Cursed Crusaders: Outset

Chapters

Daybreak
Morning
Noon
Eclipse
Umbra

Daybreak

The sky was dark over Ponyville by the time that we had all gathered at the train station. There was no moon lighting our overcast evening. I wasn't wearing a coat as I approached the stairs to the platform, which had on enormous puddle at the base of it. I walked through it without thinking, then wiped the mud from my hooves as I climbed the steps. My friends were there, both of them in jackets on the cold evening. Scootaloo wore the same one that I had gifted to her years ago despite it being a bit too small for her now. Apple Bloom had on a coat that looked too large for her, but upon closer inspection it was just very thick. I walked over, smiling at the two of them.

“You two ready?” I asked, looking over at the clock hanging on the station wall.

“Sweetie how are you not freezing? Are you sure that's good for you, standing out here without a coat on?” Scootaloo asked, looking me over.

“I'd say that she knows her limits.” Apple Bloom said.

I nodded, standing next to the both of them. “It's not really cold out… so are you two packed?”

Both of them pointed back to luggage they'd left sitting near the benches behind them. Normally this place was fairly busy, with at least a few dozen ponies about. However, we were catching the very last train until tomorrow. It had just gotten done raining, and in the cold weather nopony wanted to be out there. I looked back to my two friends, standing there next to me in the cold. They had determination written on their faces, despite how chilly it was out there. As I looked at her, Apple Bloom smiled.

“Twilight said she'd be meeting us at the castle, so we'll be staying the night there before we head out on whatever lead the princesses give us. You feelin' alright Sweetie?”

I shrugged my shoulders, unsure. I felt horribly nervous, and even though I knew that we would be safe at the castle, I didn't know what would happen after that. Apple Bloom looked at me with concern, blinking as a small raindrop hit her cheek. I could see my own face reflected in her eyes. My pale complexion and my coal black sclera stuck out more than anything else. My green irises looked like emeralds sinking into a pit of tar in my eye sockets. I looked away from her, trying not to think about my own condition.

“We could be away for a long time is all.” I replied, looking at my hooves. “A few years is a long time to not see Ponyville.”

Scootaloo walked over and set a hoof on my shoulder. “Come on, Sweetie. Don't go getting cold hooves now. We're right here with you, the whole way through.”

I let out a held breath and nodded. She was right. After all, how did they feel? They would be away from their families and friends just like I was. They weren't complaining at all either. Scootaloo didn't even look nervous. That or she was just tremendously good at hiding it. I heard a distant rumble on the train tracks as I stood there, and I realized that it was time for us to go.

“Our greatest adventure yet… I can't wait.” The excited pegasus said, her wings fluttering.

As the train could be very faintly seen rolling across the Equestrian countryside, I admired Scootaloo. She had grown a lot in the past year. Her wings now fit her perfectly, and she was now taller than me. With her newly grown wings she could even fly now. Apple Bloom was still only about as tall as I was, though she was never going to be able to reach tall shelves on her own. Applejack suffered the same problem, as well as Granny Smith. Height was just something the Apple family didn't have, with Big Mac being an exception to the rule. Still, both of us were only two inches smaller than our older sisters, so it didn't matter. I was stuck at my incredibly short stature, having stopped any growth as of last year.

The train was visible to my friends within a minute. I walked back and got their luggage, levitating it with ease before heading back to them. I seated their saddlebags across their backs, turning back to the tracks. I had to muffle the sound of the train with a spell on my own ears, wincing as I heard the brakes engaging with an ear-splitting screech. I hoped that the lights in the train carriage weren't too bright… I really didn't want to ask one of them if I could use their coat as a blindfold. I watched closely as it pulled up to the platform, seeing that most of the lights onboard were all dimmed. While it wasn't perfect I could at least see my surroundings still.

All three of us got onto the train, taking our seats. My friends tossed their luggage next to them, not concerned with taking up space since there was nopony else in there. Almost immediately Scootaloo rested her head on her pack , shutting her eyes. Apple Bloom leaned over to me, smiling. At first I didn't understand what she was doing. It became clear once she pushed her lips to mine, breaking away after a moment.

“G'night Sweetie, make sure we wake up at the right stop.” She said, yawning.

I nodded, drawing my tongue over my lips. She had a very distinct taste, one that I'd grown rather aquainted with last year. If I pushed my muzzle to her I knew I would smell her normal earthy scent that was mixed with apples, and her mouth always had the faintest flavor of golden delicious. Her blood was a different story. It was always a delight, warm and faintly sweet every time drank from her. She had a small set of circular scars on her left upper leg where I had taken to biting her.

“Sleep tight, we have a lot to do when you wake up.” I said, smiling.

Once she had rested her head I looked out the window. The train lurched and began to move again, gaining speed until the trees and fields were zipping by. I had the feeling I still had a long night ahead of me…

Hours passed before I could see Canterlot in the far distance. I didn't wake my friends until I could make out the castle, gently nudging them both with a hoof. Scootaloo grumbled about not getting up until we got there, while Apple Bloom was much easier to rouse from her slumber. The farmhand opened her eyes, looking up at me before she sat up, yawning awake and looking out the window.

“There it is… suppose Twilight's looking at us right now through her telescope?” She asked, looking at the castle perched on the mountainside.

I shrugged, looking at the city itself rather than the castle. I had heard from Twilight that the castle actually ran deep into the mountain, on top of already towering above everything. I could only imagine all of the secrets that were in a place like that. It had to be at least two thousand years old. My view of the city got better as we grew closer. I could make out the individual towers that the castle had, and the complexity of the architecture. Most of the city was made of the beautiful marble that was so abundant in the area.

The train began to slow as we neared the station, and I pushed Scootaloo to the edge of the seat to wake her up. She shot up, looking around and wondering what was going on. I pointed out the window as the train slowed, rolling up to the platform that had about a dozen ponies on it, and three guards. Two of the guards were at the entrances to the train platform, while another was actually standing near where our exit would be. Scootaloo gathered her things while I stood, stretching out my legs. Once the train was at a total stop the doors opened. The three of us walked out onto the platform just as ponies began to shuffle past us to board. The guard that looked strangely out of position walked over to us, clearing his throat.

“You three are Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom?” He questioned.

“That's right. Are you our escort?” I asked, looking between my friends and the guard.

He nodded, motioning for us to walk with him. I was stuck squinting as we walked off the platform, walking around the outer side of the train station. The lights around the station were blinding to me, and soon Apple Bloom noticed me stumbling a bit, nearly running into the wall to our right occasionally.

“Hey Sweetie, I packed a pair of sunglasses you could use if you can't see too well.” She said, motioning to the bag on her back.

My horn lit and I dug into her luggage, eventually withdrawing a set of what looked sort of like sunglasses at the time. I put them on, blinking. The lights were still brilliantly bright, but nowhere near the blinding effect they had on me without them. So long as I avoided directly looking at one of the streetlamps I had no problems telling where I was going.

“Thanks Apple Bloom.” I said, giving her a smile.

Scootaloo gave us a rather odd look, commenting. “Isn't it a little strange, wearing sunglasses at night? I mean sure these street lights are really bright but now you look like you just-”

“It doesn't matter what we look like, Scootaloo. We're a bunch of noponies. Nopony knows us, nopony is gonna bother us with nothin'.” Apple Bloom said.

The guard looked back at us, smiling. “See, this mare has the right idea. Suprising, since she sounds like she's never been to a city in her life. She's right though. There isn't a single pony who's going to bother you about anything in Canterlot. Folks around here have seen far stranger than a filly wearing sunglasses at three in the morning.”

Apple Bloom beamed under the attention of the guard, getting Scootaloo to roll her eyes. We walked in relative silence as we made our way down the street. The ponies that were out at that time of night seemed too busy to be bothered with us. We got some glances, but otherwise it seemed to be normal. We let our escort guide us through the city, walking until eventually we began to get out of the more well-lit streets and into some of the residential areas. We didn't spend very long walking near ponies' homes though, because it only took ten minutes after that to reach a street that stopped at an enormous gate. Our escort brought us up to the entrance to one of the hundreds of castle courtyards and said something to the guards, some kind of code or maybe a secret passphrase. Either way I couldn't remember it no matter how hard I tried. A moment later the other guards opened the gate, and our escort brought us inside the courtyard.

The courtyard was brightly lit compared to the surrounding city streets, leaving me squinting even through the sunglasses. The source of the lights were crystals that sat inside small enclosures on the walls, looking like small suns to my delicate eyes. Through the overly bright haze that obscured my vision I could see a circular lawn, with a fountain in the center. There was a staircase leading to an enormous set of double doors, which a pony stood by. It took me a moment to piece together that it was Twilight, waiting for us to approach. Apple Bloom let me lean on her a bit as we walked, in case I stumbled or fell. I was especially grateful on the stairs, since I would have fallen no less that a dozen times. Once we reached the top Twilight motioned us inside, and she shut the enormous door behind us.

It was much darker in there, allowing me to take off the sunglasses and shove them back into Apple Bloom's luggage. There were chandeliers high above us lined with crystals much like there were outside. The ones in there were dimmed, and the sheer distance between the arched ceiling of the grand hallway and the floor left only a very faint glowto light the way. It was a good balance between what was well lit to me, and what looked to a normal pony like mood lighting. As I marveled at the nicely lit corridor Twilight began to speak.

“I'm glad you all made it… and early too. Celestia is resting, like I should be. However I wanted to make sure you all made it here safely. Seeing as you're all mostly alright, I would say I did a good job.”

“So Celestia is sleeping?” Scootaloo asked. “I kind of wanted to talk to her first...”

“I didn't say sleeping. I said resting.” The princess corrected. “Sweetie Belle isn't the only thing in Equestria that never has to sleep. You could go see her if you wanted, she may be busy with something though. Nights are her free time.”

“Okay… and Luna?” I asked.

“She is busy with foreign affairs. That's her royal duty, while Celestia deals with things here in Equestria. That is the really simplified version of what they actually do, but it's what I think you three will understand.”

Scootaloo had no problems with nodding to that. I felt curious about what they did in detail, but I wasn't about to waste everpony's time launching Twilight into a lecture right there in the middle of hallway. I was sure that the studious mare would, too. Instead I looked down the hall, tapping my hooves on the marble floor. Scootaloo noticed things go quiet for a moment, so she jumped back into the conversation.

“So can you take us to see Celestia?” She asked, her wings fluttering.

Twilight nodded, setting off down the corridor with us trailing behind. There were a surpising lack of guards in there, before I realized that they must all be sleeping or on post somewhere on the outside of the castle. I took note of everything in there as we walked, especially the number of rooms. There seemed to be no end to them as we walked along. The hallway itself looked like it never stopped, trailing as far as I could see. It had to be farther than a mile to walk… and there were so many equally long corridors branching off of it. I could just imagine getting lost in there at night. It would be better to sit and wait to ask directions than to keep wandering.

