Dusk Hope and Dust Kicker were seated side-by-side, discussing something quietly. I couldn't hear them, and neither did Cindy beside me, but we could both feel the waves of uncomfortable emotions coming from them. They were discussing something big, and something we'd probably not enjoy after the fact. Still, prying in their business wasn't the thing to do, as a friend. Sometimes I missed that veil of ignorance, when I could have just saw two people talking and left it at that.

Something was coming. Something I wouldn't like. I could feel its inevitability, and I wanted to stop it, to defeat it as I had other things since this whole thing began, but I felt it... Cindy squeezed my hand. She felt it too. This was an enemy we couldn't defeat, nor, ultimately, should. This was a heart setting down a needed path, and another ready to be a fine husband and friend.

When Dust Kicker approached us and made the announcement, it was like deja vu, that powerful sensation that we were hearing something repeated at us. She was leaving, this time not as a threat, but to see her people were safe and well cared for, and she was taking Dusk Hope with her.

Dusk Hope looked as ready to cry as I felt. I had gotten so used to his presence. He was the only true stallion of the group, and his ever present positivity would be missed. He was good. He was goodness itself. He didn't want to be selfish and he resisted the urge where the rest of us may falter often. It was that same drive, that need to do right, that kept him glued to Dust Kicker's side. She was pregnant with his foal, and they had sworn oaths of fealty. There was no way we'd separate them. She was going home, so he was going with her.

She said her goodbyes with a crisp professionalism, but we could feel her hurting too. Her words were clear and pointed, but we knew. I wondered what it would have been like if we didn't know, if we just thought she was being terrible and cold and mean. She wasn't. She wanted to stay. She wanted to throw everything away from her past and be a part of our herd forever, but her own sense of duty and rightness prevented it. "My family needs me, my town needs me. My entire country needs more ponies with their heads on straight, and some idea of what's going on in the world..."

Her formal facade cracked as her head fell. "I will miss you, all of you. Even Neon." But then she spun around and trotted off with a militarily stiff march.

We were left with just Dusk Hope, but he had no words. He had started sniffing and crying, letting his emotions free as he looked between us and Dust Kicker. He was hurting. We both reached for him and pulled him up between ourselves, and we hugged him tightly. No words were strictly required, but I said some anyway. "You'll always be welcome back, both of you. Go, with our friendship, and our love, because we do love you, Hope. We love you." He began to sob all the louder at my words. Perhaps they were poorly chosen, or that was just a time for tears. I couldn't take it back, so I just nuzzled away some of them and kissed his cheek. Cindy kissed the other without prompting. We set him down gently. "She's waiting for you."

He followed after her, tail hanging between his legs. He only hurried when she escaped his sight, only to slow back down. He was determined to do right, but it weighed on his young heart. They ran into Crystal on the way out and Dust Kicker smiled. "We only just met, but I'm glad I did, Crystal. Please, watch over Will and Cindy for me. They can get some foolish ideas, and I won't be here to keep them away from them. Alright?" She walked right past Crystal, and I couldn't help but feel the words were meant more for me than Crystal. Tears stung a moment before I wiped them away. I would miss them both.

Cindy nudged me gently. "It's not that bad. I mean, we can hop down there once in a while and say hello, can't we?"

I smiled. "Well, that's true... I suppose I'm being selfish. They were right beside us most nights. They were a part of what made everything warm and comfortable. They're family, now they're..." Were they not family?

Cindy nudged me, poking with a finger. "And now they're still family. Family doesn't always share beds, that's just a new pony thing. You know I feel that hurt too... I'll miss them too. We'll be sure to visit them, make sure they're alright, and hug the stuffing out of them."

Crystal trotted up to us, glancing over her shoulder at were Dust and Dusk had gone. "Are they going, for real?"

Cindy nodded at her. "For real, but not forever is what I'm saying. With you, we have three teleporters. There's no reason for us not to visit them, or even lend a helping hoof."

Crystal smiled at that. "Of course. I'll let one of you two lead the way the first time. Once I have a good idea of where we are, I can do the next one. It's a funny thing, how small the world gets when you can skip over the boring parts. Will they be alright? Why didn't they get teleported home?"

I sighed gently. "They're doing it the old fashioned way, though they are getting a lift there, no teleporting with us. I imagine Dust Kicker is afraid Dusk Hope will break if he has to be near us for much longer. She's wrong though. He is completely loyal to her, but it would..."

