The Vampony Chronicles

The Vampony Chronicles
Chapter 12: A Merciful Lie

(A/N: Special thanks to DoomManta for editing again.)

“What do you mean?” I asked Fluttershy, very curious now.

“I'll be honest... I'm surprised nopony has picked up on it yet, but... will you hear me out before doing anything?”

I nodded. “Of course I will, you gave me that courtesy, so why wouldn't I?”

“Thank you.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes a moment before was suddenly consumed by what looked to be green fire with the same 'whoosh' sound that I had heard earlier. After a moment, the pink–maned, yellow pegasus had transformed into a taller insect-like pony. She had a matte black shell and an emerald green mane, although it kept the same style that it had before. Around her waist was a band of a green section of shell. She had two shimmering transparent wings on her back and an oddly curved horn on her forehead. Her hooves had holes in them, but they appeared to be natural. “I'm a changeling.”

My eyes went wide with shock at that. “Wha... are you actually Fluttershy?” I asked.

“Yes... and no...” Her voice was quite a bit deeper now, but it still held the kind tone that Fluttershy had. “The real Fluttershy didn't survive the fall from Cloudsdale... she was barely clinging to life when I found her. My actual name is Abia. I had just run away from my hive about a month beforehoof, because I was tired of the way they saw everything that wasn't a changeling as nothing but a source of food. When I mentioned it to my sister, Chrysalis, she merely laughed and said that when she took charge, such weak thoughts would mean banishment, so I left. She was next in line for the position of Hive Queen and I knew she didn't like me, I was her opposite. I had been helping the swarm of butterflies that Fluttershy nearly fell on find a new field to live in when she crashed... It wasn't a very nice scene...” She visibly shuddered at that.

“I can only imagine...”

“You don't want to.”

“Probably not.” I said, motioning for her to continue.

“She... she was nearly dead from the impact alone, I was surprised she was still alive. She asked if I could help her, and while I couldn't save her... I could take her place. She agreed to let me have her memories, and like that, I took her place. She wanted her cutie mark to be three butterflies...” A green tear fell to the ground as my vision took on a ruby hue again, my own tears falling.

I looked down to see that my tears were no longer water... but blood.

Luna told me about that. It's because you've turned another pony. Crescent said in my mind. I could hear sadness in her voice as well. What a horrible thing to have witnessed...

“I took her place and lived on for her, so I am Fluttershy in a way.” She sobbed. I trotted over and hugged her, her chitinous shell felt very odd against my coat. It gave slightly under my hug, as if it wasn't completely rigid, but still remained firm. It was an unusual feeling to say the least.

“You saved a lot of ponies a lot of strife because of that.” I said as I hugged her. “Have you ever regretted it?”

“No... I just wish I didn't have to lie to everypony.” She said.

“I have a feeling I, as well as the other Elements, will be familiar with that feeling soon...” I muttered. “The rest of our friends know about me. You'll have to tell them yourself if you want them to know.”

“Th-thanks Twilight, for keeping it a secret.” She sobbed.

“So... I'm not too familiar with changelings...” I said, hoping to get her mind off of the past. “Mind telling me?”

“Well... we don't eat food... we live off of love.” She said.

“I don't quite understand...”

“Well... the energy that love creates.” She said. “Most changelings disguise themselves as other ponies and replace them temporarily to steal some of that energy. Most ponies don't even notice. Because all the animals I take care of love me, I don't need to do that though, my friends help too...” she admitted.

“Wait, disguise?” I raised an eyebrow.

She nodded and there was another flash of green fire. There, sitting opposite of me, was an exact copy of myself. “Like this.” Even my voice was copied.

“That's... wow.” I said chuckling. “You know, if you ever let Pinkie in on this, she's going to try to get you to help her prank ponies.”

There was a flash of green fire and I was looking at Fluttershy again. “Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I haven't told her. I haven't told the town yet, because there are changeling hunters who want to destroy any of our race that they find. I've been Fluttershy so long though, that I'm more her than Abia, which has kept me hidden from them.”

