Hyacinth heaved as they took a seat, gently rubbing their belly. "I must admit, I've heard of foals kicking before, but I don't think I ever considered it was a physical kick. I assumed it was more of a shift, or the body adjusting," They commented.

"It's a literal kick, yeah. It's okay, though. That doesn't mean anything's wrong," Glistening Ward expressed, looking up at Hyacinth as she got the ultrasound ready. "Actually, it's a good sign. It means they're developing well. Kicks are a sign all their nerves and muscles are developing properly."

"Oh, I see," Hyacinth nodded slowly. "Born foals are quite a bit different from my usual children, aha..." They trailed off with an awkward chuckle, rubbing their neck.

"I've been wondering about that, admittedly... I don't know if it's personal or not, but can you, y'know... Feel them like your other children?" Ward asked.

Hyacinth rubbed their chin, processing the question. "It is complicated," They admitted. "Do you mind if I try to explain it in detail, as I understand it?" They asked.

"You don't have to ask, your highness. It'd be good for me to understand this better as your doctor," Ward expressed. "The more thorough my notes are, the easier it is to try and figure out problems. Just let me grab a pen and paper..." She murmured, setting down the ultrasound probe to grab her clipboard.

Hyacinth nodded. "Well... I don't feel all my children individually. It's all patterns, mosaics of different thoughts and feelings. The patterning does us a considerable amount of good: It's only new types of my children that tend to put strain on me, rather than just increasing our raw numbers," They explained. "Some of my children are even able to pattern for their own: The Reconcilants are the most capable of it, but Totems and Anchorages are also capable of it in their own ways. Ah, but, I'm getting off track."

"The patterning simplifies things. Unless my children are communicating directly with one another in particular detail, such as relaying complex vocal messages, the amount of signals is nearly irrelevant. We only need to know where a certain quantity of signal is going to and coming from, so it all gets simplified into signals of just quantity, type, source, and destination. Some impulses are even simpler: If I get hurt, for example, that impulse doesn't carry a source or destination. It travels from me through every one of my children down to even my great grandchildren," Hyacinth elaborated. "What's shared between all of us is as generalized as possible. Hunger, thirst, basal emotions, that sort of thing. It cuts down on the logistics."

Ward was struggling to write all of this down. It sounded closer to computing than biology to her, but then again, given some of Hyacinth's more biomechanical spawn, she supposed it wasn't impossible they had some element of technology involved. "So, you'd only be able to feel their vague emotions then," Ward mused, rubbing her chin.

"Yes," Hyacinth nodded. "I can manually attempt to seize control over them, though I worry about doing that to children of mine that aren't fully formed. They make me nervous in general, to be honest..." They conceded.

"I guess it's as alien to you as you are to us..." Ward mused, rubbing her chin. "I don't want to force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, your highness. I was just curious," She expressed.

Hyacinth nodded and gave a gentle smile. "It's quite alright, dear. It's just strange to talk about it for so long," They conceded.

Ward nodded. "I suppose it's good you understand such things in detail... We'd be flying blind without you," She commented.

Hyacinth sighed. "When I was younger, my father was particularly obsessed with biology. I remember spending a lot of time with him, and he would very exaggeratedly explain things as he worked," They commented. Their brow creased slightly. "Though I can't say the times outside of that were particularly pleasant. Studies calmed some of his worse eccentricities..." They remarked, holding their head for a moment.

Ward frowned softly. "I... I understand, your highness. We can drop the subject if you'd like," She expressed, worried about potentially unpacking something dangerous.

"Thank you, dear," Hyacinth smiled cumbersomely. "I always have trouble thinking back to then... A hundred and fifty years is quite a long time," They expressed.

Ward stared, before looking down at her clipboard. The "age" box was left empty. It always had been. But now curiosity had grabbed her by the throat. "How... How old are you, your highness?" She asked.

"Oh, just a hundred and eighty three," Hyacinth replied. "I've been told I've aged fairly gracefully, all things considered," They chuckled.

Ward scratched her head with her pen. "So... Your children, does that mean...?" She tilted her head.

"Some of them, yes," Hyacinth nodded. "Of course, all of us are some degree of ageless. My children come to me fully formed, and never seem to grow. Though, I've noticed myself and Cardion must trim our hair and fur every now and then, whereas the others needn't even do that," They mused.

Ward scribbled some more down on her clipboard, page filled with messy notes. "You're something else, your highness. If you were properly studied, we might be able to cure aging," She expressed.

Hyacinth chuckled softly. "You flatter me, dear," They commented softly. "Perhaps when things settle down a bit, I could sit still for some studies," They mused.

Ward nodded a little, setting her clipboard down. "Someday," She replied with a soft sigh, finally grabbing her ultrasound probe. "Well, let's have check-in with the foals, okay?" She commented, turning the probe on and setting it against Hyacinth's belly to try and find the foals. "Well, they're definitely a bit easier to find now..." She mused as she oriented the probe, managing to get a bead on the foals fairly quickly.

The image that came up was of two fairly healthy, if rather large foals. "They're growing quickly, hm?" Hyacinth mused. "From what I recall of my conversations with Celestia, she mentioned pregnancies normally take around ten months."

"They're coming up pretty quick, yeah. I'd say now more than ever it's important to conserve energy and go easy on yourself," Ward expressed. "I might prescribe an extra dose of those supplements for you, too, to be taken at lunch. I think it's safe to say any excess will trickle down into the others; we've been giving you big dosages already and it doesn't seem to cause you any problems," Ward commented.

Hyacinth nodded. "That sounds good, dear," They replied with a gentle smile. "The more I can do for these two, the better..."