//------------------------------// // Ponyville Masquerade // Story: My Little Planeswalker: Sideboard Stories // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// Note: This chapter contains gore, possible spoilers for the ending of the main My Little Planeswalker story, and mild Rarijack cheese. Tread carefully, friends. ——————— Rarity’s hooves pattered gently against the glistening stonework road as she trotted away from Ponyville General Hospital, feeling the tiny droplets of water cling to her coat. It had only just rained several hours ago, and a thick layer of clouds still lingered above the streets of Ponyville, gentle sunbeams shining through and drying the largest puddles into a thin coating of moisture. She smiled to herself, feeling the cool air against her skin. Other ponies would often find rainy days to be dreary, but for her it was refreshing. With the clouds covering the sky, the constant itch of the sun shining on her had been reduced to a pleasant tingle, much more similar to the feeling she had beneath a full moon. While she had grown numb to the mild sting of sunlight against her especially sensitive skin many years ago, she still welcomed a chance for a reprieve. Granted, she could wear a sun hat on clear days, and she often did, but she just as often chose not to wear clothes and let her naturally glamourous appearance shine through. As for today, apart from the saddlebags carrying her groceries and a touch of conditioner in her mane, she was completely au naturale. Rarity smiled, and she sniffed the cool autumn air. There was always a pleasant smell of leaves this time of year, one that was brought out especially strongly after a rainy day. Most other ponies wouldn’t care for it, but a reminder of her own mortality had taught her to cherish life whenever possible many years ago. As she took in the scent, she caught a whiff of the metallic yet distinctly savory smell coming from her groceries. She telekinetically opened one her bags and inspected them, seeing the items wrapped in unlabeled packages of brown paper and tied up with string. Despite her suddenly growling stomach, she mustered up the self-control to close the saddlebags and continue walking. The rest of Rarity’s trip was mostly uneventful, as the heavily overcast weather left little pedestrian traffic in Ponyville. After a long trip across town, she had nearly arrived back at her house, only for her entire field of vision to suddenly become filled with bright pink. “Hi, Rarity!” said Pinkie Pie. Rarity leaned backwards as Pinkie, with the usual inability to understand personal space, pressed a very colorful muzzle up against her own. Pinkie’s eyes were wild with enthusiasm, as was her grin, and as she breathed, Rarity smelled the single most disgusting thing she ever smelled. Her stomach turned, and she had to fight the urge not to vomit. “Oh, good heavens, Pinkie! Your breath is absolutely dreadful! You haven’t been neglecting your dental hygiene again, have you?” Pinkie, thankfully, had enough courtesy to pull herself back. “Nope! I brush every day! But enough about that, do you know what it is today?” “No, I don’t. And I’m guessing you don’t mean Wednesday.” Rarity didn’t particularly want to know the answer, but she knew that Pinkie would tell her regardless. Pinkie’s near-perpetual grin became so large that it almost seemed to be wider than her face. “Today’s the day that Olive Orchard has their unlimited garlic bread special!” she cheered. “It’s the best non-pastry-related baked good ever! Here, want some?” A slice of warm garlic bread somehow materialized in Pinkie’s hoof, and she shoved it straight into Rarity’s face. In the span of an instant, the overpowering stench of the foodstuff invaded her nostrils. She felt the smell snaking its way through her sinuses, down into her windpipe and digestive tract, and upwards into her brain. Her head throbbed with pain, her lungs burned, and her intestines felt like they were trying to leap out of her mouth and strangle her. Then, just as quickly, her body reacted. She let out a beastly hiss, and swatted the garlic bread out of Pinkie’s grasp, hitting it away so quickly that she didn’t even see her hoof moving. “So I take it that’s a no, then?” said Pinkie. She gave Rarity a shrug. “Oh well, more for me!” As Pinkie happily bounced away, Rarity let out a tortured, violent series of coughs, desperately gasping for breath. By the time the burning sensation had cleared itself from her body, the pink mare was already gone. “Curse you, Pinkie!” Rarity shouted at the empty street in a uncharacteristic moment of vulgarity. “That was without a doubt the absolute worst thing I’ve ever smelled! Is it too much to ask that you be more careful!?” She then let out a sigh, allowing the last of her frustration to exit her body. At the end of the day, she really couldn’t blame her friend for not knowing. By the time she finally reached her house, Rarity had been almost completely exhausted, her encounter with Pinkie leaving her feeling drained. After putting her packaged groceries in the kitchen refrigerator, she walked over to her couch and collapsed on it in a decidedly undignified manner, promptly falling asleep. ——————— Gems. Shining, beautiful gems. Like fruits of the earth, they sparkled and glittered in her eyes, dazzling her with their exquisite light. It