//------------------------------// // Chapter 98- Looking to the Future // Story: Of Flame and Shadow // by Garuda IV //------------------------------// Dark felt stiff as a board... and not in a good way. The last thing he remembered was the cold gripping pain in his chest, or more specifically, his heart. It was soon after that that he got tired suddenly and collapsed, his eyes closing and his world turning to darkness. Now feeling his senses rebooting, apart from hearing the sound of fire flicking and not being able to move, he felt unusually cold and found it a bit more difficult to breath. The hay...? Letting out a grunt of effort, Dark tried to move any part of his body, but found himself just barely able move his limbs, even if it was just a twitch. Next he tried opening his eyes. It was hard and took him a bit of effort with how heavy they felt, but he managed to finally crack them open enough to see something white covering him. Managing to curve his lips to a small frown for being covered and unable to move to remove it, Dark tried lighting his horn to remove it instead, but found himself lacking the strength to create even a spark. Stuck with no way to remove it and see where he was, Dark glared up at the white blanket and watched as his nostrils flared with each exhale, causing the blanket to rise slightly before falling back over his face. Well this sucks, he though. Where the heck am I... and what happened back there? Residing himself to his spot on what felt like a cold stone floor, Dark though about taking a nap when he suddenly felt the blanket covering his face and body starting to move. Watching the blanket being pulled off of his face, Dark slammed his eyes shut with a groan as a bright purple light shined above his head. "Dark?" Hearing his name, Dark squinted his eyes to see who was there. A moment later of letting them adjust to the light, Dark could just barely make out the teary-eyed face of Twilight sitting beside him, and the shock look of Luna next to her. "Dark? Is that you?" Twilight cautiously asked. "Twi... light?" Dark whispered, finding it rather hard for him to speak at the moment. Dark didn't have any warning as to what happened next. One second Twilight was sitting there, crying with a growing smile, and the next, she lunged at him and wrapped her forelegs around him in a crushing hug, knocking the air out of his lungs with a wheeze. Surrendering himself, Dark laid motionless and confused as he watched Twilight burying her face into his chest and feeling his coat starting to become damp with her tears. Confused as to what was going on, Dark's eyes turned from Twilight to Luna, who was still standing where she was with her mouth slightly agape. "... wha...?" Hearing his raspy voice, Luna shook herself out of her stupor and sat herself down before speaking. "How are you feeling, Dark." "Like... crap," he muttered. "Hard... to... talk..." "Makes sense I suppose," Luna nodded. "After all, you have been dead for almost two full days." If Dark could, he would've snapped his eyes wide open and shouted in confusion, but with his voice not working properly, he had to settle for the former of the two. "What...?" Dark felt a shifting on his chest and glanced down to see Twilight having moved up and now nuzzling his collarbone. "According to Nocturne," Luna began explaining, "Light casted a spell on you that caused you to die shortly after he did." Huh. Sounds similar to that spell I offered Big Mac and Cheerilee, Dark mentally figured. You would be right, Nocturne told him in his head. Nocturne? About time you woke up. I was starting to think that it might not work for a second there. What happened? It's just as Luna said. Turned out that the spell Light casted on you was a sort of lifelinking spell. Not long after he died, you died as well. Frowning, Dark thought back to what Light had said about how if he went down, then he was taking him with him. He didn't think much about it at first, but now his words made sense. "How...?" "Are you alive?" Luna finished with a small smirk. "You can thank Twilight for that." Hearing her name called, Twilight lifted her head up and locked her blurry eyes with Dark's. "It wasn't that hard, really," she said, wiping her eyes with a smile. "Thanks to the piece of your soul that you had sealed away in your sword, Nocturne and I were able to use it to bring you back to life." "... really...?" "Yes. But, there's a catch. You see, the... I suppose you could call it a ritual, transferred the soul back into your body." She means that that was a one-time deal, so don't expect us to bail you out like that again, Nocturne clarified. "Kay..." Happy to have him back and mostly alive again, Twilight closed her eyes and settled herself back down on Dark's chest. But it was short-lived as Luna cleared her throat from behind her. "Perhaps we should move him to the medical wing and have the doctors check on him," she suggested. "Besides, I doubt that laying on the cold stone floor would feel all that great." Blushing, Twilight got off of Dark and stood by his side. "I suppose," she agreed, letting out a breath of relief from all of the stress she'd been through. "Alright, let's go then." "Can't... move..." Dark reminded them, only to find himself encased in Luna's magic and lifted up off the ground. "Perhaps I can assist you then," she offered with a smirk. Smiling in thanks, Dark floated lazily alongside Luna as she and Twilight exited the catacombs and sealed the door behind them. As the minutes of silence and