//------------------------------// // 21 Not even the undead are safe from her nightly gaze // Story: Blood Curse Boutique // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Within her bed had the little Sweetie Belle been turning and twisting too every possible side. Each and every twist went accompanied with a set of gentle moans. Moans that were just of utmost discomfort. Sweat ran down from the sides of her face in the fashion as if she was having a nightmare. Inaudible mumbles were spoken by her the more time managed to crawl by. It was since she left the library of Twilight that she wasn't the same anymore. Knowing the truth behind her sister was a burden on her mind bigger than she could have ever thought. Sweetie hadn't spoken about it against her parents because they would declare her crazy upon the spot or talk her out of it. Though with the information known to her, her suffering had only just began. “Wah!” yelped Sweetie before her eyes opened themselves wide. She rose up in her bed with a deep pant for air. She was shivering for her life, almost as if it would be taken from her for real. The young filly took one of her stuffed animals and pressed it firmly against her face. She did it in the hope and attempt to calm herself down from the dream she just had. “It, it can't,” the filly mumbled towards the stuffed pony before she left her bed. “R-Right?” Sweetie managed to rise in a bipedal on her hindhooves. With the greatest of care would she have walked up to the door of her bedroom. She was scared because the dream that she had. Which meant that it was just something with incredible power that caused it. With a gulp she dared to look over the hallway in the darkness and her eyes went passed all the doors to be seen but stopped by one. The one of her sister. After a little and wonky walk had Sweetie managed to make her way over to the door that led to her sister's very own bedroom. With a near silence screech of the wood did she opened the barrier. Not much later she found herself gazing upon the belongings in the room. With her curiosity sparked she did enter without a second thought, though the fear raced through her body. She had no idea just what she encounter within it as anything was possible for her mind. Anything from the friendly face of her sister up to the monsters of her nightmares. While her emerald green eyes just looked through the belongings of Rarity, there was a flash of lightning outside that was released. A flash that came forth out of the sheer amounts of energy within the clouds and it startled her like nothing else. In the moment of blindness turned the filly herself around and wanted to lower herself back on all four of her hooves again. But instead did her head land right on a wooden dome that could be found at the end of Rarity’s bed. Her head bashed itself hard against it and the young unicorn fell against the ground. The world before her eyes became darker and darker until she had fallen unconscious. There she laid in the middle of the night and in the room that belonged to her ever so loved older sister. Knocked out by a chain reaction of natural and unfortunate causes. It was like the nightmare all over again. Yet it would either by luck or coincidence that when the little Sweetie Belle would wake up the following morning, she would have forgotten the events of the past two days. Forgotten but never truly lost like the dust under the rugs. On the carpet of her sister's bedroom she had landed with another stuffed pony against her chest she managed to resume her sleep. But only to wake up with questions to be answered. ~~~~                 Time fell short once again as the first rays of the deadly sun would shine again over the land of the ponies. Yet the vampiric unicorn placed down everything she was working on. The amount of work she had moved through the night had been wearing on her mind for too much for her liking. As her horn gently discharged itself, Rarity made her way to the upper level of the boutique to hide herself from the day that was ahead. The mare ventured down the ever so well-known hallway to her own bedroom. Her ice cold eyes stared over to the door that would be leading over to Sweetie’s bedroom. She closed the door with a gentle exhale that left through her nose. Then she placed her attention on her own bedroom and at her bed there was a grin that formed itself. The darkness of the room was unmatched as all of the curtains that hung before the windows and only a single candle that illuminated the area. Rarity walked with care over to the candle and blew it out with a deep and forced exhale. With the flame that died down it was the darkness who managed to consume the room as a whole once again claiming to for itself as it had done for months. But it also concealed the mare for all eyes to see. The only thing indicating she was there were the blue rims in her eyes. For they gently lit up among the dark. The soft sound of wood that got slightly bend itself did its turn through the room as Rarity had taken her position on the bed. The wings uncurled themselves before she placed her forelegs against her chest. Only to have the wings curl back around her body in order to conceal the vampiric unicorn. Her eyes fell shut and after that would she have drifted away into the realms of the dreams and her slumber. A realm she didn't have any control over and one that was as beautiful, as it was