The Petorojen

The Petorojen

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Two Weeks Later (Week 20)-

“I still think it’s an even split,” Cadance said. “Two boys, two girls.”

Gleaming shook her head. “That just isn’t statistically likely. My bet’s on three girls, one boy.”

The ultrasound room hadn’t changed since Gleaming’s session three months ago. Same sterile white walls, same unnaturally-bright lights that left a nasty glare, same unnerving pictures of mare and fetal anatomy posted everywhere. The ultrasound machine didn’t look like it’d been moved so much as an inch, and while the place wasn’t dusty or in disrepair, she could tell it wasn’t used all that often.

At least the bed was pretty comfortable. Gleaming was already on it lying down on her side, and Cadance was sitting on a stool with wheels, scooting all around the room.

“Oh, phooey on your statistics,” Cadance said. She hadn’t been able to stay still since they left the apartment, and she’d been spending the majority of the time either fiddling with her mane, messing with her regalia, or playing with various things in the room. “I say we’re gonna get two of each! Call it a mare’s intuition.”

Gleaming raised an eyebrow.

Cadance giggled. “Whoops. Guess that one doesn’t work so well right now. But still!”

Absentmindedly, Gleaming ran her hoof along the edge of her lady bits. Even though she hadn’t had a sheath down there for five months, it still felt weird at times. “Suit yourself. I’m gonna stick with the odds, though.”

Cadance blew a raspberry at her. “What about species, then? We haven’t talked about that too much. What do you think they’re gonna be? Think we’re gonna get an alicorn?”

Gleaming chewed on her lip. She looked down at her belly, which had been growing at a rate of a little over half a centimeter a day. She’d been gaining about half a pound a day, too, and looked damn near full term already. It was kinda surprising how fast things had started to progress.

“We might?” she said slowly. “I don’t know what the odds are. Not even Twily did. Your guess is as good as mine.”

Cadance came over and began rubbing Gleaming’s side. “It’ll be a surprise for both of us, then. Have you felt anything at all? Any particularly strong kicks? Prodding too small to be a hoof? That kind of thing?”

Gleaming thought for a moment. “I’ve felt prods, pokes, and flutterings, yeah, but nothing meaningful. Unicorn horns don’t get hard until a few weeks after birth, and I’ve no idea what wings feel like. About all I can tell from them moving is how many of them are awake.”

Cadance snickered. “And do they like to be awake.”

It’d been a challenge trying to sleep lately. It seemed like at least one of them liked to squirm around at all times, more than one whenever Gleaming laid down at night. It’d gotten so bad that Cadance had started using love magic in order to pacify them.

Gleaming stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes. “You’re telling me.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in!” Cadance called.

The door opened, and two ponies came inside. The first was Doctor Endo, Gleaming and Cadance’s primary doctor and obstetrician. He smiled warmly as he entered.

“Good afternoon, Majesties,” he said. “How’s everything going?”

The second however, was a stranger. She was an old unicorn mare, thin, short and frail, with a snow-white mane done up in a bun and a faded, pale blue coat. She was wearing a worn pair of saddlebags, her cutie mark was a staff with a white snake wrapped around it, and her wrinkled face looked like it had been chiseled out of stone. Her expression was impassive as she bowed to Cadance, but as soon as she saw Gleaming in all her pregnant glory, her watery eyes lit up with a surprising vigor.

“My, you’re a big one!” she said in a dry, deep alto. “And here I thought Endo was exaggerating like always. You got knocked up real good there, didn’t ya?”

Gleaming blinked several times. “Wat.”

“Heh, lemme get a good look’atcha.” She limped over with a slow, awkward gait, pulling out a pair of half-moon spectacles. “How ya been feelin’ so far? Tired? Woozy? Light-headed at all? I’ll bet you haven’t gotten much sleep with all them kids kickin’ ya.”

Gleaming noticed that Endo looked thoroughly amused. Cadance just seemed confused, although… her eyes were glued to the old mare’s cutie mark for some reason.

