Pony Predators of Equestria

by Pentarctagon

First published 12th of February, 2019

What is a pony? After the Changeling invasion, debates rage across Equestria over that simple question. There is a follow up that nopony thinks to ask, however: what if they weren't the only ones hiding?

What is a pony? If asked that question the average citizen of Equestria would probably respond with a confused look and a mention of the three pony tribes. A particularly astute pony might reply with four tribes, remembering to include the Thestrals. A pony of a scholarly disposition may also add a list of characteristics as well - manes, cutie marks, some form of innate magic, hooves, vegetarian diet, etc. This is the answer that would have been received for thousands of years, from before the unification of the three tribes until very recently. Until the failed Changeling invasion. With the reveal of something so foreign, yet at the same time so familiar, what it means to be a pony is no longer quite so clear and obvious. And while professors and philosophers argue, another question is forgotten in the uproar: What if the Changelings weren't the only ones who were hiding?

* Always looking for proofreaders if anyone's interested!
Current Proofreader(s): Icarus_Con_Queso

All feedback/corrections welcome!

Chapter 1 Uninvited Guests

The moon shines brightly over Ponyville. The trees sway slightly in the breeze. A wind chime sings it's lonely tune into an empty night amidst the whispering of rustling leaves, for nopony still walks among the waking to hear it. Well, almost nopony…

"Could you please hurry up?" comes a voice from thin air.

"Hey," replies a second, higher pitched voice, "climbing is hard."

"No! It's not hard! You literally just have to stick your hooves to the side of the house and start walking," fumes the first speaker. A tense minute passes, barely audible taps nearing the roof as the owner of the second voice continues climbing.

"By the light of the Moon, finally. Could you possibly have been any slower?"

After a pause, a slight scraping sound comes from the side of the house as the invisible climber slowly begins to descend.

"Nononono… " a faint, hazy shadow forms in the air as the owner of the first voice quickly leans over the edge, at long last dragging their intransigent companion onto the roof.

"There we go," the shadow sighs, its shroud of darkness falling away to reveal a batpony mare with a midnight blue coat, a dark grey mane highlighted with various shades of lighter grey, and a cutie mark showing tendrils of light blue mist. Blood red irises surround her slitted pupils rather than a thestral's telltale yellow however, her slightly larger, fluff-tipped ears moving independently of each other to track the nighttime sounds surrounding her. After a few moments of quiet, her mouth opens as she prepares to speak once more, the brightness of the moon enough to make the pointed teeth lining her jaws easily visible, "Come on, Dawn, let's get this over with."

The shadows dissipate from the second figure, revealing a smaller not-quite-batpony filly – her coat the color of evenly roasted marshmallows and mane an off-white split cleanly into thirds by two pink stripes, a single stripe running the length of her tail, "You know, Midnight, you don't have to babysit me. I'm old enough to feed on my own!"

Midnight rolls her eyes, "You'd be a lot more convincing if I hadn't just waited half an hour for you to get up here. Besides, you're not even venomous yet. What are you gonna do, take a bite and hope they don't feel anything?"

"Why'd I even have to climb anyways?" Dawn asks, sticking out her tongue at her sister. "You got to fly, but I had to walk all the way here once we got out of the forest."

Midnight smirks, "Because your veil can't quite hide your wings when you flap yet, and you know it."

"Fine… " Dawn replies, letting out an exaggerated sigh. "I was just trying to help, since I know you'd rather be nibbling on your coltfriend… "

"C-coltfriend?!" Midnight sputters, a faint blush spreading across her face. "He's not-"

"Aww, really? But you just spend so much time together~" Dawn teases.

"He doesn't even know I exist! He doesn't even know our species exists! How could he possibly be-" Midnight closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Look. He tastes good, and that's it. Now, are you hungry or not? Because if you're not, then I have other things I'd much rather be doing."

"Like nibbling on your-"

"No! Like… reading. Or, you know, hunting. Or… uh… " Midnight stares up at the distant night sky, "you know… other things."

I really need to find another hobby.

Dawn smirks, "Yeah, because Mom and Dad would love to know that you're still stealing books from-"

Midnight places a hoof on her sister's mouth, cutting her off, "I'm going inside now. If you want to drink, you can stop talking and follow me."

Without waiting for a reply, Midnight turns on her heel and walks several steps across the roof to a closed, round window. Looking through it, she sees a darkened room, though her eyes can still discern every detail clearly. It is a room full of nothing but wooden boxes.

Perfect. Now, let's see…

She grabs the window's horizontal crossbar in her mouth, pulling outward lightly, then harder as it starts to give. With a small amount of effort, the window swings wide open.

Midnight grins, I love it when ponies don't lock up at night. It makes this so much easier.

Donning the shadows once more, Midnight steps inside and onto one of the room's many crates, Dawn slipping in to stand beside her. From their place atop the crate, Midnight's gaze sweeps the empty room, her ears pricked and on full alert, listening for even the smallest sound. After several long moments however, she relaxes, hopping silently to the floor just as a sudden gust of wind slams shut the window they had entered through.

Dawn lets out a startled yelp, her wings snapping open as she jumps forward off the wooden box and onto her sister's back.

"Yeah, you are so ready to feed on your own, getting scared by windows," Midnight snickers.

"I wasn't – fear is an important part of hunting!" Dawn huffs, "It helps keep you alert. That's what Mom always says."

Midnight turns to look at her passenger, raising an eyebrow as the shadows fall away from her head, "Right, but when you're trying to be sneaky, making sudden moves because something surprised you is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do and is a great way to get noticed by whatever you were sneaking up on."

Dawn opens her mouth to respond, but before she can do so, Midnight freezes, her ears swiveling towards the door leading out of the room, "Sh! Somepony's coming!"

Dawn drops to the floor at her sister's words, hiding behind one of the larger boxes while Midnight returns to full invisibility and scales the wall, crouching upside-down on the ceiling with her eyes locked on the door. A few seconds later, a grey pegasus with crossed golden eyes enters the room, yawning. The pegasus rubs her eyes sleepily once her yawn concludes, after a couple slow blinks her attention focusing more or less on the window – the force of the wind enough for it to have bounced back open. Starting forward, the oblivious pony navigates between the boxes like a pinball, only changing directions after bumping into an obstacle.

Upon reaching the window, she grabs its handle with her mouth, closing and locking it before letting her forehead rest against the cool glass with a sigh, a soft snore emanating from the mare mere moments later. Midnight snorts and silently walks across the ceiling until she's right above the snoring pony. Detaching her forehooves from the ceiling, she carefully stretches down and bops the mare on the head.

Jerking awake with a yell of "Muffins!" the pegasus rubs her head, glaring up at the ceiling angrily. Midnight stares back, a thrill of power rushing through her as the pony stares straight into her eyes, yet sees nothing. Said pony, seeing only moon-cast shadows, turns and eventually finds her way out of the room – though not before fishing a muffin from one of the many boxes. Midnight listens intently, a tense minute passing until a door is heard closing elsewhere in the house.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Midnight climbs down from the ceiling while Dawn comes out from behind her box. Both standing in front of the now open door, they move forward, following in the hoofsteps of their unsuspecting prey.

The two sisters silently move through the darkened home, pausing frequently to listen to the quiet creaks from the house shifting in the wind to be sure that it isn't somepony moving around instead. Midnight's heart beats faster, the sensation from the muffin storage room returning tenfold as they walk down lightless hallways to make their way deeper into the home, the thrill of the hunt sharpening her senses and keeping her body pleasantly on edge. She smiles darkly, licking her lips in anticipation of what is soon to come – then pauses, taking a moment to focus as they approach their first target.

Maintain control. Let your instincts guide you, but not control you. Losing control leads to… bad things.

Now somewhat calmer, Midnight exhales slowly and moves towards a door that's not quite closed all the way. Putting her ear to the crack between it and the floor, she hears faint snoring from somepony inside. She smiles.

Jackpot.

Turning the knob all the way to the left and holding it there, she quietly pushes the door further open. Once clear of the frame, she carefully turns the knob back to its resting position, the door slowly swinging all the way open with a light push. Midnight's smile widens, the door's opening making no sound at all.

Unlocked windows, well greased doors… this is just too easy. Maybe I should feed here more often.

After they enter the room, Midnight closes the door, turning the knob before the latch hits the doorframe and then slowly releasing it when the door is flush with the wall.

Not great, but least we'll hear the door opening first if the other one decides to stop by.

Turning, Midnight and Dawn observe the pegasus laying spread-eagled on the bed before them. Moonlight shines through the window of her room brightly enough that even a normal pony wouldn't have much trouble seeing, giving the space an ethereal quality – though the many images of muffins covering her blanket, pillowcase, as well as nearly everything else in the room mutes the effect somewhat.

Midnight glances at a lamp with a muffin as a base and an upside-down muffin wrapper as the lampshade sitting on the nightstand next to the bed, chuckling inwardly while she and Dawn stand silently watching the pegasus for several minutes. Once it is clear she is truly asleep, the sisters let their shadows fall away, Midnight approaching the bed with Dawn following close on her heels.

"Let's see here… " Midnight murmurs to herself as she carefully inspects the closer of the mare's hind legs, her eyes glowing a soft red to reveal the bloody, pulsing lanes within – crisscrossing, merging, and splitting randomly like a Discordian super-highway.

Picking the right location is very important after all. Pick too small a vessel and my venom wouldn't spread fast enough. Pick too large of one and the pony might die, not to mention the mess blood spurting everywhere would cause.

And unlike those silly novels, killing this kind of prey unnecessarily is really stupid. It'd be like… like… harvesting apples by chopping down the tree. It just doesn't make any sense to waste a perfectly good tree like that. Hmm…

Her eyes shift between two possibilities, indecision creasing her brow until she settles on the one closer to her prey's barrel. Tapping Dawn on the shoulder, she bares her fangs and sinks them into the sleeping pony, sweet warmth flowing into her mouth as another warmth exits her two fangs into the appendage held by her jaws.

The mare gasps weakly at the pain before it gets numbed by the venom and stirs, adrenaline from the brief unpleasant sensation warring with the rapidly spreading numbness. However, after several moments of semi-conscious movement, she fades back to sleep mumbling, "Chocolate muffins… aren't supposed to bite… "

Feeling Dawn pressing up to her side, Midnight carefully removes her fangs from the wound while making sure to keep her lips sealed around it to prevent any blood from leaking onto the sheets. She pauses, then quickly releases her hold and moves out of the way. Dawn instantly latches onto the wound, letting no blood go to waste. Her task complete for the moment, Midnight sits back and savors the taste, though she is far from sated.

Well, at least two ponies live here, she thinks as an anticipatory grin spreads across her muzzle. I'll have my fill off this one's mate soon enough.

Dawn taps her sister on the chest once she finishes feeding, Midnight leaning back over as Dawn detaches herself from the mare. Her red eyes glowing faintly, Midnight lets out a deep breath onto the wound, the blood coagulating and hardening almost immediately. As soon as she finishes her breath, the newly formed scab flakes off and dissolves into dust, leaving nothing behind except for two small points of fresh skin.

"Good," Midnight says, looking over to Dawn, "now go back home, I still need to-"

She stops mid sentence, her ears swiveling towards the door and twitching slightly. Dawn opens her mouth to ask, but a glare from Midnight quiets her. Silence.

Then comes a nearly inaudible *clop* from the hallway just outside the door.

Quickly turning back to Dawn, she motions for her to hide underneath the bed, then once again fades into the shadows as she scales the wall and takes up a position crouching on the ceiling. Muscles throughout her body tense in preparation as the doorknob turns, the door swinging open to reveal a stallion standing in the doorway. At the sight of him however, an involuntary shiver ripples down her spine and she instead automatically takes a step away before catching herself, scowling to suppress the beginnings of a growl building in the back of her throat.

What was that? I'm the predator here!

Heedless of her stung pride, her instincts continue to insistently whisper in the back of her mind that there is something very wrong with this newcomer. She eyes him from her perch on the ceiling, examining him closely as he takes another step into the room while doing her best to silence the irritating uneasiness that his presence brings.

Earth pony, dull red coat and mane, cutie mark is a…

She squints at his flank, trying to make it out, but it's faded like chalk that's been through a storm – unrecognizable. He takes another step, licking his lips as he sees the mare out cold on the bed. The motion draws Midnight's focus to his mouth, her eyes widening.

Why does he have fangs? Is he a vampony too?

Her eyes skim his sides, but find nothing.

He can't be, he has no wings. And the rest of his teeth are flat. Is he some kind of mutant? His ears are wrong too, they're normal daypony ears. What's going on here?

The not-pony takes the remaining steps necessary to bring him next to the bed while Midnight attempts to unravel the mystery, his eyes locked on the unconscious mare. A trail of saliva trickles from between his lips as he looks down at her, the thin flow gathering into droplets beneath his chin before falling onto the blanket.

Midnight stares at him, dumbfounded, Please tell me he's not planning on-

The stallion bares his fangs with a growl and descends towards the sleeping pony's neck.

Shit!

Midnight releases her grip on the ceiling, unfurling her wings and with one powerful flap ramming her whole body into the creepy pony. His mouth snaps shut from the sudden impact, barely missing the fortunate mare to instead pierce her muffin-y blanket. Falling on the other side of the bed, Midnight jumps to her hooves and skitters away from the stallion – said stallion spitting the blanket from his mouth and hissing at her before getting to his hooves as well.

Midnight glares at him, wings still flared, "What do you think you're doing?! You were going to kill her you-"

The rest of her exclamation dies in her throat, the pony across from her staring back with dead, empty eyes periodically pulsating a sickly shade of red.

A male voice calls out sleepily from elsewhere in the house, "Derpy? Are you alright?"

Midnight looks away, distracted by the voice, and with another hiss the stallion lunges at her.

"Midnight!" Dawn screams from under the bed.

With no time to dodge, Midnight braces herself and raises her forelegs. The attempted defense proves useless however, a solid crack resounding through the room as his hoof connects with her left foreleg. Midnight staggers, choking back a scream as she accidentally puts weight on her now broken limb.

Panicked hoofsteps of the house's only other occupant sound from near the now open door to the room, "Derpy! What's going on?!"

Panting from the pain, Midnight looks back at her attacker just in time to see him preparing to buck her in the side.

Oh.

His hooves strike her like a pair of steel pistons, sending her flying across the room into a dresser, wings falling limply to the floor beside her. A half eaten muffin falls onto her barrel, sharp spikes of pain shooting across her body. Looking over towards the bed, she sees Dawn cowering underneath, seemingly unable to process what's going on.

"Dawn!" Midnight yells as loud as she can through the pain from her broken ribs. "What are you doing?! Run!"

Dawn's eyes refocus on her sister and she hesitantly starts moving towards the door.

"NOW!"

Dawn jumps, startled, but then draws the shadows around her and dashes out the door into the hallway. Midnight coughs from the exertion, a few specks of blood hitting the floor while the bitter taste of it fills her mouth.

That can't be good. I need to get out of here, or else I'm gonna… I'm really gonna…

She swallows hard, cutting off that train of thought and struggles to her hooves, doing her best to ignore the pain from her broken bones and bruised wings.

The window's my best bet. I don't care what that other thing is, it doesn't have wings. It can't fly.

A split-second after Dawn escapes, another stallion enters the room, a worried expression on his face.

"Derpy, you didn't break the floor again… did you… " he trails off as he takes in the scene before him – an unknown pony limping, another unknown pony baring giant fangs at him, and his wife out cold between him and said fanged pony. He pauses, his mouth hanging open slightly as the cogs in his brain creak back to life, discarding all extraneous information being presented by his eyes in light of one simple fact. Letting out a roar that would've done a dragon proud, he charges the strange pony opposite him, executing a half spin as he passes over his wife, planting his front hooves as he lands, and bucking the fanged pony in the chest with all the strength he can muster.

Limping as quickly as she can while the two stallions stare at each other, Midnight approaches the window.

Alright, step one: get to window: check. Step two: break window…

WHAM

A body collides with hers, breaking through the window and sending them both tumbling down into the street below. Her ears ring loudly and her vision goes completely white from the pain upon impacting the ground, all awareness of herself and her surroundings blissfully fading away into the numbed abyss of unconsciousness.

Chapter 2 Mystery Illness

Elsewhere in Ponyville, a purple alicorn sits within her study, her eyes drifting across the words written within a well weathered tome.

"And then in 231 BNM… " Twilight murmurs to herself, a yawn interrupting her reading, "in 231 BNM… the Griffon… clans… "

Despite her best efforts, the words in front of her blur, then fade into nothingness, her eyelids drooping shut while her shoulders slump and her face slowly falls forward towards the musty pages. The instant her nose touches paper however, she jerks awake, rubbing the tiredness from her eyes and glancing around the otherwise unoccupied room.

Her gaze comes to a rest on a small clock hanging on the wall to her right, a wry smile crossing her muzzle, "Well… I guess it is pretty late, even for me."

She yawns again and stands, stretching through the kinks left in her joints from the long reading session, "Yeeeep-ahh, definitely time to get some sleep."

A magical glow engulfs her horn, and with a flash of magic, she vanishes, reappearing in another room only a few inches above her bed. Her legs offer no resistance upon landing, instead crumpling beneath her body to let her fall face first onto her pillow.

Moving as little as possible while keeping her eyes closed, she lifts herself up and slides beneath her blankets, letting out a contented sigh once she slips into their warm embrace, Mmm~ why do I always put this off for so long?

Suddenly, a weight lands on her back, two sets of claws grasping her barrel, "Hoo."

Twilight groans into her pillow, "Not now, Owlowiscious."

"Hoo hoo, hoo!"

"No, I am absolutely not getting back up," Twilight replies. "Whatever it is can wait until morn-ow! Hey!" She shifts just enough to give her nocturnal assistant a sleepy, one-eyed glare, the back of her head stinging from Owlowiscious' peck, "What was that for?"

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

Twilight sighs loudly, but nevertheless rises from her bed, reigniting her horn, "Fine, I'll go take a look. But this had better be important."

No sooner had she spoken than somepony knocks on the door to her home.

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

"Oh for the love of – I'm coming, I'm coming! Geez."

Spike stirs at her words, Twilight going completely still beside his basket, her eyes wide. However, after a few incomprehensible, murmured words, he relaxes, snuggling further into his blanket.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight continues to the first floor of the library and towards the entrance to her house, the knocking resuming just as she reaches the front door. Grinding her teeth, Twilight grasps the doorknob in her magic and throws the door wide open, focusing all her tired frustration at the knocker.

"WHAT."

The earth pony who had been knocking flinches, taking an involuntary step backwards, "Err, uhh, sorry for bothering you, Miss Princess Sparkle Twilight ma'am sir ma'am but uhh… but… "

Twilight closes her eyes for a long moment and takes a deep breath, shoving her irritation into a small box in the back of her mind then forcing a smile onto her face, "Sorry about that. Just Twilight is fine, Caramel. Now, what's the problem?"

"What?" Caramel asks, staring at her blankly for a split second before he recalls the purpose of his visit. "Oh! Right! The problem. Well, uh, you see, there was an attack just now at the Whooves' house and-"

"An attack?!" Twilight shouts, all tiredness forgotten. "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 happened then?" Twilight asks, tapping her hoof impatiently, "I need to know which backup plan to tell Spike to get!"

The top step to Twilight's bedroom creaks, Spike stretching as he descends the staircase, "Seriously, Twilight? You're making plans with Caramel at this hour? You know he already has a marefriend, right?"

"I am not 'making plans' with Caramel, Spike," Twilight responds, looking over her shoulder 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 instant of silence, Caramel shouts, "IT'S NOT THE CHANGELINGS! IT'S VAMPONIES!"

Silence follows Caramel's outburst, both Twilight and Spike staring at him. Soon the shock of being shouted at wears off though, and Twilight slumps on the floor, rubbing her temples wearily. Spike, meanwhile, collapses in a fit of laughter, proceeding to roll the rest of the way down the stairs.

"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 already know that, then why are you here telling me about vamponies?!" Twilight demands 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 too – we can't get her to wake up, even with a whole batch of Pinkie-baked muffins!"

Twilight blinks a couple times, Caramel's final sentence giving her pause, 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 Ponyville."

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

Twilight frowns as they approach the Whooves' house, a group gathered outside large enough to block most of the street, ponies nervously milling about and whispering along with the occasional hoof pointing to a broken window on the second floor.

"There you are, darling!" a familiar voice calls out from the crowd, "Whatever took you so long to arrive?"

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

"Yes?" Rarity asks as she approaches, frowning slightly at 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, especially recently, but-" Rarity winces under Twilight's accusatory glare, "But! This time it's the real deal; you have my word."

"Well, where is this 'vampony' of yours then?" Twilight queries.

"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 earth, Rarity watching with a mixture of confusion and concern. Eventually she glances at Caramel, who simply shrugs. After a solid minute, Twilight finally raises her head.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Rarity continues, "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 becomes a pair, Rarity and Caramel left staring at the empty space Twilight had recently occupied.

"So… " Caramel says, looking to Rarity after a moment, "should we… also go to the hospital? Or… ?"

Rarity taps her chin, "Hmm, I suppose we-"

"Hey!" a pony calls out, the crowd previously standing outside the Whooves' broken window now rapidly encircling them, "What did Princess Twilight say?"

"Is Ponyville safe?"

"Is it under attack?"

"Can I have the muffins Derpy didn't eat?"

"What's going on?!"

"Will Derpy be okay?"

Rarity attempts to back away, only to find herself already hemmed in, "Oh dear."

Twilight, meanwhile, reappears in front of the Ponyville hospital, the tired irritation embedded in her eyes broadcasting her intention to put her current problems to bed as quickly as possible, and to then 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 when the assembled ponies notice her presence, then continues even more energetically than before, many now gesturing furtively towards her as well.

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

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

Twilight lets out yet another large sigh, "You didn't scare me, Fluttershy, I just… wasn't expecting to see you here tonight. 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 allows a weary grin to grow upon her muzzle, relief seeping through her mind, "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 stumbles backwards, 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, placing a reassuring hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Come on, Fluttershy, do you know how many false alarms there have been about 'vamponies' ever since Princess Luna returned and the Thestrals started to reintegrate into Equestrian society?"

Fluttershy nods mutely.

"Exactly. This is just another false alarm; there's nothing we need to worry about at all," Twilight states resolutely.

"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 to her hooves, following Twilight over to the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist looks up when Twilight clears her throat, exhaustion 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 further into the hospital.

The chatter behind them cuts out abruptly as soon as the doors close, the deserted hall taking on something of an eerie quality – its 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, the aura of mystery in the dead of night making even such mundane decorations seem potentially sinister. Fluttershy hesitates, her eyes darting around the empty space while Twilight walks forward, unperturbed by the sound of her own echoing hoofsteps.

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 glances 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, walking around her friend to look into the room as well, "Oh."

"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 burgeoning indignation at the intrusion quickly replaced by tired, worried smile and a glimmer of hope.

"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 unconscious 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 replies, shaking her head, "I don't. In fact, I'm still trying to catch up on what exactly happened. Everypony keeps going on about how it's 'vamponies' and other nonsense-"

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

Twilight takes a deep breath, choosing her words carefully, "Turner, I know what it might have looked like, but-"

"I know what a Thestral looks like, Twilight, and believe me, this wasn't one of them," Time Turner interjects. 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, "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 to 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 size bed through your window – and a chunk of the wall – then flew down to where it had 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, which is 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 ran out of my room, 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 get up, looking like she had a broken leg, while he was just standing there opposite me with Derpy in-between us."

Time Turner's gaze grows distant, the memory playing out in his mind's eye, "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. I even pulled out a half dozen 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 staring 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 long enough 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 promises, keeping her voice firm and level despite the uncertainty swirling in her gut. "You have my word as a Princess of Equestria."

Time Turner's lips wobble at her words, and in one swift motion he closes the gap between them to hug Twilight tightly – an action which she returns wholeheartedly.

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

"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 me 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," Time Turner explains, "but it was completely healed. If it was venomous, 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."

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

"Not at all," Time Turner replies, moving to the bed and shifting the blanket off of Derpy's left hind leg. He points to a spot on her thigh, "It's right here."

Twilight looks at where he indicates, not seeing anything at first glance. Looking closer though, she notices two small circles 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 pair of healed wounds, Twilight closes her eyes and focuses, her horn glowing weakly. As soon as her horn touches Derpy's leg, her senses expand, the pegasus' natural magical energy appearing in her mind's eye as clearly as the mare herself did to her physical eyes. Nothing unusual stands out. Twilight scrunches her eyes tighter, focusing further on the location of bite mark. Still nothing. Then, just as she is about to release the spell, something brushes on the edges of her perception. Focusing on the sensation's origin like a laser, she narrows down its location, pushing her spell to the limit in the hope of discovering something more. It does her little good, however – the leftover blemish on Derpy's aura fading beyond her ability to detect it even as she watches. Sighing, she releases the spell and opens her eyes.

"Anything?" Time Turner asks eagerly.

Twilight sits 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 happened."

Time Turner nods mutely, anxiety clear on his face.

"Don't worry," Twilight says encouragingly. "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 to continue her journey to room 138, newfound curiosity quickening her steps.

Chapter 3 Sunshine

Arriving at her destination, Twilight pushes on the door to room 138 with her magic. In her eagerness she puts far too much power into the spell however, and the door flies open as if a buffalo had headbutted it instead, slamming into the wall with a loud bang.

"eep" *thump*

Looking around for the source of the sound as she enters, she sees Fluttershy gingerly picking herself up off the floor beside Nurse Redheart.

"This is a hospital, Princess, not a rodeo," Redheart states sternly, fixing Twilight with an irritated stare. "There is no need for such displays of force."

Twilight's gaze drifts over to the wall as she takes a few steps further into the room, blushing at the sight of several cracks spreading from a freshly made imprint of the door, "Oh, uh, sorry."

The door's battered knob falls to the floor with a clatter, Twilight wincing and Nurse Redheart's eyes narrowing.

"…Anyway, thank you for your assistance, Miss Fluttershy," Redheart says after a tense moment, addressing the newly standing pegasus. "Your input on her wing structure was very useful."

Fluttershy smiles nervously, "I'm just glad I could help."

"So, was there something you wanted, Princess?" Nurse Redheart asks, turning away to check the machines attached to the unconscious pony beside her. "I assume you didn't decide to stop by just to break down one of our doors."

"No, I um – I mean-" Twilight clears her throat, "I was hoping I could run some tests on your patient for a bit. Just for a bit!" she repeats defensively as Nurse Redheart rounds on her, the nurse's expression leaving little to the imagination as to her opinion of Twilight's request. "At the very least I'd like to be able to dispel the rumors that she's a vampony and that the vamponies are attacking."

Annoyance flickers across Redheart's face and she shakes her head, "This pony is badly injured, Princess Twilight; I can't allow you to start running tests on her like she's a new science project of yours – rumors or not."

"I wasn't planning anything like that!" Twilight protests.

Nurse Redheart raises an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word of it.

"I wasn't, really!" Twilight insists, "I was just going to run a magic signature analysis to compare her latent magic to the faint traces of magic I detected on Derpy's bite mark. I Pinkie Promise – cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Nurse Redheart watches Twilight closely, giving her a curt nod after she goes through the customary motions of a Pinkie Promise, "Very well. Be quick about it though, she's going into surgery in a few minutes. I wouldn't count on being able to disprove the 'vampony' business either."

Twilight frowns, "What do you mean?"

Nurse Redheart sighs as she walks past Twilight, "You'll see when you look at her teeth, and I need to get ready for the operation. Fluttershy, perhaps you could walk Twilight through what we discussed?"

Not waiting for an answer, Nurse Redheart leaves the room, the sound of her brisk hoofsteps on the tile floor quickly fading into nothing. A brief silence passes while the alicorn and pegasus remaining stare after her, Twilight eventually moving to stand beside Fluttershy and next to the bed, "So, what did you and Nurse Redheart find out about her?"

"Well… um… " Fluttershy replies, shuffling her hooves uncomfortably, "not a whole lot, really. Nurse Redheart did most of the work, I only checked her wings. Both are pretty badly bruised and one of them is fractured in a couple places. One of her forelegs is broken too, and she has several fractured or broken ribs along with some internal injuries. And we think… "

Twilight leans forward, but her friend's voice fades into a faint, indecipherable squeak. Fluttershy looks away nervously as Twilight raises an eyebrow at her.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight prods when the yellow pegasus' eyes continue to avoid her.

Gulping audibly, Fluttershy tries again.

"We think… we think… th-that she's a… a… carnivore," she finishes quietly.

"I-I… what?" Twilight stutters, the thought of a pony eating the dead flesh of what had once been another living creature sending shivers down her spine.

Composing herself, she clarifies her statement, "I mean, what makes you say that?"

"Well… " Fluttershy hesitates, then very carefully leans towards the unconscious mare and gently nudges her mouth open, revealing jaws lined with sharp teeth.

"Oh. Ohhhh. Yep, she's – carnivore, yep." Twilight manages, backing up a couple steps and chuckling nervously.

"And… that's what we know so far," Fluttershy says, swallowing and taking a step back as well.

"I… see." Twilight mumbles, still not quite recovered. Closing her eyes, she inhales deeply, pressing her right hoof lightly to her chest and then slowly letting it drift away as she exhales. Opening her eyes, she steps towards the sleeping mare with renewed focus, horn glowing softly.

"Twilight?" questions Fluttershy.

"I almost forgot that I came here to test something," Twilight explains. "Derpy had a bite wound, but it was healed and looked like it had happened days ago. However, I was able to detect a very faint magical signature on it. The magic was too weak to determine anything else, which would normally make identifying the caster rather difficult, but it had a very… unique feel to it compared to normal pony magic. So if the signature from the wound matches her latent magical signature," she gestures at the peacefully sleeping carnivore, "then that would mean she's very likely responsible for whatever is wrong with Derpy. Which would mean we can ask her how to fix it once she wakes up."

"Oh… okay," Fluttershy nods, backing up a few more steps back to give Twilight some space.

Twilight closes her eyes and focuses her magic, touching her horn to the sleeping mare. After several seconds, and several purple pulses from her horn, she breaks contact, ending the spell with a sigh, "Well, it was definitely her."

As if they had been waiting for her to finish, Nurse Redheart re-enters the room with two of her peers the instant the words leave Twilight's mouth. Seeing Twilight and Fluttershy are still in the room, the trio of nurses quickly shoo them out, reappearing moments later with the hospital bed between them as they wheel it off towards the hospital's operating theater.

Twilight and Fluttershy watch them vanish around a corner before Twilight stretches, letting loose an enormous yawn as sleepiness threatens to overtake the excitement of the last half hour.

"Aaand that's my cue to go back to bed," Twilight remarks, looking over at Fluttershy in time to see her friend stifle a yawn of her own. "Something tells me that tomorrow is going to be a looooong day."

"Mhm," Fluttershy agrees, smiling sleepily. "But that's future Twilight and future Fluttershy's problem."

Twilight snickers, turning towards the door, "You know, normally I'd disagree, but right now, that's good enough for me."

Leaving room 138 behind them, the pair of mares walk side by side as they make their way out of the hospital, their paths diverging once outside to head their separate ways home.

The welcome familiarity of the book-scented Golden Oaks Library greets Twilight the moment she opens her door, exhaustion weighing on her mind and body alike as she trudges up the stairs towards her waiting bed. A stray thought drifts unbidden to the front of her mind as soon as she steps into her bedroom, however.

I should probably write to Princess Celestia about what's happened.

Annoyed, she attempts to dislodge the thought with various excuses of rationalized procrastination – each one missing their mark to leave her responsibility to her fellow princesses untouched.

Her and Luna both, really. If there's a whole new tribe of pony out there, they need to know right away.

"Ughhh… " she groans, the comfort of her bed now out of reach despite its tempting sheets being right in front of her. Returning to the first floor, she picks up a quill and dips it into a nearby inkwell, the bleary-eyed purple alicorn staring blankly at the parchment in front of her while the creaking, grinding cogs of her mind attempt to restart.

How does one tell the Princess of the Sun that there's a probably carnivorous – and possibly vampiric – injured pony staying at the local hospital?

Twilight blinks, a simple revelation presenting itself to her like a light at the end of a tunnel.

Well, I could just say that…

"Dear Princess Celestia… " Twilight mutters as her quill begins to move.

There was an attack tonight. It did not involve any changelings. Possibly found a new pony tribe. Seem to be carnivorous, possibly vampiric. One currently unconscious in the hospital. Tired. Will send more information tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

There, done.

Twilight stretches and yawns, nearly succumbing to the siren's call of sleep where she stands, but she steadies herself.

"SPIKE!!"

A loud thump comes from upstairs, followed by the clicking of claws on wood as an annoyed and not quite entirely awake dragon toddles down the stairs.

"What now, Twilight?" the drake asks grumpily.

Twilight levitates the scroll over to him, "I need you to send this to… " she covers her mouth, a yawn forcing itself into the middle of her sentence, "to Princess Celestia".

Spike grumbles, but takes the scroll hovering in front of him and sends it off with his signature green flame. Not waiting for Twilight to think of something else for him to do, he stumbles back up the stairs and slumps onto his bed once more. Twilight follows on his heels, at last slipping beneath her blankets and into the welcoming dreamscape.

A swirl of green fire briefly illuminates the dim sleeping quarters of the solar princess, the flash of light reflecting off the various decorations and ornaments that adorn Celestia's chamber. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it vanishes, leaving behind a scroll which promptly falls onto the sleeping pony below. Said pony remains unmoving for a long moment, however one eye does eventually open, groggily focusing on the offending piece of mail now laying upon her barrel.

Taking it in her magic, Princess Celestia observes the scroll floating in front of her, Why in the name of me is Twilight sending a scroll at night? I really need to teach Spike how to send these to Luna too…

A yawn punctuates her thoughts and she adjusts her head, the motion allowing her to focus her other eye on the rolled up parchment as well.

I suppose I could hoof this off to Luna myself tonight. She has been grumbling about not being able to take part in all the crazy events that have occurred the last few years… and she could really use some more hooves-on experience with her subjects still.

Nevertheless, she continues to eye the scroll, curiosity worming its way into her thoughts.

Well… at the very least it couldn't hurt to take a peek…

And thus begins a great battle within Celestia's mind. The Shamans of Sleep urge her to let it go and continue her slumber, while the Warriors of Curiosity demand she take a look at what could have motivated Twilight to send her a letter this late at night. The battle rages for several minutes while Celestia lays staring at the unopened piece of parchment, neither side able to win out. Then on the 10th minute, out of the fog of war rises the Prophet of Patience and he says unto the masses below: 'Let us sleep, for we have great faith in Twilight Sparkle. She shall overcome any challenge that may confront her, and so we may rest for now'. The Warriors, unable to rebuke the truth spoken to them, slowly lower their voices and surrender to the Sleep.

