Author's Note

Warning pseudo- magical science ahead.
Those with a Logical mind or at least some form of basic education, ye have been warned!

The Hospital Part

Special thanks goes to Smokey Glacier for editing this mess.

Thankfully for once in your life, the rest of the walk went undisturbed.

The slight chill of the early spring morning sobers your thoughts, giving you time to reflect on the conversation that took place on the bench, as you press forward towards the hospital with Gilda and the most recent addition to the party, Twilight.

You had no complaints of the silence that formed between you and Gilda. No one outside of your little motley crew was even given a chance to comment after meeting up with Twilight, who, to put it nicely, wouldn’t let anyone get a word in edge ways after you met with her at her castle.

You had made the mistake of asking her how her studies on the blood tests went. After the first five minutes of mostly nonsensical pseudo-magical science mumbo jumbo that threw all laws of nature and biology through the proverbial window, you pretty much zoned out.

Not that you didn't try to pay attention, but even having it explained in her version of 'laymens' terms you still felt like she was speaking Greek to you. Hopefully the doctor would be able to explain the situation in a way that someone who wasn't a magical genius would understand.

Then again, as mentioned before you didn't mind her talking too much. It gave you time to sort through the thoughts that had been plaguing your mind this week.

That was until you heared your name being called by the lavender pony.

"...don't you think?" Twilight concludes, looking up at you for conformation.

"Huh? Oh I make it about half ten?" You stumble out, looking down at your watch before looking back at a more than annoyed face.

"Were you even listening to me!?" Twilight yells, throwing her wings up in disbelief.

"I did! I mean I was, but after I told you for the fifth time, I have no idea who Starswirly is and how his theory of magical displacement through cells or whatever that even meant, you just kept going." You argue back, mentally patting yourself on the back that you even remember that part of the nonsensical rant.

"First off, it’s Starswirl. And second, it's easy. You see, the amount of MPBL can also determine the effects of both your DNA and the displacement of the magic through the infants developing cerebral cortex. How is that so hard to understand?" She asks in the same tone of voice that one would ask someone who didn't understand that two plus two equelled four.

"Noooo, no you're right that makes perfect sense." You sarcastically agree rolling your eyes at the mare.

"See, I knew you would get it if you focused." Twilight obliviously celebrated in triumph with her head high, before launching back into the lecture.

"Now then, as I already explained before, through the study of enzymes, it’s possible that..."

"Will you two give it a break? We're here already," Gilda exclaims pointing up towards the large building helpfully labelled hospital in enormous red letters.

"Right, yes, well let's continue inside." Twilight sighs slightly annoyed that her lecture went unfinished.

You pass through the car park, or the pony equivalent you guess.

Knowing this place, it’s probably called a wagon pa-- yep there’s the sign. 'Wagon park no caravans past ten pm'. Called it...

You smugly pat yourself on the back as you close in on the entrance, turning around towards the group you notice your party is lacking in numbers. Mainly two, to be exact.

"Sweetie you alright?" You ask tentatively, turning back towards Gilda, who is looking the building up and down as if it was some great lumbering beast, before taking a long drawn out breath.

"Yeah, yeah it’s nothing. It’s just, I hate hospitals." She slumps down with a slights shiver.

"I know Gilda, they're not the most pleasant places I'll admit, but they’re really not that bad."

"I thought I could handle it, but heck, the last time I was in a hospital was the last time I saw them both, you know? So I don't exactly have fond memories of these places."

You frown at the new revelation, as some of the lingering questions are answered. You crouch down to her level and place a reassuring hand around her, stroking the feathers on her back and neck, attempting to comfort the griffon who continued to scowl at the building.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spot Twilight waiting patiently a few steps behind you with a perplexed expression on her face.

"I don't mind if you want to sit and talk about it." You whisper lightly into her ear.

Gilda takes another long huff, bringing her gaze to the floor for a few brief moments before shooting it back up with fiery determination.

"Nah, we've done enough talking for one day. Let's just do this already." She states defiantly pushing off the ground and storming towards the main entrance. You nod respecting her choice. You lift yourself back upright and follow the Griffon inside.

Once again, the parallels of this world and yours simply fascinate you. As you look around, you notice what looked like an identical replica of the hospital you would visit back on Earth. Even down to the sickeningly awful colours they picked for the walls and the five year old magazines that had been read and re-read more times then they were ever intended to.

