The Magic Within

"Gah, my back is killing me!" Mirage whined. "Carrying three foals is so hard!" Mirage is almost at 11 months, so she could give at any random moment... (hint hint). Clark and Mirage are walking through the castle making their way to the royal gardens.

"I emphasize, I know what it's like carrying one foal, but three, not so sure what it feels like." Clark replied.

"It feels like someone place a one ton block on my back!"

"How heavy are you?"

"That's a rude question! I feel like I weigh one billion pounds!"

"Well, one foal is 10% of you body weight, so three foals is..."

"30%, yeah. And by how heavy they are I feel like a fat pig. No offense to the pigs."

"Not all pigs are fat you know." Clark said.

"Oh you know what I mean!" Mirage replied as they entered the garden.

"Fatty, fatty, fatty!" Clark teased.

"Heeey!" Mirage whined. She had learned to control her mood swings, so she wouldn't start yelling or crying if Clark teased her. "That's not nice!"

"You sounded like my mom just now!" Clark giggled. He paused to remember his mother, Rarity, and then they continued on through the gardens. They finally came upon the center, where a peaceful gazebo stood.

"Come on, come on." Mirage quietly encouraged herself as she squeezed onto the seat across from Clark. "Ah, feels nice to sit down." Mirage looked over to Clark who looked like he was trying to stifle his laughter. "What's so funny?" Mirage glared.

"PFFFTTT!!! BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!" Clark burst out in laughter and started smacking the table.

"What?!" Mirage asked, completely confused as to why Clark was laughing at her.

"Is just," Clark managed between breaths, "you're so funny! You're gently scooting yourself into the seat like, 'come on, come on' it's so cute!"

Yeah, yeah," Mirage started, "it's such a laugh. Ha, ha, AAAHHH!!" Mirage yelled out in pain, gritting her teeth and clutching her stomach.

"Is it the foals?" Clark asked as he shot up out of his seat. Before Mirage could answer, they were back inside the room. Mirage was on a hospital gurney, Clark on his right. "Never mind..."

"Ha, ha, ha!" The Mystery Mare chuckled. "Did you miss me?"

CANTERLOT:

"Woah!" Discord exclaimed as his body started wiggling like a noodle.

"What is it?" Celestia asked.

"Hmmm, lemme think... I set that reaction for when one of my spells was activated... Now I remember!" Discord said, snapping his fingers. "I set that reaction to when Mirage goes into labor and is teleported away!"

"..."

"What's wrong?... OOOhhhhh...."

"Takes us to her!"

"Sister, is something wrong?" Luna asked as she walked into the room.

"Mirage is going into labor. Discord, you need to take us to her."

"Not the best idea." Discord replied flatly. "And I'll explain why, don't you think that 'Mystery Mare' would do something if we suddenly just popped into her lair?" Before either of the two sisters could reply, Discord continued, "Here's what we'll do, right before, and mean like a split second before the first foal come out, we teleport there. You Tia, put a spell around them blocking anypony from touching them except you and Mirage. Then, we kick that Mystery Mare's behind!"

"I guess we could do that..." Tia agreed.

"Yes, a good plan." Luna concurred.

MYSTERY MARE'S PLANET/LAIR:

Mirage's screams of pain filled the halls and flew out the holes of the planet and slowly grew silent as they went out into space. "Why? Why does this hurt?!" She cried.

"You muscles are contracting in order to push the foals out." The Mystery Mare replied.

"Why won't they come out?!"

"... There has to be an 'opening'."

"What?"

"The foals have to come out of somewhere, right?" Clark interjected. "The opening has to be at least 10 centimeters wide and high. This takes some time."

"AUGH!" Mirage screamed, and kept doing doing so for six excruciating hours. Finally, it was time.

"Push." The Mystery Mare said. Just as she was about to whisk away the first foal, Discord, Celestia, and Luna appeared. The foal was then protected by a yellow orb of light. The same happened for the next two foals. "Hey, the foals belong to me!" The Mystery Mare shouted with anger.

"No." Tia replied sharply. "They belong to Mirage and Clark." The foals had stopped crying and had begun sucking on Mirage's teats. "Clark, watch over her, we'll take care or this."

"Now show yourself villain!" Luna shouted using the royal Chanterlot voice.

"Yeah, put up your dukes." Discord said while fist punching the air.

"I don't think so," the Mystery Mare started, "you see, I'm as hideous as Discord."

"HEY!" Discord complained, dropping his fists to his waist, "I happen to be roguishly handsome!"

"Come out and fight thee, coward!" Luna yelled.

"Coward, HA HA HA HA HA!!!" The Mystery Mare started laughing hysterically. "You really are pathetic."

"You know what's pathetic?" Discord asked, "You're name, Mystery Mare, really? That's so cheesy, can't you come up with something better."

"If you knew what I looked like you'd understand."

"But we don't know what you look like." Tia said.

"You could always show us" Luna added, the slightest bit of hate in her tone.

"As you wish," the Mystery Mare said, "but what you'll see will leave you shocked."

"Try me." Discord replied, narrowing his eyes and swiveling his head.

"Very well." A multicolored aura appeared in front of them, and then, a flash of light. And what Clark, Mirage, Celestia, Luna, and even Discord saw, truly did, shock them.