A few months had passed since my talk with Luna. Right now, we had actually passed into Griffin Country, and it turns out Cozy Glow wasn’t bullshitting us. Just as we crossed the border, a shit ton of wagons appeared over the horizon. At the forefront of the group of wagons was… Big Macintosh. In tow was his wagon with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Following that was… I think literally everypony from Ponyville. As they were all let over the border, each of Twilight’s friends reunited with their parents, Twilight included, which was something she was surprised by.

Cadance and Shining Armor soon joined Twilight’s family in their embrace, Starlight Glimmer walked up to a stallion wearing a starry cape and a slightly out of place, not entirely well groomed mane.

I sat back with Chrysalis with a smile on my face and said. “Wish I had something like that…” Before nuzzling her and asking. “Wanna hug for the sake of it?”

“You dare ask me if I want affection from you, my dear stallion?” Chrysalis asked. “If it were not for our wagonmates, I would’ve requested that we sleep together if you know what I mean.”

“Oh.” I chuckled. “Not one for privacy, are you?”

“I am not. Unfortunately it is rather hard to have those ‘moments’ when sharing a wagon with Love Butt and her husband, which doesn’t leave a lot of space given that you decided to keep Blaze and Murk. Then you decided to also keep Cozy Glow,” she purred as she pulled me into a hug. “I just want a moment with my stallion, where we can get all touchy…” She shivered. “Lovely.”

“Hey Ostri,” Cozy stepped out of the wagon. “Blaze isn’t looking too good,” she said. Her face was looking down… as Murk jumped out of the wagon and glared at my filly.

“Blaze is not dying, Cozy Glow. Please do not scare my soul mate.”

“But…” Cozy lifted a hoof and said. “She sounds like-”

“So I’m giving birth!” Blaze barked. Before another word could be said, I flew over to where Fluttershy was catching up with her brother and I nudged her.

“Hey, Blaze is giving birth right now, and you’re the only pony I can immediately recognize as a vet-”

“BLAZE IS GIVING BIRTH!?” Fluttershy moved at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous as she ran towards my wagon. Blaze was carried out with the combined effort of Chrysalis and Murk, while Shining Armor pulled the bed out of the wagon so that she could have something to rest on. I skidded to a stop just before the bed and held Blaze’s head in my hooves. She let out a whine as Fluttershy instructed her on what to do.

“This,” Blaze growled. “Sucks.” She groaned.

“I’ve got you, girl. I’ve got you,” I whispered.

“I will be back; the little ones will be hungry,” Murk said as he got up to go hunt for food.

“You best be back to meet your son and daughters,” Blaze teased, despite her discomfort. Murk nodded and disappeared into the forest.

“You’ll be okay…” Fluttershy said as she continued to help Blaze. “Just push,” she offered Blaze a stick. “And bite down on that as you do.” Before long, Blaze started pushing and stopping with labored breaths. Not too long after that, a pup popped out. I was expecting it to be a little ‘bean’ but… it looked like a fox kit that was already a couple weeks old; basically it didn’t look like a potato. Just a fox kit with nine tails. I stared at the kit for a few moments while Blaze worked on getting the other two kits out. Soon, there were three kits laying around Blaze’s belly, all whimpering, crying, looking around. Just trying to get closer to Blaze.

The first kit that was born eventually waddled on up to me, its big, round eyes stared up at me, tilting its head. Its ninetales slowly waved behind it, as the fox took in my appearance as I took its appearance in. Its ears twitched a few times as it listened to me breathe. Before long, I was laying on my stomach, being at its level seemed to make the curious little fella more willing to approach me, as he made his way over to me and nuzzled my nose. I don’t think my heart melted so much in my entire life.

I sat on my haunches, picking the little kitsune up in my arms. The fox squirmed a bit as it tried to make itself more comfortable in my grasp, but didn’t actively try to make its way out of my hooves. After a few moments, he seemed to have found a comfy position, wrapped his tails around my left leg, and cuddled let out a happily little shrill.

“That one likes you a lot,” Blaze commented as Murk made his way back with a few geese. Fluttershy, surprisingly, didn’t flinch at the sight of three dead animals. “Thank you, Murk… Would you like to see your pups?” The kitsune offered, moving one of her tails that was covering the other two pups that opted to stick by their mother.

“I would,” Murk laid down and nuzzled them both as Fluttershy took the geese. “Kind One, I do appreciate you, especially for helping my mate give birth, but what are you doing? Those are meant to feed my pups. And I am aware of your-”

“Oh hush. I may love animals, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen some dead geese. Everypony’s gotta eat, even the carnivores. I was just going to pluck the feathers out of these poor creatures so that your pups have an easier time eating without having to worry about feathers getting stuck in their teeth or in their throat.” Fluttershy soon trotted away, Twilight took her place soon after. With a notepad and started noting down any and all observations she could make, from the pups, to their behavior, to their physical attributes. Heck, down to how Blaze and Murk were treating the pups.

