“Ah, Miss Sable! Any juicy morsels to share with the fine folks out here today?” The town crier smiled charismatically as the two ponies approached the stage. He was a tall, thin pony, and seemed to take up the entire stage even with his humble tan fur. This was no doubt due largely to his deft handling of the newspapers he had grasped in his magic, which floated around the stage just slowly enough to be able to read the headlines as they passed, but the way he carried himself certainly couldn’t be discounted either. He moved with a confidence that few ponies held, and that fewer still could hold without becoming threatening.
“I do, in fact,” Sable Spirit told him. “Something quite major, in fact. Would it be alright if we took the stage for a moment?”
Fluttershy gasped. “I-I thought we were just going to pass the news along,” she said in a hushed voice.
“You’re not going to get very far if you never speak to the citizens in town,” Sable Spirit told her.
“Please, be my guest,” the town crier said. Sable Spirit hopped up onto the stage and helped Fluttershy up as the crier went to the front to announce their arrival. “Creatures of the night,” he began, “it would appear that we’ve news from the castle! Do gather around, quickly now, I have a feeling this is going to be very special news indeed. Is that all of you?” He made a show of looking out over the crowd, although it was obvious that they were all paying attention. “Good! Now, I give the stage over to Miss Sable Spirit!”
He stood aside with a flourish, and Sable Spirit nodded politely before walking up to take his place. Fluttershy hesitated, but an impatient wave from Sable Spirit got her to reluctantly walk up and stand before the crowd.
Whispers ran through the crowd as Fluttershy walked up. None of them recognized her, which was strange enough in this town, but given the way she was dressed and where she had come from, it was quite clear she was a vampire. The creatures of Trotsylvania knew well that Dracula had outlawed the turning of new vampires long before most of them were born, so to see one they didn’t recognize was enough to spur their collective curiosity.
Fluttershy looked out over the crowd. There were a decent number of ponies, certainly, and even one or two vampires hidden away under hats and cloaks, but she was shocked at just how many of them weren’t ponies. There were a fair number of creatures from outside the borders of Equestria, which was notable enough considering how, until very recently, Equestria very rarely attracted the attention of others, but even past them, there was a smattering of things right out of legends. A Nirik burned away towards the back of the crowd. There was a pony with a mane of seaweed that dripped with water. A Sphinx of rough-hewn sandstone sat downwind of the crowd, clouds of sand blowing off of them with every gust of wind, and never seemed to move when Fluttershy was focusing on them. They all seemed perfectly comfortable around one another, even as they looked at Fluttershy like an outsider.
From this new vantagepoint, Fluttershy could see over the outer wall protecting the village and into the forest beyond. It was a dense, dark, and miserably wet forest, which on most days was more of a bog than anything else. Where the ground wasn’t covered in pools of stagnant water, the ground was generally so soft that even the lightest of vehicles became impossible to pull. That, combined with the thick fog that seemed to stick to everything in the forest and refused to let go, meant that only a small number of ponies or other creatures were ever able to make it to Trotsylvania. Any who tried to cross the forest on their own were likely never heard from again, lost to starvation or to those creatures who long ago swore off from Dracula’s protection and left to fend for themselves, and those who did come and go were almost always in the company of The Driver.
Oddly enough, Fluttershy noticed that the fog hadn’t made its way into town today. She hadn’t been to Trotsylvania too many times in the past, but she had never been able to see it this clearly before, and now that she could see it she wished the fog would never roll in again. It really was a lovely little town, the type that she could easily see herself settling down in if she didn’t already have a home in Ponyville.
Sable Spirit had given the crowd some time to ruminate, but now she held up a hoof and demanded their attention. “Good morning, all,” she said. “I hope the day is treating you all well so far. The Lady, Dracula, regrets that she cannot be here to share this news directly, but has bestowed upon me the honor of doing so. I ask you all to keep your questions for the end, and to listen politely.”
“Now,” she continued, “as you can see, we have a new vampire in our midst. Everyone, please acquaint yourselves with Miss Fluttershy.”
Without warning, Sable Spirit used her magic to pluck the hat off of Fluttershy’s head. The sunlight seared into her at once, and she shot a wing out to protect herself. She hardly noticed the gasps in the crowd as a few ponies recognized who she was. Her wing was burning fiercely now, and through gritted teeth she asked “Can I please have the hat back?”
