//------------------------------// // Act I - Chapter 9 // Story: Second Princess of the Night // by Senyu //------------------------------// Twilight groaned as she stirred, and weakly moved her limbs in a daze. Her body felt numb except for the sensation of pricking needles, almost as if she had fallen asleep on a leg for too long but throughout her entire body. As the feeling returned to her limbs, she hazily looked about the forest clearing she laid in, before laying her head back down and shutting her eyes in pain from the headache that assaulted her. “Ow…” she breathed quietly. Holding her eyes firmly shut, she struggled to get her hooves beneath her to stand herself up, but found she was at the moment only able to appropriately control her front legs. While sucking in tiny breaths, she braced her forelegs into the ground, and propped herself. She held still for sometime as the soreness in her legs, and the pain in her head, began to dull, and only then did she open her eyes again. Blinking wearily, she looked about the forest once more. W...What’s going on? Where… Where am I? With half open eyes, she stared dumbfounded at the greenery around her, before the memories of last night finally caught up with her mind, and made her eyes snap fully opened. With a startled gasp, she instinctively leapt to a standing position, bracing herself for the next attack. But she was only able to hold it for a few moments before her back legs gave out, and she sat herself down. She shut her eyes again as the headache flared once more. Feeling the remnants of sleep fade from her mind, Twilight remained as she was, letting the strength come back to her body as she attempted to recall everything that had happened. You’re alright Twilight, they’re not here. At least, I don’t think they are. Feeling some of the pain dwindling, she opened her eyes and looked about again, albeit much more slowly than she did before. There was nothing around save the trees, and the only sounds she could hear were the morning bird songs beginning to settle, and the faint rustle of leaves now and then. It's morning already... Which means whatever they wanted to steal from the house is probably gone by now. She bit her lip at the thought of the fleeing pony. I can’t believe he escaped! If I get my hooves on him again… Her frustration of the incident quickly cooled as she replayed the events again. No… that’s not the real issue. What happened last night? What was that strange magic he had used? Twilight sat down to give her legs some respite, feeling a sense of deja-vu of how her limbs refused to move in a similar fashion when he had caught her. As her headache began to fade further, more memories jumped in and filled in the events, bringing about each moment with chilling clarity. She could remember everything now. From the strange shadows that had become corporeal, to her magic strangely going out. Nothing about last night made sense in her mind, or fell in line with how magic worked as she knew. And surprisingly, that bothered her more than she thought it would. She sat there for some time, working out hypotheses as to how such things happened, during of which her body recovered more quickly than she realized. It had caught her by surprise when she realized her limbs were not protesting any more. To make sure it wasn’t just her imagination, she tentatively stood back up, readying herself for a flash of pain she felt would surely come. But nothing of the sort happened. She felt normal, without a hint of soreness to indicate she had even experienced it in the first place. “Huh…” she commented. Now curious about the rest of her, she turned her eyes upward and focused on her horn. Like always, she felt her magic pooling within it and flowing freely, much to her relief. “Well, guess I can check that off the list.” Still tentative that the pain would come back in any second, she stepped forward a hoof step, then another, trotted in place, and even jump up. Her body felt fine, and she was confident any spells she would cast would also have similar results. “Hmmm.” As she reflected over the strangeness of it all, a speck of dirt falling caught her attention. She blinked in confusion before she realized that it must have been some of the remnants of the dirt from last night. “That jerk!” She carefully began wiping the rest of it off her horn. How dare he shove my horn into the ground like that! Shadow magic or not, when I get my hooves on him! When she cleared off as much as she could, she looked down at her legs and saw grass stains covering them. The sudden awareness of how dirty she was too the point that she didn’t even bother to check how bad it was on the rest of her body. Grinding her teeth, her eyebrow twitched meticulously as she called on her magic again. I need to get back so I can start figuring out what the hay had happened. Nopony gets away with stealing under my watch, assaulting me in the middle of the night, and shoving MY horn into the ground! With a flared nostril, she casted her spell, blinked out of the forest, and arrived in front of a startled Spike. “Twilight! What happened to you?” he exclaimed immediately. A wave of dizziness washed over Twilight, but past in moments. “I… uh… I’m okay… still recollecting myself.” Twilight looked about the library as the sensation faded, letting relief fill her at being somewhere familiar. “I’m okay, I just need a