"...hurt him," finished Cindy, suddenly cutting in as I faltered. "He would cry, some on the outside, and a lot on the inside, and he would ache every moment we were beside him while saying goodbye. He may be a child, in age, but he tries so hard to be an adult, in action."

Crystal rubbed a moment at her swollen belly. "I'm going to be very acquainted with that. Karen's growing strong and well inside there, and he'll be a strong stallion with a young body but an adult mind. Do you think things will calm down after the first generation of this?"

Neon slipped into the room, nodding. She'd been listening. "I think so. Princesses won't just... happen, not after this first wave. We're stuck with what we have, for better or worse, and ponies will be born the old fashioned way. A boy pony and a girl pony will get horny, grind parts, and eventually a baby pony or two will happen."

Crystal lifted an ear. "Did you hear about the pony and the human? They're both healthy, last I heard. What will that child be like? If we can interbreed like that, won't it mean we'll eventually muddle together? Eventually, no ponies, or humans, just something between."

I shrugged. "I'm not a biologist, but most ponies seem to like ponies, and most humans are attracted to humans, so crossbreeds are going to be the minority. So long as they're treated with respect, I'm happy. The one I'm most worried for is not the father or the mother, but the hybrid. Who is he or she going to get together with? She'll be too human for most ponies, and too pony for most humans."

Neon snorted softly. "You're grossly underestimating the power of deviancy. Provided the hybrid isn't malformed and at least looks nice, for a hybrid, someone will get hard and/or wet for them, even as their friends mock them for it. What do you think it'll be? A satyr like you offered that girl? Maybe more like some of the ones that got stuck in the middle, with hooves and everything, but upright? Maybe perfect blends, with little snouts and twitchy ears, but fingers to run through their manes and tails, and ominvorous teeth to go with."

Cindy tilted her head at Neon. "All of those are possible. Are you going to miss Dusk and Dust?"

Neon waved a hoof. "I won't miss Dust Kicker's attitude around me. Nice girl, but she sucks at letting go. Now Dusk Hope? That's another story. He might have been a stallion, but he was cute, and genuine." She clopped that hoof to the ground. "Genuine is very precious. Heck, I'm pretty shitty at genuine. I'll miss that little guy. When he didn't like something you did, he just told you. None of this tiptoeing around bullshit and hidden hurt feelings and bitter revenge ideas." A few tears escaped her despite her attempt to ward them, and she looked away. "They'll be fine."

Crystal smiled gently. "I remember when you first brought him back to my den. He was so lost and confused, but he knew he'd found someone worth clinging to, and he tried to do right by you, Will, straight from the very start. He could see a bright future ahead for you, and he wasn't wrong. You've done so much, for everyone."

I frowned a little as a new thought popped up. "Whatever happened with the shapeshifters? Are they alright?"

Crystal nodded. "Oh, yes, they're more than fine. With peace becoming the thing, and a pardon received, their den scattered. Their herd became many herds, spread through many cities. They're watching, and living, and thriving. Some of them work for the army now, you know. They're doing well."

I couldn't help but lift a hind leg to rub at my own swollen belly. Crystal noticed and snorted with a fresh smile, eyes glittering with memories. "I remember asking you for advice on how to stop the ponies from breeding wildly, and here we are. The moment we make a family, kids everywhere! I feel like a bit of a hypocrite."

Cindy gestured out a window across the room. "It's calmed itself down. In cities with plenty of work, people seem happy to do that work, and are having less foals, but it's higher than before the collapse, by a lot, I heard. Humans too, mind you. I suppose it makes sense."

Neon agreed with Cindy quickly. "Of course. There was death, and this is how you counter that. It's instinct, I think. Now that we're stable and safe, all the ones we lost are being replaced. People will cut it out eventually, but I wouldn't stress about it. We're not even close to the numbers we had before this mess."

Crystal nodded at Neon. "Exactly." She moved to a pillow and curled on top of it. "This time, we have farming earth ponies and weather controlling pegasi, and magical unicorns, and even healing, uh, what was that called again?"

Neon spread her mouth wide and let her tongues wag at Crystal in undulating patterns. It still amazed me how one could talk when doing that, but she did so, "I prefer 'Tatzl'. The mythical worm that could grab things and was so poisonous you'd be dead before you knew it." She pulled her tongues back. "But poison is just medicine, when used correctly."

I nodded at Neon lightly. "I never heard of that, but it's pretty poetic."

Cindy agreed with a huff. "Better than 'parasite', I'll admit."

Author's Notes:

Goodbye, little warrior. You will be missed, but you must fight typos in South America.