Mass Hysteria

by Chocovich

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Romance, Random, Alternate Universe
Length: 13806

An old enemy of Equestria is making a return, but first, she'll need to remove the only things that can stop her...

An old enemy of Equestria is making a return, but first, she'll need to remove the only things that can stop her…

The Elements of Harmony

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-22 08:00:18 UTC

Chapter 1: External Monologues

Chapter 1: External Monologues

As Winter Wrap Up came to a close a strange darkness began to come over the Everfree forest, surprising even it's sole inhabitant. Zecora stepped out of her hut and looked around, feeling a chill go down her spine and a sense of worry in her heart. The darkness that was currently covering the forest wasn't a natural darkness, it was something brought on by pure evil. Knowing better than to interfere with what goes on in the forest Zecora returned to her hut, where she had a cup of tea waiting for her. However, further into the forest lies another inhabitant, one who has not seen the sun in over a thousand years, and was one who had since been planning the downfall of Equestria...

"Finally!" Hysteria cackled as she felt the magic holding her weaken, "I have waited a thousand years, and now my plan will come to fruition!" Hysteria looked around, seeing no sign of light around her. While slightly disappointed, she knew that light was only a thing she could hope to have. Using what little magic that she could Hysteria lit up the room, allowing her to view the cold stone walls that surrounded her, as well as her own teal hooves and her shadowy black mane. When she tried to move her hooves she saw them jerk slightly, another sign that the magic was weakening.

"Yes, I was right!" Hysteria cheered, "As my prison weakens I will be able to direct my magic outside of this despicable dungeon, and from there I will get rid of the Elements of Harmony! Then nothing will stand in my way!" Hysteria followed her speech up with a loud cheer, which bounced off the walls of her cell over and over until the only sound were the echos of her original laugh. Once the cackling died down Hysteria attempted to move again, this time seeing her hoof move out farther than it had before.

"Yes! I can feel it's hold on me weakening by the minute!" Hysteria cheered out of pure happiness, and emotion she has not felt during her entire stay in prison. As the happiness worn off Hysteria attempted to direct more magic through her horn, effectively lighting up the entire room as if it was open to the surface. Knowing that she was slowly gaining her magic back she attempted to see outside the room, looking for the carries of the Elements of Harmony.

"Six mares of age?" Hysteria asked rhetorically, "Oh this is just too easy!" After a few seconds Hysteria's horn began to glow a faint pink, differing from it's normal shadowy grey aura. When her horn's glow returned back to normal a diabolical smile grew across her face, another evil cackle beginning to grow inside the room...

___________________________________________________________________________

Twilight and her friends ran about happily as Pinkie's party to celebrate a successful wrap up went on. Many ponies planned to stay long into the night, but as time drew on that number quickly diminished, leaving only Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, as well as a few other ponies, behind.

"Oh dear, this party was the best yet!" Rarity said, slightly intoxicated from the amount of wine she had to drink that night.

"For once I agree with you Rarity" Rainbow said as she slung her hoof around her intoxicated friend, "This party was pretty awesome"

"Of course it was awesome!" Pinkie cheered as she popped up between the two of them, happier than she had even been before. After a largely successful wrap up the party she had thrown was top notch, beating out many of her previous parties by a long shot. A few feet away Fluttershy was stumbling around, having been with Rarity most of the night, managing to drink even more wine than her thanks to the number of stallions buying her a glass.

"Hey, Fluttershy!" Pinkie shouted, getting her drunken friend's attention, but only for a moment. Fluttershy shot Pinkie a stare that said, "Be quiet over there, I don't want to talk right now", so Pinkie stayed quiet, knowing far better than to bother Fluttershy when she didn't want to talk while drunk.

"Hey girls" Twilight said as she came trotting up to the trio with Applejack beside her. Applejack was stumbling a tiny bit, but other than that she was okay, even managing to keep her head up as she walked.

"How're you guys holding up?" Applejack asked, not even a hint that she had been drinking in her voice.

"Fairly good" Rainbow said, shooting a glance over at Rarity, who was just about out of her mind, "Can't say the same for her though"

"I'm fine, what are you *hic* talking about?!" Rarity chimed in, attempting to defend herself, but instead managed to make a bigger fool out of herself. The girls all laughed together with their eyes closed, none of them noticing a pinkish mist around their bodies. When they finally opened their eyes the mist was gone, but it's purpose was fulfilled by that time. On that note they each bid farewell. They all began to head their own way, but Rainbow was stopped by Big Mac for a short time, the two talking quickly, much to Applejack's confusion. Dismissing it due to her drunkenness Applejack continued on her way, tipping a hat towards Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity before she looked around for Applebloom, who was somewhere nearby playing with her friends.

"Okay, well, time to find Spike and head home" Twilight said, just as she felt a strange tingling sensation from her stomach. Passing it off as a side effect from the aged cider and wine that she had that night she continued on her way, finding Spike already back at the library, sound asleep.

"I guess I should head for bed too" Twilight whispered as she looked at Spike, quickly making her way towards her own bed once she made sure he was tucked in and that her schedule for tomorrow was finished. Climbing into her bed Twilight felt the tingle again, but this time it was smaller, so she again placed it as a side effect from the drinks. Little did she know, her and her friends were all experiencing the exact same feeling, and all of them were oblivious to it's true nature.

Chapter 2: One Week's Time

Chapter 2: One Week's Time

As the sun rose high over the horizon another day of spring began, but this time the rooster's crow was replaced by the sound of gagging, coming from all corners of town...

The Library

"Spike!" Twilight shouted out, just as another wave of nausea hit her, forcing her head back into the toilet bowl. As she continued to empty her stomach her number one assistant appeared at her side, worried about what was going on, but eager to help nonetheless. Once the nausea subsided Twilight turned to him, wanting to speak before she was down again.

"Spike, look through every book about known illnesses, and find one that fits what's going on right now, okay?" Twilight said shakily, just before another wave hit her, forcing her back down. Spike quickly saluted Twilight before running over to the main room, his eyes silently searching for any book that would be able to tell him what was going on. Within thirty minutes there was a large pile of books in the middle of the room, still no sign of any book that might explain what was happening to Twilight, that is, until Spike accidentally grabbed the wrong book.

"I've got it!" Spike cheered happily as his eyes read down a page titled Morning Sickness. Without looking at the title of the book he ran back into the bathroom and placed it down in front of Twilight, still open to the page he had found. He beamed happily until Twilight pushed the book away, not believing what she had just read.

"It can't be that, I'm not pregnant" Twilight said, making Spike look at her funny, not exactly seeing the correlation between morning sickness and pregnancy. Twilight saw his confused look and shut the book, turning it so he could read the title, which was What to Expect When Expecting; A mare's guide to pregnancy.

"But Twilight, you showed all the symptoms they talked about in here, right down to the`anger part" Spike said, trying to defend his reasons for bringing the book in without checking the front cover, but Twilight wasn't going to, nor was she able to, have any of it.

Sweet Apple Acres

"What's goin' on in here?" Big Mac asked as he stepped into the bathroom, the sound of Applejack's constant gagging having interrupted breakfast. When he looked down at the toilet he saw Applejack with her hair loose and her hat sitting discarded on the floor next to her. With a loud sigh he left to get Granny, who would be able to help Applejack more than he could. A few minutes later Granny was at the bathroom door, with Applebloom right behind her trying to sneak a peek inside.

