It had been about four days since Cadence and Flurry Hearts visit and in that time Twilight had taken Cadence’s advice and cut down on her morning run and exercise to half as well as studied every book the library had on foals and what to expect both before and after birth. So far it was all pretty standard stuff she learned while studying medicine but still never hearts to make sure you know everything.

With Cadence reveling of being aware of Twilight’s condition despite not being told the two military leaders had stood there in the entryway to the library for about fifteen minutes in utter shock at the casual bombing the Princess of Love had dropped on them.

After that it had been trying to figure out how she knew as Twilight was in no way showing any signs beside being sick in the sometimes. In the end they figured it was most likely Flurry Heart who had figured it out do to the alicorns ability to read and feel the natural magic of the world as if it were an open book. It was this talent that was the reason when Flurry Heart was born she seemed so powerful and was able to shatter the Crystal Heart as she was manipulating the lines of magic of the crystal empire instinctually with the mind of a foal.

As she had grown older she had learned to control this ability and through tests found she was able to nudge the worlds natural magic in the direction she wanted, it was this discovery that eared the alicorn her Cutie Mark of a single red star with over two dozen white wavy lines coming off it to signify the lines of magic that ran the world. When not channeling the worlds magic Flurry Heart was as powerful as a young alicorn and that didn’t seem to be increasing at all, though she made up for that with her special talent as it made her on par with Twilight in power level as she can quite literally get nature to fight for her at times.

After that the Queen had to return to her duties elsewhere the country and Twilight checked on reports on the MNet as there were a few things she wanted to keep an eye on. Namely the zebra frigate. Based on the new report the Equestrian destroyer who first made the report had approached the Zebra ship and radioed. Seems the ship was suffering a navigational system failure and thus was staying close to land as it made its way back to port so as not to risk getting lose, Naval Command had given the destroyer permission to escort the Zebra ship back to its home water and the zebra has thanked the destroyer for the assistance as it would take it almost two days to reach home by the other means.

With that resolved Twilight had logged off after commending the captain of the destroyer for rendering aide to the ship and gone about more research on foals and her own pregnancy.

After four days of running the army out of her office and Spike keeping his word of taking care of everything in the library it left Twilight enough time to do her research and make a plan. Till this progressed furthering her routine did not need to change to drastically, just the reduction of her morning exercise and picking up the vitamins the doctor had recommended, Twilight had used an illusion spell to disguise herself as she didn’t want this getting out just yet till she had a better handle on the situation. The next major step was to inform Celestia and Luna of the situation and that was why Twilight now sat in her personal gunship with Chrysalis who had insisted on going with the young alicorn as it flew through the air on its way to Canterlot.

“You nervous?” Chrysalis asked as the city approached rapidly

“A little.” Twilight said, there was no point in lying as the Changeling Queen was the only person able to feel Twilight’s emotions no matter how deep she buried them.

“What has you so nervous?” She asked.

“Just how they will react, mostly Celestia, Luna I know will be ok, though she most likely will find a way to use this against me for her own amusement but Celestia I’m not so sure.” Twilight said and signed. “I mean her I am the leader of the army, her military advisor, recently crowned Princess and I’ve been an alicorn not even a month and I’m pregnant. I have absolutely no idea how she will react as I’m not even married and we never told them we were screwing each other.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Yes I can see why you would be nervous however from what I know of Celestia she will be ok with it and supportive though she may be a bit hurt you didn’t tell her of our relationship till now.”

Twilight nodded and adjusted the tiara on her head, she had choses to forego her uniform and meet with the other two Princess as an equal for this news rather than a subordinate as this was sort of a big deal, though she still wore her sunglasses as she felt weird without them and they were very useful when walking into Canterlot Castle.
The young Princess of Friendship royal regalia consisted of the standard hoof covers that both the Royal sister war as well as the yoke around her neck, this one sporting a jewel in the shape of her Cutie Mark in the center of it and a tiara modeled off what the Element of Magic used to look like before Twilight’s ascension and it decided to change into the form of the military cap that was part of Twilight’s uniform and sat safely locked away with the rest of the elements for the day it may be needed, though without new Bearers the elements were basically useless. All of her regalia was a color that was a combination of the gold Celestia’s was and the silver Luna’s regalia was.

