Once Bitten, Twice Dry

Chapters

That Disgusting Pulsing
Mirror Mirror
Apple Juice

That Disgusting Pulsing

Twilight Sparkle flipped the page over on the book she was reading. A thunderclap echoed from over her bench and interrupted her leisure time.

She looked up to check the sky. The weather app on her phone said today was supposed to be bright and clear. She checked the app again and saw it was still saying there were no forecasts for rain or thunder.

Twilight looked at the sky again. The outdoors were bright and sunny, looking as happy as an inanimate landscape could look. So why was there a sudden thunderclap? Was some villain loose and wreaking havoc havoc with magic?

Spike, her canine companion with the capability of communication since his exposure to portals, yelped and hopped onto the bench with her. She put a hand around him and pulled him close to her thigh to comfort him while he shivered.

“Ooh, I don’t like thunder,” Spike said.

“I know, Spike,” Twilight said.

“Do you think it’s going to rain? I think it’s going to rain.” Spike looked around.

“It shouldn’t. There’s hardly a cloud in the sky and the weather forecast says its not supposed to rain.”

“You can’t always believe in weather forecasts, Twilight.”

“True, but I do believe in science.”

“Good for you,” Spike said grumpily. He laid his chin down on the bench. “Some of us don’t have the benefit of being so clinical.”

“What’s this about, Spike? You sound like something’s upset you.”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Spike scratched his ear. “I just can’t stop thinking about this spooky ghost story Rainbow Dash told the girls the other day. I happened to overhear. You know, with my keen dog hearing.” He infused his voice with a prideful gloat.

“Uh-huh,” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“She told this story about a haunted house around the city. “Some creepy abandoned mansion that’s, like, hidden inside Sweet Apple Acres. I’ll tell you, Rainbow Dash is a darn good scary storyteller. If she had the attention span to sit down for more than thirty seconds, she’d probably make a killing at being a horror novelist.”

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, doubtful. “The Apple family keeps tabs on every inch of their farm. If so much as a worm makes a hole that wasn’t there before, they’d know about it. Now Rainbow Dash is trying to tell you, and you’re trying to tell me, that there’s somehow an entire mansion hidden somewhere on the farm? A mansion, I’ll add, that Applejack hasn’t told me anything about, even though we’ve been friends for months now and she hates keeping secrets and knows about all the magic that comes through the portal?”

“Don’t blame me,” Spike said. “It was Rainbow Dash’s story. Besides, she said it only comes once a year, on the full moon during Halloween.”

“Of course she did,” Twilight made a characteristic roll of her eyes. It would be just like Rainbow Dash to cover up the holes in her story like that.

Twilight glanced down at the book, then at the wall, then at the book again before snapping it shut.

“No, no, this is too much,” Twilight said. “I know Rainbow Dash is being Rainbow Dash and I should just ignore it, but I can’t. Come on, Spike. We’re going to investigate this. I will not this let stand.”

“I’m not going there! Did you miss the part where Rainbow Dash told me a spooky story about a haunted house and scared the daylights out of me? I repeat, key words: spooky, haunted, scared.”

“Fine, you don’t have to come,” Twilight said. “I’ll just go by myself. I have a good enough handle on my magic powers that I’m pretty sure I can fight off anything that comes below the Dazzlings on the Star Swirl Scale of Magical Threats that the other Twilight gave me. But you know … if you did come along, I’d bet it’d really impress all the girl dogs about how you were so brave.”

“Tch. Yeah, right. You’re not gonna get me with that one anymore. But I’m a little surprised at you, Twilight. We’ve got Sunset Shimmer, the other Twilight with wings, the Dazzlings, you turned into a horrible night demon … but you can’t accept the idea of a haunted house?”

“Good science requires positive skepticism. We can observe and verify all those things. But if Rainbow Dash is going around telling people that there’s a secret haunted mansion on the farm, then she’d better be prepared for when the Ghostbusters come knocking.”

“Yeah,” Spike took another scratch of his ear.. “You have fun with that. You want me to order you a proton pack while you’re out?”

“No need, I’ve already got one,” Twilight picked up Spike before he could respond to that. She brought him home to left in the care of Shining Armor while she set out on her expedition.

Applejack carted out a barrel of apples onto the wagon of a truck. After setting the barrel down, she saw Twiligh’s..

“Hey there, Twilight,” Applejack said. “What can I do for ya?”

“You could start by telling me whether or not there’s some kind of secret haunted mansion that appears in Sweet Apple Acres every Halloween on the full moon.”

Applejack stared at her and blinked. “Twilight, I can safely tell ya there that is no such haunted mansion.”

“Ha! I knew it,” Twilight smiled, pleased with herself. “Rainbow Dash really needs to start getting more creative with her ghost stories.”

“Yeah. Sometimes I think that girl took one too many soccer balls to the head,” Applejack knocked on her head.

“Well, thanks for your time, Applejack,” Twilight said, and moved to walk away.

“But … there is an old house nearby. Just a few blocks from the farm. If you go all the way down off a few blocks to the southeast here, and keep on until you run past the maple trees on Elm Street, you should be able to find it..”

Twilight turned back around. “So there is a haunted house?”

“I don’t know about haunted, but yeah, there’s an abandoned house.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“No reason to,” Applejack lifted up another barrel. “Be honest with me, Twilight. The fact that you know the house is there means the first thing you’re gonna do is go investigate, right?”

Twilight blushed. “Maybe.”

“And the house is old, been abandoned for as long as I’ve been around, and we’ve never much bothered with it. It’s not hurting nobody, anyone who ever needs a place to stay can find something better in town. Better to just leave it alone, you know? You’re still free to go investigate, if you really want.”

“I think I shall,” Twilight said. “I think I’ll even break out my proton pack for the occasion.”

“You do that,” Applejack said. “I still need to get this delivery ready for my folks in the west..”

And with that, Twilight left and thought about getting her proton pack out of storage before remembering her closet was a mess and she probably couldn’t find it. So she went without it.

Besides, it wasn’t like there could actually be ghosts in the house, could it? No. No, there couldn’t be. So she’d be fine without it.

Twilight arrived at the house and stood outside the door. The wind picked up and delivered a chill against her skin, her hairs standing on end.

“Calm down,” Twilight said to herself, patting her arm to smooth her hairs out. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just an old house, and your friends know to call someone if I haven’t texted them back in two hours.”

Twilight looked up at the house to reaffirm her initial assessment.

“Three stories.” Twilight observed. “A circular window on the top. Old, falling apart, not well maintained, but there’s nothing about that makes it creepy … or haunted.”

Twilight walked up the steps and knocked on the door. She didn’t want to disturb anyone if there were people living here, however broken down it might have been. The idea to her seemed questionable, but it may have simply been that they didn’t have the money to afford to move somewhere else or to pay for maintenance. Although the house was so broken down Twilight wondered why the city didn’t schedule it for demolition. If the people living here couldn’t afford upkeep, then unless their mortgage was paid off, they couldn’t afford living here either, could they?

And if there was no family, then the city surely would have either reclaimed or demolished by now, but here it stood, still tall and proud despite the cracks and holes in its framework.

“Hello?” Twilight said. “I don’t want to bother anybody, so just say the word and I’ll head on home.”

Twilight waited for an answer.

None came.

“Guess I’ll just head home, then ...” Twilight turned away from the door, but stopped. She imagined what Rainbow Dash would say if she went up to their friends and admitted she hadn’t actually gone inside the house.

“Ha! I knew it, you were too chicken! I told you that house was haunted!”

“It is not haunted,” Twilight affirmed, making a fist. “There is no such thing as ghosts, or haunted mansions, or any other thing Rainbow Dash wants to tell stories about! Granted, there is … magic, but that’s what comes through the portal from Equestria, on the other side. There could be ghosts there. This is here, on our side, and in our world, there is no such thing as ghosts. Or at least, no verifiable scientific evidence of ghosts.”

Twilight stroked her chin. If there were ghosts here, and she could bring back scientific, empirical evidence of such, she might just win a Nobel Prize for science. But she’d set out on this expedition under the assumption there were no such thing, and didn’t have any scientific instrumentation, and it would be too much time and effort to go back to her house to get something. If she did see anything, she’d have nothing but eyewitness testimony, which might be good enough for the courts, (perhaps in some cases too good) but not for a claim as easily dismissed as seeing ghosts.

“Might as well as least prove it to Rainbow Dash, at least,” Twilight said. She grabbed the knob and turned it. Just as it occurred to her that if there were people living here, they would lock the door, the door knob turned.

The door creaked loudly as Twilight opened it. She stepped inside.

“Hello?” Twilight called out, her voice echoing through the foyer. “Hello? Is anybody home? I don’t mean to intrude, I just heard rumors that this house was haunted and I wanted to see for myself. So, if you’re just a normal, regular family that’s just living and down on hard times, please, feel free to come out … if you’re a ghost or werewolf or something that’s hiding here, then also feel free to come out so we can do some science together on how you work!”

Would a werewolf even like science?

Maybe there was a ghost or a werewolf, and they were researchers like her, and they’d already done all the research into themselves, and didn’t want to go public with it yet for their own reasons. Maybe it wasn’t ready and they still had more experiments to run and more hypotheses to test before bringing it up to a council of peers. Maybe they didn’t want every hack ghost show on the AE station marching down to their house and disrupting their privacy.

“Hello?” Twilight called again. “Don’t be shy. I mean you no harm. My name is-”

Twilight halted. She still wasn’t much one for superstition, but something crept into the base of her spine and told her that giving out her name in this forsaken place would be a bad idea.

The door slammed shut behind her, startling Twilight.

“Whatever you are, please don’t eat me!” Twilight babbled, raising her hands up in the air and shivering.

“Eat you? Please. If the Great and Powerful Trixie were a cannibal, I’d think I could dine on finer fare than you, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight lowered her arms to see Trixie standing by the doorway with her hand on the knob.

“Trixie?” Twilight asked. “What are you doing here?”

“What else?” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is searching through this forbidden mansion in search of long lost artifacts to channel her arcane magic during one of her fabulous show.”

“So … robbery, essentially.”

“What, no!” Trixie said. “This is a haunted house! And everyone knows there if you go into a haunted house, you can find magical haunted artifacts, and if you’re lucky, you can take them with you and tame them and use them for your own magic! I mean, that’s just basic sense.”

“Okay. Tomb raiding.”

“I prefer the word ‘scavenging,’” Trixie said. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m investigating claims about this house being ‘haunted,’” Twilight said. “Why’d you close the door?”

“It was getting chilly in here. Trixie does not like the cold.”

“Oh. All right.”

“Now that we’ve cleared all that way out of the way, you are free to go,” Trixie gestured to the door.

“Go?”

“You are disturbing Trixie’s feng shui. The Great and Powerful Trixie works alone.”

“Trixie, wait,” Her legs still bowed in the cowering-in-fear pose she’d taken a moment prior, Twilight fixed her posture.. “There might not be ghosts or whatever here, but it might still be dangerous. This house is old. There might be structural damage, or mold, or rats. Wouldn’t it be safer if the two of us stuck together so we could get help if something happened?”

Trixie tapped her chin. “You make a compelling argument, Twilight Sparkle. Very well. You may serve as the Great and Powerful Trixie’s sidekick, for a short while.”

“Sidekick?”

The glare Trixie gave encouraged Twilight not to question Trixie’s assessment, and that rolling with it would be her best way of getting along with the magician’s ego.

“Right, sidekick,” Twilight agreed with an uneasy smile.

“Onward, my assistant!” Trixie ordered, pointing at the stairs.

“Also, I’m pretty sure that’s not what feng shui means,” Twilight added as they approached the stairs.

“I’m sorry, who’s the magician and who’s the magician’s assistant? Because I’m pretty sure that I am the former and you are the latter.”

“I am an accomplished scientist who discovered ways to harness otherdimesional magic,” Twilight muttered under her breath. They climbed up the stairs, each stair squeaking loudly beneath their feet with every step.

Twilight tensed up, looking at the stairs with concern.

“Grow a spine, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie snapped. “The Great and Powerful Trixie cares not for your concerns. Besides, the more nervous you get, the more nervous you make Trixie.”

“Sorry. It’s just that a lot could go wrong. The ceiling might give out. Or the walls. Or the stair could give out and we could trapped there and stuck inside.”

“What did I just say about you making me nervous?” Trixie snapped.

“Right, right, sorry.” Twilight rubbed at her arms nervously. “So, what kind of magical artifacts are we looking for?”

“The magical kind, duh,” Trixie said. “Really, must Trixie explain everything to you?”

“No, I know that, but what kind of magical artifact are we talking about here? Are we looking for amulets, necklaces, rings? Cursed demon swords with the severed hands of their owners still attached?”

“I don’t know, just … magical,” Trixie said. “Tell you what, look for something that looks like its been well-maintained. If it is a magical artifact, then it’ll probably to keep itself shiny and clean even while the rest of the house is falling apart.”

Twilight blinked. “Wow, Trixie. I’m impressed. That’s a really good logical deduction.”

“You think so?” Trixie said, turning to Twilight and blushing. She recovered herself and cleared her throat. “I mean, of course. Trixie is only one of the foremost experts on magic in the entire Canterlot High educational district!”

“Yet you couldn’t figure out that Sunset Shimmer was actually from an alternate dimension before the crown incident,” Twilight muttered dryly under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

“Hmm.” Trixie squinted and narrowed her eyes at Twilight.

One of the wooden beams supporting the stair guardrail snapped and popped out, clattering against the wall and taking a chunk of the railing with it. The sound startled Trixie, and combined with losing the piece of the rail she’d been holding, made her lurch forward. Twilight reacted swiftly, grabbing hold of Trixie by the midsection and keeping her from falling over and hitting her head.

“See? I told you this could be dangerous,” Twilight said.

“Yes, yes, Trixie’s powerful magic foresaw that this would happen. That is why I chose to let you be my assistant on this trip,” Trixie said, playing it all off as her own idea in order to cover up her bruised ego, though Twilight could still see the fear in her eyes. “Let go of Trixie. She does not feel comfortable with your hands on her hips.”

“The Tired and Exasperated Twilight is beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea,” Twilight muttered as she let go.

Trixie adjusted her clothes, making sure there was no dirt on them, and composed herself. “Come on. We’re almost to the second floor.”

They made their way up. Trixie reached out a hand to grab hold of the guardrail, then had second thoughts about it, instead keeping her hands in her pockets.

They reached the second floor, entering into a hallway with numerous doors on either side.

“Perhaps we should split up,” Trixie said. “You investigate the doors on the left, I’ll take the one on the right.”

“No!” Twilight grabbed Trixie’s arm when Trixie moved away. “The entire reason we teamed up was to keep somebody close by, remember?

“Yes, Trixie remembers. You underestimate Trixie’s memory,” Trixie jerked her arm free. “Fine. We need some way to search more efficiently than just random rooms.”

“Why don’t we start with the door on right here, then go down the hallway on that side, then loop back around to do the left side?”

“That’s a good idea!” Trixie said. “Glad I thought of it.”

Twilight sighed. One lesson she’d gotten out of this experience, at least; never work on a scientific paper with Trixie. She’d put her name first in 34-print bold type while leaving Twilight’s name as a little tiny 4-print font inset barely readable without a microscope.

The two of them shifted down towards the first door on the right and opened it slowly. There was no one inside. It was a bedroom with a queen size bed, a nightstand, a closet and a vanity.

“A bedroom!” Trixie said. “There’s sure to be some magical artifacts in here!”

“What makes you say that?”

“If you had a magical artifact, wouldn’t you want to keep it in your bedroom, somewhere close by where you could notice easily if someone was going through your things?”

“That’s a good point.” Twilight went over by the vanity while Trixie lifted up the covers of the bed. “How did you get to know so much about magic, Trixie?”

“Trixie learned and studied under some of the best magicians in the world, including my aunt and uncle. From them, Trixie learned a great many secrets, several of which could drive you absolutely mad, Twilight Sparkle, so don’t even think about asking.”

“I won’t,” Twilight said. “Trust me, I’ve been driven plenty mad before. Pro tip; peer pressure? Not a great feeling.”

Trixie felt the mattress with her hand, trying to find a secret compartment or pouch that the former owner might have hidden a magic item in. If not, perhaps she could find something that looked fancy that she could pass off as magic during one of her shows.

Trixie tried the pillow next. She lifted it up and saw nothing. She rotated the pillow over and shook it, but nothing fell out of the pillowcase either.

“Brr.” Twilight shivered, crossing her arms around herself. “Does it feel cold in here all of a sudden to you, Trixie?”

“Trixie has not noticed any change in the temperature of the room,” Trixie said. “Although it is entirely possible the heating in the building is off.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s it.” Twilight resumed searching the vanity, opening the drawings and sifting through them.

Trixie got on her knees and checked under the bed.

What she saw made her gasp. She saw a pair of pale, strong-looking legs wearing Mary Jane shoes standing on the other side of the bed. They weren’t hers, and they weren’t Twilight’s, so they had to belong to a third party, one who followed them in here.

Trixie jumped to her feet. “Who are-” she had her hand raised and finger pointed, only to be met with the sight of no one there.

