Things were looking up. With expeditions being led by someone other than me, we were putting this whole thing on fast forward. Apparently food distribution and clean water were two things that became quite spotty once the infrastructure collapsed. It wasn't everything people needed, but it certainly was the most reliably consistent thing they needed.
I felt good about the whole thing. We were turning back doomsday. Sure 'America' as I knew it was still a fading memory, but we were a true force of light, beating back the problem without leaving casualties, and I could find nothing wrong with that. Keeping the military involved made them happy too, since they were a part of the solution, and maybe they didn't feel like I was working 'around' them so much.
Of course, that was when a soldier came up to just beyond comfortable talking distance. "Command says they need you immediately."
Cindy tilted her head. "They'll have to come out here. We're not allowed inside, remember?"
He waved a hand. "Situation has changed. You're allowed in today. No contact is to be made with any other living creature. Follow me."
I rose up to my hooves, stirring Sandra and Dusk. They followed after me without question. "Why so worried about me touching a pony?"
"Just relaying orders." He led the way through the gates and into the city proper. It was the first time I saw it, and I liked what I saw for the most part. The streets were cleaned up, and the dangerously damaged buildings had been torn down and the rubble removed. The city wasn't as tall and grand as it once was, but it didn't look like it was being actively shelled either.
The soldier soon arrived at a squat building and gestured inside. "Go on in. Mind your Ps and Qs."
I moved past him, and he tried to block the others from following me, earning an angry hiss from Sandra. "Where he goes, we go."
I turned to face the soldier. "They are my bodyguards and right-hand men. Anything told to me is going to get told to them right afterwards anyway."
Dusk reared up on hind legs and put a foreleg over his chest. "We'll keep everything a secret, promise."
"Not my call," replied the soldier with a frown. "Take it up with the brass inside."
I decided to do just that, turning back around. "I'll be right back."
The building's layout was quite simple, and I soon found the large conference room where ten people that had the strong feel of officers about them sat waiting. One of them, the oldest of the bunch, rose to his feet on my entry. "Ah, the mysterious S-Class arrives. I've been dying to ask, why are you so hell-bent on serving America when all the others seem content tearing civilization a new one?"
Did I have a good reason for that? "It's the right thing to do." It sounded lame to me, but it was my lame reason and I didn't plan to change it. "People are dying, on four legs or two. They're all victims, and I want to stop that. People didn't stop being people just because they got sick, and they need help. I mean I get it, it's hard to help someone who wants to infect you and share the problem, like a drowning man clubbing their rescuers to death in their flailing, but that doesn't mean letting them drown is the right answer."
The one female at the table adjusted her glasses, staring at me. "We've been informed you can prevent infectiousness in others, but not yourself. For the record, can we hear why that is?"
Cindy made a little annoyed grunt. "We're a source of it. We'll keep making more, no matter how hard you try to get rid of the gift inside of us, but we can use it for good things, and we're not trying to spread it to people."
I noticed none of them were wearing hazmat suits, or even behind glass, or... "Which I think you realize, seeing as you're extending a lot of trust in this meeting. Thank you for that."
"We have a... request." started a new member, who sounded like he was out of breath. "I'm dying. We've run out of the medicine I used to take, and the one lab that used to make it isn't going to be operational for a long time, blasted patents. If you can assure me that I'll be aware and functional, I'd rather live on four legs than die on two. I won't leave America in this state. Can you fix me, with this 'gift' of yours?"
That was a twist I was not expecting. Even as I mulled over it, Cindy answered, "Of course! We'd be honored. We've had more practice with moving the gift around. What kind of pony do you want to be?"
The female asked, "How? Our reports show fluid exchange is vital for infection."
I nodded. "That's exactly right. Since we want to be directing the course of the infection, er, it would be better if we were in close contact. Also, can my bodyguards come in? Not that I'm worried about an attack, but they're also my right-hand men, or ponies if you prefer."
A new member shook his head. "Out of the question. This is a matter of urgent secrecy. They'll have to wait for you."
The dying officer rose to his feet. He was shaking like a leaf. I wondered how hard he tried to hold out, to pray for a better answer than the one being offered to him as he approached me. I tried to think of something reassuring to say. "You will still be you, just in a different shape. We won't leave any gift in you right from the start. You'll probably be the most clean and instinct-free pony we'll ever get."
"Save your supporting platitudes for someone else. I'll be the judge of it, and the others know me well enough." He stopped in front of me. "Alright, so, what, french kissing time?"
Cindy tilted herself. "That's one way."
He shuddered. "I think it's the only way I'm comfortable with, and I'm not comfortable with it."
~Let me,~ came Cindy's voice, and I did let her. She leaned us in and she pressed her lips to his, slipping him some tongue for just a moment before she drew back, or tried. He grasped her around the cheeks and held her a moment, forcing the contact to last a few seconds before he let her go. She was driven to a deep blush by the unexpected aggression.
I could feel the gift spreading through him. It was a fairly average amount. He would not be royalty. My horn began to glow as I reached for that gift, directing it. "We're going to ruin your clothes, I should note, and did you settle on a kind of pony?"
"I think one of the ones with the magic, the horned ones. Not much interest in farming or flying."
I noticed the female and several others were taking notes. Of course they would be. This was a first on a few levels. Cindy joined me with her magic, and we began to reforge the man. We felt the gift try to invert his sex, and redirected it away from that effort, instead growing a spiraled horn. It was a pinkish color, just like the fur that was starting to sprout all over him. I could feel the wrongness in his body suddenly, and pressed the gift against it, destroying the sickness as we rebuilt him. With a loud snap and a grunt of pain, he fell to all fours. "Stay calm and with us," I coached. "Focus on your friends, and what's important to you, and don't let yourself be caught up in any new urges. We'll be rid of those soon."
His pants tore as his legs reshaped and a tail burst free, soon covered in a darker maroon shade that matched his new mane. He was a pony, a pink and dark red unicorn. There was still some gift in there, and I tried to be generous, siphoning it into his vital organs to make him healthy and strong where the disease had been sapping him before. He took a deep and clear breath and shook himself out. "I don't know what you just did, but that felt amazing."
He turned to face his fellows and snapped a crisp, yet awkward, salute. "I feel clumsy as fuck, but healthy as a horse, pun intended. Permission to resume duty?"
The female wagged a pen. "Denied. Get some new pants first."
He smirked. "Yes ma'am." He turned back towards me. "You did good, I think... I'm going to have to get used to this, but I feel... alive! That hurt like a son of a god damned bitch, but what good surgery doesn't?" He took an uncertain step and collapsed, only to quickly gather himself back up again and get to trying all the harder. He was not going to be deterred by alien anatomy. But I found it interesting...
"We burned the gift out of you so quickly you didn't pick up the instinctive movement," I noticed out loud. That prompted a flurry of new writing.
"I'll figure it out, on my own, without some disease telling me what to do, thanks." He rose and took a step without collapsing, much to his delight. He would figure it out, one way or the other.
I turned for the door. "I gather that's all you needed?"
"Yes," said one of the men, "But you don't have to leave the city. We do ask that you not infect anyone else, even if they request it, unless you're approved by someone of captain rank or higher. Any infection outside of that will be considered a criminal act. You are not outside the law."
That seemed fair. I nodded. "Alright."
Things were looking up.