Two Weeks Later (Week 42)-

“Listen up, Heartguard!” Captain Deadeye barked. “What General Gleaming is about to tell you concerns Operation: Lovebug! This information is NOT to be shared unless by royal decree! Are we clear?!”

“YES, MA’AM!” the Heartguard shouted as one.

Spike snickered atop Gleaming’s back. “Operation: Lovebug… ah, that still gets me.”

Gleaming didn’t interact much with the Heartguard. They were training constantly to keep themselves honed to a razor’s edge, and a squad was on duty at all times to keep the Crystal Heart safe. The only time all of them were brought together was either when the Heart was brought with them, or one of the princesses was keeping watch over it.

Deadeye turned to Gleaming. “Shall I go get our guest?”

Gleaming nodded. “Then report to Princess Twilight and Ser Rainbow. They’re shoring up the spells inside the Crystal Vault.”

“Understood.” Deadeye gave her soldiers one final look, then turned and trotted out the door.

They were currently in the Silver Sanctum. The flowing silvery patterns on the walls glittered among the glowing crystal lights, their purpose unknown to all present save Gleaming. The doors were guarded with several of her wards, and all eyes were currently on her, watching as she paced back and forth with slow, gentle grace.

Gleaming adjusted her House insignia and cleared her throat. “Soldiers of the Heartguard. As Deadeye said, this information concerns Thorax, our resident refugee. I’m here to tell you that the two months he’s been here, not only has his physical health improved, his soul has healed even more. Already we’ve started to see several positive changes in his body, and if things continue, we’ll be stepping up efforts to ‘acquire’ more of his kin.”

The soldiers shifted in place. It was hard to listen when Gleaming was nearing twice the height of an average mare (without counting her horn), towering over every one of them by a long shot and dominating their vision. But she needed that height to support her wide, gargantuan baby bump, bulging out far past her frame even while grazing her shins. She’d opted for princess regalia over military garb today, as her powerful chest, broodmother hips, muscular flanks and legs, colossal breasts, and her thick, tremendous rump didn’t translate well to uniform.

Yet while all that was the paragon of pregnancy, what was most captivating was Gleaming’s face. Her deep blue eyes, her long eyelashes, her rosy cheeks and high cheekbones, her full lips, her narrow muzzle, her strong jaw and slender neck. Her full and silky mane was like a three-toned waterfall cascading past her shoulders, and even though she wasn’t wearing perfume, the smell of mint and cocoa butter still followed in her wake. The only one unfazed by her beauty was Steelwing, who’d continued to serve on call for Gleaming and Cadance’s escort.

“I know many of you have mixed feelings about this.” Gleaming didn’t look at any of them, instead honing in on the quiet skritch-skritch-skritch of Spike taking notes. “Rest assured, Thorax has been examined with the most powerful techniques and spells we have. He has no connection to the other changelings, not through mind, magic, emotion, or soul. He’s been sharing intelligence with us to help figure out how best to heal his race, and while we’re still brainstorming ideas, he did tell us something we’ve wanted to know for a long, long time.”

Knock, knock.

Gleaming opened the door with magic. Deadeye trotted back in escorting a familiar face—a blue baby dragon. His tongue flicked out to taste the air.

Most of the Heartguard recognized Cadance’s new assistant. There hadn’t been much explanation for where he’d come from, but nopony had thought much of it…

“We’ve struggled to figure out how to see through a changeling’s disguise,” Gleaming said as Deadeye left. “Our detection spells are too complex to be done on a large scale, and while we know changelings can’t conceal other things like serious wounds, sickness, and malnourishment, we can’t test civilians with those. However, as a show of good faith, Thorax has shown us another way.”

The click-click-click of Thorax’s claws hitting the floor echoed through the long room. He winced upon tasting the soldiers’ first eddies of suspicion, but then he saw Spike smiling and waving at him. He waved back and scampered over.

“Thorax,” Gleaming said as he approached. “Would you take your true form, please?”

There was a collective murmuring. Many tensed as green flames enveloped the blue dragon with a sound like rushing wind, and where he’d been, a fearsome changeling stood, his glossy black chitin and sparkling wings—

Wait, sparkling wings?

Now there was even more murmuring. Not only were Thorax’s wings strangely bright and blue, his health was a far cry from the reports. His barrel wasn’t sunken in, his ribs weren’t showing anymore, his mane and tail weren’t wispy, his legs weren’t shaking, and his eyes weren’t foggy at all. He didn’t look like a starving monster on the verge of collapse—he looked like, uh… a calm, healthy bughorse thing.

“You can see I wasn’t exaggerating about his progress.” Gleaming put a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder. “Like Princess Luna with the thestrals, Princess Cadance’s constant use of power to heal him has strengthened her considerably. She’s now confident she can help more of his kind, and if her power continues to grow, there’s no telling what she might be able to do.”

It’s quite odd to build up assumptions about something, only to be suddenly faced with a direct contradiction. Most of the Heartguard had cocked their heads and were leaning forward with open mouths, while the rest looked like they were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Steelwing was somewhere in the middle, his eyes never leaving Thorax, locked on like a puppy who’d just encountered a kitten.

“You’ve all been educated on the typical traits of changelings.” Gleaming faced them as she said this. “Their ability to shapeshift is as natural to them as our magic, which means any one of them has the potential to hide among us. Combine this with their knack for mind magic, it’s easy to see how vulnerable we are.”

She now summoned a box to her from the nearby table. From it floated out a collection of tiny needles and tissues, one for each member of the Heartguard. Gleaming also floated out a strange, bulky flashlight with various switches on it.

“Hold out your forelegs, all of you.”

