The Night Reveals
Twilight woke with a start just after sunset, practically flying out of bed in her rush to find Luna. She cleared the stairs to the libraries common level in one leap, landing heavily but not slowing, and she tore through the rooms until she spied Luna, nestled in a corner and reading the modern Equestrian tax code.
“Luna!” she practically shouted, and the alicorn gently placed a bookmark before facing Twilight and raising a single curious eyebrow. “The Keeper spoke to me last night,” she continued, “he told me the Necromancers are back, and they're getting ready to start another war.”
Luna's book dropped with a thump, but her expression remained stoic. “Truly?” she asked. “He told you this clearly, there could be no other interpretation?”
Twilight shook her head mutely.
Luna stood quickly. “I must return to Canterlot, there will be no training tonight. Visit your friends, they must miss you terribly, I will return before dawn.”
“But-” Twilight began, but Luna cut her off with a raised hoof.
“I refuse to risk the safety of this country by not giving this threat the proper resonse. My sister and I will investigate, and your presence is not necessary. I will inform you as soon as I know more. Please, Twilight, take this night and rest. You may need it in the days to come.”
With that, the Princess disappeared in a flash of brilliant blue light, leaving Twilight alone in the library with her thoughts.
Luna arrived in the Canterlot Palace just as the nobles were shuffling out the doors, returning to their homes after a long day of bickering over which of them deserved their station more. She parted the sea of politicians with a withering glare, and heedless of their strange stares she raced through the palace at a full gallop until she found Celestia. A brief whispered conference later, they both tore a hole through reality and arrived in the observatory that represented the single highest point in Equestria. From there, they could survey the entirety of the lands they controlled and more. If there was evidence of the Necromancers return, they would find it.
Twilight knocked gently on Rarity's door, hoping it wasn't too late at night. The door opened quickly, revealing a very surprised Rarity, and she was rushed inside in a whirlwind of excited babble. As soon as there was a moment of silence, Twilight smiled and quietly asked “I don't suppose you have anything with caffeine? I just woke up.”
Rarity returned a wicked grin. “How strong would you like it?”
“Strong as you have,” Twilight replied.
Rarity nodded and bustled off to her kitchen, digging through a cupboard for a moment before producing a tea pot and a small ebony box. Twilight raised a single eyebrow in surprise before saying, “I haven't seen one of those boxes in years. Is that what I think it is?”
“Zebrecian Midnight Tea,” Rarity confirmed. “I have to order it from Canterlot, and it costs a fortune, but when I have an idea in the middle of the night it's only thing that wakes me up.”
The two exchanged various pleasantries while the tea was prepared, then Rarity poured two carefully measured cups and settled at her kitchen table across from Twilight. “Now darling,” she said after a single bracing sip, “enough with the formalities. I haven't seen you in weeks! How are you feeling?”
Twilight drained her cup in a single swallow, hardly even noticing the burn of the near boiling liquid. “I've been better, but at least my coat and mane have grown back in.”
Rarity nodded. “What about your.... erm, the scar?” she asked, gesturing at her own eye.
“Ah,” Twilight said, pouring herself a rather larger cup. “I can keep it hidden if I want, it's a pretty easy glamour, but I don't think it'll ever go away.” Twilight let the simple illusion fall, revealing a angry red line that traced upward from her lip just past her eye, leaving her with a permanent smirk and a casting a slightly deranged look to her features. “It was a piece of a floorboard, I think,” she continued. “I actually got lucky, an inch to the side and instead of glancing off it would have driven right in.”
Rarity blanched slightly, and tilted her head. “Well, that's rather lucky indeed, but whatever happened to your tooth?”
Twilight reached up and tapped her newly grown fang, exposed by her smirk, before realising what Rarity was asking about, then smiled and laughed sheepishly, revealing the second fang.
Several minutes later, Twilight was steadily working at her fourth cup of tea while Rarity sat in the far corner of the room. “It's not that I don't trust you, Twilight,” she called, “but you must admit it is rather suspicious.”
