Chapter 19-20
When the dawn reaches them again, no news travels through Ponyville. Which either means it’s a good night, or the messenger got murdered in the night. Sweetie wakes up and joins her family at breakfast, there she drops the news of joining the Guard.
Both her father and mother are mortified when they hear it. They had never expected that their Sweetie would join such an organization. When they ask for the reason behind the thoughts can Sweetie only say that she will be doing it for Rarity. A fact her parents won’t understand.
They try to talk the filly out of it, they soon come to realize that it is hopeless. Sweetie is stuck in that very mindset and there’s nothing that can stop her. Which results in the only thing that her parents can do, is to support her in her choices. If that is the course Sweetie wants to sail then so it would have been.
With the approval of her parents, Sweetie goes to town hall in order to enlist herself. Once she arrives, she figures out that the situation might be a bit more delicate. She sees the bat ponies again and she’s terrified by their natural appearance. Another thing that she notices, is how empty town hall is.
As nervous as she is, she approaches a bat pony stallion and he inspects her in silence, asking what the hell she’s coming to do. Sweetie tells him that she wants to enlist and he takes an even better look at her. Although he finds her skinny and whimpy, there might be some juice inside of her. Something encouraged when Scootaloo and Apple Bloom come barging in.
Chapter 21-22
The story cuts back to both Rarity and Soulful Gust, the two of them had been talking to one another about the future of the vampiric race for a moment. How they got to that point, not even they seem to know. Nor do they really care. When the realization came in, the topic is discarded with haste.
With Soulful Gust at her service, Rarity now has three servants that can do her bidding, but she still isn’t too happy about it all. She hungers for the thrill of the hunt, the twinkling eyes with hope before she shatters just that. Something, must settle her hunger. Gust knows what it might be, and even proposes it to Rarity.
Who in return turns to him with a risen eyebrow. Something was wrong, right? He couldn’t have proposed that very thing. He couldn’t have proposed that she would go to either Canterlot or Ponyville, in order to satisfy the one thing that she couldn’t bring to herself within the castle. She calls it a stupid idea of course, but somewhere in her mind she knows that he is right.
There’s little that can be done at that moment. While Trixie returns, she can see that the mind of Gust has influenced her mistress. Rarity walks up to her and tells her that she will be leaving within a few hours for Canterlot itself. Trixie’s heart, sinks.
Trixie tries her best to talk Rarity out of the matter, but it just doesn’t work. There’s nothing that can talk Rarity out of the plan. She’s going to head to Canterlot and gives Trixie the order to watch over Gust. Something she’s rather eager to do. Trixie leaves Rarity alone, who continues her way upwards.
Chapter 23-24
With Trixie going back down, Rarity keeps on going up before she reaches her chambers again. She goes to gather all of her stuff for the trip and dresses herself in something incognito. Something maroon and black while a spell is used to change the color of her mane. She’s all ready to go for Canterlot, to see the wonders of the city she hadn’t been too in a year.
With Rarity having left, Trixie goes to spy upon Gust, pretending to be under even deeper sedation. For some reason, Trixie has more mental freedom than Fleur had, but Trixie had been a guinea pig for Rarity’s mesmerizing abilities. Rarity’s hold is tight around her mind, tighter than Fleur’s, but she just doesn’t realize it yet.
Trixie keeps on spying on Gust, who eventually catches up with her and wants to know everything that she knows. Going even so far as to threaten the mare. Only moments before the growling sounds of a wolf are caught within his ears. Slow, he turns back around to see a drooling Flutterwolf standing there.
He let’s go of Trixie and focusses his attention to the wolf with a curious expression. Never in his life had he expected a lycan to get in there. When Trixie explains it’s Rarity’s ‘pet’, his interests are peeked. There might have been more behind this Rarity than he originally had expected. Something was about to happen, that much was certain without a doubt.
Flutterwolf keeps on growling to him before he introduces himself as the being he is. Not that it really matters to Fluttershy. She only wants the best for Rarity, he doesn’t fit within the very picture. They talk for a bit before the single warning is given to Gust. Rarity has to be left, alone. A message he understands clear as crystal.
Chapter 25-26
Meanwhile in Ponyville are the CMC standing in town hall, Sweetie wants to enlist herself for the Lunar Guard and just wonders what both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are doing there. She just asks the both of them with a blunt question and she has to prepare herself for an even blunder answer.
Whether she likes it or not, whether she wanted it or not, Sweetie Belle isn’t going to be alone in the madness. The both of them will enlist as well, together they will form one tight group among the ranks and together, they will keep Ponyville safe at night. A thing the bat ponies can hardly imagine.
Still, they are allowed to enlist themselves and each tell their special abilities. The more the bat pony listens to the three of them, the more he begins to realize that there might be something special to those three. Just the three of them should be able to do a lot of work indeed.
However, since they are the only three enlisted within the borders of Ponyville, they are assigned to a more veteran among the ranks. Somepony who had been living, breathing and battling side by side with the bat ponies for the past ten months. The three hear stories they can’t believe.
All that they know, is that it is just a normal, unicorn stallion who is both skilled with the blade as well as the bow and arrow. Two things critical when dealing with a vampony or with a lycan. The three of them are brought over to the upper floor of town hall in order to meet their mentor. Somepony who they never thought they would see ever again: prince Blueblood.
Chapter 27-28
Having arrived in Canterlot, Rarity first goes out to see if a hotel still has a room free for her. Though her demands are high and specific, the hotel that she tries still has a room free and is given to her for nothing, thanks to her glammering ability. She goes to the room and has a look whether or not everything is still in order, which it oddly is.
There she waits for the night to fall and for the night life to become dwelling. She knows that the Lunar Guards are watching her. She knows that there’s somepony else in Canterlot that she began to despise. One look out of the window gives her the view of the haunting castle, bathing within the light of the moon. Terrifying her.
She leaves the room in a hurry and leaves the hotel just as quick. With her disguise on, she starts to hum some songs in the nightly air, she tries not to get too much attention to herself while her more primal instincts all start to return to her. Everything, start to come back to her. Rarity the hunter, has returned to Equestria once more. She wants somepony to take care of her desires.
And what better way to do such a thing, than to play the role of damsel in distress. All that she needs to do, is just get her act together and get somepony either stupid enough or brave enough to help her. She has just the plan for that to happen. All that she need first, is to find a stallion or mare willing to help her.
With the act going on, Rarity appears as a pony down to her luck, lost within the massive city of Canterlot and simply in the need of directions. She spots a lone stallion and approaches him, asking him where a certain alleyway is. At first he doesn’t get what she’s truly aiming for, but then he decides to bring her, out of free will.
Chapter 29-30
While the two wander through town, Rarity continuously lurks at his neck, the tension is already higher than it should be and her thirst is literally killing her. She needs to feed, quickly. Yet caution is advised in Canterlot.
They roam through the city a little bit, talking about everyday life and how things are going, small talk, all to keep the nerves down a bit. They pass a couple of bat ponies and Rarity feels her terror rising, something could happen, at any given moment. She wants to flee, but makes the decision to stay. If anything bad happened, she would be to blame.
The bat ponies pass them, almost looking like they would be asking something from her, but then carry one. Rarity is relieved with that and continues on with her conversation to the stallion. When they do arrive at the alley, the two disappear within it, for whatever reason.
Seduction had gotten the stallion far and crazy enough to follow Rarity into the darkness. While alone, they are given all the time and space that they need. The two talk a bit more, before Rarity reveals her deadly self. The stallion is silenced while she reaches for the neck, draining him.
She kills the stallion just like that and his lifeless body falls to the ground. Unware to her was that she had gotten a visitor or two friends of the stallion who had followed them just in case. In the corner of her eyes she notices them, telling them to beat it if they want to live.
Chapter 31-32
Even the two other stallions are making a run for it, she still can’t help herself. The thrill of the hunt has become too much for her to handle. And they would without a single doubt go and turn her in by the Lunar Guard. There’s only one option that Rarity can think off in order to silence them.
She sets in the hunt to them and chases the pair almost through half of Canterlot. She uses stealth and speed, using her vampiric agility to make sure she stays ahead of the two of them. Only when they arrive at yet another alleyway in which they think it is save, she reveals herself to the pair.
The two are terrified down to the bone that they see her standing there. Something about her just isn’t right at all. Yet they also seem to recognize her. They seem to recognize just who it was that had killed their friend. They spew some empty threads towards Rarity, who discards them straight away and just like that.