Thankfully though, unlike your hospital, this one seemed to be running rather smoothly. Only a handful of patients were seated in the waiting room and they both were flanked on either side by nurses and/or doctors.

Must be more staff then patients. Well that's a nice change of pace.

You observe the room as you press onwards towards the front desk with the rest of the group. Stopping at a respectful distance, you let Twilight go ahead towards the receptionist, who is staring with utter boredom at the files in her hooves.

"Hello my name is Twilight Sparkle, we're here for--" She begins before being stopped by a dismissive hoof from the receptionist.

"All patients please take a number over by the wall and wait to be called." The mare states in a practiced dull voice.

"But we're actually expecting-" Twilight tries to intercept, but once again stops as the mare holds up her hoof.

"Please take a number and wait to be called." The mare broadly repeats, not even glancing up from the reports.

Twilight grumbles in exasperation, throwing up her tail and wings in a huff as she storms back to you and a distracted Gilda, who was acting surprisingly sombre, she's seems to be to lost in thought to truly keep track of anything going on around her.

"Can you believe some ponies? I mean what if one of us were seriously injured!?" Twilight growls, giving the receptionist a quick glare.

"I'm just surprised you didn't pull the social rank card on her. I mean don't you own Ponyville or something like that? You know, being princess and everything?"

Twilight gives you a shocked stare, the expression on her face was the same as if you asked her to help bury a dead body.

"I would never take advantage of my position like that! That would be completely immoral!" She exclaims loudly, holding a hoof towards her chest in shock.

You hold up your hands defensively, assuming you must have hit a nerve or something, and drop the argument before it could take root.

"Okay, damn... Take it easy, it was just a suggestion. How about I go talk to her?"

"Good luck. That mare's more stubborn than a mule in a debating society." She huffs, blowing a lose strand of hair from her sight.

You smirk. "Trust me Twi, if there's one thing I'm good at, it’s getting some pony's attention."

You march towards the desk, towering over the miniature work bench coughing once to get the mare’s attention.

The mare perks up her ears, flicking them in your direction for a moment before sighing, still keeping her gaze fixed on the same report. On a whim, you lean further across using your superior height advantage. You notice some sort of gossip magazine concealed inside the folder.

"How many times do I have to tell you, pick a number and wait in line! Can't you can see I'm very busy?" The mare moans.

Without missing a beat, you lean forward and pluck the magazine out of the folder. You give it an amused glance over as you read the title of the magazine.

"You know, I'm not sure how 'comoponyton' is going to help your patient’s. But then again, what do I know? I'm only a vet." You give a cocky chuckle as the mare glares up at you about to protest. However as quickly as she was about to complain, the words died on her tounge as her eyes shoot open fully in shock.

Ha! that got her attention. Finally, score one to me.

"Oh my Celestia, why didn't you say anything before!?" She bellows out, racing around her desk and whistling with a single hoof, getting the attention of two nurses in the waiting room.

Still feeling cocky about how easy that went, you turn away from the mare and face towards Twilight, ready to gloat.

"See Twi, what did I tell you? it’s all a matter of WHAA!"

Before you can even finish your victory speech, you’re shoved backwards and land on a stretcher that somehow fits your size (mostly), not even getting a chance to speak up. The group of nurses flank you on both sides, muttering reassurances as restraints are strapped around your chest and arms.

"By Luna's grace, I've never seen a pony so sick before!" One of the nurses to your left worriedly mumbles looking up at her fellow nurse.
"This could be the worst case of poison joke I've ever seen. It’s completely malformed, this poor stallion." The mare declares lifting your shirt all the way up to your neck with her magic.

"I’m not a pony for Christ sake, I'm a human! And who’re you calling malformed?!" You yell, struggling with all your strength against the restraints.

"Oh my Luna, the poison is making this poor colt delusional! This is worse than I thought. He must have ingested the plant! it’s the only way it could be this bad."

The other nurse lowers her stethoscope onto your chest, listening intently to your erratic heart beats.

"Coldcoldcold!" you squirm as the ice cold touch of the stethoscope makes contact with your skin.

"His heart rate is far too low. What do we do? He could go into shock any minute." The nurse to your right announces panicked, looking around frantically for help.

"I don't know, this my first day as a nurse!" The mare opposite of her replies.

"Mine too! Wait, I have an idea, Follow me!" The other nurse turns, running out of your now restricted view.

