//------------------------------// // Friends? // Story: Blood and Ponies // by GreyGuardPony //------------------------------// Nopony ever said that being a doctor was easy. Equestria had high standards of medical care. Some of the highest in the world, in fact. Celestia wanted her little ponies to be healthy and happy and so the government bits flowed into the system without interruption. Doctor Clear Health had never been more glad for Celestia’s dedication to proper care than he was right now. Somepony had broken into Green Hill Hospital and ran off with eight bags of donated blood. Eight bags! The fact that somepony would think about stealing even one bag was horrible enough, but eight was unbelievable! Not to mention all the damage the fight had done in the basement and the unconscious form of Doctor Morning Glory shoved into their morgue drawers! But, as fast as the spike of frustration had come, it fled again. Nopony had died, the government would help them get back on their hooves soon enough and the guard would track down whoever was behind the theft. In the meantime however, it meant that Clear Health was stuck covering his fellow doctor’s shift while he recovered. Moving on with his rounds, Clear Health trotted into the next room and scooped up the patient’s chart. Peering over the rim of his glasses, her perused the information. This was the poor mare that had required a massive blood transfusion. Due to a monster attack of all things! While that was concerning enough, the even deeper concern was that she remained completely unresponsive so far. He glanced up at the mint green mare sleeping the world away. An IV drip steadily fed her right foreleg, giving her additional support from the transfusion. Slipping on his stethoscope, Clear Health pressed it to Deep Digger’s chest. The rhythmic rumble of her breathing filled his ears. Everything normal there. A more rapid series of thuds came over the stethoscope as he moved it to the heart. He looked down at his watch, counting the beats to the ticks of the hand. That’s odd. Her heart-rate is far to elevated for being at rest, he thought. Maybe we need to do some more tests. “Doctor?” Clear Health jumped at the soft, but cracked and strained voice. Deep Digger was suddenly awake, staring up at him with wide eyes. Clear’s mind began to race. She had been in a complete vegetative state not two minutes ago and now she was up? Indeed, Digger’s eyes were locked on him, intense and questioning. “Do you...know where you are?” Clear Health asked, managing to collect his wits. Digger glanced around the room. “...A hospital,” she croaked. “Do you remember what happened before you came here?” “I was attacked.” Digger winced, rubbing at her forehead. “How…” “Your student brought you in.” Digger blinked. “My...student?” “Bat pony? Name of Sunny Days.” “Oh...her...right.” With that she grunted and rolled out of bed, taking a moment to fumble for her glasses. The movement dragged the IV pole along the floor and Digger glared down at it for the infraction. A foreleg was quickly shoved under Clear Health’s snout. “Remove this please. I have things that I must get back to.” “I will do nothing of the sort!” Clear Health gasped. “You were in a deep coma due to blood loss! We need to conduct more tests to make sure there aren’t any other side effects!” Deep Digger’s glare was...intense. “I feel fine doctor.” “Whether that’s the case or not-” Deep Digger snorted, grabbed the IV with her teeth and yanked it loose in one smooth motion. Clear Health could only stammer helplessly as she shoved her way past, knocking him to the floor. His clipboard clattered against the ground, Deep Digger’s hooves snapping it in half as she stormed onwards. “Miss Digger!” Clear Health exclaimed. “That behavior is completely unbecoming of you and unacceptable! I’m simply trying to look after your best interests!” Deep Digger paused at the doorway, resting a foreleg against the frame. She seemed to slump and Clearth Health felt lump of worry well in his throat. “Come back to bed,” he said, scrambling to his hooves and rushing to her side. “You almost died!” A sigh that was more of a hiss slowly flowed from Digger. “Doctor...I understand that you are just doing your job. But I have work of my own to do,” she said, turning her head to glare at him. “I can walk. I feel fine. There is no reason to keep me confined to this room!” Clear Health sighed. The mare’s mind was clearly made up and she was perfectly lucid while moving around. She was stronger than she looked too as the growing bruise on his side from being shoved aside attested to. Somehow, he doubted that he’d really be able to keep her here if she wanted to leave. “Very well. But I insist you return if there are any changes to your condition at all.” Hesitation played across Digger’s features and for a moment Clear Health was concerned that she’d object to that as well. But then she gave a curt nod of agreement and he could breathe easy. - - - - Everything about the city grated on Deep Digger as she worked her way home. The natter of the ponies around her, the clatter of cab wheels on the road, every spilled bit of garbage or food that the street cleaners hadn’t gotten to yet. So she trudged along the road with her head down, ears pulled back and tail flicking at imaginary flies. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was furiously angry. Rage seethed under her skin. She was angry that Sun had attacked her. She was enraged with herself for not considering how magic might have interacted with the vampire curse. She was hopping mad that she had no idea where Sun actually was now. And she was incandescently furious at the very fact that her anger was so pronounced. The level of anger that coursed through her was on a level she had never experienced before. She was wound tense, like a spring near its breaking point, or a bomb ready to go off. In fact, as she thought about it some more, the bomb metaphor seemed the more apt of the two. If the wrong pony bumped into her, she was pretty sure she’d explode on them for whatever minor transgression they had done. One realization did manage to push its way through the haze that had settled over her brain. This situation had officially pushed past her ability to handle it herself. The situation with Sun required a bona fide magical genius and that...wasn’t her. She needed Twilight Sparkle. “...I’ll ask for forgiveness later,” she grumbled, making an abrupt turn and changing course. - - - - As she had been rendered unconscious and taken to the hospital, Digger was devoid of her usual keys to the Historical Society’s employee entrance. After considering her options she settled on hammering on the door till somepony noticed the racket and let her in. Still grumbling about the situation, Digger reared up and pounded her forehooves against the metal door. To her surprise, the strikes rattled the whole door in its frame, cavernous echoes rolling through the room beyond. She froze, staring at her right hoof. That...couldn’t have been her punch. She was a unicorn! But she shook the heavy metal door like an angry earth pony! She pressed a hoof to her chest, icy dread pressing in on her from all sides. Had Sun lied? Had she passed on the curse when she attacked? Was she a vampire now? Panic rose in the back of her throat, threatening to overwhelm her. Wait a minute...it’s the middle of the day, Digger thought, the warmth of the midday sun managing to distract her from her panic. Wouldn’t I be burning right now if I was a vampire? It was possible that Sun had lied about that too. But Sun still slept like the dead during the daytime and while she was up and about. However, before she could continue chasing that particular line of paranoia, the door swung open. “Digs?” Sturdy legs pulled Digger into a tight hug and she found herself reciprocating it despite the emotional rollercoaster she had just gone through. While she and Far Sight might bicker, right now she wanted...no, needed a familiar face right now. They held the hug for what felt like hours before Far Sight found his voice again. “I was afraid that you were going to die. That that thing…,” he trailed off, unable to bring himself to finish the sentence. “I’m sorry Far Sight. Things just...got away from me.” Far Sight pulled back from his hug, now fixing Deep Digger with a furious glare of her own. “What in Celestia’s name were you thinking! Trying to bind a monster with the help of some student I’ve never met? Why didn’t you ask me for help? Why didn’t you wait for the Princesses to get back to us? How could you be so foolish!” “It...seemed like a good idea at the time,” Digger muttered lamely. “I thought that if we could capture it, the Society could get the prestige for discovering the last remains of a forgotten race.” It was a lie...of sorts. Those desires were, technically, true. One just had to leave out the existence of a vampire. Speaking of said vampire, there were matters to attend to. “Before I was attacked, I sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle. Did she…?” “Showed up last night. Helped the guard poke around your apartment too. Couldn’t get the damn things trail, unfortunately.” If Digger hadn’t already decided that she was going to bring Twilight in on the situation, that fact would have cinched it. Even with the ritual circle half destroyed it wouldn’t take her long to piece together what it actually was. And that was assuming that they didn’t find the book she used to enact the transformation, or anything else strange in her apartment… ...Say like a set of improvised robes designed for a biped. “Buck!” she shouted, the curse coming too fast to stop. Her hooves smashed against the ground over and over in the sudden surge of fury. “Buck, buck, buckity-buck!” Far Sight jerked away, his eyes wide. “Digger? Stars above! What’s gotten into you?” “Because nothing’s going right! Ever since we found that stupid sarcophagus things have been going straight to Tartarus! It was a stupid stone box! How could there be so much trouble in a stupid stone box! It’s a box! A box that dead things go into!” The bout of fury now exhausted, she lapsed into a fuming silence. Far Sight could only stare, utterly shocked at the outburst. “Are you sure that you’re alright? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call a find ‘stupid’ before.” “This...this situation has just been really, really stressful,” Digger sighed. “I actually wanted to talk to Twilight Sparkle about what she found. This situation needs to be fixed. There’s just so much do to-” “You go talk to the Princess of Friendship. I’ll hold the fort here.” “Are you sure? What about the the exhibit launch tonight?” “I already pushed it back to tomorrow to give myself some extra time. But I’ll get the launch done. But Digger?” “Yes?” “This time, include the guard in your plans.” - - - - Coffee. The rich brown liquid lightly sloshed around Twilight’s mug as she paced the length of her shared hotel room. It’s delicious aroma tickled her nose, stirring energy back into her sleep swamped mind. Staying up to wait for Sunny Days had left her and Fluttershy completely exhausted. Her friend was still fast asleep, curled up under the covers of her bed. While Twilight had gotten some sleep, it had been a fitful bout at best. Everything she had seen in Professor Digger’s apartment was gnawing at her. Taking a large swig of her coffee, she was grateful for the suites built in kitchenette as the flood of caffeine helped push the haze of exhaustion from her tired mind. “Ahhh,” she sighed, before turning her attention to her own bed. There she had turned the covers into an impromptu lab table. Sketches she had made of the magic circle were arranged around the book Professor Digger had used for her ritual. Now all she had to do was sort through the book, compare the runes, and she’d be able to narrow down what kind of creature Professor Digger had been trying to bind! And once she knew that, she would help the Manehattan Guard find it! With a task to set her mind to, Twilight felt even more invigorated and set to work. Despite that energy, it remained a process that most ponies would find incredibly tedious. But Twilight wasn’t most ponies and she flipped through the tome’s crisp pages while humming a cheerful tune to herself. At least she hummed at first. But the more she delved into Professor Digger’s book of rituals, the more her enthusiasm drained away. “None of this is right,” she muttered. “Binding circles are based on forces and life magic. These patterns are more attuned to life and matter.” The general logic behind a binding circle was to entwine the schools of forces and life to keep your target locked in place. Combining life and matter however? Well, there were a few different ways a caster could take that. Bringing inanimate things to life was a standard one. But one could also use such a spell matrix to transform a living pony as well. ...Or a non-pony. Twilight nervously licked her lips, the improvised set of robes that Rarity had found now taking on a new significance. Her eyes flicked over to the still sleeping form of Fluttershy, this mysterious Sunny Days coming to mind again. The pony that had been there when Deep Digger was attacked. This pony that seemed ready and willing to inflict violence upon others. Suddenly, Sunny Days was much more suspect. “Calm down Twilight,” she said, taking a deep breath. “You don’t know for sure she’s this monster. She could be Professor Digger’s student or assistant. A coincidence isn’t proof. You should at least talk to Sunny Days before making conclusions.” Further thought along this line was interrupted by a chorus of pained whimpers from Fluttershy. Shoving Sunny Days aside for a moment Twilight rushed to the side of her friend’s bed. The whimpers came faster now, with Fluttershy beginning to toss and turn, her legs thrashing out in a blind panic. Wordlessly, Twilight clambered onto the bed and embraced her friend. Fluttershy fought against the hug while in the grips of the nightmare she faced but Twilight held tight with limb and magic, setting her jaw against Fluttershy’s panicked squirms and squiggles. “It’s okay. I’m here for you,” she whispered into her friend’s ear. “It’ll be alright.” Eventually, Fluttershy’s mournful whimpers and cries stopped. The struggles stopped not long after and not long after that, Fluttershy’s eyes flickered open. She blinked, confusion settling over her features as she realized who was holding her. “Oh my.” “Sorry. You were having another nightmare.” “Oh,” Fluttershy sighed, her head drooping. “...I remember now. I was...her again. And this time I was attacking Sunny Days.” Twilight frowned. “Fluttershy…” Her friend abruptly flitted off the bed and trotted over to where her saddlebags rested. “I’m going to go look for her. I need to apologize.” “I’ll come with you-” “No!” Fluttershy snapped. The force behind that single word made Twilight take a step back. Fluttershy gasped, shocked at her own words. “Oh! I’m so sorry Twilight! I