“Hah!! No way!” Garble laughs uproariously as Celestia reveals the final fate of Rising Heights. He doubles over, slaps his knee, then topples over to roll on the floor. He couldn’t care less about the scornful glares he draws from the ponies. “Serves him right! If you can’t stand the heat?”

“Then you shouldn’t fire up the oven!” Ember shares his mocking grin, standing up straight to better regard the mournful alicorn. The dragon manages a nod, but finds Celestia’s dour look distasteful. “That’s lava. I didn’t know ponies had stories like that!” She raises a clawed fist toward Celestia, fangy smile stretching from horn to horn.

Celestia glances at the fist before returning to Ember’s giddy gaze, otherwise not moving a muscle from her position next to Doug. Anypony else might have difficulty curtailing their fiery reaction to the dragon’s praise, but she keeps her calm with a practice honed over centuries of pulling double duty at the Day and Night Court.

Rarity, on the other hoof, shows no such reservation. She fearlessly intercedes despite barely coming halfway up the red dragon’s waist.

“You callous…” Rarity stumbles over calling the dragons brutes again; they probably would wear it as a badge of honor. “Savages! Can’t you see how much it hurt her?”

“Hurt her?” Ember looks genuinely surprised. “What are you talking about?” Her face lights up in recognition. “Oh! You mean how she missed a meal!” She knowingly nods, ignoring Rarity’s look of pure horror. “Yeah, I can see that. Whenever Torch, that is my dad Dragon Lord Torch,” she makes little air quotes around the name with a huff of teenage rebellion, “would tell his stories? Seriously, half of them would end with some sort of feast over the charred remains.”

“You… buh… huwuah?” Rarity can barely string words together as she stares at the teal dragon, one eye twitching.

Fluttershy does a much better way of putting what everypony is thinking into words. “That’s… horrible.”

“What are you talking about?” Ember asks again, delighting in her new favorite phrase and how it provokes such an irate response from the ponies. “Dragons love stories about weak creatures getting what’s coming to them. And it sounds like this Riding Tights guy got roasted ‘cause he wasn’t good enough.”

“Perhaps,” Celestia interjects before Rarity’s horn can spark worse than Tempest Shadow’s. She addresses the ponies, explaining, “I paid my penance after the act. My little ponies were understandably upset and distraught, but it was out of solace for my well-being rather than fear for their lives. They even tried to block me from spending my extra time in service to the country, such as reinstating the Night Court and enabling more petitioners to appear in pony!”

“I-I see,” Rarity says, mortified at having her Princess reprimand her. She backs up until she again sits between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Celestia turns to the two dragons. “I know dragons value strength.” Ember and Garble nod, flexing their pectorals unconsciously. “There are many kinds of strength. And I think it would be unfair to judge anypony, or indeed anycreature, on their ability to withstand the Breaker of Day. For even dragons are not immune when the very air fuses together.”

Ember’s laugh dies in her throat. There have been very few times that ponies and dragons directly clashed, and even fewer that resulted in dragon casualties. Much less ones from it being too hot, for creatures that delight in bathing in flowing lava. The only, obvious and extreme, example being when Celestia stopped a rogue band of dragons that were transporting an antimagic throne with the intent of devouring her and her ponies. Whose stoppage had resulted in The Badlands, the resulting wasteland not from radiation but the twisting of the leylines when she drew in so much power.

“Yeah, sure,” she concedes, hastily withdrawing a few steps back.

“You went nu-” Doug starts before cutting himself off, the color of his face doing an excellent imitation of the alabaster mare.

“Yes,” Celestia replies smoothly. She cocks her head to the side just slightly and asks innocently, “Why? What do you think powers the sun?”

The disarming smile Celestia shoots Doug is so disconcerting he almost cannot believe the words. “C-cake?” he offers, forcing a toothy smile.

Celestia laughs, high pitched and long and very unbecoming of a Princess. Luna tries to stay stoic, a more proper model of behavior, but gritting her teeth cannot contain her irked glare at her Sister.

“Yes,” Celestia concedes as she brings her chuckling under control. “Yes; I suppose, in a manner of speaking, the sun really does run on cake.”