“Your Highnesses,” Endo said, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. “Do you recall our discussion about bringing in a specialist from Canterlot? Allow me to introduce my former mentor, Doctor Natal. She’s the most knowledgeable scientist alive in pony gestation and genetics.”

“Call me Talia.” She pulled a stethoscope out from her bags and began listening to Gleaming’s chest. “And I’m a retired scientist, Endo. Only reason I’m here is because you put such a tantalizin’ carrot in front of my nose. Oh, and don’t listen to him, Majesties. I’ve worked on teams with ponies ten times smarter than I’ll ever be. They all just happen to be dead now, that’s all... breathe in deep for me, would ya hun? Just like that, yeah… now take another one, but this time, hold it in. That’s it...”

Gleaming was a bit taken aback by this elderly mare ignoring pleasantries and just going straight into an examination, but at the same time, something about Talia immediately set Gleaming at ease. She abruptly found herself relaxing, even as she was poked and prodded.

“Wait, Doctor Natal?!” Cadance said, her eyes going wide. “The Doctor Natal? The Neighbel Prize winner and obstetrics guru?!”

Endo grinned. “That’d be her.”

Cadance went pale. “I-I… you… buh…”

“Oh, for Luna’s sake.” Talia took off the stethoscope and began taking Gleaming’s pulse. “Don’t get all starry eyed on me, Cadance... can I call ya Cadance? Yeah? Good. I’m here to make sure these foals get a chance at life, not to get my ego stroked. And Endo, stop messing with the poor mare’s nerves. I’m too old to be wasting time with pointless crap.”

Endo lowered his head. “Sorry, ma’am.”

Cadance fidgeted back and forth. Her inner fangirl was straining hard to get free, but Endo managed to keep it at bay with a pointed look. So instead, she did a little happy dance and squee’d, trying her best to stay silent.

“Breathing’s nice and steady,” Talia said, mostly to herself. “Good… good… that’s almost always a problem with multiples, but you’ve got a good set o’lungs on ya… you go by Gleaming Shield at the moment, correct?”

Gleaming put a hoof behind her head. “Er, yeah. It just seemed easier to—”

“Say no more, hun,” Talia said. She pulled out a piece of ribbon with measurements on it, laying it atop Gleaming’s belly. “My late wife was born a stallion, so I understand these things better than most… forty-three centimeters already? That’s a bit large, even for four foals. How’ve your eating habits been?”

“Er, well... I have been eating a lot,” Gleaming admitted. “Endo’s said he’d ideally like me to gain about ninety pounds, so we’ve upped my meals to five a day.”

Endo spoke up. “Actually, I made that assessment before your sister came and did her alterations. Now that she’s compensated for several risk factors in the pregnancy, it’d actually be better if you gained more weight than that.”

Gleaming gave him an incredulous look. “Wait, what?! More? How much more?!”

Endo shrugged. “Ideal foal weight is eight to ten pounds. Placenta, amniotic fluid and breast tissue are all usually two to three apiece, additional blood supply is four to five, stored fat for delivery and breastfeeding is five to nine, and the larger uterus is two to five. Multiply all of that by four, and you’ve got a median of about a hundred and twenty pounds. That’s not usually how a multiple pregnancy works, mind you, but in this case I’ve no reason to see why it shouldn’t. I’ll admit you have been gaining weight rather quickly, but each mare’s body adapts to pregnancy in a different way, and your weight seems to be going to all the right places.”

Gleaming suddenly felt dizzy. “A hundred and twenty… oof...”

“More like unf,” Cadance whispered.

“So some spells are already in place, Endo?” Talia asked calmly. “Which ones?”

“You should be able to see them in a scan.” he replied. “I didn’t cast any of them myself, but I’ve been keeping a close eye on their integrity. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Talia’s horn glowed a deep, piercing blue, the same color as her eyes. “How’ve her vitals been?”

“Steady,” Endo replied. He pulled out a clipboard and gave it to Talia. “Weight gain and fundal height measurements have been consistent. No signs of gestational diabetes, hypertension, anemia, or UTI.”

