Rainbow in the Dark

Chapters

Chapter 1: When Karma Bites
Chapter 2: The Morning After
Chapter 3: Never Sleep on an Empty Stomach
Chapter 4: Welcome to the Club
Chapter 5: Breakfast at Rarity's
Chapter 6: You Really Need Better Role Models, Kid
Chapter 7: Never Shoulda Come Here
Chapter 8: Pest Problems
Chapter 9: Second Verse, Same as the First
Chapter 10: The Midnight Society
Chapter 11: Ponyville Gothic
Chapter 12: Lock the Doors and Close the Blinds

Chapter 1: When Karma Bites

Rumbling thunder and whistling wind sent chills up the spine of all those souls brave enough to be out and about this Nightmare Night. In true Ponyville tradition, this year’s celebration was to be grander and spookier than any before, courtesy of joint effort with Cloudsdale for the weather. Some may say that inciting a thunderstorm on the one night a year where nearly everypony is trick-or-treating and enjoying the festivities outside might be a bit irresponsible. The effect, however, was undeniable.

A trio of students from the resident School of Friendship found themselves near the fringes of town on this eerie evening. A griffon, a dragon, and an earth pony, in prior years they may have been an odd sight in this community, but nowadays ‘Pony’-ville was seeing a lot of other creatures take up residence as well. Newcomers meant new opportunities for all involved.

The earth pony filly led her friends deeper towards the woods, a snide smile across her face. “Last chance,” she said, mockingly. “The infamous Everfree Forest is just up ahead.”

“I ain’t scared of some dumb trees,” said the dragon, scoffing as she flapped her wings. She hovered behind the others, glancing at their surroundings. “Trees burn. Even if they were full o’ ghosts like you said, one good huff and they’re nothin’ more than firewood!”

“You’d think ghosts would do something to like, protect their homes or something. Trees just seem way too breakable.” The griffon chuckled to himself. “See, I think Needles is just making this stuff up. Trying to make it seem like ponies have it bad!”

The winged friends shared a laugh. The filly was less amused.

She stomped her hoof in the dirt, then slowly turned to face her companions. “Oh, there are ghosts. I’ve seen 'em. All the ponies who fell to Nightmare Moon never truly rest. They live still amongst the cursed trees and bushes and monsters of Everfree.”

“Nightmare Moon? Seriously?!” said the griffon. “Not only is she the least scary thing ever, she’s flippin’ retired!”

“Luna is retired. Nightmare Moon was— is something else.”

“Professor Rarity told us that Nightmare Moon was literally just Princess Luna when she got really cranky that one time. I think I can handle a fussy pony just fine, thank you.”

“Nightmare Moon was the embodiment of shadow—”

“Wasn’t there a ‘Pony of Shadows’ at some point too?” the dragon chimed in.

The filly groaned. “Yes, but that’s not what this is about. Look, do you want to get spooked this Nightmare Night or what?!”

The griffon gave her a quick nudge. “Not that we don’t appreciate the effort, Needles, but we’re just not scared of ponies. This whole night’s been a joke. Not your fault that Equestria’s history is so… what’s the word, tame?”

“More like lame, eh?” said the dragon. She and her griffon friend shared another laugh as Needlepoint’s ears drooped.

“You’re not even giving me a chance…”

A distant rumble of thunder, followed by a cracking branch, made the three jump in place.

“Are you sure we should be out near all the trees while the storm is going on?” asked the griffon.

The filly smirked. “It’s under pegasi control. I thought you said you weren’t scared of ponies, Guran.”

“I’m not scared of ponies,” he retorted, deadpan. “I’m scared of getting struck by lightning.”

It was this line of thinking that sparked a new idea in the pony’s head. A deliciously evil idea, sure to scare the feathers and scales off her friends.

“Oh, lightning’s the least of your worries,” she said. “Pegasi can make it rain, storm, snow, hail… Unicorns have all kinds of magical spells you might accidentally be caught in. Why, I heard one time Headmare Starlight hypnotized someone into being her personal servant for a month. And to think, she could do that with just a flick of her horn and a thought.”

“Big deal,” said the dragon, crossing her arms. “If you’re scary enough, you don’t need magic to get that kind of treatment.”

“Actually, not like this. She made that someone forget who they were or where they went for that whole time. It was absolutely demeaning, and still she was showered with praise.”

“Right, so now you’re going to tell us there’s some witch in the Everfree no one's ever mentioned before, hm? And how she hunts down lost kids to steal their minds?” Guran rolled his eyes. “Admit it, you’re making this up on the spot.”

“Just saying facts,” said Needlepoint, feigning a coy demeanor. “Even earth ponies can get scary when they’re not careful. Some say plants and animals listen to their will. An earth pony with sufficient connection to nature could deal with her problems with just a thought.”

She paused, letting the silence fill with a gust of wind.

“You’re bluffing,” said the dragon. “Earth ponies are just strong and tough. Not like… plant-o-mancers.”

Needlepoint chuckled back to her friends. “Are you sure? Why do you think ponies are the only ones to ever go into the Everfree?”

Guran squinted at the filly. “Alright, I’ll bite. Why?”

Her response was growled and paired with a wild-eyed stare. “Because the forest only spares those loyal to the legendary Nightmare.”

KR-KRAAASH!!

A massive bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating a winged, horned shadow against the overcast background. As the ringing in their ears faded, an echoing cackle filled the air. The griffon and dragon screamed and ran for their lives, terrified of the visage of the mythical monster of a mare. The last to leave was Needlepoint, lip quivering and head shaking in disbelief.

“I just made it up… I just made it all up!!”

“And yet here I am,” the booming voice responded. “And something tells me you haven’t been so loyal yourself...”

That did it. The filly’s last hesitation gave in to raw fear as she bolted after her friends.

As she faded from sight, so did the cackling. However, as the filly vanished entirely, the cackling merely transitioned into a hysterical laughter from above.

A certain blue pegasus rolled on a thundercloud, laughing herself to tears. Her multi-colored mane peeked out from under her costume’s crown, but she was too amused to even notice. She was laughing so hard, tears began to come from her eyes.

“Oh my gosh, that was perfect!” Rainbow said to herself. “The looks on their faces! Hah!!” She hopped up into a flutter and began to push her cloud through the sky. Her efforts were only mildly impaired by a series of giggling fits. “Pfft, they actually thought I was Nightmare Moon! Oh, I bet they’ll be telling stories about this in class— Ooh! I gotta play along, like, ‘What? I didn’t hear anything. There’s no way that was Nightmare Moon.’ Haha!!”

Rainbow Dash eventually found her way to the ground, something sturdier to hold herself up as she caught her breath between chuckles. “This costume was the best idea ever... I missed this so much.”

As another laughing fit struck her, a warm smile plastered across her face, she flopped in the grass below. After a moment to regain composure, she rolled over to look at the sky. A hole in the cloud cover let the moon peek through, bathing her and the surrounding clearing in a pale light.

“Er, no offense, moonbutt,” she said to the moon, or really no one in particular. She was the only one around to snicker at the joke.

At least, that’s about what she thought. She blinked, and suddenly there was the silhouette of a pony standing over her, looking down. Though Rainbow couldn’t make out any features with the moonlight ringing this other pony, she got the very strong feeling that they were making eye contact.

Rainbow tilted her head. “Uh, hello? Can I help you?”

Silence.

“Hellooo? Equestria to weirdo!”

More silence.

“Seriously? Gonna have to try harder than the whole ‘dark and brooding’ thing to scare this pon...”

A soft red glow shone straight into the pegasus’ eyes. Her voice tapered off as the edges of her vision blurred.

A snarl, half-masked by the howling wind.

The figure lunged.

Rainbow was out cold.

Chapter 2: The Morning After

A swirling haze of grey and red filled Rainbow’s mind like a passing dream. Time ceased to be for her, as did the world around her. She was numb for what felt like a few moments, and then rudely awakened by a bright light.

“Gah!” she yelped, wincing before she could even open her eyes. She rolled over, reaching for a pillow that wasn’t there. “Five more minutesss…”

Her empty hoof caught her somewhat off guard. She dared open her eyes to look, a task much easier said than done. This glare was downright blinding! At least, it was at first. Her eyes gradually adjusted and allowed her to see that she was not in fact in her comfy bed, but instead in the middle of a patch of grass amidst the trees.

“Wha… when did I— oh, right, Nightmare Night. But I thought I… ugh, I am way too tired to remember things right now.”

She stood up on shaky hooves. When she attempted to stretch, she heard a loud pop from between her wings, a sudden shock that knocked the breath out of her.

“Ow!!” she exclaimed. As she reached back to clutch her shoulder, even the joints in her legs were crackling and popping like a campfire. “Oh sweet Celestia… never sleeping on solid ground again. Clouds… clouds forever.”

With a flap or two of her wings, she seemed to have worked all the stiffness out. At least, so she hoped. She was able to maintain a steady hover without any more pain, so that was good.

“Speakin’ of, I could use some real sleep,” she said mid-yawn. “Now just… where the heck am I, and where’s my house?”

Kicking off of the trunk of a tree, she swooped up above the canopy for a better look. From her vantage not a quarter-mile away from Ponyville, a few things immediately caught her attention: For one, the sky was still very much overcast from the night before, despite how bright the sunlight felt. The decorations from Nightmare Night were still all over town and the surrounding forest, yet limp and lifeless and devoid of any sense of festivity. Ghostly streamers whipped aimlessly in the wind, banners of cut-out bats clattered together, and half of the jack-o’-lanterns were toppled, stepped on, or both.

Most worrying, however, was the quiet. Where she might expect to hear birds or the faint clip-clop of hooves, there was only wind.

Rainbow flapped her wings and sent herself into a glide into town, glancing down at the streets below. Almost everywhere she looked, the streets were empty, save for the same abandoned decor. That was except for in front of Ponyville Town Hall. There, it seemed, was everypony. Absolutely everyone.

As she moved in closer, landing at the tail end of the mass crowd, Rainbow could hear the static of a microphone. On the Hall’s front doorstep, a small wooden stage had been crudely slapped together, along with speakers and a podium. Nopony was up there yet, but everypony was fixated regardless.

Rainbow nudged one of the mares huddled in the back. “Hey,” she said, “what’d I miss?”

The other mare shook her head. “W-we don’t know yet. These ponies showed up this morning and said they had important news.”

“You seem a little spooked. Rough Nightmare Night?”

“Actually, no,” she said. “I thought last night went just fine. I took my foals out trick-or-treating, then got them home before bedtime. It’s just… well, the way these new guys told us about the town meeting, that it was mandatory…”

Rainbow’s eyes widened at that. “Oh, jeez. And here I almost slept through it.”

Feedback from the speakers made half the crowd jump. There was finally somepony at the podium, tapping the microphone; he appeared to be a unicorn stallion of indeterminate age, wearing mirrored sunglasses and a matching set of well-pressed fedora and trenchcoat. His face was locked in a permanent expression of neutral indifference.

“Attention, Ponyville,” he said in an authoritative tone. “We apologize for the delay. We are still compiling a full list of missing ponies.” He paused, letting a murmur build amongst the crowd. “If you or someone you know are aware of any missing ponies or other creatures, please come forward with your report at this time.”

As he stepped down, the murmur turned to an anxious roar. The ponies before the stage began to look around frantically for anyone they knew. Rainbow was not an exception.

She hovered above the crowd, looking around for her closest friends. Up near the front was the unmistakable bouncing cotton candy that was Pinkie Pie. Rarity and Applejack were off to the right, each sheltering her respective sister as best they could.

“I should find Scootaloo…” Rainbow thought aloud, her voice tinged with guilt and worry.

The next thing she knew, she was tackled through the air, clutched tightly in somepony else’s hooves.

“Rainbow Dash!” said a familiar, soft and sweet mare. “We were so worried about you! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Eheh… mornin’, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow, squirming in her friend’s grip. “I’m okay, just— oof, having a little trouble breathing…”

Fluttershy immediately released her friend. “Sorry! I was just so excited. Well, relieved, really.”

“What’s going on, anyway? Who’s missing?”

“That’s just it,” said Fluttershy. “None of us have any idea.” She glanced at a line of ponies forming near the stage, and Rainbow soon followed suit. “Must be at least a few missing, though. I sure hope they’re alright…”

“Maybe they’re like me and just partied a little too hard last night,” said Rainbow. “That reminds me… how do you do it? Sleeping on the ground like an earth pony? I woke up feelin’ like I got hit by a train!”

Fluttershy gave Rainbow a sideways look. “It probably helps to sleep in an actual bed, you know.”

“Hey, not my fault I passed out.”

“It’s kind of your fault.”

“...Yeah, that’s fair.”

A thump on the speakers drew their attention to the front once more. The same stallion— or perhaps another with the exact same fashion sense— stood at the mic, flanked by what could easily have been two of his clones on each side. They waited, motionless, for the crowd to settle down.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts,” he began, matching the earlier stallion in all but pitch. “We are agents here on behalf of the crown. We were sent urgently as of oh-six-hundred this morning to investigate a string of missing persons cases. As some of you are aware, not everypony came home after Nightmare Night last night. We believe each of these disappearances to be related to one another.”

He paused to let this sink in. “All we ask of you is to remain calm. We have the situation under control. However, we will need a few days in order to truly get to the bottom of this and, ideally, bring your friends and family home. To that end, we are hereby instating two temporary yet binding laws here in Ponyville. Number one: There will be an enforced curfew at sundown each day until the investigation is over. Ponies are expected to be inside their homes from sundown until sunrise the next day. We will issue a warning at first offense, and detain upon subsequent offenses.”

“They can do that?!” Rainbow half-whispered to Fluttershy. “That’s so not fair!”

“I mean, if it helps them to do their job…”

“Number two: We are hereby issuing a travel ban for all those present in town during the Nightmare Night celebration. No one will be allowed to leave Ponyville until after—”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow’s defiant cry could be heard echoing even over the voice on the microphone.

“Please save all questions until the end, thank y—”

He could barely finish his sentence by the time Rainbow swooped down on-stage. “Listen here, ‘agent’; I can’t stay here. I’m only on leave for another two days, and after that—”

The stallion used his hat to muffle the microphone. “Leave, you say? I did not realize you were military personnel.”

Rainbow hesitated to respond. “Erm, well, Wonderbolts officer…”

“So, auxiliary staff.” Even with his shades, she could tell he was glaring at her.

“Hey, we count!” Rainbow snapped. “We’re not just tricks and flips, you know. We’re also trained in handling weather and big monster threats!”

“Your ‘corps’, and I use that word lightly, are at best a volunteer militia. Your main ‘job’ is to entertain, not protect. Compared to us, you’re virtually nothing more than a hall monitor. You can stay home like all the other little fillies.”

“Who the hay do you think you are?!” Rainbow shouted back. Despite her outward fervor, she felt herself begin to blush in embarrassment.

A set of hooves trotted briskly up on stage, followed by a mare’s voice. “Sorry I’m late, I— what’s going on? Rainbow? Why are you… dressed like that?”

It was at this point that Rainbow realized that she was still wearing her costume from the night before, clad in plastic crown, fake mane, and a cutie mark cover-up. Rainbow turned to snap at this newcomer, face now bright red, but caught herself mid-expletive. “Starlight Glimmer? What’re you doing here?”

“I asked first, but… you know, my job as Headmare?” Starlight cleared her throat and turned to the agents. “Twilight got me up to speed. May I add something?”

“Wait, Twilight is—”

“Yes, Rainbow, she’s the one who authorized this. She’s very worried about all of us and just wants to keep us safe.”

The pegasus mare slunk back onto her haunches, jaw agape. “But… why would she—”

“Have you met her?” said Starlight with a snicker. “Over-the-top paranoid, better-safe-than-sorry… that’s kind of her whole thing. It hasn’t been that long since you visited, has it?”

“No, just… ugh…” Rainbow sighed in defeat. “I’ll just… go.”

As Rainbow turned to trot down off stage, the agent who had been speaking motioned for Starlight to take his place at the podium.

“Hello everypony,” she began with a cheeky smile. “Look, I know everything is very tense right now, but I have just one teeny little addendum to the previous announcement, regarding the School of Friendship. Ahem.” She produced a scroll from a saddlebag. “In the interest of protecting the well-being of students, we are going to be instating some more, well, intense security measures. We’ll be giving students twenty-four hours to head home, should they choose, but after that, a barrier will be cast around the school grounds. No creature will be allowed in or out without express permission.”

This was immediately met with a rather loud and vocal backlash that left Starlight recoiling from the microphone.

“Heh,” said Rainbow, under her breath. “Guess it could be worse for the rest of us.”

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

She whipped around to find yet another nearly identical agent staring blankly at her from a mere foot or two away. After the initial shock, she groaned, rolling her eyes and tearing the wig and crown off her head. “What now?!”

He showed absolutely no physical reaction to her tone. “Due to your recent absence, we need you to come with us to answer a few questions. This will only take a moment.”

“Do I have to?” Rainbow whined. “You already know I’m not actually missing.”

Fluttershy trotted up nearby, but hesitated to get closer than several yards of the agents themselves. She gave Rainbow a sympathetic look, but held her tongue as the agent spoke instead.

“True, but you were on the original list. Furthermore, your outburst—”

“Sorry about that. I’m just… I don’t want to screw up with the ‘Bolts, you know?”

“And yet you have shown unusual hostility towards law enforcement officers of superior rank.”

Rainbow took a deep breath. “I am sorry I snapped at you guys. I’m tired, half of my everything hurts, and I’m worried for Ponyville.”

“We, too, are worried. You can rest assured of that. Now, about this questioning…”

“If I tell you what you wanna know, can I go home after?”

Surprisingly, the agent nodded. “These questions are more of a formality. Once we are done, you will be free to return to your local residence.”

“Um, excuse me…”

Fluttershy finally spoke up, having inched her way toward the conversation. “You don’t think Rainbow Dash has anything to do with the missing ponies, do you?”

There was a pregnant pause following that question. Rainbow could feel her heart sink into her chest.

“No, Ma’am,” said the agent, slower and more deliberate than before. “We just want to know what she may have seen last night, and where she was this morning.”

“Fluttershy, it’s fine,” said Rainbow. “I’ll go, clear my name or whatever, and then… er, frankly head home for a snack and a nap.”

“Are you sure, Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. “You don’t look so—”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Really. C’mon, let’s go play twenty questions and get this over with, eh… guy?”

“Very well,” he replied, back to his perfectionistic manner. “If you would follow me.”

He began to walk up the stairs into Town Hall. Rainbow moved to follow, when suddenly she felt a tug at her hind leg.

“Fluttershy, I’m fi—”

She stopped as a hoof gingerly pressed against her forehead. Fluttershy held her hoof there for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Rainbow, you’re cold. You might be sick.”

“Really? I don’t feel any different. Just sore, and that’s probably ‘cause I slept on a bunch of rocks.”

“That sounds like a flu.” Fluttershy scowled in much the same way as a disappointed mother. “You should get some rest, maybe have some soup! Not go swooping around and yelling at ponies!”

“And the sooner I talk to these weirdos, the sooner I’ll get right on that.”

“Are you sure? What if they think you did something, and they keep you in a cold, dark jail cell? Or what if you get them sick and then they get you in trouble for that? Or—”

Rainbow stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder. “Fluttershy, I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine.”

Fluttershy averted her eyes. “Well… can I at least bring you tea later?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool to me.”

They motioned for a hug, but thought better of it partway through. The girls exchanged a warm smile, then Rainbow trotted after the agent, who by this time was tapping a hoof and checking his watch. Fluttershy left a few seconds later, once she was sure Rainbow was inside, safe and sound for the time being.

A lone lamp flickered to life in this pitch-black room. The initial flash sent Rainbow reeling, clutching her head as it felt like rail spikes were being driven into it. In a moment or two, the pain passed, and she got a better look at this makeshift interrogation room. Besides the fold-out table and pair of chairs in the middle, if she had to guess from the shelves and supplies stacked up against the walls, she figured this was normally a broom closet before the agents showed up.

Across the table, one such agent cleared his throat. “Thank you for joining us, Ma’am. This will only take a few minutes.”

He set a device on the table between them, then clicked a button. A couple of gears in the middle began turning. It took a second for Rainbow to recognize the device.

“A… tape recorder?”

“For record-keeping purposes. Full disclosure, this conversation from this point on will be fully recorded and reviewed as needed by our investigation team. Now, please state your name, Ma’am.”

Rainbow blinked. “Uh, okay?” She leaned in closer to the device. “Rainbow Dash.”

The agent slid the recorder a few inches back. “Thank you, Ma’am, but there is no need to speak up. I assure you, this recording will pick up any sound in this room just fine.”

“Er, right. Sorry.”

“You’re fine, Ms. Dash,” he said. It seemed as though he wanted to sound reassuring, but didn’t quite get there. Just as quickly, he resumed his formal, by-the-books tone all over again. “Now, to begin, let me give you some proper background; as we had assumed that you were among the missing, we pulled any files we could about you.”

Rainbow tilted her head. “What, like my permanent record?”

“Something like that,” he said. “You know, I was actually pleasantly surprised from what we found.”

“Really? I mean— yeah, duh!” said Rainbow, crossing her hooves and trying to play it cool.

“Besides some… juvenile delinquency charges,” he began again, peering at Rainbow over his sunglasses, which she just realized he was still wearing even indoors, “you have quite the commendable service record built up over the years. Most of which credits you under the title of ‘Element of Loyalty’, though there are a few separate incidents. You’ve shown much bravery in the face of danger, Ms. Dash. I have to admit, I’m impressed.”

With every word, the smirk forming on Rainbow’s face grew wider and more smug. “Yeah baby, I know it. I’m kinda awesome, you know?”

“That’s one way to put it,” he replied. “That all said, while this does paint the picture of a generally upstanding Equestrian citizen, there’s still the matter of last night in particular. It says here you own residence in the Ponyville airspace, but have spent the last few months stationed near Cloudsdale. What brings you back to Ponyville?”

“Eh, the Captain told me I should take a break,” said Rainbow. “I figured I might as well pay a visit to some of my best friends. Besides, Ponyville’s more of a home to me than anywhere.”

“I see,” he replied. He pulled out a small notepad and jotted down a few quick notes. This seemed like overkill to Rainbow, coupled with the recorder, but she figured it better not to bring this up. The agent continued soon anyway. “Seems like an interesting time to pay a visit, what with the holiday and all. What made you want to come visit on Nightmare Night?”

“Eheh, well… okay, so, this is all private, right? Like, you’re not gonna tell anypony else what I say here?”

He nodded. “This stays between you, me, and the agency.”

Rainbow breathed a deep sigh of relief. “I’m… not getting any younger. I wanted a chance to do something crazy, get dressed up and fly around pullin’ pranks on ponies again. You know, pretend I’m just a few years outta flight school again. Spend time with the ponies who I— well, didn’t exactly ‘grow up’ with, but they definitely helped me become a better pony.”

“Interesting. Very interesting…”

Seriously? All that heart-felt mushiness and that’s all he has to say?! What a jerk.

After spending a good minute scribbling frantic notes, he turned his attention back to Rainbow Dash. “Out of curiosity, you say you were ‘pulling pranks’ on ponies. By your best estimate, about how many ponies would you have run into while, erm, having your fun?”

She thought for a moment. “Well, counting non-pony students who were out and about, I’d say I pulled somethin’ on at least a couple dozen by the time I passed out.”

“Passed out? Care to elaborate?”

“Uh, heh. Yeah, I… overdid it a bit, I think. Woke up this morning passed out under a tree. I’m still paying for that…”

“How so?”

“How did I wake up under a tree?”

“How are you ‘paying’ for it?”

She groaned to herself. “Remember how I said I’m not gettin’ any younger? My head, my back, everything hurts. Gosh, I feel like a crotchety old mare…”

“I see…” He jotted down a few more notes. “These pains started when you woke? Are they continuous, or off-and-on?”

“What are you, a doctor?” Rainbow snapped. “What’s this got to do with missing ponies?!”

He shook his head. “You’re right, let us stay focused. You say you were able to prank at least two dozen or so individuals. Granted, the only missing persons we are aware of are ponies, so chances may be affected…”

“Chances of what?”

“Ms. Dash, if we showed you a series of photographs of the missing, could you tell us if you saw any of them last night, and where?”

Rainbow blinked in surprise. “Oh, uh, sure I guess. I don’t know if I’ll remember everything I saw, but I’m happy to help there.”