was a revelation unlike anything Rarity had experienced before, and she could feel the magic enveloping her as it changed her life forever. Her new cutie mark was more fabulous than anything she could have ever expected. Three sky-blue diamonds, arranged in a triangular pattern on her flank, and fashioned into the finest cuts she had ever seen. She marveled at the way their color complimented her natural appearance; she couldn’t have possibly asked for a better symbol of her newly realized talent. Rarity had to actively fight to keep herself from squealing in joy. It wouldn’t be proper, after all. She grabbed as many of the gems in her magical grip as she could, and then turned around to carry them back with her, before a sudden realization caused her heart to drop into the pit of her stomach. She had absolutely no idea how to get back home. ——————— “Hey, Rarity!” “Mmnh... totally lost...” “Rarity, wake up!” “Gaah! No, get away!” Rarity wildly flailed about at the sudden prodding at her chest, and she tipped over the edge of the couch, falling face-first to the floor. She looked up to see her younger sister staring at her with wide eyes, her school saddlebag still hung around her sides. “Are you okay?” “Yes, I believe so,” Rarity replied, standing up onto her hooves. With a glow of her horn, any hairs in her mane that were out of place were put back to their usual position. “Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here?” “I’m glad you asked!” said Sweetie Belle with a grin. “Diamond Tiara is throwing a party next week, and she invited everypony in school! I was wondering, do you think you could make a dress for the occasion? I even designed it myself and everything!” “You... designed it yourself?” said Rarity, unable to mask the incredulity in her voice. “Uh-huh!” said Sweetie Belle. Her horn shimmered, and she reached into her saddlebags to pull out a scrap of paper, giving it over to Rarity. “Here, what do you think?” Rarity held the paper in her hoof, eying Sweetie Belle’s crude picture of herself drawn in crayon. The dress she was wearing was... well, it was horrible. There was no way around it without lying: clashing colors, nonsensical designs, and no rhyme or reason to the stitches or patterns. It almost hurt her to look at. “It’s... it’s wonderful, dear,” Rarity said, her mouth twitching as she forced a smile. It was then that she noticed something else aside from the dress, a small band of grey crayon on Sweetie’s horn. “Hmm? Sweetie Belle, what’s that you have on your horn?” “It’s a silver horn ring!” said Sweetie Belle. “It really brings out my eyes, don’t you think? What do you say, could you make it for me? Pretty please?” Rarity’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. “S-s-s-silver!? N-now, hold on a minute! Are you absolutely certain you don’t want some other kind of ring? Like maybe gold? Platinum? Anything else?” “What? No!” said Sweetie Belle. “I don’t want to show off, I just want to look fancy! Could you please make the outfit for me? Pleaaassssse?” She stared up at her older sister with puppy-dog eyes, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly. It was a trick that she had learned from Rarity several years ago, one that she had frequently made use of on her older sister. “Oh, alright, fine,” Rarity relented. “I’ll make you your dress, and your ring as well. I’ll have them both ready for you by Monday.” “Yay!” Sweetie Belle cheered, and wrapped her front hooves around Rarity’s torso in a hug! “Thank you, Rarity! You’re the best!” “It’s no trouble at all, darling,” Rarity replied, returning the gesture. “Now run along now, I have a lot of work to do if I’m to get this finished by the end of the week.” “Sure thing!” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ll see you later!” Rarity waved Sweetie Belle as she happily pranced out the door. When her younger sister was finally out of sight, she slouched over in defeat. “A silver ring... Just what have I gotten myself into?” ——————— The next four days had gone by in a haze of frightening anticipation. Rarity had worked on plenty of other orders, and she’d remained just as gorgeous in the eyes of the townsponies as ever, but all of it had barely registered through the dread that clouded her mind. Yet even still, she remained as determined as ever to finish the gift for her sister. When the weekend arrived, she’d set aside all the spare time she had to work on the dress Sweetie Belle had designed. On several occasions she had to stop to retch at the hideous juxtaposition of colors and patterns, and for a moment she even thought of removing her red-rimmed work glasses just so the dress would be harder for her to see. Either way she worked tirelessly to complete the outfit as closely to Sweetie Belle’s design as possible, unable to bear the thought of disappointing the only sibling she’d ever known. It was Sunday night when the dress was finally completed. Rarity hung it up on a rack next to her working desk, taking a good look at the finished product. “It’s... not as bad as I thought it would be,” she admitted, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “I just hope her classmates don’t make fun of her for it.” Her horn lit up, and a curtain was lifted over the dress, making sure she didn’t need to see it any more than she needed to. What came next was the part