While they did this, Gleaming nodded to Thorax, who shapeshifted again with a burst of green flame. Captain Deadeye now stood before them, glaring at all of them before smirking with a wink.

The Heartguard just stared.

Poke! Gleaming pricked the soldiers with the needles.

“GAH!” It was the surprise more than anything else. Those that recoiled found their leg held fast by Gleaming, tugging fruitlessly as their bloodspots were soaked up by the tissues.

“Changelings are also quite skilled at making distractions,” Gleaming said without any change in tone. “We’ve known for some time that changeling blood is silver. It turns red like ours when shifted, but it seems there’s a way to make it show up regardless.” She held up the flashlight. “This produces a special kind of light that’s invisible to our eyes. When shone on most creature blood, it does nothing, but on changeling blood, it glows bright regardless if it’s fresh or not. A changeling’s chitin normally filters this light out—hence their black coloring—but their chitin isn’t much tougher than your skin.”

Gleaming switched on the bulky flashlight. A strange shade of violet flooded the room that made the soldiers squint, but otherwise was unremarkable—

“Ooooooh…” Thorax’s eyes grew big. “The pretty colors again…”

Spike scoffed behind Gleaming. “Still can’t believe that only looks like one color to you. Pony eyes are so weird.”

Well, unremarkable to most, anyway.

Gleaming held the bloodied tissues under the light to show there was no change. “We’ve tested the blood of other races as well—only changeling blood behaves differently. Even a single drop will glow, so all you need is scratch or a poke—something we can do to even the young, the sick, and the elderly.”

For fairness, Gleaming then took a fresh needle and poked her own leg. She shone the flashlight on the bloodied spot to show that, like the other tissues, it didn’t light up at all.

“Nopony is above testing,” she said.

Now she had Thorax hold out his leg. She poked his fetlock and soaked up his blood, so quickly that Thorax barely even felt it.

“Now, watch.” Gleaming shone the light on the bloody tissue…

It lit up like a Hearth’s Warming Tree.

“Holy…” Steelwing murmured.

“This is something they can’t hide,” Gleaming said as she tossed the tissues in the trash. “Thorax has given us this intel because he understands we’re trying to help his kind, not conquer them. Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony have turned some of our greatest foes into our allies, thereby proving Friendship to be the strongest, most effective weapon we have. I say we use it on the changelings, my little ponies.”

A mare raised her hoof.

“Second Lieutenant Bulwark?”

“How do we perform this blood check on races with natural armor?” she asked. “Scales, thick hides, and the like? A simple needle won’t be enough to pierce their skin.”

Gleaming nodded. “Good question. Some creatures we can just use a dagger, whereas others, dragons for instance, are incredibly tough. Their bodies are nigh invulnerable, so we’ll have to keep using things like passwords—”

“Pfft, we’re not invulnerable,” said Spike. And before Gleaming could stop him, he held out his arm, bared his gem-crunching fangs…

CHOMP!

Gleaming felt something wet drip onto her back.

Her eyes shrank to pinpricks. She snatched Spike and floated him around into view… only to nearly scream as she found he’d bitten deep, DEEP into his arm. His little face was twisted in both pain and surprise, his red, steaming-hot blood spilling everywhere.

“TOo HaRd,” he whimpered. “OwwW...”

Gleaming had once heard memories can be tied to smell. She’d always thought that was silly, but when looking back on this moment, she found it was indeed the smell she recalled most. Dragon blood didn’t smell like pony blood—it smelled like the red-hot coils of a range stove. Except it was so acidic it made your eyes and nostrils burn, and so saturated in magic it made your head buzz. Even more jarring, Spike’s magical bond to her was suddenly going haywire, to the point she could actually feel an echo of herself.

Gleaming’s world slowed. Dozens of thoughts formed, but none accepted what she saw. The Heartguard’s medics were already summoning first aid kits, but Spike would need far more than that. Gleaming’s Lifesense was already whispering to her—his nerves and tendons...

It happened with a mighty burst of light. Gleaming’s inner spark blazed in an incredible surge, so bright that it blinded all but a few. Pure, soothing POWER filled Gleaming in an entirely new way, cozy and heavy like a thick woolen blanket. Her eyes shone as magenta threads swirled out from her horn in spiralling strands, enveloping Spike and his self-inflicted wound.

Steelwing gasped. “By the sun…”

Gleaming pried Spike’s jaws free while the threads focused on his arm. In seconds she’d stopped the bleeding, and then, concentrating harder, she guided the threads like a conductor guides a song. Tendons were healed, nerves were mended, and his muscles and flesh knit back together before her eyes. Punctured scales were restored without so much as a blemish, and within seconds not a single trace of damage could be found on Spike’s arm, the only evidence the blood that’d dripped on the floor.

Gleaming let the magic fade. She ignored her own questions and examined Spike’s arm while still cradling him in her aura. “Bud?”

Spike was shivering. “Y-Yeah…?”

“Is anything numb?”

Spike swallowed hard. Tears were in his eyes as gingerly flexed his claws. “N-No…”

The medics surrounded them. There was a few frenzied seconds of examining and checking before they realized the wound was no more. They all turned to gape at Gleaming.

“General…?” one of them said.

Have you ever felt like you’re at a crossroads? A situation where your choice or response could lead to a good path, a bad path, a tricky path, or a million other ones? That’s how Gleaming felt right then. Over two dozen sets of eyes were all gawking at her, and even though she didn’t have to explain...

“Well, then.” Gleaming coughed and returned Spike to her back. “I suppose I should explain my own, ah... improvements.”

Spike hugged her neck and hid in her mane, still shaking. Thorax fluttered his wings and looked away, his tongue flicking out now and again. The Heartguard was silent and still as the grave… save one, who now shakily raised his hoof.

