Sooner than I expected, Luna found all the needed paperwork, and Iridia filled it all. There's when absolute monarchy shines — getting stuff done as soon as possible without going through the struggles of bureaucracy. Well, you need to be friends with the ruler, so yeah... At any rate, everything is done now and the two of us (or me, depending on the perspective) can go home... and explain stuff to Moonshine and Night Breeze.

I expect this to go very awkwardly. Might end up in sex, though. Well, and might not... In this situation, I can't say for sure. I can't even say why I'm even thinking about it in the first place. Shouldn't I be less horny? At least that was the entire point of going to Luna and getting that spell cast in the first place. It sorta worked, I hope... Otherwise, I just ended up with a female clone of myself, which, duh, wasn't the result I was looking for. Unfortunately, I can't travel back in time to change anything, so I have to go with the flow.

Luna told us that she'll send the necessary paperwork to the school and everywhere else that we need, so we won't have to worry about anything. I'm glad about it since I always hated going from place to place, submitting paperwork and getting more paperwork when I was still a human. It was tiring, especially if you have to sit in a line and wait for who knows how long.

Anyway, Iridia and I were soon outside the castle and walking through the city of Canterlot to our apartment. Speaking of... Isn't an apartment designed only for two ponies to live in at the same time? Shouldn't Iridia be getting a new one? I mean, she still loves Moonshine and she'd definitely want to stay with her, but, you know, space is an issue. Ugh, dilemmas...

At any rate, first and foremost, we have to tell Moonshine and Night Breeze about all of this so that, well, we can sort it all out. We definitely need to do a lot of sorting out today and later. Just... a mess. I bet that magical accidents of any sort, be it growing an extra limb or losing all body hair are the nastiest and hardest to deal with. I'm not even speaking about clones... yeah, magic. It is probably the most complicated thing in the world, at least on par with quantum physics or something else I don't know anything about but heard of... At least I'm studying magic and I might understand some of it by the time I finish the school. The theoretical lessons have been pretty simple so far even though they do sometimes require extra time to understand.

First and foremost, magic is basically everywhere. It's an energy of sorts that binds us, penetrates us... Well, probably not in the sexual sense, even though I'm pretty sure magic can be used for sexual pleasure because of a rule: everything is a dildo if you're brave enough. Well, and if there's a hole wide enough, it will be at one point used for sex. There's just no way around it, internet and its weird contents have proven it to me. I, well... I wish it hasn't, but oh well, my mind is irreparably damaged by the internet.

Where was I? Oh right, talking about basics of magic. My dirty mind decided that it was a good time to change the subject to sex, so... Ahem, anyway, magic. Unicorns use their horns to transform the said energy into various things. The mechanism of it is being studied but there's no definitive answer, just a bunch of different theories floating around as to how exactly unicorns are able to manipulate magic so precisely. Earth ponies and pegasi, on the other hand, use magic passively. It helps with strength, flight, weather control, and some other things, especially different senses.

Yeah, that's the basics. There's more to it, and I listened to it closely but I still don't understand some bits here and there. Thankfully, Celestia put more time into practicing spells that would be useful in day-to-day life, so that's good. I've had a lot of mostly irrelevant theory back on Earth, thank you very much. It's not like the theory of magic isn't useful, it's far from being useless, but the practical application of it in real life is what I'm looking for. I don't think I will spend more time studying magic deeper, so thanks to Celestia for letting me choose an easier approach. I even remember her saying that the theory of magic isn't for everyone, so yeah.

So, from what I learned, there is a magic reserve called mana. Heh, that's a classic. Each and every single instance of magic, at least in the games and such, has the mana stat. After all, magic is pretty overpowered everywhere, and so some sort of limitation is always needed unless you want mages to dominate everyone every single time. Anyway, mana depends entirely on the user. It's also genetical, so you can get either very lucky or, well, not lucky, but there is always enough mana for telekinesis. That's a sort of an axiom. Even the weakest unicorn will have the strength and mana to use telekinesis. Well, unless their horn is broken, but I've not read much about that. Besides, as far as I know, horns are actually very sturdy and extremely hard to break. At any rate, mana reserves can be expanded but only to a certain limit, and that limit is also defined by the genes. Next comes the strength of magic. It also depends on genes and can be trained. I suppose it's all like muscle, but magical.

We've never gone so far as to discuss clones and such, although they were mentioned... I think. But I bet, oh I bet that clones were summoned by higher-tier unicorns to have sex with. There's a reason why mages are often portrayed as loners living in towers. Why would you like to have anyone if you have magic at your disposal, after all? Just clone yourself and do fun!

Well, being a magician isn't what I see for myself in the future, even though it's a nice thing to fall back to if my band plan doesn't work. I could still study magic if anything else fails and then find a job that requires high magic skill. Being an alicorn, I'm naturally pretty much the best at magic aside from unicorns who have a talent for it and have been studying it more and better than I have. Well, and older alicorns such as Celestia and Luna are pretty much unrivaled and unparalleled in power right now. That's probably why they're still the rulers; I doubt anyone would want to challenge them to, well, anything, considering that they can probably create a magical equivalent of a nuke or something. I seriously doubt they would do that, though. The princesses seem very nice, serving their country well, and... I can't really see anything going too wrong with them unless something extremely extraordinary happens.

On a side note, I noticed that Iridia was also silent as the two of us walked. I wonder what is going on inside her head. Is she thinking about the same thing as me? Is there something else that would have her attention? It really does make me wonder just how different a clone is from the original. I mean, Iridia is me but there are certain changes, and if you apply the butterfly effect to that... She might be thinking about something entirely different than me because one small thing differs in our recent experiences. Stuff like that.

