//------------------------------//
// The Inmate 
// Story: Precious Blood 
// by DisneyFanatic23 
//------------------------------//

	Because they were concerned for their master, the vampire maidens took turns standing outside his door, listening for signs that he may be hurting himself. It was Rainbow Dash's turn now, and she was getting so bored that she started counting the stone bricks in the walls. She was on six hundred and seventy-four when she heard a loud clang. She snapped around and threw the door open.

"Master, are you okay?!"

In the middle of the room stood a large bell and Discord was thumping his head against it, making it reverberate throughout the room.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he yelled with each ring.

Rainbow knew this action wouldn't physically hurt her master, but it was still painful to watch.

"Master!" she cried, flying to his side to try and pull him away. "Master, stop!"

But as he was larger and stronger than her, he wouldn't budge.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Master, knock it off! Seriously, this is just sad! You're embarrassing yourself!"

Discord straightened up and groaned as he slumped to the floor, the bell popping out of sight. Rainbow heaved a sigh and sat beside him.

"I know yesterday night was heartbreaking for you and all, but you've gotta get a grip on yourself! What happened to the fierce vampire who caught me ninety-five years ago? What happened to the Discord who wouldn't let anything get in his way, not even his own feelings, and would fight for what was his?"

"You don't understand," he whimpered, burying his face in his hands. "I can't just swoop in and take her! She is my mate, but she is not mine!"

"Still. If you want the girl so bad, you gotta stop this whining, go out there and win her! No mare wants a wimp for a husband!"

Discord said nothing as he curled into a ball on the floor. Rainbow sighed, seeing that she had to try a different tactic.

"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up," she said with a smile. "Let's go out prowling like we used to! You remember the old days, when it was just you, me and Rarity? The three of us would own the night, spook a few drunken stallions into wetting themselves!" She laughed. "And remember those pranks we used to pull on Rarity? Like when we drew on her face? Oh, that was priceless! The best part: she didn't even know it because she couldn't see herself in the mirror! Am I right, am I right?"

She nudged her master in the side, urging him to laugh along with her, but he didn't even flinch. Rainbow Dash frowned.

"Well, if you're not feeling it tonight…Pinkie and I could hunt for…"

Discord shook his head. "I told you I don't want any of you…"

"…killing anything. I know, I know. But we gotta eat, Master, and you don't look fit for…"

"I said no."

"Come on, we can do it! We've done it before!"

"And I'm still sore at you for that."

"We had no choice! You were acting all gaga over Flutter—"

She bit her lip, but the unfinished word had already made impact with Discord. He reached out his claw and used it to pull his limp body away from Rainbow. The mare sighed and stood up.

"We need to eat. And until you get your act together, we're getting our own food."

As she exited the room and shut the door, she muttered, "That darn mare better come around soon."


	
When Coco Pommel answered the door the next morning, she was met with a pink, smiling face.

"Hi!" the pink mare exclaimed, her face too close for comfort. "I'm Pinkie Pie! I work for Count Discord and he has a very heartfelt, emotional message for Lady Fluttershy, probably because he's crazy about her, but can you blame him? She's really pretty! And now we're all trying to get them together so they can get married and live happily ever after! Cupcake?"

Coco stared at the basket of cupcakes in her face, at a loss for words.

"Um, uh…"

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Pinkie asked, her smile not wavering an inch.

"Oh! Yes, yes, of course. Come in."

She opened the door wider for the pink mare to bounce inside.

"I'll, um, announce your presence. You can wait in the, uh, east drawing room."

"Aw man!" Pinkie whined, slapping herself in the forehead. "I forgot my sketchbook at home!"

Coco tilted her head at her in confusion. Pinkie then snorted with laughter.

"I'm just messing with you, Coco! I know what a drawing room is!"

"H-How…how did you know my name?"

Pinkie smirked at her, leaned forward and whispered, "I know everything!"

The maid blinked and backed away slowly. "Yes, um…just have a seat in there and I'll…get my mistress. Would you, um…like anything while you wait? Tea? Crumpets?"

"No, thanks! I only drink blood!"

Coco squeaked and raced out of the drawing room.

"What a nice mare!" Pinkie piped as she made herself comfortable in an armchair.

The maid found Starlight and Fluttershy in the library, one giving elocution lessons to the other.

"Again," Starlight ordered. "The rain…"

"The rain…" Fluttershy repeated.