“I still consider you my friend. You're still Fluttershy to me, just your past is different.” I said. “Actually you'll find that there is more to all of us Elements than meets the eye...” I said, giggling a little as I thought back to what I had learned over the past few days.

“Yeah... Twilight... would you... um... wouldyoumindstayingthenight?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sure, may I ask why though?”

“I keep hearing noises from the forest late at night... I don't know what it is, but it sounds like something very large growling. All the animals are spooked as well...”

“I'll stay then.” I said. “When I was back in Canterlot, Princess Celestia had me go through a year of Royal Guard training to help me get back into shape... I'll admit I let myself go for a while, and reading all day isn't exactly the best for one's weight.” I said with a chuckle.

Fluttershy giggled at that.

“In any case, I found that I was pretty good at combat with a blade, and unarmed as well. In a year, I was able to hold my own against some of the more experienced guards. I've kept myself in shape by sparring with a few of the guards every week since then. Well, that and it is a lot of fun, there's a certain rush you get from a good fight.”

“That's pretty impressive Twilight.” Fluttershy was clearly impressed. “Do you need to use magic at all or...”

“Not usually, I only did when my opponent started to, and then they usually found themselves a bit underpowered... I'd just lift them up and hang them off the rafters of the sparring room.”

“Oh my...” she giggled. “That must have been quite the sight...”

“I found out that it's pretty common to find a few of the unicorns hanging from the rafters in there; it was the standard prank if you used magic to cheat while sparring.” I joined in the laughter. “So now that that's all out in the open...”

“Um... how did the others take the news of you being a vampony, um... if you don't mind telling me?”

“Well... Spike took it surprisingly well, better than I did for sure. As I said before, Applejack tried to run out the door without opening it and dazed herself.” We both chuckled at that. “That night, I was over at Sweet Apple Acres and a timberwof attacked... I stopped it, but Big Mac and Granny Smith found out, apparently her great grandfather was a Moonblessed. Rarity took it surprisingly well, and due to a manticore attack, she's now a vampony too... Pinkie... well she's Pinkie Pie, she can take anything in stride. Berry Punch found out by accident, but she's not telling anypony, I'll have to tell you that story sometime. And lastly, Rainbow Dash freaked out at first, but eventually decided that it was awesome.”

“That does sound like Rainbow.” She said with a chuckle. “Did she slam into the ceiling?”

“Once... almost twice.” I giggled at the memory. “I think she matched Derpy for being wall eyed for a moment or two.”

Fluttershy disguised herself as Rainbow Dash, but with Ditzy's voice and ocular direction. “I just don't know what went wrong...”

Needless to say, we both were rolling about laughing after that one.

“Oh I shouldn't be making fun of Ditzy... she's a good mailmare, and a really nice pony...” Fluttershy said.

“Say, do you think you could teach me how to cast that spell? It would help with hiding my fangs, as well as disguising myself if I ever needed to hide from anypony...”

“I... don't know.” Fluttershy said, dropping the disguise. “You may be able to learn it, you probably have the energy to cast it, and sustaining it requires almost no effort.” She tapped her chin with her hoof. “Well it's worth a try.”

“Well, I'm all ears.” I said, listening intently.

“Well... first off, it will take a lot of practice before you're doing full body disguises, it's easy enough to change your coloration and all that, but it’s really difficult to make everything look right. Hiding your fangs will be the best place to start actually.” I nodded at that.

“What's so difficult about it?”

“You have to imagine every little detail, from the mane color, to the amount of hair, to the length and positioning of the hair, how it moves through the air, how the different parts of your coat move as you do... there's a lot of things come to think of it. You pretty much have to think of everything, down to the finest detail.”

“Wow...” I could barely comprehend the amount of effort it would take to just get one disguise right.

“The spell itself doesn't merely change the light around you like most illusion spells do, but it changes the way you look, the way you sound, and the way you feel, physically I mean. It also subconsciously causes everyone around you to avoid doing anything that would alert them to the illusion. I think somepony did a study once and found that in order to replicate our disguises, over forty other spells were needed.”

