"Ughhh," Twilight Sparkle moans as she lets her head fall onto the open book before her with a thump, allowing the point of light tipping her horn to sputter and vanish. Her eyelids sag as the shadows move forward eagerly, no longer to be denied total dominion over her tree house. However despite their calming embrace, her mind refuses to let her body rest, unable to let go and unwilling to admit defeat.

I've been studying Discord's magic for three weeks now, and I've made absolutely no progress. None! Every time I think I've finally understood a tiny piece of it, something else comes up and takes me back to square one. It's like it's part of the nature of his magic to annoy anypony trying to understand it. I suppose that was to be expected, given that he's the "Spirit of Chaos", but still. You can't have magic, much less magic as powerful as his without following-

Her ears twitch as she hears a faint crash, interrupting her musings and bringing her attention back to reality. Owlowiscious takes off from his perch overlooking her desk and flies out the window, only to return a few moments later.

"Hoo."

Twilight yawns, raising her head from her desk, "Not now Owlowiscious, I need to get some sleep. I hate to admit it, but I think I've been staying up too late too often even for me."

"Hoo. Hoo!" Owlowiscious responds, insistently gesturing at the door with his wings.

Twilight shifts her head slightly to look at him, giving him the best sleepy glare she can muster. Unperturbed, Owlowiscious stares unblinkingly back at her.

Twilight groans and stands, reigniting her horn before turning to walk downstairs, "Fine, I'll go take a look. But this had better be important."

No sooner had she spoken than somepony starts knocking on her door.

"Princess Twilight!" shouts the unknown pony, pausing briefly before knocking louder.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Geez."

Spike chuckles.

Twilight freezes, her right eye twitching.

"Stop… tickling me… Discord… " murmurs Spike in his sleep, twisting helplessly in his bed.

Thank goodness that wasn't what it sounded like. He's far too young to know about those types of things.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight continues to the first floor of the library and towards the entrance to her house, stopping with an outstretched hoof as the meaning of Spike's words filter through her tired mind.

Wait. Did he say-

The knocking returns, interrupting her chain of thought. Grinding her teeth, Twilight opens the door and gathers all her sleepy frustration, focusing it into a glare at the knocker.

"WHAT."

The earth pony who had been knocking flinches back at the sight of an angry, sleep-deprived Twilight, "Err, uhh, sorry for bothering you Miss Princess Sparkle Twilight ma'am sir ma'am but uhh… but… "

Twilight closes her eyes, pushes the irritation into the back of her mind, and forces a smile onto her face, "Just Twilight is fine, Caramel. Now, what's the problem?"

"What?" Caramel asks, a blank look on his face for a moment before his eyes light up as he remembers what he came here for. "Oh! Right! The problem. Well, uh, you see, there was an attack just now at the Whooves' house and-"

"An attack?!" Twilight nearly shouts, all tiredness forgotten. "Well why didn't you just say so? Is it the changelings again?"

"Well, no, it's-"

"Discord? I should've known he'd snap eventually, keeping all that chaos bottled up."

"No, it's-"

"Flutterbat?"

"NO! Though actually that's-"

"Well, what's happened then?" Twilight asks, tapping her hoof impatiently, "I need to know which backup plan to tell Spike to get!"

"Seriously Twilight? You're making plans with Caramel at this hour?" Spike looks over as he descends the staircase, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "You know he already has a marefriend, right?"

"I am not 'making plans' with Caramel, Spike," Twilight responds, looking back at him. "There's been an attack!"

"What?! An attack?!" Spike gasps, "Is it the Changelings again? I can take 'em; I've been practicing my fire breath!"

Twilight opens her mouth to reply, but seizing on the momentary silence Caramel shouts, "IT'S NOT THE CHANGELINGS! IT'S VAMPONIES!"

Silence follows as both Twilight and Spike stare at Caramel. Soon the shock of Caramel shouting at her wears off though, and Twilight slumps on the floor, rubbing her temples tiredly. Spike, meanwhile, collapses in a fit of laughter, proceeding to roll the rest of the way down the stairs.

