First day at new school

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Chapter 1: First day at new school

"Y'all got yer stuff fer school now?"

"Ah do." "A'course, Granny Smith!"

"Got yer stake with ya, Applejack?"

The young mare rolled her eyes. "Ah do, Granny."

The filly at her side pouted. "Why can't ah get a stake?" she whined.

Applejack looked at her sternly. "Ye'll get yer stake when ye're ready, Applebloom."

"But ah am ready!" the filly said with adorable conviction.

Her sister was not swayed, however. "Not yetcha ain't, sugarcube!" she said sharply.

The elder green mare smiled patiently and looked the little pony in the eyes. "Yer sister's right, Applebloom. Slayin's a job fer bigger ponies. Ya just make sure ya stay behind her, when the going gits tough, ya hear? Ah don't want to hear ya gitting yerself killed or vamponized on yer first day at school now, hm?" she added with a bit of sterness in her voice before softening it again. "Ah get ye're impatient, but ye'll get to slay when ya get yer cutie-mark. Just keep to yer training and keep safe, and the time will come before ya know it!"

"Okay, Granny Smith," Applebloom sighed dejectedly. She knew her stuff! She could put a stake through a bulls-eye at sixty paces and pass the training course in just under five minutes, but because of her dumb cutie-mark kept not appearing, she wasn't considered old enough to take part in the sacred Apple tradition of ridding the world of Dark creatures. She knew she was a lot smaller than her siblings and couldn't hold a candle to them strength-wise, but surely she could at least help a bit? Nevertheless, she bit her lip and accepted her fate. Applebloom was not a filly to go against her elders lightly.

Applejack rolled her eyes again. "Ya don't really expect the vamponies to attack at a school, now do ya, Granny? Before sundown?" she added pointedly.

Granny Smith snorted and narrowed her eyes. "Ya quit yer sassing right there, lass! This town is founded at the border of Everfree. Why, Ah don't surely know, but all manner of beasties continuously crawl from there to prey on the innocent townfolk, and the Apples have maintained a presence here since the founding to keep 'em from doing just that!

"Now, ah was a-slaying before the turn of nine-hundreds and would be still, if'n that a-cursed dire wolf hadn't given me a bum hip, and when ah say this place is dangerous, y'all better darn tooting believe it is dangerous!

The old mare's voice turned somber. "Yer Pa gave his life while defending the good folk at Manesfield and yer Ma passed away not soon after in the Blitz of Baltimare." Her face grew stern again, and steel enter her voice. "Now ah ain't gonna have ya pass before yer time just 'cause ya were careless, missy! So keep yer eyes open and one on yer sister while at school. Big Mac will be at the town square hawking the summer harvest and keeping an eye on things there.

"Yer Uncle Appleseed upped and vanished in this town with nere a trace but a drop of blood and a Slayer's journal, so the farm and the town are now under our watch! We can't, we won't let 'em down!"

Applejack, who like her sister had grown sad when Granny had talked about their parents, looked up with determination in her eyes, nodded sharply, and adjusted her father's hat on her head. "And we won't, Granny!"

Granny Smith smiled. "Ye'll do good, Applejack. Ah know ya will, just as ya did with that vampony nest in Colton."

Applejack grimaced. "And all but got us thrown outta town at the same time. The mayor would've charged me with arson, had ya and Big Mac not meddled!"

"Such is our lot," the elder said with a small sigh. "But we do what we must, without thanks. Now y'all get to school and have some fun! And remember to buy some nutmeg after school!"

* * *

The school year in Ponyville started with a service. The school chaplain and magic teacher, a unicorn stallion of a respectable age and demeanor held a short sermon about growing up good and kind ponies and concluded with a short prayer.

"...and we ask your blessing, Oh Heavenly Sisters, for the coming year and hope you will guide us to grow strong and faithful ponies, with goodness in our hearts and kindness in all our words and deeds.

"Please have your Sun watch over our days with a smile, oh Celestia. Let your Moon guide us in our dreams and bless our nights, oh Luna. May the will of the Eternal Princesses be done in all of Equestria. May your magic flow through your faithful. So shall it be."

"So shall it be", chorused the children. About two hundred of them were sat in the floor of gymnasium, all the children of the small town of Ponyville between ages of six to seventeen. Applejack and Applebloom sat in the back, a bit unsure of themselves as the newcomers to the town. Applebloom turned to her bigger sister and whispered in her ear.

"Do ya think the Princesses hear, Applejack?" she asked, not for the first time.

"Ah don't rightly know, sugarcube," Applejack answered, much as always. It would have been nice to think so, but "The Family tradition says the Nightmare consumed Princess Luna and that Princess Celestia had to give Her life to stop the thing." Then she shrugged. "They sure weren't like mortal ponies, though. If there's something left of them, ah don't think anypony can say for sure. But ah'd figure the Family Blessing must come from somewhere and we thank the Princesses for it."

The young mare stopped to let the Principal have her turn at the podium. The principal was a brownish Earth pony called Flutey with a flaming orange mane in a tight bun. She had an air of strictness about her, but smiled kindly at her pupils. "Thank you kindly for your words, Chaplain Wax," she started, then made a point of passing her gaze from one end of the gymnasium to other. "It's wonderful to see you all again, my dear colts and fillies. For those of you, who are starting here as new students: Welcome! I hope your time here will be as fruitful and enjoyable as it is for all us teachers."

Most of the youngest ponies, sat in a single group next to a kindly looking portly mare, looked a bit unsure, but smiled at her hopefully. The younger of the Apple sisters caught the eye of another teacher standing a bit further behind the podium, an Earth pony mare the color of burgundy rose named Cheerilee she had been introduced earlier that week as her new teacher. The mare smiled and nodded at her. Applejack would be attending more advanced classes with specialized teachers according to a timetable, so she didn't have a specific head of a class to go to. She had been shown the common room for the upper classes, and would be sure to check it out during her free period later that day.

"For the rest of you, welcome back!" Principal Flutey continued. "I can't wait to hear what wonderful accomplishments you all will manage this year!" Applejack rolled her eyes, then watched in dread as the Principal put on some reading classes and dug up a thick notebook and started to read. "As the great poet Wordsworth said..."

* * *

Applejack stumbled towards her first class in a daze. The honorable Miss Flutie had put her to sleep with an hour-long recitation of the dullest poetry and most pompous historical quotes she had ever heard. Now she wished for her life there were time to go for a run before the first class of the day. She worked as hard at school as she did at everything else at life, but at heart she was a mare of action. Sitting still for an hour listening to a pointless windbag, pardon her rudeness, was torture. She hardly noticed, when a white unicorn mare with a gorgeously coiffured purple mane and tail walked up to her.

"Hullo!" the mare started cheerfully. "I see you're new here. Allow me to be your official greeter to Ponyville Central. My name is Rarity and I welcome you to the unfortunate blandness and exquisite camaraderie that is the Ponyville Central Elementary and High!", she said with a smile and a smirk.

Applejack smiled back tiredly. "Howdy. And thank ya kindly for the welcome. Ah swear yer principal put me to sleep with hers!"

Rarity giggled. "Yes, she can be dreadfully long-winded, I'm afraid. I assure you, the rest of us aren't!"

"Glad to hear that, Rarity," Applejack said. "Mah name's Applejack. Ah take it we will be class mates then?"

"That we shall, dearest Applejack! I'll make sure you get to know everyone in our year. I would be remiss in my self-appointed role as the school socialite, if I didn't!" Rarity said with mock seriousness.

"Thanks. Ya can call me AJ, by the way. It's nice to meet friendly folk in the first day."

"That's Ponyville for you! Most everypony in this town is as friendly as they come!"

"Good to hear! Er... pardon me fer asking, but are ya a born Ponyvillian? Cause ya talk a bit like mah Uncle and Aunt Orange in Manehatten."

"Oh Manehatten!" Rarity swooned theatrically. "The Big Apple! The city of light and sophistication! I only wish I was from there," she said with faked bitterness. "Alas, I am indeed a natural born 'villian' as we sometimes call ourselves." The unicorn mare looked left and right before leaning in conspiratorially and whispered loudly. "Don't tell anypony, but it's an affectation! After graduation, I'm so going to take over the fashion world, and the ...eh... gentleponies of the upper crust wouldn't take me seriously if they thought I was just a hick from the woods, no offence to Ponyville."

Applejack smiled at the young unicorn. Rarity seemed a bit flighty to her, but to a mare accustomed to keeping dark secrets and fighting against monsters in the pit of night, most ponies did. The contrast to her life was pleasant, and the mare's natural warmth that shone through her exaggerated theatrics was catching. Talking to her made Applejack feel ...normal.

"Now, may I ask, where might you be from, darling? I can't quite place your accent, I'm afraid, even though it sounds familiar..."

Applejack grimaced slightly. "Yeah... It's a family thing. Ah grew up in Colton. We moved here to take care of the Apple orchard on the northern side of town, after Uncle Appleseed... passed away."

"Oh, you're Johnny Appleseed's niece, then! I should have recognized the accent, but I'd only ever heard him use it!" Rarity paused and said a bit more quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss. He was a nice stallion, a true gentlecolt, if I may say. Were you close?"

Applejack shook her head. "Can't rightly say ah knew him well. But he was family. Ah remember him giving me and my sister rides on his back at a family gathering when ah was her age and she was just the size of a bunnyrabbit. That was before mah Pa and Ma passed away," she added quietly.

"Oh, darling!" Rarity said with genuine compassion. "I'm so sorry to have brought this up," she said with a hug that took Applejack by surprise. Rarity hesitated a bit before saying, "You might be surprised to hear it's not that an uncommon story in Ponyville."

"Oh?" Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

Rarity nodded. "It's not commonly spoken about, but just about everypony knows somepony with a dead parent or cousin or other." She shook her head. "I don't know why this town attracts sad stories, but there you have it. Why, there are two fillies in our very year who've both lost their parents, and moved here from elsewhere," she said and pointed at a pair of mares walking close together.

"The pink Earth Pony with the saddledress is Pinkamena Diane Pie. She prefers the middle name. Lives in a bakery, of all places. I don't know what happened to her family, but she moved to Ponyville when we were still in Elementary," she whispered. "I've never seen her cutie mark!", she added with a scandalous tone.

"The petite purple unicorn is Twilight Sparkle. She's originally from Canterlot!" There was a note of longing in Rarity's tone at the name of the mountain city. "Again, I've only heard rumors about the demise of her family, but what I do know is that she's just about the only filly in this school who can perform more magic than just a spark of light or a weak push with telekinesis. But she never does it when she thinks somebody sees her! Unless she can perform it in front of Chaplain Wax during their private magic lessons," she said with a shrug. "I'd say they have an illicit affair, if I didn't know that Twilight is about as shy and nervous as a... well, I don't know what I should compare her with. I've never heard her say more than two words to anyone except a teacher and Diane, and even then it's almost always in a whisper or a stutter.

"I don't think either of them has another friend. Not that they seem to want any, but as it is they both have a bit of a reputation for being, well, odd. I wouldn't dream of saying a bad word about someone with such a tragic past, but some of the others in the school aren't quite as understanding."

Rarity looked around her, before leaning in conspiratorially again and whispering intensely. "They say they wander about the town at night in dark clothes and goggles! Personally, I bet it's just a private nerd project of theirs, but they are strange, always whispering together and hiding in the city library and comparing notes. And they just stare, when somepony tries to speak to them. It truly would be a social death to befriend them."

She sighed. "It's such a shame. They'd both make such gorgeous mares, if they'd just step out of their shells and put some effort in their looks. I mean, seriously, look at Di's dress! I swear she gets those used! And would it hurt to show a bit of flank every now and then. Twilight's big brother is a dream, though..." Rarity finished with a distant look in her eyes.

Applejack let most of the gossip pass her by, but one thing caught her attention. "There's a magic tutor at Ponyville Central?"

"Mm-hmm," Rarity nodded and resurfaced from her daydream. "Chaplain Candlewax, the stallion who gave the sermon in the morning service teaches all the Tribes in their natural magics." She let out a derisive giggle. "I should say 'teaches'. Like I said, as far as I know, only Twilight has any magic to speak of here. For the rest of us, it's about as useful two hours twice a week as listening to his sermons." Her face suddenly got a mortified look. "Oh dear, I didn't offend you, AJ darling, did I? Are you religious?"

Applejack laughed softly. "Don't ya worry yer purty head, Rarity. Ah ain't a fundie."

"Well, that's a relief. How didn't you know already about him, though? Earth ponies get four hours of pointless meditation in the gardens, as far as I know."

"Ah guess ah get a pass for working at the farm."

"Hm, that makes sense. I wish I got a pass. That's four hours a week I'd much rather spend productively." Rarity suddenly seemed to remember something. "Say, was that adorable little thing with the red bow sitting next to you a relative?"

"Sure was," Applejack said smiling. "Applebloom's my little sis, and mah junior by five years. Cute as a button, but stubborn as they come. Starting to fret over her cutie mark too. Won't listen to me when ah tell her it'll come in time. Ah think ah was actually a bit older than her when ah got mine."

"Oh, I know the type," Rarity said with an exasperated little smile of her own. "Sounds just like my own little sister. Sweetie Belle is a treasure, but she can be so annoying! I saw yours going with Cheerilee, so they are going to be in the same class. We'll have to arrange a play date for them if they don't manage to hit it off on their own."

"Sounds good to me, Rarity. We can take turns with who has to put up with them for a day," Applejack said. And it would be right helpful to know she's taken care of, when me and Mac are out slaying, she added silently. "Ya think we should head to class, though? Ah wager everypony else was there about ten minutes ago."

"Oh, don't you worry your pretty head, darling. Mister Slacks has a crush on me. He'd never dare write me up for tardiness, and you're with me!" Rarity said with a giggle and satisfied smirk.

* * *

There most certainly is somepony or something else killing the beasts. Targets I've marked keep disappearing. That alone I could accept as a mistaken identity if it had happened once and twice, but twelve? I think not.

Today was confirmation, though. Not a disappearance, that may or may not be either a vampony or a victim. Not a corpse that may or may not be that of a werepony or a victim. Not a bunch of burnt sticks that may or may not be remains of a timberwolf or burnt firewood in an out-of-way picnic spot. A strangler.

I found its corpse submerged in a swamp, obviously dragged there through the woods for some distance. The drag marks were covered, but not completely. The strangler was mutilated. Smashed, cut and burnt in a way that suggests either a group or torture after an ambush. The wounds were all equally fresh and unhealed, though, so I lean towards a battle. But who was it then?
The townsfolk are mostly ignorant. They know that the Everfree is dangerous, and know not to wander there, but otherwise they are as blessedly ignorant as everypony else.

The marks on the beast's body strongly suggest towards a small group of well armed professionals. As far as I can tell, the beast was inconvenienced through ranged attacks. I found accurate points of entry for some kind of projectiles at very precise locations in the body, designed for maximum effect. The burn marks on its body might well be the result of some kind of incendiary chemical delivered in a fragile vessel: a firebomb, in other words. The beast was finished by cutting off its head and heart. I didn't find them.
The accuracy and the totality of the wounds means coverage by the attackers, so there must be at least two, more likely more than that. It would be extremely unwise for any non-slayer to engage a strangler with minimal force. Thus, a group.

Dragging of the corpse and the attempt to hide it suggests that its attackers wish for their activities to stay hidden. So, a clandestine government operation? Or a warlock, getting some kind of material for his or her activities? It could even be a turf war between different factions of Dark creatures, though the town seems too small for such.

I'll quietly look at the activities of one Shining Armor. He moved with his younger sister to Ponyville some four years ago, and had previously received military training he has put to good use as the sheriff's deputy. If there is a military black ops going on, he might be part of it, or at the very least, be in the know.

What to do, if that's the case? The Family has not been part of

A high pitched scream cut short Applejack's reading of the previous resident Slayer's journal. She had spent about half of her free period investigating the current situation of the town and searching for clues to his disappearance. Johnny Appleseed had kept a thorough journal that put Applejack's own attempts at record-keeping to shame, and she found most of his cases an engaging read.

Her own notes of the 'Colton incident' read in their entirety: "Found a bunch of vamps napping at the wine cellar of mayoral mansion. Too many to engage, no access to daylight. Burned the building. Got caught by law enforcement. Granny Smith dealt with it. Mayor not a vamp, just a perv."

The scream gave her a start, engaged as she was in her reading, but she turned it into a trot to the door of the high schoolers' common room, where she had retired to read. Clearly ahead of the rest of the room's occupants she found herself facing alone a stampede of cute little middle schoolers fleeing down the stairs towards the dining hall and outer doors. She dodged most of them, but Applebloom tackled her in a flying hug.

"What's the matter, sugarcube?" Applejack asked quickly just a moment before she realized her sister was not trembling or panicking quite convincingly.

Applebloom pretended to bury her face in her sister's mane as she whispered in her ear. "A vampony victim, biology lab. Saw bite marks, stuffed in a closet or something. Colt. Age, between ya and Mac."

"Will he rise?" Applejack whispered quickly back.

"Can't say, didn't see the inside of his mouth," Applebloom whispered before twisting her face in a resemblance of horror and crying loudly: "There was a dead pony in the biology class, sis!"

* * *

Applejack sneaked fast but quietly through the shadows, a dark cloak helping to cover her movements.

A quick conference with Big Mac had resulted in Applebloom's first ever sleepover, at Rarity's home. The girl's younger sister had been quite beside herself for having seen the corpse, but having seen how calmly and collectedly the younger of the newcomers had comforted Sweetie Belle, Rarity had quickly attempted to get both sisters to help calm the nerves in a 'group therapy session'.

Applejack had consulted her brother and they ended up having Applebloom staying the night at Rarity's and Sweetie's parents' house, Big Mac staking out at the town morgue, just in case, and Applejack attempting to search for clues at the school itself after nightfall.

Rarity was told that work at the farm prevented either of the older siblings to come over for the evening, and she ended up having to look after not two, but three (supposedly) traumatized little fillies, as Scootaloo, an orphaned pegasus filly and a friend of Sweetie's had tagged along. Quite shocked herself, she was a bit disappointed at the lack of help, but hoped to get the girls to participate in a makeover to get their (and her) minds off of the shock of the day.

Applejack moved around the school, checking windows and doors. They all were locked, but more importantly, the frames all had a small symbol of a stylized sun carved into them. Most people thought it a traditional decoration, or a small show of faith in the Heavenly Sisters in the same way as having moon pies during Samhain had originally been. Only the Apples and a few scholars specializing in folklore remembered that the 'decoration' had started as protective talismans against the monstrous troops of Nightmare Moon. Only the Apples knew that they were completely functional.

In one window, the carving was missing, the area scratched out. Applejack studied the frame for a moment, then forced the window open and climbed through.

Behind a bush a few hundred yards further, a young mare with a serious countenance lowered her binoculars and whispered: "Target entered through the compromised window. Preliminary identification: New girl." A figure next to her nodded quietly, and wrote the information in a notebook. "Victim?" she asked in a very quiet whisper. "Negative. The target entered alone," the other answered and raised the binoculars again.

Hidden things

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Chapter 2: Hidden things

Creeping through the empty hallways of the dark school, Applejack paused and shivered at every new turn she took. Sights of shadows and silence brought up images of warmth and laughter from just a few hours earlier. It wasn't the first public building Applejack had had to check during the night, and the transformation from jolly to eerie should have been familiar. To have been part of the crowd acting safe, unconcerned, normal, however, made the foreboding emptiness extra upsetting. She ground her teeth together, flinching slightly at the sound.

It wasn't just the passing from light to dark. It was wrong in ways that had nothing to do with the subversion of normality. Having a school as a site of a vampony attack was... not right.

How would a vamp have found a victim here? Why would they bring one here?

Vamponies hunted in the night. There was no one in a school building at night. It was a high profile place. Foals played here! A corpse in a place like this brought attention. Vamponies didn't want attention. They killed their victims out of sight and left the bodies in hidden places. A young vampony wouldn't know to do that. They might reveal themselves accidentally because they didn't know how to be careful, but a young vampony wouldn't have destroyed the protection on the window. It would have shied away from the pain it caused and fled.

They were malicious. They liked to play with their food. They were twisted mockeries of pony dreams and desires. Would a particularly sadistic one relish in the fear and pain caused by the desecration of a foals' sanctuary?

The destroyed Sun visage in the window made her bit her lip. Pa told me the older, stronger ones can fight the Sun. But they were the wilier ones. She couldn't understand why one would flaunt its presence like this. Darn monster tries to send a message! Applejack snorted angrily, then shook her head. Nah, it's the school got me on edge. And the darn notebook! Suspicions and conspiracies...

It was here on the first school day! Applejack paused midstep and narrowed her eyes. Was it a message? If so, what did it say? Be frightened. You're not safe. That didn't sound like a message a vampony would send. They didn't want their food being wary, not until they had the poor pony cornered. Then they might gloat, terrorize, torture. This... this made it harder for them to lure anypony to their deaths. The ponies would be more subdued, more frightened for a time. Less likely to go outside at night, less likely to follow strangers.

Somepony or something is hunting the beasts, she remembered the journal. Could they have had part in this? A mortal could destroy the protection easily. Many did, in ignorance. Ancient floor plans, traditional decorations, these things went out of style. Fashion left ponies unprotected, their houses open to Dark.

The Sun on the window was no accident, though. It was the only blemish on the school building. It was a very specific damage, an easy-to-miss scratch in a place, where ponies were used to seeing something anyway. "Very precise locations, designed for maximum damage..."

Was a pony behind this? Applejack growled at the thought, and pushed it away. She tried to think like a vampony, finding a building that was only mostly protected. It would keep other vamponies away, let them feed in peace. Hunters like her wouldn't check such a place. It would make a good safehouse for a moderately cunning vampony.

She felt sick in the stomach at the thought of one of those monsters laying dormant somewhere in the school. Foals would be studying, playing, while the unholy creature 'slept' during the day, listening, taking in sounds and scents, planning for murder... She shifted the position of her stake in its holster. If it's a nest, it will come back here before dawn. She smiled grimly.

Was it just that? A sadistic vampony taken residence in the schoolhouse, enjoying the terror it inflicted on the young minds? Who had destroyed the protection on the window?

Applejack reached the biology lab. The sheriff had left a note on the door, forbidding entry because of investigation. It didn't match with the cheerful crayon pictures of animals pinned up at the wall beside it.

Applejack hesitated for a moment at the door, shrugged, and broke the lock. If'n I get the sheriff looking even more closely at this, he might dig up more clues. Just need to watch he don't get himself killed. Shining Armor. He was the sheriff's deputy. Appleseed had wanted to take a look at him. That brought Applejack's thoughts back to the journal and Appleseed's suspicions. They wouldn't compromise a school, would they?

It could be a trap for vamponies. It would lure them in. You would just need to stake a watch during the night. Every time a vampony moved in, you waited for the dawn and took it out. A school? No, that was too sick. Too risky. No sane pony would risk exposing foals to such monsters.

What about a warlock, then? Could they have set a ritual somewhere in the school, feeding on fear? Children's fear? Applejack shivered, feeling more ill by the moment. I need to get this done, before I start panicking. She checked the biology class, finding no more than she had expected. The body had been found in a samples closet, stuffed between the shelves. Applejack found no suspicious symbols or magicks inside. She shrugged. Better check the cellars, maybe something's hiding there. The rest of the night she would stake out in the school yard. Oh, ponyfeathers. I'm going to be knackered at school tomorrow.

* * *

"Movement!" The sharp hiss woke Twilight up. They had decided to take turns watching the school, and Diane had drawn the first watch.

"New girl?" she whispered.

"Negative. New contact. Alone." Diane paused. "It's heading for the compromised window," she said grimly in a low voice.

Twilight bit her lip. "She's still in there," she said after a short silence, her voice barely audible.

Diane nodded, eyes locked at the figure walking through the school yard. "Moving out," she said quietly, but firmly.

* * *

Big Macintosh lay on the roof of the Ponyville Hospital's Sun chapel, the highest building of the hospital complex, mostly hidden by a dark cloak. It was very useful, hiding his very visible red coat from sight, obscuring his form and also adding protection against the night's chill that was pronounced at his current height, even so early in the autumn. It was also quite snuggly.

Big Mac recited prayers in his mind, keeping himself barely awake in a meditative state, just above sleeping. Still, his ears perked at a faint sound of hooves on cobbles at a distance, and his eyes focused immediately at a figure, no, make that several figures, advancing towards the abnormally spacious morgue at a leisurely pace. His eyes narrowed and magnificent muscles tightened as he tensed for a pounce, more like a great cat than a pony.

"About time," he growled in a low murmur.

* * *

Applejack examined the space hidden behind a flimsy makeshift wall in the boiler room. It wasn't much larger than a pony in width, and could take her height, barely, standing on hind legs. Every inch of the walls were covered in pictures of smiling ponies. Schoolchildren. Many of the faces seemed vaguely familiar, some she recognized for sure as her new class mates. In about third of the pictures, a figure of a pony had been inked out. There were group pictures, pictures of friends playing or hugging, with one of the ponies replaced by utter black. They looked so young.

In a few pictures, she noticed a pony had been crossed over. A different pony every time, nine in total. One of the pictures was of a family. A mare, a stallion and two foals. One of the foals was inked out. The rest were crossed over.

"In Celestia's name..." Applejack whispered and shook her head. I guess I found the nest, then. She focused and concentrated on the inked out figure. In no picture were the friends of the figure older than twelve. Not much older than Applebloom, she thought grimly.

She noticed a picture with Rarity and Sweetie Belle in it as well. They didn't look any younger in the picture. A smaller figure in the background was inked out. Must be fairly recently vamponized, then. She figured the roguish looking colt that looked about eighteen was the most recent victim. I wonder what drew you to her, she pondered absentmindedly.

A faint 'clop' from the direction of the doorway stopped her breath.

Applejack melted into the shadows, fast and quiet.

* * *

A slight figure in a white dress flowed to the window with the scratched out Sun. It glanced around it, once, and smoothly jumped through, barely making a sound.

A moment later, two other figures arrived at the spot, almost as quietly. These ones were dressed in dark bodysuits and dark goggles. The pink one carried a flask in its mouth, a tuft of cotton peeking out from its neck, ready to be ignited.

Twilight and Diane paused at the window, nodded at each other, and jumped through.

* * *

Four vamponies stood in front of the morgue, still and quiet, all four staring at the door.

They never saw him coming.

* * *

As the figure in white paused at top of the stairs, a wooden stake snaked through the dark and embedded itself in a wall, having cut through the front of the dress and drawing a line of dark blood in the figure's chest.

