The Vampony Chronicles

The Vampony Chronicles
Chapter 13: Crimson Blood Behind Shining Curtains

Fluttershy, Angel Bunny, Rainbow, and I sat in the waiting room for the Magical Trauma wing at the Ponyville hospital. The minutes seemed like hours as they ticked by while we waited for news, however good or bad it was.

We managed to keep Pinkie's condition from growing any worse during our rush to the hospital; the railponies didn’t spill much of the water from the tub, and the cold packs had kept it cool enough to help.

We didn't speak for a long time, between the three of us we didn't know what to say, and frankly, we were all too worried about Pinkie to talk. However I had a feeling that Rarity and Applejack would want to be with us to hear the news.

“Dash...” I said hesitantly.

“Yeah 'Twi?” She asked.

“Would you mind flying to get Rarity and Applejack? They'd want to be here.” I replied. “Pinkie would make sure we'd all be there if it was any of us who was in the hospital.” I said with a small smile.

“But what if she wakes up while I'm gone? She'll think I ditched!” Dash seemed shocked by my request, and became very defensive.

“Um... not to interrupt, but... um... she'll probably be out for at least another hour.” At first I thought it had been Fluttershy who had spoken, but then I realized it had been the nurse behind the desk. “I mean... um... she didn't look as bad as the last patient we had come through... but she'll be out for a while still so you'll have time.”

“Why not have Fluttershy go?” Dash asked.

“She's not as fast, and I doubt she can help Rarity down from your place.”

“Oh... right.” Dash sounded a little dejected, but got up and trotted for the door. “I'll be back before you know it.”

“You always are Dash.” I said with a chuckle, causing Fluttershy to smile a little too.

“Oh... um Rainbow?” Fluttershy called out to after her.

“Yes Fluttershy?”

“Let the Cakes know as well, if it's not too much trouble, she is living with them after all...”

“Good idea... I'll bring Pinks back a cupcake too.” Dash said before disappearing from sight.

“Um... if it's not too much to ask, do you know what happened?” The nurse asked. “I'm Nurse Triage by the way.”

“Pinkie saved us from a hydra attack.” I said, sticking to the story we had cooked up earlier. “I think the guard knows more about what happened than us.”

“Oh... okay.” She said. “Um... if you want you can take a nap, I'll wake you up when news comes.”

“Thanks.” May as well get some sleep before everypony starts learning each other’s secrets tomorrow... I thought as I placed my head on my hooves, allowing myself to drift off into dreamland.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I looked around the surface of the moon, the landscape somewhat familiar to me now.

“How is she?” A familiar voice asked from behind me. I turned to see Luna and Crescent sitting there, as if they had been talking.

“She's in treatment right now, the nurse said that she was better off than the last patient they had brought through.” I said, trotting over and sitting by them. “I just decided to take a nap while I still had time.”

“That's a good idea, you'll need all the rest you can get tomorrow.” A voice spoke from nowhere in particular.

“Who goes there?” Crescent nearly yelled, her horn igniting.

“Oh just a spirit of Chaos.” The voice came again, and the strangest creature I had ever seen faded into view. It had the head of a goat, and all of its limbs were mismatched. One fang stuck out from its mouth, and an antler and a horn protruded from its skull. “But you can call me Discord.” He said with a chuckle.

“Discord!” Luna yelled. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Relax Luna, I'm merely an observer this time round, although, I did get the ball rolling, so to speak, a long time ago on this one.”

“What dost thou mean?” Luna asked, clearly puzzled.

“I'm simply commenting that an old friend of mine has returned to the world of the unpetrified.” Smirking, he continued on. “I believe you should remember Crimson Sonata, renowned musician of the classical age, and one heck of an agent of Chaos once I managed to free his mind.” He gave a fond sigh, as if remembering something cherished. “Ah, the fun you are going to have with him.”

“Wait, he's free from his imprisonment in the gardens?” Crescent gasped.

“No, I'm just reflecting on a fond memory.” Discord said sarcastically.

“No need for thou to be so grating Discord.” Luna said with a frown. “Thou said that thy role will be only as an observer to what happens?”

“Yes, it will be a while before I am able to get out of the stone I'm trapped as; although I have a feeling it may not be too much longer. Anyhow, I will not be helping his side, I simply wish to see chaos, Sonata on the other hand... well the two beasts he has sent after you so far should give you a hint. Once, long ago, I took it upon myself to free him from the boring mundaneness of ordered society, unfortunately I realized too late that I went too far and now he... well...”

“Simply wishes to watch the world burn in war.” Crescent finished with a shudder. “I may have been bad, but he was... something else.”