Oh Jesus, you’ve got to be kidding me. You think, squirming against the restraints looking around for anything that could aid in your escape.

Where the hell are Gilda and Twilight?!

As quickly you had though that, you spotted them. One had a look of confution and worry on her face, and the other trying hard to contain her laughter. It was not hard to work out who was who.

You see Twilight make a step forward before being blocked by a large brown griffon wing before she can assist.

"Wait egghead, I want to see where this goes." She chuckles as she watches you squirm.

"Gilda what are you doing?" You panically scream. "Come help me you feathery loon!"

"Nah." she states, casually looking at her talon trying to scrape a bit of dirt from under it.

"What, what do you mean nah!?"

"If this has anything to do with that Karma thing you told me about, then you’re getting a little taste of what you deserve after last Monday!" She yells at you with a wicked smirk.

Last Monday? "Wait your not still mad about that are you!?" You yell out, flinching instinctively as you hear an ominous electrical buzzing noise wheeling close towards your blind spot.

You scutch closer to Gilda on the bed hearing an annoyed huffed escape her beak as she folds her arms, giving you a tired leer.

"Aw, C'mon." you plead.

"No." Gilda firmly replies, tightening her arms across her chest.

"C'mon, please?" you say pouting your lips in a last ditch attempt to win her over with cuteness.

"I said no and that’s final! You’re not doing that there, it’s disgusting!" She yells, slamming her talons down on the bed.

"How is it disgusting? Fluttershy tells me she does it all sometimes." You try and argue lifting on hand up into the air acting flabergasted.

"I don’t care what she does in bed, you’re not doing it!" She argues back in a final tone, pointing her sharpened talon at your chest with every word.

"But I've seen you do it yourself when you think I'm not around." You wink, looking back at her with a smirk, as you see the griffon blush slightly embarrassed at that bit of information.

"T-that’s different!" the griffon stutters.

"How is it different?" You say throwing up a shrug.

"I don’t leave a mess!" Gilda yells back at you.

"Yeah right!" You mutter.

"Look." Gilda sighs tiredly, pinching the bridge of her beak and eyes with two talons. "I know you, you’ll just end up putting it all over me, like you always end up doing. You know how hard that stuff is to get out of feathers?" She throws up her wing showing you a still yet to be cleaned area of her wing span from last night.

"Fine whatever, jeez you’re impossible!" You wail knowing you’re not going to win this argument. Throwing yourself off the bed, you storm out of the room with the bowl of ceral you were desperately trying to eat in hand.

"And don’t let me catch you eating it anywhere but the kitchen! Seriously, why do guys always want to eat in bed? Bunch of slobs...”

"I already said my bad!" you plead as the sweat begins to drip down your forehead, a horrifying buzzing could be heard coming from behind your vision.

"Yeah, after you ignored me and spilled it all over the couch like I told you you would do! And guess who sat in it and had to spend twenty minutes cleaning up? My plot still smells like sour milk."

Despite herself, she pushes forward not breaking eye contact for a second. "Oh and let's not forget the time you spilt tomato sauce all over me, Twice in the same day because you thought eating and working around the house was a good idea!" Gilda angrily retorts, as Twilight franticly flicks her gaze between you two with an utterly confused expression painted on her muzzle once again.

"That wasn't my fault! That Labrador was out to get me!" you yell, never had you ever thought you would have to place those words into a sentence but you knew that dog was somehow working for Angel. You felt it.

"The machine is ready. I just hope we're not too late." The nurse mare worriedly announces, placing the two defibrillators against your chest, much to your horror.

You look one last time back at the two with a pleading expression but it has little to no affect on the bloody griffon.

"If I die I'm haunting your ass so hard!" You yell in defiance at the griffon who is chuckling wickedly.

"Bring it." She cooly states with a menacing smirk on her beak.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to run into the market to pick up some feed for my chickens and... Oh my!" A shy voice joins the fray, just before you feel the cruel electrical plates against your chest activate.

"Gilda you suck so haAHHHHHHH!"

==========
"I am so terribly sorry that happened to you. I assure you that this would not have happened if any of the fully trained doctors were on call." The stallion adorned in a white doctors coat apologizes to you for the uptinth time from across his room. He pauses quickly, leering at the two nurses, who were standing next to him both heads hung in shame.