walking rolled by, Dark tried to move his limbs again. And while he did find that he could move them a little more than before, it still wasn't enough for him to do anything even remotely significant. At least it was starting to become a little easier for him to breathe. "How... long...?" Twilight looked over at him. "What, Dark?" "Till... I... move...?" Twilight shared a look with Luna and shrugged her wings. "It's hard to say, really. Your body was dead for two days, so it'll take some time for it to readjust to it being alive and moving again. Hopefully your body will be better after a night of rest and giving it a chance to let your blood circulate through it." Dark gave her the tiniest and best nod he could manage. "Kay..." "At least your breathing is starting to return to normal," Luna commented. "Your voice also sounds as though it's returning." "I guess," Dark rasped. Resting his voice, Dark closed his eyes and rested as Luna continued to carry him in her magic until they came to the doors of the medical wing. Pushing them open, Luna walked inside with Twilight and were greeted by the medical night staff who all froze when they saw who Luna was carrying. With a gulp, one of the doctors stepped forward. "Uh... Your Highnesses," he gulped, "forgive me, but what are you doing?" Luna smiled as she and Twilight walked past the stunned medical staff and laid Dark down on his back onto one of the beds. Now that there was a good source of light, they noticed that Dark's blaze-orange coat had started to pale, his blond mane had started turning gray, and his eyes had a glossy look to them. "I have brought you Dark because he requires your medical attention." "But, Princess Luna... Prince Dark is-" "I'm still alive," Dark quietly spoke. Hearing him speak, everypony in the room jumped and yelped in surprise, much to Dark's, Twilight's, and Luna's amusement. Not believing it, the doctor walked up to see Dark breathing and his eyes tracing his movements. "This isn't possible," he muttered to himself. "Princess Celestia had us come down and check you before she sent you to the catacombs! You were confirmed dead!" "He was, but not anymore," Luna confirmed. "Now, if you would?" His heart racing, the doctor quickly nodded and began ordering his staff to gather the instruments that they would need. Five minuets later, they'd hooked Dark up to a heart monitor, an I.V. with a blood packet to help his body recover, and another to supply his body with liquids. With him all hooked up, they then began running tests on his condition. While his body was running low on just about everything at the moment, with a bit of time and a lot of rest, they believed that he would recover just fine. Doing what they could for the time being, the doctor and his crew did a final check on Dark before leaving him alone with Twilight and Luna. With them now alone, Twilight lifted the covers of the bed up and crawled underneath them to cuddle up against Dark's side. Though his body was cold at first, Twilight noticed that the amount of time that had passed had allowed for the fire sac in Dark's chest to start warming his body back up a little bit. Once she was comfortable and secured, Twilight laid her head down in the crook of Dark's neck and let out a heavy sigh as she started to relax. "I trust that you can take it from here?" Luna asked Twilight with a smile. "Yeah. I got him," she smiled back. Nodding, Luna walked over to the doors and paused as she looked back. "I will be back in the morning to check in on you two. Until then, I whish you two a goodnight." "Goodnight, Princess Luna," Twilight tiredly called back, hearing the door click shut moments later. Now alone with just the two of them, Twilight smiled as she began to lightly nuzzle Dark's neck. "I was so scared that I lost you..." Feeling a pang of guilt, Dark tried to lift his arms to hug and comfort Twilight, but found his body still too weak to do so. "I'm sorry, Twilight," he apologized, wishing he could do more to comfort her. "It wasn't your fault, Dark. None of us knew what he had planned for you until it was too late." "Still, I'm sorry for making you worry like that. Could you forgive me?" "Of course I forgive you. You're my husband after all... although..." "Hmm?" Twilight gave him a small squeeze. "You promise to be here when I wake up?" In a comforting gesture, Dark ran his thumb against Twilight's back as best he could. "I promise." Satisfied, Twilight relaxed herself against Dark with the intent of falling asleep. However, before she could, a little presence had once again made herself known to her. Remembering the new and rather happy feeling, Twilight smiled and looked up. "Hey, Dark?" "Yeah?" he groaned, feeling tired. "Can you move at all?" "Not really. Why?" Helping him, Twilight reached a hoof out, guided Dark's claw over, and rested it on her belly. Seeing his confusion, Twilight stifled a giggle and waited for him to find out. It didn't take her long until she felt her foal kick where Dark's claw laid. Feeling it, she smiled and looked back up from her belly to see the shocked look in Dark's eyes. "Is... that...?" "It is," Twilight confirmed, closing her eyes with a sleepy smile. "That's our daughter." Feeling a new warmth in his chest, Dark smiled as best he could before he felt another kick. Happy to feel this sensation, Dark was about to speak again when he heard the soft steady breathing from Twilight. Knowing the sound of her breathing whilst asleep, Dark laid his head down and idly traced his thumb over