"So that is everything?" Muffins was curled up on the couch, her flank pressed to Dash's. They had slept together without any intimacy beyond cuddling and the stray kiss, but in the morning the alicorn had demanded the full story. She got a nod from the oddly reflective pegasus. "Well it has made you a lot more awesome, but you know I don't care about you for your image."

Rainbow Dash felt the gray hoof poke her chest and looked down at it. "So wha-" The sudden knocking on the front door of her cloud-home cut the pegasus off. It had to be either a pegasus or alicorn… or maybe Starlight.

When Rainbow got up and opened the door a trembling Fluttershy was suddenly against her, wings wrapped tight around her aquamarine body. "Dash I didn't know who to go to and I was scared and worried and…" The yellow pegasus felt a wing pull in around her and hug her back.

"Shy, you know I am always here for you, we were just having some coffee, but I can make tea if you would like?" Rainbow, insensitive though she was, could hardly miss the panic in one of her best friends. She guided the pegasus to her couch just as Muffins came back with a cup of hot tea floating before her. "Here you are, Muffins beat us to it."

"T-t-thank you…" Fluttershy looked up at the gray pony, braving a smile for the princess who wanted nothing to do with being a princess. Settling on the couch, sipping the tea, Fluttershy felt her body relax a little, but that was the problem.

"What's the matter?" Rainbow Dash hoped the mare had enough time to calm by now but even asking that seemed to tense Flutters back up again. "You need more tea?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No I… oh it is going to be terrible! I am a bad pony!" A gray and a blue wing curled over the yellow mare and she was bracketed by two ponies who she had always thought of as friends. Ever since that day in Cloudsdale had the overactive Rainbow Dash been Fluttershy's friend, and since the first day Muffins came to town had she greeted the yellow pegasus, and everypony, with a happy smile.

"You are not a bad pony, nopony will ever think that. What happened?" Rainbow Dash shared a look to Muffins, who looked equally clueless.

"I'm having Gel's foal and I am going to wreck his love with Twilight!" Fluttershy's exclamation surprised both the mares but she got a nuzzle from Dash.

"First of all, congratulations. Second of all, why do you think it would wreck his love? You think Twilight Sparkle didn't know about you two? Fluttershy, you were practically dancing for a whole week after you two slept together, your swollen belly was the only proof anypony needed that it was Gel that was with you." Muffins weighed in. "We should go to the castle now and announce this, I bet the Princess will be thrilled about it."

"You must have been something special to him, I… uh, well, in the time I was working for him, as-" Rainbow Dash was blushing and having trouble continuing.

"You were his naughty maid, I heard." Fluttershy smiled, catching her brash friend embarrassed.

"Yeah… that…" Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "While I was doing that, he… sated me, quite a bit. I never felt anything after… I didn't think he was capable of it…"

"He is the only stallion I have been with!" Fluttershy defended her honor and, only too late did she realize the admission she had just made.

"Only… stallion? Fluttershy, what have you been up to?" Rainbow Dash was glad she wasn't the only pony blushing now. Reaching out with a forehoof she grabbed up her own mug and sipped the dark brew.

"Well… in the forest… Tree Hugger and Zecora-" Fluttershy was blushing and hiding her snout inside the almost-empty cup of tea.

"Zecora?" Rainbow Dash's wings shot up in surprise. "You… and she… wow…"

"Okay, so Gel is definitely the stallion, are you sure you are pregnant?" Muffins tried to rein in the conversation, pull it back to the topic at hoof.

Fluttershy nodded. "I should be… well, I haven't, for a few weeks… and then I used one of those magic tests…"

"Then we finish our drinks and go and talk to the stallion and his mate." Muffins leaned up and nuzzled Fluttershy's cheek, the action surprising and comforting the pegasus in almost equal measure. "Because I think he will be absolutely thrilled, and Twilight hasn't got a mean bone in her body, so forget the whole issue, for a moment. Zecora. Gel. Muffins. Tree Hugger.

"Strange ponies." Fluttershy seemed to be talking to herself, but both the mares looked at her. "I mean, I seem to keep getting attracted to strange ponies… Oh! Not that I mean you are strange!"

Muffins only giggled. She knew she was strange, very strange. "So you are attracted to me?"

"Yes… NO! I… oh buck it." The word had left Fluttershy's mouth and it surprised even her. "I do, is that bad?"

Rainbow Dash leaned up to her friend's ear, pressing her snout to the soft, yellow fur. "I like her too, so no, it's not bad."

Muffins, Dash, and Fluttershy downed the last of their drinks and, with the help and support of her friends, the yellow and pink pegasus felt she could almost do this.

The letter flashed and appeared by magic, surprising Twilight and Gel in their bed. Celebrating the resolution of events became a regular thing for the pair, regular and exciting all at once. Twilight had spent most of the night wrapped in a sack of Gel that let her squirm and struggle but not get free. It had been fun to just tire herself out and flop to sleep inside him.

"This is Cadance's writing." Twilight opened the letter. "She and Shining are going to be in Canterlot today making a big announcement." Her wings ruffled in consternation. "What could have happened in the time since they had left and now?"

"Knowing their Empire, uh, nearly anything." Gel wrapped himself around Twilight, flowing over her and sealing up everything below her neck in himself. Lifting up he marched them to the bathroom.

Twilight didn't even flinch at his touch, not so much as a muscle twitched as she was covered and found herself walking to the bathroom. "You're right, we need to get cleaned up first."

Sadly, for both ponies, because they would need to travel their normal antics would be cut short and, in no time at all, both emerged from the bathroom, only to hear a knocking at the door. "Come in." Twilight was looking around for her saddle bags, somepony had tossed them off the previous night when she was grabbed by her naughty mate.

