(The Next Morning)

[Twilight’s home]

“Okay, tomorrow is the Grand Galloping Gala. And every important being from each nation is gonna be there,” Twilight said as she levitated a book with the title ‘how to be a civilize pony 101’ on it. “So for the next few hours we are going to teach you five on how to act at the gala.”

“Are you saying we’re not civilize?” Shalltear asked only for Rebecca and the others to start throwing books at each other.

“Hey, that’s not fair, you have more books than we do.” Sally said while using Janelle as a shield.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but your bitchiness is not recognized in fort-kickass.” Rebecca said as she chucked a book at the lamia’s head. “Eat books, you snake butt!”

“We will take over fort-kickass!”

The Guardian and Screwball sat off near Twilight with exasperated expressions, shaking their heads. “This not okay in any universe.”

“Books are supposed to be cared for and cherished. I’m a literal chaos spawn and I know this!”

 “You were saying, Shalltear?” said Twilight as she levitated the books away from Rebecca and Sally.

“Hey, it’s them that need the lessons not me. I can be civilized when I wanna be, just as long no one say anything offensive to me.”

“My apologies, Miss Sparkle,” the Guardian sighed. “I was unaware the girls were this bad.”

“It’s alright Guardian, I’m pretty sure we both didn’t know they were this bad.” Twilight said as she turned her attention back at the countess. “Anyway you five are gonna be learning on how to be a proper lady. And I know just the pony that can help with that.” In a flash of light, Rarity appeared wearing a teacher’s outfit.

“That would be me darling.”

Screwball screamed before diving behind the Guardian shouting, “Kill it with fire!”        

“Relax little filly, I’m not here for you. I’m here to teach Shalltear and her friends on how to be a proper lady.” Rarity said as she summoned a blackboard with today’s lesson plan on it.

“Oh this should be interesting.” Suzy said taking a seat on Rebecca’s back.

“Now, in order to be a proper lady. One must always remember the the three basic rules.” Rarity started writing on the board. “Looks, eating manners, and speech. I know Shalltear has the looks and the eating manners down, though her speech could use some work.”

“The hell that’s supposed to mean?” Shalltear asked.

“It means you curse a lot.” Janelle said bluntly.

“Which is why we’re gonna focus on speech first before we do the others. Now when a stallion walks up, and ask you to dance what would you say?”

“Sure let’s dance like crazy people!” Rebecca answered.

“Um sure, if you don’t mind getting slime on yourself. Or mind getting your hand eaten.” Janelle answered.

“I don’t have any feet buddy.” Sally answered.

“Sure, can I have your feet afterwards?” Suzy answered.

“I would love to dance sir.” Shalltear answered.

“Well Shalltear has it right, as for the rest of you….we have a lot of training to do for the next few hours or so.” said Rarity.

“Um, I’m not expected to dance with anypony, right?” Screwball asked, still hiding.

“You’re too young to dance with any of the adult ponies.”

“Oh good,” the filly sighed.

The Guardian gave a good-hearted chuckle. “Don’t worry, Screwy, you’ll be with me during the gala and I certainly won’t be dancing with anypony.”

“Lucky kid.” Rebecca mumbled only for Rarity smack her with a ruler. “Ow!”

“Focus, a proper lady must pay attention to what’s going on around her. Now as I was saying. Instead of what you four just said, you simply say ‘why it would be a pleasure and honor to have this dance with you sir.’ Not trying to scare them, and let them think you are scary.”

“Isn’t the way we look gonna pretty much scare the living hell out of most ponies?” Suzy asked.

“Which brings us to the next lesson; the looks.” Rarity said as she pulled magical images of noble ponies wearing fancy outfits. “A lady must always look her best when attending a royal dinner or a royal banquet.”

“What’s wrong with the way we look?” Rebecca asked.

“Shalltear, Suzy, and Sally are okay. You two on the other hand look like you got your clothing from the lost and found bin.”

“Well sorry if we couldn’t find any clothing that fit us, or get dissolved when we wear them. If you haven’t noticed, we’re monsters and most ponies are afraid of us.”

“Be that as it may, you still need to pick something that will be acceptable by the other ponies. And seeing how you’re kinda...big on height and length side due to your legs.”

“Perhaps just a fancy dress shirt for Rebecca. Jannelle, however, is a tougher case. Hmm… Twilight, do you think you might be able to help her mold herself to make it seem like she’s wearing a dress?”

“It’s kinda hard to mold her without getting your hands stuck in her, plus the only way to do that is to freeze her; which would cause Janelle problems when trying to move. Yet for some reason the raincoat she’s wearing, is not affected by her ability to dissolve stuff for some reason.”

