> Final Corruption
>  by Epsilon-Delta
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1.  Moving to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful day in Canterlot but Twilight was stuck in a train watching the city slowly drift away forever into the horizon.  She felt like it should be raining.  The sunshine outside felt almost cruel.  But at least it was very near sunset now.

Twilight had a book next to her but read less than ten words in the past few hours.  She couldn’t focus on it.  Canterlot, still visible high on its mountain, and whatever passed her by as she left it were all she could concentrate on.  And each time she looked the city got smaller as she got closer to Ponyville and to that forest.

The train stopped again. Every time it stopped, she felt a small bit of worry that somepony would sit next to her and ask her what was going on. She was exhausted and didn’t want to go through it all yet again.

Mercifully, there was only one pony at this station, a yellow pegasus.  Meanwhile, the entire car Twilight was in was empty.  Not many ponies were going to Ponyville.

The pegasus walked into the same car Twilight was in and Twilight looked briefly over at her. Like she had some magic sense, the pegasus locked eyes with Twilight and smiled at the exact second Twilight glanced up.

Then Twilight felt like she’d just made a terrible mistake.  She took out her book as fast as she could and pretended to read it.

The pegasus came right up to the empty seat next to Twilight and stopped.  She stood there for a moment, quietly studying Twilight, then sat down next to her.

“Hello,”  her voice was soft but with way too much cheer for Twilight to handle.  “My name is Fluttershy.  What’s yours?”

Twilight dared to give her another weary look.  This Fluttershy had a good number of bags too, though she just left them all in the aisle.  She’d already unpacked maybe twenty stuffed animals and set them all around her.   The ponies got crazier as you neared Ponyville, Twilight heard.

“Twilight.”  Twilight buried her muzzle deeper into her book.

“Are you moving to Ponyville?”  Fluttershy asked.

“Huh?”

“You have a lot of luggage and it’s the only stop after this one,” said Fluttershy.  “Nowhere else to go after that.”

“Oh. Yeah.   I’m moving there.”  Twilight was a little embarrassed to admit it.  She looked back outside.

“I’d say it’s strange you’re moving there, but I’m doing the same thing.  Um.”  Fluttershy leaned forward and half-whispered, even though the entire car was empty. “You do know what’s been happening there, right?”

“Um.”  Twilight glared at a passing tree.  Did this pony think she was stupid? “Yeah?”

“Hm?  Oh, sorry.  I wasn’t talking about the forest itself.  I meant more recently.  Like the last few months?”  Fluttershy waited a moment, then took Twilight’s lack of response as a no. “Starting about six months ago there’s been a lot of ponies turning up dead or not turning up at all.  Even by Ponyville standards, that is.”

“What?”  Twilight turned back to Fluttershy.  This was not something Twilight needed right now. “Like- like how many?”

“Like a lot a lot.  It was really spooky.”  Fluttershy hugged one of her animals, a stuffed rabbit.  “But we know why it was happening now.  Have you ever heard of an animal called a dreadstalker?”

Unfortunately, Twilight had heard of those. She’d read about them in ‘World’s Most Dangerous Monsters’ and the Official Canterlot Monster Bestiary back in school.

They were the largest species of spider, save maybe something horrible that might live deeper in the Everfree Forest.  But amazingly, being five times bigger than a stallion wasn’t what made them intimidating.

Dreadstalkers were permanently invisible and were nearly impossible to detect even with magic. One could follow you around for hours or days, waiting for you to be alone before they moved in for the kill, which was how they got their name.  And on top of that they could shoot out hundreds of poisonous spines and the poison of the forest was so strong that if even one of them hit you, you were basically dead.

They were incredibly dangerous monsters, but-

“But those never come out of the forest, right?”  Twilight wanted to believe that this rash of deaths was just Ponyville ponies being stupid. “They can’t hurt you unless you actually go into the Everfree Forest.  Right?!”

“That was true.” Fluttershy petted her stuff rabbit carefully.  “This was the first time one got out of the forest without burning up.  It was bound to happen eventually, with the way things are going.  But that’s why it took us a while to realize what was going on.  Eventually, I took care of it.  I know I don’t look very intimidating, but I handle dangerous animals for a living. I’m the one who caught it so I know for a fact that's what happened.”

“Oh!  Well that’s good.” Twilight laughed and relaxed a little again.  “I guess you’re like a hero or something.  At least that’s over with.”

“Well.”  Fluttershy frowned and scratched her stuffed rabbit behind its ears thoughtfully.  “But the thing is a second one showed up right after that.  And I took care of the second one but now it looks like a third one is there.  Basically, they can just get into Ponyville now.  But only there since it’s, you know, surrounded.”

Oh great!

This was what Twilight got for taking the first place she could afford.  This was why the house she bought was so incredibly cheap, wasn’t it? Twilight was so certain that things were already at rock bottom, but now this?!  She was totally going to die!

“I’m moving there to help with the problem.”  Fluttershy took a little orange pamphlet out of her bag and handed it to Twilight.  “I have a pamphlet about it.”

Twilight looked the pamphlet over.  The title was ‘Dreadstalker Safety Guide’.  There was a big empty frame in the center where a picture should go but didn’t.  The caption of this read ‘Dreadstalker not pictured because they’re invisible’.

“The most important thing to remember,” Fluttershy said, “is that dreadstalkers will never attack a group and don’t come out during the day.  So try not to go out alone at night too much.”

Except Twilight was always alone.  Twilight was absolutely going to die here.  One of these things was going to get her.  She probably only had a week left to live!

“Also I have these bug lights I’m handing out.  It won’t keep you completely safe, but if you put it on your porch or-“  Fluttershy took out a little glass candle from her bag, but quickly put it aside when she saw Twilight’s expression.  “Oh, my.  I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you so much. It’s just important to raise awareness of this.  Awareness is key.  It even says that on the front of the pamphlet.”

Twilight looked back down at the pamphlet and it did say just that.

“The rate of ponies disappearing is already down over ninety percent since I started this awareness campaign and I’ll probably get it down a lot more,” said Fluttershy.  “If you just follow my pamphlet’s advice, the chances of you even seeing one are actually really low.  Or, I guess zero since, um-“

“Yeah, invisible.  I Get it.”  Twilight slumped her head against the window, her horn supporting her.

“Hm.”  Fluttershy, as Twilight could see in the window’s reflection, leaned over to one side, frowning a little.  “There are lots of other things I’m doing about this too.  I’m going into the Everfree Forest myself tomorrow. I want to see if anything strange is happening in there.”

Twilight’s ears twitched when she heard that.  Up till now, she thought Fluttershy was some kind of government agent, not a crazy maniac.

“You do know that’s incredibly illegal,” said Twilight.  “Even if you don’t die, which you will, you could go to jail for a long time.”

“It’s not illegal for me. I have an extra special license, see?” Fluttershy held out a little card, shaking it a little so Twilight would see it out of the corner of her eyes.

Twilight turned and saw something she’d never thought she’d see outside of a textbook.  It was an expedition license, one officially marked with a platinum seal from Princess Celestia herself.

“Wait.  Is this for real?”  Twilight took the card and looked it over.  Ponies like her used to be considered heroes.  “I thought they stopped sending ponies into the Everfree a long time ago.”

“They stopped giving these out, but there’s a few of us who still have one.”  Fluttershy tapped on a stuffed turtle next to her, like she was playing a little song.  “I think there should be four besides me?  Though you never really know who’s still left.  I mostly have to go out there alone these days.”

“But this is a platinum card.”  Twilight looked over the seal carefully, hoping she wasn’t misidentifying it.  “Isn’t that like, the highest one?  You must be incredible!”

“Well, maybe a little.” Fluttershy laughed.  “I can certainly deal with a few dreadstalkers, at least.  I used to run into them almost every day.  But I’m not really supposed to talk about inside the forest.”

“Do you know Sunset Shimmer?”  Twilight couldn’t resist asking.  “If you’re this high ranking you have to! What’s she like?”

“Well.”  Fluttershy closed her eyes and smiled wider.  “She’s really good at magic!  I bet you are too.  Your cutie mark looks like it’s for magic.”

“I-“  Twilight bowed her head; her brief distraction was over and it was back to misery.  “No, I’m not good at it.  I’m never going to be a mage or- or anything.”

“Magic is harder than it used to be,” Fluttershy reassured her.

“That’s now what I meant I-“  Twilight didn’t want to repeat all the terrible things that happened to her again. She was getting exhausted with it. Hopefully, this would be the last time for a while. “I got kicked out of the academy.  They’ve been cutting everything magic-related recently.  So they took away my scholarship and now I can’t even afford to live in Canterlot or anywhere but Ponyville.”

“Oh my.  No wonder you’re so upset.  Do you have family in Ponyville?”

This was it. The weight of the question was already heavy on Twilight's heart.

“No.”  Twilight looked back out the window.  “My family is- they all died recently.  I’m alone.”

Twilight tensed and trembled.  She didn’t want to think about this, she didn’t want Fluttershy to ask her what happened.  Everypony always asked her what happened.

Fluttershy sat there thoughtfully for a while, but in the end, didn’t ask for any details.

“I know what that’s like.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and put away her platinum card.  “Everything bad seems to happen all at once and it’s hard to think anything good can happen anymore.”

Twilight remembered then that she was talking to a pony who’d been deep inside the Everfree Forest several times, enough to get a platinum card.  Fluttershy must have seen incredibly messed up things, must have been surrounded by death. Twilight almost felt like she didn’t have the right to complain anymore.

Getting trumped made her just a little angry.

“But I learned I was wrong to think that,” said Fluttershy.  “Lots of wonderful things happened too.  I met most of my best friends after the times I felt like that. There are lots of ponies who would care about you, even if you haven’t met them yet.  You should focus on trying to make some friends when you get to Ponyville.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”  Twilight kept her eyes fixed outside, though she wasn’t looking at anything anymore. “You’re like this amazing adventurer and you can just walk up to ponies like this.  I can’t do that.  I never had any friends.  And I never will.”

“Well I wasn’t always an adventurer.  I used to be very shy, actually.  I had trouble making friends when I was your age,”  said Fluttershy.  “But if I can make friends, I’m sure you can too!  In fact, you can be friends with me if you want.”

“Hm?”  Twilight finally turned to look at Fluttershy again, the pegasus smiling wide with hope.  “Really?”

“Sure!”  Fluttershy smiled a moment longer, but then took on a more thoughtful expression.  “Though, I do have to go into the forest for a while.  But I’ll definitely come to visit you when I get back.  In maybe a few months.”

Fluttershy wasn’t coming back.  Twilight’s mind went straight to that.  She was going to die in that forest and deep down Twilight couldn’t believe anything else. Even if she did come back, would she still remember Twilight?  Probably not.

"Thanks,"  Twilight muttered anyway.

The train finally came to the end of the line, to Ponyville.  At least it was sunset now, which felt more appropriate.

“I have to go now, but there’s other nice ponies in this town too.  You just have to give them a chance.”  Fluttershy put a little stuffed cat next to Twilight before getting up.  “I’ll see you in a few months.  And I promise you’ll meet somepony nice very soon.”

Fluttershy waved one more time before taking her legion of stuffed animals and leaving the train.  Having more luggage, Twilight took a bit longer to gather all her things.

Twilight sighed at the stuffed cat Fluttershy left her.  She wasn’t sure what to make of that encounter.  Fluttershy seemed friendly if a bit weird.  So maybe the town wasn’t as bad as the rumors made it out to be.

But still, ‘make some friends’?  It wasn’t like it was that easy.

In the end, Twilight decided to put the stuffed cat in her bag.  With all her stuff finally gathered, Twilight got off the train and took her first step into Ponyville.

And the moment Twilight stepped off the train, a stranger jumped right in front of her and hissed in her face.

Twilight took a step back in shock and stared at this bizarre new pony.

It was a pink earth pony with a long mane brushed to one side, pink with black stripes dyed into it. And she was dressed up like a punk. She had a spiked choker, wore sunglasses and two small bracelets with blunt metal spikes on them.  Then there was her black leather jacket.

It had two rips on the back right where wings would go if she had them, as if a pegasus had torn them in as makeshift wing holes.  Her cutie mark was printed on both shoulders of the jacket.  On the back of the jacket was a much larger design, three blue diamonds. The one on her back was probably somepony’s cutie mark too, though not one Twilight recognized.

Her ears were pierced in four places each with little skull earrings inserted into each of them.  And she had eyebrows pierced too, which was something Twilight didn't even know you could do.  There was a small patch of fur missing on her left foreleg too, like it'd been burned off recently in a crazy fight.

She looked like one of those delinquents straight out of some PSA about social order.  Twilight didn't even know ponies actually dressed like this, thought it was an exaggeration.  But here she was, face to face with the villain of a PSA.  Even if this delinquent hadn't hissed in her face, Twilight would half expect her to try and pass Twilight some subversive literature.

“Did you just hiss at me?”  Twilight wasn’t ready to accept that this was her life now.

"Huh?"  The pink pony blinked, looking utterly shocked.  "No way!  Why would I hiss at you?  That's like something a total psychopath would do."

“Well, yeah it is.  But I’m pretty sure-“

Then the pony hissed at her again, even louder than before.  Twilight took a step back after that one.

So there were legitimately crazy ponies in this town. That was good to know. Twilight vowed never to talk to this pony again and backed away as far as she could while the earth pony laughed and laughed.

But at least she left Twilight alone after that, moving down the platform and peeking through the doors and windows like she was looking for a new target.

Twilight decided she needed to get out of here as fast as possible before any more of these delinquents showed up.  Moving slowly to avoid suspicion, she started making her way to one of the rental carts and began loading her luggage into it.

But then a second delinquent showed up, a pegasus with rainbow hair.  She was dressed like a punk too, with sunglasses, plenty of piercings including her nose and the exact same jacket with the same three blue diamonds on the back.  The only difference was her own cutie mark was on the shoulders and the wing slits made sense.

That could only mean one thing.  These were gang members!

“Yo, Pinkie!”  The pegasus called out to her fellow gang member. “What are you even doing out here? Everypony’s in the station.  We’re gonna be late.”

Twilight was very careful not to make eye contact with this one either.

“Not yet, Dashie!  I want to make sure I get all of them,”  said Pinkie.

The train doors closed, and the train started moving forward.  Pinkie ran after the train and hissed at it as it departed.

“I’ll give you this,” said Dashie.  “Anypony retarded enough to get off the bucking train now has it coming.  But baring that we got too many bucking things to do tonight and hissing at these filthy dorks ain’t on the list.”

Twilight stopped briefly when she heard that language.  That pony just said the D-word!  And the B-word!  Twilight looked, but there weren’t any police around.  In Canterlot, there were police everywhere.  In Canterlot, you would absolutely not get away with that! Ponyville was striking out fast.

“Ha!”  Pinkie jumped in front of Dashie, making a sort of play bow in front of her. “No one tells Pinkie what to do! Especially not you, Dashie!”

“Pfft!” Dashie laughed and grabbed Pinkie in a headlock.  “Hey, you can ignore me all you want, but the boss is saying this.  If you’re going against the boss, I have no problem dragging you there kicking and screaming.”

“Oh, I’ll do one of those things!”

Pinkie squirmed out of the headlock and pounced on Dashie.  Dash threw her off and got pushed in turn. Soon the two of them were fighting, shoving one another back and forth and laughing like mad. This was the weirdest fight Twilight had ever seen.

They were clearly insane!  Luckily, Twilight did have her things fully loaded and now she could go from slowly packing everything to running off as fast as she could.

But before she could get away, Dashie got thrown by Pinkie and rammed into Twilight’s cart, knocking some of her luggage off.

“H-hey!” Twilight jumped back.

“Sorry!” Pinkie yelled far too loudly like she was calling to somepony across a mountain or something instead of ten feet away.

Dashie decided that her friend’s apology was good enough.  She got up, brushed off her jacket, and started walking away.

“Wait!” Twilight blurted out in frustration. “You can’t just-“  

Then Dash turned back to look at Twilight, waiting for her to speak.  Twilight regretted speaking up immediately. That was a horrible mistake.

“What can’t I do, dork?”  Dashie asked.

“Um.” Twilight gulped. She wasn’t sure if she should answer that question was a good idea, but Dashie didn’t look like she was going to leave without an answer. “Fighting is, um, bad and stuff. You shouldn’t curse either cause that’s illegal and- And you're not supposed to go past the yellow line.  So, um, yeah. You shouldn't do that. But I- I’m not gonna stop you or anything.  I’ll just- uh”

They snickered for a second, then both of them broke out into laughter.  Twilight held her breath and blushed.  She had no idea what to do right now.

“Let’s not waste our time on this lame dork, Pinks.”  Dashie motioned for Pinkie to follow her and this time her friend (or whatever) actually started following her.

“Hey! You two leave that poor filly alone!” A voice with a southern accent called out exactly what Twilight had been thinking. She looked in its direction to see an orange earth pony wearing a hat. 

“Speaking of lame ponies,” Dashie muttered.  “Here comes Applejack.”

The earth pony marched right up to those two in a huff, stopping inches in front of Dashie and staring daggers at her. Dashie looked like she was about to get stuck listening to her aunt drone on about the old days, sighing miserably.

“You can’t just do this to whoever you want.”  Applejack came up close to Dash.

“I can if they’re lame,” said Dashie.

“And stop using that word.  The crippled have feelings too!”

“Not in their legs they don't!” Pinkie called back. She and Dash burst out into laughter at that.

Twilight couldn't believe what she had just heard! She'd heard ponies curse a few times before, sure, but here was someone who just got called out for it, and instead of apologizing she doubled down and said something even worse! And they were laughing on top of it!

In a more fitting reaction, Applejack stomped her hoof and gritted her teeth.

“I have had it up to here with the three of you!” Applejack shouted at them. “You think you can just do whatever you want? One these days you’re gonna go too far and you’ll regret it.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me where ‘too far’ is and I’ll go there right now,” said Dash.  “You don’t get to threaten me.”

And now she was coming back!  One of them stood on either side of Twilight and suddenly Twilight was feeling the opposite of helped.  Valiant as her attempt was, Applejack's heroism had backfired.

“If I want to mess with this pony, then I’m gonna mess with her.”  Dash rubbed her hoof against Twilight’s mane, messing it up.

She'd just touched Twilight! Twilight froze in utter disgust! This was an unacceptable amount of harassment!

“Why you-!” Applejack looked like she was about to do something and now Twilight was happy to have her around again.

But just then the door to the train station opened.

The door hardly made a noise, but it still got everyone's attention. They all got silent for a second, like a lion had just walked through the door. But really it was just a unicorn mare wearing the same getup as Pinkie and Dash came. The three blue diamonds were on the back of her jacket and the shoulder, Twilight just now realizing that all three of them had this unicorn’s cutie mark on their jackets.

The unicorn was beautiful. That wasn't something Twilight normally paid much attention to, but with her, it was something different. Even in a leather jacket and sunglasses she just oozed elegance and grace. Her fur was the purest white Twilight had ever seen and all her features were absolutely perfect. This, Twilight decided, was the most beautiful pony she'd ever seen.

“Uh oh! Rarity’s here!”  Pinkie pumped her hoof into the air.  “Time’s up!”

Rarity simply ignored Pinkie and kept walking towards the group of ponies, taking stock of each of them. She walked with the sort of attitude a princess walking among the masses would have.

“What's going on here?  You’re keeping us waiting.” Rarity stopped just inches away from Dashie. She casually looked to Dashie, then to Applejack, then back to Dashie, and lowered her sunglasses just a little. “Didn't I tell you not to talk to Applejack?”

“Hey. She came up to me.”  Dashie shrugged.

Rarity gently, tenderly put her hoof on Dashie's shoulder, then shoved her away with enough force to send Dashie staggering several steps away. Then Rarity turned to Applejack, Applejack freezing as soon as Rarity's eyes turned to her.

“And didn't I tell you not to bother us?” Rarity asked Applejack.

Applejack didn't say anything. She just clenched her jaw and glared at Rarity, like she wanted to shout but couldn’t. Rarity smiled at that and moved in closer to Applejack, putting the tip of her muzzle an inch from Applejack's, taking her sunglasses off for a moment.

“Oh. But maybe you did have something very important to say to me? Maybe you wanted to try fighting me again?” Rarity asked. “Did you want to try again?  I’m fine with it.”

Applejack said nothing, breathlessly staring Rarity in the eyes for what seemed like a long time. Eventually, Applejack blinked and glanced away.  This promoted Rarity to laugh and put her glasses back on, taking a step away.

“I say you be the bigger mare and just walk away.” Rarity flicked her hoof, shooing Applejack away.

Applejack made a noise of protest but lowered her head and trotted off out of sight, grumbling angrily to herself once she was a safe distance away.

“Heh.” Dash came trotting back to Rarity and slapped her on the back. “You got that dork tucking her tail between her legs as soon as you show up! Looks like that dingus knows what's up.”

“You're the best, Rarity!” Pinkie glomped onto Rarity, hugging her from behind.

“You don't need to tell me I'm the best, darling, we all know it. Even Applejack, apparently.” Rarity returned Pinkie's gesture with a one-foreleg hug and nuzzled her mane lovingly.

Pinkie just melted into the gesture of affection, nuzzling Rarity's chest in return. So there they were, out and out cuddling in public. That was not something you were supposed to do! Twilight once again found herself staring at them in disgust, mouth slightly agape. What was wrong with these ponies?

She wanted so badly to get out of here, but they were right in front of her and her luggage was piled on the ground behind her.  Twilight tried picking it all back up as fast as she could.

Rarity's ears twitched and she turned to Twilight. She gently picked the other two up with her magic and moved them aside before walking over to Twilight. Rarity looked Twilight over, staring at her horn and working her gaze down to her hooves. Then she started to walk around Twilight in a circle, looking over every inch of her.

Twilight blushed heavily. She felt paralyzed by sheer embarrassment.  She could almost feel Rarity studying her butt right now but couldn't even turn her head right now. Twilight just kept her tail down and stared forward with her face beat red and her eyes wide open.

“You're very pretty.”  Rarity said. “But you don’t seem to be taking good care of your, well anything.  You should really let me change your mane.”

Twilight's mouth opened, but she didn't manage to say anything.

“But seriously, who the buck is this?” Rarity turned back to the other two, letting her sunglasses slide down her muzzle just enough to reveal her eyes.

“No idea who this loser is, Rares,” Dash reported. “We were just minding our own business and she comes up and starts giving us bucking lectures.”

“Is that so?” Rarity turned back to Twilight with the same kind of smile she gave Applejack just moments ago. “I could hear a good lecture right now. What did you have to say to me?”

“Well, I didn't have anything to say to you.” Twilight felt her heart beating hard. “Just to those two, kind of. Sort of.”

“They're right over there, darling, they can hear you.”  Rarity got a little closer.

“It really wasn’t that important.”  Twilight took a step back.

“But how will I know that if you don’t tell me?”  Rarity took a step forward, staying in Twilight’s face.  She was smiling, but Twilight didn’t like that.  “I want you to say it.”

“Well,” Twilight said with some hesitation, she just wanted to bolt but there didn't seem to be any way out of this. “They were roughhousing in public and near the train tracks and, um, even went over the do-not-cross line. Oh, and they were cursing too. They said the l-word and the d-word. And then you hugged in public. That's all, you know, bad and illegal and stuff.  But I’ll leave now!  Sorry.”

Rarity giggled a little. Twilight felt like a total moron right now.

“The 'd-word'? Oh my.” Rarity grinned and looked back at Dash and Pinkie. “Now what did my Dashie have to say about the d-word?”

“Oh,” said Pinkie, “Dashie just couldn't stop talking about how much she adored-”

“She means 'dork'.” Dash jabbed Pinkie's barrel hard enough to silence her. “People were being dorks, so I called them dorks.”

“Wait, is there another d-word?” Twilight asked.

That got a laugh out of the three of them. Twilight blushed heavily and lowered her head, remembering too late the word ‘dweeb’ also existed.  Rarity turned back to Twilight, the smile on her face was suddenly less threatening.

“Cute! I think I like you,” said Rarity. “Tell me your name.”

“Twilight Sparkle?”

“Well, Twilight,” said Rarity, “I don't think there's anything wrong with saying any word, regardless of what letter it starts with.”

“But it is wrong.  Cursing is wrong.  Obviously, I can’t stop you, but it is wrong.”

“Why?”

“It’s against the rules.”

“Why?”

“W-why?!”

“Yes.” Rarity just smiled through the absurdity.  “Why would somepony make a rule that stupid?  I say we should just ignore any rules that… lame.”

It took Twilight’s brain a moment to even register that.  Who would ever have the guts to ask a question like that?!  They wouldn’t make a rule against something unless it was bad.

“Okay.”  Twilight felt a sudden urge to indulge this.  “The rule isn’t stupid.  It makes sense.  You can get fined for all that stuff you were doing and, well it’s just rude.  It creates social disorder hurts people’s feelings.”

“And did hearing the d-word hurt your feelings?”  Rarity looked left and right.  “Do you feel morally corrupt now?”

“I-“ Twilight looked around too, noting nopony else was there at all.  She knew where Rarity was going with this.  It hadn’t hurt Twilight or anypony.  Not that she was going to admit that.  “Um.  Yes.”

Rarity giggled and the other two laughed, but Rarity quickly silenced them with a wave of her hoof.

“Then I apologize.”  Rarity made a slight bow of her head.  “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”

Rarity touched Twilight's cheek with her hoof. It felt nice. Twilight's withers relaxed for the first time since she came off the train. But then Rarity turned and walked away, the other two following her inside the train station.

And then she came back to her senses and shook her head hard. A stranger had just touched her! That was harassment! But Rarity was already gone, and this probably wasn't bad enough to go to the police or anything. There didn’t seem to be any responsible adults to complain to at all.

Twilight had to get home before the sun went down, she wasted too much time with this already.  She vowed to never talk to anypony wearing those blue diamonds again as she got her stuff back into the cart and hooked herself onto it.

But before she got far, Twilight heard a pony calling out to her.  She glanced behind to see that other pony from before. Applejack, she believed.

“Hey.” Applejack called out to Twilight. “They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

“No.” Twilight kept walking.  “They were just really rude for some reason.  What was their problem?  I’ve never met ponies that brash.”

“Sad to say we got a lot of delinquents in this town nowadays, those three being the worst in my opinion.” Applejack started walking alongside Twilight.  “Their gang is called the Blue Diamonds.  They’ve been hit with more fines and tickets for their shenanigans than I can count, even got thrown in jail a few times, but nothing ever sticks to 'em."

“Really?” Twilight asked.  “What’d they do to get in jail?”

“Rarity was handing out banned books.”  Applejack shook her head sadly.  “Course she got out the very next day.  I swear, it’s like there’s no way to- well you want to stay far away from them.”

Banned books?  So those three really were PSA villains.

“Yeah, I figured that out on my own,” said Twilight.  “I like to think I’m smart enough not to get involved with some gang.”

“How long are you staying here anyway?”  Applejack looked back at Twilight’s cart.  “That’s a lot of luggage.”

“There’s more, already down at the place.  I’m moving in.”

“Really now?” Applejack brightened up at that.  “That’s swell!  Feels like ponies are always moving out of here.  Always nice to see somepony moving in.  My name’s Applejack.  What part of town are you in?”

“Oh, my name is Twilight. It’s at, uh, 12 Saddle Way.” Twilight took out her little map of Ponyville and tried to find it.  “That’s, uh, over…” 

It was close to sundown and Twilight was starting to worry about getting lost on the way.

“Ah hey, even better. That’s where Golden Harvest used to live.  It’s right next to my place, you can follow me thataway.  Used to go over there all the time.  Course, it’s been empty for a long time.  Lot of places are.” Applejack frowned at one of the houses they passed, empty with a for sale sign on the lawn.  

Now that she mentioned it, Twilight was starting to notice a lot of them.  It seemed the lawn of every other house was overgrown from neglect. She expected the town to be empty compared to Canterlot, the largest city in the world, but this was a little too empty.

Worryingly, there was a distinct lack of police in this town.  In Canterlot there were police and guards everywhere.  You couldn’t go for a ten-minute walk without seeing any sort of enforcer.  Usually going out at sunset or night meant getting asked where you were going.  But here there was nothing so far.  It was like they’d given up on this town.

“What made you decide to move here?”  Applejack asked.

“It’s the only place where I can afford to live at this point,”  Twilight wanted to leave it at that. “I found an entire house for like thirty thousand bits.  In Canterlot I’d be lucky to find a cardboard box that cheap.”

“Yeah.”  Applejack bowed her head down, the answer dampening her enthusiasm a little.  “Suppose that’s the main thing.  The cheap housing tends to bring in a lot of ponies who are, uh-“

Applejack stopped herself before making an accidental insult.

“But I can tell you’re one of the good ones!” Applejack was quick to go back to smiling.  “It’ll be nice having a neighbor again.  But just be careful, you know?  There’s a reason this place is so cheap.  The place you’re moving into is real close to the Everfree Forest.”

“I-it is?”  Twilight lowered her ears.  “How close?”

“Pretty close.” Applejack raised an eyebrow.  “Did you not look at the place before you took it?”

“Well-“  Twilight looked away, suddenly embarrassed.  “I had to move on short notice.”

“I see.”  Applejack got a bit more somber, trotted along in silence.  “You uh, know about the dreadstalkers, right?”

“Yeah.  Guess it’s good you’re walking back with me. Thanks.”

Twilight looked up at the sky.  She wasn’t going to make it there by dark.

“You know.”  Applejack put on a smile.  “My family’s been dealing with the forest for generations now.  Most ponies just move away when the forest starts overrunning their land, but my family stayed and fought.  That’s a big part of why all the neighboring towns are gone but Ponyville is still here. I’ve lived right next to the forest my whole life.  I know a thing or two about dealing with it.”

That did help a little. This pony lived next to the Everfree and she wasn’t dead.  Yet.

Applejack seemed nice. So maybe it was the case every other pony in this town was okay.  That was two out of five so far?

“So is it not that dangerous?”  Twilight didn’t let her hopes get up too high.  “Cause I heard it was really dangerous.”

“You gotta know what you’re doing,” said Applejack.  “But it’s fine for the most part.  Most folks outta town think you get attacked by a monster every day, but that ain’t the case at all.  For the most part, you only run into jackalopes and yetis and they ain't so bad.  They ain't too aggressive towards me, anyways.  Think it's just the matter of not being too scared of them.  And hey- don’t forget I live next door to you.  You can always come get me if something does happen.  And I can teach you what you need to know.”

“Thanks.”  Twilight smiled.  “That does make me feel a little better.”

Her story did explain why Ponyville had the Everfree Forest bordering it on three sides.

“I’m surprised this town was able to hold it back at all,” said Twilight.  “Can you just hold it off forever?”

“I ain’t gonna lie, things are different from when I was a kid, let alone from when my grandma was. Forest is on every side of the town now and we never used to have stuff like dreadstalkers coming out.  Among other things.”  Applejack glared back in the direction of the train station but lifted her resolve again.  “But I ain’t leaving!  Not ever. And as long as I’m here, you can depend on me.”

“Heh.”  Twilight smiled.  “You sound a lot like Sunset Shimmer.”

“Ah, hay.”  Applejack blushed a little.  “I appreciate that.  She’s a real inspiration to me.  Sometimes it gets a little hard, but it’s nice knowing somepony up at the top is so committed.”

“She’s amazing!  She signed one of her books for me once.  Did you know that she can actually teleport for real, like no ley lines or anything?”

“That much is a little over my head.  Don’t know that much about magic.”

“Well it’s been a long time since anypony could do that,” Twilight promised her.  “It’s very impressive.”

“Sounds about right, then! If anypony can do something about all this, it’s her.”

Being neighbors with another Sunset fan didn’t sound so bad at all.

Her new house was in sight now.

What must have been Applejack’s farm was just to the south with a house not too deep into it. Twilight could probably run all the way there if she needed to.  Applejack had, among other things, a large orchard, but the trees in it didn’t look so healthy, some of them leafless despite it being almost summer.  One or two of them looked like they were half-melted wax sculptures of trees instead.  It probably wasn’t easy farming near the forest. 

They got just a little closer and Twilight saw, for the first time, the Everfree Forest.

The last, tiny gasp of the day was peeking up from behind the forest.  The trees, even covered in their grey and blue leaves looked like rows of grasping claws in the dark waiting to tear Twilight to bits.  And behind that first wall of trees was nothing but black.

The Everfree Forest bordered Ponyville on the west, south, and east.  Twilight could see the western border, just past her own house and the southern border just past what she assumed was Applejack’s farm.  Twilight was practically surrounded by it.

There was a good, long stretch between her house and the forest to the west.  What was once likely a farm was now an overgrown field of blighted grass and weeds.  Already, Twilight’s mind was creating images of creatures coming out of the forest and running across the field.

“And I don’t just mean with the forest either,”  Applejack added.  “Some of the ponies in this place aren’t safe either.  If Rarity or whoever starts giving you trouble just let me know.”

“Thanks,” said Twilight, though to be perfectly honest she didn’t know how much confidence she had right now that Applejack could protect her from Rarity or a monster.

Applejack waved goodbye and went back to her own house for the night, leaving Twilight to go into her new house alone.  At least it wasn’t completely empty. Boxes were already unloaded on the inside. But it wasn’t enough for her to shake a feeling of dread.

She knew Applejack probably meant to reassure her with all that, but Twilight was already back to being terrified.  Maybe tomorrow they could be friends or something, but tonight was not going to be fun. Maybe she should have asked Applejack if she could spend the first night at her house.

Twilight tried to reassure herself that her nerves would get better over time, lots of ponies lived here and they were all used to it.  Things had to get better.

Though… they more often seemed to get worse.

Her new house was huge if nothing else.  The living room alone was bigger than the studio apartment she grew up in back in Canterlot and that was with her entire family.  Twilight had her own bedroom now!  And she didn't even have to become rich to get it.

Twilight went up to her new bedroom.  It didn't feel like much of a victory.  Twilight looked out the window to the north.  Canterlot shined so brightly that even now she could see its bright glow on the horizon.  It was so distant, but even that much gave Twilight some comfort.

The first thing Twilight unpacked was the radio and she turned it all the way up.  She only got two stations and quickly chose the one that played music.  She never wanted to hear the news ever again.

Twilight stayed up a while after dark, longer than she’d normally stayed up.  Sleep was intimidating.  She’d wait till she was too tired to not sleep.

She got a lot done, pushed most of the furniture into the right spot, unpacked all the essentials.

She put up her poster of Sunset Shimmer, her rare, signed one, up in her bedroom.  This was one of the things she’d hoped to never have to sell.  Then a few pictures of Celestia went up next. And then she came across a box that’d been sealed since before she moved.

The box contained her picture album, as well as all the pictures of her family.  Twilight hadn’t looked at any of them since the incident.

Twilight considered whether to open it for a long time.  Hanging up those photos was probably the right thing to do.  But she didn’t want to.  She wasn’t ready to look at them again, let alone have them up all over the place.

“Alright, Ponyville,” came the radio, “we’ve reached the end of our broadcasting hours, but we have one last song for you.”

Last song?  Twilight rushed over to the radio.

“As always, we’re closing out with an ode to Celestia.  But don’t worry, we’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?!” Twilight grabbed the radio.  “The stations in Canterlot run all night.”

But the radio didn’t hear her.

And a little while later, it turned to static.  Twilight spent way too long desperately going through every station, but static was all she was getting.  Already the fear the radio was covering up was bubbling back!

She needed to think of some other way to distract herself!

Twilight heard a noise at the window and jumped back in fright.  It was a harsh bang like a bird or something had just slammed against it. Her mind jumped through every possible monster being out there until settling on the very worst-case scenario.

It was a dreadstalker!

She stayed very still, holding her breath, trying to assure herself that it was just nothing. Nothing at all! Twilight was having a simple hallucination.

Then it came again.

There was absolutely, definitely something out there!  She had to look, but-

Twilight scrambled to find something to use as a weapon just in case.  She grabbed a broom first, but then quickly noticed that there was a knife nearby.  That was a better weapon.

Something pounded on the window a third time.

Twilight held her breath, clutched the knife with her magic, and slowly opened the curtain to peek outside.
> Chapter 2.  Seeing the monster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing.

But that wasn’t something to be relieved about.  Dreadstalkers were invisible.  One could be standing on the window itself and Twilight would never know.

So what the heck was she supposed to do?!

Twilight needed to get that pamphlet!  Reading was the only solution!

She took one step back, intending to go for it slowly, but jumped when the sound came a third time.  But this time, Twilight saw what it was.  A rock hit the side of the window.  And she was pretty sure dreadstalkers didn’t throw rocks.

Twilight moved back to the window and opened it with much more confidence.

She was relieved, at first, to see two ponies standing down there.  She recognized them, but that wasn’t a good thing.  They were two of the delinquent ponies from the train station, Dashie, and Pinkie if she remembered.

Twilight saw the pegasus pulling back to throw another stone at her window and the mystery was solved.  She grumbled and opened the window to yell at them.

“That’s not funny!”  Twilight yelled down at them.  “You really scared me!”

“Oops.” Dashie dropped the rock.  “Sorry about that.”

“Twilight!” Pinkie shouted and waved at her. “Come out and play with us!”

“Play with you?”  Twilight called back down.  “It’s nine o’clock.  Why are you even awake?”

“The boss told us to come get you!”  Dash yelled up.  “We’re having a party, see?  She wants you there for some reason.”

Twilight grumbled.  Her voice was already getting tired from this.

“Look!” Twilight shouted. “Why are you all the way out there anyway?  Just come to the door like a normal pony!”

"Ah, buck!"  Pinkie turned to Dash.  "She thinks we're normal ponies.  We gotta try harder, Dashie!"

Pinkie whispered something else in Dash's ear.  Dash laughed and shoved her aside.

“No.  You come out here!” Dash shouted. “We ain't budging.”

The nerve these two had!  Twilight grumbled to herself as she trotted out of her room and over to the front door. They weren't in front of the door, either, but several yards away.  Pinkie playfully beckoned to Twilight to come out further. Twilight rolled her eyes and trotted out there.

“You’re Dashie, right?”  Twilight wanted to make sure.

“Yeah."  Dashie rolled her eyes.  “You’re like a million coolness points short of me letting you get away with that.  My name’s Rainbow Dash.  Thanks.”

Now that she was up close, she noticed that the two of them were still wearing those sunglasses.

“Why are you wearing those at night?”

“Cause we're that awesome,” Dash said but took them off to look Twilight in the eyes. Dash looked different in the moonlight.  Somehow, despite there being less light, the colors of her mane and eyes were more vibrant, almost glowed.  “I got good news for you, Sparkle.  Our leader decided she likes you, so we're gonna take you out partying.”

“A party?” Twilight asked. “Like now?  But it's nine.  That's too late for a party!”

The two of them laughed.

“It's never too late for a party,” said Pinkie Pie, lowering her sunglasses. “In fact, my parties only take place at night and my parties are the best parties!”

“I dunno.” Twilight eyed them suspiciously.  “My parents warned me about stranger danger.”

“Look, you want to hang out with us, or do you want to be alone like a dork?” Dash asked. “You’re new in town, right?  Don’t you wanna meet some ponies?  It’s not gonna be just us there.  Frankly, I’d rather you only talk to other filthy daywalkers.”

“Well.” Twilight looked back towards her dark house and the darker forest behind it.  She really, really didn’t want to be alone.  But was it better to be with these two?

“It’s gonna be better than any party you’ve ever been to!”  Pinkie declared.  “Come on! You’re never going to meet anypony or have any fun if you just stay in the lame zone your whole life.”

Twilight scrapped her hoof across the ground. Friends, anypony, would be nice.  Would somepony else ever even invite her to a party again?

And yet going out with strangers?  Who cursed?  At night?!  The fact that she was tempted must have been that peer pressure thing she had read about. Twilight needed to resist temptation and do the thing a good filly would do- stay home and study!

But then there was nothing to study now that she was kicked out of the academy and it was really dark in there and-

“If you don't want to it's your choice.” Dash shrugged and started walking away. “Rares said to ask, not to convince you.  Come on Pinks.”

Pinkie made a disappointed sound but followed Dash as she began to trot away, glancing back at Twilight sadly as she began to leave.

The reality of being alone hit Twilight hard as she watched them walking away.  There was too much night left, she couldn’t handle that.

“Wait!” Twilight ran after them. The two stopped and looked back at her.  Twilight bit her lip. “I-I’ll go.”

With her head lowered and knees shaking, Twilight trotted in between the two mares.

“Hurray!” In excitement, Pinkie gave a victory leap into the air. “See, Dashie? I knew Twitwi would be our friend!”

“Twitwi?” Twilight asked under her breath. She'd read about nicknames like this.  “I don’t think we’re friends, exactly.”

“Yeah, I agree,” said Dash. She put her glasses on and began trotting forward.  Soon the three of them were all heading to town together. “Rarity said to give you a chance and that’s all you get. So, try not to be a bucking loser, Sparkles.”

There was that language again. Twilight frowned at Dash.

“Why do you have to curse so much?” Twilight asked. “There’s no logical reason to ever use that kind of language, especially the b-word.”

“You mean buck?” Dash asked.

“Yes,” said Twilight. “You can't say that.”

“Buck.” Pinkie turned to Twilight and said it with a perfectly innocent smile. “Buck buck buck buck buck buck.  Buck. Pony feathers, plot, horseapples, heck, crap, clop, mud pony, bonehead, airhead, peeved, lame, dork, dweeb, retard, dong… uh, am I missing any?  Dingus?”

Twilight just stared back at Pinkie, mouth agape.  There was literally nothing you could say in response to that much obscenity.

“There.”  Dash opened her foreleg wide. “Is Celestia flying down from the sky to smite us?”

Twilight did briefly look up to their bemusement.

“Hey!” Twilight covered up her embarrassment with anger.  “You know, in Canterlot you’d get in big trouble for cursing like this.  A guard might even beat you up or something!"

“We ain’t in bucking Canterlot.”  Dash rolled her eyes.  “So crap, dork and buck.”

Twilight looked around, but there was literally nopony around, nopony out at night not even the guards.  She wondered if there even were guards in this town at this point.

“And do you not care if you hurt some pony’s feelings?”  Twilight asked.

“Why do bad words hurt every pony’s feelings?”  Dash asked.

Twilight felt like she’d just walked into a brick wall.  That was like no question Twilight had ever had to deal with.  She had to stop walking for a brief moment to take in the absurdity of the question.  Was she trying to be philosophical?  Or was she just crazy?

“Well?”

“Because-“ Twilight tried to quickly think of something “they’re supposed to.  That’s what they’re for.  Mean ponies created curse words to uh-”

“And they just tricked everypony into being offended by them?”  Dash laughed at the idea.

“Hey I don’t know the origin of- of-“

“Look, the real problem here is with society.”  Dash got ahead of Twilight a little and turned to face her. “Why does the word 'buck' hurt their feelings? Cause they're a bunch of bucking morons who give them the power to hurt them. If nopony gave a buck like us then there would be no 'bad' words to hurt their feelings.  See?  We’d all be better off constantly swearing.  You should do it too, dork.”

That was a lot more philosophical than Twilight would ever have expected from some punk. Twilight's brain scrambled to think of a response but she wasn’t used to debating such weird ideas. She wasn't used to debating period. Back in her school the teacher just told you the right answer and that was it.

What Dash said did make some sense and Twilight couldn't think of why it was wrong. She just sort of felt like it should be wrong.  It had to be wrong to think like that!  But how to articulate it was another matter.

“I-I dunno,” Twilight trotted ahead of them a little. “I never really considered that! I'd need to think about it.”

“Hahaha!” Dash laughed wildly and gave Twilight’s withers a soft slap.  “Well, that's more than most ponies do.  Maybe you’re not completely terrible.”

“Come on, Twitwi,” Pinkie chimed in. “Try saying 'buck'!  Just say it one time and the curse will be broken forever!  It can never hurt you again.  I know you're not completely terrible.”

“No,” Twilight said as firmly as she could.  “I am completely terrible and I’m never cursing ever!”

“Sure.” Dash rolled her eyes.

“Well you know, Twitwi,”  Pinkie got close spoke in a near whisper, like she was telling a scary story.  “There is one curse word that’s so bad even I’d never say it.”

“Huh?” Twilight felt like she was hearing a scary story.  “What- what word is that?  What could possibly be that bad?”

“Do you think I should tell her Dashie?”  Pinkie asked. “About the other L-word?”

Another L-word?!  Twilight’s mind scrambled to think of what it could be.  She couldn’t even think of another L-word, let alone one worse than ‘lame’.

“Ah, I know the one you’re thinking.”  Dash gave a sly smile.  “No way! Too dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Twilight asked.

“It’s so bad that if you say it, Celestia teleports behind you and blows your brains out!”  Pinkie jumped into the air as she said that last part.  “Sploosh!  All over the sidewalk!  Instant death!”

“Whu-?” Twilight was mesmerized by the mental image for a moment before coming to her senses.  “Wait!  This is one of those pranks, isn’t it!  I’ve read about those!  I’m not falling for it.”

Then the two of them started laughing like she had fallen for it.

“Nah, I swear! There is a super L-word!”  Dash wiped away a tear.

And then they started laughing even louder while Twilight blushed profusely.

They walked in silence after that, giving Twilight some time to think.  Twilight was only just now starting to realize how much darker it was here than back in Canterlot.

Back in Canterlot, you could only see maybe five stars in an otherwise empty sky.  But here, in the darkness, Twilight could see hundreds, if not thousands, of stars.  This was the first time she'd seen the night sky for real, rather than just in a planetarium.

It really was an amazing sight!  That planetarium didn't do it justice.  And to think they'd been hidden behind the light this whole time.

They started leading her back towards the forest, close enough for Twilight to start getting worried.  She was relieved but also surprised when she saw the house they were taking her to. It was the only house anywhere nearby that still had its lights on.

It was much bigger than she was expecting.  Where the cutoff for a mansion was, Twilight wasn’t sure, but this thing was close to that line.  It was bigger than every house Twilight had ever lived in combined.

Maybe it was somepony else’s party they were taking her to, Twilight decided.

The front door opened up to a huge room, large enough to fit a small house inside. There were long tables near the center of the room, filled with food.  All of the windows had abnormally thick curtains, black and purple, pulled off to either side.  Maybe twenty or so ponies dotted the room doing whatever it was you did at parties. Twilight still didn’t know. She’d never been to a party unless you counted family ones.

It was pretty dimly light in this place, a bit brighter than what you’d expect from candles but far dimmer than any electric light.  Twilight had no idea how normal this was for parties.

The music was more upbeat and louder than anything Twilight had ever heard.  She wasn’t sure if she liked it, but it didn’t sound bad enough to be that rock music she’d heard about.

“Twilight!” Rarity’s voice greeted Twilight immediately, though it sounded like she was above her.

On the other side of the room was a wide staircase that lead up to a large plateau before splitting off into two more staircases leading left and right.  The part where the stairs split was large enough for there to be space for a couch with room left over for a few more ponies to be standing around it.  It was on that couch that Rarity sat with an air that’d make you think it was a throne, a mare sitting on either side of her.

“Come over here!”  Rarity stood up on the couch and beckoned to Twilight.  “I want to talk to you!”

Still wary of all this, Twilight looked over at the other two first.

“Hey, I brought you here.”  Dash shrugged trotted off.

Pinkie hissed at Twilight one more time before bolting off as well.

Now Rarity felt like her only choice.

She went up the stairs and walked up to the couch at the top.  There was a whole group of ponies looking at Twilight now and suddenly it was like Twilight traded one fear for another.

“I’m a little impressed.”  Rarity held her forelegs open towards Twilight.  “I didn’t think you’d come here this easily.”

Rarity shooed the two mares that were sitting next to her away without much nudging and then there was plenty of room for Twilight, nopony was staring now.  Even still, Twilight was reluctant to sit down.

“Hey.” Twilight turned to look back down at the large main room, taking stock of the hugeness of the house.  “Whose house is this?”

“Do you think I invited you to somepony else’s house?”  Rarity laughed and leaned back against the back of her couch.  “This is my house.”

“You seriously live in a mansion?!”  Twilight stared at Rarity, still wearing her leather jacket and sunglasses, unable to believe it.  “But- there’s no way you’re this rich!”

“It’s not nearly as impressive as you think.”  Rarity pointed up to a huge window that hung just above the couch. “If you look out that window there, you’ll see the forest creeping right behind us.  In just a few years, this house will be inside the forest. The old owner was happy to get anything for it.  I practically got this place for free.”

Twilight stepped onto the couch to try and take a look outside through the large window, but the house was too light and the forest too dark for her to see anything. 

“But aren’t you scared?”  Twilight sat down next to Rarity.  “What if something happens?  If you can afford this place, you could absolutely afford to live in Canterlot instead.”

“I like monsters,” said Rarity.  “I like darkness.  I like degenerates and I like danger.  Money goes a lot further too.  Why would I want to stay locked in some closet under Celestia’s nose when I can come down here and drown myself in luxury?”

“It’s a lot safer under Celestia’s nose,” said Twilight.

“Ah?  And were you safe there?”  Rarity asked.  “It certainly looks like something chased you down here.”

Twilight couldn’t exactly disagree.  She thought she was safe, always felt safe, but there was only one of the two places Twilight could actually survive in.

“My apologies.” Rarity put her hoof on the back of Twilight’s head and rubbed gently.  “I didn’t bring you here to make you feel bad.”

Twilight kept very still.  Another pony was basically petting her in public right now!  She looked over to the other ponies nearby.  They didn’t look comfortable with it either but didn’t want to say anything to Rarity.

And that was how Twilight felt too.  She knew it was wrong, but she didn’t exactly want Rarity to stop.

“I really would like to give you a new mane style.”  Rarity started pushing Twilight’s mane around, studying it.  “I think something spikier would look nice.”

“Spikey? Like a pegasus?”  Twilight scrunched her nose.  “That’s- no.  That’s gross!”

“Twilight, I know better than anypony here what looks good.  You know.”  Rarity whispered softly in Twilight’s ears.  “If you were willing to do what I told you, and you asked me very politely, why I could make any of these little ponies fall in love with you, become completely obsessed.  Just point to one you like and they’re yours.  Whatever you want that to mean.”

At least at that moment, sitting above them all, Twilight felt like Rarity really could do it. She looked over the small crowd but wasn’t willing to just pick somepony out and say ‘give me him’ if that was what Rarity expected.

“Um-“  Twilight turned back to Rarity.

Rarity had let her glasses slide down her muzzle a little bit, enough for Twilight to see her eyes.   Her eyes were gorgeous.  They were such a beautiful blue, almost shined in the darkness. Twilight read about getting lost in some pony’s eyes, but she never understood that feeling until just now. She stared into them, not really sure what she was feeling.

“Oh?” Rarity snickered, coming just a little closer.  “Were you going to point at me?”

And then she laughed.

“W-what?! No!  No, no.”

But Rarity kept laughing.

“Guh.” Twilight hung her head in defeat.

“But that was a nice try.”  Rarity rubbed her hoof on Twilight’s back.

Rarity got up and walked over to the edge of the stairs.  Only when she got there did Twilight remember that she’d just been touched again and shuddered.  It was like there was a delayed reaction when Rarity did it.

“Everypony. Your attention.”  Rarity didn’t speak too loudly, but they all turned to look. She dragged Twilight to her side with magic and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.  “This is my friend, Twilight Sparkle.  She just moved here from Canterlot and I want all of you to give her a warm welcome.”

The other ponies all applauded and cheered for Twilight. Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond to that and just stood there awkwardly.  Suddenly, about a dozen ponies Twilight had never met before were crowding around Twilight, asking her questions.  Twilight struggled to keep up with them all.

“Hey, where do you work?”

“What part of town do you live in?”

“Did you go to that magic school?”

“Isn’t Twilight pretty?”  Rarity whispered to one of them.

“I just love your highlights,” said one of the mares. “I'm always so jealous of mares with more than one mane color.”

“Nice horn too,” she heard one of the stallions quietly mention to another.

“I can't believe how pretty your eyes are without any make-up!”

And just like that, probably for the first time in her life, Twilight was the center of attention. She couldn’t handle it, barely managing a ‘dyuh’.

“She’s a bit shy.  Please be patient with her.”  Rarity scanned the crowd of ponies then, as if picking one at random, pulled one of the stallions in front of Twilight.  “Thunderlane!  Don’t you think Twilight is pretty?”

“Oh yeah, absolutely.”  Thunderlane blushed and nodded.  “You’re super cute, Twilight.”

And he was actually blushing looking at her?  Twilight never imagined that sort of thing would happen.  She never thought of herself as good-looking.  Maybe it was just for Rarity.

“Um. Thanks.”  Twilight had no idea what to say.  “You too.  Or- well you know what I mean!”

“And,” Rarity butted back in, “if you think she’s pretty why not ask her to dance? Before somepony else does?”

“I would love to dance with you, Twilight.”  Thunderlane bowed his.  “You, uh, want to?”

“I don’t really know how.”

“Nopony does! Come on!  Just do what I do.”

“Well, okay…”

The second the two of them left, every pony’s attention turned back to Rarity.  She went back to her couch and the others practically raced to sit next to her.

Thunderlane lead a nervous Twilight down the stairs back to the main room, where several other ponies were dancing already.  The moment the two of them Twilight felt her heart racing, more nervous about dancing badly than anything else.

Twilight awkwardly followed Thunderlane’s steps.  It really wasn’t as complicated and nopony was laughing at her or anything. After a little bit, she got more comfortable with it.  She honestly thought dancing with a colt would make her more nervous than this, but she wasn’t the least bit flustered.

“So, uh. You’re from Canterlot, right?” Thunderlane asked.  “And with your cutie mark, you probably went to that academy, right?”

“Y-yeah.” Twilight’s gaze fell.  “I uh, went there.”

Twilight felt like she was up against a wall here.  Family, jobs, housing, education, all the things ponies ask you about when you first meet were the very things Twilight didn’t want to talk about right now. She started to worry that the whole night was just going to be having to go over her failure of a life over and over again.

“Uh- oh! How long have you known Rarity?” Thunderlane, to Twilight's relief, changed the topic quickly once he saw Twilight’s reaction.  “She said you two were friends, right?”

“I literally just met her earlier today.”  Twilight shook her head.

“Ah, that’s too bad.  Got my hopes up for a second.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”  Twilight asked.

“Those three are a real mysterious bunch.”  Thunderlane looked up at Rarity like he was checking to make sure she wasn’t listening. “They all live in this house together, but that’s all we know.  Rarity just showed up out of nowhere one day and nopony knows where she used to live or where she got all this money from.  And she's got that strange accent, so she must be from somewhere else, but nopony can tell where that accent is from.  They tried looking too.  Pinkie, that pink one, she’s the only one we know anything about.  Kind of a weird story.”

“Yeah?” Twilight got closer.  The two of them weren’t dancing much at this point.

“She used to live in the town north of here.  She went missing like five years ago, they even had those missing pony signs up for her and everything.  Nopony sees or hears from her that whole time then she just shows up with the other two one day.  I guess she must have run into them somewhere, or they ran into her.  I dunno.”  Thunderlane chuckled.  “Actually, there’s this, I dunno if you’d call it a rumor or a theory, but a lot of ponies like saying those three are vampires.”

Thunderlane smiled enough when he said this that Twilight knew he didn’t take the idea seriously.

“Vampires?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Totally fits! They always wear sunglasses and nopony’s ever seen them out during the day.  Not anypony I know, anyway.  If you come here during the day, all these curtains are closed and the door’s bolted shut and they don’t open up for anything.  And they totally play into the vampire thing.  Pinkie’s always hissing at ponies.”

“Yeah.” Twilight sighed.  “The hissing was the first thing I noticed.  Those three are totally crazy.  And way too rough for me.  I dunno if it's a good idea to be coming over to their house like this.”

“I don’t think they’re so bad.  I like having them around, actually.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.  Ponyville always has some gang of delinquents throwing their weight around, ever since I was a little kid.  And I gotta say, the Blue Diamonds are the best of the three I ran into.  The gang that was in charge before Rarity showed up was called the Screaming Skulls.  Those guys would rob your house or mug you in broad daylight.  And they had the police bought out so you couldn’t do anything about it.  You should be glad Rarity got rid of them before you showed up.”

“What do you mean got rid of them?”

“I guess they just beat them all up or something.  Nopony really knows, but those guys all left town right after the Blue Diamonds showed up. And there were like fifty of those guys, too.  I guess that’s why everypony’s so intimidated by Rarity.  But I’ll take free food over getting mugged any day.  So the Blue Diamonds are alright in my book.  Oh, and they do give you dinner if you show up a bit earlier.  Ponies around here are poor enough that a free meal’s worth a lot.”

Twilight herself was at the point where free food was tempting.

“Maybe you’re right.  I guess this party is a lot nicer than I thought it’d be, given how they look I mean. Isn’t this really late, though?” Twilight looked up at the clock, already past ten.  “I’m already getting a little tired.”

“I don’t normally stay up this late either, but you know.  Maybe we could get some food or something?”  Thunderlane suggested.  “I’m sure that’d wake us up.”

It was a little late to be eating, but Twilight followed Thunderlane over to where the tables of food were.

When they got there, Pinkie was already sitting next to one of the tables, eating.  She had a candy bar in one hoof, half of it already eaten but she was still going.

“Wait, you’re eating an entire candy bar?” Twilight stopped in her tracks to make sure she was seeing this right.  “That is chocolate, right?”

Without breaking eye contact, Pinkie Pie finished it off with a single bit, swallowing it without barely chewing, then reached for a second one and unwrapped it.

“Y-you’re eating two candy bars?!”  Twilight took a step back.  “Aren’t you going to puke or pass out or- or die or something?”

Pinkie doubled over laughing hysterically.  More surprisingly, Thunderlane laughed too.  Twilight nervously laughed along with them, though she wasn’t sure why any of them were laughing.

“Yeah,” Twilight spoke up again as soon as the laughter died down.  “But- but seriously.  Chocolate contains theobromine.”

“What?” Thunderlane asked.

“Theobromine! It’s poisonous.  It has an LD50 of two grams for ponies.  Didn’t they teach you that in social studies?”  Twilight looked at Thunderlane, then Pinkie but it didn’t look like they did.  She knew the school systems outside Canterlot weren’t so great, but this was ridiculous. “My point is you can’t eat that much chocolate without getting sick.  You might end up in the hospital or-"

Pinkie grabbed a bowl, half-filled with chocolate chips.  Twilight watched in horror as Pinkie ate hoof-fulls of the chocolate, way more than Twilight thought anypony would ever be able to safely eat.  Once she realized her point was made, Pinkie started laughing and dropped the bowl face down onto the floor, letting the remaining chips scatter.

“Ha!”  Pinkie started walking away backwards. “Seems like I can do a lot of things I can’t do.”

“But-“ Twilight watched helplessly as Pinkie bounced off, completely unharmed.  “She’s gonna get sick later, right?  She’s gonna puke everywhere!”

“Probably not?” Thunderlane shrugged.  “I wouldn’t eat that much chocolate but that pony eats a lot of sugar and I never saw her get sick.  Hey, you seriously never had chocolate before?”

“No.” Twilight shook her head.  “In Canterlot they’re not even allowed to sell it cause- well it’s bad!  I think. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen chocolate in person before.”

Twilight looked over the rest of the table.  All of it was candy.  At least, she was fairly certain all of it was.  She didn’t recognize a lot of it.

She’d never eaten any candy of any sort, not even the ones that were legal in Canterlot. Her parents only ever allowed her to eat carrots and celery as snacks.  Not that either of those things were here.

“Man.” Thunderlane thought about that.  “I knew they kept Canterlot clean, but that’s kind of impressive.  Maybe a little too impressive.”

“But you agree it’s bad, right?”  Twilight looked back at him.  “Sugar causes moral degeneracy and decay.  Right?”

“Well, yeah! But small doses, you know.” Thunderlane held his hooves just a tiny bit apart.  “There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of something bad.  You really should try it at least once in your life.”

Twilight looked around the room.  Almost everypony was eating candy and none of them were puking.  This wasn’t anything like those anti-candy PSAs she used to watch.

“Maybe.” Twilight levitated one of the candy bars, keeping it a safe distance.  “I guess I could maybe try a small piece?  Just to know what it’s like!”

Twilight looked around the room nervously, half expecting somepony to yell at her.  She was a little disappointed nopony did.

“Yeah!” Thunderlane nodded.  “You don’t have to go as crazy as Rarity’s gang.”

Twilight nodded back, then turned back to the candy bar.  She broke off the tiniest piece of chocolate she could and very slowly put it in her mouth.  She didn’t know what she was expecting from it, but her eyes opened wide when she realized that it actually tasted good.  Amazing, even!  She could understand how ponies became addicted.

“Oh, wow that’s really good!”  Twilight looked herself over to make sure there weren’t any rashes or the like. “And I- I feel okay.  For now.”

“Hey!”  Pinkie jumped up at Twilight from behind.  “You actually did it!  I didn’t even have to tempt you or anything!”

“What?!” Twilight spun around, looked in the direction Pinkie had run off in moments ago, then back at Pinkie.  “Where did you-?”

“Circles!” Pinkie put her hooves together, then made a big circle.  “Trademarked! But hey, you wanna see what else you almost never had?”

“Try- try what?”  Twilight asked, Pinkie already pulling her further down the table.

“Maybe you should-“  Thunderlane tried.

“Try a little bit of everything!  Yeah, good idea!”  Pinkie cut Thunderlane off and gave him a short hiss as she pulled Twilight away from him.  And he mostly stayed silent after that.

Pinkie looked over the table, before pouring Twilight some kind of beverage.

“How about something even worse?  Coffee!” Pinkie held the cup out to Twilight with a sinister smile. “Trust me this is a very good idea!”

“Celestia doesn’t want us drinking coffee either.  It can-“  Twilight paused, realizing she was making the exact same argument from a minute ago. Lots of other ponies here were having it and they all seemed fine.  “Okay, I guess maybe…”

Twilight took a sip of it and stuck her tongue out at how bitter it was.

“Bleck.  This one’s not as good.”  Twilight put the cup back down.  “I dunno why, but I always thought coffee was supposed to be sweet too.”

“That’s cause it doesn’t have the most important ingredient in all the world’s history!”  Pinkie took the coffee back then started pouring some kind of white powder into it from a bowl.  “Sugar!”

“That looks like a lot of sugar,” Twilight said as Pinkie was still pouring it in.

“Nah! This is only half as much as I put in mine!”  Pinkie offered the cup to Twilight a second time.

It was true that Twilight would have no idea how much sugar was a lot.  She’d never been allowed to have any of the stuff at all.  In school, they always just said ‘no sugar is acceptable’ and left it at that.

She sipped the coffee and decided it was much better like this, so much so that she started to wonder how much of it she could get away with drinking.  She decided to keep drinking it until she got just a little drunk, then she’d know what the limit was.

After that, Pinkie pushed maybe a dozen other types of candies and drinks on Twilight, taking her on a whirlwind of flavors.  Though Twilight had only a tiny bit of each.  All the while, Twilight slowly drank the coffee, actually managing to finish the cup without getting drunk at all.  Apparently, you could drink a lot more of it than she’d always thought.

Far from getting sick, Twilight felt great by the end!  She wasn’t tired anymore and was ready to get back to dancing with Thunderlane once Pinkie shoved her back in his direction.  But even as she went back to dancing with him, Twilight wanted more. That small piece of chocolate wasn’t enough.

She didn’t want to get addicted, but at the same time, she wasn’t a hundred percent sure how much candy and coffee she could actually have before something bad happened. In school, they taught abstinence-only, so her only frame of reference was what the other ponies here were doing.

She decided to just watch Pinkie Pie and have one-tenth of what she did.  Surely that would be safe.  It was probably less than that, given she didn’t see everything Pinkie had.

And it totally kind of did work.  Twilight would go back to the table every now and then and she just got more and more energy as the night went on and on.  Thunderlane was the one who got tired first, despite having no coffee at all. He invited Twilight to come sit on the couch with him, but Twilight had way too much energy for that.

Pinkie called him a ‘gelding’ (a word Twilight vowed to look up later) and started dancing with Twilight in his place.  The two of them danced far more wildly than before.  Now that most of the other ponies were gone it felt easier to be less restrained.  Twilight felt like she was a little filly again, jumping around with Pinkie.

Though it wasn’t possible to keep up with Pinkie.  

Panting, Twilight got up and went back over to the food table.  It was almost empty now, but there was still enough coffee left for one more cup.  Twilight poured some, feeling it tremble slightly.

“Okay.”  Dash swatted the cup to the floor, spilling it.  “I have literally never had to cut somepony off of coffee, but you clearly don’t need more.  This is like your fourteenth one!”

“It is?  Fourteen sounds like a lot!  I must have- must have gotten carried away.  But I don’t feel even a little drunk yet.  At school, they made us put on those drunk goggles.” Twilight motioned liked she was putting the goggles on.  “So I know what being drunk is like and my vision is fine.”

“Drunk?” Dash raised an eyebrow.  “You think drinking coffee makes you drunk.”

“It-it doesn’t?”  Twilight felt her eye twitched.  “Then what does it do?  They just said it was bad.”

“Holy buck. What do they even teach you in bone head school?”

“Um. Math?”

Dash and Twilight both laughed at the line.

“I like you, Sparkles.  You're funny!”  Dash chuckled.  “But seriously, maybe run a few laps around the house, and then we’ll talk about more coffee.”

Then Rainbow Dash flew off, up the stairs, landing on the couch next to Rarity.  By now they were the only two up there.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and turned back to the party.  Thunderlane was still there too, lying down on the couch with his head on a pillow.

“Thunderlane!” Twilight jumped up onto the couch next to him.  “Come on! You gotta be rested by now!  Let’s dance some more. Come on come on come on!”

Twilight bobbed up and down in beat with the music as she waited for him to get up. He tried but collapsed back down.

“Okay, this is too much for me.” Thunderlane yawned loudly. Twilight just now noticed his slumped posture and tired eyes. “It’s way too late for this or, well anything.  I gotta go.  Do you want me to walk you home?”

“What? Already?” Twilight jumped off the couch and trotted in place as Thunderlane got up.  “I’m nowhere near tired!”

“This is the latest I've ever been up for, Twilight.” Thunderlane yawned miserably. “I don't think I can last another hour. We'll have to meet up some other time.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, disappointed, as Thunderlane walked past her and out the door.

Twilight could hardly just stand there any longer.  There were plenty of other ponies here to dance with and Twilight needed to get rid of this energy.  She didn’t need Thunderlane! It was like she was on fire right now!

“Come on!” Twilight spun back towards the room, her forelegs opened wide.  “Somepony’s gotta want to-“

But the huge room was empty now.  A bit of a chill cooled off Twilight’s mania when she noticed there was nopony left but her.

“I’ll dance with you, Twilight!”  Pinkie jumped up onto a nearby table and started jumping up and down.  “Come on!  Get on the table with me!”

Well, almost nopony.  It was just Twilight and Rarity’s gang now.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were looking down from that perch, talking quietly with one another.  The second Twilight looked at them, they stopped talking.  Rarity got up and took her time descending to Twilight while Dash took off into the air and flew upstairs somewhere.

“You know,” Rarity smiled. “Nopony has ever stayed nearly this late before.”

Rarity’s horn glowed briefly and the music stopped.  Now the only sound was Pinkie's manic laughter.

“I only stayed like a second longer than Thunderlane,” said Twilight.  “Well, so far anyway.”

“He was only here so long because of you.  He’s too much of a gelding to leave with you or without you.”  Rarity began walking around Twilight, looking her over.  “I guess he wasn’t good enough for you?  I really don’t blame you.  Is there something else you want instead?”

“Is it really-?” Twilight looked up at the clock. It was three in the morning.  “Oh, Celestia!  That’s late!  Like- if it got any later it'd be early!  Oh, Celestia. I-I just lost track of time.  I’m sorry.  I should go home now.”

Twilight turned to leave but Rainbow Dash was suddenly there, sitting in front of the door, blocking Twilight’s path.

“Uh.”  Twilight slowly turned back to see Rarity still sitting there, holding her forelegs wide.

“I’m sorry,” said Rarity. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you had to leave just now.  I invited you here.  You can stay for as long as you want.  All night even!  That said if you still want to go-”

Rarity made a little wave of her hoof.  Twilight turned back to see Dash get out of her way, allowing Twilight to relax again.

“So, like a sleepover?”  Twilight smiled.  That was exactly what she was hoping for earlier tonight.  Now that she thought about it, she didn’t want to go back. Not to mention she’d have her first official sleepover.  “Yeah!  I never actually- I mean, I had sleepovers before but they were all uh… the l-word?”

Rarity laughed along with the other two.  Twilight forced a nervous laugh as well.

“Sure.  Sure.”  Rarity made a gesture to Pinkie.  “But the three of us aren’t going to bed nearly this early.”

“I want to complain about you calling three in the morning being, but I honestly don’t think I can get to sleep right now either.”  Twilight started trotting in place again.  “I have more energy than when I came here.  I don’t think I’ve ever had this much energy!  Glad it’s not just me.  Isn’t that weird?  But what do you do at three AM?”

“We do have one game,” Rarity came very close, “that we like to play with whichever pony stays the latest. It’s called blind faith.”

“I don’t think I ever heard of that one,” said Twilight.

“Cause we made it up!” Pinkie, still on the table, poked her head down towards Twilight.

“Nopony’s ever won.”  Dash snuck up on Twilight from the other side. “You’re maybe the hundredth pony we’ve played this with but not one ever makes it.  And you only get to play once in your entire life.  You curious, Sparkles?”

All three of them were standing a bit too close to her now.

“Well.  Yeah.”  Twilight nodded.  “How does it work?”

“Gotta go outside for it.”  Dash turned and started walking towards the door.

Pinkie jumped off the table and followed her friend.  Rarity, though, just took a step closer to Twilight.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to play without me, though.”  Rarity’s muzzle was so close to Twilight’s she imagined an onlooker would think they were touching.  “Believe it or not there’s somepony I have to go see.  But I am interested to find out if we’re going to meet again.  I think I like you.”

“Uh-!” Twilight got another look at Rarity’s eyes as she said that and got flustered for a moment.  Rarity liked her?

Twilight didn’t regain her composure until Rarity was already out of the room

“Who is she meeting at this hour?”  Twilight asked Dash.

“Not every pony’s a filthy daywalker like you,” said Dash.  “We’re going out this door.”

The remaining two lead Twilight around to the backyard.  For such a huge place out in the country, the backyard was tiny.  Rarity wasn’t kidding when she said the forest was right behind them. It was like a wall of darkness that cut off the otherwise manicured lawn with trees that rose higher than the house itself.  

