//------------------------------// // ... Is a Friend Indeed. // Story: Equestrian Eeveelution. // by Symphonicdysonince //------------------------------// I stared at the egg Conner and I held between us. Conner seemed to realize something was wrong. Following my gaze, he began to stare at the egg. The egg continued to be an egg. I vaguely heard Spike come into the room, stare, then abruptly leave muttering "Nope" repeatedly under his breath. That caused the others to finally look up and notice the egg. They, also, began to stare at the egg. The tangible brain-breaker continued to be an egg. "Is that an egg?" Villhiem questioned the obvious. "As in, a full on Eevee egg?" Conner and I nodded dumbly. "How?!" Yomega blurted. "You're both guys!" It took a moment for the question to sink in, but soon enough, Conner's eyes widened. With a start, he let go of the egg to feel himself up. He let out a sigh of relief upon assuring himself his manhood was still intact. I barely noticed. My world had shrunk down to the life I now held in my paws. I felt someone bop me lightly on the nose. As if a switch had been thrown, words started to fall from my mouth. "Th-this is, this is incredible. I-I never thought, I mean, never in my wildest... I can barely believe that this is real. I mean, I never thought we'd be here long enough to have this happen. I never thought I would have nonhuman children. I mean, I always wanted kids, but I never thought I would be a mommy.... A mommy...." I finally look up at Conner, tears shining in my eyes. "I'm a mommy..." "Noooo..." Lulu drew out, slowly shaking her head. "You're a daddy." She leaned over to Abes, murmuring into his ear as best she could. "He is a daddy, right?" Abes, for his part, could only do his best impression of a Magikarp. "I'm a mommy..." I smiled as I let the tears fall. "Dude?" Conner leaned back a bit. "Please stop saying that. You're creeping me out." "Dudette." Vince corrected. "He's a she." Yomega turned his surprised look to the Reckless Duo. "How could you possibly know that?!" "You haven't been stalking him, have you?" Villhiem glared at them. "No, no!" Cy held his paws out in front of himself. "She's been like this since we got here!" Vince cocked his head to the side. "Were we the only ones to pay attention to Twilight's ramblings when we all first moved in?" The others found excuses to look elsewhere. I finally broke my gaze away from Conner and our egg. Turning to the Duo, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me, or anyone, you knew?" Vince rubbed the back of his head. "We agreed to give you time to come to terms with it." "We figured you would come out when you were ready..." Cy trailed off. I let out a short laugh. "Well, the truth's out now!" I returned my gaze to my egg. "And I... I couldn't be happier." Lulu murmured to Abes (she seems to be doing that a lot lately) "She's okay with this.... I don't know what's more messed up: she's okay with this, or that I'm okay with this." When she got no response, she decided Abes needed a physical reboot applied to the rear of his head. With a jolt, Abes finally got enough brain power to speak. "That's an egg!" "Yes, yes," Yomega rounded on the Umbreon, "that's an egg, Leo's a chick, try to keep up!" "But, why is that an egg?" Abes pointed at my egg. I only held it tighter. "Why now?" I could see Yomega's retort die in his throat. "I... I don't know..." Further questions were cut off by the sound of the front door opening. "Spike?! Where's Leo, I've got a new friend for her to meet! I also need you to send a letter for me!" Rainbow's voice drifted to us. "You may need to re-write it." Rarity's followed. "Her hoofwriting is terrible." "I'm over here!" Spike called out hoarsely from the next room. "Come here, and be quiet!" As we heard the hoof falls get closer, I noticed we, as a group, never really moved from our group hug. "What's wrong, Spike?" Twilight whispered from the next room. As Spike shushed the ponies, I quickly shifted myself so that I was laying with my back to Conner's belly. He hugged me as I hugged the egg. The door swung open before he could react. A chorus of "Aww's" came from the mares. Very quickly, Twilight noticed the addition and turned to Spike. "Is that an egg?!" she hissed to the drake. Spike nodded. "I didn't know Leo was about to lay!" "That's not the problem!" Twilight whisper-shouted. "Eevee's