Twilight was doing the final checks of her equipment. Her gaze roamed over the opened umbrella to make sure there were no holes light could penetrate through. When she had finished and dispelled the simple light spell she was using a knock sounds from her door.

“Enter.”

After a few small adjustments to her umbrella, she added two simple spells, one to notify her if someone tampers with her umbrella, and another to summon it to her with a simple command.

When she’s done she looked up to see who her visitor is. Her eyes lock onto a pair of emerald draconic eyes.

“Spike, I didn’t expect you to be here so soon.”

“I rushed over the moment I got the order from Celestia.”

Twilight simply shook her head, “Your experiment was a failure, any attempts to garner parental affection from me utterly failed.”

Spike’s shoulders dropped for a moment, causing him to sigh. “You don’t have to remind me, mom.”

“I’m just informing you of the status of our current relationship, not long ago you were...I think ‘clingy’ is the word.”

Spike blushes and looks away. “I was six. Imprinting is some serious business. You were all I could think of.”

Twilight nodded, opening a drawer and writing down some things. “Interesting, I may question you about the nature of ‘imprinting’ at a later date, for now, are you packed and ready to begin? Celestia has given us a covert mission.” She slid some documents to Spike as the dragon rolled his eyes. “Yes I’m packed, standing orders are to be ready to mobilize at a moments notice.” He took the document and skimmed through it. “Preparation for the summer sun celebration? Wouldn’t this be….” Spike frowned, a gap in his memory showing itself. “Ugh, mind magic isn’t supposed to work on dragons, yet you find a way. I have vague memories about Celestia having a student, but nothing other than the color blue.”

Twilight looks at Spike concerned. “Seems the spells need refinement, you aren’t supposed to remember her at all.” Twilight made another note on a nearby scroll, writing down dragon memory spell needs refinement, regenerative properties of dragon brains are still a rather daunting task to overcome, but overcome they must be in order for Harmony to stay in effect.

