‘Mirrors are friends,’
“Read it.”
‘Evasive Night Movements’
“Read that one too. “
‘Regenerative Powers’
“Fascinating, but read it.”
‘One Hundred and One uses for Vampony Teeth’
“Sigh… read it.”
Twilight slid her hoof further down the table of contents of the Corpus Nocte Morsu, scanning the various chapter titles for one she had perhaps somehow missed, or only vaguely recalled so that she could refresh herself on its topic. While the book did contain a wealth of information on what she still considered to be a fictional creature, its size was no match for Twilight’s prowess of reading. It had quickly succumbed to her twelve hundred words per minute reading skill, a feat that had secured her a spot in the ‘Hoovensens World Records’ book. No pony had even come close to matching her reading speed since her admittance into the records, and the ponies who came even close to her speed lacked her level of comprehension; she seemingly absorbed every word like a sponge. It was with such ability that Twilight now found herself with a fully read book by noon, not even a having spent half a day scouring its pages.
“Ugh… There has to be more than this.” She leaned forward and rested her chin onto the desk, narrowing her eyes at the open pages. There has to be something in here, something I missed or hidden between the words. Trail is a smart pony, and if he suspected somepony was after him, then he would have taken some precautionary steps.
Whoever that pony was the other night obviously meant to take both books. Or maybe he did see it and left it behind intentionally. But why would he do that? No, no, he must have missed it. What possible reason would he choose leave behind something that could give me clues?
Twilight sighed again. “Look at me, I’m thinking this over as if vamponies are real. I’m getting too wrapped up into this. Just because this book has some good explanations on how they might work,” Twilight said with a wave of her hoof,” doesn’t prove they are. I mean really, I’m supposed to believe that a vamponies muscles are built in such a way that allows them increased strength without extra muscle mass? That isn’t even possible with magic!”
Silence filled the library as her question hung in the air.
“And supposedly they need blood to survive? How does that make sense!?”
Again she was met with silence.
“What’s so magical about blood anyways…” Twilight mumbled. “It’s not like it has any special properties or applications, and who would want it to have any? Even if it did, drinking it would be the least unfavorable way of activating it.”
Twilight lazily looked over the table of contents again, before blinking in curiosity at one of the chapters. “The Vampony’s Diet… Wait a second…”
Propping herself up as she flipped through the pages, she began to reread the chapter. “Consists of blood… frequency unknown… reasoning unknown… favorable positions are the neck… reports of a ‘burning’ sensation in their throats when cornered and…”
Twilight skimmed the rest of the page before moving back up to the section that had caught her eye. “Reports of a ‘burning’ sensation in their throats when cornered and prepared for detainment. The burn appears to be a common occurrence in thirsty vamponies—blood being the only thing to have any diminishing effects on it—and they will go to any lengths to sate it.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “Why a burning sensation? That would mean something is becoming inflamed or irritated, or…”
She picked the book up in her hooves and brought it closer in contemplation. “Or… heat? No, why would heat be generated? It’s not like they need to melt anything down or break apart something, and what could even be broken down with low temperature that doesn’t risk the safety of-“
Her eyes widen. “Break something down....”
Flipping back to the table of contents, she searched for another chapter, and then opened to book to its page number, simultaneously saving her place magically from before. She ran her hoof down the paragraphs until she found the section she was looking for. “However, once a vampony has received an ample supply of blood, strength, recovery, and behavior returns to normal levels, if not in excess at times. It has even been reported from witnesses that their bodies seemingly becoming thicker as their muscles became more apparent and defined.”
“That’s it,” Twilight whispered as the proverbial clogs clinked into place. “They burn blood, releasing its magical properties and utilizing them to sustain their existence.”
Twilight stared widely at the page as the revelation settled in, but then flared her nostrils and plopped her chin back onto the desk. “That’s probably how it would work if blood did have magical properties, or if vamponies were even real to begin with!”