"Applejack, are you feelin' okay?" Granny asked as she stood next to Applejack, being considerate enough to hold her mane back as she continued to vomit into the toilet.

"Does it look like I'm feelin' okay?!" Applejack shouted as she came up for air, quickly forcing her head back to toilet as another wave of nausea hit her. Granny simply nodded and looked over to Applebloom, who was watching from the doorway with a mixture of horror, and curiosity. She had never seen her sister in this kind of state, which scared her, but she was also interesting in finding out why Applejack was like this.

"Granny, is she going to be okay?" Applebloom asked as she took a few careful steps into the bathroom. Applejack came up for air again, this time wanting to tell Applebloom to leave, but opening her mouth made her shove her face back into the bowl. Granny shook her head before beckoning Applebloom to sit next to her and hold up Applejack's mane for her.

"I think your sister's come down with a case of morning sickness" Granny said, giving Applejack an inquisitive look, which she returned with an angry stare, "It's the only reason she'd be like this right now"

"I've never even slept with a stallion!" Applejack shouted back, her stubbornness allowing her to hold back the nausea for a few moments, "How would I have gotten pregnant?!" Applebloom's eyes grew wide when she heard Applejack mention pregnancy, and she quickly looked over at Granny for confirmation about it.

"Applejack, why else would you be shoving your face into the toilet in the mornin' after eating one bite of bread?" Granny asked, not paying any attention to Applebloom. Applejack tried to give another rebuttal, but the nausea finally became too much for her again, and she was back into the toilet, now throwing up a clear liquid because nothing else was left in her stomach.

"Exactly" Granny said, taking the silence as Applejack backing down from the argument, which made Applebloom's eyes get even wider as she thought about what this means.

"I'm going to be an Aunt!" Applebloom said happily, a muffled groan coming from Applejack because she knew the entire town was going to hear about that within a few hours.

Rainbow's Cloud House

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!" Rainbow cried mere moments before she shoved her face back into her toilet, a strong wave of nausea rushing up from her stomach. Rainbow had no idea what was going on, she had been woken up by a sudden feeling of being sick to her stomach, and now she couldn't stop vomiting. She had stopped for a short while, but as soon as she saw the food in her refrigerator she was back upstairs, head firmly stuck inside the toilet bowl.

"OH CELESTIA WHY?!" Rainbow cried as an even stronger wave of nausea hit her, making her feel as if her insides were trying to escape through her mouth. At this point it was nothing but a clear, gooey liquid, but it didn't matter to Rainbow, it was still extremely disgusting, not to mention the smell. Every time she managed to pop up for air her nostrils were filled with a horrid stench, one she placed as the worst thing she has ever smelled, just above rotten rainbow mix. Once the new wave of nausea wore off Rainbow attempted to stand, only to fall face first onto her bathroom floor, a Wonderbolts' poster being the last thing she saw before passing out.

When she woke up a few hours later she was hungrier than she had ever been before, but the smell of her vomit was still floating around, so her appetite was quickly destroyed. Out of curiosity she flew out of her bedroom window and looked down below her cloud house, seeing a strange pool of a liquidey brown and yellow mixture, as well as a trail of hoof prints leading away from it.

"I feel sorry for which ever poor pony got hit by that mess..." Rainbow said quietly before her stomach grumbled at her, reminding her that it was completely empty. Flying back into her house through the front door she quickly ran to her kitchen, opening the fridge to find a plate of half eaten sandwiches from the Winter Wrap Up party that Pinkie had thrown for everypony.

"A week old sandwich?" Rainbow asked out loud, a growl from her stomach reminding her just how hungry she was, "Oh well, I might as well eat something, I'm starving!" As Rainbow chowed down on the sandwich all memories of her being sick left her mind, being replaced with images of her being a Wonderbolt, among other things.

Carousel Boutique

"Sis?" Sweetie Belle asked tiredly as she wandered around the boutique, trying to find Rarity after being woken up by the sound of somepony gagging. When no pony replied Sweetie Belle decided to go looking for whoever was making the gagging noise, eventually being led to Rarity's personal bathroom. Despite being told to never go in there without permission Sweetie opened to door, finding her sister bent over the toilet, still in her bathrobe.

"Sis, are you okay?" Sweetie asked as she trotted up next to Rarity, who was making the most disgusting noises Sweetie had ever heard. After a few seconds Rarity popped up from the toilet, giving Sweetie an angry glare.

"Does it look like I am o-" Rarity tried to say, but she was soon back in the toilet, leaving Sweetie Belle to watch her in confusion. Sweetie had no idea what was going on, but judging from the state her sister was in she managed to figure out that she wasn't in the best condition. While silently wishing she was still at home Sweetie Belle went looking for something to help Rarity with, only finding a strange box in the medicine cabinet.

"Do you think this would help you Rarity?" Sweetie asked, showing the box to Rarity, who managed to look up long enough to grab the box from her. Rarity read over the cover of the box, but as soon as she finished reading it she got up from the toilet. Without saying anything she pushed Sweetie Belle out of the bathroom and shut the door, locking it as well. Outside Sweetie Belle pressed her ear up against the door, only to hear a small dripping noise, followed by a shock gasp from Rarity.

"Sis?" Sweetie asked as she opened the door slowly, looking nervously inside to see Rarity on the floor in a dramatic pose. Stepping over to her sister Sweetie crushed the box, which was now empty. Out of genuine curiosity she picked up the box, actually reading it this time. Pregnancy Test, Sweetie Belle read, quickly looking at Rarity, who had the test lying next to her on the ground.

"Rarity, are you...?" Sweetie asked hesitantly, getting a rather quick reaction from Rarity.

"Yes!" Rarity cried, curling up into a ball as she rolled back and forth, "This is THE worst possible thing!" Rarity continued to roll around as she cried dramatically, getting a roll of the eyes from Sweetie Belle before she left the room, not only to get away from her, but so she could go tell all of her friends the news.

Sugar Cube Corner

"Dear, I think something is wrong with Pinkie" Mrs Cake said worriedly as she looked at Pinkie, who was coming out of the bathroom for the hundredth time that morning, her mane loosing it's puffiness thanks to the sweat that was running down her head.

"Why do you say that honey-bun?" Mr Cake asked, looking away from the dough he was rolling so he could face Mrs Cake.

"Well, she keeps doing this" Mrs Cake said, waving a hoof at Pinkie, who was in the kitchen looking at a plate of cupcakes with hungry eyes. Mr Cake watched her as well, seeing her pick up a cupcake, throw it into her mouth, swallow it, and then quickly run upstairs to the bathroom, followed by the sound of her gagging horrendously. Mrs Cake turned to look at Mr Cake, who was trying to figure out what had just happened as Pinkie came trotting back down the stairs happily, again taking her place at the cupcakes.

"See, I don't think she's feeling well today" Mrs Cake said, just as Pinkie raced back upstairs, another cupcake gone from the tray.

"I think you're right sweetie" Mr Cake said as Pinkie once again entered the kitchen, "Pinkie, can you come over here?"

"Yes Mr Cake?" Pinkie asked as she suddenly appeared next to him, eliciting sharp gasps from the two Cakes.

"Are you not feeling well today Pinkie, dear?" Mrs Cake asked, getting a confused look back from the pink mare.

