//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: House Call // Story: Heir To Darkness // by Leafdoggy //------------------------------// It wasn’t long before Fluttershy came up to a cute little home with a wicker doormat. It was much like the others around it, with a flat thatched roof on top of starched tan walls built from the willow trees that surrounded the town, but it had little touches all over that made it seem special. Planter boxes in the windows held pure white flowers, which stood out brilliantly against the dark gray of the curtains behind them. Thorny shrubs surrounded the base of the house, and vines ran like a scar across one corner. The doormat itself was blank, but a little wooden sign hanging on the door announced this as the home of Pond Sedge. Just as Fluttershy raised her hoof to knock, a voice came from beside her. “Can I help you?” Fluttershy yelped and wheeled around. To her left, standing only inches away from her, was a small mare with a short mane and an annoyed look on her face. At first her coat seemed blue, but then the light shifted and it changed to a pale white, and then a shining gray. For some reason, try as she might, Fluttershy just couldn’t focus on her well enough to say for sure. Fluttershy took a deep breath and tried to calm her breathing. “Oh, h-hello,” she said nervously. “The, um, town crier suggested I come here for some… Jewelry?” The mare tilted her head as she stared at Fluttershy. She never seemed to blink, or even to narrow her eyes, and her hard black pupils gave the impression that she was looking at something behind Fluttershy. After a long silence, the mare finally spoke up. “Why?” “Huh?” Fluttershy blinked. “Well, I… I don’t really know why. He didn’t actually tell me what I’d find here.” The mare’s expression soured even further. “I don’t even know who you are, why does he think I would let you in?” “Um… Oh, I guess you didn’t see the announcement.” Fluttershy rubbed her leg nervously. “Well, I’m Fluttershy, to start.” The mare nodded. “Sedge,” she replied. Fluttershy gave her a tiny smile despite her nerves. “It’s nice to meet you, Sedge. So, I’m kind of… Dracula’s heir, I guess? And apparently Dracula decided to put me in charge today.” Sedge gritted her teeth, and managed a surprisingly thorough look of concern even without changing her cold, emotionless eyes. “Seriously?” Fluttershy nodded and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, I know it’s probably pretty worrying. That’s why I’m here, though!” She perked up a bit, doing her best to stay hopeful and positive. “I’m going to learn and get stronger so that some day, if I do have to be Dracula, I won’t let you all down.” “And so that fool decided to have me be the one to scare you off.” Sedge sighed, but her expression seemed to soften a bit. “Fine.” Fluttershy stepped back to give her room to open the door, but Sedge just turned to her side and walked through the wall into her house. Fluttershy gasped. She was so stunned that she just stood there for so long that, eventually, Sedge actually did open the door and gave her an annoyed look. “Are you coming?” “Oh!” Fluttershy jumped out of her shock and straightened up. “Um, may I?” Sedge sighed. “Yeah, come on in. Wipe your hooves on the mat so I don’t have to clean my floors.” Fluttershy did as she was told, wiping her hooves as well as possible before stepping into the mare’s little home and shutting the door behind her. It was a nice place, perfectly suited to a single pony living alone, but it hardly looked lived in at all. There was no clutter, nothing out of place, and all the furniture looked brand new. It had the stale smell of an empty home, and the floorboards creaked as they settled under her heavy steps. Sedge led Fluttershy to the back of the house and into a long, thin room that Fluttershy would have expected to hold a kitchen. It didn’t, though, and instead had been converted into a packed storeroom. Boxes filled shelves, shelves filled walls. There wasn’t a single bit of unused space in the room, and there was hardly enough room for Fluttershy to walk through it.  It was a nice sight, though, compared to the emptiness elsewhere. That had been alienating, but Fluttershy felt right at home in this storeroom because she had one just like it back at her cottage. “Well,” said Sedge as she approached the door on the far side of the room, “here’s what you came for.” She opened it up and led Fluttershy back outside, this time behind the house. It wasn’t what Fluttershy would have expected. The rest of the town was a maze of houses once you left the street, and that maze could even be seen to either side of the house, but here Fluttershy found herself in a wide open field. Houses lined the sides of it, facing into the field just as Sedge’s faced into the road, but there was a clear line where housing ended and open air took over. It wasn’t empty, though. Every house that lined the edge had a canopy attached to it, under which the homeowners had stalls set up for anything Fluttershy could think of. There were magical artifacts, unicorns offering up magic services, books, bobbles, odds and ends and everything else. The