Twilight's belly before falling asleep himself. The morning was quiet as everyone woke up and reluctantly dragged themselves to the dining hall to eat. Even Celestia was finding herself lagging this morning with the memories of how Twilight and her friends had reacted still fresh in her mind, and it was made only worse when she saw Spike, Cadence, Shining, and the others all gathered to eat without her. "Has anypony seen Twilight?" Celestia asked them, looking over them to see all of them with the signs of a tearful night. "Sorry, Princess Celestia, but we haven't," Spike sighed. "We tired knocking, but she's not answering her door," Rarity imputed. "Ah would suppose she wouldn't with that sleepin' spell Princess Luna put on her," Applejack said. "Yeah," Rainbow half-heartedly nodded, "she's probably still completely out of it." "We should try to see her again after we eat," Fluttershy suggested. "It wouldn't do her any good if she were to wake up with nopony there for her." There were a round of murmured agreements before the doors opened to Luna. But, much to each of their confusion, Luna was smiling and humming as she pranced past them to her seat. "Good morning, everypony," she chipperly greeted them. "Good morning, Luna," Celestia slowly greeted back, eyes carefully looking over her. "You see to be in a rather pleasant mood this morning." "Indeed I am, sister." "Excuse me, Princess Luna," Shining spoke up, "but do you know how long that sleep spell of yours is gonna last on Twilight for?" Luna looked up from her plate. "Oh, it's worn off already. She's currently in the medical wing-" "SHE'S WHAT?!" Luna winced as everyone, including Celestia, shouted at her and rubbed her ringing ears. A second later she found herself crowded as Twilight's friends, Shining and Cadence, and Spike all began to bombard her with questions about what had happened to her. Quickly growing annoyed with this, Luna froze them all in a spell, immediately silencing them. "Much better," she sighed. "Now, like I was saying before you all interrupted me, Twilight is in the medical wing sleeping." "Did something happen?" Celestia asked, being the only one who wasn't frozen, thus being the only one still able to speak. Luna smiled. "You could say that. I found Twilight awake last night and brought her down to the catacombs to see Dark. As it turned out, when I left her alone in there, she and Nocturne used Dark's Living Weapon to resurrect him. That's why she's in the medical wing. Last I checked, Twilight was still asleep with Dark, who is very much alive now." If it weren't for them all still being frozen in place, Luna would've heard a loud collection of gasps. Having said what she needed to, Luna released her spell on them and returned them to normal. As soon as she did, she watched them with amusement as they all scrambled out of the dining hall. "I did say that they were still asleep, didn't I?" Luna questioned, glancing over to Celestia, who just blinked. "Did Twilight really...?" "Yes, Tia, she did," Luna sighed in playful exasperation. "But considering that she's married to the Lord of Death, I suppose that in hindsight we really shouldn't be that surprised by it." For the first time since before Inferno's attack, Celestia smiled. "I suppose not," she agreed before standing up. "If you'll excuse me, Luna-" "Yes, yes, go on." Being waved off by her sister, Celestia gave Luna a quick nuzzle before calmly making her way out of the dining hall to the medical wing. Along the way, Celestia thought to herself as to how Twilight and Nocturne had managed to pull this off. Several minutes of thinking later, Celestia's musing was halted when she heard laughter coming from down the hallway. Smiling to herself, she walked down and peeked through the door to see Shining and Cadence laughing while Spike and their friends surrounded a groggy Dark and Twilight in a group hug. Letting out a small laugh of joy and relief, Celestia walked in. "I'm glad to see you two doing so much better," she said, gaining everyone's attention. Hearing her voice, Twilight looked up from her friends and her ears wilted when she saw Celestia standing by there bedside with them. "I'm sorry, Princess," Twilight quietly said. A sad smile formed on Celestia's lips. "You mean for yesterday?" Twilight slowly nodded. "It wasn't right of me to have treated you like that. All you were doing was looking out for me, and I..." Seeing her starting to crumble, Celestia leaned down and gave Twilight an assuring nuzzle. "I do not blame you, Twilight," she gently told her. "I will admit that it did hurt a little bit, but I also know that you weren't in your proper mindset at the time. So please, don't beat yourself up over it." With a small sniffle, Twilight nodded and nuzzled Celestia back. "Alright." Smiling, Celestia gave Twilight one more nuzzle and pulled away to face Dark. "And how are you feeling?" "Like you wouldn't believe," he grumbled, still a little annoyed by the fact that he was awoken so suddenly by five mares and a dragon all but dogpiling onto him. Celestia chuckled. "I would imagine. But seriously now, how are you really doing?" "Apart from being able to breath and speak easier, and able to open my mouth to speak better and eat now, I still can't move the rest of my body too much." Seeing his displeasure about it, Twilight gave his cheek a quick peck before turning to Celestia. "The doctor said that it will be a few days before Dark can freely move around again," she told everyone, "and a few weeks to a month