“Who’s what?” Twilight asked, turning around.

Trixie nervously brushed a hand against her bangs.

Was I … seeing things? She thought.

To confirm, she got on her knees again and checked under the bed. This time, she didn’t see any legs, pale or otherwise.

“Trixie?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay? You’re starting to worry me. Do we need to go?”

“No, no,” Trixie said. “We’re fine. I’m fine. Just thought I might have found something.” She turned away from the bed and looked out the window, hoping nature would provide her a distraction from the troubling sight she’d just seen. Or didn’t see. But the window was no better than the bed.

“Twilight, wasn’t it midday when we entered the house?” Trixie asked.

“Yeah.”

“How come the moon’s out, then?” Trixie pointed at the window, where she saw the moon and stars glimmering brightly in the nighttime sky.

“That’s a good question.” Twilight approached the window. “The lighting and size is too accurate for it to be a poster or something … this window is too small for the kind of astrological display they use in the space museums. But then what … wait.”

Twilight felt around under the windowsill. She tapped on the wall, then found what she was looking for. She pulled on the string, and the ‘moon’ fell upwards, rolling up into a roll of tape.

“So it was just a poster! Just … a really accurate poster.” Twilight happily concluded. She turned to Trixie with a smile. “See? Nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah,” Trixie said. “I, I mean, yes, of course. Obviously, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, would never be suckered in by such a cheap illusion.”

“Whatever you say,” Twilight said.

“Come on,” Trixie fanned herself. “Let’s look somewhere else. This room is getting too stuffy for my tastes.”

“We haven’t looked in the closet, yet. Also, how do you think it’s so stuffy when it’s so cold?”

“Twilight,” Trixie said, “I’m getting just … a real bad feeling from this particular room, so just … go with me on this one and let’s go somewhere else.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, doing her best reassuring voice. “Say no more.”

She and Trixie left the room. Twilight closed the door behind her. Trixie let Twilight take the lead to the next room over. Then, while Twilight wasn’t looking, she opened the door, reached in, pulled the lock, and shut the door again. The door’s lock was on the inside, so it wouldn’t keep anything inside from getting out, but it would keep her and Twilight from being able to go back in.

What did I see? Trixie thought. I know I saw something, but … maybe I should tell Twilight. No. No, I don’t want to scare her. And I don’t want to look weak in front of her! The Great, Powerful Trixie does not look weak in front of anyone!

Twilight tried to open the next door over, but it was locked. Not by Trixie, as far as Trixie knew.
“This one’s locked. We’ll have to do the next one over.” Twilight went to try the next door over, but it was also locked.

“This one, too,” Twilight paused. “Trixie, if this many doors are locked, that makes me think someone’s still living here. We should probably go before we get into trouble. I wouldn’t want them to call the authorities.”

No, Trixie thought, though her internal voice didn’t sound entirely right. Like her brain was having a wheeze after inhaling some pollen.

“No!” Trixie said. “We can’t leave yet. I’m not going to leave without something to show for putting myself through all this … trouble.” She briefly considered the word danger, but opted not to use it.

“Trixie, if someone’s still living here, then what we’re doing isn’t scavenging or artifact hunting, its stealing.”

“Trixie will leave an I.O.U,” Trixie said proudly. “And if you want to go home and leave Trixie alone to her hunt in this haunt, go right ahead. But it would be such a shame if something were to happen to me and you weren’t here to help me get out of it.”

“Ugh. Fine. But that was low.” Twilight made a fist.

“Trixie does what Trixie must to get her way.”

“Fine, fine. But I want you to know that from this point onward, I’m going to expect a favor for helping you with all this.”

“Acceptable,” Trixie said. “Trixie is nothing if not fair in her debts.”

Twilight could think of some incidents that disproved Trixie’s assessment of that, but decided not to speak of them as Trixie was the only living thing around and the only other person who could help Twilight out if she got into a bind in the house on Trixie’s behalf while exploring the house. A Trixie with a bruised ego might just be a Trixie who let Twilight get swallowed by living furniture, or dragged off into a closet.

They went down the hall, finding each door they tried locked.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Twilight said. “Maybe we should give up and just try the opposite side.” As she said this, the door she was trying – the thirteenth one they tried – opened and gave up. “Oh. Well, would you look at that.”

“That is the idea,” Trixie said. “That we are looking. Now let’s hurry up. Trixie’s tolerance for this place grows thin with every passing minute.”

“Do you want to call it off?” Twilight asked. “Because believe me, nothing would make me happier than getting out of here.”

Trixie grimaced. Twilight could tell from her expression she was thinking about doing so.

“No, not just yet,” Trixie said, crushing Twilight’s hopes. “Trixie thinks she has one or two more rooms’ worth of tolerance left in her.”

“That’s ‘one or two’ more than me,” Twilight muttered. Regardless, she went into the room, followed by Trixie.

This room was another bedroom, with a smaller bed and no deceptive moon posters on the window. There was a vanity, but the mirror on it was cracked and all the drawers were taken out, leaving it empty holes in the wooden block.

Twilight checked it anyway, crouching down and looking to see if there was anything that might have fallen under the vanity, or hidden behind the mirror.

“I’m not finding anything here,” Twilight said. When there was no answer, she turned and saw Trixie staring off into space. “Trixie? Trixie, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Trixie shook her head. “Trixie is fine. I just … thought I saw something.”

For a second, Trixie thought she had seen the Mary Janes again.

Without any hands to guide the knobs and pry the doors free, the closet door opened in the room.

“Twilight?” Trixie asked. “Did you open the closet while I wasn’t looking?”

“No. I could sworn I just saw you opening the closet.”

“Trixie did no such ...”

Trixie turned to the closest. Sitting there, waiting, posited between rows and bows of black dresses filled with strings and lacy frills, was a glowing pair of red eyes. Eyes sharp enough to cut through glass.

The red visage locked eyes with Trixie, and Trixie’s mouth halted.

There wasn’t a word passed between them, but Trixie felt the impression, a command, for her to claim responsibility.

“Yes,” Trixie said. At the bidding of the eyes, Trixie did her best to cover up the sudden monotone in her voice by enunciating more on the next words she spoke. “I opened the closet. While you were searching the vanity.”

“Okay,” Twilight said. She looked at Trixie with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am fine,” Trixie said, her voice dull.

“Trixie, I’m not ...”

Throw her off, a voice told Trixie. Throw her off, now.

“I’m fine!” Trixie insisted, snapping harshly and balling up her fists.

“Okay, okay,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry if I upset you by worrying too much. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to either of us.”

Reassure her.

“Trust me, Twilight Sparkle, nothing bad is going to happen to either of us. After all, we have me here, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“If you say so,” Twilight said, entertaining Trixie’s delusion about her capabilities. She might have been a shut-in lab rat bookworm, but she got the distinct sense there were few situations where Trixie could be more competent and effective than she was.

A pale white hand emerged from between the clothes in the drawer. The hand made a gesture, joined by a command.

Come here.

Trixie proved unable to keep her body from obeying. Her legs moved on their own towards the space.

“Trixie will now inspect the closet,” Trixie said. The words felt like they were being pulled from her throat, as if a puppeteer attached strings and made a marionette of her voice.

Why isn’t Twilight Sparkle reacting? Trixie thought. Doesn’t she realize what’s going on?

She can’t see me, the voice said. Because I choose for her not to. Only you can see me, as of right now, my darling Trixie.

Don’t call me that, Trixie thought. And how do you know my name?

You’ve only said it almost every time you’ve spoke since coming into my house.

Trixie entered the closet, slipping past the dresses. They rubbed up against her skin and felt soft and freshly laundered.

On the other end of the dresses the closet was much larger than a closet had any right to be. It was almost its own room. Large enough to fit a chest of drawers into. Maybe two. But despite the size, Trixie felt claustrophobic and shut in, trapped like a rat.

Before her stood a tall, imposing, toned and busty woman. She wore a black sundress with an amethyst necklace around her neck. Her eyes were red and her skin was pale white, and her hair was dark, short and curly, reaching to her shoulders.

She was wearing the Mary Janes.

Trixie gasped. Or she would have, if not for the air leaving her throat. She was paralyzed. Her breath was thin. She couldn’t move. Could barely think. Her eyes were locked with the woman’s and she couldn’t look away. That stare gave her a tasty fearful sensation, like what adrenaline seekers felt when they skydived off a plan.

“Normally,” the woman said, cupping Trixie’s chin, “my kind does not approve of strangers coming into a house without invitations. But I must admit, you’ve afforded me an exceptional opportunity, bringing food to me house so I don’t have to go and hunt for it myself. For that, I must thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Trixie said automatically, even though her mind thought differently. It was like she couldn’t hear her own thoughts.

Mind your manners, the woman said without speaking, yet Trixie could hear.

“You know what, you’ve done such a good service for me, I think I’ll even give you a small reward. I’ll make this as brief and painless for you as possible. How does that sound? No, no, no need to say anything – I know you’ll thank me later. Now, hold out your hand.”

Trixie did so, despite her certainty agreeing to this was a bad idea.

“Take this,” the woman held out a fist and uncurled her fingers, dropping an object into Trixie’s palm. It was a tiny, double-sided pyramid, shaped like a fine-cut crystal.

“Now, go, my faithful servant,” the woman said. She stepped backwards and disappeared into the shadows.

Trixie blinked, and she was gone. Not only was the woman gone, but so were Trixie’s recollections of how she got here, as well as any evidence of there being anyone inside the closet to begin with.

“Where am I?” Trixie asked. She scratched at her head and noticed what she was holding. “What is this?” she raised the object up. It was smooth and polished to the point where she could make out her reflection in its surface, dim light notwithstanding.

“Is this what I’ve been looking for?” Trixie asked. “Yes … yes, it must be! Twilight!”

Trixie ran out of the closet, pushing the dresses aside.

“Twilight, we can stop searching now!” Trixie declared. “I think I’ve found something!”

“Great!” Twilight said. “What is it? Never mind, let’s go now and figure it out later. We’re going to be later for dinner if we stuck around much longer.”

“Hold on just a minute ...” Trixie balanced the item between her index fingers.

“Oh, that’s right, you were supposed to leave an I.O.U, remember?”

“What? No. Trixie wants to get a closer look at it, that’s all.”

“Trixie ...” Twilight said despondently, “we can’t just go in here and take things that don’t belong to us. I suppose that’s exactly what we’re doing, but we shouldn’t be! I don’t even know why I agreed to help you this far. I’m under duress!”

“Oh, be quiet,” Trixie said. “Besides, it does belong to me. It was given to me freely.”

Twilight braced her knuckles against her hips. “By who?”

“By -” Trixie answered, startled to realize she couldn’t remember. “It’s not important now. What is important is – ah!”

Trixie yelped. She pricked her finger against the tip of the diamond, and dropped the item to the floor. Her finger bled and left a lining of blood around her finger pad.

“I’ll get it,” Twilight said. She picked the item up, careful to learn from Trixie’s mistake and pick it up with her palm around the middle rather than the tip. “You were saying? Oh, that looks bad,” she added when she saw Trixie’s finger.

“It’s fine,” Trixie insisted. “Trixie has had worse cuts while performing her magic show.” She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked up the blood. When she pulled out, her finger was healed. “See? Fine.”

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said. “Anyway, here’s your … whatever it is.” Twilight offered the item to Trixie.

“Why don’t you keep it for now, Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie said. She drew her hand away and wrapped her other hand protectively around her finger. “Trixie is reluctant to pick up the thing that just cut her so quickly.”

“Understandable,” Twilight held the object up to the light. “I sure hope whatever this thing is worth all this trouble to you, Trixie.”

“Oh, trust me, Twilight,” Trixie said. “It’ll be all worth it.”

“If we’re done here, why don’t we leave and go home before the owners get back? I really don’t want to get into any more trouble than I already have.” Twilight headed towards the door.

“I don’t think we need to worry about the owners,” Trixie said under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Um … Trixie said, ‘it would be nice not to have to deal with the owners’!”

“Yeah, I know. That’s what I’m saying. Now come on, Trixie. Let’s go.”

“Keep your pants on,” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is low on blood sugar.”

“You didn’t think to eat before coming to a creepy house?” Twilight asked as she and Trixie returned to the hallway. “I made sure to load up on protein. I may sometimes forget to have breakfast, but I know what I need for expeditions.”

“Trixie ate plenty before coming here! She just … has a condition.” Trixie turned away and blushed.

“Okay,” Twilight said. “If that’s the story you want to go with.”

“It is the story I want to go with, and I’ll thank you not to be rude and assume you know my conditions!”

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “It’s just that Rainbow Dash has a ‘condition’ and it tends to show up whenever she doesn’t want to do work.”

“Hmph! Trixie, unlike your Rainbow Dash, does not need an excuse to get out of doing work!”

Twilight paused and stared at Trixie.

“That didn’t come out right,” Trixie said quickly.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Twilight said. “Anyway, we should stop chattering and get out of here. What are we, the cheerleaders?”

“Trixie does not see what is wrong with being a cheerleader and objects to your use of stereotypes.”

“Twilight notes this,” Twilight said. Her eyes widened. “Aw, dang it, now you’ve got me doing it, too.”

“Doing what?”

Twilight blinked, looking at Trixie and wondering if she was serious or pulling her leg. She did not look like she was serious, so either she had an incredible poker face or she genuinely didn’t realize how much she referred to herself in third person.

“… nothing, never mind.” Is she really that oblivious to how she talks?

The two of them approached the stairs. As they got closer and closer, Trixie developed a creeping feeling that it would be bad for her if she went outside.

“Wait.”

Twilight groaned loudly. “What now?”

“There’s still a third floor we haven’t explored,” Trixie said.

Twilight glared at Trixie. “Really? You’re going to make me go even further into the creepy house?”

“Think about it, Twilight! If you were keeping magical artifacts around, wouldn’t you put them in the uppermost level of the house?”

“Trixie … I really think we should leave. We’ve already pushed our luck enough as it is.”

“No!” Trixie said. “Trust me on this, Twilight. I’ve got a really good feeling about this one. That third floor will be our lucky break.”

“Our lucky break?” Twilight sighed. “Look. Go ahead if you want. I’m getting out of this creepy house. I might not have evidence to entirely disprove that there’s a ghost here, since you can’t proof a negative, but I think I have enough to tell Rainbow Dash off.”

Twilight headed down the stairs.

Trixie balled up her fists. “Twilight, please! Trixie doesn’t feel comfortable exploring this creepy old house without you!”

“Then if Trixie is smart, Trixie will leave with Twilight,” Twilight replied.

Trixie inhaled sharply. She laughed, which Twilight found confusing.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here,” Trixie said. “You think, if you leave, Trixie will have no choice but to leave with you. But you’re not the best poker player here, Twilight. Being a magician is all about deceptions and bluffs. I am going to stay right here, turn around, and go up to that third floor. And then you’ll know what will happen? You’ll follow me. Because you’re a goody two shoes, and you can’t stand the thought that I might get hurt while you’re not around to help me. Besides … I think you might like me.”

“What?” Twilight blushed. “That’s ridiculous. Trixie, I know it’s in your nature, but stop being ridiculous. Come with me or don’t, but I’m leaving, whether you like it or not.”

“No, you’re not,” Trixie said. “You’re going to stay to keep an eye on me.” Trixie turned around and walked down the hallway. She ascended the stairs to the next floor.

“Trixie?” Twilight called. She saw Trixie going up the next flight of stairs. “Trixie, really, knock it off! Trixie? Trixie!”

Trixie went on right up to the third floor as though she didn’t even hear Twilight.

“Fine! Go up there and hurt yourself! See if I care. Maybe if we’re really lucky, the owners will come back and deal with you, and then you won’t be my problem anymore!”

Twilight resumed heading down the stairs. She was halfway down the flight when her mind tormented with visions of horrible things happening to Trixie that could have been prevented if she had someone (say, someone like Twilight) there to pull her out from under collapsing support beams or pry open a closet she locked herself inside.

“Damn it.”

Twilight pulled out her phone and quickly typed up a text.

Still in old spooky house Rainbow Dash talked about. Chasing after Trixie, who’s being a dunderhead. Send help if not back in another hour.

Twilight pressed the send button. She saw in the corner of her screen her phone say it had only one bar of reception, but her messaging app said the text went through, so she assumed it had.

She turned around and went up the stairs, down the second floor hall, and up the stairs to the third floor.

“Trixie!” Twilight shouted. “Trixie, you were right! I can’t stand the thought of letting you get hurt because I wasn’t there to help you. Now come on. Get out here and … maybe I’ll help you keep looking. At the very least, I can keep anything from falling on your and breaking your bones. Trixie?”

Twilight surveyed the left and right sides of the new hall. She went to the first door on left, opened it, swept the room, saw nothing, and went to open the first door on the right and repeated the process beat for beat, including the part where she saw nothing.

“Trixie, where are you? Come on, Trixie. This isn’t funny anymore. Where did you go? Come out! Trixie! Trixie!” Twilight put her hands around her mouth to enhance her shout. “Trixie, get yourself where I can see you! Is this supposed to be funny? Cause if it is, I’m not laughing and you need a better sense of humor!”

