With each of the three foals satisfied... in various ways, they left the library. A few books had been perused, and a few other sources of knowledge had been plumbed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo left for Apple Bloom’s afternoon chores, leaving Sweetie to walk with Twilight Sparkle, the odd yet fun Ponyville librarian. The gangly mare and the filly made their way smoothly eastwards and to the south, towards a terrifying woods. Someone resided somewhere near there, who might have the only hope for Sweetie Belle’s salvation.
“So um...” Sweetie mumbled, her smaller legs having to work faster to keep up with the older mare’s more sedate pace, “They’re gone, so could you tell me about... am I pregnant? I thought I was, but you said something and I didn’t really understand, but it sounded different.”
“Yes, you are pregnant,” Twilight answered, making Sweetie’s ears dip down. “I gather you don’t want to be pregnant, and you see no way to stop it until you’ve given birth?”
“And after,” Sweetie pointed out. “I have to give milk and raise the foal and... take her to school I guess. I can’t go to school anymore ever without a foal. I’ll be old by the time she’s ready to live on her own!”
Twilight listened quietly while Sweetie got a little more horrified, saying, “And if she has estrus when she turns 12 or 14 or... whenever it happens for her, then she’ll have a foal and I have to take care of both of them!”
“It was the life of ponies not long ago, evolutionarily speaking,” Twilight said in a sad way. “Once a mare went into estrus, she was able to do nothing but raise children for the rest of her life. She couldn’t have time to study and learn, or build things, or form strong friendships. The pre-unification mare would be for the most part constantly pregnant, with only a month or two of relief before she went into estrus again.”
“They did have foals every year?” Sweetie said in horror. Twilight nodded. That would be... Sweetie couldn’t do that; she’d never be able to do anything at all herself, ever again! Which was... exactly what Twilight said.
“It’s not true anymore,” Twilight insisted firmly, letting Sweetie perk her ears at that. “We have a stable population, so there’s no obligation for mares to give birth every year. Disease and famine are almost unheard of, so we don’t have foals dying and needing to be replaced on a regular basis. But estrus hasn’t gotten any easier.”
“F-foals were dying?” Sweetie squeaked. “They said the tribes were hungry but but dying? Why couldn’t they just... rest until they were better?”
“Sorry Sweetie,” Twilight said in an embarassed tone, dipping her head a bit. “Your teachers don’t want to scare you, so they just... um, lie to you a little, say it wasn’t as bad as it really was. It was... the end of the world.” She trailed off into a thoughtful silence then, somehow making Sweetie even more worried than hearing that her lessons were wrong.
“So mares had to get pregnant again,” Sweetie said agitatedly, “Because they gave birth and then their foals died? And they just... made more? Like they didn’t even love them? I can’t even imagine...”
“That, and they had no birth control,” Twilight stated grimly. “You came to the library—if I recall—asking why ponies didn’t give birth every year. Part of the answer is the magic of Harmony and the defeat of the Windigos, but the other part is birth control. You didn’t come seeking information all by yourself, did you? Apple Bloom was with you, and you were there for her sake.”
“Yeah, she...” Sweetie blushed nervously, thinking about all the troubles Apple Bloom has been having, and confided in Sweetie so trustingly, yet so desperately. Or, more like she got caught by Sweetie, with a colt hip deep in her. Sweetie didn’t know if Apple Bloom would be okay with telling some strange mare all the details about how she sort of accidentally made foals with someone she barely knew. “It’s kind of embarassing; I don’t know if I should say...” Sweetie offered hesitantly.
“You can probably tell me, Sweetie,” Twilight assured her wryly. “If Apple Bloom minded me knowing, well... I think she would have objected earlier than this, rather than gushing all over the floor, while Scootaloo copulated with me.”
Sweetie blinked at that. Had they really just done that? They had, hadn’t they? But it just seemed... natural to do so. One thing just led to another, and Twilight had been so helpful ever since they... stopped treating her like a pony to avoid. This librarian was just an ordinary mare it turns out, not like that scary evil zebra witch that Rarity said Sweetie should never approach. Once Sweetie and her friends gave Twilight a chance, suddenly they had so much more knowledge, no, not knowledge but connections. They had a... a new friend.
Sweetie had to laugh at the thought. Estrus had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo so worked up, they just... satisfied their urges without worrying about Twilight being scary or anything. Sweetie’s muzzle twisted in confusion though, and she said, “So, by gushing you mean how she peed, right?”
Twilight nodded. “Gushing is colloquial for a filly who urinates during orgasm. A lot of ponies will try to sugar coat it, say it’s some special orgasm fluid, but there’s only one organ down there that can contain that much fluid. It’s natural though, as long as you keep clean. Urine actually contains a lot of pheremones that can make... colts more aroused.”
Twilight turned to give Sweetie a surprised look saying, “Say, weren’t you performing cunnilingus at the time?”
“What’s cunni...thingus?” Sweetie asked uncertainly.
Twilight smiled and looked forward reciting, “Cunnilingus is a portmanteau of cunt and linguo or language. Cunt is a term for your general vaginal area. And you use your lips and tongue to make language. So put your lips and tongue together with Apple Bloom’s vagina, and...?”
“Ohh, cunni... linguo,” Sweetie said in understanding.
“lingus,” Twilight corrected her.
