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// 03 The hard truth 
// Story: Blood Curse Boutique 
// by Rarity Belle 
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	Rarity had quickly made her way back into the boutique, even with her limping manner of walking. She closed the front door behind her and allowed her eyes to fall upon the many curtains that hung before the windows. The mare took notice that all of them all being closed. Which to her eliminated the possibility of her little sister being at home which was a major relief. They also plunged the building in a darkness that she could live in. While sun was going further on its travelings over the skies, it was the light that had destroyed the pool of shadows before the building. Instead it could be found at the backside of the building.

The unicorn allowed more of her magical current to flow through her horn and the candles on the chandeliers were lit up once again. With the light that was created in her home undid she herself from the cloak by a simple yet slow, levitational pull. A pull that revealed more and more of her near perfect body. Eventually it was swung off to the side and hung on the hatstand which found its resting place almost next to the door.

Rarity shook her head a couple times in order to get her mane back into the signature curling. She then stretched all of her legs a little bit before a soft moan filled the hallway. “Home, sweet home,” she spoke up after the snapping of her bones was to be heard. The unicorn made her way over to the living room where she dropped down upon her sofa. The books she carried were placed next to it via her levitation spell.

Over the course of the time, the blood that was still upon it had dried itself up to such degrees that it had become irremovable from the fabric. Though it didn't seemed to have bothered the mare all too much. At one end she liked the different coloring it showed as it created a pattern of lightning strikes. As for the other, that one laid a lot more complicated.

In her mind she was almost ready to start on her late morning and rest of the day during task of a reading session. Before she would begin though, there would be something to drink of course. Rarity’s eyes went over the wine cabinet that stood near the entrance of the kitchen. With her horn still charged was one of the bottles brought over to her and was uncorked on the spot. Out of the kitchen itself came was a glass which had levitated itself out. The bottle poured some of its liquid content into it. When that was done, she got the bottle sealed again and set it on the table where it finally was released from Rarity’s magical grip.

With the glass still being levitated, it was brought over to the armrest of the sofa where it would stay for a little while. The red rimmed eyes of the unicorn went over everything in the room while she spoke the checklist from her mind. “Now, let’s see, something to drink? Check. The books? Check. Comfortable seating? Check.”

There was a small, blueish aura that appeared around the first book which was then levitated up to the mare. It opened itself while the eyes of Rarity read the very first page. “Vamponies, written by Dr. Acula... Nice name,” she said under a light chuckle. The mare brought the glass to her lips in order to take a sip from her wine. After the liquids had gone down her throat, she started to read through the book.

“Vamponies are creatures of the night, neither living nor dead, they need to feed on ponyblood,” she read aloud to herself. But the words that followed were the ones that truly got her attention. “Well hello, this is interesting. The aging process by a vampony pretty much stops from the moment one is turned... The blood a vampony drinks serves a double purpose, not only does it kept the vampony fed, but can also be a source of eternal youth. Returning the creature’s look like as it turned.” Rarity laid her eyes off of the book for a little while as she processed the words. “So, immortality?” she said to herself before her eyes went back and she continued to read through.

Eventually she had read more than enough of the chapter for her feelings and skipped a few pages. Then she came to the page where the next one was to be found. “Abilities... Able to sleep in a coffin or bed... Able to hypnotize almost any creature by either hypnosis or seduction... Stronger and faster than a normal pony...” The mare rolled her eyes a little bit before she started to skip another set of pages. “All fine and such, but where are the appearances. Doctor Acula, a little index would have been much appreciated,” she muttered a little bit in herself before she took another sip of her wine.

“Appearances, appearances... Ah, here we go!” Rarity said to herself after she found the chapter she was looking for. Once more did she began to read it in silence. Yet the more she read through the words that were written down, the more red tears built themselves up below her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “No... this is... no!” Rarity spoke in a desperate voice. In a burst of pure anger did she just threw the book away with all the force she had. “I am not a vampony! I will not believe it!” the ivory coated unicorn yelled before she stood up in anger. In order to relieve herself from it a bit more she accidentally smashed her glass against the wall while the tears were streaming down her cheeks already. The glass hit the stone wall and shattered in countless little pieces as the liquids that were once inside of it found themselves on the wallpaper.