more until his body's strength returns." "Which means that I'll be stuck like this for a while," Dark muttered. "And it also means that our honeymoon will have to be put on hold... again." Twilight proceeded to nuzzle his cheek. "That's alright. It just means more cuddle time for us." "I know, and I have absolutely no problem with that, but I'd still like for us to go. And after that, I need to find Nil." Everyone blinked in confusion. "Uhh, who's Nil?" Rainbow asked. Dark opened his mouth to tell them, but paused when he saw somepony missing. "I think Princess Luna should be here to hear this," he suggested. "In that case, I'll be right back." In a flash of light, Celestia teleported away, only for her to return a few seconds later with Luna, who's cheeks were bulging out with the pancakes she'd stuffed into them. Taking a moment for herself, Luna gulped them down with a breath of relief. "Couldn't you have waited for me to finish?" Luna irritatingly asked Celestia. "Yes, I could have," Celestia smirked. Sticking her tongue out at her playfully, Luna regarded the others present before her attention felt to Dark. "My sister said that you had something to say, but requested my presence before speaking?" "I did," Dark confirmed, taking a breath before beginning. "During my fight with Light, he let loose the name of the creature that had corrupted Sombra and those kirins." Everyone was silent for a moment before Shining spoke up. "You mean that Light knew who this creature was?" he asked. "Not just knew him, but also apparently worked for him too like Sombra and those kirins did. After Nocturne killed him and his body dissolved, we found that he had one of those feathers embedded within him too." While a few like Applejack and Rarity gasped, the others remained quiet. "That would explain why he became so powerful," Twilight commented. "And why his hatred for you was so much greater than you remembered," Luna added. Dark gave a small nod. "Yeah. And now that I have a name to look for, I can start to look for traces of him and hunt him down for what he did." "It's a bit more complicated than that." Hearing the new voice, everyone's attention was redirected to the doors where Pyre, Fissure, Aques, and Aero all stood. That is until Aero flew over to them and proceeded to hug and nuzzle Dark. "We heard what happened when we got here!" she exclaimed in worry. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?! Do you need-" "I'll be fine," Dark's muffled voice said from beneath her. "I'm sorry, Aques, but what did you mean by 'it's more complicated'?" Luna questioned, watching as the three other Scaleless Dragons approached them. "We just got done speaking with mother and father," Aques began. "According to them, things are a lot worse than what we'd originally thought." "How much worse are we talking about?" Celestia asked. "Like you couldn't imagine," Pyre frowned. "But first, we need Nocturne here." Dark raised a curious eyebrow. "Why?" "We have a message for him from mother and father, and want to talk with him directly." Taking that as her queue, Aero let go of Dark and returned to floating alongside her siblings while Dark closed his eyes. He couldn't summon his Death Reaver from his body at the moment, but he had other ways of letting Nocturne to speak to them. Surrendering his right half, Dark allowed for Nocturne to possess it, turning his right half black and his right eye red. "Alright, I'm here," Nocturne spoke. "Now, what did mother and father have to say?" "I'll get to the point then," Pyre began. "They want for you to move up Dark's training and start training him on using his Amplify on shadows again." Nocturne's half of his face frowned deeply before he sighed. "Very well." Dark blinked his left eye in surprise. "Just like that?" "If they want me to accelerate your training like that, then there must be a very good reason for it." "And it is," Aero said, her face becoming serious, which was rather unusual for the carefree spirited dragoness. "When we described that thing to mother and father, they told us the tail about Nil, Lord of Nothing." Everyone blinked in confusion. "Uhhh... what?" Dark slowly asked. "I said that he's the Lord of Nothing." "Yeah, I heard. He's a lord of nothing, so he's not really a lord at all." Pyre gave an exasperated sigh and facepalmed. "You're such an idiot." While Dark didn't seem to understand it, Twilight's eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her. "You mean that he's the lord of literally nothing?" Twilight asked, seeing them nod in return. "What do you mean, Twilight?" Dark asked confusingly. Twilight frowned and sat up to face and talk to him. "Think about it, Dark. Every Lord and Lady's name here has some connection to what they represent." "Yeah, I figured that out a while ago." "Well then, do you know what the word 'nil' means?" "... I don't." Twilight's frown deepened. "Nil means literally nothing. Zero. Absolute nothing. The end of the line. Non-existent." Slowly, Dark and the others started to realize what they meant. "You're kidding," he said in disbelief before looking over to his draconic siblings. "Unfortunately, we're not," Aques frowned. "Mother and father found Nil erasing others from existence. When he was caught, Nil went after mother and father and battled them. They managed to beat Nil back, but before they could finish him off, he escaped them and hid himself away while he recovered. That was several thousand years ago." "Since then, mother and father have been searching the