//-------------------------------------------------------// Rosario + Pony -by Dawn Flower- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Chapter 1 A New World and a Vampire It was another school day at Yokai Academy, and all of the students were gathering outside of the building, meeting up and getting ready for class. Tsukune stood by himself in the courtyard, looking ahead at the school that he has attended for two years now. He looked on happily, with his backpack slung over his back, staring ahead at another school day at Yokai Academy; the only human in a school for monsters. “Hey Tsukune!” He heard someone call his name from behind him and he recognised it immediately. How could he ever forget that voice? He turned around to look at the person who was the source of the voice, with a big smile on his face. “Hey Moka,” he said as he waved back at her. She quickly caught up to where he was standing, and she stopped right in front of him. “So, ready for another school day, Tsukune?” Her smile suddenly faded quickly. She looked slightly embarrassed and she blushed at him. She then raised her hand to her mouth before turning away from him a bit. Tsukune looked at her, slightly confused. “Huh, what’s wrong Moka?” His face then changed to an expression of realization and he smiled. “Oh, do you want suck my blood?” Moka gently turned her head back to face him. She then closed her eyes briefly and nodded her head. “No, not right now.” She then continued just staring into his eyes. “Oh, Moka.” “Oh, Tsukune.” “Oh, Moka.” “Oh, Tsukune.” They then slowly started leaning in close to each other. When their lips were just inches away from each other, Kurumu suddenly appeared in between them, grabbed Tsukune and shoved his face into her chest. “Tsukune!” Moka was taken by surprise and backed away in shock. Kurumu continued speaking, with a smile on her face, while she continued rubbing her boobs in Tsukune’s face. “Tsukune, isn’t it amazing? There’s finally a Fimfiction about us. I just knew that one day someone would finally write a story about our show. Who knows what’s gonna happen. Maybe it’ll be a big adventure, or maybe it’ll be a down-to-earth slice of life story.” Tsukune had absolutely no idea what she was saying. He tried to respond, but all of his words were muffled right now as he spoke into her chest. Suddenly, a frying pan appeared out of thin air and landed on Kurumu’s head with a loud crash. “Owww.” Yukari suddenly popped up beside Kurumu. “Back off, Kurumu! Tsukune’s mine!” Kurumu quickly recovered and turned around to face down at Yukari, with an angry expression on her face. “In your dreams, you flat-chested little kid! Tsukune would never go for a child like you! He needs a real woman!” “Dream on you big boobed hag! All you have is your massive breasts, but Tsukune wants way more,” She then turned away from Kurumu, closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around herself and smiled. She then said, in a quieter tone of voice, “Like grace and style and beautiful flat chest.” Kurumu and Yukari then got in each other’s faces and started sneering at each other and pushing each other back with their heads. Suddenly, a cold front blew in from nowhere and froze the two of them solid. Mizore then suddenly stepped out from behind a tree in the background. “You’re both wrong. Tsukune’s mine,” she said in a sombre tone that betrayed all emotion. She had a stoic expression on her face and a lollipop in her mouth. While all of this was going on, Tsukune wandered back over to Moka, with a silly look on his face and he scratched the back of his head. At this point, he’s gotten used to things like this happening on a daily basis. He then looked back at Moka, who he was now standing right next to him and smiled at her. She smiled back at him. “Hey, Tsukune!” he heard someone call from behind him. They both turned around to see who it was. It was a girl with long, hazel coloured hair that reached down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a fashionable, grey coloured coat over her school uniform and a pink scarf wrapped around her neck. She was also wearing a short, waist-high skirt and she was waving towards Tsukune and Moka as she made her way over to them. Time suddenly came to a standstill for everyone and Kou the bat flew in front of your view. “In case any of are wondering, this is Ryō Sakurano; the authors OC from this anime series. She’s a changeling; a mythical creature that has the power to shape-shift into anyone else. They use their power to replace other people and then gain power by feasting off of their friends and family’s love for that person. With all the love around her, it’s really no surprise why she’s with them. She had a rough first ride with this group, just like everyone else in the group, but they're all good friends now. She’s not in love with Tsukune like the rest of these girls, but she’s great friends with all of them and she’s a part of the gang now and she gets power from their friendship. Well, that’s all you need to know about her. Enjoy the rest of the story. Whee!” Kou flew away and time returned to normal for everyone. Ryō caught up with Tsukune and Moka and started casually talking with the two of them. Just to the side of them, Kurumu and Yukari have thawed out of their ice prison and were fighting with each other comically, in a big ball of dust, with arms and legs popping out in several different places every few seconds. Mizore just stood there, next to them, not doing anything. Other students were gathered around in their own little groups, waiting outside the school for classes to begin, talking to each other and completely ignoring them. All in all, it was just another day at Yokai Academy. Just to the side of the path, Kuyo was standing behind the trees, looking intently at Tsukune and his friends. “Finally, after all this time, my powers have returned to what they once were. Now I can finally have my revenge on that detestable human.” The school bell rang and the students all started making their way inside the school for class. Because Kurumu and Yukari were busy fighting with each other, the group of them were delayed getting in and had to spend time separating them. When all of the other students were inside and Tsukune and his friends were all alone, Kuyo stepped out from his hiding spot and revealed himself to them. He then smiled arrogantly back at them. They all reacted in surprise to his presence. “Ku-Kuyo,” Tsukune stuttered out. “So, you remember me after all this time? That’s good to hear, because I certainly never forgot about you.” He snarled those last words at them, angrily. Moka soon regained herself and spoke up against him in a strong tone. “Just what do you want with us?” After a moment of just glaring back at them angrily, Kuyo then lowered his angry expression and smiled devilishly. “Simple; I want revenge against that human for how he humiliated me.” Then there was a bright flash of light around Kuyo and he instantly went to his final form. Tsukune was taken aback by this. “N-no way,” he stuttered, as sweat trickled down his forehead. The rest of the girls all looked worried as well. Kuyo then formed a ball of pure energy in his hands. He looked down at it briefly and then looked back at Tsukune. “Farewell, human.” He then threw the ball of energy right at Tsukune. Tsukune looked on at the ball of energy coming towards him. He couldn’t move; he was paralysed with fear. “Tsukune!” He suddenly heard the five girls all scream out in unison. The five of them then all jumped in front of Tsukune, between him and the ball of energy. “No, get back!” Tsukune screamed out as loud as he could, but it was too late. The ball of energy collided with the group. It produced a large explosion that completely engulfed the six friends. When the dust cleared, there was nothing left but a large burn mark on the ground where they had stood. When Kuyo saw that they were gone, he let out a triumphant laugh. “Good riddance to bad company.” Everything was dark. The last thing that Tsukune remembered was being hit with Kuyo’s blast and then everything faded to black. However, what he found strange was that he didn’t remember feeling any pain. His mind immediately went to the worst case scenario, where his friends had taken the hit for him and now they were hurt because of him. He tried with all of his might to try and stand up. He was still weak, but he tried forcing energy back into his body. As he got more feeling back, he suddenly felt a bit strange. Firstly, he felt as if he was lying down in a posture that was impossible for his body. Next, he couldn’t feel his hands. He could feel his arms waving around a bit, but he couldn’t flex his fingers. He felt like his hands had been cut off at the wrists. This thought worried him greatly with what he remembered happening. More feeling returned to his body and he was finally able to open his eyes. It took him a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light. Then, he raised his head up and looked around. He seemed to be in some sort of forest. He tried standing up on two feet, but once he was up, he immediately fell back down. “Ahhh, what the hell?” After he fell back, he rubbed at the back of his head where he had fallen down. As he brought his hand back around, his eyes immediately widened at what he saw. He didn’t have a hand; he had a hoof. “WHAT THE HELL?!” After he screamed, he heard the sound of others rousing around him. He looked around at where he was and he was surrounded by small, colourful horses. As he looked at them, he knew that they looked familiar somehow. His mind then started connecting the dots. “No way,” he whispered quietly. One of the ponies next to him picked herself up on to two hooves and looked at him strangely. She then slowly uttered, “Tsukune?” Tsukune recognised the voice immediately; it was Moka. She was an earth pony, with a green coat that was the same colour as her school blazer. She had a long, flowing pink mane. She was still wearing her rosary around her neck, though she wasn’t wearing any other clothes. Strangely, she also had a picture of her rosary on her flank. Tsukune felt a bit guilty for staring at it. “M-Moka?” “What the hell is going on here?!” There was another voice he recognised. He turned around to look and he saw a stunning pegasus mare with a bright yellow coat and an ocean blue mane, tied back in a purple headband. She had an image of a pair of lips with a slight trail coming off of them on her flank. Standing beside her, inspecting her body and looking confused, was a small unicorn filly with a white coat and a black manestyle that he recognised, wearing a familiar witch’s hat. She had an image of a familiar pink wand on her flank. Standing just above her and next to the pegasus mare, was a unicorn mare with a purple coat and a darker purple mane. She had an image of a snow crystal on her flank. She too inspected herself, but she still had a stoic expression on her face and a lollipop in her mouth. “What’s going on? Why do we look like ponies?” Tsukune heard Moka talk and he turned around to look at her. “I don’t know. The last thing I remembered was being attacked by Kuyo and then everything went dark. When I woke up, I was like this.” Moka looked back at him, with a worried look on her face. Tsukune blushed at the sight of this. “So cute; even as a pony.” Kurumu suddenly shouted out, “Ohhhh, when I get hands on that jerk…” After she had vented, she then looked down at her new body. “Errr… hooves?” she begrudgingly corrected. They all just stared at Kurumu after her little outburst. Suddenly, they heard a rustling in the bushes beside them and something emerged from it. They all turned to see what it was. It was a creature that looked like a cross between a pony and an insect. It had a hard, black chitin. There were holes in its wings and hooves, but it seemed to stand up just fine despite this. It also had a horn, but while this creature was the same size as Kurumu, its horn was the same size as Yukari’s. “So… any idea why we all look like ponies now?” It spoke; and they recognised its voice. Tsukune looked at this thing curiously. “Ryō?” The creature looked at him, confused; like it had two heads. It briefly patted its head to make sure it didn’t actually have two heads. When it was confident that it didn’t, it turned back to Tsukune. “Of course it’s me. I was able to recognise all of you.” The five of them all looked between themselves briefly and then looked back at Ryō. Kurumu then walked towards her, grabbed her hoof and raised it up so that she could see herself properly. After she inspected her body more thoroughly, she then looked back at the others. “Oh, well that’s weird. Don’t worry, I’ll just change back.” She was then briefly engulfed in a green flame, and after it disappeared, a pegasus mare with a pink coat and a long green mane tied back in a ponytail stood in its place. Like Tsukune, her flank was bare of any mark. After Ryō had transformed, she inspected how she looked. “Huh, that’s weird. I tried to turn into my normal form. Oh well, at least I can still transform.” When Ryō had said this, Kurumu suddenly thought of something. She then turned to address the rest of the group. “Hey, do the rest of us still have our powers?” When she was finished speaking, she turned around to look at her back. “Well, I still have my wings.” She then started flapping them and she easily lifted off the ground. After a few seconds, she returned to the ground. “And they still work.” While Ryō started flapping her wings to see if she could still fly, Yukari started inspecting herself as well, but then she suddenly paused in realization. “Where’s my wand?!” she screamed out. She then started searching the nearby area for it, while the others just stared at her. Moka then approached her. “Don’t worry, Yukari. It will be alright.” Yukari turned around to face her. “No, you don’t understand. I’m a witch, and without a wand, a witch is powerless.” She then looked down in worry, while Moka also acted worried. Suddenly, Yukari’s eyes popped open. “Wait a minute…” Moka looked up in surprise. Yukari then looked up at her forehead, at her horn. “My horn; I get the same feeling from it that I get from my wand. It’s like all of my magic is in there.” Mizore then looked up at her own horn, but then almost immediately looked stoic again. “Whatever.” Moka stood back up on her hooves and looked at her rosary. “Well, I still have my rosary, so I probably still have my vampire powers too.” After everyone had figured out that they still had their monster powers, Tsukune looked around at everyone in the group and nodded. “Right; now that that’s taken care of, we should probably find out where we are.” Moka looked back at Tsukune and smiled. “Right.” The rest of the group then nodded as well and gave an affirmative, “Mmm hmm." Tsukune then turned around to face the other way. “Alright, first we should try to find somebody, or some pony around here who can tell us where we are.” He then turned his head around to look at them and pointed his hoof straight ahead. “Let’s head this way and see if we find a town of some kind and ask for information or directions.” Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore and Ryō all nodded their heads in agreement. The six of them then made their way along the forest path. After she had taken a few steps, Kurumu suddenly stopped when she noticed something. “Wait a minute,” she whispered in a voice so low that the others could barely here her. Her eyes then widened as far as they could. “I DON’T HAVE MY BOOBS ANYMORE!” The rest of them stopped in their tracks and silently looked at Kurumu, who was curled up on the path, gently sobbing. Yukari however, just laughed. To be continued… //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 Chapter 2 A Party and a Vampire After Kurumu had gotten over the loss of her boobs, the six of them continued on their way along the forest path. Yukari still couldn’t keep herself from snickering. Kurumu noticed this, but she just let it go. She was in no mood to fight with Yukari right now. The walk through the forest was quite pleasant. The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful. The wind blew gently, rustling the trees and blowing a refreshing breeze on to their muzzles. The path was clear and straight and led right to the exit. After about ten minutes of walking along silently, they reached the edge of the forest. Once they saw that they were out, they all smiled, except for Mizore, and galloped forward, out into the fresh air. Once they were out of the forest, they looked ahead at where to go next. They spotted a small town over in the distance and they were able to make out several ponies walking around. Tsukune, who was at the front of the group, pointed his hoof towards the town. “Alright, we should first head over to that town and try to get some information about where we are right now.” He then lowered his hoof and turned his head around to look back at them. “With any luck, they’ll know the way back to Yokai Academy.” His face then slumped down a little. “Although, just to be safe we should keep our identities to ourselves. I don’t know how they might react to us being monsters.” They all nodded in agreement. They then all faced forward and trotted towards the town. They soon made their way into town. As they made their way along, they didn’t seem to attract too much attention. Their group didn’t look that strange. The six of them; two earth ponies, two unicorns and two pegasi, looked around at their new surroundings as they walked along. The houses were all made of white rock and thatched roofs. There were many different types ponies walking around; some unicorns, some pegasi and some earth ponies. They were all a mix of bright colours and they all had a picture of something on their flanks. Tsukune then looked back at his own flank as he walked, and he saw that it was blank. He then wondered why he and Ryō didn’t have any marks while everyone else did. All of his other friends did too and they all arrived here together. Moka saw that Tsukune was worried about something so she asked him, “What’s wrong, Tsukune?” Tsukune perked up at the sound of Moka’s voice. He then turned around to face her. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about this whole situation, what with us being turned into ponies and all.” He then laughed slightly and Moka joined him soon after. “Anyway, we should probably ask one of these ponies if they know anything.” Tsukune then looked ahead again, and he saw a pink earth pony walking towards him. “Well, I suppose that she’s as good as any,” he thought. He then walked up to the pink pony to talk to her. “Excuse me, I was just wondering if you could…” but before he could finish his sentence, the pink pony suddenly jumped up into the air and let out a loud and drawn out gasp. She then flew away quickly in the air, despite not having any wings. The group then all looked confused. “Well that was just weird.” Kurumu walked up beside Tsukune, while keeping her eyes on where that pony had dashed off to. “I know. We don’t know anything about this place and that pony still seemed really weird.” She then stared at where the pink pony had gone for a little bit longer before continuing. “But still, there’s something about that pony that seems familiar,” she whispered to herself. Once they had all forgotten about that pink pony, they continued on to find somepony else who could tell them something. Tsukune then saw a mint green unicorn, with a blue and white striped mane. She had an image of a lyre on her flank. He then approached her and said, “Excuse me, miss.” The unicorn turned to look at who had just addressed her. “My friends and I aren’t exactly from around here. Do you by any chance know where we can get some information about this place?” The mint unicorn stared back at him. “Well, you could try the Golden Oaks Library down the street there,” she said as she pointed her hoof in the direction of the library. “It’s in a big oak tree; you can’t miss it.” Tsukune looked at where she had pointed and then looked back at the mare and smiled. “Thank you for your help, miss.” “It’s Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings, and you’re welcome,” she said with a smile. She then started to make her way along, but then she suddenly stopped and turned back around to look at Tsukune. She eyed him up and down for a few seconds and then just said, “No, it couldn’t be,” in a flat tone. She then turned back around and walked away. After Lyra had left, Tsukune looked back at where she had pointed him to and said to his friends, “Alright, let’s head to the library.” They then all headed of in the direction of the Ponyville library. They soon reached their destination. Lyra wasn’t kidding; the library was actually inside an oak tree. All six of them agreed that with what they had seen so far, this was definitely a strange world. Tsukune then approached the library and knocked on the front door. A moment later, the door was answered by a small, purple dragon, carrying a stack of books in his claws. He grunted slightly from the weight before responding. “Can I help you with something?” Tsukune was a bit taken aback at this site. He had seen a lot of strange things in the last two years, but he had never seen a dragon before. After a moment’s hesitation, he answered. “Oh, yes. See my friends and I are new around here and we were just looking for some information about this place.” “Well then, you came to the right place.” The dragon shifted some of the books in his grasp as he spoke. He then turned back inside the library. “Hey Twilight, could you help these ponies find a book about Ponyville?” Tsukune poked his head into the library as the dragon spoke. He saw a purple unicorn, with a pink and purple striped mane sitting on a couch, reading a book. When she heard the dragon address her, she looked away from her book. She then placed a bookmark on the page she was reading and made her way over to the door. “Thank you, Spike. I’ll take it from here.” The dragon then walked back into the library and Twilight turned to look at her guests. “So, you need book about Ponyville?” Tsukune staggered for a bit. He needed more information than just this town, but he couldn’t tell her that he and his friends were from another world. “Uhhmm, yes. If you don’t mind.” “Not at all,” she responded. She then turned her head to look into the library and suddenly her horn became enveloped in a magenta aura. Yukari’s eyes lit up at the sight of that. Twilight then turned back around and she was levitating a book next to her, wrapped in the same colour aura that was coming from her horn. “Here you go. ‘A Tourists Guide to Ponyville’. It’s a fantastic reference guide. You should check out the table of contents.” As she spoke, she sounded a bit too energetic about a book. She caught this herself and briefly collected herself. “Anyway, I’ll ring this up for you. Just bring it back before you leave town, okay?” “Uhhmm, okay,” he staggered again. He then stared at the book hovering in front of him. After a few seconds, he just decided to grab it with his mouth. “Thank you,” he said, though his voice sounded a bit muffled with the book in his mouth. Twilight stared back at him a bit strangely. “Uhhmm, okay. Well, I’ll see you later.” They both turned around to walk away, when suddenly Twilight remembered something. “Oh, you guys are new in town, right?” Tsukune turned around to face her, but Moka answered for him since he still had the book in his mouth. “Yes, that’s right.” “Have you by any chance run into a pink earth pony with a poufy pink mane?” Moka looked back at her, wondering how she knew that. “Yes, we did.” Twilight smiled. “Well, then you should definitely stick around for a while. I promise you that you will not be disappointed.” Moka smiled back at her. “Okay, we will. Goodbye now.” She and the rest of them then turned around and walked away. Twilight gave one last look at them and then trotted back into the library. The six of them then tried to find some place where they could sit down and read the book. While they searched, they noticed that Yukari was beaming. Kurumu looked down at her and asked, “What’s got you so excited?” She then looked up at her and said, “Didn’t you see that unicorn? She’s a witch too.” The six of them later sat together on a park bench and started reading the book that they got from the library. Aside from being mostly about this town, it also contained some useful information about this country. It’s called Equestria and it’s co-ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The three main types of ponies are unicorns, who have horns and can use magic. Yukari was excited that there were so many other ponies that could use magic like her. There are also pegasi, who have wings and they control the weather. There are also earth ponies, who don’t have wings or horns, but they are stronger than other types of ponies and they have a deep connection to the earth for growing food. The book contained a lot of useful information about this world, but it didn’t include anything about humans, monsters or Yokai Academy. They had spent a lot of time reading the book and it was now getting late. The sun was starting to go down and the sky looked orange. Yukari took hold of the book with her magic. She was now able to use her horn just like she would use her wand back at Yokai Academy. When they were done reading the book, Moka then asked, “What do we do now?” Tsukune looked at her and then at the rest of them. “I don’t know.” They all looked a bit worried; however, before they could react any further, a grey pegasus pony, with crossed eyes suddenly approached them, with a letter in her mouth. “Hey, are you the new ponies in town?” They were caught off guard by this pony’s question. No one responded verbally; they just nodded their heads. “Oh, good. Here, this later came for you. It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.” She then leaned forward for them to take it. They were all still a bit confused; both at this pony’s weird behaviour and wondering who would be sending them a letter when they just got here. Yukari took the letter with her magic, enveloping it in a pink aura, and then the pegasus left. She then opened the envelope and suddenly, confetti shot out of it like a bullet. They were all taken aback by this. “I don’t know how much more weirdness I can take,” Tsukune said flatly. “What does it say, Yukari?” Yukari then raised the letter to her face and started to read. New ponies in town --- Come to Sugarcube Corner as soon as you get this letter. It’s the big building that looks like it’s made out of candy. You can’t miss it. Just don’t try to eat it. It’s not actually made out of candy. You only make that mistake once. Signed --- A friend They all looked over the note and they thought that it was really strange. Although, if someone else from Yokai Academy was here as well, they should be able to help them get back. They then all got up and made their way towards Sugarcube Corner. The six of them then made their way over to Sugarcube Corner. While they were walking down the streets, Tsukune accidentally bumped into a blue unicorn mare with a striped mane that looked like toothpaste and had a picture of an hourglass on her flank. “Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t see you there,” Tsukune apologized. The blue unicorn just brushed it off without saying anything. She started walking away, when suddenly she stopped in her tracks. She then turned around to face Tsukune again and she stuck her face in close to him. Kurumu groaned in the background, but the other four held her back. Tsukune was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable at this breach of his personal space. “So… uhhmm, is there anything I can help you with?” he asked nervously. The unicorn continued staring at him for a few more seconds and then it pulled away again and walked away. The five mares regrouped with Tsukune after the blue unicorn had left. Kurumu then said, “Well that was weird.” “I bet she’s a stalker.” After a while wandering around the town, they eventually found Sugarcube Corner. The note was right. It was easy to find, as its architecture stood out from all of the other buildings in town. It really did look like it was made out of candy. If not for the warning, they might actually try to eat it. The Sun had now gone down and the streets were deserted. They were now standing in the closed doorway of Sugarcube Corner. Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore and Ryō all looked between themselves before they went in. They all nodded and said, “Right.” They were prepared for whatever or whoever was waiting for them in there. Tsukune stepped forward and opened the door. “I wasn’t prepared for this,” Tsukune thought. As soon as they had entered Sugarcube Corner, it was pitch black. They all stepped inside and searched around for a light switch. However, as soon as they were all inside and they had shut the door, the lights came on and dozens of ponies jumped out and yelled, “Surprise!” “Surprise!” the pink earth pony from earlier repeated when she was right in front of Tsukune’s face. This sight made Moka slightly jealous, so she stepped in and gently pushed the pink pony away from Tsukune. She didn’t seem to notice anything off about Moka at all and just continued on, completely oblivious. “Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Were you?” “Uhhmm, yeah,” Tsukune responded nervously. “But, what’s the occasion?” “Well, duh. It’s you guys very own ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party.” She then threw some confetti in their faces. While everyone was trying to get the confetti out of their mane, Kurumu addressed this pony. “So…” “Pinkie. Pinkie Pie; party planner extraordinaire.” She then smiled back at her. “Uhhmm, Pinkie Pie. You mean you threw this party just because we came to town?” “Of course. I knew that you guys were new around because I know everypony and I mean everypony in Ponyville, and if I didn’t know you then that must mean you’re new around here, and if you’re new around here that means that you haven’t met anyone yet, and if you hadn’t met anyone than you must be lonely and that made me so sad, so I decided to throw you all a big surprise party to introduce you to everypony. Surprise!” She spoke all of this in a matter of seconds. “Now let’s go.” She then wrapped her hooves around all of them and pulled them into the centre of the room. Kurumu noticed something strange when Pinkie grabbed all of them. “Wait, did she just…” Pinkie Pie placed them all down in the centre of the room, where everypony could see them. “Now then, why don’t you introduce yourselves to everypony?” The six of them all looked a bit embarrassed, but after a moment’s hesitation, they each stepped forward one at a time to introduce themselves. “My name is Tsukune Aono.” “My name’s Moka Akashiya.” “I’m Kurumu Kurono.” “I’m Yukari Sendo.” “… Mizore Shirayuki.” “And my name is Ryō Sakurano.” After they had all introduced themselves, Pinkie put a hoof to her chin and pursed her lips in thought. “Hmm… those names? Sounds Neighponese.” Everyone ignored Pinkie’s randomness, and when they had finished introducing themselves, Twilight walked up beside Pinkie. “Well, it’s nice to meet all of you. I never properly introduced myself before. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Pinkie once again bounced back to her usual self. “Well, now that everyone knows everyone… Let’s party!” Pinkie then ducked down beneath everyone and reappeared on the other side of the room. She then pulled out Vinyl Scratch. A disco ball then lowered from the roof and they started playing records. While everypony else in the room started partying, Kurumu just stared wide eyed at Pinkie. “She did it again.” While the party was underway, the six of them were split up so that they could all socialise with the other ponies. Pinkie led Yukari over to where the other foals were standing so that she could talk to them. She then quickly dashed away so that she could attend to the rest of the ponies here. After Pinkie had left, Yukari turned back around to face the other little ponies that she was with. There were three of them. One was a yellow earth pony, one was an orange pegasus and one was a white unicorn. She had to admit that the unicorn looked really cute. She also noticed that none of them had a picture on their flank. “So…” the yellow earth pony finally spoke up. “Nice to meet you, Yukari. Ah’m Apple Bloom. These here are mah friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo; and together we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” She shouted out those last three words and the three of them raised their hooves in the air. Yukari looked at them in confusion. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders? What’s that? And how come you three don’t have any pictures on your flanks?” “Well,” Scootaloo started. “Like AB said, we don’t have our cutie marks yet, so we decided to form a club so that we can discover our special talents and finally get our cutie marks.” After hearing Scootaloo’s explanation, Yukari looked back at her cutie mark. “Special talent, huh. Okay, now everything makes sense.” “Huh,” Scootaloo asked. She then looked at Yukari’s cutie mark. “A magic wand, huh. Is your special talent magic?” Yukari turned back to face them. “Yep. I’m the best magic user in all of Yokai Academy.” She closed her eyes and placed her hoof over her chest as she spoke with pride. “Wow, that’s amazing,” Sweetie exclaimed. “You’re still just a filly and you’re great at magic. I wish I was that good at using my magic.” Yukari blinked at this. “You mean you can use magic too?” “Well, a little,” Sweetie said as she raised her hoof to her lip. Yukari stared at her for a few seconds and then she smiled. “You can use magic too, and you’re really cute.” Sweetie Belle suddenly lowered her hoof again and blushed in embarrassment. “Oh… uhhh, thanks.” Yukari then reared back and pounced on Sweetie Belle, burying her in a glomp. “I’ve decided then; you’re gonna be my girlfriend!” Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “What!” she squeaked. Mizore stood near the snack table, not eating anything or talking to anypony. She just stood there, sucking on her lollipop. She then noticed that her lollipop was drying up. She cast a glance over to the snack table and she saw a whole bowl filled with lollipops. She then walked over to the snack table. She then spit out her lollipop and put a new one in her mouth. As soon as she did, Pinkie suddenly appeared behind her. “So, are you having fun Mizore?” Mizore, not being taken by surprise at all, just rolled her eyes to glance over at Pinkie and then she just glanced away again. However, Pinkie just moved over so that she was in her sights again. “Aww, come on, Mizore. Turn that frownie upside downie.” Mizore just stared back at her with stoic expression, unblinking. Pinkie’s face then went serious. “Wow, tough crowd.” She then quickly reverted to her usual self. “Come on Mizore, give a smile.” Mizore just looked at Pinkie like before and simply said, in a straight tone of voice, “I don’t feel like smiling.” Pinkie was shocked. “What? How can anypony ever not feel like smiling?” Mizore still kept her gaze locked on Pinkie. “What’s the point in smiling?” Pinkie felt like she was knocked back she was taken by so much surprise. “What’s the point in smiling?!” she parroted, only louder. “Smiling is only the most funnest fun thing in the entire world. A smile can always brighten up even the saddest of days. So what do say, Mizore; feel like smiling yet?” “No.” Pinkie pursed her lips together again. After another five seconds, she then smiled and put her hoof in the air. “Challenge accepted.” She then started pulling at her own face, making all sorts of silly faces. However, Mizore didn’t even move a muscle on her face. Pinkie then pulled her face back again and looked serious. “Now THIS might be a challenge.” Ryō was over by the punch bowl, drinking some punch and conversing with Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash raised her cup of punch to her lips and took another drink. “So Ryō; if you don’t mind me asking, how come you don’t have your cutie mark yet? I mean, you look like you’re my age?” Ryō was in the middle of drinking her punch when the cyan pegasus in front of her asked her the question. She didn’t know what she meant. She then lowered her cup and asked, “What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash looked at her quizzically. “Well, I mean, ponies usually discover their special talents and get their cutie marks when they’re fillies and colts. How could you not have yours yet? You a late bloomer or something?” When Rainbow Dash was finished speaking, Ryō looked back at her bare flank. “Special talents, huh. I guess that makes sense. It must be a pony thing.” She then turned back around and faced Rainbow Dash again. “I’m a girl of many talents,” she spoke with pride. “Oh,” Rainbow responded, almost like she was challenging her own pride. “You got a lot of things that you’re good at, but you just haven’t found that one thing that you do better than anypony else. I guess I can understand that. Not everypony can get their cutie mark as fast as me. I got mine in ten seconds flat.” She sounded like she was trying to match Ryō’s pride as she spoke. Ryō giggled a bit at what she said. “You’re pretty funny, Rainbow Dash.” She then lifted her cup to her lips again, however, she was suddenly afflicted by a sudden fatigue that she knew all too well. She dropped her cup and the punch spilled out on to the floor. She started wobbling a bit, but she stayed standing her hooves, barely though. “I guess it’s been a while since I fed.” Rainbow Dash looked at her worriedly, “Hey, are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” Ryō said as she waved Dash off, though as soon as she lifted a hoof off the ground, she almost fell over again. “Are you sure? Is there anything that I can do to help?” “No, it’s oka… Wait.” She stopped her thoughts for a moment and looked closely at Rainbow Dash. “Maybe I could get some love off of her. Who knows, maybe she swings that way. I mean, her hair is dead giveaway. But then again, what if she’s not like that? Hmmm, wait that’s it. Actually, there is something you can do.” Rainbow nodded back at her, like she was with her so far. “I need you to close your eyes.” Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion. “What? Why do you need me to close my eyes?” “Just do it, okay?” Rainbow Dash was still confused, but she closed her eyes anyway. “So, what do you want me to do n…” The rest of her words were cut off when she suddenly felt Ryō press her lips up against hers. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes in shock. She was still trying to comprehend what just happened, so it was a few seconds before she pulled away. Ryō felt Rainbow Dash pull away, but it was alright. She already felt invigorated. Rainbow Dash then blurted out, “What the hay was that for?!” She looked like a cross between angry and confused while she spoke. Ryō didn’t seem to visibly react to her outburst. She got what she needed. She just simply said, “Never mind,” and walked away with a smile on her face. As she watched Ryō walk away, Rainbow Dash couldn’t draw her gaze away from her. “Well that was just weird.” She then went to pour herself some more punch, completely unaware that she was blushing hard. Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu were all standing together, speaking with Twilight and Rarity. “Kurumu, I must say that you look absolutely ravishing. Is that your natural look or do you style it? Oh, you simply must give me the number of the pony who does your hair.” Kurumu was honestly having a nice time talking to Rarity about fashion and style. Her other friends weren’t exactly into stuff like that. Looking good is a part of who she is. Succubus powers aren’t always enough. You have to look good as well. Twilight, Tsukune and Moka watched as Kurumu and Rarity talked to each other. “Wow, I’d say that you’re fitting in here quite well,” Twilight said as she turned back to face Tsukune and Moka. “Although, I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of this ‘Yokai Academy’ that you told me about. Is it a special school?” Tsukune laughed slightly as Twilight said this. “You could say that.” He then looked serious. “So you’ve really never heard of it?” “Sorry, but I haven’t, and I consider myself an intellectual.” She blushed. “Err… not that I’m bragging.” “That’s too bad,” Moka spoke up, sounding a bit disappointed. Twilight looked back at the two of them. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking; where exactly is...” She was suddenly cut off by a loud roar. RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRR!!!! Everypony at the party suddenly stopped what they were doing in response to what they just heard. Twilight had a terrible sinking feeling. “Oh no.” RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRR!!!! The roar came again and now ponies were beginning to panic. Pinkie took a break from trying to get Mizore to smile and looked up. “Hey, what’s the matter everypony?” Twilight was now lost in her own worry. “No, it can’t be.” She spoke so quietly that only Tsukune and Moka, who were standing right next to her could hear her. Tsukune and Moka both saw how worried Twilight looked. Tsukune then asked, “What is it?” As she turned to face him, Applejack and Fluttershy both ran up to Twilight. “Hey Twi, that roar; you don’t supposed that it’s really a…” RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRR!!!! Twilight looked back at Applejack again. “Yes, it is. It definitely is.” Tsukune and Moka both leaned in closer to Twilight. “It’s an Ursa Minor.” To be continued… //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 Chapter 3 An Ursa Minor and a Vampire Inside Sugarcube Corner, ponies were running around screaming, terrified of the beast that was waiting for them just outside of these walls. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both took to the air to try and get everypony to calm down. While they were doing that, Yukari, Mizore and Ryō joined up with Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu, who were gathering near Twilight to hear more about this Ursa Minor. When they were all gathered, Tsukune finally spoke up. “Twilight, just what is an Ursa Minor, anyway?” Twilight turned to face him. “An Ursa Minor is a star beast. They take the form of a translucent bear and they stand about four stories tall. They’re normally peaceful creatures, which is why we don’t usually deal with them very often; but a rampaging Ursa Minor is a dangerous and terrifying beast. They’re…” She got caught a bit in her mouth before she could continue with what she wanted to say. “They’re monsters.” Monsters. That last word stuck with them. The six former Yokai students all looked between each other and nodded in affirmation. They knew what they needed to do. The six of them then all turned towards the door and broke into a gallop. When Twilight saw where they were headed, she called out to them immediately. “Wait, stop. An Ursa Minor is incredibly dangerous.” They didn’t listen. They made it to the door and burst outside. As soon as they got outside, they saw the Ursa Minor immediately. It looked exactly as Twilight had described. It easily towered over the buildings in town. It was both blue and see-through at the same time. With the night sky behind it and the constellation markings on its fur, it looked like it had actually crawled out of the night sky. When they got outside and saw the star beast, they all started walking towards it, while taking in the sight in front of them. This creature wasn’t like any monster that they had ever seen before back at Yokai Academy. As soon as they started trotting towards it, they were able to hear the door of Sugarcube Corner open behind them again, and Twilight and a few other ponies from inside poked their heads out. “Quick, come back inside before it sees you,” Twilight whispered just loud enough for them to hear her. She then cast her gaze over to the Ursa Minor that had come into town. Something was wrong. The last Ursa Minor that came to Ponyville just looked upset, but this one looked completely enraged. Twilight then quickly looked back to the group of former students. “Get inside, quickly!” she said much louder than before. Rainbow Dash looked down at Twilight, who she was hovering over in the doorway. “Hey Twilight, you beat an Ursa Minor before. Can’t you just do it again?” “No, Rainbow Dash. That last Ursa Minor was just a bit cranky. This one is in a full blown rampage.” The Ursa Minor turned away from a building that it was attacking, and it noticed the six ponies from Yokai. It then growled at them and began charging towards them. More ponies were at the door and windows of Sugarcube Corner now, watching them. Twilight quickly gestured towards them again. “Quick, get inside. Hurry.” They didn’t even turn back to face her. Tsukune then turned back to face Twilight. “Don’t worry, Twilight. We can handle this.” He then turned back around to face the rampaging Ursa, along with the rest of his friends. When the Ursa Minor was closing in on them, Kurumu was the first one to act. She quickly unfurled her wings and dashed off into the air. The Ursa Minor tried to swipe at her as she was passing it, but she quickly banked to the right to avoid it. It then tried swiping at her again, but she simply moved about in the air to avoid it. Kurumu hovered in the air, just out of reach of the Ursa, while she tried to come up with a plan. “I can’t just keep dodging his attacks. If I’m gonna win, I have to attack.” She then looked back at her wings as she hovered there. “I still have my wings so I should still have my succubus powers. I just have to concentrate.” She then concentrated really hard and tried to summon her sharp nails. Then, the next thing she knew, the feathers in her wings had become razor sharp. She lifted up her wings to get a better view of her new weapons. “Yeah, these will do just fine.” She then glared down at the Ursa Minor with a devilish smile on her face. She then whipped out her wings and flew down towards the Ursa Minor. It swiped at her with its claw, but she avoided it easily. She then moved in closer to it and slashed at its side with her razor sharp wing. The creature screamed out in pain of its injury. The wound cut deep, enough to draw blood. Kurumu flew up high and came down again for another attack, her wing now stained with blood. However, the beast was even more enraged now. It started swiping at her with its claws even more aggressively. She just managed to avoid being hit, but right now that was about all she could do to avoid being hit. She couldn’t find an opening to attack. Kurumu flew up higher to get out of swiping range of its claws, but the Ursa Minor then stood up on its hind legs to increase its range and strike at her. The beast was about to swipe at her, when a huge pot just suddenly appeared out of thin air. The Ursa had just enough time to look at it and become confused when it smashed against its head. The ponies watching this were all confused at this and they momentarily forgot about the danger because they were lost in confusion. Twilight looked down from Kurumu to the other former students, and she saw that Yukari had stepped forward. She had a look of fierce determination on her face. Her horn lit up in a pink aura and another pot appeared above the Ursa’s head and it smashed upon impact. The Ursa shook this off and became enraged again and it had noticed that Yukari was the one causing this. It roared in her direction, but she just dropped another pot on its head. The Ursa shook it off and roared back at her again, but she just dropped another pot on its head. The Ursa was now really annoyed. It didn’t roar this time and instead charged right for Yukari. Yukari was worried. She thought that her pots would be having more of an effect on it. The Ursa was about to leap at her, when suddenly Mizore stepped in front of Yukari and stared down the Ursa Minor; she looked serious now. She then lowered her head and started concentrating and her horn starting glowing in a light blue aura. Just as the Ursa was about to make contact with her, a huge blast of snow erupted out of Mizore’s horn and froze the Ursa in place. The Ursa’s angry expression faded and now it looked confused. It tried to move its claws that were stretched out in front of it, inches away from the two unicorns, but then it saw that they were completely frozen, along with the rest of its body. Yukari stuck her tongue out at the Ursa Minor, while Mizore just stared at it with a stoic expression, which showed just a hint of satisfaction; but not a smile. The Ursa became enraged again and snarled at them angrily. It then put all of its anger into its muscles and burst out of its ice encasing, sending shards of ice everywhere. Once it was free, it reared up and roared again. Mizore and Yukari both raised their hooves to shield their faces from falling ice shards. While neither of them could see it, the Ursa raised its front paw to strike at them; however, just then, Kurumu suddenly flew down and grazed the Ursa on its attacking claw, halting its attack. The Ursa stepped back for a second in pain, while the three former students took the time to steady themselves. After a five second cease fire, the Ursa Minor and former Yokai students resumed their fight. The Ursa continued trying to swipe at the three of them as they moved around, trying to battle it. Kurumu swooped overhead and came down to strike at its sides with her wings when it was distracted. Yukari continued dropping pots on its head to keep it off balance, and Mizore froze it to slow it down. To the side of the fighting, Ryō stepped out ahead of Tsukune and Moka, watching the fight more intensely. “There’s got to be something that I can do to help them.” She then looked at Yukari and Mizore while they were fighting and she noticed that their horns were glowing. She then glanced back at the growing number of ponies watching from the doorway. She then turned back to face the Ursa Minor, and she raised her eyes up to look at her forehead. “Unicorns can use magic with their horns,” she whispered under her breath, which she remembered from the book. She then shut her eyes and concentrated hard. A small, green flame, like from before appeared on her head, and in another second, a horn appeared. She opened her eyes to look at her forehead and she smiled. She then threw her gaze back towards the others engaging with the Ursa Minor. She then pulled her head back and her horn started glowing in a silver aura. She then fired a beam from her horn and it struck the Ursa Minor in its side, causing it to tip over slightly. The Ursa elicited a slight shriek of pain. It got back up on all fours and it turned to face Ryō. Kurumu used this distraction to sweep down and strike it on its side again. When it let out another shriek, Yukari quickly dropped another pot on its head and Mizore froze it some more. Ryō then unfurled her wings and flew off into the sky. She flew up several feet and stopped just short of the Ursa Minor, right next to Kurumu. She nodded at the succubus and then she turned back towards the Ursa. She lowered her head again and fired another beam from her horn at the creatures head. The four of them all worked together, striking at the Ursa when it was distracted. They had the advantage now. Yukari’s horn started glowing again and another pot started forming above the Ursa’s head. Kurumu descended to strike the star bear again; however, just before she made contact, it swung its huge claw at her. She pulled back just in time, but the sudden change in course caused her to collide with Ryō while she was charging up another attack. The two fumbled in the air and were pushed back into the pot that Yukari had conjured. This caused Yukari to lose her concentration, and the pot disappeared and Kurumu and Ryō fell to the ground, landing on top of Yukari. Mizore was distracted by this and turned to face the pile of her friends. The Ursa used this as an opportunity to strike while she was distracted. It raised its huge paw and swung it to strike her. She was hurled into the growing pile of her friends and the force of the blow knocked the pile of them several feet away. They were all exhausted and struggled to stand up. The ponies standing in the doorway all gave worried gasps at the sight of this. The Ursa Minor then stood up on its hind legs and roared triumphantly. Moka stood beside Tsukune, gritting her teeth, with a worried expression on her face. She couldn’t take it anymore. She then broke away from Tsukune and ran forward, towards the Ursa. “Uhhh, Moka,” Tsukune called, with a hoof stretched out towards her. Moka stopped a few feet in front of the Ursa and stared right at it. “Just stop all of this fighting, right now!” she said in a mixture of fear, worry and anger. The Ursa Minor looked down at her. It then snarled at her and roared again. It then got back down on all fours and rushed towards her, raising its paw to strike her. Moka was frozen in fear with a look of horror on her face; she couldn’t move. The ponies at the door all gasped. Tsukune then started rushing towards Moka to try and protect her; with his life if he had to. When he was close to her, so was the Ursa Minor. As the star bear’s claw was inches away from her, he then jumped to try and reach her first, to try and push her out of the way. “Moka!” Tsukune jumped in front of Moka and the bear, milliseconds before its huge claw had reached her. When she saw Tsukune between her and the Ursa, her eyes widened in fear even more. Just when all hope seemed lost, Tsukune’s hoof barely grazed against the rosary that hung around Moka’s neck. Then, as if he had tugged at it with all of his might, the rosary fell from her neck. Moka was then immediately engulfed in a huge, bright pillar of light. The light shot into the sky and the force of it pushed the Ursa Minor back. Tsukune fell back in the opposite direction, and landed with the other former students, who were beginning to wake up now. When the rosary seal over her breast is removed Moka’s innocent self disappears and her inner vampire awakens. Completely engulfed in the light, Moka suddenly began a physical transformation. All four of her hooves started growing longer, so that she now stood almost twice as tall as she did before. A pair of large wings then burst out of her back; however, unlike Kurumu and Ryō, her wings were more demonic than feathered. Her coat darkened to a darker shade of green and her long mane then gradually started changing colour from pink to silver. When the transformation was complete, the light faded and she kicked her hooves into the air, striking a pose. Her eyes were closed. The Ursa Minor stood back up, looking confused. It then dropped its confused look again and roared at her. It then began charging towards her. The ponies standing in the doorway were all left completely speechless after what they had just seen, and couldn’t react any further to what was happening now for the time being. The former students however, who had all regained themselves and stood up, just looked on with smiles on their faces. They knew that the fight was coming to an end now. As the Ursa drew closer, Moka finally opened her eyes to look at it. Her eyes were now blood red, instead of their usual green and they had a cat-like slit. After she finally laid her eyes on the massive, rampaging bear charging right at her, she then simply smiled arrogantly at it and said, “Well bear,” she spoke in a different sounding voice from before. “I think it’s about time you learned your place!” She then unfurled her wings and moved faster than most of the ponies watching in awe could follow and appeared under the Ursa Minor. She then lifted her front hoof and punched the Ursa right in the stomach. That one punch held so much force in it that it completely knocked the wind out of the star bear and pushed it back several feet. Before the bear even had a chance to catch its breath, Moka suddenly zoomed towards it again and hit the Ursa square in the face and sent it blasting off again towards the Everfree forest. There was a twinkle in the distance and then it was gone. After the Ursa Minor had been defeated, time suddenly froze around everypony and Kou appears in front of your view again. “Hey there, everyone. I ended up in this world too. Anyway, this chapter's fight took a total two thousand one hundred and one words. Whee!” He then flew away again and time returned to normal. When the fight was over, Moka rose back on to her hooves and looked ahead at where the Ursa had blasted off. She then looked down at her new body. “Well, it’s good to see that even in this new world I still have my powers.” She then turned around and saw Tsukune just standing there, staring back at her like he always did when they met like this. Moka smiled when she saw him, but it was different than how the other Moka smiled at him. She then started walking towards him. “Hey there, Tsukune. Long time no see.” “Uhhh, yeah,” Tsukune stammered out as she walked closer towards him. He quickly regained himself though. When Moka was standing right in front of him, she looked down at his new form. He was an earth pony, with a peach coloured coat and a mane that matched his usual hairstyle and colour. He was half as big as she was right now and he sported no cutie mark. She then snickered at his new appearance and smiled, as she picked up her rosary and raised it towards her. “You look ridiculous,” she stated bluntly. She then attached her rosary to the chain around her neck again. It attached immediately. As soon as the rosary was in place, she immediately shrunk back down to the size that she was before. Her wings disappeared as well and her eyes and mane returned to normal. She lost consciousness as this was happening and she started falling to the ground. “Moka!” Tsukune shouted out as she fell down. He then stepped forward and grabbed her before she hit the ground. The former students all picked themselves up and made their way over to Tsukune and Moka, while the ponies standing in the doorway of Sugarcube Corner slowly made their way out of the doorway and towards this strange group of ponies. As Tsukune held Moka in his hooves, she started to wake up and she opened her eyes slowly. Her eyes were green again. “Tsuk-Tsukune?” she whispered quietly to him, almost like it was a question to if he was really holding her right now. Tsukune looked back at her with a smile and a blush on his face. “Moka.” “Oh, Tsukune.” “Oh, Moka.” Moka grabbed Tsukune’s shoulder with her hoof and started leaning in closer to him, but she hesitated slightly before saying something this time. “I’m… so thirsty.” Tsukune smiled back at her at in glee, but then his face suddenly shifted in mood. “Wh-what?” Moka then closed her eyes, pulled Tsukune in closer to her and bit him on his neck to suck his blood. “Aaaaahhhh.” Tsukune suddenly screamed out. Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore and Ryō had all reached where the two of them were sitting when Tsukune screamed. They first all stopped where they were, and looked confused, but not that confused at what was happening. They then all smiled and started laughing between each other. After several seconds, Moka stopped and turned back to look Tsukune in the eye. “It was delicious. Thank you.” Tsukune quickly regained himself and looked back at Moka. “It was no problem, really.” He then gave her his hoof and helped her stand back up. The other former students then quickly re-joined them. When they were all together again, they then all looked back at the growing crowd of confused looking ponies. Ponies were still coming out of Sugarcube Corner, but some had elected to stay inside, thinking that this group could be even more dangerous than the Ursa Minor. The ponies that had come outside all just stood there in silence, staring ahead at this strange group of six ponies that had almost single-hoofedly defeated an Ursa Minor and sent it flying off into the Everfree Forest. None of them dared to speak. After almost a minute, this silence was finally broken when Pinkie Pie suddenly blurted out, “Did that bat just talk?!” To be continued… Author's Note Moka was originally going to be an alicorn, standing as tall as Celestia, but since vampire ponies are a thing now, I decided to make her a proper bat pony, but only in her real form. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Explanations and a Vampire After the big commotion between the Ursa Minor and the former students had ended, and everypony had gathered around them, completely speechless at what they had just seen; Twilight quickly stepped forward so that she could attempt to get a hold of the situation before anypony started panicking. She quickly whisked the group of former students, along with her friends to the library, so that she could question them and get some answers about what had just happened, without the other ponies in town freaking out. Tsukune and his friends complied with her request and followed them to the library. When they were all inside, and Twilight had shut the door, she then returned to her friends and Spike, and turned towards the former students, with an inquisitive look on her face, and finally asked, “So… care to explain exactly what happened back there?” At this question, Tsukune suddenly tensed up and looked a bit worried. He then quickly looked over towards his friends, beside him. After all looking between themselves for a few seconds, they all looked back at Tsukune and gave him a reassuring nod and a smile, like they were all in agreement about something. Tsukune then looked back at Twilight. “Well, I guess there’s no point in keeping it a secret anymore,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof. He then placed his hoof back down on the floor and continued speaking. “You see, the six of us… we’re not exactly normal ponies.” “Yeah, I think we got that,” Rainbow Dash responded in a sarcastic tone. Twilight threw a harsh glare at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, please don’t interrupt.” She then turned back to face Tsukune. “Sorry about that. Please continue.” “Well, like I was saying,” Tsukune continued. “We’re not actually ponies; we’re…” He hesitated slightly before finally coming out with it. “Well… we’re monsters.” Twilight and her friends all responded in confusion to this statement, while the former students didn’t even bat an eye. Twilight then finally spoke up. “Isn’t that a little harsh? I mean, sure it was strange to see six ponies taking down an Ursa Minor, but I wouldn’t call you monsters because of it.” Tsukune gave a slight chuckle at this and shook his head. “No, I mean it literally. The six of us are actually different types of monsters. For instance, I’m a human.” While the mane six were trying to process this, Moka walked up beside Tsukune. “That’s right; and I’m a vampire.” While the mane six didn’t know what a human was, they all knew what a vampire was, and they all reacted accordingly. Fluttershy was scared, Rarity reacted in shock, Pinkie was happy since she had never met a vampire pony before and so she was interested in finding out what they were like. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were convinced that they were all just playing a joke on them and didn’t take it too seriously. Twilight was a bit worried, like Rarity, but she was also a bit intrigued. Strangely enough, after the long pause, it was Spike that broke the silence. “A… v-v-v-vampire?” he stuttered out, sounding scared. “Does that mean that you’re going to suck our blood?” Everypony looked closely at Moka’s reaction; her expression hadn’t changed at all from when she had last spoken. She still had a warm smile on her face and she nodded her head slowly in disagreement. “Oh no, don’t worry.” She then turned her head to face Tsukune. “Tsukune’s the only one whose blood I drink.” Twilight then turned towards Tsukune herself, in confusion. “Really?” Tsukune turned to address Twilight. “Oh, it’s no problem really. I’m happy to help out with any of Moka’s needs, and I’ve pretty much gotten used to it by now so it doesn’t even hurt anymore.” Rainbow Dash suddenly bolted into the air, with an angry expression on her face. “I don’t trust ‘em. I bet they’re just waiting for us to let our guard down so they can attack us!” Twilight’s horn suddenly started glowing and she yanked the cyan pegasus’ tail, pulling her back down to the ground. “Rainbow! You shouldn’t be so quick to judge somepony. They have all been nothing but kind to us, saved us and the entire town from a rampaging Ursa Minor, came along with us quietly and have been honest and up front with us about everything. The least that we can do is to give them the benefit of the doubt.” She glared back at the pegasus when she was finished scolding her. Rainbow Dash then let out a sigh and gave an understanding look at Twilight. When the lavender bookworm saw that her friend had calmed down, she gave her a reassuring smile and then turned back around to face Tsukune and the others. “Sorry about that. Please, continue.” With that, Kurumu stepped forward and placed a hoof over her chest. “I’m a succubus.” Yukari then stepped up beside Kurumu. “I’m a witch.” Just to Yukari’s left, Mizore was standing, facing away from them, staring at the wall. After a few seconds of her not showing any signs of responding, Kurumu stepped up beside her and turned to face the ponies. “Uhhmm, she’s a snow woman.” Ryō then stepped out from Mizore’s left. “And I’m a changeling.” Ryō’s revelation drew a much more surprised shock from all six of the ponies. They then all blurted out, “WHAT?” Ryō looked at them all, confused as to why they were only reacting this way to her. “A changeling,” she answered, with a confused look on her face. She then hit upon a revelation. “Oh, you don’t know what that is. You see, a changeling has the power to change their form and…” Rainbow Dash cut her off with a loud stomp, before she took to the air again, her angry expression from before, returning to her face. “We know what a changeling is, from the huge swarm of them that attacked Canterlot a few months ago.” Ryō was confused upon hearing this. She then raised her hoof to her mouth in thought. “That doesn’t sound right. Changelings don’t usually live in swarms; they’re usually replaced by a child at birth so that they can grow up by feasting on that family’s love for their child.” She spoke in a quiet tone that the rest of them could barely hear. They couldn’t tell if she had intended for them to be able to hear her, or if she was just talking to herself. Rainbow Dash stared back at her intently, when suddenly; Twilight grabbed her tail with her magic again and pulled her back down. She then gave her friend another glare until Rainbow lamented again. Twilight then turned back around to face Tsukune again. “Okay,” she said calmly. “So, you’re all monsters…” she waited for an approving head nod from Tsukune before continuing. “And you’re from a school called ‘Yokai Academy?” “That’s right,” Tsukune responded. “It’s a school for monsters that teaches us how to live alongside humans.” The peach earth pony’s expression dipped a little bit. “Although, given how we arrived here, it might be in a different world, and I don’t have any idea about how we can get back there.” “I see,” Twilight stated, taking in everything Tsukune told her. “Well, if there’s a way of getting you all back to your own world, then Princess Celestia would know for sure. I can just send her a letter asking her.” Her tone started becoming more chipper and she raised her head and smiled at them. “But in the meantime, we should focus on where you’ll be staying for now.” She then turned to the side and started trotting towards a small desk, to pick up a piece of parchment and a quill. She looked over at the former students as she continued walking along. “You can all stay with us until then.” She then looked back at her friends. “Is that alright with everypony?” Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack all nodded back at her in compliance, though Applejack was a bit more hesitant in her nodding than the others. Applejack then walked over to join her purple unicorn friend, and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “Sugar cube, are y’all sure about this? Ah know they’re bein’ honest and ah respect that and all, but still; they’re all really strong and they could just be tryin’ to trick us. Are you sure that we can trust ‘em?” The lavender bookworm leaned in close to Applejack as well, to whisper in her ear. “I’m still not entirely sure myself. But if they are, then keeping them separated would be the best course of action for now.” When she had reached the desk, she turned towards the parchment and quill and took a hold of both of them with her magic. She then turned back around to face the six former Yokai students. “There are six of us and six of you, so each of you can stay with one of us, okay?” Tsukune and the others all nodded their heads in agreement. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down happily, and raised her hoof in the hair. “Ooohh, ooohh, ooohh. Mizore can stay with me.” She then zipped over to the icy unicorn mare. “Oh, we’ll have a great time. It’ll be so much fun.” She then hugged the ice queen tightly, closing her eyes and smiling as she did so. Without moving a muscle in her face, Mizore’s horn started glowing, and suddenly, Pinkie was engulfed in ice; frozen in place, still hugging Mizore close. “I don’t like being touched.” Everypony else in the room all looked at this strangely, but nopony reacted badly to it. “Oookay,” Twilight finally spoke up. She then wrote something on the piece of parchment. She then looked up from her parchment again and looked around the room. “Anyone else?” Rarity stepped forward. “Well, I would be more than happy to allow Kurumu to stay with me.” She then glanced over at the yellow pegasus. “We already get along swimmingly, and I know that we’ll be the best of friends.” Kurumu looked back at Rarity as she spoke to her. “Yeah, I’d like that too. You’re about the only pony here who gets me.” As she finished speaking and Rarity smiled at her, Kurumu’s eyes drifted back to Pinkie, who had managed to thaw out of her ice prison and was now just standing next to Mizore, with a big smile across her face. “How did she do that? Can she…" Twilight started scribbling more words on her piece of parchment. She then started speaking again, without looking up from her writing. “Okay, if Kurumu goes with Rarity, then Rainbow…” She looked over towards Rainbow Dash as she spoke. “Ryō is the only one who can go with you.” Rainbow Dash raised her voice as she responded. “What?! She has to go with me?” she said as she pointed her hoof at, and turned to face the changeling/pegasus mare. Ryō just looked back at her with a straight face. “Problem?” Rainbow Dash lowered her hoof and hung her head down. “No, of course not.” Twilight had begun writing again before Rainbow Dash had responded, and finished again quickly. She then looked up again. “Anyone else?” After a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy found the courage to speak up, though she was still just as quiet as usual. “Well, uhhmm, if it’s okay with her, I can take Yukari. I mean, if she wants me to. I am pretty good with kids.” Yukari suddenly spoke up in a harsh tone of voice. “Hey, I’m not a little kid. I get enough of that from Kurumu and I don’t need it from anyone else.” Fluttershy flinched back at the filly’s words, and fell on to her haunches. She then lowered her head and her voice. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy responded. Yukari’s defensive position soon dropped and she nodded her head. “No, it’s okay. I’d be happy to go with you.” She then smiled back at Fluttershy. Fluttershy then returned this with one of her own. Twilight scribbled more words on the parchment. “Alright then.” She then turned to face Moka. “Moka, would you like to stay here with me? I’d like to ask you some more questions later, and I’d also be interested in learning more about the strange powers you exhibited in the battle against the Ursa Minor.” Moka looked back at her and smiled. “Oh, sure; no problem. It’s the least I can do to repay your hospitality.” Twilight smiled back at her. “Alright then, that just leaves Tsukune and Applejack.” She then glanced between the two earth ponies. “Is that alright with the two of you?” “Eeyup,” the blond farm mare replied. “That’s fine with me,” Tsukune nodded back. Twilight started writing again, but suddenly, Kurumu stormed up to Applejack. “Hold on a second! Why does she get to go with Tsukune?” she asked, as she shoved her hoof in the farmer pony’s chest. Twilight looked up from her writing to face Kurumu, who was glaring angrily back at her. “Because there are six of us and six of you, so it’s easier if everypony goes with one other pony,” she said, worried a little from the glare she was getting from the succubus. Applejack gently lowered Kurumu’s hoof from her chest with one of her own. “Simmer down, Sally,” Applejack spoke calmly, as Kurumu turned her attention back to her. “Ah know what you’re worried about, but you don’t have to worry none. Tsukune seems like a nice buck an’ all, but I just don’t feel that way about him.” Kurumu stared back at Applejack for a while longer, not believing her word at what she just said. Ryō then stepped forward and smiled slightly. “Trust me, she doesn’t.” Her wings were completely still as she spoke. This got her a small glare from Applejack, but also a bigger one from Rainbow Dash for some reason. Kurumu then finally stepped back from Applejack. “Fine.” Twilight smiled as she laid the parchment and quill back down on the desk. “Great. I’ll send a letter to the princess tomorrow, explaining your situation and ask her if she can help you out with getting back to your own world; but, I won’t tell her that you’re… monsters.” Twilight spoke that last word like she was uncomfortable with referring to them as such, but she was stuck for a lack of a better word at the moment. “I’ll also come up with a story to tell the rest of Ponyville, about what happened earlier, but for now, you guys shouldn’t reveal your true identities to anypony.” She then turned to face Ryō. “Especially you, Ryō.” Ryō glanced back at her, confusedly. “Ponies have had a pretty bad experience with changelings recently, and they tend to treat them all harshly.” Ryō was confused because, based on what Rainbow Dash had said earlier, what had apparently happened goes against how changelings normally operate. She didn’t dwell on this for long, citing it as how changelings in this world acted and just nodded back at the lavender bookworm. She did, however, think about if she would get to meet the local changelings, given how the relationship between them and ponies is here. Twilight beamed. “Well then, let’s go. We’ll meet back here in the afternoon tomorrow, after I send the letter. The Princess is sure to have responded by then, and we’ll know what to do.” Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. The twelve ponies and the dragon then made their way over to the front door. As they walked towards the door, Kurumu suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right.” She stopped and turned to face Twilight. The lavender bookworm stopped right in front of her and just stared back at her. Kurumu then pulled out a book and hoofed it to Twilight. Twilight recognised the book as the one that she had lent them earlier. “Oh yeah, thanks,” she said as she took hold of the book with her magic. When she moved the book in closer to her, she suddenly did a double take. “Wait a minute. Where have you been keeping this the entire time?” Before Kurumu could respond, Pinkie appeared in between the two of them. “Oh that’s easy, Twilight. She pulled it out of hammerspace.” Pinkie then smiled back at her, as if she had understood what Pinkie had just said, perfectly. Kurumu glanced over at Pinkie Pie. “Oh, I think we’re going to get along just fine.” After that little delay, the ponies and dragon continued towards the door. The door opened out, and everyone, except for Twilight, Spike and Moka stepped outside, on to the streets of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was the first one to move. She unfurled her wings and flew up into the air. She then turned back to face Ryō. “Come on, this way to my house. Follow me.” At that, Ryō said goodbye to her friends, and then unfurled her own wings and took to the sky. She met up with Rainbow Dash and the two of them then flew off into the distance. Back on the ground, each group said their goodbyes to each other and headed off into the direction of their respective accommodations. Eventually, Twilight, Moka and Spike were left standing on the threshold of the Golden Oaks Library. With one final glance at each pony disappearing in a different direction, the three of them turned back inside the library and the door closed behind them. Rainbow Dash and Ryō both flew silently through the cool, night sky. After a while, a structure started coming into view. Rainbow Dash, who was flying out ahead, pointed towards it, indicating that that was where they were heading. It was late at night and it was difficult to make out, but as they got closer, it came into focus properly. The whole structure was like a huge house, made entirely out of clouds, sitting high in the sky, above Ponyville. There were pools of rainbows forming just outside of it, and they were gently pouring out over the sides of the clouds. Ryō’s eyes widened at the sight of this. “Wow, I’ve seen anything like it; it’s amazing.” “Yeah, my house is pretty awesome,” Rainbow Dash said as she drifted towards the house and touched down on the clouds. Ryō thought for a moment that it was strange that Rainbow Dash could walk on clouds. She came in slower and touched down carefully, making sure that she could walk on the clouds as well. Once she had touched down on the clouds, she gently moved up and down on them, enjoying the soft feeling beneath her hooves. “Awesome.” Ryō then looked ahead and saw Rainbow Dash open the door and gesture towards her to come over. She approached the door and they both stepped inside. The house and everything in it was made of clouds. The house was big, but mostly empty. Directly ahead from the door was the stairs that led upstairs. There was a couch made of clouds in the middle of the room and several awards and medals adorned the walls. Aside from that, however, the big house was mostly empty. Ryō looked around at the house as she walked in. She had never seen anything like it. “This place is amazing.” “Thanks,” Rainbow Dash responded as she closed the door. “I know there’s much here, but I don’t usually spend that much time here, except to sleep at night.” As she spoke, she overtook Ryō. “Follow me upstairs. I’ll show you to the guest room.” Ryō and Rainbow then made their way up the stairs and through the hallway. They eventually reached a door. Rainbow Dash opened the door and gestured for Ryō to step inside. Inside was a modest guest room. It contained a comfortable cloud bed, and a small desk next to it. There was a book on top of the desk, with the title ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’. “I know it’s not much,” Rainbow started. “But I don’t usually have others stay over.” Ryō stepped in and admired the room. “It’s great.” Rainbow Dash smiled a bit. “Good to hear.” She then briefly turned around to look out in the hallway, before turning back to face Ryō. “Well, I’ll leave now. My room’s just down the hall if you need me.” Ryō gave her a nod and the cyan pegasus started making her way out of the room. However, as soon as she stepped out into the hallway, she suddenly stopped and turned back to face Ryō; her facial expression changing as well. “Hey, Ryō?” The changeling/pegasus was examining the softness of the bed with her front hoof when she heard Rainbow Dash calling her. She then turned around. “Yes?” Rainbow Dash gulped before she continued. “I was just wondering… Earlier at Sugarcube Corner, when you kissed me. What was that abou…?” “Think nothing of it,” Ryō interrupted her. She then turned her head around to look Rainbow Dash in the eye. “There’s no point in hiding it anymore. I just needed to get your love so that I wouldn’t topple over. Nothing more.” Rainbow Dash puffed up her cheeks when she was finished speaking. “Well alright then,” she spoke in a harsh tone. She then turned her head back around, facing into the hallway. She huffed, and then stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind her. She then stole a quick glance back at the closed door, before she started towards her own room. She wore an annoyed expression, but she was completely unaware that she was blushing. When Rainbow Dash kicked the door shut, the changeling/pegasus just huffed. She crawled on to the bed and drifted off to sleep, completely unaware that she was blushing. Kurumu and Rarity, Yukari and Fluttershy, and Mizore and Pinkie all walked together as they left the library, but they soon split off from each other as they approached their respective place of residence. Fluttershy and Yukari were the first to leave the group, and trotted off towards Fluttershy’s cottage on the edge of town. A few minutes later, the Carousel Boutique came into view. Rarity and Kurumu waved goodbye to Pinkie, and made their way along. Pinkie and Mizore then continued walking towards Sugarcube Corner together, in silence. When they reached Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie stopped bouncing along and turned to address Mizore. “Well, here we are.” Mizore just stared back at her blankly, but then, Pinkie suddenly held out her hoof to stop her from proceeding further. Mizore seemed confused by this, but she didn’t show it; she just casually turned her head to face Pinkie. “Sorry, but before I let you in, you have to pay the entry fee; that’ll be one smile." Pinkie then smiled back at her. Mizore just stared back at her. Pinkie smiled back at her. Mizore just stared back at her. Pinkie smiled back at her. Mizore just stared back at her. Pinkie smiled back at her. Mizore just stared back at her. Pinkie smiled back at her. Mizore just stared back at her. After about thirty seconds of this, Mizore simply trotted passed Pinkie, into Sugarcube Corner and out of sight. Pinkie frowned slightly. “Shoot, I almost had her.” She then started smiling again almost instantly. “Oh well, it wouldn’t be as much fun if it wasn’t a challenge.” She then laughed a bit louder. “We also wouldn’t have a plot for this character arc.” She then followed after Mizore, and trotted into Sugarcube Corner, skipping as she went. “La la la.” Applejack and Tsukune walked together down the path leading to Sweet Apple Acres. Tsukune looked at the huge apple orchard around them as they walked. “Wow,” Tsukune said. “This place is amazing.” Applejack turned back around to face him as they continued walking along. “Thank ya kindly there, Tsukune.” She then turned back around, as the big farmhouse came into view. “Ah’ll explain the situation to mah family so that they know why y’all ‘re staying here. But don’t worry; ah won’t tell ‘em that you’re a… monster.” Applejack also hesitated slightly before finally coming out with it. Like Twilight, she was also finding a lack of a better word to refer to him as. Tsukune wasn’t bothered by this at all, however. “Thank you, Applejack. And thanks again for letting me stay tonight. I appreciate it.” Applejack smiled back at him, at his modesty and understanding. “Awww, think nothin’ of it, sugar cube. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends.” When Applejack was finished talking and they both got closer to the farmhouse, Applejack suddenly stopped in her tracks in thought. She then turned to face Tsukune. “Come to think of it, sugar cube; y’all said that you were a human, but what kind of special powers do you have? Ah didn’t see you doin’ much fightin’ against that Ursa Minor earlier.” Tsukune stared back at her a second, but then he smiled at her. “Actually, I don’t have special powers. I’m pretty ordinary,” he admitted, a bit embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his head with his hoof as he spoke. After another second, Applejack smiled back at him and chuckled a bit. They then both continued walking towards the farmhouse. “Y’all shouldn’t worry about that none there, Tsukune. Ah’m pretty ordinary among mah friends as well.” Tsukune looked at her, confused. “What do you mean by that?” Applejack looked back at him as they walked. “Well, ah mean, Twilight and Rarity can both use magic with their horns, an’ Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash can fly.” “What about Pinkie,” Tsukune responded. “She’s an earth pony as well.” Applejack let out another chuckle at this. “Well, y’all haven’t known Pinkie Pie that long, but Ah’m sure you’ve noticed all the strange things that she can do. She’s probably the most magical; even more so than Twilight.” She paused for a moment before continuing, her expression becoming more serious. “Mah point is, sugar cube, is that even though Ah’m the most…” She stopped for a second to think of a good word to use. “Ordinary among mah friends, that don’t mean Ah’m not any less useful or important than any of mah friends, and neither are you. Ah’m strong and hard-working and that’s what counts. Y’all ‘re honest and it’s good to see that you’re humble and not boastful, like Rainbow, but y’all shouldn’t put yourself down neither. Ah’m sure your friends would be lost without ya.” Tsukune looked intently at Applejack as she spoke. He then thought about how he’s the only one who can take off Moka’s rosary and how she has defeated so many monsters that threatened their lives in the past. He then chuckled to himself a bit. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Applejack smiled back in his direction. “O’ course Ah’m right,” she said smugly. She looked forward again and they were now standing in front of the farmhouse. She then stretched out her hoof to open the door, and then turned back to face Tsukune, with a welcoming smile on her face. “Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, Tsukune.” “Thanks Applejack,” Tsukune responded with a smile of his own. He then trotted inside. When he was standing beside her, he suddenly thought about their moment just now and turned to look at her. Applejack just stared back at him in confusion. “Somethin’ wrong there, sugar cube?” Tsukune breathed a sigh of relief. “No, everything’s fine.” He then continued into the house and Applejack followed behind him, closing the door behind her. “That’s good. The last thing I need is another girl falling in love with me.” Inside the library, Twilight, Spike and Moka slowly trudged up the stairs. They were all really tired after a long and eventful day, and now they just wanted to sleep. As they made their way upstairs, Spike turned to address Twilight. “Hey Twilight, shouldn’t we send the letter to the Princess now so that she gets it in time?” Twilight turned to face Spike, yawning as she did so. “No, Spike. The Princess is probably asleep right now. I don’t want to wake her up if it can wait until tomorrow.” Moka couldn’t help but eavesdrop on what they were saying. She then turned her head to face Twilight, as they walked up the stairs. “Uhhmm, Twilight.” The lavender unicorn looked from Spike to her. “If you wait until tomorrow to send the later, how are going to get a response by noon?” Twilight blinked in response, realising that she was probably unfamiliar with dragonfire. She briefly wondered if they had dragons at Yokai Academy, but only for a second. She then let out a chuckle and said, “It’s a long story.” This time, Moka blinked back at Twilight. She then giggled slightly. “You’re starting to sound like my friend Ruby.” The three of them then reached the top floor of the library, where Twilight and Spike had their beds set up. Spike waddled over to his bed and collapsed into it immediately. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Twilight chuckled slightly at the sight of this. She raised her hoof to her mouth to hide it. She then lowered her hoof again and turned to face Moka. “I have a spare bed here you can use. Just let me set it up.” She then activated her horn and she pulled out another bed, and placed it directly across from hers, between her and Spike. “Thank you so much for your hospitality, Twilight. We really appreciate it.” Moka said as she made her way over to her bed. “Oh, it’s nothing,” Twilight waved her off, before making her way over to her own bed. Just as she was about to follow Spike’s lead and fall right into her bed, she suddenly started thinking about something. Moka was settling into bed when she saw Twilight pondering something. “What is it, Twilight?” “I’ve just been thinking about this incident with the Ursa Minor,” Twilight said, but didn’t turn to face the vampire pony. “I’ve seen one before that attacked the town, but that one was just a little cranky because somepony woke it up. But this one was in a full blown rampage, which could only mean that someone had intentionally and aggressively antagonised it. But who would be willing and capable of doing something like that? And for what purpose?” Twilight finally looked over at Moka, as she finished rambling and she saw that she had no idea what she was talking about. “Oh, never mind. Forget I said anything. I’ll think more about it tomorrow, when I’m more awake.” Then with that final thought, she hopped on to her bed. Her horn lit up briefly and she turned off the lights in the room. She said goodnight to Moka and immediately fell into the calm embrace of sleep. She didn’t even hear Moka say goodnight back. Meanwhile, in the dark corners of the Everfree Forest, a blue unicorn mare with a striped mane and an hourglass cutie mark, stood in front of a large cave, with a stoic expression on her face. She suddenly heard a loud crash from nearby. When she heard it, she simply turned in the direction that the crash had come from and said, “Annoying pest.” To be continued… //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Morning Routines and a Vampire The Sun started rising on another beautiful day in Equestria. The beams of sunlight crept slowly through the curtains of the Ponyville Library. Twilight began to rouse, as the beams of sunlight hit her closed eyes. She rolled over on to her other side briefly before waking up. She opened her eyes slowly, still a bit tired, and then sat up in her bed. She glanced over at Spike and Moka across from her, both still asleep in their own beds. She then looked over at her alarm clock and saw that it was ten o’ clock. She stepped out of her bed and started stretching, and then walked over to her mirror. Picking up her brush in her levitation magic, she started to comb her usual ‘bed head’. When she was finished with that, she walked over to Moka and Spike, to wake them up. “Come on, you two, get up. It’s morning.” She spoke softly, but not too softly that they couldn’t hear her. Moka began to stir as soon as Twilight had called her. She woke up without a fuss, blinking her eyes a few times, and started getting out of bed. Spike however, just waved Twilight off and pulled his sheets over his head. “Ten more minutes.” Twilight just rolled her eyes and smiled playfully in response to this. Without missing a beat, she then activated her horn and quickly pulled his blanket off of him. Spike’s eyes shot open immediately. “Alright, alright. I’m up, I’m up.” He said in an annoyed tone. He then sat up in his bed, stretched and rubbed his eyes. Once her number one assistant was up, Twilight then looked over at Moka, who was stretching as well. “Did you sleep well, Moka?” “Like a log,” Moka responded. With a spring in her step, she then hopped out of bed, on to the floor, and then turned back to make the bed. Twilight smiled at her response. When everypony and dragon had made their beds, Spike more begrudgingly than Moka, the three of them made their way downstairs for breakfast. Once they reached the kitchen, Spike set about making them breakfast, and Twilight started writing the letter to the Princess. Wanting to be helpful as well, Moka started setting the table. While Spike was heating up some hay bacon and eggs, he turned to address Moka, who was setting the table. “So Moka…” he began, acting a bit nervous. “I know that you’re a vampire pony and all, but do you still eat regular food too?” Moka looked up from her work to answer Spike. “Oh, yeah. I only drink Tsukune’s blood about once or twice a day. I still have regular meals like everybody else.” She then turned her gaze to the breakfast that Spike was cooking up. “Although, I’ve never exactly had food quite like that before.” Spike looked at the food and then back to her. “Would you like me to make you something else?” Moka just smiled back and waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh no, that’s okay. Please don’t trouble yourself on my account. Besides, I’m actually interested to see what it will be like.” When it looked like she was finished speaking, her eyes then suddenly widened, and she added, “But no water, please.” She then finished by giving him a friendly smile, before returning her attention to setting the table. Spike returned her smile and then returned to his job of making the breakfast. When Spike and Moka were finished speaking to each other, Twilight finished writing her letter. She then rolled up the scroll with her magic, and turned to face Spike. “Spike; when you’re ready, could you send the letter to the Princess, please?” She then turned to face Moka. “I explained to the Princess that you and your friends are from another world, and asked if she knew anything about helping you all get back there. Don’t worry though; I didn’t tell her about your real identities.” Moka just smiled back at her. “Thank you so much.” She said as she continued setting the table. Her expression then slipped a little, making her look a bit worried. “So, do you think that the Princess knows how we can get back to Yokai Academy?” Twilight bit at her lip, not wanting to upset her, but also not wanting to give her false hope. “I’m not entirely sure, but if anypony knows how, it’s Princess Celestia.” She finished by giving her a reassuring smile. When the two of them finished speaking, Spike then waddled over to the two mares and placed two plates of food on the table in front of them. “Here you go.” He then took the scroll from Twilight, inhaled deeply and blew out. The scroll was enveloped in a small, green flame; the wisps of the fire then sailed through the air, against the wind, and out the window. Moka looked at this in awe. “Wow.” Twilight smiled a little at this. The two mares then sat down at the breakfast table properly. They were soon joined by Spike, who came back over with a plate for himself; his plate, in contrast, was filled with hay fries, small ruby shards and a glass of milk. The three of them then all sat down and had their breakfasts together. Twilight levitated a fork and started eating her hay bacon. Spike simply grabbed his food in his claws and started stuffing it into his mouth. He got a few glares from Twilight about his poor table manners, especially since they had a guest, and he started eating a bit more controllably. Moka had adjusted to having hooves instead of hands very quickly, and was able to hold her fork in her hooves without a problem. While they were eating, Twilight looked up from her food and turned to address Moka. “Moka, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind if I study your powers for a bit before we go and meet with the Princess later? I’d be very interested in learning more about how you’re so strong.” Moka chewed her hay bacon and waited until she had swallowed before she responded. “No, not at all. I’d be happy to do anything I could to repay you for your kindness.” Twilight beamed. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me. You see, I’m kind of an egghea… err, well read,” she recovered quickly. “And I’m always looking to expand my knowledge. I was amazed at the kind of power that you showed when you faced down that Ursa Minor, and I would be very interested in learning more about it. I noticed that you transform when you use your power, so once we’re finished with our breakfast, could you transform again so I can study you?” Moka’s smile suddenly dropped at that last part, and she lowered her head in shame. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t.” Twilight looked at her with a look of confusion on her face. “Huh, why not?” Moka then raised her hoof to lift up her rosary so that Twilight could see it. “You see, I can only transform when I take off my rosary, and Tsukune’s the only one who can turn it off.” “Huh.” Twilight was now even more confused. She then looked down at Moka’s rosary to get a better look at it. Twilight’s face then shifted to a much more serious tone and her horn lit up in a magenta aura; the same colour aura then also enveloped Moka’s rosary. Twilight concentrated hard and started pulling at the rosary with all of her mental strength to try and take it off. However, it wouldn’t budge. She concentrated harder and started pulling at it more, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Moka just stood there silently while she did this, being familiar enough with unicorn magic after spending all yesterday with Yukari. When Twilight had failed to pull of the rosary with her magic, she then reached across the table with her hoof, and started pulling at it herself. She gritted her teeth hard as she pulled at it with all of her might, still being careful not to hurt Moka. However, no matter how hard she tugged at it, it simply wouldn’t come off. She then let go of the rosary and returned to her seat. “Sorry about that,” Twilight said. “Oh no, it’s alright,” Moka responded. “Why is it that Tsukune is the only one who can take it off?” Moka raised her hoof to her mouth in thought. “I’m not sure exactly; he just can.” This seemed to puzzle Twilight greatly, as she didn’t like answers like, ‘he just can’ or ‘it just is’. Then suddenly, she got an idea and she perked up. “Hey, I know. Once we’re finished with our breakfast, how about we go over to Sweet Apple Acres and visit Tsukune and Applejack?” Moka lowered her hoof from her mouth again and smiled back at her. “Sure, that would be great.” Spike then suddenly swallowed some more of his breakfast and spoke up. “So if you guys are going to Sweet Apple Acres, does that mean that I can take the day off?” He said with a hopeful smile. “No Spike.” Twilight answered, while giggling slightly. “I still have some chores for you to do around the library while we’re away.” Spike slouched down in his seat, with a defeated smile on his face. “I knew you were gonna say that,” he said jokingly. He then shrugged his shoulders. “Oh well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.” The three of them all laughed together as they continued eating their breakfast. Sunlight entered through the window of the top floor of Sugarcube Corner, which was shaped like a cupcake, as a certain pink pony was sitting up in her bed, staring intently at the alarm clock next to her. The time on it was 10:29. As the second hoof complete its rotation, the clock now reading 10:30, it suddenly flared to life in alarm, but it was immediately silenced as Pinkie brought her hoof down on it. “Ha, beat you again.” Pinkie said with a triumphant smile, as she had bested the small appliance. Once that was over, the pink party pony hopped out of bed and walked over to Mizore’s bed, which was right beside hers. She nudged the ice queen with her hoof, and she immediately rolled over to stare back at her, blankly. Mizore stared at Pinkie with her usual stoic expression, but Pinkie still smiled back at her. After about five seconds of silent staring, Mizore lazily threw the sheets off of her and stepped out of bed. Pinkie then zoomed out in front of her field of vision again. “So, how long have you been up, Mizore?” Before she respond then suddenly raised her hoof and pursed her lips. “I still need more time with coming up with your nickname. Mizore’s not something that I change easily. No offense.” Mizore just stared back at her for a few seconds before responding, with “A while.” She spoke in her usual icy tone, completely ignoring the second thing that the pink earth pony had said. “Well that’s good. Come on, let’s go get some breakfast. You can’t start a new day without a big breakfast and a big smile, right?” She then leaned in close to her, only half expecting her to say something in response. “Riiiiiiiiiiiight?” she repeated, a bit more hopeful this time. After a few seconds, she pulled away from her again and looked serious. “Yeah, I didn’t expect that to work, but you can’t blame a girl for trying, right?” She then turned around and leaned in closer to her again. “Riiiiiiiiiiiight?” She repeated in a joking manner. She then let out another chorus of laughter. “Come on, let’s go,” she said as she made her way downstairs, bouncing as she went. Mizore slowly followed after her. Pinkie and Mizore made their way downstairs. In the dining room, Mrs. Cake was putting the twins into their highchairs, while Mr. Cake was in the kitchen, getting their breakfasts ready for them, before they opened for business. When Pumpkin had finally stopped fidgeting, and Mrs. Cake had gotten her into her highchair, she turned around to greet Pinkie and Mizore. “Oh, good morning, dearies.” “Good morning, Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie replied in a perky tone. Mrs. Cake then turned to face Mizore. “So, you must be Mizore. Pinkie told us all about you last night.” Her facial expression then shifted slightly. “She also explained that you and your friends are ‘circus performers’ and that you used your ‘circus tricks’ to defeat the Ursa Minor last night.” She started trailing off the more she spoke, trying to recall exactly what Pinkie Pie had told her. When Mrs. Cake was done talking, Mizore turned to the side to face Pinkie. “Circus performers?” “Yes indeedy. I also explained that the reason you don’t smile much is because as a circus performer, you have to train yourself when to smile and when not to, right?” She ended with an inflection in her voice, and she nudged her with her hoof, indicating her tone. Mizore just looked away from Pinkie and faced forward again. “Whatever.” As she faced forward, Mrs. Cake walked up to her and took the lollipop from her mouth. “Alright now, dearie, let’s get you some proper food. You can’t just eat sweets for every meal. I already had that little lecture with Pinkie Pie a few months ago.” Pinkie waved from behind them and smiled when her name was mentioned. Without missing a beat, Mizore simply reached out her hoof and grabbed her lollipop and put it back in her mouth again. “I don’t suck on this all the time because I want to; I have to suck on this. I need it to regulate my body temperature.” Mrs. Cake looked at her quizzically after hearing this. “Oh…” she began. “Do you have a low metabolism?” Mizore simply responded, “No.” “Oookay,” Mrs. Cake started. Then, before she could say anything else, Pound Cake suddenly shot out of his highchair and flew into the air. Mrs. Cake turned around to look at this. “Pound Cake! No! Get back down in your chair right this instant,” Mrs. Cake scolded him. Pound Cake just laughed in response to this. He then reared back in the air, with what looked like a cocky expression on his face, and zoomed out of the room, towards the kitchen. Mrs. Cake ran after him immediately. “Pound Cake’s coming at you, dear.” “I see him, honey bun,” a voice from the kitchen called out. When Mrs. Cake had left the room, Mizore then simply walked over to the table and sat down. When she reached the table, she looked to the side to see Pumpkin Cake staring at her. Mizore simply stared back at her. The two of them simply stayed like this for about ten seconds, and then Pumpkin suddenly smiled at her and started giggling. Mizore didn’t outwardly react to this in any way, and just kept staring at the baby pony, with her stoic expression. To her left, Pinkie started slowly rising up from underneath the table. She was wearing her usual smile, and she opened her mouth wide to say something, but then she suddenly stopped and looked serious. “Okay Mizore, listen. I’ve been trying my hardest to make you smile and I haven’t been getting anywhere. Now I don’t usually do this, and it might be considered cheating, but I’m just gonna come and say it: What does make you smile?” Mizore’s head was facing forward, still facing Pumpkin, but her eyes were turned to the side to look at Pinkie while she was talking. When Pinkie had finished speaking, her eyes then faced forward again. A moment later, she blushed and smirked ever so slightly. “Tsukune,” she uttered. Pinkie watched Mizore intently as she spoke, taking note of her ever-so-slight change of expression. She then raised her hoof to her mouth in thought. “Hmmm, a blush and a smirk. It’s not a full blown smile, but she’s getting there. If I’m gonna make her smile, smile, smile, then I’m just gonna have to use every advantage that I can get. Oh right, I have to tell Mizore this. Switching from internal monologue to external dialogue.” Pinkie then turned to face Mizore again, with a big smile on her face. “Hey Mizore, I just got a great idea: Once we’re finished with our breakfast, how about we go and see Tsukune?” The ice pony stared back at Pinkie for a moment. Her tiny smirk from earlier had almost completely gone back to a stoic expression, but not completely. After a long pause, she then said, “I’d like that.” Inside the cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the Everfree Forest, sunlight poured in through the open windows, where a certain butter yellow pegasus had already been up for hours; the yellow pegasus with the pink mane that is. After she had finished feeding all of her animal friends, she trotted over to her guest room and opened the door. Inside, the room was mostly empty, except for a small bed, fit for a pony about Fluttershy’s size. On the surface, the bed was a mess of covers, with a small lump in the middle. Fluttershy walked over to the bed and gently poked at the small lump with her hoof. “Uhhmm, excuse me, Yukari… but, uhhmm… it’s time to get up.” At the shy pegasus’ touch, Yukari rustled underneath the covers and groaned. “Ten more minutes.” The shy pegasus couldn’t help but giggle a little at this. “She sounds just like Spike. She really is a little kid.” The bed covers were then suddenly enveloped in a pink aura and quickly lifted up into the air. Once they were off her, the little unicorn stood up on the mattress and faced Fluttershy. “Hey, I told you not to call me a little kid.” She scowled at her. Fluttershy backed up a bit at the filly’s anger. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She then faced away from her in embarrassment, hiding behind her mane. Yukari quickly calmed down. “It’s okay.” She said in a softer tone of voice. Then she yawned. “I guess I should be getting up now anyway.” Fluttershy then turned back to face her with a smile. “Well, come on then. I have breakfast on the table ready for you.” Yukari smiled at the prospect of food, and jumped down off the bed and stepped beside Fluttershy. “Sounds good to me,” Yukari said. She tried to walk forward, but the older, yellow pegasus blocked her with her hoof; and it wasn’t Kurumu this time. Yukari looked at her in confusion, and Fluttershy simply gestured to the bed behind her. “Please make the bed before you leave, please?” Fluttershy asked politely. Yukari turned to face the bed again. She gave an annoyed sigh, but it quickly faded. Her horn then started glowing again, and using her magic, she neatly lifted up the quilt and lay it down on the bed gently, tucking in the corners. She had it done almost instantly. When she was done, she stepped back to admire her work. “Things like this are so much easier to do with magic. Especially now that I’m a pony,” she added. Fluttershy looked down at Yukari again. She was still finding it hard to believe that six Yokai students weren’t ponies before they came here. She didn’t dwell on this for too long though, and the two of them then made their way out of the room. Yukari grabbed her witch’s hat from a nearby stool as they walked, and levitated it on to her head. When they reached the kitchen, Yukari sat at the table and ate the breakfast that Fluttershy prepared for her, while Fluttershy attended to the rest of her animals. Yukari held her food in her levitation magic, and glanced around the house at all of the different animals that Fluttershy took care of, while she ate. When Fluttershy had given Angel bunny his salad, and had finished feeding all of her other animals, she walked back into the kitchen to re-join Yukari. Yukari was finishing up her breakfast when she noticed Fluttershy return. “Are you going to have your own breakfast now?” the witch asked her. “Oh no,” Fluttershy responded. “I already ate.” After a brief silence, she then asked, “Did you like the breakfast I made for you?” “Actually, it wasn’t half bad. The salad was delicious. I didn’t eat the hay, though. I kind of thought that would be weird.” “Oh, that’s okay,” Fluttershy said. There was no hidden tone in her voice. “Okay,” Yukari said after a few seconds, trying to fill the growing silence. The two of them then both just sat there in complete silence, save for the sounds of the animals eating in the other room. After about sixty seconds of this, Fluttershy decided to speak up. “So, Yukari… we probably have some time before we have to go and see the Princess. Is there anything in particular that you wanted to do until then?” Yukari paused and raised her hoof to her mouth in thought about what she wanted to do. She definitely didn’t want to go see Kurumu, and she and Mizore or Ryō never really interacted much in the past. The group was still split up, so they likely wouldn’t be able to all meet up together until they left to meet the Princess. She briefly thought about going to see Tsukune on her own, but as her eyes drifted upwards towards her horn, she then suddenly thought of something else. “Oh, I know. I’d like to go see Twilight again. She seemed really good with magic, so I’d like to learn more about the magic that you guys have here.” “Oh,” Fluttershy said in response, looking a bit confused. This seemed to earn her a confused look from Yukari as well. However, Fluttershy just continued talking. “You know, Yukari. I heard from Twilight that learning about magic is apparently a long and difficult trial when you’re young. She had to spend most of her life without friends in order to get as good as she is now. You shouldn’t be in too much of a rush to grow up. You should really just take your time and enjoy being a kid.” Fluttershy then closed her eyes and smiled warmly at her. After hearing this, Yukari just crossed her front hooves, leaned back in her chair and huffed. “I’m a genius. Why does everybody always treat me like a little kid?” “Everypony,” Fluttershy corrected. Yukari suddenly uncrossed her hooves, and looked up and back at Fluttershy, in confusion. “Huh?” “You’re supposed to say ‘everypony’,” Fluttershy responded, ending with another bright smile on her face. “And you know; you kind of are still a kid. You should really enjoy it while you can.” After a moment, Yukari just looked away again. “Whatever.” She then started thinking about what Fluttershy said, and then she couldn’t help but think about the three fillies that she had met at the party last night. After a moment of thought, she then turned around to face Fluttershy again. “You know,” she started. “I met these three girls at the party last night, and they seemed nice.” She then turned her head to the side, trying to save face. “I guess it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to spend some time with them. They did seem pretty cool.” Her cheeks were blushing a light pink as she finished speaking, which was very noticeable against her white cheeks. Fluttershy noticed this, but she didn’t speak up about it, and just smirked slightly to her. She then said, “I think I know who you’re talking about. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?” Yukari rolled her eyes towards Fluttershy and simply nodded her head in reply. Fluttershy then stood up from her chair. “Well then, let’s go, shall we?” Yukari turned her head back around to face her. “They should be at their clubhouse right now, trying to come up with ways for them to get their cutie marks.” Fluttershy then smiled warmly at her. “Maybe you can help them with that since you already have yours?” After a moment, Yukari finally turned her head back to face her and smiled again. “Yeah, that’s sounds like a plan.” She then hopped out of her chair, and made her way over to the cottage’s front door, but she was once again blocked by the older pegasus’ hoof. She looked back at her in confusion again. “Hold on,” Fluttershy started. She then lowered her hoof again and turned back towards the table. “Let’s clean up before we leave, alright?” Turning back towards the table, Yukari huffed again and let out another annoyed sigh, but quickly relented. “Alright.” After quickly cleaning up the kitchen, the two ponies made their way out the door. Sunlight poured in through windows of the Carousel Boutique, on to the alabaster unicorn. She was wearing a sleeping mask, so the rays of sunlight didn’t hit her eyes directly, but it was enough to rouse her from her sleep. As she awoke, she sat up in her bed and started stretching. She then lit up her horn and pulled the sleeping mask up from over her eyes. “Ah, another glorious day.” She said with a smile, as she rubbed her tired eyes with her hoof. She then stepped out of bed and made her way over to her vanity mirror. When she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, she gasped at what she saw. “Ewww, would you just look at that? I always have the worst bedhead in the morning. I looks like somepony stuck a rat’s nest on my head and died it purple.” She then stuck her tongue out at herself in disgust, and nodded her head from side to side. “Well, this certainly won’t do.” She then picked up her beauty utensils and began fixing up her morning appearance. She straightened and styled her mane, curled her eyelashes and applied her eye shadow and various other makeups. When she was finished, she gave herself another quick look in the mirror, which drew out into a long look. When she was satisfied with how she looked, and then some, she made her way over to the door and left the room. Once she stepped out into the corridor, she turned and walked down the hall, towards the guest room. When she was standing in front of the door, she gently knocked on it with her hoof. She immediately received a reply from her guest. “Come in.” With that, she opened the door and stepped inside. When she entered the room, she saw Kurumu over at the mirror, fixing herself up. The succubus turned to face her as soon as she entered. Rarity was struck speechless at the sight of her. “Oh Kurumu, you look positively ravishing.” “Thanks,” the succubus responded as she made her way over to Rarity. “I hope you don’t mind that I used some of your supplies to fix myself off.” The unicorn simply nodded her head in response. “Oh, not at all, darling. A lady must always look her best. And if I didn’t allow it then what kind of host would I be?” “Thanks again. You look really good too. My friends don’t normally appreciate the time I put into making myself look this good, and they’re not even interested in making themselves look good either.” She then mumbled under her breath, “And yet Tsukune still prefers Moka over me.” Rarity didn’t hear that last part and just continued the conversation. “Oh, I know. My friends are the same too; particularly Applejack.” She muttered that last part under her breath. “I simply can’t understand how some ponies can be so uncouth.” She then collected herself before continuing. “But we still love them, right?” “Right,” Kurumu responded, a bit more sarcastically than Rarity. “Well, now that we’re all prettied up, how about some breakfast?” Rarity asked. “That sounds great.” The two of them then made their way out of the room and down the hall. When they were halfway to the stairs, Rarity suddenly turned to face the succubus. “Oh Kurumu, would you terribly mind waking up Sweetie Belle, whilst I get breakfast ready?” “No, not at all,” Kurumu responded. Rarity smiled back at her and then proceeded down the stairs, while Kurumu made her way over to Sweetie Belle’s room. When she reached the door, she knocked against the wood gently. When she didn’t receive any response, she opened the door and stepped inside. This room looked the same as hers and Rarity’s. There was a big bed in the centre, and a vanity mirror directly across from it. There were also sapphire blue curtains, pulled across the window on the far side, and a large cupboard and bedside dresser on either side of the bed. Sweetie Belle was sleeping peacefully in her bed. Kurumu walked over towards her to wake her up. Looking down at her, she thought that the white unicorn filly looked a bit like Yukari. Preparing for the worst in case she also acted like her as well, she nudged her with her hoof and said, “Hey kid, it’s time to get up.” Almost immediately, Sweetie Belle slowly opened her eyes and turned to face the yellow pegasus and smiled. “Okay.” She then gently pushed the covers away from her, lifted herself up in her bed and started stretching. “Well, that was easy,” Kurumu whispered quietly, while also wishing that another white unicorn filly she knew was that obedient. Sweetie Belle then hopped down from her bed, and they both made their way downstairs. Unlike the other two, the little filly’s mane was perfectly presentable, even just after waking up. Guess she was just one of the lucky ones. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and they entered the kitchen, they found Rarity standing over by the counter, preparing breakfast for everyone. When Rarity heard them approaching, she turned around to face them, happy to see them both. “Oh, good. You got her up quickly and without a fuss.” She then turned back around to focus on making the breakfast again. Sweetie Belle let out a small sigh as she made her way over to the kitchen table and sat down. “Come on, sis. I’m not that bad for getting up.” Kurumu took a seat beside Sweetie Belle, opposite an empty seat on the other side of the table, reserved for Rarity. “That’s true. She was actually very reasonable.” She then suddenly thought of Yukari and grimaced. “Certainly more so than another white unicorn kid I know.” Hearing the description of the pony that Kurumu just mentioned, Sweetie Belle figured that she was referring to Yukari, and she shivered a little, remembering how creepy she had acted last night. Not to mention when she declared Sweetie Belle her new girlfriend. Looking over at Kurumu, Sweetie said, “So, what exactly is Yukari’s deal? She seems kinda… weird.” Kurumu giggled slightly at her remark, and rolled her eyes. “That’s an understatement.” Sweetie halted for a moment at that before continuing. “Yeah,” she spoke out, slowly. “And she said that she wanted me to her girlfriend; but we’re both fillies. Is she a… fillyfooler?” Kurumu looked at Sweetie Belle strangely, trying to figure out what she meant by that. “I take that that’s a pony term for gay.” Before she got a response, she continued speaking. “Well, she likes Tsukune too, and Moka a bit as well, so technically she’s bi-sexual. She’s kind of all over the place actually. Guess she can’t just choose one gender and stick with it.” Before Kurumu and Sweetie Belle could continue their conversation further, Rarity approached the table, with three plates of breakfast floating next to her in a blue levitation field. “Kurumu, please. This is hardly appropriate table conversation. Especially for a filly Sweetie’s age.” She then placed the three plates down on the table, in front of each pony, and sat down herself. “Sorry about that,” Kurumu apologized, turning towards Rarity as she spoke. She then looked down at her breakfast of eggs, parsley, and juice, with a smile. “This food looks delicious, by the way.” “Well then, what are waiting for? Let’s eat.” Rarity said. The three of them then all proceeded to dig in to their breakfast, eating elegantly, like true mares would, as Rarity would put it. Kurumu barely even registered that she had hooves instead of hands now, and managed to hold her fork without a problem. Rarity raised her own fork with her magical levitation, and popped a slice of her egg in her mouth. After having chewed thoroughly and swallowing, Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle. “So, Sweetie Belle. Any plans for today?” Sweetie looked up from her own breakfast to respond. “Yep.” She responded with glee. “Today the Cutie Mark Crusaders are trying for our water rafting cutie marks.” Rarity’s face seemed to grimace in response. Noticing this, Kurumu raised an eyebrow, while she still had her fork in her mouth. Putting it down, she faced Rarity and simply asked, “Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Rarity again finished chewing and swallowing before responding. “It’s a little club that my sister and her friends started to try and find their special talents.” She then whispered to herself, “Although their methods do seem rather counter-productive… and destructive.” “Okay,” was all Kurumu said in response. She then took another bite of her breakfast. Getting ready to speak properly again, Rarity faced Kurumu. “So, Kurumu. What about you? Is there anything in particular that you would like to do before we have to leave for Canterlot?” When Rarity finished speaking, Kurumu put down her fork and thought to herself. After a moment, she spoke up again. “Actually, no. I can’t think of anything in particular that I want to do.” She looked down a bit as she spoke. “Oh,” Rarity said worriedly. “Well, in that case, perhaps the two of us could something together? We could give each other make-overs? Oh, or we could go to the spa?” She said in a much more excited tone. Kurumu perked up immediately at that suggestion. “That sounds great. I’d really enjoy that.” She then picked up her fork again and continued eating. Rarity also smiled in kind. While Kurumu continued eating, she thought to herself. “Strange. Why couldn’t I think of anything that I want to do? I feel like I’m forgetting something I usually do.” High above the town of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was still sound asleep inside her cloud house, haphazardly strewn across the covers of the bed, not even bothering to climb underneath them last night. She snored lightly as she slept soundly, completely unaware of the ray of light slowly creeping towards her, through her bedroom window, making its way slowly towards her eyes. When the light had finally made its way to its target, the cyan pegasus squinted her eyes in frustration, the harsh light unforgiving to her morning eyes. Pulling her head away, the sudden change in her position and energy flowing through her body caused a chain reaction, causing her to wake up. Righting herself on to her stomach, Rainbow stretched her hooves and wings as she woke up more. Then, looking at her alarm clock, she saw that it was already twelve o’ clock. While this normally wouldn’t have been a problem, since she always slept in to the afternoon, and she briefly considered going back to sleep again, she then remembered her house guest staying with her at the moment. With a sigh, she then finally decided to get out of bed. Making her way over to her bedroom door, she exited out into the hallway, and made her way over to her guest room. When she was standing just outside of it, she knocked on the door, somehow emitting a sound, despite the fact that she had just essentially knocked on clouds, to get Ryō’s attention. After five seconds, when she didn’t get any response, she knocked again, but still didn’t get any response. Deciding to see for herself, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. When she did, she was greeted by the sight of the pegasus-disguised-changeling sleeping soundly on the bed, like Rainbow Dash, also on top of the covers. Looking at her now, Rainbow couldn’t help but think that she looked really peaceful. “...and cute.” With that thought suddenly coming out of nowhere, she quickly shook her head to get rid of it. Why did she keep thinking like that lately? Shaking her head to shove those thoughts aside for now, Rainbow Dash stepped closer to the bed, and gently poked Ryō on her side to wake her up. With the slight intrusion breaking her from the sweet embrace of sleep, Ryō raised her head up slowly, her eyes adjusting to the light. Letting out a yawn, she turned her head to see Rainbow, to which the former Yokai student smiled in greeting. “Hey, good morning.” “Morning,” Rainbow replied. “Although, technically it’s afternoon. We kind of over slept.” She ended with a smile and scratched at the back of her head. Picking herself up on the bed, and stretching her wings and hooves, she put on a cocky smile. “Ah, no worries. I usually sleep in, so it’s no big deal to me.” Rainbow laughed at that. “Yeah, me too. If things were like usual, I’d probably be going back to bed even. Although, we do have the meeting with the Princess later, and we also have to meet up with the others first, so we should probably get going now.” Ryō finished stretching, and still lying on the bed, turned to face Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s go.” Then before she could hop off the bed, her stomach started rumbling. This caused her to blush a little in embarrassment, though her blush was almost unnoticeable against her pink coat. “Sorry,” she said while looking away. Rainbow, however, just laughed at this a little. “It’s alright.” She said while turning her head to the side. “I’m actually pretty hungry too. I don’t have that much food here, so how about we go out for breakfast? My treat.” Ryō then dropped her embarrassment and turned back towards Rainbow. “Sounds great.” She then hopped off the bed, and both pegasi made their way out of the room, out of the house, and flew off towards Ponyville. Five minutes later, they both touched down on the ground again and started walking down the street together. “So, where should we eat?” Rainbow asked while she looked around. “I don’t know.” Ryō replied, while also looking around. “I’m not really familiar with this place.” She then faced Rainbow Dash again. “Where do you suggest?” Also turning around to face her, Rainbow then started thinking. “Well, Sugarcube Corner won’t be open for a while, and Applejack won’t have her stand open today what with everything that’s going on with you and your friends right now, and our meeting with the Princess later.” When she stopped talking and she and Ryō were both just staring back at each other in silence as they walked together, Rainbow suddenly started blushing again and quickly whipped her head back to hide it. “Well… uhh,” she said, stumbling over her own words. “Why don’t we just head to the marketplace and hit up the stalls?” She stuttered out, while scratching at the back of her head with her hoof. Not noticing anything off about her, Ryō just smiled and nodded. “Alright, let’s go.” And with that, they headed off with a destination in mind. As they walked towards the marketplace, Rainbow walked a bit faster than usual, causing Ryō to fall behind a little. As she tried to catch up, she suddenly winced a little in pain, as an all-too-familiar fatigue crept up on her again, making her put her hoof to her head to steady herself. “Ugghh, not again.” She mentally groaned. “It has been a while since I last fed, and I guess one kiss can only last so long.” Spending just a little bit longer than was necessary thinking about Rainbow Dash, she was suddenly snapped out of her trance, as her changeling sense picked up on a source of love nearby. Turning her head to the side, she spotted a beige coloured earth pony and the same mint coloured unicorn from yesterday, sitting together at a café nearby. The love that she was sensing was coming from them. Glancing back towards Rainbow Dash, who failed to notice her falling behind, and was still walking a bit faster than usually. “I guess I can take a little detour,” she thought to herself with a confidant smile. She then very nonchalantly stepped to the side, to get closer to the two mares, without arousing suspicion. When she was in close to them, she then leaned in a bit closer, as she could feel their love energy flow into her, restoring more of her strength. She then let out a relieved sigh. “Now that was a good meal,” she thought before giving another glance at Lyra and Bon Bon. She had to admit, they did look good together. “And some ponies in this world do swing that way.” Suddenly, her eyes widened and she pulled her head back. “Strange; where did that thought come from?” Immediately thinking of Rainbow Dash again for some reason, she returned her attention to the cyan pegasus way ahead of her, and ran forward to catch up with her, now feeling much more rejuvenated. In the farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres, the sunlight slowly crept through the curtains of a certain farm mare’s bedroom, making its way towards where her eyes would be, with her head on her pillow. However, there was nopony there for the light to disturb because she was already up. Applejack had woke up early that morning like she always did. Hopping out of bed with vigour, she grabbed her stetson on her bedside table, tossed it on to her head, and headed out the door. As she walked down the hall of her home, she stopped to knock on each of her family member’s doors. “Come on, everypony. Up and at ’em.” She said with early morning enthusiasm in her voice, not the least bit tired. She was met the different replies of her family. “Ah’m up, AJ.” “Hold your horse there, youngin’. Ah’m up.” “Eeyup.” With her family members all waking up, Applejack then made her way to the guest room to wake up Tsukune. Knocking on the door, she again spoke up with a lot of energy for so early in the morning. “Hey, Tsukune. It’s time to get up.” When she didn’t hear anything in response, the farm pony just put on a stern expression, pushed open the door, and walked inside. Stepping inside, she saw Tsukune face down on the bed, in a big heap, with his mane all frazzled. If Rarity could see him now, she would probably call him uncouth. Although, Rarity thought everything was uncouth, and Applejack was as unlike Rarity as equinely possible. With a wide grin, she simply marched over to the bed and nudged the former human with her hoof. “Hey, Tsukune, y’all hear me? It’s time to wake up.” The peach coloured earth pony just groaned from the unwelcome interruption. “What time is it?” He asked. Applejack chuckled slightly. “It’s just passed nine in the morning.” This response just caused Tsukune to groan even more. “That’s way too early. Wake me up later.” Applejack now let out a sigh. “Now, now, Sugarcube. You’re living on a farm now, which means ya got to get up early. Now, after a nice breakfast with mah family, we can get in some morning chores before we gotta meet up with everypony and head off to Canterlot.” Tsukune groaned again as he couldn’t dispute her logic. Also, since she was letting him stay her, it was the least that he could do; though, that didn’t mean that he had to enjoy it. Taking his sweet time, he picked himself up and stepped out of bed. Yawning, trying to displace some of the tiredness he still felt, he then rubbed at his eyes with his hoof and turned to face Applejack. “Should we go now?” Smiling again, Applejack nodded back to him, and then they both headed downstairs. When the two earth ponies stepped into the kitchen, they saw Granny Smith over by the stove, making breakfast, Big Macintosh was visible just outside the kitchen window, setting some things up for their chores later, and Apple Bloom was sitting at the table. Hearing the two new ponies enter the kitchen, Granny Smith turned to face her granddaughter and their latest house guest, with a smile. “Well, howdy there, you two. Ya sleep well?” “Like a log, as usual,” Applejack responded with an upbeat attitude. Granny Smith then turned to face Tsukune. “I’m alright,” the former human responded. He then slumped a little. “Though I’m not usually used to getting up this early.” Granny Smith just chuckled at this. “Oh, well, I guess that’s something you’ll just have to get used to here. We here at Sweet Apple Acres get up bright and early every day.” She then added, “Even if sometimes, some of us gotta remind the rest.” She said, while gesturing her head towards Applejack, who blushed slightly in response. “Aww, shucks, Granny. You don’t have to go on about that.” “Sorry, but you’ll have to learn how to take a compliment, youngin’. You do an excellent job of keeping us all organized and on time.” She then nuzzled her granddaughter closely, who kindly returned the gesture. Tsukune brightened up (and woke up more) from the sight of it. “Well, is there anything that I can do to help out?” He spoke up. Granny Smith then pulled back from Applejack to face Tsukune again. “Oh, don’t you worry none, pickle-pear. You can help out with the chores later. For now, just sit back and enjoy the most delicious breakfast you’ve ever eaten.” The rumbling from Tsukune’s stomach told them that he was more than willing to comply with that. With all of them enjoying a round of laughs at that, Applejack and Tsukune then made their way over to the table, and sat down beside Apple Bloom. “That seemed to go rather smoothly,” Tsukune spoke to Applejack. “I was kind of expecting her to ask some different questions.” He raised an eyebrow at her at that last part, letting her know exactly what he was talking about. “Don’t worry,” Applejack replied. “Ah explained everythin’ to her last night, though I did leave out some of the stranger parts. I might be the Element of Honesty, but sometimes a part of bein’ honest is knowing when not to tell the truth, in order to keep people from freaking out and such.” Tsukune simply nodded along with her, understanding what she was saying. “What are you two talkin’ about?” Apple Bloom chimed in. “Nothing y’all need to be concerned about,” Applejack replied offhandedly. She then shifted her expression slightly as she stared down at her little sister. “And don’t intrude on other pony’s conversations, Apple Bloom. It ain’t polite.” “Yeah, yeah,” Apple Bloom waved her off. Her eyes then drifted to Tsukune’s flank and saw that it was blank. She was confused at this, given his age. “Hey, Tsukune,” she spoke up. “How come y’all don’t have your cutie mark yet?” Tsukune glanced back at his flank for a second before facing Apple Bloom again. “Oh, yeah. That.” He slumped. “I don’t really have any particular special talent.” “Ah hem.” They immediately heard Applejack clear her throat, loudly, to get their attention. The two of them both turned around to face her. “I thought we already discussed this last night. You are not talentless or worthless to your team. Ya got your own strengths, which work with your friends just fine. Try not to forget from now on. Learn to have confidence in yourself.” She spoke proudly. This caused Tsukune to look embarrassed again, and he scratched at the back of his head. “Yeah, your right.” He admitted. “Sorry. I promise I’ll try to work on that confidence thing.” He then laughed nervously a little to himself. Applejack just responded with another warm smile. Opening his eyes, Tsukune relaxed even more. Applejack was a really nice pony; he really liked her. Suddenly, his eyes widened in worry. “Oh, no.” He thought. Before he could think about this further, however, Granny Smith appeared beside him and put a plate in front of him. “Soup’s on, everypony.” She said as she placed a plate in front of everypony present, and one for Big Mac, who was walking in the door. Tsukune gave Granny Smith a thankful look; the food causing him to temporarily forget about what he was just thinking about, which he took as a good sign. “Good. I’m so hungry, I could eat a…” However, he managed to catch himself in time. “Nothing. Never mind.” With that, everypony dug in to their breakfast. Once they were all finished with their breakfast, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom started clearing the kitchen, while Big Mac, Applejack and Tsukune went out to the field to get a start on the chores. Big Mac then separated from the other two, walking into the barn. After he walked inside, he hitched himself up to the plow and headed out to the fields. Applejack and Tsukune then made their way over to the apple orchard. “Alright,” Applejack started, stopping where she was and turning to face Tsukune. “We’ll start with some good ol’ fashioned apple bucking.” Tsukune raised an eyebrow at this. “Apple bucking?” He questioned. Applejack nodded. “It’s what the Apple Family calls harvesting.” She then walked over to the side, until she was right beside a tree, which had several buckets placed around it. “It’s when we buck the apples out of the trees.” She then turned around and raised her two back hooves in the air. “Like this!” She said as she delivered a mighty buck to the trunk of the tree, knocking a few dozen apples down, into the baskets below. Tsukune was seriously impressed by Applejack’s display of strength. “She’s amazing,” he thought.” His eyes then widened again. “Oh, no.” Again, before he could think about this for too long, Applejack approached him again. “And there ya have it. We already have the baskets spread around the orchard. Ya think ya can handle some apple bucking?” Shaking his head to regain his thoughts, he then nodded in affirmation. Tsukune then went off on his own, towards another tree, while Applejack walked away in the other direction, but staying nearby. Facing his first tree, the peach earth pony turned around, raised his two back hooves up… and immediately lost balance and fell back on his flank. After a moment, he tried again… with the same results. After Applejack had finished her first tree, she looked back over at Tsukune, to see that he was having trouble. Smiling playfully in his direction, she then made her way over to him again. “Hey there, Tsukune,” she said when she reached him. “You doin’ alright?” Picking himself up again, while rubbing at his sore plot, he looked back at Applejack. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just still getting used to all the different ways of moving around in this body. As a human, I was bi-pedal, so it’s kind of hard to adjust.” “Ah understand.” Applejack reassured him. “Here, let me help you.” She then came in closer to him and picked him up a bit straighter. Tsukune felt a bit uncomfortable with how much physical contact she was using. Holding him closer than he would have liked, with her own hoof dangerously close to his flank, she moved them both closer to the tree, so that she could better demonstrate how to apple buck properly. “Tsukune!” This moment was interrupted, and his ears perked up when he heard someone call out to him. They sounded close by, and more importantly, they sounded familiar. Turning his head in the direction that he heard the voice, he spotted several ponies approaching: two purple unicorns, a butter yellow pegasus, a white unicorn filly, a pink earth pony, and a green earth pony with a pink mane and a rosary. With Moka and everyone else seeing the compromising position that he and Applejack were in right now, only one thought came to Tsukune’s mind. “I’m dead.” In the throne room of Canterlot Castle, light poured in through the stained glass windows, as Celestia sat on her throne, going through some early morning paper work about the affairs of her country. Her royal secretary stood beside her, and there were two royal guards situated at either side of her throne. Suddenly, a whiff of green smoke trailed in through the open window. As it approached Celestia, it magically turned into a scroll. Celestia suddenly looked up from her work as the scroll materialised in front of her, and she took a hold of it in her levitation magic before it fell to the floor. She unfurled the message and began reading it, with a smile on her face. As she read the message, however, the smile slowly fell from her face and she started to look more serious. She then raised her hoof to her mouth as she continued reading the scroll. Her secretary looked up at her in confusion as she continued to read the letter, while the two guards kept facing forward, with unchanging expressions. When the Solar Princess had finished reading the letter, she placed it down beside her and picked up a blank sheet of paper and a quill. As she floated the new objects up to her, she turned to the side to face the guard on her right. “Diamond Flash?” she said, with a warm smile on her face. The guard turned to face her immediately. He was a unicorn pony, with a grey coat, brown mane, and gold armor. “Yes, Your Highness?” He spoke, dutifully. “Send word to Shining Armor. His sister will be arriving in Canterlot later, and I would like for him to greet her and her friends when they do.” “Yes, Your Highness.” He saluted her and then turned back around and quickly galloped out of the throne room. After Diamond Flash had left, Celestia turned her attention back to her own message and started writing. “My faithful student, please come to Canterlot at once…” A blue unicorn with a striped mane and an hourglass cutie mark made her way along a series of dark passageways. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of sunlight; everything was silent. She eventually reached a big room, with a few steps leading up to a raised platform at the centre of the room, with a large throne at the centre of the platform. When she was standing in front of the steps, she knelt down on one knee and bowed, respectfully. Up on the platform, a voice called out from the shadows, at the back of the room, behind the throne. “What is it, Drone 22A?” The voice spoke coldly and methodically, in a feminine tone. The unicorn mare stood back up when addressed, and as she did so, her whole body was suddenly engulfed in a green flame. After it faded, a changeling stood in its place. “Your Majesty, I have detected an incredibly large burst of love while on reconnaissance in Equestria. I…” It hesitated slightly before continuing. “I believe it may be a Level 87 Code.” The Changeling Queen’s eyes suddenly shot open upon hearing this. She then slowly stepped out from the shadows at the back of the room, moving slowly from lack of energy, into the centre of the platform. She looked like a large alicorn, except that she had a hard, black chitin instead of fur, and her wings were more insectoid than feathered. She also had small holes in her hooves, horn and wings, and she had a black growth on her head that resembled a crown. Now that she was more visible in the dim light of the throne room, the changeling drone could see that she appeared very weak, like she hadn’t been eating properly lately. “What did you say?” The Changeling Queen suddenly spoke up, with more content in her voice. The drone responded in a calm and collected manner. It stood up straight again before responding in an almost robotic tone. “I detected an incredibly large burst of love in Ponyville, Equestria. I believe it may be a Level 87 Code.” “Are you sure?” the Queen asked immediately, in a somewhat hopeful tone of voice. “Yes, Your Majesty. One hundred percent. To be honest, I haven’t felt a burst of love this strong since the wedding in Canterlot.” The Queen’s left eye suddenly twitched slightly at the mention of this. “I see.” She then turned away and stepped off the raised platform, and walked over to the wall on her left. When she reached the wall, she stared up at an old, tattered map of Equestria. Examining it closely, she raised a hoof to her mouth in thought, as she looked at the map closely for several minutes, in contemplation, before suddenly speaking again. “How many scouts do we currently have in Equestria?” She addressed the changeling behind her, without turning around to face it, not taking her eyes off the map in front of her. Before the drone could respond, however, another changeling suddenly stepped up to the first changeling’s side and handed him a piece of paper. It took it and began reading it aloud. “We currently have three in Ponyville; myself included, seventeen in Fillydelphia, thirty-three in Manehatten, twelve in Stalliongrad, and one in Las Pegasus. I believe that last one is currently undercover as a pony by the name of ‘Donald Rump’.” It then lowered the sheet of paper and looked up to face the Queen again. The Queen’s eyes briefly drifted back to the changeling speaking to her, while she kept her head facing forward, towards the map. She then quickly turned her full attention back to the map. “I see.” She then placed her hoof on the map in front of her and turned her head back around towards them fully this time. “Send twenty scouts to every town and city in Equestria. If something major happens soon, I am to be informed of it immediately. I want to be prepared and cover all of my bases.” She then turned her head back around to face the map again, but she didn’t look at it, keeping her eyes focused on the two other changelings in the room with her. “If what you said is true, then this may be just what we need to recover from…” She abruptly stopped and her left eye started twitching again. “Recent events.” “Yes, Your Majesty,” the first changeling said, bowing to her, as did the second one, and they both started backing out of the room. The Queen briefly turned back to look at them, but then turned back to the map again, barely even registering the act herself. After a moment, she narrowed her eyes. Before the two changelings left, she spoke to them again. “Also, send fifty units to Canterlot.” Both changelings suddenly stopped in their tracks and looked up in confusion. They looked between each other briefly, and then the first one said, “But, Your Majesty, Canterlot is…” “Yes, I am fully aware!” She cut it off. “Now do as I command!” she yelled, not bothering to turn around to face them. After only a moment’s hesitation, it responded to her again. “Of course, Your Majesty. Your will be done.” It bowed again and the two of them began backing out of the room once more. The Queen’s eyes followed them as they backed out of the room, while she kept facing forward. When they were gone, and she was left alone in the room once more, she then turned her full attention back to the map, and a smile started forming on her lips. To be continued… Author's Note IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE! This story’s back from the dead. I must be a witch! Anyway, all jokes aside, there is absolutely no excuse for how long this chapter took for me to get out, especially with all the promises that I made in my blogs. It has literally been sitting on my desktop for the past ten months, half-way finished, but I just could not for the life of me sit down and focus on it, and for that I apologize. From now on, in relation to this story, I am not going to make any more promises on future updates. They’ll simply come out when/if I ever get them done. //-------------------------------------------------------// Cancelled Future Plans //-------------------------------------------------------// Cancelled Future Plans Chapter 6 A Train Ride and a Vampire The other ponies arrive at Sweet Apple Acres and see the compromising position that Tsukune and Applejack are in. Tsukune tries to explain, but Yukari and Mizore quickly cut him off and beat him to the ground, playfully. After that little awkward moment is over, Twilight asks Tsukune if he can take off Moka’s rosary so that she can study her powers. He agrees and takes off her rosary, and she transforms. Inner Moka then says that she can’t believe that they called her out for this. After noticing her personality change, Twilight then asks Moka if they can get started, but Moka just responds that she doesn’t want to be experimented on. Twilight is confused and says that she already agreed to do it, but Moka just tells her that that was the other Moka. She then puts her rosary back on and turns back. She briefly loses consciousness, but Tsukune catches her. Twilight then asks her exactly what just happened, and Moka tells her about her other self. Before she can ask any more questions, however, Spike comes running up to them, with a letter from Celestia, saying for them to come to Canterlot at once. They then all leave to round up the others and board a train to Canterlot. When they’re on the train, they then all start talking about the situation and what they’ll do when they meet with Celestia. When they cross the border into Canterlot, Ryo suddenly feels strange; however, she’s the only one, so she quickly brushes it off. When they arrive in Canterlot, Shining Armor meets them at the train station. Twilight hugs him and introduces him to the former students, and then he leads them to the palace. Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Coco is seen lying unconscious, now a bat pony, with a dark pink coat and a red mane. Kou then suddenly flies in front of the screen, noting that Miss Coco is here and wonders why, but he’s then interrupted when she grabs him and says that they need to find her sister. Chapter 7 A Princess and a Vampire Coco and Kou walk through Ponyville. Kou asks Coco how she got here, and she tells him that she tracked down Kuyo after hearing that he did something to her sister, and beat the answers out of him. She then got him to send her to this world the same way he did before. She then notes that he’s dead the next time she sees him. As she walks through Ponyville, she decides to ask the locals if anyone saw her sister. She asks a cabbage merchant if he’s seen her; he then looks around the area, points out a random pony that kind of looks like her and asks if that’s her. This makes Coco so mad that she destroys his cart and threatens him. When he gets a closer look at her eyes and notices her bat wings, he then mentions when Moka transformed during the fight with the Ursa Minor, and Coco recognises it as her. He then tells her that she’s staying at Ponyville library, and that it looks like a tree. After she leaves, he breathes a sigh of relief, but then he looks down at his destroyed cart and says, “My cabbages!” When she reaches the library, she finds a note on the door saying that they’ve gone to Canterlot. Annoyed that they’re not here, she asks a pony nearby where Canterlot is, and they point at the city on the mountain side. Coco asks herself how she can get over there, and then Kou points out her wings. She then flies into the air, in the direction of Canterlot, and says for Kou Buddy to follow her, and he says that he’s right behind her. When the main group reach the castle, they’re lead to the feast hall, where they meet up with Celestia. As they’re walking along, Ryo starts to feel like she’s getting progressively weaker, but when the others say that they don’t feel it, she just brushes it off. When they reach the feast hall, Celestia invites them all to sit down. She then says that she got Twilight’s letter, and how they’re from another world. She then says that she believes them, saying that this isn’t the first time that someone has come to Equestria from a different world. When Twilight asks more about this, Celestia just laughs and says that it’s a long story. This makes the former students laugh, and note that Celestia sounds like Ruby. It’s then brought up again that Ryo isn’t feeling well. Celestia says that she has doctors that could take a look at her, but she just brushes if off, saying that she’ll be fine. Celestia then moves on with her speech, but before she can finish, there’s a ruckus heard from outside. When the guards report back, they tell them that it’s changelings. Chapter 8 A Battle and a Vampire After the announcement of a changeling attack being made, one guard asks why, especially since they have a… but before he can finish, Celestia and Shining Armor interrupt them and start telling them to get ready for battle. Shining Armor then takes the group and starts leading them away from the battle, while Celestia goes to help the soldiers. While they’re running away, Kurumu says that they should stay and fight, and Rainbow Dash agrees. Shining Armor then reluctantly agrees to let anyone who wants to go back and fight. Rainbow Dash, Kurumu, Ryo, Applejack, and Twilight decide to head back, while Shining Armor escorts the rest of them to safety. As they part ways, Twilight wishes her brother luck, but he tells her not to worry and that since the changeling’s last attack, they put a dampening spell around the city, so all changelings in Canterlot are weakened. He then leaves quickly, while Twilight now knows that Ryo is in trouble and heads off after them. The group that joins the fight then start fighting with the changelings. After a while, Ryo charges straight into one, but at that point, she is feeling so weak that she then collapses. Seeing her fall distracts Rainbow Dash long enough for several changelings to tackle her to the ground. Then when no one is looking, Ryo’s disguise falls and she reverts to her changeling form. The other group continue escaping, but they’re then cut off by Chrysalis. She engages Shining Armor, fighting him to a draw, but both of them have to stay there to keep the other one occupied. Chrysalis then tells her changelings to capture Tsukune and Moka. No one left in the group is strong enough to fight them directly, so Yukari uses her magic to hold them off for a bit while they run away. After a while, Tsukune decides to take off Moka’s rosary, but before he can, Moka spots Coco, who arrived in Canterlot and started fighting with the changelings, but before she can process this, she and Tsukune are knocked out by the changelings. When the changelings have them, they send word to retreat. When word reaches Chrysalis, she then uses all of her magic to push Shining Armor back and leaves with her army. Chapter 9 A Queen and a Vampire Tsukune and Moka wake up in a cell in the changeling hive, wondering where they are. Ryo wakes up in a changeling hive as well, connected to a love pod, with her energy restored. When the changelings were retreating, Ryo was mistaken as one of theirs and brought back to the hive. She notes that this kind of love that she’s been fed is different from what she’s used to, and that she’s never seen this many changelings in one place before. Deciding to take a look around, she eventually finds the prison area, where they’re keeping Tsukune and Moka. She tells the guard posted there that she’s relieving him and he leaves. She then tells Tsukune and Moka that’s it’s her and they’re happy to see her, but before they can talk more about what happened and what’s going on, Chrysalis enters the room. She tells them that the two of them have more love than she has ever found, and that she’ll use it to supercharge her army and take over Equestria. When she’s done, she tells all the changelings in the room to follow her out. Ryo tries to reason that she should stay here to keep watch over them, but Chrysalis just makes her come along, and she reluctantly follows. Back in Canterlot, the ponies and the former students are trying to figure out exactly what’s going on and how they should proceed.