"Your Highness, Muffins, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash just arrived." Starry was smiling radiantly, she felt better than she had in her life. Both Twinkle and she found the touch of the seed within them to be comforting and rewarding in a way that had everything to do with how well they felt like they 'fit' in the world.

"Oh, we'll be right down." Twilight gave up on her saddle bags and made for the door.

Gel, however, stopped and looked right at Starry. "Somepony had a good night?" It had been hard for him to adjust to having the mare around, neither he nor Twilight had asked her to be their actual butler, but that is how the infested unicorn seemed to fit herself into the castle.

"You bet we did!" Twinkle couldn't hold back from exclaiming, getting a wider grin from the changeling stallion. "It feels so good with the song… I feel calmer. I wonder if that would be a key to helping to integrate my kind?"

"We could try again." Gel conceded, following the unicorn and his mate out. Trotting down the stairs together, they spotted the three, winged mares, together in the map room. Three sets of eyes focused first on Gel in a way that told him either he had done something very wrong, or somepony had big news that involved him.

When Twilight found her little throne at the map, Gel seated on the floor beside her, she focused on the serious-looking ponies. "Now, what is the matter?"

Fluttershy instantly withdrew further, she huddled on her chair and wished there was somewhere to hide. "Oh, nothing, we just came to visit we can leave aga-" She didn't manage to move more than an inch before Muffins curled a big gray wing around her. Arousal warred with her fear, throwing comfort and warmth at the negative emotion. It wasn't a fair fight.

Muffins felt the pegasus seem to snuggle against her side. "That time at the Crystal Empire, after those ants were dealt with." She wouldn't let go of her friend, it's what friends do! "You," she lifted a hoof and pointed at Gel, "spent a night with our hero here and it has left a mark."

Gel looked shocked. "I… I didn't mean to hurt you, Fluttershy, you have to believe me. What happened? Did it rupture something?"

The concern broke through the last of the worry and Fluttershy shook her head. "No, it didn't hurt me, she means… I'm pregnant." The last words were said so quietly that all ears in the room strained to pick them up, but every pair did.

Twilight teleported, instantly at her friend's side and wrapping her in wings and forelegs, hugging Fluttershy. "That is amazing news!"

"I… it… is?" Fluttershy was shocked, surprised and, at last, happy. "It is! I am going to have a little foal and…" Gel was standing in front of her, looking down with a smile. "What are we going to do?"

Gel reached out and took one of Fluttershy's hooves, leaning down he kissed it. "Whatever you wish of me, is what. I wouldn't take that night back, not for all the bits in Canterlot. This will be your foal, Fluttershy, if you permit me to be their father I would be delighted, but I won't force you, I would never do that."

Fluttershy was a little overwhelmed. Gel was a prince after all and one of her best friend's special somepony. "I… I want them to have a daddy, but I don't want to be…" She waved her free forehoof around a little. "I like being my own mare."

Twilight caught the meaning and shook her head. "I don't think he was saying that, although if you wished it I would not stand in either of your way. Gel's foal is my foal, but they will be your foal first. Think of us as her special aunt and uncle." Life, and in particular relationships, had become a complicated mess for Twilight. She had spent nights with graphs, sheets of variables, and even circle diagrams to try to sort things out but, in the end, she had given up. This was a level of confusion on par with Pinkie's magic.

"Oh, that would be nice." Fluttershy was smiling now, really smiling. Once again she had gotten herself all worked up over something and it had resolved with no problems. Well… one little, delightful… no, a foal was never a problem. She reached a hoof down, rubbing her own belly that wouldn't even have a bump in it yet.

A pink head appeared in the doorway. "Fluttershy is having a baby?" A bang sounded, confetti was everywhere and somehow there was a huge cake already being wheeled in.

"Pinkie Pie!" Starry looked at the piles of confetti raining down and sighed. "I bet Star Swirl never thought to make a spell to clean up after confetti cannons."

"We are going to need a proper party, I will invite everypony and we can get Vinyl for the music, it will be tonight!" Pinkie Pie was already trying to escape with the manic energy she threw at all of life's problems, when she was lifted up in magic.

"Pinkie, we are going to Canterlot today. Cadance and Shining have an announcement." Twilight let the party pony down. "So not tonight, but that means you can plan a bigger one for… day after tomorrow?"

Nopony would ever know how, but that smile widened further on Pinkie's face. "A bigger party? Woohoo!" The cannon fired again, this time Starry managed to grab some mess out of the air.

"I don't need a party…" Fluttershy seemed to shrink back a little, only then realizing it just made her snuggle against Muffins some more. Then she realized she didn't overly mind snuggling Muffins. Looking up, she saw those big eyes gazing down… well, one was gazing down, the other seemed to be tracking Pinkie Pie. They looked like they didn't mind snuggling either. Images flashed in Fluttershy's mind, naughty images.

"Careful, somepony will notice if you get too excited." Muffins could already taste the change in Fluttershy, being so close to the pony was, without a doubt, a delightful thing. Her love was so sweet and innocent, so perfect. She did still want to know what she had gotten up to with Zecora and Tree, however.

Rainbow Dash was sitting on her own chair at the table, but she couldn't help but watch her lover comfort her close friend. She could see the tension in Muffins, the look she got when she fed on something she liked. Maybe she could try to get her yellow-furred friend into a little fun...

Author's Note

Well, somepony called it back when this event happened, and I was already planning on doing just this.

And surely Celestia will have things sorted out in Canterlot so that this doesn't all crash down as a huge drama event? Surely? Please?

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