bath as I… um, sure you can tell,” she said while gesturing towards herself. “I’m going upstairs to fix up. Afterwards, you and I are going to Trail’s. His house got broken into last night and I want to account for everything missing.” “Seriously? What in Equestria happened last night? And why are you so… messy?” he said carefully. “I’ll tell you on the way,” she sighed. “And can you get me some breakfast please while I wash up? I'm starving.” “Uh, yeah, sure thing,” Spike replied hesitantly, fumbling with his hands as he contemplated staying by her side between doing as she asked. But she left him little time to choose, and was quickly up the stairs and into the bedroom. Biting his teeth with worry, Spike rushed into the kitchen and began making breakfast. As the sound of pots and pans falling echoed dimly to the second floor, Twilight drowned out the noise by turning the faucet for the bathtub on full. A steady stream of hot water shot forth and quickly began to steam up the room, causing Twilight to breath in deeply at its relieving sensation. While waiting for it to fill before switching to cold water to even the temperature out, Twilight turned towards the mirror. She stared blankly at her reflection before muttering darkly, “Rarity, would have a heart attack.” Messy, as Spike described, was an understatement. She had leaves and twigs in her mane, dirt and grass stains completely covering her coat and legs, her feathers were completely ruffled and displaced, and her eyes were red from still waking up. “Wow, I am a mess.” As she waited for the water to fill, she began the tedious process of removing all the foliage from her mane and tail, and them aside into a neat pile on the floor nearby. She even had somehow ran into a bush with tiny ball shaped green stickers that were resilient on letting go of her. Just before the tub was full, she quickly switched to cold water, and turned it off. The room was still misty from the heat, but it was doing wonders for Twilight as she breathed the warm air into her lungs. Tipping a hoof timidly into the water, she sunk it deep enough for it to reach passed her coat. She sucked in a breath of air as the heated water made contact, then relaxed as the sharp pain began to fade away. Oh Celestia does that feel good. Carefully, she eased her body into the tub with hind legs first, dipping them slowly while supporting herself on the edges with her forehooves, wincing now and then at the sensation of the water touching the little cuts across her body beneath her coat. But as painful as it was, the feeling of the warm liquid enveloping her was worth it, and its warmth worked its magic. As she slid the last bit of the way, a happy sigh escaped her lips, and she looked up to the ceiling with a smile. This is what I needed, she thought, and her body couldn’t agree more with her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After washing away all the nature that had clung to her, Twilight stepped out of the tub and began drying herself off; the muddy water slowly sinking into the drain as the tub drained. She felt ten times refreshed and ready, the only thing left to pick her up and prepare her for figuring out everything being the anticipated breakfast Spike had been preparing for her. Enjoying the brief reprieve of relaxation before getting down to business, Twilight hung the towel on the rack and began to preen the feathers, before sighing at the notion she would have to ask for help for some of the more difficult ones. “Fluttershy had just helped me settle these in recently too,” she said in disappointment. As she considered asking for her or Rainbow Dash’s help later in the day after marking all the stolen goods, she blinked her eyes, and looked at her feathers. “Actually, I bet I can do it now on my own. I don’t need to bother them with this.” After spending some extra time getting her feathers in place—of which she hoped meant Spike was preparing more food—she magically grabbed her brush, and began stroking her tail and mane back into their proper positions, all while staring at a much more familiar and clean looking pony. As she was working on her bangs, she stopped in mid stride at the noticed of a detail that still remained from her messy state from before. Setting the brush aside, she leaned closer to the mirror and opened her eyes as wide as she could. She had figured it was just the after effects of being tired, or a tiny blood vessel that had popped during the fight. But neither of those explanations, or any others that she could come up with, explained the red coloration on the edge of her purple irises. Had she not been staring idly into the mirror while brushing, she may have not even noticed it. “Huh… that’s weird.” Propping herself onto the sink, she spent some time looking at it from every angle and length, while running over in her mind on possible spells that might be able to revert it if it did not go away. It might be a side effect from the magic last night. I better take a look at some dispelling formulas just incase. I wonder if I can make one into the form of eye droplets. “Twilight! Your breakfast is ready!” Perfect. I am absolutely starving. Giving the red tinge once last scrupulous glare, she lowered herself from the sink, and head out. “Coming!