The two stallions have to prepare for a fight of their lives because the vampony isn’t going to let them go. If they manage to kill Rarity, they will become heroes, but if not, it will be them that will turn down to the grave. In the end, the fight erupts between the three of them.
Rarity isn’t going to escape unharmed though. She has to take the punches that will be delivered to her. But given how there’s two of them and one of her, there’s rather little that she can do. In the end, she comes up with a lethal plan to end them both. In a mindset of primal instincts, after one good hit to her body, she pretends to go down. The two look over her, wondering.
Chapter 33-34
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom nor Scootaloo could have ever believed that it was prince Blueblood that would have come to teach them in the arts of ending the lives of the supernatural. What had made him so specialized outside of his practice? The three just straight up ask it of him, but he has never shown his face to the three of them.
He just sits there, with one part of his face looking to them, while the other is placed at the fireplace. Fear of the unknown takes them all over, all while he starts to tell the haunting reality of the matter. He tells them that he was once ignorant, stupid and above all, a fool. He remembers Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister and apologizes for his behavior during their first Gala, years ago.
Then he starts to tell them he sees the same fire in Sweetie’s eyes as he carried. The will to make things right again. But when he finally turns to the three, a massive scar across his eye and cheek is revealed. A scar Blueblood had gotten because of a vampony and a lycan who were going at each other in the woods of Everfree.
The story makes a huge impact on the three young mares, but the most important thing is why they want to join the Lunar Guard. Nopony in Ponyville would have been stupid enough to do that, that was at least the reasoning Blueblood had.
Yet Sweetie, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom all tell him their reasons as to why they want to join. Two just want to join in order to make sure that their friend is save. But Sweetie is the real reason, she wants to hunt down the murderer of her sister. News that even pains Blueblood to hear. All the more motivation for him to keep on doing what he had been doing, no matter what.
Chapter 35-36
In the light of events as they had happened, Blueblood agrees to teach the three of them, as there’s nothing else that can be done. Their knowledge of the supernatural beings is still a minimum, but he can train them in that. He wastes no time with that at all, straight away he gets out of his chair and asks them which kind of weapon they prefer to use.
Sweetie answers of course with her magic, since she’s a unicorn, Apple Bloom wants to do something with her strength while Scootaloo doesn’t know it. Of course she wants to do something with flight, but she can’t fly. Blueblood agrees to their wishes, telling them that it is possible for the three races to be combined. Quick ideas are being made by him. A mage, a tank and a support, but if that’s the way for them to go, remains to be seen.
The CMC don’t really like it when they are stuck in the particular role and ask something Blueblood had never expected, they ask him if they can improvise. Meaning, that they can take on any role at any given time. After a careful explanation, even Blueblood sees the meaning of it. He grants them their wish, in a way.
Whether Blueblood likes it or not, there’s still one being higher than that he is, the real leader of the Lunar Guard is one that they never had expected to be, but also one shrouded within the shadows. Not even Blueblood has an answer about who it really is. Not that they CMC care in the moment. They will be ready for anything, real soon.
Their training still has to begin though, and Blueblood promises them to do so, right there in Ponyville. With permission of Applejack, they can use a part of Sweet Apple Acres as their training ground before all hell’s about to break loose upon them. Whether they like it or not, trouble is going to hit Ponyville, one way or the other.
Chapter 37-38
All the way back in Canterlot, in the castle of the royals, the night is there and Luna sits upon her throne, pondering her mind about the matters as they had happened. Matters that never should have had happened to begin with, matters that maybe should have worded differently. Whether she likes it or not, but the hunt of the vamponies is all her doing. She signed the approval of the Lunar Guard.
While she leaves her throne, the princess makes way to the lunar garden to spend some of the night. There she comes across figures from the past, figures that once were her close friends before the reign of Nightmare Moon happened. Each of them gave their lives, in order to aid the princess in one way or the other.
She mumbles words about how fortunate she should feel, while in reality she should have been laying in her gave three times over already. An ancient rage begins to course through her veins, a part of a curse that never left her body, the final gift that Nightmare Moon had bestowed upon her, the final piece of Luna’s demise, the elongated canines and a craving for blood.
Yet Luna manages to cease the transformation, telling herself that the facade need to be kept alive for those that roam the lands. The princess of the night wants nothing else but peace in her mind, but that is the one thing she’s never allowed to have. Combined with the murders that happened during the night, investigations have been slow. Though one question never had gotten an answer.
The question of where the lycans came from, the wolf-ponies just seemed to have gotten up out of nowhere. Not even Luna knows who or where they come from. She’s usually aware of those kind of things and Celestia isn’t hiding anything. For all she knows, there’s a massive beast that infects her own subjects in such manners. The fear of the unknown manages to strike its way into the heart of Luna, who returns to her chambers.
Chapter 39-40
While Rarity pretended to be dead, the other two had come closer to her. They stood over her ‘dead’ body and checked whether or not she was still alive. But no sign like that is ever given. That is before one of the two slaps the other, telling that the mare has been undead. He takes out a silver cross and is ready to strike her, ready to end her, whether or not she’s already dead.
Rarity won’t have any of that and in a flash she gets up again. Her horn crams itself within the throat of the stallion with the cross, he only manages to slash across her side and wing, before dropping it and being killed by Rarity. The other stallion wants to run away, but is quickly ended too by her.
Even though she drains him from all of his blood, Rarity’s wound just don’t want to heal. Curious as to what the reason behind it is, she goes to inspect that very cross and discovers that it is a combination of the two things that she had come to hate more than anything else, silver and sunlight.
Somehow had the stallion become in the possession of a cross like that, one that belongs to those that dwell in the light. She growls towards it before taking her leave from the scene. With the triple murder that she had committed that night as well as the scar going over her wing and side, the best place for her to end up is within her hotel room, or even better: return to Everfree.
The decision is a hard thing to do without a doubt, but the unicorn releases a sigh and makes the call. Rarity would return to Everfree within the next nightfall. The rest of the day she would spend locked up inside of her hotel room, hoping to avoid any calls that could be made. Because slowly, the realization of what she had done comes setting in to her. And she isn’t happy at all.
Chapter 41-42
When Rarity is back in her hotel room, she closes all the curtains and makes sure that she won’t be interrupted during the day. Any kind of service she doesn’t want to know about. All that she needs, is to be alone with her thoughts for the time being. All that she needs, is to reflect upon what she has done.
And for her, the best way to do so is within the bathroom. She prepares herself a steaming bath in the early morning, just when the sun peaks over the horizon. She drops herself within the bath and starts to think back in time, back to the times when she was first turned. Just two years ago it happened. Yet she had done so much injustice with her new nature, it even scares herself. It terrifies Rarity what she has become.
And yet, she has to learn to live with it. When she tried to end her own life, it was Luna who saved her. It was Luna who had knocked her out according to her own belief and brought her back in the castle of Shiva. A lot of things had happened silence then, things she wasn’t happy about to begin with. Things that terrified her even more.
Though she had become stronger as well, less emotional in her eyes. She can murder without feeling remorse. Two years of living as a vampony have detreated a lot of her manners. How long would it have been before she was nothing else but a mindless beast?
In order to avoid the answer upon that question does Rarity just close her eyes and submerges herself within the waters of the tub. There’s no other place for her to go, other than to lay still within the motionless water, the only kind of water in which she can survive. Yet while the mouth remains silent, it is the brain that continues to haunt her with pieces of the past. Whether Rarity likes it or not, she’s going to get yet another blast from the past. A blast that takes her back way further in time than she would have liked.
Chapter 43-44
The day passes back into the night while everypony else is doing their things. The day just keeps on going within Canterlot, all while Rarity lays submerged within the bathtub, pondering her mind upon a lot of things left and right. Only when the full moon is raised, will the mare come back out of the tub.
When she finally gets out again, she has no idea as what to do, other than to pack her things and return back to her home within Everfree. However, even though she wants to return back to the castle, it doesn’t feel like it’s her true home. Instead she starts to hunger to another place, the one place where she always had felt home, the Carousel Boutique.
After everything had been packed, Rarity departs from her room, leaving no trace of her stay. With her mane straight and wearing a different dress to hide the scar still present, Rarity goes to the lobby in order to check out. With a bit of small talk done, the job is finished and she then makes way for the station of Canterlot.
After a long and boring traintrip does she stand in Ponyville again. The night won’t last that long anymore, but she just has to go to the place where her boutique used to stand. A little dream within a nightmarish reality. So she goes, in disguise, to the place she used to live.