“And you learn this naturally?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a spell diagram I could use to learn it?”

“No, not at the moment, but I do know how to make one. Zecora showed me once.”

“That would really help.” I said with a smile. Wow... and she manages it all in an instant.

“It took me a few years of practice before I could disguise myself as a pony, although... Twilight would you mind... um... if I tried to transfer a memory of mine... i-if that isn't asking too much...”

“I don't mind... but please don't try digging around in my head. I don't like it when ponies try that.” She nodded, and her horn began to light up. “Wait, hold up...” I cocked my head to the side, listening. I hid my fangs at the sound of hoofbeats outside. “Somepony's coming...”

“Feels like Pinkie...” Fluttershy said, disguising herself and trotting over to the door.

“Twilight, Fluttershy, you two in there?” The party pony called.

“Yes Pinkie, um... one moment please... if you don't mind.” Fluttershy said, making it sound like she was just getting up and walking over to the door. She undid the lock and opened the door to a semi-frantic Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight, thank Celestia...” She said, visibly relaxing. “Um... did you...”

“She knows about me. Now what's up?”

“Did you run into any Sunblessed on the way here?” Pinkie asked, causing Fluttershy to raise an eyebrow.

“Yes, I was actually going to talk to you about that... He attacked me.”

“Please tell me he's still alive...” She facehoofed, clearly this wasn't the first time that idiot had barreled headfirst into something above his skill level.

“Um... what are you talking about?” Fluttershy said quietly.

“He's in the hospital...” I said, which prompted a small 'oh my...' from Fluttershy.

“How bad...” Pinkie asked.

“Leg and wing missing... they should be able to re-attach them though...” I said, shuddering.

“Yeah, as long as they try to, the limbs will re-attach. Part of the blessing...” She said, her initial panic completely gone.

“Um... What are you girls talking about?” Fluttershy asked a little louder this time, clearly a little disturbed by our conversation.

“My idiot partner...” Pinkie said with a sigh. “Sorry Flutters, this probably isn't a side of me you've seen before...”

“I was wondering about that... um... what's a Sunblessed if... um... that's not too much to ask...” She asked quietly.

“Basically, it’s Celestia's version of the spell that changed me into a vampony.” I said.

“Oh...” Fluttershy said, nodding.

“Yeah.” Pinkie said, letting her 'wings' show. “Little bit harder to hide, but there are a few less stigmas against us.”

“Oh... I can see what you mean about us all having secrets Twilight...” Fluttershy said.

“What's yours then Flutters?” Pinkie asked, curious now.

“Want me to or will you?” I asked Fluttershy, knowing she may not be able to say it.

She just squeaked and nodded.

“Now promise you'll hear the whole story Pinkie?” I asked.

“Of course, if you've already decided she's alright, then I'm fine with whatever it is as well... probably...”

“Okay then, she's a changeling.” I said, almost losing the deadpan delivery at Pinkie's expression of shock when Fluttershy revealed what she looked like.

“I- wha- but- Flutters- change- I- I... aye-yai-yai...” Pinkie stammered before fainting.

I sat there looking at the fainted, pink Sunblessed as my changeling friend poked her with a holey hoof, giving a small eep and jumping back as Pinkie twitched.

“Well... that could have gone better...” I said chuckling. “Congratulations Fluttershy, I think you're the first pony I've met who could catch Pinkie Pie off guard.”

She giggled. “Um, can you, if it's not too much trouble, levitate her onto the couch? I'll go find my smelling salts...” She asked. I nodded and levitated our currently ragdoll like pink friend onto Fluttershy's sofa.

She returned after a moment or two with a small glass jar. “Um... you may want to cover your nose, if your senses are heightened this may be unbearable.” I stepped back a few steps as she uncapped the small jar, the smell of ammonia and camphor wafting through the room as she waved the jar under Pinkie's nose, causing her to inhale sharply.

“I... uh... what just happened?” Pinkie said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

“Um... you just fainted when you found out I was a changeling, I'm sorry about surprising you like that...” Fluttershy said as she put the lid back on the jar.