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “So he was just gone when you woke up?” Spike asked as he kept up with Twilight’s quickened pace. “That’s pretty much it,” Twilight grunted. Spike looked up at her worry for the umptenth time. He opened his mouth to say something, but held back at the expression of her face. Her brow was furrowed, her chin tight from clenched teeth, and her eyes were unwavering as they stared forward. I haven’t seen Twilight worked up like this before. The last time she even acted remotely like this was when Nightmare Moon came back. The tight feeling he had in his gut made him want to say or do something, anything, that might helped her feel better. But he could not. There was nothing to say. Twilight had been attacked, and he had not been there to help her. Which means there’s only thing I can do then. Gripping his claws tightly, he turned his eyes forward as well, and blew out a puff of smoke from his nose. I got to be there for Twilight here on out. I am not letting something like this happening ever again. To deepen his resolve, he imagined himself catching the would be robber from last night, himself clad in armor, and breathing terrible fire to burn their tail off. “Any idea why he broke into Trail’s home?” Spike said with a deep voice in attempt to show his resolve. “No idea,” Twilight simply replied. Her dead set expression however, soften as she imagined the state of the house. “I feel so bad that I let him get away. I hope Trail isn’t too mad that he managed to get away with his stuff.” “Don’t worry, I don’t think he’ll sweat it too much,” Spike said. “I hope so…” Twilight replied. “I just hate the fact that something I was in charge of got ransacked…” The rest of the quick walk was done in silence, and the path to the house seemed longer than usual despite it taking only a few short minutes. When they did arrive, they wasted no time in walking up the front path and opening the door, only to pause as soon as they saw inside. They simply stood in the entrance way, nearly all their determination having been swept away at the sight of the mess littered about; a mess that they would have to clean up. “Wow…” Spike remarked. It was just as bad as Twilight remembered. Everything was toppled over and on the floor, or pulled from their position if not completely thrown on its side. The sight of it all made Twilight’s heart sink in dread. The last time she had been standing in the doorway like this but looking outside instead of in, it was to see Trail off; the same worry in her chest nagging at her. Is this what you warned me about being careful? The memory of Trail flashing her a weak smile and telling her everything would be alright flashed across her mind. Trail… what is going on? Just what are you apart of? “Well,” she breathed reluctantly. “We better get started cleaning up and cataloguing what’s missing so we can report what was stolen to the local guard.” “I’ll be right back,” Spike said before quickly trotting back down the front path. “Spike! Where are you going?” “To get a bigger broom and some snacks! It looks like we’re going to be here all day!” Twilight opened her mouth to call him back, but stopped, then shook her head with a smile on her lips. She knew better than to stop him when he was so set on things, and she hadn’t seen him so worked up in sometime. Spike on the other claw, had seen her smile, and ran even quicker back to the library. If there’s one thing I can help out on, then I'm gona do it the best I can! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two of them spent all morning picking up various items, tidying up broken pieces of ceramics and glass, turning furniture right side up, and ensuring everything was in their proper place, all while going over what happened been taken. To their bewilderment however, nothing appeared to be missing. Everything was either pulled from their original spots or broken. As they moved about the bottom floor, a suspicion that the situation had nothing to do with an ordinary robber grew more and more. To her, it was as if they were looking for something, something that was very important. Each piece they found caused her heart to sink further of the damage that was caused under her watch, and the determination to figure out exactly what it was they wanted. By the time they finished the first floor, everything had been swept into piles and repositioned, it was past noon, leaving only the second floor. The fact that not a single piece was missing from the bottom floor only confirmed further her suspicion. As they explored the second floor, they found it in a similar disarray; everything shattered or moved from their spots. Even the beds were flipped over and torn apart. If anything had been within it, Twilight would never know. She began to worry that whatever the robber had been looking for may have already been found. But if they found what they were looking for, then why is the entirety of the house destroyed? Unless two things happened. They either A, found it at the end. Or B, never did… Humming to herself in thought, she made her way out of the bedroom and to the pair of doors she had been dreading to open since she first stepped into the house. With a gulp at what she may find on the otherside, Twilight slowly pushed open the door to the study room. When she did, she wished she hadn’t. “How could anypony do this!?” she exclaimed. Across the entire floor, was every single book from the shelves; the majority of them lying open face down, causing