Library Activities

Rarity’s slow, painful awakening would be harshly interrupted by the echoing flip of a switch, and a bright light shining in her face. She had the most painfully throbbing headache around one of her eyes, and the bright light only made it worse.

“Where...?” she said squinting at the light and covering her eyes with her hoof. Except her hoof wouldn’t rise. She looked down at herself, only to discover that she, Rarity herself, had been strapped and buckled securely to a smooth table, restraining her every movement.

“Oh no, not again,” she thought to herself, trying to pull herself loose. It would have been a simple matter for her talents to set herself free, were it not for another unicorn interrupting her every time she tried to undo a buckle or strap.

“T-twilight,” Rarity said nervously to the room around her, “Let’s be reasonable about this now. No need to get defensive. We’re among friends, remember?”

“This,” Twilight’s voice came from... somewhere, accompanied by the appearance of a projection that caught Rarity’s eye, a projection of the image of a shiny copper coil in the shape of a Y, “Is an IUD,” Twilight explained. “The modern design, known as the safe sterling, or simply the Y. It is assembled as you can see from a nonreactive frame, tightly wrapped in fine fused copper wire...”

Rarity groaned in exasperation, despite her inability to do much more than roll her eyes. It looked like this was going to be another long night.

She didn’t quite expect to be crying by the end of it though.

Well, at least she finally stopped crying. Thank goodness for small favors. Spike really wasn’t sure how to deal with Sweetie Belle being like this though. This filly was really upset! Twilight needed Spike to field for her during estrus, and now he guessed, Sweetie Belle did too?

Spike knew that like every other pony, Twilight got crazy this time of year, and this year was crazier than most. If Twilight didn’t depend on Spike to be her very special and important #1 assistant, he would have been tempted to shut himself in a room with some comics, and just wait until the whole month had passed. There were a lot of crazy things that came along with living with ponies, but Spike had to put this estrus thing at the top of the list. Not that he really knew much about how it went for dragons, but it sure wasn’t something that hit you every single darn year!

And now Sweetie Belle was all crazy too. Not that it was out of the question that she’d be seen crying; she was such a sensitive pony after all. But Sweetie Belle was one of those ponies now, and Spike didn’t know what to think of it. He wasn’t sure if this reaction Sweetie was having was that estrus thing, or if it was just Sweetie being Sweetie. Spike was curious, and wanted to help if he could, but Twilight didn’t like to talk about estrus, and he was pretty sure Sweetie would be the same way. And really, he didn’t really want to know about all that gross mushy stuff that ponies seemed to obsess over.

“So,” he said conversationally, walking away from the door leading out of the rare books room. Around the room was an array of glass fronted bookshelves, their magically preserved contents looking worn and well used. There weren’t many books in this room yet; Twilight had to import them from her old collection in Canterlot pretty much. But she hoped one day that it would be a historically significant archive, whatever that means. And Sweetie Belle was sitting there by the desk with a reading light, her belly flat to the floor while her four little hooves were gathered underneath her conservatively. She had a dull look in her tear stained eyes, like when Spike needed to take a nap but didn’t want to. So he repeated himself, attracting her attention by clearing his throat, and saying,

“So, Sweetie Belle, how’re you doing? You okay?”

The unicorn filly looked at him with some bit of surprise in her eyes, then half smiled at Spike and admitted, “I’ve been better...” in that subtly wry drawl of hers.

He sat down beside her, asking hopefully, “Is this really about Rarity?”

Sweetie blinked, and said, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, it’s just that you’ve been under a lot of stress lately,” Spike remarked carefully casually, “And you’ve been having that whole estrus thing this year, and maybe you just misunderstood what Rarity was trying to say?”

“It’s not about the—” Sweetie said, her tail lashing in outrage. “Rarity was— she— ugh!”

“I’m just sayin’,” Spike went on, “It’s just kind of hard to believe that you didn’t have anything to do with it, if you somehow managed to anger somepony as beautiful as... her,” he finished reverently.

Sweetie looked like she was considering how to yell at Spike, but then she looked down and relaxed, and just said quietly, “Be careful about Rarity, Spike.”

That made him pause. “Me?” he asked, “What’d I do?”

“She’s the greatest, most best sister I could ever ask for,” Sweetie emphasized intently. “She helps me, and even lets me stay with her, and we help each other, and I love her so much. But... she has a hard time with some things and... she could hurt you if you’re not ready for it.”

“Me?” Spike repeated with a laugh, “I’m a dragon, don’t worry! I can take it!”

“No, I mean,” Sweetie said, extending a hoof from her bread loaf impression, to press it against Spike’s chest, “In here,” she explained.

Spike wasn’t sure what she was getting at, and Sweetie could tell. She pulled her hoof back, tossing her head back, making those fine curls of her mane bounce lightly, and huffed out, “Ohh, you’re so lucky you don’t have to deal with estrus, Spike!”

