"And then he wrapped around her, sealing her up inside himself." The guard stallion's voice was flat, monotone. "They left."

"Where did he take the… monster." Dark End whispered into the stallion's ear, his willpower pouring over the poor guard, rendering him unable to even feel afraid. "Where did they take mommy?"

"I don't know, they were heading back to the castle and I lost-" Voice seizing up, the guard sighed as he felt the sharp fangs sink into his neck. He couldn't fight, he couldn't struggle.

When Dark was done with the pony, having sucked every drop of blood from their body, he spread his soft pink wings and stepped from the poor stallion's window and into the night once more. "I am coming, mother."

Mademoiselle looked at the creature that had almost caught her, but now had her in his trap. She gave a deep sigh. "It is done, you caught me. Thank you."

"The princesses want you dead." Gel stared into the vampony's eyes, they never blinked, not even once, he decided not to either. "I made a promise, to a mare."

"Must be delightful to be able to ignore a princess." Maddie hated these games. "Either kill me or let me free."

"Ignore? I wouldn't dare. But when a prince gives his word, even to a single unicorn, he sees it carried out. The killer, the real killer. Who is it?" Gel kept reaching to try to feel the vampony, but she might not have even been there, to his changeling senses.

"A mistake." Mademoiselle actually gained some living attributes as her eyes stared ahead, not seeing the changeling, but instead the past.

"A big one, it seems. Why did you make them a vampony? I understand it is not a simple task?" Gel spoke softly, trying to prompt rather than interrogate.

"What of Sunny, what did you do to her? For me to give you anything she must remain unhurt." Maddie let even more of her emotions slip and she saw a surprised look on the odd creature. "What?"

"You love her. Cadance may be easier to sway in this than I thought. Promising to protect an innocent mare is not an act I have a problem with. What did you do to her?" Gel watched as Maddie's face now looked so flushed with emotion she almost seemed alive.

"At first? A shameful thing. I rushed her, fed from her… carefully. I had nopony else to turn to and needed to feed." Maddie felt the heat of self-loathing pour over her. "I did what I could to make up, I took something from her, so I gave something back."

"You cooked her breakfast?" Gel couldn't help but smile. "I hear you make a great omelet."

"The best. Which was why I was shocked when she found me. I had flown away from where you… where you tried to catch me…" Maddie's inquisitive glances had the stallion smiling more. "How do you do that?"

Gel lifted his hoof, holding it up. "Most of my magic, that I should have as a changeling, is warped into keeping me like this." His hoof suddenly seemed to turn to liquid, flopping down onto the table and spreading out like a liquid.

Mademoiselle blinked at the display, then gasped when all the liquid seemed to flow back up and reform his hoof. "I didn't do it."

"But you were at the scene? Who did?" Gel collected all of himself from the table and, once more looking like a pony, gestured at Maddie. "The stories of vamponies don't normally speak about how nice and caring you are."

"The stories would be old. My creator was one of the last few, a vicious beast." Maddie finally blinked, but only to add inflection to her comment. "You are welcome, by the way."

"I think if circumstances were better, I would quite like you. So how do we deal with this other vampony?" Gel set down the reports he had, of all the killings.

Maddie actually froze, all emotion but shock draining from her like water from a sieve. "I… this many?" Gel nodded to her. "Okay." A single tear, stained red, trailed down the cheek of the mare.

Just at that moment the door to the closed cell opened and a yellow-white unicorn rushed in. "Maddie…"

The vampony almost recoiled in surprise, this was not what she had expected. "Sunny, did they hurt you?" Dark wings probed and poked at the unicorn but could not find any sore patches. Turning to look at Gel as one of her wings curled and pulled Sunny to her side, Maddie gave a slight nod.

Cadance stood in the doorway, shock on her face as she watched the scene unfold. "Love?" She blinked a few times, her element in clear display before her. Breaking her gaze from the couple, she looked to Gel. "Well?"

"She is going to help us. Once this is all dealt with, then we decide her fate." Gel looked from the princess to the vampony. "This is agreeable?"

Maddie nodded but magic clung to her suddenly.

"No!" Sunny forcefully turned the vampony's head so they looked eye to eye. "You haven't hurt anypony, tell them, you are good!"

"I have killed." Mademoiselle tried to break the eye contact with Sunny. "I have-"

"He forced you, that doesn't count!" Sunny looked so determined that Maddie actually backed off, giving a sigh. "When she was made into… this, the one who made her locked her in a room with a pony-"

"My best friend…" Maddie's voice was soft, the scared, newly changed mare speaking from the past.

"Her best friend! He wouldn't let her out until she fed." Sunny pushed the wing from her back and stepped between Cadance and Maddie. "She won't help you, I won't let her, until you promise that she is allowed to go free after this."

"I am a predator…" Maddie tried to step around the unicorn but felt herself pushed back again and again. She could force the matter, but she would not, not with Sunny.

"Will one pony keep you going?" Cadance looked at the vampony, over Sunny's back. Maddie nodded. "Then the answer is simple. I will hold you to a promise that, if you keep it, you are safe to live in my empire."

Every fiber of Mademoiselle's being focused on the alicorn, as did Sunny's.

"You feed only on the willing, and only after they agree. Sunny will take care of you, at first." Cadance gained a half smile on her snout. "You will be as close as the ponies I recently joined in matrimony."

Sunny and Maddie stared at each other, both looking with both surprise and a little fear. But the emotion predominant in the pair was hope.

Fluttershy inhaled the sweet air, holding her breath a moment, then let it out slowly.

"Good, and like, just relax and feel for the forest." Tree Hugger felt a little conflicted, well, as much as she ever possibly could. It was nice to bring relaxation and peace to a new pony, but when they looked, acted, and sounded just like the mare she loved… she almost slipped a few times. "Can you feel the peace?"

