Blood Diamonds

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Trial
Chapter 2: The Ritual
Chapter 3: Ponyville
Chapter 4: Traps and Prisons
Chapter 5: Interrogation
Chapter 6: Friends
Chapter 7: Magic
Chapter 8: The Grand Finale
Chapter 9: The End

Prologue

Golden Glory shivered when she heard yet another timberwolf howl. Sure, she knew it came from the Everfree and that it was highly unlikely they would decide to even get near, let alone visit, the Ponyville park, but with these murders going on... She laughed and shook her head. The murderer was murdered a week ago, and there hadn’t been an attack since. Yet here she was, being scared by the sounds of the night like a little filly.

Her laughter ended when her hoof landed in a puddle masked by the darkness, spraying her with water and mud. Horse feathers! She threw her surroundings an ugly look, but that soon melted. She hadn’t been on a midnight stroll for some time now, and she wasn’t going to have it spoiled by a bit of water. How silly ponies had been a thousand years ago – disdaining the night? It was wonderful! Only today she’d been strangely nervous... But that must have been due to the murders thing.

She took a deep breath and savoured the cool, clean air filling her lungs. She could go flying later. Yes, that sounded like a great idea. Once she absorbs enough of the atmosphere here, she’ll be soaring through the night’s air and enjoying the empty skies that she’ll have all to herself.

She spread her wings as she imagined the sensation of air rustling her feathers and mane, when suddenly she saw something move at the edge of her vision. She focused on the spot and saw it was just a waving tree branch. That calmed her, but a certain uneasiness still lingered in her head. It was a windless night, so why did that branch move?

She shrugged and continued her walk. It didn’t take long before she was fully immersed in the relaxing sensation again. The moonlit sky, the pristine air, the chirping, the... rustling? She spun around and stared at a bush. A mighty suspicious bush, as she could still see the leaves on it moving. Something was there, and while it was probably just some harmless animal, the cautiousness she’d adopted these last few horrid weeks kicked in, and she spread her wings once again. Just a few wing beats and she’d be out of the danger zone.

She flapped her wings several times, still staring at that bush, and then something heavy landed right on her back, pinning her to the ground. She let out a loud shriek and turned her head in a desperate attempt to see her attacker. Before she managed that, however, she felt a piercing pain in her neck and everything grew black.

———

“So, now you’re going to come and just...” Twilight gulped. “bite into my neck?” she asked in a voice as thin as a hair.

“Yes, that’s the theory, I suppose.” Rarity said, eyeing Twilight’s arteries and subconsciously licking her lips. “But it’ll really only last a second and, from what I’ve heard, it’ll be painless.”

“Weren’t you bitten too? How did it feel?” Twilight looked like her fur had been bleached. It could even take some effort to actually suck anything out of her like this.

“Well...” Rarity shuffled and looked away. “I’d describe it as horrible pain, like one was cutting your throat, but that was a completely different situation, I assure you! Or, well... I think it was. I’ve never done this before, but how else would Pinkie feed on the Cakes?”

“Uh-huh.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve got no idea what will happen, do you?”

“Sure I do! I will bite you and drink some of that delicious, juicy blood.” Her eyes were set on Twilight’s neck once again. She could feel her teeth elongating just looking at it. “But if you’re afraid,” – Rarity looked Twilight in the eyes – “Pinkie said I can last for another two weeks without feeding. Only I’ll be hungry.”

“Alright, alright. Just do it!” Twilight closed her eyes and displayed her neck.

Rarity smiled and let her fangs slide out as she neared her dinner. She opened her mouth, leaned in, prepared to bite... and was smacked by Twilight’s hoof. She gave a cry of pain and put her hoof on the stricken place. “What was that for?”

“Oh my gosh; I’m so sorry, Rarity!” Twilight immediately rushed to her friend and started examining what she’d done. “I just... lost my nerves. I thought I was prepared, but I wasn’t!”

“It’s alright,” Rarity said, but her expression told a different story. “We can talk some more, if it makes you feel better.”

Twilight’s face immediately lit up. “Sure! Sure, I’d like that. Much better than being bitten.” She motioned her towards a nearby table. “We can talk about Pinkie Pie, for example. How’s she holding up?”

“She’s alright, from what I can tell.” Rarity sighed. “Bouncing up and down just like she used to. I’ll never think about her the same way again, however.”

“Me neither. That whole fiasco changed us all forever.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny, Twilight. You wouldn’t be making these puns if it was you who needed the blood of others to survive.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Twilight frowned. “It’s just that... How can I ever look at Pinkie Pie like I used to? I saw her snap a mare’s neck, for Celestia’s sake! How can I look at anypony the same way, for that matter? I would never have believed that Lyra was capable of such a massacre. If she could do it, can other ponies too? Am I walking amongst future serial killers?”

“Twilight, Darling.” Rarity lay her hoof on hers. “She went insane. It wasn’t the Lyra we used to know. And above all, it’s over. She’s been dealt with.”

“That’s the worst thing about it – how can we really be sure it’s over?” Twilight took a deep, shaky breath. “Mrs. Cake said Pinkie was home at the time Lyra must have been turned. It means there’s yet one more vampony running around somewhere.”

“Or it means Mrs. Cake was wrong and Pinkie snuck out when she wasn’t looking. The attacks have stopped, and Lyra told us she killed all the victims.”

“All but one.”

Rarity retreated her hoof. “Do you have to bring it up every time we speak about these things?”

“You killed a pony, Rarity.”

“And I regret it every day! Do you think I forgot? Or that I don’t care anymore?” Tears sprung into her eyes. “I visit Berry’s grave every morning; I’m there more often than her own sister! What more am I supposed to do to show just how much I regret it? Kill myself too? Is that what you want?”

Twilight went pale again. “N-no. I didn’t mean–”

“Of course you didn’t.” Rarity sighed. “I’m sorry for that outburst. It’s simply a very sensitive topic for me.” She pulled out her hoofkerchief, wiping her tears and frowning at her ruined mascara. “How did Pinkie react to your suspicions?”

“She was happy that maybe she wasn’t responsible for the whole thing. You’re probably right. It’s been a week and there have been no signs of any vampony-related troubles anywhere.” She slouched. “I just can’t shake the feeling that maybe I’ve missed something. That the true villain is still out there, ruining the lives of more ponies.”

“It’s alright, Darling.” Rarity offered her a smile. “Should anything like that happen, we’ll find out right away. A missing pony wouldn’t go unnoticed now; why, it would cause an uproar! Also, don’t forget that the princesses have assigned a whole platoon of guards to replace the ones that have fallen, this time with the best military training. Your own brother made sure of that.”

She nodded, but her head remained lowered. “You’re right.”

There was a minute of silence. “So, I see you’ve calmed down,” Rarity said.

“Do we really have to do this? Won’t animal blood suffice?”

Rarity’s muzzle scrunched as she thought back at her first, and last, attempt. “That’s like saying a pony can survive on grass alone. Have you tried drinking it? It’s foul! Even Pinkie Pie opted for the Cakes, and you know how hard she tried to find any alternatives. I mean of course, it might taste great if it’s the first time you feed, but that’s just temporal. No, I think I’d rather die of hunger than to taste that vile liquid ever again. Horrid!”

“Alright already, just make it quick!” She, once again, closed her eyes and presented her neck.

Rarity moved closer, but hesitated. “Twilight, I warn you. If you smack me again, I will smack you back. And you don’t want to be hit by a vampony, believe me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight replied through her clenched teeth.

Rarity prepared her fangs and bit down. Sweet streams of blood soon filled her mouth to the brim, and she gulped it. The more of the stuff she drank, the sweeter and tastier it seemed, as if urging her to drink on. She graciously complied.

After about fifteen seconds, Rarity remembered herself and pulled away, looking at Twilight who soundlessly fell to the ground. “Twilight? Twilight!” Rarity rushed to her friend, pressing her ear against her chest. She couldn’t murder again. Not like this! Not Twilight!

Fortunately, the heartbeat was there, still strong. Rarity smiled, breathing out the air she didn’t even know she held, and lifted herself off the ground. It was just another one of her new skills, it seemed. Hopefully it wasn’t painful for Twilight, otherwise she might as well try devising some new recipes for cooking with animal blood. She shuddered from just thinking about that revolting swill.

After tucking Twilight in, while making sure not to wake Spike up, she silently slipped out of the library. It was marvellous outside – the full moon painted everything with silver, and the air cleared her head, giving her a break from all that pent-up stress. Before, she would have hurried home, afraid of running into some ‘individuals’ that come out at this time of the day. Now, she knew that any attacker would be met with an unpleasant surprise, and it was a wonderful feeling. And the inspiration it gave her! The night provided many wonders that one simply couldn’t experience from behind a glass pane.

She took a deep breath, made a decisive step forward, and was bashed by something heavy from behind, instantly losing consciousness.

———

There was a knock on the door, and Broken Prism lifted his eyes from the papers on his mahogany table. “Come in.”

The door opened with a creak and let in a small, hunched figure. “Yes?” Prism asked.

“News, master,” the servant said, kneeling. “The Ponyville murderer was caught and restrained, and is now on the way here.”

“Ponyville...” He furrowed his brow. Ivory Star and her minions had been circling around that place for months now, and wherever she was, there would be trouble brewing. “Things have been busy there as of late. Too busy for my liking. I’ll have to send somepony there soon.”

“And the killer, master?”

“What about him? Or is it her?”

“Her.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He waved his hoof. “She’ll be tried, found guilty, and executed, just like all the murderers; not to mention she’s a rogue.”

“Yes, master. The trial should start tomorrow. Do you agree, or shall I have it rescheduled?”

“Tomorrow is fine. You may leave.”

The underling bowed and swiftly left the room. Prism stood up from his table with a sigh, walked to the window, and stared into the night outside. It might have seemed wonderful at first, but only before one realised just how many of his blood-sucking colleagues were out there with their intrigues and petty schemes. He levitated a goblet of red liquid to his lips and took a sip. He didn’t know what plans Ivory had with that village, but he was sure he wouldn’t like it.

Chapter 1: Trial

Rarity was awoken by a large bump and the screeching of gravel under wheels. After slowly opening her eyes, she was greeted by nothing but darkness and a strange wetness around her body. She dipped her hoof in the substance and lifted it to her eyes. Night vision was one of the few things about being a vampony she’d managed to get accustomed to.

Blood? She quickly thought back to what had happened before she awoke here. Pain. Her hoof reached up to where she was hit, only to find perfectly intact skin. This fast recovery was one of the things she was not accustomed to. It was nice, of course, but it still felt weird when she went to bed gravely wounded and woke up without a scratch. She tried lifting herself up, but her head immediately hit the ceiling.

The movement stopped suddenly. “Wakey, wakey, sleepin’ beauty!” somepony outside said, laughing. The morning sun blinded her as the box she was in opened, but her eyes soon adjusted. What stood in front of her wlooked like a stereotypical ruffian – scars all over his face, ragged clothes, bad breath, and even an eye patch! Without any delay, that ruffian lifted her with his hoof by the neck like she was but a doll, and fastened dark red hoofcuffs on all four of her legs with his other one.

“You clearly have no idea what you’re dealing with.” Rarity tried tearing the chains apart with her supernatural strength. Nothing happened – the material was simply too strong.

“Oh, mare thinks she’s smart, eh?” The vile stench coming from his mouth almost suffocated her.

“I don’t know who you are, but I demand to be let go at once!”

Another pony walked out from behind the wagon. “She’s got no right to demand anythin’.” He was just as ragged as the other one. “Give her a gag so that she stops her naggin’.”

They forced some filthy rag into her mouth. “Did you take care of the magic?” The first ruffian nodded and pointed at some sort of circlet around her horn. Try as she might, she couldn’t squeeze even a spark out of it.

“Hmmm! Hmm, hmmm, hmm!” Rarity said.

“Don’t ya just love it when they do this?” the brute – that’s what she decided to call him from now on – said.

“Just shut up and make sure she doesn’t choke on that gag like the last one did.”

“But why? They’ll kill her anyway.”

“Hmmmmmm!”

“Shut up!” The brute gave her a painful jab to the ribs.

“They pay us to get her there alive, so we get her there alive! I don’t care what the suckers do with her afterwards. Now, let’s get a move on. I can already see the place from here.”

They took a turn from the main road and soon reached a small grove. There, another pony waited, this one dressed in rich garments and with fur perfectly brushed and spotless. “Bring her here,” he said in a commanding voice.

“Do you have the money?” the brute’s companion asked.

“Here.” A large pouch landed in front of them with a jingle. Without a word, they pushed her towards him and tossed him the key to her chains.

“Don’t forget,” the gentlecolt said. “No mention of this to anypony. Or you know what will happen.”

They nodded, swooping up the pouch before leaving.

“Filthy beasts!” he said when he saw the gag. “If they’d at least used a clean one.” With a flash of magic, it disappeared.

Rarity coughed, but managed to crack a smile. “Thank you. But who are you?”

“I doubt my name’s important. You won’t see me again after today, after all.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’ll be dead.” He smiled back at her.

Rarity’s face immediately went pale, although it was hard to see due to her coat. “D-dead? Why would anypony want me dead?”

He pulled for the cuffs binding her with his magic, before walking towards a towering structure in the distance. “That’s just how we deal with murderers.”

He... he knows? How? Nopony knows about Berry Punch! Nopony except Twilight and Pinkie Pie... Did they tell them? Why would they do that?

“I-it was an accident, I swear!”

He lifted his brow. “It takes one hell of an accident to kill a vampony.”

“A vampony?” Rarity frowned. “I’ve never killed a vampony!”

He nodded. “That’s what half of them says. The other half just spit curses all the way to the castle; I don’t like them.”

“But which vampony? Lyra?”

“I have absolutely no idea. But one doesn’t become a murderer without killing one of us first, no?”

“What about non-vamponies?”

He laughed. “Nopony cares about those. They’re just food. Or...” – his voice started to waver and his face reddened – “sometimes they’re a mindless, filthy mob of ignorant idiots armed with pitchforks and torches that comes to your mansion at night, burns the whole place down, dissects all your servants and forces you to flee to the other side of the country!” He shook his head. “No harm done if you’ve killed such a pony. And good riddance.”

Rarity bit her lip – enraging her ticket to freedom wasn’t a good strategy. Although, he seemed to open up easily... “Where are we going?”

“To the castle, where you’ll stand trial.”

“A trial? So maybe I can get off without dying if I’m convincing enough?”

“Possibly...” His brow wrinkled. “But we usually don’t send hunters if we’re not sure you’re guilty. Maybe if you’re influential enough.” He made a pause. “What position are you in our society anyway?”

“What society?”

“Uh-huh. So you’re a rogue. That’s not a crime by itself, but it makes you persona non-grata. Yeah...” He stopped and scratched his head. “You’re, in all likeliness, already dead.”

Rarity scowled. He was far too casual about this! “I don’t suppose a hunky, handsome stallion like you could help me in any way?” She employed her most suggestive voice and ‘accidentally’ brushed against his side.

The gentlecolt laughed out loud. “You haven’t met many vamponies so far, have you? If I let myself be seduced this easily, I would have died over a century ago.” That unhelpful moron was enjoying himself! How dared he in a situation like this? “As for your question, I try to make everypony’s last hours more pleasing by having this friendly little chat, but that’s it.”

“I thought so.” She sighed. “At least tell me who will judge me.”

“The six heads of our community, like always. Convince half, and your case will be delayed and re-examined. Convince at least four, and you’re free.”

Rarity stumbled on a tree branch and barely avoided falling headfirst into a puddle of mud. “Ugh! Could you please remove the chains on my hind legs? I can’t do much with those anyway.”

“Can’t happen, I’m afraid. I know exactly what you’d do – right once I freed your legs, you would buck me in the head while I was still bent down, hope that it knocks me out, search me for the keys, unlock your front hooves, and run off.

“That’s not true!” That’s precisely what I wanted to do. “I just want to avoid falling.”

“We both know that’s a lie.” He smirked. “You wouldn’t be the first who tried to escape, but that’s actually not what you want to do.”

“Why not?”

“Because innocents don’t run, and right once we catch you again – believe me that it’d be only a matter of time – you’d have a much harder time convincing anypony.”

“I thought I’m doomed anyway?”

“Well, yes, but there’s no reason to make my life harder in the process, is there?”

Rarity huffed. This one wasn’t about to help her. “Well excuse me for trying to survive.”

“You are excused.” He gave her a benevolent smile.

There was quiet for a few minutes as Rarity rocked her brain for any more ideas. She got nothing. “Tell me about the judges.”

“Well, there’s Dusky Pearl, who hates all rogues with passion. But you might let her show some mercy if she disliked the victim and if you show a whole load of humility. Then Arctic Amber – he hates Pearl, so if you give her some attitude, he might like you – Viridian Summer, about whom I know pretty much nothing as his territory is far to the south and he only comes here when he absolutely has to, and Stainless Aurora. She’s really passionate –show her that you’re really, really sorry for what you did, and she’ll probably let you go. Don’t show it, and she’ll send somepony to cut your throat in your sleep for being a murderer.”

“That’s four. What about the remaining two?”

“Broken Prism and Ivory Star. They are, by far, the strongest, most influential vamponies in our society. They each follow their own motives, carefully evaluating what suits them the most, and are rarely influenced by emotions – that’s how they got on top. I’ve got no idea what their agenda is, though. Nopony but they do.”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “I’ve heard those names. They’re both very important members of the high nobility; the crème de la crème. Why, their visit to a town causes nearly as much bustle as that of a Princess.”

Her jailor nodded. “All of them are part of the nobility, except Dusky Pearl, who is just extremely rich. I myself used to be a noble, albeit a minor one, before I had to flee and change my name.” His face skewed. “Now I’m being treated like a common servant.”

“Tried for murder before the nobility.” Rarity felt like crying – first her life, and now her reputation. This was like being killed twice! “No wonder I never managed to fit in among them. Who would have guessed I’d need to be a vampony first?”

The rest of the walk carried on in silence. Rarity wouldn’t have known what else to ask about anyway, even if her throat wasn’t completely clogged and her stomach clenched. It really seemed like the trial was the only way to get out of this mess.

———

Twilight was woken up by the sound of frantic knocking at the door. She slowly rose up from her bed, her head spinning like she’d had way too many ciders, and carefully stepped down the stairs. She felt like collapsing right there and then. Rarity, what the hay? You didn’t mention this at all!

She touched her neck where Rarity’s teeth pricked her last night. But at least it really didn’t hurt... There was no trace of a wound, just as Rarity had told her. Amazing. Vamponies must have enormous regenerative capabilities if they can even heal another pony like this. The question is whether or not we could synthesise... Somepony knocked again. Or maybe it is connected more to magic than to chemistry – can dark magic heal wounds? Maybe if I– More knocking, this time even more urgent-sounding than before. “Coming!”

She opened the door, staring right into the face of one teary-eyed filly. “What’s the matter, Sweetie Belle?”

“Twilight, have you seen Rarity anywhere? I woke up and made breakfast like always, but she didn’t come. And when I looked into her room, it seemed like she didn’t sleep in it at all! I asked around and heard that she’s been with you last; is she still there?” She peeked in under Twilight’s legs into the room beyond.

“I... don’t... think so.” Is she still somewhere around here?

“What do you mean?” Sweetie frowned. “You don’t know whether or not she’s here?”

“I went to bed a bit earlier than I thought yesterday... But I’m sure that if she was here, she would have already shown up.”

“But I’ve been everywhere!” The filly seemed close to breaking down crying.

“Try asking Pinkie Pie. She knows about everything that happens around here.”

“Alright...” Sweetie looked at Twilight with her puppy eyes. “Will you help me search for her?”

Twilight could feel the amount of sugar in her blood rise from just looking at it, and sighed. “Sure I will. But you shouldn’t worry yourself too much – Rarity can take care of herself.” Images of darkness seeping out of Rarity’s horn and entering Bonbon filled her mind as she said it. It was a horrible day.

“Thanks!” Sweetie said in an almost cheerful voice and trotted away.

“Spike!” Twilight called out and leaned against the doorframe.

It took him a good three minutes before he finally kicked himself out from under his blanket. “Yeah?”

“Please make me some breakfast and bring me some books about magic tracing.” If Rarity really got into some trouble, some sort of magic had to be used to overpower her. I mean who would win a brawl with a vampony?

A short while later, she was huddled in her chair with a book, chewing some fresh salad, and was feeling the dizziness slowly dissipate. The spell she needed wasn’t really complicated, it was quite simple, actually. However, all the binding rituals of last week provided so much interference that it was practically useless. Twilight loudly exhaled and massaged her temples. Nullifying this sort of residual magic was an easy, but slow and tedious job.

———

“Miss Rarity, please come forth,” a booming voice said in a demanding manner.

Rarity obliged and stepped into an enormous, circular room. The only light came from a few dim torches on the walls and the roof window, which only illuminated her and her alone. Behind herself, she could hear the muttering of the public – a small group of ponies, as she discovered upon turning around. Either trials like this were common, the vamponies weren’t numerous, or she really was nothing to them.

“You are accused of murdering your sister in blood – a vampony and a member of our society. Do you admit it?” one of the judges said. They sat much higher than her along with the public and were arranged in a circular manner. She was basically inside a pit.

“W-which vampony?” This was completely different from anything she’d seen before. In Canterlot, the courtrooms were made to give an impression of order and safety whereas this one only emanated dread.

“Lyra Heartstrings, the fresh subordinate of Lady Ivory Star.”

She most certainly didn’t kill her! Twilight had to bear the weight of ending that life, not her. But if they find out a pony did it, she might not even get this trial...

“Yes, I admit it.” Her voice steadied. “But I did it for a good reason.”

There were a few murmurs in the room, and Rarity focused her eyes on those judges. From what little she learned while in the dungeons, Dusky Pearl was an earth pony with brown coat and gray mane, which would mean the one on the far left. She looked at Rarity like one would look at a pile of garbage.

Arctic Amber was a pegasus with bulging muscles, sitting on the far right. He didn’t even seem to notice there was a trial taking place and yawned profusely. Viridian Summer – the unicorn sitting in the middle left – on the other hoof looked anything but bored. His face was scrunched and red, and his eyes constantly drifted towards the clock. Stainless Aurora, a pegasus to the right from him, was the only one smiling at her.

Broken Prism sat to the left and didn’t betray a single emotion. His lips were pressed together and his eyes seemed to drill into her very soul. For a minute, Rarity thought he was actually casting a spell on her, but his horn didn’t shine. Ivory Star, who was yet another unicorn, was the exact opposite. She stared at Rarity with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape.

“And what would be that reason?” Rarity noticed that it was Broken Prism who spoke.

“She massacred the town and acted like an uncivilised brute! She didn’t even say she’s part of some society!”

“Non-vamponies are not our concern,” Ivory Star said.

“But a massacre could have attracted attention to us! Why was I not informed?”

“I had it all under control.” Ivory Star smiled. “Even if she did find out, they couldn’t trace her back to us.”

“Explain, please,” Dusky Pearl said.

“She was my... experiment. I bound her while she was still unconscious and returned her to the town before she could wake up.”

“You mean you created a rogue?” Aurora asked, raising her brow.

“She wasn’t a rogue. I could’ve taken control of her at any time.”

Prism scowled at her. “Nothing but technicalities... But valid ones.” He turned back to Rarity. “Is there anything else?”

They still considered her guilty? “Well, no.”

“I think it’s time to decide then. Dusky Pearl, what is your opinion?”

Rarity turned to her and dropped to her knees, bowing her head. “Please, Lady Pearl, please have mercy on me. I was foolish to think such a deed would go unpunished; if I only had known about this place...”

Pearl stopped her begging with a raised hoof. She smiled – addressing her like she was of noble birth must have pleased her. Arctic Amber, on the other hoof, harrumphed. “I say we all make some mistakes,” she said. “Especially since Lyra was pretty much a rogue too – an uncivilised disgrace of our community. We do not punish offenses of rogues against rogues. Innocent.”

Rarity exhaled and slowly got back up. She needed just two more.

Prism turned to Arctic Amber. “What do you say, brother?”

“Guilty! Lyra at least sounded like a vampony with some spine!”

Expected.

“Viridian Summer?”

“I can’t believe we’re wasting our time with this. I came here because of the yesterday’s meeting, not a trial with a rogue! I have to get back to my holdings at once!”

Prism’s plain expression didn’t change in the least. “Our law speaks clearly: the accused has to be tried by the six highest-ranking vamponies present. It is because we are supposed to be the wisest. Are you not wise, Viridian, or are you saying our laws are foolish?”

“Neither.” He threw Rarity a glance full of bile. “Guilty; let’s make it quick.”

Rarity frowned. That was plain unfair!

“Sister Aurora?” Prism asked.

“Tell me, Rarity,” she said, “why did you kill her? You said it was to stop a massacre, but why did you want to stop it?”

“Because it was wrong!” She stared right into Aurora’s eyes. Wasn’t the answer obvious? “I knew the ponies living there; my friends were attacked... I couldn’t just stand there and see them being slaughtered one by one. I know that ponies aren’t a concern of your law, but don’t you remember you were all ponies once too? Don’t you remember your parents, siblings, and friends? How would you feel if some maniac and her minions started killing them?”

Aurora smiled, but Prism cut in before she could speak. “Minions? What minions?”

“Rose, Bonbon, and Mr. Rich. The ones she turned and bound to herself.”

Prism looked at Ivory Star, his face reddening. “She started turning the townsfolk and you did nothing? Don’t you know how irresponsible that is? We’re supposed to assess potential recruits for years, not turn the first one that comes under our hooves!”

“They knew nothing.” She measured him with an icy gaze. “Rogues turn others at random all the time, and we haven’t been discovered anyway!”

“Is this about that plan of yours? You wanted to present us with a finished thing so that it would be harder to refuse, isn’t that so? Executing something on that scale without our approval is a clear violation of our laws! Perhaps we should hold another trial?”

“It was simply a small-scale experiment that aimed to see whether we could improve our training techniques by giving the trainees free rein for a while, nothing else. I would have stopped it before things turned too severe.”

Prism narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe you and your plan was dismissed.”

She laughed. “Whether you believe or not is of no concern to me. And my plan wasn’t dismissed, the decision was merely postponed to a later date.”

Prism grumbled a little and turned to Aurora. “Your decision, please?”

“Innocent.”

One more.

“Ivory Star?” he said in a voice full of venom.

