“WHAT!?” The entire room focused on the filly after her claim before all turning towards Twilight and Scootaloo. While the pegasus filly looked confused, the alicorn was in a slight panis at the claim as she began waving her hooves in front of her.
“That just is not possible! I mean I've never been pregnant so there is no way that Scootaloo can be my daughter and I would think that I would remember it if I ever was pregnant or even actually had anything in there in the first place. Please tell me that I was never pregnant and somehow obtained amnesia about all of it!” The last was directed at Celestia who just shook her head causing the younger alicorn to sigh in relief. The solar princess was still unsure though as an uneasy feeling ran through her which wasn't helped when the filly shook her head.
“I never said that you were the mother, just one of her parents.” Twilight blinked as she froze up before shaking her head and staring at the filly with wide eyes.
“Wait, you think that I'm the...? No, no way is that even possible. Sure I may have experimented with a spell one time but there is no way that it would allow me to be a...? No, just no, absolutely not!” Applejack and Rarity flinched at what Twilight was saying, but nobody noticed as Celestia's eyes widened and she focused on her student.
“Twilight. By experiment, you mean that you used a spell that gave you stallion parts? Pray tell, what was the name of this spell?” The purple alicorn blinked at the question before she brought a hoof to her chin, blushing lightly at being caught admitting this in front of her teacher.
“Um, it was Dizzy's Delightfully Devious D-” She stopped when a trio of groans rang came from three of the ponies in the room, one being her teacher, while Luna rolled her eyes. Before Celestia could comment, an unexpected source spoke up.
“Of course it would have ta be that one. They really should put a warning on that thing since it is so easy for a unicorn ta cast, right Rarity?” The white mare's eyes widened at her farmer friend as she tried to subtly shake her head while indicating the direction of the three fillies. The orange mare didn't notice this until one of them spoke up.
“Um, Applejack? How do you know what that spell does?” Only then did the mare realize her mistake as her eyes began darting around the room wildly, trying to find a way out of this conversation. Princess Celestia Sighed at this before shaking her head sadly.
“That spell is one that we have been trying to erase all knowledge of for centuries now, to no avail. No matter how much we try, it always manages to appear again, and any warnings we add to it also vanish. The biggest one being that it is has a hundred percent chance of giving foals. It really was one of Discord's more... cruder jokes.” The eyes of the adult mares widen at the name, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders look at three of the mares due to the implications of this information. The diminutive necromancer scuffs her hoof and looks away grumbling.
“Almost a hundred. Believe me, I've tried.” All eyes turned towards the centuries-old filly before shuddering at the implications of her claim. The comment wasn't enough to distract a certain filly from her questioning as Applebloom stared hard at her, or what she had thought was, sister. Applejack's eye twitched a few times before she just sighed and looked down at her hooves.
“Ah guess the cat is out of the bag now. Well, not long after ah got my cutie mark there was a big party with all of mah friends from back then. After that, we had a sleepover where Rarity well...” She looked over at the alabaster mare who blushed at the memory.
“Yes, well I came across the spell Twilight mentioned and thought it would be a good prank at the time. Of course, after that, I swore off anything of the sort again since when we found out the consequences.” She sighed as she looked fondly at Sweetie Belle as the filly's jaw dropped.
“Wait, so that means that you're my mother? How come you've never told me? Does that mean Applebloom is my sister?” Applejack and Rarity looked at each other for a moment before giving out a sad chuckle.
“Nah, your fathers... Well, they know about ya two, but if it got out that they had ya like that then it would ruin their careers. We still write ta them about ya two, but they usually don't have time ta do more than send ya a present during holidays and birthdays.” Applebloom blinks at that before she looks thoughtful.
“So you mean all those presents that you told me were from Santa Paws were really from my father? I always wondered how you could afford that alchemy kit for me since you were always complaining about how little money we had.” Celestia snorted in amusement before glaring at her brother.
“I am sure that your family has plenty of money. At least if your grandfather hasn't spent it all on something silly like comic books or trading cards like he usually does.” The princess smirked at getting one over on her brother as he turns away whistling innocently, followed soon after by Spike. As Granny Smith nudged at her husband trying to get details about that, Rarity cleared her throat.