Twilight certainly wouldn’t have the guts to live here.  She wondered if there was even one pony besides Rarity who did.

“I don’t think we should be out here.”  Twilight backed up until she was against the wall of the house.

“What?”  Dash walked dangerously close to the forest, close enough that something could probably grab her from it, but smiled as she looked out into the darkness.  “Aren’t you curious what’s inside the Everfree Forest?”

“What?! N-No!” Twilight scrunched her nose in disgust that somepony would even ask that. “That’s disgusting!  Of course I’m not.  Why would you ask that?”

“Pft.  Right, sorry.  Forgot you were a dork.”

“Maybe we should play this in the front yard?”  Twilight suggested.

“Nope!”  Pinkie laughed.

“But why?”  Twilight asked.  “This is dangerous.  I don’t even know what we’re doing and I know that.”

“You ever seen any horror movies?”  Dash looked back at Twilight with a grin, fearlessly turning her back on the forest.

“When you watch a movie, information violently assaults your mind, strangling your eyes and ears in a vicious grip.  There is simply no way for you to catch all of the influences films can bombard you with," Twilight recited a line that was burned into her mind.  "I don't think they're allowed to make horror movies anymore.  They haven't made a movie-movie in years."

“They still exist.” Dash looked back into the forest. “You know, the good ones, they never show you the monster or at least wait till the very end.  You know why?  Cause the second you see the monster it stops being scary.”

“Okay?”  Twilight had no idea where this was going.  “Well I couldn’t see a monster when it’s this dark anyway.”

Or if it was invisible.

“Exactly.”  Dash walked back over to Twilight.  She took a piece of cloth out of her pocket and stretched it out, letting Twilight see that it was a blindfold.  “Now put this on.”

“Why?”

“It’s part of the game.” Dash held the blindfold out to Twilight. “It’s called blind faith, remember?  And you can’t have faith in anything unless you’re blind.”

“I’m not sure if I want to play unless I know the rules,” said Twilight.

Dash stood close to Twilight’s left and tied it on her anyway, but over her forehead like a bandana, loosely enough that Twilight could easily slide it down if she wanted. Pinkie jumped next to Twilight from the other side so that Twilight was standing close between the two.

“What you do is you put on that blindfold.”  Dash pointed out towards the forest.  “And start walking forward.”

“What?!”  Twilight held the blindfold up, even though it wasn’t down yet.  “But the forest is right there!”

“That’s the point.” Dash pushed the blindfold back down, almost all the way.  “If you stop one step short of going in, you win!  You even get a prize.”

“I don’t think I can guess that.”

“We’re not blind and we’ll go forward too,” said Dash.  “Obviously we’ll see where the edge is.  One of us is going to stop walking at the right spot and the other won’t.  One of us will lie and the other won’t.  So you got a fifty-fifty chance of winning, right?”

“That’s why the name!” Pinkie certainly looked excited about this.  “You gotta choose who to have faith in!”

Twilight thought about how that would work.  Whoever stopped first would have to be outside the Everfree Forest.  Twilight could play the game and just stop wherever the first one was, then she’d have a chance of winning and none of going into the forest.  That seemed like the best strategy for this, but-

“But you said nopony ever won this?”  Twilight asked.  “Out of a hundred?”

“Half don’t even try,” said Dash.  “The other half are still losers.”

“So there’s some kind of trick,” Twilight said mostly to herself.

Twilight knew she shouldn’t be considering this, that it was wrong to even entertain the idea. But Celestia knew Twilight was weak when it came to certain things. Curiosity was her biggest vice. Now she was legitimately interested in solving this little puzzle.

They had to be doing the same thing every time to get consistent results.  The trap ponies fell for was likely the most obvious solution.

Twilight wanted to stop at the first pony and that seemed like that safe, sensible solution at first.  The first pony would always stop at or before the Everfree, so you'd have a chance of winning but not of going into the forest if you picked that one.  Only going to the second pony was risky.  The second one was what everypony would avoid.

“I think the pony that goes farther is always the right one,” Twilight concluded. "Everypony loses because they always pick the shorter distance, right?”

“Hahaha!”  Pinkie stamped her front hooves in applause. “You figured it out!  But that’s the easy part.”

“Oh yeah!”  Dash gave an unconvincing, condescending smile instead. “I forgot you were some smart Canterlot bonehead.  Though I can think of one mistake you made.”

“I did?”  Twilight tried to think of some flaw in her logic.

“And you don’t win the game unless you actually play,” said Dash.  “It’s the only way you’ll find out what you got wrong.”

Knowing that she was wrong about something... and that playing might be the only way to find out what...

“Okay.”  Twilight let out a long sigh and put on her blindfold. “I’m- I’m pretty sure I figured it out so I guess I’ll try.”

Without waiting for Twilight to say anything more, both of them took a step forward.  Trembling, Twilight took a step forward too.  With two ponies close by her side and the knowledge she couldn’t possibly be that close yet, walking forward wasn’t too difficult.  Still, Twilight would have preferred walking towards a cliff blindfolded.  She could almost feel the dread of the forest getting closer and closer with each step.  Not for one second could she blame anypony for running away from this.

Dash stopped walking and put her hoof out to stop Twilight.

“There!  Your muzzle is one inch away from the forest,” said Dash. “If you take one more step forward, you’ll be inside.”

“Don’t listen to her,” said Pinkie before she ran ahead.  “You’re nowhere near the edge!  It’s over here.  I’ll catch you before you get inside, so you can just run over here.”

Having one of them leave her side made Twilight suddenly feel exposed and unsafe.  She already knew Pinkie was at the right spot but found herself crouching down slightly, trembling too much to take a step forward.

“W-well I already-“ Twilight slowly began taking a step forward.

“But you made a mistake, remember?”  Dash walked in front of Twilight.  “You told us that you figured it out.  See now I know what you’re expecting and can do the opposite.  And of course I’m gonna do that opposite cause I’m a bucking delinquent. Guess none of those fancy Canterlot schools taught you basic bucking sense, huh?”

Twilight bit her tongue. That made total sense.  Now Twilight had no idea what to do anymore!

“She’s lying!”  Pinkie yelled like she was much farther away than she actually was.  “You already know the right answer.  Think about it.  This is like a courage game!  It’s too easy to figure out the answer so it’s gotta be a courage game!”

“Like we’d play something that stupid,” said Dash.  “The real game is just between me and Pinks, see which of us can buck with you better. We’re punks, we love crap like that!”

Both of them were making a good case in their favor.  Twilight had no idea what to do anymore.

“I got an idea,” Dash spoke softly.  “Try sticking your hoof out.  It’ll be in the forest if I’m telling the truth.  Maybe you can try to feel it.”

Twilight lifted her trembling hoof and stretched it outward.  Swinging it around, she couldn’t feel any trees.

“Can you feel the corruption of the forest seeping into you?”  Dash whispered in Twilight’s ears.  “It feels hot, right?”

Now that she mentioned it!

“I- I can!” Twilight pulled her hoof back.  She was certain she did feel something, some heat on her hoof.

“Nah!”  Pinkie called out to her.  “That’s just a psychotic delusion or whatever those are called.  She’s messing with you, Twitwi!  You gotta have faith, Twilight!  In me, I mean. Have absolute faith in me while simultaneously being totally skeptical of her.  And then we both win!  Thanks!”

That made her think. Did Twilight have faith in either of them?  Absolutely not.  All she had was the answer she came up with before.  If she was blind, and she was, then that should be what she trusted.  That was the answer.  And Twilight wanted to know it was the answer.

Like she was bracing for impact, Twilight closed her eyes and held her breath.  She felt her whole body tense up as she moved her hoof forward.

She went forward just one more step than most ponies would have.

There was a chance she was actually in the forest now!  She stood very still, paralyzed, waiting for something bad to happen.  But nothing did.  Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were suddenly silent.

Nothing bad kept happening long enough for Twilight to feel bold enough for a second step.  It was easier than the first, and the third was even easier.

Still unable to breathe or relax Twilight moved forward, feeling like the ground could disappear underneath her at any moment.  As she got closer, Pinkie started to chuckle then laugh hysterically.  Twilight didn’t think she’d be able to go any farther without the momentum she already had.

“Right there!”  Pinkie booped Twilight’s muzzle hard, stopping her in the tracks.  “You did it!”

“I did?”

Pinkie took the blindfold off and Twilight stumbled back at what she saw.  The entrance to the forest really was just one step ahead now. Twilight could see just a little bit deeper now, just a few more tree trunks before total darkness.  Twilight should have kept the blindfold down!

Before the fear could sink in too deep, Pinkie grabbed onto Twilight, squeezing her tight and swinging her around.

“Yay! Congratulations!”  Pinkie twirled around excitedly with Twilight.  “You’re the only winner ever!”

“Haha.  You’re crazy, Sparks!”  Dash hit her on the back.  “Nopony ever actually does that!  I take back all the horrible things I said about you.  You’re okay!”

Twilight’s brain was just so stunned that she came this close to the forest that it took a moment for any of this to register. 

“Wait!  Are you hugging me?!”  Twilight shoved Pinkie off of her.  “Don’t do that!”

Twilight got back up and looked into the forest, panting heavily.

“Oh!  Oh, Celestia, Celestia!  I can’t believe I actually did that!”

“Me neither!”  Pinkie sat down next to her.  “But isn’t it so exciting?!”

Exciting wasn’t the word Twilight would use.  At least her curiosity was sated.  She couldn’t help but feel a little happy about solving the puzzle.  There was only one thing still bugging her.

“How did you make my hoof feel hot, though?”  Twilight asked.

“That was just in your head. You were expecting something bad to happen.  Here, try it for real.”  Dash stretched her leg out, into the forest.  “I promise you won’t feel a thing.”

Twilight looked over at Pinkie who did the same.

“Hm.”  Curiously, slowly, Twilight reached her hoof out too.

This time she felt nothing but the cool night air.

“Oh no!  You went into the forest!” Pinkie pointed at Twilight and screamed in horror.  “Police! Arrest her!”

“What?!  No!”  Twilight waved her hooves as fast as she could.  “That doesn’t count, that doesn’t count, that doesn’t count!  I didn’t actually touch the ground so-“

Pinkie and Dash started laughing hysterically again.  

“Aw, let’s lay off her.”  Dash pulled Twilight back up to her feet.  “You put with this like a champ, Sparks.  No more messing with her tonight.  Sides, I don’t want to have to tell Rarity that her new little friend had a nervous breakdown.”

Friend?

Twilight’s ears twitched.  She never had anypony call her a friend before.  Even if she wasn’t friends with these three.

“Come on.” Dash gestured back towards town. “I’ll show you around town, buy you a pizza or something.”

“Pizza?” Twilight followed quickly if only to get away from the forest.  “This late? Nopony else in the entire world is awake right now.”

“We know a guy,” said Dash “We buy so much crap from him for those parties that he’d probably be out of business without us.  He’ll open up just for us any time we show up.”

“Really?” Now Twilight was wondering how much food they did give out.  She regretted not getting to the party sooner.

“Have you ever had a tredecuple pineapple pizza?”  Pinkie ran up to Twilight’s other side.

“No,” said Twilight.  “But I’m impressed you used the word tredecuple.”

Twilight followed them into town and eventually to that pizza place.  Turned out a tredecuple pineapple pizza was more like pineapple with some pizza for flavoring.

After playing the rest of the night felt so calm and tranquil. And they didn’t ‘mess’ with her after that.  Or at least she was pretty sure they didn’t.  Twilight didn’t understand half their jokes.

It was nice.

But eventually, time caught up with Twilight and she started getting tired, then exhausted and soon the others were taking her back home.

Twilight was starting to wonder what time it was when her house came into sight.   but there was no mistaking that the morning was about to come. This was far from the first sunrise Twilight had seen, but this particular one got a look of amazement from her.

“Wait.  It's sunrise?! We stayed up till morning?!” Twilight asked in disbelief. She knew, intellectually, that this was how time worked but to actually witness the night and day loop around like this was mesmerizing.  “I didn’t even know that was possible! I feel like I’m in an alternate dimension right now.”

“Yeah.  I usually feel that way,” said Pinkie.

“You get another twenty coolness points for staying up till dawn for the first time,” said Dash.  “That puts you at a hundred and seven.”

“So I’m about one percent of the way to getting to call you Dashie?”  Twilight asked.

“Yeah!”  Dash chuckled.  “Just do this another hundred times and we’re cool!”

“You know, you’re actually nicer than I thought you’d be,” said Twilight.  “But you’re still a delinquent!  And I can’t condone a lot of the things you do.”

“I feel the same way about you, Sparks, just with another d-word.”  Dash took off her sunglasses and looked Twilight in the eyes.  “But hey!  Wanna see who cracks first?  You’re the first pony in this lame town to get to a hundred coolness points.  I’m gonna give you an invitation.  Meet us at that graveyard we passed before tonight at sundown.  It’ll be more fun without a bunch of lameos around.”

“Rarity will be there,” Pinkie teased.  “And she thinks you’re cute, Twitwi.”

“H-huh?!”

Pinkie winked and stuck her tongue out at Twilight before turning to leave.  Dash did the same without waiting for Twilight to accept or reject her offer.  At least Twilight didn’t get hissed at this time.

Twilight dragged her heavy hooves back into her own house.  She still needed to brush her teeth and stuff before bed but was so exhausted she had to take a minute to lie down on the couch first.

Only she ended up falling asleep there a few minutes later.


___________________________________________________________________________________


Twilight opened her eyes.  Her head was pounding, her limbs were heavy and her eyes were blurry and hard to keep open.

She wanted to sleep more, but the sun was having none of it.  Her house was surprisingly bright and it was hard for her to sleep with this much sunlight in her eyes.  Twilight needed to get some curtains.

She went to bed just before seven, when she normally woke up, and got up at noon.  Bizarre as it sounded, that was only five hours of sleep.  So, there was a long list of things that may or may not be making her feel this terrible.  A million things from last night may very well have poisoned her after all.

She decided to take a scarf and turn it into a makeshift eye mask.  Blindfolded, sleeping became easier again.  Suddenly the heaviness of her eyes felt like a good thing, dragging her into sleep.

And she almost got there.

But then there was a knock at the door.  Twilight briefly imagined pretending not to be home until whoever it was went away, but in the end, she did reluctantly roll out of bed and get to the door.

It was Applejack, with what had to be twenty books in her saddlebag.

“I need to tell you something, Twilight,” said Applejack.

“Huh?  Can it wait a couple of hours?”  Twilight rubbed her eyes.  “Or till tomorrow?”

“It’s important.  I heard what happened last night.”

“Oh!”  That woke Twilight up a bit.  It felt like the consequences were just now catching up to her. “I really didn’t- other ponies were- what did you hear?”

“I ain’t here to judge you.”  Applejack sighed.  “This is more important than all that, something real important you need to know. I wasn’t going to say this at all. But when I heard you were out all night with those three… well Rarity is going after you and I have to warn you.”

Applejack took out a thick journal and held it up to Twilight.

“Rarity is a vampire.  For real.”
> Chapter 3.  The fruit of eternal youth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What?”  Twilight rubbed her eyes, her weary mind slowly remembering.  “Oh, you mean that stupid rumor?  I already heard that story.”

“This isn’t a game,” said Applejack.  “Vampires are real and I’m a hundred percent all three of those ponies are vampires. I've seen what they really look like. Nopony knows where they came from because they came from the Everfree Forest.  And I’m pretty sure they’re after you.”

“Is this a joke? You’re seriously saying vampires are real?”  Twilight groaned.  Even one in the afternoon was too early for this.  “I’m surprised at you, Applejack.  I’d expect one of those three to be talking about the supernatural, but you should know better.  You can get arrested for peddling superstition in public.”

If any police even existed in this town, that was.

“I know.  I don’t blame you.  Just give me five minutes!”  Applejack pushed back Twilight to get inside her house.

“Well at least I know you’re not a vampire,” Twilight muttered and followed Applejack to a nearby table.

Applejack set out her books carefully on Twilight’s dinner table.  Twilight wearily looked over them.  Most were journals marked with a cutie mark or a name.  The only one with a proper title was a particularly large and thick manual titled ‘Monster of the Everfree’.

“My family has lived here for centuries and we’ve been fighting against the corruption of the Everfree that whole time as it got closer and closer to home.”  She opened Monsters of the Everfree and started looking through it.  “And they recorded everything they ran into.  I got centuries of notes now.  This is the most complete record about the Everfree Forest outside of Canterlot castle.”

“We’re really not supposed to be thinking about what’s inside the Everfree Forest.” Twilight felt a twinge of disgust.  Applejack seemed like such a nice pony, but Twilight was starting to think she was just as bad as all the others.

“Rarity’s not in the forest now,” Applejack pointed.  “This is just for stuff that comes out.  I swear.”

Twilight was skeptical of that.  She didn’t like this one bit.

Twilight watched as Applejack flipped through the book.  As soon as it was opened, Twilight recognized it as a sort of bestiary.  The whole thing had been written down by hoof with detailed sketches of creatures and body parts on each page.  Most of the monsters Twilight saw were real, but some of them weren’t the official Canterlot bestiary and had to be made up.

And that contradiction brought up the main problem with this book.

“And none of these books are on the approved book list!”  Twilight looked through a few of the books.  “Are they? Applejack, we could get in a lot of trouble for all this!”

“We wrote these for our personal use.  Of course they ain’t gonna be officially approved.  But they’re not banned neither.”

“I dunno.  This is all suspicious. I don't like splitting hairs with this kind of thing.”  Twilight lifted another, unmarked book and looked at it skeptically.  Was it too much to ask for one pony in this town to not be a delinquent in some way? “I’m not trusting anything that’s not on the approved book list. Ponies can literally write anything they want in unapproved books.”

“I know, I know.  But just listen.  When you see this, you’ll understand.”

Twilight decided to humor her, though the matter was already settled in her mind.

“Now, a few of ancestors used to be part of those expedition forces, one had one of those platinum cards even and drew everything they saw in this here book.  If you go real deep into the Everfree, there are things worse than a dreadstalker out there.  There’s one monster that looks kinda like ponies and, well we’ve always called them vampires anyways.”  Applejack finally turned to the vampire page and lifted it up to Twilight, pointing to the picture.  “And look at this.”

Twilight looked at the picture of the vampire drawn in the book.

It was Rarity.

It looked exactly like Rarity, even had the exact same three diamond cutie mark that was already burned into Twilight’s mind. The only difference was a different mane style and, of course, that she was a vampire in the picture.  She had the stereotypical vampire stuff, the tufted ears, fangs just big enough to poke out of a closed mouth, and slitted eyes.

The vampire Rarity sat there on the page, smiling sweetly enough at Twilight.  It was that cocky little smirk Rarity always had too.

“You see that?” Applejack lowered the book just enough to look Twilight in the eyes.  “Rarity is literally the example vampire in the book!”

“So you drew a picture of Rarity as a vampire?”  Twilight grabbed the book and looked it over.

There were a lot of drawings in this section, anatomical drawings of vampires, artifacts, and food they carried, and where they were supposed to live.  All the actual vampire drawings were of either Rarity or this one other vampire that had bat wings, though she didn’t look like anypony Twilight knew.

Really Twilight was just wondering how Applejack’s ancestor convinced the vampires to let him draw this many pictures of them in this fantasy scenario.

“No.”  Applejack grabbed onto the book and turned it back to the full profile of Rarity.  “This picture was drawn by the grandfather of my grandmother’s grandmother well over two hundred years ago!  He met her way back then and drew her.  Rarity is at least two hundred years old.”

“Even if that was drawn two hundred years ago-“  Twilight pushed the book down, trying to look disinterested in it.  “Look, showing me hoof-drawn pictures of vampires, in an unapproved book remember, is never going to convince me they’re real. I bet if you showed me a bunch of your ancestors some of them would look a lot like you.  That doesn’t mean anything.”

“There’s more.” Applejack took out a second, smaller journal and opened it to a bookmarked page. “Our family’s run into Rarity specifically plenty times before.  Granny Smith told me about how she comes out of the forest sometimes. She gets mentioned in these journals all the time.  The one who drew that picture, he met a large group of vampires that Rarity was part of and those vampires slaughtered almost his entire adventuring party.”

Twilight grabbed the journal and skimmed through it while Applejack spoke.  In it, Rarity’s name was circled every time it appeared.  She didn’t get much time to skim, but on the day this entry took place the ‘Rarity’ he ran into was just talking to him about plants that grew nearby.  She must have waited a bit before slaughtering him.

“She fought another one of my ancestors a few decades later and left him with a real bad scar.” Applejack took out another journal but didn’t bother opening this one.  “Granny Smith ran into her when she was young too.  Not much happened back then, but she did steal my grandpa’s hat more or less. And I admit that one doesn’t sound like much, but the very first time I saw Rarity you know what happened?  She threw three hats at me and said ‘interest’. I didn’t even know what that meant till I went and looked it up.”

“So she’s a polite vampire?” Twilight looked up from the journal.

“No!  Remember that other stuff?  She gave me those hats cause she must have known we had these journals and I’d look her up and- and it was some kinda threat!  I know it.  She was letting me know that she’s back and now she’s moving in and kicking the rest of us out.”  Applejack got up with a huff and trotted over to the window, looking out into the Everfree.  “Every time she’s come crawling out of the forest, she’s gotten more and more brazen.  Now she’s moving in like she owns the place and bringing all these other monsters with her!  We gotta be careful.”

“Uh-huh.”  Twilight leaned back, unmoved by Applejack’s passion. “And she’s gonna eat me?  Cause I was completely at their mercy last night and- honestly they were way nicer than I thought they’d be.”

“A lot of ponies go missing in this town.  And Rarity just happens to show up right after dreadstalkers start coming out of the forest.  I’m almost positive she’s offing some ponies, using that as a cover.  But no.”  Applejack came back to the table and spoke quietly like this was a secret.  “Listen, I think they might be trying to turn you into a vampire too.”

“Again, they could have bitten me.”

“It don’t work like that. The dark magic of the Everfree radiates off of them, corrupting everything they get close to.  They poison water, make the forest spread faster and they turn normal ponies into vampires.  Just being around them you're gonna absorb their poison and start changing.  They act nice now to keep you close, but eventually, they're gonna turn on you.  They're gonna offer you something called the fruit of eternal youth and when you don't eat it, then they'll devour you."

"The fruit of eternal youth?"  Twilight asked.  "That sounds incredibly fake."

"Well it ain't.  My ancestors have seen it plenty.  It makes it so you stop aging and makes you immune to every poison, that's what they tell you.  But what they don't tell you is that eating it makes you cursed, so you can't ever leave the Everfree Forest no matter how hard you try.  And then you slowly transform into a monster just like them.  That's what they're doing- trying to drag you into the forest so you'll be trapped there with them forever!"

Now Applejack had made the mistake of moving to a topic Twilight had a good education on.  Now she was talking about magic and transformation.

“Rarity doesn’t look like this.”  Twilight grabbed the first book and pointed to her picture again.  “Does she wear a mask?”

“Well- no.  She transforms.  I’ve seen her-“

“Ah-ha!”  Twilight stood up triumphantly.  “There’s not enough magic left for transformation spells.  Not even Sunset Shimmer can do transformation magic and all the shape-shifting species are extinct.  So how am I supposed to get transformed, huh?  How does Rarity do it when it’s physically impossible?  Or do they wheel Celestia out here every night so she can change Rarity back and forth?”

“It’s the magic from the forest.  The dark magic is what changes you.”

“Dark magic is unusable. It literally does nothing but kill you. That’s the entire problem.” Twilight closed the book and shoved it back at Applejack.  “And that's not even touching the fact that curses don't exist. I took years of courses on this stuff.  You’re not going to tick me with your superstition. I've seen plenty of PSAs about how superstition leads to the downfall of society.”

“Well I’m not a hundred percent sure how it works, okay?”  Applejack took the book back with a sigh.  “But I know it does.  I’ve seen their real forms before.  Like, personally.  I can’t not believe it.”

“Well I’m a hundred percent sure you’re crazy at this point.  The academy already discovered everything.  There’s no more science to be done, nothing new to invent, and no spells left to be discovered.  Everypony knows that.  If doing any of this with dark magic, or with anything, was possible, they’d know.”

“I’m not going to question that.  But just cause they know everything doesn’t mean they’re going to tell you everything.”

“So now this is a conspiracy theory too?”

“Well-!”  Applejack sighed, then started impatiently tapping her hoof against the table, trying to think of some other angle.  “Okay, I don’t right blame you for not believing me. But just remember this, okay?  If you keep hanging around them, you’re gonna start changing.  The first thing, from what I gather, is your eyes will start changing, become sensitive to sunlight.  If that happens-“

“Yeah, I’ll get you if I start having eye problems.”  Twilight rolled her eyes and yawned.  “Look, I’m not even a hundred percent sure I’m going to hang out with them anymore. Last night was a lot and they’re clearly insane.”

But then again, it looked like the entire town was crazy.  Twilight started to wonder what secret insanity Thunderlane had yet to reveal to her.

“That’s a good idea either way.”  Applejack nodded.  “Those three are a terrible influence on this town.  And Rarity’s real manipulative.  Actually- do you remember Pinkie?  I don’t know if you heard about that time she went missing.”

“Yeah.  I did, actually.”

“Well you know, I knew Pinkie before she disappeared.  Let me tell you, she was nothing like she is now.  She was a real quiet, polite demure pony who respected authority and the right way to do things.  She had some heart condition that kept her inside most of the time.  Then she comes back and it's like she's a completely different pony!  She's a hissing maniac and her incurable disease just up and vanished.  You know, I tried to tell her parents where she is, but Pinkie doesn’t even want to go anywhere near them anymore.  It’s like Rarity just completely brainwashed her.  She probably convinced her to run away in the first place.”

“That is a little disturbing.”  Twilight might not have believed it, but that did fit with what Thunderlane told her. “That’s like a cult thing.  Maybe I should be more careful around them.”

“That’s a good idea.” Applejack nodded.  “I want to leave these two books here with you for now. Just don’t forget what I said.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Twilight yawned again.  “Look, I really need some sleep right now.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

Applejack left the two books she’d shown Twilight and took the rest with her when she left.  Twilight let out a sigh of relief when Applejack left. She was starting to wonder if having her as a neighbor was really that great.

That thing about Pinkie was certainly something she should investigate.

But!

Twilight looked at the door, then down at the books, then back at the door.  Suddenly she was a little less tired.

This was the first time she’d been in the same room as an unapproved book before. Curiosity was something Twilight always struggled with, something that got her into trouble so many times. Right now was no different.

They technically weren’t banned so Twilight could technically read them, so long as she knew everything written in them was basically fiction.  It wasn’t like she had grades to worry about or classmates looking to snitch on her anymore.  She wouldn’t have to watch eight hours of PSAs when this caught up with her.

Twilight made sure all the blinds were closed and locked the door.  Then she turned back to the books and crept up on them like she was approaching a fuzzy spider that might just be a jumper.  It almost felt like she was about to read something that was actually banned but reminded herself that it was technically okay.

Twilight was just going to do it.  Nopony would ever know!

She decided to continue reading that journal, curious to see how that scene lead to a ‘slaughter’.

It took a moment to find where this vampire episode began.  The whole thing was set in much older times when they were still sending those expeditions out to try and get to the center of the Everfree forest. Applewood, Applejacks’ thrice-grandfather, was on one of these expeditions when she ran into a group of seven vampires.

His reaction to meeting them was perplexing.  ‘Can you believe I found seven vampires?’  and treated them with the amazed curiosity of somepony who just found an entire patch of four-leaf clovers or a pride of albino lions. He seemed to already believe vampires existed but thought they were too rare to ever actually see.

And the two groups got along just fine for about six days or so.  Applewood’s group was starving, sickly, lost and many of them were badly wounded.  The vampires took them back to where they lived, a house carved directly into a tree.

The vampires tried to get them to eat fruits from the forest, often enough to annoy Applewood. The fruits, the vampires claimed, would turn them into vampires too, grant them eternal life, and then they could stay in the forest forever.  Applewood’s group refused each time but stayed for a few days out of exhaustion and curiosity.

‘Rarity’ was the one he spent the most time talking to and the one who tempted him with fruit the most often.  She appeared to be a tailor and was keen on showing off all the dresses she made to the expedition force.  Even if this was real, the Rarity in the story had to be a different one. Twilight really couldn’t imagine the Rarity from last night making dresses.

There were several pages more where the fictional Rarity told him about plants and animals in the woods and he drew diagrams of everything.  Applewood seemed especially interested in that.  But Twilight skimmed over that part, worried she might start thinking about the Everfree Forest too much if she did.  All this was already past the line.

On the seventh day, Applewood’s captain showed up, severely wounded, wanting them all to leave immediately.

Then there was no entry for almost a week.

The next entry was talking about the massacre in the past tense.  Vampires slaughtered Applewood’s entire party except him and one other pony who barely escaped.  He seemed most concerned about detailing exactly how the vampires fought, explaining all kinds of made-up spells and weapons that Twilight knew for a fact didn’t exist.

But he never went back to explain the reason why the two groups ended up fighting in the first place. It gave Twilight the impression that the vampires just slaughtered them out of nowhere, or maybe they just didn’t want them to leave that badly.  It certainly sounded like the Rarity in the story wanted him to stay a little longer.

With that part missing, the story felt dissatisfying, like she didn’t get an actual ending.

It didn’t look like he had anything more to say about vampires for a while after that, running into other monsters instead.  But there was a footnote at the end of this little episode that referred Twilight back to the bestiary.  Twilight decided to follow it.

Twilight rubbed her eyes, getting tired again.  She took the journal over to the couch and lied down with it.

Vampires, the manual said, were the opposite of normal ponies.  Dark magic was perfectly safe to them, but light magic had the same toxic effect that dark magic would on a normal pony.  The sun, the greatest source of light magic next to Celestia, burned them for this reason.  Holy water, high-level spells, and powerful enchanted objects were all extremely effective weapons against them because of their weakness to light magic.

Not like a normal pony could get any of those things today.

There was one fruit, it said, that was not poisonous but would grant you eternal youth instead. Vampires were ponies who’d given in to temptation and ate the fruit of eternal youth.  The fruit made it so they never aged, but twisted their form and left them completely morally depraved.  And, as Applejack warned, left you unable to leave the forest.

They were filled with an insatiable urge to lure other ponies into the forest and feed them this fruit so their target would be stuck in the forest too and become completely corrupted.  To that end, they always appeared friendly at first, made sure you saw them as the best friend you ever had.  But then they would offer you the fruit of eternal youth and if you denied them, the vampire would devour you instead.

That was the same line Applejack gave before and it was consistent with the other journal.  Maybe that was why the vampires killed all of Applewood’s group, for saying no to the fruit.

An obvious flaw in the story was that if Rarity was a vampire, she must have eaten the fruit and become unable to leave the forest.  Yet she wasn't in the forest last night, so that disproved that.

...Only dreadstalkers were similar.  They couldn't leave the forest because Celestia's magic kept them back.  But they could get into Ponyville now, because it was surrounded, so what if the same was true for vampires?

She was giving this all way too much thought!

Twilight was exhausted by now, too tired to keep reading much more.  She propped the book up on a nightstand next to her couch, rested her chin against the couch’s arms, and just flipped through the pictures.  It had some sketches of the treehouses the journal mentioned.

She flipped back to the start and found herself staring at that picture of Rarity.  Most likely it was just some other pony that looked like her, but it was so similar that Twilight couldn’t help but immediately think ‘Rarity’ when looking at it.

Even as a vampire, she was so pretty.  She was adorable, perfect, just sitting there, smiling.  Twilight liked the way her eyes were drawn and found herself starring at them.  She remembered staring into them for real last night, shining blue in the dimly lit room.

Twilight was too tired to keep her eyes open longer.  Thankfully, she was feeling pretty snug suddenly and cuddled into the couch.  She closed her eyes, unsure if she was resting for a minute or going back to sleep.  Time felt broken now.

Even with her eyes closed, she could still perfectly picture Rarity in her head.  So much of last night haunted her, was crystal clear in her mind.

And soon enough she was asleep.


_______________________________________________________



Twilight eventually got up again, this time well past four.  She got up not because she felt like she’d gotten enough sleep, but because her mind was drowning in melancholy.

Some portion of those hours of lying around was spent asleep, Twilight knew because she had a dream. Rarity was in it, but that was all Twilight remembered at this point.  Twilight remembered waking up briefly feeling cozier than she’d felt in a long time. She remembered being surprised that Rarity wasn’t there and realizing it’d been a dream.  She remembered being a little disappointed by that, that it was one of the nicer dreams she’d had, one she badly wanted to remember and decided she’d write down as soon as she got up.

But she closed her eyes for another second and fell back asleep in an instant.  There was no second dream and now she couldn’t remember anything about the first one.  She tied to remember, but it was forgotten and gone forever.  That thought filled her with a sad melancholy that’d become too familiar at this point.  She felt like she’d lost something nice.

Compared to everything else, this was such a stupid thing to get upset about.  It just felt like she had no control over anything, she couldn’t even hold on to a dream.

Twilight’s eyes drifted back across the room, to that box of pictures, still taped shut.  Opening it wouldn’t change anything.  Nothing would change anything.

She sighed and looked down to find that monster journal was still on the nightstand, still opened to that page with a drawing of Rarity.  Without really meaning to, Twilight found herself looking over Rarity yet again.  Images from last night haunted her.  Rarity’s shining eyes, her sitting up on that couch at the top of the stairs like a queen, that dangerous smile she got when she said something outrageous. Twilight didn’t get to decide if these were in her head either.

Well, Twilight did still have an invitation to meet up with the Blue Diamonds in a few hours.  If Twilight couldn’t have Rarity in her dreams, she could settle for having the real Rarity.

The absurdity of the thought did cheer her up a little.  Twilight could do something if she wanted.

But did she want to go and was it a good idea?  Twilight had yet to get a chance to think about it.

The first objection her mind came up with was that there wouldn’t be time.  She had to start work tomorrow and staying up until sunrise should be an impossibly bad idea.  But last night forever destroyed everything about time Twilight took for granted until now.

Her shift was from one in the afternoon to seven.  Hypothetically, she could go to sleep at four in the morning and still get eight hours of sleep.  It felt like it was impossible, but it wasn’t.  She almost wanted to try it as an experiment.

And Twilight felt relatively awake now.  Her headache was mostly gone, so it looked like even that excessive amount of candy didn’t do any serious damage.  Twilight was weirdly disappointed that she wasn’t feeling sick anymore.  Loathe as she was to admit it, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were right.

But only about that one thing!

Maybe that was the real problem with going, that they were going to be a bad influence.  Twilight didn’t want to pick up any of their bad habits or ideas.

They were so brazen about everything.  Cursing constantly, wanting her to get an inter-tribal haircut, watching horror movies, even outright asking why you should care about the rules. And it wasn’t just that they did all these things but that they were proud of all of it. She’d never met ponies like them.

And maybe Twilight could have ignored all of that if they weren’t right about that one stupid thing. Or if Twilight hadn’t done such a terrible job arguing against a bunch of punks.

Twilight wanted badly to prove them all wrong about everything else.  She wanted a second chance at arguing why their behavior went too far.  They were clearly interested in arguing it, would actually listen, and Twilight knew that if she had more time to prepare she could do a much better job.  Their ideas were just so out of left field that nopony could refute them on the spot.  They had to be wrong, so Twilight just needed to be a little better to prove it.

That was it!

She could write down her arguments in essay form and give that to Rarity and the others!  She was a lot better at this sort of thing when she had time to write everything down.  And it did feel wrong to not be writing essays after a lifetime of doing so.

Twilight would just go over there, get it out of her system: Rarity, this argument, all of it.  Maybe confronting it a second time was the only way to get last night out of her mind. 

She’d be prepared this time. She’d be ready for their crazy curveball questions now and wouldn’t look like an idiot.  She’d say no to coffee and leave by midnight at the latest.

There were only a few hours left before she had to leave so Twilight sat down at her desk and started writing down her thoughts on the subject of swear words.  That seemed like a good starting point.
> Chapter 4.  Twilight's prize
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight intended to get to the graveyard well before sundown, but this was still a new town to her.  She took a wrong turn and got lost for a little while.  So by the time Twilight got to the graveyard, the sky was already red and she had reason to be concerned.

She couldn’t see the Blue Diamonds anywhere as she approached and started to get just a little scared.  If they didn’t show up, Twilight would be stuck walking home alone after dark!  Then she could seriously die.  Or what if one of them was already dead and that’s why they weren’t here?

But the graveyard was big!  Twilight tried to reassure herself that they were somewhere deeper in.

Looking in, Twilight recognized the graves as a style that she’d read about but never seen.   They had spiked polls on the top and vines purposely running up them and over the grave, something that lost popularity hundreds of years ago.  It gave her the feeling that this place was ancient, older than anything else she’d run into in this town.

There were, of course, more modern-looking tombs sunk into the ground, but they were interspersed with the more ancient, vine-covered so that looking left to right the graveyard smoothly transitioned from being drowned in vines to having none at all.

Twilight got to the gate and looked up at it, closed but unlocked.  She’d only ever been to a graveyard the one time and wasn’t sure what the rules for going inside were during normal hours.  She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go in.  Recently she’d decided that she hated the idea of graves in general, couldn’t even understand why other ponies wanted them.  But this wasn’t the Canterlot graveyard so it wasn’t so bad.

Before her mind could go back to some dark place, Rainbow Dash flew down from somewhere and landed on top of the gate.

“Rainbow Dash!”  Twilight called up to her, genuinely relieved to see her at this point.

“Hey! You came?” Dash pumped her hoof down at Twilight, one of those long-distance bro-hoof deals. “You know, we weren’t sure if you would."

Rainbow Dash was still dressed up, even though there was no party today, which didn’t make much sense to Twilight outside of her just being a delinquent.  Her spiked collar and bracelets were gone, replaced by mismatched leg warmer in the front and tall boots over socks in the back.  Parts of her mane were dyed black, leaving only the orange and blue stripes.

While remaining on top of one of the gate doors, Dash pushed the other side open for Twilight with a swift kick. Twilight looked at the now open path into the darkening graveyard.  Looking into it reminded Twilight that she did have one extra important point to bring up.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight looked up at her. “Pinkie is here, right? I wanted to ask her about her family.”

Dash jumped off the gate and landed in front of Twilight, her wings spread defensively. She was fast!  Though to be honest, Twilight had never really known any pegasi so she didn't know how normal that was.

“Whoa, whoa!  What are you doing bringing that up?” Dash gave Twilight a stern look, but quickly lightened her expression and stance and shook her head a little. “Guess I can't blame you for not knowing, but that's kind of a bad topic for Pinks. Think you could maybe not kill the mood?"

Twilight couldn't help but be suspicious over Dash not wanting her to ask about it. Was Applejack, right?

“It's just that Applejack said you convinced Pinkie to run away from her family and you’re telling her to not see them anymore,” said Twilight. “If that's true, then it's not right. That's like something a cult would do.  And if you’re a cult, I’m going home right now.”

Dash groaned, rubbing her hoof against her face.

“First of all,” said Dash, “Pinkie ran away from home before she met us.  She was homeless for like a month before we found her.  All the boss did was give her a place to stay.  And you wanna know why Pinkie doesn't want to talk to her parents anymore?"

Dash took off her sunglasses and moved forward, forcing Twilight to take a step back, glaring into her eyes. 

“It's cause her parents were horrible ponies."  Dash hesitated for a moment, trying to decide how much she should tell Twilight.  "See, Pinkie has a condition, right?  It's uh, let's say 'treatable'.  But her parents lied to her about what she had, told her it was some untreatable heart condition even though it ain't that at all.  She's fine now that she's treating it, but she spent her entire childhood bedridden cause they lied to her, because they wanted her to be sick so she could never leave.    Pinkie didn't even get her cutie mark until after she met us.  Do you really think Pinkie should have stayed with them?"

Twilight's ears fell flat against her head. That did change the tone of the story completely.  Twilight didn't know how old Pinkie was when she met them, but not having your cutie mark in what must have been her late teens alone meant something was horribly wrong.

“Sorry,” said Twilight. “I'm sorry. I just-”

“Eh! It's alright.” Dash put her sunglasses on and smiled at her. “Like I said, you didn't know. We're cool. Just don't bring this up when Pinks is around.  And don’t think bucking Applejack is gonna give you the whole truth on anything.”

“Right.”  Twilight nodded.  She could relate to not wanting to bring things up.  “I won’t mention this.”

“Rarity just has a thing for strays like you and me. All of us got screwed over, just like you did with that school.  Like to hang out with our own kind.” Dash tried to give Twilight a light jab on her chest, but Twilight staggered back at the threat of being touched. 

What was with these ponies and physical contact? Who did that? And yet Dash rolled her eyes like Twilight was the one acting weird.

“R-right.” Twilight cleared her throat. “But wait, how did you know about that?  I don’t think I told you about the academy.  Did I?”

“Ah, yeah, you’re from the bucking city, right?”  Dash laughed and started into the graveyard, Twilight following behind.  “Well in smaller towns like this, if you tell something to one pony you tell it to every last bucking one of them.  I already know everything about you, Sparks.  You already heard plenty about us, yeah?”

Dash smiled like she was trying to show off some invisible fangs, maybe expecting Twilight to bring up that vampire nonsense.  But Twilight didn’t.  She did have a point about how fast rumors spread in this town. It made her wonder if any weird stories about her cropped up yet.

They walked deep into the graveyard, towards where the older graves stood until they were surrounded by stones covered in large vines. Finally, they reached a section where several small, square tombs rose above the ground.

Here, Twilight found Pinkie and Rarity waiting. Rarity was sitting with her back to one of the tombs, reading some kind of pamphlet and not looking excited about whatever it said.  Meanwhile, Pinkie was lying on her back, keeping a small ball in the air by kicking it with each of her four legs in turn.

As soon as Twilight approached, Pinkie kicked the ball forward instead of up, sending it flying towards Rarity's face.

“Twitwi's here!” Pinkie exclaimed and shot up to her hooves.

Meanwhile, the ball hit Rarity hard in the face. She was completely unfazed by this though, simply blinking and casually looking up with her eyes. When she saw Twilight, she gave a sly smile, put the pamphlet down, and strode over to her.

“Twilight!”  Rarity held her forelegs wide like she was offering a hug.  “I’m glad you came out here.  I should probably apologize for thinking you wouldn’t show up.  It’s very unusual for a pony to follow me this far.  You’re an unusually brave pony.”

“Brave?”  The compliment took her off guard.  Never once in her life did Twilight ever think herself brave.

“I think so!”  Dash walked past Twilight and over to Rarity. Rarity accepted her with the hug she’d offered to Twilight before Dash turned back.  “You know, a lot of the crap we do is just to scare away lame ponies who aren’t worth our bucking time.  They don’t usually stick around this long.”

“I get so lonely here in the dark,” Rarity said with a mocking smile.

Dash nuzzled Rarity’s neck lovingly and Rarity kissed her on the forehead in return.  Were they a couple or something?!  Not that Twilight had anything against it, she’d just never seen a couple kissing in public before, certainly not a gay one!

But instead of feeling disgust, Twilight just felt lonely now.

“But you keep following me.”  Rarity held Dash close and beckoned to Twilight.  “Am I just that pretty?”

Yes.  The answer was yes.  Not that Twilight was going to say that out loud.

“Well you’re the one who keeps inviting me over.”  Twilight started trotting over to Rarity, that beckoning felt like it was pulling her in. “Am I just that pretty?”

“Yes,” Rarity answered immediately.

Twilight choked on nothing, turning away to cough.  Rarity just called her pretty?!

“W-what?!”  Twilight turned only her eyes back.  She could feel herself blushing heavily.

“Or maybe I should say you have potential.”  Rarity started looking over every little detail of Twilight. “Looks, you’re maybe a six but you could be a nine if you follow my advice.  And I like how curious you seem to be.  I think if I can get all those pesky morals off your back you could be a great friend for me.”

“You like that I’m curious?”  Twilight looked back at Rarity with suspicion.  “That’s usually the thing ponies like the least.”

“I’m glad they think that. It means I can have you all to myself.” Rarity rested her hoof on her cheek. “Now answer my question.  Why are you here?”

“I feel like I have unfinished business.”  Twilight reached into her saddlebag and pulled out three folders. “I think you could be good if I got my pesky morals onto your back.  Only, you know, they’re not pesky in my opinion, and uh- that sounded better in my head.”

Twilight levitated one of the folders to each of the other ponies and they all gave the essay a curious look.  Pinkie was turning it side to side like she’d never seen an essay before.

“I took the liberty of writing you an essay on why cursing is wrong,” Twilight said proudly.  “I know didn’t have a good response to what you said last night, but I have one now.  I’m sure if you-”

Pinkie was the first to fall over in laughter and the others joined in a moment later.  Even Rarity was madly giggling.

“Oh geez.”  Dash wiped a tear from her cheek.  “This is so precious!  This for real?”

It seemed so obvious this would happen in hindsight.  Twilight bowed her head in shame and defeat.

“No, no. Twilight!”  Rarity came right over and lifted Twilight’s chin up.  She single, very quick nuzzle against the cheek. “This is adorable in a good way.  I love you for this.  I’ll read the whole thing.  I’ll even make those two read it too.”

“Wait!”  Pinkie finally stopped laughing and bolted upright at that.  "I thought I'd never have to read again!"

“You will?”  Twilight had never gotten somepony to read one of her essays before, professors notwithstanding.  She wasn’t sure if she could believe this.

“When I challenge them, most ponies just declare that I’m evil and they’re good and that’s enough for them.  But not for you.”  Rarity held up the essay with her magic.  “It’s not enough for you to just feel like you’re good.  You want to actually know if you’re good, right?  I like to think I’m the same.  So what did you come up with?  I promise I won’t laugh this time.”

Twilight was starting to feel more confident again.  Maybe she could try.

“You see-“  Twilight cleared her throat.  She just needed to pretend she was giving a report to a teacher or something.  She started trotting back and forth as she gave her lecture.  “They said that getting used to bad words is for the best because then you don’t get hurt by them.  But even if you repeat the word over and over again to inoculate yourself against it, almost no other pony on the planet is going to do the same and it’s unlikely you’ll ever get them to.  Other pony’s whose feelings do get hurt are occasionally going to hear you, giving you an ever-present risk.  Replacing things like the c-word with ‘crud’ or the l-word with ‘disfavorable’ gets the same message across while eliminating the risks outlined in section one, four, and five of my essay.  Therefore, the rules make sense and uh- don’t curse and stuff.”

“Very good!”  Rarity gave one single clap.  “But as for changing the world, well I won’t change everypony either way.  But is it wrong for me to change the ones in my reach, who will actually hear me?  I should put more concern on their feelings than some hypothetical pony.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me making you a little uncomfortable if it makes you change for the better.”

“But you’re not doing that,” said Twilight.

“Aren’t I?  You’ve only known me for a day, but what if I said ‘buck’?  Would you still recoil?”  Rarity smiled, knowing her point was made.

“Well-“  Twilight felt a bit frustrated by all this.  She wondered how well asking for a few minutes to think about all this would go.

“And cursing is fun!” Pinkie jumped up onto a tombstone behind Twilight.  “Ten seconds of bad and then it’s fun forever, Twitwi!  Totally worth it!”

Pinkie hissed and jumped off.  Dash came over and took her place.

“This whole thing is just policing your language,” said Dash.  “It’s just a way for them to try and control you, pressure you to conform. It makes you get used to being told what you can say and think.  Those bucking dweebs just wanna control every little thing in your life.  That’s all.  So buck that.”

“Not to mention,” Rarity continued.  “I like the aesthetics of it.  Surrounding myself with foul-mouthed ponies gives me a certain air, doesn’t it?  Do you really believe calling somepony a dork is never justified and that the raw emotion of it can be captured by some neutered word?”

This whole time, Twilight just looked around at them, struggling to respond to any of this.

“Hold on!  Let me write all this down.”  Twilight took out a paper and wrote as fast as she could. “I-I’ll write you another essay tomorrow.”

Rarity covered her mouth, trying not to giggle.

“Yeesh.” Twilight looked down at her notes.  “I thought you were just doing all these things to be bad, but you’re actually philosophical or something?!  You gave this more thought than I did.  Where do you even come up with this stuff?

“Ah!”  Rarity winked at Twilight.  “Now you’re curious about my philosophies?  Well you know I want to stoke your curiosity.”

Rarity nuzzled the air just inches away from Twilight, making her shudder.  Some base, carnal part of Twilight wished she’d actually gotten nuzzled just then.

“Oh, actually I love arguing, Twilight.”  Rarity held her hoof close to Twilight’s face, pulling it back and forth slightly like she was trying to see how close she could get without a reaction.  “I love asking questions that take ponies off guard and haunt them.  I love it when I leave a pony with no choice but to agree with me.  I’d like to have lots of these arguments with you until you agree with me on everything.”

Rarity went back to Rainbow Dash and draped herself over the pegasus possessively.

“You know, my Dashie and Pinkie used to be a lot more like you.  Dashie hated my opinions far more than you did, at first.  But now look at how much of a degenerate she is.”  Rarity gave Dash a quick kiss on the lips and looked back to Twilight, still holding her.  “Aren’t you jealous of her?”

Saying she wasn’t jealous wouldn’t go over well given how much this was making Twilight blush.

“Every dork in this bucking town is jealous of me.”  Dash lifted her head with pride.  “No shame in admitting it.”

Dash nuzzled Rarity back. 

“I’m not jealous.” Twilight puffed out her cheeks. “And you shouldn’t be so overconfident! Every moral and scientific authority in the world agrees that I’m right about this stuff.  I know what I believe is right, I’m just not as good at arguing as you are.”

“You’re right.” Rarity stroked Dash’s mane.  “I have too much more experience.  It won’t be satisfying for me unless I teach you a little first, make it more challenging.  I take it your school never taught you critical thinking or logical fallacies or anything of the sort?”

“A logical fallacy?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.  “That sounds kind of like a contradiction.”

“I have a book about it.” Rarity got that dangerous smile. “I have lots of books that can teach you about rhetoric, manipulation tactics, that sort of thing.  I think they’d make you a more worthy opponent.  It'd be much more difficult to simply trick you with fancy words at any rate.”

“Books?” Twilight narrowed her eyes, unapproved books still on her mind. “Which books?”  

“Have you ever heard of It’s Not Okay or You’re Basically in a Cult by Open Eyes?”

“Open Eyes?”  Twilight stood up and backed away.  She’d heard that name a lot in school.  “The serial killer guy?!  You want me to read banned books written by a serial killer?!”

“Who did he kill?” Rarity asked.

“Okay.”  Twilight sighed and sat back down.  “Technically he didn’t kill anypony.  But remember the rainbow killer?  And the cutie mark cannibal?  They were all directly inspired by those books.  And the crime rate skyrocketed because those books were sowing discord. It only went back down after the first round of book banning.  Nopony should ever read those books.”

“That ain’t true!” Dash called out from behind Rarity.  “Banning books made the crime rate go up.  And the rainbow killer never mentioned Open Eyes in his manifesto thing.”

“It’s not true? You’re saying the academy is wrong?”

“Yeah!”  Dash nodded with total confidence.

Twilight was starting to get used to being stunned by them at this point and recovered from the shock quickly.

“And you seriously want me to trust you three over the academy?”  Twilight asked.

“No,” said Rarity.  “I don’t want you to trust me.  You can look all of this up yourself, all the information is still out there if you look. Have you checked any of this?”

“Well no, but-“  

“Ha!”  Pinkie laughed.  “But the same ponies who told you chocolate would kill you said so?”

Twilight turned away. She felt they were being childish by bringing that up over and over again, but she knew she was too curious. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she actually checked these statistics.  Just to be sure.

“Maybe.”  Twilight eyed them suspiciously.  “But if even one thing you just said is wrong I’m not going to even look at those books.”

“Good.”

Twilight didn’t like Rarity’s confidence.

“But in the meantime, I owe you a prize, so I'll tell you a secret.”  Rarity walked over to the front of the tomb she’d just been sitting next to.  “But I'm afraid you do have to follow me just a little bit farther.  There’s a lot of nice things in this town that nopony else will show you but myself.  Let me show you one of them.”

The tomb was so overrun by vines Twilight thought it had to be the oldest one here.  Only the door, that they stood in front of, was still exposed to the night air.  And unlike the entrance to the graveyard, this one had chains and locks over it.

“This doesn’t look like a nice thing,” said Twilight.

“It’s nicer on the inside.”  Rarity grabbed the lock with her magic and started fiddling with it. “Shouldn’t you like simple little morals like that?”

“Wait.”  Twilight watched with disbelief until the lock came undone.  “You’re going inside of there?”

“We are.”  Pinkie corrected Twilight.  “We break into tombs and abandoned houses and stuff all the time.  It’s fun!”

“But we can't go in there,” said Twilight. “I recognize from the architecture that this is an Elementalist tomb. In their religion, it’s forbidden for the living to enter the resting place of the dead. Only dead ponies and elementals are supposed to see the inside of these tombs, so going in there is a really big taboo.”

“I’m impressed with your knowledge, Twilight.” Rarity turned away from the crypt and came within reach of Twilight. For a second Twilight's heart stopped beating as she hoped for another head pat. Sadly, it didn't come. “But tell me, are you an Elementalist? Do you believe in the elementals? That's the real reason entering these tombs is forbidden, you know. Elementalists don't fear these tombs out of some misguided respect, but because they truly believe the elementals will get them. Do you?”

“Well, no,” said Twilight. “I don't believe in any kind of superstition. But- it's still disrespectful to the dead, right? Whoever's buried there believed that stuff, and I'm sure their families would want us to respect that.”

“The dead won't care what we do.”  Rarity pushed open the doors to the tomb. “As for any relatives they may have, I can personally guarantee you they don't mind us visiting. And really, what’s disrespectful?  Leaving the dead to be forgotten completely, or to visit their memories?”

“Sure but,” Twilight said, scratching her head, trying hard to think of a counter to that.

With an eager smile, Rarity watched Twilight think, getting way too much enjoyment out of it.

“Well it feels wrong,” Twilight concluded. “Shouldn’t I go with my heart or something?”

“Should you?” Rarity gave her a smile and a wink before heading inside the tomb.

There was an almost magnetic pull to Rarity, making Twilight want to follow even though everything else made her want to stay.  Twilight approached the doors and looked at the blackness inside. There was a steep staircase right after the door, leading deep underground. A feeling of dread came over Twilight for obvious reasons, breaking that magnetic feeling as fast as it had come.

“Come on Twitwi! There are so many great things you'll never see if you stay up here!” Pinkie moved up behind Twilight and started pushing her forward with the top of her head. “Come on come on come on!”

“Are there going to be dead bodies all over the place?” Twilight dug her hooves in, slowing her movement to a halt. “I mean, there are dead bodies down there.  Won't it be a festering pit of rotting corpses?”

“Nope!” Pinkie said without the slightest care before giving up on pushing Twilight and bouncing past her and down the stairs.

Well, that much was good.

“The coffins are filled with ashes.”  Dash shrugged before walking into the tomb as well. “If it makes a difference.”

And that's how Twilight ended up alone in a graveyard, staring into an open tomb.  Being alone felt like the worse of her two options.  And it wasn’t like it would hurt to just take a peek at what it looked like down there.  She could turn back if it really was gross.

Twilight took a deep breath and went down the stairs.

Halfway down, Twilight noticed a soft, red glow coming from the bottom, assuring her it wouldn’t be as dark as she feared.  And she trotted down the stairs.

Far from a festering pit of rotting corpses, this place was beautiful. It was a long hallway with a stone bed in the center and slots for coffins along the walls, one on either side and two at the far end.

The coffins were gilded with gold and the walls and columns between them were covered in gems. Everything had intricate, detailed designs carved into them, swirling patterns and carvings of ponies with eyes socketed with gems.

There were three coffins in the room, pushed into the spaces in the wall carved out for them.  Curiously, there was a fourth, empty slot that never got its coffin, was still waiting for somepony to die.  It was this empty slot that Rarity decided to use as a seat, jumping up there and sitting proudly like it was some sort of throne.  Though to be fair that was how she sat on everything.

Money looming on the back of her mind, Twilight wondered how anyone could have just buried so many valuable gems. Twilight stared at the coffins, wondering how much of this gold was real, how many thousands of bits you could get from scrapping some of the gold off.  Even a little bit of it would make a huge difference in her life.

“Ooo!”  Pinkie snuck up behind Twilight.  “Are you thinking of taking some of the gold?  You wanna play graverobbers with us?”

“You have my permission to take whatever you want.”  Rarity gave an imperious flick of her hoof.  “I don’t need it.”

“I don’t think you can give me permission to rob somepony else’s grave,” said Twilight.

And Rarity laughed.

“I’m just impressed by how much of this there is.”  Twilight looked around, still taking it all in.  “I knew these tombs were ornate, but this is much more than what I imagined. This family must have been amazingly wealthy.”

“Fairly wealthy,” Rarity jumped out of her cubbyhole, “but not as much as you'd think. This one-“

Rarity trotted over to one of the coffins.  Just next to the slot it’d been pushed into was a stone carving of a filly.  She ran her hoof down the side of the stone face and closed her eyes.

“This one was just a filly,” Rarity said with more respect than Twilight was expecting. “Just after getting her cutie mark, she got an incurable disease and slowly drifted away, at such a young age.  Her family was devastated.  Her father coped with the loss by focusing his attention on building this ornate tomb for her.”

Rarity very slowly trotted over to the next coffin, running her hoof along the waving, swirling patterns along the wall as she went, tracing the patterns in the gilded stone.

“The whole family was renowned for their artistic talents, you know,” said Rarity. “The father bought the finest stone and most brilliant gems to fill this place, spending more money than he could afford, spending days and days down here carving this out, making it perfect– his final, beautiful gift for his lost daughter.”

She finally stopped in front of a second coffin. From the design on the front, it looked like it probably belonged to a mare.  Rarity looked into the carvings stone eyes with a somber seriousness.

“Does that sound like a sweet gesture?” Rarity glanced back at Twilight. “Well not everyone thought so. Sweetie Belle's mother was also crushed and her husband spent all his time down here, away from her, focusing on the dead rather than the living. Maybe he could have helped her through it otherwise, or maybe it was always hopeless, but-”

Rarity ran her hoof along the coffin in front of her, lovingly, sorrowfully, with far more respect than Twilight would expect a delinquent to have towards the dead.

“-here they are,” said Rarity, not taking her eyes off the coffin. “A tragedy, some bad decisions.  Love and sorrow make us do stupid things, Twilight.”

Rarity let out a sorrowful sigh.

“That’s a depressing story,” Twilight awkwardly looked away, unsure what she was supposed to say

“Look at the positive side,” Rarity returned to looking at Twilight with a smile.  “At least we’re not dead.  That’s a happy ending to the story if you ask me.”

But for how long would Twilight be alive?  Twilight shouldn’t have come down here.  She hated being reminded of death these days.  She was already left so paranoid about it.

Rarity must have picked up on that.  She was frowning down at twilight with such pity.

“I think I promised you a secret, yes?”  Rarity asked. “It’s something I’ve been very careful not to let anypony in this town know yet.”

“Yeah?”  Twilight was certainly interested in this. 

“Well you’ve been in town for about a day now,” Rarity said.  “That’s probably long enough for at least two ponies to have told you I’m a vampire. I’ve been here for about six months and not one pony has seen me out during the day.  Isn’t that what they say?”

“Yeah.”  Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle a little.  “I definitely heard that one.”
“You see, Twilight,” Rarity whispered, but only those first three words, “nopony sees us during the day because we never go out during the day.  All three of us have light-sensitive conditions that make it unsafe for us to be in the sun.”

“Really?” Twilight asked. “Like xeroderma pigmentosum?”

“Like that,” said Rarity, “but not that one.”

“I have phantasmagorical mitochondria!”  Pinkie jumped up to the slab in the middle of the room.  “If I go out in the sunlight, I lose all my energy and faint! Even having the lights on too long can drain me.  I used to be totally dead on the inside until Rarity taught me how to be a vampire!”

Pinkie made a dramatized fainting motion, or maybe a dying one because she stuck her tongue out at the end.

“Mine makes me blister all over if I stay out in the sun too long.”  Dash rubbed her foreleg like there were blisters there now.  “The sun would literally kill me in a bucking hour if you forced me to stay out.  That’s why I always say I’m the most vampire here.”

“Mine,” Rarity took off her sunglasses and pointed to her eyes, “is called hyper-chromatic degeneration disorder.  Bright lights slowly burn little blind spots into my eyes.  Bit of a fun fact, when you get a blind spot you rarely actually notice because your brain just edits it out.  I have lots of blind spots from when I was a foal and I barely notice.  But if my eyes are exposed to too much more sunlight, soon there’d be too much damage for my brain to pretend everything is fine and I’d go blind forever.  Best to just stay in the dark, in my opinion.”

“I’ve heard of that mitochondria one, at least,” said Twilight.  “But diseases like that are incredibly rare.  The chances of all three of you just happening to-“

“Of course it didn’t just happen,” Rarity giggled, “that’d be ridiculous.  Dashie and I met when we were fillies at a support group for ponies who have conditions that keep them in the dark.  I know dozens of ponies like us.”

“Yeah!”  Dash flew over to Rarity’s side.  “Used to call it vampire con.  Course, all the other ponies there were lame.  We went out looking for others like us but found Pinks here by total accident.  When we found out she was like us, we knew we couldn’t leave her hanging.”

“And now we’re a vampire gang!”  Pinkie stood up on the slab and hissed proudly.  “I can finally be proud to be a vampire!”

“Everypony always gave us crap,” said Dash, “called us vampires growing up.  'Oh, you’re a vampire, you’re a vampire'.  So eventually we just said, yeah buck it.  We’re vampires!”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.”  Twilight nodded.

“I’ve always related to vampires.”  Rarity looked over her own hoof.  “We love them so much you know.  I so wish I was a vampire.  Don’t you?”

“Wish I was a vampire?” Twilight asked.

“No, no.  Wish I was a vampire.”  Rarity leaned over the edge of the coffin hole.  “Don’t you think I should stay young and beautiful forever?  Doesn’t the idea of me getting old, withering away, and dying just seem wrong to you?”

“I dunno.”  Twilight wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. As far as looks went, Rarity was perfect.  It did make her sad thinking that’d just go away eventually… and then Rarity would die. “Maybe?”

“Then why not you?” Rarity pointed down at Twilight. “You look like the sort that just takes it for granted that immortality is bad.  Why not be a vampire with me?”

Rarity smiled, excited about another argument.  Twilight had to admit she wasn’t opposed to trying to argue about a more neutral topic. She did want practice and it wasn’t like she hated this little game they had.

“Heh.  Well of course immortality is bad,” said Twilight.  “If you live forever, you’d have to watch all of your friends and family grow old and die.”

Not that Twilight had any friends…

“Wrong!”  Pinkie jumped off the slab and shouted at Twilight from behind.

“Wrong?”  Twilight tilted her head.  “But- yes.  Of course, that would happen. “

“You already have to watch all your retard friends grow old and die,” said Dash.  “Did you think they weren’t gonna get old and lame?  Or that being mortal will keep them from dying?  The only difference is that right now you gotta grow old and die too.”

They had a point. It’s not like being mortal kept Twilight’s family from dying.  She still lost all of them.

“And if you were a vampire,” Pinkie jumped off the slab, landing next to Twilight, “all you gotta do is kidnap all of your friends, lock them in your basement and turn all of them into vampires one by one.  Then you can party with all of them forever and laugh as all the ponies you hate slowly die around you!”

Pinkie fell on her back laughing.

“But you know,” Pinkie got back up, “hypothetically.  I don’t actually have a basement.”

“Yeah,” said Dash. “You got it backward, Sparks.  Daywalkers get everything backward.  Being a vampire with vampire friends means you don’t gotta watch your friends grow old.”

“I almost feel like I’m getting a sales pitch here.”  Twilight wanted to get off this part of the vampire stuff, it was starting to make her depressed.  “Even if living forever wasn’t terrible I wouldn’t want to have to murder a different pony every night.”

“I suppose,” Rarity lied down in the coffin slot, “it depends on which type of vampire you are, then. I can see some types maybe not being worth it.”

“Which type?” Twilight asked.  “Are there types of vampires?”

Rarity pointed over to Rainbow Dash.

“There’s lots of different types of vampires you know,” said Dash.  “Not all of them eat ponies.  Sides the ones you’re thinking of there’s like, the Darkworld vampires who just drink blood.  Fantasy vampires are more like half-bat half ponies and eat bugs and frogs.  There’s those sappy books about psychic vampires who eat emotions like changelings used to, those ones suck by the way.  Then in mud pony folklore vampires are monsters that live deep in the Everfree.  They come out every once in a while to tempt daywalkers like you with the fruit of eternal youth, which turns you into a monster like them."

“Wait,” said Twilight. “That last one.  Applejack was telling me stories about that earlier today. The vampires offer you fruit and eat you if you don’t eat it.  She said that’s the type of vampire you are.”

“Yeah.”  Dash blew a tuft of hair out of her mane.  “Mud pony gonna mud, remember?  If you came over to my house for scary stories, I’d tell you airhead crap.”  

“Oh yeah.  I guess that would be the type of vampire she’d think of,” Twilight agreed.  “I’ve just never heard of that type of vampire before coming here.  Why does everypony down here know about that story?”

“Oh, that’s one of the costs of banning so many books,” said Rarity.  “There’s all sorts of things you never hear about!  I suppose ponies only tell these myths down near the forest.  You know how the state feels about superstition.”

Twilight felt a certain relief at hearing Rarity call it a myth.

“You know they say that vampire fruit makes you immune to poison,” said Rarity, “so you’d be able to go as deep into the Everfree Forest as you want and eat any plant inside.  But of course, everything in the forest, save that one fruit, is so poisonous it will kill you in one bite.  Befriending an Everfree vampire is the only way to find the right one.  Is that why you’re trying to be friends with me?  So I’ll show you where the fruit of eternal youth is?”

“Well obviously you’re not that type of vampire,” said Twilight.  “Applejack said once you eat that fruit you can’t leave the forest. But you three aren’t in the forest now, so that’s that.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t always work like that,” said Dash.

“What do you mean?”

“These are just stories, Sparks.  How this stuff works isn’t always the same.”

“Oh, I know all these stories!”  Pinkie spoke up in excitement.  “See, the thing about the curse that’s always the same is that you can’t get back home once you eat it.  Sometimes that means you get lost in the forest or burn up if you try to leave.  But then sometimes you forget everypony you ever met or they all forget you or that your house and family all disappear along with all evidence you ever existed!”

“So this is like an entire genre or something?” Twilight suddenly felt ashamed of how ignorant she was. "I never heard of any of those other types of vampires you mentioned, either. I’ve only heard the normal ones before today, the ones who live in the graveyard and drag ponies back to their big underground crypts like uh-“

It dawned on Twilight that she was in exactly such a place.

“Like this one?”  Dash got a dangerous smile when she noticed what Twilight was thinking.  “Ah, crap!  And there's three coffins and three of us, right?”

“But look Twitwi-“ Pinkie ducked down next to Twilight and pointed at the empty coffin slot, where Rarity was lying.  “There’s room for one more.  Wooooo.”

Despite herself, Twilight felt a chill run down her spine.  But then the other three broke into hysterical laughter and Twilight sighed with frustration.

“You know, I didn’t even notice that until just now.”  Rarity beckoned Pinkie over and gave her a kiss on the cheek when she got near.  “I love you two.”

Twilight looked away as fast as she could when the kiss happened.  Rarity was kissing Pinkie too?  Was it even possible to kiss two different ponies?  Now she had no idea what was going on between these three.  It was breaking Twilight’s brain.

"Sadly," said Rarity, "if you really don't want to read anything that's banned the only vampire content you can get are campfire stories and old movies.  I suppose you haven't watched very many movies in general?"

“No way.” Twilight shook her head.  “I’ve never watched a movie movie.  I was only allowed to watch PSAs growing up.  Sometimes documentaries.  That’s the only thing they show in the theaters in Canterlot.”

“Nothing but PSAs your whole life?”  Rarity winked.  “I find that strangely endearing but I also want to kill it.  I so want to watch your first movie with you now.  That’ll be fun.”

“We got tons of old movies, Twilight!”  Pinkie got way too close.  “Literal tons!  You’d have to be a vampire just to live long enough to watch them all.”

“I know owning old movies isn’t illegal, but isn’t it kinda iffy?”  Twilight just watched Pinkie smile.  “Oh, never mind.”

“You should come watch movies with us tomorrow!”  Pinkie offered.  “We can watch The House of Infinite Blood.  That’s the best one cause the vampire wins and gets to eat all the filthy daywalkers!”

Pinkie jumped to her feet and hissed victoriously.

“You just ruined the ending.”  Dash slapped Pinkie's tail.

“Oh.  Right.”  Pinkie covered her mouth.

“I think infinite blood is too much blood for me.”  Twilight shudder, trying to not picture that movie in her mind.  “Maybe we could just watch a PSA instead? I actually have one about why watching movies is immoral.  They’d probably be good for you. It's one of my favorites.”

“I’ll tell you what.” Rarity twirled her hoof in a little circle. “We’ll watch whatever you want first if you promise to watch whatever I want after.”

“Yeah.”  Dash laughed.  “I’m sure that whatever you pull up is gonna be bucking hilarious.”

Something about this felt wrong. Nopony ever wanted to watch PSAs with Twilight.  Nopony ever wanted to do anything with Twilight now that she thought about it. Maybe it was some kind of trap to get her to watch a movie.

"I'm not sure," Twilight muttered.

"Oh, why not?" Rarity asked. "I could start with something not too violent.

"Well-"  Twilight felt nervous about having to argue on her feet.  Instead of trying, she closed her eyes and started reciting something from memory.  “Did you know that the information contained in a single movie is over five hundred times greater than that of a book, but is consumed in only a fraction of the time?  When you watch a movie, information violently assaults your mind, strangling your eyes and ears in a vicious grip.  There is simply no way for you to catch all of the influences films can bombard you with, all the-“

“Yo Sparks,” Dash interrupted her.  “Are you literally mindlessly reciting something?”

“Huh?”  Twilight opened her eyes.  “Well, I kind of- that was from a PSA that I had to watch in school.  A lot.”

“How often?”  Rarity smiled gently.

“I started counting in the ninth grade.  I’ve watched that one over 418 times.  I have the entire thing memorized word for word,” Twilight said proudly. “I actually memorized after the fiftieth time, but uh… you know.”