"Why do you think I'm not feeling okay?" Pinkie asked back, completely ignoring the fact that moments before she had her face in the toilet, entire chunks of cupcake flying out of her mouth.

"Well, you can't seem to keep any of the cupcakes you eat down this morning," Mr Cake explained, "and you keep running upstairs to throw up after you eat one"

"Oh, well I am feeling a little funny this morning, but I'm okay!" Pinkie said with a smile, still ignoring how strange it was that she couldn't keep anything down. Mr and Mrs Cake looked at each other worriedly as she bounced back over to the cupcakes, eating one, and then running upstairs again.

"There's definitely something wrong with her" Mrs Cake said worriedly, getting a nod from her husband as they both looked over to the cupcakes, where Pinkie was eating another one, yet again bolting up the stairs to throw it up into the toilet. With two loud sighs they went back to what they had been doing before, knowing that asking Pinkie about it wasn't going to help solve the problem.

Fluttershy's Cottage

Angel hopped around the cottage with an angry look on his face. Taking a short look at the clock that hung on the wall only made him angrier as he realized how late in the morning it was. By now Fluttershy had normally fed him and the other animals, but today she was late by five minutes. Looking around the cottage he found her in the bathroom, huddled over the toilet with her mane lazily hanging next to her. He bounced up next to her and began to tap his foot impatiently, getting her attention.

"Oh, good morning Angel bunny" Fluttershy said weakly, "Is everything okay?" Angel stopped tapping his foot and motioned towards Fluttershy, and then his mouth, followed by rubbing his stomach. Fluttershy was about to respond to him, but a wave of nausea forced her into the toilet again, but as soon as it was over she replied.

"I'm sorry Angel, I'm not feeling good this morning" Fluttershy apologized sincerely, but Angel was still angry. He waited as Fluttershy began to throw up again, but as soon as she was finished he began to pull her away by her mane. Fluttershy silently went with him, having to use every bit of willpower that she had to keep herself from throwing up again as he pulled her away. Eventually they ended up in the kitchen, and Angel motioned for her to make him breakfast. She quickly did as he asked and placed his breakfast on the counter for him to eat, and then went to feed the other animals, who were a thousand times happier to get fed than Angel was.

"There you are, now eat-" Fluttershy attempted to say, but a sudden urge to throw up took over. She managed to shut her lips fast enough to keep herself from throwing up all over the animals, but her puffed out cheeks worried them. They had never seen her act this way, and the pained look on her face from trying to hold it in made them worry even more. A few of the smaller animals went to her side, hoping to comfort her, but she ran into the house quickly, dropping the food bag in the process. As a few of the greedier animals went to eat what had spilled the larger animals stepped in the way, picking up the food and putting it away inside the house.

"I am so sorry for running away like that!" Fluttershy shouted from the bathroom, her voice being followed by the sound of her gagging furiously, all of the vomit that she had held in coming out all at once. A few of the other animals looked over at Angel, who was completely ignoring what was going on as he ate his breakfast. They then went upstairs, getting Angel's attention for only a moment before he went back to eating. Fluttershy started throwing up again just as they animals got to the bathroom door, a few of the smaller ones heading inside to help her out. A pair of hummingbirds held her mane up so it wouldn't get in the way, some mice grabbed a few tissues and then hopped onto the toilet to wipe the sweat off her forehead, and group of hedgehogs ran outside to get Harry the bear so they could go find some help for her. Meanwhile Angel finished his breakfast and headed upstairs to lay in Fluttershy's bed for a nap, his full belly making him feel tired.

Chapter 3: Bad News Meet Up

Chapter 3: Bad News Meet Up

As Twilight slowly trotted towards Sugar Cube Corner she couldn't help but feel nervous. How would her friends react to the news she was going to share with all of them? What if they decided to shun her because of it? Every single one of Twilight's thoughts as the bakery came into sight were "what if..." scenarios, many of them having a bad ending. Once she was at the entrance to the bakery she hesitated, wondering if she should quickly head back to the library before anypony saw her, but when she saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack making their way towards the bakery side by side, she knew it was too late for that.

"Hey girls" Twilight said awkwardly, not sure what to say given the fact that she had called them all here.

"Hey" they both replied lazily, obviously having other things on their minds at the moment. Twilight sighed and headed into the bakery with them right behind her, only to walk into Pinkie and Fluttershy trying to calm down Rarity, who was in tears.

"I was so young, and now look at me!" Rarity cried dramatically, "I'm old and pregnant!"

"You too?!" Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all said at the same time, quickly realizing what had just happened they all looked at each other in surprise, allowing time for an awkward silence to fall around them. They would each take turns trying to speak, but even Rarity was unable to say anything at this point, things were just too awkward now. Eventually Twilight managed to muster up enough courage to say something.

"Are we all pregnant?" Twilight asked nervously, getting some shaky nods from each of her friends, "Did any of use sleep with a stallion?" This time all of her friends shook their heads, saying no, but there was some hesitation from Rainbow that caught both Twilight and Applejack's attention.

"How did we all get pregnant at the same time?" Applejack asked, not understanding how all six of them got pregnant at the same time, "And for that matter, how did we get pregnant?"

"Well I don't know about you girls, but I know that I would never have done something as silly as sex before marriage" Rarity said, earning an angry glare from both Applejack and Rainbow, for two different reasons.

"Oh yeah, what about last week when you got completely wasted, huh?" Rainbow asked, the mention of Pinkie's party bringing the memories back to Rarity, "You probably would have done it with any jackass that walked by! Uh, no offense" Rainbow had turned to apologize to the donkey that had been sitting at another table, but he simply waved her off, used to the ponies in the town accidentally saying things that might be offensive to him.

"Yeah, and some of us have more down home values than you do" Applejack added in, obviously making a point of her family values.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted, making the three of them stop their argument before it really got going, "You can fight about that later, right now we need to find out what's going on" Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity all looked down at their hooves, embarrassed about their arguing. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, happy that she managed to get them to stop for a little while.

"Now, does anypony know what might have happened to cause this?" Twilight asked, getting some confused looks from her friends, except for Pinkie. Pinkie had a look on her face like she actually had some sort of idea as to what was going on, but was nervous to say anything.

"Pinkie, do you know what's going on?" Applejack asked, having noticed her expression as well.

"Well, maybe..." Pinkie said sheepishly, but she quickly perked up, "What if we all got pregnant because some old ancient enemy of Celestia's is starting to break out of their magical prison, and then decided that by making us have to deal with foals they would get the Elements of Harmony out of the way?" Everypony looked at Pinkie with the same unamused expression until Twilight spoke up.

"Pinkie, that doesn't make any sense" Twilight said, somewhat annoyed that Pinkie would suggest something like that, "We've already faced every enemy that would want to attack Equestria"

"What if she was right about that magic thing though?" Fluttershy said quietly, ignored by everypony because they didn't hear her.

"Well, did we all go to the doctor thinking it was a flu, and then found out we were pregnant?" Rainbow asked, remembering her own experience. She had flown down to the hospital after finishing off her sandwich, and when she got in to see the doctor he concluded that she was pregnant, asked her to take a pregnancy test, and that ended up coming back positive. When she stormed out of the doctor's office she ran into Applejack, who had just had the same experience with a different doctor.

