Twilight had left the boutique for quite the while. Yet the vampiric unicorn found herself working on a couple dress designs she wanted to finish before the next sunrise. She brought the glass of wine to her lips and took a gentle sip from it. She allowed the rich liquids to lubricate her throat as much as they could. Her eyes glazed over the many papers that were stretched out before her. Each piece of paper contained a design for a dress even more beautiful than the last she witnessed. But in her mind she was thinking about many other things. The thing that kept her troubling the most was the simple fact of the releasing of her slave from her mental hold.
Thoughts of utter madness crossed her mind every so often while only one conclusion was drawn. That same conclusion came no matter which angle she faced the problem. “She needs to be released and I need to pray for my dear life,” mumbled Rarity to herself and just finished the glass. The after taste she had in her mouth was sublime to say the least. “Hm, what year was that to begin with?” she spoke up curiously and turned herself around. The unicorn went looking for the bottle which still stood in the living room.
Her horn allowed itself to be coated itself deeper in the magical aura and the bottle was levitated out of the room, It was brought over to her and the eyes read over the labels it carried. “Not bad at all. Certainly of a very high and good quality. Note to self, try to get more of those bottles,” said Rarity after she saw just what year it was the bottle originated from. Both the bottle and the glass were levitated away from her and set in the kitchen sink before her horn lost some of its aura. The eyes were closed for just a moment and the thoughts were released from her mind.
The mare hummed a gentle tune in herself of a song of the past that had resurfaced within her mind. The tunes made their turn through the working area with peace and a strange calmness. They eased her mind even more over the matter with Fleur and allowed her to continue on with the work. The vampiric unicorn went through the designs like a train while she approved and adjusted them where it would be needed. Though the designs were so good that it was hardly needed.
~~~~
Yet there was one which caused even her own mind to be blown away. For the first time since months did she took her glasses with a shaky hoof and placed them before her eyes in order to see the drawing with a sharper look. Her forced breathing became shorter and shorter the more she stared down to the design that laid before her. “How in the world?” the mare mumbled to herself in response. Surely her eyes most have been lying to her right? If not, she was staring at something wonderful. Something not even she could have ever placed home.
Her eyes had fallen upon a magnificent, sky-blue gala dress. Its design had found the perfect balance between Rainbow Dash her cunning personality and the sheer elegance that Rarity herself always carried. A dress that would be made for a pegasus as far as she could tell, given the created gaps for wings. For minutes she simply stared down to this soon-to-be masterpiece of the fabric arts. The purple maned unicorn couldn't remember letting either Fleur or herself make such a thing and she was simply stunned by the wonderful curves and edges.
Rarity eventually removed the glasses from her nose and leaned back in the chair as both of her forehooves were brought over to her face. They rubbed the eyes and tried to make sure that what she had seen was actually real. “F-For who is it to begin with!?” she spoke to herself in utmost curiosity. She leaned back forward and her eyes then made a quick look at the bottom right of the design, the part where it would be stated just for what and more importantly, for who.
“Grand Galloping Gala dress design, Wonderbolt captain of Squadron six. But that, that’s... S-S-S-Spitfire!?” Rarity stuttered after she had read it out loud what her eyes saw. It was then that the unicorn was hit by the greatest surprise of the night and she leaned once again into her chair. But that time it was deeper than ever and she was wishing it wasn't true what her eyes just had told her.
“M-Maybe, I dreamed about it a-and she actually created it due to the mental connection. O-Or...” Her eyes rolled over to one of the windows and she glazed to the outside world. The questioning tone in her voice disappeared like snow before the sun and got changed with a tone that was certain of everything. “Or I have truly lost my touch over time...” A deep and forced exhale left through her mouth and she left the chair she sat in as a whole. Rarity walked over to the living room where she would drop herself down on her sofa. One matter was solved but the other stood already there and knocking on her door. A thing that always had been that way for her ever since she opened the doors of her boutique. It pained her perhaps more than it should have been doing, but there was no other way for her feelings. Everything pointed to the numerous little facts as they were.
~~~~
“Morning my lady,” the always so cheerful voice of Fleur echoed through her ears of Rarity before she rose her head from the sofa. Her eyes stared at her slave with a dull expression. The other unicorn let out a soft chuckle before she replied to it. “I take it, that it isn't the most pleasant of mornings?” she spoke in the hope to brighten the mood. Though nothing could have done that task.