“It simply is not true!” she managed to say through her heavy breathing and soft sobbing. “Not true!” Rarity dropped her body back on the sofa in defeat. Her head landed on the pillow while her body curled itself up in a ball of ivory white fur and purple skin. The discovery as it is was made had taken a high price on her emotional levels. Her horn had discharged itself completely as the book had fallen to the ground after it hit a wall. However, it managed to stay open at a page with an actual drawing of how a vampony looked like. And the resemblance that was given truly was uncanny.

“I can not be one,” she continued to repeat in a sob against herself while her eyes got firmly closed.


~~~~

                
Through the remaining time of the day there were just so many ponies who knocked on her door and were surprised at the closed boutique. Some called for the mare but she never responded as she sobbed on the sofa about her new fate. A fate she never even could have seen coming in whatever way possible. Some of the clients and costumers heard the crying of course and knew they had to back away from the building. For they knew that a Rarity in despair could do some odd things towards them.

After the passage of hours and crying buckets of bloody tears had the sun been starting to make its descend behind the hills of Canterlot. All of it done in order to make room for the night to fall in. Only then did Rarity finally managed to uncurl herself because her stomach gave a little rumble. She hadn't drunk a single thing since she smashed her glass against the wall, let alone eat. With all the force left in her hooves had Rarity crawled up back on them. In the light of the candles it became apparent is just much of the bloody tears she had shed.

With a slow pace she made her way into the kitchen. She passed through the archway that separated the two rooms from each other without much looking up. The unicorn walked over to the cabinet where she saved all of the bread and opened it with care.  Her eyes glanced over the bag and gave a nod. She then levitated the bag out of it. It got placed upon the kitchen table and she pulled a chair back to sit on.

Her face was of course still covered with the red streams of her bloody tears. Which she tried her best to clean it up with her front legs. Soon enough she just left them for what they were and opened the bag of bread as her stomach gave another rumble. Her mind had gone in a near numb state yet with the help of her magic she folded the slice in half. She just wanted to eat it, a dry piece of brown bread.

Rarity took the first bite and chewed it fine before it got swallowed. Everything seemed nice, until she took a second bite. The feeling of hunger remained in her body as the small piece of bread came rushing out again. In mere seconds it found itself back at the kitchen table. She hurled a couple times afterward and shivered coldly at the sight of it as the after taste was simply unbearable.

“W-What in..?” was all she could bring out before a shock went through her. A shock of realization. “N-No!” she said after the shock had gone through almost all her bones. A shock so heavily that it even caused the wings to uncurl themselves violently from her body. The unicorn wanted to cry but instead roared like a wild timberwolf.

Her own ears caught the odd sound her mouth produced. She quickly covered her mouth with her hooves and stared before her with a shocked expression irradiating from her eyes. “Why deny it? All the facts here there, black on white... I am a monster... A dweller of the night, forced to drink blood,” she managed to speak up in a muffled tone.

Tears began to build up below her eyes once more, some already ran over her cheeks. The tears simply followed the natural curves of her body as the ventured down her nose. Only to to be dropping off unto the table while she sniffled softly.

She prepared another glass of wine for herself without much thought that went through her mind and eventually took a sip from it. Against all the possible odds stayed the wine inside. Yet it didn't reduce the feeling she had rushing through her body. “So I can drink, but not eat!?” Rarity mumbled in herself. But only after she had realized that her body kept her wine  inside. “What sense does that make?” She placed the glass aside and stood up in order to leave the kitchen as a whole and walked back into the living room.


~~~~

                
Her eyes simply stared at the books that were laying around and she picked the one up that she had thrown away. The mare curled her wings back up around her body and she took place on the sofa once more. She laid down on her back and her eyes faced the ceiling before the book was placed in between them. Rarity read the whole book from beginning to end. She had to know things for herself, whether she wanted it or not.

“Vamponies are creatures of the night... Neither dead nor alive, often called ‘undead’... They live of the blood of ponies... Can be recognized with their different, red shaded irises and fangs which to popular believe can be retracted.” Those were just some of the mumbles she did through her reading. But by the last line she mumbled did the look in her eyes change in an odd expression. The boney hoof was brought over to her mouth which slowly opened itself to reveal the sharp fangs.