"Gosh darn it!" it heard a voice in the dark say, before it hissed and turned to flee.

* * *

Diane and Twilight froze at the sound of a loud 'thud!' and a faint curse. They quickly pressed against a wall around a corner, avoiding just in time a fast, hissing figure speeding through the hallway. They saw it pause to throw a locked trophy display at something behind it.

The cabinet soared through the air in a short, destructive arc, a massive pile of polished wood and glass and cups and medals in all sizes made of brass or silver, ending at a mare in pursuit of the white-clad figure.

Applejack ducked under the flying display cabinet, touched it with her shoulders, and bounced after the figure, shrugging the heavy piece of furniture off her with no change to her momentum.

"Ha! Ah ain't got time to look at fancy pots, ya varmint!" she shouted while speeding after her target.

The cabinet broke against the entryway to the cellars with a deafening sound, spilling on the stairs the collected trophies of every intercity competition Ponyville Central had won in the past half century. The clatter continued for an eternity.

Diane and Twilight stared after the pair for a long while, before the pink mare dropped the flask in her mouth and whispered "Wow". Twilight nodded slowly.

* * *

A wooden crossbow bolt struck a vampony in the back, the shaft disappearing completely from sight. The vampony blinked dazedly before collapsing in a pile of dust. At the same moment three hundred pounds of prime stallion hit the backs of two other vamponies that had turned towards their fellow in surprise. A blade of a heavy battleaxe cut through the air, decapitating the third.

In a well-practiced motion, Big Mac reared back and simultaneously flipped both of the holsters in his forelegs, baring the stakes in them. They came down with unstoppable force.

The dust floated away in the faint night breeze, as Big Mac re-holstered a pair of stakes and nodded, as if in acknowledgment of proper execution.

Swapping his ax for the crossbow again, he walked to the morgue with slow, deliberate steps.

* * *

Applejack ran through the town in hot pursuit. Ooh, this feels so good. Her heart thumped and blood raced through her veins as she tore through the night, just a few steps behind her target. A lasso trailed behind her, readied for a quick throw with her strong neck muscles.

The slight figure ahead of her bounced towards a river and launched itself through the air, spreading its bat-like wings.

In the brief moment it took to beat its wings for the first time, the rope caught it around the barrel, and it was snapped back to the ground.

Applejack was on top of it in the same instant. She looked into the face of a young filly, ethereal in the moonlight, then spat as it gained the appearance of a beast with glowing red eyes. "No shame at all with y'all," she breathed, "taking a foal like that. To Tartarus with ya!" She swiftly staked the vampony through its chest and closed her eyes as it turned to dust. "Rest in peace, child. The princesses look after ya."

* * *

In a soft bed easily big enough for three fillies, Applebloom let out a small sigh as her sleeping form shifted slightly against the warm bodies of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. A small smile played on her lips as she settled down again.

* * *

Applejack found Big Mac to the side of the town morgue, inspecting the ground. "Whatcha got there, Mac?" she asked softly.

"Sis," Big Mac greeted Applejack with a glance and a nod, before turning back to the ground. "Some vamps came here not too long ago. Ah'd say they were waiting for the lad to rise. Can't say ah know why. Took 'em out. Went in to greet the chap mahself, but he was gone already." He tapped the ground in front of him. "Ah reckon he was carried away by somepony, prolly while he was still stiffing."

Applejack peered at the hoofprints for a good while, before nodding. "Ah'd say ya got it right, unless they kept him shod, and he decided to take some poor soul with him when he left."

Big Mac hummed and shook his head. "The window's closed. Ah doubt a fresh vamp would have bothered."

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, guess not." She paused. "So, shall we?"

"Nope."

Applejack raised her brow. "Excuse me?"

"Already did. He was carried to that copse there," he pointed to a small grove of trees a small sprint away, "and dusted in the spot. Was tied to them trees, by the marks. Whoever did it was light and steady enough to not leave any more hoofprints."

Applejack frowned. "Ah'll be. Ah guess Uncle Appleseed was in the right, then. There's somepony or ponies in this town taking care of business on their own."

Big Mac hummed again. "Dangerous."

"Uncle seemed to think they knew what they were doing." She bit her lip. "What we don't know, is why they're doing it. Ah saw some things that could be bad, Mac. Real bad."

Big Mac turned to her with a questioning look. Applejack waved him away. "Ah'll tell ya all about it over a mug of hot cocoa, Mac. Let's get home for tonight. Ah need mah sleep."

The stallion remained standing for a moment, looking at the copse with narrowed eyes, before slowly turning away.

Light reading and colt-catching

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Chapter 3: Light reading and colt-catching

Granny Smith looked on, sipping her morning brew, as Applejack packed assorted anti-vamp weaponry into her schoolbags, pausing occasionally to test their availability for quick draw. She didn't bother to comment.

"Ya were right, Granny Smith," Applejack said without looking up from her work. Granny Smith simply took a sip. "Ah found a vamp nest under the school last night," she continued. "It was just a filly," she said quietly and looked the older mare in the eyes, "twelve, maybe thirteen years old. She was hunting for her family and class-mates, prolly turning 'em too."

Granny Smith sighed. "Ah'm sorry, lass. It ain't easy seeing a child being turned or fed on. Ye're a bit young for slaying on yer own yerself, too. Ya should've went there with yer brother," she said, glancing at Big Mac.

"Ah saw to the morgue," Big Mac rumbled, looking remorseful.

"An' it's darn good ya did, Mac!", Applejack said hotly. "If we'd stayed bunched up, we would've missed either the one ah got, or the four ya did. And there's more," she said, turning back to Granny Smith. "Somepony had messed with one of the Sun wards at the school. Ah think they meant for that filly to get vamponized and prey on the school!"

Big Mac cleared his throat. "The vamps ah got set themselves up. Stood before the morgue like in waiting fer the riser. And somepony took care of him on their own."

Granny Smith frowned in thought, eyes narrowed, bucket of coffee in her hooves. She stayed like that for a long moment, before shaking her head and sighed, "Ah don't rightly know what's going on. If'n there are vamps greeting for new ones, it says there's an old one here leadig' a clan. But ah can't see one of 'em doing a thing like that with the school." She sipped her coffee. "We need to research this. Ya wouldn't mind taking yer granny to the library today, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac nodded.

"Ah'll see to a stallion named Shining Armor," Applejack said. "Uncle Appleseed thought he might be one of the ponies hunting beasts on their own here. He's our only lead right now," she said with a shrug. "But ah got to go to pick Applebloom up from Rarity's right now. G'day, Granny Smith. G'day Big Mac."

* * *

Rarity looked at the two sleeping and one faintly struggling filly and tried to hold her giggle. After a moment, grumbling Applebloom quit trying to extricate herself from the vice-like double hug the snoring fillies at her both sides were giving her, and sighed loudly.

"Ya wouldn't mind helping me out, Miz Rarity? Ah'd really like to go to the bathroom."

"Just Rarity, sweetheart," Rarity said between her ladylike giggles. "I must say, you three make the most adorable sight in the morning."

Applebloom rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Here, this should help," Rarity said brightly, and pushed one of Scootaloo's wings up to Sweetie Belle's muzzle with her telekinesis, straining slightly. Almost immediately, Sweetie unclasped both her front hooves to rub her muzzle, and Scootaloo rolled to shiver slightly and wrapped her wings and hooves around herself. Applebloom took her chance to jump from the bed and took to the bathroom on a run.

"There's some breakfast downstairs when you're finished in the ladies', darling. Papa made some pancakes!" Rarity shouted after the speeding filly, who mumbled thanks halfway down the hall. Rarity giggled again at the contented sigh she heard from the bathroom a second after the door slammed shut, and narrowed her eyes looking down at the two other fillies in the bed. "Now what shall we do with you two sleepyheads, hm?" she murmured in a low tone and smiled dangerously.

Some screams and a bit of running around later, all three little fillies and one somewhat bigger filly were sat down around the breakfast table under the gently watchful eyes of Ms. Pearl and Mr. Magnum, Mama and Papa respectively to Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

"Sleep well, darlings?" Ms. Pearl asked looking at the smaller fillies.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Mama!"

"Sure did, Miz Pearl!"

Scootaloo blinked slowly, her purple mane even more messy than usual.

"I didn't have nightmares at all!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed happily.

"Y'all all right now, Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked with a caring look in her eyes.

"Yeah. Thanks for coming, you two. It was nice to have some company," Sweetie Belle said and smiled softly at Applebloom.

"I wasn't scared," Scootaloo slurred with half a pancake in her mouth while looking at the rest of her pile and wondering if it would make a nice pillow.

"Would you like to hang with us after school today, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked hopefully.

"Ah guess. Ah mean, ah need to ask mah sister, if ah can stay till nightfall. Ah didn't do mah chores last night 'cause ah was with you guys," Applebloom said and shrugged. "She'll prolly be okay with it, though."

"Cool!" said Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah," Scootaloo said, a bit more awake now, "we need to do that thing you did last night, but with my scooter! I bet we can get some crazy air with that!"

"You're not going to do anything dangerous, are you, sweethearts?" Ms. Pearl asked and looked each of the three girls sternly in the eye.

"Of course not, Mama! We'd never!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed with wide eyes, the two other fillies at her sides giving the most angelically innocent look possible.

Mr Magnum chuckled softly. "Of course you wouldn't, sweetie pie," he said and ruffled Sweetie Belle's mane.

* * *

Rarity, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo walked towards the school in a loose group. The two Apple sisters were a bit behind, whispering together in low tones. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were chatting animatedly, and Rarity walked in silent thought.

The darlings didn't have much time to talk yesterday, Rarity thought. Such a little sweetheart, that Applebloom. Showed a brave face the whole night, taking the minds of Sweetie and poor Scootaloo off of that horrid thing. She inclined her head slightly in appraisal. Her sister seems like a real nice pony, too. Very collected, very mature. I guess she's had to grow up young, though, considering.

She sighed sadly. Such tragic figures, growing up alone in the world, bravely facing the challenges of life. Just the two fillies, struggling without the help of a strong, strapping stallion. Oh, such poise! Do they realize how gracefully they move? Almost feline. Rarity leaned her head again. No, wait. Didn't Applejack say she has an older brother? With a figure like hers I wonder what he looks like, oh my. Would she let me braid her mane, I wonder? And maybe put a little thing in plaid together. It would go so well with the hat. She took a sharp breath and squealed mentally.

Iii-dee-a!! She would have clapped her hooves together if she hadn't been using them to walk. We should totally get together for a start-of-the-school-year-party at the Prance! It would cheer everypony up! Oh, let's see, Silver, Grace, Dancer, Lyra, the flower trio, of course, Vinyl is probably already booked for a gig, but wouldn't hurt to ask. Hm, maybe those sweet stallions in the band in the senior year, what do they call themselves? The not-very-studlies, was it? Starshine never goes anywhere, the bore, but I'll ask anyway. Then there's Can-can, Creamy, Whitey, Bluejay, River Run, Shades, Hot Stuff, Amber, Lace and Peach Curl, who am I forgetting? Better let Twilight and Diane know too, though I can guess how well that goes down. She shook her head imperceptibly. Now, who's in second year?

Meanwhile, Applebloom and Applejack were having their whispered conversation.

"Listen, sugarcube," Applejack whispered softly, "the school's dangerous. Ah need ya to look around a bit, but be careful!" She glanced at the other girls, before handing some items surreptitiously over to Applebloom. "Ah took some holy water with me from tha farm, and there's an extra Sun ward in there, too. Ya keep them with ya at all times, ya hear?" Her whispers took on a warning tone. "Ah found a vampony nest in the school cellars last night, but didn't have time to check the whole place. If ya could keep an eye out for me, that none of the kids get in there, ah'd appreciate it."

"Will do, sis," Applebloom whispered back firmly.

"Just make sure ya come to me at first sign of trouble. There's something fishy going on in this town, and ah don't want ya getting in trouble, okay?" Applejack glanced at the two small fillies squealing about something called 'triple-pony-barrel-jump', Scootaloo excitedly and Sweetie Belle with apprehension. "Speaking of which, Granny and Big Mac are in the library today. If they're gonna be there in the afternoon as well, ah don't mind ya staying with yer friends after school, but ah'm gonna have to check on something mahself. But under no circumstance stay out after sundown! This place ain't right! And ya'd make yer friends a favor to see them home before night, as well."

"Ah know, sis," Applebloom said slightly annoyed. She wasn't stupid! She kept her tone even, regardless.

"How was yer night?" asked Applejack after a pause.

"And then we could go to the forest, and see if we could spot the creepy monster that lives there and chase it with the scooter and make a trap and catch it and become HEROES!" Scootaloo explained her awesome ideas.

"I really don't think that's such a good idea, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said hesitantly. "Besides, we're not allowed. Mom and Dad say I'm never ever ever cross my heart and hope to die never go to the forest." She thought a moment. "Plus, it's kind of scary."

"Oh, phooiee!" Scootaloo said, secretly relieved. "At least we should build the ramp in the park and try for the bell tower!"

* * *

"It's settled, then? We meet tonight?" Rarity was working fast putting together her party for the evening. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware of missing most of math and cultural history classes, but with the coming weekend she was sure to catch up again. Besides, introductory classes were never very important.

"Of course!" "Absolutely!" "Love to!" the flower trio, Roseluck, Daisy and Lily Valley chorused. Almost always together, the trio were one of Rarity's go-to ponies, when she needed to get a party going. As a courtesy, she let them know whenever there was a social gathering worthy of attendance going on. As it was, it seemed there was going to be quite a soirée at Prance. Most of the upper classes were coming, and even some of the younger ones were going to show up, before the bar-keeps chased them away at ten. The Prance catered to all ages, but usually reserved later hours for a more mature audience. It kept its business clean, however, so parents felt it was a safe place to let their rowdy teenagers to let their mane down.

"Wonderful! Now, let's see, that leaves us with..." Rarity mused, "ah! Better ask those two, as well," she said, spotting Twilight and Pinkamena Diane Pie in a corner of the common room, huddled together as usual.

"Hmph." "Yeah, right." "Like that's going to work!" was the flower trio's opinion.

"Can't know till you've asked, girls! Ta!" Rarity said cheerfully and pranced to the secluded pair. She paused next to their table, where they were comparing some notes. How much do those two study? I doubt they've ever scored less than perfect in a quiz, Rarity thought.

She cleared her throat gently. "Pardon me, girls," she said in a business-like tone. Best take this with calm professionality and keep my hopes down. It's just a courtesy, any way. "We, that is, the upper years and some of the lower ones as well, were going to have a little get-together at the Prance tonight, you know, to celebrate the start of the school year and to put the, ehm, unpleasantness of yesterday behind us. And of course, to welcome Applejack to our midst. I don't suppose you two would like to grace us with your presence, for a change?" Rarity asked with a smile, leaning forward gently and fluttering her eye-lashes.

Both fillies stared at her silently. Then they turned to stare each other. Diane raised a brow. Twilight put her head to the side a bit, then twitched her mouth. Diane inclined her head slightly. Twilight looked away. Diane turned back to Rarity, whose smile had started to grow stale.

"I'll come," Diane stated simply.

Rarity's eyes bulged. "Really?!" she squealed.

"Yes," Diane said, looking at Rarity unblinkingly.

"I-I need to s-s-study," Twilight stammered quietly, looking away with a blush, before looking Rarity firmly in the eyes. Oh, she has such lovely eyes, thought Rarity. "M-m-maybe later?" Twilight said with a question.

Rarity waited for a moment before smiling widely. "Oh, lovely! I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves! See you in the evening, then, ta-ta!" she said and skipped away. Oh, this is going perfectly! Now we only need the guest of honor, herself.

Applejack was studying the school yearbook, having almost certainly identified the filly who had become the vampony she had slain the previous night. Now she was thinking how to approach the Shining Armor angle. The stallion was in the entrance hall, chatting with his boss, a burly rosé mare with a handcuff cutie mark. How do you get handcuffs for a cutie mark? Applejack pondered absentmindedly.

Her target stallion didn't look particularly nefarious. There was a hardened look about him, sure, but considering his job, the tragedy of his past and the military training he had received, it wasn't out of place. Otherwise the stallion looked almost coltish, his electric blue hair almost covering his blue eyes, thin muzzle making him look even younger than he was. In a certain light, he would look almost vulnerable. Applejack supposed one could see him brooding moodily in the night, whittling stakes and planning ways to take down beasts that had attacked his family. It was much harder to see him ruthlessly exploiting children to catch his enemies, although there was a coldness in his gaze. So, what are you? A knight in battered armor, avenging his family in the dark of night? A ruthless, broken soul, sacrificing even the innocent to get revenge? Or a bucking false trail? Applejack rubbed her chin thoughtfully. How am I going to find out?

While she was thinking, Rarity pranced to her side. "Applejack, darling!" Rarity greeted, startling her a bit. "Revising math already, are we?"

What? Can't she see what I'm looking at? Oh, she's not actually looking at all, Applejack thought, seeing the slightly manic look in the other mare's eyes. "Eh, not exactly," she said weakly.

"Now, darling, I have the most wonderful proposition for you!" Rarity started, not actually listening to the response. "We're going to have a bit of a party tonight at a local night club called the Prance. There's going to be good music, nice little snacks, tasty drinks, and most importantly, just about every pony our age in town! What do you say?" she said with an expectant grin.

Huh? Oh, horseapples! "That sounds mighty fun, Rarity," Applejack said, (It does!) "but, er, ah was going to do something tonight..." she said, looking hesitantly at Shining Armor. Oh, ponyfeathers! What am I saying, of course I should go! Everypony's going to think I'm a square if I don't! Gosh darn it, did it have to be now, when there's some kind of vampony infestation going on here? Wait, there's going to be a bunch of partying ponies going out tonight? Maybe I should go and see that everypony gets home safely. Can't be blamed if I happen to enjoy myself at the same time, right?

"Hm?" Rarity hummed, slightly surprised. Something to do, she thought confusedly, what is she going to do that's more fun than a night out with friends? Wait, where is she looking at? Rarity followed Applejack's gaze to the handsome stallion near the entrance, and raised her brows. Then a devious glint appeared in her eyes, and she grinned conspiratorially while leaning to speak softly in Applejack's ear.

"You know," she said casually, "it's not just us poor schoolgirls going out tonight. The Prance is quite popular in this town, one of the more suave joints, one could say. A lot of the younger, cool ponies go there. Quite the selection of distinguished ponies, many a night," she murmured seductively. "Noteworthy, the saxophonist, often plays there. The ever athletic Tail Blaze spends time with his friends at the pool table most weekends. And of course, the delectable Shining Armor, the dashing deputy himself, often relaxes with a glass in the place."

With a glance aside, Rarity spotted a flash of interest in Applejack's eyes. Gotcha! she thought with a widening smile. "He usually sits there with just the glass, poor stallion, probably just trying to forget the pressure of his day. He looks so lonely, I often think. 'He really should get himself a good mare, Rarity', I say to myself, 'to take those worries away'. I have never had the courage myself, of course." She paused, and looked at Applejack pointedly.

Wait, is she...? Applejack thought. Well, I suppose it would be one way to get close to him, she mused silently. Wait, what? You've never been to a date, girl! Applejack admonished herself blushing slightly. You don't know the first thing about seducing stallions, Applejack! And it ain't proper to start now, anyway!, she thought, no matter how nicely toned flank the stallion in question might have. Her thoughts halted in a shock. Okayy. That was not something I was supposed to think about. Darn that filly, she fills my head with nonsense. Wait, she might know how to approach a colt. She glanced at the young white mare at her side, taking in the carefully coiffured mane and tastefully applied make-up and the gently curving lines of her saddlebags. In fact, I bet she does. "Yeah, Ah might come," she said aloud.

"Perfect!" Rarity said with a huge smile. "Come by my place tonight, we'll get ready together. I have just the thing for you, and I'm sure I can fit it for you in no time! Ooh, this is going to be so fun!"

* * *

Applebloom was finishing her lunch, when she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle run from around the corner.

”Hey, Applebloom! Guess what we found?” Sweetie Belle shouted, running up to Applebloom, Scootaloo at her side.

”There used to be a big shelf with a bunch of prizes next to colts' room near the cellars,” Scootaloo explained breathlessly. ”It ain't there any more!”

”But we saw marks on the walls near the cellar stairs,” Sweetie Belle continued.

”We think somepony stole the cabinet!” Scootaloo concluded.

”We were going to go to the cellars to search for clues,” Sweetie Belle said.

”It could be related to the dead pony yesterday, we heard the sheriff talking about it with the principal!” Scootaloo said.

”And we'd want you to come with us to the cellars, cause you're kind of brave, Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle sincerely said, staring Applebloom with wide eyes.

”If we find out who did it, we could get a medal!” Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly.

”'Cause the cellars are kind of dark and scary,” Sweetie Belle confessed with a shiver.

”I wasn't scared!” Scootaloo claimed quickly.

Applebloom looked from one excited filly to another and sighed. ”Ya gals are gonna go there any way, aren't ya?”, she asked half-resigned.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded simultaneously with straight faces.

Applebloom closed her eyes for a moment in frustration. ”Oh, all right then. Just let me get mah stuff.”

”Yay!”

* * *

Down the stairs was the bare-walled and twisting cellar corridor that led to various storage spaces, rooms for machines heating and cooling the school and control rooms for electricity and plumbing. At the bottom of the stairs, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood staring at a large pile of crushed wood in an approximation of a display cabinet. A metal bucket filled with broken glass and several plastic bags filled with damaged cups or assorted trash leaned against the wall next to the remains of the cabinet.

"Doesn't look like it's stolen," Applebloom said mildly. What a relief. Now we won't need to walk through the dank underground level with vampony nests, she didn't say.

"I wonder what happened to it," Sweetie Belle said quietly.

"Aw, I wanted to get a medal for detectoring," Scootaloo whined. Then her ears perked up. "Shh! Did you hear that?"

From the stairs came the sound of approaching hoofsteps and low voices.

"Oh no, it's the principal!" Scootaloo said.

"We're not supposed to be here," wailed Sweetie Belle. "We're going to get detention!"

"Here, quick!" said Scootaloo, pointing at a dark corner.

The fillies scrambled to hide just out of sight as a small group of adult ponies trampled down the stairs and gathered around the debris.

"Aye. Found the thing here this morning, all broken up," a gruff voice said. "Glass and brass all over the corridors, had to spend a good half hour sweeping the trash together. Didn't take a thing out yet, or touched the cabinet itself, either."

"Do you think it was the same pony who broke the door to the biology class?" another voice said. ("That's the principal!" whispered Sweetie Belle)

"There was an open window in the main hall, too," the first voice said. ("Mr Sweeps, the janitor," Scootaloo whispered to Applebloom) "The frame was a bit scratched. I guess while picking the lock, somehow."

A third voice entered the discussion. "Every other way in was locked?" it asked tonelessly. ("Must be the sheriff," Applebloom mused.)

"Aye," the janitor replied. "I take care of locking the place down myself personally, ev'ry night. I can say I'm hundred percent sure everything was closed and locked when I went home last night."

There was a pause, before the principal's voice asked, "What do you have there, sheriff Gale?"

"It's these marks," the sheriff said slowly after a moment, "or the lack of them, to be exact. How much would you say the cabinet weighed, with the prize cups?"

"The brass don't matter none, Ms Gale, ma'am," answered the janitor. "It's the cabinet itself. Made of hardwood. Must weigh at a good, oh, two hundred pounds. Had two strapping lads to help me carry it back in after the renovation."

"I see," the sheriff mused. There was another pause. "It looks like it was thrown down. Right clear off the stairs, after hitting the wall upstairs. And not a hoof print on it. Never seen anything like it."

The adults stood in silence, while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other meaningfully. After a while, the sheriff sighed.

"Leave it be for now," she said. "I'll get someone from the labs look at it more closely. Leave the trash too, just in case."

The hoof steps retreated back up.

"Do you know what this means?" Scootaloo whispered excitedly.

"What?" Applebloom asked with apprehension.

"A poltergeist!" Scootaloo said with a gleam in her eyes. She looked at the other fillies expectantly. "No, really! The stallion we found yesterday in biology? I bet he's come back to haunt this place! I bet he's mad at his killer and wants revenge!"

"How do ya figure?" Applebloom asked skeptically.

"You heard them: the cabinet weighs like a ton or something, and it was thrown clean off the stairs, and no hoof marks!"

"Yeah, ah don't..." Applebloom started to protest, but Scootaloo continued.

"And this isn't the only strange thing that's happened in Ponyville lately!"

"There has been strange stuff going on," Sweetie Belle agreed uncertainly.

"Ponies go missing, and nopony sees them again," Scootaloo whispered in a spooky tone.

"Except sometimes at night," Sweetie Belle said nervously, "I've heard said ponies have seen somepony they thought dead walking around the town."

"And stuff breaks during the night, or goes missing and turns up in strange places," Scootaloo said, and locked eyes with Sweetie Belle. "I think... girls, I really think we're on to something here."

"What?" asked Applebloom, bewildered. Sweetie Belle gulped.

"I think," Scootaloo said slowly, and straightened up, "that we should look into this."

"How do ya mean?" Applebloom asked dubiously. Sweetie Belle stared at Scootaloo.

A grin slowly spread on Scootaloo's face. "We should become paranormal investigators!" she declared and gestured wildly. "We'll go out at night and go to spooky places and search for clues! We'll find out all the mysterious stuff happening around the town and figure out the freaky ghosts behind them. Then we find out what's keeping them restless and help them solve their problems and solve the mystery and become HEROES!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Oh, no," Applebloom said faintly.

A light entered Sweetie Belle's eyes. "Ooh, ooh! And we'll call ourselves the, the... Ponyville Ghastly Trio!"

"Nah," replied Scootaloo, "the Ghostbusting Filly Gang!"

"Eh, gals," tried Applebloom.

"Or Pony Power Paranormal Pest Perishers!" Sweetie Belle shouted with glee.

"Gals, ah'm not sure..." Applebloom protested.

”Ooh, ooh, I got it! We're the... Filly Night Watch!" Scootaloo said. "See, the monsters come out at night, and we're there to watch them, so we can warn ponies about them, and we're fillies!”

"Perfect," said Sweetie Belle, "Filly Night Watch, go!"

"Yay!"

*sigh*

* * *

"Ye've done the numbers?" Granny Smith asked Big Mac. They sat at a work station in the Ponyville Golden Oaks Library, a tasteful marble structure lined outside with magnificent oak trees and furnished with warm wood paneling from the inside. A fine selection of literature lined the walls of the two main floors, while the two ponies were inside a dusty archive, surrounded by old, preserved newspapers and public records. Sheets of paper filled with numbers and calculations were strewn in front of Big Mac with a final paper with several underlined estimates in front of him.

