A Vampire's friendship

As the final section of the stone closed behind them the princess walked over to her student, the elements were standing behind the princess, stewing over the revelation of disturbing facts. Beside the princess Twilight let out a loud sigh, "So princess, do you... hate it?"

The princess wore a grim expression, she turned her head the other way, "It would be a lie to say I didn't, but I sometimes wonder what the other side of the story was."

"Why!? You have every right to hate it!" Rainbow put heavy emphasis on hate.

"Calm down there Rainbow," Applejack grabbed Rainbow's tail, "Y'all ain't the one to decide that!"

"It's quite alright," The princess raised her hoof in calming, "I was only a child at the time, I have a hard time remembering the details."

"Pardon me princess, but how is it you knew all that then?" Rarity asked.

"The sun," Princess Celestia answered.

"Huh?" near half of them say.

"When I inherited the sun, the memories of my mother flooded to me," Princess Celestia watched the elements.

"Was it, painful?" Fluttershy spoke from the back.

"It was less from the transfer, more pain came from what the memories contained," The princess let her face drop a bit.

"So is that how it works?" Twilight was genuinely curious, not much was known of alicorns, "Does that happen every time somepony inherits the sun, or moon?"

"Yes Twilight, but eventually memories fade," Princess Celestia raised her head, she would not mope in front of her ponies, "I can still recall late memories of the First born, Goddess Faust."

"Really? What was she like?!" Twilight let her worries fade, "I only read a legend that she was the perfect soul."

The solar princess chuckled, "She was very pure, but far from perfect, she had a weakness for cake if I recall correctly."

"Hey, don't you have a weakness for ca-" Pinkie was cut off by Twilight.

"Maybe we should go get some lunch," Twilight suggested.

"That would be wonderful my faithful student," Princess Celestia smiled.

The group walked slowly and silently toward the castle, after only a minute of silence Rainbow spoke up, "Lunch! I hope it's a nice grilled squir -"

"Rainbow if you don't shut up about eating things I will break both your wings," Fluttershy snapped uncharacteristically from the back, then paled and gulped, "Um, so sorry, I didn't mean to be that mean."

"That was a bit dark Fluttershy dear," Rarity was completely shocked by the outburst.

"Y'all been feelin okay Shy?" Applejack asked.

"Are you okay?" Twilight echoed.

Fluttershy was slightly scared, she had just threatened her friend, she only remembered two times before when she did anything like that,  she lowered her head and tried to become as small as possible, she tried to tune out the voices of everypony around her, just when she was about to cry she heard a voice, "Are you quite alright gentle Fluttershy?"

Looking up she saw the warm face of the princess, watching her with loving eyes, "Yes, i'm sorry I snapped at you Rainbow, I just don't know why I did that."

"Hey, it's okay Shy, I know you don't mean it," Rainbow was smiling and flying next to her.

"Thank you, Friend," Fluttershy was suddenly hugged by five mares.

"We will always be here for you Fluttershy," Twilight said, from behind them Princess Celestia chuckled.

"I'm glad I have friends like you girls," Fluttershy let herself be hugged, but on the inside she was trying to trace the outburst, connecting the familiar feelings, from the few outbursts before, to one event.

~~~

~~~

Kurumu had enjoyed a delicious meal with Kokoa and Gilda, the meat had tasted like cooked heaven, and filled her hunger, she felt happy, something she had not felt since she first went to Yokai. They talked and ate, telling stories and information, cracking jokes, and just smiling without end, but just at that last moment Kurumu felt a question surface, one that required an answer.

"What about the others?" Kurumu anxiously asked.

"What do you mean?" Kokoa wore a curious look.

"I mean what if they got here long ago?" Kurumu felt like she was gonna hyperventilate.

"Why don't we see them here today?" Gilda asked.

"Huh?" Kurumu was confused.

"Well tell me," Kokoa shifted, "How long do monsters live?"

"Hundreds of years," Kurumu was not eased, " Only."

"Yes, but that increases the chances of them living today by a great amount," Kokoa stated.

"But the time they could have arrived could have been, thousands of years," Kurumu shook her head slowly.

"Did you listen to Paradox?" Kokoa wrinkled her noise at the name, "He most likely has some sort of plan in play."

"Most likely some evil take over scheme," Kurumu resorted to the norm situation, "But i didn't think you were paying attention, since you were busy ogling him."

