Vampires, Punk Rock, and other Equestrian secrets

by Inkheart_tails

The cavern

Sapphire Song and Inkheart galloped through the streets, searching desperately for any unicorn passerby. The Sandmare must've started by now, and most of the guard’s homes were in this neighborhood- so where was she?
Nearby, a white unicorn was watching them. It was Vinyl Scratch, who had come to town for a monthly show she liked to do at a special venue.
What was their hurry about? They looked like they’d seen a ghost- or maybe like they were searching for one? She didn't have much more time to think about it, as one of them soon rammed into her. Vinyl fell to the ground like a row of bowling pins, too surprised to get up or resist being ran into.
“S-sorry! Oh, Celestia…. Are you okay? Shoot, we’ve gotten too caught up in this search…” Inkheart sighed. “Have you seen… This pony around?” She held up her drawing of the Sandmare for Vinyl to see.
Vinyl looked over the drawing for a moment. She liked to help people out, and even though she’d been bumped into she wasn't going to be rude….. A memory popped into her head and she nodded vigorously. She’d seen her in passing only minutes ago.
Sapphire and Inkheart gasped and then spoke in unison “WHERE?”
Vinyl motioned for the two to follow her and headed back the direction she came. She didn't have anything else to be doing anytime soon, anyway.
Sapphire and Ink followed the unicorn, wishing that she would speed up. Inkheart noticed there was a rhythm to Vinyl’s walk. Smooth, steady, and calculated. The manner of movement almost made her want to dance, and she adjusted her walk to match it.
One, two, three, one two, one , two, three..
Sapphire looked on and wondered at the way her fellow guard matched step. What is she doing?
Finally, the oddly-matched group halted in a very odd place. Vinyl Scratch stood in front of a black phonebooth-like structure and gestured to it. “Go on in” she seemed to say.
Sapphire hesitated and analyzed the situation. On one hoof, they didn't know this pony or this place. On the other, she was the only one who had presented information….
Inkheart walked past her and opened the door, walking right in.
“Inkheart! What are you doing?”
“My job, how about you?”
Sapphire opened her mouth to object, but, seeing the validity of Ink’s point, she decided not to. She followed Inkheart and the mysterious pony into the booth, swallowing hard.
Suddenly, the tiny booth jolted and began to go down.
Inkheart fell hard on her face.
Sapphire squeaked and fluttered upwards, glancing incredulously at Vinyl.
Vinyl scratch was laughing her flank off
As the now-revealed elevator moved down slowly, Sapphire returned to ground level, approaching Inkheart and lightly prodding her head. “Are you alright?” , she asked.
“I am ready for death.” Inkheart replied, her voice muffled by the ground. Sapphire decided to leave her be for the moment.
SLAM!
The elevator hit the ground hard, knocking Inkheart off the ground. She caught herself on her wings.
The door slowly creaked open and the shaken ponies stumbled out. A pony on the outside hastily apologized.
“I'm sorry! I'm absolutely terrible at operating the elevator….”
She was disregarded with a simple “It is fine.” from Sapphire as they continued forward with their search.
The area they had entered almost made them stop again.
The elevator had taken them to another world. Everything glowed a deep purple as a result of numerous crystals in blue and purple colors lining the long cavern. Houses and tall buildings were built into the walls and rocks. Not many ponies were about, but none of them looked anything like a Canterlot resident- Ponies wearing long, colorful socks, ponies wearing spiked accessories with wild spiked manes to match, zebras, bat ponies, ponies covered from head to hoof in black clothes and makeup….. It was like they’d reached an odd, backwards dimension where Canterlot was the complete opposite of how it had been before.
Sapphire walked on despite astonishment, but Inkheart had a hard time not letting things catch her eye- the beautiful crystals, the interesting ponies, and the presence of a whole other town was almost too much to take in.
Vinyl, still taking the lead, grinned as she looked back at her new companions. The blue one was having exactly the reaction she’d hoped for- that look that this place was everything they could've dreamed, yet never expected. She loved showing around newcomers almost as much as she loved helping ponies in general.
“What is this place?” Inkheart finally asked Vinyl Scratch.
Vinyl looked at her, still smiling broadly, and replied. “Welcome to the underground.”

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“It cannot…. Cannot be…. “ Luna had been muttering such things to herself feverishly since minutes after she started the spell. Sketch had tried to respond but, in the world of her own magic, she had been unable to respond. Rough Sketch had even brought in a glass of water and a little sandwich in case Luna at some point broke out and wanted something. It had, after all, been hours.
Sketch sat on Luna’s bed, still watching over the princess carefully. He certainly hoped nothing had gone wrong- as a Pegasus and not a unicorn, it was hard for him to tell. Sketch sighed and tilted his ears to listen more carefully to what the princess was saying in hopes of more insight.
“You can not have found them. I was ready! It was not the time… You cannot have already… “ Luna drifted off into incomprehensible slurring. A little bit of drool leaked out the corner of her mouth.
Sketch scrunched up his face. Ew. He could handle all the clouds and mud and blood splatters Equestria had to throw at him, but saliva was just… Too disgusting. His face still contorted with disgust, Sketch grabbed a handkerchief and dabbed it away. Afterwards he threw the hankie out the window, saying “Ewewew eww” on endless loop.
Princess Luna wasn't the luckiest princess, but she was sure lucky Sketch was that loyal.
Shaking off the experience, sketch made his way to the bed again. He had barely made it there when Luna's magic began glowing with far greater intensity and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

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The Sandmare winced with the effort it had taken to not be blown away instantly. Even entering a dream with Luna in it was intense. Still, she was here, and it was clear that Luna had been more proactive than the last few times they had fought. She was indeed already monitoring the dreams.
The Sandmare got up and began searching for Luna, who she now considered her prey just as much as the host of the dream they were in.
Luna was too late, and now she would see who the real princess of dreams was.

Comments

[Punk Rock Prom Queen]

The drawings definetly add to the story. I'm loving the Sandmare's design. I look forward to the next chapter.

[Inkheart_tails]

6648929
Thank you very much I'm glad you're enjoying it!~