Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#49 - For Fear of Fangs

Author's Note:

In this story:

The fall blood drive is happening in Ponyville, and Techorse seems a little bit reluctant to participate. After getting off the hook for donating, however, he and his friends are hunted by some mares who have plans for him, and his soft, tender neck!

For Fear of Fangs

Techorse Series: #49

By Spirals95

Nurse Redheart finished applying a small tan bandage to her patient's front leg, sealing off the tiny hole left behind by the needle she had inserted just a moment before. Lyra held still as the gauze and adhesive stuck around the miniscule wound, and she rubbed it a bit for good measure after the nurse moved away.

“There, we're finished!” proclaimed the medical professional with a smile, “Thank you so much for donating!”

The fall blood drive in Ponyville was in full swing, and every townspony old and healthy enough to give usually did so, if not for the good feeling of potentially saving a life, for a special reward that Sugarcube Corner offered each and every time the drive came to town.

“And here's your giant chocolate chip cookie!” sang Pinkie Pie, picking up the monstrous dessert with her front hooves and handing it to the mare.

The treat was a good seven inches across, making it very difficult to decide where to bite first, and was wrapped in a thick layer of plastic wrap to keep it from melting or breaking apart. Pinkie Pie spent the entirety of the previous day finishing the batch of over 80 of the treats, using several dozen pounds of cookie dough to do so. The Cakes received plenty of business in the form of advertising from the event, and got to promote their store as being helpful to the noble cause.

“Pinkie, please check outside for the next pony in line,” instructed Nurse Redheart, preparing another needle, “and if that's it for now, let me know.”

Pinkie Pie nodded and trotted over to the door of the nurse's office, pushing it open with a hoof.

“All righty, who's up next!” she cheered, looking outside.

The next pony stepped inside, with a small line of others behind him, having filled out the appropriate paperwork at a folding table manned by Derpy Hooves and Dr. Caltrops, who had visited to help out with the medical filing. There was a bit of a festival gathering around the drive, as it was a community-wide event, and after donating the citizens of Ponyville liked to celebrate the fall season. Twilight and Techorse had gone with Fluttershy and Shadow Breeze to see the act being put on this year. It happened to be that Trixie had been invited back to put on a small magic show, albeit under heavy supervision. Her newest act of seemingly getting bisected by a dropping scimitar from above the stage seemed to terrify but thrill the spectators.

“Kind of surreal to think Trixie is our friend now,” said Techorse, watching as the halves of the stage mare fell off the stage before she popped up from behind it, good as new.

“Yeah...” agreed Twilight, trying not to groan.

“What's wrong, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “It's just, Trixie is still a bit overly competitive, that's all. I'm happy that we're able to be friends now, but her behavior is still a bit upsetting.”

Techorse listened to Twilight talk, and simply stood there watching the magic act without saying anything. He might have tried to disagree, but he was happy hanging around, any time spent doing something fun meant spending no time doing what he was trying to avoid that day.

“I think she's fun,” said Shadow Breeze, giving a friendly smile, “that's why I brought my amulet today. I wanted to see what she thought about the shadow tricks I can do. If you think she'd bother.”

“Oh she'll probably pretend to be excited, then brag about how hers are better,” sighed Twilight.

Trixie concluded her show with a ridiculous act where she fumbled with a lit fuse on a barrel of gunpowder before it went off in her face, consuming the top of the stage in a loud blast. If it wasn't for the fact that the barrel was actually filled with flash powder like the kind used in old cameras, it would have vaporized her. But the key to the trick was that the blinding flash of the barrel made the audience shut their eyes so they couldn't tell the blast had been fake. Then, all Trixie had to do was drop the barrel beneath the stage, and throw a puff of dark powder in her face to make it look like she had been crisped instead.

“Oh dear, that was a scary one,” commented Fluttershy, Shadow Breeze seeming to agree based on his startled facial expression.

---

“Thank you all!” bellowed Trixie from the stage, “I must retire for a few hours, but Trixie shall return for another showing tonight!”

She disappeared behind the curtains closing behind her, and went into her dressing room where she was currently storing all her props and items for the show. After giving herself a careful touch up with some of her makeup, she took off her iconic hat and cape and picked up a hairbrush with her magic to fix the frizz from the barrel trick. Someone knocked at the door to the small room while she was brushing, and she called for them to enter.

The door opened a little bit, and Flaming Ivory poked his head in. He had been working with Trixie in recent times to find more gigs as a musician and to provide pieces for her magic acts. While he often wandered separately, he and the stage magician worked well together whenever they had met up since their captivity at the casino.

“Hey Trixie, Twilight and her friends are out here asking to hang out,” he said, pushing a tuft of his black hair out of his eyes, “you up for it?”

“Absolutely,” she answered, putting the brush on the dresser, “it will be nice to talk to Twilight Sparkle again. We are supposed to be friends now, after all, and friends hang out even if they're bookish and mistrusting.”

Flaming Ivory rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, “That's definitely how it works.”

“I'm glad you agree,” snarked Trixie, ignoring his attitude and pushing open the door, “come on, let's not keep them waiting.”

They walked outside of the back of the stage, where they met up with the two couples. Techorse and Flaming Ivory exchanged quick greetings, and quickly frowned when they say Twilight and Trixie greet each other without really making eye contact.

“Well hello again,” said Trixie, “so, what did you think of my newest act?”

“I thought it was nice, once my retinas got used to all the explosions,” said Twilight, paying half of a compliment.

“Perhaps I do need to work on it, but even Trixie cannot mix powders perfectly every time!”

Trixie received a raise of an eyebrow from her supposed new friend, and figured she needed to think of something she could do to ease tensions between herself and Twilight. She quickly came up with an excellent idea, and raised a hoof to her sternum.

“Of course, if you happened to have a book on powder chemistry, perhaps you'd let me borrow it?”

Twilight changed her tune very quickly, “A book on chemistry? Sure! We can go back to the library and help you work on a better powder mixture.”

Techorse was happy to see that Trixie and Twilight might be getting along better than what he had thought. And, because they were going to be so busy looking over the books at the library, there wouldn't be any chance of him having to participate in the event of the day he was worried about.

“But before we do that,” said Fluttershy, interrupting Techorse's thoughts, “we should really think about going to the nurse's office and donating blood. We all signed up, right?”

“Indeed,” answered Flaming Ivory, “although I'm a bit shocked you're not afraid of needles, Fluttershy.”

“Oh I'm terrified of needles!” nodded the pegasus, “But if it'll help somepony else, I guess it'd be ok to take just one little needle for that.”

“I doubt the needles are that small,” snickered Flaming, before getting a gentle hoof in his gut by Trixie to quiet him.

Techorse tried not to shift on his hooves too much, nervously looking around, before Twilight said, “Fluttershy's got the right idea! Let's go donate now before the nurse closes up for the day. It's what the festival is for, after all!”

They started the walk for the nurse's office, leaving Techorse standing there like an idiot before Flaming Ivory called to him.

“Yo Tech, are you coming or what?”

Techorse shook his head to clear his thoughts, “Yeah, right behind you guys!”

---

They went to the nurse's office, slowly followed by Techorse, and found the building nearly empty now that all the other donors had gone through. Pinkie Pie was standing outside, watching for anyone else who was to donate, and saw her friends approaching.

“Hey guys, are you here for the drive?” she asked cheerfully, bouncing up to them.