“Of course,” Sable Spirit said as she replaced the hat. Fluttershy sighed and slumped back into a more relaxed stature. “Now,” she addressed the crowd once more, “Fluttershy will be living in the castle until further notice. As many of you know, Dracula has been planning some major changes lately, and Fluttershy is a key player in all of that. You see…”
She paused, clearly for effect as the crowd’s anticipation grew.
“Fluttershy is to inherit the title of Dracula.”
The crowd erupted. Some tried to whisper, while others gave up on that pretense entirely as they talked about what this could mean. One pony, near the front of the crowd, shouted out “Can she protect us?” Several others around him nodded and voiced their agreement with his concern.
Sable Spirit held a hoof up again, and the crowd quieted. “I understand your hesitation. She doesn’t look the part, and to be completely honest, as she is now she isn’t fit for the title. That, however, is precisely why she is here. To learn. She must grow to be capable of fulfilling everything that the name Dracula means. As such…”
She looked pointedly at Fluttershy, then back at the crowd. “From this day forth, I ask you all to consider her, for all intents and purposes, to be Dracula. The Lady will still be in the castle, ensuring that nothing goes awry, but until further notice she’ll be unavailable. Even I, and most of the staff of the castle, will be unable to reach her during this time.”
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as the crowd started to murmur. “Wait, what?” She turned to Sable Spirit incredulously. “She can’t just leave, she hasn’t taught me anything!”
Sable Spirit turned to her. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry for thrusting so much on you, but this is The Lady’s decision. She plans to speak only to you and Vale. Vale is her family, and so that leaves you as our liaison. She wasn’t entirely clear on how much she plans to take care of for you, but it didn’t sound like much. Starting now, you’re in charge.”
“I can’t be in charge, though. That’s a horrible idea!” Fluttershy bit her lip nervously. “Can’t you take over? Or-Or Vale? Or anypony else?”
Sable Spirit put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, then directed her attention out over the crowd. “Creatures of the night,” she announced loudly, “I give you Fluttershy, The Heiress.”
Then she stepped back, leaving Fluttershy alone at the front of the stage.
The crowd swarmed in, all of them barraging her with questions and concerns. She took a step back from the writhing sea of bodies, but felt a force push her back out even closer to the edge. She looked back to see Sable Spirit’s horn lit up, and frowned. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be allowed to back out of this.
She turned back to the crowd and tried to put a hoof up like Sable Spirit had, but it quivered in the air and did nothing to quiet the masses. “P-Please, everypony, just calm down and—”
The crowd got even louder, all of them trying to talk over the others to have their questions heard.
Fluttershy tried to raise her voice a bit. “Please,” she said again, “I can’t hear any of you, you need to take turns!”
None of them quieted down.
Fluttershy pursed her lips. She didn’t see how she could possibly quiet them down on her own, she needed help, she needed—
She got an idea. She pointed at the sphinx, who at some point had moved up to near the front of the crowd. “Um, y-you! You get to ask something first, but I need to be able to hear the question, so… Um, can you please do something to quiet them down?”
The sphinx didn’t move, but everything else seemed to. The wind picked up massively, and with it the sphinx shed more and more sand. It swirled high into the air, then crashed back down on the crowd in a huge cloud that blocked any of them from seeing anything. Then the wind picked up again and blew the sand away, leaving the crowd stunned and quiet apart from a few dry coughs.
“Um… Thank you?” Fluttershy said. Then she addressed the crowd. “Please, I’m more than happy to listen to you all, but it needs to be quiet. If you have something to say, just raise a hoof or a wing or… Something, and I’ll call on you each in turn, alright?” She paused, and got only a few coughs in response. “A-Alright… Well, first off.”
She turned her attention back to the sphinx, who was now standing, although they still didn’t move. What did happen was that another breeze picked up, and a thin stream of sand blew up onto the stage. Then another breeze blew most of it away, leaving words written out at Fluttershy’s hooves.