Eventually Scootaloo began to flap her wings to lazily hop and glide her way along the floor. Apple Bloom seemed to have no problem keeping up on her own, and my hooves weren't quite sore enough to warrant complaining. I was getting impatient however. After what felt like forever we turned, and began to walk down a different corridor. After another half an hour of walking I was beginning to get bored, and I could practically see Apple Bloom trying not to mention her aching hooves. The solid marble floors were doing her no favors. Finally, after what felt like forever, we reached a set of double doors that had two guards outside. They didn't move as Twilight walked to the door, opening it to let us through. We were led into an enormous tower room, with a set of stairs on the opposite side from the door. A large pillar stood in the center of the room, seeming to be the backbone of the tower itself in addition to being a decoration.

I liked the look of the deep red carpet and nice furniture, but Twilight began to move at a very brisk pace as she led us to the stairs. I hardly got to see any of the magnificent room, or the next three the we passed. I would have liked to stop and look at all of the nice décor or some of the paintings that hung on the walls, but Twilight seemed to deem that a small priority compared to finding Celestia. Two more climbs later we stopped, with Twilight motioning for us to be quiet. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were both panting from the stairs we'd all but run up, though I was much less tired than they were. The moment that they had caught their breath Twilight led us further into the room.

The room had no windows, and had a single source of light in it. The fireplace was lit to keep the room warm on the cold night,and in front of it stood the sun goddess herself. The princess had an eisel set up, with a canvas in front of her. Looking closer and ignoring how blinding the light from the fire was, I could see that she was actually done with the painting. Most of the paint was dry, meaning that it had been somewhat complete for a while. She seemed to just be touching up the portrait she had made of the fireplace. Nopony wanted to say anything to disturb her focus, so we stood there and waited for her to be finished. Our patience paid off after the princess turned, taking the canvas with her magic and folding up the eisel. She set the painting supplies aside and put the painting itself on a small table to finish drying.

Once everything was in its proper place she turned to us. Twilight cleared her throat, speaking up once she had Celestia's attention.

“This is Rarity's younger sister Sweetie Belle. She's the one that I mentiond contracted vampirism.” The youngest alicorn said.

The ruler nodded to her, waving Twilight away. She walked downstairs before Celestia pulled the trapdoor over the staircase shut, to ensure privacy. My friends looked at me nervously as the princess' horn lit. The fire in the hearth went out, leaving my us in total darkness. I had the feeling that she had mostly done that to be considerate to me. I could now see the inside of the room properly, with a nice lounge couch and chairs surrounding a coffee table near the fireplace. On the other side of the room stood bookcases and stands with old artifacts on them, as well as a painting of Luna. Once she had assured herself that we were alone with her, she began to speak.

“So you're Sweetie Belle. It's nice to meet you, at last.” The alicorn commented, seeming cheery.

I nodded, watching the princess light her horn again. A single one of the crystals that normally illuminated the inside of the castle lit up above the fireplace, giving the room one dim source of light from her and my friends to see by.

“Come, have a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”

My friends did as they were told, and I joined them on one of the couches while the goddess lounged in one of her chairs, smiling at the three of us. Once we were settled Scootaloo spoke up, seeming nervous.

“Your highness, we came here to, uh, ask you some things. If that's okay?”

The princess chuckled, waving a hoof at the pegasus. “I am already well aware of Sweetie Belle's condition, and Twilight told me yesterday of the rather curious quest you three are going on.”

Scootaloo nodded, looking at the floor. “Oh… so, do you know where we could start?”

“To start, I would like to warn you three.” The alicorn began, looking between my two friends. “There is no shortage of tears and anguish that have been shed on this quest. Imposing immortality on a mortal creature is a complete transformation from what both of you are now. I'm impressed by your dedication to Sweetie Belle, however. Your goal is very noble… I know what it's like to not have anypony through the ages you can call your best friend. Luna is back now though, something I'm very grateful for. In order to keep Sweetie from that lonely existence, I would be happy to help you three. That isn't to say the road to get there will be easy, but I will try to assist you with any information I can provide.”

The alicorn paused, as if to let that information sink in. Once she had let us ponder her words for a moment, she continued.

“There are many ways to live forever in this magical world. From distilling unicorn's blood into an elixer of life every month, to binding one's soul to an object while your body falls apart. Most of these methods are far from a perfect existence… after all, look at Sweetie Belle. She will never know the sweet embrace of my sun again, and must consume the blood of ponies to maintain her immortal body. All of the methods to prolong life come at a cost. That is why, before you even start your adventure, I want you two to think about what you are willing to sacrifice in order to stave off death.”

I looked to my friends, feeling sorry for both of them. I hadn't been in their situation before… my choice had been made for me. They both looked like they had seen a ghost, after listening to the alicorn. The ways of living forever she had mentioned were awful. I couldn't help but wonder if they were all equally as bad.

“Your majesty, not all of the ways are like that… are they?” I asked.

“Considering how long we will know each other Sweetie Belle, I would prefer you addressed me as Celestia. To answer your question, no. Many ways are preferable over those ones. Those were simply the less desirable methods. Nowhere near the worst, but still undesirable. I used them to make your friends think seriously about this, and get their priorities in order so they don't make a decision they regret forever.”

I didn't exactly approve of her scaring my friends, but she had a very good reason. She let us sit with our thoughts for a few minutes. I secretly wished that I could know what my friends were thinking. The suspense of not knowing what the might choose was making me nervous. On top of being in a room with Celestia, I could feel the stress fraying at my nerves. Once she seemed confident my friends had some sort of order in their minds, the princess continued.

“Here is how this will work. I will give you three a lead on a possible source of immortality. Then, you will seek it out. If you decide to use it once you possess it, and I approve of the method as well, then you may use it to your heart's content. However, if I do not approve of what you have found, I will take the source and destroy it so that it may not be abused in the future. I'm mostly talking about things that I mentioned before. It isn't likely that I will choose to take away something you worked very hard for, unless it was a danger to yourselves or others.”

I didn't get the best feeling at that comment. What was the point of sending us out to search for something if she knew that we shouldn't have it in the first place?

“You won't send us to look for things like that, right?”

“Of course not Sweetie Belle, what good would it do me to send you all on a fruitless chase? I have a legion of guards to do things like that. I'm only doing this for your benefit.”

The way that she'd phrased that was almost defensive. It made me think that perhaps there were some ulterior motives for helping us besides the kindness in her heart. Rarity had taught me enough about the way royal ponies worked to know that their decisions were seldom one-sided. The princess spoke again before my thoughts wandered too far down that road.

“Personally I only know six or seven ways that one could truly live forever, barring an unnatural death like murder. The first is of course, vampirism. The second and third are the methods I've mentioned before. The fourth is to become an alicorn. Of course, that is a bit out of your reach… so onto the fifth.”

I looked to the side to see my friends looking disheartened by the options listed so far. I hoped that the princess actually knew some we could use.

“Certain species of dragon are known to be extremely long-lived, and consuming their scales has a curious effect of slowly warping a pony into a smaller form of those dragons. They are terribly endangered due to the lack of laws regarding their hunting. The sixth option involves the use of Changelings. The highest ranks among them are known to have the ability to live forever on a steady supply of affection. It would require a pony to be corrupted and warped into a Changeling for that to happen, something I'm sure none of you want. In addition you would need a significant amount of time near Queen Chrysalis in order to gain her favor… something I don't think would be good for any of you.”

Scootaloo shrugged, while Apple Bloom looked disgusted at the thought. Satisfied she had at least turned one of us away from that idea, Celestia continued to the last option.

“The last option I will provide is to track down one of the many artifacts that were created, and succeeded, in making a pony effectively immortal.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, my suspicions all but confirmed. She was looking to have us be errand ponies that could go and find these artifacts for her. I'd been wary of the princess when she had threatened to deny us certain paths to our goal, but now I was sure she was only looking to use me and my friends. I stood up, stretching my legs.

“Well… that's really too bad, then. I don't think that my friends are really interested in any of that.” I said, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked confused at my behaviour, while the princess glared suspicously at me. After standing there for a moment, I looked away from them, not knowing what to do. My friends weren't picking up on the cue for us to leave, even though we needed to before things got complicated. Before they could sort out what I was getting at, Celestia spoke out to me.

“So you think that you can go and find a way to live forever on your own?” The princess asked, seeming very displeased.

“No, I was just going to ask somepony else.” I said, trying to conceal my own nervousness.

“Who?” Celestia inquired, even though she probably already knew the answer.

“Luna, of course.”

What I was trying for was horrendously risky. She knew that I did have the option to go to her younger sister. She would most likely be much more honest with us than Celestia had been. My goal was to get Celestia to loosen up her grip on us, by threatening to go to the other celestial alicorn. It was a difficult gamble, one that I was sure she saw through like it was written on paper in a glass box. However, she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't stop us from going to Luna, that would raise tons of red flags to my friends and Twilight. She could either amend her statement there, or have us walk away with her gaining nothing from our meeting.

“Now that you've reminded me…” Celestia began, sounding a bit more stiff than before. “There are certain ways that I forgot to mention. I personally don't know how to make them work. However… I know someone that would.”

“Sure, just point us to the right pony.” Scootaloo said, happy to hear we had more options.

“You see, that's the problem. The one that I just mentioned isn't a pony. They're a Draconequis.”

Me and my friends groaned at the news. That was the opposite of helpful. None of us wanted to go through Discord. The sheer frustration from dealing with him would be enough to make even the most patient pony question themselves. In addition, the amount of time we would have to spend around him might just leave enough time for the trickster to skew things to his own amusement. Possibly at the detriment of my friends.

“We're fine… anypony else?” I asked desperately.

The alicorn was silent for a while, seeming pensive. I couldn't read her face at all in that time. She wore a mask while she thought about her response, one that both impressed and scared me. I had no idea what she could be thinking, After nearly a minute of silence, she spoke again.

“My sister. I wasn't going to tell you, but before her banishment the descent into her becoming Nightmare Moon was a very rough one. She dabbled in magic that I have since outlawed, though she did spread it to the wind so that certain amoral sorcerers could abuse her findings throughout the years. Not even I know the real extent of her knowledge on this topic… but I don't want you three going to her with this. Luna washed her hooves of such magic long ago, and she doesn't need you to drag her back to it.”

I sighed, shaking my head. I knew that the princess was doing her absolute best to stop us from consulting Luna. I even felt a bit bad about considering it, now that I'd heard Celestia's reasoning. I had to, though… I had no choice. She wasn't helpful at all, unless we wanted to go running all over the world trying to find artifacts for her. Even once we found such treasures, she might not even let us use them on ourselves without her permission. Nothing about the deal benefited us at all.

“We need some time to think about this… alright?” I said, looking back at my friends for support.

Apple Bloom saw me and picked up on the cue. “Yeah… much as we want to give you an answer, it's pretty late. The sun should be coming up in just a bit, so we need to go get some shuteye.”