"Eeyup," he sighed, worried eyes fixed on the paper. He swallowed and continued, "This isn't a town," he paused, "it's a death trap," he said in a half-whisper. Granny Smith looked at him silently. "By mah estimates, taking in account the change in growth-rate, the migratory flow both in and out of town and the influx of travellers, Ponyville being a major way station for commerce," Big Macintosh listed carefully, "around three or four thousand ponies meet their end in Ponyville annually."

Granny Smith blinked for a moment before removing her glasses and rubbing her face.

"That's more than the resident population," Big Mac said quietly.

Granny Smith sighed. "Well, that clinches it then. There ain't diddly squat said about that in the papers. Oh, there are small pieces for people going missing in the locals, or found dead every now and then, but that's about it. There's nothing like the houla-balloo they made about the Mareswax massacre, or about the killings in Baltimare, and that's the murder capital of Equestria. Or at least ah thought it was. Somethings keeping this town under wraps tight as a thistle."

"Wards," Big Mac said.

"Aye. There's somepony playing around with rituals here. Considering the amount of deaths ya say happens here, there's quite a few vamps around here, so ah'd say the culprit's a vampony lord or lady," Granny Smith said, tapping her chin with her glasses. "But ah still don't see why one of 'em would do what was done at the school. Don't make no kinda sense to me." She clucked her tongue in her thoughts. "We need more information about them wards."

"Uncle Appleseed's journal said there's some passages under the town," Big Mac suggested.

"Y'all young'uns should look into that, then, soon as possible," Granny Smith said with a nod and replaced her glasses. "Ah'll gander a closer look at those town zoning plans. That somepony's messed with the original protective zoning ward the town had is plenty obvious, but ah'll need to see if'n there's something more sinister going on." She paused and looked in thought for a moment. "And ah'll write a letter. We could use an aerial survey."

"Howdy! Big Mac, Granny Smith," the voice of Applejack greeted from the door to the archives.

"Hey, Granny Smith! Big Mac," Applebloom joined in.

"Well, hello, gals!" Granny Smith greeted with a smile. Big Mac simply nodded. "School day's over again, then?" Granny Smith asked.

"Yeah," agreed Applejack. "Got something happening in the evening too."

"Oh?" asked Big Mac.

Applejack nodded. "There's a party in honor of the new school year in a place called the Prance tonight. A whole bunch of ponies from the school are gonna go, and Mr. Armor's gonna be there too. Thought ah'd better go there," Applejack said with a shrug, "since ah got invited, and everything. Might see some vamps too."

"Mac should go with ya, too," Granny Smith said. "What we found here says that shindig will be a vamp buffet come sundown. Ya two need to be there to see the beasts don't turn it into a massacre."

"And ah need somepony to talk sense into Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," Applebloom piped up. "They got this crazy idea to start hunting ghosts in the town at night, and ah couldn't dissue... dissat... make them not want to do it. Ah thought if Big Mac told them to go home, they might listen."

"Ah can do that," Big Mac nodded.

"All right, then," Applejack said. "Ye'll see Applebloom and Granny Smith home, then?" she said looking at Big Mac, who nodded. "Ah'll go and see a friend when ya leave. Ah need some advice on talking to a colt."

At a distance of a hallway, out of earshot and unseen, a pair of purple eyes looked at the gathering of ponies.

* * *

"Not fair!" the scratchy voice of Scootaloo declared hotly. "We've been out after dark plenty of times before!"

"Ah don't rightly care about that," Big Mac declared with just a hint of heat in his own voice. "There's a bad pony on tha loose somewhere, and little fillies like yerselves got no business hanging about after dark without somepony to look after y'all. Yer folks are sure to want y'all home safe and sound, and Applebloom's gonna come with me anyway. So git, y'all!"

"Mr. Macintosh is right, Scootaloo," Rarity said with his eyes flickering appreciatively back at the red stallion at her side. "Why don't you go with Sweetie Belle back to our house? I'm sure Mama and Papa will be overjoyed having you spend the night again with us," she said, voice trailing slightly.

"Come on, Scoots," Sweetie Belle said dejectedly. "We can play with my doll-house for a bit."

"And I won't have to mention the ramp to my parents. How ever did you manage to build it in one afternoon?" Rarity said, referring to the two-story monstrosity near the town park, facing the town's bell tower some distance away.

"Ah helped!" Applebloom declared proudly. She wasn't at all put out by the curfew, even if she acted a bit for the benefit of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"Oh, all right, then," Scootaloo said defeatedly. "See you later, Applebloom."

"Yeah, see you later!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Bye, Scootaloo! Bye Sweetie Belle!" Applebloom said with a hug, tremendously relieved now that her new friends were resigned to being safe for the night.

"And what about you, Mr Macintosh?" Rarity asked with a small flutter of eyelashes. "Shall you lend your strong hoof later in the eve to see us poor fillies safely to our beds?"

"Ah'll be there, Miz Rarity," Big Mac said with a smile and a chuckle.

"Just Rarity," Rarity breathed. Ooh, his voice makes me all a-quiver. Who would have guessed farm work made such fine specimens of stallion-hood out of ponies?

"Later, Sis. Rarity," Big Mac said with a nod. "Let's go, Applebloom. We need to pick Granny Smith from the Post Office."

"G'night, Applebloom. Be good now, y'hear?", Applejack said with a nuzzle. "See ya later, bro." She watched the two turn to walk away. "Well, we better get these two back to yer place, Rarity. Ya said there was something ya wanted to do with mah mane?"

"Hm?" Rarity said distractedly. "Oh, yes. Yes! I'm sure you'll love it! Such beautiful, thick mane you have, we can braid it into double-Prench high bun to the sides, with the left-overs flowing to your sides. It'll be perfect with your chapeau and this wonderful Argyle Baby-Doll I have in your colors! It has the same green as your eyes. Now, with some knee-high boots, or maybe T-straps, you'll be the envy of the party! I'm sure you'll catch the eye of any colt you fancy," Rarity said with a wink.

"Eh, right, about that..." Applejack said, "Ah don't really have that much experience about talking to stallions. Ah don't suppose ya could...?"

"Say no more, darling!" Rarity said grinning. "I'll be sure to give you some pointers on how to wrap stallions around your hoof!"

* * *

Shining Armor was nursing his juice, sitting at a single high table in the Prance. Teens had been arriving all evening to the club, forming groups of laughter and chatter all over the rapidly filling establishment. Moderately loud music was blaring over the loud-speakers, while a high school rock band was setting up in the back stage. Shining Armor felt old beyond his years midst such innocent fun, dark mood and tension gripping him tightly.

Another pair of fillies entered, these ones catching the eyes of everypony in the club. The white unicorn he recognized as the budding socialite who was already breaking the hearts of stallions both young and old, again dressed to kill in a night blue sequined cocktail dress and matching feathers in her hair. The other took his breath away. The young mare was dressed in a deceptively simple country fare that accented her lithely athletic figure perfectly. Her faintly blushing cheeks and darting eyes, and hesitant, but graceful slowly prowling steps, made an enchanting mixture of innocence and sensuality.

Shining Armor glanced at his wingmare, sitting some distance away, camouflaged in shadows. Diane nodded in affirmation and Shining Armor gulped. So that's her, then. Damn, they said her disguise is good, but I didn't expect that. I need to take care I don't end up hunted instead of hunter with her. At least no one will find it suspect when I go to talk to her. That filly's a heartbreaker!

Rarity and Applejack walked through the club at leisure, watched by ponies with both jealousy and admiration. Rarity was in her element. Success!, was the thought in her head. Applejack felt uncomfortably on display.

"Don't look now, darling," Rarity whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "but your target is both present, and totally checking you out."

"Okay," Applejack whispered back, and swallowed. "So, what should ah do? Do ah go to talk to him, or...?"

"Oh no, no, no, darling!" Rarity whispered with conviction. "You're the prize, sweetheart! The jewel everypony's wanting to get! You just wait it out, play it cool, and lure him in. You let him come to you, make him think he won you over, and you have him right where you want him, thinking that your wishes are his desires!"

"What if he's not interested?" Applejack asked genuinely.

Rarity snorted. "Are you serious? I don't want to toot my own horn, but I performed magnificently with you. I don't think there's a stallion in the room that wouldn't want to take you home and make you the happiest mare in the world. Just play cold shoulder to every other stallion here, and a dashing brave rogue like him will have no choice but to show everypony how it's done. Now, let's go dance! Follow my lead," Rarity said, taking to the center stage, Applejack uncertainly in her tow.

Pinkamena Diane Pie looked on with an unreadable expression on her face, as Shining Armor emptied his drink, steeled himself, and stepped up to the dance floor, her hooves gripping each other under the table.

* * *

Applebloom snapped her head up at the sound of gravel hitting the glass. She sprinted to the window and saw something that made her blood freeze. Outside were her two new fillyfriends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, standing alone in the dark.

”Gals!” Applebloom sticked her head out and all but shrieked at the two fillies. ”What in tarnation are y'all doing?!”

”We came to get you, Applebloom!” Scootaloo whisper-shouted back. ”We gave Sweetie Belle's parents the slip!”

”We thought it was unfair leaving you behind. After all, my sister and yours and your brother are all going to the party at Prance, and so are a whole lot of other ponies,” Sweetie Belle explained.

”Yeah! And with the ghost around, we need to make sure they're safe. Filly Night Watch, go!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically.

Applebloom blinked and planted her face on the windowsill. ”Oh, ponyfeathers! This cain't be real,” she moaned under her breath.

* * *

"Di!" a voice whispered harshly.

"Twilight," Diane acknowledged quietly with a nod, her eyes never leaving the chatting pair of Shining Armor and 'Applejack', the unequine target of their collective suspicion. "How went the search?"

"With the resources of both the town library and the personal study of Chaplain Candlewax, I managed to narrow down the list of possible supernaturals down to seventeen, six of which I think are rather dubious," Twilight sidled up to Diane and placed a sheaf of notes in front of her. "I do have one strong suspicion, however."

A flicker of ears was the only sign Diane showed of her interest.

"When I was at the town library, I saw the target enter with a filly and talk to two other ponies there. One of them was an older mare, dubbed here as 'Green', and the other was a stallion, or a stallion-like creature I decided to call 'Red'." Twilight swallowed. "It was magnificent! I was at first intrigued by the sense of dark magic about them, it was as strong as that of vamponies' or malevolent spirits', but notably different, an aura I have not sensed before." Twilight looked hesitant. "Then, 'Red' took my attention. I noticed... reactions within me, as I studied him closely: a quickened breath, accelerated heartbeat, warmth spreading to parts of my body. I believe he was having a marked magical effect on me! I felt an unexplained attraction. That's when it hit me!"

Twilight slammed a tome on the table in front of them. "Succubi!" she declared vehemently. "Demons that take on a pony form to seduce unwitting mares and stallions to have intercourse with them, and then, during coitus, they devour their souls!" Twilight breathed rapidly and pointed at an particularly graphic illustration in the tome.

Diane blinked, then frowned with narrowed eyes. "Why would one fight a vampony?" she asked, not in a challenging manner.

"I am uncertain," Twilight admitted. "But I have a theory. I believe 'Green', the older mare, is an enchantress who summoned these creatures for unknown purposes. She seemed to be giving orders to the others. I don't know about the filly," she said tapping her chin. "She could be a poninculus, or maybe an apprentice. Anyway, maybe she wants to clear the turf for herself. I found out they've taken residence in Johnny Appleseed's orchard, which is suspicious in itself."

"No sign of him, then?", Diane asked.

"None," Twilight said. "It's like the earth swallowed him."

"We'll have to keep a close eye on them, then," Diane said. Then she nodded towards Shining Armor. "Think your brother's in danger?"

Twilight followed Diane's gaze to her brother and Applejack, laughing together at some joke and holding hooves. "Oh no! He's being seduced!" she gasped. "We never should have had him try to investigate her undercover! Oh, what do we do now?"

Diane's eyes hardened. "We make sure nothing bad happens to him," she said in a cold tone and opened a flap in her dress, where Twilight saw several self-made incendiary charges hanging ready for use.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, indeed," she said. Then her eyes widened. "Oh no! The other one is here as well! He's got Rarity!" she whispered, pointing to the dance floor, where they could see Rarity leaning happily to Big Mac's wide chest while they danced slowly.

* * *

Applejack laughed at the dirty joke Shining Armor had just told. I can't believe I suspected him of those things, she thought to herself with chagrin. I mean, sure, you can see the pain in him, but he's not a bad pony. I bet he's just one of those heroic types that can't rest while they know bad things are happening. I should make sure nothing bad happens to him, if he does tend to go out vamp-hunting every now and then. Maybe he could help find out about the witch-craft going on here, as well.

There was something about the dark moodiness of the handsome stallion that spoke to Applejack. It made him seem so vulnerable on one hoof, yet so enticingly dangerous on the other. It made her want to hug him tight and let him cry out while at the same time hinted at potential violence hid within. It was quite exciting and a whole new experience for her.

"So, ah don't want to spoil the mood, but ya don't know anything new about the dead pony they found at the school yesterday?" Applejack asked aloud. "Gave my sister a fright, ah tell ya."

Shining Armor shook his head. I can't believe she's some kind of monster, he mused silently. She seems so... alive, so young and, well, not exactly innocent, but naive, almost. Like there's both a light and steel inside her. And a strong fire. I just can't see her in league with the beasts. She's either an unbelievably good actress, or a very, very special mare. He smiled sadly. Like Twilight. "I'm afraid not," he said aloud. "Somepony broke into the school last night for unknown purposes and caused some property damage, and somepony stole Mr. Stone's body from the morgue." That one I at least know who did it, he thought, but I can't really tell you that I go around taking out vamponies, can I? Not until I know it was you the girls saw fighting a vamp that night. They've never been wrong before, but first time for everything, I guess.

Suddenly, his eyes focused on something and his face hardened. "Excuse me, Applejack," he said quickly, "but I need to ...eh, go to the little colts' room." With that, he sprinted from the table.

"Wha?" Applejack said bewildered and looked after him. Just barely he saw him slip out from the club from a back door, then her eyes spotted a couple leaving together from the main doors, and she quickly added two and two together.

* * *

"So, mah sister's got herself an admirer, then?" a low voice asked just behind Rarity's ear.

Rarity's breath caught in her throat. She had spent a good part of the evening watching her newest friend fumble her way cutely innocently into the graces of her handsome crush. Rarity was known for playing colts for favors, but Romance was her true love, and she loved to play matchmaker. She played out scenarios in her mind while surreptitiously watching the pair out of the corner of her eyes.

'Oh, Applejack, she formed Shining's dialogue in her mind's eye, 'I feel like I could tell you anything.' 'Anything,' her friend would confirm in a sultry tone, and they would look deeply in each others' eyes and lean close and their lips would get closer and closer... and then the voice sounded in her ears, and her breath hitched.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in a high pitched voice, and giggled, blushing. Goddess, that's embarrassing! she scolded herself. Get a grip of yourself, Rarity! You're not a giggling schoolgirl! Beat. Well, yes, you are, but no need to make it obvious! "I didn't see you there..." her voice trailed as she turned to look at Big Macintosh, already gearing up for a bit of game with Applejack's most masculine brother, nothing cruel of course, she'd never hurt a friend, just a bit of fun... then her eyes met the muscular stallion's outfit. "A burgundy double denim vest," she said with a fainting voice, "so snug..."

Big Mac felt a bit self-conscious. His sister had assured him that the old vest from his prom dress he had had re-tailored for combat purposes would be fine for the outing, but it felt it had gotten a bit tighter around the chest in the last few years since he had last wore it, and he could sense the stares in his ...flank? He chuckled self-deprecatingly, and rubbed the back of his head with one hoof.

"Care fer a dance, miz... sorry, Rarity?" he asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. "Ah really appreciate ya looking after mah baby sister the other night, and ah thought, if'n ya don't mind, ah could try anf be a gentlecolt for an evening." He smiled at the young beauty Applejack had befriended and was gratified to see a blush on her face. Ah, he chuckled inwardly, not quite as worldly after all, then.

A few moments later they were slowly circling together on the dance floor, listening to a slow song by the not-so-studlies, when Big Mac noticed her sister moving rapidly towards the doors. A glance and a nod from her told the situation.

"Would ya like to go fer a walk?" he asked his partner after a moment's thought. No need to be rude, after all. And there may be other hunters about tonight, best keep her close.

* * *

"The targets have vanished," said Diane suddenly in a tight voice.

"What?! What happened? I didn't see anything!" Twilight said frantically.

"The crowds hinder visibility," Diane said with a frown. "Let's move outside."

"Oh no!" Twilight said, and started towards the door. "They're moving in for the kill! Shining!"

* * *

In a narrow alleyway between houses, a young filly was about to get kissed for the first time. When she turned towards the wonderful, mysterious, exotic stallion that had paid her such attention, however, she saw to her horror he had changed into a beast with red glowing eyes and sharp fangs that gleamed in the moonlight. She screamed.

"Oh, no you don't!" shouted a voice, and the shoulder of Shining Armor rammed into the monster and forced it against the wall. Several quick punches followed to its throat and face, reinforced by strange metal contraptions the sheriff's deputy had strapped to his legs.

The monster shrugged the punches off, however, and grabbed Shining Armor by the gruff of his neck with one claw, then delivered a massive punch to his gut and threw the stallion away like a rag doll. The filly fainted.

Shining Armor tried desperately to get his breath back and scrambled back up on his hooves. The vampony prowled around him and snarled. Oh, hell, thought Shining Armor, I'm in for it now. The beast jumped, maw open. Shining prepared to block.

Then the beast jerked, mid-air, and evaporated, just a moment's reach away from Shining Armor. He blinked, and turned his head to see Applejack standing at the other end of the street, one foreleg stretched in after-throw position. Shining Armor was about to break into smile, when the filly was jumped by three other vamponies.

He watched in horror as the filly was about to get shred to pieces, then felt his jaw drop open, as the beasts flew away from her as she bucked.

A mighty strike with both hind-legs smashed one of the vamponies against a brick wall with bone-shattering strength, and quick snap-kicks with both forelegs gave the warrior filly enough space to grab two more stakes from her boots. Shining Armor growled a yell and attempted to join the fray, when unequinely strong forelegs grabbed him into an inescapable hug. "Now, big boy, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we?" purred a feminine voice in his ear, and Shining Armor felt himself being lifted into air.

Applejack fought hard. Three-on-one wasn't impossible odds for a slayer, but it wasn't a foal's play either. While the vamp she had bucked was out for a count, she concentrated on the other two, now wary of her.

"Master warned about the likes of you," hissed one of the two vamps standing up, the mare. The stallion was circling to her other side, while Applejack tried to keep both in eyesight.

"Yeah?" Applejack said challengingly. "Did he warn y'all about this?" She jumped and twisted in one, smooth motion, snapping her hind legs around the neck of the mare, while feinting against the stallion with one of the stakes and letting the other fly with an underhoof throw. A twist and a roll took the female vamp down, and Applejack continued the motion with a fast strike with the stave still in her hoof. Two clouds of dust billowed on her both sides, and she turned her gaze against the remaining vampony, who looked at her in fear.

With a flap of its wings, the vampony raised itself in the air, preparing all its four legs to defend against the slayer's wrath. Applejack avoided it entirely, however, with a few strong leaps pounding to the wall beside it and delivering a haymaker to the back of its head. She landed stake down on its chest, and snapped her gaze back to the street in time to see Shining Armor struggling against the grip of a vampony dragging him slowly upwards.

"Sis!" "Applejack, are you all right, dear?" she heard the voices of Big Mac and Rarity behind her and whirled to face them.

"No time! Ah need to save mah date!" she said and leaped from top of a trash bin to a marquis and from there to the roof.

"...you have blood on your bodice," Rarity said weakly after her.

"Take cover!" shouted Big Mac. "We have some more company!"

Applejack flowed through the air, leaping quietly from roof to roof, her hooves making silent landfalls in practiced steps as she followed her quarry in the night. The vampony was struggling with Shining Armor's weight, and the stallion was putting up a good fight. After a few moments of hot pursuit Applejack managed to get close enough to take a running leap towards the vampony and hit it in the back with her hooves.

All three dropped to a roof in a tangle. Shining Armor rolled painfully and forced himself back on his hooves and shook his head. He focused his eyes on his enemy and saw Applejack grab its head with both her fronthooves. A quick violent movement and a loud, sickening crack later, the vampony dropped down in two pieces, vanishing into dust before it hit the roof. Shining Armor stared at the panting filly, her mane slightly messed and her face flushed, gorgeous in the light of a crescent moon.

"What are you?" he breathed, eyes wide.

Twilight and Diane rushed to an alleyway towards the sounds of a struggle that had ended just a few moments earlier. Always mindful of the advantages of the element of surprise, they stopped in the corner, and peered around carefully.

In the street, Big Mac let out a breath at having defeated the last of his enemies. He glanced around, seeing just a bit of debris and broken street, and the form of beautiful Rarity, who had decided to faint at the sight of charging monsters. Big Mac sighed and lifted the filly carefully onto his back.

"Oh no!" whispered Twilight in horror.

* * *

A trio of fillies stood in front of an iron gate. Sweetie Belle was shivering gently, Scootaloo was trembling (in excitement, she would say, if anyone asked), and Applebloom in the certain knowledge that they were doomed.

"The Ponyville Cemetary!" Scootaloo declared in what she hoped was a determined voice. It was the cold of the night, surely, that broke her voice and made her teeth chatter.

"Y'all are completely loco!" Applebloom said darkly.

"M-m-maybe w-we s-should search for g-g-ghosts in the c-c-church, rather?" suggested Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo closed her eyes and swallowed. Then she forced herself to take a step towards the gate. "Nonsense," she said weakly and turned to give her friends a deathly grimace she called a reassuring smile, "this is where the g-ghosts are," she said, her voice turning horrified in the end.

Detente

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Chapter 4: Detente

The pale gold of the morning sun awoke him slowly but insistently. He turned about a few times, but the deluge of light from the high windows of the Sparkle residence wouldn't let him escape the waking world. He blinked blearily, searching for recognizable features and focused on the length of the red velvet that decorated the main hall of the upper floor.

There was pain. He felt stiff and raw, utterly spent, and horribly, horribly sated.

Uncertainly, he rose to his hooves, and searched his way to the double doors leading to the stairway and the lower floors, where most of the grand mansion lay. Someone, Worthy most likely, had already unclasped the doors, remarkably untouched for a change.

The mansion was silent, the housekeepers and butlers unseen and unheard.

"Twily? Mom?" he called the silent rooms. "Father?"

There was no-one in sight and he wondered if the whole household had left for the country house in his absence. He couldn't remember if there had been mention of such. The last memory in his head was his return from the officers' meet two nights ago, when he had locked himself in his study.

Eventually, his wandering hoofs led him to the East Drawing Room, where a smell of rust invaded his senses and made his head swim. It was terribly strong.

He stared appalled at the bodies in the room, strewn every which way. Blood covered the walls and the floor, and tainted the windows. His nostrils were flared, his eyes pinpricks, breath flowed in and out with fast, uncontrollable gasps. Numbly, he walked into the room, his eyes searching the bodies, searching for faces.

"No, no, no..." the word was a mantra, a futile prayer to make the world not be so. He didn't even realize he was saying it, over and over again.

He stumbled over a small form, trembling. A sight of lavender, heaving and sobbing on the floor, holding their mother in her hooves. Tear-stricken eyes of purple met his, as he collapsed next to his sister.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

* * *

"Please, Twilight. You must eat. Don't fade away."

The filly had collapsed again, trying to force her magic to her will. Her moods swayed wildly. At times she seemed almost possessed, devouring books of magic and ancient knowledge in an insatiable hunger for knowledge, chasing some wild hint of an unlikely chance. At other times, she plummeted into a darkness he didn't know how to penetrate, seemingly lost to the sounds and sights of the world.

He was at a loss.

Then, a small hoof searched his own, and he felt her sister move in her bed.

"I can't do it," she said in a small whisper. "There's no way."

And the girl wept, inconsolably. But she was finally back, and didn't leave again.

* * *

They hunted, most nights. The dark of the night seemed to cover a greater darkness within, and the monsters came out to prey. It was furious, violent, cathartic.

They watched the beasts burn, and saw another in their place.

It was not perfect, it didn't bring anypony back, but it let them go on, one day at a time, purging a bit of the world at a time, and hoping they left a dent.

They never asked each other about the tears. They knew.

* * *

One day he saw her smile in the sun, and it was like the darkness receded a bit. Awakened from a long, starless night, the world seemed so much brighter again. There was life, and laughter, and love. There were things that were not dead and rotting. It was a springtime for soul.

He nuzzled her gently, and looked her in the eyes, hesitantly, as if she might break if he asked aloud.

She shrugged. "I... I don't know," she said in a small voice. "I just feel ...happy."

He smiled. He had thought he never would, again, but now he couldn't help but let the expression grow on his face. He still felt cold inside, but there was hope again for warmth.

* * *

Shining Armor had found a job in Ponyville. It suited him, and them, well, letting them indulge in their nighttime activities undetected. The hunt seemed less frantic, now. Not any less personal, but more careful, more methodical.

Diane was broken in the same way as they were. They took her in, and kept her alive. In time she grew to trust them, and some days, she spoke in words other than pain and hate. They were patient with her madness. They understood. Slowly, she followed them to the light.

Still he wondered some days, if they had survived at all. They were so different from most other ponies, so close and silent and grim.

But there was a saying: "The best revenge is to live well."

They went on.

"What are you?" the stallion asked.

Applejack suddenly felt self-conscious. She was sweaty and out of breath, strands of her mane had freed themselves and pointed wildly to the night. Her dress was clinging to her heaving sides, there was pain in her body and she had blood on her hooves. She felt a mess, and probably looked like it.

"Well, that's a smooth thing to ask a gal," she joked weakly.

"What?" Shining Armor said, bewildered and staring. "No, I meant, you were amazing!"

Applejack blinked. "Huh?"

"The way you moved," Shining Armor said in a wondering tone, his eyes glimmering, "it was like nothing I've ever seen! You're strong, fast, deadly, you're like a predator in pony form! You took those vamps down like nothing! It was awesome!"

"Oh," Applejack said quietly. Gee, thanks, she thought impishly. It had been nice, spending the evening talking and flirting with a stallion. She had felt like a mare, for a change. She felt decidedly unflattered by Shining Armor's enthusiastic praise for her deadliness. Yeah, I'm a slayer. Nice of you to notice. She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't help but feel a sting of bitterness swell inside. I guess I'm not that interesting as a girl. Aloud, she sighed and said, "Listen, we should probably get down, and see if everypony's okay. I mean, there's probably more of 'em around."

