Vampires, Punk Rock, and other Equestrian secrets

by Inkheart_tails

The tome

" IS THIS TRULY- er... Is this... Truly all who thou could find awake?"
Luna was in a state of panic that had only been magnified by Sapphire's- or rather, the entire guard's- failure to gather . "This is a serious threat! We... Really need to work on our alert system, I suppose. This cannot happen again."
"I am sorry, Princess. Truly I did the best that I could." Sapphire slumped with a sigh, her ears tilted downwards.
"It is alright, 'twas no fault of yours. However, this is still very serious. At least you managed to get these two" Luna remarked, looking over the pegasi that Sapphire rounded up. The rookie shifted nervously under the gaze, but smiled a little. Sketch had no such reaction as he was used to the presence of royalty.
" We can not waste much more time; I ought to disclose the matter I called you for." Luna turned and, using her magic, made a large book appear in front of her.
"The moonlit tome...." The rookie whispered in wonder, but shut up when she realized that she'd drawn attention to herself.
Luna chuckled lightly and turned to the one who had spoken. "Yes. This book contains information on numerous terrible and powerful things that we have seen in the past, all written down so that we may remember their powers and weaknesses." her look became grave. "It is not a good time when I have to bring this out." She opened the book and turned to an old weathered page, so long forgotten that she had to blow a large cloud of dust off of it. The Pegasus by her side coughed a little as a result. "Sorry." Luna cleared her throat and then continued to speak. "The threat I believe we face now is one known as the Sandmare. Her powers may not seem deadly, but... If she is not caught she can be the end of us all."
The rookie Pegasus read through the page, holding a hoof to her chin in contemplation. "But I don't understand," she murmured. "She just puts ponies to sleep?"
Sapphire, too, looked over the page and seemed puzzled.
It was Sketch who spoke what the princess was going to. " If she can make anypony fall asleep or even stay asleep, nobody will be able to oppose her at all ."
Luna continued from there. "It would be one thing if all she sought was control of Canterlot. But... Her magic is powered by ponies' dreams that she creates. The more ponies she gets under her spell, the more power she has... and the more she can imprison in everlasting rest, or hypnotize to her will. My power is not enough to change the dreams of all of Canterlot, or to wake the ponies having them all at once. We must stop her before she has even one pony under her power."
"Well... Do you know where she is now?" Sapphire asked. "Why don't we apprehend her immediately?"
"There is no way of knowing where she is as of now. We must wait until she seeks her first victim- so I must watch for the dreams of every citizen. I know how she crafts them- " she paused and turned to Sapphire Song. " However, I must have complete focus. I can do nothing else during this time, and while I search dreams you must search the streets."
Sapphire nodded solemnly "I understand. Sketch, you should stay here and guard the princess so she can stay focused. I shall search with...." Sapphire trailed off.
"My name is Inkheart." The rookie provided. "You can call me Ink if you want."
"Yes, I shall search the streets with Inkheart." Sapphire looked to Luna for her approval.
"It shall be so. " Luna agreed.
"But remember- take great care. She can be very deceptive."
Sapphire turned to the window, awaiting Inkheart to stand beside her. Ink joined her, a small piece of paper in her hooves.
"What might that be?" Sapphire asked.
" I drew the sandmare, so we'll know when we see her." Ink replied enthusiastically.
Sapphire nodded in light acknowledgement of the good idea, and without another word the two departed for their search.
As soon as they had left, Luna began preparing her monitoring spell. To focus on all of the ponies in Canterlot would be too complicated- she narrowed it down carefully to all who were dreaming. It was still only the afternoon, so it wasn't too hard- most ponies were, of course, awake at this time. Nonetheless, it was almost hard for Rough Sketch to watch as her strain was clearly visible, and the light of the magic was blinding.
"Let's hope Ink is better at finding ponies than she is at keeping quiet." Sketch murmured. It was initially meant as a joke, but as he looked on at the princess struggling, it became a legitimate prayer.
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Sapphire and Inkheart's flight, meanwhile, was almost as strenuous. Despite how calm she'd seemed at first, Sapphire was now swooping down and investigating almost every unicorn she saw. (even if from a distance, to avoid suspicion ) It was becoming a rhythmic pattern that Inkheart was noting in her brain. Fly for eight seconds. Swoop quickly for two. Look at pony in question for three, four seconds. Check drawing that was made to match book illustration. Go up, taking three seconds while Sapphire is still looking back suspiciously. Fly for eight seconds....
Because of the pattern establishment, Inkheart was rather jolted when she began to swoop after eight seconds without any prompting from Sapphire and found that she was not flying with her.
"This is not working, Inkheart."
"Ya think?"
Sapphire sighed. "What are we going to do? There are so many ponies out today... It shall be nigh impossible to look at every single one!"
"That didn't stop you earlier. " Inkheart pointed out bluntly. " I don't know what else to do, I'm kinda new to the job"
"Yes, I had surmised that much... No offense, I just- "
"Oh, none taken!" Ink frowned a little. "It really takes time to get used to all this stuff, y'know? I know I'm no good at it yet."
"Returning to the matter at hoof... Perhaps we ought to consider the kinds of places she is more likely to be roaming"
"But where? Luna said she could be attacking at any moment, but she wouldn't have had to be close to make that threat." Inkheart reasoned. "She could be on the outskirts, where she's safer, or downtown where she could blend in and find more ponies..."
Sapphire considered it momentarily. "Inspecting every single unicorn will not work. We do not know how she has disguised herself, but she will be looking for-" Sapphire stopped, horrified. The realization dawned on Inkheart at the same time.
"She's looking for ponies who're already asleep! Like the NIGHT GUARD!"
The two raced off immediately, desperate to stop the problem that had already been right under their hooves an hour ago.
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The sandmare stood over her latest victim, giggling with wicked glee. The princess would never guess that her guard's special sleep schedules would be the undoing of all of Equestria. It was almost a joke to send the dream, even- on prior occasions she had made the mistake of threatening and stirring things up long before her attack, and thus there was no doubt that Luna only worried for her daywalking citizens. She was probably sitting in her castle, waiting for them to fall asleep.
The Sandmare laughed to herself once more as she took to the streets, to most simply a normal unicorn walking on a lovely afternoon.

Author's Note:

Added an illustration! This will be a continuing pattern as I go on. For now, one per chapter. Later I hope to add more!