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// Chapter 35 - Code Black Drill; Lady Arcadia's What?!! 
// Story: Twilight Daylight 
// by thedarktome 
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After meeting Captain Metalhoof, Lady Arcadia and King Madun continued on with their reviews for awhile. Walking around gazing at designs and taking record. Every now and then, a random Pseratep not part of the program would stroll by, bow, then continue on their way. One of them, a light blue and pink mare walked by wearing a suit with a lot of symbols and medals on it over to Captain Metalhoof. Lieutenant Sword and the other guards immediately saluted when she walked past, not even acknowledging them. Sunset guessed she held power.

"Metalhoof!" The Captain turned her way and immediately saluted, along with the rest of the squad. She stopped in front of him and ordered, "At ease. I need an overview of the Elite stationed at Eventa as soon as possible when you get back to Lavender this evening for the wedding! I already have positions ready, I just. Need. Names. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered on tense hooves. "I'll see that it's done."

"Good. Tell their majesties we'll be speaking about defensive measures for the wedding when they return this evening. As you were." The pony began to make her way back out of the room before she stopped in front of the Equestrians, staring with angry eyes. "And who the buck are you?!"

Celestia smiled and answered, "We are Twil—Lady Arcadia's mock audience from Equestria." Celestia moved her hoof around and introduced everyone else. "...and Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard in Equestria. Our military."

Arcadia teleported into view beside the pony with a smile before she responded. "Okay! We're—oh! Hello, Secretary."

The pony immediately bowed to Arcadia. "Greetings, your highness." Then stood back up. "I was speaking to the visitors."

Arcadia nodded and then looked back to her friends and family. "Everyone? This is Secretary Manny, our Secretary of Defense. The head of every military branch in Psera, and Colonel of The Elite Guard."

Before they could respond, Secretary Manny raised a hoof and said sternly, "Before you start saluting and talking funny, let me make this clear. Lady Arcadia Nova is our top asset in Psera. Her safety at her inauguration and wedding is our top priority. All of my one thousand soldiers and three generals attending are tense. We're heated. We're ready. And we're pumped. If anypony attempts to sabotage these wonderful events, or even plans, they're going to have a big problem that involves a lot hooves on muzzles. But if I hear that Equestria has even a hoof involved, you're gonna have a Pseratep military problem. Complete with our Elite grabbing you from underneath your hooves, and pulling you into a grave. A full out war. Am I clear?"

Celestia, Luna, and Cadance shared a look before Manny mashed her muzzle with Celestia's, glaring into her eyes. "Am! I! CLEAR?!!"

"Yes! Yes, crystal!" She responded.

Secretary Manny peeled off then nodded. "Good." She turned to Lady Arcadia and bowed. "I will see you and King Madun this evening." Then stood up and walked away. The guards by the door immediately pushed the doors open for the stage and saluted until she walked out.

Cadance waited until the door closed. Then looked to Arcadia and commented awkwardly, "She seems... Nice."

Arcadia giggled and then said, "Yes. She's very assertive. Actually assertive... Isn't the....." Twilight's eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head before she dropped to the ground. Shocking everyone.

Before they could even gasp, someone yelled, "CODE BLACK!! EVERYONE ON THE GROUND!! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!" A bunch more of Elite Guards burst through the entrance doors and pushed the Equestrians down to the ground while everyone else just did it. Leaving a majority of the guards to stand in position around Lady Arcadia, King Madun, Her Majesty, and Princess Merry. "Hooves and wings spread where I can see them!!"

Twilight Velvet yelled out, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BABY?!" The lights in the entire facility suddenly shut down along with a ringing high-pitched siren before they all felt their coats bristle. The tracks suddenly popped up from the floor, steel teeth speeding across it, way faster than the demonstration a little over an hour ago. From what Rainbow Dash could see from her position on the floor, pulsing yellow lights were outlining them. Everyone in the room, including the Royalty were down and taking up positions. But the Elite Guard had formed a barrier in front of Twilight's body a few feet away after moving her. They were wearing some type of goggles or something that had flashing lights. And those barrel things on their sides were rotating, creating a sound similar to a small engine.

"Oh no, oh no," Rarity whispered, nearly on the verge of tears. "What's happening?"

Captain Metalhoof raised his Communication Block to his mouth and yelled, "Second Floor, sound off!!"

"Currently in evacuation!" Someone responded back. "Everyone is cooperating wonderfully."

"Third floor task team complete," another responded. "Just spotted the table, sir. Should be arriving soon!"

