> SciTwi's New Friend
>  by Damaged
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Finding a New Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ah told you, Ah got this Twi." Applejack looked back at her friend. Twilight was sitting on the wagon that AJ was tethered to, making sure the big mirror didn't fall over. "Jus' hold it steady. Did Princess Celestia say why we couldn't take this on the train?"

Twilight opened her mouth, fully prepared to give Applejack the full description of why such a device shouldn't be transported on anything that can give sudden jolts, when one of the wheels of the cart hit a rock and bounced. "Applejack watch out!" Twilight had to steady herself first, and by the time she did the mirror was falling sideways. 

Toppling from the little cart, the Crystal Mirror fell down with a plop into the mud beside the cart. Twilight and Applejack froze and each gave a sigh as it seemed the thing hadn't broken. "Okay, just lift it back up and put it back in, just easy-like.

As soon as Twilight's magic grabbed the mirror, it soaked some of it up. Mud poured through the mirror, leaving the alicorn gasping and quickly pulling her magic back. It took a few moments for the mirror portal to fully consume the magic she had tried to lift it with. Applejack had unhitched herself from the cart. "Maybe we should lift it in the old-fashioned way?"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight Sparkle was on her way to school. She got off the bus and turned to look at the big building when the stinkiest, most horrible mud ever started appearing right in front of statue. 

"Ew, what is that?"

"Where is it coming from?"

"What is that thing?"

Being genuinely curious about nearly everything, Twilight advanced on the scene and followed a few girls' gazes to something squirming in the mud. Thoughts and memories flooded together and the answer unfolded. "It's from Equestria…" Unhitching her backpack, Twilight lifted out the jar she had her science experiment in. Quickly unscrewing the lid, she tipped it upside down and dumped the frog out on the grass. "Come here, I can keep you safe." She scooped up some mud before she got the tiny creature.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy rushed over. "What are you doing? Is that a little creature?" Leaning closer, she saw a tiny face pull back and hide in the mud within the jar. "Where did you find it?" From Fluttershy's bag came a bark of excitement. "Spike, please be careful, your leg isn't healed yet."

"He is getting better?" Twilight's attention was still locked on the mud. "I hope he isn't being too much trouble?"

"He is a perfect angel." Fluttershy reassured her friend, just as focused on the mud as Twilight was.

Gesturing to the huge pile of mud, Twilight saw the little face peek out her side of the jar and smile at her. A tiny hoof-like foreleg waved. It was impossible for Twilight not to both giggle and bring her face closer. "Hey, are you okay in there?" The tiny head nodded. "You can understand me?" Another nod.

"She is a little shy, we could take her-" Fluttershy stopped, watching her friend suddenly running away from the school with the little creature. "Twilight! You will be late!"

"Can'ttalkscience!" Twilight's heart was pounding as she raced back to the bus stop and looked in at the creature. "Can you talk?" They shook their head to her. "Do you think you can learn?"

Twilight saw both the little pony-like creature's ears perk up dead straight and giggled more. "I wonder what you eat? What you…" She trailed off as her new friend started squirming rapidly. "Are you okay?" Reaching her hand in, Twilight offered her fingers to the tiny thing and marveled as it climbed out and up her arm, its tail curling around her wrist. But it didn't stop. "Where… where are you going?" Pausing on the girl's shoulder, the creature lifted a hoof and tapped at Twilight's lips. "What-" Twilight didn't get any further, the hoof pushed into her mouth, soon followed by the Equestrian creature's head.

A little panic set in, Twilight's eyes went wide and her first instinct was to close her mouth around the thing that seemed intent on getting inside. Fear combined with worry however, and rather than bite down and risk hurting the creature, she reached up to grab its body with her hands. Blinking again, she clamped her eyes down as her hands slipped on the mud-covered creature. A tiny hoof braced on the inside of her gum and pushed. Something odd was wrong with her gag reflex, her throat not reacting properly to having something strange trying to crawl into her. It struggled and squirmed in the back of her throat, its tail pulling into her mouth.

Twilight had a decision. It wasn't going down her throat and it seemed quite resilient to being removed from her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she started to swallow. It pushed down her throat, blocking her airway and causing her to gag at last. Strong muscles combined with a slightly slimy body meant it didn't take long to go down and exit her esophagus. "What the…" Twilight panted, her hand flying to her chest to feel for a bulge. There wasn't one, of course. "Why did you do that to me? I only wanted to help!"

An odd feeling inside her stomach made the girl blink rapidly, it was like she suddenly got a lot less full. "Wait, you are some kind of parasite…" A little tap was felt deep in her chest. "Two for yes, one for no." Two little taps came and excitement returned. "You feed inside someone, in their body?" Two little taps. "Okay, you aren't… you aren't going to do anything crazy, like burrow in and lay eggs in me or something?" One tap, a hesitant one. "That was two questions," she quickly thought, "you aren't going to hurt me?" One tap. Just then, however, the bus back to her house arrived and she put the lid back on the mud and got on.

Flashing her school pass, she took a seat and set her bag down carefully. "So you aren't going to hurt me, will you lay eggs in me?" Two hesitant taps came. "Can… can you come out when you are fed? I want to see you again." One tap, then another one came a moment later. "I promise you I won't hurt you. I will teach you how to talk properly, if you help me with some study." Twilight froze a moment. "So yes to eggs. Will... will they hurt?" One sharp poke came, along with a rush of relief.

There was the oddest slithering sensation inside her, causing Twilight to giggle. "Okay, so do you have a name?" One tap. "Well, once you can start talking, we can see about finding one you like." The ride was otherwise normal, Twilight felt normal, but her brain couldn't get past the fact that she had an intelligent parasite living inside her now. 