"I think we all did" Twilight said, looking around to see no pony objecting to what Rainbow had said.

"Well, actually I only went to the doctor's after I took a test at home" Rarity said, "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't lying to me" Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rarity but quickly shook her head so she could get her mind back on track.

"Ok, so now we just need to find out what caused this to happen, and then..." Twilight trailed off, her thoughts coming to an abrupt stop when she tried to think about what would happen next.

"And then what Twilight?" Applejack asked, waving a hoof in front of Twilight's face when she didn't respond.

"And then..." Twilight tried to finish her thoughts again, "I-I don't know" Everypony in the room gasped at the same time, surprised to see that even Twilight wasn't sure what to do now that they were pregnant. On that note they all left, each of them heading home to try and figure out what they were going to do now in private.

Chapter 4: Breaking News

Chapter 4: Breaking News

Twilight

As Twilight entered the library she could hear Spike running around as he tried to finish the task Twilight had given him of reorganizing the library after he threw many of the books around earlier that morning. When she came into the room he was currently cleaning he froze, his eyes locking onto her like a hunter locks onto it's prey.

"Twilight, are you okay, what did the doctor say?" Spike asked quickly, a sign of how worried he was in his voice. Twilight gave him a quick smile before sitting down, beckoning for him to sit down next to her, and he did.

"Spike, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier" Twilight said humbly, "You were right, it was morning sickness"

"Does that mean...?" Spike asked slowly, having read the title of the book after Twilight had left to go see the doctor. Twilight nodded slowly, getting a worried gasp from Spike. She was the only real family he's ever known, and for her to be pregnant with a foal, he just didn't know what to do.

"Spike, take a letter" Twilight said before letting out a loud sigh. Spike ran out of the room for a minute and came back with a quill and scroll in hand, ready to write whatever Twilight told him to.

"Dear Princess Celestia" Twilight began, a sad hint to her voice, "Recently me and all of my friends have mysteriously gotten pregnant. We do not know how this happened, or why, but we have decided to come to terms with it anyways. The purpose of this letter is to ask for you to tell my parents, and my brother, of the news so that they can come to Ponyville when they are able. It is not something I had wished to have them learn about on such short notice, but as I am also surprised by this, I have no other choice. Your ever faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Once he had written it all down Spike sent the letter off in a ball of fire, a depressing atmosphere hanging in the library.

"And now we wait..." Twilight said sadly as she turned to head upstairs. Right now she just wanted to be alone, not only to prepare for what  her family, and Celestia would say, but also so she could fully come to terms with the news herself.

Rainbow Dash

Without a second thought Rainbow flew off towards Sweet Apple Acres, eager to find Big Mac, who she knew would be in the south field today. While she flew Rainbow went over the previous week in her head, a strong blush growing on her face. She had never told anypony, but her and Big Mac had been dating in secret for a few months, and just last week they had taken a step to the next level. After their little escapade Rainbow knew why he was Big Mac, but it was also a big push for them to come out about their relationship, but now, she wasn't so sure...

"Big Mac!" Rainbow shouted as she landed behind the red stallion, who was in the process of carrying a bushel of apples back to the barn.

"Rainbow, what're you doin' here?" Big Mac asked, a stalk of grass in his mouth, completely his farmer colt image.

"Mac, we need to talk" Rainbow said urgently, making Mac raise an eyebrow at her in confusion. She wasn't usually this forceful when they were going to talk. Rainbow quickly pulled Mac further into the orchard and gave him a big kiss, but quickly pulled away, giving him a shy look which was accompanied by a strong blush.

"Is everything okay Dashie?" Big Mac asked, the nickname she had told him to use for her only managed to make her blush harder.

"Mac, I'm..." Rainbow stuttered, trying to figure out how to tell Big Mac the news, "Pregnant..."

"You're what?" Big Mac asked, hoping that he had misheard her at first.

"Pregnant" Rainbow said quickly, looking up Mac even though she was deathly afraid of him taking the news the wrong way. Mac let the word sink in for a tiny bit before pulling Rainbow it a hug, which made her eep in surprise. He continued to hug Rainbow until she managed to push him back so she could breath.

"Come on, let's go to the farmhouse so we can talk about this" Big Mac said happily as he started to trot back to the farm house, and Rainbow followed right behind him.

Applejack

When Applejack had returned home she was greeted by Granny, who had been waiting in the living room for her. After a short talk they both sat in silence, waiting for Big Mac to come in from the field for lunch so he could be told as well. Applejack was surprised that Granny was taking the news as well as she was, but she just tossed that up to her being old and wanting to see a great grandfoal before she passed on. Just as Applejack was about to ask Granny why she was okay with everything Big Mac opened to door, unknowingly walking into the most awkward situation of his life.

"-so none of you really know what happened, but you're sure it's not me?" Big Mac asked somepony, making Applejack get up out of her seat so she could find out who.

"No, we did it too long ago for me to only be getting sick now, so-" Rainbow said, stopping immediately when she saw Applejack staring at her, "Uh... hi"

"Howdy" Applejack said flatly, eyeing Rainbow Dash down angrily. Big Mac noticed her angry stare and walked up next to her, pulling her into the living room so he could calm her down, but Applejack had something else in mind.

"What exactly did you and her 'do'?" Applejack asked, her face pressed up against Big Mac's. He squirmed under her heavy stare but Rainbow saved him from the pressure.

"AJ, me and Mac are..." Rainbow said slowly, looking over to Mac so he knew to prepare for a hell of a shouting match, "Dating" Applejack's expression was probably the same as if somepony had told her that her entire life was a life, and even Granny knew that things were about to get bad, but she suddenly smiled.

"I'm happy for you two" Applejack said with an even wider smile, making everypony look at her in surprise. Rainbow tried to speak, but it all came out as a mumbled mess of words that made no sense. Big Mac walked up next to Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Are you feeling okay?" Big Mac asked, looking into Applejack's eyes.

"Eeyup" Applejack said with a sweet smile, "I'm happy for you two, now Rainbow's foal will have a father" Rainbow and Big Mac watched in confusion as Applejack headed upstairs, silently swearing at the two of them under her breath. When she got into her room she shut the door quietly and got onto her bed, crying silently. She couldn't believe that her brother and her best friend were keeping their relationship from her. How could they do something like that to her?!

"Assholes..." Applejack said quietly as she looked out her window at the clouds that were lazily drifting by.

Rarity

Rarity decided to head to her parents house before going home, checking to see if they were home yet. When she knocked there was no answer at the door, but just as she went to leave she saw them coming up the road. They noticed her standing outside the house and ran up, their luggage trailing behind them.

"Rarity! What brings you here?" her father asked, hugging her quickly.

"Well, I have some surprising news for you guys" Rarity said as her mother gave her a hug as well. Her parents looked at each other nervously before Rarity spoke up again, a somber smile on her face.

"Mom, dad, I'm pregnant" Rarity said quickly, getting wide eyed looks from both her parents before they both fainted, hitting the road like a pair of large boulders. Rarity gasped quickly before she grabbed the key to their house from her father's shirt. Once the door was unlocked she pulled them inside, putting them in their bedroom before she went down to the kitchen, making herself a cup of coffee. If she was going to have to wait for her parents to wake up, she thought she might as well do it in some relative comfort. When her parents woke up she knew there was going to be a whole lot of talking, and if there was one thing she knew, it was going to be a while before they woke up.

