//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven // Story: Bearers of Harmony // by PurpleFire135 //------------------------------// Rarity stepped off the train and readjusted her shawl around her midsection, taking a careful look at herself in the windows of the train station, yes, the shawl still covered her in all the correct places. She sighed and began to walk towards her parents house, a feeling of shame deep in her stomach. She thought about going to the original Carousel Boutique, which was still up and running under her direct supervision and still sold her label, of course, but she honestly had turned over the management almost completely. So,to her parent's house it was. At that thought, she mentally braced herself for the questions that awaited her. “Who was the father?” “How could you be so careless?” “What?! How could you not know who it was?” “Do you really sleep with that many stallions?!” Rarity shook her head. “NO!” She thought to herself. It would not go like that. She was an adult. She was perfectly in the right to sleep around and have fun while she was still fairly young. It just royally sucked that not all methods of contraception, the pill, and even male protection were not 100% effective. She had tried, hadn’t she? She strolled into Ponyville’s main square, lost in her thoughts. "Rarity?!" She heard a voice call from across the square, she winced as it broke her reverie. It was to be like that, was it? She took in a breath and turned to face the voice, a smile on her face and a pep in her step, a move she had perfected without the use of emotion through years of mingling with the nobility. Of course, the pony that tackled her in a....much softer hug than expected, was about the farthest thing from the Canterlot unicorn elite that existed, except, possibly the pony behind her. "Woah! We were just looking for you!" Applejack exclaimed while Pinkie Pie hugged Rarity. Rarity immediately felt better, despite everything that had happened that morning. "Triple baby party!" Pinkie gasped as she ran a hoof over Rarity's belly bump. "Yay!" Coco squealed from Pinkie's saddle bag. Rarity gasped and frowned, "Triple baby WHAT?!" She cried, her voice rising in pitch. "Pinkie, we've covered this, its probably going to be a... what's the word for triple, but with six?" Applejack trailed off, frowning. "Sextuple." Rarity answered without thinking. "Sex-tub...Sex-tup...Sexy baby party!" Coco giggled. Pinkie laughed. Rarity watched this exchange in abject horror, noticing not only the bump in Pinkie's belly that was streching out Coco's saddle seat, but also the matching bump that Applejack was sporting. Pinkie being pregnant was one thing, she was married to a stallion and already had one child, her being pregnant at the same time as Rarity could be mere coincidence. Applejack though? She was married to Twilight of all ponies! Rarity slowly began to hyperventalate. There were a very few ways that Applejack could be pregnant, artificial insemination being the top of the list, but Rarity knew Applejack and her loyalty to Twilight and her family ways far too well. The only way Applejack would have a child was if she could have one with Twilight. Rarity's face turned bright red as the implications of exactly what must have happened ran through her mind. "Rarity? You're super-duper quiet! Are you thinking about something? Is it cake?!" Pinkie asked, getting very close to Rarity's face. Rarity brefily wondered if Applejack and Pinkie Pie had put together what happened. Well, she amended to herself, Applejack probably had a vague idea, since she was probably the intended target. She, on the other hand could put together a fairly good idea of what had happened. She was a unicorn after all. Magically speaking, this shouldn’t be possible, but Twilight was not one to shy away from new spells. It was certainly something like that, even if Rarity didn’t know the exact details. The coincidence of all three, and if what Applejack said was true, all six of them being pregnant at the same time, was just too great, and whatever happened, it was most likely Twilight and some misplaced spell’s fault. Rarity, in a unexpected and unusually intense burst of anger swore loudly. Pinkie gasped and covered Coco's little ears. Applejack frowned thoughtfully, she had never heard that one before...She rather liked it. "Twilight Sparkle!" Rarity screetched, looking down the street in the direction of the library. "I SWEAR TO CELESTIA! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Rarity finished and began running. Applejack sighed, looked at Pinkie, turned, and began running after Rarity. "She isn't really gonna kill her is she?! I like Auntie Twi!" Coco wailed. Pinkie smiled. "We better hope not!" She laughed. Coco smiled and laughed too, even if she wasn't totally sure why. --- Twilight watched as the letters she was sending burst into green flame, along with a gout of sulfur-smelling smoke above the purple candle sitting on her desk. It had done the job of sending her letters to anyone in Equestria since Spike had left, it wasn't the same as having the dragon himself by her side, but it did the job. She had designed herself and Spike had imbued it with his own magic to make it work. She groaned and arched her back, frowning at the papers and books laid out around her, the result of the past few hours of intense research on what exactly had gone wrong with the spell. It was clear to her now, and all that was left was to gather her friends and explain the situation. She sighed. That was going to be a treat, possibly her last, if Rainbow Dash or Rarity decided to kill her, both of which was equally likely, she thought. She amended herself, it would probably be Dash, she figured, given the pegasus's temper, added to the fact that Twilight had not only gotten her pregnant, but also her significant other, Fluttershy, which meant that between them they would have two foals, further messing up Dash's Wonderbolt career. A loud bang came from the main floor of the library. Twilight jumped, it taking her only seconds to realize it was the front door slamming open. "TWILIGHT!" Rarity's voice screeched from the doorway as fast hoof steps made their way towards the basement door. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" Her voice continued. Twilight gasped and threw up a shield around the basement doorway. Her figuring had been wrong, a small part of her mind informed her. She frowned, sighed and pushed herself up from the desk as the sound of Rarity mercilessly pounding the door continued. "You! Put! This! Shield! Down! RIGHT! NOW!" Rarity hollered. Twilight felt the blows on the shield as Rarity hit it again and again with her hooves, and then with her magic. Rarity's magic was nothing on Twilight's but every adult unicorn knew how to fire energy blasts from their horn, which were usually specifically used to break things, magical barriers included. Added to that was that those blasts were fueled by the strength of the emotions of the unicorn. "RIGHT NOW, SPARKLE! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR, IT'S ONLY GOING TO MAKE YOUR DEATH MORE SLOW AND PAINFUL!" Twilight flinched, Rarity's emotions were pretty strong right now. "Rarity! Ya stop that right now! We're all adult ponies here, and we can all sit down an' talk this out!" Applejack hollered over the din of Rarity's assault on the basement door. "I will not stop! HOW DARE YOU! THIS COULD RUIN MY CAREER!" Rarity screamed and continued to besiege the door. Twilight sighed, backed up and removed the sheild. In an unfortunate bit of bad timing, she had unknowingly done so right as Rarity had fired another blast of pure magical energy. The door exploded, violently. Twilight gasped and threw the shield back up, just in time to contain the blast and hold in any shrapnel. "Jeez! Rarity! Just talk it out, consarnit!!" Applejack yelled, looking pointedly at the broken bits of door floating in the purple aura of Twilight's magic; a door that she would, of course, have to fix....or replace. Applejack took another sad look at the door. Definitely replace. Rarity huffed, the destruction of the door had done quite a bit to relieve her immediate and violent anger. She sighed unhappily. It was at that moment that Pinkie and Coco came through the door. "Auntie TWI! Are you still alive?!" Coco yelled down the stairs. Twilight laughed. "For the moment!" She called back. "Yay!" Coco squealed, bouncing up and down in her seat. Pinkie picked her up and set her on the floor. She pulled at her toys in Pinkie's other saddle bag and sat down to play. Watching this, Rarity's anger ebbed even more. She took a deep breath. She needed some answers. "Twilight, would you mind explaining why in the name of Celestia we are all pregnant?" She asked, an edge to her voice. "Yes, please." Fluttershy's voice piped up from where she had been sitting on the couch. Rarity jumped. "Hello, darling! I didn't even notice you there. I see I am not alone in this unfortunate turn of events." Rarity sniffed disdainfully. "Absolutely. I will get right to that, as soon as Rainbow Dash arrives. I've sent a letter to her, explaining the situation and asking her to come here to meet with us and discuss it further. Long story short, I had a spell go wrong, and I am terribly sorry to both of you." Twilight explained, her head lowering in shame as she continued. "It's alright, sugarcube, nopony blames ya." Applejack soothed, coming up behind her wife to nuzzle her. Rarity snorted. "Speak for yourself, Applejack." Applejack frowned, wanting to say more. "Girls, stop. This is just something we are going to have to deal with...TOGETHER. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to undo the current situation and it's going to take all of our friendship to get through this!" Twilight explained, mostly to Rarity.