“Sure are,” answered Shadow Breeze, “where do we sign up?”

“Right over here!” said Dr. Caltrops from the nearby table, “Just fill out these papers and we'll get your donation done quickly.”

The friends signed the paperwork quickly, answering the questions about their health positively. Techorse was working on his rather slowly, a pen gripped in one of the robotic arms from his saddle and the clipboard containing the questionnaire in his other hand.

“What's the matter?” asked the doctor, his glasses sliding down his muzzle, “Been a little ill lately Techorse, or do you not understand the questions?”

“Just... just taking my time,” he answered, a bead of sweat appearing near his forehead.

“Finished,” said Twilight, returning her clipboard to Caltrops magically.

“Great, now just step inside and let Nurse Redheart collect your donation,” answered the earth pony, pointing at the door.

Twilight noticed her coltfriend struggling with the clipboard, and walked up next to him first, looking over the sheet of paper. The questions had been so simple to her, and she looked at his identical set, knowing the answers should all be yes.

“Tech, why aren't you done yet?” she asked impatiently, “Are your robot arms malfunctioning or out of oil? They're not moving even though you're concentrating like crazy!”

Techorse couldn't put up with the stalling and lying anymore and shouted, “Ok, ok! I give up! I don't want to give blood!”

Pinkie Pie gasped in horror, and his friends looked shocked at the inventor's statement. Even Dr. Caltrops seemed surprised given Techorse's altruistic nature.

“Oh, it's the needles, isn't it?” sighed Fluttershy, looking at the ground, “Being scared of needles is no fun.”

“It's not just the needles,” stammered Techorse, looking around, “it's the fact that there's something being taken out of my body like that. I understand a quick prick for a flu shot or something, but having medical equipment left in me and draining me?!”

“Techorse, you risk your neck against monsters to help ponies out all the time!” argued Shadow Breeze, a bit concerned, “You're scared of losing some blood, but can do that?”

“Plus!” interjected Pinkie Pie, jumping in front of her friend, “If you do it, you get a huuuuuuge cookie! Isn't it worth it just for that?”

Techorse shrank back a bit from Pinkie Pie, ashamed that his irrational fear was keeping him from helping out. But the party pony was not going to take no for an answer!

“Pleeeeeeease?” she begged, giving him her large blue eyes and quivering her lip.

Caltrops scratched his chin thoughtfully and stated, “Pinkie Pie, I believe Techorse's fear is a combination of having foreign objects poking into him and the consequences of that. This is not a simple fear of needles, and I think we ought to respect his lack of comfort.”

Fluttershy saw how miserable Techorse looked from not wanting to give, and walked up to him before giving him a hug, “Don't worry, you don't have to donate if you don't want to. We won't think any less of you.”

“Thanks Fluttershy,” he said softly, still not sure of it all.

---

Techorse's friends finished donating their pints as he sat outside of the door, his eyes unmoving from the ground. One by one they went in, and then stepped outside with an oversized treat and a small bandage around their legs. Even Pinkie Pie eventually signed up and went in herself, and once she was done and had finished every last bite of the final giant cookie, she was ready to hang out with her friends.

“Let's head back to the library and get that book for Trixie,” declared Twilight.

Shadow Breeze didn't really want to read books that afternoon, and suggested, “Maybe so we don't all crowd the library, some of us ought to go hang out at Steiner's place. You know, if you felt like it.”

“I'll go!” volunteered Flaming Ivory, raising a hoof, “Seems like nopony around here can get enough of his soda.”

“You have no idea,” said Techorse, smiling, “I'll get us a round.”

“Ok,” agreed Twilight, rolling her eyes, “the boys can go get root beers while we go back and get started on the new powder recipe. Ready, Trixie?”

“Quite ready!” she answered, smirking.

They split up, the three stallions going to get their cold sodas, while the three mares going off to the library. While the three guys walked their own separate way, another trio of mares was watching them from a nearby bench. The first was a dark pink colored unicorn with crazy spiked blue hair, outrageous eyeshadow covering the lids of her light blue eyes, and her tail and mane held back with hair scrunchies. Her companion on her right was a pegasus with a light blue coat, a long stripe of white running through yellow, curly and short hair, and bold orange eyes. Finally, an earth pony, slightly more timid and crouched than her companions yet still the same height, had a bright white coat with long, green hair and a curled tail.

“There's our victim,” said the pink one with a pernicious air about her, “and his weakness is rather convenient for us, don't you think, Whiteboard?”

“Very much so, Morning Velvet,” answered her companion with the white coat, “shall we take care of them now? What do you think, Wallflower?”

She answered gently, “Yeah, I guess. What do you girls suggest we do?”

“Leave that to me,” answered the leader, “we'll be eating like royalty tonight, ladies.”

---

Techorse and his crew entered Steiner's soda shop, ringing the bell above the glass door. The candy striped pony jumped in front of his barrels of cold soda, and greeted his customers with his soft, German accent.

“Greetings!” he said, “It's good to see you here again, Techorse.”

The three stallions bellied up to the counter and hopped onto the red stools in front of the stainless steel. Techorse dropped a few gold bits for the soda jerk, and with a quick movement of his magic, he filled three frothing mugs of icy root beer for the stallions. Those were quickly drained, and equally as quickly replaced by a second round. Not wanting to drink too many calories in pure sugar though, the second root beers took a lot longer for them to finish. They were done within the hour, enough time for it to get dark outside, and walked out of Steiner's place of business, leaving the unicorn alone with the empty glasses. A small amount of root beer was left in the bottom of one of the containers, so Steiner decided to pour it out into the sink.

As soon as he picked up the glass magically, however, he noticed something peculiar. The root beer's foam was a strange gray color instead of its usual light brown. Steiner inserted his muzzle into the big glass mug and sniffed carefully. Something was definitely wrong with the drink, and he poured the liquid down the nearby drain quickly. After investigating the barrel, he found out that some chemical had been dumped into the tap while he was in the back room!

“What in Celestia's name is this stuff?” he asked himself as he scraped a chunk of gray powder out of the tap, “Who's been in my shop without my knowing?!”

The unicorn realized in horror that whatever it was, it was now in his friends' alimentary tracts, and he needed to go warn them as soon as possible. Steiner ran out from behind the table, and flipped the sign on his door to 'closed' before galloping off into the night.

---

Techorse and his friends were walking back the library, but had decided to take the dirt path outside of Ponyville to help work off the root beer calories. They felt somewhat tired, but they figured it was simply the exercise they were getting, and elected to ignore the issue.

“So I finished my second to last training course,” announced Shadow Breeze, clearly sleepy, “I get to go on my first diplomatic trip really soon. Think it's with the griffins.”

“Woah, congratulations Shadow,” said Techorse, his eyes feeling a bit heavy, “I bet you must be happy.”

“Yeah, I am!” he answered, his ears remaining perked up despite his eyes trying to shut, “But I'm really tired. It's been a long week.”

“Maybe we should think about going home instead of the library,” Flaming Ivory said, “I need a place to crash though, are you ok with me staying with you, Techorse?”

Techorse and his friends were barely crawling along now, before Shadow Breeze collapsed on the road. The others were too slow to notice, and Techorse didn't respond for several seconds before the information finally reached his brain.

“Oh, yeah, sure...” he answered, his head starting to droop.

