Liz wandered in with three of her herd-mates, looking around the busy halls of Crystal's caverns. "Your week is long over, but my scouts say you haven't wasted it. I want to hear what's going on, from the horse's mouth."
Cindy snorted and giggled. "That was awful."
I frowned a bit. "I'm pretty sure you said a month."
Liz rolled a hand. "Week, month, get to the good part. What's with the little collars you're putting on your people like they're pets or something?"
Sandra advanced, nodding at Liz. "They're ponies that aren't infectious and are safe to be around." She raised a hoof and gently tapped her own collar. "Like mine. They don't stand in for ownership or anything creepy like that."
With a sudden thought, I added, "Do not abuse that system. A single collared infection will make the whole thing crumble and we'll be back to square one, possibly worse."
Liz snorted. "Sounds like you're building a mighty house of cards, just waiting for the right wind. I'm not the only one with a set of eyes in the world. Someone's going to abuse it, and it's just a matter of time. You got a plan for that?"
She wasn't wrong, but that didn't make me like it. I sighed and rolled a hand, "What do you suggest?"
Liz smiled brightly. "Oh, now I'm included?"
Dusk tilted his head. "I haven't met you before, but you're welcome to join us now, right?"
Liz nodded. "Right... Maybe I'm just being too bitchy. Fine, you tell me, Will. How do my people fit into whatever grand plan you have in mind? You have earth ponies farming and pegasi weather controlling and scouting against ferals. I've seen a dozen unicorns milling around like they're up to something, so I guess you have a use for those too. My people don't like being idle, or irrelevant."
I raised a finger. "Actually, I do know one way you could be uniquely useful. The largest cities are walled off and not taking guests, human or pony, making diplomacy rather difficult. I know you have the skill to get in and get that ball rolling. Beyond that, I have a feeling we're not the only pony community consolidating. Basically we need scouts and infiltrators, and you're the best of that, right?"
"Damn right," agreed Liz. "What's in it for us?"
"That's easy." I rolled a hand at Liz. "How's the pony we gave you?"
Liz raised a brow. "Huh? He's fine. Still producing, still happy. Why?"
I nodded. "Great, so ponies don't change. Every major city you help bring into the fold, we'll find a volunteer to help feed your herd. I figure after a few you won't even need anyone else."
Liz nodded lightly. "Alright, so we don't starve to death, that's great, but not much to look forward to."
"Well tell me what you want." I pointed off towards the farms. "Do you eat regular food too? Supply of that is increasing with every new town we add. Do you want to stop being infectious? We can arrange that too. You can talk to people face-to-face again, without lies."
Liz glanced towards the farm, then back at me. "I get you. So long as we bow to Crystal, we get whatever we want."
I raised a brow. "It's not really about Crystal. That reminds me, what happened to that 'council' thing?"
Liz snorted softly. "They're a mess. I'll take Crystal over that bunch of screaming idiots. Fine. Crystal doesn't care if I start setting up shop, right?"
We had gained another ally, or at least secured an old one. Crystal helped plan where to put the shapeshifter supplies in the caverns, and they became part of the expanding herd. While the other ponies were shy around their insectoid neighbors at first, things warmed up between them soon enough, and I think the shapeshifters were happier for the company. When I saw a shapeshifter topping one of the unicorn mares in his native form, both making happy sounds, I felt pretty sure they had integrated.
All was proceeding according to plan, at least until the military decided to drop by. The first hint of trouble we got was the alarmed whinny of ponies closest to the surface. One of the small pegasi darted into the main chamber with fear in her eyes. "We're being attacked! Army men, using knock-out darts."
It could have been worse. Using less-than-lethal force meant something. I rose and stepped towards the beseiged tunnels with my herd at my side. "Tell everyone to back away and do not engage."
Sandra smiled as she clip-clopped beside me. "This could be a great opportunity."
Dusk nodded, though looked less certain. "If we can show them the good that we've done."
We knew we found them when several darts sank into our shield and hovered there, vibrating from the sudden stop. I held up my hands, furry palms exposed. "Easy there. We're peaceful in here. Want to talk?"
Cindy smiled. "And please stop shooting the ponies. That's not very nice."
One of the soldiers, wearing the same full-body hazmat suit as the others, put out a hand, warding the others back. With a flick, his face became visible. "Cindy? William? What happened to you?"
I knew that face. "Richard?! How did you even get here?"
Richard approached us cautiously, looking mostly unchanged from the time we saw him back at the army camp. "We were shipped out, you remember that, right? So you're orchestrating all of this?"
One of the other soldiers looked around nervously, even if I couldn't see his face I could see his gun move around looking for targets and considering me and my herd to be fine ones. "Why are we stopping for tea, Richard?"
I held up a hand at them. "Lower your guns. No one gets hurt today if I get any votes on the matter. If you want to talk, let's talk. My friends are noninfectious and harmless, and I don't plan to kiss any of you, unless you really want to be horses that bad."
Richard slung his tranq-rifle on his back, smiling. "Shit, if I'd known it was you in here, I'd have just come knocking. You're still on our side, right?"
I raised a brow. "I'm on the side that gets people not killed. What do you mean though?"
Richard rolled his hands around one another. "I'm not an idiot. I saw the horses back off when the base was being attacked. You did that, right?"
Cindy grinned. "We did."
Richard pulled a radio from his belt and pressed the talk button. "Base, we have high priority diplomatic target. S-Class is located. Repeat, S-Class is located and friendly. Permission to engage?"