Dusk's fur went on end as he bristled. "Don't be that way to Cindy."
I held up a hand. "Yeah, let's calm this down. Cindy's been a friend for a while now."
Cindy smiled. "She's not wrong though... I haven't told you the entire truth."
Luna nodded slowly. "Good, perhaps now is a good time?"
Cindy pointed at me. "I'd like you to put it together first."
All eyes moved to me, and I considered the case. "The other three-headed pony we met were all people before hand, but you came out of nowhere."
Cindy nodded softly. "That's true. What does that tell you?"
I frowned a little. "That you're different?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, yes. I... am the void."
Luna's eyes narrowed at the admission, pawing at the black nothing with a hoof as if ready to charge. "Why have you deceived us? Are you seeking to undermine our efforts?"
She shook her head. "There were way easier ways to do that. I could have led Will into his death a bunch of times, if I wanted that. What you call the void isn't really that. I got caught up in the energy passing between your worlds, then I got curious. Having a body is... addictively good. I want to experience all of it, but I also want to help fix things."
Luna paled. "Our blunder has cost the lives of two worlds?!"
She shook her head again. "No no! When you use up the gift, it loosens the hold, and they are free to return to the 'void', and do so."
Dusk pointed at Cindy. "Why can't we 'use up' Will's then?"
Cindy snorted softly. "Because I'm here willingly, you adorable little pony. I could go, but I don't, so the energy comes back. Most of them just want to go home, so freeing them is the best thing you can do."
Luna lifted an ear. "I think I see... But it worries me. Does every... human... infected catch another of your people?"
Cindy shook her head. "Most of them aren't 'people' as you would define them. Imagine some get rocks, or trees, or even a fire. That's why some people have more gift than others." She pointed at me. "You, lucky boy, girl, both? You got a person. And she likes you." Cindy closed the distance and hugged me. Somehow, knowing she was a separate person and not just a bud of me made it easier to return the attention.
Luna cleared her throat. "That was very educational, and I'm glad to understand a little better now, but there are still things to be done. Tell us, do your people have an opinion on this? Why are some of them supporting humans who are making the problem worse?"
Cindy frowned. "I think most of them didn't get lucky enough to bud a head. They don't know where they are, or what's going on, so they aren't taking an active part in things. They probably have no idea what their power is being used for."
Dusk raised a hoof. "Ah ha! So Crystal and the other lesser royalty got animals, but not people?"
Cindy grinned at Dusk. "I knew you were a clever pony. That's what I figured. Living, but not sentient."
Luna nodded slowly. "Very well. Is there some way to contact your people, and recover your lost kin? Surely the threat would diminish without their assistance, as unwitting as it may be."
Cindy shrugged, turning to face Luna. "We're taught from a young age to not go prodding around physical worlds, but then fwoosh! I was swept right into one, right into a living body even. I could feel two energies around me, the already living body, and one that wanted to make it conform. I thought that seemed odd, and kept it at bay at first."
I clapped my hands together. "So that's why I changed so slowly?"
Cindy nodded. "I couldn't make it go away, just sort of delay it, and when it became clear there was no way to entirely stop it, I just tried to make it easy for you. I thought you really wanted to keep those fingers of yours, so I focused on that, and it worked!"
I looked down at my tauroid form a moment. "Yeah... It could have turned out way worse than this. But like Luna said, can we get your friends out of the other royalty? I mean each one is basically a kidnapped alien. That's pretty bad."
Dusk tapped his horn. "Unicorn magic."
Everyone looked at him and he shuffled in place. "Unicorn magic seems to be the same energy, or close enough, to your world, Cindy. If we can figure out a spell for it, we could shove the alien right out of them. Bam! No more royalty, and a free alien."
Cindy looked uncomfortable. "You'd need a test subject... and I like it here. I want to live and explore and do all the things living things do until this body gets old and dies. That's what they do right? I saw it in your head, Will."
I had an idea and smiled. "What if we figured out how to push you out, but didn't send you home?"
She tilted her head. "Where would I be without a body?"
Dusk bobbed his head. "We could put you in a nice rock or something until we got a new body for you."
She frowned. "I like being able to move and feel. Rocks don't do that." She crossed her arms. "I've been nothing but helpful, don't do this."
I hugged her for a change, and kissed her cheek. "We won't do anything without your say so, promise." She relaxed into the affection as Dusk lit up with a new idea.
"Why don't we just make you a new body? Like you are right now, in this dream?"
Luna frowned as she stepped closer. "Making an entire body from nothing would be quite difficult."
Cindy clapped her hands. "I have the answer!" Suddenly, the dream broke. Cindy woke both of us up, and Dusk had no power to remain. The meeting was over.