that she had been dreading all week. Working with precious metals was admittedly not her expertise, but her designs did occasionally call for a touch of gold or platinum, and she had enough basic knowledge of the craft to smith quality accessories in her workshop. Silver, of course, was another story. She levitated a tiny cardboard box from her side, a custom order of silver wire she had made late Wednesday night, and lifted it towards her desk. Already she could feel the metal held within resisting her magical aura, and she struggled to prevent the box from falling out of her grasp. With a strained effort, she finally managed to place the box on top of her desk. With an audible gulp she slowly and carefully pulled away the packaging tape, prying the lid of the box open. “Here goes nothing...” Peering over her desk, Rarity lifted a pair of jewelry-making pliers with her magic, and carefully moved to pinch one of the silver wires between them. Then, as soon as the precious metal made contact with the pliers, an intense fire shot through her horn. Rarity let out a shriek of agony, her magical grip on the pliers shattering instantly as it clattered onto the surface of the desk. “Oh sweet merciful Luna’s voice, it burns!” Rarity desperately lifted a hoof up to her horn, gently rubbing it in an attempt to soothe the pain. As the burning within it subsided, she was left feeling utterly bewildered. How could she have been hurt if she didn’t even touch the wire? Then, as soon as she had asked the question in her mind, the answer came to her. It was so obvious that she almost felt like slapping herself. True silver would refuse to interact with her in every possible manner, including her magic. Her aura was still surrounding the pliers when it made contact with the wire. “Looks like I have to do this the old fashioned way,” Rarity moaned. She sat up at her desk and reached to grab the pliers in her hooves. Holding it in her grip, she slowly moved to pick up the wire, struggling to keep her forelegs from shaking. Her fearful shivering only intensified when she grabbed the wire in the pliers’ grasp, and every hair on her body stood on end. “C-careful... careful now...” Rarity moved to bend the wire in the first step towards crafting the ring, a task which proved to be much more difficult by her constant shaking. Unable to control her terrified shuddering, her foreleg suddenly slipped, and the wire was propelled out of the pliers, heading straight towards her torso. The last thing she felt before blacking out was an overwhelming agony piercing straight into her chest. ——————— It had been hours since she left the cliff where she had discovered her talent, yet exactly how many she couldn’t tell. It must have been almost an entire day, since it was well into the morning when her destiny had forcibly dragged her out into the countryside, and now the sun had already dipped below the horizon. Her aimless wandering brought her to a tiny dirt road, way out in the middle of nowhere. Rolling hills and green pastures dotted with the occasional tree extended in both directions as far as the eye could see. As the night fell, a dense fog had begun to roll in, obscuring anything beyond a dozen feet in any given direction. No longer able to see the Canterhorn in the distance, she couldn’t even use Canterlot Castle as a landmark to know how close to Ponyville she was. Her parents must have been so terribly worried. She’d hoped they would be happy to see she’d received her cutie mark, but now they would likely just be happy to see her alive again. Rarity’s ears swiveled, and a sound made itself clear on the edge of her awareness. It was quiet at first, but it rapidly grew louder by the moment. She turned around to see a stagecoach driven by a pair of massive stallions, just several feet away from her and rapidly approaching. And then, in an instant, her entire world exploded in pain as she was trampled underhoof. ——————— “Rarity, I’m back!” Sweetie Belle forcefully pushed the door to her older sister’s house open. Rarity had promised her dress would be finished by that day, and she couldn’t have been more excited to see it. She was so excited that hadn’t been able to pay attention in school all day, and even the usual Monday blues couldn’t keep her spirits down. As soon as she’d entered the house, she immediately noticed something was amiss. The lights were turned off, and Rarity herself was nowhere to be found. Opalescence suddenly bolted down the stairs and ran towards Sweetie Belle. The white cat stopped just before her and wrapped her paws around Sweetie’s forelegs, meowing loudly and desperately. She almost looked to be on the verge of tears. “Huh? What’s the matter, Opal? Is something wrong?” Opalescence responded by beckoning Sweetie Belle with a gesture of her head and running up the stairs. Sweetie Belle followed suit, hoofs loudly scuffing the floor as she ran after. “Opal, what’s going on? Is everything—” Sweetie’s words were cut of by a scream as she burst into her sister’s personal workroom. There, lying on the ground in front of the desk, was Rarity, her eyes glazed over and her body lying limp. A single wire of silver was embedded deep within her chest; the massive amounts of blood that had spilled itself from the wound having long since coagulated into a solid mass. “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle called out. “Rarity, speak to me!” Rarity’s body twitched slightly, and an unintelligible gurgle escaped from her throat. “No! No! This can’t be happening!” Sweetie Belle’s breath became quick and shallow, her heart beating so fast that it threatened to burst out of her chest. “What do I do!? What do I do!?” Opalescence looked up at Sweetie Belle and mewled at her with pleading eyes. “Y-you’re right! I have to get help! I’ve gotta find somepony!” Sweetie Belle sprinted down the stairs and bolted out the doorway, running faster than she’d ever run before. ——————— “Wait, hold up. You two fought a kraken?” Starlight Glimmer stared at Twilight incredulously, and then quietly sipped from her tea cup. The two of them were enjoying a very pleasant afternoon meal together in the throne room, chatting about the many things they’d learned over the past several months. “That’s right,” Twilight responded, beaming. “And if it hadn’t been for his time magic, I’d have been done for. Honestly, I really don’t understand why he insists on working in secret. The Gatewatch could really use somepony with that kind of power.” Starlight gave a sheepish grin, and laughed nervously. “Y-yeah, he really is something...” Twilight eyed her former pupil with concern. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” “No, no! It’s nothing at all, really!” Starlight hastily replied. “Is um... there anything else interesting you’ve found on your travels?” “Oh, lots!” said Twilight. “For example, did you know that on the plane of Kamigawa, there’s a magical divining artifact known as a journeyer’s kite?” Starlight’s eyes visibly brightened at the mention of the artifact. “Oooh, no! Tell me more!” Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth, giggling lightly. “I thought you might like to hear about that. The magical theory behind it is actually really fascinating. The way it works is—” SLAM! The door to Twilight’s castle exploded open with a startling noise, causing Twilight to nearly jump out of her seat. Beyond the doors was Sweetie Belle, who ran up to Twilight in a blur of white and pastel colors, her eyes watering and laden with panic. She wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s midsection, using her grip to hold herself upright as she nearly collapsed from exhaustion. “Twilight... Rarity... H-help...” “Sweetie Belle?” said Twilight. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” “Please, you’ve got to help!” said Sweetie Belle. “It’s Rarity! Her life’s in grave danger!” “WHAT!?” Twilight and Starlight both shouted out in unison. Sweetie Belle pulled her legs around Twilight even tighter, letting her tears fall freely onto Twilight’s coat. “Please! She’s at her house, and she’s really badly hurt! The hospital’s so far away that she could be dead by the time I get there! I don’t know what else to do! Please help!” Twilight could feel her head begin to swim. It couldn’t happen. Rarity couldn’t be dying. The very idea of it was unthinkable. With her resolve hardening, she turned to meet her pupil with a steely-eyed gaze. “Starlight. Get the girls and tell them to meet me at Rarity’s house immediately. And tell them it’s an emergency!” “Huh? I mean, yes, of course! Right away!” There was a flash of light from Starlight Glimmer’s horn, and when it subsided, she had disappeared. In her panic, she hadn’t even bothered to use the long-distance teleportation technique that Twilight had shown her. Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle, who had buried her face into Twilight’s chest, sobbing quietly. “Come on Sweetie, we have to move quickly,” said Twilight. “R-right,” said Sweetie Belle, pulling herself away. “Come on then, let’s go!” Exchanging each other one last glance, Twilight and Sweetie Belle ran out the door as fast as their legs could carry them. ——————— It wasn’t long before Starlight Glimmer had returned to Twilight with Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash in tow. They gathered before Rarity in her workroom, surveying the grisly scene. The sight of her body impaled on silver wire had evoked a number of reactions from each of them. Pinkie and Rainbow gaped in horror, Fluttershy covered her eyes with her wings and sobbed in the corner, while Applejack watched silently, looking as though she could break down crying herself at any moment. Twilight had told Sweetie Belle to wait downstairs, and she had been more than willing to do so, unable to bring herself to look at her sister’s injury again. Starlight Glimmer approached Twilight and looked her straight in the eye, ears folded sharply against her head. “Does... does Spike know about this?” Twilight shook her head. “No... he’s still out helping a diplomatic meeting between the changelings and the dragons.” In a way she was glad that Spike wasn’t here to see what had happened, it would be utterly devastating to him. Applejack removed her hat from her head and held it tightly against her chest. “Is there anything you can do to save her?” “I... I don’t know,” said Twilight. “But I’ll do everything that I can.” As Twilight approached Rarity’s body, she was forced to hold her breath at the terrible smell of the congealed blood that surrounded her. Her tail whipped itself back and forth, shooing away the flies that had already begun to gather around the decaying bodily