Standing up when she finished, grabbing a few things and putting them in saddlebags.

~~~~~

Twilight stared at the abomination before her for no less than thirty seconds before turning to the guard nearby.

“I requested a chariot.”

The guard nodded. “You did.”

Twilight pointed to the tortuous flying contraption before her and spoke again. “Then why am I riding in that.”

The guard almost smiles at her. “Celestia said in order to maintain your cover, such a method of transportation would bring suspicion. Chariots are reserved for royalty or apprentices. Since you aren't royalty and Celestia hasn't taken an apprentice in decades, you get this." He gestured toward the contraption before them. As far as the public is concerned you are simply a mid-level government official making sure things are ready.”

As much as she wanted to object, Twilight sighed and begins floating her belonging into the balloon.

“Tell Celestia that I request to be compensated for this.”

The guard simply turned behind him and pulled out a book, the title worn with age. “One of Her sister’s journals on the dream realm. Be careful when handling it.”

Twilight simply took the book and climbs into the basket hanging beneath the giant pink balloon, taking position near the edge across from Spike who had already climbed inside and was resting comfortably. Twilight opened her umbrella, the enchantments placed on it taking hold as the guard gives the balloon a push, starting it’s arduous and slow descent to Ponyville below, the sun shining above them reminding Twilight just how close she is going to be to death for the foreseeable future.

Seems she still has some self-preservation instincts left, This is the first real danger she’s encountered for awhile.

Twilight concluded she needed to get out more, the amount of new data she could acquire about Harmony in the field was substantial enough.

It’s been a few centuries since she’d worked for the EIS.

By the time she’s done mulling over various options to gather more knowledge, she looked out over the basket to find…

That she’s only halfway there.

New observation: Balloons are significantly slower than chariots.

Deciding that she might as well be productive with her time she decided to read a bit of Luna’s journal.

Dreams have existed as long as ponies have, Their aspirations became real, and their fears become nightmares. Nightmares have existed since the first night, thus their name. They can take many forms, as individual and unique as the ponies who suffer from them…. Here is a list of common nightmares, organized by common themes and my observations on how they behaved.

A few enlightening pages later and the balloon abruptly shook, the semi weightlessness fading as Twilight finds they have arrived, judging by the sun in the sky a good thirty minutes have passed since she started reading.

She closed the book and made sure her belongings are taken care of. Climbing out of the basket she stood amidst the bustling Ponyville town center.

“Spike.”

The dragon in question stepped next to her. “Yes, mom?”

“I’m sure Celestia gave me tasks to accomplish, what’s the itinerary so I can finish and leave this sunlight behind, the longer I stay in it the greater the risk I expose myself.”

Spike searched through his disorganized mess of a backpack until he uncovers a carefully rolled scroll.

“First up is food preparations, they are being done by the Apple family this year.” Spike closed the scroll and looks around for somepony to give directions.

Twilight had already noticed a familiar face, she walked up to a pink pony and waves absently. “Hello.” Before she can say another word the pink pony gasps hard enough to alert any nearby ponies and runs off, leaving Twilight looking confused as she tracked the pink blur moving away faster than logically possible.

What’s her problem? Did I do something for her to report me for?

Shaking it off she turned to find Spike had already located somepony and was given directions to Sweet Apple Acres.

The trip there on foot isn’t quite as bad as she was estimating, though the sun-baked road reminded Twilight of the food deprivation cells. Memories of Trixie pass through Twilight’s mind, something about the turn of events causing it to stand out more than her other recent executions.

The procedure was set in stone, yet Celestia had looked troubled.

She’d been far more squeamish nowadays, ever since the nobility was added a few generations ago she'd become a bit softer from interacting with them.

The meeting with the Apple family was uneventful, but Twilight had been forced to ‘taste’ many of the apple dishes they were going to serve.

The food just sat in her stomach, weighing her down like a rock, she’s going to need to expel it soon before it begins to adversely affect her.

A blow came from above, causing her to lose focus on her umbrella for a moment as Twilight was forced face first into a patch of mud beneath her.

After making sure it wasn’t a prelude to a stronger attack, Twilight spat the mud out of her mouth, seems a bit of her ‘meal’ escaped into the ground as well.

Tasted much the same as the mud, to be honest, vampires are not the best judge of taste. The sound of laughter came from above and she sees a blue pegasus laying on a cloud laughing at her.

Twilight simply glared up at the winged pony, noting for the first time that the sky has not cleared yet.