Tempest Shadow steps forward imperiously, yet with an understandable note of trepidation. “Your foals,” she states, as close to demanding as one can get when addressing their superior without crossing the line. She jealously glances at Celestia’s belly. “Will your foal share your… solar abilities?”

Celestia’s jovialness fades at the harsh stare the broken-horned unicorn fixes her with, along with any hope of avoiding the subject.

“We are still running tests,” Twilight Sparkle cuts in. Her ears flatten as Tempest Shadow’s glare turns to her. “But so far, Cadance’s foal runs over eleven times as strong as a normal unicorn. Celestia’s and Luna’s are under three, mine slightly below that. But the distribution and strength of a pony’s abilities are closely related to their cutie mark; it would be impossible to guess at this point where their specialties will lie.”

Tempest Shadow snorts, her misgivings resonating with the others, even some of the ponies. “And will they share your… reluctance to turn that power on those that fail to satisfy them?” She glances at Doug. “Will their caretakers be able to rein them in? To contain them?” She spins, striding two steps to address Cadance and Shining Armor. “Will your bodies survive, or will your foals eat away at you like the walls of our thaumic reactors?”

“N-nothing like that has ever been reported,” Twilight starts, her words utterly failing to calm the growing murmurs. Even her herdmates exchange unsure looks, worry spreading like wildfire among everycreature.

Tempest continues, unconvinced, “And wasn’t illegal dark magic involved?”

Pinkie Pie pronks up, pointedly pointing out, “Precedent, per the Pony Princess Progeny Project, permits projects pertaining to pony Princess procreation.”

The loud snort that follows doesn’t just come from Tempest, though Chrysalis’ grumbles seem more directed at the pink earth pony than at the dire situation with the foals.

“I have a presentation that answers this and many other questions,” Twilight says, hoping to quell the rising fears. She finds herself relaxing as she thinks about her lecture. “I assure you, we will do our best to alleviate any suspicions, fears, or doubts you have about the process my fellow Princesses and I are going through and our intentions regarding the same.”

“More talking?” Garble complains, throwing his head back and staring at the ceiling. Nevertheless, he and the other creatures return to their seats, disquiet simmering under the surface.

Twilight’s hooves beat an irregular pattern as she anxiously grabs at her notes, eyes darting this way and that as she paces back and forth. “No… no… Won’t be able to use that, we already covered this but it sounds like they want more detail…” Spike rides on her back, silently reading from a scroll and pantomiming motions to some unseen audience behind him.

“Hey,” Doug says as he walks over to the alicorn bordering on hysteria. He drops down to better look her in the eye. “I know calming them down is a tall order. But you can do it. I believe in you.” He smiles at both of them, rubbing at Twilight’s jaw.

“Oooh,” Twilight mutters, strands of hair frizzing away from the rest of her mane. She can barely tear herself away from her notes to glance at Doug. “Are you sure about this?”

“Twi,” Doug starts as he walks over. He doesn’t have a brush, but his fingers are an admirable substitute for smoothing out the unkempt parts of her mane. Besides, he prefers using them. “You’re going to do great. You and Spike practiced, right?”

“We did,” Twilight says, gulping. She forces a chuckle. “I can’t believe you got this method from studying bears.”

“Polar bears,” Spike adds with a smile.

“That’s…” Not exactly right. “Close enough. It always got a few laughs out of me.”

Two giant, glistening violet orbs stare up at him. Her voice shakes. “You don’t think it’s going to be… inappropriate?”

“Your material is inherently inappropriate,” Doug points out. “Using levity will break that and make it easier to talk about.”

A thin smile spreads across the lavender muzzle. “Thanks.”

Doug chuckles to himself, shaking his head. “There’s just one change you need to make. Spike, instead of starting off riding Twilight, you need to swoop in and screech like a bald eagle.”

“I do?” Spike asks. He glances back as he spreads his wings. “I guess I can do that.”

“Perfect.” Doug turns back to Twilight, nodding at her. “Now, giddy-up!”

A hand swats Twilight in the flank, the mare automatically lurching a few steps toward the stage. Her head turns, startled for a moment, before her smile returns. Her horn flares, unfolding and dragging a special chalkboard with a raspberry glow.

