I woke up about noon. Spike informs me that Pinkie Pie left stealthily at dawn and will return at dusk. Zecora is still downstairs working. She says she'll call me if she needs anything or when she makes progress, though I'm not sure how she can do any testing without a vampony (i.e. Pinkie) present. I forgot to mention that Pinkie told Zecora she was a vampony as soon as she met up with her several days ago (I've lost track), but that should already be obvious from context, I think.

The first task at hoof (after a paranoid spellcasting) is getting a message back to Celestia. Unfortunately, I only have one scroll on which to do it: the one she sent me that I didn't destroy or lose.

I'm saving the last scroll that Spike sent me before my Canterlot trip for emergencies... let's just say I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. (I know this is probably confusing because Spike delivered me three scrolls before I left for Canterlot, and Celestia also sent three scrolls to Spike which appeared to be blank (one of which went to Trixie), and there's a seventh scroll that was the now-presumed-forged note from Celestia, but that one is written on both sides in visible ink so it's useless now.)

Ugh, the logistics are a mess here. Summing up: I have two scrolls I can use. One is addressed for emergency use, and I keep that with me at all times. The other is going to Celestia right now so she knows I received her message finally. Unfortunately Celestia won't be able to reuse the scroll I'm sending back: I need to use visible ink because her ink was invisible (and I don't want to confuse her by using visible on one side and invisible on the blank side).

I had Spike take the note for me:

Dear Princess Celestia (Roaming),

It's I. I got the middle-third of message. Other two thirds lost (long story), but I get the gist. Somepony tricked me with a false message from you so I didn't discover this one until last night.

Escape castle as soon as you can. Fluttershy, Shining Armor, Cadance, my family, Apple family, Cheerilee, and Rarity are all vamponies: powerful shapeshifting ponies with insanely high libido. They seem intent on releasing forbidden information to the public and changing society via something called the "Order of Spring"; sexual dominance is a part of the culture. Cadance and Rarity have had horns removed, and Rarity is making fake horns and jewelry. Jewelry is badging mechanism. Rainbow Dash is hiding, AJ is captive and probably a vampony now. Spike and I are in hiding with Zecora and Pinkie, Ponyville thinks I'm crazy. Pinkie is also a vampony, but for some reason she's still on my side. I'm infected, but I have a spell to delay the infection indefinitely. It's included below so this note is short. I'm working on adapting it to a full cure that works on targets other than the caster. I have questions for you about forbidden knowledge I need answered, but I'm out of space and out of scrolls. Please write back, send scrolls if possible. Trust nopony.

—PTS.

The rest of the space on the scroll was dedicated to the spell transcription.

Oh! While dictating the letter, I just remembered something critical. When Mac lifted me by my horn, I wasn't able to cast spells. I thought it might have been because I'd just been thrown for a loop by the kick to the tree, but... what if touching a unicorn's horn keeps them from using it? Would that be enough of a 'thing' to create such a powerful social taboo? Perhaps, but I am highly skeptical of this theory, for two reasons.

First and foremost, unicorns aren't taught that touching a horn prevents its usage. The taboo effectively prevents it from being an issue, I suppose, but I'm highly doubtful that merely touching a unicorn's horn can prevent spellcasting when I've neither seen nor heard evidence of this.

Second, even if it were true, it would make no sense to keep the taboo and keep the fact secret at the same time. If ponies knew unicorn horns could be suppressed with simple contact, the taboo would be reinforced, and it would be useful knowledge for guards handling prisoners or soldiery in times of war. So even if a severe taboo and illegality is wanted, hiding the fact makes no sense. This is the main reason I find it impossible to believe, and instead assume it was just me being stunned from what had happened. But that shouldn't have stopped me, since I didn't get the concussion until after Mac delivered a hoof to my face... I felt like my magic just didn't work. This raises a more likely, and frightening, possibility: Big Macintosh's darkhoof powers may have somehow allowed him to cancel my magic.

No, wait. I forgot something I've known forever: bumping a horn during spellcasting does stop it from working! But I always just assumed it was because it prevented you from concentrating. Crap. I'll have to run some experiments here just to be sure. Just a moment.

Okay. I've (embarrassingly) tried manipulating my own horn with my hooves (shut up), and my own touch absolutely does not suppress my horn use. Oddly enough, even if I bump it kind of hard, I can maintain its use with no difficulty. This doesn't match my recollection of Dash (she's a bit of a roughhouser) and my brother (a couple of times as a foal) bapping my horn, which did stop it from working. However, being bapped on the horn is so taboo that it's a social shock, like being slapped on the rump or actually worse than that, so nopony could be expected to concentrate after that kind of violation. So I still don't know.

I'm going to wait until Zecora makes progress before I ask her for assistance in testing further (hopefully she'll be okay with it). I really don't want Spike touching my horn, even though he shyly volunteered—that's too personal, and even though it's for a science experiment it is not appropriate for an eleven year-old colt of any species, period. It might be a while before I can enlist Zecora's help, though, because she appears to be making mass quantities of various preparations. (It actually smells rather nice down there. Again, I think I'll miss these vampony senses, even though I only have them a little bit. Maybe I can learn to hone my normal pegacorn (ugh, dammit Pinkie) alicorn senses over time, though.)

Update! I've succeeded with the spell! (I'll set the title of this entry to "Success!" now to celebrate.) I mean, I've been able to adapt the spell to be a complete cure for anypony in the infection stage.

Two downsides. First, I don't know if it works once the turning is complete; but I suspect it will work and turn a "total" vampony back into a non-vampony. So that's not a huge downside unless my suspicion is wrong. But the second downside is that the spell still only works on the caster, so I can't test it on Pinkie to see—and I'm not willing to go "full vampony" just to find out whether or not I'm screwed.

This is a very tricky spell to modify. I may need to resort to creating a ritualistic mana bridge, but that will take a lot of experimentation, days if not weeks. And that's not really what I want, either, because it would require voluntary participation on the vampony's part. I don't think my brother wants to stop being a vampony (assuming he is one, as evidence suggests) and I'm sure Cadance, Rarity, and Fluttershy don't.

That said, I am now free of the vampony infection for the first time in a few days (it felt like weeks, though, so agonizing). There is a minor problem, however. I'm still very horny. I guess some of that is normal, maybe, because of all the sex stuff going on around me? Some of it is likely due to my specific experiences, too. I'm worried that turning into a pervert is some kind of a permanent disability, because it is highly inconvenient and unsanitary. I might need to, er, masturbate soon, like in the bathroom or something.

Dammit. I wish I'd sent the letter to Celestia after I fixed the spell, but it was still the right move to send it ASAP.

I'll start a new entry when Pinkie returns, and leave the customary space here in case I need to amend things (more likely here than all those empty spaces I'm not using in the last few entries, due to the spell stuff, but better safe than sorry—there's plenty of room left in this Journal of Unspeakable Horrors).