But We Can't Eat Meat!

For once, luck seems to be on the side of the four survivors. Not only do they get to Fillydelphia with minimal incident, they arrive to find the city more or less free of clones. Almost completely cleaned out of any supplies they could scavenge, but safe to stay in for a night or two.

Some exploration turns up a relatively intact hotel with several rooms left unlocked, and they are quick to claim one of the larger rooms as a campsite. While Baggage heads out to check the other rooms for anything worth taking, the three remaining ponies are once again left with little to do.

Virus starts clearing a space in the middle of the room, scooting furniture against the walls and sweeping debris away so nopony sits on a nail or something. Tri sits near the bags, trying to think of something useful to do besides stay out of the way. Celosia, lastly, just finds herself lying beside her sister and flipping through the Mirror Pool documentation they had found.

Eventually, she sighs, having reached the back cover. “Well, those last few chapters were just a waste of time.” She slams the book shut and pushes it to the side.

“What were they about, if not the pool?” The filly looks to her curiously.

The mare puts a foreleg around her. “They were about the pool, but nothing was useful. Mostly just experiments with inanimate objects, its history and past uses, and a map to its location.” She pauses before scowling. “...why would she seal it away forever and then make a map leading to its location to be published freely to the world?”

Her little sister nuzzles her as she tucks herself against the mare. “Maybe she didn’t think ponies would do anything bad?”

Biting back a few choice remarks at the disappeared alicorn’s expense, Celosia simply nuzzles back as she speaks. “Maybe. Still, at the very least, we know where to avoid.” She glances over at the stallion in the room and smirks. “I think you’ve made enough space, Virus. Come on, join the snugglefest.”

The pegasus smiles and does so, laying on the other side of Tri and putting a wing over both of them. Leaning over the filly, he gives Celosia a quick kiss while Tri watches. “You two comfortable?”

“Very,” the unicorn replies with a smile, giving him a nuzzle in return. She looks down at her sister and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry for doing this in front of you.”

“Do what?” She looks between the two of them. “Ponies who do that love each other and become Mommies and Daddies right? That’s not a bad thing.”

Celosia’s face goes red, and she almost chokes on her words for a moment. “W-Well… no, it’s not a bad thing, but...” She glances to Virus, her eyes begging for help.

The pegasus seems to swish his tongue around for a moment before looking down to the filly. “Mommies and Daddies, huh?”

“Yeah!” Tri’s tail swishes happily as she looks between the two of them. “Ponies who love each other have foals. Foals make everypony happy.” Her words show the strength of her confidence in this logic.

“Erm...” Celosia tries to think of a way to word what she wants to say. “Well… I suppose some of that makes sense… but, well, not all ponies who love each other have foals...”

Both Virus and Tri watch her, though the filly is the one who speaks first. “I think you’d be a good Mom.”

Virus debates chiming in, but goes for it in the end. “You have done well with the one filly you’ve been taking care of.”

The red-faced mare lowers her head to the floor, looking embarrassed. “There’s a difference between caring for a child and caring for a sister...”

“You still make a great sister-mom.” Tri hugs the mare’s head, nuzzling her ears.

Virus just chuckles at this, leaning down and nuzzling the two of them. “From the mouths of foals… though I don’t think this is where you meant for this to go.”

Celosia finally lets out a giggle, nuzzling them back only slightly awkwardly due to the positioning. “Thanks, you two… still, I think I’d rather wait before thinking of having foals of my own.” She looks to Virus with a small smirk. “Assuming that’s okay with you.”

He smiles and nods. “I’m fine with that.” Still, he looks to Tri before leaning down next to Celosia’s ear, whispering almost silently. “But I wouldn’t say no to practice.”

The mare responds with a bright blush and a kiss on his cheek before any words come out, these ones serving as a way of diverting attention away from herself. “What about you, Tri? Any hopes of becoming a Mommy yourself one day?”