She needed to look up more often, the blindside from above illustrating the consequences of being ill-prepared quite nicely.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” And with that, the pegasus takes off, faster than any she’s seen in recent memory.

And summoned a tornado around Twilight, The pure overkill of the move stunning twilight enough that she didn’t strengthen her magical grip on the umbrella. Which gets caught in the wind and sent flying some distance away.

The next thoughts that Twilight had were nothing but pure white.

The pain of the sun was worse than any she’s ever experienced before, burning away not only at her body, but her reason as well.

Her scream filled the entire town square.

Spike saw the danger and grabbed a blanket from his backpack, throwing it over Twilight, it wasn’t enchanted to block all the suns rays, so at best it would only buy some time.

Spike glared at Dash and pointed at the umbrella. “Get it! Hurry, she doesn’t have much time!”

Dash is confused for a moment, but flew after it anyway, returning with the item in less than a second.

The moment Spike held the umbrella above Twilight her mental faculties slowly returned to her.

She shuddered a bit, looking down at her body, her back was in shambles, her vertebrae showing through where her skin and fur had burned away, her tail was gone, along with most of her mane, it pinched to move but her body was together enough for her to rise to her hooves, the gruesome visage of her body sending ponies fleeing in panic.

“Spike, I should have some at the library.” Spike nodded and begins leading her slowly toward the tree in the town center. Before they get far Dash blocks their path. “What the buck is a vampire doing working for Celestia? Isn’t that like… Helping their enemy?”

Spike looked between Twilight and Dash for a moment. “My mom’s always been a vampire, she was allowed to turn by Celestia herself, so that she could continue working for her.”

By now the entire plaza was deserted, leaving only the three of them standing in the middle.

Dash looked doubtful, but looking at twilights wound made her stifle a gag, seeing the genuine care Spike had for her she sighed, beginning to feel ab it guilty. “Well…” Dash rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “This is my fault, so...let me help.”

Twilight simply looked at Dash, nothing in her file had mentioned her being knowledgeable about vampires. “How can you ‘help’ Rainbow.”

Dash looked confused for a moment. “How did-” she shook her head. “By giving you blood. Duh.” she accompanied this with a roll of her eyes. “Wait...this won’t turn me into a vampire... will it?”

“I'm not sure, I don't believe so." Dash looked hesitant but was obviously thinking it over. "Well, I wouldn't be against turning into a vampire." Unfortunately, Twilights were now turning toward blood, a new sound was hitting hear ears. It was a rhythmic pulsing sound. It took a bit before she realized she’s hearing Dash’s heartbeat.

Twilight fights with herself for a bit, coming up with pros and cons to this course of action. Eventually, she nodded in agreement. At best, this is a bonding moment which she will need to get the elements to work, at worst she can always erase Dash’s memories of the event later.

Remembering the fact that at least a dozen ponies saw her being hit by the sunlight she realized she’s going to be busy with paperwork for all the necessary memory wipes.

Twilight motioned to a nearby alleyway, walking normally in spite of her grievous wounds. Dash looked hesitant at first, her gaze drifting to her exposed skeleton but followed behind soon after.

When they find a suitable location Dash looked to Twilight, she seemed torn between three emotions, joy, disgust, and terror. Eventually, she just sighed and tilted her head to the side.

Twilight's original plan was to simply feed from Dash's hoof, but the moment she saw the ponies exposed neck her rational faculties ground to a halt, she quickly stepped toward the pony and bit her without a moment's hesitation.

This was her first mistake, since her change, she had only ever drank blood from preserved and purified blood bags.

Her second mistake was giving into temptation and biting Dash's neck.

Her third mistake was feeding on a potential element of harmony.

The moment Dash's blood hit Twilight's tongue her body reacted, clamping down harder, and not being satisfied with the amount she was getting, she actively began sucking the blood out, her mind ablaze with desire. She tasted like bottled lightning, Twilight's body began to tingle.She was so full of pure power that healing her wounds took moments, which would normally take a few hours.

The first sign that something was wrong was when she stayed clamped on Dash's neck even after her wounds were healed. The second was when Dash began to feel lightheaded, asking her to stop. The third was when her protests begin to grow fainter, her body beginning to feel lethargic and slow. A moment later something pulled Twilight roughly off of Dash, letting the pegasus crumple to the ground. Twilight for her part stared at the assailant, her eyes glowing with need as she launched at the small form blocking her from her meal.

When she clamped down, her teeth ground against something hard, her momentary confusion about not biting into flesh slowly faded away as the color purple filled her vision.

"While Celestia was right about my scales, I didn't think I'd have to test it this early. Are you feeling better, mom?"