"Good, we're losing her!" Before Twilight Velvet could even yell, the wall on the far side of the building creaked. Then quickly parted, letting in the steel table that looked more like a giant gurney on Earth, just with no wheels. It was pulled into the room before it slowed down to a stop next to the group. "Alright! Everyone else keep your muzzles to the bucking ground!! Don't move!! And...she's on, move her out!!" The table once again moved out slow before quickly accelerating back out the door. Celestia cast a careful glance. Nopony was moving and Twilight's body was gone. Five of the Elite Guard were as well.

"Hangar doors opened!" Another guard reported. "Moving up to the second floor now!" Another few seconds before they returned. "We're on the second floor, now entering the Code Black Hallway. Speeding really fast..." Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy whimper next to her. These things were moving really fast. "Alright, we're attached to the escort craft, already prepared. Firing out in three, two..." A low rumble sound happened first before the ground around them shook with a resonating boom. The reporter's voice turned to static for a quick moment before they returned back. "We're in the air, we're in the air! Passageway cleared with more Elite on standby! Main Hospital in sight, landing in a few seconds.... Annnnd....we're in, chain's attached.... We're slowing down..... Mission complete, we're connected to the end hall, nurses are waiting. Total of five minutes and eighteen seconds!"

The lights turned back on and the chains stopped rolling back inside the facility, along with the wall shutting back. The Elite that were on top of the Equestrians stepped off their backs to help them up. "Good job, everyone!!" Her Majesty Molten Ice yelled. "Excellent work! I have a feeling that Lady Arca... Where is she?" Everyone looked around before somepony tapped her shoulder. Her Majesty focused on Merry who was holding that mischievous look. She giggled and held her hoof up to her mouth, telling her to be quiet. Then pointed rapidly to the Violet male Elite Guard approaching Madun.

He tapped the King's confused shoulder, getting his attention. "Yes, what is it? Have you found Twilight?" He asked quickly. "Do I have to scramble the guard? Are there any clues? Is there—" The guard pressed a hoof to his mouth, smiling.

"You know it's really hard to play a joke on you like this," he stated in a deep voice before the room flashed bright. Once it dimmed, Lady Arcadia was in his place, wearing that same look. 

Madun instead held a bland one. Then asked, "Seriously?" Arcadia giggled then leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I feel like a dude just kissed me."

"Oh stop, you always know when I'm around and you definitely know what my kisses feel like." Arcadia teleported over to the Equestrians grinning. "You guys did great during the drill."

"That was the drill?!!" Sunset yelled. Then added, "I thought something happened to you, Twilight!!"

Arcadia shook her head and replied, "Nope! All drill-work." She turned around and faced Captain Metalhoof. "Great job, Captain! I'm expecting great things during the wedding and coronation."

Captain Metalhoof and his guards saluted. "Thank you, your highness."

The Equestrians were staring in horror while Merry, Madun, and Yellow Sage walked over. Merry leaned in and asked, "How are you feeling? Any stomach changes?"

Arcadia shook her head and answered, "No, I'm alright. Nice work. We're done with the reviews and photos for the design portion. Now we're going to go and discuss how we're going to setup the venue outside. As I'm sure, everypony in here has seen how grand the Grand stadium is. Now all we need is to see where we're going to decorate it. Then I'll leave the details to the captain organizing it."

Sunset groaned inwardly. This was definitely going to be a long day.




Six Days Later


The Royal Suite for the King and Lady in Waiting was silent. Save for the tip-tapping of Twilight pacing anxiously in front of the living room couch, and Madun's slurping of his coffee, eyeing her every move. She's been at this for awhile now. Nearly fifteen minutes. She was beginning to make him nervous.

Sighing, he deadpanned, "Twilight, take it easy. It's a pregnancy test. We can start pacing when there's an issue when you are pregnant, or when we're two months to the due date. What are you so stressed about? We both know you could in fact be positive."

Twilight zipped over and put him muzzle to muzzle, staring into his calm eyes with wild ones. "I know that!!" She practically screamed. "I'm worried about what the Pserateps will think when they find out!! I'm about to be married, a queen, and a mother all at the same time!!"

Madun rolled his eyes and smiled at her. Since they started dating, he's realized that Twilight seemed to worry over small things. "They'll accept you, Twilight," he appeased calmly. He scooted over and raised a wing, gesturing for her to sit down while he himself set down his coffee mug on the glass dining table in front of him. Twilight sighed but did as expected. She shuffled around and got comfortable before Madun draped his wing around her. "Everything'll be okay because you're not alone in this. Let me tell you a secret."

Twilight smirked while he moved in a little closer. Then whispered, "I'm nervous about being a father. Seriously. I never knew mine and my mother said that he had passed away before we were born due to some health issue. So it was just Merry, mom, and myself."

"The 'Three Ms'," Twilight teased. "Merry, Molten, and Madun."