"My friends!" She pulled her phone out and her thumbs were soon flying across the screen. 



Feeling like I have a stomach bug, can't come in to school.



She mass-texted it to everyone. "There, that should-" Twilight reached out and hit the "stop" button. "Phew." Getting up and walking to the door, she gave a distracted wave to the bus driver before getting off the bus. All too soon Twilight was closing the door to her bedroom-apartment and set her bag down. "Okay, you eaten enough?" Two taps came. "Okay… oh gosh, you can get out again?" Two more taps. "Through my mouth?" Again, two more taps and a slight squirm. Is it laughing at me?

The oddest feeling made Twilight's eyes go wide; her little passenger was coming back up. Gasping and taking a deep breath, she rushed to her en-suite. Not the toilet! She put her hands to the sink and leaned over it. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't "lady like," but soon Twilight had the little parasite sitting in the sink and a horrible taste left in her mouth. "Gah, urk…" She spun the tap on and leaned in, guzzling water, swishing it in her mouth. About to spit it out, Twilight gagged a little and rushed to the toilet to spit there. 

With the big head so close to her, the little creature reached up a hoof and booped Twilight on the nose, giggling nervously. 

"You can definitely understand me," Twilight picked up the little creature and helped her under the water to clean off, "but you can't talk yet… there are not a lot of reasons for a human to not be able to talk…" With the little creature clean Twilight offered them a towel—that they dived into—to dry off. "Let's see, young children can understand language but not speak it. Oh, maybe you don't have the right mouth-parts?"

"No!"

Twilight froze. "You can talk?" She looked down to see the tiny, pony-like creature covering its snout with two forehooves. "You can or just learned?"

"Jus' learn."

"Oh my gosh this is exciting. Okay, come on and you can get up to speed." Twilight offered the little creature her palm, unable to hold back a giggle as they climbed up and slithered at the same time. "Do you have a name?"

"No!" The creature looked up at Twilight. "Wha you?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, my friends—and you are one of them—call me Twi or just Twilight. But you need a name." Twilight walked over to her desk and turned her computer on. With one finger still resting on the computer she giggled. "I could name you after one of the smartest women ever. Would you like to be named Ada?"

"Ada?" Ada blinked at the name. "Ada! Like!" With that Ada started bouncing up and down, her tail still secured to Twilight's forearm. "Ada! Ada! Ada!"

"Okay, let's find you some important things…" Twilight gestured to the keyboard and mouse of the computer. "First, you can use this thing," she wiggled the mouse around, clicked the buttons, "to control this little pointer on the screen." She pointed up to the cursor.

Tilting her head to the side, Ada climbed down from Twilight's arm and shivered a little. Reaching out a hoof, she looked up at the screen and leaned on the mouse to push it. "Oh!"

"Ada, you really are clever." Twilight pulled a notepad over, starting to scrawl observations on it. "What would you like to learn first? Language should really be the first thing." Twilight's hand sped over the keyboard, watched intently by two little eyes. "Here, learning English."

The site loaded and Ada bounced off the mouse and onto the keyboard in her excitement. Lots of things happened at the top of the screen but she was blinking at the pictures. "Wha' dis?" She pointed a little hoof up at three squiggly patterns.

"That is A, B, and C. Those are the first three letters in the alphabet." Twilight pointed to the keyboard Ada was now climbing all over. Realizing things might go poorly if she kept her position, Twilight offered her palm to Ada. "The A," Twilight pointed to it, "makes a sound like 'aye' or 'ah.' "

"Aye, ah!" Ada dutifully followed along, sounding out each letter after Twilight, watching when the girl pulled up a new "letter" to work out. Once they had been through them all once, and then a second time with Twilight asking Ada what each letter sounded like, Ada bounced out of Twilight's hand and—carefully moving around the keyboard, and not on it—she tapped A, D, then A again. "Ada… hungry…"

Twilight reached a hand down to rub Ada's shoulder gently. "What would you like to eat?" The moment she asked, Twilight knew what the little creature would want. "Oh… you are going to need to be…"

"Ins-eye!" Ada bounced in place and nuzzled Twilight's lax finger. "Eat nice fings?"

Seeing more chance to learn and teach, Twilight offered her palm to the excited and adorable parasite. "Why don't you pick some things out?" She waited for Ada to scurry up her arm before walking to her kitchenette. Opening the refrigerator, Twilight held Ada out to see inside.

"Col!" Ada squirmed and suddenly scurried up Twilight's arm, working under the sleeve of her hoodie and gripping tight to the girl's wrist. With her nose poking out, Ada was able to pay more attention to the contents of the cooler. "That!"

"Lettuce? Anything else?" Twilight lifted out the small head she still had left. In short order she had a small pile of things on her bench, each personally chosen by Ada. "Now, what are we going to do with these… a salad maybe?"

Ada contemplated the question with all seriousness. Squirming out from under Twilight's hoodie, she jumped down to the bench and broke off a tiny bit of the lettuce, then nibbled on it. "Ugh, cwunchy."

"I guess you get it a little after it is… well, chewed." Twilight pulled a bowl over and immediately Ada jumped into it. She was just thinking how she would need to wash it again when a nervous giggle rose up in her throat. "Well, you are going to go to the same place anyway…" She broke off some lettuce leaves to curl around Ada, then cut a few cherry tomatoes up. Slowly, Twilight Sparkle built a salad around Ada so that when she finally put some dressing on it she got splashed by it. "You really need to be inside me to eat, don't you?"

"I do." Ada could sense Twilight's reluctance. "I go in easy, you see." She squirmed around, making sure she had a good portion of the salad dressing all over her. At last she plucked up half a cherry tomato, worked more dressing on it, and offered it to Twilight.

