Mayor Mare coughed into a folded arm as she balanced on her other three hooves. The fog was mostly gone, at least. "Is everyone alright?" She looked across the room filled with workers of Town Hall, assembled there for emergency proceedings.

None of them seemed physically harmed, aside from some lingering coughing. A few had spooked looks in their eyes, but even those were fading. Mayor Mare smiled with relief. "Somepony go and find out what caused that. It came from that direction." She pointed with the same hoof that had just covered her snout.

One of the guards trotted off purposely to do as she asked and Mayor Mare nodded at him. "As offensive as that was, I feel like... it cleared the air, in a sense."

The secretary normally stationed by the front door bobbed her head. "The town doesn't feel... oppressed, ma'am."

"Very good." Mayor Mare turned back to her office. "I suppose Twilight or her friends took care of it before we did, and I have no urge to complain on the matter. I'll be in my office, if I'm needed. There's plenty of work we're falling behind on." She reared up and clopped her forehooves together in several firm strikes. "Back to work, everypony, let's not waste this day any further than it already has been."

She fell back to all fours and walked. She did not trot. She was trying to give the proper feel of authority and calm, and she could hear it working. The ponies around her began to get back to their work. She could hear typing and filing cabinets being opened or closed. It was time for business again in Town Hall, and she was happy for it.

The click of the door as she opened it made her smile in its banality. She closed it behind herself, walked to her chair and collapsed into it with a tired sigh. Its cushy depths were a small source of comfort as she considered the day. What had nearly befallen her precious town? It was depraved, on so many levels. Her cheeks warmed slightly. She had not been touched by it.

Of course not. She was the mayor. She ran the town. She... was not a target for such passions. She didn't have a coltfriend, and she was not prone to eyeing random ponies in that light. She pulled open a compartment of her desk and soon had a small mirror resting on her desk, facing herself.

She was a pretty mare, wasn't she? She reached up a hoof to brush at the grey mane that framed her face. Of course, it wasn't really grey. She wasn't nearly old enough for that to happen by nature's hoof. "Dignified." Yes, dignified. That was the look she was going for. Dignified could be... attractive, couldn't it? She shook the thought away and reached to pull the mirror down when the reflection within it moved.

"Of course it can be," spoke the mayor in the glass. "Dignified is the most attractive."

Mayor Mare gasped in surprise, dropping the mirror. It fell limply atop her papers. She looked around the room in darting glances, but no obvious source of the mirror's speaking was in sight. It had spoken with her own voice!

"They're afraid," spoke the mare in the mirror. "Think of it like Princess Celestia. She is dignified, and attractive, and nopony would even dare to consider approaching her."

Mayor Mare reached with trembling hooves, lifting up the mirror enough to see her own face peering back at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm you." The mare in the glass turned, displaying her cutie mark, a scroll with a long blue ribbon. "See? Now, let's talk about our future happiness."

The mayor set the mirror up so it stood on its own, facing her. "You can't be me. That's patently ridiculous. I'm occupying that position quite well, I should imagine."

"You are, no complaints here." The other mare nodded softly. "But let's not get distracted. I want to talk about our life goals and happiness, then I'll get out of your way."

"Then you aren't me, so what would you know of my life goals?" Mayor Mare arched a brow at her double in the mirror.

"I know you dye your mane," spoke the double as her mane brightened to a vibrant pink shade. "I know you want to be a good mayor, and being somepony others immediately respect is a large part of that. I know you're still a mare." The double got a sly smile. "That last part is even still in your name, but did you forget it?"

"I should think not," hotly defended Mayor Mare, a hoof at her chest. "At least, I'm still a mare..." She thought of the strange gender-bent Big Mac, a ripple of revulsion running through her.

"What would you be, if you could be anything?" asked the double.

Mayor Mare frowned a moment, but the expression eased. She was talking to herself, not some strange thing. It had been a harrowing day. Maybe giving herself a little pep talk was just the right thing to do. "I'd be exactly what I am." She tapped her chest. "A respected mayor, leader of her ponies."

"You have everything you want already?"

"Well..." She bit lightly on her lower lip a moment. "I suppose there may be a few other things." She held up her hooves close together. "But I'll get to them in time."

"There's no time like the present." The mirror mare smiled. "Let's start on one today! What will be the first?"

Zecora walked towards Fluttershy's home. She could see her rabbit friend glaring at her from beside the door. "We meet again, small hare. Can you tell me what happens in there?"

The rabbit crossed his little arms and made an indignant noise.

"I see..." Zecora could guess what it might mean. She raised a hoof and clapped it against the door in three firm knocks. "Fluttershy, are you home? I trust you did not roam."