multiverse for them, but couldn't find any traces of him," Pyre continued for her. "And now we see why. Since he was so weak, and is apparently still recovering, he's been manipulating others into working for him, using them to try and kill us Scaleless Dragons and throw the world out of balance." Dark nodded. "Alright, so now that we know he's here, what's stopping them from finishing him?" "While mother and father are powerful, they also abide by the same rules as we do. If they left their pocket dimension, then all of time and space will unravel. They can still speak to us and some other minor things, but they can't directly interfere and take care of this personally, as much as I'm sure they want to." Dark gave an annoyed snort. "Alright, just who the hay are they?!" "Our mother, Tempus, is the Scaleless Dragon Lord of Time, and our father, Locus, is the Scaleless Dragon Lord of Space. Together in their pocket dimension, they watch over all worlds and maintain the balance of time and space." Silence reigned as everyone started to process the magnitude of what exactly they'd stumbled into. After several minutes had passed, Rainbow as the first to speak. "... well if Nil's here, then I guess that means we're boned," she idly shrugged. "Not quite," Aero corrected. "Soon after we told them about Nil's description, mother and father told us as they scanned over this world. Unfortunatly, they found out that he'd jumped to a nearby world just hours before we got into contact with them a few nights ago. They've already gone ahead and locked down three nearby worlds that he could've jumped to in order to help contain him." "Now just hold on a second here!" Applejack interrupted. "Are y'all sayin' that this Nil fella has the power ta be able ta jump between worlds, and is still considered ta be weak?!" "Pretty much," Pyre answered with a shrug. Twilight nodded. "Alright, so they've got him trapped then, but what can we do about it?" "For now, they want Nocturne to train Dark further and allow for him to use his Amplify on the shadows again. After they believe that Dark is ready or when the time is right, he'll be sent to go after Nil and finish him." "Just to make sure, mother and father do know what'll happen if we go through with this training, right?" Nocturne questioned. "Now I'm not going to disobey them, but letting Dark start to absorb the darkness with his Amplify could make him godlike." "And that's why they want it done," Pyre nodded. "With enough training from you, me, and the rest of us now, Dark will be able to use it to face Nil." "What about the rest of you?" Twilight asked. "We can't go, and Dark's the only one of us who can move freely to another world without disrupting the balance of this one." Feeling the sudden weight of what was to come on his shoulders, Dark laid his head back down on the pillow with a loud sigh. "I'm not gonna catch a break here, am I?" he asked with a weak chuckle. "Heh. Ain't no rest for the wicked." Several months had passed since the day Dark had been revived and informed by his Scaleless Dragon siblings about what was going on. Since then, Dark recovered and as soon as he was well enough, he and Twilight finally had that honeymoon they were denied for so long. Thanks to Celestia and Luna, they were sent to their secluded beach house where nopony would bothered them, save for the staff if they were called upon. While the time they had there was peaceful, thing were quite different once they got back. Soon as the pegasi guards pulling their carriage had landed and they exited, Dark was immediately pulled off by Pyre and thrown into his new training with him, Nocturne, and the other Scaleless Dragons. While his training was going well, it would still take him a long time before he would get to where Nocturne was predicting. During that time, other, more peaceful things have happened as well. A month after Inferno's failed attack, Rin was unanimously selected by the dragons and crowned as the new Dragon King, and had since ruled peacefully and fairly while slowly restoring his new kingdom back to its former glory. Or course, while they were in a peaceful alliance with the ponies, Celestia and Luna understood that it would take a while until the dragons of the Dragon Kingdom would be willing to leave their boarders to walk and interact amongst ponies. Another thing that happened was the wedding of Discord and Fluttershy that took place during the end of fall. As soon as he'd recovered from the wound accidentally given to him, Discord and Fluttershy set the date for their wedding, which all of their friends had attended with Twilight preceding over them. A few months later during the winter, Fluttershy heard a little voice in the back of her head and listening to it, found out that she was two weeks pregnant with Discord's child. While the news did come as a shock to everypony as to how she managed to get pregnant while out of season at first, they then remembered that this was Discord they were talking about. Leaving it to it just being his chaos magic, everyone joined Fluttershy as they celebrated the wonderful news. Now in the middle of March with the moon shining brightly in the night sky, Dark was hiding in the rafters of a warehouse in Manehattan. Having heard of a gang of ponies that were causing problems and avoiding the guards, Dark figured that it might be a group that Nil had corrupted before he left and volunteered to hunt them down. Even though he wanted to go after them at first, with Twilight now being two