“No, no it isn't Fleur, for the fact I figured out something last night,” spoke Rarity while she left the sofa for what it was. The mare walked around the room for a bit and paced up and down while she inspected if all the curtains were firmly closed. The revelation and the answers were right within her grasp. Within mere seconds would she have come to know how it all happened.
“Oh? Mind to share what this discovery happened to be?” Fleur asked with a questioning look in her eyes. She tilted head over to one side as she didn’t had a clue what it all was about. Her eyes followed the vampiric unicorn every single second. It was odd for her to see her mistress walking in the way she did. Something obviously had happened, she just didn’t knew what.
“I shall share it indeed with you. For it did so happen that I found a dress design that was completely unknown to me through the pile of them. One that was drawn by nopony else then you, and aimed towards Spitfire for the gala.” Rarity explained as she turned her head away from the curtains and over to her slave. “I would love to know that story behind that, and well now.”
The eyes of Fleur first turned into a bit of a saddened look before they rose up in glee again. “Oh that, that was something I drew while there were no customers to help and all the other chores were done. I made it for fun so to speak, and to kill time a little bit.”
The raging storm in the mind of Rarity calmed down to near nothing after she had heard the satisfying answer, her mind wandered off to other matters that would be addressed. Matters which sent her down the philosophizing road of life. “Time, something some do not have much from while others are having tons of it,” she mumbled up afterward. Her gaze had turned over into the void of eternity while she just stood there like a statue of stone.
~~~~
To the words as a whole did Fleur had to raise an eyebrow. She didn't understood them in the slightest of ways. Maybe for the best, perhaps for the worse. She didn’t knew in the moment and perhaps, might have never known. A thing that was understandable since she wasn't used to them at all. “How do you mean, my lady?” she questioned before she walked up to the vampiric mare. With a gentle nuzzle she tried to unfreeze her mistress for what it was worth and only prayed it would work.
Luckily for her did the mare regain some of her muscular power over her body and she shook her head with light motions. “You will see it tonight again. As for today, carry on with your duties and please, do not disturb me. I just want to sleep for the day, understood?” Rarity then replied before she made her way over to the staircase. “That also means, no mental calling.”
Fleur nodded in both agreement and understanding as she spoke her reply. “Alright then my lady, then we shall see each other after sunset. Sleep well.”
“Thanks.” And then she was just gone. The unicorn walked up the stairs and into her bedroom where she dropped herself onto the soft mattresses with a dangerous smile of utter, sickening glee. A face that only would have been given by a pony who was about to do a horrible deed to another being. In more ways than one, Rarity was indeed planning that.
The plan was going to be to release Fleur Dis Lee from her hold to let her live the life she always had. In Rarity’s eyes was it the best for the both of them. Of course things wouldn't stay the same after the release of Fleur. Thinking that was something that could only be classified as ‘wishful thinking’, it was never going to happen. A calm was bound to return once again over the boutique again. The same calm it had in the first months after she was turned. But it would be for the better, or so she thought. Because that what seems to be working in theory, does not have to work in practice. It meant that she again had to partake in the hunts of the nights. Preying on unsuspecting ponies before robbing them from their very blood.
She laid on her back with her head in the comfortable pillow were her wings uncurled once again from her body. She tucked her forelegs in against her body in a protective manner. Her eyes closed themselves off from the world. With one last charge of her horn were the curtains of the posterbed closed. Once again was she surrounded in a realm of darkness and strange comforts.
An action that locked the unicorn off from the very world and any form of sunlight that could possibly intrude the bedroom. The wings closed in around her body once again and she was off into her deep slumber for the day. A slumber that would make it seem as if she were truly dead as nothing in her undead and cursed body made any form of motion.
~~~~
The day itself went slow for the larger unicorn. While she was making her breakfast, she saw it in the skies. The darkness that was consuming the land before the first drops of rain fell upon the window and made their signature ticking sounds. Fleur sat down behind the kitchen table and took a bite out of a sandwich. All of the sudden she began to shake her head in a disagreeable manner. “One of those days again? Like we hadn't those enough already.”
She hated the rainy days the most out of all the weather types. She had some good reasons for it though. For it were those kind of days that made time progress as slow as it was possible. Nopony wanted to risk a wet coat just for a dress or another piece of clothing. They didn't do it because they could be doing it right after the storm had died down.