Twilight quickly withdrew and grew quiet.  Back in the academy, you could get in a lot of trouble for saying anything bad about their practices.  Even if nopony was around to snitch on her, Twilight still felt scared to have said even that much.

“Oh, but I don’t know.” Rarity pouted.  “It sounds like you have something you want to say about that. Tell me?”

“Well.”  Twilight looked back at the stairs leading down here. There was no chance anypony else would come down here.  Truth be told, there were some things about the school system, and the academy specifically, that Twilight had complaints about.  But she never dared say them out loud.

Back in Canterlot, you were encouraged to snitch on ponies who complained or started saying anything bad. You’d get extra credit in school if you snitched, even. The pony who spoke up, meanwhile, got stuck watching eight hours of PSAs. Twilight tried hard to keep her mouth shut, but even still once or twice she'd get stuck watching PSAs all weekend.

But strangely, down here in a tomb filled with delinquents, Twilight felt like she could say anything for once.

“Okay, maybe I feel like we watch those PSA’s too much,” said Twilight.  “Cause after I have the whole thing memorized word for word, what’s the point anymore?!  But they just keep making you watch them over and over again.  Sometimes they make you watch the same PSA five times in a row! I never spoke up about it myself, but I did have this one classmate who tried to say it was stupid and they made her watch the same one over and over for like 19 hours straight! I don't get it."

“Ha!”  Dash laughed.  “You’re totally right.  That is maximum lameness right there.”

“Yeah.”  Pinkie nodded.  “This is why I’m glad I never went to school.”

“I have a book on this exact topic.”  Rarity clapped her hooves together.  “But alas, it’s banned too.  I don’t suppose you have any other complaints about your school you’d like to get off your back?”

Twilight wasn’t sure what she felt just then.  Having said that out loud after all this time and gotten no backlash filled her with an air of invincibility.

“I do.  Some of the courses seemed like a waste of time to me,” said Twilight.  “Like teleportation.  There’s so little magic left that Sunset Shimmer is the only unicorn who can still do it, but we still take a course on it?  They had us spend hours pretending to teleport.  Are they just rubbing it in or something?  And students aren’t even allowed to say maybe that’s pointless?”

“Well yeah!"  Dash laughed.  "If you don't let anypony say something's stupid you're just gonna keep doing stupid stuff, right?"

“And then-“  Twilight hesitated to give her biggest gripe. “And the downsizing thing.  I get that they have to roll things back until Celestia gets better, but I was one of the top students!  I worked so hard and- and I actually thought it was going to pay off eventually.  But then they decided to cut the poorest fifth instead of the fifth with the worst grades?  That doesn’t make any sense and it’s not fair!”

“Do you really not know why they’d choose that?”  Dash asked.

“Well.”  Twilight lowered her head.  She knew what any normal pony would say to that.  “I guess even if I don't understand it,  they must have had a good reason, right?”

“Hardly.”  Dash reminded her they weren’t normal.  “Nah, those bonehead dweebs just don’t want a bunch of rich ponies giving them crap, threatening to cut funding if their retarded little brat doesn’t get to pretend they’re smart.  But if they screw over somepony like you, then what happens to them?  Nothing. You got nothing to threaten them with. They don’t care.”

“But that- that can’t be the reason!” Twilight wished so desperately it didn’t make sense.  “I did everything I was supposed to do.  I worked so hard and followed all the rules but I still ended up here.  I was so into studying that I never had any friends because they told me it would pay off. But now I have nothing.  My family is gone too!  They’re all-!”

Twilight had to stop there. She could feel like she was about to cry, would break out into tears if she said one more word.

“Aw!  Poor Twitwi!”  Pinkie held her forelegs out wide apart. “Let me hug you and make you feel better?”

Twilight reflexively pushed Pinkie away and backed up.

“You’re not supposed to hug in public.”  Twilight tried to wipe away a tear without anypony noticing.

“We’re not in public, ya doofus,” said Dash.

“You’re only supposed to hug like, your family!”  Twilight pushed back farther.  “Sparingly!  And even then you're not supposed to just talk about it like this!"

“We’re like you.” Pinkie scooted closer to Twilight; forelegs still open.  “None of us have families.  But we're friends!  And friends are better than family in my opinion!”

“Are we- are we really friends?”  Twilight never really had any friends before.  Certainly not explicit ones.

“If you give me a hug, yes!” Pinkie tried to open wider, but couldn’t manage.  “Oh, or I bet you want to hug Rarity instead, right?  You think she’s pretty!”

Twilight turned to see Rarity jump down from and trotted close to Twilight.

“I can relate to you,” said Rarity.  “My family all died in a short period too.  I remember what it’s like to be alone, but you don’t have to be lonely.”

Twilight sat there trembling, staring at Rarity with an ache in her heart.

The decision tore Twilight. She knew letting Rarity hug her would be wrong, that it was sick.  But there was also something deep inside that wanted so badly to go over there.  It might have been over a year since Twilight actually touched another pony.  She didn’t want to feel so alone anymore.

She was weak from all the things that happened this last year.  That’s how Twilight justified it, giving in to temptation.  But she did slowly trot over to Rarity.  Rarity’s smile grew wider as she approached until finally taking Twilight into a hug.

She was being hugged!  But Rarity was so warm and it felt… nice.  With each breath, Twilight felt her muscles easing more and more.

“So tense.”  Rarity stroked Twilight’s back with one hoof. “Just let yourself relax.  I promise everything will be okay.  Things can get better.”

Twilight started to cry despite trying to hold it in.  She didn’t even know why she was crying, not specifically.

But none of them made fun of her for it or anything.  Maybe it was okay now. Maybe Twilight really did have friends.
> Chapter 5.  A better weapon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was close to midnight and for the sixth night in a row Twilight found herself spending the night around the Blue Diamonds, around her new friends.

She was back in Rarity’s house, with Pinkie Pie in their large kitchen.  It was far dimmer now than it had been at that first party Twilight went to.  They only turned up the lights that much for their ‘daywalker’ guests and normally preferred it as dark as possible.  The glow from the ovens and fires was all the light Twilight got, giving the room a dull red glow.

But Twilight was surprised at how quickly she was getting used to the darkness like the others promised she would.  She could already see better in the dark, her eyes adjusting to its constant presence, and she wasn’t as unnerved by it as she used to be. At least, not when her friends were around.

Having friends was great! Twilight had still yet to have her first night alone in Ponyville and was starting to wonder if she’d ever have to face it at all. But there was a price to pay for having these friends and that price was accepting that you were going to be in the dark most of the time and that you would not be going to bed early.

Twilight was also getting used to her new, delinquent schedule.  Bed at five (in the morning) wake up at noon, work till seven then stay up all night with her new friends.  It was already almost normal since the ponies she spent all her time with went to bed around dawn too.  They constantly made fun of ponies who went to sleep at sunset and praised Twilight for 'ascending' past the other daywalkers.

Tomorrow was another party at Rarity’s house. She hosted one every Friday just like Twilight heard, so Pinkie was busy setting up for that.  If Pinkie had anything like a job, this was it.

Pinkie proved to be an incredible multitasker and was zipping about Rarity’s kitchen, making five different types of pastries and candies all at once.  Pinkie lowered several rings of dough into a fryer before hopping back over to a pot of melted chocolate.  A lot of this couldn't be bought anywhere, so Pinkie had to make it herself.  Half of it was stuff Twilight never even heard of and so her morbid curiosity compelled her to watch.

Twilight was still grappling with the realization that she was, despite all her reading, ignorant of so much.  There was such a massive list of slang, types of monsters, myths, genres of novels, types of food, and of course these ‘logical fallacies’ that Twilight simply never heard of until coming to this Celestia-forsaken town.  It was, if nothing else, a huge learning experience.

She learned there was a whole range of chocolate from white chocolate, with no cocoa in it, to dark chocolate, with the highest amount of cocoa.  She found there was far more you could do with chocolate than just eating it outright, from brownies and pudding to hot chocolate to ice cream to mocha coffee. She learned the names of a hundred new pastries, like funnel cakes and cupcakes, and a hundred new terms like ‘sprinkles’ and all the different types of sugar.  

And through it all, Pinkie and the others were delighted to show Twilight all of these delinquent things she was never supposed to have seen.

Just now, Pinkie was showing Twilight ‘donuts’ for the first time.  Pinkie hopped back to pull another dozen of them out of the fryer and placed them with the others.

“Why are these called donuts?”  Twilight held one of them up, inspecting it as best she could in the dark.  “I get the dough part of the name, but there aren’t any nuts in it.”

“Simple, Twitwi!”  Pinkie raised her hoof-like she was about to explain it, but quickly dropped her confidence.  “Oh, wait!  No, it’s not! I have no idea why they’re called that! Maybe they look like nuts?”

Pinkie held up one of her finished donuts and inspected it, trying to work out some way to mistake it for a nut. It didn't work.

“Hey, Rarity!”  Pinkie called over to her.  “You know everything!  Why are donuts called donuts?”

“Well we used to call them dough knots,” Rarity called over from the other room, “but pronunciations tend to shift over time.  You see laziness is the chief driving force behind shifts in pronunciation.  The 'n' is closer to a 'u' than an 'o' so it just inevitably happens."

Rarity was lounging on one of her many, many couches just outside the kitchen, reading Twilight’s latest essay on the importance of conformity.  Twilight wrote Rarity a new essay every day and Rarity read every single one of them, carefully considering them before destroying all of Twilight’s arguments.

“I’m impressed you know that!”  Twilight called over to her.  “I’ve read a bit about the evolution of language too.  Did you know that consonant weakening and sound assimilation are universal trends that appear in virtually every language?”

“Actually that is new to me! Though it is a bit of a comfort to know everypony is lazy,” said Rarity.  “It is an awful shame to lose more elegant pronunciations to laziness, isn’t it?” 

Rarity herself had an interesting way of pronouncing a lot of words, that was one of those things you couldn’t help but notice.  She rhymed ‘ration’ with ‘nation’, said ‘business’ with three syllables, and was adamant that ‘schedule’ was pronounced ‘shed-yule’.  Dash and Pinkie pronounced it that way too, but clearly only because Rarity was making them.

Her accent in general really was hard to place, Twilight had no idea where it was from.  Though it did sound elegant, as Rarity put it. Twilight loved listening to her talk.

Asking where Rarity was from never produced an answer.  All she’d say was that she liked to keep a small air of mystery around her, said it made her more alluring.  And clearly, a lot of ponies were allured, so it was working.

“Hey, do you know what kind of accent Rarity has anyway?” Twilight asked Pinkie in a half-whisper.

“I don’t even know what accent I have, Twitwi.  Is ‘earth pony’ an accent?”  Pinkie jumped backwards onto her wheeled chair and road it back to the table where an extra-large cake waited.  “Cakes and candy are my main knowledge area.”

One of Pinkie’s projects was a huge cake, her ‘center piece’, that she was decorating to look like a cemetery.  Off to the side, she had little pumpkins and tombstones molded from chocolate that she’d apply in just a little bit.  Eventually, she’d cut little holes in the cake where the graves were and fill them with different types of candy before covering them back up so each grave would be a surprise.

But right now, she was applying green frosting over the top, pressing against the cake with a special nozzle then pulling away quickly to create a surprisingly good grass effect.

“And before you ask, yes all of my centerpieces always have a spooky theme.  You know, cause we’re vampires?”  Pinkie hissed.

“You’re good at this.” Twilight marveled at the details on her little chocolate pumpkins. All of Pinkie’s foods were stylishly decorated with little sugar skulls or bats or intricate frosting designs.  “Some of these are like artwork!  Where did you learn all this stuff?  Is there some kind of school for delinquents?”

“Oh, there’s totally kind of a school for delinquents!”  Pinkie jumped back to her latest batch of donuts, pulling them out of the fryer.  “I learned all this from the secret candy master.”

“Secret candy master?”

“Well I can’t tell you his name cause he’ll get in trouble.  But he’s out there.  I trained with that guy for years, Twilight!  Rarity introduced me to him so I could be her personal, um, whatever I am!  That’s how I got my cutie mark, even!  I was a blank flank until the boss took me in.”

“Well I had to give you some way to be useful to me.”  Rarity came into the kitchen, carrying Twilight’s essay.  “Since you seem so determined to ‘crash’ at my place for all eternity. You’re lucky you didn’t get a cutie mark of my couch stuck on your flank.”

“That wouldn’t be so bad!” Pinkie bounded over to Rarity and gave her cheek a nuzzle.  “I could change my name to Comfy Pie and you’d never be able to kick me out cause my butt says no!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t kick you out no matter how useless your cutie mark was.”  Rarity pulled Pinkie into a hug.  “I’ve grown a tad too accustomed to you.”

And then the two of them cuddled for a second before breaking it off.  Watching them hug didn’t fill Twilight with the knee-jerk disgust you were supposed to get when you saw somepony hugging.  But it didn’t feel good either.  It made her feel lonely like she was being ignored or left out.

She’d done the right thing and asked them to not hug her again, but doing the right thing was painful. That hug, Twilight’s first hug, burned in the back of her mind constantly. She remembered how soft and warm they were, how it somehow made her feel safe for a moment.

And of course, Twilight had cried for an hour straight back then as she sloppily hugged each of them in turn.  But despite being hardened delinquents, none of them made fun of her for crying or being bad at hugging.  It made her feel a little too trusting in her friends.  Some deep, dark part of Twilight wanted to hug all of them again.

So Twilight clearly had a problem.

It felt good at the moment, sure, but that hug left her wracked with guilt and possibly even addicted. She’d felt sick for days thinking about what she’d done.  All those PSAs were right, hugs were incredibly damaging to your soul.  But the temptation was still there.  How long would it be until Twilight gave in and hugged again?

“But hold on to that hug!”  Pinkie snapped back to one of her other pots, one where she’d been boiling sugar and water.

She stirred some cream and butter into it to create a viscous, brown liquid.

“Now here’s the good stuff.” Pinkie swirled it around as she took it off the heat.  She gave it one last twirl with a spoon and held it up to Twilight in offer.  “This is called ‘caramel’, Twitwi.  It’s so good that it’s totally illegal!”

“Wait, what?!” Twilight’s shock at illegal stuff only ever got an amused smirk out of these delinquents.  “You’re going to serve something illegal at tomorrow’s party? Isn’t that a little brazen even for you three?”

“Of course not!” Pinkie laughed.  “This is for the after-party.  We never got to have after-parties until now cause we could never find a daywalker cool enough to invite.”

“I’m certain you won’t snitch on us.”  Rarity took the spoon and tasted the caramel in Twilight’s stead.  “That’s why I’m trusting you to come have some real fun with us.  You should feel honored!”

Really Twilight shouldn’t feel honored, but she did.  Of all the ponies in town, Twilight was the only one the Blue Diamonds deemed ‘cool’ enough to hang out with them.

“I dunno.”  Twilight gave the caramel a suspicious look.  “This stuff must be really bad for you if it’s illegal everywhere.  Right?”

“I don’t think it’s bad for you at all,” said Rarity.  “The whole ‘sugar is unhealthy’ line is a lie.  You’ll live much longer if you eat lots of candy, I assure you.”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie agreed.  “I eat almost nothing but candy and fruit and I’m fine!  Oh!  You wanna race me?  I bet I can run circles around you.”

“Okay.  I’ll admit I’m not as athletic as you guys, but-“  

How was Twilight supposed to prove sugar was bad for you?  Obviously, she had millions of PSAs and books saying it was but Twilight was starting to wonder if those had been entirely honest with her.  She already caught a few inaccuracies in what she’d thought was an infallible source of information.

Her one real-world example of sugar addicts was these three and, while it might have degenerated their morals, they were all physically fine.  Better than fine, even.  Opinions on their fashion choices aside, Twilight doubted there were many ponies who wouldn’t admit the Blue Diamonds were the three prettiest mares in town.

They were all athletic, too, and never seemed to run out of energy.  Compared to them, Twilight was a little pudgy, didn’t have the healthiest looking coat of fur, and always had headaches.  She’d get winded trying to keep up with them when they ran around town. But at least Twilight was getting more exercise now.

“Why not try it for yourself?”  Rarity offered.  “Eat nothing but fruit and candy for two weeks.  If it makes you sick, then I’ll admit I was wrong.  But if you feel better than ever-“

“Well I like science.” Twilight watched that little smirk form on Rarity’s face.  She could tell that Rarity really did get some weird satisfaction out of getting other ponies to adopt her views.  “Maybe I’ll try.  Two weeks can’t cause any permanent damage, right?”

Rarity giggled.

“So that’s another thing you’ll think I’m right about in a few weeks.”  Rarity came over to Twilight and brushed her hoof against Twilight’s mane, something that still gave Twilight chills.  “But what should we work on next?  Maybe you’d like to take my offer for a free makeover while we’re at it.”

“Didn’t you just read my essay on the importance of conformity?”  Twilight asked.  “Conformity is one of the thirty-six elements of harmony.  The-”

Twilight almost started reciting lines from that PSA but caught herself.  Things tended to go poorly when Twilight tried ‘mindlessly’ reciting things.

“Well,” Twilight carried on by herself, something Rarity seemed to take delight in, “you need conformity to have a coherent group and foster harmony and keep order.  If everypony can just do whatever they want, you get chaos and society collapses!  That’s why everything we wear needs to be tribally appropriate and state-approved.  A haircut isn’t worth destroying civilization over, is it?”

“Whoa!  I want a haircut that can destroy civilizations!”  Pinkie laughed.

“You know what I mean.” Twilight blushed.

“Ah, but what is the cost is this conformity?” Rarity asked.  “Fashion is just another form of art, in my opinion, but then isn’t all artistic expression stifled these days to make room for conformity?  Art and expressing oneself are so vital to what a pony is that trying to take it away is a horrible crime.  When I see a pony unable to express herself, why I see a pony who’s been mutilated by society.”

Twilight was getting a little better at this, if only because she was having daily arguments with Rarity now, but she still wasn’t very smooth on her feet.  Rarity really was treating these arguments as lessons, though, often giving Twilight advice and allowing her plenty of time to mull things over.

Just yesterday they played a practice game where Rarity gave bad arguments on purpose and Twilight tried to find the flaw in them.  Twilight just needed to do the same thing here.

“That’s a counterargument,” Twilight finally settled on that.  Rarity taught her, only yesterday, the difference between a contradiction, a counterargument, and a rebuttal.  Those were the different ways to respond to an argument in order of strength.  “You didn’t actually refute what I said. Right?”

“Excellent!”  Rarity clapped her hooves together.  It was hard to tell when she was doing this on purpose. “Now how about this?  There’s plenty of things you don’t conform to.  You keep a very unusual schedule and are about to try a very unusual diet.  Already you eat candy and drink coffee.  And I know you secretly like Dashie’s music even though it’s not the type you’re supposed to enjoy.  Can you really say conformity is so great if you don’t do it yourself?”

“I-“  Twilight felt suddenly ashamed.  In a panic, she struggled to think of a rebuttal to that point.  Rarity was totally right!  “It’s different if I’m just-“

Rarity laughed and waved away Twilight’s argument.

“No, no.  You made a mistake just there.”  Rarity jabbed her hoof at Twilight.  “Twilight, I made a terrible argument just then.  It’s called an ad equus tu quoque, since I know you like keeping track.”

“To what?”

“Tu,” Rarity corrected her. “With a ‘u’.  That’s another one of those things that looks like a point but isn’t.  You see, my pointing out hypocrisy on your part in no way refutes anything you said, it’s nothing more than a personal attack.  I might as well have called you smelly, it’d be just as sound reasoning. It’s a technique ponies can use to avoid the issue and make you look bad at once.  But it hardly proves anything.”

She knew Rarity was trying to educate her on this stuff, but half the time she felt like a mouse being played with by a lion.  She remembered too late there was on response below a contradiction, the ad equus, basically name-calling.

“Don’t worry, Twitwi. I don’t get it either.”  Pinkie gave her a pat on the back.  “I just dress like this and hiss at everypony cause it’s fun.”

Rarity was just too experienced with arguing.  She knew all these little fallacies, manipulation tactics, and rhetoric techniques that made debating her impossible.  The only way Twilight would ever win an argument with her as if she found a book about these things.  And the only book like that Twilight knew of was banned and belonged to Rarity.

She'd looked into all the things Rarity claimed about banned books being safe.  Twilight couldn't find any statistical link between reading them and becoming a violent criminal.  Everything Rarity told her about banned books looked like it was true…

Maybe it'd be okay to just look at just one.

“I want to see that book,” Twilight finally said.

“Hm?”  Rarity sat up victoriously, smiling that smug smile she got every time she took another inch from Twilight.  “Which book did you want to see, Twilight?”

Half the time Twilight hated how smug Rarity got.  But only half the time.

“The book about arguing.” Twilight blushed in embarrassment. “The… the banned one.”

“Oh my.”  Rarity trotted over to Twilight and gave her mane a stroke.  “I’m already starting to rub off on you!  You really are as smart as you are cute.”

And suddenly Twilight didn’t hate Rarity's smugness again.

“You’re the smart one.” Twilight didn’t make any protest when Rarity stroked her mane anymore, knowing she’d keep doing it if Twilight stayed silent. “I feel like an idiot when I try to argue with you.  You all know so much more than I do.”

“I’ll hardly stop you from stroking my ego.  It deserves to be stroked, doesn’t it?”  Rarity flicked her mane.  “But you’re much more intelligent than a normal pony, just uneducated.  You simply need a better weapon!  Let me show it to you.”

Rarity beckoned to Twilight to follow her and moved towards the stairs.  Pinkie waved goodbye before returning to her work and Twilight followed Rarity into the dark living room.

Rarity lead Twilight up to the actual second floor and opened a door that lead to yet another staircase.  Twilight was blind going up the stairs because of the dark.  When she reached the room at the top, Rarity light a candle, then went further into the room to light a few more.  Twilight supposed she’d be reading under candlelight so long as she was here.

She stepped into the room and was struck by how big it was.  Twilight turned around, suddenly surrounded by books!  She counted twenty-four bookshelves in total, most of them full!  This really was a small library!

“Oh, wow!  I wasn’t expecting this many books!”  Twilight suddenly had a new respect for Rarity! “Have you actually read all of these?”

“Almost all of them.” Rarity lit the last candle, this one a little wax skull.  “A few of them belong to the other two and I'm not quite finished with my last shopping spree.”

“That’s really impressive!” Twilight’s eyes sparkled and she stepped close to Rarity.  “This has got to be almost as many books as I’ve read!  And I read constantly.  I didn’t think I’d ever find somepony who was as much of a bookworm as me.  This explains how you know so much.”

It must have been because Rarity had so much free time.  Twilight wished she could have inherited a fortune and had two lackeys who did everything she told them to.  Then Twilight could read all she wanted to.

“Oh yes.  I make sure to read at least one essay every day.” Rarity winked, holding up her daily essay.

Twilight giggled at that.  And then Rarity put her essay on a shelf next to the other five Twilight had given her!  She was actually saving these!

“I really do appreciate you reading all of these!”  Twilight beamed at Rarity.  “I feel like you take my essays more seriously than even my professors did.”

Twilight felt such a terrible longing to be closer to Rarity.  It was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to hug her. Remembering how soft and warm Rarity was, how good the hug felt last time, made Twilight feel distant.

It was so odd.  When Twilight was alone she felt disgusted by what she’d done back in that tomb.  But when she was near Rarity she felt a sort of attraction, no doubt a sick addiction compelling her.

Maybe it was just because she always saw Rarity in candlelight, but Twilight always found herself admiring how nice Rarity looked

“Yes, Twilight?” Rarity took off her glasses and fluttered her eyelashes at Twilight, giving that smug smile.  Right now Twilight found it endearing.  “Is there something you want?  Hm?”

“Um.”  Twilight looked away, realizing just now she’d been staring.  She swallowed hard, unsure if taking the plunge was a good idea.  But it was all too tempting.  “Can I maybe hug you again?”

“Twilight, you can hug me any time you want.”  Rarity opened her forelegs.  "You needn't ask!"

“With- without asking?!” Twilight took a step back.  She didn’t want to get that depraved!

“Does it look like I mind the others doing it?”  Rarity asked. “That’s the sort of relationship I like having with my close friends.”

“But what if I accidentally hugged you when you didn’t want to be hugged?!”

“I always want to be hugged,” said Rarity.  “And even if I didn’t, I’d forgive you.  Because we’re friends.”

Friends!  Twilight could still hardly believe she had friends now.  She felt that magnetic pull from Rarity again and trotted over to her.  Briefly, Twilight shuffled in place nervously, then slowly, timidly she moved even closer, and soon the two of them were hugging again.

Twilight always felt such a swell of affection for whoever she hugged.  Her eyes teared up ever so slightly, overwhelmed with the sensation and the feeling of closeness, but Twilight was determined not to cry this time.

She still wanted to feel even closer and pressed her muzzle against Rarity. Without really thinking about it, Twilight allowed an instinct to take over and she began rubbing her nose up and down against Rarity’s neck, the motion coming out all too naturally. Rarity took this as permission to return the gesture and nuzzled Twilight back.

And that was when reality hit Twilight.  She’d just nuzzled Rarity.  They were nuzzling!  That wasn’t something you were supposed to do with anypony except-!

Twilight pulled back in a panic, unsure exactly why her heart was racing.

“Hm?”  Rarity gave Twilight an exaggerated pout.

“Sorry.”  Twilight looked away and wiped away her tear.  That nuzzle just slipped out so easily.  "I didn't mean to!"

“Nuzzling ponies you like is just a natural instinct.  Denying it isn’t doing you any favors,” Rarity said.  She always wanted Twilight to give in to carnal urges.  “You can be as wise as you want, but still the only way to stop being hungry is to eat.”

“Huh?”  Twilight looked back.  “What does that mean?”

“Well.”  Rarity crawled closer to Twilight, causing her heart to pick up again.  “I’m saying I’m willing to help you with your little crush on me.”

“Crush?!”  Twilight pulled back immediately.  “Rarity!  I don’t have a crush on you!  We’re both mares!  I can’t have a crush on you!”

“I certainly think it’s possible to have a crush on another mare.  I’ve done it.”  Rarity gazed into Twilight’s eyes in a way that made Twilight almost think Rarity was talking about her.  “You’re not one of those ponies who thinks being gay is immoral, are you?  Do I have to change your mind on that as well?”

“Of course I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”  Twilight nodded defensively.  She definitely wasn’t one of those ponies and she didn’t want to make Rarity feel like she looked down on her for being a lesbian, if that's what she was. “Homosexuality is just a mental disorder some ponies are born with.  It’s no different from being crippled.  A gay pony being gay is no more immoral than a cripple being unable to walk.  It’s wrong to make fun of them for it.”

“I’m thrilled you’re so progressive on the matter.”  Rarity gave Twilight a condescending pat on the head.  “But you’re absolutely certain you don’t have a crush on me?  Because I’m almost positive at this point that you’re actually gay.”

“I’m absolutely positive I don’t have a crush on you,” Twilight said firmly.  “I’ve read all about crushes in Smooth Move’s Guide to Courtship and of the twelve listed symptoms of crushes I have-“

Now that Twilight was going through them in her head…

Twilight thought about Rarity all day.  She had dreams about Rarity.  She looked forward all day to talking to Rarity.  Meeting with Rarity did indeed fill Twilight with a ‘giddy excitement’.  She was completely obsessed with this other mare right now!

She felt emotionally attracted to Rarity.  She did think Rarity was pretty!  She did get lost in her eyes a lot!  She fantasized about hugging Rarity, at least.  And maybe she was just a little attracted in that way.  Sometimes she got turned on in a confusing sort of way when Rarity teased her.  But did being just a little attracted to her make Twilight gay?

Twilight couldn’t think of a single stallion she thought was as good-looking as Rarity.  She’d always told herself that she was simply too interested in books to take any notice of boys.  But now here she was, being distracted away from books by a mare.

“You have how many?”  Rarity asked.

"I don’t match all of them,” Twilight tried to sound certain.  “I am not gay.  Okay?”

“My mistake!”  Rarity turned back to the books.  “I think I like it better that way regardless.  Why, I’m so beautiful that even straight mares stare longingly at me!”

Twilight glanced over at Rarity’s flanks as soon as Rarity turned around, hoping to confirm something to herself.  And as soon as she looked, Twilight became horrible confused.

“Feel free to come to my library any time you’d like,” Rarity said, looking through one of the bookshelves.  “But just a word of warning, taking any banned books back home with you can get you in a lot of trouble.  You have to read these here, I’m afraid.  I’d feel terrible if I got you arrested.”

Those words hit Twilight like a tranquilizer dart, a paralysis slowly spreading through her as the implications sunk in.

“Wait.  Any of them?”  Twilight stared up at the shelves of mysterious books.  “These aren’t- they’re not all banned books, are they?”

And there was that smug smile again!

“Oh, banned books are just about the only ones I ever read,” said Rarity.

“But!  Where did you even get these?!”  Twilight collapsed onto the floor in a sitting position, staring up at them in horror.  “This is insanely illegal!  I can’t come here anymore!  I gotta-!”

“Twilight.”  Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder.  “Do you even know what the law about banned books is?”

“W-what?!  They’re banned and therefore illegal and therefore you go to jail!”

“For how long?”

“Um.”  Twilight honestly didn’t know.  She’d watched so many PSA’s and read so many ethics books about it, but they were never very specific about the punishment.  “Forever?”

“You don’t go to jail at all for owning banned books, actually,” said Rarity.  “So long as you keep telling them you ‘just found’ the books, they burn them and fine you perhaps two hundred bits per book.  You only get in serious trouble for copying, repairing, or distributing these.  So if you don’t take them home, I’m not distributing them, and we’ll be fine.”

“Didn’t you get arrest for giving somepony a banned book, though?”  Twilight asked.  “I heard that around.”

“And am I in jail?”

Twilight stared at Rarity for a moment before answering.

“No?”

“So clearly I know what I’m doing.  I assure you; I study the law very carefully before breaking it,” Rarity sounded like she was proud of that.  “They say understanding the law is more important than obeying it.  Would you like to read the book that quote is from too?”

“No way!”  Twilight shook her head as fast as she could. “I’m still not even sure I should be reading that book about arguing.”

“Ah yes!  That!”  Rarity put her glasses back on and started skimming through the books.  Apparently, they were special enchanted glasses to help with all her blind spots, but Twilight was still amazed she saw better with them when it was already this dark.  “Now where did I put that one?”

Rarity didn’t find it on the first bookshelf, or the second or third.  Twilight’s eye twitched.  Not only were these books banned but they were unorganized on top of that?! She’d already lost half the respect she’d gained for Rarity after seeing the library.  Twilight was half a mind to demand Rarity let her properly categorize these books.

Rarity finally found the book and handed it over to Twilight.  The tome looked ancient, the leather it was bound in cracked and the words on the cover faded.

‘Logic and Argumentation.’

Twilight felt like she’d just been handed a cursed weapon.  She could feel both the power and the evil radiating off it.  Using it would come with a price, but it contained the knowledge and power she needed to argue her points against Rarity without looking like an idiot.

Either Twilight or Rarity was going to regret Twilight getting this book.

“I promise you,” said Rarity, smiling at Twilight’s concern, “this book has absolutely nothing bad to say about the government or tradition or anything like that.  It's just a list of logical fallacies and whatnot like you asked."

Twilight did ask for this. Rarity was mentioning these logical fallacies for days and Twilight knew a few now, like the no true pegasus fallacy or the ad equus.  But Twilight knew there were more.  She wanted all of them in her vocabulary.  She wanted a book about it and here it was, the exact information she was looking for.

And yet she couldn’t help but feel a little sick holding it.

“If that’s all it is, why did they ban it?”  Twilight asked.  "Nothing you taught me about logic and argumentation so far seems dangerous."

"It's obvious.”  Rarity reclined on a padded chair.  “They don’t want you thinking for yourself and analyzing the things they tell you. Because if you ever did, you’d realize I was right about everything and turn into the most adorable little delinquent.”

“Uh-huh.”  Twilight rolled her eyes.  Rarity was way too cynical.  “I’m pretty sure there’s gotta be a better reason than that.”

She just wished she could think of any other alternative.

Twilight held her breath and opened the book slowly like she was expecting to activate a spring trap. It certainly felt like something was about to jump out at her, but nothing did even after she’d gotten to the first page.

“I can maybe think of one other thing,”  Rarity speaking drew Twilight’s attention right back to her.  “They started banning these sorts of books three hundred years ago, didn’t they?  And that was shortly after the northern rebellions.  So we can conclude that incident lead them to realize that if ponies understand critical thinking too well, they’d rebel against Celestia.”

“Ah hah!”  Twilight jumped on the error.  “Just because one thing happens after the other doesn’t mean the first one caused the second!  That’s the uh- what did you call it?  The post hoc thing!”

Twilight felt a thrill over finally getting one up at Rarity, and with something Rarity herself taught her.  But Rarity just sat there smiling proudly as Twilight ‘got’ her.

“Wait.”  Twilight’s smile withered in the presence of Rarity’s. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Rarity giggled.

“Guh!”  Twilight bowed her head in defeat yet again. “I’m way out of my league, aren’t I?”

“If it makes you feel better, you’re a fast learner.  I don’t think you would have caught that a week ago.”  Rarity levitated another book, no doubt even more banned, over to herself and began reading.

Twilight sat down in the only other chair of the room and looked down at the book, both unicorns settling in to read.  But even still, Rarity wasn’t entirely out of Twilight’s mind.  The irony that a mare was distracting her from a book wasn’t lost on Twilight.

But it wasn’t a crush!  She wanted to defeat Rarity, not date her!

And this book would give her the power to do just that!
> Chapter 6.  Starburst the no good know it all.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We almost made it!” Pinkie burst into the grand hall of Rarity’s house, dripping wet.

Twilight came trudging and dripping behind her.  She’d met up with Pinkie a few hours ago before heading back to Rarity’s house with her. Twilight tried to get here before the rain started, but Pinkie kept drawing her away on tangents.

Despite all that, they did almost make it here before the rain started and they would have if the rain started on time.  But just as the house came into view, the rain came pouring down like Twilight had never seen it before.  She might as well have been dunked in a pool.  A minute out in this storm was about the same.

This was something Twilight was still getting used to.  Back in Canterlot, the weather was always perfectly on time, the rain never started early like this and the storms never got this strong.  The dark magic from the Everfree Forest made it harder to control the weather nearby they said.

And that was why this was by far the biggest storm Twilight had ever seen.  She could still hear the rain and wind sweeping onto the walls and windows.  Thunder was rumbling about outside, but the special curtains Rarity had were so thick that the flashes of lightning couldn’t get through at all.  The room was dim, but every night Twilight spent here it seemed to get just a little bit brighter.

Pinkie didn’t care at all and just shook herself off like a dog, soaking the floor.  Twilight wasn’t comfortable doing that in somepony else’s house and meekly looked around for some option B.

“Twilight!”  Rarity, who had been reclined on one of the couches on the first floor, sat up when she noticed Twilight was here.  “I’d tell you to come give me a hug but, hm.  Dashie, go get her a towel or something.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile when Rarity greeted her.  Really, every time she saw one of her friends she felt an urge to smile and just a little bit of relief in the dark recesses of her mind to see that they were still alive.

It wasn’t exactly a great day of work, but then it never was.  She worked bottling things for minimum wage because that was the only job she could find in this town.  Even then, she felt like she was on short notice because of her cutie mark.  They said she was 'overqualified' even though she had almost zero ability to get a job as a mage.

There were a couple of ponies at the bottling plant whose cutie marks were bottles.  Right now, Twilight felt like her cutie mark should have been a bottle too.  That’s what she was going to be doing for the rest of her life.  It would be more fitting.

So life still sucked! But at least Twilight had something now. Work was tolerable because she could just think of coming over to hang out with her friends as her reward for getting through it.  And today was going to be something special!

After a few days of being poked, Twilight agreed to finally try watching some movies with them.  She did start looking into it and technically it kind of looked like Rarity was maybe right about how banning horror movies didn’t decrease the crime rate.  So maybe this was okay.  And they did agree to watch a PSA first.

“I have your essays.” Twilight used her magic to levitate them out.  Twilight had still yet to miss a single one. “And the PSA.”

Thunder rolled through the house just as Twilight took the roll of film out of her bag as if hers was the horror movie.  Dash, who had just gotten back with a towel for Twilight, snickered at that one.

“Haha!”  Dash threw the towel at Twilight.  “I guess that shows you which movie is evil.”

Twilight took the towel and started drying off her fur.  Immediately her brain went to using this as an excuse to thank Dash with a hug, but she could hardly do that before drying off.  It was possible Twilight was starting to get addicted to hugs, like she hugged one too many times and her brain broke.  She constantly wanted them, wanted perpetual physical contact.  She’d latch on to any excuse to hug her friends!

Dash had already trotted away by the time she was dry, but Twilight was looking for another opportunity already.

“Don’t worry, Twitwi.” Pinkie finished wringing out her hair. “I like that your PSA is pure evil! And hey, maybe it’s just misunderstood.”

That was close enough!

“Thanks, Pinkie!” Twilight grabbed Pinkie in a tight hug. “I knew you’d uh- you know?”

Twilight didn’t think this hug through enough!  But she still didn’t let go.

“Yeah, I know.” Pinkie laughed and patted Twilight on the back, hugging her in return.  “That’s a was a good joke, right?”

“You’re so adorable!” Rarity called out to Twilight. She trotted over and nuzzled her. “I can’t get enough of you.”

Twilight let go of Pinkie and nuzzled Rarity back.  That was just how they greeted each other now!  Twilight liked it more than she’d admit out loud.

“Though!”  Rarity lifted Twilight’s latest essay with her magic and took her sunglasses off to look at it.  “I take it you don’t agree with me on banning books yet?”

“No way,” Twilight said. “I can understand why you’d maybe think some of the books that are banned shouldn’t be banned.  But you have to agree that at least some books should be banned.  Having everything uncensored is way too extreme.  Like, if you know for a fact that a book says something wrong then it should be banned until the author corrects it.  Otherwise, you’re just risking spreading false information and-“

The loudest rumble of thunder Twilight ever heard rumbled through the house, taking the power and the sparse lights with it, leaving it in darkness.

“Power’s out!”  Pinkie called out.  “Yay!”

Twilight couldn’t see anything!  It was so dark in here without the lights on.  She lit her horn up, but the room they were in was so big she could still hardly see.

“I don’t think this is a 'yay', Pinkie,” said Twilight.  

“We like it dark,” said Dash.

“But then we can’t watch anything,” said Twilight.

“Are you forgetting we have magic powers, Twilight?”  Rarity picked up the projector and lit her own horn up.

Sometimes it was easy to forget spells existed, especially here.  Twilight herself could barely cast spells so far away from Canterlot and so close to the forest.  Not to mention how little sun she was getting these days.

Given Rarity’s lifestyle, Twilight was surprised she could even light her horn this much.  But far beyond that, Rarity cast an actual spell, the first one Twilight had seen in days.

Rarity’s right hoof crackled with electricity and she touched it to the plug on the end of the projector.  The electricity moved to the end of the plug and that began to crackle there instead, lingering indefinitely.  And it did work.  The projector’s light came on. 

“That should keep it going for a few hours.”  Rarity set it down halfway up the stairs.

Twilight stared in amazement at how casually Rarity had cast that spell!  She recognized it right away but hadn’t seen it in a long time.

“Wait!”  Twilight ran up the stairs after Rarity.  “You just did a battery spell!  That’s amazing!”

“That’s really not that impressive of a spell.” Rarity waved her hoof.

“Yeah it is!”  Twilight nodded. “Back at school, my class had two hundred unicorns in it and only eight of us could do that spell.  I was near the top of my class and I could never do it on the first try.  And that was back in Canterlot, like right next to Celestia.”

“Really?”  Rarity looked genuinely surprised by that fact but went back to a smirk.  “I guess I’m a little better than I thought, then.”

“A little?  This is really impressive.  You could be a top-level mage.  Why don’t you move to Canterlot?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?”  Rarity’s smile vanished.

Twilight knew what she meant right away.

“I guess.  I just- imagine how good you could be if you lived in Canterlot.  Imagine how good you’d be if you could go out during the day!  You could-“  Twilight covered her mouth.  “Oh, wait. That was a bad thing to say, wasn’t it? I’m sorry.”

“It’s a lot harder than that to offend me.”  Rarity smiled again.  “And I don’t think any of that would help as much as you do.  I use passive magic, Twilight.” 

“Passive magic?”  Twilight was used to hearing new terms by now, but not ones about magic.  “I’ve never even heard of that and I study magic.  Like a lot.”

“Not a lot of unicorns can do it.  See, you cast spells by storing magic in yourself and releasing it later.”

“Well, yeah.  Is there even a second option?"

“Yes.  That’s active magic, in passive magic you just use whatever magic is hanging around in the air around you without actually absorbing it first.”  Rarity waved her hoof across the room.

“Really?”  Twilight was skeptical of all this, but it certainly looked like what was happening.

Rarity felt cold and almost anemic in terms of how much magic she typically had stored, which made sense given her lifestyle.  There was no way she was casting these spells with her own magic.  It was odd Twilight never heard about this, but at the same time, it was clearly true.

Or maybe it wasn’t so odd. She had a lot more doubt in her mind now, could believe maybe they didn’t teach her everything in school.

But most importantly, if there really was some other way to cast spells-

“Can I try?!” Twilight rushed up to Rarity, put her hoof on her chest, and gave her a pleading look.  “How do I do it?  Please show me?”

“We can try, but you probably won’t get it.”  Rarity closed her eyes.  “Close your eyes, clear your head and relax your magic.  Just let it flow out.”

“Okay.”  Twilight took a moment.

“Do you feel something like a draft or a breeze moving through your magic?”  Rarity asked.

Twilight sat there for a moment, trying to be still enough to feel anything like that, but in the end, she couldn’t.

“No?”  Twilight opened her eyes.

“And that’s exactly why I can’t teach you.”  Rarity turned back to the projector, threading the film from Twilight’s PSA into the second reel.  “Most unicorns can’t.”

“But why?” Twilight leaned over Rarity’s shoulder.  “Is feeling it just something you’re born with?”

“It’s like when you walk into a dark room and you can’t see anything at first.  You need to stay in a low magic state for a long time before you can feel what I’m talking about.  But if you keep staying up so late with us, you might eventually start feeling the draft.  If you do, let me know.”  Rarity hit a button on the projector and the film began to turn.  “I’ll teach you then.”

Twilight felt determined to try and figure out a way to do this now.  She’d given up hope of being able to cast any complex spells so long as she was stuck in Ponyville, away from any significant light magic.  But from the sound of things, being here might make this type of spellcasting easier to pick up.

If it was real, that was. Twilight was going to try and find out.  She resolved to try and feel that draft.

This is part seven of the thirty-seven-part series: The Elements of Harmony.  This section is titled: Movies, Scourge of Harmony!

The PSA began playing.

But she had to get through this first!

Dash was already sitting on one end of the couch and Rarity soon took the middle seat.

Twilight ran up, wanting to sit next to Rarity before Pinkie took the remaining seat.  Twilight sat close to Rarity, making sure to sit close enough that they were touching.  Rarity barely even reacted to it.  It was still amazing how Twilight could just touch them whenever she wanted and not get any flak for it at all.  Hugs were just okay here.

Pinkie came up and looked over the full couch.  She ran to the side Twilight was on.

“Glomp!”  Pinkie shouted and jumped onto Twilight.  She grabbed Twilight in a hug so that she was leaning half on Twilight and half on the shoulder of the couch.

Twilight was secretly okay with being tightly sandwiched between Pinkie and Rarity.  She didn’t say anything.

The PSA was being projected onto the large wall just above the front door and made the whole house feel like a movie theater.  The rain continued to pound the window just behind Twilight but, sandwiched between two other ponies, it only made her feel snugger.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad!

Canterlot!  The great light of hope for the world!  Even in this age of turmoil, Canterlot stands strong and will stand forevermore against any threat.  We are the richest and most powerful city in the world with the most influential culture and the highest morals!

As it went on about how great Canterlot was, triumphant music played and images of pristine towers and castles came on screen.

But danger surrounds even us!  We must remain vigilant to hold on to our greatness.  How many other lands have been consumed by darkness or fallen into moral degeneracy?

The music changed to something more ominous, showing scenes of broken buildings, towns overrun by trees and monsters. A gang that looked just like the one Twilight was surrounded by at the moment, standing in front of a burning building and laughing hysterically, came on the screen near the end of the montage.

“Hey look!”  Pinkie cheered when the gang showed up.  “It’s us!  See that, Twitwi?  Us delinquents never stop laughing, not even when our own house is burning down behind us!”

For a long time, this beginning part was Twilight’s favorite.  It always filled her with a sense of pride no matter how many times she watched it.  But this was the first time she’d seen it since leaving Canterlot and the speech felt broken, in a way.  It made her remember that she wasn’t part of Canterlot anymore, had gotten thrown out of it.

Now she was here with the delinquents and the PSA was talking down to her.

What do all these fallen cities have in common?  Why, they refused to ban movies!

“Hm?”  Rarity glanced over to Twilight.  “I think we know that problem with that argument, yes?”

Twilight bit her cheek and looked away.  She knew exactly what Rarity meant.

Rarity kept her promise to teach Twilight about debating and arguing.  Only counting the hits, postdiction, the sharpshooter fallacy, Rarity explained all of these and more.  A story of an archer drawing bullseyes around wherever his arrows hit came flooding back to Twilight.

Tons of cities got consumed by the forest or fell into anarchy and decay despite banning movies.  Then other places still hadn’t banned movies and were fine. Ponyville never had such a ban and lasted way longer than all the surrounding towns that did.

Twilight tried hard to find some evidence that banning movies correlated to any kind of better outcome.  So far, it really didn’t look like it did.  The PSA was just ignoring all the misses and drawing your attention to the hits, circling wherever the arrows landed.  And Twilight couldn’t convince herself that Rarity was wrong to call this a fallacy. This was a borderline lie.

Well I don’t think I can be so easily corrupted because I’m smart.  I read all the time.  I know right from wrong and a movie won’t overwhelm my critical faculties!

Starburst, the no-good know-it-all was a character who appeared in most of these PSA’s.  As she said her bit, the shadow of some horrible monster grew larger and large behind her.  A hoof pointed behind her and she jumped back in fear.

Careful, Starburst! Those who believe movies are harmless are the most likely to uncritically internalize their negative influences!  Thinking you can’t be easily corrupted doesn’t make you safe.

Everypony back in school used to love laughing at Starburst.  But Twilight kind of hated this character.  A little.

But lots of novels aren’t banned!  I read novels all the time and I’m fine.  Movies are just like novels with pictures, right?  And aren’t PSAs basically movies?  What’s the difference between a PSA teaching us why stealing is wrong and a movie glorifying cannibals?  I read a lot of books and-

Starburst, who had her chin lifted so high she couldn’t see the ground, tripped and fell face-first onto the ground.

For so long Twilight could never articulate what her problem with Starburst was.  But Rarity had given her so many new words and the moment she saw Starburst trip, one of them came bubbling up.

A ‘straw pony’.  That was another lousy argument technique, where you tried to force bad arguments onto your opponent or else try to depict them negatively in hopes to discredit the speaker rather than the argument.

Maybe that’s what Starburst really was.  Or maybe that wasn’t exactly right.  Twilight was still learning this stuff.

Haha!  Starburst may think she knows it all, but what Starburst doesn’t understand is that movies are nothing like books.  Did you know that the information contained in a single movie is over five hundred times greater than that of a book, but is consumed in only a fraction of the time? When you watch a movie, information violently assaults your mind, strangling your eyes and ears in a vicious grip. There is simply no way for you to catch all of the influences films can bombard you with, all the negative suggestions that may leak through.

An unscrupulous delinquent can easily insert her own personal opinions and disharmonious intents into their movies, giving these despicable cretins a direct pipeline to your subconscious.  Who knows what horrible damage-

The ‘unscrupulous delinquent’ shown on screen looked like she’d fit in pretty well with Twilight’s friends.  She was wearing a spiked collar and a leather jacket with the words ‘Celestia sux!  Kill all ponies!’ written on it (the dots in the i’s and exclamation point being little skulls).  Her mane was all frazzled and she looked like she was growling at the camera.

“Buck yeah!” Dash talked over the PSA, hoof bumping towards her fellow delinquent.  “She looks bucking cool!  I wanna watch her movie!”

-total control of your mind to a potentially insane delinquent stranger?  Or would you rather entrust this awesome power to wise government officials who will only use it towards educating and morally enriching the public in carefully constructed PSAs approved by Princess Celestia herself?

Another forbidden word came into Twilight’s mind as she watched this argument.  Did they just make a false dichotomy?  Because not everypony was a wise government official or an insane delinquent with murderous intent.  Twilight frowned, a little embarrassed.  She wanted this PSA to make better arguments!

Rarity would tear this all to shreds!  Twilight could tear this to shreds!

A thought came into Twilight’s head that made her sick to her stomach.   Was what Rarity said before right?  Was this the reason they banned all those rhetoric books?  Because then Twilight would realize that all these PSA’s were stupid and filled with terrible, manipulative arguments?!

What if this really was propaganda?

Twilight desperately wanted to think of some alternative, some way this could be anything other than them simply trying to control Twilight like Rarity said.  But nothing came.

“Yes,” Rarity interrupted Twilight’s thought.  This was it! “But ironically Celestia doesn’t approve quite enough to actually show up for this film.”

Twilight was briefly taken off guard by the direction she went in.  She was almost relieved by such a strange comment.

“What are you talking about?”  Twilight pointed at the image of Celestia just as the scene switched away from her.  “She’s right there!”

“Here.”  Rarity stopped the PSA and rewound it to the footage of Celestia, stopping it there.  “Now take a close look at the background.  That’s the original Canterlot Castle, not the modern one.”

“Wait.”  Twilight looked at the castle in the background for the first time.  The two castles looked so similar it was easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. “That is the old castle!  Then this photo is a least seven hundred years old!  But why?”

“And I know you’ll look it up yourself, but I promise you won’t ever see a more recent picture of Celestia than this,” said Rarity.  “Try to think back.  Have you perhaps ever seen Celestia in public?  Or even heard of her making a single public appearance anywhere in your lifetime?”

Twilight honestly couldn’t. Twilight had seen her so often, but only in these movies and if Rarity was right then they only used very old footage of her. It was already public knowledge that Celestia couldn’t walk on her own since the great battle, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to hide away just for that.  It felt like she was on the cusp of some amazing revelation.

There was only one thing this could mean!

“You’re saying- Celestia is dead?!”  Twilight turned to Rarity with shock, then thought about that for a second longer. “Wait.  No.  Then who’s raising the sun?  And you can still feel her magic pouring out of the castle in Canterlot, so she's clearly there."

“Ha!”  Rarity nuzzled Twilight’s mane.  “You know, it’s amusing to see where everypony’s mind goes when I mention that to them.  You’re the first to suggest anything as dramatic as her death.  Usually, they think maybe some aristocrat found a way to lock her up somewhere.  Or maybe she has some horrible scar that took half her face off.”

“It would make sense if the great battle left her with a scar.  If alicorns can get scarred, that is,” said Twilight.  That was probably the truth of it, but such a boring explanation to something like this didn’t feel satisfying.  “What do you think the reason is?”

“Why this very PSA is what's keeping her locked up.”  Rarity started the projector again with her magic.  “She’s propped herself up far too much.  Everypony gets told over and over again how great she is and Celestia knows she can never live up to all this propaganda.  Better to just stay in their imagination, where she can be perfect. That’s why she doesn’t come out anymore.  In my opinion, of course.”

That was a possibility Twilight wouldn’t have considered on her own.  She wouldn’t have noticed this at all on her own.

There were so many things Twilight never even notice or thought about before meeting Rarity. She’d watched this PSA hundreds of times, could recite large portions of it from memory and yet this felt like the first time she’d ever watched it.

Actually!  This was another good chance.

“Thanks!”  Twilight hugged Rarity.  “I really appreciate you showing me so much!”

Rarity nuzzled Twilight in return.  Twilight liked this way too much and probably shouldn’t have given in yet again, but soon the two of them were nuzzling each other.  The PSA played on in the background, but Twilight barely even noticed it.

Twilight’s attention only turned back to the screen when Pinkie and Dash laughed hysterically at something.

What do you think Starburst needs to do?

“Get laid!”  Pinkie shouted out immediately.

That’s right!

“See!”  Pinkie grabbed Twilight, pulling her off Rarity, and shook her furiously and talking over the narrator.  “He said I was right!  She needs a dong, Twilight!  A massive dong!”

All the others laughed at the timing of that.  And while they did, Starburst stumbled around like an idiot on screen before finally falling over into a pile of books.  A royal guard offered her his hoof a moment later, but the damage was done.

Twilight frowned, blushing profusely.  She felt like she was being mocked by both sides right now.  This wasn’t going well at all!  This film that seemed so convincing and noble when she was young was now just embarrassingly bad.

“Okay, okay!”  Twilight called out.  “I don’t think this is going to convince you all of anything!  I don’t even know if this is convincing me of anything at this point.  Let’s just go to the next thing.”

“You’re absolutely sure you don’t want me to watch the rest?”  Rarity smiled like she already knew the answer and was just teasing.  “I would!”

“No.”  Twilight looked down at the floor.  “Just- just go to your thing!”

Rarity got up to change switch the films out.

“If it makes you feel better,” said Dash, “I kinda liked how campy that was.”

“Don’t worry, Twitwi!” Pinkie patted her on the back. “Slaughtertrain won’t change your mind about anything either.”

“I sure hope a movie called ‘Slaughtertrain’ doesn’t change my mind about anything.”  Twilight kept her ears pinned down in defeat as she watched Rarity switch out her PSA for the movie.

Even though she had zero reasons to believe it was the case anymore, Twilight couldn't but feel like watching this would turn her into a bloodthirsty maniac. And she wasn't ready to thirst for blood just yet!

“Though I should warn you.” Rarity stopped with the film held in her magic and turned back to Twilight with a smirk.  “Once you see this, you’ll never be able to hold your head up high and say ‘I’ve never watched a movie’ ever again.”

A wave of doubt crashed down on Twilight.  She wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing anymore.  Her research said she’d be fine, but her gut disagreed with the facts.

Twilight held her breath. Rarity slowly moved the film closer into position, slowly smirked wider and wider as Twilight leaned forward further and further with ever more tension.

“Gah!”  Twilight snapped.  She fell back into the couch and waved her hoof rapidly.  “Just put it in already!”

Rarity laughed and started the movie, then came back and sat next to Twilight again.  A few names started appearing on the screen.  So far it wasn’t so bad.

“Though!”  Twilight coughed.  She glanced at Rarity, then glanced away.  “I just wanna point out that I’m really scared about this?”

“Oh?”  Rarity looked Twilight over with a playful smile. “That’s simply terrible!  I don’t suppose there’s anything I can do to help with that?”

“Um.”  Twilight tapped her hooves together hopefully, trying to think of an eloquent way to ask.  “Maybe- maybe you could hug me?”

“Why didn’t I just hug you a moment ago?  You’re lucky I like how needy you are!”  Rarity grabbed Twilight and pulled her forward until she was lying prone across both her and Rarity’s seats on the couch.  It was only then that Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Twilight in a hug and rested on her back, basically lying on top of Twilight.

Twilight liked this arrangement.

“You know,” said Twilight, “it is your fault that I’m addicted to this stuff now.”

“And I take complete responsibility for my actions!”  Rarity stroked Twilight’s back.

Silently, Twilight wondered how hard it would be to get Rarity to keep petting her through the whole movie. If this was what addiction was like, Twilight wanted to be addicted to more things.

“Pfft.”  Dash blew her mane out of her eyes. “Except half the time you make me take responsibility for your actions.”

“If I make you do something, then it still counts as me doing it, Dashie.  Didn’t you say that’s how you want it to be?”

Rarity turned and kissed Dash without even letting go of Twilight.  Then Dash gave her one kiss back, on the lips, before turning back to the movie.

Twilight fell off the top of the world.

She didn’t care when they hugged but kissing still bothered Twilight. Her mind couldn’t possibly make sense of what was happening.  She’d seen Rarity and Rainbow Dash basically making out before and she knew the two of them slept in the same room.  They certainly acted like a couple a lot of the time.  And normally, that would make you conclude that they were probably in some kind of gay relationship.

But nothing was remotely normal anymore.  Because there was also Pinkie Pie.  Pinkie had her own bedroom but slept in the same bed as the other two both times Twilight stayed her overnight.  Twilight had seen Pinkie kiss both of the others on the lips and nopony seemed to think this was strange.

At this very moment, Rarity was lovingly petting Twilight on the back, right next to what might be her marefriend or something, and Dash didn’t have the slightest concern for this. Twilight had no idea what anything meant anymore or how the world worked in the slightest.

She had to ask about it eventually.

“Uh.  Hey.  Are you two like-“  Twilight looked up at Dash.  “Like dating or something?”

“Oh, what a wonderful question.”  Rarity looked over at Dash with a playful expression.  “We should go on a date!  Won’t you take me on a romantic boat ride, Dashie?  You’re so brave and strong!” 

“Bleh.” Dash gave Rarity a slight shove and got a hard one in return from Rarity that nearly threw her off the couch.  She recovered and rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m just gonna answer your actual question, Sparks. If you want to make out with Rarity, go right ahead.  I don’t give a buck.”

“What?”  Twilight struggled to understand that response.  “But like- like are you dating?  I mean, you sleep in the same room, right?”

“You live in a tiny world, Sparks.  We're just really close friends who like fooling around and sleeping in the same bed and stuff like that, okay?”

"I don't understand how that's different," said Twilight.

“I love my Dashie in a very personal way,” said Rarity, finally taking the question seriously.  “And I don’t think you can understand it just yet. The two of us do whatever we want. I simply despise limiting myself with labels.  And I’ll have you know, I enjoy the fact that society can’t possibly understand the relationship I have with my Dashie.”

The more they explained their relationship, the less Twilight understood it.

“But-“  Twilight looked at Rarity, then Dash. “So are you basically dating or-?“

“Pfft!  You want me to tell you if we buck?”  Dash leaned over Twilight.  “Hey, I’ll answer that if you got the bucking guts to ask.”

“Uh!  No!”  Twilight quickly turned back to the movie, the opening credits and the accompanying shots of trains finally ending.  “Never mind!”

They did thankfully drop it after that.  Twilight wasn’t going to understand this any time soon.

I suppose I’m just a little nervous about taking a train through an arctic wasteland.  If something went horribly wrong, there wouldn’t be anypony to help.

Oh, don’t worry.  I’ve never been off-schedule once.  I’m the best train conductor in the business. Nothing bad ever happens on my train.

Yeah, this will be the smoothest train ride we ever took.  Why I'd say right now is a splendid time to drop our guard.

Maybe she should just try to understand this movie first.  She couldn’t help but feel like something bad was about to happen in the movie.  Maybe because it was called Slaughtertrain.

___________________________________________


I just saw that thing get shot in the face, get up and tear a pony in half!  You need to stop this train immediately!

Stop it where?  We’re halfway to Yakyakistan.  There’s nothing but snow for hundreds of miles in any direction. I’ve never been off schedule once in my twenty-year career!  One vampire and two or three slaughtered ponies aren’t going to change that!

*thump thump*

Oh, sweet Celestia! It’s on the roof right now!

Not for long, it’s not. Listen up you blood-sucking freak! This is my train!  I’m the one who does the slaughtering!

And then the train conductor screamed and shot a massive laser out of his horn, straight at the roof of the car he was in.

All the others laughed hysterically at how ridiculous this was.  Twilight was still too freaked out by the whole experience to laugh but couldn’t take it too seriously either.

“That line gets me every time,” said Dash.  “This guy just knows the name of the movie!”

Pinkie had since moved to the top of the couch, sitting half on the windowsill and half on the top of the couch.  She'd brought out mugs of hot chocolate for the four of them as well as a big bowl of popcorn covered in syrup (because they did weird stuff like putting syrup on popcorn).  Twilight liked the hot chocolate, but syrup popcorn was something she didn't care for.

To Twilight’s amazement, horror movies, or at least this one, weren’t scary at all.  Maybe if she’d watched this alone Twilight would have been more intimidated but surrounded by her friends laughing and joking about every single thing that happened made it hard to be scared.  It was hard to be scared of something everypony was laughing at.

“Wow,” said Twilight. It still felt a little weird to be able to talk during a film. “That train conductor is really dedicated to his job.  But I don’t think his spell choice is very good.  If it can’t be killed, it’s better to just knock it off the train and leave it behind, preferably with a gravity spell so it can’t chase you as easily.  Like, they're on a levitation train. Those things went over 300 miles an hour!  It'd never catch up.”

There was plenty of details like that which tipped Twilight off to just how ancient it was.  The most obvious difference was they were all inside one of those levitating trains, so this was before they had to go back to using steam engines.  But there were a few other differences too. Everypony spoke with odd accents that must have been prevalent at the time, they had guns which meant this was before all the fire crystals got used up, and they had laserdiscs instead of film reels.

Twilight guessed this was about 600 years old and was delighted when Rarity confirmed it.

Look, the only thing that makes sense is throwing this thing off the train and hoping it can’t catch up!

"Ha!"  Dash chuckled.  "I think they heard you."

“Now see!”  Pinkie thrust her mug towards the screen, nearly spilling it on Rarity and Twilight.  “If I were on that train, I could just roll out of it and blend in with the snow until the other vampire got bored and walked away.”

Pinkie took a deep drink from her mug.

“What?” Twilight looked up at her.  “Blend in with the pink snow?”

Pinkie froze in place, mid-drink, and stared down at Twilight with a horrified look.  She stayed there longer than Pinkie had stayed anywhere.  They stared into each other’s eyes, Twilight narrowing hers and Pinkie widening her own. This was one of those jokes.

“I don’t get it.” Twilight turned to the other two.

“That’s what we call an advanced joke.”  Dash leaned on the other arm of the couch.  “Just try using that bonehead brain to figure it out.  When you get it, you’re officially cool.”

“Hm.”  Twilight looked back at Pinkie, who looked relieved now.

“Yeah!”  Pinkie finally swallowed and nodded eagerly. “Advanced joke!”

Twilight thought and thought but couldn’t begin to understand it.  She needed to see if there was some kind of lewd dictionary.

"At any rate," said Twilight, "jumping out of a train that's going 300 miles an hour would kill you."

No!  None of you are being scientific enough about this!

“Oh wait!”  Pinkie came down from her perch and grabbed Twilight in a tight hug. “Here it comes, Twilight!”

According to science, math, and reason, which are things we should listen to, the statistically safest place to be on a train is right in the exact spot that I’m standing in at this very-

Then the vampire smashed its way down from the ceiling and bit her so hard that her entire head exploded into pure mush, more blood gushing out than a pony had.

All of her friends laughed and cheered when the vampire killed her.  They did that every time the vampire killed somepony.

Twilight probably should feel more disgusted by this scene, but-

“Okay, that effect was pretty goofy,” said Twilight. “But why are nerds always treated so badly in films? I related to that nerd character!”

"Yeah, I wonder why." Dash rolled her eyes.

“Aw.”  Rarity gently stroked Twilight’s hair.  “But you were smart enough to be friends with the vampires instead.  So you won’t have to relate to getting your head eaten.”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie started petting Twilight too, but at a much faster rate. “I promise I won’t ever explode your head, Twilight.  Not unless you cross me or- or try to steal my coffin or something!”

“Thanks.  I won’t explode any of your heads either,” said Twilight. “Should we be cheering for the vampire, though?  He’s the bad guy!  He doesn’t even have a train ticket.  This is why they say movies are bad for you, they make you root for the bad guy.”

“It’s more fun if you root for the monster!”  said Pinkie.

“Twilight, there’s no ‘bad guy’ in any movie,” said Rarity.  “Executives notwithstanding.  The pony on the screen is hardly a real vampire-like we are.  He’s some colt dressed up like a vampire and frankly, I could have designed a better costume.  Every movie is nothing more than ponies playing pretend.  This is a game we’re watching.”

“Yeah,” Dash added.  “You gotta treat this crap like a bucking sports game or something.  If you don’t root for somepony then you ain’t gonna have any fun.  We’re team vampire for obvious reasons.”

“Huh.”  Twilight tilted her head and looked at the movie again. “I guess never thought of movies like that before.”

She did have to admit their shouting was the best part of this movie.

“Well I’m rooting for this train conductor guy, then!”  Twilight pointed at him when he came back on screen.  “He’s a professional.”

I already told you once- if you don’t have a ticket you’re not welcome on my train!

The vampire reached down to the bloody remains of the nerd character and pulled her ticket, still unpunched.  He then dropped it in front of the conductor, laughing.

Oh, you son of a-!

“Yeah!”  Twilight cheered him on.  “Even in the face of death, he remains professional and doesn’t curse!  He’s the real hero!  Go train conductor guy!”

I’ve had it with you and your loco motives!

The train conductor swung a silver cane at the vampire, silver being confirmed as a weakness of vampires a little earlier in the movie.

“Yeah!”  Twilight cheered for him as the vampire was forced to take a step back.

I hope you don’t mind me letting off some steam!

He hit the vampire this time, pushing it back as it hissed.

“Y-yeah!” Twilight didn't even care that joke wasn't applicable given the type of train he was on.

But I am the ticket inspector so you’ve gotta hand it to me!

He hit the vampire a second time.  He was nearly at the back of the train now.

“You can do it!”

That I’ve got a lot of experience when it comes to punching!

One more hit sent the vampire up against the rear car’s door.  He lifted the cane for another hit.

“Oh no!”  Pinkie covered her eyes.  “I can’t watch!”

And believe me, I have an entire itinerary full of train puns.  Next stop-!

The vampire finally managed to grab the conductor’s silver cane by wrapping a piece of cloth around it and pulled him in close.

Bah!  If I wanted one-liners, I would have taken a monorail!

Twilight gasped as the train conductor got thrown down the car.  But all the others cheered.

“Looking pretty good for team vampire,” Dash said smugly enough.  “Sure you don’t want to switch sides, Sparks?”

“No way!”  Twilight had to admit she was suddenly invested in this. “This guy’s got a long, prosperous career ahead of him.  Train conductors are hard-working professionals!  He can deal with a vampire!”

“Oh!”  Pinkie raised her hoof.  “Can I tell her what happens in Slaughtertrain 2?  I have a really funny joke!”

“No!”  Dash swatted Pinkie’s tail.  “You’re bucking spoiling everything.”

“Wait, there’s a Slaughtertrain 2?”  Twilight asked.  “So he does have a prosperous career ahead of him?  Does dealing with the vampire just become part of his daily routine?  Maybe because it can’t die so he has to knock it off every time?”

“Ha!”  Dash threw her pillow over at Twilight playfully.  “Yeah and he’s like ‘oh that’s just the bucking vampire, let me scrape him off the window real quick’.  I’d like to see that movie!  This is why we keep you around, Sparks!”

"But sadly this vampire doesn't appear again until Slaughtertrain 7," said Pinkie.  "I'm gonna miss him!"

“Seven?”  Twilight looked over at Pinkie. “There are seven Slaughtertrain movies?  Isn’t that a lot?”

The others laughed at that for some reason.

“Twilight.”  Rarity giggled.  “This movie was made six hundred years ago.  There’s thirty-seven of them now.”

“Really?”  Twilight didn’t know how movies worked, exactly. Was it normal for them to make that many?  “We’re gonna watch thirty-seven movies about train slaughters?!”

“Well not tonight,” said Rarity.  “And these aren’t easy to find anymore.  I’ve only managed to get twenty of them and that took a long time.”

“Even watching twenty would take a while.”  Not that Twilight minded.  This gave her an excuse to come over for many nights to come now.  “Can we watch Slaughtertrain 2 tomorrow?”

“I’m afraid we won’t be here tomorrow,” said Rarity.  “That’ll give you some time to read, work on your essays.”

“Wait!  None of you are going to be around tomorrow?” Twilight hadn’t actually spent a single night by herself since getting to Ponyville.  She wasn’t sure if she was ready yet.  For a minute there it felt like she'd never have to do it.

“Can you not bear a day apart from me already?”  Rarity flicked her mane.  “It’s only for a day.  I’ll be back Wednesday.”

“I don’t blame you, Twitwi.”  Pinkie patted Twilight on the head.  “I can’t go a day without me either.”

“But where are you going?” There was a tiny bit of hope in Twilight’s mind that she could beg them to take her along.

“Now see, Sparks.”  Dash looked at Twilight with some suspicion.  “You’re the least filthy daywalker in a hundred-mile radius, all the other daywalkers are beneath you.  But you still haven’t even gotten to honorary vampire yet and we don’t tell everything to bucking daywalkers.”

“Wait.  You’re not telling me?  But that just makes me really curious!”  Twilight complained.  She turned to Rarity in desperation, hoping to go over Dash’s head, and gave her a pleading look.  “Tell me?”

“Daw! You know I can’t resist your curiosity.”  Rarity scratched Twilight behind the ear a few times, mulling it over, before turning back to Dash.  “I want to tell her.”

“Hey, you’re the boss.” Dash leaned against the other couch’s arm, unamused.  “But it ain’t my fault if we gotta bucking bail.”

“Twilight.”  Rarity turned back to Twilight with that dangerous smile.  “We’re going just a little bit into the Everfree Forest.”

“What?!”  Twilight flailed in shock, accidentally throwing Pinkie off the couch. “Sorry, Pinkie.  But what?!”

“The Everfree Forest.” Rarity leaned in close.  “There’s something I like to do there.”

“But you can’t be serious! That’s illegal!  This is a prank, right?!”

Twilight looked at her and then Dash but both looked serious about this.

“Rarity, I don’t want you to die!”  Twilight grabbed Rarity tighter than she ever had before.  “Please don’t go out there!”

“You’re worried for absolutely nothing.”  Rarity stroked Twilight’s mane.  “I’ve done this so many times there isn’t the tiniest bit of danger.”

“It’s not even that dangerous unless you go miles into it,” said Dash.

“But what if you get caught? You’d go to jail for years!  If not forever!”

“Sure, in theory!” Dash laughed.  “But how we gonna get bucking caught, Sparks?  The dork patrol never goes into the forest anymore. I think there are like four ponies who still have those expedition licenses.  They tend to be chill, too.  No way for them to ever find out.”

What was Twilight supposed to do?  She could snitch on them in an attempt to keep them from getting hurt!  But that might actually put them in more danger.

“Twitwi.” Pinkie reappeared and whispered in Twilight’s ear, poking her head just over the arm of the couch, her mane covering one of her eyes.  “You could come with us.  Into the forest!”

“No way!”  Twilight jumped in the opposite direction, bumping into Rarity and nearly dominating Dash off the couch.