The notion however, did not cease the flurry of reasoning and deduction in her brain, and shortly, she found herself burrowing holes in the wall with her eyes as her brain ran through loops of theory after theory of how vamponies might work; eventually wandering into the realm of the absurd. She was in the middle of a tangent of the possibilities that revolved around unexplained magical theories concerning enchanted food poisoning, before a knock of was heard on the door accompanied with a cheerful voice. “Twilight, darling! Are you ready for our luncheon?”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she shifted her gaze to the door. This only supports Page Hoof’s theories on magically moldy spaghetti causing oddly related and highly coincidental events, Twilight thought as her ears flicked in irritation. Exhaling with frustration, Twilight answered loudly, “I’ll be right out. Just give me a minute to clean up.”
“Alright, I’ll be across the street window shopping,” Rarity replied, shortly followed by the muffled sound of her retreating hoof steps.
Twilight remained still for a few moments before reluctantly sitting up in her chair, and letting out an exasperated sigh. What am I supposed to do? I’ve tried every eye-changing spell I know, this fictional book about make believe creatures isn’t telling me anything, and Trail’s house is still a mess.
Twilight’s dropped her head forward while her ears splayed back. All of this is becoming so confusing, and I don’t even know where to begin.
The echoing calls of birds outside the library rang through the quiet library, reminding Twilight that despite the uncertainty and dread that she was feeling right now, there was a perfectly good day waiting for her, and a friend whom she promised to meet for lunch.
No, I can’t get too wrapped up in this. I’ve learned to take breaks, and I should take one right now. Maybe things will become more clear after something to eat.
Straightening her back, Twilight closed her eyes and brought a hoof up to her chest. With a deep breath, she exhaled slowly while extending her foreleg out in front of her. Once performed, Twilight ears pricked up and she found a smile spreading across easily. Wow, that was easy. This trick getting better and better each time.
Opening her eyes again, Twilight’s smiled changed into look of curiosity as she regarded at the open book before her. Her confusion however, abruptly changed to light-hearted giggling. “Right, I was studying about vamponies.”
While humming a cheery tune, Twilight saved the page and floated the book, along with others she had pulled out for the possibility of references, to an out of the way spot atop a high shelf. “I’ll get back you to later.”
She then proceeded to clean up the pile of dishes she had collected through the morning, and the fact that not a single crumb was left on them did nothing to lessen the growl from her stomach in anticipation of lunch. After depositing them in the kitchen and taking one last look around the library, ensuring that there was nothing else she could clean up, Twilight departed the library while still humming, and cheerfully trotted across the street to Rarity who stood in front of a store's window display.
“Oh, look at this one, Twilight,” Rarity said whilst still looking inside when she saw her reflection approach. “See the way its shape accents the color? My, isn’t it just the most beautiful shade… of… red…” Rarity trailed off when she turned to face Twilight.
With her interest piqued, Twilight leaned forward to peer through the glass at the one that caught her attention. “Are you talking about that one? It looks nice, but I’m pretty sure it’s green, not red.”
“Not the jewelry, darling, I’m talking about your eyes,” Rarity said, her own staring widely at Twilight. “Are you trying a new color, dear? I know there are some spells to do that—I was never good at them myself unfortunately—but from the looks of it, you were only… partially, successful at an attempt on yours.”
Twilight blinked blankly before looking into the window, regarding her faint reflection and the pair of lavender eyes that had thin trails of crimson around the center. “No, it wasn’t a spell, at least not one I casted,” Twilight replied casually.
“Oh? Well do tell, how did you get them? I would love to replicate it if possible, although I think I would choose a more fitting color.”
Twilight’s eyes focused on the ground as she answered, “I don’t know exactly how I got them yet, just that they appeared the morning after I was attacked.”
“ATTACKED!?” Rarity shouted, causing Twilight to wince.
Right, nopony knows yet except Spike. How could I have forgotten to spread the news?
Despite Twilight’s calm and carefree attitude to the matter, Rarity was the complete opposite. “Are you alright? Did you get hurt? When did it happen? Who was it? Do I know them?”
Twilight raised a hoof. “Rarity, it’s okay, really. I’m fine. I’ll… I’ll tell you during lunch, okay?”