“Maybe it’s the material?” Screwball suggested.

“Possibly, I’ll have to look into that later. Till then let’s continue with the lesson plan.”

“How long is this going to take?” asked Rebecca.

“Until you five become proper ladies for the Gala.” Rarity said, as she turned her back and started writing on the board. “Now, the next lesson is your eating habits.”

“What wrong with the way we eat?” Janelle asked.

“You eat meat...well four of you eat meat, but that can be a problem for the ponies in Canterlot and Ponyville.” answered Rarity.

“I’m sure Tia keeps some stocked for certain ambassadors,” the Guardian reasoned. “Besides, they should be able to go one night without carnivorism. Just make sure there’s some proper vegetables and fruits available.”

“That and the way you all eat. I mean really, don’t you have some manners when it comes to eating like a proper lady?”

“Hey, we eat just fine thank you.” Sally said.

“Oh really? Then how come when Sweetie Belle told me that you acting out like a monster in a movie, pretending that your food was innocent ponies, and ate them while pretending to scream for them?”

“.....To be fair we have the mind of a 15 year old, what do you think was gonna happen when your sister asked us to do that?”

“Either way we’re gonna be focusing on proper table manners.” Rarity walked behind the board to get a few items for today’s lesson. “Now, I know some of you aren’t used to hold silverware, but with a little bit of practice I’m sure you can-.” When Rarity returned from behind the blackboard, she was both surprised and shock that all five monster girls disappeared from where they were sitting. “What the, where did they go?”

The Guardian gave a mirthful chuckle. “I think your practices, Madam Rarity, finally scared them off. They are young girls gifted with extraordinary powers. It will be hard to get them to listen to anything they don’t want to, especially with a clique mentality. I’m sure you can understand from your own high school years?”

Rarity sighed, as she turned her attention at Guardian. “I guess you’re right, let’s just hope they don’t cause too much trouble at the Gala like we did.”

“I wonder where they went?” Twilight asked as she looked outside the window. “You think we should follow them? You know just to make sure they’re safe and all.”

The mare looked at Twilight with a raised brow and small smirk. “You just know I’ll be after them and want to ask me questions, don’t you, Miss Sparkle?”

“Maybe.” Twilight said, blushing from embarrassment. “You can’t expect me not to ask you question about them.” she said, levitating a scroll and quill next to herself. “So mind telling me who they are while we look for them?”

She sighed, walking Twilight out the door while Screwball floated about around them using her little hat. “I suppose I could give you the rundown, as the kids say. Your new ‘monsters’ are members of a special brand of being known as Displaced. These beings were once another species, typically human, but were granted new powers and abilities as well as being transfered to this world. Most of the time, they never had a choice in the matter.”

“Interesting,” Twilight said as she wrote what Guardian told her. “How many of these Displaced are there?”

“At this present time? Oh, I’d have to wager roughly over five hundred are currently documented. At their peak, there millions if not billions of Displaced throughout the multiverse.”

“Fascinating. Mind telling me what species of monster Shalltear friends are?”

“Well, if my knowledge of the mythological and cryptozoology are still maintained, Sally is a lamia, or a snake woman. Janelle is a slime girl, no real official name for her, I’m afraid. Rebecca is what is known as an ushi-oni, a monster of Japanese folklore depicted as half human half spider.” The Guardian leaned closer to Twilight and whispered, “Be careful with her, they’ve been known to have quite the… debaucherous side.” She resumed her typical speaking afterwards. “And our final monster, Suzy, is a cheshire cat. Personally, I’m not a big fan of those beings as they tend to be trickier than Discord and are rarely straightforward with you. I knew one a while back in my travels that every time he spoke it was in riddle. Oooh, drove me up a wall, that one! I’ve never been a big fan of cats in the first place, but that one… I wanted to throttle him!”

“Okay.” Twilight said as she finished writing down what Guardian said. “Anything else I need to know about them? Like, dangerous wise?”

“Hmm,” the Guardian mused. “Danger wise, the best advice is not to make them overly upset or angry, especially due to volatile teenager syndrome.” She laughed at that. “Just treat them as you would anypony, I suppose. Don’t go too overboard with special treatment or you’ll start to make them feel entitled. Make the girls feel welcome in this town, accept them as your friends and they’ll treat you right. I believe that’s true of anybody, wouldn’t you say?”

“That is true, but some ponies are still a little bit on edge due to-.” before the mare could finish. There was a loud earth shattering sound come from outside; followed by the sound of ponies screaming. “What was that?”

