//------------------------------// // Chapter 9, Investigation // Story: Darkness Rising // by SkyHighFlyer //------------------------------// “Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!” Rainbow Dash asked furiously, hovering just in front of Twilight. It wasn't to hard to believe she would be angry. After all, Rainbow Dash was the overprotective one of the group. She floated there, eying Twilight angrily, enough to bring fear to an ordinary pony. Twilight, however, wasn't an ordinary pony. She remained calm as she walked past Rainbow. With pride she said, “If you had been looking everywhere for me, then you probably would have found me earlier than now.” It was a simple matter with Rainbow, she'd be mad now but if Twilight simply kept to herself and did her best to make her realize she was being brushed off, she'd drop it quickly. “What do you mean I would have found you earlier? I asked nearly everypony in town and none of them had any idea of where you were!” Twilight, for her part, radiated eternal calm as she walked on, doing her best to hide her slight amusement at the actions of her friend. “Had you actually asked everypony in town you would have found me. Both Spike and Rarity knew where I was, and if you looked at Fluttershy's any time over the past week you would have found me.” “So,” Rainbow said, “You still disappeared for nearly two weeks. Not cool Twi, not cool.” Twilight continued on her path, ignoring her friend's complaints until Rainbow finally took off. Twilight opened the door to the library. Finally home after such a long time, she found herself glad to be back with the good old smell of parchment and books, at least until she noticed the one thing out of place about the room. In the middle of the main floor, Pinkie, Applejack, and Spike sat a table that looked to have been set out haphazardly, apparently having been playing poker during the hours before the library opened in the morning. What was more interesting was the pure terror displayed across each of their faces. It was quite obvious that none of them had expected her to return this early in the morning, and that they had all hoped to have avoided being discovered. By this time she didn't even need to drop her disguise, her presence alone was enough to terrify them. With no change in expression whatsoever, she said, “I don't know whats going on here, and for the next ten minutes, I don't care either. I'm going to bed, and if you aren't here when I wake up, you were never here period.” Twilight walked upstairs, leaving two ponies and a dragon that were both grateful and nervous, only now beginning to recover from the raw terror that was instilled upon them by an incredibly stressed out unicorn. ----- “Rarity!” Rainbow Dash said, once again not bothering to use the door, favoring a window yet again. In her haste though, she didn't even consider the door. “Yes Rainbow, What do you need?” “Rarity, where has Twilight been all week?” She asked with force, almost as if accusing her, leaving no doubt as to the fact that she was aware Rarity knew the answer. Rarity set down her sewing equipment with a sigh, “Well, as far as I was aware, she's been staying with Fluttershy for the past week or so. Apparently the dear came down with bad cold and needed to be cared for. Why do you ask?” “Well, Twilight said she was their, but... Wait a minute, you said Fluttershy had a cold?” “That's what Twilight told me, although...” She trailed off, thinking. Rainbow, sensing an opening, landed, “Let me guess, you've just now realized a cold wouldn't last a week, right?” “Indeed,” Rarity said, “And then there's the fact that Fluttershy asked me some very incriminating questions only several days before I discovered what had happened.” “What does incriminating mean?” Rainbow asked in a tone between embarrassment and confusion, leaving Rarity slightly annoyed. It was usually Applejack that knew nothing about what she was saying. “It means that she asked something suspicious darling, something that makes her appear guilty.” Rainbow, with renewed vigor at the prospect of one of her friends being in danger or worse, evil, she asked, “What kind of questions did she ask?” It would have been difficult for Rarity to answer that in the first place, with her limited knowledge of the magics she had been questioned about, but now she was being asked questions that could either help her friend or condemn her. The answer she gave had the capacity to earn Fluttershy punishment, though of what kind she couldn't be certain. And that was assuming that she wasn't harmed by a third party before Princess Celestia could get to her. She knew from experience that some knowledge wasn't free to anypony, and Fluttershy could get a severe punishment for being involved with that sort of magic, or those that would wield it. Then there was still the question of where those questions originated from. Those magics had been forbidden for thousands of years, necromancy for the negative side effects on the user and capacity for becoming out of control without warning, and blood magic for being pure evil and having the capability to cause devastation on a huge scale from just a simple spark, killing the user and those around