fluids. It was easy enough to see what had injured her: the silver wire had impaled itself straight into Rarity’s chest. Curling her nose as she examined it closer, Twilight noticed that it had looked to burn away the flesh that it had punctured through, yet unlike a true burn it had not caused the wound to become cauterized at all. She also noticed that Rarity’s coat had seemed to lose a its natural sheen: it was much duller, almost grey, no longer the gleaming white it used to be. Twilight reached into her own memory, calling upon the anatomy textbooks that she’d read as a filly, and recalled the location of the major organs within the body. To her relief, it appeared as though the silver wire had missed Rarity’s heart, and was likely to have punctured her lung instead. With as much precision as she could possibly muster, Twilight surrounded the wire with her magic, and gently pulled it out of Rarity’s body. To her horror, the blood that covered the end that had driven itself into Rarity had also begun to congeal. If the blood inside of Rarity’s body had started to decay, then that could only mean... No, it couldn’t. It couldn’t happen. She refused to believe it; the multiverse would never be so cruel. Yet more and more, the truth seemed impossible to avoid. Twilight turned to face her friends, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. As she spoke, she couldn’t stop her voice from shaking. “Girls, I... I-I’m afraid I have some bad news.” All at once, the whole room went silent. It was as though the entire world had come to a sudden stop. Applejack was the first to realize what Twilight had tried to say, but couldn’t bring herself to. “No. Nuh-uh. You’re lying. Ah know you’re lying.” “Applejack, please...” “You shut your damn mouth, Twilight!” Twilight’s mouth dropped open in shock; in all her life she didn’t think she’d ever heard any of her friends swear. “Ah don’t know what kind of sick joke you think this is, but it ain’t funny! You really expect me believe that Rarity is... That she’s...” Her body quivered as she struggled to finish the sentence, the coat beneath her eyes already wet and matted from crying. “Applejack, that’s enough!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “There’s no joke here! In case you didn’t remember, she was our friend too!” “She ain’t never been just a friend to me!” Applejack shouted back. Her voice quivered in a way that made it clear she was barely holding back a sob. “You don’t understand! None of y’all understand!” “No, Rainbow Dash is right.” The voice came unexpectedly from the corner. The other ponies turned to see Fluttershy staring at them, wiping off her eyes with a hoof. “We’ve all lost somepony very important to us today. We should be helping each other through our grief, not fighting each other.” Fluttershy sniffled, only for a pink hoof to reach out and hold a tissue up to her face. She blew her nose into the handkerchief, and Pinkie Pie discarded it into a nearby trash can, her body so limp that it almost sagged as she walked. Twilight noticed that, for the first time in years, Pinkie’s mane had completely lost its curls. Applejack couldn’t even bring herself to say anything. Twilight reached out and wrapped her front hooves around Applejack, and Applejack returned the gesture, burying her head into Twilight’s shoulders with a mournful wail. The two held their embrace for nearly a full minute, letting the warmth from their bodies melt away the pain that they shared. As Applejack pulled herself away, she gazed directly into Twilight’s eyes. “Ah... Ah’m sorry for yelling at you like that, Twilight.” “It’s okay,” Twilight responded, “I understand.” There were no more words that needed to be said. She understood, and that was all that mattered. “G-gah...” A series of sputtering coughs came from behind the both of them. Twilight and Applejack both turned around to look, and what they saw had shocked them both. “Rarity! You’re alive!” Applejack exclaimed. “Whaaat!?” said Twilight. “But... But... How!? Your blood! I-it was—” “B-blood,” said Rarity, forcing the words out between pained gurgles. “N-need...” “What?” Applejack hurriedly replied. “What is it? What do you need? Tell me!” “B-brown paper package... In the... F-fridge...” Her voice was raspy and shallow, only barely able to articulate itself in words. “Already got it!” said Pinkie Pie, shoving the aforementioned package into Twilight’s hoof, still cold from refrigeration. Somehow, Pinkie’s mane had already gone back to normal. Twilight stared at Pinkie incredulously. “Wait, where did you—” “Who cares? Just shut up and give it to her!” said Rainbow. “Okay, okay!” said Twilight. She carefully grabbed the string in her magical grip and pulled the knot apart, unwrapping the paper and tossing it aside. What she saw was one of the last things she ever expected to see: a single bag of donated blood, intended for intravenous injection, and labeled O positive. “What!? This is from Ponyville Hospital’s blood bank!” said Twilight. “Why was this in Rarity’s fridge?” Rarity coughed, and her body violently shuddered. “Will you just let me have it already!?” she shouted. “Alright, you don’t need to tell me twice!” said Twilight. She levitated the bag over to Rarity, and it was snatched from her magical grasp with incredible force. Then, to everyone’s horror, Rarity pried