She was poised in the pony equivalent of the lotus position. "I can…" And Fluttershy really could. Unlike her world, this one really had magic, and right here, right now, that magic was peaceful.

"Can you understand me now?" Angel Bunny looked up at the mare, when he got a shocked look back he grinned. "So why don't you give me the carrot you brought out?"

"That was supposed to be my lunch." Fluttershy froze a moment. "What did you say?"

"I said, give me all your carrots or the pony gets it!" Angel gestured behind him with a paw to Tree. When the mare didn't move immediately he bounced to where her pack lay and started going through it himself.

"I heard him!" Shy was smiling and looking around, the surrounding forest was alive with chatter, all the songs of the birds, all the chatter of the little creatures, she could understand it all!

"From what I grok, he has quite the mouth on him." Tree unfolded her own limbs and ended up flipping smoothly to her hooves. "Which he is using, like, right now."

Following the gaze of Tree, Fluttershy saw Angel with a carrot in each paw, nibbling on one. "He has been patient, he deserves it." She smiled at the little rabbit.

"You know what, I like you." Angel stopped eating just long enough to make his comment before stuffing one of the carrots in his mouth while securing a third.

"What about the plants?" Fluttershy didn't hide her grin as she turned back to Tree. "Can I understand them, too?"

The earth pony smiled widely, her eyes in their perpetual state of being half-closed. "Like, we could totally show you. It will feel a little strange, but Mother can totally undo it at the end."

"Mother?" Fluttershy's legs were moving, following Tree as the mare started to explain.

"The tree, she… it will be best to show you as I describe it." Tree brushed the bark of every tree as she passed it, greeting the mighty plants as she would a friend. The sound began in her head, growing stronger as they neared where the tree was. "Octavia?"

The tune was audible now, the cello playing long, deep notes that had both ponies freeze in their tracks and just listen. Fluttershy was simply entranced, but Tree felt something much deeper. Swaying slowly, the mare gave a slight tremble when the song finished.

"That song was beautiful!" Fluttershy strode into the clearing around the big, old tree. Sure enough, a dark brown mare was sitting on an old log, a cello pressed firmly to her front. "Oh, uh… excuse me…"

Octavia smiled at Fluttershy, then her eyes narrowed a little. "You are the mare from the other world?" Shy nodded, caught out quickly; she got a smile from the dark colored cellist. "It's well you came now, if you met Mother on your own you-" Tree appeared from behind her namesake, almost like magic. "… are not alone. Tree Hugger." Octavia got up, setting her cello gently against the old wood, trotting to the green-pelted mare.

"Like, that song was gnarly… in the best of ways. You were playing it all over me at once…" Tree hugged the dark mare. "Like, how did you do that?"

"Mother gave me a log of hers, it took a while, but I have made it." Octavia gestured to the cello. "Her own voice is amazing, just like it is in my head."

Fluttershy was a bit confused at their very 'in' conversation. "Mother? What do you mean?" When both mares turned to her and smiled, Fluttershy felt a little intimidated and a touch more confused. Both pointed and she followed the line of their gesture. A large tree, branches hanging low, spread its branches away from a gnarled and ancient trunk. Pink-colored fruit hung high up, ripe, but unable to be reached.

"That is Mother." Octavia stepped over to the trunk and reached her hoof up to press against it. "She welcomes you to her grove."

"The tree can talk? Can I hear?" Fluttershy perked up a bit at the implication, it would be amazing to hear plants.

"Her fruit used to mean quick and painful death to any who ate them. But we, like, talked." Tree walked slowly, looking to Fluttershy with each step, encouraging the pegasus to follow along. "Her seeds grow inside, you see. In days gone, they would sprout out the bottom of your hooves, rooting you in place. It was a really bogus way to go."

"Now," Octavia turned, seeing Fluttershy close, "she welcomes ponies, asking only for their bodies when they walk no more." It was hard not to use rhetoric, like Tree.

"Her seeds live in both of us, in many other ponies. They allow us to… enjoy music, much more. Like, whoa, way more." Tree giggled. "She promises you can undo it if you wish, but would you like to try?"

Fluttershy gulped. It seemed fantastic, magical. "What is it like?"

"Music. Amazing music, created by other ponies, by the tree…" Octavia gestured back to her cello. "A musician can work wonders with it."

"Okay…" Fluttershy froze as she heard the word spill from her mouth. She blinked a moment, unsure just what was going on. Octavia held up a hoof and a fruit dropped down onto it, the mare catching it easily. "Is that it?"

"It is, gulp it down, don't chew. Then just relax and lay down for a little while." Tree took the fruit from Octavia, passing it to Fluttershy.

Reminding Shy of a small mango, she started to bite into the soft flesh, before remembering the instruction and gulping. The fruit was delicious, the juice on her teeth and tongue getting more attention, until Fluttershy fell sideways. "What is it… mmmm."

The pegasus felt the roots of the seed spreading out. It didn't hurt, far to the contrary. She let out a few moans, blushing hotly at the sounds she was making as she rolled around on her back. Staring blankly at the branches above her, Fluttershy started to feel a slight pulse, then a tremble, then finally sound broke into her mind.

Octavia leaned over the pegasus. She played her song slowly, but when the yellow pony's eyes opened they were focused squarely on her. "Are you okay?"

"I feel amazing!" Fluttershy felt the roots finally stop squirming inside. "What is it doing in me?" She waved both her forehooves up in the air, giggling at them.

"You'll see." Tree's eyes flared wide as she said it; she could already feel the pegasus' own little tune, adding to the great song.

Author's Note

Maddie... what are you doing? You are supposed to clam up and be a stoic vamp that isn't going to talk to mere mortal ponies... MADDIE!

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