The door opened inwards at the top, revealing Caramel. "Hey Zecora." The stallion smiled in a friendly way at her. "Fluttershy's taking a little nap before she does her afternoon chores with the animals. Precious little thing, she takes her job very seriously."

Zecora perked an ear at the stallion. "Are you feeling better? You were stuck writing a love letter."

"O-oh, yeah." He blushed softly at that. "I mean... I like Fluttershy... But... she doesn't..." His eyes went downcast a moment. "The chemistry isn't mutual, you know? I'm just being a good friend."

Zecora smiled gently. "You are a good stallion, your time will come. You have taken this heartbreak better than some." She pointed a hoof down at Angel. "Why is he forbid from inside? Surely you heard when he tried."

Caramel leaned over the lower part of the door to see Angel glaring at him. "Oh, hey there. How long have you been out here?" He withdrew and opened the door fully. "Come on in."

Angel bounded past the cleared barrier, taking the time to give Caramel a kick in the leg on the way past.

Zecora nodded softly. "I am glad all seems to be well. Is there anything else you wish to tell?"

Caramel darkened. "Uh, I mean, uh... don't tell anyone about... me and Big Mac, alright? Don't figure that needs spreadin'." He coughed into a hoof softly. "Also, uh, sorry for not helping you, before. I guess I was... a little out of it, ya know?"

"I do." She raised a hoof to set on his shoulder. "I forgive and forget. There is no more reason for you to fret. Is Fluttershy well? I have come to tell."

"She was worried about sumthin' but ah don't know what... Maybe it's a mare thing? You wanna talk to her when she wakes up?"

Zecora craned her neck to look towards the sky. "I will take a peek. If she is awake, I will have what I seek." She strode forward and Caramel backed out of the way, allowing her to stride through the house and up the stairs gently. She approached Fluttershy's door and put an ear against it.

She could hear faint sniffling as if from a pony sobbing at a very quiet boo hoo.

Zecora looked over her shoulder and held up a hoof at Caramel, who had followed behind her. She nudged open the door just enough to slip through and closed it behind her. "Fluttershy, dear friend, I have come to make amends."

Fluttershy looked up and across her shoulder from where she had her face buried in a pillow. Her mane was a mess and her tail was limp. "Z-Zecora! Oh no!" She spun around, clutching her pillow tight. "You must hate me!"

"This I do not, precious friend. Your injuries I am here to tend." Zecora closed the distance with a steady walk. "You must be confused and frightened. If you would speak to me, I could be enlightened?"

Fluttershy suddenly hurled her pillow. Zecora flinched away, but the pillow was not meant for her. It struck the peeking Caramel right on the snout and they could both hear him fleeing away. "T-thank you. I don't deserve you." She slowly rolled up onto her hooves. "I was terrible! You were... We attacked you."

"You were under a curse." Zecora backed away to kick the door shut again. "I am glad it isn't worse."

"A-a curse?" Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "But I didn't do... I didn't see..." She blinked softly. "Is that why Big Mac was... like that?"

Zecora nodded as she sat beside Fluttershy's bed and started examining the pegasus in more detail. "Are you well? I see no injury that I can tell."

Fluttershy obediently spread her wings, one at a time, for Zecora to look at. "I'm not... hurt, not like that." She darkened all the harder. "Zecora... When this began, I was in estrus. I was going to take the day easy and let it pass, but then Big Mac came and... made all the right promises... and... and... I don't..." She suddenly launched herself at Zecora, hugging the zebra around the neck as they both fell to the floor. "I don't feel the estrus anymore!"

Zecora pinned her ears back against her head as she ran a hoof slowly down Fluttershy's back. "Then we face a most troubling decision. To bear this foal or not, which is your vision? Whatever you--"

Fluttershy wailed, cutting off Zecora's words as she buried her face in the zebra's neck and began crying.

Zecora could imagine. Fluttershy had created life, however tiny it was. The idea of not caring for it as any of her animals, no matter the price to herself, would not sit well by her. She did not speak. Words were simply not required. She hugged Fluttershy. She hugged and stroked and made soft noises so Fluttershy knew she had a friend there. That seemed the best course of action for that moment.

Perhaps, she would not make it back to Twilight at the scheduled time.

Author's Note

And here we have an ultra heavy episode just in time for Christmas. Happy Holidays? Vote for 1 or 2 -in addition- to the others, kindly.

1: Fluttershy decides she will be a mom.
2: Fluttershy is not ready to be a mom.
3: Twilight runs into a recovering Rarity.
4: Mayor Mare makes a decision.
5: Lyra apologizes for getting weird, but confesses she didn't actually mind being pervy on Bon Bon.