And before she knew it, the little tiny drops of rain had become more against the kitchen window. It was only seconds after that, that the very first flash of lightning to be spotted among the skies. The storm broke loose that would most likely would have raged on the entire day, if not two from the sights that could be seen. Her eyes stared over to the utter darkness that could be found outside and she began to mumble inaudible things in herself. Yet the tone that could be picked up made them sound either angry and disappointed.
“It seems to be one of those bloody days again... thank you very much, Cloudsdale,” she spoke and repeated a bit out louder before a deep sigh got released from her nostrils. Fleur shook her head deep and continued on her sandwich while listening to the rain that landed everywhere.
After having eaten her breakfast and done the dishes did the unicorn make her way over to the front door. She unlocked it with a gentle motion of her horn and hoof. Only to end up turning the sign over to ‘open’ at last. Then the simple waiting game of who would enter took its turn again. She walked up to the counter of the shop and simply leaned against it while waiting for things to happen.
Rolls of thunder followed up each other while the skies were filled with light of the electronic bolts of nature's rage. Every now and then the unicorn shocked up in fear at the rather suddenness of the rolls as some came without lightning. Nonetheless she still tried to read some of the newspapers which Rarity had laying around and were dropped on the floor that morning. She managed to delve deep into some of the articles that were stated in them. By some she released giggle after giggle while others were taken a lot more serious.
Of course a simple newspaper doesn't last for hours and eventually Fleur had read all of them. All she could do then was wait for the day to be over and ease her mind at that what her mistress wanted to do with her. Whatever it could be, for everything was better than sitting behind the counter and waiting for a soul to pass through the door in her eyes.
As time passed by even further, Fleur became literally sick of the waiting game and walked over to the working area where she began to work on many of the dresses that could be found there. Most of them were still of the upcoming Grand Gala which was just a couple of months away from the date they lived. Her eyes gazed over everything in a relaxed manner before she would move mountains of work. And the more she worked, the more she forgot the real passage of time and just went up in that what she did.
~~~~
Finally, after hours of complete silence were there the sounds of hooves that walked down the stairs that got caught in Fleur her ears. She then glanced over to the clock for the first time in hours as well. A bright smile came to her face as the time indicated that the horrible, rainy day was actually over. Not a single soul had entered the boutique to as much look at the goods it had or to pick up their orders.
The streets of the town were filled with water and mixed with its dirt, creating puddles of mud that were just horrible to walk through. The rumbling of the thunder was the most dominant sound sounds in the skies. And outside could the souls be seen running if not galloping as fast as their legs could carry them in order to go to their safe haven faster than ever.
“Evening Rarity,” spoke Fleur while the vampiric unicorn made her appearance in her eyes with a smile.
“Evening to you as well. I take everything went well despite the storm that has been raging on?” Rarity replied while she leaned a little bit against the archway of the working area. She had her forelegs crossed over in a slight way and looked over to Fleur with her haunting set of eyes.
“Just a boring day of nothing and working on some orders. But I remember you speaking about having something for me, would you care to share just what that might be?” Fleur asked in a bit of a teasing tone. But Rarity only gave a simple nod in return. She knew it would either have a good end, or a horrible one. For that what she had done, there was no middle road for their situation. As much as she would have loved it, she could only choose between two extremems.
“Why yes, if you just go upstairs and take refuge on the bed, then I will be with you shortly darling,” she replied after a couple seconds and under a faint smile.
Fleur did that what was asked of her without a single question or remark. She stopped everything on which she worked and cleaned the space up before leaving the room as a whole with swaying hips. Not much later, Fleur found herself laying in a rather open pose on the bed and simply waited for Rarity to come and tell her the news. While in her mind she had a certain sets of idea just what would be happening and she flicked her tail up to her private part. She licked her own lips and at the taste she grinned gently.
~~~~
“It has to be done Rarity, you know she drives you to the insane side. Her hold has become too much... If, if it goes further, she and you are losing herself completely! I won’t become a monster of lust!” the mare mumbled in herself while she looked through the working area. Under a deep and forced exhale she made up her mind in silence. The mare turned herself around and walked back over to the stairs in order to ascent on them.
