Fluttershy shot through the darkness, ignoring the pain as she flapped her wings with all she had. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at her target.
It hadn’t been a problem to find Dracula. The Lady had no reason to hide. She wanted Fluttershy to come after her. She was just there on her throne, lounging elegantly without a care in the world.
The sight frustrated Fluttershy to no end.
She redoubled her pace.
She knew she wasn’t going to catch Dracula off guard, but she didn’t care. She had to help Pinkie, no matter the cost. It didn’t matter what Dracula was going to do to her. She just had to help Pinkie.
She didn’t bother checking for obstacles once she reached the throne room. She knew the room was mostly empty, and she didn’t want to waste any time. She didn’t even slow down first. In the same motion she used to stop flying forward, she let herself glide back into the world of existence.
The room she emerged into wasn’t what she expected. She thought she’d be flying into that oppressive darkness she’d seen in the throne room before, but the room was bright. It was completely lit, in fact, and for the first time Fluttershy saw the full breadth of the throne room.
The throne sat towards the back of the room on a grand, multi-tiered pedestal. It was a rich velvet red with tarnished silver accents, and those colors were matched around the mostly-empty room. What little furnishing it did have was grand, with ancient candelabras lining the carpet leading up to the throne, and glittering glass chandeliers that were bigger than her house. It was a monstrously huge room, which only made it feel even emptier as the regal throne and posh center pathway were dwarfed by the swathes of empty space.
Fluttershy had little time to take any of this in, because gravity quickly caught up with her and dragged her crashing to the floor.
She hit the shallow red carpet with a dull thud and tumbled over herself. The world started spinning, and she quickly lost track of where she was as she rolled across the floor. She only found herself again after she hit the pedestal holding the throne and came to a sudden stop.
“”Heiress, what a lovely surprise.” Dracula spoke calmly, as though nothing at all was wrong. “How may I assist you?”
Fluttershy gritted her teeth and pushed herself to her hooves. She wobbled for a moment, but she quickly steadied herself, and once she had done that she looked up and locked eyes with Dracula.
The Lady had her legs slung up over an arm of the throne and was looking down at Fluttershy with a soft, unassuming smile. She had a tall glass of something red floating nearby, and her perch was flanked by a pair of massive sleeping timberwolves.
Fluttershy took a moment to catch her breath. Then she mustered up as much conviction as she could to brace herself for the concentration.
“Where’s Pinkie?”
Dracula raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
Fluttershy frowned. “My girlfriend.”
“Oh, right, the blood bag.” Dracula swirled her drink around in its glass absentmindedly. “I would assume she’s back in Ponyville. Where else would she be?”
“I know you took her from the dungeons. The cockatrice saw it all.”
“And you’d trust some bird more than you trust your Lady?” She scoffed. “Really, an ounce of power and every vampire thinks they’re above everything else.”
“I don’t think I’m above anything,” Fluttershy said. “Except maybe you, if you really are the bully you’ve been acting like.”
Dracula’s eyes went wide. “My, what a mouth! Where is this coming from?”
“It’s coming from you kidnapping Pinkie!” Fluttershy let out a frustrated hum. “Please, just tell me where she is.”
“I truly do not know where she is, and I’d advise you to accept that. I don’t take well to being nagged.”
“But I know you took her!” Fluttershy kicked the ground and shook her head. “Even if you don’t know where she is now, you were the last one to see her, so—”
Dracula raised her voice, although her tone stayed constant. “I told you, I haven’t seen her since I picked you up. Here.” She floated her glass down to Fluttershy. “Have a bit of this to calm yourself.”
“I don’t need blood, I need—” Fluttershy cut herself off with a growl, then opened her eyes wide and Stared at Dracula. “Tell me where Pinkie is!”
Dracula got a sour look on her face, and without warning splashed the glass of blood onto Fluttershy’s face. The thick liquid flew straight into her eyes, and she flinched as it stung them badly.
Fluttershy rubbed frantically at her eyes, trying to get the blood out, but it was a losing battle. Some of it did drain down onto her face in branching tear tracks, but it was far too sticky to get rid of it all, and she quickly realized she was going to have to deal with bloody vision until she could wash her eyes out.
When she pried her eyes back open and looked up, Dracula was standing right in front of her with a deep scowl.
“I let you give me an order once, girl, and you were lucky for that. Do not push that luck.”
Fluttershy clenched her teeth and fought away the pain in her eyes. She kept her vision locked with Dracula’s. “I just want Pinkie.”
Dracula leaned down over Fluttershy and grabbed her mane, then yanked her head back painfully to stare down at her. “You listen to me. If I did have that little cretin, I’d have shattered her at my earliest convenience, and after this display I may go find her and do just that.”
Fluttershy gasped and tried to back away, but Dracula held her in place. “Y-You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Dracula tugged hard on her mane again. “What have you seen here to make you believe I wouldn’t do that?”
