Darkness Rising

by SkyHighFlyer

Chapter 30, For One's Family

Nearly three months had passed since they confessed their true nature to their friends, and as far as things went, the future was looking promising. They had earned their friend's trust and as spring began to turn into summer it looked as if they were finally used to the idea of their best friends being vampires.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow got together to discuss their futures. Namely, how Fluttershy and Rainbow needed to start studying more about vampires culture, history, and language. Although Fluttershy had begun to grasp their ancient language and Rainbow had taken a light interest in their history, Twilight thought that it would be a good idea to push them towards spending more time studying these things. They were vampires, and just because these things weren’t regularly practiced didn’t mean that vampires didn’t value them very highly.

Halfway through their conversation however, they were interrupted by a loud and frantic knocking at the door.

Twilight went over to see who it was. As soon as she started to open the door, it was pushed open with amazing force and a white unicorn rushed in.

Attempted to rush in may have been more accurate through. Her entrance was blocked by the unfortunate Twilight, and they ended up tumbling over each other, coming to a stop a considerable distance from the door.

Rainbow could barely hold back her laughter as she watched a disoriented Twilight trying to get their new arrival's dark gray mane out of her face.

Meanwhile, the mare that entered didn't make any immediate effort to get off of Twilight. Her first action, after recovering from the unexpected collision, was to survey the room.

Once she recognized the identities of everypony else in the room, she let out a sigh of relief, and allowed her own disguise to fade, revealing her to be another vampire like them.

Rainbow's amusement morphed to discomfort almost instantly, and she involuntarily took two steps back. Fluttershy had a similar response, spurred instead by a sense of curiosity but still expressed with caution.

Once she realized that the only ponies in the room were vampires, she used her magic to close and lock the door, and finally got off of Twilight.

She offered a hoof and an apologetic smile, which Twilight returned with a bemused expression as she took the mare's hoof and stood up.

“Sorry,” she said, in what was perhaps the most awkward way imaginable. She shook her head to get her mane out of her face, bringing attention to the fact that it was very poorly groomed.

Twilight was fairly quick to get past what just happened past her, smiling warmly and pulling their guest into a hug.

Noticing her friends were looking left out, she pulled away and said, “Oh, this is Swift Wind. I'm guessing you've already figured out how we know each other.” She felt that because of the way the others reacted to her it wouldn't be wise to tell them any more about her at the time. Swift Wind’s special talent was spells related to sound, making her a naturally skilled assassin. Though her illusion magic could use some practice, the ability to move about in complete silence and strike an opponent without making a single noise made her highly efficient regardless.

“So what are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

As soon as Twilight asked her that question, her expression sharply changed. The open, social attitude and welcoming smile that brought some comfort to Fluttershy and Rainbow before was gone in an instant, and what was left in its place carried a strong sense of dread that was almost contagious.

“Swift Wind, what happened?” Twilight asked with urgency and worry. She stepped forward until she was right in front of Swift Wind, and asked again, “Swift Wind, what happened?”

“Silver Wing was captured.”

Horror washed over Twilight and left her speechless, and Fluttershy asked in a whisper, “Captured?”

“I mean in Canterlot,” she clarified. “I was sent out to drop off a report from Shadowfall to her as we were passing through, which she would deliver to Twilight. When I got there she was missing, guards were trying to get ponies off the streets, and suspicious individuals were being detained. I sent the rest of the team off ahead and did some reconnaissance, and all I can tell is that she was captured some time earlier this evening.”

“Well,” Rainbow said as Twilight recovered from her stupor, “Then we've got to get her out.”

“That's not in question, but how?” Swift asked in return.

“Um, can't we just break her out?” Fluttershy asked.

Swift frowned. “Canterlot Castle is probably the most heavily guarded place in equestria right now. Trying to get in there would be suicidal.”

Rainbow threw her arms up in the air. “Well that doesn't leave us with anything!”

Twilight dropped to the floor and covered her face with her hooves. Rainbow was right, the mare that had guided her along her entire life was in danger and would die, and there was nothing she could do. The others looked at her with concern, knowing full that they too could do nothing either, for Silver or for Twilight.

