//------------------------------//
// Hunger 
// Story: Mysterious Ways 
// by Peridork 
//------------------------------//

The library. Known for three things- the computer laws that made students only search for the most necessary information with express permission from the librarian, the librarian herself, and the Canterlot High Secret Archives. Not so secret in the modern sense of the word but moreso in the old time version where it meant more like 'private.' 

And anyway it was at this point well known throughout the school that the reigning Queen of Hell walked amongst them thanks to the mess that Sunset caused in the Fall Formal. 

Actually as Fluttershy wondered more and more about her own powers as a vampire, it seemed to coincide with the opening of that book of Sunset's. Chalk that up to circumstance. 

"Yo, Flutter what are you looking at?" Fluttershy snapped out of her quiet state of boredom looking at the results for the address that Moondancer's last note had given her. Searching up a house's address thanks to a search engine was simple but most of the nearby area was a literal dump right next to a river. Ironic with water being a general dislike for vampires.

"Nothing, Rainbow. Just looking up some locations for a eco project I might make for my club."

Rainbow sighed and turned back to her five page english paper and moaned as she had to read her least favorite type of poetry- poetry itself.

"What is this crap? Fluttershy why did Mr. Doodle assign us some nonsense poem about fairy queens? I thought it would be awesome. But nope this is complete nonsense. Screw this assignment, I'm using the good old fashioned way to learn."

"Rainbow, if you say Spark Notes, I think the teachers might give you retroactive detention."

"But Fluttershy! Think of how much time all of us spend doing some boring assignment when we could go on a magical adventure to wherever  magical adventures are! Like totally seriously, my mom has this awesome house in the country and we could have a party and she wouldn't even know cause she's on business. Don't know exactly what she does yet but it seems like some overseas junk. My mom doesn't really talk about her work. Whatevs. I get a cool place to hang out while she's away."

Fluttershy quickly closed her desktop when she caught the eye of Cheerilee who had been listening to the entire conversation since Rainbow opened her mouth. Wouldn't be fun to get sent to detention for searching up a river. Well, okay more like actually getting a concrete lead where Moondancer might have chilled out for a bit to get away from Crystal Prep. 

Dunno. Couldn't understand dead vampires.

Fluttershy packed up her stuff and left without saying much to Rainbow. Kind of hard to do it when the athlete was getting dragged off to the Principal's office by the deceptively quick and strong librarian that everybody was somewhat terrified of.

At least she didn't see her other friends. Applejack was usually busy helping out at her family farm nowadays and Rarity was trying to get into the realm of high fashion under the wing of Suri Polomare, Pinkie was Pinkie, and Sunset was dealing with her magical problems thanks to Fall Formal's shenanigans.

So Fluttershy and the girls didn't talk much after school all in one large group. It was the issues of growing up and having responsibilities.

And Fluttershy's current responsibility for the current moment was probably saying hi to the other Coven members and saying that she was actually on the case. Some of the other vampires were a bit too hands on with their sense of importance. And some were miffed about how quickly Fluttershy had been rising in importance since her new life. Being a direct pupil to Superintendent Sombra can do that and vampires could be as bad, if not worse, than the cliques in Canterlot High.

She still remembered when they stranded her in the middle of nowhere and left her to get back to the mansion before sunrise. That was a pain.

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Fluttershy briskly walked out of the library before Cheerilee could ask her about Rainbow's conversation with her.
***

Blut Manor was not a small place on the outskirts of Canterlot's city limits. It was a house that imposed itself on the landscape, with a design that hearkened bake to Gothic architectures and cold hard stone. It was a cold place to most people but it grew to become a home away from home for the Coven and a gathering spot to share information on the wider world. The building was meant to show the wealth of one man- Sombra- and his family's wealth that had accumulated throughout the centuries. What the humans didn't know was that it wasn't really a family affair if "each generation" of the family was actually the same vampire living different lives as he grew bored with them. He had been many things in his one thousand years of existence and had come from the Old World when the New World was discovered- seeing of course unlimited potential in monetary gain.

He had been everywhere across the world and decided that being a school superintendent with a rich family heritage suited him best in the current situation. Nobody minded and with the secrets that Canterlot High and Crystal Prep held in their secret archives. so he said, there was almost no need to worry. There were much stranger things in the archives than a vampirism cure.

Opening the heavy door to the manor, Fluttershy walked in the halls of the ancient building. Her footsteps echoed as she passed room upon room of coffins and a pool that was filled with blood. An expensive treat for a coming banquet or just a way to spend money since Sombra did have more money than even he could spend in his lifetime. Paintings lined the walls of each member of the Coven painted in the attire of the decade that they had been turned to the cause. Starting from the Middle Ages to the present day, it was a collection of portraits that showed where everyone was from and when. It was a nice homey touch for such a large place- and the walls would have seemed bare without some sort of decoration. Or that's what Fluttershy had picked up from Rarity during the few months she was modeling her designs. Fashion and aesthetic were somewhat important. 

Rarity and Fleur would get along great, Fluttershy realized.

Fluttershy liked the manor. Its large size left her mind time to wander and collect her thoughts in the moments before reaching the true heart of the Coven, the basement. Because, while blatant blood pools and coffins were acceptable above ground, the real magic happened in the basement, A library that rivaled and in some regards even surpassed the Secret Wings of the schools hid below. Ancient tomes from olden times were carefully preserved to keep them usable and intact. Some of them were original copies of tomes bound in human skin- those were the ones with the real power. Summoning things from beyond the human realm involved some powerful charms and binding rituals and the dark magic tomes made it possible to summon things.

There were more than just that. Items procured from magical creatures, scrolls, alchemy equipment- Sombra had been busy his whole life trying not to become bored with what he sometimes called the curse of idleness. Near immortality was useful, but boredom could really drag it into a mess of tangled up feelings of nothing to do. 

After a couple minutes of navigating the catacomb-like basement wondering where everyone was, Fluttershy gradually saw a dim light at the end of the hallway that she was walking towards. The light beckoned her in and it illuminated the throne room of Sombra. Somhow being a superintendent of a school district didn't temper his well earned vanity as the chair was seemingly covered in precious metals and gleamed in the candlelight that gave the room its light. Comfortably sitting in the chair. Sombra glanced up at his youngest, and in some ways, most promising apprentice.

"Hello. Fluttershy. Any progress on the Moondancer affair?"

Fluttershy decided to quickly fill him in on the details and her assumptions of the case in as few words as possible. And that took only a couple minutes with Sombra's questions about clarification. After the debriefing was over, Sombra steepled his hands and lay back in his chair. 

"So you think either a hunter or a vampire did the deed. How troubling. Because this causes me trouble on two fronts. Either there's a hunter in Crystal Prep that takes their job even more fanatically than the rest of them and actively plans hunts of monsters or I have a vampire that doesn't want to follow MY leadership. And that's even worse."

"Well its more of a hunch. . ."

"Of course. Of course. But I rather don't like to entertain that possibility. And after replacing Principal Cinch recently with Starlight Glimmer, I don't want to have to continue telling the parents that the schools are safe. Because this is just a little bit. . .embarrassing that I can't control a thousand students." Sombra just calmly massaged his temple because the memory of the last schoolboard meeting was just annoying. 

"Yeah. Don't worry though. I'm on the case or something, either way. . .I'll get this solved." Fluttershy just nervously waited to be dismissed. 

Sombra waved a hand and turned back to his book. "Go. I need some time to ease my head."

Fluttershy walked away and went down the hallway. She could heard muttering from Sombra as she left that sounded like, "And it's these moments I wished I chose my Plan B- leader of a dictatorship sounds easier than teaching."