"Right with you, AJ," Shining Armor said with a grin.

* * *

The Filly Night Watch entered the graveyard with hesitant steps. The nascent moon hid behind some wispy clouds and a light breeze blew some fog from a nearby pond to swirl between the headstones. A faintly flickering ruddy light from the rotunda below the West transept of the church cast long, moving shadows that collaborated with the mist to create dancing figures above the graves.

"Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked in a higher-than-normal voice.

"Yeah?" Scootaloo whispered back hoarsely.

"I think this was a really bad idea," Sweetie Belle said.

"Why?" pale and shivering Scootaloo asked in a trembling voice. "You're not a scaredy-pony, are you, Sweetie Belle?"

"I think the word is 'horrified'", Sweetie Belle said with a squeak.

"Y'all are nuts for thinking this up in the first place," Applebloom, who had readied an easily breakable flask of holy water in her fetlock, said softly. "What were y'all going to do anyway, when ya meet a ghost?" she asked after performing a standard visual low-vision scan of the surroundings.

"Eh, talk?" Sweetie Belle asked after a moment's uncertainty.

"I dunno," admitted Scootaloo. "I kind of figured we'd think of something."

Applebloom sighed.

"Look, maybe we'd feel better if we sang a song?" Sweetie Belle suggested, and started to hum a tune sotto voce.

Hush, my baby, please don't cry

Mommy's gonna buy you a mockingbird...

"Shh, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo hissed, "you're gonna scare the ghosts away!"

And if that mockingbird won't sing

Mommy's gonna buy you a diamond ring

"Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo hissed loudly and glared, her ears flat and eyes panicking.

And if that diamond ring turns brass

Mommy's gonna buy you a looking glass

"She's out of it," Applebloom said evenly, planning frantically. "Scootaloo, form a rear echelon to cover our retreat...", she started saying, when a low voice continued the song from the shadows behind them.

And if my baby won't behave

Mommy's gonna put you in your grave

A soft laughter filled the air and they screamed.

* * *

Twilight pulled two long silver pins keeping a fold of Diane's dress in shape with her telekinesis and outlined her plan. Down the street, Big Macintosh was struggling to get the limp form of Rarity comfortably on his back.

"Okay, I didn't find specific weaknesses in the book, so I'm going to go for the eyes," Twilight said. "Hopefully, that will cause him to rear and give you a clear shot to the belly. Since we don't know his resistances, better go with holy water. Give me a distraction?"

"Will do," Diane said with a grim look and pulled a small flask from a pocket.

"On my mark," Twilight whispered. "One, two,..."

"Wait!" Diane hissed sharply. "Movement at two o'clock!"

"Cesspit!" Twilight cursed. "Oh no, it's the other one! And... Shining? He's okay?"

They saw Applejack and Shining Armor run to the struggling stallion and unconscious mare.

"Rarity!" Applejack shouted. "What happened?" she asked his brother.

"She fainted, when tha beasts showed up," Big Mac said gruffly, then pointed a look at Applejack's bloody dress. "Ya fine, sis?"

"Eh, it's not mah blood," she said with a hoofwave.

Shining Armor moved to check on Rarity. He took the side of her face with one hoof and waved the other in front of her eyes.

"Shammfphmffrh," Rarity said.

"I think she's coming to," Shining Armor said helping her up, Big Macintosh on the other side. "Miss? Can you hear me?"

"Hmm?" Rarity said, before her eyes focused on the stallion. "Oh, Mr. Armor! It was horrid!" she cried and clasped her hooves around his neck. "Monsters! Horrible beasts! They attacked Mr Macintosh and there was blood on Applejack's bodice!"

"Shh, sugarcube," Applejack said, giving Rarity a nuzzle, "ye're all right."

"We'd better git ya home, Rarity," Big Mac rumbled softly.

"What? Home?" Rarity said affronted. "Never before it's fashionable!" she declared before heaving and puking on the street. "On the other hoof," she said with a weak voice, "I'm sure the others will fare fine without my guidance."

The group set out towards the town center with Rarity firmly between the two stallions and Applejack keeping her head up. Twilight and Diane watched them go from the shadows.

"Directions?" Diane asked quietly.

"We should follow," Twilight said after a moment of thought. "Do you have night-ops equipment nearby?"

Diane kicked the side of a mailbox with one hind leg. A secret compartment opened with a clicking sound. "I've got equipment stored all over Ponyville in case of equipment emergency," she said evenly, eyes locked to the backs of the retreating group of four.

* * *

In a flash, Applebloom unstopped the tiny flask of holy water and threw the contents point blank at the voice behind her. She followed it with a swift kata from rote memory, kicking and punching with deadly precision of long hours of practice. Her front legs, flowing in the form of 'sticky hooves', designed for blind combat, found a position of leverage, and she went for an agile throw. A heavy load flew over her body and slammed to the ground. With a shout, she jumped on top of her target, and prepared to buy as much time for her friends as possible.

She blinked at the sight of an elderly stallion in clergy clothes and drenched face.

"Chaplain Wax?" she asked uncertainly.

"I, ah, don't think I've had the pleasure," the chaplain coughed out of breath.

* * *

They sat in the warmth of the chaplain's study in the western rotunda of the town church. The stony outer wall was covered with bookshelves containing ancient-looking tomes and incongruously colored plastic binders, while cozy threadbare armchairs were gathered around the small stove and a writing desk upon which stood a lone skull Scootaloo was staring at suspiciously. The room was entirely lit by sputtering candles. Three hot mugs were placed on the desk in front of the three fillies, while chaplain Candlewax himself drank brandy directly from a bottle.

"Thank you for the tea, Mr Wax," Sweetie Belle said sweetly.

"Ah'm really sorry for assaulting ya and throwing ya around like a dishrag, Mr Chaplain," Applebloom said morosely.

Chaplain Candlewax waved his hoof nonchalantly. "No harm, no foul, my little Applebloom," he said with a grin. "It warms my old heart to see a lass with some fire in her, and capable of defending herself. Makes me feel a lot better about seeing you three out after dark."

Scootaloo poked the skull with her hoof. "That isn't real, is it?" she asked with a frown.

The chaplain took the skull into an embrace. "My dear, late, mother, I'm afraid," he sighed. The fillies' eyes bulged, and he took a swig of brandy with his other hoof. "I took care of her in her later years, you see, and she was mortally afraid of having to leave this life alone. So I promised to keep her around." He turned the skull to face the girls and matched its grin. "I put gems in her eyes to let her see, see?"

Sweetie Belle oohed. "Are those rubies in her eyes, Mr Wax?" she asked with an appreciative glint in her eyes.

"You're creeping me out," Scootaloo grumbled, "both of you," she said looking darkly at Sweetie Belle.

"So, what were ya doing this late?" Applebloom asked and put her mug back on the table.

"I might ask you the same, young lady, and I think I will, later," chaplain Candlewax said and put the skull gently down on the table. "As for myself, I tend to spend these nights after the school week reading and looking after the dead." He glanced at the girls from under his brow. "They get restless during the dark Sabbath, you see."

"What's the dark Sabbath?" the fillies asked immediately.

"Oh, you wouldn't know, would you?" the chaplain said, and leaned back in his chair. "Hardly anyone observes it these days anymore, after all. Hardly anyone ever did, more's the pity," he mused.

"Why is that?" Scootaloo asked.

"Which?" the chaplain asked distractedly, before taking a breath. "Let me tell you a story," he then said slowly while staring at the distance. "A story written in a very different language than what we speak today, and coming from a very different age. It's been translated and retranslated for countless times, and for the longest time, it wasn't written down at all. So, not very many know the story, and nopony knows who true it might be. See..."

"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, two sisters ruled over the day and the night. The older of the sisters raised the sun, while the younger took care of the moon. Now, the sister taking care of the sun was doing fine and dandy, given that everypony was up and about during the daytime. She got a plenty of tribute and prayers, and everything was fine, and bright, and happy as long as the sun was up.

"The younger sister, however, had to make do with what the ponies dreamed about. And the thing is, having had to act nice and proper all day long, most of the ponies pushed all their bad thoughts and naughty desires into their dreams, and so the nighttime became the realm of sin and fear.

"Well, both of the sisters were warriors, so the younger dealt with it. But she wasn't getting fed by the dreams of the ponies, as deprived of character as they were, and that was a problem.

"See, the sisters' most important duty was guarding the gateways of the world, acting as protectors against the primordial Dark between the stars that had given birth to the world and wanted to devour it again so that nothing would exist anymore, the bitch of an archetype as it was. And the sisters had to keep up their strength to perform that duty.

"Thus, it was mandated that ponies would observe one night every week in quiet meditation on virtue and strength, to lend of their own character to the younger sister, so that she could maintain her vigil against the greater Dark.

"But, ponies being selfish ingrates, didn't comply. They wanted to keep all their nights for their more unsavory pastimes.

"And so, the younger sister succumbed to the Dark and fell into a Nightmare. And the night became a time when the outer Dark would twist the creatures of the Earth and the spirits of the dead into horrible creatures in mockery of the waking world. The sinful desires of ponies became flesh and began to hunt and prey on them, and Darkness gained ground against the World.

"The older sister saw what had happened, and wept for her sister and for the world. She saw that if nothing was done, the world would die, because without the protection of her sister, the nighttime was deadly for all ponies. And while she could protect them during the daytime, she held no dominion over the night.

"So, to prevent the destruction of the world, she gathered all the strength of herself and of her ponies and threw herself against the gates of the world and sacrificed herself to prevent the outer Dark from gaining any more hold on the world.

"And so, both sisters were gone, one in death and the other in Nightmare, and ponies were left to fend for themselves. And still, every night once in a week, the spirit of the younger sister reaches for the waking world, hoping to gain strength from her ponies.

"But in her Nightmare, and the negligence of ponies, who fail to observe the dark Sabbath, she only manages to disturb the spirits of the dead."

The chaplain stopped, and took a long swig from his bottle. "So, you see, I maintain my vigil and meditate every night once a week so as to give of my strength to the sister, who is still alive, in the hopes that she could one day chase away her Nightmare." He grinned.

"Yeah. Imma gonna go now, okay," Scootaloo said after a long silence.

"Was that a true story, Mr Chaplain?" Sweetie Belle asked with wide eyes.

"...Those sisters were the Eternal Princesses, weren't they?" Applebloom asked.

"Now, now, girls," chaplain Candlewax said with a laugh, "that wasn't an official version of the church, of course. It's just an old pony tale. But," he said and leaned close, "sometimes, in the night, if you listen closely, you can hear the restless spirits wander in the catacombs." He slowly turned to point a door set low in the wall to the right of the room. "Right. There."

Right then, a low wail escaped from the direction of the door, and the girls screamed. The chaplain laughed heartily.

"Just joking, just joking," he said between guffaws. "There's just a bit of wind in the old tunnels under the church."

"So... no catacombs?" Scootaloo asked suspiciously.

"Oh no," the chaplain said sincerely, "there are catacombs there all right. Just no wandering spirits, as far as I know." Scootaloo shuddered. "Now," chaplain Candlewax said, looking the fillies in the eyes, "what were the three of you doing in the graveyard in the middle of the night?"

"Looking for ghosts," Applebloom muttered peevishly and looked at the other two fillies darkly. Sweetie Belle grinned nervously.

"Ghosts?" the chaplain asked surprised. "There are no ghosts in the graveyard. It's all blessed ground, so there wouldn't be any ghosts around here. Would you like to see?" he asked with a grin. "I could give you a tour of the catacombs," he suggested and waggled his eyebrows.

"No, thank you, Mister Chaplain, sir," Sweetie Belle said nervously.

"Ya are gonna tell on us, sir?" Applebloom asked.

"Hm?" the chaplain mused. "Nah. I used to skulk around in scary places every other night when I was your age. Thought it was great fun. Still do, in fact," he added with a bright smile. "But it ain't safe fer you fillies out in the night. You could get hurt or lost. And then what would you do?" He paused and looked at them seriously. "NOTHING!!" he shouted suddenly, making the girls jump. "'Cause you would be DEAD!!"

He wiped his mouth with his hoof. "Now, if you want to see ghosts, the smart thing to do is to go during daytime in places, where there has been a murder or some other bad business one time or another. Abandoned places, where nopony goes. 'Cause they're haunted, y'see. There's plenty here in the town, too, no need to go out of help's reach." He lifted his hoof, and started tapping at the desk. "Let's see, there's the old Barleywine house, that's the faded old wooden building just outside the Sweet Apple Acres on the northern reach. A family burned to their deaths there, oh, must be eighty years ago, now. Then there's the old mill. Nothing but the stones and the cellar left there. I heard it said as a wee colt that the old miller used to grind his wife into paste in that mill and feed her to the townspeople. And the bell tower, of course. A couple hanged themselves on account of forbidden love, terribly tragic, very romantic. Idiots, if you ask me. Will I go on?"

The trio shook their heads, faces pale. "All right, then," the chaplain said, rising up with a creak of the chair and a pop from his joints, "ooh, that feels nasty," he said with a grin. "Nasty right hook you got there, girlie," he said to Applebloom. "Now, let's get you gals home. Your folks would be worried if they caught you wondering out of bed. You're welcome to the guest room, of course, Scootaloo," he said to the pegasus filly seriously.

Scootaloo shook his head swiftly. "I'll bunk with Sweetie Belle, Mr Candlewax, sir, thank you, sir," she said quickly.

The chaplain chuckled.

* * *

"Ya sure ye're all right, Rarity?" Applejack asked for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, yes, darling, I'll be all right," Rarity said. "Just felt a bit faint back there. Thought I saw some hideous monsters, imagine!" She gave a small laugh. The others smiled insincerely. "I'm just terribly sorry I had to ruin your night, Applejack", she said with remorse, "and yours too, Macintosh. I'm so sorry I was such a poor date," she said and leaned for a hug. "Please, tell me anytime what I can do to make it up to you!" she said in his ear. "Goodnight, dear Applejack!" she said, hugging the mare. "Tell your brother to go on without you and make your stallion take you for a romantic walk around the lake!" she hissed in Applejack's ear. "Thank you so much for helping me home, Mr. Armor," she said, daintily offering a hoof. "I'll see you around," she said with a smirk, letting her eyes shift to Applejack, and then to Big Mac. "Ta!"

The two stallions and one mare were left outside the porch as Rarity retreated inside her parents' house.

"Well," Shining Armor said.

"Hum," agreed Big Mac.

"Well," said Applejack, her eyes avoiding Shining Armor. "G'night, then!" she burst out and grabbed Big Mac. "Come along now, brother!" she said and darted towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"Good night!" Shining Armor shouted after the pair. He stood for awhile, staring. Then slowly, a form in dark rose in front of his face, sky blue eyes staring intently into his. "Ah!" he shouted, then focused. "Oh, it's you, Diane."

The mare stared at him. "You. Feeling. Well. Shiney?" Diane asked and tried to peer into his soul.

"Oh goodness, you're safe!" Twillight said, walking up to him.

"Er, yeah, I'm good," Shining Armor said uncertainly, then smiled. "I mean, it was a bad spot, but Applejack! I mean, wow! She just. Pow! And then, whoosh! That filly was amazing!" he gushed.

Twilight gawked and paled. "Is. That. So?" Diane asked slowly, then glanced at Twilight and shook her head.

"Oh, Shiney," Twilight said sadly. "She got you."

"Wait, what?" Shining Armor asked confused.

"Got you gooood," Diane said, still shaking her head, fierce look in her eyes.

"'Applejack', that 'filly'," Twilight said with a mixture of sorrow and venom. "We, I, believe she is a succubus. A demon. A shapeshifter, that has taken on the form of an enticing specimen of femininity for purposes of seduction, while in reality is a vile soul-eating spawn of Tartarus."

"She's not that sweet on the inside," Diane said still staring at Shining Armor.

"But. What?" Shining Armor tried again.

"How else do you explain her unequine strength and skill?" Twilight said with a shake of her head. "She may look beautiful on the outside with her golden mane and lush green eyes," Twilight said.

"Tight, firm body and shapely flanks," Diane continued, making Shining Armor blush. Diane's eyes narrowed.

"And seem like a genuinely nice young mare in terms of personality," Twilight concluded, "but it's a sham, I'm afraid. She supernaturally seduces you, leads you to her bed, and then,"

"BAM!!" Diane shouted. "Soul-sucking time! You think you're getting a taste, and she turns tables and eats you up! She sucks your soul, when you think she's gonna-"

"YES!" Twilight interrupted. "Thank you, Diane. The point is," Twilight said and took a breath for focus, "that we can't trust her motives."

Shining Armor stared. "Hold on," he said. "Are you telling me that the vampony-destroying goddess with a schoolgirl blush and a killer smile is a demon?" He grinned weakly. "You can't be serious."

"Better believe it, buster," Diane said.

"Well, we can't be completely sure," Twilight said flustered.

"We can't?" Diane asked.

"I mean, there are other explanations, I'm sure, but the facts seem to fit," Twilight said. "If I'm right, the town may be in grave danger. The disappearance of Johnny Appleseed, the compromise of the school's protection, these things and who knows what else we aren't sure of, may be all part of the grand plan by the mastermind, who summoned these demons!" She paced around frantically before stopping in front of Shining Armor, muzzle inches away from his, a wild look in her eyes. "We. Need. Facts!" she said.

"Right. Facts," Shining Armor said. "How?"

"You need to go on another date!" Twilight declared. Diane's face fell. "You too, Diane," Twilight added.

"Me?" Diane squeaked.

"You," Twilight nodded, and blushed. "I obviously can't because my integrity is compromised," she stammered a bit, "but you seemed fine earlier. And we'll keep a close eye on Shiney. I'll try to meet up with this 'Granny Smith'. With my affinity with dark magic," she said, voice dropping in sadness, "I might be able to determine the spells she's casting around the town." Twilight's eyes narrowed and her face took on a determined look. "I'll get to the bottom of her fiendish machinations!"

* * *

"Doggone fillies!" Granny Smith grumbled under her breath, advancing slowly through the night. "Dragging our Applebloom away in the middle of the night, and putting their purty little necks in harm's way!"

As a smart girl, Applebloom had woken her granny up before heading out to keep watch on her fillyfriends. Granny Smith, naturally, had dug her armaments up, and followed the trio to the night as backup, if need be. The going was slow, however, seeing as Granny Smith had to use a walker. Step by agonizingly slow step, she headed towards the church, a loaded crossbow balanced on the walker.

"Shoulda been asleep five hours ago... darn those fillies and darn their quick little legs!"

* * *

Ooh, I feel a lot more out of it than I let on, Rarity thought and shivered. I wonder if Sweetie would terribly mind if I cuddled up to her and held her the whole night in abject terror like a safety blanket?

Rarity walked up to her sister's room and knocked softly on the door. "Sweetie Belle?" she called quietly. "Are you awake, dear?"

Receiving no answer, she carefully opened the bedroom door and peered in.

"Sweetie?" Silence.

Rarity took a step in and saw the empty bed and open window.

"Oh, goddess, no! What has she got herself into now?"

* * *

"Sweetie? Sweetie Belle?!" Rarity yelled while wondering the empty streets of Ponyville. "Oh, please, be safe and near, Sweetie Belle!" she moaned in half tears.

She carried a lantern affixed in her horn, and the white gown she had quickly thrown over herself made her look quite fetching, had she currently cared for such things, but for once she was too frantic to care about outward appearances.

"Oh, Sweetie," she sobbed.

In the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a familiar figure. She quickly peered at it, but couldn't make out the details.

"Sweetie?" she asked doubtfully. The figure fled a bit further, then paused uncertainly and turned to look at her. Rarity gasped.
"Y-you?! B-but you are d-dead!"

The figure hesitated, then hailed in a soft voice. "She's safe! Head to the church!"

With that, it vanished into the mists, and was gone. Rarity stared after it for a moment, then turned around quickly and ran to the direction of the Ponyville cathedral.

* * *

"...and so the tears of the eternally bereft shade formed the groove in the Canterlot mountain, and made the basis of the waterfall, that is there this very day," Chaplain Candlewax finished his latest ghost story. "And they say, on a misty night, her cold embrace reaches from the very river that flows through Ponyville, and seeks to touch any warm soul, to leech away from the poor soul the life itself!" he said in an intense whisper. "Like this!!" he shouted, suddenly splashing Applebloom's back with a few drops from his flask.

The filly jumped with a shriek. "AAAHHH!! Ya rotten varmint!" Applebloom shouted at the stallion roaring with laughter.

"Serves you right!" he laughed. "A little payback from the graveyard! Ha ha!"

"Now Ah smell like booze!" Applebloom complained. "Imma tell Big Mac ya got me drunk!"

The chaplain sniffed. "He'd notice if that were true."

"Sweetie?!" Suddenly Rarity's voice carried through the night. "Oh, Sweetie, there you are!"

Rarity rushed to the filly's side and grabbed her in a teary hug. "I'm all right!" Sweetie mumbled through Rarity's mane. "Sis, I'm all right!"

"Oh, Sweetie, I was so worried!" Rarity cried. "I saw your bed was empty and there were some bad ponies out, and I saw a ghost, and I thought you were de-e-e-aad!" she wailed in her little sister's mane. Then she took one leg off of the filly and grabbed chaplain Candlewax. "Oh, thank you so much, chaplain Wax! Thank you for taking care of my little sister!" Rarity said with a big kiss.

"Oh, a pleasure, young miss!" Candlewax said with a chuckle. "Now you get these two home, while I take care of the last one."

"Oh, Sweetie! What ever did you think?" Applebloom and the chaplain heard Rarity start, as the sisters walked away with Scootaloo in tow.

Candlewax sighed wistfully. "Oh, if only I was fifty years younger," he said with a shake of his head.

"Then what?" Applebloom asked, still miffed.

"Well, lil' missy, then I'd be forty-nine!", the chaplain said with a laugh. "Now, come on! We've got a long walk, still!"

Just then they heard the slow, steady clink and shuffle of Granny Smith's walker, accompanied by insistent muttering.

"Doggone darnit maggotridden buggering weaselpopping little... Applebloom! There ya are! Lost yer little friends all ready?"

"Ah," chaplain Candlewax said, "missus Smith. I just sent little miss Applebloom's friends home with young lady Rarity, and was coming to bring Applebloom herself home."

Granny Smith stared at the chaplain. "Are ya telling me, young fella," she said evenly, "that ah walked the whole way to town for nothing?"

"Let me get the cart," the chaplain said quickly. As he turned away, there was a twang and a puff. He looked quickly back, but only saw the stare of Granny Smith.

"Well, go on!" Granny Smith said. "Ah haven't got all night!"

As the chaplain trotted away, Applebloom turned to her granny. "Nice shot, Granny Smith!" the filly said proudly. Granny Smith smirked.

Pictures at an exhibition

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Chapter 5: Pictures at an exhibition

Hardly any deaths at all!
Ponyville enjoyed a rare, quiet weekend recently with a minimum of bloodshed and mayhem. In fact, as of time of printing this, the Sheriff's department had reported zero new deaths.
This comes after the new school year was kicked off with a shocking discovery of a deceased former student Hard Stones, 18, by the 4th year students in the biology class samples cabinet. While the authorities were quick to restrict entry to the crime scene, this reporter was able to confirm the corpse was dead and icky.
The following day saw further excitement as it came apparent the display cabinet in the South Hall housing the numerous achievements of Ponyville Central's proud Flying Fillies had been removed and sabotaged. The sheriff's department was loathe to comment, quoting ongoing investigation.
A paranormal expert interviewed by the Foal Free Press had this to say on the matter:
"It's obvious that we are dealing with a poltergeist here. The hallway was practically unmarked by mortal hooves, yet the cabinet was totaled. Would you think it was a coindecence (sic) this happened the night after we found the corpse? 'Cause I don't"
The expert, who prefers to remain unnamed, but says is 'awesome', cited a growth in the paranormal activity in Ponyville the past few years and directed further questioning to Chaplain Candlewax, 67/99?. A Ponyville Central socialite and last Winter Edition's Centerfold Filly, Rarity Carousel, 15½, admitted to having seen a ghost after the Opening Party on Friday.
"Yes, I suppose that's true, but it's a personal matter. I just want to publicly thank the chivalry of good gentlecolts Mr Shining Armor and Mr Macintosh in escorting me home, as well as the honorable Chaplain Candlewax for looking after my darling sister Sweetie Belle."
(To read more about the escapades involving Miss Carousel and the new school belle, Applejack Apple, the sister of said Mr Macintosh, during the Opening Party, look to pages 3 to 12 and 17.)
For the Foal Free Press, signed DT (editor-in-chief)

"So, how long are ya guys in house arrest?", Applebloom asked.

"I'll be able to walk in the park supervised," Sweetie Belle said cheerfully.

"Ms Coriander says I need to go back to the orphanage directly from school indeterminatoredly, or provide a signed slip of custody transferral by the start of the day I want to go somewhere else", Scootaloo said, then shrugged, "so that's not a problem. I learned to forge signatures when I was six. Besides, the chaplain was really cool. I bet he could take us exploring those haunted houses if we asked!"

"How about you, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Was your granny mad?"

"Nah, she said it was nice of me to see y'all safely to the church. She just said the next time ah'll need to take the crossbow with me," Applebloom said.

Scootaloo stared. "You have the coolest relatives," she said in awe.

"So, when are we going next?" Applebloom asked.

"Can you girls do tomorrow?" Scootaloo asked with a shrug. "I'd rather ask for the signature than forge it, really. It tends to cause trouble otherwise."

"Ah'm fine with that."

"Me too!"

"That's settled then! Let's go see the chaplain!"

* * *

"Diane!" Rarity squealed in delighted surprise. "What can I do for you, dear?"

The pink mare glanced surreptitiously to both sides and removed the large shaded glasses from her eyes, her straight mane dyed black with a rather fetching ruby beret perched on the top at an angle.

"I need your help in selecting a dress!" she whispered hoarsely, leaning towards Rarity. "And a present! For a colt!"

Rarity blinked a few times, stunned, then felt a grin slowly form on her face. "Diane!" she stretched the name, "you've gotten yourself a coltfriend!"

Embarrassed, Diane looked down and rubbed her front hooves together. "Technically, no," she said in a low, tight tone. "And were it, technically, yes, he wouldn't be my coltfriend. And were he my coltfriend, I would prefer it not, technically, being the case. At all."

Rarity blinked. "I'm afraid I don't follow you, my dear. At all."

