//------------------------------// // Chapter 17, Respite // Story: Darkness Rising // by SkyHighFlyer //------------------------------// Twilight sat at her desk, trying to think how to word the letter she was writing. Silver Wing had written that she was growing more uncomfortable with the situation as it evolved, and this time she wasn’t alone. Shadowfall, a mare that Twilight had gone to meet the previous week and an expert assassin, had also stated that Twilight was letting emotions cloud her judgment and that her friends were not vampires, and they wouldn’t understand. She had requested to move into Ponyville so that if necessary she could intervene if the situation got out of control. It wouldn’t hard to arrange, she never stayed in one place for long, and if nopony she could trust would house her she could make herself a temporary shelter in the Everfree. She would have preferred to stay with somepony else though, and while assassination wasn’t the most profitable job, especially in such a peaceful world, she still had a variety of skills that suited her for other jobs, mostly ones that paid exceptionally well, and ones that might be incredibly dangerous to anypony without a vampire’s abilities. As such, she tended to have a decent amount of bits available at any time. Twilight felt she had the situation well under control, but even she was willing to admit that it wasn’t going ideally. Fear and friendship was an odd combination, but it seemed to be enough to implant doubts in their minds, and Twilight was perhaps too confident, as from her perspective just being friends and using fear as an occasional means of dissuasion would earn their trust, or at least convince them to stay away from the truth. That level of overconfidence was perhaps the biggest problem, and although they didn’t know Twilight’s friends as well as she did, and they could not argue that fact, Silver Wing and Shadowfall were not as easily convinced of the situation’s positive status, especially the less trusting and less socially experienced Shadowfall. So Twilight was at her desk, trying to figure out how to write a letter that would convince them that she knew how to repair and contain the situation, when she heard the sound of Spike receiving a letter coming from downstairs. At least one of the benefits of being a vampire was that with her improved hearing she knew exactly when something was happening downstairs, and when she should either go down to investigate or when somepony was on their way up to her. “Twilight, letter from the princess!” Spike called out as she got up to the top of the stairs. Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes out of sight. Of course it was a letter from the princess, what else could it be? “Alright Spike, just set it somewhere and I'll get to it in a minute,” Twilight said, paying very little attention to Spike or the letter. “Um, Twilight... it’s from Princess Luna,” Spike went on to say. That caught Twilight's attention, and she turned around and gave him a curious look. “Let me see that,” she said, pulling the letter out of Spikes grip with her magic and opening it. My dearest friend Twilight Sparkle, My sister has recommended that I go to see a branch of the military known as the Wonderbolts perform in the city of Manehatten next week. We I still do not understand why a branch of the Equestian military is performing for the entertainment of the populace, indeed it is completely unheard of, but regardless my sister was rather persistent in the matter, and it is our my pleasure to ask you and your friends to join me. I am still much in your debt for your aid in defeating Nightmare Moon, and if my sister will not allow me to rest until I have seen this show, then I would choose to see it with ponies I consider friends. Sincerest regards, Princess Luna “Huh,” Twilight said, looking in detail at the six tickets attached to the letter. Between the crossed out text and the poor attempt at informality, it was obvious that Luna was still struggling with modern language. “What’s it say, Twilight?” “It’s an invitation, to attend the Wonderbolts show in Manehatten next week...” ----- Perhaps it was a little too much to expect everypony to be free to join them. Coming up on the end of autumn and going into winter meant that everypony had something they needed to be doing. Applebuck season was only a few weeks away, and the entire apple family was hard at work, and Applejack refused to leave the farm for two whole days just to see what she called ‘a bunch of fancy flying’. Because the harvest was expected to be even bigger than last year, Pinkie had already volunteered to help them, saying that it’s what friends do. Despite Applejack not actually needing the help, Pinkie was very insistent, and even took time off from her job at Sugarcube Corner just to help them, not that she needed to, the cakes had a standing policy of as long as she wasn’t needed, she could go do whatever she wanted to. Their wasn't that much to do in preparation, but she wanted to be their anyway. Twilight was accepting of this, though she felt that Pinkie wasn't being entirely honest in her reasons. Rarity claimed to have to start work on her winter line, which wasn’t strange at all for this time of year, but judging from the look she was giving Twilight when she said it Twilight again had doubts that it was the only reason. Just to be safe she decided she was going to add a few extra runes to the locks at her and Fluttershy’s homes, just as an added precaution against another attempted theft. That was where the misfortune ended however, as Rainbow Dash would never give up a free chance to see the Wonderbolts perform, especially from the perspective awarded by being the guests of the princess. As soon as Twilight mentioned it to her she said yes. And now Twilight was on to convincing Fluttershy. As far as she was concerned Fluttershy too had already said yes. Twilight knocked on her door just after dark. As usual she cracked the door to see that it was Twilight and then opened it the whole way and welcomed her in. “Hi, how have you been?” Twilight asked. “I’m alright,” Fluttershy replied. “Learning the language you asked me to is really stressful though. The week before, at Silver Wings request, Twilight gave Fluttershy a book during the meeting that Rarity interrupted. The book was on the vampire’s ancient language. It fell out of style about one thousands years after Celestia and Luna were born. Before the unification of the three tribes, when vampires started needing spies within pony society, the language was still primarily spoken and vampires would spend a short time learning Equestrian before assuming an infiltrator role. After unification when ponies began to become a stronger, united force it became normal to learn Equestrian as a secondary language as well as their culture. At this time vampires were still separate from Equestrians in terms of society, but once Celestia and Luna took the throne and Equestria went on the offensive, it became less of a primary language as time went on, and eventually in recent centuries it came to be used primarily as a means of secret communication. The language itself was known amongst vampires for its complexity, which only added to its value as a means of communicating secret or sensitive information. It was made up of ninety-two characters, in addition to an incredibly complex grammar system. Newly turned vampires who were expected to learn it would often be intimidated, and