"Its f-f-fine wasn't your fault-t-t, just please god make s-s-sure it doesn't happen a-a-again." You stutter out as the involuntary muscle spasms cause you to twitch every few seconds from the shock. You do your best to give Gilda the most evil eye you could muster through the twitching, which probably wasn't having the affect you wanted.

"If you say so." The doctor states with a slight bow before fixing his spectacles with a hoof.

"Anyway, Ms. Gilda, would you and the others like to proceed to the examination room please? Everything is set out for you."

All four of you make your way through the halls of the hospital looking at the large amount of vacant rooms that litter the coridors of the hospital. It was interesting how big the hospital was despite how relatively small the town was in comparison. Then again, with the amount of trouble the little settlement gets into on a nearly weekly basis, it’s no wonder they would keep so many rooms vacant and ready. At least that was your hypothesis.

Turning through the ever winding corridors, you finally come to a stop at an unmarked room almost identical to the others. It's impressive how anyone could navigate their way through this medical maze.

"Please, if you would make your way inside the room, I'll be with you shortly. If you would, position yourself on the examination table in the mean time Ms Gilda." The doctor calmly explains pointing to Gilda who snaps her gaze towards the doctor.

"Uh, yeah, sure." She stuttered uncharacteristically, pushing open the door and walking through the wooden archway into the room. You follow her in and turn to keep the door open for Twilight and Fluttershy.

"You coming?" You ask to Twilight before she turns quickly to her saddle bags then to the doctor.

"Oh doctor I forgot to mention, I have those samples you asked for." Twilight states levitating a bag gently over to the doctor who takes it in his own magic.

"Thank you Princess Twilight in fact why don’t you accompany me for a moment so we can discuss your findings."

"Of course doctor." She chirps happily.

"Huh, I didn't know you were a doctor?" you ask inquisitively moving out the way for Fluttershy to enter the room.

"Oh, no, I'm not a doctor really. I only started studing first aid because of how many times the girls and I get into trouble. Well, it started that way, and then I guess I may have moved onto basic medicine and then, well didn't stop." she blushes sheepishly.

The doctor chuckles as he fixes his glasses once again. "Yes the Princess has even approached me many times these past few months asking for a few books. She's even offered to help out and assist me at the hospital from time to time for practice. She's been most helpful."

"Thank you doctor Brown, but please, just Twilight is fine." She states in mild embarrassment.

The doctor lightly adjusts his spectacles once again, chuckling a bit. "Of course."

You try to hold back, but you can't help giggle at the stallion name.

"What's so funny?" Twilight asks curiously.

"Nothing nothing, its just back on Earth-"

"H-hey what's the hold up?" Gilda asks from inside the room in an uncertain tone.

"Nothing hun, I'll be inside in a minute." You say turning back towards Twilight and the walking irony.

"Well, time is wasting. We should get these to my office. Don't worry, we won't be more than a few minutes. As I said, everything has already been laid out for you. The staff were particularly excited about your visit."

"You told the whole hospital?" You say letting a little bit of panic in your voice show.

"No, not all of them, but I had to tell them something. Sorry, it was going to happen sooner or later." Twilight panikly answers back her ears sprayed back in a guilty fashion as she looks up at you.

You stare at Twilight for a moment before remembering Gilda's lecture on the bench, taking a large deep breath you try and calm your mind.
"Fine, but just tell me next time you do something like that. Who knows what will happen if the wrong pony finds out?"

The doctor gives you a queer look, but nod regardless. "Of course, it is your right after all, but usually couples are more than happy for this sort of news to spread."

"Yeah and usually couples are the same species and aren’t social pariahs." You point out.

"Fair point. Anyway, I will respect your request, so Twilight shall we?" The doctor concludes, leading the way for Twilight as you turn back into the fairly large examination chamber.

Apparently a few moments to ponies translates out to fifty minutes as you tediously count down the seconds on your wrist watch.
At first the wait was excruciating. It took Fluttershy, of all ponies, to tell you to stop pacing around. To be fair, she did it in an incredibly kind and apologetic manor.

You opted to sit next to Gilda by the examination bed. She was once again preening her feathers for the third time out of boredom. She had been pretty apprehensive as well, but unlike you, that had died down pretty quickly given her fairly weak appreciation of the virtue of patience.