I'll let Twilight handle it for now, Celestia decides, placing the scroll on her nightstand. She's grown so much the last few years, and I trust she can handle any issues that arise.

Her mind at last made up, she once more closes her eyes and returns to her rest.
.
.
.
Several hours later, the covers ripple as Celestia wakes, arching her back in a luxurious stretch after a good night's sleep. A mental tug from the east does not allow her to remain in bed any longer however, and she pushes her sheets aside, standing and stretching again before approaching her balcony. Focusing the solar magicks swirling deep within her essence, she gently lifts her Sun from behind the eastern horizon, a faint, familiar thrum of magic playing across her horn as Luna likewise lowers her Moon in the west. Celestia pauses once her duty is complete, basking in the warmth of the first rays of sunlight falling onto the waking world.

Some things never change, she thinks fondly. The feeling does not last long though, a mental itch making itself known. The feeling of something forgotten, something important…

Ah, right, the scroll.

Returning to the castle interior, Celestia sits back on her bed, pops open the scroll, and skims the words within, freezing on one in particular: vampiric.

Oh no.

Wasting no time, she leaps to her hooves… and flops onto the granite floor with an undignified yelp as she slips on a rogue blanket that had followed her a few feet out of bed. After incinerating the offending sheet with a frustrated thought, she rises to her hooves, vanishing in a flash of white light.

Nurse Redheart takes one last look at the medical machines in the room, their steady, periodic beeps and calmly blinking lights indicating a successful surgery and a stable patient.

My patient…

Her eyes wander back to the mare, a thousand questions making themselves known before she silences them with an annoyed snort.

She is my patient and it's my job to help her get better. Full stop. End of story. To get distracted by pointless questions and random gossip is unprofessional.

With a satisfied nod, she turns to leave, but pauses after a single step towards the door, her ears twitching at the sound of shouting from the lobby followed by a tremor powerful enough to be felt through her hooves. Her eyes flick to the walls, but the shaking quickly dissipates and the building ceases moving. Instead, the tremors are followed by the loud, echoing hoofsteps of somepony galloping down the hallway.

And now there are crazies breaking into the hospital. Wonderful.

She takes another step towards the door, intending to lock it, but before she can take a third it's consumed by a golden aura and slams open – deepening the previous impression left by Twilight. Redheart flinches, then goes slack-jawed as a white Alicorn strides in.

"Stand aside, nurse," Princess Celestia commands. Redheart's body automatically begins to comply, however the shock wears off as she raises a hoof to move out of the way, her mental faculties restarting and returning control of her muscles. Hesitating, she looks at Celestia again, only now breaking into a cold sweat – the normally kind eyes of her daytime ruler glaring down at her like miniature suns while pure white lightning arcs from various points along the length of Celestia's horn and across her mane. Fear shoots through Redheart's body and she stands frozen, the aura of raw power and control radiating from Celestia battling with her sudden realization of what Celestia intends to do.

She's going to kill my patient!

Ignoring every instinct screaming at her to run and hide in the deepest, darkest place she can find, Nurse Redheart instead stiffly moves sideways to more fully place herself between Celestia and the helpless pony behind her.

"No."

Celestia's eyes widen, the terrible aura fading for an instant only to return anew – now also tainted by a simmering anger rolling off her like heat from a furnace.

"Very well," Celestia replies coldly, lifting Redheart bodily with her magic.

"I won't let you kill her!" Nurse Redheart shouts, flailing helplessly in the grasp of her Princess's spell.

"I'm not going to kill her," Celestia answers as she sidesteps the floating nurse, a strange calmness permeating her voice. "She's already dead."

Her horn flares even brighter, the tip shining like a fragment of the sun itself as she prepares to vaporize the pony before her.

"No she's not!" Redheart yells, desperately pointing at one of the machines, "Look!"

Celestia's eyes briefly leave her target to follow Nurse Redheart's outstretched hoof, after a moment returning her attention to the bed in front of her. She hesitates. Then looks back at the machine. With her focus ever so slightly broken, she now hears a sound over the hum and crackle of her magic…

...*beep*........*beep*.........*beep*........*beep*...

Her eyes widen, recognizing both the heart monitor and what the sound means. Celestia allows her magic to fade as she takes her real first look at the pony she had been about to attack, observing her fluff-tipped ears and bat-like wings along with the pointed teeth and fangs just barely visible within the batpony's slightly open mouth. The overpowering aura vanishes. The arcing lightning ceases. Nurse Redheart stops floating.

*thump*

And promptly falls to the floor in a jumble of hooves, quickly staggering upright and focusing a venomous glare at the invading Princess.

"I am truly sorry about this," Celestia apologizes. "Twilight sent me a short letter last night about what had happened, and I acted without fully understanding the situation."

Nurse Redheart continues to glare at Celestia, inhaling deeply, "GET OUT!!!"

Princess Celestia takes several steps back, stunned.

The two regard each other for several seconds more, neither moving a muscle until Nurse Redheart starts to sway, the magnitude of what had just happened finally sinking in, Oh sweet merciful Celestia! I just defied the Princess! I just yelled at her! I-I-

A lopsided smile spreads across her muzzle, disturbed giggles growing to maddened laughter in seconds, exhaustion and fear combining to drive her over the edge and into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness. Celestia, meanwhile, stands perfectly still while watching the nurse's abrupt descent into insanity, glancing from side to side once Redheart collapses – the room's abused door likewise giving way to fall to the floor with a sharp bang in the silence that follows.

After taking a moment to calm herself, Celestia examines the scene surrounding her, One heavily damaged wall, one destroyed door, one nurse driven crazy, and one unknown pony who slept through the whole thing.

She sighs, I think I've caused enough damage for the time being.

Celestia slowly backs out of the room, each hoof placed carefully to avoid making the slightest sound. Once outside, she turns, and, gathering as much of her royal grace and poise as she can, quickly strides towards the reception area, possible ways of calming the rest of the terrified staff crowding her mind.

Chapter 4 Entering the Shadows

Following several heartfelt apologies and a solemn Pinkie Promise that the Crown would pay for the damage she'd caused, Celestia steps out of the hospital and into the open air of Ponyville's streets, the early morning sunlight bathing the town warming her coat as well as washing away her own embarrassment.

Putting the mistakes of the barely begun day behind her, she heads off into Ponyville, a familiar destination in mind, I think it's about time I heard all the details of this strange little mess.

She only manages to make it half the distance, however, until an annoyingly jovial voice speaks from directly overhead, "Oh, I'm just so proud of you right now. I knew you had it in you."

Celestia closes her eyes for a moment, bracing herself before glancing skyward. Discord's gleeful grin greets her, his mismatched body appearing even odder having been forced into the general shape of an alicorn. Rather than dignify his words with a response, Celestia stiffly returns her attention to the road ahead of her and continues walking forward.

Discord lands to walk beside her, all four of his feet somehow making a clopping sound despite only having a single hoof. "Oh come now, Celestia, you should be proud! That was a wonderful little display of chaos back there. Why, I'd probably have to think for a few whole minutes before I could come up with something better!"

"Why are you here, Discord?" Celestia asks, refusing to look over at him.

"Why am I here? Oh Celestia, how could you even ask such a thing?" he replies, swooning in a fair impression of Rarity complete with a couch appearing out of nowhere. "I thought you knew me better than that."

Celestia speeds up slightly as the Golden Oaks Library comes into sight, intently focusing on the library's door rather than the mismatched creature behind her.

Rather than get up to follow her, Discord opts to snap his fingers, a pulse of his magic causing the couch to drag itself along the ground, leaving small ruts in its wake.

"Why, I'm here for the chaos, of course!" Discord proclaims with a wave of his forelimbs. On cue, the couch's legs let out a grating mechanical sound and retract, a metallic steering wheel sprouting like a plant from the armrest nearest Celestia. Gunning the nonexistent engine with an invisible clutch, Discord and his chaos-driven couch putter along, matching Celestia's speed, "And also for one of Fluttershy's wonderful tea parties. It's been far too long since the last one I attended, really."

Celestia smiles faintly, at which Discord rolls his eyes, "Yes, yes, friendship is magic, etc and so forth."

"In any case, I have something very important to discuss with Twilight," Celestia states. "So if you'll excuse me."

"Ah yes, the 'vampony' you nearly disintegrated," Discord replies, smiling.

Celestia's eyes narrow, "What do you know of them, Discord?"

"Oh, not much more than you, unfortunately. Can you imagine the fun I could have with carnivorous ponies though? I bet I could make half the town pass out just by having one walk down main street eating a steak!" Discord cackles maniacally, lightning flashing ominously in the background.

"Discord!" Celestia glares at him reprovingly.

Discord shrugs, "What? Some species eat meat. It's your own fault for keeping your precious ponies so sheltered." He strokes his goatee, "Though, Fluttershy did mention that the whole town was thrown into a panic from a rabbit stampede once, so I suppose I really should aim higher, what with me being the Master of Chaos and all. Maybe if I made it rain raw steak instead… "

Celestia comes to an abrupt halt, rounding on the pondering draconequus, "Discord, whatever is going on here, you are not to interfere with it. If these so-called vamponies are in fact what Twilight suspects them to be, then the last thing anypony needs is you involving them in any of your games."

Discord gasps, placing a claw on his chest and giving Celestia a scandalized look, "What? Me? Manipulate others solely for the sake of my own entertainment? Why Celestia, I'm offended that you'd even think I'd be capable of such a thing, especially after I made a solemn vow to use my magic for good instead of evil."

Celestia rolls her eyes, "Discord, I was standing right in front of you, did you really think I didn't hear you slip in 'most of the time' at the end? Besides, don't you have that orange juice event to do in Vanhoover soon?"

"You mean that bout of chaos I wanted to do over a week ago, but then somepony got in the way and said I had to schedule it in advance?" Discord grumbles.

Celestia sighs, "Luna and I only said that you had to let us know about it, so we could prepare for the aftermath. Everypony in Vanhoover will still be quite surprised, I'm sure."

"But it's the principle of the thing!" Discord counters, throwing up his claws to summon a large cotton candy cloud, "Scheduled chaos! I ask you, what's the world coming to when a poor draconequus like myself can't even have a bit of fun on a whim?"

"It becomes a more harmonious world, where we're cooperating with each other rather than playing tug of war until something breaks," Celestia answers, ignoring the mass of cotton candy as it careens off over Ponyville to shouts of both terror and jubilation. "And for what it's worth, we are both very grateful for you being so considerate."

"I'm honestly not sure if that makes it better or worse," Discord huffs.

"And I'm not sure if I should be offended by that," Celestia replies, exhaling sharply. "Regardless, I'll make sure to mention it to Fluttershy the next time I see her."

Discord's ears prick, the draconequus glancing quickly at Celestia before averting his eyes, "And what would you do if I decide that what's going on here is far more interesting than some pre-planned event? Use those Elements you don't have anymore on me?"

"Luna and I were young those first times we fought," Celestia replies, her voice level. "And the second, I was unprepared while Luna was still greatly weakened. We would not need the Elements to be able to stand up to you again, if we had to. However, I'm confident it won't come to that. After all, just imagine how disappointed Fluttershy would be if instead she learned that you had decided to toy with a poor, defenseless, hospitalized pony?"

"That – well – I mean-" Discord sputters. "I never said I would do anything. It was a purely hypothetical question, of course."

Celestia raises an eyebrow, "Of course."

Somehow one shy pegasus mare has become far more useful in dealing with you than the Elements ever were anyways.

"I'm also sure the rest of the Element Bearers-"

"Former Element Bearers," Discord corrects.

"I'm sure the rest of the former Element Bearers," Celestia continues, "would be reassured to hear that you're willing to take the wishes of others into account as well."

Discord crosses his arms, with a snap of his claws teleporting them both into the dimly lit Golden Oaks Library, slivers of sunlight slipping in past drawn curtains, "Hmph. Fine. Have your little chat with Twilight then, but never let it be said that I'm not helpful. And I will be keeping an eye on Ponyville whether you like it or not, so make sure you don't go getting your orderliness all over them either."

Another flash of Discord's magic illuminates the library an instant later, Celestia alone in the room by the time the shadows reclaim it.

…well, that could've gone much worse, I suppose, Celestia muses, her thought punctuated by a soft snore emanating from the library's second floor. And I suppose Twilight's letter did say she was tired. I should probably leave Twilight a note and return later. I do have Day Court to oversee, after all, and nobles to endure and paperwork to fill out and… I wonder what kinds of tea Twilight has.

Having rationalized a reason to stay, Celestia clops quietly out of the main library and into the more brightly lit kitchen. Levitating a cup over to the sink, she fills it with water, heating it with a spell before beginning her search for Twilight's tea.

Her inquiry into the kitchen's various cabinets yields few discoveries however, by the end of her search only a few old, dusty teabags hovering in the air beside her. She frowns at the meager selection, distaste and disappointment swirling within her gut in equal measure. Turning back to the cabinets, she searches through them again, this time coming back completely empty hooved despite her best efforts. Sighing, she examines what tea she had managed to locate, washing the dust off the least stale one before lowering it into the heated water to steep.

Returning to the main library, Celestia lights several of the lanterns scattered throughout the room, setting down her cup as she peruses the diverse assortment of books lining the library shelves in search of something to occupy herself with. Finding a few that sound at least vaguely interesting, she sits beside her tea, cracking open the first book while she waits for Twilight to wake up.

Consciousness returns to Twilight slowly, her eyes finally opening to rest on the silent alarm clock beside her bed – panic gripping her for a instant when she sees the time, only for her to shrug it off a second later, instead choosing to roll over and remain in bed as memories of the previous night filter into her mind.

Something tells me I'm going to be glad I got the extra sleep by the time today is over.

Eventually however, she rises to face what remains of the morning, no longer able to the justify staying beneath her sheets.

First things first though, I should send a follow up letter to Princess Celestia with a more thorough explanation.

She descends the stairs, a yawn forming on her lips until a familiar voice reaches her ears.

"Good morning, Twilight. I trust you had a restful night's sleep?"

Twilight's mouth snaps shut with an audible click, her eyes wide as she turns her head to see her mentor looking up at her, a book surrounded by a golden glow held in front of Celestia while a cup of tea likewise floats off to her side.

"I-I-yes, of course, Princess Celestia," Twilight stutters. "I'm sorry; I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"It's quite alright, Twilight," Celestia replies, smiling. "I was dropped in here unannounced, after all. However, I do have some rather important questions regarding the letter you sent me last night, specifically it's distinct lack of details." She grimaces slightly, "As well as your choice of teas."

"There is nothing wrong with my tea," Twilight huffs, faking offense, then smirking. "You just didn't find where I hid them."

Celestia furrows her brow as she scans her memories. Coming up empty, she looks at Twilight curiously.

Swelling with no small amount of pride, Twilight answers the unspoken question, "A hidden panel under the third cabinet to the left from the door, which I enchanted with a minor illusion spell and an aversion ward. So unless you already knew where to look…"

"…you'd never examine it closely enough to know it was there in the first place," Celestia finishes, a smile returning to her face. "Well done. Few enough have managed to stand between me and a good cup of tea. I don't suppose you'd be willing to dip into your stash, so that we might enjoy some of it while we discuss recent events?"

"Not at all," Twilight responds, a spring in her step as she trots into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a pair of steaming cups hovering in front of her. Celestia sets down her first cup, levitating the second in front of her and cooling it with a breath. Lowering her muzzle to just above the tea's surface, she inhales deeply, only afterwards taking a small sip.

"One of Zecora's, I take it?" Celestia inquires.

"Mhm. Though to this day she still won't tell me the ingredients," Twilight replies. "I've been working on a chemical analysis to try and replicate it, but… it hasn't produced anything particularly edible as of yet."

A comfortable silence envelopes the pair, for a time both sitting quietly and enjoying the relaxing flavor of the tea. Eventually however, as the minutes tick by, Twilight ventures to speak, "So… you received my letter, Princess?"

Celestia nods, "Yes. Though the lack of information in it caused me to jump to a particularly incorrect conclusion, which resulted in a rather embarrassing confrontation at Ponyville's hospital. The reason for my visit, then, is that I would like you to tell me in detail what you know about what happened last night."

Twilight bobs her head once, and after taking another sip of tea begins recounting the events of the previous night. Celestia remains quiet throughout the entirety of the retelling – until Twilight describes the strange stallion Time Turner had bucked out Derpy's window. Upon hearing this, the cup floating next to her shatters into dust, its remaining liquid contents bursting outwards as well.

"Impossible," Celestia murmurs to herself. "There's no way… "

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asks, glancing between her mentor and the droplets of tea now scattered across her floor.

Celestia does not move for several seconds, then lets out a deep sigh, "It is nothing, I'm sure; it's simply that your description of the second creature brought back memories of when vamponies did truly tread upon Equestrian soil."

Twilight frowns, "Wait, so what Time Turner saw was a vampony? Vamponies do actually exist?"

Celestia stares at Twilight without seeing her for a long moment before shaking her head, "No. While vamponies did once exist, it is impossible for any to have survived, much less into this era."

"But how have I not seen any mention of them or their magic in any of my books?" Twilight protests, "I've read dozens of books about all sorts of rare and not-so-mythical creatures, and vamponies never appeared even in passing!"

"As I intended," Celestia replies, for the barest moment her shoulders sagging as if the weight of the world rested upon them.

Twilight opens her mouth once more, however Celestia silences her with a raised hoof, "It is a very dark story, Twilight, one that I had hoped to erase from history entirely so that all knowledge of it would be forgotten."

Celestia moves to take another sip of tea, but instead begins coughing – her head moving through the dusty remains of her cup still hanging in the air beside her. Twilight jumps to her hooves and runs into the kitchen, quickly returning with a glass of water which Celestia gulps down gratefully.

After her coughing subsides, she clears her throat and takes a deep breath, "It all began in the Crystal Empire with a unicorn whose name you are, unfortunately, quite familiar with – Sombra. At the time, he was only a Royal Advisor, neither the wisest nor the kindest nor the most knowledgeable, but still well respected within the empire nonetheless. I myself had spoken with him on more than one occasion during various royal visits and diplomatic summits. However, something happened to him, something which changed him from the respected advisor that he had once been into a traitor and a tyrant."

Sadness creeps into her voice, her words slowing, "While what exactly happened to turn him into a pony capable of such evil and malevolence is unknown to this day, the eventual outcome is accurately recorded in the history books. The events which occurred afterwards, though, are not."

Celestia pauses, her eyes distant, Twilight shivering against a chill creeping through her body despite the comforting warmth of her tea, What could be so bad that the Princesses would try to erase it from history?

Closing her eyes for a moment, Celestia sighs deeply, looking to Twilight when she reopens them, "Sombra… knew that very soon Luna and I would attempt to remove the empire from his control. He also knew that he was no match for either one of us, much less both. Vamponies were his attempt to… even the odds."

Celestia shivers at this, the colors of her iridescent mane and tail fading along with the intangible wind flowing through them, "A Vampony, as created by Sombra, is a former pony whose body has been turned into an undead golem powered by the enslaved soul of its former owner. It uses the blood of living ponies – who also become similarly bound if the feeding kills them – to… I suppose refuel would be the best way to describe it. Needless to say, the spells and binding rituals he used to create the first vamponies were some of the most objectively evil pieces of magic Luna and I have ever encountered."

"Though perhaps to better put it in perspective," Celestia continues, looking deeply into Twilight's eyes, "I am to the Alicorn Amulet what the Alicorn Amulet is to Sombra's binding rituals."

Twilight stares at her, mouth hanging open slightly, "Oh… oh wow. That's… that's pretty bad."

Celestia nods, "Indeed. We were alerted to this particular activity by a high-ranking official who had somehow managed to smuggle himself out along with… with most of his family, but by then it was too late. Sombra had already sent a few dozen of his vamponies to infiltrate Equestria. He gave us an ultimatum: obey his conditions, or he would release his vamponies onto Equestrian civilians. Complying with even one of his depraved demands was unthinkable, and any attempt to stall or delay would merely give him time to create more of his vamponies, so we reinforced our cities as best we could before heading North to dethrone him. The battle was over quickly, and we headed home victorious, only to return to utter chaos."

Princess Celestia chuckles mirthlessly as she recalls the memory, "We had hoped that perhaps it would be like cutting the head from a serpent – without Sombra's control, the vamponies would be useless and easily dealt with. Instead it was quite the opposite – without his control they went berserk and simply attacked anypony that breathed. Their ferocity, combined with a golem's strength and immunity to pain, as well as being able to create new vamponies from their victims, meant that the battle was a bloodbath despite how severely outnumbered they were."

Her voice cracks and she pauses again, taking several deep breaths to calm herself, "Even after the initial battle was over, some managed to slip away and continued to spread their taint. It was… bad, Twilight. In all my time ruling, both before and since, I have never seen my ponies so twisted by fear and hate as the year following Sombra's attack. Neighbors accusing neighbors of being vamponies, of harboring vamponies, of setting vamponies on them… it would have almost been silly if not for the fact that they would have gladly watched each other burn."

She pauses once more, swallowing a lump in her throat as her eyes start to shimmer, "It was Luna who suffered most, though. Despite the fact that vamponies weren't actually hurt by the sun, my ponies clamored with me for its protection against the monsters that walked in the night. But as for my sister… rumors began spreading about how, as the Princess of the Night, she obviously had something to do with this waking nightmare, that she was somehow responsible for everything. It became not uncommon for her, a Princess of Equestria, to be harassed in the streets. When she entered ponies' dreams to aid them with their nightmares, they would become more afraid of her than the nightmare. Even her own guards began to fear her, and I… I was too caught up trying to keep Equestria from falling apart to realize how bad it had gotten. So when she came to me seeking solace and understanding, I instead became angry with her for thinking only of herself, for whining about trivialities while Equestria was in crisis, not seeing how much she was hurting. Not until it was too late."

"Nightmare Moon… " Twilight whispers, an awestruck look on her face as she makes the connection.

"Yes, Twilight. That is what truly drove my sister to become Nightmare Moon. Not some petty fit of jealousy!" Celestia spits out the last part as if the mere suggestion were the gravest of insults, a faint smell of ozone filling the room.

Twilight flinches away at this, nostrils flared and hair standing on end. Noticing the look on Twilight's face, Celestia reigns in her emotions – and her magic – though with only moderate success.

"I… I see," Twilight replies, swallowing loudly, "a-and the whole 'erasing from history' thing?"

Celestia sighs, "Fear has a mind of its own, Twilight, especially when combined with loss. I can't force ponies to think a certain way or believe a certain idea. And once Luna had all but validated every claim made against her by becoming Nightmare Moon, even as a Princess there was very little I could do to truly convince anypony that she was as worthy of their love as I. So I did the next best thing. I worked to destroy all knowledge of Sombra's dark magic – every book, every note, every scrap of paper. Everything. I then let vamponies fade from truth into rumors, and finally into myth as the centuries passed, so that my sister would not have to return to the same prejudices following a thousand years in exile. It is one of the benefits of agelessness, I suppose."

"And… Nightmare Night?" Twilight asks, still hesitant.

Celestia chuckles, "I had nothing to do with that, actually, though I am glad Luna has a widely accepted holiday of her own now. The festivities are certainly more enjoyable than the mess of bureaucracy and tradition the Summer Sun Celebration has become laden with. In fact, I've been considering abolishing the whole thing and simply taking the day off instead."

Twilight leans back, slowly processing the story she's been told.

Celestia watches her for a few moments before rising, "I know it's a lot to take in, Twilight, and if you have any questions at all I would of course be happy to answer them, but I must return to Canterlot. Vamponies may no longer exist, but the two ponies who snuck into Derpy and Time Turner's house most definitely do, and certain processes must be set in motion in order to accommodate knowledge of a new tribe's existence."

Twilight nods absently, her mind clearly still elsewhere.

Celestia smiles and raises her horn, the yellow glow of her magic surrounding it, but looks down again before casting her spell, "Oh, also, you should expect Luna to arrive in Ponyville by sundown."

"Huh? Why?" Twilight asks, waking from her reverie.

"The pony in the hospital may not be a vampony," Celestia explains, "however she is clearly a creature of the night, and therefore is my sister's responsibility."

"Ah, right. Of course," Twilight replies with a nod and a weary smile.

Raising her horn once more, Celestia vanishes in a flash of white light.

As soon as she disappears, Twilight slumps to the floor with a groan, I just woke up and I already feel exhausted again…

Chapter 5 Hunters

*knockknockknock*

Twilight looks up at the entrance from where she had been sitting since Celestia left, lost in thought over the revelations that had been shared with her. She waits. Nothing happens.

"SPIKE!!!" Twilight shouts, annoyed.

Why is he still asleep? He went right back to bed after Caramel and I left.

She soon hears the telltale sound of claws on wood, Spike himself entering her view soon after.

"You called?" the purple dragon asks, yawning as he descends the stairs.

"I did," Twilight confirms. "Can you get the door?"

Spike looks at their front door, "That door?"

"Yep."

"The one you're sitting like 10 feet away from?"

"Mhm."

"The one you could have opened with your magic?"

"The very same."

Spike pauses long enough to give her a flat look before finishing his descent and walking over to the door. Opening it, he sees three familiar filly faces looking back at him.

"Hi Spike!" they greet in unison.

"Hey girls, how's it going?" Spike replies, a smile managing to worm its way onto his face as the fillies' boundless enthusiasm eats away at his sleep-grumpiness.

"Pretty good," Scootaloo answers. "Can we talk to Twilight? Sweetie Belle wants to ask her something before we start crusading today."

"Yeah, sure." Spike opens the door fully and walks towards the kitchen, "You guys want anything?"

"Nah."

"No thanks."

"No thank you."

Spike shrugs, vanishing into the kitchen as the Cutie Mark Crusaders enter the library.

Meanwhile, Twilight stands, walking over to meet the fillies as they cross the threshold, "Hello girls; I'm guessing you're looking for a book to help you with your newest crusade?"

Sweetie Belle shakes her head, "Actually, I was wondering if you knew what happened to my sister last night. She seemed pretty angry when I woke up. Something about one of her greatest dreams getting utterly crushed after being heartlessly abandoned by one of her best friends, and now she's laying around eating a bunch of ice cream. Again."

Scootaloo rolls her eyes, "It also probably didn't help that you told her she's going to get fat."

Sweetie Belle throws up her hooves, "But she is! She already ate all of our ice cream last week when that guy criticized her puppet theater, and now she's doing it again!"

"Hold on a second – abandoned? I didn't – I mean, I don't think… " Twilight pauses, confusion taking hold as her memories begin to conflict with themselves, It was just me and Fluttershy in the hospital room and in the hallway. I could have sworn Rarity entered with me though…

Twilight examines her memory of that instance through her mind's eye. However, with Rarity nowhere to be found, she continues to backtrack through her memories of the previous night, So she apparently didn't enter the hospital… but I know she was outside with me.

Yet as she checks that memory as well, she once again finds Rarity to be missing, Wait, if she's not there, then that means…

Going back further to the moment of teleportation, Twilight feels herself surrounded by the warm glow of her magic combined with the enhanced spatial awareness granted by the spell to avoid teleporting inside of other solid objects. And with that awareness, she feels nopony but herself.

…I didn't take Rarity with me when I teleported to the hospital. Shoot.

Twilight? Twiliiiight~ Equestria to Twilight!

I guess she's pretty mad that she didn't get to see the vampony. And probably also that I left her with a crowd of frightened ponies who most likely swarmed her asking what I said after I left. I suppose I should've gone back and said something to them before going back to sleep. Oh well. And I should definitely go apologize to Rarity, but… ugh, that's one more thing I have to do now… though I suppose all my plans for today are already out the window anyways.

Nothing. She's just standing there.

Ah wonder what happened. It seemed like such a simple thing ta ask…

Hang on, I have an idea.

Twilight's eyes refocus on reality, her mind returning to the present. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are looking up at her worriedly, the latter waving a hoof in front of her face. Twilight blinks.

Wait where's-

"TWILIGHT!!!" Scootaloo screams in her ear through a megaphone, having somehow procured one from somewhere nearby.

"GAH!"

Twilight jumps several feet in the air, falling to the floor in an adrenaline infused heap of hooves and wings.

After a moment, Applebloom nudges the purple pile, "…are you alright, Twilight?"

Twilight groans in reply, muttering something incomprehensible under her breath as she clutches her head with her hooves. The Crusaders stand fidgeting in front of her in the meantime, the minutes slowly ticking by while Twilight lays on the floor, waiting for the ringing to fade from her ears. Eventually though, she raises her head, the Cutie Mark Crusaders watching her anxiously.

"Why did you do that?" Twilight demands, more than a touch of anger in her voice.

"Uhh…"

"Well…"

"Umm…"

Twilight eyes the three fillies from her spot on the floor, switching her gaze between each of them while she waits for an explanation.

"Well, you were just kind of sitting there, and you weren't reacting to anything we said, so we thought that maybe we should… try to snap you out of it?" Sweetie Belle ventures.

"And the solution you came up with was to try to make me deaf?" Twilight deadpans.

"Yeah… uh… mayyybe not one of our brightest ideas," Scootaloo admits, rubbing the back of her head.

"We're sorry… " they apologize in unison, meeting Twilight's accusing gaze with wobbly lips and wide, shimmering eyes.

Twilight tries as best she can to hold her ground against the onslaught of cuteness, yet despite her efforts she feels her anger draining away, "I forgive you."

The fillies highhoof each other at this.

"But! On the condition you stop and take the time to think through what you're planning to do before actually doing it," she adds pointedly.

"We will!" they promise together.

Twilight nods, "Good. Now, regarding Rarity, she and I just had a bit of a misunderstanding, but I'll talk to her and clear everything up. It's nothing you girls need to worry about."

"Oh, great," Sweetie Belle replies. "Thanks, Twilight."

"Alright, now that we know that nopony's friendship is about to fall apart, it's time to start our next Crusade!" Scootaloo declares, she and her friends walking towards the library's entrance.

"Bye Twilight!"

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

Once they're outside, a purple aura envelopes the door to push it shut behind them, Twilight's headache continuing to throb.

I really need to talk with Pinkie about her emergency stashing habits. She's like a manic pink squirrel. First though, I'm going to need some more tea.

Rather than shouting for Spike amid the pounding permeating her brain, she turns to the kitchen intending to brew it herself. Spike, however, is already standing there holding a cup. He raises an eyebrow, "Sooo, I see you closed the door with your magic."

Twilight groans, "Please, not now, Spike."

Spike chuckles, "Some tea then?"

"That would be wonderful," Twilight replies gratefully, levitating the cup from Spike's claws over to herself. "Thanks, Spike."

Spike waves it off as he returns to the kitchen, "Don't mention it. I made some sandwiches too, if you want any."

Twilight trots over to join him, And this is why you'll always be my number one assistant.

Now outside, the Cutie Mark Crusaders turn to face each other, forming a small circle.

"Y'all ready?" Applebloom asks. Her two friends nod excitedly, "Alright then, Cutie Mark Crusaders: Vampony Hunters is a go!"

"Yay!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shout, both grinning widely while Scootaloo's wings buzz with excitement.

"And Ah think we'd better work out some sorta plan first, seein' as how we promised Twilight and all," Applebloom adds. She and Scootaloo look over at Sweetie Belle expectantly.

Sweetie Belle stares back at them, "What?"

"Well, we kind of thought that you'd know the most about vamponies since your sister is so obsessed with them," Scootaloo explains.

"She's not obsessed!" Sweetie Belle exclaims exasperatedly, stamping her hoof, "She just really likes those types of stories."

Applebloom and Scootaloo share a glance, an understanding passing between them, then look back to Sweetie Belle. After a moment of awkward silence, Applebloom speaks up, "You… haven't seen the ceiling in Rarity's room, have you?"

Sweetie Belle's brow knits, "No. What would I be looking at her ceiling for?"

Applebloom places a comforting hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder, "Next time yer in her room, look at the ceiling above her bed. If you can still tell me she's not obsessed with vamponies after that, then Ah'll believe you."

Sweetie Belle opens her mouth to retort, however Applebloom continues before she gets the chance, "But enough about Rarity, we're gettin' distracted! Do ya know anything about huntin' vamponies?"

"I know a little," Sweetie Belle admits, frowning at the sudden change in topic. "They get burned in sunlight or with solar water, they don't like the smell of garlic for some reason, and the only way to kill them is with a wooden stake through the heart."

Scootaloo groans, her hoof meeting her face, "That's it? I could have told you that."

Sweetie Belle frowns, "Hey, it's not my fault. Rarity won't even let me see most of her vampony stuff. Apparently it's for 'Mares Only', whatever that's supposed to mean."

The other two shrug, equally unsure as to what Rarity could want to keep hidden.

"We can investigate that tomorrow, Cutie Mark Crusaders: Secrets Finders or somethin'. Anyway, it's not like we can actually get any of that besides the stake." Applebloom taps her chin with a hoof, "Although… solar water burns them right? So we could just use acid instead! That burns everything! Though Ah don't know where we'd get any of that either… "

"What about some really hot, hot sauce?" Scootaloo suggests, "That stuff can burn, and Pinkie's always got plenty of it around for her cupcakes."

"I guess that could work," Sweetie Belle concedes, though clearly not very convinced of the potential efficacy of hot sauce on vamponies. "We're going to have to make up for not using solar water though, so we'll need something a lot smellier than garlic."

Applebloom's eyes light up, "What about manure? We got plenty a' that back at the farm, and it’s one of the smelliest things Ah know of. We can pick up one of those old pieces of wood lyin' around there for a stake too!"

Scootaloo jumps over to her scooter and revs up her wings, "Sounds like a plan! Hop on girls, let's go get that hot sauce!"

Wonderbolt Scootaloo speeds past her competition, weaving around them with practiced ease.

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

A grin spreads across her face at their helpless squawks, the wind streaming through her mane and caressing her heaving sides as she gains on the only flier still in front of her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Putting on a final burst of speed, she closes the remaining distance to cross the finish line an instant before the other pegasus, beating her by a mere nose.

Scootaloo and her passengers crash through the front door of Sugarcube Corner, a mint green unicorn who had just nudged the door open only barely managing to jump out of their way. Any remaining semblance of control Scootaloo had over her scooter vanishes an instant later, the Cutie Mark Crusaders flying off the scooter and attached wagon to skid across the floor until they encounter the shop's main counter with a solid whump. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle lay on the floor groaning while Scootaloo immediately leaps to her hooves, taking a triumphant pose.

And the crowd goes wild! She continues on a victory lap, even as sweat drips from her face and barrel. Upon reaching the finish line again, she sees Rainbow Dash hovering in front of her. "That was amazing!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, "You might even be as awesome as me now!"