Diane rubbed the back of her head frustrated. "Look," she said exasperated. "Let's say there's a colt," she started. "And let's say I need to make an impression. But this is not the colt I would actually choose to go out with. So, I'd like to make him take me to a date, but not have him so interested in me that I'd necessarily have to go on another. Unless it is deemed necessary, at a later date," she said through gritted teeth. "Can you help?"

Rarity grinned blindingly. "You clever, clever minx!" she said admiringly. "A jealousy play!" Rarity clapped her hooves together in glee. "Of course I'll help! Keep the hat by the way. Glorious!" She swept her desk clear and prepared a pen and a notebook. "So, who's the colt? The not-technically-your-coltfriend, I mean. What are we dealing with? What are his likes, his mores, what buttons should we press, and who do you want to impress the most?"

"Macintosh Apple," Diane said flatly. "That's why I wanted to ask you. You danced with him."

Rarity stared for a long moment. Then she gripped her head below the horn and sighed. "Diane..." she groaned. "If you hadn't just said you didn't want him, I'd punch you in the muzzle." She breathed in, deep, and blew it out slowly. "All right. I can work with this. Lets me see his character as well. Yes. So, why him?"

Diane shrugged. "Big," she said simply.

"Succinctly put," Rarity said blankly. "Well, I can tell you he has a somewhat more sophisticated taste than one would expect. That's good, in your case. We can build on your current Greta Gaitbow look. Hmm. You wouldn't be filling to show your flank a bit, would you, dear?"

Diane turned her head and looked at her flank that was normally covered by a saddledress designed to carry maximum amount of concealed weaponry and obscure her arsonist cutie mark. She thought for a moment and turned back to Rarity with a shrug. "Not a problem. How much?"

Rarity blinked in surprise. "Okay, we can definitely work with that," she said, before hesitating a bit. "Now, darling," she coughed gently in her hoof, "please don't be offended by this, but we need to work on your ...behavior."

Diane twisted her head and stared at Rarity for a long, intense moment. "How so?" she asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Well," Rarity searched for words, "must you always be, so, severe?" she waved her hooves. "I mean, why don't you smile a bit? Stallions like mares that show they're enjoying their company."

Diane looked unsure. Then, slowly, a muscle at a time, her lips moved to reveal a row of pearly white teeth. The horrifying grimace spread until Diane's whole face was split in twain, gleaming white set of perfectly sharp chompers spread to match the diamond-piercing gaze of her eyes.

Rarity paled. "Goddesses in heaven," she whispered, "hallowed be your names. Ahem!" she said aloud. "We'll practice ...that," she said weakly.

* * *

When you go high enough, the sun shines in an eternal day.

The clouds flowed majestically under the carefully wrapped form of one Rainbow Miriam 'Danger' Dash, originally the daughter of Flight Commander Lightning 'Stoneface' Jonathan Dash, for the past eleven years of Jonagold ' - ' Apple, and a rare case of adopted Slayer. Wrapped tight against the cold, she flew mostly unencumbered, used to travelling light for long distances. There were not many who could do what she did, even if it wasn't always glorious, and just about never even known to more then her adopted family. But they were the ones that mattered, as was the cause. Having lost everything once, she was ready to give it all up again, if only to help those who had once helped her.

She had flown countless miles in service of the Slayers' cause, never failing, never complaining, almost always on the move, but never homeless. The Apples were a giving bunch, and Rainbow Dash looked up to them.

Currently she was en route to a small town called Ponyville, inexplicably founded on the border of Equestria's most dangerous piece of land, the Everfree forest. At her altitude, she could see the unnatural center of swirling darkness that obscured the sight of anypony foolish enough to wander there. She had looked at the instruction given in Slayer Flier's handbook concerning overpass of the Everfree.

It had said: 'don't'.

Apparently, somepony had decided that the forest itself was not peril enough for the inhabitants of Ponyville, and she was to help the local slayers in mapping the extent of the problem.

She didn't know the details - her mother had sent her directly to Ponyville - but the look on her mother's face as she read the letter delivered by the wall-eyed pegasus had been severe enough to make her worry.

A shift in the position of her pinions sent her in a descending glide towards the town, somewhere beneath the clouds.

* * *

"What I'm saying, Twiley," Shining Armor insisted, "is that you cannot just assume somepony is demonic. You could end up harming an innocent pony."

"And what I am saying, Shiney," Twilight answered hotly, "is that you need to look at the facts objectively and stop drooling over her looks!"

"I'm not - urgh! Twiley! What, and listen to me now, what real evidence do you have of their origins?"

"Unequine strength mismatched to body type in her case, an uncommonly strong magical aura, comparable to, say a demon, and well, I'm beginning to doubt this one, sex appeal." She hesitated for a moment. "I admit I may have been mistaken about the unnaturalness of that last point due to my admitted inexperience. Of course, should further ratification occur, there is also the circumstantial evidence about them being connected to the disappearance of Johnny Appleseed, and knowledge of highly esoteric mystical nature." She narrowed her eyes. "All you have in opposition are the fact that they fight vamponies, are apparently pleasant conversationalists, and sex appeal, which, I repeat, should not matter in this instance." She pointed a hoof dramatically. "I call to attention the fact that we have no info on their true motivations, and as such need to conduct close surveillance! You must - must! - go on a date under false pretenses! And decline nookie!"

Shining Armor sighed. "Very well. But I'll be a gentlecolt about it. I'm not going to mislead a filly just because you're suspicious."

Twilight smirked, satisfied. "Excellent," she said, spreading a large map of Ponyville on the floor of their town home. "Now, this is my plan," she started, with an evil glint in her eye.

* * *

Granny Smith was napping in her rocking chair, covered under quilt while the early autumn breeze gently rocked the chair. From the distance, a soft 'thump' of Big Mac's hoof bucking the apples out of a tree sounded at a steady interval of five times a minute, coinciding with the sound of a snore on the back kick from Granny Smith, with the creek of the chair forming the bass line.

It made a mellow music to which the cloudy cover of the grey day moved leisurely, and a hypnotic accompaniment to the slowly descending spiral of Rainbow Dash as she floated to the ground.

She wasn't surprised to see the 'sleeping' mare to uncock the crossbow hidden under her quilt as she touched the ground. With a grin she bowed to the elder, and unwrapped her head.

"Rainbow Miriam Apple née Dash. Danger is my middle name."

Granny Smith snorted and, to the surprise of Rainbow Dash, only now actually woke up. "Wazzat?" Granny Smith said intelligently.

Rainbow Dash stared. "You were following me with your crossbow!" she said incredulously.

"Ya could've been an assassin for all ah know," Granny Smith said derisively. "If'n ya are who ya say ya are," she drawled with an obnoxiously thick accent, "ya won't take offence."

"But you were sleeping!" Rainbow Dash protested, "I mean, for real!"

"Well, ah had a long night recently," Granny Smith said with a grin. "Ya cain't expect a mare of mah age to recover immediately, now can ya?"

Rainbow Dash grinned back. "Mama Jonagold was right about ya. You, I mean."

"Ah, so ye're Jonagold's lass, then," Granny Smith said and squinted. "C'mere, girl, let me look at ya," she said softly. "Oh yes, ah remember ya. Ya were such a wee thing when ah saw ya last. Ah could sat ya on mah knee," Granny Smith smiled, "not that ya staid there. Ya were buzzing about the whole time, pretending to slay dragons."

"Heh. Yeah. Sounds like me, all right," Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling weakly.

"Howdy," said a low voice behind her, Big Mac having decided to take a break from applebucking and see, who had landed on their Family's property.

"Big Mac, meet yer cousin Rainbow Dash," Granny Smith said. "Tha last ya two met, ya chased her down with a pitchfork."

"Ah remember," said Big Mac with a grin, as Rainbow Dash blushed. "Then she hit me over the head with a barn."

"It was just a small barn," Rainbow Dash said and grinned.

"Good to see ya, cuz," Big Mac said with a one-hoofed hug. "So, ye're gonna map the wards in the area?"

"That's the plan," Rainbow Dash agreed. "I've studied a bit since we last met, but I'll probably need to have Mrs Smith checking the results on the ground later." She shrugged. "So I'll be spending some time here, probably."

"Well that's just fine with us, Rainbow," Big Mac said. "Come on in, and ah'll fix ya lunch. 'Bloom and AJ oughta be home from school soon too, anyway."

"AJ's here, too?" Rainbow Dash said, suddenly blushing more.

"Where else?" Big Mac asked with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow Dash kept silent, eyes staring in front of her as they entered the farmhouse.

* * *

"Chaplain Wax? Chaplain Candlewax, sir?" Sweetie Belle queried quietly from the doorway to the magical classroom. Used regularly only by the unicorn students, as both pegasi and earth ponies tended to practice their innate magic outdoors, the room was the size of a standard living room, with meditation mats lining the walls, and incense bowls by the bundle lying on the shelves. Lined with dark, polished wood and engraved with hypnotic mandalas, the room was the ultimate in spiritual relaxation, unicorn-style.

Chaplain Candlewax himself was in a deep trance, eyes crossed looking up at his own horn, the low drone of throat singing reverberating in the room. He was stripped from his priestly robes, exposing an emaciated body and a cutie mark of a book by candlelight. Two hoof-sized balls of solid iron were slowly circling each other in front of him, and the strain was making him sweat.

"Ah don't think he can hear ya," Applebloom whispered.

"MR CHAPLAIN WAX!" Scootaloo yelled in his ear.

Slowly and in a controlled manner, Candlewax lowered his balls of steel onto their proper shelves and rose to standing position. Still radiating the calm and magical aura of a master meditator, he turned towards the trio.

"Ah, my dark sabbatical night guests," he said with a smile. "What can I do for you? Here for after school activities?"

"We were wondering if you could accompany us to one of those spooky places," Sweetie Belle asked, smiling disarmingly.

"It would be my pleasure, Sweetie," he said and smiled more widely. "I've always thought traumatizing fear should be part of every foal's childhood. When would you like me to join you?"

"Would tomorrow be okay?" Scootaloo asked.

"Tomorrow it is, then", the chaplain nodded.

* * *

In a copse of decorative crab apple trees by a clear pond with a well-spring, hidden in a natural depression in a south-east corner of Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were meeting after the lunch. They had blushed and stammered through the meal, mostly speaking to other ponies and avoiding each other's eyes while still sneaking peeks whenever they thought the other wouldn't notice. With a glance, Applejack had directed Rainbow Dash to follow her to the copse to hash things out. That it was a romantic and secluded, was a nice touch.

They spent a moment side by side watching tiny frogs chilling out on waterlilies. Then Applejack spoke, "RD, ah..."

"Don't," Rainbow Dash said calmly.

"It's just ah-" Applejack started again.

"It's okay, AJ, I get it. I really do," Rainbow Dash said and turned to Applejack with half a smile and moist eyes. "It was nice. I enjoyed it. But it was just some quick, heated fun for you. An experiment. It doesn't have to mean anything more," she said with a quiver in her voice and traced the side of Applejack's head with her hoof, "but I won't forget what you did for me. What it meant for me." She smiled. "I'll always treasure the moment."

Applejack swallowed and shook her head. "You were the first pony ah ever..."

"I know," Rainbow Dash said quietly, smiling sweetly, "I know."

Applejack took a deep breath, steeled herself, and looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. "Ah just want ya to know, RD... Rainbow, that ya will always be special to me," Applejack said with a smile. "This shouldn't come between us." She offered a hoof. "We'll work together and enjoy each other's company, and things will be like they used to, or almost. Right?" she hopefully asked.

"Right," Rainbow Dash said with slight resignation in her voice, despite everything.

"Friends?"

"Friends," Rainbow Dash affirmed, with a touch of her hoof to Applejack's.

* * *

Tuesday arrived with a storm from the Everfree. The rain pelted Ponyville, gale-force gusts of wind blew every which way on the streets, and rattled the windows and roofs of ponies' homes.

In the Apple residence, two groups were preparing for their expeditions.

The Filly Night Watch, under the watchful eyes of chaplain Candlewax, were going to brave the storm to examine the historic Barleywine mansion north to the Apple orchards, now half-claimed by vegetation. Applejack and Big Mac were apprehensive about letting their little sister out of sight again, but they hoped that the daytime, even if the sun was occluded by the storm, would be enough to keep the monsters at bay. Nevertheless, they had packed Applebloom's saddlebag with an assortment of weapons in the certain knowledge that the filly would grow dangerously bored cooped up.

The adult ponies, excluding Granny Smith, who would stay behind to hold the fort, were to enter a network of tunnels under Ponyville that Johnny Appleseed had used to great advantage while protecting the town. Rainbow Dash would accompany, as there was no flying in the storm, not even for a pegasus as naturally strong as she. The entrance itself was through the extended Apple cellars, where the barrels of cider and sherry waited and matured before being ported to various parts of Equestria to maintain and add to the wealth and influence of the Apple Family.

"Y'all be good now," Applejack said to Applebloom in a hug. "Remember to go fer the eyes, sugarcube," she whispered under her breath.

"We'll be fine, sis," Applebloom said, and hoisted the heavy crossbow on to its saddle mounted swivel joint. While Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stared in shock and awe, Chaplain Candlewax appeared nochalantly amused at the sight of the filly armed with a military grade weapon of slaughter. "G'bye Granny Smith, G'bye Big Mac. G'bye cousin Dash!"

"Goodbye, everypony! It was nice to meet you!" the other two fillies chorused. Chaplain Candlewax nodded respectfully, "Ladies. Mr Macintosh."

After the outsiders had left, Applejack took out the Slayer's journal and spread out Uncle Appleseed's map of the tunnels. "Okay. According to this, the tunnels are half natural, and half dug by the Diamond Dogs that ain't around no more. We'll make a quick visual survey of the key areas here, here, here and here, well basically all around the town, and keep our eyes open fer possible rune work that could've upset the ones put in place when the town was built. Ah don't expect the job will be done in one day, but if'n there's something, we should find marks of it in any one of these locations. We'll start with the central area, to see if'n the key stone remains intact. Questions?"

Since none had any, Applejack handed the map to Rainbow Dash, their newly acquired cartographer and nodded her go. "All yers, RD," she said with a smile.

"Right you are, AJ," Rainbow Dash said, smiling back.

* * *

Rarity looked appreciatively at a rare, to her knowledge heretofore unique, sight of Pinkamena Diane Pie's bared flank. While the musculature was certainly something to envy, she could in a glance tell why she had decided to cover the wonderful sculpture of nature.

"I understand, now," she said compassionately. "What did they call you? Other children, I mean."

"Flaming pink arse," Diane said steadily, "but that's not the reason I cover it. I couldn't care less of their opinion."

Rarity raised her eyebrow, but since no explanation seemed to be forthcoming, she said simply, "Well, the flames make a beautiful pattern, although the stick pony figure in them is a bit morbid. If you're sure you're fine with this, I could make you a very dark, bejeweled polo, that would accent your figure, direct the eyes to your, assets, and still be suitably hard-arse to not mess with your style."

Diane simply nodded.

"Now then," Rarity said, "comportment. You want to ask him out? Well, I think the best place would be in the town square, actually. You'll find him there most days selling the Sweet Apple Acres produce. Or so I've gathered," she stammered quickly and blushed faintly. "Just walk right up to him and extend an invitation to join you for a coffee in the afternoon. With your straightforward attitude, it should be completely in character, ensure that your other interest, of whom you refuse to talk about, will hear about it, and make it impossible for him to refuse. I gathered he's a bit of a ladies' colt, when I talked with him Friday eve. The gift, I believe should be something with a bit of innuendo, and something he can flirtatiously reciprocate without it going further than you like.

"Now, what I would like from you in exchange, is a test of character: push him a bit, act forward. If he'll attempt to take advantage of you, I know he's just a no-good charmer with no good intentions. But if he's worth pursuing, he'll rebuke you gently, and both of us have gained what we want. Acceptable?"

"Acceptable," Diane nodded.

"Right. The first topic: small talk," Rarity said with a tap at a flip chart. Diane directed a glare of steely intent at it.

* * *

"What are these things?" Rainbow Dash asked in a hushed tone.

"Dog tombs," Big Macintosh said with a low grunt.

Rainbow Dash paled. "They built a town right next to a cursed forest, on top of an ancient Diamond Dog graveyard?" she asked incredulously. "What the hell was wrong with those ponies?"

"The Dogs wouldn't care what happens above ground, as long as the tombs remain undisturbed," Big Mac said with a shrug.

"According to the journal, there was an incident with a Diamond Dog guardian spirit a few decades back," Applejack said quietly, "but everything's been quiet since."

Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash lead their way past the ancient tombs, glittering in the ruddy torchlight. The caves were bone-dry, water being led from the 'habitable' caves via aqueducts into an deep aquifer in the bed rock.

The Diamond Dogs built impressively. The caves had stood unchanged for nopony knew how long. The early settlers, while digging the cellars and wells of Ponyville had found them, and connected the existing sewer system with their own. Other, more foolish ponies much later had decided to pilfer the valuable artifacts Dogs buried their leaders with, and had ended up hanging from their legs, skinned. Diamond Dog curses are not to be trifled with.

In a central area under the cathedral, small pony-style catacombs existed from a time when only a monastery of the Heavenly Sisters had stood there. Not uncoincidentally, this was also the center of the protective moon-wards built into the very zoning plan of the Ponyville.

The Apples had been in the fight for a long time. They had infiltrated key positions in all levels of Equestrian government to help protect its people. Every now and then, conspiracy nuts gathered to talk about a secret order of illuminati, secretive and influential ponies that supposedly guided the Equestrian society in secret according to some ancient scriptures. It was funny, in a way, how right those ponies were.

Under a disused grating, in a forgotten room with no access other than by rope, stood the keystone. It was nothing special in itself, it didn't radiate magic, nor was it covered in mystic runes. At one point in time, it had simply been blessed in a ritual dedicated to Luna, the protector of dreams and the guardian of the night, and since then it had lain there as a connecting focus for the layout of Ponyville in a gigantic ward that should have discouraged the creatures of Dark from wreaking havoc in the town.

It should not have been covered in blood, or surrounded by pony bones, but that is what Rainbow Dash saw, when she floated down.

* * *

The storm blasted rain into the decrepit, overgrown building, but with all the vegetation and the main walls still standing strong despite the clear signs of a fire a long time ago, the inner rooms of the building were dry, and relatively warm. The Filly Night Watch gathered around chaplain Candlewax, as he built a fire on the once smooth marble floor of the huge ball room.

The wind howled disconsolately, and the dim grey light of the stormy day flickered and moved with the mass of trees that had grown up to the mansion. The once well kept gardens had grown wild in the absence of a caretaker, and threatened to invade the large building itself. The wooden support beams groaned and moaned as the forces outside tried to break the building.

Flashes of lightning gave the fillies snapshots of the interior of the building, while making the gloom seem even more impenetrable. Old, serious portraits of a family long gone stared back at them, oddly distorted in the heat of the fire that had killed the ponies they were meant to resemble.

Slowly the fire grew, and the chilly, drenched ponies huddled closer to it to enjoy its warmth and light. From his saddlebags, chaplain Candlewax pulled forth bread, cheese, sliced root vegetables in foil to be grilled near the fire, and even marshmallows for the little ones. He also had a large canteen filled with hot berry juice and a small flask of heated Apple Family sherry for himself. It looked to be a relatively cozy afternoon in the abandoned building as he set the food to prepare, and started the story of the Barleywines.

"Now, the family Barleywine lived here before the town itself was founded," he started to tell quietly to the hushed fillies, "seeing as the whole area halfway up to the Canterlot mountain was their estate. The monastery that existed there before the cathedral was built on its foundations, was the only independent tract of land for a hundred miles from this mansion.

"That is of no consequence whatsoever to this story, but it helps to understand that the Barleywines were very important ponies in these parts before the fire. As to the cause of the fire, well, they say it started with a filly, not that much older than you three. A bit younger than your sisters," he said looking at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"I don't mean to say that she set the building on fire herself, no. That would have been impossible considering she was dead by then, immured in the walls of the wine cellar.

He looked gravely at the shocked fillies. "She had made the mistake, you see, of falling in love with the family's son while suffering from the condition of being a common servant, a maid to the family. Well, the bas- colt in question was a bit of a rogue, and laughed in her face when she asked to be married on account of being preggers to him.

"The girl didn't let go. Wouldn't shut up for money or for threats. Made a spectacle of herself and of the family. So they made her disappear." There was a gasp from the filly trio.

"Yes, they had her killed, the poor girl," chaplain said with a sigh and a nod, "and covered it up with the simple expediency of lying their teeth rotten to everypony who asked. But the girl had a family of their own, a momma, a daddy and an older brother.

"Now, I can't tell you for sure how they found about the circumstances of the girl's death, or even if they found out about it, but the fact remains that the family burned to their deaths a few months after she disappeared. And for some reason, not a single member of the family got out, despite all the big doors and high windows in this place."

He took a swig of sherry and poked the vegetable pouches which were by now spitting steam, adding a drop of water and a bit of sherry into each pouch.

"Now, I visited this place not long after fire, having heard that the inhabitants weren't quite gone despite being dead. Spent the night here, meditating on the matter.

"Didn't see any of the family, myself. I saw her. The girl they murdered."

He looked at the awed faces of the fillies and nodded. "Aye. Saw her standing in the moonlight, crying at the portrait of the rotten excuse of a stallion she had loved. A desperately sad sight it was. See, I don't think she was crying for him, exactly. I think it was more for what he turned out to be.

"She vanished after a while. Never saw a trace again, even though I visited quite a few times. I heard and saw other things, every now and then. Moving pictures, a cradle rocking by itself, heard hoofsteps and whispers, that sort of thing. But she was the only ghost I ever saw." He shrugged. "So, what say you we visit the cellars, see her final resting place?" he asked with a grin.

* * *

"Any idea what all that is about?" Applejack her two fellow explorers.

"Nope," Big Mac said.

"Not specifically, no," Rainbow Dash said. "But I guess this answers the question whether somepony has been messing around with them, right?"

Applejack sighed. "Ah guess we'll have to check the whole system. And from air too," she said looking at Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow Dash said annoyed, "I'll try to be out of your mane as soon as possible."

"Ah didn't mean it like that, RD," Applejack said with a regretful tone. As the rainbow-maned filly didn't answer, she moved up to her and nuzzled her from the side. "Ya know ah appreciate yer company, Rainbow," she murmured softly.

"Yeah, okay," Rainbow Dash relented. "Sorry, the things down there just put me on edge," she said, nuzzling Applejack back. "How long were you thinking this will all take?"

Applejack shook her head, unsure. "Couldn't tell. Ah guess we could map the key areas in a week, keeping up the patrols, but if'n there are some other work done in other parts of the caves, ah have no idea how long it'll take. Depends also on how quickly Granny can recognize a pattern, too."

Big Macintosh seemed to still for a moment. "There's about two, two and a half thousand miles of caves in this system, not including back-tracking."

Rainbow Dash whistled. "I hope we don't have to search the whole thing, then."

"Let's get started," Applejack said. "We'll have time to visit at least some of the warding locations before we need to head back for the night."

* * *

The Filly Night Watch and chaplain Candlewax were scouting the mansion. For him, it was a nostalgic experience. For the fillies it was an exciting adventure without the bed-wetting terror of the night in the cemetery.

"Ah sure hope we don't have to spend the night here," Applebloom said, referring to the storm that had grown steadily in strength for the past few hours.

"Yeah, I think Ms. Coriander would pop a vein if I skive another night," Scootaloo said.

"Mama and Papa would be so worried," Sweetie Belle added in a small tone.

"I think we'll manage," chaplain Candlewax assured them. "If not, I'll explain the matters to your parents and guardians," he said cheerfully.

The fillies shuddered. The mansion was creepy enough in what little daylight they had. In the darkness of the night, it would be unbearable.

"At least there're no monsters," Applebloom chirped.

And, naturally, that was the moment when they heard a blood-curdling howl from the attic.

The ponies froze. Then, Applebloom shifted the crossbow so that the trigger-bit was right in front of her mouth.

"Ya wouldn't mind cocking mah bow, Mr. Chaplain?", she asked sternly.

Rapprochement

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Chapter 6: Rapprochement

The howl turned into a thundering roar that shook dust from the ceiling of their level. The chaplain immediately took a slight magical hold on the fillies' mouths and whispered quickly, "Don't panic! Stay quiet and retreat back to the main stairway. Whatever it is, it cannot see us. Just keep calm and move away, and we'll escape alive." While whispering instructions, and directing the girls gently to the stairs, he also took the time to cock a bolt half the length of Applebloom's body into the large crossbow she was carrying and released the safety. "If you see a danger, fire and run. All of you, run. I'll take the rear and get eaten."

The girls glanced at him in shock, but concentrated quickly back into retreating as fast and quietly as they could.

Their escape was interrupted, however, by another sound. A scream, a mare's scream. It was fainter than the roar they had heard before, but still unmistakable as a pony's shout. They stopped their movement, minds blanking for a second. Then, the three girls started whispering at chaplain Candlewax, all at the same time.

"There's a pony in there!" "We cain't leave her behind!" "I don't want to die!"

Resignedly, chaplain Candlewax sighed and held a hoof at the fillies. There was a silence from the upper floor. He thought furiously. "It didn't sound like a scream of a pony being eaten," he whispered, "which means she could be stalked at the moment." His eyes flickered as he tried to plan. "We'll check the attic, see if we can help. You stay absolutely hidden! If we catch something's attention, if we need a distraction, you leave me behind! Catch the girl if you can, but run! I won't have any of you getting killed on my watch." He glared at the fillies, looking much more serious than they had seen him thus far. The terrified little ponies weren't of a mind to rebel at the moment. "Move out," he said, taking point.

They advanced to the ladder that led to the attic. Slowly, pale and sweating, his heart racing mile a minute, the old chaplain climbed the ladder and slowly, ever so carefully raised the trapdoor.

Nothing.

Peeking his head above the hatch he looked around, but there were no beasts immediately in sight, only an attic divided into two sections, a partition with carved double doors sectioning off a possible bedroom from the bare hall littered with supporting columns the trap door opened to.

Motioning the girls to stay down, he climbed to the attic floor and advanced as stealthily as he could towards the partition a few steps away, the sounds of the storm masking his movement.

Illuminated by flashes of lightning, he pushed open the double doors, just enough to peer inside.

There were shapes there, silhouettes against an ancient prench window, bars broken, glass long gone. Rain and wind blew into the room and against his face, making it hard to look and to keep the door open.

As lightning struck, he heard a slight gasp from his hooves, before it was overcome by the deafening sound of thunder.