Twilight was still getting used to wearing the regalia as for decades she wore the simple uniform of the Equestrian Defense Force and she had learned that even though she had been around for years and there were several books written about her by authors and such who interviews her many still stared at the scars that covered her body even after her ascension had made them look less repulsive they were still clearly scars. While over the years she had gotten better at dealing with the stares the facts is it always made her skin crawl being stared at, reminded her to much of what happened to her.

As the helicopter came in to land at the Canterlot EDF garrison Twilight took several deep breaths to steady herself and once they landed she used her magic to open the door as she and Chrysalis undid the harnesses holding them in their seats. She waved to her two pilots, an earth pony and unicorn who sat in the cockpit of the gunship before she made her way from the heli-pad to the doors that lead to into the garrison. She nodded to the soldiers who saluted; EDF soldier saluted all superiors whether they were higher ranking officers or the Princesses, as she walked by to acknowledge the gesture. She moved more or less on auto-pilot, allowing her body to make its way through the well-traveled path from the garrison to the castle’s main gate while she mentally prepared for the coming meeting.

As she and chrysalis walked they past two pure white ponies, one Pegasus and one unicorn who wore a gold uniform and cap with silver badges on and lacked Cutie Marks, on their flanks was a 9mm pistol. These two were members of the Royal Guard, as technology had advanced and their armor became obsolete the Royal Guard had adapted to the times. They no longer wore the gold armor of old except for ceremonial reason and now they wielded pistols and shotguns and the occasional semi-auto rifle and wore armored vests under their uniforms. The sword and spears were also reserved for ceremonies like the armor.

In some cities like Manehatten and Fillydelphia where the roads allowed it the Royal Guard actually drove cruisers topped with red and blue flashing lights. Cars had been around for about forty-five years though at the start only the army and the rich had them but as time marched on the motorized transports became available to the lower classes and soon there was other ways to get around beside by train and pony drawn carriages as cars replaced them.

Air transport now existed as well as it was possible for civilians to get pilots licenses for wither helicopters or planes and all the major cities, saver Canterlot which had no way to expand do to its location, had massive airports meant for planes that could carry about a hundred people either across the nation or too other countries with ease. Even though air travel had been proven safe and reliable, rarely did a plane crash, the first generation of planes had been feared by many ground bases ponies who were not used to leaving the ground, but as generations were born the fear slowly died out and now air travel as just a part of life for the common pony or changeling to use for business or vacation.

Trains were still in full use but gone was the coal fired steam engines, replaced by magically powered engines that produced more power at less coast and allow trains to pull more train cars. And with more train cars being pulled it meant more cargo could be moved, though slower than a plane could move it one could move even more cargo by train as if needed a second engine could be added to help pull the train.

The EDF used both planes a trains as well as convoys of trucks to moved cargo and troops around. The military versions of these methods of travel were slightly different then the civilian counterparts in that the planes were all armed in some way and armors and usually escorted. While the trains had a military car, cars equipped with both anti-air and anti-tank weapons, for every three train cars being pulled and were based off the Crystal Empire’s train in design though modified with a battering ram on the front as the trains had order to not stop for any reason unless the train was at risk of jumping the tracks and to travel at maximum speed that they could safely. In short anything got in the way of an EDF train would be plowed through without a second thought and only warned by a single blast of the train’s air horn.

Many a pony had not believed this fact in the beginning but after many carts and a few fatalities do to ponies refusing to get out of the way the public soon learned to get out of the way when a military train was rolling through.

Twilight was drawn from her thoughts by Chrysalis nudging her shoulder as they reached the gate to the castle. It seemed like the trip took far less time than it should have and Twilight made sure her regalia was on properly before nodding to the two dark suited Royal Guards who stood beside the gate who nodded back before going back to watching crowd from behind their sunglasses. Twilight knew that after she walked by one of the guards would use his ear piece to informs the rest of the castle guards that she had arrived with Chrysalis and that they would then inform Celestia and Luna.

