“Storm Blitz seems to have returned to mostly normal, other than being obscenely large,” the doctor reported in a dull sounding bored monotone. “We thought things were going to be exciting, but his electrical generation has calmed down. We suspect that if he gets angry though, or suffers strong emotion, that he will start emitting static discharges.”

“Also, his caloric intake was frightening. He ate almost ten thousand calories worth of cultured bean curd and processed textured vegetable protein. An hour later, he ate thirty hard boiled eggs at seventy eight calories each. Afterwards, he complained about feeling empty,” a second doctor said as he stood shaking his head in disbelief.

“To say this had an effect upon his pegasus digestive tract and flatulence would be an understatement,” the first doctor said as he made a face of disgust. “We’re having to install new biological filters in the ventilation system to compensate.”

“How goes the conditioning?” Bucky asked in a low voice. He glanced at Twilight Sparkle and then at Luna, who were sitting on either side of him.

“When presented with the illusion of a foal being in danger, those who have been altered suffer heightened responses in a number of systems. The adrenal response is terrifying, Moonless Night, as an example, goes off the charts. We’re still studying and trying to determine exactly what happens, but the response seems to be a violent frenzy towards whatever is threatening the foal. The desire to protect is strong. Perhaps too strong. We’re intentionally making something capable of extreme violence on a scale most unimaginable have psychotic instability if presented with various stimuli,” the first doctor replied.

“Deus headbutted a six inch thick reinforced steel plate during his simulation. We had to replace the plate. It crumpled like foil from the impact of his head and his horns,” the second doctor said.

There was a gasp from Luna, whose jaw dropped.

“Um, Princess Luna, you wanted us to create monsters, and we have.” The first doctor cleared his throat and then he gave his colleague a nervous glance. “But well controlled monsters. They respond well to cries of help. The conditioned empathy is coming along well.”

“They are so far kind and receptive to all forms of young, prioritising them in a crisis along with pregnant females of all species, exactly as Prince Buckminster has demanded.” The second doctor tapped his front hooves together and his eyebrows knitted together.

“Other than the increased food consumption being well beyond our expectations, all seems to be going well,” the first doctor said with a nervous smile.

“I am actually feeling both confident and relieved about all of this.” Twilight Sparkle leaned forward over the table and she looked at Luna, then Bucky. “Let’s keep up with the positive results… we’re doing good work here, I never thought I’d say that.”

“Also, watch out for Mask. He’s already figured out the changeling magic aspect… and he is full of unicorn mischief. You have been warned,” the second doctor said in quavering, nervous voice.

Black Briar hobbled around on three legs in the waiting room, pacing back and forth, going from corner to corner so he could get the most distance. He moved rather well on three legs, two front legs and one rear. The pudgy earth pony was smiling, but it was a nervous smile.

Draped over a chair, looking languid, almost lazy, Rainy Sky Tainy filed the claws on her front paws, her eyelids looked heavy, almost sleepy, and her tail twitched upon occasion. She had her mouth open and her tongue was licking her teeth, helping to keep them clean and white.

“How can you be so calm?” Black Briar asked in a breathless, worried voice.

“Who said anything about being calm?” Rainy Sky Tainy replied, looking up at the chubby earth pony. “If you could read feline body language, you’d know that I’m going out of my mind right now.”

The earth pony paused and stared at the unusual by any standards hippogriff. “Huh.”

“I’m not all that scared… just… nervous and apprehensive. I want to know what the change will be like. Moonie changed so much, but he's still the same in a strange way. He just became more dog like.” Rainy Sky Tainy shook her head. “Poor thing, he couldn’t help himself and he just had to chase me. Of course, I had to run… and it was all in good fun. It seems as though the transformation process draws upon the strongest aspects of your character and enhances them. Makes them better. More pronounced. And I want to see how I change, because I think I know my strongest parts, but I don’t know for certain. What if I am not the hippogriff I think I am? What if I turn out to be something I didn’t expect?”

“You… you bring up some excellent points,” Black Briar replied.

There was a knock upon the door and then it opened. “Are both of you ready?” Twilight Sparkle stuck her head through the door and smiled.

“We’re powered up and ready to go,” Twilight Sparkle said over the intercom. “You feeling okay Bucky?”

Rubbing his face, Bucky replied, “Just a little itchy. Some of the first scales are breaking through the skin and it kinda hurts.”

“Well stop picking at them, before you make yourself bleed again.” Luna shook her head in annoyance. “Are both of you ready? Feeling confident?”

Together, both Black Briar and Rainy Sky Tainy nodded and then they exchanged a glance with one another, but remained in silence.

“Ready?” Twilight asked, her voice crackling somewhat over the intercom.

“Hit it,” Luna replied.

The room went dark and the now familiar hum of machinery filled Bucky’s ears. He felt a tingling buzz in his horn, it produced a pleasant vibration through his skull, and he could feel it in all of the scales growing beneath his skin. It felt good.

Black Briar, who was sitting on the floor, lifted his head as an eldritch green glow formed around his body. His hooves glowed the brightest. His eyes closed and he began to hum, his head bobbing, and a pleasant smile appeared upon his muzzle. Whatever seemed to be happening, there seemed to be no external, outward signs of change.

Yowling, Rainy Sky Tainy arched her back, her pelt standing out in all directions, and her feathers fluffed out, making her look much larger than she was. Writhing tendrils of black shadow crawled over her skin. Her muzzle elongated, she shook her head as it happened, but did not appear to be pain, and when she opened her mouth, her teeth had grown larger.

