Tugging at my undead Heartstrings II: The Belle Tolls for Thee

Tugging at my Undead Heartstrings II - The Belle, it tolls for thee

Chapter 1 – New Beginnings

“…And we do so swear to serve the crown in whatever way shall be required above all else,” came the reply from the fresh batch of recruits. Twilight Sparkle looked on in interest as she observed the fresh batch of ponies currently pledging their lives to the Monks of the Silver Sun, the Princesses secret paranormal police force. The Monks had expanded rapidly in the last few years, taking on more recruits than it had ever had before, following several significant losses. As its grandmaster, Twilight had wide powers over recruitment and she had successfully lobbied Celestia to increase the number of agents. Due to the nature of the work, turnover could be rather high, and it paid off to have replacements already on hoof.

Gently, she ran her tongue over the pair of fangs that she had concealed in her mouth, remembering her own time when she joined these ranks and all the changes that it had brought about in her. It hadn’t been all that long ago, only about 15 years or so, but when you are an immortal vampony, then your perspective on concepts like time tend to become a bit skewed.

As each new recruit knelt before Celestia to receive their marks of initiation, Twilight looked over at her coven sisters. The eldest among them was Lyra. She had been the first to be changed, and from what she had told the rest of them, the process had not been pleasant for her. Standing next to her was her partner and lover, Bon-Bon. She had been turned by Lyra’s maker when Lyra lost control and nearly killed her. Standing next to Twilight was Rarity. Rarity was the odd one out in their coven, as she didn’t share a bloodline with them, having been turned by a rogue vampony and taken in by their little group, as the alternative was to simply have her killed.

Last was Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle. She was a full grown mare now, and almost the splitting image of her sister. The two of them looked like twins; something that they had decided would be their new identity when the five of them moved out to their new home. Twilight was worried about Sweetie Belle. She didn’t really know what she had asked for when she had requested that she be turned like her sister. Twilight could easily see that she was straining herself, having to focus hard on not pouncing forward and draining one of the kneeling ponies before her. At barely a week old, Sweetie Belle was simply not ready to be out in a public setting.

Across the way, Twilight could see that there was another pony who could see it as well. Octavia was watching intently, her eyes filled with suppressed rage and hate. Octavia was the one of the orders most experienced vampyre hunters and she could see the signs of Sweetie’s troubles just as clearly as Twilight could. For a split second, Twilight’s eyes met Octavia’s and in that moment, Octavia was able to clearly indicate that she would be more than happy to end all of them if the opportunity ever came up. Twilight had seen how ruthless and efficient Octavia could be when she put her mind to it and she didn’t want Sweetie to wind up on the wrong side of the ageing grey mare.

Rather than dwell on the risk of a confrontation, Twilight turned back to the four ponies now just beginning to get back to their hooves. Two unicorns, an earth pony, and a pegasus made up the new additions to the ranks. One of the unicorns, a shock white mare with an electric blue mane reminded Twilight of her older brother, Shining Armour. He was one of only a hoofful of ponies outside of the order who had been clued into Twilight’s true nature as the undead and he had been sworn to secrecy, having made his vow upon the official secrets act. Twilight decided that she was going to keep an eye on this one.

Celestia finished branding the last of her new recruits and they all rose as one and took their new places among the ranks of their fellows. Twilight knew what was coming next, and it wasn’t going to be good.

“Everypony,” Celestia began, “This is a time of crisis for us. Though the public doesn’t know it, they are currently under one of the greatest threats that Equestria has ever faced. For reasons that we still do not yet fully understand, there has been a sharp rise in both the number and savagery of werewolf attacks. For the good of Equestria, I am charging you all with finding out why this is occurring, and stopping it. Do not underestimate your enemy. Lycans, though once ponies like yourself, are now vicious and bloodthirsty creatures. You are never to try and take one on alone, no matter how well prepared you think you may be.” Her gaze twisted slightly so that she looked at Octavia. It only lasted a moment before she returned to looking at the group as a whole. “For right now however, I am going to assign each of you recruits to an experienced operative, so that you may learn from their skills.”