These guards were slightly different then the Royal Guard who patrolled the city as these ones were charged with protecting the Princesses directly, as such they had slightly more training and access to more weapons such as sub-machineguns and a few assault rifles another other weapons though they still did carry the 9mm pistols on their persons.

The guard had been trying to get Twilight to let them guard her but she always explained that there was no room in her library and Ponyville already had a few EDF soldiers onsite plus she couldn’t probably deal with any threats to her person better than they could. Least that was one she told them, the real reason was that they would be annoying and get in the way. In the end she had compromised with them, during events where she was acting as a Princess or whatever they could provide her protection, but if she was there as the leader of the EDF then she wouldn’t have a protection detail but they could be nearby.

After a lot of debating both her and the Royal Guard came to an agreement on the matter much to relief.

As they neared Celestia’s Private study, this was a personal visit of one Princess to another and thus was a privet affair, Twilight ran through the breathing exercise Cadence had showed her a few times before they reach the door.

“Ready?” The alicorn as the Changeling beside her.

“As I’ll ever be.” Chrysalis replied.

With that Twilight reached up a hoof and knocked.

“Coming in Twilight.” Celestia said from the other side of the door and Twilight pushed the door open, she still couldn’t figure out how the older alicorn knew it was her whenever she knocked.

The older alicorn sat on a pillow beside the small fireplace that was built into one of the walls. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as she took in the room. Even after all these years this single room had not changed really, the only addition being a computer now sat on the desk on one side where before it had been nothing but quills and parchment, granted those were still there. Twilight always felt calm and at peace when in this room no matter what was happening.

Celestia smiled at her former student as she entered and closed the door after Chrysalis had entered. “It is good to see you again Twilight, how have you been since the coronation?”

“I’ve been good all things considered, still getting used to the wings and such.” The smaller alicorn said as she walked over to her former mentor and embraced her. Something’s would never change for the mare no matter what she went through she would always feel completely safe when hugging the older alicorn.

After a few moments Twilight released the hug and took a pillow beside Chrysalis who she knew was most likely feeding off the emotions between the two alicorn, Twilight had given her permission to do so as had Celestia.

“Luna will be along shortly, she wanted to take a little time at the range before this meeting.” Celestia explained and Twilight nodded. The Lunar Princess had taken to the introduction of firearms with enthusiasm, finding the efficiency and precision of the weapons to be fascinated and practicing with them helped calm her mind much like when she practiced with the sword. Though firearms were less tiring and easier to find time for as it only took a few minutes to walk down to the EDF shooting range in the castle and she could stay for very short periods of time or the day if she wanted.

Both the Princesses had learned the use of new weapons of Equestria though only Luna did so out of general interest, Celesta was out of familiarizing herself with things her ponies had so she could better understand them without having to fully rely on other. Granted that didn’t mean she didn’t own one of the EDF bolt-action sniper rifles whereas Luna preferred the semi-auto DMRs of the sharpshooters, though without a scope as she liked the iron sights.

“So Chrysalis how has your hive been doing these days?” The Solar Princess asked the Changeling queen, the two of them had long worked out any animosity they had for each other after the whole Invasion incident decades ago and where now friends. Celestia did enjoy having someone she could speak with about ruling that wasn’t family or a possible political enemy such as foreign diplomats as she knew the Queen was fully loyal to Equestria through Twilight.

“My Hive does well, we have more than enough food for our numbers to the point I am having a second storage area built that will be twice as big as the first one.” Chrysalis said happily, anytime she thought about how her hive was doing it always made her happy as it meant she was doing well as a ruler and also because it meant she had made up for her failures so many years ago when her action had gotten so many of her hive killed.

Celestia nodded with a small smile, it was always good to hear how well the Hive was doing after how rough it had been integrating the Hive into Equestrian society. While she hated the fact her ponies were not perfect and they held grudges and could let fear and hate guide them. But her former student saw to the integration and through her efforts as well as a few other things the changelings had slowly been accepted. Granted that did not mean all were alright with the changelings, there were still hate crimes as well as those her constantly called for the hive to be expelled from Equestria before they could turn on them. Celestia doubted there would ever be full understanding and acceptance among her ponies, people just didn’t work like that.