The filly nods happily. “Yeah, eventually! But… I guess I need to find a colt first. Hmm…” She looks down in thought before shaking her head. “I’m sure there’ll be one eventually. We’ll find each other, then we’ll get all smoochy like you two, then we get foals, right?”

“...that’s about all you need to know at this point in life,” Celosia says simply before nuzzling her. “So, what kind of a colt are you looking for?”

“Hmm… maybe someone like Virus?” She looks up at the stallion in question. “He’s nice and seems like a good Daddy.” The pegasus smiles proudly at this.

“Does he?” Celosia tilts her head, a teasing tone coming to her voice and a similarly teasing smile to her muzzle. “I feel like he’d spoil his kids a bit too much.”

He smirks back at her. “I’d spoil my wife too.”

Tri butts in. “That’s you, right sis?”

“...well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she says tentatively.

Virus pats the two of them with his wing. “We’re trying not to rush things, Tri.”

“What’s there to rush?” She tilts her head at them. “You like each other, you’re both nice, you’re smoochy, so now you get married. It’s not hard.”

“Well...” Celosia blushes again. “We’ve only been together for a couple weeks now… and, well...” She stops to think of how to phrase this next bit. “...there isn’t really a place we can go to for getting married.”

“Oh yeah… you need a pony to marry you…” Ears poking up, she gets up and trots over to their bags, digging in one, her back half sticking out as she almost falls in.

Virus scoots until he and Celosia’s sides are touching, nuzzling her. “I haven’t seen her this perky in a bit. I like it.”

“Me too.” She smiles, keeping her voice low. “She was always like this before… everything. It’s good to see her revert back every now and then.”

After a minute, Tri comes back, an almost too big black traveling cloak draped over her shoulders. Sitting in front of them, she clears her throat and raises a hoof, only to pause with her mouth open. It closes and she thinks, shaking her head and trying again after a minute. “Blah blah blah, something something. You two love each other, so I now pronounce you… mare and stallion!” She gestures two both of them. “You can now kiss and have foals that call me Aunty Tri.”

The unicorn blinks before turning to Virus and smiling. She pulls him into a kiss, her tail wagging behind her. Virus leans into it, closing his eyes as he pulls Celosia close. The two of them can hear Tri’s own tail swishing across the floor quickly as she giggles quietly behind her hooves.

Eventually, Celosia pulls back, giggling. “That’s that, then.”

Virus chuckles. “I don’t have a necklace or a ring, but I can make it up to you in other ways, right?”

“We can worry about that at a later time.” She kisses him again before looking to Tri with a smile. “Thank you.”

The filly smiles back and nods before throwing the cloak back onto the bags. “You’re welcome!” Trottin over, she jumps into the small space between them, squirming down into the crevice and sighing contently. “For that, I get dual snuggles whenever I want. Well, unless you two are doing smoochy stuff, then I’ll leave you to it.”

“I suppose it’s better than paying with bits,” Celosia muses, happily allowing her into the cuddling.

“She got to the good parts quickly, too.” Virus chuckles. “Didn’t take hours either.”

“She’s efficient like that.” She gives her sister a nuzzle.

The stallion looks over the two of them softly, his gaze lingering on the mare with a small silent smile. She smiles back before resting her head, content to just enjoy this for a while.

A few minutes pass in relaxed silence before the smallest form starts wriggling, the filly reluctantly pulling herself from between them. With her tail tucked between her legs, she looks back at them sheepishly. “I’ll be right back, I umm… need the little filly’s room…”

Celosia giggles and waves her off. “Don’t take too long.” She nods, quickly trotting into the hall.

Virus just chuckles, resting his head on the mare’s neck. “Foals will be foals…”

“Yes, they will.” She nuzzles him. “They grow up fast, though.”

“I don’t know.” He kisses her cheek. “Tri seems to be at that nice point of a little grown up, but not too much. I’m not sure I can see her beyond that yet.”