Sweetie Belle bops Scootaloo on the nose, breaking her friend out of her fantasy. Looking to her left, Scootaloo sees both her friends glaring at her.

"Don't do that!"

"How're we supposed to be huntin' vamponies if we end up in the hospital?"

Scootaloo taps her hooves together, looking back at them guiltily, "Err… sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away."

The glaring pair roll their eyes at this.

"Is it safe to come in?" a nervous voice asks from the doorway.

Turning, the fillies see Lyra Heartstrings peeking around the doorframe at them.

"Of course it's safe in here!" a cheerful voice behind them giggles, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Lyra takes another wary look around before entering, her gaze lingering on the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with their immediate surroundings. Pinkie Pie meanwhile bounces happily next to the register, waiting for somepony to place their order.

Trotting past the CMC, Lyra stops in front of the register, "Hi Pinkie, I'd like a mint-vanilla-swirl cupcake and a slice of double chocolate fudge brownie cake."

Pinkie Pie hops away to retrieve the desired confections, "Coming right up!"

She returns several seconds later, a bag containing the treats bouncing on her back. With a gentle buck, she sends them flying to land on the counter in front of Lyra, "That'll be 3 bits."

Lyra levitates the bits over to Pinkie and the bag over to herself, "Thanks, Pinkie."

"You're welcome!"

Having gotten what she came for, Lyra leaves the shop; the ringing of the doorbell marking her departure.

"So what can I getcha?" Pinkie inquires, leaning over the counter to look at the fillies, "I had an idea for a new type of cupcake if you want to taste test a few for me. I haven't decided what to call them yet though… do you girls think Volcanic Cupcake or Volcanicake sounds better?"

"Umm… Volcanicake?" Sweetie Belle offers.

Applebloom glances at Sweetie Belle, then back at Pinkie, "Ah dunno, Ah like Volcanic Cupcakes. It's more straightforward."

All eyes now turn to Scootaloo, awaiting the tie-breaking vote. She puts a hoof to her chin, considering her choices thoroughly – only reaching a decision after a full minute of careful deliberation, "I have to go with Volcanicakes. It sounds way cooler."

"Al~right! Volcanicakes it is!" Pinkie declares, hopping high enough in her excitement for her mane to dust the ceiling, "Wait right there, I'll go get some for you to try!"

The Crusaders place their forehooves on the front of the counter, looking over just in time to see Pinkie vanish into the kitchen. A cacophony of noise immediately emanates from behind the closed doors, an intervening lull of utter silence finally terminated by an ominous rumble. After a few seconds more, the kitchen doors ever so slowly reopen, Pinkie carrying two plates of her invented dessert on her back while another balances precariously on her head. Moving as slowly and gently as Fluttershy carrying a breezie, Pinkie eventually manages to make her way over to the nearest empty table, depositing the experimental cupcakes delicately.

As soon as the third plate makes its way onto the table however, she returns to her happy, hopping self, "Three freshly-baked Volcanicakes ready for testing!"

Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle take a seat around the table, each in front of what may have been the most misshapen cupcake ever purposely made, appearing to have more in common with a mound of cooked dirt than anything particularly edible. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo eye their demented pastry hesitantly, while Applebloom shrugs and leans in to take a bite.

Pinkie Pie instantly tackles Applebloom, a frantic look on her face, "WAIT!!! They're not ready yet!"

"They're not?" comes the muffled question from beneath Pinkie.

"Nope! I said ready for testing, not for eating, silly," Pinkie Pie says, popping back up off of Applebloom and kicking the table, causing the plates to clatter. The cupcakes respond instantly with a gurgle as the tops of the mounds crack open, releasing wisps of steam. Streams of molten caramel follows the steam out of the cracks, rivulets of the sweet liquid making their way down the sides and pooling at the base of the delicious volcanoes.

The fillies watch the display raptly, "Cool~"

Pinkie giggles at their reaction, "Now they're ready. Well maybe not now now. You should probably wait for them to cool off first. So they'll be ready more of a now later."

Hearing the doorbell ring, Pinkie leaves the fillies to greet her next customer. Said fillies quickly start blowing on the hot oozing mounds in front of them, eager to be able to dig into Pinkie's amazing treat.

Pinkie Pie hums happily as she trots over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' table, her smile widening when she sees that their plates have quite literally been licked clean, "Sooo, anypony want seconds?"

"Can't. Too full," Scootaloo moans. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom groan in agreement, their heads resting face down on the table.

"Alright, but you don't know what you're missing~" Pinkie giggles, "Oh wait, yes you do."

Applebloom raises her head, crossing her forelegs under her chin to act as a makeshift pillow, "We would like a bottle or two of hot sauce though."

"Sure!" Pinkie replies cheerily, "I've got hundreds of them."

Sweetie Belle mumbles something into the table, however the obstructing wood prevents her words from making sense.

Applebloom pokes her, "What'd you say, Sweetie Belle?"

"I said, 'What could you possibly need that much hot sauce for?'" Sweetie Belle replies, this time rolling her head to the side before speaking.

"For the hot sauce cupcakes, of course! Or as I call them, Hotcakes! I had the idea a few years ago after Cheerilee said that my newest creations were 'selling like hotcakes'. But I had no idea what a hotcake even was! So I started thinking 'What is a hotcake?'. Well obviously it has to be a cake and it has to be hot and hot sauce is hot and cupcakes are a type of cake so if you put them together you get: Hotcakes!" Pinkie frowns at this, her mane deflating, "The hotcakes didn't sell like hotcakes though. I still don't know why, I mean they tasted great… "

She stares at the floor forlornly, remembering all the delicious pastries spit out amid cries for water. An awkward silence falls as the Crusaders glance at each other, unsure how to respond.

"Well… " Applebloom says, "if it makes you feel any better, Ah thought the Volcanicake was amazin'."

She looks over at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who quickly agree.

"Yeah!"

"They were awesome!"

Pinkie Pie looks up at the three of them, her normally cheerful demeanor quickly returning. Dashing around the table in a blur, she gathers her filly friends in a tight hug, "Oh thank you thank you!"

"Pinkie… can't breath… gonna puke… " Applebloom gasps out.

Pinkie immediately releases them, her smile not diminished in the slightest, "Oops, my bad."

While the Crusaders are still recovering from her surprise hug, Pinkie picks up their dirty yet sparkling plates, depositing them in the kitchen to be washed before returning with their bottle of hot sauce, "Here you go!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," Scootaloo replies. "We're going to stay for a bit longer and… digest. We're heading out to Sweet Apple Acres next, and I don't want to get cramps halfway there, you know?"

Pinkie shrugs, "Not really, but feel free to stay as long as you like!"

With that, Pinkie Pie takes her place behind the counter once again. The Cutie Mark Crusaders meanwhile slump onto the table and begin to doze…

Chapter 6 Apples

Massive clouds of dust and smoke hang in the sky, blocking out much of the sun's light from reaching the desolate landscape below. Queen Sweetie Belle raises her hoof, signaling for silence from atop a large black hill rising above this otherwise featureless wasteland. The crowd beneath her immediately quiets, all eyes locked on her raised limb. A small, satisfied smile graces her lips as she regards her loyal subjects. Then, with one fluid motion she lowers her hoof, stamping it into the ground.

"LET THERE BE SWEETS!!!" she proclaims to the masses. Cheers go up as the earth shakes and rumbles ominously, the ground buckling beneath her hooves to leave her floating midair despite her lack of wings – cracks likewise shooting out from her position to spread beneath the celebrating ponies. Their revelry is short lived however as again the earth shakes violently, causing many to stumble and some to fall. Liquid caramel hisses angrily as it seeps out of the fractured ground surrounding the newly silent ponies, their faces now adorned with fear rather than joy. They attempt to back away, but the cracks have spread far and surrounded them all. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. A grin spreads across Queen Sweetie's face as she watches her subjects with anticipation. Her horn glows and the ground heaves once more, forcing the trickling caramel to surge forward. Several ponies scream in agony… and then suddenly cease their noisemaking. Nopony moves. Nopony breathes. A hush has fallen over the world.

…

*splat*

"Hey, it doesn't burn!" somepony shouts, said daring pony rolling onto their back to begin making a caramel angel in the viscous liquid. A murmur goes through the crowd upon realizing that they, too, are not being cooked alive.

The Queen collapses in a fit of laughter, falling into the pit of caramel beneath her as whatever magic was holding her aloft gives out, the faint sounds of her partying ponies nevertheless managing to make their way through the mass of sticky sugar submerging her. She focuses and listens, trying to make out their words.

"Hey Sweetie Belle, wake up!"

Sweetie Belle's world rocks again before melting away, her eyelids fluttering open.

"huwit?" she mumbles, a noisy, blurry blob nudging her repeatedly. She rubs her eyes and takes another look, the indistinct yellowish blur transforming into Applebloom.

"C'mon Sweetie Belle, we're burnin' daylight! We slept for three hours!" Applebloom shouts, frantically shaking her still waking friend.

Sweetie Belle jumps up at this, banging one of her knees on the underside of the table. Pains lances through her leg and she falls back to the ground clutching her throbbing limb, all traces of sleepiness banished from her mind, "OW!"

Applebloom, unwilling to wait for Sweetie Belle to recover, jumps over her friend and begins sliding her along the floor towards the door.

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle objects, raising her head, "I can walk you know!"

Upon hearing this, Applebloom stops pushing her and runs towards the door, "Then get up and start walkin'!"

Sweetie Belle grumbles, but rises to her hooves and limps towards the door, waving to Pinkie before leaving, "Bye Pinkie, thanks for the cupcakes!"

Pinkie returns the wave from behind a small line of customers, "You're welcome! Thanks for testing!"

Several pairs of ears perk up at this.

"You made a new cupcake?"

"Can I help test too?"

Scootaloo revs her wings impatiently as soon as Sweetie Belle leaves the shop, the trio shooting off down the street the moment she takes her seat in the wagon attached to the back of Scootaloo's scooter. Sweetie Belle holds onto the sides of the wagon as they skid around a corner, her surroundings reduced to a bright, multi-colored blur.

How can she go this fast on a scooter, but can't get enough lift to fly? she wonders briefly before another sharp turn banishes the thought in favor of more survival oriented ponderings.

"Head over to the apple fields," Applebloom says, pointing once Sweet Apple Acres comes into view. "We keep the manure all the way in the back."

Scootaloo and her wagon alter course to follow Applebloom's hoof, slowing down once they reach the orchard so as to avoid the roots and trunks of the apple trees that now surround them. As the minutes pass, Scootaloo's breathing becomes labored, the exertion from her mad dash earlier catching up with her.

"Are we… getting close… yet?" she asks, stopping beneath one of the orchard's many trees to turn and look back at Applebloom hopefully.

Applebloom sniffs the air, then shakes her head, "Not quite. Believe me, when we're close, you'll know."

Scootaloo slumps over her scooter's handles at this, groaning.

Applebloom rolls her eyes, "Look, if yer tired then we can take a break, no big deal."

"But we slept… for three hours… gotta make up the time… can rest when we… get there…" Scootaloo pants from her handlebars.

Sweetie Belle's eyes widen, filled with a mixture of fear and disgust, "You want to rest right next to a barn full of manure?"

"Well it's not a barn, really," Applebloom corrects her. "More like a large shack."

Sweetie Belle jumps from the wagon and sits, planting her butt on the ground defiantly, "I don't care what it is, I am not going to lay down next to it."

"Fine… if you insist…" Scootaloo replies, attempting to sound indifferent as she collapses off her scooter onto the soft ground. Applebloom snickers before laying down between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the shade provided by the branches of the tree they had stopped under to a welcome respite from the glare of the sun. Eventually Scootaloo's breathing calms as they relax upon the grass, surrounded by the scent of earth, wood, and nearly ripe apples. She watches the clouds lazily drift across the sky, the wind peacefully rustling the leaves above her. Sighing contentedly, her eyelids begin to droop, mind drifting towards a new awesome dream…

Falling asleep on the job is not awesome, squirt, the voice of Rainbow Dash echoes in her head, a hint of disappointment lacing her words.

Scootaloo bolts upright, her heart hammering in her chest, I almost fell asleep again!

She frantically looks over at her friends, and to her horror she sees them snoozing next to her.

"Guys! Wake up!" Scootaloo shouts, running back to her scooter. The pair of sleepers stir at the noise and start to stretch, only to freeze as they realize what had nearly happened. Wasting not a second more, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle scramble to their hooves, quickly following Scootaloo to take their places in the wagon. As soon as their butts touch wood, Scootaloo flaps her wings, the trio continuing their trek deeper into the orchard.

Sweetie Belle sniffs the air, then scrunches her nose in disgust, "Is that what it smells like it is?"

"That is exactly what it smells like," Applebloom says as she looks around for the source of the odor, after a few seconds pointing off to her right. "Scootaloo, over there."

Scootaloo looks back and adjusts her course according to Applebloom's hoof, less than half a minute later the trio arriving in a small clearing with a foul smelling wooden shack in its center. The fillies cover their noses, breathing through their mouths in an attempt to lessen the stench, but instead simply trade the much reduced smell for a faint taste of the filth on their tongues. They hesitate, not wanting to get any closer to the repulsive building, yet at the same time unwilling to turn away and abandon their mission. Seconds turn into minutes as they slowly edge their way closer to the shack's entrance, all the while trying to breath in as little of the pungent air as possible.

After staring at the door from a few feet away for more than a minute, Scootaloo looks over at her friends, "Girls, we're only making this worse by taking it so slow. We need to just run in there, get the manure, and get out."

Applebloom nods, a resolute look on her face as she eyes the doorway that's now tantalizingly close. Sweetie Belle gulps nervously, but nods as well.

Scootaloo starts drawing in the dirt with her hoof, "Alright, here's the plan: Applebloom and I will get a running start. Sweetie Belle, you'll stay here and open the door for us with your magic."

Sweetie Belle lets out a relieved sigh, Scootaloo ignoring her and continuing with the explanation, "Once we're inside, I'll get something to scoop with, and Applebloom, you'll get a bucket. I'll put a few scoops into the bucket, and then you'll carry it out here to the wagon."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle salute, "Yes, Sir!"

The three fillies face the shack once more, determination etched on their faces as they stare down their current obstacle. Scootaloo raises her hoof into the air, "On go. Three… Two… One… Go!"

Sweetie Belle's horn glows, focusing her magic to yank the door open. Scootaloo and Applebloom charge towards the now open doorway. Applejack stumbles as the door she was about to open suddenly glows and swings outwards all on its own. Looking up in surprise, she barely has time to widen her eyes at the sight of two filly-sized projectiles closing in.

*Thump*

Despite Applejack's larger size, the momentum of the two fillies carries them through the entrance as they bowl her over. The two buckets of manure Applejack had been carrying, one per side, go flying a short distance before succumbing to gravity, both miraculously landing a few feet away without spilling any of their contents.

Applejack shakes her head from her place on the floor, looking towards the two fillies lying in a daze just behind her, "What in tarnation – what're you two doin' here?" Her eyes dart around the room, "And where's Sweetie Belle?"

"I'm out here!" Sweetie Belle calls from outside. "Is everypony okay?"

"We're fine," Applejack replies after giving a recovering Applebloom and Scootaloo a quick look over, moving to pick up the two buckets and reattach them to hooks on either side of the vest she's wearing, "In which case, why are y'all all the way out here?"

Applebloom fidgets, avoiding her sister's eyes, "Uhh… well…"

"We're hunting vamponies!" Scootaloo answers enthusiastically, "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Vampony Hunters!"

"Yay!" Sweetie Belle adds, still outside.

Applejack raises an eyebrow, "And why are you huntin' fer vamponies in a shack fulla manure?"

"We're not hunting vamponies here," Scootaloo replies, rolling her eyes as though it should be obvious, "we're here getting supplies!"

Applejack's brow knits and she opens her mouth, but after a split second of hesitation merely sighs instead, Ah don't know why they think they need manure fer huntin' vamponies, but Ah don't have the time to deal with them right now either.

"Well, good luck with that, Ah guess," she says as she walks towards the door for a second time, stopping in the doorway. "But if word gets back to me that y'all've been dumpin' manure on somepony, there'll be a reckonin', ya hear?"

She looks at Applebloom and Scootaloo expectantly. They stare back at her blankly. Applejack narrows her eyes at them.

"Ah said, 'ya hear?'"

Their eyes widen and they start nodding rapidly. Applejack looks outside at Sweetie Belle who starts nodding as well. Satisfied with their responses, Applejack leaves without another word, her attention already returning to her own responsibilities around the farm.

Applebloom glances over to Scootaloo, "Huh. Ah didn't think she'd be okay with us takin' some manure for a Crusade that easily."

Scootaloo shrugs, picking up a bucket from a shelf, "Who knows. Let's just hurry up and get out of here."

Applebloom sniffs the air as she picks up a scoop, "Ah think Ah'm getting used to it now, actually. It doesn't smell quite as bad anymore."

"That just means we gotta get out of here even faster," Scootaloo jokes as they fill the bucket. "If we stay too much longer you might start to like it!"

"eww!" Sweetie Belle squeals in disgust.

Their task complete, the pair of Crusaders exit the seemingly-no-longer-quite-as-foul-smelling shack, Applebloom rolling her eyes, "Oh hush, Sweetie Belle, that'd never happen."

Returning to the wagon, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle take a seat, placing the smelly bucket behind them next to the bottle of hot sauce. Scootaloo, meanwhile, hops onto her scooter, "So, where to for the stake?"

"Just head over to the main barn, there's some left over fence posts behind it that we can use," Applebloom directs.

The Crusaders ride through the apple orchard in silence, each preoccupied with just how good the untainted air smells. Before long, the trees give way to open sky as they approach the center of Sweet Apple Acres – the Apple household deserted save for Granny Smith sleeping on the front porch, inching back and forth on her rocking chair.

"Quiet down, Scoots, we don't want to wake Granny," Applebloom whispers.

Scootaloo slows at this, the buzz of her wings fading to let each drawn out squeak of the wagon become all the more nerve wracking while they carefully pass the elder Apple. The Crusaders sigh in relief as soon as Granny Smith is a ways behind them, the ghost of a smile on Granny's lips the only indication of their complete lack of stealth.

With Granny apparently bypassed, the Crusaders eagerly approach the final stage of their preparations – the barn. Scootaloo wheels them around back, and they hop off to begin inspecting the various odds and ends left over from decades of unattended accumulation.

Sweetie Belle looks over the pile of junk critically, "I thought you said that the fence posts were behind the barn."

"They are," Applebloom replies as she starts sifting through the pile. "Lots of other stuff is here too though."

"Ugh, we don't have time for this, it's gonna start getting dark in a few hours!" Scootaloo complains.

Applebloom shrugs, "Well we're already here, so unless you'd rather waste more time goin' somewhere else-"

"Yeah, yeah, get looking, I got it…" Scootaloo mutters, beginning to poke through the debris as well.

Sweetie Belle quickly joins them, using her magic to delve into the remains of the many reconstruction projects the Apple farm had undergone in recent years. Several minutes pass while the trio searches for something stake-like, the pegasus and earth pony stymied by the prevalence of sharp edges and splinters, until a shout from Sweetie Belle signals her success.

"I found our stake!" she states proudly, magically grasping a long, thin, and very sharp wooden rod.

Applebloom and Scootaloo stop their search, looking over to examine Sweetie Belle's find.

Applebloom nods, satisfied, "Nice stake."

"Yeah," Scootaloo agrees after inspecting it a few moments longer, "but enough staring at wood, let's go get our Cutie Marks!"

"Yay!"

"Woohoo!"

The three fillies share a highhoof and, not wasting a second more, immediately set off for Ponyville to begin their hunt.

Chapter 7 Dawn

The Crusaders glide to a halt in the middle of one of Ponyville's many streets after a somewhat longer, yet significantly less terrifying, journey back.

"So, what now?" Scootaloo asks, panting from the exertion of the return trip, though nowhere near keeling over from exhaustion this time around.

Applebloom opens her mouth to answer, only to frown after a moment's hesitation, "Ah don't actually know. Any ideas, Sweetie Belle?"

"I think we need to find some vamponies first," Sweetie Belle suggests. "After all, we can't hunt them if we don't know where they are."

Scootaloo nods in agreement, winking and wiping her eye as the motion causes a bead of sweat to blur her vision, "That makes sense. How do we find them though? It's not like they're going to be just walking around."

"By investigating," Sweetie Belle replies. "You know, conducting interviews, gathering clues – like detectives, but we're looking for vamponies instead of normal ponies."

"Sounds like a Twilight-approved plan to me," Scootaloo says, her eyes tracking a fast-moving cloud trailing a rainbow, "and I think I know the first pony we should interview."

She waves her hooves at the cloud, "HEY RAINBOW DASH!"

Said cloud stops suddenly, Rainbow Dash's head appearing to one side as she searches for the source of the call – the motion of Scootaloo's flailing hooves quickly drawing her attention. Smiling and returning the wave, Rainbow Dash holds her wings still, allowing gravity to take hold and pull her towards the surface world. An instant before she impacts the ground however, she flaps hard, altering course to instead skim over the grassy road and hurtle towards the Crusaders. At the last possible moment, she plants her hooves, wings locked to her sides as she skids the last several feet to come to a stop just in front of the fillies, striking a pose to stand proudly with her wings spread wide and a cocky grin on her face. A faint breeze follows her arrival, ruffling their manes. Scootaloo squees.

"That was SO! AWESOME!"

Rainbow Dash folds her wings, puffing out her chest a little, "Yeah, I get that a lot. So what's up, little sis?"

A silly grin spreads across Scootaloo's face as a giddy warmth infuses her body, I still can't believe I have an older sister now and she's Rainbow Dash, even if it's not 'official' or whatever yet.

She shuffles her wings, preparing to answer her idol.

Applebloom, however, cuts her off before she even begins to speak, "We were wonderin' if you knew anythin' about the vampony attack last night."

"That? Yeah, everypony's heard about that by now," Rainbow Dash snickers. "I'm surprised I haven't seen Rarity around yet, usually she's all over this kind of thing."

"She's decided to eat all of our ice cream instead," Sweetie Belle grumbles.

Rainbow blinks, "Wait, what?"

Applebloom shrugs, "We asked Twilight about it earlier, and she said that she and Rarity just had some kinda misunderstandin', but in the meantime Rarity's been stress eatin' all the ice cream she can get her hooves on."

"Yeah, and Twilight spaced out for like a minute before she told us there was a misunderstanding," Scootaloo adds. "We were waving our hooves and saying her name and everything, and she just kinda stood there."

Rainbow Dash frowns, faint warning bells going off in the back of her head, "That's… usually not a good sign. Anyway, as for the attack," she shrugs, "there's really not much to tell. Derpy got hurt, so Turner's staying with her in the hospital, and they're keeping the vampony in the hospital too since it also got hurt."

"Wait, that's it?!" Sweetie Belle asks, voice cracking under the weight of her incredulity.

Rainbow Dash nods in agreement, "Yeah, it's pretty underwhelming. I mean, a real live bloodsucker attacks somepony and it's like nopony's even bothered about it. I expected some Guards to show up at least, ya know?"

Scootaloo salutes, followed by Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, "Have no fear, Rainbow Dash, the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Vampony Hunters are here!"

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash laughs, raising a hoof, "C'mon, don't leave me hanging."

They all tap hooves and let out a cheer.

After a few carefree seconds however, Rainbow Dash's smile fades and she sighs, the chains of her responsibilities once more coiling around her mind, "Too bad I have to get back to work, otherwise I'd totally help you guys out."

"You could skip work and help us out anyway," Scootaloo suggests hopefully.

Rainbow Dash chuckles, "Sorry squirt, no can do. These clouds aren't going to move themselves and I'm not about to abandon my team during a job for anypony, mysterious vamponies included."

Scootaloo lowers her head, ears drooping as she stares at the ground, "Fine… "

Rainbow Dash tousles her mane, "Hey, you can tell me all about your awesome adventure tomorrow, alright?"

Scootaloo perks up at Rainbow's words and she nods excitedly.

Rainbow Dash smiles, then flexes her wings, "Great, I can't wait to hear about it! I really gotta get back to work though – nopony else on the weather team has ever rounded up clouds faster than me since I joined, and I'm not going to let anypony break my streak. See ya!"

With that, she shoots into the air to resume her assignment, trailing her signature array of colors. The Cutie Mark Crusaders meanwhile watch her speed away before jumping aboard their preferred method of transportation, a new destination in mind.

As soon as the hospital comes into view, Scootaloo abruptly brings her scooter to a stop and jumps into a nearby bush.

Peeking out from beneath her cover, she urgently motions for her passengers to follow, "Girls! Get over here!"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle look at each other, then over at the rustling bush containing their frantically gesturing friend. Shrugging, they calmly climb out of the wagon and follow her into hiding.

"So, why're we in a bush?" Applebloom asks, peering from their shelter to examine the surrounding area.

Scootaloo scans the road outside their bush, eying every passing pony suspiciously, "I was thinking about what Rainbow Dash said, about how it's weird that nopony seems to care, and she's right. I mean, some ponies here faint from a rabbit stampede; there should be riots in the streets right about now! Even Twilight's just sitting around in her library doing nothing instead of going nuts about science and research like she usually does when new stuff shows up. Something is definitely not right in Ponyville."

*eep*

Both turn to Sweetie Belle, the filly having somehow managed to become even paler despite her already nearly pure white coat.

"You alright?" Applebloom inquires, raising a hoof to block a branch caught in a stray breeze from poking at her.

"Thralls… " Sweetie Belle whispers. "They're all thralls."

Applebloom again looks out at the many ponies beyond the borders of their bush, then returns her gaze to Sweetie Belle, "They're what now?"

"They're thralls," she repeats. "Powerful vamponies can take control of the minds of normal ponies by looking into their eyes, enthralling them. Once that happens, they're servants to their vampony master until either the vampony is killed, the thrall is purified by solar magic, or the vampony willingly releases them."

Applebloom pats her on the back, "See? This is why you're the vampony expert."

Scootaloo continues watching the ponies outside their bush, "We'll need to sneak into the hospital then. If it already got to Twilight, there's no telling who could be under its control by now."

The trio bide their time until nopony is looking before rushing to another nearby subshrub, a blur of motion and a faint rustle of leaves the only indication of their presence. Peeking from their new hiding place, they wait patiently for the right moment to advance, incrementally approaching their goal over the course of an hour.

"Alright, almost there!" Scootaloo says, examining the final patch of ground separating them from the shrubs lining the west side of the hospital, "Ready, girls?"

"Ready!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom reply in unison.

They take one last look around to make sure nopony is watching, then make a break for it, galloping as fast as their legs can carry them.

"We made it!" Sweetie Belle declares, grinning broadly as soon as she and her friends burst through the leaves of the shrubbery, "Now we just need to find out where it's hiding and-"

Sweetie Belle's voice is abruptly cut off as she trips over something lying in the bushes.

"Ow… what was that?"

She looks up to see her friends staring at whatever she had tripped over, eyes wide with fear. Following their gaze, she observes a yellow-brown filly lying next to her. A filly with bat wings, tufted ears, and sharp teeth visible inside her slightly open mouth. Sweetie Belle's eyes widen to match the other Crusaders' as she hastily scrambles away from the little vampony. Said vampony stirs, stretches, and opens her eyes, blearily scanning her surroundings for the source of the commotion. Sweetie Belle meanwhile desperately searches for the stake they'd taken from Sweet Apple Acres, to her horror finding nothing but air. Scootaloo and Applebloom likewise reach for the manure and hot sauce they'd procured earlier, only to turn up empty hooved as well. Realization simultaneously strikes the Crusaders like a bolt of chain lightning, three pairs of eyes snapping towards where they'd left the wagon over an hour ago.

"We forgot everything in the wagon!" Sweetie Belle screams, "What do we do?!"

Scootaloo jumps at the waking filly, "Get her!"

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom follow her lead, lunging at the vampony. With a startled hiss, the vampony dodges, spreading her wings and taking off into the sky with a couple quick flaps. Unable to change direction midair despite their frantic flailing, the Crusaders collide in a disorganized pile of limbs, manes, and tails. Dazed, they hear a screech immediately followed by another impact as the vampony falls back into the shrub, landing on top of them.

*whump*

The Crusaders quickly disentangle themselves, pushing the vampony off in the process. Once again standing, they prepare for battle – only to find their target cowering on the ground with her hooves over her eyes.

"W-Who's there?" she asks, her voice quavering as she speaks.

"We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Vampony Hunters!" Scootaloo proclaims proudly, puffing out her chest in an imitation of Rainbow Dash.

The cowering filly starts visibly shaking at this, "V-Vampony h-hunters?"

"Hold on girls, this doesn't feel right," Applebloom says, pointing at the filly before them. "Ah mean look, she's absolutely terrified. Heck, she's even cryin'. Are we sure she's actually a vampony?"

The vampony bristles at this, fear forgotten in the face of righteous indignation, "I AM a vampony and I AM NOT crying! The sun just attacked my eyes causing water to come out."

"So you're crying," Sweetie Belle states flatly.

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

Scootaloo waves her hooves, "Girls! Focus! She just admitted to being a vampony, so we have to get her to de-enthrall everypony, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Right!"

Once again united, the three fillies turn to face their vampiric counterpart.

Dawn risks removing her hooves from her stinging eyes to glare at the three ponies opposite her, the shifting speckles of pure sunlight filtering through the imperfect barrier of leaves and branches forcing her to narrow her eyes further.

I am not crying! she thinks angrily, deliberately ignoring the wet streaks running down her face.

The red and yellow one takes a step forward, "So are ya gonna free our friends or what?"

Dawn does her best to cast an annoyed look at the pony despite her eyes being almost completely shut, "What do you mean 'free your friends'?"

The orange pegasus glares back at her, "Don't play dumb with us; we know you've been brainwashing everypony with your vampony mind powers!"

Dawn gapes at her accuser, "I – wait, what? But-"

"You heard me," the pegasus cuts her off. "And we also know that you're using the hospital as your base as you slowly take over the town so that… so you can… uhh… "

"So that you can turn Ponyville into your own personal feeding ground while you build up your strength and amass an undead army of our friends and family with which to conquer all of Equestria!" the white unicorn finishes with a crescendo.

The other two ponies stare at their friend, stunned.

"Wow, Sweetie Belle, that was… dark," the orange one finally remarks.

Dawn stands perfectly still, dumbstruck by the absurdity of the unicorn filly's statement while the earth pony nods in agreement – a split second later her expression suddenly tainted by fear as a realization sets in.

"Wait, that's yer plan?!" she looks, horrified, at Dawn, then at Sweetie Belle, whom she begins to shake rapidly, "Oh my gosh we're DOOMED! DOOOOMED!!!"

"HOOOLD I~T!" Dawn yells above the screaming, interrupting the earth pony's panic attack and drawing all eyes to herself. She glares back at them, daring any of the fillies to start screaming again.

When they are not forthcoming, she continues, "Okay, first off, vamponies do NOT have any weird mind control powers like whatever you're freaking out about. There's no way I could mind control the whole town or anything like that. Second, we can't turn ponies into undead minions. Third, I haven't done anything to any of your friends. Well, unless you're friends with the muffin one, in which case I drank some of her blood. So I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I haven't hurt any of your friends. Fourth-"

"Hold on a second," the pegasus objects. "How can you drink somepony's blood without hurting them? Doesn't that involve, you know, biting? With fangs? Vamponies do have fangs at least, right?"

Dawn bares her teeth at them in a predatory grin, "Yup."

"Cool… " the orange one murmurs. Her friends appear much less impressed however, flinching away from the razor sharp teeth. Dawn pretends to snap at them, giggling as they scramble backwards.

"'Cool' is not the word Ah would use for that, Scootaloo," the earth pony mutters.

"Yeah, more like 'creepy'. And how can you possibly not hurt anypony when you bite them with teeth like," Sweetie Belle shivers, "those?”

"Well, see," Dawn lifts her upper lip to reveal one of her canines, "these aren't my full grown fangs. They'll be a lot longer when they come in, so I'll be able to feed without taking a chunk out of anypony, but that won't happen until I get my cutie mark."

She looks away sheepishly, scuffing the ground with a hoof, "Which… I don't have. So until then I have to hunt wi-"

"Wait wait wait," Scootaloo interrupts again, focusing on Dawn's flank. "You don't have your cutie mark?"

Dawn's ears droop dejectedly, "No… "

"Neither do we!" Scootaloo eagerly shows her own blank flank to Dawn, "You should totally become a Cutie Mark Crusader!"

"Now hold on just a minute," the earth filly interjects. "Ya can't just go and invite random ponies without consultin' with the rest of us."

"Oh come on, Applebloom, it'll be so awesome!" Scootaloo counters, practically vibrating with excitement.

Applebloom knits her eyebrows, clearly not convinced, "Ah dunno… Ah mean, we just met her like five minutes ago."

"So?"

"And she drinks pony blood."

"Well duh, she's a vampony."

"And she's got teeth like a timberwolf."

"Applebloom. She is a vampony."

"Does none of that bother you at all?"

"Nope!"

"Well… she hasn't tried to attack us or mind control us or turn us into undead abominations, so she's clearly not evil," Sweetie Belle interrupts to inject some of her own reasoning. "So I think we should give her a chance."

"Ah suppose yer right," Applebloom relents, cracking a small smile which quickly grows into a large one. "Everypony deserves a chance, even the creepy bloodsucking ones."

Scootaloo pumps her hoof, "Yes!"

The three fillies face their new potential recruit grinning widely, all fear now long since forgotten.

Scootaloo hops in place, buzzing her wings, "Well? Will you join?"

Dawn eyes the fillies, wary of their sudden shift in demeanor, "Uhm… I'm not saying no, but I mean, what even is a 'Cutie Mark Crusader'?"

"Well, ya see… uh… " Applebloom pauses, perplexion followed by embarrassment. "Ya know, Ah don't think we ever actually introduced ourselves. Ah'm Applebloom."

"I'm Scootaloo."

"I'm Sweetie Belle."

"And we're," they pause for dramatic effect, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!! YAY!!!"

Dawn winces at the fresh bout of shouting, a faint headache making itself known, "OK, that's great, but what do you actually do?" She pauses, "Oh, and I'm Dawn."

"We come up with ideas for things that it would be awesome to have a special talent for, then we go try them out together to see if we get our cutie marks in them!" Scootaloo answers, still hopping, "We've tried bowling, pillow testing, critter sitting, potion making… all sorts of things!"

Dawn cocks an eyebrow, "Like vampony hunting?"

Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle collectively wince.

"Yeah… about that, we kind of thought that vamponies were evil undead monsters and ya'll were set on takin' over Ponyville," Applebloom admits sheepishly.