Twilight took the "sample" from Ada, partially focusing on those little hooves and how they held the hemisphere. It's just a tomato. She popped the fruit in her mouth and started chewing. The sweet taste of the tomato flooded her mouth and she gave a happy sigh at the dressing—it was in her fridge for a reason, after all.

"No chew." Ada lifted both forelegs up, offering another of the little tomato halves.

"Okay." Taking the second piece, Twilight slipped it in her mouth and closed her eyes. She didn't bite, didn't chew, instead the girl just gulped and swallowed the fruit whole. It felt like she remembered the first time Ada had gone in, felt. "Be careful…" Twilight reached down with her hand and felt Ada, don't even think the word "parasite," and slowly lifted her hand up to her face.

"Open pweese." Ada tapped Twilight's closed mouth with a hoof. Her new friend's maw opened up but before slipping inside, Ada leaned up to kiss Twilight's nose. Lowering back down, she pushed forward and into Twilight's mouth. 

It was hard not to panic, so Twilight focused on things to do. She grabbed the bowl of salad—still with Ada crawling into her mouth, don't think about it—and headed for her desk again. Squirming and wriggling to the back of her throat, Ada actually tasted good. Without thinking, Twilight's throat worked and she started to gulp just like she had with the tomato. Ada was suddenly gone from her mouth—most of her, her tail still was sliding further back—and headed down her throat. Moments later and Twilight sat in a bit of surprise. "You okay in there?" Two little taps were Twilight's answer. "Well, time for your meal then." 

Twilight started in on the salad, taking particular care to chew everything before swallowing. Reaching one hand up she opened a new tab on her browser. "Stomach parasite… Oh no, nothing like that!" She hit the back button quickly. "Mythic? Mythical? Mythological? Magic? Ugh!" Twilight banged her head on the keyboard. "What are you, Ada?"

The odd sensation of having the inside of her stomach gently stroked made Twilight reach a hand down and press just below her chest. "You know? Or you just want company?" The soft stroking continued. "Or is it time for a nap?" Two little taps came and Twilight smiled. "Well, I could always go to school for my afternoon classes..."
> Evaluating her Passenger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight almost slumped in her chair. It might have "science" in the name, but Social Sciences are so boring! Her hand moved, pencil working on the page to draw a rough diagram of Ada. She was, in fact, so distracted that she didn't notice something was wrong until she felt a gentle poke in her belly. "Ada?"

"No, Miss Sparkle. The question was, what sort of job did you want to get when you leave school?" The tired-looking substitute teacher cared almost as little for the class as Twilight did, and it showed. "Everyone I have asked so far had an answer, even if 'Professional Rapper' is a poor one."

"Um, I wanted to research magic." Twilight suddenly realized Ada had been trying to get her attention back on class. "I mean, it has been happening so much lately and-"

"Magic? Twilight Sparkle you will see me after class." Mr. Roll looked on to another student. "Miss Hooves, what do you want to do when you leave school?"

Derpy had been caught leaning over, whispering in Flash Sentry's ear. "Oh, uh… I was going to work full-time in my job." She smiled wide. "I help mom sort mail at her work, but they said I can deliver it when I graduate!"

Flash couldn't fight the enthusiasm of the girl at his side, blushing hard, he reached his hand across and held hers, giving it a squeeze. "You'll be great at it."

Looking up at the clock, Mr. Roll sat up straight. "I want a two thousand word essay on why you all want to do what you want to when you graduate. I want to see you looking at promotion possibilities and I want them by tomo-" the bell started to ring, "rrow!" Whether any of the class heard the end of the teacher's words or not wasn't obvious, but all of them rushed for the door. All but three. In the corner, Derpy and Flash stared into each-others eyes. "Miss Hooves, Mr. Sentry, class is over." 

Derpy squealed a giggle and Flash gave a laugh, the pair scrambling from the room, leaving Twilight behind. "Sir, you wanted me to stay back?" Twilight felt bad, but a little confused.

"Yes, I did. Every student in the class had something meaningful to aspire towards, but when I asked you, Miss Sparkle, you made a joke." Mr. Roll leaned back in his chair. "You are a smart girl, your grades in the hard sciences are out of this world. English is not so great, but there aren't a lot of schools that will refuse a girl with your grades just because of a B in English. So what is up?"

"Uh…" Twilight trailed off. "The magic-"

"Twilight, please stop with this 'magic' stuff." 

Twilight inhaled deeply and felt a little squirm in her belly. Pondering Ada reminded her that Mr. Roll had arrived after the whole "Midnight Sparkle taking over the world and ripping holes in reality" thing. "Okay, what about if I said I found an entirely new species of creature?" It felt to Twi like there was a jiggling in her belly and she could guess that Ada was laughing.

"That would be more a biology subject. Is that what you want to do? Study biology?" Sitting forward again, Mr. Roll recognized some genuine interest in the girl. "If you do, we could talk about-" He reached down to his desk, opening a drawer and pulled it open just in time to hear a choking cough and a wet plop.

"Meet Ada. She… is new here." Twilight was regretting letting Ada out already, the slight tingling-burn of bile ruined her palate.

"Hi!" Ada waved a little hoof at the teacher, then rolled and squirmed on some papers to clean off. "Why don't you like magic?" She looked up at the teacher, saw his eyes bulge and mouth opening and closing. Turning back to look at Twilight she asked, "Is he okay?"

"I don't think he has ever met anyone as amazing as you before, Ada. Your words are much better." Twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out a little pack of tissues, reaching out with a few to carefully dab the little creature dry. "I would talk to the biology teacher about her, but I don't think it would be polite what they would want to do to Ada."