Fluttershy was quietly flicking through a magazine occasionally stopping to ask Gilda a few questions every so often and vice versa. Fluttershy and Gilda ironically had become better friends than you had ever expected. You were a little apprehensive about the two of them meeting at first but surprisingly they took to each other like fish and water.

Maybe it was because Gilda was just happy for some female company for a change. Or the fact that they had some common ground growing up in Cloudsdale. You even found out that they went to the same primary school together, admittedly at different years, but still.

I guess every little bit helps. You smirk, looking over at the two of them. Gilda lets out a cocky chuckle as she finishes telling Shy her story, the yellow mare was also softly giggling behind her hoof at what Gilda had mentioned.

"What are girls plotting over there?" You ask with a small smile.

"Oh its nothing really, Gilda was just telling me about her time in Cloudsdale elementary, it turns out we had the same teacher." Fluttershy answers back finishing her giggle fit.

"Yeah, we both had this stuffy old stallion called Mr. Raincloud. He would always cough dramatically before each sentence and talked in a very important fake Canterlot voice like this." Gilda finishes impersonating a stereotypical overly snobby voice that caused Shy to giggle harder behind her hoof.

"I thought he was very nice. He always let us take a sweet from his jar that he kept on his desk after class finished." Fluttershy adds with a blissful gaze of nostalgia.

Gilda rolls her eyes at that. "Yeah, if you were good. He never gave me any! only thing he ever gave me was detention."

You chuckle at that, as nostalgic thoughts of school flood your own thoughts. "Yeah, I got a few detentions in my day too. You wouldn't think it, but I never could keep my big mouth shut when it mattered. My mom always gave me an earful every time, but it never really sunk in till later on."

Gilda gives you with a cocky smirk. "Ha you think that's bad? I remember this one time I took all the sweets from Mr Rainclouds desk when he was facing the blackboard. Heck you should have seen his face when he turned back. Ha! It was priceless!" Gilda clutches her sides as she laughs uproariously flicking a little tear from her eyes.

"Oh, Snowdrop yelled at me so hard when I got caught. I never thought she would stop." Gilda laughs begin to subside as she catches her breath, Fluttershy only shaking her head in amumsment.

“Snowdrop? Who’s that, the head teacher or something?" You say with a bemused smirk.

"Huh? Oh no she was my sponsor. Like a foster parent from the orphanage. She would get on my flank like almost every day. The way she treated me, you'd think she was trying to be my, uh... never mind." As fast as it appeared the laugher subsides from her as the cornors of her beak aim downward into a frown.

You open your mouth to comment, but are interrupted by the sounds coming from outside followed by the door being pushed open with a wave of magic.

"I'm so sorry for keeping you all, but we had to double check the findings." The doctor stiffly announces as he rushes into the room panting heavily for some reason.

Did he run here?

"What me and Twilight found was, well, very hard to believe." the doctor adds, catching his breath and looking a bit flustered. It looked like he was about to get back a test he didn’t study for.

You lift an eyebrow in puzzlement. Oh this can't be good

"Uh, what's up doc?" Great, now I'm bugs bunny.

“We found, well, to put it nicely we found a major anomaly in one of the samples you gave us. Actually, we found several.” He answers.
You look down at Gilda who is sharing your look of confusion, before turning back at the doctor.

"Sorry to sound rude doctor, but I could have told you that. We know this is all an anomaly, that's why we came here." You explain shrugging at him.

"No, no lad it’s not the baby, it has something do with the blood samples you gave us."

"What's wrong? is my blood bad or something? I don't really go to check ups often." Gilda asks worriedly.

"No, Ms. Gilda, your samples came back fine." The doctor turns and points a hoof at you. "It’s your blood that confounds us."

You look at the doctor in utter confusion, turning to Twilight whose face was just as flustered as the doctors. "Wait, wait." you begin pinching the bridge of your nose, trying not to get any more disoriented then you had already become. "Hold up, what? You can't just say something like that, what do you mean my blood's a problem? Did you find something in it I should be worried about?"

"Well that's just the thing." Twilight buts in "We didn't find anything."

Okay you were confused before, now you where completely baffled. You give the mare the most perplexed look you could muster as you tried to work out what the heck that sentence ment word for word.

"Sorry to sound like a broken record here, but what?"

"What Twilight means is that based how we tested your blood by all accounts my lad, you should be dead."

"Uh...Could you run that by me again?"

"Based on the sample you gave us, by every basic law of nature in Equestria you should have died years ago."