small folds in the papers or bends in the spines. The sight of such books—and some priceless ones in her opinion—filled her with a sense panic that only the injust treatment to literature could cause. “Oh no no no no!” repeated over and over as she immediately began to levitate them back into their places while inspecting the damage done to them. “Some of these books are incredibly rare and first edition to! I can’t believe he left them like this!” When she lifted one book and found its pages were literally ripped from the spine, she nearly fainted. “Besides the damaged ones, doesn’t seem any different than when you leave books lying around,” Spike casually commented, ducking beneath a few novels that were being floated back to the shelves. He was quickly silenced by an angry glare from Twilight, then bit back the urge to sigh and began to help picking them back up. After collecting a few, he headed over to the nearest shelf before they were suddenly pulled out of his claws with magic. “Those go over here,” Twilight stated, her head turning every which way to read the various titles of the books floating around before putting them neatly back into their spots. Of course she’s memorized where they all go by now. Wanted to stay out of the way of her frantic work, Spike set about fixing the other items in the room. While the globe he was fond of was a little heavier to put back than he’d care to admit, he was thankful everything else was within his power to move. As he walked towards one of the corners of the room to re-stand a knocked over lamp, his attention was caught by an unusual coloration of the floor. Leaving the lamp up straight, he headed towards what was apparent as he became closer was a piece of a floorboard missing, looking to have been torn or smashed in. Cautiously, he moved over it and stared into the hole that was about two pony hooves wide. In the dimness, he could make out the boards for the ceiling below, as well as a visible rectangular spot that wasn’t covered in dust. If he had to have guessed, he would have figured a book had been lying there before the floorboards were torn. Curiosity filling him, he attempted to stick his head into the hole and looked around, an let out a toothy grin when his eye caught the edges of what appeared to be another book that was covered in dust. “Twilight Come here! I found something!” Twilight paused for a moment, then let out a whine at Spike’s head disappearing into the floor. “Oh no, did he deal structural damage to the house too?” “No! I mean, yes! I mean...I found a book!” he voice shouted from beneath the floorboards. “I think there were two of them cause it looks like one’s missing!” “A book?” Intrigued, Twilight gently set down the remaining books that had yet to be shelved, and trotted over to him. Spike lifted his head out and grinned up at her. “Yeah, it’s a book alright. I think the robber was looking for these because the first one is missing. But it’s a little too far for me to reach, so I think it was for him too and he had missed it! Heck, if I hadn’t stuck my head in, I wouldn’t have found it,” he said excitedly, a thin layer of dust covering his facial scales. Twilight craned her neck around the hole and peered inside. It took a bit of angling, but she was barely able to make out the edges of the book Spike was talking about “I think you’re right! From what I can tell, nothing else is missing in this room either.” Immediately the dusty book was wrapped in a purple glow as Twilight carefully pulled it out from beneath the floorboards and into the air. Spike eyed it with a building sense of adventure. “What do you suppose it says? Do you think it’s directions for a really powerful spell?” “I don’t know,” Twilight said as she expected its cover. From the looks of it, it was a plain green journal with no title on cover. Judging from the removed floorboards and the state of the rest of the house, her suspicions were now confirmed that this was exactly what the burglar was looking for, if the shape of another missing book directly below the hole wasn’t proof enough. Unable to hold her curiosity back any longer, she blew off the dust and opened to the first page. Squinting at the hoof written ink, she read aloud the first page. “Corpus Nocte Morsu.” “What’s that?” Spike asked. “It’s a collection of knowledge on something called a Night Fang… I think,” Twilight answered as she flipped through its pages. “It’s really old…” “Night Fang?” Spike asked. “What the hay is that?” “I don’t know. We don’t even know if who broke in was even looking for this one…” Twilight replied. This is becoming more and more mysterious. First a robber who turns out to be something more than your run of the mill bugler. Then magic I have never seen before, and now this? While it had all been terrifying and frustrating at the same time, the situation was beginning to become more interesting each step of the way, as did her determination to figure things out. But how is Trail involved with all of this? And why does he have this book? “Twilight,” Spike said. “Hmm?” “Are you just going to stare at it or are you going to read?” he said. “Oh! Right,” Twilight said while snapping out of her thoughts. Coughing into her hoof, she closed the book and set it aside the nearest table. “As much as I want to now, we’ll read it later today. First, we need to get the rest of the books back in their