"Number 438," a stallion in a medical uniform called out as he watched the filly inside the vat begin to twitch and kick violently. This was the signal they she was ready to be removed. The pressure lock on the lid was released with a hiss and the little creature was gently lifted from the chemical soup and laid upon a towel as the doctor swiftly began removing the wires.

The process was painful for the filly, taking away the need to swat her rump to jump start her lungs. A griffon hen was swiftly there to be passed the infant. She held out a ticket with the corresponding number on it. She cooed gently to calm her new daughter, holding her close to her warm feathers.

"To be honest, I didn't know that griffons had teats," Rainbow whispered to Cadance.

She shot her a look. "One of your childhood friends was a griffon."

"So?" Rainbow shrugged. "It's not like I'm gonna look. I'm straight, in case you haven't figured it out."

"Okay, fine," Cadance rolled her eyes. She was not in a good mood. She had been trying to restore order all day ever since the volunteer mothers had arrived to aid the children, and she had been milked like a cow. She at the ticket in her own hoof. 389. "Too bad the foals aren't being born in any particular order. Oh, how I wish Tirek had the brain power to have given us some of their computers. We could have had this whole thing sorted by now."

A heavy hoofstep garnered both mare's attention. Princess Bork, sister of Prince Rutherford of Yakyakastan was wandering her way over, a sling around her neck carrying two sleeping fillies. Trailing behind her was her son, Berk.

Princess Cadance greeted them both with a smile. "I trust all is well, Bork."

The nak nodded. "All is fine. Yaks proud to help allies in time of trouble. Berk proud to share his mother's udder with new sisters."

Cadance tried not to obviously flinch at the princess's loud manner of speech. She did raise a surprised eyebrow when the sleeping fillies, rather than waking up and crying, instead smiled and nestled into their new mother's thick fur. They were bonding excellently.

"And how is little Berk?" Cadance, turning her attention to the calf with a welcoming smile.

He ducked shyly behind his mother.

Bork snorted. "Berk not be rude. Show pony princess respect."

Berk gulped and slowly came out from his hiding place, head low.

"Prince hold head high," Bork barked.

He obeyed swiftly. The yak were a proud people, their royalty even more so. He had to learn to act like a proper member of Yakyakistan nobility. Pity he was so much like Fluttershy.

Cadance tussled his head fondly. "And how are you, Prince Berk?"

"B-Berk i-i-is w-well," he stuttered as proudly as he could. Rainbow Dash had to look away to hide her silent laughter, but Bork threw her head back and guffawed.

"He act like Rutherford when he small," she laughed, patting him on the back. "Rutherford need wife soon to make future crown prince. And to get him to clean his room."

Cadance laughed as well. "He is a stubborn bachelor, isn't he?"

Bork nodded. "Unlike Berk. Berk proud to wed when Princess Flurry old enough."

It was true. To build a strong alliance with Yakyakistan, Cadance and Shining had agreed to an arranged marriage between Prince Rutherford's Nephew and their daughter.

Cadance smiled sweetly at the calf. "Are you gonna be a good husband for my Flurry Heart."

"B-Bork be b-b-best yak to w-wed F-Flurry," the calf declared in a strange hybrid of cultural pride and social terror.

She gave him a hug. "I will expect nothing less of you."

"388!"

Cadance looked back down at her ticket. "So close."

She watched as a Zebra trotted up to accept the filly. "Well... this is certainly gonna be an experience for us and our allies."

Bork nodded. "Good though. Little ponies cute. Make cute honorary yaks."

Suddenly, Applejack appeared, she quickly whispered something in the alicorn's ear. "Oh? I'll be right there." She held the ticket out to Rainbow Dash. "Here, when my number comes up."

"Yak take it," Bork said, taking it away. "Rainbow pony has no milk to give. Bork will take care of filly until you return."

"Thank you," Cadance nodded politely. She then took off, preferring to fly over the chaos.

A moment or so later she threw open the doors of her private chambers to be greeted with the sight of Faust, laying on the floor with a tea cup hovering in her magical grasp. To the side, Shining Armor was actually sitting up, still heavily bandaged from his ordeal, and Flurry Heart was burbling soundly from atop his head. Speedy and Dez were on the other side, reviewing the Dez's mission log.

The giant alicorn regarded her with a smile. "Welcome back, Princess Cadance. I trust all is well."