You stare at the stallion for some time, slumping down on the seat behind you. You don’t make a single sound as you feel a soft wing reach around you side.

"What kind of nonsense is that? You can't just say something like that you stupid jerk! You better speak up doc, or else!" Gilda growls as you let the words sink in.

"I'm sorry Ms. Gilda. perhaps I should explain when we tested your husbands-"

"Coltfreind." Fluttershy quietly corrects, despite her own shocked expression.

"Sorry. Your coltfriend’s blood sample we found not a single ounce of magic."

You snap your gaze up, looking angrily at the doctor. "Wait, magic!? Jesus doctor, I could have told you that! Of course I don't have any magic, no human does!" you yell out, angered by the doctor effectively scaring the hell out of you.

The doctor visibly recalls from your bellowing. "I’m uh, sorry, but you have to understand that in this world everything has magic inside of it. Even plant life and animals have traces of magic. It’s the life force of nature that keeps this world flowing so as you could see the fact that your cells contain none whatsoever, well you must forgive us for reacting so drastically. I sincerely apologize if I gave you cause to distress."

You rub your temples, letting the minor panic attack leak from your mind as you gently caress the sides of your skull.

"You think that maybe you could have explained that to me that before you told me I was going to die!?"

Twilight is the first to speak up, moving further into the room near you.

"I think that what the doctor was trying to state is that we have never had anypony ever with your type of condition before, so it shocked us."
Shocked us? Jesus, am I the only sane person on this planet? Well, I suppose so, since I am the only person on this planet. But still, can't they just have a moderate amount of empathy?

You exhail through your nose, resting your head against the wall quietly, enjoying the feeling of Gilda's warm wing around your shoulders.

"It’s fine, it’s fine. Hell, it’s not the worst thing that someone’s said to me today." you say, glancing at the confused ponies who were trying to work out what that ment as you relax into the wing.

"Thank you now. At least the upside to this is that we can give you a good guess as to how Ms. Gilda became pregnant."

The doctor clears his throat as you await his explanation.

"Based on our understanding your cells don't give off magic like others do in Equestira, but rather they absorb all types of magic."
"All types of it? Isn't magic just magic?" you ask.

“No, magic has many different elements. Like when one breathes, magic like air has many different elements in it that every life form takes parts from it. They then release the parts that are not needed. It’s like the equivalent of taking in oxygen from air and expelling out all the unneeded elements that make up air, as well as converting the magic equivalent of carbon dioxide. But I won't get too much into that, as its unnecessary at this time." He begins to walk around the room like a passionate lecture. It would have been entertaining if you weren’t so utterly baffled by it all.

"However, unlike the norm, your cells accept all the elements inside them and harmlessly merge with them. At least that's what we witnessed when testing. The only trouble is, when we tested for it, we couldn't find any of the original magic elements inside the cells. It was as if they became a different entity entirely. It’s absolutely fascinating!"

"Yeah, it’s riveting doctor, but could you maybe get to the point?" you say tiredly slouching on the chair as you take note of what the doctor was saying.

At least this is sort of making sense I guess. Well, it makes more sense than anything Twilight was trying to tell me on the way here.

“Sorry lad, I get a little carried away sometimes with these sorts of things. Anyway, taking that into account we can deduce that your semen sample, (You and every mare in the room blushes slightly at the doctor’s nonchalant attitude.) we took the internal magic from Gilda's sample and applied it with your sample. From what we could tell, your sperm cell's seemed to accept her magic too. We can't be sure that this is the reason, but it would be the first step in explaining the pregnancy, or at least it's the best explanation we can give you for that.”

"Wait, hold up." You say, lifting a hand up. Magic could explain a lot of bull but from what you could remember about your admittedly somewhat basic knowledge of biology, this didn't explain anything.

"Doctor, I’m not telling you how to do your job or anything, but based on laws of nature, if DNA doesnt match and neither does the chromosomes, then there is no real way this could actually be possible. Otherwise, you'd be walking around with all manner of different mix breeds like catdogs or something just as preposterous.

You hear Fluttershy squeel gidilly at the idea, getting a little rise out of you as you look back at the doctor.

"Well that's the thing. Normally, that would be the case. However, as I stated before, magic is the life force of nature in Equestria. It bonds everything together. And you’re correct. Certain forms of magic don't hold meaning and neither does their DNA. Which is why cows and ponies can't breed, nor can griffons and so on. However, your cells, even your sperm cells in fact, accept all levels of magic without bias. Basically what that means is that it could In fact be possible for you to impregnate Ms. Gilda."