Flaming Ivory also fell over on his side, out cold. Techorse stopped, and turned to his friend. His thoughts were beginning to fade, his balance was out, and he left in bad shape.

“You... can crash...”

With a loud thud, Techorse's sleeping self impacted the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust. The three stallions lay there, unconscious, but they would not be left out in the cold of the fall night for long. A few dark shadows approached them, and the three mares that had been watching them earlier gathered their sleeping bodies, and hauled them away in the cover of the night.

---

Shadow Breeze gently opened his eyes, feeling like he had been hit by a carriage. He and his companions were in some kind of a purple stone walled room, and underground one likely due to the lack of windows. Ancient potion making equipment was littered in the outside area, and there was a large set of irons bars across from them, keeping them trapped in the dungeon cell. The door to the cell was clearly locked, and the three ponies had been both stripped of their gear and chained to the floor. The pegasus' heart started to race as he realized they had been jailed, likely due to falling asleep outside and causing a public disturbance that way. Once Techorse and Flaming Ivory were fully awake, he tried to let them know what was going on.

“Oh man, what happened?” asked Flaming Ivory, rubbing his messy hair with a hoof, “I feel awful.”

“I think we fell asleep outdoors and got locked up for it!” cried Shadow Breeze, tugging at his chain on his left rear hoof, “And your saddle's gone, Techorse!”

“So's your amulet,” mentioned the green pony, “I just don't get why we all got knocked out like that! We couldn't have possibly been that tired.”

“Maybe, we got hit with a sleeping spell,” suggested Shadow Breeze, “this might have been a prank by Rainbow Dash working with Twilight.”

“Rainbow Dash working with Twilight? Don't be silly,” scoffed Techorse, “Rainbow Dash doesn't like using magic to pull off pranks, and Twilight would never agree to it.”

“Either way, we need to get out of these chains,” said Shadow Breeze, yanking them again, “any ideas?”

Flaming Ivory's eyes glowed orange along with his horn and he tried to shoot a magic beam at the chains, but the weak line of energy barely scratched the clamped restraints.

“Come on, you stupid...”

The magic beam intensified, but the chain refused to cut, and Flaming's wrath subsided as he realized there was no way he was cutting the metal.

“There's no need to try and escape,” said a feminine voice as she entered the area in front of the bars.

Morning Velvet and her two friends stood in front of the door, wearing dark black gowns and pale makeup on their faces.

“Who are you?” asked Techorse sternly, “And why did you throw us in here?”

“We can't have our guests running off now, can we?” laughed Miss Velvet, “We've brought you here for a very special purpose, Techorse. Originally we thought you would be enough, but your friends unfortunately were in the way and had to come along. They're a bit extra, but we've got the room for them as well.”

“So that's like, what, four double meanings in one go?” mocked Flaming Ivory.

The unicorn had a hearty laugh, which his friends answered with a roll of their eyes.

He then stopped acting silly and became serious, “You're... you're gonna hurt us, aren't you?”

“Hurt is a rather interesting choice of language,” sighed Velvet salaciously, batting her eyelashes, “I'd say once we're done with you, you'll feel rather... drained.”

“Yup, we're going to be hurt severely,” groaned Flaming, causing Shadow Breeze to nearly burst into tears.

Techorse patted his friend on the back, trying to keep him from crying, and said to the mares, “Look, I don't know what you want, but if you don't let us go, there are a ton of ponies out there who are going to come after you.”

“Oh we're aware,” said Whiteboard, cutting in front of her leader, “and that's partially why we're doing this.”

“Let's not give anything away,” warned Wallflower, “now, we have made you three some supper since you didn't get any last night. Would you care for a bite?”

“We're not eating anything, you'll poison us!” growled Techorse.

“We already poisoned you once, that's how you got here, remember?” snickered the lead mare, shaking her head, “Since we poisoned your soda, we wouldn't try the same trick twice on a smart stallion like you, Techorse, although your two friends might be a bit slower.”

Flaming Ivory became cross, “Hey, I resemble that!”

Velvet ignored him and unlocked the door to the cell with her front hoof, before walking up to the stallions, horn glowing cyan. The chains fell off of the prisoners instantly, but they were linked together with glowing energy that kept them from escaping. With no other choice, they were guided by the three mares up a long set of stone steps, until they entered a large dining room area with a big wooden table. The place looked ancient, cobwebs hung on the walls, tapestries of a sun and moon symbol lay torn on the floor or barely hanging up, and big gothic windows with many panes shattered lined the massive room. A wooden table lay partially smashed in the middle, with a few chairs set up and hot plates of mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy with fresh carrots on the side for the guests' meals.

Techorse found himself seated at one of the tables, his legs bound in place by the spell Velvet had cast. His friends were seated next to them, and the three mares took their seats opposite the stallions of the table, leaving the majority of it unused. Despite the dust and dark atmosphere, there were plenty of lit tallow candles to illuminate the room, and Techorse thought he recognized it.

“Guys, I think we're in the Castle of the Two Sisters,” he said.

“What?!” gasped Flaming Ivory, “The Princesses' old hangout before they started fighting?”

“Enough banter,” demanded Morning Velvet, “you're weak and should eat your meals.”

“Can't we at least get your names?” pleaded Shadow Breeze, “It'd be nice to at least know who made the food.”

“I did,” said the timid mare, “and my name is Wallflower. This is Morning Velvet, and Whiteboard.”

Shadow Breeze took a bite of the potato and gravy and said to her, “Well Wallflower, this is really good! You're very nice, you know... even though you ponynapped us.”

The three started to enjoy the meals, but Techorse couldn't help but notice the mares didn't have their own plates of food. Surely they were hungry as well, after going to the trouble of dragging them off in the middle of the night.

He decided to question it, “So where are your dinners?”

“Oh, we don't eat potatoes and gravy, we're on a liquid diet,” smirked Morning Velvet, “Let's open a nice bottle provided by our previous guest, shall we?”

“Yes, let's!” laughed Whiteboard, reaching under the table and pulling out a green wine bottle.

Shadow Breeze nearly choked on a carrot when he saw that instead of a label, a picture of a horrified stallion with three shadows over him was on the front. The white-coated stallion with brown hair was holding a wing over his neck, the pegasus attempting to shield himself from something.

“Wh... what's that?!” cried Shadow Breeze, pointing.

Morning Velvet placed three chalices stolen from the castle on the table, each one golden, and smiled, “I guess it's time we told you the truth and revealed ourselves. We're not ponynappers looking for a ransom, nor do we have a grudge with your Princesses. You see...”

Velet's horn glowed, bathing the three mares in light and slightly blinding their prisoners. When the energy faded away, the stallions' mouths fell open. Their coats had become fuzzier, their ears elongated and ribbed. The pegasus' wings had become veiny and canvased, just like a bat's. But worst of all, the three mares had their canine teeth replaced with long, horrible fangs.

Morning Velvet cackled, “We... are vamponies!”

Shadow Breeze let out a bloodcurdling scream, moving so violently he knocked over his chair, requiring Wallflower to help set him back up. Techorse and Flaming Ivory whimpered as the mares got close to them, laughing and running their now serpentine tongues across their razor sharp front teeth.

“So that... bottle,” trembled Flaming Ivory, “it's not what I think it is, is it?!”

Velvet uncorked the bottle magically, and smiled as she tipped it over into the three chalices. Dark red liquid flowed into each one, the stallions becoming more and more pale as it flowed down, sweat pouring down their faces and their heart rates hitting their maximum.