“You couldn’t…” Fluttershy could feel tears start to well up and mix in with the blood that was still there.
“I could, and I would relish it.”
Fluttershy didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t believe it. She had to do anything she could, use everything at her disposal, to make sure Pinkie was safe. To be sure.
She only needed one question.
She didn’t bother going slowly. She didn’t take things in stages to help withstand the pain. In an instant, she shut down everything she didn’t need to ask the question. Her limbs, her heart, everything but her eyes, ears and mouth.
Then she Stared again.
“Where. Is. Pinkie?”
Dracula bared her teeth and hissed. Her eyes lit up with anger. Before Fluttershy could process what was happening, she was flying through the air, struck full force by one of Dracula’s hooves. An instant later she was on a wall, and then the world became a blur.
Her ears were ringing. She coughed violently as her body kicked back into motion. She felt blood start to pool in her mouth. The world around her was just shapes and colors, mostly red, that were coming back into focus incredibly slowly.
Before she was back to her senses, Fluttershy felt another yank on her mane, and then immense pain as she was lifted into the air.
She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, and the world started to come back to her. She was at eye level with Dracula, and somehow they’d wound up in a hallway. The dim lighting made Dracula look even more sinister, and even more furious.
“Clearly you need me to show you the realities of this world you’re in,” Dracula told her in a quiet, hissing voice. “I am Dracula. I am the lord of all creatures of the night, and that means you respect me. And around here, respect comes from fear.”
“P-Please,” Fluttershy sputtered, “I—”
“Shut up!” Dracula struck a hoof against Fluttershy’s face hard enough to draw blood. “Your Lady is speaking. You don’t get to speak to me like you just were until you can kill me, you understand? And you cannot kill me, not how you are now.”
Dracula looked her hard in the eyes for a moment, then took a step back.
“But, I can see you don’t understand yet. You need a demonstration of why you need to fear me.”
Dracula stuck a hoof out to her side, and shadows started gathering around it. They formed into something big, about Fluttershy’s size, and swirled around as they brought it back into reality. Then they disappeared, bit by bit, and left behind a stone statue.
Pinkie Pie’s petrified face stared back at Fluttershy with a look of pure horror.
“Pinkie!” Fluttershy gasped and pulled at her mane, trying to somehow free it from Dracula’s magic so she could go to her, but it was useless. She was trapped.
“Yes, Pinkie.” Dracula spat her name out with disgust. “Tell me, Heiress, what’s her life worth to you?”
“What?” Fluttershy looked at Dracula in shock. “A-Anything! I’d do anything for her.”
Dracula waved a hoof, and shadows wrapped up around one of Fluttershy’s back hooves and tugged at it lightly. “Is she worth a leg?”
“Yes, absolutely!” Fluttershy bit her trembling lip. “Please, just let her go.”
“Hmm…” The shadows moved up to Fluttershy’s back and pulled at her wings. “And these? You’d give them for her?”
“Yes! Take anything you want, I just want her to be safe.”
Dracula raised an eyebrow. “Well then, what about…”
She moved her hoof in a wide arc, and the shadows flew down the hall and wrapped around one of Pinkie’s hooves.
“Her leg?”
“W-What?” Fluttershy swallowed hard, and thick red tears started to flow down her cheeks. “But why her? Why not me? I don’t want her to be hurt, I—”
Dracula flicked her wrist, and long cracks ran up through the leg the shadows had in their grasp. “Clock’s ticking, Heiress.”
“I—” Fluttershy bit her lip hard. “Y-Yes! If it’s the only way for her to live, then yes.”
“How generous of you,” Dracula said. She swiped her hoof forward sharply, and the cracks started getting worse.
The sound of crumbling stone filled the halls. Sharp, sickly cracks and pops rang out at random, and each one was like a knife when it hit Fluttershy. The cold stone started to bend, to deform, and quickly began to lose hold of itself.
Finally, with a loud, quick snap, the statue’s leg was torn off.
“No!” Fluttershy flailed desperately in the air, but she wasn’t able to get any closer. She flapped her wings and tried to fly, but all that managed to do was rip out a few hairs, and not nearly enough to get free.
Blood started to drip from her scalp as she fell limp and began to sob.
“Enough of that,” Dracula said with a disgusted huff. “Have some dignity. At least save it for when we’re done.”
Fluttershy sniffed and looked up in horror. “What? B-But you said you’d set her free…”
“I said no such thing,” Dracula said. “I just asked if you would make the trade. That doesn’t mean I offered it.”
“You…” Fluttershy wiped the tears from her eyes and glared at Dracula. “You’re a monster.”
“Finally you begin to understand. Now, here, hold this.” She floated the broken leg over to Fluttershy and left it in her grasp.
Fluttershy stared down at it with wide, teary eyes. Then she hugged it to her chest and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Let’s move on, shall we? Now, we’ve already done a leg, and she doesn’t have wings… What about the eyes?”