Rarity scrunched her nose and looked as if she was about to tell Twilight off, but somewhat relaxed her stern features, if only a little. “Very well, but I do expect to hear every little detail about what happened.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“And that’s it?” Rarity asked skeptically.
“That’s everything,” Twilight repeated before biting into a celery sandwich.
They had decided on eating outdoors to enjoy the lovely summer weather, but beneath one of the large umbrella tables at Twilight's request, leaving her and the fashionista sitting comfortably in the shade. Rarity did not mind at all at the chance to enjoy the day while still remaining protected from the sun’s heat, nor did she pay mind that they were at the edge of the open seated restaurant, well away from anypony also at Twilight’s request.
“Um, I hope you don’t mind me saying,” Rarity said. “It’s nice to see you’re well after such a dreadful thing and all, but…”
“Buf whad?” Twilight said with her mouth full.
Rarity paused at the sight of the Twilight, watching with silent horror as a few crumbs fell from her mouth. “…Chew your food, darling,” Rarity eventually said. She was answered with an audible gulp and sheepish grin from Twilight. After she motioned to Twilight to wipe off a few crumbs that had fallen onto her coat, Rarity continued. “It’s good to see handling it so well, but you seem a little bit more… how do I say… at ease, then you should be. For goodness sakes Twilight, you were attacked! And by the sound of it, a ruffian that doesn’t know better than to not shove a unicorns horn into the dirt. Why, if he had done such a thing to me…”
“But I’m alright,” Twilight insisted. “Save for these eyes and scars on my neck.”
“Yes, another thing that concerns me,” Rarity continued. “Who in their right mind bites somepony in the neck? That strange shadowy magic you mentioned alone is concerning enough. I know I am not an expert in magic like yourself, but I have never heard of something like it. The fact alone that you haven’t is even more worrisome.”
Twilight shrugged her shoulders as she picked the sandwich up in her magic, preparing to take another bite. “Well there’s no sense in worrying about it right now when I have nothing for a lead. You know how things turn out when I obsessively freak out about stuff I can’t fix right away.”
“That I do…” Rarity agreed. She observed Twilight in silent thought, shuddering slightly at the unlady like behavior of her licking her lips clean of mayonnaise, before plunging her muzzle deep into the sandwich again, only to reapply the mayonnaise she had licked off moments before. I must admit seeing her more relaxed about things is comforting, but something seems off. She is simply acting too… too... well, like Pinkie.
While Rarity watched Twilight eat her lunch in a way she would never dare act in public, her eyes drifted over Twilight’s shoulder at a familiar pony walking down the street. “Why, if it isn’t Applejack,” Rarity commented. “I wonder what brought her into town today.”
Twilight turned around to follow her gaze. “Of yhe,” she said with another full mouth.
Scrunching her nose at the thought of telling Twilight to chew her food again, she let it slide; instead choosing to raise her hoof to wave at Applejack. “Yooohooo! Applejack! Over here!” Applejack’s turned at the sound of her name, sporting a smile at the direction of the two as she trotted over.
“Afternoon all. Enjoying some lunch?” Applejack as she stood next to their table.
“Yes, Twilight and I are just enjoying a little luncheon we had set up together. What are you up to?”
Applejacks demeanor changed from happy to annoyance in the blink of an eye. “Ah’m looking fer my little sis and her friends. Those three took Bic Mac’s yoke for some crazy reason or another, and now we can’t till a new plot that we were planning to work on. Me and Big Mac have been looking fer them all morning, you haven’t seen ‘em have you?”
Twilight shook her head as she chewed while Rarity spoke, “No I’m sorry dear. We haven’t seen them all day, at least not since I saw off Sweetie Bell this morning. I promise I had no idea what she was planning to do today.”
Applejack puffed out a breath of air in frustration that flipped her hanging locks. “It’s alright. Celestia knows nopony can imagine what’s going on in their heads.”
Rarity and Twilight nodded in agreement before Rarity narrowed her brow. “While the mischievous actions of our sisters is worrisome, I actually called you over if you had heard that Twilight was apparently attacked a few nights ago, something I just only now found out about.” Rarity’s shot a Twilight a glare, causing her to shrink back somewhat.