just…,” she motioned a wing towards the drawings still scattered on Twilight’s bed. “You have your own problems to deal with right now. That’s more important.” “Fluttershy...I’m not sure she wasn’t involved in Digger’s attack anymore. I don’t like the idea of you looking for her alone.” Fluttershy cocked her head. “Why do you think she might have been involved?” “Because the magic matrix Professor Digger was using wasn’t right for a binding spell. But it was right for a transformation spell. And Rarity did find those sheets that were modified to be clothes for a biped. I think…,” Twilight said, before pausing and biting her lip for a moment. “...There’s a chance that Sunny Days may actually be the monster that attacked her. And if that’s the case...I don’t want you to be alone with her. Not until we know more information.” The room was quiet as Fluttershy frowned, her tail and wings twitching as her brow furrowed in thought. “I’m not sure Twilight,” she eventually said. “Sunny Days may have been a little violent, but she did help my cousin and I save a foal. I don’t think she’s a monster, monster. Not like Sombra or something.” “We don’t know what she is!” Twilight exclaimed, unable to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “The only pony that, apparently, had any contact with this creature is currently in the hospital! If I could just talk to Professor Digger, I might-” The heavy echo of knocks shook the hotel room door. Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances before Twilight walked over to the door and yanked it open. “Professor Digger!” Deep Digger slunk into the hotel room, her eyes nervously darting around. Yet, she managed a smile when she looked at Twilight. “...You’ve gotten taller.” Twilight chuckled, spreading her wings. “Really? That’s the only thing you noticed?” Deep Digger chuckled back. “It is hard to believe that one of my former students became an alicorn… Yet, here we are.” While Twilight would have liked nothing more but to catch up with her old teacher, there were more immediate problems to address. “Are you alright? I heard about the attack and I was looking at those magical circles of yours…” “I know. I know. Just...everything about this situation has spun out of control. I need your help.” “Alright Professor Digger. Tell us what happened.” “Well-” “Hello darlings!” Rarity said, bursting into the room. A collection of full shopping bags bobbed in the air beside her head. “I had just the most wonderful...mor...ning..,” she trailed off, looking around in confusion. “Did I miss something?” - - - - After another quick round of introductions Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity listened as Digger told the story of the sarcophagus, the creature that had been found within and the horrible curse that she bore. Twilight could only frown in disgust as Deep Digger explained the details of the curse, as they had been relayed to her by Sun Shang. A curse that traps somepony between life and death? I...I don’t know if I can handle that. “...and I tried to replace the entropy magic infusing her form with life magic. The transformation spell was a useful conduit for doing that,” Digger explained. “But the magic just...tore her up. It was horrible! And then she just flew into this frenzied rage!” “According to the police report though, she was also the one who saved you. Called for help and followed you to the hospital,” Twilight said. “Mmmm. A change of heart?” Rarity asked. “She helped my cousin,” Fluttershy said with a frown. “She’s not all bad.” Twilight sighed. “But she’s still dangerous. Because of that curse, it sounds like she can fly into a rage at the right trigger.” “That’s why I need you! You and your friends managed to heal Nightmare Moon! You finished one of Starswirl’s unfinished spells! Sun is...she’s the last remnant of a whole world that we’ve never heard of. Forget the knowledge she could provide us. She’s alone. Her whole species is gone. She needs help.” “Miss Digger...while I can certainly sympathize for the dear and understand that desire to help, I’m not sure what you think we can do. We don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore. They had to be returned to the tree to stop Discord’s plunder vines.” “Maybe we could take her to the tree?” Digger sighed. “You’d have to get her to trust you. And trust is something she has in short supply. From what I’ve gathered in our conversations, vampire society was a cutthroat den of snakes. I’m...technically breaking her trust by telling anyone but Twilight about her.” Twilight sighed. “I don’t know Digger. I mean...we have done amazing things with the magic of friendship. I guess it's possible that it could break the curse, or that I could find some other way…” “Twilight. I think we can help her,” Fluttershy said. Twilight didn’t even question why her friend was taking that stance. The parallels between Fluttershy’s curse and Sun’s were easy to see. Though drinking blood was certainly more morbid than apple juice. Of