The Seamstress
Starlight and Fluttershy were at the breakfast table when Coco came in. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Let me guess," Starlight interrupted with a roll of her eyes. "Another messenger from Count Discord?"
"Y-Yes, doamnă," Coco replied. "I told her to wait in the east drawing room."
Starlight raised an eyebrow at her niece. "Do you mind telling me exactly what this count wants and why he keeps sending all these messengers?"
Fluttershy bit her lip as she looked down at her hooves. "He, uh…he's…"
Was there any point in hiding from her aunt, anymore? How could she say Count Discord wasn't interested in her when his servants wouldn't stop showing up?
"If I may, doamnă," Coco said with a curtsy, "I heard the pink one say the other day that the Count was, as she said, 'crazy about Domnişoară Fluttershy' and intends to, I believe, marry her."
Fluttershy blushed as her aunt looked at her in appalment.
"You lied to me?!" Starlight demanded.
"I, um…"
The unicorn stood up angrily. "You told me the Count didn't think you were pretty enough, yet his servants are saying he wants to marry you?!"
"He…he…"
"Why keep this from me?!"
"I'm sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked. "It's just…you don't know him, Auntie. He's…he's…"
"I'm going to see this new messenger and demand the truth!"
"No, Auntie, wait!"
But she was too late. Her aunt was already storming out of the dining room. Fluttershy jumped up from her seat to follow her. Rarity was quietly waiting in the drawing room. Starlight stopped in her tracks.
"I remember you," she said. "You're the rude mare who talked me out of buying that gown!"
"Well," Rarity replied calmly, "you were making a horrible decision. The gown I selected worked, didn't it?"
Starlight opened her mouth but then paused. Then she sighed in defeat.
"Yes. Yes, it did. But what I'd like to know is what exactly your master's intentions towards my niece are?! She tells me he isn't interested, but my maid reports that one of your friends says otherwise! Which is the truth, domnişoară?!"
Rarity glanced briefly at Fluttershy before responding. "If you must know, doamnă, Count Discord is in fact interested in your niece." Starlight darted her eyes at Fluttershy. "Now, he does not wish you to think of him as hasty, but he does hope to, one day, marry her."
Starlight folded her forelegs across her chest. "Fluttershy, care to explain this?"
"I apologize if your niece has kept this information from you, but it's only because the Count hasn't officially proposed. He wishes to court her first, so that they may get to know one another. The choice will be ultimately Fluttershy's though."
"Fluttershy's?! I'm not sure your master fully understands procedure! As Fluttershy's legal guardian, it is I who decides who she marries! If Count Discord desires her hoof, he must consult with me in person!"
"We can arrange for that, if you'd like," Rarity said with some hesitance in her voice. "Nevertheless, Count Discord will only marry her if she is willing. He will not have her otherwise."
Starlight narrowed her eyes at the white unicorn. "Well, it's nice to see that at least one of you has some manners."
"Thank you, doamnă. Now, if you will excuse us, I must give Lady Fluttershy my message."
"Whatever you say to my niece, you can say in front of me."
"Please, doamnă," Rarity said through her teeth. "This is a private matter."
Starlight huffed as she turned on her hoof and stomped out of the room. Fluttershy looked at Rarity sincerely as she sat across from her.
"I wish you hadn't said that to Auntie," she said. "She has enough suitors lined up as it is."
"I understand," Rarity nodded, "but she was sure to ask more questions if I didn't tell her something. Besides, I thought it would be better if your aunt somewhat approved the match once you and the Master are married."
"How many times do I have to say it? I don't want to marry Count Discord! And don't tell me how much he loves me, because it doesn't matter if I don't love him! Look. I'm sorry if all your lives were so horrible that you had no choice but to be bitten, but I don't want that kind of life! You say he's good and kind, but so far, the only thing you've said that seems good and kind about him is that he bit you when you asked! For all you know, he would've eaten you if you hadn't asked!"
Rarity was silent for a moment, but she did not break gaze with Fluttershy. "Rainbow said she had told you, but I suppose you've forgotten that unlike the others, I wasn't bitten by Discord."
Fluttershy's scowl vanished. "Oh. I…I'm sorry."
"That's alright. After all, this whole situation must seem…unorthodox to you. But I am sure that once you hear my story, you will understand just how good and kind the Master is, and that he really means it when he says he's in love with you."
Fluttershy said nothing, but made herself comfortable so she could listen to the unicorn's story.