“Something tells me that whatever that sound was had something to do with our little monster friends.” said Rarity as she went outside to see what was going on.

“This is not gonna help relations,” Screwball sighed.

(Outside)

[In an open field]

“Bastards! You think you dogs can take us on!” Rebecca yelled as she punched a diamond dog in the face, sending him flying into a tree; killing him upon impact.

        Somewhere in the middle of an open field. Our five little monsters find themselves surrounded/ambushed by a pack of diamond dogs, when they made their escape from Rarity’s lesson on how to be a proper lady for the gala. Normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing for the countess, and she would’ve killed them in ten seconds flat. But due to the fact that her powers are still sealed up, she’ll have to have her friends to help out in this situation.

“Can someone please explain to me how we ended up in this mess?” Sally asked as she used her tail to knockout an oncoming diamond dog holding a club in his hand.

“I have no idea really, but for now just focus on taking them out.” Shalltear ordered as she cast Brilliant Radiance on a group of diamond dogs grouped together. The countess turned her attention at Janelle to see how she was holding up. It came to no surprise that their attacks couldn’t hurt her, nor damage her.

“Where the hell is guardian when you need her?” Suzy asked as ducked from a speared dog’s attack, only for her to counter with a claw through his chest. “Not that we can’t take care of ourselves, but this is kinda one sided if you ask me.”

“Give up now creatures, else we break legs and force you to come.” said Rover, as he pointed a blade at the five monsters from a few feet away from them. “If you can’t work for us, then we eat you.”

“Geez, and ponies thought we were monster.” said Rebecca, as she turned her attention at the dog with the red vest. “Oh yeah! You and what army?!” She asked. The Diamond Dog snapped his fingers as a group of tall bulky dogs appeared around them from below the ground they were standing on.

“You just had to say that huh?” Sally said as she dodged a right hook; only for her to counter with a tail slap. “Now what do we do?”

“Just keep killing until they’re nothing left standing.” Shalltear said, as she gutted a diamond dog with her lance. “And can we please make this quick? I’m kinda running low on MP here.”

“You get the others a few feet away from here.” Rebecca ordered, as she cracked her knuckles. “I’ll handle the bulky muts.”

“You sure you can handle them?” Suzy asked. “No offense, but you don’t seem to be that strong to me.”

“Look just get to a safe distance from here. I don’t wanna get you girls caught up in the crossfire.” With that Suzy teleported herself and the others to someplace safe. Leaving the ushi-oni alone with the diamond dogs. “Now then, let’s see how many I can-.” Rebecca was cut off mid sentence as a paw appear from under her, and grabbed her face for a split second; only for her to knock it away and slide a few inches back. Out of the ground came a really tall amber color diamond dog wearing a rusty looking armor, and a club in his left hand.

“I take it you’re the leader of these jerks?” Rebecca asked; only for the dog to nod yes. “Care to explain why you’re after us?”

“You all strong, work in mine to dig up gems. You and kids in Ponyville will work for us until you are no use.” He said as he flex his muscles. “We are dominate species, all ponies are for us to use as we please.”

“Yeah, because you’re doing such a good job at trying to do that.” Rebecca said sarcastically. “If you haven’t notice, we just killed at least what 20 of you bitches. You really think that-.” Rebecca stopped at mid sentence as she counted how many diamond dogs are standing. “50 of you are a match for me?”

“Because I am alpha,” He said pointing to his pack. “And these are strong diamond dogs. We can take care of one weak monster like you.”

“Funny, that’s what the bitch told me before I crushed his skull in.” The amber dog’s eyes glowed red as he delivered a right hook to the ushi-oni; only for her to duck as she countered with a strong punch to the alpha dog’s chest. At first nothing happened, that is until she removed her fist from his chest and his upper body exploded into chunks of flesh. “Huh, guess you were all talk; but no bark.”

“Bastard!” yelled Rover as he was about to hit Rebecca; only for her to dodge into the air, land on top of a diamond dog’s head, then jump again as she landed a few feet away from the group. As she landed four diamond dogs followed her as she dodged, another one came after her with a kick; only for her to dodge again and launch herself in mid air. As she was about to land, one of them tried to attack her from behind; as she simply ducked. To her surprise three of the diamond dogs surrounded her as they were about to slam their fists onto the ushi-oni. In a split second Rebecca blocked the oncoming attacks as the earth around them started spew up pieces of the land.