“Yeah, but Rarity isn’t even phased by estrus!” Spike protested. “She’s too sophisticated, and serene!”

Sweetie blinked at him. “No, I didn’t mean Rarity,” she said, “I mean me. Rarity has always had estrus! But this is my first... one.” She looked away, and blushed shyly saying that. Not the sort of thing Spike was going to pry into.

“It does sound pretty rough,” he told her appeasingly, extending a claw to stroke along her back comfortingly. Sweetie seemed mollified by that, and her breathing evened out. She was so soft, and warm. Maybe even warmer since estrus started.

“I thought being a mommy was the hardest part about it,” Sweetie said, shaking her head. “But really it’s the crazy things it makes you do, I just dunno how to deal with it.”

“What about being a mommy?” Spike asked curiously.

Sweetie looked at Spike seriously, and said, “Estrus is about being a mommy.”

“It is?” he said surprised. “What does going crazy over stallions have to do with foals?”

“That’s how foals get a daddy,” Sweetie explained. “The mommy—I mean—the filly, or mare goes um ‘crazy’ over stallions, and they make a baby together.”

“Really?” Spike said with wide eyes. “How does that happen?”

Sweetie tilted her head, and kicked her legs back, flumping out more relaxed on her side over by the reading table. “Stallions have a special seed,” Sweetie told the dragon crouched beside her easily. “You live here, how do you not know about this already?”

“Twilight always changes the subject whenever I ask,” Spike said with a shrug. “Ponies get all embarassed about that estrus stuff, especially here, so I don’t like to bother them about it. I didn’t think it was that big a deal.”

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Sweety remarked wryly, “But I can understand why they’d be embarassed. It is really um... embarassing to lose control of yourself, and to need another pony to help you out. They could hurt you, but you just want to stand there and let them do what they want, and that’s kinda scary.

Sweetie sighed, saying, “I never thought I’d be in heat. But here I am. I’ll just, feel like I’m just playing, but then I get all excited, and next thing I know, we’re both trying as hard as we can to make a foal. Being in estrus doesn’t feel all that different, but then I start liking things that I never cared about before. Like chasing colts, and presenting for them, and teasing them and stuff.”

“What’s presenting, again?” Spike asked, quite interested in what Sweetie had to say.

“That’s when a pony holds their butt up in your face,” Sweetie said in a practical tone, struggling up onto her hooves. “A filly’s rear end is where babies are made,” she said, demonstrating for a nervous Spike how a filly presents herself. “Right up inside your—I mean, in my hindquarters,” Sweetie indicated with a hoof. “There’s a place for making foals right in there.”

“Woah, Sweetie,” Spike said warily, standing up behind her, “You don’t look so good down there. Kind of swollen?”

“That’s the other embarassing thing,” Sweetie said, tugging her tail down self consciously all of a sudden, “Is you look sick, but you feel really good. So ponies who don’t know keep wondering if you have a fever or something. But no, that’s just my foal place, and I guess it just gets like that in estrus.

“That’s why estrus makes my um... the outside of my vagina more seeable,” Sweetie explained, standing somewhat sideways to the little dragon. “So colts can find it, and go in there, and put a baby in my belly. And that’s the weirdest part. I mean, can you even imagine me with a foal? Like my mom, except it’s me instead of her?”

“It is pretty hard to imagine,” Spike admitted, scratching the back of his head. “You’re not like most ponies. I suppose you could be a mom? You’re just a kid though! A foal, I mean. No offense.”

“None taken,” Sweetie said covering her mouth to hide a giggle. “I’m not a goat though.”

“Yeah yeah,” Spike said waving a claw dismissively. “I guess I’m just saying I can’t see why you’d wanna be somepony’s mom all of a sudden.”

“And I’m just saying that—” Sweetie started to retort, but paused thoughtfully. “I have wanted to be a mommy more since estrus started,” she admitted carefully, “But estrus makes it easy to be a mommy on accident even!”

“On accident?” Spike said, aghast.

“Yeah, it makes it reeeeally easy,” Sweetie said. “Apple Bloom almost accidentally became a mommy. And actually I almost did too, though it was just because I didn’t know. And I bet there are some other fillies in class who end up being mommies next year, and they might not even know it yet!”

“How would they not know they were mommies?” Spike asked incredulously.

“Well, it really isn’t obvious,” Sweetie said noncomittally, looking off to the side. “It kinda hints at it, but the way to make foals is easy to do without even knowing about foals at all.”

“So, how do you make foals?” Spike asked. “I sure don’t wanna do that on accident!”

Sweetie frowned, but her tail twitched up a bit jovially, and she said, “Well, it’s gross like I said. But for the ponies doing it it doesn’t feel gross at all. At least, it didn’t for me. But it does sound gross, even though it didn’t feel like it to me.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Please, Sweetie,” he drawled, “I am all about gross. I’m a guy! Nothing grosses me out!”