"I may not look it," Rarity said with a slight chuckle, "but I'm actually over a hundred years old. A lot of changes were going on in the world when I was still mortal. Amare-ica was new, Prance was going through political changes for the seventh time," she groaned, "and mares had even less rights back then.
"I was fortunate to get a job as a seamstress in a little dress shop. I didn't mind. I always loved fashion, and sewing was my favorite pastime." She paused as she got a dreamy look in her eye. "I'd always dreamed of opening my own boutique, and that ponies from all over the world would come to see my designs!
"Fortunately, my parents were very supportive of my ambition and weren't in a hurry for me to get married. They didn't see any need, as I had no trouble attracting stallions."
Fluttershy had no doubt, for the unicorn was quite lovely.
"I had so many gentlecolt callers," she continued, "poor Mother and Father couldn't keep up with them all! So they left the decision up to me. My sister Sweetie Belle kept joking that I loved the attention so much that I couldn't choose just one!"
She frowned suddenly. "In retrospect, I wish they hadn't put so much trust in my judgment."
"Why?" Fluttershy asked. "Did you ever choose?"
Rarity hung her head with a solemn expression and said in a hoarse voice, "Yes. There was a stallion who kept coming to the shop. I would run the store sometimes, you see. He kept saying he was looking for a gown for his mother, but he never made a decision. Finally, he confessed it had all been an excuse to see me."
She smiled slightly. "His name was Tenderheart. He was an aspiring writer who'd been traveling around the world for inspiration. Oh, he wrote such exquisite poetry, and his handsome face and charming smile were enough to ensnare me. After a while, I introduced him to my family and we became engaged."
Her smile vanished, and Fluttershy didn't think it possible, but she seemed to have become even paler.
"One night, we decided to take a moonlit walk. Father always warned me about being out alone with a stallion, especially at night, but since we were engaged, I trusted him. We wandered into the woods, he began kissing me and he whispered in my ear, asking if we could…try each other out, before we were married.
"I told him it would be better to wait for our wedding night. It would be more special that way, but then…I'm not sure what happened exactly, but after one look in his deep, violet eyes, I found myself unable to say no to him. The last thing I remember is lifting up my skirts and then everything going black."
She paused, and closed her eyes, her lip quivering. "When I woke up, I was in a strange bed. I felt…so cold and…so thirsty. So terribly, terribly thirsty. Then this terrifying creature came in and, thinking this monster had kidnapped me for dinner—or perhaps carnal reasons—I screamed. He tried to calm me down and offered me a goblet of a red liquid. I didn't know what it was at the time, but it smelled so good, I gulped it down without even thinking.
"Once my thirst was satisfied, I demanded the creature who he was, why I was here and where my fiancé was. He said his name was Discord, and that he had found me lying unconscious in the woods. He said I had been bitten by a vampire, and that not only was he a vampire, but so was I.
"I didn't believe him. I didn't want to. Then he conjured a mirror by magic and when I looked into it…my reflection wasn't there. I accused him of biting me, but he said when he had found me, most of my blood had been drained! I told him all I remembered was my fiancé and I about to…"
She stopped to take a handkerchief out of her apron pocket and dabbed her eyes with it. "That's when I put all the pieces together. Tenderheart never loved me. He only saw me as his conquest…his next meal. I started crying, and Discord, to my surprise, tried to comfort me, saying I could stay with him so he could help me get through my transformation. I felt I could trust him. After all, I'd been out for a long time and he could've done anything with me. He could've drunk whatever blood was left in me, but he hadn't.
"Once I'd grown accustomed to my vampirism, Discord said I could go if I wanted to, but I decided to stay. I'd come to think of him as a friend, and probably the only decent male I would ever come to know, for he never once made advances towards me, or treated me like a little filly. In fact, I felt like his equal.
"So I stayed, and in order to keep up his appearance as a count, I pretended to be his niece and would accompany him on outings, and make sure he was hidden whenever his disguise slipped. Then too many years went by that I didn't look my age anymore, so we had to go into hiding for a while. Then Rainbow Dash joined us, and decades after that, Applejack, and so on and so forth."
"Whatever happened to Tenderheart?" Fluttershy inquired.
Rarity looked up at her with a scowl. "That leech! I never saw him again after that! No doubt he ran away as soon as he was done with me! I don't even think Tenderheart was his real name! For he used a different one when he…" She quickly stopped herself. "Anyway, if I ever see that scum again, I'm going to make him pay for what he did to me! Why, I'll rip him into tiny little pieces and then feed them to the…"
She trailed off when she noticed Fluttershy quivering in fear.