"That's ridiculous," Dawn says, rolling her eyes before looking at them hopefully. "Do you really think you can help me get my cutie mark though? I've been trying to find my special talent for ages, but nothing ever seems to fit."

"Ah don't know," Applebloom replies, placing an encouraging hoof on her shoulder, "but what Ah do know is that it'll be a lot more fun tryin' to find it with some friends."

Dawn nibbles her bottom lip, many long and arduous years of practice allowing her to do so without drawing blood, "I guess that'd be nice. There aren't a whole lot of other vamponies living around here besides my family, so I've never had any friends my age before."

"It's settled then!" Scootaloo proclaims, "Welcome Dawn, to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

Chapter 8 Sister

Dawn glances at her hooves, then back at her fellow Crusaders, a nervous smile working its way onto her face, "So… uhh… yay?"

Sweetie Belle shakes her head, disappointment consuming her expression, "Nonono, not like that."

"Yeah, you have to say it with dedication, with passion," Scootaloo chimes in. "For example… "

Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo all take a deep breath, prompting Dawn to preemptively fall to the ground and cover her ears with her hooves.

"YAY!!!"

Their shout goes off like a bomb, the branches of the shrub bending from the sheer force of it to momentarily reveal the dimming sky dominated by deep reds and oranges. Beneath the leaves, Dawn cringes against the onslaught of sound, her body sliding back several inches across the grass. Fortunately however, the blast ends as quickly as it began, Dawn standing and shaking her head a bit to clear it before looking up to find her new friends watching her expectantly.

"Alright, now you try," Scootaloo encourages her.

"yay"

"Louder."

"yay!"

"Louder!"

"YAY!"

"Put your back into it!"

Dawn sucks in as much air as her lungs can hold, "Y-pffhaha."

An uncontrolled exhalation interrupts Dawn's attempt to improve her shout, leaving her shaking on the ground and struggling for air.

Scootaloo blinks, the unexpected reaction pulling her out of her drill sergeant impression. She glances at her other friends before returning her attention to Dawn, a confused and slightly miffed expression on her face, "Uhh… what's so funny?"

"That doesn't… doesn't make… any sense… " Dawn gasps out between residual giggles.

"Yeah, it really doesn't, Scoots," Applebloom agrees. "Ah mean you can put yer back into liftin' things and shiftin' things, but that doesn't really apply to shoutin'."

"Hmm," Sweetie Belle sits and taps her chin thoughtfully, "how about 'Put your lungs into it'?"

"I guess… I don't think it was that funny though." Scootaloo shrugs, quickly losing interest in the topic, "Anyway, you definitely need some practice, buuut I think you're good enough – for now at least."

Applebloom steps forward, helping a mostly recovered Dawn to her hooves, "Yeah, and we've got a whole bunch more important things to do now since yer joinin' the Crusaders! We need to get you yer Crusadin' cape, do the induction ceremony, endure Scootaloo's super-long initiation speech – which is the real test if you ask me-"

"Hey, I revised it!" Scootaloo interjects, "It's not that long anymore, less than a page!"

Applebloom fixes her with a flat stare, "Scootaloo, it's on a scroll; the entire thing is one long page."

Sweetie Belle sighs, rolling her eyes, "Can you two stop arguing? It's going to be dark soon, so if we're going to get any of that stuff done before bed, we need to head over to the clubhouse right away."

Scootaloo waves a hoof dismissively, "We don't have to leave right now. The clubhouse isn't that far."

"It's all the way back at Sweet Apple Acres!" Sweetie Belle exclaims, "And you'd be pulling a third pony!"

"Why would she be doin' that?" Applebloom asks, raising an eyebrow, "Dawn can fly, remember? Honestly Ah'm more worried about being able to get through the initiation in time. Ah don't wanna stop halfway through and have ta start again tomorrow."

"Plus, we don't even have her cape yet," Scootaloo points out, "so we'd need to somehow make her one before going to the clubhouse. We can't do the initiation without the cape after all, it just wouldn't feel right."

Sweetie Belle smiles, "Actually, I made some extras since they get ripped and dirty all the time, so we'd just have to stop by Rarity's on the way there."

"Hey!" Dawn waves her hooves to draw their attention, "I don't have time for any of that stuff, I need to get into the hospital to see if my sister is ok." She squints towards the leaf-obscured sky, "Besides, it's still way too bright to be going all the way out to that farm. My eyes would probably shrivel up before we got halfway there."

Applebloom pokes her head out of the shrub, the setting sun casting long shadows across the lawn in front of the hospital, "What're you talkin' about? It's not bright. Heck, the sun's goin' down, it's startin' to get dark."

Scootaloo lets out a long-suffering sigh, "Applebloom… "

"What?"

"She is a vampony."

Applebloom casts a curious look at Dawn, "So yer nocturnal or somethin'?"

Dawn nods, "Yeah. I was sleeping when you found me, actually."

Applebloom frowns, the statement not sitting well with her, "But if yer sister's in the hospital, why're you sleepin' out here?"

Dawn lowers her head, fidgeting nervously, "I was… I was scared, ok? My sister had just been attacked and hurt and she wasn't moving and then she was taken away by some ponies but nopony is supposed to know we even exist and I didn't know what to do. So I thought maybe I could just wait here for it to be night again and then sneak in and rescue her. Or something. I kind of fell asleep halfway through coming up with a plan."

"Well come on then, let's go!" Scootaloo declares, circling around behind Dawn to begin pushing her out of the bush, "No friend of ours is gonna be kept from visiting her injured sister!"

Dawn however resists Scootaloo's good intentions by digging her hooves into the ground, though she still slowly inches forward anyway despite her best efforts.

Sweetie Belle blocks their path, placing a hoof on Dawn's chest to stop her movement entirely, "Knock it off, Scootaloo, she just said it was too bright out for her. And it's not like we could just walk in there anyway, we'd probably cause a panic. Or at least she would."

Scootaloo stops pushing to look around Dawn at Sweetie Belle, "I doubt it. It's not like anypony freaked out about the vampony attack last night, so why would they care about one walking into the hospital?"

"Hey, that wasn't us!" Dawn protests, using the opportunity to sidestep out from between the two fillies, "It was the other freaky pony who attacked my sister!"

"Wait, let me get this straight. There was another vampony involved in the attack?" Applebloom asks apprehensively, "So there's three vamponies in Ponyville and one of them really is evil?"

Dawn shakes her head, "I don't think any other vamponies besides me and my sister would be in Ponyville right now since the sun is still up, and the pony who attacked last night wasn't a vampony either. He was… something else." She shivers.

Applebloom scratches her head, "And y'all've been runnin' around Ponyville for how long?"

Dawn shrugs, "Well, I've been here my whole life, and the rest of my family has been here longer."

"How the heck have none of you been caught before now?" Applebloom inquires incredulously.

"We're really good at sneaking," Dawn answers with a hint of pride. "Plus, we're awake when you're asleep."

She grins, "And we can do this!"

Dawn closes her eyes and scrunches her face in concentration, her whole body tensing.

"You… can look constipated?" Scootaloo asks hesitantly after nothing happens.

Sweetie Belle facehoofs, "Really, Scootaloo?"

"Grrr… it's a lot harder when the sun's out," Dawn growls. She tries again, focusing every fiber of her being into her demonstration. Without warning, her body darkens and fades, vanishing into the ambient shadow cast by the shrubs.

"Whoa~" the three still visible fillies murmur in awe.

The spell doesn't last long though, and after a few seconds Dawn suddenly pops back into existence, panting heavily while small beads of sweat form across her body, "That's also how I was planning on sneaking into the hospital."

"And not to say that that's not cool and all," Applebloom says, "but Ah can't really imagine you sneakin' anywhere like that. You only lasted for a few seconds."

"It would be a lot easier if the sun wasn't out," Dawn grumbles, shooting an accusatory glare in the fiery light source's general direction.

"So we're gonna have to wait until it's night to help you sneak into the hospital?" Scootaloo groans, "There's got to be a better way. Preferably one where we don't have to wait… " she waves her hoof dismissively at the mostly hidden sky, "however long it is we'd have to wait."

Applebloom takes another look outside the shrub, squinting at the slowly lowering sun, "Looks like it's still over an hour till sundown."

"Why don't we go ask Twilight?" Sweetie Belle suggests, "I'm sure she'd be willing to help, and it would take a lot less time than waiting here for it to get dark."

Scootaloo nods enthusiastically at the timesaving idea, "All in favor say 'aye'."

"Aye."

"Aye!"

"Aye."

"Uhh… " Dawn shifts back and forth uneasily.

"What's the matter, Dawn?" Sweetie Belle asks, the other Crusaders watching her curiously as well.

"It's just… " Dawn pauses for a moment, glancing between her newfound friends, "it's just that nopony else at all is supposed to know we exist, so I'm not sure that telling another pony about me is going to make things any better."

Scootaloo rolls her eyes, "The whole town already knows about your sister and we know about you."

"And you told us you've got other family around Ponyville too," Applebloom adds.

"Yeah, so it's a bit late to try to keep any of this a secret," Scootaloo finishes.

"Well, when you put it that way… " Dawn nibbles her bottom lip some more, "Are you really sure Twilight would be willing to help though?"

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom nod confidently. Dawn's gaze flicks back and forth across the ground in front of her before she glances towards the hospital, letting out a sigh, "I guess… alright, aye. So how is this 'Twilight' going to be able to help anyway?"

The three other fillies look at her like she'd just asked why the sun rises every day.

"Be…cause she's a princess?" Sweetie Belle answers hesitantly, thrown off by the sheer oddity of the question.

Dawn tilts her head, "She is? So she's all important and powerful and stuff?"

Applebloom furrows her eyebrows, "Uhh, yeah. Yeah she is. Do you really not know who Twilight is?"

"Umm… no…?"

"But Ah thought you said you'd been here your whole life! How can you not know who Twilight is?!"

Dawn shakes her head, "I've been coming to Ponyville my whole life, but I live in the Everfree Forest."

"So you know Zecora at least, right?" Scootaloo asks.

Dawn frowns, "Who?"

Scootaloo sighs, "She lives in the Everfree too, she's a zebra."

Dawn's face lights up in recognition, "Oooh, I know her. Her rhyming is really annoying."

"So," Applebloom says, catching on, "if Ah said that Twilight is the alicorn who lives in a big tree, would that ring any bells?"

Dawn nods, "She is purple."

"She is lavender," Sweetie Belle corrects primly.

"Look, the point is, you know who we're talkin' about," Applebloom states, "'cause she's the one we're gonna ask for help."

Dawn again looks at them uneasily, "And you're sure she'll be willing to help?"

"She's the Princess of Friendship," Sweetie Belle reassures her. "She'll help anypony as long as they aren't plotting to take over Equestria. And even then all they have to do is apologize."

"Alright, so, I'll go get Twilight, bring her back here, and then we can all go in and meet your sister," Scootaloo says, walking off in the direction she had left her scooter.

"Wait!" Applebloom calls after her, "Yer goin' on yer own?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo replies from outside the shrub, "I'll be able to get there and back a lot faster if I don't have to pull you and Sweetie Belle along too."

Sweetie Belle's ears perk up, the proverbial light bulb flickering to life above her head, "Oh! And I'll go get a spare Crusader cape from Rarity's. You'll have your cape and you can use it to keep the sun out of your eyes!"

With that, the two fillies run off in different directions, leaving Applebloom and Dawn sitting in the shade of the shrub. An awkward silence falls between them, neither saying anything for a few minutes.

"So… " Applebloom ventures, "do vamponies like apples?"

"-and that's why Princess Luna is coming to Ponyville tonight," Twilight finishes. "Does anypony have any questions?"

She observes the crowd's reaction, the assembled ponies murmuring as they converse with their neighbors, sharing opinions and concerns, Nervous… annoyed… a lot of indifference… I suppose there's only so many crazy things that can happen before they all start to seem normal.

A hoof goes up in the crowd.

"Yes, Rainbowshine?"

"How many of them are there?"

"I don't know."

Another hoof goes up.

"Yes, Twinkleshine?"

"Are they friendly?"

"I don't know."

A third hoof appears, bouncing up and down with its owner.

Twilight sighs, "No, Pinkie, I don't know if they like parties."

Pinkie's hoof stays in the air, "You don't know if they do, or you don't know if they don't?"

"…Yes."

Pinkie sits back down, eyes narrowing as she looks off into the distance, stroking her invisible mustache contemplatively.

Twilight scans the crowd again, speaking when no more hooves are raised, "Alright, if nopony has any other questions, then I hope you all have a pleasant night."

With her speech finished, the crowd quickly starts to disperse, ponies heading back to their homes and shops. Twilight steps away from the podium and takes a deep breath, doing her best to calm her frazzled nerves. Spike meanwhile picks up her stack of notecards and begins to retrieve the ones that had dropped, making sure to place them all in the correct order.

"I'd say that went over pretty well, all things considered," Mayor Mare says, joining Twilight behind the podium. "Are you sure we shouldn't make any preparations for Princess Luna's arrival though? I'm positive the whole town would love to help."

Twilight shakes her head, "It's too late to start, and given the current situation it would probably be more of a distraction anyway."

Mayor gives a short nod, "In that case, I'll be off as well. Good luck tonight, Princess."

Once Mayor Mare has left, Twilight leans back, closing her eyes and taking a moment to relax, the silence of the already nearly empty town square a welcome respite after a supremely hectic day. Her ears prick as a faint buzzing invades the calm atmosphere. It quickly grows louder, until it's punctuated by a yell.

"Hey!"

"Sorry~!"

Spike glances over as he picks up the final notecard, "Hey Twilight, CMC incoming."

Twilight scrunches her eyes tighter, trying to stay in her calm place, It's just my imagination, it's just my imagination, it's just my imagination…

Ignoring her better judgment, Twilight allows one eyelid to partially rise, taking a peak in the direction of the approaching sound only to see Scootaloo bearing down upon her. Groaning internally, Twilight resigns herself to her impending fate, standing to face Scootaloo as the filly screeches to a halt in front of her.

"Twilight! We need your help!"

Twilight sighs, "Scootaloo, I don't know what you girls are currently crusading about, but I really don't have time to help you with it. Princess Luna will be arriving soon and I need to be present when she does."

Scootaloo meets Twilight's eyes, the filly's normally cheerful face set in an unusually grave expression, "This is way more important than saying 'hello' to Princess Luna."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asks, a dark foreboding feeling building in her chest.

"Well," Scootaloo begins, "me and the girls were going to try and get our cutie marks in vampony hunting-"

"You what?" Twilight demands.

"Yeah… uhh… yeah," Scootaloo replies, her gaze darting towards the ground. "Anyway, we went to the hospital and found a vampony in one of the bushes, and we attacked her."

The foreboding feeling in Twilight's chest intensifies at this, her heart pounding, Oh sweet, sweet Celestia please tell me they didn't… they wouldn't… I mean, they're just fillies…

"But it turns out that she's actually really nice and just wanted to see if her sister was ok, so we became friends. But it was bright out and she was scared after what had happened, and we said that you'd be able to help get her into the hospital since you're a princess."

"Oh thank Celestia," Twilight replies, relief rushing through her as she releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Scootaloo blinks, "Huh?"

"I mean, of course I'll help," Twilight quickly amends. "What kind of princess would I be if I didn't?"

Scootaloo gestures at the empty wagon trailing her, "Awesome! Hop on!"

Twilight takes a seat in the wagon, then turns to her assistant, "Spike, are you coming?"

"Umm… mayyybe I should go back to the library instead? You know, in case Luna arrives before you get back?" Spike asks, nervously eying the rolling safety hazard that Twilight is sitting in.

Twilight smiles appreciatively, "That's a great idea. In that case, I'll see you when I get back."

With that, Scootaloo buzzes her wings, accelerating in the direction she had arrived from. Spike waves until they are out of sight, wiping some imaginary sweat from his forehead once they are no longer within view.

"Whew, that was a close one."

Chapter 9 Reunion

With the setting sun starting to fall behind the horizon, Scootaloo and Twilight arrive at the vampony-containing shrub beside the hospital – Scootaloo immediately jumping off her scooter and heading into the shrubbery while Twilight stays put for a few moments longer, swaying slightly.

Why didn't I just teleport? I should have just teleported. Or flown! I could have flown! Or even walked. Urgh…

Once her stomach has mostly settled from its recent ordeal, Twilight steps off the wagon, following Scootaloo into the shrub only to pause, confused, its occupants seemingly limited to Applebloom animatedly whispering something to Scootaloo.

Twilight raises an eyebrow, "Well, I'm not seeing anypony else here."

Applebloom's lips wobble with barely contained laughter, "Well, ya see, Twilight, that's be-hehe-cause… she's right behind you!"

"Did you really think that I'd-" Twilight begins to ask, the rest of the question dying in her throat as something falls onto her back. Not a hair on her body moves nor a muscle twitches as the mystery attacker pulls itself forward towards her head. Hot breath on the back of her neck precedes a warm, wet feeling on the side of her throat accompanied by a light sucking sensation.

Many sharp points slide across her skin, the vampony detaching itself from her neck to whisper softly in her ear, "Om nom nom nom."

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Get it off! Get it off!" Twilight screams at the top of her lungs, bucking wildly in an attempt to dislodge her assailant who simply clutches tighter.

Once a few of her wits return, Twilight stops and teleports herself out of the shrub, leaving her attacker floating in the air for an instant before falling onto the grass with a soft thump. She pants as she frantically searches for the vampony, wild-eyed and horn glowing, only for the sound of the fillies' laughter to instead reach her ears.

"S-sorry, Twilight," Applebloom apologizes, wiping tears from her eyes as she, Scootaloo, and a squinting Dawn step out of the shrub. "It was just too temptin'."

Twilight takes several deep breaths to calm herself, the glow surrounding her horn fading away. With a grimace of disgust, she wipes the residual saliva from her neck, flicking it onto the ground. The fillies are likewise recovering, wide grins frequently interrupted by stray snorts and chuckles as they replay the scene in their heads.

Twilight looks at the fillies again, meeting the eyes of the unfamiliar face among them, "So, Scootaloo says that you're the sister of the other pony we took to the hospital last night?"

"Yup!" Scootaloo replies instead, jumping forward, "Twilight, meet Dawn, local vampony. Dawn, this is Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's own Princess of Equestria!"

Dawn sits up and waves tiredly, her spell as well as the subsequent lack of oxygen due to laughter taking their toll, "H-hi. Um… sorry about… that. It wasn't my idea."

Twilight waves it away, choosing not to correct Scootaloo's use of 'vampony', After all, I don't know what to call them either, but that's really not important right now.

"Believe me, worse and weirder things have happened around here with surprising regularity. In any case, I take it that's a 'yes' to my previous question?"

Dawn nods, her grin sagging as amusement from their earlier prank fades into nervous fidgeting.

Twilight smiles gently, "Well I don't know about you, but I can't think of any reason to keep a family apart. We can go in whenever you're ready."

"I'm back!" Sweetie Belle announces, trotting up to the group, "Hi Twilight!"

Twilight returns the greeting as Sweetie Belle walks forward, magicking a cape around each member of the CMC.

"And the sun problem is solved!" she declares, flipping the cape over Dawn's head with a flourish.

"This is nice. Also sparkly." Dawn raises the cape to look at Twilight, "I think I'm ready now."

"Alright, in that case, follow me," Twilight says, turning from the CMC and their shrub to make her way towards the hospital's entrance. The Crusaders walk after her, Dawn by watching the hooves of those in front of her from beneath her improvised hood.

Twilight and the four fillies enter the hospital, the front area completely deserted save for the snoozing receptionist.

Approaching the desk, Twilight taps her hoof on the wooden frame, "Excuse me?"

The receptionist, however, doesn't budge, her only response a faint snore. The tip of Twilight's horn pulses, releasing a small spark which floats its way a couple feet above the receptionist's head. Twilight observes the sleeping mare for a moment more, then pulses her horn again. The spark detonates with a sharp bang, six purple streamers splitting off and falling a few inches before vanishing in a series of sparkling crackles.

The receptionist jerks awake, her sudden motion sending pencils, papers, and various other small items flying as she nearly slips off her chair. Catching herself just in time to avoid a complete wipeout, she blushes at the snickers from the younger members of her audience, "Princess Twilight! I uh – I didn't see you there."

"Don't worry about it," Twilight says, doing her best to keep a straight face. "I have a guest for the patient in room 138?"

"138? But that's… " the recently woken mare's eyes widen as they fall on the strange bat-winged filly with a sparkling gold cape over her head, "I see. Well, uh, go right on in."

Their request granted, the group leaves the flustered receptionist behind – the mare promptly starting to pick up and reorganize everything which had been knocked astray by her abrupt awakening.

As soon as they enter the inner hallway, Dawn peeks out from under her cape, flipping it over her head to lay across her back when the dimmed lights fail to cause any discomfort.

Twilight observes her curiously, "Are your eyes really that sensitive to light?"

"Yeah," Dawn replies, barely paying attention to the question as she anxiously scans each door they pass. Silence reigns for the remainder of their short journey.

Upon arriving at their destination though, that silence is broken.

Scootaloo pokes her head into room 138, her gaze held by the ruined section of wall next to where the door should have been, "Whoa, what happened here?"

"Princess Celestia happened," Nurse Sweetheart answers, suddenly appearing from room 139 across the hall. She half-bows half-nods to Twilight, "If you're looking for the vampony, she's been moved to this room."

Hearing this, the Crusaders immediately make for the door opposite them with Dawn in the lead.

Nurse Sweetheart blocks their way however, Twilight rapping her hoof on the tile floor before the fillies figure out a way to bypass her, "Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo – I want you to wait outside for now."

"What?!" Applebloom exclaims, the indignant expressions on her friends' faces mirroring her own.

Not giving them time to formulate a better argument, Twilight continues, "Their species was just revealed and there are probably some things they'd rather only talk to me, and Princess Luna when she arrives, about. If they're willing, and if you girls are still awake, you can ask them any questions you have afterwards – honestly I don't think I could stop you anyway."

And they'd probably somehow manage to coat most of the building in frosting or tree sap attempting to get in if I tried.

After a few moments, the three fillies nod, accepting the current situation though their faces give the appearance of having eaten something sour. With that matter settled, Twilight and Dawn follow the nurse into the dimly lit room.

Once inside, Dawn shoots forward, making a beeline for the bed. Twilight and Nurse Sweetheart hang back however, the former turning to direct a nearly transparent beam of purple energy at the door. A thin film of magical energy quickly expands from that point of contact, spreading to cover both the door as well as the entire rest of the room before disappearing completely from sight.

"Soundproofing spell," Twilight explains, prompted by an inquisitive look from the latter.

Dawn, meanwhile, stands next to the bed, shaking the pony lying on it, "Midnight! Midnight?"

When her sister doesn't respond, she faces the two adult ponies, her focus flipping between them, "What's wrong with her?"

Nurse Sweetheart joins Dawn by the bedside, "There's nothing horribly wrong with her. She does have some more serious injuries – broken bones, internal bruising, that sort of thing – but nothing life threatening or severe enough to keep her unconscious. We have been keeping her sedated since she came out of surgery as a precaution though, given the circumstances. We didn't want her to wake up and try to escape, which would definitely exacerbate her own condition as well as possibly cause others to get hurt in the process."

Twilight stands next to the nurse, scrutinizing the sleeping mare, She certainly looks better than when I last saw her. A lot more casts and bandages perhaps, but when you're injured that's probably a good thing.

"I understand. It should be fine now though – with Dawn here she hopefully won't react quite as badly, and even if she does I can restrain her with my magic."

Nurse Sweetheart nods, fiddling with the medical equipment before removing the breathing mask from Midnight's muzzle. Dawn maintains her position, watching anxiously for signs of movement from her sister immediately after the mask is removed.

Twilight watches for a moment as well, then turns to the nurse, "How long will it take for her to wake up?"

"I don't know. It can vary widely by race, gender, weight, build… " Nurse Sweetheart shrugs, "If I had to guess, I'd say she'll be conscious in about 15 minutes, though whether or not she'll be making any sense is another question entirely."

Twilight takes a seat on the floor to wait while Dawn remains standing with her forehooves on the bed, monitoring Midnight intently.

"You might want to sit down," Twilight suggests to Dawn after a few minutes have passed. "This could take some time, and staying on your hind legs like that can't be comfortable."

Dawn briefly considers ignoring the advice before stiffly sitting as well, her joints thanking her after being in such an unnatural pose for so long. Several seconds later though, Midnight stirs, Dawn instantly jumping back to her previous position. A few minutes more, and Midnight's eyes open.

She looks over at Dawn, blinking asynchronously, "Yerrr lookin' tashty~"

Reaching out with her good foreleg, Midnight takes Dawn in a clumsy hug, attempting to drag her onto the bed. Dawn struggles within her sister's embrace before finding a purchase, proceeding to pull herself the rest of the way up. The morsel now secure in her cuddle, Midnight contentedly chews on its mane – Nurse Sweetheart smiling and Twilight stifling a giggle while Dawn squirms, futilely trying to remove her hair from her sister's mouth.

Several minutes and a thoroughly mangled mouthful of hair later, the chewing stops, Midnight releasing her sister and spitting out her mane with a "pleh". Letting out a displeased groan, she tries to get the hair off of her tongue, first by wiping it on her foreleg and then on a sheet.

Once her mouth has been returned to its normal, hair-free state, she licks her lips a few times, finally taking note of her surroundings, This… isn't the Everfree.

She starts to sit up, but quickly stops after feeling a twinge in her barrel merely from tensing her muscles. Her eyes roam the room from where she's lying, her apprehension growing as she sees two ponies standing to her right, This is definitely not the Everfree.

Her gaze shifts to the form lying next to her, recognizing her little sister after a moment. She blinks, this time fully in sync, "Where… "

Suddenly the memories of the previous night come flooding back. Adrenaline rushes into her system – her pupils shrinking, heart pounding, and a growl rippling from her throat – until it's quashed by Dawn gently snuggling into her side.

"Calm down, Midnight, it's fine. Everything's fine."

A long moment passes while Midnight lays completely still, eventually releasing the remainder of her growl quietly as a heavy breath. She closes her eyes, panting, then takes another deep breath and slowly lets it out through her nose.

Opening her eyes again, she observes the two other ponies in the room as best she can from her position lying flat on the bed, her eyes resting on the closer of the pair with the glowing horn.

"Who are you?" she asks warily, "Where am I? What's going on?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Nurse Sweetheart," Twilight answers, releasing her grasp on her magic and gesturing at the other mare. "You're at Ponyville Hospital. You were brought here after being found unconscious and injured following an attack on two of the townsponies last night."

"I see," Midnight replies stonily, her guarded expression unchanged. She shifts in her bed, tensing and flexing various muscles, all of which give similar results, Everything is sore.

She grits her teeth and tries to sit up once more, letting out a hiss of pain when her body protests the action, Yeah, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

Seeing Midnight's attempt, Nurse Sweetheart moves to her side and raises the back of the bed, "Better?"

Dawn grumbles, rolling onto her back to get comfortable again. Midnight however says nothing, her eyes flicking around the room from her improved vantage point – though never letting the nearby nurse out of her sight for more than an instant.

Satisfied that the room contains no immediate danger, she turns her attention to her dozing sister, "And why are you here? I thought I told you to run."

"Well I did," Dawn mumbles without opening her eyes, "but I got scared about what happened to you. So I followed them taking you here and I was going to sneak in and rescue you but some fillies found me but they were nice and we're friends now and Twilight helped me get in and now I'm here and you're here and everything… everything is going to be okay."

Dawn finishes the explanation with a yawn, stretching contentedly and burrowing her way under the sheet. The show of adorableness cracks Midnight's facade, a small smile tugging at the sides of her mouth.

She returns her softened gaze to the princess and nurse, "I guess I should thank you. For helping us. So… yeah. Thanks."

Nurse Sweetheart smiles warmly, "You're welcome."

She turns to Twilight, dipping her head respectfully, "Everything looks fine here, so I'll leave her with you, Princess Twilight. If you need anything, either shout really loudly or hit the emergency buzzer."

Twilight and Midnight watch Nurse Sweetheart take her leave, the soundproofing spell breaking with a quiet pop as soon as she opens the door. Before Twilight is able to close the door after her however, Scootaloo sticks her head through the gap.

"Hey Twilight, can we come in yet?"

"No."

Scootaloo withdraws her head, "Aww… "

Twilight finishes magicking the door shut, quickly recasting the soundproofing spell before returning her focus to Midnight. Another flash of magic, and an inkless quill accompanied by a sizable stack of papers is hovering next to her, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions."

"About what happened?" Midnight asks.

"Hm?" Twilight shakes her head distractedly as she levitates the stack around her in a whirlwind of paper, "Oh, no, not yet. We'll get to that when Princess Luna gets here. Whenever that happens to be. Which is hopefully not too soon. Mmm… "

I need to talk to Spike when I get back; he ordered these according to guidelines 7-E when he clearly should have used 15-H.

She pulls a sheet out of the maelstrom, "Aha! There you are. So then this goes here and this goes here… "

As quickly as the mini tornado had arrived, it dissipates, reforming into its original neat stack without a single page wrinkled or folded.

Twilight prances in place, prefilling the first few sections while casting cursory glances at Midnight, "What I want to know about is you, your species, your magic, your habitat… oh this is so exciting! It's not every day I get to be the first to document a brand new tribe of ponies!"

Midnight tilts her head, "Wasn't there that whole Changeling thing recently though?"

The description draws a snort from Twilight, "'Changeling thing'? There was an invasion of at least several hundred Changelings, all of whom were repulsed, resulting in a grand total of zero Changelings captured."

Midnight exhales sharply through her nose, "Wait, really? Don't you have guards or soldiers or something to chase them down?"

"Yes, well, given that Equestria has been at peace for centuries, it's a small miracle they didn't just panic and run away when flaming green bugponies started falling from the sky. Now stop distracting me, we've got a lot of questions to get through and not a lot of time. Ok, gender… female. Age…?" she looks at Midnight questioningly.

"21"

"Species?"

"Vampony."

Twilight opens her mouth to object, but restrains herself, Focus, Twilight, now is not the time.

She blinks.

Wait, what am I thinking, now is exactly the time.

Twilight sighs, "Look, I know this is probably really scary and weird, but I'd appreciate it if you either answer honestly or just say you don't want to answer."

A pause follows as Midnight's expression morphs into one of confusion and annoyance, "Umm… okay? And I'm not scared by the way."

"So, what species are you?"

"Vampony."

Twilight glares at her in frustration, "No, you're not. Princess Celestia already explained to me what vamponies are, and you're not one of them."

Midnight glares right back, red eyes glowing faintly, "You don't get to tell me what species I am."

Twilight fights to hold the stare as the world fades to just the two of them, however a growing part of her mind refuses to obey, desperately seeking to avert her eyes and look at something – anything – else.

After what feels like an eternity, Twilight breaks off the conflict, glancing down and shuffling her hooves uncomfortably, "Sorry."

Bracing herself, she looks back up to find Midnight regarding her calmly, a victorious glint in her eyes, "I am a vampony."

Twilight shivers, though her magic allows her to carefully record Midnight's response, "O-okay."

"Is it alright if I continue?" she asks nervously. A small part of her mind rebels against the question, appalled that it was asked, I am a Princess of Equestria, the embodiment of the Element of Magic, and one of the most powerful ponies to have ever existed. Why do I need to ask her for permission? If she doesn't want to answer, that's fine, but I don't need her permission just to continue!

However, the echoes of that thought fade to nothing even before leaving her subconscious.

Midnight nods her assent.

"Alright, uh, thanks," Twilight says, clearing her throat in preparation to ask the next question on her list, however a flash of moonlight from across the room grabs her attention.

Princess Luna steps forward from the lingering aura, "Greetings Princess Twilight, we see that you have already begun the interrogation."

Chapter 10 Accidents

Princess Twilight smiles, inclining her head slightly, "It's good to see you, Princess Luna. This isn't an interrogation though, this is… uh… a survey."

Her smile fades as she shoots a nervous glance at Midnight, the vampony watching Luna warily, "Also, the correct pronoun is 'I', not 'we'."

"Ou-My apologies, Princess Twilight," Princess Luna corrects herself with a hint of embarrassment. "W-I should have chosen my words more carefully."

"And there's no need to call me 'princess'," Twilight replies, her smile returning. "We're friends; you don't have to be so formal."

Luna nods, adopting a small smile of her own, "We accept your proposal, Twilight Sparkle, but only if you extend the same favor to us as well."

Twilight facehoofs with an exaggerated groan of frustration at the fresh pronoun errors, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

A purple blush spreads across Luna's face, "And by 'us' we meant 'me'. 'I', we mean 'I'. I mean… "

Twilight lowers her hoof, chuckling, "Don't worry about it, Luna. As much as I hate to admit it, we do have more important issues than correct grammar at the moment."

Luna stomps carefully on the tile floor, mindful not to make the crown liable for any further damage, "Tarts! One day I will get used to speaking like this."

"Er, 'tarts'?" Twilight asks uncertainly.

Luna pauses at the unexpected question, then grins widely, pride at being able to instruct Twilight on any aspect of modern Equestria sending a tingling thrill across her skin, "Indeed! Our sister informed us that it is the common term for 'Tartaurus', which has occasionally led to some unfortunate situations when confused with the pastry. She has thus far refused to elaborate on what those situations were, however."

"Your hair is amazing~," Midnight murmurs, catching the distracted pair of alicorns by surprise as she stares, mesmerized, at Luna's ethereal mane.

"Right. So." Twilight shuffles her wings uneasily, "Luna, this is Midnight, who I'm sure Princess Celestia has told you about, and her little sister Dawn, who was found earlier today by the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Luna turns, focusing on the reason for her arrival in Ponyville for the first time, "We thank you for the compliment, Midnight."

Her attention, however, is quickly drawn from the vampony and back to the alicorn fidgeting in her peripheral vision. Striding across the room, she lowers her head to Twilight's level, their eyes only inches apart. Twilight pulls back slightly at the sudden invasion of her personal space, but otherwise remains still as Luna searches for something within her eyeballs.

"Hmm… "

Raising her head slightly, a blue spark arcs between the tips of their horns. Twilight's irises briefly tint the color of the night sky and she jerks back, her papers and quill falling to the floor as she stumbles clumsily into a sitting position.

"What… what was that?" Twilight manages, raising a hoof to the side of her head as a weight is lifted from her mind, glancing around the room and then up at Luna.

Rather than answer, Luna stares crossly at Midnight, "I may not know anything about your people, but in Equestrian society at least, it is considered both highly rude and highly criminal to cast Domination magic on others."

Midnight points at Twilight, "She started it."

Twilight glares indignantly at her accuser, "I did not! I was just trying to get you to tell me the name of your species!"

"I did tell you, and then you called me a liar!"

"That's because you did lie! And that doesn't give you the right to mind control me regardless!"

