Ch13: breaking the news
After about another half an hour of sharing some tender, and rather loud, time with Twilight, the two of them decided to meet up with their friends from Ponyville, but one doesn’t simply announce surprise pregnancy to their friends. So they decided to reveal the good news at lunch… which was going to be held at the palace… in front of the princesses…
“Hey Arvak?” Twilight asked on the way to the castle. They were currently winding down the lavish streets of Canterlot, passing many ornate white and gold buildings and confused looking ponies on the way.
“Ya Twi?” Arvak replied, trotting happily beside her.
“Two things, one; why are you not in disguise?” She asked.
Arvak stopped in his tracks, making Twilight do the same. He looked around him and found the other ponies staring at them with odd looks. “I don’t know, you’d think they’d be used to me.”
“They only saw you without a disguise probably once, the rest of the time they saw you was as Flare.” She said, shaking her head as she starting walking again.
“What was the second question?” He asked while moving beside her again.
“How do you think my friends will react?” She asked with genuine concern.
“Why do you ask? I'm sure they’d be supportive.”
“Well, I don’t know…” Twilight just sighed in frustration as her thoughts escaped her.
“The only way we’ll find out is if we tell them.” Arvak said, wrapping a hoof around her shoulders.
“Since when did you start being the smart one?” Twilight joked.
“Hey I have good ideas… sometimes.” Arvak retorted with a goofy grin.
Twilight giggled as she sped up a bit on the way to the castle, forcing Arvak to try and match her speed.
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The dining room, like the rest of the castle, was exquisite. It was like eating at a five star restaurant that put other five star restaurants to shame with its carved and polished oak table, crystal chandeliers, a fine red velvet carpet, and draperies and banners depicting both princesses’ cutie marks. Everypony was enjoying the food brought to them, which was all salads of different kinds, or in Pinkies case, a crumb cake with some hot chocolate. Yet instead of excited chatter, it was oddly quiet. The reason wasn’t because of Twilight dropping the bombshell like she had planned, no it was the Netch’s doing. Not having seen it at all, the castle staff was unaware of what it was or why it was there, so when it had licked one of the servants after the food had been brought out…
“Oh dear, I hope she’s okay.” Fluttershy said. She was sitting on top of the Netch, the mare’s screams of terror having scared it to her side.
“Don’t worry about her; she has an episode about once a week.” Luna sighed.
“That doesn’t seem like something we should ignore, what if she needs help?” the shy mare asked.
“The castle has ponies to help with all kinds of problems; she could go to any castle doctor or counselor if something is bothering her.” Twilight replied.
“That’s good… I guess.” Fluttershy said.
“Believe it or not, the castle psychiatrists get most of their paychecks from her.” Luna explained.
The group then turned to Arvak, who was sitting idly while tapping his hooves against the tablecloth. “What?” he asked.
“Ah can see ‘er goin ta them a lot right now.” Applejack noted, to which several nods of approval were given.
“I know I should feel insulted but can’t bring myself to not agree with you.” Arvak replied. “Anypony know when the food is going to get here?”
“Jeez Arvak, you don’t even have a stomach and yet you can eat more than Pinkie!” Dash exclaimed.
“I smell a contest!” Pinkie yelled.
“What do contests smell like?” Arvak asked.
Twilight just sighed and brought a hoof to her face, these distractions were not making things any easier. She looked around and noticed Luna giving her a quizzical look.
“What is wrong Twilight? Thou seem troubled.” She asked.
The group now focused their attention on the purple unicorn, forgetting their previous conversations.
“Yes darling, you seem rather anxious.” Rarity commented.
Twilight started sweating as her mouth went dry, “w-well… I’m…” she stammered.
“Twilight’s pregnant!” Arvak shouted, shattering the group’s concentration.
“What!” the seven mares shouted in unison. Twilight meanwhile, had her face firmly planted on the table.
“Twilight, is that true?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh my Celestia Twilight’s going to have a baby! We need to throw her a ‘Just-got-knocked-up’ party!” Pinkie yelled.
“Congratulations darling!” Rarity said, patting Twilight on the back.
