The platform clanked into place and Rarity was plunged into darkness, the only light coming from a small periscope-like apparatus through which she could see Twilight's face. Given what she'd just been told by Twilight, the machine felt uncomfortably similar to a coffin. Fortunately, the darkness and silence didn't last long, as she the machine whirred to life, several small crystals on the inside starting to glow various colors.
        "Alright, Rarity, I'm starting the scan. It'll take a few minutes to complete, so we can pass the time with some small talk. Would you rather be told all of the results at the end of the scan, or find out each result as it comes in?"
        "The second option. If this is as important as you say it is, I'd prefer to find out any relevant information as soon as possible."
        "Alright, that sounds reasonable…" Twilight replied. "Well, first of all, the magic I detected is measuring as pretty strong. It's about seven hun…" She trailed off, deciding to rephrase her report. "It's about fifteen percent as strong as the Elements of Harmony."
        "Well, that's not too surprising; it'd have to be pretty strong to warp the fabric of reality itself." She thought for a moment. "Do you know where it's coming from yet?"
        Twilight sighed. "No, unfortunately not. I'll tell you when I've pinpointed the source." She paused. "In the meantime, we can just chat. You said you masturbated last night? With a dildo?"
        Rarity cleared her throat. "Is it really relevant? That's… kind of a personal matter."
        "That's the spirit of the holiday; that kind of 'personal matter' becomes acceptable to discuss openly." Twilight chuckled. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Was it the Super Sexy Seminal Satiator 7000?" She chuckled. "I know I've barely been able to get any work done since I got mine."
        Rarity shook her head. "If you ask me, the refills are just an elaborate scam; if I wanted to spend five bits for every orgasm, I'd hire a cheap prostitute."
        Twilight smirked slightly at Rarity's comment. "I can understand that, but it's definitely been worth it to me. One shot from it and my heat's gone for at least a few days."
        Rarity nodded slowly. "Twilight, you *do* know that Flim and Flam have been mixing their own… 'special sauce'… into the refills, right? To get it into as many unsuspecting wombs as possible?"
        Twilight rolled her eyes. "First of all, that was the 6000, not the 7000. Second of all, it was *one* disgruntled worker at the bottling plant, not Flim and Flam themselves. And thirdly, those bottles were all recalled before anypony got pregnant."
        Rarity scoffed. "And you *believed* that cover story? With how many bottles were recalled, he would've needed an industrial milking machine; there's no way he wouldn't have gotten caught!"
        Twilight sighed. "Rarity, that's not…" Twilight trailed off, glancing away from the periscope. She did a double take. "Rarity, I've located where the magic is concentrated."
        Rarity's ears snapped to attention. "You have? Well, don't keep me in suspense; spill the beans already!"
        Twilight cleared her throat. "Rarity, the magic is coming from your uterus."
        Rarity suddenly felt a knot form in her stomach. "M–My… My uterus? You mean, like… inside my womb?" She felt like she was about to faint.
        Twilight nodded and glanced away again, presumably at the scanner's readout. "Yeah, that's what it says." She squinted. "Specifically, from the endometrium, which is the lining of the uterus." She looked back towards Rarity.
        Rarity's heart felt like it'd leapt into her throat. "You mean I'm… I'm pr… I'm 'in the family way'?" she asked euphemistically.
        Twilight nodded slowly. "That seems like the best explanation at the moment." A smile quickly fold he across her face, but she tried to hide it. "You know, you can say 'pregnant'; it's not a dirty word."
        "It is if you have a business to run!" Rarity snapped back. "How can I be pregnant‽"
        "Well, usually pr—"
        "I know where foals come from!" Rarity interjected. "But I've never done that! I mean… not while I was in heat, anyway… and not soon after my heat, either."
        Twilight nodded skeptically. "Well, regardless of how it happened, there's something in your uterus with a huge amount of magic, way more than I'd expect from a typical equine conceptus."
        "I… I… B–But…" Rarity stammered, her brain trying to work through the overwhelming anxiety, panic, and nausea that were coursing through her body. "H–Hold on. Let me think." She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and get more oxygen to her brain. "You said the magic was about 15% as strong as the Elements? That's about a sixth, right?"
        Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, one sixth is sixteen and two thirds percent. Why do…" She blinked. "*Oh*, I see. You're wondering if you might've been impregnated by the Element of Generosity?"
        Rarity nodded, her head head still spinning from the news.
        "Well, I guess that's within the realm of possibility. There's still a lot we don't know about the Elements, so we can't rule it out." She glanced at the display again. "I'll run a pattern-matching algorithm on its magical signature and see if it supports that hypothesis."
        "Can you do that after I'm out of here?" Rarity pleaded. "I'm about to freak out in here."
        Twilight smiled and switched the scanner off. "Of course, I already have a record of the signature." She slid the platform out of the machine and undid Rarity's straps. "Are you alright?" she asked, noticing Rarity seemed to be drenched in sweat.
        She nodded. "Considering the fact that I just found out I'm probably pregnant, I'm about as good as can be expected."
        Twilight helped Rarity get to her hooves. "Well, if your hypothesis is true, we'll all be pregnant pretty soon."
        Once she was standing up, she began to sway slightly from side to side. "Somehow, that's not much of a consolation." Her legs were shaking and she was starting to hyperventilate. "Could you help me to the restroom? I feel like I'm going to be sick…"
        Twilight smiled reassuringly. "Of course." She draped one of Rarity's forelegs over her shoulder and helped her up the stairs and into the bathroom. "Keep the door unlocked and yell if you need anything. I'll disable the soundproofing in the lab."
        Rarity nodded weakly and closed the door.
        A couple minutes later, Twilight slid a pregnancy test under the door. There was a pause of a minute or so, and then she could hear sobbing through the bathroom door.
        A few minutes later, the sound of a flushing toilet could be heard through the door, and then the door opened. Rarity stepped out and quickly shut the door behind her. "It…It's positive…" she managed to choke out.
        Twilight nodded, not quite sure how to respond. "Do… Do you need a breath mint?"
        Rarity was slightly offended, but she chose not object, recognizing that her friend was just trying to be helpful. Instead, she shook her head. "No, my meal was too far along to exit through that end. I hope everything flushed alright; I was already feeling queasy, so I didn't want to look to check."
        Twilight smiled jovially. "Don't worry about it; that toilet could probably flush Spike if he fell in." She chuckled. "I think I'll be avoiding that bathroom for the next few hours, though."
        Rarity was not amused.
        "Well, at least your food baby is gone." Twilight gestured towards Rarity's recently reflattened belly.
        Rarity glared at her. "Can we get back to what we came here for?"
        Twilight sighed, her face quickly turning more serious. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry." She bit her lip. "The algorithm found a match. The magic that I detected was draconequine."
        Rarity suddenly felt much more lightheaded. "D–D…Dracon…Draconequine?" she asked, stumbling over the word. "Y–You mean like… like *Discord*?"
        Twilight just nodded.
        Rarity fainted on the spot.