"But why can't we see her?" Cadance and Twilight both stood at the door to the usually empty dungeon. The Princess of Love hated to be a bully, but she really wanted to make sure her fellow alicorn was okay. "At least let us look at her through the door?"

Maddie sighed. "She is like a newborn foal, as mothers you both know what that means she spends her time doing?"

Twilight blinked. "Eating and sleeping."

"Exactly. She rests now, come close and try not to wake her." Mademoiselle led the two princesses to the cell. Pink magic drew back the window and let them look in on Sunset Shimmer. The mare slept on her side, on the bed.

"What is that mark?" Twilight was referring, of course, to the dark red stain down the side of the young vampony's face. "And are those ear tufts? Do all… you have his body in there?"

The last words of the Princess of Friendship woke Sunset. She moved fast, so fast that Twilight could barely make it out. "Twilight!" Sunset was almost pressed to the window, her excitement palpable. "Are you coming in to say hello?"

"No, she isn't." Maddie slid the window closed. "Her hunger speaks."

Twilight blinked in surprise at the changes in Sunset. There was a streak that matched her mane, of crimson red, from her snout to her flank "She wants…"

"Blood. Which is the only reason I agreed for you to come down here. Princess Cadance, it is your turn." Mademoiselle waited for the alicorn to nod and tilt her head to the side. Maddie stepped in close, finding the two marks she had left last time. She bit down, counted three heartbeats of blood and drew back.

Cadance felt the bliss of the bite, it overwhelmed her senses and left her smiling at nothing. "Cadance?" Twilight stepped up beside her sister. "She is okay?"

"Of course, the reason you cannot visit your friend is she has not learned to limit herself. It will come." Maddie licked along the bite, her saliva helping to close the wounds.

With no more words, Twilight spread her wing over Cadance's shoulder and led the alicorn out and up the stairs to the world above.

Maddie waited for them to leave before opening the door. Sunset sprang back up from where she had been laying, she smelled blood in the air and it stirred her hunger anew. "Is Twilight coming in to say hello?" Sunset felt the desire to hug her friend blend in with her hunger and she recoiled from the result.

"Your friend will not. What would you do if she came in here? What would you do if your saw her long neck, unprotected?" Maddie stepped over the body of her son to reach Sunset. The pattern her own blood had left on her was quite striking.

Sunset shrank back further, huddling in the corner. "I would eat her…"

"You would. So, you need to sate your hunger, feel glutted with blood, then I will start to teach you to control that need." Mademoiselle stroked the scared mare's snout. "But you are hungry, and there is potent blood within me." She brought her leg up, no longer needing to cut it. The tiny bit of pain as her daughter bit in was washed away by happiness and love. Maddie herself was not immune to the sensation, reaching a leathery wing out to cradle Sunset as she slowly drank at the blood of Cadance that was within her mother.

"Welcome, one and all, to the Lucky and Delighted Trixie's Traveling Extravaganza!" The blue unicorn spread her forelegs up and gestured into a sky suddenly lit up with fireworks. "Prepare to see a dazzling display of high-sorcery, as, with my faithful assistant, Trixie defies death itself!"

Starlight Glimmer trotted out, wearing a tight but ultimately revealing costume. She took a bow, to much applause. The part of Starlight that knew how to control and twist a pony to her ends, marveled at how well Trixie's showy magic and proclamations swayed the whole crowd from skeptical to adoration. She felt an odd tingle in her flanks.

The whole crowd was focused on the stage, even the white alicorn sitting at the back. "I really do wish I could have brought my sister along." Celestia sat with Mane May and Rarity. It had been odd for her, to come to terms with what the diamond dog had done to her little pony, but when the canine beside her had made mention, in awed tones, of Gel taking care of it, she smiled. "But I have the feeling a particular mare is finding out a lot about herself."

Rarity couldn't tear her eyes away from the two ponies on stage, even as Trixie, using a large industrial saw, apparently sliced Starlight clean in two. Soft pink hooves wiggled from each end of the box, with Starlight giving the most surprised look the fashionista had ever seen. "She is a natural. Being the center of attention… it is still within her, isn't it?"

"She hated not doing anything. Sure she would go up to Twilight's castle and sort her library out… daily, but this… look at her smile." Mane clopped her hooves together with the rest of the crowd as Trixie pushed the boxes back together and a surprised Starlight stepped out, completely whole.

Working carefully, Mane May opened the box at her side and lifted out the ice-cream cake. Carefully using a knife, she cut three slices off it and passed one each to a suddenly delighted Celestia and Rarity.

"This is good, did you make it?" Princess Celestia was full of smiles and happiness, it was hard for her to even feel bad, when she was eating cake, watching two happy friends plying their entertainment… while feeling new life growing within her.

Mane blushed. "I purchased it from the Cakes, Pinkie Pie is an absolute wonder in a kitchen, how she manages to concoct such things is beyond me." A small tentacle, wrapped around a fork, carefully fed her mouth with some cake.

A great roar silenced the crowd as a huge manticore, adorned in chains that Rarity knew were apparently unneeded, took the stage. "Be calm, gentleponies, the Great and Powerful Trixie has the beast under her full control!" It was clear by the way Starlight said the words, that she enjoyed the slight mimicry of her friend's affectation.

Trixie gave the other unicorn a grin. "She is right, Trixie has control of this beast!" The manticore raged and even threw a clawed paw out, crashing it down on the stage just before both unicorns. "Mares and gentlecolts, please be still for this next piece, you will see the Hopeful and Tentative Trixie be shot from that cannon," Trixie gestured with both hoof and magic at a cannon at the back of the crowd, "landing in the mouth of this great beast!" Terrance roared again, showing off his fangs. "But she will not perish, for Trixie can bend the very laws of nature and will survive unharmed!"