“Yeah Twi!” Rainbow cheered.
“So, who’s the lucky stallion?” Applejack asked.
Twilight just pointed to Arvak, who currently had his muzzle stuck inside a glass cup, tilting his to the side as he tried to get a better look at his predicament.
“No seriously, who knocked you up?” Applejack asked again.
“Well… do you remember that poison joke incident?” Twilight inquired.
The group’s eyes widened as the details came to light. Even the princesses couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
“What would that foal even look like?” Rainbow asked, everybody’s eyes turning to her as the words left her muzzle. “What?”
“I must say that this was quite the surprise.” Celestia commented.
“Art thou sure you can handle being a mother?” Luna asked.
“Well, I was worried at first, but I think-” Twilight was interrupted as a bony hoof tapped her shoulder. She looked to see Arvak still had the glass around his muzzle, using magic; she pried the thing off and placed it on the table.
“Thanks!” he chirped as he walked back to his seat.
“From what we see, thou may be taking care of two foals.” Luna joked.
“Yea, if you haven’t noticed, Arvak doesn’t seem to be all there most of the time.” Rainbow commented.
“Hey” The stallion shouted indignantly.
“Calm down everypony.” Celestia said. “They have enough to worry about without all of us adding more to their plate.”
“Did the server come back around? Dang it I missed it!” Arvak yelled.
“It’s a figure of speech dear.” Rarity explained.
“Do you know what it is yet?” Fluttershy asked.
“Not yet, I am planning on going to the hospital to get a checkup though.” Twilight replied.
“Speaking of hospitals. Did anypony see the Netch?” Pinkie asked.
The group looked around, but the large creature was nowhere in sight.
“Odd, wasn’t it here a moment ago?” Luna asked.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” a mare screamed.
“I’ll get him.” Dash grumbled as she got up from her seat and flew from the table.
“Sounds like she might be asking for a vacation soon.” Arvak noted.
“I’ll make some preparations for her absence.” Celestia sighed.
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“Well?” Twilight asked, fidgeting impatiently. She sat on a chair in a doctor’s office at Canterlot Memorial Hospital. It was a fairly typical doctor’s office, standard filing cabinets, desk, and even the certificates mounted on the wall. Her friends and Arvak were waiting outside in the lobby for her and the word from the doctor.
“I don’t know how I can easily say this, but your foal is the oddest thing I have ever witnessed.” He replied, looking over several charts.
“What?”
“That was my first thought, but it doesn’t seem to have a definite genetic code for me to determine anything. It’s a first for me, and definitely for this hospital.” He said, handing Twilight the folder of papers.
She perused the documents, documents that would make no sense to a normal pony, and came away with even more questions than before.
“In order to get a definite reading, you may have to wait.” The doctor explained.
Twilight sighed and handed the documents back to the doctor. “Thanks anyway.”
“You’re welcome.” He replied. “Now, if you would excuse me, I have other patients to attend to.”
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Twilight’s friends sat in the sparsely crowded lobby, furnished with all the decorations that a hospital lobby would have, minus the pink pony bouncing around and throwing confetti everywhere.
“Miss, please have a seat, and stop chucking confetti everywhere.” A light blue mare in a nurse’s outfit ordered.
“NoperonithisplaceismakingmyfeelallmopeyandIcan’thavethatsoIneedtobrightenitupandmakemyselandothersfeelnotsomopeyand-mmph-” Pinkies mouth and bouncing was stopped by a purple aura that kept her suspended in midair.
“I’ll take it from here.” Twilight said.
The nurse sighed in relief and went back to her desk, paging a janitor to come and clean up.
“Did ya find out anythin’ Twi?” Applejack asked.
“The doctor said he couldn’t tell anything at the moment.” She replied.
“That’s odd; can’t they use magic to find out?” Rarity asked.
“He said it was something he has never seen before, and frankly, the only time I’ve ever heard of something like this happening is back when magic wasn’t as medically advanced.” She explained.
“I'm not really surprised.” Arvak said. The group looked at him questioningly. “What? It happens on Nirn all the time.”