Pinkie's hooves stopped rubbing her eyes as Fluttershy spoke. “Where is Fluttershy then?” She asked coldly.

“Pinkie, remember what we agreed upon about jumping to conclusions?” I cut in. “Let her tell her story.”

“Sorry... it's just my last experience involving changelings wasn't the best... the changeling took the place of a young unicorn by killing the pony it disguised itself as...” Pinkie shuddered.

“Oh my... um... that...” Fluttershy stuttered. “That's not what Mom would have... oh no...” She held a holey hoof to her muzzle before breaking down into tears.

Pinkie and I gave each other a confused look at that. “Um... Fluttershy?”

She could barely speak between sobs. “There's only one reason... why the hive would change so suddenly...”

“And that is?” I asked.

Before Fluttershy could answer, Pinkie sat straight up and cast a shield spell over us.

“Twitchy Tail!” She called out.

“Pinkie what are y-” I was cut off as the roof of Fluttershy's house slammed into the shield. The ground shook from the impact as a loud roar sounded. Pinkie grunted as the shields expanded, tossing the rubble aside. “What in the name of Celestia was that!?” I yelled.

Fluttershy just squeaked and pointed a hoof behind me as Pinkie went wide eyed. I whirled around to see the cause of the sudden house collapse.

A hydra towered over the ruins of Fluttershy's cabin, toothy grins across all five of its heads.

Pinkie was the first to come out of shock. “Everypony move!” She yelled, grabbing Fluttershy and, using her golden wings, jumped out of the house. I teleported clear of the living room right as all of the heads smashed through the hole in the roof, attempting to eat a candy colored meal. I appeared beside Pinkie who was putting Fluttershy down as the Hydra stumbled around.

“Please tell me you’ve got an idea?” I asked.

“Yes, but first, disguise yourself Flutters, that roar will have attracted ponies.” Pinkie said urgently. “I’ll hear you out after this. Twilight, do you know any dark magic?”

“Shadow blade, and Luna occasionally helps with more spells. Speaking of which, one moment.” Luna! I shouted mentally, hoping she'd hear.

Yes Twilight? What is wrong? The Lunar Princess replied.

There's a Hydra on the outskirts of Ponyville, it just nearly ate Pinkie, Fluttershy, and me. Right now we're the only thing between it and the town, and we need help. I quickly told her.

I'll call it a vision... fear not Twilight, I shall send help to aid thy town and thy battle. Until then, fight unlike thou hast fought before, for thine opponent is more dangerous than the manticore.

Can you relay any spells that may help? I only know the shadow blade one for non-magical combat.

Hmm... Crescent, the dark lightning spell that thou was about to use against the Element Bearers, teach it to Twilight, anything else will take too long. Luna said before cutting the link.

Brace yourself Twilight, here it comes. Crescent said before sending the memories of how to cast the spell over the link. I staggered from the sensation of the memory being forced into my head, but shook it off quickly.

“Are you alright Twi'?” Pinkie asked, looking at me.

“Yes, just having memories of how to cast a spell forced into your head is not pleasant.” I said with a chuckle. Thank you, now stay connected, I may need some help with this one...

May? Crescent replied sarcastically. That's like saying I may have needed to be sent to the moon.

“Okay here's the plan, I'll distract it and draw its attention, while you hit it with whatever you can. Only one head won't regrow though, and that's the main one. If you cut off the others they will come back doubled.” Pinkie said.

“I know, I do read you know.” I said as the shadow blades materialized beside me. Fluttershy and Pinkie gasped and Pinkie's eyes widened at their appearance.

“Well, no wonder you won.” Pinkie said with a wolf-whistle. “Anyhow, let's do this. By Celestia's Light!” She yelled as she shot out at the hydra like a miniature comet. I quickly followed suit, but as a darker blur along the moonlit ground, the pale light giving everything a ghostly tone. If we don't stop this thing, Ponyville won't stand a chance... No time for regrets or guilt now. I thought, channeling the lightning spell at the hydra.