After a moment of serious contemplation on the merits of making Caramel Discord's play-buddy on his next visit to Ponyville, Twilight shelves that thought and looks back up at him.

"You don't believe me," Caramel states flatly.

"Caramel… vamponies don't exist," Twilight explains as patiently as she can. "And while Thestrals may share certain anatomic similarities, they are much more closely related to ponies than any species of bat. In fact, they are most likely just a nocturnal offshoot of the pegasus family that branched off a long time ago."

"I know that, Twilight," Caramel sighs, his patience beginning to wear thin as well. "Half the town could probably tell you that word for word by now."

"Well if you know that, then why are you here telling me about vamponies?!" Twilight asks exasperatedly.

"Because this time it really is a vampony!" Caramel insists, "And you know how I know?"

"By all means, enlighten me," Twilight deadpans.

Caramel gestures at his mouth, "Her teeth. They're all pointy, and she's got two fangs that are bigger and even pointier. And she did something to Derpy," he continues, "we can't get her to wake up. Even with a whole batch of Pinkie-baked muffins!"

Twilight blinks a couple times as she processes Caramel's last sentence, then gives in with another sigh, "…Fine, I'll take a look. But if this turns out to be another Thestral, you're going to be the one babysitting Discord the next time he decides to stop by."

Caramel pales slightly and gulps, but nods, "I'm sure."

"There you are, darling!" a familiar voice calls out as Twilight and Caramel walk towards a large group of ponies standing in the street, "Whatever took you so long to arrive?"

Twilight looks towards to source of the voice, surprise with a hint of frustration playing across her expression, "Rarity?"

"Yes?" Rarity asks as she approaches, frowning slightly as she examines Twilight's bedraggled state, "Is something the matter?"

"No, nothing at all," Twilight replies sarcastically. "At least as long as you don't count getting dragged out in the middle of the night to deal with a supposed 'vampony' again."

"Now Twilight, I know there have been a lot of false alarms recently, but-" Rarity pauses, wincing under Twilight's accusatory glare, "But! This time it's the real deal; you have my word."

"Alright, fine, where is this 'vampony' of yours?"

"Oh, she's not here anymore," Rarity replies as she turns away, looking back after hearing a dull thump to see Twilight facehoofing with the ground. "She's… um, Twilight? What are you doing?"

Twilight mumbles incoherently into the ground while Rarity watches her with a mixture of confusion and concern. Eventually Rarity glances at Caramel, who simply shrugs. After a solid minute, Twilight finally raises her head.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Rarity continues as though there had been no interruption, "the vampony is no longer here. She was rather badly injured, and was taken to the hospital along with Derpy."

Upon hearing this, Twilight's horn begins to glow. A couple seconds and a flash of purple later, the trio stands before the Cloudsdale Hospital; the sudden transition from the more natural browns and greens of Ponyville to the puffy whites and greys of the cloud city jarring two of the three travelers.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH" Caramel screams as his hooves sink an inch into the clouds beneath his hooves, "HHHHII'm not falling."

Rarity gives him a flat look, "Well of course you're not dear. All the walkways in Cloudsdale are made of cloudcrete; as long as you don't start digging a hole in it, you'll be fine."

"Oh. So… um, Twilight? Why are we here?" Caramel calls out, doing his best to ignore a blush of embarrassment creeping across his face.

"To see the vampony, remember?" Twilight shouts back, not even bothering to turn around. A nearby thestral rolls their eyes at the absentminded princess, pointedly turning their back and flying away. Meanwhile a group of pegasi, one of whom is hovering embedded in a flat cloud with his barrel resting above and his legs – two of which are wrapped in casts – hanging below, look over at Twilight in surprise at her proclamation before unease creeps into their expressions. Muttering quickly breaks out amongst them as they walk, and in one case float, past.

"Did she say there's a vampony here?"

"I think she's joking dear."

"Well she doesn't look like she's joking."