“What’s Nirn?” Twilight asked.
“Oh yeah, I still haven’t told you guys much about where I was from.” Arvak noted.
“Well I think it would help if you would tell us darling.” Rarity said.
“Whelp, get some notepads ready because I think there’s some stuff for everyone in this story.” He said, getting himself comfortable.
“Can we wait until we’re back somewhere that’s not here?” Twilight asked.
Arvak looked around to see other ponies looking at them strangely. “Sure.”
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“That could explain quite a bit.” Twilight mused as Arvak finished his story.
The girls had gone to the library in the castle itself to take notes on Arvak’s old home. Each pony sitting comfortably at a large round table in the center of the library, surrounded by shelves stacked way over their heads with books. Sparsely spaced chandeliers dotted the ceiling and several candles lit up the space for the group. Nopony was uninterested in the conversation as Arvak told them of tales he heard in his travels and the places he had seen while running with his two late friends.
“Ah agree, if what he says ‘s true, then that fancy magic from Nirn may have mixed with yours.” Applejack observed after she digested the information. The other girls looked at her oddly for making that guess. “What? Ah can be smart sometimes.”
“We weren’t implying you were dumb dear, we just didn’t think you could form a hypothesis.” Rarity said.
“Well, it does make sense.” Twilight reiterated. “If the way animals work on Nirn is any indication, then it should be the reason why the foal in me is acting differently from other recently recorded conceptions.”
“Twilight, I don’t know how to say this, but some of us are not that smart.” Arvak said, putting a hoof on Twilights Shoulder.
“In simpler terms, it is the reason why my foal isn’t normal.” She said, poking his ribcage.
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” he chirped.
“Well, some ponies aren’t used to change.” Fluttershy added. “Twilight could just not be used to something that hasn’t happened since ancient times…. Um… if you want to look at it that way.”
“It’s like if something goes against her carefully planned schedule.” Pinkie chirped, bouncing around the group.
“I guess at the rate things are going; only time will tell what we will end up with.” Twilight said. She looked over to a nearby clock and saw the time. “Well, I guess it’s time we all go out and get something to eat.”
“Yea, missing lunch is messing with my system.” Dash agreed.
“Doing anything you don’t usually do messes with your system dear.” Rarity joked.
The group laughed a bit before leaving the library, the news out, and Twilight’s shoulders feeling a bit lighter, even if there were more questions.
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Discord floated listlessly on a bright pink cloud over the mountain Canterlot clung to. He munched on Popcorn as he waited for the reply of a very important being. The cloud he was on buzzed and he picked up a bit and allowed it to float in front of him as a shadow encompassed a screen like face on the cloud bit.
“Discord.” It said.
“Speaking.” The spirit of chaos replied, producing a bag of popcorn and a soda.
“Why did you contact us?”
“Why old friend, I just need to spread some chaos.” The Draconequus replied, sipping some of the soda.
“I am not your friend; the ideal masters wouldn’t even have considered replying had you not sent what you did. So spit it out.”
“My my you are so serious. Very well, I need some spell tomes from you, you know, the ones for those skeleton thingies.” He finished his soda and started on the popcorn, throwing the empty cup over his shoulder.
“And what do we get in return?” The specter inquired.
“Come now, a few spell tomes isn’t really anything important.”
“You have plans, if it involves something of ours, we want a cut.”
“Very well. I have six pests I could send your way, they just so happen to be tied with the most powerful artifacts known to my world.”
“Just six?”
“For three spell books? Come on, I’ll even send a treat, something that managed to escape you a few times.” He replied, finishing his popcorn and placing the bag on a passing cloud and letting it drift off.
The being was silent for a few moments, “Fine, you will have your tomes.”
The cloud went back to its pink color and then was added back to the rest of Discord’s perch. He picked up a newspaper and placed an oak pipe in his mouth, bubbles blowing out the end as he read.
“Princess’ student pregnant, how scandalous.” He chuckled. “Oh I have a delightfully chaotic idea now.” He laughed as he looked at the castle with a mischievous smile.