I was seated in a cramped student's desk, my noodly form wrapped around it in peculiar ways that I found comfortable. "Teacher, teacher!"

The doctor pushed up his glasses. "Director, there's no need for these... theatrics."

Aw. "No fun." I slipped away from the desk and it faded away, forgotten. "So, you were saying?"

"Most viruses cause no genetic damage." He tapped at his laptop, which showed a picture of a virus in the middle of doing what it does. "It doesn't have to. It just throws its notes where it will be read, and the cell produces more of the virus."

It had been a long time since I took biology, alright! I was a data entry expert turned biomedical lab director... Oof, what a strange life I led. "Alright, so if Ponid was working perfectly, people could still get viruses and get sick then?"

"Yes," he said with no hesitation. "Both viruses and bacteria and most other external threats would still be an issue."

That was more than a little of a bummer. "It'd stop cancer though?"

"So far as we know, cancer would be gone." He nodded along with that. "And, with that, you'd be eliminating one of the primary sources of human death in the world. That is why we're working so hard. In theory, this could also defeat one of the largest contributors to age, though that isn't entirely proven just yet. So you'd not only stop people from dying now, but you'd keep all of humanity around longer. To say this is a big deal is to speak mildly of it."

And that was why the budget was as large as it was. To be the company that brought that to the world... "One thing a friend of mine brought up." I waggled a finger in the air. "If we arrest gene damage entirely, which is the idea, how do we evolve?"

"We don't." He shrugged softly. "If it's 100% effective, that would remove all natural genetic change. Of course, we have not tested if this is effective at arresting alterations and mistakes at the zygote and gamete level. If that is still there, then evolution would continue just as it always has. We don't know if ponid transfers from mother to child and at what point."

"About that..." I swept an arm through the air, creating a viewport to Starlight trotting down a hallway. "There's an expecting mother. You may want to look into that, provided it won't hurt the child."

The doctor folded his arms. "I would need her consent."

"Which she'd give." Starlight was a good pony, and a hard worker. "Go ahead and ask, and have the forms ready."

"Do... you know when inception was, roughly?"

Of course most people would have a vague idea at best. Oh, the look on his face as I told him exactly the date and time, within a second. "And so our child was created."

He shut up. Was it because it was my child? He likely knew I was with Shining Armor, so I just threw a big helping of polygamy at him in the mix. Poor guy, I could see him getting increasingly uncomfortable thinking about it, and writing it down. "It's been a strange year." I smiled at him in what I hoped was a gentle way. "We're all adapting, in different ways."

"Director, it's not my place to question your personal life." He tapped his clipboard lightly against the counter before folding it against himself. "I will point out, it is illegal to be married to more than one person."

He wasn't wrong, and I hated it. We couldn't do that. "Yeah..." If I was more mature, perhaps, I'd just pick one of them and let the other go, but I still felt like I'd be abandoning one of them, and neither of them deserved that, and both wanted to be with me. Dang it all.

"I'll check with her. Good day." And he was gone, the conversation dead on such an awkward note.

Crap! I just realized I had just admitted I, a lady-noodle, had somehow conceived with another lady. Crap.

Before him, Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Vitruvian Man” was spread out. Sunburst considered it as his horn glowed, working through the beats of his arcane song. A G G E G H... Long pause... B B H... But what about guy humans and girl humans?

He shook is head quickly. He hadn't worried about genders with his kirin spell, and both guys and girls had resulted. But what if that was a mistake? What if that left it to chance? He scowled, only to feel something warm press against him from behind.

Autumn's arms wrapped around him, hooves pressing against his front gently. "You look like you hit a hard part."

He swiveled an ear back at her. "Oh! Hello..." He relaxed a little in that warm embrace. Autumn was good at that, as were most kirin. "I am thinking I may need to make two spells, and I'm not sure how different they'll be."

"Yeah?" She leaned over his shoulder, peeking at the art. "Your picture there is a guy. Kinda hard to miss that."

The piece left nothing to the imagination. "Pity he only made a male version." He raised a hoof to brush along his whispy beard. "Maybe the Internet has that, a female version. That sounds like something they'd do."

"Probably," she laughed out, squeezing him. "Want me to look for it while you work?"

He hadn't thought of that! It was so nice having friends, er, girlfriends? Both, both were good... "Please..."

"But that can wait until after lunch." She pulled him back, sliding his furry butt across the floor. "Come on, Susan made some real nummies."

He scrambled to his hooves to go with her. "Susan? Oh, right." She was a cook. That had been her job, to work in the cafeteria. "I forgot. Huh, is this the first time since... then?"