Gleaming felt a slight tingling as Talia’s magic felt around, the old doctor muttering to herself all the while. “Some kind of Greater Irongut, Appetite, and—what the? Ahh, this is that modified transmog spell you mentioned back in the office, ain’t it? Hmm, I recognize two of the matrices, but the others... quite ingenious though, that much is obvious! Who in the world cast this on her?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Endo said. “Pity she went into politics instead of medicine. She would’ve made a great scientist.”

“Princess...” Talia trailed off, chuckling. “Yeah, shoulda known that one… she’s about the only one who could pull something this complex off, ain’t she? Stars above, Endo, there ain’t a single unused spell thread or wasted magic conduit in here! It’s a bloomin’ work of art!”

Endo came over to stand beside her. “She explained some of the spell to me before she returned to Ponyville, but I’ll admit it went over my head. I’ve never seen such complicated magic before, much less worked with it in a patient. It’s working, though, far as I can tell, and even if it wasn’t, the seventeen failsafes built into it would catch any errant effects.”

Talia met Gleaming’s eyes with a kind smile. “Your sister loves ya something fierce, don’t she?”

Gleaming blushed. “Y-Yeah, heh. We’ve always been close.”

“If I may, Doctor,” Cadance cut in, her voice a bit shaky. “Gleamy and I were… um, just discussing something regarding genetics and race before you came in! Could we get y-your input on it?”

Talia turned to her. “Lemme guess. You wanna know the probability of one or more of your kids bein’ an honest-to-goodness alicorn.”

Cadance nodded. “You wrotehalf the books Twilight and I have been using for reference. So much of what we’ve done so far has been based on your work, and you’ve had multiple papers published on pony genetics, too! If there’s anypony who can give us an answer, it’s you.”

Talia yawned and scratched the side of her face. “Quite the little researcher, eh? We could just do the ultrasound and find out, y’know. That’d be easier than listening to me prattle on. Or do ya want to hear my thoughts on it for a different reason?”

Cadance shyly lowered her head with drooped ears. She looked like a filly who’d gotten her hoof caught in the cookie jar. “I, er… well… maybe you can tell us your thoughts while you’re doing the scan? I promise I won’t find it disinteresting.”

Talia laughed softly. “Silly girl. I haven’t even been here five minutes, and I can tell you’ve got the baby bug.” She gave Gleaming a sidelong glance. “Ya both do, s’matter of fact. Now normally, I’d advise against makin’ plans for more kids ‘til you’ve had a chance to see what it’s like with just one—or four, in this case. But seein’ as these are special circumstances, you’re both rich, and you could probably just order me to if I refused, I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Cadance was taken aback. “What?! Why would you… I’d never order—”

“She’s kidding,” Endo interrupted. He gave Talia the same pointed look he’d given Cadance. “Doctor Talia has always had something of an odd sense of humor when meeting new ponies. She knows you’d would never abuse your power in such a way. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”

Talia returned his glare for only a moment, but it was long enough for something to pass between them. Her eyes flashed with a moment with some unreadable emotion, but she eventually relented with a long, slow sigh.

“Yeah, yeah, o’course. Excuse my manners, Lady Cadance. Seems my bedside manner has slipped a bit in retirement. I’ll share what I know while we do the ultrasound, alright? Maybe then with that knowledge, you can decide what you wanna do.”

Talia hobbled over to the ultrasound machine while Endo helped Gleaming onto her back. “The only records we have on alicorn offspring are from Starswirl’s journals. There’s not much there, of course, as modern genetics weren’t discovered yet, but from what is, we know that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s parents were a unicorn and a pegasus, and that strong earth pony bloodlines were in their immediate lineage.”

“Starswirl also suspected it’s impossible for natural alicorns to be male,” Endo added. “And since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are unable to have foals of their own, we suspect whatever causes a natural alicorn also results in sterility. This would explain why alicorns are so rare, but there hasn’t been any evidence to support either claim.”