course, the fact that Sun had to drink the blood of living creatures was going to force their hooves... “I want to talk to her,” Twilight firmly declared. “I won’t know what kind of pony, human or vampire she is until I talk to her.” “Assuming you do talk with her though, what’s your plan darling?” Rarity asked. “We still don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore. We won’t just be able to blast the curse away with rainbows.” “Well...while we don’t have the Elements themselves, their principles should still apply. Any magic experiments I might need to conduct will need her cooperation. And that means trust. And...well…” Twilight trailed off for a moment, ruffling her wings. “That means at least trying to be her friend.” Rarity chewed her lip. “Well...I suppose that it's possible. Reforming Discord didn’t seem possible either. And he didn’t want to change, unlike this Sun girl.” Twilight grinned, her mood raised by a growing wellspring of confidence. “I’ll approach her first then and we’ll see what we can do for her. We can beat this curse!” - - - - Sun woke up pre-angry tonight. While the wound inflicted on her had closed over by now, her coat hadn’t completely grown back in yet. Instead she had a fine layer of peach fuzz there. A fine layer of a coat that would lead to even more awkward questions by every one of this stupid, stupid insanely helpful little ponies! Her eyes flicked over to the corpse of the shopkeeper. His face remained frozen in terror, eyes almost accusing in death. “...Okay, so you’re not all helpful then,” she grumbled. “I hope you rot in pony hell for what you did.” Squirming the saddlebags containing the books she paid for with blood back on, Sun stalked towards the front door, pausing only to close the hidden room’s door behind her. Right now, she just wanted to get as far away from here as possible. Slipping through the streets, Sun quickly fell into the general flow of ponies moving through Manehattan. A few gave her sideways glances due to her lack of a mark, but most were concerned with their own lives and their own problems. They had no clue that a quadruple murder had just been carried out in their city and so they trotted on in blissful ignorance. Ignorant of the murders. Ignorant of the insects that slithered and gnawed through their society like termites. Ignorant of the monster that walked alongside them. Ignorance had always been vampire kind’s greatest tool and was probably one of the few things that was keeping her alive right now. But now she quivered with irritation at its existence, her tail snapping like a whip, her ears folded close to her skull. Stupid, idiotic little horses completely unaware of the creatures that could be right alongside them right this minute! Then again, perhaps she was just angry that the griffin and those bugs had found her in the first place. It could have been a coincidence. The shopkeep worked with Sugar Shine and the attempt to get his wife back had gone south. Perhaps it had been simple enough as Shine checking up to make sure his asset hadn’t been the one to turn on him. But she was also concerned that it had been a more active attempt to track her. Unlikely...but not something she was prepared to rule out either. She had clashed with these bugs twice now. Silently, she changed her direction, moving to a more random pattern. Any of these ponies sharing the street with her could be one of those bugs and she would be goddamned if she was going to lead those things to Sea Breeze and her kids. She may have been a vampire, but she’d rip the throat out of any mother fucker who tried to rough up a bunch of kids! As she continued along, she continued to seethe. It was taking every ounce of willpower she had to keep her anger from flying out of control. Her inner beast was straining at the chain to escape. The wild vampire wanted to feed, to rip, to tear. It wanted to crush the heads of any and every one of these stupid bug vampires! It wanted to rage and destroy and lash out at everyone and everything that had ever slighted her! Even worse was the gnawing hunger that had returned, burning its way through her gut. How? How could she still be hungry? Even taking into account the healing she had gone through, she had drained four ponies worth of blood last night! Her vitae reservoir should have been a goddamn ocean at the moment, but her fangs were still aching- She bumped into someone. “Why are you in my way?” she snapped at the offending pony. “Because we’ve been waiting for you.” I know that voice… Sun thought. Latching onto that, she pushed the anger down and focused on the pony in front of her. Mint green coat, glasses, pink mane. “Holy shit,” Sun breathed, before pulling the pony into a hug. She still smelled as delicious as ever, but the sheer relief she felt at seeing her alright helped Sun tamp it back down. “Deep Digger! You’re okay! Fuck...I’m so, so sorry I attacked you! Just...that magic you used fucking hurt.” “And I’m still sorry for that. I had no idea the spell would