weeks from her due date and having been moved to Canterlot just incase, Dark was reluctant to go. That was, until Twilight told him to go, saying that she still had time and that he'd be back before then. Shaking his head from worrying about it, Dark waited patiently as he stalked his prey. A few of them were already here, but he wanted to wait for the rest to show up. Hearing the static coming from the communication headset he'd been supplied with, Dark pressed a claw to it. "Somepony say something?" he whispered. "Your Highness, we've just gotten a request for you from Princess Luna," the pony on the others side said. "Yes?" There was a brief pause before the mare spoke up. "Well... I don't know what to say to this, but she's asking that after you're done here if you would go to the Manehattan Game Pause and pick her up a copy of For Glory for her? Oh, and make sure it's the Neighstation version." Dark facepalmed and muttered, "Seriously? She's a Princess of Equestria. She should be able to get that herself easily from the Game Pause in Canterlot." "She tried, sir, but they were all sold out." Servers her right for not pre-ordering it in advance, Dark mentally sighed. A second later, he heard the doors to the warehouse open up to a dozen ponies walking in. "Alright, I'll go pick it up when I'm done here. Looks like the rest of them just showed up." "Thank you, Your Highness. I'll be sure to relay the message-" "Prince Dark! Urgent message from Canterlot!" Dark let out an exasperated sigh. "Please don't tell me that it's Princess Celestia wanting me to pick her up a cake or something from a nearby bakery... again." "No, sir, it's not. It's about Princess Twilight." Dark remained quiet as he listened to what the guard had to say. As he continued, Dark's heart skyrocketed as his eyes widened and mouth fell agape. "SHE'S WHAT?!" "It's true, sir. I just received word from Princess Celestia that Princess Twilight went into labor a little over an hour ago." Dark snorted. "Alright, screw stealth and subtly then. I need to finish up here quickly and get back to Canterlot." "But, Your Highness," the mare spoke, "even if you left now, you may not be able to get back to Canterlot in time." "Thanks to Luna's night, if I Shadowport there, I should be able to make it." I hope. Clicking his headset off, Dark looked down at the ponies below as they looked around for where his voice came from. Leaping off of the rafters, he landed in the middle of them with a small crater and glared at them with glowing red eyes. "I don't have any time to waste on you guys so I'll make this short and simple," Dark growled. "Surrender now and I promise that I won't kill you all." To Dark's not surprise, the ponies all turned on him attacked. Those who had horns fired spells at Dark, while the others drew a weapon of some kind and charged him with them. Sighing to himself, Dark manipulated the shadows they were standing in, causing shadowy spikes to erupt from beneath most of them and impale them, while he entangled the others in tendrils of darkness. Watching those who'd been impaled dissolve into shadowy mists, Dark was mildly surprised and relieved to see that none of them had any of Nil's feathers. "I will say this one more time," Dark warned them. "Surrender now or join them in death." Not wanting to risk dying like they did, the rest of the ponies discarded their weapons and ceased their spellcasting. With them having surrendered, Dark poked at his headset and turned it back on to speak with the city guards again. "This is Dark. I've captured them." "Thank you, Your Highness," the guard thanked. "I'm sending in the rest of the team to take them into custody." "Alright. Also, just so you know, they attacked me, so there were a few who I had to put down. There's nothing left of them so need to bring in any body bags." "Understood, sir," she confirmed. Keeping his eyes on them, Dark waited patiently for the guards to show up and take over so he could go home. Despite it feeling like minutes to him, in reality it was only ten seconds that had passed until a dozen guards kicked down the door and flooded in. Staying until he knew that the guards had them, Dark bid them farewell and Shadowported over to the local Game Pause. Seeing as how it was between where he was at and Canterlot, he figured that while he wanted to get to Twilight as fast as he could, he could spare a few seconds to grab Luna's game for her. Walking in with his cloak covering and hiding him, Dark paid for the game and exited the building before tucking it away in his Shadow Storage and Shadowporting back to Canterlot. Appearing in front of Canterlot Castle, Dark didn't waste any time as he darted inside. Running down the halls, he spotted a clock and saw that twenty-three minutes had passed between him leaving Manehattan and appearing in Canterlot. Not bad, but I could be quicker, he thought. As he ran down the halls, he came upon a group of guards patrolling the halls. Taking to the air to avoid crashing into them, Dark flew the rest of the way to the medical wing where Celestia had a maternity ward set up in preparation for Twilight. Turning the last corner, Dark saw the door and threw it open, revealing Celestia and Luna, Spike, Soul, the Scaleless Dragons and Aurora's egg, Night and Velvet, Shining and Cadence, their friends, and the Dazzlings, all anxiously waiting with Twilight in the room through the doors. Walking in, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage for Luna's game and handed it to