Blood Diamonds

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.