“Glad to hear. Here, take a look.”

He produced a briefcase, and from within that, a manila folder. The folder flipped open with a spot of unicorn magic, then a series of five photographs spun out onto the table before Rainbow Dash. She leaned over to take a closer look.

But when she did, the glossy photos reflected a lot of light straight into her eyes.

“GYAH!!” she screamed, clutching her skull with both forehooves. It felt as if knives were being driven into her skull by a steadily thumping hammer.

Her sudden outburst actually made the agent flinch for a moment. “Ms. Dash? Is everything alright?”

“I’m f-fine!” she stammered. “I’m perfectly— oh, crap, no I’m not. Fluttershy was right, I need to lay down…”

The agent stared at her quizzically, then slowly began packing up the photos again. “I see… Well, did you at least recognize anypony in these?”

“Sorry,” Rainbow said, still wincing. “Didn’t get a good look, I just… agh, my head…”

He paused, then took another few notes. “I do hope you feel better, Ms. Dash. Should we perhaps pick this up another time?”

Rainbow took a deep breath, feeling the throbbing pain start to fade ever-so-slightly. “Tell ya what,” she said, looking the agent in the eyes again. “Drop a copy of those off at my place. I’ll take a look after I get some z’s. That work for ya?”

The agent thought for a moment, then nodded. “We are currently printing posters to place around town. I’ll have a set sent to your cloud home.” He stood up, shutting his briefcase. “In that case, I believe we are done here. You are free to go, Ms. Dash.”

She wasted no time getting up herself, although she felt a small pop in her shoulder as she did. “Thank you, thank you,” she said as she caught her breath. “I promise I’ll let you know what I can remember. And… sorry again about the whole stage thing.”

The shadow of a smile formed on the agent’s stoic face. “You just focus on taking care of yourself, Ma’am.”

With one last shared nod, Rainbow stumbled back out the door, wincing again at the daylight through the windows but nevertheless trotting for the exit.

Chapter 3: Never Sleep on an Empty Stomach

Suspended in the void. Rainbow could not see her surroundings, but she had this intrinsic sense for where she was. Whenever she was? Whoever she was? She knew her name, her body, but not what events led to this exact moment. At best, a few fleeting words came to mind.

Fluttering. Soft. Fall.

The substance she was in rippled with every other thought. She swayed passively in the… liquid, she could discern. It was cold, but so was she. It clung to her feathers and mane, her inside and out. It was new, yet familiar. Welcome, yet alien.

She dared open her eyes, only to bear witness to an endless sea of colorless myrrh. Bubbles floated before her as light danced in rays and shafts.

Suddenly, Rainbow became quite alarmingly aware that she could not breathe in this state. She flailed in the liquid, only causing it to ripple more. Choking, she frantically flapped her limbs in an attempt to swim upward, something of a butterfly stroke crossed with the natural aquatic gait of an octopus.

Her lungs ached for a surface that couldn’t come fast enough. A sense of despair grew as her vision started to fade, lost to the sea. But still, she swam onward, through the pain and dread, and was thus rewarded.

The pegasus burst to the surface, gasping for air. The air here was rich and warm, a far cry from the ocean below. She took a moment to simply float there at the surface, catching her breath as the feeling returned to her extremities. This grey substance seemed just as capable of supporting her on the surface as it had kept her below.

She looked around in all directions for any sign of something else. Anything that wasn’t herself or the chilling water. Yet even as she flew higher above the surface, she saw nothing but horizon.

But then, on her third glance to what she felt was the west, she saw a vibrant color. Bright red, looming in the distance. A rounded, familiar shape, that of an apple, albeit one far larger than she had ever seen before.

Her stomach suddenly growled, howling in hunger, as saliva dripped from her lip. Her body moved before her mind could process, and she soared over the sea towards her prize. The apple, up close, was easily the size of a small barn, bobbing in the sparkling ocean. Rainbow found herself overcome once more, and lunged towards the apple, teeth bared, and motioned to take a bite.