deadly. ~~~~                 The warm rays of the celestial sun shone down upon the land of Equestria as they did nearly every day. And the ivory white, unicorn mare that lived under the name of Rarity was just minding her own business and trotted through the streets of the town without a single care in the world. Her warm smile was known by many and everywhere she went, stallions tipped their hats and mares bowed in a polite or respectful manner. Others would simply wave towards the first class fashionista, from time to time she would return the greetings just as polite but mostly she would just give a nod. Rarity had set her destination on the small cottage that was located just outside of Ponyville in order to visit a very good friend of hers. But nothing in the land was what it seems. For it was that in the sun itself that the shadow of a mare could be seen, very lightly it was visible though. Keeping her eyes firmly upon the unicorn. There she went, the ever so normal looking mare, her life looking like it didn't changed at all. She held her pacing by the park of Ponyville and just took a deep inhale. She allowed to let all the scents of the flowers, critters and other ponies to enter her nose and nestle itself within it. The purple maned unicorn simply started to smile even wider at it all while her ears caught the lovely sounds of foals, fillies and colts playing in the grass. But after a couple minutes of watching, listening and smelling, it was time for the mare to continue on the pathway she had set her eyes on. She had an appointment and didn't had the desire to be late. With the passage of time it was the warm sun who got traded in for the cool moon as the land slowly got caught in the dark grasps of the night as the mare in the sun, could also be seen in the moon by then. That made one myth become a little bit too real. The myth of the Mare in the Moon. The unicorn walked out of the small cottage and decided to take the long route towards her home for no particular reason. But it was a route which let her travel close to the forest line of Everfree. With its pleasant temperature and full moon, it was just lovely to be outside. But it also was something she better couldn't do. For the fact that something was haunting her, almost hunting her. Rarity trotted ever so gently and calm over the path in the outskirts of town, a place where no sound could be heard from. She had her eyes closed and was humming a gentle song from her foalhood to herself. The mare didn't appear to have a single care on her mind for it was just her and the path before her. But all of the sudden was she tackled to the ground and a black coated being or thing stood above her. It hissed towards Rarity in the most dark way imaginable. The ivory coated unicorn screamed for help the best she could while she tried to wiggle herself loose from the hold she was in. There was a hoof that held her firmly down to the ground and then it boiled up in her. The feeling of defeat rose up within her body but no help arrived. She began to cry deep into herself before it was to be felt. That sharp pain of something that sank itself in her neck as the head of the being had lowered itself. Countless screams and yells left the unicorn in pure agony before the deals were even made as her attacker just drained the mare from her blood. It almost seemed that the being above her was drinking it from the greatest of pleasures because it moaned satisfied with every single swallow it took and scream it heard.   The further the process went, the softer the screams of the unicorn became before the head of the purple maned mare turned itself to her attacker. She wanted to see the monster that would be taking her life without mercy. Yet the only thing Rarity saw were a set of cyan blue eyes before she lost her consciousness as a whole. And then it just left. As soon as the unicorn blacked out left her vicious attacker without a trace to follow it. It left the mare of grace to just bleed out from  the wounds the neck, leaving Rarity to die under the light of the moon which still housed the image of the mare. ~~~~   Under a loud gasp for air woke Rarity up from her slumber in the darkness of night. Her eyes shot all over the room before she calmed herself down and questioned her dream deeply. A loud and uncomfortable moan left her body as the wings spread themselves again before being tucked gently against her body. “Ugh, w-what was that.. all about?” she muttered before she rose her body up in her bed. Both of her forehooves would have removed the sleep cover and the rubbed the eyes afterwards. Then her horn was charged up in order to re-lit the only candle in the entire bedroom. The candle shone its light upon the bedroom of the unicorn once again, its light twitching and flickering with every motion of the air around it. The scene was almost haunting to watch. The flame was reflected within Rarity’s irises and she appeared to have been mesmerized by it. Yet her hooves were removed out of the eyes and managed to be torn away from the flame. Instead they gazed upon the clock that hung on the wall. “Six o’clock in the afternoon. Perfect time to wake up anyway,” she mumbled to herself. Though her tone was nowhere near as joyful as it usually would have been. While the night had begun once again and therefore it had awoken the unicorn out of her slumber had Rarity returned to her normal routine of the