"Forgive me," Rarity apologized, clearing her throat. "You must understand. Tenderheart took more than my mortality."
"That's horrible," Fluttershy uttered.
"Yes, I know. Discord and the others have kept their eyes out for him, but I doubt he'll ever return to the scene of the crime." She paused. "I sort of lost faith in all males since Tenderheart, with the exception of Discord and Spike, but then again, Spike's young and neither of them are ponies. When I first met Discord, however, since he was of Tenderheart's kind, I thought he was going to take advantage of me too. But no, he looked after me until I recovered, and he still treats me like his oldest friend. And, because he knows what's happened to me, he is never, ever going to make another mare suffer in the same way."
Fluttershy could not find an argument for this. She didn't know how much of what the unicorn was saying was true, but then again, who would ever lie about something like that?
She was startled when Rarity's hoof touched hers.
"And he would certainly never do a thing like that to you. You're his…"
"Soulmate, I know," Fluttershy muttered, pulling her hoof away. "You know something? My aunt is actually right. Why doesn't Count Discord come and tell me all this himself?"
"Well, after what had passed between you two the other night, would you have listened?"
Fluttershy said nothing.
"I'd tell you the Master's tale," Rarity continued, "but it's better that you hear it from his mouth, just as you heard all our stories from our mouths." She leaned forward. "Perhaps you would consider coming to dinner again tonight?"
Fluttershy looked away. "I…I…I need some more time to think about it."
The unicorn nodded and stood. "Well, that's all I had to say. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find us."
Once Rarity was gone, Fluttershy began contemplating all the stories she had heard this week. First, there was the Romane vagabond who had run away from home to escape an arranged marriage. Then there was the young investigator chasing after her parents and fiancé's murderers. Next, there was the former inmate of an asylum who had been incarcerated by her own parents. Finally, there was the seamstress who had actually had a happy life, which had been taken from her by a cruel stallion.
Other than being vampires, they all seemed to have one thing in common: they had been notoriously wronged, either by those closest to them or by heartless demons. The only story she hadn't heard was Applejack's, but after hearing everyone else's, she could guess hers wasn't pleasant either.
Then there was Discord. Fluttershy wasn't sure what to think of him, but she now understood why the five mares were loyal to him. They had led dreadful lives and would rather accept the price of immortality than go back to them. Fluttershy just didn't think that was the fate for her.
And yet, even after all the mares had told her, Fluttershy still didn't know that much about Discord. Perhaps he was kind to his servants, friends, whatever they were; but what was his history? What had made him a vampire? He had said he was the kind that was born, not made. Did that mean he had lived with this all his life, with no choice at all?
This did not mean Fluttershy had changed her mind about marrying him. Even if there was a possibility that he wasn't as monstrous as he appeared, she didn't love him. She wasn't sure if she ever could. After all, they didn't have that much in common, at least from what she could tell.
Then again, as she recalled their dinner together, she had never talked that much with a male before, and his quips were amusing. In fact, she could not remember another time she had laughed so hard. He also played the piano beautifully, and she wondered if he had meant it when he said he could teach her. She hadn't told him she could sing, for she was really shy about singing in front of others, but if she sang while he played…
"Well, what did she have to say?"
Fluttershy jumped at her aunt's voice as she snapped out of her thoughts.
"Well?" Starlight asked again, crossing her forelegs and looking down at her sternly.
"Oh, um…" Fluttershy stammered, glancing down at her hooves. "She, um…she was wondering if I could…come to the Count's again for dinner."
"And?"
"And I said I'd think about it…"
"You'd think about it?! Fluttershy, you should've said yes!"
"But I thought you hated the…"
"I would've let you go if I went along with you this time! We could've done this thing properly! But you said you'd think about it?!"
"Rarity said I could always answer later…"
"But by that time the Count might pick another bride! Didn't I teach you anything?! When a suitor starts to show interest, snag him while you can!"
She slapped herself in the forehead and stomped out, muttering, "Where did I go wrong?"
Fluttershy felt guilty for putting her aunt through all this turmoil, but knew it wouldn't be any better if she knew the truth. That was another concern if she ever agreed to marry Count Discord. How would her aunt react? Surely she would notice eventually that her niece wasn't aging, or refusing to eat anything given to her. There was also the matter of having to drink blood. Whether it was from ponies or animals, she just couldn't go through with something so horrible, even if it was for her own survival.