“Are you sure?” Sweetie said nervously, “Because Apple Bloom couldn’t find a single colt who didn’t get grossed out, at first.”

“Need I mention those tasty worm muffins?” he responded with a smirk.

Sweetie stuck her tongue out. “Bleagh,” she said, “Okay, fine. So, to make a foal, every colt—stallion has this special seed that fills up inside them. And every mare has a special place inside their bottom where a colt can grow. That’s why mare’s bellies get big when they’re pregnant, because the place there is full of her foal.”

Spike cast down his palm, leaning on one of the bookcases casually. “Pff,” he said, “If big bellies is the only thing you got, I’m not even a teeny bit grossed out!”

Sweetie frowned, but said, “Well, the gross thing is—I mean, mares have eggs that grow inside them, and arupt from the ovary, and the eggs can grow and grow until they’re a foal, but only when they combine with a colt’s seed. So that’s why everypony has a daddy, because his seed turned the mommy’s egg into a blastocyst, and it turned into a foal then.”

“Still not—” Spike started to claim, but Sweetie interrupted hastily adding,

“But the gross thing is how the colt gets his seed to reach the filly’s egg! She can’t just lay it like a chicken. It has to stay way up deep inside her. So the colt has to get his seed inside her somehow.”

Sweetie lifted her tail again, using a hoof to spread apart her vulva slightly. “That’s the way to my womb,” she explained in an oddly heated tone. “He has to go way deep in there,” she said intensely, “And fill it all up with his seed. If he does that, then it’s done, and I have a foal in my belly. Well, in a week, or so—”

“So, he uses his hoof?” Spike said uncomprehendingly, looking peculiarly at Sweetie’s underside.

“No,” Sweetie stated, feeling a blush creeping onto her cheeks. “He uses his... penis.”

“His what?” Spike asked.

“His penis,” Sweetie repeated more clearly.

“His penis?!” Spike exclaimed, falling right back on his thick tail.

“Yes,” Sweetie said in a frustrated tone, lowering her tail and facing Spike. “His penis. He puts his... penis in me a-and makes me... I told you it was gross.”

“What if he pees in you?!” Spike continued to exclaim with alarm.

“He can’t—” Sweetie sighed anxiously. “He can’t pee in me,” she said. “His penis changes. It... it gets really big and stiff, and then he can’t pee, and really wants to rub it on things.

“Or in things,” she made sure to emphasize. “Like in fillies, where I um... back there. If he rubs it enough, then kaboom!”

“Kaboom?” said a frightened Spike.

“Yeah, he starts um, he pushes it really deep, then it starts moving around in there on its own,” Sweetie said uncertainly, “And then you feel all this hot slimy stuff squirting against you in there.” Sweetie lifted a hoof, adding, “It’s um... gross, but fillies have to like it because... because they have to like making foals. So, now I like it, even though it’s gross. I didn’t think I would, but when it happened I—I liked it.”

“His... his penis,” Spike said queasily.

“Y-yeah,” Sweetie said self consciously.

“And he’s not peeing,” Spike prompted.

“No, but he sure is doing something,” Sweetie said giddily.

Spike scratched his head, saying, “How does he even... I mean, can he turn his penis sideways? How does he get it to your um... bottom?”

“Oh, that’s nothing special,” Sweetie dismissed with an easy hoof wave. “He just climbs on top of me, and holds my hips. It puts his hips right in place to push his penis in.”

“And he just... pokes a hole in you?” Spike added even more queasily.

“No, I—I already have a hole,” Sweetie confessed squirmily. “I’ve... had one since I was born. Fillies just... have a place where they go inside. It just looks like we don’t have any hole back there besides our butt, because it stays all folded up except when a colt stretches it open with his penis. So I actually have two holes... back there. And one I have to be really careful with, because estrus... estrus makes it so if a colt puts his penis in there, then I could get a foal inside me.

“Apple Bloom thought he poked a hole too,” Sweetie said with a nervous laugh, “She was kind of tight in her place at first, so she thought he just poked a hole in her when he stretched her too much. But actually he just went in the one she always had, but never knew about.”

“I dunno, Sweetie,” Spike said shakily, “That is really... weird. I didn’t think it was that bad. You really have a—a hole?”

“Well, you have a mouth,” Sweetie said somewhat resentfully. “I just have a... a different kind of mouth between my legs, for colts to put their penis into.”

“A-and you’re okay with... that?” Spike said in disbelief.

“I... well... it feels really good,” Sweetie explained in a pleading tone. “It’s like... getting stretched really wide, and sliding and sliding. It just... it just feels so incredible! And now this estrus makes it all itchy and... hungry. Yeah it’s kind of like an itch, but also being hungry. So, that goes away when I let a colt do that, and it starts feeling really good.