“Damn, I’m really am out of practice.” She thought as she lower herself down a bit, and spun around to knock the dogs off their feet. As they were slightly off the ground, Rebecca delivered a strong bone shattering punch to the first diamond dog, sending him flying into the other two, and then into a piece of earth that was sticking out from behind them. “Is that the best you flea bags got?! I’ve seen hellhounds that fight better than you lot!” She yelled only for the rest of them jump at her one by one. Rebecca grinned as she punched one of them in the face, another one with a strong kick to the chest, and two more with a split kick. This seemed to go on for a while. That is until when she kick another dog in the face, a certain time mare decided to intervene with Rebecca’s fight.

“What in Equestria is going on here?!” the Guardian’s voice screamed over everyone, stopping even the Diamond Dogs in their tracks.

“G-Guardian, um...w-what brings you here?” Rebecca asked nervously.

“That’s not important right now. What is important is this question: who started the fight?”

“They did,” Rebecca answered, as she pointed at the diamond dogs. “They wanted to kidnap us along with the kids in Ponyville to be their slaves. So we decided to kill them so they won’t do that.”

The Guardian gave the girls a fierce glare. “We will talk later.”

“Yes Guardian,” they all replied.

“As for you lot,” she said, turning to the alpha. She slowly walked up to the dog, getting right in his face and whispered in a dark tone, “If you ever come after my girls again, I will personally shove your ugly mug into the crack of a cyberman’s ass and blow you both up. Do you understand me?!” she snarled, her eyes boring into the alpha’s very soul.

“Y-Yes ma’am! Boys were leaving. NOW!” He said, as all the diamond dogs that were either still alive; or still able to walk dug into the ground and ran off.

“We’re in trouble aren’t we?” Suzy asked.

“Home. Now,” the Guardian ordered, walking passed them.

“Yeah we’re in trouble.” Suzy sighed as she and the others followed Guardian to Shalltear’s home.

Moments later all five monster we sitting on the living room couch, waiting on Guardian to say something to them about what happened outside of Ponyville a few hours ago. Normally Twilight would try to say something, like she normally does. But something told her not to get involve less she to would suffer Guardian’s lecture. For the past few minutes it had been nothing but awkward silence. That is until Guardian spoke.

“Just what, exactly, did you think you five were doing?” she asked in a forced calm tone.

“W-We were defending ourselves along with the ponies in Ponyville.” Sally said, while trying not to stare at Guardian.

“Y-Yeah it’s not like they would’ve left if asked the nicely.” Rebecca said, trying to put up a tough act. “They wanted to make us into their slaves.”

“And you thought it was a good idea to fight them instead of, oh I don’t know, running back to town to get help?!” she half shouted at them.

“W-Well, w-we didn’t want to worry anyone in town. Plus this would be a perfect chance to show them that we’re not just monsters, but we can defend them from others that want to hurt them.” Janelle said.

“And what if you all had gotten hurt, huh? Or worse?! What then?! You needlessly risked your lives so you could all play hero! Well, you’re not here to be heroes! You’re here to live as normal of lives as you can! Heroes end up dead!” As the Guardian continued chewing them out, the girls noticed that tears had begun growing in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks as she yelled. “What would getting yourselves killed have proved?! Did you ever think of the people you were leaving behind by doing that?!”

“W-We just wanted to protect our home, that’s all.” Shalltear said, as she wiped away the tear coming down her face. “We were scared okay, we just didn’t want to end up like before. Imprisoned by someone else.”

“I understand that,” the Guardian said a little calmer. “But it was still reckless and could have ended very badly. At least one of you should have backed off to let somepony know what was happening. If something terrible happened to you girls… I don’t know what I’d have done,” she said, more tears falling as she tried to repress a sob.

Sally used her tail to wrap around Guardian as tears started flow down her face. “W-We’re sorry.” she said, as her friend also said they were sorry as well. “We just wanted to protect our home.”

“I know, I know,” the Guardian whispered, rubbing a hoof lovingly against Sally. “Just put in a little more thought next time, alright? Promise me you’ll do better in keeping yourselves safe.”

“We can’t make that kind of promise, but we’ll try to keep ourselves safe for your sake.” Rebecca said, as she whipped away her own tears.

The Guardian sighed. “Alright, I can accept that. I’m not mad at any of you, just concerned, that’s all.”

“Concerned? About what?” Suzy asked.

“Girls… I’ll be frank with you. I’m old, amazingly old, far too old for any one being to be. I’ve seen many things in my life, more than I wish I could have ever seen. And one of those is the deaths of all my closest friends. As of my point in time, Screwball is the only friend I have left that is still living.” She paused for a moment for her words to sink in. “I just don’t want to see you following their path.”

