It seemed like we’d barely even started moving when Hailey was lightly depositing me on a street near the town square. She peeped around a corner and frowned. “Hmm. They were here last time. Must’ve moved. Stupid things going on when I’m not around to see them…”
“You’re a seer,” I said skeptically.
“And I can’t control what I see. You two wait here. I’ll go figure out where they are.”
“No, I can do it!” said Bay, flaring her wings. “I wanna help! They’ll never notice me!”
“No!” I said, already knowing it was useless. “Wait-” And she was gone. I whirled on Hailey, who’d sat quietly while Bay bolted. “Why didn’t you stop her?” I growled.
“I dunno,” Hailey said with a shrug. “It just didn’t seem all that important, so I figured I could…” She blinked. “…just… let her…” She sighed. “Stupid psychic ignorance.”
I groaned and facehooved. Of all the vampiric powers for a fourteen-year-old to get, why that one?
With Bay gone, I paced back and forth over and over. I knew she was a vampire, but she was still a new one, and she was only fourteen. I couldn’t take my mind off something terrible happening to her. To try to divert myself, I said, “So what do your visions look like now? Are we going to win?” I picked at the flare gun’s plunger whenever I turned around.
“Dunno.” Hailey shrugged again. “Big fights like this change a lot, ’cause there are a lot of ponies under a lot of pressure and making a lot of decisions that change the course of the future every few seconds or so. The future’s moving so much it’s practically jello. Unflavored jello. And even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you, ’cause that would change the course of the future even more. Like, if I said we were gonna win and you started acting like it, you’d get brutally murdered.”
I grunted and kept pacing. Of course. For a long time, Hailey had seemed slightly batty; now I wondered if that was a coping mechanism. She kept seeing visions of things to come, visions that constantly changed, so maybe she was always teetering on the border of insanity and acting like a ditz most of the time was the only way she could let out her str-
“I’m back!” said Bay, making me jump. “Crystalline’s around the police station and they’ve got a shield up to keep ponies out. I didn’t see any bodies, so I don’t think they’ve killed anypony.”
“What’re they doing around the police station?” I mumbled to myself. At least the station had been somewhat fortified, just in case. “Even if they’ve cornered some ponies in there, there has to be-”
“Homeguard,” Hailey said confidently. “He’s our trump card. As long as he’s around, Crystalline can’t do anything without him knowing about it and knowing how to deal with it. He needs to go before they can go.”
“Can’t they just seal him in the station?”
“Tributary would,” said Hailey. “But Rebirth’s screwier than a hardware store, so she just wants him dead first. And Tribble doesn’t want to push her luck in case Rebirth just goes and brainwashes her to get her way.”
Thank the fates for lunatics. With the exception of the chimera, Rebirth had probably helped us more than she’d hurt us. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean we were any better off at that particular moment. My mind started ticking off possible scenarios. “Bay. You said they’ve got a shield around the station?”
“All around,” Bay said, nodding. “A total dome. No way in or out and there’s a vamp doing a circuit on the inside.”
“Do you know if it goes under the ground?”
Bay tilted her head. “Uh… nnnno? Why would I… check that? Like, at all?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But if we can get under it, we can get inside.” Somehow. And what would we do once inside the shield? Get inside the police station? Attack the vampires when we’re woefully outnumbered? Yeah, I’m not that good at improvising.
“Let’s check now!” said Hailey. “C’mon. We need to get a good look at them anyway.”
Hailey had carried me to a roof similar to the one I’d been Crystalline had arrived. She and I were prone, looking up the street, examining the situation. Bay had been right: a large arcane shield was being projected over the station and a wide area around it. Every single Crystalline vampire around, including Rebirth and Tributary, was inside the shield, for a total of about ten. Only ten? Wow. Rebirth and Tributary were in animated conversation with each other, while the other vampires were sitting stock-still, staring at the police station, except for one who was prowling around the shield’s inside border. Through the tint of the shield, Rebirth seemed to be the only unicorn with a glowing horn, and the light glinted off her saddlebag.
“They’re just sitting there. Why aren’t they attacking?” I asked.
“I’m betting on Homeguard. Once one of them decides to try to break in, he’ll pick up their thoughts and be in position to intercept them before they’ve even started moving.”
And suddenly Rebirth wanting to make sure Homeguard was dead didn’t seem completely stupid.
Bay popped up over the edge of the roof and scurried over to us. “The shield doesn’t go underground. Well, not completely. About a foot. That good enough for you?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get under without alerting that guard on the inside.”
“I can protect you!” protested Bay. “If I can extend my ignorance thing to you-”
“And no offense, but if you can’t, I’ll be dead. I’d rather not risk it.”
“But-! Fine.” Bay pouted and stomped to the edge of the building.
I paid her no mind. She’d get over it. “Any ideas?” I asked Hailey.