"Alright, alright, calm down children… " Luna says placatingly. "What seems to be the problem?"

She snickers as both Midnight and Twilight direct their glares towards her.

Midnight opens her mouth to respond, however Twilight manages to speak first, "I was trying to find out what her species is called, but she keeps saying she's a vampony. Except she can't be a vampony because according to Celestia, vamponies are undead abominations spawned of dark magic and Midnight is very definitely alive."

Luna raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by the argument, "So what you are saying is that there are both living vamponies and undead vamponies?"

Twilight frowns, "Well, I suppose, but-"

"Then I am afraid we do not see the issue," Luna interjects, nodding towards Midnight. "It is not up to us to decide what they can and cannot call themselves."

Midnight sticks her tongue out at Twilight, the latter grumbling discontentedly.

"In any case, there are far more important questions that need to be answered right now," Luna continues, addressing Midnight. "For example, where do you and your sister live? You certainly do not reside in Ponyville."

Midnight tilts her head from side to side, considering both Luna and her question for several seconds, "…We live in the Everfree, though we usually stay at least a few miles in."

"Twilight, there is a friend of yours who makes her home within the Everfree as well, correct?" Luna queries. "Would she not have encountered them?"

Twilight shrugs, "You'd have to ask her. I don't know how far into the forest she goes, but it's the Everfree; it's more than possible they never crossed paths."

"If you're talking about the striped one-" Midnight begins.

"Her name is Zecora," Twilight interrupts.

Midnight rolls her eyes, "Yeah, that sounds right. Anyway, she's known about us pretty much since she moved in." Midnight laughs, "You should've heard her screaming when she stumbled on us eating the first time. You wouldn't think somepony with such a low voice could make such a high pitched sound."

"Wait what?!" Twilight exclaims, "If she knew about you, why didn't she tell anypony?"

"Well, she ran off," Midnight says with an amused snort, "but after we caught her, my parents offered her a deal – as long as she didn't tell anypony about our existence, she stayed off the menu."

"You eat other ponies?" Luna asks sharply, Twilight shuddering at the thought.

Midnight's eyes widen, "What? No! We're not cannibals! If we were, we would've eaten her there and been done with it. I just meant we wouldn't sneak into her tree-hut-thing and feed off of her. We only eat snakes, bears, cockatrices, manticores, the odd chimera or cragadile… took down a hydra once."

She licks her lips, "That was a good night."

Luna's nose wrinkles ever so slightly, "So, from the sound of it, you only eat meat?"

Midnight nods, "Yup. I tried a few leaves once, didn't really see the appeal."

"You mean besides not killing other living things?" Twilight mutters to herself loudly enough for everypony else in the room to hear.

Midnight shoots her another glare, "Well excuuuuse me, princess."

"Would I be correct in assuming that there are more vamponies around?" Luna cuts in before a new argument can escalate. "Unless you want us to believe that only a few of you were able to take down a hydra."

"There… are," Midnight answers hesitantly. "Dawn wasn't involved, but the rest of my family plus the other clans from around here all came together for that hunt."

"Nearby Ponyville then, how many vamponies are there?" Luna asks.

"Thirty… ish? I think? Once in a while another will wander through, but for the most part we all stick to our own territory." Midnight smiles smugly, "We have the territory closest to town though. Everypony else's is around ours."

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to be writing this information down?" Luna suggests pointedly to Twilight.

Twilight lets out an irritated grunt, nonetheless levitating her quill and scattered stack of papers to form a thin, purple-glowing wall between herself and the other ponies in the room while she fills out multiple hovering pages.

Luna sends a reproving glance at the floating barrier before returning her gaze to the subject of her questions, "You also mentioned feeding, that is, you all drink pony blood?"

"Yep," Midnight confirms.

Luna's eyebrows knit together, her eyes lingering on Midnight's pair of protruding fangs, "Why?"

"Well, if we don't, we age through our entire lifespan over the course of a couple months," Midnight replies, shrugging nonchalantly. "Or at least that's what my parents say happens. I've never actually done that, obviously, but I did put off feeding for an extra night once, and it was… not fun. Felt like there was a dull, throbbing ache coming from everywhere and constantly getting worse."

"I see," Luna states carefully, her tone neutral. "And if you do drink pony blood regularly, then it prevents this rapid aging and you live for a normal lifespan?"

"I'm pretty sure we live for longer, but that would depend on what you mean by a 'normal lifespan'," Midnight answers.

"Unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies who die of natural causes generally live between 100 and 150 years," Twilight recites monotonously from behind her floating pages. "Unicorns are usually closer to 150 while earth ponies tend towards 100, with pegasi in the middle but closer to earth ponies than unicorns – though occasionally an earth pony can live to be multiple centuries old. Insufficient recent and reliable data exists for thestrals and crystal ponies."

Midnight blinks in surprise, "Oh. Then yeah, we live for a lot longer. Or we can at least, it's… well it's a bit complicated."

She looks at the ceiling, eyes flicking back and forth as she draws a mental image for herself, "Okay, imagine there's this jug. When we feed, blood goes in the jug and as long as the jug isn't empty, we don't really age. Whenever it does get empty though, even if only for a second, it starts to crack and fall apart and we start aging rapidly. Our physical 'age', and how long we can go between feeding, is based on how damaged the jug happens to be."

"Fascinating," Twilight murmurs, a small hole appearing in her paper wall through which she stares at Midnight intently. "So the age you appear to be is completely unrelated to your actual age and technically, assuming a perfect feeding schedule, vamponies are ageless?"

"Mostly, and I don't know," Midnight answers hesitantly. "Maybe? Nopony's ever perfect though, so what really ends up happening is that damage from the jug being empty for seconds or minutes accumulates over the years until it becomes too damaged and we die. And unlike in a lot of those books, we don't magically 'un-age' after feeding either. Any damage caused by not feeding is permanent."

"'those books'?," Twilight asks, a hint of surprise in her voice. "You can read?"

"Yes, I can read," Midnight replies exasperatedly.

"Sorry," Twilight apologizes, "I didn't mean to imply that you were stupid. It's just, well, you live in the Everfree Forest. Where exactly do you get books from?"

Midnight doesn't respond, her gaze sliding off to the right.

Twilight sighs, "You take them from Golden Oaks, don't you?"

"I might," Midnight hedges.

"How many?"

"…Three recently. Currently I only have one, though."

Twilight raises an eyebrow, "What happened to the two?"

Midnight stifles a chuckle, "A dragon ate them."

"Ate them? As in…?"

"Swallowed them whole."

Twilight sits back on her haunches, "Huh."

"Yeah… "

"So I'm guessing you're a Daring Do fan too, based on some of the books that've gone missing," Twilight comments after a short mental eulogy for the stories that had been digested.

"Meh," Midnight mutters noncommittally. "They're alright. Eternal City and Ruby Chalice were really good, but I've been having a hard time getting through Shadow Veil – which wasn't eaten, by the way. Her portrayal of vamponies is just so… so… inaccurate. There are all these scenes that are supposed to be serious or ominous and I just end up laughing instead. Like in Chapter 7-"

"Aht!" Twilight interrupts, raising a hoof, "No spoilers. You somehow managed to get to the book I ordered before either me or Rainbow Dash, and everywhere I've looked for another copy is sold out for at least another month."

Luna clears her throat, "While I am happy that you two have overcome your initial enmity and found some common ground, perhaps we should return to more relevant questions."

"Speaking of which, why are you answering our questions?" Twilight asks. "I was expecting you to be a lot more secretive, seeing as your species' entire existence has been kept, well, a secret, until now."

"You found me at the scene of an attack and brought me to a hospital, you found my sister and brought her back to me," Midnight says, looking tenderly at her sleeping sibling, "you're taking the whole 'blood-sucking carnivore' thing really well, and at this point there's no way for us to keep hiding anymore… "

She looks back up, first meeting Twilight's eyes, then Luna's, "You could have done a lot of things, and you chose to help us. I trust you."

Luna smiles, "We are glad that you trust us, and we will do our best to be worthy of that trust."

"How have you managed to stay hidden for so long anyway?" Twilight queries. "You're not exactly inconspicuous, especially since Thestrals all but vanished from most of Equestria for the last thousand years, and I can't imagine everypony just 'never noticed' you guys flying around breaking into ponies' homes to suck their blood."

"Well, we can use shadowmagic," Midnight demonstrates, raising her unbroken foreleg. She focuses, and after a moment the leg fades into the dim light of the room, "Plus there's really-"

"Hold on, hold on," Twilight interrupts, scribbling madly. More than a minute ticks by, the scratching of quill on paper the only sound filling the otherwise silent room.

Finishing with a flourish, Twilight looks up from her notes, "Alright, go on."

"As I was going to say," Midnight continues, "there's also just not that many of us to find in the first place. I've lived in the Everfree Forest my whole life, and besides my family, I've only ever met ponies from around here plus a few wanderers who passed through. My parents say there's actually a couple hundred of us around the Everfree, but it's a big place and there never seemed to be any point in running around trying to find them all."

Twilight frowns, "That doesn't make any sense. The Everfree is teeming with creatures you can hunt, plus there are several thousand ponies living in the various towns along the border of the forest to fulfill your… other needs. And even if in reality you aren't ageless, you're still apparently very long-lived by comparison. There should be a lot more of you than just a couple hundred."

"I don't know," Midnight replies, shrugging. "My parents have only ever said that we were almost wiped out about a thousand years ago. Other than that, I have no idea."

"It would seem that Sombra's abominations inflicted a great deal of suffering on your people as well," Luna says, sadness tingeing her words. "Even more than they caused the ponies of Equestria, by the sound of it."

Twilight's frown deepens at this, "That makes even less sense."

"What do you mean?" Luna asks, looking to Twilight curiously.

"It's something that's been bothering me ever since Princess Celestia told me what really happened," Twilight explains. "The vamponies were under Sombra's control, and when he was defeated they went berserk. But she also said that some escaped and continued to hide, killing and turning ponies."

Luna raises an eyebrow, "And? We do not see the issue."

"If the undead vamponies went berserk, they wouldn't have had the presence of mind to flee, much less hide and plan well enough to take almost a year to finish off," Twilight clarifies. "That's kind of the opposite of what it means to go berserk."

Luna sighs, "We can assure you, Twilight Sparkle, some did escape. While my sister and I had to govern Equestria and did not participate directly in this phase, the Guard alone hunted down and ended nearly two thousand vampony spawn. Many cities and towns also formed their own militias to deal with the threat."

She smiles wryly, "My sister tells me it was quite an achievement convincing them to disarm afterwards."

"Two thousand?!" Twilight exclaims, "There's no way there were that many!"

Luna's eyes narrow and she stands a little taller, "As I said, Twilight Sparkle, we can assure-"

"So two thousand ponies died the following year from vampony attacks?" Twilight inquires sharply.

Luna hesitates, her mouth hanging open for a split second, "Well… not directly, to our knowledge, but-"

"Then how did the Guard hunt down and end two thousand undead vamponies, if that many ponies couldn't have been turned first?" Twilight demands, stamping a hoof, "The exact number may not be perfectly accurate and Sombra's vamponies may have been able to bolster their numbers somewhat by going after the living vamponies, but assuming that Sombra even knew they existed, and that he told the undead vamponies about them, and that once the undead ones went berserk they had enough intelligence left to flee as well as make long term strategic plans, AND that they would have been able to find any of the living vamponies given their apparent proficiency with shadowmagic, according to Celestia, the Guard had trouble dealing with just a few dozen of the undead ones."

Twilight takes a deep breath, continuing more quietly, "To reach two thousand in a year, over five ponies would have to be turned every single day on average. If that's what actually happened, the Guard would have been annihilated."

A heavy silence fills the room. Luna gulps audibly, then speaks softly, "What are you suggesting?"

"Celestia said that after the initial attack, the entire nation was in a panic," Twilight states slowly. "Assuming the rest of Equestrian history is correct, this would have been the first attack on Equestria in centuries. Ponies who had known only peace their entire lives would have woken up to find blood in the streets and corpses walking. They were terrified, neighbors were turning on neighbors, friends on friends… "

"You said that the Guard hunted down the ones that escaped, but are you sure… " her voice wavers, "are you sure they were hunting the undead vamponies? Or did they just look for them in the shadows, and start attacking the first thing they found?"

Luna flinches as if Twilight had struck her, "No! No, we would have known! There may be some similarities between them, but we… but… "

"But after what happened, did anypony bother to look?" Twilight asks gently, "Did you?"

Luna raises her head to stare at the ceiling for a long moment, her eyes distant, "I… no. We didn't. As we said before, the Guard was doing the hunting, and standard procedure was to destroy the bodies of both guards and vamponies alike with magical fire. Not even bones remained to examine afterwards, so that there would be absolutely nothing left from which Sombra's spells could be recreated."

The two alicorns face the injured vampony, pained expressions on their faces. Midnight stares back at them blankly, "So… wait. What you're saying is… you… you killed us all off… you… "

Her eyes widen as the statement sinks in, her breathing rapidly degenerating into ragged pants, And I just told them about our home, our feeding, our magic… I told them everything. Oh shit. Oooh shit shit shit.

Luna raises a hoof to take a step forward, then halts, her eyes shifting back and forth as if having an internal debate. Coming to a decision, she walks over to the vampony's bedside, looking down at her stoically. Midnight looks up at the Alicorn of the Night, doing her best to suppress the shivers running through her body.

Luna extends a leg, "You trusted us, now I am going to trust you. Here."

Midnight glances at the offered leg, then back at Luna, "I don't… what?"

Despite the situation, Luna manages a small smile, "You said you drink blood, correct?"

A bolt of lightning couldn't have caused a more dramatic response, Twilight's jaw dropping along with her papers and quill as her mind locks up, unable to maintain the necessary processing power even for a basic levitation spell. Midnight's eyes become as large as saucers, her gaze drifting down until it settles on Luna's leg. Luna simply smiles, waiting.

Midnight licks her lips and, following a moment's hesitation, leans forward, ignoring the pain in her abdomen as her eyes glow a faint crimson. After a brief examination, she closes her mouth around the offered leg, fangs sinking into Luna's flesh with ease.

She grunts in surprise as soon as blood touches her tongue, her taste buds registering twin flavors – the first a soft spiciness which calls forth images of the full moon nestled between the winking stars; the second a calming sweetness dimming the moon and blotting out the stars to bring near total darkness. The two currents dance across her tongue, their strength waxing and waning with the other in perfect harmony.

After half a minute of eternity, Midnight withdraws her fangs, lapping up a rivulet of blood that had escaped, then healing the wound.

She licks her lips and swallows one last time, "You taste delicious."

Luna blushes, pulling her leg off the bed to hang limply below her.

Twilight eyes Luna's leg nervously, "Are you alright, Luna?"

Luna's horn glows, moonlight encasing her leg and part of her torso for a moment. After it fades, she lifts her leg, flexing it experimentally, "It was just a little venom, Twilight Sparkle, we are fine."

"V-Venom?!"

Midnight shifts uncomfortably, "I feel odd… "

Suddenly she stiffens, slowly levitating as first her eyes, then the rest of her body are consumed by an expanding sphere of darkness that seems to drain the light from the rest of room. Dawn wakes and jumps out of bed with a yelp, scrambling away from her sister with a mixture of fear and awe on her face. Luna also steps back, watching the sphere tensely while staying just outside its surface.

Within the total blackness, a dim light flashes, then grows, consuming the darkness entirely to shine like a miniature moon for a split second before vanishing, leaving only a fading translucent haze behind.

Midnight falls from the haze to land on her bed, casts and bandages gone, eyes wide as she glances around the room before lowering her gaze to examine her formerly broken leg. She bounces experimentally, stretches, then vanishes – reappearing on the ceiling seconds later. Releasing her hold on the ceiling, she twists like a cat, landing lithely on her hooves, "I feel awesome!"

She fully spreads her wings, flapping experimentally a few times to send a weak breeze across the room.

Twilight merely stares, speechless once again.

Dawn's eyes latch onto her big sister's flank, "Your cutie mark… "

Midnight twists her head around, blinking in surprise at the new addition – a full moon now illuminating the blue mist of her original cutie mark.

Luna raises a hoof to feel Midnight's forehead. Finding nothing, she lets out a relieved sigh, "For a moment, w-I thought I'd created another alicorn."