“Cunnilingus,” Sweetie recited.
“Kind of tricky to pull away before your partner starts peeing, right?” Twilight asked with a wry smirk.
“Pull away?” Sweetie asked, shaking her head. “Oh no, she doesn’t orgasm as much if I stop licking her.”
Sweetie ended up a few paces ahead as Twilight stopped in her tracks. Turning to face her, Sweetie was about to ask when Twilight said in surprise, “You mean, she... you didn’t pull away?”
“Yeah, she kinda gets it all over me,” Sweetie said bashfully, “It’s not so bad though. You can wash off the yucky part of it really easy.”
“Yucky part?” Twilight asked faintly.
“Yeah, the really smelly um... yellow part? The only thing left over isn’t bad, it sort of smells like flowers.”
Twilight leaned down to Sweetie Belle, and took a cautious sniff. “So, what I’m smelling now, is...” she said reluctantly.
“It’s not bad!” Sweetie protested. “I can wash it off if you really want me to...”
“But it is Apple Bloom’s... scent?” Twilight prompted.
Sweetie half nodded, then shook her head. “Apple Bloom smells differently than her pee. She’s more musky and dark, not as flowery as um... this.”
Twilight ruffled Sweetie’s mane with a hoof, saying, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just really curious what you’ve been up to.” She started trotting again, letting Sweetie catch up from behind. “I’ve never had a chance to see a pony marked by another pony before,” she said in an intrigued tone. “You don’t feel especially submissive towards Apple Bloom, do you?”
“Submissive?” Sweetie asked uncertainly. “I usually only submit to Scootaloo. Or, am I using the word right? I let him put his penis in, and he does most of the work.”
Twilight couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter, “I guess that might count as submissive,” she said. “But I meant if you feel a need to obey what Apple Bloom tells you to do. Her scent is on you, after all.”
“I don’t... think so?” Sweetie offered in confusion. “She doesn’t usually tell me to do anything... but I guess I would? I mean, she’s my friend? What do you mean marked anyway?”
“I said earlier that urine contains pheremones,” Twilight stated. “That would be the ‘flowery’ smell you detected, after washing away the urine. It arouses colts, but it also... identifies the pony in question. Anypony who knew Apple Bloom’s particular scent could easily tell that she was the one who peed on you. So it’s like marking you, with an Apple Bloom stamp.”
“Huh...” Sweetie said her brow knotting in concentration. “So, me and Scootaloo are marked with Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo is also marked with me um—that is... y-yeah, marked with... I did sorta pee on him a...little. I just need to mark Apple Bloom and we’ll all be—um—” she felt like she was blushing from head to toe. Did she just say she was going to pee on Apple Bloom on purpose?
“What’s fascinating is that marking has been a way to establish dominance or hierarchical authority,” Twilight said, “But here you’ve used it to establish non-hierarchical directed graph connections of friendship, and it doesn’t seem to be conflicting with your instinctual blah blah blah”
Sweetie Belle just kind of... followed the talking unicorn at that point, with her with her head down, letting Twilight say all those big words that half made sense, but not enough to make sense sense. One thing is for sure, they fully made Sweetie feel embarassed and uncomfortable about what she had thought was just an innocent, accidental sort of thing. But also it had Sweetie a little intrigued. Did ponies really think she was Apple Bloom’s... um... something, because she smelled like this?
“Sweetie?” Twilight said for the third time, making Sweetie jerk her head up.
“Huh?” she said cluelessly. They’d walked out of town and down the road, ambling towards the border of the Everfree. Sweetie shuddered as she looked at the scary forest. Never again. She hoped wherever they were going, they would get there soon, because they were getting awfully close to that spooky forest. Where did this path lead, anyway?
“Sorry, I got a little... sidetracked,” Twilight said to Sweetie walking alongside her. “I really do have something important to tell you. About your pregnancy.”
“O-oh right, that,” Sweetie said, her tail going down a bit guiltily as she remembered how this whole thing started. “We’re going to... fix it, right?”
“That’s the plan,” Twilight said agreeably, “But you need to know what it means by fix it, before you make a decision.”
“Well, I’m pregnant now,” Sweetie ventured, “And then I... won’t be? I guess I’ll go into estrus, and I’ll feel like Apple Bloom. But you said you knew something for that too, so that’s okay. I don’t really mind. Except for the pregnancy, it looks like a lot of fun. You know Apple Bloom, er...”
Sweetie sighed. “When Shady showed Apple Bloom about her inside place, we almost didn’t catch them. She didn’t even know what she was doing, just wanted to sneak off with him and cuddle and stuff, but by the time we caught up he was already on top of her! She was so excited about it, that it just happened to her like magic. And we pulled him out in time, but she started trying to get Scootaloo to do her next. We were going to use the dildo, but I managed to use my tongue to get her calmed down first.
“I guess my point is, she was so excited it just looked thrilling. I’m kinda envious, because I never felt that strongly.” Sweetie paused to flag her tail up in the air and wave it around experimentally. “Just wanting the boy inside, not even thinking about anything else. When Scootaloo—” Sweetie cut off then, but just to trot ahead, prompting Twilight to resume motion and once again take the lead.
