Gloaming

by Rambling Writer


12 - Objection

Vampires. Who knew? And what were the odds of them turning up in a place like Delta? Why not Manehattan or even Seaddle? (Of course, Nightmare Moon first appeared in the podunk town of Ponyville, so at least there was precedence.) River was dead — which I liked more than I should have — and Delta’s animals were safe. Good.

But it wasn’t until I was walking back to work on Monday and slipped out of autopilot that I realized the quandary I’d been presented with: I knew exactly what was going on in Delta, but couldn’t do anything about it. I had one job — one job — and I couldn’t do it. Not if I wanted to stay on Homeguard’s good side. I knew that I could’ve just gone and told Cascadia or Clearwater or whoever about Homeguard’s vampirism and then he couldn’t do anything about it, but that would be a huge betrayal of trust. I couldn’t do it, not without a good reason. So now I was stuck doing nothing, wasting time, and forcing myself to lie to my boss about what I was doing, all while letting Delta think a monster was still running around devouring their animals.

Fuck keeping secrets.

I had a hard time looking anypony in the eye as I walked through the station house. Everypony seemed a bit too happy, a bit too prone to wave at me. I smiled and waved as best I could. When I finally made it inside my office, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I looked around at all the stuff I had in my room. Books on animals, monsters, and fearsome critters. Reports on the common behaviors of individual species. My own notes on things like bait or repellent. All pointless at the moment. It was like they were sitting there just to remind me of the lies I’d have to tell. I groaned, sat at my desk, and was immediately confronted with a neatly folded note.

Something new has come up. We MUST talk. After lunch, leave the station, claiming to have gone to the library for research. I shall find you and explain.

—Homeguard

-and scrawled right below that-

Vampirization time: ~3 paralyzed days. You’re welcome.

—♡, Hailey

Why would I need to know how long it took to become a vampire? Whatever. I ripped the note up and tossed the scraps in the trash can. Something like this, diving right into a world of vampries after I’d hoped to leave it behind, was just what I needed. At least it was a way to waste more time. And I definitely needed that.


Clearwater swallowed her lettuce and cleared her throat. “Swan? Are you okay? You’re looking kinda down.”

I fiddled with my fork a little. No, I’m not okay. I know exactly what’s going on in Delta, I know that it won’t be going on anymore, and I can’t tell you. But again, trust and whatnot. Homeguard had saved my life, and keeping his secret seemed reasonable.

For now.

“Yeah,” I said, “it’s just- the weekend is done, and it’s back to the old grind, and all the stress that comes with it.” I attempted to stab a crouton.

“Mmhmm.”

“But, uh, thanks for inviting me to the party,” I said, “that helped a lot.”

“Sure thing,” said Clearwater. “Let me know if you need another weekend pick-me-up.”

I finally managed to skewer the crouton and took my sweet time chewing it. She and the other cops in Delta — they, at least, deserved to know. I wondered if I could wheedle Homeguard into letting me tell them: Hey, I’ve got a problem. The sheriff is breathing down my neck about the monster — you know, River — and I need to tell her something. If I don’t, they’ll bring in another expert to help. You can’t hide forever. I suspected he’d argue away my concerns, but it was worth a shot.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Clearwater.

“Yeah,” I said quickly, “just- thinking.” I swallowed my crouton. “Just so you know, I’m going to swing by the library, see what research I can do on the local animals. Let Cascadia know, will you?”

“Sure. What’re you researching?”

“It’s- complicated.” Pulling a few envirobabble-y terms from my butt, I said, “Arcane environmental interdynamics.”

“Um…”

“The effects of magic on the area.”

“…Yeah, sounds complicated.”


The moment the station house was out of sight, Homeguard ran up to me, just a little bit too fast to be natural. “I apologize,” he said. “I- should have known this would happen.”

“What’s ‘this’?”

Homeguard clicked his teeth. “There are… some vampires who take it upon themselves to enforce our secrecy. Should the truth be revealed to a regular pony, they kill them, barring unusual circumstances.”

Immediately, my brain began bursting with questions, but the first thing I said was, “This is an unusual circumstance, isn’t it?” I wasn’t that worried, but I knew that was the wrong response; you never truly react to the possibility of death until it’s staring you right in face.