“Yes, well it's a bit different for your sire, Sweetie. While she also sent you gift, she has also been visiting under the guise as one of my customers. We had been discussing telling you now that she has settled into her career and you being found out wouldn't affect it. I wanted her to wait since her reputation would most likely make thing difficult for you.” Sweetie Belle looks at her sister with a deadpan look, while Applebloom attempts to mirror the same with her own sister. The two elder sisters look at each other before Applejack sighs.
“Fine, but ya better not go and blab it around like ya did with Gabby Gums. At least wait until they get here and ya can talk ta them about it first.” The two fillies nodded, followed along by the rest of the group as the farm mare turned her eye on them. When she got nods from everyone, she reached under her hat and pulled out a photo featuring six ponies and handed it to the fillies. On it they found their two sisters sitting side-by-side holding a newborn foal each, along with another mare at their side, smiling.
“Is this...?” At their sister's nods, the two fillies looked closely at the two young mares with their sisters. Next to Rarity was a pale gold mare sporting a light cobalt mane with light azure stripes, while next to Applejack was a mare with a pale aquamarine coloring and dark greyish indigo mane with dark indigo and moderate opal highlights. The two looked at the two said to be their fathers, before looking back up in confusion.
“So, um. Who are they?” The two adults look at the picture fondly before Rarity pulls out another picture.
“They have changed a bit, but you may recognize them with their public look. Which is why you must be careful not to tell anypony about this.” The jaws of most everyone in the room dropped as she spun the pictures around revealing Sapphire Shores and Countess Coloratura.
“Whoa! Your fathers are Sapphire Shores and The Countess! That's awesome! I just hope that... Wait, my aunt said that my father went looking for my mother when I was left with her. But if Twilight is actually my father but knows nothing about me, then who left me with her?” All eyes turned towards Twilight who had frozen upon hearing that not only did the spell she used work, but two of her best friends had fallen into the same trap. At that moment all that was going through her head were thoughts of not being ready to be a father which warred with the impossibility that it happened. Spike, seeing her frozen up, shook his head before reaching up to pinch her nose shut. A few moments of failing to breathe caused the mare to gasp in sharply through her mouth before glaring at the drake.
“Spike! What was that for!?” She blushed as it was explained that she froze up and had the question repeated to her. After shoving down the unwelcome feelings to deal with later, she took a thoughtful pose.
“It has been a long time since I thought about that day, but she wasn't hard to remember. Huh, I don't think she ever told me her name but she reminds me a lot of...” Her eyes widened as she trailed off as the memory of the one mare she had been with came back to her. The main reason for her look of shock though was how familiar that mare was, and it wasn't too long ago that she had met her again.
“What, but that can't be! If it was her then she would have known about you! Why didn't she say anything! I'm going to give that mare a piece of my mind when I...” Without a word beyond that, her horn lit up and she disappeared from the building, and through the barrier sealing the room knocking the alicorn stallion on his flank.
“Ouch. That mare has quite a bit of power behind her magic.” Shaking his head he slowly rose to his hooves and leaned against the wall. As he was steadying himself a chuckle rang out through the room.
“Did somepony set up a party without inviting moi? How rude!” Appearing in front of the stallion was a figure that was as annoying as he was unwelcome most of the time. Rainbow Dash glared at the draconequus as he looked around at the gathered ponies.
“Of course, now you show up. Where were you when we needed you? Ponies almost died, you know!” The mismatched chimera blinked as he took in the sight of the plucked pegasus before he burst out laughing.
“Oh, this is just too good! Now, why didn't I think of this? Is the plucked chicken look going to be in style this season?” The pegasus' glare intensified before clamping her wings to her side in embarrassment.
“Why am I even bothering asking you? You're never around when there's trouble anyways unless you're causing it. Though more importantly, why in the world did you create that Dizzy Delight-whatever thingy spell? I didn't even know that three of my friends had foals until a few minutes ago.” Discord's laughter stopped as she asked her question and he looked at her closely before turning to look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Bringing up his paw to his chin, he began stroking his beard as he frowned.
“Now how in the world did you find out about that? I swear that I made it so that nopony could figure out that the spell and foals were my doing.” He felt something poking at his leg, causing him to look down and see a filly that he had missed.
“Hello, what's this? I don't think that I've seen you around Ponyville before.” He snapped his fingers to try and float the filly up in front of him but looked confused when nothing happened. He rapidly snapped his fingers before looking at them closely.
“Huh, I could have sworn I had these re-tuned just last week. But if there's nothing wrong here then...” He looked more closely at the filly, pulling an eye from his socket and bringing it down to her before he let out a snort of discust.