“I’m not okay with that,” Sweetie continued, “I don’t want to have to bring a foal to class every day, even if it was my baby. I got a... a special thing that lets me do it without having any foals happen in me. But it still feels really good. I-it’s hard to say no. I just like... having things in there. Everyfilly feels like that, it turns out. It just feels really good to fill up vaginas with um... penises and stuff.”

“I... guess so,” Spike said reluctantly. “It doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Well, you don’t have a vagina, so you don’t have to worry about it,” Sweetie snapped, walking over to look at the door, peeking through the window out to the greater library hall. “Though, you do have a penis,” she then remarked thoughtfully. “I mean, I think you do, since you’re a colt and all, just a dragon one. Do dragons have penis—?”

“Yes, dragons have penises,” Spike said curtly.

“Do female dragons have penises?” Sweetie asked speculatively.

“I don’t... know, but I don’t think so?” Spike said with confusion.

“Well, you might do things just like ponies then,” Sweetie said matter-of-factly, “So if you ever feel like putting your penis in a girl dragon, make sure she has an IUD or else you’re gonna be a daddy dragon.”

“Maybe I won’t feel like doing it?” Spike speculated, walking up beside Sweetie Belle, “I don’t think I get that estrus stuff. I am a baby dragon, technically.”

“But you’re older than I am!” Sweetie said in puzzlement.

“Dragons age more slowly!” Spike declared. “It kind of sucks, honestly. You’re gonna be all grown up and I’ll barely be a teenager!”

“A teen-ager?” Sweetie said raising an eyebrow.

“It’s a stage in dragon puberty,” Spike said dismissively. “Trust me, you do not want to know.”

“Well—” Sweetie hmphed, “Well, ponies don’t have it easy either! I hate having to grow up so fast! I just want to have fun and play around, and then everything just gets so serious!”

“Boy, Sweetie, I dunno,” Spike said with a shrug. “I can’t remember when that hasn’t been true. Things just get really serious sometimes. It’s not something that only happens to older ponies!”

“Estrus is something that only happens to older ponies,” Sweetie mumbled resentfully.

“Well, apparantly not!” Spike declared to the sullen filly. “You’re not an older pony, and it’s happening to you. Plus don’t really old ponies stop having it?”

“Yeah, after parturience, but that’s such a long time!” Sweetie complained. “I was fine last year. And now I’m stuck with it! It’s not all bad, I mean, but Rarity! She’s never been this mad at me before!”

“I still can’t believe somepony so amazingly elegant as her would do something so rotten like that,” Spike shook his head. “She must just be mistaken. I’m sure Twilight can set her straight. Twilight always knows what to do. Well, except with those gala tickets they were fighting over last week.”

“I don’t know what Rarity’s problem is, but she... she wasn’t angry at me until I started yelling at her,” Sweetie said. “She was just taking me in her magic, and going to do something... awful. But she wasn’t angry, she was just... scared!”

“Did she ever stop being scared?” Spike asked. “Maybe you thought she was angry, but she was still scared?”

“She thought a little copper Y was a big mean old foal eating tooth monster,” Sweetie said wryly. “I think she was still scared, yeah. But if it was last year, then I wouldn’t have estrus, and I wouldn’t need this thing, and I wouldn’t be sticking my tail up for Scootaloo and... other colts, and whoever really. And then Rarity wouldn’t be ...scared of me.

“Oh my Celestia, Rarity is scared of me!” Sweetie exclaimed sinking to her belly in a sudden realization.

“You’re not scared of me, are you Spike?” she then asked giving him a nervous sideways look.

“Nah,” he said casually, patting her side. “You’re about the opposite of scary. I’m the one with teeth and claws!”

“Even when I... lift my tail at ponies?” she whimpered. “You have to admit that’s pretty weird.”

“So, stop lifting your tail?” Spike suggested uneasily.

“I wish I could!” Sweetie exclaimed. “I’d only lift it when it would make ponies happy then, and Rarity wouldn’t be scared of me.”

“You can’t stop?” he added even more skeptically.

Sweetie nodded solemnly. “With estrus, it just... it just practically goes up all by itself. I barely even think about it, and then I’m ready to get mounted. It’s kind of like... like being hungry. You always have gems that you can’t eat, so you know how that feels right? Sometimes you eat them anyway?”

“Uh... yeah I...heh heh...” Spike sat on the floor, looking away self consciously. “I get to have more gems to eat when I help your sister,” he explained hesitantly. “So it’s fine if I can’t eat the ones she uses. Plus she makes the most beautiful looking dresses with them!”

“Well, but you sometimes eat the ones you shouldn’t, and it’s hard to stop from doing it,” Sweetie persisted.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he said glumly. “I’ll try not to—”

“No, I’m not getting mad at you!” Sweetie protested. “I just meant that when estrus started... I mean, when I stopped being pregnant this month, I started to do that with colts. It was just Scootaloo before that, but now it’s like... like when you see a really tasty gem. I just even look at colts, and... and I just want to present and get them inside me. Scootaloo helps me with it so it’s not that bad, but I mean, it is kinda... scary. So I guess that’s what Rarity is afraid of... I guess.”

