//------------------------------// // Epilogue, Part 2: Two Months Later // Story: Kiss of the Dark // by Soothing Stone //------------------------------// Out in the streets of Ponyville, it was turning out to be a peaceful day. The skies were clear and would stay that way for the remainder of the week. Being in the middle of the weekend, everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful weather by strolling out in the parks and streets. One young filly, sporting a yellow coat and orange mane, carried around a bouquet of flowers in her mouth. Her jaw could hardly carry the whole thing inside, and she had to stop every now and then to keep it steady. Her father, a slender blue stallion, was following her closely. "Tell me again, why are we going to Princess Twilight's house?" he asked. The filly dropped the bouquet and caught it with her hooves, so she could talk. "Mom says a really bad thing happened to Princess Twilight a few months ago, and she hasn't been feeling well, so I should bring these to the front door. And I worked really hard so they would smell good." The father bent down to smell the roses, and was delighted at the scent. "Good job. But...I don't think you're the only one who was thinking the same thing." She turned around to see the princess' front door, and sure enough a whole shrine of flowers waited at her doorstep. Some even came with sketches of get well cards attached to their stems. She was upset that her idea wasnt that original, and her ears drooped. But her father came to her aid and rubbed her mane gently. "It’s the thought that counts. I'm sure she'll appreciate it." Encouraged, the filly went ahead with her original plan and picked the bouquet up with her muzzle. She carried it over to the countless other flowers and placed it neatly out in front. She looked up to the second floor window, curious if the purple princess was feeling any better. Stomach aches were always the worst to go through, young or old. After she prayed that Twilight would feel better, she left the doorstep and joined her father to see what else there was to do that day. Everything was quiet for a moment, but a pair of eyes from the front window peered outside. He had to make sure the coast was clear. And nopony else was coming along, thank Celestia. So the person went to the front door and opened it all the way. Surely enough, the young dragon with those eyes was stunned by the shrine of flowers by the doorstep. He went to work getting each bushel inside, but it took three trips to get them all in. "This is insane!" Spike exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This is twice the size of flowers we got yesterday, and its only been a week since you were sick. You must have a lot of admirers." He looked up to the bed upstairs, where Twilight would have been resting. But nobody was there. The blanket was folded neatly, and there was no sign that a pony had even slept in it. Spike panicked, throwing the rest of the flowers to the living room table, and ran upstairs to see where the princess was. She was gone from his sight, and given how she had been for the week, this wasn't good. "Twilight! Where are you?" As if to answer, he heard something coming from the bathroom. Something like a toilet flushing, followed by a sink running water. He took a deep sigh of relief. Looking after your adaptive sister was hard work sometimes. The bathroom door opened with magic, and Twilight came out looking refreshed. She was still a little sweaty, but her face was clear and she seemed cheerful to Spike. "Hi Spike. Are those flowers from the townsponies again?" "Yeah. You're looking a lot better than you have been all this week." "I feel better. I don't know if that was a stomach virus or what, but that was rough. I'm still going to the doctor later today, but at least the fever's gone." "Thank Celestia. You were worrying me there for a day." "Yeah, so was I. Thanks for looking after me. Now that I think about it, I could use those flowers for lunch..." After a few minutes of preparation, Twilight was in the middle of one of the best sunflower sandwiches she ever had. Her thoughts had turned to the endless amount of ponies concerned for her well being the past week, and how the load of flowers had come out of it. A blessing from a curse, one could say. It was a nice escape from the usual round of events. Checking on her current royal duties, regardless if Celestia thought it was too early to do so, and making sure the rest of the Elements of Harmony were in high spirits. Just seeing more signs of Twilight's recovery had done just that. After a few minutes of a peaceful lunch, there was a knock on the door. There were a few muffled voices, suggesting that there were more than a hoofful of ponies waiting for her. Her eyes widened as she was reminded of something. She levitated her schedule book over to the table, and flipped over to the current week. "I almost forgot. I'm supposed to be scouting for locations for my castle today! That must be the group of construction ponies I'm supposed to see." "Are you sure you should be doing that today?" Spike questioned. "You're supposed to be in the hospital this afternoon." "It can wait. I'll get through this meeting first, then I'll get checked in. I'll make it." "If you say so..." That out of the way, Twilight trotted to the front entrance. All those voices hushed again as she