"Okay, I'm sorry but that's just stupid. You’re saying I can just go knock up any animal in the land?"

"What? No good Luna no! You still need the correct level of magic per cell for anything like that to be possible. Only ponies, griffons and other intelligent species like that have enough magic in them for anything like that to be possible."

You sit back, massaging your sleep deprived eyes contemplating the doctors speech. It still seemed insane to you, but then again, it was the best. And by that you mean the only explanation you had been given that you could understand without delving back into those dark thoughts. Compared to the alternative, you'd take anything.

"Well it still sounds like bull to me, but it’s the only explanation anyone's given me, so I'll take it I guess."

"We can always run more tests later on." Twilight jumps in. You notice a gleam in her eye, carefully noting that that wasn't really a suggestion but more of a demand. There’s no way she wasn't going to study you more when she could get those hooves on your poor soul.

"As Ms. Twilight says, but for now, why don't we do what we came here for. I'm sure both of you are as excited as I am to see how the infant is doing?"

You nod eagerly, looking up at Gilda, who is mimicking you response.

You step back a bit to allow the doctor to walk around Gilda as his horn glows a faint blue, bringing the stethoscope to his long equine ears.
"Now, I am just going to do a simple standard examination checking for heart rate to make sure there aren't any irregularities with the infant, and those sorts of things."

You spot Gilda giving the stallion a weary look. She really isn't comfortable with another pony touching her. Especially when she’s in such a vulnerable position, you can tell the doctor is also catching on to this as he patiently awaits her response.

It takes a moment, but Gilda nods, lifting the blanket off herself to reveal her plump stomach.

"Now again, as per standard procedure I'm going to have to cast a few spells in order to check the child’s health if that's ok with you Ms. Gilda?"

Once again, Gilda nods slowly, never taking her eyes off the doctor. You’re not sure why exactly the few machines dotted around you were so advanced. You were certain that pony's were not as technologically advanced as humans were.

Whilst ponies had shown the capability for being as smart as humans, the inherent bonus of magic in this world meant they didn't need to seek out alternative sources of fuel or technologies that humans needed like electricity. Most things were charged and sustained by magic. Even down to the light bulbs that lit up this room.

With Gilda’s silent permission, the doctor diligently began his practice, placing the scope first up to Gilda before solemnly humming and bringing it further down towards her stomach stably to check the child. The room was pretty still at this point, the only real noise comes from the soft aura of magic from the doctor’s horn and the near silent buzz of the hospital lights beaming down on you.

You keep your hand on Gilda, lightly stroking her back as she shivers slightly. It's hard to tell if it’s from the cold steel of the stethoscope or from the doctor’s touch, but you do your best to keep her comfortable because lord knows you weren’t doing any better yourself.

After a few minutes the doctor lifts his head and nods to himself, bringing a quil and clipboard up from across the room.

"Well, from what I can gather, both you and the child's heartbeats are fairly normal. I'd say the child has a slightly lower heart rate than I would deem normal but nothing to worry if my hypothesis is correct, considering that from what I can gather from human males, that's normal as well."

"Well, that's good to know at least." You chuckle lightly to Gilda.

"Now I'm going to take a few moments to cast a spell to check the other aspects of the child. In the mean time, have you given any though as to a midwife, or would you like me to suggest one of the nurses on my staff? Unfortunately, it’s not the cheapest choice. Most pony's usually have a trained relative do it. However, given your predicament, and Ms. Gilda’s lack of a next of kin as I understand it, that's not much of an option.” The doctor hums in thought, examining the clipboard, his horn glowing a faint blue once more.

"Midwife? What, like a full time one? No I didn't even think about that. Is it really necessary, humans don't tend to need them that much back in my day and age."

"It’s pretty standard here, especially in Ponyville." Twilight chimes in. "True, it’s become more of a tradition, especially among each Earth ponies who tend to have more rural lives close to family. But every book I've read on the topic lead me to believe it’s the best choice. I think even my mom had one when I was born." She taps her chin in thought.

"What do you think sweetie?" You ask looking over to Gilda who snaps her gaze away from the doctor who is now casting a spell on Gilda.
"Well, I mean if it works fine, but I don't know how we're gonna afford it. Didn't you say you were having trouble keeping up with the rent this month?"