“I guess...” Spike agreed unhappily. Both of them looked at each other in a dissatisfied manner. “So you really like colts putting their penises in that hole in your butt? I guess it makes sense, if somepony has a hole like that. They want to do things with it just as much as colts want to with their penis. It’s really weird, but I dunno about scary. Do you pee out of that hole, too?”

“No!” Sweetie exclaimed quickly. She shifted her hooves under her and said, “Well, yes and no. There are actually three holes down there, the butt hole, the vagina, and the you-wreathral opening. One is connected to my stomach, and poop comes out of it. The other is connected to my um... thing, and makes pee, and the third goes to my womb, which makes foals. But the pee hole is really tiny, you can’t even see it except the pee coming out of it. So my vagina does not make pee, but it’s kind of close to the you... the pee hole, so they kind of look like they come from the same place. It’s kinda subtle really, but it’s important for a filly to know.”

“So a tiny hole, and a big one, and your anus?” Spike said scratching his head. “Can’t really picture how you’d be so full of holes down there. Your butt just looks like it doesn’t have any... well, it has the anus, but it’s always all scrunched up.”

“They’re all always scrunched up,” Sweetie said, standing and pointing her rear at him again. “But you see how I spread apart, right?” she demonstrated. “It just keeps going in after that, near the... the top I think. But below there, all the rest of the pink stuff has plenty of room for a teeny little hole for pee.”

“Okay, okay, I get it now,” he said a little irritated. Sweetie was way too happy to stick her butt in his face. It was weird how—

“Oh,” Sweetie gasped in a mollified realization. “Oh, I’m... sorry Spike,” she lowered her tail, and turned to face him again. “This is what I’m talking about,” she emphasized. “I just point my butt at just anything these days, and it’s because estrus is trying to get me to have foals.”

“You’re way too young to have a foal,” Spike said. “It seems really mean if estrus is trying to do that!”

“It’s just what happened,” Sweetie shrugged. “Miss Twilight said something about the... the really long night this year. It... shouldn’t be as bad in other years, I hope at least. I wonder if maybe we’re all going into estrus early, because this season is so bad?”

“I dunno Sweetie,” Spike said speculatively. “But I think I know how we can find out! C’mon let’s go see if there are any books on estrus!”

“Are you sure?” Sweetie asked nervously. “Twilight said to stay here, and not let anypony come in.”

“But she didn’t say not to let anypony come out,” Spike retorted smugly, puffing out his chest. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I know Twilight. If there aren’t ponies pounding on the door by now, then she’s pretty much got everything under control.

“I’ve been reading a lot about estrus lately,” Sweetie said as Spike poked his head out the door to take a look around. “It’s silly but, I never really got to visit the library before, and now it’s estrus, so that’s what I’m reading. But there are so many other books, it’s just unbelievable!”

“That’s why you got me,” Spike said with a smile back to Sweetie, “I’m Twilight’s number one assistant librarian! I put all these, well a lot of these books on the shelves, so I can help you find whatever you’re looking for!”

“When you get to be a big dragon, are you gonna sit on a big old pile of books, instead of gold and gems?” Sweetie asked, only half jokingly.

“That’d be pretty silly, Sweetie!” Spike laughed. “But hey, who knows? Maybe I can figure out a way to make my hoard a library, and then I can help ponies instead of just being a dragon and sitting on stuff. Dragons have kind of a... bad reputation there.”

“For what?” the little unicorn asked, following him into the dimly lit stacks.

“Sitting on stuff,” Spike repeated. “When you live as long as a dragon, you can just sit around for a long time, just on accident, and then you wasted your time, and everypony else’s time, and you didn’t use your hoard for anything! That’s why I like living with ponies, because you keep me sharp!”

“Huh,” Sweetie responded in a semi-intrigued, and somewhat flattered tone.

“Yeah, dragons my age are usually just sitting around and eating gems, and sleeping a lot,” he said casually, “But I get to do so much more, thanks to Twilight. She’s always been there for me, and with her come the rest of the ponies, and with them come exciting and cool stuff!”

“You sound like you like her almost as much as Rarity!” Sweetie quipped cheerfully.

“Yeah, but don’t let her know I said it,” Spike replied with a bit of a blush. “Now let’s go find something to read. Twilight won’t mind as long as we do it in the rare books room.”

“Hmm, something about seasons, and um... estrus and the sun,” Sweetie suggested. “I mostly read so far about the things you do, not what causes it.”

“Here we go!” Spike said from up on the ladder, “Estrus and the sun,” he climbed partially down and presented it to Sweetie in his claws. She took it in her mouth, and deposited it on her rump, looking back up to him there on the ladder.