Working his mouth a few more times, the teacher finally closed his eyes. "Okay Rick, this is nothing really strange. One of your students just regurgitated a tiny lizard-"

"She is more pony-like, I think. See, she has a soft mane and a snout like one…" Twilight realized—once she started talking—that it probably wasn't the time for it.

"A tiny… pony, and then the little… pony, turns out to have a name and is actually a little cute, but smells like… like…" Mr. Roll leaned back and back, eyes closing.

"He fainted." Twilight held out her hand to Ada, fighting the urge to giggle as the little creature climbed up her arm in a most ticklish manner. "Uh… you do smell pretty bad, Ada. I wonder if that is because of the food I ate?"

"Ada is bad?" Ada looked up at Twilight from where she was wrapped around the girl's forearm. "I'm sorry!"

It wasn't the tone, or even the words that sank any hope Twilight had of pursuing the smell further, it was the huge-seeming eyes that stared up at her with terror in them. "Ada, it's alright. It isn't your fault."

"Ada really likes Twilight." Ada leaned her head down against the girl's arm, nuzzling it like a cat. "She likes being in Twilight, and talking with Twilight. Ada even likes-" Ada lifted her head in surprise when a soft pair of lips pressed to her soft mane. She gave a giggle of delight. "Ada wasn't bad?"

"No, Ada, you weren't bad. But we are going to find out where that smell comes from. There might be a way to help Ada be even better!" Twilight carefully worked around the problem, giving a nervous laugh at the end. "Hey, maybe you could help wake up Mr. Roll?"

"Yay!" Ada perked right up, looking across at the teacher for a moment before staring up at Twilight again. "How do I help?" Twilight reached over the desk, holding her arm out so that the stinky little parasite was just near the teacher's nose. 

Mr. Roll jerked upright, eyes going wide and staring right ahead, at the "pony thing" that was barely an inch from his face. "Ahh!"

Ada blinked a few times, then twitched an ear. "Sorry, Ada only like's Twilight. Maybe when Ada lays eggs you can have a little friend too?"

The comment about eggs struck Twilight odd, her analytical mind searching back through recent memories before pulling up the one from early in their… friendship. "Uh, Ada?" Twilight pulled her arm back from the surprised teacher. "About the eggs…"

Ada was clearly on her favorite subject, she squirmed and crawled around Twilight's arm a few times. "Yup! Ada will lay lots of eggs!"

"In me?" Twilight tried to keep the shock from her tone, but it was impossible.

"Uh, yes! Don't worry," Ada squirmed up Twilight's arm, reaching her shoulder to pat the girl on the cheek, "they go through… come out… they don't hurt!"

"So it just… okay, we are going to need to talk more about this." Twilight reached up and rubbed Ada's mane, catching one ear. "Sorry Mr. Roll, we got a little distracted. So, as you can see, I have a special friend, and it would be really cool to study her and… okay, we are really going to have to talk about eggs." Her hand still rubbed the little creature, Ada's head tilted and leaning into the ear-rubbing.

"She?" Rick waited until the girl, and the creature, nodded. "Okay, she is intelligent, she can talk clearly enough. Have you checked just how smart she is?" As he set aside his initial shock, the teacher realized there was something here for him to work with, to really work with.

"I… I hadn't had a chance to measure that. I was teaching her words and language. When she first… when we first met, she couldn't talk." Twilight heard the softest of little sounds of delight coming from Ada, and was thankful she was becoming a little nose-dead to her smell.

"How long have you been working on language then? Have you worked out the basics?" Rick stopped and closed his eyes. "Sorry, Ada, I should just ask you. How long have you been here? When did you first start learning English?"

Twilight realized her efforts were making it impossible for Ada to reply. When she eased back on the ear-rubbing, Ada actually leaned up a little to try to continue. "Aww, no more?" She looked forlornly up at the girl, trying to use her eyes on Twilight again.

"We have some questions for the smartest… uh, for you, Ada." Twilight filed away the mental note to do some more research about Ada's species later. "How old are you?"

"Hard to remember all the way." Ada tapped her snout with a tiny hoof. "All squirmy and hungry, not a lot of 'thinky.' " She smiled up at Twilight, then across at the teacher. "But about four days, I think."

"You are talking and reasoning after four days?" Mr. Roll stared at Ada a moment before closing his eyes yet again. "No, forget that Rick. Okay, next question, what do you… what do you want to do? With humanity, that is."

Ada tilted her head on the side and blinked her expressive eyes in confusion. "Uh… I like Twilight. I want to learn with her, she is smart!" Ada leaned up and nuzzled against the underside of Twilight Sparkle's chin. "But I want to make friends, lay my eggs." Ada saw the slight tension on Twilight's face. "It will be okay, my eggs won't hurt!" She patted Twilight's cheek with a tiny hoof.

"How many eggs will you lay? Do you need to find a… a male?" Rick was starting to see some worry in this now. "How often do you lay eggs?"

"I don't know…" Ada was snuggled up against Twilight's neck now.

"Calm down Ada." Twilight reached her hand up and started rubbing her ears again. To her teacher she gave a placating gesture. "I don't think we really need to jump to conclusions. She is just one cute little… whatever Ada is. Let's keep watching her, physically. You wanted to test her intelligence?"

Muttering softly, Rick reached down to his desk draws, "Cute little things invading the world and laying eggs in us all and…" He trailed off when he found what he wanted. "Here, this will take a few hours to do, however."

"Ada, are you hungry again, yet?" Twilight drew a finger back from rubbing Ada's ears to boop her on the nose.

"Not yet… maybe later. What is that?" She pointed a hoof at the stack of pages the teacher had gotten out.

"This? This is an IQ test. It isn't the full, formal one, but it will give a good idea just how clever you are." Rick looked around his desk for a pen. "You can write?"