Twilight sighed in annoyance, gently set her teacup down, then she exploded into motion. Moving so quickly that Rarity only saw a blur, she crossed the room and slammed a single hoof against the wall, trapping Rarity. “If I was here to hurt you, I wouldn't need to play nice,” she growled before shaking her head roughly and taking a few steps back.
Rarity, for her part, stayed seated in shocked silence.
“I'll go,” Twilight said sadly, shaking her head again. “I'm sorry if I scared you.”
“No! No,” Rarity said, standing and shooing Twilight back to the table. “Really I'm the one who must apologise, here I am scared out of my wits and you haven't done a thing. Please, sit, sit!”
Twilight slowly sat down again and poured a fifth cup of tea, draining the remnants of the pot. Rarity busied herself preparing a second while she spoke.
“I won't say I know how you feel, but I dare say I have an idea. I can't imagine my reaction was at all helpful, and for that I apologise. Now you stay right here and tell me all about it. It's the least I can do.”
Twilight started cautiously, starting with Luna's revelation of what she had become. She talked about her long nights training her mind and body with Luna, leaving out nothing but her interactions with The Keeper and her trip to the Canterlot dungeons, her speech hollow and strained but growing more confident by the word.
“There's more,” Rarity said while Twilight paused for a moment. “I know there is.”
“It's my head,” Twilight groaned, whacking her forehead harshly enough to make Rarity wince. “The vampirism is doing something to me. I'm angrier than I've ever been, and it feels good to let it out.”
Rarity checked the tea and poured herself a fresh cup. “That only makes sense, darling,” she said, levitating one over to Twilight. “You said the vamponies were soldiers, what use is a soldier that would rather tend a library than strap on armour and fight? Or, for that matter, one that fell to pieces when things got violent?”
“That doesn't explain it all,” Twilight countered. “I wouldn't have lost my temper with you so easily.”
“But you would after being trained to embrace your emotions,” Rarity pointed out. “Really dear, I'm surprised you're as stable as you are, all things considered. Most ponies would be broken by now.”
“I'm not really a pony any more,” Twilighty said sadly. “Ponies can sleep at night, and they don't have these,” she continued, gesturing at her fangs.
“Now you stop that!” Rarity said, reaching over to smack Twilight's hoof down. “You're no less a pony than you were before your accident. You might have changed a little, but that's only natural.”
Twilight barked out a harsh laugh. “Your heart. I can hear it, it's beating too quickly. Your pupils are more dilated than they should be with this much light, and you keep fidgeting when you think I'm not looking. You're still afraid of me. You don't even believe yourself.”
“I'm absolutely terrified,” Rarity confirmed primly, “but a lady must always strive to maintain her composure, no matter what the circumstance. Besides, the more you tell me, the less afraid of you I am. Please, do go on!
Twilight chuckled. “Only you, Rarity, but I've told you just about everything I can.”
Rarity clucked her tongue. “You're like a sister to me Twilight, but you're even worse of a liar than I am. You've given me all the sordid details, but you haven't told me a thing about what you think of it at all. Don't even try to convince me you haven't got some theory.”
Twilight smiled. “And you want to hear it, I suppose?” she asked sarcastically, to which Rarity simply gave her an even look. “Well,” Twilight began again, “You focused on the word solider, but I think that's wrong. Soldiers need to be in control of their emotions, disciplined, able to follow orders and function as a unit even when it goes against their personal interests. A predator, though, needs to be wild to survive, and most predator species are extremely individualistic. I think that's what she made me, more of a wolf than a soldier. It would explain why I lost my temper, I'm the only vampony around, so I naturally assumed the Alpha role, and I get angry when that part of me perceives a threat, leading me to respond with overwhelming force to maintain my position. She certainly beat the fear out me,” Twilight remarked dryly, “so I'm pretty sure she wanted to encourage me not to back down.”
“Not literally, of course?” Rarity asked nervously, and Twilight smiled fondly and rubbed her side, where less than week before she'd had a monstrous bruise.