“What!?” Applejack exclaimed as she looked between the two, her demeanor having immediately washed away into concern. “No I did not hear! What happened?”
Rarity and Applejack looked towards Twilight expectantly who still had a piece of food in her mouth, swallowed and let her eyes drift to the side as she muttered, “Why does everypony have to act so worried. It’s not like I haven’t been in dangerous situations before.”
“Twilight,” Rarity began, “We know you're more than capable of defending yourself most of the time. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be concerned when something does happen. That stranger could have done anything to you when you became unconsciousness.”
“Wait a minute, are you telling me you got beat!?” Applejack asked in disbelief.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed as a bit of red flared on her cheeks. “It’s not my fault that he used some magic I’ve never seen before. If I had been able to use mine he never would have kept me pinned to the ground like he did.”
“You weren’t able to use your magic?” Rarity asked. When Twilight’s eyes avoided her gaze once again while flattening her ears, Rarity grimaced. “Twilight, I thought you told me every little detail.”
Twilight began to fidget in her seat as she took another large bite out her sandwich, chewing a few bites before mumbling, “Mufth’ful… cahnt tahk…”
Rarity skeptically raised a single eyebrow at Twilight’s pitiful attempt to avoid the discussion, while Applejack’s were up from confusion at her behavior as she looked back and forth between the two for an answer to some joke or sign she had perhaps missed as clued by Twilight’s odd behavior.
When it was clear Twilight was going to continue her charade of a very large mouthful, Rarity sighed and turned to Applejack. “It seems Twilight had been attacked a few days ago by somepony she was chasing through the woods.”
“Why was she chasing a pony?” Applejack asked, her eyes still locked on Twilight who was chewing slower even now and still avoiding her gaze.
“Apparently, it was a thief that had broken in Trail’s house.”
That had caught Applejacks attention, drawing her attention back to Rarity. “Trail’s?”
“Hmhmm. Twilight had chased the pony into the woods after catching him in the act, and a fair distance too it seems before she lost sight of him. Before she knew it, apparently some strange shadowy things restrained her and pinned her into the ground. I’ guessing it was at that point her magic stopped working?” Rarity asked while glaring at Twilight disapprovingly, looking for some kind of response or confirmation she had guessed the order of events. All she got was a single head nod in return. Replying with a cold stare, Rarity turned back to Applejack. “Afterwards, it gets a little weird as he… well, I guess there’s only one way to say it. He bit her.”
“Bit her?”
“That’s correct. She even has the scars on her neck to prove it.”
Applejack glanced back to Twilight. The whole situation sounded weird from the get go. After all, it was Twilight, a powerful alicorn who’s very cutie mark was about magic, and the idea that she had somehow been subdued by a pony worried Applejack to no end, but an odd feeling nagged at her even more than her concern. The last sentence Rarity said about the attacker lingering in Applejack’s mind. A bite to tha neck…
“After that,” Rarity continued with a raised hoof. “She woke up in the forest with the mysterious pony gone. A quick search of Trail’s house later found nothing stolen, but there were some floorboards damaged. Apparently, there was a book beneath them that went missing.”
“A book?” Applejack asked turning back to Rarity.
“Hmhmm, but,” Rarity paused for dramatic effect, “the robber had missed the second book next to it. Spike and her found an old and no doubt, dust laden book that they think is about whatever he was looking for.”
“And that is?” Applejack asked.
Rarity leaned forward slightly as she answered. “Vamponies.”
Applejack froze at mention of the word. Vamponies… she repeated in her mind. The memory of chasing Trail out into the woods, apparently the very woods Twilight had ventured in, and finding him out in the clearing spouting off nonsense of a creature that existed only in stories and fables came rushing back into her mind. She was lost in her recollection of the night until the sound of Rarity repeating her name snapped her out of it. “Oh, sorry,” Applejack apologized.
“Are you alright?” Twilight finally spoke, conveniently having decided to have chewed enough of the food in her mouth before swallowing.
“Yeah, Ah’m fine it’s just… You don’t believe in it do you?” Applejack asked both of them.