“She will be, eventually… but you’re right about one thing.” She kisses back. “She’s definitely not too grown up yet.” Her tail wags a bit. “What were you like as a foal?”

“Hmm…” He chuckles as he remembers. “Playful, nerdy, and from what my mother used to tell me… I had a tendency to stick clouds to myself until I was a cloud with mane and tail so I could make myself bigger.”

Celosia can’t help but laugh at that, nuzzling him. “R-Really? You wanted to be a cloud?”

He blushes a bit, nuzzling back. “To be fair, wouldn’t it be nice to nuzzle a cloud?”

“I don’t know… they’re all wet on the inside. And I much prefer nuzzling warm fur.” She smiles.

“As do I, though I should point out both warm and wet at the same time isn’t a bad thing.” He chuckles, giving her a kiss on the lips.

“I never said it was.” She giggles. “But I like you the way you are. Not as a ball of white fluff.”

He smiles. “What were you like when you were little? I bet you were adorable.”

She blushes a bit as she thinks. “I was pretty outgoing, I think… loud, energetic, friendly; probably where Tri gets it from. Rather out of place for a Canterlot pony, to be frank.” She grumbles a bit at nothing in particular. “When I got my cutie mark, our parents started getting on my case to be more ‘proper’. Tri had just been born, and they didn’t want me ‘setting a poor example’. It still took a few years before they finally hammered it into my head how I was supposed to act.” She blushes further. “S-Sorry… got off track… um, what was the original question?”

Virus just blinks before drawing her into an embrace. “Are you okay after a childhood like that? Most pegasi are told to try and be outgoing; it’s what we feel in the sky. Even with a job indoors, I can’t imagine being restrained like most Canterlot ponies were.”

She hugs back, letting out a content sigh. “I’m fine now… they never got to Tri in that way, and I didn’t exactly spend too long being all prim before everything happened. So you could say I was set free of the ‘corruption’.” She can’t help but smirk.

He chuckles, kissing her neck. “That’s good… I’d hate to see you forced to do something you didn’t want to.” He looks over her, then himself, then back over her as a blush comes to his cheeks, showing a hint of where his mind is.

Her smirk just widens. “Getting some… thoughts, are we?”

“Maybe…” He blushes harder, rubbing her back. “All this talk of foals just got me thinking about… what yours and mine may look and be like.”

The unicorn starts blushing as well, her smirk becoming a soft smile as she nuzzles him. “Well, aren’t you the forward one? What’s come to mind so far?”

He nuzzles her back. “I’m thinking of a little pink filly, maybe a little purple colt too. It doesn’t matter to me if they’re pegasi or unicorns… but the beautiful thing I see is us all together.” After a moment he adds. “Maybe you’re a little round with the next one.” His tail flicks her flank.

Celosia giggles, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I like it… you’re getting me excited just thinking about it.” Her tail wags. “And, well, we are married now, I suppose...”

His tail does the same, even laying across hers as he touches his muzzle to hers. “Well, if I’ve got the time of year right, we’ve still got a little bit of time to be sure…” Their lips meet in another kiss.

She happily keeps the kiss going, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. She hums into his mouth, tail flicking around in excitement.

As the stallion pulls her close and starts to press against her, the door opens and Tri walks back in. As she sees the two of them, she smiles. “I knew you two would get all smoochy and make foals when I was gone.”

Celosia pulls away, blushing madly. “W-We didn’t make foals!”

Chuckling mischievously, Virus whispers into her ear. “Yet.” Her blush only deepens in response.

Fortunately, she is saved from further embarrassment when a certain gray stallion returns to the room. Without even a greeting or a question, he just nods his head towards the door. “Grab your things, you three.”

Celosia slowly lifts her head, confused. “We’re leaving already?”

“Not exactly.” He heads back out into the hall without another word.

“...always explains things so well, doesn’t he?” Virus deadpans.

The unicorn sighs, standing up and stretching. “Well, a picture’s worth a thousand words...”