In her mind there was the image of her jaw without the fangs and under a soft and unrecognizable sound did the two fangs disappear from her jaw. At first she found it a bit unreal but as she went passed her upper teeth with her tongue, it was quite real. “Very interesting,” she spoke to herself. Her eyes then got focused on her burned hoof. She wasn’t in the mood to think back to her mistake she placed it back against her chest. Which was followed up by a shake of the head.

Rarity continued her readings further through the book. “Can’t stand sunlight... Hate garlic... Can be destroyed by driving a wooden stake through their heart...” The unicorn sighed while her eyes went over the mythical weaknesses and shook her head again. “Meaning I must be careful around wooden fences... Can’t enjoy the wonderful day... Now that is going to be fun for certain.”

The mare flipped through a couple pages before she started to read again. “Always thirsty for blood... Blood causes the vampony to regain a natural beauty... Can hypnotize other ponies to do their bidding by looking deeply in their eyes and speaking the commands, or through seduction... Sleep in either a coffin, or a bed... The shadows are also a very good place to sleep in, but only the ones who want are able to...” And so it went on for many more hours to come.


~~~~

                
Rarity finished the book in time and placed it back on the ground. After that she made herself much more comfortable in her sofa. But she couldn't help it to just mumble deeply against herself as her red rimmed eyes just stared into the ceiling above. “So in a nutshell, I am a blood drinking pony who can hypnotize creatures and live longer than any being, well with the exception of the princesses that is. Just great.” That was one of the few conclusions she managed to make from it all.

With a slight charge around her horn had she picked up a small picture with her magic that was hung on the wall. The mare levitated it towards her. When it reached the front of her face, there would have been a deep and forced sigh that left her nose. Rarity placed her good forehoof against the side of the picture and spoke her words in a tone of uncertainty. “How am I going to explain this to, to them..? To mother, father, Sweetie... Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack and my little Spikey Wicky..?”

For a couple minutes she continued to just lay down on the sofa while her mind rambled on with many things at once. Through the rambling had Rarity managed to rose up from her position and the saddened look in her eyes turned into a confident one. One that spoke of true and unseen power within her. “I, I just must live on. I can hide everything from them. They must never, ever find this out. Twilight has already bought it, now the rest of the lot,” she said to herself before the picture got placed back on the wall.

The mare left the sofa and made her way over to one of the windows where she simply stared through the curtains. Her eyes met the shadow rich street and they went over everything that was there to be seen. For the ponies that just wandered down the street to the filly and colt that were playing tag with one another. Even the tone in her voice had turned into a much more secure one as she said her words. “I am not a mindless monster, I am a lady after all! The less I make it obvious to them, the safer I am.” It was truly the only conclusion that her mind could possibly come up with in order to make them not trouble about her.

Then she took note of something that was even unusual for her doing. For the first time she could feel the temperature in her house and it almost seemed like a jungle. The central heater was just boiling up the waters and sending them through all of the pipes and doing its job a little bit too well. “Might want to turn the furnace a bit lower,” she said to herself. The mare made her way down to the basement door. When she opened the door before her, the only thing she could smell was the dreadful stench of burned meat.

“Ugh, what is, what is this smell?” the mare spoke up as she went down the steps and entered the basement where she simply looked at the furnace. Yet the looks in her eyes changed within seconds as she gazed upon it. They went from their worried look into one that was ice cold as ice. She remembered exactly what it was. “It had to be done Fancy Pants. I couldn't risk it and you know it, besides, you had passed away already,” she spoke up as if the stallion was standing next to her.

Rarity made her way up to the furnace and charged her horn ever so gently once more. With a simply flick of her head had the hatch in front opened up. Which allowed her to stare into the raging flames. A grin of utter darkness forged itself upon her face. The mare saw that most of the body was just consumed by the raging flames. All that remained from the stallion were some bones, bones that were slowly taken towards the fires of hell, so it at least seemed.

With her hoof she turned on the valve of the gas and after a couple turns would the very fires have lowered themselves down far enough to make the boutique become much more pleasant and not a sauna or a jungle. Rarity turned her attention away from the furnace as the hatch fell shut with a small metallic sound and the magical aura around her horn simply vanished into the thin air. But instead of going up the stairs, she let her eyes fall upon the many mannequins that wore the failed dresses she had made over the course of her career.

“Horrible. All of them, horrible. Why do I even keep them here?” she said to herself as she made her way past them. But her eyes fell upon a certain set of dresses, a set she had cursed since the day they were ever made. “Their own wanted gala dresses...” Rarity mumbled while she inspected all of them. The next one being even worse than the one before in her eyes and she simply shivered deeply. She shook her head deeply before she tore her attention away from them and over to the spiraling stairs. With a near galloping pace had she made her way up to them as she kept mumbling to herself. “Never look back at those, ever again.”