“'Pain is an excellent motivator,' she told me. I can't argue with the results, that's for sure.”
“By Celestia,” Rarity muttered. “You sound like you're glad she hurt you!”
Twilight hesitated a moment. “I suppose I am, in a way,” she admitted. “I've always had my mind and my magic, but I was never a very strong pony, and I always tried to avoid fighting. I knew I could win a lot of the time, I mean you've seen how I can be when I'm backed in to a corner, but I always backed down if I had the option. I don't think I could ever do that again, even if I wanted to. It just wouldn't feel right. I heal pretty quickly now anyway, so it's not a big deal if I get thrown through a tree.”
Rarity blinked. “I suppose that was literal as well.”
“Three times. Once when she was teaching me shields, twice when she was teaching me how to read movement and dodge. Wasn't what I'd call fun, but not as bad as it sounds.”
“How strong are your bones?” Rarity asked, surprised. “I mean, that should have broken your back!”
“It did,” Twilight grunted.
Rarity nodded, then did a double take.
“It didn't really hurt,” Twilight said with a shrug. “I mean, I wouldn't do it again by choice, but I couldn't really feel much until the next day, and by then it was more like a cramp than anything else. I could walk and everything by then, but she always let me rest until I was back to normal. Usually though I just had sprains and bruises.”
Rarity's face brightened and she made a delighted little sound in the back of her throat. “I think I understand now,” she said, and Twilight motioned her to go on. “Well, in today’s world, all that you've been describing is really very strange. Ponies don't have to fight any more, except for the Royal Guard, and even they're mostly ceremonial, so it wouldn't really do us any good to move like you can or treat a broken back like an annoyance. But, it wasn't ten years ago some of the wilder parts of the West finally started calming down, it's not exactly unheard of for scientists to go missing in the North, and the Gryphons start trouble on that border every five or ten years. Your abilities would be so very useful in places like that, and everywhere was like that once upon a time. If vampirism is as old as you say it is, then it wouldn't make you a soldier or a predator. It would make you a survivor. You'll be able to keep going when the times get tough by the standards of a time before hospitals and markets and all the lovely conveniences that we're used to, because everything about you that would be helpful has been exaggerated and everything harmful has been suppressed.”
“Wow, Rarity,” Twilight said, “that's actually an interesting idea.”
“I'm more than a pretty face, you know,” Rarity said, her tone satisfied.
“I need to play with that for a while,” Twilight muttered. “Do you think you might be up for a little walk? I might as well tell the others about me while I have the time,” Twilight asked, quickly reapplying the veil that hid her teeth and scars.
“Certainly!” Rarity said with a smile. “After all this tea I won't be able to sleep anyway.”
Some time later, Twilight and Rarity had managed to assemble the entirety of their little group despite the late hour, and were gathered near Fluttershy's cottage where nopony would hear them, even if they screamed. “Now,” Rarity told Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow, “I need all four of you to promise me that you won't run.”
Her overly-broad, pasted on smile was greeted with sceptical looks. “Y'all better explain why you drug me outta bed at midnight first,” Applejack drawled.
Rarity nervously clopped her forehooves together a few times. “Well, there may be a slight relation between why you're here and why you'd run.”
“Get on with it,” Rainbow yawned. “We won't run.”
“You know they wouldn't get far anyway, right Rarity?” Twilight whispered in the unicorns ear.
“That's beside the point!” Rarity whispered back.
“What are we whispering about?” Pinkie asked as her head popped up beside the two unicorns.
Rarity yelped and flinched violently backward, but Twilight only laughed. “Thanks Pinkie,” she said. “I needed that. Anyway, moving on... I have some news for all of you, about my accident and my recovery.”
“Oh, you're all right, aren't you?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“For a certain definition,” Twilight replied nervously, smiling and allowing her veil to fall.
There was a moment of perfect stillness, then hell broke loose.
