Blood Diamonds

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.