place. And after we’ve done a triple check to ensure nothing else is missing, we're going to report the robbery.” “Right…” Spike said, all tone of excitement having gone from his voice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Corpus Nocte Morsu,” Twilight read aloud. She and Spike were back at the library, having just finished dinner and now were at the table together with the book before them. Putting the house back in order and verifying nothing else had been stolen —which only affirmed Twilight and Spike’s hunch the books under the floor board was indeed the true goal of the break in— and submitting the report to the local authorities practically took all day. A few of the more enthusiastic guard ponies were slightly upset that she had removed all if any evidence of the burglar by cleaning the house, but informed Twilight in the most respectful way possible due to her Princess status. They of course, were immediately on edge when Twilight informed them of the pony attacking her and stated that the report will be going to Canterlot for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves to look over. As much as Twilight tried to assure them that it was unnecessary, she was unable to convince them otherwise due to certain protocols they had to follow. Being treated in such a way was still something Twilight was getting used to. It had been one thing being an Element Bearer. Though she received attention, nopony regarded her as something that couldn’t handle her business on her own. Now that she was a Princess, everypony took extra care with her and acted like she can’t or shouldn’t do anything. And it was becoming more and more bothersome to her she found. “Well, what are we waiting for? Open it,” Spike enthusiastically demanded. Twilight simply nodded her head—suspense weighing on her as well as to what could be so important in the book—and flipped towards the first page. Clearing her voice, she began to read the introduction. “Contained inside this book, is a compendium of knowledge regarding the dark creatures that roam the night. Their strengths and powers having easily allowing them to secure a position of power and fear throughout the land. Not all is known about them, but what we do know… is here in this book. From weaknesses to traits, all and more lie inside in this tome, a more complete reference and gathered collection of knowledge to face these deadly beasts than the majority of other books on the matter. For truly, the might of the Vampony is a fearsome thing, and more must be known about them to effectively defend ourselves.” Twilight paused reading from that last sentence, her brow rising as she reread to make sure she saw it correctly. “Vamponies?” Spike asked aloud. “It’s a book about vamponies?” “I guess so…” Twilight said, her hopes faltering somewhat. Really? This entire book is dedicated to vamponies? While Twilight looked a little downtrodden from finding out what the book covered, Spike on the other hoof grew more excited as his eyes widened. “Vamponies are real…” he whispered softly. Twilight gave him a scrupulous look. “Honestly, Spike, you can’t expect this to be real. I mean vamponies? Really?” “I don’t know, Twilight, you said yourself that he used some kind of strange magic on you. Maybe it's vampony magic?” “Just because it was magic I haven’t seen before, doesn’t mean a vampony did it,” Twilight said with an eyeroll. “Come on, Spike, you expect vamponies to be real? You know Trail had some pretty enthralling fictional books.” “Then why was this one under the floorboards?” “Because it-“ Twilight began to say before stopping. In truth, she had no idea why it was underneath the floor nor could she come up with an explanation. Turning back to the book she gave it a hard look while in thought. Why was it under the floorboards? If it’s just another one of his eccentric fictional novels, then it should have been on the shelf… shouldn’t it? Spike flashed a knowing grin at stumping the mare. “See?” “Just because I can’t answer the question doesn’t mean vamponies are real,” she replied with a glare. “But… I suppose it doesn’t hurt to read it. Maybe we can find something else out insides its passages.” “Alright! I’m going to get some Emerald Popcorn!” Spike said as he scooted off his chair and ran into the kitchen, eager to whip up a recipe from his favorite book of late for a nighttime snack. “You are not allowed to touch its pages with buttery covered claws! Normal popcorn will do!” Twilight shouted after him. The response was a loud, “Aww,” of disappointment from the adjacent room. “And please bring me a sandwich! Everything that has happened today has really worked up my appetite!” Eyeing the kitchen entrance for a moment, she turned her focus back to reading the rest of the passage. “Be wary should you find yourself in need of the information in this book. For even when shielded with the knowledge and defenses listed, they are not always enough to save you from the fangs of the Vampony…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Garlic is one of the more useful tools in everyday protection. The stench of it for yet to be discerned reasons, have a discomforting effect on Vamponies that will ward off all that cross your path save the most hungry.” Twilight and Spike had spent the last two hours reading the book. Her speaking aloud the passages that Spike seemed most interested in, and