Much to everypony's surprise, it was Fluttershy that spoke up to give them the strength to carry on. “We can't just give up like this. Silver told me once that we look after our own kind, we can't just abandon her because there's no easy way out. There has to be something we haven't thought of yet, we still have time to think of something, don't we?”

It was the last thing anypony in the room expected, the timid, quiet Fluttershy granting them unseen strength, but it worked. The atmosphere completely turned around and everypony perked up.

“She's right,” Swift Wind said confidently , “We still have until morning, and we still have the advantage in single combat. They'll be expecting an attack, but if we're careful and follow a good strategy we may be able to avoid combat altogether. Fluttershy is right, we still have time to prepare.”

The next few minutes went by quickly. Twilight took a large piece of parchment and drew up a crude map of Canterlot castle, not even bothering to use ink and instead simply scorching the outline into the parchment with controlled bursts of magic.

They huddled around the table in the kitchen, using the map to plan some sort of approach that would be silent, minimum risk, and above all avoid any contact with the princesses.

When it went nowhere for some time, Rainbow said, “What about a distraction? Make them think the threat is coming from one place, and then sneak in through one of the drainage pipes that leads in near the dungeon.”

Swift shook her head. “No, that wouldn't work. They're smart enough to see that one coming, and even if they didn't it would be suicidal for the group creating the distraction. It would be every guard in the castle and both princesses at once.”

“There's got to be something,” Fluttershy said, “Some way of getting her out peacefully, without unnecessary violence and without attracting too much attention.”

Twilight's head shot up. Just as Fluttershy was starting to lose the strength that had inspired the rest of them, she inadvertently said something that brought to mind Twilight's memories of Celestia's dull lessons on diplomacy that she never thought to be of much value.

“An exchange! Fluttershy, you're a genius!” With that, Twilight was gone, out digging through books in the main room, leaving all eyes on Fluttershy. All she could manage was a few murmurs of confusion.

Almost as fast as she left, Twilight returned with a large scroll, unrolling it with complete disregard to the map of the castle they had already drawn up, revealing it to instead be a map of the city and the surrounding areas. Instead of the crudely drawn corridors, they were now left staring at streets and alleys that could only be relevant if planning around the patrol routes of the guards, information that they didn't even have access to.

Everypony just looked at Twilight, awaiting an explanation of her sudden, brilliant idea.

Twilight, for the most part, didn't even notice the confused stares she was receiving. With her eye's glued to the map, she said, “If we can't break her out, maybe we can get the princesses to agree to an exchange. If we have something she wants, we can send her an ultimatum. If she refuses, then the drainage pipes are close enough to the dungeon that if we're quick and quiet, and leave somepony to deal with approaching patrols at the two major points along the way, we might be able to get in and out without being detected.”

“Only one problem,” Swift replied, “what do we give her?”

“That's easy,” Twilight said with a smile, “me.”

At first, Fluttershy and Rainbow thought very highly of the plan. The more experienced Swift Wind immediately rejected it though. “There is no way that could possibly work, and get all of us out alive without the princesses knowing anything! As soon as the exchange was completed they would check to see if you were an imposter. They would know you were a vampire instantly and we would be back to square one again, except this time we might not be able to get you out at all.”

Twilight never lost her mischievous smile through all that, which made Fluttershy a little nervous. For added effect and just to irritate Swift, she waited a few seconds before responding. “I never said I would be there. Well, I will be there, but not as part of the exchange. Even if my minor resistance to light magic would be enough to thwart a regular check, a spell to strip the disguise from a changeling would still have a noticeable effect on a vampire. The safest thing to do would be to promise to release me after the exchange, and prove to her that I was Twilight in Ponyville later.”

“But wouldn't you still have the same problem in Ponyville?” asked Rainbow. Swift continued to give her an annoyed glare.

“Celestia is smart, she knows that vampires can’t perform light magic. As soon as I prove that I can, I just have to prove that I’m really Twilight.”