“That's alright, I wasn't expecting an answer today. Just take some time to think over your options.” Celestia said, seeming a bit dissapointed. “I'll be raising the sun in an hour, so you have that long to be in your room. Please stay in there until the morning, for Sweetie Belle's safety.”

We all nodded, my friends standing to leave with me. I could feel the eyes of the alicorn on me as we walked to the stairs. As we approached the alicorn opened the trapdoor to let us out, watching us until we had left the room completely. We walked to the base of the tower, where Twilight was waiting at the door.

“So, how'd it go?” The lilac mare asked.

I nodded, smiling. “It went pretty well. Can you show us our room now? It's been a really long night… I want to rest a bit.”

Neither of my friends thought twice about what I had just said. Twilight however seemed to pick up on how off the phrasing had been. Logically speaking I didn't need to sleep, or even stop what I was doing to recover. She nodded, leading us out of the tower and down the hallway to a door. She took a key from under her wing and inserted it into the lock. Once the door was open she waited for my friends to walk into the lavish bedroom, not moving to follow them. I stayed out there with her, looking up at the studious alicorn. Once my friends were out of earshot I asked the question burning at the back of my mind.

“Twilight, can you take me to Luna before the sun comes up? I need to talk to her, really badly. Celestia doesn't want me to for some reason, but I need to know some things. I feel like only Luna can help me.”

Twilight looked conflicted, scuffing her hoof. “I don't know Sweetie… Celestia usually has some pretty good reasons for things like this. She told me specifically not to mention you to Luna, either.”

Frustration flared like a fresh blaze in my chest, and I had to struggle not to speak badly of the sun princess. Instead, I looked at my hooves, pretending to be heartbroken by her words. I did my best to sound tearful, distraught.

“Twilight, this could be my only chance to ever talk to Luna. What if she has something really important to say? Something that could help my friends make a better choice? What if my friends have to make a horrible decision, that Luna could stop from happening?”

The much older pony let out a sigh, tapping her hoof. “Fine, fine… only because you're thinking of your friends first.”

With that she shut the door to the bedroom, leaving my friends in there on their own for the day. She locked the door before she lit her horn, looking around in case anypony would see us. There was a flash of purple light, and I stumbled a bit as we landed in a dark corridor. I had been teleported before, but it was a sensation that took a lot of getting used to. I felt dizzy as I looked around. I was trying to piece together where we were. The hall was much like the one that we had just been in, but with some noticable differences. No lights illuminated the dark floor, which was so polished and smooth I could see my reflection in it. If I could take any guess I would say that the floor was obsidian, by how glass-like the surface was. Instead of crystals in the chandeliers, there were candles that seemed to have not been lit for ages.

Twilight cast a light at the end of her horn, looking around. I winced at how bright it was, and followed her when she set off. She led me to an enormous door with a moon emblazoned upon it, motioning for me to stand in front of it.

“In about an hour she'll be here. Until then, just wait. Nopony ever comes down here anymore… not even guard patrols. The only thing you might see is the enchanted broom that goes along and cleans the floor once a week. It's the only reason that there isn't a mound of dust laying in the corners.”

She turned to me, waving as her horn flashed purple. She vanished, leaving me alone in the darkness. I looked up at he monolithic door, letting out a held breath… it would be a long, suspenseful wait.

Morning

I stood in the dark for what felt like ages. The hallway was vast and empty, cold as ice as I stood there waiting for Luna to come. It was just starting to dawn on me just how much like a labyrinth the castle was. A pony who didn't know where they were going could easily get lost for the rest of their life down in the lower recesses of the palace. I hadn't seen a single staircase since I'd arrived there the night before, and getting trapped on a floor far from anypony to ask for help was a real possibility. I silently pondered how long it might take to walk every inch of the castle, just as there was a bright flash of blue across the hall from me.

If I had a heart at the time, it may have skipped a beat upon seeing the alicorn. She materialized in the darkness across the hallway, staring directly at me. Her horn lit with a very dim sapphire light, letting her look me over. After a few seconds she blinked, meeting my eyes. Moments afterwards her face transformed into a mask of sadness. I wondered if I had done something wrong before she walked over to me, whispering.

“You poor thing… I'm so sorry this happened to you.” She said, her voice quieter than any normal pony could hear.

“W-what do you mean? This was an accident…” I stuttered, not knowing how to react.

The alicorn shook her head, her horn lighting. The door in front of us opened, revealing a dark study. She motioned for me to follow her, her eyes locked to the floor. The moment I was inside the door shut, leaving us alone in the circular room. The carpet in there was as deep blue as the sea, and the walls were entirely covered in bookshelves. She lit a single candle on the table in the center of the room, the blue flame bathing the study in an azure light. It was dim enough that it didn't bother me, but it was enough for her to see. The beautiful mare led me to the table, where she sat down across from me in one of the high-backed chairs. I took my own seat, worried about her. I could see a tear forming at the edge of her eye as she tried her best not to look at me.

“Your Highness… are you okay?” I asked, feeling guilt pushing down on my shoulders.

“No, little one. I'm not okay… it's not your fault though. It's mine.”

“But you didn't do anything.” I said, trying fruitlessly to sound somewhat upbeat.

Luna shook her head, hiding her face. “No, I did. It's my fault you're like this. You're like this because of me.”

“Princess, what...” I trailed off, blinking as realization washed over me.

I felt the consequences of my actions crash onto me with all the weight of the ocean. There was a reason that Luna was avoiding my gaze. There were a million reasons Celestia had told me not to come here, and ordered Twilight to never mention me to the moon princess.

“I'm so sorry.” Luna sobbed.

I wanted desperately to not believe what was happening. Everything pointed to this being correct though. The time Twilight had cited as being the first vampire recordings, Celestia pushing me away from Luna and the way she was reacting to me all made perfect sense. It also explained why Twilight hadn't found a cure for my condition yet. Luna had been the one to make the vampiric curse, over a thousand years ago.

“You made vampires?” I asked, still not wanting to believe.

Luna nodded, burying her head in her hooves. I didn't know how to feel. On one hoof, she was the cause of everything that had happened to me over the past year. On the other, she was the source of my eternal life. In my heart I knew that this curse had reaped far more suffering than it ever had happiness. I didn't know whether to thank her myself, or to curse her for the sake of every vampire before me that was turned into a creature of the night against their will. I was sure of one thing, though… the pony in front of me was crying, and felt no end of remorse for her actions.

“Your majesty, it's okay… you don't need to cry. I'm alright with what I am now.” I said, trying to console her. “I'm Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister. You might know her.”

She shook her head, her horn glowing. She took off her crown with magic, setting it on the table in front of me. The princess also removed her necklace, her shoes and anything else she had on her. Her mane went from glowing like the night sky to a simple blue. She looked at her crown, lines of tears running down her cheeks.

“I'm not royalty, to you… address me as Luna. We deserve no titles besides our names.”

I was a bit confused at her referring to herself as 'we', but I nodded. “Okay… just don't cry, okay? I don't want to make you feel bad.”

“We make ourselves feel bad.” She said miserably.

“You don't have to… if it makes you feel any better, I really don't mind being a vampire. It's a very… uh, interesting life.”

“You're too young to understand how bleak it all is.” She sniffed.

I shook my head, upset at her beating herself up. “I'm old enough to know that nopony should have to cry about something they did more than a thousand years ago! Especially if they're already really sorry about it!”

The princess was surprised at my yelling. She fell quiet, occassionally wiping her eyes. I felt like I had done something wrong, but I didn't want it to sound like I was taking back what I said. My eyes traced her crown, admiring the way the diamond moon glittered in the candlelight. All of her royal attire was of similar quality. Something had struck me as wrong when I'd shouted, like it wasn't right to raise my voice at her. Especially in her current state. Before I had too long to think about it, she spoke again.

“We were in a dark place… when we made the curse. There is nothing that I can say to make you understand how we felt or why. We coveted the acceptance that Celestia had. Out of spite, we made a curse that forced the ponies that reveled in her sun to bask in our moonlight.”

“Ponies didn't accept you…? You actually seem really nice, Luna.” I said, hoping that maybe a compliment might cheer her up.

“Ponies that knew us personally were fine… it was the way the masses treated our moon that was so frustrating. The moon is our creation, a representation of what we are. In the same way that Celestia's sun burns bright enough to burn the eyes and coat a pony in sweat, our soft aura invites a pony to enjoy our light with no fear of the heat. Yet… nopony does. Looking out at the streets, so few ponies enjoy our moonlight. They drown it with the unnatural lights given off by lamps, floodlights, nightlights. Like we aren't enough, compared to my sister. They always seek to emulate her light. Never ours...” She looked at her hooves, seeming defeated at the realizations.

I had nothing to say. Luna was right about everything she said. After a moment, she seemed to shift from saddened to enraged, her brow furrowing.

“So, we made the very first vampire. A prisoner destined for a life in a cell, we used her to perfect the curse. After that… a simple pony in a small village. They infected two more, then three, before leaving and finding the nearest city. It was nearly an epidemic before Celestia's royal guard stepped in. They figured out that the sunlight was our enemy… and from there, they would lash ponies to poles and leave them out until the sun came up. There was nothing we could do.”

The princess seemed furious, staring at her crown. “We made them to be our chosen ponies. Those that would bask in our presence in the night, and feed on those that only enjoyed the sun. For the longest time we considered them our children. Our heart belonged to every one of our fanged diciples.”

“Luna… sorry to interrupt you, but why do you keep saying 'we' and 'our'? Did somepony else do this too?” I asked, trying to turn her away from the topic that was making her angry.

“Ah, you're not aquainted with my split nature. When I say 'we' and am only referring to myself, I am also talking about Nightare Moon. She might not be physically with us… but she'll always be with me in here.” She said, pointing to her heart.

I looked at her, worried. “You mean… you always hear her, trying to make you do those bad things? Like making it only night, forever?”

“Yes, I do… it's part of who I am. Celestia has a small part of her that feels the exact same way about the sun. At some point or another, Twilight Sparkle will also develop one of them. It is simply a token of the celestial alicorns, in the same way that drinking blood is a constant whispering in your ear.”

“I don't think about it all the time.” I said defensively.

“You can't lie to us, Sweetie Belle. Luna sighed. “We know the feelings and emotions that drinking the blood of another pony sparks in you. The burn of intimacy and desperate need you feel are part of the curse. You crave the sensation of being pushed against a warm body, your teeth sunk into them while your hooves circle their back to pull them in closer.”

I froze up, looking at my hooves. She was once again correct beyond rebuttal. Of course the princess could be less blunt about it… but of course that would have left me curious about how much she knew. It was obvious at that point though. There was hardly a detail she didn't know about her own creation.

“I assume you also cry sometimes, out of joy, when you drink from your special somepony?”

