I kept Neon in our arms as we started poking around. There was a radio present. It looked like a serious military affair, and I wasn't sure how to operate it, but one of the others did.
After some translating, he hopped up onto the chair in front of it and started playing with the radio until he found a channel with English speakers chatting back and forth. He gestured at the radio, then hopped down, leaving it to me.
What could I say to some random English speakers to get back to the military? I supposed most military secrets weren't what they used to be. I pushed the talk button. "Hello, this is William, reporting in from somewhere in South America. Anyone from the states listening in?"
"Wasn't expecting a new voice," came a female reply. "Name's One Touch. Holed up in Maine. Powerful radio you have that, or maybe lucky bounce off?"
"Sharpshooter, calling in from Texas. You live down there, Will, or just visiting? I heard it's a right hostile place down there." That one sounded male.
I pushed the button, hopeful but uncertain. "So, I don't suppose any of you are in contact with the operation centered out of Central States? Ponies and humans, getting along, no more infections?"
Sandra suddenly sighed and pulled off her collar, setting it on the ground. "Guess I don't get to wear that anymore."
"I think I heard of who you're talking about," replied Sharpshooter. "They just moved in a city or two over. I've been keeping ponies away the old fashioned way, with a gun."
One Touch gasped into the radio. "You wouldn't shoot me, would you?"
"What? Course not, we've become fast friends in these crazy times."
"Well I'll have you know I have four legs, like it or not. It took some practice to get a radio working with hooves, but I did," she revealed. "Ponies are people, don't shoot us, please."
While amusing, the topic had certainly strayed off topic. "Sharpshooter, could you visit them and tell them William, the S Class, is alright, and in possession of a new friendly S Class. Situation is, uh, stabilized."
He said something of a confirmation, but their conversation went back to being about One Touch being a pony fairly quickly. I couldn't think of anything else I could do with it, so I turned off the radio and turned to face the larger Sandra. "Look at you."
Sandra recoiled a little, ears pinning on her head. "Yeah, look at me."
I perked an ear at her. "Why so glum? You're looking good."
Dusk bobbed his head. "It's true. You're bigger, brighter, um, even more powerful."
Sandra snorted softly. "What's with the jagged patterns?" She raised a hoof to the lightning bolt like patterns under her eyes. "And I feel like there's something in here with me. I thought I was done with urges."
Cindy suddenly spoke up, "Oh! That'd be me, well, not me, but someone like me. They don't have a head to talk through, so right in your head is the only way to go. Oh! I Know! We should go into a dream together. Then you could talk to them."
I found an ear swiveling on its own towards Cindy, but Neon spoke first, "There was a literal person inside of me?"
Cindy nodded at Neon. "Well, not a person like you'd think. No human, one of my people. We don't normally have bodies, just energy."
Sandra nuzzled at one of my legs. "How bad is it?"
I reached for her and softly pet along her larger back. "Dusk isn't joking, you're looking very nice. Oh, just remembered. You're not too small anymore."
Sandra tilted her head at me before she went red all through the face. "Will! Really..."
Dust Kicker came in from the hallway. "We've sent out runners in ever direction to spread the word as fast as they could, but we don't have teleporters." She pointed at Neon. "Fess up, where are they?"
Neon frowned a little. "I'm not hiding them. I only had the one. Where'd they go?"
Dust Kicker waved a hoof. "Not important. Alright, fine. So we have no way to get the word up to the front that Neon's been overthrown, so they're going to cause trouble without her. Speaking of her, why are you carrying her around like a cat?"
Neon looked a little hurt and I turned some petting attention to her. "You know the looks some of the others have been giving her. I'm keeping her safe. She's given up, so she's my responsibility now."
Dust Kicker snorted softly. "I'd give her a kick if it were an option, sure..."
Dusk moved between me and Dust and frowned at her. "She's just a pony now, stop threatening her."
Dust Kicker rolled her eyes. "We're all 'just' ponies. Being bigger and glowing doesn't excuse things."
Sandra raised a hoof. "One thing's still bothering me. What about the other princess?"
Dust clucked her tongue in her mouth. "You mean the 'Princess of the Jungle'? She seems pretty happy ruling over the ferals. What about her?"
Neon frowned. "She's worked against me for months, interrupting supply lines, ambushing patrols, and kidnapping people where she could. Whatever my crimes, brainwashing people away from their families can't be right." I felt her thick tail coil around my arm, squeezing lightly.
"Let's put out one fire at a time here." I stood up and gestured for Sandra and Dusk to move in. "I say we teleport back to the border and see what we can do about Neon's forces there, and see if we can't get them to disperse if they see she's been defeated."
Dust Kicker moved in with the others. "You're not leaving me out of this! I know who to talk to. I was part of her power structure and all."
I waved with a free hand past her. "And your friends?"
"Are all big boys and girls and won't die if I leave them alone for a little bit. Peacemaker, you're stuck with me."
Neon chuckled softly. "I suppose that title fits you well enough. Do you really forgive me?"
She squirmed around in my grip until she was belly up, looking at me with what I thought was a hopeful expression. I brought in my free hand and scratched into her soft underbelly until a little purr started to escape her. "If you're ready to put all this behind you, I won't keep pointing at it. The world's a smaller place in some ways, we don't have room for jails where ready hands are more valuable. Or hooves, in your case."