Rainbow moved first, and Twilight wasn't at all surprised to see the pegasus was heading towards her. Twilight easily tripped the pegasus and slapped a simple binding on her, restraining her in place before moving on to Applejack, who had taken off running towards Fluttershy's cottage. She teleported directly in front of the earth pony, repeated her performance, then glanced around to see Pinkie Pie frantically trying to drag Rarity towards Ponyville. Another teleport, another binding, and only Fluttershy remained, rooted in place with a shocked expression.
Three seconds, three restrained ponies. Twilight grunted in a mixture of satisfaction and frustration, then quietly asked, “What about you, Fluttershy?”
“I'm fine right here, thanks,” the pegasus replied, whispering.
Twilight grunted again. “Sorry about all this, but I really need to explain it all.”
“That's fine,” Fluttershy whispered even more quietly.
Twilight and Rarity dragged the other three ponies back to where they had been, and then Rarity gave them each a stern look. “Now really, I understand a little shock, but that's no cause for an over reaction!”
Twilight snickered quietly in to her hoof. “If it makes any of you feel any better, she nearly bounced off the ceiling.”
Rarity shot her a stricken, accusatory look, but Twilight ignored it. “Okay. The first thing you need to know is that I'm not going to hurt any of you,” Twilight continued. “If you're wondering how you can trust me, I'll release the bindings I put on you, if you promise to hear me out.”
A series of angry, lock-jawed grunts answered her. Twilight payed them no mind as they evolved into annoyed, then pleading, and finally begrudging acceptance. Then she released the bindings, and the three ponies stretched out and groaned. “Ah feel like I've been applebuckin' for a month,” Applejack muttered.
“It'll fade,” Rarity told her.
“Now,” Twilght cut in, “before any of you get any ideas about what happened to me, just know that I didn't have a choice. Literally. I woke up like this, and it's the only reason I'm still alive.”
That drew sober looks. “Ah reckon I understand that,” Applejack admitted. “Gotta do what's gotta be done and all.”
“It is a little creepy though,” Rainbow said. “I mean, fangs. No offence. Do you have to... uh, you know...”
Twilight gave the pegasus an even look. “No, they're decorative,” she snarked, and Rainbow gave her a rueful grin.
“Y'all aint hurt anypony, have you?” Applejack asked, suspicious. The unicorn responded with a guilty silence, and Applejack whistled.
Before the situation could devolve again, Twilight quickly explained everything she knew about her hunger, and what had happened in the dungeons beneath Canterlot, leaving out only that she had killed the stallion. By the time she was finished, the other ponies all looked a little queasy, but they hadn't tried to run.
“I didn't even know Canterlot had dungeons,” Rainbow said.
“They aren't really a tourist attraction,” Twilight replied. “They're not exactly secret, but they aren't open to the public either. You need to petition the Crowns to go in there, and you have to be accompanied by Guards.”
“Well, at least it wasn't an innocent pony,” Rarity pointed out.
“That don't make it right,” Applejack said, stubborn. “Ah aint rightly sure how Ah feel 'bout all this.”
“Neither am I,” Twilight told her. “All I'm asking you for is a chance. Let me figure this all out and decide what I want to do before you tell the townsponies about me.”
“Ah reckon that aint too much to ask,” Applejack replied slowly, “but there aint gonna be missin' ponies 'round here or any such thing, right?”
Twilight paled. “No! Of course not!” she exclaimed. “I'm not a murderer!”
“Well you do kinda drink blood, Twilight,” Pinkie pointed out, her normally bubbly voice subdued.
“No,” Fluttershy said with a surprising firmness. “That's different. That's like a ferret eating fish, it's nature. You can't tell a ferret to starve itself just because it has a different diet than we do.”
“Aint nothin' natural 'bout vamponies,” Applejack muttered, “but I 'spose you've got a point. Twi, can y'all... do your thing without makin' a body?”
“I already told you I only need a few cups a week, Applejack,” Twilight replied. “I might even be able to get that from a hospital if I tell them it's for research. Either way, I can get it without killing anypony.”
“You do that, and Ah'll keep my mouth shut. Anypony else got anythin' to say?” There was a small chorus of negatives, then Applejack nodded. “All right. That's settled.”
“Thanks girls,” Twilight said with a small smile.
“Aw shucks, don't get all sappy on us now,” Applejack said, returning the smile, even if it was a little strained. “We get a lotta weird things in these parts, bein' so close to the Everfree and all. What's one more? Y'aint no timberwolf or nothin'.”
“So, can I go back to bed now?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but a strange sound caught her attention. Whirling towards the forest some twenty yards behind her, she motioned for her friends to be quiet and listened intently, waiting for the night to carry some hint to her ears. The sound came again, and this time it was followed by a faint smell that sent a small jolt of panic through her. “Girls,” she said in a low, urgent tone, “get back to Fluttershy's cottage. Move slowly, be as quiet as possible, and don't make a light.”
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked, afraid.
“I'm not sure,” Twilight said, “but there's something in those trees, and if it is what I think it might be, you aren't safe here.”
“What about you?” Rainbow asked, scanning the trees but seeing nothing in the darkness.
“I should be there soon,” Twilight answered. “Whatever you do, even if I don't show up, stay inside, stay away from the windows, and stay in the dark. If I'm not there by sunrise, go to the library, Luna should be there. She'll know what to do.”
Shapes stirred between the trees, and Twilight growled low in her chest as her suspicions were confirmed. “You need to leave,” she urged her friends. “I can't protect you and fight at the same time. Tell Luna there were husks in the forest, now go!”
She bellowed the last word, and a heartbeat later she was gone, racing towards the trees.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,017 users online
2,141,842 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
kill the author updates to slow
no but seriously i m liking the re-wright but come on man i needs my vampony twilight also go dam cliff hangers i needs a fight scene
wtf, i dont remeber this place
you caught my attention... I'm gonna have to read this later.
5986542 All I've got for you is "sorry," man. I've got no excuse this time. I'm just not together enough to hold myself to a schedule.
5986655 Which place would that be?
How long to the next update?
Vampire stories here are like crack cocaine to me.
5989610 Not long. Prodigious amounts of nicotine and alcohol mean it's actually getting near half done right now. Tomorrow or the day after, probably, no later than Thursday.
5989669
Sweet. I love cliffhangers, actually because it makes me think. The times I hate them is when it never gets updated. On a separate note, do you think it would be a good idea if someone wrote a story but had the readers decide what would happen?
5989679 Remember Twitch Plays Pokemon? The trolls would be legion. If you could sift through that, it might work, but I sure as hell couldn't pull it off.
5989683
What I mean is like you say in the author's notes something like " should this happen or should this?" Do you think the idea is interesting?
5989693 What, like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books done through a Straw Poll? That'd be awesome as hell if it was done properly.
5989716
It would be. Like a majority choosing what happens in a story could be cool. Somebody needs to do that.
5989755 Don't look at me
Why don't you give it a shot?
5989771
Because I'm still secretive about liking MLP because of some of my anti-brony friends and the fact that I just do not want to have that talk with my parents. They don't know about things where there a lot of bronies, or that we even exist. I see MLP shit in iFunny and here and Daily motion to avoid telling them.
5989874 Ah, alright. I feel ya. It took me a little while to open the stable doors myself.
5989899
How long, exactly? I've been here almost 2 years, in secret. Sure one friend knows. He got me into it. As well as TF2, Metal Gear, Counter Strike... He's bribed me to get into all the things that really define me, and then stopped liking them. Well except for MGS.
5989928 Three or four months, maybe five, but I'm the kinda guy that gives very few fucks.
5989936
Well I am very self conscious. I no longer appear shirtless because I'm about 25 pounds overweight. It also doesn't help that I am so prone to acne that I was literally bor with it.
DOOOOOOOOODGE!!!!!
static-6.nexusmods.com/15/mods/162/images/801-2-1407137950.png
5996996
I take it that Applejack is now secretly the Element of Lying?
7089414 @_@
Fixed.