“Nope, sorry.” Hailey shook her head. “I’m a seer. We’re not known for improvising.”
“And I need to make a decision before you can see anything about it. Frig.” I raised my head a little, then glanced at one of the buildings across the street from the police station. I couldn’t remember which one it was, but it gave me an idea. The police station had a decently-sized cellar, and I wondered- “How good are you at digging?”
“Well, I’m no diamond dog,” said Hailey, tapping her chin, “but if you’re planning on just booping from cellar to cellar-”
“Yes, exactly.”
“-then I bet I could manage that.”
“Great.” I stood up to get a better view. “So which building do you think would be best? I don’t know anything about these places.”
“Oh, and I would?” asked Hailey, also standing up. “Sheesh, just because I live here doesn’t mean that I know the blueprints of every building in town. Maybe they have big cellars, maybe they-”
And then, behind the shield, Rebirth happened to look in our direction.
I froze for an instant, then hastily ducked down below the edge of the roof. Hailey did the same just as quickly. “Crap. Did she see us?” I whispered.
“I don’t think so,” Hailey whispered back. “I think she just ohballs.”
The side of the roof exploded and I felt a snake constrict around my throat. Before I knew what was going on, I was being dragged across the street like a ragdoll. I clawed at my neck. All I felt was a slight tingling from magic. Hailey bolted after me, but a shield closed around me. She backpedaled and ran for Delta. Another vampire jumped through a hole in the shield that had just opened up and followed her.
I ground to a halt at Rebirth’s and Tributary’s hooves. The magical shackle around my neck vanished and I panted. The two vampires stared at me, Rebirth very visibly gobsmacked, Tributary some combination of disgusted, skeptical, and resigned. “You had a sunblasted chimera after you!” Rebirth said as if it were the most disgusting thing on the face of the planet. “Two vampires! And- And- How the fuck are you still alive?”
I stared blankly at Rebirth. My brain half-formulated several responses before I remembered that captured, tired, and helpless at your enemy’s feet is not exactly the best place to be mouthing off to them. In any case, I doubted they were good responses, anyway.
“Kill her now,” Tributary said tonelessly. “She’s been nothing but trouble since before we first saw her.”
Rebirth frowned at me. She looked at the police station. She looked back at me, a grin slowly crawling onto her face. “No. No, I’ve got a better idea. It can’t serve that idea if it’s dead.”
“In one way or another, she’s been the source of each and every single one of our problems for the past moon,” snapped Tributary. “Cut our sunblasted losses and kill her.”
“No, it’s good. It’ll work. We jus-”
“Does it involve convincing the group inside to come out? They’re not stupid and they know what we want. They won’t believe anything you say. Kill. Her. Now.”
Whirling on Tributary, Rebirth snarled for about two seconds, then she shifted to the fakest, most saccharine smile I’d ever seen. “You know what? Sure. Let’s shake on it.” She extended her hoof, still smiling that sickening smile.
Tributary flattened her ears to her head, curled her lip, and spat on the ground between the two of them. She turned away and flicked her tail in Rebirth’s face.
“A simple ‘no’ would work just fine,” Rebirth said. She directed her attention towards the police station.
Tributary rolled her eyes, then looked emotionlessly down at me. “Hello. You’re troublesome, aren’t you?”
And then she stomped on my ankle hard enough to break it.
I screamed through clenched teeth. My hoof bent at a terrible angle. Before, I thought my legs had hurt. That was nothing compared to this. The post sprint had merely been painful; here, separate from all the pain, I could feel that my foot was bending wrong. My skin crawled. I tried to move my hoof just a little and gagged when I felt bones grinding against each other.
“We could chase you down,” Tributary whispered in my ear, “but I’d rather you not run at all. Of course, I’d rather not keep you alive at all, but these things happen.” She shrugged.
Somehow, those words managed to break through the pain and helped me marshal my thoughts. Keep breathing, I told myself. You’re not dead. You haven’t been bitten. You can get through this. Count to four. Inhale. Count to four. Exhale.
“Hey! Hey, snacks!” yelled Rebirth. “Guess what we’ve got out here!”
One. Two. Three. Four. Breathe in. I could get through this.
“One of your frieeeeends! Come out now, and we won’t kill it!”
One. Two. Three. Four. Breathe out. I prayed nopony would risk themselves on my account.
“Somepony like her? Yeah, right, you won’t kill her!” yelled Cascadia without opening the front door. “You’ll either do a lot worse to her or you’ll kill her after you kill everypony in here! We’re not stupid!”
“Told you,” muttered Tributary.
Rebirth’s face turned dark. “Shut up,” she whispered. Back to the station, she said, “Maybe hearing it scream, beg, plead for mercy before I slowly rip it to pieces will convince you, hmm?”
“Try me! I’ve heard worse and Swan is made of sterner stuff than that! Right, Swan?”