“When Scootaloo tried licking Apple Bloom,” Sweetie admitted while she followed along in Twilight’s hoofsteps, “He couldn’t stop getting on top of her, and I... waited until they were doing it. Apple Bloom was just so... happy. She knew it would make her pregnant but I think... she was just so excited she didn’t even realize they were making a baby. It’s stupid, but...”
“No, it’s ...fine,” Twilight said, turning her head up there, looking at the trees they were passing, to decide which fork in the trail to take.
“I teased Scootaloo to remind him,” Sweetie said with a guilty tail droop. “Like he was forgetting, but then Apple Bloom actually said ‘Oh no’. I think she just... actually forgot what would happen if Scootaloo went in her. I just... I just wanted to show them how sneaky estrus was. Apple Bloom didn’t even know she was making a foal, even though she was doing it! So I let them um... penetrate, and that was how Apple Bloom learned how easy it was to make a mistake.”
“Didn’t think it might make her pregnant already,” Sweetie said a little tearfully. “I really wanted Apple Bloom to... I was jealous that she got to feel so...crazy and excited, and I should have pulled them apart right away. I wanted to see her just taken that way. But I almost got her pregnant, because you said it can happen if he just puts it in, not always if he squirts in there.
“So, I’m sorry Miss Twilight,” Sweetie concluded unhappily, “It really was my fault we did the pulling out t-thing. We won’t do it again, I promise.”
“That’s... quite a story, Sweetie,” Twilight said bemusedly. “But I think you have the wrong idea. You shouldn’t apologize for separating Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. You really did save her from becoming pregnant, because if he ejaculated, the chance of success would be much, much higher. When I said it was wrong, I meant... that some ponies think you can do nothing besides just pull out early, and you’ll never get pregnant. That belief is wrong, not only because sperm could be in the pre-ejaculate, but because you saw yourself how easy it is to forget, once in coitus, and before you know it you have ejaculated, and your mare is... that is, your friend is pregnant. If you only do it in emergency, you’re doing the right thing. I just don’t want you to think that you can always do that, and not bother protecting yourself.”
“But I don’t think that!” Sweetie protested. “We didn’t even do it again. I just had to show Scootaloo once, and then they were scared enough to be careful.”
“Exactly,” Twilight said in a satisfied tone, “So you have no reason to apologize at all.” She added on a more serious note, “I can’t even imagine if poor Apple Bloom got pregnant. Her family has been through such hardship. And you saved her from that. So no, Sweetie, I don’t think you did bad. In fact, thank you very much for saving one of my best friends from having serious family problems.”
“O-okay, but I still won’t do it again,” Sweetie said hesitantly.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Twilight admitted frankly. “Though, we’re all curious when Rarity is going to foal.”
“R-rarity?!” Sweetie squeaked.
“She has her own boutique,” Twilight explained, “She has some very lucrative customers. She’s done very well with her life, and she is very capable of raising a foal right now. So if she can raise a foal, and she wants to raise a foal, I’d be happy to see her pregnant!
“You, I’d be less happy to see pregnant,” Twilight continued, “And Apple Bloom or Applejack would be just... awful.”
“I suppose if it’s okay for Rarity, then I could have another... sister...” Sweetie said thoughtfully.
Twilight shook her head at that. “Not any more than the foal in your belly would be your sister. Rarity’s foal would make you an aunt!”
“Huh,” Sweetie said not sure how she felt about that. “I sort of... did want my foal to be my sister though,” she admitted. “I know not really, but if it could happen I mean... I wanted to teach her about all the things I’m going through. So s-she wouldn’t make a mistake like I did...”
“That’s very noble of you, Sweetie,” Twilight said kindly. She said a little less kindly, “I wish your parents had felt the same way.”
“They told me about... stuff,” Sweetie protested weakly. “They’re just really busy and... um... away and stuff. Rarity taught me a lot, just she was too late because I was so eager to get under Scootaloo all the time.”
“I still have to have a talk with Rarity,” Twilight said in a dissatisfied tone. “She should have told you about Cannensis estroga. That is a special flower which can induce ovulation and prevent implantation, by convincing your body that you’re not ready for a foal yet.”
“O-oh, so,” Sweetie said in realization.
“Yes,” Twilight said flatly. “You were pregnant the moment Scootaloo ejaculated in your vaginal passage, and you are pregnant right now, but you probably do not yet have a foal in you. It’s still in the blastocyst stage, er... it’s still just a little... ball? My friend can really explain it better.”
Sweetie thought she understood, maybe, saying, “So if I eat those flowers, then...”
“Then it will stop the blastocyst from implantation,” Twilight said gladly, “And you’ll be as foal free as a filly who’s never put so much as a carrot in there!”
“You can put carrots in there?!” Sweetie blurted with wide eyes.
Twilight blushed and smiled nervously, turning to face her path, saying, “Er, um, usually there are devices called dildos which are much more sanitary, but you can”
“Oh, I have a dildo,” Sweetie realized. “I gave it to Apple Bloom though, because she needed it more.”
Twilight blinked at Sweetie Belle in the shady indirect light.
“Where did you get a dildo?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Rarity gave it to me,” Sweetie said somewhat sadly. “She hoped it would help with my estrus so I wouldn’t have to do what... Apple Bloom was doing.”
Twilight stared at her, saying in intolerant surprise, “She gave you a dildo and she didn’t tell you about the possibility of aborting your pregnancy?”