The three mares walked over to the chalices, and picked them up, clinking them together in a merry “cheers!” before downing the contents.

Shadow Breeze gave out a wet cry from his throat, in total disbelief as to what he was seeing. The mares finished their drink, emptying out the bottle in turn.

“So satisfying,” said Wallflower, smacking her lips.

“That... poor pegasus,” stuttered Flaming Ivory, “one day he was just walking around, and then the next... he was being bottled like milk.”

“Why?” cried Shadow, tears running down his face.

“Obviously to steal youth and live forever, duh!” taunted Whiteboard, receiving a nasty look from Morning Velvet.

The unicorn walked right up next to Techorse, and ran a hoof down his chest, “Of course, it is nice having hapless ponies to tap using our medical lab in the dungeon that you saw.”

Techorse's pupils narrowed, and his heart throbbed in his throat, his breathing becoming rapid as he saw the sharp fangs come close to him as Velvet moved her muzzle to talk directly to him.

“But once in a while, I like to drink directly from the source.”

Techorse wailed a terrified cry as he greatest fear was coming true, and with a wet, choking gasp, he fainted in his chair.

“Way to go, Velvet, you gave him a heart attack,” groaned Whiteboard.

“Shut up, Whiteboard!” growled Velvet, moving away from Techorse, “He's just fainted is all.”

“Please, please don't drink us!” cried Shadow Breeze, feathers detaching from his wings and fluttering to the floor.

“Oh great, and the charcoal one's molting himself,” sighed Whiteboard.

Wallflower tipped the chair Techorse was in down, allowing his sweet, precious blood to flow back into his brain. Soon he was conscious again, and being stared at once more by the three vampony mares who were going to drink from him.

“Please,” he begged, “let my friends go. I know you want me, but you can't take them too.”

“But you know our secret,” said Morning Velvet, “and we can't just let you go free. Now, it's still the same night we captured you, and we've just finished the last of our previous guest. So we will be saving you for tomorrow night, when we wake up. I hope you won't have too many bad dreams about... well, you know.”

She laughed evilly, and Techorse and his friends screamed as Morning Velvet's horned glowed, teleporting them back into the dungeon cell. This time, the lights had been turned off, and the three stallions yelled and cried in terror as they heard the laughing of their tormentors.

---

With it being well past midnight, and the stallions having not been seen or heard from, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were wondering if they had gone home and forgotten to come back to the library. The guys had never actually agreed to come back after having their root beers, but hours had passed. Trixie had been able to put together a few small flash bombs made from a toilet paper roll, a fuse, and her new powder recipe pushed into clay.

“Well, it's pretty late,” said Twilight, yawning, “that was a fun night of going over some chemistry though! I guess you ought to get back to your wagon, Trixie.”

“Very well, and thank you for helping out with the new powder charges,” said the soft blue unicorn.

The door to the library was being knocked on furiously, interrupting Trixie. She casually walked over to the door, and went to reach for the knob, before being blown back by it swinging wildly open. A panicking Pinkie Pie jumped into the room, her face showing horror.

“Oh my gosh girls the boys have gone missing!” she screeched, making Trixie plug her ears.

“What?!” gasped Fluttershy, recoiling in surprise.

Dr. Caltrops and Steiner entered, short of breath. They had been running around Ponyville attempting to locate the missing ponies, and Caltrop's mane was soaked with sweat, his glasses off angle as well.

“Missing? Steiner, what happened?” asked Twilight, running up to the two.

“I found a strange gray substance in my soda taps after Techorse and his friends drank from it,” he explained between breaths, “the good doctor here had a look at it, and it's not good stuff!”

“Calie, what's going on?” begged Pinkie Pie, desperately grabbing him with her front hooves, “We gotta find them!”

Caltrops blushed at Pinkie Pie's proximity to himself, put pushed up his glasses and said, “I analyzed the strange powdery substance in Steiner's taps. It's a condensed sleeping potion. Somepony must have gotten into Steiner's shop and put the powder in the taps!”

“And it had to be a unicorn!” exclaimed the soda shop owner, waving a hoof wildly, “I always hear the bell ring when somepony uses any door in! They must have been a unicorn and zapped themselves in and out silently!”

“I believe they were drugged and ponynapped,” finished Caltrops, “but don't worry, we'll find the culprits and if necessary, I will create a chemical remedy for the sleeping potion.”

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” squealed Pinkie, hugging him tightly.

“Of course, we don't know what we're up against,” said Caltrops, “it could be very dangerous.”

Trixie stood up on her hind legs and bellowed, “Do not worry, the Great and Powerful Trixie will aid you!”

After getting funny looks from Twilight and her friends, she stood back on her four legs, embarrassed, and said more quietly, “Well... I'll do my part, anyways.”

---

The team went back to where Steiner had last seen the stallions heading out on the path, and started to spread out to look for clues as to where they had gone with a couple of flashlights and lanterns. It wasn't long before Pinkie Pie found something, and she called everyone over to look.

“Over here!” she said, hopping up and down, “I think I got something!”

The others rushed over to see what Pinkie Pie was talking about. Sure enough, there were three smoothed out areas in the dirt path, evidence that something had been dragged through the dirt.

“Three markings in the path where there aren't any hooves,” said Caltrops, “but how can we know for sure it's them?”

Trixie shoved him over with a hoof, out of the way, “Easy, step aside!”

Her horn glowed, and a cone of purple light shone down from it onto the ground. A few moments later, a few droplets of a glistening substance were revealed under the energy.

“This is a black light spell,” bragged Trixie, “perfect for glow in the dark tricks! Those droplets are machine oil, almost certainly Tech's!”

“Great job Trixie!” cheered Twilight, looking at her as she turned off her UV ray.

They stopped for a moment, an awkward pause as Twilight had just legitimately paid a kind word to Trixie.

“Right, well, I think I know what to do now,” continued the lavender unicorn, casting a different spell at the tracks in the dirt.

The tree lines were highlighted out into the distant Everfree forest, and the ponies began to follow the trail Twilight was illuminating, her horn glowing fuchsia the entire time to fill the trenches with energy. Eventually though, the trail stopped, very close to the edge of the forest.

“It's too dangerous to go into Everfree this late at night, even with my stare we can't go too far,” cautioned Fluttershy, “unless... we have to.”

The bushes near the treeline rustled softly, and the ponies took guard, just in case a wild animal jumped out at them. But to their relief, Zecora emerged from the foliage, carefully scraping a leaf out of her hair before approaching them.

“Oh, Zecora!” sighed Twilight, “Good to see you again.”

“I wish for now I could say the same,” rhymed the zebra, “but what I saw tonight, it was a shame.”

“Zecora, did you see what happened to Techorse!?” asked Fluttershy, her wings flapping once.

“Indeed, indeed, I saw it all! Your coltfriends took a nasty fall.”

“Um, excuse me!” grunted Trixie indignantly, “Flaming Ivory is not my coltfriend. He's just somepony I work with.”

The zebra moved away from eye contact with Fluttershy to look at Trixie. The mare realized she may have made a bit of a non-sequitur, to her own embarrassment.

“She wasn't talking to you,” giggled Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry,” said Trixie, her ears drooping, trying to avoid eye contact, “I'm new to this whole 'nice' thing. Trixie shall not interrupt again.”