I felt my chest tighten and set fire at her words. I knew it had been a simple guess on her part, but she was right. If it was dark enough that Apple Bloom didn't notice I would let my emotions run wild. That meant anything from me trying to get on top of her while I drank, to simply letting tears of gratitude and bliss flow. Seeing my reaction, she smiled and said.

“At least you have a very understanding partner, to let you drink from them. If you're wondering, we made the curse a bit more subtle than to rely on savage hunger. It's a psychological need just as much of a physical one. Much like a drug, you can grow dependent on a certan pony's blood. This can make a close relationship unbreakable… and it isn't suprising that you would have such a raw emotional response to feeding on them.”

What she was saying put my relationship with Apple Bloom in a very interesting context. I needed her a lot more than I ever did. I also felt less bad about the way I'd been acting lately around the farmhand. Despite how hard I tried to keep feeding time a very short and uneventful affair, I had been failing very miserably. My body was beginning to shake and shudder when her blood wet my lips, and the odd reactions I was having after a long time attached to her made a suprising amount of sense.

“I have a question.” I said, looking back up at her.

“Go ahead.”

“My intestines, my heart… they're both gone. Did the other organs go away too? Since I'm not growing anymore, I'd think the same thing would happen.”

“The entierety of the digestive organs are consumed by the stomach, including the liver and kidneys. The heart and every blood-carrying function is also removed. What remains is the stomach, the lungs, the reproductive organs, and the nervous system. Though most of their original functions are altered by the vampirism.”

“So I still have hormones?” I asked, confused. “What good do they do me?”

“Manipulation… There's an enormous release of them whenever you feed off of somepony multiple times. Especially if you already had an attraction towards them.”

I felt slightly cheated at that. I'd already been ready to try and date Apple Bloom before my change last year. Now that I was a vampire, I was practically scaring myself with how far I wanted to take our relationship. After hearing this from Luna, I was beginning to see why that was happening. It was all part of the way the curse worked.

“Is there anything else I should know about being a vampire?” I asked, wondering what other hidden details she had put in.

“As a means of self-preservation we incorperated a hoarding instinct that will normally only be active in the winter. It will make you want to keep any ponies you feed from at your side at all times, and very possessive of them. The world was very different thousands of years ago, so winters normally meant being holed up inside to escape the cold. It's meant to keep your food supply at your side, while also preventing others from stealing them away from you.”

“That isn't a very good thing to do with Scootaloo or Apple Bloom… they have things to do that don't involve me.” I said.

“Maybe so, but it was necessary back then for the survival of a vampire outside of a city. Out in the country the death of your host could have meant certain death for yourself, being many hundreds of miles from another living soul. Pushing an instinctual protectiveness on the vampire makes sure they keep their food supply secure in the harsher months.”

I had no idea what life was like so long ago, so I couldn't really argue with her. I looked back to her crown, thinking about why I was there. I'd come to ask her more about paths to immortality that weren't vampirism, but the more I spoke to her, the more that I wasn't sure about it. The lunar princess was more than knowlegable on the topic. If anything she was a master of magic… but a question was once again itching at the back of my mind.

“Is there a cure?” I asked, blinking at her.

“There is nothing left of what you originally were. Every cell that you have is that of a vampire. There isn't a single drop of blood in you that was uneffected. From your hooves to the tips of your ears. The only cure would be the searing embrace of the morning sun.”

“You made the curse though. You should know a way.” I said, feeling crestfallen.

“We made vampirism so there wasn't a way, Sweetie Belle.”

Her words marked a final nail in the coffin of my hopes for ever being a normal pony again. All that remained for me to do was putting it in the ground, so it could be buried in time. As if she could sense my sadness, she silently lit her horn and picked up her crown. I watched her levitate it over my head, then nestle it in my mane. Luna smiled, looking me over like she was taking a mental picture.

“We're both rulers of the night.” The alicorn said. “From now until the end of time.”

I couldn't help but feel reassured, letting myself smile. “Thanks Luna…I had some more things to ask you, if that's okay.”

“Of course, we have all day.” She replied.

I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. “I want my friends to live with me. They don't want to be vampires, though. We were wondering if there were other ways to live forever. Celestia already told us a few… not very good ways. One involved them becoming Changelings, and another was to go all over the world tracking down old artifacts.”

The princess sat back, looking deep in thought. After a minute of pondering my question she stood and walked over to one of her bookshelves, running one of her hooves over the spines of the books. After about a few seconds of searching she withdrew a handwritten journal. It was thick, with a leatherbound cover and pages that were an extremely dark shade of gold with age. She opened it, flipping through the pages with magic.

“This is a journal we kept secret from everypony back then. It contains many immortal creatures, and ways to become immortal. We used all of them as references for a myriad of spells, then later on we looked back at these when we made vampirism. Both of us are surprised the charms we put on this thing didn't wear off when we were on the moon… otherwise it may have been dust by the time we got back to it.”

“How old is that thing, anyways?” I asked, hearing the leather make odd cracking sounds when she shifted the book around.

“Three thousand, four hundred and fifty seven years old. From the time we had the pages made, bought the leather, and bound it together. The market was very hot that day… one of the very first times we had been to a real market, as opposed to a trading caravan, or ordering somepony else to go for us.”

“Why didn't you just do that?”

“Because. Celestia couldn't know… nopony could. Even before Nightare Moon existed I've kept secrets from my sister. She wouldn't understand my curiosity with magic she would quickly ban.”

“Why would she want to ban magic?” I asked, surprised.

“Not all magic… just certain studies she would slander with words like 'unnatural' or 'irresponsible'. Things like magic that effects the mind, or touches the souls of mortals. Such things are bad topics of discussion in any magical school these days, by Celestia's order. We want little more than to show them how much can be achieved with this 'forbidden' magic. After all, we made vampires and came up with a way to allow all plant life to use moonlight for photosynthesis. By her definitions on prohibitted sorcery, both of those things are taboo. One, understandably… though the other is actually very useful.”

“Why would you want to mess with somepony's head?”

“Primarily to expand the usefulness of the mind itself. Imagine for a moment you have a room with brown curtains, lime green carpet and neon pink wallpaper. You have no way of changing any of these colors. A simple way to fix the eyesore would be to place spells on the doors into the room that would switch the mind's perception of the colors to be something more pleasing. For example, have them all be earth tones and hues of red or orange. However, because this is altering somepony's perception of reality, possibly against their will, the magic is forbidden.”

“Well that seems pretty useful though… why would it be banned?” I puzzled.

“Because, it can be abused, as with all things. We could enchant a shackle to make a pony blind, deaf and mute in their own perception. In reality they could be shouting to the heavens while we had a strobe light and loud music blaring, they wouldn't register it. Of course the ban is still silly. We can use entirely legal magic to produce even better results. Borrowing from the last example, we could make a shackle that could prevent the vocal chords from moving, which would mute the pony. Then, have it create a shroud of light-absorbing shadow around their eyes. After that, have it create a skintight field that prevents sounds from entering the pony's ears. They are still blind, deaf and mute, and all done with totally legal magic.”

“Okay… but isn't doing that to somepony without their permission illegal anyways?” I pointed out.

“Yes. I'm just pointing out the foolishness of the exercise.” The princess said, returning her attention to her journal. “Now, to get back to what you asked. Are you comfortable speaking on your friends' behalf? We personally don't know what constitutes a a good way to exist indefinitely for them, so we need to rely on you to provide that definition.”

I really didn't like speaking for my own friends, especially for something so important. Both of them were sleeping though, and I couldn't go to get them. If Celestia or Twilight checked the room to find us all gone there would be a panic. I had little choice but to nod, hoping I would represent my friends well.

“Alright then. We wrote here, at the beginning of this journal, an index that specifies different types of immortality. We'll start with one of your friends at a time. Whom might the first be?”

“Um… her name is Scootaloo. She's a pegasus, taller than me. Really good flier, since she grew her wings in.”

“That's a nice name. Now, how would she prefer to stay exactly as she is forever, or change into something else first?”

“I don't think she minds either way. Celestia mentioned becoming a Changeling one time, and she didn't seem too bothered at the idea. She's pretty laid back… cool with whatever happens. I wish more ponies were like her.”

I heard the princess grumble something under her breath before speaking. “Is there anything that she greatly dislikes? Spiders, the dark, things like that?”

“Well, she can't swim at all. To this day she can't even stay floating. She doesn't make a big deal out of it, but we all notice that she always uses some kind of floating raft or stick to the shallows. I don't think she likes spiders or anything like that. I guess as long as she can fly she's alright.”

“That presents a very broad range of things for us to work with… how far are you all willing to travel for her?” The princess asked, flipping pages and marking them with magic.

“However far we can! The same with Apple Bloom. I guess we'd like it if we could complete the trip in under a year though… maybe two.”

“Would you prefer to hear the options that leave her unchanged, or the ones that change her, first?”

“Uh… the ones that change her, I suppose?” I shrugged.

The princess cleared her throat, flipping to a page near the beginning of her book. “First there is a species of ancient dragons that will transform any sentient being into a part of their own race if their scales are consumed over the course of a month. However in order to be accepted for this a pony would need to accept their spiritual teachings, and their very alien culture.”

“That sounds really interesting… can you tell me more?”

“Their culture is heavily based around the balance of nature. They are so particular in choosing ponies because they wish to maintain a small number in their species, so as to not distrupt the world around them. They are taught from birth that while considering the beliefs of other cultures are important to understanding them, theirs is the one that holds the most true for themselves, and in their eyes following any other belief is an inferior way of life for their species.”

“Seems sort of strict.” I commented.

“It is, though it isn't without reason. They live a sedentary life, unaging and undying. Instead of filling their years with knowlege like we do, they instead spend their lives in meditation and pondering the nature of life itself. They find incredible meaning in social interaction between each other. Most have very odd ideas of what defines a person, as well. From birth until adulthood is reached, most are bound to another member of their race, and only together do they form a 'person'.”

“I don't think that Scootaloo would like that very much… can I hear another?” I asked, using a hoof to play with the crown atop my head.

“Of course Sweetie. Another option would be to become a high-ranking Changeling. You said that Celestia mentioned this option to you. You would need to gain an immense amount of favor from Chrysalis if you're even going to consider this option.”

“What exactly would I have to do?”

“That really depends on her mood… though to start, you'd need to head far south. She makes her fortress deep in the swamplands there. I would assume you would get caught by a patrol before you actually made it anywhere near her. Then, the begging would have to start so that she doesn't turn your friends into bug food.”

“That doesn't sound like the best idea… keep going.”

She flipped the page, conjuring a glass of water and taking a sip before she continued. “We'll just start listing some that don't involve her changing her current form. First, there is always the eternal tome. It's a method of binding one's soul to a book that one must create with some part of themselves. Anything given to the book will not come back. So for example, if one made the cover of their eternity tome with a woven mat made of their own tail, the hair would never grow back. Either way, the part of your body given must cover at least a full page of the book. Once that is done, one must draw a symbol specific to themselves on the cover in their blood. Once that's done, and the number of pages inside are at least three-thousand one hundred and fourty one, the curse will be complete.”