Twilight got her phone back out.

Trixie got herself lost or something. Ignore earlier message. Send help now.

Twilight hit send and worried about whether or not the one bar reception would be enough to reach her friends.

“Can’t worry about that,” Twilight said to herself. “I need to find Trixie. Trixie! Trixie!” She checked the next nearest available door and opened the room to an empty bathroom.

“Well, if I was going to find her in the bathroom, I think it would be pretty obvious that she was here,” Twilight mused to herself, closing the door and moving on.

But Trixie wasn’t hiding by choice.

When she reached the third floor, the sunlight came in from the window struck her, and she felt an unpleasant, fiery sensation run through her body as if her cells were infected. Unable to stand it, she ran into the nearest open door she could find, which just happened to be be another bedroom … one with a large window in it. So she ran for the bedroom closet and hid there until her body calmed down and she no longer felt so painful.

She hadn’t heard Twilight calling her name through closet door, and her body still felt weird and painful from its brief sunlight exposure.

“You know, when I told Twilight I had a condition, I thought I was making it up, too, but now I’m wondering if I really do have something. Something that makes me allergic to the sun.” She raised up her hand and examined it for evidence of medical problems. It looked fine. There was no surface cut or inflamed vein to suggest she suffered through anything worse than a sunburn that had already gone away.

She looked at her finger, the one she pricked earlier. She squinted at it. There was no evidence of any cut.

Granted, she had a high opinion of herself, which might have contributed to a positive feeling that would help improve her feeling, but she didn’t think she had superpowers. The cut disappeared much too quickly. There should have an impression left over.

Trixie heard something creaking in the room. Tentatively, she opened the closet door. The light in the room didn’t feel as bad as earlier, but with the big window there, she was reticent to abandoned her place of safety and comfort so easily.

Until she saw it.

There was a rat in the bedroom with her.

Trixie gasped. When the noise drew the rat’s attention to her direction, Trixie held her breath. She was disturbed to find holding her breath as easy as she did, but she assured herself it was from all the training she’d done as magician, some of which involved underwater tricks.

Despite her best efforts to mute herself, the rat remained in her direction. It skittered across the room, zigzagging across the carpet and instilling Trixie with a false hope that it would leave her alone. But the rat continued getting closer, eventually joining her in the closet and scurrying around her feet.

Trixie whimpered, looking down at the rat. Its fur was dark and matted in several knots, like it gotten burs stuck in its fur. Its thin tail dragged behind it on the floor.

Trixie was frightened out of her wits. Such that she didn’t even think to question the rat getting this close to her. As deadly and full of pestilence and bile as it might have been, it was still just a rat. A small thing compared to her. She could crush it beneath her foot easily, if she didn’t mind getting a little bit of guts spilled on her shoe. Ignoring the fact she did mind this, the rat stopped moving.

Not only had it stopped, it was looking up at her as if expecting something from her.

“What do you want from me?” Trixie snapped at it. “Shoo! Shoo! Go, rat, go! The Great and Powerful Trixie wants nothing to do with your presence!”

The rat squinted at her. It turned around and headed towards the middle of the carpet. It stopped and looked behind herself, as if expecting her to change her mind.

Trixie’s breath became heavy. She was acutely aware of each contraction of her lungs, every breath in and every exhale out. Her lungs slowed to a crawl.

The rat took a few paces back towards its hole, then stopped again to look at her. It moved again and stopped right in front of the wall.

Trixie stepped out from the closet. Not entirely aware of what she was doing or why, she moved towards the rat.

The rat held still, as calm as a monk in their steeple.

Trixie got down on her knees, examining the rat. She held out a finger towards it. The rat sniffed at her appendage.

Then she grabbed it by the body.

“Trixie!” Twilight called out. “Trixie, where are you? I’m getting worried sick! If you don’t come out this instant, I’m going to leave and come back with the EMRTs, and I really don’t want to have explain to them what I was doing in a house I wasn’t invited to!”

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Trixie said, stepping out of her hiding room. “I’m here.” She wiped some blood off her chin.

“There you are!” Twilight said. She ran up to Trixie and embraced her tightly. It gave Trixie a funny feeling in her chest. “Do you have any idea how scared I was for you?”

“I know, I know, worried sick,” Trixie said. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I shouldn’t have put you through that. From now on, I promise, I’ll be a better friend. If I have to manipulate you to get you do something, then I should take that as a sign I probably shouldn’t it.”

“I’m glad to hear it, and that I could provide a valuable lesson in friendship for you, even if I had to go through this spooky house to do it,” Twilight said.”By the way … I didn’t ask at first because I was so happy to see you, but what’s with the blood on your chin?”

“Oh, that,” Trixie wiped it off with her sleeve. “I tripped and hit my face on the floor.”

“Hard enough to bleed?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Huh. You must have taken quite a tumble, then!”

“I sure did!” Trixie moved away from the door. “But enough with the pleasantries. Why don’t we head out? You and I have a lot to talk about, cutie.”

“I’m sure we – wait, cutie?” Twilight glared at Trixie, but before she could press further, she saw the bloody body of rat on the floor in the room lying in a pool of gore. “Uh, Trixie? Do you know anything about this rat?”

“Rat? What rat? Oh, that rat. It was like that when I found it. Anyway, why don’t we get going? I’m sure your friends want to know you’re all right.”

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, somewhat uncertain. She followed Trixie down the stairs, but couldn’t help from taking one last glance over her shoulder at the poor unfortunate rodent. It would make Fluttershy so sad.

“Forget the rat, Twilight. It’s not important. Shall we head down?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, please! I’m so ready to get out of this creepy place and to stop possibly breaking the law before the police or the owners find us.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Trixie said. “Sure, the wood’s all rotten and holey, it smells weird in almost every other room, and it’s strange that some of it is falling apart but all the beds have been made and the closets are organized, but I think it’s surprisingly nice once you get used to all the little … idiosyncrasies.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. Was Trixie looking at the same house as her? Because the house Trixie was describing was not the house they were currently in. And since when did Trixie use big words like ‘idiosyncrasies’ in her speech like that, and work them in so smoothly, too?

Trixie stopped just ahead of the stairs and turned around to Twilight. “Are you okay, Twilight Sparkle? I sense distress coming from you.”

“I’m fine,” Twilight assured her, despite wondering when Trixie suddenly developed a sense of empathy, and one that could pick out her emotions so easily. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Right, right, of course.”

They walked down the stairs, Trixie taking the lead. “So, tell me, Twilight Sparkle, have you given any thought to what you want to do with your life?”

“Do? What do you mean, do?”

“I mean, have you ever thought about settling down? Finding a husband? Having children?”

“Can’t say I have, no. Come to think of it, I’ve always thought I wouldn’t make a very good wife. I lock myself in my lab all day and forget to feed myself. I’d probably forget to feed the kids, too, if I were a stay-at-home mom, and if I went out to work while my husband took care of the kids, they’d probably never see me because I get caught up in research and wouldn’t get back to the house until 2 AM in the morning.”

“That’s a shame,” Trixie said, though Twilight couldn’t see the grin on her face. “I think a girl as pretty as you would have no trouble finding a husband, Twilight. Or maybe even a wife. One with long, smooth hair.” She ran a hand through her locks as if to suggest herself.

“Come on. Let’s hear it.”

“Hear what?” Trixie asked.

“You know. The subversion. The turnaround. The backhanded part of your backhanded compliment. I know you, Trixie, and I know you wouldn’t just pay a random compliment to someone, anyone, unless you could get an insult into them somewhere, or make it sound like you’re better than them. So let’s get it over with. What is it?”

“Is it so hard to believe I might change?” Trixie asked, holding her hands behind her back in a professional manner. “Perhaps I’ve decided to pay you a compliment or two as a thanks for journeying with me through this terrible haunted place despite your obvious discomfort with doing so.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying it,” Twilight said. “Although you are speaking a little differently than I’m used to from Trixie … have you ever thought about writing a book? Like a novel?”

“Perhaps I shall,” Trixie said. “Perhaps I’ll even make it a horror novel based on our experiences here.”

“Well, that would be a little cliché, but I guess if it’s your first book you’d want to start off with something simple and easy. Definitely not like Kafka’s Metamorphosis right off the gate.”

“Yes. Definitely not. I must admit, I’m developing a growing appreciation for your literary bent, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Thanks.”

“Perhaps some other things of yours could be bent as well…”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Trixie continued walking down the steps. She came to a halt, noticing a change. She didn’t hear Twilight’s footsteps following her anymore, and with old and worn the stairs had become, it was extremely unlikely that Twilight could have walked on the stairs without making any noise, no matter how light she was on her feet or soft her steps.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie asked, turning around. Twilight had a hand on the guardrail, looking down at Trixie with suspicion.

“Okay, Trixie,” Twilight said. “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest with me.”

“Of course.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

Trixie sighed. “If you insist. Pinkie Promise. Now, what is your question?”

“You’ve been acting differently since we came down from the third floor. So here’s what I want to ask you, Trixie. Have you been possessed by a ghost?”

Trixie stared at Twilight and blinked several times, processing this question.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie swept an arm in front of her chest and bowed like a servile butler, “I can assure you, with complete and total one-hundred percent honesty, that I have not been possessed by a ghost.”

Twilight looked around.

“Okay. I guess you must be telling the truth. If you were lying, Pinkie Pie would have come screaming through the door. Maybe with an ax or something.”

“Perhaps she would punch a hole in and shout ‘here’s Pinkie!’” Trixie said.

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah. That sounds like something Pinkie Pie would do.”

“Perhaps my … unusual behavior is the result of exposure to some undesirable mold. I hear carbon monoxide can induce terrible hallucinations.”
“Yeah, but if that were the case, wouldn’t I be acting funny, too? I mean, you didn’t go into that many other rooms than me other the one on the third floor and the closet.”

“Perhaps. But tell me, Twilight. If I were acting strange, and you were acting strange, would I be able to tell you were acting strange if I was compromised myself?”

“I … no, I don’t think so.”

With that frightening thought on Twilight’s mind, they completed their descent of the flight of stairs, returning to the second floor.

Twilight followed Trixie through the second floor. Trixie came to a stop, and Twilight couldn’t react in time, so she bumped into Trixie, getting a face-full of Trixie’s silvery hair.

“My, my, Twilight. If you wanted to take a sniff of my locks, all you had to do was ask,” Trixie said.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Twilight untangled herself from Trixie. “So why’d you stop?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Trixie said. “I merely … thought I saw something.”

Trixie looked ahead down the hall. One of the doors to the room was open, and sunlight was coming through, casting onto the hallway floor from the room’s window.

Biting her lip and bracing her nerves, Trixie stepped forward, awaiting a searing pain to flow into her foot when she stepped across the threshold.

She stepped closer to the sunbeam, and when her foot set into the path of the light, the pain she awaited came to her. Her foot flared up. It was like her blood was on fire.

“Trixie?” Twilight asked.

“It’s nothing, just twisted my foot the wrong way,” Trixie said. She glared at the bedroom and grabbed the door, pulling it shut, moving it slowly so as not to startle Twilight. The sunlight faded, and Trixie sighed.

The pain her foot ebbed away.

“What did you do that for?” Twilight asked.

“No reason,” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie simply has a preference for things being orderly. I could not stand to let this door remain ajar when all the rest of them are closed.”

“Okay,” Twilight said. “But if that’s the case, then we’re going to be here awhile. There are a lot of doors we left open down this hall.”

“Aah … that is no problem,” Trixie said. “We’ll simply go back and close them, yes. Perhaps doing so will allow you to breath in the atmosphere of the house and help you to appreciate it the same way I do.”

“That seems unlikely,” Twilight said.

“It should also reduce the chances of the owners coming back and realizing someone’s been through their house … should they return.”

“Yeah, sure. Wait, what do you mean, should they return? Are they not coming back? Do you know something I don’t?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie knows many things you don’t, Twilight Sparkle.”

“See, now that sounds like the way the Trixie I know normally speaks.”

“But think about it,” Trixie said. “The beds notwithstanding, if a family was still living here, wouldn’t they try to take better care of the place? Perhaps they were too poor to afford proper care, but they could at least dust and sweep the floor, couldn’t they?”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Of course it does. Trixie is the best at logical deduction.”

“But that really doesn’t explain the beds.”

“Ah, yes, the beds … my theory would be that the family that was squatting here in squalor, if there even is such a family, made the beds and had intended to return, but have been unable to do so.”

“Wow, Trixie,” Twilight said. “You’ve really thought all of this through, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Trixie said. “During my brief separation from you, I found a secluded area that gave me ample time and space to ponder these very questions you’re asking me now. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps there is still a family living here, and they haven’t paid to maintain the house simply because they have gone on a long vacation and thus are unaware of the abysmal state it’s in. But, I doubt you or I feel like sticking around long enough to test that hypothesis, do we?”

“No,” Twilight fiddled with her fingers, her eyes fallen over a cobweb between the ceiling and the wall. It gave her goosebumps. How many spiders were here, and were they the venomous kind? “No, we do not.”

“I thought as much. Besides, this is … hardly the most fitting setting for the kind of conversations I’d want to have with a beautiful lady like yourself.”

“Oh, really? Gee,” Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “I … Trixie, I don’t know what to say.” She blushed.

She wondered if maybe she was starting to return Trixie’s affections. She did seem more attractive … more confident since they came down from the third floor.

Have I always felt like this? Twilight wondered.

Trixie stopped again.

“I’m growing impatient. Twilight, what do you say we just run down these stairs?”

“Run down?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know, these stairs are so old and creaky … that doesn’t seem like it would be very safe.”

“Come on,” Trixie said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Nothing-”

A horrible shriek tore through the hallway. It sounded as if a bat had been given a megaphone.

“What was that?” Twilight asked, fear rising in her chest.

“Twilight, do you trust me?” Trixie asked.

“I ...” Twilight pursed her lips. “Yes, Trixie. I trust you.”

“Then trust in me when I say that you should run! Go! I’ll hold it off, whatever it is!”

“Are you sure?”

“No time to argue! Go!” Trixie grabbed Twilight by the shoulder and swung her around, pushing her towards the stairs.

Twilight gave a worried glance over her shoulder before sprinting down the hall. She arrived at the flight of stairs and went down as fast as she could.

As she feared might happen, one of the stairs gave out from under her. A sinkhole appeared in the wood, and her leg dropped straight through it.

“Damn!” Twilight grabbed her thigh and tried to pull it free. She heard bats shrieking behind her.

“Get back!” Trixie shouted. “Get back, you vile beasts! You are no match for the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Despite knowing she shouldn’t, and that every look backwards only hampered her chance of successful escape, Twilight looked over her shoulder again to see how Trixie was doing. But she couldn’t see Trixie, or the bats she was fighting with.

I’ve never known bats to be so aggressive, Twilight thought. Normally they’re docile until provoked, and like any small mammal, would rather avoid a fight than pick one.

There was another one of the megaphone bat shrieks.

No time to think about biology. I need to get out of here and come back with help, or Trixie’s sacrifice will be meaningless.

With a mighty grunt, Twilight heaved her leg out of the broken stair. She resumed going down the stairs, being much more careful and cautious, going slowly despite the presence of danger.

She heard Trixie let out a pained yell. Twilight’s heart wanted more than anything to go back for her and help pull her out of whatever horrible swarm of bats was accosting her, but she knew that was the wrong play. The best thing she could do would be to run, run as fast possible, and get out of here.

Having reached the bottom of the stairs and returned to the first floor, Twilight darted for the entrance.

Something tugged on her ankle, and she tripped. She looked around to see a thin, black, fuzzy mist curling around her ankle like a tentacle.

“Get off!” Twilight shouted. She kicked at it, and the mist let go. She got to her feet and headed for the door.

She flung the door open and raced onto the yard.

Almost clear, Twilight thought. The sidewalk grew closer with every step.

She heard an odd warbling sound. The shadowy mist that tripped her inside the mansion spilled over to the outside. It raced in front of Twilight, blocking off her escape, and grew more solid, more consistent.

Instead of a fuzzy black mist, it adopted a wispy, shadow appearance like thick, dark smoke with streaks of purple through it.

The miasma rose up off the ground, just enough to blot out the sun and in case Twilight in total darkness. She heard wicked feminine laughter coming from above her in every direction.

“Ugh.” Twilight covered her mouth with her arm to avoid inhaling the smoke. It wasn’t regular smoke, of that, she was certain, but that just made her want to avoid breathing it in even more.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight turned around at the sound of her name. Despite the thickness of the smog, she could make out Trixie standing across from on the mansion grounds.

“Trixie?”

“You are...” Trixie took a staggered step forward, as if she acquired a limp. “So beautiful. And so arrogant. To think that we would ever let a beauty like you slip away from our grasp.”

“Who’s we?” Twilight asked. She narrowed her eyes. “And what do you mean, ‘let’? I’m getting out of here and you can’t stop me.”

At least, that was what Twilight said, but she locked eyes with Trixie and her body felt numb. Locked with Trixie’s bright, red eyes.