"I can try!" Ada lifted a hoof in excitement. "How do I do that?" She pointed at the pages.

"Just follow the instructions, Ada." Twilight reached up to lift Ada free of her neck. "And then we are going to sit down and you can do all the puzzles." She gave Mr. Roll a wink.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight's belly grumbled at lunch, she had two trays of food piled up and settled at a table. Before she could even start on one of the plates, her friends arrived. "Oh, hey guys!"

"Twi!" "Twilight!" "How's it going?" Various replies came back to Twilight's greeting, but she couldn't think all that clearly. She picked up the first burger and crammed it into her mouth.

"Oh that's good…" Twilight chewed quickly, making sure to grind up the meal as small as possible before gulping it down. "Sorry, eating for two and all." She grinned and took another bite, not realizing what she had said until six stares looked at her in shock. "Ada!" She eased back from the burger, taking a more dainty bite. "I mean Ada, I'm not… yuck…"

"You're such a geek, Twi." Rainbow Dash was settling down with her own lunch when she saw a teacher rush into the cafeteria. "Uh, don't look now, it is that dweeb sub teacher."

"Twilight!" Mr. Roll waved an envelope in the air. "Twilight?" When he caught sight of the girl he rushed over and dropped the letter on the table.

"What's the matter Mr. Roll?" Twilight took a bite of a little more of her veggie burger. "What's this?" She picked up the letter, chewing and swallowing. Looking down the columns of numbers, she blinked and froze. "A hundred and twenty five?" Twilight's hand flew to her shirt, pressing gently against the little movement within. "Hear that Ada?" There was two little taps from within.
> Growing Problem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Idly munching away on a salad, Twilight knew there was something up by the way Ada kept turning to glance at her. They were in her dorm room, with Twilight sitting beside her computer while Ada worked on a math paper that was due the next day. 

Each time the tiny parasitic pony stole a glance at her, Twilight became more suspicious. Finally, when she noticed yet another glance, she put her fork down and stared back. Of course Ada snapped her head back to the screen to pretend she hadn't been watching Twilight. "What is it?" 

"Humm?" Ada turned back to look up at Twilight, but couldn't help glancing at the girl's salad first. "What do you mean? I have been working hard and—"

"You keep sneaking glances at me, and I think it has something to do with my food." Twilight looked down into her meal, and pushed some of the salad around with her fork. "What did you do, Ada?"

Slumping in place (narrowly avoiding landing on the keyboard), Ada rolled to her back in surrender. "I just… I need to lay them."

"Is this the egg thing again? I told you, we need to run more tests." The moment Twilight Sparkle mentioned them, of course she spotted one, then another, and another. "Those aren't peas, are they?"

"I covered them with green food dye. I promise they won't hurt you!" Ada squirmed on her back, sliding along the table until her snout brushed the stunned girl's hand. "Please don't be mad…"

Twilight stared at the most adorable—and intelligent—parasite she knew; it was impossible to actually get angry at Ada. "You should have waited for the tests to complete. This might be fine for ponies, but humans have different…" She trailed off at the gentle nuzzles against her finger. "What?"

"There's some more in the bowl." Ada poked her tiny tongue out and licked Twilight's finger, then closed her mouth so her tongue was stuck out. She had waged such battles with Twilight before, and had discovered the power of her "blep face."

A battle had warred in Twilight in the past, often involving her sense of preservation and the adorable wiles of Ada. Ada had won every time so far, but Twilight held out hope that one day she could master her little friend's adorableness. Stirring the salad a little with her fork, she returned to eating it—trying to ignore the "peas" mixed through.

"Thank you!" Ada squirmed some more; now she was acting adorable as a reward. "I have a lot more. Do you know anyone else who would make a good friend to my little foals?" She nuzzled and rubbed her cheeks against one of Twilight's fingers when the digit strayed near.

Swallowing more self-consciously now, Twilight was mentally examining every mouthful, and being much more careful about chewing. Invariably, though, she accidentally bit one of the eggs and spilled the contents in her mouth. "Or mrrr garrr! Ir shro shrory!"

It took a few moments for Ada to work out what Twilight had done, but when she did she giggled. "Not all of them are going to hatch, silly. Do they taste good?" She had the distinct impression, by the way her host was not spitting them everywhere, that they weren't terrible.

Gulping down the mouthful as best she could, Twilight reflected briefly on her reduced gag reflex. Unable to keep the question back, she gathered a fork that was most of the remaining eggs. "They taste… really good actually. Almost like egg and—" She blinked at the glistening, slightly white coating on the eggs. "Did you pour mayonnaise on them?"

Ada's throat trilled as she recovered from the immense distraction that nuzzling Twilight's finger caused. "You love mayonnaise!" 

"Well, yes. But I know you love it too. When are you going to be small enough to get back inside me?" The idea of Ada living in her belly didn't freak Twilight out anymore—it had become routine. "All this… external… feeding…" The thought of what she would have to do later made it much harder to eat the rest of the salad.

"When I can lay all these eggs. This wouldn't be so complicated if you just let me lay them all in you when I was in last. I can't describe how good it is to be in you except that it feels right." Ada shook her little head and stood up. "Maybe you could ask your friends to have a few?"

"What?!" Twilight blinked and stared at Ada. "You… you want me to trick my friends into eating your eggs?" The idea was abhorrent, horrible, and Twilight vowed not to go through with it no matter how much adorableness Ada applied. "Anyone who has your eggs… from now on… will be told in advance what will happen."

Ada turned and looked at Twilight, grinning widely. "Perfect! That was my plan too!" The moment she finished talking there was a knock on Twilight's dorm door. Parasite and host stared at each other for a moment. 