They were interrupted when Coco burst open the doors, panting with fright.

"What is it, Coco?!" Starlight bellowed. "Can't you see we're busy?!"

"Sorry, doamnă," Coco heaved. "But…there's a mare downstairs who wishes to see Domnişoară Fluttershy, from…Count Discord."

Starlight's eyebrows shot up as she turned to Fluttershy, whose face was beat red. "Well! For some pony who isn't interested in you, he sure is persistent!"

"I'll, um," Fluttershy stammered, rising from her seat, "go see what it's about this time."

"I would recommend having some guard about you, domnişoară," Coco said, quivering. "The mare is quite…eccentric."

Fluttershy immediately guessed who the visitor was this time. "Yes, thank you, Coco, but I can manage on my own."

When she met Pinkie in the drawing room, she was hanging upside-down in her armchair with her skirts drooped over her chest in an unflattering manner and a basket balancing on her back hooves.

"Hi, Fluttershy!" Pinkie greeted, waving as if there was nothing unusual about her position.

"Hello," Fluttershy uttered, cautiously stepping towards her. "It's Pinkie Pie, isn't it?"

Pinkie gasped, gripped her chest with her hooves and looked up at her with puppy eyes, her smile growing wider. "You remembered! I'm so happy!"

"Right," Fluttershy said as she steadily lowered herself in the chair across from her. "Um…what's in that basket?"

"Oh!" Pinkie piped as she effortlessly spun into a right-side-up position, the basket falling onto her lap. "We had a lot of cake batter left over, so I made some cupcakes!" She held the basket out to her. "Here, try one!"

Fluttershy wasn't worried about being poisoned anymore. It was the pink mare's unusually ecstatic mood that made her hesitant. Nevertheless, she reached into the basket and chose a cupcake with yellow frosting.

"So," said Pinkie, "do you wanna hear my entire life story or what?"

Fluttershy didn't see any point in saying no, as she had a feeling Pinkie was going to tell her anyway, so she nodded in response. The earth pony took a deep breath before beginning:

"I was raised on a rock farm with my Ma, my Pa, and my three sisters. The oldest was Limestone, one tough cookie. She had a bit of a temper, but was actually really sweet! Then there was Maud. Even though I don't usually pick favorites, I'd have to say Maud was my favorite. We did a lot together, like make rock candy necklaces! Then there was Marble, my baby sister by a few minutes. She wasn't much of a talker, but so adorable!

"Life on the rock farm was okay, though a little dull. Ma and Pa didn't let us play much. There was no smiling, no laughing. Only rocks."

She sighed. "It got boring, moving rocks all over the place. My sisters and I would stay up some nights telling each other stories, but as they got older and started meeting stallions, we kinda grew apart. Soon it was time for me to consult the Choosing Stone."

"The what?" Fluttershy asked, scrunching her nose.

"The Choosing Stone! It's this rock that chooses your lifelong partner! Kind of like vampire mating laws, only instead of Fate, couples are decreed by a rock!" She rolled her eyes. "And it's much less romantic, if you ask me. Anyway, when it was my turn to consult the Choosing Stone, guess what it said?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Apparently, there's no pony out there for me. So that meant I was stuck on the rock farm for the rest of my life, and with my sisters getting married and my parents trying hard to find me a husband anyway—none of them ever stayed for long—I had no one to talk to. No sisters, no husband, no friends.

"So, I made my own friends! I made them out of whatever I could find! A sack of flour, a piece of lint, a bucket of turnips and, of course, rocks! We all had such wonderful times together and had the best tea parties and I would tell them everything!"

She paused. "But I guess Ma and Pa wanted me to have some real friends. One day, these stallions came and Ma and Pa told me to get into the wagon with them. They were really nice, and they took me to this awesome hotel called Asseeloom!"

"What?"

"Asseeloom! At least I think that's how you say it. That was the name on the building: A-S-Y-L-U-M!"

Fluttershy said nothing.

"It was a nice place. I had a soft, cushy room and a snuggly blanket I could put my forelegs through! It was hard to get out of though."

She wondered if she should tell Pinkie just what kind of place her parents had sent her to, but decided to keep her mouth shut for the moment. The blow might be too much for the pink pony to bear.