“Stay there,” Trixie ordered, and Twilight felt no choice but to obey. She tried to move her shoulders, but they felt limp and like they were buried under twenty pounds of cement.

“T-Trixie?” Twilight stammered. “I thought … you told me … you weren’t possessed by a ghost.”

“I did tell you that, and I am not,” Trixie said. She advanced forward, still limping. “Do you know what I am, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight got a good look at Trixie. Her skin was bleach white. Her clothes had turned a dark, soulless black that she could only barely make out against the black smoke swirling around them.

“Y-Yes,” Twilight stammered.

“What am I?”

“You’re a ...”

“Go on. I want to hear you say it, Twilight. What am I?”

“V-vampire.”

“Very good,” Trixie said. “And you know what’s going to happen now?”

“Trixie, please. You don’t have to do this.”

“I’m afraid I do,” Trixie said. “I am going to turn you into a vampire.”

“No.”

“Yes.” Trixie’s eyes flashed brilliantly, glowing like rubies in the darkness. “Come here.”

“Yes, mistress,” Twilight said. Her eyes were locked on Trixie’s. Her eyes seemed so limitless. Like funhouse mirrors reflecting off each other, showing her a world full of infinite possibilities, possibilities that could all be hers if she just submitted.

Twilight felt heavy, oh so heavy. Too heavy, her body was too heavy. The only cure was to make it lighter, to bare her neck and let Trixie drain her of this awful congealed weight, the disgusting pulsing beneath her skin.

She staggered forward slowly to Trixie, each step taunting her, heralding her now inevitable demise. Her brain was foggy. She couldn’t think. All she could focus on was Trixie. Trixie, who looked … so beautiful with her pale skin contrasting against the black smoke. Trixie, who’d been with her through the entire house. Trixie, who loved her and would never ever hurt her.
Twilight stood before Trixie.

“Strip for me.”

Twilight slipped her lab coat off, dropping it to the floor. She pulled her shirt up over her head, exposing the dark bra she wore. She unhooked the bra and dropped it onto the sidewalk, her bare chest exposed for both Trixie and Trixie’s own mistress to enjoy.

Trixie grabbed Twilight and pulled her closer. Trixie’s fangs deployed from her mouth and she bit down hard into Twilight’s neck. Blood flowed from the punctured veins and poured over Twilight’s breast and down her stomach.

Twilight gasped, and it would be the last breath she took. Her lungs shut down soon after.

Trixie’s cunt winked, getting wet, and Trixie felt a cold drip flow down her crotch. The drip became a flow, as she squirted into her skirt, caught in the throes of an orgasm she could only feel half of, but the half she did feel was better than anything she had ever felt before, as if she unlocked some new level of sex previously unknown by either science or sex toy marketing executives.

Oh, it’s so good! Trixie thought to herself. It was like biting into an exotic, succulent fruit and drinking the juice out of straight the skin. She traced a hand across Twilight’s bare chest and down her stomach. Trixie never thought she’d be so turned on by feeling a body grow cold, yet here she was. She could feel the life draining out of Twilight, the spark, the light, snuffing out and joining Trixie in the total darkness of the walking dead.

Don’t worry, Twilight Sparkle, Trixie thought, and she knew Twilight could hear her. I’ll take good care of you. And then, when we’re done, you can go and take care of your friends. All your friends. You can drink from them. You can make them feel the same way I’m making you feel now. You were so heavy before, with your awful, awful blood congealing inside you. Don’t you think your friends would feel the same way? That they would love if you helped them got rid of all that cumbersome blood making them so, so heavy and lighten them up. Doesn’t that sound nice?

Yes, Twilight thought back, her eyes wide, frozen in shock. Yes, that does sound nice.

It’s not so bad, Twilight thought. It hardly felt like dying at all. It was more like passing out, then waking quickly afterwards.

It was in fact quite good. There came a perverse sexual pleasure from the exchange of fluids. Sex was considered a ‘success’ by most when someone or the other expelled fluids from their body. So what if Twilight agreed to expel a different kind of fluid? It was just as good sex as any other. Maybe even better.

While her body felt number and number with every passing second and every flowing drop, her mind felt transcendent. As if she ascended to a higher plane of sexual pleasure. The kind only those willing to give themselves over to the dark mistresses of the night could attain. If she could cum right now and squirt all over Trixie, she would have, but orgasms required blood to still flow through her thighs, which was no longer the case.

Twilight sighed heavily. Her skin gradually lost color, turning from her distinct lavender shading into a pure bleach-white which matched Trixie’s. Her clothes did the same, turning into a dark black, blending in with the smoke. If she could see herself in a mirror, the smoke would make her limbs look like they were attached to an invisible torso.

It took a long struggle for Trixie to stop sucking even after she’d completely drained Twilight’s corpse. But eventually she pried her jaws loose from Twilight’s neck, blood flying everywhere.

“There, see?” Trixie said sweetly. “Was that so bad, Twilight?”

Twilight said there motionless.

“Oh yeah, I forget. There’s so many weird rules about this kind of thing.” Trixie rolled her eyes. She leaned in close and whispered. “Rise.”

Twilight snapped to life, inhaling sharply out of habit. She looked over to Trixie.

“What do you say, Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie asked. “Ready to be a team player?”

“I ...” Twilight stammered. Her eye twitched. She was trying to resist. For a moment, Trixie thought she might pull it off.

Then Twilight raised her hands into the air. “I crave the taste of blood!”

More of the wicked laughter Twilight heard before.

“Excellent, excellently done!” a woman – the vampire Trixie met in the closet appeared from the smoke, standing tall and proud and clapping her hands. “Wonderfully done, Trixie, wonderfully done. I had my doubts about you when you first stepped into my house, but you’ve quashed them all quite thoroughly. That was a magnificent display, Trixie. And that ‘I’m getting impatient’ code phrase? A brilliant masterstroke.”

“You flatter me, mistress,” Trixie said with a bow.

The vampire threw her arms around Twilight and Trixie’s shoulders. “Let’s get inside before my smoke disappears and we’re exposed to the sun.” She walked them to the entrance of her mansion. “Now, I want you to tell me all about you two. Every single thing, every little detail.” She looked at Twilight with interest. “I don’t get out much, but I get out enough to heart that this one opened portals to another dimension. I am just so very curious about that.”

“We’ll tell you everything, mistress,” Twilight said. She dabbed at her chin. “And then after that, we’ll have the others join us soon, won’t we?”
“Oh yes, my dear,” the mistress said, “very soon.”

Author's Note

It's a good thing I just happened to be reading Salem's Lot when the commissioner asked about doing a vampire story for Spooky Month.

Thanks to my Patrons:

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Mirror Mirror

Erstwhile in Equestria, where ponies ruled the land and doors were meant to be pushed in or out through the use of hooves, a four-legged Rarity went out to check her mailbox.

The mailbox acquired a blue glow as Rarity opened with the magic in her horn, levitating out the papers and shuffling through them with hasty contempt, as much of it was junk mail.

“Bill, bill, bill, junk, spam, junk, junk, spam,” Rarity muttered, until she reached the last paper in the pile. Her eyes lit up at the eye-catching black envelope with a rose crest seal.

“Hello,” Rarity brought the envelope towards her snout for close inspection, tossing the other mail onto the ground in a messy pile uncharacteristic of her. “What’s this?”

She unfurled the top of the envelope and pulled out a letter written in white ink on black vellum.

Dearest Rarity,

I’ve heard of your considerable acumen with clothing from a close associate of mine. I am in need of a new dress for an upcoming formal occasion I mean to host at my castle. I would be delighted to have you join me in my castle for some time in order for you to work on a dress for me. Unfortunately, I must ask you to come to me, as I have medical conditions that prevent me from traveling for long lengths of time, such as that required for me to reach Ponyville.

My own servants are on vacation, so you may wish to bring a friend with you to carry your bags. In fact, I highly encourage it.

I await your prompt reply.

Faithfully yours,

Baroness Crimson Veil,

The name was written in loopy cursive Rarity couldn’t make out, pretty though it was. She squinted at it for several minutes, even turned the paper upside down, but eventually she was able to decipher it.

Below it was another line.

PS: It’s rude to keep someone waiting!

Rarity squealed, rearing up into the air and kicking out her hooves. “Oh, goodness, I’m so excited! Working on a dress for a foreign baroness! This could be a wonderful opportunity to expand my brand! Make her dress, mingle with her guests, maybe drop a line or two about how I’d be happy to make one just like it … oh, it’s perfect! Oh, but who am I going to get to come with me?” She tapped her chin with her hoof. “Rainbow Dash is off at the Academy for training exercises, Fluttershy’s too skittish to go on a long trip, and she’d probably miss her animals before too long, Pinkie Pie is … no, just, no. Twilight might be able to help with her magic, but I think she’s working on something for Celestia …. that leaves ...”

Rarity sighed heavily to herself.

“Applejack.”

She blinked and glared into the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, already tired just thinking about it.

Applejack’s earth pony strength would be a boon for carrying Rarity’s luggage – which Rarity would have a lot of – but she wouldn’t be much use in socializing. In fact, she’d probably be a liability, questioning why the baroness didn’t just come to Ponyville, or ask one of her friends to send and run the errand for her, or why she even needed a new dress in the first place if it was just going to be for one single party.

The nuances of the fashion world were utterly lost on her.

Still, Rarity supposed, if she wanted to reach the castle grounds in a timely fashion, she would need someone who could help with the heavy lifting, and the letter did encourage her to take a plus one.

She sighed again and steeled herself. “Now, now, Rarity. You are an adult. Applejack is an adult. There’s no reason you can’t settle this between you two responsibility, and maturely, even if it’s going to take so much convincing to get that stubborn mule head of hers to help her on your ‘frou frou’ errand and she’s going to question you and this lovely Baroness Crimson the whole time you’re there. I can already hear it now ...” her eye twitched as she envisioned all the uncouth words Applejack would have for both her and the Baroness.

Rarity hung her head and began the long, slow walk to Sweet Apple Acres for her reckoning.

“Sure,” Applejack said when Rarity finished recounting her tale.

“Now, Applejack, darling, I know this may not be the first on the list of things you want to do, but as your friend, shouldn’t you be willing to lend me a helping hoof – wait, what did you say?” Rarity blinked, twitching her ears as her brain finally processed Applejack’s response over her own yammering and yakking away.

“Sure,” Applejack said.

“… that’s it? ‘Sure’? No arguing? No fighting? No criticizing how me and Baroness Crimson are conducting our business?”

“Rarity, we’ve known each for years now,” Applejack said. “If I thought there was a thing I could say to make your change your mind about this, don’t you think I’d have said it by now?”

“Well, perhaps.”

“Have I ever been one to try and spare your poofy frou-frou feelings?”

“Well, no, not really, but -”

“And let’s be honest here,” Applejack raised her hoof. “Even did I have a surefire argument as to why y’all shouldn’t go to this here castle, you wouldn’t listen to me anyways, would ya? You’d go on right ahead, with or without me, and then I’d need to rush over there to come and baul you out of whatever trouble you got yourself in because I wasn’t there to stop you or pull your wagon out of a mud slick. At least this way, it saves us time before I have to haul your keister out from under a falling tree. That you probably cut down yourself without looking where you cutting because you were trying to get some spider silk from the top.”

Rarity blubbered and babbled incoherently, embarrassment surging through her cheeks.

“Am I wrong?” Applejack asked with a point-of-fact tone.

“No, but-”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Applejack adjusted the Stetson on her head. “Let’s get a move on. Come on, cowpoke.” She poked Rarity lightly on the haunch as she walked past her.

“Daylight’s wasting. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, don’t we?”

Rarity sighed, unable to believe she’d been outwitted, and followed Applejack out the door.

They made it most of the way to the Baroness’s castle without incident, despite the old forest they had to travel through. Crimson was kind enough to include a map in the letter, and according to the map, they should find her house on a hill not too long after they exited the woods.

Applejack carted the wagon, hitched up to her haunches, while Rarity led them, using the light cast by her horn to read the map in the shade of the forest, where the trees blocked out light.

Applejack looked around their surroundings and did not like what she saw. “Pardon me for saying so, Rarity, but something don’t feel right about this.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked. Without ever looking away from the map, she lifted her hoof up high to avoid tripping on a mess of rocks and fallen branches. This was far from the adversarial, accusing, criticizing tone she expected from Applejack. She sounded concerned, an odd thing for a pony as experienced with woods as an Apple family member.

“The trees,” Applejack said. “Something ain’t about the trees. They’re all gray bark with black leaves. Black leaves! Who ever heard of a tree with black leaves?”

“Maybe they’re magical trees,” Rarity said.

“Really? Magical? That’s the explanation you’re gonna go with?” Applejack asked, glaring at Rarity from behind.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining. You have magical events on your farm all the time. Is it really so unbelievable another pony might have the same thing with the woods that grow near their farm?”

“Yeah, but that’s different!”

“How?” Rarity whined, her patience fed up. “How is it any different, any different at all, from your Zap Apples, they can only be harvested at a specific time of year under unforgivingly exact conditions, or the vampire fruit bats that you have to ward off your farm every autumn? How is any different from any of those things?”

“I, uh, well ...” Applejack stammered. Rarity smirked to herself, knowing she’d won this argument. She knew from experience Applejack was going to drag it out for a few more sentences, but eventually she’d peter out and let the subject drop. Rarity already splashed water on most of the fire; all that was left for the kindlings to snuff out.

“It just is, and this place gives me the creeps, that’s all!” Applejack insisted. The fury in her words and compellingness of her argument were sharply undercut when she stepped right into the same mess of twig and rock Rarity deftly evaded a moment ago. Applejack lost her balance, but she planted her hoof into the ground and remained steady enough to keep the wagon from falling over.

“Hmm,” Rarity smiled, her victory firmly established by Applejack’s mishap. That a farm pony should have trouble in the woods while a ‘frou-frou’ type like Rarity maneuver it unscathed was more than enough to wipe out any lingering trace of argument left in Applejack’s lungs.

Howling traveled across the wind from overhead.

“Timberwolves?” Applejack asked.

“Maybe,” Rarity said. “At any rate, perhaps I should concede your argument up to a point. Why don’t we hurry out of here?”

“Fine by me.”

Rarity and Applejack picked up the pace, trotting briskly until they were free of the woods and clear of any timberwolves. They emerged from the forest out onto a bright shiny pasture that the sunlight embraced with arms opened wider than it did in Ponyville.

“There, just up ahead.” Rarity pointed to the castle, folding up the map and putting it away in her saddlebag.

The castle was a light stony gray, with black walls surrounding it, presumably meant for defence back during a time when warfare was a total constant reality of day to day life with no breaks or stops in between days. The gate was made of iron bars and tipped with spikes, and along the walls ran statues or mangled, grotesque creatures that seemed to be combinations of a lion, a wolf, and a bat.

“Here are we!” Rarity announced, chipper as a chipmunk once they had reached the gate. She saw the statues and recoiled, raising her hoof to block her vision. “What are those?”

“Gargoyles,” Applejack said. “My mom and Granny Smith used to tell me stories about them. They say you can use them to ward off evil with their frightful gazes … or good, if you know how to tinker with them just right.”

“I prefer to think of myself as a neutral character, thank you very much, so they should have no effect on moi,” Rarity bounced one of her curls and whipped her mane around to demonstrate her confidence.

“Yeah, neutral, until somebody insults one of your dresses. Then you’re evil all the way.”

Rarity glared while Applejack chuckled.

“Disregarding that. We should make our presence known and introduce ourselves to our host. If not simply for the sake of good manners, then to get out of this dreadful sun.” She kept her hoof to her face, squinting in the direction of the sun, though careful not to look directly at it.

“Hello?” Rarity called. “It’s me, Rarity! I’m here to take your measurements, like you mentioned in your letter?”

There was no reply.

“Anybody home?” Rarity called again.

“Rarity, maybe we should turn around and go back. I don’t like the look of the place. The feel of the place. There’s something wrong here, I can feel it in the soil. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s something. Besides… maybe we have the wrong address?”

The uneasy smile Applejack had on her face as she said this was no match for the skeptical glare Rarity had on her’s.

“No, no, I’m certain this is the place, I’m quite sure of it.” Rarity got out the map and the letter and compared to the two, and everything was by all appearances in order. “Besides, do you mean to tell me you have magical earth pony detection powers that can sense when the earth itself is … tainted?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Applejack stomped her hoof into the ground. “Like I said, don’t know what it is … but I know there’s something with this here place. Maybe it’s too wet. Or too dry.” She squatted, and pressed her nose to the ground, taking a sniff of the soil. She recoiled at once. “Ugh. Smells awful too.”

“Regardless,” Rarity said, “feel free to turn around if you want. If you do, make sure to leave my bags. But I have no intention of leaving until I’ve established with relationships with my client, or have confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not here.”

Rarity inspected the gate while for some reason her choice of words – shadow, doubt – made Applejack go jelly-kneed, her legs wobbling, struggling to carry her weight now when they had no issue holding her and the combined weight of Rarity’s heavy traveling wagon before.