“Lieutenant Steelwing?” Gleaming said.

Steelwing swallowed hard. He tried to speak once, but only the second time did he get anything out. “I-I saw.”

Something in Steelwing’s voice made Gleaming pause. “Saw what, exactly?”

He pointed behind Gleaming. “When that f-flash of light went off! I-I saw them, for a split second!”

Gleaming frowned. She looked behind her, but all she saw was the wall. “I’ve an omega-level dimension lock on this room, Steelwing. There’s no way somepony could’ve—”

Steelwing rapidly shook his head. “N-Not like that! Th-Them, they… y-you, ugh.” He grit his teeth and tried again. “It was only for an instant, but when you did…that thing, I saw them on your back! Like ghosts...”

It wasn’t often Gleaming got goosebumps, but she sure as heck got them now. “What did you see?”

And like a prayer, Steelwing uttered a single word. “Wings.”

Later-

“I don’t know whether to yell at you, fuss over you, or put a muzzle on you!” Gleaming growled at Spike. “Why in heaven’s name would you ever…”

“I’m sorry!” Spike said. “I saw other dragons doing that all the time during the migration! I just wasn’t sure how hard to do it!”

They were at Gleaming’s next appointment—her workout and massage session with Amber. Getting the Heartguard up to speed hadn’t taken very long (thankfully), to the point they’d even had time to bring Thorax to Cadance beforehoof. Amber had yet to arrive.

Gleaming glanced at Spike. “You saw other dragons biting themselves so hard they drew blood?”

Spike shifted atop her back. “Well... not themselves. They were nipping other dragons! A boy and a girl dragon, usually. They’d act all weird around each other, then one of them would nip the other, and they’d fly off together! I tried asking the older dragons why, but they just laughed at me.”

It didn’t take Gleaming long to figure that one out. “Bud… has anyone talked to you about sex yet?”

Something seemed to click for Spike. “Wait, THAT’S sex?! You just nip each other?!”

It was a good thing they were alone in the fitness center, else Gleaming’s laughter might’ve garnered some looks.

“Oh, kiddo…” Gleaming chuckled a little more. “I’m guessing that’s how dragons show they want to have sex. They were flying off to be alone—sex is a pretty private thing.”

Spike sat up straighter. “Ohhhhh, so that’s why I was getting laughed at. Yeesh, I didn’t think it was anything like that! So they were nipping each other because they wanted to have babies? Ugh, that doesn’t sound very fun.”

Gleaming raised an eyebrow. “So you DO know what sex is.”

Spike shrugged. “I know it’s how you make babies. Mom and Dad won’t tell me more than that, and Twilight gets all embarrassed when I ask her.”

Gleaming was silent a few a seconds. “...Well, I’m not sure I agree with that, but if that’s all they’ve told you, I’ll stand by it. Personally I think you should know more, but maybe once your wings come in…”

Spike grunted. “Glad to see someone on my side. But uh, anyways… not to change topic or anything, but do we, a-ah… wanna talk about what happened back there? You healing me and all? Because that was pretty crazy.”

Gleaming narrowed her eyes. “Not as crazy as you nearly crippling yourself. There’s a whole lot of difference between a nip and nearly biting your arm off! Do you even realize how lucky—”

“I said I’m sorry!” Spike scooched up to hug her neck again. “R-Really! I didn’t mean to do it! Nothing’s ever broke through my scales before!”

“You eat super-hard rocks and gems on the regular, Spike!” Gleaming snapped. “Diamonds! Granite! Enchanted steel! You can crush near anything with those jaws and teeth! What did you think was going to happen?!”

Spike hung his head. That terrible, stinging, white-hot pain… his whole arm had felt like it’d been stabbed by electric needles before everything past the elbow had gone numb. His forearm, his wrist, his claws, all limp and lifeless as a wet noodle.

“You were reckless,” Gleaming snapped. “You were reckless, and it almost cost you big time! Twilight would’ve had to teleport you to Canterlot for Celestia or Luna to treat you, and even they wouldn’t have been able to fix everything! Your arm would’ve been useless, Spike! FOREVER!”

Spike said nothing. It felt like his stomach had been replaced by a ball of lead, one that was only getting heavier by the moment.

“Promise me right now that you’ll NEVER do something like that again.” Gleaming stopped by the foam workout mats to look at him. "Not as a joke, not to show off, not for anything whatsoever! Ponies are afraid of reckless creatures, Spike... especially big reckless creatures. Do you want ponies to be afraid of you?”

Spike’s only reply was a whimper.

Gleaming floated him around so they could be face to face. “Promise me!”

Spike shivered. He wet his lips and rubbed his arms, but found he couldn’t look away from his sister’s hard face. “I really am sorry...”

Gleaming kept glaring at him.

Spike’s lower lip quivered. “O-Okay, I p-promise! I won’t ever bite myself like that ever again! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! J-Just please don’t send me away… p-please...”

Gleaming blinked. “...Send you away? What?”

But Spike couldn’t say anything more. His breathing had grown too hitched.

Gleaming’s look softened. Gently, she pulled him into a hug while he hiccuped into her chest. She laid down on the mats to hold him, and before long he was crying, clutching her as his muffled sobs echoed in the open space.

Gleaming’s mind was a blur. What’d happened, what Spike had just said, the possible responses she could give... there was so much that needed to be addressed right then, so many ponies that needed to be told of the last half hour. Amber had just come in and was making her way over, yet Gleaming stayed right there with Spike, holding him tight while rocking him back and forth.

“Why would you think we’d ever send you away?” she finally asked.