Twilight saunters onto the stage, sparing a glance at the other creatures expectantly watching her. She wishes she brought her favorite lecturing hat, the replica of Star Swirl the Bearded’s belled hat she painstakingly made with Meringue. Her favorite lecturing partner - Spike - will have to suffice.

The purple dragon happily glides through the air, scanning the crowd like an eagle, or possibly a griffon. Several colors of chalk spin between his claws while he marks on a miniature blackboard, his words duplicating onto the main board. The list is tucked away in case they forget their position, but they went over it enough on the trip that they have the general structure memorized.

Despite this Twilight does not look concerned, even as Spike misses his landing on her back and ends up tumbling head over tail along the stage. She rolls her eyes as he shakes off her attempt to help, rising back into the air. The second time he makes it, landing on her back and riding just like they did before. Then he screeches, loud and right in her ear.

“Good afternoon,” she starts, rubbing at her ear. She waits a brief second and gets no reply; at least, she can't hear one. She forces a smile to her muzzle, clearing her throat. She writes ‘A Brief Synopsis of Alicorn Reproduction’ at the top of the chalkboard before turning to her audience.

The words ‘No flash photography or video recordings, please’ appear on the center of the chalkboard.

Twilight appears not to notice, starting on her speech. “For over eleven hundred years Princess Celestia and her Sister, Princess Luna, have been searching for a method through which they could bear offspring. Princess Cadance joined their search when she became an alicorn. Sadly, their efforts have, until recently, proven fruitless.”

The chalkboard writes an enlarged ‘Can we have a demonstration?’ that leaves a couple Council members snickering.

“They referred to this as ‘Harmony’ interfering, and spent many years figuring out the cause and potential solutions. None of their efforts worked, their young terminating shortly after conception. Approximately eight years ago the being now known as Prince Consort Doug Apple arrived. His magic-less nature inspired Princess Celestia to broaden her search. She scoured ancient tomes and the cutting edge of magic breakthroughs, even consulting texts previously forbidden due to their inherent danger. In the end, Lord Tirek’s magic drain provided a foundation on which she based her research.”

At the name the murmurs increase, a good number of limbs crossing over chests as glares intensify.

“And what of the dangers?” Delegate Gruff calls out, beak gnashing. “The Council was never informed of this! What if it had gone wrong?”

The blackboard draws a large question mark.

Twilight sighs before answering, “It was an internal affair, and undertaken for benevolent reasons. In this case, because nopony else ever cast the spell near Princess Celestia, the danger of her getting her magic drained was minimized.”

“But not eliminated,” Gruff accuses.

“With magic research it is impossible to eliminate all risks,” Twilight says sternly. “Teams of unicorns had already been assembled in case the sun, moon, and/or night sky needed to be shifted by another entity.” The blackboard shows three crude stick figure unicorns, horns lit, and a depiction of the night sky.

The griffon grumbles as he slumps back, unimpressed.

“To explain where the research ended up, I first need to explain a little bit about pony biology.”

The blackboard helpfully adds, ‘When a stallion and a mare love each other very much…’

Despite herself, Twilight rolls her eyes. “When a mare gets pregnant-”

The words ‘love each other’ get underlined twice. Twilight ignores this.

“-The foal growing inside her requires large amounts of thaums provided, of course, by the dam.” Twilight motions to her belly as a physical reminder of her aside. “Outside sources providing that magic for a non-alicorn is impractical, to the extent that it is possible only in the short term - a day or so at most - and proved impossible for any amount of time for alicorns.”

“Do you have examples of ponies successfully using this?” Alira, the Saddle Arabian delegate, asks politely.

“Um,” Twilight says, glancing back at Spike. He shrugs. “Off the top of my head? For foals, no. The only creature it would have been relevant with would have been Doug, but by the time it was realized he could get a pony pregnant several weeks had gone by and the foal was healthy. When we - that is, Princesses Celestia, Luna, and myself - conceived? No intervention would have been possible.”

Alira frowns. “And of this other technology? The one you said was good in the short term.”

“Oh, that?” Twilight smiles at a question that does have a definite answer. “Unicorns - technically all ponies, but it’s easiest for unicorns - can charge a device to temporarily store their magic, often called a ‘battery’. You can, though only in the most dire of circumstances, force this magic into another pony.”