“Yeah,” Applejack said. She gulped and reasserted control over herself, standing tall. “Well, somebody’s got to make sure y’all don’t get yourself hurt. Because I know, I just know, as soon as I so much as think about turning around, you’re gonna go and get yourself eaten by one of them there gargoyles.”

“Highly unlikely,” Rarity said. “As if I would allow myself to be eaten by a creature so grotesque. No, no, if I’m going to be eaten, it’s going to be a beautiful cannibalistic merpony, or a voluptuous snake creature. Perhaps even an eight-legged spider pony.”

“Rarity, that is not as reassuring as you might have thought it was.”

Rarity poked the gate. At her lightest touch, it gave way and swung open with a loud metallic creak. She looked at Applejack, nonplussed, then turned and headed inside the courtyard before Applejack could raise up another one of her surprisingly scaredy-cat suggestions to turn back.

“Shouldn’t we at least for someone to acknowledge us?” Applejack asked, reluctantly following Rarity up the trail. “At least wait for them to shout that they know we’re here?”

“Pish-posh, Applejack,” Rarity said. “The best way to verify as to whether or not the lady of the house is in is to knock directly on the door and leave no trace of doubt.”

Rarity arrived at the described door and knocked on it. Applejack was struck by the huge awning hung over the door, casting the porch and the area around in total shadow, even on a sunny day like this one.

“Hello?” Rarity called. “Darlings, it’s Rarity! I’m here to take your measurements for your dress?”

“Maybe we should head back,” Applejack suggested when there was no answer.

“Maybe,” Rarity replied, agreeable to the idea for the first time. Perhaps she was out and they’d have to try again another day. But right as soon as she moved to step away from the door, a voice called.

“Coming, coming!” a dainty, feminine voice said. The door creaked open, and a lovely mare stood in the entrance to greet them. She had pale gray skin, red eyes, and wore a simple, but refined black dress with lace around the chest. On her neck hung a brooch with a red gem.

“Darlings!” the lady said to them, raising her hooves as if for a hug. “I’m so glad you could make it. I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t! Was the map I drew for you okay? Did you have any problems getting here?”

“No, no problems getting here,” Rarity said. “Although we did hear howling in the woods.”

“We think it might be timberwolves,” Applejack said. “Y’all will wanna watch out for them if you have to go into the forest.”

“The wolves? Oh, pish-posh, they won’t harm anybody. They wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less me. Not if they know what’s good for them.” She winked.

At first, Applejack was struck by the similarities she had to Rarity. Her word choice. Her demeanor. The way she did her hair. But before she could comment on it, she could feel an ache of protest coming from her overworked haunched. She moved to step inside the house so she could be relieved of her burden.

“Um, excuse me,” Crimson said, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“I thought I was going inside the house so I could take my legs out of this wagon! It’s heavy and starting to hurt.”

Crimson shook her head. “No, no.” She looked to Rarity. “Honestly, didn’t anyone ever teach her her manners?”

“I have it on good authority that her parents did, but left a few, mm, little gaps, which I have done my best to mend. Unfortunately, she never listens to me.” Rarity pursed her lips.

“Will somepony please explain to me what is going on here?” Applejack asked.

“Applejack, I’m surprised at you,” Rarity said. “You think a farm pony would a little more about good old hospitality. You don’t just barge into a pony’s home without asking, even if you are there by invitation!” She bowed to the Baroness. “Baroness, may we please have the delight of entering your abode?”

“You may,” Crimson looked very pleased by Rarity’s performance as she stepped aside to grant them entry. Rarity entered first.

Crimson glanced over at Applejack. “You could do well to learn a little more from your friend’s example.” She turned and went back into the house.

Applejack snorted. “You could do with a hoof right up your pretentious-”

“Language!” Crimson called out, sticking her hoof out the door. “In my house, we do not mutter vulgar asides. If you have a problem with someone, you express it politely. To their face. To do anything else would be – well, it would just be rude!”

Applejack rolled her eyes and sighed, but she held back her tongue so she could have the benefit of going inside and getting the wagon’s weight removed from her aching haunches.

Once she got inside, she unstrapped the wagon and exhaled in relief. “Oh, I feel so much better now that I’m not carting all of Rarity’s dead weight on my back.”

“Dead?” Rarity let her appal show by bracing her leg across her chest. “Darling, all of those boxes contain precious materials that I need for my work! Why, you couldn’t even begin to comprehend the monetary value of some of those things!”

Applejack glared. She looked at the wagon, picked out a box, and opened it, showing shampoos and soaps inside. “These are things ya need for your work?”

“I have delicate skin that must be tended to carefully,” Rarity bounced a hair curl as if to demonstrate the needs of maintaining her beauty. “If I’m going to be staying here for a few days, I’m going to need to do my moisturizing regime.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Crimson said. “I have plenty of soaps and oils for you to use at your leisure during your stay. And for you too, Applejack, should you want to use them.’

“I’ll pass,” Applejack said. “If it gets the dirt off from working the soil around the farm, it’s soap enough for me.”

Crimson chuckled. “Ah, I do admire your practicality. Though I do also hope you will indulge yourself in a hot bath while you are here. I’ll have my servant Hoofgor take your things to your rooms.”

“I thought you said all your servants were on vacation?” Rarity asked, brow raised.

“Did I?” Crimson cupped her chin. “Oh, that’s right. Silly me, I seem to have forgotten. I swear, some days, I think I’d lose my head if it weren’t attached! I’ll leave you two to get acquainted with my abode. Feel free to roam about the house. You’re free to go wherever you like, with one condition; don’t go into any locked doors.” She glared at them and said this with deadly seriousness Rarity thought Crimson was going to light their heads on fire with her gaze alone.

It’s certainly an effective method of making sure guests behave! Rarity thought.

“But other than that little quibble, you’re free to go.” Crimson turned around and left the room.

“Much obliged, Baroness!” Rarity turned to explore, then her eyes popped when she remembered a small detail. “Oh, but wait! I haven’t taken your measurements yet! I can’t get started on your dress until I know your measurements!”

“Oh, yes, that,” Crimson mumbled.

“You know,” Applejack said, “the entire reason we’re here?” She affixed a suspicious glare onto the Baroness Crimson, but Crimson retaliated with a glare of her own, leading to a staring contest which Applejack lost. She didn’t want to stare into those red eyes for too long. Something about them seemed off, and Applejack didn’t like how looking straight into them made her feel. It made her woozy.

“As it stands, I’ve had a very long day setting up for the party, and I would much like to retire to my study for the door. You may take my measurements and we’ll get started on the peculiars of my dress tomorrow.”

“As you wish,” Rarity said, bowing. She turned away from Baroness Crimson, but turned back again a second time, a question on her lips. “Oh, but one last thing-”

But Crimson was gone. Disappeared as if she’d never been in the room to begin with. They didn’t hear so much as a door creak, or the scuffle of hooves.

“Drat, I was going to ask her directions to the ladies’ room,” Rarity said. She looked to Applejack.

“Since we’re alone, Applejack,” Rarity said, “why don’t you tell me your opinion on our hostess, Applejack?”

“She’s a little creepy, and she’s definitely keeping something from us, but I don’t think we’re in any real danger from her … yet,” Applejack heaved her emphasis on the last word.

“Maybe she’s just a very private pony,” Rarity said. “I mean, you don’t make your castle somewhere this far our in the middle of seemingly nowhere if you’re a social butterfly,”

“Yeah, I guess not.” Applejack’s eyes feel on the rafter. “Rarity?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Didn’t she say in her letter she was setting up for a party?”

“I believe so, yes. Why?”

Applejack pointed at the corners between the walls and the ceiling. “If she is setting up for a big party with her hoity-toity friends, shouldn’t there be some more decorations around?”

Rarity glanced at the corners as if considering Applejack’s question, then shook her head to dimis it. “Not every party is a Pinkie party, darling. They don’t all have to have streamers and balloons and banners strewn about the place. Sometimes friends just want to have an intimate get-together. Yes, it’s not a party, it’s an intimate get-together. Besides, look at the size of this place! Would you want to have to be the one to clean up all the decorations after the party was over?”

“I guess not. I still say there’s something up somewhere. Maybe it ain’t the Baroness, maybe it ain’t the timberwolves, but there’s definitely something.”

“Applejack, you think there’s ‘something up’ with ponies who don’t like apples.”

“There is something up with ponies who don’t like apples! Who doesn’t like apples? Apples are delicious!”

“And if I were to tell you that I don’t like apples, and that every time I consumed apples or something apple related, it was to make you happy, would you suspect me of being some sort of horrible demon in disguise?” Rarity tilted her head with a bored, tired look.

“Well … ye-… maybe!”

“Or perhaps if they have an allergy to apples?” Rarity asked.

“Blasphemy!” Applejack said, waving her hoof as if to ward off evil spirits. “Apples are pure and good and innocent! Nopony should have an allergy to them.”

Rarity massaged her temples with her hooves. “Never mind. I’m going to go find my bedroom and rest. I want to sleep off this headache that I have all of a sudden.”

“Headache? Really? Rarity, is something wrong?” Applejack moved to Rarity with her concern.

“I’m fine. I just seem to have overtaxed my brain arguing with somepony. Something about the undeniable purity of apples even in the face of reasonable objections.” Rarity shot Applejack a glare, and Applejack rolled her eyes.

Rarity walked off to find her room, muttering and wondering to herself.

Silly Applejack, Rarity thought. I wonder if I could give her a bruised, rotten apple filled with worms, and she’d tell me it was still better than a fresh strawberry.

Rarity found her room without much difficulty, despite the size of the castle. It was adequately setup, with a made bed, a mint on the pillow, a wardrobe, a closet to hang her clothes and a trunk to stash her work materials and personal effects.

Rarity giggled with delight. “Oh ho! It’s nice to see somepony appreciates the value of a proper setup for a room, unlike some ponies...” she glared off to the side, imagining Applejack was there next to her.

There is one thing I do find odd, though, Rarity thought. She went up to the wardrobe and ran her hooves over it. It was actually a vanity, but it didn’t have a mirror attached.

Rarity was about to shrug it off and dismiss it as simply being a foreign model of vanity she wasn’t familiar with, perhaps one from Germaney or Saddle Arabia, where for some reason they didn’t include mirrors in their vanities, but then she noticed two shaved-down posts with a sprinkling of sawdust around their base. A less meticulous pony with less eye for detail would have missed it – Applejack would have missed it, but she found it. It almost seemed as if the mirror was, for whatever reason, deliberately sawed off.

“That’s silly!” Rarity said. “You’re being silly, Rarity. You’re starting to sound like Applejack. It’s Applejack’s job to be the paranoid and suspicious one. You’re supposed to be the articulate and beautiful one who the monster falls love in with and tries to abduct after being charmed by your way with words, and then Applejack busts in to rescue you while saying I told you so, swinging in on a rope, and then you throw yourself in the way and tell Applejack it’s all just a big mistake and explain the monster is just lonely, that’s all.”

Rarity paused.

“I have let my imagination get away from me. I really should get some sleep.”

Does that make Applejack a monster hunter like Van Hoofsing? Rarity idly wondered as she tucked herself in the covers.

Rarity got comfortable and drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of Applejack in a suave leather outfit with a red scarf and a red cape, swinging through the window on a chandelier chair to save Rarity from – from something. The exact nature and details of the monster didn’t matter. They were irrelevant to the story, the story of Applejack rescuing her and the two of them falling in love after they escaped from the clutches of the monster and the confines of the haunted mansion.

Goodness, Rarity thought in her dream as she and Applejack rode on a wagon back to Ponyville, I’m almost starting to think I have a little crush on her!

As her dream self giggled, much to Dream Applejack’s confusion, a huge shadow fell over the both of them. A horrible shriek came from overhead.

They looked up and gasped. A gigantic bat was flying straight at them, heading right for their wagon. It must have followed them from the mansion.

Applejack climbed up to the top of the wagon. She reached into her saddlebag and produced a whip. She held the handle of the whip with her teeth and cracked it through the air to warn the bat to back off before messing with her.

The monstrous bat was not deterred. It opened its jaws, showing its huge fangs half as large as a pony’s whole body, and the excess of saliva dripping from it.

Applejack glared at the bat. She cracked her whip at the bat, but missed, her whip swaying uselessly in the air in front of the bat’s chest.

“What?” Applejack said. Rarity gasped.

Applejack spat the whip out. “How did that happen? I never miss!”

It was true. In Rarity’s dream, Applejack, the famed adventure and monster hunter, never missed a shot with her whip once she had her target.

“Darn thing must be broken.” Applejack spread the whip out onto the roof of the wagon to inspect it.

“Applejack, look out!” Rarity shouted.

“Huh?” Applejack looked at Rarity, instead of where she needed to look – at the bat. The bat caught her unawares, easily snatching her in its talon and lifting her up into the air.

“Back, you vile beast! Back, I say!” Applejack said, pointing her hoof at the bat. “Don’t you know you’re dealing with Applejack Van Hoofsing, famed monster hunter extraordin-”

But the bat neither knew nor cared who it was dealing with. It quickly set about its deadly task, using its talons to rip Applejack apart like shredded chicken for dinner, bringing her towards its jaw so it could bite off a chunk of her flesh.

Rarity had to look away, cowering in the wagon seat, covering her face with her hooves. She couldn’t handle it. She ought to have been screaming her head off, the high-pitched wail typical of damsel women in horror movies, but her throat wouldn’t make the sound. She couldn’t bring herself to speak, much less scream. She couldn’t block out the sound of Applejack’s guts being rent and torn from her bones, or the gushing of her blood as it spilled out.

Rarity heard an awful shriek. She looked behind her, and Applejack – what was left of her – was gone. The bat was still pursuing her with bloodied jaws and claws, not content with just the one meal.

Rarity whipped the reins of her carriage to make it go faster. The stallions pulling the carriage sped up and ran fast as they could.

The bat grabbed the carriage in its talons, lifting it up. The reins stretched and snapped. The carriage pullers, frightened, took off galloping.

“Get back here, you cowards!” Rarity shouted. “Save me! Somepony save me!”

The bat reared its legs back and hurled the carriage. It smashed against the ground, shattering into a million pieces of splinters.

Rarity panted and huffed. She tried to crawl away, but the shadow of the bat fell over her.

“No, no,” Rarity turned around and raised her hoof. She saw the bat’s face staring down at her with its horrible red eyes. “I’m too pretty to go out like this!”

There was a shout, and another figure, a pony, flew in from nowhere and jumped kick the giant bat in the face, knocking out its teeth. It was pushed off to the side away.

Rarity closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come, her teeth chattering as she shook in fear.

“Hey,” Baroness Crimson’s voice said. “Hey, Rarity.”

“Huh?”

“Shh. Shh.” Crimson took Rarity’s off and rubbed it up and down. “It’s all right. I saved you from the big bat monster.“

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Rarity took Crimson’s hoof and kissed it. “I don’t know how I can
ever thank you enough for this!”

“Don’t you worry about it,” Crimson said. “After all, I know.,” she said with a smirk.

“Applejack,” Rarity remembered. “What about Applejack?” Is she-”

“Gone, I’m afraid,” Crimson said. “But that’s no reason to worry. We can always bring her back. We can always bring any of them back.” Her red eyes glowed a sharp pink color. “But there is a slight cost. I’m going to need you to do something for me.”

“Anything!” Rarity said. She fell to her knees, putting her hooves together. “Anything to get my friend back.”

“I was hoping you might say that,” Crimson said. “Get down on the ground for me.”

“O … kay?” Rarity complied, not sure how this was supposed to help.

“Pull down on your collar,” Crimson said, walking over to the side of her.

Rarity followed as instructed.

“Now, let me in.”

“Let you in? You just saved my life, of course you can come in. Wait, what do you mean by-”

Crimson bit down hard on Rarity’s neck. Rarity felt an orgasmic pleasure surge through her. She moaned, kicking her legs up and down as Crimson gave her a hickey. One that probably wouldn’t go away for some time.

Rarity kicked and shook, her breath getting deep, heavy, strained. She felt like she was losing weight. That was some sort of inferior, boneless, gelatinous creature, and that this was a longstanding problem that Crimson was about to fix for her. Oh, it felt so good. She was so heavy, but now Crimson was taking the weight away, Crimson was making her lighter than air, light enough to walk on sunshine, light enough to carry herself on the wind. And the pleasure.

The pleasure was so strange yet so desirable, an odd mix of physical stimulus and mental pleasure. It was like her mind was about to explode in on herself, and then she and Crimson could be together and she wouldn’t have to worry about her pesky thoughts and -

And then Rarity woke up.

Rarity jumped upright in her head, breath heavy, her heart pounding like a jackhammer in her chest. She crossed her hooves over her chest as she tried to calm down.

“Just a dream,” Rarity fiddled with her hooves. “That’s all it was, Rarity. Just a very bad dream. Yes … a bad dream.”

Yet no matter how many times she repeated it to herself, Rarity couldn’t quite convince herself of it. It seemed obviously a dream at first, but towards the end, it felt far too vivid.

Far too real for her comfort.