Only to encounter the same nightmare as before. There’s nothing left of her one so prideful boutique. Nothing left for her to dwell within and nothing for her to work on. Everything has been taken away just like that. Everything is also being remembered by her, that horrible fire against her skin moments before Twilight saved her.
Chapter 45-46
Though somewhere on the other side of town, Pearl wakes up and goes to her little desk in the room. The nightmares that she had been suffering were tiring her out to say the least. She’s the only one that knows the secrets of Rarity and that is a thing that’s devastating her.
She opens one of the locked drawers and takes out a burned diary before she starts to go through it again. Each page that she reads within the little light she can make, is mentally draining her. How it went from happy memories to such dark themes. Pearl just couldn’t understand it at all. Especially with Sweetie ‘s talk about joining the Night Guard.
She begins to fear the worst for both of her daughters. In silence she makes her way out of the room and to that of Rarity. The one place that she doesn’t dare to clean out. Within that room do the memories return to her, times happier, when Rarity was just a filly of Sweetie’s age.
But times had to change, as she knew and the filly she had brought forth finally spread her wings. When Rarity left the house, the place was a bit more dull. While Pearl stands in the doorway, a tear or two start to stream down her cheeks. Tears that make her feel sorry about Rarity as a whole, all while the night keeps on going.
The next morning, Pearl still stands in the opening and Magnum comes to meet her. He just stands there, in silence for a few moments before he notices what’s going on. Another night of sleep had been taken away from her. The stallion has no idea what he can do on the matter, other than to try and keep her comfort. Times, are strange to say the least.
Chapter 47-48
That same moment, Sweetie leaves her room as well. She had come home for the rest of the night, after having spoken with Blueblood about a ton of things. Though she notices that it isn’t the right time nor moment to speak with her mother about the Night Guard. So that, is a thing that has to wait.
After she had done her daily routine, her mother is peacefully asleep in the bed and her father is doing the housely chores. Because it’s weekend, nopony is really making much of an issue out of it. But Sweetie still has to bring the news to her father. So she just tells him flat out while he’s doing the dishes.
A crash of a plate causes a silence between the two of them. Her father becomes both filled with fear and surprise at the same time. Yes, she had spoken about it, but he had never expected that Sweetie would have done it. And that’s the thing that surprises him the most.
He turns to face his daughter and lets out a deep sigh, there are no words on the matter that has unfolded between them. He wants to say she has to do her best yet on the other end, her decision has been just that stupid as well. Whatever would come next, it would rock the family as a whole. If not devastate.
He has already lost one daughter by something unknown, he doesn’t want to lose another by some kind of freakish accident within the woods of Everfree. Sweetie promises him to be safe, before Magnum tells her it’s not safe again. He really doesn’t want her to go, but she has to either way. In the end, the only thing that he can do, is to just let her go and be. Even if it hurts him just so much.
Chapter 49-50
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo meet up in the library of Twilight, there they see her standing together with a rather old friend of the librarian, Moon Dancer. The two speak a bit about the situation as it is before Twilight notices the three of them. She introduces them to Moon Dancer, who introduces herself.
Turned out that the two had become friends again after a return trip to Canterlot. A long and painful story neither is bothered to tell. However, Moon Dancer has turned her attention towards the literature that’s available when it comes to the supernatural beings. And it just so happen, that it is Moon Dancer that they need.
The five of them gather themselves in the living room before Moon Dancer starts to tell just what she has discovered about the vamponies and the lycans. To which Scootaloo comments the fact that they hadn’t had a lycan attack in Ponyville. Before she can even finish her words, two hooves are shoved in to shush her. Apple Blood says that that is asking for trouble and she knows it.
Moon Dancer assures them though, she’s sensed the magic that is around the village and tells them that Twilight knows what she’s doing. But it also comes to a little fact that raises her curiosity. Since their interest in the supernatural is so great, could it be they joined the Night Guard?
They answer truthfully and Twilight is shocked to hear those very words. Never in her life has she expected that the Crusaders would have taken up arms against those. Twilight tries to talk them out of it, but Sweetie’s mind is determined on it. She will continue, with or without her friends. Moon Dancer is amazed by the sheer amount of determination Sweetie shows.
Chapter 51-52
The five of them have a conversation about all sorts of things before the door of the library opens up again. In the opening stands Blueblood. He lets out a deep sigh when he encounters both Twilight and Moon Dancer, who happens to be an advisor among the Night Guard, much to Twilight’s surprise. Moon Dancer excuses herself on the matter before she tells the story of how she was enlisted within.
Nearly half a year ago, Moon Dancer was still coming by from all of the stuff that had happened to her, Twilight and her new friends. One night, deep in the night, she was walking back home from a little party given by Minuette and she got attacked by something out of the dark. She had no idea what it was, but it seemed like a rogue bat-pony, because others were chasing it.
Even though not much happened, it was the most frightening experience in her life. Just the mad hunger that it carried within the eyes was enough to set the reality straight in her mind. Nopony was safe, and she would do whatever she could in order to protect her friends. That’s also in fact the reason why she came there to Twilight.
Suddenly it all begins to make sense to Twilight, who can both slap and hug Moon Dancer at the same time, but does neither of those things. Instead she just chuckles a little bit. Commenting on the fact that both business and pleasure have been combined. To which Moon Dancer agrees, as she hadn’t been yet to Ponyville, let alone Twilight’s new house in the Golden Oak Library.
But Blueblood asks if he could take the three young mares with him for training. They could have gathered the information they need and always return to Twilight if they require more info. For the moment, he needs them to train in order to start shaping them for the possible fights to come.
Chapter 53-54
While the night has fallen again upon the village of Ponyville, Rarity crawls out of hiding as she had spent too much time in front of the place where her boutique used to stand. All of the memories that had been going through her, were perhaps a bit too much of the good stuff. She had taken residence within the cottage of Fluttershy, who didn’t happen to be home at the time. Though entrance was easy for her.
As she wants to leave, there are strange things going on around the cottage. Strange shadows move around while the snapping of bones can be heard. All of those things make little to no sense to Rarity when she thinks about it. If anything, she feels becoming scared, her, of all beings.
When she finally dares to come outside, she looks around the porch of the cottage and growls like a true animal, only to receive a growl back. One that is of something much bigger and much more terrifying. A bear stands next to the cottage, but it’s the being that stands next to it that surprises her the most. For next to the bear, stands Fluttershy in her normal form.
Rarity is relieved to see that at least Fluttershy is there in a form that she knows. The two of them start to talk a bit to one another, eventually revealing the fact that Trixie hadn’t felt herself comfortable around Gust. There was just something about him that gave her the creeps. Rarity understands the concern, though she needs to analyze him a bit more herself.
Then she asks how the state of the castle is doing, but even that brings some bad news. More and more ponies seem to discover it and scaring them away isn’t going to be helping anymore. Which means that the iron gate has to be lowered in order to keep them out, a thing Rarity can understand. A thing she would even initiate the next time she’s at the castle.
Chapter 55-56
While Rarity leaves, Fluttershy is left alone with the bear and she goes to her cottage in order to get some sleep for the night. The mare is too tired to do anything and still has to appear both normal and casual for her own doing. Whether she likes it or not, the next day would reveal a thing or two about everypony in town.
While the sun rises again, Fluttershy goes about her daily routine before she leaves the cottage. The market is in town and she goes out to get some groceries. A lot of things are needed by her and that’s the place to get them. Though while she walks, she senses that something isn’t feeling right. Like a shield had been put up around the village. A field to detect lycans.
Meanwhile, in the library are both Moon Dancer and Twilight having breakfast before Twilight gets the signal to her horn. The two unicorns know what it means, but they can’t do anything. A lycan in daylight looks like every other pony, so there’s no way of telling who is who. They can sense them, but not capture them. At least they know there’s one, and they want to watch.
While Fluttershy is wandering about the market place, she gets most of the things that she needs. Things to either feed herself or to feed all of the creatures and critters that were staying at her home. She makes a couple of small talks with ponies that she knows before making her way further up again, all the way up to the last stand.
There she gets the last couple of things before she noticed both Twilight and Moon Dancer looking over the market. They don’t seem to be doing anything and Fluttershy wants to give them their privacy, even though she has no idea who Moon Dancer is. It’s for the better, because the pain her heart is tearing her up. She has to return to her cottage, outside of the force field.