The four recruits, along with Sweetie Belle stepped forward and once again knelt. “Recruit Frost Mane, you will be working under Cloakshape.” The other unicorn nodded and rose to his hooves and moved to join his new partner. Twilight wondered about that; Cloakshape worked best alone. Assigning him a student would only slow him down. Still she trusted that Celestia knew what fits would be best and she decided to simply allow things to play out. She could always step in if she had to.

Blinking slightly, she realised that she had missed the next assignment. It would be ill befitting of her to miss any more, especially if she was assigned a recruit herself. She could worry about things later on; right now she had to pay attention.

Soon, only Sweetie and the blue maned unicorn remained kneeling. Celestia nodded at Sweetie Belle. “Recruit Sweetie Belle, you are assigned to work collectively under Grandmaster Sparkle and her Coven.” Twilight had expected this one. Sweetie was far too young to be assigned to anypony else; she had a lot to learn about her new vampiric nature and it would be safest, both for her and for everypony else if she was kept out of the way for at least the next year.

There was only one recruit left, the one that reminded Twilight of her brother. She knelt down, her magenta eyes averted in a show of respect. Celestia looked down at her, “And finally, recruit Vinyl Scratch. You shall serve under one of our most distinguished members. Miss Philharmonica, she is all yours.”

“WHAT?” Both Octavia and Twilight screamed out at the same time. Neither of them had expected this. Given Octavia’s track record, Twilight had recommended that she not be assigned a student, and Octavia certainly hadn’t wanted one. It was about the only thing on which the two of them agreed. It appeared that Celestia had decided to overrule both of them on this issue.

“I have assigned you a student, Octavia. You are one of the most capable ponies ever to walk through these halls, and it would be poor allocation of resources if I did not make use of that. Vinyl has proven herself to be proficient at illusionary magic and she has experience in the musical field, which will allow the pair of you to travel undercover far more easily than another. Believe me, I have thought about this for some time and you two would be the best fit.”

Octavia wasn’t convinced. “But, your highness. I don’t have time to train up a rank recruit.”

“Standing right here,” Twilight heard Vinyl mutter under her breath. she spoke softly, but Twilight’s enhanced hearing caught easily. She was sure that the vamponies could hear her too.

“Enough,” Celestia commanded, her voice taking on a steely edge. “I have assigned you a student, Octavia. The next words I want to hear from you are ‘yes, your highness.”

Octavia sighed in defeat. She knew from the tone of Celestia’s voice that this discussion was over. “Yes, your highness,” she bit out and motioned for Vinyl to come over to her.

“Good,” Celestia said, her voice returning to her normal level before she addressed the assembled ponies again, “You all have your assignments. Each master and student will be assigned to a different city, where you will be expected to investigate and track down any suspicious activity you come across. For the benefit of the students, remember that your actions in the name of this sect are not officially sanctioned by the crown. If you are seen or caught by the local guards, then I am powerless to help you. You will all depart to your postings at dawn tomorrow. I suggest that you spend time today getting to know your students and fellow new members. You will need to be able to trust each other with your lives, so it is vital that you know your weaknesses and strengths of your partner. Dismissed.”

With that, everypony present turned and began to file out of the meeting hall, each one heading off to their respective quarters, training areas or just somewhere that wasn’t there. Celestia kept an eye on Octavia. She was a skilled hunter, but her life was out of balance. Unlike most of the others, she had never had a normal foalhood; the monks had been her life since almost before she could be called a true mare. Vinyl would give her some perspective; she just hoped that the two wouldn’t try and kill each other before this was all over.

Sighing, Celestia turned around and began to exit the hall herself. It was still only early afternoon and the endless stream of court nobles and requests would still be waiting for her. Putting on her regal Ruler of Equestria face, she walked through a concealed entrance into her private chambers and out into the royal throne room, where the congregated masses were blissfully unaware of the threats that constantly loomed over them, nor the lengths that ponies had to go to in order for them to remain as such.

Down in the main training room, Cloakshape led his new partner, Frost Mane to the sparring ring. The best way to learn about his students skills, he reckoned, was to see them in action.

’Time to see just how good you think you are’ he mused. If the kid was arrogant, then he could knock him down a peg and start from there.

