The Right Thing

by Psyga315

Filling the Void

“I want to have a kid.” Those were the words Discord heard as Twilight sat in front of him. Discord tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair, wondering how to best put his response. He sighed and gave a brief chortle.

“Not interested. I’m already tied down.” As he said that, Twilight glared at him.

“You know what I mean!” Twilight yelled at him. Discord put his lion’s paw up.

“Now, now. Calm down. Little Eris is sleeping.” Discord pointed to the couch. Twilight refused to look at the half-Draconequus filly sleeping on it, tucked away deep into Fluttershy’s arms.

“You… You’re Chaos incarnate… Surely undoing magic is within your whims…” Twilight whispered.

“Sorry, but you know I can’t do that anymore.” Discord held his hands up. “I have a job now which puts my powers to a more… safer use. Who knew entertaining kids would be easy?”

“I’m only asking you to do one simple thing. That’s it.” Twilight said. Discord scoffed.

“Well, you made your bed, now sleep in it.” Discord crossed his arms. Twilight sighed.

“Fluttershy knew I’d come to you, didn’t she?” Twilight asked.

“It was a certainty. She was very upset when you went to the clinic that day. I remembered it fondly… You know why?” Discord couldn’t help but put a claw under Twilight’s chin.

“… Why?” Twilight could already know the answer just by a mere glance.

“That was the day we decided to have our child. I’m a family man now, Twilight. I’m no longer the tyrannically embodiment of chaos that values friendship like a cheap sandwich. My hands are tied up.” Discord could see Twilight’s ears droop as she frowned. “But… I know where you can start looking.” Discord snapped his fingers and created a map of Ponyville to hand to Twilight. Twilight looked at it. She knew this would be her second option.

---

“Hiya, Twi!” Twilight almost hid her face from view when Pinkie Pie leaped out of the orphanage wearing a clown suit. “What’re you doing here?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“… I’m… looking to adopt.” Twilight muttered.

“Huh? Whatcha say?” Pinkie leaned in closer.

“I’m looking to… a-adopt…” Twilight reduced the last word to a mere whisper. Pinkie leaned in.

“Didn’t quite catch th- Oooooh! You wanna adopt!” Pinkie leaped back and shouted.

“Y-yes! D-don’t be so loud though!” Twilight said.

“Why not? I mean, it’s not super embarrassing and you’re doing good for societ- oooooooh! I see how it is!” Pinkie said.

“…” Twilight simply laid on the grass as Pinkie hopped around her.

“You wanted to adopt because you regretted your decision to make yourself sterile after seeing how Princess Flurry Heart turned out and you didn’t want your foals to come out like her, right? Right? Right?” Pinkie Pie booped her snout right at Twilight’s. She was so close, Pinkie could see the tears coming from her eyes.

“Y-yes! Alright?!” Twilight broke down and sobbed on the grass.

“But… I don’t understand. You said you made the right decision.” Pinkie Pie said.

“That… That was ten years ago! A lot… A lot changed in ten years. First there was Starlight…” She remembered how Starlight Glimmer, her faithful student, graduated from her training and departed to her hometown. “And then… Sp-spi…” She buried her face into the ground as she remembered how Spike became too big to live in Ponyville, and had to depart and migrate with the other dragons to find a new life. Pinkie Pie held her.

“It’s alright, Twilight. We all make stupid decisions.” Pinkie Pie nuzzled Twilight.

“… When you saw me at the clinic… Why… Why didn’t you stop me?” Twilight asked.

“Well, to be fair, you are stubborn.” Pinkie Pie chuckled. “But... You were so happy with this decision you made. Had I known it would have caused you this heartache, I would have told you not to do it a million times until you understood, you know that, right?” Pinkie asked.

“Y... Yes.” Twilight said.

“I’m glad you made this decision though. Foals need loving parents and- Oh hey, it’s closed!” Pinkie Pie turned around and noticed that the guardian running the orphanage just put a “sorry, we’re closed” sign.

“… Oh. That’s okay. I’ll come by tomorrow morning. I think I need this time to get the paperwork ready.” She sheepishly giggled. “With how much I love doing that, the time will fly pretty quickly.” With that, Twilight flew off to her castle.

---

Twilight was in her room. The moon had been out for more than two hours as she began to compile all the papers needed for adoption.

“Name… Twilight Sparkle. Age? Um… thirty four… Gender, female, obviously.” Twilight levitated a quill and wrote down the information onto a blank adoption sheet. She filled in other, more pointless information until her eyelids began to droop. Before she knew it, it was midnight, way past her usual time to sleep.

As such, her head dropped onto the papers and she wiped out.

---

“Twiiiiliiiight…” Twilight turned around. She was in a large void. For some reason, the voice just seemed inviting to her. It was a soft, child-like voice, ringing out in a playful tone. Twilight galloped to find the source of it.