"How could somepony like Princess Twilight Sparkle not be joking about something like that?"

"I dunno, I always thought it was suspicious that there was a book series called 'Twilight' with a bunch of 'Sparkling' vamponies."

"Hey-yeah, maybe the whole series is actually real, like the Daring Do books!"

"Alright, A) the Daring Do books are not real."

"That's not what I heard, I heard-"

"And B) If you ever compare Daring Do to Twilight in any way ever again you'll be needing a lot more than a cloudchair to leave the hospital. Understand?"

"I, uh, yes… "

"I think what he means Twilight," Rarity responds as delicately as she can while forcing down a giggle, "is why are we here. In Cloudsdale."

At that Twilight stops and looks up at the building in front of her, as if finally recognizing it.

"Ah."

After another flash of purple, Twilight vanishes, leaving Rarity and Caramel standing in front of the Cloudsdale Hospital staring at empty space. Caramel looks at Rarity, then back to where Twilight used to be.

"So… she's coming back, right?"

A couple minutes pass. The wind blows. Stars twinkle clearly overhead. Twilight does not reappear. Caramel looks over at Rarity again.

"She left us here, didn't she?"

Rarity grinds her teeth, both eyes spasming.

Not only did one of my best friends leave me stranded in the middle of Cloudsdale at night, but I'm going to miss meeting a real live vampony!

Doing her best to remain calm, Rarity takes a deep breath, then lets it all out.

"TWILIGHT!!!!!"

Meanwhile, Twilight reappears back in Ponyville, this time in front of the correct building. Completely oblivious to the fact that she is now two ponies short, she trots towards Ponyville Hospital; the tired irritation embedded in her eyes broadcasting her intention to put her current problems to bed as quickly as possible, and then to follow them there as well very soon after.

Upon entering the interior of the hospital, Twilight looks around, observing the unusual number of ponies crowding the reception area, many of whom are whispering and casting nervous glances at the double doors leading to the patient rooms. The murmuring ceases for a brief moment as the assembled ponies notice her presence, then continue even more energetically than before.

"Oh, hello Twilight," a soft voice speaks up directly behind her, causing Twilight to jump a bit in surprise. Turning, she sees Fluttershy fidgeting only a few steps behind her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the yellow pegasus adds, doing her best to hide behind her pink mane.

Twilight just lets out another large sigh and looks at her friend, "You didn't startle me Fluttershy, I was just… surprised to see you here. Why are you here anyway?"

"Nurse Redheart asked me to help her look at the batpony that was injured," Fluttershy answers, leaving the sanctuary of her mane as she steps forward. "She isn't very knowledgeable about bats, and since I look after regular bats she thought that I might be able to help."

Twilight smiles, relieved, "So you agree that the injured pony is just an ordinary Thestral and not a vampony? You have no idea how good it feels to hear somepony else say that, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy's eyes widen and she scrambles back, bumping into the wall.

"V-V-Vampony? They want me to help treat a vampony? Oh… I don't know Twilight. What if they bite me? I already turned into a vampire fruit bat, I don't want to turn into a vampire pony bat!" Fluttershy cowers against the wall, hooves over her head.

Twilight moves forward and puts a reassuring foreleg around her friend's shoulders, "Come on Fluttershy, do you know how many false alarms there have been about vamponies since Princess Luna returned, and the Thestrals started to reintegrate into pony society?"

Fluttershy nods mutely.

"This is just another false alarm; there's nothing to worry about at all."

"Y-You're sure?" Fluttershy asks nervously.

Twilight smiles, "Positive. Now, let's go take a look at the patient, shall we?"

"O-Okay," Fluttershy replies as she gets back on her hooves, following Twilight over to the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist looks up as Twilight clears her throat, tiredness clearly apparent on her face combined with a spark of interest.

"Head on in," she says, gesturing to the double doors to her left. "Nurse Redheart is with the vamp-I mean patient in room 138."

With a nod and a quiet thanks, the two mares continue into the hospital.