She looked at Rarity and seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Guilty.”

Rarity’s teeth were pressed together so much that it began to hurt. Three votes for guilty, two for innocent. If only Prism voted for innocent, the case would be re-examined and she’ll get more time! But if he voted for guilty... she shuddered just thinking about it.

Prism nodded. “Guilty.”

“W-wha– Wait!” Rarity exclaimed, but two vamponies already grabbed her and started pulling her away.

“You have been found guilty of murder and as such, your punishment will be death.” Prism seemed completely unfazed by the whole thing, his face calm.

“No, you can’t! Please! It had to be done, I didn’t–” They were thoroughly ignoring her, even chatting with each other. She tried getting out of her guards’ grip, but they held onto her even better than those hoofcuffs from before. She felt tears pushing forward as they got closer and closer to the dungeons.

“Wait, please.” The sentence was said in a calm, quiet manner, but her executioners immediately stopped. So did all the chatter, and all eyes turned on the speaker, Ivory Star. “I think that the punishment might be a bit too harsh, because, as many of you have already said, Lyra was nearly a rogue too.”

“What are you suggesting?” Prism’s expression was about as warm as a glacier.

“Let her be bound to me. It’ll be compensation for the servant she killed, and I’m sure I can bring some order and hierarchy into her head – she didn’t seem to detest those as much as most rogues do.”

Broken Prism narrowed his eyes again. “Why are you so interested in her? You looked at her like she was a ghost during the trial, why? Why would a rogue be important to you?”

“No particular reason.” She smiled at him. “I just wanted to show some compassion.”

“What nonse–“

“I approve of that intent,” Stainless Aurora said. “Let her be bound.”

Dusky Pearl nodded. “Indeed. She seemed promising for a rogue; I’m sure she can become a full member after just a bit of education.”

“Like we need another snake here.” Arctic Amber scowled at them all. “Why is it that every time I want to spare a rogue, you’re all against?”

“They usually assault the guards immediately after their chains are removed,” Pearl said.

“They’re just showing some spirit, unlike all those flank-kissers you bring!”

“Flank-kisser or not, we’re wasting our time!” Viridian Summer exclaimed. “Let her be bound if you so wish; I don’t care! Just let me out of this place, I have to get back to my holdings at once!”

Broken Prism bowed his head. “Very well. It seems bound it is. But not to Ivory Star!” His head shot back up and dug deep into Ivory’s eyes. “The amount of her servants we know about is nearing forbidden numbers, and the only reason Lyra lost her life was because she didn’t give her proper guidance. She shouldn’t be rewarded for making mistakes! Or do we want more of those ‘experiments?’ Let her be bound to me.”

Each of them, except Ivory Star, slowly nodded. She looked ready to murder.

“Very well.” Broken Prism smiled. “Bring her to the ritual hall in two hours.”

Chapter 2: The Ritual

Twilight trotted down a muddy forest path, being closely followed by Spike. “We must be near,” she said loudly, smiling. “The magic is getting stronger.”

“Uh, Twilight?” Spike looked at the branches looming over him. “Why would Rarity go this close to the Everfree Forest in the first place?”

Twilight stopped, scratching her chin. “I don’t know, Spike. But this is the only place close to Ponyville with large amounts of residue magic. I mean apart from those we cleared earlier today.”

“B-but still! Rarity would never go even close to this place if she could avoid it – there’s mud everywhere, not to menti the... monsters.”

Twilight had to give him points for that. While she suspected that the monsters were no longer a factor for Rarity, she still deeply despised getting dirty. “Maybe they made her go out here?”

“Look at the path! It’s muddy because of that stream nearby. If she walked here yesterday, we would’ve seen the hoofsteps.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s true... But I still want to see what spell caused all this magic. It’s the only lead we’ve got.”

Spike grumbled a bit, but followed her nevertheless. Soon, they came to a small clearing with an all too familiar sight in its centre.

“Another ritual ground?” Twilight exclaimed. “But how? There aren’t any reports of ponies missing!” She took a few steps closer. “Wait, this one’s different... the runes and everything are green instead of red.”

Spike walked around the evil circle and suddenly froze. “I... I think I know why.” Right in front of him laid a rotten, mutilated corpse of some unfortunate changeling.

While Spike was busy throwing up his breakfast nearby, Twilight started inspecting the cadaver and pulled out a note book. “The organs are all taken out of the body, used for the ritual, and so is the blood. More of it than in the previous ones, in fact. Perhaps a stronger vampony was being bound, or maybe the blood of a changeling isn’t as effective as that of a pony? The changeling itself is smaller than those I remember from Canterlot. Perhaps it’s younger? Or it might be a different breed or caste – assuming changelings have a caste system, of course.”

She quickly wrote it all down and moved to the runes, comparing them with the ones that used to be in Ponyville in her mind. “Circular arrangement, the same unorthodox symbols as before. Upon comparison identical, if my memory serves me – further analysis necessary – except for the afore mentioned blood. I therefore conclude that this was indeed yet another binding ritual.”

Spike finally seemed to get over his little nausea. “And who was bound?”

Twilight smiled. “Isn’t it obvious? The site is clearly at least a week old, probably more. Since Lyra was turned roughly at that time, I’m pretty sure it was her being enslaved. And it also proves my theory about there being another vampony!” Her smile immediately vanished. “It means there’s another vampony running around. And we’re on the edge of the Everfree Forest. At a place nopony ever goes to, with nopony knowing we even went here.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “A perfect ambush site.”

There was a loud rustle from the bushes behind her. Vamponies are faster, stronger, hard to injure, and have strong magic unavailable to a regular unicorn. I might still best them at range, but they are known for attacking physically. “Spike, run!”

He looked at her with tears in his eyes. “I won’t leave you alone here!”

“Just go! I’ll buy you time to get help!”

Spike sobbed. “I’ll be right back. It’ll all be fine!” He quickly turned and ran.

Twilight focused on the rustling bush and flared up her horn. “Come out! Don’t hide!”

Out came a little bunny, who measured her with a dumb, animal stare. I just acted like a complete idiot. She turned around and galloped in the Ponyville’s direction, her cheeks turning crimson. “Spike, wait!”

———

“I’m telling you, Pinkie Pie, something bad is going on!” Twilight said, staring into the pink pony’s smiling eyes.

“Oh Twilight, you’re such a Scared McFussypants. So what if Lyra wasn’t alone? We’ve never even heard about the other vampony before, and there were no more attacks. I say you’re just worrying over nothing.” Pinkie took a large bite from a cupcake and offered Twilight another one.

Twilight took the treat. “Thanks. But what if that vampony decides to turn somepony again? You saw how much damage Lyra caused – she went completely insane from the voice in her head!”

Pinkie frowned. ‘The Voice’ was something that suddenly appeared in every vampony – at least every they met so far – right after he or she were turned. It then proceeded to ‘educate’ them in vampony ways, but at the same time manipulated them into doing terrible things. It was what made Rarity kill Berry Punch, and it had even controlled Pinkie’s body for a time. Fortunately, Twilight knew a spell that destroys it and had cast it on both of them.

“I’m sure you’re still just making a small problem into an enormously super gigantic problem. The vampony probably moved on somewhere else, and the guards there will surely take care of it.”

“Normally, I’d agree with you.” Twilight shook her head. “But Rarity is nowhere to be found! She just vanished after yesterday.”

“She was feeding on you, right? Well, maybe it just filled her with energy, and she decided to take a long stroll. I know I do that sometimes.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “No, that’s unlikely. She wouldn’t leave Sweetie alone for so long.” She took a deep breath. “I think she was kidnapped. We should organise a search party and comb the town and its surroundings for–”

“No!” Pinkie’s expression darkened and formed a scowl, as her hoof banged on the table. “If you tell them there really are vamponies – something they all suspected during those murders anyway – you’ll cause panic! They’ll go house to house, trying to find vamponies and such, and they might discover me! Or when they find Rarity, what do you think will happen? She’ll be suspected immediately!”

Twilight shuffled back on her chair, staring at Pinkie with her eyes wide. “But I thought one can’t really discern a vampony from a regular pony.”

“You can if you know you’re looking for one. Our fangs are retractable, and they’ll slide out if somepony pulls at them. It would only be a matter of time before I’m found! So not a peep, Twilight.”

Twilight slowly nodded, not breaking the eye contact. Pinkie’s change in demeanor was so... sudden. One second she was all fun and games like always, the next... I must learn to be a bit more careful around that topic.

“But we still have to help Rarity, Pinkie! And find whoever kidnapped her, if that’s what had happened.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Pinkie started pushing her towards the door. “But now I have to think. Alone.”

“Sure, what are you planning?”

“I don’t know yet.” Pinkie shot her one last glare. “And remember, Twilight. Not a word to anypony. Anypony!”

The door slammed shut behind her. Well, that was weird. She heard the key turning in the lock. Even weirder. Twilight made a mental note to investigate this sudden mood swing – could it mean Pinkie was traumatised? It wouldn’t be surprising, knowing what she went through. Supressing her nature for so many years only for it to come back and turn her life upside down... She shook her head. Now was the time to worry about Rarity.

She left the Sugarcube Corner and headed towards her library. I have to track her down. But how? There is no trace of any residual magic, and I don’t even have a vague idea where she went! She kicked a nearby rock, sending it flying. Alright, Twilight, calm down and think. Who and why would kidnap her? Probably vamponies for some vampony reasons. Who else would be able to overpower her? Now, I just need to find out where vamponies could be living and–

There was a loud shout for help from the nearby alley. Another attack? She quickly galloped there, turning her head in every direction and preparing various spells in her mind. Whoever shouted wasn’t there anymore; in fact, there was absolutely nothing that would indicate any kind of struggle. “Hello? Is anypony here? I came to help you!”

No response.

Did I just imagine it? She looked around herself, seeing nothing unusual, until her gaze fell on vague hoofprints on the dirt road, which were suddenly joined by another two pairs, and then just ended. It was hard to tell with all the tracks of other ponies around, and to call Twilight a good, or even an average tracker would be an insult to the art, but coupled with that shout, it was enough to affirm Twilight’s initial assumption. The Guard has to know about this! She went into a gallop towards the barracks, but then a recent memory flashed through her head. Not a peep, Twilight!

The gallop turned to trot and the trot turned to walk, until she stopped. On one hoof, that pony’s life could be at stake right now. On the other, informing the Guard could cause exactly what Pinkie had warned her about, and put two more lives in danger in the long run. She bit her lip and looked at the barracks just a short walk away. Risk a pony’s life, or betray friend’s trust? If that pony dies because I didn’t tell anypony, Pinkie will only blame herself for it. Betray friend’s trust it was. Pinkie would surely understand. Twilight, once again, galloped, and prepared her report in her head.

———

“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly does this ‘binding’ mean?” Rarity asked, standing inside a large, green, ornate circle on the ground. “I understand that I’ll have to follow somepony’s orders, just not how exactly it works.”

“That’s simple,” one of the guards, who turned out to be the friendly vampony from earlier, said.“Your life force will be bound to your master’s. If he dies, you’ll die too – it’s a nice motivation to stay loyal. Also, he’ll be able to give you absolute orders – no matter how hard you’ll try, you won’t be able to break them.” He scratched his chin. “Well, unless if he gives you too many. The more of them you get, the easier it is to break them. If you, for example, got thirty, you wouldn’t even notice you broke them. The magic would just be stretched too thin. The usual norm is five absolute orders – three long-lasting, which will cover the general things, and two temporary for various tasks. Even if one of those was to kill your own mother, you would still do it, no matter how much you’d resist. On the other hoof, as long as you don’t break the order, you can do whatever you please.”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “Is there a way to get un-bound?”

“Looking to get out of it already, eh?” The gentlecolt smiled. “The only way to get un-bound is if your master allows it. It’s usually given as a reward for fulfilling a dangerous mission or for long, loyal service.”

“I see.” Rarity nodded. “Is it frequent? To get bound, I mean.”

“Sure. It’s a common thing to trade between us vamponies. Not everypony has the bits to pay if they want something, but they can all offer to be very loyal, reliable servants.”

“One last thing, Darling.” Rarity gave him a smile of her own. “I think Lord Broken Prism said something about ‘forbidden numbers’ at some point. What does that mean?”

“It’s against the law to have too many vamponies bound to you. You see, if one had, let’s say, a hundred of them, his death would cause a disaster. One hundred of us would suddenly drop dead. That’s why nopony is allowed to have more than ten bound servants.”

Rarity frowned. “Thank you.” This sounded both better and worse than what she had expected. She’d still have a great amount of free will, it seemed, which was great. However, her chances at getting un-bound were slim at best, and she could be forced to do some truly terrible things if Broken Prism turned out to be some evil tyrant.

She wasn’t sure what to think of him. He supported her when she spoke about Lyra, but still voted to have her dead. Similar with Ivory Star – she was the one responsible for the massacre in Ponyville, but she also saved her life. Why did she do it? She couldn’t have known her – Rarity was certain she never saw her before. After all, she wouldn’t forget meeting the most significant noble of the western Equestrian provinces. Had the circumstances been any different, she’d be squealing in delight at having all of them focus solely on her!

The thick, wooden doors to the ritual chamber opened, letting in a gray, brown-maned unicorn with gray pupils and a half-filled glass of wine for cutie mark. Her future master.

Odd. He never struck me as a drunk.

“Is everything prepared?” he asked, his voice just as commanding as it was in the courtroom.

“Almost,” the gentlecolt replied. “I just have to fetch the sacrifice.”

Prism nodded and, while the stallion sped out of the room, examined Rarity. “You are from Ponyville, correct?”

“Correct.” She couldn’t help but tremble a bit under his scrutiny.

“Interesting... You might prove useful after all.”

“Is...” Rarity gulped. “Is this about the Elements of Harmony?” Why else would he be interested in Ponyville? There was nothing of importance there apart from those.

“The Elements of Harmony?” His ears perked up. “Do you, perhaps, know who the bearers are?” He looked at her horn in particular. “No. Of course you don’t. There’s no way you would be able to break Celestia’s spell.”

“What spell?” As far as Rarity remembered, Princess Celestia never used any on her.

“It’s a memory spell that forces one to forget who the bearer is. Not forcefully, it just makes it seem extremely unimportant to you, like the information about what you ate two weeks ago. A strong spell caster like me would probably be able to get around it, but he’d first need to find them. And that’s not easy when all your informants suddenly forget who you should look for. Even if they write it down, the ink just disappears!”

Rarity had no idea about this. But it explained why there weren’t any ovations when she and her friends entered a city and why she was virtually a nopony when she visited Canterlot. It made sense, however. The Princess probably didn’t want ponies like these to know about them.

“What will you order me to do once I’m bound?”

Prism smiled. “Enthusiastic to start your fist assignment? I like that. But I’ll only tell you after the ritual. I’m not taking any chances.” He shot a glare at the door the gentlecolt left through.

“W-when will you release me?” Rarity’s stomach clenched. This was really the only answer she was interested in.

He chuckled. “We’ll see. If you turn out to be truly exceptional and do everything I say and more, I might release you after just this one task. If you turn out to be a disappointment, I’ll have you clean out the breeding grounds for the next century or two.”

“ Two centu– Wait, breeding grounds? What are you breeding?”

Her question was answered when the gentlecolt walked back in, holding a small changeling by the throat.

“W-what are you planning to do with that horrible thing?”

“Kill it and use its life to fuel the ritual.” Broken Prism said it like it was the most natural thing.

“Kill it?” Rarity exclaimed. Changelings might have been awfully looking insects with rude behaviour, but they didn’t deserve to be slaughtered! “Can’t you just use regular magic like anypony else?”

“The amount of magic necessary would take a real magic prodigy. We breed these bugs here specifically for this. Well, also for the blood, but it’s of poor taste compared to pony’s.”

A magical prodigy... “Wait, does that mean only unicorns can have bound servants?”

“No. Other races simply have to find some artefact or spell caster that would supply the magic instead of them. It’s not that much of a problem.” He turned towards the gentlecolt and gave him a sharp nod.

Rarity watched with her eyes widened as he snapped the changeling’s neck. Prism’s horn then lit up with dark aura and the circle around Rarity started shining. Black tendrils, not unlike those she had used on Berry Punch, started reaching up to her, and she screamed. Then it all grew black and Rarity drifted into merciful unconsciousness.

———

Rarity opened her eyes and sat up with a start. She was inside a comfortable bed with silken sheets, and her head was positively pounding. She looked around the room she was in and saw walls panelled with luxurious wood, enormous windows with red, velvet curtains and an impressive chandelier. Definitely an improvement from her previous ‘apartment’ in the dungeons.

As if on cue, the door to the room opened and in walked a hunched vampony. “Master Prism desires to see you.”

Rarity nodded. “Thank you...” She made a pause for the name, but the servant remained quiet. “Er... Thank you. Do you have anything that would stop this dreadful pain in my head?”

“The pain should go away in a few hours. Follow me, please.” He turned towards the exit.

Rarity sighed. “Lead on.”

They walked through several long corridors and spiralling staircases, a while up, a while down, sometimes left, sometimes right. Rarity was quite confident that should she get lost, she’d have to jump out of a window to get out of this maze. Finally, they stood in front of a large mahogany door, which was promptly opened by her guide.

“Ah, Rarity, was it? Come in,” Broken Prism said with a smile, motioning towards a chair. The door closed soundlessly behind her, leaving the servant outside.

Rarity sat down and politely refused offered wine. While she was sure it would turn out to be an excellent vintage, she needed a clear head for this. “Who was that?” She pointed at the door.

“That was Bentback. He was bound to our family for about two and a half millennia now.”

“Two and a half millennia?” Had Rarity accepted that wine, she’d be spitting it out.

“Yes. Every time one of my ancestors died, his successor simply bound Bentback again. He’s not the most useful of servants, but certainly the most loyal one. Plus it became sort of a tradition to have him around.”

“I can end up being bound for millennia?”

“Theoretically.” He nodded. “But Bentback is really a special case. Today, one is rarely bound for over a century of three.”

Rarity threw him an ugly look and frowned. “How is that possible? I mean how come Bentback didn’t die together with his previous master?”

Prism gave her a fanged grin. “I like to see that you actually think about facts before mindlessly accepting them. That makes you even more suited for your upcoming task. Bentback remains alive through sheer luck. Whenever my ancestors went to battle, knowing they might not survive, they released him and allowed the successor to bind him. Later, he even became a symbol of sorts. So much that he was actually stolen more than once by an eager heir, who just couldn’t wait for his parent to die. It’s a matter of prestige.”

“Stolen?” She leaned in. Perhaps finally a way out of this mess?

“Yes. You can perform a binding ritual on a pony already bound, but it’ll take twice the magic – the original binding has to be overruled. It’s against the law, however, so these things happen almost exclusively during a society’s civil war.”

Rarity quietly nodded and sank into her seat. She’d just switch masters. And what’s more, she got herself affiliated with a bunch of bloodthirsty, merciless killers who would do anything for a bit of power or prestige! Forcing a pony to serve for millennia because ‘it was tradition?’ Couldn’t wait for his parent to die? And civil war? She only hoped they weren’t all like that. Or were they? Will she turn out this way too?

Damn it, Pinkie Pie! This is all your fault. If you didn’t turn me... Rarity shook her head. She already got past this phase and worked things out. No reason to return to it.

Suddenly, a new question formed in her head, and she looked at him with her eyes narrowed. “Why are you suddenly so cordial with me?”

“Because now I know I can trust you.” He smiled at her. “The three long-lasting orders were already put into your head, so I know you’ll stay loyal.”

“What do those orders say?”

He cleared his throat as he started to recite. “One: You will keep the existence of our society secret and won’t reveal your or our member’s true nature to any non-member. Two: You will never ever conspire against your master or attempt to harm him or his interests otherwise. Three: You will serve your master to the best of your abilities.”

He smiled at her again. “They’re the time-proven standard, unchanged for centuries. Anything more complex or of too large scale, and the magic will be stretched too thin.”

That’s not so bad. Nothing I wouldn’t have expected, at least.

When she remained quiet, he continued, “Now, your temporal orders. Ivory Star and her henchmen have been very busy around Ponyville lately, and I sincerely doubt it was because of Lyra Heartstrings.

“Not too long ago, she suggested moving our meeting place there – according to her, it was perfect due to its close proximity to Canterlot, yet had small population that could easily be submitted. We were... split, and postponed the decision on that. While it makes tactical sense, it also carries a great risk of being discovered. There are other places that could give us nearly as much advantage as Ponyville, yet provide lesser danger, and Ivory Star knows that.

“I want to know why she’s so obsessed with that town. I have a strong suspicion that it’s precisely because of that risk and that she wants to be discovered, thus forcing us all to act. I just need you to prove it.”

He looked her in the eyes, and she could feel the coldness emanating from his gray pupils. “Your orders are to investigate what she’s planning with that town, and to stop her should it be anything illegal or otherwise went against my interests. Should you meet any trouble, don’t hesitate to contact me. But remember that it’s a half-day travel, and that you can’t rely on messengers when Ivory’s servants are running around. Any questions?”

Rarity had quite a few, but not many of them relevant. “Do we know any of her servants?”

“Some. But they never leave her side, and I doubt she’d visit the place personally. Expect her to have more than just ten – she never bothered herself too much with our laws. Unless they served her interests, of course.”

“How do I know what’s illegal and what’s not? I don’t know your laws.”

He pushed a small brochure towards her. “Study it when you have the time. And when it comes to what goes against my interests… Pretty much anything Ivory does is against them.”

Rarity nodded, took it, and turned to leave, but one last thing was still bugging her mind. She just had to ask. “There was this voice inside my head that tried to manipulate me into doing terrible deeds. Do you have it too?”

“Ah, that.” Prism smiled. “It shows one the basics, but following it leads to madness. Every single vampony in our society managed to overcome it or got rid of it otherwise. The rest became rogues.”

So that’s why being a rogue is such an issue.

“I believe that is all you need?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Then go. And don’t trust anypony but me.”

Rarity bowed and left the room.

———

Prism watched her as she walked away and levitated some wine to his lips. One vampony, a weak one for that matter, was a laughable force, and he made no illusions about her fate. There wasn’t much more he could do – all his forces were tied in the grand plan – but should anything happen to her, it could bring the council’s eyes towards Ivory. As powerful as she might be, she still couldn’t get away with murder without at least some level of investigation. An investigation that would, inevitably, reveal her schemes in that area; he would make sure of that.

And if she survived? The chances of that were negligible. Ponyville was, essentially, enemy territory. She had zero training, and, while quite smart, wasn’t perceptive enough to distinguish the threat before it was too late. After all, he did mention ‘tactical sense,’ but she failed to react to it. Perhaps she made some assumptions about the enemy they were preparing to tackle? If so, the assumption was most likely wrong, and she was stupid not to verify it.

Still, should she survive by some miracle anyway, she could have what it takes to at least hinder Ivory’s schemes until the grand plan’s complete. After that, he could send there a whole platoon of servants and various allies, not to mention his private army of regular, but highly trained ponies. Right now, however, he was playing for time, just like everypony else.

Chapter 3: Ponyville

Rarity was walking for four hours minimum by now. Or at least she thought so, judging from the setting sun. If she kept up this pace, she could reach Ponyville just a few hours before dawn and slip under the covers of her bed. Sweetie is probably mad with worry by now... Rarity had only hoped she didn’t do anything dangerous while she was away.

I’ll make it up to her somehow. The girls were probably fine and would settle with some excuse. Twilight and Pinkie could even help her with her investigation. She could certainly use it, since she had absolutely no idea where to start. Should she search among the townsfolk, or should she ask about any strange travellers? Was Ivory operating directly in Ponyville, or somewhere around it? She had nothing!

She sighed and shook her head. Perhaps it was for the best. That way, she could just give up and continue her life like nothing had happened. They couldn’t say she didn’t serve to the best of her abilities when there was literally nothing more she could do! Perhaps she could even convince Pinkie Pie to ‘steal’ her and release her afterwards. But that would probably count as ‘going against master’s interests.’

There was a shout behind her. She spun around, preparing the few combat spells – or rather wanna-be combat, as she wouldn’t dare to try any dangerous dark magic again without her Voice giving her guidance – she had, but relaxed once she saw the gentlecolt from earlier running towards her. “Good afternoon, sir. Is there anything you need from me?”

“Good afternoon, sister Rarity. Or do you prefer ‘Miss?’”

“Definitely ‘Miss.’ ‘Sister’ sounds... weird.”

“Agreed. It’s archaic and makes us sound like we were a bunch of foals playing some game.” He obliterated the little amount of dust and dirt that got on his luxurious clothes with his hooves. They definitely suited him better than that guard outfit he had earlier. “Master Prism sent me to assist you.”

“Wonderful!” A bit of assistance was just what she needed. “But why so long after I left?”

“I had other assignments that needed to be finished first.”

She nodded. “What do you suggest we do?”

“First, we should get to Ponyville. I know a place there that could shed some light on the matter.”

She nodded again and smiled. Finally somepony who had some plan. Also a good companion to chat with during the trip. It was especially nice since he was really the only one in that ‘society’ that she could claim she knew at least a bit. After all, he seemed to be everywhere she was. What were the chances?

Her smile vanished. What were the chances indeed? “What exactly do you do in the Society, Darling?”

“Everything connected with the prisoners. Transporation, binding...” He shuddered. “Body disposal.”

“I see.” It made sense. Of course he was everywhere she turned when she was a prisoner and he a jailor. How thoughtful of Lord Prism to send somepony she already knew.

“How long do you serve Lord Prism?”

“About a century, give or take a few decades.”

“What is he like?”

“Well...” He furrowed his brow. “He’s very strict. Always very formal, very suspicious...”

Rarity frowned. That didn’t quite add up; not as far as her experience went, at least. Sure, he acted like that in public, but he was downright friendly when they met in his chambers. “Really? Have you ever talked with him in private?”

“No. He never gave me any important tasks, so it wasn’t necessary.”

Well, what was this if not an important task? Her eyes dug into his. She remembered that Lord Prism refused to speak with her in the ritual chamber, and the glare he shot at the door the gentlecolt left through. Why would he care if another one of his servants heard his plans? They couldn’t do anything to foil them anyway. Why didn’t he mention this vampony and why wouldn’t he send him with her right when she left? What prison duty could be so important to hold him up? Was that sweat on the gentlecolt’s face?

She started preparing those spells again. “Who really sent you?”

He scowled at her. “Master Prism. I already told you!”