Fluttershy didn't seem to be having any easier of a time with it. Once somepony understood how to pronounce the words they were usually left alone to develop their skills further, as it was easily one of the easiest languages to learn out of a book because of the way the text was pronounced just as it was spelled. That was where the simplicity wore off unfortunately. Because of how long vampires lived, the language rarely changed and when it did it only became more complex and advanced. There could easily be over five or even ten words that translate to the exact same word in Equestrian, but all have subtly different meanings. This meant that even those that picked it up as a first language were expected to take as long as a decade to speak it perfectly, and much longer for those that first picked up on a much simpler language from birth. Even Twilight was still in the process of learning it. Because of how studious she was she had picked up on it much more quickly than other ponies leaning it after Equestrian and could hold a conversation in it, but the most complex parts she was still learning. Twilight just laughed, “It’s fine Fluttershy, I didn’t expect you to get it. Can I ask what you're having trouble with?” “Everything,” Fluttershy sighed, “I can't even remember all the letters yet, I don't know how I'm going to learn an entire language.” Twilight smiled, “You don’t have to learn the entire thing in a few days, you can take centuries if you need to. Silver was the one pushing for you to learn it, so I really don’t mind if you take a while. It will get easier though, just keep trying and once you get the hang of all the specifics you just need to learn the words. Give it a chance and some time and you’ll speak it better than you will Equestrian. “That’s not why I’m here though. I actually came because I got an invitation from Luna to see the Wonderbolts show in Manehatten next week, and I came to see if you could go. Rainbow and I are the only other ones that can make it.” “Of course I’ll go, when is it?” Fluttershy asked. “Exactly one week from today, the train ride is already covered, we leave just before dawn. Remember that Rainbow will be with us this time so there are things we can’t do or say.” “So no rune magic?” Fluttershy asked disappointedly. “Bring the materials along anyway,” Twilight said, “We’ll be taking a special car that will have curtains for privacy, and I know soundproofing spells. The others are already well beyond suspicious, so we don’t need to worry about acting strange.” “What about the pony we met last time we were in Manehatten, do you think we should try to get together and talk with her?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh,” Twilight said, “that’s right, I think her name was Morning Daisy. I’ll send word ahead and invite her to meet with us, that is, if she wants to.” ----- Dear Morning Daisy, You probably wouldn’t recognize me by name, so I won’t name myself in this letter. We met about a month ago in an alley in Manehatten, and you helped a friend of mine, of which we are still grateful. When we met, you expressed an interest in seeing us again. My friend and I will be in Manehatten again as we have been invited by a friend to attend the Wonderbolts show this Thursday. I understand when you said that you would be interested in seeing us again, it was after an emotional moment and that you were somewhat disoriented, but if you are still interested there is a small outdoor cafe on the corner of 6th and 7th street. If you want to, meet us there at noon, and come alone. If you aren’t interested, you may simply disregard this letter and we’ll leave you alone. If you can’t make it but are still interested in meeting, there are instructions on how to contact us attached with this letter. If you aren’t interested, feel free to disregard them as well. Sincerely, A friend ----- The next week went by fast. Unbelievable as it may be things were mostly calm within Ponyville and Twilight and Fluttershy had no real problems with the others. Just as a precaution though, Twilight upgraded their locks again to make them nigh impossible to open without the proper keys. Silver had managed to get access to of some records for Manehatten using her position in Canterlot Castle and obtain residential information. As Twilight discovered, that was one of the things she was excellent at, and like Mythic Dusk said it was what she did to help vampires as a race. Using the information she dug out, she relayed Twilight’s letter to Morning Daisy. Of course, neither she nor Shadowfall were happy about it. The one downside to them both living together for the time being was that anytime Twilight did something they would both complain about it simultaneously. Because of her position they couldn’t do anything about it, but it was still annoying. Rarity brought Twilight a new cloak that worked to her satisfaction later the previous week, while Fluttershy had gotten hers from Rarity not too long before the beginning of winter the previous year, leaving it in far better condition. So now it was morning, the day of the Wonderbolts performance in Manehatten. The plan was for them to arrive in the city shortly before noon, and the show would be in the evening. The weather team had decided to make a cloudy day over the city, so everything worked out in Twilight and Fluttershy's favor. After the performance they would spend the night in the city and leave the following morning. Twilight and Fluttershy arrived a bit early, and only ten minutes before the train was scheduled to leave did Rainbow appear. She wasn’t happy about having to get up as early as she did, but she wouldn’t let anything stop her from seeing the Wonderbolts, not even sleep. As a gift from Princess Luna, they were given a private car on the train. As it stood, it was fairly luxurious. It was actually a car specifically designed for Royalty, to be used whenever a princess needed transportation. Unfortunately it was rarely ever used, as the princesses often had faster and more direct transportation, and even then they only used it for public appearance. Otherwise they would teleport directly to wherever they needed to be. Still, it was maintained to the highest standards and would occasional be gifted for use by guests or friends of royalty. “Why do we need to leave so early?” Rainbow said tiredly, making no attempt to cover up her annoyance. Twilight, wide awake because of her and Fluttershy's unique nature, just laughed. Leading them to the train, she said, “We're leaving early because that's when the princess decided that this is when we should leave. She probably just doesn't get that most ponies are still sleeping this early. Besides, we get extra time to explore the city.” Rainbow just groaned, earning another short laugh from Fluttershy. “Oh come on, Rainbow,” Twilight said, “don't you have friends in the city that you could visit?” “No,” Rainbow replied. She obviously wasn't going to be convinced that anything good could come of leaving so early. Twilight was still smiling, and trying to remain serious she said, “Oh come on Rainbow, there are plenty of sights to see.” Rainbow merely grumbled at that. The royal car was magnificent. Under Celestia's tutelage, Twilight was privileged enough to have ridden in it with her several times before, but Fluttershy and Rainbow were in awe at what they saw. The colors were very bright, and there were plenty of windows that would let in sunlight for the journey. They fortunately