“I would never abort!” Sweetie exclaimed looking at Twilight in sudden horror. “That’s murdering the foal!”
Twilight’s ears just immediately went flat. “I... just...” she said with a very strained... almost smile. “And Rarity told you this was true?” she asked.
“No, she didn’t say anything,” Sweetie said nervously. “But it was Miss Cheerilee. I-it was horrible, she said they just stick a... a metal claw up there and just grind up the... and she was so mad she said we should never get pregnant or that would happen...”
Sweetie whispered, “I couldn’t tell her I was already pregnant. I just had to pretend that I would be good, like the other fillies in estrus. She never ever showed us pictures like that before. It was horrible. A-and there was so much blood, and the little hoof... it was...”
Sweetie couldn’t continue. Twilight’s ears remained flat though, and she just trotted on grumbling very quietly to herself, something about “Cheerilee,” “murder” and “in her sleep.” Unfortunately, this downtime gave Sweetie a chance to notice her surroundings.
“Why are we in the Everfree forest?!” Sweetie Belle shrieked, drawing up short at the oppressive, swampy jungle pressing in on her from all sides.
“Ssh!” Twilight said, spinning on her hooves to berate Sweetie Belle. “This is timber wolf territory, and they’re quiescent by day, unless you wake them up! Normal tones of voice, please.”
Sweetie couldn’t answer because she was still trying to make herself breathe. The dark rustling in the bushes, the eyes in the darkness, it was just as scary as the last time. They were on a path but... everything beyond it was hidden behind fronds and leaves. Twilight sighed at Sweetie Belle, and sat down, pulling the paralyzed filly against her comfortingly.
“Don’t worry,” Twilight said, clearly trying to sound soothing, but coming off more as annoyed. “I come this way all the time. We’re just going to see my friend. She is an experienced herbalist and potion maker, who has the tincture you need to abor—to stop being pregnant. It’s okay, she lives here.”
“She lives in the... the...” Sweetie said disorientedly.
“Where else are you going to find the best ingredients?” Twilight quipped, standing up beside the filly. “Don’t worry, her house is probably the safest place in the whole forest. We’ll go talk to her, and she can tell you about what you can do.
“Well, or you could stay there while I go on ahead,” Twilight added teasingly, walking a few paces. Sweetie was instantly under her legs and trembling.
Somehow Twilight coaxed Sweetie into continuing, if only from the promise that her friend’s house was not the Everfree forest. Sweetie had heard so many scary stories about here, about foolish foals wandering off and never being seen again. It almost happened to her once too. She’d been so foolish, and then only her babysitter could save her and her friends!
And Twilight brought her into this place...
Sweetie was fully convinced that she had followed a madpony into the jaws of death itself, once she saw Twilight’s friend’s house. Of course it had to be a tree. Clearly madponies always lived in hollowed out trees, even if they lived in the middle of town. But around the tree house hut were these wooden painted... things that looked like horribly distorted pony faces. There were weird charms and bangles hanging off the branches that clinked in the eerie breeze that seemed to have no source to it.
“Don’t worry Sweetie,” Twilight said admonishingly, “This stuff keeps the monsters away. These are just masks they wear them for ceremonies. Yes they look weird, but this one by the door? It means welcome! You think those big square... green lip things look evil? I think it looks kind of silly. Sweetie, calm down you’re going to be fine. Deep breaths Sweetie, deep breaths.”
Sweetie had just about calmly collected her wits, and was totally calm, cool and collected when the door swung open, and, illuminated from within was a Sweetie Belle shrieked and ran from the evil zebra witch, who was going to eat her whole and—she couldn’t run! She was being lifted off the ground! The dark foliage held deadly creatures beyond measure, and behind her was an evil enchantress! Was Twilight Sparkle even real? Maybe the librarian was an evil enchantment, who just looked like a unicorn!
“Sweetie,” Twilight said to the frantic unicorn bawling her eyes out and pedalling in the air. “Sweetie I can’t let you go, because you really could get hurt if you just run off into the Everfree. Sweetie, she has stripes what is so bad about that?”
Sweetie couldn’t answer, so they foalnapped her. They dragged her kicking and screaming into the house, and locked the door, and left her huddled beside it, a drooping mess of terror. A stoneware cup of what smelled like chamomile and lemon floated in an ordinary unicorn’s magic down to the floor in front of her hooves. Sweetie just stared at it dumbly, and looked up at the evil monsters, one disguised as a pony and... and one as a not pony, both just staring at her uneasily. Evilly.
“This is my friend Zecora,” Twilight stated carefully. “She is not evil.” It didn’t work.
“Care to try your tea?” Twilight asked Sweetie, while the zebra Zecora remained silent. That’s how Sweetie knew this tea was poison. She had to get out of here!
“N-no I’ll just be going, thanks!” she said tightly. Nopony moved to open the door.
“She’s not evil, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said angrily.
“But she’s a w—”
“Zebra, yes,” Twilight interrupted her. “And you’re a pony. A zebra is just an animal like any one of us.”
“But the masks!” Sweetie protested, swinging a hoof to point at the scary things.
“I just said they weren’t evil,” Twilight said in a pained grimace. “At worst, they’re masks telling monsters to stay away. They look strange, because they’re from far away, where ponies... zebras have different art styles.”