This was immediately followed by a sharp pain in her jaw, sending a jolt through her entire body…

~~~~~~~

“Ow!! Mm!!” Rainbow yelped, clutching her cheek. Suddenly there was no apple, no sea, no weird compulsions. Only her bedroom, a familiar cloudscape lit by grey moonlight, and one very confused tortoise.

Rainbow blinked a couple of times as she got her bearings. She looked down to see Tank, staring back with wide eyes.

“Oh my gosh, Tank! I’m so sorry!” she said, scooping her pet up into a hug and cradling him in her hooves. “Weird dream. Thought you were an apple. Eheh… good thing your shell’s so hard, eh?”

The tortoise blinked.

“Ah, c’mon, you know you missed me.”

Tank blinked a second time, then leaned his head towards Rainbow. She met him halfway to save a few seconds.

“Attaboy,” she said before setting Tank back down. The tortoise, who at this point had not come out of his shell except for his head, wiggled into a comfortable position before falling back to sleep.

Rainbow stumbled down the hall and into the nearest washroom, one hoof still gingerly holding her cheek. She flipped on the light, shutting her eyes to prevent another headache, but strangely this light did not seem to bother her so much. She slowly opened her eyes, first one then the other, and saw her reflection staring back.

“Ugh, I hope I didn’t chip a tooth,” she said to herself. She turned her head and pulled back on her gums to get a better look.

What she saw made her yelp.

“What in Equestria…” She made the same motion again, this time lingering to look at her teeth. No, they weren’t broken, but rather… different. She could clearly see four large, pointed canines that had not been there before. Each one was at least an inch or two long, coming to a wicked point.

Rainbow paused a moment, dumbstruck. She turned away, then back, expecting it to be a trick of the light. She shut her eyes and reopened them. She even tried splashing water on her face. Despite her best efforts, her fangs would not go away.

“Fluttershy, what the hay did you put in that tea?” she mumbled, feeling her teeth with her tongue. There they were, just like she saw in the mirror. Just as pointy, too. “This would’ve been great yesterday. Bleh, bleh!”

As she bared her teeth mockingly in the mirror, something odd caught her eye. She leaned back and forth, a puzzled look on her face, then tried to wipe something off the mirror with a towel.

What she realized she was seeing was the doorframe, only she could make out the image through herself.

“Okaaay, this has officially gone from weird to freaky.” She glanced at her own hoof outside of the mirror. At least that image of her wasn’t so translucent. She then felt her own forehead. “Maybe I am sick. Delirious or whatever. I mean, I don’t feel sick. If anything, I’m a little chilly in here.”

Just then, her stomach growled like an angry dog, much like in her dream.

“Or hungry. Yeah, I could go for a snack right about now.”

As she moved towards the door, she caught herself and whipped around to the mirror again. “Hungry. Not tired.” She felt the sunken bags under her eyes. “... maybe it’ll catch up to me after I eat. Yeah, that’s… probably it…”

After one last look at her teeth (out of sheer morbid curiosity), she trotted out towards the kitchen.

Rainbow dug through cabinet after cabinet in search of anything edible. The biggest downside to being away from home for months on end was a lack of snacks when you finally came to visit. After four or five cabinets, Rainbow swooped down to her refrigerator to try her luck there.

“Come on, there’s gotta be something! Ugh, I’m dyiiiing here!”

She slammed the empty fridge shut, then tried another cabinet. “Oh, score!!” she proclaimed, grabbing a box from within. This was followed shortly by a high-pitched squeak and a tiny flutter of wings as a trio of bats flew out from the cabinet.

“Agh, shoo!” said Rainbow, waving her hoof at the airborne rodents. “My cookies! Mine!!”

The bats fluttered away, out a nearby window. Satisfied, the pegasus slid into a chair by the counter and ripped open her box of snickerdoodles. She licked her lips, then eagerly stuffed her face with as many cookies as her hooves could. She tried her best to chew, an effort made all the more difficult by the stale-as-dust texture and her newfound dental structure, but eventually made it through.

Her heart sank.

“Ugh… I know these are stale as heck, but…” She picked up another from the pack and sniffed it. These certainly smelled like cinnamon. “I guess there must be somethin’ wrong with my tongue now? Tastes like… air. Or less than that. What gives?”

Her stomach complained again, and she groaned aloud. “I’m trying, okay?!”

A small shuffle of plastic and cardboard brought her attention back to the counter. One of the bats from before had returned, and seemed to be quite interested in the remaining cookies.

“Hey, I thought I— actually you know what? I don’t care anymore. Go nuts, little guy.”

She sat there, watching the grateful bat nibble away at one of the cookies. It was nice to see at least someone get enjoyment from them. Moreover, it gave her something else to put her mind on besides all these ailments of late.

Th-thump. Th-thump.

Rainbow looked around, puzzled. Where was that noise coming from?

Th-thump. Th-thump.

Her ear twitched as she slowly looked back to the counter. The sound, faint but ever-present, seemed to be coming from the little bat.

Th-thump. Th-thump.

She sniffed on reflex, a reflex she couldn’t even place. What she smelled, she also couldn’t place, though it was more familiar; it brought to mind the image of a ripe red delicious. Rainbow locked eyes with the bat on her counter, and it with her. It stopped mid-bite, entering some sort of trance.

Rainbow’s jaw hung open, fangs bared and dripping.

She lunged forward with a bite.

The thumping ceased.

Chapter 4: Welcome to the Club

Trembling, Rainbow Dash stepped back from the counter, eyes transfixed on the limp, gaunt mass left behind. She blinked away tears, red dripping off of her face.

“W-what was that?!” she whimpered. “What did I just do?”

A voice drifted by her ear. It was a mare’s voice, deep, melodic, and deliberate, with a hint of the sinister. — Yes, child. Feed. Build your strength. —

Rainbow whipped around, eyes wide and panting. “Who’s there?! Show yourself!”

— Ohoh… That is adorable. Child, I speak to you through your mind. We are connected by the blood, an immortal bond… —

Rainbow trotted over to the hallway door and looked up and down. “Hellooo? Anypony there?”

— … seriously? I’m not actually physically there, dingus. I’m speaking to you telepathically. You know, straight into your head? —

The pegasus mare blinked, utterly befuddled. “How, exactly? What’s going on? Why is everything going all weirdo freak show?!”

— It’s only natural that you’re confused. It wasn’t until tonight that your new self manifested. —

“Um… pretty sure I’m still myself. Still blue, still got the awesome mane—”

— Only now, you have fangs and a thirst for blood. —

Rainbow paused a moment, feeling around her mouth with her tongue again. She lapped up some lingering juice before halting with a deep shudder.

“So… I just…”

— Yes, child. Your first feeding. You did so well, sucking that creature dry. —

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” said Rainbow, retching.

— Do not be ashamed, child. You- —

“Stop calling me that! You’re not my mom!”

— I am your blood-mother. I am the one who made you this way, who granted you this gift. Now you, too, are a hunter of the night. A predator by moonlight. A vampire. —

“... not gonna lie, so far feels like a pretty crummy gift. Any chance you saved the receipt?” Rainbow countered.

— … Luna save me, this imbecile… Look, you’re a vampire now. Part of my clan, House Duskhallow. I made you this way, so I get to tell you what to do. I was trying to be nice, but if you’re going to act like a petulant child, there are other means by which I can make you cooperate. —

“I dunno what ‘petal-ent’ means, but I’m no kid. I’m a grown mare with a life and a job. I don’t have time to be playing ‘bloodsucker’ with some mare who won’t even show her face.” Rainbow scoffed, wiping some lingering liquid off her snout. “This is pretty sick and a day late for a Nightmare Night prank, by the way. That poor bat…”

— A… prank? You grew fangs and devoured the blood of a mortal creature, and you think this is just some sort of practical joke?! —

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Uh, duh? Vampires ain’t real. Either this is a joke, or I’ve got a super bad fever and you’re just imaginary.”

— Are you still in denial?! What would it take for me to convince you that this is real? —

The pegasus thought for a moment. “Hmm… how come I’ve never heard of a real vampire pony? How do I know I’m not dreaming? What’s your name, anyway?”

— I’m sure you expected to trip me up here. However, ahem… The Princesses have kept vampires and other such ‘undesirables’ a secret to prevent mass panic. If you were dreaming, you would recognize my voice as that of somepony you’ve met before. My name, since you asked, is Faer- I mean, Countess Faerie Fire Von Duskhallow. You may call me ‘Fae’ for now. —

“Yeesh, that’s a mouthful,” Rainbow muttered. She took a moment to ponder all of this. “Wouldn’t be the first time Celestia and Luna held something back… and I guess the rest of that makes sense.” She sighed and shook her head. “Alright, I’ll bite. Let’s say I’m actually a ‘vampire’ now. What does that mean for me? Besides the fangs and the, uh… that poor fuzzy little guy...”

— Do not weep for lesser creatures, child. If they must die for you to survive, then so be it. —

“That’s terrible!”

— That’s carnivorism. Get used to it. —

Rainbow opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but none came. “I… no, I can’t…”

— You must, if you wish to survive. Do not be afraid of what you are, child. Embrace the predator within. —

“Is there at least some way to like… not, erm, kill any creature? And still… you know, not starve?”

— … technically, yes. But this tends to make things far more complicated. ---

“I don’t care. I don’t ever wanna kill anything again.” She sniffled and wiped some leftover moisture off of her face, trying not to look at the red tinge this left on her hoof. “Assuming this is all real, I still want to be a good pony.”

— Admirable, but perhaps misguided. Nevertheless, if it will help ease your transition into the night, I am willing to help you find less fragile sources of blood. —

“... okay.” Rainbow took in a deep, drawn-out breath. She made her way down the hall to an open window and stared out, longingly, at the moon above. “What do I need to do?”

The only response she heard was a deep, echoing cackle.

Brisk, night wind flowed over and around the colorful pony as she soared through the air. The gentle chill, the wind through her feathers, and the kiss of moonlight filled her with a sense of much-needed serenity. The stars above and the silent world below felt all too natural. It was as if Luna herself was welcoming the pegasus into her domain.

Rainbow wasn’t sure if she loved or hated that.

— I’m going to assume that feeding on ponies at this point is out of the question for you. If a dead rodent bothered you so much, I can only imagine the depths of your reservations about feeding on sapient creatures. —

“Right. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna hurt another pony just for this twisted stuff.”

— Very well. If you wish to feed on a creature without killing it, and without decades of self-discipline, there’s a simple guideline you can follow; feed only on creatures your size or larger. —

“... Sounds like you’re trying to pitch pony blood again. Still not happening.”

— There’s a reason our mortal cousins are our preferred food source. But I can understand, you still very much relate to them. You’ve only been a creature of the night for a few hours. —

“Just get to the point, lady,” Rainbow grumbled.

— You’ll come around… for now, I’ve done some sniffing around and I believe I’ve located two potential sources for creatures neither sapient nor small. The first and likely more convenient is a place I ran across as I first arrived in Ponyville. Looks to me like some sort of miniature zoo on the outskirts of- —

“Nope. Next!”

— … why not?! This is as close to a meal served on a silver platter as you can come by! —

Rainbow shook her head hard, in spite of the wind. “That’s Fluttershy’s place,” she growled, ”I’m not touching her animals, ever. What’s the other option?”

— Interesting. Very interesting… well, failing that, you could always find your blood free-range. —

“And what does that mean?”

— The Everfree Forest. A terrifying place, so the legends go, full of many a creature surely suited for this… if you’re brave enough. —

“Oh, is that all? Sure,” said Rainbow, a smile finally returning to her face. She banked towards the forest canopy, aiming to skim above the treeline.

— So let me get this straight: you don’t want to kill or hurt common creatures or ponies, but you have absolutely no issues with just charging into a magical probably-cursed forest?! —

“I’ve been in the Everfree loads o’ times. It’s no big deal.”

— Huh. You might be less hopeless than I thought. —

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Thanks? I guess? ...whatever.”

She found a gap in the trees and took the chance to dip down onto a branch. There she perched, scanning the forest floor for signs of movement. Unfortunately, the swaying trees made this more or less a fruitless effort.

“Any tips, Fae?” she whispered.

— Listen. Your ears are attuned to discern a pulse from the background noise. You want to find a slow pulse; the bigger the creature, the slower its heart will beat. Generally speaking, anyway. —

Rainbow took another look at the underbrush, but saw nothing distinct. She then tried to close her eyes and focus on the sounds. The swishing leaves, gentle breeze… and then…

Wump. Wump.

“Whoa. Got somethin’. Sounds big. Bass-y too.”

— Very good. Now follow the pulse. —

Rainbow tilted her head left and right, focusing more and more intently. The sound came strongest when she looked somewhere toward the east, if her sense of direction was working properly. She hopped off of her perch and began gliding through the trees towards the source.

— Now do be careful. There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity. —

“I’ve heard that line at least a thousand times in my life. I like to think I’ve learned the difference.”

— Then I highly advise you to pipe down. The last thing a night hunter wants to do is wake up her prey. —

The pegasus immediately shut her mouth, breathing through her nose. This proved to be a mistake as she neared her mark, as she was suddenly overwhelmed by a scent that could only be described as a wet dog dragged through the armpit of Tartarus. Rainbow started to yelp, covering her snout, but literally bit her tongue to stay quiet.

“Oh sweet Celestia! I really hope that’s not a dead body…”

— Why would there be a dead body all the way out here? —

Rainbow glared at a point in the air she wished Fae was. “Iunno, you tell me, Countess,” she said. “I also heard about some missing ponies from Nightmare Night. Guess I’m hoping they didn’t do the stupid thing and get lost in Everfree.”

— Oh, child… I wouldn’t worry about the missing ponies. —

“What did you—” Rainbow caught herself as she heard a low growl through the next thicket. She then picked up again with her inside whisper voice. “What did you do to them?!”

— Assuming we’re thinking of the same people, exactly the same as I did to you. Minus some loose ends we’ll need to trim at some point. —

“You WHAT?!”

Another growl followed by a dull roar carried into the night air. Rainbow dropped almost instantly, taking shelter within the bushes. She held her breath, noting that her heart would probably be pounding in her chest if not for recent circumstances.

The sound of the animal’s pulse drew closer and closer, accented by a deep stomping gait. Whatever it was, it sniffed in the air, then growled once more.

“Ohcrapohcrapohcrap…”

— Relax, child. You are stronger, tougher, faster than before. There is little you should fear. —

GROOOOAAAWWWRRR

— Oh sweet Luna what was that?! —

The would-be hunter barely had any time to react as a massive scorpion tail plunged downward into the bush. She jumped backward, a few of her tail hairs caught in the strike but nothing more. With another mighty roar, the beast lashed out with a paw the size of a pony’s head, cleaving the bush in half.

Rainbow moved on instinct, taking off and seeking a way past the canopy in an effort to make distance. Above her was nothing but thicket and twisting branches, however, and it seemed the monster knew just how trapped she was.

“Manticore,” Rainbow said to herself. “Great. Just perfect.”

The leonine beast pounced into the air, flapping its leathery wings to aid its ascent. Rainbow, in turn, zipped below and behind the creature. She reached for its tail, aiming to grapple the creature to its knees. It thrashed and flailed, and eventually batted her away and into a tree.

For all it hurt, she might as well have hit a cloud. Rainbow smirked, baring her fangs if only for effect, then charged back in.

After a few more close calls from bites and claws, Rainbow felt herself fall into a rhythm. With each strike she evaded, she found a hint of an opening. Finally, she saw her chance; she catapulted herself forward, one hoof outstretched and aimed at the creature’s jaw.

The creature toppled, rolling once and a half over. A smatter of blood landed across Rainbow’s hoof and cheek. She lapped up what she could, her eyes widening at the taste.

“Wow…” she breathed. “Y-yeah, I’m down for more o’ that.”

As the manticore began to get back to its paws, Rainbow locked eyes with it, and it froze. She hissed, fangs bared, and the monster growled in return.

“You,” she growled. “Stop. Go back to sleep, and let me do my thing.”

It blinked, then again, its eyes fluttering. Its eyelids grew heavy, and it collapsed with a warbling snore.

Rainbow smiled as she tilted her head. “Uhh… that worked?! Hey, I’m not complaining, that whole thing was awesome!”

— That was awesome! Where did you learn to fight like that? —

“Eh, it comes natural,” said Rainbow, brushing dust and blood off her shoulder. “That, and years of getting on every-other-creature’s bad side.”

— You will make an excellent Knight of Duskhallow one day. I have to admit, I am genuinely impressed. And you even managed to dip into more advanced vampiric powers. —

“Yeah, uh… about that…”

— If you lock eyes with a living creature, and your will is strong, you might just be able to overpower their mind, if only for a moment. —

“Huh. Rad,” said Rainbow. “Y’know, I’m starting to like this vampire stuff. Weird.” She trotted over to the sleeping feline, then frowned. “Um… how am I supposed to, y’know, with all that mane in the way…”

— Feeding from the neck is preferred for convenience. You can just listen for a pulse anywhere on the beast, then bite there. —

The pegasus took a deep breath, shuddering with the passing of a gust of wind. “Whelp… here goes nothin’. Thank you, mister Manticore, for donating to the I-don’t-want-to-starve, fund!”

Soon she found a spot halfway up the creature’s front leg where its pulse could be both heard and felt with a hoof. Instinct took over once more, and she sunk in her fangs. The blood flowed, and she felt her hunger finally subside after all this time.

Chapter 5: Breakfast at Rarity's

The following morning was marked by chirping birds, a gentle breeze, and, at least for Rainbow Dash, a shrill ringing noise. After trying in vain to blot out the alarm with a pillow over her head, Rainbow slapped her bedside clock with a hoof, silencing the noise but causing the device to clatter to the floor. She seemed to find this fitting punishment for whatever dared interrupt her sleep.

Idly, she noted with her tongue that her teeth were no longer nearly as sharp as in her nightmares. With that small comfort, she nestled further into her bed, as if to dig in and plant roots, but then took a second look at the clock.

“Wait… Nine thirty already?!”

The pegasus popped up out of bed, tossing her blankets aside with one good flap of her wings. She paced in place, looking around frantically. When she eventually spotted a pair of saddlebags balled up in the corner, she zipped over and tossed them onto her back.

All the while, Tank watched curiously from the comfort of his own bed. He was in no rush.

Rainbow spotted the tortoise and shot him a smile. “Oh, mornin’ Tank! Whew, you would not believe the dream I had last night. I’d love to stay and chat about it, but I’ve got breakfast with the girls this morning and, well, I’ve got zero minutes to get there on time sooo…”

She trotted over towards the nearest window, then backed up a few paces. After a quick yawn, she began stretching her limbs out.

“Well at least it’s a pretty day for a fly. Let’s see how fast I can get to the boutique!”

Rainbow began her running start towards the sky, wings outstretched and a smile across her face. This plan was short-lived, however. The instant her snout and hoof passed into the open sunlight shining through her window, she felt what could perhaps best be described as instant regret.

In other words, she immediately caught on fire. Spontaneously combusted, if you will.

“GYAAAH!! Ouch, ow, hot! Hot!!”

Thinking quickly, she dove for the cloud floor, using her pegasus privileges to pull a piece off and shove her ignited snout and hoof into. The moisture within the cloud made swift work of the flames and even helped cool her off, though the cloud itself soon dissipated into steam afterwards.

“What— Tank, you saw that, right?!”

Tank merely blinked in her general direction. She took that as a yes.

Rainbow trotted out of her room and to the hall bathroom. Wincing for fear of what she might see, she flipped on the lights.

The good news was she didn’t see any severe damage to herself. In fact what she did see seemed to be fading before her very eyes. Well, it seemed that way, but it was hard to tell, what with her whole reflection having faded to near nothingness.

— What in the world are you doing?! — spoke an unfortunately familiar voice in her head.

It was at this moment that the entire previous night came crashing down upon Rainbow like a freight train: heavy and inevitable, but never quite on time.

“Good mornin’ Fae,” she said with a sigh.

— That implies such a thing exists. What in Equestria possessed you to awaken during daylight?! —

“Uh, I’ve got plans today? Duh,” Rainbow countered.

— Rainbow Dash, we’re vampires. Daylight is very bad for us. —

“Yeah, I kinda figured that one out…”

— … did you touch the light and immediately get burned? —

She shuffled her hooves and said, “... Maybe.”

— Rainbow, if you keep ignoring my warnings, you’re going to get yourself killed. Or worse, exposed! —

“Okay, first of all, can you really blame me for waking up during the day? Kinda hard to break a lifelong habit!” said Rainbow, rolling her eyes. “Second, aren’t vampires immortal or something? And what do you mean ‘exposed’? Not like I wear clothes all that much.”

— Your instincts should be stopping you from waking up when the sun is out. Hopefully that’ll kick in soon for you. We may be immune to the passage of time and able to regenerate from most wounds, but the sun will reduce you to a pile of ashes within minutes. Furthermore, not only would being exposed as a vampire be very bad for you, but also for the rest of your new family as well. —

Rainbow furrowed her brow. “I guess that makes sense? I mean, I’ve still got a life, y’know. I’m not gonna miss hanging out with my best friends!”

— You’re willing to lie to them, then? Because if you so much as think of telling them of your new nature, I can and will put a stop to it. —

“I… yeah, okay. I’ll just make somethin’ up if they ask about any weirdness. How hard could it be? And like, my fangs are gone for some reason, so it’s not like I’ll have to explain that.”

— Your fangs, along with some other changes, will come back at dusk. Don’t you worry about that. In the meantime, I suppose there’s no harm in letting you socialize… but do tell me, what is your plan for dealing with the sun? —

Rainbow thought for a moment, pacing in front of the mirror and occasionally squinting to get a better look at herself. “So, if sunlight touches me, that’s when it hurts?”

— Exactly… wait, why do you ask? —

“Cuz that gives me an idea,” she said with a smirk.

— How horrifying. —

Rainbow stuck her tongue out at the mirror, hoping Fae would take the hint. She then hopped up and zoomed back up the hall and into her bedroom. The pegasus pony barreled into a pile in her closet and began tossing various articles of clothing about. Within a minute, she found what she was looking for, donned the pieces, then zipped right back to the mirror to check out the results.

Interestingly, her new clothes were not at all translucent like the rest of her was. Also interesting was her choice of attire. She had put on one of her Wonderbolts flight suits, a grey hoodie, and the literal tail end of a dress. With the hood pulled up, tail tucked, and wings stuck under the hoodie, there was barely any part of her not covered up.

The voice in her head burst into a storm of laughter. — You look absolutely ridiculous! —

“Yeah, this looks a lot less cool than I pictured in my head. But am I sun-proof or what?”

— Hmm… this could work, so long as you are mindful of the angle of the sun… Oh, and so long as you don’t mind looking like you’ve lost your mind. —

She shrugged. “Eh, I can live with that. Beats being burned alive.”

— Agreed. Just one more question: how do you intend to get down from your cloud home while your wings are hidden? —

Rainbow blinked. “Uhh… Oh, wait! Another idea!”

— This oughta be good… —

Rainbow Dash may not have been the most clever of ponies, but she certainly was capable of thinking on her hooves. One way or another, her stubborn determination often led to success. The degree of success was of course quite variable, but a win was a win, even if it came with a few bruises or a concussion.

In this case, the conditions of victory were simple: make it down from her cloud home and to meet her friends in one piece. Her solution, at least in her head, was surprisingly elegant. In practice, however, there was one major flaw.

— You’re insane. You’re clinically insane. —

“The word you’re looking for is ‘amazing’.”

Rainbow stood at the edge of her cloud ‘porch’, balancing awkwardly on her hind hooves while clutching a large ball of cumulus in her front. She flattened the mound of fluff into a rough triangle shape, then leapt forth into the open air. Her snout was briefly singed by some combination of sun and wind-burn, but soon after was shrouded beneath the pegasus pony’s makeshift glider as it drifted along towards the world below.

The flaw in this plan was, as it turned out, her upper body strength. While yes, she was a regular athlete and very much in-shape, she sorely underestimated how long she would have to hang from her cloud.

She shifted uncomfortably after a minute or two. “C’mon, gravity, you can do better than that…”

— When you inevitably fall, I feel obligated to warn you- —

“When I fall?! Who said anything about falling? I’ve got this totally under control!” Rainbow would have pouted, but her forelegs were a little preoccupied.

— Look, just try to keep your heart from getting impaled, okay? There’s not much that can outright kill you, but that just so happens to be one of those things. —

Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like I’m gonna fall on a stake. I mean— not like I’m gonna fall at all!”

— Contrary to the myth, it doesn’t need to be a stake, or even wood for that matter. Your heart is your magical epicenter. If it is destroyed, so are you. —

“I mean, what else is new? I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure non-vampires need their hearts intact. Just sayin’.” Her hoof slid slightly, and she quickly flailed to correct it. “Look, I ain’t gonna fall, alright? Just drop it!”

— Oh, I’m sure one of us will. Don’t look down now. —

The Carousel Boutique had undergone something of a metamorphosis in the years since its owner’s business had taken off. While it was never quite the financial success as the Manehattan or Canterlot locations of Rarity’s small empire, the fashionista had sunk quite a few bits into her Ponyville home. Several new rooms had been added to the various sides, coupled with a more modernistic makeover.

Inside one such extension was a well-furnished dining area, complete with geometric floor tiles, a central round table with black marble top, flush cabinets over ergonomic sink, and wide windows for optimal natural lighting.

“Sounds t’me like somepony had money to burn,” said a certain mare with her southern drawl.

Rarity scoffed. “Sounds to me like somepony is a little jealous.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Jealous o’ what?! Eatin’ off a rock?”

After a brief pause filled with a staring match, both mares burst out into laughter. The others at the table, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, laughed along albeit in an uneasy tone.

“Whew,” said Fluttershy, “and here I thought you were actually upset with one another.”

“Naw, we’re fine!” said Applejack with a chuckle. “I’m just givin’ her a hard time since it's been a while.”

“Indeed,” Rarity added. “Although, given this whole ‘lockdown’ business, I doubt I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

Pinkie Pie huffed. “Right?! Who do these weirdos think they are, tellin’ us what we can and can’t do, huh?”

“Um… the law?” Fluttershy offered. Again, the ponies at the table shared a laugh.

It had been at least a year or two since the friends got to sit down together again. Rarity had a poorly disguised silver streak through her mane, Applejack was trying a new hat, and even Pinkie Pie had been, for lack of better term, ‘toned down’ in the intervening months. In fact, only Fluttershy really looked the same, relatively speaking, and she had recently had her mane trimmed.

“So, uh, when’s breakfast?” asked Applejack. “Or brunch, or whatever we end up eatin’. No rush or nothin’, just mighty curious.”

“Ah, yes,” said Rarity, clearing her throat for effect. “Since this is a special occasion, I’ve actually ordered something a little special; catering from the famous Croissant a Crete de la petite Prance!”

While the unicorn finished with a flourish, the rest of the room stared back in marked silence.

“Um… from where?” asked Pinkie, first brave enough to speak.

Rarity groaned. “It is an authentic Prench pastry shop, all the way from Manehattan. I had the food shipped in a couple of days ago. All we need to do is cast a little spell, then the food will be just as good as fresh from the oven!”

“But not actually fresh from the oven,” Applejack mumbled.

“Oh, what did you want from me?! I had to spend all day yesterday making calls and writing letters to let everypony I work with know that I’m stranded here! When was I supposed to cook?!”

“When have you ever cooked?”

Just as this tension began to simmer once more, the front door back in the foyer slammed open, almost knocking the little bell above off its rack. Bewildered, Rarity galloped over to see who or what had caused such a racket. This left Applejack to awkwardly sit back down into her chair.