Spike pressed his face harder into her coat. “B-Because I’m a… *hic* d-dragon! I’m gonna g-get BIG and m-mean and… *sniff* s-scary! N-No one will wanna be around me soon…”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Gleaming nuzzled his head. “Listen to me. Nopony’s gonna send you away, alright? No matter what happens, no matter how mad anyone gets, or how big you get, that’ll never, ever happen. We’re all family: You, Me, Twily, Cady, Celestia, Luna, Mom, and Dad. Actions and size won’t change that.”

Spike’s tail curled tight around Gleaming’s leg. “But I’m not a… *sob* p-pony…”

Gleaming frowned. “Kiddo, what’s your mom’s name?”

Spike replied without thinking. “Twilight Velvet.”

Amber was now halfway to them, so Gleaming held up a hoof to stop her. “Twilight Velvet, eh?” Funny, that’s what my mom’s name is! It’s almost like we’re siblings or something.”

Spike glared at her. “Th-That’s not fair! Look, I… I know what a foster family is, alright?! Mom’s told me, Twilight’s told me, Celestia’s told me, everypony’s told me—”

“And yet apparently, nopony’s told you the difference between being related, and being family,” Gleaming said. “Think about it this way: Twilight Velvet may not be your mother, but she IS your mom. She fed you, bathed you, changed you, rocked you to sleep, raised you until you moved to Ponyville with Twily, and even then I’ve heard how often she ports down to get you. If you somehow think that she doesn’t love you, her baby boy, with all her heart and soul… that might be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Spike grit his teeth. “I-I… but—”

“And it’s not just her,” Gleaming said. “When I look at you, I don’t see a dragon, I see my little bro. I’d move heaven and earth for you if I had to, and so would Twily. So would Dad. So would Cady, Celestia, and Luna. Yes, some of your challenges will be different, but you’re still learning to control incredible power, and our family’s no stranger to that.”

Spike’s face tinged pink. “I-I, uh... never thought about it that way, heh...”

Gleaming booped his nose. “You’re kinda the favorite, y’know. The favorite of alicorns, magical powerhouses, and element manifesters. You’re loved, Buddy, now and always, and nothing will ever, EVER change that.”

Spike smiled and wiped his eyes. “Thanks, Gleam-Gleam.”

“Anytime.” Gleaming beckoned Amber over. “I’ve gotta do my workout now, but while I’m doing that, I want YOU to work on something as well. Prep for the future, you could say.”

Spike cocked his head. “What?”

Gleaming gave him a toothy smile. “Learn the difference between a bite and a nip.”

Amber stopped over by the leg press.“Is everything alright? I can come back if it’s a bad time—”

“It’s fine,” Gleaming said as she got to her hooves. “Just a close call that left us a little spooked. Needed a minute to shake it off, that’s all.”

Amber couldn’t help but notice Spike’s tear-streaked face. “You’re sure?”

Gleaming chuckled. “Hey, don’t give me an excuse to skimp out! I can’t start slacking off at this stage.”

Amber snorted. “Honey, you’re well past where I’d hoped to get you—well past and then some. I’d say you can afford a day off if need be.”

Gleaming grinned. “Didn’t think I’d become a big, awesome superpony? I didn’t think so either, but I gotta admit, I’ve kinda fallen in love with it.”

Amber looked her up and down. Not only was she twice her size, Gleaming’s massive womb just kept filling out more and more. A normal mare would be immobile with a belly that big. “Big height-wise? Or pregnant-wise?”

Gleaming winked. “Yes.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Well, if you really are gonna keep with the babymaking, then I suppose that’s a good thing. Let’s hope we don’t have to resize all the doorways in the castle to fit you, though. Can’t imagine that’d be cheap.”

But Gleaming just chuckled. “The castle’s made of crystal, Amber. Aren’t you forgetting what Cady can do with just a thought?”

Amber blinked. “Oh, yeah.”

Gleaming patted the top of her head. “It’s cardio day, isn’t it?”

Amber blushed. “A-Ah, yeah. Keeping on with the habits, then... I was thinking we’d have a go at the elliptical—”

“Hate to cut ya off there,” said a voice behind them. “But I need a minute with Gleaming.”

They all turned. Cantering towards them from the opposite entrance was Talia, clad in a lab coat and a pair of old saddlebags. And yes, she was cantering, moving faster than any of had ever seen her...

Gleaming squinted. Normally, Talia’s telltale limp made her favor her right side. “Need a minute with me, eh?”

KR-CCKKK!

Talia was suddenly caught in a magenta forcecage. A second forcecage was also erected around Amber, and Gleaming snatched Spike to teleport them across the room. She put up a third forcecage around them for good measure.

“What the—” Amber squawked from backing into the bars. “HEY!”

Talia’s eyes widened, but only for a split second. “Oh, bollocks... Talia, you idiot...”

Spike just stared. “Uhh…”

Gleaming didn’t say a word. In the blink of an eye, she had two needle-like slivers break off of Talia and Amber’s cages to poke them in the rump. She ignored their yelps and instead brought the bloodstained slivers to her, summoning the bulky flashlight again...

“Gleaming!” Amber yelled. “What the hay?!”

She examined the blood under the light…

Nothing.

Gleaming let out the breath she’d been holding. “Sorry!” She dismissed the cages and ported them back. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. Had to be sure.”

Talia sighed. “Can’t really blame ya with your past. Shoulda realized you’d pick up I was different.” She nodded at the flashlight. “That some kinda changeling detector?”

Gleaming dismissed it with a pop. “More or less.”

The word ‘changeling’ made Amber perk up. “Change—oh. Ohhhhhhhh.”

Gleaming now saw that while Talia’s mane and tail were still white, her roots were now gray, and some of them even had a blonde tint. Her face was fuller and less wrinkled, and her blue coat wasn’t nearly as pale.