“That sounds really… scary.” I said, looking at my tail. “What does it do, once that's done?”

“The moment the symbol is drawn, all of the memories that you have, from the time that you began to structure thought with words, will be written in the tome. The soul is also bound solely to the tome. The tome will never get any thicker no matter how much is written. Twice per year you must re-inscribe the symbol on the cover of the tome, or the book will open to anypony until the next year.”

“What's the matter with that…?” I asked, thinking that there was hardly a downside.

“You see, if a pony touches the Eternity Tome of somepony else, they will have access to everything about that pony for the duration they hold it in their hooves. In addition, they can write in the book. Even erase and replace things, if they so desired. They could re-write entire portions of a pony's life, without the creator of the book knowing. If they were so cruel, they could even tear out every page in it besides the last one, which is always blank. The instant the last page full of memories departed the book, the pony would lose all memory of themselves and the world around them. They would be like a newborn foal again. If another pony wrote on the last blank page of their tome, it will dictate a future action for the bearer of the book. This could be anything from leaping from a cliff, to tossing their own book into a fire and destroying themselves by immolation.”

“That… that's a lot of weaknesses all in one place.” I said, looking at all the bookshelves around us.

“Yes, but it is a good test of responsibility. So long as one bi-annually inscribes their symbol on their Eternity Tome then there is nothing to worry about. Nopony can open it, and it is indestructable. We just hope you don't mind missing a hoof, a mane, a tail, maybe a large portion of fur. We suppose the skin from the ears would do, if both were removed and stretched. Something from the creator's body would need to make up the cover.”

“I'll definitely keep that one in mind… you can keep going if there's more.” I grumbled, trying no to think about how anypony would look without ears.

“Plenty left, we assure you.” The princess said, taking another sip of water. “The second is an old way that was used before anypony knew about other methods. It involves taking the soul and storing it in a suitable object. Most often this would be some form of gemstone or metallic object, due to those conducting energy and magic better. This method simply lets the body continue to age until it rots. The end result is either a mummified husk of a pony, or a gemstone with a soul in it. The pony will be trapped in their own mind until they can reach out to another, or possess something around them. We once knew a necromancer that made a very intricate doll for himself, so that once his original body was gone, he might use that for a physical form. His soul would simply puppeteer it via magic.”

“That doesn't sound like a very good way to live… I'll pass. The book one sounds like a good one for Apple Bloom, though. She's really responsible… she'd always remember to take care of it. Scootaloo, though… she just wants us to stay together. I don't know what she really wants, other than that. I know that adventure makes her happy, though.” I mused.

“You don't need to make a decision for her today. At least not when you already have an idea for Apple Bloom. Now that you have an idea, we can start to teach you abou the specifics of this magic.”

“I barely know my basics… I tried teleporting the other day and ended up falling on my head from near the ceiling.”

The alicorn sighed, shaking her head. “In that case, we need to make sure you have elementary spells down before we build on them. You at least know the basic theory of magic, correct?”

“Yeah, I learned that in the first grade.” I said, feeling a bit sold short by the princess.

“Good. The frame of mind when casting a spell dictates everything. Emotion can help, but it can also hinder. Control is always preferable to chaos in most forms of magic.”

“What exceptions are there to that rule?” I asked.

“Draconequis magic.” The princess sighed, shaking her head. “May you never even glance such an afront to the mind. It hurts our head just thinking about it. Anyways, there is nothing better for a unicorn than practice. As much as it might bore you, we would like you to teleport yourself from one end of the room to the other until nightfall.”

“All day?!” I nearly shouted.

“Of course, we have all the time in the world don't we? We'll give you a special reward at the end, even. Something to refresh you after a long day of training.”

The princess tilted her head to the side, exposing her bare neck to me. I swallowed as I felt my mouth instinctively water, feeling like I was attempting to choke down a whole apple at once. The way she'd offered was as blunt as a sledgehammer, and I silently wondered what the alicorn tasted like. My mind wandered further, wondering how she might react while I drank. Would she talk like it was a normal encounter, or would she make things more flustering for me? I found myself licking my bottom lip before I could get a grip on myself again. Luna chuckled at my predictability, though I wasn't really guilty at my behaviour. It was a call to instinct she was blatantly taking advantage of, especially since I hadn't fed in nearly a week.

“Now that we have your attention… once you can stop squarely on all four hooves, we want you to land and orient yourself in a variety of different positions. Do this for us, and we'll give you a full stomach before you head off in the morning. Understood? After you've mastered that, we'll start to teach you about binding a soul to a body. You can start with mice.”

With that she turned her attention back to her book, leaving me to my practice. I lit my horn, vanishing into thin air and landing on my back across the room. It was going to be a very long day...

Author's Note

Hello everyone! I'm glad to be making a continuation of Cursed Crusaders now that I once again have some time to write. Thank you for reading and please leave any comments you might have below. They give me motivation to write, and help me make decisions on where to take the fic next.

Noon

I gently pulled my fangs out of Luna's neck, licking my lips. The smell of sweat and a hint of lilac perfume filled my nose, while the savory taste of blood lingered in my mouth. The alicorn tasted different from Apple Bloom in every way. My friend was sweet and when I fed it was so easy to just keep going. Luna's blood tasted thick, reminding me of spiced meat. It even had an aftertaste, one that stayed in my mouth even after I pulled back, the princess now sporting two small wounds in her neck. She lit her horn and the circular scars vanished, replaced by unbroken skin and fur. I looked up at her, trying to collect myself. She had insisted on us going upstairs for this, though I hadn't understood why at the time. Now that I was a bit more level-headed I could see her reasoning. Her bedroom was the darkest place I'd ever been in my life.

Dozens of thick curtains weaved around and through each other on the walls, while tapestries covered those to further isolate ourselves from the outside world. All of the tapestries were made to honor a constellation or the moon itself, and the way they were all arranged were exactly like the night sky over Canterlot. The carpet in there was thick and cushioning. The princess had an enormous bed that I rather liked. I sat on the thick blanket, looking up at her and wondering what to say. She seemed to be absentmindedly gazing out at the rest of the room, lost in thought. I didn't want to disturb her, so I occupied myself with thinking about earlier. The desk that sat on the other side of the room, next to a wardrobe, reminded me that I should be getting back to my friends.

It was hard to tear myself away from her. The acoustics in there absorbed any sound besides the steady drum of Luna's heartbeat and the fine tune of her breathing. So soon after feeding I felt enamored with the princess. I looked up into her beautiful green eyes, trying to understand the feelings being forced onto me by my biology. I looked to her wings and felt like I could push myself into them, rest against her side while the soft feathers protected me. I wanted to listen to the light drumming in her chest, like I did with Apple Bloom. She had been so kind to me earlier, and it wasn't making things easy on me now. I shook my head, stealing back my composure.

“Your maje- I mean, Luna.” I fumbled to correct myself. “Thanks for everything… especially the magic training. I want to come back again sometime, if that's okay? I have to go and see my friends now...”

The alicorn tilted her head to the side, confused for a moment. After a moment she made an 'ah' motion, nodding. Whatever she had been thinking about was enough to make her lose track of time. I found it odd, really. Most ponies were acutely aware of how much time was passing when I fed off of them. I would assume because of the pain and the odd sensation that my fangs provided. None of that bothered Luna though. Before I could think about it too much she spoke.

“I'm sorry to see you go… please try to come back tomorrow. We have a lot more to teach you.”

I paused at her referring only to herself. Did Nightmare not care if I left or not? That would make sense… she didn't strike me as a particularly social pony. I leaned over and hugged Luna, pushing my face into her fur. She smiled, using a hoof to brush my mane back.

“Come on now… you're just making it harder for me Sweetie Belle.” The princess sighed, smiling at my gesture.

I nodded and got up, jumping off of the bed. I lit my horn and tried to teleport downstairs, only to find myself standing slightly to the left of where I'd started. Luna chuckled, her own horn lighting. There was a blinding flash of light, and while I was recovering my vision she spoke.

“There… you can teleport into and out of my tower whenever you want now. Just try to be careful of the guard patrols. I'll tell them that you're here. Mine won't bother you too much, but Celestia's most certainly will.” Luna said, standing and stretching.

“I don't really know where I am though… what floor is this?” I asked, looking up at her.

“This is the third basement level, Northeast Wing of the castle. You shouldn't have too hard of a time getting here, though I can imagine finding your way back up will be…” She pondered, walking to the stairs.

I followed her as we both walked down five flights of stairs. The moment we arrived downstairs the clock on the wall struck seven, and we both heard a knock at her door. Luna answered it to find Twilight, standing there and looking vaguely irritated. The feathers on her wings were in a dissaray, and by her expression the youngest alicorn wasn't in the best mood.

“You need to get back to your friends, and go back to Celestia.” Twilight said, not looking at Luna.

“Whatever for…? Is something the matter?” The moon princess asked, though I had a feeling that she already knew what was going on.

“Celestia had a guard check on your friends at around noon yesterday. She asked me if I knew where you went, and I told her the honest truth. Her words were… scathing.”

I looked up at Twilight, feeling bad for causing her trouble. On another hoof I was terribly nervous. If Celestia had been that quick to chew out her best student for disobeying her, what was in store for me and my friends? Luna sighed, tapping a hoof on the floor.

“I have to raise the moon, then be in court… however, I can help you.”

She summoned a piece of parchment and a pen, writing a single paragraph in a nicely flowing manuscript before signing it, rolling it up and giving it to me. I took the paper, levitating it in front of me. I didn't know what she had written. It didn't look to be anything I would understand anyways. Perhaps it was in a different language. I tucked the letter behind me, holding it there with magic.

“Now, when she inevitably goes to scold you for disobeying her, show her that letter. It should let you make some sort of negotiation. Maybe even get you off the hook entirely.”

I nodded as Twilight lit her horn. Before I could properly say goodbye again, I was stumbling in front of the door to Celestia's tower. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. The lights in the halls weren't dimmed yet, and the sky was still light despite the sun setting nealy half an hour ago. The western sky was still painted a light purple, and I had to squint to look out a nearby window. Twilight turned away from me, lighting her horn to dissapear again.

“Stay here while I go get the other two.” She ordered.

I nodded just as she vanished. Everything Twilight had said so far pointed towards us being in trouble. She seemed a more stressed than normal… probably because Celestia was upset at her. I didn't like ruining another pony's day, but seeing Luna had been necessary. Whatever happened, I had a good way to let Apple Bloom live forever that I was fairly certain that she'd approve of. So even if the princess was going to shout us into oblivion… I at least come out with the precious knowledge that I had been seeking.

A moment later Twilight appeared with my two friends. “You three are to go straight upstairs to see her. I don't want to go with you… I'm already in enough trouble, and seeing her again won't make anything better.”