Chapter 10.5 Meeting Zecora

~~~years ago~~~

A nearly full moon shines down upon the Everfree, not even the thinnest wisp of cloud or mist hiding the forest below from its view. Wind whistles between the trees, leaves rustling while wooden limbs creak and bend to cast an ever changing pattern of light and shadow onto the forest floor.

Beneath the groaning branches, a zebra mare carefully makes her way through the underbrush, eyes peeled and ears on alert for the slightest indication of any of the many monsters known to roam the darkened woods. Without warning, the wind suddenly shifts direction, Zecora ducking her head to help brace herself against the onslaught of air while her mane whips around her head as if possessed. The branches overhead protest loudly in the chaotic gale, a crack echoing as somewhere nearby a tree loses a limb. The sharp noise draws Zecora's attention and she automatically drops into a defensive posture, eyes darting towards the source of the sound. Instead of a broken branch or a prowling predator however, she notices a luminescent light coming to life amid the shifting shadows, its glow waxing and waning in time with it entering and leaving the moon's gaze.

Slowly making her way over the source of the light despite the windstorm attempting to push her in all directions at once, she lowers her head to examine her discovery, "Moonbloom is quite a find indeed; such an herb is just what I need."

Waiting to delicately nip at the flowers' stems during the occasional split second pause between gusts, Zecora removes two of the three blossoms from the plant, leaving the third as she stashes her discovery into one of the many small pouches hanging from her sides.

Task complete, her eyes wander over the rest of her pouches, the warmth of pride spreading across her chest as she views the many samples of plants taken from her new home – most of which she knew not even the wisest of the tribal shamans from her native land would recognize. For a brief moment, the dark forest fades from her vision, replaced by images in her mind's eye of sweltering desert sparsely populated by cacti, of endless savanna littered with trees and covered by grasses, of refreshing oases ringed by lush green plant life, and finally of her tribe and family who would travel all three together. Shaking herself from her reverie, she quickly surveys her surroundings, letting out a sigh of relief that nothing had decided to take advantage of her lowered guard.

Perhaps I should return to visit when the season becomes fall; I have been living here for very nearly a year after all. My family does worry if my travels have left me well; and once I tell them where I’m living, it may be a tough sell!

Lowering her head against the buffeting winds, Zecora presses onwards, another half hour of difficult searching amid the weakening storm passing until a small clearing opens up in front of her. Just before entering however, she pauses, wet squelching sounds making their way to her pricked ears along with indistinct murmuring. Glancing to each side, she hides beneath the leaves of a large shrub on her right, cautiously peering out from her cover towards the source of the voices – the strong breeze carrying their indecipherable words towards her now the only remnant of the earlier vicious winds.

Illuminated by the clear light of the moon, she sees four pony-like figures tearing into the body of a much larger animal which lays beneath them, unmoving apart from the occasional shake or jiggle caused by the frenzied consumption of its flesh. While she watches, one of the creatures yanks repeatedly on a particularly stubborn piece of the unfortunate beast, each tug lasting longer and becoming more violent than the last as its frustration grows. Unsuccessful in its efforts to remove the unyielding morsel, the predator plants its hooves and with a faint growl finally manages to tear its prize from the manticore corpse's side, tumbling over backwards from the effort – the chosen piece of meat and bone flying from its mouth to land on the ground a few feet behind it. Several droplets fall from the sky a split second later, and while the shrub shields her from most of them, a single drop of still-warm liquid impacts the side of her muzzle. Zecora flinches, time seeming to slow as she feels it dribble down into her slightly open mouth, leaving behind a bitter, metallic taste.

I should leave these monstrous ponies be, else they may make a meal out of me!

Suppressing the urge to immediately start spitting onto the ground, she slowly takes a step back.

*snap*

Instantly, the sounds from the clearing stop. Her breath catches in her chest, small beads of cold sweat forming across her body as Zecora watches the monsters turn to stare directly at her hiding place.

squich

squelch

The vampony male sighs through a mouthful of meat, swallowing before looking across the corpse of their most recent kill at his young daughter, "Midnight, stop jumping on the intestines."

Mini-Midnight glances up at him, giggling, "But it makes such a funny noise!"

Rearing, she brings her forehooves down on the abused digestive tunnels once more.

*squaaallch*

The larger vampony closes his eyes and sighs again as the organ finally ruptures from the assault, a spray of blood and internal slime hiding his sky blue coat and lime green, turquoise striped mane under a thin speckling of red. A piece of intestine slides down his left hind leg and falls to the ground, leaving behind a semi-transparent trail of residue over his cutie mark – a series of dark red hoofprints traveling diagonally from the lower left of his flank to the upper right.

"Ehehe… sorry~" Midnight apologizes, ears splaying back as she removes her hooves from the dead beast's insides.

Wiping the spray from his eyes, her father blinks several times to clear his vision completely, but before he can say anything else, something warm and wet moves upwards from his jaw and across his cheek.

"Mmmm… tasty~"

He rolls his eyes at the mare next to him, "Don't you start too, Eclipse, you're encouraging her."

Eclipse rubs up against her mate, the bloody residue smearing across her coal grey coat, pure white mane, and cutie mark of a shattered vertebra, "Oh lighten up, Wisp, you have to admit it was pretty funny."

"I admit nothing," Wisp huffs, successfully hiding his own amusement by taking another bite from their prey's shoulder.

"I see," Eclipse replies with a knowing smirk. "In that case, what do you think, Dusk?"

The young stallion sitting calmly next to Midnight looks up from his meal, shrugging indifferently before returning to eating, his brown mane, dark red coat, and unobscured cutie mark of a plant sprout giving him the deceptive appearance of being covered in significantly less blood than the rest of his family.

"There, you're overruled two to one: it was funny," Eclipse teases.

Ignoring her clearly flawed interpretation of the vote, Wisp raises an eyebrow at his son, "Having a bit of trouble there?"

Dusk responds with a growl, yanking repeatedly on a particularly stubborn rib. Planting his hooves, he pulls as hard as he can, only to have it easily detach from the manticore's spine with a quiet crack. The rib and chunk of attached meat fly from his mouth to land a few feet behind him, Dusk meanwhile flailing desperately before falling over backwards from the lack of expected resistance.

Grumbling as his family shares a laugh at his expense, Dusk gets to his hooves to retrieve his hard won food.

*snap*

Four pairs of ears perk up at the sound, the entire family turning to stare at its source. For a moment, nothing else happens, nopony moving as they watch the shrub the noise came from. Then the shrub rustles, followed by the faint sound of retreating hoofsteps. Eclipse immediately lets out a piercing screech, charging after whoever had been hiding beneath the leaves with Midnight and Dusk eagerly following in their mother's wake. Wisp, meanwhile, disappears into the sky, homing in on the terrified shriek coming from their newest prey as it gallops away from his mate under the trees.

With Wisp flying above them, Eclipse allows the chase to stretch on, several times lunging towards her target as if to end it only to instead nip at her fleeing prey's legs or bat at her tail. When her quarry begins to tire and slow however, she sighs in disappointment, surging forward once more to grab the striped creature's tail in her mouth and yank backwards.

The attached mare yelps in surprise and aims a panicked kick at Eclipse, said vampony dodging the hasty blow easily, though in doing so releases the tail in her mouth. The mare stumbles away as the force pulling on her suddenly vanishes, but before she can regain her balance and continue with her escape, Wisp lands heavily in front of her. Ramming into the staggering mare's chest, he flips her over onto her back, knocking the air from her lungs. As the she lays on the ground momentarily stunned, Wisp places a hoof on her chest, leaning down to clamp his teeth around her throat. He feels his prey stiffen as he holds her pinned to the ground, though not enough to hide her trembling.

However, after holding her there for a moment, Wisp releases her, lips leaving behind an outline of leftover blood on her coat as well as faint welts from where his teeth had nearly penetrated her skin. He backs away from the captured mare, and after a few seconds she warily glances first at him, then at Eclipse, then behind them at Midnight and Dusk as they catch up to their parents.

Seeing their quarry laying defenseless on the forest floor, Midnight runs past her mother to rear and stomp the ground, "Raaarr!"

The recently released mare flinches at this, the innate adorableness of the filly overwhelmed by both the situation and the half dried blood from the beast she had been eating matting the hair on the front half of her body.

Wisp looks at his daughter reprovingly, "Stop trying to scare her, Midnight. We need to talk with her, not give her a heart attack."

Dusk raises his hoof, "Dibs on first drink."

Wisp gives his son a flat stare, "There will be no 'dibs' on anything."

"But-"

"No."

Dusk rolls his eyes and looks away, quickly losing interest in the situation.

"Sorry about that," Eclipse says, smiling as she takes a step forward. "Kids will be kids, after all. But that aside, we do have something we need to discuss with you regarding this whole 'knowing we exist' thing."

"I'm Eclipse by the way. That over there is Wisp, Dusk, and Midnight," she continues, pointing to each in turn. An expectant pause follows.

"And you are… ?"

Zecora gulps, rubbing her throat before answering, "My sincere apologies for the wait; I’ve never met any like you to date. I am still new to these woods and my name is Zecora; I seek only to gather some of this forest's flora."

"And we have no problem with that," Wisp replies, "but we can't exactly have you going off to tell the townsponies about us either. Your own reaction to finding us explains 'why' well enough."

"I can understand very well others’ desire to be left alone; it is why I myself chose to live within the Everfree on my own. But to say that is the only reason I am growing my home here is most untrue, as there is another unfortunate reason that I settled here out of the blue," Zecora states. "For whenever I don my cloak and attempt to draw near, the ponies of Ponyville always run away in fear. So no matter what I may have come to say, they would not listen to my words anyway. Therefore in summary you need not fret; I can tell nopony of your secret."

Wisp cocks his head in confusion, "Why would they be scared of you? You're not exactly terrifying. Or intimidating. No offense."

Zecora sits up and shrugs, "Why they are so terrified of me, I cannot say for sure; whenever I enter town, I do try to act most demure. Yet while my only goal this past year has simply been to shop and trade, they all still avoid me as though a pact with a demon I have made."

"Huh. Well… I… guess that solves this rather nicely, regardless," Wisp says, his attempt at a reassuring smile revealing a mouthful of pointed teeth. "And… honestly I was expecting there to be a lot more coercion needed on your part, but seeing as you’ve been so calm and reasonable about this… "

Wisp pauses, sending Eclipse a questioning look. Eclipse hesitates, then nods sadly.

"…we won't sneak into your home and drink your blood anymore," he finishes.

Zecora blinks, then narrows her eyes, "By choosing to use the word 'anymore', that would imply you have done so before."

"Well yeah, it's a lot easier to fly over to your tree than to sneak into Ponyville," Wisp explains matter-of-factly.

"And the flavor of your blood is just so… exotic," Eclipse adds wistfully. "It was a nice treat every once in a while. Though I suppose nothing lasts forever. Or in this case barely a year."

She sighs dejectedly.

"It's not fair!" Midnight complains, "I never got to taste her!"

Zecora coughs at this, getting to her hooves, "While I do not wish to make light of the flattery you proffer, I will very gladly take you up on your generous offer. But unless there is more you wish to say of this, I must make haste; the night is no longer young, and I have little time left to waste."

With that, she quickly dips her head, then turns and canters into the forest away from the family of bloodsuckers. After watching her vanish between the trees, the vamponies leave as well, heading back to finish their meal.

Growling greets the family as soon as they re-enter the clearing containing the carcass of their most recent kill, a trio of scavenging timberwolves contesting the vamponies’ previous claim on the still fresh meat. Wisp trots towards their meal unperturbed, the timberwolves meanwhile spreading out from the corpse to flank him on either side, their growling growing louder the closer he approaches. Without warning, Eclipse drops from the sky, shattering the middle wolf beneath her hooves. Before the other two can react, she springs back into the air, her shadowmagic not quite compensating for her speed as she flies up and circles around, a nearly invisible dark blur flitting between the stars. Bounding forward when the remaining pair of wolves make the mistake of looking towards their broken comrade, Wisp bucks one of them to pieces. Suddenly alone, the last of the interlopers takes a step back, then turns, attempting to flee along with the weakly floating remains of its two comrades. It gets halfway across the clearing before Eclipse descends on it as well, the magic holding it's form together easily overwhelmed.

Midnight cheers, running beside her mother to flare her wings and hiss enthusiastically at the retreating remains. Eclipse giggles at the display, tousling her daughter's mane affectionately. After the last of the sticks vanish into the woods, they turn to rejoin Wisp and Dusk at the dead manticore just in time to see Dusk pull out what remains of the liver.

"Hey!" Midnight shouts, running up to her older brother and biting into it as well.

"Mine!" she growls through the chunk of meat, eyes momentarily flashing bright red.

Dusk drops the contested food instinctively, staggering back a couple steps while his sister happily scampers away with her prize.

"Midnight… " Wisp says, eyes glowing softly as he draws her attention, "stop intimidating your brother."

Midnight mutinously meets his gaze for several seconds before breaking off the contest and lowering her head.

"Fine… " she grumbles through a mouthful of liver, retreating further from the group to consume her food in peace.

Eclipse bumps flanks with Wisp, grinning as she watches their daughter lay down to gnaw on the organ, "Looks like you've got some competition, Wispy. She doesn't even know what she's doing and she's already almost matching you."

Wisp's dimly lit eyes meet his mate's, raising an eyebrow as he starts to circle her, "'Almost'? I don't know what you were watching, but that was clearly a complete victory on my part."

Eclipse begins circling as well, eyes glowing to match the pair looking into her own. On the third cycle, they close the gap between them, eyelids drifting shut just as their lips meet. After a short while, Eclipse breaks the kiss to nip playfully at Wisp's ear.

Noisily wolfing down a mouthful of liver, Midnight voices her opinion of their actions, "Ewww!"

"'ew'?" Wisp asks, sauntering over to his daughter, "You thought that was gross? Well then, what do you think-"

Without warning he pounces on Midnight, "-about this!"

They roll over several times before coming to a rest with Wisp on his back and Midnight upside-down on his belly, pinned by his legs. Midnight struggles fiercely to free herself from her father's embrace, though to no avail – Wisp managing to keep hold of her while his wings slowly spread wide. Then, when his wings reach full extension he suddenly brings them back in, using the claw tipping each wing to mercilessly tickle Midnight's sides.

"Stooo-ooop!" Midnight protests, giggling and wriggling in her father's grasp.

Her father ignores her plea however, continuing his relentless assault. Finally, when Midnight lays exhausted and defeated on his belly, gasping for breath while her lungs fight with the spasms of laughter for air, the tickling ceases. Before her mind fully registers the missing sensation, Wisp’s legs gather beneath her and he throws her into the air, her wings and limbs flailing wildly until her short flight ends with a squelch as she lands in the remains of the manticore's chest cavity.

Wisp punches his hoof into the air, "YES!"

Dusk spares a glance for his recently airborne sister from the other side of the manticore's ribcage, opting to continue polishing off another rib rather than become involved.

Midnight meanwhile lays unmoving amid the leftover blood and guts except for her heaving chest, rogue giggles exiting her system as she recovers from the ordeal. After more than a minute, she gets to her hooves and clambers out of the corpse's insides, shaking her body in a vain attempt to remove the coat of red now covering her from head to toe.

Eclipse raises a hoof to shield her eyes from the stray droplets flying off of Midnight, blinking in surprise as from behind her leg she notices the barest hint of dawn tipping the treetops.

Fighting a sudden urge to yawn, she stretches and stands, "Time to head home, kids; the sun's going to rise soon and we all need to take a bath. I don't want anypony tracking blood everywhere. Again."

She casts a pointed look at one of her children in particular, "Dusk."

Dusk rolls his eyes before taking off into the night sky. Midnight attempts to follow him, but fails to get more than a few feet into the air, descending back to the ground amid the tired beating of her wings. Her second attempt goes little better, and she kicks a tuft of grass in frustration.

"Dusk!" Wisp calls out, gesturing at Midnight once he has his son's attention, "Make sure your sister gets home safely."

"Fiiiine… " Dusk groans loudly, the weight of this responsibility clearly almost too much for his young shoulders to bear.

Landing beside his sister, he nudges her out of her wanton assault on the innocent blades of grass, "Alright, c'mon, let's go."

"You know, you don't have to walk me home," Midnight offers once they leave the clearing. "I can totally make it back on my own."

Dusk snorts, "That's funny, coming from the one who was almost tickled to death. Plus if anything happened to you, Mom and Dad would probably kick me out of the cave in the middle of the day or something."

With their kids finally out of earshot, Wisp bounds over to the dead manticore and pulls out the remains of its heart, which despite being nearly half gone is still larger than his hoof. Switching gears smoothly, he strides over towards his mate to offer her a piece of the organ held in his mouth.

Eclipse observes his approach wearing a faintly amused expression, and rather than take it, she instead raises an eyebrow quizzically. Undeterred, Wisp shakes the meat, then boops her nose with it. Like a waiting trap, Eclipse's jaws snap open and shut on the heart, their noses briefly touching before they both pull away from the other, attempting to split the piece between them.

Damaged as it is, the dense muscle nevertheless manages to hold firm for a few seconds, but ultimately gives in to the determined pair. Once separated, Eclipse turns and flicks Wisp with her tail, hips swaying as she takes a few steps before spreading her wings and leaping into the sky, leaving in a distinctly different direction than their children.

Wisp chews for a moment, watching her rise towards the twinkling stars until he takes off as well, following the wingbeats of the one to whom he'd given the other half of his heart.

The door to Zecora's hut slams open, another source of early morning light joining the windows until the one who entered kicks it closed. Zecora sits tiredly on her wooden floor, waiting for her breathing to calm before standing and removing her pouches. Once they are all laying on the table in front of her, she makes her way over to her bed for some well-deserved rest, only to pause as a metallic glint catches her eye. After a moment's thought, she lifts each of five neck rings laying on the nearby shelf and, with some difficulty, slips them on.

While these may be annoying as heck, never again shall they leave my neck.

Chapter 11 Darkness Contained

Luna pats around Midnight's forehead a few more times, finally lowering her hoof when all she feels is smooth skin, "I am not sure what has occurred, but to change a cutie mark is no small matter. Do you have any thoughts on the subject, Twilight?"

She looks away from the healed vampony when a purple glow answers her question rather than words, a translucent beam shooting from the horn of the other alicorn in the room, "Twilight."

Twilight continues to magically scan Midnight, for several seconds giving no indication she had heard other than a twitch of her ears.

"Mhm?"

"While we certainly agree that a thorough examination should be done, we believe it should be done later. By a medical. Professional," Luna states pointedly, rapping a hoof on the room's tile floor when Twilight's only response is to start taking notes in the margins of her survey.

Twilight's ears twitch again at the sharp sound, this time followed by a blink. Not taking her eyes from the subject of her interest, she smiles and nods, "That sounds like a good idea, Luna; I'll get right on it."

A light giggle echoes in Luna's ears, She really is quite the 'egghead' as they would say today, is she not? Perhaps even more so in the real world than in her dreams.

Luna suppresses the urge to chuckle at the truth of her friend's words, a smile tugging at the sides of her mouth nonetheless.

We should come back and visit once this situation is dealt with. Our sister is much more of a diplomat and philosopher than a researcher, and it would be refreshing to be able to talk with somepony who might truly understand the complexities of our theories of mind and magic.

The voice gives a mental nudge, Maybe even teach her a bit of Dream magic along the way, hm?

Luna fights to keep from snorting, instead turning it into a forceful exhalation, For all our sakes, I think not. I can only imagine what would happen if she were to try to enforce her degree of order and categorization onto the Dreamscape. Besides, there is still much work to be done with the thestral reintegration, and I don't even want to think about the headache adding vamponies into the mix will cause.

A deep sigh emanates from the companion in her mind, Honestly, Lulu, we go crazy with anger and jealousy, return after a thousand years in exile to ponies that, with a bit of coaxing, are actually happy to have us around and what do you do? Bury yourself in work.

A hint of bitterness creeps into the mind mare's voice, Of course, waking up screaming from your own personally inflicted nightmare half the time hardly helps ponies feel at ease around us. The guards might not say anything, but they're getting nervous and it's only a matter of time until rumors start to spread that perhaps Nightmare Moon isn't quite as gone as they've been led to believe – if they haven't already.

Luna's small smile fades into a frown at her other’s words, then a grimace, ENOUGH! As I have told you before, it is penance for the suffering that I caused – that we caused – as Nightmare Moon.

The voice sighs, And as I have said before, tormenting yourself out of guilt is not penance, Luna. You need-

With an irritated flick of her ear, Luna blocks out the rest of the disembodied words, instead refocusing on the ponies in front of her to find Midnight again staring at the stars flowing within her mane. Twilight meanwhile forges ahead with her examination completely unaware of her surroundings – now scanning Midnight's cutie mark while Dawn's eyes roam between the trio curiously.

Midnight blinks.

"Don't move," Twilight immediately reprimands without looking away from her scan. "I need you to keep 110 percent still for this."

Luna slowly releases the breath she had been holding throughout her silent argument and with some effort forces a smile back onto her face, "That is quite enough, Twilight Sparkle."

Her horn glows to life with a directed thought, encasing Twilight's in a deep blue aura to disrupt her analysis.

"Hey!" Twilight shakes her head at the unfamiliar sensation, turning to Luna in frustration when her attempt to remove the blocking spell merely causes the tip of her horn to spark.

"Twilight," Luna admonishes as she releases her hold on both their magic, "while I can certainly appreciate your enthusiasm for discovery, I need to ask Midnight a very important question regarding the previous night."

"But-"

"It is also required that she be able to move her mouth to answer said question," Luna interrupts, raising an eyebrow.

"…I suppose," Twilight acquiesces reluctantly, her ears drooping momentarily before perking up again. "I can keep studying her afterwards though, right?"

Luna shrugs, "I am not the one you should be asking that."

"In any case," she continues, turning back to catch the vampony stretching, "my question for you, Midnight, is: What happened last night? According to my sister, who spoke with Twilight, who spoke with the husband of the mare whose home you were in, who was half asleep when he walked into the bedroom and emotionally distraught afterwards, there was another male vampony in the room with you. I assume that he is the pony who injured you, but we would like to hear your account of what happened first hoof."

"The other pony last night wasn't a vampony," Dawn pipes up instead while her sister completes her stretch. "But he was really weird."

"I was just there to help Dawn feed," Midnight replies once her stretch ends, "but yeah, he wasn't a vampony – or at least, not a vampony like us. He did have huge fangs though – even larger than mine – and he was about to take a bite out of the neck of the pony I had just helped Dawn feed from when I attacked him."

"Wait," Twilight says, holding up a hoof to point at Midnight, "you attacked him?"

Midnight nods, "Well, yeah, she wasn't going to wake up and there wasn't anypony else around, so I wasn't about to sit back and watch her get murdered. Besides, she tastes pretty good."

"We thank you for your intervention, Midnight," Luna states, focusing on said vampony as if she were the only other pony in the room, "but is there anything else you can tell us about him?"

"He had a red mane, coat, and eyes," Midnight elaborates, unfazed by Luna's attention. "He was red, basically. The really weird part though was his teeth; like I said, his fangs were even larger than mine – they went past his chin – but the rest of his teeth were flat like yours. He didn't have any wings either. And… there was just something really, really wrong about him. I don’t know how else to describe it, but even being in the same room with him made my hair stand on end."

No… the other voice in Luna's head murmurs, that – there's no way.

There shouldn't be, Luna replies, a cold pit forming in her stomach, and yet…

"I see." Luna swallows, her throat tightening, "And his cutie mark?"

"It was… " Midnight hesitates, recalling the oddity, "Well it was there, but it was really faded. I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be."

Luna loudly sucks in a breath through her nose, eyes widening and nostrils flaring.

"Luna?" Twilight queries, the sudden noise drawing her attention away from Midnight.

"A cutie mark is a representation of the one thing that most makes a pony special, and as such is intimately linked to one's identity, to one's sense of self," Luna explains tensely. "However, anypony controlled by Sombra's corruption would cease to exist as an independent 'self'. There is no longer anything that makes them special – they are just one more slave to his magic, thus we theorized their cutie mark would slowly fade and perhaps even vanish entirely given enough time. We never saw such fading one thousand years ago since the initial attack occurred far too swiftly for it to have been noticeable, and after that, well… "

She sighs, "After that, we simply assumed that we had been wrong about cutie mark fading rather than searching for another explanation. But if this pony's cutie mark was truly faded, and if the rest of Midnight's description is accurate, then there can be no doubt as to what he is."

"Nopony has died or gone permanently missing in Ponyville since I arrived though," Twilight points out. "If he's existed long enough for his cutie mark to have almost entirely disappeared, what's he been doing all this time?"

Luna straightens, "I cannot say, but if nopony has gone missing, then perhaps this attack was in fact the first and there is still time to catch him before he is able to turn anypony."

She clears her throat, "GUARDS!"

Twilight, along with the vamponies and most of the furniture, jump at the sudden use of the restrained Royal Canterlot Voice, "Luna, there's a-"

The doorknob rattles, then turns, the door slamming open with a loud bang followed by Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, and three Lunar Guards trying to simultaneously pile into the room.

"-sound… proofing… spell… " she finishes lamely amid groans from the mass of ponies stuck partially through the doorway.

Whatever happened to Midnight must have disrupted the spell. Or maybe Luna shouting just rattled the door. I should really make a hardier version that doesn't break so easily, but only after performing a comprehensive examination of Midnight. And writing a paper on my discoveries. And submitting it for review and publishing in the Equestrian Journal of Magic! And… I'll just have Spike put it on my Todo List.

With a grunt, Applejack manages to extricate herself from the pony pile, picking up her Stetson from where it had fallen to the floor and returning it to its rightful place on her head, "Hey Twi, Ah think it's about time you filled the rest of us in on what exactly's been goin' on around here."

The rest of her friends voice their agreement as they stand.

"Yeah."

"Yeppers!"

"Quite right."

"As long as it wouldn't be too much of a bother."

Twilight hesitates, glancing at Luna to find her already quietly discussing with her guards off to the side.

What do I tell them? Luna hasn't made public what really led her to become Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia went to great lengths to hide what happened… would they be mad at me for revealing it? How would my friends react? The rest of Ponyville would definitely panic if this got out. And if they panic then word will spread to nearby towns and they'll panic which will spread to the towns nearby those towns and eventually all of Equestria will be panicking and then civilization will crumble and Celestia and Luna will be angry with me and it will be all my fault because I-

Spike snaps a claw in front of her glazed over eyes, "Twilight! Stop doing that slippery slope thing you told me not to let you do."

Twilight clears her head with a few shakes and smiles weakly at her worried friends, "Thanks, Spike. It's just… really… complicated."

"Oh… alright then," Fluttershy murmurs demurely, turning as if to leave.

Applejack rolls her eyes, blocking Fluttershy's retreat with a raised foreleg, "You ain't gettin' off that easy, sugarcube. If anythin', that's all the more reason for us ta know about it."

Rainbow Dash flaps her wings to hover a few feet off the ground, "What I want to know is: Are there or are there not any vamponies? At first I figured everypony was just freaking out because of the attack, but the Crusaders have been saying they found one."

Twilight opens her mouth to respond, then looks around in surprise, "Uhh… yeah, yeah there are. Dawn? Midnight?"

At her words, Dawn fades into view, quickly lowering her head and taking a few nervous steps away from the shocked group of larger ponies staring at her. The faces of her fellow fillies brighten at her appearance though, Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Bell running over to their recently made friend.

"See? Ah told y'all we found a vampony!" Applebloom declares proudly.

Applejack eyes the fourth filly warily, lingering on her Crusader cape, "Ah suppose you did."

Scootaloo’s wings flutter in excitement, her whole body very nearly vibrating in place, "You stayed invisible a lot longer than last time!"

"Well yeah," Dawn replies uneasily, shifting slightly to try and hide behind her friends, "there's no sun in here."

Sweetie Belle spins around, pointing an accusatory hoof at her elders, "Stop staring at her like that, you're scaring her!"

Rarity awkwardly lowers her gaze to watch her fidgeting hooves, Rainbow Dash inspecting a corner of the ceiling while Applejack decides to examine the hospital bed, their uncomfortable apologies jumbling together. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof continues to look at Dawn as though nothing had been said, her head tilted and expression unreadable.

"Um… Twilight… ?" Fluttershy asks, uneasily eying a point on the ceiling a few feet in front of her, "Y-You mentioned two names, right?"

"Hold i~t!" Pinkie Pie yells, stealing the center of attention as she pounces over to grab Twilight. Locking narrowed eyes with her, Pinkie leans in until they are nose to nose, "Are you telling me that there's not one, but two new ponies in Ponyville?"

"Well… " Twilight answers calmly, barely surprised by the party pony's intensity, "technically they aren't new ponies; they've probably been here even longer than you have, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie stares at her for another moment, gasping in horror once she fully grasps the situation, "This is awful!"

Dropping Twilight like a rock, she dashes over and grabs Dawn, "Quick! What do vamponies do for parties? What do you eat? What do you drink? Wait that's a silly question you're a vampony you drink blood of course. I don't know where I'd get enough on such short notice though so would punch work? It could be cherry punch or strawberry punch or - oh! Do vamponies like cupcakes?"

Pinkie giggles, "What am I saying, of course you like cupcakes everypony likes cupcakes. Maybe I could use blood instead of frosting for them though – ooor I could mix the blood into the frosting. That would be a lot more efficient than having blood drinks so I think I could pull it off. I'll call them 'High Blood Sugar Cupcakes'! Now I just need to find a couple donors…"

Having facehoofed halfway through Pinkie's barrage of words, Twilight raises her head to see Dawn desperately trying to squirm free of the crazy pink pony holding her. However, before she can react, a menacing growl ripples through the room. Luna's guards immediately whirl with practiced precision to face the source of the threatening sound while forming a protective half-circle – blades attached to each side of their armored hoofshoes flipping down and locking into place with a series of very audible clicks – only to halt at a sharp word from their princess.

Twilight hastily engulfs Pinkie with her purple magic, levitating her away from Dawn and depositing her near the door, "Sorry about that."

She glances towards the source of the growl, "Midnight, if you could please stop being invisible as well?"

After a short pause, Midnight reappears hanging crouched on the ceiling between her sister and Twilight's friends, eyes locked on the pink pony now sheepishly staring up at her. Relaxing ever so slightly at her appearance, the trio of guards return to their discussion with Luna, occasionally peeking warily or pointing with metal claws at the upside-down vampony.

"Everypony, this is Midnight and Dawn," Twilight says, pointing at each in turn. "Midnight and Dawn, this is Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom."

Ignoring the rather muted responses from the other ponies in the room, Pinkie Pie hops over right next to the hanging vampony, the top of her mane periodically flattening against the ceiling, "Hello! Sorry about earlier, I was just so excited to throw a party for two ponies I've never even met before! Not that parties for ponies that I do know aren't exciting too, because they are, but it's just so much fun to learn about new ponies and where they're from and what they like and you're an entirely new species which doubles the fun. Or maybe even triples the fun, I don't know, which is what makes it so great!"

A second, softer growl rumbles in Midnight's throat, head bobbing almost imperceptibly as she tracks each bounce of the pony invading her personal space.

Rainbow shoots over at this, inserting herself between Midnight and Pinkie, "Hey! I know Pinkie can be a bit hyper and weird, but you better not hurt her or any of my other friends, ya got that?"

Midnight tenses at the fresh intrusion, eyes flicking over the pony in front of her, "Rainbow Dash, right?"

Twilight watches the trio carefully, magical current tingling along the spiral of her horn as she once more prepares to intervene.

"Mhm," Rainbow replies shortly, continuing to hover protectively in front of Pinkie who bounces worriedly behind her.

Midnight's unlit eyes meet Rainbow's, "Twilight mentioned earlier that you like Daring Do."

Annoyance bleeds into Rainbow Dash's determined expression, "Like? Anypony can like Daring Do, but I'm her number one fan! There's a reason she put me on the cover of The Ring of Destiny."

Behind her, five ponies and a dragon simultaneously roll their eyes – Applejack groaning audibly.

The ends of Midnight's mouth curl up in a small, knowing smile, "She also said that you hadn't read the latest book yet, since it had gone missing."

"Yeah," Rainbow grumbles, "some jerk stole it."

"Actually, I borrowed it," Midnight corrects her.

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrow, "Wait. You took it?"

"No, I borrowed it," Midnight repeats, her smile widening into a grin. "I also read it."

She pauses to let her words sink in, her growing grin parting her lips to reveal the tips of her teeth, "Would you like to know how it ends?"

Rainbow Dash's flaps become momentarily uneven as she hovers away from the vampony, "You wouldn't… "

Raising an eyebrow, Midnight slowly draws in a lungful of air – Rainbow wavering for an instant before dashing from the room as fast as her wings can take her.

Midnight cups her hooves around her mouth, allowing gravity to pull her into an upright-side-down position, "AHUIZOTL KILLS DARING DO!!!"

A despairing scream echoes down the hallway, "NNOOoooooo-"

The faint slamming of a door abruptly cuts off Rainbow's cry, Midnight's last two hooves disconnecting from the ceiling to let her fall to the floor in a heap of laughter.

Nurse Sweetheart rubs her temples, leaning against the receptionist's desk, "I'm just saying, Holly, what are we supposed to feed her? From the looks of things she'll be here for a couple weeks at least, and it's not like we have dead animals just lying around here that we can stick on a plate."

Holly Dash sighs from behind her exquisitely organized desk, swiping at a stray tendril of pale yellow hair hanging in front of her face with a pink hoof, "I don't know; I'm sure Princess Twilight will be able come up with a plan. Maybe she can get a few chickens from Fluttershy or something."

"ooO"

Her ears perk up, "What's that sound?"

Before Nurse Sweetheart can reply, the double doors leading to the hospital rooms burst open, a cyan blur trailing a rainbow shooting across the lobby and out the exit.

*bang*"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"*bang*"Ooo"

The pair stare at the outer doors in shocked silence, sharing a bewildered look with each other when they close before returning to watching the exit.

"Do you think we should see what's going on?" Holly asks more than a minute of wordlessness later, front hooves tapping restlessly, "I could definitely go for a run after sitting here forever."

Nurse Sweetheart rolls her eyes, "You've been here for barely two hours."

Holly stretches her forehooves forlornly across the desk, her gaze roaming the otherwise ponyless room, "Yeah. Forever."

For a while neither speak, the only sound the tapping of Holly's hooves in time with the ticking of the clock behind her.

"Do you really think Fluttershy would give us some of her chickens though?" Sweetheart asks, breaking the increasingly awkward silence.

Holly giggles, "No, of course not. She names her chickens and everything – she'd probably kick you out for even suggesting it, assuming she doesn't faint from imagining her chickens getting devoured first."

Twilight's magic sputters out, Equestria's newest princess numbly watching Midnight laugh while her fleeing friend's wail echoes in her ears, "Daring… Daring Do… died… ?"

Midnight wipes tears from her eyes, still chuckling, "No, of course not. Daring Do is the main character; she'd never die. She and Ahuizotl actually team up to fight the 'vamponies'."

Twilight freezes, staring blankly at Midnight for a split-second before her horn glows to life once more, rolling up a few unused sheets from her unfinished survey into short paper rods.

"I! Said! No! Spoilers!" she half yells, emphasizing each annoyed word with a whack on the head.

Midnight retreats under the assault, however her surprise is rapidly replaced by frustration, "Hey – what the – stop – that!"

Taking the offensive, she jumps forward, biting into one of the rods and tearing it to shreds.

Rarity taps her chin with a hoof as she observes Twilight roll up more rods to replace the ones being ripped apart by Midnight, "I suppose that does explain all those strange Daring Do-Ahuizotl crack shipping fanfics that came out following the most recent book."

Applejack looks at her, eyebrows raised, "You read Daring Do?"

"I do not normally read such stories," Rarity admits, raising a hoof to her mouth to stifle a giggle at the scene unfolding before her. "I much prefer a good romance or drama. Nevertheless, knowing that the novels actually involve real ponies and monsters piqued my interest. The first few books have been quite good I would say, though I haven't been able to devote much time to reading them, what with writing my own story now."

"Huh. Ah wouldn't've pegged you for a writer neither," Applejack comments, Twilight meanwhile summoning another large stack of paper to weaponize.

"Yes, well, it has been a nice change of pace to try something new," Rarity replies, sighing as Pinkie exuberantly enters the growing maelstrom. "Though I'm having the hardest time coming up with a good title. Currently it's 'Forty-Two Bales of Hay', but I don't know, it just sounds… bad."

Applejack chuckles, the Cutie Mark Crusaders led by Dawn entering the fray as well, mobbing Twilight from behind, "Well Ah'm not really one to be givin' you writin' advise or nothin', but what Ah can say is that as long as you like what you wrote, it's a fine story, regardless of what anypony else may say about it."

Rarity smiles warmly, "Aww, thanks Applejack."

"Don't mention it," Applejack replies, returning the smile. Facing the battling ponies after a moment, she clears her throat loudly, "Twilight!"

Her voice cuts through the melee like a knife through water – all participants pausing to pay attention.

"While Ah hate spoilers as much as the next pony and Ah'm sure what yer doin' now is plenty fun, can you please explain what's been goin' on over the last twenty four hours?"

"Oh. Right. Of course," Twilight concedes, carefully levitating the four fillies off of her and unrolling the few rods she has remaining. "Last night – well technically I suppose it was all started a thousand years ago by Sombra – though obviously they existed prior to that, so-"

"My apologies for interrupting, Twilight," Luna says as she turns from her guards, the trio saluting and quickly cantering from the room, "but time is of the essence and since you apparently haven't already explained to them what has occurred, a simplified overview will have to do for now."

Twilight's ears fold down, a blush of embarrassment heating her face, "Sorry. I got a little distracted."

"So it would seem," Luna deadpans. "Regardless, the situation is that a very dangerous criminal is currently hiding in Ponyville and we require your help to ensure that everypony is safe and unharmed."

"Well, you can certainly count on my assistance in this matter," Rarity says with a toss of her mane.

"M~hm!" Pinkie agrees enthusiastically.

Applejack pushes her Stetson up, "Count me in."

"I'll help. And… um… " Fluttershy glances towards to door, "I'm sure you can count on Rainbow Dash too! You know, wherever she is… "

Apprehension flits across Luna's face, "I must warn you, this pony is nothing like any of the enemies you have faced previously. He will not try to tempt you as I did, nor play with your minds like Discord, nor manipulate you like the Changeling Queen. Mare or stallion, filly or colt, he will try to kill you – without hesitation."

Fluttershy gulps fearfully, her friends exchanging nervous glances.

Luna pauses for a few seconds, allowing her words to sink in before continuing, "The criminal in question is an earth pony with a red mane and coat along with a faded cutie mark. If you catch even the slightest glimpse of him, do not try to attack or reason with him, just come and alert either Twilight or I. Your job is simply to wake up every pony in town and have them report to the town square so we can make sure nopony is missing."

Applejack frowns, "Hold on, he has a faded cutie mark?"

Luna nods, "Yes. I understand how strange that must sound, and I promise everything will be explained later, but for now we must hurry – lives are in danger every moment we continue to delay."

"Alright girls, let's go wake everypony in town!" Scootaloo declares. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Disaster Alerters is a go!"

Each letting out a 'yay', the four fillies run towards the door only to find it blocked by their older sisters.

"Oh no you don't," Applejack says from her place between them and the door. "Wakin' up the town is our job. You three – err, four, are goin' straight to the town square and waitin' for this ta be over, not runnin' around Ponyville while there's a murderer on the loose."

"But-" Applebloom tries to protest.

"Besides, as… interesting… of a cutie mark as I'm sure that would be, Ponyville already has an alarm siren for that sort of thing," Rarity points out.

"Had an alarm siren," Sweetie Belle reminds her. "It was never replaced after Spike stole it."

Spike laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Girls," Twilight says, drawing the fillies' attention, "I know you really want your cutie marks, but right now we all have a job to do and your job is to stay safe. Besides," she adds knowingly, "you'll be the first ones in the town square, so it'll be up to you to keep everypony calm until Luna or I get there. Who knows, maybe you'll get your cutie marks in disaster management."

Applebloom shares a glance with the other Crusaders, "Ah never thought a' that."

Rarity and Applejack step aside to let the fillies pass, however Midnight doesn't budge, her eyes locked on her little sister.

"Follow them straight there," she says after making sure she has Dawn's full attention. "No sidetracking and no adventures, got it?"

"Y-yeah, got it," Dawn replies, Midnight's seriousness eating into her brief burst of enthusiasm.

