The pegasus devoured the crow she had caught. Cheerilee watched as black feathers flew and bones crunched between the young mare’s teeth. It was very messy.
The schoolteacher figured she might have to teach Golden some “table manners” as it were. It was much easier to pretend to be a normal pony when you didn’t have blood all over your face.
She had halfway expected the younger mare to attack her when she opened the cage. Cheerilee had never before dealt with a vampire that had gone feral, but had it been up to her, she would have killed Golden and saved a lot of trouble. Even to Cheerilee that sounded harsh, but the pegasus had murdered a lot of ponies. It was a mystery why Princess Luna wanted her spared. Cheerilee didn’t question the royal pony’s orders, however.
Golden finished picking at the dead bird. She turned to Cheerilee, her face smeared with blood. The schoolteacher grimaced and said, “Here, let me help.”
She carefully wiped the blood off as best she could, but the younger mare was still a mess. Living in the wilderness for so long had not been kind to her.
“Come with me,” said Cheerilee. “I have a shower at my house.”
“Where is that?” asked Golden.
She doesn’t even know where she is, thought the lavender mare. “Hoofshire. It’s not far.”
They walked back through the woods, stopping at the cage. Golden cautiously gave it a wide berth. Cheerilee retrieved the tan duster and helped the pegasus put it on. It more than covered her, hiding her grimy body.
The two of them left the woods and entered town. Cheerilee kept her eyes locked on Golden, making sure nothing would happen. The young mare seemed nervous. The schoolteacher had a good idea why. It had been a long time since Cheerilee had been a new vampire, but the restless fear of being discovered never truly went away.
The lavender pony unlocked the door and ushered her companion into the house. Golden looked around curiously. It had been more than a decade since she’d been indoors.
“The shower is down the hall,” directed Cheerilee. “I’ll get you a heavy-duty scrub brush.”
“Thank you,” said Golden, her voice quiet.
In Cheerilee’s opinion, it would have been easier to set the pegasus on fire and let her regrow her coat and feathers instead of trying to wash away the accumulated stains. She wasn’t insensitive enough to even joke about it, however. Golden had to be handled very carefully in order to make her return to society as effective as possible.
Cheerilee collected Luna’s coat from where Golden had shed it. She heard the water turn on. There was a thudding noise and a much louder screech of frustration.
Opening the bathroom door, Cheerilee found the young mare beating her hooves on the window. The pane of glass vibrated quietly but didn’t break, a faint glow of magic appearing at each blow.
“The house is enchanted,” explained the schoolteacher. “You can’t get out without permission.”
Golden collapsed to the floor, burying her head in her forelegs. “I…p-panicked,” she whispered. “It’s too much.”
Cheerilee knelt beside her. “Calm down. It also works the other way. Nopony can get in, either. You’re safe here. Nothing is going to hurt you.”
“I’m-I’m not worried about being hurt,” sobbed Golden. “So many things I’ve done…”
Cheerilee had never murdered ponies for nourishment. She had never lost her mind to bloodlust and lived like an animal. That didn’t mean she hadn’t seen her share of bloodshed, though. While she didn’t know what memories Golden might be reliving, she could imagine.
“Let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll talk.” Cheerilee helped the other mare to stand and get into the shower. The water washed the bloody tears away from Golden’s eyes. It was the only way a vampire could cry.
Cheerilee left the room. Golden stood as still as a statue under the deluge of water for several minutes. She began to slowly scrub herself, carefully removing the clumps of muddy soil from her mane and tail.
The shower let the mare take her mind off the memories that had been assaulting her thoughts since she woke up in the forest. Golden tipped her head back to wash her neck and chest. Water dribbled into her nose. It felt strange, but suffocation wasn’t a concern for her.
The pegasus frowned, thinking about Cheerilee. Other than her speed and strength, the other mare didn’t seem like a vampire at all. She had twitches, she breathed, and it even sounded like she had a heartbeat.
Golden continued cleaning herself. Unfortunately, the only filth that washed off was on the outside of her body.
▼▼
Princess Luna was up early. It was barely six o'clock. In the evening, that is. She glanced at the setting sun, looking over the top of the reading glasses that were perched on her nose. She may have been an immortal Princess of the Night, but that didn’t save her from eye strain. It didn’t help that her sister kept making jokes about the half-moon shape of the lenses.
Speaking of Celestia, the older of the two Princesses came into the room. “You’re working hard, Luna.”
The blue mare glanced at the documents and books spread across her desk. “I’m trying to track down something that I think might be relevant to what I’m currently working on.”
Celestia examined the title of one of the tomes. It was a history of Royal Guard activities from more than a century ago. She didn’t ask what her sister was working on. Luna handled some of the more unsavory aspects of Equestria, things that Celestia often didn’t want to know.
“Tell me if I can help you with the history,” the older pony said. Luna had only been back from the moon for a couple of decades and still had catching up to do. The Moon Princess nodded and bid her sister goodnight.