had curtains already enchanted to keep out light entirely in case the occupants needed a little less light. It was complete with two alcoves with three windows each, along with a curtain to block sight from the rest of the train and a table in the center. Luxurious seats lined the other sides, and there was even a small kitchen, currently unattended. Like Twilight had suggested Fluttershy brought along her language texts and rune magic reference guide, along with the necessary materials to practice them. Twilight, armed with privacy spells that would keep Rainbow from intruding on them, set her saddlebags out on one of the alcove tables. Fluttershy followed her example and set her bags down beside Twilight. “Wait, what are you two doing?” Rainbow asked. In hindsight, both Twilight and Fluttershy should have realized that Rainbow would have forgotten to bring anything for the train ride. Twilight, looking somewhat guilty, said to her, “Oh... right, Fluttershy and I brought things do do. I guess that you didn't bring anything with you.” “Heh, I guess I didn't really think ahead. Can't I just do whatever you're doing?” Rainbow replied. She looked at their bags, which looked like they should have been painfully heavy, and then looked back to them. Rainbow smiled, but Twilight avoided direct eye contact. She had to stop herself from smiling as she said, “Well, sure. You're welcome to join us if you're interested in studying ancient languages and obscure magical theory.” Rainbow balked at that. In a shocked and confused maner she said, “Why would you... Fluttershy's not even a unicorn!” “You don't have to be a unicorn to study the theory,” Twilight said, “If you don't want to join us, you don't have to.” Rainbow shook her head to clear the confusion before saying, “No thanks, I'd rather just.... I’ll think of something.” Twilight gave her a warm, friendly, apologetic smile before stepping into the alcove and closing the curtain. As soon as it was closed Twilight cast spells to prevent Rainbow from hearing or seeing them, and then she pulled the curtains on the windows shut, letting absolutely no light in. Without needing to ask Twilight what they were going to be doing, she pulled out the materials to study rune magic. “I guess rune magic is more interesting than learning our language?” Twilight asked jokingly. Fluttershy nodded in response. “It's so much fun, but learning the language is really hard,” she replied a little sheepishly. “It's okay, I don't mind. I wasn't the one that wanted you to learn the language in the first place, I think rune magic is more fun too,” Twilight said. “I'm not expecting you to learn any noticeable portion of an entire language in a few hours, why not have some fun while we travel?” For the next hour or so, they worked on crafting more complex systems of runes. Fluttershy was an exceptionally fast learner, and in barely a month she was way past the basics. By now the things she was practicing included functional arrays of runes working in harmony for practical purposes. For the day ahead of them they decided to try a rune that would start or stop a fire at the users command. It was a three part system, a rune to create the fire, a rune to gather the magical energy to power it, and a rune to drain all energy to deactivate it. A more complex version existed where the user could also control the intensity of the fire, but that was more advanced, so for now they were going with something simpler. The problem with using rune magic as a pegasus was that it was first and foremost a magic used by unicorns, even since it's earliest days. Unicorns could channel magic directly into the runes and had an advantage in their precision, making the crafting of the runes themselves much easier. Being a vampire did help her coordination, but she still had to rely on Twilight to provide her with condensed magic to activate the runes. Meanwhile, while they where playing around with runes, Rainbow Dash was growing bored beyond her tolerance. While Twilight and Fluttershy spent all their time behind closed curtains, not making a sound, Rainbow couldn't do anything other than sit there. No flying, no Daring Do, and she couldn't even sleep because of how uncomfortable the seats in the train where compared to clouds, or even a normal bed. It wasn't overly long before she couldn't stand it anymore, and in desperation she rushed over and ripped open the curtains. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately from a different perspective, she decided to barge in at just the moment Twilight was about to activate the rune by channeling magic into it. If anypony had dropped even a small vial of condensed magic onto that rune, the entire train car may have exploded. Fortunately, Twilight offered to activate the rune herself. Even still, the amount of magic channeled into it can influence it's intensity greatly, and when Rainbow barged in she startled Twilight. Her sudden appearance led her to inadvertently channel more magic into the rune than she meant to, leading to a massive burst of fire that completely incinerated the parchment, despite having an active solidity rune on the back to prevent that exact thing from happening. When she saw to explosion, the first thing that came to Twilight's mind was to protect the books and supplies, which she sent off beside Fluttershy with a rather large amount of force. Her second, more obvious reaction was to put out the fire. Fire extinguishing was a relatively simple spell, even if Twilight didn’t have much use for it. Practicing magic in two different libraries over the course of her life left her with the innate fear that she might ignite the books, and later on the entire building, seeing as the library was completely made of wood. “What are you two doing back here?” asked Rainbow, fanning some of the lingering smoke away from them with her wings. She wasn't scared or angry, in fact her tone suggested that she was amused. Not actually needing to breathe meant that the smoke didn't affect Twilight and Fluttershy in any adverse manner. Once the smoke had cleared well enough to breathe anyway, Twilight replied, “We were attempting to do some very delicate magic, which we completely lost control of because of you.” “Sorry,” Rainbow said, “I didn't know what to do, it's so boring out here.” “I'm sorry Rainbow, but I honestly don't know what to do,” Twilight said apologetically. “We only brought books for us to do our own activities. I would have made room to bring something for you, but I didn't think that you would need me to.” “There are explosions back here, you've got to be doing something interesting. Why can't I just do what you're doing? Don't you trust me?” Rainbow was trying to guilt trip them into letting her in on what they were doing, that much was obvious even if it was a legitimate curiosity or she was trying to investigate their enigmatic secret meetings. “It wasn't supposed to explode! I'm sorry Rainbow, but there's really nothing you would be interested in back here. It's just magic, and I know that you would never be interested in magical theory,” Twilight said. She tried to sound apologetic, but really she was just making an excuse to keep Rainbow away. It still wasn't lying though, because as much interest as Fluttershy had Rainbow would be neither interested in or capable of anything they were studying. “Well there's got to be something,” Rainbow said, “Come on, I can't just sit around here for hours!” Twilight was about to say something else