“Hey!”  Dash just barely managed to stay on.  “Ha!  You sure you wanna go your whole life never knowing what it’s really like in there?”

“Yes!  Thinking about the forest is-“  Twilight shook her head.  “I appreciate you showing me new things, but that one’s a hard no.  I don’t want to talk about it and no way I’m going out there!”

“You can do whatever you want, Twilight.”  Rarity leaned back against Dash.

“Aw.”  Pinkie sighed, disappointed.  “Well, I hope you change your mind!  The best times are in the forest!”

“But you ain’t gonna snitch on us or anything, right Sparks?”  Dash was watching Twilight with suspicion.

“What?  No way!” Twilight answered without thinking much.  “We’re friends, right?  I’m cool.”

“I know it!”  Dash’s suspicion finally vanished, and she pumped her hoof and sunk back into the couch.

Twilight felt a bit of momentary relief, glad she hadn’t upset her friends or anything.

But a familiar feeling of dread came back to her.  She knew she wouldn’t be able to relax again until her friends came back from the forest.  If they came back.

She could feel the forest behind her and sank into the couch to try and ignore it again.  Pinkie coming back up helped a little.

Meanwhile, in the movie, the conductor had just detached the caboose with the vampire inside it.

Twilight didn’t think she’d ever been this invested in a character in a book, but right now she wanted this conductor to get to the station alive and on time.  But the way these three were smiling, she knew at least one of those things wouldn’t happen.
> Chapter 7.  Delinquent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight looked up at the yeti, trying to stare at it straight in the eyes as it growled and swung its arms about.  She took a moment to adjust her sunglasses so they wouldn’t fall off but didn’t dare blink. Twilight could tell it didn’t like making eye contact.  It kept looking away, growling and looking back, getting more frustrated each time.

It was built like a gorilla, but could stand perfectly upright when it wanted to, like now, and had gnarled claws and horns.  It was already big when it was skulking around on all fours, but on its hind legs it was big, could probably lob Twilight clear over her house.  She kept assuring herself that Applejack’s advice was right, cause if this thing attacked her, she had zero confidence she’d get away.

If Applejack wasn’t right next to her, she wouldn’t be able to do this.  It’d occasionally look in her direction too, but Twilight got the feeling it knew she was the weaker of the two.  Applejack said you don’t want to run or fight when dealing with one of these. Just stand there, make eye contact.

These were rare, the worst ‘normal’ monster you ran into, so this was the first time Twilight had seen one. Applejack was the one who noticed it, stalking towards town and came over to invite Twilight to chase it off with her.  Twilight agreed to go, wanting to get some experience dealing with yetis before she inevitably ran into one when she was alone.

At first, the yeti certainly seemed interested in eating the two ponies.  The yeti had charged right at them the moment it noticed the two. But when it got closer and noticed they weren’t trying to run from it, the monster suddenly became less sure of itself and stopped moving in.

The yeti took a step back.

“Okay,” said Applejack quietly.  “Now we start moving forward.”

The yeti stood its ground for about one second before turning and running away back into the forest, getting down onto all fours to run faster.

“Oh geez. Thanks.”  Twilight let out a sigh of relief.  That was the most intimidating thing she’d run into so far. “But why is that thing afraid of us?  Cause don’t tell the yeti I said this, but I could not fight that thing.”

“I don’t think it’s scared. Just lazy,” said Applejack.  “They don’t wanna bother with anything that’s gonna fight back.”

“What if one of them sneaks up on me?”  Twilight asked.

“Best bet then is to just start punching it.”  Applejack thrust a hoof forward.  “But only if it’s already got you.  If you hit 'em hard enough and keep trying to look them in the eye, they back off.  Had to do it once.”

“I don’t think I can punch half as hard as you.”  Twilight imitated the thrust.  “But I guess I’ll try.  If I ever have to.”

After this, Applejack had now gone through all the common monsters with Twilight.  She’d shown Twilight how to deal with jackalopes and timberwolves and now this.

Twilight did occasionally see a monster, but like Applejack promised when she first got to Ponyville, they were getting less scary every day.  She almost felt like she could handle things now.

Though of course, there was always that tiny threat of running into something truly dangerous. If a dreadstalker showed up, and Applejack or Rarity wasn’t around, well there was no advice to give at that point. And there were even worse things somewhere deep in the woods, things that might not stay there much longer… vampires even, if you believed Applejack.

But those things only came out at night and these days Twilight was never alone at night.

It was closer to sunset now. The two of them walked past Applejack’s farm.  Applejack was having a bad year.  A lot more of the trees looked like they were melting now and Applejack had to spend a great deal of time uprooting those infected trees and burning them.  Neither of them talked about it much, but if this infection got much worse… well Twilight didn’t know if she’d have a neighbor next year.

They got close to Twilight’s house and Twilight noticed a plunder vine, one of those thick, spiny black vines from the forest, growing on her lawn.

That was another thing that came with living close to the forest, but it wasn’t too big a deal in the short term.  If one of these forest plants showed up, you just plucked them and put them in the burning pile.  It’d keep the area from getting overrun as fast.

Twilight grabbed the vine with her magic and struggled to pull it up.  She could still move smaller things around pretty easily, but lifting heavy stuff like this was getting harder these days.  She did eventually get it out and threw it in the pile.  Applejack noticed this right away but hesitated before saying anything.

“Your magic seems to be a bit weaker than when you first got here,” said Applejack.  “You uh, okay?”

“I’m not in the sun as much is all,” said Twilight.  “My job’s indoors, I’m up all night.  Not enough sunlight to fully recharge.  But it’s not like I had a promising career as a mage ahead of me anyway.”

“I just know that unicorns need sunlight a bit more than other ponies,” said Applejack.  “I’m worried maybe you aren’t getting enough. I think you shouldn’t stay up so late every night.  Them asking you to stay out of the sunlight, well it doesn’t seem to be doing you any good.”

Twilight groaned.  She knew where this was going.

“Well,” said Twilight, “I could ask them to come out during the day instead sometime, but they’d die.  And it’s not because they’re whimsical fairy creatures.  They-“

“Yeah, yeah.  They all got phantom termite syndrome.”  Applejack rolled her eyes.  “Real shame.”

“You get on their case for using the L-word, but then you turn around and openly mock them for being disabled?  Either you think we should be sensitive of disabilities or we shouldn’t.”

“I don’t think being a vampire counts as a disability.”

This was how things went. Applejack would be cool for days on end and then suddenly bring up vampires, or occasionally Twilight's lifestyle changes, back up and everything would go to crap.

“I thought we were done with this vampire cra-“  Twilight froze.  She felt like she just narrowly missed getting hit by a train.  “Crud.”

Applejack didn’t buy that save for a second.  She gave Twilight a look that made the unicorn bow her head in shame.

Applejack snatched Twilight’s sunglasses away and the world became far too bright.  Twilight winced as the unfiltered light hit her eyes.  It was so bright now, she had to squint until her eyes were nearly closed.

“Look how cloudy it is!” Applejack looked up at the sky, covered in gray clouds just waiting for a pegasus to kick them and start a downpour. “And you need sunglasses on a day like today?  This is exactly what I said would happen.  Remember?”

“Hey!  Those are very expensive!”  More importantly, Rarity bought them for her since Twilight could hardly afford them. Twilight tried reaching for the sunglasses, but her strained eyes made it difficult to get them back.  “Look, anypony could predict that my eyes would get more sensitive.  I'm almost always in the dark now, so of course, I need sunglasses during the day!  I'm not some- some daywalker anymore!"

“You’re really fine with all of this?”  Applejack let Twilight take her glasses back.  “Losing your magic, developing eye problems, turning foul-mouthed?”

Twilight felt a bit of relief when she finally got her glasses back on.  Truth be told she was getting a little dependent on them for protection.  She couldn't go outside during the day without them anymore, not like she'd say that to Applejack.

“It’s not that bad!”  Twilight turned her back on Applejack and moved to her door.  “I don’t care about any of that stuff and having friends is worth all of it.”

“I don’t think those three are your friends, Twilight.”

“They are my friends!” Twilight spun around, saying that a bit rougher than she meant to. “You know, Rarity has a lot of good ideas about how society is terrible and it’s messing up our lives.  You’ve just been brainwashed by the system and are too close-minded to get over the initial emotional response society conditioned you to have towards dissenting ideals.”

Both of them paused after that one.  Twilight really didn’t mean to blurt that out and Applejack wasn’t expecting it either.

“Okay, fine.” Applejack raised an eyebrow.  “If this is the only way to get to you, then what are these good ideas?”

“Oh!  You do want to hear about it?”  Twilight asked.

Twilight honestly wasn’t expecting that.

“Well-“  Twilight hesitated.

It wasn’t that she didn’t have anything to say, she could go on for hours.  She just didn’t have anything she wanted to say in public.  It was one thing to complain about Celestia or the academy in front of her friends, where nothing seemed to matter and everything was acceptable.  Repeating it in public still felt wrong.

Was she supposed to tell Applejack that she no longer believed the academy knew everything? Or thought Celestia wasn’t perfect? Should she admit to thinking a lot of the rules didn’t make sense?  Admit she liked watching horror movies?  Or openly talk about the things she’d read in banned books?  That she didn’t even think books or movies should be banned?  Should she tell Applejack that she liked how affectionate her friends were?  That she basically cuddled with them?! And- and thought that was okay?!

There was no way she could admit to any of that in public, not without drowning in shame.

In the end, she refused to speak for too long and Applejack took it as an admission of defeat.

“Sounds to me like she’s just smooth-talking you.”  Applejack tapped at her head.  “Rarity’s real manipulative like.  She knows how to get in your head like this.”

“It’s not like that.” Twilight’s brain was scrambling for ways to get out of this.  “I’ll uh- write you an essay about it or something.”

“Um.  Okay?”  Applejack raised an eyebrow.  “But if you need me-“

“Yes.  The second Rarity reveals she’s a vampire to me, I will call you.”  Twilight nodded and pointed at Applejack as she walked backward into her house.  “But I gotta go write that essay now.”

Twilight closed her door as fast as she could and slumped down on the other side of it.  She was not going to write Applejack and essay. Nopony could ever know Twilight had these thoughts.

With one obvious exception, that is.

Twilight got back up and went to get ready for her.  Rarity was going to come over to Twilight’s house tonight and they were finally going to watch Crocpocalypse 3: The Final Apocalypse.  All three of them were going to be there for the first time.

Her house was a bit better than it’d originally been.  She had the same black and purple curtains Rarity did at her house, incredibly fancy ones lightly enchanted to block light.  When they were closed it was pitch black inside, even in the middle of a sunny day.  Those and a dimmer switch were things Rarity bought for Twilight, insisting they were really for herself.  If they were going to be friends, she said, then there was a chance one of those three might end up stuck at Twilight’s house during the day for some reason. They’d need these things to stay safe until the sun went down again.

So right now it was the same dim lighting in Twilight's house that her friends usually stayed in.  Now that it was the middle of summer, the darkness felt cool and comforting.  Twilight was just more comfortable in the dark.

Rarity bought Twilight a few other things too, like her new couch.  Rarity was generous.  It felt a little bit like Rarity was colonizing Twilight’s house, given the similar decor, but at the end of the day, it did look far better than anything Twilight could hope to do on her own.  And those curtains made it so easy to sleep through the day, too.

The first thing Twilight did was take down all her Celestia posters.  She was living a double poster life at this point, taking them down at sunset and putting them back up at sunrise.  That way she never got crap from anypony.

But today there was a phase two.  Twilight took out her secret project that’d been hidden under the bed until just now.

Finding clothes like the stuff her friends wore was hard and finding it in Twilight’s non-existent price range was impossible.  Before long, she decided it’d be faster to make something herself.  She got two black leather bands and glued blunt metal spikes around one side.  It resulted in a bracelet that looked a lot like the ones the gang often wore.

Twilight put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.  She did like it.  Clothing was something she always saw as an unnecessary expense, but the more she hung out with her new friends the more she liked how clothes made them look.  They looked cool and tough.  And she wanted it too.

Plus she knew Rarity would be super-impressed by this!

There was a knock on her door.  It felt just a little too early for her friends to be here, though they could come out a bit earlier when it was cloudy.  Twilight pulled back her curtains and peeked outside to see it was Applejack again.

That was bad!

“One second!” Twilight yelled out.

Twilight panicked and rushed to put the Celestia posters back up on her way to the door.  She didn’t get all of them and they were crooked, but that should work!

Twilight was panting by the time she opened the door to greet Applejack.  Just after Twilight opened the door, she remembered she hadn’t taken that bracelet off and found herself paralyzed with fear.  She had to keep her one hoof on the door and the other- well she slid that a little bit, so it was hidden too!  Though now she was panting and standing in a weird position.

“You okay?”  Applejack asked.

“Pffft.”  Twilight forced herself to smile.  “Are you kidding?  I’m the most okay.  Um. What’s happening?”

“Well I was on my way back and I thought, well why don’t you come over to my house for dinner tonight! My brother, he’s actually a really good cook, you know.”  Applejack offered a friendly smile.

“Um, thanks.” Twilight inched the door closer to shut.  “But I kind of have plans tonight.”

“Well what about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow’s Friday. They always have a party on Friday and I’m not missing that.”

“Uh.  Saturday?”

“I’m having a sleepover at Rarity's house. Then Sunday me and Rainbow Dash are going to the old millhouse and she’s gonna show me how to-“  Twilight decided at the last moment that Applejack didn’t need to know about that. “-play marbles!”

“Is there any time you are free?”  Applejack asked.  “Or are you just booked with them forever?”

Now that she mentioned it, Twilight did seem to spend all of her free time with at least one of them, or else fact-checking Rarity and writing her essays. Even when she was just reading something, one of her friends was usually around somewhere.  But it was a good thing.  Twilight wasn’t lonely anymore and that was just what having friends was like.

And she did occasionally not have them around.  Namely…

“Well I’m free on Wednesday,” said Twilight.  “I guess.”

“Okay!  Then why not then?”

“Well.”  Twilight thought about it.  She did like Applejack, but being around her got awkward sometimes.  Having two friends who hated each other wasn’t easy.

Twilight looked down the road and saw the Blue Diamonds not far off.  Her time was up!  They'd be here in like two minutes!

Twilight hadn’t seen Rarity and Applejack in the same place since she first came into town.  It felt like they existed in two parallel universes and crossing them would cause the world to explode.  She didn’t want to see both of them in the same place.  She’d have no idea what to do!

“Yeah!  That’s great!”  Twilight nodded.  “Wednesday. See you there!  Goodbye!”

Applejack’s instincts were too keen for her own good and she turned around to check what's made Twilight nervous and saw the Blue Diamonds.  She made eye contact with Rainbow Dash who, unlike the yeti, took it as a challenge and flew right up in front of Applejack in a flash.

“Ah, hey.”  Dash started circling around Applejack, the two of them keeping eye contact the whole time.  “Didn’t I see you around somewhere?  Yo Sparks!  Is this dork bothering you?  Want me to get rid of her?”

Sometimes Twilight felt like she decided who lived and who died.

“No!”  Twilight shook her head.  “She wasn’t bothering me at all.”

Pinkie hissed at Applejack as she got closer, stopping at her right side.  She did that to everypony they walked up to, but Applejack was less phased by it.  Rarity, meanwhile, trotted around to Applejack’s left side.  If you counted Twilight, Applejack was surrounded.

“What’s she doing here?” Pinkie glared at Applejack suspiciously.

“She lives next door to me,” Twilight said. “She, uh- she’s not that bad!”

“Really?”  Rarity looked over at Applejack with a smile that was a bit too wide.  “Well you know, I just adore my Twilight.  If she says you’re not so bad, then maybe I was wrong about you.  Would you like to be friends from now on instead? Hm?”

Applejack didn’t have a response for that one, other than to glare daggers at Rarity.

“Well that’s too bad.” Rarity made a shooing motion instead. “But if that’s the case you should run along now.  I have a bit of business with Twilight.”

“Actually.”  Applejack held her hoof out to Twilight.  “Twilight wanted to come over to dinner at my place tonight.”

“I didn’t-“  Twilight took a step outside and realized her mistake.

Everypony saw her bracelets now.  She got a smug little smile from Rarity and a look of shock from Applejack which made Twilight blush in shame.  It felt like Applejack had just ruined the moment Twilight had worked all day for. That settled the matter in Twilight’s mind.

“I didn’t say yes to that! She just asked me!”  Twilight trotted over to Rarity’s side.  “But the answer is no.”

“You don’t have to do whatever they want you to,” said Applejack.

“You’re right, Applejack.” Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s back. “Twilight doesn’t need my permission to do anything.  And I’m not the least bit threatened by her talking to somepony else.  In fact, why don’t you go with her?  Trying new things is excellent for your education.  Hearing other viewpoints is good.”

“I don’t want to!” Twilight insisted.  “I want to hang out with you three."

“Good mare!”  Dash nuzzled Twilight’s cheek, which made Applejack cringe a little.

Twilight had to admit that she still wasn’t comfortable with touching in public either and felt herself tensing up.

“Don’t worry.  It’s not you, it’s me.”  Rarity put her hoof on her chest and rose her head proudly. “I don’t think anypony would choose somepony else over me.  But maybe you could ask her about Wednesday?  I won't be around to compete with you then.”

“Can you just drop this nice mare act?”  Applejack took a step towards Rarity, staring her down like she stared down the yeti a few minutes ago.  “We both know what you are and what you're doing to Twilight.”

Applejack was glaring harder and Rarity was smiling more smugly with each second.  This was going bad!  There's was a small chance they might beat Applejack up if this went too much further.

“Hey.”  Twilight ran in between the two of them before it could go any further.  “Why do you all hate each other so much?  I know you don’t agree with each other on a lot of things, but you’re both nice in your own ways.  I feel like we could all be friends if we just talk all of this out!  Rarity, why don't you tell her about how like, they shouldn't ban books and we should have freedom of speech?"

Twilight was confident that Applejack would change her mind about this stuff too if she heard about all the stuff Rarity taught her.  Really, anypony with half a brain should change their minds once they saw all the data.

And Rarity looked like she was considering it, but then Pinkie interrupted.

“Applejack threw a bottle of acid at my face.” Pinkie pointed her hoof in accusation.  “It was the third worst thing anypony ever did to me.”

“Wait!  What?!”  Twilight looked at Applejack.

“I did not.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “You’re taking that completely out of context.”

“I got burned.  I still got the burn mark and-“  Pinkie rolled up her sleeve, but her leg was fine now.  “Oh, I guess actually it healed.  But I did have a burn there!  You remember that, right?”

“Yeah.”  Twilight did remember Pinkie having a wound on that leg when they first me.  “Is that seriously what happened?  Applejack, throwing bottles of acid at ponies is incredibly rude!  Especially if it’s at their face.”

As Twilight said this, Pinkie pointed to her and nodded in agreement.

“It sounds crazy because it is,”  said Applejack.  “That wasn’t acid, that was holy water from Canterlot.  Celestia’s magic burns them cause they’re from the forest.  And I didn’t just walk up and throw it at them. They started taunting me.  They literally told me to do it.”

“We talk like this with everypony, even ponies we like,” said Dash.  “Most of them don’t attack us for saying ‘buck’ or ‘lame’ or whatever. Most of them don’t carry acid, either.”

“And there’s a big difference between foul language and trying to melt sompony’s face off,” said Rarity.  “It’s not my fault if you can’t restrain yourself.  But Twilight, you know I don’t like you just taking my word for things. Lots of other ponies saw the acid incident and you can ask them how it went.  Isn’t that right, Applejack?”

And the two of them locked eyes like Rarity had just gotten Applejack into check.

“Okay.”  Applejack raised her eyebrow.  “Well if y'all like looking for the truth so much, why don’t we just buy an entire bathtub full of the stuff this time?”

“I’m not spending thousands of bits on a few vials of holy water just to prove I’m not a literal vampire, let alone millions for enough to swim in.  You’d probably just come up with some excuse for why it didn’t work anyway.”  Rarity held Twilight in a hug.  “Now if my Twilight seriously needed proof of this, then I’d certainly do it for her.”

“No,” said Twilight. “I would feel horrible about wasting that kind of money.”

“There,” said Rarity. “Any more questions?”

Applejack glared ineffectually at Rarity for a moment, looking for some way to push back.

“Yeah.”  Applejack pushed past Twilight to but heads with Rarity again.  “Where’s Bonbon?  She disappeared the night of your last party.  I noticed that’s when ponies are most likely to go missing.”

“Oh, I’m certain a monster from the Everfree got her.”  Rarity took off her glasses and looked Applejack in the eyes, smiling.  “But she wasn’t at my party, so I don’t feel responsible for her.  I can’t babysit the whole town.”

“Well I’m pretty sure I know which monster it was.”  Applejack stared Rarity right back in the eyes.

“Yeah it was me.” Dash raised her hoof.  “I couldn’t help it; my airhead brain just pushes me to kill.  Us airheads are all violent maniacs, you know.  That’s why we won the war.”

Applejack glared at Dash. She didn’t like that but wasn’t sure how to respond to something like that.

“Sides, she was just a lowly mud pony anyway.”  Pinkie shrugged.  “Do mud ponies really deserve to live, Applejack?”

“What did you just say?!”

“Mud pony!”  Pinkie crouched down playfully in front of Applejack and looked up at her.  “Cause we live in the mud and also that’s what our brains are made of.”

“These are the ponies you want to be friends with, Twilight?”  Applejack looked at her.

“Well it’s not a racist if Pinkie says it cause she’s a-“

“Mud pony.”  Pinkie cut her off.  "But at least I'm not a lame mud pony like Applejack.  Right, Twitwi?"

That was one way to put Twilight on the spot!  Everypony turned to hear her response.

"Well-"  Twilight panicked a little, scratching the back of her head with her bracelet.  Her gut told her to side with her friends.  "You're not the coolest pony, and you did that thing with the acid, so logically we can conclude that you're kind of... a loser."

That came out way harsher than Twilight intended!  She hadn't wanted to say 'lame' and 'loser' was just the first replacement word that came to mind!

But before she could take it back, all of her friends were laughing and Applejack was blushing with anger, glaring at Twilight while Twilight stared back blankly.

"Fine!"  Applejack turned and started trotting.  "Look just- I'll see you later."

Watching Applejack leave, Twilight didn't feel good at all.  Maybe she'd apologize later, but at least she'd saved face with her best friends.  She'd choose them over Applejack, over anypony, any day.

And of course, Pinkie hissed loudly as Applejack left.

“You know,” said Twilight, “you don’t have to hiss every time a pony walks away from us.”

“But that’s my thing, Twitwi!”

“Your thing is hissing?”

“I’m the crazy, hissing one.”  Pinkie gestured to herself.  "Every vampire group has a crazy hissing one, Twilight!  You should know that by now.  Dash is the tough one who threatens you and sometimes suddenly appears behind you.  Rarity's the eloquent, classy one.  And you, Twitwi?  You shark ponies, slowly circling around them and explaining Rarity's plans and stuff."

"Except I've never done that."

“Give it time.”

Twilight certainly hoped she wouldn’t end up sharking other ponies, though her new friends were starting to influence Twilight more these days.  So who knew anymore?

And yet she still opened her door and waited for them to go inside.

“I still feel like maybe we went too far with Applejack?”  Twilight suggested.

“Applejack has been harassing me since I got here.”  Rarity strode into Twilight’s house.  “And now she’s spreading rumors I’m a serial killer?  I think I’m being too nice to her.”

"Yeah, why you sticking up for Appledork?" Dash asked.

"Oh, I'm not defending her!" Twilight's answer came in a reflex.  "Applejack's a dor- daywalker scum.  Attacking you is way less cool than anything we said, right?  Being out in the sun too much must have fried her brains."

"You got that right," said Dash.

This was the first time Pinkie had been in Twilight’s house and the first time all four of them were here too.  Pinkie was already zipping around checking the place out and Dash was looking around curiously too, despite having already been here.

“You put those lame posters back up?”  Dash looked up at one of the posters of Celestia.  “Didn’t see that one coming.”

Twilight just remembered those were still up!

“Yeah!  But see, I put them up crookedly.  Cause Celestia is crooked!  That’s what I was going for.”  Twilight realized they weren’t remotely buying this.  “Okay, fine!  I put it so Applejack wouldn’t give me cra- C-word.”

“Hee!”  Pinkie rubbed her cheek against Twilight’s.  “You wanna say crap, don’t you Twitwi?  I’ll say a non-curse word if you curse!”

Truth be told, Twilight had cursed once or twice already, but never on purpose.  Not yet.

“You know, I blame you for this.” Twilight turned her chin up and away from Pinkie.  “You are a bad influence!”

“I blame me for this too! Pinkie is a good bucking influence!  I wanna influence you more!”  Pinkie started trotting in place.  “Here! Crap crap crap crap crap-“

Pinkie started trotting in place rapidly, saying ‘crap’ over and over again.

“We ain’t bucking doing that, Pinks!”  Dash grabbed Pinkie from behind and forced her mouth shut.  But Pinkie resisted and the two of them fell to the floor wrestling.

"So what did you get up to yesterday?"  Rarity lied down on Twilight's couch like she owned it.  "Studying, no doubt?  You're always looking into something interesting.  I want to hear all about it."

“Well I’ve been re-watching all of those PSAs recently.  I watched twenty of them last night and-  They’re all just lousy propaganda films!  Everything in them is just lies and manipulation!  And you know, I could understand if one or two of them was like that. But all of them?  They’re making them this way on purpose.  They’re actively lying and trying to manipulate me!”

“Obviously.”  Rarity nodded expectantly, waiting for Twilight to go on.

“They aren’t made by anypony wise or kind!  And then I got to thinking about what you said, how shame is just something they weaponize as a form of thought control!  And I- well I read that book, You’re Basically in a Cult and-”

Twilight hesitated to continue, though Rarity looked rapt with anticipation.  That was one of the banned books Rarity convinced Twilight to read.  It listed all kinds of techniques cults use to control their members. So much of it sounded familiar, made sense of things that never made sense to her before.  And it made Twilight angry.

“And it was right!  I was basically in a cult!”  She couldn’t say that anywhere else, but here it came flooding out like a dam had just broken.  “All of the manipulative stuff the book talks about- it happened constantly back at school!  Watching the same PSAs over and over again, the focus on repetition, the way they wanted us to snitch on each other for saying anything critical, controlling what information we had.  They did all kinds of emotional control techniques!  They try to make you scared or ashamed of having certain thoughts and ideas!  They try to make you disgusted by anypony questioning the rules!”

Rarity watched, smiling, from the couch as Twilight trotted back and forth giving her a rant.

“You know, we can't exactly have our little arguments if you don't say anything I disagree with," said Rarity.  "Does this mean no essay today?"

“Huh?  Oh!  No, I was busy with something else.”  Twilight rubbed the back of her head, feeling the bracelet scratching her.  That’d take getting used to.

“Ah!  Don’t think I didn’t notice that!”  Rarity grabbed Twilight by the wrist and pulled her closer so she could look over the new bracelet.  “You did a great job with it.  I can see you’ve gained an appreciation for the deliberate chaos that I carefully weave into my own fashion.  These little spikes are glued on with such precise disorder.  Yes, I can see the emotion you poured into it, can feel something of that rant from just a moment ago.”

“Yeah!”  Twilight nodded.  Actually, she just didn’t have enough skill to glue them on perfectly straight.  “That’s what I was going for.”

“Oh.  And there is the small matter that it makes you look absolutely lovely.”  Rarity nuzzled Twilight.

“You’re looking less like a dork,” Dash added with a  shrug.

“Yeah!  One of us!”

“Oh, well. You know.” Twilight blushed.

Totally worth it!

“But you know.” Rarity lounged on Twilight’s couch like it was her own and put her hoof on her chest.  “If you ever want my help looking nice-“

“Gonna warn you right here, Sparks,” Dash cut her off.  “She’s offering you one of those demonic contract things.  You let her in and she will never stop playing dress-up with you. Do you think I come up with a new outfit every day myself?  No. Rarity gives me the outfit and I don’t have the energy to say no to any of it anymore.  I’m completely at her bucking mercy now.”

“Oh please, Dashie.” Rarity pouted at Dash.  “You like how cute I make you!  Besides, I’m the one who looks at you so it’s only fair I decide what you wear.”

“By that logic, I should get to pick out your outfits.”

“Go ahead,” Rarity called her bluff.  “I’ll wear whatever you design.”

“Bah!”  Dash fell onto the couch next to Rarity, defeated.  “Okay you got me.”

“You see?  I always win.”  Rarity winked at Twilight.  “So how about signing my ‘demonic contract’, hm?  We do have a party tomorrow; it’d be perfect timing. Maybe I could find you a few things to go with your bracelets?”

The suggestion sparked a twinge of fear in Twilight.

“I can’t wear this in public!” Twilight covered one of her bracelets with a hoof.  “Not even just this much!   Everypony will think that I’m- I’m-“

“Cool?”  Dash suggested.  "Everypony who isn't lame is gonna think you're cool.  And the ponies who are lame?  Well they're lame so who gives a buck?"

"Are you perhaps worried about the fines?"  Rarity suggested.  "Because I'd be happy to pay any disharmony fines you get hit with.  It's hardly a lot of money to me and buying your freedom of expression would be worth it to me."

“I mean!”  Twilight protested, but she didn’t have any arguments against what they were saying.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I kind of agree with you that all this fashion police cra- stuff is completely stupid and it doesn’t accomplish anything.  And is society just using shame to emotionally manipulate me into conforming to their narrow-minded standards?  Yes!  And maybe I resent being lied to and manipulated my whole life, sure!  And maybe the whole bucking-“

Another curse word slipped out!  Twilight’s entire body tensed up.  Fear washed away all of the anger that was just building up. But nothing happened other than Dash laughing and Pinkie stomping her hooves in applause.

“That’s three points for Pinkie!”  Pinkie was keeping count.

Rarity gestured for Twilight to come sit down next to her.  Defeated and with her head hung low, Twilight slunk down next to her friend.

“How about we think of it like this?”  Rarity stroked Twilight’s mane and that did help.  “If you had absolute freedom from both the law and judgment, what would you do?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe I would dress like you?”  Twilight kept her head and ears down.  “I think you three look cool.  And I wish I could dress like you.”

“Well you can!” Rarity chuckled.  “You’re brave enough.  I’ve seen it.”

“I could?”  Twilight looked down at her bracelet.

She could!

“I could!”  Twilight lifted her head.  “There isn’t anything stopping me, is there?  It’s just years of shame and social programming stopping me, right?  They’re totally controlling me and stuff, right?”

“Yeah!”  Dash laughed and smacked Twilight’s ear. “You learned that way faster than I did, Sparks!  You’re smart.”

Twilight felt a sudden sense of freedom, greater than any she'd ever had before, like she’d just been let out of a cage, like she could do anything now! She tried to think of the most extreme thing she could do with this new realization.

“Rarity!”  Twilight turned to the other unicorn.  “I- I want you to give me the most pegasus haircut in the entire world!”

Rarity giggled.
> Chapter 8.  Vampire research
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sat in the library just an hour before sunrise, surrounded by stacks of newspapers.  Maybe just a month ago she would have sheepishly pretended to have gotten up early to come here like the lame dork she was.

Twilight adjusted her sunglasses before she went back to looking through her pile of newspapers. Her eyes were still getting more sensitive, which did concern her just a little.  She was at the point where even electric lights could sting her eyes without the sunglasses on.  She wanted to see an optometrist, but for now…

“Twilight?”  Mrs. Inkwell’s voice broke Twilight’s concentration.  She turned around to see the librarian with her hoof over her mouth. “Is that really you?”

Twilight sighed and put down the newspapers.  She was starting to get numb to these reactions.  

It’d been weeks since the last time Twilight came to the public library. Mrs. Inkwell hadn’t changed in the least, but Twilight looked completely different now.

Twilight’s hair was spikey now, that was the part they all hated the most. The spikes curve up and forward in a bit of an arc over the front, nearly hiding her horn, and jutted out straighter in the back.

But there was more than that.  Twilight wore far more accessories these days.  Today she wore fishnet stocking on her front legs with seven spike bracelets haphazardly arranged on the left leg only.  She had a choker with a large skull charm attached so that the skull rested against her chest.  Then her rear hooves were in black leather boots that came up to the joint.

Her ears weren’t pierced yet, but that was going to change in just a few days. Twilight was only going to go further with all of this.

“Yes.  I’m Twilight Sparkle.  This is the real me, Mrs. Inkwell.”  Twilight opened her forelegs.  She knew that just owning it was the easiest way to get through these conversations. “I’m a delinquent.”

“But what happened?”  She asked, with a little concern to her credit.  “You were always so studious!”

“And that’s why I’m like this.  I’ve done months of research now and I have no choice but to conclude that society is-“ Twilight had no moral reservation with the word, but still hesitated to say it in public.  “Society is lame Mrs. Inkwell!”

And that made her gasp.

“Society stifles all forms of self-expression from artistic endeavors to interpersonal interaction!”  Twilight got up to face Mrs. Inkwell.  “Culture and tradition are simply the art of weaponizing your loved ones and emotions against you!  The aristocratic elites only want us to have an aversion to sugar and fruits so the masses will demand less expensive foods!  They swarm us with propaganda and thought-terminating clichés and long work hours in hopes we’ll never think about any of this!  Intellectuals are demonized and portrayed in a negative light so nopony listens to them when they expose the lies of the government!  The entire school system is a brainwashing factory designed to-!”

Mrs. Inkwell slowly, then quickly backed away.  Twilight blew a bit of her mane out of her face.  Some ponies just didn’t want to think for themselves.

She turned back to her studies instead.

Twilight barely came here lately.  She still spent just as much time studying as always, but lately, she spent all her time studying in Rarity’s library instead.  It wasn’t as big as this one, but she did have twenty-two bookcases filled with books.  Twilight couldn't take them back home with her because the law was stupid, but she could read them whenever she went to Rarity's house.

Banned books held so much more appeal these days.  It was like the ponies who wrote them just said whatever they wanted.  They were so unhinged that Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off them.  They said so many things Twilight never heard of or considered.  It was like she’d discovered an alien planet filled with information she couldn’t possibly get in a public library.

But there were limits. Rarity didn’t have any old newspapers, for example.

Twilight got a tip recently about Pinkie Pie.  She knew the exact time and location of when Pinkie went missing and could easily find it in the papers now.  All she had to do was find the 'missing' section that was common in towns near the forest.

After doing some research on phantasmagorical mitochondria, Twilight came up with a hypothesis.  According to her research, phantasmagorical mitochondria had a particularly visible symptom. Namely your hair began to curl up when exposed to sunlight.  Pinkie always had long, straight hair for as long as Twilight had known her.  But if the story she'd been given about Pinkie was true, Twilight would predict she'd have curly hair in the missing pony photograph.

Finally, she found the entry for Pinkie Pie and-

She had wildly curly hair, a big poofy blob that ended in a hook. It was missing the black stripes, but Twilight always knew those were dyed on. And poor Pinkie looked so sad in the picture, an emotion Pinkie rarely bothered with. It took Twilight a second to recognize her, but the name 'Pinkie Pie' was right there.

Twilight was at once relieved to see they hadn't been lying about that, but at the same time strangely disappointed they hadn't been lying.  Because if they had been lying that would have meant they were vampires who could offer Twilight eternal youth.

Her parents did at least try to make some attempt at finding her since Pinkie stayed in the North Gorgeville missing section for almost a year.  But Pinkie's entry was also very short.

Pinkie Pie. 22.  Female.  Earth Pony.  Cutie Mark: none.  Last seen North Gorgeville Hospital.

Which meant Pinkie was twenty-seven?  Twilight had honestly thought Pinkie was maybe nineteen or twenty, had run away as a teenager, that she was the youngest in the group, not the oldest.  Did it even count as running away when you were twenty-two?

Pinkie looked younger now than she did in the picture.  Maybe it was just because she looked so miserable back then.

At least they were telling the truth about Pinkie not having her cutie mark when she ran away.  The fact that she didn't get it until she was twenty-three at the least meant there must have been something seriously wrong in her life.  Leaving wherever she was clearly was the right decision.

It still wasn’t like she was fifty or anything like that, but this is what it was always like!  Nothing she found was ever conclusive and for everything, she found proving they weren’t vampires there was something just a little off like this.

If they were lying about anything, then Pinkie was the weak strand in the web.  Nopony knew Dash or Rarity from when they were younger, but there was lots of information about Pinkie hanging around.  Twilight knew where her parents lived but didn’t dare go over there.  That would not be cool and Twilight would probably lose her kind-of-in-the-gang status.

But besides them, there were still a few ponies around town who knew Pinkie before she met Rarity. Everything they said was consistent with the story about her having phantasmagorical mitochondria.  Pinkie used to sleep through all her classes to the point she needed to drop out of the first grade after just a few weeks.  She’d faint ‘all the time’ and was incredibly reserved and quiet in general.  One pony said he’d never even heard Pinkie speak until she came back with Rarity.

So she clearly had what she said she had.

But a few things felt a little off in general.

Twilight discovered the origin of Rarity's accent after watching a hundred movies.  The secret was that it wasn't a matter of where it was from, but when.  She'd directly witnessed the way ponies talk change over the centuries and Rarity talked just like unicorns did three to four hundred years ago.  So either Rarity was three hundred years old or she just watched a lot of movies and decided to train herself to talk like the ponies in the movies.  Giving herself a mysterious and eloquent accent was exactly the sort of thing Rarity would do, so sadly that wasn't as great a clue as Twilight had hoped.

And then there was the fact that Twilight ate almost four thousand calories worth of sugar every day now.  And she’d lost ten pounds since coming to Ponyville.  Admittedly, she was a little pudgy before and felt and looked a lot healthier now.  Here colors were more vibrant and she had a little bit of muscle tone since switching to a high-candy diet.  But that didn’t sound right at all.

Not that she assumed diet advice was the one thing nopony lied to her about.  Everything else was a lie, so why not the whole ‘sugar is bad for you’ thing?  The fact that she was more physically active than ever could explain the weight loss. All of her friends ate just as much sugar and all of them were fine.  Did chocolate even have theobromine in it?  Twilight had no idea about anything anymore!

Twilight’s worldview was already fractured when she got here, but Rarity jumped out of the woods and shattered it completely and had spent the last few months stomping all the pieces, laughing hysterically as she ground them into a fine powder.  And yes, that lead to Twilight adopting a lot of Rarity’s beliefs, but it also backfired on her just a little.

This whole experience left Twilight a little too open-minded. She didn’t know what to believe now. Like, well, everything, she now realized, the supernatural was something she'd always dismissed without a second thought. But now she was second-thinking every single thing she'd ever been told.

Did vampires exist?  Was there some other sort of monster that ponies merely mistook for vampires?  Were there things about dark magic Twilight didn’t know?  Could there still be necromancers out there? Or chaos magic? Did elementals exist? Did souls exist? Could there be some fourth type of magic Twilight never even heard of, like the hypothetical order magic? Was Celestia the only god left?

Twilight couldn’t dismiss anything in her current state.

She knew at least why, out of this infinite myriad of possibilities, she was fixated on vampires.  It was due to the mere exposure effect.

If you see an unexplainable light dancing around the woods, some ponies might make an argument from ignorance that it was a ghost, while others might make the same argument that it was an alien depending on what they were exposed to.  But unless you already knew one of those existed, there was no reason to prefer either as an explanation.  Having constantly heard of vampires for months, of course her mind would stupidly jump to them as an explanation for the unexplainable.

That was what Rarity taught her, anyway.  At least that stuff made sense.

Or maybe she was frustrated by the lack of information on the subject.

Oh, Rarity had tons and tons of books about vampires, more than Twilight would have ever guessed existed. There were stories about vampires of every imaginable kind.  Every kind except one.  None of the books were about Everfree vampires, the type Applejack was worried about.

Scouring the entire approved books list turned up not one single book on the subject.  There were books like Stupid Superstitions, but none of them even mentioned Everfree Vampires as far as Twilight could see.  And yet somehow everypony in town immediately knew what you were talking about when you mentioned Everfree Vampires or the fruit of eternal youth.

Applejack, of all ponies, seemed like the only pony in the entire world that had any books about them. Besides her journals, Applejack did lend Twilight one book filled with openly fictitious stories about Everfree vampires, even Applejack admitted they weren't based on true encounters.  It had thirty short stories about it, all of them nearly identical.

Some earth pony makes a mysterious new friend who’s super nice to them until one day they offer them some fruit from the forest that grants eternal youth.  The earth pony makes some heroic show of refusing the fruit, giving a speech about why eternal youth was bad or tradition was good or something stupid like that. Then their new friend turns into a vampire and eventually either kills the hero or gets killed themselves.  It was just that thirty times over with variations here and there.

There were only three stories in the book where the earth pony ate the fruit. The earth ponies who did go through with it were always portrayed as horrible people who became even worse afterward. Maybe the most interesting one had a mare who went on to give birth to thousands of monsters with her new, immortal life. The curse that kept them in the forest was something of a blessing for the earth ponies, kept the vampire from coming back.

Reading those left Twilight depressed every time.  She saw a little of herself in the protagonists, having just made a few close friends for the first time, all of them mysterious.  The thought of them suddenly turning on her like the vampires in the book did was too cruel to her.  She was already afraid of them dying or moving away, but these stories gave her an even crueler fantasy for her nightmares, of them hating her instead.

Twilight’s mind tormented her sometimes.  An invasive thought of Rarity with a cruel smile, laughing and telling Twilight this was all just a game for them.  They’d never actually cared about her, though it was hilarious she’d ever even thought she could be one of them.  And then Rarity would tear into Twilight’s neck, even that game boring them now.  

And now she wanted to get off this subject!

A list of things she needed to look up in official sources built up over the last two weeks.  It was her day off and she was going to spend it in the library just like the good old days!

The next item on her list: the kinetic potential of distortions in latent magical fields. That was something she could find on the approved book list.  There was something she wanted to double-check Rarity on about this whole ‘passive magic’ thing.  Twilight decided a long time ago that if the banned and approved books agreed on something, it had to be true.

She was still practicing that.  Or trying to practice it.  The first step wasn’t easy, but Twilight was making progress, getting better at ignoring some magic and focusing on others.  Once again, she closed her eyes and tried to feel that draft.

Occasionally, she really could feel it but only for the briefest moment and usually only when Rarity cast spells for Twilight to try and practice feeling the wind.  Rarity said that Twilight needed to keep practicing until she could feel it for more than just a second or two at a time.  There wasn’t any point in trying to cast spells with it until Twilight could feel it non-stop for at least ten seconds.

And surprisingly, this time Twilight felt it suddenly and stronger than ever before, but only for the briefest moment before going back to nothing.  What caused it to flare up, according to Rarity and the one book she had on the subject, was something disturbing the latent magical fields.  Somepony could have just cast a high-level spell, for example, though they could have been miles away.  Rarity boasted that she could feel it if anypony anywhere in town cast a significant spell.

Twilight got up and looked out the window as if there was a chance she’d see the mage that caused that. It was still dark out there.

Her ears perked up a little when she saw one of her friends just down the street.

Pinkie looked like she was sniffing around for something.  She stopped and looked up at the library, almost like she was looking at Twilight, and considered it before turning away and looking elsewhere for whatever.  This was maybe the fourth time she’d seen Pinkie running around just before dawn as if she were looking for something.  It was on Twilight’s list of mysteries.  The Mystery of Sniffy Pie.

Twilight was braver now! She was just going to go out there and ask about it point-blank.  She got up and ran outside before Pinkie could get too far away.

Outside, she saw Pinkie already down one of the streets and ran after her.

“Hey Pinkie!” Twilight ran over to her.  “What are you up to?  It’s pretty late.”

“Oh hi, Twilight!” Pinkie waved to her, welcoming her over. “I’m just out here making sure nopony’s disrespecting our turf, you know?”

“Can I come with you?” Twilight trotted up next to her. “I, uh, don’t want anypony disrespecting your turf either.”

“Really?  That’s great!”  Pinkie started walking again, taking Twilight along with her.  “You know, most of you daywalkers don’t respect the fact that this is Rarity’s town.  But you do, Twitwi!  That’s why you’re the cool one and you get to hang out with us!”

Daywalker.  Every time they called her that, Twilight felt like she was being shoved to the side.

“You’re not beating ponies up or anything though, right?”  Twilight asked.

“Huh?  Oh no.  I never really have to fight anypony!  Our reputation does most of the work.  We just like to make sure everypony's degenerating.  Like you, Twitwi!”  Pinkie ruffled Twilight’s new spikes.  “Delinquent Twitwi is so much cooler than dork Twilight was!  I wish everypony in town was like you.”

“I know!”  Twilight felt anger welling up again.  She felt like her wound was still so sensitive that the slightest poke at it set her off.  “I can’t believe what a lame dork I used to be!  Like, I’m gonna deny myself everything good in life and hate everything different cause some bucking dork told me too and I just go with it cause I’m a mindless drone?!  How did you ever put up with me?!  I can hardly stand all these bucking lameo drones!”

There were a lot of ponies in this town Twilight would have considered delinquents when she first moved here.  Now she looked down at them as daywalkers.  Half the ponies in this town were like drones to her now.  Like Mrs. Inkwell, they didn’t want to think about the things Twilight had to say at all!  She was impressed the others even had the patience to try with ponies like that.

But at the same time she just constantly wanted to argue with all of them, to fight them, show them that Rarity was right too.  But almost nopony in this town was open-minded enough for that kind of thing.  At best, Twilight's tirades about how broken everything was got nervous laughter out of them. The only ponies willing to have serious debates with her were her friends and she hardly disagreed with them on anything anymore.

Twilight looked around for somepony to be angry at.  There were a few daywalkers just now getting up.  She saw a pair of mares sitting in front of a shop.  They looked at Pinkie and Twilight, then very quickly turned away and pretended to talk about something.  Twilight got that reaction a lot now.

“Hey!”  Twilight shouted at them. “Did you even know that the reason they make us watch the same PSA’s hundreds of times in school is that it’s a brainwashing technique?!  It's called the illusory truth effect!  Did you?!”

“Um.”  The mare ducked her head and ears down submissively.  “No.  No, I didn’t. Sorry?”

“Yeah!  Well-!”  Twilight paused, not sure where she was going with this anymore.  “Don’t let it happen again, dweeb!”

And to back her up, Pinkie jumped halfway up onto Twilight's back and hissed at them.  That got them to run inside, Pinkie laughing hysterically at the result.

Admittedly, Twilight wasn’t nearly at spreading these ideas to others as Rarity or even Pinkie was.  At least not yet. Rarity said she'd get better once she 'calmed down', as if Twilight wasn't exactly as angry as she should be over being deceived and brainwashed her whole life

“You’re so funny, Twitwi!” Pinkie laughed and pressed up against Twilight.  “That was hilarious!  I bet they thought we were total psychos!  Like we go around murdering anypony who can't pass a- like a psychoanalysis test thing.”

“Yeah!  That’s what I was going for.”  Twilight blushed, frustrated with herself.

“See, hissing is an art form," Pinkie explained.  “Hiss at ponies too much and they get used to it.  Hiss at them too little and suddenly you’re not the craziest pony in town.  I can’t allow that, Twilight!”

Pinkie looked like she was sniffing around for something again but gave up on it much faster this time. And that brought Twilight’s mind back to her original mission.

“But what are you actually looking for?”  Twilight lowered her head to the level Pinkie’s was at and tried sniffing, but she didn’t smell anything.  “Do you smell something?”

“I smell all kinds of things, Twitwi.  I got a real good nose."  Pinkie pointed to her nose.  "I can tell which ponies have been places recently."

“Really."

"Yeah!  Rarity asked me not to tell this to daywalkers, but you're cool so I'll let you in on a little secret.  My senses are ridiculously good, Twitwi.  Like- like right now, I can hear what those two are fighting about." Pinkie turned her ear towards a house with the lights still on.  "She's saying 'I pay the rent, I make the rules, you can't have a cat.'"

Twilight turned her ear to the same house.  She could hear just a little bit of muffled shouting, but making out their words would be impossible.  Twilight did notice Pinkie always seemed to know what everypony in the house was saying but never thought she was this good.

"See, I'm kinda spying on these daywalkers," Pinkie whispered.  "And I run right back to Rarity and tell her all their secrets and stuff.  Gotta keep an eye out for trouble, you know. Rival gangs or other uh- uh, other gangs!  You know? We're really territorial. But we keep trouble out!"

"Oh. Like that skull gang you guys got rid of before I showed up?" Twilight asked.  "Has there been any trouble since then?  Cause I've never seen you get into any fights."

“Oh!  I can tell you the craziest thing I found so far, sure,” said Pinkie.  “There’s this weirdo guy who lives in a rundown shack near the train tracks on the north edge of town.  And he was totally up to no good.  I dunno what he did, but it was definitely probably evil.  I felt it in my gut so he’s gotta be guilty.”

“I don’t think a gut feeling proves anything.”

“Yeah, that’s what the police said.  I don’t normally talk to those dorks and they didn’t listen to me.  And I’m not some kind of investigative journalist who can prove stuff or a vigilante superhero, so my hooves are tied.  But I did tell him, if he does any no-good on our turf, I’m gonna bite him!” Pinkie made a ‘rawr’ sound and bit the air.  It was adorable, but Twilight knew Pinkie got way more intimidating if you weren’t part of her in-group.  She probably scared the crap out of that guy.  “And my gut says he hasn’t been up to no good since.  So I’m like a hero!  But yeah, stay away from that guy.”

“And that was the worst thing?”

“Hey!  It was pretty worst!  I think.  Maybe Just remember that name. 'Rust Bucket'. That's totally gonna come up again and one day you’ll all realize I was totally right.  Probably.” Pinkie nodded proudly.  “Trust me.  You daywalkers are way better off with us around.”

That word stung her again. There was only one word that still bothered Twilight and that was ‘daywalker’.  They still called her a daywalker and Twilight hated it.  Every time it was like a small shove away from them.

The three of them were still distancing themselves from Twilight, even if it was ever so subtle and slight.  Twilight wanted to believe she belonged somewhere, but there were still a few things making that difficult.

“Am I really still a daywalker?”  Twilight complained.  “I get like fifteen minutes of sunlight every day and only because I have to.  I’m the fourth most delinquent pony in town.  I can barely stand direct sunlight without my glasses.  I know I won’t have any serious problems if I go out during the day, but I think I should at least be an honorary vampire by now.  In fact I-“

Twilight hesitated.  She wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to finish the thought, but Pinkie was looking at her expectingly now, giving her no real choice.

“I kind of feel like I’m almost in the gang already!”  Twilight blurted it out, then felt a pang of regret and glanced away. “Right?

Pinkie looked away and hummed over that for a moment.

“Almost is a good word, Twilight!”  She finally concluded.  “You need Rarity to give you an invitation to join.  That’s how I got in!”

That was something, at least.  It felt like a step in the right direction.

“And how long did it take you to get an invitation?” Twilight asked.

“Mm.”  Pinkie thought about that one for a minute.  “I guess maybe three months?”

So Pinkie got in faster than Twilight.

“But I was begging and crying for them to let me in the gang since like, the second I met.  I saw them and boom!  Straight into begging!”  Pinkie tapped her cheek repeatedly, slowly recalling the facts to herself. “Oh!  If you’re sure you wanna be one of us, maybe you could try bowing down and pathetically begging Rarity for three months straight!  Or more.  It’s gotta work eventually!”

“Maybe.”  Twilight wondered if she’d ever get desperate enough to actually do something like that.  “Like what am I missing, though?  I say buck now!”

“Hm?”  Pinkie grinned with far too much excitement.  “I can think of one thing.”

That smile was familiar. Twilight knew what she was talking about.

Going into the Everfree Forest. 

They’d invite Twilight out there every once in a while, and Twilight would shudder and refuse every time.  If she ever accepted her friends entirely, that would be the very last thing she accepted.

And the way Pinkie got so excited about the idea of Twilight going into the forest bordered on creepy. This was one of those things that made her think maybe they were vampires.

“That reminds me,” said Twilight,  “there was something else I wanted to ask you about.”

“You wanted to come with us?!”  Pinkie spun around to face Twilight, bobbing up and down excitedly.

“N-no.  No.  I’m sorry, but I’m not going there.”  Twilight felt a little bad about turning her down when she got this excited.  She wanted to change the subject fast, though admittedly it wasn’t going to change too much.  “But where did everypony hear about Everfree vampires?  I went through all your vampire books and none of them are about Everfree vampires.  There aren’t any approved books that mention them either.  Applejack’s the only one who has any books about them at all.”

“Oh! Really? I’m surprised even Applejack has anything written about it.  Thought she’d be all superstitious like, you know? Maybe she's less dork than I thought. But it’s cause see, they never write those stories down. Even like, before the bans they didn’t.” Pinkie lowered her voice into an overly dramatic whisper.  “That's like max level bad luck."

“Really?  Why?”

“There’s this old saying, if you write something down, you’ll never be rid of it.  But us mud ponies are pretty dumb and take that literally.”  Pinkie knocked her hoof on her head.  “So the idea is if you write a story about a vampire, the vampire’s never gonna leave you alone! If you mention one by name in your story then you can never get rid of her no matter what you do. Even if you die, that vampire will keep haunting your family for generations.  Woooooo."

And that was kind of what happened to Applejack if you believed her story.  Applewood specifically mentioned Rarity by name and then, according to Applejack, Rarity kept coming back until this very day.  Though maybe curses were relative.  Twilight wouldn’t mind being ‘doomed’ to have Rarity follow her around forever.

“But that part’s not even a little true!  Silly mud ponies!”  Pinkie laughed at them.  “That’s why those stories are only passed down from campfire to campfire.  The only way you’re gonna hear about that crap is if you find a mud pony who grew up near the forest.  A mud pony like-“

Pinkie repeated the word ‘like’ again, this time holding out the ‘I’ and opening her forelegs wider and wider.

“You?”  Twilight made the obvious guess.

“Me!”  Pinkie nodded.  “I grew up surrounded by mud ponies!  I know hundreds of these!  I told them all to Rarity and Dash when I met them and they laughed hysterically.  You want me to tell you about them?"

“Well-“  Twilight absolutely wanted to hear more about this.  Stories that took place inside the forest still made her uncomfortable.  But she kept telling herself that as long as it was (probably) fiction, it was still okay to hear about it.  “Okay.”

“Great!”  Pinkie held her hoof up like she was giving a mock lecture.  “Now see, I hate most of these stories cause the vampire’s always the bad guy and the mud pony’s always the good guy and they always say no to their best friend for some stupid reason!  All that’s totally unrealistic.  I like the rare ones where the mud pony eats the fruit of eternal youth.”

“And what happens then?”  Twilight’s ears perked up.

"Well they try to make you think it's not a happy ending, but daywalkers get everything backwards.  It's great cause you get to live happily ever after with your best friend!"  Pinkie declared. “If you eat the fruit of eternal youth, you get to turn into a vampire, you never have to get old and gross and you become immune to dark magic and poison! You could eat all the fruit from the forest you want after that.  And the only downside is that you can never go home again.”

“Yeah, I heard that part," said Twilight. "They don't usually act like it's a happy ending, though. And the curse isn't very consistent.  Applejack always says you burn up if you try to leave the forest, but sometimes your house disappears or everypony you know forgets you and you lose all evidence you ever existed."

Twilight considered what might happen to her.  She didn't have much of a 'home' to never return to, so the curse wouldn't matter much.  But there was one possible scenario that did frighten Twilight when she imagined it.

"Hey, if hypothetically you were an Everfree vampire and gave me that fruit, you wouldn't forget about me, right?" Twilight asked.  "Because you're the one who gave it to me?"

“You know those are just spooky stories, right?”  Pinkie asked, looking genuinely concerned.  Maybe she could sense Twilight was scared.  “You can’t trust every story you hear. A fruit isn't going to make me forget you, Twilight! I used to really believe in those stories too, but then I met Rarity and she explained that the fact that they're never the same means at least most of them aren't true.  Or something like that.”

"I know," said Twilight, though she really didn't.  "But like, if you were a vampire when would you tell me? Cause we're friends, right? I wouldn't tell anypony."

And Twilight's heart skipped a beat when she saw Pinkie's reaction to that question.  Pinkie glanced away like she felt guilty about something.  Maybe, just maybe, about not telling Twilight she was a vampire yet!

"Well."  Pinkie looked like she was considering what she was about to say more than she normally would have.  "You've read a few of those stories!  You know how it goes. If the vampire reveals who she is and you don't want to be a vampire too, then, well they can't be friends anymore.  And I want to be friends with you, so I wouldn't tell you unless I knew you wanted us to drag you into the forest and turn you into a vampire."

Pinkie looked around and swiveled her ears about, checking to see how many ponies were around.

"So like," Pinkie came extra close and whispered very quietly.  "Would you want to be a vampire? And stay young forever?"

Twilight... seriously wasn't sure if Pinkie meant this for real or not.  But she decided that she should answer it as if this was for real just in case.

"I'd need to know more about how vampires work," said Twilight.  "But I thought about the eternal youth thing a lot and I decided I'd want that.  And, well, I want to stay friends with you three no matter what so if being a vampire was the only way to do that then yes.  Probably."

"Daw!"  Pinkie laughed. "And to think you used to say you didn't like sweet stuff!  I'd totally turn into a vampire to stay friends with you too, Twitwi! Heck, I'd turn into a vampire either way but that's just me! Hey, how do I know you're not a vampire?"

"What?"  Twilight was taken off guard by the answer. "Why would I be the vampire?"

"Well let's see, your name is Twilight Sparkle and that's a vampire name. You mysteriously showed up out of nowhere and conveniently don't know anypony in the whole world. And I can't go out during the day cause my mitochondria suck so there's no way for me to know if you ever really do go out during the day. Heck, you went straight for the ponies who can't go out during the day.  Very suspicious." Pinkie gave Twilight a suspicious look.  "Hey, you'd tell me if you were a vampire, right?"

"What?  I-"  Twilight sighed and shoved Pinkie away.  "Geeze!  Were you messing with me this whole time?!"

"Haha!  Maybe!”  Pinkie looked up at the sky, the sun was up higher than Twilight had ever seen her friends out for.  “Uh oh! Uh, where are we going, Twitwi? Cause we’re getting kinda far from my house!”

“What do you mean where are we going?”  Twilight asked.

“What do you mean what do I mean?!”

“I thought you were taking me somewhere!”

“I thought you were taking me somewhere!  But wait!  How the buck were we deciding where we were going?!”  Pinkie stopped in place and looked back towards her house.  “This is a crap!  I can’t make it home in time now!”

“Oh crap!  This is bad!” Twilight panicked.  What was the protocol for this?!  “Uh!  Do you need me to throw a blanket over you and walk you home?  Or- or call for a doctor?  Is there anything I can do?!”

“Well, it’s not that crap. See, when you’re a vampire you gotta plan out safe spaces.  Lotta abandoned houses in this town!”  Pinkie pointed to a for-sale sign.  “There’s a place close by nopony lives in.  It’s got a cellar!  I’ll just have to hide in there until sundown.  Easy!  Ish.”

Twilight didn’t like the idea of Pinkie being stuck in some abandoned cellar all day.

“Why not come to my house?” Twilight offered.  “If we run, we can get there in maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Um!”  Pinkie started to think about it, then stopped.  “You know what, we don’t have time to think! Let’s just run!”

Pinkie bolted in the direction of Twilight’s house and Twilight ran after her.  Pinkie was generally much faster than Twilight and didn’t wait for her to catch up today.  She got far ahead of Twilight at first but started slowing down significantly about halfway there.  She kept slowing down until Twilight finally caught up, only Twilight didn’t try to get ahead of her.

When the house came into sight it was too late to call it sunrise anymore.  The effect on Pinkie was dramatic already.  She looked totally miserable just like back in that photograph.  Pinkie was trudging along now, her ears and head drooping down.  The last few yards, Twilight noticed Pinkie flagging hard and decided to just carry the other mare the rest of the way.  Pinkie didn’t have enough energy to object.

She brought Pinkie inside and laid her down on the couch.  Even though it was bright outside now, the special curtains Rarity bought Twilight made the house pitch black.  When they were closed there wasn’t any way to tell if it was day or night.  Twilight lit only a single glass candle, which was all she needed to see these days.

She could feel that Pinkie was hot to the touch, but didn’t know how bad this really was.  Pinkie lied on the couch with her eyes closed tight.

“I’m so sorry!”  Twilight set her down on the couch next to her.  “I thought we could make it in time.  I feel responsible for this! Should I go get a doctor?”

“It’s okay.”  Pinkie kept her eyes closed, her words came out sluggishly one after the other.  “I woulda been bad if I went to the cellar too. It’s my fault.  I’ll be okay in a day maybe.  M’ just not used to it anymore.”

“Well you can stay as long as you need to.  Do you need any water or something?  I have lots of candy if that helps.”

Pinkie shook her head without opening her eyes or taking her chin off the couch.

“Can you-“  Pinkie forced the words out.  “Tell 'em? I’m here?”

She assumed Pinkie meant for her to tell Rarity she was stuck here.  The others were going to get worried otherwise.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”  Twilight asked.

Pinkie nodded, then moaned and maybe fell asleep.  Twilight didn’t want to leave Pinkie alone, but she figured Pinkie knew way more about her own condition than Twilight did.  She probably just needed to lie down for a while from the sound of things.

“Alright.”  Twilight agreed.  “I’ll be as fast as I can!”

Twilight cantered all the way over Rarity’s house, her heart racing more from nerves than physical exertion.  It calmed her a good deal to see how nonchalant Rarity and Dash were about the news. They tried to assure her that Pinkie going out for a little bit wasn’t too bad, it’d happened plenty of times before. Even if she were out for hours, she’d fully recover after a few days in the dark, they said.

But Twilight wanted to get back as soon as possible.

In total, it took maybe an hour to go all the way over there and come back.

Pinkie wasn’t on the couch by the time Twilight got back.  Pinkie’s jacket and accessories were piled up on the corner of Twilight’s couch, but she was nowhere to be seen.  That meant she was moving around again, which made Twilight feel better.  Maybe she went upstairs to sleep on Twilight’s bed instead.  That sounded like the sort of thing Pinkie, with her hatred of personal space, would do.

Twilight looked down at Rarity’s cutie mark on the jacket.  Pinkie wasn’t that much bigger than Twilight.  It would almost fit.  If Pinkie was asleep, Twilight was totally going to try it on. Just for a few minutes!

But she didn’t dare do that before going up to her room to check on Pinkie.

Her prediction was half right.  Pinkie was lying on the edge of Twilight’s bed, looking through a book as though the pages weighed ten pounds.  She didn’t look nearly okay, her ears were down like she was wearing fifty-pound earrings and she wasn’t smiling, but at least it was better than before.

“Oh.  Hi.” Pinkie looked up at Twilight briefly, like looking up took too much energy.  “Sometimes it's hard to sleep when I get like this.  I hope you’re okay with me going through your stuff?”

“I-“ Twilight wanted to complain, but she was about to go through Pinkie’s stuff just a moment ago.  Also, she’d gone snooping around their house a couple of times now.  “Eh.  It’s fine.”

“You’re taking your time unpacking.”  Pinkie tried to smile a little but it didn't work.  “It’s been months.  Shoulda asked me for help in the first place.”

Unpacking?  Twilight froze in terror.  Pinkie had a cardboard box on the bed with her and there was only one cardboard box left unopened.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Pinkie put that back!”  Twilight looked away and shook her hoof at Pinkie.  She couldn’t look at it!  She couldn’t look over there!  “Like right now!”

“Huh?”  Pinkie’s reaction was sluggish.  “Oh. Oh!  Sorry.”

Twilight stared out the door into the pitch-black hallway for a long time.  She assumed Pinkie was putting it back, but she must have been doing that slow too.

“I closed it again,” Pinkie said.  “The whole box.”

Only after hearing that did Twilight look back.  Pinkie had put everything back in the box and taped it shut again.  Twilight ran over and tore it away from her, maybe a little too roughly.

“I’m really sorry, Twilight,” Pinkie’s words were still slow.  “I should have known better.”

“It’s fine.  I’m just-“ Twilight shoved the box as deep into the shelf as it would go and moved something in front of it this time.  Twilight couldn’t look.  “I’m horrible.  I know I shouldn’t do this.  I know I should…”

Twilight sat down next to the bed, her back to Pinkie.  Pinkie leaned over the edge of the bed, frowning at Twilight.

Twilight was such a pathetic loser.  She knew she was supposed to look over those pictures and get over everything. That’s what normal ponies did, they went and looked their problem in the eyes and they got better.  That’s how you coped with your losses if you weren’t weak.

It’d only been in the past few weeks that Twilight felt like she was starting to get better, that she stopped being constantly paranoid about everypony she knew or saw dying the moment they weren’t around.  Looking through those photos was going to tear that wound wide open again.  And would it help in any way?  Twilight wasn’t sure.

But now Pinkie was going to pressure her into doing it anyway, into going back to the start!

Maybe she’d guilt trip Twilight about disrespecting her family, and she’d be right.  Or maybe she’d tell Twilight that of course she’d look if she weren’t a coward and she’d be right.  Or maybe-

“I think it’s okay for you to not look,” Pinkie finally said.

Twilight looked back up, surprised more than anything else.  She never expected anypony to say that. Everypony always said the exact opposite. But then again, Pinkie was a delinquent too.

“Really?”  Twilight was curious where she was going with this.

“You know.  I don’t like my family either,”  Pinkie said. “It’s not about them.  You do what you what’s best for you.”

This was the first time Twilight ever heard Pinkie talk about her family. To be fair, Twilight never spoke of hers either.  Twilight felt like she was in a forbidden place yet again, but that was something she’d grown comfortable with.

“It’s not that I don’t like them.  I’m not sure what it is.”  Though in reality, Twilight had spent months and months thinking about this constantly. She had some idea now.  “I don't think this sort of thing helps me.  Like why do we do that thing where they give you their skulls at the funeral?  Like if you step back, isn't it sick to make you hold the skulls of you dead parents?"

"I always thought the skull thing was cool," said Pinkie.

Everypony thought that way.  Rather they'd say it was a 'beautiful tradition', but still.  It felt like Twilight was the only pony in the world who didn't like that.

"Maybe it helps everypony else, but I hated that.  I started having nightmares afterward," said Twilight.  "Looking at these pictures, it just makes me more paranoid and obsessed with death.  I had this thing in the back of my head that was always scared everypony around me would just die suddenly the second I looked away and it only started going away when I just... stopped thinking about it. I dunno. Nopony seems to understand. Sorry."

Pinkie ruminated on that one for a while.  Twilight understood now what ponies meant when they said she used to act like a different pony.

“I still think it’s okay if you don’t look,” Pinkie finally said.  “This is only about you.  You know yourself better than some dork.  It doesn’t matter if anypony can understand it.”

“But looking at the photos is what I should do, isn’t it?”

“Just cause you should do something doesn’t mean you should do it.”

“What?”

“Sometimes,” Pinkie needed a long break before she decided on how to phrase it,  “sometimes good advice is bad advice.  They gave me good advice that was bad advice.  They kept making me go back to my parents and made me think I had to care about them.  And they made me go out during the day and they got really angry at me whenever I fainted! But it wasn’t my fault!”

Pinkie stared at Twilight, begging for something.  Twilight scrambled to think of what it was.

“Rarity always says it wasn’t my fault!”  Pinkie sounded more desperate this time, a little afraid.

“Oh!”  Twilight got on the bed and grabbed Pinkie in a hug.  “Of course it wasn’t your fault!”

“Thanks.”  Pinkie calmed down surprisingly fast, relaxing into Twilight’s hug and resting there for a moment.  “Sorry about that.  But it’s okay if nopony understands us, Twilight.”

They stayed like that long enough for Twilight to consider what Pinkie had just said.  Was Twilight just different in some way?  Was that even possible?  Everything did seem possible these days so… maybe.

Pinkie eventually pulled back, holding Twilight at arm’s length.

“You know.  I have things nopony would understand too.”  Pinkie looked left and right before continuing in a whisper.  “Can I tell you a secret?"

Twilight nodded and leaned forward, half expecting Pinkie to tell her that they were all vampires.

"Okay, so I'm not actually in lesbians with Rarity and or Rainbow Dash."  Pinkie nervously tapped her hooves together. "I just pretend to be a polyamorous lesbian cause that's easier for ponies to understand."

"What?" Twilight tried to process that.  "What's weirder than polyamorous lesbian?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well, not like nothing is weirder than that, but what I am is nothing.  I don't get googly-eyed at ponies the way you get googly-eyed for Rarity."

"-uh-"

"I don't think I'm attracted to anypony or anything for that matter. I'm just not into that sort of thing. I don't really even understand it."

“What?”  Twilight had to silently admit to herself that Pinkie got her there, she didn’t understand at all.  “But you sleep in the same bed as them all the time!  I’ve seen you literally making out with Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, but it’s like the platonic way I make out with Rainbow Dash?”  Pinkie managed a brief smile, but the hope behind it died almost immediately.  “When we sleep together it really is just sleeping.  I wanna do that kind of stuff, but nothing else.  One time I tried doing more, but it didn't really work? I get that nopony understands.  It makes their heads explode into blood and guts just trying to think about it and they always tell me I’m wrong.  But I’m the only pony who needs to understand it. And I guess whoever I'm cuddling with”

Twilight still didn’t think she understood either.  She couldn’t get into the headspace where you want to make out with somepony and sleep in the same bed as them but not in that way. But she felt bad for not understanding. She didn’t want to do to Pinkie what everypony did to her.

“Sorry.  I know I’m ignorant.”  Twilight bowed her head in apology.  “There’s so many things I never knew about until I met you three.  I think your- thing, whatever it is, is fine. If you know that’s what you want to do, then screw everypony else.  Right? I’ll… I’ll hiss at them for you!”

“Yeah.”  Pinkie nodded with the first real smile since she got here.  “And you too?”

Twilight looked back over at the shelf where the box was hidden.  She still couldn’t imagine going through those photos. But right now she felt like it was her choice and only her choice.  Pinkie was right.  Nopony had to understand.

She’d get better and then maybe look, not the other way around.

“Me too.  Thanks.” Twilight hugged Pinkie again.

“You know what, Twi?”  Pinkie stood up.  “If you’re gonna accept me, I wanna accept you back.”

Pinkie looked around, then noticed Twilight’s desk, and trotted over to it. She got out a pencil and a piece of paper and scribbled something down, taking a very long time to get it right.  She grabbed the paper in her mouth and trotted it back to Twilight.  Before Pinkie got all the way over, Twilight could already see the words ‘vampire card’ written on it, albeit poorly.