“And I’m assuming that you have a plan for that too,” said Swift. Fluttershy got the uncomfortable impression that Swift Wind didn’t think that Twilight really knew what she was doing. It kind of felt to her as if she was treating Twilight as a foal that had no experience and had no idea what she what she was doing. Considering that vampires don’t age like ponies, that wasn’t an unreasonable interpretation.

Twilight still never lost her smile. In fact, as time went on it became almost giddy and excited. “If I had just been captured by hostile magical creatures that were threatening to kill me, I would be on edge, right? So I would take cover here in the library and wait. When Celestia arrives to make sure I’m alright, I take cover and stay out of sight and launch a light magic attack near her the second she comes in. Then, once we’ve reasonably established that I’m not a vampire, there are ways of establishing my identity that we set up after I became her student. A verbal message can either prove that I’m Twilight, prove that I was coerced into giving up the signal, or prove that I am Twilight but that I’m being blackmailed or threatened depending on how it’s worded. It was never meant to, but it can work both ways. After attacking her in a panic, I would reword the question to prove that it was Celestia, but prove that I was me in the process.”

Swift Wind finally managed to find a place to speak, and in that moment she said, “This is a very dangerous plan Twilight, what are we do if something goes wrong?”

“If something goes wrong, then we run,” she replied. “If anything goes wrong, then we grab what was can and just run.”

Silence fell across the room with that eerie, final statement. Nearly a minute passed before Swift spoke up again. “Well, if the plan is established, then all we need to know is where the exchange goes down and when.”

Twilight put her hoof down on the map. “Right here.”

It was right next to Canterlot Mountain, and bordered on the edge of Whitetail Woods. Under the cover of darkness, the flat bit of terrain was perfect.

“That’s great and all,” Rainbow said, “but how are we supposed to get there?”

“Teleportation runes,” Swift Wind said, “That’s how I got to Ponyville. I can help you set them up. We can use it to get away too, as long as we destroy the runes in the process.

Twilight’s attention was immediately caught. Teleportation runes one of the most useful things that a vampire could learn to use, but also one of the most difficult. Aside from the complexity of drawing it, it also required a unicorn to set the destination. Twilight had used a simpler rune for teleporting a small stone after turning Rainbow. But it was simpler to draw, and it only teleported the object it was written on to the unicorn that activated it, or provided the condensed magic used to activate it.

The larger teleportation runes were much harder to set up. They were larger and more complicated, set up on the ground, and usually required several other runes working in harmony with it in order for it to function practically. Once a unicorn set a destination however, it could teleport ponies to a destination regardless of distance. It was fast and efficient, though due to the complexity, it was often use only by unicorns that had reached the end of their studies of rune magic and perfectly understood every single component of the rune.

Realizing that the present situation was more important than her own curiosity, Twilight shook herself back to reality. “We can use an explosive rune that activates after the teleportation rune. It would wipe away any evidence.”

“Aright, anything else to add?” Swift asked. When she got no response, she said, “Alright, then let’s get to work.”

-----

Spike's peaceful rest was interrupted when he was roughly shaken awake. The first thought to pass through his head was that Twilight had gotten up early and was impatiently waiting for him to get up. When the second time nearly rocked him out of his basket that was when he realized that something was wrong.

He sat up, and when he finally looked, he was surprised to find that it was not Twilight, but a mysterious cloaked mare that had somehow managed to get into their bedroom. From his lower position, he could just barely see her white hooves. That was when fear started to set in.

With her hoof, she took a letter from somewhere inside her cloak and threw it in front of Spike. He couldn't tell from that action whether she wasn't a unicorn or simply didn't want to use magic for some reason.

“Send this to Princess Celestia,” she said in an unfamiliar voice.

Unnerved, Spike picked up the letter and asked, “Where's Twilight? Who are you?”

“If you ever want to see Twilight alive again, you will send that letter to Princess Celestia immediately.” She turned and walked away.

As she made her way down the stairs to join the others, Twilight could hear the sound of Spike sending the letter. It felt a little strange, sending her own ransom note, but for their plan to work it had to be done.

She just prayed that everything would turn out alright in the end.

Comments

[Lilkitten]

Interesting, good job!