“Observant as ever, I see,” Talia said with a crack of her neck. “Y’know, on second thought, considering Amber here’s been helpin’ to manage your fitness, I imagine you’ve clued her in to certain ‘developments’?”

Gleaming’s furrowed her brow. “Develop—oh. Yes, she knows. Was one of the first ponies I told.”

Amber snorted. “As if it’s much of a secret at this point. The whole Empire’s talking about it.”

Spike walked up to Talia. “Hey, aren’t you the doctor lady Twilight’s always talking magic stuff with?”

Talia nodded. “That I am. And you are the youngest of the Sparkle siblings, the one and only Spike. Heard a lot about you, little comet.”

Spike perked up. “Hey! That’s what Luna calls me!”

“Talia,” Gleaming cut in. “What’s going on? Why do you look different?”

Talia regarded her. “Oh, no major reason. My waning cell counts just started replenishing themselves, that’s all. Perfectly normal at my age.”

Gleaming blinked several times. “...It is?”

“NO!” Talia whipped out a series of scrolls and arcane pictures from her bags. “Look at this! My body’s rate of cell production is higher than the rate of cell death! The buildup of free radicals from oxidation is being purged! The structural integrity of my femoral head has repaired, and the rheumatoid inflammation is completely GONE!”

Talia may as well have been speaking in tongues.

“I’m not aging anymore!” she all but yelled. “And it’s because of something YOU did! I knew somethin’ was weird about how you zoned out at your forty week appointment! I don’t know what you did or how you did it, but it had to have been you!”

Gleaming scrunched up her face. She recalled back to two weeks ago, the foggy memories resurfacing one at a time. “That warm feeling... didn’t I say something about that? I could’ve swore...”

“You sure as hay didn’t!” Talia pulled off her lab coat, revealing that her legs actually looked like legs rather than gnarled twigs. The veins across her body had faded back into her coat, nor was she skin and bones anymore. “What in the world did you do?!”

For the second time that day, all gawking eyes were on Gleaming.

“I—”

FLASH!

“SHINING ARMOR!”

Before she’d even realized, Gleaming had thrown her shoulders back with her head raised her high. Spike had a similar reaction, and the two of them looked just in time to see Night Light storming over like the herald of doom.

Amber squinted. “Who is—wait, isn’t that your father, the Duke?What’s heeeeee—oooohhhhhhh, myyyyy…”

Spike fidgeted. “Uh... hi, Dad! How are—eh? What’s that smell?”

The first thing Gleaming noticed was the sticky trail Night was leaving behind him. A steady stream of pre was falling from his long erect stallionhood, bouncing up against his barrel and staining his coat with every stride. She averted her eyes then, but that was when the smell hit her. It was both familiar and foreign, dry and thick, and it reminded her of Eros when he was most arou—NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE

Talia gaped at Night. “Fascinating…” She went for the spare parchment and quill in her bags, but that’s when she noticed Amber eyeing Night like a piece of meat. She was taking deep breaths through her nose, already inching towards him little by little...

“Cripes sake,” Talia muttered. “Gleaming, put the cage back on Amber.”

KR-CCKKK!

“HEY!”

Night stomped up to Gleaming, his nose flaring and snorting like a mustang. “What did you do?!”

Gleaming mustered her will to look down. He was slim and incredibly sleek, his golden eyes bright and toned muscles bristling. His mane and tail free of gray hairs, the wrinkles and shadows around his eyes were gone, and his movements were fluid like a cat’s. But that agility was slightly hampered by an odd waddle in his gait, his hindlegs splayed due to—don’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutit

“Uhhhhh…” Gleaming managed.

“Don’t ‘uhhhh’ me!” Night sliced his hoof in front of her snout. “Vel and I thought we were bonkers, but we really have been getting younger! And NOW we’re both so chock-full of hormones we can barely think straight! What. Did. You. DO?!”

Gleaming winced from his flecks of spittle hitting her. Night’s neck was corded, his teeth livid and bared, waves of magic pouring off him alongside his masculine scent. He was exuding a TREMENDOUS magical pressure that pushed almost painfully on her mind, his reserves brimming with impossible magic! There wasn’t just an edge in his voice, there was a full-on blade, and no armor was going to protect her from that cutting tone—

Ping!

“YOW!” Gleaming recoiled from the blue ray hitting her horn. “DAD!”

“FOCUS!” Night said with a stomp of his hoof. “You need to fix this, NOW! It’s not stopping, Shining! Do you want us to be infants?!”

That got Gleaming’s attention. “Oh, jeez…” Without another word, she closed her eyes and reached for her spark. It responded easily, the warmth suffusing her and waiting for guidance.

It might’ve been harder without Amber and Spike there. Having an unaffected pony and non-pony present allowed Gleaming to figure out what she’d done, and soon she felt four vessels around her—one cool and getting colder, one warm and getting hotter, one cold but getting warmer, and one REALLY hot, but cooling off super-slowly. At first she couldn’t tell which was which, but after a while—

The cool vessel bucked the forcecage.

“GAH!” Gleaming about jumped out of her skin. “Holy… was that a kick or a bomb?!”

Amber whinnied. She made to kick the cage again—

“Amber, what’s your husband’s name again?” Talia asked. “Zircon, right? Those were some mighty cute pictures of your kids ya showed me. How’d Ocean Spray’s dance recital go?”

Amber paled faster than you could say ‘monogamy’. Slowly, very slowly, her eyes refocused as the tension left her legs. She chanced one last look at Night before gritting her teeth and looking away. “...This isn’t how I thought this day would go.”