And yet, where she had expected to see a bear or yak or even her sister, she instead saw the far overdressed and out-of-breath figure of Rainbow Dash, just before she collapsed to the floor.

“Oh my… Rainbow, darling, are you alright?”

Rainbow took a deep breath to try to stop herself from panting so hard. “I’m not late, am I?” she asked.

Before Rarity could respond, Fluttershy swooped in with a horribly worried look on her face. “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing? You were so sick just yesterday!”

“What? Nah!” Rainbow quickly hopped up to her hooves, half-tripping on the dress piece hanging from her hind end. “I’m fine! No idea what you’re talkin’ about. So we doin’ breakfast or what?” She forced a smile, doing a rapid double-take of the motion to make sure she wasn’t simply baring fangs at her friends.

Fluttershy furrowed her brow and asked in her most motherly tone, “You’re not just pushing yourself for our sakes, are you?”

“Fluttershy, I’m fine! Was just one o’ those… twenty-four hour thingies,” said Rainbow, trying her best to avoid eye contact. “Yeah, I woke up feelin’ great! Ready to attack the day and all that jazz.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Rarity. “But um… oh I can’t help myself; what in Equestria are you wearing?!”

“It’s called fashion, sweetie, look it up,” Rainbow grumbled. “I mean… it’s a uhh… new training regimen! For the Wonderbolts! Yeah, like, gotta make sure we don’t get thrown off by stuff we’re wearing, in case we do like some kinda costume show.”

“Costume is right,” said Rarity, wincing. “Well if you insist. Feel free to get more comfortable while you’re here.”

“Gladly,” said Rainbow. She tossed back her hood and wiggled her wings free, giving them a good flap. Meanwhile, Rarity trotted back towards the others, with Fluttershy not far behind.

And as soon as she moved, Rainbow spotted the massive, floor-to-ceiling windows that effectively made the dining area into a sunroom.

“Oh horsefeathers,” she said with a shudder.

The wonderful smells of hot pancakes, waffles, apple pie, and more filled the room. Clinking utensils and collective ‘mmm’s from everypony helped cement the feeling of a warm, comfortable morning amongst friends.

Yet Rainbow Dash found it hard to fully enjoy herself for a multitude of reasons.

“Mmf, Dath— ulp, I mean, Dashie?” asked Pinkie. “You sure you’re alright? You’ve barely touched your… um, pancake.”

It was true; her plate held but a single pancake, topped with pat of butter and a quick drizzle of syrup. Rainbow quickly snapped up a fork and pulled off a piece to eat. Despite a faint hope deep inside, it still tasted like nothingness. Still, she made the token effort of gulping it down and licking her lips, which seemed to placate Pinkie.

“There ya go!” she said “Erm, I guess. You sure you don’t want more, Dashie? There’s apple piiie!”

Rarity wagged a hoof at Pinkie. “Pinkie, please. I’m sure if she’s already on some sort of exercise regimen, there’s a diet to go with it. Whatever Rainbow Dash needs to do to remain in peak form, I for one am in full support of.”

“Wonderbolts goin’ on a diet?” said Applejack, raising an eyebrow. “Eh, I’ve heard o’ stranger stuff. Speakin’ of, though, how’s it going being part of your dream team, Rainbow? Been too long since we heard from you.”

Rainbow, who until this point had been sitting awkwardly sideways compared to the table, in the furthest seat from the dreaded sun windows, finally turned her head to face the others. With an admittedly weak smile, she said, “Oh, you girls don’t want to hear about all that. Just boring old sports talk, you know me…”

“Yes, Rainbow, we do know you,” Fluttershy chimed in. “That’s why we’re taking an interest in your interests.”

“Spoken like a true professor o’ friendship, Fluttershy,” said Applejack. “I thought you were retiring?”

“Starlight Glimmer is looking for a replacement. I promised her and Twilight that I would stay until then.”

Rainbow frowned. “You’re retiring already? Isn’t it a little early for that?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m only retiring from teaching. I want to start working at the animal shelter full-time again. Doctor Fauna can’t do it all by herself…”

“Oh!” said Rarity. “That reminds me; I heard through the grapevine that the captain of the Wonderbolts is going to be retiring. Is that true, Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh, that, um…” Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, Spitfire’s lookin’ to call it quits in a year or two. I heard, well… rumors, I guess, that I’m being considered for her replacement. So that’s cool, kinda.”

“Kinda?!” said Pinkie. “That sounds like a dream come true! Except joining the Wonderbolts at all was your dream but that’s already come true so it’s like a double dream come double true!!”

“I think what she’s trying to say,” Applejack said, “is if you do get the promotion, we’re gonna have to celebrate. Not to mention, uhh…” She doffed her hat, holding it over her heart. “Rainbow, you’ve been workin’ your tail off with the Wonderbolts, and it’s payin’ off. I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you get to be Captain one day. Heh, looks like it just took you gettin’ involved with somethin’ you’re truly passionate about to learn the value of hard work, but regardless, I’m still awful proud of you.”

Rainbow blinked in astonishment as her friends all looked on expectantly. Then she cracked a wobbly, emotional smile. “A-aww, Applejack!” she whined. “Why’d you have to make this all mushy?”

“I’m just speakin’ the truth, Rainbow. You know that.”

Everypony else at the table shared a myriad of adoring and supportive reactions towards both of them, mostly Rainbow, as she just shrank further into her seat. “Girls, please! It’s not a big deal! Can we just… talk about something else?”

Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped. “Rainbow Dash! Your eye!”

Rainbow blinked once more, only this time she felt some sort of moisture on her cheek. She dabbed it with a hoof, trying to wipe it off.

She did not expect her hoof to come back stained red.

“Oh goodness, dear, you’re bleeding!” said Rarity.

“So much for bein’ fine,” Applejack snapped. “You crazy filly, what’re you doin’ out and about like that?”

Fluttershy slid up closer and began examining Rainbow’s eye in excruciating detail. “Well I don’t see anything wrong… then again, I’m more used to looking at animals, so—”

Rainbow slid back half a foot, glaring bemusedly at the others. She then proceeded to wipe her eye with the sleeve of her outer-layer hoodie, and once she was done, there was no more redness to be found on her face.

“I’m. Fine,” she growled. “I must’ve got something in my eye on the way here. It’s no big deal, stop worrying so much about me!”

“Well sor-ry, Dash,” said Pinkie Pie with a cup and a half of sass. “With all this weird stuff lately, we’re a little on-edge.”

“... right. Erm, sorry,” said Rainbow, sheepishly looking away.

Rarity tapped her hoof on the tabletop. “Girls, let us take a moment to calm down, shall we?” she stated, voice raised over the others’. “None of us, nor any of our loved ones, are missing. We should all be grateful to be safe and to have each other in these troubling times.”

She demonstrated a long, deep breath for the group. Most of the girls followed along on the second and third repetitions; Pinkie’s breaths were a little exaggerated compared to the others’, while Rainbow just felt weird with the whole thing.

“Uh, so on that note,” said Rainbow, once again tilting away from the windows due to a sudden glare. “I kinda, well, passed out early yesterday. What exactly is going on in Ponyville?”

“That’s just it,” said Rarity. “Nopony really knows. I doubt even those Agents have the full story as of yet.”

“I don’t trust ‘em,” said Pinkie, pouting. “I don’t trust anypony that dull, boring, emotionless, trench-coat-wearing—”

“We get it, Pinkie,” said Applejack, “you’re a conspiracy theorist.”

“Am not!” Pinkie blew a raspberry at Applejack. “All I’m saying is that we were havin’ an amazing Nightmare Night, then the next morning these guys show up and there’s ponies missing. Are you saying that’s just a coincidence?!”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, from what me and Rainbow saw yesterday, I don’t think they’re up to anything bad.”

“Besides,” Rainbow added, “they say there’s a bunch of ponies missing, but do they have proof?” She smirked. “For all I know, it’s some made-up horseapples. Do we know who’s ‘supposedly’ missing?”

“Unfortunately, I wouldn’t really know,” said Rarity with a sheepish smile. “I’ve been off on business for so long, I couldn’t name too many ponies who still live in Ponyville.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I might know some of the students at the School of Friendship, but most of my time is spent with the animals,” she said. “Er, and Discord. And Doctor Fauna. And sometimes Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”

“I think I might’ve recognized one or two of ‘em?” said Applejack, scratching her head. “Not by name, but by face. I reckon they must’ve bought somethin’ from the market stall.”

Pinkie Pie then let out a window-rattling groan. “Are you kidding me?!”

“Uh, Pinkie, this was your theory, wasn’t it?” asked Rainbow.

“Hmph!” said Pinkie. She hopped up from her chair and began pacing in front of the windows; Rainbow figured she’d rather risk sunburns than the wrath of an upset Pinkie Pie, and turned to face the party pony. “Ahem; Sky Arrow, stallion, weather pegasus, likes his donuts with sprinkles but not green ones. Amethyst Aura, mare, record-keeper in Mayor Mare’s office, secretly loves all things strawberry. Ivy Rose, mare, local gardener and gossip, currently on a diet but occasionally sneaks a slice of cake. Frost Blossom, teen colt, quiet kid but a real smart cookie, loves to come around for ice cream. Needlepoint, filly and student at the School of Friendship, big fan of spooky stuff and books, regularly orders a baker’s dozen cookies for a snack.”

The other girls just stared for a beat.

“Ugh!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “I know everypony in Ponyville, duh!! I’ve been worried sick since they went missing… I thought that maybe, just maybe, spending time with my best friends could get my mind off of all this, but…”

At this point, Pinkie slumped over with a sigh.

“Sorry we brought it up,” said Rainbow at a half-whisper.

“I’m not upset with you girls,” said Pinkie, sniffling. “I’m just… overwhelmed lately. Could we please just, mayhap, talk about happier stuff?”

Fluttershy hugged Pinkie with one wing. “Of course, Pinkie.” This was followed by general hums of agreement from the rest.

Rarity opened her mouth to chime in, but just then she heard a chime back at the front door. “Oh, for Celestia’s sake… I swear, I set the sign to closed! I’ll be right back.”

As the unicorn trotted back to the foyer, Applejack and Rainbow joined Fluttershy in comforting their friend.

“It’ll be alright, girl,” said Applejack. “I’ll bet they all turn up in another day or two.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, what she said. I mean, I turned up, and they thought I was gone!’”

Pinkie gasped, bolting upright. “That’s right! Oh, Dashie, I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“I thought we’ve already been over this like a dozen tim—”

Before Rainbow could finish her thought, she found herself tightly embraced by the party mare. Almost painfully so, as if Pinkie never wanted to let go. The pegasus pony awkwardly patted her friend on the back, in spite of limited mobility. “Pinkie, please. You’re kinda smothering—”

Th-thum th-thum th-thum

On pure instinct, Rainbow sniffed the air. To her horror, her senses were overwhelmed with the scent of honey-sweet cider tinged with bitter iron. She could see the pulse on her friend’s neck, and her mouth began to water.

“Mm!” Rainbow yelped, pushing off of Pinkie. The earth pony was effectively tossed to the ground, while Rainbow flailed and fell back herself.

Fluttershy and Applejack shared a startled and confused look, which they then directed at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow sheepishly grinned back at them, almost curling up into a ball.

“I, uhh…”

And then Pinkie snickered. “It’s okay, Rainbow Dash. I know I can get a little extra-excited sometimes.”

“Yeah, that’s… that’s what happened,” Applejack muttered. “Was still pretty rude, Rainbow.”

“Well yeah, but she was, uh, kinda crushing me? Yeah, and… I guess I panicked?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “That makes sense, I think.”

For another few awkward seconds, the four looked around to each other in silence. The silence was broken not by them, but a pair of sets of hoofsteps entering the room, one far more brisk than the other.

“Pinkie Pie,” said Rarity, “you have a visitor. Sounds like something— well, not exactly urgent, but pressing surely.”

Her new guest stepped out from behind her, a grey earth pony whose expression was as flat as it ever was. “Good morning Pinkie. Good morning everypony else.”

“Maud!” Pinkie sprung right back up and, giving Rainbow a sense of deja vu as the pink pony pounced upon her sister. “What’s up?”

Maud was literally unmoved by the hug, yet figuratively seemed to be oh-so-slightly affected. “Pinkie Pie, can we talk about something? In private, if possible.”

Pinkie blinked in shock. “O-oh. Yeah, of course, Maud,” she said. “Erm… excuse me girls, gotta go deal with some Pie family business, apparently.” With that, the two trotted back around the corner.

Rarity turned to the others with a smile. “Well, hopefully they won’t be long,” she said. “I see we’ve gone through most of the food by now. Could I interest any of you in a game or two of Old Mare while we’re all here?”

“Gee, Rarity,” said Rainbow Dash, “you know I’d love to, but I just remembered a thing at a place that I should, uhh… go to. Like, soonish. If not now. Yeah now’s probably best.” She smiled as if to offer an apology, but in reality it looked painfully toothy.

“Oh,” said Rarity. “Well, of course, Rainbow. I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“Thanks Rarity!” Rainbow blurted out, already trotting for the door. “I owe you a game sometime— Later!”

She was out the door before anypony else could get in so much as a ‘goodbye’.

“So,” said Applejack, “that was weird, right?”

Rarity shrugged. “I’d say yes, but I never know with that pony.”

Fluttershy simply furrowed her brow. “Rainbow Dash,” she mumbled to herself, “what are you hiding?”

Chapter 6: You Really Need Better Role Models, Kid

Earlier that morning…

— I told you you’d drop. —

Rainbow Dash lay on the mossy forest floor, a conspicuous hole in the tree canopy above her. She gritted her teeth so hard her jaw was beginning to ache, breathing sharply through her nose as she writhed around.

“Not. The. Time,” she growled.

She tried to open her mouth wider to let out a sharp yelp of pain, but found her teeth clamp right back down on their own. Her breathing sped up as she looked around.

“Why can’t I— erg, oh sweet Celestia, gah!”

— No loud noises, child. If you attract attention to yourself, it will only cause more questions. —

“My leg isn’t supposed to bend that way,” she said with a wince. “Pretty sure that’ll answer any questions anypony might have.” She dared a glance back at her leg, then immediately turned away and tried to cry out again.

No sound left her throat.

— Child, when I say you aren’t to do something, that is not a suggestion. It is a command. You do not have a say in the matter. —

Rainbow stopped her writhing on the spot, save for one last shudder. “W-what… what does that mean?”

— As your blood-mother, I have certain... privileges, shall we say. A degree of control over my children if and when I need it. —

“You can control my—” Once more, her jaw locked.

— Control your mind? No. But your body, in limited spurts, yes. —

Rainbow took a moment to let this sink in. Then she began shaking, this time less in pain and more in fear. Her eyes widened and she curled up. “Fae?” she asked, voice trembling.

— Yes, child? —

“Please… please don’t hurt my friends. I don’t want to hurt them, I’ll do anything else, just—”

— Shh, shh, child… I have no intention, nor ability, to make you harm anyone. I am simply looking to preserve the masquerade our kind hides behind. I hope you understand that this may mean holding your tongue for you, now and again. —

“So my friends are safe?”

For once, Fae did not immediately respond. — You care for them deeply, don’t you, Rainbow? —

The pegasus nodded. “More than anything.”

— Then rest assured, they will remain safe. —

Rainbow sighed. “Thanks Fae… I— guh!” She then winced all over again, feeling the uncomfortable and painful sensations coming from her right hind. “Okay but what about my leg?!” she asked in a sort of whisper-yell. “There’s no way I can walk on this!”

— So fix it. —

“... what?!”

— Fix it. Push it back into place. See what happens. —

Overcome by curiosity, Rainbow reached back. Well, not too curious. She still couldn’t bear the sight of her leg bent almost ninety degrees out of line. She blindly felt around for the limb, then, after a count of three, sharply yanked it back to a more reasonable angle.

“Gyah— wait, that didn’t hurt that much. What gives?”

Within seconds, the feeling returned to her extremity. Within a few more, she could move it freely. However, each of these changes was marked with a gross squelching noise, thankfully muffled beneath the cover of her flight suit. By the time she regained full use of the leg, the noises had ceased, with no signs leftover that her leg had ever been injured.

Rainbow stood up, trotting in place. “Wow. Okay, this got awesome again.”

— As you can see, it will take more than a single bad spill to truly harm you. Just another perk of immortality. —

“No kidding,” said Rainbow, still looking back in disbelief. She spent another minute or so trotting around in circles, testing to see if there was any flaw in her regeneration, and finding none.

— Far be it from me to encourage this adventure any further, but… didn’t you have someplace to be? —

“Oh right!!” Rainbow jumped in place, frantically looking for any sense of direction. “Ponyville, where—”

— Ugh… there’s a path right over there, behind that rose bush on your left. —

“Thanks, Fae!” Rainbow blurted out before galloping off in that general direction, blowing through the bush and other underbrush without any signs of slowing down.

Later, after leaving the Carousel Boutique...

It was that strange time between noon and afternoon, where technically it is after twelve noon but you wouldn’t associate it with the colloquially known 'afternoon’. At best, you might refer to it as such only due to technicality, such as saying ‘Good afternoon’ instead of ‘Good morning’.

Rainbow Dash found herself trotting aimlessly around the streets of Ponyville. This would have made for quite a relaxing walk, had she not just fled from her friends. Well, that and being wary of sunlight, of anypony who might get suspicious, and especially of the agents wandering here and there.

“So, Fae,” she whispered, turning her head to hide her mouth from passersby, “those ponies… the way Pinkie put it, sounds like they all had their own lives in Ponyville. How long are you gonna keep ‘em away for?”

— Just to be clear, if it weren’t for your public outburst on the morning after your turning, you would be here with us, too. Adjusting to life as a vampire can be jarring, to say the least. But I’m sure you already knew that. —

“Wait, so the only reason I’m not currently kidnapped is ‘cuz of my big mouth?”

— Now you’re getting it. —

Rainbow snickered to herself. “Amazing,” she mumbled. “But uhh, you still didn’t answer my question.”

— When am I going to let them return to Ponyville? —

“Yeah, that.”

— Oho… when they’re ready, child. When they’re ready… —

“Also not a real answer, but h’okay,” Rainbow grumbled, rolling her eyes.

She idly glanced around the streets ahead. Maybe it was just her, having been away for so long, but it certainly looked like there were fewer ponies out and about than usual. Those that were around seemed to have lost their typical cheer. Even if they were smiling, it didn’t reach their eyes. Furthermore, most of the Nightmare Night decorations were still hanging around. There were maybe one, two ponies tops that were even bothering to take some down.

Despite the sobering sight, it sounded like at least one pony was in a good mood.

“Rainbow Dash!!”

The pegasus’ ear twitched at the vaguely familiar voice. She barely had the chance to turn around before she was tackled over by the source.

“Wha?! Wait… Scootaloo!” Rainbow gasped, smiling wide. “Kid! I— wow, you’ve gotten big. Like, almost as big as me. When did that happen?!”

Scootaloo snickered. “Rainbow, I’m sixteen! I wasn’t gonna be a little filly forever.”

The younger pony hopped off of Rainbow, and the mare dusted herself off, careful to keep her hood up as she did so. “Wow. I’ve… really been away for a while, huh.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it. I’m just happy to see you’re alright! Erm, well… mostly.” Scootaloo shot Rainbow a sideways look. “What’s with the getup?”

“Huh? Oh right,” said Rainbow. “I’m uh, it’s some Wonderbolts thing, training thingy for costume shows, it’s… a thing. But what about you? Like, what’ve you been up to?”

Scootaloo giggled in excitement. “Oh, you know, just workin’ on tricks and stuff, hangin’ out with the girls, trying to survive Cheerilee’s attempt at a high school. Normal things, normal life.” She shuffled her hooves, blushing. “I want to hear more about life as a Wonderbolt! Dream come true, right?”

“Uh, yeah! Totally! Wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” said Rainbow. “But like, you’ve seen one show, you’ve seen ‘em all. What about your stuff? Got any scooter tricks to show off? I think it’s about time I watched and saw how much better you’ve gotten at your stuff.”

Rainbow nudged Scootaloo in the side, but Scootaloo just turned her eyes away. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s just a boring old scooter, nothing like all the acrobatic stuff you do…”

Rainbow frowned. “Somethin’ wrong?”

Scootaloo sighed. “Rainbow Dash, are you okay? You went kinda ballistic in front of the whole town yesterday. Admittedly, it was kinda funny, but first that and now you’re dressed like a crazy pony.” She stomped her hoof for emphasis. “And you don’t even want to fly or talk about the Wonderbolts?! Seriously, I’m worried about you.”

“Kid, uhh…” Rainbow bit her lip. “I-I told you, it's a training thing. And I don’t wanna bore you with that stuff. I—”

“I would love to hear all about flying. Really.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Rainbow, you’re like my big sister. You’re not gonna bore me! Just, y’know, talk about what you want. I’ll listen, and I’ll love it. I promise.” She then sat down, waiting patiently. “Come on, Rainbow. Tell me what’s up.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Nothing. Nothing’s up. I’m boring, for real.”

“Liar,” Scoot teased. “Most awesome pony I know, savior of Equestria multiple times over—”

— I beg her pardon?! —

“— and rumor has it, soon to be Captain of the Wonderbolts? Sounds pretty interesting to me!”

— Go back. What was that about ‘savior of Equestria’? What did you do before I met you?! —

Rainbow grabbed her head with both forehooves, trying in vain to make sense of both voices speaking to her at once. Scoot backed up at the sight, lip quivering.

“Yeesh, sorry,” she said. “I was just trying to be nice…”

Rainbow turned her head for a second and growled, under her breath, “Fae, shut up for a sec. Please.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Are you… talking to somepony?”

“No— er, yeah you— er… guh!” Rainbow clutched harder at her skull in frustration.

— Fine, but we are going to talk about this later. —

“Rainbow? Are you… feeling alright?” asked Scoot. She warily tried to give her friend a comforting pat on the back or hug or something, but suddenly Rainbow jolted back upright.

“Yeah never better what's up?” Rainbow blurted out, right eye twitching.

The two pegasi stood in rather awkward silence for a good half of a minute. By this time, some of the passersby began to take note of the strange sight of Rainbow in her sun-proofing outfit. The silent tension was broken not by one of the girls, but by a stallion’s voice.

“Excuse me, Ma’am?”

It was one of the Agents that had been roaming around town, plus his nearly-identical partner. They trotted over towards the two with the same, emotionless expressions they always had; this will continue to be specified in order to reinforce the fact that their faces never showed any expression and were, in fact, expressionless.

— Bad. Very bad. Get away from them. Now. —

“Uhh, so Scoot, I gotta—”

“Ms. Dash, glad we found you. I believe we owe you an apology.”

— Hold on. This might not be so bad. —

“Too. Many. Voices,” Rainbow grumbled.

The agents trotted up to the pair. Scootaloo awkwardly stepped aside as it appeared they were only interested in Rainbow. “My name is Agent Green, and my partner here is Agent Teal. On behalf of the Agency, we would like to inform you that any suspicions or charges potentially filed against you have been dropped. Executive order, all the way from the top.”

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, her whole body relaxing for once as she let out a low chuckle. “Thanks, Twilight,” she said to herself.

— A personal pardon from the Princess of Equestria... Who are you?! —

“In addition,” the agent continued, reaching into his trenchcoat, “we have something for you, per your visit yesterday.”

And then Rainbow began to internally panic all over again, eyes wide and looking for an exit. “Uhh, yeah, about that…”

“Here you go,” said the agent, producing a small packet of papers, evenly stacked and stapled in the left corner equidistant from the top and left edges and parallel to the top. “The copies of the missing pony posters you requested.”

Rainbow blinked, taking a second to realize what happened. “Ohh!” she said. “Uhh, thanks guys. I’ll take a look or something later.”

As she stuffed the papers haphazardly into a pocket of her hoodie, the agents looked to each other and nodded. “That was all,” said one of them; honestly, they could’ve switched places and you wouldn’t be able to tell. “Stay safe, you two. Don’t forget about the curfew, effective tonight at sundown.”

Neither of the pegasi could get in so much as a ‘thank you’ before the two agents abruptly turned about and walked away. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at the two once they were out of earshot.

“Curfew, schmurfew,” she grumbled. “You were right, Rainbow Dash. Just who do these guys think they are?”

“Eh, some ‘official’ government ponies,” said Rainbow. “I say just let ‘em do their thing. They’ll be outta here before too long.”

“I hope so...” Scootaloo added.

— … okay, lose the kid. We need to talk. —

Rainbow turned her head away from Scootaloo to respond. “But—”

— No buts. Lose the kid or I will do it for you. —

“Did you say something?” asked Scootaloo, tilting her head slightly.

“Uhh…” Rainbow looked away, tugging on her hoodie collar. “Listen, kid, I uhh… To be honest, I am feeling kinda sick. I didn’t want anypony to worry, but…” She broke down into a totally realistic and believable coughing fit, and just as quickly came out of it. “I think I need to go lay down. We can, uh, catch up more later, okay?”

Scootaloo just stared back at Rainbow. “Oookay?” she said. “Uhh, see ya later then I guess.”

Rainbow stood up and turned to leave. “Later Scoot! Stay awesome!” she called back, already galloping up the road.

The teenage filly stood up and started after, but stopped and sighed after only a few feet. She took a deep breath, then glared.

“Rainbow Dash… I’m not a dumb little filly. Why are you lying to me?”

While most of Ponyville’s citizens were well aware of the uneasy situation going on, few knew the full extent. Somehow even fewer still noticed the rather large yet nondescript tent that had been erected adjacent to town hall. Nopony was ever seen leaving or entering the tent, and it had seemingly appeared overnight.

This is likely because it was, in fact, the entrance was located in a loading bay inside the town hall proper, and the tent was, in fact, set up quite efficiently between the hours of 3 and 6 AM this morning.

This tent was made to house the field agents of the Agency of Equestrian Inquisitions of the Obscure and Unnatural.

Inside, the tent was partitioned into subsections. The central hub was full of folding tables and chairs covered in binders, papers, and spreadsheets, not to mention all of the agents mulling about. When they weren’t working, the agents would head to the barracks for a nap. Working in shifts, they could continue their duties around the clock.

Then there was the conference room. Several picnic tables had been pushed together, with a cloth over top, to serve as a desk for most important matters. A strange metal-and-crystal contraption stood in the middle of this desk. It had a glass lens pointing towards a flat, vertical sheet of white linen. On the other side was another glass lens, pointing at one Special Agent Chartreuse.

The machine hummed to life at his touch, projecting a hologram in front of the sheet that depicted, he assumed, the ceiling of Canterlot Palace.

“Ahem,” said Chartreuse, “Princess, I believe that your manaprojector has become dislodged. Again.”

“Oh, sorry!” said a flustered feminine voice, coming out of the hologram itself. The view shifted clunkily, shrouded in pink, as the other device was re-positioned. “There, is that better? Maybe a few degrees to the right…”

Now the agent could clearly see the royal before him. Twilight Sparkle had grown in more ways than one since taking the throne. She was starting to look like her almost-sister to the north, with increased height, longer horn, and even longer mane. In fact, she actually looked to be growing into her predecessor's old throne, although not quite. Compared to the chair, she now looked like a pre-teen filly rather than an infant.

“This is fine, Ma’am,” said Chartreuse. “Now as for the purpose of this meeting—”

“Yes, I received your itinerary this morning,” said Twilight, levitating a rather lengthy scroll into view. “I know you wanted to talk about a certain order of mine first, but I can already tell you that I’m not budging on that.”

Chartreuse frowned. Well, slightly more than usual. “Ma’am, I highly advise that you reconsider. Given your history with the suspect, it is likely that your judgment may be… not so impartial.”

“Have you reviewed her track record?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Then you are surely aware that she has been instrumental in protecting Equestria on at least a dozen occasions,” said Twilight with a coy smile.

Chartreuse didn’t budge. “Ma’am, the mare known as Rainbow Dash may have a predominantly strong record, but let us not forget, ahem; ‘outstanding charge for domestic environment eco-terrorism, including destruction of government property, unauthorized advancement of seasonal transition, and waste of weather materia’. A charge which, I will remind you, was dropped and buried by your own instruction.”