Horrified he looked down to see the trio of fillies peering at the doors.

"It's the witch!" he heard Scootaloo whisper.

His eyes whipped back up to look at the shapes more closely. With the next flash of lightning accompanied by another blast of noise, he could make out three distinct figures. In the middle of the room there was a huge beast, a manticore, if he knew his animals. It lay on the floor, still and ready to pounce, growling constantly, with an occasional whine.

But it wasn't pouncing. For some reason, it stayed locked in place, eyes glaring at a much smaller figure in front of it, stationed between the beast and the ponies, standing equally still.

It was a mare. Filly, rather. She was young and tender, very lithe in figure with long wispy mane and tail both swept back by the storm, pale pink in accompaniment to her banana yellow coat. She stood in front of the beast, a lamb to the slaughter, held in place by whatever spell had taken place in the room.

Only the third figure was showing movement.

Dark tattered robes billowing, it spread some unholy mixture of blood and goop on the side of the great beast, mumbling some obscene incantation all the while.

"Kuwa na utulivu, wewe kubwa mtoto; Ni jeraha ndogo."

"The witch of the Everfree!" Sweetie Belle whispered in awed terror. "She must've bewitched the creature! And the mare, too!"

"A sacrifice to the dark powers of Tartarus!" Scootaloo hissed disgusted.

Applebloom stared at the strange pony, her mane shaped in a single crest, her light gray coat tarnished by stripes of coal in some ritualistic pattern. She was overtook by determination. "Hey!" she bellowed. "Catch this!"

She aimed her crossbow, slipping past the shocked chaplain into the room, and fired, directly at the surprised face of the deponified witch.

Despite the gale, at point blank range there was no way she was going to miss.

But the witch had time to yell one incantation.

"Nini kutomba!" she shouted.

The young yellow-coated mare was suddenly swept from her place, right in front of the bolt. The ponies had only a moment to see, as it all happened in a flash, but they had just enough time to see the horrified look on the young mare's face, widened desperate eyes staring at Applebloom, as she was hurled at a horrible speed in front of the witch. Then her face was transformed in pain, the bolt hitting her in the shoulder and throwing her around.

Immediately the manticore roared, the witch's hold on it broken. The witch snapped up a heavy wooden staff, striking the beast in the head with a loud crack, which took it down in a single blow. In the same movement, she snatched a pouch of some powder from her robes, throwing it into the wind in a wide arc.

The wind blew the powder directly into their eyes and face, causing a stinging sensation.

With admirable reflexes, the chaplain pulled Applebloom away from the room and slammed the doors shut. A moment of coughing and spluttering ensued.

The chaplain opened his canteen and poured water on the fillies' faces, starting with Applebloom, and finally took a swig himself and spat it out, hopefully clearing whatever toxin there was out of his system.

There was only silence from behind the doors.

"Everypony alright?" he asked gruffly, leaning with his weight against the doors.

"I think so," Sweetie Belle said, holding back tears of shock and terror.

"Y-yeah," Scootaloo said in an uncharacteristically high pitch.

"Ah feel sick," Applebloom moaned.

"You got the most of the powder on you," chaplain Candlewax said sympathetically, and gave her the canteen. "Here. Drink and spit." Then he knelt down to the filly and stroked her mane gently. "That was an incredibly brave thing you did, there."

"Couldn't save her," Applebloom said with a sour look on her face, before she started to weep. The other fillies immediately jumped to hug her, spouting phrases of comfort.

The chaplain hesitated, then opened the doors and peered back into the room. There was nopony there, just the lumbering mass of the manticore, limp on the floor, dead or dying no doubt. In the distance, under the clouds, he could see a misshapen form, like some huge bat flying towards Everfree, carrying in its legs what could be a pony.

"Don't say yet," the chaplain said grimly, eyes narrowing.

* * *

Three bedraggled fillies and one bedraggled chaplain in camping gear straggled inside to the Apples' farmhouse.

"Granny!" yelled the swaying Applebloom, running towards Granny Smith on unsteady hooves. "Oh Granny, we need to save her!" she yelled.

Granny Smith glanced up from her needlework and saw all three fillies were accounted for. With a raised brow she asked, "Who's she?"

"There was a girl in the Barleywine residence," chaplain Candlewax explained. "I honestly couldn't say what was going on, but-"

"The Everfree witch had her bewitched!", Scootaloo interrupted the chaplain.

"She was going to feed her to a manticore!" Sweetie Belle said with a shiver.

The chaplain shook his head and said, "Indeed, that's what it looked like. The 'witch', as the strange pony apparently living in the Everfree is called, was in the middle of some kind of ...ritual, I guess, that involved a manticore and a young mare. She escaped with the girl when we interrupted her. On wings. Not wings of a pegasus, I might add."

"Ah shot her," Applebloom said morosely. "By accident! Ah was aiming at the witch, and she spelled her to jump in front of the shot!" Her eyes watered. "She's gonna do something horrible to her!"

"Now that the fillies are safe and sound," the chaplain said tiredly, "I will go and speak with the sheriff. See if she can whip up a search and rescue party." He shrugged. "We never were very sure about the witch. She wasn't doing anything bad, as far as we could see, but this..." He shook his head.

Granny Smith, having now gathered the basic elements of the story held her hoof up. "Just wait for a moment there, sonny. Ye're barely standing up as it is! No, the four of ya are gonna go and take a bath. Ah'll tell Big Mac to round up the sheriff, when he comes back up from the cellar."

The chaplain nodded gratefully. Applebloom looked at Granny Smith tearfully and shouted, "But Gran! What about the mare! The witch is gonna kill her!"

Granny Smith looked at the chaplain. "Ya said the witch took the gal with her?" The chaplain nodded. "Then," Granny Smith said, "she's not gonna get killed just right now. Ya know where the witch lives?"

"Not really," the chaplain said. "Just a general direction."

Granny Smith nodded. "Then there's really nothing we cain do. Not in this weather. We can only inform the sheriff, get a search party going and hope they'll be in time." She glanced at the three fillies. "Now, to bath with the three of ya! Y'all are gonna catch yer deaths standing around like that! Ya too, mister!" she said with a severe look at the chaplain.

"Mrs Smith," the chaplain said with a tired grin, "I've never been able to say no to a mare of your caliber."

"Washpot!" said Granny Smith.

* * *

Big Mac stayed in the town after trudging through the worsening storm to the sheriff's office. It was agreed that none of the fillies or the elderly chaplain were to go to the storm again that day, and with Rainbow Dash plus three more guests, the grand farmhouse had a bit of life filling up a portion of the huge space it had in case it ever needed to house a few dozen Apples gathering for a hoedown.

While sheriff Gale had understandably been somewhat dubious about certain features of the story, even when provided with a signed eye-witness report from the chaplain, which the stallion had thoughtfully given to Big Mac for delivery to the sheriff, the description of the filly in the report matched a pony named Fluttershy. She had been initially reported dead, but her status was later changed to 'missing' when the corpse had managed to disappear before the sheriff's troops had had the chance to arrive to the scene. As such she was duty-bound to react to any sign of a reappearance of the girl, and with a sigh she left to defy the storm in order to notify all able-bodied ponies in the voluntary force about a search party being formed to penetrate the Everfree at the first sign of the storm blowing away.

It did, during the night. Big Macintosh was given a bed against his polite resistance at the Carousel house, where he had notified the family about Sweetie Belle's temporary accommodation at the Apples. Fatigued, he had tried to do his best to humor the flirtatious attention from Rarity, who had been somewhat disappointed at not being courted during the night. She had finally decided against 'being afraid of the thunder' and seeking warmth next to the big stallion, deciding rather to first verify the stallion's character with the plan she had formed with Diane.

The morning sun, shyly playing peek-a-boo with the lingering clouds, saw a multitude of ponies gathering in the town square, ready to dare the dangers of Everfree in search of one of their own. The sheriff spoke sternly to the rescuers who were divided into search parties of two ponies, giving strict orders about maintaining proper distance from each other and using appointed signals to keep in touch with everypony, while her deputies gave out reloading single-shot flares with which to defend against the beasts in the Everfree, if some were to attack a herd of ponies.

"Aren't you a bit young for a search and rescue?" Shining Armor asked Applejack as he reached her in the crowd.

Applejack snorted. "Ya forget last Friday already?" she asked petulantly.

"Not a chance," Shining Armor replied with a grin, then sobered up. "Pair up with me?", he asked seriously.

Applejack looked at him coolly for a moment before noddding. "Sure."

"If we are to either reveal or disprove the demonic nature of these 'ponies'", Twilight had said, "we need data beyond reproach. To that end, I have devised a three pronged approach:

"Firstly, there is the physical evidence."

"AJ?" Shining Armor asked after an hour of silent search.

"Hm?" Applejack replied distractedly, scanning the forest for any signs of a missing pony or her captor. Given that they had found signs of disturbed warding, she couldn't help but suspect 'the witch of the Everfree' was involved.

"I just wanted to say, that, well," Shining Armor said, and swallowed uncertainly, "I really enjoyed your company last Friday."

"Is this tha time?" Applejack asked after a while, raising a brow.

"When you have achieved the date, you'll lead her through this romantic locale," Twilight had said, pointing a lake-side promenade on the map, "where I will have supplied in advance a collection of holy symbols and artifacts to which she will be exposed to.

"A playful splashing of water is to be suggested, where you will surreptitiously apply this," she had said, whipping out a small crystal flask, "holy water on her.

"Then, you will dine in this particular café, and order a moon pie. I happen to know that the café prepares their moon pies with all the due respect and proper procedures to qualify them as 'blessed'." Then she had paused for a moment, narrowed her eyes and said matter-of-factly, "If the exposure to sight, touch and digestion of holy and blessed items is not sufficient to expose her as a demon, we have to consider the possibility that she is, in fact, innocent. Or very, very strong," she added in a low tone.

"That brings us to the second test."

Shining Armor sighed. "I've messed up somewhere, haven't I?"

"What makes ya say that?" Applejack asked with a huff.

"Come on, Applejack," Shining Armor said, "I can see you're upset about something." He shrugged. "Look, I'm stupid. Guys are. I've said something stupid, or I did something stupid to offend you and I'm sorry. Being a blockhead, I can't figure it out on my own, but I'm really sorry." He paused. "Please let me make it up to you. I want to." He stopped Applejack with a hoof, and made her look him into his eyes. "I want to make sure that you know that I care about you. That you know that I think you beautiful. That you know that I think you a wonderful, enchanting filly." Shining Armor smiled with a boyishly apologetic half-grin. "Won't you give this stupid block-head another chance?"

Applejack looked at him with a smoldering eyes. "Ya are stupid."'

"I agree," Shining Armor said with a grin.

"A stupid blockhead," Applejack said and glared.

"Absolutely," Shining Armor nodded.

"Ye're a stupid blockhead, who does stupid things and then is stupid enough not to know he's done it!", Applejack accused loudly.

"That is an utterly fair judgement of my character. I couldn't agree more," Shining Armor said remorsefully.

Applejack continued to glare at him for a while, before smiling back a little. "Okay," she said simply.

The grin on Shining Armor's face widened into a full-blown smile. "Yes!" he burst out and punched the air.

Applejack snickered. "Ah'm still mad at ya, though," she said in a warning tone of voice.

"I know," Shining Armor said, still jubilant. "I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"Ya better," Applejack said with a slight tone of satisfaction in her voice, slapping him gently with her tail as she walked by.

"You will confront her directly," Twilight had said.

"What?" Shining Armor had replied.

Twilight had nodded. "You will explain what we think of her and why. No, don't interrupt. You can apologize to her afterwards, if it turns out she's not a demon bent on eating your soul."

"But why?" Shining Armor had asked. "What will that prove?"

"In itself," Twilight had calmly replied, "nothing. But her response will be compounding evidence of her nature, psychological evidence in this case." She had studied her brother momentarily. "You're a copper. You should know about these things. If she is a creature trying to hide her true nature, she'll be ready for such an accusation with a plausible cover story.

"If not, she'll be taken completely by surprise, blindsided by the sudden turn of a supposedly romantic evening. She'll probably be offended. In any case, both responses are extremely noticeable, hard to fake, and clearly different from each other.

"As an experienced investigator, you'll be able to gauge the genuineness, or lack thereof, of her response. I'll be in the sidelines, forming my own opinion as a third party observer."

Shining Armor had put his hooves over his head. "So either she's a demon, or she'll hate me forever. Great," he added sarcastically.

"Lives are at stake here, Shiney," Twilight had reminded him. "She fights vamponies. If she cannot understand these kinds of necessities, well," she had said with a shrug, "then how would she understand what we have to do in our fight at other times?"

Twilight had hesitated for a moment. "For what it's worth, if she turns out to be innocent after all, I'll talk to her. I'll take the blame for you and hopefully she will forgive you."

Shining Armor had sighed resignedly. "So, why don't we do that right away? You could talk to her at school tomorrow, confront her right away, and get your evidence just like that," he had said with challenge in his voice.

But Twilight had shook her head. "Not effective, not from me. It has to be a genuine situation, with you. I'm sorry."

Then she bit her lip, and said haltingly, an apologetic tone in her voice already, "And then there's the third approach."

"So, as a start in my making it up to you," Shining Armor said, catching up to the filly and murmuring in her ear, "how about a romantic evening, just the two of us? I could take you to a concert, walk you around the lake at sunset, dine and wine you in my favorite restaurant..."

Applejack grinned, but hid her smile from the stallion. "Oh?" she said mock-haughtily, "ya think ya can win mah heart with such trifles?"

"Well," Shining Armor said, stretching the word, "I also got you a little something."

He dug into a pocket in his vest and took out a small jewelry box, hoofing it over to Applejack, who took it with raised eyebrows. "What's this?" she asked dubiously.

"Open it," Shining Armor said simply.

With a tiny glare, Applejack huffed, and opened the box. Immediately her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. Shining Armor tensed imperceptibly.

"It's beautiful!" Applejack sighed, picking up a golden chain in which was attached a Sun of Celestia, bright and bejeweled.

"It belonged to my mother," Shining Armor said, both pride and sadness in his voice, and shrugged. "The sun reminds me of you: so bright and beautiful. She would have adored you," he added.

"This is too much," Applejack whispered.

"I insist," Shining Armor said, and took the chain to clasp it around Applejack's neck. Moment of truth, he thought, as the filly lifted her mane to make way for the necklace. Shining Armor clasped the chain shut and let out a small sigh, as nothing happened. He smiled at the filly, relieved and slightly ashamed. "It looks beautiful on you," he said.

Applejack stroked the necklace, smiling faintly. Then she looked up, a glimmer in her eyes. "Not so stupid, after all, huh?" she said.

"What's the third approach, Twiley?" Shining Armor had asked with apprehension.

"It's a test of motivations," Twilight had answered. "I believe your lab gathered some strands of her mane from the cabinet," she had said, and sighed. "We provide them with a match."

"No!" he had shouted.

"Listen to me, Shiney!" Twilight had pleaded.

"Absolutely not!" He had been adamant. "This goes too far, Twiley! You would endanger her reputation, ruin her life, because you can't let go of your damn suspicion?!"

Twilight had paused, hesitating. "You're right, I suppose," she had finally said, to Shining Armor's relief. "We'll use it as a final resort."

"Why would you even do such a thing?" Shining Armor had asked, genuinely amazed his sister's ruthlessness.

"If she were a demon, she would have to resist being subjected to a scan of her magical aura, which the sheriff would have to order to verify her culpability in connection to a murder case. The scan would reveal her nature. Thus, her compliance could be seen as prove of innocence." Twilight had shrugged. "But you're right. We won't go to such extremes unless absolutely necessary."

"It's a date, then?" Shining Armor asked with a grin.

"It's a date," Applejack agreed, smiling. "Ya sure know how to bribe a gal," she added with a wink.

* * *

In an office, files detailing the magical aura of one Applejack Christine Apple, including a sample of her mane, were added to a folder explaining her brief incarceration due to suspicions of arson, and her subsequent release by the chief police officer in Colton after involvement of certain powerful monetary interests. The folder was slipped into a brown government envelope and addressed:

Sheriff's Office
Alpaca Boulevard 2
P/O 60
Ponyville

A pony slipped the envelope into a tray marked 'outgoing', and grinned at a tall, angular figure hid by dark robes. "And that's how we do it," the pony said with satisfaction. "By Friday, that slip of a girl will be in custody, and your troops can deal with her with ease. Then there's only the stallion, and we're once again free from the interloping of the Apples." The grin faded like it had never been there. "About time, too. They've interfered enough. By this rate, they'll force me to push the ritual back another year." The pony grinned again, this time with greed and cruelty. "We. Can't. Have. That," the pony said through gritted teeth, before relaxing into a pleasant smile. "Now can we?"

The tall figure shrugged. "If you say so," it replied in a low, soft voice. "In my view, your haste has already jeopardized the whole thing. Remove enough of the Apples in a short time, and they'll be sure to descend upon this place in force."

"You fear them?" the pony asked. "You?"

"I am the last of Nightmare Moon's generals," the tall figure declared in a sepulchral voice. "I have not lasted because I foolishly underestimated my opposition," it said, lowering its voice into a menacing hiss.

"No matter," the pony said after a moment of silence. "Come next solstice, I'll be a goddess!"

"See to it that you survive that far, then," said the figure and stepped through an open prench window, cloaked in its own shadow, as great leathery wings opened up from beneath the cloak and pushed it into the sky.

* * *

They did not find a sign of the missing pony or the witch that day, despite combing square miles of the Everfree Forest. Neither did anyone get hurt or eaten in the search. The ponies were unnerved, however. The dark forest seemed to press on them from all sides, the trees looming menacingly, weird, cold mist swirling around the trunks and their hooves, distant cries of predators carried by the still air. Pegasi flying low above the canopy reported feeling unsafe, as if the air itself was only grudgingly giving them lift. The unicorns to a pony failed to light their horns.

In the end, it was decided to make a rotation of the search parties. For the next month or so, they would go out in groups of five, each group making forays into the forest, making independent surveys of the woods, while maintaining safe operational distance from other groups. Every pony in the volunteer force would rotate searching for one day, resting the next three, meaning 28 of such groups of five would be searching the forest at any given moment.

No more could be asked. If that was not enough, the search would be declared bust, and the file of the missing girl pushed one step closer to being put to the 'deceased' pile.

Thus, Big Macintosh was in the market selling the Sweet Apple Acres produce, when Pinkamena Diane Pie made her big entrance.

"What about Di?" Shining Armor had finally asked, resigned to his part in Twilight's plan. "You're putting her through this, too?"

"Her, I'm not so worried about," Twilight had answered. "Unlike you she's not smitten. She's simply to do her best at seduction, and will function as a double-blind, as I have not explained our part of the plan to her."

Shining Armor had stared. "You believe them to be soul-eating demons, and you push her to their hooves without a care?"

"Can you see her succumbing to the wiles of anypony?" Twilight had said. "Besides, I gathered she's going to get some back up."

"Well, no, I guess I can't," Shining Armor had said. "For that matter, I can't see her trying to seduce anypony. It's just... not her."

After three days of lessons in seduction from Ponyville Central's finest, Diane had discovered her skill at radiance. Now, with a new-found sway in her hips, she stalked through the main street of Ponyville towards the market square.

A lesser mare would have smirked at the sight of turning heads or perhaps felt some kind of vindication at the shocked, but begrudgingly admiring muttering her appearance caused in the female populace of the town.

She had had her mane shortened into a modern bobcut, with a bit of curl at the tips. The black mane color had been joined with black mascara on her eyes and dark rose on her lips. The ruby beret was angled jauntily on her head and an almost black, sequined polo shirt hugged her barrel, ending just before her flank, where the flames of her cutie mark drew the eye. As if that were not enough, she had donned wide-striped black and white stockings on her legs.

To top it all, on her face was the usual indifferent intensity, now cultivated into the sort of haughtiness that said: "Buck this! I'm hot and don't even care!"

The colts and fillies from the school shied away from her. Having already been apprehensive about the strange filly, seeing her now in a blaze of feminine glory and self confidence rendered them completely intimidated.

Big Macintosh looked at the filly with a raised eyebrow and an appraising eye. He had a hard time putting her in any category. On one hoof, her clothes and appearance said: Bombshell! On another, she was clearly only just old enough for an evening out, and no more. On yet another, her eyes and face spoke of total, complete self confidence, or perhaps even indifference. And finally, she moved with the familiar grace well known to the Apples: a predator.

The stallions in the market stared with both relief and envy as Diane went directly to Big Mac's stall. Macintosh himself maintained his composure.

Diane stopped in front of the stall and directed her frightfully intense gaze to Big Mac. Slowly she let one corner of her mouth stretch into a sardonic smile and the lids of eyes close a fraction. Then, arcing her neck gracefully, she picked something from the small, tasteful saddlebag on her side, and gave it to Big Mac, whose eyebrows rose in surprise before a wide grin invaded his face. With a clear, neither projected nor muffled voice, Diane said, "I am going to be dining at La Galope tomorrow evening. You are welcome to join me."

Big Mac stared at the warm muffin in his hoof. Attached was a note that said 'want a taste?'. He looked at Diane, still smiling that half-smile and looking up at him with those mysterious eyes. Shaking his head slightly, he picked two of his finest, reddest apples, hoofing them over to the filly. "Ah'd be honored to, miss," he said in the same, conversational tone. "And ah only think it fair ah offer ya a taste of my apples."

* * *

"Ah wish there was something we could do," Applebloom said morose.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other with a knowing look. Their new friend had taken the loss of the girl at the mansion heavily. It seemed she blamed herself for letting the witch get away with the filly.

Sweetie Belle had tried to explain that they had, in fact, thought Fluttershy dead for more than a month now. Her sister, Rarity, had found the body herself and thought it beyond hope to believe she would be alive even though the corpse had disappeared. Even after seeing her in the street she had been convinced it was a ghost, Sweetie Belle reminded Applebloom.

But they could not lift the filly's mood, it seemed. It was the third day of ponies searching the Everfree, and there was no sign of either the witch or Fluttershy. They were all worried, about the girl and also about the ponies searching for her in the dangerous forest. Already it seemed the hostile place was pushing back. Seven ponies had come back with wounds or poisoning. None had died yet, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were doubly grateful for that, because they were certain Applebloom would blame herself for that, too.

As if there was more she could have done. They had been there, after all. They had seen her react while they themselves shivered in fear. It wasn't her fault the witch had some sneaky witchcraft, Scootaloo had said.

"Well, there isn't," she now said simply, and looked at the depressed filly in sympathy.

"Scootaloo is right," Sweetie Belle added kindly. "If we get lost in the woods too, they'll just have more searching to do."

"Ah know," Applebloom sighed. "Ah just.. ah don't know what to do!"

"You can help me fix my scooter," Scootaloo said. "It'll keep your mind off things, at least."

Scootaloo's scooter had been a cheap thing, originally. Years of tuning, modding, fixing and upgrading, however, had turned it into a monster of performance. While she no longer could get it started without a running start and a boost with her wings, when it got going it had road speeds comparable to a light motorcycle. Dubbed a public menace, it was the pride and joy of Scootaloo, coincidentally also dubbed a public menace.

With a shrug, Applebloom picked a spanner and started putting the engine back together, easy enough now that the gears had been filed into bare minimum.

"Where's your sister, by the way?" Scootaloo asked.

"On a date," Applebloom said with a shrug.

"What about Big Mac?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"On a date," Applebloom said.

"What about your granny?" Scootaloo asked. "She's not on a date, is she?"

Applebloom looked at her and said, straight-faced, "She's on a date too, actually." She shrugged again. "Or ah think it's a date. Chaplain Candlewax picked her up."

"Wow," Sweetie Belle said with wonder in her eyes and voice, "they're both really old!"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said in awe. "What about that cousin of yours? Rainbow Dash? She's the prettiest!"

"Funnily enough," Applebloom grunted as she lifted the engine back into its place, "she's the only one without a date today. She's out in the Everfree, searching with the rest." Then she gasped and wiped her forehead. "Okay," Applebloom said, "test it, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo revved the engine. "Woo-hoo! Listen to that!" Then she grinned at the other two fillies. "Wanna try for the bell tower?"

"Do ya think the ramp's still in the park?" Applebloom asked.

"Sure it is," Scootaloo said. "With everypony out in the woods looking, nopony's had time to take it down. So, how about it?"

"Ah'm in," Applebloom said fearlessly.

"I'll stay and watch," Sweetie Belle said with a sweet smile.

The engine whined, the wind roared, and the scenery flashed by as Scootaloo accelerated downhill. With adrenaline in her veins, ponies seemed like statues sprinkled liberally about the town as the scooter ate the dirt road. Navigating with ease the gentle chicane that put her in line with the wooden ramp, a grin formed on her face as she shifted the final gear. She felt Applebloom's laughter as the filly tightened her grip slightly.

Then, a bump and silence. Gravity seemed to let go of them as they flew in the air, shrieking and laughing with abandon.

The sun about to set reflected on the surface of the lake. A passing Derpy dropped her groceries as she turned to wave happily to the passing girls. A pony sitting on the roof of his house winked at the flying fillies.

A witch was crossing a field not that far away from Sweet Apple Acres, headed for the Everfree.

"Scoot-", Applebloom started, when they landed on the bell tower, and she almost bit her tongue, her head snapping to the side as Scootaloo swerved wildly to prevent them from dropping from the other side.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Scootaloo yelled exhilarated, her face flushed and heart beating.

"Scootaloo," Applebloom said in a commanding tone that took Scootaloo by surprise, "look there. What do ya see?"

Scootaloo obeyed and gasped immediately. "It's the witch!"

"Think we can catch her with this?"

A new grin formed on Scootaloo's face. "Hell yeah!" she said. "Just help me get this on the side of the roof! We should get enough speed from there." She thought a moment. "Think you can grab Sweetie on our way?"

"Not a problem," Applebloom said, flexing her forelegs.

The fillies took their bearings as they dropped down the steep roof at an angle, Scootaloo kicking repeatedly the start pedal until the engine finally took again just in time for her to correct the angle of the fall.

Once again they sped across the streets, ponies shaking their hooves at them with a few whoops of encouragement mixed in with the angry shouts. Sweetie Belle was galloping down the hill towards them, but she slowed, confused at first as they accelerated towards her, then stopped in alarm as she realized what an Applebloom leaning to the side with spread forelegs and a face set in determination meant.

"Oh noooo...!" her voice dopplered, as the straining scooter swerved towards the field closest to Everfree on Sweet Apple Acre's side.

"Okay," Scootaloo shouted over the noise of the scooter, "this isn't going to be able to cut it in the woods, so I'm going to take a few unorthodox short cuts. Hang on tight!"