“Right. You're one of His! No wonder my magic has no effect on you. I'm surprised that you're even in the same room as a filthy necromancy, Celly. Weren't you locking any away in Tartarus whenever you saw them?” The princess just silently shook her head at him, as if trying to warn him not to say anything else. Her reason for that as soon revealed when Discord felt a hoof grab him and drag him into a side hug.
“Well now. It's been a long time since you've visited, hasn't it, little brother?” The room gaped at the claim, while Discord started sweating as he realized who was behind him. He struggled to move away, but the grip just continued to tighten.
“And why would I want to visit you? Unlike your sisters our magic is incompatible, and you're physically stronger. Why would I want to hang around with you since you did nothing to stop Luna from keeping me trapped in that box for all those years except when she needed me for a prank!” The night princess looked saddened at his words, while the stallion just shook his head.
“Are you still going on about that? We eventually adopted you into the family didn't we?” Discord only looked even grumpier as he turned his head away and pouted.
“Only after you lost your other brother for a sister.” Celestia let out a sound of panic at the comment and began waving her hooves in front of her. Fluttershy, being one of Discord's closet friends, slowly raised a hoof.
“Um, I didn't know that Discord was part of your family. He never said anything about even having a family when I asked him during our weekly tea parties. Oh, and what did he mean by you losing a brother just to gain a sister?” The solar princess' motions became even more frantic as her brother and Discord started to chuckle.
“Oh yes, I doubt if anyone but us could remember how little Celly there used to play for the other team. That spell was a gift for her after she decided to put that cursed girdle on, but of course, she just spurned it like every other gift I give her even after complaining so much about losing her male bits. Pity, I so did enjoy her renditions of classical song in belch major.” The younger mares were shocked at hearing this about their long-time ruler, and it was quite obviously true if Celestia's imitation of a tomato was any indication. Luna wild wildly amused at her sister's situation before she caught her older brother smirking at her.
“Little Lulu wasn't very happy either. She always claimed to be the cute one of us all and she thought her sister was muscling in on her act. Then she realized that she finally had somepony to talk to about clothes and boys. She spent weeks having sleepovers and playing dress-up until she finally just went with her new look. Of course, Celly's eating habits have hardly changed since then, she can really pack away the snacks.” This time it was the night princess that was blushing, though nowhere near as much as her sister who turned even redder.
“Still, Luna really did miss you when you ran away, Discord. In fact, it was her idea to adopt you into the family to try and make it up to you and even after your little tantrum she refused to allow us to rescind it. When you never returned before then, well, she started up a bad habit of adopting various critters to try and do a better job taking care of them than she did with you.” Discord was silent about this claim and, while still blushing about it, Luna was starting to get ideas as she snuck out to find a certain pony that may be able to help her. Her sister, on the other hoof, decided that it was time to fire back.
“Oh, and what about you, Mr. Alicorn Prince? How are things with the kingdom we left you to run or have you left it unattended for centuries like you always did before? I am surprised that that dinky little place is still around after all these years.” The stallion only shrugged, releasing Discord in the process who proceeded to hide behind Fluttershy.
“Ehh, not like I need to do much there anyways. I show up once a year, sing a song, then leave them to their business. If it wasn't for all the peaceful monsters that you drove out of Equestria building a second town near the first it would still be full of boring beings that only care about making anvils. Yep, best anvil makers in the world, and about as dense as one, too. Hey, anypony want to hear the national anthem?” Before any of them could say anything, Pinkie leaped forward and wrapped her legs around his muzzle.
“NO!” The room was surprised at the pink mare's vehemence as she clutched tightly at his muzzle. Looking around she giggled nervously as she slowly climbed off of him.
“Um, please no. I'd rather not fall asleep now when there is so much to do. Granny Pie always used to sing that to me as a lullaby whenever I wouldn't fall asleep when told to.” Her friends blanched at the thought of a song so boring that it would put the hyperactive mare to sleep. The stallion started laughing at his many-times granddaughter's reaction while his sister rolled her eyes.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Back up a second here. What do you mean that your magic won't work on him, Discord? With how you always act I thought that nothing but the Elements could even touch you.” The draconequus looked over at the prismatic-maned pegasus before turning away from her grumpily. The alicorn stallion just shook his head with a chuckle.