“Yes, while he is a remarkable agent of chaos, he takes it much too far.” Discord frowned. “I hope you are ready Twilight, for tomorrow the concerto begins.” He faded from view, his laughter slowly dissipating.

After a moment of stunned silence I spoke. “Okay, does anypony care to explain to me what in Tartarus just happened?” I asked.

“That... was Discord. A draconequus, and the, as much as I hate to say it, God of Chaos. He is an old enemy, and an older friend, but that tale is for another day.” Luna sighed. “Thou should wake up now Twilight, and should stay on watch for anything unusual come the morning, for when Discord takes something seriously, it is best to heed his warnings.”

“Remember, don't be afraid to ask me if something is up, I do have some experience in such things.” Crescent reminded me.

“I'll do that.” I replied as I could feel myself waking up. “Merry meet and merry part, Luna.”

“Until we merry meet again, Twilight.” Luna said. “I may visit thy town soon Twilight, I wish to speak to the six of you about Crimson, although I must speak with my sister first.”

I nodded as the dream faded, the lunar soil fading to black.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I opened my eyes slowly, wondering if Dash was back yet with the other two. Fluttershy, who was snoozing in a way that would cause a diabetic to have a heart attack from the sweetness, Angel Bunny, who was nestled between her wings, and the nurse, were the only others in the room. I rose from my cushion and trotted over to the nurse.

“Excuse me, Nurse Triage?” I spoke quietly so as to not wake up my sleeping friend.

“Yes Miss... I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name.” The nurse said apologetically.

“It's Twilight Sparkle.” I said with a smile.

“Ah, well then Miss Twilight, what can I do for you?”

“Was somepony brought in earlier today, a pegasus with a straw colored coat and light blue mane? I saw somepony carrying a pegasus that looked like that over the rooftops heading in this direction.” I lied.

“Y-you did?” Triage exclaimed, albeit quietly, “Could you tell me any details you remember about the pony carrying him? He was brought in with a severed wing and leg, although he is stable and recovering now. I don't know how, but the doctors managed to re-attach the limbs.”

“What?” I said, barely able to contain my relief. I managed to feign surprise. “W-well I couldn't see the pony carrying him all that well, they were wearing clothes.” I said.

“Yes the other staff said that too... say, why are you wearing clothes?” The nurse asked me, looking at my hoodie and pants that were splashed with both the hydra and sunblessed's blood.

Shit... wait, I got this. “Well I used to live in Canterlot and wore clothes while going to the academy, and Rarity asked me to see if her designs were comfortable.” I glanced back at the hoodie and acted as if I had just noticed the blood on my damp clothes. “That... is going to take a while to get out...” I said, shuddering. “It's hydra blood, Pinkie stopped it, but... well... yeah...”

“Hmm... I can help with that actually.” She got up and trotted over to a device on the wall. It consisted of a series of flared tubes that were affixed to gems. Fascinating, the gems must transmit and receive sound... I thought. I wonder if that can be made portable...

As the nurse spoke into one of the tubes, I heard hoofbeats approaching. I turned to the door as a panting Rainbow Dash entered, followed by a worried Rarity. I quickly put a hoof over my lips in a shushing motion and nodded at Fluttershy. Rarity and Rainbow nodded and trotted over to a trio of cushions on the far side of the waiting area as the nurse returned.

“One of the colts from laundry is bringing up a bit of the detergent we use for our bedsheets, it shouldn't damage your clothes, and it will be able to remove the blood even after it dries.”

“Oh you didn't have to do that.” I smiled at her, “But thank you.”

“It's no problem, they have buckets of the stuff down there.”

I nodded and trotted over to Rainbow and Rarity, taking the last cushion.

“So... what happened?” Rarity asked quietly as I put up a silence spell, “And how is she?”

“She's probably going to be fine, according to the nurse, as for what happened, she helped me stop a hydra... I'll let her explain how she did. I promised not to tell anyone.” I said. “She has class two spell shock.”

“Oh my...” Rarity said. “I had that once... it is not pleasant, but it’s survivable if you kept her cool...”

“Yes we did, now all we can do is wait. Is Applejack coming?” I asked Rainbow.

“Yeah... she's on her way. The Cakes gave me these to give to Pinkie.” Rainbow nodded to a brown paper bag I hadn't noticed her carry in. “They didn't seem surprised by the spell shock though.”

“They probably know about it then, she does live with them after all.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow said.

“Oh, drop the spell Twilight, the doctor's here.” She said, getting up as the purple sound barrier dissipated.