“Please continue Zecora,” said Twilight, “did you see anything else?”

The zebra began again, “I watched with terror late this day, your loved ones were soon dragged away! To the old castle the crooks have gone, our friends may live just one more dawn!”

“They were taken to the Castle of the Two Sisters,” figured Twilight, still hopeful for more information, “thank you so much Zecora! We'll go stop those ponynappers and get them back.”

Zecora held out a hoof to keep Twilight from walking away, “You musn't rush in oh so quick, your enemies are very slick. A fool would go in unprepared, you can't expect you will be spared!”

“What else do we need to know besides the fact that there's three ponynappers camping out in that crumbling old castle?” demanded the doctor, impatiently tapping his hoof.

The zebra didn't want to worry them too much, and worked on her rhyming sentence in her head carefully. She had been out picking herbs for her potions when she had heard screaming in the castle, and had seen the whole thing from one of the dining room windows. In horror she watched the group of mares reveal themselves to be fanged, bat-like individuals, their consumption of the poor pegasus ponies' fluids, and the torment they had put Techorse through. Anything she could do to help now would be better than the repercussions of making Twilight upset or scaring her friends.

Zecora turned her neck, her vertebra cracking into place as she addressed the question, “Techorse and friends' name is now mud. Their takers drink naught but pony blood.”

“VAMPONIES!!!” shrieked Pinkie Pie loudly, blowing out the ears of her friends and she dropped to the ground and covered her ears.

“Vamponies?” scoffed Caltrops, “What nonsense. Everypony knows vamponies are a myth.”

Twilight thought the idea was crazy as well, but she knew Zecora would never tell a lie, so what she saw through the castle windows would have had to been accurate.

“Caltrops, normally I'd agree and say it's nonsense too,” sighed Twilight, “but if Zecora saw that the guys were taken by vamponies, then she's telling the truth.”

“But what can we do about... vamponies?” whimpered Fluttershy, also covering her head like Pinkie Pie, “They're really strong, and really scary!”

“Yeah, and if they bite us, we'll become vamponies too, FOREVER!” wailed Pinkie Pie quickly before covering her head again.

“We have to try!” declared Trixie, raising a hoof, “They are our friends and loved ones, and a coworker!”

Dr. Caltrops sighed and pushed a hoof into his forehead, “I still think this is crazy. We now know that they're in Oldcastle. I'm going to go to The Domain on the other side of the castle, and get help from there. They have troops.”

“Yeah, and Limpwing!” said Pinkie Pie happily, standing up again, “She'd love to help!”

“Actually, that's a good idea,” agreed Twilight, “You and Steiner should go with Pinkie Pie to get Limpwing and The Domain's guard. We might need backup!”

Caltrops walked over to Pinkie Pie, “Done, we'll go get help, you work with Zecora in the meantime.”

---

Zecora led Twilight, Fluttershy, and Trixie through a safe shortcut through the woods to her twisted tree home deep in Everfree, which glowed light yellow from the inside. She led them inside, where her various tribal decorations hung on the walls, and a pot of boiling water sat in a cauldron over the fire.

“In order to take down your biting foes, you must be willing to hit new lows,” warned Zecora, “to take on those with canines strong, you have to change, and play along.”

“What does she mean by that?” asked Trixie, “I do not speak zebra.”

Twilight frowned, “I think she means... in order to stop the vamponies, we've got to become vamponies!”

“But we'd have to get bit!” whined Fluttershy, “Oh, I don't want to have to stay out of the sun forever.”

Zecora smiled and gave Fluttershy a reassuring look, “A temporary change will do instead, you'll have no coffin for your bed!”

The zebra worked quickly to combine potion ingredients into her cauldron, before asking Fluttershy for a favor. Being good with animals, Fluttershy was able to get the attention of a vampire fruit bat, and brought the creature inside for a brief moment. The winged mammal obeyed her orders, and jumped into the cauldron, soaking itself in the warm, thick and goopy concoction before jumping out. It was then released into the night, likely to go find a source of water to bathe in.

“I think this is a disguise potion,” mused Twilight, looking into the pot with a curious stare, “I've heard about these before, it copies the DNA of the first animal to touch it, and disguises the pony who rubs the potion on themselves using aspects of that animal.”

“DNA?” said Fluttershy, “I guess Caltrops missed out, he loves DNA.”

“We haven't time for this!” said Trixie with a grouchy tone, “Let's rub this salve on ourselves and storm that castle!”

“One more thing that should be known, touching sun will make your cover blown!” warned Zecora.

“Oh yeah,” remembered Twilight, “I remember reading in my books that the effect goes away in the sun because you sweat out the potion. Don't worry Zecora, we only need this to work for tonight, and thank you so much for making this for us!”

Zecora issued them each a vial of the substance, and sent them on their way to the castle, each glass potion tied around their necks with a black string. They were to put it on once they reached the ancient castle to maximize the time they had in their changed forms. With Twilight leading the way, Trixie and Fluttershy held on tight, as Twilight concentrated hard to teleport them outside of the castle.

---

The three stallions sat on the floor, shivering, with Techorse and Shadow Breeze drying their tears. This seemed like the end for them, with no means of escape and nopony knowing what had happened to them. But Flaming Ivory was started to get over his fear, and began to get rather upset over his friends' and his own treatment by their captors.

“You know what? I'm not settling for being vampony chow,” he said, standing up on his legs, “we're busting out of here.”

“You couldn't even cut the chains last time,” sighed Shadow Breeze, “how are you gonna blow open that door?”

“Easy. Make me mad,” he said, smirking at the pegasus.

Shadow Breeze reached up with his wing and smacked the unicorn clear across the face, causing him to reach up and hold his reddened cheek.

He yelled, “OW! What the hay?”

“Well it worked, didn't it?” giggled Shadow Breeze, returning his wing to his side.

“That's not what I meant!” shouted Flaming, “I meant motivate me to blow the door open.”

Techorse stood up slowly as well, and said, “We could insult your music.”

“That won't work, we're friends,” sighed the light gray musician, “look, I need a reason to be angry, ok?”

“We're going to have big holes in our throats!” croaked Shadow Breeze, “Oh, I'm trying, but it's scary.”

Flaming Ivory turned around and thought, “Why do I bother?”

Eventually, Techorse caught on and said, “Flaming, if we don't get out of here, those vamponies aren't going to stop with us. They'll go after our friends and family too!”

“Even... Fluttershy?” squeaked the pegasus in the room, his eyes widening in terror.

“I'm afraid so. Fluttershy won't be able to put up a fight, she'll... suffer the same fate,” answered Techorse glumly, “Twilight might stop them, but not before getting bitten, and becoming a vampony herself. And then Trixie will probably be ashamed of her failure again, and make herself... disappear.”

Flaming Ivory's eyes glowed bright orange, and his horn accumulated energy of the same color, before he yelled and shot out a beam of energy shaped like a musical staff with notes of various types. The beam impacted the gated door, destroying it spectacularly and sending it flying through the dungeon, crushing most of the lab equipment.

---

The three vampony mares, seated around the table again and sipping their sanguine drinks from another bottle, were playing a nice game of cards with each other, when they heard a loud noise from deep below them.

“What?” asked Wallflower, looking down at the floor, “What are they up to?”

“I'm not sure,” said Morning Velvet, “but we should go check on them.”