Talia grunted her agreement. “Studies since then haven’t yielded much else, either. There’ve been quite a few theories over what could possibly cause a naturally-born alicorn, but nothing’s been proven, and there ain’t been any new alicorn births to test it. We’ve done tests on the Canterlot Princesses and found they do got a different genome, but not found how to isolate, or recreate it. We’ve also run the same tests on your sister, just to see if there’s any difference between natural alicorns, and ascended ones. Did she tell either of ya about that?”

Gleaming and Cadance shook their heads. That was certainly news to them.

Talia cracked her neck with a loud pop! “I won’t blab, then, but at the same time, there ain’t really much to tell. Turns out natural and ascended alicorns are identical, save for one key difference. Think either of you can figure out what it is?”

Gleaming thought for a moment, reflecting on what she knew about the princesses, and genetics in general. She wasn’t very familiar with the latter, but logically, if Talia was checking to see if they could figure it out, then it must be something obvious—

And then it hit her.

“Ascended alicorns can still have kids,” she said.

“Bingo,” said Talia. “Now, ascended alicorns are somethin’ of a recent development, so there’s no mention of ‘em in Starswirl’s journals. But mark my words, if he were around today, I’ve no doubt he’d be spending all his time researching what makes ‘em tick. Celestia knows I have.”

Endo turned to Cadance. “Originally, I thought maybe your sterility was related to this. However, your medical tests from before the Crystal Empire’s return showed you in perfect health, and there was no sign of any decline. Quite the opposite, truth be told. That’s why I decided to dig a little deeper, and subsequently, how I found the residual curse magic in your system.”

Cadance sucked on her teeth. “I... suppose that all makes sense. But what about that thing you mentioned about alicorns having a different genome, Talia? I think I remember reading about a paper you published about what you called the ‘alicorn gene’. That’s what you’re talking about, right?”

“Mmhmm.” Talia started up the ultrasound machine with a soft whum. “In a nutshell, I believe that there’s a rare recessive gene residing in some ponies that’ll allow ‘em to ascend into alicorns, so long as the right requirements are met. We’ve yet to find that gene, let alone discover what causes it to activate, but you, Cadance, are obviously a carrier seeing as you’ve already ascended. And as for you, Gleaming, your biological sister has also managed to become an alicorn, so there’s a decent chance you have it, too.”

Endo showed a diagram with squares on it to Cadance. “If both of you are carriers, not only is it guaranteed all four of your children will inherit the recessive alicorn gene, but the combination of an activated one and a recessive one has about a one-in-six chance of resulting in a naturally-born alicorn. If Gleaming is not a carrier, then your children will have about a one-in-eight chance of just getting the recessive alicorn gene. All things considered, though, those aren’t terrible odds.”

Cadance and Gleaming were dumbfounded. A potential one-in-six chance? Those were better odds than they’d expected! Neither one of them was sure what to make of it.

“But that ain’t all,” Talia said. She took out a bottle of bluish gel, heated it up with a quick spell, then began slathering it all over Gleaming’s giant swell of a womb. “There’s another side to all of this, and that’s what convinced me to come up here. Somethin’ that I think the both of ya are gonna be mighty surprised by.”

Endo frowned at her. “I didn’t think we were going to talk about that just yet.”

Talia looked up and cocked her head. “Why not? It’s on topic.”

“Because we won’t even know for sure until—ugh… I just didn’t think… I wanted to wait until things were more certain, okay?” Endo swished his tail. “Your Majesties, I promise I’ll explain what we’re referring to after the ultrasound, alright? It’ll be better for all parties involved.”

Gleaming and Cadance exchanged a look. Neither one of them seemed to hold any objection, so they both nodded and gestured for them to carry on.

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Talia picked up the wand in her magic. “May as well get started, then.”

She pushed it into the side of Gleaming’s stomach, then flipped on the monitor, adjusting settings here and there.