But most importantly, she didn't want more ponies urging her to marry this one person, regardless if she loved him or not.
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Poor Rarity. Her so called fiancee was a bloodsucking monster. Keep up the good work.
Let's waste that Tenderheart or whatever his name is! No one take advantage of another person's body and gets away with it!
*Carries a wooden stake and a hammer while wearing a necklace of garlic.* Ready for the "Tenderheart" killing, mon capitaine. And methinks Rarity wasn't the only one he wronged...
Somehow...I called rarity would have something along the lines of what happen in this story. Maybe it's because I feel like she would be the only one to successful pull that off compared to the others...oh well this is a Great chapter
That wasn't even close to being as dark as I thought alsoalso I thought you were doing applejacks story today
eh never mind I'm over it 
Interesting story, I honestly don't think you would go the rape route, and here you are surprising me. Or maybe it's not what happened, but the fact she lifted her skirt and she was knocked out. Rarity said something along the line of she don't only only lose her morality to him says all that was needed. I kind wish the name TenderHeart was more subtle but what are you going to do.
Also congratulations on this being featured *throws confetti*
I love these chapters about the rest of the main six. This kind of story, ones where someone has to adapt or overcome change or transformation, is what I LIVE for.
Also, if Fluttershy does become a vampire, please go into the in and outs of adapting to becoming a vampire, and not skip it like pinkie and twilight did in their stories. Not that its bad, I just think the main character should have their experience be a little more fleshed out.
Keep up the good work and good luck on 50,000 words this month!
I wonder whether tenderheart is also another character you've already mentioned in the story,
Trenderhoof is in sooooooooooooooooooo much trouble...
Tenderheart = Trenderhoof
Ilumanaughty confimaed!
Trenderhoof. Trenderhoof, Trenderhoof, Trenderhoof.
Your past is gonna bite you in the flank soon enough, and it's gonna bite hard.
...
...Don't...don't give that too much thought
I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like vampires would like coffee.... Nah, I think I'm just getting them mixed up with Tokyo Ghoul.... No one gets my references.
Fluttershy just spend more time with Discord you'll love him
6620938 An asylum is a place where people with mental disorders are kept. They were really horrible way back when.
OMG, this seems a bit dark for you DF, you okay with this? Also great chapter, now we wait for Applejack to say something
I have a feeling when Rarity sees Trenderhoof she'll immediately recognize him and...well u know the rest X3
6625075 I have been guessing that he is the villain who harmed rarity.
6621173 I am wondering what Starlight will do when she meets Discord.
6628672
Tenderheart = Trenderhoof. One and the same? 
Hmm… Oh. Most defiantly!
6620986
Do not fear, my child.
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/understood_that_reference_avengers.gif
BE TOGETHER, FOREVER
I love your writing, omg, so good. I felt real pain for Rarity. To her family, she is just....gone....
Tenderheart really best you could do?????
Jk awesome!!!!
Anyway I'm wanting to think Sunset Shimmer bit AJ but when rare and AJ were talking they said HIM and they said them wanted to kill the same pony.
7457276
These "cruel" asylums were actually a lot more recent than you would imagine. Most of them closed during the 1970's and 1980's. In fact there are still some open today, though they are very few and very far between. While there definitely were some asylums that were exceedingly inhumane and nasty, many more were there to help people. They aren't even really as barbaric as you would imagine, either. Let's take the straight jacket, for example. This is an icon of asylum inmates being trapped and locked down and unable to escape. The reality of this is that straight jackets are not designed to be escape-proof, but are rather used to simply keep an inmate from hurting himself or others.
am I the only one who thinks Fluttershy has been being a bit mean these last few chapters?
don't get me wrong, FLUTTERSHY IS MY FAV PONY
, but still she's not even giving him a second chance
.
7814989 Well, in her defense, she was taken to a vampire home and told that she was destined to be with said vampire for all eternity, whether she liked it or not. I don't know about u, but that would be pretty overwhelming and over the top for a first date. She doesn't know his backstory, so she's not completely sure if she can trust him or not
Ok before I read this what does "suggestive" mean?
Yup okey so now uhm...I'm scred for Apple Jacks stry
7948909 References of a sexual nature. There's literally nothing there though, so don't worry.
I know this is just a crack at French instability but the history buff in me would like to point out that it's probably just the third or fourth at this point.