I trotted over to Fluttershy and nudged her awake with a hoof. “The doctor's here.” Turning to the unicorn in question I asked, “How is she?”

“Well, she was pretty bad when she was brought in, although after taking down a hydra, anypony would be.” He said with a small chuckle. “But as to why she's suffering from spell shock, I can't tell you.”

“Yeah, everypony's been saying that today...” Rainbow muttered, earning a 'shhh!' from Rarity.

“But she will make a full recovery. Her fever has receded, and her mana levels are back to normal. She should wake up with hangover-like symptoms in about half an hour if this is a textbook case. Until then, would you like to wait in her room?”

We all nodded and the doctor turned and led us down the hallway to a secluded room. “Now please keep the noise level down, we have another patient in this room who is recovering from surgery earlier tonight.” He said and we nodded before entering the room.

Pinkie lay on a bed with a few sensors hooked up to her monitoring her vitals. She was sleeping peacefully, a small smile upon her face.

The doctor turned to leave and I stepped outside the door with him.

“Yes?” He asked.

“One of our friends, Applejack, is on the way here from Sweet Apple Acres, can you tell Nurse Triage to let her know where we are?”

“I suppose I can.” He said with a nod and a smile.

“Thank you.” I said and stepped back into the room, placing a noise barrier around the drawn curtain that hid the other patient from view. “You can talk now girls.”

“Thank you Twilight.” Rarity said.

“It's nothing really.” I replied, taking the cushion beside Fluttershy.

“It's a high level spell dear, and certainly not one I could perform. To you it may be nothing, but to the rest of us it is something,” the alabaster unicorn said with a chuckle.

“Anyhow...” Dash cut in, “I take it everypony here aside from the pony in the sound barrier knows about Twi'?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I had just finished telling Fluttershy when Pinkie showed up, shortly followed by the hydra attack.”

“Good, well at least that's out on the table.” Dash said with a sigh.

Rarity nodded, and I noticed a drop of red on her lip. “Rarity, you’ve got some red on your lip.” I said quietly.

“Oh... thank you dear...” She said, forcing out an awkward laugh as she tried to clean off the drop of blood.

“Um... I take it Rainbow helped you with that then? If that's not too much to ask?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Yeah.” Dash said with a chuckle and a small blush.

You know... Crescent said with a mischievous tone to her voice, Now would be a good time to get revenge on Dash if she's embarrassed you in the past...

I smiled a little at that, but replied, Nah, not now at least. My ears perked up alongside Rarity's at the sound of hoof steps in the hallway. “Somepony's coming.” I said.

The door soon opened to reveal a familiar orange apple farmer and her trademark Stetson hat. “Ah came as fast as Ah could.” She said, a little out of breath. “The nurse filled me in on Pinkie's condition. Landsakes, how did she take down a buckin' hydra...”

“Well... I helped...” I said. “In any case, all we can do is wait. Oh, and everypony here knows about me.”

“Good, because you know Ah can't lie.” She said as she flopped down into the last cushion. “Phew... the run from the Acres to here is one heck of a jog...”

“I'd bet.” We lapsed into silence after that, waiting for Pinkie to wake up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After about another fifteen minutes of idle chatter, Pinkie groaned, stirring slightly.

“Heads up girls, Ah think she's wakin' up.” Applejack said, sitting up.

We all sat up and watched as Pinkie slowly woke up. “Huh? Where am I? And why does my head hurt? Oh boy, did I get into the Cake's cider cabinet again?” She said with a chuckle.

“Pinkie!” I said, hugging her, “Thank heavens you're alright.”

“Hi there Twi'.” She giggled. “Oh yeah... now I remember.” She said, frowning slightly. “Good catch by the way.”

“Thanks.” I said letting go. “I'm not the only one here.” I said letting go.

“Hi girls.” Pinkie said cheerily.

“Oh thank Celestia you're okay!” Fluttershy said, almost tackle hugging Pinkie as she wrapped her hooves around the party pony.

“You'd be thanking the right pony then.” She said hugging Fluttershy, “Well her, and you, and Twilight, and whoever else helped me.”

We all nodded in agreement on that one.

Rarity spoke up next, “While I am happy that you are alright dear, I must ask, how in Celestia's name you got spell shock? I know for a fact from the few times you've had me style your mane that you are an earth pony.”

I rubbed my forehead with a hoof. Here we go...

“Oh... Well I guess it's time for some exposition in this story...” Pinkie said with a small chuckle, earning a questioning look from the rest of us.

“Pinkie, Ah’ve got no idea what you mean by that, but Ah'm wondering the same thing.” Applejack said.