She had a point. Being an on-call vet was very much a fickle profession. True, you got a grant from Canterlot that you shared with Fluttershy for preserving the wildlife in and around the Everfree.

But for the most part, your funding really came from the local ponies pets, at least the ones that let you come within ten feet of them. Applejack’s livestock was your best source of income, and as horrible as it was to say, it’s unfortunate that not many of them needed a regular check up.

Then again, that could come down to the fact that your superior knowledge of animal anatomy and medicines. Thanks to the human advancements in understanding wildlife and medicine, you were almost over qualified in insuring the local wildlife’s survival if you could allow yourself that much credit. So what would have been a two day job was half a day to you and so on.

You chew on your lip as you do the calculations in your mind.

I don't need to eat every Tuesday.

"It’s fine. We can get by. True, I might have to look for a second job to earn the bits, but I'd do anything to make sure you and the baby get the best care you can." You say with a gentle smile.

Gilda eyes open fully as she turns almost her whole upper body in your direction, her eyebrows are up as high as they physically could as her expression is one of utter astonishment. As quick as she looks at you she looks away her whole body quivering.

Did I say something wrong?

You hear a small sniffle as you lean down over the bed, slowly touching her on the shoulder.

"Gilda what did I say? Are you alright?" you say quietly. Everypony in the room was silent and just as confused as you where.

"No, I'm not alright!" she yells, sitting up to almost your eye level on the bed, wiping her eyes with the tips of her wing.

"You got me all choked up in front of all these other ponies. You know those hormone things make me all emotional and stuff. But no, you have to go say something so stupidly sweet like that make me look like such a dork." She finishes weakly, slumping her head against your shoulder with a child like pout on her beak.

You shake your head, leaning an arm around Gilda. You hear small 'ah' around the room whilst the doctor simple chuckles light heartedly, shaking his head and continuing with the spell.

"Gilda?" a soft voice calls breaking your embrace.

Gilda lifts her head from your side and turns her gaze to Fluttershy who is smiling softly at you two.

"I-if you want, I could do it. Be your midwife, that is. If you want me to, I helped a lot of my animal friends with their babies and my mother is a trained midwife. I'm sure she'll be happy to give me a few lessons."

"You don't have to do that, Shy." Gilda call out lifting her head from your shoulder.

"Oh, no, it's no bother, really. I want to help and if it will save you any problems, then it would be my pleasure to help."

Gilda scrunches her beak in thought before smirking. "Well, it would be better to have somepony I know rather than a total stranger. And I guess I couldn't do worse than somepony who had to deal with Mr Raincloud. Any ponies who had to sit through one of his lectures and not die of boredom is tough enough to help me out."

Shy giggles again at Gilda. "Oh well, if you put it like that, maybe im not all that tough.” She lightly says jokingly.

"Well, now that that's sorted, do you want to hear the results? I have some good news and some not so good." the doctor states looking at you slightly solemnly.

"Uh not so good first. Let’s at least get this out of the way." you say before anyone can comment.

"The not so good news is that Gilda going to need more regular check-ups than the average pony because of the circumstances. And just how much liberty I'm going to have to take with my medical knowledge, it’s imperative that the child be monitored as frequently as possible."

"So what you’re saying is that I'm still going to need that second job?" You say.

"I'm afraid it’s not going to be cheap. We could sort out some sort of payment plan. I really hate to bring this up now, but I'd rather not string your hoof around on the matter."

"I understand. I appreciate the honesty, doctor."

"Don't worry lad. You two are sweet together and I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I'm not going to leave you two bankrupt, but I am going to make sure that you two get the best care that this hospital can afford. You deserve that much at least."

"I swear, you ponies. Sometimes you’re just too kind." you say with a genuine smile that the doctor matches.

"Pah! It’s the least I could do, my boy! Now let's not dwell on that thought, shall we?"

"What was the good news doc?" Gilda asks.

The doctor once more fixes his glasses, looking between you and Gilda with a big grin on his muzzle. "Well it’s good news for you Ms. Gilda, but not so much for your colt friend. You see, I'm afraid your stallion is going to have a big problem in the future chasing all the young colts away when she grows up."

Your jaw drops. "Wait, you mean..."

The doctor nods with a proud expression as he lifts his head up high at you.

"That's right! it’s a filly."