“What other books are around here?” Sweetie said curiously, “It isn’t the place where the other estrus books were, over by health and fitness.”

“Yeah, this is general zoology,” he said, “About what makes different creatures tick, ponies, dragons, bears, you name it.”

“What about ponies and dragons?” Sweetie suggested giving him an oddly enthusiastic smile.

“A book about both?” Spike offered. “Well, the encyclopedia maybe, but D and P are pretty far away.”

“No, I mean like... like hybrids,” Sweetie said in a conspiratorial tone.

Spike shrugged and climbed the ladder again, sliding it along the track until he found what he was looking for.

“I wonder what half dragon foals would look like,” Sweetie remarked curiously from down there.

The book slipped right out of Spike’s hand and thumped down on the floor.

Meanwhile, across the room, Twilight Sparkle had a very important presentation to give to her good friend, who was currently strapped in sensibly restrictive restraints, despite how Rarity continued to try to defeat the purpose of them by undoing them with her magic.

“This is an IUD,” Twilight began. She described the history of their creation, and the mechanism of their action. She went into the popular reaction against them, and the politics involved, the disempowerment of mares and how that is used to quell dissent and prevent hardships from reaching the ear of the princess. Wouldn’t want the princess to know you were having problems, because what kind of mother would you be if you had to ever ask for help, right? Right?

Twilight talked about the psychology of ponies, and the fear inspired in herd leaders at the thought that they might be rendered powerless, through the empowerment of their mares. Sterility and impotence a terrifying reality evolutionarily, but in practice only serving to obstruct ponies from protecting themselves, for the sake of a greater community who really would rather mares just shut up and either get pregnant, or go die somewhere. How cruel ponies can be, trying to preserve the antiquated and closed minded status quo, but... that they were still ponies, and just had to be set right and shown how to express their urges constructively, rather than in ways that hurt others.

What started to get through to Rarity though, was not Twilight’s inspirational speech, but when she started simply talking about what kind of ponies around the world used an IUD, or other forms of birth control. There, she hit a nerve.

“Birth control is both widely accepted and practiced in the capital city of Canterlot,” Twilight said amidst her information dump.

“Oh, Canterlot,” Rarity said loudly, rolling her eyes at that in disgust. She hadn’t spoken much until that.

“Rarity, you love Canterlot!” Twilight said in frustration. “Why are you so negative about it?”

“Canterlot is the most wonderful place in all of Equestria,” Rarity said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “And yet here I remain, tied to a table in your basement, in Ponyville.”

“You’ll get there one day,” Twilight said not appreciating the diversion. “I’m sure you can invest in a shop once your boutique does well enough.”

“What of my friends here?” Rarity asked in a sulking tone. “I can’t just leave to live in some shining city without them. What about Sweetie Belle?”

“Your friends...” Twilight sighed. “We’re your friends, Rarity. We will understand if you have to spend some time away to fulfill your dreams. Heck, maybe Princess Celestia will suggest you and I move back to Canterlot together!”

“And Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked in a ...less than consoled tone.

“Sweetie Belle...” Twilight tried not to grit her teeth, “Your parents are just going to have to take more responsibility about raising their own daughter.”

“Are they, Twilight?” Rarity said in agitation. “Are they really?”

Twilight... didn’t want to admit she didn’t have an answer for the less than graceful neglect Sweetie Belle’s parents displayed. “Back to the topic at hoof,” Twilight said, moving to the next slide. “As a center of education and awareness, and the personal domain of Princess Celestia I might add, when something is adopted by Canterlot, it is generally a good idea to pay heed to that!”

“As if anypony doesn’t know what’s really going on up there, Twilight,” Rarity said in a mocking tone. “You were so near to it, yet so sheltered. Ponies don’t live in Canterlot to respect the princess, they do so to scheme against her, deceive her, and manipulate her. Why should I listen to one thing those so-called noble ponies assert to be the Celestial truth?”

“There is no Celestial...” Twilight pushed a hoof into her forehead. “The Canterlot noblery can be pretty horrible I admit, but what does that have to do with sensible reproductive practices?”

“It has everything to do with it!” Rarity said imperiously, “Who else but they would be so despicable as to try and cripple our next generation with tortuous instruments of mutilation?”

“They wouldn’t get a hoof in the door if that were true,” Twilight countered hotly, “The princess would never allow it! Rarity, you’re better than this. I know what the ponies in town have told you, and... and even your pastor, but it’s just not true. You have to be able to understand that there are better ways to think about things, if you ever want to be accepted into the Canterlot—”

“I didn’t have to be a stupid, ignorant hick,” Rarity spat at Twilight viciously. “Oh don’t deny it Twilight, that is exactly what you’re thinking!”