Chapter 57-58
Twilight and Moon Dancer have been watching over the market place, eyeing those who seem to have been rather suspicious but neither can pinpoint any potential candidate of being a lycan. Yet the magic of Twilight does tell her that there is one. Moon Dancer nudges Twilight at one point and then points to Fluttershy.
Twilight states that it is Fluttershy, the one pony who doesn’t want to harm anypony else in their company. Though those words make Moon Dancer think for a moment, before asking where she lives. Twilight answers truthfully, revealing it’s outside of the shield. Moon Dancer is brought to thinking for the moment before she just nods. She’s starting to have her own ideas on the matter.
All while Fluttershy is walking away from the scene. The last thing that Fluttershy wants, is to come in contact with anypony else. Fortunatly her shy and timid personality have been a big help through the years of time. That alone makes sure that not too many ponies want to talk to her. An accident by something fortunate, perhaps.
Fluttershy had returned to her cottage and unpacked everything that she had bought. Slowly do the critters return to her house. They know she’s a cursed being, but that doesn’t stop them when she’s in her normal appearance. To them, it is still just Fluttershy that is standing there.
Fluttershy prepares then dinner for herself and for all of the critters that were around her. From the birds to the bear, all of them get their fair share of food. Only when the time is right, goes Fluttershy back to bed in order to sleep through the night, a night that doesn’t carry any kind of moon for some unknown reason. Something that’s not happening too often, but when it does, it should have been feared.
Chapter 59-60
All the way back in Canterlot, back in the castle of the two sisters, a distorted voice speaks through the room of Luna. A distorted voice echo’s through the space while a pair of batwings sharpen themselves. For the first time ever is the curse of Luna revealed to the world. For the first time ever is her true name revealed. She is Shiva, and Shiva is Luna. Within the room stands a vampiric version of herself that growls like a seamonster.
The vampiric Luna walks out of her room, looking at the bat-ponies with a haunting glare, mumbling whether or not their creation was worth it. Stating that they all spawned from her. But then Nightmare Moon happened and everything changed. History is foggy within her mind, and the memories don’t serve her well, mostly because she had blocked them out herself. All the memories of around that time are locked tight within her mind. She doesn’t even want to know.
Luna makes her way up to the highest tower there is before she spreads her wings again. A hiss of true ominousness has been released upon the lands, every vampony that lives there heard it, with the exception of Rarity, who for only a moment stood equal in power to Luna. Queens don’t hear one another, but their subjects can. She even states to herself how foolish Rarity was.
The lust and craving for fresh blood becomes only worse in her throat, yet she can’t drink any because of the triple murder that had been found. Who was so stupid to hunt within the capital of darkness? Or the better question would be: who wasn’t? Many things fill the mind of Luna at the moment while she grants a view towards Everfree.
Then she returns back to her chambers, hoping to avoid Celestia. There was one thing that Celestia didn’t knew about her sister, and that was that little fact. Yes, Luna created the Night Guard, but only because Celestia insisted. In order to keep her own facade going, Luna agreed. Now, she’s forced to hunt down her own kind for whatever reason Celestia feels like. But how did it all came to be again? That, is a thing Luna need to figure out. Or perhaps, doesn’t want to.
Chapter 61-62
It had been years since Luna first had begun to dream about the nightmares. The nightmares had reveled themselves within her mind, talking to her, molding her into becoming the devil she would become known as. But Luna was resistant, and Moon required something heavier.
Time came and went while Luna kept on locking herself in her bedroom, only appearing when it was her time to shine. One night, she wanders through the castle’s gardens and talks to herself, while in fact it being Nightmare Moon she speaks to. She states that nopony seem to appreciate the night, on which Moon might have the solution.
The two of them depart for a part of the garden that had been off limits for the longest of times, not even Luna remembered why she didn’t come there again, but when its revealed to her, she remembers again, she remembers why. Because there, all her nightmares are stored. Horrid dreams of the past and those still to come.
In the cave, Moon talks to Luna about some kind of gift. Upon the unanswerable question, does Luna say that she will accept it. Because there’s no appreciation for the night, that’s going to be changed forever. A new kind of species will arise when the time comes. But at a price, Moon is not prepared to share whatsoever, for obvious reasons.
Luna agrees to the matter and allow Moon to take over her body for the moment. Moon then goes to create the bat-ponies about of pieces of Luna, setting in the curse that she will be living for the rest of her existence. Moon keeps on doing her thing, but while the magic is pumped into creating the bat-ponies, Luna begins to change more and more as well.
Chapter 63-64
While the bat-ponies have been formed, Luna is reverted down to her more primal stage, down to a stage in her life where she thinks she has the control over everything, but in fact is just as much a puppet as anything. The bat-ponies have come to life, but they need to be hidden from Celestia, same as with Luna’s condition.
The thirst for blood lingers within her throat, the lust of flesh craves within her stomach, the eyes are only out for something to hunt. Luna has become more beast than pony, and every part of her body shows that. She makes sure that the bat-ponies owe their alliance to her, claiming that she is their queen of darkness. But when they ask for the name of their queen, no answer comes, yet.
Luna has become one of the very first vamponies in history and she has also given birth to them. As strange as it is seems, it could work out in her favor. Luna releases one last hiss, while Moon chuckles to herself within Luna’s very mind, talking to herself that it is almost time for her to arise to the thone.
Fast forward to the moment where Nightmare Moon had defeated Celestia in the first trail, the darkness claims the lands. Celestia is powerless to do anything else to stop the darkness. Even with the aid of Starswirl can’t she match up with the power of the vamponies. But Starswirl, as cunning and powerful as he is, creates another kind of species. Another kind of species that will hopefully counter the vamponies, the lycans. Wolves infected with hatred towards the species.
Even though Celestia doesn’t want to use them, she sees no other option other than to unleash them. There is nothing else that they can do in order to prevent Moon. With the lycans released, the last battle ravages through the lands, resulting in the history as it is known to the lands.
Chapter 65-66
With Moon locked in the moon, Celestia calls the wolves back to her and orders Starswirl to revert them back to their normal form. There’s no other use for the lycans anymore, the vamponies are lost to the world, unable to breed and don’t pose enough of a threat to be hunted down. Starswirl obeys the orders and collects all the lycans again. When he reverts them all back to normal, one of them seemed to have been missing, resulting in him searching all over the place.
When the time arrives, he can’t find the missing lycan, resulting in the fact that he had failed his mission. One lycan still roams the lands and he has no idea where. Embarrassed, he doesn’t even tell Celestia, hoping it would lay dormant. But just like the vamponies, it will multiple until it can be considered a threat.
Celestia on the other end is saddened with grief and can’t take any more news concering pretty much anything, resulting in the fact that she can’t keep track of the brooding war between the lycans and the vamponies. Not that she cared about that to begin with.
Time went on and the new elements of harmony had been found. Nightmare Moon would have returned upon the earth and defeated once more, leaving Luna alone and cold. Even with accepting the friendship of her sister, a part of Moon still resides within Luna. The vampony side of her, is never going to leave again. She’s cursed and bound by those infernal shackles.
Having taken on the name of Shiva during her reign upon the earth, Luna wanted to see how her species was doing, before realizing that the tide had turned against each of them. It resulted in the events leading up to Rarity’s crowning. A thing she can still hit herself in the head for.
Chapter 67-68
Luna awakes again within the real world and begins to wander around through the castle. Suddenly, the desires to see the place where it all began crawls up inside of her. Luna can only obey the call, for there’s nothing else left to do. She returns to the cavern where the bat-ponies had been created. Lusting for blood, she morphs back to her true self, while a bloody tear travels down her cheek.
Luna had never intended it to be that way, she had never expected that her life would have come to that. But when she looks into the pool of creation, a different future is shown to her. One which exists in a different time-line, one where Rarity had remained queen. Luna is forced to watch.
After Rarity had become queen of the vamponies, she had gone mad with her powers. The cunning and tactical pony had unleashed the full forces of the undead against the castle of Canterlot. In a matter of hours had everything been overrun and Rarity crowned herself queen of all. But those who bode resistance, were swiftly murdered.
Enter Twilight Sparkle, the very version of which Twilight came across in the previous story. After having returned from her time-traveling adventure, she’s ready to take on the guards of Rarity, ending the lives of every last one of them. Something, has kept her going, but at the same time she’s stuck in that very thing.