“I hope so,” said Homeguard. “The fact that they have already decided to not drag you out of your home at night and snap your neck is promising.” He tried to sound cavalier, but his grin felt forced. “They are waiting at my home. Come.” He galloped off down the road; I followed.

We went some ways out of Delta, where the trees started growing closer to the road. Although Homeguard seemed to be moving easily, when we finally reached his house, I had an ache in my side and my breath was wheezing. To his credit, Homeguard didn’t act remotely smug about it, simply waiting for me to catch my breath.

The moment my heart was beating at a reasonable pace again, Homeguard said, “Inside my house, there are two vampires who… think you should be killed for knowing our secret. Hailey and I will try to dissuade them, but please.” He laid a hoof on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “Do not do anything to get on their bad side. They are already predisposed towards killing you, and may decide you need to die if you get under their skin too much.”

I reacted as if I’d been slapped. “Wha- They’d kill me because I annoyed them? That’s-”

“Do you kill flies for annoying you? They view you the same way. You are but food to them.”

“Well, I try to kill flies,” I muttered. “But fine.” I mimed zipping my mouth shut.

“Additionally, whatever you do, do not let them touch you. Both of their powers rely on contact.”

“Don’t piss them off, don’t touch them. Got it.”

“Good,” Homeguard said gravely. “Now, come. Hailey is already inside.”

I didn’t know what I was expecting Homeguard’s house to look like, but it looked more like a cottage than a house from the outside: small and a single story. Of course, he and Hailey probably didn’t need anything like a kitchen. Maybe not even beds. Did vampires sleep? It was well-kept, at least. Homeguard led me inside to what looked like a normal cottage, with a large sitting room at the entrance and a single door leading to the rest of the house.

There were two mares inside, a unicorn and an earth pony, but from the speed at which the looked at us and their strikingly red eyes, it wasn’t hard to guess that they were vampires. The unicorn smiled, somehow looking sleazy, and stood up. “Ah! Homeguard. How pleasant.” She glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. “Is this the snack?”

My breath hitched for a second. Oooookay. So that was how this was going to be. I clenched my jaw and locked my knees to keep myself from jumping her. Keep calm and don’t say anything.

“This is the pony,” said Homeguard.

“Same thing,” said the mare, waving a hoof dismissively. “But it knows about us and you just let it run around? Have you considered-”

“I have,” said Homeguard, “and I do not think that will be a problem.” He turned to me. “Swan, this is Esteemed Rebirth.”

“Esteemed Rebirth”? Somepony had a high opinion of themselves. When neither of the other vampires were looking at me, I made a Face at Homeguard, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Honestly, why are you wasting your time with them?” Rebirth laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world. “It’s like- Can you imagine a pony naming an apple tree and tucking it into bed at night?”

I wanted to say that there was a distinct difference between me and an apple tree — namely that I could point out the distinct difference while the apple tree couldn’t — but I remembered Homeguard’s warning and kept my mouth shut.

“I do not-” began Homeguard

“And ponies aren’t even as strong as apple trees!” blathered Rebirth. “Ponies are breakable! I mean, a tree can weather a storm, but a pony gets tossed around and breaks its bones and-”

Images of a certain storm, barely a moon ago, flashed through my head. Two black-suited ponies from the weather department showing up at my door. A mangled body. I twitched and tightened all my muscles but managed to keep my control. Homeguard glanced briefly at me.

“You’re off-topic, Rebirth,” said the other vampire. “Let’s get to the matter at hoof, the whole reason we’re here.”

“And this, Swan, is Tributary,” said Homeguard. “But, yes. Business.”

What business?” asked Rebirth. “It’s a pony, it knows about us, that’s bad, kill it! Discussion, end of!”

“It was not her fault that she found out about us!” yelled Homeguard. “Another vampire voluntarily exposed himself to her, and that was after he repeatedly refused to hide his own kills and I notified you of-”

You didn’t do much to keep your true self from it, either! You jumped out and practically advertised yourself! If you hadn’t jumped in, we wouldn’t even have this problem to begin with.” Rebirth glanced at Tributary. “Honestly, he’s just as big a security threat as it is. Has been for centuries. Should we kill him, too?”