Pinkie Pie

Mr and Mrs Cake had been quietly listening to the conversation that the mares had been having, both of them covering their mouths with their hooves when they heard the news. When Pinkie came bouncing around the corner into the kitchen they jumped back, looking at her in surprise.

"Pinkie, is it true?" Mrs Cake asked nervously. Pinkie seemed to not know what she was talking about, but the looks they were giving her made her fess up.

"Yes..." Pinkie said sadly, looking down at the floor like a sad puppy, "When I went to the doctor for me getting so sick they said that I was having morning sickness, and then they said it meant I was pregnant" Mr and Mrs Cake looked between each other before walking over to Pinkie, pulling her into a big hug. She cheered happily as they hugged, and when they broke apart she had a large smile plastered on her face.

"You guys aren't mad at me?" Pinkie asked curiously.

"Of course not dearie, we want to help you with this" Mrs Cake said, giving Pinkie a warm smile.

"We will happily help you in anyway you need us" Mr Cake said, joining in Mrs Cake's warm smile. Pinkie smiled happily back at them before she turned around, beginning her work on today's orders. When the Cakes watched her they felt like nothing was different, and that Pinkie was the same as she had always been, but they knew for certain that things were going to get a lot stranger now that she was carrying a foal.

Fluttershy

Fluttershy carefully stepped into her house, making sure that there was no animal on the other side. When she looked around she saw a collection of every animal she had ever helped waiting for her.  A pair of hummingbirds were holding up a "Get Well Soon" banner for her, and a collection of mice were at the front of the group with some flowers for her. She smiled happily at them as she walked to the couch, where some more birds pulled a blanket over her.

"I'm happy to see all of you" Fluttershy said with a wide grin, "I have some news for all of you" All of the animals cocked their head to the side as they looked at Fluttershy in confusion. She giggled happily before she spoke up, making even Angel look at her in confusion as he came walking out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to have a foal of my own" Fluttershy said in an extremely happy tone, making many of the animals lean back for a moment to think about what she had said. When they had all figured it out they cheered happily, a collection of happy growls and howls coming from them all. Fluttershy giggled happily again as Angel hopped onto the couch next to her, hugging one of her hooves while giving her a worried smile.

"Don't worry Angel bunny, I'll still be here for you" Fluttershy said as she leaned over to give Angel a light kiss on the forehead, which made him smile out of joy. The rest of Fluttershy's day was spent being cared for by the animals she had been caring for over the past few years, and at the end of the day she said goodbye to all of them except Angel, who tucked her into bed.

"Goodnight Angel bunny" Fluttershy said tiredly just before she drifted off to sleep, a smile on her face as she silently started to dream. Angel stayed over her for a moment before hopping off the bed so he could go sleep on the couch for the night.

Chapter 5: Royal Reaction

Chapter 5: Royal Reaction

Celestia had just finished setting the sun when a scroll from Twilight popped into existence right in front of her. Using her magic she held the scroll, opening it slowly as she climbed onto her bed. Once she had read the letter in it's entirety she immediately set to writing a letter to each of the ponies Twilight had mentioned, and within five minutes they were sent off, followed by Celestia quickly running towards Luna's room.

"Sister, we have an emergency!" Celestia said quickly as she burst through the black doors that led to Luna's room, finding her sister with her snout firmly place between the pages of a book.

"What is it this time?" Luna asked, having accompanied Celestia's "emergency"'s with a shortage of cake or fine wine. When Celestia grabbed Luna by the shoulders and spun her around she knew it was something more urgent, and put her book down immediately so she could listen to what had happened.

"Twilight and her friends have been impregnated by some unknown force, yet none of them have had any relation with a stallion!" Celestia blurted out all in one breath, making Luna give her a confused look. It was extremely unlike Celestia to be acting this way, but Luna could somewhat understand why she was acting so erratically. Twilight and the rest of her friends were all very near and dear to Celestia's heart, and whenever they were in danger she would act differently, to the point where she would throw cakes at the servants should she be bored enough.

"Sister, do you have any idea what might have caused something like this to happen?" Luna asked, trying to console her sister so she wouldn't do anything reckless.

"Well, no, to be honest, nothing like this has ever happened before, it would take an extremely powerful Alicorn to-" Celestai froze mid-explanation and looked at Luna with fear in her eyes, "It's her"

"Who is her?" Luna asked, the ominous name given to whomever Celestia was talking about not ringing any bells in her head. For a moment Celestia gave Luna a surprised look, but she quickly remembered that she had spent a thousand years on the moon, completely isolated from the going on's in Equestria. She thought for a moment to think about how to explain things to Luna, but quickly remembered an old story she had heard.

"In times of peace and good, there will always be an evil" Celestia recited, taking a moment to remember the rest of it, "When no evil rises to the challenge, Hysteria will appear"

"Sister what does an old saying have to do with any of this?" Luna asked, the final part of the saying still not helping to make her understand what Celestia was trying to say. Luna continued to look at Celestia in confusion until the name finally clicked. Her shocked expression brought a knowing smile to Celestia's face.

"You couldn't possible mean..." Luna said slowly, watching Celestia's reaction carefully. When Celestia nodded at her she felt a sense of dread come over her. Back before she had become Nightmare Moon her and Celestia had fought against the Alicorn known as Hysteria. At first she was a princess, like them, but over time she began to lose her mine, slowly but surely slipping into madness. Her first actions of madness was to try and enslave the Zebra's of the nearby country of Zebrafica, and then Griffons of Griffonia. Their rulers had stood against her, and within a few weeks Celestia and Luna were made aware of her heinous crimes. As punishment she was ordered to submit to the Elements of Harmony, which would strip her of her extreme powers and abilities, but she resisted. From there Celestia and Luna had to place a trap for her in the old castle in the Everfree forest, and it was there were they had their final fight, locking Hysteria away far beneath the ruins that remained.

"How is it possible that she's returned?" Luna asked, giving Celestia an extremely worried look.

"I believe the Element's hold on her has weakened over time, and now she has become strong enough to reach out of her prison to interact with the ponies around it" Celestia hypothesized, "She may be attempted to distract Twilight and her friends from doing their duty as the bearers of the Elements, thereby allowing her to eventually use her magic to break out"

"How would pregnancy affect the Elements of Harmony?" Luna asked, having been gone during the time when Celestia learned about quite a few things about the Elements, including the affects of them being bound to a mare who is pregnant.

"When a mare is pregnant while she carries the Elements their strength is inversely effected" Celestia explained, "Their power becomes diluted and the effectiveness is lowered dramatically, as the mare's respective Element will begin to manifest itself in the unborn foal"

"So the Elements will end up working at an extremely decreased effectiveness now?" Luna asked, still not understanding what Celestia was trying to explain to her.

"Yes, because the Element manifests in the foal the mother will slowly lose their connection to it" Celestia explained further, "The foal will become an actual living embodiment of the Element, whether that be magic, kindness, honesty, loyalty, laughter, or generosity"

"That means the foals would have to..." Luna trailed off, the explanation finally making sense to her.

"Exactly, but the foals would be too young to use them properly, and as such, Hysteria would be able to break out, eliminating them as well as anypony else that could stand in their way" Celestia sad, followed by Luna and Celestia giving each other a worried look before they both turned to look out over Luna's balcony, right at the Everfree forest.