open the end of the bag and guzzled from it as though it were a spigot. Miraculously, the gaping hole in her chest where the silver rod had struck her began to repair itself. Within moments, the entire bag was gone; not only had all of her injuries vanished, but her dull coat had been restored to its former luster. Rarity stood up onto her hooves, and shuddered in what Twilight could only assume was pure ecstasy. “Ohhhhh... that’s good.” All the other ponies couldn’t do anything but gawk in astonishment and horror. “Oh my,” said Fluttershy “Did she just...?” said Rainbow Dash. “I think she did,” said Starlight. Pinkie gasped. “Oh my gosh, Rarity’s a vampony!” “Pinkie, don’t be ridiculous!” said Twilight. “There aren’t any true vampires native to this plane. I’m sure there’s a perfectly rational explanation for, uh...” she gestured towards the discarded blood bag on the floor. “...Well, that.” “Oh... Oh dear,” said Rarity. “Well Twilight, while I’d hate for you to have found out like this, I’m afraid Pinkie Pie is right. I’ve been a vampony ever since I was a young filly.” “See what I mean? Perfectly rationa—WHAT!?” Rarity grimaced, and her eyes darted around the room. “Well, then. I suppose I owe you all an explanation, don’t I?” ——————— She couldn’t feel a single part of her body, and yet somehow, Rarity could tell that she was moving. There was no substance to her, no flesh or bones, nothing but pure consciousness rushing towards something incredibly warm and incredibly bright. How she could tell it was either of those things without a body, she didn’t know. Yet despite how disorienting the idea sounded in her mind, the sensation felt oddly comfortable, even downright relaxing. Then, just as she was about to reach the light, she felt herself being suddenly and forcefully yanked backwards. Her eyes pulled themselves open, and she sat upright with a gasp. Her body, now that she realized she had one again, felt unusually cold. Her bones ached fiercely, and her forehead throbbed with every heartbeat. As the lingering pain in her body wore off, she looked upwards, and found herself greeted by an unfamiliar earth pony stallion. His coat was a bright yellow-orange, and he had a long, wavy mane of deep red, with a matching pencil-thin moustache and goatee. She peered around his side and saw that his cutie mark was a cross-section of a blood orange, with an elaborate heraldic crown circling the top. His torso was covered by a suit that looked centuries out of date, deep reddish-brown with a large white ruffled cravat. Behind him was a black stagecoach, driven by two massive, identical orange-and-yellow earth ponies. “Are you okay, potra?” The stallion spoke with a thick Esponish accent. “For a moment I had thought it too late to save you.” “I... I think so yes,” said Rarity, struggling to her hooves. “Ugh... but I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train.” “That is to be expected, given the circumstances,” the stallion replied. He walked over to his stagecoach and opened the door, reaching inside, grabbing a large wine bottle. “Here, drink this,” he said, passing the bottle to Rarity. “It will help you feel better.” “Wine?” said Rarity. “You must be joking. I’m not enough even old enough to be going out at this hour unsupervised, much less drink alcohol!” “I can assure you, it is most certainly not alcoholic,” said the stallion with a smirk. “Now, drink. You will recover much faster.” “I’ll have you know this is very suspicious,” said Rarity. “But it looks like I don’t have anything better to be doing right now. Bottoms up, I suppose.” She pulled the cork out of the bottle with her magic, and raised it to her lips. To her surprise, the liquid that crossed her tongue wasn’t unpleasant at all. In fact, it was one of the most delicious things she ever tasted; oddly metallic, yet at the same time savory in a way that she couldn’t possibly describe in words. Even more so than the taste, she noticed that an incredibly soothing warmth spread through her entire body with each gulp, like a spa bath from within, only a thousand times better. When she could no longer hold her breath to continue drinking, she noticed that she had felt better, just as the stallion had said. There was no longer even the slightest hint of the dull ache in her body like there was before. “Tell me, young one, what is your name?” said the stallion. “And what is a pequeña potra like yourself doing outside at this time of night?” “My name is Rarity,” she replied. “My destiny brought me far from home, where I found my cutie mark. But now that I’ve discovered my talent, I can’t figure out my way back.” “It is a pleasure to meet you, Rarity,” said the stallion, addressing her with a bow. “I am the Excelentísimo Señor Vínculo Sangriento, Duke of Espoña. I am here in Equestria on a diplomatic visit to your Princess Celestia. Drink more, you will need the energy.” “A-a duke?” Rarity stammered. “Well, I-I suppose it’d be best if I did what you said, then.” At the Duke’s suggestion, she placed the bottle to her lips, and swiftly quaffed the rest of the liquid inside of it in a single motion. Truth be told, she didn’t need the Duke to tell her to do so. It was so delicious that she probably would have done it all on her own. “Oh, goodness, this beverage is wonderful!” said Rarity, finishing the bottle. “What is it?” The