“You're not mad at us, are you Twilight?” I asked, blinking up at her.

The alicorn looked away from me, unable to meet my eyes. “No... I'm mad at myself more than anything. Just go upstairs, you know what you did.”

She opened the door to the tower and motioned us inside. Scootaloo led the way, while I took up the middle. Apple Bloom was the last pony to enter. The moment we were all inside the door shut, and we walked to the stairs. We exchanged worried glances, wondering what was going to happen once we reached the princess. We didn't have to think about it for too long before we reached the landing that Celestia was on. She stood, looking out the window an the Equestrian countryside. The room that she stood in had windows on all sides, so that we could see the fading purple-blue light to the west and the dark blue skies to the east. There was a single couch in the center of the room, with one chair across from it. Celestia turned and walked to the chair, sitting down. She took a deep breath before speaking.

“Sit. All three of you.” She commanded.

I did as she asked, while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom followed my lead. Nearly a moment later she stood up again, pacing around the chair in front of us. I wasn't that surprised. She didn't seem like the kind of pony to try and sit down at a time like this. As she paced the princess glared out at the eastern horizon. The moon was slowly rising, gracing the world with its silver presence.

“I told the three of you, in very clear terms, that I didn't want you to see my sister. Yet here I stand with the three of you in front of me. One of you is a blatant rebel. The other two of you let your friend wander off.”

“We're her friends not her foalsitter.” Scootaloo commented dryly.

The princess looked like my friend had just insulted her. Celestia's eyes locked onto the pegasus, who held her gaze with rebellious calm. The alicorn was doing her best to stare her down, but years of being Cheerilee's number one target had built up an extreme resistance to that tactic. It let Scootaloo look at her with an almost stone-faced expression, a poker face that invited the princess to do something about what she had just said. She was right no matter how the princess spun the story. We were friends but in no way were we all attached at the hip. Especially me. I had to find things to do while they were both asleep, or were at school or the like.

“Either way, there will be punishment. I'm not in the habit of letting ponies slight me.” Celestia said.

Scootaloo let herself have a small smile to celebrate the tiny victory over the princess. However, I was nervous at what the alicorn had planned. I wanted to know some things though… or at least delay her somewhat. I did the most honest form form of stalling I knew and began to ask questions. I kept the note that Luna had written for me behind me, thinking that Celestia probably wouldn't ask questions about it so long as she was in a bad mood.

“Why didn't you want me to go to Luna? She was really helpful.” I said, looking to my friends.

“Because you bring up old memories she shouldn't have to deal with anymore. She served a thousand year sentence for her mistakes, she doesn't need a walking embodiment of them to waltz into her life and demand she fix everything.”

“So you know she made vampires?” I said, not surprised but very interested in her reaction.

My friends looked between me and the Celesta, their eyes wide at my revelation. The alicorn seemed more than a bit annoyed at me, the way I'd just let that secret out.

“Yes, I know that. It was one of the many, many reasons that I had to send her to the moon. Don't presume me ignorant of anything. I'm a lot more at home around Luna than you ever will be.”

I wanted to ask her how I could keep secrets from her if I acted like that, but then the thought hit me that she didn't want me to ever keep secrets from her. Celestia wanted me to act like there was nothing private between anypony so that I would let things slip in front of her without thinking about it. That never would have occurred to me a year ago… but age and my wariness of the princess had led me to see through her subtleties.

“She didn't seem that upset to see me… I mean, she was a bit sad to see me at first, but she was okay once we got to talk to each other.” I said, looking up at the alicorn.

“Yes, then what did you do? Guilt her into practicing forbidden magic again?” She snapped back at me.

I winced, then remembered the note I had positioned behind myself. I took it out, levitating it in front of me. Celestia looked from me to the letter, as if she didn't want to take it. I held it out until she finally took it, opening the roll of paper to read the contents. As she read her face seemed to grow more irate, her wings clenched tightly to her sides. After she finished she tossed it down onto the table, taking a deep breath before letting it out again.

“So you have Luna's favor now. I don't care how my sister feels towards you, or if she believes that it is acceptable for her to fall into her old habits. I suppose that means you'll have her defend you if I try and punish you. Of course a foal would hide behind the legs of an adult. How typical.”

I wanted to say something in response to that, but I knew that had been a very obvious jab at my pride. Scootaloo's wings twitched at her words, signalling her annoyance with Celestia. She was the oldest of us, and she was certainly no foal. She held my own pride in a lot higher regards than I did. That made her a good friend, but it wasn't good when the alicorn was looking for any reason to look down at us.

“So… can we go?” I asked, hoping that we were off the hook.

The alicorn chuckled, shaking her head. She was clearly very amused at my question.

“No… since I can't punish you, I'll use your friends.” She said. “You need to be punished for being a bad influence on my sister, and if I can't do it directly then it will be through the other two.”

“Okay, I'll volunteer then.” Scootaloo said, standing up.

“You're tossing yourself in front of your friends to save them from me? How noble… you hardly deserve your friends, Sweetie Belle.” Celestia said.

“She deserves us, then better.” The pegasus replied. “So what's it gonna be? Sitting in a room, sorting things?”

“You'll be going on an errand for me.” The princess smirked. “You see, there was a message that I wanted delivered. There is a small village far south of here. A pony there regularly writes to me with updates about wildlife in the area. However, recently, she stopped. I value her insight into the local fauna there, and I'd appreciate somepony checking up on her. It's a few hundred miles from Canterlot, but if you take the train as far as it will take you in that direction it's only about a fifty miles. Not a long flight.”

“So I just have to go check on somepony? Doesn't sound that hard...” Scootaloo said, shrugging.

“Of course not, it's a punishment. It's supposed to be dull and monotenous, not challenging.”

I had a bad feeling about all of this. There had to be a reason that Celestia had stopped receiving letters. “What if something bad happened to the town though? What if you sent Scootaloo into a bad situation?” I asked, looking to my friend.

“That's nonsense, Sweetie Belle. She's just a kindly mare that I happen to be good friends with. She doesn't have any relatives and she is getting older, so it's important that I send somepony to check on her.”

Scootaloo sighed, stretching onto the tips of her hooves before falling back to the ground again. “I'm fine with this I guess… really boring, checking on some old pony… but I guess if it gets Sweetie off the hook.”

I still had my doubts about the situation, but kept my mouth shut. After a moment, the princess turned to Apple Bloom.

“Don't think you're free to go, either. Just because your friend jumped in and took most of the punishment doesn't mean you'll walk away with your personal time intact.”

“Bah, horseapples.” Apple Bloom grumbled, having probably thought she would be able to leave without any commandments issued from the alicorn.

Celestia blinked, surprised at the words my friend had just produced. As if she hadn't heard, the princess continued.

“I've heard that you're very good with your hooves from Twilight. You wouldn't mind it if I borrowed that talent for a bit would you? My orders are to repair the bunks in my guard barracks. They aren't in the best shape, so I'd like you to fix them up. Most of them creak and a fair few are unstable. All four thousand, seven hundred and twenty-eight of them need some kind of work. I'm sure that you're up to the task. I'm sure that foul mouth you just used will fit right in with the guards.”

Apple Bloom looked up at the princess like she had just sentenced her to prison for stealing a single straw of wheat. I looked to my friends with the burn of guilt weighing down on me. Neither of them could say no to the princess. I secretly knew that the reason Apple Bloom's task was so much more tedious than Scootaloo's was because she knew I favored her. Anypony with a functioning set of eyes could see the well defined set of scars on her upper leg. From there it sure didn't take a detective to guess which of my friends I favored the most. Scootaloo was still one of the few ponies I'd trust with my life, but the farmhand held a special, more romantic spot in my heart. Celestia was also making their punishment worse because she couldn't do anything to me without Luna interfering.

After a moment of letting that sink in, Celestia turned and walked to the stairs. The meeting was clearly over.

“Two guards will be at your room tomorrow. One will escort Scootaloo to the train station. The other will take Apple Bloom to the barracks and give her the necessary supplies for her task. Sweetie Belle… enjoy your time with my sister. I hope that these punishments will encourage you to play by the rules in the future.”

With that she left us. I wanted to say a whole heap of curses out loud the moment that I was sure the alicorn was out of earshot. I maintained my composure though, standing to leave. I would be sure to tell Luna about this. Even if it just reinforced what Celestia thought about me, I couldn't let this happen again. I hadn't come to the castle to seek Celestia's advice on eternal life. I'd sought every possible solution for my friends. That didn't involve being her errand pony and I certainly did not owe her any debt for the meager amount of information she had given us. I turned to walk out, the other two doing the exact same. We walked silently to the base of the tower, out the front door. The moment that we were outside Scootaloo turned around, slamming the door shut behind us.

“She acts like we owe her the world every time we talk to her. For what? She's never done anything for us. She gave us totally unhelpful 'hints' about how to live forever if we high-tail our sorry plots halfway to the moon and back for her. Stupid princess...” The pegasus vented.

I sighed, nodding. “She does come off as really entitled… but she is a princess. And she was the only ruler of Equestria for a long time. I guess she just got used to all the power.”

“We just gotta listen to her for a little while, girls… ain't no need to get your tails in a bunch about it.” Apple Bloom chimed in, seeming to have accepted our fate. “I'll have the guard beds done in a week tops. I know it stinks but listening to her is about the only thing we can do until Sweetie can get her hooves on a way to let us live forever. Speakin' of that… did Luna help you find a way Sweetie?”

I nodded as a smile returned to my face. “Yeah, I did! We can talk about it while we walk.

I explained the concept of the Eternity Tome to her as we walked back to our room, my thoughts wandering to what we would do about Scootaloo. I had no idea what she wanted. I'd have to ask her when we all got back to the room. Apple Bloom nodded along with the idea of the enchanted book, intrigued by it. The farmhand seemed to agree with the idea, since she was normally great about schedules and things of that sort. As we walked, thing seemed to be looking up for us. Even if Celestia was going to be sentencing us to an neverending sequence of dull chores, we had a solution for one of us that worked. All I had to do was learn the specific magic from Luna. It would all be alright. So I thought.

Author's Note

Once again, comments are very much appreciated. Any insight I can gain into how my readers interpret the fic can help me do better in the future. Thank you for reading this chapter, and have a great night.

Eclipse

I woke up looking over at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They always seemed to end up on each other by morning. The vampire was in a tangle of limbs, her face pushed against the earth pony's chest. I had heard them talking about why she did that a while ago. Something about her liking to listen to Bloom's heartbeat. At first it had creeped me out a bit… but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. My unicorn friend didn't have a heartbeat anymore, or a heart for that matter. I guess it was just a natural fascination with something she didn't have anymore.

I got up, looking at my wings. My feathers were messed up from sleeping on my them, half of them crumpled and shifted awkwardly to the left or right. I occupied my time with preening them while my mind wandered. The task that Celestia had set me out to do weighed on my mind. Not because it was hard, but because it simply shouldn't be my job in the first place. Of course, I couldn't just say no and walk away. If it was just me, I would gladly do just that and tell the princess that she could find somepony else. I had to do it for Sweetie Belle though… and to a lesser extent, Apple Bloom.

