Driven Batty

“--And you’re sure she’s alright, Twi? She wasn’t hurt or anything?”

“She’s fine, Rainbow. A bit dirty, but when we examined her she seemed perfectly fine.”

Rainbow Dash bit her bottom lip as Twilight and Starlight led her through the Crystal Castle. All of Fluttershy’s friends had been concerned about the mare, but none more so than Dash. She had been looking for her foalhood friend ever since she disappeared into the Everfree, flying almost from sunset to sunrise since she had disappeared. When Twilight had told the girls that Fluttershy had been found, the alicorn had to restrain Rainbow with magic to keep her from barging into the mare’s temporary room.

Twilight, while annoyed, understood. Flutters and her were practically sisters, and Dash wasn’t the Element of Loyalty for nothing. It was why, against her better judgment, Twilight was letting the pegasus visit their friend. Only for a very short time, with supervision in case Fluttershy tried attacking them.

Before that could be done however, they needed to wake up Anon. Twilight hated thinking of her human friend as a living barrier, but that’s what they needed him for. While it was mid-morning--a time when most normal critters were up and about-- from living with him for years, Twilight knew from experience that he was definitely still asleep. Just like Spike, the human had the ability to sleep anywhere and for any length of time.

“So, what’s the over-under of Anon being a vampire himself?” Starlight asked. “If he can catch something from Fluttershy’s bite, there should have been more than enough time for it to gestate, right?”

Twilight gave the mare a dirty look. Starlight smiled sheepishly back.

“Hey, I don’t want anything to happen to the big dummy either, but we should be prepared,” she said. “That’s why he’s here isn’t he, to make sure he doesn’t turn into a giant blood-sucking apple eater?”

“If he is I’ll just give ‘em the ol’ one-two,” Rainbow said, throwing a few quick jabs at the air.

“Can we please not talk about assaulting poor Anon?”

“I wouldn’t be happy about it. I’m just saying that if he did turn into a monster I think I could handle him,” Rainbow said. “And if he’s fine I’m going to have to thank him for getting Fluttershy. You think he’d like some tickets to a Wonderbolt game?”

“You can ask him in a minute,” Twilight said, stopping right in front of his door.

As much as she hated to admit it, Starlight might be right. So, with a spell, she created a scrying glass that allowed her to peer into the room. Her hopes were raised when she saw him in bed and not hanging from the ceiling, but even so she wanted to be cautious. With several defensive spells at the ready, Twilight cleared her throat and knocked on the door.

“Anon? Can--”

“Wait, Twilight,” Starlight said, pointing. “What’s that in bed with him?”

Squinting, Twilight leaned toward the scrying glass. Sure enough, she could just make out a pink tuft of hair.

“What is that...?” she muttered to herself.

With a snap of her finger, the locking spell that she placed on the door disappeared. Reaching for the knob, she gave it a turn.

“Anon? Anon, it’s Twilight. Is there somepony in the bed with--”

Anon, with a grumble, slowly sat up in the bed. His eyes were nearly closed, his mouth was open, and there was drool running down his chin. He rubbed an eye, yawning.

“I heard you outside. What’s the matter? Did something happen while I…”

He trailed off, looking to his side as a topless Fluttershy also sat up in the bed. While she didn’t appear as groggy as Anon, the pegasus didn’t seem very happy to have been woken up. Giving Twilight a dirty look before she yawned, revealing her long, sharp fangs.

Rainbow’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “What the FUCK are you doing to Fluttershy?!” she angrily demanded.

“Rainbow, wait just a second--” Starlight began, but it was already too late.

With a mighty flap of her wings, Rainbow closed the distance between herself and Anon in the blink of an eye. She cocked back a fist, and with fury in her rosey eyes she punched the human in the nose.

Anon went from nearly asleep to very wide awake as the blow caused his body to twitch, his head smacking against the headboard of the bed. “Whatthefuck?!” he yelled, both hands coming up to defend himself.

“RAINBOW!” Twilight yelled.

“Why in Tartarus is Fluttershy in your bed?!” Rainbow demanded, ignoring the princess and readying a fist once again.

She did not get a chance to throw another punch.

Fluttershy let out a hiss, all sleepiness leaving her red eyes. Her movements became a blur as the blanket covering her body flew upwards. Rainbow flew out of the bed and was launched into the air. She flailed, letting out a shout of surprise and pain as she soared ten feet, landing hard right at Starlight’s hooves. Fluttershy stood over her, her wings extended. She was holding Rainbow by her shirt, fangs bared.