The batwings had uncurled themselves from her body whereas the fangs elongated within her mouth. Their tips were visible on her lower lip but she didn't care. The sapphire blue coloring in her eyes managed to drain itself from them and the red color started to take over. She had turned herself into her full vampiric appearance as she kept walking. Her true ‘form’ as it could be seen as.
She swayed her hips from side to side in a gentle yet teasing manner while she walked into the room. Her eyes got fixed upon Fleur and her position almost straight away. The other mare just watched for a mere second before the tongue of the vampiric unicorn made its way passed her lips under an ominous grin. “Well hello there, beautiful,” said Rarity in a seducing undertone.
Fleur had positioned herself a bit better on the bed and Rarity jumped almost right on top of her. With her wings she fixed her landing to only become feather weighted and then she kissed the forehead of the larger mare with a stone cold kiss. Rarity then carefully went down to her nose before she eventually stopped at her mouth. There would the lips of the two unicorns meet up with one another and erupt out in a deep kiss.
While the both of them were being indulged within the pleasurable kiss, Fleur wrapped her all four of her legs around Rarity the best she could while she returned the kiss equally as deep. But while they did that, the hold on Fleur her mind became less and less. The claws and hooves that held her mind in the grip of the vampony just loosened up with care the longer it went on. With their grip loosening up, they also allowed Fleur Dis Lee to think for herself again for the first time in months. Not only that but also on other matters than just the purple maned unicorn. Matters of long ago and hatred to the brim.
~~~~
The eyes of Fleur widened themselves in a gentle way while even more grip was released from her mind. And when Rarity did part from the kiss in the end, it also broke the entire hold she was having on the larger unicorn. “I release you from my hold, you are no longer mine, my slave,” the vampony spoke up. She had said her last words towards the situation and began to pray to herself.
The flow of thoughts that was blocked out of Fleur’s mind for months finally returned into it at its full force as the hold was completely broken if not shattered. Many memories rushed back into her sub- and consciousness like a cannon ball being fired at a target not even a dozen hooves away. Among those were also the ones form ever so long ago on that unfaithful day at the graveyard included. The loving gaze of Fleur turned into a hateful one almost instantly. With a quick movement of her powerful hindlegs had she managed to push Rarity off of her.
The winged unicorn landed with the back of her head on the floor of her bedroom before the rest of her body would follow up as Fleur rose up from the bed. “How did you even dare!?” she snarled up towards Rarity and she left the bed as a whole. Step by step she came closer to her former mistress. The fire in her voice and eyes was unmatched by anything at that moment.
The crimson red eyes of Rarity were opened and they met those of the enraged mare upside down. She turned herself back up and crawled back on all four of her legs as she formulated her answer. “I thought it was the best for you! But obviously, I happen to have failed at that little point.” Rarity did a couple steps back in order to give Fleur the space she would be needing. With the look she had in her eyes, one thing was for certain. It would be the graveyard all over again but with a different victor.
~~~~
“How do you even dare to consider what is best for me!? I have everything my heart desires back in Canterlot! Would had even more if it wasn't for you. I am terribly sorry, but this is where it truly ends for you, monster,” yelled Fleur before she jumped towards Rarity. It forced her to take a couple more steps backward. The last thing Rarity wanted, was impaling Fleur with her horn.
“Then so be it!” she answered. The mare crawled even further back before she stood still like a rock. Her eyes began to return the hateful glance back to her ex-slave and her ladylike side got consumed by the primal beast she had within her. “I like to see you try, pathetic mortal. Let us duel! Horn to horn, engarde!” If it came down to that, she would at least have entered the fight with some honor. Even though it was near impossible for her to have found it.
With a roar of many mixed feelings had Fleur charged head on towards Rarity. The horn was aimed towards the face of the vampiric mare for she hoped it would impale her. Though the other unicorn saw through the incoming charge and jumped aside on almost the last possible moment. Fleur was then unable to change her course and she crashed into the wall at the same time another thunder roll did its loud turn in the skies.
The mortal mare recovered from her meeting with the wall by shaking her head a couple times. She huffed out some steam through her nose and they came closer to one another. As much hatred there was flowing between the two, they still could give one another the dignity to battle it out with their horn.