opened the door. A team of six ponies, four stallions and two mares, stopped and saluted the princess. She blushed on the spot, still not used to being treated like royalty. "Wow. You were a whole thirty minutes ahead of time," she marveled. "No, thank you for considering us for this job," one stallion spoke up. "I understand you were very ill, but wanted us to continue on schedule." "It wasn't that bad. I'm pretty sure its just a stomach virus. So where should we start?" ---- Twilight found herself a fair distance from Ponyville, out in the far meadow that made the land between her two hometowns. A river neither shallow nor deep curved around the lands here, and Ponyville was just a couple of miles away. It seemed more like an area Fluttershy would call home than a princess would. Not that there was something wrong with that. "So why did you pick this spot?" she inquired. "When we picked this possible location, it was more geared for the future," one of the mares said. "Its not in the middle of Ponyville so you won't have to rearrange the town around it. And since you chose to stay here rather than Canterlot, we figured the town is set for expansion anyways. "This way, the town's expansion can form around your castle, in any way it chooses. There will be a lot of interest in developing around it, no matter what." "That's interesting. And for now, Ponyville wouldn't be any different for a few years, save for this castle that will be two miles south of it, right?" "That's the concept." "Hmm, I really like the idea. It’s planning for a long term future. I'm just not sure if Ponyville will ever be that big, with or without me." "I see. It is your decision in the end, and we do have three other options." "Then let's look into those." The party of six ponies and one alicorn made their way back to Ponyville. There was a dirt path leading directly to town, and it would be a few minutes before they all made it there. After all, not all of them were pegasi. It was early in the afternoon, and it was turning to be a cool day. But even with a cool breeze whistling around Twilight's neck, she felt like she was on fire. She thought it was her golden sandals that were making it unbearable at first. But when she took them off and readjusted them, she felt even worse. Her facial fur was drenched in sweat, and she wiped it off so nopony could see that she was under the weather again. Just three more trips, and she could see a doctor. Just three more... By Celestia, she still had three trips to go... Her stomach felt like it was a volcano inside her body, and her head was spinning. She tried to walk a straight path, only to fall flat on her flank. And somehow, it got worse. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, are you all right?" the stallion in charge asked. "No, I am not all right," she finally admitted. Oh no. The stomach virus was coming back in full force. She knew mixing sunflowers with ranch was a bad idea, but Spike talked her into it. Never trust a dragon for good eating habits. She felt even more like a volcano, and ran to a bush to save face. She threw up uncontrollably in no time, and her cheeks were flustered red. The party ran to her aid, seeing if there was something they could do. But she kept throwing up again. "Take me to a doctor," was all she could say, before she passed out cold in the meadow. ---- A few hours later, she was in the middle of a doctor's room, sitting on the bed. She swore that it wasn't so bad that she needed to be hospitalized, just that she needed to know what she had. Spike had been there for a few moments, but she told him to finish the scouting trip for her. She really didn't think that the trip needed to be completed, but she didn't want Spike to worry about her condition. And by pretending to be her nerdy self, it worked. She nudged her front hooves together, hoping that the news wouldn't be that bad. This went beyond a stomach virus, that's for sure, but she was afraid just how bad it would get. Hopefully, it was nothing that threatened her life. But she didn't have a clue what to expect. This wasn't like most illnesses. Her stomach had calmed down, and the fever wasn't as strong. But the fear of the unknown still played on her psyche. Eventually, a doctor did come in. It was the same doctor that looked over Rainbow Dash when she broke her wing and discovered reading, so it helped that she knew this stallion already. "So how bad is it?" she asked. "I need to ask a few questions to be sure. I might have an idea what it could be, but let's begin. How long have you had these stomach issues?" "On and off for a month. It only got seriously bad this week." "Have you had persistent headaches lasting any longer than a day over the same period?" "Sometimes. About four times this month." "And have you found yourself either liking or disliking certain kinds of food all of the sudden?" "I like sunflowers a lot more, and milk doesn't taste as good as it used to." The doctor responded with silence. This caused Twilight's fears to skyrocket. "Could this kill me?" "No. But I'll need you to get on your back. I'm going to check your stomach for something." Twilight was confused and more than a little worried over what this meant, but she did as she was told. She got on her back and laid her hind legs straight on the surface. The doctor brought a stool over to the side of the bed, and balanced his hind legs