are mammals! They can't lay eggs!" Fluttershy carefully slipped past her friends into the room. "Platypuses are mammals that lay eggs." She lay down at the edge of our circle. Twilight's eyes widened. "They're monotremes?!" She squeaked. "What's so important that they're these mono-thingies?" Rainbow asked Twilight entered her 'lecture mode'. "Monotremes are a group of mammals that lay eggs. There are only four known living species left, the others went extinct about a million years ago, at the earliest. This could be the greatest scientific discovery of our century!" "Well, clever little critters," Applejack whispered, "not going extinct." "I need to get some parchment." Putting actions to words, Twilight left the doorway. "Whose egg is it?" Fluttershy cooed shuffling carefully into the circle of Eevees. I looked up at Conner. <> <> Conner added. Yomega stood up and started to nudge Lulu in the side. <> Slowly, the others made their way to the edges of the room. Conner briefly got up, but only so that he could lay around our egg's far side. After sharing a look, he let Fluttershy come in for a closer look. <> An older voice stated as a green tortoise plodded his way around Fluttershy. <> <> I smiled. <> <> He finally settled near us. I nodded to Conner. <> I thumped him with my tail. <> <> Tank chuckled. <> A comfortable silence fell. Soon, the others started to leave, starting with the ponies, and ending with Tank. Eventually, Conner broke the silence. "So, what happens now?" I gazed at our egg as I formed my reply. "We'll have to figure out where our egg will be staying until he or she hatches." Conner snorted. "I knew that. I meant, well, us?" "Us?" I raised an eyebrow. "Us. You and me." Conner looked towards the door. "Are we life partners now? Do we just go our separate ways? Nothing I know of Eevees, or eggs in general, can help me figure out where to go from here, if that makes sense." "Well," I began, "I may not know much about Eevee eggs, but I know enough about foxes." Conner turned back to me. "How will that help us?" I smiled. "Foxes will raise their kits in communal burrows." I licked Conner's nose. "I think we, as a pack, should raise our children." Conner leaned back and scrunched up his muzzle. "Please stop the lovey-dovey stuff? It's freaking me out a little. I mean, until all of an hour ago, I thought you were a guy." I giggled as I booped his nose with a paw. "No promises. I'm still a bit giddy over our egg. Still, about my thought?" Conner contemplated for a bit. "Well, I think we could make it work. We'll need to bring it up with the others, though." He blinked as something I said earlier sunk in. "Wait, 'children'? As in plural?" "Well, yeah." I shifted closer to our egg with a tired smile. "We laid one, whose to say that Lulu wont lay one later? After all, I'm not sure what caused me to lay this one. We certainly didn't make it the traditional way. Oh, I think the egg should stay with you at Joy's. Don't want to risk Rainbow's cloud house..." "That's, uh." Conner coughed. "That's a pragmatic way of looking at it." "We can bring it up to them later." I lay my head down. "I'm feeling tired all of a sudden." Conner got up. "I'll let the others know to leave you be." "Hey, before you go, could you let Twilight know that she can do what tests she needs to do?" I snuggled closer to the egg. "So long as they're not intrusive. I don't want to risk harming the egg, but I also want Twilight to get this out of her system." "Of course." Conner gave the top of my head a tentative lick before leaving. It wasn't long before Fluttershy and Twilight came in with scales, towels, and other tools. Laying everything down on the floor, Fluttershy gently took the egg from me. Honestly, I would have resisted, but I was just too tired to care. I didn't pay much attention as they weighed, measured, and did whatever tests they needed. They soon moved on to me. A few quick tests, a blood sample I barely felt Twilight taking, then they carried me and the egg out into the main room. I didn't really pay much attention, but I heard Rainbow agree to let me stay at Fluttershy's for the next little bit. I started to drift in and out of consciousness as we left for the cottage. I heard Conner telling someone about the egg, and asking for help caring for it. The last thing I saw was Angel giving me a quick once over before letting me rest.