“... she was really sad about her tortoise. She couldn’t help it!”

The agent’s jaw hung open for a moment as he looked for any possible response to that. “If Rainbow Dash is capable of such devastation just due to ‘sadness’, then—”

“Agent, please drop it,” said Twilight, scowling through the hologram. “I trust Rainbow Dash. She’s the most loyal pony I have ever met, to both me and Equestria. That includes everypony in your agency, the royal guard— heck, even my own brother!”

After a moment, the agent nodded. “Very well, Your Highness. I hope your trust is well-placed.”

Twilight took a deep and very practiced breath. “With that out of the way,” she said, “let us move on. Have we made any headway in locating the target?”

“Very little, unfortunately,” said Chartreuse. “We anticipate that she is aware of our continued pursuit, and has since the initial raid in Fillydelphia. There may be a lead on one of the missing ponies, but I’m worried that this, too, will be a dead end.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Hmm… there has to be another way to root her out. Ideally before she has had a chance to, well, ‘impact’ anypony else.”

“With all due respect, Ma’am, that ship has long since sailed.”

The princess sighed. “I hope you’re wrong, but… I know you’re probably right.”

“Should we expand our search radius, Ma’am? There were still other population centers in the direction of her flight. Perhaps we should start considering those.”

“No,” said Twilight. “She’s in Ponyville, somewhere.”

“Erm, what makes you so sure?” asked Chartreuse, peering over his unnecessary shades.

Twilight looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Because I’ve done the math, and somehow, 93.5% of all national incidents since the banishing of Nightmare Moon have come from, focused on, or otherwise directly involved Ponyville.”

“That is still at least a 6.5% chance the town will have nothing to do with this.”

“Besides being my home for so many years, Ponyville currently is host to the School of Friendship, at least three of the modern era Bearers of Harmony, and easy access to every magical relic hidden away in the Everfree Forest. If she wanted to spite us, that’d be one of the best places to go.”

“And if she’s simply fleeing for her un-life and freedom?”

Twilight frowned. “If that’s really the case, which I highly doubt given this group’s prior actions, then… okay, we can consider fanning out.” She sighed, hooves up to her temples. “She’s been around even longer than I have. We barely have any information on her, and thus no way of knowing how far she’s thought this game of cat and mouse through. All these unknowns… ugh, I am not a fan.”

Chartreuse merely blinked. “At least you are being proactive about the situation. Re-establishing our agency was a good first step.”

“At least I got to change the name,” Twilight grumbled. “What was Celestia thinking with ‘Fell-Blood Inquisition’? That sounds like they were the vampires!”

“I couldn’t tell you, Ma’am.”

Twilight chuckled. “Special Agent Chartreuse, please don’t take this the wrong way, but… you could really stand to lighten up a little.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Lighten up? During an active inquisition?”

“Investigation. That’s what we call it now. Sounds way less threatening, remember?”

“Of course, Ma’am. My mistake.”

Twilight groaned. “One day, Chartreuse. One day…”

It was nearing sunset and Rainbow Dash had worked her way away from town and into the woods. By now, she was trudging along, either from boredom or lack of sleep.

“Yeah,” she said, a little bleary, “I’m kind of a big deal.”

After a brief pause, filled with nothing but sounds of the forest, she spoke again. “What?! How can that be a bad thing?”

Hidden in the nearby bushes, a certain teenaged filly squinted suspiciously as she tracked the other pegasus. She had been following the colorful mare since shortly after they had officially parted, always several steps behind and out of sight. Years of evading foalsitters and aunts and teachers were paying off for Scootaloo. At least, for the most part.

“Who are you talking to?” she whispered to herself.

Rainbow kept going along the sparse trail, so Scoot followed in the underbrush. As they went, the mare kept speaking to, apparently, nopony at all.

“Well today went well enough.”

“Trust me, I’ll make it work. You don’t need to—”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll… be more careful, or something. Yeesh.”

Long shadows in the forest and a vibrant orange glow from the horizon marked the final minutes of daylight. In the back of her mind, Scootaloo was worried about getting in trouble for breaking curfew, but at this point she had committed to her little plan. She kept up her stealthy pursuit, determined to get to the bottom of all this weirdness.

Suddenly, Rainbow made a sharp turn off of the path into a thicket. Scootaloo tensed up, worried she might be caught in the mare’s peripheral vision, but luckily Rainbow’s hoodie got in the way. Scoot darted between bushes to avoid lingering in a gap, but that made a bit more of a rustling noise than she expected.

Rainbow turned her head, seemingly instantly, tilting her nose up and sniffing at the wind. “... nothing,” she said. “Probably just a squirrel or something… Yeah, like finding another rodent in the woods is gonna be hard.”

The pegasus glanced towards the horizon and the setting sun, then ducked down and continued at a crawl. Scoot did much the same to match pace.

This continued for a few more minutes until Rainbow reached a small clearing. She turned her eyes skyward and watched as the light of day faded, only to be replaced by the moon and the stars. Then she proceeded to… undress. Scootaloo instinctively looked away before remembering just how little Rainbow tended to wear clothes in the first place. By the time this happened, Rainbow had balled up her clothes inside the hoodie, standing on the ball triumphantly.

She took in a deep breath of the new night air. “Nice. No fire. Big improvement from earlier.”

Then the light of the moon touched her, and she looked shocked. The pegasus mare buckled over, suddenly out of breath, then reared up with a wicked hiss. Four fangs, sharp as daggers, protruded from her open mouth. Her eyes began to faintly glow in the dim light. The feathers on her wings began to slough off, a process sped up as she gave them a good flap or two.

Scootaloo was frozen in abject horror. Even in her own thoughts, she struggled to form coherent words.

“Ahh, there it is,” said Rainbow, with the faintest of lisps, presumably from the change in her dental work. “Still feels awesome. I— wait, what the heck happened to my wings?”

She spun in place, looking at her wings and the scattered blue feathers on the forest floor. Then she stopped, looking pensive. “So they’ll grow back? … Phew… Because bat wings are a little harder to explain than anything else about all this…”

The filly in the bushes felt her heart pounding in her chest. She slowly began to back away, but couldn’t take her eyes off of the monster before her, even to look where she was going.

Crack!

Rainbow once again instantly turned towards the source of the noise. She glared with glowing eyes, silhouetted by moonlight, and sniffed once more. This time it sounded even more bestial.

“That smell…” she growled. “Where have I… Pony, you say? … Great, just great.”

She slowly plodded forwards, eyes locked on Scootaloo’s location. The younger pony decided to hedge her bets, hoping she hadn’t quite been discovered just yet, and began to crawl away.

Rainbow froze in place, her face distorting from vicious hunger to worry and woe. “Kid…” she said, distant and in disbelief. “No, I… Fae, I can’t. I could never— “

She shut her eyes and violently shook her head. Then she took several warbling, harsh breaths. “Okay,” she grumbled. “Just… let me do it.”

Scootaloo locked eyes with the familiar creature for but a moment. Then Rainbow lunged.

The filly rolled, bucked back, then ran. She ran, and ran, and ran.

Author's Note

Apologies if the intro flashback was a bit jarring. I wanted to introduce/tease at certain powers Fae has at the start of the chapter, and call back to them near the end. Hope it all tracks!

Chapter 7: Never Shoulda Come Here

Running through the woods on the outskirts of Ponyville was generally considered to be a bad idea in broad daylight. At night, it was considered to be signs of a death wish, confusion, or other mental instability. Scootaloo did not have any of these excuses. However, she rationalized that anypony who caught sight of the pony-turned-monster chasing her would be at least a little understanding.

The teen filly hurdled over a bush, only to find herself faced with a steep slope on the other side. She winced, her undersized wings extending on reflex, but she was simply incapable of gliding. Scoot covered her head with her forehooves as she tucked and rolled through the bramble.

She bit her tongue, wincing through the soreness and thorns.

Gah! Crap, crap, I gotta… gotta keep moving.

Her ear twitched at the faint sound of something in the air. That was all the motivation she needed to force herself to her hooves and get back to running.

Gotta get help. I gotta get back to Ponyville and— wait, no! The freakin’ curfew! I’ll just get arrested or something, and that’s if Rainbow doesn’t beat me there… And I don’t want her to get in trouble either…

Scootaloo made a sharp turn just in front of a tree trunk, and mere seconds later, the bat-winged figure silently dove through a clearing just beyond said tree. Scoot’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of this, yet she kept running as fast as her hooves would take her.

That’s Rainbow Dash. Remember that. She’s just… sick, or something. Yeah, that’s it. Why would she ever wanna hurt me, her sorta-sister?

Scoot swung around another tree just as the blurred figure of a pegasus zipped by leaving a small shockwave in her wake. The teen filly’s heart was pounding painfully in her chest.

J-just Rainbow Dash. With glowing red eyes. And sharp teeth. And some sorta demon wings. Yep, nothing wrong with her whatsoever.

She slipped over a small creek, eyes looking everywhere for signs of her hunter.

I still need help. Where can I go though? Somewhere near Everfree without going through Ponyville… Fluttershy’s place? No, she’d just lock up as soon as she saw me being chased by something that wasn’t cute and fuzzy and stare-able. What about… Oh, Sweet Apple! Apple Bloom! Bit of a hike, but—

A twig snapped somewhere behind her. Scoot gasped and backed away from the source, or at least where she thought the source was. She frantically scanned the forest for any signs of movement or life.

There was a rustle in the bushes. She took cover behind a bush of her own.

For the next few seconds, there was no sound save for the natural blowing of the wind and the young mare’s own heartbeat.

Then she heard breathing.

Scoot whipped around, expecting to see a fanged, blue mare. Instead, she saw a fanged, starry bear. Funny how language works sometimes.

The ursa’s eyes were halfway open, glancing lazily around. Scoot tried to duck behind cover, but there was none to be found. She locked eyes with the massive creature, and it bared its teeth in a deep snarl.

Aw crap.

RRRAAWWWWOOORRRRR

Scootaloo rolled as the beast slammed its claw down. Unfortunately, she was a half-second late, and her tail was caught under the creature’s paw. She whimpered, begging for mercy in unintelligible, desperate babble.

The Ursa raised its free paw. Scoot braced for the end.

Then she heard a heavy wing-flap, followed by a heavier thud and ursine groan.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw a deep red blur whipping around the ursa, pausing occasionally to hiss at the creature. Rainbow Dash lashed out at the hulking constellation faster than it or Scootaloo could comprehend. Eventually she outright toppled the beast, sending it bounding deeper into the Everfree.

Rainbow hovered down towards the ground on her leathery wings. As she turned to make eye contact with Scoot, she licked a strange blue substance off her lips.

She then promptly broke into a coughing fit, retching up the ectoplasm.

“Eugh! Okay, not blood. Definitely not blood!” Rainbow croaked between heaves.

Scootaloo took a few wary steps closer. “... Rainbow Dash?” she said, her voice quaking. “What are… what did you…”

Rainbow’s piercing eyes locked with Scoot’s. “Kid,” she said, “we need to talk.”

Scoot trotted over, offering a hoof to help Rainbow up. “What’s going on, Rainbow? Why are you, erm, like this?!”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been asked that,” Rainbow scoffed. She took the teen pony’s hoof graciously. “I’ll tell you all about it. But first, you’ve gotta do something for me.”

“Do something? Like what? You seem to be able to handle yourself,” said Scootaloo. She was staring in awe.

“Heh, well yeah, but…” Rainbow met Scoot’s gaze, a wild look reaching her eyes.

Scoot found herself unable to look away.

“Stop running,” said Rainbow, her voice somehow echoing in Scoot’s mind. “Promise me you’ll keep quiet. You can’t tell anypony what I am. Now, say it.”

All other sounds faded, then other sights. Scoot stared, frozen, and felt herself begin to speak. “I prom…”

Now, what Rainbow Dash failed to realize was the true nature of a teenager. She could hypnotically influence a raging chimeric beast with no issues, convince her friends she was telling the truth, and even make small creatures lie down and accept their inevitable end without a fight. All of these victims, however, paled in comparison to the sheer stubborn rebellion boiling in the heart of a pony in puberty.

As such, Scootaloo broke free in perhaps the most bullheaded way possible. Literally.

She swung her head down and forward, headbutting Rainbow Dash right in the jaw. Rainbow, in spite of her supernatural strength, doubled over and clutched at her face. Scootaloo took this brief window of opportunity to sprint out of there, off into the forest.

With a loud pop, Rainbow pushed her dislocated dentistry back into place. “Oh, Luna, I’m never gonna get used to that.”

— Well at least you’re learning which Princess to name drop. Filly steps, you know? —

“I just don’t get it. What’s gotten into her?”

— Your guess is as good as mine. Though you may wish to catch up to her before she’s able to spread word of your condition. Or if you’re having second thoughts, I could always lend a helping hoof... —

“I’ve got it under control,” Rainbow growled.

— Are you so sure? —

“I know Scootaloo. One way or another, I’m sure I can get through to her.”

The scattered willows and oaks gave way to a relatively uniform grid of trunks with apples lying by their roots. Scootaloo could see a light up ahead as she crested a hill. She smiled as she caught sight of the farmhouse, only to lose that optimism as she realized just how much further it was.

I’ve got this… Just a little further and I’m home free…

A shadow passed over her. She looked up to see a familiar silhouette against the moonlight.

Without wasting another moment, Scootaloo decided to simply book it. She galloped through the orchard, occasionally weaving between the trees in a vain attempt to shake her pursuer. Scoot could feel Rainbow’s glowing gaze fixed upon her no matter how she moved to evade.

Rainbow herself dove down between a gap in the trees, tailing the land-bound filly by low-lying flight. Her wingspan only occasionally hindered her, but this did slow her down.

Scootaloo caught a glimpse of Rainbow and skidded to a stop. Moments later, the older pegasus blew past her, just as planned.

Not wanting to waste any time, Scoot took a hard left turn into a wide angle towards the Sweet Apple home.

The treeline broke, but she could see her destination. She was so close.

“Help!!” Scootaloo screamed. “Applejack!! Apple Bloom! Somepony, help!!”

Out of nowhere, Rainbow swooped between Scoot and the farmhouse. The teen pony tripped from this startling sight.

As she looked up from the dirt, she could see Rainbow’s red eyes in the dark above, hovering in place. Yet she also saw a light in the corner of her eye.

“Ey! Git outta here!!”

It was Applejack. She stood in front of her now open front door with some wood-and-rope contraption held in her forehooves.

Scootaloo flailed as she picked herself out of the dirt. She dove for cover behind the older mare. Applejack kept her eyes skyward, yet adjusted her stance to better cover the filly.

The farmer shut one eye and raised her device. A green apple impaled on the end of a wooden rod sat atop the device. It was balanced against a taut rope and pointed at the bat-winged figure above.

“Smile, you rat with wings,” she muttered.

And then she pulled on a lever, and the rod was launched into the air. The figure flipped backwards, narrowly dodging the makeshift arrow, then glided away on the wind.

Once the creature was out of sight, Applejack set the crossbow down. She pulled Scootaloo into a tight, loving hug. “You okay, sugarcube? That critter didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“N-No,” said Scoot, still shaking. “Not really…”

“C’mon. Let’s get inside and get you warmed up,” said the older mare.

She escorted Scootaloo inside, then ducked out quickly to grab and reload her weapon. When she went inside herself, she locked the door and the deadbolt, and even pushed a stool up against the handle, just in case.

Chapter 8: Pest Problems

Upon entering the Apple family home, Scootaloo was greeted by the rest of said family. Sugar Belle rushed to the teen filly, scooping her up in a magical hug. Big Macintosh was not far behind her, looking on with great concern.

And of course, Apple Bloom came rushing from the stairs.

“I thought that was you!” said Apple Bloom. “What the hay are you doin’ around here, Scoot?”

Sugar Belle shot Apple Bloom a disapproving glare. “Apple Bloom, please. She just had a run-in with the ‘Battacabra’ or whatever you’re calling it.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes instantly widened. “Aw shit…”

“Hey!” Big Mac was now also glaring at her. “Language!”

“Forget it, Mac,” said Applejack, setting her crossbow by the front door as she joined the rest of them. “I’d be cussin’ that thing out, too, if it went after any of y’all or any of my friends.”

Scootaloo shuddered in Sugar Belle’s grasp, whimpering. “Th-thank you,” she stammered out.

“Shh, shh, you’re safe now,” said Sugar, brushing her hoof over Scoot’s mane. “That monster can’t get you in here.”

“How’d you get so much on the Bat’s bad side, anyhow?” asked Applejack. “I’ve never seen it go after a pony like that. ‘Til tonight, it's just been a pest at worst.”

Scootaloo wrenched herself from the other mare’s hug, stepping back a few paces before steadying herself on the wall. “I, um… wait, you keep talking about her— it like you’ve seen it around before. What gives?”

Silence fell upon the home, save for the creaking wood of the floorboards and walls subject to the wind outside. The adult ponies looked between each other for a moment, exchanging tired and harrowed looks. Even Apple Bloom looked to be biting her tongue.

Sugar Belle was the first to speak up. “We should tell her, Applejack. It’s not like she doesn’t know now.”

“I’d have told her already,” said Apple Bloom, her voice laced with a sarcastic bitterness. “But Applejack said I had to keep it a secret.”

Applejack sighed. “Fine, go for it,” she said. And then, under her breath, she added, “Smartass…”

Apple Bloom hopped up from her seat and began pacing before her friend, if only for dramatic effect. “So, Scootaloo,” she began, “do you remember that one time we were havin’ problems with them vampire fruit bats?”

“Kinda-sorta?” said Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow..

“Well this thing, the Battacabra, started showing up on occasion some time after all that,” Apple Bloom continued. “At first it was like… once in a blue moon, I think? But within a few years, it got more regular. Always shows up at night, never lets us get a good look. And yet, every single time it shows up, next morning we’ll find at least two or three whole trees’ worth of apples sucked dry.”

Scoot shuddered. “So… it's attacking your trees?”

“It’s attacking our livelihood,” said Applejack. “Even with helpin’ hooves, we can’t sell apples without any juice in ‘em.”

“Nopony really knows where the Battacabra came from,” said Apple Bloom, her voice turning a sort of sinister usually associated with campfire tales. “I think it’s some sort of ghost or spirit of the fruit bats, sent back to Sweet Apple Acres for revenge.”

“That’s, uh, a theory alright,” said Scootaloo.

Sugar Belle snickered to herself and mumbled, to nopony in particular, “Told you…”

“Well we ain’t got any others,” Apple Bloom snapped. “Think about it. It only shows up at night, leaves no trace by morning, and we never get a good enough look at it to know what it really looks like, save for the bat wings.”

“M-maybe that’s for the best, you know?” said Scootaloo. “I mean, I-I’ve got first-hoof experience with it and let me tell you, you do not want to, erm, see it up close. Not if you want to get a good night’s sleep.”

This seemed to have the exact opposite of the intended effect on Apple Bloom. “You got a good look?!” she asked as she bounced in excitement. “What’d you see? Can you see through it? Does it have big ol’ bat ears? Is it like missin’ skin or have bones pokin’ out or—”

“Apple Bloom, hush!” said Applejack. “The poor filly’s been through enough tonight!”

Her little sister nickered. “I was just askin’. I think I’d know what one of my best friends can handle a bit better than you.”

Applejack scowled and grumbled in response. Apple Bloom stuck her tongue out. Next thing Scootaloo knew, the two sisters were literally butting heads and snarling at each other.

“Uh, ladies?” said Big Mac, sheltering a rather worried-looking Sugar Belle in his forehooves.

Applejack was the first to walk away. “I’m gonna go finish up supper. Scootaloo, you’re welcome to stay the night. I’m sure Apple Bloom wouldn’t mind at all.”

Just as she turned to leave the room, however, Sugar Belle spoke up. “Applejack, I— remember what I said when I first found out about the Bat?”

“Besides, ‘Hey Big Mac, maybe we should move out?’” Applejack grumbled.

“I never!” Sugar countered. “All I said was, well… maybe since I wasn’t here for the original vampire fruit bat ‘incident’, I don’t really get the whole situation. But I highly doubt this is a ghost! It's probably some creature from the Everfree Forest and we should get somepony’s help in dealing with it.” She paused, glancing over at Scootaloo with saddened eyes. “Especially now that we know it will try to attack ponies!”

Applejack halted, then sighed. “Sugar Belle, I know you mean well, but I’ve got this! We didn’t build that launcher thingy for nothing’.”

Sugar Belle looked back to the pegasus in the room. “Scootaloo, how long was the Battacabra chasing you? Where did you find it?”

“I, um…” Scootaloo averted her eyes. “I w-was just out in the woods! Then the sun went down, and, uh, the Batty-whatsit was just like, there. That’s all!”

And yet, Sugar looked outright alarmed at even this simple summary. “Okay so this thing is definitely coming from outside the orchard. It doesn’t matter if you have a weapon, Applejack. What about ponies nowhere near the farm?” She stomped a hoof. ”Hell, what if this thing has something to do with ponies going missing lately?!”

“No, you’re absolutely right,” said Applejack. “I had no idea it went outside Sweet Apple in the first place. But I’m still worried about causin’ a panic. Who could we talk to about the Battacabra without word spreading through Ponyville?”

“Well the Agency, for starters,” said Sugar Belle, “especially if this ties into the missing ponies.” She paused, shuffling her hooves awkwardly. “Also, uh, I want to tell Starlight.”

“What?! Why?” asked Applejack.

“She’s easily the most magically gifted pony either of us have ever met,” said the unicorn. “Erm, no offense to Twilight of course. If this does turn out to be some sort of ‘ghost’, she’d probably be the most qualified to help.”

“Doesn’t she have a school to run?” asked Big Mac.

Sugar smiled up at the stallion. “Yes, but I’m sure she could find somepony to cover for her. It’s not like she doesn’t have friends.”

“Do you consider yourself one?” asked Applejack.

There was another awkward pause.

“M-more or less,” said Sugar. “I’ll admit, we don’t have too much in common besides our unfortunate history, but it’s not like I still hold that against her.”

“Sometimes, I just don’t get you, Sugar Belle,” said Applejack. She shook her head. “But my brother seems to think you’re alright, so I can’t complain.”

The mares exchanged a quick laugh.

“Anyhow, I agree we need help,” said Applejack. “I can talk to the suits if you talk to the headmare, but that’s all for tomorrow. Tonight, let’s just stay in where it’s warm and safe. We can talk about how to sound less like a bunch of lunatics over breakfast.”

“Sounds good, AJ,” said Sugar Belle. “Thanks.”

“Mhm,” said Applejack, turning for the kitchen. “Now if we’re ready to settle down and act like a family for once, I think it’s high time we ate.”

Sugar Belle and Big Mac gave their nods of approval, standing and trotting after Applejack. Scootaloo stood against the wall, catching her breath after all the night’s excitement. Apple Bloom started after the others, but stopped when Scootaloo didn’t follow.

“You okay, Scoot?” she asked. “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean to freak you out or anything.”

“No, it’s not that,” said Scootaloo. Her voice was hushed, and she looked back and forth up the hallway for any sign of adults. “Apple Bloom, we need to talk. Alone.”

Apple Bloom glanced over her shoulder, then asked at a whisper of her own, “‘Bout what?”

“The Battacabra. I think I know what— who it is. And we can’t let anypony find out. Ever.”

Outside the friendly farmhouse, there was an old barn. It was mostly used as a glorified storage shed at this time. The planks of wood that comprised the aging structure were splintering and torn in odd places. The wind carried easily inside, making the whole thing groan as if it were about to topple any moment now.

Rainbow Dash found herself behind this forgotten building, unable to move and barely able to see outside of a tight cone of tunnel vision. She had been stuck here for several minutes, completely out of control of her own movement.

She was, however, in control of her own thoughts still.

“Fae. Fae!! Come on, I know you can hear me!”

— Calm down, child. You forced my hoof. —

“What are you even doing?”

— Saving your un-life, Rainbow Dash. — Fae’s voice was cold and biting. Rainbow would probably have had her tail between her legs if she had the motor control. — Did you not see that pony’s crossbow aimed at you?! —

“‘That pony’ is my friend, Applejack. And duh, of course I saw it and the apple that she launched at me. I don’t see how an apple would’ve—”

— That apple was on the end of a wooden dowel. At that velocity, had it made contact, it would effectively have acted as a stake, and could have killed you instantly! —

“Really? It didn’t even look sharp.”

Fae let out a growling sigh. — Rainbow, this is very serious. Now I’m going to relinquish my hold upon your body, but you have to stay hidden, and you have to listen to me. Are we clear?”

“I, um… yeah, sure. I wouldn’t want anypony to see me like this anyway.”

After a moment, Rainbow fell limp into the dirt and grass below. Her senses faded back into focus as she tested the feeling in her extremities. Everything felt in order, or at least how it should since her turning.

“So,” she whispered, “what’s up, Fae?”

— Rainbow Dash, I have tried to be as accommodating as I can, especially in light of your ‘status’ before being turned. As of tonight, however, things are going to change. —

“Change how?”

— That filly knows too much. And I have this feeling that you would not want to see her harmed in any way. —

Rainbow scowled. “That sounds about right. Nopony’s gonna hurt Scootaloo if I have anything to say about it.”

— See, that’s just the problem. You are still so attached to the life you know and the ponies you care for that it is jeopardizing the masquerade. You may have been able to bluff your way out of discovery before, but she saw. She knows what you are, or at least has a damned good idea. Come daylight, what’s to stop her from telling everypony she knows? —

The pegasus’ eyes widened. “What? N-no way. Scootaloo wouldn’t do that to—”

— It’s not a matter of whether or not she would, but that she could. —

“... you have major trust issues. You know that, right?”

— A lack of blind faith in other ponies has kept me alive and free thus far. One day, in your infinite existence, you will realize just how valuable a little paranoia can be. —

“Yeesh, you’re starting to remind me of every other threat to Equestria me and my friends ever stopped.” She rolled her eyes. “You ever consider just, I dunno, opening up to other ponies? Treating them nice? Who knows, it could work out for you…”

— I have. My House, my family… you’re a part of that now, Rainbow Dash. Perhaps I consider you to be a friend. —

“But we’ve never met face to face,” said Rainbow. “Not to mention the whole ‘turning-me-into-a-vampire-against-my-will’ thing.”

— I’ve granted you the gift of immortality, endless vitality under the light of the stars and the moon. Are you now saying this is a bad thing? —

“Well I’m gonna miss the sun! And I— ugh…” She kicked at the dirt, gritting her teeth. “I absolutely hate having to keep a secret from everypony. And why do I even have to?!”

— The last non-vampire pony I trusted, whom I considered my best friend, betrayed me simply for what I was. What we were… —

Nothing was said between the two for a minute or two.

“Did they have a name?” Rainbow finally asked.

— … her name was Nocturne. I thought we were close. Then she led the Agency right to me and the rest of my family. —

“I, uh,” Rainbow stammered, “I’m sure she had her reasons. Maybe she thought you could get help, or cured or something.”

— She knew damn well there is no cure. And we wouldn’t want one anyway. —

“Wait, go back. There’s no cure?!” Rainbow gasped.

— Of course not. And be quiet or I’ll take over again. —

Rainbow gulped, biting her tongue. The intention was metaphorical, but she was also encountering the problems of still getting used to having fangs.

— Like it or not, you’re a vampire now and forever. Sooner or later, some mortal pony will realize just how much of a threat that makes you. Unless, that is, you take necessary precautions. —

“Look, I’m sorry Nocturne ruined your friendship,” said Rainbow, now barely breathing a whisper. “But there’s never been a problem me and my friends haven’t been able to work through together.”

— Rainbow Dash, if what you’ve told me is true, one of those friends is the very Princess who not only revived the Agency currently hunting us down, but also who guided them to Ponyville. —

“... b-but there’s no way Twilight could’ve known—”

— There’s also Applejack, who is already well prepared to slay a vampire at a moment’s notice. And these are just the adults you know. What about a volatile teenager? —