him as well as causing chaotic, damaging effects on the nearby areas. If it was true that Fluttershy was involved with ponies that knew of this magic and were capable of using it, it could mean that more was going on than any of them knew, and if she had gleaned that information from Twilight herself, that was another story entirely. Rarity had to make a choice, be honest, and risk her own life as well as the lives of her friends, possibly leading to their friendship falling apart, or lie, potentially putting all of Equestria in danger, from an enemy known, possibly even from within their own circle. With only a short few moments to decide, she answered, “Um.... well, that's a bit... you see... I... I would like to answer, but I can't really say much on the subject. I'm not an expert, lets just leave it at that.” “Oh, now I get it,” Rainbow Dash said, “I can't trust you either, can I?” “It's not that...” “What is it then?” Rainbow shouted, “Why won't anypony give me a strait answer?” Rarity stepped over to her friend and replied, “I know it seems like I'm avoiding you questions, but darling, I think there's more going on here than either of us knows. Until I get an answer, I don't want to tell you any more than you need to know. Consider it my attempt to protect you if something goes horribly wrong.” “Fine... now, I have a plan...” She trailed off, waiting for Rarity to respond. “Let me guess, I'm part of this plan, aren't I?” “Yep,” Rainbow said, “So, here's what were going to do...” Rarity could tell this was going to be a long day. ----- Twilight was sorting books when she heard a knock at the door, forcing her to drop her current activity to see who it was. After all, there were only so many ponies that would visit this early in the morning, and all of them were worth seeing as soon as possible. As soon as she opened the door, it was Rarity who rushed in. “Um, come in?” Twilight said, closing the door behind her friend as she turned to speak to her. “Twilight, darling you're an absolute mess. What ever happened to you this past week?” Twilight, rather calmly, returned to her work saying, “I haven't had a chance to see myself in the mirror yet, so I might be a bit of a mess, I'll get to it later. If you're looking for Spike he's off somewhere, probably with Applejack or Pinkie. “Well, actually, I'm was looking for you.” “Really, and what did you need?” Twilight asked, already having a rough idea of what this was about. “Well since you asked, I'm rather concerned about a few matters that have come up in these past few weeks. Most pressing of them being that I don't quite know whether or not I can trust you right now.” It was much more blunt than she had intended to put it, and Rarity almost panicked, believing she had said to much too soon. Ordinarily she would be careful to take it slowly, letting the conversation come naturally to her, but now she may have let slip her plan by mistake. Her concern for her friends might be interfering with her usual calm demeanor. Fortunately for her, Twilight didn't seem to have caught on, “Alright, so what happened? If you don't trust me anymore something must have happened, so what happened?” “Don't take this the wrong way,” Rarity said, “But I can't help but feel that both you and Fluttershy are hiding something from us. Something very interesting, given the nature recent events.” “What are you talking about, we...” “Don't even try to deny it,” Rarity said, “I've put all the pieces together. Isn't it suspicious that Fluttershy shows up, asking questions about dark and illegal magic, then mysteriously falls ill not more that a day or two later, and then ends up under your care. You deny that anything is wrong while you cover up whats happened by telling the rest of us she's become dreadfully ill. More than a bit incriminating in my opinion.” Twilight backed away, “This isn't what it looks like.” Her voice showing fear as she spoke, the reality of how much damage might have been done sinking in. “Oh, and what is it then?” Rarity asked, pressing her obvious advantage. “I... I don't know.” Twilight replied. The clear silence in the room hinted to Twilight that she might be taking the lead, her position becoming stronger. Fluttershy had inadvertently caused major damage, but it could still be reversed with a little effort. Finally, the tense silence was relieved as Rarity continued, “ You... don't know?” “No, I have no clue what your talking about. One minute we were having a perfectly normal sleepover, and then she suddenly began feeling sick. She had a high fever, chills... and she was a bit fatigued as well I might add. I took her home, and then I started taking care of all her responsibilities while she recovered.” “I see, and did anything unusual occur, any signs that might suggest she was lying?” Rarity asked. “No not at all, in fact she even arrived early. I wasn't quite ready for her.” Twilight said, letting herself get into an warm, welcoming mood and being as honest as she could without revealing important information. As much as she trusted Rarity, she couldn't tell her the truth, not for a long time yet. “Just one more question, exactly when did Fluttershy arrive?” This was the moment where she had to