It all happened so quickly that Starlight and Twilight could only stand there with wide eyes. The muscles in Fluttershy’s neck tensed. It looked like she was going to rip Rainbow’s throat out.

“Don’t you Goddamn dare!”

Anon leapt out of the bed, racing over toward the two. Just as Fluttershy was about to go in for a bite, he managed to throw an arm in the way. Her fangs sunk into his forearm as the pegasus bit down hard, something which he very much didn’t appreciate.

“OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”

The howl snapped Starlight and Twilight out of their stupor. With a spell, Twilight teleported back into the hallway. Starlight, meanwhile, reached into her pocket and pulled out the strangest thing: a bag of rice.

“Hey Fluttershy!” she yelled.

The moment Fluttershy looked over, she ripped open the bag and dumped the contents onto the floor. The pegasus’ eyes widened. She let go of Anon’s arm, quickly ducking under it and making her way to the rice. She paid Starlight no mind, getting down onto her knees.

“Oh my goodness,” she said, in a voice much like the Flutters they all knew. She began picking up individual grains, placing them right next to her in neat little rows. “One, two, three, four, five…”

Twilight just watched her for several seconds, before looking at Starlight, who shrugged. “It was one of the tests I wanted to run this morning,” she explained.

The alicorn shook her head, turning her attention toward Anon. The human was clenching a now bleeding arm, blood also pouring down his nose. She sighed.

“Anon, I… Come over here please.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“I’m sorry,”

Anon gave Rainbow a dirty look. Twilight was busy disinfecting the bite on his arm. She had a wing extending, blocking both Dash and Starlight from getting close to the human. She didn’t say anything, but her body language suggested getting close at that moment might be hazardous to one’s health.

“It’s just, I saw you in bed with her. Naked,” Rainbow said, scratching the back of her head. “I know Fluttershy would never sleep with a colt, so I though, you know…”

“What? You thought I ripped her clothes off and made her sleep with me?” Anon asked, his face scrunching up as Twilight dabbed something around the bitemarks.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. I just saw her there and reacted,” Rainbow said, looking down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you.”

“She could have really hurt you, Rainbow,” Twilight said with barely controlled anger. “We told you not to make any sudden movements.”

“I know. I was really dumb,” Rainbow said with a little nod, her tail tucked firmly between her legs. “Anon? If you want, you can hit me back. I deserve it.”

Anon looked at the pegasus. Reaching up toward his face, he gingerly touched his nose. Twilight had said that it wasn’t broken, but it was really tender.

“You are going to make sure I don’t get a single drop of rain on me whenever I go outside for like the next two months,” he said.

Rainbow nodded, still looking down at the ground.

“I also want one of those licenses to be able to get season tickets for the Wonderbolts.”

“What?!” Rainbow said, looking up at him. “Do you know how hard it is to get those? Even if I’m on the team there’s a massive waiting list an--”

Starlight and Twilight gave her a look. Rainbow groaned, covering her face with a hand.

“Alright. Alright. I’ll see what I can do about that,” she said.

“Pinkie Promise?”

“...Pinkie Promise.”

Anon smiled. “Then I’ll call us even, Dash.”

Rainbow grumbled something under her breath. “Fine. And, uh, thanks for saving me from Fluttershy. I didn’t expect her to throw me like that.”

“I couldn’t even see her,” Twilight said.

“I could, but just barely,” the pegasus admitted. “The Fluttershy I know would never be able to do that. I mean, if she really wanted she could be an ace flier, with those big wings of hers, but she shouldn’t be able to move that fast. I’ve seen a lot of fast fliers, but that… you can’t do something like that.”

They all looked toward Fluttershy, who was still counting the rice. The pegasus appeared to have collected and counted half of the bag that Starlight had dropped.

“Two thousand six hundred and eleven, two thousand six hundred and twelve, two thousand six hundred and…”

“Are you sure it’s alright staying here in the same room with her?” Anon asked as Twilight wrapped a bandage around his forearm.

“It should be fine until she’s done with the rice,” Starlight said. “Some of the old accounts I read said that vampires have a supernatural urge to count things like grain and barley if they’re dropped in front of them. The urge seems to be so powerful that she blocks everything else out, so I think as long as none of us touch her it’ll be safe.”

“So putting some pants on her is out of the question?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, sweet Celestia, look at her.”