“Liar!” Her horn lit up.

“Very well.” His eyes narrowed. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to drag you the whole way, but it seems like I don’t have a choice.”

He jumped to the side before Rarity had the chance to use any spells and ran towards her from the left with his head lowered like a ram. Rarity, however, expected something like this from him – the fight she had with Pinkie Pie taught her a thing or two, such as never to stand in one place for too long. She jumped up, letting him charge underneath her, and landed safely behind him, throwing a large rock from the ground into his back with her magic. She heard a loud crack and saw him nearly collapse to the ground, trying to reach the injured area with his hoof.

“You little...” He turned around, regaining his footing, and charged at her once again, this time zig-zagging at insane speed. Whatever injury Rarity had caused him was, it couldn’t have been too severe.

“I was unconscious enough times today!” She raised a dark-blue magical shield around herself. It was a brittle, crappy shield that would make Twilight give her a two-hour lecture on the importance of magical self-defence, but, coupled with the raw energy her vampony side supplied and the fact she used every last drop of her magic she could squeeze out, it had enough power to make the assailant smash into it and stop. She then used the opportunity and punched him straight on the top of his head as he lifted himself up, sending him back to the ground. A bit of his blood stained her hoof.

Fortunately for him, he still had enough sense left in his brain to get up and start running away. Rarity lunged at him, but, while his head must have been going through severe concussion, his legs were just fine, and all she managed to grab were those ornate clothes of his. After about two seconds of struggle, he unbuttoned his vest and ran away, leaving Rarity with nothing but a new addition to her wares.

She looked at his figure galloping into the sunset and sat down, sighing. Now, as the effects of adrenaline in her bloodstream slowly subsided, other things became apparent. Such as how taxing this little encounter was. Her horn was filled with a burning sensation, promising extreme pain should she try any more spell casting, and she felt completely exhausted both mentally and physically. With nothing better to do, as any further travel was simply unthinkable for the moment, she lifted the clothes to her eyes. She was a seamstress first and a vampony second, after all, and this was Canterlot-quality fabric!

The cape is a little dirty, nothing a quick washing wouldn’t fix. But I have to take care not to damage the golden lacing. The vest is fine, apart from a few buttons missing; I’ll have it fixed in minutes’ time. The inside is padded for better comfort, and has a few pockets. Full pockets...

She reached into the first one and pulled out a hoofful of bits. That would make up for the loss her boutique made by being closed for the day. In the other pocket she found a sealed letter. She recognised the insignia at the first glance – house Star. Lady Ivory must have really been interested in her. Or perhaps she really didn’t want anypony meddling in her Ponyville affairs.

She cracked the seal and read:

The bearer of this message, Sir Graybond, is a pony whom I fully trust. Obey his commands like they were mine.–Lady Ivory Star

Brief and to the point. Nothing Rarity wouldn’t have expected and nothing too helpful. But now she had a name, at least. She wasn’t sure about just how much that would help her, but it was a start.

She took a few hours to recuperate and then continued her walk.

———

Twilight silently begged the clock to slow down. Once they announced seven, the alarm would go off and wake up those three devils upstairs. How Sweetie managed to talk her into not just letting her stay for the night, but also to make it into ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders Sleepover at Twilight’s’ will forever remain a mystery to her. It would never happen again, however, of that she was certain. The images of books being thrown out of their shelves, pages being turned by greasy hooves, and ancient scrolls being treated without care or even a bit of respect would haunt her in her nightmares for years to come.

The worst part was when they insisted on her teaching Sweetie Belle magic. No matter how many times she said she couldn’t, they begged again! Was it her fault Sweetie’s horn took a bit longer to develop than that of other unicorns? She could only wonder how Rarity dealt with this on a daily basis, and thank Celestia for Spike being much calmer and more mature than them.

Soon, school will start. And then they’ll be somepony else’s problem! I just have to survive the breakfast. She still had five more blissful minutes of peace and quiet.

Suddenly, there was knocking. Loud knocking. With a sense of inevitability, Twilight listened to the first yawns of the three waking fillies and silently cursed. Whoever did this would pay!

She swung the door open. “Who– Rarity?”

“Good morning, Darling.” She looked just fine; no trace of any injury, much less of a lengthy stay in some cave full of kidnappers like Twilight had imagined. Although her coat didn’t shine quite as brightly as usual and her mane could use some combing. “I understand Sweetie Belle is here?”

“Yes, upstairs, but–“

Rarity pushed herself inside and trotted there. “Sweetie~”

Thirty minutes later, the Cutie Mark Crusaders left the library on their quest for good grades together with Spike acting as an escort. The breakfast carried itself in absolute order with not a single scroll serving as a napkin. So different from yesterday’s dinner! During all that time, however, Rarity didn’t provide even a hint about her yesterday’s whereabouts, instead asking about what problems Sweetie got herself into while she was gone. It was quite a list.

“So...” Twilight moved towards Rarity with her eyes narrowed. There was a whole pool of questions in her head that kept yelling for attention, but one of them stood above them all. “How did you do it?”

“How did I do what?”

“How did you handle them so easily? Is it mind control? I promise I won’t judge.”

Rarity blinked at her several times and then went into a giggle. “Nothing of that sort, Darling. They just know better than to bother me when my mane’s ruffled. Which reminds me... mind if I use the bathroom?”

Thirty more minutes later, Twilight thought the anticipation would kill her if she had to wait just one more second.

Another ten minutes later, she found out that while the anticipation wasn’t lethal to her after all, it could be prove to be dangerous to Rarity unless she came out right away! Fortunately for her, she did.

“Where were you yesterday?” Twilight asked before Rarity had the chance to run off somewhere again. “We were looking all over for you!”

“I was...” Rarity made a pause, as if she suddenly forgot what she was about to say. “I was... someplace else.”

“Yes, that’s kind of obvious. Could you be more specific?”

“I was... out of Ponyville. On a... visit to the relatives.” She gave out a small, shaky laugh.

“And you told nopony? Not even Sweetie Belle? In the middle of the night?” Either Rarity was lying, or being a vampony came with some serious brain damage.

“I was... I was...” Every time, she ended up with her mouth gaping.

Why is she lying? And why so obviously? Is she mocking me, or is she really that bad at making something up?

“Twilight, Darling, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you where I was yesterday.” Rarity bowed her head, looking down at her hooves.

“What do you mean you can’t? We’re friends! Don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that, it’s... different.”

Twilight huffed. “Rarity. I gave you some of my blood. My. Blood. And what’s more, I took care of your sister and her friends! I think I deserve an answer.”

The frown Rarity had produced looked miserable enough to make Nightmare Moon take pity. “I would like nothing better than to tell you everything. But I simply can’t! You’ll just have to believe me that I had no say in the matter. And that I need your help.”

“My help?” Twilight’s brow shot up. “What for?”

“If you could find out for me who ‘sir Graybond’ is, it would help me immensely.”

“Who is that?”

“I can’t say.”

“Why do you need to know?”

“I can’t say.”

“Is he a vampony?”

“I can’t say that either.”

Twilight scowled at her. “Seriously? If I didn’t know better, I’d think this is one of Rainbow’s pranks! Is there anything you can say?”

“Only that it’s really important to me.”

There was a pause. “Alright,” Twilight said, and sighed. “I suppose that is really all that’s important, isn’t it? If a little digging through some books and archives is what it takes to make my friend happy, I guess it would be wrong not to do it. I just hate being kept in the dark.”

“Thank you Twilight and I’m sorry.” Rarity hugged her. “I promise I’ll tell you everything right once I can.”

“You bet you will!” Twilight’s face twisted into a grin. “I hate not knowing things.”

“I know, Darling, I know.” Rarity smiled back and released her embrace. “But I’m afraid there’s one more thing I have to ask you for.”

Twilight cocked her brow again. “Another favour?”

“Yes. It would mean a lot to me if you kept this conversation secret from Pinkie Pie.”

“I guess I can do that, but why?”

“I know that Pinkie would want to help me. Even if I told her not to. But it’s... dangerous. They probably won’t notice you if you just gather information, but Pinkie...” She shook her head. “If anypony finds out she’s a vampony, she’ll become a walking target. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

Twilight nodded. “I won’t tell her a word. But who are ‘they?’”

“I–“

“Can’t say; I know, I know. Just... try to avoid danger and don’t hesitate to ask for more help.”

“Thank you.” Rarity smiled at her again, and left the library.

———

As the door closed behind her, Rarity smiled still. Twilight turned out to be much more reasonable than Rarity had expected. She even agreed to keep things secret from Pinkie Pie! And it was fortunate that she did – the image of Pinkie being bound by somepony like Ivory sent shivers down Rarity’s spine.

Then there was the fact, however, that she seemed to be physically unable to say certain things. It was like something clogged her throat, paralysing her vocal chords, and at the same time urged her to say something different. Not painful, but very disturbing. She had never heard about such kind of magic before, but, then again, she wasn’t an expert. Since Twilight didn’t notice that spell, however, maybe even an expert didn’t know much more either.

She walked towards her boutique. I have to tell everypony something. ‘I can’t say’ won’t be a popular answer. Maybe I’ll say I went somewhere? No, it doesn’t make sense; I wouldn’t leave without telling anypony and certainly not in the middle of the night. A drunken streak that somehow got me all the way into Hoofington? No, I won’t have such a stain on my reputation! Maybe–

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a pink pony appeared right in front of her face. “Hi Rarity! Where were you? Sweetie was really worried; not even a cupcake could help her and a cupcake almost always works! But I know she knows that you’re already back because she told me on her way to school so don’t worry. But you already know you don’t have to worry since you must have already seen her otherwise she wouldn’t have known you were already back!”

“Hello, Pinkie Pie.” Rarity sighed. It was nice to see Pinkie in high spirits again, sure, but this babbling was a horrible side-effect!

“I told them that their Rarity-was-kidnapped idea was nonsense, and I was right! You just took a really, really long stroll, right? Right? Right?” She jumped up a bit with every ‘right,’ and winked.

“Yes... a stroll.” It was true that she felt like taking a walk through the town after her visit to Twilight’s, after all. “I walked a bit too far away, completely losing the track of time, and when I found one beautiful meadow in the morning, I thought I’d take a small nap. Well, it wasn’t so small after all, it seems.”

“I knew it!” Pinkie exclaimed, while making a particularly high bounce. “Twilight was just worrying over nothing again. Did you know she told the Guard about an attack, when actually none had happened?”

Rarity raised her brow. “Really?” Twilight wouldn’t alarm the Guard unless she was sure about something, would she?

“Yep. Nopony in town apart from you was missing, and nopony reported being attacked.And you couldn’t be the one who Twilight saw, because you were already gone. Unless she somehow opened a tear into another dimension and...”

Rarity stopped listening after that. Curious. Perhaps it was somepony who didn’t live here? Ivory’s goons could be gathering reinforcements.

“...and then the whole fabric of reality would collapse and–”

Rarity stopped her by raising her hoof. “Now, Darling, I really need to be going – the boutique won’t run itself after all, so...”

“Sure. Catch up with ya later!” She sped off towards a different pony, probably to finish her story.

A very long stroll with a nap... It seems like I have an excuse now. A bad one, but still. She walked up to her house and pulled the door open with her magic, her horn itching in protest.

She nearly fell to her rump when a ball of purple light missed her by a hair’s length.

Slowly, she moved to the door, peeking inside from behind the frame. Positioned right in the entry way was a large, purple gem. Undoubtedly the source of the magic missile. It was dim now, though, so whoever enchanted it probably assumed just one strike would be enough. And that would be correct, had she opened the door with her hoof or if she stood just a centimetre more to the right.

She heard hoofsteps on the roof, which soon grew more and more distant. Probably a henchman that would drag her dead or unconscious body to Graybond. How fiendish of them! To attack me in my very home! Giving up didn’t seem like an option now. If she wouldn’t take care of them, then they would take care of her.

Chapter 4: Traps and Prisons

Rarity huffed. Alright, that should be it. She had spent the last two hours going through her house from attic to basement, searching for any other possible traps. All she found was a box of expired cereal in the back of a cupboard, and while it could have been a particularly devious attempt to poison her, she had doubts that they would try this approach. They probably thought one trap was enough. They won’t make the same mistake twice, I’d wager.

At least she’d figured out how they got inside her house. The fact that it was unlocked didn’t hit her as strange at first, as it had been that way at almost all times, but the boutique had been closed the previous day. Either Sweetie forgot to lock the door, or they knew how to pick it. Regardless, it didn’t really matter that much. Even if she fortified the door and bought the best locking mechanism available, they could still just break a window. And she wasn’t about to ruin her home’s visage by putting bars on them like some kind of prison!

This, however, raised the question of how she was going to survive the following night. The likeliness of them trying to catch her when she was asleep was nearing that of Sweetie messing up tomorrow’s breakfast again, after all. Perhaps if she made some traps of her own? Yes, just something that would wake her up should anypony open the door or a window, then she’ll take care of things herself. Normally, that would be achieved with just a simple spell, but such spells could be disabled by any competent magic user. No, she had to do this differently.

Now, how does one make a trap? She’d never had a reason to learn to make any; why should she, after all? She, however, did read; especially to Sweetie when she put her to bed. And how could The Adventures of Rascal the Trickster be wrong? With a few empty cans and a rope, she could create some primitive alarm system. Or she could attach a little bell to a thread and tie the thread to the door handle. Crude, but quite effective.

Or I could try asking Twilight if I can sleep over at the library. She shook her head. Did she really just consider taking advice from some foal’s book? All that stress must have started taking its toll. Or perhaps it was because she really, really didn’t want to ask Twilight for a favour yet again.

She’s going to press for information, I’m sure, but it’ll be better than spending the whole day tying together garbage. Not to mention they won’t be looking for me there, so I’ll still be safer than here. Twilight was the obvious choice, right? Right. Definitely. Without a doubt. What were the cons anyway? Twilight putting two and two together, realising Rarity’s bound, trying to help her by breaking the ritual’s effects, and being massacred when the spell orders Rarity to prevent her from doing that? Like that was going to happen. The spell couldn’t be that powerful, no?

Graybond’s words from earlier resonated inside her head. Even if one of those was to kill your own mother, you would still do it, no matter how much you’d resist. Twilight mustn’t find out.

On the other hoof, what other choice did she have? Sleeping at Pinkie’s was a no-go, as she’d probably find out even easier being a vampony and all, and Rarity couldn’t drag her other friends into this mess. It was either staying at home or at Twilight’s, hoping she wouldn’t piece things together.

With a sigh, she opened the door and headed towards the library. Risking her life was one thing, but she couldn’t put Sweetie in danger. Or at least not more than was absolutely necessary. Besides, she’d fooled Twilight once, who said she couldn’t do it again?

She was about halfway towards her destination when she saw the purple unicorn trotting side-by-side with Pinkie Pie. “Twilight, I was just looking for you. Would you mind if I–“

“Rarity, I was just looking for you too!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “I have to show something to you two.”

Rarity cocked her brow and looked and Twilight, who shook her head. “I have no idea what’s going on either. All I know is she nearly broke down my door and said that something really important has happened and that I have to come with her.”

Rarity massaged her temples with her hooves. “Pinkie, I really don’t have the time for this right now. I promise I’ll come la–“

“I said it’s important.” Pinkie furrowed her brow, her whole expression darkening. She walked towards Rarity and leaned right in her face. “And when I say something’s important, I mean it.”

Rarity took an involuntary step back. “I... I suppose I can spare a few minutes.”

———

Half an hour earlier.

Pinkie stood in the Sugarcube Corner kitchen, kneading dough for cupcakes. It was a simple job, albeit one a bit boring, that gave her time to think. And Celestia knew she needed a break from the constant partying and chatting sometimes. Usually, her mind was full of recipes or party plans, but not today. Today, she focused her whole attention on two of her friends – Twilight and Rarity.

Twilight seemed rather tense as of late. Investigating everything, running around the town and chasing for rumours – ones she usually invented herself – reporting things...

Pinkie hit the dough with her hoof. I can’t believe she ran to the Guard minutes after I told her not to! She didn’t mention any vamponies, she had to give her that, but it still could have reignited the hysteria of the last few weeks. And with hysteria came rumours, such as the one about Lyra being a vampony. A very popular one that was; enough to make a few ponies come together and start calling themselves ‘vampony hunters.’ Fortunately, that had happened merely a day before Lyra was killed and they didn’t manage to do more than come up with that lame name and get horribly drunk to ‘celebrate the founding.’ The only reason Pinkie even knew about it was because one of them told her on a We’re-happy-it’s-over party as an example of just how paranoid he was at the time.

They wouldn’t have discovered her anyway, of that she was sure. They’d have their heads full of myths and walk around the town with mirrors and such, she bet. But the chance was there, and ponies could start remembering about just who walked into Lyra’s house together with the Guard, and how come they survived when all the guards were massacred. No, that ‘baseless’ rumour had to stay one. She and Twilight might have to have yet another little chat.

Then there was Rarity. Pinkie might have babbled a bit at times and perhaps laughed a bit more than was the norm, but that was only because she chose to – her wide grin could lighten up the mood of anypony seeing her, and that was what she wanted. It was better to laugh with somepony than to laugh alone, after all. Some misunderstood it and thought her stupid or childish, but that often turned out to be yet another advantage – if any vampony hunt really started, she would be the last one they‘d suspect. That even Rarity fell for it, however, was a surprise. One would think that this accidental ‘disguise’ would only work once, but no. Rarity acted like Pinkie was the infantile child that so many saw her as despite all they went through together. Why else would she think she could fool her with such a blatant lie?

The stroll Pinkie would believe. Blood could be very invigorating and the urge to move was often quite overpowering – Pinkie usually just bounced around the whole day instead of walking. But the nap? One wouldn’t get tired so soon after feeding, no matter how sleepy they felt before. And even if she somehow did, a meadow? Rarity not just lying, but voluntarily sleeping on the ground was a thing of fiction.

What are you hiding from me, Rarity? She could spy a bit on her... No, that would be wrong; she’d just be repeating the mistake she made during her birthday. And besides, however annoying Rarity might have been sometimes, she was still her friend. She would tell her once she felt like it. Now, how do I make her feel like telling me? I could try annoying her until she told me, or maybe try to strike a deal – there are some sapphires in the back for Spike’s cupcakes. A bag of them could make her change her mind.

The door bell rang, and Pinkie swung around, wide smile appearing on her face when she spotted a young, brown earth pony. “Hi! I’ve never seen you around here, and I know everypony living in Ponyville. Did you just move in? Are you just passing through?”

The stallion nodded. “Yes, passing through.”

“Are you in a hurry? Because if not, I could throw you a party if you’d like.”

“Oh, I won’t be here long, I’m afraid.”

“Too bad.” Pinkie’s smile died down a little, only to return again after a second. “At least I’ll give you some cupcakes! That’s why you’re here, no? To buy cupcakes.”

“Actually,” – the stallion approached the counter – “that’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh. Some cakes then? They’re yummy, but I don’t see how you plan to fit one into your saddlebags.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m not here for the cakes either. Or any other pastries for that matter.”

Pinkie took a step back, her smile vanishing for good this time. “What do you want here then?”

His smile revealed two long fangs. “You.”

He lunged at her, tackling her to the ground, dug his teeth into her neck, and watched as her body slowly went limp. Or at least that’s what he had probably planned. What really happened was Pinkie jumping over the counter, kicking him into his face, and then slamming his head against the nearby wall repeatedly until she could feel no more resistance coming from him.

No...

She released him from her grasp and looked at the motionless body with her eyes widened. Not again. Not again! She checked the pulse. Fortunately, it was still there. I have to get the girls. She ran to the door, pressed the handle, and stopped. She looked at the bloody mess behind her. Right after I clean this up.

———

“So, what is it you want to show us, Darling?” Rarity asked when they entered the bakery.

Pinkie pointed at a door in the back of the room. “He’s in the basement.”

Rarity exchanged a long look with Twilight. “He?”

“Just take a look for yourself!” Pinkie opened the door and motioned them in.

Despite the various magic-fuelled lanterns on the walls, the inside was dim. It didn’t take a genius to see why – there were piles upon piles of boxes and sacks of all sizes, probably sufficient to keep Sugarcube Corner running for a whole year without restocking. “Why do you have so many supplies here?” Twilight asked. “You can’t possibly use it all up before it spoils!”

“What?” Pinkie frowned. “This won’t last me for more than a month. Do you have any idea how much food ponies eat at just one party?”

If by ‘ponies’ she means herself and by ‘party’ every single day, then sure. Rarity giggled.

“Quiet!” Pinkie said in a hushed voice. “I don’t want the Cakes asking me why were we in their basement.”

“And why are we here again?” Twilight asked. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy trotting through some old basement,” – she looked at Rarity and rolled her eyes– “but I don’t have all day for this.”

“We are here because of him.” Pinkie pointed at a lying, tied up figure hidden behind some large boxes.

Rarity took a few steps forward and saw the red mishmash his muzzle was turned into. “By Celestia... is... is he...?”

“No. Just unconscious.” Pinkie scowled at him. “Shouldn’t have attacked me.”

“You were attacked?” Twilight asked, leaning over him and looking at his wounds.

“Yes. He didn’t expect me to be a vampony too, though.”

At that moment, Twilight jumped back from the body, and Rarity gasped. “He’s a vampony?” they asked in unison.

“Well, duh! If he wasn’t, I’d just give him over to the Guard and be done with it. Why else would I drag you two here?”

“Oh my gosh... I was right!” Twilight’s breathing quickened. “There really are more vamponies trotting around Ponyville. It didn’t end with Lyra! What if–“

Pinkie laid her hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “Shh! Calm down. Or do you want to find out what will happen if the Cakes find a beaten up pony in their basement? Besides, maybe he’s alone. I bet he’s the one who turned Lyra and I just stopped him from doing something like it again.”

“What do you plan to do with him?” Rarity asked, she herself wondering about the same. Could this be the decisive lead?

“I guess we’ll just wait for him to wake up and then ask him some questions.”

Seeing as how he’s almost certainly bound, that conversation probably won’t be much fruitful. “What if he refuses to talk?”

Pinkie smiled. “Then I’ll convince him to start.”

“Pinkie, you don’t mean you’re going to... torture him, do you?” Twilight asked, eyes wide. “I won’t allow you to do that!”

“What? No! I’ll just leave him tied up in here, gag him, and hide him in the corner behind a load of crates. I’m sure he’ll change his mind after a few days of doing absolutely nothing.”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s still torture in a way. Better than most other kinds, but still.”

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Pinkie frowned at her. “I can’t exactly let him go, so unless you have some sort of secret prison hidden at the library, this is the best I can do!”

There was a moment of silence. “I actually do have a better idea,” Twilight said. “If we moved out all my scientific devices out of my basement, we could put him there. I’m the only one who ever goes there – well, apart from Spike, but I’d tell him not to. Plus I’d cast a bubble around this vampony that wouldn’t let him out, and make my door sound-proof, so we wouldn’t have to gag or tie him like he was some kind of animal. It’d be safer and much less cruel.”

Pinkie scratched her chin. “We could wait until it gets dark and then carry him there in some bag. Yes, why not?”

A smile appeared on Twilight’s face. “Great. I’ll just go prepare things then.” She started walking towards the door.

“What if he isn’t alone?” Rarity asked. She had to warn them somehow – if Pinkie was attacked, they probably planned to continue where Lyra had stopped; why else would she be a target? Or maybe they just saw her talking with Rarity, figured they’re friends, and planned to kidnap her. That seemed more likely... But did it also mean everypony she talked with from then on was in danger?

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, turning around. “I know I said something like that at first, but I was panicking. Pinkie’s right – there can’t be any more. If he turned more ponies in town, he would have to bind them, because not all would cooperate. However, there weren’t any ponies missing, so how would he perform the ritual? He’d be missing the sacrifice.”

“He could turn the travellers. You yourself said you saw one get attacked and told the guard!”

“This again?” Pinkie frowned.

“One, I did not see it, but heard it. Two, I scanned for any residual magic afterwards to make sure and picked up nothing – if a ritual really took place, it wasn’t anywhere nearby. If he was so afraid of doing it here because of the Guard, why do it at all? There’s plenty of other, smaller towns that have next to none protection. Three, we are literally just after a murder streak. Ponies are still near-paranoid! Anything even vaguely suspicious would be the center of rumours immediately. Come to think of it,” – she looked at the beaten-up body and shook her head – “he’s quite stupid he even tried something like that here. Even if Pinkie wasn’t a vampony and he succeeded in turning her, do you think nopony would notice she was missing for the rest of the day?”

“But what if he’s part of some bigger party?” Rarity asked, beginning to sweat. “Perhaps they go from town to town, attacking once and leaving before they’re caught.”

Twilight cocked her brow. “A vampony raiding party? Seriously?”

“It’s... possible.”

“I’m pretty sure somepony would’ve noticed that wherever a band of certain shady characters goes, ponies start missing. Especially considering the binding ritual would act like a giant pointer.”

Curse you, Twilight, I’m trying to protect you here! “Perhaps they didn’t use a pony for the sacrifice? A, let’s say, changeling wouldn’t be missed by anypony, and if they cleaned up the magic after themselves...”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, you’re right! The ritual in the forest did use a changeling!”

“Come on,” Pinkie said, “that doesn’t mean there are other vamponies here, no?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, but it means there could be. But still, there weren’t any murders so far. There would be if that was the case, right?”

“Or,” Rarity said, “they’re slowly turning the populace without killing anypony, building a small army.”

“No way! We would have noticed. Right, Twilight?”

“Like we’ve noticed Lyra?” Twilight asked with her head held low.

“I don’t say they are doing that, only that it’s a possibility and we should all take care. Even when around ponies we know.”

Twilight went a bit pale. “It could be anypony.”

“Precisely! That’s why we have to stick together and–” The bell tower rang, announcing quarter to twelve; five minutes before school ended. “I really have to go now. Take care! And trust nopony!” She galloped out of the basement and towards the schoolhouse.

Chapter 5: Interrogation

Chapter 5: The Interrogation

“Thank you again for letting us stay over, Darling,” Rarity said to Twilight for about the fifth time this evening.

“Yeah, yeah, I already told you it was no bother. I just wish I knew why.”

“I’d like to know that too!” Sweetie said, frowning. “Why can’t we be at home?”

“Sweetie, I already told you that it’s for your own good.”