“But the forest...” Sweetie whimpered.
“Greetings, little miss Sweetie Belle,” the evil enchantress said suddenly, in a deep commanding, melodious voice, “I must say you don’t look so well. But is it me you truly fear, or is it what you merely hear? I am but a simple mare. I have done no evil, here nor there. Is it so hard for you to think that I may not be evil? That those who say so, lie?”
Zecora and the crazy librarian were just sitting on stools at a little table, like they were having an ordinary tea party, in this crazy hut full of bottles and masks and tied up leaves, and jars, and a big bubbling cauldron. And Sweetie was backed against the door... with a teacup at her hooves.
Zecora continued to talk to the silent as death Sweetie Belle, as if it were just a normal average conversation, in that thick, powerful voice of hers. And always rhyming. “As for why I live in the forest, Everfree, the reason should be easy to see. You flee my home, you run and scream, if your father saw, what would he deem? Would he let me live in Ponyville, or would he chase me away, intent to kill?”
“M-me?!” Sweetie blurted aghast. “I only did that because you’re an evil enchantress!” she shouted, pointing at the zebra accusingly.
The evil witch seemed to... wilt at that for some reason. Twilight spoke for her then, saying to Sweetie, “But your father wouldn’t know that. He would just hate her, without any evidence she was evil at all. All he saw was you scream for no reason.”
“But, no he knows. He knows the evidence!” Sweetie exclaimed. “What about our crops that one spring?”
“Would that be the spring little rain came, and nopony knew why?” Zecora pondered. “How did I overcome the strength and courage of all pegasi? I make but a simple brew. Change the clouds, I cannot do.”
“You can’t prove that!” Sweetie protested hotly.
“What about when Big Macintosh and Cheerilee fell in love?” Twilight cut in unexpectedly, staring daggers at Sweetie Belle. “Was that Zecora’s fault?”
Sweetie looked away saying, “N-no that was our... my fault. But I apologized for that, and I’ll never do it again!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t Zecora, Sweetie?” Twilight said in a syrupy voice. “Maybe you’re lying and it was her all along.”
“I’m not lying!” Sweetie said standing up angrily. “I did it, and I apologized, and it was okay! Because nopony ended up en...chanted.”
She sat back down.
“But you can’t prove she didn’t!” Twilight said in mock shock. “So that must mean she did! I guess everything bad that ever happened is Zecora’s—”
“Twilight Sparkle, cease your rant,” Zecora interrupted glaring at the purple unicorn mare. “Subtle as a charging elephant. Let Sweetie Belle go on her way. I cannot help if she will not choose to stay. If she wishes to hate me in her heart, then our ways must forever part.”
Twilight crossed her hooves and refused to move. Zecora made to rise, but stopped, then sat on her stool again, looking at Sweetie Belle worriedly. Sweetie looked back and... she just wanted to... she had to... she had to ask.
“Do... you always rhyme?” Sweetie asked nervously.
“No,” Zecora replied smoothly.
Sweetie glanced down at her tea and back to Zecora. “You... promise this isn’t poison?” she said trembling.
“Chamomile with a touch of mint,” Zecora responded, “Is all that I have put in’t.”
“If she was going to poison you,” Twilight said irritably, “She would wait to poison your regular food, not the tea she—”
“Twilight Sparkle, if only all it was you lacked,” Zecora interrupted again with a snort, “Was your complete and total lack of tact.”
Twilight looked at Zecora, and then at Sweetie, and then back at Zecora and blushed. “Sorry,” the purple unicorn said abashedly. “Look, how about this?” Her magic enwreathed Sweetie Belle’s cup, and Twilight took it to her lips and made a very deliberate act of swallowing a sip. Then she returned it to Sweetie saying patronizingly, “Mmm. See? Not poison.”
Sweetie took the cup in her hooves, and took a sip... by the door. The tea was starting to get lukewarm. She took another sip.
Twilight told Zecora most of Sweetie’s story, while Sweetie stayed there not talking, but... calmer. She watched with big pale green eyes, as the zebra’s ears sank with sadness, then brightened with happiness, as they got to the good and bad parts of the story. It was just as if Zecora was a real pony. Her coat wasn’t even a color though. It just had black and white stripes all over, conforming to the shape of her body. Then again, Sweetie was sort of that color too, just without black stripes. Zecora’s mane wasn’t even flowing though; it was stiff and bristly, and cut short. But it was still a mane.
The only time Sweetie got really scared after that, was when Twilight told Zecora about when Cheerilee taught her about abortion. Sweetie had been thinking the zebra wasn’t anything special, and wondering if those stripes were paint or maybe even burns, but when Twilight said what Cheerilee had shown them, Zecora got really mad. When the unicorn told of those pictures way, way more terrifying than anything else Cheerilee ever had shown them before, Zecora got so mad that the air seemed to shrink with tension, and a fire glittered in her eyes. And that was it. She calmed down then, and was just... normal again. Sweetie didn’t understand. Zecora wasn’t going to explode like Rarity, or like... um... like Rarity?
“Sweetie, you must see, what you were taught is not reality,” Zecora said first off to the confused unicorn filly. “The foal you saw so gruesomely killed was likely 9 or more months fulfilled.”