“Here.”  Pinkie dropped the paper in front of Twilight and gave it a tap.  “I’m giving you a vampire card!  You’re now officially an honorary vampire.  With this card, you can use the v-word, be as racist to vampires as you want, and appropriate our entire culture and it’s all okay cause you got the vampire card.  I will bite Dashie till she stops calling you a daywalker and I’ll tell Rarity I think she should give you an invitation soon.”

The note was so crudely scribbled, and it was hardly an officiated card, but it made her eyes tear up just a little.  Twilight was looking down at acceptance, a crack in the wall between them. She looked over at Pinkie, smiling as brightly as she could, and couldn’t help but smile back.  Twilight couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this close to somepony.

“Thank you.”  Twilight hugged the paper.  “This is actually the nicest thing anypony’s ever given me.  I’ll keep it forever.”

“Um.”  Pinkie put one hoof back up on the bed.  “Do you maybe want to try sleeping with me?  Like as friends.”

“Well-“  Twilight liked everything she tried with them so far.  “Yeah. We can try that.”

“Really?!”  Pinkie’s usual enthusiasm came back for a moment and she jumped onto the bed with Twilight, lying down on one side of the bed.

Twilight lied down next to her.  Pinkie was pretty forward now that she had permission, pulling Twilight close with one foreleg and sweeping her tail across the unicorn’s back.  She buried her head under Twilight’s chin, forcing Twilight to use her as a pillow.

This was advanced cuddling.

“Thanks,”  Pinkie sounded like she was already drifting off.  “I wasn’t going to say this unless you said yes, but I have a lot of trouble sleeping by myself when I get like this.”

She could feel Pinkie’s breath against her neck, slowing down as Pinkie finally fell asleep for real.

For the moment at least, Twilight decided that even if Pinkie was a monster from the forest, she’d eat whatever weird fruit Pinkie brought her.  Maybe it’d be worth it even if she got cursed.
> Chapter 9.  The heart of the forest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because of her job, Twilight never managed to get to one of these parties on time, but she still never felt like she was missing out on anything important.  The party always began with a huge feast set out by Rarity for anypony who showed up and a lot of ponies did show up just for the food. But the ones who only came for the food were total daywalkers that Twilight had zero interest in talking to.

Twilight arrived near the end of dinner and joined the others halfway up the stairs, where the couch under the window that led to the Everfree Forest was.  The three of them never ate anything at this point either, but watched from up here, wanting to be mysterious.  That was what Twilight did now, too.

It was getting close to the end of the meal and ponies were only just now coming up the stairs to either challenge Rarity about something or get her attention.  Only more recently, like now, they were challenging Twilight as well.

Twilight’s ears were pierced in three places now, just like the rest of the gang, and tonight all four of them were wearing matching sets of skull earrings and necklaces with a little fang at the end of it.  Almost every day she wore some sort of choker and boots, often with fishnet or stripped stockings underneath them.  She wore makeup more often now too, tonight having thick black eyeshadow on only her right eye and a little teardrop painted just under it.

But still, it was Twilight’s mane that overshadowed all of it.  Nopony even commented on her punkish outfits compared to that.

“Why should anypony have the right to make my Twilight style her mane in a way she doesn’t like?” Asked Rarity.  “Taking away her ability to express herself is cruel, isn’t it? It robs us of something that makes us ponies.  I wonder what you think is worth it.”

“But it sows disharmony, right?”  Raindrops was the pony complaining today.  “Canterlot says that if ponies can just style their manes however they want- “

“Please.”  Twilight blew some hair out of her face.  “Do you actually think there’s any correlation between bucking haircuts and crime rates?  Or anything bad for that matter.  Because I’ll tell you right now there bucking there isn’t.  None of these bans has ever made a noticeable drop in anything bad. Crime and poverty just keep going up as society collapses and this crap is just a bunch of distractions to keep us from ever focusing on anything that might help.  All of it’s a lie.”

“That’s just what you say. I’d trust what Canterlot says over you.”

“Okay. Raise your hoof if you ever bothered fact-checking any of this stuff yourself?”  Twilight asked.

Both her and Rarity raised their hooves, but it was them alone.

“What a bucking coincidence!”  Twilight put her hoof back down.  “Everypony who looks this stuff up for themselves agrees with us.”

“I think the real question,” Rarity leaned down towards Raindrops and whispered, “is why are you scared to check this yourself.  This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about it.  Do you secretly know I’m right?  Is that why you’re scared?”

“I’m not scared!” Raindrops backed up a step.  “I just don’t have time.”

Twilight knew for a fact that Raindrops did have time.  She’d lost her job not long ago, which was the reason she came back here every time Rarity was handing out free food.

“Oh, I think you are scared.”  Rarity gave a sweet smile to Raindrops, then to Twilight.  “Twilight.  You’re smart! Why do you think she’s scared?”

“Society has all kinds of mechanisms in place to make you scared and ashamed of thinking outside the box. If you want, I can tell you all about their psychological manipulation techniques.  I got a book about it.”

“You know!”  Raindrops struggled for something good to say, but in the end, just pointed her hoof accusingly at Twilight.  “You’re just like Starburst the no-good know-it-all!”

“Oh, yeah." Twilight rolled her eyes.  "The fictional character they specifically created to try and demonize and discredit anypony with a brain without actually addressing any arguments is the one you compare me to.  Almost like you swallowed their propaganda without chewing.  Hey.  Another thing I looked up!  Did you know that they never actually paid the actress who played Starburst?  She ended up homeless cause they screwed out of her contract.  But what?  You think you’re the one pony that’s not gonna get screwed by the system?  You think you're not getting screwed right now?”

“Yeah, well-!” Raindrops stammered in frustration. “That’s exactly what Starburst would say!”

“Oh, yes.”  Rarity snickered.  “I remember that one where Starburst declares herself to be nothing but a propaganda strawpony and then explodes."

Twilight and Rarity laughed while Raindrops blushed and walked away, defeated.

“You know, I like having you on my side, where belong."  Rarity grabbed Twilight in a hug and nuzzled the back of her neck.   "I think I did a good job teaching you. Watching you spread my corrupting ideas to these daywalkers is so satisfying to me.”

Twilight liked it too.

Twilight felt… strong. Twilight could walk around town as a total delinquent and, because Rarity always paid the fines for her, there was nothing anypony could do about it.  She’d practiced debating and messing with ponies’ heads so much with Rarity that when somepony did try to say something, tried to shame her, it was more and more often them that had to walk away embarrassed.  And if Rarity was around then Twilight was simply invincible, untouchable.

Sure, it all gave Twilight a bad reputation.  Everypony around town knew her as ‘that spikey-haired punk’.  But it was worth it.  For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel powerless.  She felt like she was in control of something.  She didn’t care about their approval anyway. The approval of one of her friends was worth that of a million daywalkers.

“But I think you still need to dial it down another ten percent." Rarity twisted her hoof.  "If you push ponies too hard they simply fall over. I think restraint is the next thing you need to learn if you're going to convert anypony else over to my way of thinking."

"I already dialed it down ten percent like two times," Twilight complained. "I stopped exploding on random daywalkers, at least.  And I feel like I have the right to be angry over here."

"It's perfectly normal to go through an angry phase when you change your worldview like this," said Rarity.  "I've seen it plenty of times. But I do know how to get somepony to adopt my way of thinking. I seem to have done a good job with you."

“Okay.”  Twilight rolled her eyes. “You were right about some things.”

“Oh, psh.  Listen to yourself.”  Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s muzzle and pushed her away mid-nuzzle. “I can’t be happy unless you agree with all my opinions.  Say I’m right about everything.”

“Nopony is right about everything, Rarity.”

“Oh really?”  Rarity lifted her chin just a little.  “Then prove it.  Name one thing you still think I’m wrong about and I’ll fix it.  We can have another argument just like the good old days.”

Twilight did try to think of something.  She’d already given up on cursing, movies, banned books, dress codes, the academy, Celestia, rock music, candy, the economy, what ‘good art’ was, the virtue of authority and tradition.  All her faith in society was shattered.

“Well?”  Rarity winked.  “You know what it means if you can’t think of anything, right?  You’ll have to go around telling everypony that you think I’m right about everything.  In fact, why don’t you stand up and make an announcement to everypony about it?”

Occasionally, something like that would make Twilight see how much she’d changed since coming to Ponyville.  Already she dressed, acted, thought, and talked like her new friends.  And now she was struggling to think of a single thing she disagreed with Rarity on.

But there was one final thing Twilight was holding out on, one last bit of her old morality that remained. The forest was still just beyond the window that hung above her and Twilight still refused to follow them that far. And there was an important question Twilight needed to ask tonight.

But that wasn’t something you even talked about in front of daywalkers.

“After the party.” Twilight sat back upright.

“Oh, I think I know what this is,” said Rarity.  “I’m looking forward to it.  Let’s see who else we can play with for now.”

Rarity turned instead to see what ponies had dared to wander up the stairs to her and settled on a mare Twilight didn’t know the name of.  She beckoned her to sit on the empty seat of the couch and when the mare did, she whispered something in the other mare’s ear twitch before she pulled back in shock.

Then Rarity went to work, asking curveball questions and planting seeds of doubt in the system.  Twilight usually joined her, enjoyed doing playing this game alongside Rarity.  But right now Twilight felt a little too apprehensive to join in.  She just sat there and watched Rarity talk to this other mare about politics or whatever.

And suddenly Twilight felt a little jealous.

Twilight didn’t understand her emotions anymore, all the words she used to impose on them were dead now. Watching Rarity kissing Pinkie or Dash didn’t make Twilight feel jealous at all.  But when Rarity got into long arguments with another mare, tried to corrupt them, when Twilight wasn’t tag-teaming them with her - Twilight felt like having her mind corrupted by Rarity was her thing and nopony else had the right to it.

But she knew all these other ponies would be gone in a few hours and that she’d still be here.  The mare she was talking to already excused herself and went off to look for less dangerous ponies.  At least, that’s what she told herself.

“Hey, Rarity!” Twilight leaned over so Rarity would look at her again.

“Hm?”

“If Raindrops or somepony else stayed last and they won blind faith like I did, they wouldn’t like-“Twilight wasn’t sure how to phrase it.  Twilight technically wasn’t in the gang yet.  “You wouldn't start bringing them into the gang, would you?"

“Raindrops? Hardly!  I think I need to think up a new game anyway. I heard school fillies are starting to play blind faith, only they walk towards a sandbox or something instead of the forest, which completely defeats the purpose.”  Rarity flicked her mane and lifted her head.  “But even if they did pass some test, that'd hardly be enough for me. I'm very picky about who I let be my friend. I must have gone through a thousand ponies and none of them were remotely as good as you."

Twilight liked that answer a lot and nodded eagerly in agreement.

“There’s very few ponies who are actually smart enough to think for themselves and brave enough to follow me into the dark." Rarity looked down at the crowd, unimpressed, before turning back to Twilight and looking her deep in the eyes.  "And the number that are also good looking with a cute personality that I find myself attracted to is so low I’m surprised I even found you.”

“Yeah!  Exactly!”

“Also, no colts are allowed to join.  They’re too messy and I don’t want one in my house for more than a few hours.”  Rarity looked over her immaculately clean hoof. “Also I'd rather my friend be attracted to me at least a little, so they'd have to be a lesbian."

“Ugh.”  Twilight rolled her eyes.  “This again?  Rarity, not even you can just argue me into being gay.  That’s not how it works.”

“Aw.  But don’t you wish I could make you gay?”  Rarity rubbed her muzzle against Twilight’s. “We could be such better friends and have so much more fun if you were.”

And yeah, that got Twilight flustered, but that hardly counted.  Rarity could do this to anypony.

“But if that’s the case why don’t you tell me which stallion you think is the cutest?”  Rarity looked back into the crowd.  “I’ve brought so many over here at least one of them has to be your type, right?”

“Well-“ Twilight struggled to remember one who was attracted to but she draw a blank.  But she also knew that if she didn’t name one, Rarity would decide that meant Twilight was gay.  So she just blurted out the first name that came to mind. “Thunderlane. He’s tall!  I think tall ponies are hot.  And stuff.”

“I’m taller than you too.” Rarity moved her hoof from her own forehead to just over Twilight’s.  “Do you think I’m hot?”

Twilight shuffled in place, slightly flustered. Rarity's teasing always got to her so fast.

"Well-"  Twilight blushed and made the mistake of looking into Rarity's eyes again. She always felt such an all-consuming urge to be closer to Rarity in every way. "You're better looking than Thunderlane. You have the best eyes in the world, in my opinion, but-"

“Well how about this?"  Rarity looked out into the crowd.  "I can make any stallion you pick do anything you want him to for you. You really are a lot more attractive than when I first met you, it'd be easy. Or you can just give up on all these little colts and I'll let you give my hoof a little kiss instead."

And Rarity held her hoof out to Twilight as if offering it now.

Twilight turned her eyes to peer at it.  Now that she was completely used to hugging, kissing seemed like a small step further. The three of them all kissed each other and Twilight did want some excuse to try it herself.  But not till all the daywalkers were gone.

Really the choice wasn't difficult for her at all.

"I'll take your hoof." Twilight was blushing too heavily to look Rarity in the eyes right now.

"You answered that fast!"  Rarity giggled and gave Twilight a quick nuzzle.  "You're so much fun to have around!"

Now Twilight had a lot to look forward to after the party.

The party slowly died down over the next few hours.

They didn’t always get a ‘last pony left’ as a lot of times a bunch would leave as a group.  These parties had a bit of a reputation by now that ponies knew you didn’t want to be the last one there lest you find out what rumors were true.  It weeded out all but the curious, the brave, and the distracted.

The last pony left was Cloud Chaser, sitting on one of the couches on the first floor, distracted with talking to Rainbow Dash about something.  Twilight wasn’t surprised by that too much.  Cloud Chaser was one of the newer and less lame ponies in town.

But they waited till midnight to start the last game of the night.

“It’s midnight!” Pinkie called out.  “You know what that means!”

Cloud Chaser clearly didn’t. She looked around and quickly got to that awkward moment when she realized she was the only one left.

“Does that mean something?” Cloud Chaser asked Rainbow Dash.

Rarity flicked her eyes in Cloud Chaser’s direction.  That was one of her little ques.  It meant that she wanted to ‘play vampire’.  And she wanted Twilight to play with them this time!

Rarity forbid Twilight from playing for ‘their team’ when they got like that, telling her she needed more practice to not screw the whole thing up.  Until now, Twilight would just awkwardly stand behind Rarity while they did this, saying nothing.  But now Twilight knew all of the Rarity’s little ques and was more used to talking to other ponies.  She knew she could do this.

Cloud Chaser looked up at Rarity and Twilight.  Twilight looked down at Cloud Chaser and pretended to whisper something to Rarity, while Rarity did her best to look supremely bored.  Then she laughed at something Twilight didn’t actually say and got up. Twilight ran down the stairs and sat, waiting at the bottom while Rarity leisurely strolled down them after her.

“You know, not many ponies stay out until midnight,” Rarity said as she slowly walked down the stairs. “Looks like you were the only one who did tonight.  They say this is the witching hour, that it’s bad luck to be awake at this time.  You must be brave.”

“Heh.  Am I the only one left?”  Cloud Chaser looked around to make sure.  “I guess I didn’t notice.  Maybe I should go.”

It used to be the case that at this point the daywalker would point out that Twilight was still here too, but the last couple of times they didn’t feel like that was worth mentioning.  That little detail was enough to make Twilight excited.  It was like even strangers were starting to get the sense that she simply belonged here.  Twilight couldn’t help but smile wide.

As always, Cloud Chaser turned to leave, but Rainbow Dash swooped in at the last moment to block the door.  Cloud Chaser ruffled her feathers and turned back to Rarity, unamused.  Twilight had seen this all play out enough times to begin to notice trends, like how airheads always responded far more aggressively to Dash blocking their way.

“What’s going on here?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“Sorry, sorry.” Rarity winked and smiled. “Scaring you right after calling you brave.  Of course, you can leave if you want.  But midnight is when we have our real fun if you’d care to stay a bit longer.”

Cloud Chaser looked back to see Dash get out of the way and lowered her wings.

“I dunno.”  Cloud Chaser gave Rarity a skeptical look. “What exactly are you gonna do at midnight?”

“Oh!”  Pinkie jumped up on the table next to Cloud Chaser. “There’s lots of things you can only do at midnight!”

“I wonder if you ever heard why midnight is considered such bad luck in the first place?”  Rarity asked.

Now it was Twilight’s turn. Twilight began slowly walking around Cloud Chaser in a circle.  She practiced this, staying just close enough that Cloud Chaser couldn’t easily turn around.

“Ten thousand years ago at the end of the age of fire,” Twilight recited her story as she circled, “just after Celestia created ponies and the sun, there was still chaos magic that her sun hadn’t burned away yet.  When the sun went down, the chaos magic would come bubbling up from beneath the ground. Midnight was the hour when there was enough to cast spells, but not enough to overwhelm any bonehead who tried to use it.  You see, the real old boneheads could use chaos magic for necromancy.  But you need more than chaos magic for necromancy. You need a life to sacrifice.  So they’d some young virgin to use for their games.”

“You kinda look like a virgin.”  Dash landed on the side that was opposite of Twilight, just as Twilight stopped circling, so Cloud Chaser was surrounded on either end.

“How scary,” said Rarity. “Some ponies say there are still necromancers out there, somewhere in the forest.  Isn’t that right, Twilight?”

“Yeah!  Though I can’t remember who told me that.”  Twilight held her little bone necklace with one hoof and smiled at Cloud Chaser.

Pinkie jumped up onto the table next to Cloud Chaser and hissed at her, sending the on-edge pegasus staggering back.  Everypony else laughed.

“Don’t worry so much!” Rarity waved her hoof dismissively. “That’s just silly superstition.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight. “All nonsense.  I promise!  But we do have our own games we like to play.”

“Yes.”  Rarity trotted towards Cloud Chaser, the others getting out of her way to make room.  “It’s a good time for scary games.  Have you ever heard of one called blind faith?”

“You gotta be brave to play it.”  Dash landed on the other side of Cloud Chaser.

“But even then,” said Twilight, “nopony’s ever won it.  How many ponies have you played it with again?”

“I think about a hundred,” said Dash.  “I won’t blame you if you wanna chicken out of it.”

“Hey, don’t call me chicken,” said Cloud Chaser.  “I don’t even know what game you’re talking about.  How do you play, exactly?”

“Come on outside.” Dash moved to the back door. “I’ll show you.”

“I’ll see you later.” Rarity made a shooing motion with her hoof.  “Probably.”

“You’re not coming?” She asked.

“No.  Twilight and I have to-“  Rarity and Twilight locked eyes. “Well there’s something we have to do before the witching hour is over.”

Rarity and Twilight walked back up the stairs to the sofa while the others lead Cloud Chaser away. Twilight smiled wide, she pulled it off perfectly.  This game was a lot of fun!

Rarity turned the lights way down, enough for the two of them to take their sunglasses off and look outside properly.  The window that hung above the sofa provided a perfect view of the game down below. Twilight watched in comfort as Rainbow Dash prowled around Cloud Chaser, saying something that made the other pegasus shudder.

“I wonder what she thinks we’re doing in here?”  Twilight asked.

“We do have business."  Rarity held up her left hoof to Twilight.  “You owe my hoof a kiss.”

Twilight had watched Rarity kissing the others plenty of times.  And strangely Twilight didn’t feel jealous of it too much.  More like, left out.  She did want to try it too.

So maybe Twilight occasionally imagined herself making out with Rarity, but it wasn’t a gay thing or anything like that.  She just wanted to make out in a purely friendly way.  Like how Pinkie did it!  It was just that it was wrong that excited Twilight, that and wanting to be closer to Rarity.

So Twilight took her hoof.

Rarity’s smile was absolutely giddy as she realized Twilight was going to do it.  Twilight pressed her lips against the hoof and held it there, probably too long, long enough for Rarity to start giggling.

Twilight pulled back and turned away fast, her heart beating like she’d just run a mile.  She could feel her face burning.  She couldn’t believe she actually kissed Rarity!  Did that count as her first kiss?!  She tried to cover up her blush by grabbing one of the pillows but doubted it worked.

“Aw, that’s cute,” Rarity cooed.  “But you kissed the wrong hoof.  Try again.”

“What?  But you- which-“

“I’ll let you know when you get it right.” Rarity held her right hoof out to Twilight, giving it a demanding flick.

Twilight knew for a fact that it would just happen to be whichever one she guessed last.  Rarity was getting far too much pleasure out of how flustered this was making Twilight.  Maybe Twilight was getting too much pleasure out of this too.

Some invisible attraction pulled Twilight back to Rarity and Twilight grabbed Rarity's right.  She gave that one a soft kiss, thinking she'd done much better this time, not shaking so much and not lingering too long.  Rarity was looking pleased with this kiss.

"Maybe try a little higher?" Rarity suggested.  "I'll let you kiss my back hooves in a moment, but I want to see something first."

Twilight took Rarity's advice and kissed her wrist.  Rarity flicked her muzzle up, suggesting that this wasn't high enough, and reached out her foreleg for Twilight.

Her mind was completely overrun by emotion now.  She wanted more than anything in the world for Rarity to keep telling her to go higher until she reached Rarity's lips.  Silently, Twilight decided that she'd try to do just that and see how far she'd go before Rarity stopped her. She gave one more kiss to Rarity's leg and then-

A scream came from outside, Cloud Chaser, far louder than ponies normally screamed at this game. It was enough to make the already on-edge Twilight flail and fall off the couch.

“Rude.”  Rarity let out a huff of air and looked towards the window.

“That was fast.” Twilight moved back to the window and looked down, just in time to see Pinkie chasing after Cloud Chaser as she ran off, Dash laughing behind them.

Dash flew up to the window, opened it, and landed on its ledge.

“Guess that party’s over,” said Dash.

“I would have liked it to last another five minutes.”  Rarity pouted up at Dash.  “Twilight and I were having a very interesting conversation about how incredibly fragile heterosexuality is."

“Oh?”  Dash leaned down towards Rarity.  “And how am I supposed to know what you’re thinking in some other room?”

“Well if you really loved me you would just know.”

Dash blew some air in Rarity’s face.  Rarity returned the favor by grabbing Dash with her magic throwing her face-first into the couch cushion between her and Twilight.

“Hmph!”  Rarity put her hoof on the back of Dash’s head. “You’re sleeping here tonight!  Twilight! Do you want to take her place in my bed tonight?  I'd love to finish explaining how straightness is such a fleeting little thing that melts away like snow if you aren't dreadfully careful with it.”

“Guh!”  Twilight felt like she’d barely survived kissing Rarity’s hoof!  “I-  I don't know if I'm ready for something like that!"

“Oh?  But you sleep with Pinkie now.”  Rarity pouted.  "You were in her bed last night."

“That’s different!”

“Oh really?  And just how would it be different?"

“Pinkie’s-!  I'm not sure if there's a word for it, but she's asexual or something.  She doesn't see that as anything but being friendly!"

“Really!  So you're saying it'd be sexual if we slept in the same bed?  I wonder why you'd think that."

"Rarity!" Twilight was getting worked up yet again. "Okay, maybe I'm a little gay, but- I'm not ready for something like that!"

“That’s fine.”  Rarity gave a sly smile.  “I like taking my time.  And I like how cute you’re being.”

Twilight took a few deep breathes, Rarity finally letting up on her teasing while Dash got up and brushed herself off.  Calming down was necessary if Twilight was going to go through with her important question tonight.

It'd been over a week since Pinkie promised to talk to Rarity about Twilight getting an 'invitation'.  Tonight was the night Twilight was going to confront them about this and potentially the vampire thing.

“So you want me to take you home?”  Dash offered. “Or are you staying here tonight?”

“Um.  Actually!  There’s something I wanted to ask you two about.”  Twilight looked down at the ground for a moment, then back at Rarity. This was it!  “How exactly do I get an invitation to join the gang?  Like for real!  I think I’m ready.”

Rarity smiled wider, but Dash lowered her head and looked Twilight over suspiciously.

“Aw!  I think our little Twily is all grown up,” said Rarity. “I feel like just yesterday she was scolding us for cursing and now she wants to join a gang.”

Rarity turned to Dash.

“You know, Dashie, I bet we could get her to do anything!”

“Ah, crap.” Twilight’s ears drooped.  “You’re not gonna haze me or some crap like that, are you?”

“Nah!”  Dash’s expression suddenly lightened.  “We hate that kind of crap!  But I don't think you're ready yet, Sparks."

“But what am I still missing?” If her conversation with Pinkie meant anything, there was one thing Twilight could say to change their minds. “I-I’d be willing to turn into a vampire if that’s the only way to join the gang.  The only reason I’d say no is if I had to kill ponies or if the curse made it so I can’t see you three again.”

Rarity and Dash gave one another very serious looks. There was one more important thing Twilight had to mention.

"I noticed something about that magic you were showing me," Twilight said.  "That draft you're supposed to feel, I'm getting better at it and- and it always blows from the Everfree Forest... or from one of you. But light magic shouldn't be coming from the forest at all, so it's a different type of magic, isn't it?"

Though Twilight didn't say the most obvious answer, that this was dark magic. There was a chance Rarity was somehow casting spells with dark magic, despite that being physically impossible. But if it was possible...

"You are clever!" Rarity smiled, impressed, and giggled.

Usually, she liked impressing Rarity, but that wasn't what Twilight wanted right now.

“Rarity please! I’m not sure if you’re actually vampires,” said Twilight, “or if you’re necromancers or maybe you just worship some evil forest god, but there's something you're keeping from me.  I get why you wouldn’t tell me if you were a vampire or whatever upfront.  But I’m basically in the gang now.  You three are my best friends.  You know I’d be cool.  I wouldn’t tell anypony. I feel like I’ve been lied to so much. I want somepony to tell me the truth and I really want it to be you.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at Rarity to see what she wanted to do.  Rarity gave her muzzle two flicks.  Twilight knew most of their signals, but not this one.

Dash flew back onto the windowsill and Rarity beckoned Twilight over.  Twilight never turned down an offer to get close to Rarity and crawled over to her.

"I really do love your curiosity. But I can tell it might get you in trouble soon if I don't scratch it.”  Rarity scratched Twilight behind the ears.  “You're right, I really should have brought you in on all this before you got upset, so I apologize.  It’s true the three of us have an important secret, something on the level of those examples you just mentioned.  I hope you understand, it’s not the sort of thing we can tell to just anypony.”

So there was something!

A million possibilities flooded Twilight’s mind.  She needed to know.

“I understand!”  At least, at the moment Twilight’s need to know outweighed any resentment she might have had over them keeping a secret.  “But are you seriously vampires?!  Whatever it is, I want in on it.  Though you don’t- you don’t eat other ponies, do you?”

“I’ve never eaten a pony and I’m confident nopony in my gang has either. But yes, I’ll let you ‘in on it’ and you can be one of us for real.  But there is one thing I’ll ask you to do in return to earn this.  I’ll invite you into the gang and I’ll tell you everything, no more games, and no more secrets.” Rarity extended a foreleg towards the forest as if offering it to Twilight. “But I can only tell you this secret in the Everfree Forest.  Follow me there and I’ll show you everything. That’s where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie got their invitations.”

If Rarity offered to tell her in exchange for just about anything else, Twilight would have done it right then.  But the forest still scared her, was the last stronghold of her old self. And Twilight hesitated.

“Ah come on, Sparks,”’ said Dash.  “What’s the problem?  You ain’t gonna get hurt, not if you’re with us. We could go do this right now if you got the courage."

“I understand I’m mostly only scared of going out there because I’ve been brainwashed,” said Twilight.  “But this is the thing they drove into me the hardest!  You can’t just get over something that’s been pounded into your head so much. I feel like I'd be less embarrassed talking about sex in public.”

“Aw, poor Twilight,” said Rarity.  “You know how to free yourself from that, right?”

“Yeah!  We can tell you about what's in the forest before we go in.”  Dash invited her with a cocky smile. "Everypony thinks about what's inside the forest.  This is just that thing where they guilt you over something they know you're gonna do."

Twilight knew what they meant. There was nothing in the forest that would be as frightening as the darkness your mind created around it unseen. Seeing it, on any level, would kill how frightening it was.  It would work. But this would probably be her final step.  There’d be nothing left after this.  Nothing save going into the forest for real.

“Oh, I-“ Twilight looked down at the ground.  “I guess I- do want to know?  I did imagine it before.”

Twilight blushed and scrunched her muzzle.  It felt so wrong to say that out loud.

“What do you wonder?” Rarity crawled over Dash, forcing the pegasus to climb back up to the windowsill.  “What do you imagine when you think about it?”

“Don’t- don’t you know what it’s actually like deeper in?”  Twilight sank as far back into the arm of the couch as she could.  “You go in there a lot.  You can just tell me instead of- you know.”

“But I want to hear how you imagine it first.” Rarity put one foreleg on the back of the couch and leaned forward, pressing her muzzle against Twilight’s.  “You know how much I love stoking your curiosity.  What pops into your mind when you can’t help but wonder about the forest late at night?  Tell me what you think is out there and then I’ll tell you what I know.”

Twilight was just hoping to be more passive in this conversation, but maybe it would be better to just go crazy and admit it.  It wasn’t like they were going to yell at her for it, she assured herself.  If anything, they’d find it endearing.

“W-well I heard somewhere that the Everfree gets more toxic and dangerous as you get closer to the center and maybe like-“ Twilight tapped her hooves together nervously.  “And sometimes I kind of maybe want to know what it’s like really deep in… maybe?”

“That’s perfectly reasonable.”  Rarity nuzzled Twilight gently.  “What do you imagine it’s like?”

“I guess.”  Twilight relaxed a little.  “I guess I always think of it as being covered in pools of purples sludge and there’s toxic slime dripping from the trees.  The monsters there are maybe just made out of the poison itself, like dripping slime monsters.  That’s always what I picture, anyway.  There’d have to be an insane amount of poison if it affects us over a thousand miles away.”

“Ah yeah, the center,” Dash said from her perch.  “That’s gotta be the most horrible part, yeah?  What do you think is there, Sparks?”

“Well that’s-“ Twilight swallowed.  

Pinkie popped into the window behind the three and hissed loudly.  Twilight fell off the couch yet again and even Dash had to move out of the way as Pinkie put her forelegs over the edge of the window and laughed hysterically.

“Why does everypony keep scaring me today?!”  Twilight got onto the couch and grabbed Pinkie with her magic, worried the earth pony might fall.  “Pinkie, how did you even get up here?”

“Vampire powers.” Pinkie let herself be pulled inside and placed on the stairs behind Twilight.  “What are talking about?  Is it spooky?”

“Sparks was about to tell us what she thinks is in the center of the forest,” said Dash.

“Ooh.”  Pinkie put her hooves on the couch arm behind Twilight. “I like that story.”

“Did they ever find out what’s there?” Twilight asked.  “They sent tons of ponies out there, but I never heard if any of them made it all the way in.”

“Maybe I know what’s there.” Dash had her spooky story grin on, making Twilight unsure if she actually knew or not.  “You tell me your idea first.”

“Just one more step Twilight,” Rarity promised. “And you’ll have your reward.”

Did they seriously know? Twilight wasn’t sure if she was more scared of saying her thoughts or of hearing the truth at this point.

“W-well-“ Twilight pushed on, feeling like she was opening a door.  “I guess it has to be the source of the corruption itself, right? The thing that all the dark magic is coming from.”

“Like what?”  Pinkie asked.  “Make something up!  Make it scary!”

“Like-“Twilight had never actually given that nameless terror a shape in her mind.  “I dunno.  A giant tree or something?”

“A tree?”  Dash was not impressed.

“But an evil tree!” Twilight quickly added.  “Like in that movie you showed me, The Root of Evil.  It keeps growing and pumping poison into the ground.  And it’s so toxic and dangerous that just looking at it makes your head explode instantly.  Like in Invasion of the Head Exploders.”

“Yeah!  I love that one.”  Pinkie laughed.  “I could watch those heads explode all day.  Oh, oh!  You should work the monster from Crocpocalypse into it too.”

“And uh.”  Twilight tried to think of something.  “And the crocodile from Crocpocalypse is there too?”

“Ah!”  Pinkie screamed and fell back onto the stairs.  “Now I’m really scared!”

“Okay, okay!” Twilight shook her head.  “There, I said it!  Now it’s your turn.”

Rarity looked back at Dash and with a flick of her muzzle gave the pegasus permission.

“Alright.”  Dash stood up and stretched her wings.

“Do you know what's in the center?”  Twilight asked.  "Like for real?"

“Oh, yeah!  We know somepony who has a platinum card and they’ve seen the center themselves,” said Dash.  “They told us all about it and now it’s your turn.”

Twilight’s heart was pounding again.  She nodded quickly.  This was seriously it!  She was about to hear something truly forbidden.

Rainbow Dash flew up on the stairs, landing on the balcony that overlooked the main room.  She put her front hooves up on the banister and looked down at the others.

“The Everfree isn’t just like this the whole way through,” she spoke slowly like she was telling a scary story.  “There’s all kinds of different parts of it, marshes and places where the ground is under a few feet of moon water, gorges and canyons filled with so much brush you can walk across them if you’re careful, places with scraggly little trees and vines that look more like a prairie.”

“But no matter what, the deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets.  The monsters get more and more dangerous, eventually, dreadstalkers are common and they’re not even close to the worst thing you can run into.  The plants and water get more toxic, until just touching the leaves can leave blisters and the water starts giving off a blue glow.”

“If you’re amazing, you eventually make it to a place called the Cavern Grove.  It’s called that cause the canopy is so tall and thick that even in the middle of the day it’s pitch black, basically a world of eternal night. If you light a fire down there, every monster within miles will show up and you’ll be relieved if it’s just a bucking dreadstalker.  It’s so toxic down there, you need a gas mask all the time.”

“And that’s what the center is like?”  Twilight asked.

“Hehe.  No!  It gets worse!”  Dash flew up onto the railing and started slowly trotting along it.  “Almost nopony makes it through there alive and if you do get to the other side of the cavern grove, you’re gonna be the last one in your group left.  Just a few miles from the center, the trees start thinning out a bit, but you start getting this purple mist.  A gas mask ain’t enough to save you from it.  It makes your fur fall out and your nose bleeds constantly and you start hallucinating.  And all that’s if you don’t breathe any in.  But if you go fast, you can make it to the last part of the forest before you die.”

“And… and what’s past that?” Twilight asked.

“The closest anypony got, maybe just a mile from the center, is a place they always called the wall of mist. There’s like a huge crater filled with the mist, so thick it really is like a wall.  You can’t see what’s down there and anypony who goes in never comes back. We don’t even know if they dissolve or get sucked into another dimension or what."

“Oh,” said Twilight. “So nopony ever actually got to the center?  That’s a little disappointing.”

“Well hey!”  Dash flew up a little to stand on the banister.  “You’d have to be a total badass just to get to the wall of mist, you know.”

“Or rather,” Rarity said with a smile, “it’d be impressive if you could get there without dying.”

“No.”  Dash rolled her eyes, annoyed.  “It’d be impressive even if you did die.  You know what my explanation is?  If I were an evil god living in the center of the forest, I’d be so impressed by anypony who made it that far that I’d let them join my side.”

“But how can you make it a mile or two from the center and then just give up?”  Twilight asked.  “Can’t you slip a camera into the mist or something?  Or try to pull stuff out with a really long metal pole?”

“Only a few ponies ever got that far,” said Rarity.  “Probably hundreds of thousands died in the forest trying, and not even ten got there.”

“Like I said, total badass,” said Dash.  “Though by the time you get there, you’re basically dead!  You’re starving and anemic and poisoned and all your bones are broken and you’re not exactly up to doing bucking science experiments.  And maybe I didn’t play up the hallucinations enough.  Once you’re in the mist, you can’t even tell what direction you’re walking in anymore. You don’t know if you’re awake or asleep.  Even if you did see the center, and by some miracle got back, you could never be sure it wasn’t just a hallucination.”

“So I’ll just never know?” Twilight was suddenly disappointed. “None of us will ever know?!”

“Well I'll admit there's a chance I do know just a bit more than what we've told you." Rarity smiled. "But everything else I could tell you can only be told inside the forest itself, whenever you decide to take my offer."

“Hey!”  Pinkie stood up.  “We’re going out tomorrow!  You could come with us!”

“I dunno.”  Twilight shrunk back again.  “Are you sure it’s safe?  I know you go all the time, but-”

“We like you, Twilight,” said Rarity.  “You don’t have anything to be afraid of.  I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

“Why are you even hesitating, Sparks?”  Dash asked. “Cause they told you not to?”

“Well-“ Twilight tapped her hooves together.  That question was probably the most convincing argument somepony could make these days. This was what Twilight did want this more than anything in the world.  She wanted to be a Blue Diamond as much as she once wanted to be a mage. If going into the forest was the only way to do it, to get her answers. "I'll go."

All three of them leaned forward, smiling wide.

“But not tonight!” Twilight quickly added.  “I need time to mentally prepare.  Maybe in like a week? No, that's too long! Monday!"

“Right.”  Rarity stroked Twilight’s mane.  “I promise I'll show you everything, then. It might be better if the three of us have a chance to prepare anyway."

Twilight let out a long sigh.  At least she had the whole weekend to get ready for this.

__________________________________________________

Three days later…

It was just past sunset. Twilight looked up at Rarity’s house, preparing to go in.  The night she promised to go into the Everfree with them was finally here.

“Oh boy,” said Twilight. “That weekend went by faster than I thought it would.”
> Chapter 10.  The invitation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sat silently as Pinkie painted her face to look more like a skull, putting black rings around her eyes, extending her mouth with a black line, and putting vertical lines all along her extended mouth.  It Twilight feel like she was about to commit some dark ritual.

The forest loomed just ahead, Rarity sitting just in front of it, smiling warmly at Twilight with glasses off.  The Everfree Forest never looked brighter and Rarity’s eyes never more welcoming.  But still Twilight couldn’t feel anything but dread when the forest was this close.

Twilight shuddered like she was waiting in line to go on the world’s largest, fastest rollercoaster, only Twilight would have felt less nervous about that.  Statistically speaking, rollercoasters were actually very safe.  The forest not so much.

“And you’re sure this skeleton makeup doesn’t have some kind of deeper significance?”  Twilight asked.  Wearing a skeleton mask did not make her feel better.

“Ha!  Deeper significance!”  Pinkie rolled her eyes at the idea.  “Do you even know me?”

“Alright!”  Dash landed behind Rarity, back from checking the nearby area.  “Nopony is watching.  We can go in any time you want.”

Twilight breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm herself down before her heart exploded.

“You’re so very close.” Rarity trotted backward a few steps until she was just a little way into the woods.

“Fun times are this way!” Pinkie bounded after her and stopped by Rarity’s side.

“Better not chicken out after all this!”  Dash jabbed her hoof at Twilight as she strolled into the woods at a leisurely pace.

Now Twilight was alone, looking at the three of them together in the woods.  Rarity and Pinkie smiled wide, excited about Twilight coming to join them.  Dash was more pensive, like she still wasn’t sure if Twilight would actually come. Maybe seeing three delinquents in the woods would normally be an unnerving sight, but Twilight was basically one of them already.  She looked exactly like they did.

This was it.  This was the final, ultimate act of rebellion against her old life.  There would be no going back once she stepped inside.  And that might just possibly be literal if they really were vampires. But Twilight decided long ago that she’d rather be stuck in the forest with them than stuck out here with the daywalkers.

“Just a few more steps.” Rarity beckoned with her hoof. “And you’ll be one of us."

And just then, Twilight wanted this more than anything in the world.

“Okay.”  Twilight breathed in and out deeply a few times. “I can do this.  I can…”

Twilight closed her eyes tight and held her breath.  Before her brain could tell her ‘no’ another thousand times, Twilight ran forward as fast as she could.  She ran and ran and then-

Rarity grabbed her tail with her magic and pulled back.  Twilight stumbled to a stop.

“Almost hit a tree,” said Rarity.  “But you did technically make it.”

“I did?”  Twilight’s whole body was tense, but she forced herself to open her eyes and looked around.  There was darkness and trees in every direction.  She was actually inside the Everfree!  “I can’t- I can’t believe I actually did that!”

It felt like she’d just narrowly avoided death.  Twilight started laughing.  Then she fell to her haunches and began laughing harder!  Pinkie sat down next to Twilight and began laughing just as hysterically.

“I don’t know why we’re laughing!”  Pinkie shouted through the tears of laughter. 

“I don’t-“  Twilight caught her breath.  “I don’t either.”

Twilight finally started to calm down and have a look around.  It was far brighter in here than Twilight ever would have imagined, almost like she could see better inside the forest than back in town.  There weren’t any unfamiliar plants showing up just yet, though she could tell she needed to be careful of those black, thorny vines she’d seen near the edge of the forest.

Twilight took maybe one step ahead of Rarity and Dash rushed forward, blocking Twilight’s path with her wing.

“Don’t wander off yourself or get ahead of us, Sparks,” said Dash.  “You’re green.”

“Right.”  Twilight moved to the back of the group.

“No!”  Dash got behind Twilight and pushed her forward.  “Not in the back either.  That makes them think you’re like, the weak sickly one of the herd. You stay in the middle.”

“Middle, right.” Twilight was certain that’s where she wanted to be anyway.  “You’re sure this isn’t incredibly insanely dangerous though?”

“Sure it’s dangerous!” Pinkie sounded excited about that.

“But we’re more dangerous.” Dash hit her chest.  “Nothing’s gonna buck with us.”

“But there is something,” said Rarity.  “I want you to promise me that until I permit you to do otherwise, you’ll never come out here without me.  Do you understand?  Not for any emergency, not with some daywalker, not even with one of these two.  Only with me.”

“I promise,” Twilight said. “I’d be way too scared anyway.”

“But you won’t be for long, so remember,” said Rarity.  “And you have to remember that the deeper you go the more dangerous it gets.  There’s a lake a little way from here, I’ll take you past it one day but for now, you shouldn’t go anywhere near it.  Then, well you still have the instincts of a daywalker but remember that light doesn’t make you safe here.  Don’t light any fires or your horn unless you must. And don’t think this place is safer in the day.  It’s worse if anything.”

Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Good.”  Rarity started trotting into the woods, bringing the others with her.  “Then we can start with our little game.” 

“Game?”  Twilight tried to keep her very specific spot in the line.  “You said you'd tell me all of your secrets if I followed you out here, right?  You're not gonna go back on that, are you?"

"Telling you all my secrets would take too long!  And you'd have to follow me to bed for some of those." Rarity winked.  "But the important ones, yes.  You'll know for sure if we're vampires by midnight.  But I  thought maybe we could start a bit slow if you don't mind.  I'm sure you're curious about what we do when we come out here, yes?"

"Yes." Twilight nodded.  "You always just said you could only tell me if I was your accomplice, so I'm guessing it's pretty illegal?"

"Most illegal thing you've done yet, Sparks," said Dash.  "Sides coming out here."

“Then what is it?”

“Just another minute of suspense.”  Rarity pointed down the road a ways.  “I can show you at the end of the next street.”

There really was a street, too.  It was torn up by roots and overrun by plants, but Twilight could tell a road used to be right where they were walking.

Twilight felt a bit embarrassed that she wasn’t expecting it, but the fact that there were buildings all over the place did take her by surprise.  It made sense, it wasn’t like all these houses would just instantly dissolve the second the forest overtook them, but the idea of buildings being in the woods simply felt like a paradox in Twilight’s mind.

A lot of them were in fairly good shape too, enough so that you could probably live in them were it not for the obvious dangers. Though for every standing house, there was one partially or fully destroyed.  Twilight could tell it was the trees growing up that were responsible for knocking these houses down.  If one of those large trees grew next to a house, then it got torn in half by it at the least.  She even saw one house that had been lifted straight up into the air by a tree that grew under it.

“Do you want a history lesson?”  Rarity asked when she noticed Twilight looking at the buildings.  “There used to be a South Ponyville as well as a north and east one.  We’re in South Ponyville now.  The one you know used to be North Ponyville, but the others are gone now so they don’t bother with the north part any longer.  But one day it will become like its sister towns, like this.”

“Yeah.  It’s kind of depressing, isn’t it?”  Twilight looked at one of the abandoned buildings, just now remembering that it used to be somepony’s home.  “I mean, how far is it going to go?  You don’t honestly think the whole world will be like this one day, do you?”

“Oh, don’t worry.  I’m sure we don’t have anything to worry about.”  Rarity gave Rainbow Dash one of her slick smiles.

Dash laughed at some joke Twilight struggled to get.

“Yeah!  Haha!”  Twilight made herself laugh.  “That’ll be like a hundred years from now so who cares?  Screw the future ponies, right?”

Dash came up from behind and smacked Twilight on the back of her head.

“Don’t laugh if you don’t get the joke, dork,” said Dash.

“Don’t feel bad, Twitwi.” Pinkie dropped her pace enough to fall back until she was next to Twilight.  “I’ll tell you why I laugh at the destruction!”

Pinkie didn’t stay consistently in front of behind Twilight as they walked.  Instead, she made slow circles around the group.

“Sometimes,” said Pinkie, “the dorkwalkers leave all sorts of neat stuff behind when they run away screaming to Canterlot!  So now it’s like a bucking treasure hunt!  It’s great for us that everything is so abandoned!”

“Oh!”  Twilight was pretty sure she figured out the mystery. “Is that what we’re doing?  Do you come out here to scavenge for valuable crap?”

“You probably could make more money doing this than working at your current job,” said Rarity.  “But I hardly need any more money.  I do it for the fun of it.  For the adventure!  Though there is one thing, in particular, I look for out here.”

Rarity gestured to a large building at the end of the street they were walking down.

Twilight needed to wait until she was a bit closer to realize what it was.  They were headed towards the remains of a bank.  It looked like the huge tree next to it destroyed the roof of it and took down two of the walls in the process.  But a good deal of it was still standing.

The others lead her right up to what used to be the door.

“Wait.”  Twilight stopped.  “It’s not- are you saying they left all the money in the bank behind and… and that’s why you’re rich?”

“Twilight.”  Dash took off her glasses.  “Do you honestly think that happened?”

“No.”

“Good.”  Dash put her glasses back on.

“Well I like your imagination, Twitwi!”  Pinkie pressed against Twilight briefly before moving into the bank.

“But,” Dash stopped where the door used to be and pointed down, “they did leave the gigantic bucking vault.  Guess they’re hard to move.”

Twilight followed them inside if it still counted as inside.  A large part of the floor was torn up, letting you see the basement. She couldn’t tell if her gang were the ones who tore up the floor, but she was pretty sure they were responsible for a wooden ramp that lead down into the basement.

And at the other end of that ramp was the door to the vault they just mentioned.

“One other thing they left.” Rarity started down the ramp to the vault.  “The bank manager was so stupid that he wrote the combination for this vault down and taped it under his desk.  Goes to show you they always put the best pony in charge.  Anyway, he left that behind so now this vault is mine.”

Twilight watched as Rarity turned the dial of the vault back and forth, the vault making heavy clunking sounds each time.

“This is your last chance to guess.” Rarity put her hoof on the handle of the vault and looked back at Twilight.  “Do you know what’s inside?”

“A million dead bodies,” Twilight said without hesitation and they all laughed at that.

“Close.”  Rarity laughed.  “Very close!”

Rarity slowly pulled the vault open.  Twilight’s eyes opened wide with wonder as soon as she realized what was inside.

It was filled with books and movies!  The inside of the vault was huge, but it still felt cramped from all the books, tapes, and rolls of film stacked on top of one another.  Twilight couldn’t help but trot inside and read a few of the titles of the books.  She didn’t recognize any of them, which made her certain these were all banned content.

This was more than she’d ever hoped to have seen in her lifetime.  Maybe they did have a literal ton of these!

“This is incredible!” Twilight spun around, taking it all in.

“This is the main treasure I look for,” said Rarity.  “It isn’t uncommon at all for there to be banned books or movies in somepony’s house. Some of these might be the only copy left.  I suppose if they ever repeal the bans, a lot of these will become valuable and I’ll be even richer.  But for the most part, I want to preserve it all.”

“That’s actually really cool of you,” said Twilight, though she knew most ponies from Canterlot would disagree.  “If you ask me, anyway.  I’m surprised you found so many.”

“It’s not all from this one town,” said Rarity.  “I like moving around a lot, remember?”

“Right.”  Sometimes Twilight did worry Rarity might move to some town she couldn’t possibly afford to live in, which was any town but Ponyville.  That was one of her bigger fears.  In her mind, Twilight had already rehearsed a desperate plea for Rarity to take her with her to wherever.

“So you wanna play treasure hunt with us?” Pinkie asked.

“Absolutely.” Twilight quickly came out of her depression.  “That sounds great.”

“Then follow me,” said Rarity.

Rarity closed the vault behind Twilight and they started up the ramp, Dash already waiting at the top, looking out into the town.

“Maybe you should stay down there for a minute,” Dash flicked her wing out in warning.

“Huh?”  Twilight couldn’t help but come up just enough to peek out at what the problem was.

There was a crowd out in the streets now, turning it into a stream of glowing red eyes.  It took Twilight a moment to realize what they were, but she was certain they were all jackalopes.  She’d seen them before, but only one at a time.  She had no idea they ran around in big groups like this at all. There had to be hundreds of them!

“That- that-“ Twilight backed up slowly, further underground.  “That is a lot of jackalopes!  Should we hide in the vault?”

Most of them kept a distance from the group of ponies.  One, in particular, was far larger than any jackalope Twilight had ever seen, nearly the size of a pony.  It was a black one with gnarled horns and it came close to the ponies.  It kept its eyes on Twilight and Twilight alone, hissing at her as it circled around like it was looking for an opening to pounce at Twilight.  It must have been able to tell that she was the only one who was afraid of it.  The others didn’t seem concerned at all.

With no fear at all, Pinkie jumped at the head jackalope and hissed right in its face.  The jackalope broke immediately, jumping back then running away into the dark.

Pinkie turned and ran into the crowd next, jumping right towards the center of the group and hissing loudly.  She jumped around, hissing at any of them that didn’t run fast enough until they all cleared out.

“There!”  Pinkie pronked back to the other ponies victoriously. “Nothing to worry about from some lame little bunnies.”

“See?  Nothing to worry about.”  Dash rubbed Twilight’s mane.  “But don’t go trying that crap on your own.  Just let us take care of anything that shows up for now.  Retardation kills, Sparks.”

“Y-yeah.  I think I prefer it that way.”  Twilight nodded.

The incident seemed weird to her.  Even normal jackalopes didn’t run that easily and Applejack warned Twilight against charging at them like this.  But maybe her friends just knew more about the forest than Applejack did.  Afterall, they did come in here while Applejack never had.

They had to go a little bit deeper into the forest before they found any houses that the gang hadn’t ‘hit’ yet, but not too far.

Rarity had a simple detection spell that could point them in the right direction, though already Twilight could tell it had a high false-positive rate.  The first house had a whole bookshelf filled with books, but none of them were banned.  They threw that bookshelf outside and looked around a little more, but there really wasn’t much else there but moldy furniture and rusty cutlery.

In the second house, Rarity’s spell looked like it was set off by a pile of clothes on the top floor. They were adorned with jewels, most of which were nearly worthless but one or two were worth maybe a hundred bits each by Rarity’s estimate.  She let Twilight keep them for herself.

In the third house, they finally found a reel of film!  Though it was unmarked, so they wouldn’t know what was on it until later.

Every once in a while, Twilight would see a monster she didn’t recognize.  But when she did it would always slink away to some crack or freeze in place to watch the ponies very careful, no doubt worried that they’d see it if it moved.

It was slowly dawning on Twilight that the monsters were scared of them. Twilight could scarcely imagine why.  Maybe all those years of sending out expedition parties left the weaker monsters traumatized by ponies or something.

Slowly, Twilight started to shake less and less.  This place wasn’t nearly as terrifying as all her years of nightmares made her think. At least, when she was with others.

They couldn’t seem to find anything valuable in the fourth house they went to, but Rarity and the others weren’t giving up that easy.

“See.”  Dash kept taking a step forward, then tapping on the floor. “Ponies burry crap under their floorboards all the time.  But you can learn to hear when something’s hidden.”

“Yeah!  This is great!”  Pinkie agreed.  She was busy doing the same, but with the walls.  “All the best stuff's in the walls, Twitwi!”

“Think I found it!” Dash announced.

She beckoned Twilight over. Twilight listened as Dash stomped on one floorboard, then the other, and really could hear the difference.

“You wanna dig it up, Sparks?”  Dash took a crowbar out of her saddlebag.  “We’ll let you keep whatever it is!”

Twilight took it in her mouth and placed it under the floor, her magic was far too weak these days to pry anything open.  It didn’t take as much effort to tear the board off as she would have thought. Maybe because it was already taken off once before.

And there was something in the resulting hole.  It was a black, wooden box.  The words ‘do not open’ were written on the top of it in red.

“Bwahaha!”  Dash laughed so hard she had to wipe a tear from her eye.  “This is priceless.  Could we have found something better on your first time out?”

“I bet it’s haunted,” Pinkie whispered to Twilight.  “I bet if you open it, the ghost of a masked murder is gonna show up and chase us through the forest!  That happens all the time, Twilight.”

“Masked murderers happen maybe sometimes,” said Twilight.  “But ghosts never do.”

“Well then!”  Pinkie jumped up onto a nearby couch.  “I guess that means you can open it and keep the curse for yourself!

“Go ahead, Twilight.” Rarity flicked her hoof to hurry her along.  “Everything out here is ours, now.”

For a moment, Twilight really did expect to find a murder weapon or something in the box.

She slowly undid the latches and opened the box.

And it slowly became apparent to Twilight…

That these were a bunch of lewd magazines.

“Um,” Twilight wasn’t sure how to break the news to her friends.

“Hello,” a soft, but unfamiliar voice said behind Twilight.

The voice shook Twilight hard enough that she slammed the box shut and spun around in a panic.

There was another pony here now!  This could be very bad!  The new pony was just sitting on the windowsill calmly, which made it hard to stay so scared. It was a yellow pegasus…

“Wait.  I remember you.  You’re, uh Fluttershy.”  A few memories came back, then Twilight jumped back to her hooves in panic and pointed at Fluttershy.  “Wait, no. That’s a bad thing!  She’s a narc!  She’s got a platinum card and could kill all of us with a single move then throw our dead bodies in jail and-“

“Relax.”  Dash calmly waved away Twilight’s panic.  None of the others seemed at all worried about this situation.  “Fluttershy’s chill.”

“Huh?”  Twilight relaxed a second time.

“It’s true.” Fluttershy nodded.  “I mean, I could kill you all instantly, but that’d be rude.  I won’t tell anypony you came out here, Twilight.”

“But aren’t you a platinum card?”  Twilight asked.  “Isn’t arresting us your job?”

“The way I see things.” Fluttershy put her hoof on her chin.  “Equestria has its laws, but the forest has its own laws.  If we were in Equestria, I’d have to arrest you.  But here in the forest, none of those laws matter.”

“Really?  But then that means you’d never arrest anypony for coming out here?”  Twilight asked.

“I suppose,” said Fluttershy.  “but if Rarity brought you out here, then this is her responsibility. I'm curious what Rarity brought you out here to do, exactly.”

Fluttershy gave Twilight a piercing look.  Rarity glanced up and to the left briefly, she wanted Twilight to play dumb.  It occurred to Twilight that Fluttershy must know whatever secrets the forest had as well.  Twilight had zero understanding of the situation, but she did trust Rarity.

"We were going through old houses looking for stuff ponies left behind." One of the things Twilight learned from Rarity was that the easy way to lie was to say something true.

"Oh, alright." Fluttershy sighed. "But if Rarity tries to make you do anything you don't want to, remember you can come to me and I'll give her a talking to, okay?"

"Uh! Okay?" Twilight half knew what Fluttershy meant, anyway. "Thanks?"

"Can I come to you if I get peer pressured, Mom?" Pinkie pressed up against Fluttershy.

"You're a good girl, Pinkie." Fluttershy patted Pinkie on the head. "But I'm not your mom."

“Wait, what? Did you just call her mom?" Twilight squinted at the two of them. "So you all clearly know each other, right?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie hugged Fluttershy tightly.  "Fluttershy's our mom!"

"No." Fluttershy sighed but didn't fight against the hug.

“She’s the friend we mentioned before.” Dash walked over to Fluttershy’s side.  “The one who got to the center of the forest.  Well, almost.”

“Wow- really?!” Twilight’s eyes widened.  “You got all the way there?!  I assumed you were some kind of badass, but that’s impressive!”

“Oh, it’s not that big a deal.”  Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head.  “A few others have gotten there too.”

“So you finished your thing?”  Dash asked.

“Oh, yes.  Everything went very well,” said Fluttershy.  “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Then you’re moving back into town?”  Pinkie asked.

“Yes.”  Fluttershy nuzzled the top of Pinkie’s head.  “I’ll be here for a while.”

“Yay!”  Pinkie buried her face into Fluttershy’s chest.

Meanwhile, Twilight was still scratching her head over all this, surprised they’d be friends with an authority figure.  If Fluttershy was hugging them, she had to be some kind of degenerate too.  Maybe even a secret vampire or whatever?

“But.”  Fluttershy moved Pinkie away.  “I am a little surprised that Rarity took you out here, Twilight.  You didn’t seem like the type to join a gang when I met you.  I hope you’re not just following Rarity because you’re lonely.”

“Twilight is absolutely our type, she just needed to get rid of some baggage before she could be her true, delinquent self.”  Rarity held Twilight with one foreleg and flicked the other at Fluttershy, which was how she ‘sicced’ Twilight at somepony.  “Twilight, tell Fluttershy what you think about our society and its morals.”

“Uh-“  Twilight still wasn’t sure how good an idea saying this stuff in front of a platinum card was.

“I understand.” Fluttershy patted Twilight on the shoulder.  “I have lots of dissent training.  One second of hesitation is all I need to know everything you’re thinking.  I can tell I was wrong about you.  But Rarity, you’re getting a lot of ponies lately. How big is your gang going to get?”

“If I see a pony I like, I make them mine,” said Rarity.  “I’ll know when I’m satisfied.”

“I don’t mind you having lots of friends, but you like going to such dangerous places.”  Fluttershy looked back towards where the town was. "You have to take responsibility for whatever happens."

“We know what we’re doing,” said Dash.

“Knowing what you’re doing can be dangerous too.  You’re too young to know how much things can change.  You have to accept that you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Alright.”  Rarity walked over to Fluttershy and rested her muzzle against Fluttershy, putting one foreleg around her.  “If we ever get into any trouble.  We’ll come straight to you.”

“Thank you.”  Fluttershy nuzzled her back.

“Excuse me?”  Twilight raised a hoof.  “I’m getting some mixed messages about whether you’re okay with me coming out here.”

“Hm?”  Fluttershy turned to Twilight like she was just remembering the unicorn was there.  “Oh no. It’s perfectly okay for you to be here, too.  I’m glad that you found some friends.  But like I said, the forest has its own rules and if you’re going to be coming here you need to follow them.”

“I already told her the rules.” Rarity sighed.

“You should never, ever come out here without your friends.  It'd be best to let me know before coming out here,” Fluttershy went on anyway.  “The forest will be totally different if you come out here alone.  Don’t try making any unnecessary lights and don’t forget that it’s actually worse during the day.  And you shouldn’t go past where the lake is.  It’s too dangerous after that point.  Maybe eventually you’ll be ready to.  I can tell when you are.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve done this,” said Rarity, “I can tell when she’s ready.”

“You should probably come ask me first anyway,” Fluttershy whispered in Twilight’s ear.

"Fluttershy, I'm an adult now," said Rarity.

"I know." Fluttershy tapped her hooves together.  "But still."

“Do you two like-“ Twilight looked from one to the other. “Are you related or something?  I really feel like you’re related.”

“I suppose you could say that,” said Rarity.

“I used to watch Rarity when she was little,” said Fluttershy, “and she lived with me for a while after her parents died. She's almost like a daughter to me. I guess maybe I’m still a little overprotective.”

“I’m not a scared little filly anymore,” said Rarity.  “Though I suppose I have you to thank for that, so I won’t get angry.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly at that.

"Just don't forget I'm around if there's anything you need," said Fluttershy.  "That means you too, Twilight. If you're in Rarity's gang I feel a little responsible for you too."

"Don't worry!" Pinkie pressed up against Fluttershy yet again. "I will absolutely think of something to need and come straight to you, Mom!"

“You’re a good girl Pinkie.” Fluttershy patted Pinkie on the head. “You should come visit me later, Twilight.  But I have to go now.”

Fluttershy waved goodbye and flew out the window again.  Pinkie ran after her, waving enthusiastically.

“Guess it’s good she’ll be around,” said Dash.  “But hey, what was in that bucking box, Sparks?”

“Eh.  Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Dash looked into the box and started laughing hysterically.

“Oh man, this pony was a bucking weirdo too!”  She looked through them one by one.  “Wish I could have met them.  We gonna preserve these, Rares?”

“Maybe if we find a second safe.”  Rarity dismissed the magazine.  “What time is it?”

It was still an hour until midnight.  They probably had enough time to go through a whole bunch of houses like this.

“Rarity, I’m getting hungry now!”  Pinkie announced.  “Can we eat soon or-?”

“Ah, crap.”  Twilight realized her mistake.  She loaded her bags with like, weapons and stuff, but- “I just realized I probably should have brought something to eat, shouldn’t I?  I dunno if any of you will maybe share with me?”

Pinkie looked at Rarity, silently asking permission for something.  Rarity nodded, granting it to Pinkie’s delight.

“We don’t usually bring any food either!”  Pinkie ran over to one of the nearby trees and bucked it a few times to make some of the fruit on it fall.  “Cause there’s already food here!”

“Pinkie!”  Twilight reached out to grab the fruit from her, but Pinkie was already holding one with her mouth.  “Everything in the forest is incredibly poisonous!  You can’t-!”

“Hm?”  Pinkie kept the fruit in her mouth and tilted her head.

“Oh.”  Twilight sat down.  “They were bucking lying about that too.”

Pinkie nodded cheerfully before biting down on the fruit, taking her first bite, then laughed once it was down.  At least now Twilight would know for sure if it was poison in a little bit.  Pinkie certainly seemed fine and continued to eat the fruit without a problem.  Twilight, meanwhile, tried to process this new reality.

“How could nopony notice you can eat these fruits, though?”  Twilight asked.  “Even if they were lied to that- that shouldn’t be enough!”

“This one’s called a ghost apple.” Dash got another one off the tree to show Twilight.  “It’s not poisonous, exactly.  But the flavor is, uh.  Let’s just say you gotta get used to it, huh?  It's safe if you just lick it, but don't actually bite in yet."

It looked closest to an apple, only a bit bigger and blue.  It was a little squishy too, though Twilight had no idea if it was supposed to be.  If the others were eating this, then she didn’t see why she couldn’t.

Rainbow Dash leaned up against Twilight and smiled a bit too much.  Pinkie was giddy with excitement, covering her massive smile with both hooves.  Even Rarity looked like she was eagerly waiting for Twilight to try.

“This isn’t the-?” Twilight looked at each of them very carefully.

The fruit of eternal youth immediately came to mind.  The three of them were wither smiling because they were excited about offering her eternal youth or because they were about to laugh hysterically at Twilight for thinking the fruit of eternal life existed in the first place.

“Is this the what, Twitwi?”  Pinkie could barely contain her excitement.

“This better not be some kind of prank!”  Twilight glared at Dash.

“Here, look.”  Dash took the one she'd just given Twilight, rubbed the fruit against her chest, then took a bite of it.  She chewed and then swallowed hard enough for Twilight to see.  She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue at Twilight so there was no question she swallowed it.  “Just try licking it to start! It won't turn you into a vampire or anything.”

She still felt like this was some kind of prank but couldn’t think of what it could possibly be.  She looked over at Pinkie who was happily eating another one of them.  She decided to pick a fresh one off the tree herself just in case.

“Okay.”  Twilight kept her eye on Dash as she slowly pressed her tongue against the fruit.

It tasted like a bag of bricks being slammed into Twilight’s face.  She didn’t even know this level of disgust could exist!  Every muscle in her face tensed up and spasmed as she choked and coughed.  Twilight spit it out as soon as she regained control and kept spitting repeatedly to try and get the taste out.

And that was just from licking it!

“Bwahaha!”

Dash and Pinkie practically fell over with laughter, even Rarity was giggling madly.

“Ah.  Here.”  Dash slapped Twilight on the back and handed her a bottle of water.

Twilight drank the water as fast as she could, spitting out the last bit of it. 

“How could you possibly eat that?!"  Twilight coughed.

"It takes some training." Dash grabbed another one and bit into it, effortlessly. "But we can show you how to eat one if you want."

“So you’re eating fruit from the forest.”  Twilight gave the fruit a far more suspicious look.  “And you’re trying to get me to eat Everfree fruits too.  This sounds a little too familiar."

And they were all snickering, waiting for her to say it, that this was exactly what the vampires from earth pony folklore did.  Here Twilight was, still a virgin, lured out into the woods and being offered fruits from the forest.

The legends said that if she refused to eat the fruit and become one of them, then they’d eat her instead.

“Go ahead and ask,” Rarity invited Twilight. “I think it’s time. I promised you an answer.”

Twilight nodded. This was it.

“Is this the fruit of eternal youth?” Twilight asked.  “Are you vampires?”

Rarity smiled and trotted closer.

“Well, perhaps there’s a little truth to that story,” said Rarity, “but there’s no fruit of eternal youth per se.  The secret I can show you isn’t a matter of which fruit to eat, but how to eat it. If you bit into one of these, you’d die on the spot. But do you know why?”

“Mostly because of the dark magic,” said Twilight. “All the plants absorb dark magic which is extremely poisonous to ponies. Or at least that’s what I was told.”

“That’s true. But what if I told you there was a way to become resistant to dark magic?” Rarity asked. “Would you believe me?”

Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie, happily devouring another one of these death apples.  That was compelling evidence of Rarity’s claim right there.

“But how?” Twilight asked.

“You build it up over time through exposure,” said Rarity.

“Yeah!” Dash landed next to her.  “You ever wonder why they don’t just send some pegasus to fly over the forest and land in the center.  It’s cause you’d melt inside the mist if you get there too fast.  You gotta take it nice and slow through the woods, letting the dark magic sink in, if you wanna get there.”

“Believe it or not, everypony in Ponyville has some slight resistance to it.”  Rarity trotted over to Pinkie Pie and began stroking her mane.  “Just being so close to the forest exposes you to a lot of dark magic. But if you begin eating these fruits in just the right way, you can build up significant resistance to dark magic, become nearly immune to it.”

“There’s one catch,” said Dash, “You can’t be immune to both light and dark magic, Sparks. One is always gonna kill you.  If you become too attuned to dark magic, say enough to go to the center of the forest, then going out of the forest makes you burn up like a monster. You'd need a gas mask just to breath the air near Canterlot instead.”

“Okay. So it is pretty similar to those stories,” said Twilight.  This was already a lot to take in, but Twilight couldn’t help but feel this was only the tip.  “If you eat enough fruit you become immune to their poison but can’t leave the forest without getting burned.”

Already Twilight had been given a major, world-changing secret.  If this was true then her understanding of magic had been woefully incomplete until now!

And yet there was more to those stories Twilight had heard, and the three of them were still waiting expectantly, smiling as though waiting for Twilight to ask the important part.

"Does it do anything else?" Twilight's heart was racing.  "Does it transform you?"

Rarity took off her glasses and gave two flicks of them at Pinkie.  Twilight recognized this signal, the one to hold somepony.  Pinkie bounded over and gave Twilight a tight hug, tight enough that Twilight wouldn't be able to escape.

"Uh!  What exactly are you-?!"  Twilight didn't try struggling just yet.  She tried reading the others' faces to see if she was in any danger. They didn't look malicious, at least.

"Just so you can't run away!" Pinkie was overly chipper about it.  "Oh, that probably sounds bad.  It's for your own good!"

"Then-?"

"Yes, all three of us have been transformed."  Rarity opened her forelegs wide. "This is what I looked like before I started eating these fruits, it's only a disguise.  Would you like to see what we really look like?"

Twilight tried to calm her racing heart by reminding herself that these were her friends.  Though deep-down Twilight wished she already was whatever they were, being different felt dangerous.

“R-right.”  Twilight nodded slowly.  More than anything she wanted to be a hundred percent sure this was all for real. If they really could do some kind of transformation magic, there'd be no denying it anymore. “Then- I want to see what you really look like.”

“Close your eyes for a moment," said Rarity.

Twilight closed her eyes, but that wasn’t good enough for Pinkie who put her hooves over Twilight’s eyes. It might have been necessary, because shortly after Twilight heard something sizzling and the urge to look was too great.

“No peeking.”  Pinkie held her hooves tightly in place and hummed for a few more seconds, then pulled them off again, instead holding Twilight in a tight hug once more.  “Okay! Now you can look.”

Twilight slowly opened one eye to peek.  Rarity and Rainbow Dash were both changed.  Their slitted eyes glowed brightly in the darkness, almost as though they were giving off light.  Their coats were somewhat thicker now, especially around their ears which now ended with thick tufts, making them look ever so slightly larger.  Rarity’s colors remained the same, but Dash’s mane was decidedly less rainbow now, with one white section and the rest being several different shades of blue.  Her fur was darker now, closer to purple.

Then of course there were the fangs, long, deadly sharp, and just inches away from Twilight.

Twilight let out a yelp and tried to back away in fear, but Pinkie held her too tight, keeping her there, surrounded.  Twilight fought back the urge to scream.  Normally when she got scared of something, she hid behind the gang, but what the buck was she supposed to do when they were the thing she feared?!

“Psh!”  Dash laughed like nothing was wrong.  “You don’t gotta be so scared, dork.  We’re you’re friends.  You’re safer here with us than out there with the other daywalkers.”

“She’s right.”  Rarity sat upright and spread her forelegs wide like she was welcoming Twilight. “The forest welcomes you!  You’re with me.  Nothing will harm you.”

“Y-yeah!”  Twilight nodded but didn’t dare blink.  “Yeah!  Right! We’re friends and stuff!  And- and friends don’t eat each other!  R-right?!”

“Exactly,” Rarity spoke softly, like Twilight was a scared little animal.  “There’s no reason to be afraid of your friends.”

“I mean!  I- it’s understandable I’d be scared!” Twilight stumbled over her words, not sure what she was supposed to say.  “I was just shocked and- hehe.  I’m sure you- you’re not mad about- “

“Of course not.” Rarity ran her muzzle against Twilight’s neck, nuzzling her gently, allowing her fangs to rub ever so gently against Twilight.  “I was scared when I saw a vampire for the first time, too.  I just want you to relax.”