When the three reached the castle dungeon, they saw the lack of prisoners within.

“Woah, that unicorn must have been tougher than we thought!” exclaimed Whiteboard, putting a hoof behind her head.

“We need to find them quickly,” urged Morning Velvet, “they musn't escape! Once we catch them, we will rid ourselves of them right there.”

“Ooooh,” moaned Wallflower, running her tongue across her fang.

The three laughed and vanished in a flash of energy as Velvet teleported them a floor above to begin pursuit of the stallions.

---

Techorse and his two companions galloped down the nearest hallway, filled with pictures and photographs from across the ages, until they entered the main room of the castle. Holes were blown out in the walls, carpet was shredded, and the ancient, rusted pipe organ sat alone and dusty at the back. Almost every window was shattered, but it was still too far up for the stallions to jump.

“Wow, so this is the place where the Princesses dueled so long ago,” said Techorse, swishing his tail, “I can see why Princess Celestia abandoned the place after.”

Celestia's emotional connection to the old home as the place where she made the terrible choice to seal her own sister away, diving the royal family for a thousand years, and bringing unsteady feelings from the rest of Equestria for a century after, had made it too much to bear. Things had finally been put straight in recent years, but the burden of Harmony was still a price the royal siblings paid.

Flaming Ivory couldn't help himself and was inspecting the ranks of the organ.

“Careful Flaming, Twilight's told me that organ is like a central computer for this castle,” he said, “don't touch the keys. Plus, you'll give away our location.”

“Oh come on, this thing probably doesn't have a working wind chest anymore,” countered Flaming Ivory before pushing a key curiously with his hoof.

The G note sounded throughout the hallways, reaching the three vamponies. They were running down a stretch of red carpet in a wide hallways lined with candles, and stopped, their pointed ears raising up to hear the musical note.

“Ah! They're in the organ room,” chuckled Morning Velvet, “let's...”

She didn't get another word out before a panel opened up beneath them, and the three ponies fell through the new hole in the floor, screaming before crashing into the dungeon below. Seconds later, Velvet teleported them into the hallway again, anger building up on her face.

Whiteboard ran ahead of the two others, “Why those little... come on, we're going to finish every last drop when we catch them!”

Back in the organ room, Flaming Ivory removed his hoof from the key, “See, nothing happened!”

“Let's keep moving, we've got to get to the front drawbridge quickly,” instructed Techorse.

---

Twilight Sparkle and company arrived at the cliff face near the isolated castle. Two years ago she would not have been able to cross the gap, but now she was sure she could teleport them over once she had recharged a little.

“All right,” she panted, teleporting more than herself took a lot out of her, “just give me a second, and we'll be good to go.”

“Let's take a break and put on the lotion,” suggested Fluttershy, “I hope it works.”

“Trixie shall try it first!” boasted the unicorn, her magic removing the stopper from the vial.

She smeared the cream all over her legs and behind her ears as they had been instructed to do so, and Twilight followed quickly. They almost had to force Fluttershy to do the same, but eventually, the lotion had been applied to all three mares. A full minute passed, and Twilight could swear she could feel it seeping through her coat into her body, but she couldn't tell.

“Do you suppose it will work?” asked Trixie, “It seems a bit slow.”

“Eeep!” yelled Fluttershy, a pair of fangs replacing two of her teeth.

Twilight and Trixie started to convulse as the potions transformed them. Their coats lengthened along with their ears, Fluttershy gained bat wings, Trixie's eyes turned red. Within seconds, they had been fully turned into bat-like ponies of the night, albeit it was only a disguise.

Trixie licked her fangs over with her thinner tongue, and let out a soft hiss, “This, this has to be a part of my act some day! I must get Zecora's recipe.”

“Not now Trixie, we need to hurry,” said Twilight, “I'm going to charge another spell, hang on!”

---

In one of the highest areas of the castle, a wide carpet made of blue cloth with yellow markings on it stretched across a wide floor, the same tapestries and candle emplacements dotting the walls. It had been used as an observatory a long time ago, but the telescope that had belonged to Princess Luna had long been removed, kept as a museum piece before the closing of the castle eons ago. Several open windows were in the arena, but they were covered with dark curtains, blotting out the sky outside.

“I think we went the wrong way,” whimpered Shadow Breeze, following his friends, “this is upstairs, not down!”

“Do you think maybe the castle's layout changes?” asked Flaming, “Are the vamponies doing this?”

“Maybe, but we still have a chance to escape, we just have to keep trying doors,” said Techorse, starting to panic again.

Shadow Breeze looked around the creepy room as they started to leave, craning his neck up to look at the ceiling. The rafters, made of stone, seemed to have three sets of glowing eyes coming from it.

“G... guys!” whined Shadow, pointing up.

The three vamponies dropped from the ceiling in front of the stallions, and Morning Velvet cast a large ring of energy around them in a wall, leaving them unable to escape. They screamed and try to run away, but ran smack into the energy and were rebounded into the middle of the ring. All bravery was squashed when they knew they were trapped, and they started to become terrified again.

“So!” bellowed Morning Velvet, “Trying to escape your fate, are you?”

Each stallion went back to back as their enemies closed in, laughing and baring their razor sharp teeth. Shadow Breeze panicked and held onto his neck dearly with his wings.

“Please, let us go!” wailed Techorse, “We've had enough!”

Whiteboard laughed, “Now that we know you're capable of escaping, we've decided to push dinner up to... now!”

“B... but, you said we could have tomorrow,” pleaded Flaming Ivory, his ears drooping.

“Why wait? Besides, after dropping us into a trapdoor, we're a bit upset,” hissed Wallflower.

“You've been a pain in our necks, so now we're going to be a pain in yours!” laughed Whiteboard, flapping her wings and flying up to Flaming Ivory, “Ooooh, I call this one, girls!”

“So, do you know that I just got over the worst case of lead poisoning?” lied Flaming Ivory, “I've got so much heavy metal in my blood, I might as well go on tour!”

“Enough excuses!” roared Morning Velvet, a beam of energy shooting Flaming Ivory in the head and knocking him to the floor.

Whiteboard jumped on top of him and held his head back, exposing his soft neck, and making the piano player yell like crazy, desperate to survive. Wallflower likewise pinned down Shadow Breeze, and the stallion kicked and flailed to get away.

“Run Techorse!” cried Shadow.

Techorse's legs wanted to follow that order, but he looked at his two friends, and Morning Velvet approaching him. He thought about how her fangs would sink into him, and fulfill his worst fear. The trauma of the past stung deep, and the adrenaline in his heart flowed freely.

But something made him stand, and he said, “I'm... not leaving, no matter how scared I get. It's the right thing to do.”

Morning Velvet rolled her eyes at the foolish attempt to be brave, and magically wrapped Techorse's middle with a binding curse, trapping him to the floor as well. She walked up to him, laughing and licking her lips one more time. Slowly, but carefully, she lowered her mouth down to Techorse's neck, her fangs baring and her saliva dripping down onto the floor next to him.

Techorse gave a final look at his friends, who returned the eye contact, and then, they shut their eyes tightly as they felt the warm breath of the vamponies on their necks.

“It's just going to be one sharp prick, like a needle,” Techorse told himself, his subconscious begging him to scream and pass out, “and then it'll be over.”

A small eternity passed, hot breath on their necks right over the major artery, but nothing happened. The guys opened their eyelids to discover that the vamponies had pulled back, and were giving them thoughtful looks.