Duke grinned. “Blood.” Rarity was startled so strongly that she suddenly burst into a violent coughing fit, dropping the wine bottle in the process. “Buh... Buh... Blood? Is this some sort of sick joke? What kind of disgusting pony would you have to be to feed me bluh... Bluh...” Rarity’s words trailed off as she suddenly noticed a small yet striking detail about the Duke’s anatomy that she hadn’t caught onto before. In the middle of his toothy grin was a pair of sharp, pointed fangs. He was a pony with fangs. With horror dawning upon her, Rarity opened her mouth, and carefully lifted a hoof to her top row of teeth. She felt a small yet painful prick against her sole as it pierced itself on something sharp. It wasn’t just the Duke. She had fangs, too. Very long, very pointy fangs. “What did you do to me?” Rarity yelled, voiced shaking. “What did you do to me!?” “Easy there, potra,” the Duke replied. “You must understand, I did not have a choice but to turn you into a vampony yourself. By the time I had realized my carriage had hit you, you were already... what’s the word? Oh yes, deceased.” Rarity’s body froze. “I... I died?” “Unfortunately so,” said the Duke. “And it would not be right of me to allow you to remain that way, when I am the one responsible for your death. Creating a new vampony is not to be done lightly, you see.” Rarity turned her eyes away from the Duke, conflicting emotions violently raging inside of her. In a way, she was thankful to still be something that at least resembled living. Yet at the same time, everything about her new existence was frightening,  and she didn’t even remotely know what to expect of it. “But what am I supposed to do now?” said Rarity. “What’s going to happen to me?” “Do not fear, mi pequeña potra,” said the Duke. “I will show you the way of the vampony, and then I will return you to your home. Come with me, let us enjoy the rest of this night.” The Duke gestured to the stagecoach interior, allowing Rarity to climb inside. He followed suit and sat himself beside her, and the stallions pulling the carriage took off, carrying them deeper into the fog. ——————— “...And that’s what happened,” said Rarity. “When I finally returned to my parents, they couldn’t have been happier to see me. They had no idea that I died that day, and no idea what I had become. It’s a secret that I’ve carried with me my entire... well, not really ‘life.’ It would probably be more accurate to call it undeath.” “I... I don’t believe it,” said Twilight. “This entire time? An actual vampony?” “Y-you, um... don’t feed on other ponies, do you?” said Fluttershy. “Not usually,” said Rarity. “I get my blood from the Ponyville Hospital whenever I can. They’re quite generous with it, you know. Nurse Redheart is a vampony herself, and does her best to provide for others in the area. That said, if there’s a shortage I usually go out in the night and see if I can find somepony to feed on. I don’t take enough to harm them, and I always knock them out first so they aren’t hurt and don’t remember it, but it’s something that I do have to do on occasion.” Fluttershy gave a tiny gasp. “Oh, no! And Nurse Redheart, too?” “Personally, I’m a little bit more worried about what happens to these ponies you’re taking blood from,” Starlight chimed in. “Wouldn’t feeding on them turn them into vamponies, too?” “Of course not, that would be utterly ridiculous,” Rarity countered. “If vampirism were infectious, all of Equestria would have been turned into vamponies hundreds of years ago. Creating one of us is a rare and forbidden ritual known only by the most elder vamponies.” “Yeah, that’s a good answer and all,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “But isn’t there something much bigger about this that doesn’t make sense?” “Oh? Like what?” said Fluttershy. “Oh, I dunno, maybe the sun?” said Rainbow. “How the hay does Rarity survive going out in broad daylight? She’d have to use, like, SPF ten million sunscreen!” Rarity scoffed. “Honestly, Rainbow, you shouldn’t speak like you know more about this than I do. All you’re doing is repeating shallow stereotypes. Vamponies are perfectly capable of surviving in the sun, all it does is weaken our powers. And since I don’t have many vampony powers to begin with, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference to me.” “Oooh! Vampony powers!” Pinkie squealed. “Can you turn into a bat? Or a cloud of mist? Do you steal ponies’ souls and make them your slaves?” Rarity winced. “I’m... a little bit frightened to think where you might have gotten that last idea from. But the others are powers that are only developed by vamponies much older than myself, usually by more than a century. Besides, if I really wanted to turn into a bat, I’d just stand around Twilight until one of her spells inevitably backfired on me.” “Hey!” Rarity’s lips curled into a sly grin, revealing a pair of fangs that Twilight had never noticed before, despite having known Rarity for years. “Oh, do relax, dear. I’m only joking. The only real power I have is a subtle glamour that makes me appear more captivating in the eyes of others, and disguises some of my more obvious vampiric traits. And since I’m not particularly old or powerful, even the captivating part only works if I already look fabulous to begin with.” She finished her sentence by brushing her mane with