Step by step, the startled gasping of Sweetie Belle turned excited, as she realized just how fun the ride was.

There were various tricks seen by the ponies of Ponyville that day: riding on fences, dropping from bridges, even jumping from a few roofs, and taking acceleration from the walls on the way down, all for shaving a few precious seconds from their trip.

As it was, they missed catching the witch before she entered the woods by less than a minute.

"Ponyfeathers!" Scootaloo shouted and accelerated towards the forest. "Hang on! Roll when you hit the ground!"

Ten seconds in, Scootaloo lost control of her scooter and the trio rolled painfully against the undergrowth of the forest. Applebloom was up immediately, with Sweetie Belle tucked safely in her grasp. Scootaloo managed to slow her flight somewhat with her wings, but still very nearly cracked her helmet on landing. Not giving them time to panic or start throwing up, Applebloom pushed both fillies up and sprinted towards the robed shape she saw vanishing in the shadows at a distance.

* * *

Shining Armor felt wretched and elated at the same time. He had managed to show Applejack a good time. They had seen a show in the park, walked side by side, coat to coat, by the lakeside. They had thrown some stones and sighed at the sunset. They had gasped at the pair of fillies flying through the air to the bell tower, and then riding back to the ground on the roof. And Applejack had burst into laughter and thrown him into the lake, when he had stopped her steaming at her little sister by splashing her gently with the holy water.

Wherein layeth the problem. His mood and his date was constantly interrupted by reminders of his duplicity. Every now and then he would notice one of the seven versions of Celestia's Sun, or Luna's moon. A lavender flash in the corner of his eye would gently flash and Applejack would look around in search of the source of a light touch on her flank, always a blessed artifact of some sort. She would playfully pin it on him. If only.

Now they were at the café, sampling the glorious moon pie, and he was about to ruin the whole evening.

How do you accuse your date of being a succubus?

"Ehm... Applejack," he started feeling sick to his stomach.

"Yes," the filly answered in a sultry tone, making him feel even worse about what he was going to do.

"Well, how can I put this, ah..." he fumbled, "you know my sister, right?"

Applejack blinked, a bit surprised. She had pegged this for the moment Shining Armor would try to speak his way into her bed. While she had no personal experience to speak of, she had seen Big Mac at the game a few times. "Yes," she said, gears shifting. "Ah think ah saw her about this evening, in fact."

"You did?" Shining Armor asked, then shrugged. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Well, the thing is. The thing. Is."

"Spit it out, Shiney," Applejack said unamused and pushed her plates to the side, resting her head on her hooves and fixing her date with a gaze.

Shining Armor took a deep breath. "She thinks you're a lust demon," he said and closed his eyes, waiting for pain to start.

A moment passed.

And another.

Then a third went by, and Shining Armor decided to brave a peek.

Applejack was cherry red, biting her lip and shaking, a tear in one corner of an eye. Then she burst out laughing. She laughed and laughed, falling from her sofa and rolling on the tiled ground. She howled, roared in laughter, occasionally kicking the ground with a leg. The other patrons looked at her like she was crazy. Shining Armor was stunned.

After a solid five minutes, the laughter finally petered out, and Applejack dragged herself back to the sofa, letting out a weak guffaw every now and then, wiping tears from her eyes. A few other customers had joined in after a while, unable to resist such unbridled and unrestrained show of hilarity.

"Ooh... ooh... woo!", Applejack said and cleared her throat, face still red from laughing her heart out. "Okay," she said with her voice breaking in a slight hiccup, "so, why's that, e-ehm!, exactly?"

"Basically," Shining said and shook his head, "basically because she thought your brother's hot."

This time Shining Armor joined in the laughter. He could see Twilight blushing furiously, her head hidden under her hooves, in a booth at the other end of the café. She had probably listened in with a spell.

When the new bout of laughter died out, having been more restrained this time, Applejack shook her head. "And here ah thought she was acting as yer jealous chaperone," she said. "The funny thing is," she added, "that for a while ah thought ya were involved with, well it takes a bit to explain." She dug through her saddlebags, until she found her uncle's journal, which she then gave to Shining Armor. "This here is a Slayer's journal. This particular journal belonged to mah uncle, Johnny Appleseed. It lists his activities as a local hunter of vamponies, wereponies, demons and what have you. That's what a Slayer is, a sworn warrior against the Dark. Ah've got one of those too," she said to the flabbergasted stallion.

"So, you," Shining Armor stammered.

"Yeah," Applejack said, "that's why ah'm so strong. It's a ...family blessing, ya could say," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, when ah read his journal," she said flipping the pages until she found the spot, "ah noticed yer name there. He suspected ya were involved in killing vamps and other beasties. That part was right, ah guess," she added to Shining Armor who was reading the diary in a stunned frenzy. "The part about the rituals, no. But ya were mah only lead for a while, when we found out about somepony messing around with the wards of this town."

"Wow," Shining Armor said. "This is, wow. It's kind of lot to take in, you know."

"Ah know," Applejack said. "We normally keep this stuff secret, but since ye've already seen me slaying and are in the business anyway, ah thought ah'd tell ya. That's why ah had this with me."

"So, ah, how do you know I'm not... er, involved with the, wards, were they?"

"Ye're not smart enough, ya big blockhead," Applejack said with a snort.

"Yeah," Shining Armor said. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "So, your brother's a...?"

"A slayer," Applejack said with a nod. "The whole family is. Well, not Applebloom, of course, she's too young. But she's been training since she learned to walk. We're a dedicated bunch."

"And you said there was something going on in this town?"

"Oh, ya have no idea," Applejack said seriously. "This place is being hit with one hell of bad mojo. Ah'll have to tell ya the details later. Ah take it ye're not the only one in your little group of hunters."

"Er, no," Shining Armor said, "Twiley and Diane are the other two."

Applejack's jaw dropped. "The shrinking violets? Are ya serious?" At Shining Armor's nod, she whistled. "Those fillies know their business then. Ah wouldn't have guessed in a million."

Shining Armor nodded sincerely. "While I have the training to make this work, it probably won't surprise you to hear my sister's the brain for the operations these days," he said with a grin.

Applejack snorted. "Not in tha least," she said. "What's Diane..." she stopped when she saw Sheriff Gale walk in the café, heading towards their table with a fast, determined step. "Hey, it looks like yer boss wants to speak with ya." Her eyes widened and ears perked. "Hey, ya think they found that girl in the woods yet?" she asked Shining Armor.

But the sheriff wasn't coming for Shining Armor. She stopped in front of Applejack and said in a firm voice, "Miss Apple. Please accompany us to the station."

"What? Why?" she asked surprised, then worried. "Nothing's happened to Applebloom, has it?"

"We need you to answer to charges on breaking in, vandalism, and possibly the murder of Hard Stones on the eve or eves of 15th and 14th of September this year, respectively. We have evidence tying you to the crime scene."

Applejack was stunned, but Shining Armor was furious. "Twiley!" he shouted angrily, then turned towards sheriff Gale. "The evidence was forged, boss, my sister had this crazy idea about"

He was stopped with a raised hoof. "Back off, Shining," sheriff Gale said. "You're obviously involved with her, and as such disqualified."

"But the evidence," he tried again.

"The evidence came to us through mayor's office, Shining. It has reports of her involvement with an arson case in Colton, along with a string of murders. We're taking her in," she said with a finality in her tone, and motioned to Applejack. "You coming along quietly, miss?" she asked, looking unworried about facing a teenage girl.

The teenage girl in question simply weighed options in her mind frantically, before deciding that going along was probably going to be easier in the long term. So, she nodded with a sigh, and handed her hoof for the sheriff to cuff. "Sorry Shining," she said. "We'll have to cut this short."

Then they were away.

"It wasn't me!" Twilight shouted in panic as she ran to Shining Armor's side. "Shining, believe me! It wasn't-"

"I know, Twiley," Shining Armor said quietly. "They had a bunch of stuff on her. Gale said it came from mayor's office."

"Shining? What's going on?" Twilight asked worried.

"I don't know," Shining Armor said. "I don't know at all."

"Diane!" Twilight shouted suddenly. Shining Armor turned to her. "She's with Applejack's brother! We have to tell him!" Twilight explained.

With a nod, they sped away.

* * *

Rarity felt her eyes bulge gently behind the wide shaded glasses she had borrowed from Diane, when Big Macintosh walked into the restaurant. The stallion had put on a fitting suit jacket on top of a tight white shirt with no tie. With his muscular frame, the combination exuded confidence and masculinity. She couldn't believe her eyes, when Diane took the kiss on the hoof without so much as a blush. Luna's teats! What is that girl made of? Ice?

She felt a dizzying mix of emotions. She was jealous at Diane for the attention she was getting from the hot stallion. She was fast getting hot and bothered just by watching the said stallion flirting with the mare. She was furious at him for directing that attention for anypony but her. She was fearful of losing him. She was proud of Diane, of how sexy and beautiful she looked, of how coquettishly she acted. She felt the gnawing doubt that the gorgeous stallion would disappoint her tonight. She was amazed and dismayed at herself for getting so fixated over a single stallion.

I'm the queen B of the school! The mare so cool they make ice between my thighs! The hell is wrong with me?!

She perked her ears and concentrated on their table, sipping at her grape juice while attempting to eavesdrop their conversation. All right, Diane! Remember the lessons!

Lesson 1: Small Talk
The proper way of handling small talk is to hide the actual meaning you want to convey behind a layer of inoffensive babble. Choose a topic likely to be interesting to both parties, while hiding daring undertones in the connotations and dual meanings of the words.
An example: food. You will superficially discuss the quality and texture of the foods you're sampling while stressing such phrases as 'hot', 'moist', 'round', 'firm', 'smooth', 'dripping juices', 'lick', 'suck', 'swirl', and so on.

Okay, what's she leading with? Architecture? What has that got to do with... Diane, ew! Now I can never look at this town innocently again! What's he going to respond with? Oh, cutie marks, that's a classic. Lets one get an eyeful of other's flank and allows you to get to know each other better. Huh? Diane's ...giggling?

"Ponies don't burn alive, silly! They're too soggy!"

I...don't know what to think about that. Goddess! I hope I forget that. Oh, good! The food's here. Now Diane! Remember the second lesson!

Lesson 2: Body Language
With proper use of body language, any activity can be turned into a bold suggestion. While the flank is a natural hot spot for a stallion's attention, movement of your hooves, ears and tail can easily direct his attention to parts of your body you have more control over.
Remember: Every part of the body is an erogenous zone.

Hm. Good, she's moving... oh! She's following the music, good choice, good choice. Yes, that's it... oh my, now that was one hot potato! Rrrawrr! Better cool it down, you minx, your date's going to embarrass himself soon, if you keep thatup... Hey, why are they sharing food? No, Diane, abort! Abort! You're going to get him too excited! ...oh, that was a good one! Just the moment for a little trip to bathroom - aaand there's the swing of the hips! Good girl!

Okay. You're about to enter the final phase, Diane! Now remember the most important lesson! This is what everything hangs on!

Lesson 3: Letting the Stallion Think He's In Charge
When he thinks he's doing what he desires and that he's making you think you want it, then you got him right where you want him.
There can be no other goal more worth pursuing in the successful seduction and subjugation of a stallion. Suggest. Play dumb. Giggle at his jokes. Act innocent. Make him be the dirty one, and his guilt and arrogance will let you string him along just as you like it.

Okay, Diane. You're good at this. I wish you'd come to me earlier. We could have had you ruling the school... right after me, of course. Okay...okay...that's it, reel him in gently. That's it, blink like a rabbit in the headlights... I wish you could blush on command. You can?! Wow. Okay, I'd say this is it. Either he's going to push for sex and ruin my hopes, or... wait, if he doesn't, after all this, is he even into girls? Oh drat, I detect a flaw in the plan. Wait, what's he going to suggest?

"Miss Pie, ah get the feeling ye're just stringing me along."

Huh. Didn't see that coming.

"Well, Duh! I'm just fake seducing you to make another colt jealous!"

This... isn't how it's supposed to go.

"Is that so?"

"Well, my friends think I'm actually checking you out for being an incubus, but that's just Twi. She goes overboard with her paranoia, sometimes. Not like me, I just do it with violence."

(...)

"Well, Ah have to say it has been an interesting evening, Miss Pie. Ah hope everything goes fine with yer young stallion."

"Thanks, Mr Macintosh!"

I'm. I'm speechless. What just happened?

* * *

Shining Armor brushed the maître d' aside as he rushed into the restaurant, Twilight galloping at his tail.

"Diane!" he shouted, without care for the attention he was getting. "I need you to come with me!"

"Howdy, Shining," Big Mac said, exuding calmness. "This yer special somepony, miss Pie?" he asked with a raised brow. "'Cause ah thought he was entertaining mah sister," he added with a look at Shining Armor.

"No time for jokes, Mac," Shining Armor said. "Your sister's in trouble!"

Big Macintosh sobered immediately. "What kind?" he asked Shining Armor, while Twilight whispered to Diane.

"Legal," Shining Armor said. "Somepony's framing her for the murder of Hard Stones, the colt they found at the school. My boss arrested her just moments ago."

"Right," Big Mac nodded, getting up and leaving a pile of bits on the table. "Better go and see if we can clear this up." He looked questioningly at Shining Armor. "What's got y'all in such a hurry, mind ya? Not that ah'm complaining, but she ain't in any danger, is she?"

"I don't know, Mac," Shining Armor said with a worried tone. "There's something not right about this. Gale, the sheriff, she said a lot of things about her. Somepony's really got it out for her, and, well, your kind of enemies aren't the easy-going kind."

"Ah hear ya."

* * *

"Hold it right there!" Applebloom yelled at the witch, who turned to look at her and raised a brow.

"Or you'll do exactly what instead?" the witch asked with an odd, rhythmic accent. "As your only bow is on your head," she observed dryly.

Applebloom narrowed her eyes, and took the Stance of the Pouncing Tiger. "Ah don't need another bow," she said with as a low and menacing tone as she could. Behind her back, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo moved nervously to support her. "Release Fluttershy!" Applebloom commanded.

"She is not mine to release," the witch replied unfazed, "as she can already go as you please."

When the fillies frowned confused and uncertain, the witch continued her rhyming cant.

"If you three would like to follow, I will show your doubts as hollow. My home can be found quite near, and there is nothing you should fear, for you will find your quarry there if but you are...aware." With the final word, she did something with her hoof that caused the shadows to retreat behind her, revealing a strange hut, carved into a dead tree.

Masks and candles ornamented the hut, giving it an exotic, if a bit creepy, look. After the past week of excitement, however, the girls were beginning to get beyond scared, and marched after the witch with barely a nervous twitch.

Closer to the hut, the witch called out softly. "Fluttershy, my dear, would you please come here? The sun has almost set, and you can stand it, I bet."

As they continued to approach the tree-house, its door carefully opened, and the pale yellow mare peeked her head nervously through the crack. "Z-Zecora? How... oh!" she said when she spotted the three fillies. She smiled softly at them and greeted them with a voice that was even more soft. "Hello there, little ones," she said almost shyly.

"Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle cried and ran up to her. "We feared you were dead!"

"Oh, well, I was," Fluttershy said, taken aback a bit. Then her eyes widened as she saw Applebloom pale. "Oh, not because of you, little filly! You see, I, um..." she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. She looked at Zecora, pleading for help.

"When I found little miss Shy," the witch, Zecora, obliged, "quite a lot had gone awry. She had been bitten and killed, and with a vile curse been filled. Forever more will she walk the earth, to feed, to slay and to more evil give birth. Or that's how it would have been, had there a solution I not seen. I found her while she was still unbound, between life and beyond lost and unsound. With my craft I managed to bind her soul, and in that at least make her whole.

"The curse she carries within her still, a vampony she is and forever will. There is no magic I know that could undo that blow, now she craves and feeds on the living blood, and the desire within her is like a flood, untamed and wild like the beast she was becoming, no matter how much she would like it be shunning. Her innocence is stolen and in shatters, and she fights with herself in all matters, filled with guilt and self-hate over things that are but fate, she avoids now all that are living, even if her nature is to be giving.

"She fears the creature that she has become, no matter I tell her 'your guilt is dumb'."

Fluttershy dug the ground with her hoof, clearly distressed and depressed. The fillies looked at her with a mixture of compassion and awe. Finally, Scootaloo found her voice. "You're a vampony? That. Is. Awesome!!"

Fluttershy blinked in surprise. Sweetie Belle jumped to hug her. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Fluttershy! I can't imagine how you must feel. You were always so kind when you visited my sister, and, and... you shouldn't hide! Please come back! We won't judge you, I promise!"

Fluttershy felt a lump in her throat as she hugged her best friend's little sister to her chest.

Applebloom looked at Zecora, embarrassed. "Ah'm sorry we thought ya were a witch, miss Zecora," she said.

Zecora raised a brow. "And what makes you think I am not? Witchcraft was the reason I managed my plot." As Applebloom gaped, Zecora continued. "Make no mistake, young filly, my skills are dark and unseemly. I dabble in darkness, death and demons and consort with evil and inflict vile lesions. I tread lightly on the line between good and evil, and should I falter I fall into darkness primeval." She paused and looked at Applebloom gravely. "I am a witch, I say it without a twitch."

"Okay then," Applebloom said slowly, and shook her head a bit. "Listen, Miz Fluttershy. Would'ya come back with us? At least so ya can show yerself? There's a lot of ponies looking for ya and they can get hurt in the forest. Ya should make yerself known so they can stop looking."

"Oh, oh my," Fluttershy said faintly, choking back her tears. "I-I wouldn't want anypony to get hurt on my behalf," she said uncertainly, and looked at Zecora.

The witch nodded. "I will come with you, dear Fluttershy. I'll walk you there and stay nigh. But before we set on our way, you should your hunger obey."

Fluttershy winced and hesitated. Zecora looked at her sternly. "It is the price he will pay, or on ponies you would prey."

With a sad nod, Fluttershy retreated back into the cottage. The horrified girls heard a soft 'eep' and growl from inside. After a short moment, Fluttershy came back out, her features bestial, licking blood from her lips. Zecora put a comforting hoof on her withers.

"I know it's not easy for you, but it's this or worse, in view."

* * *

Applejack was led in a bare cell, with straws for mattress, her front legs cuffed to make any gait other than a shuffle impossible. Through the bars in the small window in the stony wall, she watched the ruddy afterglow of the sunset fade away. She looked numbly at the darkening town.

Shining Armor led the group of ponies from La Galope towards the sheriff's office at a brisk trot. Rarity trailed behind, worried for her new friend, but not quite willing to expose herself as an eavesdropper. She was also feeling confused. Enemies? Framing? What in Celestia's name are those Apples messing around with?

When she arrived at the sheriff's, it was to a sight that was nightmarishly familiar to the flash of delirium she remembered from previous Friday. Shining Armor, Big Macintosh, Twilight and Diane were huddled in a defensive circle, while monstrous figures with glowing red eyes slowly stalked them from every direction.

There were at least twenty of the creatures.

"They're after mah sister!" Big Macintosh roared. "It's a set up!"

"We need weapons!" Shining Armor shouted.

"There's a stash at the corner of Alpaca and Main Street, in the fountain leg!" Diane yelled back.

"Ah can get there, but that leaves y'all unprotected!" Big Mac said.

"We're dead anyway, if you don't!" Shining Armor shouted back.

Twilight was fast deploying her arsenal of holy symbols, trying to great a safe zone to occupy.

Rarity started to panic. She felt her breath quicken, and a roar grew in her ears. I'm going to faint, I'm going to faint, I'm going to faint" Then, suddenly, a part of her rose to the surface. It was the part that had made her the queen of the school, the part that drove her ambitions forward, the part that made damn sure she was on top of every situation. This is no time for that, darling!, it said. There are friends, well, acquaintances and hot stallions, at least, about to die horribly! You're going to get your flank there and help!

A determined look appeared on her face, and she sprang into action. Galloping directly towards the sheriff's office, she hollered loudly. "Yoo-hoo! I'm a juicy distraction!" As the nearest vamponies turned to look at her, she released a hair pin with her telekinesis and pierced her skin with a wince. A small spurt of blood colored her coat, mesmerizing the vamponies. "Go!" she yelled at the stunned ponies at the center of the vampony mob.

Then she let out a continuous, high-pitched scream as she raced towards the safety of the sheriff's, eyes closed.

* * *

"Hey!" Applejack shouted in panic, rattling the bars of her cell. "Git yer flanks out here! There's a bunch of vamps outside!"

As the sheriff marched towards the holding cell with a deputy in tow, furious looks on their faces, Rarity burst in through the main door, still screaming in terror. She slammed the door and threw a heavy bar down, before finally going silent and taking a huge, gasping breath. Something slammed the door hard, rattling it on its hinges.

Rarity turned to face the sheriff, a wild look in her eyes. "Sheriff Gale! There are monsters outside, about two dozen or so, about to gobble up some of my friends," Rarity said quickly, then pointed at Applejack. "They're after her!"

Sheriff Gale looked from one mare to another, then at the door that was cracking slightly under the onslaught of blows on it. A mask of steel went over her features, and her body tensed. "Deputy Collar!" she barked. "Break out the anti-ursa weaponry! Miss... Carousel! Explain the situation!"

Rarity took another breath, and launched into an explanation. "I don't know all the details, but from what I gathered, she," Rarity said, her hoof pointing at Applejack again, "is part of an anti-vamp counter-terrorism unit or something, and was framed by pro vampony parties in order to pave way for her assassination. I suggest you set her free and let her do her thing. The other members of her unit are fighting for their lives on the street."

Gale blinked, then looked at Applejack questioningly. "Is this true?" she asked Applejack.

Applejack waved her hoof to and fro, "So-so," she said. "but as guesses go, it was pretty darn accurate."

Gale looked at her blankly, then stepped to the cell door, unlocking it quickly. "So help me the Sisters, if you cut and run, I'll hunt you down and gut you," she said in a low growl. "Give me your hooves," she added, their key in her mouth.

"No need," Applejack said smugly and snapped the chain holding her hooves together as easily as it was a piece of string. Gale stared in dismay at the ruined cuffs. "Rare, give me mah hat," Applejack said, as she pushed past the stunned sheriff. Rarity obeyed immediately, flinging the headpiece with her telekinesis directly to Applejack's head. "Right," Applejack said, "now Ah just need some splinters." She grinned and launched herself at the door that was breaking down.

At the same time the sheriff's deputy came back from the armory, carrying two heavy packages on his back. "Eh, sheriff?" he said uncertainly. "Should I detain the prisoner?"

Gale shook herself into action. "That's a negative. Hoof me a flamethrower and arm yourself, we're on civilian protection duty as of right now."

Rarity looked at the three ponies readying for action, and went through a mental checklist. "Done, done, done... okay, I've done my part," she muttered. "Finally!" she said and promptly fainted.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was on her way back from the futile search in the forest, when she spotted the barest hint of movement at the edge of her vision. Not even knowing for sure why, she raced towards the flickering movement, only to spot not only both of her targets, but Applebloom and her two friends.

"What the...?" she muttered. The group was heading for the town, already almost at the edge of the woods. Thinking about possible explanations, she settled for following the group from afar, fearing a hostage situation.

It didn't take all that long, before both her and the group noticed the fighting going on near the sheriff's office.

* * *

"It's mah brother!" yelled Applebloom when she saw the stallion in middle of wrestling with three vamponies with more edging towards him.

"And a bunch of other ponies!" Scootaloo yelled.

"We got to help them!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

In a thrice, Fluttershy leaped towards the fighting, transforming into her bestial form mid-spring. Rainbow Dash overtook her in a moment, tackling one of the vamponies from the air. Zecora readied some powder and started mumbling an incantation, sprinkling the dust around her in a circle.

"Ooh, Ah wish ah had mah crossbow," Applebloom grumbled.

* * *

The fight was furious and bloody. Applejack burst through the heavy door of the sheriff's office, a thick wooden splinter in each hoof. As she ducked and weaved through the mass of vamponies, dusting several them in the process, the sheriff and her deputy followed through, long spouts of flame spewing from their flame throwers.

Diane looked she was in love at the sight, pausing momentarily before continuing her own barrage of home-made grenades. She was quickly taken out, however, by a savage blow to the head. As she sprawled on the street, blood spilling from the wound, Twilight screamed in rage and her horn flared. In a single mighty burst of magic she grasped the offending vampony and obliterated it, literally tearing it apart. Her eyes black, she then turned her wrath against several other vamponies, flinging them about with abandon and inflicting deep gashes in them with sheer willpower.

Shining Armor was fighting tactically, sniping and flanking vamps whenever the chance. It was hard going, it taking all his strength to pierce the chests of the vamponies with a stake, and he was getting a splitting headache for overextending his protective magic. Even with his shield, he was bleeding from several wounds on his sides.

Big Macintosh was taking on the majority of vamponies. Trampling and kicking, he fought a mighty, but ultimately futile battle against overwhelming numbers. Even with the arrival of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who took the pressure away from him from the vamponies in the air, it looked like he would succumb to the mass of vamponies before Applejack would have the chance to give him aid.

That's when the spell from Zecora hit. A wave of shadow rolled over the battleground, hitting the vamponies with a burst of agony. While they momentarily writhed in agony, the ponies gained their second wind and regrouped for a concerted attack.

In the end, the ponies stood victorious, if hurt. Zecora was tending to Diane's head wound, while agonizing Shining Armor was cuddled against her sister, who had withdrawn into a near-catatonic state of sobbing. The sheriff's deputy was lying down on the ground, pale and breathing shallow on account of his numerous broken bones. Big Macintosh looked like he was put through a shredder, bleeding from cuts and bites, from all over his body. Rainbow Dash was nursing a broken leg, while suspiciously glaring at Fluttershy, whose horrible wounds were knitting themselves together in front of their eyes. All in all, only Zecora and the fillies were wholly unharmed, although the witch was ashen and shaking, refusing to tell why.

Sheriff Gale looked at the beaten ponies, who were the only sign of there ever even having been a battle, and rubbed her head. "In the morning," she said quietly to nopony in particular, "somepony had better tell me what the buck is going on."

Ah'll be damned

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Chapter 7: Ah'll be damned

Sheriff Gale felt weary returning from the hospital, where they had deposited both Diane and Rainbow Dash, as well as the poor deputy sporting half a dozen fractures. The formidable Nurse Tenderheart had also forced Big Macintosh to stay over his protests. Twilight had adamantly refused to leave Diane's side until she would recover and the sheriff hadn't had the heart to order Shining Armor to leave her sister behind. The rest had had their scrapes checked out, and had returned to the sheriff's station at Gale's insistence.