Luna returned to her research. Something wasn’t adding up, and it annoyed her. This was not the type of thing she would usually contact Cheerilee about, but it concerned Ponyville. As a native of the town, the schoolteacher might have some insight.
Sliding open her desk drawer, Luna took out a small mirror. It served as an inconspicuous way to communicate. With a small spark of magic, the clear reflection of Luna’s office dissolved into an image of a completely different room. The Princess saw Cheerilee’s face instead of her own.
“Cheerilee, I have a few questions to ask you. Please tell me what you know about the founding of Ponyville.”
The lavender mare frowned. “Granny Smith of the Apple family once gave a presentation in my classroom about that. She said it had been founded based around orchards that were planted on land chartered to them by Princess Celestia.”
“Did any of that sound strange or implausible to you?” asked Luna.
Cheerilee thought for a moment. “No. Should it?”
“The location where Ponyville now stands started out as a hastily-constructed Royal Guard outpost,” explained Luna. “They were deployed there to take care of a powerful sorcerer who had been using the undead to do his bidding.”
“Necromancy?” gasped Cheerilee. “Why haven’t I heard this before?”
“The records were buried lest somepony try it again. The land was granted to the Apple family because they could be trusted to keep the secret.” Luna sighed. “It’s a very good thing that Granny Smith’s memory in the last years of her life wasn’t what it used to be.”
Changing subjects, the Princess said, "I may have to send you to Ponyville to look into things. That’s a last resort.”
Cheerilee nodded. She may have been gone for a long time, but there were still a lot of ponies who would recognize her and wonder why she hadn’t aged.
Luna discussed a few details with Cheerilee about other jobs that needed to be done. The schoolteacher promised to start them as soon as possible. As the conversation came to a close, the mare said, “Oh, one last thing, Princess. I have your coat here. It’s a little…messy.”
“I don’t need it back,” said Luna. It hadn’t looked good on her anyway.
The two of them said goodbye and the Princess went back to reading her history book.
▼▼
Teacup was just coming back inside from partaking in his one vice. Cigarettes were still a strange novelty in Equestria. Only one store in town sold them, but he’d still managed to become addicted in an attempt to look cool. The stallion grumbled as he thought about how much it was costing him – money from his dwindling bank account.
While he’d been outside smoking, his neighbor Cheerilee had led a pony concealed an oversized duster into her house. Tea didn’t know much about the lavender mare. She held some sort of administrative position at the school.
He thought for a moment about her on a more personal level. The mare seemed nice enough and looked like she might be about his age. It had been a long time since he’d had a special somepony. Tea frowned. Cheerilee might not be single, though. There was no way to tell who had been under that coat.
The stallion sighed and sat down to dinner. His meals had been rather meager since he’d realized that his money was limited. Now if he could just quit smoking.
A while passed and Tea was thinking about cleaning up his dishes. With nothing else to do, he’d been sitting idle at the table and quietly dying for another cigarette. An blood-curdling scream cut the air, causing him to sit bolt upright in surprise.
Tea went over to the window and looked out. The noise had come from the direction of Cheerilee’s house, but no lights were on there. Curious and somewhat worried, he sat back down.
▼▼
Golden came out of the shower expecting to have a conversation with Cheerilee. Instead, the older mare was getting ready to leave.
“I’m going on a quick trip into the Everfree Forest,” explained Cheerilee. “There’s a dangerous manticore that needs to be taken care of.”
The pegasus was disappointed, but said nothing. Cheerilee said she wouldn’t be away for very long and went out the door.
Golden lay down on the floor. After getting used to sleeping outside, the carpet felt wonderful. She sighed in frustration as more memories began to surface.
I wonder how I became a vampire… Almost as if summoned, faint scenes of the event began to drift through her mind.
There was a classmate of hers back in Fillydelphia, an awkward social outcast. She’d known that he liked her. One day, he met her after school and was acting strangely. When she tried to leave, he’d opened his mouth wide, showing off terrifying fangs. As he bit her, Golden thought she was dead. It had come as a surprise to wake up later, throat intact and feeling a terrible hunger.
The mare suddenly sat up straight. She remembered the school better. She remembered the mare who had taught her classes. The schoolteacher must have had something to do with turning her into…this.
Golden slammed into the front door as hard as she could, but it didn’t budge, not even rattling in its frame. She screamed in frustration and anger, a little pain from the failed blow creeping in.
The doorknob didn’t work and she couldn’t break the door down or go through any of the windows. Golden stalked through the house—her prison—frantically searching for a way out.
When Cheerilee returned, she was shocked to discover that most of her furniture was broken and tossed around the house. She found Golden in the living room, a splintered table leg protruding from her chest.
The schoolteacher stared at the limp mare. After a few seconds, she said, “It’s a good thing you missed your heart. What were you doing, anyway?”
Golden glared at her. “Looking for a way out.”