to convince her to leave, but saw how she could turn the situation to their advantage. By talking to Rainbow and spending time with her, they could start to earn her trust again. “Actually, Fluttershy put away the books, I think it would help if we spent some time with Rainbow.” Twilight said, doing her best to give Fluttershy hints at her idea without actually communicating them. It wasn't hard, because as unkind as it was Twilight knew that Rainbow couldn't pick up on the finer details of nonverbal communication. Even when directed at her she didn't pick up on gestures, expressions, and sometimes even tones. Knowing this, even if she didn't like abusing it, she could afford to be carefree with her expression. “Oh, okay.” Fluttershy said after a momentary pause spent trying to catch on. Without speaking she quickly moved anything they had out at the time of the explosion into her bags, giving Rainbow no time to see what might be written of them. Rainbow didn't seem to notice though. Twilight gestured for her to come sit next to her, and Rainbow took advantage of it immediately. With hours left to go until they got to Manehatten, the three started up a conversation. More than once Rainbow none too subtle led the conversation to magical theory, but she didn't get any answers. She wasn't angry though, her anticipation for later that day outweighing anything that she felt from when things didn't go the way she wanted. They talked like friends though, and that was more than they had done for some time. Just like Rainbow tried to lead the conversation to magical theory, Twilight and Fluttershy managed to bring the conversation topic to their investigation with much more ease. Rainbow didn't give away much information, and none that Twilight didn't already know they had from her visit to Rarity. As the conversation went on, Twilight took any chance to let Rainbow know, again, that there was nothing going on that concerned her, and that she could trust them unconditionally. As far as Twilight was concerned, they were making progress. If she had a few more hours, they may have made enough of a difference to turn Rainbow's alignment to their favor, but unfortunately the day must always continue. As the hours went on and the three merely enjoyed each others company while pushing towards their own goals to varying degrees of success, the train moved across the countryside. Eventually they could feel the train slow, and Rainbow pulled back the curtain on the window that Twilight and Fluttershy requested remain closed for the journey, and then told them, “We're here. Wow, that took no time at all.” Twilight and Fluttershy put on their cloaks and retrieved their bags. Rainbow gave them a strange look, but didn’t say anything to them about it. After a quick reminder not to get into any trouble and meet them at the stadium around the time of the show, Rainbow departed in a separate direction from them. Just to be safe Twilight insisted that they take an extended, elaborate route, just to be sure that they weren't being followed. They went though several alleys and through more than a few streets in the wrong direction before circling around making their way back to a small cafe that Shadowfall personally recommended to them. They arrived and told the waiter that they were expecting somepony else to join them at noon, and asked for a specific table. It was out of they way in the back, and was one of the last tables to be filled when the cafe was really overcrowded. Shadowfall had personally recommended this place. Even though she wasn't enthusiastic about the idea she at least tried to add something constructive. They had their hoods on, even though the weather was cloudy. The weather office for the Manehatten area came up with the idea to have a cloudy day, and then clear it up before the show later that evening. The reason they kept their hoods on was to protect their identities. They fully intended to tell Morning Daisy who they really were, which was the part of the plan that Silver Wing was most annoyed about. They kept their hoods on so that they could tell her who they were on their terms, which meant waiting until she was fully aware of the consequences of failing to protect their secret. They arrived about ten minutes before noon, and patiently waited. Noon came and a few minutes after Morning Daisy arrived, slightly out of breath. The waiter led her to their table and she sat down. The first thing she said was, “I'm sorry that I'm late, I got caught up in work and I lost track of time.” “It's alright,” Twilight said, “A few minutes isn't a problem.” “I didn't want you to think that I wasn't coming,” Morning Daisy said. “I wasn't sure about it, but I figure that if I didn't come I wouldn't be able to deal with the curiosity.” “We're glad you did,” Fluttershy added. She smiled lightly, but under her hood it went unseen. Morning Daisy's nervous smile was more noticeable though. Twilight cleared her throat to get their attention. “Anyway, we're glad your here. We will get to introductions soon, but there are some things that we need to get out of they way first. Besides the fact that specific others haven't stopped complaining, it is kind of necessary that we mention the importance of keeping what we are a secret.” Morning Daisy got the message they were trying to get across. Twilight looked around before leaning in closer and saying quietly, “What we say after this point stays between us, alright?” Morning Daisy nodded, starting to become worried about what she gotten herself into. “First of all, nopony can know what we are, at all. Second, it would be best for you if nopony knew that you know any vampires, you might catch some unwanted attention. “Now, what you need to know is that if anypony finds out that we're vampires, there will be trouble. Princess Celestia doesn't like vampires at all. If she know what we are, she will hunt us down and kill us, and whether or not we survive, if she finds out about us because of you other vampires will find and kill you as a traitor. We take care of our own kind, and others wont think very highly of you if anything happens to us.” “How could the princess do that? How could you do that? I don't understand, why would anypony use such extreme methods?” Morning Daisy asked, managing to remain quiet even if barely. Her eyes went wide when the impact of what Twilight just said. Murder was unheard of in Equestria, and everypony knew Princess Celestia as a kind and forgiving figure. To hear that not only she, but also others, would use this form of violence so freely unnerved her greatly, and more than ever she feared that she was getting involved in things way over her head. “Trust me, most of what you know about Equestria is wrong,” Twilight replied. “History is written by the victor, or at least the pony who's in power. Vampires were erased from history entirely almost four hundred years ago, even though a secret, specialized branch of the military existed to hunt us until about twenty years ago when we were believed to have become so little a threat that it wasn't worth keeping them, and that was assuming that we weren't completely wiped out. “The point is though, Equestria isn't as peaceful as you believe it is, or at least it hasn't been for as long as you thought. We fight each other because of uncorrected past rivalries, and when we do it can get violent. She believes that we're pure evil, and that is kind of our fault for not making any efforts to change the way we acted