A series of knocks came to the door and a moment later the door opened to admit Princess Luna to the room.
We are sorry we are late, we lost track of time.” The Lunar princess said slightly out of breath as she had galloped from the shooting range.

Twilight smiled. “It’s ok, you didn’t miss much, just general greetings” She said. “It’s good to see you Luna, how have you been?”

Luna took a seat beside her sister and smiled as well. “We have been well Twilight Sparkle and in fact have improved in out accuracy with our rifle.” Lune said with a proud smile.

Twilight returned the smile. “That is good to heat; perhaps sometime we can have a little competition to see who can get the best score.”

Luna tilted hear head slightly in thought. “That is a most tempting offer; however we know of your skill with the rifles and do not believe we could best thee.” Luna said, Twilight knew not to mention the fact the Lunar Princess had slipped into old equestrian dialect as she only did it when particularly happy or excited, or angry but that was beside the point, and pointing it out would ruin her mood.

A second set of knocks came to the door before anyone could say anything else.

“Come in.” Celestia said and the door opened to admit a yellow unicorn mare with a red and pink mane pushing a cart topped with a tea pot and four cups as well as everything that could be added for tea.

“The tea you asked for your highness.” The mare said politely as she used her magic to lift the train of tea onto the small table between the three alicorns and one changeling.

“Yes, thank you Fragrance.” Celestia said with her normal smile.

Once the tray had been placed the mare bowed her head before leaving the room with the cart and closing the door behind her.

The three ponies and one changeling poured themselves tea and sat in silence for a few minutes as they drank.

“Now then Twilight what is on your mind?” Celestia asked as she sipped her tea.

Twilight calmly sipped her. “What makes you think there is something on my mind?”

The Solar Princess laughed softly. “I have known you for most of your life Twilight, I can tell when there is something on your mind that has you concerned and since you came as a princess and not an army commander it must be something that doesn’t have to do with the military and is of a more personal nature.”

Twilight carefully sipped her tea, she had been going over how best to tell the two princesses but so far she hadn’t been able to figure out a way, why couldn’t talking to people be as simple as planning an attack? Oh well, might as well treat it like a band-aide. “I’m pregnant.” She said.

The two Royal Sister stared at the purple alicorn, tea cups held in their magic for a few minutes before Luna spoke. “Well this is a surprise Twilight Sparkle as we did not know thou had a stallion in thy life.”

“Yes, I too am surprised and most curious who it was that caught your eye Twilight. “Celestia said as she sipped her tea and glanced at the Changeling Queen who sat beside her former student, already putting the pieces together do to centuries of practice in such things thanks to the Game of Houses.

“uh….well….you see.’ Twilight said a bit nervously. Band-aide Twilight, BAND-AIDE! Her mind yelled at her. “It’s not a stallion, well not exactly, it’s complicated actually.” Really? You have charged tanks with just your sidearm and yet you can’t just spit it out. Her mind scolded her.

“Oh? Well that does make sense as matters such as these usually are complicated.” Luna said with a nod.

Spit it out already and get it over with as the longer you delay the harder it will be, come on you are a soldier, you have faced way more terrifying things than this. Her mind decided to try a pep talk rather than berating her. “Well you see….uh….Chrysalis is sort of the only one I have been with so it’s her kid as well.” Twilight said a bit nervously.

The two sisters stared at the young alicorn and Luna glanced between her and the Queen. “Well then we wondered when you two would finally tell us though we do wonder how thee became with child.”

“Yes indeed, though it may be a combination of the natural attributes of being an alicorn and Chrysalis’ shape shifting magic making this possible.” Celestia said as she sipped her tea.

Luna nodded and sipped her tea. “Yes, that makes the most sense and is how this came about in all likelihood.”

Both Twilight and Chrysalis stared across the small table at the two royals as they calmly discussed how Twilight was pregnant as if the fact they had been screwing was common knowledge.

