We heard shouting coming from above. We went still, trying to listen to it.
"You will not order my men on my ship." It sounded like Dust Kicker.
"It is no longer your ship. You are relieved of command." Was it that unicorn again?
The words got blurred as more ponies joined the mess. I decided staying was not the right course of action. Gesturing for the others to come closer, I wrapped them in a bubble and we slid out into the hallway. Fortunately, no one had seen the act, and we quickly moved from there up to the deck to see what was going on.
We arrived to find the unicorn being held to the ground by Dust Kicker with one hoof as the other came down, shattering her horn. The unicorn shrieked, thrashing her body around under Dust Kicker in blinding pain. Dust Kicker lived up to her name, kicking the other unicorn away. "You're either a rogue agent, or our leader's folding under the pressure. I don't like either option."
She looked up directly at us and frowned sharply as she trotted towards us. "And here we are, the star of the hour. You're playing with me, aren't you, big girl? You could have slipped away from me whenever you wanted to, isn't that right?"
I saw no reason to argue that particular fact. "We came with you as a choice, Dust Kicker."
Dust Kicker nodded. "I figured as much." She gestured with her head at the mewling form of the crippled unicorn. "She came back to give us new orders to the front, found out you were still very alive, and got irate about it. As luck would have it, my people know I don't do things randomly, isn't that right?"
A chorus of male and female voices raised in support before they quickly moved back to work instead of staring at us. "Right, there's no point keeping you locked up, especially if you can get out when you want anyway." She raised a brow. "You teleport too? Hmmph. I'm going to ask that you not cause trouble, and I think you'll give me that. You've been a courteous guest so far."
Sandra nodded at her. "We won't cause any trouble, er, ma'am."
Dusk bobbed his head in agreement. "I've never been on a boat before. May I look around?"
Dust made a dismissive wave of a hoof and Dusk wandered off to ogle at everything like a child. She sighed softly. "You're the most harmless batch of political trouble I ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Tell me straight, what do you want to come out of your meeting?"
Cindy smiled at Dust. "Well, ideally, we have a heart-to-heart, and this whole war stops because we're friends, and we can have peace instead."
Dust rolled her eyes. "And when that fails? Are you just going to go home with a shrug? You may be naive, but you aren't that daft."
Cindy glanced at me, and I huffed. "If it comes to that, it'll be between two leaders, not asking a bunch of bystanders to get into danger for us, or her."
Dust sank to her haunches. "So, what, you'll fight her, hand-to-hand? She'll suck you dry. However good you are with that horn of yours, she has that skill in her tongues. They're fast like whips. When she wants to, she moves them so fast I don't even see them move, just when they land. She can beat someone to death while sucking the energy clear of them. You'll be nothing but a snack for her."
Cindy tilted her head a little. "Well we'll be extra careful then."
"Extra careful!" Dust burst into laughter, clopping the floor with a hoof. "You'll be extra dead is what you'll be." She frowned and turned away. "It's not too late for you to vanish off this boat."
I stepped after her. "Wait, we wanted to offer something."
She perked an ear back. "Oh? What's that?"
I rolled a hand. "We saw you all still have the energy that changed you. It has a pervasive, ongoing, effect on the mind. Urges and whatnot. We could clear them way. You'd stop being infectious, and your thoughts would clear up. We can also enhance you while we're at it."
She turned to frown at me. "That's an awful big pill you're asking me to swallow. Why would you offer to enhance your enemy? Besides, my thoughts are clear enough." She turned up her nose.
I shrugged softly. "Everyone thinks their thoughts are clear, but the difference when it's gone is quite noticeable. We're doing this for all the ponies in America. It's why we can have ponies and humans together. They don't infect humans anymore, and they aren't overwhelmed with the urge to get messy with them, or even each other, minus the usual urges."
Sandra looked around the deck. "Why don't we start with one of your people? Just to show it's safe. He cleared mine out, and I felt a lot better afterwards." She smiled a little and shrugged.
Dust Kicker frowned decidedly before she leveled a hoof at a passing earth pony. "Pedro, obtenga su culo lo siento por aquí."
The pony looked up, then trotted over loyally. She nodded at him, "Quédate quieto y dejar que ella haga lo que quiere hacer, pero quiero saber si algo sale mal o se siente extraño."
Pedro gave a less-certain nod, then saluted and turned towards us, looking expecting. I had no idea what Dust had said in her rapid Spanish and decided to ignore that in favor of focusing on Pedro. Getting his conversion right seemed vitally important, if I planned to have cooperation from anyone else on the boat.