“You do realize we’re in Equestria right? This place is a hot spot for lord knows what kind of evil villain that wants to take it over.” Shalltear said.

“That doesn’t mean you throw yourselves right in the middle of it. Just because you have some new abilities, it doesn’t mean you’re expected to become heroes. I’m not saying you shouldn’t help out from time to time, but it doesn’t require you to throw yourselves head first into danger.”

“Well we know that. Just because we’re young, doesn’t mean we’re that stupid to fight someone that’s tougher and stronger than us.”

“Good, then I hope you remember that. I don’t want to be hearing one of my girls got themselves killed by being a hero.”

“We’ll leave the hero job to Twilight and her friends.”

“Gee thanks.” Twilight said sarcastically. “Glad to see you’re putting that much pressure on the adults.”

“We’re monsters with the I.Q of a 15 year old, what do you expect?”

“Now that all that is out of the way, it’s time to dole out your lot’s punishment,” the Guardian said smugly.

“Aw what!” Everyone except Shalltear said in union.

“Knew it, so what’s our punishment?” Shalltear asked.

“You five all belong to Rarity for the rest of the day. And if you run off again, you will be much bigger trouble. BIG!”

“*Sigh* F….M…..L. Fine we’ll go with Rarity for the day, god it’s like the orphanage all over again.” Shalltear said in defeat. The Guardian flinched at that, her ears drooping as she shrunk back.

“Nice going idiot.” Rebecca said, smacking the countess upside her head. “You made Guardian sad.”

"Ugh, let’s go before she does something else I will regret.” Shalltear said, as they all left to go to Rarity’s home. “I really hate to make her cry.”

(Hours later)

        “This is another reason why I hate being fancy.” Shalltear said as she kick to front door to her house open. So far throughout the entire day, Shalltear and her friends were forced to continue Rarity’s lesson on how to be a proper lady. Normally to some degree they would’ve left after she mention the word fashion show, but due to the fact that they would’ve gotten in trouble with Guardian they decided to endure the lecture, and continue through it. For the past 5 to 6 hours they were forced to wear very uncomfortable outfits, practice table manners, and how to properly speak to other ponies of higher class.

“Not only that, but tomorrow we have to use what we learned at the gala.” Suzy said, laying in Rebecca’s back. “I have a feeling that it won’t turn out so well.”

“We look like Discord’s rejected projects, of course something bad is gonna happen tomorrow.” Rebecca said, as she enter into the house with Suzy, Janelle, and Sally on her back. Upon entering the kitchen, they found that a large meal had been prepared of all their favorite foods.

“I hope you girls are hungry~!” the Guardian said as she placed another plate of food on the table. “I made plenty to go around so help yourselves!”

Without even a second thought, all five monsters ran and took a seat at the dinner table; as they grabbed a plate full of food and began to devour the food. “Finally! Food that we can actually eat without getting our hands smacked at, or taste like crap!” Rebecca said, almost choking for a split second; but had water to help her food go down.

The Guardian smiled happily. “I’m glad you all like it. I made it special for you all. Screwball helped of course too.”

“Where did you even get this food from? I can understand to vegetables, but where did you get the meat from?” Sally said, as she sink her teeth into a piece of meat.

“I keep stockpiles of every kind of food in the TARDIS. Storage is unlimited, after all. Plus! It’s a time machine, food never goes bad.”

“Wish, we had something like that here.” Janelle said, dissolving her meal before getting seconds.

“I wish I could help fulfill that, but I can’t. Don’t have the proper technology to put a proper time fridge together. I might be able to leave you some spare meat, however,” she teased.

“Space meat? As in meat from space?” Rebecca asked, as her eyes started to sparkle.

“Well, space meat as well as many different variations. I’ll leave you some options, how’s that sound?”

“Fair enough,” Rebecca said, as she went back for seconds. “So why did you cook this for us?”

“Because I could, of course,” the Guardian smiled as she started doing the dishes. “Do I have to have a reason to cook for you?”

“Mostly it’s either that or an apology or something.” The ushi-oni said as she drank her glass of water.

“Just cooking for my girls,” she assured. “That’s all.”

“Anyway, ladies. Tomorrow is the grand galloping gala, you all know what to do right?” Shalltear asked as her friends nodded. “Good, because I’m not repeating myself again.”

“You’re not going to cause any unnecessary trouble are you?”

“Unless raiding the food in the gala counts as unnecessary trouble, then no we’re not.” Janelle said, with a innocent look on her face.