A dazzling white bolt of lightning forked through the air and slammed into the distracted hydra, the lightning arcing across its scaled hide as the two heads that were struck convulsed and went limp, their muscle control fried. I charged in, flinging my two blades at the base of the center head's neck as one of the side heads dove in for an intercept. The blades embedding themselves within the head's skull and I pulled on the barbed cords, causing the two blades to slide free with a wet slurp, blood gushing from the two new ventilation slots in its skull. A beam of white light blasted the head that was left of the other side of the hydra's body, stunning it.

“Twilight, lightning now!” Pinkie yelled to me. I nodded and channeled a good portion of my energy reserves into the lightning spell, arcing a bolt out as thick as my foreleg.

The thunderclap was deafening as the middle head's eyes exploded outwards, steam rushing from the inside of its thick skull, the bone's contents boiling in an instant. The two heads that had been standing fell to the ground with an almighty thud. I quickly dispelled my shadow blades and hid my fangs as Pinkie landed next to me. “That was surprisingly easy.” I panted, out of breath from the exertion of firing such a large lightning bolt.

“Yeah... no kidding...” Pinkie plopped down on her haunches and hid her wings. “I thought a hydra would be harder to stop...”

Fluttershy stepped out from the bushes, wide eyed at the sight of the hydra's mangled corpse. “Oh my... um... do you think you may have... perhaps you overdid it... just a little...” She looked like she was about to be sick. A white rabbit bounded its way up to her and hugged her leg. “Angel! Thank Celestia that you're alright!” She scooped the bunny up into her forelegs and gave him a massive hug. “Did the other animals make it out alright?”

Angel nodded and Fluttershy visibly relaxed. “That's great news.”

I heard the sound of hoofbeats along the dirt path that came from Ponyville. “Um... how are we going to explain this one?” I asked.

“I... um... er...” Fluttershy stammered, her eyes going wide.

“I got it girls.” Pinkie said, letting her wings show. “That'll be the town's guard showing up and they know about me.”

“Okay.” I nodded before moving to beside Fluttershy. “Act frightened and shocked.” Fluttershy nodded, pausing for a moment before breaking down into an incoherent mess, which would expected of her. I meanwhile just pretended to be in shock from the sight of one of my friends massacring a hydra.

I have to admit, Fluttershy is a good actress. Crescent chuckled to me. Calm to complete breakdown in two seconds flat.

The armored guardsponies came into view on the path, along with some volunteers from the town. “Is everypony alrigh... Mother of Celestia...” The lead guard breathed. “Did one of you just...”

“Yeah... I took care of it.” Pinkie said with a small smile.

“Princess Luna sent us, in her message she said she had a vision of a hydra attacking Fluttershy's house... we didn't believe it until someone burst in reporting loud roars from that direction...”

A few of the guards and most of the volunteers lost their previous meals at the sight of the hydra.

I slowly put a leg around Fluttershy, doing my best to seem as if I was in shock and trying to comfort the quivering pegasus.

“Well it's taken care of now... I'll get a cleanup crew in tomorrow, for now let's get some rest... Twilight can Fluttershy stay at your place? The Cakes don't have any room.”

“She can.” I said shakily. “I have a spare bed.”

The guards nodded as one brave stallion walked over to the crispy hydra and put an ear to its body. “Horseapples, it's still alive!” He said backpedaling. “It's heart's still going!”

“The last head!” I shouted as Pinkie took off, the large scaled head starting to come round after its electric nap. It growled and got ready to take a bite out of the guards.

“Not on my watch!” Pinkie brought her hooves together, each one holding a sphere of white light. She then thrust them forward forcing the energy at the hydra. There was a meaty squelch as the ball punched a hole in its head moments before detonating, splattering the head all over the field we were in. I saw Pinkie's wings start to fade and galloped towards her, my improved speed allowing me to catch her in my magic as she fell.

“Pinkie!” I levitated her over to me; her breathing was shallow and she was running a fever. “Fluttershy!” As soon as she heard me, she got up and flew over.