Gleaming made a note to make this up to Amber somehow. She closed her eyes again and re-focused on the vessels, concentrating now on the warm one that was getting hotter. She recalled she’d thought of them like sluggish machines, only now instead of it being sluggish, her father’s vessel was supercharged! It was still moving in reverse, so first she tried to change it by ‘pulling out’ some of the energy she’d put in two weeks ago.

“Stubborn little…” Gleaming tried putting more oomph into it, but no dice. She tried Talia’s as well, but got the same result. “Okay, that’s not the way...” Gleaming studied the vessels a bit more before getting an idea. A repulsive idea, mind, but if there was anything she could learn from a certain embarrassing incident...

“I’m gonna try something,” she said without opening her eyes. “It might not feel good. Brace yourself, Dad.”

Gleaming heard the sound of fabric tearing. A second later, she heard Night speak through something in his mouth. “Foo it.”

Gleaming braced herself, as well. She guided her power with new intent, her spark swelling and crackling… but doing nothing else. She waited a few seconds, but she didn’t feel any magic leaving her. She was about to try again when she suddenly felt her magic getting thicker… denser! She realized it was compressing like a spring, or more aptly, like a rattlesnake preparing to strike. There was no outward sign of what was happening, but then again, there’d been no outward sign before—

ZRRRM!

It was as loud as a cymbal crash. Night yelped as he was struck all over with a feeling similar to when your leg falls asleep. He buckled like a house of cards and thrashed wildly on the floor. Gleaming could tell she’d fired some kind of… well, she didn’t know what it was, but it’d hit her father dead-on. Already it was leeching the heat away and slowing his vessel down, the reclaimed power returning... through her mouth.

“Sweet mercy...” Gleaming could HEAR the wince in Talia’s voice. “See, this is why I used to keep tranquilizers with me back in the day. Damn Healer’s Guild regulations...”

Gleaming kept it up until Night’s vessel wasn’t moving backwards. She then started to match it to Amber’s, but that’s when she looked over the other vessel, burning hot yet moving forward like a snail...

“Got it!” Gleaming said a moment later. “Erm, sorry about that, Dad. You alright?”

Night was left heaving for breath and staring at the ceiling in a cold sweat. The pins and needles faded, but he still felt restless. “Cripes, that was intense…”

“Painful?” Talia asked.

Night’s legs twitched with aftershocks. “No, just… overpowering. Like being plugged into an outlet, I suppose.”

Gleaming helped him up. “I managed to stop the doohickey from going backwards. You should be fine now.”

Night started to reply, but was interrupted by a sneeze. “S’cuse me… you stopped the what, now?”

Gleaming put a hoof behind her head. “I’m not really sure what it is. All I know is it’s the thing that I changed before.”

Night looked down at himself. His scent was still wafting from his every pore of his body, he was more aroused than ever, and his burgeoning nuts were churning to produce even more seed. “But I don’t feel any different. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was in freaking rut!”

Gleaming cringed. “I think that’s because I initially put too much energy in you. It won’t get any worse, but if it took two weeks to get this bad, it might be another two before—”

“A FORTNIGHT?!” Night said with wide eyes. “Shining, do you have any idea what this feels like?! How hard it is to fight? I can smell fertile mares! If that crystal pony over there wasn’t in a cage, I’d have pounded her six ways to Sunday by now!”

Amber shivered. Her mind was fogging up again, her eyes locked on Night’s delicious package. ”Mmmm, you’re a frisky boy, aren’t you? I like frisky boys—ERGH! GLEAMING! You need to t-teleport me home, right now! I swear to Luna I’m going into heat, and if my husband gets me pregnant because of this, I’m charging you eighteen years of overtime!”

Gleaming bit her lip. She expanded the forcecage so she could teleport inside, blinked in, then teleported them away with a FLASH!

“Doctor Night,” Talia said after they’d gone. “Where’s Twilight Velvet?”

The mere mention of his wife made Night lick his lips. He nickered softly, his stallionhood throbbing with fresh pre. “S-Still… still in our apartment. Yeah… yeah, sh-she’s there… waiting for me… nnnngh, s-smelled so good... Strongest heat she’s had, barely managed to pull ourselves apart… a-ah, oh stars… th-that huge mansion, so many bedrooms—”

Night slapped himself.

“HEY!” Spike grabbed Night’s arm. “Knock it off!”

Night’s eyes sharpened. “What—S-Spike…? Ah, h-heya Sport. How’s your day going? Forgot you were with Gleaming today... enjoying your time—wait... have you been crying?”

But Spike just tugged on his arm. “You’re acting all weird! What’s the deal?”

Night made to reply, but then stopped. He looked at Spike for a long, long while, his thoughts turning to memories of a little baby dragon sleeping soundly in a crib. The memories shifted to the coos and laughs of a purple infant filly discovering the world, then the snuffles of a white newborn colt with bright blue eyes. He recalled the feeling upon seeing them for the first time, that smile on Velvet’s face as they realized what they’d done. The decision on what to name each of them, the hopes and dreams they’d had for their future, then seeing those hopes and dreams come true a hundredfold...

Night rested his other foreleg on Spike’s shoulder. “I’m fine, Buddy. I was just—”

FLASH!

“Okay!” Gleaming said. “Now that that’s taken care of, let’s—”

“Gleaming,” Night said.

Gleaming hesitated. “What?”

Night got to his hooves. “I… I have to know. Whatever this is, whatever you’ve done… i-it has to be some kind of magic, but your mom and I couldn’t detect any spells. Does that mean…?”

It was Talia who answered. “This ain’t an Age spell, if that’s what you’re asking. Gleaming got me with it too, and I’ve found my cell production counts are returning to normal numbers. Completely natural age reversion.”