The hunger is still there, but it's farther away than it's been for centuries. Even after her mental faculties returned the feeling of power didn't fade, her body felt lighter and faster than ever.

"Think you can let go of my neck soon?" Realizing she's still absently trying to bite into Spike’s neck she released him, giving a look at the crumpled form of Dash laying on the ground, she could still hear the ponies heartbeat, and the sudden Impulse to do something overcame Twilight. She takes a step toward Dash, Spike moved to stop her but a sharp glare held him in place.

She moved over, looking at Dash's form, she leaned in and slowly she moves over and licks Dash's neck, a faint spark of that flavor hitting her tongue for a moment.

As she watched the twin punctures shrank and vanished after a few moments.

Observation: seems hunting is innate for vampires, it simply comes naturally to them, even without any formal training.

A new voice came from behind them. "Gee, I didn't think the rumors were actually true. I figured Celestia found a different way to make you immortal, vampirism seems...extreme." Twilight turned to see a pink pony standing in the alley, looking at Dash with a sad look on her face. "What are your orders Director Sparkle?"

"Ah, Pinkamena." Twilight thought for a moment, Taking her time as she checked to make sure Dash wasn't in any immediate danger before continuing. "Wipe the memory of those from the square, vampires are fictional."

The earth pony nodded before looking at Dash. "And what about her? She's been a fan of vampires since she was a filly."

Twilight simply looked at Pinkie and frowned. "And you didn't see fit to put this in her file because...?"

Pinkie's ears folded back as she absently kicked at the ground beneath her. "It didn't affect her status in any significant way. And...honestly, she was too adorable hiding the fact that she read those stories. It felt...bad sharing a harmless secret like that."

"I'll consider that for your review, leave her memories intact." Twilight thought for a bit. "Maybe convince her that I used vampire powers to wipe their memories, but that I trust her with my secret. Have a squad watching her in case she tries to share that knowledge with others." Pinkie gave a salute before turning to leave.

"Oh, Pinkamena, one more thing." Pinkie turned to look at Twilight again, waiting for her to continue.

"Do you have enough agents to handle this task? I could send a letter to Celestia for reinforcements."

Pinkie waved a hoof. "No need, Celestia sent more agents this morning, she anticipated we would need the extra hooves on deck. And...I think she's keeping an eye on you as well."

Twilight nodded. "Of course, I've got more tasks for my mission to complete." Something inside Twilight felt odd, a weight in the pit of her stomach, not dissimilar to the 'food' she had in her stomach before.

It didn't make sense, she knows for a fact she can consume far more blood than a pony possesses with no side effects other than an increased hunger for more.

It took a moment to realize that the feeling was worse when she was looking at Dash. The pegasus' breathing was shallow and uneven.

"And make sure Dash is well, I don't want any lasting consequences from my lack of control. And make sure she finishes her task, the sky is not clear like Celestia requested."

Pinkie saluted again, grabbing Dash and carefully throwing her over her back. "Yes, ma'am." A soft smile is on her face as she took Dash to the hospital.

Official personnel records: EIS Manager Pinkamena Diane Pie

Authorization level Student required.

Name: Pinkamena Diane Pie

Gender: F

Race: Earth pony

Clearance level: Student

Relevant information: Due to her nearly photographic memory and fine attention to detail Pinkamena has been the manager of the Ponyville branch of the Equestrian Information Service for nearly a decade. She has never shirked from her duty and does her utmost to spread Harmony to all citizens of the town.

Against orders, she’s become a friend to everypony in the small town and goes out of her way to make them smile by any means necessary. Pinkamena has been observed to have massive swings between Manic and Depressive moods, sometimes at the drop of a hat. (metaphorically, and in one case literally)

Nevertheless she’s been a valuable asset, and her extensive knowledge of everypony in Ponyville has been a major boon, as it is our closest settlement to the Everfree forest, and Disharmonic individuals may arise due to the stress of living in such close proximity to the old castle.

Additional notes: Under orders of Celestia Pinkamena’s service to Section Four is being put under review. The case is still open, and an investigation is underway to determine if she is to be kept in her current position in the foreseeable future. In particular, it’s to be observed if her ‘friendship’ with the townsponies is interfering with her judgment in reporting aberrant behavior.

Author's Note

I may have missed a few things when editing this one, let me know if you spot errors. here's a short answer to questions you may have:

This takes place the day after chapter 2.

EIS stands for Equestrian Intelligence Service

Twilight oversees Section four (another name for EIS) but she doesn't manage them directly like she does Section Three.

If you have more non-spoilery questions I may be happy to answer.

As usual, credit goes to my editor for taking a hammer and forging this into a passable weapon against Disharmony.