All of it fades though. The time-line is shattered before Luna’s eyes because of a decision made in their very past. The fact that Rarity had declined herself queenhood caused that time line to shatter and fade out of existence. Luna turns her gaze away from the pool, telling herself higher powers are at play there with time. She also states that interesting times are coming ahead of them.
Chapter 69-70
Back in the Golden Oak Library, both Moon Dancer and Twilight are conversing a little bit about the events as they had happened. Moon Dancer in particular is interested in what could have caused the shield to go off to begin with. Though Twilight states that whatever it is, it is most likely not going back.
Even though it’s already at night, Moon Dancer wants to take a fresh nose of air, but has no idea whether or not it’s safe. Twilight assures her friend that it is safe in order to do so, nothing seems to have been happening either way. It pleases Moon Dancer, who then goes out for a walk. When she goes, Spike comes in, asking if that had been a good idea. To which Twilight has no idea.
Walking through the empty streets of the town, Moon Dancer keeps an eye out in everything that’s going on. A lot of things had happened since the start of it all, but she notices the woods of Everfree of course, the place where it all seemed to have started. The one place that she needs to keep on investigating.
With Blueblood training the CMC, there’s nopony to help Moon Dancer if she gets caught. Nonetheless, she still goes to the forest in the hope to find a series of answers. While she walks over the paths leading to the woods, she passes Fluttershy’s cottage. At first she doesn’t think much about it, until she notices that there are no lights on. It’s still early in the evening, and she doubts that Fluttershy had already gone to bed. Something else was going on in her eyes.
Moon Dancer then keeps on walking over the path, she doesn’t mind the nightly atmosphere that much in the peaceful village. Though all of it is about to change, because something is lurking for the unicorn in the forest. All that Moon Dancer has to do, is to enter the thing. And that, may have been easier than expected, for the mare just follows the path inside.
Chapter 71-72
With Moon Dancer having disappeared within the forest, she ignites her horn in order to see what is going on around her. She’s mesmerized by the way that it looks, especially during the night that she came. She’s unaware of the massive dangers that it carries with it, a fact proven when she hears growling from behind.
With a slow motion in her turn is the truth revealed to Moon Dancer, a were-pony that looks an awful lot like Fluttershy stands there. Moon Dancer has no idea what she can do in order to stop the beast, outside of a couple of spells. It is in that moment, that she had wished that her training had been more action.
The were-pony makes no time go to have its dinner. It jumps atop of Moon Dancer, who is forced to the ground. Yet in the heat of the moment are magical spells released, spells that make sure that the wolf is kept at bay and away from her. Moon Dancer had lost her glasses and thus can’t see as well as she should have.
That works to the advantage of the wolf, who unleashes yet another attack upon the unicorn. A unicorn who manages to repel it just as easily as the first time. The two keep doing it over and over, while Moon Dancer tries to communicate with the beast, but hearing nothing. Which results in her only action, trying to kill the wolf.
But the wolf doesn’t go down that easily. The instinct of survival is something that always had kept it at bay, the one thing that it always tried to do, no matter what. Among the leaves, the rustles can be heard and it isn’t friendly to the wolf, meaning that it would be a two against one ratio. Returning to the cottage isn’t working either, meaning Fluttershy has to retreat to the castle. Who does that, in the meantime, Moon Dancer finds her glasses and a strange looking zebra.
Chapter 73-74
Fluttershy rushes back to the castle where she almost crashes against Rarity, who isn’t happy with the fact at all. The pegasus tells her story to Rarity, who understands the matter in the moment. She also knows who this Moon Dancer pony happens to be. The stakes have been placed higher for each of them, that much was certain.
In the meantime was Gust minding his own business. He was wandering about the place before disappearing within his room. Trixie had followed him at a distance and eavesdrops in on what he mumbles. One thing she had figured out of him, was that he spoke against himself in mumbles. Almost as if two personalities housed within the head.
Trixie keeps on listening at the door, hearing words of the ancient times, how only Shiva could have been accepted as their queen and nopony else. A thing that strikes Trixie with a great horror. Something she had never expected. But in terms of plans, schemes, nothing. All that he has proven, was that he’s a Shiva-fanatic. They had seen a couple of those before.
Trixie returns back to the throne room and her master commands her neck. Trixie offers that willingly and Rarity starts to drink from her blood, feeding herself. But all the while, Rarity’s mind on the words of Fluttershy, not to mention the thoughts shared between her and Trixie. Things are about to be shaken, deeply, that much is certain.
When she’s done feeding, Rarity lets Trixie go and the numb mare falls down the steps. Rarity shows no respect for her and swallows the last bit of blood under a moan. She also states to Fluttershy to stay low for a while. If a pony like Moon Dancer had seen her in wolf-form, all must be done in order to make sure Twilight doesn’t get a scent of it. Fluttershy agrees.
Chapter 75-76
The pegasus returns back to her cottage, but Moon Dancer has met up with Zecora, the two of them are going to their hut. Zecora tells her that it was foolish to come to the woods at the time she did. Moon Dancer doesn’t have an excuse for her deeds, but is glad the zebra helps her.
When they arrive, tea is being offered and the unicorn accepts. Zecora on the other end, starts to tell what her motivation was of coming to the woods. In which she also tells that Twilight had been attracted to them once, because of a flock of hair. Nopony seems who they are, that much is sure. Adding in the creepy effect that the hut has on others.
Moon Dancer doesn’t really understand the meaning of the words because of the rhyme, yet she can understand them will enough that they mean ill. She also understands that everything is wobbling on their feet. But what was that flock of hair that the zebra spoke about? She had not a clue on it.
While the night ventures on, when the morning breaks again, Moon Dancer leaves the hut and Zecora waves her out. Their ways had parted but the zebra has feelings in her guts that not all seems to be what it is. Something else is coming to Everfree, a storm fiercer than normal.
Moon Dancer returns to the library in order to speak with Twilight on what she had found. Even though it does sound like Fluttershy, Twilight can’t believe that Fluttershy might be lycan. Even though all the evidence is there, she won’t accept it. It drives Moon Dancer almost crazy but she also has to return to Canterlot for other reasons and business. Finally, the friends are separated again.
Chapter 77-78
A few weeks had gone by in which nothing too special had happened. Rarity had laid low and so did Fluttershy. Other vamponies weren’t that fortunate and were-ponies alike. Peace seemed to have returned one day before the CMC come into play. Their training has been over and BlueBlood had instructed them as best as he could. They are ready for anything and everything.
First, he takes them on a little journey to Manehatten, it seemed that there has been a vampony who doesn’t allow himself to be killed that easily. Sweetie Belle understand the weight of the situation, but also wonders who the stallion might be. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have no idea that is going to happen. They admit that they are a bit scared.
But Blueblood assures them, there’s nothing to be afraid of as long as they are together. They have proven themselves time and time again that they can kill a vampny. Sweetie has her magic, Apple Bloom has her strength and armor, while Scootaloo has her wits and intelligence. All three have been shaped in ways previously unthought about, but it is all for the better.
Their old lives have been kissed farewell, from that moment on would they be in the Lunar Guard, until either disbanded or killed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo just hope that they hadn’t made a massive mistake, which it does feel like. Blueblood tells them that their target is a high class stallion, owner of a bar in Manehatten, using it to drain the innocent and fill the undead.
The train finally reaches Manehatten and they are given the address of where they need to be going. There’s no turning back at that point and they just have to do what has been asked of them. With their weapons and armor ready, they do blend in pretty nice among the city folk. It doesn’t take long before they find the place that they are looking for.
Chapter 79-80
The three of them enter the place and they discover it is indeed a high class club, feeling a bit underdressed, they still continue on and thus walk to the bar itself. There they ask the waiter that’s on the list. The three of them order something before they ask who the manager is. The waiter answer with the fact they have to look up and behind them, there, behind his own table can he be found, publically accessible.
The three thank him and together they move over to the place. But when on location, Sweetie tells the other two to stay put, to keep up with the act. Sweetie goes to see the stallion, who is enjoying a glass of sticky, red wine. Of course she knows what’s inside of it. Even with her attire, she sits down in the chair opposing of him, looking at him with a cutting glare. Then he reacts to her.
The stallion wants to know what the deal is, why she has come to his place in the first place. Sweetie hisses through her teeth that she knows he’s a vampony. But he reacts with a simple, fang revealing smile. It’s his place, and she has three seconds to tell him why he shouldn’t kill her. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo become frightened, ready to strike when needed.