Twilight tensed up at Rarity’s touch for the first time in a long time.  The fangs touching her sent a chill through her body but surviving them unharmed did a lot to calm Twilight’s nerves.  It was that feeling you got after you saw the monster in the movie for the first time.

They were right.  These were her friends.  If they were going to hurt her, it would have already happened. They were her friends.  She could trust them.

Twilight kept telling herself that, breathing in and out until she could look at them without much fear.

“Okay.”  Twilight exhaled.  “Okay. I think I’m almost okay now, but- “

Dash noticed Twilight looking at her wings and unfurled one of them to let her get a look.  They were like bat wings now, no feathers anywhere in sight.  

There was no question anymore.  If they could do transformation magic then-

“You really are vampires?” Twilight reached her trembling hoof out towards Rarity, slowly like she might shatter and vanish back into fantasy.

“Well,” Rarity slowly took Twilight hoof into her own without vanishing.  “I should warn you most of us don’t like being called that.  It’s a derogatory term.  But you know how I adore derogatory terms.  Mud pony, airhead, bone head, daywalker.  It simply wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t call myself a vampire. I want you to call us that.”

“Heh.”  Twilight tried to smile.  “So- so you’re a rebel even among vampires?”

“You got that right!” Dash laughed.  “You know how punk it is for us to live in a house on your side? Most of those try-hards, they never leave the forest.”

All of them laughed, Twilight by far the loudest, needing to put far more effort into hers.  Twilight swallowed and her nervous laugh ended. There were still one or two things she needed to know before she could relax here.

“And which type of vampire are you?”  Twilight didn’t dare move without the answer.  “You don’t eat ponies or drink blood, do you?”

“I certainly never did,” said Rarity.

“You know what we eat,” said Dash.  “What’s the only stuff you ever seen us eating?”

“Lots of sugar and fruits,” said Twilight.  “Like in that book Applejack gave me.  But then- Applejack was right all along?!  You’re Everfree vampires!  Like from her book.  Like from those stories!”

“Yeah.”  Dash rolled her eyes.  “Don’t think that means buck.  Applejack knows barely anything about us.  Like, imagine for a second the only book somepony read about you was written by your worst bucking enemy.”

“I guess that’s fair.” Or at least, Twilight wanted to believe it was.  “But was the Rarity in that journal you?  It said you slaughtered Applewood’s entire expedition force, like thirty ponies. That’s- not true is it?”

“Yes, I’ve seen that journal before.”  Rarity leaned back against the wall and looked out into the forest.  “First, I want you to know Rainbow Dash and Pinkie weren’t even born yet, it was just me.  And you know, I was nice to that colt.  His entire group would have died of starvation and sickness if we hadn’t helped them.  And I offered him immortality on top of that.  Then he turns around and writes his diary to imply that I’m some sort of mass murderer.  The Apple family has a long history getting under my skin, lying about us and me.”

“Then you didn’t slaughter him?”

“There was one of those huge castles to the south of where we were.  His commander wanted them to leave and go turn it into an expedition base. And I swear I tried to warn him that other vampires were living there, but he and his ego decided he could just kick them out.  He started a fight with this second group of vampires, and he died because of it.  I had nothing to do with that battle.  I wasn’t even there.”

That could have been true.  There was no way to know what really happened.  Rarity’s story technically didn’t contradict the other version, as far as Twilight could remember.  Twilight wanted to believe Rarity’s version of events.  She wanted Rarity to be the good guy.

She let herself believe it for now.  But she would check it!

If she got out of here, that was.

“I won’t pretend every vampire is a good pony, but the only ones I take responsibility for are myself and these two.”  Rarity gestured at the other two, then held her hoof out to Twilight.  “And you if you want it.”

“Then-“ Twilight’s ears perked up.  “I get to be one of you too?  I can turn into a vampire?”

“Hm!  Get to.”  Rarity smiled in a way that had to be meant to show off her fangs.  “I like how enthusiastic you are.  I changed both of them and I so badly want to change you too.  Did you mean it when you said you wanted it too?”

“I- sort of.  I mean, you live forever, right?  You’re almost three hundred years old?”

“319, actually.”  Rarity nodded.  “And there are vampires who are over a thousand years old and look younger than I do. We don’t age.  I’m not sure if there is any limit to how long we can choose to live.  You want to live that long, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I already thought about that a lot,” said Twilight.  “I read all the pro-mortality arguments.  But I feel like nothing any of them say matters compared to the fact that I just don’t want to die, that death and getting old scares me.  I do want eternal youth!  Especially if you have it too.”

“See, you ain’t so stupid, Sparks,” said Dash.  “You’d have to be completely retarded to say no to this.”

“Do I really have to decide right now?”  Twilight looked from Dash on her left to Pinkie on her right.  “I feel a little pressured.  I still don’t know enough.”

“You can’t decide right now,” said Dash.  “The transformation takes bucking forever.  Years!”

“She’s right,” said Rarity. “It’s mere exposure to dark magic that changes you and we radiate it out like unicorns used to radiate light magic. Simply staying around us so long has already made you slightly more like us.  I think deep down you know you’ve already changed.  You can see in the dark better than a pony should be able to. The darkness is comforting, rather than frightening and you don’t like the feeling of the sun anymore.”

Twilight nodded. Everything Rarity mentioned was only very slight, to the point Twilight wasn’t sure if it was all in her head. But there was one other thing that had crossed the line into suspicion.

“And I can feel dark magic?” Twilight asked.

“You’re smart.” Rarity smiled.  “And talented to start feeling it so soon.  I really want to finish what I started with you.  But if you want to leave, I won’t come after you or anything like that.  You can leave at any time and have your normal life and your normal death.  I’ll even tell you this- light magic turns you back. If you ever want to go back to the way you were all you need to do is stay out in the sun and avoid sources of dark magic like us and the forest.  You’d go back to not needing sunglasses and being blind in the dark.”

“So does that mean it’s possible for you three to turn back into uh,” Twilight realized she didn’t know the correct terms yet. “daywalkers?”

“Hypothetically,” said Rarity.  “But there isn’t enough light magic left to do it.  There is a point where you wouldn’t be able to turn back, but that’s almost two years from now.  You’ll know when you’re getting close.  You’ll know everything before then.”

“I have so many more questions.”  Now that Twilight was calming down, they were flooding into her mind.  “How many of you are there?  Where do they live?  Where did you come from?  How much do you really know about the forest?  Why doesn’t everypony know about this?  Can you use dark magic for spells?  Can you-?”

“That’s all I’m saying for now.”  Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s mouth to hush her.  “There’s something I want from you before I start telling you more, something to prove you really want to become one of us and join the gang for real and forever.  If I’m telling you all this early, I want you to start actively trying to become a vampire.”

Rarity lifted one of the ghost apples with her magic.

This was that part of the story.  The part where the hero said no to their fruit and the vampires stopped being so friendly.  It was a lot more intimidating, knowing how horrible they tasted.

“You see, there’s only so far you can change without actually eating the fruits of the Everfree Forest,” said Rarity.  “You’re already close to the limit.  You won’t ever grow fangs or ear tufts without it.  You won’t stop aging completely or be able to use dark magic. There’s no specific fruit you have to eat, but if you do want to transform you need to eat some type.”

“I’m not sure if I could eat a bite of that to save my life.” Twilight shuddered just looking at the fruit, remembering the taste of it.  “Though I’m not saying no!”

“You don’t actually have to eat one of them yet.”  Rarity tossed the fruit over to Rainbow Dash.

Dash held the ghost apple over a cup she must have gotten from inside the house and squeezed it, getting a small amount of juice out of it.  She handed the cup, not even a tenth full, to Rarity who studied the amount, then poured another water bottle into the cup, diluting the juice.

“This will probably make you pass out.”  Rarity held the cup out to Twilight.  “You'll be sick tomorrow, but it won’t hurt much.”

“It’s easier if you hold your nose!”  Pinkie suggested.

Twilight looked down at the cup.  There was one thing she couldn’t get out of her mind.

“I just need to know something.”  Twilight looked up at Rarity.  “If hypothetically I said no- and I’m only asking!  Not saying no!  But if I did you like… you wouldn’t kill more or anything, right?”

“That craps just bucking propaganda made up by our enemies,” said Dash.  “You’re smart enough to see through propaganda now, right?”

“I just won’t tell you anymore if you don’t want to go further,” said Rarity.  “If you want to wait until tomorrow or next week to drink this, that’s fine with me.  And this is the closest thing to a threat I have for you.  If you go around telling our secrets, well I’ll hardly kill you, but the three of us are going to disappear and you won’t ever see us again, not until you’re old and senile.”

Twilight had to admit she didn’t like the thought of that, of missing her chance at this.  She briefly imagined herself old and seeing them again, some new pony taking her place as the fourth gang member.  It was a painful thought; one she didn’t want to ever be real.

She looked back at the cup. Between Pinkie and Applejack, Twilight heard so many stories where the protagonist was in this exact same position, being tempted by their mysterious friend to join them in the darkness. Every time they’d always heroically hold their heads up high and deny the temptation.

And every single time Twilight thought they were bucking idiots.

“Yes.”  Twilight took the cup.  “Yes, I want to be a vampire!”

Twilight held her nose with her magic and drank the juice as fast as she could while Pinkie and Dash cheered.  She barely tasted it on the way down, thinking briefly she was okay when the last of it was swallowed.  But then she exhaled and it was like death itself was coming out of her nostrils.

Numbness wasn't enough to describe the feeling that quickly radiated out of her chest. It was more like Twilight's body was being cast into oblivion. Her eyes felt like they were the only part of her that still existed and they burned and watered until the world was just a blur of colors.

Twilight wasn't sure if she was sitting up or not anymore, would have fallen were Pinkie not holding her.  Pinkie noticed her going limp and slowly lowered her to the floor.  Already Twilight’s energy was completely gone, her entire body too heavy to move an inch.

“Aw.”  Pinkie lied down next to Twilight and began to slowly pet her.  “There, there.  Sleepy Twilights.”

They kept talking but Twilight was too wiped out to listen.  And then she was asleep.
> Chapter 11.  Blue diamond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight woke up, but just barely.  She felt terribly ill, thought the room was freezing at first but soon realized she had a horrible chill, one that felt like it was coming from deep inside her.  Her entire body ached, and her eyes didn’t want to open, but after a few minutes, Twilight forced them to.

She was lying on the bed in Rarity’s guest room, the one she stayed in often enough to think of as her room. But Twilight didn’t remember falling asleep over here.  She didn’t remember falling asleep at all.  The only thing she remembered was-

Vampires!

They were vampires!  They were serious, for real vampires!  Vampires were real and- 

And maybe Twilight was a vampire now too?

Twilight sat up, feeling she had to do something, but her chill forced her back under the covers.  Lifting the covers was like opening the doors to an arctic wasteland.  The feeling of cold was just too much to stand outside of the relatively warm bed.

Staying under the covers, she felt her ears with a trembling hoof, but there was no tuft.  She ran her tongue along her teeth but there were no fangs.

Maybe that was just a dream. Twilight was horribly ill right now.  She remembered it all so vividly, whereas she usually forgot her dreams quickly, but then she’d never had a fever dream before.

The motion caught the attention of another pony in the room, one Twilight was just now noticing had been sitting next to her the whole time.  The pony had white fur and white hair, her slitted eyes glowed red in the darkness. Twilight could see, at her side, bat-like wings.

It was an albino vampire!

There was no doubt last night happened now.  But who the buck was this?!  Were there millions of vampires in this town?

Twilight and the albino vampire stared into one another’s eyes for a moment, the albino vampire smiling wider and wider.  And the moment Twilight saw that smile it clicked in her foggy brain that this was Pinkie!  Or at least her sister or something.  The moment Twilight realized this, Pinkie hissed at her loudly, forcing Twilight to retreat even deeper under the covers.

“Oh!”  Pinkie covered her mouth.  “Sorry!  That was a friendly hiss!  Like I was hissing with you, not at you.  I guess you can’t tell the difference yet.”

That was Pinkie’s voice.

“Pinkie?”  Twilight peeked out of the covers as much as she could. “I’m so cold.”

“That’s normal!” Pinkie Pie jumped into bed with Twilight, pulling herself under the covers as well.  “See like, that stuff, it makes your blood vessels uh-“

Pinkie moved her hooves closer, then farther apart, then closer again, trying to decide if Twilight’s blood vessels were expanding or contracting.

“Uh, I don’t remember. But you got blood vessels, Twitwi. Makes you super cold.”  Pinkie nodded. “But I’ve been making hot chocolate every fifteen minutes on the fifteen minutes for twelve hours straight! That’ll help!”

Pinkie grabbed a mug, one of a dozen, from the nightstand next to Twilight’s bed and offered it.  Her legs felt weak and she was shivering badly, but Twilight was able to take the mug and drink it.  Unlike the last drink, this one made her feel better.  She could feel the warmth flowing down her throat and radiating from her belly.  It was the single best cup of anything Twilight ever had.

Once Twilight finished drinking, Pinkie lied down with her, draping her wing over Twilight like a blanket.  Having a featherless wing over her felt a little weird, but it was silky and warm. Having Pinkie under the covers with her felt medically necessary at this point.

Twilight didn’t blame anypony for not finding out that you could eventually eat those fruits anymore. This was like a near-death experience! And she’d had just a tiny little bit of juice.  Anypony who did this twice on their own was too stupid to make it to adulthood alive.

“That stuff’s intense!”  Twilight closed her eyes again for a minute.  “It’s not going to be like this for a whole year, is it?”

“Don’t worry!  Eating Everfree fruit gets easy fast!”  Pinkie was quick to assure Twilight.  “Next time, it’ll be like half this, then half that the next time.  It goes in halves like that!  And then you’ll be eating fruit with us every day!  Also, you got like ten thousand Pinkie points for this.  As far as I’m concerned, you’re a monster now, too!”

Pinkie hissed loudly again, but this time it did feel like she was hissing with Twilight.

“This means you’ve been promoted from honorary vampire to fledgling, Twitwi!”  Pinkie nuzzled her.  “You’re one of us now!  Our kind considers one of your kind one of our kind the moment you start eating fruit from the Everfree Forest.”

“Th-thanks.”  Twilight smiled; Pinkie’s enthusiastic acceptance was just good enough to cut through her illness for a moment.  “Where’s everypony else?”

“They’re with Fluttershy right now, but they’ll be back in just a little bit.  Oh!  Do you want me to read to you until they get back?  You like books!”

“I do.”  Twilight nodded.  “But I think I need a minute to process all this.”

“Right!  Processing!”

Twilight put her chin back down on the pillow and closed her eyes.  At least she had plenty of time to think now.

So vampires were real. Twilight ate the fruit.  Pinkie didn’t seem too interested in eating Twilight and Twilight was welcome to become one of them if she wanted to. That was the situation.

But there was still so much Twilight didn’t know!  There were so many ways this could be horrible.  She tried thinking of ways this might be bad.  She decided to think ahead of time what any deal breakers would be.

She could have eternal youth and be with Rarity.  She could have a way to leave this oppressive society if she wanted.  And she didn’t get a chance to ask last night, but she was pretty sure Rarity could use dark magic to cast spells now… and that meant Twilight could do it too.  She could have her magic back, maybe better than ever!  And if there was something like a vampire village out there, Twilight might even be able to become a mage as she’d always wanted!

There’d have to be something seriously wrong for her to turn all that away.

If they did have some evil, hidden agenda here, Twilight knew that she was turning into one of them so at least she’d get to be in on it.  It’d have to be disgustingly evil for her to break away.  Like, if it turned out Applejack was right in accusing them of killing Lyra and Bonbon, among other ponies.

And then she wondered… even if they were serial killers would that make her decide to go back to being a flat-out daywalker?

Twilight decided it wouldn’t.  She didn’t want to get old and was too interested in dark magic now.  She would just find some other, less evil vampire and beg them to change her if that was the case.  Just knowing about eating the fruit of the forest meant she could probably change herself, though that’d likely be rough without somepony who’d gone through the same thing around to help her.

So she probably was going to go through with this.

Only if it turned out she had to eat other ponies or else that there was an especially bad curse would Twilight change her mind.

But there were still so many questions that Twilight could barely even think which to ask first. Rarity promised that eating some of that fruit would earn more answers and Twilight had done what she asked. She looked over at Pinkie, wondering how much she could ask now.

Pinkie looked like she was trying hard to stay chill for Twilight, but her eyes were darting all over the place. Though now that Twilight was watching her, she could tell Pinkie was nervous rather than inpatient.  She kept giving Twilight these worried looks before turning away.

Their eyes met for a moment and Pinkie took on a withering expression.  Pinkie’s ears drooped and her glowing red eyes looked back at Twilight with sorrow.  Twilight was about to ask what was wrong if there was some horrible catch, but Pinkie spoke first.

“Are you mad at me?” Pinkie lowered her head, putting her chin against the bed, and looked up at Twilight.

“Huh?”  Twilight wasn’t expecting any questions from Pinkie.

“For lying this whole time! Cause I know you were upset about the daywalkers lying to you and I felt so bad about it the whole time. It’s just- if we tell everypony right away we’ll get chased back into the woods and the other vampires will get mad at us and we’d never make any new friends!”

Twilight didn’t feel any anger, no.  Not until just now, anyway.  Lying down next to Pinkie, looked down at her begging eyes, it brought memories of another night.  Suddenly Twilight felt robbed of something.  The other two had had always been so casual about their fake disabilities, barely even mentioned them outside of not being able to go out during the day.  But Pinkie went further than that.

“I’m not sure.”  Twilight broke eye contact.  “Was that whole sob story about phantasmagorical mitochondria just a load of crap?  We had a moment back there!  I can understand maybe you needed a cover, but you went too far with that!”

“Oh no!”  Pinkie grabbed onto Twilight like she was terrified Twilight might get up and leave right then.  As if that was even possible in her current state.  “That was a true sob story, I swear!  I really was born with phantasmagorical mitochondria! We were lying about the other two, but not me! The only part that wasn’t a hundred billion percent true was that Rarity showed me how to be a vampire in a super literal way!”

“Well-“  She had researched this and as far as she could tell it really did look like Pinkie used to have that disease.  She likely still did.

“Also I found them because I went out looking for vampires,” said Pinkie.  “Not the other way around.  I thought the stories were true and that vampires would be the only ponies who’d accept me.  And you know what?  I was right about both of those things!  But that’s the true story!  I promise! I hated lying to you cause- cause I got lied to a lot growing up too!”

Twilight’s anger didn’t hold out long against Pinkie’s puppy do eyes.

“I believe you,” Twilight relented.  “And I don't want to be mad at any of you. So I understand why you did it.  I forgive you.”

“You’re a good pony Twilight!”  Pinkie hugged Twilight again. Hugs were especially good right now because Twilight needed to absorb her warmth.  “That’s why you get to be a vampire.”

“But I have a lot of questions still,” said Twilight.  “And I want actual answers now!”

“Rarity says I can answer most of your questions now!”  Pinkie nodded.  “So what did you wanna know?”

Now the question was which of her millions of questions to ask first.  She should probably ask the most important ones first, but still.

There was one unavoidable question here, literally staring at her right now, blocking out everything else Twilight could think of.  She could see one of Pinkie’s glowing red eyes, the other hidden behind her white mane. The fact that Pinkie wasn’t pink felt flat out wrong.

Pinkie noticed Twilight was staring at her and gave Twilight a curious look, tilting her head.

“So, uh.  You’re actually albino?”  Twilight looked over her white fur and wings.

“No, I’m pink!” Pinkie put her hoof on her chest. “Pinkie!”

“Yeah, but- no.”

“Oh, Twilight.  All color is delusional, right?”

“What?”

“Our eyeballs are different from your eyeballs!”  Pinkie pointed to her eye.  “We see color differently.  You see me as white; I see me as pink.”

“Wait.  Really?”  Twilight never thought such a thing could be possible.  She struggled to imagine any sort of wavelength shift that could explain that but couldn’t.

“Yeah!  When I’m disguised, I look white to me.  It’s opposites like that.  For me, real Rainbow Dash has rainbow hair, but for you the fake one does. Swap it and she’s got that seven shades of blue thing going on.”

“Really?”  Twilight thought about that for a moment.  “So if I’m getting this right, then my fur is going to change color but I won’t notice because my eyes are also going to change?”

“Exactly!  Only us three will see a difference.  I’ll have to get used to having a purple Twilight around.  You are purple, right?”

“Technically lavender.  What do I look like now?  To you, I mean?”  Twilight asked.

“Grey-“ Pinkie tapped Twilight’s chest, then moved her hoof to Twilight’s mane, “-and blue!  Your stripy thing is white.”

It was only just now dawning on her, but Twilight would effectively be turning into another tribe of pony.  Her body was going to change even more than during puberty.  There were probably thousands of little details like that she hadn’t even thought up yet.  Her sense of taste would likely change too if Pinkie thought those fruits tasted good.  Maybe when they said daywalkers smelled they meant that literally too, meaning her sense of smell might change.

But what else?

She was glad that this was a slow process now, that she’d have time to adjust.  And she needed somepony who’d already gone through this transformation if Twilight was going to do this without dying of anxiety.

It made her wonder just how many ponies had gone through this before.  Applejack’s book said there was, at the very least, a village filled with vampires somewhere deep in the forest.

“How many of you are there?” Twilight asked her first important question.

“How many of us are there.”  Pinkie grabbed Twilight.

“Huh?  Oh!”  Twilight smiled despite everything.  She loved how enthusiastically Pinkie acknowledged her now.  “Right.  How many of us are there?”

“Well in Ponyville!”  Pinkie stopped to think about it, then came up close like she was about to whisper something to Twilight.  “Actually there is one other vampire I’m supposed to tell you about.  Besides the four of us, I mean.  Oo!  Do you want to try and guess who before I tell you? I'll give you a hint: it's incredibly obvious.”

Twilight blinked. That wasn’t what she meant with her question, but now that she thought about it, the number of vampires in Ponyville was of more immediate importance.  Twilight hadn’t even considered there were other vampires in town.

“Um.”  Twilight thought about it for one second. “Applejack?  No, that'd be completely stupid.  Oh!  Right! It’s gotta be Fluttershy!  Cause if she knew Rarity when she was little, then she’s gotta be hundreds of years old.”

“Yeah!  You got it!  You really are the smart one!”  Pinkie cheered.  "Mom is on our side.  She's like the head, head vampire!  The oldest one!  We just didn't want to say anything to her cause revealing you're a vampire is the most fun you can have for free, you know?"

“But you’re a hundred percent sure nopony else in this town is a vampire?" Twilight asked.  "Is it easy to tell?”

“Yep!  Most of us don’t like going outside the forest, so you probably won’t see any more vampires till we take you down there. Though!  If this was a movie, another vampire would show up as soon as I said that!”  Pinkie pondered that conundrum for a moment.  “Well, at any rate, I go sniffing around for other vampires who might be on our turf once a week!  I’m good at sniffing out other vampires and if I find one, I’ll let you know.”

“When you say 'sniff' do you mean that literally?"

“Oh! Uh, no.  We can feel dark magic and dark magic just gushes out of us like a geyser of blood!” Pinkie made a little head-exploding gesture with her hoof complete with ‘psh’ sound effects.  “Since there’s not a lot of dark magic around here, you can sense other vampires from pretty far away.”

Twilight wondered if she could do that yet.  She was getting better at sensing dark magic already.

Twilight tried to focus, to feel what she was now certain was dark magic again.  She could feel it so much easier now!  That fruit must have heightened her abilities already. The draft was coming off Pinkie, more distantly from out of the forest and faintly lingering around the room.

“Ah!”  Pinkie stood up on the bed.  “What great timing!  See, like I just felt the other two come home right now!  Be right back!”

But Twilight didn’t pick up on whatever Pinkie felt.  So there was still a ways to go.

Pinkie rushed out of the room.

“She’s awake!”  Pinkie yelled down from the banister.

Already with Pinkie gone, Twilight was getting rocked by chills again.

Pinkie rushed back in and lied down next to Twilight, to Twilight’s relief.  A moment later, Rarity, in her daywalker form, peeked into the room with a giddy smile, an expression Twilight found herself matching. She said something to Dash behind her, then closed the door.

Another moment passed and the door opened a second time, this time both trotting in as their true selves.

Twilight tried to keep her head up as the others came into the room, but she quickly lost her energy and ended up with her chin against the edge of the bed, looking up at them with her eyes.  And yet Twilight couldn’t help but return their excited smiles.

“Sparks!  Congratulations!”  Dash came to one side of the bed and gave Twilight a rough jab.  “This is the best decision you’ve ever made, Sparks.  Trust me!”

“How are you feeling, dear?” Rarity rested her chin on the bed to be eye level with Twilight.

Twilight looked into Rarity’s eyes, studying her changed features.  Overall, she looked just a bit less soft than she did when she was ‘normal’.  Twilight decided she like the way Rarity looked in her disguise more, save maybe her eyes.  It was a little weird that they were slitted, but they shinned the most brilliant blue Twilight had ever seen in her life.

“I feel pretty sick,” said Twilight.  “Like if I get out of this bed, I’m gonna freeze to death.”

“Well nopony’s going to make you get up.”  Rarity rubbed small circles on Twilight’s cheek.  “We already told everypony you have a terrible flu.  You can just rest and let me coddle you for a few days. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

It did sound not too bad at that exact moment.  So long as one of them was constantly in bed with Twilight she could live with this for a little while.

“Will it take a few days just to recover from that first bit of fruit?”  Twilight asked.

“Not from what you’ve had, but you’re going to have some more in a few hours.  You’re going to eat a little bit every day from now on,” said Rarity.  “That’s what I'd like you to do anyway.”

“Are you sure I don’t need a few days before I eat another one?”  Twilight wasn’t sure if she could survive any more.

“Hey, don’t underestimate yourself!”  Dash sat down next to Twilight. “We didn’t think you’d be up for hours!  You’re tough, Sparks!  This is the worst of it.  You’ll be fine.”

“Really?”  Twilight looked at her skeptically.  “You’re saying I'm doing well? Then what would somepony reacting poorly be like?”

“Oh yes,” said Rarity. “Some ponies have a better natural affinity for dark magic.  I can tell yours is exceptionally high.  It might be the highest I’ve ever seen.  And I’m 319, remember.”

“Yeah!”  Dash put a foreleg around Twilight.  “You were meant to be one of us, Sparks. You got up in what, eighteen hours? None of us woke up in under a day. I don’t think anypony I know woke up in under a day!”

“Really?”  Twilight sat up a little and turned to Rarity.  “How long were you asleep for?”

“Oh, I was in a coma for nearly three days,” said Rarity.  “And I was an absolute wreck for two weeks after that.  I needed Fluttershy to brush my mane and tail for me.  Every day, she’d remind me that we weren’t even going outside, and I’d ask her if she even knew who I was.  I assure you, Twilight, I can make being sick look good.”

Rarity gave her mane a little flick before turning to Pinkie with a little frown.

“You did tell her about Fluttershy, yes?”

“Uh uh.”  Pinkie nodded.  “Eating my first piece of fruit turned me into my alter ego, Pukie Pie!  I was puking everywhere, but my chills were so bad that I needed somepony in bed with me at all times.  So Rarity remained my medically necessary cuddle buddy the whole time even after I puked right in her face like four times!"

“We don’t need to tell ponies that part of the story, Pinkie,” said Rarity.

“But it’s so heartwarming!”

“Puking in ponies’ faces is not heartwarming.”

“But it not being heartwarming is what made it heartwarming!  Cause like- you stayed with me anyway!”

Pinkie and then Twilight looked over at Dash expectantly.

“Huh?”  Dash realized they wanted her to talk and shrugged.  “Oh, I was a little different.  I was kinda retarded when I was your age. I was on the bad guy's side and they kept sending me down to the cavern grove cause I was just an expendable tool to them.  If you're a daywalker, hanging around in that place totally destroys your body, if you're lucky.  When I stopped being a dumbass and swore my loyalty to Rarity, I was basically already on my death bed so getting sick like this felt like a relief."

“I had to spend far more than a few weeks nursing Dashie back to health.”  Rarity winked at Twilight, then nuzzled Dash lovingly.  “Dashie was like a scared little kitten for months."

“Well I think it was impressive I only needed a few months.”  Dash turned away from the nuzzling heroically.  “You know, considering how bad I got messed up.  It’d take an hour just to list all the injuries I had.”

“Aw!”  Pinkie complained.  “Tell her the whole story!”

“It takes too long!” Dash waved her way.  “Later.”

All this talk made Twilight’s chills less worrying.  Now they were feeling more like a rite of passage.

“So it sounds like I’ll be fine in a week or so?”  Twilight asked.

“If that.  And we’ll take care of you until then.”  Rarity got up and trotted over to the nightstand next to Twilight, wearing a giddy smile.  “But for now, I do have something that might make you feel a little better.”

Twilight liked the way Rarity was smiling but had no idea where this was going.

“What is it?” Twilight leaned forward.

“Well I’ve been working on a little present for you.”  Rarity put her hoof on the drawer of the nightstand.  “It’s right in here!”

Twilight’s eyes opened a little wider.  She didn’t want to get her hopes up too much, but one idea came to mind.

Rarity slowly opened the drawer, smiling like she was the one about to get a present.

Her jaw almost dropped the moment when she saw what it was.  Exactly what she was hoping for!  Twilight snatched it and pulled it close to make sure the second she saw it!

“But this is-!” Twilight looked it over.

It was a jacket just like theirs!  Wings slits were torn into it, Rarity’s cutie mark was on the back, and Twilight’s on the shoulders!  It was perfectly crafted to the last detail!

“Yes!  Yes, yes yes!”  Twilight hugged the jacket tightly.  “I’ve never been this happy about any present ever!  Thank you so much!”

For a moment, her illness vanished as Twilight put the jacket on.  It felt a little heavy for her weak limbs, but she loved the feeling.

"This is the best day of my life!"

And then Twilight gagged, almost puking only nothing came out.  She likely would have puked had she eaten a real meal yesterday.

"Still the best."  Twilight rubbed the corner of her mouth

“Daw.”  Rarity crawled onto the bed and hugged Twilight gently. Her being a monster only made her touch feel all the gentler.  “I simply adore how excited you are to be wearing my cutie mark.”

Twilight blushed silently. She kind of liked the idea too.

“Yay, Twilight!”  Pinkie grabbed onto Twilight too.  “Now you’re officially one of us.  You're a Blue Diamond now!”

“Just don’t do anything to make us look bad, huh?”  Dash joined in the hug too.

Twilight felt tears of joy welling up in her eyes.  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this!  Like she really belonged somewhere!  But somehow here, surrounded by literal vampires…

“Thank you so much!” Twilight whipped away a tear, then opened her forelegs wide to grab all three of them at once, though she could only grip them with the strength of a particularly weak kitten.  "And- and I get to live forever now, right?!  I'm immortal and can never die?"

"Well you can still die, retard."  Dash was the first to pull out of the hug.  "So don't go jumping off cliffs or anything.  You just don't age and can't get cancer or heart disease and stuff like that."

"That's still pretty good."  Twilight looked down at her hooves, still unable to fully process this.

For months after the incident, it felt like death was just right behind Twilight like she was just waiting for herself or one of her friends to die suddenly.  But now she was very nearly free of it, was suddenly so far away from death.  And most importantly, all of her friends were in the same boat.

"I could potentially stay with you forever, right?"  Twilight turned to Rarity.

"That's been my plan the whole time."  Rarity rubbed her nose against Twilight.  "It gets lonely without other ponies like myself around and it takes ever so long to find somepony you might want to keep around forever."

“We’re not gonna have a party next week since you’ll still be too sick,”  Pinkie said.  “But the week after, on your day off, I’m gonna throw one that’s four- No! Five times bigger than normal! It’s gonna be a ‘hurray for Twilight’ party!”

“Though we’re just telling them you joined the gang," said Dash.

“Well I’m sure it’ll be the second-best day of my life,” said Twilight.

“I’m afraid we do have a little bit to get through before you can have your party.”  Rarity let go of Twilight but began playing with Twilight's hair instead.  “I wanted to go over the less savory parts of becoming one of us as soon as you woke up.”

“Bad parts?”  Twilight remembered a story Pinkie told her not too long ago.  “Wait, does that mean there really is a curse?  Am I bucking cursed?!  If I got cursed, I’m gonna be peeved!”

“There’s no curse.”  Rarity shook her head.  “Not unless you count light magic becoming poisonous but you already know that. Though there are parts of this transformation that ponies sometimes dislike, change their mind over even.  I think it’s best to go over them all at the start before you change too much and we’re all drowning in drama.”

Right now, Twilight didn’t want to change her mind.  She wanted this to be where she belonged and didn’t want there to be anything that could ruin that.

But she knew she’d have to get this over with eventually.

She nodded slowly, hoping nothing bad was about to happen.

"I suppose the first thing is a consequence of eternal youth few ponies think of," said Rarity.  "Eternal youth means your brain doesn’t really age in the same way.  It remains young forever too.  And that has a few effects some ponies find just a tad distasteful.”

This was absolutely one of those things that Twilight never would have thought of on her own.

“So you’re saying I maintain full neuroplasticity for my entire life?”  Twilight tried to think of what drawbacks that might have.  “But what’s bad about that?  I’d imagine it’d just mean my ability to learn and adapt never declines.  Unless there’s something else?”

“Most ponies I explain this to don’t even get that much themselves!  It does mean what you said, yes.  But it also means it’s more difficult to gain a lot of traits you associate with maturity.  To put it less charitably, you’d remain a bit immature forever.”

It did make sense that some parts of maturity would be due to an aging brain.

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean, though,” said Twilight.  “Immature how?”

“Look, I’m eighty-three, Sparks.”  Dash hit her chest.  “At some point, that’s gonna make you say something like ‘hey, I’m somehow fine with Rares being three hundred but you don’t act like you’re bucking eighty.’  And it’s true, I don’t act like an eighty-year-old daywalker, no vampire who changes in her twenties does.  It’s like, a sixteen-year-old dog doesn’t act like a sixteen-year-old pony.  You know?  Same with us!  We mature totally differently.”

She felt like she understood now.  She couldn’t imagine a normal eighty-year-old acting anything like Dash did.

“So I’ll be like Dash?” Twilight looked at Pinkie, then Dash. She could excuse somepony calling them immature, but then she turned to Rarity.  “Does it just take a long time?  You seem pretty mature to me.”

“Oh, thank you.”  Rarity put her hoof on her cheek and fluttered her eyes, exaggerating how flattered she was. “But I didn’t act that differently in my twenties.  A few unscrupulous ponies might even accuse me of being just a tad self-centered or fickle.  You aren’t going to act much more ‘mature’ when you’re three hundred than you do now.”

Twilight was less sure how she felt about that one.  

“We do mature,” said Dash. “Just not the same way.  It freaks a lot of daywalkers out, but I say it’s better. After thirty, daywalkers are basically dead on the inside.  You hate everything new and get stuck in this time loop endlessly complaining about how everything was better when you were a kid.  All that stops you from growing in other ways.  The only wisdom a filthy daywalker ever has is repeating the status quo and stupid clichés.”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie agreed enthusiastically.  “Filthy daywalkers are super boring! They never wanna go anywhere or try anything new or have any fun!  They take themselves seriously and never want to play any kind of game.  They’re all into boring stuff like doing your taxes and building tables and screaming at clouds and stuff.  If being mature means being boring then I don’t want it!”

“I’m not sure if it’s better or worse, really,” said Rarity.  “You can say we remain passionate, open-minded, adventurous, optimistic, accepting. Or you could call us brash, disrespectful, fickle, selfish, impatient.  You can still become patient, of course, but it isn’t as easy.”

Twilight really wasn’t sure how she felt about this.  It sounded wrong, but Twilight hardly trusted the voice that told her those things. Was it even a bad thing?  She certainly liked the idea of her brain remaining plastic and never having her ability to learn new things decline.

“I need more time to think about that one,” Twilight concluded.

“You’ll have it,” said Rarity.

That was good. Twilight wanted to pour over the topic before making up her mind.  Already she was building a mental checklist of all the subjects she’d need to read up on before she could make a proper decision.

But a familiar sense of intimidation began to return.

There were lots of things Twilight discovered that were horrible when she first started studying them for real. What if she discovered this was horrible too?  Not just her brain remaining youthful but anything about this.  If she did run into something she couldn’t accept, would she lose her friends?  They were the only thing in her world anymore.

And how much would she accept just to stay with them?

“But what happens if I do change my mind?”  Twilight asked.  “Could we still be friends even if I decide not to change?”

“You can do anything you want,” Rarity promised her.  “I won’t kick you out or anything, but I also can’t promise I’ll take you with me wherever I go.  Or that you’ll want to for long.”

“Yeah.”  Dash folded her forelegs.  “I’ll tell you right now if you stay a daywalker, we won’t be friends for too long.  I’ve tried being friends with daywalkers a couple of times.  They start off cool, but they go full dork real fast.  We start hating each other in like twenty tops.  It’s cause of exactly what we were just talking about.  We get too different and can’t get along anymore.  We probably won’t even make it to that part where you die at eighty and we gotta feel sad and replace you with a new friend.”

A twinge of fear hit Twilight when Dash mentioned Twilight dying and getting replaced.  That was inevitable if she didn’t go through with this. Somepony else would get to take her place.

“Now that you bring that up.”  Twilight looked down at the floor.  Suddenly, immaturity felt like a small price, if it even was a price.  “I think I’d rather be like you when I’m eighty than well… dead.  Besides, I feel like I’m already pretty mature!”

“Buck yeah!”  Dash hit Twilight’s withers.  “It’s not like you’re changing when you’re twelve. That’s something I don’t bucking recommend.” 

Twilight felt suddenly relieved by this little breakthrough.  It was better to be immature than dead!  She could accept this.

“We’ll the good news is we’ve gotten to the last major point of contention,” said Rarity.  “There’s a reason very few of us ever come out of the forest, besides Equestria being a rather toxic place for our kind.  Celestia doesn’t like us.  She sees the other types of ponies as her most perfect creation and us as perversions of it, a sort of insult.  A lot of ponies don’t like the idea of the creator of our species disliking them so much.”

“Well Celestia already hates everything I like anyway.”  Twilight couldn’t feel too bad about that.  “So that doesn’t seem too different than right now."

“It’s a bit more dangerous than you’re thinking,” said Dash. “There’s more to this.”

“Yes, you’ve earned the right to know this,” said Rarity.  “Fluttershy wouldn’t want me telling you this just yet, but I hardly care much for rules. Though I would appreciate it if you pretend I told you about Celestia a month from now.”

Twilight nodded.  They did know more about Celestia!  And Twilight would finally get to hear the answer to a mystery she thought she’d never solve.  So far, this decision was getting better and better.

“Now remember, this is something you should absolutely never repeat.  Spreading this could get us all killed,” Rarity warned. “Everything I’m about to tell you comes mostly from Fluttershy.  She’s the oldest vampire and she was present at the great battle, knew Celestia before she got injured and disappeared from the public view.”

“Do you know if that actually happened, by the way?” Twilight asked. “Because in the back of my mind I keep thinking what if Celestia just told everypony she killed six chaos gods in a row?  Or what if she just killed Discord, who was actually a wimp, and then exaggerated it to be all six of them?”

“Fluttershy saw the whole thing,” Rarity said.  “Cosmos, Eris, Loki… Celestia fought all of them at the same time exactly like you’ve heard.  And as far as we can tell she did destroy all the chaos magic. None of us have ever found any of it left. But that sort of thing takes an incomprehensible amount of energy.  Getting rid of them all left her in much worse shape than anypony will tell you. I suppose that’s the lie.”

“And is Celestia-“ Twilight hesitated to ask it.  The amount of light magic radiating from her was less every year.  They always said Celestia would recover eventually, but deep down there was a forbidden question in everypony’s mind. “Is she dying?”

“As far as I know, alicorns can’t die.” Rarity shook her head.  “Celestia is merely running out of power.  Fluttershy told me this, that an alicorn wakes up with a vast, but finite amount of magic.  They stay awake for ten thousand years, their magic slowly radiating out of them, then sleep for ten thousand years to regain it.  Normally, Celestia would have gone to sleep long before she got this low, but because she was attacked by all the chaos gods she ended up in this low magic state. And being this low on magic is making her a little crazy, if you haven’t noticed, is driving her to stay awake hundreds of years longer than she should.  It really is the alicorn version of sleep deprivation.”

“Right,” said Twilight, “so she used too much magic in the great battle and now she’s powerless? Is that it?”

“Yeah, I wish,” said Dash. “You have no idea how tough an alicorn is Twilight.  Celestia’s at a millionth of a percent of her power and she could still blow an entire continent with her mind if she wanted.  There’s no way anypony could ever challenge her.”

That much Twilight could hardly doubt, she felt a little embarrassed for even thinking Celestia was powerless when she herself had felt Celestia’s magic radiating from the castle. Twilight blamed her sickness for her mind being this sluggish.

Every spell in the world was still ultimately powered by Celestia’s light magic, either through the magic that radiated from her or her sun. Saying she was stronger than every other unicorn combined would be an understatement.

“You see, that’s another thing ponies take issue with,” said Rarity. “Celestia does despise us and she could hypothetically destroy us all in an instant.  The only reason she doesn’t is that it would take the last of her magic and she’d fall asleep for another ten thousand years afterwards. So we have something of a truce with her.”

“We keep the number of ponies we transform below a certain amount each year and Celestia doesn’t use the last of her magic against us.  She extends her rule for as long as possible, but eventually, she will fall asleep and the world will be ours.”

“We can’t possibly fight Celestia,” said Dash, “but if we just wait a few hundred more years she’ll get too tired and fall asleep.  That’s pretty much the plan for dealing with her.”

“That does sound incredibly dangerous.”  But then again there was a hundred percent chance of Twilight dying within a hundred years to the contrary.  “All of this is an incredible discovery!  I never thought I’d learn this much about alicorns!  Does Fluttershy know more?  Can she come over now?  I want more details about- about-!”

Twilight got too excited. Sitting up was a horrible mistake.

She leaned over the bed, feeling like she had to puke but couldn’t.  Her throat tensed up like it was trying hard to push something out of her, but in the end, Twilight just gagged on nothing. She almost wished she had puked like that’d have been more satisfying.

And all this left Twilight with an unbearable chill, left her shivering violently.  Pinkie pulled Twilight in close and tried snuggling against her, but that could only help so much.

“Would you like to take a nap first?” Rarity offed.

“N-no!” Twilight tried to look composed.  Her bones felt like they were made of ice, but the fire of curiosity would warm her up. “I want to know!”

“Oh, I can’t say no to spoiling you.”  Rarity kissed Twilight’s forehead.  “I just love your enthusiasm.  I’m so glad you’re mine now.  Pinkie, go get her something warm to drink.”

Pinkie saluted Rarity and jumped out of the bed, rushing off to the kitchen.  Dash quickly took her place, lying down next to Twilight and draping a wing over her.

“Now what else do you want to know?” Rarity asked.

Twilight tried to think this time of what the most forbidden question she could ask was.  Of course it was about the forest, the darkest part of the forest.

“You know what’s really at the center of the forest, don’t you?” Twilight asked.  “The source of all the dark magic.  Is it another god?”

“Yes.” Rarity nodded.

“And they’re evil too? If they’re creating the forest-”

“Well evil is subjective, isn’t it?  But I can’t say if they’re responsible for the forest.  The god that dark magic comes from has been asleep for over ten thousand years, since the end of the age of fire.  They can hardly control the magic radiating from them if they aren’t conscious.”

“Really?” Somehow that made it even more disturbing.  “So you’re saying this dark god just lying around is enough to make civilization collapse? Just walking towards them when they’re asleep can kill you?  But then she’d have to be as powerful as Celestia herself during the high magic era. Should we be worried about her? What if she wakes up?”

“Hard to say.  I can’t tell you much about them,” said Rarity.  “They’ve been asleep for a long time.  Fluttershy’s the only living person who’s ever met this god but she’s rather keen on this individual. She literally worships the forest god. You could ask her about them.”

“Fluttershy’s a little too keen,” said Dash. “If you do ask Fluttershy about this, be ready for a sermon. Oh and if she asks you to come to some castle with her, don’t. Anypony who falls asleep there becomes obsessed with waking the dark god up. It’s kinda creepy.”

“Hm.”  Twilight’s mind was a bit sluggish right now.  Maybe now really wasn’t the best time for this conversation.  The other two seemed to understand her closing her eyes for a minute.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she lied down between them with her eyes closed, mulling this information over.

There was something about their story that was a little too coincidental.  An idea came into Twilight’s mind, one that made no sense but a lot of sense all at the same time.  She was worried it might have been the poison making her a touch delirious.

“Did she fall back asleep?” Pinkie, who apparently just got back, whispered.

“No.” Twilight lifted her head again.  “I was just thinking.”

Pinkie handed Twilight another mug of something hot.  Twilight could barely taste anything, but the heat of it was the nicest thing in the world. It gave her just enough strength to keep going.

“I’m not sure if this my brain just being asleep, but- there’s a god that’s been asleep for ten thousand years,” said Twilight, “which is the approximately the same amount of time you said alicorns sleep for, so- is this dark god another alicorn?”

“You really should be a detective.”  Rarity nuzzled Twilight’s mane.  “Yes.  There is a second alicorn. Celestia has been awake too long and she’s been asleep too long. Celestia has almost no magic left and the other is overflowing with magic that she can’t control because she’s asleep. You see the situation?”

“Really?” Twilight had been the one to bring up the idea, but even still she was skeptical. “Like are you a hundred percent sure?  Saying there’s a second alicorn is like saying there’s a second sun I just never noticed!”

“There is!”  Pinkie answered immediately.  “Mom calls it ‘the moon’!  It’s how we’re not gonna die once Celestia peaces out!”

“Wait.  What?” Twilight’s brain couldn’t process this at all. “Moon?  What’s a moon?”

“Allegedly,” said Rarity, “this second alicorn can raise something similar to the sun which radiates dark magic instead of light.  That’ll keep creatures like us alive.  I always imagine it as a sort of dark sun.”

“But the daywalkers? And all the plants and animals outside the forest?” Twilight asked. Really, if she’d been fully awake she would have asked this sooner.  “Won’t they all die off without the sun?  Dark magic would just kill them all.  That moon thing would just burn them all to death.”

“Or transform them,” said Rarity.  “That’s what dark magic did to the four of us.  Every species in the forest is something that was transformed by dark magic. But either way, pegasi, unicorns and the rest will all likely go extinct without Celestia.”

“I don’t think I like the thought of that,” said Twilight. But it did seem hopeless. At the least, Twilight wouldn’t be able to think of a solution until she stopped being on the verge of death. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Unlikely,” said Rarity. “You’re not the only vampire who dislikes the idea.  One of Fluttershy’s daughters has been trying to find a way to raise the sun without Celestia for 600 years and hasn’t gotten close.  I suppose if you did find a way, a lot of ponies would consider you a hero.”

“Fluttershy has a daughter?”  Twilight coughed, then started gagging again.

This latest round of gagging took a lot out of Twilight and she lied down and closed her eyes again. Right now, just lifting her eyelids felt like an impossible job.  For a second she forgot what they were even just talking about.

“Maybe we can continue this later?” Rarity pulled Twilight's head under her chin.

“No!”  Twilight buried her face in the pillow.  She felt like she’d just gotten a million Hearth’s Warming presents but she wasn’t allowed to play with them.  “Information good.”

Twilight doubted she was doing a good job convincing Rarity.

“Maybe we can just do less mind-blowing questions?” Twilight struggled to keep her eyes open and look up at Rarity.  “Please?”

“Oh, alright,” said Rarity. “But just fifteen more minutes, then I’m ordering you to sleep.  I’m your leader now, remember.”

“Thanks, boss.  Uh.  How many of us are there?” Twilight asked the first simple question to slog its way into her brain.  “Like, the exact number in the entire world?”

“How are supposed to know the exact number?” Dash asked.  “There’s like a few cities down in the cavern grove.  None of them are much bigger than Ponyville.”

“Hold on.  The cavern grove?” Twilight opened her weary eye but didn’t have the energy to turn around and look at Rainbow Dash.  “Weren’t you hyping up how dangerous that place is? And you live there?”

“It’s not bad for us!  The Cavern Grove is so much fun!”  Pinkie assured her.  “If you’re a daywalker, the Cavern Grove is a place of pure nightmares and death!  But once you go vampire, it’s super, super comfy down there.  You don’t even know how comfy it is cause there’s nothing like it!  The poison is delicious and the monsters are friendly!  It’s eternal night and the weather is so nice you don’t even need a house!  You can just sleep outside on the ground and it’s better than sleeping on a bed up here!”

“Do they not have houses?” Twilight asked.  “Is that thing about living in trees for real?  Do you just run around naked in the woods foraging?”

“Those are basically houses, Twilight.”  Rarity smiled bemusedly.  “This type of house doesn’t last very long in the forest.  There are also those massive castles from the high magic era.  Some of them are bigger than Canterlot Castle. We’ve maintained a lot of them, a lot of ponies like living inside those.”

"We're gonna take you to Hallow Hold!" Pinkie promised.  "Once you transform enough to go there!  That's where the candy master lives!  And everypony lives inside this one huge castle so it's like a giant slumber party forever and it's so great, Twitwi!  Wait till you see it!"

“I guess none of this sounds too bad,” said Twilight.  She wanted to live in a freer society at this point.  “It probably is better for me to just see it myself.”

Hopefully, Twilight would have a chance to see the place more before she fully transformed and became part of vampire society or whatever.  And once she was there...

It was then Twilight remembered something important, something she needed so badly to know about, the thing she should have asked first.  Even if she had to wait a little while-!

“Rarity?”  Twilight picked her head back up.  “There’s no such thing as passive magic is there?  You’ve been showing me dark magic.  That’s what you use to cast spells!”

"That wasn't entirely a lie," said Rarity.  "You do cast it like I told you, but the source I use is dark magic, yes.  I know some ponies have a problem with that too."

“Teach it to me!” Twilight put her hoof on her heart and leaned forward without hesitation.  “I can feel it now!  I know I can do it if you show me how!”

Rarity smiled wide and laughed at Twilight’s enthusiastic reaction.

“Now see, I really like you.”  Rarity held her smile for a few moments.  “You know what?  I’m not supposed to teach you dark magic this earlier either, but I can’t possibly resist.  So I’ll start teaching you, just a little at first.  But remember that dark magic is still poisonous to you and you shouldn’t do it when we aren’t around.”

And just like that, an entirely new world opened up.

This was the best day of Twilight’s life!
> Chapter 12. Dark magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was in the forest again, alone with Rarity.  Twilight sat in the middle of an abandoned, cracked street while Rarity watched just a few yards away.

She could feel the draft, which she now knew to call the winds of dark magic, so easily now. She didn’t need to clear her mind or close her eyes to feel it anymore, she could just do it whenever she wanted. Walking through the forest she could feel which areas had more magic and which had less, just like she used to be able to do with light magic.

It blew ever outward from the center of the forest, but built up in pockets, seeped into objects, filled the air, and blew around in smaller gusts. Ponyville, she now knew, was a basin of dark magic as well. Every object and pony had some amount of it stored in them. It would build up during the night, then burn away with the sun, but it never went away entirely.

But more than just feel it, she could use it, weave it into spells, blow the wind in any direction she wanted.

Twilight let the breeze run through her, then caught some of it and channeled it into the battery spell. Electricity began forming around her front hooves.

But it was way too much! Twilight’s hooves were rumbling from all the lightning that was crackling around her. It lit up the whole area. Twilight couldn’t control it.

“Crap! Rarity!” Twilight fell on her back, but she couldn’t get the electricity to die down. The wind kept blowing, feeding her spell. “What do I do what do I do?!”

“You’re grabbing again,” warned Rarity. “Just let the magic drift.”

“Drift away, drift away,” Twilight whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the lightning swirling around her hooves. She tried to keep her mind on the spell but just let all the magic drift out of her grasp. Just let all of it drift away.

Rarity wasn’t exactly lying when she called this ‘passive magic’. The way you used it was different from light magic. You just needed to let it flow through you, guide the winds rather than draw them in. Trying to use it like light magic just caused the spell to go out of control and explode.

It started to work. The lightning started to die down. When Twilight got excited by this, it flared up again, but she got it under control a second time. Soon the battery spell was manageable again. Twilight slowly move her hooves over to the bottom of the light bulb she brought with her and put the barest effort into transferring the spell.

The lightning stuck to the bottom of the light bulb. And it lit up! It actually worked!

“I did it! On my first try!” Twilight jumped up and laughed. “I used to need two or three tries to get it back in Canterlot! And now I’m too good at it!”

It was amazing! As a filly Twilight imagined what it would be like to live a thousand years ago at the height of Celestia’s reign when magic was nearly unlimited when you could cast any spell you could dream of. And now it was like Twilight was on the doorstep of that dream. In just one month, Twilight felt like she’d made more progress with dark magic than she had in her entire life with light magic.

But she could only take so much each day, could only have short trials of her fillyhood dream. And she still wasn’t all the way there in terms of raw skill. The problem now wasn’t that spells were too hard to cast anymore, but that they were too easy. Twilight would overshoot and overpower all of them.

“Are you a hundred percent sure I can’t do something that uses more magic?” Twilight turned excitedly to Rarity, emboldened by this success. “A more complex spell? I feel like that would solve my problem.”

“If you try to teleport, you’re going to have a seizure.” Rarity knew exactly the spell Twilight was thinking of.

"I spent an entire semester pretending to teleport!" Twilight mimed the motion. Anchor, cut, flow.  Anchor, cut, flow.  She'd done that for hours.  "I'm a hundred percent confident I could get it on my first try."

“The real problem is that your body is still barely able to handle dark magic, Twilight. I won’t let you cast anything more complex than this. And I still think casting simpler spells is better practice for you.”

Dark magic did still feel dangerous and not just because the spells could get out of control. When she used too much of it, Twilight started to twitch uncontrollably and she’d never tried using a whole lot. She still wasn’t willing to do anything without Rarity’s permission or presence.

Letting Twilight try this battery spell was already Rarity indulging Twilight. More normally they’d do things like complex levitation or basic elemental conjuring. Before she could move on, Rarity said, Twilight needed to kill her instinct to grab onto the magic and that would take a lot of practice.

Rarity picked up a rock and threw it at one of the intact windows, shattering it. This was a common enough drill that Twilight knew what she wanted without having to ask.

Twilight let the dark magic drift through her, trying not to draw any in, as she levitated all the pieces of broken glass back up into the window, piecing them back together as best she could. Once they were in place, she was supposed to heat them just enough for them to melt, then cool them back off quickly.

It was a delicate process that could easily be overshot. When she first started, she could hardly keep from shattering the shards of glass in her grasp, flinging them off in random directions, using way too much heat, or else drawing too much dark magic into herself and needing to stop for the day.

But this time it came out mostly okay. The window was a little distorted or blobby, but it wasn’t exploded or anything like that.

They broke about five more windows over the next hour as Twilight continued to practice. Then Rarity declared that it was time to stop.

“I think you’re at your limit for today,” said Rarity.

“Oh come on!” Twilight put the top of her head under Rarity’s chin. “I feel fine! I can keep going. Just let me do one or two bigger spells? Even if I have a seizure it’s not that big a deal, right?”

“Daw.” Rarity nuzzled the top of Twilight’s head. “Your enthusiasm makes all of this worth it. It’s so hard to say no to you. But think how bad I’d feel if I had to watch you have a seizure, hm? And besides.”

Rarity pulled a ghost apple off a nearby tree.

“You still need to take your medicine for today,” was what Rarity was calling it. She levitated the fruit in front of Twilight’s eyes.

Twilight groaned as she looked at the ghost apple. Twilight went from fainting to being dizzy for a few hours and now it just made her a little fatigued, maybe a headache. The taste, though, still made Twilight wish she could be eating worms instead.

“Can’t I just keep casting more spells to expose myself to dark magic?” Twilight asked.

“It’s faster if you eat.” Rarity shook her head. “The more of these you eat the more spells you’ll be able to cast in a day. This is an important part of your training. If you want to get better, you need to be patient.”

She knew Rarity was right. These fruits were the source of Twilight’s new abilities.

Twilight braced herself, then bit into the fruit. It was easier than last time, it always was. But it still felt like she was eating a rotting apple. Twilight chewed and swallowed as fast as she could, fighting back the brief urge to puke she got whenever she swallowed some. Once it was down, Twilight took out her water bottle and drank the whole thing in one go, trying to wash the burning taste out of her mouth.

She felt a sudden swell of exhaustion and needed to sit down for a minute. Twilight wasn’t going to be able to cast any spells after that.

Meanwhile, Rarity watched her eat with far too much glee. All three of them got some weird enjoyment from watching Twilight eat fruit from the forest. She knew Pinkie would complain about missing today’s. Twilight wondered if she’d be able to understand once she changed.

“You know.” Rarity sat down next to Twilight. “The longer I watch you, the more impressed I am with your talent. Even after three hundred years, I’ve never seen somepony able to use dark magic so well so early. And I’m not just saying that because I love you.”

“Really?” Twilight knew she had some talent, it was her cutie mark. But she wasn’t sure if she believed that last part.

“Yes.” Rarity stroked Twilight’s mane. “They made a horrible mistake by letting me take you for myself. I can already tell. You’re going to end up being one of our most powerful mages.”

“I doubt I’ll be the best.” Twilight blushed. “But when we move to the Cavern Grove, they need mages, right? That’s an actual thing I can be?”

Rarity nodded, even after having been asked that question fifty times.

Twilight was constantly changing her mind about what the best part of this transformation was. Right now it was the fact that her shattered dream of becoming a mage was back in her sight.

“You know, there’s a school of the dark arts very deep in the woods. I think in a few years you might be good enough to go there.” Rarity looked deep into the darkness of the woods and smiled. “I’m pretty sure now that you were the only pony in this town worth keeping, I might just go back with you in a few months. We could move to the town where that school is and live there for maybe fifty years or so before coming back. I find that's about how long it takes for everypony to forget about you."

Twilight looked out into the forest, unsure how to feel about the idea. She did want to see the towns that the vampires lived in and read their books more than anything in the world. But her eight months in Ponyville was the best of her life. She didn’t want these nights to end.

Even with another eight months left, she felt like her time here was ending already.

“I’m still a little sore about the last school I went to,” said Twilight.

“I understand. But I promise you it’s different,” Rarity said. “You don’t have to. There’s another town I’d rather live in if you’re not interested, though. So I’ll let you decide which we move to.”

At least if Twilight didn’t age anymore there was no need to rush anything. She could observe that school for years before making a decision and nothing would be lost.

“But hey.” Twilight tapped her hooves together and smiled wide. “If I can’t cast any more spells today, maybe I can watch you do some magic?”

“My.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Of all the spells I can cast, I wonder which one you want to see.”

“Teleportation!” Twilight nodded. “Yes!”

Twilight did count how many times Rarity did this for her. It was a hundred and twenty-seven so far, she’d watched Rarity teleport back and forth for an hour once, but Twilight still couldn’t get enough of it. It was too amazing!

“Alright.” Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s back. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you anyway. Let’s go.”

Twilight already knew a little bit about teleporting with dark magic. It wasn’t too different from the way you did it with light magic and Twilight had spent hours pretending to do that.

How far you could teleport depended was highly dependent on how the winds of dark magic flowed. Because it was generally always flowing out from the center, teleporting out of the forest was much easier than teleporting deeper into it.

Rarity swirled the dark magic around, creating a tunnel that cut through the air and winds of dark magic. She then shot her own gust through it and cast the spell. Twilight felt herself get pulled forward with the wind at speeds too fast to even register. They simply vanished from one spot and appeared in another.

They teleported!

Twilight hardly believed it even though this must have been the hundredth time Rarity had teleported her somewhere. And one day she’d be able to teleport herself! And then do transformation magic! And then become a dark wizard!

Twilight looked around. They were on the southern edge of South Ponyville now. Just a little past this was the lake that Twilight still wasn’t allowed on the other side of yet.

“Couldn’t make it all the way.” Rarity started trotting down the street.  “Did you know I grew up near here?”

“I knew you lived in Ponyville, but-“ Twilight looked around at the ruined buildings. “I didn’t know you were from this side. It must be hard seeing your hometown torn up like this.”

“I’m a creature of the forest now.” Rarity smiled, showing off her fangs. “The forest got me long before it got the town. This looks more appealing to me now. I like it better this way.”

Twilight was becoming more familiar with the forest, but she hardly thought of it as ‘better’, at least not yet. But then, her opinion on the dark changed. Dark felt safe and the light felt scary now. She wondered how many things were going to change.

There were still millions and millions of questions Twilight had, half of them unasked because even a month wasn’t enough time.

“Right over here.”  Rarity gestured to one of the largest trees Twilight had seen in the forest.  “That’s where the library used to be.  And right next to it was the textile mill I got stuck working in as a teenager.  What was the name of that pony I used to work with there?”

Rarity closed her eyes and tried to remember for a long time.

That brought up one of her endless questions.  While her nightmares about her family dying were fading, a new fear about them was replacing it.

“Do you forget ponies?” Twilight asked. “If you haven’t seen somepony in hundreds of years, do you still remember anything about them?”

Rarity stopped to think about it for a moment, taking the question rather seriously.

“Depends,” she finally concluded.  “I usually compare it to remembering what you had for dinner. Most of them you completely forget about unless somepony reminds you, but a few you remember forever. I think you know if you truly loved or hated a pony by whether you remember them.”

Rarity motioned Twilight towards one of the broken houses.  It was large and circular, looked like it'd once been quite large.  Rarity must have always lived in affluence.

"This is the house I grew up in."  Rarity looked up at what was left of it.  “It’s been so long since I’ve seen my sister, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget her. I still remember so many little things about her, the way her voice squeaked, how badly she wanted to get her cutie mark. One time, she tried making breakfast for me but the toast she was making somehow melted and I thought it was soup.”

“How do you melt toast?” Twilight thought about it. “The various component would decompose or combust instead of melt.”

“I never did figure out how she pulled that one-off. I suppose I’ll never know.”  Rarity grew somber and silent for a moment but returned to a smile quickly.  “But as for ponies I did forget. Do you remember Cloudchaser? Well I took her grandmother’s first kiss."

“Wait! You made out with her grandma?!”

“Supposedly.” Rarity shook her head. “I don’t remember that at all. I can’t remember what she looked like when she was younger or what her voice sounded like. Rainbow Dash assures me it happened when we came up here fifty years ago. I made her question herself and she asked to kiss me to see if she was straight or not."

Cloudchaser’s grandmother s likely withered away by now if she was even still alive. But Twilight still couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. She wished she’d thought of that idea.

“Does that-?” Twilight took a step closer, blushing. “Does that kind of thing happen a lot?”

“I do make a lot of mares question themselves.” Rarity beckoned Twilight closer and grabbed her in a hug when Twilight came. “I’m certain you couldn’t possibly relate to that.”

“I can relate a little.” Twilight put her foreleg around Rarity and scooted closer, her muzzle just an inch from Rarity’s

“Really, now?” Rarity put her hoof on the back of Twilight’s head and stroked her mane, ready to pull her closer. “Anything I can do to help with that?”

“Maybe-“ Twilight couldn’t possibly look Rarity in the eyes right now. “Maybe we could check? The same way you did with her?”

“Mm. A lot of mares gave me the first kiss for the same reason.” Rarity pressed her muzzle right against Twilight’s. “Pinkie and Dashie gave me theirs as well. Did you want to add yours to my collection?”

Twilight absolutely did!

This was it! This was seriously happening!

Rarity kept her lips right against Twilight’s but waited for her to do the kissing. Twilight pressed her lips forward and gave Rarity a small peck on the lips and for a moment her heart stopped beating.

Rarity kissed her back, gently, then gave her a second, bigger kiss. She put one hoof on Twilight’s withers and one on the back of her head and pulled her in close. Rarity gave Twilight a wide-open mouth kiss and some instinct took over Twilight. She opened her mouth to receive her next kiss and then she lost control and started kissing Rarity back uncontrollably.

It felt so right and natural. Even the fangs weren’t as big a deal as Twilight thought they’d be. She could feel them, but they didn’t get in the way.

Twilight didn’t think she’d ever felt this close to another pony before or this overwhelmed by affection. Rarity felt so much warmer and softer than ever before. Rarity felt strong but gentle. For a moment, Rarity was the entire world, and the world was perfect.

Twilight eventually pulled away, but only because she was getting too worked up.

“Okay. I’m gay!” Twilight bowed her head in defeat yet again. This time panting and blushing hard. Kissing another mare felt like the most right thing Twilight had ever done.  There was no way she could deny that she was a lesbian after that.

Rarity gave that smug little giggle she did every time she ‘beat’ Twilight on something. But Rarity’s smugness had slowly gone from being annoying to being the most endearing thing in the world. She felt attached to Rarity’s ego in a way now.

“It’s an easy condition to live with."  Rarity pulled Twilight back in and gave her one more soft kiss on the lips.  "Maybe you should get a marefriend to help you treat it, hm?"

Hearing Rarity say the word made Twilight’s heart throbbed. Was she hinting at something?!

“H-hey!” Twilight forced the question out. “Do you like- do you want to you know, date me?"

“Really now?” Rarity’s eyes opened a bit wider. “I honestly wasn’t expecting you to be the one to ask me on a date. Where are you taking me?”

Wait!

Twilight’s mind went into a panic. Did Twilight just ask her out on a date?! She didn’t mean it to come out like that! She was just trying to ask if Rarity like-liked her!

But it wasn’t like Twilight didn’t want to go out on a date with Rarity. She’d totally fantasized about doing that kind of thing for months and months and- honestly thinking back on it Twilight had no idea how she didn’t realize she was gay sooner. It must have been all that social conditioning.

There probably wouldn’t be a less awkward moment to initiate something like that! It was already out so maybe she could roll with this? But her taking Rarity on a date was an intimidating idea, felt almost backwards.

She always imagined Rarity being the one taking her to some fancy place! But Twilight was a mare and the mare was the one who was supposed to pay for dates. Was it weird that Twilight imagined herself as being ‘the colt’ in the relationship? Was one of them supposed to be the colt?

Twilight had zero frame of reference for this kind of relationship! Were there books about homosexual dating? There had to be! Somepony must have written about this and Twilight needed to find their book at all costs! Without that hypothetical book, she was completely lost.

No! Rarity did have tons of romance novels, half of which were about lesbian couples! But why had Twilight been too much of a dork to read them?! Maybe they would have given her unreal expectations, but maybe- 

“I can see the wheels turning, but where are they going?” Rarity pouted at Twilight. “If you want to start dating ladies, you need to learn not to keep them waiting.”

“I, uh-“ where could Twilight even take somepony? “The only place I can afford is The Cracker Shack! And you know, maybe that place is the opposite of romantic and I guess everything there would taste like ashes to you so you couldn’t eat anything and honestly ashes might be an improvement on what I'd taste but um-!”

Twilight had read about dating in general. One of the fifteen purposes for dating outlined in her book was establishing yourself as a reliable mate to the other pony. Taking her to The Cracker Shack would demonstrate the exact opposite of that! Some hobos felt The Cracker Shack was beneath them! The sign said 'the driest food in Equestria' as if that was a good thing and the only reason to ever go there was if the bit you found on the sidewalk was 100% of your net worth.

Why did Twilight’s mind jump to that place?

“I need more time to prepare for this!” Twilight concluded. “I gotta research this first! I am asking you out, but like, in the future!”

“You’re an adorable little pony!” Rarity gave her one last kiss on the lips, just a quick peck. “Don’t worry. I like going very slowly. You can do your reading first, but I do like the idea of you taking me somewhere romantic now.”

“Right.” Twilight felt like she couldn’t relax just yet. Part of her brain still couldn’t believe this was happening. “But like- When I do ask you out! You’re gonna say yes?”

“Well.” Rarity held Twilight at a distance with a slim frown. “Maybe there is something we should talk about before we get any more serious and start going on dates.”

Twilight’s heart sank. She wasn’t even in a relationship yet and she was already having one of these ‘talks’. Hopefully, this wasn’t another vampire rule!

“Is it bad?” Twilight asked, bracing for something horrible.

“My relationship with Rainbow Dash," said Rarity. "I’m not going to be ‘cutting her off’ if that’s what you’re imagining. You know that? I do love her very dearly, in a certain way.”

Twilight felt momentarily surprised that was what Rarity brought up. And then she wondered why she was surprised. She did want to go on a date with Rarity to be her… marefriend, even though the idea still felt weird. Seeing Rarity making out with another pony, knowing she slept in the same room with Dash, that sort of thing should be soul-crushing. She’d read books with ponies in similar circumstances and they went on and on about how crushed their souls were.

But Twilight’s soul wasn’t crushed. Seeing her kiss the others just felt like a normal thing, like it was part of some bizarre culture she found herself in.

“Honestly, I don’t think I am jealous of her,” said Twilight. “Though I have no idea why I’m not.”

“Maybe I can make a guess?” Rarity suggested. “You have even less issue with me sleeping with Pinkie, or sleeping with her yourself, because you know none of us see it in that way. It’s a completely different relationship than what you want.”

Twilight nodded. She slept with Pinkie all the time now, but it wasn’t nearly the same.

“Well the relationship I have with Rainbow Dash isn’t the one you want to have with me, either. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re competing for the same thing. You want something less casual, a romantic sort of thing Rainbow Dash has no interest in.”

“Maybe.” Twilight looked down at her hoof. “I don’t think I understand any of this! I don’t even know if I can understand normal relationships yet! Let alone- whatever I'm getting myself into. But I kind of always knew things would be weird if I ever like... got with you. And, maybe I was secretly thinking about getting with you for a while now.”

“Well you have plenty of time to figure it out.” Rarity grabbed Twilight’s hoof and kissed it. “I know my lifestyle isn't exactly normal, but you're welcome to be part of my little family."

“So-“ Twilight held Rarity at a distance. “So you would say yes! If I ask you out on a date?”

"Twilight, the entire reason I came up here was for you." Rarity reached her hoof out towards Twilight. "I missed having a family after moving out from Fluttershy.  I didn't know who I was looking for and I thought it'd take longer to find you, but now that I have you... of course I'll say yes."

This was amazing! Twilight never thought of herself as the type to find love but maybe she actually would now!

Of course, Twilight still had no idea what she was doing. She needed to research this! She needed to find books about dating and bizarre, deviant relationships.

“Can we go back home now?” Twilight asked. “I just need to- to do some reading.”