Madun shrugged but nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could call it that. I've never had a father figure in my life, so I have no idea on what to do."

Twilight gasped and got an excellent idea. It was perfect! Completely out of the box!! She turned to Madun and gripped his cheeks, squishing his calm expression. "You know what we should do?" She whispered on the verge of excitement.

Madun slowly shook his head and answered, "No. So tell me."

"My parents! My sister-in-law on my side of the family was my foalsitter when I was a filly! She knows everything about taking care of a foal! And my mother raised me very well so there's another choice."

"Well what about here?" Madun inquired. He lightly pushed Twilight's hooves off and added, "What about in Psera?"

"You ask your parents, and I'll ask mine. But we have to wait for the news first." A knocking on the door tore apart the conversation. And replaced the calm atmosphere with a tense one. Once again, Twilight jumped up and started pacing. Of course.

Madun rolled his eyes and got up on his own to open the door. Twilight was apparently very busy at the moment putting a groove in the floor. When he did, he was greeted with the smiling face of Doctor Triage. She had on a pair of saddlebags stuffed with medical supplies that matched her violet coat and tail.

Triage bowed when he opened the door. "Hello, King Madun," she greeted. Then rose once more. "I'm here to do the procedure for Lady Arcadia?"

Madun nodded and stepped to the side, inviting her in. She trotted past and locked her sights on the long winged queen, nervously trotting around. Triage sighed and rolled her eyes. It was completely normal for this stuff to happen. In Psera anyway. Equestria may be entirely different. "Okay, your highness? You have to calm down," she cooed while making her way around the. "Which means deep breaths. In... Out." She slid her bags off her back and observed Arcadia take deep breaths. Doing as instructed.

"Okay.... Okay, I'm ready," Arcadia sighed. Taking another one, she spread her wings and sat down on the floor, waiting for Triage.

Madun walked over and sat next to her while Triage poked around inside her bag. Finding what she was looking for, she poked her head in and pulled out a small needle with her teeth and set it on the dining table. It had a large ring on the end of it that Arcadia guessed was the tool used to pull and push. Triage then pulled out a small device shaped like a cube with a glass block inside and placed it beside it. She turned to the Royals and smiled. "Okay. Since you're a foreigner to Psera, this is how the pregnancy tests work here. We take a small amount of blood from one of your hooves and put it in the container. All of my needles are thoroughly cleaned immediately after use so they're safe. The device is actually holding a syrup that we drop into the blood. If the blood turns blue under three minutes, it's positive. If not, negative."

Triage reached in her bag and pulled on some hoof covers. Then grabbed a small bottle of alcohol and a small cloth. After taking off the cap, she pressed the cloth on top of the bottle and shook it once.  "Just to wet the cloth a little," she explained while placing the cap back on. Then turned to Arcadia and asked, "Left or right?"

Twilight shrugged and responded, "Left."

Triage nodded. Then rubbed the alcohol on her fur, wetting it a little. After a few more seconds of intense rubbing, she stepped back and placed the cloth on the floor. Grabbing the needle with her hooves, she slipped her right hoof inside of the ring and pressed her left one on Twilight's hoof. "Okay, your highness, on the count of five we're going to push it in okay." Triage got dangerously close to Twilight's hoof and placed the tip on hers. "One." Triage stuck the needle in and calmly pulled out the blood sample.

Arcadia blinked and raised an eye at her. "Wait, you said five," she reminded her.

Triage giggled and replied, "Well most of my patients that take this test usually tense up their muscles at two. So I said give to get you to calm down."

Triage turned around and made her way over to the machine. There was a black cap on the corner of it that she flipped off. Exposing a small hole. Sticking the needle in, she pushed, thus pushing out the blood.

Arcadia and Madun witnessed the small glass box inside of it fill up with red. Afterwards, Triage removed the needle and flipped the cap back. Then toggled a small button on the side. A small brown ball dropped into the blood from the side like oil to water, sticking out among all the red before she flipped it back. Smiling, Triage announced, "Alright! Now all we have to do is wait! Let me clean the needle while you two watch the process."

While Triage dug around in her bag, she cast casual glances at the two. Twilight was not letting that box out of her narrow-eyed sight, and neither was Madun. The two were leaning forward, nearly touching the box with their muzzles. After cleaning the needle, Triage placed it back in her bag and watched with them. The tension was eating away at them. So much was the heat in the air bristling Arcadia's coat that was making her magic spark every few seconds.

The blood began to change. Twilight and Madun gasped when the blood slowly but suddenly turned to blue. Nopony moved. Nopony said a word. Until Triage leaned in and whispered, "Congratulations, your highness. It's positive."