“Alright, alright,” She said, “Don't get your tails in a twist. To put it simply, I'm a sunblessed, I got Celestia's version of what happened to Twilight.”

The reactions of Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were ones of shock, indifference and confusion respectively.

“You're not surprised Dashie?” Pinkie asked with a giggle.

“Not really, I knew something had to be different about you after a few pranks with you somehow ending up on the roof of a three story building.”

“Make sense... Ah suppose...” Applejack said after a moment.

“But... how... when... why-” Rarity stammered.

“-Didn't I say something?” Pinkie finished for Rarity, “Simple, it didn't really matter up until now. As for how and when, how involves Celestia and some light magic, and when was shortly after I left the rock farm. Me and my two sisters, Inky and Blinky, were asked to become sunblessed, but Inky declined for some reason.”

“Well... okay.” Rarity said after a moment of thinking it over. “Now... before we continue, does anypony have any other kind of blessing or curse? If so, please say so now so we can stop having these surprise exposé's?”

I resisted the urge to look at Fluttershy, in case she wanted to keep it a secret, however much to my surprise she spoke up.

“Um... actually now would probably be a good time to bring it up... if you don't mind.” She said quietly.

“Well go on dear, since two thirds of us seem to not be standard ponies anymore, you may as well get it over with.” Rarity said.

“Well... um... okay... but um... Rainbow?” Fluttershy turned to the blue pegasus.

“Yeah 'Shy?”

“I have to say sorry... I haven't been exactly honest with you since the day of the race at summer flight camp...”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... um... oh... eep...” She said hiding behind her hair.

“It's hard to explain Rainbow.” I said with a sigh. “I just ask for you to hear her out, same with the rest of you. I won't hesitate to stop you from running, and I can catch you easily, with or without magic.”

“Okay then...” Rainbow muttered. “Well... lay it on me 'Shy, nothing you say will make me hate you, heck we've been friends ever since that first week of camp.”

“Okay... um... well... oh this is too difficult...” Fluttershy stammered. “During the race, you remember how I was knocked off of the cloud by one of the bullies?” She said as I encased the whole room in a sound dampening spell as a precaution. I also threw up a detection spell to warn me if anypony was coming.

“Yeah?”

“Well... that wasn't exactly me... um...”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked, clearly confused.

“Well...” She gave a small squeak as she dispelled the illusion. “She didn't make it... she asked me to take her place...” Rainbow had frozen in place, as had Rarity. In contrast, Applejack's jaw had hit the floor. “My original name is Abia. I'm a changeling, and one of our older spells allows us to take the place of a dying pony upon their request by copying their memories... She asked me to take her place and be your friend...”

“Wh... Why didn't you tell me?” Rainbow asked, a tear falling.

“She asked me not to...” Abia said quietly.

“But then... the Fluttershy I've known all this time...”

Abia seemed unable to speak so I cut in. “Rainbow, she's still Fluttershy, your friend, and the Element of Kindness. She's been living as such for most of her life, ever since she left the place where she was born. I know it's a huge shock to you, but she isn't any different than the Fluttershy you've known since the day of the race, you just found something else out about her.”

“Yeah, kinda’ like how me, Rares, and Twilight are all magically altered ponies, it's just less obvious for us.” Pinkie said with a smile, sitting up and letting her wings show. “Well... for Twi' and Rares at least.”

“I... so... the original Fluttershy died during the race?” Abia nodded, a few green tears falling. “And you were the one that the flight camp instructors brought back?”

“Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you... She asked me to bury her so nopony would know.” Abia said.

“Well...” Rainbow said, hesitating a moment before getting up and hugging Abia. “Then you're still Fluttershy to me.” She said.

“R-really? You forgive me?”

“Yeah, Besides, you have all her memories right?” I could see Rainbow was crying from the teardrops that were running down Abia's back.

“Y-yeah.”

“Then you may as well be her. Not that I'm saying it's not a little strange... but I've known you longer than her... It's still sad though... she was so nice...”

“I know. She didn't deserve that...” Abia said. Applejack had picked her jaw up off of the floor and was holding back tears, while Rarity wept openly. Pinkie was tearing up as well, a small smile on her face. I myself was crying a little, if the redness of my vision was any indication. I could feel sadness from Crescent as she watched the scene through my eyes.

Such close friends... that they can even overcome that... the alicorn said.

“Nopony does Abbie. Nopony does...” Pinkie muttered, using a wing to pull Abia and Dash into a hug, which the rest of us soon joined in on.

((A/N: Thanks again to Doom for editing.))