“O-oh my...” She muttered, as she started checking Pinkie over. “High fever, shallow breathing, the fact that this happened right after a spell... I'm going to guess either backlash or spell shock We have to get her cooled off, or else the fever will be too much, this way, there's a stream by my house.” She took off and I galloped after her, the guards still too stunned by what had happened to move.

“Quick, put her in and keep her mouth above water. I'm going to go grab somepony from the hospital.”

“O-okay... what do I do if it gets worse?”

“Um... do you know any spells involving ice?”

“Yes, one for freezing small amounts of water for ice cubes.” I said, running a little water over Pinkie's forehead with my magic.

“Make a little ice and use it to cool her, but aside from that just wait, please.” She said before taking off straight up and shooting off towards Ponyville.

“Twilight? What the buck is going on?” I heard as Rainbow Dash glided down to the stream bed. “Rares and I saw some kind of light beam over here...” Her flight path had obviously not taken her over the deceased hydra.

“Hydra attack. Pinkie and I held it off, but she used too much magic and now she is in spell shock.” I said, keeping the cool water flowing. “Fluttershy left to go get help from the hospital. See if you can use your wings to help cool Pinkie.”

“Spell shock? Pinkie's not a unicorn...” Rainbow was clearly confused, but started kicking up a breeze anyhow.

“You'll have to ask her later on, I promised not to tell.” I turned to the guards who were galloping over. “Fluttershy went to get help from the hospital, see if you can make something to carry us back there on. I can keep some water around her as long as I don't have to walk at the same time.”

“You heard the mare, get to work!” The commander ordered, and soon they were rummaging through the wreckage of Fluttershy’s place, dragging out various bits and pieces of things to make a a stretcher out of.

Pinkie groaned a little as I stopped the flow of water to check her temperature. Good, she doesn't feel any warmer... “Rainbow can you fly up and see if you can spot Fluttershy returning?” I asked after about five minutes.

“Got it.” Rainbow said, shooting up into the sky. “I see her, looks like Nurse Redheart is with her.” Rainbow said as she landed and started fanning Pinkie again. “They'll be here soon.”

“Good, looks like the guards are nearly done too.” I could see the sturdy looking platform they had cooked up and mounted Fluttershy's bathtub on. It was just being hitched to four of the stallions as Redheart and Fluttershy came into view.

“... don't even know what's going on in this town anymore after earlier tonight and now this...” I heard her grumble as she got closer. “How is she?”

“I don't think she's any worse than before, but she's still quite warm.”

“I brought some cold packs, and it looks like the guard is helping... I think we can risk transport to the hospital.” Redheart said before turning to the guards. “Make sure that tub is corked.” She tossed off her saddlebags and began to unload the chemical cold packs onto the tub platform as two unicorns started filling it with water. She then stepped into the stream and examined Pinkie “Rainbow, fly to the hospital and let Nurse Triage know we're transporting Pinkie back and that it is spell shock, class 2. Have her prepare room 113 for treatment.”

“Gotcha.” Rainbow gave a quick salute before speeding off towards town.

“We'll give the tub a minute to cool, then head out. You four think you can make it back to town?” Redheart asked after stomping on a cold pack and tossing it into the tub.

“Mam, we're railponies,” one of them said. “This is nothing compared to our job, one of us could take it back, but this will be a smoother ride.”

“Good thing you four volunteered.” She muttered looking at the wood and metal structure that was now resting on their backs. “Okay, it should be good now, ready Twilight?”

“Ready.” I nodded to Redheart.

“You four ready?”

“Better believe it.” The railponies nodded as one.

“Okay, guards run ahead and clear us a path, Twilight, get Pinkie to the tub quickly.” The guards saluted as I lifted Pinkie out of the stream and into the tub. I climbed onto the wooden platform as Fluttershy and Redheart got on the other side. “We're on! Go, go, go!” Readheart called to the stallions, who slowly got moving and gradually sped up to help keep the ride smooth, and the water in the tub with Pinkie.