"This is bad..." Luna said, pausing to look up at her shining moon, "Very bad..."

Chapter 7: 5 Ways to get a Coltfriend

Chapter 7: 5 Ways to get a Coltfriend

The Nerd Method

"SPIKE!" Twilight shouted from her bedroom as she threw yet another book onto the ground in frustration. It's been almost a week since Celestia and Luna told them about the problems their pregnancies had with them, and how to prevent things from going wrong while they were pregnant. To put it simply, they had to get coltfriends, but that wasn't an easy task for Twilight. Sure, she's read quite a few romance novels in her time, she's never actually had romance. In the books she's read the stallion was always chasing after the mare, not the other way around, so she didn't know what kind of things a mare would do in that position. So far she's read about twenty or so dating advice books, as well as a multitude of badly written love stories where a mare had to hunt for her princess.

"Here's a few more books Twilight" Spike said through deep breaths. He's been running all throughout the library ever since Twilight came home with this plan in mind. He had asked her what reading was going to do, but her answer made about as much sense as somepony would think.

"If I don't know about romance, I'll read about romance!" Spike grunted as he headed back down to the main floor of the library, his stubby little legs ready to give out on him as he went down the stairs, but they held on long enough to get him into a chair. After a few hours Twilight shouted for Spike to get more books, waking him up just as he started to fall asleep in the chair.

"For somepony so smart, this plan is really stupid" Spike complained as he looked for more books that talked about romance and relationships. Once he had found five books he headed into her room, and the cycle began again.

The Party Pony Method

As Pinkie bounced into the bakery Mr Cake came out of the kitchen to see her dragging the eternal god of chaos behind her, his heading bouncing off the floor just a second behind Pinkie. He seemed like he was bored out of his mind, so Pinkie literally dragging him around was probably the most interesting thing to happen to him today.

"Hi Mrs Cake!" Pinkie said happily as she left Discord drop to the ground so she could run over to Mrs Cake. She seemed to be excited about having Discord with her.

"Pinkie, why did you drag Discord into the shop?" Mrs Cake asked, looking past Pinkie to see Discord reading through the glass to steal a triple chocolate cupcake that they had on display. She was about to go and stop him when he somehow snapped, making another cupcake appear in it's place.

"Oh, well you see, some old evil being made me and my friends pregnant so that the Elements of Harmony would become useless, but if we have a coltfriend then it doesn't happen as bad!" Pinkie explained quickly, making Mrs Cake's jaw drop. Before she could ask what that meant Pinkie ran off, taking Discord upstairs with her. Discord looked as Mrs Cake with no expression on his face, now being bored out of his mind because he had figured out why he was there.

The Fashionista Method

Rarity was sitting in her room at the boutique, looking out her window at the stallions that were walking by down below. Using her keen eye for detail Rarity was attempting to spot the best stallion for her in the crowd. In her mind the list she had come up with was a small one, with the only necessities being that they were rich, proper, looked good, and were going to treat her like a princess. Of course some ponies would see that as her asking too much of a stallion, but Rarity was special, she was a fashionista!

"I will have the best stallion in town, mark my words!" Rarity said melodramatically, the only response to it being Opal meowing quietly in the back of the room, "Exactly Opal, I do deserve the best stallion" Opal rolled her eyes before walking out of the room, leaving Rarity to watch the stallions by herself.

"Now, which one will I choose..." Rarity asked out loud as she squinted at the five or so stallions that were walking past. One stallion had a similar build to Big McIntosh, but his hair was atrocious, not to mention the clashing colors of his black coat and red mane. Another stallion that was behind him seemed rather well groomed, but his bright green eyes and mangy beard were a big turn off for her. A few other stallions were fairly average, none of them having any defining features that made them better than the rest. After a few minutes of watching a Pegasus came by that was talking to a rather good looking stallion. With her eyes set on the Unicorn that was outside Rarity ran down the stairs and out the door. Once she was outside she couldn't see the Unicorn anymore, and all what was left was the Pegasus.

"Where'd your friend go?!" Rarity asked quickly as she grabbed the Pegasus, holding him by his shoulders so he wouldn't run away. He looked at her in shock before turning his head, and following his gaze to see a white Unicorn with two tone hair ordering some ice cream. When Rarity looked closely at the Unicorn she saw that it was the one she had seen from the window, but it was a mare, not a stallion. After a second the mare came over with two mint chocolate chip ice cream cones, handing one to the stallion before she looked at Rarity.

"Why are you holding my coltfriend like that?" the mare asked, looking at Rarity with a confused expression. Rarity slowly backed away, letting her hooves fall from the stallion as her eyes opened wide. Once her all her hooves were on the ground Rarity ran back into the boutique, laying down on her bed in confusion.

The Shy Method

Fluttershy was hiding in her cottage when Angel came bouncing in through the window, an angry look on his face. Angel stopped in front of her, his foot tapping the floor at high speeds because he was hungry. She just looked at him with terrified eyes when there was a knock at the door, making her jump slightly. Looking out the window next to the door Angel saw a horde of stallions, all of them holding heart shaped boxes of chocolates and flowers. A squirrel came running in through the back door, a green hoof trying to force its way in after him.

"Please, just go away..." Fluttershy squeaked out quietly as the green stallion outside swore out of frustration. A second later a few more hoofs tried to get in through the animal door the squirrel had come through. Angel looked around and saw a stallion looking in through the window at Fluttershy, making her cower away towards the stairs so she could try and go upstairs. The animals all looked at Fluttershy worriedly, which she noticed.

"They know I need a coltfriend..." Fluttershy looked completely terrified, which made all of the animals, including Angel, look out the windows at the stallions. As Fluttershy went upstairs the animals headed outside and began to gnaw at the stallions' ankles, forcing all of them away from her cottage. Once they were all gone Angel hopped back inside and went upstairs to see Fluttershy, who had a small smile on her face.

"Thank you..."

The Family Method

Applejack slowly trotted into the farm house as she thought about what having a coltfriend would do for her. He might be able to help around the farm, or be able to relax her after a long day of bucking the trees, but he could also get in the way of her work and cause her to slack off worse than Rainbow Dash. Without paying attention Applejack ran into Applebloom, pushing her to the ground by accident.

"Hey, what gives sis?" Applebloom asked as she got up, looking at Applejack angrily.

"Oh, sorry Applebloom, I was distracted by my thoughts" Applejack apologized, briefly having the thought to ask Applebloom for help with her coltfriend problem, but then she remembered what happened when her and friends tried to set up Big Mac with Cheerilee. Shaking her head to get the thought out of her head Applejack started walking towards the stairs so she could go see Big Mac. Despite the fact that he was quiet and antisocial Big Mac seemed to know a lot about relationships and how to deal with social problems. When she got up to his door she heard two ponies talking inside, one voice she easily placed as her brother's, but the other voice sounded almost like...

"Now Rainbow, I know Celestia said it'd be a good idea, but that doesn't mean we have to tell everypony" Big Mac said, the mention of Rainbow's name making Applejack extremely curious. As she pressed her ear up against the door the other pony began to talk, allowing Applejack to place it correctly.

