Princess Twilight and Lunar remained at Canterlot Castle for the night which was under heavy guard. In the morning Lunar and Twilight board the train to Ponyville to retrieve the things they would need for their studies. “So why is Celestia moving us to Canterlot?” Lunar asks
“It’s not safe for us in Ponyville anymore Applejack knows that we know too much and by now for all we know half of Ponyville could be under her command.” Twilight responds “But what really bugs me is, if they are all vampires shouldn’t they burn in the sunlight?”
“Common misconception actually.” Lunar says looking up from the book he had been reading “You see they don’t burn they only lose their abilities granted through vampirism. However, where the belief that they burn in the sun originated I have yet to figure out.”
“How do you know so much?” Twilight asks “I know you’re an independent researcher and all but you seem to have spent an awful lot of time in that field you must have some other reason.”
“Yes I figured nothing less of you Twilight I knew you would figure it out eventually.” Lunar sighs “True I am an independent researcher but I do have other reasons for researching them so much. I was a young stallion at the time ready to start life on my own and follow wherever my studies took me. At the time it was me my brother and my father. My mom had died of disease and we were all shaken by her death. You see one night the night I was working late on a magic spell and I heard screams. So I did what most ponies would do and ran to see what was wrong. Next thing I knew there it was. A vampire pony drinking my brother’s blood. I panicked when it leapt at me and teleported. For a while after I dedicated my time to learning about them and even after I stopped focusing on them I kept all the material including the book Solar Spells.” Lunar explains
“You seem so calm about it do you even care what happened to them?” Twilight asks shocked at his explanation
“Of course I do.” Lunar replies “But I had to put it behind me because I knew if I did not then I wouldn’t get anything done in my life.”
“You have a copy of Solar Spells too? I heard they are some of the hardest spell books to find how you find one!?” Twilight then asks
“I found it while exploring the remains of an old pony settlement.” Lunar says “They are the only kind of magic spells that can harm or do anything to vampires because of their affiliation with solar energy. Still what I am puzzled about is that during the day Fluttershy is kind and sweet…but when she turns into well…Flutterbat she was a lot more sinister as if she and Flutterbat were two different personalities but in all my readings and research I have never heard of such things.”
“That is interesting Lunar.” Twilight says as the train stops “So we get what we need and then we high tail it out of here right?” Twilight asks and Lunar nods as they exit and Twilight gets the conductors attention
“What can I do for you Princess Twilight?” he asks
“Me and my friend will only be here a little bit can you hold up on returning to Canterlot for us?” she asks
“Gee I got to make schedule I can give you a half hour.” He says
“That will be more than enough time.” Lunar says as he runs off and Twilight flies both going to their residence.
Twilight lands and calls for Spike who runs in “Yes Twilight?” he asks
“I need you to get me my copies of anything on supernatural animals.” She says
“Anything else?” he asks
“I will need some scrolls, quills and ink.” She says
“You must be in a hurry are you thirsty?” he asks
“No time!” she says “Celestia needs me back in Canterlot pronto!”
“Okay I will be back.” Spike says walking into the library wing of the Palace of Friendship.
“Oh I bet Lunar is doing better than I am…” she sighs
Meanwhile at Lunar’s place he was talking frantically to himself as he tore through a bookshelf reading the titles before discarding them his voice becoming more and more angry with each book “Sirens…. manticore…Everfree Spiders…basilisk….no! no! no! no! For the love of Luna where in Equestria did I put that book on Vampires?!” he yells in anger before looking over on a small book stand and there it was Vampires: The Complete history, biology and reference guide was sitting on it. Angered with himself he facehoofs with a heavy sigh and picks it up with his magic at the same time he puts the books back on the shelf. He could reorganize them later but right now he had to get his stuff around. He put the book in his bag ran over and grabbed some quills, scrolls and a bottle of something before he ran out looking at a small clock he brought he still had twenty minutes so he decided to pay Zecora a visit.
Lunar warps to the Zebra’s house and knocks. Zecora soon answers “Ah Lunar you could not have come any sooner.” She smiles “I have the brew ready.” She says leading him in and a big bottle of a dark blue potion sat on the floor next to the cauldron she used for her brewing. “This should help cure more than a few. One drop on the vampire is all it will require.”
“Will it work on a Queen Vampire?” Lunar asks and the zebra shakes her head
“You do not know this but Queen Vampires have special essence.” She says “And only ancient waters of churches can cleanse.” Lunar just sighs
“Thank you Zecora.” He says “I hate to be rude but I am in a hurry.” He sighs warping to the train station. “Ten minutes left” he sighs thinking about what he was told “Those churches are long gone…the last record of anything was before Celestia ruled Equestria! The only place I can think of finding the water would be in the Everfree forest. I heard some old ruins are in the Everfree Forest but I don’t know what of.”
Back with Twilight Spike had just came out with the books, quills, scrolls and ink that Twilight had requested. “Here you are twilight.” He pants “all that work made me thirsty can I get a drink?” Twilight then laughed at the statement.
“Why would you have to ask of cour...“ Twilight stops as she sees Spikes red eyes “Uh-oh!” she panics as he leaps at her but she teleports backwards to the door. Out of fear she opens it and runs to the station where Lunar was waiting. The two board the train and it takes off. After she catches her breath she sees his eye demanding to know what happened and she cries.
“What happened?” he asks her worry overtaking his expression
“T-they took Spike!” she sobs
“Spike?” Lunar gasps shocked as Twilight collapsed her face into him. She needed comfort from somepony Lunar could tell as he patted her back gently doing what he could to make her feel better.
“Don’t worry Twilight everything will be okay.” He says
“That is easy for you to say!” she sobs “You didn’t just lose your best friend.”
“But I did get something to fix that.” Lunar replies and Twilight backs away wiping her tears.
“What?” she asks with sniff and Lunar pull the large bottle out the sack he put it in. It was an old apple sack from Sweet Apple Acres that was just perfect size for the large potion. “What is that?”
“The cure.” He answers “I had time so I warped my way over to Zecora’s and she had it done. One drop on the vampire is all it will require is what she said so all we would have to do is spread this over ponyville.”
“And a Queen Vampire too?” Twilight asks but Lunar shakes his head
“I am afraid it will not work the only way to cure a Queen Vampire without killing it is with water from the days there were churches in Equestria before Celestia ruled.” Lunar sighs “If we knew where they got the water from we could cure Applejack.”
“I can probably find something in the Caterlot Archives.” Twilight responds as the train arrives and they grab their belongings. “Well ready to get to work?” she asks
“Yeah.” He replies as they head down the street to return to the castle to fill in Celestia and Luna on the situation.