Gleaming may not have understood that, but she did understand something else. “I wish I could explain this better. Basically, making somepony’s… I don’t know what to call it, but making it move backwards turns a pony younger. Moving it forwards makes them older, and I can control how fast or slow it goes. Yours was moving backwards really quickly there, so I made it move forward again like normal, but uh… Spike’s is moving a lot slower—dragon lifespan and all—and I imagine you’re in no rush for gray hairs again...”

Night gaped at her. “Did you just say what I think you said?!”

Gleaming shuffled in place. “I can’t make you immortal, but it should be easy to make you young again whenever. Granted, you likely won’t need more ‘treatment’ for quite a while—”

Night sprinted to her. He touched his hoof to her chest...

FLASH!

“Well, hel-lo,” Velvet purred. “Welcome back.”

Gleaming only had a second to re-orient before a new smell bowled her over like a linebacker. It was heavy and cloying, sweet and dizzying, and so strong she was drowning in it. She’d been to her parent’s castle apartment before, but never had she seen it while dimmed with shafts of light streaming between the shades… nor with trails of sticky fluid all over the floor…

A young and gorgeous Velvet was in a sploot on the cool crystal floor between two coolers of ice. Her mane was long and shiny, the deep purple streaks almost glowing in the soft light. Her neck was thin and shapely, a compliment to her cute muzzle, and there wasn’t a wrinkle or gray hair anywhere on her to be found. Her silvery coat was thick and full, complete with a soft, fuzzy tuft on her chest that complimented her curvy frame and motherly hips. She was using the ice in bags in order to cool her heated loins, the scent of which was being fanned by her swishing tail.

“So,” she said with a smoldering look, wisps of steam literally rising from her eyes. “I see you brought the culprit.”

Night was struck dumb. All he could do was stare, drool falling from his open mouth, his eager stallionhood twitching and dripping even more.

“Gleaming, Sweetheart,” Velvet said without looking at her. “Can you fix this?”

Gleaming coughed. “A-Ah… I can stop you from getting younger, but not with the… erm, you know. Not yet, at least. It should go away on its own in a few weeks.”

Velvet examined her foreleg in one of the shafts of light. “...I see. But if you stop it, does that mean we’ll become middle-aged again?”

Gleaming smiled. “Nope! Turns out I can also slow down your aging to near-nothing. You and Dad are gonna be around for a long, long—

She was interrupted by the thud of her father pawing the carpet. He lowered his chin and nickered again, a sound that made Velvet shiver and nicker back.

“RIGHTY-O!” Gleaming said. “Let’s not waste time, then! Yesirree! Do NOT wanna be here!”

It was the fastest summoning of her alicorn magic to date. Gleaming called for her spark, felt out her mother’s vessel, then guided the magic to gather itself up and fire. She saw what it was this time—a barely visible tendril, translucent and hollow, about as thick as a straw.

Velvet meeped. She tried to jump up, but tripped and knocked over the coolers. Ice scattered everywhere as she thrashed on the floor, mane and tail flickering with hints of flame, the air around her growing wavy with heat. The walls suddenly glowed with runes—fire wards, Gleaming realized—and the temperature returned to normal.

“There,” Gleaming said. “All fixed, Mom—oh, horseapples... I forgot to warn you—”

FLASH!

“—my arm, good as new! Wonder what else she can—oh, they’re back!” Spike waved from a weight bench. “Where’d you guys—”

But Night had already teleported again with another FLASH! The three of them were left staring at each other in silence, taking turns looking at where he’d just been.

Gleaming ran a hoof down her face. “I don’t know how to feel about this…”

Talia snickered. “Reap what you sow, honey. Maybe you shoulda spoke up two weeks ago, hmm? Not very smart to zap ponies with something strange and not say anything.”

“I barely even remember it happened!” Gleaming said to her. “You think I didn’t tell you guys on purpose? Come on, Talia!”

“That just makes me even more concerned,” she replied. “If you’ve had one ability-induced memory lapse, you might have another. If I were you, I’d keep time by yourself to a minimum until this whole alicorn business is said and done.”

Gleaming snorted. “I’m rarely alone as it is. What, you want somepony to come into the bathroom with me while I take a shit?”

Talia rubbed her chin—

“NO.”

Talia laughed. “I’m just saying be cognizant of your company, is all. No telling what kinda ability may show itself next, right? Remember we’re trying to document these things.”

Gleaming forced herself to put it aside. Her attention drifted to Spike, who had something in his mouth—a sucker, it looked like. “Where’d you get that?”

Spike grinned and pointed at Talia. “She had my favorite flavor!”

Talia chuckled. She floated out a few more suckers from her bag. “Want one?”

Gleaming stared at the candies for a few seconds. “...You’re such a doctor.” She picked the blue raspberry and put it under her tongue. Everyone liked blue raspberry.

Talia watched the remaining suckers hover in her aura. “Always did have a bit of a sweet tooth. Stopped keeping treats on me when I found I was prediabetic. Did I mention that’s gone, too?”

Gleaming pursed her lips. “Talia… you’re still getting younger right now. I won’t pretend to know what you want, but I think the future would be brighter if you stuck around. You’ve more than earned it in my eyes.”

Talia’s smile faltered. Her eyes fell as if pulled by gravity, her fuller mane dangling over her face. She put a hoof to her cheek to feel the fading wrinkles, the warmth in her legs returning, that blasted chill in her bones being chased away.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said at last. “But you realize how slippery of a slope this is, don’cha? You make one pony young again, but what about their loved ones? Will I have to watch my daughter and grandchildren grow old and die?”

Gleaming hesitated. “I—uh, well...”