Rarity wanted to know the time, ideally to learn it was morning and she could go justify not going back to sleep at all for several hours, but there were no clocks in the room, or any windows for her to be able to tell the position of the sun. Or the moon, as it may be.

“Perhaps I’ll go for a walk regardless,” Rarity tossed her sheet covers off and headed out of the bedroom. The click the lock made seemed to be one of the loudest sounds she had ever heard. “Maybe Crimson will be up at this hour and we can talk about her dress. Anything to get my mind off that ...” she shuddered just thinking about it. “That horrid nightmare.”

She stepped out into the halls. It was dark, but she couldn’t tell if it was because it was night out or there were no lights on.

“Hello?” Rarity called, her voice echoing through the hall. “Is anypony up? I understand if you’re still asleep, but I could really use somepony to talk to! I just had the most awful dream and can’t sleep … I don’t want to go back to bed. Hello?”

"Hello?" Rarity called again. The eerie silence that answered her did nothing to comfort her riled-up nerves.

"Rarity?"

Rarity yelped and flailed, raising her hooves in front of her to protect herself from whatever threat it might been. However, it was only Baroness Crimson, holding up a three-pronged candle for light.

"What are you doing up at this time of night?" Baroness Crimson asked with concern.

"Oh, nothing, nothing, it's just ... I had a tiny wee bit of a bad dream, and I can't bring myself to go back to bed."

"That must have been some bad dream!"

"Yes, quite." Rarity blinked. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"

"It's my own house. Can't a lady walk around her home without being interrogated?"

"I suppose so," Rarity. "Pardon my rudeness. It's just that ..."

"Just that what?"

Rarity looked away.

"Tell me, Rarity, just that what?" Crimson asked, moving towards Rarity, the lights of the candles flickering around her face.

"It's just that my friend Applejack thinks you're keeping something from us," Rarity said, admitting to it. "That you have some sort of secret you don't want us to find out about."

"What if I was?" Crimson asked, eyes narrow. "What if I did have a secret I didn't want you two finding out about? Don't you two have any secrets you keep from each other?"

"No!"

Crimson looked like she did not believe this for one second.

"Well, perhaps there's a few things we don't know about each other, but we've been very good friends for some time, and if there's something we didn't want to tell the other about ourselves, I'm sure they would understand we weren't comfortable with it."

"Right, exactly," Crimson said. "So would you begrudge a little old lady like me her secrets?"

"No, no, no, of course not!" Rarity insisted. "I imagine a fine lady who lives to your ripe old must have acquired plenty of secrets over the years. It's just ..."

"'Just'?"

"Just that we think one of those secrets might that you're, I don't know, a vampire or something!"

"A vampire?" Crimson said, amused. "Me? You think so?"

"You must admit, the pale skin, black clothing, red eyes, old mansion far away from most major towns, and bat wings don't help with that conclusion."

Baroness Crimson chuckled. "If if I was a vampire, wouldn't I avoid sunlight? Not just sunlight, but fire as well?" She gestured with her candles, the flames performing a swaying dance as she did.

"I suppose so," Rarity said.

"Tell you what," Crimson placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder, "why don't you walk with me for awhile? At least until we find something to make you forget about your nightmare?"

"Yes!" Rarity nodded eagerly. "Why don't we do exactly like that? Lead the way, Baroness." She bowed.

Crimson chuckled. "There's no need to be so formal."

"No? But weren't you taking Applejack to task for her lack of manners earlier?"

"That was during the day, when I have to be much more careful about the rules of etiquette I'm seen to follow, lest some of my ... less altruistic friends see my lapse and start ... gossiping. You're a savvy pony, aren't you, Rarity? Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

"Yes, I believe I do," Rarity said. "Keeping up appearances is a must for distinguished ladies like ourselves, after all."

"Right, exactly. Besides, even though you've only been here a day, I already feel very ... familiar with you, so I hope you don't begrudge me granting you the privilege of being slightly less formal around me."

"Begrudge you?" Rarity laughed, waving her hoof around. "Why in Equestria would someone in their right mind would begrudge you for giving them permission to be less formal?"

Outwardly, Rarity was laughing, but inward, she was still shaking and shivering from the nightmare. She recalled how Crimson appeared to rescue her, but not until after the monster
finished dismembering Applejack.

Rarity hoped that wasn't a sign of things to come, a portent. She hoped it was just a bad dream brought about by sleeping in an unfamiliar place after a long time spent on the road. She'd hate for something to happen to Applejack and hurt her.

Worse yet, she'd hate for Applejack to be right. The stream of "I told you so" that would flow from Applejack's mouth would never dry out.

Still, something about the way Crimson said the word 'familiar' put a chill down her spine.

"So, how long have you been living here in this mansion?" Rarity asked as she followed Baroness Crimson through the hallway, the candlelight that fell on the walls their only source of light.

"For some time," Crimson said. "My family has lived in this castle for generations. I am the latest heir, and the longest-lived. I've tended to this castle and ensure its continued smooth operation during my time here. With the help of my servants, of course."

"Fascinating," Rarity said. "You said longest-lived? You don't seem all that old. Did something happen to your other family members? Are you prone to a particular disease?"

"Something like that, yes," Crimson muttered. "Myself in particular, I've been living with my disease for a very long time."

"Oh my. That sounds horrible."

"You get used to it. Find ways around it."

"What is it?"

Crimson stopped in her tracks. "I'm sorry?"

"Your disease. What is it? What disease do you and your family have? I'm sorry, perhaps I shouldn't be asking a question that's so personal." Rarity scuffed a hoof on the carpet.

"Ah, yes, I see. No, no, it's quite fine to ask. It varies. Sometimes our conditions skip a generation from one to the next. As for me, I have a blood condition."

"Like diabetes?" Rarity asked while turning her head to look at a painting. She couldn't make out the details in the corridor, but it appeared to be one of Crimson herself.

"Yes, like diabetes, I suppose," Crimson said. "I have to maintain a very particular diet, or I will grow ..." she seemed to about to say one word, then swapped it at the last second for a different one. "Fat."

Rarity chuckled.

"What is it now?"

"Sorry, it's just ... it almost makes it sound you really are a vampire!"

"I thought we already had this discussion," Crimson said irritably.

"Right, right, I'm sorry, I won't bring it up again. Oh! Say, darling, I just had a marvelous idea!"

"Oh? What idea would that be?"

"Since I'm up, and you're up, why don't we go ahead and get started on your dress?" Rarity clapped her hooves. "Oh, it'll be perfect. Just you, me, my measuring tape and fabric, without that stinky old Applejack to disturb us and rain on our parade!"

"Yes, why don't we?" Baroness Crimson said with an easy smile.

"Wait right here," Rarity said. "I'll be right back with my materials."

"You do that."

Rarity raced off to her room, fetched everything she needed out of her trunk, then returned to where she left Crimson, who had a neutral expression on her face.

"Now hold still," Rarity said. "This may tickle at first, but it's very important you don't move or the measurements will be off. Stay absolutely still." Rarity levitated her measuring tape and wound it around Crimon's back and torso. Crimson made no reaction.

"Oh, silly me, what am I thinking?" Rarity slapped herself on the side of her head. "Darling, I'm going to have to ask you to undress for me. If I measure you while you're in that, I'm going to add an extra half-inch that will ruin the dress! Darling?"

Crimson did not reply.

"Baroness? Yoo-hoo? Baroness Crimson? Anypony home?" She knocked on Baroness Crimson's head without getting a response. She felt cold to the touch, as if she'd been put into an ice chest recently.

"Oh no," Rarity said. "She's not - oh, please don't be dead, please don't be-"

Rarity closed her eyes. When she opened them, Baroness Crimson was gone without a trace, as was the light she and her candles provided. Not even her clothes remained. The measuring tape lay on the floor. Rarity could feel it wrapped around her ankles.

"What?" Rarity blinked again several times. "I must be seeing things."

She heard a noise. A clatter of some kind, followed by a whoosh from a sliding panel.

She looked around and there was an open door in the hallway. An orange light was coming from it, and it showed there was a strip of cloth resting in front of the door that matched Crimson’s dress.

"Crimson?" Rarity called. "Crimson! Are you in there? Are you okay?"

Rarity went up to the door and felt compelled go inside. It lead to a series of stairs.

It's a bad idea, a voice in her head spoke to her. Applejack's right. There's something not kosher about your lady friend or this castle.

But, another voice said, don't you want to look? To check? To know that she's okay? Better yet, don't you want to know what's down there? Aren't you curious?

Hey, who are you?

Scram, Tiny. I'm encouraging over here.

"Yes," Rarity said slowly, as if in a trance. "I want go down there. I want to check. I want to see and I want to know."

With a stilted movement as if her body was a marionette on strings, Rarity went down the first step. She continued going down the steps, almost feeling as if she wasn't entirely walking down on her own. As if someone was pushing her body and doing it for her.

The staircase was a spiral one, and the orange light was coming off from torches on the wall, hoisted by metal brackets. The staircase and the walls around it were unusual compared to the rest of the castle. The rest of the castle was obviously built, but these steps looked to be carved out of stone from a cave that dug deep down.

The room filled Rarity with unease, yet she pressed on, driven by a need to know, to confirm what was down here, either her worst suspicions or solid irrefutable evidence that Baroness Crimson was a perfectly normal aristocrat, thank you, one who just happened to live out in the country, and there was nothing to worry about, no thanks to you, Applejack.

Every step eroded her hope of finding evidence for the second conclusion.

At long last, after going down several stairs, Rarity reached the bottom. It lead to another room, one with an empty doorway and no light inside, though it seemed to be built rather carved like the stairs leading up to.

Rarity felt around for a light switch. She found one, and gasped at what it revealed.

All around the room were mirrors piled on top of mirrors, all of difference sizes and shapes. Hand mirrors, bathroom mirrors, the mirror from the vanity. Some of them were cracked. Others were in pristine condition. But all of them stacked with the same careless abandon, no matter how valuable they might have been, as if the person who tossed them here held contempt for their very existence without being able to bring themselves to destroy them completely.

"So," Baroness Crimson' spoke behind Rarity, spooking Rarity witless as Crimson came down the stairs. "You found my secret stash."

“You have so many mirrors down here,” Rarity said. “Why is that, Crimson?”

“I keep a collection,” Crimson said as she walked down the steps. “Some ponies collect stamps. I collect mirrors. I just love the design that goes into them. The way their reflective surfaces work … it’s like looking into another reality, don’t you think? Another version of yourself. The mirror ...” She raised a hoof towards one mirror set inside a blue diamond case. “The mirror shows much, doesn’t it? They say a reflection reveals your true self.”

“So I’ve heard,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes before looking at her reflection in the mirror that was removed from the vanity in her guest room. “I must admit, that sort of philosophic meandering is more Twilight’s forte. Me, I much prefer to live in the room of the material, and what I know I can feel.”

“Really?” Crimson said. She walked up to Rarity and stood in front of the mirror. Rarity didn’t notice the lack of Crimson’s reflection. “And what do you feel, Rarity?”

“I feel … beautiful,” Rarity said. She bounced one of her curls.

“You do?” Crimson said, slinking up closer to Rarity. “Tell me more. Tell me all about it.” She wrapped her forelegs around Rarity’s neck. “Tell me all about how beautiful you feel.”
“I feel … very beautiful,” Rarity said. Her eyelids blinked slowly, and she didn’t realize she’d fallen under the mirror’s spell. “I feel gorgeous. Like my beauty could last forever ...” she whipped her hair around.

“And it can last forever, can’t it?” Crimson said.

“No,” Rarity said, becoming depressed at the cruel reminder of reality. “One day, I will grow old, and my beauty will fade. Try as I might to fight it, it will happen. There’s only so much that wrinkle cream and eyeliner can do for you, and I will one day pass the point where any makeup is any help to me whatsoever.”

“What if – just hear me out now, Rarity, for I have a crazy idea, what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if your beauty didn’t have to fade?”

“That’s not possible,” Rarity said, her eyes still stuck on the mirror. “Everything fades. Everything ages, fades, wilts and rots away.”

“Not us,” Crimson whispered. “Not if we don’t want it to. There is a way, Rarity. I can show you the way … but you have to agree to join me.”

“Yes,” Rarity said, infatuated with her reflection in the mirror. This was how she wanted to look.
This is how she always wanted to look,no matter if she got as old as Granny Smith, or even Celestia. This appearance she had, right now, in this mirror … this was how she wanted to be remembered as looking.

“Will you join me?” Crimson breathed, sensually rubbing her hoof around Rarity’s neck.
Rarity blinked again, feeling as if she was already in a deep sleep and this was just another dream, although one much more pleasant than her previous nightmare.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll join you.”

“Excellent.”

A red mist filled the room. The mist spread and grew, covering up the room, turning a darker color until it seemed to Rarity as if the room was filled with blood-red water. It was too thin and transparent to be blood.

“Pull down your collar for me,” Crimson whispered. “Pull down your collar, Rarity.”

Rarity tried to lift her hoof. It was a slow and heavy movement, like she was wading through molasses. She put her hoof down, instead opting to use her unicorn magic to pry apart the collar of her nightgown, ripping it without a care in the world – so unlike her normal self, who objected to any violence done to any fabric, no matter how unfashionable.

Rarity groaned. She became of aware of just how heavy she was really was. How every part of her body was filled with blood. Pulsing, coursing, pumping, disgusting blood running through her veins. She could feel the weight of each and every individual blood cell. It was like her body was filled up with chains.

“Ugh.”

Rarity groaned and sank to the floor, splaying out her legs.

Crimson run a hoof over Rarity’s flank, rubbing it to appreciate Rarity’s body and her meal.

“I’m so glad you came,” Crimson whispered. “I don’t know what I would have done without you if you hadn’t. I’ve been so lonely … so hungry these last few months. Normally, I have my servants collect something for me, but as I said, they’re on vacation … I think a few of them don’t intend to come back. I think that they think they know who and what I am. But they’ll come back. They’ll always come back. Because they don’t know what I am, not really, or they wouldn’t have bothered to try this charade of running away. Because deep down, they know … I am their mistress. Rarity. Who am I, what am I, to you?”

“My mistress,” Rarity answered. By the old gods of Equestria, she wished Crimson would just get it over with. She felt so full, so thick, like a pastry filled to the brim with strawberry jam. It wasn’t right. Her neck was cold and sensitive. Frigid, senseless. She needed Crimson to bite her. She needed Crimson to strike and sink her teeth into her neck, pierce it to the bone, and drink deeply of the rare wine beneath her skin. Only then would Rarity feel again. Only then would Rarity feel alive again.

“Are you ready, my sweet?”

“Oh yes,” Rarity moaned. “I’m so ready, mistress. I’ve been ready for the last five minutes.”

“I just wanted to make sure before I did anything … drastic,” Crimson said, curling her lips into a smile and showing her sharp fangs. A tiny spec of blood dripped from one of her canines. She had fed recently.

“Wait,” Rarity said, her eyes going wide. “What about Applejack? We can’t just leave her here in the castle, all alone. How is she going to get back to Ponyville?”

“What makes you think she wants to get back to Ponyville?”

“She loves her family. And her farm. She’d die before she abandoned either of them.”

Crimson chuckled. “And so she shall. Trust me, Rarity.” Crimson stroked Rarity’s mane. “I have it on good authority that as much as she loves those things, she loves you more.”

“Applejack … loves … me?” Rarity asked, confused. That didn’t make any sense. Applejack had shown no romantic interest in, well, anypony, as far as Rarity knew. Much less one of her closest friends. She possessed all the subtlety of a mallet to the forehead; if she was attracted to, let alone in love with Rarity, she’d have shown it before now.

“Oh yes, yes,” Crimson said. “Deeply in love with you, for oh so very long. She’s never said anything about it, of course, because she has a reputation to uphold, just like you do. But she wants you, Rarity. She needs you. And you need her. And you two shall have each other if I have anything to say about it. And I do. Look.”

Crimson grabbed the scruff of Rarity’s neck and hefted her up. Rarity’s eyes drifted over to the mirror in front of her, the one from the vanity in the guest room.

In it, she saw herself the way she was in her nightmare, and the way Applejack was. They were standing together, next to each other. Applejack reached out a leg and hooked it around Rarity’s neck. She looked to Rarity with a smile, and it struck Rarity how they were in this reflection.

They weren’t just close. They weren’t just friends. They were lovers.

Her reflection turned to Applejack, and they kissed.

“That could be you,” Crimson said. “That could be you two, together. I’m sure it would be easy to convince Applejack to join us once you’re on board.”

“Yes,” Rarity nodded. Somewhere in some dimmed, dulled part of her mind, she recognized the dream imagery in her mirror and realized that the entire sequence, from beginning to end, was something Crimson had put her in her head, so she would wake up in fright and be easy to seduce, charm, and lead astray.

But that was a blunted realization meant more for some future Rarity who was awake and alert to digest it.

This present Rarity was drowsy, sleepy, hypnotized, and utterly in Crimson’s thrall. All she wanted was to let her blood out for Crimson to drink, and then to swoop down and drag Applejack into her arms and sweep Applejack off her hooves. The three of them. Together. It sounded so lovely Rarity couldn’t stop thinking about the idea. It made her smile.