“9 or more?” Sweetie asked, from the door, just in case. “Why would they do it after 9 months? That’s just evil! They could have just waited a little, and she’d be born!”
“Not every mare can bear a foal,” Zecora said, “It is an act that takes its toll. In rarest cases her health will wane, no longer can she her child sustain. We kill the foal, and no other, only when to wait will kill the mother.”
“Even fillies can have foals, with no complications,” Twilight assured a frightened Sweetie, in a sudden hurried tone. “You are very stretchy, and you will most likely not die from giving birth. What Zecora said only happens to ponies who are very ill, or have very, very rare medical conditions that prevent their bodies from sustaining a foal.”
Sweetie was still trying to get her mind around the “die” part. “What um, happens that could... make the mother die?” she squeaked.
“Her veins can swell and her heart can fail,” Zecora said seriously, “Her womb can draw too deep, her death very pale. To an infection she alone can drive from her, the burden of a foal will overcome her. Sometimes, the foal you can save. Other times, for both of them, a grave.”
Okay Sweetie really, really, really didn’t want to be pregnant now.
“That has happened a tiny armful of times, over many centuries,” Twilight said to the terrified little unicorn filly. “You have no signs of anything like that, and if you ever do, it will not kill you, if you act swiftly to ab—ah... separate yourself from the foal. Zecora is saying this because... because where did Cheerilee get those pictures from?”
“Indeed,” Zecora responded sagely, “These rarest times of greatest woe, they are not pretty, you know. Whether child or mother dies, the ugliest of deaths beset our eyes. What your teacher showed you that day, without an abortion would have happened anyway. Vile curs, who mothers revile, will snatch up photos of these deaths, while they take them to little miss Cheerilee, and tell her this is the way every abortion shall be.”
“She was... lied to?” Sweetie said faintly. “T-those pictures weren’t real?”
“Most abortions are painless, and clean,” Twilight responded. “If you gave somepony moldy hay, and told them hay was always like that, yes you would be lying, and yes hay is sometimes moldy, but you would still be lying, and ponies don’t have to be afraid of hay!”
“In Twilight’s words I am agreed,” Zecora said, sipping at her tea. “What you have within you, cannot even bleed.”
Sweetie blinked. “My foal can’t... bleed? What?”
“Twilight Sparkle, if you would,” Zecora said with a strained look. “Seeing her foal would do her good.”
Twilight looked at Zecora and brightened, “Of course! A teleprojection spell would... why didn’t I think of that?” She seemed puzzled. “Why didn’t I think of that?” she repeated. But she shook her head, and said, “Oh well, anyway it’s a great idea. That’s why I have friends like you, Zecora!”
“I may have not your skill of mind,” Zecora said with a blush, and apparantly zebras can blush, “But sometimes a friend can new ideas, find.”
Twilight stood from the table and walked around it, saying, “Sweetie, can you come over here? I promise it’s nothing dangerous, just a simple spell. Well, not simple, but very very harmless. I just want to show you what your foal looks like inside your body.”
Sweetie couldn’t stumble to her feet fast enough. “You can do that?” she squeaked, trotting over. “In my belly you mean? But my belly is in the way! You can see in there? I don’t even know—” she stopped in her tracks and looked frightfully at the zebra who was still sitting across from Twilight after all. Zecora didn’t make any sudden movements. Not taking her eyes off her, Sweetie uneasily continued, saying,
“I don’t know what’s in there even, just that it’s a foal somehow. I don’t even know if it’s a colt or a filly!”
“Relax Sweetie,” Twilight said, attracting Sweetie’s attention with how Twilight went and lit up her horn. “Without resistence, I should be able to get in your... yes, there we go.”
Sweetie tilted her head, then glanced back at her flank the others were looking at, where her belly was glowing in Twilight’s magic. “Ooh,” she said engrossedly.
“Ha, that’s nothing,” Twilight said cheerfully. “Check... this out!” and with a... weird weaving in the air, the mare’s horn called forth a flat projection of a vague circle of really pink... gooey stuff.
“What’s that?” Sweetie said, gasping as the projection moved the moment she did. Just twisted around all weirdly. What the...
“It’s a remote projection spell,” Twilight explained. “I cast my magic into some place in your body, and what is in there appears visible out here. What you are seeing now is your abdominal wall, and... diaphragm if I don’t miss my guess.
“My um...” Sweetie said still uncertainly.
“Your muscles, Sweetie,” Twilight said. She patted Sweetie’s belly and when it twitched so did the... muscles on the projection. Sweetie watched fascinated that she could make parts of that weird pink stuff tense up and loosen by clenching her abdomen.
“Oh, it’s just like my inside place!” Sweetie declared. Then blushed, and said, “I–I mean, it’s not weird, just it’s pink like I am inside my... um...”
Zecora finished for her, saying, “We may have different fur, you think, but inside we are all a wet, fleshy pink.”
“Yeah...” Sweetie said gratefully. Why was she even scared of this zebra lady? It was just like she was a pony, like anypony else!
“Okay, I’m going to go deeper,” Twilight announced. “This might tingle a bit, but I want to try to find your womb.”