The chalkboard reads ‘Twilight Associated With Vamponies?!?’ She cuts off the murmurs before they can begin accusing her of stealing pony’s magic. At least, at this point in the lecture.

“However, there are two fatal flaws. One, you need a way to get the magic into a pony; this involves ripping a hole in their magical core, out of which the newly inserted magic and all their own magic will leak. Even if you can repair that leak - doing so while magic is rushing out is nearly impossible - the core recognizes that magic is not its own, and rejects it. You need to fully saturate the pony and the area around them in order to keep equilibrium, and that solution is unstable at best. My herdmate, Rainbow Dash, had experimental treatment of this kind after an… injury. She survived, barely, and took several years to fully recover.”

Twilight stops for a moment, and the chalkboard adds, ‘I told you that story to tell you this one…’

Twilight huffs. “Indeed. And previous attempts by Celestia, Luna, and Cadance resulted in a hybrid unable to cope with the prohibitively high amount of alicorn magic or starved by a unicorn’s.” She pauses a moment, frowning to herself. “At least, that’s what she theorized; the lifespan was never long enough, and attempts too taxing, to really study the phenomenon.”

Three dots appear on the chalkboard, the room silent.

“Tirek’s magical drain,” Twilight continues; a few grumbles come up, both at the mention and the dropping of his title, “as the name might suggest, drains ponies of their magic.”

“Dark magic of the vilest sort,” one of the other griffons asserts loudly.

A grim, forced smile crosses Twilight’s muzzle. Nevertheless, she continues, “Princess Celestia began testing the spell, primarily with Doug and his lead mare, Applejack, in order to refine the modifications she made. These modifications enabled her to tightly focus the spell, but this extended the casting time in order to eliminate from consideration every locus other than the one to be affected. She practiced this spell, but was afraid of the consequences should she lose control.” Twilight pauses for a moment, looking to the side, as she recounts what casting the spell on Cadance was like and how easily it could have gone wrong.

‘Doom the planet!’ appears on the chalkboard, a few members laughing nervously.

Twilight takes a deep breath before confessing, “That is one of the reasons that Celestia wanted me to cast the spell on Cadance. In case I went rogue, she would be there to oppose me. But if she was corrupted by the power? The whole planet would bow to her whim.”

“Equus already bows to her every whim,” Gruff says lazily as he flicks two claws against each other. “Nightmare Moon - that is, Princess Luna - wished to spread eternal night. What shall your foals, in their infantile wisdom, desire?”

“That’s…” Twilight starts before stopping, puzzled. “That’s a hard question to answer.”

“I propose we table that discussion,” the Storm King says from his reclined position at the back of the room. “Otherwise we’ll be here forever.”

“Seconded,” calls Iron Grip.

Twilight nods to herself. “Casting the modified drain on the stallion’s sperm as it enters the ova means that the magical core that arises is inherited only by the dam. The same result occurs when Doug is the sire. There is no longer the magical incompatibility, and the healthy alicorn foal develops normally.” She frowns, tapping her quill against her muzzle. “Actually, we aren’t really sure what ‘normal’ looks like, at least for alicorn foals. The only comparison we have are those sired by Doug, which isn’t exactly a good comparison.”

Twilight pauses to sketch out an earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus, then an alicorn. “If we compare how our pregnancies are progressing compared to the much larger database of the more common subtypes, two things stand out. One, the ‘power draw’, as it were, for alicorns is much higher. Approximately eight times higher, though Cadance’s foal is only slightly higher. This is different from the power readings we get from the foals themselves, and we believe the discrepancy to be a consequence of Doug’s… makeup. This increase also lines up with my estimates of how my thaumic capabilities changed after I ascended. However, much like Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, my abilities have continued to increase as time goes on.”

Twilight taps her hoof against her muzzle, thinking to herself. “Um, that’s all I have for now. Are there any questions?”

“So, that’s a no on demonstrations?” Garble asks, scratching at his head.

Twilight chuckles, shaking her head. “Not unless you have a volunteer.”

Garble raises his foot, though Ember’s death glare stops him from kicking her.

Twilight rolls her eyes. “Anyone else?”

Next Chapter: Ch. 38 - The Red Dream, Part Three Estimated time remaining: 26 Hours, 3 Minutes