//------------------------------// // When Teal Becomes Crimson // Story: Angelic Vampire // by kurusagi16 //------------------------------// When Teal Becomes Crimson Twilight and Rainbow Dash wove in and out of the tall, dark trees, until they came upon an old building covered in foliage. "You think Fluttershy's in there?" asked Rainbow Dash. "It's possible." said Twilight, though she wasn't quite sure. "We'll have to take a closer look. But be careful." "Aren't I always careful?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight gave her a look that said do you really want me to answer that? The two ponies crept up silently and carefully up to the house, checking to see that the coast was clear before entering. The door opened up soundlessly, and they stepped inside. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and made a shushing motion with her hoof as they continued into the house. "Huh, it doesn't look like there are any guards or any other vampires here." remarked Rainbow Dash, peering around corners and into empty rooms. "They must be out there fighting with Eldra." said Twilight. "But still, we shouldn't let our guard down. There's no telling what might be lurking here." Rainbow dash nodded. The two of them resumed their search for any sign to tell them whether or not Fluttershy was actually there, sadly, to no avail. Twilight sighed deeply. "It looks like Fluttershy isn't here." she said regretfully. "Dang it!" said Rainbow Dash, whamming a hoof on the wall in frustration. "I thought for sure she'd be here." "Just where could she be?" Twilight wondered aloud. Rainbow Dash shrugged, and the two of them decided to head back and see how Alistair and the others were doing. Then, as Rainbow Dash stepped over a few floorboards, she heard something that didn't sound quite right. "Huh?" she said in confusion. She stopped and tapped the floor board a few times, as her hooves touched down on the floor, she found that it sounded kinda...hollow. She knocked her hoof against it a few times, and examined the spot. "Hey, Twilight, come and check this out!" she called out to Twilight. Twilight trotted over and peered at the spot. She too heard a hollow sound as she stepped on it. She tapped her chin and murmured, "I wonder." She felt around the hollow area, looking for something to help confirm her suspicions. "Aha! Found it!" she cried. There was a knot in one of the floorboards, but it wasn't an ordinary knot. As Twilight pressed it, the floor board shot up like a trap door to reveal a hidden passage underneath them. It looked like the perfect place for hiding something, or somepony. "Awesome!" cried Rainbow Dash, looking down at the now revealed passage. "I've gotta get myself one of these!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go!" she said. Twilight jumped down into the passage, followed close by Rainbow Dash, as both continued with their search. Once they were gone, the cloaked figure from before appeared, walking to the passage door, and looking pleased to see that the two ponies had managed to find it without his assistance. "Only one thing left to do now." said the figure, turning and heading to the study. It was there that he found the statue of Discord, just as hard and as immobile as any other hunk of stone. "I'd rather not do this." he said with a sigh. "But since it seems you're on Fluttershy's side, I'll repay you in return." And then the figure added, "This should be most interesting." Twilight and Rainbow followed the passage until they finally came to the end of it, where there stood a door. Rainbow loudly banged on it. "Fluttershy, are you in there?!" she shouted. Fluttershy, who had been resting peacefully and making a great recovery, immediately sat up upon hearing the familiar voice and turned to toward the door. "Rainbow? Is that you?" she called. "Yes, and Twilight's here too!" called Rainbow. Fluttershy smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness." she said. "Hold on, we'll have you out in no time!" called Twilight. After a moment or two, the door was forced open by a blast of magic. Twilight and Rainbow Dash hurried toward Fluttershy's side to help free her. "Fluttershy, are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, concerned. Fluttershy nodded. "I'm fine." she said. "I managed to heal my injuries a little, but it still kind of aches." Then, she realized something and looked to the girls. "Wait, what are you two doing here?" "When we found out you were in trouble, we asked your father to let us come to help." explained Twilight, as she used her horn to undo the shackles. "Papa? Is he here?!" Fluttershy asked. "You bet he is." said Rainbow Dash. "He and the Pure Bloods are out there right now, fighting it out so he can get you back home." "Papa." Fluttershy uttered, her heart swelled. Her father finally came for her. Twilight removed the shackles and helped Fluttershy up. "Come on, we better get going." said Twilight. "Wait!" cried Fluttershy, before following them. "We can't go yet! What about Discord?" "Who?" Twilight and Rainbow asked in confusion. "He's....a friend." said Fluttershy. "He helped me recover while Eldra had me imprisoned." "Well, what does he look like?" asked Twilight. After Fluttershy described him to her friends, Twilight shook her head and replied, "Sorry, haven't seen anypony like that." Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest as she looked down worriedly. 'What could've happened to him?' She wondered. Twilight and Rainbow Dash led her up and out of the passageway, and were about to leave the house, when suddenly, the entire house shook, as a little shock wave passed through it. "What the heck was that?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "I'm not sure." answered Twilight. "But it felt like a tremendous surge of magic was released." "I wonder..." Fluttershy murmured to herself. Without thinking all the way through, she headed in the direction of where the shock wave seemed to emanate from. "Fluttershy, wait!" cried Twilight, as she and Rainbow chased after her. The three of them entered the study, where Discord, who'd been freed from his stone prison for the second time, was stretching his limbs and looking around in confusion. "Well, that's one way to be woken up." he said. Twilight and Rainbow just stood there with their mouths gaping open, as Fluttershy smiled and cried, "Discord!" she wrapped her arms around his middle in a small hug, taking the Draconequus by surprise. "Wait, so this is Discord?" asked Rainbow as she pointed a hoof at him and looked at him warily. "Of course, who else would I be?" asked Discord, puffing out his chest. "Discord. are you alright?" asked Fluttershy. "What happened to you?" "Well, that no good aunt of yours decided to end our agreement and imprisoned me in stone again." he said. "No matter what, I couldn't break out of it, I thought I might be stuck like that for another thousand years." "Wait, if you were turned t stone," said Twilight, then how did you get out?" "I haven't the slightest idea, Twilight Sparkle. But however I managed isn't important, what is important, is that I'm free and I have a little score to settle with Eldra." "Join the club." muttered Rainbow Dash. "Hey, how did you know my name?" asked Twilight, looking at him suspiciously. "That's right, you probably don't recognize me." said Discord, his head morphed into that of Tony Stanza, while the rest of his body remained the same. "Tony Stanza?!" the girls cried in shock. "B-but, how?!" cried Twilight. "We can explain that later." said Fluttershy, cutting in. "Right now, we need to go and see papa." The girls nodded. "Right!" they said, and headed of the study. Fluttershy was about to follow, when Discord grabbed her hoof and pulled her back. "Discord? Is something wrong?" she asked him. Discord's eyes looked down at the bandaged area on Fluttershy, lightly brushing his talons over it. "Did, she do that?" he asked. Fluttershy merely nodded. Discord's eyes narrowed, a little flicker of flame passing in his pupils. "I thought so." "Discord," Fluttershy said, bringing Discord back out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, for all that my aunt has done to you." He snickered. "Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for, in fact, I daresay that it's Eldra who should be sorry, after all the trouble she caused you." Fluttershy looked down at the floor and muttered, "I've never seen anypony as hateful or angry as her before." As she said this, she thought about how Eldra had let out her fury on her. "I hope papa is alright." She closed her eyes tightly, and shuddered, thinking of her aunt harming her poor father. Discord rested a claw on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Fluttershy gasped and looked up into his face. "Now, now, my dear. No need to worry, now that I'm no longer under that stupid contract, I'd say that things have finally turned in your favor." he said. "Y-you mean... you'll help papa?" asked Fluttershy. "For you Fluttershy," he said with a touch of kindness in his tone. "I'll gladly do it." Fluttershy blushed and looked away. "U-um, we should probably get going and catch up with the others." she stammered, all in a fluster. "Of course." said Discord. And the two of them headed out to join the girls. The battle was still raging, with both sides beginning to tire, all except for Alistair and Eldra, their emotions giving them the extra strength and energy to fight against each other. Luna blasted a few more vampires, looking exhausted. "Sister, I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!" she said. "We must keep going!" said Celestia. And that's when it happened. The enemy vampires began to levitate off the ground against their will and gather toward the edge of the woods surrounding them. All heads turned to see, stepping out of the