Three days before the festival...

Amore shivers slightly as she slowly descends down the stone steps into the forsaken crypt on the left side of the academy. Following just a little behind her is Sugar Fizz who isn't bothered by the biting chill that seems to ferment the atmosphere. Before the pair lies a decently thick, black metal gate with flat metal skulls on either side. Amore takes a deep breath, but jumps when Sugar fizz suddenly pokes her side.

"Gah! Could you not scare me to shit when I don't even know what's down here?!" Amore exclaims trying to calm her heartbeat, Sugar fizz giggling as she wraps her arms around Amore's neck.

"To be honest, taking a Vampire to a crypt could seriously be considered a romantic gesture. I mean a normal mare might not take an interest, but one such as myself is more than intrigued." Sugar Fizz smiles and strokes Amore's cheek before letting go to inspect the gate.

Amore finds her climbing anxiety start to lower as she feels safer with Sugar fizz by her side. Likely the reason she asked her along on such a ridiculous request in the first place. She was curious to properly meet the mare who'd ambushed her in the hallway in front of the music room yesterday. Amore's attention is drawn back to reality when Sugar fizz slowly pushes the gate open enough for them both to slip through and press further into the crypt down the presented corridor. Once past the eerie passage lit dimly by candles held in the eyes of many skulls set up on shelves either side of the pair, the mares come to a bigger room with curved arches above them for support and alcoves in the walls for stone coffins.

"How many do you think are buried down here?" Amore asks as they look around, inspecting the coffins to check the names.

Sugar Fizz hums lowly as they eventually come to the end of the room, seeing this crypt goes deeper than she imagined.

"Truthfully, I'm not sure. They all appear to be from the same 'house'. Not so much related, but close enough to be considered family." Sugar Fizz explains as they descend another set of steps which leads them down.

As the couple get deeper the chill becomes more prominent and Amore shivers more, making Sugar Fizz hold her hand and walk closer, trying to warm the mare up. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, they come out into a much bigger room, filled to the brim with countless coffins and shelves all belonging to the same house as Sugar Fizz described just moments ago.

"There are so many..." Amore swallows deeply, now feeling she should turn back.

"One hundred sixty-six to be precise. The Von Bone family was quite a large collective of necromancers after all." A voice states in the room, causing Amore to jump. She recognises it as belonging to the girl in the hallway.

Revealing herself, the mare floats down in front of them wearing a sly smile which Sugar Fizz finds off-putting.

"You're the last member of their family?" Sugar Fizz prompts, letting go of Amore's hand to take a more passive-defensive stance.

Giggling slightly before turning around, she starts leading the pair past all the coffins towards the back of the room and through a thick stone double door. Taking them into a fairly plain room with a round stone table in the centre with three chairs around it.

"You'll find that I'm the original house founder, the most powerful necromancer of the pirate era, Shintaku Von Bone." The mare states, taking the chair on the other side of the table.

Amore and Sugar Fizz sit down in the two empty chairs, noticing the room is lit by creepy looking candles with purple flames.

"I think I remember some stories about you during said era... Impressive to begin with but gets lesser the further along you go in generations." Sugar Fizz states coldly, crossing her legs.

Coughing and laughing lightly, Shintaku nods and looks at Amore.

"Well, it's true my house might have fallen a bit far towards the end, but there was little I could do to help." She takes a deep breath to refresh herself, then turns to Amore, "I believe you came here because I gave you an offer?"

Amore nods and swallows hard, "You said I should come to the crypt if I wanted to learn more about what I might be capable of?"

Shintaku nods and summons a glass ball of some description, smiling at the pair as she conjures a knife to throw into Amore's heart. Sugar Fizz glares at Shintaku but remains seated as the knife is slowly pulled out of Amore, taking with it a crimson red glowing thread. Shintaku takes the knife and leads the thread to the glass ball which absorbs the end into itself. Coming to life, it begins to show Amore's life from when she was dropped off to her mentor's house, through her school life and upwards.

"Since the start, you have shown remarkable adaptability and survival skills. You were given a mentor but ultimately were forced to find your own way." Shintaku explains as the images progress.

The next few show the death of Amore's mentor and her trip with the hooded figure to Manehattan. Seeing everything actually played before her, Sugar Fizz's expression cannot help but soften for the mare beside her.

"You were given a name, one you held onto and searched for information regarding their inner workings. Vinyl-" Shintaku hums, frowning deeply as she sees images of their reunion and catching up, "I see... I didn't realise you were a Von Scratch, how interesting."

Amore nods, now feeling very nervous, "Umm... Yeah, I recently managed to find and reconnect with my mother while in Manehattan."

Moving on quickly to show images of Amore's time at the two previous academies, she stops on the Crystal Empire Academy.

"Your time here was most fascinating, you hadn't stopped to really look at anypony while searching for your mother. However, strength gave you pause. Selene Bloodmoon made you stop and look, didn't she?" Shintaku now smiles evilly as she displays images of Amore and Selene's relationship.

Amore nods, her ears falling flat against her head. The images were intimate, no further than a little kissing and cuddling but enough to make Sugar Fizz a little jealous.