~~~~

 
The unicorn reached the ground level of the boutique quicker than she thought. Once though the door, it was locked the door behind her. The magical aura around her horn reappeared once more and all the candles in the building dimmed themselves deeply or the little flames were extinguished. She took a sniff in the air and the scent of burned out candles did its turn through the building, which caused a smile to form itself. But time had been moving itself faster than she could have ever expected it to go as the light of the moon fell with grace in the windows and shone even through the curtains.

Rarity only had a glimpse at the wonderful play of light before she walked up the stairs to the first floor. As her hooves made contact, the wood it screeched ever so gently in her ears. After having moved up all the steps, the mare found herself in the hallway that went through the hall upper level of the boutique. The look in her eyes had dropped the confident one and was traded in for one with many questions. With a thoughtful moan that made its way through her mouth did she gently uncurl her new found wings and flapped them a couple of times. The lift they made by that alone was already enough to make her lighter on her hooves and the questioning gaze turned into a surprised one.

She gave a couple other flaps with her wings. Her mind remembered the techniques she had gotten during the time she had gained a pair of butterfly wings for the contest in Cloudsdale. One which almost had become her own death. Rarity found herself in the free air all of the sudden and the surprised look got then turned back into a confident one. The unicorn gave a couple other powerful flaps and then she propelled herself forward.

For a mere two seconds did she flew through in the air before her face made contact with the rug that occupied the floor. After her face was it the rest of her body that followed soon enough and she slipped over the rug. What was supposed to be a graceful flight to her bedroom, had turned into a less graceful crash landing towards the floor of hallway.

The mare let out a small moan of pain as she rose her head up and gazed upon the door that led to her bedroom. With her boney foreleg Rarity rubbed her face gently as another moan left her. “Not the best attempt and possibly one of the few times I will actually try it,” she mumbled while her body gently rose back up from her position. It went a bit wobbly due to the sudden impact and not everything in her body had managed to settle itself from it, especially her mind.

The wings curled themselves back around her body and thus caused the mythical and mysterious nightgown to reemerge again. Rarity opened the door of her bedroom with her free hoof. With one last charge of her horn all the remaining lights in the boutique turned themselves off as she disappeared in the darkness of the bedroom.