“We are not killing vampires today,” said Tributary. “We don’t kill our own kind except under dire circumstances.”

“Uh, yeah. I know that.”

“Then act like it! Homeguard has never risked breaking the masquerade this badly!”

“Fine. No killing the pony-protecting idiot.”

“And you shall not kill the pony, either!” said Homeguard. “We may be ponies no longer, but that is no reason to ignore-”

“Hey, Homeguard.” Rebirth sidled up to him as if he were a close friend. She attempted to lean on him, but he quickly stepped several feet to the side. “Pretend not everybody agrees with you. You keep bringing up these really stupid arguments that make sense to you and no one else. So, from a pragmatic standpoint, why shouldn’t we kill it?”

“Right,” said Tributary. “From a purely logical point of view, she risks revealing our very presence to the world.”

I shifted my weight slightly, bit my lip, and looked away. I wasn’t used to being this ignored, and the way they were so casually talking about murder… ugh. I suppressed I shiver; I couldn’t let them see me sweat.

“She has reacted to this revelation far better than I thought she would,” protested Homeguard. “Perhaps, if we-”

“Our secrecy, the secrecy she threatens,” said Tributary, “is the only thing keeping our species from meeting the same fate that Celestia and Luna dealt to our father. Nopony else will react like her.”

“M-maybe she isn’t!” But even Homeguard knew how weak that sounded. “Maybe ponies would cease to object to us if we did not have to-”

“I can think of only good reasons to kill her, while you haven’t given me a single bad reason.”

Idea! “Because I was sent here by the government,” I said, grateful to finally get a word in. “They’d notice if I died.”

Every vampire looked at me; Homeguard was slowly grinning as my direction dawned on him, Tributary was interested in a detached sort of way, and Rebirth looked like her face had been smeared across a wall and put back together badly. She snorted. “We’re listening to it, now?”

“Shush,” said Tributary.

“I mean, it’s not like I came here for fun,” I said. “I have a job to do. The animals around here are being drained of blood, so maybe they’re being used for blood magic. I already brought this up with the sheriff, so she’s thinking along those lines. And if I suddenly vanish? There’s going to be a lot more government ponies around here. It’s like covering up a murder by blowing up the house.”

“We could take them,” whined Rebirth.

“And then,” I continued, hoping Tributary would see reason and keep her from attacking, “they’d drop so many officials that investigators would outnumber Delta’s residents by at least two to one. If you kill me, you will be found out before the end of next year. I guarantee it.” I had no way of knowing if that was true. Whoever the Court sent wouldn’t be looking for signs of vampires. But it seemed logical. I could only hope the bluff wasn’t too transparent.

“She makes a persuasive argument,” Homeguard said nonchalantly.

Rebirth rolled her eyes. “Well, sure, you believe it.”

“And even a stopped clock is right twice a day,” said Tributary. “Ponies can still be logical.”

You believe it, too? Oh, come on, I could-”

“And where would it end?” I asked. “You can’t hold out forever, even without weaknesses like garlic or sunlight.”

Homeguard’s muscles suddenly tightened; was I not supposed to know that? Tributary’s eyes narrowed slightly, but Rebirth was already running her mouth off, thank goodness. “Sure we can hold-”

“Enough, Rebirth,” said Tributary. “We don’t need to kill her.”

Homeguard and I looked at each other. I grinned — this was already done and done. Or at least, I thought so. If anything, Homeguard just looked more nervous. His eyes were slowly growing wider and he was rocking back and forth, like he had something he needed to tell me, but couldn’t risk Tributary and Rebirth overhearing it.

“Oh, now you’re sounding like a pony protector,” spat Rebirth. “And here I thought you were smart. Next, you’ll be saying we should-”

“I’m not protecting ponies!” said Tributary. “I’m protecting us! The secret’s already broken with her, but if we try to silence her, we’ll only attract attention! Not everything can be solved in a single day, as you ought to damn well know. Besides, we have other solutions.”

“N-no,” whispered Homeguard. “Please. You cannot do that.”

Rebirth’s face suddenly lit up, and she smirked at Homeguard. Tributary just looked unconcerned. “Why not?” she asked. “It’s the best option for all of us. She needs to be turned.”