on it. He brought his right front hoof up and brought it on Twilight's stomach. As he moved around her belly, she found that it was a lot more sensitive than usual. She felt like laughing, as it felt less like he was massaging it and more like tickling from Pinkie Pie. "How sensitive does this feel?" "A lot. Stop it, that really tickles," she said between laughs. "Just as I thought. I know what this is now." Twilight got off her back and sat back down on her rump. "So what is it?" "Are you sure you want to know?" "I need to know, doctor." "Princess Twilight Sparkle, all signs point to one thing. You're pregnant." ---- The chariot flew as fast out of Canterlot as it was possible. The four Guards flapped their wings endlessly, noting that Celestia was more edgy than usual. And that was not a good thing. Bad things happened when she was edgy. Celestia peered her head out the carriage, ignoring the blast of wind in her face, and looked down to Ponyville. She had to get there as fast as she could, come hell or high water. The town was approaching at a high speed, only not fast enough. The town square flew by them in no time, followed by Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually, they came to a large lake outside of town. Only one pony was there that afternoon. A familiar pregnant pony. The wheels touched the ground before coming to a complete stop. Celestia flew out of her chariot soon after, and she ran to see her prized ex-student. To her surprise, Twilight was quiet out by the lake. She stared at her own reflection, one that carried no expression at all. Celestia ran to her side, and she turned to see the purple alicorn in the eye. "I got your letter, and I had to see you as soon as possible. Is it true? Did they tell you that you were pregnant?" "Yeah. They didn't leave any doubt about that," Twilight explained in a monotone voice. "It's Sombra's child, isn't it? I don't know any other pony you had sex with." "I know its his child too. Its been two months since I was his. And they told me that I'm two months pregnant." Tears streamed down Celestia's face, and she hugged Twilight with her own front legs. Twilight still didn't respond to her actions, and that didn't help matters. She didn't know why Twilight was quiet and still in her embrace, and she cried all the harder for it. King Sombra was even more twisted that she had imagined. This was his final cruelty, forcing Twilight to bear his child. And she had to do anything she could to make this better. "I'm so sorry, Twilight. I regret more than ever that I didn't stop this sooner. You don't deserve this fate, and this is on me." "What are you talking about?" Twilight said. Celestia was so surprised, she pulled Twilight out and held her like a foal. And when she did, Twilight had a slight smile to her face. "I'm talking about how he's making you the mother of his child. If I had found out sooner, he wouldn't have had sex with you, and you wouldn't have to go through this hardship." Twilight grinned from ear to ear, giving her the scariest smile ever. "I love you, Celestia. You're like a second mother to me." "Stop talking like that. You're scaring me." "But you forgot one thing about this child." "And what would that be?" Twilight sat down on her rear limbs, and held her stomach delicately. "This child isn't just his child, its mine as well." Celestia stopped in her tracks, and poured her thoughts over those ten words. "What do you mean?" "It's my child. His father is dead, but I'm still here. I can raise him up to be my child too. He might be like his father in some ways, but I can still raise him to be like me." Twilight was starting to cry, but they were tears of joy. "And I won't let him become the tyrant and life using monster Sombra was. I won't allow it. I can stop Sombra's legacy before it begins." Celestia listened closely to every word, and it hit her at last. The pony that had started off as a filly, one that started off accidentally causing a baby dragon to grow into an enormous one, had fully grown up before her eyes. Even after all she had been through, after the hell Sombra had put her through, she was stronger than ever. And it was clear that when the day came when Celestia would finally die, Twilight would continue her legacy. Not Sombra's. And that left her more optimistic about the future than she had ever been. "You may never know fully how proud I am of you, Twilight Sparkle." "I'm proud of you, too. You saved my life back there." The wind had picked up around Twilight, causing her mane to lift and fly around her head. It was almost like it was flowing in the same manner Celestia and Luna's mane had done. She looked over the lake, where miles of wilderness surrounded it. She could still feel Sombra's love for her, the kiss of the dark that might never go away for good. But she would fight off his legacy as hard as she could. Raising a child by herself would not be so easy. But she could do it. The foal will grow up to be as terrific of a pony as she was. That much she knew. And deep down, knowing her friends would have her back, and her family's, with Celestia and Luna to help out on top of that, she wasn't scared of the future at all. That was when she knew everything would be all right in the end. And sometimes, that was all the encouragement she needed. She looked to the sky, the expansive blue canvas as beautiful as it had ever been.