Sweetie’s heart was fluttering from the anticipation. “Yes please,” she said, torn between looking at her glowy belly, and the projection of her insides. Twilight concentrated, and the matching glow on Sweetie Belle moved deeper inside her, so just her skin was glowing from within, like a magenta light bulb. The projection meanwhile showed more pink, and... more pink, and then a pink cavern of flesh.
“Hm...” Twilight said pensively, “No that’s your stomach, I need to go lower.” She did and a... like a little sphere of pink flesh showed up, though the pink looked more striated than the rest of her, and with a tingly pop, the projection switched to inside the sphere. “There we go!” Twilight said cheerily.
Sweetie wasn’t sure what she was looking at. “It looks like a red... golf ball?” she asked hesitantly.
“Hold on, let me up the magnification,” Twilight muttered, concentrating and making the light narrow in Sweetie’s belly, and the tiny circle of red expand to the size of the full projection area. Now Sweetie could see that it was a... a space, of some sort, like a cave, and the walls were covered in some sort of red fronds.
“This is your womb, Sweetie,” Twilight told the fascinated filly. “You can see the uterine lining, which is where a foal would embed itself. The foal isn’t embedded yet though, or you’d be able to see a spot that was more flushed and redder than the rest.”
“The foal em-beds in those?” Sweetie said. She was on her back at this point, which didn’t seem to disturb the projection, poking at her belly where the light was glowing from. So that was exactly right where her womb was. Wow...
“You know,” Twilight said amiably, “Implantation. The foal latches onto your uterine lining, and starts growing within you.”
“Oh, okay,” Sweetie said looking at the projection again. “But... I don’t see the foal. She’s in my womb, right?”
“Not... necessarily,” Twilight said. “Let’s see if we can find your oviducts.”
“Oviducts?” Sweetie pondered, “Ohh, like egg ducts. Where my egg comes from?”
“Yep,” Twilight said. “The er... ‘foal’ spends a while in those before finally popping out into the uterus. Okay, that looks like one. If we’re lucky, we can find it up there.”
Sweetie was looking at a slight part in the uterine lining, just a dimple really. “I’m going to up the magnification again,” Twilight said. The dimple zoomed forward as the light concentrated inside Sweetie’s belly almost to a point, until her uterine lining looked like a giant canyon wall, and the dimple led mysteriously further inward. Twilight obliged Sweetie’s unspoken curiosity and moved into the oviduct, which was a big... pink tunnel. More pink.
“Okay, I’m going to add a genospecific filter,” Twilight said. Doing so made blue speckles appear all over the walls.
“What’s that?” Sweetie asked.
“Some harmless bacteria most likely,” Twilight said without concern. “They keep infection from establishing itself... which is good news because we’re deeper inside you than Scootaloo ever managed to get, so good luck cleaning that out! We’re looking for a much bigger speck though. At this magnification it’d be about the size of a hemp seed.”
Sweetie looked closely, and the projection slowly moved down the tunnel revealing more and more of her oviduct, until... it just spread out further than you could see.
“Well, not this one it looks like,” Twilight said unsatisfied, “But would you like to see your fimbriae?”
Sweetie had absolutely no idea what those were, so she said, “Okay?”
Twilight zoomed the magnification down again, and the distant edges of the oviduct revealed themselves as wavy fronds, like the tube itself was fraying out into delicate strands of flesh. The area around her oviduct was strangely empty, considering it was in Sweetie Belle’s tummy.
“Cool...” Sweetie said amazed at all this complex stuff in her.
“You think that’s cool, you should see Apple Bloom’s!” Twilight said wryly. “When a mare is in heat, they will move around, brushing her ovaries to catch any eggs coming out.”
Twilight zoomed over to a fleshy sort of... sheet that Sweetie Belle’s fimbrae were floating over, and said, “That’s your ovary.” Sweetie Belle’s ovary looked like a lump embedded in the sheet, that the fimbrae dangled over as if in a fluid. “Those are what make eggs during estrus!”
“Wow...” Sweetie said. “My eggs just pop out of that?”
“Yup,” Twilight chirped. “Then they go down your oviduct, and wait for the sperm there.” She added as an afterthought, with a wink to Zecora saying, “Actually, you’ve seen something very similar to that already, Sweetie Belle. Your little coltfriend doesn’t have ovaries, but he does have testes. You see where my light is in your belly? That’s where your ovaries are.”
Sweetie looked down at that glowing sphere deep within her belly, then back up at the projection. “They’re pretty deep inside, huh?” Twilight prompted. Sweetie just nodded shyly. “Scootaloo has two very fertile little lumps too,” Twilight continued, “But the inside of his body is too hot for sperm, so his lumps have to be outside of him, in a little sack.”
Sweetie was starting to understand, but it was still Twilight who said, “You may have seen them before, down at the base of his penis. Two little somewhat firm lumps.”
“Oh, yeah!” Sweetie said, looking at the projection again. “So that’s why I don’t have anything down there, because my... lumps are inside me?”
“Yep,” Twilight chirped, so pleased as punch to be actually understood.
“It’s weird how everything for me goes inside,” Sweetie mused, “But everything for him goes outside. Like his penis goes out, and my vagina goes in. And I guess my ovaries go way in, but his um... boy-ovaries—”
“Testes,” Twilight reminded.
“His testes,” Sweetie corrected herself, “Have to be outside of him too. And even when he’s—!” She paused, looking at them unsurely, saying, “Um... doing me, it has to come out of him, and go into me.”