stalls lined the wall that surrounded the castle, and there were more set up all throughout the field. It made Fluttershy think of the farmers’ markets she’d gone to in Ponyville, although with a distinctly darker feeling. Only a few of the stalls actually had creatures running them. The rest stood empty, their goods locked under glass and signs hung up advertising their hours. Fluttershy must have been staring, because Sedge cleared her throat nearby to get her attention. “Can we get this over with?” Sedge asked. “I have work to do.” Fluttershy turned to see Sedge in a stall of her own. In the darkness under her canopy, Fluttershy saw her much more clearly, and could easily make out the clear blue of her fur and the dark teal of her mane. Behind her was a sign showing her prices, but it didn’t actually say what she did. It just had hourly rates listed. When she turned around to look at Sedge, Fluttershy saw something else. Attached to the house was a little white fence that corralled off a sizable area, and in that area were various little huts and toys for animals to use. There weren’t many actual animals to be seen, mostly little lizards and flightless birds, but it looked like it could handle quite a few. “So, you take care of animals?” Fluttershy asked. Sedge nodded. “Mostly I act as the castle’s vet, but I also take care of pets in my spare time. I mean, nobody really leaves, so there’s not a ton of business, but sometimes they just get to be too much.” “I thought you said he wanted you to scare me.” Sedge let out a dry laugh. “Here.” She leaned down and hefted a heavy carrying case up onto the table. Inside was a massive, angry-looking bird. “I was just about to take this guy home, but—” Fluttershy gasped. “Is that a cockatrice?” “Yeah, but don’t—” Fluttershy didn’t hear her. She dashed up to the carrying case and opened it so she could reach inside and pet the bird, which rubbed up against her in appreciation. “—worry.” Sedge stared at her in confusion. “You do know what a cockatrice is, right?” “Oh, of course!” Fluttershy looked back at Sedge with a huge smile. “Ever since ours moved deeper into the Everfree, I’ve been missing them so much. They’re really some of the most loving birds out there.” Fluttershy put her leg out, and the cockatrice hopped out of the carrier and onto it before crawling up onto Fluttershy’s back, where it laid down and nuzzled into her. Sedge tilted her head. “How are you doing that?” “Hm?” Fluttershy had gotten distracted by the cockatrice, and turned back to Sedge. “Oh!” She chuckled. “Well, I didn’t exactly get my cutie mark for being a vampire. I’ve always been good with animals.” “I’ve met plenty of ponies who are good with animals,” Sedge said, “and they all still run from a cockatrice. Heck, I would’ve before…” She looked down at her legs and pursed her lips. “Well, before.” “Who could ever be scared of such a lovely bird?” “Everyone,” Sedge replied. “That thing will turn you to stone on a whim!” Fluttershy laughed. “Well, maybe if he’s grumpy, but he sure doesn’t seem grumpy to me.” “It’s from the castle, stuff in there is… It’s feral!” Fluttershy gasped. “There were cockatrices in the castle this whole time?” Sedge put a hoof to her forehead. “If you go looking for them, you’re gonna get yourself killed. Maybe back where you came from these things can be nice, but anything in those halls is gonna be mean.” “Aww,” Fluttershy cooed towards the bird, “but look at him! He’s harmless. If they’re mean in the castle, maybe they just need a bit of renovation so they’re more comfortable.” Sedge shook her head dismissively. “Whatever. It’s not my problem, I’m just fine with the Dracula I’ve got.” That caught Fluttershy’s attention. “It seems like everyone is happy with her.” “We are. Life in Trotsylvania is just fine. It’s good, even.” “Why does she want me to be Dracula, then? If you’re happy, she must be doing a good job, right?” “I don’t pretend to know what she’s thinking,” Sedge told her. “Did she not tell you?” “She said she doesn’t think she can take you any further,” Fluttershy said. Sedge laughed. “Well, she’s right in that.” “What do you mean?” “I haven’t been out of this town in fifteen years,” Sedge said, “and why not? I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna get hurt. I’m happy here, though, and out there I wouldn’t be. That’s just how it is.” “I was happy back in Ponyville, though,” Fluttershy said. “Lucky you.” Fluttershy frowned. “I just mean, why couldn’t you be?” “I’m dead.” A hint of frustration crept into Sedge’s voice. “What do you think will happen when ponies out there who’ve lost loved ones see the one pony who came back? There’s not a life for me out there.” “Oh…” Fluttershy was tempted to argue, to say that that couldn’t be true, but she held it back. “I’m sorry.” Sedge huffed. “Whatever. You gonna take that bird back?” “Oh! Yeah, um, sure! I’d be happy to. Thank you for taking care of him.” “That’s my job,” Sedge said. “Get outta here. Find someone else in the market to scare you.” “Oh, okay,” Fluttershy said. “Um, well, it was nice to—” Before she finished the sentence, Sedge turned around and walked through the wall back into her house.