Before we retired, Sandra refilled her tongues. As it turned out, I had plenty to spare, and I certainly didn't mind the attention that came with it. Fully charged, she seemed slightly bigger, and more vibrant. She reported it felt great, and went to sleep with a big smile. I was curious how long she could hold that charge, but the day was long enough, and soon I was asleep as well.
We woke up the next morning to Dust Kicker knocking on the door. "Time to get moving," she said. "So, what do you think? A fine city, isn't it?"
I nodded as we emerged from the building after her. "I can't argue the efficiency of your people. They seem well-adjusted and happy, but that has little to do with hunting down all the humans. You can have all this, and the humans too."
Dust swiveled an ear back. "You really believe that? I didn't forget. When I was a human I had the most terrible thoughts, urges. The depraved desires I had when I first became a pony were nothing in comparison." She huffed softly. "You're a good person, it's blinding you to their flaws, this way." She marched on, and we rejoined her gang of enforcers, though a few of the ponies seemed swapped out for fresh faces.
We marched out of the city by the afternoon, and were off through the wilderness for most of the day, and the next. It was slow and tiring work, but I didn't feel secure in offering to teleport them. "Do you have any large ponies, preferably flyers?"
Dust frowned. "They're all busy, doing more important things than carrying any single pony, even the fabled Peacemaker, around. You have hooves, enjoy them."
Hooves served well enough, though a sharp rock hurt a hoof as much as a foot, mind you. There was sensitive flesh in the center that didn't appreciate being jabbed or abraded anymore than a human foot did.
On the third day, our march was interrupted by new ponies emerging from the underbrush in a circle around us, their flat teeth exposed in snarls.
"Ferals!" cried one of the guards as they closed in around us protectively.
The new ponies charged in unison, closing in on us. One of them, built like Sandra, lashed out with its tongues, wrapping Dust with amazing speed. She wriggled and struggled, but the tongues held firmly and began to glow as it clearly fed from her. The three unicorns with them lifted three earth ponies from the guards up into the air and tossed them with great throws of their heads, stranding them in trees.
As the two lines collided, the guards fought back with sharpened hoof-blades, sending several feral ponies to the ground bleeding. Dusk and Sandra stood by me, both unsure what to do, not that I had much better of an idea. "We don't even know what they want, exactly?"
More ferals poured out of the vegetation and even tunneled up from underneath us. Sending my senses out, I could see there were at least a hundred ponies in close range, swarming our position. Though they lost some of their numbers, quantity had a quality of its own, and the guards were subdued. Their hoof-claws were pulled off and discarded methodically.
One of the ferals marched up to us and circled around a moment before leaving, only for more ferals to come over and sniff at us. They hadn't attacked us yet, at least.
Dust was dropped to the dirt, drained to the point of being knocked out. Her hoof-claws were pulled free of her and added to the pile. Most of the guards were shepherded to the side, but not all of them were left to sit peacefully. Some of the ferals were feeling frisky, and were propositioning the guards aggressively. No words were exchanged, but the meaning was clear enough.
I took a moment to try to get a really good look at some of the ferals. They looked a bit sickly. Thin from not enough food and probably surviving on whatever they found. Cindy smiled. "That's a crazy idea, go ahead."
"Stop answering my thoughts, it's weird." I gently waved at one of the passing ferals, gesturing for it to come closer. It looked confused, glancing around before stepping in a little bit and tilting his head up at me. I reached for the pony slowly and began petting over his scalp a moment before drawing him in closer. Once he was fully relaxed and enjoying the rubbing, I guided him to a teat. He got the idea quickly and fastened to it, filling his belly as quickly as the milk was offered. I took the time, and contact, to look inside at his gift. It burned and coiled in him. It looked somehow... cultivated, like someone had specifically grown it in a pattern. Like... seeing an even carpet of grass where you expected a few bushes and a daisy.
The stallion pulled free with a smile, satisfied. He trotted off and more ferals approached, wanting a turn. Sandra was in no hurry to offer her teats, and even sat down on her belly to discourage the idea, leaving me to serve as the only available food source. I only had so much to go around without being fed more, but I took the time to examine each while it happened. Each one had a clean bed of gift, groomed and orderly. "Who is your princess?"
They looked at me quizzically, then departed, taking their wounded with them, and a few of the guards to replace their lost. They also took the hoof-claws, all of them. They never tried to hurt me, or Sandra or Dusk.
One of the guards hurried over to Dust, shaking her awake. She rolled up to her hooves. "Damn it! Esos pendejos llevaron nuestras cosas ! ¿Cuántas perdimos?"
A quick headcount was done, four guards were missing, and not a single hoof-claw was to be found. She frowned at me. "Well, peacemaker, I hear you had a good enough time while my boys were dragged away. You can't make peace with everything." With an angry stomp, she turned and led the way, there was much more walking to do.