“I wanted to go crusading, but then you came and closed me in here!” Sweetie waved her hoof around the library and grimaced like she was describing the darkest crevices of pony filth. “No offense,” she added, when Twilight threw her an ugly look. “I just want to know why I can’t go outside like any other day!”

Rarity sighed before she kneeled down and took Sweetie’s head in her hooves, staring her right in the eyes. “Listen to me now. This is not something I wanted and if I could, I’d go back home right away. But I can’t and you neither. I wish I could tell you why, I really do, but it’s not possible at the moment. Just please trust me when I tell you it’d be really, really dangerous for us both if certain ponies saw you outside.”

“Is that why we took such a long detour on the way from school?”

“Yes, precisely. I promise it’ll all be over soon and everything will go back to normal again, but for now you have to stay put. Can you do that for me?”

After a short pause, Sweetie nodded. “But just for today, alright? I can’t fall behind on my cutie mark schedule!”

“I suppose that depends on Twilight.” She looked at the mare in question. “How’s it going, Darling?”

Twilight furrowed her brow and looked at the large pile of books on her desk. “Slowly. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a noble when you only know the name, but not the house.”

“A noble?” Sweetie lifted her brow. “Are you looking for a coltfriend again, sis?”

Blood rushed into Rarity’s cheeks. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

“Well, you know, that time you took the big book of Canterlot family trees, looked over the pictures and sa– hmrphmmm!”

“And said ‘I better learn all those names If I want to fit in among the elite,’ precisely!” Rarity gave Twilight a very unconvincing grin while pressing her hoof on Sweetie’s mouth.

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. “Whatever. I have a bed for you two upstairs, but it probably won’t be as comfy as you’re used to. I mean I saw your bed, Rarity. Celestia herself would have problems matching that.”

“Thanks, I suppose?”

“Spike should have the basement spruced up soon now, so you can come look at my... experiments later tonight.” When Sweetie’s face began to lighten up, Twilight quickly added, “Very boring, numerical experiments, I mean! Nothing interesting for a filly like you. It’s full of math, and geometry, and... other boring things.” She winced when the word ‘boring’ left her lips.

“But I like math.”

“Not this kind of math.”

Sweetie frowned. “But why did you even mention it then?”

“Because... maybe Rarity could use it for... sewing?” It looked like Twilight herself had a hard time believing she’d just said that.

Rarity facehoofed. “What she means is that I wanted to make her a dress as a reward for taking care of you yesterday, and that I figured some of the more complex geometrical objects could serve as ornaments, right, Darling?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.”

Sweetie shook her head. “Weird... I guess I’ll go help Spike a bit, seeing as how there’s nothing else to do.”

“Sure.” Twilight smiled. “Or you could try some reading.”

Sweetie didn’t even bother with a reply.

Twilight waited until the basement door shut behind her, and turned to Rarity. “Anyway, as I said, the interrogation will begin at around midnight, right once we carry him here. I bet you don’t want to miss that.”

Rarity nodded. She sure didn’t.

———

The door creaked as Rarity walked in, slamming shut behind her. In the middle of the basement was a large, pink cupola, under which lay the body of the unfortunate vampony. He seemed just as motionless as the last time she saw him.

“Is he alright?” she asked, looking at Twilight and Pinkie, who both stood right beside the blob.

“Yes, it’s just a sleeping spell. I put it on him so that he wouldn’t thrash around while we carried him.”

Rarity cocked her brow. Such a spell was illegal to use on a pony, and Twilight knew that. “Was it really necessary?”

“You probably don’t see it,” – Twilight frowned – “but under my fur, there’s a black eye. So yes. Yes, it was necessary.”

“Enough with the chit-chat!” Pinkie said, staring daggers at the lying figure. “Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.”

Twilight and Rarity both nodded and approached the bubble. Twilight’s horn then momentarily lit up, and the vampony started to shift, blinking.

“Who are you? Who sent you?” Pinkie asked, scowling at him.

“Wha?”

Pinkie’s scowl grew even more scowl-y. “What are you doing here?”

He shook his head and looked around his prison. “Being held captive, it seems.”

“What do you want in Ponyville?” Twilight asked, beginning to circle around the pink wall.

“Right now? To get out.”

“Listen here, Smarty!” Pinkie glared him in the eyes and leaned against the magical barrier. “Stop fooling around and tell us what we want to know, and I promise we won’t hurt you.”

He smirked. “And if I don’t, then what? Will you beat me up again? Don’t forget you’d have to get in here first.”

“We’ll just leave you there to starve.”

He laughed. “Fine by me. My friends will find me long before that happens.” He stared back at her. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“I wonder” – Rarity began circling the prisoner too – “whether you’d be more talkative if we bound you.” She, sadly, couldn’t fulfil that threat. She was quite sure that Lord Prism wouldn’t appreciate her breaking vampony laws by stealing a bound servant – seeing how vampony trials went, he could well end up being bound himself for allowing her to do that – but that didn’t mean she couldn’t bluff.

His smirk vanished. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“You think? Twilight here happens to be an expert when it comes to magic. We could even do without a sacrifice. Why, yes. Yes, it seems like the sensible thing to do. Right, Darling?” She turned to Twilight.

“I guess?”

“Of course,” – she turned back to him – “if you told us what we needed to know, it wouldn’t be necessary.”

“But... but I can’t!” His face was paler than parchment.

“If we bind you, you’ll tell us everything we want, maybe even more. I wonder which one of your orders is stronger – not to say anything, or to keep serving your master?”

She could practically see the magic acting. His hooves started bashing against the pink wall, his eyes darted around the room, and his mouth kept opening and closing, as if it couldn’t decide what to do.

Just a few well placed questions and arguments, and–

“This is so cool,” a voice from behind the stairs said.

Twilight’s head, along with everypony else’s, turned towards the sound. “Who’s there?”

“Oh crud,” the voice said again.

Pinkie and Rarity both slowly approached the source from each side, Rarity’s horn lighting up and removing some crates that blocked her vision. “Sweetie Belle?”

Twilight gasped. “Spike?”

“Scootaloo, Applebloom?” Pinkie stared at each of them. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, Twilight!” Spike dropped to his knees, holding up his arms in a begging fashion. “They blackmailed me into giving them the spare key.”

“Blackmailed you?”

“They said they would tell everypony about how I... like... you know.” His face turned redder than a ripe tomato.

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned to her friends. “What do we do now?”

“Twilight,” Applebloom said, “Why do you have that stranger in your basement?”

“What does ‘binding’ mean?” Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie’s eyes were wide like plates. “Were you going to experiment on him?”

“What? No!”

“Yes!” the trapped stallion called out. “They wanted to dissect me; they’re crazy! Go get some help, girls, quick!”

Applebloom shook her head. “I don’t think Twilight’s wantin’ to dissect you; she just asked you some questions. But why?”

Rarity cleared her throat, putting on a menacing frown. “Sweetie, I am deeply disappointed in you. Twilight was generous enough to let us stay over, and you repay her by skulking around her house like a thief?”

“But–”

“Applebloom, what would your sister think if she saw you like this? Breaking into Twilight’s house without permission and spying on her!”

“But–!”

“And Scootaloo. Do you know what would Rainbow Dash have said if she were here?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, she’d say this is awesome! When a pony crosses you, just put him inside a bubble he can’t get out of until he apologises. What did he do to you?” She pointed at the stallion, who was now busy punching into the pink wall surrounding him. Without batting an eye, Twilight lit up her horn and put him to sleep again.

“He acted like a big meanie-face!” Pinkie huffed. “He tried punching me, and who knows what he had planned next.”

Sweetie leaned her head to the side. “Why?”

“That’s what we were trying to find out.” Rarity smiled. “Why would anypony try to hit Pinkie, of all ponies?”

“So, what y’all are sayin’ is that when somepony tries to hurt us, we should lock him up in our basement?”

“Well...”

“I’ll have to ask Applejack ‘bout that. It doesn’t seem right.”

“No!” the three of them cried in unison.

“You absolutely mustn’t!”

“Why?”

“Because... We’re keeping him here because it’s dangerous to have a maniac like him running on the street, punching ponies. I know Applejack would want to help, but we’ve got it all handled, so it wouldn’t be necessary. Plus... Plus he could memorise her face and try attacking her once he gets out! We can’t have that.”

“Why are you keeping him here in the first place?” Scootaloo asked. “I mean why not hand him over to the Guard?”

Rarity could feel the sweat forming on her forehead. “Because... because... um...”

“Because I thought I could cure him.” Twilight said with a smile. “I thought that maybe if I used the quadratic propulsionate magnetic syntax on his cognitive neural areas, perhaps it could cure his mania. So, in a sense, I was about to experiment on him.”

I’d bet my left hoof on her making up half those words.

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Sweetie asked with her brow raised.

“No. Perfectly safe. No risk whatsoever. I really just needed a test-subject to prove it, and one doesn’t find a willing psychopath often. It’s really completely safe – the worst thing that can happen is that it won’t work and he’ll stay crazy – and will save me a lot of paperwork.”

Spike tapped his chin with his claw. “Why were you interrogating him, if you just wanted to put quadri... quadro... whatever on his something?”

“That was just because I needed his mind to be at its peak. And when are you more conscious of your surroundings than when in danger?”

When no more questions were raised, Rarity stepped forward. “Now that you know what happened, why don’t you go back upstairs? I suppose we can let this spying slip this time, seeing how you were concerned about another pony’s health. Of course, only if you don’t tell anypony; Twilight could get into problems for that. What do you say?”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders plus Spike huddled together and whispered something, until Sweetie came forward. “So... no punishment whatsoever?”

“None.”

“And it’s really not dangerous?”

“It’s really not dangerous.”

Sweetie smiled. “In that case, we accept.” Then, throwing several more glances on the sleeping stallion, they all moved towards the exit.

When the minors were out of the room, Rarity turned to Twilight. “Shall we continue?”

———

“Let’s try this again,” Rarity said, sighing. “Who sent you?”

“Sir Graybond.”

“What was your mission?”

“To attack the pink pony.”

“Why?”

“I can’t say.”

She shook her head. This has been going on for hours. She managed to get some little vague info off him, but nothing she didn’t know already or what was relevant. And neither her promises, nor threats mattered; the magic just stopped him from divulging the significant bits.

“Oh, come on!” Pinkie slumped down from the crate she was sitting on. “This is going nowhere.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yeah, we could bind him like you’ve been threatening for the past four hours over and over again!”

“Come on, Darling,” Rarity whispered, laying her hoof on Pinkie’s side. “You don’t mean that.”

“And why the hay not?” Pinkie shook the hoof down. “You said it yourself that we don’t need to kill anypony, and this guy’s already serving somepony. Why shouldn’t that somepony be you? I’m sure he’ll do less harm working for us than for that ‘Graybond.’”

Rarity cringed. She couldn’t argue with that logic and she knew that, but the magic in her body simply wouldn’t allow her to comply. But perhaps figuring out what’s going on was more important than the law, perhaps this is what Prism would’ve wanted... But she couldn’t be sure. She’d have to go ask him, and that was half a day of travel. She couldn’t leave Sweetie alone for so long! She’d just have to find out what she needed differently. “Pinkie, enslaving ponies is wrong. I refuse to play any part in it.”

“But he already is a slave! And if you bind him, you might be able to release him afterwards somehow.”

Rarity shook her head, looking downwards.

“Fine, if you won’t do it, then I will!” Pinkie scowled and started marching towards Twilight, who was now fast asleep.

“Pinkie, no!”

“Why not?” Pinkie didn’t slow down in the least.

Because if they find out their member was stolen by a rogue, they’ll kill you on spot!

“Because he... he could tell somepony! Lyra said that one could find loopholes in orders!”

“That would mean his death, and he didn’t hit me as suicidal.”

Pinkie approached the sleeping mare and shook with her. “Wake up.”

“Ugh...” Twilight yawned, stretched, and blinked at them. “What, did he speak?”

“No, Darling, he didn’t. Pinkie just needs explaining just why we shouldn’t try to bind him.”

“I was actually wondering about the same,” Twilight said, scratching her head. “I mean it’s a very demanding spell that I wouldn’t want to risk if we could avoid it, but it doesn’t seem like we have any alternatives.”

‘A rogue and the Princess’s lapdog stole our member!’ Rarity could already see the headlines. Well, if vamponies had some kind of newspaper, of course.

“There has to be some other way! We can find out what we need differently.”

Twilight frowned. “By digging through heaps upon heaps of books, hoping against odds to find a relevant information? I’m sorry, Rarity, but I think this is the one instance where books just won’t cut it.”

“But... but... the danger and moral implications...”

“You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to. Pinkie, could you bring me some chalk and the blue potion in the lowest drawer?” She pointed at some sort of alchemical contraption in the corner. “I have to draw the glyphs.”

“But you can’t!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and scowled at her. “Lately, there seems to be quite a number of things you ‘can’t do.’ Well, that doesn’t apply to me. Get yourself together, Rarity.”

Pinkie pulled out a blue bottle and a box of chalks.

No. No, they’ll kill you both! Rarity ran towards her, locking the potion in her gaze. Then, she tugged at it with her magic.

“Hey, what are you doing? Stop it!” Pinkie still held the brew and didn’t seem like she was about to let go.

“I’m doing this for your own good!” With a mighty pull that caused her horn to hurt again, she got the bottle out of Pinkie’s grasp. Unfortunately, the pain ended her grasp as well, and the potion continued in its arc, hitting the pink barrier and breaking.

Twilight watched it all with her pupils dilated. “Rarity... what have you done?”

The wall flickered, and then disappeared. Just like that. The stallion smiled at them, showing his fangs. “See you all later; I’m looking forward to it.” Then he shot towards the door, ramming through them, and ran into the night outside.

With her face contorted and her brows furrowed, Pinkie slowly turned towards the transgressor. “What they hay Rarity? What. The. Hay?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

“Rarity, what were you thinking?” Twilight asked, still staring at the ruined door the earth pony left through. “Why would you do something like that?”

“It wasn’t supposed to–”

Pinkie was fuming. “You let him out. He attacked me, and you just let him go! Why? Why? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted him to escape. Who knows? Perhaps it was you who sent him after me! Is that why you didn’t want me to bind him? So that he couldn’t tell us all that you were the one he served?”

“Now that’s just ridiculous.”

“Oh yeah? Then tell us where you’ve been yesterday! And no stroll nonsense. You should know better than to lie straight into my face!”

“I won’t tell you that; it’s none of your business. But I did not send an assassin after you! It doesn’t even make sense.”

Twilight finally got her eyes off the entrance. “She’s got a point there, Pinkie. Why would she want to harm you?”

“How should I know? But even if she didn’t, that guy will tell everything to his pals. We’re all in danger thanks to her!”

Rarity cringed. “That wasn’t my intention.”

“Oh yeah?” Pinkie approached her and tapped her hoof on her chest, uttering a word full of venom with every nudge. “Then. Why. Did. You. Do. It?”

Rarity remained silent.

“Just... Get out!”

Rarity bowed her head and, slouching, walked out of the basement and into her bed upstairs.

“Sis? Sis, what happened?” Sweetie was staring at her, covering under her blanket, while Spike was already out of his basket and scouting the library. “I heard a loud bang and then something broke down the door. And then I heard you arguing.”

With a sigh, Rarity sat beside her sister, laying her hoof around her neck. “Something bad has happened, Sweetie. The stallion you saw... he ran away.”

“Ran away?” Sweetie gasped. “But you said he’s dangerous!”

“He is. Very. And it’s my fault he got out.”

“Your fault?”

“Yes. I got carried away and did something... rash.”

“We have to tell the Guard! And the town! He could hurt somepony!”

Rarity smiled. She and her parents raised Sweetie good. “Of course we will. The girls will go to the barracks first thing in the morning, of course not mentioning the ‘experiment’ part. It wouldn’t be right if Twilight had to pay for my mistakes.”

“Do you think they’ll catch him?”

Of course they won’t.

Rarity started lifting herself and moving to her own side of the bed. “Of course they will. It’s their job, after all.”

Sweetie nodded. “So everypony’s safe?”

“Yes, Dear. Now, go to sleep.” Rarity used her horn to blow out the candle, hissing when the following pain reminded her of her horn’s current state, and slipped under the covers.

Sweetie, you’ve never been less safe than now.

Chapter 6: Friends

Rainbow Dash took a sip of coffee. “So, I’ve noticed you’ve been tailing me for the last few days.”

“Oh, r-really?” Golden Glory asked. They were both seated at the round, cloud-coloured table in Rainbow’s kitchen, a steaming mug in front of each of them. While Rainbow’s was already half empty, Glory’s was still untouched.

“Checking out my sweet moves, huh?” Rainbow winked at her. “You know, all you had to do was ask. I’d never let down a fan!”

Golden Glory exhaled. “Yes. I was afraid you’d find it strange or even creepy, or that you’d turn me away.”

“There’s nothing creepy about wanting to see Equestria’s best flyer in action. Stalking me kinda was, but, luckily for you, I figured it out.” Rainbow smiled at her, and took another sip. “Aren’t you gonna drink your coffee?”

“Oh yes, the coffee!” She grasped it in her hooves and took a large gulp of the still-steaming liquid, tears springing up into her eyes.

“Feeling nervous? You don’t have to; I don’t bite. In fact,” – Rainbow made a dramatic pause – “I might have an offer for you.”

Glory finally swallowed the coffee in her mouth. “An offer? For me?”

“Yeah, you deaf? First, I need to see you flying though.”

“What?”

“Come on, that’s why I invited you over here. Give me a lap!”

“But I...”

Rainbow grabbed a stopwatch from atop the table. “Once around the house. And try to look cool.”

“But...”

“Starting the time in three... two... one... go!”

“But...!”

Rainbow walked to the door. “The time’s running.”

Glory stood still for about a second longer, before running out of the house and shooting towards the skies. She zig-zagged around the clouds Rainbow had placed there earlier and got through all the loops without even a hint of a problem, making a tailspin.

Wow, she’s good.

She then proceeded to break through a cloud cluster without losing a fraction of her speed and flew down head-first towards Rainbow Dash, pulling up at the last moment and landing gracefully right next to her. “So, how was I?”

“W-wow–” Rainbow shook her head. “I mean... Not bad. But it could be better. You had a nice speed, but it was missing some radicalness. Your time is...” She checked the stopwatch, and her eyes widened. “What is your wing power exactly?”

“It was somewhere around eight the last time I measured it.”

There was no way that was eight wing power. More like thirteen! “Have you been training lately?”

“No.”

Rainbow squinted at her. “I know you want to sound cool, but don’t lie to me. Nopony is this fast without training! Apart from me, of course, but I’m a special case.”

Golden Glory gave out a shaky laugh. “I guess I was training then; you got me.”

“Good.” Rainbow smiled. “See? I can read you like a book. If I read books, of course. Do you read books, Goldy?”

“Yes.”

“Wrong answer! Books are for eggheads; you need to focus on your muscles, not your eyes!”

“But you just said–“

“I said that you’ve got a nice speed, but that doesn’t mean you should get complacent! I won’t let you train with me with that attitude!”

Glory furrowed her brow. “Train with you?”

Rainbow grinned at her. “Cor-rect. I mean if I ever want to become a Captain of the Wonderbolts, I need to be able to train recruits. And you look kinda promising.” Rainbow started circling her, prodding her wings. “Besides, you don’t look like you’d slow me down too much. I’ll train you to the best of your abilities, and when anypony – especially if that anypony is a Wonderbolt – asks you how you got so cool, you’ll tell them it was all thanks to me and my superior training skills. Deal?”

“Err... deal?”

Rainbow Dash nodded like she didn’t expect any different anyway. “Awesome. Now come back in again, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

After twenty minutes of Rainbow talking about her training program and, chiefly, about how great it’ll be once she gets in the Wonderbolts, she felt a pressure in her bladder. “Uh... I might have drunk a bit too much coffee, so...” She pointed at her bathroom and trotted there.

This went better than I expected.

She sat on the bowl, doing her business. Golden Glory was much better than she had expected. How? She looked quite weak, frail even, and Rainbow didn’t remember seeing her in any competitions. I guess there’s just moreto her than she lets on.

There was some ruckus coming from the kitchen. “Goldy?” Rainbow cleaned herself up with a piece of toilet paper and opened the door. “Goldy, what are y–” Rainbow’s mouth went agape.

Golden Glory was wrestling on the floor with some hooded stallion – apparently a burglar. While that was quite surprising in and of itself, it wasn’t what made Rainbow’s jaw hit the floor. It was the fact that Glory was winning.

She was on top of him, diverting his punches away while landing her own. Just... how? The guy was jacked, for Celestia’s sake! Well, at least in comparison.

“Uh... good work, Goldy. Just... uh... hold him down while I go fetch some gu–”

What Rainbow saw next would forever remain burned into her mind. Without a moment of hesitation, she galloped back into the bathroom and locked door behind herself. There, she curled in a corner, staring in front of herself and trembling, while the air carried the agonised screams of the unfortunate criminal.

She... she... she...

Rainbow had never seen anything like it, not even remotely. While she probably could have during the last few weeks, she just stayed together with Fluttershy in and around her cottage. Asking the timid pegasus to stay at home alone in a time like that was, after all, like asking Twilight to add a smiley face at the end of her letters to the Princess. Rainbow was basically stuck there the entire time, bored to tears, and even when they made the rare trip to the town, neither of them had any desire to see their friends’ mutilated remains.

She... she...

Her reaction was quite natural, considering she lived her entire life in a practically violence free environment, where the most blood she ever saw came from a particularly nasty bruise. And now this.

She tore his freaking leg off!

The scene kept replaying itself in her mind over and over – Golden Glory kept beating him, which was fine, but then she grabbed his leg for some reason. Rainbow didn’t understand why until she heard a crack as the joints gave way, and the meat, together with the skin, separated from its owner, sending a bloody splash on a nearby wall.

Was this just a nightmare? It had to be. These things didn’t happen, not to her! And Glory... not just Glory, but nopony should be able to tear a leg off somepony else! Rainbow wasn’t a biologist, but she was pretty sure those things held together quite firmly. Yes, a dream would explain the masterful flying skills too... but not what she just saw. She wouldn’t even be able to imagine such a thing before, let alone dream about it!

The blood-freezing shrieks suddenly stopped.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! She’s after me, no...

Rainbow choked back a sob and stared at the door. The only escape route in the room – no other doors or windows. But there had to be some other way out of there! Rainbow could still outfly her, of that she was sure... she just had to get out.

Think, Rainbow, think!

She heard hoofsteps approaching from the kitchen, each one sending an icy jolt through her spine.

If you don’t have an entrance, you have to make one!

The walls were, just like pretty much everything else in Cloudsdale, made of super-thickened clouds. And she was a pro when it came to breaking clouds to pieces. Rainbow positioned her flank in front of a particularly weak-looking part of the wall and bucked with all the strength she had. And then again. And again. The wall was slowly, but surely giving way.

The door handle rattled. “Open up, Rainbow Dash.”

“Go away! Leave me alone!” Rainbow was still sobbing, in fact even more than before, and her bucking became more fervent. She was getting close, she could feel it!

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. How about you just come out and we’ll discuss what happened over a nice, hot mug of coffee.”

“I’m not an idiot!”

“Fine.” Golden Glory sighed, and the door shook as she attempted to ram it.

Comeoncomeoncomeon!

With one last mighty kick, her legs got through the solidified vapors and met the open air.

Yes! Take that, ‘Goldy’!

The hole was quite small, but looked large enough for Rainbow to squeeze through.

To hay with this!

Or maybe not. Rainbow’s head was already enjoying the sunshine when her wings reached the narrowest part and just wouldn’t pass. Meanwhile, the door hinges screamed in protest as more and more attempts at breaking them came. Rainbow was giving the door about five more seconds.

Come on, Rainbow, what did they teach you in flight training? ‘If you get stuck inside a cloud, just retreat and try again.’

Rainbow crawled back a little and lunged forward, her wings bursting through the little part blocking them. Right after she finally got out and breathed in the air of freedom, however, she heard the bathroom door give way.

Crap!

She had to fly and she had to do it fast. But where? From what she had heard, the Guard wasn’t of much help the last time something like this had happened, and its bulwark was based in Ponyville, not Cloudsdale. Rainbow wasn’t about to risk a trip all the way there with this sicko at her tail; who knows what other surprises that freak had prepared. She had to hide. And what hiding place was better than the one that had already worked once? Rainbow nose-dived towards Fluttershy’s cottage, taking the most cloud-filled route possible.

Almost there...

She risked a glance behind her, and didn’t see Golden Glory anywhere. That meant she either lost her, or... Rainbow gulped. Or she’s hiding among the clouds too.

Glory shouldn’t be able to catch her – Rainbow was the fastest and greatest flyer Equestria had ever seen and she was well aware of the fact – but after what she’d seen earlier, anything seemed possible.

Just the home stretch now!

She was just leaving the cloud field and took another peek behind. Golden Glory was still nowhere to be seen. She must have really lost her then!

With a grunt, she landed at Fluttershy’s doorstep and smiled. No matter what this psychotic hotshot had hidden in her sleeves, she was still the undisputed ruler of the skies. The smile, however, didn’t last long as the gruesome scene pushed its way to the front of her mind again.

Without even bothering to knock, Rainbow quickly opened the door and walked in, leaning against a wall with a sigh. She made it.

“W-who’s there?” a shaky, almost inaudible voice asked.

“Fluttershy? It’s me, Rainbow Dash. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you what just happened! We need to go to the town and... Is there something wrong, Fluttershy?”

Perhaps she did just flee from a murderous maniac and perhaps she was in possible danger even now, but that didn’t mean she was about to turn her back on a friend, especially a friend in this state. Fluttershy was lying in the centre of the main room, huddled together into a little, yellow ball, and quietly sobbed.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow took a step forward. “Fluttershy, what happened?” Fluttershy wasn’t merely curled together like Rainbow had thought, she could see that now. No, she was wrapped around something. Something white. “What do you have there?”

Fluttershy took the thing in her hooves like one would take a precious jewel and, without even turning to face her, she slowly laid it in front of herself. It was that annoying bunny of hers, Angel, his head twisted in an unnatural angle and his snow-white fur stained by shades of red.

Rainbow did a double take and her gaze jumped from one corner of the cottage to another. Chances were the one responsible was still somewhere around. “F–Fluttershy? Who... who did this? Tell me what happened!”