"Mac, I know you want to keep it a little secret between us, but if I don't tell anypony they're going to try and set me up with some stupid stallion I don't even like" Rainbow said, being the voice of reason for once. Applejack felt the urge to slam the door open and give the two of them an earful, but before her brain was able to reason that it wouldn't end well she was half way into the room, the two of them looking at her with terrified looks on their faces.

"Applejack?!" Rainbow asked quickly, her face draining of color when she realized what was going on.

"So, somepony mind telling me what she's doin' in here?" Applejack asked seriously, making Big Mac and Rainbow look at each other worriedly. Now that they've been caught they had no choice but to tell somepony, but sadly that pony happened to be Applejack.

"Well..." Big Mac and Rainbow started to say together, getting ready to tell Applejack about one fateful day in the orchard...

___________________________________________________________________________

It was a normal day for Big Mac when Rainbow fell out of a tree he had just bucked, landing in one of the apple baskets he had placed beneath the tree. She grunted angrily before an apple landed on her head, making her yelp in surprise and pain.

"Watch what you're bucking Big Mac!" Rainbow complained as she climbed out of the basket, which proved to be fairly difficult for her.

"I shouldn't have to watch what I'm bucking on my own farm" Big Mac said, making Rainbow blush in embarrassment. She had forgot that she was on Sweet Apple Acres in the first place, having come here to nap without the threat of Pinkie looming over her. Her blush quickly disappeared as she realized that Big Mac had moved on already and was now five trees away from her.

"Couldn't you see that I was in that tree?" Rainbow asked, eyeing him down as he gave her a blank stare.

"Eeyup"

"Then why did you still buck it without waking me up first?!" Rainbow complained, making Mac finally look away. If Rainbow didn't know better she could have sworn he was blushing under that red coat of his, but it was hard to tell. Why would he be blushing anyways? Was he embarrassed that he knocked her out of a tree, or was there something else that-

"I thought you looked cute when you were sleepin'" Big Mac answered quietly, his shyness almost matching Fluttershy's.

"I looked, what, when I sleep?" Rainbow asked, wanting to make sure she heard him right. There was no way he called her cute.

"Cute..." Big Mac repeated, an actual blush appearing on his cheeks this time, which made Rainbow blush as well. It was unlike him to say something like that, let alone get embarrassed over it, and it really confused Rainbow. Why in Equestria would Applejack's soft spoken brother suddenly say that she was cute, and why would he be so embarrassed about it? There was only one reason...

"Mac, do you..." Rainbow trailed off, feeling her own cheeks flush a deep red, "Like me?" After a few seconds of silence Big Mac gave his answer.

"...Eeyup"

___________________________________________________________________________

"...and ever since then we've been giving this whole dating thing a shot" Rainbow said, looking over to see Mac staring down at his hooves with his cheeks a bright red. Applejack was looking at the two of them with an angry stare, and without saying anything she stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her so hard one of the hinges broke. Out in the hallway Applejack stood still, doing her best to keep her anger inside herself.

Chapter 8: The "Perfect" Stallion

Chapter 8: The "Perfect" Stallion

Applejack

As she stormed out of the farm house to let go of her anger Applejack ran head first into a light blue stallion that had been stepping onto the porch. She thought about stopping to help him up but she was still upset, so she only gave him a passing glance. He seemed to get back to his hooves by himself just fine, so Applejack turned back to facing forwards and headed for the barn so she could go nap in a hay pile for an hour or two. A hay nap always managed to calm her down, she didn't know why, but it did. When she settled into the biggest hay pile she heard a knock at the door, forcing her head up out of habit.

"Who is it?" Applejack asked, sounding as annoyed as she actually ways. She swore if it was her brother or Rainbow that was...

"Soarin?!" Applejack asked suddenly when the light blue Pegasus' face came into view, making her back away in surprise. He looked down at what she was laying on and a sly smile crept across her face.

"Going for a roll in the hay, eh?" Soarin joked, earning himself a kick in the gut for making a comment like that. He gave her a victorious smirk before leaning over to help her up, showing that he could still be a gentlecolt even after saying something so crude. Applejack accepted his hoof and got up, making sure to pull him to the ground in the process.

"Hey!" Soarin whined as he pulled his head out of the hay pile, pieces of it sticking out of his mane at wild angles, "What was that for?!"

"Nothin" Applejack said with a grin, showing him that she was just messing around, "So what brings a fancy pants Wonderbolt to a small town farm like this?" She had a point, and Soarin couldn't deny it. It was certainly odd for somepony who's face was known across Equestria to go all the way down to a small farm that was known only because of the crazy things that have happened there.

"Well, I heard from a fairly reputable source that a certain pie making mare was looking for a coltfriend" Soarin said, winking at Applejack as he gave her a cocky grin, "So... Is the position still open?" Applejack gave him an unsure look, but inside she was smiling. She was just a farmer, and he was a Wonderbolt, for him to be going after her felt like a gigantic compliment.

"Hmm..." Applejack thought as she tapped her chin with a hoof, making Soarin give her a confused look, "I think you'll have to prove yourself first" Soarin's cocky grin came back as the challenge registered in his mind. He wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially not when it came to a challenge that a mare gave him. Applejack looked around for a minute as she thought about what she could make Soarin do first, her eyes finally settling on all of the bucking that her and Big Mac were supposed to do that day.

"I need you to buck some apples for me" Applejack said, a sly grin growing on her face. She really thought that he wouldn't take the challenge and back off, but he met her with a cocky grin and a tap on her flank.

"Deal, but remember, there's a different apple I could be bucking right now" Soarin said with a toothy grin when Applejack went to kick him, but missed because of how embarrassed she was that he made a comment like that. While he walked away Applejack made a mental note to get him back for that comment, and of how toned his muscles were...

Pinkie Pie

Downstairs in the kitchen Mr and Mrs Cake were being bombarded by the sound of two ponies, or a pony and a draconequus for that matter, running around upstairs. Or they hoped they were just running around, with how fast the thumps were coming down to their ears. At one point Carrot wanted to go and see what they were doing, but Cupcake held him back, warning him that he may not like what he'd see. Soon enough though the thuds sunk into the background noise and they were able to ignore it, happily oblivious to what was going on upstairs...

"Higher! Higher!" Pinkie cheered as she bounced up and down, landing hard on Discord every time just before she bounced right back up. Each time she came down he grunted, which only made her cheer more. After at least an hour or more of bouncing Pinkie was tuckered out so she flopped down onto the bed next to him.

"That was so fun" Pinkie panted, "Although you were really hard at first"

"That's because I wasn't expecting you to use me as a trampoline" Discord complained as he cracked his back, every vertebra popping as if he had bubble wrap in his back. Once he was fully stretched out Discord flattened out on the bed, literally becoming flat, which allowed Pinkie to roll over and squish him.

"You're awesome Discord" Pinkie said as she hugged the piece of paper that was Discord.

"I know" Discord said happily as he popped himself back to normal, surprising Pinkie enough for her hair to frizz up. After she fixed her hair she laid next to Discord, who then preceded to make a paper cone appear out of nowhere, which he used to scoop away part of her mane, which had become cotton candy. She looked up at him like he was crazy, but then again, so was she, so she moved up and took a bite of the candy cotton for herself. When they finished the cotton candy the two of them dozed off to sleep, cuddling each other as the day came to a close.