Even Celestia gasped at this, it was all part of the show and she was loving it. She watched as Trixie trotted, free of cares or worries, to the cannon lit by a single spotlight. Climbing in, the unicorn put a crash helmet on. Trixie looked to her friend on stage. "It would help Trixie, if everypony would start clopping for her." Starlight's idea instantly took off, the audience clopping hooves against each other, the beat resounding in the air. Trixie lit the fuse with a little of her magic, hunkering down in the barrel, she waited.

The fuse burnt down and as if it were timed, the cannon blasted perfectly on a single clop, sending the unicorn into a parabolic arc. Terrance looked up at his friend, opening his mouth.

Landing perfectly on the manticore's tongue, Trixie felt the long muscle curl up behind her and he closed his mouth. The feel of tight muscles around her was soon gone as she felt powerful magic grab her and tear her through the world. "Taa daa!" Trixie threw open the box, stepping out. She was a little singed, and there was saliva in one ear, but it worked.

The crowd went wild, hooves stomping and cheers going up for the pair. "Thank you!" Trixie had to repeat the words over and over as she and Starlight bowed to the assembled ponies. She turned to Starlight and gave her friend a tight hug. "Thank you."

Starlight was buzzing with excitement, she hadn't used a lot of magic, but her spells had certainly added to the show and been essential for a few of the tricks. Hugging the other unicorn, she reveled in the approval of the crowd and realized where she would truly love to work.

"Will I get better?" Sunset had finished feeding from Maddie, her belly was full of blood again and she huddled under the thestral's wing.

"Better? Control you mean?" Mademoiselle felt the alicorn nod. "Of course you will. I don't go biting every pony I see." She brushed a hoof along Sunset's cheek, tracing the blaze of crimson. "Your body is changing, adapting. You need a lot of energy to do that, that is why you are drinking more than you ever will need to in your life."

"So it will get easier?" Sunset leaned in, taking comfort in the attentions of Maddie. It was easy to think of her as her mother, she certainly knew without the mare there she would truly be a monster, or dead.

"Of course, it will get both easier, and harder. You will not need to feed as much, but you will need to feed. You are going to need a group of friends… or lovers, willing to support you." Maddie kept up the stroking, easing her new daughter off to sleep again.

"She is asleep?" Gel's voice was soft, he noticed Maddie slowly nod. When she did he started to flow and pour into the room, avoiding the body still laid out on the floor. "I am removing him."

Mademoiselle felt anger rise, the stallion was going to take her son away. Then she settled. "Do it, before I change my mind."

"Gel?" Sunset lifted her head and was moving without realizing it. She rushed the changeling fast and reached up, sinking her teeth into his neck… and biting clear through. Coughing and spitting out the goop, Sunset tried again.

"Sunset." Gel lifted a hoof to try to push her away but the mare kept rushing in close. In the end he formed his neck up solid and let her clamp down on it; of course there was nothing coming from him. "How long will she be like this?"

"A few more days, until she has finished changing completely." Maddie had been worried at first, but seeing the stallion had her daughter's number, she smiled. "Sunset, there is no blood in that stallion, come back over here."

Sunset tried, oh how she tried, to drain the pony under her fangs, but even her instincts finally gave up and she let go. "Gel?" She was engulfed in a hug, the dark pony pulling her back tight against him.

"You can hate me if you want." Gel sighed but felt Sunset pull back a little. "For all this, I mean. I… didn't want to let you down, lose you."

"It isn't a choice I would have made," Sunset inhaled, realizing that over the past few minutes the only times she did so was to speak, "but somepony made it. Maddie tells me I will get hold of this hunger eventually, but I guess I am limited to you and her until then."

Gel shook a little, the first words she had told him cut all the way to the quick. Tears started to fall from his eyes. The alicorn pulled him close this time, hugging him fiercely. "Gel, don't cry. You saved me."

"I damned you." Gel choked the words out as he clung to the mare. "You were meant to have a nice safe year, have some fun, then-" A hoof landed in Gel's mouth and he jerked his head up in surprise to see it was Sunset's.

"None of that. I was born in Equestria, remember? I spent a week explaining to everypony how dangerous it could be here, that something might happen that made getting home impossible. I knew the risks." Sunset kissed Gel on the nose. "And now I get plenty of time to see my home."

The cheer in Sunset Shimmer's voice worked well to dispell the worst of Gel's fears. "Mademoiselle, I am sorry, I put you in a hard place…"

"My Prince, you live up to your title surprisingly well. I am in no harder place than living on the street and stealing blood where I could, looking after your friend until she can walk properly again, is the least I can do."

"You want to learn dressmaking?" Rarity had to suppress the anger she had that the pony before her was still just as perfectly elegant as she had been. As she would be, again.

"Darling, I know dressmaking!" Mirror Rarity tossed her mane. "I thought you wanted me to stand in for you?"

"No." Rarity gestured to the showroom. "I have decided I won't hide, but I have also decided that your year should not be all fun and games. If you wish to learn real dressmaking, not just throwing things together for your friends," Rarity waited for the mare to become a little indignant at the dismissal, "then you can work here, and I will show you how to really create."

Mirror Rarity had a battle raging inside her. On one side was the 'how dare you say that', and on the other was 'she really makes dresses a princess would wear' and, despite how angry it made her, she let the latter win. "Then teach me."

Author's Note

See Hasbro? That episode could have been done with 200% fewer suicide attempts. We see the problem with becoming a vampony, it isn't just BAM you have awesome powers and can seduce mares at will, Sunset is a monster now, she must relearn civility.

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