“Alright, Frost; Ok if I call you Frost?” he started. Some ponies were very sensitive about their names and would refuse to answer to anything other than their full title.

Frost mane nodded once, “Yes, Master Cloakshape.”

Cloakshape recoiled from that title. “Ugh, don’t call me master, makes me feel old. We are going to be partners in this, so just call me Cloakshape, or even just Cloak. So, first order of business today is for us to get to know each other, and more importantly, I need to see exactly what sort of skills you have. With that in mind, en guard.” Cloakshape readied himself into a battle stance, dropping low to the ground with his horn pointed directly at Frost Mane’s head. He was pleased to see that Frost Mane did exactly the same thing; a mirror stance of his own battle posture without a moments hesitation.

‘Reflexes are decent. Lets see how he handles improvisation’ he thought as he began to charge up his favoured combat spell. Cloakshape’s special skill, the entire reason that he was selected to join the monks in the first place was invisibility. Cloaking spells were rare, and a practitioner that could use them well was equally as rare. It gave him a vast advantage in his role as the orders primary scout and recon expert.

It was with no small measure of delight that he noticed Frost Mane appear to perform a very similar spell. His technique was sloppy, and Cloakshape could feel the wasted power flow from his student’s horn, but there was no mistaking the result. Frost Mane began to fade from view, leaving a translucent shimmering outline behind that indicated his location. It didn’t hide him completely, but it would shield him from a casual observation if he was standing still. Cloakshape smiled as he finished his own spell. Unlike his student, his spell was flawless; the result of countless years of practice and diligent training. When he cast his invisibility spell, it left no trace behind. No tell-tale distortions in the air, no muffled hoof steps; he just vanished.

Silently, Cloakshape stalked around the edge of the ring, keeping his movements slow and controlled. It didn’t matter though. Cloaked as he was in his magic, it would take a very powerful or diligent observer to spot him. He had even once managed to sneak into and out of the Vampony nest in the west wing of the Orders living chambers without being spotted, and they were meant to have supernatural levels of eye-sight and hearing. Frost Mane didn’t stand a chance against him.

Before him, the pony shaped distortion began to flail around, clearly searching for him. All it really did was to highlight exactly where and in which direction Frost Mane was looking. Cloakshape paused just behind Frost and just waited, enjoying the rush of power that he always felt when he knew he held another’s life in his hooves. It was a rush, knowing that every second his target lived was one that he had granted them, and it was a boon that he could retrench at any time. As he simply waited, he could make out Frost Mane’s increasing levels of panic and frustration. He figured that his student had never experienced this before; he was used to being the hunter, not being the prey. Cloakshape knew the feeling intimately.

Finally deciding that his game had run on long enough, he lunged in and grabbed Frost Mane just as the younger stallion turned away from him. With one swift motion, he shed his disguise and ran his hoof along the underside of Frost Mane’s throat, whispering ‘check mate’ as he did so. While there was no actual violence involved, the message was clear – ‘you’re dead’.

Frost Mane froze up and shed his own cloak spell, his body shimmering before the spell matrix dissolved and he reappeared. He slumped down to the ground and hung his head, clearly ashamed of his performance. Cloakshape rested a hoof on his back and pulled him to his hooves.

“I-I failed you, master,” he muttered demurely.

Cloakshape shook his head, “No, this was never a win/lose situation, just training to see what skills you had. I can see why the princess assigned you to me. Invisibility spells are hard to master; you clearly have the talent, you just need practice, and I can teach you plenty. And what did I say about calling me master?”

Frost Mane gave him a small smile, “Not to?”

“Damn straight. I think we are going to get on just fine, Frost.” Cloakshape started marching off out of the ring and headed towards the mess hall. “Let’s say we go get acquainted over some grub. You can tell me about your life, and how it is that you caught the Princess’s eye. She doesn’t pick just anypony for this life you know. Whether you know it or not, you did something to attract her attention.”