As it was, she had only three adolescent and three juvenile fillies to direct her dissatisfied and suspicious glare at. The zebra witch had disappeared to the woods with a silly rhyme over her protests while Gale was still helping her on-duty deputy. The reduced group were standing in her office filled with 'missing' posters and several filing cabinets filled with case files and the occasional bottle of bourbon.

Gale felt hurt, frightened and confused. Those were all things that made her angry. She was good with angry.

Emanating an aura of discontent she sat behind her desk and lit a cigar. Half-covered by the shadows, lighting her face with the glow of her draw, she let her gleaming eyes do the work for her with oppressive silence as her ally. Unfortunately, her usual intimidation tactics seemed to go mostly wasted.

The yellow pegasus, whose coloring and cutie-mark matched the disappeared filly Fluttershy, was hiding behind her mane, true, but something told her that she would have been doing it anyway. And yet, Gale had seen the girl sport claws and fangs, fighting savagely against other dark monsters with eyes glowing with blood red.

Her arrest, Applejack, on the other hoof, returned her best glare with a level look, standing with poise and strength that told Gale clearly who was the toughest bitch in the room. She didn't like one bit feeling like an ineffectual kitten raising its hackles, but the admittedly athletic-looking filly admittedly had broken her cuffs with a shrug, the jail door with a stomp, and several vamponies with a series of martial arts moves that made Gale's physical training look like flower arranging.

Applejack was clearly in the room as a courtesy, and they both knew it.

The presence of vamponies itself was more than a bit disconcerting. Sheriff Gale had examined far too many crime scenes in her career not to have suspected that there was more going on than what met the eye, but one didn't believe ghost stories and remain a serious copper. That would have been unprofessional.

Having to admit the existence of bedtime stories wasn't easy. That made her also angry.

And there didn't seem to be anypony else in the room sharing her apprehension about the vamponies. The little fillies seemed more worried about getting a talking-to from their sisters than about having witnessed a fight against nightmares just a few scant hours ago, Miss Apple, as mentioned, was at least as scary herself, Miss Rarity was completely fretting over her younger sister and the remaining individual was a vampony herself, for Sisters' sake!

Sheriff Gale took a deep breath and sighed loudly, rubbing her face.

"What," she said in a low growl, "the buck. Was all that?" Opening her eyes to glare at the confused ponies in her office, she continued. "Why were there vamponies in Ponyville? Why were there vamponies, period? Why is Miss Fluttershy a vampony?! How in the holy hay can a fifteen-year-old miscreant buck a hole in a brick wall through a vampony?!"

Sheriff Gale breathed heavily, having raised herself in a half standing position on her desk and scanned the room with furious eyes. Her voice had risen quite a bit as she vented her displeasure at complicated things at the fillies in the room, who looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I would appreciate it," she said with a calmer voice, dripping with sarcasm, "if somepony could explain a few things to me. Please. Miss Apple, perhaps?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Vamponies are real," she began with a bored teenager sing-song voice, "obviously. So's wereponies, demons, ghosts, warlocks, witches and all manner of other beasties. An' we, that's to say, the Apple family, hunt them down in all the dark places, so's that the rest of y'all can sleep easily and think that they don't."

When Gale looked at her impassively, she continued. "And we were blessed by Celestia herself after the Dark Sister fell into the Nightmare with the power to maintain that fight. That blessing flows in the family, making most of us stronger and faster and tougher than just about anypony else. That's why a fifteen-year-old heroic warrior," she said with a glare at Sheriff Gale, "can sweep the floor with a bad guy three times her size."

"Yeah, pull one of the other ones," Sheriff Gale said angrily. "You some kind of crazy cultist, girl?"

"Look," Applejack said, half angry, half exasperated, "that's what mah pa told me, what mah ma told me, and what mah granny still tells me. Ah ain't got no other story for you. And ah'd appreciate it," she added, leaning towards the sheriff and lowering her voice into a growl, "if ya didn't spit on mah parents' memory."

The mares stared at one another for a minute, before the sheriff backed away from the stand-off.

"Noted," she said, and sat back, taking another puff of her cigar. "So, the vamps know about you, then? That's why they were after you?"

Applejack frowned at that. "They shouldn't, normally," she said and bit her lip. "We don't tend to leave survivors when we hunt."

"Yeah," Sheriff Gale said with a strange tone of voice, and casually opened a folder on her desk. "I can see that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked heatedly.

"I have a file here," Sheriff Gale said, tapping at the folder, "about your indiscretions in Colton. A series of reported fights..."

"They were vamps!" Applejack shouted.

"Breaking and entering into the Mayor's mansion..." the sheriff continued.

"I thought the creep was a vamp!" Applejack shouted.

"And torching the said mansion," the sheriff finished.

"There was a nest of vamps in the cellar!" Applejack insisted with a stubborn aggression.

Sheriff Gale sighed. "And how am I to know?" she said with a sudden weariness.

Applejack was confused. "What do ya mean?"

"The dead vamponies just disappeared in a puff of mist," Sheriff Gale said, spreading her hooves. "No trace, no evidence. They were ponies before that. She's a vampony," she pointed out, nodding at Fluttershy, who 'eeped' and hid further behind her mane.

"Hey! You leave Fluttershy alone!" Rarity shouted.

"What's the legality here?" Sheriff Gale asked in a tired voice. "You're not operating under law. I have no idea if you're operating outside the law either. How did you get free after Colton?"

Applejack glared. "The Apples have influence," she grunted eventually.

"You see my point?" Sheriff Gale said and took a smoke from her cigar, blowing it out in a thin stream. "I have no idea how to deal with this. I've got evidence here," she said, shaking the folder, "that compels me to arrest you as a murder suspect. You just confessed having murdered a bunch of former citizens with no regrets."

"They. Were. Vamponies!" Applejack shouted.

"I saw," the sheriff said calmly. "You gonna kill her too?" she asked, pointing to Fluttershy.

"Hey!" Rarity shouted and hugged her friend protectively.

Applejack glanced at Fluttershy with uncertainty. "Ah have no idea, what yer deal is, sugarcube," she said. "Ah'm sorry, ah'll have to talk to Granny."

"That's all right," a very small voice from somewhere behind Rarity said.

"But ya can't just let vamponies - ah mean normal vamponies - live, doggonit!" Applejack said, turning back to the sheriff. "They're monsters! They kill ponies! Suck their blood and make more of their cursed kin!"

"I know," the sheriff said, still calmly, and paused, staring at the young filly heaving in indignation. "But that doesn't make my job any easier. I'm under oath," she said, tapping at her table for emphasis, "to uphold peace and order in this town. I'm not supposed to condone your kind of extra-legal activity!"

"Fine job ye've been doing," Applejack muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" the sheriff asked with an exaggerated ear-tilt.

"Ya heard me," Applejack said belligerently. "Mah brother said around three or four thousand ponies get slaughtered here every year."

The sheriff blinked a few times, before puffing her breath out. "That's preposterous," she breathed.

"Yeah?" Applejack asked archly. "How would'ya know? Ya didn't know vamponies existed before tonight! There's a lot of traffic through this town. A whole lot of it goes missing."

"Use your brains, girl!" the sheriff said derisively. "There's a grand total of six main streets in this little town! Where do you think a dozen murders nightly happens?"

"Numbers don't lie!" Applejack said stubbornly. "To mah brother, at least," she said after a second thought, before shaking her head. "Look, Mac said the travel registry shows about sixty thousand ponies arriving at Ponyville station every year. Most of it's temporary workers and stevedores, taking care of cargo going through this city, or handling auxiliary construction and all sorts of things like that. About six or seven hundred each year remain for a longer period. Still, when ya add annual births and remove the ponies moving out, ya got a stable population and outgoing traffic that's a few thousand short of the mark. Ye're missing ponies, Ms. Sheriff, Ma'am!"

The sheriff stared at the filly expressionlessly for a while. Then she shook her head slowly. "You're sure about this?" she asked quietly.

Applejack nodded. "As sure as we can be."

The sheriff continued staring. "Then why," she asked with a controlled tone, "the hell did you not report this sooner?!"

Applejack scoffed. "And what good would that have done?" she asked bitterly. "We checked the wards below the town. Somepony or something is keeping this town under wraps. Why do ya think the papers don't notice this happening? Besides, it ain't the Apple way to get defenseless ponies in the harm's way."

"What the hay is wrong with you ponies?!" Sheriff Gale shouted at the roof. "We! Are! Here! To protect you!" she said, stressing each word with a hoof-stomp while staring at Applejack. "You do not take the law into your own hooves! You do not keep mass disappearances secret! And you do not impede the legal officers in their duty!"

The sheriff breathed heavily and raised a hoof sharply. "Now," she said in a barely controlled tone, "I'm going to write a memo to the National Guard and the Scoltland Yard. They are going to swoop into this town in force, and dig up this little conspiracy. They will get to the bottom of the disappearances and arrest the ponies behind it. And then, they will expose your family, and end all this secret behind-the-law's-back cloak-and-dagger crap once and for all. Capiche?"

Applejack shook her head sadly. "Not going to happen, Sheriff," she said.

"Excuse me?" Gale said in an incredulous tone.

"Item one:" Applejack said calmly. "Ah don't know if that memo will even leave this town. Like ah said, something's been keeping the stuff going on here a secret for a long time now. Ah don't know how, ah don't know why, but that's the case. The Slayer assigned to this town was almost as oblivious to the happenings as ya were, and that's not supposed to happen.

"Item two: Like ah said, it ain't the Apple way to put other ponies into danger. Ya saw what they sent after me tonight. Ya think it was a coincidence ya were made to arrest me today? Somepony's pulling yer strings, sheriff. That means ah'm not gonna let ya make yerself into a target, which ya will be, if ya make any noises about this.

"And item three: Referring to the previous point, there's no way your memo's gonna be received any way. The Apples ain't gonna let a bunch of ignorant soldier colts get themselves killed against an enemy they have no idea how to fight. And we sure as hay ain't gonna let ya blow our cover. We can keep the ponies protected because the vamps don't know to expect us. If they knew about us, we'd be targeted, just like ah was tonight, and when we're gone, that's it for the world. We're the only line of defense against the Dark that waits to feed on ponies. We ain't gonna abandon that duty.

"So, don't think ye'll be able to pull that off, sheriff. Ye're out of yer league, and the only thing yer memo would accomplish is harm, anyway. Just back off."

"I don't believe you ponies," the sheriff breathed. "You're crazy. How can you think you're the ponies keeping us safe? The only ponies capable of that?"

"Because we've been doing this a long time, sheriff," Applejack said. "A long time. You remember yes history lessons about Lunar Rebellion a thousand years ago?"

"Well, yes," Sheriff Gale said, slightly thrown off. "A crazy cult of the Moon Sister challenged the throne and plunged Equestria into a civil war. We're still finding new ruins from the Old Empire. The rebellion's the reason we're not a theocracy any more."

Applejack shook her head. "Not quite, sheriff," she said. "We're not a theocracy any more because the Goddesses that sat on the throne were lost to us. Celestia died fighting against Luna, who had succumbed to a Dark Nightmare. The Sister of the night cursed her children and made them into the monsters you hear about in ghost stories, some of which we fought tonight.

"Those monsters fought against the ponies of the Empire with savage fury and paralyzing terror, decimating armies and cities before them. The tide of darkness was only stopped by Celestia's sacrifice that banished her sister.

"But the monsters cursed by possessed Luna remained, if weakened without their Goddess. To protect Equestria from them, before she died, Celestia called one of the warrior clans serving under her to receive her blessing. Those were the Apples, mah ancestors.

"We've been standing against the Dark for a thousand years, Sheriff. It ain't won yet. But without us, there's going to be another Lunar Rebellion. And that one Equestria won't climb out of."

The sheriff was silent. Applebloom looked proudly at her sister. Rarity stared at Applejack with an indecipherable look on her face, while Fluttershy cowered behind her. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle moved their awed gaze back and forth between the two Apple sisters, looking like they were witnessing the Second Coming of the Heavenly Sisters.

Finally, Sheriff Gale let out a puff of air. "You're completely insane," she said.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Look," she said, "ah know it's not the official history, or even the church history. Ah can't tell ya that that's how things really went. But the monsters are real. And mah family has the skill and the strength to fight them. Just let us do this our way. We'll protect you."

"Fine job you've been doing so far," Gale said challengingly.

"What?" Applejack asked in turn.

"Your words," Sheriff Gale said. "If your ancestral cabal really is supposed to keep us safe, what you said about the missing ponies applies to you as well. How did you let this happen?"

"Ah don't know," Applejack said, embarrassed. "The wards of this town were messed up. Ah guess that's got something to do with how everypony goes about not paying attention to the fact that this town is a deathtrap. Ah'm not a magic expert, though. That's more Granny's thing. And ah suppose Johnny Appleseed was affected by whatever the spell is, as well."

"Let me guess," the sheriff said. "Another mystical warrior?"

"The local Slayer," Applejack said annoyed. "And we're really interested about his disappearance by the way. Might have clues onto how things got this bad. Maybe he found something he shouldn't have. Anything you know would be appreciated."

"Yeah, now I'm going to share investigation details with suspects," the sheriff deadpanned.

"Well, if ya prefer, ah can steal them when yer off duty," Applejack said with an eye-roll. "Or ask Shining," she added after a thought.

"Yes. Shining," the sheriff said and sighed. "Everypony's going to be going behind my back now, aren't they?"

"Look, Sheriff," Applejack said, "ah'm sorry about ya getting mixed up in all this, but we don't need to be enemies here. Ya help us do our thing, and yer town gets a lot safer."

The sheriff stared at the filly for a long time, frowning furiously. "All right, then," she said eventually and butted her cigar. "But I want to know what your people are doing at all times. And I don't want you breaking any laws if you can help it. And I'm still going to ask you to make this public. If this is as big as you say, we're going to need the army."

"Well, ah can't help ya with the last one," Applejack said, relaxing slightly. "It's not mah call. Ya can talk to Granny though, and if she thinks it's a good idea, she'll talk to the Apple Council. Otherwise ah don't see a problem," she added with a grin. "It could be mighty useful to have the police helping us for a change."

"You bet," the sheriff said with a smirk. "For one thing, you're investigating this like crap."

"Sorry?" Applejack said, blinking.

"The ponies that're missing?" Sheriff Gale said. "Obviously not dead. Not here in Ponyville, at any rate. Like I said, no way there're ten or more murders happening every night in a town as small as this, no matter what kind of freaky magic is happening here. It would be simply impossible to keep that hidden. No," she said, shaking her head, "they're being moved elsewhere."

"How?" Applejack asked.

The sheriff huffed. "Any number of ways," she said dismissively. "Pack them into crates and ship them off in a train. Underground railroad. Maybe they simply walk through the woods, and meet with their contact elsewhere. That's not important. The important thing, and that will probably tell us how as well, is why?"

"Why?" Applejack repeated.

"Exactly," the sheriff said. "It's not clandestine emigration. Only smugglers do that, and there's no market for thousands of smugglers. So, a cult? That would be a bucking huge cult. A private army? So where are they ending up? Slave trade? I hear some Dog clans still practice that. Would they re-sell them abroad? Find out answers to these questions, and we get answers to a whole lot more," Gale said with a gleam in her eyes.

"And that's something I am going to write Scoltland Yard about. An operation this large has to have a trail somewhere, and whether or not it has anything to do with your mumbo jumbo, we can find out here. The Yard will dig up where the bits are moving and who exactly have been disappearing and connect the dots," the sheriff said, before pausing for a moment and frowning. "What are the wards, by the way?"

"Oh," Applejack said with a wave of her hoof, "whenever a settlement or any large construction is being built, the Apples will influence the planning so that certain magical protections are put in place. The celestial Sun in window-frames, a street pattern following a rune network that prevents major baddies from entering the town limits, stuff like that."

The sheriff blinked. "You're telling me the masonic conspiracy nuts are right?"

Applejack snickered. "Ah guess. That stuff works, actually. There's a reason why hiking in the wilderness is considered fool-hardy. The wards keep most of the dangerous stuff away from the ponies."

"The craziest things..." Gale said, shaking her head. "Look, are you serious?"

"Absolutely," Applejack said. "What's it gonna take for ya to understand ah'm being straight with ya?"

"I don't know," the sheriff said after a while. "Maybe something believable?"

"Look," Applejack said, frustrated, "ah get that ya ain't quite happy about hearing about things being real ya thought weren't. That's another reason we tend to keep these things to ourselves. Ponykind has managed to rebuild itself while we kept the bad guys at bay. Nopony wants to hear that there's a living horror waiting to rip their heart out a few blocks away from where they live and go to work and deal with their everyday problems.

"We've been doing this job for generations in secret so's that y'all are able to continue living. We go to the dark places to fight night terrors. We take care that the monster in the closet doesn't take yer foals away. We," Applejack said with a hint of bitterness in her voice, "sacrifice our chance for normal life so that ya can keep yers.

"And we're glad to let ya stay ignorant if ya like," she said, not sounding very glad, "but ya can't have it both ways, Sheriff. Ya want to be part of this fight? Then ya go all the way."

Gale maintained her gaze at Applejack for a moment before relenting. "Very well, then," she said eventually. "Why haven't the Apples already swooped in to deal with this problem, then? You say the wards are tampered with. Doesn't that mean Ponyville is now in danger of becoming a feast for the beasties?"

"We don't know how or to what purpose the wards have been meddled with," Applejack said, "or who or what is responsible. And we just got here a few weeks ago. We haven't had time to find out much.

"But when we do have a definite target," Applejack said with a steely glint, "ya can bet yer flank we're gonna get rid of it."

"And how are you going to find out what's been done with the wards?" the sheriff asked.

"Well," Applejack said, "we're mapping the tunnel network below the town to check on the existing wards and keeping an eye out for any additions. Rainbow's gonna do the same in air. Hope she didn't break herself too badly. Then Granny's going to study the thing and try to figure out what's what."

"Hey," Applebloom piped up, "maybe Chaplain Candlewax could help!"

"That's right!" Sweetie Belle said, "He knows about the catacombs below the church!"

"And about ghosts and stuff!" Scootaloo added excitedly.

"And the story he told us the night we...went to the cemetery...ghost hunting," Sweetie Belle said, realizing mid-sentence that wasn't something she should be reminding anypony about, and rushed to finish her point, "well, it was much the same thing you told, Miss Applejack!"

"Just Applejack, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Ah'm not that old."

"Not to mention," Rarity said haltingly, "that he tutors magic. He's quite knowledgeable, I believe. In fact, I bet Twilight would be a great asset as well, as she, apparently, is a magical vampony hunter," she added with a disbelieving shake of her head. "I mean, has everypony been hiding their secret coolness factor from me? Anyway, she and Diane are the scholastic prodigies of the school, and Twilight is the magician."

"Ah saw," Applejack said slowly. "Ah'm telling ya, that was fricking scary what she did tonight."

"And we'll help!" Scootaloo shouted. "We're paranormal investigators!"

"Absolutely not!" both Rarity and Applejack shouted, while Sheriff Gale raised an eyebrow.

"Y'all are in big enough trouble as it is!" Applejack said. "What on Equestria possessed y'all to go into the nightmare-infested woods of the damned?" she said with a stern glare at the three fillies cowering before her.

"We went to save Fluttershy," Scootaloo said with just a hint of defiance in her voice.

"Ah'm sorry, sis," Applebloom said chagrined. "We thought Miz Zecora was a witch." She paused for a second. "We thought she was an evil witch," she corrected, then frowned again and shook her head. "The point is, we thought she was holding Miz Fluttershy captive. When we saw her, we had to follow!"

"Technically, I didn't," Sweetie Belle piped up innocently. "You grabbed me on your way to the forest." When she saw Applejack's frown deepen, she corrected herself hastily. "Not that it wasn't fun! And nothing bad happened, even when we crashed the scooter at top speed in the woods!"

"Look," Rarity said, mixing both kindness and severity in her voice, "as grateful as I am for you three for finding Fluttershy," she said, nuzzling Fluttershy gently, "you put yourselves at terrible risk! I wouldn't dare to go into the woods voluntarily!"

"Nor I," Fluttershy said meekly, and blushed, when other ponies turned to look at her. "Your sister's right, Sweetie Belle. The Everfree is far too dangerous for three young fillies, and so are the...monsters we've been talking about."

Fluttershy paled and her pupils shrunk into pinpricks as she continued. "They're terrible," she said in a shrill voice. "Zecora taught me about them, and when they...I..." she choked on her voice and tears rolled on her face. Rarity hugged her immediately and stroked her mane while making soothing noises.

"Okay," Applejack said after a while, in a confused tone. "Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy, but ah got to ask: What exactly is yer deal?"

"Applejack!" Rarity chided. "Sensitivity!"

"I-it's all r-right," Fluttershy said quietly.

"Ah'm sorry," Applejack said and frowned slightly. "Ah don't want to make ya feel any worse. Ah just son't understand exactly, what's going on. Ah mean, one minute, ye're a vampony, the next...well, ah just want to know why ye're not trying to kill us, that's all."

"Oh, I couldn't!" Fluttershy said. "That would be terrible!"

"Yeah," Applejack said, and rubbed her head under her hat, "that's the part ah don't understand. Ah mean, Zecora said she kept your soul in yer body, or something like that. What does it mean?"

"Well," Fluttershy said gently, drawing circles in the floor with her hoof in shame, "Zecora told me when a pony becomes...like me...a piece of darkness, a demon, takes over their body. To make it permanent, the body must be dead so that the demon can take the soul's place."

"But ya ain't dead," Applejack said.

"Oh, no," Fluttershy said sadly. "I am very dead."

"Oh, Fluttershy," Rarity said.

"It's...all right," Fluttershy lied.

"So," Applejack said, "ye're a vampony, then?"

"I am," Fluttershy confirmed quietly.

"And the demon?" Applejack asked.

"In me," Fluttershy whispered.

"...And your soul?" Applejack asked.

"Still here," Fluttershy said, a bit more strongly. She fell silent for a minute, before raising her gaze. "I can feel the darkness inside me. It makes me...want. I desire so very, very much to...to feed," she said and sobbed. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, Fluttershy," Rarity repeated and hugged her friend again.

"...Well, that's just not right," Applejack said after a long moment. "Ah wish ah could help ya, sugarcube."

"I-I'll manage," Fluttershy said, wiping her tears. "Zecora has been helping me to meditate, and I...feed on volunteer animals. It's still terrible! ...But at least I won't hurt anypony," she finished meekly.

"...So, are ya gonna move back to Ponyville?" Applejack asked warily.

"Oh, I'd love to come back!" Fluttershy squeaked excitedly, but then her face fell. "But I can't. Not like...this. I'm a danger to everypony."

"Oh, pish posh!" Rarity said. "Of course you'll come back! You're my best friend and I'm not going to allow you to go back into that horrible forest full of unsavory things! We'll just...wear Suns and Moons around our necks! And...and garlic? Does garlic work? I'll smell like garlic for you, dear!"

Fluttershy giggled despite herself. "You don't have to eat garlic, Rarity," she said.

"Oh, thank the Sisters!" Rarity said relieved.

"We've missed you so much at the orphanage, too, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo burst out. "Without you, it's just Ms. Coriander and that weird lady! It's real sad without you," she said weakly. "We'd really like you come back. And it would be so cool to have a vampony watch over us! ...While we sleep...in the night...um, I guess we could...wear Suns and Moons as well?"

"If ya want," Applejack said slowly, "ya could come to live at the Sweet Apple Acres. We could keep an eye on ya."

"Oh," Fluttershy said, her eyes tearing up, but smiling this time, "I love you all! Thank you so much! And you too, um, Applejack," she said, blushing.

"No problem," Applejack said, feeling a bit apprehensive.

"All right," the sheriff said with a nod. "That just leaves us with one thing. You," she said, pointing at Applejack.

"Me?" Applejack said, backing off.

"I've still got the evidence pointing at your guilt," Sheriff Gale said, waving the folder on her desk. "I can't exactly ignore that."

"Of course you can," Rarity said suddenly. When all eyes turned to her, she corrected her mane a bit, and took a pose with one leg slightly raised, flashing a beautiful smile. "Oh, seriously, now," she said, gesturing theatrically, "surely you two can plot a bit?

"As was established earlier, it's an unlikely coincidence that evidence framing dear Applejack here as a murder suspect, padded by something already suppressed by a thousand-year-old secret order of holy warriors," she said, rounding her eyes, "would just happen to arrive at your desk the same night a vicious pack of horrifying monsters - oh, not you, of course, Fluttershy dear - intent on murder attack the jail.

"Obviously," Rarity said, "this is a conspiracy. By not complying as you should, they either do nothing or expose themselves. Win-win," she ended, with a smile.

"That's...possible," the sheriff said, begrudgingly.

"Wouldn't that make the sheriff a target?" Applejack asked

"After tonight, isn't she already?" Rarity asked. "This way we can draw them out, and strike first!"

"We?" Sheriff Gale and Applejack asked together.

"Oh, absolutely!" Rarity said. "I may not be a fighter like you, but I'm very much part of all this now! My best friend is a vampony, my latest dear friend Applejack is a warrior in an ancient order dedicated to fighting against these beasts, as well as...well, I'm not ashamed to admit your brother has made a bit of an impression on me, actually," Rarity added with a faint blush, "not to mention that my own sister has been repeatedly drawn into this mess," she said with a glance at Sweetie Belle, who grinned nervously, "so, it would be quite foolish of me not to help as much as I can!"

"And what did ya have in mind?" Applejack asked warily.

"I'll ask for an internship at the mayor's office!" Rarity declared satisfied. "Well, naturally," she added with an eye-roll after a while when nopony commented. "As the winner of several school popularity contests, Young Designer awards, a rather accomplished student, the president of the Ponyville High Student Union, the lead singer of the church choir, and with my connections, the only other ponies even remotely as well placed to ask for an internship there would be Twilight and Diane, and I dare say those two have their hooves full with...well, gore, probably.

"And somepony needs to check out the mayor's office. That is where that troublesome folder came from isn't it?" Rarity said with a raised brow, waving her hoof at the direction of the folder. "It needs to be found out, whether the conspiracy for dear Applejack's life originated there.

"Not to mention, that I was actually invited to take the post last spring," she added with fake modesty, and polished her hoof. "I was going to decline. I am rather more inclined to the arts than politics, but, a mare must do what a mare must do, must I not?"

Applejack the Vampony Slayer

by Immanuel

Prologue

First day at new school

Hidden things

Light reading and colt-catching

Detente

Pictures at an exhibition

Rapprochement

Ah'll be damned