I opened my both to holler back, “Right!” Before I could say anything, Rebirth had telekinetically grabbed me by the throat again, cutting off most of my air, and hoisted me so far into the air that I had to stand on my back legs. Tears formed in my eyes as I gagged and struggled to get enough air.
“Here’s the deal,” Rebirth said, grinning madly. “If I don’t hear you crying for your life in thirty seconds, I’m going to have one of my vampires flay you alive. She’s quite good at it, you know. And when we finally break into that stupid little wreck you call a building, we’re going to do the same to everything inside.”
I tried to look away from Rebirth, away from those sanguine irises, but her grip was too strong. I couldn’t move my head.
“Except for Homeguard.” Rebirth giggled. “Him, we’ll decapitate and keep alive as we force him to watch all the ponies in this sunblasted town are sacrificed to bring back the Great Father, King Sombra himself. And then we’ll kill him.” She rubbed her hooves together. “Oh, sure, we lost some vampires, but they’re replaceable. A nice night, altogether. Don’t you think?”
I couldn’t have responded even if I wanted to. My every effort was devoted to keeping my lungs working.
“Well? The sobbing and groveling?” she whispered. “I’m waaaaiiiitiiiing…”
“I need to breathe,” I gasped. “Puny mortal, you know?” Appeasement seemed the right thing to do right about now.
Rebirth chuckled. “And that’s why you’re nothing more than food.” She released her grip a little and smirked.
I took deep, heaving breaths. Once I no longer felt like I was going to pass out, I screamed, “Chimera dead! Tri-B safe! There’s on-”
My throat constricted again, cutting off my words. I was slammed to the ground. Stars swam in my vision as I struggled to get to my feet. Rebirth grabbed my head between her front hooves. “If they care so damn little for you,” she spat, “and you so little for them, you’re fighting against them.” She wrenched my head up and around, forcing me to stare her in her crazed, blood red eyes. “You,” she intoned. “Are. MINE!”
I wriggled, trying to wrench free, but her grip was like a vise, with no give. I kept expecting her to suddenly push and pop my head like a grape; she didn’t, and continued staring at me with intense concentration. I stopped resisting and waited for the end.
And waited.
And waited.
As the moments ticked by, Rebirth’s anger became confusion. I could only imagine what the other vampires were doing. I coughed. In her tight grip, it was almost painful. “S-so, um,” I said nervously, “are you, uh, going to, um, do anything? Or are you going to keep looking constipated?”
“Kill her,” hissed Tributary. “Now.”
“Y-you,” stammered Rebirth, “y-you should- You should see the world as I see it! You should accept my reality!”
Right. Brainwashing. But Hailey’s theory was that this was my power, right? Complete mental protection. “Sorry,” I said. “My reality trumps yours.” And before the shock wore off, before she could react, I reached over and bopped her on the horn. It wasn’t hard, just enough to disrupt her magic and drop the shield for a few seconds.
An awful lot happened in those few seconds.
There must’ve been some ponies surrounding the area that I could see, because suddenly crossbow bolts were zipping around me. One slammed into Rebirth’s shoulder; she snarled and whirled to face whoever had shot it, dropping me in the process. I instinctively curled into a ball and protected my head with my front legs.
Rebirth took a step forward, only for something small to slam into her from the side and rocket away. To my surprise, she paid no attention to the little bolt when she got back up, instead still making for whoever had shot her. Bay.
I spun around, trying to get my bearings. With the sudden fusillade of bolts, the vampires had scattered and were taking whatever cover they could. I couldn’t see all of them, particularly not-
Tributary tackled me and effortlessly controlled our roll so she wound up on top. Unlike Rebirth, she had no words. She simply bared her teeth and lunged for my throat.
At the last second, something hit her head, leaving her biting at the dirt. Then she was yanked away by her mane; her hooves beat fitfully at the air. I briefly noticed Bay dragging her away. Some part of me dimly noted that, for somepony who barely had any experience in being a vampire, she was adapting to it pretty well, especially to keep her power going like that.
I was cut off mid-thought when a shadow loomed over me. I spun my head around; a vampire was standing above me, bringing his hoof down at my head. Before I realized just what was happening, my reflexes kicked in and I rolled. His hoof slammed into the ground next to me hard enough for me to feel it. He brought his hoof up again-
An entire desk smashed into him. He tumbled head over tail, bowling over another shocked vampire who couldn’t get out of the way in time. And it’d come from… the station?
“Swan! Come on!”
I craned to look. The door to the station was open. Several terrified-looking ponies were peeking out, with Cascadia standing slightly off-center and levitating a desk. “Come on!” she screamed again, and pitched the desk toward me. I ducked and covered my head. Somewhere behind and above me, a vampire cursed.
As quickly as I could, which wasn’t very, I staggered to my hooves. Keeping my broken foot off the ground, I ran for the door.