Frost Mane caught up with his master, glancing around at the surrounds with a practiced eye, as if he was sizing the place up. “Well, it’s not something I am all that proud of, but I wasn’t always the upstanding citizen I was now. I was something of a break in expert. I’ve yet to find a lock that I couldn’t crack…”

Octavia stormed out of the meeting hall, chased rapidly by her new student, Vinyl Scratch. She didn’t bother to slow her pace to allow her charge to catch up, or even pause to acknowledge her at all; she had places to be and more important ponies than this flashy white mare to see. With any luck, this mare wouldn’t even last a week here, and she could quietly get back to the job that she had dedicated her life to; the job of safeguarding Equestria from the kinds of hell spawn that had killed her father and caused her mother of commit suicide.

“Hey, Octy, wait up!” Vinyl called from down the hall they were travelling through. She had managed to catch up despite Octavia’s brisk pace. Just hearing her voice, Octavia knew that they weren’t going to get along. Vinyl managed to draw level with Octavia and fell into step along side her, a manic grin on her face. She was having a ball with this. “So, where are we headed, Octy? A secret lab? Training rooms? Off to kick some fla…”

Vinyl had to cut herself off sharply as Octavia’s hoof nearly slammed into her face; the rapidly moving hoof brushing against her mane and missing her skull by a centimetre at the most. When she rose up, she saw Octavia’s face contorted with fury, but she had mastered her hoof and planted it back on the ground. As length, Octavia spoke, her voice a growl of barely contained rage, “Firstly, you will address me as Octavia or Master. You will NOT call me Octy again, if you value your horn. Secondly, I don’t like you, and I don’t need a student. I’m going to the armoury. If you insist on following me, you will be silent unless spoken to, you will not touch anything, and you WILL do as instructed by any other higher ranked member of this order, which is everypony. Understood?”

The smile on Vinyl’s face faltered for just a second. “Crystal, Octavia,” she said, her reply tinged with enough insolence to almost be considered insubordinate. Octavia thought about deciding to beat Vinyl just for the fun of it, and to teach her some manners, but she decided against it. She had more important matters to attend to.

Right now, she was going to see one of the few ponies in the entire world who could openly and honestly claim to be her friend, the Orders chief explosives expert and demolitions master, Blast Radius. She resumed her walking, and Vinyl followed her at a slightly more subdued pace, some the bounce gone from her step.

‘She needs to learn that this isn’t a game. Real ponies are going to get hurt if she isn’t 100% focused at all times. Better she learn that now, than later on’ Octavia thought to herself. She still didn’t think that Vinyl would last past her first field mission.

Beside her, Vinyl spoke again. This time, her voice was measured and careful. “So how did you wind up here, Octavia? I’ve heard about you before. Classical cellist, winner of Princess Luna’s Prize for musical excellence, member of one of Canterlot’s most highly regarded Quartets. None of that seems conducive to being a secret agent hunting down threats to Equestria.”

Octavia regarded Vinyl out of the corner of her eye for a long moment before shrugging one. “I suppose if I don’t tell you, you will just ask some of the others about this, so you may as well get it from me. When I was very young, I saw my father murdered before my eyes, killed by a demon from the depths of Tartarus. It killed my father for no other reason than that it was hungry. Shortly after that, my mother committed suicide. She wasn’t able to cope without my father, so I was raised by my grandparents. I never forgot the creature that shattered my life, and I trained endlessly so that I could avenge their deaths. One day, I tracked down another vampyre and tried to make him talk. When he didn’t, I simply killed him. Turns out that I was being watched, and the order recruited me. This has been my life ever since.” Octavia stopped and turned to face Vinyl, giving the younger mare a hard look. “Everything you think you know about me is a lie; every piece of information carefully constructed and fabricated to present the illusion of a normal life. The Classical Cellist you have seen in magazines is all a lie; the award that Princess Luna supposedly presented to me was a sham. This right now, this is this is the real me, and it has been for far longer than the me you have heard about.”

Vinyl just stared at Octavia, her eyes wide. Hearing all that, this new life of hers had just suddenly become a whole lot more real. Visions of her slaying monsters and protecting the foals, fighting off hordes of demons in a heroic battle vanished in a second. This wasn’t at all what she had imagined this to be. She had just gotten a card one day after she helped save a caravan from marauding griffons, with the instruction to ‘see Celestia’ written on the back.