"Who is it?" Twilight used her fork to scoop the last of the "peas" into her mouth, and despite herself she chewed on a few to get the oddly nice taste, but gulped down most of them. When no answer could be heard, Twilight reached to the computer and tapped a button on the keyboard. Up came Fluttershy's nervous face in the door cam's feed. "Oh, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy tried to hold down her enthusiasm. She knocked on the door again, gently, only for Twilight to open it before she finished. "Oh, um. Hi Twilight." She couldn't stop fluttering her eyes in excitement. "I am here to see Ada…"

Suspicion flooded Twilight's mind and she turned from her friend—who was dressed in a beautiful light blue sun dress—and stared at Ada. "This better not be—"

"Oh!" Fluttershy, focused on the most amazing animal she had ever seen, had the nervous energy to cut in on Twilight Sparkle. Brushing past her friend she rushed over to the computer desk where Ada was working. "Hello Ada, are you well today? How is your pregnancy going? Do you need anything special to eat? I sometimes make special meals for the baby birds when their mommies can't feed them and maybe I could—"

"Fluttershy!" Twilight cut in on her friend, but continued in a more sober tone. "I have her dietary needs under control." 

"Oh my gosh!" Fluttershy appeared to have barely noticed Twilight at all, and focused her attention on one of Ada's eggs that had been hiding in Twilight's bowl still. "Is this one of them? How many do you lay? Are they always this tasty?"

Officially giving up trying to stop her friend, Twilight walked to her mini-kitchenette and went right for the fridge. "Fluttershy…" Without thinking too much, Twilight levitated the bottle of iced tea onto the bench, lifting two cups down. "Look, the eggs didn't seem to have any adverse effects on the mice, but we just have no way of knowing if Ada's foals… babies… will have any complications in a human. You can't let anyone else try this." She managed to get the bottle half put away with levitation before Twilight realized what she was doing and froze.

The sound of the half-full plastic bottle hitting the floor and bouncing startled Fluttershy. She dove behind Twilight's bed and peeked over the top. Seemingly in response to the shock, she had ponied up too, and Fluttershy had her wings spread wide in surprise. "Twilight! What happened?"

"I just dropped the bottle. I'm still trying to get used to this magic stuff…" To prove her point, Twilight reached down with her magic to grab the bottle. This time, seemingly in reaction to Fluttershy ponying up, Twilight's hair grew long, and a pair of purple wings pushed through her back and spread out. Unfortunately, small kitchenettes were not a safe place to spread your wings. "Ahhhhh!"

Fluttershy hid down behind the bed again. The last thing she had seen was one of Twilight's wings poking the utensils hanging from a rack on one side of the kitchen area, while the other knocked all her glasses off a shelf on the other. The weight of an overly-heavy Ada landed on the back of Fluttershy's neck, but despite being surprised, Fluttershy didn't flinch as Ada snuggled in around her throat.

"I got it!" Twilight's efforts to catch all the glasses had resulted in her still holding the two with tea in them, while her magic clung to the other six. Carefully, she lifted them to the bench slowly and turned to sidle sideways out of her kitchen.

Finally, getting over her panic at all the noise, Fluttershy giggled at Twilight's predicament. "Do you need a hand with that?" She stood up from behind the bed and walked around it to take her own glass from Twilight. "How many can I safely have, do you think? How big will your foals be, Ada?"

"I don't know…" Ada nuzzled along Fluttershy's chin, her belly full of eggs pressed to the girl's neck while her tail wrapped around to hold on. "We aren't exactly big on communication as foals… That will change this time, though!"

"It will!" Fluttershy was excited at the prospect of having a lot of the adorable little parasites to care for. Practically floating, she made her way back to Twilight's desk. "What would be the easiest way to lay… or swallow… them?"

"I could lay the whole bowl full if you want?" Her voice excited and chirpy, Ada pointed a little hoof at the bowl Twilight had had her salad in. She uncoiled herself from Fluttershy's neck and waddled her way down the girl's arm to drop back on the desk.

Fluttershy's eyes widened, and a beatific smile creased her cheeks, but then everything went first purple, then dark. "T-T-Twilight!"

"You don't want to see this, trust me." Twilight gently guided her friend's face away from looking at the desk and whatever it was Ada was doing. "As for how many, I really don't know. All I can go off is how many siblings Ada knew when she was growing up, and that is from a time before she learned how to count…" 

The urge to watch Ada at "work" was great, but Fluttershy took Twilight's word on the event. "How many eggs would her mother have laid, do you think?"

Twilight averted her eyes from what Ada was doing, but still caught a flash of yellow and green from the corner of her eyes as she reached for her notebook. Flipping pages, she read out what was written. "Of what Ada believes was the full clutch, she and maybe four others survived." She passed the book to Fluttershy.

"That's not so bad, I can afford to take care of one or two, and I could probably talk the girls into fostering one each." Fluttershy was not unaware of what her "looks" could do to her fellow classmates. She didn't like to use them unless lives hung in the balance. "I don't think it would be safe for you to have more than one."

"And for you it would?" Twilight's sense of pride in her science and engineering had been poked, and she couldn't help but poke back. Regardless, logic won out. "But I think we should see how many of the girls go in for this, and distribute the little… foals… to them first." When Fluttershy started to tear up, Twilight quickly added, "After yours of course."

The plan made sense, and Fluttershy opened her mouth to agree to it when a soft, utterly tired-sounding voice called out. 

"I am done…" When Twilight and Fluttershy turned to face Ada, the little parasite was laying atop the salad bowl piled high with little, pea-shaped eggs.

Fluttershy's mind nearly exploded, and she widened her eyes in shock. "H-H-How did all those fit…?"