“Hello?!” Twilight shouted. Her voice echoed throughout the black void.

“Over hereeeeeee!” The voice grew louder and gave off such a nice giggle. Twilight stopped. She knew this giggle. It was the same giggle that Cadance’s baby gave… right before her wings unfurled. Twilight’s body shook. She turned around as soft, blue lights filled the area. It was the clinic that Twilight went to so long ago. However, she wasn’t seeing it through her eyes. She saw another Twilight standing by the front desk as Pinkie Pie appeared out of the blue.

“Hey Twi! Didn’t expect to see you at the clinic.” Pinkie waved to her. “What are you doing?” Twilight turned around and smiled.

“The right thing, Pinkie. The right thing.” She said.

“NO! NO IT’S NOT THE RIGHT THING!” Twilight shouted at her past self. She rushed to the image, but she slammed face first into a screen. As she got up, she saw the doctors bringing Twilight away to a different room. Twilight got up and banged on the screen.

“DON’T DO IT! DON’T STERLIZE YOURSELF! THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES! STOP!!!” Eventually, her left hoof bled as she slumped to the ground. The image faded away as the voice grew louder.

“Why… Twi… Why…” She turned around and gasped. She saw what would be a dozen thousand tiny eggs in front of her. “Why did you gives us up?” The voice became ten thousand as the eggs all blinked out of existence one by one.

“I didn’t know! I was young! I was stupid! I want to take it back! Please! Let me fix my error!” She screamed at the eggs as they all disappeared. The last egg simply stood there as Twilight saw a faint image of a baby pony, which looked eerily similar to Flurry Heart.

“It’s toooooooo laaaaaaate…” One final raspy voice said as the egg turned bright gold and broke apart like dust in the wind. Soon, there was simply silence. Twilight tried to be calm for only a minute before she broke down into tears.

“No… No…” She cried for two whole minutes before a wing was placed over her.

“Calm down, child.” Twilight looked up and saw Luna.

“…” She simply looked away from her. “I knew it.” She muttered.

“This dream had troubled you these past few nights, but it had never came to the point where it became a full-blown nightmare.” Luna said. Twilight could remember how, yes, she had been through similar dreams, though they were merely parts. Some dreams had the voice calling to her, others had her face a dozen eggs, but they never combined, and they never came at her with full force. “You regret your decision… And yet, no matter how much you want to fix it, there’s no way to fill that void, correct?” Luna asked. Twilight simply nodded.

“I… I didn’t realize that I could have an empty nest…” Twilight said. Luna helped up Twilight and smiled to her.

“I can help you…” Luna said to her.

“How?” Twilight asked.

“You want a child, correct?” Luna asked.

“More than anything!” Twilight said. Luna closed her eyes as her horn glowed. Twilight could feel her body being on pins and needles, particularly her lower half. As the glowing began to fade, Twilight wobbled and fell on her flank. “W-what did you do…?”

“Unicorn magic is sophisticated, yes, but compared to Elder Alicorn magic, it’s merely child’s play.” Luna said.

“Y-you mean you…”

“Yes. I undid the sterilization. You’re now fertile.” Luna said. She could see Twilight’s smile as tears streamed from her eyes.

“Th-thank yo… Wait… How do I know you really undid it? What if this was a dream, and I’ll wake up sterile again?” Twilight asked.

“I suppose that will be something for you to find out, Twilight.” Luna said. As her wings unfurled, the black void became a bright white. “Hopefully, you’ll make the right decision this time.” Luna said as the dream faded away.

---

Knock Knock

Fluttershy went over to open the door. As she did, she saw Twilight standing out.

“Twilight! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked.

“… I came to apologize.” Twilight said.

“For what?” Fluttershy tilted her head.

“I… I did something you really hated and… I came to let you know that I regretted making that decision all those years ago.” Twilight said.

“Oh Twilight…” Fluttershy smiled. However, she simply closed her eyes and turned her head away. “But it’s too late… You denied yourself such a lovely miracle to happen…” Her body shook. “I… I don’t even know why you decided to…”

“It’s over though… I’m… Fluttershy… I’m pregnant.” Twilight said. Fluttershy looked to Twilight.

“Pr-pregnant? H… how do you know?” Twilight couldn’t tell if there was legit concern in Fluttershy’s voice or if she was still sounding snooty.

“… Luna said she undid the sterilization done on me and I tested it out with Flash Sentry. I performed a pregnancy test on myself a few days later and… when I noticed the result… I knew I’d come to you.” Twilight said. Fluttershy simply stood there.

“Is… is this a trick?” Fluttershy said. That’s when the two heard a pop as Discord appeared between them.