“Let’s do a little fixup to that, shall we?” Crimson said. The image in the mirrored wavered and flickered. When it cleared up, Crimson was standing between Rarity and Applejack, and they were nuzzling and cuddling each other, Rarity and Applejack’s noses pressed against Name’s cheeks. “There. Doesn’t that look better? Doesn’t that look like what we should be?”

“Yes,” Rarity said. “Yes, it does! It looks exactly how we should be!”

"Let's get down to it, shall we?" Crimson said. "No more teasing, no more foreplay or dragging it out ... just ..."

Crimson exhaled sharply. She bit down into Rarity's neck, blood splattering from Rarity's veins as she punctured into the pale white flesh that awaited her.

Rarity's blood pooled on the floor beneath her. Despite that in theory, this should be something horrible that Rarity hated and objected to, something that should make her feel pain, it felt ... wonderful.

That heavy feeling, that feeling like molasses she'd been dealing with and fighting since Crimson locked eyes with her, began to go away. Her limbs went number, yet, they felt more alive than they had been for the last several ... it felt like years, even though she knew she'd only been here for a few minutes. Half an hour at the most.

It felt so good, so relieving. Rarity moaned, blinking her eyes. She was slipping further and further away into darkness. Into ... something.

"Oh ... darling," Rarity mumbled, trying to get out a more complete sentence and found she couldn't. She just ... couldn't. She felt her pooling blood piled up beneath her neck, making it cool and wet and slick.

A voice in the back of her head told her this has been planned. She'd been tricked and trapped and lured her, and Baroness Crimson never needed a new dress for her at all. It was all just a ploy to get her here.

Ooh, but she didn't care. She felt wonderful. She felt like her mind was orgasming on a higher plane of existence than her body could sustain. If this was what it felt like to have a vampire drain her blood, she would happily let Crimson drain her dry over and over again.

Rarity blinked again, her eyelids moving slowly. She glanced up at the mirror. Whatever fear she might have still had dissipated as she saw the image of her, Applejack, and Crimson living together, standing next to each other, loving each other, being a wonderful polyamorous trio, she and Applejack the lovely, dedicated servants of Crimson, their mistress of the night.

Rarity blinked again. And again. Until she closed her eyes and was unable to open them again. She didn't mind. She was ready to let the darkness take her.

Crimson thumped her back hoof, experiencing an orgasmic joy of her own. She felt like her cunt was winking, even though it had been years since any fluid passed through her body. Such was a benefit of being a vampire; dry orgasms during the bloodletting. Granted, she couldn't make her partners drink her cum like she sometimes liked to do when she was alive, but the tradeoff was there was never any cleanup. A fair trade.

Well, no cleanup except for the blood that sometimes spilled out of her prey.

"Goodness, what a mess," Crimson reflected, seeing the pool of blood that formed around Rarity's body during their little session.

"Worth it, though," Crimson wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Your blood was exquisite, Rarity. Do you eat a lot of iron in your diet? I can't remember the last time I ate this well."

Crimson paced around the room. "It really was only good luck and circumstance that led to become aware of you in the first place. I mean, can you imagine my surprise when I'm just going for somewhere to hunt for prey when I get a vision of my other self? The one on the other side of the mirror? The odd ... monkey versions of ourselves with fingers? Oh, you must know about them. I'm sure Twilight Sparkle told you all about them during her trip over there. Anyway, my counterpart contacted me and told me everything her Twilight and Trixie knew about you, the mirror, and your friends. Naturally, she didn't fancy the idea of a powerful magic user like Princess Twilight coming through the mirror and helping her friends to rescue her new thralls from her, so we agreed to come up with a distraction. We know her weakness and her strength is her friends, so I invited you here to get you away. Divide and conquer, I believe is the term. I couldn't believe my luck when you didn't just show up by yourself, but with another one of Twilight's friends! Oh yes, we're going to be having fun tonight, you and me ..."

Crimson spun around and saw Rarity's sleeping body.

"Oh, yes, that's right," Crimson said, "perhaps you might appreciate my evil gloating more if you were, you know, awake to hear it." She walked over to Rarity, pressed a hoof on Rarity's neck, and whispered into her ear. "Rise."

Rarity's eyes snapped open, her diamond blue eyes replaced with ruby red irises, and her purple mane became pale. She got to her feet with remarkable ease for a recently risen vampire.

"Now," Crimson said, "I believe you expressed the desire to include Applejack in our little soiree?"

"Yes," Rarity said. "She and the others will join us very soon."

Author's Note

Special thanks to Trepphacs for suggesting "Crimson Veil" as the vampire's name. I had, like, no idea what to call her before that.

And as always, a shout out to my Patrons:

Trepphacs
LazyReader19
Facinus
Thehock1
MyMaskofShame
Captain Croisandwich

Apple Juice

Applejack awoke the next morning and immediately regarded her room with suspicions, scanning the room with her eyes to see if something had changed about between when she had gone to bed and when she awoke.

She didn't notice anything at first, and so felt comfortable stepping over the side of her bed and getting onto the floor.

Her instinctive distrust of the place had not entirely gone away, however. Just because she managed to sleep through one night without dreaming of squiddy gibberish-speaking abominations or waking up to find her limbs cut off did not mean Rarity was entitled to her I Told You So just yet.

"Rarity?" Applejack called. She left her room and went into the hall. "Rarity!"

Her call echoed through the empty ambient hall. There was no answer.

Applejack's first thought was to be suspicious, skeptical, to take this as confirmation that something strange and sinister was afoot and Rarity had run afoul of it.

But there was a logical side to Applejack, as rare it was that it came out, and it told her that the mansion was a big place. It was entirely reasonable that Rarity might not have heard her from so far.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "I'm sure that's it."

She glanced up and saw a statue of a bat perched on the rafter.

"Yeah, and my name's Orange Juice Von Cinnamon," she added. "Rarity!" she called out hoarsely, trying to avoid catching Crimson Veil’s attention. Her hope was to find Rarity, grab her, and then hoof it and get as far away as from this mansion as possible. Maybe even leave an apology note to Crimson for not finishing her dress so as to pretend Applejack wasn't onto her.

"Rarity," Applejack said again.

"Yes, darling?"

Applejack nearly jumped out of her skin when Rarity popped up behind her.

"Lands' sakes, Rarity, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"How would you prefer I sneak up on you?" Rarity asked. "Like this? Or maybe more like this?" she struck an overly dramatic pose each time.

"None of the above! I would prefer if you not sneak up on me at all!"

"Yet, I seem to recall that you were asking for me," Rarity said. "And I was behind you, it seemed only prudent to make my presence. Or would you have preferred that I let you be alone and walk all the way to the end of the hall and back before you found me standing here?"

"I don't know! Maybe!" Applejack said. She sighed. "Look, Rarity, I've said it once, I'll say it again, this place gives me the creeps, and I don't trust that Crimson gal is being entirely honest with us."

"Probably not. After all, would you spill to your deepest darkest secrets to a pair of ponies you just met? Especially when you're trying to hire of them as a professional to do a job?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Applejack said. "Look, Rarity, all I want is to hear you say that we can leave."

"Okay," Rarity said. "We can leave."

"Wha-really?"

"After I finish Crimson’s dress for her," Rarity added, sticking her hoof into Applejack's nose.

Applejack sighed. "Fine. But then right after that, we split. No complaining. No delaying. No dilly-dallying. Just you and me getting out of here as fast as possible."

"If that's what makes you happy," Rarity said airily.

"That is what will make me happy," Applejack insisted with a growl.

“Mind your tone,” Rarity said. “It’s unseemly to growl when you’re a guest in someone’s home.”

Applejack scoffed.

"Now, why don't we go and have a nice breakfast?" Rarity suggested. "Perhaps you'll find some of the edge taken off after you eat something."

"Yeah, maybe," Applejack said. She raised an eyebrow. "We're not going to eat, like, fried vampire fruit bats or something, are we?"

"I don't know. Is that what you want?" Rarity asked, tilting her head and causing some of her mane to fall over her eye in a seductive manner.

"No!" Applejack said. "I just want a normal breakfast."

"Your will be done," Rarity said with a joking tone.

Applejack rolled her eyes, but followed Rarity into the kitchen, where Crimson Veil was standing around in a cooking apron, with a steaming pile of hash browns and eggs waiting on plates set up on the table.

"See? Now this is more like it," Applejack said, pleased at the meal. She took a seat and stared at her food, ready to dig in until the last second.

"What's wrong, Applejack?" Crimson Veil said. "Not a fan of hash browns?"

"No, no, it's not that," Applejack said. "It's just ..."

"Just what?" Rarity reached over and poked Applejack in the shoulder. "You're afraid the food's been poisoned? That maybe we've mixed a bit of potion into you that's going to turn into a timberwolf?"

"No! ... Maybe," Applejack admitted, unable to bring herself to lie to their faces, even if she was still suspicious of Crimson.

"Tell you what," Rarity said, "why don't I take a bite, and then if nothing happens, you'll know the food is fine?"

Rarity used her unicorn telekinesis to take a bite of hash browns with her fork, eat it, chew, and swallow.

"Tastes fine to me," Rarity said as she dabbed at her face with a napkin.

"Good enough for me," Applejack said, relaxing. She picked up her silverware with her hooves. "I trust you, Rarity."

"I know, darling," Rarity tapped Applejack on the back. "After all, that's what friends are for."

Applejack happily went to work eating her plate. Once she gotten over her fear, she found Crimson Veil was a good cook. Maybe not as good as anypony in her family, but she knew a decent hash browns when she tasted it.

She was too enthused with her food to notice that after her initial demonstration to prove the food wasn't poisoned, neither Rarity nor Crimson touched a bite on their plates.

Applejack chewed and swallowed, eying Rarity's plate. "You gonna eat that?"

Rarity politely pushed her plate over to Applejack, surrendering the food. Applejack proceeded to devour it.

"So, uh, Rarity," Applejack said, waving her hoof around, ignoring the bit of oatmeal that dripped from it, "when are you going to start working on that dress?"

"Soon, Applejack," Rarity said, glancing at Applejack with sharp, piercing eyes.

"Why do you ask?" Crimson asked.

"Because I told her we could leave when I finished it."

"Are you really so eager to leave?" Crimson asked. "I hope you don't have a mind to dine and dash. That's terribly rude, you know."

"Yes, terribly rude," Rarity agreed.

Applejack groaned. "I can tell you two are getting on like a barn on fire."

Crimson's eyes looked away from Applejack. So did Rarity's, but Applejack was still intent on Crimson and didn't notice Rarity.

"Yes, fire ..." Crimson mumbled. "Rarity, shall I show you around the mansion? There are several rooms I'd love to show you. I bet you might even have some ideas for improvements to the decor!"

"Why, I just might! Thank you for the opportunity. It's nice when somepony recognizes that somepony has a sense of style and lets them redecorate."

"Rarity, I told you, I'm not letting you put no frou-frou banners in my barn!" Applejack shouted. "Hey, wait a minute." She glared at them both with suspicion, then approached Rarity. "Rarity, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Why of course," Rarity said, turning to Applejack. "You can talk to me for several minutes, if that's what makes you happy."

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, then looked over at Crimson, who was swirling a glass of orange juice in her hoof.

"Alone?" Applejack said.

"Fine by me," Crimson said. "I know when I'm not wanted. I also know when I am wanted." She gave a flirty wink and sauntered, disappearing into the darkness of a nearby hallway. To Applejack, the whole mansion seemed to be built of nothing but hallways with occasional stops for necessary rooms like the kitchen and bathroom.

"What did you want to talk about that you didn't want my new friend to hear, Applejack?" Rarity asked with concern, taking a sip of orange juice. Applejack took no notice of the dissatisfied expression drinking it put on her face.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, Rarity," Applejack said. "Y'all barely know this pony. You just met yesterday, and now you're all buddy-buddy with her like you've known each other for years!"

"Perhaps I have known her for years and simply neglected to mention that information to you," Rarity said. "Remember that whole Colutura fiasco, when you had a friend you didn't mention for years? Or Fluttershy's brother?"

"This ain't the same thing."

"How do you know?"

"I ... I just do, all right?" Applejack said. "I'm the Element of Honesty, aren't I? That means I can tell when ponies are lying or hiding the truth, and I'm telling you, Crimson Veil is hiding something!"

"We are all hiding something from someone or another, are we not?" Rarity said mysteriously, much to Applejack's chagrin. "Furthermore, I do not believe simply having the Element of Honesty makes you capable of that. If that was how it worked, Pinkie would be able to make ponies laugh by touching them, and I could give away everything I own without the slightest hint of parting regret."

"Couldn't you?" Applejack asked, brow raised.

"Well, not without a little bit of regret," Rarity said, "And the promise I'd be able to get it all or replace it eventually."

Applejack shook her head. "This conversation is getting nowhere."

"I can agree with that."

"Forget it," Applejack waved her hoof. "Just go and make your stupid dress so we can get out of here, and when Crimson Veil, I don't know, turns into a giant snake or something, I can point at you and laugh and say 'I told you so'!"

"Yes," Rarity said, glancing away from the window, where the sunbeams had begun to shun through. "Or something. Oh, and Applejack? One more thing."

"What is it now?"

"Language," Rarity said. "I'll not have you call Crimson's dress 'stupid' again."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll try to be a little more sensitive in the future, since you two can't seem to handle hearing a pony say so much as one of Granny Smith's old-timey swears!"

Applejack finally left the room.

Rarity watched her go with prying eyes, then took another dissatisfactory sip of orange juice.

The sunlight grew closer and closer in, and Rarity hissed and winced as the sunlight brought a sizzle to her skin. She lifted up her morning gown, rushed over to the window, and pulled the curtains over.

"Oh, Crimson!" Rarity called. "I'm ready to see those rooms now!"

"Excellent," Crimson said, appearing as if from the air, startling Rarity.

"You must show me how to do that sometime," Rarity said after she got over her initial fright.

"In due time," Crimson said. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me what you think these rooms need? I have a spare walk-in closet that is just crying out for some color."

"I think I can help with that."

"Good. And ... what about Applejack? Can you help with her? Is she going to be ... difficult?"

"Applejack is always difficult, darling," Rarity said. "But after knowing her for so long, you start to learn a few tricks about how to deal with her general pigheadedness."

Crimson licked her lips at the mention of pigs.

Rarity found this odd.

"What? Pig's blood is good eating."

"I will have to take your word for it."

Not much eventful happened for the rest of the day, save for a few occasions when Applejack would knock on the door to the room where Rarity worked on the dress to check on her progress.

"Rarity," Applejack knocked, using her hoof and thump-thumping the door. "Rarity, are you in there? Can I come in?"

"Oh, very well, darling," Rarity said.

Applejack pushed the door open with a gentleness surprising coming from her. "Are you done working on the dress yet?"

"Applejack, for the last time, no, I am not done working on the dress yet," Rarity said, keeping sewing needles on a nearby pincushion as she sew together a black cloth dress that in Applejack's opinion, did not look like her best work.

"I will tell you when it is finished," Rarity said.

"Well, how long is that going to take?"

Rarity signed. "Applejack, how long did it take me to complete your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"I don't know."

"How many revisions did it go through?"

"I don't know that, either ... forty? You had to make a lot of changes to it."

"N-" Rarity was about to correct Applejack and tell her the proper number of two, but then she got a wonderful, awful idea.

"Yes, Applejack, that's right. Forty. Forty revisions. Forty changes. Forty times to have to start from scratch. So it took me a very long time. So, if I'm going to be able to finish Crimson's dress, I am going to need time, and I am going to need to be able to concentrate so I can get through those forty revisions, and I can't do that if you keep interrupting me, so please... just leave me alone to my work, and then the sooner I can finish it, and the sooner we can get out of here."

"Okay," Applejack said. "Sounds good to me."

"Good," Rarity said, locking eyes with Applejack.

Applejack felt an erotic shiver fly over her snatch from where she knew not. Deciding that was good a cue as any to leave, she did.

Applejack stepped outside. She walked around, pacing back and forth.

"Applejack, I can still hear you! Take your nervous pacing elsewhere, please!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Applejack said, and she went to go pace elsewhere.

"Ah, perfect," Rarity said after completing a stitch. She looked at the door to make sure it was close and listened intently for any sound of Applejack's hooves on the floor, then sniffed, putting her vampire nose to good use to track Applejack's scent. There was a hint of it there, but it was fading, not strong enough to be from Applejack herself, but from one of her many visits.

Assured she was alone, like Penelope in the Odyssey, Rarity began to unsew the dress.

It was some time later, after nightfall and after dinner, Applejack was preparing to go to bed. Taking a page from Rarity's book, she had dressed up in a nightgown, normally something she wouldn't ever bother with, but she had asked Rarity for help sleeping and it was what she suggested. And as much as Applejack could criticize Rarity for, one thing she couldn't was that Rarity did always seemed to have a blemish free face, clear of bags under her eyes or bloodshot within them.

Unless she was having one of her workaholic periods.

Or it was just the makeup.