“It’s really poetic, I think,” Twilight said. “Stallions and mares have so much in pairs, and the stallion’s goes one way, while the mare’s all go the other.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie said with a small smile at that. “Scootaloo is a very outward kind of pony. But um... so is Apple Bloom and... so, what are we looking at again?” she turned to stare at the projection, trying not to blush.
“Your ovary here produces eggs,” Twilight explained, “Just as his testes produce sperm. If they ever get from his lumps to yours in there, the two unite and produce a blastocyst. And from there, a foal is formed!”
“So his lumps make the white stuff,” Sweetie said thoughtfully, “And it has to connect with my eggs in there, which is why he has to squirt it up in me.”
“That’s very um... candid,” Twilight responded squirmily, “But the er ‘white stuff’ is mostly his prostate fluid. From a gland deep inside his pelvis. It fills up over time, and when it’s full he can, well, squirt it out! His testes only release the sperm when he’s ready to do it, bunching up all close to him and squirting a teeny tiny bit of fluid, that his prostate fluid picks up when he ejaculates.”
“Oh so that’s why his...” Sweetie paused thoughtfully. “Scootaloo complain...er...says sometimes that right before he ejaculates, his um... balls get all tight. I guess that’s when he’s adding in the sperm?”
“I’m mentioning this,” Twilight said, “Because a colt who doesn’t want to impregnate any filly only has to block that tiny bit of sperm, but not the vast majority of his semen. Then, he wouldn’t make any filly pregnant at all, but it still feels exactly the same.”
“Because his prostate...thing?” Sweetie guessed.
Twilight nodded eagerly. “Exactly, it’s completely indistinguishable!”
“Some crafty stallions,” Zecora put in, “Make estrus less of a toll. Courting mares, who cannot tell they are not yet with foal.”
Sweetie was getting excited now, saying, “So Scootaloo could—”
“Well, the problem is it’s sort of permanent,” Twilight interrupted. “Stallions should only do that if they are very sure they never want to have any foals.”
Sweetie frowned, and couldn’t imagine Scootaloo ever actually wanting to have foals. But then again, he really wanted it whenever he did it in her, so maybe he would someday?
“An IUD is the very best way,” Zecora stated somberly, “But there are many other ways to keep foals at bay. Each way having in them both good and bad. No filly today need ever give birth, sad.”
“If only ponies would get with the times...” Twilight grumbled. “Those blasphemous Celestials are everywhere these days.”
Zecora kicked her under the table.
“Oh! Um!” Twilight said looking at a re-scared Sweetie Belle, with nervous eyes. “Don’t worry Sweetie I know you’re Celestial. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just a political um...thing I’m sort of helping the princess with here. I’m just arguing about silly nitpicking, y’know, about what the princess wants, what she can do, whether she likes tea, eh heh.”
“The princess protects,” Sweetie said seriously, like she was supposed to. Twilight hesitated, but she and surprisingly even the zebra bent their heads and said,
“The princess protects.”
So, they couldn’t be witches or Crystatologists, or they couldn’t say those words, but they weren’t Celestial? This was making Sweetie’s head hurt.
Twilight spoke somewhere between embarassment and irritation. Sweetie could kind of understand why the irritation, since the librarian’s horn was still active. Sweetie Belle couldn’t use magic yet, but she at least understood how unpleasant an achy horn can be. The older unicorn said embarrittably, “Let’s just wrap this up. I really want to show you that blastocyst.”
“What’s a blasto-cyst?” Sweetie asked, glad to focus on simple, mundane things like a magnified, magical projection of her ovary hovering in front of her.
“Foal,” Twilight corrected herself. “Let’s find your foal.” Zecora rolled her eyes for some reason. The zebra was remaining mostly silent through the whole process though, clearly letting Twilight’s lecture take center stage. Except when Twilight needed to be kicked under the table.
Zooming back down the oviduct, Twilight panned around inside Sweetie’s uterus, until Sweetie saw a second dimple, saying, “There! You just missed... yes, there!” Her second oviduct was in a different direction, as Sweetie could see in her own abdomen, from the brilliant bright spot travelling up in a slow arc within her. Sweetie didn’t watch her own belly a lot though. First she had to watch the projection, to find a seed sized speck of... something that would be blue colored.
All too quickly, there it was, a little blue ball just floating in there. “It’s quite close to the exit,” Twilight said nervously. “Not too much longer and we’d be dealing with abortifacents and lining removal. But there you have it, Sweetie. Your foal.”
“Um...” Sweetie gave Twilight an odd look. “Where? Is the blue speck an eye, or... something?”
“No, that’s your entire foal,” Twilight said. “It’s called a blastocyst. Let me up the magnification to 400 now.” She did so, and zoomed right up to the bigger blue speck, until it resolved itself into a ...bubble... or something? It just looked like a bubble.
Twilight explained to the dumbfounded Sweetie Belle, for what good it did to help her understand. “Approximately once a day, the blastocyst divides all its cells, clustering the ones intended to be lower body at the bottom, and upper body at the top. That’s pretty much all it can do at this point. It starts growing bigger once it’s implanted in your womb, and can draw from your blood to feed itself.”
“But it’s just a... um... bubble,” Sweetie said uncertainly.