Satisfied, Midnight steps aside as well. With all obstacles now removed, the Crusaders run past their sisters and down the hall, any hesitation promptly lost amid a cry of "Cutie Mark Crusaders Disaster Management Team YAY!"

Those remaining watch the doorway the Crusaders had left through, a pregnant pause following as each imagines a different potential outcome of putting the group of fillies in charge of managing something they normally create. The moment passes quickly however, any possible mischief the Crusaders could get up to dismissed as the older ponies plus Spike follow them out of the room and towards the exit.

"Excuse me," Twilight says, stopping at the receptionist's desk. Nurse Sweetheart and Holly Dash stop talking to look at her, a blush of embarrassment creeping onto the receptionist's face. "Can you both find anypony else that's still in the building and bring them to the town square? It's an emergency and we need everypony there."

"Of course, Princess," Sweetheart replies, looking over at Holly. "I'll get Redheart, and you can tell Tenderheart and Rhyme?"

Holly nods and stands only to trip over her chair and fall to the floor with a crash, once again upsetting her carefully organized desk. Jumping to her hooves in an instant, she dashes off, her face a deep crimson. The nurse ponies alerted, Twilight follows the rest of the group out of the building.

Applejack stops just outside the doors, "Do y'all hear that?"

As everypony listens, the sound of faint sobbing makes its way to down to them, their heads swiveling simultaneously to stare at nearby dark grey cloud releasing an occasional drop of water.

Twilight walks below the cloud, "Rainbow?"

"Go away," the cloud containing the sobbing pegasus responds.

Undeterred, she encompasses the cloud in her magic, dragging both it and Rainbow Dash to ground level, "Come on, Rainbow, Ponyville is in danger and we need your help."

Rainbow Dash avoids her gaze, eyes red and wet from crying, "B-but Twilight…"

Twilight sighs, "Daring Do isn't dead, Midnight made that up. Besides, how could she have written a book that she died in?"

Rainbow Dash swallows and rubs the remaining tears from her eyes, "O-oh… t-that makes sense, I guess. So, uh, why is Ponyville in danger?"

"Turns out there's some kinda murderer skulkin' around town, so we need ta round everypony up and send 'em off to the town square to make sure everypony's still alright," Applejack explains.

Rainbow Dash sniffles and salutes, "Well you can count on me. What's the plan, egghead?"

"We will take the southwestern part of Ponyville," Luna states, laying claim to the most densely populated area.

Twilight nods, placing Luna on a mental map of the town, "Alright, in that case… Rarity, you take the immediate area around here. Pinkie, you take the western part of town around Golden Oaks. Applejack, you should go get your family. Rainbow, you take the southeastern area; I'll take the eastern; and Fluttershy, you help Rarity here in the north. Oh and Spike, you're with me."

"So… I should sit here then?" Midnight asks just before they disperse.

"Oh! Right. Uhh…" Twilight glances questioningly at Luna.

"We think it would be best for you to join my guards and search for the murderer from the sky," Luna suggests. "After all, you are the only pony here to have seen him first hoof. Also we doubt that you would be particularly successful in convincing anypony to leave their home – quite the opposite, in fact."

Midnight gives a short nod and disappears into the sky, everyone else quickly heading to their assigned destination as well.

As the Crusaders make their way towards the town square, a voice booms behind them in the distance.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! ARISE FROM YOUR SLUMBER!"

Glancing over her shoulder in the direction of Luna's voice, Applebloom changes course, instead running up to one of the houses lining the street to bang on the front door with her forehooves, "HEY WAKE UP! THERE'S AN EMERGENCY!"

"What are you doing?" Dawn shouts back at her wayward friend, stopping along with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo a couple houses away, "We're supposed to be going straight there!"

"Well, we're passing by these houses anyway, so really we're still goin' straight there – we just won't get there quite as fast as we possibly could," Applebloom reasons, dropping her hooves from the door. "Plus it'd be downright irresponsible of us to not wake them up when we're runnin' right by already. Ah mean what kind a' managers would we be if we just let everypony else do all the work?"

"That makes sense," Sweetie Belle concurs, Scootaloo bobbing her head in agreement.

Catching movement in her peripheral vision, Scootaloo looks down an alley between a pair of houses just in time to see a hoof vanish behind one of them.

"Hey!" she calls after the hoof, "Everypony needs to head to the town square, it's an emergency!"

Scootaloo trots over to the gap between the houses, Sweetie Belle and Dawn following her while Applebloom hops off the porch of the house she had been assaulting to join them.

"Didja see somepony down there?" Applebloom asks, scanning the empty alleyway in search of whoever her friend had been yelling at.

"Yeah," Scootaloo confirms, pointing to the corner the hoof had vanished behind, "he walked away though."

Applebloom steps into the alley, "Well? What're we waitin' for? Twilight said to get everypony to the town square and there's a pony here who needs to be told that."

Scootaloo joins her, the pair looking back at Sweetie Belle and Dawn once halfway to the corner.

Applebloom raises an eyebrow, "Are you two comin', or are ya just gonna stand there?"

"We're supposed to be going straight to the town square," Dawn reiterates, though less certainly.

Applebloom rolls her eyes, "Fine, it's a slight detour, but it's not like we're runnin' across town or anything."

"But what if it's the pony who attacked Dawn's sister?" Sweetie Belle asks, an edge of fear in her voice. "I mean, think about it. A few fillies walk into a dark alley at night following a mysterious figure only to turn a corner to find the monster standing right there waiting for them; it's the opening to practically every horror story ever!"

Scootaloo takes a turn rolling her eyes, "Yeah, but this is real life, not a story. What are the chances we'd actually run into him? He might not even be in town anymore for all we know."

Sweetie Belle and Dawn share a nervous look, however they nevertheless enter the alley after their friends. Reaching an intersection with a second alley running behind the houses, the four turn left – and come face to face with a red pony grinning maliciously at them, his razor sharp fangs glistening clearly in the moonlight. The fillies freeze, time seeming to stop with them until he licks his lips and takes a step forward, the movement setting their world in motion once more.

"I TOLD YOU!" Sweetie Belle screeches, the Crusaders backpedaling frantically across the intersection away from the monster – only to hit a solid wall. A quick inspection reveals the dead end for what it is, but before the Crusaders can correct their mistake, the fanged pony crosses the intersection as well, cornering them. A droplet of saliva travels down his left fang, combining with a black fluid gathering at its tip to fall to the ground. Stopping to sniff the air, the monster licks his lips once more, seeming to savor the scent of their fear.

Applebloom smooshes herself into the obstructing wall as if hoping she would somehow be able to phase through it, "Uh-oh."

The others bunch around her when the monster starts walking forward again, sliding along the wall and into a corner in an effort to keep as much distance as possible between them.

"Girls," Scootaloo says, looking over to meet each of her friends' eyes, "I have a crazy idea."

"Awesome! Because I have no ideas at all!" Sweetie Belle yells, panic rising in her cracking voice.

Scootaloo lets out a scared laugh, "OK, on the count of three, shout 'yay' as loud as you possibly can."

Applebloom gawks at her incredulously, "That's your-"

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

All four Crusaders simultaneously clench their eyes shut and take a deep breath.

The monstrous pony lunges.

"YAY!!!"

A powerful wave of sound crashes into the charging monster, the force of it lifting him off his hooves and throwing him clear across the intersection to glance off the alley wall before landing in a crumpled heap. After a tense moment, the Crusaders carefully crack open their eyes to observe their surroundings, caution transforming into awe as they examine the shallow quarter-circle crater they're now standing in.

"Whoa…" Applebloom murmurs, slowly walking a few steps away from their corner as she takes in the destruction.

Sweetie Belle presses a hoof to one of the damaged walls, fresh cracks emanating from the corner they had backed into leading up to a shattered window, "I can't believe that actually worked."

Scootaloo grins, "Good job putting your lungs into it, Dawn! We couldn't have done it without you!"

The four gather together again, this time in a group hug. Their celebration is short lived however – the fanged pony rising and shaking his head, though staggering slightly off-balance. The moon's light reflects weakly off a thin stream of blood trickling out of each ear from an injury otherwise invisible against his similarly colored coat.

"I think we should run now," Dawn suggests.

Hastily disengaging from their hug, they race towards the intersection, their still dazed attacker stumbling forward as well. However, mere steps away from safety, they skid to a halt, Rainbow Dash landing heavily in the center of the intersection to put herself between them and the nearly recovered red pony.

She looks over her shoulder, "Are you girls okay?"

"We're fine," Sweetie Belle assures her.

Rainbow flares her wings, returning her attention to the pony with a faded cutie mark, "Good. Now get out of here!"

"Already on it!" Scootaloo yells, she and her friends charging past Rainbow Dash and towards the street.

The red pony hisses angrily at the sight of his escaping victims, any unsteadiness now gone as he gallops at the meddling pegasus. Rainbow Dash simply raises an eyebrow, an amused smile playing across her lips. He lunges, but just as his hooves are about to make contact she falls onto her back and kicks up, all four of her hooves connecting with her attacker's barrel to easily propel him over her and into another wall.

"Is that the best you got?" she taunts, jumping to her hooves.

Her opponent stands as well, unfazed.

Closing the distance between them once more, he stops short of another full body assault, instead this time his head shooting forward towards her neck. Despite his change in tactics however, all he gets between his teeth is air, Rainbow nimbly dodging his attacks and each time landing a solid punch on his jaws after they audibly snap shut. Her fifth blow knocks a tooth loose and she smirks at him, confidence swelling until she takes another step back to dodge his next attack – and slips on her own tail.

With a victorious snarl the fanged pony lunges forward once more, Rainbow Dash frantically spreading her wings and taking to the air, only to jerk to a stop a couple feet off the ground. Looking below, she sees the fanged pony digging his hooves into the dirt, her traitorous tail gripped in his mouth. He grins at her, eyes gleaming, and in one swift motion reaches up, grabs her tail with his forehooves, and yanks her towards him. Rainbow yelps at her sudden descent, automatically aiming a kick at his muzzle, but he calmly spits out her tail and tilts his head to the side, allowing the limb to shoot past his jaw – and into reach.

Rainbow Dash cries out in pain as his fangs sink into her leg, her wings momentarily faltering, then beating even faster than before to no avail. The undead vampony groans passionately at her obvious suffering and closes his eyes, the glow of his irises still visible through his eyelids as the blood flowing across his tongue is replaced by another liquid leaving his fangs. Rainbow yells again, redoubling her efforts to escape though the one drinking her blood barely notices, effortlessly maintaining his grip on her leg while he's dragged across the ground by his struggling victim.

His victory does not last long, however. Without warning, Midnight drops from the sky onto the oblivious earth pony, the speed of her descent partially stripping away her invisibility and the impact dispelling it completely – a sharp crack echoing down the alley the moment her forehooves connect with the base of the undead pony's skull, shattering vertebrae and severing his spinal cord. A pair of pops immediately follow as his shoulders dislocate, a series of splintering snaps coming from his barrel a split second later when the momentum from her dive bears his body into the ground.

The grip on her leg vanishing as the vampony's body breaks, Rainbow Dash shoots into the air like a multi-colored spell bolt before bringing herself under control and returning to land on a thatch roof overlooking the alley.

Pushing off from her prey's unmoving form with an unhealthy squelch, Midnight takes to the air as well, landing on the roof opposite the shocked pegasus.

"H-hey!" Rainbow sputters, her wide-eyed stare moving from her attacker's broken form to Midnight, then back to her attacker, "You-you just killed him you-"

She fails to finish her sentence however, the not-dead pony drawing a gurgling breath and staggering to his hooves only to fall down again – his crippled body barely capable of standing, let alone walking.

Rainbow's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets as she gapes at him, closing her mouth just in time to keep her dinner from spilling down the side of the house and following up with an audible swallow, "-you didn't kill him. Sweet Celestia, how is he still alive!?"

Midnight disregards the exclaimed question, scrutinizing Rainbow after sniffing the air, "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asks, distracted by a fresh attempt to stand by the pony below, "Yeah yeah I'm fine."

"I smell blood," Midnight states calmly, still watching her.

Rainbow gestures at the crippled pony as he falls once again, "Gee, I wonder why."

Midnight smells her hooves, wrinkling her nose, "It's definitely not his; his smells terrible."

Rainbow glances at her injury and shifts slightly, as if keeping it out of sight would somehow hide the scent, "He got me a bit before you… uhh… " the pony stands again, "broke him."

"I can heal it," Midnight offers, spreading her wings. The pony falls once more.

"No!" Rainbow declines loudly, nerves tingling uncomfortably up her leg as she takes a couple steps away, "I mean, uh, no thanks. He only nicked me and I'm barely bleeding so you can stay. Over there."

Midnight hesitates for a moment, then shrugs and folds her wings, settling down to keep an eye on the pony she had landed on.

"ARISE, CITIZENS! I REALIZE IT IS LATE, BUT PLEASE HURRY!"

"Princess Luna!"

Looking down, Luna sees the Crusaders frantically waving at her.

Frowning, she descends to the street, "WHY ARE – sorry, why are you not at the town square?"

An indecipherable stream of words answers her inquiry, all four fillies speaking at once.

Raising a hoof for silence, she points to one of them, "Applebloom, why are you here?"

"We found him!" her chosen Crusader responds immediately.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo adds, "Rainbow Dash held him off so we could escape."

Horror spreads across Luna's face, "Take me to where you found him! NOW!"

The Crusaders flinch at her tone, immediately turning on their hooves and running back the direction they had come, now with Luna flying just behind them.

Sweetie Belle points to the alley they had recently fled from, "Over there!"

Luna lands in front of them just in time for a red pony to stagger out and fall to the ground at the mouth of the alley. She freezes, eyes wide, but only for the barest moment – her horn shining to life to seal the fallen pony inside an iridescent sphere floating a few feet off the ground.

Barely managing to stand on the curved floor of the sphere, the undead pony steadies himself and bucks the barrier with his hind legs. Twin *cracks* sound as his ankles bend at unnatural angles and several small fractures appear on the shield's otherwise smooth surface, the force of his kick propelling him face first into the other side of the shield. Luna's horn flares brighter, the damage to the sphere disappearing in seconds while her prisoner's smushed face glares at her malevolently.

The immediate threat contained, Luna scans the alley worriedly, "RAINBOW DASH!"

"Up here, Princess Luna," Rainbow responds as she gingerly walks towards the street across the roof of one of the houses overlooking the alley, Midnight matching Rainbow's movement on the roof of the house making up the alley's other wall.

A sigh of relief builds in Luna's chest, however before she can release it, a purple flash from a nearby window draws her attention.

"Huh? How did I-"

A piercing scream cuts off the muffled words followed by a series of crashes, the commotion ending with Twilight teleporting into the alley.

"Is everypony okay?" she inquires, surveying the area as she levitates the back of a chair from around her neck and brushes a few splinters of wood from her mane, "I heard screaming."

Rainbow Dash snickers, "Uhh… yeah, we're fine. …Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Twilight's gaze flicks from the captured pony to her amused friend, then back to the sphere, "Yep I'm totally fine, just a small teleportation misunderstanding."

Scootaloo contorts her body, attempting to mimic the pose of the pony inside the barrier, "I don't think you're supposed to be able to bend that way."

"Midnight, is this the pony who attacked you?" Luna asks, ignoring Scootaloo's observation.

"Yes," Midnight confirms.

Twilight inspects the undead pony, her eyes narrowing, "It seems decidedly not berserk though…"

She squints at his flank, the light from Luna's barrier allowing her to just barely make out the faded image of a stepped pyramid with a bamboo tree on either side, "And based on what's left of his cutie mark, it appears he's from the Tenochtitlan Basin? That's odd."

Rainbow stamps her hoof angrily, "I bet Ahuizotl sent him here to get revenge for when we helped Daring Do."

Twilight's eyes widen at her friend's words, the last pieces of the puzzle falling into place, "Midnight, you mentioned earlier that in the most recent Daring Do book vamponies were described very inaccurately, and that she and Ahuizotl teamed up. Was that really what happened?"

Midnight smirks down at Twilight from her perch, "I thought you didn't want any spoilers."

"Just tell me," Twilight demands.

Midnight rolls her eyes, "Yes, yes, that's really what happened."

"And," Twilight continues, "did they team up because one of Ahuizotl's minions became an undead vampony and started turning his other minions into undead vamponies, so in order to save his remaining minions as well as to have any chance of ever taking full control of the Basin he teamed up with his mortal enemy?"

Midnight opens her mouth to answer, but Twilight cuts her off with a raised a hoof, "And! Was the leader of the undead vamponies described to look like," she points at the sphere, "him?"

Midnight stares at her, perplexed, then at the undead pony. Then back at Twilight, then back to the pony, each time her confusion further replaced by shock.

"Daring Do is real?!" she half asks half exclaims once her brain starts working again.

Twilight snorts, "Daring Do is very real. Was my summary accurate?"

Midnight nods mutely, eyes unfocused as she peers off into space.

"Which leaves only one explanation for why this undead vampony seems to have intelligence," Twilight concludes. "Well no, there are at least seven other possible explanations, but this one is the most likely."

She faces the undead vampony once more, "Isn't that right, Sombra?"

A cruel smile twists the captured monster's face as he regards the accusing alicorn, lips parting to release a choking, guttural laugh.

Luna stabs her horn towards the sky at his response, her moon rapidly moving across the heavens to reach its zenith before blazing like a second pure white sun. Darkness reclaims the night sky after only a moment however, all of the moonlight focused entirely into a single thin beam intersecting the barrier she had created. While the magical light from the beam disappears as quickly as it had been summoned, its whiteness does not leave entirely – the intense magical energy having scorched the color from everything beneath and around the now ponyless prison.

Luna's eyes lock onto the one thing remaining inside – a unicorn horn, dark grey at the base transitioning to a bright reddish-orange at the tip. After hovering for a split second, it falls, hitting the bottom of the barrier with a soft yet resounding *clink*.

Chapter 12 Cleansing Corruption

Silence reigns as Luna, Twilight, Midnight, and Rainbow Dash stare at the horn, all of them starting when it emits a sharp, snake-like hiss before dissolving into thick black smoke. The dark mass quickly expands to fill the entirety of the shield, tendrils forming to press and prod at various parts of its prison in search of a weakness to exploit.

"Huh. Well that's definitely unexpected," Applebloom comments.

Twilight's ears stand straight up, the voice of the Apple family's youngest member dragging her attention from the newly filled barrier to the Crusaders standing just a few steps behind her. Closing her eyes for a moment, she mentally kicks herself, Great, just great, not only was I actually right about Sombra, but I let four fillies watch Luna kill another pony. Or whatever this would count as. Annihilate another pony? End another pony? Well, in any case…

"Girls," Twilight says, turning to sternly address the still gawking fillies, "you need to go to the town square right now. And I mean actually go there this time."

While she speaks, magic crackles across Sombra's prison accompanied by an incomprehensible, echoing whisper as he continues testing the limits of the spell containing him.

Flinching at Twilight's tone as much as the remnants of the deposed tyrant, Scootaloo nervously salutes along with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, "You got it, Twilight."

The trio makes a hasty retreat in the direction of the town square, however Applebloom suddenly stops and turns around after passing only a single house, "Hey Dawn, you comin'?"

Dawn glances at the waiting fillies, then uncertainly back at her sister.

Midnight tilts her head towards the other fillies, "Go on."

Casting one last worried look at her sister, Dawn joins her friends and they soon vanish around a corner as they head to their original destination.

Watching the four complications leave her sight, Twilight closes her eyes and fills her lungs with air, placing a hoof to her chest. After holding that pose for several seconds, she moves her hoof away and slowly exhales, though what little stress the action manages to relieve is instantly replaced as soon as she reopens her eyes.

"Luna," Twilight says, returning to the matter at hoof, "this whole 'Sombra getting destroyed and transforming into smoke' thing is very similar to what happened last time you and Celestia defeated him, right?"

"It is," Luna confirms.

"And last time, according to Princess Celestia, it caused any remaining undead vamponies to go berserk, right?"

"That… " Luna's eyes widen, "Oh."

As if on cue, her three guards land behind the pair of alicorns, each bowing quickly to their princess, "Your Highness, we have found no trace of the pony you described anywhere in Ponyville."

"He is no longer of any concern," Luna replies, dismissing their outdated information. "Have you seen any other similarly suspicious characters or activities?"

The lead guard shakes his head, his eyes occasionally darting from Princess Luna to the swirling shadow captured at the alley's mouth, "We have not. With the exception of one house blasting some sort of strange classical-electronic music, the entire town was completely silent until a couple minutes ago, and this is the last section we have yet to sweep."

Luna nods, relief washing over her at their words, "Good. Continue searching and report back to me if you find anything."

The guards salute, then take to the air once more.

Luna turns to the other fliers, "Rainbow Dash, Midnight – I want both of you to continue searching as well. You both know this town far better than my guards and may think to look in places they would not."

Midnight sends Rainbow a concerned glance, but nevertheless jumps into the night sky and vanishes.

Rainbow Dash stands as Midnight takes off, gritting her teeth and shifting her weight onto her good legs to ease the growing pain spreading through her bitten one. Meanwhile thin arcs of lightning travel across Luna's shield as the smoke once again tries – and fails – to escape, a familiar pair of green eyes with red pupils forming in it after the attempt.

"Twilight," Luna grunts, breathing heavily, "we cast this spell quickly in order to contain the undead vampony, but it is highly inefficient and therefore very difficult to maintain for any length of time, especially against somepony with Sombra's abilities. Therefore we require your assistance in creating a more permanent solution."

While Luna speaks, the pair of floating eyes wander from the two alicorns to settle on Rainbow Dash, the pegasus' leg beginning to throb in time with her heartbeat.

Rainbow gulps, averting her gaze from the eyes, "So, uh, Twilight, what was that about the undead? Why is Sombra here? What the hay is going on!?"

"Not now, Dash," Twilight replies without even glancing up at her friend. "What did you have in mind, Luna?"

Rainbow's vision blurs and she rubs her eyes, "But it's kinda important-"

Twilight sighs, massaging the bridge of her nose, "Look, I know this seems really strange right now but believe me, everything is going to be fine. Sombra's been captured and he's going to stay captured."

"We were thinking one of Starswirl's ambiance-sustained containment barriers, if you have the materials available," Luna suggests, likewise paying the pegasus little mind.
Twilight taps her chin while she mentally runs through her inventory of magical supplies, "Hmm, I should have everything on hoof. If not, I can definitely pull whatever else we need from some of my past experiments."

Rainbow frowns and again opens her mouth to speak, however Twilight disappears in a purple flash before she can get a word in edgewise.

"Was there something you wished to say?" Luna asks, glancing up at Rainbow Dash – though only for a fraction of a second, her attention diverted as Sombra once more strains against his prison. Small cracks form in multiple places on the sphere, Luna's horn flaring brighter and beads of sweat forming on her face while she struggles to keep the shield from shattering. Once Sombra's attack subsides, she sits heavily, her head lowered as she pants from the exertion.

"Uhh… no, it's fine, it can wait until after you and Twilight make that ambi-whatever," Rainbow replies uneasily. As soon as she speaks, her vision swims and nausea rises in her stomach, "I think… "

A minute later, Twilight reappears in another flash of purple with a lumpy bag held in her telekinetic grasp. Rainbow Dash sways, blinking away the lingering afterimage as Twilight places the bag next to Luna and unloads several blank runestones, transparent focus crystals, and deep blue amplification gems.

Luna nods tiredly, "That should suffice. We will need you to take over containing Sombra while I set up."

"Of course," Twilight walks over to stand next to Luna, the shield glowing purple as the pair touch horns.

"Oof, you weren't kidding about it being inefficient," Twilight jokes once they separate. However her attempt at humor is lost on Luna who sighs with relief at the removal of her arcane burden, closing her eyes for a few seconds to rest and refocus on her new task.

Levitating four of the runestones to lay on the grass in front of her, she lowers her glowing horn to the closest of the set for several seconds, dim white lines originating from their meeting point to move seemingly at random across its smooth surface. As Luna moves on to the next runestone, the white lines fade from the first, thin strands of smoke rising from the fresh engravings now etched into its surface. Once identical runes have been carved onto all four stones, she embeds them in the ground to form a square around Sombra's purple prison. Eight of the focus crystals follow, Luna carefully placing a single crystal on either side of each runestone one quarter of the way along an arc to form part of a circle. The amplification gems complete the circle, one centered between each pair of focus crystals.

Unnoticed while Twilight concentrates on maintaining the current shield and Luna works to create a new one, Rainbow Dash slumps to the rooftop, the world bending and twisting before her eyes as a haze fills her mind.

After walking a lap around her circle to examine her work, a ball of energy gathers at the tip of Luna's horn. Closing her eyes and taking a deep, slow breath, she lowers her horn nearly to the ground, the rings of her horn glowing as four beams of white light simultaneously shoot out to hit each of the runestones. Tendrils grow like roots from their surfaces, digging into the earth and air before fading from view to leave the runestones thrumming with magical energy. As soon as Luna ceases her magical injection, the air chills, twin beams shooting from each runestone to pass through the focus crystals which narrow the beam and direct it at the amplification gems. The brightly glowing blue gems rise to float just above the ground, an identically colored beam of energy arcing from each to strike the existing barrier containing Sombra. A second layer of magic grows from those four points, quickly merging with each other to complete the new shield.

"You may release your spell now, Twilight," Luna says once the air begins to warm.

Twilight does so immediately, her shoulders sagging tiredly as Luna's original barrier disintegrates. The smoke pushes against its newly constructed prison, though nothing happens apart from a slight drop in temperature, the air warming again as soon as the escape attempt ends.

Luna allows herself a weary but satisfied smile before she begins another lap around her activated spell circle, horn pulsing dimly against the thrumming backdrop of magical current as she probes for any slight defects.

Sighing, Twilight rubs her eyes, the enveloping darkness along with the slow, circular motions of her hooves providing a welcome respite. Eventually though, she lowers her hooves, a pink blur blocking her vision when she reopens her eyes – a few blinks revealing Pinkie's smiling face mere inches from her own.

"Hi Twilight!"

Twilight jumps nearly a foot into the air, her wings snapping open to slow her short descent. Heart pounding in her ears, she forces herself to take several long, deep breaths, the mad beating in her chest gradually calming, "Pinkie! Please don't do that. Tonight of all nights."

"Okie-dokie-loki," Pinkie replies. Turning, she takes in the rest of the scene, her smile shrinking at the sight of Sombra.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Twilight asks quizzically, "You couldn't possibly have woken everypony up yet."

"Weellll… most of the ponies I woke up were pretty annoyed about it, seeing as it's late and all, but once I explained what was going on they were really understanding and some even started helping out! So when the moon suddenly got super bright I told told them to finish up and I'd investigate. So here I am!" Concern fully replaces Pinkie's smile as her eyes move from Sombra to the adjacent roof, "By the way, what's wrong with Dash?"

Twilight blinks in confusion, finally looking up at her many-colored friend, "What do you mean what's wrong with – Dash!"

"'s fine," Rainbow slurs from her perch, "'m totly fin"

"No you are NOT fine. Now get down here so I can see what's wrong," Twilight demands, faint warning bells going off in the back of her mind.

When Rainbow's only answer is a gurgling groan, Twilight lifts her friend from the roof with her magic, gently lowering the pegasus to the ground. Her jaw drops as soon as she sees the rest of Rainbow's body, jagged black lines of lumpy flesh stretching the length of her leg and beginning to spread across her barrel as if fire flowed through her veins instead of blood, burning her from within, "Lunaaa!"

Luna glances up from her examination, "We are standing right here, Twilight; there is no need to yell."

Twilight paws at the ground, "What… does it look like when a pony gets bitten?"

Luna is beside Twilight fast enough to have teleported, the lack of a telltale flash the only indication she hadn't done so. She gasps when she sees Rainbow's injury, "It can appear similar to that."

"Nooo nonono," Twilight murmurs, backing a step away and turning in a circle, "how do we fix her? Cure her?" She looks up hopefully, "Luna?"

Fear twists in Luna's gut, but with a grimace she forces the unhelpful emotion into the background, "I… we do not know. Never before have we seen it behave with such… virulence. In our limited experience with the turning process, it only ever succeeded when the pony bitten was near death already, in which case there was little point in trying to save them and even then the scarring was nowhere near this severe. In a healthy pony it should be almost indistinguishable from a common cold, and should disappear on its own after a few days."

Twilight whirls to glare at Sombra, "What did you do to her?!"

The tyrant's shadow merely laughs, Rainbow Dash simultaneously yelling in pain as the lines of corrupted flesh pulse and spread further across her body. Pinkie watches the exchange expressionlessly, her mane flattening to reach her knees in time with her friend relaxing once the flare of pain subsides.

Luna places a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "Perhaps the Elements would be of use? They were able to purge me of the corruption which led to my becoming Nightmare Moon after all, and what is happening here is as disharmonious as anything I've ever encountered."

"Twilight! Whatever is making that absolutely awful noise?" a familiar voice calls from behind them, "And where did that disgusting smoke monster come from? Though I suppose that probably answers my first question, doesn't it?"

Relief rushes through Twilight at the sound of Rarity's voice, the sight of Fluttershy trotting beside her drawing forth a weak smile despite the situation, "Have either of you seen Applejack?"

Rarity shakes her head, "No, we haven't. She ran all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres, remember? Is something the matter?" She pauses, "Also, is that thing… staring at me?"

Fluttershy's eyes widen upon seeing Rainbow Dash and she raises a hoof to her mouth, "Oh my… "

Rarity's gaze shifts back and forth between the smoke and Rainbow, "Twilight, dear, what in the world is going on?"

Her query bounces impotently off of Twilight's stress-muddled mind, Twilight instead focusing on a different question, How do I find Applejack? How do I find Applejack? How do I-

"Hey girls, Ah came as fast as Ah could. What's goin' on? Why'd the moon get bright all of a sudden?" Applejack asks, galloping towards the group from the opposite direction as Fluttershy and Rarity. Her ears lower as soon as she sees Rainbow lying on the ground, "Scratch that, what's wrong with Dash? She don't look right."

A sensation of displacement answers her questions rather than words, Twilight pulling her five friends along into a group teleport.

For a long minute, Luna stares at the place they had been, at last raising her gaze to the full moon still shining overhead, Good luck, Twilight Sparkle.

Unable to sit still any longer, Luna resumes her examination of her circle only for Spike to run up several seconds later.

"Princess… Luna… have you seen… Twilight?" Spike asks between pants, falling first to his hands and knees then onto his side as he gasps for breath.

Luna nods, "I have. They just left, in fact. I do not know precisely where to for certain, though I would expect them to be entering the Everfree Forest as we speak."

Spike groans at the thought, his already burning lungs like a weight filling his chest, holding him to the ground. The door to the house Twilight had teleported into opens as he lays there, Berryshine peeking out with a fresh chair clutched in her hooves. She jumps at the sight of Luna, dropping her chair and falling into a bow, "P-Princess!"

Spike raises his head and waves, "Hey, Berry."

"Since neither of you are doing anything else at the moment, could you both begin waking the ponies on this street and directing them to go to the town square?" Luna requests.

Spike grunts, but after a few more deep breaths gets to his feet, "Sure."

Berryshine rises from her bow, "Of course, Princess Luna."

Sombra struggles to break free once more, dark whispers at his failure finally drawing the attention of Spike and Berryshine. They stare at the shadow. The shadow stares back.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Chaos explodes through the Golden Oak Library as soon as Twilight and her friends appear – books, chairs, and all manner of other movable objects flying through the air at random while Twilight frantically darts around her home, skimming through the moving projectiles.

"So Twilight-" Applejack ducks, a lamp just barely missing her hat, "-are ya gonna explain why we're here? Or what's wrong with Rainbow Dash?"

"Or what that awful smoke creature was?" Fluttershy adds as she pulls a slowly tumbling Owlowiscious from Twilight's magic and into the relative safety of an empty bookshelf.

"Hooo-oo"

Fluttershy smiles, "You're very welcome."

Rarity steps aside to dodge a slow-moving table bearing Pinkie Pie, "Or perhaps you could start with why you're trying to smash us to bits with this maelstrom?"

"QUIET!!!" Twilight shouts, the floating objects abruptly ceasing their movement. "I need to find where I put the Elements so we can cure Rainbow Dash and all your talking isn't making it any easier!"

"Then why are we here?" Pinkie queries monotonously from beneath her still flat mane, the rest of her friends sharing an uncomfortable look, "We gave the Elements back to the Tree of Harmony, remember?"

Twilight's right eye twitches and several tufts of hair pop out from her well-combed mane, everything falling to the floor along with several of the more delicate objects shattering as her magic cuts out, "But that – but we – we need the Elements to fix Rainbow, and if they aren't here, if they're in the Everfree Forest, teleporting myself that far through so much chaotic magic is already incredibly dangerous and teleporting all six of us is impossible but if we don't get there, if we don't-"

A scream interrupts her, Rainbow Dash's corruption spreading again to reach halfway up her barrel. Twilight's mouth hangs open as she stares at her dying friend, her mind both trying, yet unwilling, to go any further down that path.

Applejack walks over, snapping Twilight out of her daze with a light punch to her chest, "Hey, now Ah may have absolutely no idea what's goin' on right now, but what Ah do know is that we still represent the Elements even if we don't got those fancy necklaces or crown anymore. So what do we need to do to save Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight swallows and shakes her head, the motion reorganizing her jumbled thoughts, "Right… you're right, Applejack; we do still represent the Elements, so we should be able to channel them at least a little bit. Okay, everypony form a circle with Rainbow."

I just hope it'll be enough.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity arrange themselves in a circle to include a barely conscious Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie's mane re-poofing to its usual curly style despite Pinkie's own determined frown. Closing their eyes, each of the five focus on their element, a light breeze swirling around them as they levitate a couple inches above the floor – all aside from Rainbow beginning to glow a faint white while two translucent rainbows arc out to connect each of them to their neighbors. Their unity does not last however, black wisps leeching out of Rainbow Dash's body to surround her in a thickening haze, the shadow absorbing the two rainbows linking her with Twilight and Rarity to prevent them from reaching their friend. The other connecting rainbows begin to flicker at the interruption as well, and after a few seconds the channel abruptly ends, dropping them all back to the floor.

"What happened?" Rarity asks worriedly, "Twilight, why didn't it work?"

"I… I don't know," Twilight replies, cold tendrils of dread sinking into her heart. "It should have worked. The entire purpose of the Elements is to spread harmony, so the only reason I can think of that it wouldn't have worked is it's become too ingrained to be removed without the actual Elements of Harmony."

Applejack shivers despite the room's warmth, shifting shakily from hoof to hoof, "So what's gonna happen to RD?"

Twilight blinks away tears, "She's going to die."

Well, not quite, a part of herself whispers unbidden from a dark corner of her mind. It's your job to grant her that luxury now.

Taking one last look at her friend, Twilight charges her horn, Rainbow Dash spasming as the corruption spreads again.

"Um… I have an idea… "

Four pairs of eyes meet Fluttershy's.

"W-Well… I was just thinking… m-maybe if we tried making a circle around Rainbow Dash instead of with her it might work better, since she'd be connected to all five of us instead of just two?"

Twilight stares at Fluttershy dumbly for a split second, then grins widely, gleefully letting the magic leave her horn, "Fluttershy, you're a genius!"

Their hope rekindled, Rainbow's five friends gather around her and focus on the elements they embody once more. Levitating a couple inches from the ground, a faint rainbow again passes between Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity – strengthening when the circle is completed. They rise a further few inches as the breeze swirling around them intensifies and they start to glow, Rainbow Dash also beginning to be drawn up as five rainbows arc down from her friends to struggle against the black haze forming around her. This time however the unity of her friends holds firm, the shadow surrounding her losing ground until one, then two, then all of her friends connect.

A brilliant white cocoon envelopes Rainbow, an eerie screech echoing around Twilight's library as Sombra's poison is purged from her body. Finally free of the corruption, Rainbow Dash rises to join her friends, the light of the cocoon spreading throughout the entire room before the six slowly descend to the floor.

Chapter 13 Truth

As soon as the magic fades, Rainbow Dash crumples to the ground with a soft thump. Groaning contentedly at the sudden lack of pain, she tiredly opens her eyes to observe her surroundings, though her head remains on the pleasantly cool wood floor. Her moment of rest does not last long however, Twilight anxiously levitating the weakly protesting pegasus into the air to slowly spin her around in search of any remaining black markings. Finding nothing more than a twisted, but perfectly normal, scar just beneath her cutie mark, Twilight gently sets Rainbow Dash back on the ground and looks up at the ceiling as waves of happiness wash away her fear.

She's… she's okay. Whatever Sombra did to her, it's gone. She's going to be okay!

Rarity runs her eyes over Rainbow's mostly unmarred body while Twilight cheerfully stares off into space, "Are you alright, darling?"

"What the hay happened to ya?"

"Quick, Dashie, how many hooves am I holding up?"

Fluttershy draws in a lungful of air, "Everypony SHUT UP and BACK UP!"

Obeying her command with looks of mild surprise, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie cease their verbal bombardment and take a step away, Twilight following suit a second later. Moving forward, Fluttershy lowers her head next to Rainbow's, speaking gently, "Is there anything you need?"

"Water," Rainbow rasps softly, a hacking cough following her request.

"On it," Twilight replies, darting into her mostly undamaged kitchen and returning with a large glass of water seconds later.

Rainbow Dash snatches the offered glass from Twilight's magic as soon as it comes within reach and eagerly gulps it all down, the cool liquid soothing her parched throat. Lowering the empty cup from her lips, she coughs to scratch the last persistent itch from the back of her throat before glancing around again, panting slightly and swallowing several times to clear accumulated phlegm from her airway.

"So… um… if you don't mind me asking, that is, if you're feeling better now, what happened to you?" Fluttershy asks, the uncertainty in her voice wavering close to fear.

"I-" Rainbow swallows once more, "I'm not really sure. I was flying to where Twilight said I should go, but just before I got there I heard the Crusaders shouting. When I found them, they were huddled in a dead end across from some red stallion. He attacked me while the Crusaders escaped, and I was totally kicking his flank until I… uh… tripped. And then the freak bit me, but-"

More coughs interrupt her, prompting Twilight to quickly fetch a refilled glass which Rainbow Dash gratefully drinks from before continuing.

"But then what's-her-name, the vampony, just broke the guy. Not like knocked him out, like, I'm pretty sure she broke his spine. And a bunch of other things. And then she just sniffed the air and could smell the blood from where I'd been bitten. It was preeetty creepy. Anyway, me and her watched him stagger around for a while until Princess Luna got there, she hit him with the moon, which somehow made King Sombra's horn appear and… it all gets kinda hazy after that. I think there was an ambivalent something or other?" she shrugs, sipping at her remaining water.

"So Twi," Applejack says, an edge of anger barely hidden beneath her words, "Ah think you owe us all an explanation as ta what's really goin' on here. For example, why King Sombra is in Ponyville."

Twilight winces, "Um… well… I think it would be better to wait until Princess Luna is here. She knows a lot more of the history behind everything and could probably-"

Applejack steps up to Twilight, the pair nose to nose, "Ahm sorry, let me restate that. Derpy got sent to the hospital, Midnight got sent to the hospital, mah sister and her friends got attacked, and Rainbow Dash almost died. Start. Explainin'. NOW."

*creeeakkk*

Six pairs of eyes snap towards the door to find Mayor Mare slowly inching her head into the library, the mayor nervously scanning the demolished room, "Um… is this a bad time?"

Twilight attempts to formulate a response, but before she can get her tongue to cooperate, Applejack glares at the interruption, "Yes. Now is a very bad time."

"Oh," Mayor replies, her eyes darting between Applejack and Twilight. "Well, everypony has made it to the town square except for a few stragglers still trickling in, so whenever you're ready, Princess."

Twilight forces a smile onto her face, "Thanks Mayor, we won't keep everypony waiting for too long."

Mayor Mare nods and quickly shuts the door, leaving Applejack to return her furious gaze to Twilight.

Twilight retreats a couple steps and takes a deep breath, unused to the weight behind her friends' stares, "Alright, explaining, okay… um… I don't know everything, but I based on what I do know, it all really started about one thousand years ago… "

.

.

.

"and that's why we needed to use the Elements to save Rainbow Dash," Twilight finishes, licking her dried lips and glancing around at her friends. The only sound to greet her completed explanation is the quiet ticking of a clock from somewhere beneath the debris scattered about the room. Pinkie Pie opens her mouth as if to say something, however for perhaps the first time since Twilight had met her, no noise of any kind comes out – her mouth instead closing wordlessly after a few seconds as she lowers her eyes to examine her hooves.