“Oh, I am,” Starlight said, eyeing Fluttershy’s wiggling rump. “Hey Rainbow, does she usually let her “Everfree forest” grow out like that or--”

“Starlight!” Twilight yelled, a blush working its way onto her cheeks. “Now’s not the time for that!”

“I was just wondering!”

“Well, wonder privately then. I swear, you’re worse than a teenage colt sometimes!”

An awkward silence settled onto the room, Twilight staring down at everyone with her arms crossed. Rainbow, keeping her eyes on the floor, cleared her throat.

“When me and her were still in Flight School she’d keep it trimmed.”

“Oh. My. Celestia! What’swrongwithyoutwo?!”

~_~_~_~_~_~

“Open your mouth.”

Anon did as Twilight asked.

“A little more,” the alicorn urged, grabbing a tongue compressor. “Stick your tongue out as well please.”

Again, he did as he was told, letting out an “ahh!” as he did so. Twilight pressed his tongue down, using the small flashlight she held in her other hand to look down his throat. She hummed and hawed for a bit before, with a nod, she turned away, walking over to the device that she had him hooked up to. She looked at the half dozen screens that showed blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, among other things, nodding again.

“Everything still appears to be normal. Nothing strange about any of your readings, and you don’t seem to be transforming from what I can tell,” she said. “We don’t know how long it took for Fluttershy to change into what she is now, but I’m pretty sure the change happened quickly, in a day or two, possibly even faster. I could be wrong, and I’d still like to keep you here for observation just in case, but I believe you’re vampire-free, Anon.”

“Fantastic,” Anon replied, leaning back into his chair.

Twilight walked back over. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gave it a squeeze.

“Anon, do you remember anything from yesterday?” she asked. “Did you wake up in the middle of the night? Hear a noise? Anything?”

“I just remember going to bed,” Anon said, shaking his head. “No one else in the room but me. You’re sure you locked my door with your magic?”

“I did. I locked Fluttershy’s too,” Twilight said, shoulders sagging. “I have no idea how the hay she managed to get out. There was no way she could have gotten out.The magic I placed on her door would have given all but an alicorn a lot of trouble. Thank Celestia she just went to sleep with you. She could have gotten out, or bit one of us while we were sleeping.”

The alicorn’s ears folded back against her skull.

“She could have hurt Starlight or, Celestia forbid, Spike. I should have double checked my spell. I must have made a mistake while casting it.”

“That or Fluttershy did something weird,” Anon said with a shrug. “She could have powers now.”

“I’m much more inclined to believe that I screwed up, Anon.”

“You might have, but look at what happened with Rainbow. She said herself that regular Fluttershy couldn’t have done what she did. She might be able to walk through walls, or she has some kind of magic.”

“Maybe,” Twilight said, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Hey, we should try hanging some garlic outside her room. See if that does anything,” Anon said. “Might wanna keep her out of sunlight too.”

The princess didn’t reply, tugging at the bottom of her shirt with both hands.

“Have you thought about maybe asking the other Princesses about this? Cadence probably doesn’t know anything, but I bet Celestia had to deal with some vampire ponies. Luna might remember how they were made when she was evil too.”

“I’m starting to consider it, though not now. It might bring up some bad memories for Celestia, and I know it’ll do that for Luna. If Starlight and I can’t make any headway I’ll reach out to them and explain the situation.”

Twilight looked at Anon.

“Anon?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m… nervous.”

“Nervous?” Anon asked, head cocking to the side.

“Scared actually,” Twilight replied quietly. “I… she really could have hurt us. This isn’t our Fluttershy. This is a pony that will hurt us if she can, and she will if we aren’t careful.”

“You’ve dealt with a lot worse, Twi,” Anon pointed out. “You got in a fistfight with Tirek, remember?”

“I did, but Tirek isn’t one of my best friends. He didn’t want to eat me...”

With a sigh, Anon stood up. He reached out, pulling Twilight into a hug. The mare tensed, before leaning against him.

“Everything will be fine,” he said. “We just need to be careful. I bet in a day or two you and Glimmy will figure out how to fix her. If not, you can get the Princesses down here and they can help, or they can bring ponies that will be able to.”

Twilight said something into his neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her wings drooping to the ground.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Anon asked.

Twilight shook her head.

“What about the night before?”

“Just a little.”

Anon frowned, looking down on her. “You know you need to sleep right? Sleepless benders aren’t gonna help Fluttershy.”

“I know. It’s just… it’s hard,” Twilight replied with a frustrated sigh. “I’ve just been lying in bed staring up at the ceiling, worried.