Rainbow leaned up against the side of the barn. She felt as if she was going to heave. “No,” she said. “They wouldn’t! I—”

— Maybe they wouldn’t. But they could. And not only would this result in your personal betrayal, but it could compromise the entirety of House Duskhallow. —

Tears began to well in her eyes. “But I… what can these Agency pricks even do?”

— If you’re lucky, impale you on a stake. If not, lock you to a magically sealed coffin and throw you in Tartarus. —

“Tartarus?! Even if I haven’t, like… I’d never hurt anypony. I swear.”

— Don’t you get it yet? It’s not whether or not you would. —

“But I could. I could… really mess up somepony…” Trembling, Rainbow looked down at her forehooves. She glanced between them and the barn, then shuddered. “I’m dangerous,” she mumbled. Within the blink of an eye, she snapped her hoof in a sort of back-hoof punch against the barn.

The plank she struck snapped like a twig.

— We need to lay low and draw as little attention to ourselves as we can. —

“R-right.”

— For the next few days, you’re going to be ‘home sick’, understood? At least until we’re sure nothing comes of this. Or until we can find a way for you to slip out of the public eye. —

Rainbow Dash wiped the bleeding tears from her snout.

“Makes sense to me.”

In the dead of the night, some hours after an admittedly wonderful dinner of apple stew, Scootaloo found herself tossing and turning on her couch-based bed. Every time she shut her eyes, all she could see were trees, red eyes in the shadow, and row after row of dagger-like teeth.

Some of this may have been exaggerated by her imagination. Other parts may have been induced by nightmares from a time she thought was well behind herself.

Apple Bloom rolled over in a sleeping bag on the floor next to her friend. She, too, looked far away from a restful night. “You neither?” she asked at a low whisper.

“I’m surprised you’re not out already,” said Scootaloo, crossing her arms. “You’re not the one who saw everything.”

“My sister’s best friend and my best friend’s sorta-sister is some kinda bat monster, and you’re surprised I’m worried?!” Apple Bloom sneered. “Girl, did she hit you on the head?”

“I mean I hit her with my head…”

“Uh… what? Why? How?”

Scoot rolled over on her side, facing the earth pony. “She did this weird eye thing. Kinda reminded me of Fluttershy’s Stare… it felt like my mouth was saying something I didn’t make it, if that makes any sense.”

“It doesn’t, but go on.”

“So I did what first came to mind. I… headbutt her right in the jaw.”

Apple Bloom winced. “Damn, Scoot. I gotta admit, that sounds real brave of you.” Her voice faltered slightly. “Especially bein’ Rainbow and all…”

“Shh!” Scoot hissed, rapidly looking around the room. “Remember, we can’t tell anypony.”

“And why not?” asked Apple Bloom. “What if the next pony she goes after ain’t as lucky as you?”

The teen pegasus opened her mouth to respond, then quickly shut it and rolled back over, sobbing into the seat cushion.

“Scootaloo… I know she’s Rainbow Dash, and you don’t want to get her in trouble or nothin’, but—”

“But what?” Scoot hissed.

“She needs help, Scoot. If you’re sure she’s still herself…”

“I-I know… I’m just scared about what happens if she’s not herself anymore.”

Chapter 9: Second Verse, Same as the First

Breaking News! Local Pink Party Pony is Prancing About in a Panic!

Had Ponyville its own newspaper— one outside of the schoolhouse anyway— this would likely have been the day’s headline. Normally, ponies would not bat an eye at such behavior coming out of Pinkie Pie. Even as the years had dragged on and most ponies would have settled down on some literal or even existential level, Pinkamena Diane Pie had continued to defy the odds and remain a young, spry soul.

Strangely, today, she looked absolutely haggard and beyond her years.

Still, she had a sort of spring in her step, if not the usual kind. A pink blur zipped about an otherwise quiet and uneventful Ponyville. She stopped occasionally to closely inspect the ground or a random passerby, but never for more than a second or two. That is, except for those she spoke to.

“Hey! You!” Pinkie shouted across the town square. “Rosey-somethin’!”

The fellow earth pony, no less than fifteen meters away and previously minding her own business, glanced back, puzzled. “Um… yes?” she said, unsure of what to make of all this.

The next thing she knew, Pinkie was in her face. “Where were you last night? Huh? Huh?!”

Roseluck shrunk back, shaking in her hooves. “I-I was at home because of the curfew! Why?”

“And what were you doing at home, hmm?” Pinkie asked with a twitch in her eye.

“Um… drinking tea and reading a book. That’s all, I swear!” Rose nervously glanced about for anypony who might come to her rescue, but alas, the mares were alone on this street.

Pinkie glared sharply into Rose’s eyes, then sighed as she saw no hint of ill intent behind them. “Fine, I believe you,” said the party pony. “Did… did you hear anything weird last night? See anything?”

“Not more than usual. Well, usual since the lockdown.” Roseluck shuffled her hooves. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, no,” said Pinkie. “Just… anything at all? Even the teensiest weirdness?”

“... does this conversation count?”

“Is this last night?!” Pinkie snapped.

Rose flinched. “Then no, honest! It was just a calm, normal evening!”

Then Pinkie, surprisingly, broke into tears and squeezed the other mare in a sniffly hug. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m just… trying to figure things out, and it’s all so confusing, and nopony has any idea what happened, and— and…”

While wary at first, Rose soon returned the embrace, if only to hopefully move this along faster. “Th-there, there,” she said, patting Pinkie on the back.

Resisting the urge to cling to the other pony and squeeze the daylights out of her forever and ever, Pinkie relinquished her grip long enough for Rose to step back.

Then she said, in a somber tone, “If you see my sister, please let me know. She’s… g-gone missing. Just like...”

A look of realization and shock came across Rose’s face. “Like the ponies a few days ago…”

Word spread like wildfire that another pony was missing. Then another pony, too, was reported. Then another. And then another. Soon, a mob had formed outside of the Mayor’s Office and the Agency’s Tent. This time, however, the agents seemed far less prepared. They scrambled to find somepony to put in front of the mob to stall for time, going through at least three very-slightly-different ponies in just the first hour.

Even the foals of Ponyville could not evade the news. Many ran home into the waiting arms of their parents, desperately pleading to know who was still alright.

Amidst the chaos, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom crept around the edges, scanning the scene intently.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, Scoot,” said Apple Bloom. “But we haven’t seen hide nor hair of Rainbow Dash all day. So it’s not like I’ve seen any proof yet.”

Scoot groaned. “Nopony answered when we knocked on her door. Since then we’ve been to both schools, Sugarcube, the hospital, even the spa. Heck, we even checked that clearing I followed her to!”

“Assuming of course that that was the right spot. Just looked like more of Everfree to me.”

The pegasus rolled her eyes. “Even if I got it wrong, nopony else has seen her today. And now we hear about more missing ponies in general?!”

As Scoot raised her voice, Apple Bloom looked around at the nearby ponies. “Might wanna keep it down, girl!” she hissed at her friend. “If you’re right with all this conspiracy hoo-hah, what if she’s the one making ponies go missing in the first place?”

“Don’t even start with that!” Scoot snapped back, albeit at a more hushed tone. “Rainbow Dash would never hurt anypony.”

“Looked like she was gonna hurt you,” the apple pony deadpanned.

“Sh-shut up,” said Scoot, averting Apple Bloom’s gaze. “I’m sure she had some other reason to, well…”

Apple Bloom smirked. “To hunt you down like a greased pig?”

“Are you calling me a pig?!”

“So you admit you’re greasy.”

The pegasus filly nickered. “This isn’t funny, A.B.,” she grumbled. “Just look at all these ponies. Something bad’s going on. If Rainbow’s involved… I refuse to believe she is, and I’ll fight to prove that.”

“I’m on your side, Scoot,” said Apple Bloom, resting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “But… what if you’re wrong?”

The two stood in relative silence for a moment.

This silence was broken not by either filly, but by a familiar static from a microphone, coming from town hall. This silenced everypony else shortly after.

One of the Agents stood at the top step, a megaphone held aloft in magical glow. He cleared his throat and straightened his hat before beginning his speech proper.

“Attention Ponyville residents: we are aware and investigating a new wave of disappearances in the area.” He paused, tugging at his trench coat collar. “The fact that this has happened at all is an unfortunate fai— erm, error on our part. For this, we are deeply sorry. However, we do have a contingency plan in place for this circumstance.”

A worried murmur spread throughout the mob before him.

“Starting at sundown tonight, we are initiating lockdown phase two: full-time surveillance."

That murmur grew immediately into a dull roar.

“We will be tripling our efforts, with overlapping patrol routes and increased redundancy. As needed, we will be questioning ponies on a regular basis, and will perform wellness checks upon request. The curfew will remain in place, although the punishment for breaking curfew will be, at a minimum, a night’s stay in our local detention center.”

Scootaloo shot a weary, sideways glance at Apple Bloom. “That’s gonna be a problem.”

The stallion continued his amplified announcement. “As we continue to gather information, we ask that all reports of missing individuals be funneled through our information reception station, located in the front lobby of this very establishment. Thank you for your cooperation in these trying times.”

He then quickly darted inside before anypony could reasonably have time to react. This was wise, as the mob swarmed the stairs of town hall, everypony attempting to shout their own questions and concerns over everypony else.

Apple Bloom smiled meekly at her friend. “Well… if they put ‘er in jail, at least we’ll know where to find her.”

“What about us, though?” asked Scootaloo. “Like… I’d probably not really care, but Applejack would murder you.”

“She wouldn’t… I mean she couldn’t, I—” The earth pony shuddered. “No, she absolutely would if I got in that much trouble. You’re right, and that’s terrifying.”

“We need more help,” said Scoot. “Some, uhh, not-so-criminally-minded help.”

Apple Bloom scoffed. “So… Sweetie Belle.”

“Sweetie Belle,” Scoot concurred.

Meanwhile, a pegasus mare lurked behind the crowd, unassuming and unnoticed. She stared unwaveringly at where the trenchcoated stallion had just stood, her breath quavering. Shaking herself out of it, she crept back into the alley. Out of sight, and out of mind.

Nopony noticed as she silently soared off into the distance in an unnaturally swift glide.

Chapter 10: The Midnight Society

Despite its rural location and heavy traditions, Ponyville was not immune to the march of time in Equestria’s capitalistic society. While plans for a mall or office building had been successfully shut down by the lobbying from the locals, big businesses could still find a way to weasel their way in to expand their franchises.

Thus, what was once your mom-and-pop fast food diner had since been bought and converted to yet another location in a massive, nation-wide chain.

Lately, this particular store had been far less profitable than executives might have hoped. While market analysts all the way in Manehattan would scramble for weeks to find a way to better appeal to the ‘local demographics’, those working at the location in question had no delusions as to why their dining room was gathering dust.

All this talk of missing ponies and curfews had put a damper on the town’s spirits. Most were staying home as much as possible. Those few that went out were looking purely for the essentials. Burgers, sadly, did not fall into this category.

Then the little bell above the front door rang as two teenaged fillies trotted in, the first potential customers of the shift.

“Yeesh, this place is a ghost town,” said Scootaloo, frowning at the empty booths along every wall. “Are you sure this is the place?”

“Pretty sure,” said Apple Bloom, though doubt crept into her voice.

Scootaloo huffed. “Are they even open? I mean, the door was unlocked, but—”

A cheery voice came from the kitchen, just behind the front counter. “Just a second,” said the familiar young mare.

“That’s a yep, and double-yep,” said Apple Bloom. “And you doubted me.”

“You doubted you,” the pegasus filly deadpanned.

Just then, Sweetie Belle herself trotted out from the back and took her place behind one of the front cash registers. She was adorned with a brightly colored apron over black, collared shirt, with a hat atop her head in the rough shape of an order of fries.

“Welcome to Neighburger,” she said in a practiced tone. “Home of the Neighburger. How can I hel— Oh! Hey, girls! What’s up?”

The other two fillies trotted closer to the counter. “Sweetie Belle, we need to talk,” said Scoot.

The unicorn blinked in surprise. “Oh, well… I mean, it's not exactly like we’re busy…”

“Are we alone?” asked Apple Bloom.

Again, Sweetie Belle was caught off guard. “Technically no,” she said, “but we’re running with a skeleton crew. It's just me and Mister Curly Fry here today.”

Scootaloo leaned up, looking intently over her friend’s shoulder. “Do you think he’d try to listen in?” she asked, her voice much more hushed now.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “Girls, you’re scaring me. What in Equestria is going on?”

“Shh!” Apple Bloom hissed. “We can’t let anypony else hear about this.”

“Why not?” Sweetie asked, now starting to quiet down herself.

A set of hobbling hoofsteps approached the girls from the kitchen. All three froze in place until the pony, some gangly looking stallion, moved past. Scootaloo breathed a small sigh of relief.

Sweetie Belle leaned in closer and whispered, “Okay, even if Mister Curly hears us, he’s not going to care. If he comes back around, just pretend you’re ordering something and he’ll move on. Trust me.”

Scoot and Apple Bloom exchanged a look, then a nod.

“Promise me this stays between the three of us, okay?” asked the pegasus.

“I promise, I promise,” said Sweetie. “Now what’s going on?”

The pair spent the next few minutes recounting Scootaloo’s story of the night before, from when she first bumped into Rainbow Dash and how weird she had been acting, to her narrow escape from the pony-turned-monster. Apple Bloom embellished a few details here and there, despite not being a first-hoof witness for most of the night, though Scootaloo didn’t bother to correct her. The effect of these exaggerations was plainly visible in Sweetie Belle’s expression over the course of the tale.

“Oh my gosh,” she whimpered. “W-we have to tell somepony. She could hurt someone!”

“No! That’s exactly what we’re not going to do!” growled her pegasus friend.

Sweetie Belle shuffled uneasily behind the counter. “You… you really think she’s in there somewhere? That Rainbow Dash could do all that and still be herself?”

“I was wonderin’ that myself,” said Apple Bloom. “Rainbow Dash loves you like a sister, Scoot. Why would she attack you?”

“Maybe her mind has been taken over by some dark spell,” said Sweetie Belle, “or maybe that was just some kind of doppleganger, like a changeling.”

“It was her.”

“How do you know that?” asked the unicorn filly.

Scoot groaned, rolling her eyes and flitting her wings. “Believe it or not, I’ve seen Rainbow Dash fly. Like a lot. Like a lot a lot. Every pegasus pony has their own little quirks while flying, just like every other pony walks a little different.” She sighed, slumping over onto crossed forehooves. “Even when I was running from her, I could just tell… only the real Rainbow would or could fly like that.”

Apple Bloom nickered. “Like a changeling couldn’t figure that out. That’s not proof of noth—”

“I believe you, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said softly. “If there’s anypony who could tell a real from a fake Rainbow Dash, it’d be the president of her fan club.”

“Heh,” said Scoot, cracking a faint smile. “I guess I’m still a fan, alright. And that means I don’t want anything bad to happen to her…”

“What can we do?” asked Sweetie. “Like I’m willing to help, but there’s only so much three teenage fillies can accomplish.”

“First we’ve got to find her,” said Apple Bloom. “The Battacabra’s been hecklin’ our farm for years now and we’ve never caught it— erm, her.”

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “‘Battacabra’?” she asked, stifling a laugh. “Who came up with that name?”

Apple Bloom’s face flushed. “What, that silly thing? Uhh, think it was Sugar Belle, yeah, or maybe Big Mac…”

“In Apple Bloom’s defense,” said Scootaloo, earning her a scornful glare from the earth pony, “she had bat wings and sharp teeth. Pretty bat-ty.”

“Wait,” said the unicorn, “when you say ‘sharp teeth’, what exactly do you mean? Like all her teeth, or just a few?”

Scootaloo furrowed her brow, thinking back to the night before. “Uhh, just four I think. Two on top, two on bottom, long and pointy and I think curled a little. Kinda made me think of a dragon or a snake.”

Were it possible for a pony of Sweetie Belle’s complexion to get any paler, she would have just then. “Fangs, then… oh no.”

“You afraid of gettin’ bit?” asked Apple Bloom.

Sweetie shook her head. “No— well, yes, but probably not for the reasons you’re thinking.”

A gruff voice carried out from the kitchen, no doubt from Curly Fry. “Are you fillies gonna buy somethin’ already or just loiter all day?”

“Crap,” Sweetie whispered. She quickly hit a few buttons on the register, causing it to ring and extend the cash tray. “Two small fries, coming right up!” she shouted, making sure to turn just enough to project behind herself.

“We didn’t order any—”

Scootaloo stuffed a hoof in her earth pony friend’s mouth. “Thank you, Ma’am,” she also shouted, albeit more stiff in the delivery. “We will enjoy our meal. From here. Neighburger.”

Curly grumbled something else, but was too far away for the girls to hear.

Sweetie Belle bit her lip. “This is too risky,” she whispered, barely audible even to the ponies next to her. “Let’s meet up after my shift; I get off work at six, meet me at Rarity’s around then. I’ll explain everything there, then we can figure out what to do next.”

Her friends nodded, then turned to leave.

“Wait! Don’t leave without your fries!”

“Are we getting charged for this?” asked Apple Bloom.

Sweetie pouted. “Do you not have at least one bit between the two of you?”

Their awkward, penniless silence told her all she needed to know.

“Fine, I’ll cover it this time,” said Sweetie Belle with a huff. “But you owe me. Both of you.”

That night, just as the sun set beyond the horizon, a gust of wind blew through the trees of the Everfree like the chilled exhale of an ursa. Squirrels, rabbits, and other forest life scattered from the sudden motion. Even hardier creatures like timberwolves and chimeras tensed up from the disturbance, though most quickly returned to their nightly hunts.

A notable exception to this were the members of a small bask of cragodiles. As typical of these lithic crocodilians, they remained lurking at the surface of a muddy marsh deep in the forest, motionless and nearly indistinguishable from actual stone. To most creatures, this camouflage is as effective as it is deadly.

But cragodiles are still living, organic creatures. Therefore they have a pulse.

Suddenly, one of the bulls felt the slightest pressure upon its back. Its eye shot back for a glimpse at the poor creature about to become a free meal. Instead, its head was pulled back, eyes forced forward to face its own hunter.

“Don’t. Move,” Rainbow Dash hissed, glowing eyes locked with the creature’s.

As she expected, the cragodile fell limp, leaving her free to find a soft spot on the underside of its neck to sink her teeth into.

Rainbow shuddered as she felt her senses heighten and reflexes sharpen, fueled by this sweet nectar of blood. For a moment, she forgot why she was ever so hesitant to feed in the first place. If only a moment.

The vampire pony soon found herself surrounded by angry, snarling reptiles. They were none too happy that their bog had been so rudely intruded upon.

Rainbow Dash smirked, dropping the practically unconscious cragodile from her hooves. She returned their snarl with one of her own, baring her still-dripping fangs.

The creatures were even less amused by this show of defiance. One after another, they surged forth and snapped their jagged jaws at their prey. Rainbow deftly sidestepped each one in turn, feeling as if the world around her was in slow motion. She smugly batted away one of the beasts with a swift buck, spinning about with an entirely necessary flourish.

One cragodile whipped around while the pegasus had her back turned. Its sinuous tail knocked the wind right out of her and sent her crashing into the muck. She rolled back onto her hooves just in time to see the same creature bearing down on her with jaws open wide.

In spite of her enhanced durability, Rainbow Dash felt every tooth like a dagger, crushing her with the weight of a castle wall. She cried out, partly in pain, but also in anger. How dare this thing challenge her? She was so much more than a wild, dumb animal. She was the apex predator in this forest!

It was time she taught these animals their place.

She gritted her teeth and thrashed about from within the reptile’s grip. Despite her own bleeding, her strength refused to fail. If anything, she was finding more with each passing second.

The cragodile dragged her back into the muck, blinding her with sediment. The creature fought to keep its jaw clenched as it began to twirl underwater: the infamous crocodilian Death Spiral.

In spite of the disorienting forces, Rainbow kept fighting. She found purchase with one hoof, then another. With all her might, and moving against the spinning current, she bucked against the opposite end of the monster’s maw.

Vampire and beast burst up from the depths of the bog.

A sickening crack reverberated from the ripples. The creature’s jaw had been thoroughly dislocated. In shock, it lay motionless against the shore.

Rainbow landed silently beside the fallen beast. She then turned her eyes towards the remainder of the bask. “Anyone else?” she asked, unable to hide a dark sense of self-satisfaction.

The cragodiles collectively decided that they, unlike their fallen brethren, preferred to live. As such, they swiftly relocated to anywhere else they could find, far away from the fanged pony.

The pegasus pony sighed, leaning against a nearby tree for support. Already, she could feel the wounds from her struggles vanishing with each passing second. The rush of her feeding was finally beginning to wane as well. She figured the two were related, but didn’t feel like thinking about it too hard.

Right then, Rainbow was busy taking the moment to revel in the afterglow of her hunt.

“That was awesome. I think,” she said to herself. “It felt awesome. Could make an awesome story. Just…”

She glanced back at the two still reptiles on the murky shore behind her, her eyes filled with pity.

“I should feel worse about that. About… eugh, killing something. Why don’t I?”

— Why should you? —

Rainbow gasped. “Fae?! Where’d you come from? Where have you been?”

— Unfortunately, I’ve been busy with other matters. The Agency continues to be a thorn in our side. — Fae paused, chuckling to herself. — But you don’t want to hear about that. From what I hear, it sounds like somepony has been having herself a bit of fun this evening. —

“Fun? I mean…” Rainbow shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. “I guess I did kind of like it. I don’t like that I liked it, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little… ‘fun’?” Her last word stuck out as though it left a sour taste in her mouth.

— Rainbow Dash, there is no shame in embracing what you are. In fact, I’m proud of you. You laid low throughout the day as I requested, then went hunting all on your own. I daresay, I am impressed. —

The pegasus pony smiled at that. “Hey, I messed up yesterday. I owed you one.” Her smile slowly faded. “I just wish I could think of a way to make it up to the kid…”

— That does remind me, I… owe you an apology. Surprisingly, nothing has yet come of the filly knowing your little secret. Perhaps she is trustworthy after all. —

“Huh,” said Rainbow, raising an eyebrow. “Pretty cool, Scootaloo.”

— There are other matters which you may want to be aware of, but… there’s something you’re not saying, isn’t there? —

Rainbow lay down in a patch of grass, gazing longingly up at the moon above. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just fine. Nothing wrong.”

— I can read traces of your thoughts, child. Not enough for a clear picture, but enough to know your mind is restless. —

They waited in silence for a moment.

— Child, please. You’re a part of my family, and I wish to help. What’s on your mind? —

Rainbow Dash groaned, rolling over onto her back. “I’m messed up, okay? Like I keep doing messed up things. I know I should be stopping myself, but I don’t want to, and that’s really messed up. I’m glad Scootaloo didn’t rat me out— well, so far— but I thought about it and there were so many other, better ways I could have handled all that.” She let out a deep sigh. “I can’t think straight. There’s just so much all at once, more than I’ve ever had to deal with before. I’m worried next time I run into somepony I’ll be faster, or quicker to lash out, or—”

— You’re afraid of yourself. Of what you’ve become. —

“I… well…” Rainbow shivered, curling up into a ball against the forest floor. “I’m a monster. You can sugar-coat it all you want, but you turned me into a violent, murdering monster.”

Fae stayed silent for a minute before she spoke again. — What if I told you this is a symptom, one that can be cured? That this is… for lack of better term, ‘natural’ for a fledgling such as yourself? —

Rainbow’s ears perked up. “So I could… make it stop?”

— For a time, yes. But you may not want to hear what the cure is. —

“Eh, screw it. Lay it on me.”

— Mortal ponies’ blood. —

The pegasus pony’s eyes widened. “Well… you sure called that.” She bit her lip. “But, um, you can feed on a pony’s blood without hurt— well, killing them, right? Or turning them into one of us?”

— Yes, of course. If you know how. —

“And this’ll help me think normally again, right?”

— By drinking the lifeblood of a mortal pony, you will restore some of your own original essence. I once told you that you would eventually need to feast upon the blood of your fellow pony. I was not exaggerating then. Eventually, without the reminder of what you are at your core, the taste of what makes a pony a pony, your mind will slip and forget. You will cease to be a pony-turned-predator, and be only the predator inside. —

Rainbow Dash shivered once more, stifling a sob. She took a series of deeper breaths, each rising in intensity as she began to grit her teeth. This culminated in a quivering sigh and a raspy, sore utterance:

“Show me. Show me how to do it.”

— As you wish, my child... —

Back in Ponyville proper, the streets were quiet save for the soft yet deliberate clip-clop of the hooves of patrolling agents. The sun had barely set a half an hour prior, but already the town appeared deserted. The glow of street lamps coupled with identical silhouettes scattered here and there made for a perhaps unintentionally eerie sight.

From the second story of the Carousel Boutique, Scootaloo stared intermittently at the agents passing by and the night sky above. Behind her, Apple Bloom rolled about on the guest bed in a desperate plight against boredom.

“Sweetie Belle,” she whined, “come on already! How hard is it to find a book?”

Her friend called back from the next room over. “It’s a really old one with nothing special on the cover! If you want to come in here and help, be my guest!”

Apple Bloom thought on this for just a moment. “Nah, I’m good.”

Sweetie grumbled something unintelligible, presumably returning to her search.

“See anything, Scoot?” Apple Bloom asked, turning towards the pegasus.

Scootaloo shook her head. “I know she’s out there somewhere. She’s fast, though. And quiet. I’m almost more worried for the weird guys than for her.”

“You think they know about her?”

“I don’t know. I sure hope not.”

The door to the back room slammed open, causing Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to jump in unison. “Found it!” Sweetie Belle announced in a sing-song tone. A large, worn tome hovered behind her in magical grasp.

“What is that?” asked Apple Bloom. “Some prehistoric cookbook?”

As if to answer, the book flew towards the bed, slamming down onto one of the pillows and coming to a rest with its pages showing. Sweetie Belle followed suit, almost bouncing her friend off the side.

“Ahem,” the unicorn began, “‘Rules of Proper Formal Etiquette Under Her Majesty, Princess Celestia, Monarch of Equestria’.”

“Yeesh, that’s a mouthful,” grumbled Scootaloo, rolling her eyes.

Apple Bloom squinted at the pages before her. “Well that explains why Rarity had this lying around, but what’s this got to do with Rainbow Dash?”

Sweetie Belle sighed, turning her attention back to the aged book. She began rapidly flipping through pages with her magic, passing several diagrams of ballrooms, bowing ponies, and poofy dresses. “I used to read this book now and then when I spent the night at Rarity’s. At first, I thought it might be a way to impress her, but then I started finding some really weird stuff towards the back. I never told anypony about this because I thought they’d make fun of me for believing in it, but now…”

Her page-turning abruptly halted about eighty percent through, stopping on a page-long spread depicting something chillingly familiar.

It was a sketch of a pony with wicked fangs and bat-like wings.

Scootaloo’s eyes grew wide as the rest of her began to shudder. She read, in a harrowed voice, “‘Unwanted guests… sometimes your gatherings may be threatened by potential invaders or intruders, such as the insectoid changelings, tax collectors, or— o-or vampires’.”

“Wait, so you’re saying Rainbow Dash is a blood-suckin’ vampire?” said Apple Bloom, head tilted to the side. “That’s ridiculous! Vampires ain’t real.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” said Sweetie Belle. “But tell me that isn’t exactly what Scootaloo described.”

“Lemme see that book,” said the earth filly. She pulled the tome closer, scrutinizing every inch of the next few pages. “Somethin’, somethin’... ‘hide during the day, come out at night’… ‘transform in moonlight’? I thought that was some kinda wolf critter.”

“Well, Scootaloo did say Rainbow looked normal until sunset,” Sweetie chimed in.

“Yeah, but... “ Apple Bloom shook her head. “Let’s see, they got a list of powers here; ‘wicked fangs, silent flight and magic, super strong and fast’ … something about ‘hypnotic gaze’? Whatever the heck that is.”