trees, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Discord, who was using his magic to juggle the Half Blood vampires round and round in the air, grinning to himself as they cried in protest and appeared to grow nauseous. Eldra's eyes widened in shock. "D-discord?!" she shrieked. Alistair's eyes also widened, but not from the juggling display, but the sight of his beloved daughter. "Fluttershy!" he cried, happy to see her. Fluttershy looked up into the sky and smiled. "Papa!" Eldra gritted her teeth, practically until they were shards. "No." she said in a dangerously low voice. "I will not be defeated so easily!" she shouted. She whammed into Alistair while he was off guard, and the two fell toward the ground with great speed, biting her fangs into his arm. "PAPA!" Fluttershy cried out. She rushed out into the clearing, wanting to help him. "Fluttershy, stop!" shouted Twilight, heading after her. Discord snapped his talons and bound the vampires with a big ball on thick chains before dropping them onto the ground. Eldra rose from the ground and chanted a spell in a strange language, just as Fluttershy got close to them. After the spell was uttered, a barrier formed, keeping Alistair, Eldra, and Fluttershy inside, and everypony else out. The barrier was cloud over, so nopony could see what was happening inside. "FLUTTERSHY!" everypony cried. Watching safely from a distance in the shadows at the edge of the forest, was the cloaked figure. He looked at the dome with great curiosity, wondering what would happen inside, and watching as everypony tried to break through the barrier to save her. Fluttershy looked wildly around her, everything had gone dark and quiet. Her eyes quickly adjusted as she saw Eldra, beating her father senseless. "You insignificant worm!" her aunt cried crazily as she hit him. "You think you can beat me?! Well, if I'm going down to Tartarus, I'm taking you with me!" "Papa..." Fluttershy squeaked. Two fat tears rolled down from her eyes, staining her face. She could smell blood. Her father's blood. Fluttershy lowered her head, her mane falling over her face. This mare, had hurt so many ponies, and brough so much pain to her, her father, and her friends. And they'd done nothing. It was then, that something snapped inside Fluttershy, she felt as though water was flushing throughout her body. She shouted out to Eldra, "STOP IT!!" Eldra stopped and turned to sneer at her. "Ah, so you haven't died yet, have you? Looks like I'll have to finish the job, and then, I'll move onto your daddy and all your little friends." Fluttershy lifted her head, her body slowly transforming as she advanced toward Eldra. Her fangs were out, her feather wings had turned into bat wings, and her teal eyes had become a deep crimson, and they were staring down right through Eldra. This slightly unnerved her, but she quickly covered it up. "Hmph! So, you want to fight me? Well, then, let's fight!" She charged at Fluttershy, who effortlessly dodged her. She tried to hit her again and again, but each time, Fluttershy would dodge, and then, with speed and strength she never knew she had before, Fluttershy threw Eldra onto the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Eldra scrambled up, fangs out to bite her, only to be punched in the face, falling back down to the ground. The two tussled, with Eldra becoming more and more frustrated as Fluttershy kept on besting her. Until finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Eldra pulled out the hidden knife she'd used before and charged at Fluttershy with it, only to be disarmed and pinned down by her throat to the ground. Fluttershy used the stare on Eldra, who cowered in fear as she looked into those frightening eyes. "Give up." Fluttershy said in grave voice, which did not sound like the usual sweet tone she normally spoke with. Eldra knew there was no other way out, and thus, gave up. Fluttershy hit a pressure point on Eldra, knocking her out, and stared down over her body, her eyes narrowed. "Nopony hurts my father, ever." she whispered. Her ear twitched. Her father was starting to come to. Fluttershy morphed back to her usual self and rushed to her father's side. "Papa!" she cried. The barier around them fell away and everypony stared as they saw Eldra unconscious and Fluttershy with her father. Alistair sat up, pulling his daughter into a tight embrace. Tears of joy feel from both their eyes. "Oh papa, I missed you so much!" "I missed you too." he said. Twilight felt great relief. "I'm glad it's finally over." she said. "I wouldn't say that just yet." said Discord. "What do you mean?" Discord thumbed to the large mess that they had to clean up. "Oh, right." she said. "We'll take care of it soon enough." said Rainbow Dash, trotting up to Twilight's side. "For now, let's just enjoy the moment." The cloaked figure in the forest shadows smiled. "Well done, Fluttershy." he said. "Well done. Now, it'll be my turn to finish the rest."