"This is why I told you not to watch. She lays her eggs as tiny orbs that puff up once exposed to air. It is almost fascinating in that 'makes your stomach clench just thinking about it' way." Twilight gave a few unconvincing laughs.

"Should I swallow them like this?" Fluttershy eyed the fork Twilight had been using. "I better get a spoon…" Getting up, she made her way to Twilight's kitchenette and walked in without thinking. Clanging implements sounded in her ears on one side, while Twilight's magic barely saved the glasses for a second time. "Oops…" Excited as she was, Fluttershy was still ponied up.
> Sharing the Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle was immensely thankful for winter break. Her parents were away, her brother was away, and she had the whole house to herself. Wearing her pajamas, she was curled up in a blanket in her parent's living room and was watching science reports on the television. 

"You didn't tell me it would be like this…" Twilight turned her head just as her belly gurgled again, and she grabbed up another glass of milk. No sooner did she have it to her lips and the milk pouring down her throat than the cramp in her midsection eased.

Ada tapped her forehooves together, looking bashful. "Well, they don't know you are such a nice person yet. All they know is that if they cause you to cramp, you feed them." She climbed from the couch onto Twilight's shoulder.

Fluttershy, looking more perky than she had any right to be (according to Twilight), walked into the room with a plate of cookies and another pitcher of milk. "Here. Try giving them some of these. I baked in twice as much sugar as normal." Setting the pitcher on the table, she sat down beside Twilight.

In the privacy of their extended sleepover, Fluttershy wore her pajama pants and had her top tied off above her belly. Easily visible was a slight bulge, almost as if the girl had eaten too much. Twilight, instead, opted to stay fully covered, and even had a blanket pulled around herself.

"Hey! Not again…" Twilight almost doubled over at the strain in her belly. "Why won't you just stop? This is worse than when I—"

"Eat three cookies." Fluttershy shut Twilight up by stuffing the first cookie right in her friend's mouth. "Chew it up as much as you can. Focus on me." She gazed into Twilight's eyes, and there was a moment when she felt a strange connection. 

Twilight found herself chewing methodically, and completely unable to look away from her friend. When she had chewed the cookie completely, she gulped it down. Her heart raced for a moment, then Fluttershy blinked a few times.

"What… what was that?" Fluttershy backed away from her friend, worried she had found some crazy new power she hadn't known about. "Oh my gosh. Did I brainwash you or something?"

Plucking another cookie from the tray, Twilight shook her head and blinked rapidly a few times. "S-Something like that." Biting into the cookie, she started chewing on it.

Fluttershy jerked back as if punched. "I am so, so sorry, Twilight! I didn't mean to, I just wanted to make sure you ate the cookie so the babies would stop giving you a belly-ache and—"

"It's alright, Fluttershy. You brainwashed me to eat a cookie." The feeling of panic, of not being able to control her actions, was gone now. Twilight was more interested than put off. "I don't think there is a law against making someone eat something delicious. Besides, it worked."

"Really?" Fluttershy perked right back up, daring a smile. "That quickly? You should probably have more. If they are eating that much of our food, then we need to eat even more to keep ourselves healthy."

Groaning, Twilight kept munching on the cookie, and felt the cramp settle again. "Stupid teenager brain. I know it's a lot of food, but I won't get fat!"

"You can't get fat." Ada squeezed Twilight's neck just a little, how she hugged the human. "Not so long as you have me around! Although I might get fat…" For a moment she was pensive about the idea, then a finger reached up and started rubbing her head.

"Oh no!" Twilight smiled as Ada nuzzled and rubbed her cheeks against the offered finger. "I will end up with a pudgy friend and her two million babies to feed." Droll humor was usually Sunset's thing, but it had been rubbing off on Twilight a little.

"I did not lay two million eggs!" Ada's indignation at the accusation had her even stop nuzzling Twilight's finger. "I couldn't even have that many eggs in me!"

"One million then." Twilight grinned down at Ada, noting the little grin on her snout. "Maybe a million and a half…" 

"There was fifty-four!" Poking Twilight's finger with one hoof, Ada guided it to rubbing between her ears. "And you only got half of them."

Fluttershy giggled at the antics of her friends. "I don't think they all hatched, but I do think more hatched in me than in Twilight. I wonder why?" Nibbling on a cookie of her own, Fluttershy reached up and ran a finger down Ada's mane and back.

Unable to resist a chuckle at Ada's relaxed squirming, Twilight's mind latched onto the data points and started working on a hypothesis. "I have been thinking about that. You definitely ate more than I did in preparation—"

"You didn't eat anything extra, despite me warning you." Fluttershy had been offered Ada's belly, and let her finger trace down and start rubbing it.

"Exactly!" Twilight had to stop rubbing Ada, instead needing to focus on keeping the suddenly limp little parasite from falling off her shoulder completely. "When the eggs are growing into their final stage, they must have a way of working out how much food is present."

"So if I wanted you to have all my foals, I should have made you eat less like a rabbit?" Ada was sprawled on her back, eyes closed, flicking her tail from time to time. "Next time I will stay in you and lay them inside, then make you eat!"

"Why are you all trying to make me eat?" As if to prove her point, Twilight plucked up another cookie. "These are really good, though." Just as she bit down the doorbell rang. "Mmmmm!" Chewing the cookie, she passed Ada to Fluttershy.

"Aww, did she abandon you?" Fluttershy pulled Ada close and settled her onto a nice, warm lap. "Well, I'll have to take good care of you. Does your belly need more rubbing?"

Ada looked up at the angel. She nodded, not trusting her voice, then squirmed over onto her back. The belly rub started again, and she squirmed her tail in bliss.