“It tickles!” Black Briar called out as his whole body jiggled from his laughter. He clutched his stomach with his left foreleg and little giggle-snorts escaped his nostrils. “It tickles all over!”

Lifting her front paw, shadows coalesced around Rainy Sky Tainy’s toes. The shadows solidified, her stubby claws grew in length, half a foot long curved claws stretched from her toes and she stared at them in wide eyed awe. The shadow claws vanished, wisping away like smoke, and the hippogriff waved her paw in front of her face.

A moment later, the half a foot long, curved claws reappeared, then vanished once more.

Black Briar’s head jerked back and the earth pony let out a startled cry. His skin seemed to bubble, it rippled and moved. His neck thickened, and his shoulders began to widen. His three legs, which gained no length, became stockier, thicker, and new muscles twitched with growth. His pudgy body took on more mass, becoming both more muscular and a bit more rotund.

It looked as though a cannonball had grown muscles.

“I do believe we have optimal saturation,” Twilight Sparkle said over the intercom. “Luna, should I hit the kill switch?”

Princess Luna did not reply right away. She watched as Black Briar continued to grow in mass and bulk, little by little, his mass increasing. After a full minute, she turned at looked at Twilight in the control booth. “Turn it off,” Luna commanded.

The thrumming vibration in the room died down and the room went dark.

Laying on her side, Luna yawned and made a foalish sound of exhaustion. She shook her head, blinked a few times, and looked over at Twilight, who seemed to be in a good mood about something. Bucky seemed distracted as he flipped through a progress report. Luna noticed that Bucky seemed to be using his talons more and more, and his telekinesis less and less. Something about this bothered her, but she couldn’t say what it was.

“Now we begin working on other test subjects. A number of the Raptors have volunteered and I am interested in seeing how the change will alter them,” Twilight Sparkle said as she wrote something down in a notebook. “In time, Ripple might go through the change as well.”

“Not for a long time,” Bucky replied as he lifted his head to look at Twilight. “As her parent, I have final say in this issue. The last thing we need is a greatly enhanced Ripple having an episode. It’s bad enough when I have an episode… or you have an episode.”

“I’ll admit, I’ve been a little emotional lately, and I know why,” Twilight Sparkle said as she smiled a secretive smile. The alicorn sighed and then her smile faded, her expression became somewhat troubled.

“Twilight?” Luna turned her gaze upon Twilight and one eyebrow raised.

“I’m with foal. I haven’t told Rainbow Dash or Flash Sentry yet. I don’t know how to tell them after I made such a big deal about how important my work was and how we had to manage our time as a valuable resource… and so many other things were said.” Twilight’s head dropped and she looked down at the table. She sighed again and her wings fluttered. “I think I know when it happened too. While I was on vacation with Princess Celestia, there was one night when Flash, Rainbow and I… we had a very special and very romantic time together. There was dancing, and drinking, and everything was perfect in every way… and it was all very magical…”

“That’s why every time I look at you I keep thinking there is something different about you!” Bucky’s eyes narrowed. “You were pregnant when we fought the demon.” Bucky’s voice was a pained whisper as he peered at Twilight Sparkle.

“We’re so careful… I use contraception spells. Several of them.” Twilight shook her head and then she smiled again. “There was this great moment where all three of us connected. It was spontaneous and beautiful I wasn’t thinking about if everypony was getting their fair share of time with one another or if everything was well managed… we went at it like animals. Very drunk animals. It was the single most wonderful moment of my life because I let go completely.”

Luna’s ears perked forwards “You need to tell them, Twilight.”

“I’m so scared of looking like a hypocrite.” Twilight was still smiling, but her eyes were now watering, glazing over with tears. “I made such a big deal about being responsible and family planning, and how we had to be fair to the foals and the baby dragon that we already have, and be attentive to their needs, and balance our own needs and after everything was said and done, it was Rainbow Dash that agreed to expand our family as part of a first, cautious, careful step forward so we could test the waters.”

“It’s okay to be a hypocrite. Berry Punch does it all the time and I don’t love her any less,” Bucky said in a perfect deadpan.

Snorting, Luna whipped her head around to look at Bucky. “To say nothing of your own hypocrisy—”

“Or yours,” Bucky said, cutting Luna off before she could finish.

Glowering, Luna glared daggers at Bucky and the sounds of her teeth grinding filled the room. Her ears splayed out sideways after a moment and she turned to look at Twilight Sparkle. “This is good and happy news. You need to tell them.”

“But if I do that, I’ll have to admit my own—”

“Oh stuff it, Twilight.” Bucky lifted his talons and made a dismissive gesture. “They’ll both be so happy about the news that you are going to be fat with foal that they won’t even think about all of the stuff you’re obsessing about. The only one worried about that is you.”

Twilight Sparkle’s lips quivered as she welled up with tears.

“No crying!” Bucky slipped out of his chair, walked over to Twilight, nosed her, and then sat down in the chair beside her. He patted her on the side and gave her a lopsided grin. “This is a happy time. Just stop being Twilight Sparkle for a while and let all of this go. Just… be happy about this. Go home and smooch both Flashie and Dashie, tell them the good news, and maybe make plans to go to dinner or something. Or send your foals out of the house so the three of your can celebrate together by shagging each other to death. You can’t get pregnant twice. Make the most of this time of never having to worry.”

“I feel so emotional right now.” Twilight Sparkle smiled once more but her eyes were still flooded with tears. “Think we can wrap up early? I want to go home and be with my family. I have something I need to tell them…”

Author's Notes:

Think about all of the times where Bucky looked at Twilight Sparkle and felt something odd.

This whole chapter was pregnant with purpose.

And maybe with typos.