"Haha! You were checkin him out!?" Gilda fell on the floor laughing.

"Yeah yeah, thanks for the return nightmares," Kokoa folded her arms.

"Psh, you were in love," Kurumu scoffed.

"It didn't last long," Kokoa shook her head.

"What, didn't love him like you thought?" Gilda was recovering slowly.

"Didn't love him at all," Kokoa was beginning to tune out.

"Then why were you staring like a love struck puppy?" Kurumu was smirking.

"So I was," Kokoa stretched, "But that changed real quick."

"Would that be the part where he stranded us here?" Kurumu and Gilda attempted to keep the laughter in.

"Oh haha laugh it up," Kokoa then turned a lighter tone, "But no, the whole time living here has been a blessing."

"Got that right!" Gilda fist bumped Kokoa.

"So then," Kurumu was curious, "Why do you suddenly have it out for him?"

"It's something I would rather not discuss it," Kokoa suddenly felt cold.

"Ah come on, tell us," Gilda begged.

"No, that's personal," Kokoa never told anyone.

"Please?" Gilda attempted to pull off the puppy eyes.

"Nope," Kokoa shook her head.

"Aw why not?" Gilda slouched a bit.

"I already told you why," Kokoa said.

"Oh fine," Gilda huffed.

"Well now that we got that cleared up," Kurumu sat up, "What say we try and track down the others?"

"And how would we do that?" Kokoa asked.

"Research," Kurumu answered.

"What research," Gilda asked, "Where would we go to research?"

"I don't know," Kurumu was not discouraged, "But we need to."

"Research?" Kokoa was curious, "What would we get from that?"

"The history of the empire," Kurumu stayed optimistic, "The history of other nations."

"Why would we need that," Gilda asked.

"Well, when any of us monsters show up," Kurumu paused a second, "Things get very serious."

Everyone sat for a moment in silence, Kokoa knew it was true, she knew that where ever her or any others had been were now spots where bad things tended to go down, they were trouble magnets. She didn't remember many days when trouble was not at the door ,or already in progress, it was like life was playing a cruel joke on them, one that never ended.

"Really, I hadn't noticed," Gilda rolled her eyes, the sarcasm leaking from her comment.

"Laugh all you want," Kokoa shook her head.

"It's true,"Gilda exclaimed, "I mean, how many missions have we been on where you absolutely destroy the target?"

"A few," Kokoa had a calm tone.

"Like every mission, ever,"  Gilda gestured inward, "I'm only getting promoted because of our success rate!"

"Promoted?" Kokoa said slowly, "Really? That's great!"

"Promoted?" Kurumu didn't know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, the king himself did it," Gilda pulled into a smirk, " What about you Kokoa? Still being boring?"

"Yeah, just took out some more border guard for those pony wimps," Kokoa sighed.

"Ah, yep," Gilda plucked a loose feather, "Still boring."

"How can you call that boring?" Kurumu asked.

"It's only special ops," Gilda shrugged, "I get an army."

"Really?" Kurumu raised a brow, "You have an army?"

"Oh yeah," Kokoa waved a hand, "That won't last long"

"Uh huh," Gilda leaned back, "Just jealous eh?"

"Oh you wish," Kokoa sneered slightly.

'Things are getting heavy,' Kurumu rolled her eyes and prepared to endure the ensuing argument.

~~~

~~~

Tsukune and Mizore had finally gotten comfortable, they had found some food, only cursing their misfortune five times, but things were fairly uneventful. While they settled in they noticed a plethora of unusual and odd creatures pass the cave, one of which they dubbed a pinewolf, being made of wood.

"So tired," Mizore had eaten with Tsukune, helped him fix up the cave, and search for food, not to mention she had run from colorful horses earlier.

"You should rest," Tsukune fought back a yawn, "I can keep lookout while you sleep."

"You don't have to you could jus....." She mumbled quieter and quieter, deciding to lay on Tsukune's lap, she curled up and fell into the deep embrace of sleep.

"Sleep well Mizi," Tsukene stroked her head gently,all the while he was slowly caving in to the influence of the subconscious.

He fought a losing battle to stay awake, eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, he was falling in and out of sleep, hardly paying attention to his surroundings, the last thing he remembered seeing was a dark blur run past the cave entrance, then heard a muffled voice, just clear enough to understand.

"Now you will learn never to trespass in the forest of Yuka....."