"Maya. You got any apple cider?" Black asked. "Been needing to try some new beverages, and I keep hearing how it's all the rage with ponies these days."
Dusty was the one bartending at the moment. He stowed away his confusion and poured Blackened a mug of cider.
(Ah, s*yay!*. Knew I'd bugger it up somehow.) "Thanks." He took the mug of cider and took a light sip. "Yep. I can see why everypony's crazy over it."
"I can tell that much," he responded, drinking more of it. "Maya's cooking also seems to get a good rep too."
Nightshade nodded. "I think the mention of a new Alicorn will get his attention. Faust knows he's had his hooves full with the last one."
"What's in the boooox?!" Nightshade thought to herself. "Damn, that a perfect SE7EN reference and nopony here would understand it."
"A mind reader. Fantastic." Nightshade, as she'd been trained to do, put up mental barriers to prevent further access to her thoughts.
Dusty nodded. "It's like alchemy, only easier. She has it down." "Then we can dump this in a mailbox after we're done here," said Raven.
Van, meanwhile, was still sleeping in the corner, eyes wide open with the blank stare, actually, it didn't even look like he was sleeping, like he was just laying there.
She nodded, taking another slice of pizza and offering the last slice to Raven. "I wish there was something we could do, but all I've got to offer is chaos magic. Even I'm not crazy enough to try that on an unborn foal."
"You're telling me," he responded to Dusty, finishing the cider. "It only makes sense since she's been cooking for as long as she has."
"I've seen a few bad births, but those were the result of illegal magic." She closed her eyes for a few moments, deep in thought. "Okay... so, if the foal's an Alicorn, it's going to be powerful. It'll need extra everything as it develops... extra nutrients, for starters. More than Maya can take in. She'll be able to make herself some supplements to deal with that, but that's just one problem."
Dusty nodded. "This is true. She can bake, too." "That kid could take as long as a regular foal," said Raven. "Or start growing fast be ready to pop out in three weeks. You know. A mess."
Nightshade nodded. "You were right earlier. A Pegasus... even one as tough as Maya... isn't built to handle an Alicorn foal. So, unless you know how to turn Maya into an Alicorn... actually, is that an option?"
"Wouldn't that make her like a Maya Sue at this point?" Raven shook her head. "No, this is important. Uhh, maybe Cadence can do it?"
"I think saving her and the foal is more important than good storytelling. Sometimes you just need a deus ex machina." Nightshade sighed. "It's just a race-swap spell... cranked up to eleven. Any master mage can turn a Unicorn into a Pegasus or an Earth Pony into a Unicorn... but I don't know of anypony powerful enough to pull off a Pegasus to Alicorn spell. Cadance is the only ascended Pegasus I know of, and nopony really knows how she did it."