Fluttershy choked back a sob. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I’m so... so sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

Fluttershy turned around, showing a blood-smeared muzzle and mouth with two, long fangs. Without a moment to spare, she lunged at Rainbow and dug her teeth deep into the side of her neck.

Rainbow’s consciousness began rapidly fading away. “Flut– Fluttershy...?”

Why?

———

Rarity woke to the sound of chirping birds and rays of sunlight shining on her bed through the window. She smiled, yawned, and stretched, careful not to disturb the little filly lying next to her.

What a wonderful morning.

Soon, she’ll walk downstairs and make Sweetie and herself a nice cup of hot cocoa like every Saturday, and... Her eyes fell on Twilight, and she suddenly realised it wasn’t her bed she was lying in, and that while the house greeted her with familiarity, it still wasn’t home. The events of yesterday night – or rather of today’s morning – hit her brain with the force of a train, and even the ‘wonderful morning’ suddenly seemed to lose some of its hearty colour.

And I have a feeling there won’t be any cocoa for us either.

What should she do? Rarity pondered the question as she watched Twilight’s sleeping form. Wait for her to wake up and suffer through the unavoidable storm of accusations and demands for an explanation? Or she could just tip-toe outside and avoid it altogether.

She shook her head. That would only delay the inevitable. But to be shouted at yet again, especially in front of Sweetie Belle...

No, Twilight won’t shout. She’ll pry instead, cross-examining every word I say. Hard to decide whether that’s any better.

She sighed. She’d just have to endure it somehow. At least Pinkie Pie wasn’t there – she was livid the last time Rarity saw her. Worse yet, Rarity knew why. It was in part because of her letting that vampony out, of course, but also because she’d lied to her. She promised she wouldn’t lie to her ever again right before they took care of Lyra, yet here she was, making up tales about strolls.

She must think my word isn’t worth a broken bit. And maybe she’s right. It feels like I’ve been saying more lies than truths ever since I was bound.

She couldn’t do otherwise, of course, but Pinkie didn’t know that. Nopony she cared about knew that. Was this how it would all end? Her becoming a chronic liar in everypony’s eyes, losing all her friends in the process? The likeliness of that seemed to increase by the day. After all, she’d have to do it for several centuries unless she figured this whole thing out, and she just let her only solid clue leave through the front door!

With another sigh, she collapsed back onto her pillow. What the hay was she supposed to do now? Wait and pray for Twilight’s research, provided she’d even continue in it, to yield something useful? It was a reasonable course of action, but with those attacks... She had to go out there and do something!

But what?

She could go apologise to Pinkie. But what for? She’d probably be forced to lie to her again at some point, and then things would become even worse.

Rarity frowned. It seemed like having the fall out with Twilight was really her only option at the moment. She silently slipped out of the bed and snuck down the stairs. A breakfast could relieve at least some of the tension.

Half an hour later, the smell of fried asparagus filled the air, and Rarity could hear the first yawns. Sweetie came down first, immediately taking her place at the table and looking at Rarity with a grin. Or rather at the steaming pile of food she was levitating towards her.

Spike came down second, giving her a smile that only grew wider when she pushed a plate of emeralds towards him.

Then Twilight appeared, her eyes squinting as if she had just been confronted with a hard logical puzzle. “I don’t remember having any...” She yawned. “...any asparagus here yesterday.”

Rarity smiled at her. “Good morning to you. I went and bought some. It was the least I could do.”

“Thanks.” Twilight sat down and levitated several stalks to her plate. “I presume this is meant as an apology for yesterday?”

The smile froze on Rarity’s face. “Perhaps?” She would have probably done it anyway, but now it looked like an act of cold pragmatism rather than that of genuine friendship.

Twilight nodded. “Don’t dwell on it. What’s past is past.” She then took a bite. “This is really good!”

“Thank you, Darling, but ‘past is past?’ You mean you forgive me?”

“Yes.”

Rarity’s heart began racing. This was great! Better than her most optimistic of expectations. “So you will continue helping me in that matter I told you about?”

“It’s the first thing on my to-do list,” Twilight replied, taking another chomp.

Unbelievable! Her worries – poof! Gone! The ones concerning Twilight, at least.

“You got off real easy, sis!” Sweetie whispered to her. “You should’ve seen her when she found out we got one of the book covers dirty.”

Rarity’s heart slowed down as her brain began to kick in. Sweetie had a point. It was very unlike Twilight to just accept things as they came. No, she should be making a fuss and trying to figure it all out, to understand why Rarity did what she did. “Are you sure it’s alright, Twilight? Won’t you try asking me about my reasons yesterday?”

“And would you tell me?”

“Well... No.” Rarity bowed her head.

“Then I see no reason to waste my time with it.” Twilight didn’t even lift her head from her plate, saying it all in an absolutely calm, everything’s-fine tone.

“Uh-huh,” Rarity said with a raised eyebrow. “You won’t mind if I go to check up on my boutique, will you?”

When Twilight shook her head, Rarity made her exit.

This was weird. No, worse than weird. It was downright unnatural! Twilight doesn’t act this way. Last time she couldn’t figure things out, she strapped Pinkie to some weird machine! But now she just seems like she... resigned?

Could it be? Could Twilight really just give up? Why would she do that?

She must be thinking about Lyra again, now that it seems like things can repeat themselves.

Of course. Lyra would explain everything. Rarity knew that Twilight never got over that it was she herself who landed the killing blow. But Twilight breaking down, of all ponies? She seemed fine just a day ago! Perhaps it was all this secrecy.

Rarity bit her lip. Secrecy she’d forced her into. Had she just avoided her and Pinkie after coming back, they probably wouldn’t have ever gotten into this situation. Good thing at least her other friends were spared.

Suddenly, she could feel a trickle of cold running through her body, like an icicle hitting her heart. How long was it since she saw her other friends? Two days? Three? She wasn’t sure; it all felt like one large slab of eternity. It wouldn’t feel like so long normally, but with the things as they were... Were they really safe? What if they got to them as well, and she just thought she was protecting them, while she was actually just avoiding them when they needed her the most?

I missed the spa appointment yesterday...

The thought came to her out of nowhere. Spa... it was the last thing on her mind; of course she forgot. But Fluttershy certainly didn’t. She was probably there for hours, waiting for her. Even if she was spared the horrors of vampony assault, how did that make her feel? For her, it was a perfectly ordinary afternoon which she was supposed to spend with her friend, who she knew wasn’t busy, as the boutique was closed on weekends. And if she heard Rarity was at Twilight’s at the time...

It must have seemed like I simply preferred Twilight over her, without even bothering to apologise.

She shook her head. Nonsense! Fluttershy wouldn’t make such a wild assumption!

...would she?

Things certainly could be interpreted that way. And Applejack... Rarity’s been avoiding her stand every time she passed the town square. What if she noticed? As for Rainbow Dash, Rarity couldn’t remember when the last time she saw her clearing up the clouds was. Was she off-duty, or did something else happen to her?

Rarity shook her head once again. She was just being paranoid and didn’t look at the sky often enough. But paranoia could be correct at times, couldn’t it?

I need to see them. But I can’t!

If she went there now, then all her secrecy was for naught. On the other hoof, what if they didn’t follow her after all? They could have just asked somepony about her friends, and that somepony would tell them.

But if they had my friends, why not take advantage of it? They could extort me into... into what?

The ritual. Even if they managed to capture all her friends, they would still offer them no advantage as she just physically couldn’t agree to their demands. Rarity could now see the geniality of the whole thing – the servant really wasn’t a danger for her master, unless she was stolen. And with this kind of theft being punished by immediate execution, as she’d found out in the vampony law brochure, it was no wonder vamponies relied on it so much.

But then why attack Pinkie?

It made no sense. The attacker clearly had no idea Pinkie was a vampony, and why wouldn’t they tell him?

Or did they?

It ended up nicely for them, after all. He got out and now they all knew where she was hiding.

But that would mean they predicted the whole thing!

How could they? Rarity herself didn’t know she was about to do something so foolish until the very last second. Was she really this predictable, or did they somehow influence her mind? She groaned. Once again, she was left with absolutely nothing and only had a vast amount of speculations.

I should still check up on my friends, at least.

After she riled herself up about them like this, there really was no other option. Still, the possibility that they did follow her was there, and they could have some strange plan to use her friends against her.

There’s a neat spot near Applejack’s where I can hide for a while.

It was settled. She smiled and began trotting towards the Sweet Apple Acres.

———

So I was being followed after all!

Rarity stared from behind a fallen tree as a hooded figure passed on the road, turning his head in every direction.

Lost me, didn’t you? I knew this was a great spot to hide.

He loitered there for a few minutes, scratched his head, and turned back to wherever he came from. After five more minutes or so, after he vanished from view, Rarity stepped out from behind the log and started sneaking towards the orchard. Just because she lost her pursuer didn’t mean she’d throw all caution out of the window – she was there to check up on Applejack and nothing more.

Soon, the orange mare came into view, bucking apple trees as usual. Applebloom was helping her, putting stray apples into a bucket.

How does she keep up with this boring routine every single day without going insane? Kick, pick up apples, kick, pick up apples... I wouldn’t last a week.

“But sis!” Applebloom called out, and Rarity drew closer, hiding behind the tree trunks.

“I’m done hearin’ ‘bout this, Applebloom! Twilight doesn’t have a pony captured in her basement!”

“But we saw him!”

“I said enough!” Applejack delivered a particularly strong buck to the tree behind her. “ I’ve spent the last hour tryin’ to bring you back to your senses. You three just have too much of an imagination; Celestia knows what you’ve seen.”

“But–”

“Applebloom, one more word and you’ll be without dinner! I won’t hear this kind of talk ‘bout my friends.”

“Fine!” Applebloom harrumphed and continued her chores with a scowl.

Rarity smiled. Apart from Applebloom being too much of a chatterbox, everything seems fine over here.

Even if Applejack came to take a look a Twilight’s basement, everything’s been cleaned and repaired already. Rarity slowly retreated out of the orchard and set her course towards Fluttershy’s, while keeping her eyes on the sky. Rainbow Dash lived in Cloudsdale’s outskirts, so Rarity couldn’t visit her without asking Twilight for a special enchantment and buying a balloon ride.

Not the best way to stay unnoticed. I’m sure she’s napping on some cloud anyway.

Not today, it seemed, as Fluttershy’s cottage came into view without any sign of the cyan pegasus. Rarity peeked in through the window, crouching behind the flower pots outside. Nothing. The house was awfully quiet, even the animals being silent and their bowls empty.

Fluttershy wouldn’t leave the house without feeding them first. Perhaps she just took a toilet break?

After fifteen minutes, it became apparent that either Fluttershy suffered from a very severe case of bowel difficulties, or she wasn’t using the little fillies’ room. Rarity moved forward, first peeking in from below the window sill, and then pressing her face to the glass. Still nothing, still so quiet.

She tip-toed towards the door and slowly pressed the handle. It was unlocked. The door led straight into the main room, which was littered with pillows, perches, pigeon holes, and other places for the animals to rest. The inhabitants stared at her with their big, bulged out eyes, their pupils copying her every move without a blink. Still not a peep.

Rarity proceeded towards the staircase, droplets of cold sweat forming on her back. When she ascended the final step, her ears picked up something. It was quiet, almost inaudible, but it was there. Sobbing. Rarity slowly walked towards the bathroom, from which the sound carried, until she stopped at the door. It was definitely Fluttershy crying.

To hay with caution!

She knocked. “Fluttershy?”

“R–Rarity?” The sobbing stopped. “What are you doing here?”

“I was around and, well... thought I might drop by.”

“You weren’t at the spa yesterday.” It didn’t sound sad or hurt. Rather like a plain fact.

“I know and I’m terribly–”

The sobbing started anew, this time with much more vigour.

“Fluttershy, Darling, what has happened?”

No answer, just more crying. Rarity slowly opened the door, peeking in. Fluttershy was sitting there on the ground, holding a motionless white bunny in her hooves.

Oh no...

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry. What happened?” Rarity moved in for a hug, but Fluttershy leaned away.

“Go... go away, please. I–if you don’t mind. I’d... I’d like to be alone.”

“Are you sure?” Rarity cocked her brow. “I could stay and help...”

Fluttershy shook her head, more and more tears running down her coat.

Rarity bit her lip. Leaving Fluttershy like this sent a wave of cold pain throughout her body. But what could she do? Just force her way in, wrestling the poor pegasus down and hugging her? Like that would help. “As you wish. If you need anything...” Fluttershy nodded and closed the door.

Oh dear...

Fluttershy must have been devastated; much more than she let on the outside. That spoiled brat of a bunny meant the world to her.

Of all the animals she could lose, it had to be him.

Despite it all, it was a good thing she came here. Even if Fluttershy sent her away, she must have felt better now, knowing her friends cared.

The animals still observed her in complete silence, some of them looking on their empty bowls and then back at her.

Oh well, it’s the least I can do, I suppose.

She shrugged and poured the contents of the nearby bags to their appropriate places. Then she left the cottage, this time without a hint of secrecy, and casually walked back to town.

———

“Rarityohmygoshwherewereyou? Iwaslookingalloverforyousomethingterriblehashappened!” Words flew out of Twilight’s mouth like a swarm of parasprites. She nearly knocked Rarity down as she literally ran into her, eyes wide and panting.

Rarity pushed her aside a bit and swept off the sweat Twilight managed to get on her coat. “Calm down, Twilight, and tell me what happened.”

Sweetie probably messed up her books again. Oh well...

“Rarity, I... I...” Twilight seemed to be in the middle of a desperate battle with the desire to speak on one side and the desire to breathe on the other.

“Take your time, there’s no rush.”

“Sweetie is gone!”

“What?” Rarity leaned in, laying her hooves on the side of Twilight’s head. “What’s with Sweetie?” She started shaking with Twilight when she stayed silent. “Tell me!”

“I... I went grocery shopping and when I came back...”

“Yes?” Rarity leaned even closer, practically pressing her face against Twilight’s.

“I... I found Spike unconscious and Sweetie nowhere to be found.”

“Oh no.” The ball forming in her throat prevented her from saying any more. She should’ve been there, together with Sweetie! Why in the world did she go around stalking her friends, when her own family was in danger?

“That’s not all...” Twilight took a step back, as if afraid of Rarity.

“What?” What more could possibly happen? Were her parents missing too?

“The... the floor...” Tears appeared in Twilight’s eyes.

“What? What about the floor?”

“It... it was covered in blood.”

———

Broken Prism sat in his luxurious chair at his mahogany table, reading through the monthly financial reports.

Three hundred and fifty three bits for maintenance of the mountain lodge – Thirty for firewood, twelve for a new window...

It was not that he didn’t trust his accountants, secretaries, and groundskeepers; he just found it relaxing. Plus every time his gaze dropped to the earnings report, he felt a pleasing sting of pride that cast a small smile on his face. Those lands had been practically an untamed wilderness when he’d inherited them those centuries ago, and look at them now – some of the richest parts of the empire, revered for their beauty and opulence.

Of course, the regular ponies didn’t know that. He had to fake his death every sixty years or so, changing his looks a little and claiming to be his own son. When anypony asked how come he was so similar to his father, he claimed that the looks – along with the cutie mark – ran strong in the family. While complete nonsense, it was hard to dispute, considering the last dozen of his ‘ancestors’ looked almost exactly the same, cutie marks included. The largest bother was to remember to dye his mane white and cast an illusion spell or two on his face when he was ‘old,’ and to keep coming up with ideas for names.

And when somepony started having doubts? He’d just pull up that book those researchers – afterwards very rich researchers – produced about the so called ‘Prism anomaly’ that was supposed to be caused by some strange magic that allegedly affected one of his ancestors. The only ‘strange magic’ that had affected his father – the supposed original ancestor – was a fireball followed by a machete to the neck from a rather foolish minor noble. The rebellious idiot then received a long, first-hoof demonstration of the torturer’s craft; Prism made sure of that.

Not one pony found out about the whole thing so far, that’s how gullible they were if one used the words ‘magical anomaly’ and ‘researchers’ together. Perhaps Celestia could figure it out, if she actually cared about him. It was ‘I miss Luna’ one century, ‘The western steppes should be colonised’ the next... as long as his provinces profited, she seemed to ignore them along with him, and focused on something else. Just as he liked it.

...sixty bits to the groundskee–

“Milord?” Bentback asked, appearing as if out of nowhere.

“Bentback.” Some day, he’d find out how he did that. “Is there anything you wanted?”

“Yes, milord. I am to tell you that the preparations are complete.”

“Already?” Prism raised his brow.

“Yes, milord. The captain of the personal guard died prematurely, opening up a position for one of ours.”

Prism frowned. “Prematurely? An assassination will bring too much attention. I thought we agreed on simply discrediting him, making him lose his job.”

“Milord, you misunderstand.” Bentback bowed his head. “He died of pneumonia, we played no role in that.”

“Oh.” Prism’s frown vanished. “Wonderful, in that case. I suppose that with the preparations done, it’s time to move to the execution phase.”

“As you wish, milord.” Bentback bowed. “Others will attend in person. Do you wish to do so as well?”

Prism nodded. “Have the carriage prepared for tomorrow morning, we’ll leave at dawn.”

Bentback bowed again and left the room.

Well, well, well. It seems like someone’s in for a surprise.

Chapter 7: Magic

The door flew open as Rarity barged into the library, briskly swiveling her head left and right. “Where? Where did it happen?”

Twilight stepped inside right behind her and locked the door. “Over there.” She pointed towards the bookshelves.

Rarity trotted forward. “Why would anypo–“

“Now, Pinkie!”

Something heavy landed directly on top of Rarity, knocking the air out of her lungs and pinning her to the ground. “Got her!”

Rarity turned her head towards the voice, but a pair of pink hooves pressed it back to the ground. “What in Celestia’s name are you doing?” she asked, thrashing around.

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Twilight said, “it’ll be over soon.” She then pulled out a piece of chalk and started drawing some symbols on the floor around her.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh no... Pinkie, I demand you let me go this instant!”

“Can’t do, Rarity; it’s for your own good. And sorry for shouting at you earlier – I know it wasn’t your fault now.”

Rarity tried squirming out of Pinkie’s grip again, but to no avail. She could still use her horn, true, but the pressure she put it under lately meant it’d overexert itself after the first larger spell – there was no way she could beat Pinkie and Twilight with just that. With a sigh, she relaxed her muscles. “How long have you known?”

“I’ve had my suspicions since you’ve had that weird speech in Pinkie’s basement – ‘be careful even around ponies we know,’ remember?” Twilight smiled. “I thought it might have been a little call for help you managed to slip under the curse’s control, and I was right!”

No, you were not. You were just overanalysing!

“But if you knew back then already–”

“She didn’t know for sure,” Pinkie said, her voice sweet like marzipan. “But when you let that vampony escape, it all made sense to her. It would have been clear to me too, but I was just so angry...” Pinkie let Rarity’s head free, her ears drooping. “I shouldn’t have been so mean to you; you didn’t deserve that. I’m sorry for not noticing you were acting differently.”

“It’s alright, Darling, really.” At least something works out in my favour for once. “But why not do this there and then, in that case? I was asleep.”

Twilight blushed. “I might have been a little bit afraid to talk to Pinkie when she was in that mood...”

“...so you lured me here now, making me believe Sweetie’s in danger. Where is she, by the way?”

Twilight’s smile, along with the blushing, vanished. “I wasn’t lying about that. We planned to wait for tonight with the ritual, to do it while you’re asleep, but this forced us to act sooner.”

Rarity turned her head right, towards the bookshelves, and saw a small streak of blood on the floor, just like Twilight had said earlier. “You mean Sweetie is gone and possibly injured, and you’re wasting our time with this?”

Twilight shook her head. “For all I know, you might be the one who took her.”

“What?” Rarity scowled at her. “Nonsense!”

Pinkie tightened her grip and pushed Rarity’s head down again. “Lyra said it clearly – it can make you do anything.”

Twilight’s drawing was about half-way complete, and Rarity could already feel the tingling in her body as the bond’s defences began to wake up. I better hurry up.

“The problem is,” Rarity said, “I don’t want you to unbind me.”

Twilight stopped drawing and stared at her for a second, before smiling and getting back to it. “I see the magic had started to act already. Hold her tight, Pinkie!”

“You don’t understand!” Rarity exclaimed. “This is not some lone vampony binding me, this is bigger. Much bigger! If they find out what you did – and they will find out – you’ll be killed!”

“Who’s ‘they?’” Pinkie asked.

“Why are you asking me questions you know I can’t answer? The point is you don’t want to anger them!”

Twilight frowned. “Well, they already attacked Pinkie, so–”

“That wasn’t them! I mean it was in part, but not entirely.” When Twilight cocked her brow, Rarity sighed. “I’m not with the vampony that attacked Pinkie.”

“Oh really now?” Pinkie asked. “Why did you let him go then?”

“For the same reason – I didn’t want you to bind him. I didn’t want to release him either, but... well, you saw it yourselves.”

“How do we know you aren’t lying?” Twilight asked, furrowing her brow. “The curse, or ‘binding,’ as you call it, can make you say anything. Maybe you are under that vampony’s control and there are no ‘they.’”

Rarity bit her lip. She was telling the truth, but how to prove it? Any oaths, pledges, or promises were useless and so was anything she said that she couldn’t support with hard evidence. “I... I have this clothing I tore off Graybond when we fought.”

“And how do we know it’s his? Or, for that matter, that this ‘Graybond’ isn’t just somepony you and your vampony friends made up as a red herring? I read through so many family trees that I could well pass a heraldry exam, but there was no mention of his name anywhere.”

But there’s also the letter from lady Ivory Star mentioning him! She wanted to say that. She wanted to personally show it to them. Yet the already familiar tingling increased in intensity. ‘You will keep the existence of our society secret and won’t reveal your or our member’s true nature to any non-vampony.’ And lady Ivory is still, despite it all, a member, isn’t she? This is ridiculous! But... Pinkie is a vampony, no?

“Twilight, Darling, do you think I could have a few words in private with Pinkie Pie?”

“Absolutely not.” Twilight shook her head along with Pinkie. “You’d just try to overpower her.”

“No, I really just want to speak to her!”

Twilight smiled. “You’ll have plenty of time for that later.” She dropped the chalk and poured a bit of some blue liquid around Rarity. “It’s finished. Get ready Pinkie.”

Rarity’s body started struggling and thrashing on its own, the magic of the binding going into full effect.

Twilight moved closer, lowering her head to Rarity’s. “I’m sorry I have to do this, but I really need you calm. Sweet dreams.” Her horn lit up and the world blurred out into darkness.

———

Rarity’s eyelids slowly parted as their owner came back among the conscious. She was still inside library, at the exact same place as before, the symbols around her glowing with a mild, bluish light. Just a few steps ahead of her sat Twilight, her hooves flipping pages in some old tome and her eyes glued to their contents.

Rarity started slowly getting up, her head feeling like somepony hit it with a large hammer.

“You awake?” Twilight put the book aside and walked over, offering Rarity a hoof.

“Yes, thank you.” Rarity grasped the hoof and pulled herself up, wincing as the headache got worse. “How long was I asleep?”

“Not too long; just a few hours. You missed lunch.”

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t care about lunch. Where’s Sweetie?”

“Oh.” Twilight’s smile turned upside down. “Pinkie went looking for her right once we were done and still hasn’t returned.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Rarity started striding quickly, albeit a bit shakily, towards the door.

“But you can now tell me everything! And you should rest.”

“I won’t rest while my sister is kidnapped! I’ll brief you and Pinkie as we go.”

“Wait.” Twilight grasped Rarity’s hoof. “There’s one more thing.”

“Yes, you put yourselves in danger by releasing me, I know.” She freed her hoof and took another step towards the door. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you the whole time!”

“So you were really telling the truth... But that’s not what I had in mind.” Twilight took a deep breath and looked away from Rarity. “We kind of... sort of knew how to bind you, but... well... not how to free you afterwards, so...”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Twilight, no. No! Don’t you even joke about this!”

Twilight bit her lip. “Come on... It can’t be that bad, no? Pinkie wouldn’t make you do anything you wouldn’t want to. Right?”

Rarity scowled at her. “Unbelievable. Let’s just go track her and my sister down.”

———

The forest path was overgrown with grass and vines, and the dark bushes and trees surrounding it rustled threateningly every time even a small gust of wind blew through them. It was no wonder then that many a traveller described the trip through the Everfree as utterly stressful and seemingly endless. Rarity felt the same way, but for a different reason.

“Rarity, would you please... start hopping instead of walking?” Pinkie snorted and hid her grin behind her hooves.

Rarity threw her a cold, murderous stare and did as she was told.

“Come on, Pinkie,” Twilight said with a small, shaky smile. “You shouldn’t tease her like that.”

“But it’s so funny! I bet she’s having fun too. Come on, Rarity, smile!”

Despite Rarity’s best efforts, an unnatural force curved her lips upwards. “I’m certainly not happy about this!”

Twilight looked at her for a while, at her hopping and forced smile, and turned to Pinkie again. “I admit it is somewhat funny...”

“What?” Rarity asked, grinning.

“...but you still shouldn’t do this to her.”

Pinkie sighed. “Fiiine. You can stop.”

The smile on Rarity’s face was instantly replaced by a scowl and the hopping stopped. “Thank you, Twilight. I’m so much better off than before, being bound to Pinkie and all!”

Twilight stayed silent, directing her gaze to the ground.

They had been stuck in that dreadful part of the Everfree forest for hours now, turning over every pebble in search of any clue whatsoever leading to Sweetie Belle. No luck so far. They knew she had to be somewhere in there, as they found the hoofprints of a filly etched in the mud by the forest’s border – the chances of a different filly stumbling all the way over there were slim at best – but the ground grew dry soon and they’d just been stumbling around aimlessly ever since, until they came upon this path.

At least the forest critters weren’t a problem. In the rare cases something actually tried to attack them, it was dealt with quickly and efficiently. Rarity only welcomed the chance to vent some of her growing frustration, and Pinkie... well, Pinkie enjoyed ‘playing’ with Rarity, ordering her to do various ‘combos’ and such.

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Pinkie said. “We’ll just find Sweetie and your friends from that society of yours, and ask them how to unbind you. I’m sure we’ll find them soon – I mean this road has to lead somewhere.”

It better! One more hour in this accursed forest and I swear I’ll start cutting down the trees just to narrow it down!

“I very much doubt they’ll tell us if we just ask nicely. It’s more likely they’ll just attack us on sight.”