night. Starting again on where she had left on the many dresses to be made. The night passed by slow on over the heavenly skies while the unicorn almost literally moved mountains of work. She had fed on blood the other day and that made her work just so much faster. All because she was allowed to move a whole lot faster. It was something that she loved because she could do almost two days’ worth of work in just one night. And having the late hours had one other advantage for her as no ponies would just walk in and ask hard questions to her for designs or what would match them. Rarity’s mind wandered off to the many times those kind of events had happened before letting go a deep chuckle in herself while shaking her head. But some questions kept remaining in her mind. Who was that mare in the moon and sun, who was her mysterious attacker in her dream? Why did it drained her from her blood? Why could she walk in the sun? There were many questions which she had, but none were answered. In the end was up again and she had to return to her bedroom. The very sun would rise again soon enough. Under a deep exhale had Rarity placed her body on the soft bed and closed her eyes to sleep. Once again she left the realm of the living behind her and dived into the realm of the dreams, the realm where her horrors came through and true once again. ~~~~                 Meanwhile was Sweetie taken under the care of her parents. Who in return gave her a different set of memories of what happened. They didn't want to tell her that what she told them, so more out of safety for their precious little filly, did both Magnum and Pearl spoke wonderful lies. Instead of her going to Twilight, they said that she had been in her room all of the day. It was for both of the parents a hard thing to do but it was for the better. At least in their eyes. Though what they didn't left out was the brawl between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. It was something that, if they didn't spoke about it, the complications would have become too much in their eyes. The young unicorn forgave her friends without much asking and the other two fillies didn't even knew what happened to Sweetie. But neither the earth pony or pegasus questioned the events they also saw in the boutique. For they rather desired to forget them then to be reminded on them. If that only was that simple. For that what has been seen, cannot be unseen with the blink of an eye. ~~~~   For a whole week, for seven long days in a row had the unicorn mare been suffering in her slumbers. The further the days passed, the more she became a victim of her own mind. It forced her to relive things that she had rather forgotten ancient times ago. It almost looked like somepony was making her suffer those horrible dreams. Within either the moon or the sun, the faint shadow of something could be seen with great clarity, always. But every did Rarity try her best to shake it off. All while she would continue doing her beloved work. She didn't cared a bit about them even though they did made her slower then she would have liked. Her thirst for the red gold had become stronger with each passing day before one night, as she was working on a dress for somepony in Canterlot. The more she tried to work on it, the bigger the thirst become up to a point it became uncontrollable. She needed the blood, she wished for blood and being the mare she was, she would get it. One way or the other. ~~~~                 The door of the boutique fell again in its lock while the unicorn was standing outside. She gazed upon the moon and clouds before lowering her head towards the ground. She would have scanned each street she could see in the hope to find a much desired meal. Though much to her own disappointment, she had to travel further and deeper into the sleeping town. The option to try some of the local pubs and bars again to get somepony was still open as well of course but that meant she would get intoxicated blood. Either way, Rarity trotted in a slow pace through the town while her eyes scanned all the houses, windows and streets the best they could. All in the vague hope for any sign of life in the streets. Yet after she had ventured through nearly half of the village, there was not a single stallion or mare that had been caught in her eyes. There were many theories that went through her head as she one of them busted itself almost right away. For the clocktower of Ponyville let its bell chime nine times through the air. “Nine o’clock... just where is everypony..?” Rarity muttered in herself. The soft clattering of her hooves that made contact with the ground did their turn again and again as she walked through the calm streets. But when she made another turn she caught something in her eyes. Something that was of interest for her. For her eyes had finally got somepony within them. Somepony with the build of a stallion and covered up within a cloak as she wore. ~~~~   Within one of the more quiet streets of the town she caught a hooded stallion that moved itself around in a manner of just being lost. In  her eyes it was just the perfect opportunity and her mind lowered itself again. It went back into the huntress state before she calmly walked up to the mysterious pony. “E-Excuse me sir, but are, are happening to be lost?” the mare asked as innocent sounding as possible. At the same time she made her way over to him. The stallion turned himself