The Guardian face-hoofed. “Just… just at least wait until the party's almost over first.”

“What? We’re only going after the food for the Equestrians. Plus it’s going to be so boring!” Shalltear said rolling her eyes. “I mean you should know how the gala is right?”

“I’ve been to many, more than I’d wish to admit. But you never know,” a twinkle was in the Guardian’s eye, “anything can happen.”

“Until then we’re just gonna do what we do best, and that’s pretty much just be ourselves. Until the gala is over.” Sally said, as she burped. “Excuse me.”

“Yeah because nothing bad will happen if we be ourselves.” Rebecca said sarcastically, as she grabbed another piece of meat.

The Guardian sighed, knowing it was a losing battle to continue. “Well, just try to have some fun, eh? One night of being proper ladies won’t kill you.”

“Fine, but if somepony attacks us we have every right to defend ourselves.”

"I doubt we need to worry about that.” Shalltear said. “I mean who would want to attack us?”

(Elsewhere deep in the Everfree Forest)

        Deep within the Everfree Forest; mainly the castle of the royal sisters. Stood a dark alicorn wearing a slightly revealing outfit, with her mane similar to that of Luna’s. Sitting in the ruins of what used to be her castle, while looking at the little vampire with lustful eyes. “Oh my sweet little countess.” She said as she made the crystal ball focus on Shalltear. “You have no idea how much I want you for my plan. Those skills, that body, and your fragile little mind. Soon you’ll be my adorable little pet for me to play with.”  The alicorn said as she moved from the crystal ball and headed towards the window. “Now let’s see if we can break your mind quickly before the party begins?” the alicorns body turned into a midnight color mist, as she headed towards Shalltear’s home.

(Nighttime)

[Dream world]

Moments after finishing up dinner, cleaning up, and getting herself ready for bed. Shalltear found herself in a dimly light room, similar to that of Atlas Star’s room when she first came to Equestria. “Shit, not another nightmare again.” She said as she tried to find a way out of it, only for someone to catch her attention from what she’s doing.

“Hello , my little countess~.” The voice said, as Shalltear quickly turn around to see an alicorn sitting on the bed. “I must say you look so cute up close.”

“W-Who are you?”

“I am Nightmare Moon, and you my little countess are my meal ticket to take over Equestria.” She said as she slowly walked up to Shalltear.

“What do you mean meal ticket?” Shalltear asked, glaring at the alicorn.

        “You are going to help me take over Equestria, pet.” Nightmare Moon said,as she appeared next to the countess. “After seeing how you took out Chrysalis and those Diamond Dogs. You’re just the girl I need to help take over Equestria.” She said as she showed her a vision of what would happen if she joined Nightmare Moon. “Think about it~. You and your friends will live the good life, no pony will ever judge you five, and you’ll finally get revenge on Celestia for what she did to you. So what do you say Shalltear, leader of Equestria?”

“Hm….not interested.” Shalltear answered.

“E-Excuse me?”

        “I said I’m not interested. I’m finally get to live a normal life, and you want me to just throw this gift from the heavens away?” Shalltear turned around and began to walk off. “You can do it yourself, I want no part in your takeover of Equest-.” The Countess couldn’t finish her sentence, as she felt something pierce through her stomach. Just as she was about to see what it was a, magical collar appeared around her neck and dragged her onto the wall.

“Let me make this clear pet.” Nightmare Moon said, as she once again appeared next to Shalltear. “You either join up with me in taking over Equestria, or I put you in a never ending loop where you’ll get to relive your first time in Equestria. Until your mind is shattered into many piece then how it was before.”

"F-Fuck you! You think something like that will make me become your servant?” Shalltear said as she spat at Nightmare moon.

“Well then if you don’t want to be my pet, then how about I just leave you in the nightmare loop and see if I can break the mind of your friends then?” Nightmare Moon said as the countess’s eyes went wide. “Yeah, that sounds like a better idea when you think about it. I’ll break your friends minds first, then come back for you in about a few years or so.”

“Wait! Stop!” Shalltear said as she lowered her head in defeat. “I’ll do whatever it is you want me to do, just please spare my friends.”

“Good, but as a safety measure. I’m gonna keep you in a dream loop for a while.” Nightmare moon said as she slowly reach towards Shalltear’s head. “I prefer to break my pets so they won’t get any ideas on trying to rebel against me.”

Shalltear began to panic as she tried to move away from Nightmare Moon’s hand as it got closer to her by the second. “Guardian! Suzy! Sally! Rebecca! Someone help me!”