Anon let out a quiet grunt, brow furrowing in thought. “Hey, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we go ahead and read together later tonight like we used to?”

Twilight smiled. “That always used to put me right to sleep,” she told him. “The two of us under a heap of blankets, right next to each other…”

“You pick the book,” Anon said, giving her back a pat. “And remember, you don’t need to stress out about this. It’ll work out in the end like it always does.”

The alicorn took a deep breath. “I really hope you’re right, Anon. I really do.”

The two talked for a while more. Twilight seemed to calm down somewhat, though it was plain as day that her mind was elsewhere. Still, Anon had her smiling by the time that he needed to go. Fluttershy needed to be fed, and after what had happened Starlight wasn’t going in that room by herself.

With a promise to be at her bedroom by eight, the human made his way to the kitchen. He could hear a commotion right before he poked his head through.

“You do not need a stake or a stake launcher, Spike.”

“Yes I do!”

“No you don’t, and even if you did you don’t want to hurt Fluttershy now, do you?”

“Its her hurting me that I’m worried about!”

“She probably wouldn’t even be able to bite through your scales, you baby, and don’t you breathe fire?”

“That won’t stop her, I’m telling you. That isn’t the Fluttershy we know. That’s a lean, mean, dragon eating machine, and I really think I should be armed!”

There was Spike, propped up on a stool, wearing his Kiss the Chef apron. He was in front of the stove, where pots and pans were bubbling merrily away. Starlight was beside him, her expression somewhere in between annoyance and barely contained laughter.

The unicorn noticed him first, Starlight visibly perking up. “There you are. So, what did Twi say? Are you turning into a bloodsucker?”

“I’m vampire free from the looks of things,” Anon replied. “Hey, you tell Spike about putting garlic inside his room?”

“I’m waaaaaay ahead of you, man,” Spike said, stirring one of the pots with a spoon. “I have bushels of them in there right now.”

“Good. Hey, you mind if I borrow Starlight for a little bit? I need her to open Fluttershy’s door.”

Spike’s face scrunched up. “Yeah, as long as one of you comes back. I don’t wanna be walking around alone…”

Starlight placed a hand on his shoulder as Anon walked to the counter, where a tray piled high with apples sat. “I’ll be back to take you to your room. I promise,” she said, leaning down to give his cheek a kiss. “Thanks again for cooking for us. You really are a gentledrake.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said, a blush coming to his face as he waved her away, focusing on the pot in front of him. “Just try not to get eaten, okay? The soup will be ready soon and I made way too much for me and Twilight to eat.”

The unicorn just smiled, walking over to Anon as he picked up the tray of apples. “We won’t take too long, promise.”

With that, the two made their way out of the kitchen. They walked side by side at an easy pace, in absolutely no hurry. After walking for a minute or so, Starlight looked down at his bandaged arm.

“Are you alright carrying that?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Anon replied. “They aren’t that heavy.”

“How’s the arm?”

“It stings like an SOB, but I’m sure some pain pills and a good night’s sleep will have me right as rain.”

“You really are getting beat up huh?” Starlight said, bumping her side against his. “Getting bit in the neck, getting punched, and that arm.”

“I should start wearing a helmet, shouldn’t I?” Anon asked with a smile.

Starlight’s horn glowed. Her magical aura surrounded the tray in his hands, lifting it up into the air. Anon tried to reach out for it, but she moved it to her other side out of reach.

“I told you I was fine,” Anon said.

“You’ll be even more fine not carrying those apples,” Starlight countered. “I won’t take them into Fluttershy’s room, but at least let me carry them until we get there.”

As much as he wanted to argue, one look at her pleading face broke his resolve. “Alright, if you really want. Thanks.”

“You know who should have thanked you? Rainbow. If it weren’t for you she’d be missing a chunk of her neck,” Starlight grumbled.

“You’re mad?”

“Of course I’m mad. We told her not to do anything stupid, and there she went flying into the room. You should have let Fluttershy bite her; that might have taught her to think before she acted,” the mare said with a frown. “If you asked me, I’d say you let her off way too lightly.”

“Too lightly? Do you have any idea just how much one of those licenses to get Wonderbolt season tickets cost? I looked it up once; the cheapest one was twenty thousand bits.”

Starlight stopped in her tracks, her ears perked up. “No they aren’t,” she said.