“Come on,” Octavia called from down the hall, having started moving again while Vinyl was spaced. “I need to see Blast Radius.” Vinyl chased after her, her hooves striking hard on the stone.

Blast Radius’s workshop was large, but still managed to feel cluttered. Half built designs and schematics littered every available surface. Wires, components and boxes marked with such danger signs as ‘highly flammable’ or ‘danger, explosive’ were stacked high in the corners. Octavia stepped lightly through the mayhem, keeping to a very narrow clear pathway that had been marked out in tape. Vinyl paused as she entered the workshop. To her, it was like a tinkers paradise. She had built and maintained her own amps and turntable in her previous job, so she recognised most of the equipment that was on display; at least the electrical components. There was still plenty that she didn’t quite understand.

In the centre of the workshop hovered a pegasus, oblivious to the mess that she had created. Once a vibrant yellow, she was starting to grey around her edges. Blast Radius had been a member of the Silver Sun’s for longer than Octavia had been, and it was beginning to show on her body. She wasn’t a young mare anymore and a lifetime of having been around and experimenting with explosive compounds and other volatile mixtures had finally taken their toll on her. A particularly nasty failed experimental compound some years back had robbed Blast of what little remained of her hearing and half blinded her in one eye. After the accident, she had been removed from active service, though she had elected to remain working for the order, rather than take the generous pension that Celestia had offered. She claimed that everypony she ever knew was here, and she could still help out.

Nowadays, she still worked as the Order’s armourer, but she no longer saw field action. Octavia walked up carefully through the minefield of equipment and tapped Blast Radius lightly on the shoulder. The yellow pegasus held up a hoof and kept working on a empty case for a moment. After working for a few more seconds, she put down her tools and turned to see Octavia standing below her. She quickly floated back down to the ground and hugged Octavia in a bone crunching hug. Octavia returned the hug. From the corner of the room, Vinyl just watched the two, not wanting to interrupt.

“HEY, OCTAVIA,” Blast yelled out. For as long as she had known her, Octavia had never seen Blast speak normally. She had always been a little deaf and had never quite learned to adjust her voice. “HOW ARE YOU? DID THE GRENADE WORK WELL?” she paused for a second to catch her breath.

“Hello, Blast. I am well, and the grenade worked perfectly,” Octavia replied, making sure to over exaggerate her lip movement, as well as moving her hooves in Equestrian sign language. “How are you doing down here?”

“I’M GOOD. I’VE GOT A FEW NEW TOYS IN PRODUCTION, BUT NOTHING IS QUITE READY YET.” Octavia winced; while Blast Radius was one of her dearest friends, speaking to her would result in a headache after a few moments. Blast Radius didn’t seem to notice, but she did catch sight of Vinyl standing over in the corner, examining a speaker that was sitting on a table, most of its components strewn haphazardly in all directions. “HEY, WHO IS THAT?” she yelled out.

“That’s my new… student,” Octavia said. “We got a new bunch out outsiders today. I don’t like her though. I don’t need a student to slow me down.”

“AWWWW, DON’T BE LIKE THAT, OCTY,” was Blast’s reply. Vinyl appeared to finally notice that they were talking about her and she looked up from the speaker. Blast Radius flapped over to her quickly. “HEY, I’M BLAST RADIUS. WHO ARE YOU?”

Vinyl grinned at Blast. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, former DJ and now Octavia’s student,” she said. She spoke normally, but also waved her hooves in flawless sign language. After even just a few seconds, Octavia could tell that Vinyl was far more skilled at it than she was; her movements were fluid and practiced, clear indications that she had mastered using signing at some point in her life. “Hey, Blast. Did you build all of this yourself,” she asked, pointing towards the speaker on the table.

“YEA, BUT I COULDN’T QUITE GET IT TO WORK PROPERLY. SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH THE AMPS.”