In contrast to the reception area, the interior of the hospital is completely deserted. With the chatter behind them suddenly cut off when the doors close, the hallway takes on something of an eerie quality – the unnatural silence and cleanliness amplified by the bleached white walls and tiled floor. Periodically placed flowers and pieces of art do little to dispel the heavy atmosphere. Fluttershy hesitates for a moment, eyes darting around the empty space while Twilight walks forward, unperturbed by the sound of her echoing hoofsteps and glancing at the room numbers as she goes.

102… 104… 106… 108… she counts off in her head as she moves past the dark and empty rooms.

Approaching room 126 however, she sees light emanating from within. She takes a look inside as she passes, stopping when she recognizes the occupants. Fluttershy, who had been following closely behind her, bumps into Twilight with a surprised squeak.

"Um… Is something wrong Twilight?" Fluttershy asks tentatively as she walks around her friend to look into the room, letting out a soft "oh" when she recognizes them as well.

"You go ahead," Twilight says, her eyes flitting to Fluttershy before looking back into the room. "I'd like to talk with Time Turner about what happened, and see if there's anything I can do to help Derpy."

Fluttershy nods and cautiously continues on, Twilight meanwhile taking a calming breath and entering the room.

Time Turner tenses as he turns towards the Twilight-opened door, his glare fading back into a worried yet hopeful gaze as he relaxes and smiles tiredly.

"Princess Twilight! I wasn't expecting you to be, well, here," he says, gesturing at the room.

Twilight returns the smile, "To be fair, I wasn't expecting to be here either."

They share a small laugh, however their eyes soon wander back to the sleeping mare lying in the room with them.

"So? Do you know what's wrong with her? Do you know how to cure her?" Time Turner asks, cautious optimism tingeing his words.

"I'm sorry," Twilight says, shaking her head, "I don't. I'm still trying to catch up on what exactly is happening. Everypony keeps going on about how 'vamponies are attacking' and other nonsense-"

"It was a vampony," Time Turner interrupts her, surprising Twilight with the surety in which he says it.

"Look, Turner, I know what it might have looked like-" Twilight begins tentatively before getting cut off once more.

"I know what a Thestral looks like, Twilight; and believe me, this wasn't one of them." Seeing Twilight open her mouth again he quickly continues, "And I'm not talking about whatever they're treating down the hall either."

"You're not?" Twilight frowns, confused, "Alright, why don't you just tell me the whole story, so I don't have to keep feeling my way around what's going on like I'm half blind."

Time Turner nods, "I first woke up when I heard a window slam. I thought it had just been left unlocked and the wind had taken it. I heard Derpy get up and close it, and I started dozing back to sleep. Nothing happened for a bit, I was about to fall back asleep, and then I heard a noise from Derpy's room. I got up to see if she was alright, you know how she has a tendency to break things – you remember the Flying Bed incident."

Twilight snorts, "How can I forget? She somehow, while sleepwalking, managed to throw your entire alicorn-sized bed through your window – and a chuck of the wall – then flew down to where it landed in the street and went right back to sleep. Rainbow even spent the next few weeks trying to convince her to hoof-wrestle Bulk Biceps until I convinced her to drop it."

"Heh, yeah, that's why we sleep in different rooms most of the time now too. Anyway," Time Turner continues, "I was honestly more worried about the room than her until I heard what sounded like somepony in pain. I started running, saw that her door was wide open, and heard a crash from inside. Then when I entered I saw him. The one they have here was struggling to stand, looking like she had a broken leg, while he was just standing there opposite me with Derpy in-between us."

Time Turner's eyes grow distant as the memory plays out in his mind, shuddering slightly as he refocuses on the present before speaking again, "I froze, I just… froze. There was just something so wrong about him. I don't know how else to put it. Physically he looked normal enough, right up until you realize ponies don't have glowing red eyes and fangs going down past their chin. Not that that wasn't weird, but he just… it just… it was wrong, very very wrong."