“Oh yeah,” Anon said with a nod, smile on his face. “There’s a fifteen year waiting period if you wanna apply for one. Ponies have gotten into year long court cases when their folks pass and they forget to say who gets the license in the will. I’ve read some real crazy stuff, especially in Clouds Dale. You ponies really love your flying teams.”

“Seriously? I never knew…”

“You should just sit and let Rainbow talk for a little while. She has all sorts of weird Wonderbolt facts in that noggin of hers.”

Slowly, a great big smile came to Starlight’s face. “And she needs to get you one of these licenses now. How hard do you think that’ll be?”

“Oh, I’d imagine it’ll be the biggest pain in the ass in the whole wide world. She’ll somehow get it done though. Rainbow isn’t the Element of Loyalty for nothing. If she says she’ll do something she does it.”

“That’s… really good,” Starlight said with a chuckle. “I would have never even thought of asking her for something like that. I’d have made her be my maid for a year.”

“My house is clean enough, and we both know Rainbow would be an awful maid.”

“Yeah, but at least you’d get to see her in a sexy outfit. Imagine her in stockings, and a skirt short enough that you can see her tight little butt whenever she reached up to get something…”

Starlight bit her bottom lip, shivering. Anon just rolled his eyes.

“You really are something, you know that?”

“Thank you very much,” the mare said, tilting her chin upwards. “You know what, I bet I could talk her into a threeway if you gave me a week.”

“Twilight is right. You really are just as bad as a teenage stallion.”

“And you loooooooove it,” she replied, giving his butt a smack with her tail.

Anon rolled his eyes. He was about to reply when he was suddenly hugged from the side. Looking over, he saw Starlight had her cheek pressed up against his chest, arms wrapped tightly around him.

“I know I like to tease, but I’m glad that you’re alright, Nonny,” she murmured.

The human’s frown disappeared. He turned, pulling the unicorn into a hug of his own.

“Thanks Glimmy. I’m glad I’m okay too.”

“Even though you really did a number on Rainbow, I’m still really mad at her.”

“Don’t be. I’m not happy that she hit me, but I get it. Fluttershy is like her little sister, and she walks in seeing her naked in my bed. If I saw my baby sister in bed with some schmuck I’d lose my temper too.”

Starlight just grunted, her tail flicking around in annoyance behind her.

Anon leaned down toward her ear. “I’ll tell you what. When I get that license I’ll get us some tickets. There’ll be a show in Canterlot in a few months, so if Rainbow is quick we can go there with everyone and have a fun day.”

The unicorn perked up. “Trixie can come too, right?”

Anon made a face, like he had just stuffed a lemon in his mouth. “I… yes, yes. Trixie can come if she’s in town.”

Starlight let out a happy squeal, jumping back. “Awesome! I’ll send her a letter letting her know so she can schedule her show around our trip.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that right now. We don’t know when Dash will get my license. There’s no need to hurry.”

“No, I’ll just let her know now. With everything going on with Twilight and her school and the million other things I need to do I might forget.”

“Yeah. That’d be… terrible. Absolutely, completely awful.”

The unicorn just giggled. She reached up, booping him right on the nose with a finger before once again making her way down the hall.

“Come on, let’s feed Fluttershy then get something to eat ourselves. Spike was making carrot soup.”

The rest of the walk was uneventful. Starlight commented on his neck and arm several more times, asking if the bandages were too tight or too loose, or if he was hurting. Whatever he said was largely ignored, the mare just stating that she’d look at both later tonight.

It was only when they were standing at Fluttershy’s door did the unicorn place the tray of apples back into his hands. The magical lock--which, from its nearly blinding glow and fancy runework, appeared to be a lot stronger than the previous one--was taken off the door. Starlight stepped away, and with a snap of her finger she opened the door for him.

“Good luck.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. If you get any more holes in you we’ll be able to use you to water the grass outside.”

The room was dark and quiet. Just before the door was closed behind him, Anon managed to find the lightswitch. He flicked it on, looking around as the room became fully visible.

Were it not for her long pink mane, hanging down as she hung from the ceiling, Fluttershy would have been more difficult to find. The mare was, thankfully, wearing clothes, though her sweater threatened to cover her face. She was hanging close to the bathroom, her eyes open and alert. She stared at him intensely as he made his way over to her bed.

“I brought food,” he said, lifting the tray up for her to inspect. “You mind getting down and sitting with me?”

“Of course, my Count,” Fluttershy replied, bowing her head.

