"Twilight? Ya in here?" Applejack knocked on the open oak door to the library with Rainbow Dash behind her. "Twi?"
"I'll be down in a second! Come in!" Twilight Sparkle yelled across the room.
Tentatively, the couple walked into the library, sidestepping the numerous piles of books, the shelves nearly empty. Twilight came down the stairs not too much later, her hooves click-clacking, levitating some more books onto a stack close by.
“Sorry about the books," she said. She righted a tower about to fall over with her magic. "I decided to reorganize them, since the last time I did it was a month ago, and you have no idea how out of order they can get. Especially the children's section." Twilight shuddered. "A's next to the Z's, U's next to the F's... Now, what can I help you two with?”
Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other, neither one wanting to speak first. After having a conversation with their eyes (easy to do with someone you've been with for a long time), it was still a full minute before they both spoke, Applejack first.
“Well, uh, Twilight, we—”
“You see, Twilight—”
"Well? Spit it out!" said Twilight, growing impatient. "Don't beat around the bush!"
"We want to have a foal!" they blurted, and they quickly covered their mouths with their hooves. The lavender librarian conscientiously closed the library door, and then turned back to the two mares.
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "And why did you come to me?"
"You know how you said a while back that gender-changing spells were really hard for most unicorns?" Rainbow Dash started.
"Yes, I do recall that."
"Well, since y'r an alicorn now an' all..." Applejack trailed off and gave an embarrassed grin.
Twilight shifted her wings uncomfortably. "I know what you are trying to ask me—"
"So you'll do it, then?" interrupted Applejack excitedly.
"—and it won't work."
"What? Why not?" Rainbow said.
Motioning for the couple to follow her to the kitchen, Twilight said as they walked, "Just because your physical gender is changed doesn't mean the DNA in the gametes will change."
"The what now?" Rainbow Dash asked as they all sat down at Twilight's wooden kitchen table.
Twilight sighed." Gametes: eggs and sperm."
"Oh."
"Males have XY sex chromosomes, and females have XX, and they have, respectively, X and Y gametes and X and X gametes. Therefore, when the gender is swapped, even though they look like the opposite gender, they are still genetically their real gender, down to their gametes."
"But can't ya change the spell? Or find one that does fix th' problem?" asked Applejack, trying to wrap her head around the concepts that had just been presented to her.
"I can't alter the spell, nor can I find one that fixes it. First off, tampering with spells is very risky, even for alicorns. Second, in order for the spell to work, that sort of thing had to be left out."
Rainbow patted Applejack on the back sympathetically. "Ah'm alright," Applejack said, brushing away Rainbow's hoof. Rainbow gave a small smile.
Starting to stand up, Twilight muttered, "And the Order will be maintained without any unnecessary accidents."
"Sorry, what was that, Sugarcube?"
Growing warm in the face, Twilight said, "The Natural Order. It's a natural law that states that two females cannot make a child and two males cannot make a child, even through magic. That is another reason I can't find a spell that fixes the problem, nor use the spell on one of you so you can try. Anyone who tries—regardless of whether or not the gender is swapped or if the genetic code of the gametes alone is changed—eventually dies."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack's jaws dropped, and their eyes grew wide.
"It might be after the first time or the fifth time or the tenth; it doesn't matter. And the death is always natural—a tree falling, an animal bite, an illness, food poisoning, etc.—hence the word "natural" in the name. It can be either one or both of the involved ponies, but usually it's both." Twilight sighed. "And you can close your mouths now. You'll catch flies."
After shutting her mouth with a click, Applejack said, "Well, uh, thank ya kindly, Twilight." She turned and pushed Rainbow's mouth shut when it didn't close fast enough.
"Oh, yeah, thanks," Rainbow said quickly.
"You're welcome." Twilight smiled, and the couple smiled back, albeit theirs were slightly forced.
◊◊◊◊◊
"Tragedy today as four young mares die from a freak lightning storm, strangely in two separate cities. Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia Melody were all struck by lightning in storms that occurred at the same time. Lyra and Bon Bon lived together in Ponyville, and Octavia and Vinyl Scratch—who was also known as DJ-P0N3—lived together in Canterlot. It is also rumored that the Princesses were shocked by lightning as well, though not a fatal one. It is unknown at this time if there are any connections between the cases, or if it was all merely a coincidence.
"In other news, national heroes Applejack and Rainbow Dash have begun the process of adopting a child. Just this morning, they visited the National Adoption Agency, and were gracious enough to allow a short interview, which we will hear later this hour. Saying that they were 'enlightened by a certain somepony,' they can't wait for a foal to call their own."