in over five thousand years. “What I'm trying to say, and sorry for going off like that, is that she believes us to be pure evil, and that trying in to survive we take extreme measures to protect our secrecy. You aren't in any danger, I promise, the threat of death is just a deterrent.” Morning Daisy took a deep breath before she replied, and when she did her voice was shaking, “Alright... I can accept that... just please, promise me that I’m still safe.” “Nopony is going to hurt you,” Twilight said in a comforting voice, “Right now we think of you as a friend. You won't be harmed by any of us, and we'll never feed from you unless you expressly volunteer.” “What about my foals,” Morning asked, her voice still shaking, “Will they be safe too?” “Of course they are,” Fluttershy said, “Hurting foals is the last thing we want to do.” Twilight smiled, which like Fluttershy went unnoticed under her hood. “We love foals as much as anypony else, they wouldn't be hurt, no matter what.” Morning Daisy calmed down a little, but she still kept her guard up. Twilight put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. With yet another unseen smile she said, “We'll understand if you want to back out, there are some dangers. As long as nopony knows that you know vampires you'll be safe. If you want to go, you're free to, but if you're ready, we can introduce ourselves for real.” Morning looked worried for a time, but she took a deep breath and said, “I'm ready.” There was no going back once she knew who they were, but she was ready to trust them that she would be safe from any kind of danger so long as she kept their secret. “Before we show ourselves, just to remind you, if you betray our trust you will be killed, regardless of whether or not we're killed because of it,” Twilight said. Morning Daisy nodded, terrified of what she might find but eager to end the suspense of not knowing. Twilight took her shallow gesture as a yes and took off her hood. Fluttershy followed her example after a short delay. What Morning Daisy saw wasn't what she expected. It was obvious that they wouldn't show their vampiric appearance in public, but it still surprised her to see two normal ponies sitting with her. “I... I'm actually a little surprised, you look so... normal.” Twilight laughed lightly, and Fluttershy smiled. For Morning, it seemed so normal, like meeting friends for lunch. The suspense that plagued her only a moment ago was gone and replaced with a strange sense of familiarity. “Well, you wouldn't be expecting us not to hide ourselves in public. Do you recognize us?” asked Twilight. Morning looked at them both for a minute, trying to imagine where she might have seen them before. When she couldn't come up with a name to match them, or even a previous meeting she said, “I'm sorry, but I can't remember ever seeing you before.” Twilight smiled. “That's alright, you've never have seen us before, at least not personally. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Fluttershy.” As soon as she heard their names, Morning Daisy recognized them. Startled, she said, “Oh, I've heard of you. Actually, I'm pretty sure their isn't anypony who hasn't heard of you. You're kind of celebrities.” Fluttershy flinched a little bit, but Twilight laughed. Morning Daisy looked to Twilight and said, “I know a lot about you, you've been in the news for a while actually, ever since you were made Princess Celestia's personal protege when you were a filly.” Twilight gave her a warm smile that Morning Daisy wasn't expecting from the pony she agreed to meet. Twilight said, “As you can see, public image tends to be a little inaccurate.” Morning Daisy looked at her, her surprise still lingering. “I guess so. Still, I remember reading about you on occasion when you were a filly.” Twilight's smile lost some of it's strength, but she still had the same warm welcoming look as she said, “There's a lot about my time as a filly that nopony else knows about. I didn’t just study what Celestia taught me, I also studied dark magic, and various other independent studies that she didn't know about.” Morning Daisy's surprise quickly turned to shock. “I didn't... I mean... dark magic!” She wasn't loud enough to be heard by anypony else, but she was still loud enough to get across how shocking the revelation was to her. Twilight asked, “Are you alright?” Morning Daisy looked at her with a small degree of fear that she hadn't felt since they first met. “No, I'm worried. Why would you be using dark magic?” Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her lightly. “It's alright, I understand why you're concerned. There's nothing to worry about. It's typical for vampires to study dark and forgotten magics just like a unicorn would learn any other kind of magic. As recently as a hundred years ago ponies would study light magic, and vampires can't use light magic in any form, it's actually harmful to us. Because vampires aren’t adversely affected by dark magic like normal ponies, it used to act like a counterpart to the light magic that everypony else would learn to protect themselves.” “Actually, I'm unique among vampires,” Twilight went on to say, “My cutie mark is in magic, and that means all magic, and I'm even the bearer of the element of magic on top of. I'm the only vampire ever to be able to use light magic in a limited fashion. I'm also immune to it's harmful effects on vampires, again to a very limited degree.” “Still,” Morning Daisy asked, “dark magic, isn’t that still evil, as in really evil?” Twilight adopted a more serious look as she replied, “That's really up to debate I’d say. The most common historical applications of dark magic have been for evil, not to mention that they occasionally cause insanity, and almost always will influence a pony towards making more of what would be considered 'evil' decisions. “For example, there was a unicorn about a thousand years that started practicing shadow magic. Before that he was probably completely normal, but it wasn't to long before he went insane, usurped the throne of the nation he lived in, and then proceeded to enslave the populace.” “And you expect me to just be okay with this, especially after that story?” Morning said. By this point she wasn't even worried anymore, just stressed. As the conversation went on, she became more overwhelmed by everything. Twilight meanwhile was trying not to overload her with shocking information, but wasn't doing such a good job of it. It wasn't entirely her fault, she was basically talking to a complete stranger and often when she was speaking to somepony on a personal level she expected to know more about them than they did her. It was a skill that allowed her to control the conversation, and because she mastered it early in her life she was able to keep discussion away from sensitive topics, but because she had developed skills tailored towards keeping her one step ahead of anypony else, she was lacking in skills for other forms of dialogue. “Well, like I said dark magic usually makes a pony go insane, and influences their mind,” Twilight said. “Vampires are immune to this effect, and being creatures of darkness we also have a unique affinity for it. Like I also said, we can't perform light magic.” Morning Daisy fidgeted in her seat. “I don't like this.” “It can take some getting used to, just try not to think of dark magic as evil, just dark, and think of us as beings of darkness,” Twilight said. Morning wasn't entirely over her worries, but she accepted Twilight's