The horns of both unicorns clashed against one another with growls and moans as both parties tried to get the upper hoof. But neither of them truly could for the other ways came back. Horn fencing was something not many unicorns even knew it existed because it was one of the few forbidden sports. How both Rarity and Fleur managed to know it, was a riddle for another time. For minutes their horns locked up against the others and they grew only more irritated than they already were. With a huff and a puff, Fleur swung her majestic horn against that of Rarity who on her turn returned the force like it was nothing.
~~~~
It seemed to be an endless battle that waged between the two mares and it was Fleur who jumped away from the scene in the end. She panted deep from the physical exhaustion and had more than enough of the games being played. She charged up her horn while her eyes rose up to meet those of Rarity. “I have had enough of this madness. Just die already!” she growled up towards her.
The vampiric unicorn called upon her own magic before she replied in a stone cold tone. “I am afraid I can not be doing that darling.” Within seconds it then happened, that the two charges got released into powerful beams which met each other in the midpoint. Both Rarity and Fleur were asking - if not demanding - for every single ounce of the magic they had in their bodies, to be pushed out. Each of them was willing to just destroy the other being from the face of the lands.
“Give it up already!” yelled Fleur while she increased the magical power she was pushing out. With all of the physical strength left inside of her, she did a step forward.
“Never, you wench!” Rarity yelled in return. Though she held her footing like a rock. Despite being not even remotely properly trained in magic at all, the vampiric mare added even more force to her beam. Though it was with the added power that the unthinkable happened. She literally obliterated Fleur’s beam as if it was nothing. With the blue beam of magic being unavoidable, it got sent right into the face of her ex-slave. The larger unicorn got send once again into the wall after the impact of magic had happened.
It was when she met the wall for the second time that her eyes went on black. Fleur could only pray for a quick end. An end that unfortunately never came for her. Rarity discharged her horn and she dropped her head in order to get her mind straight again. Within her ears she heard something that dropped from the wall and then the gallop of hooves took over. Fleur had released herself from the wall and galloped down the hallway. She headed down the stairs to the lower level of the boutique where she would wait and lurk for the tables to the be turned around and turn in her favor for the last time.
The winged unicorn just rose her head back up before both her eyebrows rose up. The curling in her mane fell before her right eye as she turned herself around to face the opening of the door. With a hoof it was removed from it and she quickly gathered her mind on the matter even deeper. Yet then came the shock of realization which went through her. But instead of flying over, she galloped as well. There was only one hope in her mind and that was the hope that she wasn't too late for anything she would do.
~~~~
When she came down to the ground level, the sound of magic being collected in a horn, that signature hum of magical power, could be heard loudly in the living room. Rarity feared for her life as the sound fell in her ears. A fear that would be well placed for the events to come.
When the vampiric unicorn appeared in the archway of the living room, her eyes spotted the other mare almost right away. She stood right in the middle of it and just couldn’t be missed at all. Within her eyes she caught a Fleur that stood bipedal and the power that collected itself within her horn became more than it was ever before. Her purple eyes caught Rarity and she simply began to laugh in an insane manner where even Twilight could learn something from. “If I can not destroy you, I will destroy everything dear to you!” she yelled up while her horn was consumed in a purple orb of flames.
“And just how do you think that that would be possible hm? Tearing apart my dresses? Go, go ahead and make my day,” replied Rarity in a taunting manner. She lowered through her forelegs to make a jump attack on the larger mare. All of her muscles were ready to just head on attack Fleur and take her life if needed.
Fleur on the other end, just shook her head. After that she fixed her eyes back on the unholy monster before her. “No, but you will see it soon enough.”
“I don’t think so!” the winged unicorn yelled under a loud roar.
“Too late,” the other mare spoke without any form of emotion.
Rarity’s eyes then shot open as wide as possible. She realized that she had fallen for the trap that had been set up. Instead of talking to her, she should have charged her right away. With a roar of primal, unicorn power had Fleur spread her forelegs to the side. She released the charge from her horn. Though where Rarity expected a beam of magic to be blasted her way, the heat of flames passed her mane. A heat which caused her to duck even further to the ground. Rarity then turned her head over to see what almost hit her and behind her she saw it.
A ball of fire that had made contact with the wall behind her. There it erupted out into even more flames. Flames that began to consume the building like a massive fire. Her boutique was being threatened to be burned down to the ground. Her entire life’s work wouldn't be any more if she didn't do something lightning fast. The only question was, what could she have done?