around before he gently lowered his hood and rose an eyebrow to her. His yellow rims gazed upon her as his gray coat shone lightly in the moonlight. The near perfectly white mane moved gently in the small breeze of wind that had come up before he spoke against her. In a deep and semi frightened tone, that covered up the usual one he had. “Yes, yes I am lost for a moment milady. And I would like to wish to know where exactly I am.” “Well, you are in Ponyville of course. But may I ask, where do you come from?” Her tone had changed itself over into a persuading one as she closed the distance between them even more. Rarity threw her charms in the battle and teased him with her perfectly curved hips. The stallion blinked a couple times at this turn over events as his hoof went behind his head in order to scratch it. After a small amount of time he finally found the force to make up his reply towards her. “I have my camp set just outside of town, miss. I was looking if I could find a store that is still open, but given the late hour, I fear my luck is against me once more.” The unicorn gave him a small nod as she found herself standing in front of him with her face not even two inches away from that of his. Her hypnotic eyes prevented the stallion from asking her to move backwards and thus give them both a bit more space. Rarity’s left forehoof was set itself upon his chest before it made the travel upwards towards the neck of him. But instead of stopping there, the hoof went even further upwards to the stallion’s mouth. It was a motion that sent a cold shiver through him and it was enough to make him stop his rambling. His voice, if not his tone was something she remembered from the nights she went towards and left the castle of Shiva. And within her mind she already came up with a plan. Rarity gently placed the hoof against his mouth as she left a small shushing sound from her mouth while she gazed seducing into his eyes. “Your luck has indeed turned against you, I’m afraid. But also, with you. I may have the things you are looking for in my home. If you are willing to come that is,” she spoke in a sensual tone towards him. Her eyes turned even more dreamy the longer he looked upon them. The stallion was taken by her looks, beauty and voice, a combination that was lethal. He blinked with his eyes a couple times before he did finally and truly gaze back into the wonderful but deadly sapphire blue rims before he got lost in them, fallen for her seduction. It felt like he was being plummeted into an abyss of darkness. A darkness created by the eyes of the mare that stood before him. He lost power over all of his body parts as every thought in his mind surrounded itself over the mare. “Would you kindly follow me, please?” she asked in a polite but sensual manner. After that would her stone cold hoof be released from his mouth. Which then made its way over to his cheek in order to stroke it gently under a soft nod of him. There they went. They were making their way over to the boutique of the mare. She walked in front of him while swinging her hips gently side to side as he followed her without a single question and a bright red blush over his face, being so deeply seduced by her. ~~~~                 After a small trot through the sleepy town stood the two before the boutique as Rarity turned herself around in order to face him. The signs of his body were obvious and he was willing to do it with her. In her mind she let go a deep chuckle as she could use his state of mind to he own advantage. The unicorn turned her head back towards the front door of her home as her horn gently began to charge it up. “Welcome darling, into the Carousel Boutique.” Under a soft screech of wood did the door open itself as the unicorn walked into the darkness of the house. She lit up some candles with the help of her still charged up horn and thus created some light within the building. He followed her inside but lost her silhouette the very second she went in. The stallion closed the door behind him as she gently called her by a nickname. “Milady?” And then his eyes went through the darkness of the room, hoping to spot her somewhere, anywhere. Suddenly her sweet voice came out of a room to his left as she spoke up to him. “In here darling. And please, call me Rarity.” His ears perked up to the room where the sound originated from before he replied in the darkness. “The name is Axel, lady Rarity.” The stallion then turned himself over to his left and he entered through the archway. He allowed his eyes to fall upon the living room, and the mare. On the maroon red sofa she laid while her hindlegs had placed themselves close against the other as her tail hung gently off of it while one of her forelegs was used to support her head as the other went through her mane. His eyes fell upon the rather interesting pose of the unicorn. He admitted to himself that he had a hard time holding himself back but managed to do it with all his might. Her sapphire blue rims gently gazed over towards him as her tone had turned in a rather sensual one. “I know you wish to mate with me,” she spoke up to him from the sofa with her back against the sitting area as she gently opened her hind legs for the stallion. But kept her tail in between them, blocking any view. “Why don’t you come over here and show me what you can?” A loud gulp left his mouth as he had hoped she didn't had him through, but with such