Dust Kicker frowned a little. "Maybe I should threaten the entire world. Seems to get attention these days."
Dusk nuzzled into her neck suddenly and bit through the fur, grooming her. Dust looked ready to kick him, but relaxed under the continued grooming, and they soon were leaning on each other in a moment of peace. Sandra giggled softly at the sight. "You know, you're the first two unicorns that were compatible looking so friendly."
Dust went red at Sandra's words and did kick Dusk then. "He's not my stallion!"
Dusk rubbed the sore spot on his side. "I'm not trying to be. I'm just being a friend."
Dust glanced away, looking a little guilty before she moved back in beside him and sitting down. She wasn't cuddling him, but she was sitting close enough to be touching.
I wrapped a shield around everyone. "Are we ready to go?"
"Ready!" chimed Cindy with a grin.
Dust threw a leg over Dusk. "Ready and willing."
Neon rolled back to backside up and squeezed the arm holding her. "Ready."
Lastly Sandra pressed against my side, as large as my pony half, perhaps a bit larger. "Any time."
I imagined that first town we had reached, oh that time ago, where we first ran into Dust Kicker and her ponies. I threw us into the void, and we weren't underground anymore. We appeared on the dusty road in the middle of the day. The sun beat down on us, quickly warming our fur.
Neon looked a little ill. "Ugh. How do you tolerate that?"
Dust huffed, bearing it with dignity, though I was fairly sure it had affected her as well.
Cindy was already looking for the next target. "Ready?" She didn't wait for the others to talk, and we jumped again, appearing on the top of the tallest building around. From that vantage point we could see an orderly legion of ponies in the distance. Neon suddenly evacuated her belly, making quite the mess all over me and the roof.
Dusk sighed softly and wriggled away from Dust's grip to turn his magic on me, cleaning the mess quickly and chucking it off the roof.
Dust snorted softly. "It's not that bad. I'm fine..."
Sandra shook her head. "It's not a contest. Is that them?" She pointed at the orderly rows of ponies far below and ahead of us.
Neon and Dust both nodded at that, and with Dusk's magic, we skipped again, appearing beside the gathering of ponies, much to their surprise.
"N-Neon!" squeaked several of them as they made hasty salutes, but they were looking at Sandra, not Neon.
Sandra flushed at the mistake and pointed at the smaller Neon. "Her, not me."
The clear leader of the group marched towards us with her suspicious glare. "What's going on here? You're interrupting our field maneuvers. Explain yourself at once."
Neon nodded a little. "I am Neon, your leader. Stand down." She jumped from my grip to the ground, getting her footing stable. "The war's over."
"What do you mean, the war's over?" The leader scowled. "And you don't look much like Neon to--"
Tiring of her, Neon suddenly lashed out with her tongues, grabbing the unicorn and hefting her up, draining the power out of her and restoring some of her own bright colors, if temporarily. "I always liked having unicorns as leaders. They take charge easily, but you can be so stubborn at times." She threw the poor drained unicorn mare aside. "It's over! Go home. Mission accomplished. Your new task is to watch over the citizens of your home towns and keep them happy and safe. The people from the states are not your enemy." She pointed Northward, then at me. "This is William, their greatest pony. She had the option of just killing me, but she doesn't work that way. She's our best hope for the future, so let's give her a chance, eh? Let's go."
She moved right through the middle of the formation, forcing them to move aside, destroying the order. "Move it!" A few ponies tried to lash out, but ended up just being food for Neon. It eventually became clear that she wasn't going to be defeated in melee, and she looked more and more like her usual self with the extra energy that flowed through her. The crowd was dispersed, and Neon returned to us, glowing softly. "Damn that feels good."
Dust frowned at her. "You can't keep that forever, you realize?"
Neon huffed. "Maybe not, doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. You don't look so intimidating anymore." She moved to cuff Dust and the unicorn growled, ducking out of the way. They went down into the dirt, wrestling. Dust was clearly furious, while Neon seemed to be having a good time with it.
Dust's struggle suddenly paused. Neon lifted her up with her tongues, one wrapped around her barrel, one around her snout, and one plunged right between her legs. "Did you know you can do delightful things to a mare with this?" Neon smiled with naughty intent before a bright pulse of power ran down a tongue into Dust's nethers.
Dust screamed muffledly as pleasure seemed to overwhelm her. She kicked and struggled, but it was all weak. Further pulses robbed her of all ability to struggle as she just wriggled a little in the air, breathing loudly through her nose as she was worked over.
Sandra interceded, wrapping a tongue around one of Neon's and suddenly drawing away the excess energy. Dust crashed to the ground, landing on top of a drained Neon. Dust Kicker's focus returned faster than Neon's energy and she hopped to her hooves. "You monster!"
Sandra pulled Dust back with another tongue. "Enough fighting."
Neon weakly sat up, her neon colors drained away. "Mmmf, I was just playing. You weren't having that bad of a time."
I put a hand to my head. "First rule of my herd, no one touches someone who doesn't want to be touched. No means no, always."
Dust blinked softly, then started to color. "You're..."