make a tactical decision, and quickly. Either say exactly when she really arrived, implying that they had been together the whole time, or state that she was only a few minutes ahead of schedule. Fortunately, one of the earliest and most useful vampiric traits to develop in Twilight was faster thinking and a sharper mind, within seconds she had come up with one reasonable explanation, one that might just be insane enough to work. “Well,” Twilight started, “She arrived about an hour ahead of schedule so she would have been here around... maybe seven, a few minutes later at most.” That little revelation was enough to make Rarity on edge, “So Fluttershy arrived at seven, and you were with her the whole night?” Twilight simply nodded, everything falling into place around her. She felt bad about manipulating her friend in a time of distress, but she did it to protect herself and Fluttershy, something that Rarity would understand if she was able to be told. “What's interesting is that fifteen or so minutes later, Fluttershy shows up asking questions about dark magic, and from what I could tell, she was rather nervous as she did.” “How can that be possible, there can't be two Fluttershys walking around.” Twilight said, mixing surprise into her act to make it seem authentic. “Perhaps there wasn't,” Rarity said, “By now we should be considering that there was an imposter involved, and if there was, I think we both know which one it was... but who were they really, and what did they want with that kind of knowledge?” Rarity asked. After a few seconds Twilight issued a carefully devised theory of her own, “Could it have been changelings?” “Well, I suppose, but what reason would they have for coming to somepony who doesn't know anything and expect answers? In fact, why come in the first place?” “Perhaps they expected answers, maybe they thought you might know something.” “Alright,” Rarity said, “As much as I don't want to believe it, we may have a problem. We should contact Princess Celestia and get this sorted out before it becomes any worse.” Twilight, almost in the clear, only had one final obstacle to overcome, “Actually, I would like to do some investigating of my own before we go to the princess.” “Are you certain that's such a good idea, if there's a danger we should..” “That's just it,” Twilight said, “do we really know that there's a danger out there. For all we know they were trying to learn exactly how much danger we posed to them. Think about it, there punted out of Canterlot, practically starving, and they wouldn't be suspicious of what we were willing to do to them?” “Reasonable enough, though we don't have much evidence... but I suppose that's what you intend to collect” Rarity said. Twilight nodded, silently praying that Rarity would change the subject. “So... where's Spike been all this time?” As Rarity said those words, Twilight grew relaxed and calm, knowing that for now she warded off a potential disaster, at least for he time being. With nothing better to do, she joined in for a bit of friendly talk between friends, “About that, you'll never believe what happened this morning...” ----- Subtlety was never one of Rainbow Dash's strong points, and once she thought about it, neither was thinking ahead. So after several minutes of just sitting around a short ways from Fluttershy's home, she decided to just make the plan up as she went along, which is to say there would never be a plan at all. Fluttershy meanwhile, was trying to organize some of the most uncooperative animals she had ever encountered when a knock at the door interrupted her attempts at creating order. What created more disorder however, was when Rainbow flew in the door at top speed, crashing into a table and tumbling over a couch. Fluttershy quickly closed the door to avoid letting any extra sunlight in. Fortunately, Rainbow didn't notice, still picking herself out from the wreckage, quickly removing a formerly planted flower from her hair. By the time Rainbow had finished brushing herself off, Fluttershy had lit a candle and set it down on the remaining table in the room. It offered barely enough light for Rainbow to see, though Fluttershy's natural night vision was more than enough for her to be fully aware of the room at any time. “Hey Flutters,” Rainbow said, “Why's it so dark?” “Twilight said it would help with the migraines.” Fluttershy said, tired and emotionless in tone. “And whats causing those migraines?” Rainbow asked aggressively. “Umm, I've had the flu.” Fluttershy replied, slightly intimidated. It wasn't like Rainbow to be aggressive and offensive, much less towards her friends. Rainbow got up in Fluttershy's face, and aggressively she asked, “A whole week?” “Um... I-I guess?” Fluttershy said with uncertainty. “You guess?” Rainbow said, putting even more aggressiveness behind her words than before, while slowly pressing Fluttershy further back towards the wall. “What's going on, huh? What are you hiding?” Rainbow said as Fluttershy was forced back into a wall, left with nowhere to go. Cornered, something in Fluttershy snapped. Fluttershy reacted in a way not unlike a cornered animal, lacking a means of escape so instead instinctively fighting back. In a surge of uncontrollable