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// 6 Power Magnified 
// Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year Five 
// by Doug Graves 
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Princess Celestia continues staring at Rainbow Dash, her mind whirring over the possibilities. A flicker of hope flashes over her face as her thoughts turn to the experiment that Sunset Shimmer had designed with Rainbow Dash in mind, the research she had done on Tirek's spell, and the journal with her remaining notes. And the destroyed section.

After a few seconds the pegasus notices, glancing back and giving a shy smile, "Uh, can I help you with something, Princess?"

Princess Celestia turns to Princess Cadance, "Do you know why our unborn foals, our young, never survived?"

"Well, from the little I saw firsthoof, and what you taught me, it is because our magic, alicorn magic, is incompatible with unicorn magic." A single tear rolls down Princess Cadance's face, her eyes lost in the distance.

Princess Celestia nods, "And what is alicorn magic, exactly?"

At Princess Cadance's silence Rainbow Dash says, "Um, a mix of pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn magic?"

Princess Celestia nods again, "More than that, it is each of pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn magic. Each section, fully powered, that provides us with the strength we have. That Harmony, that combination of all, that makes us as powerful as we are. When earth pony magic, or unicorn magic, or pegasus magic by itself tries to merge with alicorn magic, there is disharmony. The magical core, for whatever reason, senses this; rather than allow such an abomination, in its eyes, to exist, it terminates it." She pauses, looking again at Princess Cadance, "How much do you know about that spell I taught you last year, sister?"

A look of confusion spreads over Princess Cadance's face. "Um, aside from how to transfer my power to another pony? Not much. Why?" She shakes her head for a second, "I don't see how imbuing anypony with more energy would help. Would I cast the spell on Shining Armor? But, it wouldn't be permanent, and there would be an extraordinarily low chance that any union of... boosted seeds would work. If we can, in fact, boost a seed. It does have a magical core, if incredibly small. Trying to give just enough power to not overload it? In fact, I do not know if a unicorn magical core can withstand an infusion of alicorn magic, and it is not an experiment I care to attempt."

Princess Celestia gives an encouraging smile, "That is correct, though I had not thought of imbuing Shining Armor with alicorn magic. Like you said, it is unlikely to work at all. But, it is good that you are still thinking of novel ways to find a solution. However, I was thinking of the opposite. You see, the original use of the spell is to instead steal the magical power of a target." Princess Celestia gives Princess Cadance a hard look, debating to go into more detail on the spell and the variants Sunset Shimmer had researched.

A light turns on in Princess Cadance's eyes, her hoof wiping away the tears. "So, if we use that spell to suppress the magic of an embryo-" She stops when she sees Princess Celestia's slight head shake, "It would have to be earlier than that?" 

Princess Celestia nods, "If we - likely myself, but whoever has the ability to cast the spell - cast that spell on the embryo, it would merely drain the magic of the embryo, but life would continue. The cell, the embryo would divide, and Harmony would recognize the imbalance, see the combination as disharmonious; the cell would then self terminate. However, if cast on the male seed just before it combines, then there would be no unicorn magic to combine with, and division should proceed as normal. However, the timing would have to be absolutely precise."

Princess Celestia pauses, thinking for several seconds. "In fact, merely using the original spell would not be enough. The spell, in its original version, draws only as much power as the target can safely give; the spell ends before it drains enough magic to be lethal. The residual magic might still be enough to cause a rift, a breach, a split in the magic. As soon as the magical core notices the breach, it self terminates." Princess Celestia stops, again unsure of how much additional information she should allow to become public knowledge; at least Herd Apple has kept her confidences before. "There... is a variant on the spell, that I will need to research if we think this could work, that fully drains the magic from a pony. Or, if my thinking is correct, on a single cell."

Rainbow Dash adds excitedly, "Do it too late, and you get the breach. Too early, and, um, the seed dies from lack of magic?"

Princess Celestia nods, "You are correct, Rainbow Dash; indeed, once conception has taken place, the stolen magic should slowly return. And as it should be in small enough amounts, and slow enough, that the magical core will, hopefully, recognize the returning magic as its own, allowing the embryo to continue developing. Or, if it somehow doesn't recognize the magic as its own, then it could dissipate off into nothing, as opposed to terminating the embryo. Though, that is a possibility as well. And we cannot cast the spell on the embryo, because without magic it cannot survive." Celestia glances at Rainbow Dash, "Well, at least without a variety of magical machines whose sole purpose is substituting their magic for the pony's. Those would be difficult, to say the least, to use with an embryo in the womb, for the duration we are talking. Possible, but a last resort."

Rarity asks, "But, wouldn't that mean that the foal might have twice the magical energy as it normally would, at least on the unicorn side of things? And would that continue as it grows, is born, etcetera?"

Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance trade a worried look before glancing at Applejack and Doug, both resting. Princess Celestia's eyes shine, saying, "This may take a while. I must practice my timing, both on casting the spell and on observing the exact time that the spell needs to be cast." Minutes pass as she watches the two, a timer spell appearing above Applejack that counts down the seconds, hundredths of a second, hundred thousandths of a second. A brief flash as the time approaches zero, Princess Celestia frowning at being fifty milliseconds off. "Congratulations, you two; your first colt."

Applejack and Doug trade happy smiles, Doug rubbing her back as Applejack helps get him ready for Pinkie.

"How accurate do you have to be?" an awed Rainbow Dash asks as a light show projects itself in front of Celestia. The alicorns carefully inspect the graph, looking at how Celestia's projected time to conception differed as time moved on, and which areas she had been most accurate. Then, a second line of her 'casting' the spell to rob the seed of its magic, and the projected cast time lining up with the end time.