This time, Applejack did notice that Rarity and Crimson Veil barely touched their food, but when she pointed it out, they proceeded to eat mostly normally, if it a bit slow for Applejack's tastes. They had a hay steak and red wine, which was not the best pairing in Applejack's opinion, but it washed down with a bit of vanilla ice cream easily enough.

Applejack crawled into her bed and was ready to start trying to get to sleep when she was startled by a loud clanging noise that made her jump out of her bed and nearly launch herself straight into the ceiling.

"What was that?" Applejack asked.

She received no reply, and took a deep breath and wiped off the sweat that formed on her forehead.

"Easy there, girl," Applejack said. "You're being ridiculous. It's nothing to worry about. It's a big mansion. I bet Rarity probably just dropped a piano or something." (why Rarity would have been carrying a piano at all was a piece of logic she was not concerned with in her effort to calm herself down).

"It's nothing. You're just a little jumpy because you don't trust Crimson, and you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yeah, that's it."

Applejack made another attempt to go under her covers, but a loud shriek like from a swarm of bats speaking in one voice alarmed her and made her scramble and fall of the bed.

On the cold hard floor, Applejack's mind went to work with terrible possibilities. Perhaps the other shoe had dropped. Perhaps the clang she heard was Crimson Veil bludgeoning out Rarity's brains with an old trophy, and the shriek was the cackle she made afterward, or the appreciative hum of a carnivorous monster she was now feeding Rarity's remains to.

With this fear in mind, Applejack bolted out the door.

"Don't worry, Rarity, I'm coming!"

Applejack charged. Unfortunately, she charged off the bed and into the floor, getting herself caught in the sheets.

“Applejack?” Rarity asked, opening the door softly, holding up an unlit candle which she placed on the nightstand. She realized the discrepancy, and waved her hoof over it, making the wick come alight to keep Applejack from seeing it before tending to her friend.

“Are you all right, darling?” Rarity helped to untangle Applejack from the bed sheets, which had gotten tangled around her body in the course of her fall. “Whatever in the world happened?”

“I was, uh,” Applejack said as she stood upright. She kicked a leg out into the air and pumped it up and down. “Just doing my stretching exercises. You know. Keep the muscles sharp. It’s not my fault that Crimson put this bed smack dab in the middle of the room and I bumped into it.”

“Really?” Rarity asked, winding the sheet through her hooves. “Because it looks more like to me like you fell off the bed.”

Applejack looked away from Rarity. She sighed. “You’re right, Rarity. I can’t lie to you. I did fall off.”

“Whatever for?” Rarity asked. “More importantly, are you okay? Do we need to ask Crimson to get you another bed, one lower to the ground?” She put a hoof on Applejack’s back, and Applejack was struck by how cold it was. Not enough heat in the old building, she figured.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Applejack insisted, swatting Rarity’s hoof off before the chill got to her. “I just ...”

“Just what?”

Applejack got that look on her face Rarity recognized as her not wanting to admit what she did.

“Applejack, if you’re hurting … or if there’s something bothering you – other than being here in general, I mean – I would like to know.” She ran her hoof comfortingly over the back of Applejack’s neck and shoulders.

"Applejack, darling," Rarity said, "I think maybe you should go back to bed."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Rarity helped Applejack onto the bed, making sure she didn't fall over again.

"You poor darling," Rarity said, giving Applejack a comforting rub across Applejack's Cutie Mark. Applejack felt a shiver go through her, her Cutie Mark proving unexpectedly sensitive, even with Rarity's cold hoof.

"Being here is just being absolutely awful for your health, isn't it?" Rarity asked, sympathy shining in her eyes.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "I want to go home. I want us to get out of here."

"Well, I think we've labored the reasons why I can't do that enough already," Rarity said, "but I think we can arrange for you to go home back to Ponyville first thing tomorrow morning."

"What? No, no, Rarity, I can't do that," Applejack said. "I've already told you, if I left and then Crimson revealed her true colors and did something awful to you because I wasn't there to protect ya ... why, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself."

Rarity's eyes shifted over to the corner of the room.

"Tell you what, Applejack; why don't we write a letter to Rainbow Dash and she can come get you with a chariot, or Twilight with her hot air balloon, and then they can stay here while you go back home? That way, we still have someone here to watch over me, but you can get out of this, and I quote, creepy mansion, and I can keep working on Crimson Veil's dress."

"Gosh, Rarity," Applejack said, "that's mighty generous of you."

"I think you were the one who started to trying to bring the Elements of Harmony into the conversation?" Rarity giggled.

"Huh, yeah," Applejack said. "I tell ya, I might feel better if I had my Element on me." She tapped at her bare and empty neck.

"Even though it would be useless by itself?" Rarity asked with a quizzical tilt of her head.

Applejack chuckled. "Well, it's got a good hefty gemstone in it, doesn't it? Could just take it and bonk someone over the head with it, right?"

"I suppose you could, though it seems like a waste of a perfectly good gemstone to me," Rarity said. She pawed at the sheet with her hoof. "Applejack? Might I climb up onto the bed with you?"

"That's an interesting request," Applejack said.

"Please?" Rarity said, locking eyes with Applejack, and Applejack felt an oddly pleasant chill run through the back of her head. "I do so think you would sleep better with somepony close by your side."

"Yeah," Applejack nodded, scooting off to the side to make room for Rarity. "I probably would."

Rarity climbed up onto the bed. To Applejack, she seemed a little ... slow going up, like an old dog, but she attributed to Rarity just being out of shape from being cooped inside all day, not like her, who got plenty of exercise working on a farm.

Rarity tucked herself in under the covers, right next to Applejack. She leaned over and kept her eyes on Applejack.

"Gosh, Rarity," Applejack said, as the flames of the nearby candle cast a wavering, dancing light across Rarity's face, "you sure are pretty tonight."

"Oh, of course I am, darling," Rarity said. "Wait, what do you mean, tonight?"

Applejack guffawed.

"I don't know. There's just ... something about your face ..."

Without being fully cognizant of what she was doing, Applejack reached out to touch Rarity's face.

Rarity put her hoof out and caught Applejack's with it, and they held hooves together tenderly for a moment before Applejack regained her composure, quickly pulling away and coughing her throat.

"Oh, come now, Applejack," Rarity said. She leaned forward and whispered into Rarity's ear. "Embrace me."

"Oh ... okay," Applejack muttered. She shifted on the bed and wrapped her arms around Rarity.

"Yes, darling, that's it. Come close. Give me your warmth..."

"Mm-hmm," Applejack said, getting increasingly uncomfortable. Rarity felt so cold to the touch.

"Rarity, why are you so cold?"

“I’ve been out in the hallway,” Rarity said, nuzzling and burying her snout into Applejack’s neck. Applejack paid no mind to the slight sniff Rarity gave to said neck. “I’ve been working on Crimson’s dress all day, and it’s so cold out, I just haven’t had the time to warm up myself.”

Applejack looked over at the window. There did appear to be a thin layer of frost on the glass pane, which made Applejack believe Rarity despite her desire to leap on the first bit of evidence she found that something was wrong.

She turned her head and found herself staring at Rarity’s perfectly coiffed mane. She put a hoof through it and pet it like she would do with Wynonna back at the farm.

Rarity glanced up at this curious display of affection. She caught sight of Applejack’s face, which looked like it did whenever she was trying to hide how she felt.

Rarity hit upon a peculiar, but not surprising notion.

“Applejack … do you … perhaps, have a crush on me?”

“What?” Applejack recoiled with alarm that could have only come from Rarity hitting on the truth. “No! No, that’s ridiculous! I don’t ...” she looked away and rubbed at her throat as if trying to swallow a stuck grape. “Have a crush on ...”

“Applejack,” Rarity grabbed her cheeks and pulled Applejack’s face towards her, “is that why you won’t leave? It’s not because you’re afraid of Crimson or monsters, it’s because you don’t want to be away from me! Am I right? Tell me I’m right!”

Rarity’s eyes flashed briefly, and Applejack felt compelled to confess.

“Yes,” Applejack said, following up her answer with a sigh, relieved to finally get it out. “Yes, Rarity, I do have a crush on you. I don’t know when it started, but at some point … one day, I just saw how … beautiful you were, and I’ve looked forward to arguing with you every day since then. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for either of us, but … at least we were talking to each other. That was something.”

Rarity gave a smile. “I must admit, Applejack … I have had something of a crush on you, too.” Rarity drew a circle on the bed with her hoof.

Applejack lighted up. “R-really? You mean it?”

“Of course,” Rarity said. She looked away, pretending to be shy. “You know, we’re already in a bed, and our friends are far away … they never have to know … perhaps we might … make love?”

“Oh-ho! What?”

Rarity found the shade of red Applejack’s cheeks turned delightful.

“Rarity, don’t you think that’s moving a little fast!?”

“You only live once,” Rarity said. “But perhaps you’re right. Perhaps that was a little too forward.” She looked around the room for an idea for how to proceed. It came to her from the candle.

“Say, don’t you think it smells like home in here?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, no?”

Rarity adjusted Applejack’s face to lock eyes again, using a teeny bit of her gaze to implement a suggestion in Applejack’s head. “I disagree. I think it does smell like home.”

Applejack closed her eyes and inhaled. “Say, I think you’re right … it does smell like I’m home. Like I’m right back on the farm ...”

“Back on the farm,” Rarity said, “with all your family and friends and the ponies who care about you … with your precious apples, your dear old dog, and with apple fritters right next to your bed. Somepony decided to serve you breakfast in bed.”

Applejack’s lips drew into a content smile and she moaned slightly.

“Why, I think we’re there now,” Rarity said. “The last few days have just been a bad dream, Applejack. We never left Ponyville. We’re back in your bed in your room in your house. We’re safe, sound, warm, and cozy, and if something bad does happen, help is never far away. Our friends are right outside, enjoying a picnic while we retreat inside to get out of the sun for awhile.”

Applejack nodded enthusiastically.

“Now then,” Rarity said, “do you think you’re in the mood for love making now?”

Applejack crossed her hooves nervously.

“Okay. But be gentle, all right? This is … my first time with someone else.”

“I will, darling, I will. Lay on your side.”

Applejack did as told.

Rarity leaned over and rubbed at Applejack’s Cutie Mark, which again proved more sensitive than Applejack expected.

“Ooh.”

“Do you like that?” Rarity asked.

“Yes,” Applejack said.

Rarity adjusted her position and began licking the Cutie Mark, making Applejack shiver from the chill of her wet tongue.

Refusing to be a merely passive participant, Applejack whipped her tail and spanked Rarity on the side.

“Oh! My, Applejack, how naughty of you,” Rarity giggled. “But I suppose that’s to be expected from a pony who’s so rough and rugged.” She jabbed at hoof into Applejack’s side to prove her point.

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Now, weren’t you doing something to me?”

“I believe I was.”

Rarity proceeded to shove her way towards Applejack’s thighs and licked the outside of Applejack’s slit.

“Whoa, hey there!” Applejack said. “Don’t you think you’re going a little fast?”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?”

“I don’t know, shouldn’t be, like, a little foreplay or something?” Applejack said, blushing. “I mentioned this was my first time, right? I’m not … totally sure what to do.”

“Some ponies like it faster, some like it slower,” Rarity said. She pressed one hoof against Applejack’s and rubbed at the apple Cutie Mark with her other front hoof. “We can take our time and figure out which you are.”

“Thanks, Rarity. I appreciate that.”

“It’s nothing.”

Rarity leaned over and gave Applejack a kiss on the Cutie Mark. She traveled down the side of Applejack’s body, pecking and smooching along Applejack’s ribs.

Rarity inhaled sharply. It was too much to keep at bay completely, so she began bitting, nibbling on Applejack’s skin. It tasted like cinnamon. What did she eat to make her taste like this? It must have been a soap, surely. Despite her mounting desire, her appetite, her hunger, Rarity managed to control herself. She kept from puncturing the skin and draining the blood from Applejack’s flesh. Even though she wanted nothing more than to crack Applejack open like a beer bottle and down the crimson fluid in one shot.

“Oh!” Applejack moaned, enjoying the sensuality of the bites. She wagged her tail around, spanking Rarity on the side again before sweeping her tail over and pushing it up against Rarity’s slit.

Rarity moaned, eyes half-shut, though it was more from the taste of Applejack than from the tail.
Still, she made an effort to make it seem like Applejack was doing good.

“How’s that?” Applejack asked as she wiggled her tail.

“Perfect, darling, just perfect!” Rarity encouraged her. “Just keep … doing that.” She gave
Applejack another bite. She was working herself up into a frenzy now, and she intended to transmit that feeling to Applejack.

Rarity started rubbing Applejack’s nub with both hooves, running them up and down the slit. Rarity felt the slit wink beneath her touch.

Applejack moaned heavily. “Oh, Rarity, I don’t know if … I’m not sure if you should be doing that!”

“I am,” Rarity said. “Trust me, darling. I’ve read enough romance novels.”

“Oh … okay, Rarity, I ...” Applejack exhaled sharply, her breath becoming sharp as Rarity’s ministrations got to her. “I ..”

“What?” Rarity asked, rubbing at Applejack’s slit furiously and nibbling, making her way up across Applejack’s back towards her neck. “You what, Applejack?”

“I ...” Applejack panted, her cheeks reddening and her tongue lolling out, “I ...”

Her slit was winking and dripping now.

“I ...”

“What, darling? What is it that you do?”

“I -…”

She was so close now. Just a little more and …

“Rarity!” Applejack shouted, kicking and flailing all four legs. “I …”

“WHAT, DARLING?”

“I TRUST YOU!”

Applejack’s declaration timed perfectly with her climax, as she squirted and got her fluids all over Rarity’s hooves, getting them sticky with thin ejaculate.

Rarity had no interest in licking that up.

Unable to hold back anymore, she deployed her fangs and sunk them straight into Applejack’s neck and drank deeply of that exquisite liqueur that was so common in this world, yet so rare to access in a way that society approved.

Rarity stopped and gently pulled her teeth out. In spite of her hunger, she still had enough of her old self to recognize that she was hurting her friend. Not just that, but enough of her old self to care about the fact she was hurting them.

"Oh, Applejack, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean - I would have never hurt you, it's just that, oh, darling, I'm so hungry ..." she attempted to dab the blood from off her muzzle, as if that would remove the stain of her crime.

"Don't ... don't be sorry, Rarity," Applejack said. She weakly raised a limp hoof and pressed it to Rarity's chest. "It ... actually feels kinda nice. I ... enjoyed it."

"It does?" Rarity bonked herself on the head. "What am I saying? Of course it does. I should know exactly what it felt like. So, darling, you wouldn't mind if I ... did it again?"

"N-no, I wouldn't mind it none," Applejack said.

"Oh, really, darling?" Rarity asked. This was turning out better than she could have hoped. "Then would you mind if I ... finished it? Would you be willing to join me in undeath?"

"Yes," Applejack nodded.

"Oh, wonderful, darling! Then you don't mind if I ..." Rarity took a deep breath and licked her lips, savoring the taste, before plunging her fangs into Applejack's neck again and drinking deeply of that oh so common and yet so rare substance.

Applejack gave a delirious chuckle. She saw stars and other hallucinations in her eyes before her eyes closed for the final time as a pony.

Seconds later, with no blood or life to support herself, Applejack’s body fell over the side of the bed and crashed to the floor.

Rarity wiped the blood from her lips, ignoring the dregs that dripped onto the bed sheet even though washing blood out of clothes was awful to deal with the longer it waited.

"Not to worry, darling," Rarity said, "I'll have you right as blood rain in no time."

Rarity hopped down from the bed and walked over to Applejack's body. She gave Applejack a kick in the chest and whispered into her ear, the way Crimson taught her.

"Rise."

Applejack's eyes, emeralds now replaced with rubies, snapped open. Stiltedly, like a first-time puppeteer still learning how to control the strings, she rose to her feet. Once she was standing, her body resumed lost the rigidness and resumed the flexibility it had in life.

"I'll admit, Rarity," Applejack said, "I was really not expecting to enjoy that as much as I did."

"I was fully expecting to enjoy that as much as I did."

The two of them shared a laugh. They locked eyes. This time, there was no vampiric gaze of domination between them, just pure adoration. They leaned in close and kissed each other on the mouth.

"Rarity?" Applejack said. "What you said in there, about having a crush on me ... did you mean that? Or were you just trying to trick me so you could drain my blood?"

Rarity wrapped her leg around Applejack's neck. "What does it matter now, darling? We're together in undeath, and that's what's important." She gave Applejack another smooch on the cheek. "And most importantly, we're going to Ponyville ... and we're going to share this with all our friends."

"All of them?" Applejack asked. "Every single one?"

"Yes, every single one," Rarity said. "No matter how small the acquaintanceship is. Oh, but we'll start with our dearest ones first, of course and work out way out from them. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy ... they'll be joining very, very soon."

Author's Note

This is embarrassing. It was brought to my attention that this chapter, when originally published, lacked some needed proofreading, so deleted it, and now I'm going to try and publish it again, and I don't remember what I originally called it.

Shout to my Patrons, who have changed considerably since the first attempt at publishing this.

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