anger, Fluttershy struck her friend with a strong punch. The blow was amplified by Fluttershy's still awakening vampiric abilities. As a result, what would have ordinarily been a light shove was enough to knock Rainbow back a short distance. When Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow however, she intermediately noticed the other unintended effect of her violent reaction. Slightly behind where Rainbow was struck she was left with a noticeable injury from where she clipped one of the legs of the upturned table from earlier, though only one thing stood out to Fluttershy at that moment. Rainbow was bleeding. It wasn't very much, barely comparable to a paper cut, but it was just enough for Fluttershy to lose herself in. The sight of blood, no matter how little, was enough that her instincts very nearly took her over. It had a metallic scent to it, and no matter how much the ambient background of a home that played as home to large numbers of animals drowned out the smell, it was the only thing her mind could pay attention to. It took all her will just to bury her head in her hooves, trying to hide herself from the blood. “Whats gotten into you?” Rainbow asked furiously, trying to stand while also trying not to apply pressure to either of her injuries. “Please leave.” Fluttershy said, holding herself even tighter to keep the uncontrollable urge to feed on her closest friend in check. Rainbow was about to continue her verbal assault, but instead stopped herself. She would continue seeking answers, but for now she had done enough damage, not only to her friend, but also her friends home. Silently she left, closing the door behind her and leaving Fluttershy to slowly regain control of herself, and clean up the aftermath. ----- “Now tell me exactly what happened.” Rarity said as she began wrapping the bandage around Rainbow's chest, covering the wound as best she could. “I just pushed her up against the wall, and then she hit me. I flew back, hit myself off the table, and then she told me to leave.” With a look of surprise, Rarity asked, “She hit you?” “Yep, hit me right about here.” She said, moving to give her friend ample room to examine the point of impact, “Hit pretty hard too.” “Hmm, looks like it bruised a bit.” She said, continuing to wrap bandages around Rainbow's chest. After a moment, Rarity finished, “Now don't stress yourself, and it should heal perfectly. On to more pressing matters though, did you learn anything?” “Um... no.” Rainbow said, embarrassed slightly.” Rarity though, was not amused, “Was all you managed to accomplish getting in a fight and terrorizing her. Did you not learn anything?” “Oh come on, I'm sure you've figured out everything you needed to, right?” “I'm more convinced right now that Twilight's taking care of everything.” Rarity said, earning a startled reaction. “Why would you let Twilight handle this,” Rainbow exclaimed, “Isn't she the one you were supposed to be investigating?” “As you couldn't figure out anything useful, there's nothing to contradict Twilight's perfectly reasonable explanation for what happened. She gave me evidence to support both her own and Fluttershy's innocence and said she would look into what really happened.” Rainbow was not convinced however, “Whatever, she may have got you, but I'm not done yet. I will get to the bottom of this.” “So long as you let that wound heal first, otherwise the only bottom you'll be reaching is the ground.” Rarity replied, smiling at her joke. ----- “...And then she left.” Fluttershy said. Twilight had arrived after noon as she promised, though by now her company was less of a solemn reminder of what she had become, and more of the friendly warmth she had grown to love over the years. Over the next hour they had traded stories of their respective days, though Fluttershy's day was less than ideal. “I'm sure you and Rainbow can make up with each other next time you see each other.” Twilight said, offering the most sympathetic voice she could create. Fluttershy wasn't soothed however, “I'm sure we can, but that isn't what worries me. I lost control Twilight. I hurt her... I didn't want to but I hurt her.” “You were acting on instinct, there's nothing wrong with that. It's how animals survive, isn't it?” “I know, “ Fluttershy said, “But I couldn't control myself. There... there was blood a-and just c-couldn't control myself.” Fluttershy broke down crying, holding Twilight close by for comfort. Twilight did her best to comfort her friend, pondering how they kept ending up in that position. After a while Fluttershy finally calmed down. Twilight continued to hold her, “It's nothing to be ashamed about, you were only reacting naturally. Don't blame yourself for almost doing something that you do by nature.” “I guess it did help me understand something though.” “Oh,” Twilight said, “And what would that be?” “I understand how why vampires need to hide themselves.” Fluttershy said with renewed vigor, “Ponies would hunt them down. And... I understand how this happened to me now. I guess I didn't realize how easy it could be to loose control.” Twilight simply held her friend close, “You've been given a wonderful gift Fluttershy, You just haven't realized it yet.”