Time Turner stops speaking again, eyes unfocused and panting slightly. Twilight reaches out and puts a hoof on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile, "It's going to be alright. You're both safe, and I'm sure the nurses will be able to wake Derpy up once they've had a little time."

Time Turner nods jerkily, taking a quivering breath and pressing on, "Then that thing hissed at me. I don't know what happened after that. The world just got kind of hazy and the next thing I knew I was standing in front of a broken window, the mare unconscious on the ground outside and the other pony just gone."

He pauses, looking at his wife before staring at the floor, "After that, I went and tried to wake her but… " he gestures helplessly at the mare on the hospital bed, "I couldn't. I tried shaking her, yelling, a kiss… everything. Pinkie even made a fresh batch of banana-strawberry cheesecake muffins, Derpy's favorite, but she didn't even twitch."

Time Turner looks back up at Twilight, his eyes hopeful but also pleading, "You will be able to help her, right? The nurses examined her and are doing some tests and the results aren't back yet but they said they couldn't see anything overtly wrong with her and I just… I don't… " he trails off, blinking rapidly and looking at the floor again.

"Turner, look at me," Twilight states, an unusual air of command in her voice. Time Turner meets her eyes, surprise interrupting his blinking to allow a few stray tears to run down his face.

"Dang it," he mutters, wiping them away before returning his gaze to Twilight.

"We will find out what's wrong with Derpy," Twilight says, keeping her voice firm and level despite the uncertainty swirling in her gut. "You have my word as Princess."

Time Turner's lips wobble slightly and he hugs Twilight tightly, a motion which she returns wholeheartedly.

"S-Sorry," Time Turner stutters, releasing the hug and backing up after a long minute. "I'm probably not supposed to do that, what with you being a princess and all."

"Don't worry about it," Twilight replies, smiling broadly at him. "Honestly I wish ponies would act a bit more at ease around me. I was just an ordinary unicorn until not that long ago after all."

Time Turner snorts at that, Ordinary unicorn my flank

"If you don't mind my asking though," Twilight says, returning to the matter at hoof, "what did you mean earlier when you said the nurses hadn't found anything overtly wrong with her?"

"Oh, well, they found nothing wrong except for what looked like a bite mark on one of her legs, but it was completely healed. If it was venom it would have most likely affected her days ago. It could have infected her with some kind of disease, but 'suddenly puts the victim into a deep sleep and nothing else' isn't like any disease they had ever heard of," Time Turner explains.

Twilight eyes the sleeping mare curiously, "Do you mind if I have a look?"

Time Turner shakes his head and moves to the bed, shifting the blankets off of Derpy's left hind leg.

"It's right here," he says, pointing.

Twilight looks at where he indicates, not seeing anything at first glance. Looking closer though, she sees a pair of spots where the hairs are thinner and shorter, revealing recently healed skin beneath, The nurses were right, it really doesn't look recent. If it hadn't been pointed out to me, I probably would have missed it entirely.

Lowering her horn to the healed wounds, Twilight closes her eyes and focuses, her horn glowing weakly as she casts a magical detection and analysis spell. Nothing. Then, at the edges of her perception, her spell shifts slightly. Not enough to trigger an outright detection, but at the same time not quite nothing either. Twilight scrunches her eyes tighter, trying to bring the faint magical remnant into greater focus, but to no avail. Sighing, she releases the spell and opens her eyes.

"Anything?" Time Turner asks hopefully.

Twilight sits back down and looks over at him, "Yes and no. I was able to detect some kind of magic on the wound, but it was too faint for me to do much of anything besides sense its existence."

Time Turner's expression falls, "Oh."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could say more than that," Twilight apologizes. "Once the tests come back, they should shed some more light on what's going on."

Time Turner nods, anxiety clear on his face again.

"Don't worry," Twilight says, trying to encourage him. "I'll inform the nurses of what I've found, and with the results from the tests we'll have a much clearer picture of what's going on."

With that, Twilight excuses herself, leaving Time Turner and Derpy and continuing her journey to room 138, newfound curiosity quickening her steps.