When Celestia woke up she found herself surrounded by the elements and her niece. Shining was still sleeping on a nearby sofa.
“Oh thank goodness you’re awake auntie.” Cadence passed her a glass of water that she happily drank. “What happened?”
“Well… the spell I used for determining the father of Twilight’s foal had some surprising results that even I couldn’t handle.” Celestia set down the cup.
“So who’s the father?” Rainbow rudely asked.
“Well, you are Rainbow.” Celestia chuckled as the mares jaw dropped.
“I knew it.” Pinkie celebrated by jumping high.
“Pinkie you’re also the father.” Celestia was going to enjoy this absurd situation.
Pinkie hung in mid are for a moment before dropping.”wha?”
“And Rarity,” Celestia gave a smug smile.
“Oh my.” Rarity summoned her fainting couch and put it to good use.
“So are Applejack and Fluttershy.” She finished, unable to continue her laughter.
The two mares looked at each other then back at Celestia.
“Princess what the hey are you talking about?” She normally wasn’t one to question the princess but her words weren’t making sense and her laughter made it sound like a joke.
“Yeah how can all my Mare friends be the father.” Twilight asked her mentor.
“Well Twilight my best guess is that the same spell that made you an alicorn got you pregnant. An issue it’s creator wouldn’t have had since Starswirl is male.” Celestia sat up to get more comfortable.
“But how can the six of us all contribute to one foal?” Twilight was getting more confused.
“Twilight,” Cadence, the alicorn of love, understood what her aunt was implying. “Do you know how foals are born?”
“Of course I do,” Twilight huffed. “When a stallion and mare have sex the sperm…”
“No Twilight, on the metaphysical side of things?” Cadence interrupted.
“No…” She hadn’t studied magic relating to the mating process aside from a few things for her and Rainbow.
Cadence sighed. “When two ponies mate, not just have sex, it isn’t Just an exchange of DNA. The very souls of the lovers come together then break off and combine a very small part of their essence to form a new life magically. It is why ponies can have children with other species, the soul matters more than perfect DNA matching. This fact is why Alicorns have such a tough time conceiving, our souls are so much more powerful that our mates can’t easily match us. It is also why artificial reproduction has never worked as a means to help fix the population imbalance or why foals of loving parents are magically stronger.” Cadence finished.
“So what does that have to do with us?” Twilight struggled to fully understand or just didn’t want to.
“Twilight you basically merged souls, mated, with your five friends when using Starswirl’s spell leading to a foal from all six of you.” Celestia answered after calming herself.
The five mares who had been silently listening all decided now was a good time to freak out.
“I’m going to be a parent.” Rainbow dash spoke first.
Celestia had to get back to work while Candence had to get back to the empire with, a still sleeping, Shining Armor. So the five mares had decided to talk while Twilight went off to do research on the metaphysical aspects of pony mating.
“We all are apparently.” Applejack continued.
“Darlings. I know we have all had our… ‘fun’ together before during heat season but this is entirely different.” Rarity added.
“You’re not going to abandon our foal are you?” Pinkie had already accepted everything and was already planning parties in her head for her child and herd wedding.
“Of course not.” She gasped and defended herself. “I just never expected to be a mother already.”
“I think it’s nice.” Fluttershy was on the same page as Pinkie for once. “And I really like being with Twilight and you girls.” She blushed remembering sleeping in the library.
“It may not have been planned but an Apple always does right by their kin and Twilight’s going to be the mother of my~ our foal making her kin. Shoot, granny would have my head if I don’t ask her to form a herd.” Applejack bit her bottom lip.
“Well count me in, I won’t leave my mare hanging.” Rainbow puffed herself up and Applejack wasn’t disappointed.
“So you’re all in agreement then?” Rarity asked and the other four nodded. “Very well I’m in too but you’re all forgetting one critical detail darlings.”
“What?” The other four said in unison.
“Twilight has to say yes first.” Rarity’s statement actually made the other nervous.