But Sweetie keeps her cool, she also wants information. Information about her sister. When the name of Rarity is being dropped, everything changes. Sweetie states that she had been killed, to which the stallion replies she had been misinformed. It gets even better when Sweetie reveals Rarity was her sister. Things, just turned for the better for the stallion.
Who in return wants to make a deal out of it all. He will grant her the information, as long as she can remain her cool. It is then revealed to Sweetie that Rarity was never murdered by a vampony, but that she was one herself. It explains a lot of things at once for the young mare. But when the stallion continues, not even he seems to know what has become of her.
Chapter 81-82
Whether the stallion is lying or not, can’t be told by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. The two of them have no idea whether or not they can believe him, but the words have to be left over to Sweetie Belle. Something about the whole matter is getting on their nerves though. Something about his charm, chills their very bones like that.
The stallion than asks of Sweetie whether or not she knew what had happened to the mare. Rarity was always a delight to talk to, in life and death, so to speak. Sweetie just chuckles once before she nods to him, answering the questions asked of her. But not even she knows what happened. But when Sweetie asks how Rarity died, the stallion can’t answer. He knows much, but the darkness does not give away the death of a lady.
Even though all the information is a good thing for Sweetie Belle, she still can’t let him go like he has before. They had set out to murder him, to put him finally to rest and that is exactly the thing that she intends to do. Even if it is in bright daylight. Sweetie wishes him a good night for the time being and returns to her friends, discussing what they could best be doing.
While the plans of lunacy do their turn, the stallion had send his own guards to collect them. While they were leaving the club, they had been led into an alleyway where three other vamponies had been waiting on them. Things do not end well for the vamponies.
With the three of them dead, the CMC are more determined than ever to lay in wait for the other stallion. At one point or the other, he had to come out and see where his goons had been off to. Until then, they would have come to wait. They would wait for him to arrive, discussing their plans of attack in detail, while speaking in whispers.
Chapter 83-84
When the stallion does finally make his appearance, it is sweetie Belle that forces him against the wall, drawing her magic to levitate the sign of the sun and she hovers it right above his chest. If there are any final words, he best would be speaking them then. But Apple Bloom isn’t having any of that. Even though it’s in Sweetie’s magical hold, she drives the thing through his chest, killing him.
Sweetie drops her magic and turns to Apple Bloom with a glance of what it meant. The other only states that it had to be done before more lies would be spewed. That alone, is enough reason for Scootaloo. While the body falls to dust, Sweetie wonders what else he could have told her when it came to her sister. Whether it was something good or bad, she wouldn’t have minded it. They all return to the train station to catch the train to Ponyville again.
When they are in the train, the three of them start to reflect whether it is really the best decision of their lives. For Sweetie it is without a doubt, it is for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo that have their doubts. Scootaloo is sharpening a dagger of hers while they convers. Apple Bloom just can’t believe that they had agreed to do such a thing, whether it was stupid or not. Either way, blood is on their hooves, even if it is the undead.
The train rolls back in Ponyville and Blueblood is waiting for them, he too has heard the news that the stallion finally came to pass and they are officially members of the Lunar Guard, a honor not given away for too many. Sweetie accepts it, while the other two still have their doubts. But they are in it all together, and they ask what is coming next.
Blueblood has another assignment for them, but Sweetie wants to go someplace else. She wants to know more about her sister died. And there might be a place in Equestria where she could be finding those very answers she needs. The stallion listens to the words, before the revelation is made to him. Sweetie wants to go to Canterlot, to the house of the late Fleur and Fancy Pants. All declare her crazy.
Chapter 85-86
Yet there they are again, sitting in the train that’s heading to Canterlot. The revelations of the monsters would some have come back to light. While wearing their attire, the crusaders do not speak too much to one another. All of them are sunken perhaps a bit too deep in thought. Too deep to notice the train thundering down the lines.
Once arrived in Canterlot, they know where they need to be heading. To that one cursed address in the more fancier parts of the place. But before they go to that place, there’s another address where they need to be going. They knock on a door and the mare they need opens up. Ruby the servant, the mare who they need to ask some questions to.
Ruby allows them into the house of her new masters, asking them if she could be excuses from service for just a moment. She is allowed and the four of them separate themselves for a moment. Sweetie wants to know everything and Ruby tells all that she knows, how hard it may have been to do so. She tells them all about the murder on Fleur, hoping to get some answers.
Which is exactly the thing that Sweetie wants to have as well, but the answers that she gets from Ruby are helpful, they don’t give the push that she needs in order to see whether or not it was really a vampony that had killed Fleur. Of course, she has seen the documents as well. Which only means that there is one thing they can do, enter the house.
They all thank Ruby for her time and they travel down the path again, towards the haunted mansion where the spirits of Fleur and Fancy still seem to linger. Scootaloo is terrified of the thought and not even Apple Bloom seems to be liking it all too much. But there’s no way out, they are stuck to Sweetie Belle, who under no circumstance, wouldn’t have gone inside of it. Before them it appears, the haunted mansion and they walk up to the front door. Scootaloo asks whether or not they should ring the bell, only receiving a glare from the others.
Chapter 87-88
Apple Bloom kicks in the door and the other two are just walking in, hoping to find the spirits of house in one of the rooms. The most logical place for them to be of course is within the bedroom or the room where Fleur was murdered. So that is the first place that they are going, no chitchat, no nothing.
Once they arrive at the place, the stench of the body still lingers about and the bloodspatters are still all over the place. The scene must have been horrible when it had only just happened. Sweetie Belle remains calm while the other two are creeped out by it. But to make matters worse, Sweetie calls upon the spirit of Fleur.
It takes a couple of seconds, but then the spirit of Fleur comes in, walking in casually from behind and through them. She wants to know who disrupts her peace and why they had come to begin with. Sweetie explains it all, as the other two are too terrified to speak. Though Sweetie feels herself uncomfortable within the presence of the spirit too.
Fleur than starts to speak the truth as she knew it. How she had waited for the murderer to come, who turned out to be Rarity, how she was forced into slavery and how the boutique had been burned down to nothing but a crisp. All done with a strange delight to her voice. As if she was happy that it had happened. Yet it is her, that didn’t have any peace.
Sweetie wants to hit her, but hits the wall behind the ghost, uncontrollable rage fuels the young mare, where the spirit makes usage of. The words are rubbed in even harder, which makes Sweetie just tear up. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo set their fears aside and protect Sweetie, telling the ghost to bugger off. With the truth being told and no way to reach the other world, Fleur turns into a demonic version for a moment, cursing them to leave.
Chapter 89-90
Back in Ponyville is Fluttershy walking around with not much on her mind, but then she comes across Twilight. The two greet one another like old friends and get to talk a little bit. Fluttershy states that she has to make a bit of haste as supper is almost ready to be served. But Twilight is having other plans. She senses that something had entered the field.
With Moon Dancer’s description still in her mind, Twilight can only hope that it isn’t Fluttershy that is the source of the disturbance. But the longer the two are talking to one another, the more clear the situation seems to become. Fluttershy, is a lycan. And Twilight can hit herself for not having believed a dear friend of her.
Fluttershy returns to her cottage with Twilight, the two spend the night there, as Fluttershy is still a push-over and Twilight wants to see the truth on the matter. That night is a full moon and she wants to lure the beast out of there, just like she had done with Rarity. When the time is right, the curtains are opened and the moonlight let in. Terrifying Fluttershy.
She rages on about how Twilight could have done it, that she thought that they were friends, but in the end it had all just been a massive lie. Twilight only states that she has to know the facts as they are, for science. The light keeps on crawling to Fluttershy, eventually hitting her, starting the change of the mare.
After a rather disturbing scene of transformation, the wolf version of Fluttershy stands there, but she’s caught between two evils. At one end stood Twilight, at the other stood Rarity, who’s wraith would have been kinder to her? She could just charge Twilight, but makes the decision to shy away. Only charging, when she comes too close. Which eventually happens.
Chapter 91-92
With Twilight being attacked by Fluttershy, the unicorn tries to do everything within her might in order to make sure that she won’t be eaten by the beast. A thing that’s most likely more easier said than done. Pinned to the floor and not wanting to hurt her, Twilight sees little choice.
Even within the serene calm of the cottage does she has to teleport away. In a poof is Twilight gone and appears on the other side of the room. Fluttershy, who has lost most sense of reasoning, tries to charge a couple more times, but always capturing empty air for some reason. At one point, the wolf gets enough of it and keeps on standing in the middle of the room.