She “let go” of the ceiling. With a powerful yet graceful twist of her body, she spun in the air. She then flapped her wings to slow herself, so as her hooves touched the crystal floor she made no sound. She walked over, stopping just short of the bed and getting down on her hands and knees.

“I’m sorry, my love,” she said, pressing her head to the floor. “I not only failed to protect you from that blue weakling, but I attacked you as if you were prey. If you so wish, you may give me my rightly deserved punishment at your leisure.”

Anon stared at the pegasus for a long moment, face slowly scrunching up. “...What the fuck are you talking about? Get up, get up, for God’s sake. Stop being so damn weird for a second and let me talk to you.”

He patted the space next to him. Fluttershy quickly rose to her hooves, sitting on the bed. Anon proceeded to place the tray of apples into her lap.

“You and I need to have a one-on-one I think,” He continued as she quickly picked up an apple and ate the whole thing in two bites. “You’re scaring your friends with all the freaky crap you’re doing, and that’s not okay.”

Fluttershy scoffed, picking up another apple and biting into it. “Why should I concern myself with the feelings of prey?”

“Those “prey” are your best friends. I mean, you’ve known Rainbow since you were little and you tried to kill her.”

“She dared lay a hand on you--”

“Shut up. Just listen. This whole thing--”

He waved a hand over her.

“--Twilight and Starlight are going to fix it. I know they will, deep down, I know you know that too. If they can’t, other ponies will be in this castle that will, and they might not be as nice as everyone has been with you.”

Fluttershy bared her fangs, reaching for another apple. “They will fail. None can stop the Nightmare’s will.”

“Nightmare got blasted with the Elements. You know; you were there helping with that,” Anon said, placing a hang on her thigh. “You need to let the girls help you, turn you back into the sweet little horse we all know and love.”

The mare smiled. “Oh, my wonderful, perfect Count,” she purred, pressing her side against his. “I have never felt better as I am now. I am powerful, I am no longer bound by petty fears and thoughts. I see more, I hear more, I feel more, I am more. I am no longer a sheep, content to do nothing and be nothing. I am a Child of the Night. A predator. A thing to cause terror.”

She shivered.

“And you are my love, my Count. The one that shall help me bear many soldiers for the Nightmare. A mighty Count for a mighty Countess. Does the thought not stir your heart and quicken the pulse?”

Anon leaned toward her. She looked up at him, eyes twinkling with amusement. It looked like his pleas had fallen on mostly deaf ears. That was fine; he had been sort of expecting that it wouldn’t be this easy.

“Tomorrow, Twilight is going to really start running tests on you. What do I need to do to keep you on your best behavior?

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“What is it going to take for you to let Twi and Starlight poke and prod you without you trying to murder them?" he asked.

The mare hummed. She looked around the room, crossing her legs.

“It is so lonely in this room,” she said. “It would please me greatly if my love would grace me with his presence? Perhaps sleep with me nightly?”

She pushed a lock of hair out of her face, looking up at him expectantly. Anon rubbed his face.

“I’ll talk to the other girls in the morning about it, but I’m pretty sure I can make that happen,” he said.

“Very goo--”

“But you need to promise me you aren’t gonna hurt, Twilight, Starlight, or Spike. You will not hurt them if I do that for you. I want you to Pinkie Promise me.”

“You will not take me at my word?”

“Not at all. Now go through the motions, or I promise you I’m coming back tomorrow with rope.”

The mare sighed theatrically, placing the back of her hand against her temple. “Your distrust hurts me in ways I never thought possible, love of my life. Still, I am naught but a slave to your desires. I will not harm your sheep; cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

It felt as if a weight were lifting off the human’s shoulders as soon as he heard the words. A small smile came to his face as he stood up.

“Fantastic. Enjoy the apples. We’ll be knocking on your door early,” he said.

He took a few steps before stopping. Turning around, he walked back to Fluttershy, leaning down so that they were face to face.

“Now, I know you said the words, but just want you to know something, Flutters,” he said quietly. “You’re usually a great mare that I like a lot, but the horses and the little dragon in this castle mean a great deal to me. I don’t want anything bad to happen to any of them. I want them every single day to be so happy and content that it’s like the world is shitting candy and rainbows. If you break a Pinkie Promise Ponk will be coming for you, but in this case she might not get to you before I do. You get what I’m saying?”

There was only affection in the mare’s eyes. Before Anon could do anything, she leaned forward to plant a kiss on his nose.

“Your gaze sends my heart racing, my Count. I will not consider them my prey any longer. Just like me they shall be… more.”