Rarity

Rarity continued to wallow in self pity as the day went on, not wanting to move from her spot on the bed. She couldn't find a single stallion in the entire town that even came close to what she was looking for in her perfect stallion, how was she going to love with herself now? The one pony that had even come close to meeting her standards turned out to be a mare in the end, and one that was in a relationship! After all of that she just couldn't live with herself.

"Rarity, are you in there?" a familiar voice shouted up from the front door, making her snap out of her thoughts. What was Spike doing here at this hour? Rarity quickly looked over at the clock to see that it was only five in the afternoon, which meant she had spent the daylight rolling around in her bed while she cried. With a heavy sigh Rarity headed downstairs, opening the door with a feigned curiosity.

"Spike, what are you doing here so late?" Rarity asked, doing her best to hide the fact that she had been crying from him.

"It's only five..." Spike said as he looked at the clock on the wall behind Rarity, "Anyways, I wanted to see if you were okay"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rarity asked as her eyes looked back to see the time for herself, forgetting what time it was even though she had just looked at it before coming downstairs. To her surprise it was now seven, meaning two hours had gone by, just like that. Rarity felt a weird feeling of loneliness come over her, making her visibly shake. Spike noticed it so he stepped forwards and blew a small ball of fire into his hands.

"What are you doing that for?" Rarity asked as she looked down to see the small ball of green flame burning bright in the purple dragon's grasp.

"You shook so I thought you were cold..." Spike answered bashfully, his cheeks flushing, "It's just something I've been working on for a few days" Rarity smiled and bent down to give Spike a kiss on the cheek, which surprised him enough that he made the ball of fire disappear. He tried to get another one but he was so surprised by Rarity's little kiss that he couldn't remember how.

"How about you just come in and share a warm fire with me?" Rarity asked, nodding towards her old fireplace that hadn't been used in years. She had been planning to take it out, but never got around to it, and now seemed like a good time to use it. Spike's eyes lit up as he ran towards it, quickly tossing a few old logs in and lighting them up, the heat quickly filling the room. As he stood there admiring his work Rarity came up behind him, using her magic to wrap a light blanket around the two of them.

"Thank you Spike" Rarity said as she sat down next to him, the blanket forcing the two of them close together.

"For what?" Spike asked innocently, not knowing what had happened earlier that day.

"Oh, nothing..." Rarity said as she leaned against him, causing him to snap upwards out of shock. After a few seconds he calmed down, just enough for the two of them to enjoy the warmth of the fire in complete relaxation.

Fluttershy

Outside Fluttershy's cottage there was a sea of stallions, all of them hoping to get inside so they could try and make her their mare. Inside there was a terrified Pegasus and a horde of small animals planning to go on the offensive, with Angel being their commander. It seemed silly, and Fluttershy was trying to calm them down in between meeps, but nothing was working. Just before they could finalize their plans shouting could be heard from outside.

"What are y'all doin' here?!" a familiar sounding stallion shouted, "Why is everypony attacking Fluttershy's house?!"

"She's single and needs a coltfriend!" one of the mob members shouted at the stallion.

"Yeah, and we all want a piece of that fine Pegasus a-" the third stallion never got to finish his sentence as the sound of Fluttershy's mailbox impacting with his face caused a deafening silence to fall. Some confused whispers could be heard coming from some of the stallions outside, but other than that no pony spoke.

"I want all of you no good beggars to get your flanks out of here!" the first stallion shouted, with the sound of him picking up the mailbox coming soon after. Suddenly every stallion that was outside sprinted away, enough that the sound of somepony starting to shout for a stampede could be heard. Angel looked around through one of the windows, a confused look coming over his face.

"What is it Angel bunny?" Fluttershy asked as she trotted up the window slowly, fearing that the horde would return if she did. When she looked outside she saw Braeburn looking around for any sign of a stallion that was going to stalk out Fluttershy's cottage.

"Fluttershy, you ok?" Braeburn asked from outside, his eyes finding Fluttershy's as she watched him from the window. She nodded quickly before running downstairs to thank her savior. He smiled as she opened the door, but his eyes quickly dropped down to focus on the biggest difference to Fluttershy's body.

"Are you... pregnant?" Braeburn asked as he examined the small bump that had been growing on Fluttershy's body for the past few months. Her friends also had their own bumps growing, but Fluttershy's was the most noticeable. Braeburn tentatively reached a hoof out towards it, only to be swatted away by Angel. Fluttershy quickly looked down at him, giving him the stare so he would go away. Braeburn was the first nice stallion she had seen in a while, and even Fluttershy wasn't going to let her favorite rabbit get in the way of that.

"Yeah, me and all of my friends" Fluttershy replied as her cheeks flushed from Braeburn touching her stomach gently. When he had his fill of rubbing her belly he stood all the way up, a smile on his face. It was a knowing smile, which means that he knew why all those stallions were there for her, as well as what he should do in a situation like this.

"Do you need a nice stallion to keep you safe from the creeps?" Braeburn asked with a wink, causing a giggle to escape from Fluttershy.

"Maybe~" Fluttershy answered in a sing song way, causing Braeburn to smile happily. She turned around and trotted towards her couch, making motions for him to follow after her. Once they were both seated on the couch she began to fill him in on everything that had happened in the last few months, and being the considerate stallion that he was, he listened to it all, nodding when he needed to.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Fluttershy asked after she finished her story, ending it with the time just before Braeburn showed up. Braeburn looked over at the clock to see that it was already six in the evening, so with a smile and a nod he turned towards Fluttershy,

"I'd love to"

Twilight

As her teacher's sun began to set in the west Twilight knew it was time to put the books away. Spike had left at least an hour ago so he could go see Rarity, which meant that she was all alone in the library with her books. She had read every single relationship advice book in the library, but nothing helped. There wasn't some magical method that was going to get her the perfect stallion, and he wasn't about to just show up out of nowhere unless she was really lucky. Twilight put the last book away in it's spot before she began to trot up the stairs to her room, stopping at the top to lock the door and turn the lights off. There was no point in keeping the library open if she was going to be in her room anyways.

"Why does this have to be so hard..." Twilight said quietly as she shut her bedroom door behind her, slowly making her way into her bed so she could wallow in her self pity. No pony ever told her finding a stallion was going to be this hard, not even her stepsister Cadance. All Twilight wanted, no, needed, was a stallion that she could get along with, that she could relate to, and that she could love unconditionally, but according to every book finding a stallion like that was one in a million. Just as Twilight began to feel empty and alone she felt something from deep inside of her, a small movement that could have only come from...

"The foal?" Twilight said out loud as she sat up, her eyes fixed on the small bump that was her stomach. When she saw it she was reminded that all of her friends were in the exact same situation as she was, and that she had Spike there for her most of the time. If she couldn't find a stallion, she would always have her friends and family to be there to support her, no matter what happened. Looking up to her nightstand Twilight found her picture of herself and all of her friends at her brother's wedding, which brought a smile to her face. After looking at the picture for a few minutes Twilight set it back down, laying her own head down with it.

"I'll always have my friends..." Twilight said quietly as she closed her eyes, her mood having done a complete turn around since she had laid down. When Twilight finally fell asleep there was a smile on her face, and her dreams were dominated by the memories of all the adventures she had gone on with her friends.

Chapter 6: Defensive Measures

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.