It was the next day and Kyle was working out with the guards. He didn't technically have to anymore, but there he was. They didn't stop him, and so the biped competed with good spirits against and alongside the quadrupeds. News of the Stud Program's shutdown had spread through the castle, and they ribbed Kyle about it light-heartedly, as if it just might have been his performance that was the fault.

"Kyle?" A mare stood at the archway leading to the practice yard. It was Careful Study with a distracted look about her.

Kyle broke off from the others and jogged to her side. "What's up? Y--"

"C-congratulations." Careful couldn't quite match Kyle's eyes, looking just a bit away from his face. "I... hope you two are happy. I'll--"

"What?" Kyle raised a brow. "What are you going on about?"

Careful blinked at Kyle, looking confused. "Trixie... Did she lie?"

Kyle pointed away from the yard and they began walking together. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me you gave her the foal she wanted, and you two were together, forever." She put up a hoof quickly. "It's alright if you are! I will not be one of those jealous mares."

Kyle tapped her on her wriggly nose. "She isn't wrong, not entirely, but she isn't right either."

"What?"

"Starlight set some things straight this morning." Kyle crossed his arms. "Trixie wants a stallion, me, but she doesn't have the patience for home life. She'll only slow down when the foal gets too big, and for a little bit after it arrives, but then..." He rolled a hand. "She's going to be out and about, living the life of a traveling performer."

Careful shook her head slowly. "Then why? I don't understand. Where does that leave you? Why wouldn't she just take you along?"

"I'm not a magician." Kyle lifted his shoulders. "Best I'd do is help lift heavy things. No, she's going to be out a lot, and we're alright with that."

Careful clopped a hoof with a defiant expression. "That's not fair! You deserve better than to be left behind at home."

"You deserve better." Kyle laid a finger on her nose and kept it there. "You want to be a mother, don't you."

Careful lit up, but couldn't escape the foul and pervasive presence of that finger. She looked up into the eyes of the one that owned it. "Why? You're married. The Stud Program's over. I don't have a job anymore. It's all over."

Kyle dropped to a knee to be closer to Careful's level. He peered into her eyes. "Nothing's over. Nothing that really matters. It's time to start what you wanted to start."

Careful quirked an ear back. "Look, um... If you're suggesting... what I think you are." She glanced away. "I don't want to be one mare in a crowd. Before, we didn't have a choice."

Kyle brushed gently along her cheek to reach an ear and began rubbing it gently up and down. "Trixie is the one that will be the stranger. She will come once in a while, spinning tales of her show and want to be loved and supported before she runs off again. I want a real mare of the house." He pulled her forward gently. "I want someone who will always be at my side."

As the two spoke their words of timid romance on the screen, others were busy working. Some were just pressing buttons, but others were more pointed. They had begun to remember their past, and with the guidance of the director were setting up a stage with anxiety mounting.

"If this works," spoke one of the operators. "If... We know there's life past tomorrow. We've all seen it."

The others nodded in agreement as they worked. They had seen the future, and it had ponies. Magical, colorful ponies. It was far from the future they had expected, still...

"A future," stated the director. "Assuming Kyle finishes what he started, we'll have company soon. I know you'll have some questions, but let's try to keep this civil and organized. We can't scare them away. Let's make them as comfortable as possible. They'll have questions too, which we will answer in kind. Then they'll go home and we'll both have what we want."

A ripple of agreement went through the operators, renewed in their purpose. They were going to make sure there was a tomorrow, ponies or not.

"But what about Starlight?" Careful had been calmed with gentle words and assurances, but not everything had been settled. "I've seen the way she looks at the two of you. She won't leave you and Trixie alone, basically ever."

"About that." Kyle waited a moment while Careful wound tighter. "She actually asked to be next, and do you know what I told her?"

"Yes?" She shrank with dismay.

"I told her no. I wasn't even going to consider it until we had this conversation." He stood up tall and turned, heading for the dining room. "As if I'd make such a wonderful mare wait longer than she already has."

Careful stood still a moment before she brightened with a wide smile. She galloped after him, tail swaying. "For real? You'd... pick me over her? She's the most powerful unicorn around! She's pretty and confident and polite, usually. She's so many things I'm not..."

"She's a walking bundle of nerves that does a passable job at hiding it." He turned back to her. "That's it. She's better at pretending. All three of you are broken mares, in different ways. I want to help you all blossom and realize you're worth it."

She blinked at him. "That's sounding a bit preachy."

"Sorry." He shrugged a little. "I mean it though. You're all fantastic ponies. I want you to realize that."

Careful was quiet a moment before she pointed at Kyle. "What happens if you manage that, and we decide to go be ourselves somewhere else. You're not the most handsome stallion in the land, after all, or the most magically powerful, or the richest, or..."

He tapped her on the nose, interrupting her rant. "If that happens, it happens. Then I guess we weren't as much in love as I'd have hoped. It doesn't change what's right to do, or who I like. I like you, Careful, a lot. Are you willing to take this uncertain step with me?"

The room gave a soft chorus of aww, except for the few that had been bound and gagged to their chairs with duct tape and rope in equal abundance.

"It's weird," said one operator as he hammered in a nail diligently. "I'd still rather, you know, be Kyle, but hey, I have a life. We all do. Let's make it count. If we don't get it right, there won't be any Kyle to be."

A female operator nodded back. "You think it's weird for you? I still remember what it's like to have a horse dick." She rolled her eyes before resuming the calibrating of some electronic device. "Though it sounds like half of us might get to know that, eventually."

"Better than just not being here," spoke a third as they snapped a rug into place to make it more welcoming. "Look, life is change. If humanity has to change to survive, we'll do it. Adaptability has been one of our winning character traits."

"Can't we, you know... adapt as humans?" asked another, clearly lacking the communal zeal though they worked alongside the others.

The director shook his head. "We've been trying to crack this for years. The population has dipped under 1%. One percent. It's still dropping. Hell, you can see some of the pods are still closed? They aren't even coming out. We're dying. We have a way to not die, we take it. We owe it to our children who may otherwise just never get a chance, two or four legs."

Sullen but determined mutterings spread through the room as they endeavored to be as ready for their guests as they could be.

Author's Note

Humanity's most defiant moment being one where they give up being humans? Stubborn jerks.

Meanwhile, IN THE FUTURE, Kyle seems to be setting up a herd. Hopefully he doesn't die before he gets to enjoy being their stallion.