"You moved on when you believed she cheated on you with your third sparring friend, Midnight Allure and you quickly left to avoid complications." Shintaku sighed and gave Amore a sly look, "But, you didn't stop thinking about her, did you? Even while courting Sugar Fizz, you still think about your old flame."

Sugar Fizz glanced at Amore but kept her attention on Shintaku, knowing the old hag is trying something on her roommate.

"I mean... I've thought about her recently... But not in the romantic sense, just random thoughts... I'm courting Sugar Fizz now, anyway. It doesn't matter." Amore states feeling a little flush, her new condition not helping matters much when it comes to control.

"I think I've heard enough..." Sugar Fizz states, standing up and glaring at Shintaku. She then turns to Amore with the same look before leaving.

Amore could feel her heart sink, Sugar Fizz having never given her the glare she just did. An expression of pure disgust as she hastily left the room and seemingly the crypt. The mare quickly got up, looking back at a smiling Shintaku as she tries desperately to catch up to Sugar Fizz, but even as Amore leaves the crypt she cannot be seen anywhere, even in the sky.

"Sugar Fizz... Come back." Amore pleads weakly to thin air, gripping the blazer above her heart.

By now it is well into the evening, the sun slowly dipping below the horizon and the atmosphere becomes chilled. Veronica takes a deep breath, enjoying the ambiance of fall as she watches leaves fall from the trees.

"This place is beautiful, if nothing else..." She muses, exhaling to see her breath given white form in the air.

Passing by the track field, something catches her attention out the corner of her eyes. Turning to face the field properly, she can see a pony with a burnt orange mane doing laps. Raising an eyebrow, she descends the nearby stairs for a closer look and frowns upon finding it's Amore wearing her P.E clothes. Calling out several times attempting to glean any sense of reply were met with failure and the continued silence of being ignored alienated her greatly. Sliding off her blazer and removing her tie, she places both on the steps beside the track field while loosening her shirt slightly, keeping her skirt purely for modesty reasons. Unbeknownst to the troubled mare, she soon found herself running alongside Veronica who had slipped in to join her when she passed the steps a couple of minutes ago.

"What are you doing here, Veronica?" Amore asked, looking confused but doesn't glance in the Hooviet mare's direction.

"I wondered how long you've been running laps. Judging by your dishevelled state, I'd say a long while," Veronica replies in observation.

"Since early this morning," Amore confesses, her pace is more than normal but less than what she is capable of.

Veronica ponders the mare for a moment, her dress, appearance, reluctance to look at Veronica.

"You haven't stopped running since then. Missing breakfast, lunch and dinner... What happened?" Veronica asks, frowning when Amore doesn't slow down.

Suddenly grabbing Amore's wrist, the trained mare manages to stop and spin her around before hooking her right leg behind Amore's left leg and expertly puts her on the ground where she is kept by a knee.

"H-hey, what the fuck V?" Amore exclaims trying to look mad but finds her other emotions coming out on top.

"Don't ignore me. I've only spent two days here, it's true... However, you today compared to you yesterday, something is off. I'm asking as your... Friend," Veronica has a tiny bit of trouble with the word, "What happened to you today that has put you in such a mood you'd skip meals?"

Amore wants to argue against her logic, wants to deny they are friends, but... If not, what are they? Staring back into Veronica's eyes, Amore can honestly see an air of concern. She sought Amore out when she first arrived. Considering her, perhaps, the only friend she had among an academy of strangers. Relaxing her tensed fist, Amore sighs deeply and chokes a little. Having a chance to calm down and properly inspect the mare on the floor beneath her, Veronica could see that Amore had been crying heavily, perhaps all day even. Her eyes were sore and she had dark wet lines on her cheeks.

"I... I... I don't know... I mean, I know what happened, but I don't know what happened... I took Sugar Fizz somewhere this morning and... We met a mare... She said and showed us some stuff before Sugar Fizz left and she gave me such a look which stabbed my heart..." Amore struggles to explain as she painfully holds back the tears.

"Seeing you like this... As somepony who considers herself your friend and rival, it makes me sad and pisses me off. Not knowing the full story, I can't really do much of anything to help. However..." Veronica helps pick Amore up and dusts her off, "I was given my own room, so... If you need somewhere to crash, come use my spare bunk."

"W-what about a change of clothes and my case?" Amore asks, looking sad and internally conflicted.

"I'll get whatever you need from your room. We should get in as it'll get cold soon. You need to eat and it's fortunate the cafeteria runs a little late into the night." Veronica states as they go to walk but Amore's legs give out.

Veronica manages to catch Amore and put her arm over her shoulder to keep her up.

"I've got you, красный. I've got you," Veronica states in a sad sigh before they continue towards the stairs.

Author's Note

The fourth and last chapter my proofreader was able to do as this is as far as I've gotten in writing. The next part is in the works, however, when it involves his characters in some scenes or a scene it takes a little bit longer to write given communication. It is in the works and almost done but I don't know or will promise a release time as his situation is still the same. I thank any who read this fic for their patience and support with regards to its progress. I hope to see you all next time.