Twilight leaned up to peek through the peephole. "It's the girls!" Unlocking the door, she pulled it open.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash practically jumped inside. "Wow you have the heat up in here…" 

"Well, it is cold and raining." Reaching out to Twilight, Sunset hugged her friend. "Good to see you, Twilight. How are you handling the… I guess it is pregnancy?" The moment Sunset said the word she knew it had been the wrong one to use. 

Twilight's eyes had opened wide, and she seemed to lock up, completely unable to think of anything but the word "pregnant." Blinking, she didn't follow events too well until Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie had already passed her. Her eyes regained focus and she looked at Sunset. "P-P-Pregnant?"

"Sorry, Twi. I think that was the wrong word. How are you handling Ada's offspring?" Pulling Twilight along into her own home, Sunset made sure the front door was locked up again.

"… so I made you all of these because I couldn't imagine what the babies' favorites would be!" Pinkie Pie revealed the pile of iced cupcakes, setting them down beside the trays of biscuits on the table. 

"How…" Snorting, unable to finish her words, Rainbow Dash pointed at Ada. "How are her… her egg heads… doing?" With her question out, she collapsed onto the couch in a fit of laughter.

"Ignore her, darlings." Rarity sat down beside Fluttershy and joined the girl in paying attention to Ada. "I still can't believe I let you talk me into this. It just… it doesn't seem ladylike." A stray memory reminded her of a time she caught Twilight "loosing" Ada.

Ada looked up at the white girl and used her biggest, best "puppy eyes." She smiled when an extra finger started rubbing under her chin. "Thank you, Rarity. It really means a lot to me."

Everything had seemed like a downside to Rarity, until she heard about the health benefits. Just the thought of being able to eat a delicious dessert from time to time, without having to worry every second about her waistline, was tempting. "I said I would dear, and a lady holds to her word. Where are the little darlings?" She looked around, a little confused.

"Well…" Twilight lifted a hand to her belly. "Ada, do you think you could persuade them to come out yet?" One glance to her little friend had Twilight rolling her eyes. Ada was stretched out like a tiny cat, with Fluttershy and Rarity both rubbing her belly. "You know, when you are done being pampered."

Fluttershy seemed not to notice the hint, but Rarity blinked and drew her fingers back from Ada. "Sorry, I was just captivated by her…" Looking down, Rarity saw those same puppy eyes again, but this time she realized the ploy. "You are either adorably manipulative or… or evil." She rubbed Ada's jawline again before pulling her hand back.

"Awww…" Looking from Rarity to Fluttershy, Ada realized that both girls were withdrawing from the snuggling. "You won't want to snuggle me after…" Her concern, she knew, was well-founded; it wasn't often people wanted to pet the creature that someone had just coughed up.

Twilight held out her hand to Ada, her fingers steady and not shying away from the little legs that carried Ada up her arm and to her shoulder. "You are all going to get used to doing this, so might as well watch. I promise it doesn't hurt, and you get used to i—" Her last word was halted by Ada climbing into her mouth. Twilight rolled her eyes and just relaxed.

"Huh, she is just slipping right in and… gone." Rainbow Dash wasn't weirded out at all. Having seen her friend do this more than once, it was almost commonplace. Even the telltale bump sliding down Twilight's throat didn't seem odd. "That is pretty cool. It doesn't even cause you to choke at all?"

Suppressing a cough, Twilight shook her head. "Not anymore. Although you probably will gag a lot at first and…" Her eyes widened, it felt like not only Ada was coming up, but all her offspring too. Reaching for the paper toweling she kept with her all the time at home, Twilight zipped off a pile of it into a nest on her lap, then leaned forward.

Five voices expressed shock at the sight of their friend, apparently with little distress, appeared to vomit up Ada and two of her tiny foals.

"Oh my! They are so cute!" Fluttershy, fearing nothing with four legs, ignored Rarity's gasp of shock as she tore off a sleeve of her pajamas and proceeded to use it to help clean the little foals. "Aww, and I bet you are both still hungry. Yes you are!"

"They can't talk yet." Ada turned this way and that, letting Fluttershy clean her off too. Oddly, the cute parasite had become so used to being out and clean, that she found herself immediately wanting a bath. 

"You both should be snug and inside a nice, warm belly." Her words soothing the little foals, Fluttershy looked up and around at her friends.

Rarity was more shocked by the violence perpetrated on fashion, than the foals. "You… you ruined your shirt…"

"I'll take one." Sunset's eyes were locked on one of the little foals. They shared hair color, and the little one's belly even matched Sunset's skin. Clearing her through to alleviate the sudden silence, she stepped closer and reached her hand out to the tiny foal.

"Yeah, I got the other." Her eyes widening at her own words, Rainbow Dash blinked in shock. "Ah! I mean, someone has to."

Bustling back from the kitchen, and ever the pragmatic girl, Applejack had two big glasses and a jug of water. "Ah missed that. Are Dash and Sunset takin' first?"

Rainbow Dash moved fastest, as ever. Reaching her hand down, she offered it to the little filly Sunset wasn't staring lovingly at. "Hey squirt, I hope you like moving fast." Her eyes widened when they proved just how fast they could move. Scurrying up Rainbow Dash's arm, the little foal was at her shoulder and then mouth in no time. "Huh, coo—"

The girls watched as Rainbow had the little foal climb into her mouth and quickly deeper. Rainbow coughed and gagged for a moment until their long tail was down, but at last she blinked a few times. "Water… Please…?"

Fluttershy smiled around at her friends. "You are all doing wonderfully. This is so amazing to be a part of." She watched as Sunset offered her hand to the other foal, and lifted them up to her mouth.

"Thank you so much!" Ada looked between Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer, and watched a little flame-colored tail disappear into the latter's mouth. "I am so happy!" She clopped her little forehooves together in excitement.