***


The doors to the Royal Suite were forced open when Arcadia pranced out with the most biggest grin on her face, heading for the doors. The Royal Guard beside her quickly followed along. "I need my assistant!" She yelled. "Get me Gardeen!"

A blur of white immediately shot into Twilight's view. Saluting, Gardeen asked, "Yes, your highness?"

"Get me a reporter in the garden!" She ordered. "Tell them we have exciting news! Not just about the wedding! And somepony get me twenty Elite Guard, I'm going to Equestria to check on the status of S3!"

"Right away!" Gardeen dashed off while Arcadia turned around, facing Madun who was wearing a Merry-like smirk.

"Jeez, you're like Merry," he teased. "Get some good news and you're ready to spread it."

Arcadia rolled her eyes and asked, "Well wouldn't you?"

Madun shrugged and answered, "I was actually just going to let them ask and then answer yes. I'm not going to keep it a secret, just nonchalant about it."

Eh, that could have worked. Arcadia shrugged and then turned back around. Captain Metalhoof strode in and saluted up to her. "I was told you needed an escort team ma'am?"

Arcadia nodded and answered, "Yes. I need forty of your men ready. We're going to Equestria. I have to check on the status of S3 as well as speak to my sister in law in the Crystal Empire. It's a surprise! EEE!" She squealed. Then pulled the captain into a hug, shocking him. Backing up, she cleared her throat and added, "Grab them, and bring them here as fast as you can."

He saluted again before lifting his Communication Block to his mouth and turning around, barking commands. Meanwhile, Madun pecked Arcadia on the cheek and made his leave. "It's still morning sweetheart, we both have things to do!" He called over his shoulder.

"And I'm doing them!" Arcadia called back before rushing back into her suite. She had a message to send.



While Arcadia was preparing to hold a conversation with Cadance, everyone was actually located in The Crystal Empire's castle, discussing the shortage of metals and their progress in getting it back. So far, it was hectic. Cadance and Shining Armor were tasked with getting the gems requested for Psera, Celestia and Luna were overseeing S3's progress which has progressed greatly, and the Element Bearers and a few more ponies were walking around ceasing tensions between pony tribes. Everything was looking great. So a simple breakfast meeting was scheduled there that day.

While they ate breakfast, Celestia commented, "I had no idea The Crystal Empire had so many gems."

Cadance shrugged from the front of the table beside Shining and Rainbow Dash and replied, "Well considering that the crystal Empire is surrounded by rock and water, I'd expect as much."

Sunset chuckled before a guard walked into the room. He saluted and called, "Princess Cadance. Er... Psera is requesting an immediate audience with you."

Those at the table glanced at each other before Cadance asked, "Psera is requesting an audience?"

"I... Guess," he responded. "And 'Lady Arcadia' is already here. Whoever that is."

Everyone at the table cleaned up themselves before Cadance nodded. "Bring them in."

The guard nodded and walked back down the crystal hallway. Everyone in the room were thinking the same thing. What was Twilight doing with an unexpected visit? The doors to the room burst open when the Elite Guard strolled in with Lady Arcadia in the middle of twenty of them on both sides. They took up positions while she quickly trotted around. "Cadance, Cadance, Cadance, I need your help!!" She yelled.

Everyone went wide-eyed when Twilight nearly barraged into Cadance's chair. She instead slid to a stop right beside her, wearing a huge grin. Celestia leaned in and stated, "You do not look like you need help."

"Well... R-right now I don't but I have great, amazing, fantastic, bigger than Psera news that beats Pinkie's!!"

Everyone in the room took a deep breath. She was fine. Just really excited. Why, though? Twilight Velvet motioned with her hoof and said, "Well tell us! What is it?"

Twilight bit her bottom lip and began. "Mom? Dad? You... Are going to be... Grandparents... Again. I'm pregnant." No one even breathed. Even the Elite Royal Guard were speechless.

Cadance was the first to wake up. She grabbed Twilight's cheeks and stared at her in the eyes. "You're pregnant," she repeated. Twilight quickly nodded. "Are you sure?" She nodded again. "This isn't a joke." Twilight shook her head. Cadance calmly pulled her into a hug. Then yelled, "You're growing up too fast for me, Twilight! Stop growing! You're about to become a wife, a queen, and now a mom!! Oh no, stop growing!!" She cried.

Twilight Velvet cheered and teleported over. Then hugged Twilight from behind. "Ahhh, my baby's pregnant!! Oh my gosh, when did you find out?"

"Eee, this morning!!" Twilight responded just as enthusiastic. They let go and looked at her. "We scheduled for an at-home check-up last week and had a test done! It's positive! That's why I came here. Cadance? I need to know..." She grabbed Cadance's head and peered into her eyes. "What. Do. I. Do?!!"