explanation. She turned to Fluttershy and asked, “What about you, what was your foalhood like?” With attention suddenly turned to her, Fluttershy grew uncomfortable. Almost to quite to hear she said, “Oh, well, when I was a foal I wasn't a very good flier, and I would always be teased about it. One day, I ended up on the ground, in a forest, and I discovered how good I was with animals. As soon as I was old enough I moved to the ground and started looking after them.” Morning was much less worried after seeing Fluttershy at her most innocent. It countered the stress and fear she had received from Twilight's talk about dark magic. “And... how did you get like... this?” she asked nervously, fearing somehow hurting them by bringing it up. She believed that they might have uncomfortable memories, but her wariness, in the end, was unnecessary. Much to Morning Daisy's surprise, Twilight replied warmly and openly, “I was actually born like this, and I lived most of my life under powerful magic that would hide and inhibit my true nature so that I could hide in plain sight. Fluttershy... wasn't like this until a few months ago.” In a few words she had grown somber. It obviously wasn’t Morning's intention to upset either of them, but she had inadvertently brought out a sensitive topic. It was fairly obvious what happened as far as she could tell. Something had happened and Fluttershy and been turned into a vampire by Twilight, and Twilight greatly regretted what happened. “It's alright, you don't have to say anything. I think I understand what happened,” she replied apologetically. “It isn't all that bad,” Fluttershy said, “It takes a lot of getting used to, but it isn't that bad anymore.” “What's it like?” Morning Daisy asked. It was a curiosity mostly geared towards Fluttershy, but it made Twilight twitch a little, obviously causing her some kind of annoyance. “We probably shouldn't get into that, it might be a little unpleasant,” she said, trying to steer the conversation away from this line of discussion. “Besides, this was supposed to be a personal meeting, not a lesson on vampires.” Fluttershy however, wasn't bothered at all, and much to Twilight’s obvious annoyance she spoke up her the first time in this entire meeting, “It's not bad, scary, but not bad. I don't want anypony else to have to go through this, but I'm okay with it.” Twilight gave her a stern look, but as soon as Fluttershy looked back at her she couldn’t help but give her a forgiving smile. She turned and looked at Morning again, then asked, “What about you? We told you about our foalhoods, what about yours?” “Oh not unusual,” she replied, “I went to school, graduated, and had two foals. Then their father left us because he couldn't keep up with his work as an archeologist while living in the city, and now I work a job doing paperwork for an orphanage in town just to make enough bits to sustain us.” Their conversation was interrupted by a waiter arriving with their food. They had all gotten something small, but as soon as the waiter was out of earshot Morning said, “I didn't think you would actually get food while you were here.” “We don't have to eat,” Fluttershy said, “We can though, it just isn't as enjoyable.” “I don't get it, there so much more to you that I don't know, it's a little over my head,” Morning Daisy said. “It can be complicated sometimes,” Fluttershy said. “Learning everything is the hardest part of being a vampire, but it gets easier. Eventually everything just comes together.” “Listen, I know you're curious, but it takes a long time and a unique perspective before it all makes sense,” Twilight said. “I understand what you feel like right now, I went through the some thing when I was nine. It was overwhelming, especially since that was the first time I had even heard of vampires, and it was from somepony I trusted telling me that I was one.” Morning looked at Twilight tiredly. “I know that, I'm just saying that it's not easy to understand you as ponies when I don't know more about vampires.” “It's not actually that hard, just think of us as normal ponies, with normal personalities, just like you would for anypony else,” Twilight said. Morning Daisy took a deep breath, but didn't say anything else. After a moment Twilight picked up the conversation by asking, “Are you alright?” “Yes, I'm fine, just a bit overwhelmed.” Morning Daisy replied. Well,” Twilight said, “ in that case maybe we should just focus on nicer things.” Morning still needed a moment to calm herself. Once she had a chance to process everything as best she could and got herself to look at Twilight and Fluttershy in a different light she said, “Alright, I'll need a lot of time to think about this later, but I guess I'm ready.” Twilight gave her an encouraging look and nodded, telling her to go on, “So, why are you in Manehatten? You said you were here to see the Wonderbolts show later today, but you didn't go into much detail.” Twilight smiled at the simple question. “We were invited by a friend of ours. Actually all the elements of harmony were invited, but only half of us could go. Fluttershy and I thought it would be a good idea to see you while we were here, like we agreed we would last time we met.” “I wish I could go to the show, my foals love the Wonderbolts, but we can barely afford everything we need, we just don't have any bits for things like this.” Twilight felt sorry for her at first, but then she got an idea. “You know, if you're interested I could probably get you extra tickets.” “No, please, you don't need to do that for us.” “I insist,” Twilight said, paying no heed to Morning Daisy's objections, “The pony who invited us is really nice, and I'm sure she would be willing to give the unused tickets to friends of ours.” Morning Daisy continued to insist that Twilight didn't need to do that, but Twilight wouldn't take no for an answer. She was set on showing their new friend this kindness. Fluttershy meanwhile gave Morning Daisy looks of encouragement, pushing her to accept Twilight's offer. Morning didn't want to burden them with the effort, but after much pushing she finally said yes, although she also told Twilight that she didn't want her to do that much for her. They finished their meal and parted ways after another promise that Twilight would get the tickets for her, which she still objected to until Fluttershy asked her not to argue and let them do this one kind thing for her. ----- For the size and wonder, Manehatten wasn't actually as interesting as it was always made out to be. Sure the city had it's sights, and for ponies like Rarity it had unique attractions, but for two vampires spending an awkwardly romantic day in the city, it gets boring quite quickly. Of course it didn't help that the entire relationship was awkward. The Wonderbolts show wasn't scheduled until sunset, courtesy of Celestia's efforts to make her sister more comfortable, and as a way to convince her to go to the show at all. Because Twilight and Fluttershy arrived earlier in the day and their meeting with Morning Daisy only took about a half an hour, they had the whole rest of the day to spend, and nothing to do. If the show was in Canterlot, Twilight would have plenty of out of the way sights to show Fluttershy, including everything from pleasant little restaurants to parks that rival the natural beauty of Ponyville's own, and that wasn't even getting into the less than legal places and ponies Twilight had been affiliated with at some time in the past, although more than