Twilight loudly gulped.

“Don’t be afraid, Darling, I’ll protect you. Assuming somepony won’t order me to do those stupid ‘combos’ again, of course!” She glared at Pinkie.

“Hey, I promised you I wouldn’t right after the fourth one. But you’ve got to admit you looked great while doing them.”

“I nearly broke two of my legs!”

“Not my fault you can’t pull off a kick in mid-air!”

“Listen here, you–“

“Girls!” Twilight exclaimed. “Stop it! I think I see something.”

The road came into a small clearing, one of the few in the forest, in which stood a small building. It was covered in moss and the roof had a fair share of holes, but there was light in the windows.

“Do you think it’s them?” Pinkie asked in a whisper.

“We won’t know until we look,” Rarity replied, moving closer. Just as she was about to enter the clearing, she heard rustling in the tree above her. She looked up. “Sweetie?”

The little filly was cradled among the branches, apparently taking a nap. “Sweetie, come down this instant!” Rarity said in a hushed voice. Sweetie just yawned and slept on.

Typical!

Rarity sighed and levitated her down, nudging her. “Wha... sis?” Sweetie rubbed her eyes and smiled. “Sis! You found me!”

“Yes, I did. Now would you please explain to me how you got there? We thought you were kidnapped and injured!”

Sweetie blinked. “Injured?”

Twilight and Pinkie caught up, staring at her. “There was blood on the floor in the library,” Twilight said, observing her up close. Then she leaned towards Rarity and whispered, “Do you think she’s a...”

“That wasn’t mine.”

“Then whose?” Rarity asked, frowning. “You couldn’t have possibly hurt the kidnapper so much.”

Sweetie giggled. “Of course I didn’t. But that other guy did.”

“What other guy?”

“Well, this mad pony you had locked in your basement got in through the balcony and started looking for something. I don’t know what because he didn’t find it and I hid in the bathroom. Then this pegasus flew in – I think I saw him around the town a few times – and got into a fight with him. They both got beaten up and then the earth pony gave up and ran away through the door, while the pegasus left through the balcony again and went elsewhere. I then followed the crazy pony.”

Rarity scowled at her. “Why in the world would you do that? I told you he’s dangerous!”

“I wanted to find out where he lives so that I could report him.” She bowed her head. “Cutie Mark Crusaders criminal catchers. Hooray...”

“Great.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Should I start looking for Applebloom and Scootaloo too?”

“No, there wasn’t time to get them; I’d lose him.”

“Why were you here for so long?” Twilight asked. “I mean the road is nearly overgrown, but still visible. You’d find your way back to Ponyville.”

“Twilight!” Rarity turned to her. “You’re forgetting all the monsters in this forest. She did good she stayed put!”

“Actually,” Sweetie said, “I stayed here because I was afraid I’d get caught. There were many ponies here, some coming, some leaving, so I just climbed up and... fell asleep, I guess.”

“Sounds like he’s not alone in there then.” Rarity levitated Sweetie back onto the tree. “You stay right here while we go deal with him. And I mean it! If we come back and you’re not on this tree, you’ll be grounded for a month.”

“Are you going to fight?” Sweetie’s eyes started shining like two little stars. “I’d like to see you fight; I could help!”

“No.”

“I could be a distraction, or–”

“No.”

“Plea–“

“No. Just stay on that tree.”

“Fine.” Sweetie slouched onto a branch, staring at the building with a frown on her face.

Rarity huffed and turned to her friends. “Now that we have this resolved, I suggest we continue where we left off.”

Twilight nodded. “I think we should figure out what we’re up against first. Pinkie could sneak towards that window over there and look what’s inside.”

“It’ll be done faster than you can say pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!” Pinkie dropped on the ground and started crawling towards the window, her movements overly dramatic and theatrical.

Rarity blinked. “What are we supposed to say again?”

“Oh, I know!” Sweetie called from above. “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsi–”

“I meant it as a rhetorical question!”

“Actually,” Twilight said, raising her hoof, “this wasn’t really a rhetorical question, since–”

“Cut it out! Both of you!” Rarity pierced each of them with her gaze before turning back towards Pinkie. “Look, she’s signalling us to come closer.”

After a while of considerably less overplayed sneaking, Rarity and Twilight took a peek inside the window themselves. Right in front of them stood a brown earth pony, his back turned towards them, fiddling with something they couldn’t see.

“I see the vampony from earlier, but where’s the rest?” Twilight asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie replied. “It’s just him as far as I can tell. I think he’s packing.”

“He’s still a bit bruised,” Rarity whispered. “Do we jump him?”

Pinkie smiled. “On Three. One... Two...”

“Why don’t you all just come in?” The vampony asked, not even turning around. “The door’s unlocked. Or do you prefer the window?”

The trio exchanged quick glances and slowly climbed in over the window sill, not letting their eyes off the stallion for a second. “What are you doing here?” Rarity asked.

“Me?” He chuckled, his back still turned towards them. “I live here. For now, at least.”

“No, I mean what are you and your friends doing in and around Ponyville? What do you want with this town?”

“Why do you ask me things you know I can’t answer? It’s not even that hard, though. I’m kinda surprised you didn’t put it all together yet.”

Pinkie took a step forward. “Where are your friends?”

“Friends? Bah! A pack of Timberwolves would make better! They have all already left, since they can’t be bothered to wait for me. No matter, I’ll catch up to them soon.”

“Where did they go?”

“I’m not telling you.”

Pinkie groaned and took another step forward, but Twilight quickly pushed her back with her hoof. “How can one cancel a binding?”

“Well, you’d need to get the master to agree with it; that’s pretty much all there is to it.”

Twilight nodded. “Done.”

“Oh?” His back shook as he laughed. “You stole her? Really?”

Twilight frowned. “She didn’t belong to anypony in the first place! She’s a sentient being, not some object one can buy and sell!”

“Our law says we can. Speaking of it, do you know what the punishment is for such a theft?”

“Immediate execution,” Rarity said, her muscles tensioning.

“Exactly. And who am I to defy the law?” He suddenly turned around, throwing a knife at Pinkie and lunging at Twilight.

There was a thud as the knife hit its target in the chest. Pinkie looked down on it and wordlessly stumbled backwards, hitting the nearest wall, and collapsed. Meanwhile, the vampony tackled Twilight to the ground and wrapped his front leg around her neck, getting underneath her. Rarity dashed towards them and pulled at the leg, but the grip was strong and unyielding.

“I... I can’t...” Twilight said, gasping as the vampony’s leg pressed itself onto her flesh. Her horn lit up and tugged at the leg too, but was immediately hit by the stallion’s free hoof, its glow extinguished.

“Help us, Pinkie!” Rarity shouted, as her blows were all deflected by his hoof and Twilight’s face began gaining a bluish hue.

Pinkie pulled out the knife and leaned forward. She appeared as if trying to say something, but all the words were drowned in violent cough that sent droplets of blood onto the floor.

Rarity stood up from Twilight and kicked him as hard as she could, but he blocked her with his hoof again and only flinched a bit, sneering at her. “Pinkie. help me or Twilight’s going to suffocate!”

Pinkie continued coughing, blood coming out of her mouth at an alarming rate, and kicked the knife towards them. “K... Ki... Kill him!”

The sneer on the stallion’s face vanished as Rarity took the knife. He jerked, as if trying to do a barrel roll, but Twilight’s weight prevented any such attempts. “No!”

She stabbed him in the leg that held Twilight by the throat, carving along the muscle until it finally let go. She then pulled the now-coughing Twilight aside and positioned herself above the vampony.

His face paled. “Please, please don’t do it! I give up; I surrender!” Rarity lifted the knife above her head and the stallion began squirming. “No! Remember you can steal me too – I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”

Perhaps Rarity would have listened and lowered her weapon, but she was no longer in charge. The tingling sensation returned, taking command of her limbs, and sent the knife down into his body. And then several more times, until he stopped moving and breathing.

The knife hit the floor with a clang as the magic stopped controlling Rarity’s body. She sprawled on the floor next to the dead pony, taking deep breaths and staring at the ceiling.

After a while, her view was filled by a purple blur. “Rarity? Are you alright?”

Rarity reached to her eyes, rubbing them, and found wetness. “It happened again. I killed a pony.”

“Come on.” Twilight helped her to sit up. “It’s not your fault.”

“I... Yes... Yes. Yes, you’re right!” Rarity narrowed her eyes, and stared at Twilight. “It’s your fault! Your and Pinkie’s! I told you the binding was a bad idea, but you didn’t listen!”

Twilight took a step back. “We couldn’t have known.”

“You didn’t even try to release me!”

“Well it was you who ran off into the forest!” Twilight frowned at her. “If you waited for a little longer, I could have found something in my books. Do you have any idea how complex rituals are? One wrong glyph and you might find yourself teleported to Tartarus! We couldn’t have just tried one!”

“This pony here” – Rarity pointed at the stallion’s remains – “didn’t mention any ritual. He said that an approvement from Pinkie would be enough.” She turned towards Pinkie. “Why don’t we try that now?”

Pinkie was still coughing, although not as fervently as before, and lay on her side. “He got... my lung.”

“And your stupid order got his life!”

“Rarity!” Twilight hissed. “Can’t you see she’s hurt?”

“Yes, but I also saw how quickly she can heal – she’ll be fine by tomorrow. The same can’t be said for him, however.”

“I’m s... sorry, Rar...ity. I wasn’t... wasn’t thinking.”

Rarity loudly sighed, massaging her temples. After about ten seconds, she spoke, “Try doing what he said, Pinkie. Say that I’m released.”

“You are... released. You don’t have to... do what I tell you... anymore.”

They all looked at one another, looking for any signs of something. Nothing.

“Felt anything?” Twilight asked.

“No.”

“See?” A smug grin appeared on her face. “I told you we’ll need a ritual. I’ll go fetch my books, and chalk, and–“

Rarity shook her head. “No, we’ll try if it worked first. Pinkie, tell me to go over there.”

“Go over there.”

Rarity kept sitting and felt no urge to move whatsoever. “Well, this is settled, at least.”

“Wait, this is all it took?” Twilight looked at each of them, eyes wide. “That ritual was one of the most magic-demanding things I’ve ever seen, let alone performed, and you’re telling me it can be cancelled by a few words? No magical discharge? No purple lightning filling the room?”

“Something wrong about that?”

“I... I guess not, it’s just... it’s kind of unusual and... anticlimactic.”

“Anticlimactic?” Rarity cocked her brow. “Well, I suppose I too have expected at least something, but I’m not complaining. It’s not important, after all. What’s important is where he was headed.” She looked at the table the stallion was standing by before, and saw an opened saddlebag. “I suppose that’s where the knife came from.”

She moved towards it and started pulling out the things inside. “A coat, some bits, a vial of...” – she sniffed to the contents – “blood, the latest Daring Do book, and... a train ticket to Canterlot?” She turned towards the girls. “What do they want in Canterlot? The Guard there would make short work of them if they attempted anything. Not to mention the Princesses would be bound to notice.”

Twilight shrugged. “Don’t look at me; I have no idea. Maybe we should tell the Princess?”

Pinkie scowled at her. “This again? How many times...” She probably wanted to say more, but it drowned amidst the coughing.

“I agree with Pinkie,” Rarity said. “It wouldn’t be hard to trace it back to us, and I don’t want to find out what would her Highness’s reaction be to me being a vampony. Nor do you, considering what kind of ritual you performed few hours ago.”

“I’m sure she’d understand.”

Rarity shook her head. “Not after Nightmare Moon. This is very dark magic we’re talking about, and I doubt she’d want to risk something similar happening to you. At best, she’d take you back to Canterlot to have you under better supervision.”

Twilight sighed. “I know; I just... dislike the idea of them hurting more ponies there.”

“That’s why I’m going there too.”

Pinkie and Twilight both turned towards her. “You are?” Pinkie asked.

“You don’t have to,” Twilight said. “You’re no longer bound, you can just stay here with us. You said it yourself – the guards there will probably deal with them.”

“No, Twilight, I must.” Rarity’s ears drooped and a frown appeared on her face. “They must believe I’m still bound, otherwise they’ll come here and punish you. And to convince them of that, I have to continue with my assignment – find out what’s going on.”

Twilight, albeit frowning too, nodded. “Alright, but... be careful. And if anything happens, tell the Princess. I’d rather move back to Canterlot than have you injured, or... or worse.”

“I promise.” Rarity smiled at her and looked at the ticket. “Now, I should really hurry up. It’s a night train, but the trip from here to the station will take a few hours... will you take care of Sweetie for me?”

“Sure!” Twilight said, although her smile was crooked and her voice shaky. “It’s not a problem!”

“Thanks you. And Pinkie, I hope you get well soon.”

Pinkie cracked a smile too. “Good luck.”

Rarity nodded and left the building.

Chapter 8: The Grand Finale

The Princess of the Night slept quietly in her room. It was newly re-furnished, the paint on the walls creating an illusion of the night sky and the furniture still having a bit of that ‘newness smell’ on it. It was an upgrade by a thousand percent compared to the Moon.

She was dreaming about it again; about that cold, bare place of white dust and rocks that she had come to know better than any other. She hated that particular dream so, so much. Every shadow had the shape of a tall mare decked out in dark armour – of Nightmare Moon. Of Luna.

She shed a tear on the dusty ground. Soon, she’ll recover enough to control the dream world again and banish this one into the abyss. Until then, however, she was forced to endure it and relive the memories it brought up.

Some thought that Nightmare Moon was an entity separate from Luna that possessed her somehow. Like a parasite that latches itself onto the host’s body and controls it afterwards. Others claimed that she was the result of dark magic corrupting Luna; that it was some evil wizard who used her emotions as a backdoor into her mind, and thus tried to bring ruin to the realm.

If only.

A third group, one that still resented and feared her, was the only one correct. There was no Nightmare Moon. It was all her and only her, letting dark magic flow through her body willingly and filling her head with thoughts of hatred and pride. While she did get corrupted by that magic – that’s why the Elements could cleanse her, after all – it was she who started using it in the first place. She knew what dark magic could do, and she didn’t care. She was ready to do anything to show the world she wasn’t just Celestia’s weaker sister.

The sad thing was that nothing had really changed from before – ponies still resented her and her night, maybe even more now than before. Celestia was still Princess number one, and to top it off, ponies didn’t even remember any ‘Princess Luna’ even existed before. Even sister’s pupil only knew about the monster she’s become, and not the ruler she used to be.

Today, she knew that hate and revenge weren’t the way to fix that, but it still hurt the same as it did a millennium ago.

She sighed and looked across the vast white plains of her domain. Sooner or later, she’d come across a headpiece of her armour, and then upon a mysterious silver pond that will replay the events of the night she went against her sister. And then she’d get sucked into the next, even worse part of the dream, where she’ll confront all those dark thoughts again... Her dream world powers couldn’t come back soon enough.

Something moved. Luna felt it. She turned around, but the lunar landscape remained just as barren as before. Again – this time she heard it, like the sound of Celestia’s fuzzy slippers stepping onto wooden floor. Luna turned around again, but there was still nothing new. She quickly focused her mind onto the dream’s materia – she hadn’t recovered enough to manipulate it, but she still could at least see it. In front of her eyes appeared a small picture full of symbols – the armour headpiece, the pond, the barren landscape... The movement was there yet again, yet the picture stayed the same – the dream wasn’t the source.

Luna gulped. Somepony was moving around in her room.

———

Broken Prism stood inside the empty throne room along with the other high council members, all gathered in front of the door leading to the new, Lunar wing of the Canterlot palace. “It seems like everything is going according to our plan. Were there any problems with the preparations?”

Viridian Summer shook his head. “No. Princess Celestia is currently on her way to the south, where she’s been called to attend the start a festival of some sort that I conveniently placed on today’s date.” He chuckled. “I was actually surprised at how easy this was to arrange.”

Dusky Pearl smiled. “Yes, our princess has grown rather unwary. I can’t imagine I’d get away with replacing the entire Lunar Guard by our people a few centuries ago. If there was any Lunar Guard at that time, of course.”

“It’s the lack of wars,” Arctic Amber said with a grunt. “All that diplomacy made her soft. And our soldiers along with her. I swear they can’t tell the edge of a sword from the hilt without a written guidebook today!”

Prism nodded. “I’m glad everything went smoothly. With the whole palace empty and all of the Lunar Guard targeting their princess while she’s asleep, I must say it almost sounds like we can’t fail.”

“Now, now.” Ivory Star smiled at him and clicked her tongue. “Do not underestimate the Princess of the Night. Celestia made that mistake once, and it still burns bright in her memory a thousand years after. Of course, you’re too young to have been there that night, but I was. I saw the whole thing from my balcony back then. If anything, we should have prepared more and replaced all of the Royal Guard. I only hope she’s still weakened enough after her stay in the Moon for this plan to work.”

Arctic Amber harrumphed. “I trained those ‘guards’ myself, and a half of them would be enough for one sleeping mare. You’re far too cautious.” When she pierced him with her gaze, he looked away. “But I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

There was the sound of hooves clopping on the stone floor from behind the front door to the hall. Prism furrowed his brow. “Have any of you invited anypony else?”

They all shook their heads. “My servants are all close by, ready to assist us,” Stainless Aurora said. “But they’ve been ordered to stay away from the throne room so that we don’t rouse any unwanted suspicion.”

“All our servants were ordered that,” Ivory replied with a frown. “Perhaps a messenger from Celestia to Luna, or a guard who left his post in the city? Whatever the case, we must not let anypony to the Night Princess’s quarters.”

The door opened and in galloped a white unicorn with curled, purple mane. “You?” She asked, looking at Prism and skidding to a halt.

“You?” Prism replied, his brow shooting upwards. “What are you doing here?” He looked at the others. “I’m sorry, it seems like one of my servants forgot her assignment.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ivory said with another smile. “After all, not all of us are born leaders, capable of handling their underlings. We all understand. If you want to get her off your hooves, however, my offer from back during the trial still stands.”

Prism scowled at her and dragged Rarity behind the door. “What do you think you’re doing here?” he asked in a hushed voice. “I thought I was being clear – investigate Ponyville, not Canterlot!”

“I... I did, and I followed Ivory’s goons here.”

“Really now?” Prism cocked his brow. “And what did you learn? What did they want in Ponyville?”

Rarity bit her lip. “Well, they attacked me on my way there, and then tried to attack my friend. And then... well... then they went here.”

“Did they kill or turn anypony?”

“Not as far as I know.”

Prism sighed. “Wonderful. So you’ve discovered absolutely nothing of substance.”

“I... I don’t understand.” Rarity frowned. “What are you all doing here?”

Prism rolled his eyes. “To think I ordered you to investigate Ivory’s operations... I should just send you back to Ponyville and have you continue surveying the area. There isn’t much for you to do here anyway, we’re just finishing up.”

“I can help.”

Prism smirked. “I doubt your help would be of much value... We are trying to turn Princess Luna.”

Rarity took a step back. “What?”

“Her sister is blinded by her own Sun and doesn’t know the creatures of the Moon. In her efforts to combat the shadows in the corners of the room, she forgot that the darkest one is right under the candle. Luna is different. She’ll find out that we’ve all protected our dreams with spells, and she’ll get suspicious. Not to mention she still has the old times ‘fresh’ in her memory and expects us to have our own intrigues, just like the nobles of her era. With her in play, we’re bound to be discovered sooner or later.”

“But... surely she can’t tell that we’re vamponies from suspicion alone...”

Prism rubbed his eyes, sighing. “There’s a reason why there are only few members over a millennium old, and internal conflicts aren’t the cause. Luna’s been actively crushing our kind as far as our memory goes, and she’s been dangerously efficient at it – she knows all the things to look out for, to check if you aren’t suspiciously long-lived, if your ancestors didn’t look curiously similar for the past several generations, or if there aren’t shady figures moving around the town after dusk – what do you think she’s doing when she’s ‘guarding the night?’ The society itself is mere nine centuries old; before that vamponies were simply too scarce to form one.”

Rarity frowned. “But you still can’t bind her! Who knows if it would even work on somepony as powerful as she is, and even if it did, it’s just... wrong. Princess Celestia has always treated us fair, and I have no reason to think otherwise about Princess Luna, never mind her... excess. The only thing this can bring is chaos and strife!”

“Which is why we won’t bind her.”

She furrowed her brow. “But... in that case...”

“Not only would the ritual be a great risk, but who would she be bound to? That pony would suddenly become one of the most powerful entities in Equestria. Ivory naturally nominated herself as a candidate, but was immediately out-voted by all of us. What if she decided to seize power and become the sole master of all the vamponies? I wouldn’t be surprised. Not to mention the danger should she die – would the immortal alicorn die too? I can’t even begin to imagine the consequences that would have.”

“But won’t she just attack us all once she wakes up after being turned?”

Prism shook his head, his lips bending into a smile. “Everypony still remembers her as a monster bringing the eternal night. If she started attacking the nobility, what would the ponies think? Not to mention she wouldn’t want the information about her new ‘condition’ to spread. For the populace, she’s still Nightmare Moon, and a thing like this would only confirm it to them. Maybe she won’t realise these things right at once, but if we restrain her a bit and carefully explain the situation to her, I believe she’ll calm down. She’ll hate us, there’s no doubt about that, but her reputation won’t allow her to act against us. And as the time goes, maybe she’ll realise we aren’t doing such a bad job, taking care of the land. After all, immortality guarantees stability, as her and her sister both know well.”

“She can tell her. Princess Celestia will surely believe her.”

“Or she won’t and will blast her to the Moon again; nopony knows what her reaction would be. Not even Princess Luna, I’d wager. Nevertheless, should the worst happen, it will still be our word against hers. If we claim that she’s bewitched her sister somehow and is assaulting us to destabilise the realm, a whole lot of ponies will believe it. Maybe even the majority. Ivory would just love that, I bet.”

He couldn’t resist puffing his chest out a bit. Sure, there were many variables and things go wrong on a hundred of occasions, but so far everything had gone well. The hardest part – the turning itself – seemed to be progressing without a hitch, and not much could go wrong after that. Princess Luna wasn’t stupid, after all. That’s what his plan was based on – she’d understand her situation and, given enough time, would come to realise that cooperation will benefit all parties – the Society, Luna, and even Equestria as a whole.

They wouldn’t ask much of her, after all. Just to turn a blind eye to their activities and to step in should anypony get too close to discovering their true nature. In return, the Society would do the same for her. A particularly loud critic, calling for an attack on ‘Nightmare Moon?’ Gone. An arrogant, foolish noble, disputing her authority in favour of Princess Celestia? With the connections the Society had, his name would be dragged through so much dirt he’d be lynched out of the city. They could make the majority of her problems disappear quietly, without anypony asking the wrong kind of questions. Quite a fair deal, in Prism’s opinion.

The best part was, of course, that it was all his idea. It was an enormous drain on his resources and it took months of planning and persuading the others to join him, but it would all pay off severalfold. His position would become unshakeable as he’d always be the one who brought Princess Luna to their side.

Rarity, her brows still furrowed, took a breath and looked at him. “But–“

“Lord Prism!” Ivory called out. “If you’re done boasting about your ‘flawless and genius plan’ to your underling, perhaps you would join us? Your assistance might be necessary!”

Without a word, Prism turned away from Rarity and galloped back to the throne room. There were sounds of shouting, galloping, and, above all, of hard impacts that shook the whole castle from behind the door to Luna’s part of the palace. “What the–“

The door burst open, a pony decked out in the Lunar Guard armour flying out of it with a trail of smoke behind him. His charred remains were soon followed by the Moon Princess herself, her face contorted and eyes bloodshot. Her gaze locked itself onto the six ponies standing in front of her. “Traitors! Monsters! Dost ye think We art powerless? Just punishment ye deserve, and receive one ye shall!”

———

Rarity peeked inside the room through the gap between the door. The fight has been going on for good ten minutes now, with more vamponies filling the room right after Viridian Summer sent out a magical flare out of the window. They jumped Princess Luna from every side, firing one spell after another and landing their punches. The princess, however, proved to be a tough opponent.

She cast a protective barrier around herself, all vamponies’ punches, kicks, and spells bouncing off harmlessly, and shot at them from inside, each successful hit causing either grievous wounds, or killing its target outright.

Further away from the rampaging princess, taking cover behind the massive throne, were the vampony masters themselves. The unicorns were casting spells of such power, that Rarity could feel a small pressure at her horn even this far away. Each time they hit Luna’s barrier, it flickered and she wavered a little. The two pegasi, Arctic Amber and Stainless Aurora, used these moments to try and press their way inside with brute force, always retreating before Luna could target them. Dusky Pearl, the only earth pony in the group, picked up the weapons on the fallen and kept throwing them against the barrier with deadly precision and at tremendous speed. Should the barrier fall, just one hit of such a projectile could cripple Luna long enough for them to swarm her.

Rarity got away from the door and leaned against a nearby wall, slowly sliding to the floor. She considered joining in the fight many times, but in the end had always discarded the thought. She didn’t even know which side she should join! On one hoof, she was a vampony, and should Luna overcome her assailants, it could have dire consequences for both her and Pinkie, as Luna’s retribution was a certainty. Not to mention she still needed to prove her loyalty to Lord Prism, else he could get suspicious.

On the other hoof, however, Princess Luna was an innocent victim of foul intrigues and was only defending herself. Perhaps she indeed was a potential danger, but Rarity experienced first-hoof how being turned can complicate a pony’s life. Especially considering Princess Luna’s thousand year’s banishment. Did she really deserve that? True, Lord Prism said that she was a menace that hunted vamponies with unmatched skills, but wasn’t that, in a way, a part of her ‘job?’ As far as Rarity had seen, vamponies only brought death, suffering, and lies with them. No wonder Princess Luna wanted to protect the realm from such a menace. And now she was to become one of them, right in her own, long-lost home... her rage must have been boundless. And from the more pragmatic point of view, her helping Princess Luna would, in all likeliness, be enough to get a royal pardon. To no longer need to hide.

Rarity sighed. Deep down she knew helping Princess Luna was the right thing to do, but the vamponies there were just too numerous. Without a protective barrier like Luna’s, Rarity wouldn’t last ten seconds against such a horde. Although...

Rarity took another peek. The ground was covered by dead bodies, and the air filled by moaning of the injured, but the battle still raged on. Luna was looking rather tired, her legs trembling and eyes widened, but the vamponies weren’t spared either. There couldn’t have been more than ten still combat-capable servants, and the frequency of assaults from behind the throne lowered considerably.