"Sadly, Rainbow Dash, I do not know. I suppose I must be as accurate as I can. To answer your earlier question, we will probably see some bursts of energy as the foal realizes and attempts to exercise its strength, and as the alicorn and unicorn magics align themselves."

Applejack asks, moving closer as Pinkie Pie pronks over and embraces Doug, "So, what would you see if it's an earth pony and an alicorn, using this here same technique?"

Princess Celestia considers a moment. "Probably earthquakes when she walks. If she is a pegasus, hurricanes when she flaps her wings. Hopefully lasting a short time, both the individual hurricanes and until the foal learns to control her magic."

Fluttershy walks over, "Um, what if it is an alicorn and an alicorn?"

Princess Celestia says, "Granted, it has been a very long time since I have seen a male alicorn, or a newborn alicorn for that matter. Hmm, if I have ever seen one; my memory tends to get a little fuzzy around the time Discord was messing around with reality. But, if our reasoning holds, the foal would either have difficulty with all three types of magic. Or she would have difficulty with none, because her magic does not have the same disharmony as it acclimates to itself, or combines initially." Princess Celestia pauses, looking at the arrayed ponies, "I do believe I would like a few more chances to get the timing down, before we try for keeps."

Applejack moves forward a little. "What, um, assistance would you need, Princess?"

"Hmm. Before I can do any testing, I will need to locate the research notes on the spell, and figure out how to modify it to continue draining. Then see if I can cast the spell with the target a single cell." Princess Celestia frowns, "If I am unable to do that, the entire line of research may need to be scrapped. I would not want to risk casting the spell if it might accidentally target Cadance, or the egg. Though that may be unavoidable."

"Do you think that you can cast the spell on nothing?" Rarity asks, looking over at Doug and Pinkie Pie, "Or does the spell require a target?"

"Having not cast the spell, I am not sure." Princess Celestia looks at Doug, "I may start off casting the spell on Doug, since he should be unaffected by it. It will likely stop working immediately, or 'work' as long as I funnel magic to sustain it. Then, if that works, find some way to refine the targeting so that the spell works on an individual cell, as opposed to a pony's magic overall. Lastly would be targeting the spell on the seed while it is inside a pony's body, and not casting on the surrounding tissue. And it would be safest to do that testing, to cast the spell if the seed was in my own body, as to minimize the risk to any pony else."

Doug glances over from Pinkie Pie, "Why do I feel like you are stretching for any excuse to get me in bed?"

"Pah." Princess Celestia pouts, "I guess I'll have to hide my intentions a little better." She winks at Doug, who rolls his eyes and returns to focusing on Pinkie. "I would need somepony who wouldn't talk, or try to use this assignment for political gain. Applejack, do you think Big Mac would be available?"

Rarity faints, falling straight on the floor while Applejack's eyes bug out. "Ah... ah... Maybe?"

Rainbow Dash looks over at Rarity's crumpled form, shoving a hoof in her mouth to stifle her laughs. Fluttershy is also gaping at Princess Celestia from behind her mane while Pinkie Pie starts laughing uproariously. Applejack staggers to her hooves, still trying to process what Princess Celestia is asking. Princess Celestia manages to keep a straight face, "Oh, dear, maybe I went a little far. Please, remain where you are, I was merely joking."

Applejack slowly sinks back down, rubbing a hoof over her belly, "Ah'm sorry, Princess, but Ah don't know if scaring me like that right now was the best idea." 

Princess Celestia nods, a slight frown, "Yes, I suppose it was a little poor in taste. I am sorry, Applejack." She turns, looking back, "You sure you don't want to, Doug?" Princess Celestia asks, a bit of a waver in her voice.

"You want to go right now?" Doug replies, rolling his eyes. He smacks his forehead as Princess Celestia nods her head, a smile creeping over her lips as Doug continues, "Oh, right, you don't have the spell finished. I guess it'll have to wait."

"Sometimes I think I know you, Doug, and other times you manage to surprise me. What changed your mind?"

"Besides that I don't have access to all my blood?" Doug deadpans, motioning to Pinkie, "And I'm clearly thinking with the wrong head?"

"Yeah, quit distracting him, it's making it take longer!" Pinkie huffs, "This estrus thing isn't exactly comfortable! Now, hurry up and stick a foal in me, then you can go to the Princess and do whoever needs to be done to save Equestria!"

Doug rolls his eyes, "I don't know if I like the wording on that, Pinkie."

Princess Cadance smirks as Princess Celestia sighs, saying, "Well, much as I might want to, I'm afraid I should work on Cadance's research first. I do not feel comfortable casting the spell if there is a chance that, by having a valid target in range, the spell would cast on our unborn foal. Perhaps another time, Doug."

"Yeah, sure," Doug eeks out before collapsing back, Pinkie Pie spinning around and kissing him on the mouth. 

Pinkie Pie puts a hoof on her mouth, looking up at the ceiling, "Well, I'm going to give it a six out of ten. Though it mostly wasn't your fault, you probably could have fought through it a little better. You'll just have to try harder next time!"

Doug, still dazed, groans, "Ah huh."

Pinkie Pie laughs, pronking back to the table to continue devouring the remaining cakes. Rarity slowly recovers, looking around as the other mares quickly join Pinkie, making sure all the food is gone. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance attempt the timing spell while watching Pinkie Pie; Celestia is a hundredth of a second late while Cadance is two seconds early. They congratulate Pinkie on her new filly, each pony saying good night to the Princesses before they head off to bed.