So yeah... I wonder just how much different we'll grow, what is waiting for us next... There are a lot of questions I'd like to know answers to. This whole day, the whole clone situation is making me go crazy, that's for sure. And that's not even the end of it! The two of us still need to explain it to my... our loved ones. Well, I don't exactly love Night Breeze yet and I have no idea if I will, but the point stands.

And speaking of that lunar unicorn... her foals are mine and also Iridia's. Now that's quite something, that's for sure. Iridia will also be a, uh, mother? No, that's not how that works, but she definitely won't be a father. Or will she? Or should I just treat her like a twin sister? How does she actually feel about it? I... I guess I can ask.

"Hey, Iridia..." I said, gaining the attention of my clone. "Uh... what do you think about Night Breeze and the foal?"

"...Absolutely no idea," she replied, shaking her head slightly. "I mean, I'm kinda a father, but... I don't have the male bits to say that," she chuckled. "But I'm also not a mother since the foal isn't in me. So, no idea, really."

"Yeah, I think the same," I nodded in agreement. Both of us are thoroughly confused about this. "What do you feel about Night Breeze, though?"

"The same as you still do, I suppose," she replied. "I don't love her but, well, she has my... your... our foal," she snorted. "Ugh, this is really confusing..."

"At least you won't be the one giving birth," I let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, I'm thankful that doesn't come with becoming a mare," she responded with a smile. "But, I mean... I'm a mare, I can theoretically get pregnant," she shrugged. "No idea if I ever do, though. I don't feel like I want a stallion, that's for sure. I still need to get used to... that thing between my legs."

"Can't imagine how hard that'd be," I replied with a slight grimace. "Not having balls, and most importantly not having a dick... I mean, you... we... uh, well, you lived with male stuff for twenty-four years."

"Yeah," she nodded. "This... change is certainly... something," she paused for a second. "I will probably get used to it eventually... but now I need to sit down when I use a toilet," she let out a chuckle. "I'll try not to forget that."

"Yeah, that's true," I nodded. Even as a pony, I can still stand while doing the small business, even if it makes me look like a dog marking its territory. Honestly can't imagine myself sitting down to do the same. I used to use my magic to hold the tail the right way when I take a dump, but still...

Things... Things will definitely change for Iridia. Something as trivial as going to the toilet room will be a challenge for some time. Then comes... Oh no...

"Iridia..." I addressed her once again. "You do realize that you will now have heat to deal with, right?"

Her eyes widened.

"...Oh no," she said, blinking slowly.

"Oh no indeed..." I replied with my head slightly low. Dealing with that... I'm glad I'm still pretty much a male.

"Ugh..." she facehoofed. "I can't believe this..." she snorted. "Well, what can I say?" she looked away for a second before returning to me. "I'll need you for this one."

Oh fuck no.

In a few more minutes, we finally reached the apartment. We haven't entered yet, however, waiting outside as Iridia nervously shifted in place. Quite frankly, I'm really nervous myself, but I bet that it's way worse for her. Unfortunately, we can't stand here forever, so...

I slowly opened the door and looked inside. Moonshine was lying on the bed, reading a book. She greeted me with a wave as I entered. Alright, here we go...

"Moonshine..." I began slowly, trying to find words in my mind to explain everything to her. "Well, uh... I went to Luna to fix my, uh... The thing that, uh, made Night Breeze pregnant." I'm great at words. Yes. No doubt. "It turned out that... Discord did some other stuff, and now..." I looked back and gestured for Iridia to come in. Soon, the two of us stood before Moonshine as she looked at us with curiosity. "Meet Iridia... my mare clone."

And the silence fell. The book Moonshine was holding fell on the bed as her eyes widened. Well... I expected something like this. Okay, now I just need her to say... something, anything, I dunno. I mean, I would also be struggling for words and, uh, so on.

A few more seconds passed and I became worried. I hope that Moonshine won't, uh... Shut down? Overreact? Ugh... Fucking Discord, he's done way, way, way too much to me, definitely way above what I'd allow. I mean, I'm glad he made me a bit older, but fuck... If I knew it would bring all these problems, I would tell him to revert everything to how it was. I'd rather spend a few extra years growing up than spend a few extra decades making sure that my kid doesn't turn into an asshole.

Because of Discord, I will be a father, I have a clone, and... Well, he caused a lot of confusion and uncertainty. He might even have more tricks up his sleeve. At this point, I want to find him and... do something to him, preferably hurt him. A lot. Well, maybe not a lot, but still... He deserves a few punches to the face, that's for sure.

"I... I don't know what to say," Moonshine finally said. Phew...

"I'm not surprised," I chuckled. "But, well... Both of us love you. That should count for something, right?"

"I'm glad to hear that..." she blushed, a smile appeared on her face. "But... I don't know how to deal with it." she looked at Iridia. "I... I'm sorry, I just don't know if I'm into mares..."

"We'll figure something out," Iridia said. "Now, we just need to tell about it to Night Breeze."

Knowing her, I bet she'd collapse unconscious like she did when she learned that I'm an alicorn. She seems to be pretty... impressionable? I hope that's the word to describe wh-

*THUD*

Huh? That doesn't sound quite right.

I looked back and saw that... Oh well... There's Night Breeze lying on the floor. What did I say? It turned out to be true. And, uh... I hope she didn't hurt her head. That looks like a nasty fall right there. No blood or anything, no, it's just... Well, first of all, no fall looks good. I... I'll just stop thinking about this for now.

Iridia and I exchanged glances. Even without saying words, I can understand that both of us are thinking about the same thing. And that thing is definitely not pretty. Well...

...

We're fucked and not in a good way.