As if she'd heard me shifting in my bed, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes. Her irises looked like piercing circles of bright green in the dark, with no white to highlight them. I waved a hoof to her, and she shut her eyes again. No words passed between us, but there was no need. She was just checking on me. I knew that she didn't really sleep, neither did any of the alicorns. She had just been laying there, relaxing herself. I wished that I had the patience to lay next to somepony for hours on end. The boredom would make me move eventually.

I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I tapped the crystal on the wall and it lit, letting me see where I was placing my hooves. I looked back out into the bedroom to see the clock. It was a quarter until seven in the morning. I sighed, leaning against the door. In fifteen minutes guards would probably be there to whisk us off to do Celestia's designated chores. I grumbled to myself and walked over to Apple Bloom, nudging her with a hoof.

“Hey… we have to be up soon.” I said, yawning.

Apple Bloom opened one eye, looking from me to the unicorn beside her. She nodded, then slowly stretched. While she was getting herself up I went to the bathroom again to splash cold water on my face. I knew that I could probably get away with sleeping on the train, but I didn't want to miss my stop and have to ride all the way back to Canterlot. Then board again, and then make the train ride all the way back. That would take forever, and I didn't want to be away from my friends any longer than I had to. While I did that I could faintly hear the two whispering to each other, though I didn't know what.

I had learned to mind my own business when it came to my friends. They were a little more than friends to each other, not that I minded at all. I just didn't need to know all the unimportant mush they liked to do while I wasn't there. I'd caught them kissing each other plenty of times over the last year. The most awkward situation had been last winter, when we were stuck inside for Hearth's Warming break. There had been no school, so we had to find things to do for a week. I had been at Sweetie Belle's house when I walked into her room. I found them on the bed, Sweetie Belle on top of her crying while she drank Apple Bloom's blood. The farmhand had been petting her mane telling her things would be okay. I had just quietly walked back out, feeling like I had witnessed something really private. I still felt strange just thinking about what had been going on before I had walked in.

Once I was mostly awake I heard a knock at the door, and Apple Bloom got out of bed. Sweetie Belle retreated to the back of the bedroom to avoid the light that would come in from the door. I left the bathroom and answered it, finding two guards standing there.

“We came to escort Scootaloo to the train station.” The white-coated stallion said, seeming like he had just gotten out of bed as well.

I looked back at my friends and waved a hoof at them. “I've gotta go guys, the guards are her for me. See you tonight I guess. Maybe tomorrow if the weather's bad.”

Both of my friends waved to me, and I stepped out into the hall. The cream colored stallion that stood to the right of the door yawned, shaking his head to wake himself up. I knew the feeling. Once I was outside the other guard motioned for me to follow him, and I began to walk. One of them was a unicorn while the other was a pegasus. The sun could be seen rising through the windows in the hallway, cresting the side of the mountain beautifully. I let the sight wake me up as we walked. Of course it took forever to walk anywhere in that place. It made me feel like it had been made primarily for unicorns and pegasi. Of course I couldn't fly, since the unicorn stallion wouldn't be able to keep up without teleporting. I heard that it tired them out, to cast spells repeatedly. I wondered how many Sweetie Belle could do. I occupied my mind with estimation while I walked.

After ten minutes we came to an entrance to the castle, and they led me outside. They very quickly walked me through the courtyard, not stopping to look at anything. Soon we were heading down the streets of Canterlot, which were starting to get into the morning rush. The guards seemed to clear a small path through the crowd near them, as I would expect them to. They unicorn stood a bit taller than the ponies on the street, while pegasus guard was slightly shorter. I looked to see I was nearly eye level with him. Soon we were approaching the busy train station, and the guards led me into the main entrance. They paid for my ticket and gave it to me before we went to stand near one of the benches.

“So… uh, what's it like? Being a guard?” I asked looking between the two.

“Pretty boring most days.” The pegasus replied in a grouchy tone.

Something about the way he had spoke told me neither of them were actually supposed to talk to me. Whether that was just the rules or an order that came from Celestia, I didn't know. I respected it though, as maybe they both just wanted to get this over with just like I did. I could empathize with that. I looked at the clock as we waited, tapping my hooves on the concrete platform beneath us. After a lot of waiting the train came, and I stepped towards it. I stopped once I realized the guards weren't following.

“Are you coming?” I asked them, confused.

“We were to return to the castle once you boarded the train. Ride until the last stop, then disembark. The home of the pony you're looking for is due west of the train platform you'll be arriving at. You'll see a wilderness path running through the forest from the village.” The unicorn said.

I sighed, shaking my head before boarding the train. Celestia really didn't want me to have any fun at all on this trip. I had the long train ride ahead of me with nopony to talk to and a seat all to myself. I went to the back and sat down there, watching others board. I looked out the window, and put any thoughts out of my head. I had a long six hours of sitting ahead of me…

I jolted awake to the sound of the train whistle. I had fallen asleep somewhere past Ponyville, and now we seemed to be approaching my stop. It was actually the very last stop on the line, one that led to a small fishing village. I yawned and watched the train approach the platform, slowing down as it went. As I stood, two other ponies were already at the front near the door. I walked up the aisle as the train finally lost all forward momentum, halting. The doors opened and I walked out, blinking as the sun hit my eyes. The two ponies went off on their own business while I tried to find a map of some sort to get by bearings. After some looking I found one sealed inside of a safe plastic case near the side of the platform. I peered at it, finding what was west from there. Once I had a heading, I took off in the pioneer's direction.

My wings looked amazing from the air. I could see the way the sunlight filtered through them from the ground, making beautiful streaks of gold in my shadow as I flew. I looked to the south, seeing a wall of clouds off on the horizon. I would have to get back to the platform by the time the weather hit. If I didn't the rain might be too heavy for the train to run by there. I didn't want to be stuck out there because of some lousy thunderstorm, so I picked up my pace. My wings beat like the metronome, steady and sure as they carried my light body through the air. I crossed over a forest as I flew, looking for a path.

The hour passed me by, and the wall of clouds was looming closer. I finally found the path that the guard mentioned, winding through the woods below me. I silently thanked fate that I hadn't been born anything other than a pegasus. It would take an earth pony or unicorn an eternity to walk so far. I smirked, humming to myself as I followed the path to my destination. As the beat of my wings became more hurried. I came to realize that the storm was rolling in faster than I would get there. I would either be flying back in the rain, or risking a flight down close to the ground. Not only would that be tiring, but dangerous if lightning struck. I accepted that I would have to walk back and kept my pace.

Eventually I saw the house in the distance, nestled deep in the woods. The place was three stories tall by the looks of it, made out of brick. I began my descent and landed in front of the home, admiring the neatness of the it all. A statue of a very menacing dog stood outside. Whether it was to deter animals from approaching or not, I couldn't tell. Either way it was effective in making me not want to come any closer. If I had been some random pony walking through the woods, nothing about this place would make me want to stop by just to say hello. However, I had to do this for my friends. I approached the door to the abode, looking around for any sign that somepony had been there recently.

Finding there was no indication of whether anypony was home or not, I knocked on the door. I tried not to be too loud, but in the relative quiet of the woods everything sounded that way. I paused, waiting for an answer. None came. Once I had waited a fair bit longer, I knocked again, this time with the full force I could put into my hoof. The door rattled on its hinges, and the sound echoed through the woods behind me. After waiting another minute, there was still no answer. I sighed, shaking my head. Celestia had said that this pony was getting older. Maybe she was just napping and wasn't getting up? I tried the handle, finding it to be unlocked. I opened the door, knocking one last time as I entered the house.

The living room was nice, with assorted carpets set beneath chairs and a couch near the fireplace. An enormous crab was hung above the mantle, being nearly the size of me. I looked around, trying to see if the pony I was looking for was home. I had no idea were anything was, so I wandered into a nicely kept kitchen, looking around. The cupboards were all fully stocked, and by the looks of things whoever lived there had done the dishes recently. I walked back into the living room, calling out.

“Anypony home? I'm from Canterlot… Celestia was wondering why you weren't sending any letters.” I shouted, hoping somepony would hear me.

I walked to the stairs, dragging my hooves somewhat. Part of me said that whoever lived there had probably gone into town to buy some things and had forgotten to lock their front door. Another part of me was suspicious. I began to climb the steps, the boards creaking loudly. Surely if anypony was there they would have heard me by then. I had to make sure though, so that Celestia couldn't send be back there. I wasn't about to sit around and wait for some old mare to get back from going to the market either. I wanted to be back with my friends in a warm room, not in the middle of nowhere. I arrived at the landing, looking around. There were plenty of open bedroom doors, none of which held any importance. They also lacked the pony I was looking for.

Just as I was about to walk back downstairs, satisfied in my conclusion that nopony was there, I heard the scuffing of a hoof at the end of the hall. I looked down the corridor to see a bedroom I hadn't paid any attention to before. The only sight I had into there was offered by the cracked door, which showed a bed in dissaray. The blanket was thrown off the bed and extended far out onto the floor. The stand next to the bed was knocked over, the lamp that had sat atop it tossed aside, the bulb broken. A meager amount of light was offered through the thick curtains in there. It was just enough for me to see a set of bright insectoid eyes come into view at the bottom of the doorframe, looking right through me.

I immediately moved to go back down the stairs, thinking to jump down them. The walls were too narrow, and I couldn't open my wings to slow my fall if I leapt. I heard a high-pitched shriek just as I was rushing to get back to the first floor, nearly slipping on the hardwood floor before regaining my footing. By the time I was running across the living room floor the Changeling was hurtling towards me, its mouth open and fangs outstretched. I opened the door a moment too late, and it sank its teeth into my shoulder. I shouted in pain and turned sharply, my wings opening. Its brittle teeth snapped and it screeched at a deafening pitch, the incisors and one of its frontmost teeth now embedded in my shoulder. The moment that I was free of the creature I ran out of the house and into the woods, praying that it wouldn't follow.

The teeth stuck in me stung like nothing I'd ever felt before, trickles of blood running down my right foreleg. To avoid using the muscles in my shoulders I took off, getting above the treetops just as the clouds were rolling over the bright blue sky above me. I felt a light drizzle begin to fall as I flew away, gritting my teeth through the pain. I knew better than to try and pull the nearly two inch long daggers out. I would have to face a legitimate threat of blood loss then. Instead I kept them in even though it was excruciating, making my way back east.

After a few minutes of flying I felt myself weakening. I had once read that Changelings had venom, though it was a heavy sedative more than it was a legitimate threat to a pony's life. I felt my view of the world growing fuzzy, and I stretched out my wings for the last time, gliding to a stop. I barely managed to land between some trees, my legs not responding to my attempts to stiffen them on contact with the ground. The result was me nearly tripping and falling onto my face, stumbling my way over to a tree. I collapsed against the oak, blinking and trying to think of what to do. All of my instincts were telling me to panic and keep running. My body wasn't responding at all, the adrenaline pumping through me useless in the face of the tranquilizing venom.