Sweetie Belle furrowed her brow. “Sounds kind of like The Stare, like they can make you do things if you look them in the eye.”

Scootaloo, who up until this point had been beside her friends, leaned up against the bed, fell backwards with a thump. She was shaking all over, a sight that quickly alarmed her friends.

“Whoa there! You okay, Scoot?” asked Apple Bloom.

“That actually happened,” Scootaloo said in a cold sweat. “She looked me in the eyes and said, uh, something, and then everything started going foggy and I almost… I thought she was gonna bite me, and I panicked, and—”

“Slow down,” said Sweetie Belle. “You mean Rainbow even had this hypnosis power?!”

“I-I think…” The pegasus filly clutched her head. “That part was kind of a blur. I mean, I did kinda sorta headbutt her to get out of it.”

Apple Bloom snorted out a quick chuckle. “Wow, Scoot. And I thought I was bullheaded.”

Sweetie Belle clearly found this much less funny. “You headbutt a vampire. You threw your head closer to her and her fangs. Scootaloo, I’m sorry, but you’re kind of an idiot.”

“Hey, I had no idea she was a—”

The door to the hall opened with a flash of blue magic. Rarity stepped inside, scowling as she glanced around. “What in Equestria are you three doing up here?! All these slams and crashes and shouting? And after I so generously offered my guest suite. Hmph!”

Sweetie Belle’s ears fell back. “Sorry, Rarity! W-we’ll be good, I promise!”

Rarity let out a tired sigh. “Please, just don’t break anything. That’s all I ask.” As she turned to leave, she caught sight of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, the earth pony helping the pegasus to her hooves. “Oh, by the way, it’s good to see you two again. It’s been far too long since the ol’ ‘Crusaders’ had a chance to hang out, I say.” With a smile and a wink, she left the three alone once more.

Scootaloo trotted back to the window, resting her head against it. “That was way too close,” she mumbled. “I can’t believe…”

“I can,” said Sweetie Belle. “If she is, well, one of these… somepony needs to help her.”

“Or we need to warn everypony about it,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Vampires, like, eat ponies, right?”

“This just says they drink blood. Still could kill somepony though.”

“Rainbow wouldn’t do that,” Scootaloo said, eyes fixed on the dark sky above.

“If she’s a monster now, can you really—”

Sweetie Belle gave Apple Bloom a swift nudge. “What do you want us to do, Scootaloo? Rainbow Dash is basically your sister. We’ll help however we can.”

The pegasus filly thought long and hard over how to answer that. Sweetie was right before; they were just three teenage fillies going up against some mythical monster. Yet that monster used to be their friend, her own mentor. If there was any chance to get that back…

“Let’s start by tracking her down,” said Scoot finally. “I just want to talk to her. Let her know we care, and we want to help. That I’m not mad about last night. That I-I just want Rainbow back.”

Her voice cracked near the end. She wiped away the beginnings of tears from her cheek, hoping neither of the other fillies saw.

Apple Bloom sighed, shaking her head. “Oh, I’m probably gonna regret this, but… Cutie Mark Crusaders, Vampire Hunters? Just without the slayin’ part, of course.”

“As if we could if we tried,” Scootaloo snarked back.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Sweetie Belle. She hopped off the bed, then held a hoof up. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, Vampire Hunters! Yeah!”

Snickering, Apple Bloom high-hoofed her. They both then turned to Scootaloo.

The pegasus filly rolled her eyes, in such a way that it felt like her whole body went into it, but nevertheless joined her friends. “Sweet Celestia, we were such dorks when we were kids.”

The reunited Crusaders all laughed at that.

“Okay, so I think I have a plan,” said Sweetie Belle as they let their hooves back down. “Rarity’s never gonna let us do this if she knows, so let’s just… wait. I’ll set an alarm for around midnight, make sure she’s out asleep, then we can go out hunting.”

“Think we should bring anything?” asked Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo answered before Sweetie could. “Just in case, I’ll read up on how to protect us from vampire stuff. I’m assuming stuff like garlic, sun sigils, wooden stakes, that sort of thing, but I’ll double-check before we go.”

“Might be some leftover garlic knots from breakfast the other day,” said Sweetie, “I’ll check the fridge when we head down for supper.”

“Find me a knife and some wood and I can try to whittle a stake or two,” Apple Bloom added. "Just in case, of course."

“Sounds like a plan,” said Scootaloo. “Crusaders, move out!”

With that, and a quick snap of a salute to each other, the fillies spread out to work on their various tasks. Sweetie Belle trotted downstairs to ask when they would be having dinner. Apple Bloom started digging around in the backroom where they found the book.

Scootaloo herself lay down on the bed. She smiled at first, but then that faltered as her eyes came across the drawings on the open pages.

Gulping down her unease, she picked up the old book and began to scan the text.

There were but a scant few clouds in the sky over Ponyville. Not that most could tell, given the darkness of night, but it was enough to hide what lurked above.

Rainbow Dash peeked over the edge of the nimbus she lay upon, down at the amber-lit silent village. Her heart, vampiric as it was, was still pounding in her chest. She attempted to drop from her perch several times, but each time caught herself at the last second.

“Come on, Rainbow,” she said to herself, “you can do this. You have to do this.”

— If it helps, child, remember that this is a remedy, not just a meal. —

“Right. I-I hurt one pony tonight, so I don’t hurt s-somepony else tomorrow.”

She took one last look at the moon above, mentally pleading for a certain alicorn’s forgiveness, then threw herself into the open air. Rainbow plummeted towards the town, listening for the telltale signs of life.

Her hunt had begun.

Chapter 11: Ponyville Gothic

For most creatures, there is a sense of finality about the concept of midnight. While it does mark the end of the calendar day, it’s not as if there is some sudden jump in time. Twelve o’clock midnight becomes twelve-oh-one in the morning, just as twelve o’clock noon becomes twelve-oh-one in the afternoon. The world persists, regardless of who is around to perceive it.

Some children consider it a great accomplishment to stay awake past midnight. Most adults past a certain age and maturity consider the same to be a great failure. Teenagers, being caught in the middle of these, are more than capable of staying up later than they are technically supposed to only to resent the morning after. Some will do this willingly. Others have less of a say in the matter. The troubled minds of troubled youths can be rather detrimental to their sleep schedules.

In the wake of recent events, to say that Scootaloo’s mind was ‘troubled’ would have been quite the understatement.

She lay restless on the floor of the guest bedroom, tossing back and forth and forcing her eyes shut in the vain hope of getting some modicum of sleep. Her friends were already long gone, and had been since about ten. That was two and a half hours ago.

Scootaloo had managed to hit the snooze button on their midnight alarm three times so far. Her hoof was braced for a fourth. Everytime it had gone off, it triggered some visceral reaction in her. She told herself how stupid this idea of theirs had been, that they should just forget it and move on.

Then, immediately after the noise had been shut off, she regretted it.

Using the light of the clock itself, she once more flipped open the old tome. She had used a corner of her blanket like a bookmark. This took her straight back to the section on vampirism, to the diagrams so hauntingly familiar.

Scootaloo began to read to herself from about where she had last left off. The passage read as follows:

“Common courtesy would have you believe that it is simply rude to harm guests in one’s own home or to harm the host when one is their guest. Much like their progenitor, however, vampires have no such qualms. While these creatures of the night may act with dignity and poise, it is only a matter of time before they make a move so as to harm you, your guests, or your property.

“Should you find yourself in the unfortunate situation in which one of these parasites has infiltrated your place of residence, your first priority should be to discreetly identify the creature without unduly alarming anypony else. There are a number of means by which one may do this, some more subtle than others.

“What is most important to keep in mind is that the vampiric physiology is quite different than that of a normal pony, despite appearances. Thanks to their feeding on the life essence of others, vampires’ bodies are able to recover from stress and injury with supernatural quickness. This has some interesting side effects that one might not immediately consider that could be used to your advantage.

“For example, should you notice anypony with unusually persistent stamina after dancing for several hours in one night, be on your guard. The same could be said for those who are strangely resilient after conspicuous consumption of cider, wine, or brandy. While these are not guaranteed indicators of a blood-sucking fiend, they can help narrow a list of suspects.

“Under no circumstances, however, should you approach a suspected vampire with violent intent. In addition to being discourteous (as stated above), this is likely a fruitless endeavor.

“Vampires may be wounded much like their living brethren, but can heal from such wounds far beyond mortal capability. They likely would not feel a stern slap, or even wince from a strike from your average guard’s blade. Some say that even broken or severed limbs are merely temporary setbacks to the monsters. Clearly, you can see that there is no level of violence effective enough to slay a vampire that would be at all acceptable in polite company.”

Just before she turned the next page, Scootaloo did a double-take.

“Broken...” she muttered in the dark room. Her eyes had become transfixed on the page, along with a few accompanying figures of pony legs and wings. She re-read the last few paragraphs over in her mind several times until the words had lost their meaning.

The pegasus filly was snapped out of her little trance when Apple Bloom shook her by the shoulders.

“Wake up, Scoot!” the earth pony hissed. “Didn’tcha hear the alarm goin’ off?”

“Huwha? Huh?”

There was a light scramble of hooves across the floorboards as Sweetie Belle darted past the two. The unicorn filly peeked out into the hall, only to breathe a sigh of relief shortly thereafter.

“Still asleep,” she said. “Probably don’t want to press our luck though.”

“What happened to alarm duty, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked, scowling at her friend.

Scootaloo blinked her tired eyes. “Alarm… oh, right! I, uh, um…”

“Shh!” said Sweetie Belle, suddenly beside the others. Her horn glowed as she lifted one of their blankets over the group, casting a soft green light on the trio. “The last thing we want is for Rarity to wake up right now.”

“I think the last thing we want is to get ate by Rainbow,” Apple Bloom snarked.

“That won’t happen,” said Scootaloo, finally starting to snap out of her daze. She shut the book and pushed it aside, then hopped up to her hooves.

Sweetie Belle frowned. “It definitely won’t happen if we don’t find her. Or if we get caught first.”

“So let’s not get caught,” Scoot countered. “C’mon, I’ll take the lead.”

“Are we just not gonna talk about you spacin’ out or whatever?” asked Apple Bloom. While her tone was almost mocking, her eyes betrayed a genuine concern.

“Less talky, more walky,” the pegasus hissed back. She then trotted off for the door without awaiting an answer or reply, slipping out silently into the shadows.

Apple Bloom gawked as she was left in the dust. “Uh, Sweetie Belle? Am I crazy, or is there somethin’ up with her?”

Sweetie smiled, albeit weakly, as she levitated saddlebags onto herself and Apple Bloom and turned towards the door herself. “She... probably just didn’t get any sleep. I mean, can you blame her?”

“I guess not.” Apple Bloom grunted as she stood and trotted after. “I’m just hopin’ she doesn’t wear herself out like its apple-buckin’ season…”

A swift shadow, barely visible against the night sky, set down upon one of the many rooftops of Ponyville. The sound of shifting roof shingles echoed through the vacant streets and back. Nopony seemed to notice, but then again there didn’t appear to be anypony around to care in the first place.

Rainbow scowled and squinted, scanning for any signs of movement or life. Seeing nothing, she crept up to the crest of the roof, perching like a hawk.

— What are you doing?! Get down!! —

The pegasus pony practically jumped out of her skin at the sudden telepathic shout. She caught herself mid-tumble with a few flaps of her wings, albeit barely. Clumsily, she fluttered back to the less-well-lit side of the building.

“Sorry, sorry,” she mumbled to herself and her blood-mother. “How am I supposed to find anypony like this? It looks downright abandoned out there…”

— Relax, child. Remember that you are a hunter of the night. When your prey does not come to you, you will have to go to them. —

“Okay yeah, but like, how? Where?” Rainbow paused for a moment, then shook her head. “And for the love of Luna, please don’t call ponies ‘prey’! I don’t care if I’m about to, well, y’know… I know a lotta ponies and the last thing I wanna see them as is ‘food’.”

— Okay, fine. One step at a time. Think back to how you found your first true meal. The manticore, I believe it was. What did you do then? —

The pony thought for a moment as she hovered in the air. “Well, I mean I can hear heartbeats. Still kinda gross, but I can deal. There was also something…”

— Perhaps something ‘iron’? Hm? —

Rainbow blinked her predatory eyes. “Right. Smell. Pony, erm, smell…” She sighed, then took in a deep breath of evening air.

Suddenly, her senses were overloaded. Whereas her previous hunts had involved the teasing scent of potential prey here and there, now she smelled a banquet all around her. The sensation clouded her mind, leaving her drifting and drooling without any awareness.

— Good, good… Now, child, use your heightened senses. Seek out your mark. Someone alone, someone unaware. Someone who no one would ever believe. Someone who, should mistakes be made, would not be missed. —

A tiny voice in the back of Rainbow’s mind screamed in horror and protest. This was drowned out by a more primal impulse:

Hunger.

A few blocks down from the Carousel Boutique, three teenaged fillies found themselves in the midst of doing what was quite likely the dumbest thing they had ever done. This being after a lifetime of dumb ideas packed into the span of one shared adolescence, that was saying a lot.

If only the Crusaders’ earlier exploits had been so obviously unsettling as this.

Ponyville was bathed in a light yet eerie fog, cast golden beneath the street lights and silver beneath the moon. Shadows seemed to lurk at every street corner, only for a breeze to shift the mists and unveil there had been nothing there to begin with.

Scootaloo did her best to take advantage of this, darting between bushes and alleys and trash cans and anything else she could feasibly squeeze behind. Her friends were less nimble about it, but did their best to follow regardless.

“Just have to get to Rainbow’s place,” Scoot told herself. “Get there, if she’s not still home, wait ‘til dawn. Either way…”

Apple Bloom squeezed up beside her friend. “Scoot, I-I don’t know about this… I’ve seen like three of those government spooks walkin’ about and, well… I really don’t wanna have a record, y’know?”

Sweetie Belle snickered to herself. “Oh please. I’m pretty sure there’s a warrant out for the Cutie Mark Crusaders somewhere.”

Scootaloo groaned, rolling her eyes at their antics. “For the last time, we’re not gonna get in trouble if we don’t get caught, okay?” she hissed at her friends. “Just… shush so we don’t get spotted!”

Before the other fillies could argue, the trio heard a crash around the corner, followed by ambiguous shouting. They crept up to the corner one by one to take a tentative look, though in the end, only Scootaloo was brave enough to risk being spotted.

A magenta mare stumbled back to her hooves amidst a tipped-over trash can and what were presumably its contents. She was rather unsteady on her hooves, but clearly aware that she had made a mistake of some kind. With a frown, she wiped a loose banana peel from her face, then hobbled for a spell until righting herself again. All this while, she had no idea she was being approached by another pony in a trenchcoat and, very strangely for this time of night, sunglasses.

“Ma’am!” the agent barked. “What are you doing out at this hour?! It’s well past curfew. Need I remind you of the current policy and consequences for breaking said curfew, per our most recent addendum?”

The mare whipped around, then back slightly to counter over-correction. “Wha?” she slurred. “Curfew, schmurfew, I’m just goin’ for a walk issall!”

The agent tensed up as the mare spoke. “Ma’am, have you been drinking? Answer honestly, please.”

“What? Me? N’aww.” The mare nickered. “I’m just tipsy on life, real peachy-keen here… wheee….”

Now, Scootaloo had seen drunk ponies before. It seemed ‘the sauce’ affected everyone differently. Some ponies were silly drunks, fun to be around. Others… not so much, but their bark was worse than their bite. If anypony got too sloshed to the point of alerting the authorities, usually it was for their own safety.

The young filly had never seen an officer of the law tackle a tipsy pony before, however.

“WhaoooAAAOH!” the mare yelped as she hit the dirt. The agent stood atop her, scanning over her face intently. He brought out a flashlight with a dash of unicorn sparkles and shone it in her eyes. She winced, covering her face with her hooves. “A’right, a’right! I had a few shots at a friend’s place! Calm down!”

The other pony didn’t budge, save to pass the light over the rest of her body. He ended up settling it back to her face, staring at her from behind opaque lenses. “Ma’am, this is going to sound strange, but I need to see your teeth.”

“What.”

“Your teeth, Ma’am. Please open your mouth.”

When she did not immediately comply, he attempted to lift her upper lip manually. This was met with a backhoof slap across the face.

“What are you doing?!” the mare snapped, obviously beginning to sober up. She thrashed about, forcing the other pony to back off. “Y’all come into our town, tell us what to do, an’ then have the nerve to… what, be an amateur dentist?!”

The agent brushed dirt from his coat as the other pony spoke. “No, Ma’am, but our reasons are classified.”

“I’ll classify you if you get anywhere near me again!” screamed the earth pony mare, practically nose-to-nose with the now-bewildered agent. What she didn’t notice was that she had ended her little tirade baring her teeth, something the agent was quick to take advantage of.

“Noted,” he said after a quick examination. “Apologies for the inconvenience, Ma’am. Please allow me to escort you to your residence. I will have to issue a warning, but—”

“But what!?”

“But I believe I can pull some strings to keep you out of the jailhouse for tonight,” said the agent.

The mare looked dumbfounded for a moment, before realization hit her. “Oh. Oh! Right, jail’s bad. I don’t like jail. I like home a lot better.”

The agent held out a hoof before them. “After you, Ma’am.”

She hesitated but for a moment, then clumsily trotted up the road, occasionally glancing back at her unwanted guest and mumbling something about government overreach, personal space, and needing to brush her teeth.

Scootaloo shivered as she stared after them. Apparently her jaw had dropped at some point, but she couldn’t remember exactly when that happened.

It was Apple Bloom who broke the silence. “Did… did he say somethin’ about teeth?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“S-so,” said Sweetie Belle, quivering, “does that mean we were r-right?”

“I mean, if they’re not looking for a vampire pony, I’ll be pretty shocked,” mumbled Scootaloo. “Come on, we need to get to Rainbow Dash before any of the suits do.”

The pegasus filly began her way down the next alleyway, followed not long after by Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom, however, was suddenly much more hesitant.

“Come on, Apple Bloom!” whispered Scootaloo. “We don’t know when the next guard’ll come around!”

Apple Bloom shuddered, but otherwise remained frozen in place. “Okay, but… look,” she said. “To be honest, I thought this was gonna be a bunch of hogwash. But that was—”

“Real, yeah. Tell me about it,” said Scootaloo. “Trust me, I’m terrified. But we’re in a little deep now, don’tcha think?”

“Oh, you’re right, but I still hate it,” Apple Bloom groaned.

Just as the earth pony filly began to cross the road, an odd gust passed through the patchy fog, sending it roiling in waves. The trio looked around for the source, but were met only with silent swirls. Once the fog had settled, Apple Bloom quickly darted the rest of the way across.

Something behind the earth pony filly caught Scootaloo’s eye. At first she thought it was another trick of the dancing lights, but then she made a startling realization:

There, ringed in pale moonlight, was a figure on the rooftops. A silhouette of a pony. One with unfeathered wings.

Out of many possible marks, so many choices, most were far from ideal to pursue. Many were clumped together, while others were in the light. Few were stirring at this hour, but even those asleep were in precarious locations. No, the kind of prey Rainbow was looking for would be isolated, out of sight and mind.

Lucky for her, some ponies had a blatant disregard for the curfew. Not that anypony could have known such a creature was prowling the streets of their peaceful little town.

The predatory pegasus had found just such a mark. Now all she had to do was wait for her moment to strike.

“I see her,” she mouthed silently. Her eyes, unblinking and devoid of emotion, locked on the young mare below.

— Good. Now just wait; your moment will come. Follow her into the dark. —

“Gotcha.”

As she watched, the unsuspecting pony below looked around warily. She trotted along the far edge of the street with tentative hoofsteps. Rainbow took off into a glide to match her pace.

So far on this night, she had evaded the patrolling agents, though they had been quite the thorn in her side. Not only were they stopping and checking anypony who so much as leaned their head outside, they weren’t even being quiet about it, thus alerting the neighbors. Now every time she caught sight of one of those trenchcoats, she would growl under her breath.

But they were just annoying, not a real problem.

A real problem would have been a pony she was stalking becoming aware of said stalking. This would be quite unfortunate, as it would likely lead to a very noisy pony attracting a lot of unwanted attention. And yes, it would also mean a chase of some sort, but let’s be honest with ourselves; Rainbow Dash didn’t expect to be outpaced by anypony any time soon.

That said, the mare below apparently must have seen something. It was as if Rainbow Dash blinked, and then her mark had broken into a full sprint.

The pegasus wasted no time in flying after her.

“What the heck spooked her?” she breathlessly mused.

Though she expected an answer, or at least a snarky response, she heard nothing but the wind and the gallop below.

“Fae? Hello? Kinda need your help soon.”

Nothing.

“Great.” Rainbow shuddered. “Guess I’ll just have to stall or something…”

As the other mare reached an intersection, she stopped to look around at her choices. Rainbow swooped up and out of the lamplight before her prey could get a clean look, yet the pony on the ground remained transfixed on the road she had left behind.

“Wh-who’s there?” she asked, voice trembling.

There was something familiar about the voice, but Rainbow couldn’t quite place it. It was like a fleeting memory from days gone by, or perhaps just a voice she had heard in a dream. She shook her head, and the thought was gone.

As a breeze passed through her mane, the terrified young mare slowly backed away from the fog around her. “This isn’t funny!” she whimpered. “Please, I’m just trying to go home…”

In the distance, the slightest movement against the moonlight caught Rainbow’s attention. It was one of those damned agents! They turned the corner just a few blocks up ahead, and were coming straight for the scared young mare.

Then something clicked in Rainbow’s mind. She could pull this off, this ‘stunt’, but only if she acted right now.

The young filly gasped as a stronger gust of wind whipped up behind her. She frantically looked around, then tried to yell for help. When she did, she found a leathery wing covering her snout and a pair of glowing, reddish eyes staring her down.

“Shh,” said Rainbow Dash. “Don’t scream. Actually, you know what? Don’t even speak.”

The young mare entered a trance-like state upon hearing the command. Her body relaxed, and she sat back on her haunches. Rainbow removed her wing to find the other mare’s mouth stayed shut tight.

As the light of the nearby streetlamps reflected in the terrified yet helpless mare’s eyes, Rainbow felt a chill pass over her. It was as if she had been the one in a trance, and only now had she awoken.

“Wait, you’re…”

— Child, you are so close. Take her to a quiet place and you can finally feed upon- —

“Fae?! Where were- ugh, nevermind. Look, I know this filly! I couldn’t possibly hurt her!”

— If you know her, then she likely knows you. If you feed now, her memories may blacken, much as yours did when you were first turned. —

“B-but…”

— She’s seen too much! At this point, your only other option would be… well, you said you didn’t want to be a murderer, right? —

The silhouette of the agent turned sharply to face them. They said something, though at this point Rainbow couldn’t make it out. Her ears were filled with telepathic shouting and the frantic heartbeat of the filly before her.

In a flash, Rainbow took hold of the young mare and swooped away into the night. The agent missed the two by mere feet, stomping their hoof in frustration as they lost sight of them against the inky dark.

Rainbow touched down near the edge of town, just beyond the edge of the light, and gently lay the young mare in the grass. She looked back at Rainbow with wide eyes full of tears and confusion.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Welp… Fae’s got a point, kiddo. Trust me, I don’t wanna do this either, but…”

— The sooner you get this over with… —

“Go to sleep, kid. It’ll all be over soon.”

The young mare’s eyes grew heavy before she slumped over, unconscious. Rainbow gulped as she brushed aside the other pony’s mane. She bared her fangs, shamefully wiping away a globule of drool, then approached.

“I’m… I’m so sorry for this,” she mumbled, her fangs grazing against pink coat, ”Diamond… whatever your name was...”

In another part of town entirely, the Crusaders ran full-tilt down the street. Their hoofsteps echoed around them, yet it was the deafening silence of their pursuer that gave them chills.

“Whadowedo? Whadowedo?!” Apple Bloom stammered. She was nearly neck-and-neck with Scootaloo, while Sweetie Belle lagged behind by a few paces.

Her pegasus friend kept her eyes glued on the road ahead, knowing tracking this creature was practically impossible. “Hide,” she said, “Somewhere lit. Somewhere solid.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes lit up. “Like the farmhouse?”

“Exactly! We need witnesses. That’ll keep her away, just like last time.”

They heard a sudden shriek from behind and skid to a stop. The fillies spun about to see a shrouded figure looming over them; Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen. The pony before them spread their dark, bat-like wings, dispersing the nearby fog in quite the dramatic fashion.

“Who’re you callin’ ‘her’?” he said with a fanged smirk. He took another step forward, revealing a swooshing, smoky mane, pallid coat, and eerie golden eyes.

Scootaloo shivered. “That’s not Rainbow…”

“Ain’t no Battacabra neither…”

Chapter 12: Lock the Doors and Close the Blinds

In the dim light of the night, a shadow rolled and contorted in the middle of the dirt road. Galloping hooves echoed in the distance, but to him they were so tantalizingly close. His golden-yellow eyes shot open, staring with slit-pupils at the smaller figures as they vanished into the fog. With a sinister, hissing growl and a hoof held to his side, he forced himself to start limping after.

It was then that a familiar and comforting voice danced upon his thoughts. That of his blood-mother.

— Sweet child of the night, are you well? I sensed distress and pain… I hope none of the agents have discovered you. —

He stopped mid-pace, quickly righting himself on all fours and standing up straight. “Of course not, mother,” he said under his breath. “I’m simply having a bit of trouble with a mark. Nothing I can’t handle.”

— What sort of mark do you seek? Perhaps you ought to aim lower for now, and build your strength. —

The vampire pony let out a breathless yet nervous chuckle. “I can handle this. Besides, its not like I can aim any lower…”

— Do share, child. You may be strong, but I have much more experience. There may be something simple you have missed. —

“They won’t strike me again, mother. I won’t let them.” He growled again, taking off into a glide after his prey. “Besides, they’re just fillies. How hard can it be?”

— Fillies? As in children? —

“Hence me, erm… embarrassment. Apologies, Countess, I don't want to besmirch the good name of our clan.”

— Oh, you’re fine. I’m well aware that today’s youth can be quite the hoof-ful. Speaking of, compared to your ‘sister’, you’re doing just fine. —

The vampire pegasus smirked. “Which one? The little girl?”

— No. The celebrity. —

There was a pause as they both took time to ruminate over this, filled with little but the sounds of rushing winds. Then the stallion sniffed the air. His wings snapped up, open wide, as he parachuted to a skidding halt. As best he could tell, the threefold scent had left the road and was now coming from within a shady townhome.

The house was largely similar to each of the neighbors’, except for a number of signs of neglect. The curtains inside were half-drawn and lopsided, a welcome mat on the front stoop was crooked with the corner upturned, and the lawn was just a hair overgrown.

Most notably from the vampire’s perspective, however, was the mailbox. It wasn’t overflowing, but only barely. Numerous letters were crammed inside, many of which with scribbled, barely-legible to-lines on their faces. On top of that, the flag on the side of the box was beginning to droop like a wilting flower, and a number of packages were resting at the base with similar chickenscratch writing all over.

“Huh.” He scowled at the building with furrowed brow. “Why here? What’s the angle?”

— Most likely convenience. Maybe the door was unlocked… Wait, go back. What was the address again? —