Gleaming felt a pleasant shudder run through her from the touch of the wand. Her belly was getting more and more sensitive as time went on, and it was getting to the point that even a simple touch could get her motor running. She could feel the foals wiggling at the sudden change in pressure, and the sensation never failed to give her a warm glow in her chest. She closed her eyes and smiled, letting herself relax and get comfortable.

“A couple things to note,” Endo said as they all (save Gleaming) watched the monitor. “The image will show things you’d expect, like the foals’ faces and limbs, but it will also show the insides of their bodies. We’ll see their spines, kidneys, bladders, hearts, those kinds of things. That’s all normal.”

Cadance came over and held Gleaming’s hoof. “We’ll see their genders too, right?”

Endo nodded. “Provided you want to know what they are.”

“We do,” they both said immediately.

Talia snorted. “Not on the fence about that one, I see.”

Gleaming gave Cadance’s hoof a squeeze. “We have something of a bet going on it.”

“No issue there, then,” said Endo. “We’ll be checking other things first before we get to that, but we’ll let you know. There are a lot of things that we’d like to get a read on, as you might imagine.”

“Like what?” Gleaming asked.

“Amount of amniotic fluid in the uterus, head and abdominal circumference, umbilical cord positioning, placenta size, overall fetal size, those kinds o’things,” Talia said. “There are a lot of workin’ parts in a pregnancy, and we wanna make sure that they’re all working properly. S’pretty easy to tell gender, though. Girl parts look like three lines, and boy parts… well, look how you’d expect.”

Gleaming and Cadance laughed.

“Right, think that’s about as clear as I’m gonna get this thing.” Talia pushed her glasses up a bit. “Let’s see what we got.”

The screen flickered, going from black, to… a slightly lighter shade of black. Speckled blobs of gray and white hovered in and out of view for a moment, until suddenly, the fuzzy, distorted image of a tiny pony came into view.

“There’s one,” Endo said.

“Yep.” Talia moved the wand over a bit to try and get a better view. “Annnnnnd it’s a boy. Heh, told ya it’s easy to tell. Lemme see if I can get ‘em to move a bit…”

Cadance stared at the image on the screen. It was blurred, black and white, and only just discernible, but even still, there was no mistaking the silhouette on the screen for anything but a baby pony. He fidgeted a bit and turned onto his side, then curled up into a ball and lay still.

That was her son.

She was looking at her son.

It was an odd feeling. She’d expected to have some kind of swell of emotion, maybe burst into tears, or something, but instead all she felt was a sense of… ownership? Responsibility? Protectiveness? It was hard to put into words. It was a positive feeling, to be sure, but it wasn’t the response she’d expected to have.

Gleaming, on the other hoof, had a somewhat different reaction.

“YES!” She thrust a hoof into the air. “We got one! We got a boy! WOOOOO!”

Endo couldn’t help but smirk. “What, you didn’t want all girls? Think of how easy it would’ve been to get them all the same Hearth’s Warming gifts.”

Gleaming shot him a flat look. “One. Freaking. Boy. That’s all I dared hope for, and we found him straightaway! I don’t even care what race he is. He can be a seapony for all I care!”

“Well, he ain’t a seapony, but he’s certainly somethin’ else,” Talia said. “No horn… annnnnnd no wings. Looks like he’s an earth pony... or crystal pony? Not sure how to tell the difference, there. Is there a way to tell?”

“There is.” Endo moved around to the other side of the bed, then lowered his horn to where Talia was holding the ultrasound wand. With utmost care, his horn glowed a dull green, and Gleaming felt a sudden crackling inside her belly.

The screen flashed pure white.

“AH!” Everypony shielded their eyes from the sudden flash. Gleaming was the only one who wasn’t blinded, and so was the only one who saw her womb glitter and shine like an iridescent orb.

The flash left as quickly as it’d come, leaving everyone gingerly rubbing their eyes.

“That... was supposed to just cause a small sparkle,” Endo said hesitantly. “I’ve never seen a response that strong before.”