Perhaps... Perhaps she did have a chance. Helping Princess Luna win this fight would probably solve more or less all of her problems. Ten vamponies were still a formidable force, however, and so were the other six behind the throne. She could even get into the crossfire and be killed by Luna herself. But if she waited for too long, joining at the very end, it could look like she was just trying to save her hide.

Rarity bit her lip. I’ll just wait until there’s a little fewer of them. Just a little... Her legs shook like jelly during an earthquake and her stomach was painfully clenched. She knew she had to get in there, but also that there was a high chance she’d die.

Seven servants remained. She’d step in once there were five.

Six servants... Rarity squeezed her eyes shut. She’d just gallop in there, blast the nearest vampony with all the magic she had, and then just hope she doesn’t get blasted back.

She gulped and stretched her legs, beginning to light up her horn.

“Fools!” Ivory Star exclaimed. “I told you this wasn’t enough! You’re fortunate I have a back-up plan.” A gray flare flew out of a broken window, and soon more vamponies started flooding into the room. There was more of them than at the very beginning, and Luna started cursing.

Rarity used the opportunity and mingled among them, getting closer to the throne.

“...should’ve told us!” Broken Prism said. “Telling the independents about this... It’s like the whole society is here. If just one of them talked, our plan would have failed!”

“Your plan failed anyway! If I didn’t tell them and pay them – from my own coffers no less – we’d have been fried by her magic!”

“I couldn’t have known she’d be this strong...”

“You could, if you had just listened to me for once!”

Prism said nothing after this.

“Let’s go join in the fight,” Ivory said. “Otherwise we’ll earn us the reputation of society’s greatest cowards.”

Rarity retreated from the throne and slowly made her way as far away from the Princess as possible. There really was no way she could help her now. It wasn’t that hard to guess who those ‘independents’ were – other members of the society that didn’t serve any of the high council members. They each dragged their own bound servants with them, so sometimes, when Princess Luna hit the right vampony, several others dropped dead. It didn’t change the situation much, however.

The room was absolutely flooded with them. There must have been dozens, maybe even a hundred of them, inside, yet more were still coming in. Princess Luna’s barrier was already fluctuating, nearly vanishing with every spell that hit it. The princess herself kneeled on the ground, groaning, but still finding enough energy to send out her rays of death somehow. The six vampony masters were closing in.

Luna saw them too and sent one of their spells their way, but they dodged it with ease. “We shall trounce ye no matter what cometh!”

The unicorns each cast their spell, making the barrier barely visible. Then Arctic Amber attacked from above, and was bounced away. Stainless Aurora tried the same tactic, and flew headfirst against the protection spell. Her hoof was just inches away from it, ready to shatter it, but then the barrier suddenly vanished. She started flapping her wings, but her velocity carried her forward, right onto Luna’s horn. Luna smiled and stabbed, using her horn as a pike, and then shot one last bolt of magic into Aurora’s impaled body. Two different vamponies suddenly dropped to the ground.

The rest of the vampony horde, however, wasn’t slowed in the least. They used the chance and practically buried Princess Luna under the mass of their own bodies. Soon, Ivory Star came closer, ordered them to make place, and bit her in the neck to the cheering of the assembled crowd.

Well, there goes my plan. I suppose it’s time to congratulate to my ‘master,’ and to hope he didn’t notice my absence.

She started making her way towards him, but stopped after just a few steps. It seemed like Lady Ivory was about to have a speech.

“Brothers and sisters,” she said, positioning herself in front of the throne. “Today, we celebrate victory. Not only did we just defeat an enemy whose shadow haunted us for millennia, we’ve also became stronger than ever before. Our ranks are rife, our wealth unsurpassed, and now we can even count a mighty alicorn among our members.”

The amassed vamponies mumbled in agreement, and there was even a little applause from some parts. Rarity, however, saw that Lord Prism had a frown etched on his face, and that his eyes kept darting around the room, like he was expecting something to happen.

“It wasn’t free, unfortunately. There have been sacrifices. The constant struggle between us cost us many members in the past, and so did the occasional ‘hunts’ when some of our members carelessly divulged their true nature. Today has been, however, the most costly by far. Never before have we lost more of our members – servants, masters, Lady Aurora herself, but above all, friends. I think nearly all of us lost one here today, when they sacrificed their life for the common good. I propose a minute of silence in their honour.”

Rarity could see how Prism rolled his eyes all the way from where she stood, and started slowly moving towards him again, careful not to step on any hooves of other, now silent, vamponies. Prism himself started walking to some of them, motioning them to follow him to the corner of the room.

Lady Ivory cleared her throat, breaking the silence. “I’m sure they’d all be proud if they knew what their sacrifice had bought us. On the other hoof, we are, in a way, fortunate. It could have been much, much worse. The overconfidence and inexperience of those who were supposed to lead us nearly cost us this victory. Yes, I’m talking about the other members of the high council. I told them numerous times that the replaced guards and their servants won’t be enough, yet I was scoffed at and called overly cautious! Lady Aurora paid the ultimate price for this arrogance.”

Oh no. I can see where this is going!

The mumbling was louder this time, like the buzzing of a bee swarm which’s hive was just kicked into. The vamponies directed the gaze onto the council members. Those all dropped their eyes to the ground, except for Prism, who showed the rest of the room his back and discussed something with his own group. Rarity wasn’t far behind him.

“I don’t blame them, however.” The vamponies quietened again and looked back at her. “It wasn’t their intention to harm us. They simply didn’t know better. After all, to hear about the power of an alicorn and to see it first-hoof are two completely different things. That brings me to another thing.”

Rarity finally got towards Prism, who just finished speaking with one vampony and moved towards another. “Lord Prism! She’s trying to–!”

“I know.” He turned back towards the vampony. “I want you to take your position over there, and–”

Lady Ivory suddenly raised her voice. “It’s time for a change. The council has served us well over the centuries, but over time the old, experienced members were replaced by young fools. Ambitious and resourceful, yes, but unwise, and thus unfit to guide our glorious race. Today was just the final proof. Remember that if I didn’t break the councils orders about secrecy, Princess Luna might well be organising a punitive campaign right now. I say it’s time for a more unified leadership, where wits and knowledge are more important than connections and intrigue. What do you say?”

The hall echoed with a loud cheer.

“What are you going to do to stop this?” Rarity asked Prism, frowning.

Prism sighed. “Nothing.”

“Wha... but–”

“She’s just won the fight of a millennium – she’s their hero. There’s nothing I can do to prevent her from just having a speech, until she actually makes a move for–”

“As the oldest member of our society, with one thousand three hundred and seventy six years of age, I nominate myself for the honour of leading us. I believe I displayed the required abilities today, and that my qualities shall bring us towards better tomorrows. I shall bring unity to us, and use every tool at my disposal” – she looked at Princess Luna – “to make sure we can all stand tall and strong.”

There was a round of applause, although Rarity noticed that not a single of ‘Prism’s’ vamponies joined it. Lord Prism himself came to the base of the stairs leading towards the throne and waited until everything has quietened. “I don’t dispute your victory today. It’s true that without your actions, we’d all be, in all likeliness, doomed. I apologise for my near-sightedness.”

Ivory smiled at him, nodding and motioning him to continue.

“It’s quite clear where the sympathies of our members lie now. You lording over us all... I’d be lying if I said I’m happy about it, but seeing how things have developed,” – he looked over the mass of vamponies behind him – “I’m willing to submit in order to prevent a civil war.”

What?

Lady Ivory was practically beaming at this point, grinning at him like he just brought her a bouquet of flowers and a heart-shaped bonbonniere.

“I have one condition, however.” He took a deep breath. “You can’t bind Princess Luna.”

The smile on Ivory’s face vanished and was instead replaced with a frown. “She’s our greatest asset and also our greatest enemy. I know you believe we can convince her to support us by having her see things from our perspective, but that’s naive talk. Besides, it would be a terrible waste.”

Prism shook his head and turned towards the assembled vamponies. “I think we all know what this is about, only nopony has had the courage to say it yet. What she proposes is that we bind Princess Luna and use her to attack Princess Celestia. Isn’t that so?”

Lady Ivory stayed silent, staring daggers at him.

“I can’t even begin to describe the foolishness of such a move. It would be a battle like no other, our members, you, would die by the dozen, and the enemy by the hundred. And what for? I ask you who but she has anything to gain out of this? We have wealth, we have titles, we have land. How could the whole ordeal possibly improve our situation even more?”

One of the vamponies stepped forward. “We wouldn’t have to hide anymore! We could walk proud and feed whenever we wanted, without having to do it in secrecy.”

“You’d be vassal under a power-hungry demagogue with limitless power! She’d bind Celestia too, and then what? Does she strike you as a ruler for peace time? The bodies of our fallen wouldn’t even get cold, and we’d already be fighting another war!” He smiled. “That is... if she could actually carry out the coup. Princess Celestia has already defeated Princess Luna once. What makes you think she can’t do it again? Support Lady Ivory to be the leader, yes – she deserves it. But don’t let her drag us down into a conflict we can’t win.”

Before the crowd could react, Lady Ivory smiled and started slowly clapping, walking down towards Prism. “Well said. Yes, I do plan to overthrow Celestia. Yes, it is likely that won’t be the last war we fight, and yes, I’m the one who’d get the most out of it. You are, however, mistaken in a few little details. It’s not true our members have nothing to gain. While you, as a high noble, might find the secrecy easy to maintain – all your guards are fanatically loyal, I’d wager, and you only interact with other vamponies anyway – others of our flock are not so fortunate. After all, there is only a limited amount of land to divide, and there’s just not enough for everypony. Some of our less wealthy members have to interact with regular ponies daily and to keep up their mask at all times. For those, I imagine the opportunity to end that is more valuable than all the titles in the world.”

Rarity, although with a lot of denial, had to give her this point. The secrets she had to hide were eating her from inside, and she was only a vampony for about a month! Having Pinkie and Twilight to talk to helped a lot, but now her other friends felt rather... detached. Like they lived in a different world than her, one much sunnier and happier, and, above all, simpler. She envied them. And the divide between them only grew, day by day, secret by secret.

Prism frowned and looked upon the sea of nodding faces. “Well, if you all want to walk ‘proudly’ through the streets, letting ponies know who and what you are without them pulling our torches and pitchforks, then perhaps you shouldn’t go and bind their beloved rulers! Lady Ivory might make any assaults on us against the law, but that won’t stop ponies from forming a mob and gutting you out, legal or not. We’ll be the ones who brought war to their doorstep, and the ones who humiliated their goddess. They’ll hate us more than anything else!”

“A second mistake.” Ivory’s smile stretched wider. “I don’t need to be in the spotlight. There’s no reason for anypony to know I’m behind the scenes. Princess Celestia will be handled in the same manner as Princess Luna – in secrecy.”

Prism snorted. “Princess Luna was weakened, and we had all her bodyguards under control. Princess Celestia is at her full power, and her guardians are the best fighters in the land who’d never betray her. How do you propose we defeat her, in secret to boot?”

“You’re wrong for the third time, Lord Prism. Princess Celestia isn’t at her full power, as she’s lost her greatest weapon – the Elements of Harmony!” She clapped her hooves, and the main door opened. Inside walked two pegasi, their heads held low.

Rarity gasped. Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy? What...? She scowled at the self-proclaimed leader of vamponies and started making her way towards her. Oh that’s what you were doing in Ponyville! I was never the target, or at least not the only one, was I? You’re going to get it now, lady or not!

The crowd shook with murmurs as it split, making a corridor for the two bearers. Ivory’s eyes were glued to them, and, with a large grin, she motioned them both to come closer.

“I present to you the Elements of Loyalty and Kindness! I haven’t been able to gather all of them, but even two are enough to stop the rest should they target us. We’ll have Princess Luna recuperate and regain her strength, and then we’ll attack. Without the Elements, Celestia won’t stand a chance – remember they were the only reason she’s bested her sister the last time.”

“I... well...” Prism shook his head, his brows furrowed. “How? How would you find them? Princess Celestia protected their identities from being discovered, and she’d notice if you tried to break the spell. It’s more likely you just turned two pegasi at random and are now trying to fool us!”

“You really don’t know?” When Prism stayed silent, Lady Ivory giggled. “My, my, I thought better of you. Your lapdogs disturbed this plan of mine all the time, or was it not you who sent your servants to Ponyville?”

Rarity was already nearing them both, gritting her teeth. First she turns and binds her friends, and now she calls her a lapdog? How dared she? Rarity wasn’t entirely sure about what she was going to do, but whatever it was, it would certainly be very unpleasant for Lady Ivory; she’d make sure of that!

“What does Ponyville have to do with this?” Lord Prism asked, eyeing Rainbow and Fluttershy.

“Everything!” She threw her hooves up. “Figuring out that the bearers were there wasn’t hard – what other town was close enough to the Everfree to allow them to defeat Nightmare Moon in such a short time? Then I just had to create enough interference. Lyra did that masterfully – the residual magic left after her rituals masked my own spells, which lifted Celestia’s magic around Ponyville. I then sent my spies to observe the town, and to see who embodied the Elements the most. Surprisingly, all it took was stumbling upon the Element of Honesty by chance and asking her who the others were – Celestia didn’t even tell them about the spell, or that they shouldn’t flaunt that information around!”

Rarity stopped right before stepping out of the crowd and recoiled. She planned this all that time! It... it wasn’t just some stupid experiment she lost control of. It was a deliberate plot to murder innocent ponies, just because she needed to mask her own intrigues!

It didn’t change the fact those ponies were dead and it wasn’t that much of a surprise, but the ease with which she had said it, the way the words had spewed out of her mouth like she was talking about how she won the Running of the Leaves, the lack of negative reactions from anypony... Rarity began to feel sick. She could understand, and to a certain level even tolerate, arrogance, but this wasn’t just disinterest in regular ponies she took it for earlier. They didn’t view killing ponies as a bad thing, nor were they indifferent about it – they saw it as an opportunity to further their own goals. Did they even understand that it’s wrong?

She even tried to be humorous at the end... And she succeeded, judging from the isolated laughter here and there. She murdered the ponies I knew just because she needed interference! Rarity looked around, at the stoic faces surrounding her. What... What am I doing here? I don’t belong among them, I never will, and I’m glad for it. So how did I get into their midst? Ivory’s boasting about how she did what to get around the spell blurred into the background a bit, as Rarity started taking quick breaths. They’re all evil. Must have murdered all the good ones just to get on top. Or did they all start out as ‘good,’ changing over time? The moment I’m inconvenient, they’ll get rid of me. Should I spend the rest of my eternal life afraid to turn my back to anypony? Or should I surround myself with servants like these... these slavers?

Ivory just dropped a line about what imbeciles the local guards were, and the vampony next to Rarity snickered. Imbeciles? They got slaughtered! They charged Lyra, not knowing what they were up against, and she massacred them! They couldn’t have known... How did this all happen? Lyra was completely insane when they found her, but that was because of the voice that appeared inside her head. None of these vamponies had one, or they’d be branded rogues. So why were they just as merciless? Was this how she’d end up like too?

I can’t let them win. They avoid killing ponies for the most part because they’re afraid they’d get discovered, but if they fear no longer... Many of them would probably go and feed in the open. The pony would naturally try to get away or even fight back, and the vampony would just kill him. Prism was right in this aspect – even if Ivory bound the Princesses in secret, letting vamponies shed their disguise would be disastrous. Ponies wouldn’t suffer it for long, and then they’d fight. Maybe if the vamponies had at least some shred of empathy left in them... but when Rarity looked around, she saw none. Even Prism only argued his case because he could see it wouldn’t benefit him in the long run, not because he actually cared about the lives of innocents. And whatever friendships Ivory was talking about earlier was clearly meant only between vamponies themselves.

Rarity focused back on her. If she wanted to stop this, Prism was her only chance. No matter his motives.

“...then I just put some protection spells on myself, to make my memories safe, cleaned up any traces about what I’ve done, and seamlessly re-cast Celestia’s spell. Nopony as much as noticed anything off.” She frowned. “I’m really surprised you didn’t know about this, however. You have the Element of Generosity bound to yourself, after all.”

“What?” He scowled at her. “What nonsense! I don’t even have any...” He slowly turned towards Rarity.

Here we go...

“I don’t believe you,” he said, looking back at Ivory. “You could’ve just made it all up. Give us some proof.”

“Very well.” She looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy. “Tell us, servants, are you the bearers of the Elements of Harmony? Speak truth.”

“Y...yes,” Fluttershy said, while Rainbow nodded.

“That’s no proof! You could’ve just ordered them to say this before they walked in!”

“Ask your Element, then. Since she’s bound to you, I couldn’t have manipulated her.”

He turned towards Rarity again. “You heard her. Are you the bearer of the Element of Generosity? Speak truth!”

Rarity couldn’t resist grinning. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. I’m not and never was the bearer of any Element, although I’m flattered she thinks me so generous.”

For the first time that day, Ivory’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

“You heard her!” Prism’s voice was echoing with suppressed laughter, and his face was decorated by the widest sneer Rarity had ever seen. “Everypony has heard her! I pronounce you a liar – you don’t have any Elements bound to you, and you can’t defeat Princess Celestia. What? Did you think your goons managed to catch and bind her? So that she could pose as my servant while serving you? Think again!” Prism looked ready to break into a dance. While vamponies might not have had any empathy left in them, they sure seemed to know how to enjoy victory.

“Silence!” Ivory stared at him with a frown. “I don’t know how you did it, but she’s lying. Those two” – she pointed at Rainbow and Fluttershy – “are the Elements.”

Prism grinned at her. “Prove it.”

When Ivory said nothing, the crowd began to mumble again. This time, however, the vamponies weren’t discussing the future with wide smiles on their faces. Now they turned from one to another, whispering things to each other and casting fleeting gazes onto the two speakers.

Rarity silently applauded herself. Good job! This ought to stop her. Now I just need to unbind Rainbow and Fluttershy somehow.

“I don’t have to prove anything!” Ivory exclaimed. “I wanted to give you a chance, Prism, I really did, but you just turned it down on every opportunity. Well, if you’re not with me, then you’re against me. I won’t let you stand in between us and our destiny!” She turned towards what remained of the high council. “You have your orders.”

Lord Prism was suddenly grasped by a tendril of dark green colour. “What the...? Viridian?”

Arctic Amber just began strangling Dusky Pearl when Viridian Summer bowed his head. “I’m sorry. She bound me when I left the trial – I was in a hurry and wasn’t careful enough, and then she and her minions ambushed me.”

No... No, no, no! Rarity watched with her pupils dilated as one vampony turned against another, many of those ‘independents’ not being as free as their class would suggest. Many of them even had tears in their eyes as they struck down their former friends. And then, Rarity saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy charging right at her.

“Stop!” Rarity dodged to the right, bumping into another vampony and sending him right in the way of some spell. Whether it was friend or foe, she had no idea. I have to get out of here! There was an army – or rather two armies – of vamponies between her and the door, and two of her dearest friends were clearly tasked with bringing her down. They were just preparing for another charge.

Rarity galloped towards the entrance, dodging the vamponies to the best of her abilities. They were mostly locked in combat anyway, and seemed to pay her no heed. The two pegasi behind her, however, were catching up fast. “I told you to stop! Just fight somepony else, you have enough candidates here!” They didn’t even slow down.

She turned her head around and shot a few fairly weak spells behind her. It wouldn’t do much more other than push them back a bit, but she didn’t want to hurt them anyway. Besides, putting her still damaged horn under too much stress was a very bad idea at a time like that.

Only a few steps parted her and the relative safety of the door, when something heavy bashed into her side. “Damn it, Rainbow,” she said in a weary voice when she saw the cyan pegasus on top of her. “Why do you have to be so fast?”

Rainbow had tears in her eyes, whitish streaks under them suggesting this wasn’t the first time they were there. She looked at Rarity, and her hooves started to rise. “I... I can’t control my body,” she said in a squeaky voice, shaking with sobs. “There’s always a while when I can, but then she tells me to do something, and I... I... What’s happening to me?”

Rarity’s expression melted. “Oh dear... They haven’t told you anything?”

Rainbow’s hooves prepared to land a hit. “She told me I have to... to knock you out. Sorry...”

Rarity could have just blasted her off with her magic, but Fluttershy caught up in the meantime, her face with the same look as Rainbow’s. Even if Rarity’s horn wasn’t in its weakened state, none of the spells she knew could hinder them both for long enough without injuring them in some way. She just didn’t have the heart to do it, not when they looked at her like they did. What would it change anyway? She had planned to just run away like a coward, not join in the fight. Just like before, the result of this battle didn’t depend on her. She’s fulfilled her role by sparkling it.

Although Rainbow was, judging by her constricted face, trying to stop the hoof from landing, her will seemed to have limited effect. The hoof barely slowed down, and an absurd thought flashed through Rarity’s mind, about how this could ruffle her mane.

Just when the strike was about to land, Rainbow was knocked away by a pink blur. “Get off her, Dashie!”

“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity turned her head towards the door and saw a band of ponies – or vamponies? – galloping in. “Aloe, Daisy, Golden Glory... Mayor Mare?” She looked towards Pinkie. “What the...?”

Pinkie was just tying up Rainbow dash with some rope, while Aloe and Daisy were handling Fluttershy. Rarity stood up from the ground. “Pinkie, what’s going on? What are they doing here? What are you doing here, for that matter?”

Other combatants noticed the visitors and, once seeing their targets, either ignored them or attacked them. Pinkie just dodged a spell from one such vampony. “Can we have this talk later? I’m kinda busy here!”

Rarity nodded and looked over the rest of the ‘battlefield.’ She could see neither Prism nor Ivory over the sea of bodies swirling in front of her, but a dark-blue glow came roughly from the place where Princess Luna was the last time Rarity saw her.

Don’t you dare! She galloped towards the source, the Ponyvillians creating enough distraction for her to slip through without too many problems. Rarity had quite a troubling suspicion concerning how those vamponies came to be, but there’d be time for that later. Assuming they’d win, of course.

Her Majesty Princess Luna lay sprawled on the floor, her body covered by bloody symbols from a nearby corpse and surrounded by a large circle of glyphs and symbols. It was much bigger and several times more complicated than any other Rarity had seen, and there were five unicorns casting the spell. Lady Ivory stood in a considerably smaller circle next to it, focusing her magic on blasting away any intruders rather than on the ritual itself.

Rarity was just about to hit the protective line the bound vamponies made around the ritual grounds, but was stopped by a hoof. “Lord Prism?”

He motioned her to follow him and moved towards the side of the room, his magic throwing away any vamponies foolish enough to attack him like they were pieces of paper. His lips were firmly pressed together, and his eyes only stared towards where he was going. Had he not caught her earlier, she’d doubt he even knew about her. Soon they arrived to a small bunch of vamponies that managed to band up in this chaos somehow. There Prism stopped and looked them all over. “You all attack at the same point, breaking through the line. I will then take care of Ivory myself. Questions?”

Rarity had quite a few, for example what did he imagine under ‘take care,’ but her voice was drowned under the ‘No!’ that they all shouted. Then they ran towards their target like a herd of buffalos. Since Rarity had no better plan anyway, she followed suit.

The line was shattered. Whenever any bound vampony left his post to help his comrade, Prism’s vampony wedged into the freed space and caused havoc. Prism himself ran through one such created gap, flaring up his horn and heading towards Ivory, who her back turned to him. Rarity ran right after him, and when the reality itself seemed to be rippling around his horn, she realised just what kind of spell he was casting.

Her face went pale. “Stop! You can’t kill her – she’s still got the Elements–” The spell left his horn and flew against Ivory in an arc-like trajectory.

“To Tartarus with you!” Rarity galloped forward, pushing her legs to their limit. That clod! He knew that Rainbow and Fluttershy were bound to Ivory, yet he still fired that spell. He was practically trying to kill her friends! Even if he didn’t know them, didn’t he realise what kind of consequences killing a bearer of an Element could have? Equestria would be left defenceless should any kind of evil attack. Or he does realise, but thinks they aren’t the bearers, since I told them all so. She felt like slapping herself.

The orb of deadly magic travelled relatively slow, fortunately, as if it wanted to put its tremendous power on display for the entire world to see. Ivory was just turning around, her lips curled upwards. “Look up!” Rarity shouted at her, fastening her gallop even more. At the same time, the ritual seemed to be finishing. A cloud of bluish gas rising from the Princess seemed to form itself into another orb and travelled towards the smaller circle, which shone brightly under Ivory’s hooves. The unicorns casting it, however, seemed too exhausted to do anything to stop Prism’s spell.

The world slowed itself down for Rarity. She saw Lady Ivory cocking her brow after seeing her, and then saw it drop together with her jaw when Prism’s spell came into Ivory’s view. Tears sparkled in Rarity’s eyes. Even though she was convinced she had never ran this fast before, it wasn’t fast enough. There just wasn’t the time to pull Ivory out of that damned circle, and she didn’t even start casting any protective spells, perhaps too shocked to react. Not like it would matter – a barrier that could stop such a spell would either cost an enormous amount of magical energy, or take too long to create. Not even Princess Luna could handle too many of those.

There weren’t many options left for Rarity. She could either stand by and watch as Lady Ivory dies, taking Rainbow and Fluttershy along with her, or... Tears flew out of her eyes as she squinted, casting a simple protective spell on herself and leaping towards Ivory, pushing her out of the way in the last second. The protective spell was one of the most basic ones, never meant to hold against the magical tsunami that hit it.

Chapter 9: The End

My body... it hurts. Rarity felt the cold floor underneath her, and her muscles shuddered at the mere thought of lifting herself up. Her horn was stinging like a thousand wasps, and when she breathed in, it felt like her lungs were on fire.

“Wake up,” a mare’s voice said. It sounded familiar, but Rarity couldn’t place it right away.

She slowly forced her eyes open, squinting in the light that filled her vision. She opened her mouth to speak, and felt it filling up with some delicious liquid. “Swallow,” the mare said again.

Rarity did as she was asked, and her eyes darted towards the speaker. She nearly spat out the next mouthful of the liquid when she saw just who was feeding her.

“Relax!” Lady Ivory Star sat right beside her, pouring blood inside Rarity’s mouth from a small flask. “And don’t you dare spit it out; blood of a gryphon is hard to come by!”