With her horn still charged, she pulled the blankets off of her bed and allowed her body to slide into the comforts that were her bed. Rarity allowed her sore body to indulge itself in the warm comforts of her mattress and blankets. There was a small, comfortable moan left her body which allowed the unicorn herself to close her eyes. Her head got laid down on the ever so much loved pillow. It didn't took her all too long before she found herself deeply asleep from the events. For the first time since she discovered the horrors was the mare peacefully asleep.


~~~~

 
The unicorn of grace woke up in the middle of the night from a scream that was loud, high pitched and overall deafening to say the least. Her red rimmed eyes shot opened as wide as possible and within seconds she had left the bed and her eyes stared over to the closed bedroom door. Without a second thought that went through her mind she simply opened it and ran down the darkened hallway to the staircase.

The clopping of her hooves gave her position away to every being that would be in the building almost in an instant. With a quick jump from the last step had she landed on the ground floor with her head facing said floor. Rarity stood there with a gentle pant that left her body and once she rose her head up to see what was going on, there was a shock that went through her body. A shock that made her freeze on the spot as her red rimmed eyes looked all around her.

For all five of her friend had gathered themselves by the curtains of the shopping area, which was directly connected to the staircase. The unicorn already got an idea of what was probably going to happen. But her body simply denied any form of movement to happen and thus preventing her from escaping. They only part of her body that moved where the eyes which slowly went over the ponies as she tried to find the reasons behind the events.

“Pinkie, open it!” the voice of Twilight suddenly yelled up. Without any form of hesitation had the pink coated earth pony opened the curtains she held.

What happened was that the deadly rays of the sun started to consume the darkness of the room but it didn't reach the vampiric unicorn, yet. It did block off a possible escape route if she wanted to set it on a run. “Rainbow, if you please,” the voice of Twilight said. The cyan pegasus opened the curtains where she stood by. Again the light consumed the darkness but never reached the ivory coated mare.

Rarity managed to gain some mobility on her body again and she gave each of her friends a blank stare while her voice was filled with fear. “Why?” was the only word and question she spoke to them.

“Why? Because I know what you are,” replied Twilight as Fluttershy opened another curtain. Then the vampiric unicorn found herself surrounded by light with her only escape route being back up the stairs. The round shape of her home was not only to make it a remarkable landsight to withhold for visitors and townsfolk the like, but also happened to be the perfect trap for her.

“W-What do you mean, Twilight?” Rarity asked as her eyes switched between the light and her friends. She had an idea of what the unicorn could mean, but decided to play dumb in order to confirm her thoughts even more.

“Did you really thought I would believe you? You lied to me!” Twilight replied in a cold tone.

“W-What!? I, I would never lie to a friend and you know that! W-Who screamed in the first place?” the unicorn asked. The gap to talk was getting closer and she felt that. Escaping the scene seemed impossible.

“That, was her,” the mulberry mare said as she pointed her hoof to another mare that still stood in the shadows. The mare was a tall unicorn mare with light pinkish mane with a white stream that went through it.

“F-Fleur Dis Lee!?” Rarity brought out stumbling. She recognized that signature shape almost right away.

“You monster! So it is true!” spoke Fleur before she walked out of the shadows.

“Where are you all talking about!?” Rarity yelled at all of them in anger and confusion.

“You know more than well what we are talking about, night dweller!” Twilight replied to her friend in a snarling tone.

“In a normal language please!” Rarity spoke up in a tone of high annoyance but her undertone spoke of utter fear.

“Vampony,” added Fleur in a bold tone.

With the word echoing through her ears, Rarity erupted out in a polite laughter and looked at all of them. “Oh just how silly are you all. Me? A vampony?”

“Out with the games!” yelled Fleur and Rarity’s expression changed into a shocked one.

“Well excuse me!” she managed to speak through her reaction and she allowed her eyes to switch carefully between all the ponies that were present.

“Twilight, just do it. I have seen enough of this nonsense,” the larger mare said and Twilight gave her a nod in response.

“Hey! Can’t I defend myself?” Rarity asked in a terrified tone as Twilight slowly levitated a wooden stake into the air.

“You betrayed yourself when you came down here,” the larger, white coated unicorn replied as she pointed to the purple underbelly of the unicorn.

“W-Wait... N-No! I, I can explain!” Rarity plead as the humming around the horn of Twilight only increased. Behind the ivory coated mare there was a shield that emerged. A shield that truly locked her in her position. She was truly trapped by then. A magical shield blocked her back, as the sun surrounded her from all the other sides.

“I am sorry Rarity, but it is for the better,” spoke Twilight with almost no sympathy in her voice.

“No!” was all that the vampiric unicorn could bring out before she rose on her hind legs for whatever reason. Twilight on the other end made a good use of the opportunity and without a second thought that went through her mind she drove the stake right through the heart of Rarity who stood still bipedal.

The mare felt the sharp pain that went through her chest and the only thing she could was gazing over her former friends as tears of blood streamed down her cheeks once more. Tears of betrayal and sadness mixed with one another. With her eyes that closed themselves after the tears left. She felt back on the steps of the staircase while all the other ponies were gazing upon her with stone cold expressions. Each of them looked at her if she happened to be monster from the depths of Tartarus itself. Even the best friend of the mare, Fluttershy, shared the expression on her face.