“What about your sister’s marefriend?” Talia went on. “Sure, you might make an exception there, but what about her parents? Or how about Twilight’s other knights, the Element Bearers? It might make sense to keep them around, but how happy do you think they’ll be about outliving their families? Not to mention how said families might react. You gonna give them all the zap, too?”

Something about this was familiar to Gleaming. She couldn’t put her hoof on it at first, but then she recalled Celestia and Luna’s tale of Amore...

“You’ve just found one of the most valued things in the entire world.” Talia pointed over at the windows. “If word gets out about what you can do, every single mortal is gonna be flocking to you with their suzie sob story. You gonna make Equestria’s enemies forever young, too? Cuz I guarantee that if you hold this back from other countries, we’ll be looking at full-on—”

“Okay,” Gleaming said. “I get it. You’ve made your point.”

Talia folded her hooves. “Not so easy, is it?”

Gleaming ran a hoof down her face. To say this was all happening quickly was like saying the sun was hot. “You’re focusing a little too much on the doom and gloom, but I do understand this is delicate. I get the feeling this is gonna cause problems no matter what, though. We’ve kinda opened Pandora’s Box here.”

Talia didn’t argue that one. “Look, you’re the one with the power. I’m not trying to stop you from anything, I’m just saying use your head. Just because things look obvious don’t mean they are.”

Spike laughed. “You’re starting to sound like Dad.”

Talia shrugged. “You gotta understand playing favorites is a recipe for disaster. Hate to admit it, but if I couldn’t share this power with everypony, I wouldn’t share it at all. Not even me. Heck, I wouldn’t even tell anyone until...”

If Talia said more, Gleaming didn’t hear it. A memory had just struck her like lightning—the haunted words of one who’d watched countless others wither and fade.

“...became like statues. Unchanging, always the same as everyone else flowed down a river. Friends, students, rivals, lovers, enemies, acquaintances, assistants, helpers, servants… all of them gone, like dust in the wind. Lulu and I had taken solace in each other for so long, but then suddenly I was alone. Alone for so very long…”

Gleaming’s mouth felt dry. For the first time in months, that warm, happy glow inside her was overshadowed by a terrible chill. Six lives within her, two of them so much stronger than the other four...

“Further thoughts can wait, General. Right now, I’m just glad I’m not alone anymore.”

Gleaming held up a hoof to stop Talia. “I think I remember snippets of you saying something when you and my dad started talking about Canterlot University two weeks ago. Something along the lines of not being able to stop progress, I think? Isn’t this the same thing?”

Talia gave her a flat look. “Gleaming, you barely even know what you’re doing. ‘Doohickey’ this, ‘thing’ that? For cryin’ out loud! It’d be different if you could explain it proper—”

“So help me,” said Gleaming. “You and me, together. We research this to crack it wide open, then once we have, we share it with the world. You’re right, playing favorites will be chaos, but if I’m going to give this gift to everycreature, I’m going to need some help. Your help.”

Talia fell silent. Her eyes flicked this way and that, lips curled as she started nibbling on one of her fetlocks. She sat on her haunches and looked to the far end of the room, her ears flicking now and again.

“There’ll be rules,” Gleaming added as she went to stand by Spike. “How we announce this, plans for preventing overpopulation, things like that. But if we can figure all of that out while researching, we’ll stop a lot of problems from ever starting. I’m not saying I want a world without death, but I am saying I’d like us to have more control over it. Too many die before they should.”

Talia scoffed. “So I’ll either be remembered as the mare who helped with one the greatest breakthroughs in history, or as patient zero. Pretty risky gamble, Princess.”

Gleaming smirked. “I thought you were a betting mare.”

Talia couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing. “Oh, that is stone cold! You see an opening and you go in, just like that?! Man... leave it to a general to go for the weak points.”

Gleaming laughed as well, but her mind was still filled with Sunbeam’s stretched, painted-on smile, like a flimsy mask that did nothing to hide her hollowed-out eyes. Purple eyes, but the memory shifted, and suddenly they were blue...

“Well, this is definitely the biggest wager I’ve made,” Talia said. “But if there’s anypony I’d want overseeing this, it’d have to be me. But if you want my help, you gotta promise me something. If either one of us has a problem with anything, we don’t move forward until it’s addressed, got it? Oh, and if you’re gonna keep gettin pregnant over and over, you better listen if I say you’re not thinking straight! Gestational hormones and research don’t mix.”

Gleaming nodded. “Fair.”

Talia gave her formerly bad leg a test kick. Upon not feeling any stabbing agony, she smiled with glistening eyes. “Guess this means I won’t be seeing my wife again just yet.”

Gleaming bowed her head. “Guess not.”

Talia looked past them at something only she could see. She mouthed something—they couldn’t tell what—before giving her head a shake. “A-Ahem... if it’s all the same, I’d prefer to be a good deal younger than this yet. I’m guessing I’ve lost around thirty years in two weeks, so at this rate, I’d like to wait another month or so.”

Gleaming did a double-take. “A mon—how old ARE you?!”

Talia laughed. “It starts with a one, I’ll tell ya that much.”

Gleaming made an effort not to stare. Her effort failed. A small voice in the back of her mind was saying they should now probably talk about Gleaming’s healing abilities, but before she could, a delightful epiphany struck her.

“Talia,” she said with a huge grin. “Do you know what a Crystaller is?”

Author's Notes:

Realistically, Night and the others probably wouldn't have waited two weeks before bringing this to Gleaming's attention. They'd probably have told her as soon as they'd suspected something was up, which wouldn't have been long at all (days, at the most). However, doing it that way wouldn't really format with the rest of the story, so I decided to stretch the suspension of disbelief. I hope it doesn't feel too ham-fisted.