With Fluttershy ‘calmed’, Twilight tries to talk some sense and reason within the creature. But the words of Fluttershy don’t make any sense to her. She speaks about Rarity orders her around, but Rarity died, so long ago. Then, in wolf form, Fluttershy figures out what she had done. The realization that went through her, makes her escape the cottage.
Just in a huff of wind is she gone. Gone like that, with not a single trace left of her. Only the howling within the night, to guide her. Twilight has not a clue what she can do in the moment. One friend has become a werepony while another lays dead, or so she thought. Her world is literally being rocked and shaken, before an easy explanation is given off. It must have been changelings, right?
Only Changelings have that kind of cunning and those very means of transforming. Desperate for answers, Twilight goes back to the library in the hope to find something. But her magic didn’t lie, right? Fluttershy was the lycan in the clutches of Ponyville, yet she hadn’t murdered anypony. The matter had only turned even stranger for her. Perhaps Moon Dancer may know a thing or two more.
Chapter 93-94
When Twilight returns to the library, she notices that Spike is still awake. Then again, he’s always awake those days. The dragon has grown too big for his basket and reaches puberty. His kind always spend up to 23 hours awake, before granting themselves only an hour worth of sleep. He’s truly, the perfect assistant. When she returns, the two converse a bit with one another.
But when the story of Fluttershy comes to light, Spike is interested, at first. As soon as he hears the name of Rarity, things start to take a turn. He doesn’t want to be reminded of her, even though he had been wrong too on the unfaithful day. But Rarity being alive and Fluttershy being a lycan, even he can’t buy into that. Rarity died, that’s it. Nothing else.
If it were only that simple, thinks Twilight before she wishes him a good night. But instead of sleeping, Twilight goes on and on through books about both vampirism and lycanopsy, something keeps the two joined together and it isn’t hatred. Fluttershy had no reason to mention Rarity, unless the words would have been true.
But where could she have run off to? Not the hut of Zecora, that much is true. Nor would she have gone to the castle of the two sisters. No, there must have been another place for her to hide, but where in Everfree could that have been. Twilight has no idea anymore and eventually just gives up while the sun rises over the horizon. A new day had come, and she was spend through the night.
Time had flown by and Twilight needs to get some fresh air in her system, something just doesn’t feel right to her. But she can not pinpoint what it is. She doesn’t even want to know it anymore at that point. The pin in her head becomes too great before she finally leaves the comforts of her home again, constantly thinking back to the fangs that slammed shut before her, only a few hours prior.
Chapter 95-96
Fluttershy had made her entire way back to the castle of Rarity, and tells her story there in a panting manner. Rarity can’t believe what she hears and Trixie drops the tray she’s holding. All while Gust just keeps on sitting there, mumbling an old rhyme to himself. Time is almost up, he can feel it.
Rarity orders Fluttershy to stay in the castle. Ponyville is no longer safe for her to go to, not with what had happened. Fluttershy agrees and reverts back to her pony-self in the light of day, only to wander off to her room to think. Rarity is too pondering her mind on the matter but has not a clue on what comes next. Perhaps, a visit to them might draw some attention from her, for a change.
All while that is happening, Gust has disappeared from the scene, he has gone to Fluttershy in order to speak with her. To speak about the venom in his mouth. He claims to her that it was a mere accident that had happened, that Twilight should have died. But Fluttershy counters the fact that she tries to main herself as much as possible.
To which the vampony only sneers, commenting that they are all undead, creatures that shouldn’t have been there in the first place, created by an ancient evil, and she’s created to fight another great evil. Fluttershy can’t take any other word from him anymore and ushers him out of the room, locking herself in. He shakes his head before wandering again through the castle, hoping to find something of interest, whatever that may have been.
In the meantime had Rarity come up with a little plan of her own, a plan to let Ponyville come on a false goose chase. A plan that she never had dared to put in motion, but her hooves had been forced to do so. From within the darkest part of Everfree they then dwell up, hungry for the flesh of ponies, slithering like the snakes of old. Ponyville was to discover just how much of their legends, had actually been true.
Chapter 97-98
With an angry Fleur commanding them to leave, she takes on a form of demonic proportions, erupting in coldfire even. The spirit wants them gone by any means possible. All three of them can’t do anything else than to obey the words spoken to them. Whatever answer comes next out of her mouth is not worth being burned to nothing but a crisp.
Fleur doesn’t even care about it at all. She doesn’t even care whether or not she can finally find eternal peace. She knows what she has done and haunts them out of the house. But only when they have left the place, does she return to her normal state. Fleur keeps on walking about and hopes that someday, forgiveness will be given to her.
Though the spirit starts to doubt it. She has been trapped in that infernal cage for far too long and perhaps the only chance of getting out had just been chased out of the door. She knows what Rarity is, she knows that she is still alive and at large. Only when Rarity truly dies, will she have peace at heart. A wail of pain then resonates through the mansion, a saddening one that even the crusaders hear on the outside. They become terrified and leave the scene be.
In the meantime, they come across a rather curious looking stallion (10th Doctor) who asks them a couple of questions. Questions that don’t seem to be that relevant to them, but make sense to him. Because he knows the courses of time have altered and Rarity had actually listened to him, much to his relief. For him, instead of a year, mere seconds had gone by.
He makes a couple more remarks before telling them goodbye. The young mares are going to their train and discuss the conversation that they just had, ending with them saying to each other that it was just plain weird. To which the stallion tells himself, that they haven’t even seen half of it.
Chapter 99-100
With Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom on the train, the latter two start to think whether or not it had been a good idea and all. Yes they have done the impossible and killed a vampony, but in the process they also got something that they never had expected. The facts as they knew them as, didn’t seem to be going in one straight like as they would have hoped.
Of course it is food for thought for Sweetie, who comments that there’s just much to think about. But the other two are having their little ideas on the matter. Something else had been playing all along during that time. Some might that was bigger than any of them. And that is why, they felt so terrified of joining the Lunar Guard to begin with.
Though Sweetie is having none of that. She stands up and moves a couple of carriages up front, to the restoration one. While she’s eating her supper, she encounters that strange stallion again. He winks her over, inviting her to sit with him, otherwise he would feel so alone. They start to speak to one another and through an odd series of questions and answers, a revelation comes.
Sweetie can’t swallow another bit of food through her throat while the stallion just smiles. Whatever it is he had said to her, it had changed her entire perspective. All of it seemed to be too good to be true in the moment. Which is exactly how Sweetie feels in the moment, therefor the dream just comes crashing down back unto her skull again. The stallion realizes the mistake he had made and tries to fix things.
But Sweetie, torn apart by grieve in the moment, refuses him to say another word. She leaves him be and returns to the others, wanting to give up the life she had chosen to follow. It was stupid to join the Guards either way, not that it mattered anymore. The stallion sighs to himself and finishes his dinner, commenting on the fact that she’s just a drama queen like her sister. But also wondering why things are never easy, before picking up a bottle of wine, saying that’s why and then disappears from the table.
Chapter 101-102
Later that night is Twilight still venting her mind. Moon Dancer had been right all along and she just couldn’t accept it. But then the proof had been given to her just like that, almost on a silver plate. But while the sun sets, she seem to hear screams coming from the woods of Everfree. Screams that don’t belong to any pony that she knows, or any being for that matter.
The crusaders had returned from their little trip to Canterlot, but none the wiser, if anything, Sweetie had only become more sad about a lot of things. That makes Twilight think for a moment, she had encountered them after they left the train, but she shakes it off. Though as fate wanted to have it, the crusaders find Twilight and join her in a moment to tranquility.
Only for the screams to be heard again. Those horrible screams that originate out of Everfree itself. Something is heading their way and it is not a hydra, that much is obvious. The crusaders gather that can before they assume a battle-ready pose. Twilight on the other end, conducts a couple of tests to see just what on earth is going to happen.
Though the tests that she does all have zero effect. Whatever is heading towards them, all they can do is sit there and figure it out when it comes, when it comes. Tensions are being build up high while sweat drips off of their faces. Eventually it is revealed to them all, that the gorgonies of the depths of Everfree have been released.
That gives it for Twilight, something else dwells within those woods, for Fluttershy nor Zecora could have ever set them free. No, something else did it and now it is coming to claim them. A little horde of perhaps ten gorgonies had made it into Ponyville’s night. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had all heard the screaming and join themselves by Twilight, before Blueblood even arrives on the scene.