“Stop tormenting us!” demanded Techorse.

“But it's too much fun,” snickered Whiteboard.

Velvet suddenly seemed to change her tune, “Well, perhaps there is one thing that could set this straight, without us needing to feed on you...”

“You won't be feeding on anypony when we're done with you!” shouted Twilight, the door to the room splintering as a bolt of energy tore through the ancient wood.

“Wh... what?!” gasped the leader, turning around with her companions.

“Other vamponies?!” screeched Whiteboard, “Hey, we were here first!”

“Twilight!” cried Techorse, tears running down his face, “You found us!”

“We'll have you out post haste!” declared Trixie, her cape fluttering behind her, now tattered like a true vampony's cape.

Velvet quickly cast the binding spell on the other two stallions and walked up with her helpers. The three mares of Ponyville approached them in the middle of the room.

“Let our friends go,” growled Twilight, ducking down and baring her glowing horn.

“Hahahaha!” cackled Morning Velvet, “Well, you must be Twilight Sparkle, we've heard only the best about you. What a curious fact that you've turned out to be vamponies as well.”

“Actually, we're...” spoke Fluttershy, before Trixie shoved a hoof in her mouth to keep her quiet.

“I'm not going to ask again,” warned Twilight, “release them.”

“Not a chance,” hissed Velvet, before firing an array of diamond-shaped energy blasts at Twilight from her horn.

Twilight rolled to the right to dodge the magical attack, which sailed into the stone wall, embedding into it like daggers before disappearing into nothingness. Returning fire with an elongated bolt of guided energy, the magic missile exploded beneath Morning Velvet, sending her flying backwards, but not before she righted herself and landed on her four feet.

“Destroy them!” commanded Velvet.

Wallflower and Fluttershy broke off from the group to fight one on one. Unfortunately, neither of them were very keen on fighting at all, and so Fluttershy hovered in the air in front of her, they resorted to growling, hissing, and making funny faces at each other with their bat ears.

“Well, are we going to fight?” asked Wallflower.

“Um...” gulped Fluttershy, “sure, you go first.”

“No, you, I want to react to your moves,” said the other mare.

“Oh brother,” groaned Flaming Ivory, “Fluttershy, whoop her flank!”

“Excuse me!?” gasped the yellow pegasus, “Watch your mouth, Flaming!”

Wallflower took the distraction and grabbed Fluttershy, tumbling to the ground with her yelling in a girly manner. Fluttershy looked up with her now red eyes at Wallflower, who moved back her head to attempt to headbutt her opponent. Thinking quickly, Fluttershy flapped her wings and scooted out from underneath the other mare, and Walflower ended up smashing her head into solid stone. She stumbled around, in circles around Fluttershy, who sat and watched patiently until she came to a wobbly pose on one leg next to her. Then, taking out her front right hoof from her pose, Fluttershy gently pushed over Wallflower, who fell over with a soft thud.

Meanwhile, Whiteboard was trying to eliminate Trixie, swooping down from above with a stone brick she had picked up from the floor. Trixie took aim with her horn, and shot off a stream of firework like sparks, the roman candle like blasts exploding all around Whiteboard, who took a few hits but kept coming. The stone dropped down, and Trixie froze in place, panicking about the incoming brick. Twilight spotted this, and gave out a loud yell before shooting a solid ray of purple light into the stone, cutting it in half and letting the pieces miss Trixie to her left and right.

Now, without anything left, Whiteboard dive bombed Trixie directly to attack her. But Trixie took one step back, and with a quick flick of her left hoof, threw down a smoke bomb, which exploded loudly and filled the area around her with the gray fumes. Whiteboard couldn't slow herself down, and landed in the smoke hard on the floor, standing up and coughing as the fog entered her lungs.

“Where are you?!” she growled, looking around quickly.

“Over here!” taunted Trixie from just outside the smoke, her hat now missing as it had fallen off in the explosion, ”Do you dare challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

Whiteboard galloped for Trixie, lowering her head to ram her. As she exited the smoke, she felt a very sharp whack on her head as she ran into a large pane of glass that Trixie had summoned in front of her!”

“Ugh, how did you do that?” gurgled the pegasus, falling back from the impact.

“It's all smoke and mirrors,” she answered, raising her nose and closing her eyes in contempt at the now unconscious pegasus.

Twilight and Velvet were the last to duel, exchanging magical shots at each other from across the room. Purple bolt met orange diamond in blast after blast.

“Enough of this!” roared Morning Velvet, before casting off tendrils of orange energy that snaked after Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle attempting to shield herself with a round bubble of force field energy around herself, but the lines of orange pierced the shield completely, shattering the orb and grabbing Twilight by the legs.

“Now you'll see some real vampony power!” said Morning Velvet darkly, stepping up to Twilight.

Another line of orange streaked across the lavender mare's horn, leaving her unable to cast, and grunting as the magical ropes held her tighter. Trixie saw this, and was quickly thinking of a way to help her new friend. Ever since they met, she was always jealous that Twilight's magical talents were “better”. She knew she wouldn't be able to overpower Morning Velvet. She wanted to indulge herself in self pity again, but then, she remembered something. Trixie Lulamoon had one more trick up her sleeve, thanks to her friend!

“So, you like leaving ponies without power do you?” yelled Trixie, distracting Morning Velvet, “Well, let's see how you like it!”

Trixie reached into her hat on the ground nearby, and pulled out the powder tube, which she lit and heaved magically at Morning Velvet. The stick bounced in front of the vampony, who looked at it curiously as it came right next to her face. She realized what it might be, and gasped before jumping backwards, but it was far too late.

A loud blast filled the room with a white glow, sending Morning Velvet to the floor, who skidded a long distance until she came to rest in front of one of the curtained windows. She had been way too close to the magic trick, and could no longer hear or see very well. Due to the stun, Twilight was released from her magic, along with the stallions, and they ran over to their mares quickly.

The other two vamponies retreated to their leader, having regained consciousness, and stood with her in front of the window. Trixie noticed that there was a yellow glow underneath the curtains, and a rather evil thought occurred to her.

“We'll be back for you, Techorse,” screamed Morning Velvet, “we'll get you yet!”

“Oh no you won't,” said Trixie, “enjoy the sunrise, vamponies!”

With one swift motion of her horn, she yanked away the curtain, bathing the three vampony mares in the bright morning sun. They had all been at the castle for so long that the sun had risen, and the rays pierced the three ponies of the night, who screeched loudly and covered themselves.

“Trixie, no! That will turn them to dust!” pleaded Fluttershy.

Trixie felt a bit guilty, but that guilt turned to annoyance as she noticed the mares eyes were clearly adjusting to the light. In addition, the heat of the rays along with the combat was making them sweat, and their coats seemed to be getting shorter, along with their ears. Soon they were left in their original forms, albeit a bit bruised and with Morning Velvet's eyeshadow melting down her face.

“Heeeeey,” said Twilight, annoyed, “What's going on?”

The three mares stepped into the sunlight as well, and it too melted away their disguises, turning them back to normal.

“Oh, wow, look at that,” laughed Morning Velvet, “we had the same idea.”

“What's going on?” asked Techorse, clearly confused, “Twilight, why were you a vampony too? And why did the sun turn everyone back to normal?”