“Of course not,” Twilight replied. “They’re just an old mare’s tale.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, dear,” Rarity interjected. “But didn’t you once say that everypony else thought that the Mare in the Moon was just an old mares tale as well?”
“Yeah, but that’s different,” Twilight replied.
“Really? How so?”
“Well, it’s just…” Twilight began, but found she had nothing to say in definitive.
Rarity seized her pause before she could come up with an argument. “I apologize if I am to direct, but I don’t think you should put it off the table considering the recent events that happened to you,” Rarity said. Twilight tilted her head down, still racking her mind for something to say in return. While she did, another thought popped into Rarity’s head. “Do you know when Trail will return? I’m sure he will be shocked to hear that his home was broken into.”
Twilight shook her head in reply. “No, I have no idea when he’s coming back. He just took off and left.” Twilight looked thoughtfully into what little was left of her sandwich as she went over her last few moments with Trail. “Come to think of it, the last thing he said was for me to be careful…”
Rarity’s focused zoned in on at that little tid bit of information, her mind connecting points together to paint a picture of this mystery, a suspicion already forming on how it may end up looking like. “Do you suppose he knew of the pony coming to his home?”
“It seems likely,” Twilight said, the option having crossed her mind as well.
“Do you think he also knows of that book you found and the one the robber was looking for?”
“I’m not sure, for all we know that book had been there for years. Somepony could have placed them there long before Trail moved in.”
“Uh… ah don’t think so,” Applejack hesitantly chimed in.
The two of them turned up to Applejack curiously. “How would you know?” Twilight asked.
“Ah, well… ah would say it’s from something that had happened with me and Trail some time ago,” Applejack answered slowly. When she received further questioning looks from the two she quickly stammered, “Look ah’m not saying ah believe in tha stuff, but I had a run in with Trail about… well, about vamponies a bit ago.”
“Really?” Twilight asked immediately, shifting herself closer to Applejack. “What happened? Did he say anything about them important?”
“Nothing particular that ah can remember. He just spouted off a bunch of stuff about how he knew they were real and had been collecting information and what-not about their existence. I took him for a crazy pony at the time, and it sounds he’s not the only one if somepony else is going around and biting others on the neck.”
Twilight looked slightly disappointed as she eased back into her chair. “I suppose I shouldn’t be expecting anything less. I still can’t bring myself to believe in them either. All of it just sounds too absurd to be real.”
While Applejack and Twilight held the similar opinions on the matter, Rarity on the other hoof, was still stitching together the pieces that had been revealed throughout the conversation. “So what you’re saying, Applejack, is that Trail had mentioned to you earlier about the existence of vamponies. And sometime later, Twilight is attacked as well as finding a book about vamponies, a book that was found in Trails house who believes in vamponies.”
“Are you implying it's Trails fault?” Twilight asked, a little more defensively than she had intended.
“No, I'm not saying that," Rarity emphasized. "But you can’t ignore the fact he is somehow tied into this. It was his house after all, and from the sound of it, his book as well.” As Twilight began to mull over it, Rarity continued, “But there are two more pieces that support the idea that maybe Trail is on to something that I feel has been neglected somewhat during this discussion.”
“And that is?” Twilight asked.
“Applejack, look into Twilight’s eyes.”
Applejack looked at Rarity curiously before complying. Alright, what the heck am ah looking fer in Twilight’s eyes that’s… oh. Applejack blinked a few times to make sure she saw correctly. “They’re… red. Right there on tha edges.”
“Yes, my eyes are red. How many times do we have to bring it up?” Twilight grumbled.
“My second piece is this thought,” Rarity said, before waiting patiently until she had their full attention. “It had crossed my mind while we sat here as Twilight ate,” she said tossing a disapproving glance towards Twilight. “How does a pony, which I remind you two, whom have flat teeth, leave fang marks?
The two of them were silent as that fact rang across their minds, both of which felt like the final nail had been struck into the proverbial coffin that was the serious consideration of vamponies being real. The realization that she had been bitten by a vampony and could potentially turn into one, finally became an option she could no longer dismiss.