The golden-eyed pony backpedaled until he could clearly see the number printed on the side of the mailbox post. “One-two-five Pinwheel Lane. Why?”

There was a moment of dead air on the telepathic line before Faerie Fire returned.

— Good news, child. This is the home of one of your blood-siblings, abandoned when they joined our family. Listen closely, and I will help guide you through as if you’d been inside hundreds of times. —

A fanged smirk grew across his face. “As you wish, mother. Watch me make our family proud.”

One’s own house can be a home, and typically is. Someone else’s house can be many things. A friend’s house can be a home away from home. A coworker’s house can be an extension of the workplace, droll grey-beige atmosphere and all. Yet all of these houses have a crucial thing in common: someone is actively living there.

The residence at 125 Pinwheel Lane had been untouched for a few days by the time Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stumbled upon it. The front door had eerily creaked open when they approached, unveiling a dusty, rustic space. Furniture with scratchy fabric and ornate wood framing coupled with gaudy wallpaper and a positively medieval-looking chandelier made the whole front room feel like a confused time capsule. The floorboards groaned from every little gust of wind outside. Dust motes shone intermittently in the wafting moonlight coming in through the half-curtained windows, looking like tiny sprites from another world. To top it all off, every small movement the fillies made echoed throughout this harrowing space.

This house was no home. Not right now.

“Do you think we lost him?” asked Sweetie Belle. Beside her, Apple Bloom kept periodically peeking out the window. Scootaloo stood watch pressed up by the door. All three were shaking.

Scootaloo shook her head. “Doubt it. Rainbow was able to track me halfway across Everfree.”

“I still can’t believe you headbutt ‘em,” said Apple Bloom, nudging her unicorn hiding-buddy. “Both o’ ya. And I thought I was the hard-headed one.”

“Ehe… I wouldn’t recommend it,” said Sweetie Belle, rubbing her forehead, particularly around the base of her horn.

“Hey, at least when I headbutt somepony, I’m not stabbing them at the same time,” Scootaloo replied with a laugh.

The unicorn winced rather than laugh. “I-I panicked! I didn’t really want to hurt him, but I couldn’t think of what else to do!”

“Eh, even if ya did hurt ‘em, he deserves it. Self-defense an’ all that.”

Scootaloo shot Apple Bloom a harsh glare. “Knock it off, A.B.. If Rainbow Dash is a vampire, maybe this guy used to just be some normal pony too.”

The earth pony filly rolled her eyes. “Or he might be the one who turned Rainbow in the first place!”

“Girls!” Sweetie Belle hissed, motioning with her hoof for the others to quiet down.

Outside, they heard the flapping of leathery wings.

“What do we do?!” Apple Bloom whispered.

Scootaloo bit her lip. “I-I don’t know! I doubt we can fight back…” Then she did a double-take. “And hey, aren’t you usually the pony with a plan?”

The earth filly groaned, then said, “Come on, how am I supposed to figure out a plan when there’s vampires involved?”

“You were the one who kept reading the book,” Sweetie Belle added. “One way or another, we gotta do something, and quick!”

There was a loud thump at the door. From outside, a muffled malicious laugh rang throughout the house. “Come out, come out, little ones,” said a sinister male, voice absolutely oozing with sarcasm and a twisted glee. “I promise I won’t bite…”

Upon hearing that blatant lie, and as her friends cowered in the corner behind an end table, something clicked in Scootaloo’s mind. This was likely due to the adrenaline.

The pegasus filly tapped her hoof on the floor to get her friends’ attention. She then began to make additional gestures, all of which before her friends’ rapt attention. To an outside observer, it might have appeared to be a cross between Equestrian Sign Language, Semaphore without flags, and professional Mimery. In fact, that’s exactly what went through their hunter’s mind when he got a glimpse through the keyhole.

“There you are,” he growled.

There was another slam against the door. All three of the fillies hopped to their hooves with a fright.

“O-okay that’s gonna have to be good enough,” said Scootaloo. “Ready?”

“As we’ll ever be,” Sweetie Belle whimpered.

“Then go!”

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle bolted further into the house just as the vampire pony busted out the door lock with a well-placed kick. A cloud of dust plumed out from the doorway only to be quickly brushed aside by bat wings. He tread softly yet deliberately on the wooden floor, softly-glowing eyes piercing the hazy dark.

Despite his enhanced sight, he could not spot any of the three. However, he could hear hints of where they may have fled. Bumps from the floor above, a still-swinging door to the stairs to below… and the remaining clatter of pots and pans that had not been silenced quite quickly enough.

The vampire pony smirked. “Hide and seek, eh? Fine. I’ll play.”

Before he would pursue them any further, the monstrous colt stopped to observe his immediate surroundings. Then he got an idea; a few loud protests from walls, floors, and furniture alike later, and the door and windows had been quite thoroughly barricaded by overturned chairs, tables, and an entire couch.

“And then there was nowhere left to run,” he muttered to himself. “Just in case these brats get any bright ideas...”

Beyond the entryway was the kitchen, though it was not immediately obvious. While the standard fare of refrigerator, stovetop, and pantry were present, these were obscured by stacks of cardboard boxes filled with various cutlery and knick-knacks.

From their labels, Sweetie Belle assumed these to be evidence of a recent move. To or from where, however, she could not determine from a quick glance.

At the moment, she had more pressing concerns. While she hadn’t heard him since that cacophony by the door, she could now just barely see the outline of their vampiric pursuer silently drifting across the kitchen floor. Sweetie Belle held her breath, steadying herself as best she could. Her heart pounded in her chest, a cold sweat forming on her face.

Amidst numerous racing thoughts, an odd one stuck out to her. “We can’t just keep calling this guy ‘this guy’, right? He has to have a name. I mean, he was a pony before a monster.”

The unnamed vampire colt sniffed at the air, then resumed his slow and methodical search.

Sweetie Belle clung to this thought. It was grounding, much more productive than endless worry. “Nosey? No, that’s too generic. What about… Creepy Colt? Nah, that’s kinda lame.”

Suddenly, a piercing gaze locked onto the filly.

“Yellow-Eyes? That’ll have to do.”

A hissing snarl, the sound of a beast ready to pounce, crept forth from the silhouette before her. Sweetie Belle felt her breath catch in her throat. He took a step forward. She felt herself slip backwards.

Light glinted off his bared fangs.

Green light briefly shone off Sweetie Belle’s horn before she dropped behind the counter completely.

Yellow-Eyes froze. Sure, she was just a filly, but that was unicorn magic. He knew unicorns could do all sorts of things on a whim. What he didn’t know was what they could accomplish with such a short wink of arcane energy.

“What did you just do?” he grumbled.

His ears twitched. Something changed, but it was part of the white noise. He looked around the room again: nothing. Then he felt the sting of a foul odor.

“Is that… rotten eg— No. No, you didn’t…”

In a panic, he dove towards the stove. Just as he thought, one of the gas burners had been oh-so-gently flicked on, yet not ignited. He scrambled his hooves over the burner controls until he found the corresponding dial and switched it off.

“Are you out of your Luna-damned mind?!” he shouted, clearly beyond bewildered. “What was the plan, huh? Blow up the whole house?!”

One of the stacks of boxes shifted slightly. Yellow-Eyes pounced at it, but found only cardboard.

Then something more malleable whapped against his face. His vision was flooded with a white static as powder clouded the air. Then for good measure, the remains of the sackcloth were thrown over his eyes as well.

As he fought the flour and scraps left behind, he heard the frantic hoofsteps leading across the kitchen tile and the living room carpet. A door opened, then slammed shut. He stumbled after the noise just as he finished wiping his eyes clean.

“Into the basement? Alright, now I know you’re just stupid.” Yellow-Eyes sighed. “At this rate, I’m gonna kill these kids and not even feel all that bad about it.”

Meanwhile, about three meters straight up, Scootaloo stood motionless in the middle of a long hallway as she waited for the sounds of commotion to die down. “I didn’t hear a scream,” she thought. “Guess that’s a good thing. Please girls, be careful. I promise I’ll find us some help.”

Once the silence returned, she crept further down the hall. By some miracle, it was carpeted, greatly muffling the sounds of her own hooves. The teenaged filly had also had some experience in sneaking around at night, and thus knew just how and where to place her steps to minimize noise. Every so often, as she came to a door, she would carefully nudge it open and peek inside. So far she had found a bathroom and a storage closet, but knew from the house’s facade that there had to be a window somewhere.

When she opened the next one, Scootaloo had to shove a hoof in her own mouth to keep from yelping.

At first, she thought there was an entire, fresh, gruesome skeleton hanging from the door, sickly yellow bones rattling with red ribbons hanging loose and torn. Then she saw the plastic seams.

“Uhh… right,” Scootaloo muttered with an uneasy laugh. “It was Nightmare Night a few days ago…”

She opened the door just a bit wider, then gawked. This room looked like something straight out of a crypt. The walls were covered in stone-like wallpaper and posters depicting frightened ponies being chased by a variety of monsters, typically those of a spookier aesthetic. There were blatantly artificial spider webs in the corners and along the ceiling, complete with real fake spiders. Besides the door skeleton, there was another complete pony skeleton propped up in the corner, like one of those you’d see in a science classroom.

In the center of all of this morbidity was a bed with black dressings and a copious amount of pillows upon it, not to mention a stuffed toy resembling a bat.

Scootaloo warily worked her way around all of this in search of the windows. Without much light to go by, it was hard to distinguish between gray wallpaper and black curtains. Squinting, she felt along the wall farthest from the door until she found the windowsill.

Pulling back the curtains, she could see the streets they had left behind, so tantalizingly close. She carefully opened the window just wide enough that she could squeeze through, then drew the curtains back to hide her escape route.

“There. No we just need to group up and—”

Now that the light from outside could reach this macabre bedroom, Scootaloo spotted a few things she had previously missed; a dresser next to the door, adorned with pictures of a smiling mother and frowning daughter, and a bookshelf crammed with worn paperback novels. Curious, she slinked over the bed to take a closer look.

“I don’t think I’ve seen this filly around before,” she thought, puzzling over one of the picture frames. “Or this mare. Are they new in town? Or… were they?”

Her hoof felt something unexpected on the back of the frame. She flipped it over to reveal a sticky note that read as follows:

My dear Needlepoint, I will always love you and your creativity, no matter how dark your vision.
— XOXO, Mom

“Aww,” Scootaloo thought. “Lucky you, Needle. Hope you’re both still alright after all this…”

A harsh impact resounded from below, so powerful that it seemed to make the whole house jump. Scootaloo gasped in a panic.

“Oh no… Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! I’m coming! I’ll… I’ll do something. I’ll get us out of this, I swear!”

As she turned for the door, she caught sight of a particularly large tome on the bookshelf. Unlike most, this one was hard-cover, and strangely tall compared to the rest. According to the spine, it was some sort of reference guide to ‘creepy-crawlies’. But in Scootaloo’s eyes, it looked like something far more useful.

While the rest of this house had been shadowy, the darkness in the basement was absolute, save for a faint yellow glow slowly descending the stairs. Not that this mattered for a vampire; to Yellow-Eyes, the space before him looked about as bright as the underside of a tree at high noon.

The downside to searching an underground, concrete space was the echo. He could hear their tiny, frantic heartbeats coming from all directions. It was almost disorienting. Even scent was lost down there due to clouds of dust.

After carefully closing the door behind him, Yellow-Eyes glided down the stairs. He scanned the floor and clutter for any possible hint of recent activity as he proceeded to creep through at a snail’s pace.

As he rounded a storage shelf leaned up against the staircase, he caught the smallest glimpse of lavender hair.

“There you are, you crazy runt,” he thought, holding his tongue. The incident in the kitchen had taught him a lesson about unnecessary sinister banter.

He lunged forward, snapping his fanged jaws at the filly’s tail.

“Gyaaah!”

Sweetie Belle screamed, albeit from shock, not pain. She had completely lost track of Yellow-Eyes, thought she had lost him in the basement, and now he was almost literally right on top of her. Luckily, his bite hadn’t found purchase on any flesh, but it was close enough that Sweetie felt the wind a moment later.

As the vampire snarled, spitting out the loose hairs, Sweetie Belle scrambled across the concrete. The time for stealth had long since passed.

“Help! Somepony!!” the unicorn filly cried out.

Yellow-Eyes stayed close behind, periodically biting at the air like a rabid dog. Any semblance of reason or sapience had left his eyes, leaving behind only those of a voracious creature.

Sweetie Belle dove through a gap in the shelves, pushing aside a toolbox and scattering its contents over the floor. This did nothing to slow down Yellow-Eyes’ ravenous pursuit, as he effortlessly stomped upon nails, screws, and even a hacksaw with the business end up. Seeing this, and the complete lack of harm upon her pursuer, Sweetie Belle screamed once again.

The filly ducked behind a tub of old miscellany for cover. The vampire barreled into the container at speed, shoving it rapidly towards the far wall.

Through tears, Sweetie Belle glanced behind her, only to see a solid cinder block wall. She sparked her horn, a faint green glow casting over it and her side of the storage unit.

The two strained against one another, but despite her efforts, she couldn’t entirely stop herself from being pinned against the hard wall. While she wasn’t badly hurt, the wind was knocked out of her and her head was sore.

Yellow-Eyes bared his fangs, saliva dripping from his snout. He leaned in towards the filly close enough for her to feel his breath; it was strangely ice cold, but still uncomfortably humid.

The vampire opened his jaws even wider, fangs angled straight for his prey…

“Help! Somepony!!”

Apple Bloom felt her heart sink. A nagging thought told her she had to do something, to save her friend before it was too late. However, a more mature and rational thought told her to wait.

The earth filly slinked behind the monster, careful to use the clatter of the chase as noise cover. She kept looking for an opening, barely taking time to blink. It felt like she was channeling Winona, hunting a hunter to protect her own.

For a few years now, Apple Bloom had fantasized on occasion about facing off with the Battacabra. She’d played out a variety of situations in her head of how it might go, what she might do to catch the monster, what it might do to try to hurt her.

Now that it was just about real, she was worried she might not be fast enough. Or strong enough.

Yellow-Eyes started pushing a storage tub, and Apple Bloom heard a yelp from the far end. The earth filly moved without thinking, rushing up behind and leaping into the air.

As the vampire reared up for the kill, he was suddenly cut off by a flying tackle.

To Apple Bloom, it was like diving onto an iron beam. A shock reverberated through every bone, but she clung to the bigger pony’s back.

He bucked and whipped around wildly. Her hooves began to slip. She only grit her teeth harder. She raised her head, revealing something sharp in her mouth. Yellow-Eyes saw, and a look of terror washed over his pale face.

Apple Bloom came down with the stake. It squelched into the stallion’s neck, spurting blood, before he collapsed onto the floor. He repeatedly clutched at the stick as he thrashed and squirmed.

Sweetie Belle, now no longer fighting against the supernatural strength of the vampire, freed herself with a brief telekinetic spell. She gasped for a deep breath. Apple Bloom jumped between the two, pulling another makeshift stake from her bag. Sweetie Belle levitated another out, brandishing it like a sword against Yellow-Eyes.

Before their eyes, he stood up, steadying himself with his wings. His shoulder twitched once, twice, then with a grunt of pain, the stake was ejected from his wound. The puncture itself was already beginning to close.

“Well now,” he said, cracking the joints in his neck, “that one hurt.”

Now, Apple Bloom knew she wasn’t a weak pony. She was an earth pony, an Apple, and a farmer. Just this last harvest season, she was bucking apples just like any of the adults! But this guy was walking off that stab like it was nothing.

“It’s gotta be in the heart, Apple Bloom,” said Sweetie Belle. “All or nothing, I guess…”

“Oh, please,” said Yellow-Eyes, stomping on the fallen stake and twisting his hoof to shatter it to splinters. “You fillies never stood a chance. Since we crossed paths, you’ve done nothing but annoy me.”

Mid-sentence, Sweetie Belle jabbed her stake forward. The vampire flinched, hopping back with a dramatic sweep of his bat-like wings.

“There’s gotta be something to this,” Sweetie Belle whispered to Apple Bloom. “He’s scared.”

“I am not!”

“Are too!” Apple Bloom countered with a smirk. “In fact, you’re lookin’ mighty scared for a bloodsucker. And of what, a couple of ‘fillies’? And their sticks?”

She blinked, and he was in their faces once more. The girls yelped as he slashed a wing at them, only to hear the clatter of wood on concrete a moment later.

“I will not be humiliated like this,” Yellow-Eyes growled. “No more games. I tried to take it easy on you kids. I thought I could have a little fun. But no!”

In another blink, he was behind them. Apple Bloom was enveloped in his wing, the talon at its tip just barely grazing her forehead. Sweetie Belle stared at this, trembling.

The vampire sighed. “I’ve been told that I’m allowed to kill you two. Not that I’m happy about killing children, mind you, or anypony else for that matter, but I will if I must. But if I’m going to take that leap off the deep end, I might as well go for broke, yeah? And so, while I’m not allowed to take your other friend’s life… I can make her watch while I take yours.”

Apple Bloom struggled in his grip. He just pulled her in tighter.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Yellow-Eyes scolded. “Easy now. If you’ll just cooperate for a minute here, I promise I’ll make it quick.”

The earth filly fell limp in his grasp. The vampire nodded towards the stairs, and Sweetie Belle followed.

The vampire looked pensive for a moment, then puzzled. “I know,” he muttered under his breath, such that only Apple Bloom could hear. “I will, mother… I’ll adapt. For the good of the family…”

As they reached the foot of the stairs, Yellow-Eyes stopped.

Sweetie Belle followed his eyes to the top of the stairs. To her surprise, the door was open, and the light in the hall above was on.

“I shut that,” the vampire said. “Hey! Come on out! I’ve got your friends, it’s over!!”

Nopony responded. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a vaguely hopeful look, only to be cut off when Yellow-Eyes threw the former to the floor.

“Stay here,” he growled. The girls didn’t have to be told twice.

Yellow-Eyes trudged up the stairs one at a time, watching the doorway like a hawk. Then, just before he reached the top, the door swung shut. He rolled his eyes at this, reaching to pull the door back open. “Enough of these childish—”

He was promptly silenced by the weight of a teenaged pony, at speed, focused through a large, blunt object.

“Surf’s up, asshole!”

Scootaloo drove her weight into Yellow-Eyes, riding a large book like the board of her scooter. The sheer force of the impact sent the vampire reeling onto his back. He spread his wings in a desperate attempt to steady himself, but there just wasn’t enough room at the top of the stairwell. His skull slammed against the corner of one step, then another. With the makeshift board driven between his jaw and collarbone, he rattled limply down the staircase.

At the foot of the stairs, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle dove out of the way just as their friend and their captor slammed into the concrete. Scootaloo tumbled with the remaining force, but the vampire was left in a state somewhere between a pile and a puddle.

For good measure, Scootaloo kicked the board one more time.

“You girls okay?” she asked as she caught her breath.

Sweetie Belle reached up a trembling hoof, wiping an ambiguous reddish substance off of her friend’s face. “I-I think so…”

Scootaloo touched the same spot, sniffed what was left of the substance, and promptly retched. She wiped her hoof off on the motionless stallion’s coat. “Well you look fine, anyway. He didn’t bite you, did he?”

“Got pretty darn close,” said Apple Bloom. “But um… is he gonna be, uhh…”

“I mean, that’s what they say in zombie movies, right? Aim for the head? I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

A leathery wing twitched against Scootaloo’s hoof, causing her to jump.

“Nevermind,” she whimpered.

Apple Bloom squinted at the body. “I dunno, Scoot. I’ve seen rats still twitchin’ after they get snagged in the plow. I think that’s just somethin’ dead bodies do.”

Sweetie Belle groaned with worry. “He’s no rat, though. He was so super strong earlier, and just shrugged you off…”

Then Yellow-Eyes groaned from beneath the tome.

“Not dead! Not dead!” Scootaloo shouted. “Vampire healing thingy— we gotta go. We gotta go, go, go!!”

She led the way up and out. Her friends followed at a sprint. Out of the basement, up the stairs, and out the window they went, bounding haphazardly out of the second story.

All the while they ran, an echoing groan carried after them.

Diamond Tiara looked so peaceful laying in the grass, bathed in moonlight. It was almost like she had just fallen asleep, gracefully fainting into an earthen bed. Her midsection rose and fell with small, subtle breaths, but her eyes were still. At this hour, a pony in deep sleep would be in the midst of a dream. Her stillness showed she was merely unconscious.

Rainbow Dash carefully brushed the younger mare’s mane back over the pinpricks in her neck.

“Hey, Fae? Would it be weird to fly her home at this point? I feel like it’d be weird, but I don’t want to just leave her...”

— She will be fine, child. You showed plenty of restraint with your feeding. As promised, she will awaken in a few hours with little to no memory of you or what has happened tonight. —

“Okay, good,” said Rainbow. Still, she couldn’t take her eyes off of her ‘victim’. “But what if—”

— Oh, forget about her, Rainbow! What about you? How does it feel? — A telepathic chuckle echoed in Rainbow’s mind. — How, pray tell, does it taste? —

Rainbow opened her mouth to protest, only for a drop of red to fall from her fangs. Instinctively, she dropped to the ground, sniffing around until she found it again, then softly lapped it up out of the dirt.

As she came back to her senses, her face flushed as she groaned and squirmed. She flopped over, hooves on her head as she processed what she had just done.

“I… I-I don’t know,” she mumbled. “Ugh, this is stupid. I’m being stupid. This is wrong. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t li— Er, I mean-- “

— Your words are only for your own benefit, child. I can sense how you really feel. Who are you really trying to fool? This is what you are. Embrace it. —

Rainbow Dash strained against herself, tapping her head with her hooves. “I… I…”

“I loved it,” she finally said. “I hate that I loved it but… oh my gosh, I just feel so alive right now! Like I can see miles away, hear these tiny little animals, smell… okay, well mostly all I can smell is more blood, but— and sweet Celestia, the taste!” Rainbow slumped over, drooling and cooing at the memory on her lips. “That was like the sweetest cider ever! Like some rich and juicy… I don’t even know what! It was basically perfect, and… and I…”

Her eyes widened. “Oh horsefeathers, I am so messed up right now.”

— No, child! You aren’t ‘messed up’, you are finally fed! Animal blood can only last you so long, but this, the blood of your fellow pony, this is what sustains you. This is what it means to be a child of the night. You have done so, so well, child. —

Rainbow Dash held herself as she shivered. Her eyes drifted back to Diamond Tiara.

— Can you tell me, wholeheartedly, that you do not desire more? —

“... no.”

— Then I hereby formally welcome you to the family, Rainbow Dash. —

“...”

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo raced blindly through the streets of Ponyville. Images of the battered stallion they left behind still flashed in their minds. It probably didn’t help that that same stallion’s cries of anger were getting closer.

“If I ever had any ideas, they’re all out the window now,” said Apple Bloom. “I mean, we could try to wait for sun-up, but I doubt we have that kinda time!”

Scootaloo shook her head. “We need help. Let’s head to the School of Friendship, I’m sure somepony there can—”

“All the way across town?!” Apple Bloom countered.

“Look, you’re the one who said you’re out of ideas. It’s an idea! Let’s just—”

“HEEEELLLP!!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both winced as their third screamed into the night. Sweetie Belle glared back at them.

“Are you crazy?,” said Apple Bloom. “Those agent-spook guys’ll hear ya!”

Sweetie Belle huffed. “And? We don’t have time to be picky.”

The other two shared a look.

“SOMEPONY, ANYPONY!!”

“HELP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY, HELP!!”

The three continued their chorus of desperate pleas as they ran. Unfortunately, they barely made it to the nearest street corner when Sweetie Belle, the loudest of the three, was pushed to the ground by an unseen force. By the time the others had turned to see, Yellow-Eyes was already on top of her.

“You…” he snarled. He turned her over, glaring straight into the terrified filly’s eyes with feral fury. “Look at me, girl. Listen closely: I need you… to shut the hell u—”

“Eyes! Don’t look him in the eyes!” Scootaloo shouted.

The next thing she knew, she was the one being pinned.

“What did you just say? How did you— What do you know?!”

A bright light appeared ahead of them, temporarily blinding them both. Blinking her eyes, Scootaloo could see two adult ponies silhouetted by a streetlamp, both adorned in identical trench coats, sunglasses, and brimmed hats.

“Let her go, creature!” barked one of the two, evidently a mare.

“Oh, lay off it, you worthless dogs!” Yellow-Eyes said back, hissing.

The other agent took a step forward. “By order of the Royal Equestrian Peace Bureau,” he said, ”the Agency of Equestrian Inquisitions of the Obscure and Unnatural, and her royal highness Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are under arrest for crimes against Equestria and her denizens!”

The vampire scoffed. “Careful, my hoof might slip,” he said, shoving Scootaloo even harder against the wall. “Besides, you lot are in way over your heads. Nothing you mortals can do can stop us as a whole. You’re all little more than cattle to us.”

“Last warning,” said the female agent. “Drop the girl. Now!”

Yellow-Eyes stared intently at the agent who last spoke. “I could end her life and be gone before you can lift a hoof. No, you’re going to leave, reconsider your life choices, and never come back.” He paused, then frowned. “Ah, that’s probably why you have the glasses. Well then, let’s try this: whatever you could possibly do to me won’t stop the coming dark. No, we’re far beyond that now. And once we have our way… The Night will last forever.”

There was a high-pitched whine, then the light from the flashlights intensified. Scootaloo felt a growing warmth that quickly turned into way-too-hot as her captor screamed. He let her fall to the ground as he dove out of the way.

To the three fillies’ shock, Yellow-Eyes was on fire.

The vampire took off into the sky, rolling and thrashing to try to put out the fire now billowing from his coat. The male agent followed after on hoof, training his light on the monster as he vanished against the sky.

Meanwhile, the female agent came to Scootaloo’s aid. “Young Ma’am, are you hurt?”

“Sore, maybe, but nothin’ I can’t walk off,” said the filly in a meek and dazed tone.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle caught up moments later, with the latter leaning on the former for support. “Thank you so much,” said Sweetie Belle. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t come when you did.”

The agent shined her torch across the three. She then sighed, stowing the device. “Are you three aware of the curfew?”

The crusaders shared a nervous glance.

“Technically, you are in violation, and thus are to be placed under arrest,” said the mare. “However, given your involvement with this particular incident, I believe we can come to a more suitable arrangement.”

“Yes, please!” said Apple Bloom. “I’ll do whatever you want, just so long as my sister’s none the wiser ‘bout all this.”

“Very well. If you three will come with me back to the town hall and assist us in a line of questioning, we may be able to waive sentencing.”

“Wait,” said Scootaloo. “‘May’? Come on, you’re acting like we’re the ones who did something wrong. Didn’t you see that v— er, creepy guy? We’re victims here!”

“And that may be so, but protocol requires a full statement from each of you following an encounter such as this. If you can give us useful information, you won’t have to spend a night in jail.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo just rolled her eyes. “You know, I’d be more mad about getting arrested if I wasn’t almost just killed.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Apple Bloom with a sassy flair.

“Excellent. This way, please.”

The mare motioned for the three to go ahead. Sweetie Belle took the lead, followed by an unsteady Apple Bloom. Scootaloo tried to hold out, but clearly her patience wasn’t going to last nearly as long as this stoic pony’s. With an exasperated groan, she followed her friends towards what she knew would be cells or interrogation rooms.

“I hate cops…”