“Well, congratulations on burning out my retinas,” Talia said dryly. She blinked several times to try and get out the white spots. “Does that at least mean he’s a crystal pony?”

Endo coughed. “Er, yes. Most definitely. A crystal pony colt.”

Gleaming and Cadance took in that information with a long pause. Neither one of them had expected that! Something told Gleaming that this little boy was going to be interesting one.

“Young’un looks healthy, so let’s see if we can get a peek at the others,” Talia murmured after a few minutes of taking notes. She moved the wand up the crest of Gleaming’s belly, right next to her navel. Indistinct shapes moved in and out of the screen, none of them focused or indicative of anything. There was a few moment’s silence as everypony was lost in their own thoughts, and Gleaming began to hum softly to herself, her mind falling into a dull haze.

“Aha! Got two of ‘em.” Talia moved the monitor over so Gleaming could see. “Go on, take a look.”

Gleaming examined the monitor. It was wavy and colorless, but on the screen were the images of two little faces, one of which was sucking on its hoof.

“Awww,” Gleaming and Cadance cooed.

“Right one’s got a horn,” Endo observed. He tilted his head and squinted, trying to pick apart the image. “Doesn’t look malformed… overall body size on each of them is good! I believe that the left one’s a… pegasus? Not totally sure...”

Talia pressed the wand a little harder into Gleaming’s tummy. “Come on, darlins, roll over…”

The foals squirmed from being disturbed, resisting Talia’s efforts to get a better view. She kept at it, though, and about a minute later, they shuffled around, giving everypony a clear view of what they were trying to see.

An extremely clear view.

“Ya got another boy!” Talia said, cackling. “No doubts on that one. Oh, and the right one’s a girl, I see.”

Gleaming could hardly contain her excitement. They had two boys?! This was better than she could’ve dreamed! I mean yeah, she wanted girls too, but boys were harder to get! She looked excitedly over at Cadance, whose eyes were fixed on the screen with fascination and awe.

“Two boys!” Gleaming whispered to her. “I think you were right!”

Cadance smiled and leaned in for a kiss. “Told you.”

“So a unicorn filly, and the colt iiiiiiiis—ah, I was right. He’s a pegasus.” Endo pointed at the tiny wings at the colt’s sides. “Looks like you’ve got quite the mix, Your Majesties.”

A couple more minutes passed while Endo and Talia took more notes on babies two and three, writing down numbers and muttering between themselves.

“Now, to hunt down that last one,” Talia said. She moved the wand to Gleaming’s other side. “I’ll bet the lil’ bugger’s at the bottom. That’s usually where they like to hide…”

Gleaming and Cadance looked on with interest. Neither of them were really sure what to expect at this point, so they remained silent and let the doctors work. They were both a little disappointed that none of their children were alicorns, but even with the odds supposedly as good as they were, it still depended whether or not Gleaming had this mysterious alicorn gene… which they were starting to suspect she did not.

“Hmm.” Talia moved the wand around to and fro. “Not seeing ‘em. I see the crystal pony colt, the pegasus colt, and the unicorn filly, but I’m not—waaaait, wait, wait, lemme try somethin’…”

She moved the wand up to the very top of Gleaming’s womb, right underneath her ribcage.

“Found ya!” Talia exclaimed. “Dunno why I didn’t try that earlier. If they’re not at the bottom, they’re almost always… at... the…”

She trailed off as she beheld the image on the screen. Beside her, Endo’s jaw went slack, and Cadance’s hooves flew in front of her mouth.

Ironically, it was Gleaming who spoke first.

“Huh,” she said in a strangely calm voice. “No wonder I’m measuring large.”

On the screen were not one, but two little fillies, curled up side by side with their little eyes shut tight. Their tails were curled together to ensure they didn’t drift apart, and their position made them almost look like they were hugging each other. It might’ve been possible that one of them was a foal that they’d already seen, but a crucial factor shot down that idea straightaway:

They both had horns and wings.

“Stars above,” Endo breathed. “You do have the gene…”

“How…” Cadance found herself suddenly short of breath. “F-Five? I don’t—did… b-but the nurse before said...”

“I’ll be damned!” Talia said with a whoop. “You really did get knocked up good, girlie! Forget gaining one hundred and twenty pounds, more like a hundred’nfifty! Tack on another meal a day or up those portions, ‘cause you’re gonna need it!”

Gleaming looked down at her bulging belly. She was already so big she couldn’t see her rear hooves anymore, and she wasn’t even halfway through the pregnancy! What the hay were the final months of term going to be like?!

“Just a minute, just a minute,” Endo said. He lowered his horn again. “There’s a way to be sure about this.”

“Hold on. What’re you doing now?” Talia asked him.

“The localized spell that detects heartbeats,” he replied. “Easiest way to search for multiples, correct?”

Talia pursed her lips. “That spell’s gonna wipe ya plum out.”

Endo set his jaw. “We can’t afford any more mistakes, Talia. We need to be absolutely sure.”

Talia exhaled out her nose. “Stubborn dumbass like always… fine. Go ahead’n do it.”

Endo’s horn flashed again, and a dull, much softer dot of light than before began to shine out of Gleaming’s womb.

Followed by a second dot…

then a third...

and a fourth...

…

…

…

...and finally a fifth.

“That is indeed quintuplets,” Endo said, his horn shorting out as he roughly sat down. “It seems the technician was indeed mistaken before, Your Majesties. My apologies for the mix-up, but still, I believe congratulations are in order! You’re having five children when you feared that you wouldn’t be able to have any!”

Gleaming’s mouth went dry. Seeing those five dots of light within her made it all really sink in what all this meant, but surprisingly, it wasn’t all that panic-inducing. Nowhere what it’d been like with the first ultrasound, at least.

“Now can I tell ‘em?” Talia asked Endo.

Endo, who looked rather dazed, made a noncommittal noise as he staggered towards the door. “You may as well… you don’t need me for that though, do you? If you’ll excuse me, Your Majesties, I’m going to leave you in Doctor Natal’s extremely capable hooves from now on. I’ll make the necessary adjustments to your medical file, and update you on the changes. I wish you luck in the remainder of your pregnancy. Good day…”

And with that he left the room.

Talia shook her head as he left. “Coulda just gotten somepony else to do it for him, but nooooooooo, he just has to always do things himself I swear, that fool is more stubborn than any mule I’ve met. He’s gonna run himself into the ground one of these days, mark my words…”

Cadance, not entirely sure what had just happened, took a nervous step forward. “Er, I’m sorry about that, T-Talia. I’ve never seen him do anything like that before with anypony, least of all us! It’s not like him to just walk out and dump his responsibilities.”

Talia took a cloth and began wiping off Gleaming’s stomach. “He didn’t dump anythin’, honey. I was gonna be taking over your care, anyways. This is well beyond Endo’s expertise, and his time’s better spent with cases he’s more experienced with. I don’t like tootin’ my own horn, but he was right when he said I’m the most qualified to help ya. I can give him updates and see if he can stop in every so often if ya like, but he ain’t gonna be much use, otherwise.”

Gleaming sat up a bit. “But he’s been great working with us so far! He’s been extremely knowledgeable—”

“—and he’s been burnin’ up scrying crystals left and right asking for my advice for the past two months,” Talia finished for her. “He’s just been doing what I’ve been telling him to do, sweetheart. This is outta his league, especially now that we know you’ve got the alicorn gene. Trust me, you’re gonna wanna stick with me.”

Gleaming tilted her head. She was starting to feel a shift in tone, like she was missing something rather blatant.

“Why would that matter?” she said slowly. “I don’t see how that would change the pregnancy.”

Natal met her eyes with a fervent stare. “It ain’t just about the pregnancy, it’s about YOU now, too. Don’cha get it, hun? You’ve got a biological sibling that’s tapped into her recessive alicorn gene, and we’ve just confirmed you got it, as well! This the first time we’ve ever been able to isolate it in any way, and because o’that, we might be able to finally make some real progress on figuring out how alicorns work! We’ve been tryin’ to figure this out for over a century!”

Gleaming was silent. She wasn’t really sure how to react to that kind of news, and while she certainly could see the scientific repercussions, it was hard to see how it would affect her personally.

“Okay, so what do you want to do?” Cadance asked Talia. “Do you have any plans?”

Talia weathered face lit up. “Tests! Tests, tests, tests. Gonna be lookin’ at Miss Gleaming Shield’s DNA a whole lot. I don’t need ya around for that, though, I just need a couple samples from ya. Hair, skin, buccal swab, blood if you’re willing. Maybe stool and urine as well, just to cover my bases… I’ve been doin’ research on this for the last forty years, so I know how to recognize signs of complications, and along with my experience in obstetrics, I should be able to spot any problems with them little alicorn fillies. I’m hoping I’ll find some differences in your genetic code as time goes on, but we’ll just hafta see about that. Oh, and don’t you worry none—you and your kids’ health is my first priority. This’ll just be a little side project to keep me occupied.”

Gleaming could now see the excited, fiery glint in Talia’s eyes now, a glint that she’d seen so many times in Twily. She didn’t still quite understand what Talia hoped to find by looking at her DNA, but on the other hoof, there was a very distinct possibility Talia didn’t, either.

“No ulterior motives, then?” Cadance asked playfully. “No hidden plans to create an army of superponies so you can take over Equestria? No secret formula that needs Gleamy’s DNA to turn you into an immortal demigoddess despot?”

Talia pantomimed like she’d been shot through the heart. “Oh no, ya caught me. My master plan of world domination has been exposed. Curses, I’ve been foiled again, I must now retreat to plot my dastardly revenge. I would’ve gotten away with it if weren’t for you meddling foals, blah, blah, blah, monologue, blah, blah, blah, tragic past, blah, blah, blah, nopony understands my genius. Was that what you were expectin’ to hear?”

Cadance smiled. “Something like that.”

“I’ll be sure to thank you both along with the Academy.” Talia put her bags back on and started hobbling towards the door. “Cadance, I understand you already know about the need for alicorn magic infusions. Start doing ‘em twice a day, alright? A nurse’ll be in shortly to get those samples. She’ll also give you my info, and all that. Don’t hesitate to contact me if’n ya need somethin’, alright? I don’t care if it’s three a.m. on a Sunday, or whenever. If you need me, you send for me. Got it?”

Cadance saluted. “Got it.”

“Good.” Talia opened the door. “I’m gonna be looking over your records the next day or so to get caught up on everything. I’ll be in touch.”

They both waved at her. “Thank you, Doctor.”

Talia started to walk out, but halfway through, she stopped and looked back at them. “Oh, and one more thing…”

Cadance and Gleaming looked up.

Talia casually motioned to Gleaming. “Curious, ain’t it? A unicorn with a recessive alicorn gene, pregnant with three foals with recessive alicorn genes AND two natural alicorns, all who’re about to be exposed regularly to doses of raw alicorn magic. Not only that, but said pregnant unicorn has a blood sibling who’s already unlocked their alicorn gene, and ascended without a hitch. You’re already a pretty powerful pony, ain’tcha, Princess Gleaming? Real strong magic, good leader, national hero, loved by your subjects, and all that… sounds like a winning formula if I’ve ever heard one. I wonder what might happen in the months to come?”

The chill that ran up Gleaming’s spine was like ice. She looked over at Cadance, whose shocked face indicated much the same.

Talia chuckled and walked out the door. “Food for thought.”

There was a dead silence. Thoughts were racing through both Cadance and Gleaming’s minds a mile a minute, a whirlwind of emotions coming and going in the blink of an eye. Gleaming put a hoof on her womb and rubbed it slowly, her eyes lingering on the spot where two little dots had pulsed side-by-side.

“We need to get a hold of Twily,” she muttered quietly.

“Yes,” Cadance agreed in a faint voice. “Yes, we do.”