“Scream all you want little one, but your so called friends can’t help you within my dream.” Nightmare moon said as she placed a her hand on Shalltear’s head. “Now be a good girl, and submit to me. Your new mother.”

“I think not.”

“Wha-” was all Nightmare could speak before her ears were assaulted by the most horrific noise that could ever have been made.

“Ow! Who is making that sound?” Shalltear asked, as she covered her ears in pain.

“Sorry, honey,” the voice said again as the Guardian stepped out of the shadows of the realm around them. “Desperate times called for desperate measures.”

“Who are you, and why did you interrupt me and my daughter’s little talk.” Nightmare Moon said as she glared at Guardian.

“She is not your child,” the mare retorted with a similar glare. “I won’t allow you to corrupt her mind with your mischief. I couldn’t care less if you go out somewhere else, but when you mess with one my girls, then…” The Guardian’s horn lit with a purplish-black energy, bubbling all over the appendage. “Then I get dangerous.”

“You think you can stop me little pony?” Nightmare Moon asked, as she chuckle at Guardian’s statement. “This is the dream world fool, this is my domain. What can you do to stop me?”

“Because of one, simple fact: I’m the Guardian.” She smirked darkly before unleashing the energy in her horn out into the sky. The energy burst outward, sending waves of magic into the entire dreamscape around them, causing ripples and tears to form. “Begone from this realm you treacherous monster and never trouble my Shally again! For if you do not, I will destroy you. I’ve learned more magic than any ever should be capable of, and I will bring it all down on you like the fires of hell itself! Do not test me, Nightmare Moon, for it shall not end well.”

“Fine, I’ll leave.” Nightmare Moon said as she began to fade away. “But know this fool, as long as her mind is still as messed up as it is now. She’ll soon hit her sanity point, and when she does hit it, I’ll be sure to make her my personal daughter/pet for the rest of her pathetic life. I’ll be keeping an eye her until then.”

“And so will I! I won’t lose another to a monster like you! I’ve waded into your darkness before and triumphed! Do not think for a second that I can’t save her because I will go to the ends of every Equestria to save a being I love! You won’t win, Nightmare! I won’t let you!”

“Um...y-you do know that she left right?” Shalltear asked as she rubbed her head. “Not that I’m questioning you or a-anything. Ow. Damn my head hurts.”

The Guardian rushed over to her, worry written all over her face. “Are you alright? Did she do anything to you?”

“I-I don’t think so-.” Before Shalltear could say something else, a surge a pain flowed through her head. Causing her to kneel down and grab her head in pain. “D-Dammit. It’s getting worse.”

“What is? Shally, please, tell me what’s wrong.”

“The nightmares that I have been having for the past 500 years. I did place a barrier so whenever one got loose I would end up in my happy place, but it would seem that the barrier finally broke and my sanity is starting to slip by the night.”

“Nightmares?” the Guardian parroted to herself. She took a seat next to Shalltear, a hoof on the girl’s leg. “Tell me about them. Tell me what these nightmares show you,” she said a in calm, caring tone.

“.....It’s the hell I went through when I was 15 years old during my...time with Atlas.”

“Tell me everything,” she repeated. “Help me understand you so I can help you.”

Shalltear sighed as she imagine a bean bag to lay on as she told Guardian everything. The beatings, raping, the sexural abuse, and the twisted experiments done upon her. What go to her the most was telling her about how she would sometimes wake up to find herself inside her coffin/tome and try to claw her way out, but failed.

"Shally…” the Guardian said with moist eyes. Without another word, she wrapped her hooves around Shalltear, hugging her close.

“The worst part is, that every time I feel asleep. I can feel my sanity, my memories of who I was, all of starting to slip away.” Shalltear hugged Guardian back as she began to shiver in fear. “And the scary part is. I’m even losing some of my emotions as well. If this keeps up, then….oh god I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Then don’t think about it,” the Guardian said as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

“How can I not think of it! Look at me Guardian!” Shalltear said as she made her clothes disappeared. “Look at have become of me! How can I not think about it when every scar I have on me keeps reminding me of what happen to me?!”

        “Because that’s not you anymore,” she said calmingly. “You’re not his anymore, you’re your own person again. These scars do not define you, they only show your past. Your actions, your decisions, your friends, that is what defines you.” The Guardian pulled Shalltear’s face close to her own, looking in her eyes. “You are still Veronica, not just Shalltear. And I know that you are a strong woman, capable of showing that she can beat Atlas and his trickery. You have the power and the support. Are you really going to allow him to win?”