“It's not that he can't, but that it hurts him too much if he does mess with the dead or necrotic energies. Unlike his magic, necromancy is heavily order-based and outside of his field of expertise. In fact, those that control the various Aspects of the universe often have nearly full dominion over them. It's why Discord could only move the sun and moon and not, say, turn them into a giant peach or eyeball. As well Discord, and most creatures he has made with his magic are also highly resistant if not immune to the effects of necromancy or other order-based magics.” The pegasus tilted her head in confusion before shaking her head.
“So what you're saying is, if he does anything there is nothing you can do to stop him, yet he can't stop you either?” Morty smirked at the mare, causing Discord to tense up as he recognized that look. He was too slow to react though, as the stallion grabbed him once again in a tight side hug.
“Magically, maybe. But physically? He's just a cute little powderpuff who couldn't hurt a fly.” Discord glared at the stallion as he pinched his cheeks while struggling to break free of his grip. A groan from the room's occupant drew attention back to the bare mare.
“Ya know, is a hospital room really the best place ta have a conversation like this? Not that ah don't mind being included, but until mah fur grows back ah'm gonna feel rather awkward.” They all glanced at the bald mare, with Discord bursting out into laughter once again to her consternation, before silently looking at each other for what to do next. None of them had a chance to decide though, as Luna chose that moment to burst back into the room, none of them had noticed her absence due to her reduced form.
“Huzzah! My quest has been completed! Behold!” The Aspect of the night brandished a sheet in front of her to her siblings as the other mares looked on. Catching sight of what it was, Celestia let out a groan before punching her brother in the shoulder.
“Oh, great. You got her started with that again. You just had to go and mention her old habits.” The form in the blue mare's magic was a form for adoption. But it wasn't for any random colt or filly from a nearby orphanage, but for the diminutive necromancer in the room, whose eyes widened in horror when she saw the form.
“What!? No bucking way! Uhuh, no, absolutely not! I do not need anypony to take care of me and that's final!” Luna could only grin as she leaned down to the filly.
“Oh, but you do not have any choice. You see, Equestrian law states that all ponies lacking a cutie mark, that also are under a certain age must be under the guidance of an adult. And while chronologically you may be past the age of majority, it is obvious that you are physically and mentally still your apparent age. So until you grow up or earn your cutie mark I will be taking good care of you.” The filly's jaw dropped as the mare shot down the only argument she had ready for use. As she stuttered trying to come up with another good reason not to allow the adoption to go through, she was grabbed up from behind in a tight hug.
“Well, Lulu does it again. Welcome to the family my little necromancer.” Angelic Chorus froze up as Morty grabbed her from behind in a full wing-hug. When she realized just who had grabbed her she started spewing the foulest curses that she knew at him, causing the rest of the mares' ears to lay back at the ferocity. The three other fillies in the room just looked at each other, wondering what half those words meant before Scootaloo sighed.
“Girls, I think we should probably go. I doubt my aunts want me to know half of what she is saying, whatever any of that even means. Besides, Aunt Lofty has some explaining to do about my so-called 'father' she told me about.” As the fillies turned to leave, Celestia's ear twitched before she slowly turned to look at their retreating forms. While the name meant little to the others, it stuck out to her as one she wasn't expecting to hear.
“No, it could not be the same one, could it?” As if the fillies leaving was a signal, the room began to empty leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash alone with the doctor that was peeking out of the nearby closet. While most of them headed in the direction of Twilight's castle, Celestia peered after the trio of fillies before deciding to follow after them. If it was who she thought, this day was about to get even longer for her.
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“Ugh, finally done for the day. So what do you girls have planned for tonight.” Before any of them could answer, a buzzing sound interrupted them. After a bit of fumbling, they found the source of the sound, which was unexpected as nothing unusual was happening.
“Huh, what could Twilight want? There aren't any dangers around that I know of. Unless she found something on her end.” Reading the message, she looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened in horror.
“Oh no! I can't believe that I forgot about that! But how did she find out? Oh, this is not good, not good at all!” The others looked worried about her reaction and one of them patted her reassuringly on the shoulder.
“Come on, it can't be that bad. What, did Twilight find out that there's another monster on the loose that we may need to take care of?” With a shake of her head, Sunset Shimmer looked up from the book to her friends with a sheepish smile.
“No, nothing like that. But would you believe that I forgot that I had a daughter that I left with my sister that I forgot about?” Her friends looked at her in shock, thinking that she was joking at first. When they realized that she wasn't there was only one thing left to say
“WHAT!?”