The pup in my arms was soon fast asleep, his snores coming out in small, almost imperceptible squeaks as the dream realm soon swept him up. “Can I name this one, Blaze, Murk?” I asked.

Murk smirked and nodded. “That was the plan; letting you name one of our kits. You seemed more excited about Blaze being a mother than Blaze was, and she was the one that was about to become a mother, not you. So go on, name your pup. These young ones are just as much your pups as they are mine, or even Blaze’s.” The kumiho laid down, setting his head in Blaze’s fur and added. “And you can watch over the pups whenever me and Blaze need a break from dealing with them.”

I sat down, staring at the kitsune-kumiho in my hooves, thinking of something to call him. Should I give him something more along the lines of a pony? Blaze and Murk didn’t really have any rhyme or reason for their names, with Murk likely receiving his name from either somepony, or another kumiho, and I gave Blaze her name. I stared down at the little fellow, nuzzled him a bit and hummed. The little fella looked like he had little fireballs on his cheeks, even if they were just simple, black marks in his fur, mere marks.

But I think I might know what to call him.

“Ember.” I said. “Does Ember sound good?” I asked, looking up at my foxes.

“Ember sounds lovely.” Blaze nodded. “And fits with my name more. I see which one of us is your favorite, hmm?” I snorted as Blaze gave her mate a playful nuzzle. Before long, Fluttershy came back with the geese skinned. I nudged Ember and woke him up, before settling him down on the ground, letting him go eat with his siblings.

A few hours later, the pups were all asleep, with full bellies. Blaze was fast asleep as well, her body and tails curled upland around her pups, happily snoozing away as she was pressed into Murk, who was wide awake. Unfortunately for me and Chryssy, or not so unfortunately, Cadance and Shining Armor had opted to go spend the rest of the traveling up to the Crystal Empire. Cozy Glow asked to go have a sleepover with Apple Bloom and her two friends. So it just left me and Chrysalis alone in our wagon.

Seeing as all of Ponyville was with us, and Equestria long behind us, we were all safe to make our way through griffin territory in peace. Whatever the fuck Celestia was doing, whatever Luna was off doing, if she was genuine and went to go find out who the fuck she is… I’m not sure. I don’t care either.

For the first time in… a year. Holy shit, it’s been a year since I arrived in modern day Equestria.

Holy shit… I’m twenty years old now.

I laid down in our wagon next to Chrysalis, seeing as Blaze and Murk all decided to sleep outside, under the stars with their pups. “G’night, Chrysalis…” I whispered as I snuggled into her underbelly. Before I could even react, Chrysalis’s legs snapped around me. “Chrysalis? What… is going on? What are you-”

“You idiot… this is the first night we’ll be spending together… alone in our wagon.” Chrysalis’s horn lit up. “I casted a Silence Spell on our wagon. Nopony shall be able to hear us. What do you say? Would you like to end tonight, and our trek through Equestria by calling me… Queen?” Chrysalis asked. I stared at Chrysalis for a long, long minute. To say yes would finally move me on from Luna, from Equestria. From what my life was supposed to be like… and I don’t think I mind moving on. In fact, with Blaze’s kits, Shining Armor and Cadance possibly joining me and Chrysalis in a herd by the time we reach the Crystal Empire…

“Well my Queen,” I whispered. “I’m all yours for the night. Don’t hold back; feel free to make me beg even.” I smiled and kissed Chrysalis. “Whenever you’re ready…”

Chrysalis smirked. “Oh-ho-ho. Is this what it’s like to see you come out of your shell once more, Ostri? If so…” My marefriend nuzzled me. “This night is going to be perfect.”

Author's Note

Okay, so i had grander plans and have been trying to figure out how to get them into action. but after reading some comments and doing some thinking... yeah, those big plans really don't have a place in a story like this. This whole series has been solely focused on Ostri, trying to find his place in the world, and moving on from a break up. I know this took way too long to write, way too long to publish, but I wanted to get this just right.

There is only so much I can write when it comes to Ostri rolling around after a breakup. his journey for now is long from over. but this chapter of his journey, getting out of Equestria, and finally moving on, is. I hope this ending was at least satisfactory. I might, might make a new installment when Ostri and company make it to the crystal empire and then explore what the hell happened to Equestria later. might. for now... I'll let Ostri be happy. my man deserves it.