Rarity gulped it down and felt pleasing warmth spread through her body. “What–”

Ivory filled her mouth up again before she could continue. “What happened? You saved my life and destroyed all my plans both at the same time. That’s what happened.” Her lips curled upwards. “I’m grateful, even though I know you didn’t do it because of any sympathy towards me.”

Rarity looked away, sending the last of the liquid in her mouth to her stomach. “How am I alive?”

“Something I’m wondering about too, to be honest. The spell you used shouldn’t have been able to resist what Lord Prism cast. As for why nopony finished you off afterwards, neither side had a reason nor desire to.”

Rarity moved to sit up, but when the ever present pain increased, she reconsidered. “What happened to Lord Prism?”

“Dead. I killed the fool right once you pushed me out of the way.” She grinned. “You managed to get out of your bond somehow and then lied about the Elements. A genius way to turn everypony against me.”

Rarity frowned. Prism was dead? She’d never wanted that. He had been one of the few vamponies she’d considered decent. Yet it was me who pushed Lady Ivory out of the way, wasn’t it? Would the list of ponies she killed, directly or not, never stop growing? She looked back at Ivory’s smiling face. “Why are you being so nice to me? Gryphon blood, smiles, and compliments? If it wasn’t for me, you’d be half-way to ruling Equestria!”

Ivory sighed and shook her head. “He would’ve attacked me anyway sooner or later; you just gave him an edge. He’d never have gotten over the idea of me controlling the Princesses. Maybe the fight would’ve ended in my favour, and maybe he’d have ambushed me when I least expected it, and my corpse would be littering the floor instead of his. Who knows? I’m being nice to you because you saved my life, and because sometimes there isn’t anything else to do besides to laugh, or to cry. And I’ve always preferred laughter.”

“What do you mean?”

Ivory pressed her lips together. “I suppose you’re too young to see the irony of the whole situation. I was saved by somepony who was supposed to be my enemy, all my possible rivals are dead, but there’s nothing left to govern” – Rarity managed to lift her head up a bit and saw that the floor was covered with bodies and only few vamponies were still standing – “and last but not least, a young filly like you becomes more powerful than all the vamponies in the world in the end.”

Rarity flinched when she was called a filly – she was a grown mare! – but then her brain processed the rest of the sentence. “You don’t mean...?” Her eyes drifted towards the ritual circle.

“She’s over there,” Ivory said, pointing towards the corner of the room. There, surrounded by dead bodies, stood Princess Luna, breathing heavily and turning her head from one side of the room to another. “She woke up not too long ago and killed several more of us just because. Then the desire for blood kicked in, and she quickly discovered that vampony blood doesn’t quite suit her. While she was throwing it up on the floor, I managed to calm her down a little. Still, I wouldn’t advise anypony to approach her without a good reason to.”

“But still! You said that–“

Lady Ivory chuckled. “Yes, you jumped in just when the binding was finishing up. Congratulations – what I didn’t achieve in over a thousand years, you did by accident. Do you see now what I mean by irony now?”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “I... I–I–I...”

“Let’s go say hello, and order her to stop killing everypony that comes near, shall we? My servants are already few in numbers, and I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to replace the fallen ones any time soon.”

Rarity shook her head. “Wait... What exactly happened after I went unconscious? Did you really win? If so, then what happened to my friends?”

Lady Ivory scratched her head. “Well, not much. The battle’s been raging on for a while longer – I wanted to repeat the ritual and bound Princess Luna to me this time, but then I found out that I simply didn’t have the means for that. My forces were decimated, and there weren’t enough unicorns to manage it. When I realised I just can’t win, I yielded. I think everypony was glad the fight was over. I got to keep my surviving servants, and they got promised I wouldn’t bind you. Not that it would matter – I’d still have to supply enough magic to bind Luna in order to do that. Still, it’s enough for them to leave me alone.”

Rarity brows shot up. “You mean you won’t get punished for what you did? And again, where are my friends?”

“Punished? By who? The rest of the high council is dead, and none of the survivors have the gall to demand anything of me. The Society’s broken beyond repair anyway, so I suppose we’ll just each go our separate way. As for your friends, they are tied up in some other room, guarded by your rogue friends.” Ivory scrunched her muzzle. “Why you would associate yourself with such filth, I have no idea. Don’t you know they’ll turn into rabid beasts sooner or later? If they didn’t already of course; the way they fought would suggest it.”

“I had no idea they were rogues! Or even vamponies, for that matter.” Rarity furrowed her brow. “I think I know who’s behind all this, although I don’t understand the motives. Let’s go to Princess Luna first, however. She looks absolutely dreadful!”

Lady Ivory nodded. “No wonder. She still didn’t get her first taste. I think you can imagine how tormenting that must be for her.”

She could. Berry Punch had to pay with her life for Rarity to get that ‘first taste.’ The fact Princess Luna didn’t storm out into the streets in a rampage must have required an admirable amount of restraint. Amount that has taken its toll, by the looks of it – Princess Luna seemed ready to spring at anypony in her reach, her eyes locking onto them like a bull prepared to charge, the stars in her mane seemed dimmer, like they were in shadow – however nonsensical that was – and drops of saliva fell to the floor from her mouth. Truly a disgrace.

“Are you sure she won’t attack us?” Rarity whispered.

“Don’t worry. You felt the magic of the binding yourself, no? You know one can’t combat it.” With that, Lady Ivory pushed her forward.

Princess Luna looked at Rarity with a scowl. “We remember thee. Thou art a bearer of an Element. And a traitor.”

Rarity bowed half-way, then straightened up, and then bowed again, her face turning crimson. Princess Luna was obviously of a higher rank than Rarity, but Rarity was now technically her superior, even though she didn’t feel the part at all. So should she be bowing, or...? What was I thinking? Of course I have to bow!

Princess Luna seemed to notice her little dilemma, as her scowl grew deeper. “What dost thou want? Speakest! If thy demise didn’t cause Ours, be assured thy corpse would have already bitten the dust.”

“I... um...” Rarity bowed again, her teeth clattering. “I came to ask you to stop killing us.”

“Thou darest order Us around? Us, the Princess of the Night?” She snorted. “Very well, We hath no choice but to obey, yet be certain that Our vengeance for this heinous disgrace shall cometh one day.”

“But... But I...” Rarity could practically feel Luna’s scowl burn on her skin. “I didn’t want to...” She looked back on Lady Ivory, but she just waved her to continue. “I wasn’t ordering you around. I mean I was, but I didn’t mean it like that. I just... I... I’m not a traitor!”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Thou shalt receive thy just punishment in due time.”

“That’s not fair! I’ve never done anything to you; I even helped in saving you from being Nightmare Moon!” Rarity could feel hot tears pushing themselves into her eyes as she gritted her teeth. How was any of this her fault? She tried helping the Princess to the best of her abilities, and this was how she’s repaid?

“Thou and thine ilk have infected Us! Even as Nightmatre Moon, We never descended so low to even consider working with ye. And now We are enslaved? For this, We shall never rest until ye are all obliterated.”

Rarity turned around and walked away from her. This is so unfair! I’m a victim just as much as she is, or does she think I asked for any of this? She swept her tears away when Ivory came near.

“Do you see now why I wanted to keep her leashed so much? There’s no negotiating with her, she just wants to destroy us.”

“There has to be something we can do!” She looked back on the Princess, who was still staring daggers at her. “Right once she’s released, she’ll kill us, and I can’t keep her bound forever.”

“Why not?” Lady Ivory smiled at her and laid her hoof on Rarity’s neck. “Think about it. There’s literally nothing you have to do – the spell will last forever without any need for maintenance. Just forbid her from telling anypony she’s bound and similar things, and we’re all safe.”

Rarity shook the hoof off and frowned. “To have her enslaved? I thought my opinion was clear on the matter.”

“I wouldn’t call it ‘enslavement.’ She wouldn’t have to do any kind of labour and would be free to continue governing Equestria together with her sister,just as before. The only thing you’d limit her in would be raining destruction onto our species, and isn’t that a good thing?”

“I... I sup– Wait, no!” Rarity scowled. “I know where you’re going with this – convince me to make a little step back now, and another one later. It’ll be easier every time, correct? And before you know it, Princess Luna will jump as you command. That’s your agenda; that’s why you’ve been so pleasant to me! If you can’t control her yourself, you’ll try to do it through somepony else.”

“Nonsense!” Ivory frowned back at her. “Anypony can see that releasing Luna is pure foolishness!”

“Perhaps it is.” Rarity nodded. “But I’ve been acting pragmatic for far too long. Every time there was a choice I had to make, I chose what looked like it’d bring the most advantage to me instead of others. And look where it got me – I nearly died trying to save someone who only seeks to manipulate me! Do you know how many ponies would still be alive now if I just wrote to Princess Celestia right at the beginning, when I was turned? All of this could’ve been avoided! It’s time to do what’s right.” Rarity moved towards Luna.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Ivory caught her hoof and forced her to stop. “If you release her, there will be many more dead – everypony in this castle, including your friends! You don’t want those to die, do you?”

“I trust Princess Luna will judge us fairly, when she sees I mean no harm.”

“You’re crazy! Naive and crazy, just like Prism! She flat out stated she’ll kill you and every other vampony not two minutes ago. You can’t release her!”

Rarity shook her hoof out of her grasp and continued her advance towards the Princess. “Watch me.”

She was about ten steps away from her goal, when Ivory, her face completely red, caught her hoof yet again. “Wait!”

“I have decided.” Rarity didn’t even turn back to face her.

“I know, and I don’t want to die because of your foolishness. I want to bargain with her.”

Rarity looked at her and cocked her brow. “Do you really think you have a chance? You’re as guilty as one can be, and you’re also the one who turned her.”

“That might be right. But I also have something she wants. More than anything else right now.”

“Really?” Rarity leaned closer. “And what is that?”

“Now why would I tell you?” Ivory frowned at her. “I had grand plans with her; this has just been my backdoor. Just stand back and let me talk.” She didn’t even wait for Rarity to agree and marched straight to Luna. “Your Highness, I have a proposal for you.”

Luna smirked. “Thou comest to beg this soon? Pathetic, especially when it cometh from a noblemare. There is nothing thou canst do that would make Us spare thy life.”

“Is that so?” Ivory smiled like a filly about to do some mischief. “What about curing you from your... condition?”

Luna’s ears perked up and so did Rarity’s. “I thought there wasn’t any cure for that!” She whispered to her.

“For you, there really isn’t; too bad,” Ivory whispered back and pushed Rarity aside.

“A cure for this?” Luna tilted her head. “That is unheard of. What dost thou have in mind?”

“You see, Your Highness, you’re not really a vampony. At least not yet.”

Luna let her fangs slide out. “Art thou serious?”

Ivory gave out a shaky laugh. “I know it can seem like everything is lost now, but there is still a chance for you. I’ll tell you everything if you just give me your royal word that you won’t hurt me. Not now, not ever.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “We accept, but if this is a lie, We shall make sure thy suffering will be the longest.”

Ivory nodded. “Your Majesty is wise. And fortunate – you haven’t had your first feeding yet. Vampony blood doesn’t really count in this regard. If you don’t taste any regular blood for about a week or two, the infection in your veins will weaken and be destroyed by your body before it truly takes root. The only thing that’ll remain after it will be the fangs, and you don’t really have to slide them out anyway.”

Princess Luna completely dropped her defensive posture and instead looked at Ivory wide eyed. “Is... Is that true?”

Lady Ivory nodded. “One week, two at most. It’ll be hard to resist your urges, however. So hard, in fact, that the last pony attempting this that I know of had to chain himself in a dungeon.”

“’Tis bad... but good news nonetheless. If what thou sayest is true, We shall keep Our word.”

“Wonderful.” Lady Ivory bowed and turned back.

“Wait,” Rarity said. “What about me?”

Ivory threw her another one of her beaming, fangy smiles. “You can die for all I care. Didn’t you just say that you won’t mind, if that’s her decision?”

“Yes, but...” Rarity furrowed her brow. “Will the binding still work after she’s cured?”

“But of course not – vamponies only. Changing your mind now?” Lady Ivory winked at her and trotted away.

Not really. “Your Highness.” Rarity walked closer to the princess and bowed all the way to the ground.

“Yes?” Luna no longer looked like she was about to tear her into pieces using her newly-grown fangs, but her scowl remained.

“I came to plead for myself and my friends. None of us ever had anything to do with this attack; in fact we tried to help you. You were bound to me by an accident, and I promise to release you.”

“Don’t promise. Make it so.”

“I... I think I have a better idea, Your Highness,” Rarity said in a shaky voice. “If I ‘ordered’ you to not consume any blood, the magic would help you resist your... hunger. After those two weeks, the magic would stop working completely and you’d be free.”

Luna slowly nodded. “’Tis a good plan. But how can We trust thee?”

Rarity frowned. “I’m afraid you can’t. There’s nothing I can do to prove my good intentions, but if I really wanted to control you, why would I even bother fooling you?”

Luna nodded again, this time faster. “Very well; We agree. Yet thou askest for something in return. A royal pardon for thou and thine friends? How do We know ye are all innocent?”

Rarity took a deep breath. “We aren’t.” Luna cocked her brow, and Rarity continued, “I’m a murderer. I admit it. Just yesterday, I killed another vampony, although on the ord–”

“Was the vampony a traitor?”

“Uh... well...” Rarity scratched her head. “He was bound to Lady Ivory, but–”

“Then thou art excused. Whether he served willingly or not, he endangered Us and Our realm. He had to be stopped.”

Rarity sighed. “Sadly, this is not the end of it. Even if I don’t count the vamponies, I still killed somepony.”

Luna frowned at her. “Murder is an act most foul. Why would the bearer of an Element sully herself so?”

“I couldn’t resist. I was freshly turned, just like you now, and the voice in my head had–”

“What voice?”

Rarity’s brow shot up. “You don’t hear it? It whispered dark thoughts to me, telling me the secrets of dark magic and trying to manipulate me into doing terrible things.”

“The beginning of corruption by dark magic.” Luna scrunched her muzzle. “Our mind is well protected against such things ever since We returned from the Moon. Thou shouldst seek treatment posthaste!”

“I already did, but what was done was done.”

Luna put a hoof on her chin. “Hmm... It would be wrong of Us to judge thine acts when influenced by such a blight. We were not judged either, after all. Is there any other crime thou hadst commited? Hadst thou infected anypony?”

“Heavens no! I’d never do such a thing to anypony.”

For the first time ever, Luna smiled at Rarity. “We forgive thee then. With joy even, as punishing a bearer would have been a tragedy for Our land. But are thine friends innocent as well?”

Rarity felt her stomach clench. “Let’s... Let’s solve one thing at a time, please. I’ll ‘order’ you not to consume any blood, and then I’ll bring my friends.”

When Luna nodded, Rarity said the order and quickly trotted towards where Lady Ivory told her Pinkie would be. She left the throne room, which was already filling up with the stench of the dead bodies, and tried a few rooms in the main hall. Most of them were empty, some served as improvised infirmaries for the injured, and in the last one she finally found her friends. Or at least what was left of them.

Pinkie Pie was sitting on the bedside next to Aloe, who was bleeding from a large wound in her side. Lotus was sitting on the opposite side, holding her sister’s hooves and whispering something into her ear. On the other side of the room hid Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, their hooves tied together by a strong rope.

I forgot to have Lady Ivory release them! Rarity mentally slapped herself. No matter, I can do that later – I’ll just go to her with Princess Luna, and–

“Rarity!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, are you alright? They wouldn’t let us near you because we’re ‘rogues,’ and we had to take care of Aloe.” She leapt towards her and pulled her into a hug.

“Yes, Pinkie, I’m alr– Are you crying?”

“S– Sorry.” She swept her tears away with her hoof. “It’s just that I’ve already lost several friends today, and when I saw you lying there, I thought... I thought...” The rest was drowned in sobs.

“Yes, well,” – Rarity squirmed out of her embrace – “that’s actually something I wanted to ask you about.” She held Pinkie’s head in her hooves and forced her to look her in the eyes. “Pinkie, did you turn these ponies?”

The sobbing stopped and Pinkie gulped. “It’s... it’s not like they mind.”

“By Celestia, Pinkie!” Rarity threw her hooves up. “Why in Equestria would you do something like that?”

“I just wanted some friends.”

“You’ve got to be joking.” Rarity facehoofed. “You were turned yourself. You know what it’s like. Why would you do it to anypony else? And how did you even bind them?”

“I didn’t. They’re free.” Pinkie smiled. “I know everypony in town, and I knew exactly which of them would like this.”

“Like this? They’re... We are forced to feed on the blood of others for sustenance. Why would anypony in their right mind like this?”

“We’re also forever young, very powerful, and heal quickly, silly.” She giggled. “You should look at the pluses too sometimes. Every last one of them thanked me afterwards, right, Lotus?”

Lotus nodded and turned back towards her sister.

Rarity took a deep breath. “I still don’t understand. They have to drink blood now and hide their nature from everypony. Not to mention the voice in their heads.”

“Lotus and Aloe both always wanted to look as good as they do now – it didn’t really take a detective to see that. Mayor Mare wanted to prolong her life, so that she’d have the time to experience more things in the world than just paperwork.” She frowned. “I guess she won’t now.”

“She died because you brought her into this! Who else didn’t survive today? I remember seeing Daisy and Golden Glory here earlier; are they dead too? What did you promise them?”

Pinkie cowered a bit. “Daisy was really depressed. She didn’t know that Rose was bound to Lyra, only that she died. Just like a number of her other friends. She was sad and scared, because she knew that it could’ve been her if she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. After she was turned, she was strong and no longer afraid. And Golden Glory... she, um... liked vampony novels and was into long strolls in the night. She said it was awesome and wasn’t mad at me at all.”

Rarity sat onto a nearby chair and put her face into her hooves. “Oh, Pinkie... How could you be so irresponsible? You’ve got no idea about the mess you’ve gotten yourself into.” She sighed. “Is there anypony else you turned?”

“Thunderlane and Crescent Moon. He... He died too.”

“Seven ponies.” Rarity sighed again, this time louder. “You turned seven more ponies just because you ‘wanted friends?’ Pinkie I... I don’t know what to say, this is so unlike you. And the things you’ve just said, about how great it is, it almost sounds like...” Rarity’s head shot up from her hooves, and her eyes dug into Pinkie’s. “You didn’t destroy the voice in your head, did you?”

When Pinkie remained silent, Rarity stood up. “Did you?”

“No. And you should be glad!” Pinkie returned the stare. “If it wasn’t for me, all of us would be standing there in that room, bowing to that stuck-up vampony! Or why do you think Applejack is still safe and sound? Who took care of the vampony in the library? And do you think those other vamponies attacked just once? There was at least a dozen of those attacks! Thunderlane had to stay in Ponyville because of how badly they injured him when they attacked Fluttershy. We didn’t manage to repel them that one time.”

Rarity’s ears drooped. “I didn’t know that. You should have just... Still.” She scowled at her again. “The voice. Can’t you see how it manipulates you? Haven’t you noticed that change in your behaviour? You’re quick to anger and resort to violence easily. You were never like that before. At first, I attributed it to all the stress, although it didn’t quite fit, but now it makes perfect sense.”

“I am?” Pinkie recoiled. “Now that you talk about it, I did notice... No.” She scowled back at Rarity. “The Voice has only been helpful ever since Twilight cast that mind protection spell on me. I can let it do its work at any time, and The Voice knows it. She’d never try to take over again.”

“‘She?’ Pinkie, do you have any idea what it is?”

“Well... no. Do you?”

“It’s the dark magic corrupting your mind! Just think. It made you turn seven innocent ponies, solely because they might appreciate it early on. And now they each have their own voice – the corruption spreads.”

The scowl on Pinkie’s face broke up. “But... we protected you.”

“And I appreciate it, I really do, but this good deed was only to convince you not to get rid of it, I’m certain. Please, Pinkie, let Twilight’s spell run its course.”

“But–”

“Do it for me, Pinkie. Please.”

Pinkie looked at her like a cornered animal, her eyes big like plates. “But it helped me so much. We’ll be discovered without it.”

“Don’t worry.” Rarity smiled at her. “Princess Luna will give you a royal pardon if you convince her you’re innocent. Just get rid of it.”

Pinkie very slowly nodded, her eyes dilated like she was thinking on something else.

“Stop talking to it and just destroy it!”

Pinkie nodded, quickly this time, and a soft, purplish glow appeared around her head. She took a few breaths and hung her head low. “It’s gone. For real this time.”

“How do you feel?”

“Better. Like there’s more space in my head now. And sad.”

“Sad?”

“She became... a friend of sorts to me. Not a friend you’d have fun with, but... we were close.”

Rarity patted her on the back. “It’ll be alright, Darling. But now I need you to be strong, we’re going to Princess Luna.”

———

One day later

“...and that’s more or less all that’s happened,” Rarity said, sipping her tea.

Around her sat Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight, each of them listening to the story and throwing in their own tidbits.

“What I don’t understand” – Rainbow Dash said – “is how you managed to survive that super-spell.” She turned towards Twilight.

“Well...” Twilight scratched her chin. “From the description you gave me, I’d guess he used the larger globular magic condensation projectile. Nothing too fancy, but when it’s just the power of impact you’re going for, it’s one of the better ones. Rarity, on the other hand, used the Riverdancer’s Veil, which is one of the weakest spells in the protective category.”

“Well she already told us it shouldn’t have stopped it!” Rainbow sighed. “I didn’t ask for a lecture, just for an explanation.”

Twilight giggled. “Right. Well, to put it simple, the ‘strength’ of a spell is measured by how efficiently it can use the magical energy the unicorn supplies to it. Since Lord Prism probably didn’t use an underpowered spell, Rarity must have provided an enormous amount of magical energy to stop it.”

“And where did she get that? I mean this is Rarity we’re talking about.” Rainbow turned towards the mare in question. “No offense, but it’s true. Twilight is the magicker here.”

Rarity nodded, continuing to sip her tea.

“Magician.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Anyway, while Rainbow should think more before she speaks, she’s right in a way. Even I’d have had a very hard time pulling off what you did there, which means you must have had a boost from elsewhere.” She leaned in. “My bet is the binding ritual. Remember how I was surprised there was no magic discharge when Pinkie released you? Magic doesn’t just vanish, it has to go somewhere. It probably chose to lie dormant in your horn until you used it.”

“Hey, wait a second. Does that mean I can use spells now?” Rainbow laughed. “I wanna learn a lightning bolt! Imagine – me, flying through the cloudless sky, and then suddenly bam! Lightning all around me! Oh my gosh, that’d be so cool I can’t even to describe the overwhe–“

“Sorry to break your fantasy, Rainbow,” Twilight said, “but no. You can’t cast any spells, since you have no way to utilise it. It’ll just lay stored in your body, doing nothing. Don’t worry, it’s harmless.”

Rainbow crossed her arms and pouted. “That’s so lame.”

“How long do you think until my horn recovers?” Rarity asked. “It’s still a bit sore.”

“I really don’t know how it is with vamponies, but my guess would be around half a week. I mean, you said you heal fast. Anyway, there’s one thing I think we still have to discuss.” Twilight looked into each of their eyes. “How are you going to feed? I can’t possibly sustain all of you, plus the ones Pinkie turned.”

Rainbow snorted. “Way ahead of you. While you all babbled about how great it was Princess Celestia wasn’t mad or whatever, I asked her about it.”

“You did what?” Twilight shot up from her chair. “I was to do all the talking! You have no idea about how to talk to or address her, you could’ve offended her, or... or...”

“Re-lax. I didn’t insult her or anything. Just asked her if I could get a snack somewhere.

“You asked her what?”

“Not my fault! Pinkie sucked half of Ponyville, Rarity got mouth-fed gryphon blood, and Fluttershy gorged herself on my delicious self. All I got was a lousy glass of something green, and then they were all like ‘go to the throne room, hurry!’”

“Rainbow...” Twilight facehoofed. “How... how did she react?”

“She laughed and told me that I have to wait, and that ‘Surely there will be ponies patriotic enough to donate blood for the good of the realm.’”

Rarity cocked her brow. “I thought she asked us to keep this all a secret?”

“She probably won’t tell them what the blood is for, only that it’s needed.” Twilight sat back down with exhalation.

There was a while of silence, filled only by the sound of teaspoons hitting the porcelain. “So...” Pinkie shuffled her chair closer to Twilight’s. “What happened when Princess Celestia wanted to have that ‘private word’ with you? Or is it a secret? In that case don’t tell us. Unless it’s a secret but you don’t know it is, in which case you can tell us, since you don’t know that you don’t know it’s a secret and think it’s just a regular piece of information that you can tell to anypony.”

“I guess I can tell you. But it’s nothing interesting.”

“Oh, never mind then.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Just tell us, Darling. You looked very distraught when you came out of that room.”

“She told me she was very disappointed.” Twilight sank in her seat. “Not just a little, but very, very disappointed. She said that I should’ve sent her a letter, and that she’d have resolved everything quickly and nopony would have gotten hurt. I thought she was going to stop being my tutor for a while...” Twilight reached for a hoofkerchief and blew her nose.

“But she didn’t, right, Darling?”

“No. She said that she knows I was afraid for you, and that it was her fault for not preparing me for this kind of situation. Somehow, that felt even worse.”

Pinkie stepped over and hugged her. “Aww, come on, Twilight. It’s fine. It’s over. Definitely this time. The princesses now know what’s up.”

“I sure hope so, Pinkie. I don’t think Princess Celestia would forgive me if I messed even more stuff up.”

“Cheer up, Darling. This is supposed to be a celebration – we’re all in this together, and there are no secrets between us. Just like before.”

“Um... Rarity?” Fluttershy raised her hoof like she was still at school. “Does that mean we can tell Applejack?”

“Well, uh... I don’t think...”

“We can’t.” Twilight ended Pinkie’s embrace and looked at Fluttershy. “The whole town is going to talk about this new wave deaths, no matter what excuse they’re told. And we all know how much of a bad liar Applejack is; it’s better if she doesn’t know for now. Maybe later, when things quiet down a little.”

Fluttershy nodded and turned her gaze towards her tea.

The terrace’s door opened and in trotted a waiter carrying a plate with five glasses of champagne. “Your drinks, miladies.” He put them on the table, bowed, and left.

Rarity clapped her hooves together. “Time for the toast.” They stood up. “On us, girls. Let the future be at least as good as the past was. With the exception of this month, of course.”

The cling of the five glasses carried itself through the afternoon’s air, marking the end of this unpleasant business. Or was it just the beginning?

The End