react that violently with your body.” Sun pulled away from the hug, confusion marring her features. “How did you find me anyway?” “I talked to Twilight and her friends. Fluttershy told me where you were staying.” It was just then that Sun realized she had wandered back to Fluttering Posey’s while stewing in her rage. But hot on the heels of that realization, came another pair. The first name that Digger had mentioned and the lavender coated pony who was standing just off to the side in the shadow of Posey’s building. “Shang?” she asked, stepping forward with a soft smile. “That’s your actual name, right?” The scent that wafted off of Twilight smacked Sun right in the face. She was this heady mix of blueberries, raspberries, grapes and just a hint of lavender flowers underlying the whole thing. It was an amazing cocktail of blood that almost made her want to tear into Twilight right then and there. Twilight must have picked up on her sudden interest because she faltered slightly and took a half step back. “Err...Miss Shang? Are you okay? I just wanted to talk-” “Not here,” Sun hissed. “We don’t talk about this shit on a public street. Let’s take it to my room.” Twilight and Digger didn’t object, so Sun lead them to the little room that was hers in this halfway house. As they passed the living room, she noticed that Sea Breeze was reading to her foals in the sitting room, while Posey (somehow) knitted next to her big two headed dog. The serenity of the domestic scene was enough to calm Sun’s anger, at least a little bit. She had helped make that possible and that was something at least. Once they all squeezed into her bedroom, Sun shoved the door closed and flopped down on her bed. “Goddamn!” she exclaimed. “What is it with your blood? It’s so damn potent!” Twilight chuckled nervously. “...Thanks? I can’t say I’ve ever been complimented on the...potency of my...blood before.” Sun glanced at Deep Digger. “I’m guessing she’s your student?” Her eyes flicked back to Twilight, roaming over her wings. “I thought that only princesses had the wings?” “Well, that’s because I am a princess,” Twilight said. “The Princess of Friendship.” “...Seriously?” “Seriously.” Sun frowned as her tail flicked in aggravation. “This world sometimes….” “Was it something I said?” “Never mind. I’m guessing that Digger has brought you up to speed?” Twilight nodded. “She has. I’m not going to lie...this is going to be a challenge to fix. But, I think we can do it!” “No offense, but Digger was pretty confident too. What’s different about your take?” “Twilight’s a better mage than I am,” Digger said. “She’s also one of the element bearers. She’s tied to magic, especially the magic of friendship more than any other pony I know.” “Come again?” “The magic of friendship,” Twilight said. “It’s the bond that exists between my friends and I. It’s what let us claim the Elements of Harmony. And...it just might help us break your curse.” Sun’s gut reaction was to laugh in Twilight’s face. The idea that just...being friends could somehow produce magic and that said magic could actually break the Curse of Caine seemed absolutely ludicrous on its face. But, then again, Twilight Sparkle’s blood was ridiculously potent. Potent enough to add a bit of legitimacy to her claim that she had some kind of mystical connection to these Elements of Harmony. And that book she had read on the history of the princesses did say that those items had been used to both banish some chaotic spirit and Celestia’s own sister. In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose. “Alright Twilight, I’m willing to give you some trust here.” “Great! Now-” “On one condition.” Twilight blinked. “What’s that?” Sitting back up Sun dug the tome she had paid for with blood out of her saddlebags. “I’ve spent the last few nights looking for any kind of books I could find that might be useful on my condition. Managed to acquire this one from a dealer and the pony it describes within sounds like a vampire to me. Even better, the author scribbled a lot of notes in here. Maybe it’ll help you crack the curse if friendship magic can’t.” Twilight gingerly took the book in her magic, making a face like she was holding a dead dog. “Ew. This thing just looks sinister. But I’ll see what I can work out. Though..,” she trailed off a sly smile creeping across her lips. “If I’m going to be studying this, I’ll be too busy trying to help you through friendship magic.” “I’m sure that I’ll manage.” “Oh no,” Twilight said, neatly slipping the book into her own saddlebags. “You’re not the only one who can set terms. You want me to work on this? I want you to go and make some friends.” “...You can not be fucking serious,” Sun deadpanned. Twilight blushed slightly at Sun’s curse, but nodded. “I am absolutely….serious. My mentor told me to go make some friends and we’ve saved Equestria multiple times now!” “How am I supposed to do that? I literally can’t walk around during the day.” “You can meet my friends then!” Twilight said. “I’m sure they’d be