“I wonder what about.” Rarity put a hoof on Twilight’s withers and started making another tunnel in the dark magic.

Because she was moving out of the forest, her magic blowing with instead of against the wind, Rarity was able to teleport much farther this time. They teleported several times the distance as last time, ending up close to the house.

When exiting the forest, it was either Pinkie or Twilight’s job to go out and check to make sure nopony was around. She gave Rarity the okay and Rarity came back inside through the back door, still in her vampire form.

As soon as Rarity went into her bedroom to ‘get changed’ Twilight ran upstairs to her library of banned books. There had to be something there.

The others, Twilight now knew, could read with zero light but Twilight wasn’t on that level yet. She still needed a candle, but even just that was enough to make the room bright and warm, or the vampire equivalent at least.

These books were properly organized now. Before there wasn’t even a nonfiction and fiction section but now it was all fully cataloged and arranged neatly by the stardecimal system. Having been the one to catalog everything, Twilight knew for a fact that there was no book here about dating advice, but Rarity did have exactly one hundred and eight romance novels and ten years' worth of Metro Mare Monthly, which might have something on the subject.

Importantly, seventy of the romance novels were about lesbian romances and fifty-seven were about lesbian vampire romances specifically. Maybe if the public library and the vault didn’t have anything on the subject, this would be the best she’d get.

Twilight took one of those books out. The title was ‘All Consuming Darkness’ and promised to be about a vampire who had to resist the urge to devour her mortal lover. She had read that these novels could give you unrealistic expectations about relationships. But at the same time, if these were Rarity’s books they would give her insight into what Rarity wanted and expected. And it would give her at least some kind of awareness of this kind of relationship.

There were even a few pages with the corner turned to make a bookmark. This was one was like a gold mine!

In the end, she settled on a stack of five books, for now, deciding to take them back to her bedroom where she could read them a little more secretly.

Twilight trotted into her room and lied down on the bed to do some reading. It wasn’t the guest room now, but her room. Twilight hadn't slept at her house since she started transforming. She was in the process of very slowly moving in with the others, even before all that.

She’d bring something over here, just to have it while she spent the night, then end up leaving it here forever. Slowly, all of her things migrated to Rarity’s house and now it was at the point it was more inconvenient to even go back home. Everything was here now.

Her entire bookshelf and all of her books were neatly tucked away in the corner of her new bedroom. Even her old mementos were here now, even that box with her old photographs. Twilight felt whistful as she looked over at the dresser it was hidden inside of.

Sometimes she wondered what she could possibly say to them if they could see her now. ‘Hi, Mom! I concluded that everything we believed was a lie! I dropped out of school, joined a gang, got a delinquent haircut, turned into a vampire, and now I’m gonna get a marefriend! Haha!”

Could she have changed their minds?

It was a cold comfort knowing she’d never have to have that conversation.

“Twilight, I got bored!” Pinkie burst into the room, jumped onto Twilight’s bed, and climbed onto Twilight's back.  This was an inevitable part of living here. Even still, this was more privacy than Twilight got back in her family’s studio apartment in Canterlot. Pinkie leaned around Twilight, trying to read her book. “Let me sleep in your room tonight!  Oh!  Are you reading a book about an explosion?!”

“An explosion?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Am I reading an entire book about one single explosion?”

“Maybe it’s a really big explosion?” Pinkie shrugged.

“Well, no. I’m reading about vampires.” Twilight held up her romance book. She technically wasn’t lying. “The uh, fake vampires that is.”

“Oh! Was there something you wanted to know about vampires?” Pinkie ducked down playfully, always eager to share her encyclopedic knowledge of vampires.

“Well.” Twilight looked away. She didn’t want to say it, but she couldn’t hold back a massive smile from taking over her face.

She was going to go on a date with Rarity!

“You look a little too happy today.” Pinkie eyed Twilight suspiciously. “Are you up to something?”

"No!"

"Twilight, we're in a gang together!  If you're doing illegal stuff you gotta let me in on it!"

Pinkie sniffed around Twilight. Twilight still had no idea exactly how good Pinkie’s sense of smell was. But whatever Pinkie smelt made her smile wide. Could she really smell that Twilight kissed Rarity a moment ago? Twilight probably had Rarity’s scent on her a lot because the two of them hugged constantly, but did a kiss somehow have a distinct smell?

Pinkie covered her mouth with a hoof and made a sinister giggle, trying to hold back even greater laughter.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing!” Pinkie turned away, fought back her laughter for another second, then began laughing hysterically.

“Hey, come on!”

“I didn’t say anything!” Pinkie started laughing hysterically again. But before Twilight could frown too deeply, Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a tight hug and rocked her back and forth slightly. “Daw! I wish I could have watched! I love friendship!”

“Yeah. Friendship.”

That's all it was in Pinkie's mind.

Twilight wondered if she would ever end up kissing Pinkie. The idea of platonically making out with someone made even less sense to Twilight after what just happened with Rarity. But just a few months ago, Twilight didn’t think you could have a platonic hug, let alone cuddle with somepony or sleep in the same bed as them in a completely non-sexual way.

Sometimes Twilight felt like she was already in the deepest imaginable darkness, but every time she got there she’d see something else just a little deeper.

“Or whatever friendship alternative you normie weirdoes get up to!”  Pinkie waved her hoof.  “Oh! Does this mean you’re getting married now? Do you have kids?"

“Do we have kids?! There’s a very long list of problems with that! In fact, I don’t even know how many problems there are with that! Can vampires even have kids?”

“Technically! I’ve seen foals who were born as vampires, Twitwi. They’re just really stupid. You gotta wait like thirty years till they’re old enough to start reading.  I know one filly, Scootaloo, who was born a vampire.  She's 43 and doesn't have her cutie mark yet, still super short.  Takes her forever to learn stuff.”

“Really.” Twilight knew ponies took longer to develop than most species. Was it possible vampires needed even longer? “How long does it take a bat pony to reach adulthood?”

“Oh, it takes like a hundred years! It’s way faster to reproduce by kidnapping. Once somepony becomes a fledgling they instantly reach adulthood! That’s a way faster way to get a bigger family.”

Family. That was something Twilight never thought she’d find again.

“You know,” said Twilight, “maybe you were right when you said daywalkers get everything backwards. They said you can’t find your way home once you’ve eaten that fruit, but I feel like I only found my way home after I ate it.”

“Daw!” Pinkie hugged Twilight again. "I feel like you're home too, Twitwi!"

For the first time in over a year, Twilight felt like she was home again.
> Chapter 13.  The fastest way to make friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight felt the tip of her ear. There was a little bit of fuzz there!

Ear tufts were the first physical change and started growing as soon as you began eating Everfree fruits. During her ‘sick week’, they’d gotten much larger than this, maybe a quarter the size of the rest of the gang’s. But once she was well enough to go out again, Twilight had to cut them off.

Twilight found herself excited at the idea of growing ear tufts.  She loved checking every morning to see them getting bigger each day.  She wanted to let it grow out again, to see what she looked like with them fully grown.  But obviously, Twilight couldn’t run around town like that and the others weren’t willing to share their disguise with her just yet, apparently Fluttershy would ‘chew their ears off’ if they showed her before a few months passed.  So Twilight had to trim the tufts once or twice a day.

But every day it was growing back faster, the little tuft of fur getting just a little longer each morning she checked. It grew so much faster than normal fur, faster than normal hair even. It was almost like it resented getting cut off and was fighting back for control of Twilight’s ears.

Twilight would happily let them get as fuzzy as they wanted if she could. Rarity always said the bigger they got, the cuter Twilight became. 

And tonight Twilight was going to meet Fluttershy for the first time without any pretenses, knowing Fluttershy was a vampire and Twilight was a fledgling. There was a lot to be intimidated about, seeing as Twilight was trying to date what was her daughter and move into what was Fluttershy’s nation.

But at least Rarity would be with her for that.

While she waited for Rarity to get back with Fluttershy, Twilight read through one of Rarity’s books on dark magic. Studying this was her new full-time job. She got fired from the bottling factory, and not without reason as her constant complaining about the system had already lead to several strikes, but she was back on track to her dream job which more than made up for it.

Dash was on the couch opposite Twilight, lying on her back and reading a magazine. Twilight looked up from her book and carefully looked over Rainbow Dash. Only recently, after making out with Rarity a few times, did Twilight finally start to appreciate something.

Twilight really was attracted to mares.

It was like Twilight just had this massive wall of cognitive bias and Rarity was the only one sexy enough to breakthrough. But now that wall was largely gone, that jerk of shame and resistance from her feelings towards other mares was more easily overcome. And slowly something began to dawn on Twilight.

Rainbow Dash was cute in that way. She wasn’t as good as Rarity, but her cute little muzzle, her tail, her flank. Twilight did feel a certain attraction to her in a way she just never had for stallions.

Slowly Twilight was coming to realize she wasn’t just slightly gay, but totally gay.

“You see something you like, Sparks?” Dash peeked out from behind her magazine.

“Huh?!”  Twilight just realize she’d been staring at Dash’s flank for a bit too long. “Ah, crap! Sorry! I’m just coming to terms with the fact that I’m, you know, a lesbian.”

“Hey! Stare all you want.” Dash went back to her magazine. “You’re just cool enough that I take it as a compliment. You wanna make out for a while till the others get back? I’m bored.”

Dash asked it in such a casual way like she was asking to watch a movie or something.

“Uh! No thanks!” Twilight doubted Rarity would have any issue with that, but Twilight still didn’t feel the same way about Dash as she did Rarity. Even if Dash was attractive, Twilight didn’t feel the same need to get more intimate with her. “I’m a little confused at how you can be so nonchalant about it.”

“It’s just a fun thing to do.” Dash shrugged. “I dunno why everypony thinks it needs to be this mystical thing. I think it’s just another way society tries to buck with you.”

Twilight still didn’t think she understood. She was sure of what her relationship with Pinkie and Rarity was, but Dash confused her on several levels. Dash didn’t seem at all upset about the fact that Twilight was going on a date with Rarity. It didn’t feel like they were competing for anything.

She decided to test the waters a little.

“You’ve been with Rarity for like sixty years, right?” Twilight asked. “You’d have to know where she’d want to go on a date, right?”

“The boss just automatically takes control of everything,” said Dash. “Don’t even bother planning stuff. That’s what I’d do.”

That was some very Rainbow Dash advice.

“You’re not jealous that she’s my, um… marefriend?” Twilight still got a mix of fear and giddy excitement from saying the word. “Cause you seem like you like her a lot!”

“Yeah, I like Rarity a lot.” Dash put down the magazine and sat up, suddenly taking this more seriously.  “I swore an oath to devote my life to serving Rarity. That thing where we got Rarity’s cutie mark on the back of our jackets? Well that comes from an old airhead thing. You start wearing somepony’s cutie mark when you pledge your life to them. I started wearing a cape with her cutie mark on it, then Pinkie started copying me cause she thought my cape looked cool and then Rarity just made it a thing. That’s my relation to Rarity, total devotion in whatever way she wants.”

That was something Twilight did understand a bit better. She knew pegasi took loyalty very seriously and this swearing yourself to somepony was part of their culture. But that was something that rarely happened, and Twilight knew for a fact that Dash wouldn’t just do something ‘because culture’. If anything, being part of her culture was a strike against something.

“Can I ask what made you decide to pledge your life to Rarity?” Twilight asked. “Is it just cause she’s that hot?”

“Rarity’s the first pony who treated my life like it has any value.” Dash crossed her forelegs and closed her eyes. “You know, I basically killed myself for Equestria and the Wonderbolts but they never saw me as anything but a disposable pawn. Meanwhile, I literally tried to kill Rarity and she still acts like my life matters. That’s why she gets my loyalty.”

“Wait! You tried to kill Rarity?”

“I said we fought! I was like some kind of ninja, you know. They sent me to kill ponies and I was stupid enough to think that meant I had to do it. And I’m eternally grateful Rarity mopped the floor with me.” Dash quickly changed the subject. “Hey, if you ever want to be sexy, sexy you should come train with me sometime. If you learned ninja skills and dark magic, you could probably be pretty tough. You get a little toned and I’d totally have sex with you!”

“Guh!” Twilight blushed. Rarity always talked in innuendo at least! “No, I think I should just focus on dark magic for now! Thanks.”

And now Twilight was suddenly hoping Fluttershy would show up. She turned to her book, trying hard not to think of anything lewd. Her mind really was getting perverted! 

Before she could regain enough concentration to start reading again, the door opened. And suddenly Twilight got nervous again and wished she was back to her awkward conversation with Dash.

The door opened, Rarity and Fluttershy came in. Twilight sat up at attention, nervous about meeting Fluttershy for the first time since learning she was the ruler of the vampires.

Fluttershy stayed standing, looking Twilight over carefully. Rarity came right up to Twilight, sat down next to her, and wrapped a foreleg around her marefriend.

“And here she is.” Rarity showed Twilight to Fluttershy. “My newest fledgling.”

“Hello?”

Twilight still had no idea whether this was more like a ‘meet the parents’ or an ‘interview for a dark order’ kind of scenario.

The other assured Twilight she didn’t actually need Fluttershy’s approval for anything but getting her blessing to become one of them was a good idea anyway. Apparently, the other vampires were generally suspicious of newcomers who didn’t have Fluttershy’s approval.

Pinkie, noticing the door open, rushed out of her room to greet them.

“Mom!”  Pinkie spread her wings and flew down to the living room. “Hi, Mom!”

Twilight still wasn’t entirely used to having a white Pinkie Pie around. Her change was the most jarring and the one she saw the most often. But right now Twilight was thankful to Pinkie for taking the spotlight off her.

“Hello, Pinkie.” Fluttershy set her down. “Before I forget, since you’re all here, I’ve been warning ponies about this. I think a really big dark storm is coming out of the forest in maybe a week. It’s either going to be a D5 or D6, so you should start getting ready now.”

“Oh, wow! Storm party!” Pinkie cheered. “Are you gonna stay here with us for it?”

One thing Twilight hadn’t seen since coming to Ponyville was a dark storm. It was something she’d been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Pegasi couldn’t get dark storms under control because the clouds were too toxic to them, making them the biggest storms of all. And a D6 was as high as it got, meaning Twilight was going straight to the deep end on this one.

“Well at least we don’t have to worry about dark water, right?” Twilight asked. “I’d assume it doesn’t burn or poison vampires.”

“Excuse me?” Fluttershy’s ears twitched and she gave Twilight a serious look.

“Um.”  Twilight honestly wasn’t sure what part of that Fluttershy took issue with. She was already messing this up. “It’s not that unreasonable to assume it wouldn’t burn you. Us?”

Fluttershy was still unamused.

“Rarity!” Fluttershy sighed. “Have you been running around telling everypony we’re vampires again?”

“We are vampires, yes.” Rarity nodded. “Exactly like in the legends.”

“No.”  Fluttershy shook her head and turned to Twilight. “Twilight, the correct term is ‘bat pony’. Or if you want to be more specific, the tribe Rarity belongs to is called ‘thestrals’. That’s the one you’d turn into. We’re not vampire versions of the other tribes, we’re two distinct tribes. It’s funny. Back in the day, we’d argued about whether to call ourselves bat ponies or thestrals but then we discovered there are two dark tribes so we could just go with both.”

Twilight felt a sudden sense of relief that it wasn’t something more serious.

“Rarity did explain about it being two additional tribes, but I guess knowing the PC terms is good.”

“That’s the normal term,” said Fluttershy. “The PC term is batmorphic bodied individual or BBI. Though I don’t know anypony who actually says that. 'Vampire' is like a slur and it gives ponies the wrong impression about us.”

“Well you know,” said Twilight, “I’m not really in favor of enshrining words and giving them the power to hurt us in the first place.”

Rarity nodded approvingly.

“You really are Rarity’s fledgling.”  Fluttershy flapped a wing at Dash, who made room for her on the couch across from Twilight. Pinkie sat down right next to Fluttershy, leaning against her affectionately. “I’m a little surprised to see you with another fledgling already, though.”

“Fluttershy,” said Rarity, “I specifically told you I was coming here to make another fledgling for myself.”

“You also said you’d be here for a few years. I thought you’d wait a while for Pinkie to grow before taking a second fledgling. Having two fledglings up here is putting yourself at a lot of risk.”

“Pinkie isn’t a fledgling anymore,” said Rarity. “She’s fully transformed and she doesn’t need me to babysit her. She got miles into the woods without a scratch, she can take care of herself.”

“Yes, but Pinkie is also a very special child who needs lots of love,” Fluttershy said as Pinkie continued to nuzzle.

“Yeah, it’s true!” Pinkie finally pulled back and nodded in agreement. “If I don’t get loved I’ll feel bad. Oh! But watch this, Mom! I got way better at flying since you left.”

Pinkie jumped off the couch, spread her wings, and gave them a flap. Her form was shaky and she threw way too much wind into the room, but she did fly up to the balcony.

“Very good, Pinkie.”  Fluttershy clapped her hooves together. “But you’re still a fledgling.”

“Aw.”

“And I think you should have waited longer to offer this to Twilight.” Fluttershy turned back to Rarity. “You could have just kept her as a friend for a few more years before trying to make her one of us.”

“Twilight is smart.”  Rarity tapped Twilight’s head. “I wouldn’t have been able to lead her around for years. She would have gotten too curious and done something brash looking for the truth. I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to make Twilight mine just because it’s a little dangerous.”

Fluttershy considered it for a moment before finally relenting.

“I understand.”  Fluttershy bowed her head. “I suppose I’ve done silly things because I liked an Equestrian too much, too.”

“Are we really in that much danger?” Twilight butted in. “I feel like I’ve been in less danger ever since I started changing.”

“Relatively speaking, you’re very fragile,” said Fluttershy. “Unicorns reproduce very quickly compared to us, but as individuals, you’re much weaker than a thestral. You still don’t have the strength or resistance to darkness a thestral does and you don’t have decades of experience and knowledge. Rarity and Rainbow Dash need to protect you until you get stronger.”

“I understand I wouldn’t be that good in a fight, but also I’ve never had to fight anything yet. So it kind of balances out?” Twilight suggested.

“True.” Fluttershy nodded. “But, well the big danger here is you, Twilight.”

“Me?” Twilight pointed at herself. “But I’m not doing anything!”

“Not now, but sometimes fledglings change their mind or get tempted to start sharing our secrets. If you do try to tell on us, well Equestria might try to make you disappear and the four of us will be in trouble too.”

“I won’t do anything like that!”  Twilight put her hoof on her chest. “I’m a hundred percent committed to Rarity and my gang! I’d never do anything to betray you guys!”

“You see?” Rarity leaned against Twilight. “Twilight’s loyal to me, just like the other two.”

“Hm.” Fluttershy nodded. “Can I ask why you want to become one of us?”

That was an easy question.

“I want eternal youth, I want to be with Rarity and the rest of my friends, I want to get away from this authoritarian country, I want to see the forest, I want to learn dark magic and become a mage, I want-“

“I see.”  Fluttershy waved her hoof for Twilight to stop. “I believe you. I get worried when ponies only give me one reason. I think you’re making the right decision. You do realize that if you go through with it, you won’t belong here any longer, but to the forest. Ponyville is much easier to live in than the rest of Equestria for us.”

“I kind of hate this country anyway! I already don’t feel like I belong here.” Twilight put her hoof on her heart. “I want to go somewhere else!”

This answer wasn’t as endearing to Fluttershy as Twilight expected it to be. Fluttershy looked a little disappointed, sad. 

“Alright. I recognize you as one of my children and grant you the blessing of Luna. You have my permission to come to our lands. You’ll be welcomed whenever you come.” Fluttershy lifted her head and opened her eyes. “I can only give my blessing to so many ponies each year because of the truce, so I hope you appreciate it.”

“Yay!”  Pinkie stamped her hooves up on the balcony. “Now Fluttershy is your mom too! Which makes us sisters!”

“Pinkie,” Fluttershy said calmly, “when I call you my child I don’t mean it that literally.”

“But you let Rarity call you mom,” Pinkie objected. “And Sunshine and Moonlight too!”

“I’m Sunshine and Moonlight’s actual biological mother.” Fluttershy held her hoof out towards Rarity. “And I adopted Rarity when she was little. So I am actually their mom.”

It was still a little hard to think of Fluttershy as Rarity’s mom. They looked almost the same age. And it would have been even weirder with her older daughters. The twins Pinkie just mentioned were only twenty-something years younger than Fluttershy which, when you were pushing a thousand, meant Fluttershy was only two percent older than them.

“That was easier than I thought it’d be!” Twilight declared, relieved. “I was worried I’d have to do some kind of test, you know?”

“Well I can tell Rarity likes you a lot,” said Fluttershy. “Rarity barely talked about anything other than you since I came back. And I want her to be happy.”

“Really?” Twilight looked at Rarity with a sudden swell of affection.

“And she says you asked her to go on a date to the cracker shack? You know what happens there, right?”  Fluttershy looked to the side like she was about to tell a secret. “They put way too much salt in everything so they can overcharge you for drinks. I’m not sure why you think that’s a good place to take my daughter.”

“No I didn’t-“ Twilight sighed. “I didn’t ask her out yet, but I will in three days. I just need somewhere better than that?”

“I see,” Fluttershy was already back to looking unimpressed. “Do you think you want to get married? Do you want foals? Would you rather have your own or adopt? Bat pony foals are a lot of work.”

“Mom.” Rarity sighed.

“Foals?!  We haven’t even gone on a single date yet!  And don’t I have like a hundred years to think about that now?”  Twilight thought about that for a second. “Wait, do vampires-?”

“Bat ponies.”

“Do bat ponies hit menopause?”

“Hypothetically,” said Fluttershy. “But we’re only fertile once every ten years and it’d take maybe ten million years. I supposed you do have a while.”

“There? See!” Twilight nodded. “So we don’t gotta talk about this now.”

“So you’ve never even thought about whether you want foals?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “Are you the type to not plan ahead? I hope you’re not planning on mooching off Rarity for the rest of your life. We already have Pinkie doing that.”

“Yeah, and I got that covered.” Pinkie landed behind Fluttershy and nodded.

“I have plans!” Twilight put her hooves over her chest defensively. “I’m training to be a dark mage.”

“Twilight is extremely talented,” Rarity spoke up in her favor. “She just needs time to learn and I have no doubt she’ll excel as a mage.”

“I was always near the top of my class at the academy!”  Twilight nodded eagerly, wanting to establish that she could be a responsible partner. “I would have been the top if we didn’t have a terrible system where getting snitching didn’t give you credit.”

“You do realize that you’d have to train for decades,” said Fluttershy. “There are thestral mages that have hundreds of years of practice.”

“Rarity mentioned that,” said Twilight. “But practicing magic for thirty years sounds great to me!”

Fluttershy leaned back against the couch and hummed for a moment.

“Well, the fact that you’re running around again after just a month is very impressive,” Fluttershy admitted. “If what Rarity says is true, you might have the highest affinity to dark magic I’ve ever seen, and I know pretty much everypony. My oldest daughter, Moonlight Raven, is the top thestral mage. She might like to meet with you.”

“Really?”  Twilight never had serious connections before, but now she suddenly had an in with the top mage of wherever she was going. Having nepotism work in her favorite felt great.

“My twins are extraordinarily talented mages. Moonlight is always looking for interesting ponies like you. She’s very dedicated to our mission so you really should go see her. You might be able to help us plunge the world into everlasting darkness. Yay.”

“Uh!” It wasn’t every day you heard somepony just come out and say something like that so casually. “I’m not a hundred percent sure I want to do that, though?”

“You’re not?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “Why not? Didn’t Rarity tell you about Luna?”

“Yeah, but. Well it sounds bad?” Twilight looked over at Rarity for support. “Eternal night, I mean.”

“Everlasting darkness is the best possible thing for the world right now.”  Fluttershy leaned forward with a seriousness that was often reserved for religion and novels you thought were way deeper than they actually were. “The perfect will of our princess is to vanquish the light and let the forest consume the whole planet so that she can rule supreme for ten thousand years and create a perfect world of darkness.”

“You’re scaring her, Mother.” Rarity interrupted. “You’re going to make her think all of us are this cavalier about it.”

“Oh, alright.” Fluttershy bowed her head. “Rarity and her little friends aren’t as devout as me. As the queen of the forest, I promise you that you’re free to believe whatever silly, non-alicorn religion you want, Twilight. I can understand why maybe you wouldn’t want to worship the divine sisters right now. Given, you know, things.”

It was a relief to hear queen herself that she’d be freer where she was going. And that freedom was enough for Twilight’s curiosity to win out over her disdain for authority.

“I kind of want to hear her sales pitch for eternal night.” Twilight turned to Rarity. “If you don’t mind.”

“I hardly want to discourage your curiosity.” Rarity shrugged. “But keep in mind I don’t agree with her on everything.”

Twilight looked back at Fluttershy who’s eyes were positively sparkling at Twilight, smiling in eager anticipation of getting to preach to her. Maybe Twilight should have tried to get Fluttershy points by going straight to this.

“You see, Twilight,” Fluttershy began, “nature isn’t static. Things change and flow in cycles. Every day the world cycles between day and night. The darkness gives way to light and then the light goes back to darkness. That’s how the world should be, a beautiful harmony between the two, between the divine alicorns.”

“But if you get rid of the sun, won’t your beautiful cycle thing end?” Twilight asked. “Don’t we still need the sun? Or at least most living things do.”

“Of course we don’t need the sun,” said Fluttershy. “The sun wasn’t around during the age of fire and the dragons and kirins were perfectly happy without it. And there was still a cycle of light and darkness. I don’t know if Rarity told you, but there is a sort of dark sun, called the moon. It was around in the age of fire and it will be here in the age of darkness. Everfree plants with thrive under it. The new day will be when the moon is out and the cycle will remain.”

“Wait, the second sun existed back then?”  That was news to Twilight. Her whole life she’d been under the impression that life was sustained by all the volcanoes and lava fissures that existed back then. “Does that mean there was a third alicorn back then? Or was it the one that’s asleep now?  Luna?”

“You’re very clever, Twilight!”  Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Yes, our dark princess ruled over the age of fire before turning the world over to Celestia at the start of the present age. And before that was a time you’ll rarely hear about today, the age of mist, where Celestia ruled and the sun existed. Celestia happily turned over her rule to her sister at the start of the age of fire. The world has been alternating between ages of darkness and light since the beginning, it is the perfect will of our princesses.”

“Just because it’s their will doesn’t mean it’s right.” Twilight shook her head. “I mean, Celestia is clearly insane. Isn’t she your enemy or something?  Why would you want to follow her will?”

“Of course Celestia’s not my enemy! I have nothing but absolute admiration for her!”  Fluttershy looked briefly horrified at the question before turning back to Rarity annoyed. “Were you telling her that Celestia’s the bad guy?”

“How can you expect me not to say bad things about her?” Rarity shook her head. “I despise our authoritarian government. Everypony here has a story about how this civilization she’s created wronged us including you.”

“That’s not her fault! Celestia barely does anything anymore,” said Fluttershy. “She’s too sick to run the government full time. I’ve been to see her, and she just sits in her room eating potato chips and watching cartoons most of the time. They still do whatever she asks, but Starlight Glimmer is the one making most of these terrible decisions. Oh, or is it Luster Dawn now?”

“Isn’t Luster Dawn like 9?” Twilight asked.  “I doubt she’s running the government.”

Though, given the insanity of this year so far, a super-genius blank flank taking control of the government wouldn’t even phase Twilight.

“Oh, that’s right.” Fluttershy gave herself a slight bonk on the head. “Sorry. Maybe you’ll understand when you’re my age, but Equestrian families begin to blur together a little. It gets hard to tell parents from their kids because they just come and go so fast.”

That was an interesting fact to consider. Twilight wondered how old until that started happening if maybe Rarity fell into the same trap.

“I still say Celestia is responsible,” said Rarity. “She has unlimited magical and political power. Starlight has to do anything Celestia says and the masses will always go along with her will. She’s the one who put that family in power and she made countless decisions up until this point. She can’t be sitting on top of all that and claim no responsibility.”

“She’s just not herself! The Celestia I remember would never do anything wrong.”

While the two of them argued about politics, Twilight mulled Fluttershy’s story over in her head. She’d been trained now to try and find flaws in people’s stories.

“Hey, hold on!” Twilight raised her hoof. “You said you’ve seen Celestia, like in person? But we’re supposed to instantly vaporize in her presence because she has too much light magic.

“Oh, I did vaporize.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Huh?” Twilight looked at Rarity who nodded, promising her this was for real. “What?”

“I have absolute immortality.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and spread out her wings and foreleg. “There’s absolutely no way to kill me. Even if I completely vaporize, I can just reconstitute my body from the ether. When I talk to Celestia I get a few words in between vaporization. I can go anywhere without getting hurt.”

“What?” Twilight blinked. “But what?! Why do you get absolute immortality while the rest of us just get normal immortality?”

“It was kind of a limited-time offer.” Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head. “Celestia is the one who granted it to me before the great battle. She knew this might happen and wanted to make it so she couldn’t turn around and kill me afterward.  Oh! Twilight, did you know that even Princess Celestia wants there to be eternal night?”

“She did? She does?” Twilight leaned forward, getting more curious by the second. “But I thought she hated us!”

“She does, currently, yes. But before the great battle, she warned me she’d go insane and sent me on the mission to wake up her sister and bring about the age of darkness!  She wanted Luna to take control of the world from her.”

“That’s news to me.”  Twilight thought of the implications of that. It still wasn’t clear if Twilight could trust even a more sane Princess Celestia. But if it was true that even she saw her age ending as a good thing…

“If you want, I can show you more, but it’ll be easier to explain once you’re asleep,” Fluttershy offered.

“Like you’re gonna stand over me all night and repeat ‘Celestia is perfect’ over and over?” Twilight guessed.

“No.”  Fluttershy laughed. “Luna gave me a special power too. You’ll see it tonight. I’ll show you that Luna is the greatest and perfect pony who ever existed. She absolutely deserves to rule the world and be worshipped.”

“This isn’t like a brainwashing thing, is it?” Twilight asked Rarity.

“Do it seem like she’s brainwashed me?” Rarity asked. “I don’t share her optimism that Luna is going to be this perfect goddess.”

“I understand why you might think that.” Fluttershy bowed her head sadly. “But maybe that’s enough politics for now.  I am glad you’ve made a family for yourself. And you did a great job with Rainbow Dash's rehabilitation. It’s nice to see that she’s no longer a, uh, maniac.”

Rainbow Dash, who’d been lying over the side of the couch, completely disinterested in all this up until, now let out a groan.

“Yeesh! I’m sorry already!”  Dash rolled her eyes. “Is my undying loyalty to your daughter not enough?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to compliment you.”  Fluttershy closed her eyes and put her hooves together. “It’s good that you’re at peace now. Not everypony can turn their life around like this.”

“I still think I’m getting a little too soft cause of you guys,” said Dash.

“Aw, but I love soft Rainbow Dash!” Rarity winked at her. “Tough Rainbow Dash never cuddled with me at night.”

“This is soft Rainbow Dash?” Twilight leaned over to look at Dash. “But you’re already so tough. What the heck was tough Rainbow Dash like.”

“Stupid,” said Dash. “I needed to have some sense beaten into me.”

“Dashie was quite the battle maniac back then,” Rarity teased. “Back then she’d take any excuse to get into a fight. The fact that she hasn’t beaten you up yet is a testament to how far she’s come. The two of us fought all the time, even after we became friends. How many of our fights did you win again?”

“That’s misleading!” Dash quickly sat up again, interested in the conversation now that they were talking about fighting. “I never fought you uninjured or without Fluttershy or somepony else around!”

“Well then we can fight right now to settle this,” Rarity teased. “More serious than our little play fights, but not an actual death match.”

“What- no!” Dash blushed and turned away. “My code of honor demands I never raise a hoof against you ever again.”

“What code of honor?” Rarity asked.

“The one I just made up right now!”

“How very convenient for you.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy patted her on the head like a little filly. “I think it’s great you’re going soft. Though I’m still counting on you to protect the others. Actually, maybe you should move in with the rest of your family, Twilight. Just to be safe.”

“I haven’t slept at my house in over a month,” said Twilight. “Though I supposed I could officially move in?”

“I do like keeping you close,” said Rarity. “So I’m more than fine with Fluttershy’s request.”

“Maybe I’ll go back there today and pack up the last of my stuff,” said Twilight.

Twilight needed to run a few errands for the others during the day anyway since she was the only one who could go out at day.

“I can pick up the leather for you while I’m out,” Twilight offered.

“You’ve been on this ‘punk’ think for a long time.” Fluttershy looked over Rarity’s outfit. “A lot longer than your other phases. It’s good to see you’re getting back into fashion, though.”

“Huh?” Twilight’s ears perked up. “Did Rarity not used to dress like this?”

“Oh! Rarity’s been through a bunch of ‘aesthetic phases’,” said Fluttershy. “When she was a filly she used to dress up like her big sister Moonlight. She’d always paint her face up, wear a big skull thing over her head, and put on necromancer robes. Then she went through a phase where she was really into big poofy dresses with lots of frills and then-“

“Mom.” Rarity sighed then spread her forelegs wide. “This one’s not a phase! It’s who I really am!”

Something about Rarity in frilly dresses amused Twilight to no end.

“Did she go through any phases after that?” Twilight asked to Rarity’s dismay.

“Well after that  I guess she decided that she really liked gemstones,” Fluttershy began to explain.

Rarity sighed again.



_______________________



It was getting late in the day and Twilight had finished packing all of her things over an hour ago, but it’d still be a while before it was Dark enough for Dash to come help move it. She’d gone into town to finish up an errand or two and was on her way back to her house.

Ever since she’d started wearing her Blue Diamond jacket, the air around Twilight was different. Everypony she passed regarded her with a certain level of fear or respect. Most ponies were quick to get out of her way. The creepers had long since learned not to call after Twilight. But the more delinquent types would 

Already Twilight felt different than the rest of them, but she didn’t really look down on everypony else the way she did a few months ago. She saw them all with pity more than anything else. These ponies were still stuck in the system, still had to get old. They weren’t free, but Twilight couldn’t free them either.

As she got closer to her house, she looked up at the sky, wishing it were cloudier.

Sunlight wasn’t painful yet, not as long as she kept her glasses on, but it didn’t feel good either. Twilight understood what Pinkie meant when she called it ‘gross’ all the time. The warmth of the sun felt slimy, dirty, made Twilight feel like she needed a bath. She wondered if she’d have time to take one last bath in this place.

And that slimy feeling reminded her of her neighbor and Twilight looked down the hill at Sweet Apple Acres. Not that she thought Applejack was slimy in a metaphorical sense, but her farm was far more literally a pit of slime at this point.

It’d actually been a while since Twilight had come back to her own house last so today was the first time she’d seen it in a while. The deterioration since last Twilight came here was significant. It was no longer a few blighted trees among the healthy ones, but a few healthy ones that stuck out among the blight.

Half the trees were dead, drooping, and purple, while nearly half the rest had collapsed into piles of mush. There were parts of it that looked like a march overrun with purple algae. Even up here Twilight could smell the blight, though to her changing nose the smell wasn’t as bad. It smelt maybe like a pile of dead leaves.

And this was before the coming dark storm hit. After the storm, Applejack might not even be able to stay in her house for a  while and it’d be easy for the forest to spread across and cover her farm in just a year or two afterward.

Having no harvest was the least of Applejack’s problems at this point. Clearing out all this blight and planting all the trees back would cost an enormous amount and who would give her a loan to plant a new orchard right next to the Everfree? Canterlot wrote this place off a long time ago, so there’d be no relief from them.

Of course, this also meant Twilight’s house was now next to a field of blight which was going to drive down the value of her house. Nopony was gonna buy it now, but thankfully Twilight had a rich marefriend, so she wasn’t too worried.

More than anything else, she just felt bad for Applejack on a lot of fronts.

Twilight felt a little more in control of herself now, was a bit embarrassed about how she used to run around yelling her lectures at ponies. 

Applejack had been told her whole life vampires were evil, came out of the woods, and did stuff like this. Rarity was doubtless the first vampire she met and it was hardly like Rarity did much to change her opinion on her kind.

You’re told your whole life vampires are evil, then one shows up and starts mocking you, calling you a mud pony, playing those vampire games Twilight and the other played. Then your land gets hit by a terrible blight right afterwards. Twilight could understand, on some level, what Applejack’s problem was.

Just like Twilight, she’d been lied to her, been run through the same propaganda machine to a lesser extent. It wasn’t long ago that Twilight shared all of Applejack’s state-mandated opinions and she only ever got out because Rarity helped her.

Twilight realized this might be the last chance for her to see Applejack. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to, had no idea how Applejack would react to seeing Twilight wearing a Blue Diamond jacket. 

Either way, Twilight did see Applejack near the edge of her farm. Even though this was clearly a lost cause, Applejack was still out there fighting up till this late in the day trying to hack the vines that were strangling her remaining apple trees.

Her little sister was there too. Twilight had only met the other two Apples a few times and it took her a moment to remember that the kid’s name was Applebloom.

Applejack was cutting through the vines and throwing them on the ground while Applebloom threw them into an already nearly full cart.

“Ah, come on, Sis!” Applebloom complained as she picked up a cut vine and threw it into the cart. “Twist gets to watch movies! This one ain’t bad at all. It’s about a puppy who never does anything wrong. I promise!”

“Now didn’t they teach you in school why you’re not supposed to be watching those?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, like a million times!”  Applebloom rolled her eyes and started reciting from the PSA. “’When you watch a movie, information violently assaults your mind, strangling your eyes and ears in a vicious grip. There is simply no way for you to catch all of the influences, blah blah blah’. But come on! How negatively influenced can I get from watching just one movie about one lost puppy? I mean, the ponies in Canterlot are supposed to be way smarter than the delinquents and I gotta watch their movie a billion times for it to sink in.”

Suddenly, Twilight felt a swell of empathy for Applejack’s little sister. This whole line of reasoning against movies was ridiculous, but Twilight remembered saying the same thing not long ago.

“First of all,” said Applejack, “don’t go talking like that in public.”

“Yeah, I know.” Applebloom sighed.

“And second, Granny Smith always used to say better safe than sorry,” said Applejack. “I was never allowed to watch movies growing up either. You don’t want to turn out like-“

Twilight didn’t get to hear if she was Applejack’s go-to example of a delinquent because the two earth ponies saw her a second later and stopped.

Applebloom quickly got behind her sister, while Applejack just looked like she was out of bucks to give, looking at Twilight pensively.

“Isn’t that Twilight?” Applebloom asked her sister in a hushed voice. “Did the vampires turn her? Is she coming to eat us? Do we gotta fight her?”

“I’m sure there ain’t gonna be any problems.”  Applejack said to her sister. “You go on home. It’s getting late anyway.”

Applebloom backed up slowly, clearly terrified of Twilight, before running off home. To be fair, if ten-year-old Twilight saw her current self she’d have run away too. 

“Is there gonna be trouble?” Applejack gave Twilight a weary look.

“Nah.” Twilight turned away. “I was just getting some stuff from my house.”

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Applejack said casually enough.

“Yeah, I haven’t been around. I’m moving in with Rarity,” said Twilight. “I’m mostly just here to get the last of my stuff. Hey, if you want my house you can have it for like a hundred bits.”

“Thanks, but that’s kind of out of my price range.”  Applejack managed a weak smile. “You still working at that bottling place?”

“No, I quite. I found a new uh, career opportunity.”  Obviously, Twilight couldn’t tell Applejack that she was once again an aspiring mage. Though she wouldn’t blame Applejack for thinking she was part of the black market now.

“Yeah.”  Applejack gave one last whack of her machete at the base of a vine before stopping and leaving it there. “I might need one of those myself soon.”

Twilight watched Applejack silently hack away at the vines, with a lack of passion, like the only reason she was even trying was that she was supposed to do.

She wished there was something she could say, but she wasn’t allowed to tell anypony the secrets of the forest.

“You know, we’re probably not going to be here much longer.” Twilight thought that might be good news, anyway. Surely just that wasn’t crossing the line. “Rarity’s getting bored of this place. She’s moving to another city soon and I’m going with her. Once we’re gone, that’s a twenty percent drop in the degeneracy of this town, right?”

Six months ago, Applejack certainly would have warned Twilight against following Rarity to some mysterious place. She likely would have expressed some disdain for Twilight moving in with Rarity, too. But there seemed to be a light missing inside Applejack right now.

Applejack dropped the machete and sighed.

“You’ll be here longer than me, then.” Applejack bowed her head. “I’m losing the farm. I only got maybe one month left here. Then I don’t know.”

Twilight had only really been friends with Applejack for a  few months before becoming her enemy by association. But even with just that the thought of her losing her farm just felt wrong. Staying here was the one thing Applejack wanted.

And where did you even go after Ponyville?

“Did they tell you the truth yet?” Applejack looked over at Twilight with an almost desperate look. “Are they causing this blight? Do you know anything about it or how to stop it? I’ll do whatever you want if you make it stop!  I don’t want to be the one who failed after twenty generations of us living here.”

There was a lot Twilight could hypothetically tell Applejack. Twilight knew that the amount of dark magic that radiated off her gang was insignificant compared to the flood that came from the forest unless you were close by. If the three of them had been working and living on her farm this whole time, they could have melted a few trees but from the other side of town, this wasn’t possible.

She could tell Applejack that it wasn’t that Rarity was causing a flood of dark magic, but that the increased amount of dark magic was what let her move in here. She could explain that monsters were shy or afraid of vampires and that the Blue Diamonds being here made monster attacks less frequent. She could say that vampires don’t eat ponies or maybe even go into Fluttershy’s religion and explain that they (arguable) weren’t truly against Celestia’s will.

Perhaps even more important was that Twilight did know a way to save Applejack’s farm, in a sense. If Applejack built up a resistance to dark magic, she could easily stay on her land forever and just move to farm some other kind of fruit. Though maybe it would be hard to convince her to go through with that.

But it was frustrating because Twilight couldn’t tell her any of this. Even if Applejack technically already knew they were vampires, telling her something she didn’t know might risk everything. She had little doubt Rarity wouldn’t just ditch her over something minor, but Twilight wanted to be worthy of the trust Rarity was giving her.

“Look, Pinkie really does have phantasmagorical mitochondria,” Twilight technically told the truth. “None of us have anything to do with this blight. There’s no such thing as vampires, okay? I would have noticed by now.”

Applejack just stared down at the ground.

“They’re still leading you on, huh?”  Applejack sat down and reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small pendant which she began to look over wistfully. Twilight noticed there were a few magical artifacts in the bag, including a blood dagger. Cuts from those could stay open for months. And yet it was the pendant Applejack held up when she noticed Twilight’s concern. “Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna use this. It’s too expensive for me to break. I gotta sell this stuff. You know, my family spent over three hundred years collecting this stuff and I’m such a screw up I gotta lose it all in one day.”

Twilight felt like she was stuck in a cage. So much to say, but unable to say any of it. She needed to somehow get Applejack to talk to the others, preferable Fluttershy, but there wasn’t an easy way to do that.

“Hey, why don’t you come to one of our parties?” Twilight offered. “You’ll see Rarity’s not so bad once you get past the fact that you two are mortal enemies.”

Applejack looked at Twilight like she was seeing that spikey mane for the first time.

“They won’t mess with you if I ask them not to!” Twilight offered. “The whole intimidating vampire thing is just a game we like to play; we’re not really like that. You can get free pizza and we can talk about like, economic disparity, how the system uses and discards ponies and uh, maybe other stuff?”

“Other stuff?”

“Maybe.”

Twilight imagined she’d already hinted at too much.

“Rarity’s been horrible to me from the start,” said Applejack. “My parents, my grandma, all of my ancestors, they’ve been warning me about her and her kind my whole life! And they were right. 

“Well what about all the other times in your books where Rarity showed up and there wasn’t a blight?” Twilight pointed out. “Just because two things happen at the same time doesn’t mean one caused the other.”

Applejack listened silently. She was listening, at least. Twilight sat down next to her.

“You know, there’s this thing in horror movies-“

“Horror movies? I don’t think they’re allowed to make those anymore.”

“Well yeah, but they still exist. See, they don’t let you see the monster because it stops being scary once you see it. If there were vampires, they wouldn’t be as scary once you saw them up close. We’re just delinquents, but I suppose we’re kind of the monsters of society, so the same logic applies.”

Applejack thought about it for a long time, turning the pendant over in her hooves.

“Maybe.” Applejack put the pendant away.

Twilight imagined Applejack thought Rarity was the only one who could help her with this blight. And she wasn’t too far off.

Twilight looked back up the hill and saw her friends were already there. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were knocking on the door to her house. Of course, Twilight disrupted the winds of dark magic, so Rarity quickly noticed Twilight was actually at the bottom of the hill.

“Ah, geez! I gotta go.” Twilight got up. “I’ll uh-“

Rainbow Dash was way too fast for anypony’s good and got to the bottom of the hill instantly. She immediately stepped in front of Twilight, defensively spreading her wings.

“We don’t want to listen to your bucking lectures, mud pony.” Dash started circling Applejack.

Applejack’s sorrow flared up into anger at that.

“Just tell me this. Are you causing this blight?” Applejack got up and stared Dash right in the eyes.

“Well I’d say no either way.” Dash stepped forward to glare at her up close. “So who the buck knows, dweeb?”

“Don’t say that!” Twilight called out to Dash. “She’s already desperate enough.”

“Come on, Sparks.” Dash turned to Twilight and hit her own chest. “Appledork ain’t a real threat. We got nothing to worry about.”

Twilight sighed. That wasn’t what she meant.

“And what do we have here?”  Rarity came trotting down a moment later. “You weren’t bothering my Twilight, were you?”

Twilight flicked her left ear to signal to Rarity there was something she needed to say in secret.

“Let’s just leave.”  Rarity made the signal and Dash started backing off. “We’re busy.”

“Hey!”  Applejack called after her. “You all keep talking about how much you hate lies and accusing Equestria of being the ones doing the brainwashing, but what about you? You’re lying to Twilight about what you are!  If you were her friends, you wouldn’t be trying to trick her like this!”

“Yeah, you’re right.”  Dash shrugged as she backed away. “But also buck you.”

“If they ain’t gonna show you the truth, then I will!” Applejack hesitated for a second, then reached into her bag and pulled something out.

It was that pendant from before and a vial of holy water! Twilight’s ability to sense light magic must have been degrading badly for her to have not noticed that.

Applejack pressed the vial up against the pendant she was fiddling with before.

“Hold on!”

But before anypony could react, the pendant absorbed the light magic, coming back to life and taking on a golden luster. It exploded and let out a flash of light that blinded Twilight even with her sunglasses on.

When it was gone, the holy water was half drained and the pendant was shattered, but it had done what it was supposed to. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were in their true forms.

Or nearly, at least. While they were both full bat pony, ear tufts, and everything, parts of their disguise remained. The color was dripping off Dash’s mane like wet paint and steam was coming off both.

Rarity spat something orange out of her mouth and stretched her jaw to give her suddenly reformed fangs room. Dash, meanwhile, seemed to have accidentally swallowed whatever that orange stuff was and was presently coughing it back up.

Seeing their transformation magic was one of the things they were still waiting until later to show Twilight, so this was the first time Twilight had gotten to see beyond that particular curtain and found herself transfixed for a moment.

While the two of them were stunned, Applejack charged to Twilight’s side and stepped in front of her protectively.

“You see?!”  Applejack pointed to them. “I was right! They are vampires! And every book I have says vampires corrupt land and eat ponies! If they were lying to you about this, what else were they lying to you about?”

Twilight needed to end this fast!

She grabbed the vial of holy water from Applejack and threw it hard against one of the trees, shattering it. The water gave off an acidic odor and all the vines near where it landed quickly withered and died, but the magic was quickly lost.

Applejack looked at Twilight in stunned horror as Twilight slowly trotted back over to Rarity’s side, Rarity laughing in amusement.

“Yeah, I knew they were vampires for a while now.”  Twilight stopped next to Rarity, who pulled her in close, affectionately. “And I’m fine with it. Sorry?”

“You think the jacket would have been enough.”  Rarity smiled, showing off her fangs. “Twilight belongs to me now. I guess that’s another thing your family has failed at.”

Given what Twilight knew, that was a lower blow than Rarity would normally go.

“Rarity.”  Twilight got a curious look from Rarity.

“What did I tell you would happen if you tried something like this again, Dweeb?” Dash started trotting around to Applejack’s side, wings spread, and head lowered like she was about to pounce.

“Hey, hold on Dash!”  Twilight tried to stop Dash before this went any further. She did manage to get Dash’s attention, but Applejack made one more mistake and it all fell apart.

Terrified, Applejack stepped back and reached into her bag. Twilight had no idea what magical artifact she was reaching for and never got to find out. Dash lunged at her and kicked the bag out of the way. Applejack fought back, trying to shove Dash out of the way, but Dash easily blocked and punched her hard in the face.

And then the two of them broke out into a fight.

There was a disparity in the fighting skills of the two of them. Rainbow Dash had decades of experience on top her of elite training while Applejack was a farmer. Applejack quickly went on the defensive before failing at even that and got pummeled to the ground by Dash in the blink of an eye.

Applejack was on the ground, bleeding with Dash sitting on her back and pushing her muzzle to the ground with one hoof.

“Don’t try to get back up!” Dash barked at her. “I could’ve killed you just now! Do you get that?”

“Now, now, there’s no need for that.”  Rarity waved for Dash to let up a little and started trotting around Applejack, starting her good cop routine. “But the fact remains that you’ve come at us twice now. What am I going to do with you?”

Twilight knew for a fact that Rarity wasn’t going to kill Applejack, but Applejack looked up in terror, clearly expecting the worst. Twilight had no idea how Rarity intended to ‘deal’ with things, but she had to say something.

“Rarity, she was trying to help me,” Twilight said to Rarity.

Rarity looked at Twilight with a little frown, listening but unhappy.

There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind whose side she would be on if it came down to it, but she didn’t want it to come down to it just yet. Leaving things like this felt wrong.

“She thought I was being brainwashed and tricked by you,” Twilight explained. “She was just trying to show me the truth. Applejack’s been told we’re evil her whole life so why would she expect anything else?  Maybe we can ‘deal’ with her by just explaining everything to her? I used to be almost as bad and that worked on me.”

“What?” Dash asked. “You want us to give this dork a third chance? Seriously?”

“Did you ever give her a first chance?” Twilight asked. “That’s not rhetorical even. I wasn’t here for that part.”

“I’m well past the third chance with her,” said Rarity. “The Apple family has been horrible to me ever since I was a child. They’ve assaulted me, killed ponies I know, stolen from me, told lies about me. I’ve already given their family dozens of chances despite all that but they never change. Why would I have given her a chance?”

“But now you’re blaming her for stuff her ancestors did!” Twilight pointed out. “That’s not fair, is it?  You have a predisposed bias towards Applejack because of her family. But you can’t blame her for it, she was lied to by them too.”

Rarity stood in defiance of Twilight’s argument, looking down at Applejack with disdain.

“You’re the one who taught me about bias! And this is a thing that can happen in vampires, right? You should be able to see this!”

Rarity’s disdain slowly faltered until she sighed and shook her head.

“I’m becoming like Mom, aren’t I?”  Rarity tapped her forehead pensively. “They do start blurring together. Thank you for pointing that out, Twilight. I think you’re right. In my mind, it was hard to remember that Applejack wasn’t her grandmother, but I shouldn’t have treated her like she was.”

“Huh?”  Dash’s disbelief bordered on disgust at all this. “What are you two doing?!  Rarity, she literally just attacked you!”

“You said you attacked Rarity a ton of times,” Twilight pointed out. “You tried to kill her even, but you changed!  You just needed somepony to help you, and so did I. Applejack’s just another product of the system, too! But she’s not going to change if nopony helps her.”

“That was different!”  Dash shot back. “Not everypony wants to change and I was- stupid. Guh!”

Rainbow Dash got off Applejack but kept an eye on her.

This was actually working!

“Okay. Fine! But we still gotta do something about this idiot,” said Dash. “It’s not like you just let me off the hook and I suddenly decided to stop going after you. What if she attacks us again?”

Rarity considered it for a moment. Applejack kept trembling, not daring to get back up.

“I do admit I was blaming you for something you didn’t do,” said Rarity. “I apologize. I’ll make you an offer like the one I gave to Dashie here.”

Rarity trotted over and knelt down to look Applejack in the eye.

“I can give you a job. Bow down and swear your loyalty to me,” she said, “and I’ll save your farm. You could be like my vassal, and I’ll make sure your family stays on this land forever. Nopony else is going to help you, because nopony else cares. But I always did like the idea of our little feud ending with one of you becoming loyal to me.”

Twilight looked down at Applejack, hoping she’d somehow say yes to that. But Applejack just remained on the ground, broken. Dash, meanwhile, watched her, her look slowly becoming more sympathetic.

“You know, I was in the same position you’re in once,” said Dash. “Handing your pride over to Rarity really isn’t bad at all. It hurts at first, but it’ll grow back.”

“Rarity is really nice,” Twilight said. “You should at least talk to her about this!”

Applejack slowly sat up. She looked out at her blighted farm then, painfully, at Rarity. Twilight could tell that the temptation was almost painful for her. Applejack closed her eyes tight like she was trying to block out the temptation.

In the end, she stayed silent for too long.

“Well I won’t judge you for your decision.”  Rarity signaled to the others that they were just going to leave. “I’m too proud for my own good, too. I would have done the same.”

Twilight still felt uneasy about this exchange but began to follow. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Wait!”  Applejack called after them. They turned around to see Applejack standing again. “I- can I think about it?”

“Of course!” Rarity smiled, satisfied. “We can talk about this later. You know where to find us. But come at night.”

Applejack turned to slink back home while the Blue Diamonds began to sneak off towards their own, cutting through the forest so they couldn’t be seen.

They didn’t talk a lot on the way back. Twilight wasn’t sure how to feel about that exchange.

It was a step in the right direction, at least. And Twilight felt like she did well. But it still didn’t feel like much of a victory.

When they got back, Twilight found that Fluttershy was still there. She and Pinkie were on a couch playing some card game.

“You’re finally back!”  Pinkie announced. “We were getting worried!  Getting all sunny and gross out there.”

Fluttershy turned to them with a smile at first but immediately noticed signs Dash had been in a fight.

“Rainbow Dash!”  Fluttershy got up with a little frown. “Did you just get in a fight? And right after I praised how civilized you were now.”

“Hey! I was literally attacked!”  Dash hit her own chest. “When you’re in a town with a high crime rate, you gotta defend yourself sometimes, okay?”

“Oh my.”  Fluttershy sighed before turning to Rarity. “Is this something I need to take care of?”

“No, I already did,” said Rarity. “But there is something I should tell you about. Apparently one of those beetle things went on a rampage straight towards the center of town today. It killed several ponies before burning up.”

“Really.”  Fluttershy thought about that for a moment. “It’s still too early for the dark storm to let it get that far. Maybe I underestimated how big it’s going to be.”

“Hold on, you already said it’d be a D6,” said Twilight. “Can they even get bigger than that?”

“It’s never happened before, but I suppose hypothetically it could go all the way up to D8,” said Fluttershy. “I think I should go check again. If it is bigger than I thought, we might have to evacuate Ponyville for a few days. I’ll be back soon.”

Fluttershy trotted over to the door.

“Stay.” Fluttershy pointed at Dash like she was a dog and trotted back outside. “I don’t want the four of you getting in any trouble while I’m out.”

“Goodbye, Mom!”  Pinkie waved at Fluttershy as she closed the door. “Thanks for giving us permission to get in trouble when you get back!”

But as soon as Fluttershy was gone, Pinkie turned towards the others.

“But wait!” Pinkie flew over to Rainbow Dash and started looking over her. “Who did we get into a fight with? Did the Screaming Skulls come back? Did some mysterious vampire DJ show up and we had to establish dominance over her?!”

Pinkie used her nose and that was the clue she needed.

“Oh!” Pinkie realized what happened. “You fought Applejack without me?  You know it’s been so long since we’ve seen her, I forgot she even existed!  Did you break her legs?”

“She’s fine. And it wasn’t much of a fight.”  Dash flew up on the balcony, suddenly looking distant. “I can tell she only ever fights monsters. Maybe I could have gone easier on her.”

“If it makes you feel better, this is soft compared to how you used to be,” said Rarity. “You didn’t even knock out any teeth.”

“You and Twilight are the ones being too soft,” said Dash. “I can kind of understand wanting to make peace with her, but if you offer her a job, she’s gonna be around way too often. And she’s still gonna be annoying even if she chills out.”

“Ah, but didn’t you used to tell me all the time that getting into a fight with somepony was the fastest way to become friends with her?” Rarity asked. “Maybe now that you’ve fought Applejack the two of you will become friends. That seems to be how it works with you.”

“Not always!”  Dash turned away like she was trying to think of a significant exception but couldn’t. “Just remember, even if she takes your offer, she’s gonna turn on us the second things start looking down.”

“Oh, I know. But I am good at getting other ponies to like me. I changed you and Twilight’s minds fast enough. Perhaps Applejack will be less stubborn than her ancestors. I really should have tried this from the start, instead of holding a grudge.”  Rarity gave Twilight a nuzzle. “Thank you again, Twilight.”

“Thanks.”  Twilight felt a sudden surge of pride at Rarity’s praise. Maybe this would work out. “You taught me so many flaws in my thinking that I’d never be able to repay you.”

“Besides, the more pure a pony is the more satisfying it is to see them become corrupted.”  Rarity ran her hoof over the spikes of Twilight’s mane.

Twilight still doubted Applejack would become a delinquent, trying to picture her as one was hard. But at the same time, like Rarity just said, the thought of her falling did have a certain allure to it.

“I’m more concerned about what’s happening downtown right now. If Fluttershy’s concerned it’s usually something bad.”  Dash pulled back a curtain to check outside. “I think we should all stay in the same room today and sleep in shifts. Maybe I should get my stuff out.”

“We don’t normally have anything to fear from monsters or dark magic,” said Rarity. “Though I hardly want to turn down an excuse to have Twilight in bed with me.”

“If that’s what you want, Boss!” Twilight nodded, eager for an excuse as well.

“I’m glad to see you’ve changed your mind about this.”

“Well of course I’d want to,” said Twilight. Suddenly her heart was beating faster, and she forgot everything but Rarity and her need to feel closer to her. “I read Smooth Move’s Guide to Attraction where he outlines 63 metrics in determining the attractiveness of a mare and using this metric I can conclude that you are objectively beautiful!”

“Objectively!”  Rarity leaned in close and fluttered her eyelashes. “I don’t think anypony has ever used that one before. You must like me a lot to be such a little flirt.”

Twilight had an entire list of items to flirt at Rarity with! Flirting with Rarity had to be her favorite thing to do right now, maybe even more than doing magic. Rarity always got really into it too.

“I have lots of metrics proving you’re the best, most attractive pony around too!” Twilight promised her.

“I’m hardly opposed to listening to that sort of thing.” Rarity pressed her muzzle against Twilight’s and the two of them were looking into one another’s eyes.

Twilight felt like she could finally stare as deep into Rarity’s eyes as she wanted, get lost in the emotion of it. That alone was worth everything Twilight had gone through.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go sharpen my claw blades.” Dash waved the two of them off and trotted into the other room.



________________________________





The entire gang was in Rarity’s bed, but technically they weren’t all sleeping together. Twilight was still awake on Dash’s insistence at least one of them would be all day. She’d have to wait just a little longer to see Fluttershy’s mystery power.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were asleep side by side at the part of the bed you were supposed to sleep in. Pinkie was sprawled out wide across the middle, lying on top of both, and Twilight sat at the foot of the bed, leaning against Pinkie’s head as she read a book.

Twilight, so to speak, was the night owl of the group. The three of them always got tired at around the same time, eight in the morning, and fell asleep quickly after that. No doubt it was some instinct, some modified circadian rhythm they all had, and that Twilight would have soon too.

But for now, she could easily stay up untill noon, or reverse midnight as Pinkie called it. Reading all the new books she had access to compelled her to stay up late reading. She knew it was mere impatience because there was no longer any time limit to get all her reading done. Twilight could live long enough to finish all the books in that vault and far, far more!

Pinkie muttered something in her sleep and started twitching. She moved around a lot when she was dreaming. Twilight gave her a scratch behind the ear and the twitching stopped. She wondered if something like that could affect somepony’s dreams.

And you know, if Twilight didn’t age anymore, she could spend years studying that. She could study everything! Forever!

Twilight smiled and looked over at the clock. She was supposed to wake Dash up in fifteen minutes and then it’d be her turn to sleep.

She decided to get a glass of water before waking Dash up and going to bed, so she got up and trotted downstairs.

Every day her new home looked brighter and brighter, despite being just as dark as ever. Twilight sincerely preferred the dark now, was glad the curtains kept it pitch black.

She got her water and was on her way back to the stairs when there was a knock on the door. Whoever it was, was knocking hard.

The rule for answering the door during the day was don’t. Most ponies knew by now not to bother coming here during the day.

But they did keep knocking repeatedly. It could be the police, they showed up to blame the Blue Diamonds for something every so often. Or maybe Applejack made her decision already? Twilight decided to at least peek outside and looked out through the peephole.

Twilight would have imagined the worst-case scenario, until just now, as being an angry mob made up of the entire town accompanied by hundreds of armed police officers. But no. That hypothetical army would have been preferable to who Twilight saw, made Twilight wish it had been just that.

Just on the other side of the door, standing in front of a group of royal guards, was the strongest unicorn and most talented mage in the world, the champion of Equestria, Twilight’s former idol, the student of Princess Celestia herself.





Sunset Shimmer!
> Chapter 14. The hero arrives.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight stumbled back and fell on her haunches.

Sunset Shimmer was here! Why was Sunset Shimmer here?! What possible chain of events could have led the strongest unicorn in the world to show up here?!

Coming downstairs was a horrible mistake!  Coming to the door was a horrible mistake!  Twilight needed to get back to the bedroom right now and wake the others up!

“I’ll just break down the door,” Sunset’s voice came from the other side of the door.  “If they’re not home, we’ll just search the place without them.”

That wasn’t going to take long!  Twilight turned and ran up the stairs.

She could hear behind her a spell hit the door, the crumpling sound of something being hit by a disintegration spell.  Sunset must have disintegrated the entire door!

One second after the door disintegrated, Sunset Shimmer teleported to the top of the stairs, to where that miniature room was, right in front of Twilight.

Now Twilight was face to face with her ex-hero.  She still had no idea what to expect of Sunset, but this probably wasn’t going to go well.

“Why were you running?” Sunset asked, though the question sounded more like an accusation.

“I-“  Twilight struggled to think of some kind of excuse. “This isn’t my house.  I was just getting the uh- Rarity.  H-hey!  Rari-!”

Twilight tried yelling out for her in hopes of waking the others up, but Sunset cast another spell, a silence spell, on Twilight.  The sound vanished halfway out of Twilight’s mouth.  She tried saying a few words, but nothing was coming out now.

“No yelling,” said Sunset. “If there are other ponies here, then I’ll find them.  But let’s deal with you first, huh?”

This was bad! Twilight needed some way to get back to Rarity’s room or wake the others up.  She glanced over in the direction of the bedroom for one second. Sunset picked up on that immediately, following Twilight's glance to the bedroom door, and deduced there was something there.

She cast a spell over the door to Rarity’s room, then gestured twice to one of her guards, who flew up next to the door and stood outside it, waiting.

Meanwhile, Sunset grabbed Twilight with her magic and effortlessly levitated Twilight downstairs with her, as though Twilight were as heavy as a feather.  Either Sunset was grabbing Twilight way too tight or Twilight was becoming less tolerant to light magic but being in her grip stung!

She mercifully set Twilight down at the bottom of the stairs, though she herself stayed about three steps up, keeping herself above Twilight.

She had ten royal guards with her and four or five police officers.  Already they’d dispersed into the house and started going through all the drawers and cabinets.  They were already ripping open couch cushions and the like, but to Twilight's disdain, they weren't making a lot of noise. Sunset must have ordered them to be quiet.

“If you yell, I’m throwing you in jail.”  Sunset looked down at Twilight.  “Just so we’re clear, you’re not dealing with the police right now. I can basically ignore the law whenever there's a state of emergency. Whatever lawyer shenanigans you’re used to playing won’t work on me.  I can literally throw you in a cage for no reason, leave you there till you die and nopony will ever even ask me why I did it.  Do you understand me?”

Twilight nodded.

She was so dead!

Sunset took the silence spell off.

"I've declared a state of emergency in this town," said Sunset Shimmer. "Do you know why?"

"N-no?" Twilight guessed.

Sunset watched Twilight very closely when she spoke like she could straight through her. Twilight had little doubt she'd catch a lie instantly.  Though right now that was a good thing since Twilight was sincerely telling the truth. Sunset looked almost skeptical for a moment like she could see Twilight was telling the truth but didn't want to believe it.

"Fine. I heard rumors that everypony in your gang has a rare medical condition,” Sunset spoke slowly, like she was trying to emphasize every word she spoke.  “Do you have a rare medical condition?”

Sunset looked at Twilight like she was waiting for the other unicorn to take the hint.

Twilight slowly realized what this must have meant.  ‘Rare medical condition’ was a euphemism for vampire.

There was absolutely no way Sunset didn’t know about vampires!  But did the rest of these ponies?  Probably not or she’d just come out and say it.  But how much did Sunset know?  The vampires and Celestia were supposed to have a truce so maybe Twilight would get saved by that?

But should Twilight give her any information?

“Do you understand the question?”  Sunset asked it like she was talking to a total idiot.

"Uh-! Maybe."  

"Maybe," Sunset repeated the word like she was handling poison.

"See, it's kind of a long story." Twilight's heart was racing.  She decided that stalling was the best bet. This commotion had to wake up the others before long.  "I've been to an optometrist because I noticed-"

“I'm not stupid. I've been dealing with delinquent filth like you non-stop since I was eight. I know when ponies are trying to stall. You only get one chance to screw with me and you just blew it.”  Sunset looked over to one of the guards tearing up the house.  “Open all the curtains.  It’s too dark in here.”

Now there was zero doubt she knew.

The curtains flew open almost all at once.  It got brighter than Twilight had ever seen this place.  Sunlight filling the room felt like a far worse violation than them merely tearing everything up.  The sun felt worse than normal, but Twilight was hardly a vampire for real yet, and could stand it.

But then Sunset took Twilight’s glasses off and Twilight could barely keep her eyes open.  She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone out during the day without her protection, but it was far worse now.

Sunset grabbed Twilight and forced one of her eyes open wide and looked at it very carefully.  Her eye burned.  It was so bright Twilight couldn’t even see what Sunset was doing for a moment.

“Hey!  You can’t open the curtains.  We have-“ Twilight tried to complain.

Sunset shoved Twilight to the ground and threw her glasses back to her.  Twilight desperately got them back on, feeling the familiar relief wash over her.  

“Yeah, yeah.  Look, I’m not stupid.  I know exactly what’s going on here.  Arrest this pony.”  Sunset grabbed Twilight with her magic and threw her at one of the guards.  Even the guard was taken aback by how sudden the command came.  “Like right now?  Get her out of here this second? Go?”

Twilight was in huge trouble now!  She needed to do something!

“Rarity!”  Twilight shouted as loud as she could. “Everypony!  Wake up!  We-!”

The guard punched in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and her glasses off.  He then wound up and punched her even harder in the face. And that guy hit hard!  Twilight nearly blacked out from the hit.  Her head rang and she struggled to regain her bearings.

“But let her keep the glasses.”  Sunset gave them to one of the guards.  “Even in jail.  She’s got some condition.”

But the guard didn’t give her the glasses back immediately.  Instead, he stomped down on Twilight’s side, even though Twilight wasn’t even getting back up yet.  Before Twilight could recover from being hit again, all her clothes were stripped off. A horn ring had been snapped on, her legs tied and she was being carried outside.

Just as she got to the door, Twilight managed to look up and saw the door to the bedroom open slightly, then immediately close.  Sunset teleported right in front of the door and then-

Then Twilight was outside and she didn’t get to see any more.

Twilight screamed and screamed for the rest of the gang’s help, but none came.  They couldn’t get outside to help her right now!  Twilight somehow had to get back in there, but how?!

She struggled but couldn’t get out.  She tried casting a spell, but that ring made dark magic impossible too!  In the end, Twilight got thrown onto a cart and was soon traveling into town, watching the house get smaller until they turned a corner and it went out of sight entirely.

The sun was so bright, Twilight couldn’t even keep her eyes open.  She was too dependent on her sunglasses now, which the guards did not give Twilight despite having been told to a moment ago!

It was only when Twilight got to the town jail and was brought back inside that she was able to open her eyes for more than a second at a time.

Sunset had been busy today. The jail was already filled, about seven ponies in each of the four cells.  And Twilight was pretty sure she’d seen several cages outside as well, meaning they expected there to be a lot more.  It didn’t look like Twilight was the only one the guards roughed up either. Half the ponies in jail had bruises somewhere on their bodies.  Two of them were in particularly rough shape.

And they weren’t done being rough with Twilight, either.  They threw her into the jail cell right after taking her leg bindings off, leaving Twilight to slam into the ground.  She was quickly learning that the police from Canterlot weren’t anything like the ones in Ponyville.  They roughly threw Twilight’s glasses at her next, but Twilight saw it as a mercy.

Twilight put them on as fast as she could.  At least she could see comfortably again, but now her eyes were burning.  The fact that Sunset let Twilight keep these confirmed in her mind that Sunset knew all about vampires.  At least she wasn’t completely without mercy.

But then why didn’t all four of them get arrested?  Maybe it was because Sunset couldn’t drag the others out here without burning them to death? Or she decided Twilight was the weak one and wanted her to bargain with?  Or maybe they ended up fighting and… hopefully, Rarity won if they did.

She looked up at the clock. It was about seven hours till sundown, at any rate.  Twilight tried to comfort herself by pretending she’d definitely be out of here by then.  Her gang would never just leave her here!

“I have connections!” Twilight warned them.  “Rarity’s gonna get me out of her in like, five bucking minutes!  Or maybe seven hours.  But no more than that!”

One of the guards, without saying anything, opened the cell, walked over to Twilight, and punched her hard in the chest, sending her down to her knees.  He then kicked her hard, sending her onto her side, before walking out of the cell and closing it again.

Complaining wasn’t going to work today.  Twilight got back up slowly, glaring at the guard.  He just stood there silently, not looking at anypony, not showing even the slightest emotion.  His stoic expression made Twilight’s blood boil.  This guy could just beat somepony up without feeling anything!