“Hang on.” Discord poked Twilight’s back with his chicken claw, though not deep enough to cause pain. He nodded as his legs quivered. “Yes… I could feel some magic within Twilight that’s not her own. Alicorn magic… with a slight hint of Pegasus magic.” He took the claw off Twilight.

“So… it’s true then?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes… It is.” Twilight said. Fluttershy smiled and held Twilight.

“I knew you’d make the right decision! I’m so sorry for resenting you so much!” Fluttershy cried.

“No… No… I’m sorry… I threw away such a perfect gift!” Twilight began to cry as well.

And indeed, throughout the next few months, Twilight’s pregnancy was indeed true. Most of the ponies couldn’t believe it, but some ponies, like Shining Armor and Cadance, accepted her pregnancy with open arms and worked to support her through her gestation period.

Eventually, Twilight gave birth to a beautiful baby foal. When she looked at its face, even though the foal’s horn was bigger than most other baby ponies, Twilight simply smiled. She had made the right decision.

Author's Note:

The original ending was gonna involve Luna making Nyx, but I didn't exactly want to mix up lores and muck up Nyx's origins, so I had Luna simply fix Twilight.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Starlight Glimmer appears in this story, right?

[Hopeful_Ink_Hoof]

Well, that seemed extremely biased and one sided. The entire thing seems to be nothing but forcing Twilight to regret a choice she made, and having her suffer for it. It also felt kind of flat, like there was no real emotional weight to it.

[alarajrogers]

Well, if you go and get your dumb ass sterilized because you're for some reason totally butthurt over your niece being an alicorn, then you might actually regret your decision, unlike 99% of women who get themselves sterilized because they genuinely do not want kids or because the genetic thing they're carrying that they fear is actually a terrible thing, unlike being an alicorn.

Why would Twilight decide to get sterilized because of Flurry Heart? I mean if she had six heads I could understand it, but... she's a baby alicorn. What's wrong with that?

Because the story never explains this, Twilight's original decision seems utterly stupid. In real life, few women would ever make such a stupid decision. Getting oneself sterilized usually comes upon the revelation that one sincerely does not want children -- which isn't a principle that changes, for most people -- or that one is sincerely afraid of what's in one's genes being inflicted on a child. For this reason, most women don't regret the decision, which makes it a little hard to sympathize with Twilight because she's going through ridiculous overdramatic emotions over a thing most people do not get that upset about, because she did something incredibly dumb and, dare I say it, bigoted against her own niece, when she was younger. No wonder Discord didn't want to help her.

There are women who never had a chance to have a child, because they never found the right father for the kid or they were too focused on their career, who regret the decision. But sterilization isn't something doctors even let you do, at least not in the US, if you're under the age of 30; you have to go doctor-shopping extensively to find someone willing to do it, and you have to have seriously thought about the decision. Some doctors even give you a hard time if you're in your 30's, have two kids already, and have health issues. I could see it being different in Equestria because ponies actually assume mares know what they're talking about when they say they want something, but seriously, they don't even have a counselor to advise Twilight that getting sterilized because of your fear of a baby alicorn (when you yourself are an alicorn) is stupid?

[Psyga315]

6947609
Sadly no. She is mentioned by Twilight as having graduated and left.

6947920
Alright, I'm gonna give you props for the review, or in this case, a thumbs up. You went into great detail as to why Twilight's decision wasn't her brightest moment and I have to commend you for it.

The reason though is mostly because of the large wings, but like you said, it's pretty bigoted towards her niece.

[null_name5656]

6948083
Y'know those large wings are probably normal for alicorns. It seems usually alicorns have larger wings and horns compared to the other races so technically from a genetical standpoint the idea of a regular unicorn and an alicorn with large wings and horn coming together to have a child with a regular sized horn and larger wings makes since. Or alicorn infants just have huge wings normally, thats always a possibility.

Even if having larger wings is an oddity and not normal in any way it seems more helpful than damaging. If you've ever payed attention to regular pegasi its kind of a miracle (or magic I guess) they can fly. Their wings are small and need lots of care, potentially meaning they are relatively frail. The natural genetic solution for this would be offspring with larger, stronger wings.

I dont know, thats just imo.

Never claimed to be the next Charles Darwin or anything.

orig00.deviantart.net/5ca4/f/2011/243/7/c/rarity_shrug_by_glitterypencils-d48gqd7.png

[Loganberry]

I don't think this story really deserves its current rating. It's certainly strange, and the FlutterCord baby is going to put some readers off from the start. It's also been rendered outdated by what Flurry Heart is actually like. If you read it as a dark comedy, though, rather than an out-and-out sadfic, it's an interesting read. It's no masterpiece, but I've read a lot worse.

[Psyga315]

7144287
If anything, it might have updated things given the destruction Flurry Heart caused.