And, inexplicably Rarity’s anger started to war with a trembling fear, her fury wild on both ends as she shook in her restraints. “I could have made it, Twilight!” she said shrilly. “I could have escaped this horrible, backwards town. You think I didn’t want to? You think I didn’t try?”

“Rarity, you can...” Twilight said feeling lost to comfort the agitated mare. Undoing her restraints was the last thing that would be good for Rarity, as she was now. But unable to do more than thrash against them, Rarity seemed content to just lie there and yell at Twilight angrily.

“But no,” Rarity told Twilight bitterly, “No Rarity had to be the big sister. Rarity had to compromise! Rarity has to live with it every single day knowing she could have made it in Canterlot, that she could have been somepony!”

Twilight couldn’t think of anything to do to this beautiful white friend of hers, reduced so quickly to such a dissheveled, sobbing mess, at just the innocent mention of Twilight’s home town. Twilight at least had enough presence of mind to turn off the projector. Then she walked around into Rarity’s visual range, looking at her with concern and saying, “Rarity, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but what’s so bad about Ponyville? You’re still a very capable, available mare, with connections that could get you just about anywhere you want.”

But instead of consoling Rarity, it just made her worse! “What’s so bad?” Rarity about shrieked, staring at Twilight in unabashed revulsion. “What’s so bad?! You don’t even—you don’t understand even one little thing about Ponyville, you stupid... Canterlite.”

“That’s not even an insult, Rarity,” Twilight told her flatly. “You know, I don’t think this is about an IUD at all. This is about—”

“I had to take it out of her, Twilight!” Rarity said in a suddenly panicked tone that made Twilight skitter back a foot from the table. “Everypony says it’s nothing but an evil temptation to sin!”

“Just because they say it is, doesn’t mean it is!” Twilight shouted back in agitation.

“It is though!” Rarity countered desperately. “It has to be! They can’t all be wrong, can they? Can they, Twilight?”

Twilight was going to answer, but Rarity just kept going on, practically begging her at this point.

“It’s a good thing she doesn’t get to have one, isn’t it Twilight? Isn’t it? How could it be good for Sweetie Belle to have one? Why should she have something like that in her womb? Why does she get to have one, and I never—”

...

Rarity fell silent.

Twilight... cursed her own brilliant mind, for being able to easily make connections and conjectures, to realize what she couldn’t believe was true. To be able to embrace a comfortable lie, and deny a horrible truth, that was something Twilight just wasn’t able to do.

“Rarity...” she said in quiet dismay. What could she say? What could anypony say?

“They took it away from me, Twilight,” Rarity said in a quiet voice, her expression hard to see in the dim light of the room with the projector turned off. “I thought...” Rarity sighed. “I had heard it was all the rage in Canterlot,” she explained. “I knew that... that ponies in the know could be... safe, and... and I was wrong. They told me I couldn’t have one. I had to be wrong, you see. It can’t have been wrong to do so.”

Rarity hung her head, her face wet from tears, and just whispered out, “I tried so hard to be a good mare, Twilight. To be a good filly who never strayed. I just... why does she get it? Why does she get to be a... a somepony?! And I... I’m just... somepony’s...”

She couldn’t continue then, just crying softly. Too softly for Rarity. Twilight never wanted to ever see her friend crying so softly. Rarity wasn’t even testing her restraints anymore, so Twilight just started undoing them herself. It was a stupid idea to do this to Rarity anyway. It wasn’t fair to her that she had to just... Twilight felt like a dragon in a tissue shop. She just wanted to show Rarity some sense, not break her like this. Why did she even think this stupid chin strap was necessary?

Yep, Twilight was finally starting to realize that, while she thought she was being calmly rational this entire time... she’d just gone and let her temper get the better of her. Again.

“I’m so sorry, Rarity,” Twilight said, helping the slumping unicorn off of the examination table. “I should never have... you don’t have to tell me anything. But can’t you see what you almost did to Sweetie Belle? You know how... how horrible it is and you... I’m so sorry, just... just let me get you a place to lie down or uh... or stand up or something.”

Rarity stood on her own shakily, giving Twilight a frightened yet dull look. “Please Twilight,” she said quietly, “You can never ever tell anypony about this. Not in Ponyville, especially not in Canterlot. And especially not Sweetie Belle!”

“Rarity, I—”

“Just don’t tell her!” Rarity said in a tight whisper, “That’s all I ask, just... I’ll tell her myself one day just, please don’t tell her.”

Twilight firmed her muzzle. “I won’t tell her, Rarity,” she said evenly.

“You have to promise me!” Rarity told her urgently, getting right in her face, “You have to promise!”

Twilight sighed. She pushed her friend out of her face and said, “You have to tell her. She almost... you almost did something very bad to her, and you’re going to have to face up to that. You can’t just leave this to fester inside you. If you can promise me that you’ll tell her, then I promise you that you will be the one who does.”