Vinyl picked up the speaker in her magic, grabbing several components with her hooves and coupling wires and sockets together before slipping all the parts into the housing and screwing down the outer casing. After a couple more seconds, she put the speaker back down on the table in the now cleared space. “There you go, all fixed. There was just a simple short in the wires. I used to fix these things all the time,” she said and hit the speaker with her magic a second time. Loud bass music blared from it. While Blast couldn’t hear it, she could feel the vibrations through her hooves, and she grinned.

Octavia covered her ears to protect them from the horrid noise. It was everything she hated about modern music; loud disjointed melodies, a lack of anything resembling a real instrument and glow sticks. Oh how she hated glow sticks.

Beside her, Blast Radius began laughing hard. “HAHAHA. OCTY, I LIKE THIS ONE. SHE’S A KEEPER.” She and Vinyl exchanged a hoof bump before Blast radius began showing her all her new inventions and designs.

Octavia could only groan after them. This was going to be a long visit.

On the other side of the Orders living chambers, Sweetie Belle followed her new family towards the rooms that they had claimed as their space. While it was officially referred to a living quarters B, almost everypony called the space that the vamponies had claimed as ‘the nest’. Sweetie hadn’t actually seen it yet, having only arrived in Canterlot that day with her coven and she was curious to see exactly how it had been decorated. In her mind she saw the same kinds of things that had been on display the night she had been turned, barely a week ago. Fountains of running blood, sharp gothic architecture, overt displays of carnality; everything she had read about in the trashy vampony books of her youth.

At length, all five ponies came to a stop outside a plain looking door. There was nothing unusual about it; it just looked like any one of a dozen doors they had passed along the way. “Well, here we are, everypony. Don’t get too comfortable though, as we will all be heading off to Fillydelphia tomorrow morning,” Twilight said as she opened the door. Sweetie Belle rushed inside to find that it was just a plain looking dormitory. Some comfortable looking beds, a fridge in the corner; nothing to indicate that it was being used by the undead in anyway.

The disappointment must have shown on her face, as Lyra came over to her and patted her on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Sweetie, this is just a temporary place for us. Once we get to our new home, we can decorate it how we see fit. For now though, you must be thirsty. We all know just how much blood you will need over the next few months, and it is important for you to keep your supply up. As useful as we are, we are all just one mistaken frenzy away from being ended, and I don’t want to see you die because you were hungry.”

Over by the fridge, Bon-Bon pulled out five blood packs and threw them over to everypony. Lyra caught hers and quickly ripped one side of it off and chugged it down, swallowing the cold vitae with clear enjoyment. Bon-Bon and Twilight joined her, each of them opening the top off of their meals and drinking the blood straight from the plastic packets.

Rarity was a different story however. Unlike the others, she only made a small hole in her pack, and poured the contents out into a wine glass. The deep crimson liquid looked almost exactly like the wines that she used to drink, back when she was mortal.

“No matter how many times I have this, Blood is the most delectable thing I have ever tasted. It is a pity that we never tried it when we were ponies,” she said, delicately sipping from her glass.

Sweetie just followed the example of Lyra and the others, using her sharp fangs to pierce the blood pack and quickly drain it dry. The blood was salty, but deeply satisfying in a way that no mere mortal food could ever compare with. Drinking it quenched a thirst that she hadn’t even realised she was feeling until she began drinking, and she quickly felt a flash from below her waist, which she covered up with a hoof. If she had still been capable of blushing, she would have as the flash slowly turned into something more.

Lyra and the others had explained to her the feeding and arousal often went hoof in hoof, and that feeling desire while she was feeding was nothing to be ashamed about; they had all done it at some point. Plus they were all brethren here, so she shouldn’t feel embarrassed about embracing her nature here in the privacy of their own quarters. Indeed as Sweetie looked around, she saw that all semblance of normality that they maintained when interacting with normal ponies had vanished the second that they had entered their private space. In here they were vamponies, open and undisguised.

Having finished her meal, Bon-Bon had quickly assumed her favoured position, hanging bat-like from the roof of the room. She just hung there above the others, her hooves attached to the rafters as if she was a barnacle. It apparently relaxed her, though Twilight was sure that it was just a side effect of the blood pooling in her brain. Twilight herself was seated at a desk and was nose deep in a book. She was flicking through it far faster than any normal pony could possibly do and hope to be able to remember or comprehend the contents.

