirt.
Dusk tried to look friendly, smiling even as his legs knocked. "Uh, hi... W-we're sorry for all the commotion. We just didn't want, you know, for people to starve."
One of the people in the crowd snorted. "I knew it! It's talking!"
Dusk pointed at himself with a hoof. "I'm Dusk Hope. We're not like the feral horses."
One of the armed guards approached cautiously, gun kept aimed at Dusk's head, much to his discomfort. "We have no reason to believe you."
The woman from before shouted at his back. "Bullshit! We have a whole field of reasons!"
I felt Dusk struggling with a sudden urge to advance and mingle with the humans, playing with and infecting them. I calmed his agitation with soothing thoughts, and his shaking died down a little. "I... don't want to fight, or be shot at."
The kid from earlier suddenly rushed ahead and threw himself in front of Dusk. "Stop being mean! He hasn't done anything!"
Dusk's urge bloomed to maddening levels with the child within hugging distance, and I had to focus everything into calming him. Maybe I should have sent Sandra instead? Dusk licked over his lips before nodding. "The food is safe. I should... go." He turned away from the crowd only to be grabbed by the same kid. He whimpered, warring with the alien urges inside of him. "Please let me go..."
The kid's parents, or at least some responsible adult, arrived and gently pried him off of Dusk, berating him all the while. Unfortunately, the moment there was a clear shot, several men took advantage of it. Dusk was sent fleeing wildly back to the safety of the tunnels and we collapsed it, forced to withdraw from the group.
Sandra nuzzled into Dusk's side lightly. "You did good. That looked tense as hell."
Dusk bobbed his head. "I think... it worked. Some of them really look hopeful. I think... they're scared." Dusk had a full erection, likely having had it since the kid hugged him, not a fact he seemed happy about. "Ugh... I didn't want to infect him, but it was overpowering... Am I a horrible person now?"
I tilted my head a bit. "Did you infect him?"
"Not that I know of. I wanted to..."
"Then you're cool. Let's fix that now." I focused on him, feeling out his gift, which felt moderately strong. "I can change you, and it burns out a lot of the urges and the infectiousness. You have a good amount of juice left, the 'gift'."
Dusk shook his head. "I don't really want to change more, unless you can make me... however I used to be?"
Cindy shook herself. "Can't do that. Do you want to be two-legged?"
Dusk smiled brilliantly. "You can do that? Yes! With hands!"
Cindy tilted herself to refer to me. "We can try, but we can't promise."
Sandra huffed. "You didn't offer me hands..."
I reached for Sandra, gently scratching her behind an ear. "You didn't have much left. I don't know how that's determined, but we can't do much about it." I looked back at Dusk. "You did really well though. I think seeing a pony struggle with, and succeed, against their urges and not attack someone literally hugging them will go a long way, but I just thought of something. We don't want to change you so much people don't recognize you. You're famous now."
Dusk's ears wilted. "You're right. I can't go back as an upright unicorn now... I'll take the hands though, just make them look and act like hooves when I'm not using them."
Could I do that? I'd try. I rolled Dusk over onto his back and rubbed his belly as I focused on that gift in him, stirring it into action and guiding it through his body. His forehooves began to splinter and crack and he made little noises of pain as he regained the gift of fingers as subtly as I could manage it. The gift was still there, and I felt Cindy grab hold of it. Dusk's fair-sized sac suddenly swelled, becoming softball sized and quite dense with seed, pulling the gift away from his torso. There was still a little left, and I coaxed it towards his horn and the delicate organs that seemed to feed into it, hoping it would improve his ability to use unicorn tricks.
The warm glow of the gift faded away and Dusk explosively sighed. "Is it over?"
Cindy smiled. "All done!"
Sandra poked him in the ribs. "You're part of an elite club of only three ponies now. Enjoy not being infectious."
Dusk rolled up onto his hooves, then sat on his haunches before jumping up. "Eek!" As it turns, having huge balls took a little getting used to, and he sat down again much more carefully. "I feel better, like by a lot. The urges are finally shutting up." He extended a forehoof and it broke apart easily, becoming slightly awkward looking fingers, but clearly fingers. "Thank you... Wait... Don't I know you from... somewhere?" He raised a furry brow at Sandra.
Sandra tilted her head. "Not that I remember?"
We let the mystery lay there and relaxed together. I was exhausted from moving without break for quite a long time, and Sandra was equally as eager to get a nap in, so we did that.