Mass Hysteria

Chapter 6: Defensive Measures

Twilight and her friends were waiting patiently outside of Ponyville as two royal chariots descended from Canterlot, one bearing Celestia's mark, the other bearing Luna's. When they landed the two princesses stepped off and trotted up to the six friends, wearing very serious expressions on their faces. The six mares waited for them to speak before moving again, knowing that when the two of them arrived at one time it was not a time for jokes or fun.

"Hello Twilight, and friends" Celestia said as she trotted up to them, managing to crack a small smile for the shortest moment. The six mares all bowed in unison before turning to face Princess Luna, who simply nodded to acknowledge their presence.

"What brings you here Princess?" Twilight asked, thinking that it was due to the letter she had sent a few days prior.

"We are here to talk about the problem that your pregnancies bring to us, and to yourselves" Luna said, looking down her snout at all of them. Luna wasn't the friendliest pony in all of Equestria, but for her to be acting this way was very odd, and it worried Twilight. She had thought that after Nightmare Night a few years ago Luna was going to always act normal, and like a pony from this time, but now she was acting as she had before.

"What problem are you talkin' about Princess?" Applejack asked, cocking her head slightly to the side. They had never heard of any problem that them being pregnant would cause, so they weren't going to assume that it would be dangerous in someway.

"Well, it's rather simple" Celestia began to explain, "The pregnancies are causing interference with the Elements of Harmony"

"Yes, and because of this you six are now losing your connection to your respective elements" Luna continued to explain, using her magic to show the transfer of the elements to the foals. On one side was a full grown mare, to represent the six of them, and on the other side was a small foal, and between them was a symbol to show the six Elements of Harmony. The Element moved over to the mare, whose stomach began to swell, and when it grew to it's maximum size the Element moved over to the foal. Luna smiled as the image disappeared, obviously pleased with her own ability to show how the transfer works in such a simple way.

"So the Elements will go to out children?" Twilight asked, understanding the example that Luna had shown them, but not understanding the concept of it.

"Well, yes and no" Celestia said while looking to Luna for help explaining it further, "The Elements become... the foals themselves..." There were some loud gasps from the girls before they all began to think about what that meant for them. Pinkie's foal would be the funniest thing in the world, hopefully not because it was being laughed at of course. Applejack's foal would be the most honest pony ever, and would never be able to tell a lie. Fluttershy's foal would be the kindest pony ever, probably willing to give it's own life to make someone else's day better in some way. Rainbow's foal would be the most loyal pony, probably willing to give it's life for it's friends and family, even the princess. Rarity's foal would be the most generous, probably becoming the biggest philanthropist in the world. Twilight's foal would be almost exactly like her, but with slightly more magical ability, probably rivaling Celestia or Discord.

"What happens to them when they..." Fluttershy asked, finding it too hard to fully mention her foals death, which was hopefully far in the future.

"They will become the Elements in the form you had them, or, they will also pass it on, we do not know" Luna explained, giving Fluttershy a sympathetic look, "This has never happened before"

"If it's never happened, how do you know so much about it?" Twilight asked, which was exactly what everypony else was thinking.

"It's based off of a theory created by the one who caused this to happen" Celestia said, pausing for a moment, "Princess Hysteria" The six ponies all looked at Celestia like she was crazy, but they quickly began to accept the idea. Princess Hysteria's story was an old mare's tale from long ago that said when a mare becomes pregnant before marriage she will go insane and then become one of her pawns. Obviously they would have found it hard to believe at first, but the memories of their old villians quickly came back to them. Discord and Nightmare Moon were foal's tales, and King Sombra had been erased from history all together, it wouldn't be hard for there to be another pony that was like that, and in this case Hysteria was both. She had long since been written out of history books, and her name soon became synonymous with the old mare's tale.

"Is she planning to attack Equestria?" Pinkie asked, sounding genuinely worried for once.

"Yes, and we have come to try and prevent that from happening" Celestia said, making everypony let out a sigh of relief, until she continued to speak, "But it requires your total cooperation"

"What do you plan on doing?" Twilight asked nervously, knowing that there were times when Celestia would go overboard with attempting to protect Equestria's security. There was one time when Celestia ordered all guard posts to be handed over to women, as she feared that the men were planning to overthrow her because of a joke one made while drunk one night, but she later returned it back to normal.

"Well, we will constantly check up on you, and will stay in Ponyville until the foals are born, as well as a few months after the fact" Celestia said, smiling at the mares, who were surprised.

"Oh, and we recommend you all find mates" Luna said, blushing as she remembered that things don't work that way anymore. "Er, coltfriends, as a real relationship might be able to prevent the Elements' powers from weakening too much during the pregnancy period" It was on that note that the two sisters climbed back onto their carriages, to be carried further into town while the six mares were left dazed and confused.

"I, just..." Rainbow said, speaking for all of them, "What?!"

"Oh, but you already have somepony Dashie!" Pinkie said, getting an angry look from Rainbow while the others continued to recover from the shock.