anything that might make things even more uncomfortable for Fluttershy. But instead they were in Manehatten. Aside from the time she brought Fluttershy here to teach her to feed, she had only ever been here once, brought by Celestia to see the Summer Sun Celebration when Manehatten was hosting it. With no idea of what to do for the next eight hours until sundown, Twilight and Fluttershy visited the waterfront, several popular tourist attractions, and even tried some of the forests outside of the city, but none of them kept them occupied for long. The hours pasted slowly, but they passed nonetheless, and after what seemed like an eternity of boredom and exploration, Twilight and Fluttershy made their way to the stadium the show was being performed at. They had tickets for a special box high above the rest of the audience, reserved for the high class spectators and on occasion royalty. Rainbow was standing outside the stadium when they arrived. Somewhat to Twilight's surprise she had managed to stay out of trouble for the whole day, though she looked like she had taken the time even more badly than they did. Twilight had always been a very patient pony, having learned a lot from Celestia, and mentally preparing herself for her exceptionally long life that she had ahead of her. She had taken things a bit more quickly once she moved to Ponyville, when the amount of time she had with her new found friends became limited by the lifespan of mortal ponies, but even still she had the patience to endure much more than a few hours. Fluttershy and Rainbow weren't as good with time though. Rainbow Dash was perhaps one of the most restless ponies in Equestria, and Fluttershy did have limits. Twilight had been trying to passively condition her by bringing up the idea of immortality and discussing how she'll deal with living centuries, even millennia past her previous expectations, but it was a slow process, and for the time being she was still as bad with waiting as anypony else. They met up with Rainbow who was waiting at the entrance for Luna to arrive, and they joined her in waiting. Sundown came, and they still waited. It was nearly ten minutes afterward that Luna arrived. “Princess!” Twilight called out as Luna stepped out of her chariot and the guards pulling freed themselves. Twilight stopped just short of the princess, and gave her a welcoming, friendly smile. “Twilight Sparkle, it is good to see you once again!” Luna said, loudly but without using the Royal Canterlot Voice, a distinct improvement over the last time. “It's good to see you too Princess,” Twilight said. “I hope you don't mind, but I have a favor I'd like to ask, if it isn't to much trouble.” “Of course,” Luna replied, “You are welcome to ask for a favor anytime.” “Well, Fluttershy and I have a friend who lives in Manehatten. We were hoping you would be willing to let her and her two foals have the tickets that our friends in Ponyville didn't use. They would really like to see the show, but they don't have the bits to spare.” Luna smiled, “Of course, I brought the extra tickets along in case any of them changed their minds. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine as well, and they are welcome to join us.” The three unused tickets floated out of the chariot and Twilight took them. “Thank you princess!” Twilight said. She rush up and gave Princess Luna a hug, much to her guards discomfort as they didn't know whether to stop her or allow it. Fortunately for them, Luna smiled, “It is no trouble, I assure you. Go now, and hurry back, before the show begins.” Twilight wasted no time, and teleported away immediately. Silver Wing sent the information she had found on Morning Daisy along with her message saying that this was a bad idea after mailing the letter Twilight wrote, which fortunately included where she lived. Twilight made her way through the streets, dashing through empty alleys wherever she could. She made it a a small apartment building a few blocks away from the stadium in just a few minutes. Morning Daisy's apartment was on the third floor, so Twilight started taking the stairs, but after the first few steps she simply teleported up. She made her way down the hall until she came across the door that led to Morning Daisy's place of residence. She knocked on the door, and waited a few seconds. Morning Daisy opened the door and said, “Twilight, this is a surprise.” Twilight smiled and held up the three tickets. Morning Daisy gasped. “Twilight, I said you didn't have to do this.” “That's what friends do, right?” Twilight said, earning her a hug from her friend. Morning Daisy smiled at her. “Keep in mind that the warnings we gave you earlier still apply,” Twilight went on to say. “You'll be the only pony there besides Fluttershy and I that knows the truth, and there will be ponies there that will act swiftly and with finality if they were to discover what we really are. I want to be a friend, and so I don't want to scare you, but remember the consequences of failing to keep this a secret. The threats we made are meant to be a deterrent, but if anything happens to us because of you, or if anypony finds out, none of us will hesitate act on them. Like I said earlier, we look after our own.” “Thank you!” she said, then without losing her smile, she called out, “Dawn, Violet, were going to the Wonderbolts show, get ready and come out!” The sounds of cheering came out from inside the apartment. It took a few minutes, but two fillies came running out as quickly as they could, each dressed lightly for the cool autumn evening. Twilight could tell which filly was which just by seeing them. The filly called Dawn had a brilliant, vibrant orange coat that stood alongside her poorly groomed yellow mane. In contrast, the filly called Violet by her mother had a dark purple coat a few shades darker than Twilight's own that strongly contrasted her light, sky blue mane that had a single stripe of white going through it, not unlike Twilight's own. “Girls, this is Twilight Sparkle, she's going to take us to the Wonderbolts show,” said Morning Daisy. She didn't have time to say much more before they practically began dragging her toward the stairs. Twilight just laughed. “We really should get going, we don't want to miss the beginning.” The stadium wasn't too far from where they lived, but the two fillies were practically dragging their mother along all the way. Twilight had no trouble keeping up with the two energetic fillies, but by the time they made it to their destination Morning Daisy was practically exhausted. Twilight led them through the main entrance and up past exits that led to the stands. Though her foals were impatiently pulling her along behind her, Morning Daisy looked around with confusion as they passed the last door leading outside to the rest of the audiance. Trusting Twilight's sense of direction she just followed behind her, fortunately leading them at a more acceptable pace than before. She led them through an obviously underused passage. They came out to a staircase, and at the top of the staircase two of Luna's guards waited for them, diligently guarding the door against threats that would never come. Where the two fillies previously pulled their mother along behind them, they now stood behind her. None of them had ever seen Luna's personal guards before, and all three of them looked on nervously as Twilight showed them the four tickets. After a moment the guard gave them back the tickets and nodded, letting them pass. Twilight led them up around a bend and up another set of stairs. They came out to an open, well maintained space that sharply contrasted the dusty, poorly lit way they had came. Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash and a very scared looking Fluttershy turned as they approached. Twilight assumed that Fluttershy's expression was just from being left alone with Rainbow and a princess, but resolved to ask about it later just in case. After having gotten over the shock from the guards earlier already, when the two foals saw Princess Luna sitting standing at the end of the aisle there wasn't any way to contain their excitement. Before her mother could stop them they rushed up to her excitedly. Morning Daisy couldn't make any move but look on in panic. Fortunately, Luna didn't mind and greeted the playful fillies with a smile and laugh. Morning let out a tense breath when she saw Luna's warm smile. She went up slowly and carefully. “I am so sorry Princess,” she said, “I hadn't realized...” “There is no need,” Princess Luna said, “I love foals, though I do not get many chances to interact with them anymore.” Morning Daisy finally let her guard down as she saw that Luna was pleased, and gave Twilight an annoyed look, obviously for not telling her that they would be watching the show with Princess Luna herself. Twilight gave her a sheepish look, and walked down and sat next to Fluttershy. Morning Daisy, still watching with a vague degree of fear took a seat behind Twilight. Rainbow Dash looked impatiently over her shoulder at Princess Luna and said, “Come on, the show's about to start.” Princess Luna, Dawn, and Violet quickly made their way to the front row. For the duration of the show Rainbow Dash looked on and cheered along with the two fillies. Despite her earlier opinions of the Wonderbolts that she had when she wrote the invitation, Luna's enthusiasm grew as she evening went on. Twilight and Fluttershy sat a few rows back, watching the show with a little less enthusiasm, and behind them Morning Daisy watched, still nervous about being so close to Princess Luna. The show went on for an hour, and after a spectacular ending Luna said her farewells and exited in a somewhat rushed manner. The reaming five ponies talked for a little longer before leaving themselves. “You never told me we would be watching with Princess Luna!” Morning Daisy said, expressing her anger as well as her relief. Dawn giggled at her mother's frustration, and Violet did the same after a moment. “I didn't think to bring it up, sorry if you were stressed.” “Stressed,” Morning Daisy said sarcastically, “not at all, where would you get such an idea?” Twilight laughed lightly. “Listen, I'm sorry for not mentioning it, it's just that you don't really tell ponies that you're friends with a princess. I didn't want to bring it up, so I avoided mentioning her name.” “Well, everything turned out alright I guess,” Morning Daisy practically whispered, “Just promise me that being friends with you won't become a problem later.” “Don't worry, everything will be fine,” Twilight said confidently. “Anyway, I was hoping we could keep in touch by mail, seeing as we won't be out here that often, just remember not to put anything in a letter that you wouldn't say to us in a public place.” “I... I think that would be great,” Morning Daisy replied. “That's excellent, I'll send you letter with contact information soon, and I hope to hear from you soon,” Twilight said breaking off to go her own separate way. ----- “And did you see...” Rainbow said, once again trying to bring attentions to something she found amazing during the show. This time though Twilight interrupted her. “We get it Rainbow, everything was awesome. Now, could you please go to your own room and go to sleep.” Princess Luna had generously arranged them to stay at a hotel close to the train station, for their ease in the morning, and because it was one of the highest quality hotels in the city. Three rooms were rented, each with two beds. Since there were only three ponies there however one of the rooms went unused when Fluttershy decided to join Twilight for the night. “Fine, no need to get all angry about it,” Rainbow said, doing a flip off of the foot of Twilight's bed, narrowly avoiding the ceiling before settling upright in midair. “See you in the morning, I guess.” With that she departed their company. Once she was gone Twilight turned out the dim light illuminating the room now that nopony present needed it. She rolled over to look at Fluttershy, and lying in bed she asked, “So, how do you think today went.” “It went alright, I think,” she replied, “Morning Daisy trusts us, and Rainbow didn't ask questions, it could have gone a lot worse.” “And Luna doesn't suspect anything. To be honest things could have gone a lot worse, but we got through it like always,” Twilight said, giving her a sleepy smile. Fluttershy wasn't very tired though. As vampires they didn't actually need to sleep, although sleep did let them go longer without feeding, and helped pass the time and blend in as normal ponies. It was something that Celestia always found baffling when Twilight would go on study binges for days at a time without even growing tired, and something that concerned her parents to no end for as long as she lived with them, and even after she moved out to live in the castle they still requested she get a decent amount of sleep as often as they could. “Twilight, can I ask you something?” “You can ask me anything Fluttershy, you can always ask me anything.” Twilight responded. “Where does Luna stand, you know, on us?” she asked. Fluttershy managed to catch Twilight's attention with that question, and Twilight shook herself awake and sat up. “Well, that's a bit complicated. “Luna is the princess of the night, so she does sympathies with us better than her sister. She understands that vampires are creatures of pure darkness, and because she's worked with other creatures of the night before she can make the distinction between darkness and evil. “She tends to agree with her sister most of the time though. Just because we aren't evil by nature doesn't mean we won't become evil at the earliest opportunity. Unlike her sister Luna can understand the difference between killer and predator, and between darkness and evil, but she's learned from millennia of experience that without some kind of moral guidance a vampire would abandon mercy and compassion. “So, what I'm trying to say is that she's more sympathetic and merciful to vampires if she sees good in them, or at least doesn't see any evil. She's let ponies go where Celestia would kill them on the spot, but she wouldn't hesitate if she could see that they were a danger.” “I... wow,” Fluttershy said, letting what Twilight sink in, “I never knew.” “There's no doubt that she's the better of the two princesses to find out about us,” Twilight said, “if one of them were to find out.” “What about Cadence?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight smiled tiredly again as she laid down once again. “Cadence is the princess of love, and she probably knows me better than anypony else, except maybe a few ponies. She would listen to me, and she would be more compassionate, but she would probably be uncomfortable with it.” “I didn't know that this was so complicated.” Fluttershy said, sleep gradually overtaking her. Twilight gave her one more smile. “I know, but being a vampire is a dangerous business. You have to know your friends... and your enemies.”