her. "Alright, there's your game. Now, how's she doing?" "We're not sure," Shining answered him. "The doctors kicked us out." A sense of fear washed over Dark. "Is everything okay?" "I'm sure everything is," Celestia said reassuringly. "They just asked to work in private so nopony would be there to interrupt or distract them." Though he did feel a little bit better, it wasn't enough to calm his nerves as his eyes fell over the door leading to the other room. "If everything's alright, then why can't I hear anything?" "Soundproofing spell, courtesy of Shining Armor by the doctor's request," Luna explained. "He figured that it would be best if nopony in here heard what was going on in there." "... oh..." And so they waited. While most chose to sit down as they waited, Dark was too nervous and found himself either pacing around or standing and nervously shaking in place as he eyed the door. There had been a few times where he used his Second Sight and Soul Eyes to try and see what was going on and how Twilight was doing, but found his spells couldn't pierce through the wall or door thanks to Shining's spell. Standing in front of the door for a moment longer, Dark snorted and continued his pacing until he felt a hoof on his shoulder and paused to look back to see Shining with a sympathetic look. "Hey. Take it easy there," he calmly told him. "But-" "I know what you're going through, Dark, but you're not doing yourself any good by pacing around and worrying so much. Twilight's in there with the best doctors in Equestria looking after her, they'll make sure she's alright. Besides, you're making some of us nervous just by watching you." Taking in a deep calming breath, Dark proceeded to use the breathing technique that Twilight had taught him. Going through the motions a few times, Dark felt a little more relaxed and followed Shining over to where a pair of open chairs sat for them. Taking his seat, Dark waited again, this time feeling more relaxed as Velvet paced her hoof on his back from beside him and began rubbing his back. "Don't worry, dear. She'll be alright," Velvet soothed. Silently nodding, Dark closed his eyes and focused on the motions on his back as he started to relax. Losing track of time, Dark's attention was drawn to a gasp from Fluttershy, who was holding Aurora's egg against her swollen belly. Seeing Aurora's egg glowing brightly, Dark was about to ask what was going on with her until Aero squeed giddily, forcing everypony to cover their ears. "Wow that was loud!" Pinkie shouted, her ears still ringing loudly from the squee. "Can anypony hear me?!" "Yes, Pinkie, we can hear you," Rarity said as she rubbed her ears. "What?! I can't hear you?! You'll have to speak up!" With an exasperated sigh, Rarity nodded to Pinkie. Seeing her make an O shape with her mouth in understanding, Pinkie smiled and nodded back. "Excuse me, but does anypony know what's going on with Aurora's egg?" Fluttershy asked, wrapping her wings around the egg and shielding everyone's eyes from its bright light. Aero giggled while Aques playfully rolled her eyes. "Aurora is sensing a new life present," she answered before turning to face a stunned Dark. "Congratulations, Dark. Or should I call you daddy?" While the room erupted into cheers, Dark stood stoic as he tried to process the news of his new fatherhood. While he knew it was coming and had prepared himself for it in advance, none of his preparations could hold a candle to how he felt now. Feeling a foreleg over his shoulder, Dark looked over to his side to see Shining grinning at him. "Welcome to the club, daddy Dark," he teased with a playful jab. Slowly, Dark's shocked expression began to morph to a large Pinkie-like smile. Feeling the joy that everyone else was feeling, Dark laughed happily and tossed an arm around Shining in a side hug. However, that moment of joy was interrupted when the door leading into the other room opened with the doctor in charge walking out of it. Soon as everyone saw him, the doctor found himself crowded and told them to calm down so he could finally answer one of them. "How is she, doctor?" Velvet asked. The doctor smiled brightly. "Everyone, I'm happy to report that Princess Twilight has successfully given birth to a healthy baby filly, and both are doing perfectly fine." There was a collection of relieved sighs, gasps, and some cheering from the doctor's news. Letting them have a moment, he then turned his attention to Dark. "You may go in and see them now if you wish, Prince Dark." "Awww! But I want to see the new baby!" Pinkie whined. "And we will," Celestia said. "But for now, let's give Dark some privacy with Twilight and their filly." Now having the opportunity to go in and see his newborn daughter, instead of moving, Dark found himself frozen in place. Seeing what was happening to him, Luna rolled her eyes. Here we go again, she mentally sighed. Much like how she snapped Shining out of it when this happened to him, Luna walked up behind Dark and gave him a small shove. Stumbling forward a bit, Dark landed on his face and stood back up as he looked behind him to see Luna shrugging. "You needed it." Silently agreeing with her, Dark took a calming breath before following the doctor inside. Ignoring the door closing behind him, Dark looked straight ahead where he saw Twilight. Despite her messy mane, sweaty face, and how utterly exhausted she looked, the bright smile she wore on her face when she saw him made all of that fade away. It was then that Dark also noticed something that caused his breath