Rarity was seated over in another corner, a file floating in her magic and grinding away at her fangs. Just as a well groomed horn was a point of pride to most unicorns, Vamponies, so Rarity reasoned, should also take just a good of care of their fangs, and she made sure to clean and file them on a regular basis. While the fangs would regrow over time, hers were the sharpest out of all. Sweetie ran her tongue over her own pair of elongated teeth. Even now, a week later, she wasn’t quite used to them and she had bitten herself more than once as a result of not remembering that they were there.

Lastly, Lyra had taken up position in the centre of the room, nearly directly below Bon-Bon. Unlike the others, she wasn’t doing anything. Lyra had simply switched off and now resembled a mint coloured statue. She didn’t blink, she didn’t tremble with the act of breathing. She had retreated into herself, leaving her body totally immobile. It looked a little bit creepy to Sweetie Belle, but she figured that Lyra knew what she was doing.

Sweetie walked around to where Twilight had finished her first book and was picking up a second. She didn’t look up, but said, “Yes, Sweetie? Do you need something?”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yes, Twilight. What are we actually going to be doing in Fillydelphia?”

Twilight put her book down and turned to face her charge. “Our goals in Fillydelphia are two fold. First we need to be on the lookout for any signs of increased werewolf activity. We don’t know why they have become so much more active over the last few months, and ponies in Equestria are in danger. Secondly, as I’m sure you would have noticed, we can’t stay in Ponyville for much longer. Ponies were beginning to ask all sorts of questions about Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Rarity; about how they didn’t seem to be aging. You and Rarity could easily pass for twins now.” It was true. Aside from her mane colour and cut, Sweetie Belle was almost the splitting image of her older sister. And always would be, she was now beginning to realise.

Twilight wasn’t finished. “To avoid exposure and to help protect the ponies living here, we are going to have to move around every few years. Until Equestria is ready to accept that Vamponies are real, and can be trusted; a time that most likely will never come, we are going to have to keep our secret secret. Fillydelphia has a large enough population that the addition of five new ponies wouldn’t be noticed, and is far enough away from other cities that the chance of gossip spreading is minimal. We also deemed it best that we choose somewhere a bit remote until you learn to control yourself around others.”

Twilight’s face turned hard, “I saw you struggling while at the initiation ceremony today. It’s nothing to be ashamed of; we all went through it at some stage. The urge to feed can be hard to resist and until we are all convinced that you have mastered it and can be out in public without giving yourself or us away, then I’m afraid that you must be accompanied at all times when not at home.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. She had expected something like this, and Twilight was right. She had almost been ready to pounce on the closest living blood bag she could sink her fangs into. ‘NO, mustn’t think of them like that. They are living ponies to be respected, not walking meals to be preyed upon’ Sweetie mentally told herself, ashamed that she had even considered it.

“I understand Twilight. I won’t let you, or the Order down, I promise,” she said. She meant it too. Unlike all the others gathered here, Sweetie Belle had chosen to give up her mortal life for this one. The others had had no choice, but she had asked for it, knowing full well what would likely be expected of her.

“Don’t worry, Sweetie,” Lyra said from behind her. She had come out of her trance state and was wandered over to where Twilight and Sweetie were talking. “We will teach you everything there is to know about being a vampony. How to feed without getting caught, how to fight, and maybe when you are ready, how to seduce. Being a vampony isn’t all service to Equestria.” Lyra shot a look over at Twilight. When they were alone like this, it was Lyra who was in charge, due to her being the eldest among them. In matters that concerned their activities as members of the Silver Suns, Lyra had agreed to defer to Twilight’s judgement.

“There are a few more things that we all need to go over at some point, but they can wait for now,” Twilight said, bringing their conversation to a close. “Right now, we should all get some down time and make sure that we are ready to move out. There is a specially chartered train leaving just before sun up tomorrow, and we need to be on it.

Lyra nodded and returned to her frozen state. Twilight picked up her book again and began reading at an absurd pace. All Sweetie Belle could do was lie down on her bed and close her eyes, imagining what the next few years of her life would hold for her.