“There never were any real vamponies,” explained Twilight, looking out the window and smiling, “these are just three ordinary mares who must have used a disguise potion like us. Zecora provided us one in the form of a cream..”

“Oh, ok, we admit it!” cried Wallflower, tears coming to her eyes as she looked at Shadow Breeze, “We really aren't vamponies. That stuff we were drinking earlier was a vampony disguise potion from a prank company, the screaming stallion on the front's just a reaction photo they use to prove it works.”

“But why would you do this?” asked Flaming Ivory, also rather confused.

“We did it because we overheard Techorse was scared of being punctured for the blood drive and thought disguising ourselves as vamponies would terrify him,” sighed Whiteboard, “see, we were paid money by a stranger. He told us we were to get you to leave Ponyville forever, so we decided we would scare you to death, then offer to not drink you if you promised to leave.”

“Who paid you?” asked Shadow Breeze.

“A centaur in a suit of armor paid us,” admitted Morning Velvet, “you have to understand, we were out of jobs and rather desperate, and he paid so much!”

“A centaur... in armor?” wondered Twilight, tilting her head, “Weird.”

“We'll worry about that later,” assured Flaming Ivory, very angry over his horrid night, “for now, we ought to teach these three a lesson.”

“Um, we just did teach them a lesson,” said Fluttershy meekly, hoping to not draw his wrath.

To her surprise, Flaming Ivory simply rolled his eyes and agreed with a sarcastic laugh, “Oh, yeah. I guess we did!”

---

Limpwing arrived with six armored guards an hour later, with Caltrops, Steiner, and Pinkie Pie in tow, Zecora had also followed in hopes of seeing how things had turned out. They brought the alleged vamponies outside, and Limpwing had them chained together by the guards. Techorse and Shadow Breeze had their gear returned to them as well, and Techorse was never happier to be getting use of his mechanical arms back. He was talking to Limpwing concerning his captor's punishment for his evening of fright, and she was taking every chance to mock him for it as she usually did.

“Heh, never would of thought of you as scared of needles and a little blood drawing,” snickered the lieutenant, her flight goggles pulling back on her scalp, “but these three are going to be held accountable for scaring the horsefeathers out of you anyways.”

“Oh, come on now,” begged Wallflower, “we were really desperate! Please go easy on us.”

“No way, you ponynapped us, locked us up, terrified us, and fought with our marefriends,” said Shadow Breeze, shaking his head, “who'd let you off?”

“Yeah, meanies!” agreed Pinkie Pie.

Techorse looked at the three mares, and shook his head, “Morning Velvet, you guys really took things way too far. I'm not scared of what you were doing the way a pony might be afraid of snakes, or dragons, or being alone. What happened really hurt me, and honestly, I think I'm going to be upset for a while.”

“Techorse,” interrupted Limpwing, “these three mares are citizens of The Domain. Sure we're running under Equestrian law now, but I think you're kind of out of your jurisdiction. We're taking these mares away though, don't worry.”

“Oh, yeah...” said Techorse, scuffling on the ground, “sorry Limpwing.”

Limpwing knew Techorse wasn't interested in an overwhelming penalty for the three, and sighed sarcastically, “Okay, okay, I'll push for community service since I know that's more along the lines of what you want. They aren't really all that dangerous if they lost to Trixie Lulamoon..”

Trixie, not used to Limpwing's teasing, shot her a filthy look, which she laughed off nervously.

Techorse looked up and smiled, “Thank you! I hope they've changed by the end of it. As some of us have had to do.”

This time, Trixie smiled and tipped her head knowingly.

Soon the mares were loaded up into a cart and hauled away by Limpwing and her team of guards. All that was left was for the remaining ponies to return to Ponyville now that the nightmare was finally over.

---

“Ok sweetie, look at me,” said Twilight, a broad smile on her face.

Techorse looked at the love of his life deep into her purple eyes, concentrating on her affectionate look as Dr. Caltrops slipped the needle into his right leg. A moment later, his pint was secured for the blood drive, a bit late but still useful, and the bag was packed away in an iced medical box for transport. The doctor sealed the wound off after removing the butterfly needle with some gauze, and Techorse stood up with Twilight still staring at him.

“Oh, we're so proud of you!” cheered Fluttershy, “You've overcome your fear of it.”

“No I haven't,” admitted Techorse, breaking eye contact with Twilight, “I'm still terrified of having things jabbed into me like that. But it's worth it, and it's only once a year, I can't run from it all the time.”

“That doesn't discount how valuable it is,” commented Caltrops, “and we're sorry we tried to browbeat you into it earlier.”

“I guess this means I'm gonna have to make you another cookie!” giggled Pinkie Pie, “I ran out.”

“Don't worry about it,” laughed Techorse, standing up from the chair, “I'm just glad we're all ok.”

“Oh, me too!” said Fluttershy softly, hugging Shadow Breeze and kissing him on the forehead, “I honestly didn't think we'd get you away from those horrible mares.”

“Nonsense, we have you watching our backs,” scoffed Flaming Ivory, “especially now that Trixie and Twilight are working as a team!”

“But that's what friends do,” answered Twilight.

“Absolutely!” agreed Trixie, “Of course, the new powder recipe really helped. Without it, even I, the Great and Powerful Trixie... could not have blinded Velvet and rescued my Flaming Ivory!”

“Aw, you missed me!” he chuckled, seeing a soft side to his old coworker.

Trixie blushed and huffed indignantly, “I... well I don't have much of a music accompaniment to my spectacular illusion show if my pianist is a shriveled husk, now do I?!”

---

Twilight and Techorse bid their friends farewell, and started to walk back into town, side by side. It was the middle of the next day, and they were both exhausted and wanted to get the sleep they had missed out on the night before.

“Thanks for saving me again, Twilight,” said her coltfriend, “even though there wasn't any real danger, I could have gone into cardiac arrest if they had kept scaring me like that.”

“You're welcome, and hey, you were right about Trixie,” she answered, “turns out we do get along much better than what I thought we would.”

“I might just have to reward you for making progress with her, and for keeping my neck in one piece,” Techorse said, “maybe a brand new book from the Canterlot book shop.”

Twilight stopped him with a leg, making him turn to face her, “You know I'm always interested in another book. But I'm thinking I deserve two rewards.”

She lowered her eyelids and bit, and gave him a peaceful look, prompting him to lean in. Before anything could happen, Twilight stopped and started to check the area around them. There was nothing in the bushes, nothing behind the nearby bench, and no nearby containers that could be used as hiding spots.

“We're clear,” she said, winking and pursing her lips.

They closed their eyes and kissed lip to lip, enjoying the moment and making use of the last of Techorse's adrenaline to bond.

“I love you,” whispered Techorse.

“I love you too.”

The three next to them shook, and down from the highest branch descended Pinkie Pie tail first, who was hanging upside down. Twilight saw her and groaned out loud, knowing what was coming next.

“Hey guys!” she giggled, “Just hanging out! Say, did you save any of that potion, Twilight? Maybe you and Techorse could turn back into vamponies and do a little necking next!”

“Pinkie Pie, someday we're going to catch you!” growled Twilight playfully, “And we're going to make you regret it!”

“Not likely!” teased the pink mare, “Hope my teasing doesn't bite too much!”giggling and jumping off into the distance, a merry bounce with each movement as Twilight and Techorse shook their heads and chased off in pursuit of their friend.

“One of these days, Pinkie. One of these days!”