"Wow," Rainbow Dash finally speaks up from her spot on the floor, "that's some seriously messed up stuff, Twilight."

"Which you didn't tell us," Applejack says.

Twilight flinches and lowers her head, ears splayed back, Applejack's steady calmness somehow cutting much deeper than her earlier anger.

"I'm sorry."

A lump forms in her throat as she stares at the floor, tears gathering in her eyes, "I-I meant to tell you, really, but then I got distracted and Luna said we needed to get going and I just… but that's no excuse. I didn't tell you and it nearly cost ponies their lives. I failed, both as a princess and as a friend and… and I'm sorry."

The clock takes over the conversation again, its faint ticking echoing loudly through the room.

After a minute, Applejack's stony expression softens and she sighs, "Look, Twi, you screwed up somethin' fierce. There's no nicer way a' sayin' it. But after hearin' everything that happened, Ah can… understand why you did what you did. Ah still think it was a stupid, foal-headed-"

She cuts herself off and takes a deep breath, "Look, if Rainbow had died, if any of our sisters had died, we'd be havin' a very different conversation right now. One that probably wouldn't involve all that many words. But they didn't. Somehow, everything managed ta work itself out. Ah'm gonna need some time to get over what happened, we all will Ah think, but Ah also know that you're not the type of pony to do somethin' like this on purpose. So Ah forgive you – on the condition that you never leave us out of the loop like this ever again."

Twilight sniffles and raises her head, going through a familiar set of motions, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in both my eyes."

Lowering one hoof, she uses the other to wipe away her tears.

"Well, that's good enough for me!" Pinkie declares, a shadow of her usual happiness returning. Trotting over to Twilight, Pinkie embraces her, "Group hug time!"

"Now that sounds like a wonderful idea," Rarity agrees.

"Mmm-hm," Fluttershy adds wholeheartedly, the pair contributing their hooves to the hug.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash share a smile before joining in as well, the shared heat of the six friends matching the warmth beating in each of their hearts.

Luna's horn pulses one last time at the end of her inspection before winking out, a small, satisfied smile on her face as she raises her head to view the quietly humming beams of energy forming her circle. Seconds later a dim glow appears in her peripheral vision and she frowns, turning to watch it grow in strength then just as quickly fade into nothing.

That felt like the Elements of Harmony.

Strange… what are they doing in Ponyville?

The pair's ponderings are interrupted by a persistent crackle from their shield while Sombra wastes the next minute desperately struggling to free himself, his eventual failure leaving him no other recourse but to angrily swirl in place.

Luna smirks, the slightly chilled air left over from his escape attempt little more than a refreshing breeze against her body, "Your plan for Rainbow Dash failed, we assume?"

She feels a slight tickle at the edges of her mind as Sombra meets her eyes, silently staring back at her.

Is he… ?

Her other voice snickers, Indeed he is.

Luna holds the stare for a moment longer, then breaks it with a roll of her eyes, turning her back to him and instead sitting to watch the last few sleepily unaware ponies stumble past them towards the town square.

"Oh, the horror, the horror!" Roseluck proclaims from the ground, Daisy's leg twitching for added emphasis while Lily Valley lays perfectly still beside them.

Heavy hoofsteps approach the flower ponies, coming to a stop just in front of them. Lily's curiosity grows steadily in the ensuing silence, eventually convincing her to crack open an eye. A maliciously grinning Nightmare Moon fills her vision, the dark creature's intimidating visage mere inches from her own.

"eep!"

Like a vampire fruit bat out of Sweet Apple Acres before Fluttershy came along, Lily races away, Roseluck and Daisy hot on her tail after their own glimpse of Nightmare.

Spike and Berryshine approach Princess Luna as the trio flee, Berry bowing and Spike saluting, "All done, Princess Luna."

Luna nods, shifting back into her usual form, "Good. Berry, was it? Please follow them to the town square as well."

Berryshine rises, quickly cantering away.

"I have another task for you, Spike," Luna says, extending a hoof to block him from leaving with Berryshine. "I must speak with my sister about everything that has happened here tonight, however I also cannot leave this monster unattended. Therefore, I will enter into my sister's dream while you remain here to keep watch." A line of moonlight begins to trace its way along the groove of her horn, "If anything happens, anything at all, wake me by hitting my horn."

Not waiting for him to say a word, the tip of Luna's horn glows and she closes her eyes, a thin strand of magic extending a short distance before abruptly fading out of the waking world.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Spike asks himself aloud, looking up at the alicorn princess towering over him. Glancing around, he walks past Luna to pick up a moon-bleached rock, "Better than trying with my fire, I guess."

He stiffens as a nearly inaudible whisper makes its way to his ears, slowly raising his head to look up at the barrier – and straight into Sombra's unblinking gaze, "Whoa! That was… creepy… "

He sways, his attempts to look away becoming increasingly half-hearted as his eyes gradually change color to match the pair staring into them.

And why would I want… to look away… such pretty eyes… like emeralds… and… rubies…

Pain suddenly lances through his tail and he staggers back, jerking his left claw away from one of the runestones.

Spike rubs his pounding head, feeling moisture coating his scales, "Ugh… what happened?"

"You weren't answering me, so I bit you," Midnight replies, licking her fangs. "You taste spicy."

Spike winces as he flexes his tail, "Um, thanks?"

"I think I can heal it, if you want," Midnight offers. "Never tried on a dragon before though."

Spike waves her offer away, "I'm fine, it barely even hurts. Though next time maybe try not biting?"

Midnight shrugs, "Well I tried asking you and poking you, which didn't work."

Spike rubs his head again, flicking his wrist to send more of the clear fluid onto the ground.

"And when licking didn't work either, I figured I had to try something more drastic."

Spike freezes at her words, then slowly removes his claw from his head to stare at it, a strand of saliva stretching between two digits, "Eww, gross!"

A gout of green fire engulfs his claw, instantly drying it of the liquid from Midnight's mouth. Closing his right eye, he cups both his claws to redirect a second burst of flame at his wet scales.

Midnight meanwhile walks up to Luna, poking a leg experimentally.

"Hey!" Spike shouts, wedging himself between the two mares. "No biting the Princess!"

Midnight looks down at the determined drake, raising an eyebrow. Spike swallows nervously, his eyes drawn to her protruding fangs, but he holds his ground.

Turning away with a roll of her eyes, Midnight steps around him to take a seat next to Luna, "I wasn't going to bite her, I was just curious what she was doing."

"Oh," Spike says, sitting and leaning back against Luna's left leg. "She's talking to Princess Celestia in her dreams about all the crazy stuff that's been going on. And she left me in charge of waking her up in case Sombrero over there tries anything."

Midnight frowns, idly batting at a stray lock of Luna's ethereal mane floating tantalizingly over her head, "I thought his name was Sombra."

Spike sighs, "It was a joke. You know, Sombra, sombrero? They sound similar but they're totally different things."

Midnight continues playing with Luna's hair, the motions pulling a few more locks over to her, "What's a sombrero?"

"It's this hat they wear down in Mexicolt. It has a big bump in the middle for your head, the brim comes out really far, and then it curves back up a bit at the edge," Spike describes, his claws following an invisible outline in the air. "Sometimes there's things hanging down off the bottom too."

Midnight pauses mid-rear, her eyes following an imaginary sombrero-topped Sombra floating above Ponyville. She snickers, "You're right, that is pretty funny."

Luna smiles as she steps from the real world into the world of dreams, watching the myriad doors to the nighttime fantasies of her ponies tumble through space seemingly at random against a backdrop of ever-shifting blues, blacks, whites, and purples. Off to her right, two doors collide to temporarily fuse into a natural shared dream, the colors of each bleeding into the frame of the other. A mote of light floats up to her from below, tittering a question to which she responds in kind, pointing at a nearby ornate doorway of diamond encrusted platinum.

I thought you were in a hurry, a familiar voice echoes from out of sight.

Following the words to their source, Luna finds a nondescript wooden doorway marked only by the carving of a small sun at the top of the frame. Another alicorn stands next to it, her coat and eyes the same deep blue as an ocean lit by the full moon while her undulating mane and tail hug her form, both as pitch black as the void between stars. An all but invisible inky splotch adorns her flank, the gibbous moon at its center completing Luna's crescent.

My thanks, Selena, Luna replies once she reaches the entrance to Celestia's dream.

Selena smiles and bobs her head, transforming into a cloud of dimly sparkling smoke to join with Luna's shadow as she steps through their sister's doorway, the mystic background of the collective dreamscape instantly transforming into a wide open meadow dotted by the occasional tree.

"Princess Celestia, look!" a young Twilight calls out from nearby, eagerly running around a particularly large oak to smash face first into a reclining Celestia's side. A pair of flowers fall to the ground, the sudden impact disrupting the telekinesis keeping them afloat.

Twilight staggers backwards, tripping after a step to fall on her butt. Celestia opens her eyes and smiles at the small filly looking up at her sheepishly, "Was there something you wanted to show me, Twilight?"

"Oh! Right!" Quickly locating the fallen flowers, Twilight levitates them back up, "I-I found these and I thought they would – I mean, you would – n-not that you aren't already-"

Gently taking over for the stammering filly, Celestia winds the stem of one of the flowers into her own mane and the other into Twilight's, watching her young student beam happily and hug the leg of another Celestia from a short distance away. Princess Celestia blinks, glancing around in confusion to find her sister standing next to her.

"My apologies for interrupting," Luna says, managing a soft smile as she watches the dream Twilight and Celestia cuddle, "but we must speak with you regarding the situation in Ponyville."

Celestia watches her other self wistfully for another moment, then turns, a dirt path appearing under her hooves as she walks sedately in the opposite direction, "What has happened to prompt this visit? I wasn't expecting to hear from you until tomorrow night, and certainly not in this manner."

"Well… " Luna replies hesitantly, searching for the right words as she matches her sister's measured pace, "to borrow a modern phrase, we have some good news, some bad news, and some worse news."

Celestia sighs, any hope for her next day being a simple one vanishing before her eyes, "I see. Let's start with the good news then."

"As you wish," Luna says. "The good news is that, all things considered, my meeting with what is most certainly a new tribe went fairly well. They appear to be physically similar to our Thestrals in many ways, and also seem to have a natural affinity for shadow magic; the two I met were able to rather skillfully use a somewhat basic form to briefly evade detection even by me. I cannot say whether such a talent extends to their entire race, but given that one of the ponies capable of using it was only a filly, it seems likely to be a common ability at the very least."

Celestia pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Interesting. Their proficiency with shadow magic will likely cause some concern amongst our subjects, particularly given the increased suspicion of deceptive magics ever since the Changelings were revealed via their attempted invasion. The Thestral reintegration has been picking up steam recently though, so perhaps they can simply follow in the hoofsteps of the gains being made there, at least to some extent."

Luna shakes her head, "We highly doubt that will be possible, unfortunately. While they do share some similarities, there are more than enough differences as well, even without taking into consideration their use of shadow magic. They make their home within the Everfree for one, which automatically means any kind of integration or exchange is… not impossible, perhaps, but certainly difficult. Their diet is my main concern, however. Twilight's letter to you was correct – they are entirely carnivorous, and while completely unrelated to Sombra, they are vampiric in nature as well, requiring pony blood in order to survive. They even call themselves 'Vamponies', in fact."

Celestia looks at Luna flatly, "So what you're saying is that there is a previously unknown species of carnivorous pony living in the Everfree Forest next to Ponyville and they periodically break into ponies' homes to suck their blood."

"That… is an accurate summary, yes," Luna replies. "Though there are likely more of them in other parts of the Everfree as well, since while Ponyville is easily the town closest to the forest, it is also not the only town within flying distance of it."

"I thought this was supposed to be the good news," Celestia objects, a note of incredulity in her voice.

"I may have been somewhat generous in my definition of 'good news'," Luna admits.

Celestia's horn glows and she pinches herself several times.

"A valiant effort, but we cannot allow you to wake up just yet," Luna says amusedly.

Defeated, Celestia rubs her temples, "Very well, continue."

Luna nods, bracing herself, "Sombra is in Ponyville."

Celestia's head jerks up, "WHAmmph."

"And he has been dealt with, sister," Luna continues, removing her hoof from Celestia's mouth. "I did not come here speaking pleasantries while letting him roam free. Rainbow Dash and the older vampony, Midnight, were able to damage the body he was possessing enough to subdue him, and Twilight and I were able to contain him. No lasting harm has been done to Ponyville or any of its inhabitants. He did manage to infect Rainbow Dash, however-" she cuts off another exclamation from Celestia with a look, "however, she has been cured by the Elements. The only problem Sombra still poses is deciding what to do with him now."

Celestia breathes in deeply, then exhales slowly, staring up at her dream's sun for a long minute before speaking again, "We need to move him out of Ponyville as soon as possible. I can be there with a platoon of Guards by sunrise and we can move him here to Canterlot to hold him indefinitely beneath the Canterhorn, but something doesn't add up. He should be dead two times over by now, from us the first time and from the Crystal Heart the second."

"Unfortunately we have no more of an idea as to how he has managed to survive than you." Luna shrugs, "I shall prepare for your arrival though."

Celestia nods, "So, what was the 'bad news'?"

Luna winces, "That was the bad news, actually."

Celestia gapes at her, "Pray tell, dear sister, if Sombra being alive is the bad news, then what in Tartaurus is the worse news?"

"Well… " Luna stares down at her fidgeting hooves, "one of the questions that came up when I was speaking with Midnight was how many vamponies there are, to which she responded that there are only a couple hundred in the entirety of the Everfree since most of them had been killed about one thousand years ago."

Celestia's eyes harden, "Sombra."

Luna's ears lower, her fidgeting intensifying, "That is what we thought at first as well, however Twilight Sparkle made some observations which cast doubt on that assumption. Observations that, in hindsight, seem rather painfully obvious."

Celestia's brow knits at Luna's words, "I don't understand. Who or what else could have done such a thing?"

Luna takes a deep breath, "We could have." When Celestia doesn't respond, she continues, "The most damning, and at the same time the most obvious, discrepancy is the number of undead vamponies claimed to have been killed versus the number of ponies turned. They do not even remotely match up. Sombra's vamponies could have used these other vamponies as fodder to boost their numbers, but given their ability to remain unseen combined with the undead vamponies' loss of higher mental functions upon Sombra's defeat, such a possibility is exceedingly unlikely. Even less so when you consider that such a massive influx of turned ponies would have inevitably overrun even our unified Guard."

She looks up, a pained expression on her face, "However, if you recall-"

"I try not to," Celestia interrupts tersely.

Luna nods, meeting Celestia's eyes, "I know, but you do recall what our ponies were like in the aftermath. Combine that state of mind with the fact that these 'living vamponies' require our blood to survive and therefore would have been forced to sneak into our towns in order to feed… "

Celestia gazes blankly at Luna for a time, her mind slowly processing the implications of her sister's words, "You are saying that we… that we accidentally committed genocide?"

"It is impossible to know for certain anymore as it occurred so long ago," Luna replies. "But, yes. That would seem to be the most likely explanation."

"What – I don't – but – I-" Celestia stares at the dirt beneath her hooves, then plaintively at her sister, "I don't know what to say. What to do. I just – I don't… dealing with Sombra is at least straightforward, but this… what do we do? What can we do?"

Luna sighs, "We do not know. I believe I have made some progress in making amends, but we still know so little about them that any particular plan we could come up with at this point would be mostly guesswork at best."

"Maybe, maybe not," Celestia says hopefully, "how did you start making amends? Perhaps we can build on that."

"We let Midnight drink some of my blood," Luna states matter-of-factly.

Celestia recoils in shock, "You what?"

Luna taps her chin thoughtfully, "It was rather fascinating. Alicorn blood, or my blood at least, seems to not only have some sort of powerful healing effect, but apparently altered Midnight's cutie mark as well. Oh! That reminds us, Everfree vamponies are also able to inject a numbing venom through their fangs. It is quite potent too; had I not been able to purge it with magic, even I as an alicorn would have been unconscious in under half a minute."

Celestia's mouth opens and closes several times, no sound coming out. Eventually her wits return however and she sighs, rubbing her temples again, "Alright, I'm going to wake up now and head out to Ponyville. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some kind of plan before I get there."

"Very well," Luna says with a nod. "We will maintain our watch over Sombra until your arrival."

As soon as the words leave Luna's mouth, the dream begins to collapse, its colors and landscape swirling and merging together until they abruptly vanish, leaving Celestia lying in her luxurious bed. Groaning, she rolls to one side, falling onto the floor with a heavy thump.

"Bulwark!"

Immediately the doors to her room slam open, a burly, heavily armored Thestral running to her side, "Are you alright, your Highness? Does it hurt anywhere?"

Celestia fights the urge to roll her eyes, failing magnificently, "I am fine, however I have spoken with my sister and the Guard's presence is required in Ponyville. I need you to gather a hundred soldiers, half of them unicorns with at least moderate knowledge of containment spells, and meet me by the chariots. You have half an hour."

Bulwark salutes hastily, "I – yes! Right away!"

Chapter 14 ...and two more take its place

Twilight and her friends scan the dark, empty buildings on either side of the road as they pass them, Ponyville's apparent desertion all the more unnerving after the night's events. Fluttershy shivers and walks faster, her imagination conjuring ghostly images of the living dead staring at them with vacant yet hungry eyes. Crippled earth ponies and broken unicorns watch from within the shadows left by the full moon while battered pegasi prowl the roofs, saliva dripping from their hanging maws and all waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. Her hoof hits an unexpected object in front of her and she trips, squeaking all the way down until the ground cuts her off.

Twilight stops to turn and look at her, rubbing the hind leg Fluttershy had stepped on, "Err… Fluttershy? Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Fluttershy admits, determinedly keeping her eyes focused straight ahead as she gingerly gets to her hooves. "Sorry."

Twilight shakes her head, remorse flashing across her face for an instant, "It's fine."

"Everypony alright?" Applejack asks.

Fluttershy nods, "I just let my imagination get the best of me, that's all."

"Well, try to hold it together just a little longer," Applejack says encouragingly. "We're almost there."

Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash trot ahead of the other half of their group as soon as they round the final corner, Ponyville's town square coming into view at last.

"Hey Applebloom, ya here?" Applejack calls out.

Rarity scans the quieting crowd as they approach, "Has anypony seen Sweetie Belle?"

Rainbow cups her hooves, "Scootalooo~, where aaarrre youu~?"

"We're over here!"

Turning around, the two groups of three see Sweetie Belle waving at them from several houses down, Scootaloo and Applebloom beside her.

Applejack narrows her eyes suspiciously at Applebloom as the fillies walk up to them, "Y'all left way before we did, so how'd we beat you here? What've you been up to now?"

"Well, we couldn't just leave our vampony hunting gear lying around town, so we dropped all of that stuff plus my scooter off at Rarity's," Scootaloo explains.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle continues, "and we thought maybe we could get a treat from Sugarcube Corner since everypony is awake now and especially after Dawn said she hadn't ever had any before, but by the time we got there the Cakes were already gone, so we came here."

Applejack gives them a flat look, "So it sounds ta me like you only did what we told you to do once you couldn't think of anythin' else to do instead."

The fillies fidget, eyes roaming while they attempt to rationalize their actions.

"I mean, you had already caught the bad guy, so it's not like we were in danger anymore," Scootaloo reasons.

"And besides, we shouldn't just leave our stuff lying around; it would be very inconsiderate to everypony else who would have to walk by it," Sweetie Belle points out.

"And honestly, Ah thought we kinda deserved a treat after everythin' we've been through tonight," Applebloom adds. "Also, Dawn has never had a donut-"

Pinkie gasps.

Applebloom nods, "Ah know, right? How could we not try to fix that?"

"Anyway, speaking of Dawn, where is she?" Twilight interjects, preemptively cutting off Applejack's imminent scolding, "Did she head back to the Everfree Forest?"

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom blink in unison, glancing first at each other then at their surroundings only to find no trace of their vampony friend.

Applebloom frowns, "Huh, that's odd. She was just here with us a minute ago."

"Hey Dawn!" Scootaloo shouts, "Where'd you go?"

"I'm up here… " a small voice replies from a nearby tree.

Squinting towards the source of the voice, Scootaloo sees no sign of Dawn – until a tiny movement draws her attention to a dim, filly-sized silhouette hiding amongst the upper branches, "Well come on down! Nopony here bites. Well, except you, but it wouldn't make any sense for you to bite yourself so it's fine!"

"…You're sure?"

Scootaloo sighs, "Yes, I'm sure."

After a moment's hesitation, Dawn walks down the side of the tree, doing her best to stay hidden behind its trunk upon reaching the ground. Taking another moment to gather her courage, she holds her breath and peeks around the tree at the crowd only a short distance from her cover. Tens of ponies stare back at her, a few whispering and pointing as nearly a thousand more jostle behind them.

"Great! Now that yer down here, we can start introducin' you. Everypony else is already here too, so we can begin with all our classmates for when you show up at school and then the Cakes of course since we need to get you one of their desserts and-" Applebloom pauses as Dawn's head whips back behind the trunk, her ears pinned to her skull and pupils like needles as she flattens herself against the tree, "What's wrong?"

"T-There's s-so many ponies w-w-watching," Dawn pants. Closing her eyes, she attempts to disappear into the tree's shadow, the bottom half of her body vanishing before her magic sputters and fails. Trembling, she stares at her hooves in horror, random parts of her body fading in and out of sight while stray wisps of magic seemingly bend the air around her.

A pair of hooves suddenly draw her into a hug, Dawn stiffening as feathery wings complete the unexpected embrace – all at once her world reduced to shadow, warmth, and quiet.

"Shhh… shhh… it's okay… you're okay… " Fluttershy whispers softly, gently stroking Dawn's mane.

After a few minutes her shivering stops and she pushes away from Fluttershy, leaving two small wet spots on the pegasus' chest, "I'm… um… I'm good now."

Looking up, Dawn starts at the sight of eight other ponies forming a half-circle around her side of the trunk.

"We're sorry," Scootaloo apologizes. "With all the things we've done to try and get our cutie marks, we end up at the center of attention so much that we didn't think about how you would feel to be put in the same situation."

"Do you… always end up with tons of ponies staring at you after trying to get your cutie marks?" Dawn asks apprehensively, rubbing the last of the excess water from her redder than normal eyes.

"Ummm… " Sweetie Belle stares at the sky, tapping her chin while she mentally runs through their many adventures, "not usually."

"Not as often as we get covered in tree sap," Scootaloo adds, shrugging when Dawn gives her a strange look. "What? It happens more often than you'd think."

"We'll try not to do any a' that stuff when you're around though," Applebloom says. "The starin', Ah mean. No promises on the tree sap."

Dawn sniffles and swallows, a weak smile spreading across her face, "T-Thanks. I think I'll, uh, stay here for now though."

Her ears twitch and stand taller at the sound of approaching hoofsteps as soon as the words leave her mouth, the rest of the group looking towards the now entirely silent crowd.

Applejack smiles, "Heya Granny, Big Mac, Cheerilee."

"Applejack," Cheerilee replies, returning the smile, "I'm glad you're alright. We woke up to you yelling about a murderer and then you ran out as soon as we came downstairs."

A hint of embarrassment creeps onto Applejack's face, "Yeah, sorry about that; Ah was in a bit of a rush. Didn't even realize you were over, actually." She raises an eyebrow at her brother, diverting her gaze for an instant to flit over the elderly pony leaning into his side, "Ah don't suppose the fact that Applebloom and Ah were out and Granny sleeps like a half-deaf rock had anythin' to do with that, would it?"

Big Mac shakes his head, "Jus' watchin' the moon, Applejack. We fell asleep in each others hooves."

He leans over to nuzzle the closer of Cheerilee's ears, forcing a snoring Granny Smith to stand upright sandwiched between them. Cheerilee's ear flicks at his touch and she blushes, "More in your hooves than in mine, but in any case, we're glad you're all safe."

She sends an amused but pointed look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, "You three especially; I half expected one of your crusades to be mixed up in this somehow. Anyway, I take it you've made a new-"

Cheerilee stands stock still, staring at the vampony filly, "Dawn?!"

"Y-Yeah uh… hi, Cheerilee," Dawn replies, giving her a nervous wave.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo glance at each other, then at Dawn.

"Hold on a minute," Sweetie Belle says suspiciously. "You didn't know Zecora's name even though you live in the Everfree with her and you didn't know Twilight's even though she's a princess. So how do you and Miss Cheerilee know each other?"

Dawn's eyes widen, meeting Cheerilee's while she stalls for time, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh… "

"I-I, uh, stumbled on her feeding a few ni – I mean years – uh a year ago," Cheerilee offers, tripping over her own words as logic struggles to keep up with her mouth.

"Y-Yeah," Dawn confirms.

"That," Applejack says, looking at the two flatly, "is one of the worst lies Ah've ever heard."

Big Mac frowns down at Cheerilee, "Eeyup."

Twilight's eyes glaze over, Cheerilee's stuttering response fading into the background as a million half-baked thoughts ricochet off the walls of her increasingly frazzled brain.

She closes her eyes, drawing a deep breath.

Stop.

Allowing her lungs to slowly empty, she opens the borders of her mind, letting all other thoughts fly off into the infinite void of non-existence.

Start over. Okay, now, what do I know?

Fact 0: Nopony previously knew about living vamponies aside from, apparently, Zecora. And thanks to Princess Celestia, what little 'lore' that survived, if it can even be called that, is wildly inaccurate at best and only covers Sombra's undead anyway.

Fact 1: Cheerilee knows about Dawn, and based both on their reaction to and cooperation with each other, they are on friendly terms.

Implication: Friendship requires trust, trust takes time, therefore this relationship is not new.

Fact 2: As evidenced by her lie, Cheerilee did not 'stumble on' their existence accidentally.

Implication: If she did not find them accidentally, then she had to have prior knowledge of them which originated from an outside source.

Further Implication: Fact 0 states that no known lore of Everfree vamponies exists, therefore Cheerilee's knowledge couldn't have come from a written source. Also, had her knowledge somehow come from such a source, she could have simply stated that rather than lying. So there must be others who also know of vamponies.

Conclusion: Fatal conflict exists between known data. Either Fact 0 is incorrect and there are multiple ponies who know about vamponies which, aside from the laughable likelihood of Cheerilee being part of some sort of cabal of vampony sympathizers, simply circles back around to how they would have known about them thereby solving nothing. She herself can't be a vampony in disguise either, since she is quite obviously a pony and vamponies aren't shapeshifters like the Changelings-

Twilight's eyes snap open, not wanting to consider the possibility – yet unable to deny the powerful explanation it provides.

Two species, both of which feed on ponies, both of which are skilled at hiding… it wouldn't be so unusual for them to know of each other…

She resists the urge to stare at Cheerilee, forcing herself to remain impassive.

Well then, let's put that theory to the test.

Continuing to maintain a neutral expression, Twilight dredges up the worst memories of her brother's wedding, focusing all her feelings of suspicion, anger, and betrayal at her suspect.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then suddenly Cheerilee's pupils shrink to pinpricks, her head jerking to look at Twilight.

Twilight ceases her painful recall, allowing a less than pleasant grin to make its way onto her face.

Gotcha.

Cheerilee only manages to back up a few steps, Granny Smith slumping sideways to the ground in her place, "Twilight, wait a-"

A wide purple beam engulfs her body, cutting her off. After a second, the beam fades – a dazed changeling with a dull yellow shell dropping to the grass in Cheerilee's stead. Her unperforated, membranous mane collects limply on the ground around her head while her tail rests behind her like a leaf, both matching her shell's color. Twilight's horn pulses again and a magic barrier engulfs the fallen changeling, lifting her a few feet into the air. Still dazed, the changeling attempts to stand – falling several times as her hooves slide along the perfectly smooth and sharply curved walls of the small sphere until she manages to press her head to its ceiling, using the added friction to stabilize her stance.

Twilight glares at the trapped changeling, "Alright, where's the real Cheerilee?"

"I am the real Cheerilee!" the changeling protests, delicately shifting two hooves at a time in order to turn to face Twilight.

"Right, and I'm your queen," Twilight replies with a snort. "Now either tell us-"

A hoof lands gently on her shoulder, drawing her attention to the large stallion standing next to her, "Ah'd like ta speak with her, Princess Twilight, if that's alright."

Sympathy quickly overwhelms a fleeting moment of irritation and she nods, "Of course, go right ahead."

Big Mac shakes his head, "Ah mean face to face, not with her in some magical ball."

Twilight gives him a hard stare, searching his eyes for any sign of the changeling influence she had noticed on her brother. Finding nothing, she drops her barrier to the ground, the sudden motion causing the captured changeling to topple once more.

"Alright," Twilight says as the barrier disappears, moving several steps away to keep both of them easily within her view, "but if either one of you try anything, I'm blasting both of you."

The changeling stands, starting to stretch her holeless wings before snapping them to her shell when Twilight's horn glows dangerously. The faintly hopeful expression on her face becomes pained as she turns to Big Mac, the weight of his suspicion forcing her back to the ground.

Several seconds of silence pass between the two, Big Mac finally speaking up, "Where's the real Cheerilee?"

"I-I am the real-" the changeling stammers, her yellow, pupilless eyes blinking rapidly to hold back tears.

"Ah see," Big Mac interrupts, his stony expression unchanging. "So then this whole time you've been lyin' ta me, and usin' mah love for those lies as a convenient source a' food, like some kinda parasite? Is that it? Is that all Ah am to you? Dinner?"

"NO!" she shakes her head, sincerity interweaving with desperation, "I mean, sort of, I mean… I-I'm not… "

"Well?" Big Mac takes a heavy step forward, eyes narrowing, "We don't have all night. What do you mean?"

"I… I mean… " the changeling gulps loudly, searching the grass stretching between them for any hint to help explain, "I mean, I am a changeling, I did eat some of your love, but I'm not a parasite and I never lied about anything! My favorite color really is green, I really do enjoy walking through the orchard at dusk and watching the night sky with you and I think your singing is amazing and… " she meets his eyes again, her own glistening, "and I love you. Not just as food, but as a pony, as… as… "

She trails off as Big Mac steps forward again, stopping inches from where she lays to tower above her like an icy mountain, the chill winds of his anger washing over her. The changeling shivers and covers her eyes with a whimper, waiting for the blows to start landing. Instead after a moment all she feels is a light touch under her chin, lifting her head from the ground. Before she can react to the unexpected sensation, another follows, a familiar pair of lips meeting her own. Her eyes shoot open at this, her tongue automatically flicking forward in search of a familiar taste. For an instant it finds nothing but emptiness, then she moans, deepening the kiss as delicious warmth floods her senses.

After a time, Big Mac breaks the kiss to turn to Twilight, leaving Cheerilee to dazedly stare up at him, "It's her, Princess."

His words pull Cheerilee out of her trance. Tears spilling from her eyes at last, she attempts to glomp the larger pony, burying her head in his mane as she tightly wraps all four of her hooves around his barrel.

Big Mac staggers backwards under the loving assault, a calm smile on his face.

"You do realize that nothing she said actually proves anything, right?" Twilight points out, breaking the couple out of their moment, "She could have just as easily gotten all of that information from brainwashing the real Cheerilee, or even just from stalking you both for a while."

"Ah know, Ah wasn't interested in any a' that." He rolls a shoulder, nudging the mare on his back, "There's a thing she's always done with her tongue when we kiss that Ah like. That's what Ah was lookin' for."

His mane emits an embarrassed chirp at his words, Cheerilee's translucent wings rising several inches from her body, "Y-You do? I thought you didn't even notice – you never said anything before."

"Well Ah thought you might get embarrassed about it," Big Mac replies nonchalantly.

Cheerilee withdraws from his mane to smack one of his ears, "You thought I'd get embarrassed, so now you tell the entire town?!"

Big Mac chuckles, "Ah had ta prove to everypony that yer you and hadn't ponynapped the real Cheerilee, didn't Ah? Speakin' a' which… "

He turns to face the rest of the town, his lips bending into a frown, "ANYPONY THAT'S GOT A PROBLEM WITH CHEERILEE, HAD BETTER BE PREPARED TA GO THROUGH ME!"

His booming declaration reverberates across the town square, faint echoes bouncing off the surrounding buildings. The crowd, meanwhile, remains almost entirely still, nopony daring to take him up on his offer, though many fearful stares and angry glares nevertheless meet his own roaming gaze.

Twilight stares exhaustedly at the defiant stallion and the changeling still gripping him, her head and shoulders slumping as she turns to face the crowd as well.

I should have just blasted them.

Letting out a regretful sigh, she forces herself to stand taller, "Alright, are there any other changelings here?"

A murmur ripples through the gathered ponies, furtive and not-so-furtive glances cast in all directions.

Twilight languidly raises her head to the night sky, Please nopony answer, please nopony answer, please-

However, despite her heartfelt requests, a loud whisper carries over the background hum.

"Hey Bon Bon, I think the Princess is asking for you!"

"Lyra!!"

The ponies surrounding the pair immediately pull away, clearing a path between them and their princess. Lyra happily trots forward through the gap with Bon Bon following just behind her, the latter nervously glancing at their friends and neighbors standing to either side.

Coming to a halt just inside the empty circle surrounding Twilight, Big Mac, and their assorted friends and family, Lyra waves, "Hi Twilight."

"S – oh, uh, hi, Lyra," Twilight replies, sparing a moment for the cheerful, minty green unicorn. "So anyway, you're also a changeling, Bon Bon?"

Bon Bon nods.

Twilight sighs deeply once more, "I see. Could you please take your natural form then?"

Bon Bon hesitates, but after an encouraging nudge from Lyra acquiesces, a flash of green flame washing over her to reveal a changeling with eyes the color of dry sand, her mane, tail, and shell identical to her eyes in color though similar to Cheerilee in form.

"Thank you." Twilight turns to Lyra, "And you knew she was a changeling?"

"Yep!" Lyra hugs her favorite mare, wrapping her hooves just above Bon Bon's wing joints, "She told me everything after I got back from the wedding since she felt really bad about the whole brainwashing-invading-ponynapping thing. And I kinda freaked out a bit after that, but then I realized that the fact that she risked everything revealing herself to me just goes to show how much she values our friendship."

"Oh for the love of – just call her your marefriend already!" Golden Harvest calls out from the front of the crowd.

Lyra rolls her eyes, "Well yeah, what kind of friendship did you think I meant? I mean we share a house, hay, we sleep together for pony's sake. Just normal friendly friends don't do those sorts of things with each other." She grins, "At least, I sure hope they don't do the things we do."

A green tint appears on Bon Bon's face, her wings snapping open while Golden Harvest facehoofs.

Spoiled Rich takes the opportunity to step forward, dragging Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara along with her, "Well I for one don't understand why we're even listening to them. They're disgusting bugs that attacked Equestria after having spent their entire lives parasitizing and lying to everypony around them and that one," she points at Bon Bon, "just admitted to brainwashing somepony!"

"Hey, we never attacked anypony," Bon Bon protests, "and I would never brainwash Lyra!"

"It's true, I'm totally not brainwashed anymore," Lyra agrees.

Applejack rolls her eyes, "A'course you wouldn't know if you were brainwashed, that kinda defeats the whole point of brainwashin' ya. That bein' said," she sends a stern look Spoiled's way, "there's no reason we can't be civil until we know fer sure."

Deigning not to reply to the apple farmer, Spoiled's lip curls derisively.

"Also I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine a swarm of flaming bugacorns falling from the sky," Pinkie adds. She taps her chin, "Though I was surprised they didn't trigger my Pinkie sense."

Rarity shivers, "And who could forget that awful queen ponynapping Princess Cadence, defeating Princess Celestia, and outright mind controlling Twilight's brother! Those aren't the kinds of things one can simply claim didn't happen, you know."

*BANG*

The entire town collectively jumps into the air at the cannon-like detonation, its shock wave rattling the windows of nearby buildings and bouncing increasingly weak echoes across the town square.

"Wonderful," Twilight says as those closest to her recover, an overly wide smile stretching her lips. "Now that I have your attention again, perhaps you can clarify something for me. You apparently said that you felt bad about what happened, Bon Bon, but if you really did feel bad about it then why did it happen? Do you really expect me to believe that you didn't know your queen was going to lead a full scale invasion of Canterlot?"

"Chrysalis is not my queen!" Bon Bon spits out venomously, the loud noise having barely phased her.

"So you're some kind of renegade?" Rainbow asks, still rubbing her ears. "That's pretty cool."

Bon Bon glares at Rainbow Dash, "No! I'm not some selfish deserter and it wouldn't be 'cool' even if I was!"

"Look, this ain't complicated," Applejack interjects. "The 'Queen of the Changelings' invaded Canterlot, so either yer loyal to her or yer not."

"That's-" Bon Bon hesitates, looking over to meet Cheerilee's eyes.

Cheerilee hesitates as well, then sighs, "That's because the queen who invaded Canterlot, Queen Chrysalis, isn't the Queen of the Changelings – she's a Queen of the Changelings."

A strong breeze makes its way through the town square in the ensuing silence, loudly rustling the leaves of the trees and bushes as everypony stares at Cheerilee – some with fear, many with uncertainty, and all others with the utter calm which comes from accepting that they no longer have any idea what's going on.

Twilight's eyes spasm while Cheerilee's words bounce around her brain, her mane rapidly turning into a chaotic mess as it responds to the random pulses of magic coming from her sparking horn – sparks that soon become short arcs of purple energy.

"Nope."

Barely managing to pull herself together with the last pieces of her rational mind, Twilight giggles, bringing her magic back under control and smoothing her mane, "Nope. Nope, nope, nope!"

She points a hoof at Cheerilee, "You will not tell me that until tomorrow."

Applejack eyes her friend warily, "Um… Twilight, Ah'm not tryin' ta nitpick or anythin', but… how can she not tell you somethin' that she's already told you?"

Twilight's neck ticks to the side, her gaze not moving from Cheerilee, "You will not tell me that until tomorrow. Right?"

Cheerilee nods rapidly.

Twilight claps her hooves together, "Wonderful! And if you haven't told me yet, that means it's Future Twilight's problem!"

Without warning she teleports to the platform encircling the railing of the second floor of the town hall, a mote of light drifting from her horn to her throat.

"So! I'm sure everypony is wondering why I called you out here tonight. The first reason, and the reason you were all woken up in the middle of the night, is that there was a potential MURDERER on the loose. As it turns out, this pony was in fact KING SOMBRA and-" she giggles, raising a hoof to quiet the townsponies, "and everything is completely fine. Sombra was captured, nopony was permanently hurt, and he's being guarded by Princess Luna, so there is absolutely no reason to panic. And, while everypony's already here, I might as well address the vampony rumors: they are true! Vamponies exist and have apparently been living in the Everfree nearby Ponyville for a long time now. One of them even saved Derpy from Sombra and aided in capturing him, so, you know, they're good ponies and stuff. And lastly, as you may have noticed, Cheerilee and Bon Bon are changelings and, from the sound of things, they did not replace anypony thereby making them the same ponies you've all known for years."

Twilight licks her dried lips and takes another breath, "Now, I know that's quite a bit to take in and I myself am half a hoof away from LOSING MY MIND, but! So far they all seem to be relatively harmless. To ponies, at least. Anyway! The point is, I'm here, Princess Luna is here, I would imagine Princess Celestia will be returning soon as well, and who knows, Princess Cadence may very well come riding in on the Crystal Express in a couple days, so please hold off on judging them until we are able to learn more. I think I speak for all of us when I say we wouldn't want another Zecora incident, now would we?"

"Honestly, getting all worked up over somepony having stripes," she leans back, a second bout of giggling nearly growing into all out laughter until she suddenly cuts herself off. "Oh, also, Cheeriling, Bon Bon, please go to your homes and stay there until I or another princess asks for you. If you're not there when we come to get you, we'll simply assume that you've been lying this whole time and all changelings will be declared enemies of Equestria which, as a Princess of Equestria, I will be able to actually do this time around."

Her eyes roll across the night sky, trying to chase down any stray thoughts, "Nope, that's it, I'm done. Have a good night and pleasant dreams everypony!"

With a wave, Twilight vanishes from the town hall.

Pinkie Pie vaults the railing to take her place after a few seconds, megaphone in hoof, "Okay everypony, I don't know about the rest of you but there is no way I'm going back to sleep after everything that's happened. The solution, I think, is obvious: let's have an I-have-absolutely-no-idea-what's-going-on-but-if-I-went-back-to-bed-now-I'd-probably-have-nightmares-anyway party!"

The crowd murmurs noncommittally.

Pinkie jumps off the second floor, landing in a bush, "Vinyl and Octavia will be providing the music~"

Standing near the edge of the crowd closest to the town hall, Octavia raises a hoof to her chest, "We are?"

Vinyl lays a foreleg across Octavia's shoulders, pumping her other foreleg.

Octavia facehoofs, "Vinyl, when – why? Just, why?"

Vinyl gestures with her hooves, ears flicking rapidly.

"Yes I know we were already awake and playing anyway," Octavia replies, "but you're supposed to ask the people you volunteer for things."

Vinyl pauses for a split second, then quickly makes a few more gestures.

Octavia rolls her eyes, "Before you volunteer them, Vinyl."

Vinyl tilts her head to the side.

Octavia sighs, "No, no, I'll do it…"

Vinyl grins, embracing Octavia in a hug.

The crowd's murmuring meanwhile grows louder, a few groans joining in.

Undeterred, Pinkie hops away towards Sugarcube Corner, "There'll be lots of sugar and free~ coffee~"