The Presentation

The Presentation

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A Few Months Later-

“You want to do WHAT?!” Shining said.

Cadance ran a hoof down her face. Months of tireless searching had yielded no results, and so she’d had no other choice. She’d made some arrangements, practiced her pitch over and over, and now she was taking the plunge.

“I want to turn you into a mare, then bring my future-self to our era with a time spell, have him impregnate you, and use the Crystal Heart’s power to ensure the zygote remains fertilized when he goes back to the future,” Cadance repeated patiently. “Honestly, I thought I was pretty clear the first time.”

Shining snorted. “Oh, you were clear. I just wanted to make sure I heard that right before I called you bonkers.”

She’d sprung it on him right after he’d gotten home from drills. She probably could’ve done it at a better time, maybe waited until he was in a better mood, but honestly, there wasn’t ever going to be a good time to bring it up.

“I explored every other possible alternative before deciding on this,” Cadance went on. “Nothing I’ve read or found suggests that there’s any other way. It’s either this, or we wait at least a century before we have a foal.”

Shining shucked off his armor and put it on a stand beside the wall. “Look, Honey, I’m not making light of the situation here, and I’m not going to pretend that I know as much as you about Sombra, or Love magic, for that matter. But come on, this is pretty, well…”

Cadance raised an eyebrow.

Shining carefully chose his words. “Uh, drastic. I’m not saying you haven’t looked into alternatives, because I’m sure you have, but if you want to convince anypony of this, most of all me, you’re going to have to make one hell of an argument for your case.”

An odd smile crept up on Cadance’s face. “Oh, don’t worry… I came prepared.”

The door to their walk-in closet opened with a BANG, and dozens upon dozens of books, scrolls, and loose leaves of parchment suddenly flew out at Cadance’s command. On them were written diagrams, formulas, plans, equations, arrays, graphs, theories, theses, experiments, ramblings, musings, ideas, schemes, observations, postulations, engineerings… all written in Cadance’s neat, tidy script.

Shining blinked as the swarm of literature surrounded them. “Wat.”

“Twilight helped me with my research,” Cadance said proudly, gesturing to the veritable forest circling them. “It’s alphabetized, cited, cross-referenced, and we even had it verified by both the Crystal Empire, and Equestrian Arcanaeum. Would you like me to go into detail about all the avenues we’ve explored? Want me to tell you about the lengths we’ve gone to try and spare you from this? Do you need some time to go through our findings, hmm? I’m sure you’ll find it all fascinating.”

Shining opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He picked out one of the floating pieces of paper, going over it briefly before looking back up with a blank look.

“Mind giving me the abridged version?”

Cadance giggled. “I was already trying to, dear. The abridged version is that nothing else will work. However, if you want a little bit more, I think I can sum things up.”

Shining nodded. He put the paper back, and gestured for her to continue.

Cadance set the papers and research down on the floor in stacks. “There’s a biological and magical component to the process of pony conception. The biological component, of course, is the combination of reproductive cells within a supporting environment. The magical component, however, is the love one feels for their mate, which ‘orders’ the fertilized egg to begin the process of cell division. When these two components are present, the mother’s body is signaled to begin releasing the appropriate hormones for gestation, and a pregnancy begins.”

Cadance looked down at the floor. “The biological components in my body are all there. Ovulation is normal, I’m going in and out of season, and conception can technically go off without a hitch. However, since Sombra’s curse was powered by hatred—the antithesis of love, neither the fertilized egg, nor my body is getting the signal to do anything. The zygote just sits there until it’s absorbed into my endometrial lining, and then expelled through the normal menstrual cycle.”

“Hold on.” Shining held up a hoof. “Sombra is doing this?! How? He’s been dead for years!”

“We think it might be a side effect of a curse he was trying to put on me before he died,” Cadance said. “If that’s true, it probably would’ve done more to me, but the bulk of the spell was nullified by the Crystal Heart.”

Shining sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. He was pretty well-learned in magic himself, so he had enough knowledge of curses to connect a few dots from there.

“What’s the curse’s rate of decay?” he asked.

Cadance exhaled out her nose. “Half a percent a year.”

“And when will true conception be possible at that rate?”

She winced. “A century.”

Shining winced as well. “Ouch…”

“Yeah,” Cadance said. “It’s pretty bad.”

Shining rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “Is there a way to amplify the Crystal Heart’s power? Maybe speed things up a bit?”

Cadance shook her head. “It’s already operating at maximum output. Any further optimization would risk damaging it, and we don’t exactly have a spare one lying around. And before you ask, yes, I could make another one, but I’d need around five hundred years to do so. It’s not like ancient relics grow on trees.”

“Unless they’re the Elements of Harmony,” Shining grumbled under his breath. He ran a hoof through his mane. “What about some kind of counter-stasis spell? If Sombra’s was powered by hatred, maybe we could just do the opposite with love—”

“If you think for longer than five seconds, you’ll realize why that’s a terrible idea,” Cadance said flatly. “Even if such a spell existed—which it doesn’t—I really don’t want to be in stasis for one hundred years. Our ponies’ morale would suffer, you’d be all alone, and even after all that, there’s not even a guarantee it’d actually work—”

“Okay, I get it,” Shining said. “You’ve clearly given this some thought. But I still don’t see why your solution requires me. If the issue is just magical sterility, why don’t we just recruit a surrogate? I know it’s possible to transplant fertilized eggs into others."

“Dr. Endo already did some tests regarding that,” Cadance said. “He found that the curse is bonded to my very essence. Even through a surrogate, the magic would still linger in my cells. It’s not something we can get around.”

And that’s when it all hit Shining like a freight train.

“Oh, Cady...”

Cadance’s eyes grew distant. “Like I said, Twilight’s been helping me with all this, and she’s the one who suggested the time spell. We summon my future self as a stallion from when the curse has worn off, he provides the genetic material, we bond it with your egg, then use the Crystal Heart to stabilize any temporal irregularities. Brilliant, really.”

Shining mulled all of that over. That certainly did solve the issue of the sterility, and he knew enough about time spells to understand that that could work. He didn’t doubt Twilight and Cadance’s research and findings, and the idea of having fun with two versions of her was certainly appealing, but...

“That’s all well and good, but I’m still getting hung up on the whole ‘turn me into a mare and knock me up thing’,” he said.

Cadance gave him a funny look, her eyes flickering down a moment. “Uh, Honey? I know for a fact that this idea has got you more than a little intrigued.”

Shining blushed. “That doesn’t mean—”

“Or are you meaning to tell me you’ve got a boner for some other reason?”

Shining was beginning to sweat. He didn’t deny anything, particularly not the reason why his stallionhood was free of its sheath and throbbing with his heartbeat, but he didn’t need to.

“No fair,” he grumbled.

“Nothing about this is,” Cadance replied. She glanced down at his cock again and licked her lips. “Though I’m happy your body hasn’t said no, at least.”

Shining looked away. “Fantasies are one thing; reality is quite another.”

“Twilight and I have found several spells that will help with the more uncomfortable parts of pregnancy,” Cadance said matter-of-factly. “And she’s agreed to help me cast them on you when the time comes. Nausea suppression, heartburn relief, malleable skin tissue, reinforced bladder, better blood flow, improved circulation, that sort of thing. Your pregnancy will be a cakewalk.”

“You’re asking me to abandon my bloody gender for a year!” Shining retorted. "My masculinity. My identity. A major part of who I am!”

Cadance sighed. “I know perfectly well what I’m asking.” She went to him and brushed her hoof through his mane. “Just a year of motherhood, that’s all. Once the baby is born, you can go back to being a super-macho stallion. Does twelve months really seem like that long a time?”

Shining didn’t react to her touch, but neither did he shy away. “You know, I didn’t think that swapping genders a few times to spice up the sex would lead to something like this.”

Cadance waggled her eyebrows. “Would you be mad if I said it’s been a huge relief? I’d still be frantically searching for a cure if you hadn’t gotten curious about the other side of the fence.”

Shining face reddened. “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy our… ‘experiments,’ but this is way, way different. This is a home run when our little sessions have been hits to first or second base.”

“Oh, really?” Cadance circled around him with a coy look. “I seem to recall you saying several things to the contrary.”

Shining hesitated, but then shook his head, trying to will the memories away. “That was in the heat of the moment. I was just trying to get you riled up!”

“‘Do it inside, Eros!’” Cadance said in a deep, erotic moan. “Yes! I want it all! Give it to me! Let me have your foals!”

“Heat. Of. The. Moment,” Shining said through clenched teeth. His breathing was shallow, his erect cock twitching below his barrel. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Cadance stopped in front of him and crossed her hooves. “I think the Princess of Love can tell the difference between sexual banter and actual desire. Whether you’re aware of it or not, there’s a part of you that very much wants this, and it comes out strong when you’re a mare.”

Shining swallowed hard. He was running out of things to hide behind, and it was clear that Cadance was ready for whatever excuse or problem he could bring up.

“What about labor and foaling?” he asked.

“Pain-to-Pleasure spell,” Cadance said. “We cast it once your water breaks, and your contractions suddenly feel like orgasms. Simple as pie.”

Shining bit his lip. “I thought that that spell was dangerous.”

Cadance smirked. “It is if a normal pony tries to cast it. But your sister and I aren’t exactly normal ponies, are we?”

Shining was sweating now. It all seemed insane, but deep down inside he’d pretty much already made a decision. His sense of duty had pretty much sealed the deal from the start, but he still felt the need to bring up some more points.

“What are we going to say to everypony? Especially the new recruits!” Shining adopted a mocking tone. “Hey guys, Shining Armor’s gonna turn into a mare and have a foal! Don’t mind that, though! Keep doing push-ups!”

Cadance shrugged. “We’re the heroes of the nation, Shiny. I’m doubt anypony is gonna care too much. Besides, it’s not the craziest thing that’s happened since the Empire’s returned. Remember the dafflewarks? Hmm? Recall that little escapade?”

“Yes, well… um…” Shining put a hoof behind his head, searching for something else. “W-what about the rest of Equestria?” He gestured out the window to the lands beyond. “They’re gonna have a field day with this!”

Cadance threw her hooves up the air. “Who gives a damn? They’re not the ones with the problem! They haven’t done the research!  They don’t have a single clue what our situation is, so can go take a long walk off a short cliff for all I care! Celestia’s sake, if you’re so concerned about the rest of the world, I’ll handle the damn press myself!”

“But what about—”

“SHINING!” Cadance stamped her hoof, her eyes glistening. “You want a good argument for why we need to do this? I! Can’t! Have! Foals! No sons, no daughters, no grandchildren, none, nada, nil, zip, zero, zilch! Explain THAT to Equestria! Explain that to your parents! Your sister and I have tried everything we can think of to try and spare you from this, but the bottom line is that there’s no other way! The only way you’re gonna be a parent within the next CENTURY is if you either figure out a way to reproduce asexually, knock up another mare, or trade your Y for a second X and get knocked up yourself! Those are your options, so fucking pick one!”

“All right, all right, I get it!” Shining looked away from her piercing gaze and groaned. “You’ve made your point well enough. I guess… I’m just a little scared, you know? I wanted to make sure that you’d thought this through.”

Cadance snorted. “Somewhat extensively.”

Shining said nothing in reply. Instead, he walked over to a full-length mirror and examined himself. His muzzle was square and chiseled, his chest was broad, his legs were thick and sturdy, and his frame was tall and stocky. His muscles were firm and toned, his athletic body reflecting the long years of his successful military career. All of that would change. Everything he saw before him would be reshaped and modified for a completely different purpose, and it would take years to get back what would be lost.

Cadance walked up behind him. She kept her expression neutral as she put a wing around him and rubbed his back.

“It’s not for forever. You may get some funny looks for a while, but in the long run, nopony’s even going to remember that you did this. It’ll be remembered as just another heroic act you did, and before long, it’ll be overshadowed by the amazing things you continue to do.”

Shining clicked his teeth. Did he need more time to think about it? Maybe mull it over for a while? He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to go and get someone else’s advice, but the longer he stalled, the worse it was gonna wind up being. It’d already taken Cadance a long time to come up with this solution; it wasn’t going to help things if he started dragging his heels. Yeah, it was a huge commitment, but it'd be worth it in the end. It’d also probably be rather embarrassing, but considering the reasons for doing it in the first place, he doubted it’d do much to his image.

Shining turned and nuzzled Cadance’s cheek.

“You owe me big time for this.”

Cadance giggled and nuzzled him back. “Trust me, I’ve got a few things planned you’ll enjoy.”