happy to meet you.” Sun glowered at Twilight and her optimism. “No.” Twilight glowered right back. “Yes.” “No! I’m not just going to up and admit what I am to anyone else and I can’t really be expected to make friends-” “Oh, for buck’s sake!” Digger exclaimed. “Would you stop being so damned stubborn and just accept that we’re trying to help your ancient undead flank!” Silence. Twilight turned to stare at her old teacher with jaw hanging open in shock, only for the silence to be broken by a round of uproarious giggles from Sun. “Oh lord, Twilight. I’m sorry, but the expression on your face was hilarious! Have you never heard her swear before?” “No! I haven’t! And considering some of the students she taught that’s saying something!” “Sorry Twilight. I’ve just been feeling incredibly...angry since I woke up,” she said, fixing Sun with a strong glare. “Are you sure that you didn’t turn me into a vampire?” “Quite. If you’ve been walking around during the daytime, you’re not a vampire. No, what you are right now is what we call a ghoul. It’s not as bad as it sounds!” she quickly amended to Digger and Twilight’s horrified looks. “I took a lot of your blood, Digger. I was afraid that you were going to die. So I gave you some of my blood. As a ghoul, you’ll heal faster, live longer and inherent some of my vampire powers.” “...There has to be a downside,” Twilight said. “Oh yeah, there is. Without a steady flow of blood, the abilities will fade. And the more of a vampire’s blood a mortal drinks, the more they become devoted to said vampire. It’s an addictive effect.” She pointed right at Deep Digger, her voice dropping to a dead serious tone, icy and brooking no arguments. “Which is why I’m not giving you a drop more. I’ve seen ghouls fully in the thrall of their vampire before and I won’t have anything to do with that shit. Give it a few weeks and you’ll be back to normal.” Deep Digger smiled as Sun flopped back onto the bed again. “Well, that puts me at ease. Thank you Sun.” “Yup, that’s me. Your friendly neighborhood vampire. ...Who can fly into a murderous rage at the right stimuli.” “That’s the anger?” Twilight asked. “Yup. Every vampire has to deal with it. But we of Clan Brujah feel the anger more than others. But I’m still not leaving. Thugs went after Sea Breeze and her kids. I don’t trust those behind it to not try something else.” Twilight frowned for a moment, then ruffled her wings in a light shrug like gesture. “Fine. I’ll stay and keep an eye on things then. You are going to make some friends.” “...Fine!” Sun huffed. “But don’t forget to research that book while I’m off on this little play date of yours!” Twilight huffed back. “Don’t worry about me when a book is involved! Books are my thing!” “Fine!” “Fine!” “And before this devolves into an all night argument, let’s get going,” Digger said, prodding Sun. “Don’t you want to see if this works?” Sun grumbled and rolled back off the bed, allowing Digger to lead the way. - - - - “What the hell was that?” Sun practically snarled at Digger once they were a few blocks away. Then she dropped her voice, whispering in her ear. “This is the magic expert you brought in? ‘Go make some friends’? What the fuck is this?” “Twilight Sparkle has forgotten more about magic than you’ve ever bothered to learn, so I’m not sure you’re in any position to pull rank here.” “Her advice still boils down to ‘go make some friends’! I mean, yes, we kindred aren’t always the most personable lot, but we make friends...sometimes. And I’ve yet to hear of a vampire that friendshipped their way out of the Curse of Caine.” “And things clearly don’t work the way they used to, considering that magic is much more prevalent than it was and ponies are one of the dominant species on the planet.” Sun snorted. “Since when are you little miss sassy britches?” “Since I’ve become really tired of your stubborn attitude!” Digger snapped, whirling around to jab a hoof into Sun’s chest. “This situation could easily be over by now if you had let me go to the princesses in the first place!” “Or, I’d be a pile of ash on the ground!” “Princess Celestia isn’t like that!” Deep Digger hissed back. “Based on what? Her public record? There is a mare in the building back there who had to run from her CEO husband. The world might be wrapped up in a new candy colored shell, but ponies aren’t that different from humans. Hidden secrets and agendas are par for the course.” “If you’re so cynical, why are you even bothering with this?” Sun sighed, stopping mid step and fixing Deep Digger with a deadpan stare. “...Do I look like someone with other options?” “Then, would it really hurt you to just...try things our way for a change?” Sun sighed again. “Fine. I’ll do this. But only because you think it's a good idea Digs.” Digger smiled back. “My opinion suddenly matters so much?” “Considering that I almost killed you, you have the most right out of anyone to smack me when I’m being stubborn,” Sun said, lightly shaking her head. “Let’s try and go make me some friends.”