Chapter 103-104
The eight of them are forced to see how the gorgonies are planning to ravage through Ponyville, but they won’t stand for the madness that’s about to commence. Everypony knows the plan and Twilight specifies that nopony should look into the eyes of those beings, they are unlike any other being that they have ever fought up to that point.
The battle enrages and the gorgonies are driven back to the woods of Everfree. All of them hit hard and fast, but also vice versa, the gorgonies have no plans on leaving the village alone. Eventually, with the aid of all eight of them, do they manage to drive the creatures back into the darkness of the woods, but not without consequences though.
Applejack had been glancing in the eye of one of them and therefore has to be burdened with a stone leg. Up to her kneejoint is everything stone and thus unable to move it in the slightest. Apple Bloom becomes worried that it spreads, resulting in her having a stone sister. But Twilight ensures that with the right magical and medical care, Applejack should be fine. Or so they hope.
But with everypony present, there are much more pressing matters to be discussed. Something hadn’t been right and Twilight knows that. All the words of everypony else that came to be, she can’t take it any longer. A counsel needs to be taken. A counsel of her friends and she needs the extra knowledge that she can get.
Everypony had gathered themselves within the walls of the library and sit in a circle. Spike had ignited a small controlled fire in the middle of the group for whatever reason, but it brings a certain charm. Twilight tells them everything that she knows, awaiting the arguments that are coming.
Chapter 105-106
Everypony does then erupt out in arguments of their own. The words that they had heard coming out of the mouth of their friend are ludicrous to say the least. They couldn’t have been true, right? It is just that it all doesn’t make any sense to them whatsoever. But when Sweetie tries to mumble something, Blueblood shushes them all.
Sweetie is allowed to tell her story, her discoveries within the mansion where Fleur’s spirit resided. Meaning that, most likely, Rarity is still alive and kicking somewhere in the world. That makes all of their hearts sink like stone, before the question of why is being asked. A question to which no answer comes.
Sweetie has said her words and feels her heart becoming heavier. All that time she had set out to find Rarity’s killer, to repay the deed, but now it became true that Rarity might have been alive, perhaps even a powerful vampony to begin with. The young mare stands at a crossroad that can only lead her to evil. But which path to take?
Of course, they can’t just turn their gaze away from the facts as they are. But the other four, don’t want anything to do with it. In their eyes had Rarity died a long, long time ago already. All of this information and all of the madness that they are going through at the moment just don’t make any sense to them, which is the most dangerous part of it all.
Twilight speaks with Applejack about a cure for the stoned hoof, expressing that no pressure must be placed upon it, in case that it might crack and thus shatter, therefore losing a hoof to Applejack. The cowgirl understands the message and then they all take their leave, after that, Twilight tells them that their part in this story is over, but they still have a job to finish.
Chapter 107-108
The others that are still present have to agree on the matter, the end is coming and a change is coming in the tide, for better or for worse, they can not say. But Twilight summons a map of the Everfree forest, it dates back to times before the arrival of Nightmare Moon. Twilight explains to them that there was once another, third castle, but that one vanished.
When she shows the castle to the lot, it is revealed to be the castle where Rarity had been residing for the longest of time. But that very same castle had disappeared in the years gone by. When Moon was send to the moon, the very castle vanished. Twilight believes that whatever happened, that castle may have belonged to the empress.
The crusaders do know more than enough and want to make way for the castle like that. However, Twilight keeps them at bay for the moment. It’s the middle of the night and leaving like that is not a good idea. What if, they come across Fluttershy. Killing her isn’t an option whatsoever. No, they have to make wait for the dawn to arrive.
The crusaders, having nothing better to do, go to bed but Scootaloo is the one who can’t get any shut eye. Everything that had happened continues to just grind itself through her skull, everything that she had seen, just prevents her from sleeping. All the way up to the point where she leaves the room, wanting to walk downstairs.
But as she does that, words echo within her ears. Words spoken by both Blueblood and Twilight. Something about the matter is just, not right. While atop of the staircase, Scootaloo freezes and listens, hearing the words spoken by the two of them, words that can’t be believed by her.
Chapter 109-110
Blueblood claims that the three of them are ready to take on whatever is laying in Everfree, while Twilight states the opposing. They are far from that. They have ended the life one vampony, who didn’t fought back that easily. No, in her eyes, they are still in the learning curve. And with everything that she had seen already, it would be like sending them to their deaths.
Blueblood only grumbles a bit before he gives just one nod to Twilight. Perhaps she’s right, they are still young in the Lunar Guard. Maybe he should send out more experienced fighters. But then again, who can be trusted in moments like those. The stallion draws his own blade, pointing it to Twilight. Asking whether or not she should be killed.
Twilight, despite being frightened, puts her hooves down to the ground and looks to the stallion in silence. Then, only then, she starts to speak again. Because she had done much stuff, because she had seen so much trouble, there’s no reason in Equestria why she can’t be trusted. For Blueblood, it isn’t enough though. He has to be sure.
Twilight claims that the only reason why she’s alive after the were-pony incident was because there was just a bit of reasoning left within Fluttershy. The wolf knew who she was and that was the safety she had, combined with her magic working like a charm. If she hadn’t done that, her guts would have been sprayed across the floor of the cottage.
Only on that point does Blueblood believe her and he sheaths his blade again. Perhaps she is right, but the matter still troubles him greatly. Everything that had happened, he had never expect to have hit that close to home. Little did he knew, that things were about to become even worse. For atop of the staircase, something has gotten a hold of Scootaloo. They only hear a bit, and focus their attention on, before returning to one another.
Chapter 111-112
Scootaloo is dragged along the dark of the building. Something had gotten a hold of her and forced her eyes shut. The young mare has not a clue what it may have been, until she’s brought into a lit room. There it’s revealed that Spike had taken her. Terrified, she wonders what would happen next, but then Spike claims that no harm shall be done.
The other two crusaders appear, ready to leave. Scootaloo then understands what the plan is going to be. They have to make way, for the adventure to come. They would be leaving for the woods of Everfree. They would be the ones traveling to the lost castle. An idea made out of madness perhaps, but also one that could work. All answers, would be given in time.
Within minutes is even Scootaloo ready to hit the road, but Spike gives them something extra. Something that he shouldn’t have ever given to the three of them. He gives them the map that is leading them straight to the long lost castle. They take the map and thank him for everything. To which he can only say, that they have to prove the world wrong.
With those words in their ears, do the crusaders leave the library via an exit they had never taken before. They escape through the window and are then off to see the woods of Everfree, in the early hours of the next day. Spike closes the window again and wonders whether or not he had done good. All of the possible outcomes now rage through his head. All of the pain that could come.
But eventually, he can only settle himself by the fact that Rarity had died a long time ago, and they never left on good terms of one another. The trouble was his of course, but she could have acted a bit better as well. When a tear is shed, Twilight comes in, wondering where the crusaders had been off to. He can only say that they are gone, and Twilight’s face turns sour. She knows it all.
Chapter 113-114
Twilight could just hit Spike in the head for his decision to let them go, but something else tells her that for a change, the fate of the word isn’t placed in her hooves. No, the fate of the world, the future of their nation, has fallen in the hooves of three young mares. All that they can do from that moment onwards, is to just hope and see, what outcome will be made. A gut feeling tells her that a possible reality is starting to take shape again.
Twilight returns to the library itself while Spike kills the fire in the middle and ignites the candles. Blueblood is still sitting there, but he has fallen asleep and seems to be in happier places. They let him be for the moment and then go to bed themselves. There’s nothing else that they can do in the moment, other than to wait for the events to take shape. Just like everypony else.
In the meantime, the crusaders have taken the road to the woods and find themselves already within the dark border. Scootaloo holds the map while Apple Bloom navigates them through it all. If there’s one thing they don’t want to be, it’s lost within those cursed and dreaded woods. But the layout is still different from what they are used to be.
Yet on the horizon, they do see it. They do see the light of the day finally coming in. They had saved it through the night and now a new days is waiting for them. In the light of the sun, the horrors of Everfree are vanquished of course, but new troubles arise for the three of them, finding the third castle. The castle, that belongs to Rarity.
Though luck and skill do they manage to find the thing in the late afternoon. The sun is already setting but there’s nothing else going on. They finally see the castle for what it is and gulp all at once. The way it looks and the immense size of it, now they know that the final battle is about to begin. Apple Bloom comments that it is something out of a book she had read once.