“N-No.” Shalltear said as she stopped shivering in fear.

“Then you are going to beat these nightmares and show Atlas that he can never control you. And Janelle, Rebecca, Suzy, Sally, Screwball, and I will be there the whole way.”

“...Thank you.” Shalltear said, as she kneeled down and hugged Guardian. “But there’s something I need to do before I can have a piece of mind.”

“Then let me help you while we have the time,” the Guardian said, hugging Shalltear back. “I’m here for you.”

“Okay,” Shalltear let go of Guardian as she summoned her alter ego of herself.

“You called me?”

“It’s time. You know what to do.”

"If I do this, you do know I won’t be here anymore?”

“I know that. You’ve been with me for the longest time, and it’s time for the two of us to finally find some kind of peace.”

Shalltear’s alter ego smiled as she opened a door that lead to somewhere else. “It’s been nice serving you as your friend.”

“Same here, goodbye other me.” With that the countess’s alter ego went inside the room, as the door disappeared behind her.

“Are you alright?” the Guardian asked.

“By tomorrow morning I’ll have no memory of my past.” Shalltear said as she turned her attention at Guardian.

“W-what?! B-but… are you sure that’s something you want to go through with? Forgetting memories, no matter how painful, will never bring you true peace.”

“You and I both know that you can’t stay here for long, and knowing how Nightmare Moon is she’ll try to use my memories to try and break me. This is a good thing for me and for Celestia and Luna, seeing how Luna can help protect me from Nightmare Moons magic. While Celestia and I can get a fresh start at getting to know each other.”

The Guardian looked like she was going to keep arguing, but, instead, she hung her head. “It’s your choice in the end. But just remember that no matter what you choose, I’ll still care about and love you.”

“That’s all I need to hear.” The countess said as she started to glow into light particles. “By the way when I do way up, you better not try that stupid I’m you from the future bullshit that most people do to screw around with their friends.”

“I wasn’t going to do that,” the Guardian shooker her head. She looked away for a moment, her cheeks a little red. “I figured I’d rather trick you into thinking I’m your mother,” she muttered. Unfortunately for her, Shalltear’s hearing was still good enough to hear her.

“I would actually like that really.” Shalltear said, as she started to fade away. “You really have to remember that vampires have really do hearing Guardian.” The mare just gave her a sad smile before everything faded to blackness.

(The Next Day)

“Ugh, why do I feel like I just been hit by a truck or something?” said Veronica as she fell from off her bed and on the floor. “Ow!”

“You alright down there?” a snarky, British voice asked.

“Yeah I’m fine...who are you?” Veronica asked.

The voice sighed. “You really did erase it all,” she said sadly. “I’m the Guardian, a pony who cares very much about you, Veronica.”

“Okay….am I dreaming or something? Because if I remember correctly ponies don’t talk.”

“No, you don’t remember anymore, but you’re on another world. You’ve been here for many, many years and have built up a… reputation, let’s say.”

“Reputation as in what?”

“Not good I’m afraid. You’re not entirely human anymore, honey. You’re… well, you’re a vampire, known commonly as Countess Shalltear.”

“....Oh god I’m I one of those gay ass vampires from that Twilight movie?”

The mare giggled a bit. “No, honey, you’re an anime vampire.”

“Oh thank god, for a second there I thought I was.” Veronica said as she pulled herself up. “So are all the ponies here look like the way you do?”

The Guardian nodded. “For the most part, yes. There are four basic kinds of ponies: unicorns (like yours truly), pegasi, earth ponies, and alicorns which are an amalgamation of all three.”

“Okay, well that answers a few of my questions. So what now if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I believe it would be best to reintroduce you to your house mates,” she said, getting off of the stool she was sitting upon.

“What, there’s more than just me living here?”

“Oh yes, it’s a regular monster house. Girls just like you that were also turned into creatures. Though, it’s going to be hard to explain your new condition.”

“I’m pretty sure it can’t be that hard to explain to them...right?”

“Honey, you’ve given your mind a reset. You’ve literally deleted a millennium's worth of memories overnight. That won’t be easy to explain in the slightest.”

“Wait, I have the powers to do that? Since when?”

“The mind is a powerful weapon, my child. It is possible of many things.”

“Really? I’ll have to try something out later, but for now lead me to the other girls.” Veronica ordered.

“Sure thing, they should be downstairs having breakfast. Let’s get you down there, honey,” the Guardian said, leading Veronica out of the room.

“Sweet! Lead the way magical talking pony.” Next Chapter: Chapter 7: Hellhound at the Gala Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes