The Poll

The Poll

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Five Weeks Later (Week 8)-

The sterile white walls of the Crystal Empire Central Hospital stared back at Gleaming as she sat alone in the ultrasound room. The unnaturally-bright lights above left an unpleasant glare in her eyes, and all the while, she was doing her best to ignore the pictures of mare and fetus anatomy everywhere. Cupboards filled with medical supplies lined the far wall, and in the corner, a complicated machine with wires and strange-looking wands was hooked up to a black screen.

Gleaming stifled a yawn for the fifth time. She didn’t understand why she’d been so tired lately. She probably would’ve dozed off already, but her bladder was keeping her awake. The ultrasound required her to drink a lot of water to provide a better picture, and it was all starting to catch up with her. The blasted nurse was taking her sweet time to come in, too.

“Damn it all,” Gleaming muttered. She felt jittery and on edge, and she didn’t like it one bit. She had half a mind to just run to the privy, and damn the consequences. She wasn’t used to being alone in a doctor’s office, either.  She took a deep breath and let it out, but it did little to quell the butterflies in her stomach. Damn it, this was a simple, painless procedure. Why the hay was she so nervous?

Gleaming sighed and put a hoof on her stomach. She hated to admit it, but she’d been a bundle of nerves for weeks. She doubted it was going to get better any time soon, either. It was all she could do not to let it show. Being around Cadance seemed to help the most, but she couldn’t come with this time. Gleaming was on her own.

The door opened with a soft squeak. In stepped a bluish-green unicorn mare in nurse’s scrubs, holding a clipboard in her telekinetic grasp. She smiled as she met Gleaming’s eyes.

“Good morning, Highness!” She held out her hoof. “My name’s Aqua, and I’m the senior nurse working with Doctor Endo in obstetrics and gynecology. I’ll be the one conducting your ultrasound this morning! How’re you feeling?”

“Tired,” Gleaming mumbled. She yawned again as she shook Aqua’s hoof. “Don’t understand why, either. I got eight hours of sleep last night, and I still wanna crash.”

Aqua giggled. “Fatigue spells in the first months of pregnancy are common—especially in unicorns. It means your body is gearing up for things to come.”

“Mrghghghggh,” Gleaming sat back flat on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, her eyelids drooping. “Still sucks.”

“I know, honey.” Aqua examined Gleaming’s body for any obvious abnormalities, taking note of basic things like pulse and blood pressure. She jotted them down on her clipboard and went over to the machine by the bed. “So, let’s see. According to our records, this is going to be your first ultrasound with us. Am I right?”

Gleaming nodded. “Would’ve done it last week, but we had to reschedule.”

“Righty-o.” Aqua made a note of that. “So this’ll be the first time you get to see your foal! Are you excited?”

Gleaming didn’t know how to reply to that. A whirlwind of emotions ran through her as she stared up at the ceiling, her hoof idly stroking her abdomen.

Aqua watched Gleaming for a few seconds, then gently patted her shoulder. “I know it can be a lot to take in. The first child is always the scariest, but it gets easier after that. Heck, the whole thing almost becomes routine by the time you have your third!”

Gleaming’s eyes flew open. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!My third?! Hold on a sec! There’s no way I’m going through all of this more than once!”

Aqua snickered. “Like I haven’t heard that one a million times before.”

Gleaming frowned at her. “I’m a stallion, Miss Aqua. You know that I am! I’m only doing this because of special circumstances! It’s not something I want to make a habit out of.”

“The look in your eyes disagrees,” Aqua replied without missing a beat. “My special talent is to recognize the nurturing instinct in others, and because of that, it’s easy for me to see which mares only will want one foal, and which ones want more. I see it all the time in first-time mothers; both back when I worked in Canterlot, and now that I’ve transferred here.”

Aqua leaned a bit closer. “And Honey, you’ve got it bad. I’d bet good money you’re gonna be doing this again.”

Gleaming felt her insides flutter. A part of her really, really wanted to deny that, but another part of her stayed her reply. Being a guardian had always been in her blood, so much so that she’d made a career out of it. And her own special talent was in protecting others, so it wasn’t impossible to reason that it was mingling with her new maternal instincts.

“Yeah, well… we can’t do it again,” Gleaming finally said. “Like I said, there were special circumstances that allowed us to do this in the first place. It’s a one-time thing.”

Aqua shrugged. “There are other ways to become a parent besides having a foal of your own, you know.”

Gleaming’s ears twitched. “Like what? Adoption?”

“That’s one way,” Aqua said. “There are others, too. Surrogacy, in-vitro, thaumic cell manipulation, aether gene therapy, stuff like that. The foal in each of those cases wouldn’t be both yours and Princess Cadance’s, but it’d be better than nothing. It might be something for the two of you to look into down the road.”

Gleaming bit her lip. “We… have talked about stuff like that. Adoption and all that, I mean. We never really ruled it out, but it just became this nebulous thing that got left hanging. Cady loves kids, and I’m sure that if we did adopt or have a surrogate, she’d love the child just the same, but there’s a part of her—both of us, really, that wants our kid to be the result of her and me. She didn’t wanna give up on that, and neither did I, to be honest. And of course, I knew how hard she’d been working to make it a reality, so when she came up with this whole thing, explaining that it was the only option she could think of…”

Aqua started up the ultrasound machine and checked it over. “It is strange, I’ll admit. Most couples wouldn’t go so far to accomplish what you and Princess Cadance have done. But the desire you mentioned—for the child to be both hers and yours—that isn’t strange at all. A lot of couples feel that way, and that’s why it takes such a special couple to adopt. I’m not going to counsel you on what you should or shouldn’t do, mind you, I’m just saying you two aren’t doomed to just one child if you want more. You have options.”

Gleaming mulled that over for a bit. It was something she already basically knew, but it was nice to hear from somepony else. She gave a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement, then yawned again and let her eyes fall closed.

The ultrasound machine started up without any difficulty. The room became filled with a soft hum, and a moment later, Aqua picked up long, thin wand with a rounded end, covering it with a rubber casing and slathering it with a blue, goopy gel.

“Er, you DO know what an early pregnancy ultrasound entails, right?” Aqua asked Gleaming.

Gleaming nodded. “You gotta stick it up in me, I know. Can you at least warm it up with a heating spell, first?”

Aqua giggled. “Already did. Won’t hurt a bit, promise.”

Gleaming spread her hind legs and and gestured at her nethers. “Have at it, then.”

Aqua came over and situated herself. She fiddled with a few settings on the machine, then slowly, gently, she pushed the ultrasound wand into Gleaming’s waiting marehood.

Gleaming failed to bite back a moan. The tool felt like a dildo, except that it was thinner, and was made of a harder plastic. Her heart rate picked up as inch after inch of the wand sank easily into her.

“Yeah,” Aqua agreed. “It feels pretty good.”

Gleaming felt her tension melting away. She let out a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding, and relaxed further into the bed. The wand didn’t feel good enough to get her off, but it certainly didn’t feel unpleasant. She was suddenly very okay with all of this.

“Just a warning,” Aqua said after a moment. “I’m about to come up to your cervix, and I’ll be pressing the wand against it to try and find the foal. It’ll feel weird, but it shouldn’t hurt.”

“Mmmm...” Gleaming purred like a contented kitten. “Sure thing…”

Sure enough, a few seconds later Gleaming felt something hard come into contact with her innermost barrier. She tensed up a bit, but thankfully, Aqua was gentle. She felt a strange prodding sensation for a while as they both examined the black screen, trying to see what the scan might reveal.

“Gotcha!” Aqua said after a few moments. She pointed at a gray bean shape with a darker gray blur inside it. “There you go, Princess! There’s your baby.”

Gleaming blinked like an owl. It looked like a fuzzy blob, but the features of a pony could just barely be made out if you squinted hard enough.

“T-that’s… r-really?” Gleaming’s mouth went dry. “That’s really it?”

“Yep,” Aqua said. “Not much to look at, I know. Things’ll get more interesting in the coming months, though.”

Gleaming simply stared. She wasn’t really sure what to think. It didn’t really look like anything but at the moment, so she didn’t have any context. She thought she maybe saw a hoof? Or that could’ve been its head… or its tail.... okay, so she didn’t have a clue.

“Looks healthy,” Aqua remarked, examining the picture with a practiced eye. “Good size, and everything. Lemme see if I can move around a bit for a better angle.”

She moved the wand up a teeny tiny bit so she could get a different view...

...and when she did, the screen revealed a second bean shape, not far away from the first.

“Oh!” Aqua said with a small gasp. “Well, would you look at that!”

“What?!” Gleaming said. “What is it? What’s wrong?!”

Aqua chuckled. “Nothing at all, Highness. Just that it looks like you’re gonna be having more than one after all. Congratulations! You’ve got twins!”

Gleaming’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. The world slowed to a grinding halt as she looked at where Aqua was pointing. Sure as day, there were two little bean shapes on the screen, side by side.

The realization hit her like a punch to the face.

“T-Twins…”

Aqua moved the wand again to better see the second foal. “Looks like you got lucky. Ooh, the second one is in a good spot, too. Not too close to the other one, not too far away. They both have plenty of room to grow.”

Gleaming just continued to stare, her eyes glassy and unfocused. It was a good thing she was already lying down, or she’d have probably fallen over. Her brain was still deciding on what emotion was best suited for this news, and not much was registering with her.

“Baby B looks good.” Aqua turned away a moment to fiddle with some settings on the machine. “Nothing out of the ordinary that I can see. Amniotic sac is a good size, and the umbilical cord is intact. It’s really a good thing you’ve been taking prenatal vitamins, though. That helps a lot in the early—”

Suddenly, an afterimage appeared behind the second foal. The bean shape became blurred and indistinct, the lines of its silhouette shifting and overlapping.

Aqua frowned. “What the…”

The uncertainty in Aqua’s voice snapped Gleaming back to reality. She jerked her head up. “Huh? What?! What the what?!”

Aqua didn’t reply. Her eyes acquired a hawk-like focus, and with utmost care, she tilted the wand around so that she could see behind the second foal.

That’s when they saw the other two bean shapes.

“Well, hello there,” Aqua remarked mildly.

Gleaming’s jaw dropped, and her voice turned into a squeak. “T-those are...”

Aqua clucked her tongue, her lips pursed as she moved the wand back and forth. She used several methods just to make sure, but there was no mistaking it. It was the real deal.

“Gotta admit, this is a first for me,” Aqua finally said. “In my nineteen years of nursing, I’ve never seen anything beyond a triplet pregnancy before. I think we’re going to need to call in some specialists.”

The world went dark as Gleaming fainted.

“FOUR?!” Cadance practically shrieked.

It was later that day, and Gleaming was back at home with Cadance. She’d been working on paperwork all morning and afternoon, and her haggard appearance suggested she hadn’t even taken a break.

“Atleast four,” Gleaming corrected her. She took a manila folder out of her saddlebags and floated it over for Cadance to see. “There’s only so much you can see with that kind of scan. We couldn’t count them by their heartbeats, either, so there could very well be more.”

Cadance took out the photos and looked them over, her eyes widening as she beheld the fuzzy shapes that’d been circled with a marker. The pictures fluttered to the desk as she looked up at Gleaming in mute shock, her lips moving soundlessly.

Gleaming snickered. “That was pretty much my reaction, too. Looks like we’re gonna have that big family we wanted, after all.”

Cadance fell back into her chair, her mane falling over her face. “The ovulation spell I used… oh, dear Celestia... it really DID make you… I didn’t th-think it actually would! I was just saying those things to get you riled up! Oh, nonononono… I never meant for...”

“Little late for regrets now,” Gleaming said. She went over to the dresser and picked up her bottle of prenatal vitamins. She took one of them, then pulled out a few new pill bottles and took some from those, as well. “What’s done is done. We’re having four kids, Dear. Deal with it.”

Cadance shook her head. “ME deal with it?! I’m more concerned about you! You’re the one carrying them! This is going to be insane!”

Gleaming rolled her eyes. “Glad you noticed. Seems like we’re gonna need to be making some changes in our plans.”

“Oh my gooooooooooosh,” Cadance’s voice rose to a panicked whine. She got up and began pacing back and forth, her wings fluttering. “I’ll need to make changes to the spells I was going to cast, and that means I’ll need to recalculate them, and Twilight had helped me with a lot of that and I’m not sure I can do it by myself!”

“So have her come up here,” Gleaming said matter-of-factly. “Been too long since she’s visited, anyways.”

“But that’s just the tip of it!” Cadance said. “We need more advice on what to do! We’ll need more books and reference material! We need to make sure you get the proper diet and exercise! We need specialists and increased protection on you and we need to build a nursery and hire nannies and helpers andoh sweet Luna we’re never going to sleep again are we—”

“Cady!”

Cadance jumped. She looked over at Gleaming, who was staring at her with a bemused expression.

“Here’s what I want you to do,” she said softly. “I want you to take all those things you just said, along with the million other things running through your head right now, and look at them all in a positive light. This is what we wanted, Cady, both of us! We’re going to have the family we always wanted! This is a good thing!”

Cadance’s mind was a whirlwind. She heard what was being said, but the shock was still too fresh. She stammered out some gibberish as her thoughts rebooted.

Gleaming continued anyway. “Think about it. We have the money to pay for all the expenses. We have ponies ready, and willing to help us. We even have the magic and resources to make sure this goes along smoothly! There’s really no cause to panic once you sit down and realize what we all have going for us.”

Cadance managed to find her voice again. “Y-You’re… wait, what? You’re… you’re okay with this? Really?”

“I already had my freakout.” She brushed her mane out of her face and took a swig of water. “I fainted when the nurse found the third and fourth foals on the ultrasound. But when I woke up, I got to thinking about how well-situated we are, and the resources we have at our disposal. I seem to recall you saying something along the lines of you and Twily coming up with a slew of spells to make this easier on me, right? Prevent nasty things like premature labor, and the pain of foaling?”

“Well, yeah but—”

“And you’ve already cast like, half of those spells, yes?”

“You know I did! That’s not—”

“So what’s the problem?” Gleaming said, shrugging. “We make some adjustments. We talk to some ponies. We make some announcements, come up with new plans, and we be a little more careful overall. We’ll be holding our four kids before we know it.”

Cadance was at a loss. She looked at Gleaming with uncertainty, as if she was unsure she was hearing her wife’s words right.

“I-I, you...” she tried to shake her head. “You’re taking all of this really well! Why?! You can’t possibly be okay with—you’re gonna be huge, you know that? Like, absurdly so! You’re gonna gain a lot of weight, and you may not even be able to walk by the time you’re at full term!”

Gleaming chuckled. “Doctor Endo said that ideally, he’d like to see me gain about ninety pounds. I’m supposed to start eating five full meals a day. I already sent word to the kitchens.”

Cadance winced. “How can you be calm about that? About all of this?”

“Because of why I’m doing it.” Gleaming came over to Cadance, picked up her hoof, and rested it on her stomach. “I saw our kids on that screen, and at first I was so shocked that I didn’t even know what to think. But then later, it registered with me—I’d just seen our children. We’re already parents, Cady! We don’t have to wait for them to be born! I want our kids to be as happy and healthy as they can be, don’t you?”

“Of course!” Cadance snapped, a little harsher than she intended. “I’m just confused why you’re taking all of this in stride!”

“It’s not that big a deal.” Gleaming waved a dismissive hoof. “I can get my figure back easily enough, and like I said, I wanna do everything I can for our foals. If this is the way I can help, it’s a small price to pay. Don’t you think so?”

Cadance tongued the inside of her mouth. She couldn’t help but be baffled, but it seemed to be a turn for the better, all things considered. She was still thrown for a loop about it all, but if Gleaming was seeing it as a good thing, she supposed that, well...

The new emotions bubbled inside her like a spring. A sense of giddiness overtook her, and before she knew it she was laughing and giving Gleaming a hug. “Yeah… yeah! You’re right! We’re gonna be having foals! Foals! PLURAL! We won’t be having just one… ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshwe’rehavingmorethanone! EEEEEEEEE!”

Cadance did a happy little dance, then abruptly spread her wings and flew into the air. She sailed around the room in circles, cheering loud and long and giggling all the while.

“I’M A MOOOOOOMMMMM!” she yelled.

Gleaming couldn’t help but laugh. She watched Cadance for a little while, but then her gaze inevitably drifted back downward towards herself. With a maternal glow, she smiled a serenely and whispered softly to herself.

“I just hope one of you is a boy.”