"Well, I managed to create some form of order at least," the pink alicorn smiled. "Have to do my part, after all."

Faust nodded slowly. "Did you inform your stallion that you were adopting?"

Shining's eyes widened and he stared at his wife. The princess grinned sheepishly. "Hey... i-it's not like I couldn't... look, the yak princess adopted two, we show show we're willing to do the same."

The stallion shrugged. "Oh well. I guess Flurry needs a sibling. Though... I was kind of hoping we could make one the old fashioned way."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "We'll have plenty of time for that once you're back to your old self. How did you even get out of bed?"

"Determination," he grinned back.

"Stubbornness more like," she responded, gripping him in her magic and placing him back on the bed. She even went so far as to tuck him in like a little colt. "Now stay there mister."

Flurry, still atop her father's head, laughed and blew a raspberry. To which the stallion responded: "Go to your mother, Flurry. She's in one of her moods and needs to calm down."

The little alicorn blew another raspberry before flying over to hug her mother. "So it's blackmail then. Fine, but if you get tired, you will not fight sleep, Shining. You need as much rest as possible."

Flurry dropped onto the floor and between Cadance's legs for Lunch. Cadance sighed as the filly nursed. "Sorry, you summoned me here for a reason?"

Faust nodded as she smiled. "Of course. It seemed time to intervene. You were very distraught about the Olden Ones, and so I figured you could use a freebie."

"A freebie?" Speedy asked looking up from the mission log.

"You want to know how to defeat these monsters, do you not?" she asked, taking another sip of her tea. It had seemed to be all she had been doing. Funny thing was, there was no teapot in sight.

Everyone nodded, including Shining Armor, who was sitting up in bed. Cadance promptly forced him to lay back down. A proper mother hen.

"Well we figured Trinity and Jackal might help a little," Speedy indicated his half of the supernatural weapon duo.

Faust laughed. "Well. It would certainly be entertaining. For the Olden Ones. You got them both from the Temple of the Night Mother, that is correct?"

Speedy nodded.

"Well, don't you know who the Night Mother is?"

"Luna," Pinkie stated, raising her hoof.

"No," Faust shook her head and took another sip. "Though she may believe so. Her sister did lie to her, after all. How is she by the way?"

"Better," Cadance said simply. "Much better."

Faust set her teacup down and it transformed into a platter a cookies. "The Night Mother is one of Them."

The room went quiet. Faust ate her cookies.

"Unbeknownst to everyone," she continued after a few crunchy morsels, "including the barbaric priestesses, the Night Mother is simply another ravenous extra-worldly being. She gave those weapons to to the priestesses amongst other artifacts." She ate another cookie. "So, no. Using those weapons against them would be like trying to swat flies with a live cobra."

"They'll backfire before they betray their makers," Speedy said, looking at the weapon. "But... it says it was built by the Hellpony corporation..."

"A subsidiary of the Olden Ones Enterprises," Faust nodded.

"What?" Everyone asked. Again, Cadance had to force her husband to lay down.

"They're a corporation?" Pinkie asked.

Faust nodded. "That's as close to what they are as I could explain in your language before running off into gibberish. They drop things here and there to see how creatures across the universe will play with them."

"And our world is like the cafeteria?" Shining asked.

"One more time mister and I'm using a sleep spell," Cadance warned him. She desperately wanted him to get better.

Faust nodded. "Indeed. You were unlucky enough to have something they liked to eat."

"Testicles?" Pinkie asked.

Faust nodded. "Well, male flesh in general." Seeing everyone's confused looks, she sighed. "Celestia, ages and ages ago, saw bloody sacrifices, and it tore her heart in two. She made a deal, ages ago, with the Olden Ones. In exchange for their lives... she would simply castrate and feed them the stolen future of ponykind. The Night Mothers Temples being the only exceptions. In a way, when she visited a temple to procure geldings for her palace, it was an act of mercy and kindness."

She then pointed a hoof at Speedy. "But then you came along and started reversing these things. It made the Olden Ones' bellies turn sour. So Celestia became desperate... and you became bold... and you are both escalating to a tipping point from which one of you may not return."

"And what are you in all of this?" Shining Armor asked, laying down, so that he wouldn't be hit with a sleep spell.

Faust smiled roguishly. "A competitor."