an offer given to him, how can one turn it down? With care did his hooves brought him over towards the mare he just met. Together with it, came the feelings of doubt. “Come come darling, it is nothing to be ashamed of, we all have to release our desires from time to time, right?” she spoke in the same tone while staring into his eyes. The seduction got set in even further while Axel continued to stare into her eyes. And before he knew it, he found himself laying on top of the unicorn. Whose blue eyes kept looking at those of him. “Go ahead, whenever you are ready,” she spoke while she wrapped her two forelegs around his neck and held him close against her. “Y-Yes, l-lady R-Rarity,” he stuttered before he was lowered down by her forelegs. As he was brought closer, the much sought after vein revealed itself in his neck. While the vein fell in the eyes of the unicorn, she didn't care anymore. She wanted her price and she wanted it there and then. ~~~~                 The sapphire blue irises of the unicorn made their transition into the red ones while in her mouth the fangs elongated them under a soft hiss of power. The suddenness of the sound and events scared Axel more than enough to make him jump off of her and landed on the floor with his eyes still fixed on him. “W-What in the name of everything!?” his yellow eyes quickly picked up the changes that had occurred and he could only shake his head towards her. “W-What are you!?” “I am the mare you wish you had in your wildest dreams. I am the unicorn whose power can not be matched, I am the being of your worst nightmares!” Rarity spoke while she stood up from the sofa. The ivory coated unicorn rose up on her hind legs and made her posture even bigger. And then she spread her purple skinned, white boned, bat wings majestically before him in all their beautiful horror. “W-What..?” was all he could say before she had tackled him to the ground. And before he could even turn around, was it the mare who stood above him. She had her deadly fangs ready to bite him and possibly end his life. One final glance over to his attacker was not granted to him, much like the mare within her own dreams. Never did she or he saw the true face of that what attacked them before the deed happened. With that rage fueling the mare, it were the fangs that sank deep into his neck and deep in the vein. There they allowed the blood flow to come out with force and therefore entering the mouth of unicorn. A unicorn who swallowed it under the greatest of pleasure. More blood left the poor stallion and got consumed by the vile creature which caused his struggles to only become weaker before they simply died down. Which in response resulted in him losing his consciousness. For the first time in minutes allowed the unicorn her mouth to remove itself out of his neck while her tongue licked the very last bits of blood leaving the wound. Rarity then spoke up in a tone that was filled with a dark pleasure as her eyes kept themselves on his unconscious body. “Now that, was some very, very tasty blood.” She allowed herself to take place upon her sofa once more while being satisfied with the blood that was being transported from her stomach to her own veins. Rarity closed her eyes for a little bit as she wanted to enjoy the victory for hers as his blood joined what was left in there to keep her alive. To keep the impossible being existing. ~~~~                 But that small moment became a long hour before she shocked back up into the land of the wake and her eyes fell upon the blacked out stallion. The unicorn made no time to waste as she picked the body up and left her boutique, concealed within her cloak, one last time in the depth of the night. A dark and abandoned alley was just the thing where she was looking for. A place to dump him as his mind wouldn't remember anything from the happened events. With luck did she found one where she gently placed him a sleeping position. Satisfied with the position she got him in, Rarity gave him a stone cold kiss on his forehead while she spoke in an odd but kind tone. “Sleep tight.” It was while she walked back to her boutique that she heard something. Her ears caught words spoken by a mare whose voice she remembered all too well. “Axel? Axel!? Where are you?” it shouted in a quiet tone. As if it was not willing to wake the residents of the town. “Agneta...” Rarity whispered to herself and the unicorn made her retreat quicker than ever. For the simple fact that she was not even wanting to encounter the other mare for a round of questions about the stallion. Though there had been one mysterious figure that kept watching over purple maned unicorn for a long time already. And the most terrifying fact was that this figure that knew every single bit about Rarity. Blacked out by the light of the shining moon was everything around this pony hidden away from the naked eye. All that could be seen where a set of black wings that spread themselves before the figure took off into an unknown direction. Once the mare returned into her ever beloved but cursed home, began Rarity to rest upon her sofa once more. Yet it was there when she realized just how empty her new life had become. Nopony came to visit, nopony talked to her as she didn't want them to. All she did was work and feed with the occasional. That was fact that needed to change, one way or the other, sooner or later. Whether she would have liked it or not.