"It is," came Susan's voice from around the corner. "So you get to tell me if I lost my edge."

They emerged into their living area where a brightly colored blanket had been spread out, plates of food already set out. Sunburst's nose quivered as he approached. "Mmm. The cafeteria is usually light on beef."

Autumn hopped, landing on her belly in front of her plate. "Susan can play by her own rules, and if she wants to serve us some meat, well, that's what we get."

Susan poked her head out. "I just wanted to make an old family recipe of mine... I hope that's alright?" She emerged, a floating platter just beside her head. "I know we usually serve ponies vegetarian stuff..."

Sunburst's right ear quivered. "Let's not make it a habit, but I don't think one time will hurt us. It smells great!" He clopped his hooves together with growing excitement. "I say you haven't lost your edge at all."

"Cheers to that!" Autumn's horn glowed as she lifted a glass of fruit punch high. "And cheers to my new family, which I say is better than the original model."

Susan placed the tray down a bit stiffly. "Too soon." Autumn wilted and Susan leaned in, touching her nose to Autumn's forehead. "I'm not mad, but too soon."

"That was dumb." Autumn grasped a fork in her magic. "Unlike this food. This looks and smells so good!"

"That I will agree with." His eyes were on Susan more than the food, his magic taking his cutlery and serving himself a portion that smelled of delicately spiced tomatoes and beef in a blossoming mix of other surely delicious things. "Susan, sorry. I know... things have been rough, but you are welcome here, in this odd little family." He coughed suddenly. "Gosh that feels odd to admit, but it is that, and you're a part of it."

Susan quirked an ear. "You and her are the item. I'm just a roomie you get along with." She huffed softly. "And no that isn't me asking to change that. One lady, one guy, the way I like it." She inclined her head faintly. "That doesn't mean we can't be a family, I get that. Friends are the family you pick, right?"

"Now we're talking!" Autumn chomped down into her serving. "Oh, wow, that is so good! Less talk, more eat." She did not follow her own advice, making a bit of a mess as she devoured the food before her and talked as if she wasn't in the middle of that. Still, that she was enjoying it was easy enough for the others to see.

Susan took a sample of hers and looked thoughtful. "Hm. It... It tastes different." She took another nibble. "I avoided all that... mental, but my tongue is... I have an alien tongue." She stuck out her tongue nice and long and wide, displaying it to the room. "I ahm an alien," she slurred out with the extended tongue.

Autumn sat up sharply, bringing her hooves together. "You're better than an alien, you're a kirin."

"Is it a bad different?" asked Sunburst with a concerned expression.

Susan drew her tongue back in, taking another small bite, swishing it around thoughtfully, chewing and working it. "It's... Not a bad different, just... different." She smiled a little. "Now that you bring it up, I bet things taste different over time, as we age, but it happens so slowly, we don't notice it."

"That is something." He took a new bite, a little smile growing. "You got to see it happen. Most of us don't. We changed, but ponid glossed over that change for us, so we'll never know that difference."

Autumn brought her hooves together with a sharp clop. "Now I wanna know what this would taste like with my old tongue, just to compare. I don't know how it'd get any tastier, but I wanna know." She stuck out her own tongue, in more petty anger than any attempt to show off. "Lucky."

"Every day a little death." Both kirin looked over at Sunburst's comment. "Sorry, just..." He cycled his hooves a little helplessly. "It's just, you know, philosophy, and, um..." He let his head sag a bit forward. "I'm making a mess of this."

"I get it." Susan turned her new hoof at herself. "This is why I'm so glad I didn't get Ponid, the full thing. I'm... glad I'm still me... I'm still Susan, adjusting to things, not... some new person." Her eyes flicked to Autumn. "No offense, you're very comfortable being you, and you're a darling for it, but I'll take my lumps if it means it's still me."

Sunburst sat up. "By the way, this really is good. Thank you for sharing it." He continued more neatly than Autumn was busy glutting herself with. "I think I'm making progress. It's just slow, and impossible to... debug? Either of you ever program before?" Both mares looked at her blankly. "Nevermind that... I just can't test it, is the thing. How do you test a spell that could really hurt someone?"

Autumn tilted her head slowly. "With bugs and bunnies and rats and stuff?" She shrugged softly. "Best I got."

"You're not... wrong." He slumped down to his belly, but his tail started to wag, resuming his food. It was nummy time, not thinking time.

Surely science could wait until after they'd had their fill.

Author's Note

For now, this story is moving to weekly! Welcome to it! Woo! Found Family can be great, and Eri learns a few things.

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