him munching away on popcorn, tossing one at Twilight’s way now and then for her to catch in magic and pop into her mouth. But after reading late into the night, and Twilight devouring more popcorn than Spike, eventually they decided to call it a night and have a fresh start in the morning. And no matter how helpful the warm bath had been, Twilight’s body still needed rest to recover from her recent ordeal. Reluctantly, Spike went to bed while Twilight went to brush her mane in the bathroom; as well as throw out the mess she had made that morning While finishing the last chapter of ‘Produces of Protection’, she flipped back to the table of contents and skimmed down the rows for another section to quickly skim before finishing her brushing. Her eyes stopped on ‘Suspicious Symptoms Indicating Infection’. Humming aloud, she flipped to the chapter and began reading. “The signs of a Vampirism are often subtle, but very straight forward. Red colored eyes have always been one of the easiest defining factors even though it can be found naturally on some ponies.” Twilight paused reading, and halted her brush in midair, a sudden memory flashing in her mind from last night. She can’t believe she had forgotten it until now, but the pony that attacked her had one of the reddest eyes she had ever seen. Dismissing the notion, she resumed her brushing. It must be a coincidence, I know some ponies here in Ponyville with red eyes. It doesn’t mean he was a vampony. But despite her protests, she lifted her head as she thought over the ponies she knew, cross referencing the physique of the ones she knew off the top of her head with that of the attacker; highly unlikely since she trusted everypony here, but it was still something she shouldn’t overlook. It was doing so that her train of thought stopped, and the sound of a falling brush hitting the floor echoed in the bathroom moments later. She had been staring idly in the mirror while thinking, when her gaze passed over her eyes. Leaning forward with a held breath, she looked closer at the unfamiliar coloring she had found earlier this morning. If wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn the amount of red on her iris edges had grown slightly. The same color of red the pony that attacked her had. Having been lost in her eyes for some time, she shook her head sideways and pulled away from the mirror. “No, I will not accept that as proof that it was a vampony that did this to me. For all I know it’s a side effect of something else.” Twilight shoved the very thought aside, her skepticism ungiving for a single coincidence with the listed symptom. But when she looked down again at the book, another thought crossed her mind. Trail owns this. And he… has red eyes… Twilight’s mouth opened a little as she tried to make some understanding of it all. That’s right, I thought he was Trail at first because of his eyes… Feeling less sure of her stance on the matter, Twilight continued reading. “The second definitive sign is the bite marks that are left after being bitten by a vampony. Though it has been recorded to appear on other parts of the body, the neck is often the preferred location for drinking blood and/or the spreading of the vampiric curse. This trait though does require some cooperation with the suspected individual as a thorough examination of their coat must be performed. When unable to cooperate, delicate use of force is recommended to ensure purity of the individual. With a chill down her spine, Twilight paused once again as another memory flashed in her mind. She recalled in clarity her attacker moving towards her, and the gripping paralyzing sensation of something piercing her neck, of which she had lost consciousness shortly after. Not realizing she was holding her breath again while recalling the event, she quickly moved back to the mirror and began parting the hairs on her neck. She revealed small sections at a time with her magic, looking for anything that might have indicated she was indeed bitten. And her blood felt like it had froze when she did. Right in the mirror, under her parted coat, were two scars an inch or so apart. They looked to be the marks where two fangs pierced her skin, and by the width of the scar, they had appeared to have punctured deep. Twilight’s magic ended as her mind reeled over the scars. She slowly turned her neck to face herself fully in the mirror once more, her breathing becoming shallow as she regarded herself in a new and terrifying perspective. She returned the gaze of the mare in the mirror, the mare with red tinged eyes that now seemed different. She couldn’t look at her without thinking that inside; that she secretly might be turning into something awful, something that she had never believed in before, but was now staring her in the face. She held the opposing mares gaze with wide eyes and crease lines on her forehead in worry until she began to shake her head side to side once more. “No, vamponies are not real! This has to be some elaborate trick or the work of some foal who still believes in such crazy ideas!” Whipping her head back to the mare in the mirror again, she spoke to it with a commanding tone. “You are not turning into a vampony, and you are going to figure out what really is going on. Got it?” The reflection nodded once in response at the same time as her. “Good. Now I’m going to sleep, and figuring out more in the morning.”