She blinked. “Oh, okay. Um…” She read over the question carefully. “Okay, the sphinx wants to know if I would know how to make creatures like them comfortable. Well, um,” she looked closely at the sphinx and thought for a moment, “I think so? At least, maybe. Um, I took care of a lot of animals that wandered out of the Everfree Forest, so I’m pretty used to… Weird biology. I can’t say I’d never make mistakes, but I think I could do an alright job with that.”
She looked at the sphinx and waited for a moment, as if waiting for a response, before realizing she probably wouldn’t get one. “Okay, um, who else?” A sea of hooves and other appendages shot into the air. Fluttershy pointed to a dark purple earth pony with tall boots and a braided mane. “Alright, you?”
The mare stood up straighter and raised her voice. “Yeah, um, are you gonna shut down our shops? I know you’re friends with Twilight and all and a lot of us came here to get away from the Princesses.”
“But the Princesses are so nice,” Fluttershy said at first, but then she caught herself and shook her head. “Well, um, what do you sell?”
“Magic stuff.”
“Magic… Stuff?” Fluttershy gave her a puzzled look.
“Yeah,” the mare said, “like amulets and books and… I don’t know, stuff! I don’t even know what half of it does. It’s just magic stuff.”
“Okay…” Fluttershy thought, trying to piece together why exactly this mare thought she’d be shut down. “Well, is it dangerous?”
The mare shrugged. “Prob’ly.”
“Do you try to be safe with it all?”
“Not really. I just sell it.”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “So you just… Let pon—creatures get hurt?”
“Well it’s not like I’m handing this stuff out to kids,” the mare said. “I at least ask if they know what they’re doing.”
“Uh-huh…” Fluttershy made a conflicted noise. “I mean, I’m supposed to keep you all safe. I’m not sure if letting all of that go is really doing that.”
The mare frowned. “So you are gonna shut us down?”
“No!” Fluttershy put a hoof out defensively. “No, I don’t want to do that, I just…” An idea hit her, and she lit up. “Oh! What if I had a friend come teach you how to be safe with it all?”
“I am not going to start doing what some Princess tells me to.”
“No, no, not Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I meant Starlight. She’s, uh… Well, I guess you wouldn’t know her. She used to be a bad guy. She’ll understand.”
“Sure, I guess,” the mare shrugged.
Fluttershy smiled. “Wonderful! Okay, um, any other shop owners with similar questions, why don’t you…” Fluttershy hummed. “I don’t know if I have a schedule. Um, just run your shops, and I’ll find time to come visit and talk to you all.” She nodded. “Okay, who’s next?”
Fluttershy spent the next few hours there, answering question after question. Over time, some of the crowd filed out, only for more creatures to show up and take their place. At one point, the crowd was so full of new faces that Fluttershy had to pause the questions to explain to them who she was, but by that point she’d gotten so wrapped up in it all that she didn’t even consider having Sable Spirit do it for her.
That was good, because Sable Spirit had, in fact, left less than an hour into it all. When Fluttershy finally finished, she asked the crier where she’d gone, and he explained that she had more work to do and had to leave.
“Oh,” Fluttershy replied to the news. “Did she want me to go find her when I was done?”
The crier shook his head. “The opposite, actually. She said to tell you that her job was done, and now you’re on your own.”
“On my own?” Suddenly, Fluttershy could feel the anxiety she’d managed to put aside during the questioning starting to creep back in. “What am I supposed to do, then?”
The crier shrugged. “I don’t know, but she seemed pretty adamant that she wasn’t going to tell you anymore.”
As Fluttershy stood there, stunned, the crier said goodbye and went back to his job. Fluttershy hardly noticed her own movement as she walked away and hopped off the stage. She didn’t notice much of anything until she reached the gate leading into the castle grounds, only for the two guards stationed there to cross their spears in front of her.
“Huh?” Fluttershy snapped back to the world and looked at them with wide, confused eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, Heiress,” one of the guards said. “We were told by Miss Sable that you’re not to be allowed back in until further notice.”
“What?”
“Looks like you’re stuck in town,” the other guard said. “It’s a nice town, though. Go check it out.”
“Oh…” Fluttershy looked back behind herself, at the humble little homes with thatched roofs and smoking chimneys, and smiled. “Yeah, alright. I guess I can do that.”