to hitch. There, cradled gently in her forelegs, was their bundle of joy wrapped in a soft pink blanket. Taking a step forward, Dark made his way over to Twilight's side where he nuzzled and kissed her. "How you feeling?" Dark gently asked. "Like you wouldn't imagine," she tiredly said, but smiled none the less as she leaned down and nuzzled the foal in the blanket. "But it was well worth it." Following Twilight down, for the first time, Dark saw his newborn filly. Her coat was a rose red color, she shared Twilight's mane color and style with the three different colors in it, and there on her forehead was a tiny unicorn horn. Looking down at the little thing, Dark smiled as he felt the corners of his eyes starting to tear up in pride and joy. Gently caressing her head with a claw, Dark let out a little sniffle and turned to plant a kiss on Twilight's forehead. "She's beautiful," he whispered. "You did a great job, Twilight." Twilight hummed in acknowledgement. "She looks like she takes after you." "Huh?" Lighting her horn, Twilight unwrapped the blanket around their foal, revealing to Dark that their daughter was a kirin much like he was. While her coat color was different, and she shared Twilight's mane colors, the filly's body was exactly like Dark's. Same draconic tail, same draconic wings, and instead of forelegs, she too bore a pair of draconic arms and tiny claws. With Dark having a good look at her, Twilight wrapped her back up in her blanket and smiled as she presented Dark with their foal. "Would you like to hold your daughter?" It took him a second, but Dark nodded, gently took the filly from Twilight, and laid her down in the crook of his arm. Hearing her whimper from the sudden change, Dark made soothing shushing sounds to calm her. "Shhhhh. It's okay, little one. Daddy's here for you," he whispered. Recognizing Dark's voice, the foal quieted down and slowly began to open her eyes. Silently, Twilight and Dark watched as their daughter's eyes opened for the first time, revealing a pair of golden draconic eyes. "Looks like she has your eyes too," Twilight smiled. "Yeah, but hopefully she'll have your personality," Dark said back. Turning his attention back down, he chuckled when he saw that her little eyes were wide with wonder as she took in everything she saw. That is, until they fell onto Dark and Twilight, who then both leaned down and gently nuzzled her. "Welcome to the world, little one," Twilight whispered. Hearing her coo, they both backed away a little bit and watched as she shifted her arms out of her blanket and reached up for them. Leaning closer to Twilight, Dark held their foal as Twilight leaned over to her, letting the foal gently feel her face with a giggle. A few minutes later of exploring Twilight's face, she turned to Dark and reached up to him. Chuckling lightly, Dark leaned his head down for her to feel him too. "We still need to pick a name for her," Twilight reminded him. Smiling, Dark brought his head back and tucked the foal back in her blanket. "I say that we should continue with this thing you and your mom have going," Dark said. "You mean you want us to call her Twilight as well?" she questioned. Dark shrugged. "Just a thought." "Sorry, but it was confusing enough at times with it just being me and my mom." "Okay," he chuckled. "What about you? Any names come to mind?" Twilight nodded. "I was thinking about calling her Shady Shine." Dark paused for a moment and frowned. "You're wanting to name her after our gender-swapped selves?" Twilight nodded, but thought about it again and frowned as well. "Yeah, now that you've said it out loud, it just doesn't sound as great," she admitted. "Sounded a lot better in my head." Dark nodded in agreement before returning to thinking about their filly's name. He really did like Twilight's name, and their foal did have her and Velvet's mane type, so he wanted something similar. It took a few moments of thinking and swapping different names before one came to mind. "How about Eventide?" "... isn't that just a synonym for my name?" Twilight smirked, causing Dark to blink. "How'd you know- never mind." Regardless of the name being a synonym to hers, Twilight mulled it over for a while. "Hmmm.... Eventide." Dark felt a shift in his arms and looked down to see their filly now looking at Twilight. "Hey, Twilight?" Hearing Dark say her name, she looked to him and followed him down to their filly looking almost expectantly at her. "She looked at you when you said it," Dark explained. Twilight blinked and looked from their filly to Dark. "You say it now." "Eventide?" Like with Twilight, the foal's attention was turned to Dark from hearing that word. "Huh. I guess she likes it," Twilight said before smiling. "Well, that settles it then." Reaching out to him, Dark returned their foal back to Twilight, who proceeded to nuzzle the little filly. "What do you think of that name, Eventide?" she gently asked, hearing her coo and feeling her nuzzle back in response. Feeling a sense of serenity, Dark crawled up on the bed alongside Twilight and draped a wing over her and their little Eventide. Holding his two girls in his wing and arms, Dark gently kissed Twilight and their foal before relaxing and resting his head on top of hers. He knew that things in the future were going to be difficult, and he knew that he would eventually have to go and confront Nil, but right now, Dark didn't care about any of that. At that moment, all that mattered to him were the mare and filly, his family, resting in his arms.