“Oh come on! First Cadence and Flurry Heart and now you two as well?” Twilight shouted. “Is there anyone who doesn’t know?”

“Most likely the general public and anyone who hasn’t know you both for years id imagine are in the dark.” Celestia said and Luna nodded.

“But we were hiding it.” Twilight said.

“Yes and you did very well too.” Luna said. “It took me to that dance in the other Equestria to realize it.”

“I had my suspicions about six months before that but with everything going on at the time I kept quiet and was just happy you found someone Twilight.” Celestia said once more calmly sipping her tea. Twilight and the Queen looked at each other then back at the two royals.

“How?” They both said in unison.

Celestia chuckled. “Well as I said I knew you for most of your life Twilight so it was not hard to see the signs you had someone in your life, especially certain times of the year when normally you should be agitated and staring at just about everyone. The fact you weren’t staring meant you must have dealt found something to satisfy those urges and there is only one way to completely keep them under control.” Celestia said with a smile and Twilight couldn’t help blushing, if it was anyone but Celestia she was talking too she wouldn’t have care but covering this subject with the Princess of the Sun was embarrassing.

“After that is was a simple matter of paying attention to who you were around and how you acted around them. Then by processes of elimination the only possibility was Chrysalis.” Celestia said and smiled with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Unraveling the puzzle of who had caught her students eye had been one of the funest things she had done in a long time and though she was not sure exactly how her student felt for the Queen she could tell how the Queen felt just by looking at how she acted around the mare and what she did when she thought no one was looking. And now being able to revel exactly how she had done it all those years ago to a blushing Twilight and Chrysalis was the icing on the proverbial cake.

“For me it was the ease in which you two danced to a song that was meant for couples as mere friends could not so easily dance to such a song.” Luna said with a nodded, this causing the blush on both Twilight and Chrysalis to grow before they looked at each other and in unison downed their remaining tea before pouring another and downing that.

“Gods I wish I could drink.” Twilight said after the second cup was gone.

“Lucky me I can.” Chrysalis said as a bottle appeared beside her held in her green magic and she undid the stopper and downed a large pull of the strong alcohol.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the Queen when she finished. “I hate you so much right now.” She said feeling taunted.

The Royal Sister couldn’t not help chuckling at the scene before them.

Chrysalis finished her drink and replaced the stopper before the bottle finished. “Well now that that is dealt with. “Twilight punched her in the shoulder. “Since you seem to know about us and don’t seem to care I guess we made this trip for nothing.”

“Well not exactly as this development does change many things.” Celestia said.

Twilight looked at Celestia and cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

“Well for one I assume you will let Chrysalis be part of her child’s life as I doubt you would do something like that.” Celestia said and Twilight nodded. “And that most likely means you two will probably need to live together, at least for the first few years as I’m sure you will need help raising a foal that is half changeling and thus will need Chrysalis to be on hoof” Celestia said.

Twilight blinked, she hadn’t thought of that but it was true, she’d need to have Chrysalis nearby most of the time to help with the foal as she could get help if it was just a pony foal but with its changeling D.N.A who knows what traits it will have that only Chrysalis would understand and be able to deal with. The only logical thing was to have the Queen live with her. How could she have not thought of that? Slowly the plan she had seemed to be falling apart the more she thought about it.

Celestia smiled as she saw Twilight come to the realization that Celestia was right. “And while I know neither of you mind sharing a bed. “Celestia smiled wider as the spark in her eye grew as the two blushed once more. “Once the foal is born it will cause a problem as the Library is simply too small for both of you, Spike and a foal as it was never designed for that many.”

Twilight thought about it and while the foal was a first born the crib could be housed in Twilight’s bedroom but eventually the foal would need their own room and she couldn’t exactly kick Spike out as that would be like punishing the drake and telling him she didn’t appreciate everything he had done for her nor care about him. “What would you suggest?”

Celestia sipped her tea. “That’s simple.” She said. “You are a Princess, so build a castle.”

Author's Note

TROLLESTIA LIVES!!!!!

also I know this was a lot of exposition but hey what do you expect after 50 years of development.