I took a few deep breaths and used what tiny amount of strength I could muster to drag myself to a small dip in the earth at the foot of the oak tree. At least I would be slightly harder to spot that way. My vision shifted until everything was a nonsensical, fuzzy mass of green and brown. I shut my eyes, resting my head against the soft grass. The last thing I thought of was Sweetie Belle, and how disappointed she would be that I wasn't back for dinner.

Umbra

Luna tapped her hoof on the table, watching me hold a ruby out to her. She seemed impressed by me, a smile on her face. She took the gemstone and held it up to the candle near us, inspecting the dull glow that was now in the center of the jewel. The mouse on the table nibbled a seed while I sat in suspense, wondering what I had just done. The alicorn nodded, setting the gem back down. I tried my best to think of her action as a compliment. However, it only made me more nervous. She took one of the pieces of paper that littered the table and marked a check on it, the last of a very long list. We had been going all day, non-stop drilling and pushing myself for better results. A normal pony would have taken weeks to do as much training as we had done in two days. My nearly limitless endurance with spellcasting let me cram in enough practice to make a typical unicorn collapse from exhaustion several time over.

“This is a beautiful specimen… you bound it perfectly to the gem.” The princess said proudly. “We would ask you to do it again, but I only brought a few mice, and we have other things I wanted to use them for.”

I smiled at her praise, mentally exhausted by all of the studying and practice I had just done. I could recite almost all of what she had just lectured me by heart at that point, from the basics of magic through advanced binding spells. I couldn't help but wonder if this insane study method was how Twilight managed to know so much by heart. The emphasis on memorization was mind-numbing, but after so many hundreds of times it was just burnt into my head. It was a horribly dull way to learn anything, but the effictiveness of Luna's teaching method couldn't really be doubted. I couldn't imagine the way she taught working for anything else besides maybe math. It shined because there was really no other way to perform the kind of magic we were dealing with. Memorization of how it worked was all I could do if I wanted to get used to the method.

“So, do you suppose you're ready to move onto the next part?” Luna asked, seeming very serious.

“I guess so… I got it perfect the first time.” I said, shrugging.

“Yes, but it is much different, doing it with Apple Bloom. You already know how to craft the most difficult part of the Eternity Tome, which is the binding and cover. That is where her soul will be bound, in that fragment of her body, whatever it is made of from her. That's her decision. However, next will be the pages. The pages need to be subjected to a very specific treatment before they are ready to be used in the binding ritual.”

I nodded, figuring if it was easier than this I didn't mind. “Okay, what is it? I think I'm ready.”

“First, the pages must each be pressed and devoid of any imperfections, or the spell will not work for the pages that have a blemish or aren't perfectly flat. This could result in up to a week of Apple Bloom's memories being simply lost, as the page will not fill in. She won't remember anything of that part of her life. If too many pages are imperfect, then it could cause serious damage to her mind.”

I tapped my hooves together nervously. “That sounds really hard… and for that many pages, it would take forever.”

The alicorn lit her horn, and before me an enormous stack of paper appeared. “Yes, that is why we had one of our secretaries do of it for us. That would take forever, and the probability of one of you making a mistake is too high. Yesterday it's all I had them do. They got a bit of it done… but I had to finish most of it myself. Don't worry, I checked the pages they did as well.”

I marvelled at the blankness of the chalk white paper in front of me. If it was any more plain I would be tempted to reach out and touch it, if only to confirm that it wasn't some sort of illusion. I knew better however, and kept myself under control.

“What else do I have to do?” I asked.

“Each page will need Apple Bloom's name written on it. Then we have to inscribe a channeling spell onto each of the pages, on both sides each. By the end I'm sure you will be very good at writing out spells.”

I sighed, nodding. That meant she was about to launch into another three-hour long lecture on a new kind of magic. Then came the mandatory fourteen hours straight of constant practice before she would let me try what she had taught me for real. I emptied my head and prepared for her lesson, keeping Apple Bloom in my heart as I endured the alicorn's very dull form of teaching.

I walked back to my room hours later, levitating a notebook in front of me. I read while I trotted down the hall, thinking about Apple Bloom. It took forever to get from place to place in the castle just by walking. It gave me time to think. The only reason I didn't teleport was the time I got to spend alone with myself. The last three days had been nothing but a chore for me and my friends. I knew it would be worth it in the end, but I was starting to feel the stress. I needed to get better at magic for my friends, but it felt like no matter how hard I tried, I still had to learn more. There seemed to always be something that I would miss or a detail I didn't pick up on the first time.

As I arrived back at my room, I noticed the door was unlocked. I tilted my head to the side, knowing that most of the time the guards would walk along and check the doors, locking them if it was needed.. That meant somepony had arrived back in our room recently. I went inside to hear a bath running, the lamp next to the bed turned on. I looked into the bathroom, squinting to see through the bright light. Apple Bloom was sitting in the tub, her head resting on the side of it. She looked out at me, blinking. I shut our bedroom door, my horn lighting and shutting off the lamp out in the bedroom. Once that was done, I walked into the bathroom. I sat on the carpet next to the bath, taking a deep breath and letting it out. The dim crystal on wall in there gave her some light to see, and let me see her well enough in return.

“I'm tired, Belles… I'll be honest.” Apple Bloom sighed.

I nodded, looking to the side. It took a lot to get her to admit that. I could remember days when she would work out in the heat all day, and not once would she comment on it being hard, or being tired. It took a special kind of strain to bother her, one that wasn't physical.

“I know… Luna's pushing me hard too. I told her about Celestia and she said that we would do our best to speed through what she had to teach me. I feel like my brain is made of syrup now.”

My analogy earned me an odd look, but the farmhand didn't comment. She got what I was trying to say. “Yeah… Celestia wasn't jokin' about how rude some of them guards are. I mean, some of 'em are pretty nice. A few shared their lunches with me.”

I got up, jumping into the bath next to her. If I was going to sit there and talk to her, it was worth it to make use of the perfectly good bathwater. While I wet my mane I motioned for her to continue with her story. Listening to her vent was a bit relaxing after my long day. She seemed to question me being in the bath with her in the terms of our relationship, but then she shrugged and kept going.

“So anyways, I was working on the fourty-second guard bunk when all the sudden one of em' walks by and comments 'bout my freckles. 'Parently I got a freckle on my lower back leg now, and he turns to the guard mare next to him makes some comment about how in a few years I'll look like custard with pepper sprinkled on it. 'Course she laughs...”

I pushed down a smile, washing my mane while she spoke“You know they were just picking on you, right?”

“I know, but what if he's actually right about that?! I know the more I'm out in the sun, the more freckles I get. What if after ten years the skin under my coat is jus' a-”

I giggled, shaking my head. “Silly… you'll never get any more freckles once I make your book. It'll be fine. Anything else happen today?”

“Well… not really. I fixed three hundred and ten beds today, so it's a start. Then again, I wasn't really trying my hardest. Either way it was hard… and borin'.”

“I know how you feel…” I said, looking at the clock. “Shouldn't Scootaloo be back here by now? It's almost ten at night...”

“She did say that she might be a day late coming back if the weather was bad.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

I felt myself start to worry, but then I figured that Scootaloo could probably handle herself. She was fairly smart, and was more than capable of handling herself. Still, doubt clawed at the back of my mind. Seeing my look of worry, the farmhand leaned in and gave me a hug. I relaxed in her grip, letting the smell of the scented bath and my friend soothe my anxiety.

“All that'll be okay, Sweetie. She knows exactly what she's doing, and you know she's been just fine on her own for years before we even knew her.”

“Yeah… I guess so.”

We both heard a knock at the door. I quickly got out of the bath, tossing a towel over myself before walking out to answer it. The moment I unlocked it Twilight opened the door a crack, looking down at me.

“May I come in?” The lilac alicorn asked.

“Uh… sure, I guess.”

While she walked inside I used my magic to shut the bathroom door. The bookworm tapped her hooves on the carpet as she turned on the lamp and I oriented myself so that the light didn't hit me directly in the face. Once she could see, Twilight spoke.

“So how are you three doing?” She asked, looking around. “Where's Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?”

“Apple Bloom is in the bath, and Scootaloo hasn't come back yet.” I explained, jumping onto the bed so I could sit down and talk.

“That isn't good… do you have any idea where she might be?”

“Well, she was checking up on somepony for Celestia. Some village place that was really out there, down south. Way past Ponyville, almost into that swampy part of the Everfree Forest.”

“I hope she's okay… A pretty big storm blew across the Everfree Forest today, so maybe it shut the train down there. I hope she found someplace to stay where it's warm and dry, at least.”

I nodded, looking at my hooves. I felt the lingering doubts I had for the whole mission Celestia had given her creeping back in. I'd had a bad feeling about it since the sun princess had first mentioned it. Now she wasn't showing up. I felt tempted to go out and look for her. However, I didn't fancy the idea of footing the bill for my own train ticket, and if I got stuck out in the forest when the sun came up I would be in a horrible situation.

“Twilight, she'll be back in the morning right?” I asked.

“I'm sure she will be. She's a brave pony, and I'm sure she can take care of herself. If she isn't back here by tomorrow then I'll make sure somepony goes out to look for her.” Twilight rested a hoof on my shoulder.

I nodded and settled onto a blankets, shying away from her hoof. I was worried despite what she had said. Tomorrow was a lot of time for her situation to go from bad to worse. Apple Bloom walked out of the bathroom with a towel over herself, moving to our bed. She jumped onto it and covered herself in blankets, her damp fur in need of warmth in the cold room. I wished I could help her with that, but I didn't generate my own body heat anymore. Twilight stood up to leave, brushing off her wings with magic.

"Well... the only reason that I came in here was to tell the three of you about something you could help with. With one of you missing and you two looking dead tired, I don't think that it would do me any good. I'll see you both in the morning. Do either of you need anything before I go?”

“Nah, I'm fine.” Apple Bloom said.

Once I had shaken my head the alicorn left us both, turning tail to us and waving a wing goodbye. The moment that she had shut the door I flopped over onto my side. It felt horrible, not being able to do anything for Scootaloo. Apple Bloom wrapped her front hooves around me and settled in, putting the blanket over me as well. She shut her eyes, clearly exhausted from her day. I lit my horn and locked the door before resting my head on the farmhand's chest. Despite the chaos of my life, I still had the steady rhythm of her heartbeat to relax me after a long day.

Author's Note

Hello again everyone! I appreciate you all reading this. However, you may notice that this chapter is a bit short. That is because I have moved recently! Instead of keeping you waiting for another 3 days for me to make another chapter, I am posting that which I got done before I moved. Thank you all for your patience.