a hoof, letting it be swept slightly by a draft coming from the door. Twilight rolled her eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of the joke at her expense, or because Rarity wouldn’t even let being mortally wounded stop her from boasting about her appearance. “Yeah, alright. I guess that makes sense. But what about food? In all the legends I’ve read, vamponies could only drink blood. But I’ve seen you eating normal food plenty of times!” “And who’s to say I can’t eat like any other pony?” Rarity replied. “Vamponies can enjoy plenty of things other than blood, the only difference is that we don’t gain any energy or nutrition from it.” Pinkie gasped. “What!? That’s awful! How can you possibly enjoy eating sweets if you don’t get a sugar rush out of it?” “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s all that bad,” said Rarity. “Whenever I’m feeling down, I can eat as much sugar as I want and never get fat. Quite the perk, if I say so myself.” “Wait,” said Pinkie, “sugar makes you fat?” “Well, sugar ain’t much of a concern for me, but Ah’m wondering how that so-called glamour of yours can disguise your vampony appearance given how many mirrors you have.” Applejack gave Rarity a warm smile. “Though just for the record, Ah don’t rightly think you need some fancy magic to make yourself look good.” A light blush appearing on Rarity muzzle. “Well, I’m certainly glad you think so, darling. But that’s actually not quite how mirrors work for vamponies. The reason we didn’t show up in mirrors and photographs in the past is that they used to be made with silver. Now that they’re made with much cheaper materials, I don’t have much reason to fear being exposed in that manner. At the very worst I just have to be careful when I’m around the more antique mirrors.” Twilight thoughtfully placed a hoof to her chin. “Silver... is that how you ended up hurting yourself? Because you were working with silver?” Rarity slumped, lowering her head to the ground. “Yes... Yes, it is. Silver is the absolute deadliest thing that any vampony could encounter, much less a juvenile vampony like myself. It refuses to interact with any aspect of our existence, including our magic and our reflections. Even the slightest touch cuts through our flesh like warm butter.” She let out a heavy sigh. “If that wire had come a mere inch closer to my heart, I would have died. There’s no question of that. I was a fool to even consider working with something so dangerous.” “But why?” said Applejack. “Why would you do that? Why would you try making something out a material that could kill you at any moment?” “...Because I asked her to.” Startled, Twilight turned around and saw Sweetie Belle in the doorway to Rarity’s workroom. She stood as limply as possible as it was for her to stand while remaining upright, staring down at the wooden floor. Rarity gaped. “Sweetie Belle! What are you doing here? How much have you heard!?” “As much I needed to know,” Sweetie replied. She looked up and gazed at Rarity with tear-soaked eyes, then rushed over and wrapped her forelegs around Rarity’s torso. “I-It’s all my fault!” she sobbed, burying her face into her sister’s coat. “I never should have begged you for that stupid dress!” “What? Sweetie, you know that isn’t true!” Sweetie Belle turned her head upwards and stared Rarity right in the eyes. “Why!? Why did you have to listen to me? Why did you have to give me what I asked? You nearly died, and it’s all because of me!” Rarity reached down with her own forelegs, and pulled Sweetie Belle into a tight embrace, allowing her younger sister to cry onto her shoulder. “It’s alright. Everything’s okay now. I promise I won’t ever leave you.” Sweetie Belle hiccuped as the last of her sobs slowly dissolved into a steady breathing pattern. “...Promise?” “I promise,” said Rarity. “But I also need you to promise me that you won’t tell a single soul about my secret.” “...Yeah, I promise,” said Sweetie Belle. As Sweetie Belle pulled away, Rarity glanced over at all of her gathered friends. “That goes for all of you, too. There is a good reason vamponies don’t generally reveal themselves: not everypony else is as tolerant of us as you are. Given that I’m a very public figure, it is paramount to my own safety that my vampirism be kept hidden wherever possible.” “Cross my heart and hope to fly!” said Pinkie. “I won’t spill your secret, and I won’t let any of us spill it either! Mark my words!” Twilight smiled nervously. “Well, now I know we won’t have a choice but to keep it secret. I’m just glad everything worked out okay.” “As am I,” said Rarity. She looked around the room, glancing at the mess that had been created by her near-death experience. “Now Sweetie Belle, would you mind picking up all the silver wires and throwing them away? After I clean up, I believe I have a platinum horn ring to make for you.” Sweetie Belle gave her older sister a smile. “Thanks, Rarity. I think I’d like that.” ——————— Rarity, Gem Weaver 1URB Legendary Creature — Unicorn Vampire UR, T: Target opponent gains control of target permanent you control. At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses X life, where X is the number of permanents you own that your opponents control. You gain life equal to half the life lost this way, rounded up. ”Be careful with that jewelry, darling. It’s quite sharp.” 2/4