“I’ll tell her, Twilight, I just...”

“Not in a year. Not next month. You have to tell her right away.”

“As in... right away, right away? Or would next week be too inconvenient?”

“...whatever works, as long as you promise to tell her.”

“I promise, Twilight. I may... I may say the wrong thing, but I will... tell her. I promise.”

“Then I promise that she’ll hear it from you, and not from me,” Twilight said in satisfaction.

“Thank you, Twilight,” Rarity said, sagging as she fell off her own hooves. Twilight had to catch her and ease her gently to the ground. Then she just sat there in the basement, together with her distraught friend exhausted and witless totally thanks to Twilight’s stubborn inflexibility. Twilight really hoped that this was a situation like tearing off a band-aid, and not a situation like getting your hoof caught in a gopher hole mid-gallop. Trying to comfort her distressingly quiet friend, Twilight Sparkle honestly wasn’t sure which of those was the better analogy to this metaphorical wasp’s nest she kept stomping on, in her friendship studies here in Ponyville.

After Rarity had made her way out, and Twilight made sure not to even imply that Sweetie was in this library with her, after Rarity left, Twilight Sparkle went to check on her number one assistant, and on Sweetie Belle. To her relief, Sweetie wasn’t crying anymore. In fact she looked pretty cheerful, crouched there together with Spike, engaging in something Twilight Sparkle always approved of: reading a book together.

“Sweetie?” Twilight said gently.

“Oh!” Sweetie startled, turning and looking up at Twilight with big eyes. Spike shut the book meantime, and slid it off the reading table. “Hi miss Twilight,” she said with a little shy smile. “I-is Rarity okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Twilight said, “But what about you? Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie smiled. “Spike really helped me feel better. I–I really like what I did, and I don’t think Rarity should take it away.”

“If she even so much as implies she’s going to do that, Sweetie, you come straight to me,” Twilight said. “Or find another adult, a trustworthy one who won’t get upset with you just for using an IUD or a quote, murder coil, unquote.”

“...it’s not really murder, is it?” Sweetie asked with far too much uncertainty.

“It’s not murder,” Twilight said with enough conviction to make up for it.

“So, there isn’t really a little foal in me,” Sweetie said uneasily, “And you’re just... I mean, if you were pretending, by showing me a fake bubble to make me feel better, then it’s okay. You can tell me if there really was a foal in there.”

“Huh?” Twilight said in vague confusion.

“I–I was just thinking maybe you didn’t want to tell me about the foal,” Sweetie said. “So you just made up a story about a blastocyst. I–I only know what you told me, and can’t do the magic myself yet. But I mean, if you were, and there really was a really tiny little cute foal inside me, then I... I mean... I want to know.” She firmed her lip.

Twilight fishmouthed for a bit. “I... I don’t know what... what do you want me to do, make a Pinkie Promise?” Twilight asked confusedly. “The blastocyst is the embryo, and there’s nothing else in any way foal-like anywhere in your body. Even if you had twins, it would be two blastocysts, or one in the case of identical twins. Who told you that—”

“It’s just that Rarity said—” Sweetie started.

“Rarity is wro—” Twilight closed her mouth. She opened it again. “Rarity is having a really hard time right now with... telling you the truth,” Twilight said sadly, pretty sure that didn’t qualify as spilling Rarity’s secret. “She got really... hurt a long time ago, and wants to pretend that she—that she wasn’t. You need to talk with her, Sweetie. She has... a lot bottled up inside, and only you can help her get through it.”

“Only me?” Sweetie said with those, honest, green eyes of hers. Not a color many ponies shared...

“Yes, only you,” Twilight said, touching horns briefly with the filly. “You need to talk with her, but... don’t force her. Let her talk about it at her own pace. And if she lies to you again, well... I promise you that she’s trying her best. I’ll keep talking with her, trying to help if I can. But for now at least, I am almost completely sure that Rarity is not going to try to remove your IUD.”

“So, I can go home now?” Sweetie said hopefully.

“Yes, you can go—” Twilight realized at that moment, that Sweetie Belle was not referring to her house down by the windmill. “Yes, Sweetie Belle,” she told the filly solemnly, “You can go ...home now.”

Sweetie left a lot happier than she came to the library, which was always a success in Twilight’s mind. But Spike was walking on eggshells the whole time, and he thought Twilight couldn’t see he was trying to hide that book that they were reading. So Twilight rolled her eyes and levitated it out from behind the bookcase, more intent on putting it wherever it belonged than invading his privacy. But something about the title caught her eye.

“What page was he on, 236?” Twilight muttered, the book opening in her magenta magic and flipping through the pages. It was pages 237-242 it turns out, but there was no ambiguity in what he was looking at. “Deerboar,” Twilight mumbled as she flipped through it, “Dogerigar, Donkrat, Dovehawk, Draco—”

”Spike!”