"The ponies there were really friendly!" Pinkie piped. "Though they talked kinda funny. I mean some of the other guests mumbled a lot, or didn't talk at all, and the staff talked really slowly and kept asking me weird questions like what did I dream last night or if I believed rocks could talk. Well, sure, if a unicorn cast a spell on them or something. Don't know why they kept asking questions I'd already answered. The food was also pretty good, though I don't know why they didn't have cupcakes.

"Anyway, I was there for a while, and it eventually became really, really boring! I was getting tired of all the questions they were asking me and it came to a point where I was living the same day over and over again! Not literally, but you know what I mean. Besides, I missed my family, so I asked if I could visit. They said no, but I really wanted a change of scenery. So I wriggled my way out of my blanket and walked out the door. Then they chose that time to start a game of chase! I must've won, because they never managed to catch me!

"I found my way back to the rock farm, but when my parents saw me, they got really scared for some reason! I tried cheering them up with cupcakes, but they kept staring at me like I was Frankenpony! Anyway, I decided I wasn't needed there and went on the road with a Romane caravan! Have you noticed there seem to be a lot of those in this country?

"The Romanes were nice ponies. They let me tag along if I helped bring money in. That's where I learned to play all those instruments. But then it got tedious again and we parted ways in Zebiu. There were rumors going around about vampires in the forest! I'd always loved vampire stories and thought it would be fun to be a vampire! After all, I had nothing else to do.

"So I went into the forest and found this dark, creepy castle! I knew that's where the vampires lived because come on! It's a dark, creepy castle! Rarity was the one who answered the door and I asked if she was a vampire, and if she was, could she make me a vampire?

"She tried closing the door on me, but I broke it down and begged her to change me. Everyone else came down, including Discord, to see what the racket was. I just kept begging and begging and begging until they gave in. Then they started blathering on about all these warnings I didn't pay attention to and then Discord bit me."

To Fluttershy's shock, the corners of Pinkie's mouth were slowly falling. "Next thing I knew, I was chained to a bed, covered in blood. They started telling me what had happened. Apparently, I went on some sort of rampage. I wish I could've seen myself. It would've been interesting seeing myself on a rampage. Then again, I kind of like not remembering killing ponies. The transformation had made me so strong and fast, it took forever for the girls to catch me. They had to chain me up and get this charm from a witch to restrain me."

She paused, and her eyes suddenly became interested in the carpet pattern. "It's funny. I thought it'd be cool to have vampire powers and all, but all the blood drinking somehow hadn't come to mind."

Her lip quivered. "I never wanted to hurt any pony. I just wanted to be…happy."

There was a long silence. Fluttershy was not sure what to think of this mare. She had, shamefully, taken her to be not very bright, but then wondered if this perky, nonchalant way Pinkie had of telling her disturbing history was to cover up the misery she truly felt inside. Did she really know what her parents had done to her? Had this playfulness all been an act? From what she could understand, Fluttershy didn't think this mare had deserved to be locked up. As quirky as her personality was, she seemed virtually harmless. When she was in control of herself, that is.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Pinkie asked in a cracked voice.

"No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, a little too loudly. "No. I think you're very…optimistic."

The earth mare looked up at her and smiled again. "I can see why the Master's crazy about you."

Fluttershy closed her eyes and sighed. "I knew you were going to bring him up eventually."

"Can you blame me? I hate it when my friends are unhappy! Discord's unhappy, and so are you."

The pegasus blinked in surprise. "What makes you think I'm unhappy?"

"For one thing, you haven't smiled once since I've been here! But you were smiling the other night when you were with the Master!"

Fluttershy turned away to hide the redness in her cheeks. "I was just…laughing at his jokes. And the reason I'm not smiling now is because…well, that wasn't a pleasant story."

"Trust me. I know unhappy when I see it, smile or no smile. I also know you hate living here in this house."

"W-What? How do you…? I mean why do you…?"

"Don't get me wrong. This place is nice, but dead! And this is coming from an undead vampire! When's the last time you've had excitement in here?"

Fluttershy stood up, trying to keep her temper. "Look, Pinkie Pie, if this is your way of trying to get me with your Master…"

"Who's talking about the Master? You're legitimately miserable!"

"Please!" Fluttershy shouted, raising her hoof. "I've heard enough! Now please, get out of my house!"

Pinkie sighed. "If that's what you want, I'll go. Keep the cupcakes though. At least one of us can eat them." She gave Fluttershy a long, sorrowful look before leaving. "To be honest, that's the only thing I miss."