And nopony here was going to say anything. Nopony in this town or anywhere in the world was going to say anything except for Twilight’s gang.  They were Twilight’s only hope.

Rarity knew the law better than anypony.  She’d kept Twilight out of trouble so far.  And the one time Pinkie did get arrested, Rarity had her out in an hour. Maybe it’d be a little harder if Sunset Shimmer was involved, but she could still maybe get Twilight out too. There was that truce after all. That could maybe help! And she knew Fluttershy now, who had direct access to ponies near the top!

And if not, maybe her gang would come and literally break her out of jail. Then they’d just have to run into the forest and never come back. That wouldn’t be so bad! Probably.  Twilight would certainly prefer living in the woods for a few months at this point.

Though… the three of them could also just run off to the woods without her.  An image of them just ditching Twilight forced its way into her mind.

But no!  Rarity loved Twilight!  Twilight wasn’t going to let these invasive thoughts into her head.  The gang was absolutely coming back for her one way or another.

But what if she got dragged out to the dungeons in Canterlot before anypony had a chance to help?! Then how would Twilight get out? They couldn’t enter Canterlot without dying!  There’d be no way to rescue her and if Rarity couldn’t negotiate Twilight’s release then nopony in the entire world would care if she were left to rot away in a dungeon!

Twilight looked up at the clock and it’d only been three minutes!  Was she just thinking at the speed of light now?!

The first hour got slower and slower as the second hand struggled with every single tick.  Every possible scenario played out in Twilight’s mind in that first hour.  She imagined Rarity strutting into the jailhouse to demand Twilights release, either convincing the guards or bribing them or eventually breaking out into a fight with them all.  She imagined Pinkie showing up at the window just behind her to tell her one of a million plans.  Or the other three getting arrested and thrown in here after sundown.

And though she tried to keep them out, occasionally, a darker thought would creep into her mind. Being stuck in the Canterlot dungeons, growing old while the others stayed young.  Twilight getting released as an old crone only to reunite with a  still young Rarity far too late to change anymore. Or else the others just shrugging and deciding Twilight wasn’t really one of them yet so they didn’t need to risk too much for her and just going away forever.

If Twilight had been walking instead of pacing, she could have been in Canterlot by now.

At the end of the first hour, a new shipment of prisoners came, maybe eight or nine in total.  Importantly, one of them was Cloudchaser, one of the ponies Twilight was relatively friendly with.  Cloudchaser was one of the more delinquent ponies in town, which put her high on Twilight's list.

Cloudchaser was in rough shape.  She was wearing a black eye, like Twilight, but had a few other bruises all over her body, her forelegs particularly cut up and battered.  Her mane and coat had a lot of dirt in them, which made Twilight suspect she’d spent most of the ‘fight’ on the ground, trying to block blows. She was bleeding from a few minor cuts and it didn’t look like anypony was going to give her a bandage.

“Does anypony know what the buck is going on?”  Cloudchaser asked, looking over the crowd.  In the end, she decided that Twilight was her closest friend in this place and trotted over to her.  “Do you, Twilight?  I didn’t do anything!  Sunset just said I ‘wasn’t answering her questions fast enough’ and next thing I know they’re beating me up and then I’m dragged off here?  It doesn’t make any sense!”

The other two who were as beat up as her, Twilight had overheard by now, also felt indignant that they hadn’t done anything.  Twilight was certain she knew what was going on with the brutality now.  They were beating up a few random ponies and keeping them in sight of the other prisoners as an intimidation tactic.

“I’m in the same boat.” Twilight point to her eye, which certainly felt swollen by now.  “They just showed up at our place, punched me in the face, and dragged me off here.  Maybe it was the hair?”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Knowing those guys they would send an army out here to stop a haircut.” Cloudchaser tried to force a smile. “But why did they only arrest you? Did the rest of your gang get away?”

“I have no idea where they are right now.”

“Maybe it’s cause they got xerodermia?  And they gotta be held in a special cell or something?”

“Maybe.”

That was a possibility. Was there a vampire jail?

“Well!  You know, I don’t think either of us are in serious trouble,” said Cloudchaser.  “Sunset threw me onto a prison cart with like twenty other ponies.  Five of them got put on a train to Canterlot and the rest of us got put here.  So they already got rid of the ponies in real trouble. We're just being held here cause we look weird and they hate weird stuff. I think that means we’re okay as long as we don’t say anything stupid.”

Though Twilight got the impression Cloudchaser was saying that to comfort herself more than anything else.

“Yeah,” Twilight decided to steal her idea.  “I doubt they brought Sunset Shimmer down here to arrest a bunch of delinquents like us. She’s gotta be here looking for something important! There was a big monster attack last night, wasn't there? Maybe that has something to do with it."

“There’s been a bunch of monster attacks.”  Cloudchaser raised her eyebrow.  “Oh, right! You sleep in really late.  Well there was one big one with that uh, ether-something I think they called it?  Etherexalim… ether… I don’t remember.”

“A what?”  Twilight wished she’d been brave enough to study Applejack’s monster book now.

“Like some big lizard thing with a huge mouth that stands on its hind legs.  And it could move through walls and stuff.” Cloudchaser gave up on the name and shook her head.  “I never heard of it before either.  It got five ponies this morning, but Sunset showed up and totally killed that thing.  It is very dead.  But even after that, the monsters have been super aggressive since last night.  I never saw so many jackalopes before. My sister got a huge gash from them!”

Twilight wondered where Fluttershy was right now. Fighting monsters was largely a fake job for her, Twilight learned, but she was supposed to get involved when unusual cases like this emerged.

“So obviously that’s why she came here,” said Cloudchaser.  “But I don’t know why she’d be arresting everypony like this instead of going after the monsters.”

Twilight had a few possible explanations.  They could just be doing it to make it look like they were still in control of the situation.  Authoritarians needed to make constant displays of power.  But she didn’t dare say that out loud, not with that big, silent guard standing just a few feet away.

“They could be looking for somepony specific,” said Twilight instead. That was another possibility. Though apparently, it wasn't any of the Blue Diamonds if they kept looking after going over there.

“Yeah, there’s way worse ponies than us.  Oh, that reminds me!”  Cloudchaser got excited again.  “There was something crazy going on by the train tracks.  There was this guy, Rust Bucket I think it was, kind of a hermit, I guess. Sunset was over there just before we all got carted here.  She tore up all the floorboards and guess what she found?  There were like five dead bodies over there!  One of them was Lyra!”

“What?!”

“Yeah.  Sunset beat that guy to a bloody pulp and shipped him off to Canterlot.  He was actually in the same jail cart as me.  I woulda been nervous but- heh, that guy was a bloody mess.  If you think I look bad, you shoulda seen him.” Cloudchaser hit her muzzle. "But yeah, that's how I know they're shipping the real bad ponies back to Canterlot."

So a serial killer did kill Lyra?  And it was some guy Twilight never heard of?  Though that name did seem vaguely familiar.

At least that squashed another one of Applejack’s theories.  Rarity was a good pony after all!  She’d absolutely come to get Twilight eventually.

Four more ponies got brought in shortly after.  It didn’t look like any more ponies would fit into the cells after that.  Twilight and the others were practically sitting wither to wither, all the others trying very hard to avoid physical contact with one another.

One of the new prisoners looked particularly nervous.  Twilight didn’t recognize this guy, but she could tell he was eager to start talking to somepony to try and calm his own nerves.

“Ah, geez!  It’s crazy out there!”  He started talking to what was probably a stranger right then. “Sunset got into this huge fight a little while ago over on the far edge of town.  Down by the uh-“

The pony was drawing a blank for a moment.  That could have been with Rarity!  They were on one of the far sides of town!

“The millhouse!”

So that wasn’t them. Twilight was only half relieved. She would welcome any kind of update at this point.

“It was the craziest fight I ever saw!  Sunset really is as amazing as they say!  That thing was the size of a house and she took it down in like five minutes without any help.”

“Wait,” the other pony spoke up, “what was she fighting exactly?”

“I have no idea what that thing was.  It was this huge bug.”  He held his forehooves as far apart as they’d go.  “But it also had tentacles coming out of it?  She got over there before it hurt anypony and ripped all the tentacles out with her telekinesis.”

A third strong monster came out of the forest?  And that was just the ones Twilight heard of. Something was clearly very wrong here.  All the other ponies in the cell thought so too.  Twilight didn’t think the mood could get any more uncomfortable, but the cell quieted down completely for the first time.

“This day keeps getting worse,” Cloudchaser leaned back against the wall, wincing as her injuries were just starting to catch up with her.

“Yeah, but Sunset Shimmer will save us,” the nervous stallion assured everypony.  “I just saw her in action and she’s incredible!  She’ll find what’s causing this and fix it.”

And basically, everypony in the room save Twilight said something or nodded in agreement with that.

It was impressive they still had faith in Sunset even after she’d beaten them up and threw them in jail for no reason.  This was why they were in this position in the first place.

She looked up at the clock. Still, three hours were left. Twilight was only halfway to sundown. What was taking Rarity so long?

Two more hours dragged on and on until finally, they brought one last batch of ponies into the cell.  To Twilight’s surprise, one was Raindrops, probably the biggest goody-four-shoes Twilight had met in this town.  If Raindrops was here, they were totally arresting ponies at random.

“I’ll tell you everything you want!  I swear!” Raindrops ran right up to the bars and started crying  “Twilight’s been saying all kinds of horrible things for months and months!  Her gang has parties where they try to twist everypony’s minds!  And they have banned books and movies!  I even heard rumors they go into the forest sometimes.  She’s the one you want.”  Raindrops looked over the cell for anypony else she could snitch on.  “Cloudchaser has an illegal magazine!  I know where it is!  And Sunshower blasphemed Celestia just three days ago!  And-”

“At least now we know who our real friends are,” Twilight muttered to Cloudchaser as Raindrops went on.

“Yeesh.”  Cloudchaser rolled her eyes.  “At least you got Rarity to bribe you out of here later. Wish I had a friend like that.”

Cloudchaser saying that out loud made Twilight feel so much better!

“Thanks,” said Twilight. “You know what? When she gets me out of here, I’ll ask her if there’s anything she can do for you.  You’re one of the good daywalkers.”

“Heh.  Thanks.”

Raindrops stopped her plea mid-sentence and the room grew quiet again.  Twilight wearily looked up half-expecting to see Raindrops about to get pummeled, but instead saw a new pony striding into the room.  Sunset Shimmer was back.

Her unhappiness was less hidden than it was last time Twilight saw her, giving a pensive glare at each pony like she was a hungry lion deciding which elk to devour.  Needless to say, nopony made any noise that might draw attention to herself.

Sunset’s right foreleg had bandages wrapped around it now, just enough blood leaking through to give it a slight red tint near the middle.  But where did she get that wound?  Fighting Rarity?  That monster? The serial killer?  She could understand, from the fact that there was a list, why Sunset might be less chill now.

Sunset came right up to the bars of the jail.  She put her hoof on her temple and let out a frustrated sigh before speaking.

“Alright.  You.  The punk.” Sunset pointed at Twilight, her disdain peeking out from behind her controlled expression.

Sunset glared at Twilight, tapping her hoof against the ground a few times.

Twilight’s heart stopped beating as Sunset per her hoof on the door of the jail cell and slowly opened it.

This was it!

“You’re clear of all charges.”  Sunset pointed to the door leading outside.  “Get out.”

It took a moment for that to register.  Twilight’s eyes reacted first, widening, then her mouth, turning up in a smile, and then Twilight’s brain finally caught up with her.

Rarity must have done something!  One way or another she got Twilight out of jail!  It was the only explanation!  Finally, for once in Twilight’s life, nepotism had worked in her favor.

Twilight got out of the cell as fast as she could.  The guard took the horn ring off and handed her stuff back.

All the other ponies in jail didn’t like this move.  There was a rabble of ‘come on!’s and ‘seriously?’s behind Twilight.  Poor Raindrops looked like she’d been frozen in time, unable to accept her new reality.  Cloudchaser alone cheered for her release.  Twilight couldn’t help but get the tiniest bit of satisfaction from all this.

“I bet Rarity bribed them,” one pony whispered to another.

“She’s the one who gets out?!”

“This isn’t fair!”

“Yeah!  See that?”  Twilight pointed back at the jailed ponies as she put her jacket back on. “The spikey-haired punk is the only one who gets out.  Let this be a lesson to you.  Gangs are awesome.  Screw the rules.  You gotta-“

“Don’t push your luck,” said Sunset.

“Ah!  Right.  Sorry, ma’am.” Twilight bowed her head, then hurried to get the last of her things together.  “Forget everything I just said.  Praise Celestia.  Goodbye.”

Twilight turned to get the buck out of there but felt somepony’s magic grabbing her.

“Hold on.”  Sunset pulled Twilight back a little as she was about to walk past.

Sunset looked Twilight over very carefully, but her eyes never lingered in one spot too long so Twilight couldn’t tell what exactly she was looking at.

“What?”  Twilight asked.

“You’ve been here about seven months?”  Sunset asked. “And moved here from Canterlot?”

Twilight had no idea whether she should answer that question or not.  It seemed innocent enough and Twilight didn’t want to risk getting thrown right back in jail.  But she still didn’t think giving Sunset any information was a good idea.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing.”  Sunset let go of her.  “Listen. You're supposed to be back home before sundown. If I see you again it'll be a very bad day for you so try to avoid that."

Twilight nodded and got out of there fast.

“As for the rest of you,” Sunset turned to face the rest.  “Most of you are here for failing to cooperate.  Give me answers and-“

And Twilight didn’t hear the rest.

The first thing that struck Twilight was that it was enormously hot outside for fall, especially this late in the day.  It felt like summer, only now the bright sun beating on her back had that nasty, slimy feeling it’d been taking on lately.  The pegasi must have lost control of the weather yet again, this time having the excuse of all the chaos going around town.

It was crowded just outside the jail.  More ponies than Twilight even knew lived in this town were hanging around Main Street. It probably was more than the actual population, Twilight thought, if you counted all the guards that came in.

Next to the jail were several more cages the contained a few dozen more prisoners.  The whole area was littered with guards from Canterlot, more than you’d see even in Canterlot.  Pegasi were circling the skies.  Tents had been set up all along the side of the main road, several ponies looking like they intended to camp out here.  Even just glancing through the windows as she passed, Twilight could tell that the tavern, the church, and the school were all filled.

They must have all moved here from the edges of town, seeking the safety of other ponies.  And Twilight didn’t see any monsters around, so it was working. Twilight wondered if it would be better to stay here for a few hours until the sun went down.  Were the guards or the monsters a bigger risk, was the question.

Something about all this was making Twilight nauseous, jittery in a way she didn’t normally get.  The sun mercilessly pounding on her wasn’t helping either.  She was sweating now, felt terribly fatigued.  It made her want to get back home, back to where the others were and it was pitch black.

She decided to at least move to the edge of the crowd, where she could see just how many monsters were around.  Her legs were reluctant to carry her that far, Twilight had to force them along until she got near the edge of downtown.

The rest of town looked even more deserted than normal.  No ponies, but no monsters either.

She took a step towards the deserted streets and stumbled, her leg wobbling from weakness.  There was something wrong.  It wasn’t just heat or fear or exhaustion!  Something was wrong!

What if it was the sun? She should still be fine to go outside for the next several months, but-

She remembered the way Sunset had looked her over and that made Twilight wonder.  She ran her tongue over her teeth and there were no fangs. She put her hoof up to her ears and-

Twilight did have ear tufts! Not just a little bit of fuzz, but fully grown ear tufts! They might even have been bigger than anypony else's!  That must have been what Sunset saw.  Did anypony else notice?!  Maybe they were all too distracted by Twilight’s mane and black eye.

But why had there been such a sudden growth spurt now?  That wasn’t supposed to happen!  They told her she wouldn’t be able to grow full ear tufts until around the time they’d show her how their disguises worked.  Twilight had wanted fuzzy ears for so long now, but suddenly it felt scary rather than a cause for celebration.

Twilight tried walking forward, just to see if she could but found herself getting winded now!  She was sweating badly and already she felt like she was getting sunburned.

Obviously, the sun was affecting her a lot more than it should be.  They’d told her she would be able to safely go out during the day for at least another half a year, but Twilight honestly didn’t think she could make it back home now.

Did they… lie?

No! There was lots of weird stuff going on right now, this was just part of that! Whatever it was!

Twilight didn’t want to think about it!  She was too weak right now.  She needed to get out of the sun first because otherwise she’d likely collapse in the streets.  They had safe spaces set up all through town where they could rest during the day, Twilight remembered.

She looked and the graveyard was right there.  Rarity's family tomb, one of their safe spaces, was nearby.

Twilight tried making a run for it but stumbled a little shortly after starting.  If she fell, she wasn’t sure she’d get back up right now and the sun was burning.  Twilight just waded forward, relying on that initial bit of forced momentum to carry her to the tomb.

Thankfully, Rarity never actually locked this place back up.  Twilight swatted away the chains and stumbled inside, nearly falling down the stairs before closing the door behind her.

It was totally black in here when the door was closed, Twilight knew from experience, but this was the first time Twilight could see inside the tomb with literally zero light. Everything had a faint glow to it, allowing Twilight to make out the outline of everything just fine.  But still Twilight couldn’t make out anything but the general shape of things without light, whereas she’d been told a full vampire could see things in full color even without any light.

But who knew what was even true anymore.  Her eyes weren’t supposed to start changing this much for months and months!

Twilight sat down on the slab in the middle of the tomb and caught her breath quickly enough.

She already felt a lot better.

That feeling of dread was already dying down, even though there was literally no reason to be calm right now.  The only possibility that came to her mind was that she was out of the sun now. Rarity did warn her that her natural instinct would change to seeing light as scary and the dark as comforting, but Twilight never imagined it’d be like this!  This was way too much too fast.  And the others didn’t seem that scared of the light.

She'd been changing so slowly up until now!

Unless it was the case that you started slow and changed suddenly! And Twilight didn’t know how to use their transformation magic!  And then- she didn’t know where the other vampires lived either! Twilight basically couldn’t survive with them at all now!  The pieces seemed to fit together.

Her friends turning on her… not being her friends even despite her eating their fruit.  It was a dream even crueler than that horrible nightmare she used to have of them turning on her for not joining them.

Twilight winced and tried to shake the intrusive thoughts from her mind. She reminded herself that something weird was going on, strange enough to bring Sunset Shimmer herself here! And Rarity got Twilight out of jail so obviously, they still wanted her around! Twilight wanted to be one of them anyway, this wasn't a big deal.

Yeah.

If she did change fast for some reason that's just meant she could leave this place sooner, could run away into the forest if things went bad with Sunset. It was starting to make Twilight feel better.

But what if there was something important they kept from her?

No! Twilight was just having invasive thoughts again like she did until she met her friends. She wouldn't conclude anything until she saw them again and she would see them again. Twilight just had to wait till sundown.

She remembered where the hidden stash of fruit chews was and took them out, eating them more to pass the time than to satiate the hunger masked by her fear.  They tasted a little different than normal.  Better, but different.

Only another two hours left until sundown!  Two excruciatingly long hours!  Suddenly being back in jail didn’t seem so bad.

Twilight sat there in the dark, not even knowing how slow time was moving.
> Chapter 15.  Invisible fog
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight opened her eyes with a jolt!  Did she fall asleep?  She lied down to let her legs and eyes rest and blanked out for a while there.  She looked around the tomb groggily.  The fact that she was looking around it so easily snapped her mind awake again.

There was still zero light down here, but now Twilight could see everything perfectly.  It wasn’t that everything was giving off light, but Twilight could see them as if they were glowing.  She could see the color of everything, could see every color between the rainbow of gemstones that decorated the walls.

No!  They were supposed to be blue gems!  Twilight remembered that all the gemstones down here were blue or white.

She did have some idea of what might be going on.  Twilight looked down at her fur and it was a charcoal grey now.  Her tail was a dark blue with a white stripe instead of a pink one!

Did her fur change? Or was it just her eyes?  She figured that if her eyes had changed, and they clearly had, then she’d see her own fur the opposite way a daywalker would. So Applejack would likely still see her as lavender.

Twilight wasn’t completely transformed yet.

She felt her ears and the tufts were fully grown.  She might even have the largest ear tufts in the gang now.  That was something she would have been proud of not long ago.

But no fangs yet.  And there was no way to see what her eyes looked like now.  At this rate, she was going to be a full thestral within a day.

How long had it been even? If she’d slept until it was day again, Twilight was going to be so angry!  But she didn’t dare check outside without her sunglasses.

Her sunglasses looked different now.  They no longer looked tinted in any way, but like normal glasses with clear lenses.  Putting them on didn’t change her vision, didn’t seem to filter the light (or whatever Twilight was seeing now) at all.  So that explained how they were able to wear them at night.

She took them off and looked over them again.  They’d been a gift from Rarity.  The things Rarity gave her were Twilight’s most treasured possessions and Rarity had given her so much.  She wanted so badly for this to not be Rarity’s fault in any way.

Twilight needed to settle this immediately!  She needed to find Rarity and yell at her or something!

At least the glasses would keep daywalkers from seeing her vampire eyes.

She ran up the stairs of the tomb and cracked the door open.  No light came out, giving her the courage to open it all the way.  She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was night.  She could see just as well as she used to during the day, if not better, but it still looked like night.  Everything had the same sort of glow to it in a way that felt almost too natural, like Twilight was always meant to see like this.

The entire world felt different now, but none of it in a bad way.

The air was so clean! Twilight didn’t think she truly understood what ponies meant when they talked about ‘clean air’ in books until that very moment.  She’d spent what felt like the first half of her life in the most densely populated city in the world, then the second down here where the dark magic fouled the air in its own way.

But now it was like Twilight had just come out of a moldy basement and the fresh air filled her with energy.  Her fatigue vanished for a moment so now all Twilight had to worry about was her injuries and emotional trauma.  Maybe this was what the air was like in the mountains or at the beach, though Twilight just now realized she’d never been to either of those places.  She didn’t have a lot of life experience.

The other thing that struck her was how strongly she could feel dark magic.  It was everywhere, blowing from every direction.  Casting a spell would be so easy!  Twilight would barely have to put any effort into it at all.  But she still didn’t know how much magic she could use before having a seizure in her current half-thestral state.  She really shouldn’t test it just yet.  Not without Rarity around.

Twilight could feel two sources of wind, two sources of dark magic just then.  As always, there was the center of the forest, but also there was something off in the direction of Rarity’s house or perhaps the forest behind it. The wind of dark magic was strong from that direction, constantly flowing but occasionally breaking into a much stronger gust.

Was that them?  Or something else?

Twilight was fairly certain they could only feel another vampire from a few hundred feet away. But whatever was out there was far away, at least as far as the house.  She was headed in that direction, either way, would find out about it soon enough.

Twilight cantered off in the direction of the house, keeping an eye out for any monsters.  It was likely there were dreadstalkers around tonight and Twilight was alone.  Extremely alone.

Literally, nopony was around. There were no lights on in any of the houses and certainly nopony in the streets.  There weren’t even any royal guards on patrol, despite there having been a million of them earlier.

She could see the light from the center of the town across the sky, so the ponies down there were probably still okay. But something was foreboding about the light.  Twilight looked at the glow from town the same way she might have once looked into a dark pit.  The light was unnerving now.  Somehow being alone out here in the dark felt safer than that place.

Without thinking about it, Twilight found herself shrinking away from the light downtown as she moved on.

Twilight felt another source of dark magic, besides the two large ones, down the next road. She knew for a fact this was about the distance you could feel another vampire from. What if it was Fluttershy or one of her friends?

But there were a few monsters that radiated dark magic too.

Twilight decided that she was going in that direction anyway, she might as well check from behind the corner.

Twilight peeked her head around a building and-

Nothing.

The street was empty. She knew dark magic could pool up in places too, but wasn’t sure how much. So either she was feeling something weird or else somepony or something was in one of the buildings.

“Pinkie,” Twilight whispered loudly, but there was no response. Pinkie absolutely would have heard that with her freakishly good hearing.

Probably not her.

Something about being so close to this source of dark magic filled Twilight with a longing to get closer to it, almost irresistible. Without much thought, Twilight took a step down that street.

Twilight stalked forward through the clear night air, trying to decide if who or whatever it was to the left or the right of the street. If there was a monster, she’d at least be able to see it coming.

But as she got a little closer she realized that it wasn’t in either of those directions. It was coming from right in the middle of the street. But there was nothing there.

Nothing.

“Oh buck,” Twilight whispered and started backing away slowly. She knew exactly what this was. And she was alone.

This close she could feel where the monster was better. It moved from the middle of the street onto the walls of a nearby building, climbing up it, slowly moving around to Twilight’s side.

It was an invisible monster and Twilight only knew one of those.

Dreadstalker!

It was climbing on the walls like a spider! But at least Twilight could kind of see it.

Twilight slowly backed away, trying hard not to show it her back. It was trying to get closer before pouncing. Twilight needed to do something! Thankfully she’d read that pamphlet a million times! She just needed to remember all of it.

Dreadstalkers never attacked groups of ponies. Twilight looked around. There was absolutely nopony around and if she screamed it would lunge.

But no, there was another way! Illusion magic! It said they weren’t too hard to trick with illusions or dummies.

Illusion spell! Could Twilight do an illusion spell with dark magic? She could with light magic so how hard could it possibly be?

Twilight weaved her magic trying to cast the spell in the same way. The breeze she was used to was more like a gale now and quickly blew out of control, warping her illusion beyond recognition.

The illusions she created of other ponies did look a little like Rarity if Rarity were made of marshmallow fluff and was sculpted by a filly. 

“Are you buying this?” Twilight asked the dreadstalker hopefully.

And then the spell broke down and the illusions crumbled into specks of light, so Twilight never got her answer.

Twilight panicked and went with spell B, a shield of dark magic! The dark magic was strong right now and flowed into the shield hard, making it strong but wobbly and unstable.

She felt the dark magic around the dreadstalker well up and then it unleashed its spines. Over a hundred sprayed out in Twilight’s direction. Most of them dug into the ground, but the ones that hit the shield hit hard. Twilight’s control over it was wobbly and it quickly broke down, leaving two of them to stab her in the leg.

Her leg felt a little numb from the poison, but the instant death didn’t come. Twilight must be far more resistant to its poison now. Whatever damage getting stabbed did was drowned out by the sudden urge or adrenaline.

And then the dreadstalker pounced at Twilight.

Twilight tried pushing it away with her telekinesis. This time the winds of dark magic being more violent worked in her favor. She was able to push against it much harder than she’d ever been able to push against anything. She pushed it back just enough to keep it from landing on her.

But that thing was several times bigger than she was and strong. She wasn’t able to lift it and despite her best efforts, it was getting closer.

Twilight had to think of something!

And then a light appeared. Twilight felt it sting her eyes and hit her fur light electricity, sending a jolt through her. Somehow that light felt more dangerous than the dreadstalker to her mind! The dreadstalker agreed.

Both of them scrambled backward away from the light in terror. Twilight was panting, her heart beating even faster, but she did have a rational mind that the spider didn’t. She was able to gain control and recognize that this was another pony!

The pony’s fur was such a dark grey it looked almost black and her hair was a pale orange. Twilight remembered that everypony likely looked a different color to her now and checked the cutie mark instead. Three blue apples. Was this Applejack?

Applejack, if it was her, was armored up with metal boots, a chest plate, and a lantern, the source of the light.  She had a thunder lance, a spear imbued with light magic whose tip crackled with lightning. There was no way Applejack owned one of those so either this was part of Sunset’s posy or Sunset had been handing these out.

It didn’t matter who it was right now! Anypony meant safety.  

“Is somepony out here?!” Applejack called out, it was her voice! Applejack was looking around but she didn’t see Twilight or the dreadstalker. The latter was understandable, but Twilight was right there.

“Applejack! There’s a dreadstalker!”

The dreadstalker was circling Applejack now! Even with her here, there was a chance it wouldn’t back off now that it’d been attacked.

“What?” Applejack started coming.  “Twilight? Where?!”

“Right next to you!” Twilight pointed to where it was. Already the dreadstalker was stalking its way over to Applejack’s back. 

Applejack looked around, but couldn’t see it or Twilight apparently.  She wouldn’t even be able to keep her back from it and it got behind her immediately.

Twilight felt that same welling of dark magic once again. It was about to shoot spines out again. If even one of those spines hit Applejack she’d die!

“It’s right behind you! Throw your spear at it!” Twilight yelled out to her.  “Trust me!”

Twilight wouldn’t have blamed her for not listening after what happened last night, but Applejack did as Twilight asked. She turned around and threw the spear, electricity enveloping as it traveled.

The dreadstalker, no doubt unused to being seen, was caught off guard and the spear hit, blasting lightning off of it. But Applejack had hardly been able to aim for the head and only hit one of its legs.

Still, it was enough to sever that leg.  A spider leg twice the length of a pony fell to the ground, becoming visible now that it was disconnected from the dreadstalker’s magic, as the dreadstalker let out a screeching sound and green blood oozed out of its wound.

Applejack somehow found the courage to run forward and grab her spear while the dreadstalker screeched and flailed around. She swung it at the source of the noise, but this time the dreadstalker got out of the way.

It jumped over to the side of a nearby building, breaking the glass, then across to another one.  After two more jumps, it landed back in the street, near where it was to begin with.

“I think it ran away.” Applejack looked around despite it being pointless and let out a sigh of relief.

“No!” Twilight interrupted, pointing down the street.  “It’s still here! They fight back if you attack them, it was in the pamphlet. I can see it!”

Twilight pointed her hoof towards it, following its location. Applejack trotted towards Twilight, squinting to try and see what Twilight was seeing.

“How can you tell where-?”

Twilight felt another swell of dark magic. It was going to shoot more spines!

“Get down!” Twilight jumped back, tackling Applejack to the ground and creating another shield.

They were further away this time and most of the spines went straight over Twilight’s head. The few that did connect hit her shield hard but it wasn’t enough to break through this time.

“Now get the spear!” Twilight shouted at Applejack, knowing what was going to happen next now.

Twilight tried to slow it again with her telekinesis at the spider moved forward and pounced at them, buying Applejack enough time to get the spear back up.

Applejack blindly swung her spear around, having no way to tell where it was. Even with a leg missing and Twilight’s magic holding it, that thing was fast enough to keep away from Applejack’s blind attacks.

The dreadstalker quickly broke out of Twilight’s grip and scuttled around to their right.

“That way! That way!” Twilight pointed to the right as the dreadstalker tried to circle around.

Applejack swung her spear wildly, unable to see it, but that did keep the dreadstalker at bay for a moment.

“Here!” Applejack tried giving the spear to Twilight. “You can see it, so-“

Something Twilight had been afraid of happened. The light magic in the spear burned her! Twilight dropped it and that was the opening the dreadstalker needed.

It lunged forward, but Applejack must have heard it because she lifted her hoof defensively. Some enchantment on the boots made a small barrier of light magic that stopped the dreadstalker but left the two ponies pinned on the ground, Applejack just barely holding it up.

Twilight tried grabbing the spear once more, but it burned her too badly and the light magic burned up any dark magic she tried to pick it up with.

There was one other option that came to Twilight’s mind. She’d spent an entire semester pretending to teleport! And like she’d told Rarity a million times, she was certain she’d get it on the first go.

Surely a seizure wasn’t as bad as a million stab wounds and a dead Applejack.

Twilight did exactly what she’d pretended to a million times.

Anchor. Cut. Flow.

A tunnel through the winds of dark magic formed. Twilight flowed through it. She vanished and reappeared instantly just like she’d done over and over with Rarity. Only this time it was Twilight who cast the spell.

“It worked!” Twilight declared with euphoria. If she was having a seizure she was too happy to notice.

She’d done it! After hundreds of hours of pretending to teleport, watching Rarity teleport over and over for hours, and spending nearly two-decade whishing she could, Twilight finally teleported! If another monster ate her head right now, Twilight would have considered her life worth it all!

She took back everything she said about how stupid and pointless that class was!

But that euphoria was brief as Twilight realized she hadn’t teleported south as she’d meant to.  She looked down and the houses were tiny below her. She’d teleported in the wrong direction and that direction was up.  Way, way up into the air. But it was okay because-

Twilight heard a screeching noise and saw hundreds of spines appear out of nowhere and fly down towards the ground.

“You brought the spider with us?!” Applejack screamed at her.

“Crap! I didn’t mean to-!”

Applejack threw her lasso at Twilight, wrapping it around her hind leg.  Twilight got what she wanted to do.

Twilight teleported a second time before they could fall too far. They hit the ground hard and needed a moment to get up, but it wasn’t like they broke any bones.

Twilight turned around, still feeling the dark magic of the dreadstalker behind and above her.  Thankfully it was far down the street now and surprisingly high above Twilight, still above the rooftops, still falling.

Twilight watched, or rather felt, as the dreadstalker fell and fell for what felt like a long time. Then there was a huge crash sound. Even from this far away Twilight could see green blood burst out of its abdomen, splattering buildings on either side of the street.

The dark magic came out in a sudden burst then died down.

The dreadstalker died.

“Who wait.” Twilight stared at the mess in disbelief. “Holy buck! Did we just kill a dreadstalker?! I didn’t even mean to do that! Am I a badass now?”

Twilight looked down at her hooves.

“Well Sunset Shimmer killed ten of those guys so far today,” said Applejack. “So we’ve still got a way yet.”

“Maybe teleportation is just more powerful than I thought,” Twilight concluded. “You could kill dang near anything with that. Anything that doesn’t fly, I mean.”

“How did you teleport anyway?” Applejack gave her a skeptical look. “You don’t have any holy water and even Sunset needs holy water to have enough magic to do that.”

“Um-!” Twilight coughed. “Sorry. Kind of a vampire secret thing.”

“And what happened to your eyes?” Applejack leaned in close.

“What?” Twilight just remembered that they likely looked different. “I don’t know! What do they look like?”

“They’re glowing like a cat's,” said Applejack, “or, well a vampire. Not slitted though.”

So Twilight wasn’t at the next step yet. If she remembered correctly, and if what she was told was true, then it went ear tufts, glowing eyes, slitted eyes, and then your fur started changing colors. And once your fur changed color all the way there was no going back. Twilight was already halfway there.

“I was always under the impression it took years to fully change,” said Applejack.

“Me too.” Twilight lowered her head, shaking miserable. “That’s what they told me, but-“

“You think they lied to you?” Applejack asked.

That was the worst-case scenario. Twilight could deal with monsters or some freak transformation, but not that. And she couldn’t say no just yet.

“I don’t know! I don’t want this to be a trick, but-“ Twilight got up and started walking away. “I need to get back there. Thanks.

“Hold up!” Applejack called after her. “Listen, I was looking for one of y'all.”

“Look, we don’t have anything to do with whatever's happening! Or at least I don’t. I am the most confused, least informed pony in a thousand-mile radius. Trust me.”

“No, that ain’t it at all. I don’t think none of you do have anything to do with it,” said Applejack.

“Really?” Twilight’s ears perked up, surprised Applejack didn’t blame them for something.

“Sunset Shimmer came to my house shortly after yours,” Applejack explained.  “She clearly knew what your gang was and I asked her if she thought your gang was behind the fog and she said you had nothing to do with it. Sunset’s been telling everypony that this fog's coming from some new monster. And if that’s what Sunset Shimmer herself says, then it’s got to be true.”

That was one heck of an argument from authority, but Twilight restrained herself and let it slide.

That explained what that huge source of dark magic she felt was. That had to be the monster if there was one.

“I think I can feel that one too.” Twilight looked out towards what must have been that monster. The wind from it was far more intense than that of the dreadstalker, despite being so much further away. Every time she focused on it she got chills and a strange sense of longing. “Whatever’s out there is huge. Maybe not literally, but you know.”

“That much is obvious. Listen, I ain’t got one doubt Sunset’s gonna kill that thing and save the town.” Applejack scrapped her hoof across the ground. “But I suppose my problem is what happens after that. It’s not like getting rid of whatever monster’s out there will bring my farm back or get rid of all my debt. I dunno if I can take care of Applebloom or keep my land afterward. It’s already over for me.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She knew Applejack had problems, but there wasn’t anything Twilight could do to help with it. Applejack let out a long sigh before continuing.

“I was thinking I’d take that offer.” Applejack kept her eyes to the ground. “To work for Rarity. I know it’s the wrong thing to do, but the only other choice is losing my sister and my land. And Rarity was right, she is the only one willing to help.”

Twilight had nearly forgotten about Rarity’s offer to help Applejack. But if Applejack was willing to ‘switch sides’ then now was the best possible time for it.

“Yes! Great idea!” Twilight assured her. “Once you give Rarity a chance you’ll see she’s great! I know she’ll help you!”

“But you just said you weren’t sure if she was tricking you or what.” Applejack turned

“Well-“ Twilight looked up at the night sky. “No. I trust her! This monster must be what’s responsible. We just need to go find her and talk to her!”

Applejack nodded and stood back up.

“I suppose if I’m selling my soul to Rarity I can start by helping you get back to her.” Applejack held out her hoof. “If you decide you were tricked I’ll have your back. If not… well I’ll talk to Rarity.”

Twilight nodded with a  smile and reached her hoof out to Applejack. Applejack pulled away, reminding Twilight that most ponies still didn’t like being touched. Maybe she’d change her mind one day.

“Sorry,” said Twilight. “And thanks.”

The two of them started trotting to the south. It’d be a lot safer if they weren’t alone.

“Do you got any idea where they might be?” Applejack asked. “I went over there just after sunset, the time not the pony, and they weren’t there. Though I suppose they might be back by now.”

“Well they’ll most likely be there or at Fluttershy’s house,” said Twilight.

“Why would they be with Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.

“Uh!” Twilight realized her mistake. Even if Applejack was potentially on their side now Twilight couldn’t out her. “She deals with this kind of stuff, you know?”

“Do you think they’re looking for you?” Applejack asked.

“Yes.”

“Well then the thing to do is stay in one place where they can easily find us. That’s the best thing when you get lost. I don’t think Rarity’s house is far from here. We should wait there.”

Twilight nodded. She did want to get back home.

"Though I do got to ask you about this fog." Applejack glanced left, then right. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Fog?" Twilight asked. "This is the clearest night I've ever seen. What fog?"

"Are you playing some kind of game with me?" Applejack waved her hoof in front of her face. "This is the thickest fog I've ever seen! I can't see one thing besides it!"

"I swear I don't see any fog! Though my eyes see differently now," Twilight mused. "Maybe I can't see it?"

Twilight couldn't see the tinting on her glasses anymore, so why not this too? It'd make some sense. There was a mist at the center of the forest, maybe Twilight's brain somehow filtered this out?

“Well the more I hear the more certain I am this fog is what’s letting monsters come out of the forest,” said Applejack.  “Breathing it in makes you sick, but some ponies get hurt worse by it.  Me and my kin are just fine with it.  Most of the ponies from town are only a little sick. But then the ones out of town, guards and the like, they’re in real bad shape.  They all got bloody noses and I don’t reckon they’re gonna be much help if they stay that way too much longer.”

Nose bleeds?  Rainbow Dash said that’s what happened if you breathed the mist at the center of the forest!  But that couldn’t have gotten out here.  Could it?

“And are you sure this is a fog?”  Twilight asked.  “Or is it more of a mist?”

“I don’t right know how to tell the difference.”

“Right.  Well mists tend to have higher visibility ranges and are, uh-“  midsentence, Twilight thought of a much better way to get the answer she wanted. “More importantly, is it purple by any chance?”

“Purple?  Nah.  It’s normal fog color.  Maybe a little yellow, if anything.”  Applejack gave Twilight a suspicious look.  “Wait, so you do know about it?"

“What?  No!”  Twilight answered a little too loudly to convince Applejack.

“This stuff is real dangerous.  If you do know something-“

“Look, I-“  Twilight wasn’t sure what to say.  It’d be the worst possible thing if got back only for her friends to get mad at her for saying too much.  “I know about a purple mist, but this doesn’t sound like it’s the same thing.  If this isn’t purple, then I have no idea what it is.”

Applejack kept her suspicion.

“If I think of anything that would help, I’ll tell you,” Twilight promised. "Maybe Rarity knows about it. We can ask her."

“Well alright.” Applejack nodded and dropped it.

Though there was a little Twilight knew.  It was Applejack’s exposure to dark magic that was protecting her from the fog. Living next to the forest must have made her build up a tolerance.  It was strange to think it, but Applejack was already part bat pony, even if just a little bit.  She had been this whole time.

But telling her that would probably only make her even more depressed than she already was.

“I spent half the day in jail, then the other half hiding underground,” Twilight said instead.  “I probably know less about this than you.  What’s been going on?”

“Mostly just what it looks like.  Monsters and this fog showed up out of nowhere.  I’ve been trying to help, but it feels hopeless.”  Applejack spoke with no passion.  Her fight from when Twilight first met her was gone now.  “I don’t much know what they’re thinking.  They shut down all the trains out of town and blockaded all the roads. I tried getting my little sister out of here, but there just ain’t no way to get out of town safely. Everypony’s stuck!  They should be evacuating this place but they’re doing the opposite!”

“They probably want to mitigate any panic going on,” Twilight rambled off the explanation half on reflex.  “They don’t care about casualties down here, only their control on towns they do still have control over.  Ponyville was always just a lost cause to them, a buffer zone to dump all the delinquents.”

“You’re all so cynical all the time,” said Applejack.  “I’m sure they have a better reason than that. Sunset Shimmer's a hero and she's down here fighting for us! She wouldn't do something like that.”

Twilight said something like that not long ago.  Now she pitied Applejack’s faith in them even when they were screwing her over like this.

“Well I guess neither of us knows what our leaders are up to right now.”  Twilight looked ahead, could see her house, Rarity’s house, just ahead. “Hopefully I’m about to find out.”

They got back to the house. The curtains were closed again. There wasn’t any sign of a major fight, but there was a pile of ashes just outside in the front yard. Twilight’s mind slid back into its old tendencies and went to the worst possible conclusion.

Was this… them?!

In that moment, she would have forgiven them for anything.  She just wanted them to be alive now!  Twilight ran ahead of Applejack, into the house.

“Rarity!”  Twilight shouted as soon as she was inside. “Pinkie!  Are you home?!”

Nopony answered. Nopony was in sight.  The place was a mess now.  Everything that could be torn apart was torn apart.  The couches and chairs were all knocked over and every cushion had been ripped to pieces.

“Rarity!”

Twilight ran upstairs calling out for everypony.  She checked her bedroom to find it trashed.  She went to Rarity’s next and found it wasn’t torn up which meant… something?!  Twilight was too panicked to think right now!

Pinkie’s room was torn up and so was the library.  All the books in Rarity’s library were gone.  Sunset must have burned them all!  Because that’s what their lousy government did to banned books.  But then-

That was what the pile of ash outside was!  It must have been!  Hopefully! She had to be sure.

She ran back outside and over to the pile of ash with enough courage to poke through the ashes now that she wasn’t expecting to find any bone.  She quickly found a piece of metal, a scorched clasp that Twilight recognized from the cover of one of Rarity’s books.

So that was all this was. Twilight fell to her haunches in relief.

All those precious, irreplaceable books were gone, but all she could feel was relief.  She wanted to see her friends again.

“You okay?”  Applejack sat next to her.

“Yeah.”  Twilight nodded.  “It’s just books.”

Twilight went back inside, Applejack following behind.  

“But where could they have possibly gone?”  Twilight asked.  “I guess they must have expected me to come back before sundown and when I didn’t show up, they went looking for me?”

“Maybe they left a note somewhere?”  Applejack suggested.  She checked around the door.  “Not on the door.  Unless they hid it somewhere only you’d think to look?"

“Maybe.”  Twilight looked around.  Where would they leave it? There were a few hidden compartments she could check.

Twilight was too exhausted and frustrated to deal with this kind of thing! Maybe she should just wait here for them to get back.  Applejack was still looking around for a note downstairs, going through the sofas and chairs to see if one was pinned to them.

In the small sitting area where the stairs branched off was their favorite couch, the one they usually sat on.  It was the only one that wasn’t knocked over and the torn-up cushions had been put back on it.  But it wasn’t in the right spot, either, was pushed way too close to the edge of the stairs.

Twilight tried lifting it with her telekinesis to put it back, blowing the winds of dark magic around it like she was used to now.  It didn’t go exactly as planned.  The gentle wind she was used to picking things up with now came out as a violent gale that threw the couch into the air, smashed it through the window, and flung it out to the edge of the woods.

Twilight and Applejack both jumped back, equally surprised at that turn of events.

“What in the hay was that?!” Applejack stepped back.

“I dunno!”  Twilight wondered what kind of excuse she was going to give the others.  “I still have issues controlling my magic. Maybe the transformation is changing something? I’m fine.”

“If you’re sure.”  Applejack still looked concerned but nodded and went back to looking for a note that might not even exist. 

Twilight sat down at the top of the stairs and simply waited.  They’d have to come back here eventually!  Surely even if they were lying about the process, they’d at least come back to try and convince Twilight to stay in the gang.  Unless it was a particularly mean lie.

There was just so much dark magic around right now it wouldn’t surprise Twilight that the others couldn’t use it to find her.  All Twilight could feel was that thing in the woods.  It was getting stronger.  Whatever was out there was getting closer.

Twilight knew that should terrify her.  It could very well be the biggest, most horrible monster she’d ever imagined crawling towards her.  But Twilight’s instincts were off the rails.  She didn’t feel any fear, not about whatever was coming closer anyway.

No, Twilight felt a longing towards it.  It felt safe out there, better out there.  Staying here was almost painful like she was stuck inside, watching all her friends laughing and having fun without her just out of reach.  

The thought crossed her mind that maybe they were out there.  Maybe they ran into the woods and were happy out in the forest.  What if they left her in this cruel place while they got to be in the forest?

Being here was unbearable! She wanted so badly to be with her friends in the forest where it was safe!

Only- only it wasn’t safe out there and she had no idea if any of them were even out there.  Maybe her instincts were changing.  Maybe that was driving her crazy. She felt crazy, her thoughts were crazy.

“Applejack!”  Twilight needed to tell somepony, to warn Applejack. “I want to go out into the forest.”

“What?”  Applejack raised her eyebrow.  “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know!  I feel like I’m going crazy over here!” Twilight held her head, trying to keep the crazy in.  “The transformation must be messing with my brain.  I knew that was part of it, but they didn’t say it’d be this bad.”

“Well how bad is it?” Applejack ran up the stairs to be next to her.

“Like-“ Twilight felt it getting worse.  “Maybe you should tie me up?”

“I’m a little worried what your friends might do if they came home to find me here and you tied.”

“Please!”

Applejack realized how serious Twilight was being and nodded in agreement.  She took a rope out of her bag, Applejack always carried that lasso around and tied Twilight’s foreleg to the banister of the stairs.  Twilight knew she’d be able to get out of this no problem, especially with how strong her magic was right now.  But it was something. She might not be able to teleport because she'd have to take most of the banister with her to do it, though even that wasn't certain. And it did calm her nerves just a little.  Twilight couldn’t suddenly bolt.

“But if your gang shows up you gotta tell them straight away,” said Applejack.

“Right.”  Twilight nodded.

Twilight tried breathing in and out slowly, trying to clear her mind.  It didn’t work out so well as clearing her mind only made her ability to feel dark magic stronger.

She could feel it now! Things outside disrupting the fields of magic, monsters no doubt.  This new feeling at least gave her something to focus on, but soon Twilight came to a worrying realization.

Something pretty big was close and getting closer fast.  It was moving straight towards the house like it was, was running right at them.

“Applejack, I think there’s something I need to tell you,”  said Twilight.  “See my kind can feel dark magic, right?”

“Okay.”  Applejack nodded, but Twilight could see she didn’t like where this was going.

“And that means I can feel it when monsters are getting close. That's how I saw the dreadstalker before. ”

“Ah, heck.  Do you know what type it is?”  Applejack was already looking for the monster.

“I don’t think I can do that yet, but it’s that way.”  Twilight nudged her muzzle in the direction it was coming from.  “I think it’s big but not huge if that makes sense?”

“Not really, but I’ll watch out.”

Applejack turned in the right direction and got her machete ready. Twilight wished they could have somehow seen where that spear landed and gotten it back.

“It’s really close now!” Twilight called out to her.  “Get ready!”

The monster was right in front of the house now!  Up at one of the second-story windows!  Twilight got ready to cast a spell if she needed to.  At least her new dark magic powers could be useful here.

The thing didn’t shatter the window, but simply opened it up and peeked inside.  Twilight saw glowing, violet eyes peering in at them from the window.  Once it saw them, the monster zipped inside, allowing Twilight to finally see that it was a pony.

She was wearing armor like that of the secret guard.  Most of her was covered in leather armor, though her front two boots were metal and armed with claw blades.  Her muzzle was covered with the signature scarf and her mane hidden under a hood. 

The only difference was that the whole thing was dyed in purples and blues and the symbol on the chest piece had been torn off.

“What is it?”  Applejack whispered and crouched down defensively, likely unable to see anything but two glowing eyes.

“It’s-“  The answer finally clicked with Twilight.  She’d never seen Rainbow Dash wearing any of it, but this was her ‘gear’ that Rarity was always telling her to not take out. “Rainbow Dash!”

Dash gave her one nod of acknowledgment before turning to Applejack.  Dash flicked her wrist, the claws attached to her boots swinging out with a shing. 

“Applejack,” Dash said with restraint.  “What the buck are you doing?”

“Now see, this is exactly what I was worried about.”  Applejack sat down and put her hooves up in surrender immediately.

“It’s not what it looks like!”  Twilight called out fast before this escalated.  “Applejack was helping me.”

“Helping you what?” Dash gestured for Applejack to get out of the way and she did without a fuss.  With her out of the way, Dash flew to Twilight’s side and cut the ropes  “We were worried sick about you!  You weren’t seriously out here playing with Applejack the whole time, were you?”

Twilight’s nerves were shot right now.  Just that little bit of hostility from Dash was enough to bring her anger bubbling back up. She wanted answers right now!

“No!  Tell me what’s going on!”  Twilight gave Dash a shove.  “Right now!”

“Huh?”  Dash effortlessly blocked the hit from sheer reflex, despite being stunned.  

“What did you do to me?!” Twilight slapped at Dash repeatedly, doing zero damage as Dash blocked every one.

“I didn’t do buck! I’ve been looking for you all night and-“  Dash stopped when she noticed Twilight’s eyes.

Dash could see straight through Twilight’s glasses, could see her glowing eyes.

“Whoa!”  Dash grabbed Twilight’s cheek and pulled her closer to make sure. “How the buck did your eyes change so fast?!”

“You tell me!” Twilight slapped Dash’s hooves off her, then tried to shove Dash again, but Dash blocked.  “You said it’d take years!  You were lying!”

“What?!”  Dash blocked another slap.  “Hey!  Look, I have no idea how this happened!  I’ve never even heard of somepony changing this fast!  Something is seriously wrong here!  We gotta go get Fluttershy.”

“This isn’t what you said would happen!  Were you lying to me?!”

“I’m telling you that whatever the buck is happening to you isn’t normal!”  Dash shouted back at Twilight loud enough to momentarily make Twilight back down.  “This is freaking me out too!  We need to-!”

“The last time I trusted you was-!”  Twilight hit Dash and was blocked yet again.  “You’d better be able to prove you didn’t lie to me!  And-!  And-!”

“Okay, fine!”  Dash threw her forelegs open, clearly not going to block any more punches.  “If it’ll make you calm down, go ahead and bucking hit me!”

Twilight wound up to punch Dash hard in the chest but faltered before she could land the blow.

“I don’t want to anymore.” Twilight let her head fall, landing against Dash’s chest. "I'm sorry!"

Dash was quick to close her forelegs around Twilight, holding her close, protectively.  She let Twilight sob silently against her chest. Twilight allowed herself a moment of comfort.  Dash was likely telling the truth.

“You don’t gotta cry, you got me here now!  I’ll get you to Fluttershy.  I really don’t know what’s going on with you, but Fluttershy is way older.  She knows everything, okay?  She’ll help.”  Dash stroked Twilight’s back gently, then pointed at Applejack.  “You get out of here.  This doesn’t concern you, daywalker!”

“Look, I came here to talk to you about Rarity's offer." Applejack kept her hooves up. "I want to talk to her first, but I am tempted to take it."

Dash held on to Twilight tight and watched Applejack carefully like she expected the earth pony to try and snatch Twilight away.

“She was helping me,” said Twilight.  “I got stuck cause of the sun and she helped get over here and- I feel like I’m going crazy over here!  The light makes me freak out now and I feel this horrible pull towards the forest!  I feel like any minute now I might snap and run inside.  That’s not supposed to happen, is it?”

“No,” said Dash.  “I mean, you feel all that stuff, but not like how you described it."

Dash kept her glare on Applejack while Twilight spoke and remained silent a moment longer.  She glanced over at the ropes, no doubt just now realizing why Twilight was tied up.

“I don’t got time to fight you.”  Dash dismissed the notion with a flick of her claws.  “I gotta make sure Twilight’s okay first.  Fluttershy’s deeper in the forest, near that monster.”

“Did you see it?” Applejack asked.

“Nopony's saw that thing.”  Dash jabbed her claws towards somewhere deep in the forest.  “You see fog, right?  Well there’s some new monster, one even Fluttershy’s never seen before, and it breathes that stuff out.  Guess our fearless leader mistook that thing for a coming dark storm which is how it got so close. That fog shields the other monsters from Equestria’s light magic so that’s why they’re coming out now. But it's too thick around it so even we can't see what it looks like.”

“So it is true!”  Applejack smacked her forehooves together.  “And if we take that thing out, things go back to normal?”

“Probably.”  Dash shrugged.  “That’s what Fluttershy and that stupid unicorn think, anyway.  All the try-hards are over there trying to get close to it.  But Rarity told me to find Sparks, not go fight some monster.”

Rarity!

“Dash!  Where’s Rarity?”  Twilight asked.  “I want to talk to her.”

“Rarity’s fine last I saw her.  Her and Pinks are looking for you downtown” said Dash.  “But she’s gonna have to worry a little longer.  We gotta have Fluttershy look at you first.”

“And why didn’t you leave me a note or something?!”  Twilight demanded.

“We did leave a note.”

“What?  Where?!”

“On the couch.  Where we always sit?”  Dash looked over to where the couch was, then the broken window. “I dunno how the buck it got outside, but it was in here when we left.”

“Oh.”  Twilight hung her head in embarrassment.  “Maybe I accidentally did that?”

Dash frowned at her with pity, clearly misunderstanding why she threw the couch out the window but getting her general insanity.

“Maybe you better not go out then,” said Dash.  “It’s dangerous out there, especially if we're getting close. It’d be better to bring Fluttershy over here.  Though I can’t go get her without leaving you alone which is also a bad idea.”

Dash crossed her forelegs and thought about the situation.

“I’ll stay with her,” Applejack offered.  “If you want.”

Dash glared at her, looking almost offended at the suggestion.  But Twilight knew Dash and the fact that she didn’t immediately curse Applejack out meant she was thinking about it.

“I realize I don't have anything to go back to when this is over," said Applejack. "I found out there really was a serial killer, but it wasn't any of you three. And Rarity's the only one willing to help me right now. "Maybe I was wrong...

Dash held Twilight possessively like she was worried Applejack might try to steal her.  But she still considered the idea in silence, glaring at Applejack through the darkness.

Then Dash finally let go of Twilight.  She took off her left claw blade and slid it over to Applejack.  

“I never used one of these before.”  Applejack tried it on, replacing her right boot with this one.

“Just go like that.” Dash swiped her right hoof. “It’ll hurt whatever you hit way more than a kick.  Those blades are dangerous so don’t cut yourself, huh?”

Applejack nodded.

“I can be back in fifteen minutes,”  said Dash. "Do you think you can hold out that long?"

"I am feeling a little better now." Twilight nodded.

Dash started trotting away but turned back to Applejack one last time.

“And just so we’re clear, if you do anything to Twilight I’m going to hunt you down and kill you.”

Dash jumped back onto the windowsill, then flew off into the night.  Subconsciously, Twilight took a step after her.  She felt a pull towards the dark magic that surrounded Rainbow Dash as she left, felt herself being pulled outside.

Letting Dash leave was a mistake.  That was what was keeping her calm!

Already the draw was back towards that massive pool of dark magic, Dash’s magic submerged in it completely as she moved there herself.  Twilight knew it must be where that horrible monster was, but the urge to go over there was insatiable.

“Well you seem a tad better now.”  Applejack looked over the trembling Twilight.  “You want me to tie you up still?”

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore!  She had to get there!  She had to!

Twilight stood up and ran towards the shattered window.  She wasn’t even thinking anymore!  She’d just jump!  Get there faster!

Applejack saw Twilight running and, in a panic, tackled Twilight to the ground.  Twilight needed to get free!  Get to that dark magic!

She flailed as hard as she could, but Applejack was way stronger.

Magic!

Twilight tried grabbing Applejack with her magic and throwing her off.  She didn’t have enough concentration or control to pry Applejack’s tight grip away, so she just tried throwing the other mare off entirely.

In the end, she sent both flying across the room, up the second flight of stairs, and into the wall next to Rarity’s room.  But even through all of this, Applejack remained steadfast.

Magic again!

Twilight could teleport now! There was enough magic!  It could totally maybe work!  She had to use it to get over there!

Twilight tore through the wind, only managing a little because of how hard it was blowing, and teleported through the path.

She reappeared in the woods, not nearly all the way there, it was too hard to get all the way there in one go.  But she was closer.

The forest was good! But Twilight needed more!

The only problem was that she had brought Applejack with her, was still pinned underneath the earth pony.

“Get off!”  Twilight shouted at her and tried to shake Applejack off her back.

“No!”  Applejack gripped tight.  “I ain’t letting go!  You gotta come to your senses!  What you’re doing is crazy!”

It didn’t matter! Twilight was getting closer!  That was all she cared about.

Twilight teleported again. She was so close!  She could feel the dark energy surrounding her!

“Sorry about this, Twilight!”  Applejack landed a hard blow to the back of Twilight’s head.

Twilight saw a flash of white light and fell to the ground, her mind blank for a moment.  She got up a moment later, the back of her head throbbing.

“Ah, dang it!” Applejack looked down at Twilight nervously.  “I honestly thought that’d knock you out!  Never actually tried doing it before.”

Maybe the blow cleared her mind a little, or maybe it was being closer to the dark magic, but Twilight felt a bit more in control again.  There was so much dark magic pouring out from something just a little bit ahead.

She could see something down there.  There was a purple mist!

It was streaming out of somewhere and quickly dissipating, but at its source was so thick Twilight could only make out a vague silhouette of the monster in the center.  It wasn’t too big, but Twilight couldn't make out its shape.

And it looked like Twilight wasn't the only monster drawn to its dark magic. She could see timber wolves off to one side of it and a lot of them.  It seemed like they too were trying to get as close to the monster as possible, slowly approaching then backing away quickly as if something had burned them.

Twilight realized that the mist monster wasn't just sitting there. It was meandering about slowly, but in Twilight's direction.

“That’s not good.” Twilight watched whatever it was approach in horror.

“What’s not good?” Applejack coughed hard and squinted off in the direction she was looking.  “I can hear a lot, but I can’t see one thing!”

“It has to be the monster Dash was warning us about!  There are monsters all over the place!”  Twilight grabbed Applejack.  “I gotta teleport us out of here!”

“If you’re going back the other way.”  Applejack quickly grabbed onto Twilight, suddenly starting to cough much harder. Twilight noticed a small trickle of blood coming from her nose.

Twilight tried clearing a path again, but now it went way too far!  Twilight lost control of the path and it vanished.  She tried again but overshot it even worse the second time.  There was just way too much dark magic around here for Twilight to properly control. Then Twilight started to feel a familiar chill wash over her, her legs becoming jittery.

So she wasn’t immune yet?!

“Twilight!”  Applejack coughed.  She was breathing heavily now.  The dark magic here must have been enough to break through her resistance.  “Maybe- maybe we should just run for it?”

Applejack looked around but wasn’t sure where to even run. She likely couldn't even tell what direction the monsters were in.

Twilight needed to try one more time.  Even if she collapsed afterward and ended up somewhere completely random and far away, that’d be better than here!  She started trying to clear another path but was interrupted when the dark magic was blown away.

A beam of light, a massive laser that must have come from a powerful unicorn, blasted out from the darkness, lighting up the forest.  It slammed into mist as if it were a forcefield, the light splitting around it.

The beam didn’t hurt the mist monster one bit, but everything around it recoiled.  Several of the timberwolves broke apart into charred sticks and everything that wasn’t burnt up by the shot scattered in every direction.

But that included Twilight’s direction!  A whole mob of timberwolves was run towards them

“That cleared up the fog a bit.”  Applejack looked around with some amount of vision restored.  Sadly not enough to see the wolves.  "That had to be Sunset and the others! f you can’t get us out of here, we gotta get their attention.”

Applejack reached into her bag and pulled out a small flare.  She lit it and fired in the direction the spell came from a moment ago.

Twilight had no idea if anything even saw it, but the timberwolves were closing in now.  They were coming for the two ponies, not just running away now.

“Applejack!”  Twilight used her telekinesis to shove the timberwolves out of the way.  She was so much stronger here; it broke several of them apart.

But now she’d crossed the line.  She was overloaded with dark magic and fell to the ground when her legs started to spasm.

The timberwolves didn’t break and run, either.  They were the type of monster to stand their ground and the remaining ones lunged forward with determination.

At least they were close enough for Applejack to see.  She unhinged the claws on her boot and swung them at one of the timberwolves. Whatever magic was in the blades killed the thing almost instantly, leaving it to fall to the ground as a pile of wood which quickly began to crumple up, partially disintegrating.

“These are good!”  Applejack looked down at her claw blades, impressed.

But she only had a second to be impressed.  Already the two of them were surrounded by wolves.  Applejack kept her back against Twilight as she looked carefully from wolf to wolf, trying to see which would attack first.

Several moved in at once. Once pounced on Applejack, leaving Twilight open for another incoming wolf.  She tried to hit it with a spell again, but found her body seizing up when she tried. The timberwolf pounced on her and slashed her hard across the chest.

“Twilight!”  Applejack got the first wolf off her and turned back in horror, but before she could help another one landed on top of her.

Twilight looked down at her chest.  It was bleeding terribly!

Another explosion of light magic erupted from somewhere behind Twilight, staggering her and all the wolves.  A moment later a new pony came in, flying down from the air and landing on top of the timberwolf that was trying to eat Twilight, killing it with a blow from her claw blades.

Twilight’s weary mind reeled but soon recognized the outfit.  It was Rainbow Dash!

“D-Dash!”  Twilight tried to step towards her but couldn’t manage that much.

“Twilight!”  Dash landed next to Twilight.  “What the buck are you doing here?!  I specifically-!  Whoa!”

Dash looked at the wound on Twilight’s chest in horror.  It was bleeding badly, but she could barely feel it.  Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked!

“It’s okay.”  Twilight pressed her hoof against it.  “It doesn’t hurt that much!  I’ll be- be-”

Twilight’s vision blurred. She saw Fluttershy coming over next, fluttering to the ground between Twilight and the other wolves with no fear of the monsters at all.

“Oh my.”  Fluttershy looked down at Twilight with a look of pity.

Twilight’s vision blurred away completely, and she fell flat on the ground.
> Chapter 16.  Sermon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was in her dorm room in Canterlot.  It felt claustrophobic compared to her new bedroom, just a bed and a bookshelf with almost zero space left over.  Everything was tight like that in Canterlot.

Exasperating the feeling, Twilight couldn’t read the titles of any of her books, they just kept blurring.  She was looking for her transmutation textbook, but how could she find it if she couldn’t read the titles?  And the color of the books kept changing too.  She’d look away for one moment and a book would change from green to red.

She was getting more and more frustrated!  But then Fluttershy came in and sat down next to her.  Twilight looked over to see the pegasus, or rather the bat pony, smiling back at her with her little fangs.  Fluttershy didn’t look at all scary like this, but friendly.  Having a vampire around was comforting.

“Twilight.” Fluttershy grabbed Twilight in a hug. “What’s something you like?”

Twilight felt a sense of warmth and comfort overtake her, drowning out her frustration.

“No, I don’t think I can use Rarity.”  Fluttershy laughed.  “Oh! But that works.”

Fluttershy took a step back and held up a book, the one about dark magic that Rarity gave to Twilight.

“When you see this book,” said Fluttershy, “you have to pay attention.”

And then suddenly a lot of things made less sense.  Twilight looked around, just now wondering why she was back in Canterlot.  She’d been in her old dorm room for a few minutes, but she hadn’t thought to question that.  More alarming than that, parts of the room were blurry, almost like Twilight was wearing glasses with smudges on them but fixed to certain parts of the room.

"Whoa! What is going on?" Twilight got up and ran to the window.

She peered out the window, but the city outside was a blurry, hazy mess of colors.  She could make out a few important buildings, the castle, the star observatory, but nothing else looked like it existed in a solid state.

That was not normal.

Fluttershy was the only thing that wasn’t blurry.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight turned back to her. “What the buck is happening?  How did we get to Canterlot?  Or wherever this is.”

“This is a dream, Twilight,” said Fluttershy.

“Um,”  Twilight thought about how likely that was.  “That would explain things.  This doesn't feel like a dream. But then I guess when you're dreaming you don't feel like you're dreaming, so would I know what being awake feels like? Does that mean you’re just a figment of my imagination?”

“No.  I’m the real Fluttershy.”  Fluttershy shook her head a smiled.  “I was given an ability called dreamwalking by Princess Luna. It’s a bit difficult to do outside of the forest, but I can go into other ponies’ dreams like this.  I can do all sorts of neat things in your dream! Here, try thinking of your house.”

Twilight didn’t do much imagining, but the entire room shifted from her bedroom in Canterlot to the one in Ponyville.  Twilight looked around the more spacious room, still furnished, the way it had been before she’d moved most of her things to Rarity’s house.  She didn’t think Fluttershy had ever been here, so maybe this was a form of mind-reading at the very least.

“Dreamwalking?” Twilight repeated the word.  She’d never heard of it before, but then there was a whole branch of magic she’d only started learning about a month ago.  “Is this dark magic?  I never thought such a thing was possible!  How does it work?”

“I like your eagerness.” Fluttershy patted Twilight. “But maybe now is the best time for a lesson.  I can explain it later.  I don’t normally dreamwalk outside the forest at all, but I wanted to talk to you about your condition right away and you’re not going to wake up for a little while.”

Twilight’s condition? Remembering the waking world felt like remembering a dream.  But it did slowly come to her.

“Oh, buck!”  Twilight put her hoof on her chest, where she’d gotten cut.  It was unharmed at first, but as if her expectation made it so a massive gash suddenly appeared on her chest.  Had it been that big?! “Was it that bad?  Am I going to die?!”

“You’ll be fine.  It's more like this.”  Fluttershy ran her hoof over across Twilight’s chest. The wound shrank significantly and took on the melted appearance cuts got when magic had been used to close them up. “I stopped the bleeding and lucky for you Applejack had type O blood. Applejack gave you more blood than a normal pony would be willing to donate.  It would have been a lot worse otherwise  You really should thank her when you wake up, but please don't make any vampire jokes about it.  Both of you are back at my house sleeping right now.”

“Well it’s good to hear I’m not dead.”  Twilight still had one other ‘condition’ to worry about, though.  She felt her ears and sure enough, there were nice, big tufts there.  She was one of them in her dreams now, too. Twilight tried feeling for fangs with her tongue and they were there now.

“Yes, that.”  Fluttershy gave her own ear tufts a flick and spread her wings so Twilight could see their bat-like form.  “You don't actually have fangs, yet. You look how you expect to look here. But it's important I talk to you about how quickly you're transforming."

“They told me the transformation would take years!  That I’d have time to see everything and decide!”  Twilight grabbed Fluttershy.  “Fluttershy! Was this a horrible trick?!"

“They weren’t lying.” Fluttershy smiled calmly and gently patted Twilight’s hooves off her.  “Normally transforming takes several years.  The amount of dark magic it takes to permanently change your species is incredibly high.  Even if you were somehow exposed to that much, it should have killed you instead of transform you. Your natural affinity for dark magic makes you change faster too, but that's not enough to account for this either.”

“Great!”  Twilight started nervously trotting around her imaginary dream room.  “So not even you know what’s happening to me!”

“I didn’t say that.” Fluttershy held up her hoof defensively. “I can think of a few possible explanations, but I can't tell which one is right just yet. That's why I wanted to talk to you now."

“Well can you give me one of them?”  Twilight begged.  “I think I’d feel better if I had just one straw to clutch right now! I feel stable now, but before it was like I was going crazy. I totally snapped!"

"Yes, Applejack told me." Fluttershy nodded.  "You don't have to be too worried, it's something that will go away. You know your brain and instincts were going to change, right?"

"Yeah, but not like this!"

"Well your friends changed very slowly. They had time to get used to their new instincts. But yours changed suddenly, which is why they're out of control." Fluttershy sat down on Twilight's dream bed and patted it in an offer to Twilight. "I went through the same thing and I got better. I'm the only other pony who transformed as quickly as you did and I felt like I went insane at the time, too. But you get used to it fast and I'll be here to help you."

“Well thanks.” Twilight sat down next to her.  “But why did you transform so fast?  What happened to you?”

Fluttershy looked a little too excited by the question and smiled wide.

“Twilight, did you maybe.”  Fluttershy scooted closer to Twilight.  “Did you maybe have a special dream?”

Thoroughly corrupted by Rarity, Twilight’s mind went straight to the lewdest possible interpretation of ‘special’.  Fluttershy had an eager smile on her face like she was waiting for her Hearth’s Warming gift, too.  That did not help.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.  “Like this one?”

“Maybe a little,” said Fluttershy. “What’s the last dream you remember?”

“I remember having a dream where there was this door-to-door vacuum salespony.  He was knocking on my door and Rarity kept telling me not to answer it but eventually he just broke down the door and started vacuuming.” Twilight thought about that for a moment.  “Wait! That is kind of similar to what happened yesterday! Does that mean something?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“That’s not it.” Fluttershy held her breath for a moment before continuing, speaking slowly like she was choosing her words carefully.  “Maybe you had a dream where you met a blue pony in a castle?  And she gave you a present?"

“I don’t remember a dream like that,” said Twilight.  “But I forget my dreams pretty fast.  The average pony completely forgets her dreams within ten minutes of waking up.”

“I know.  But- I'm asking if you had a dream about Princess Luna." Fluttershy put her hoof on her chest. "I've only ever seen our princess in dreams but she was the one who transformed me into a bat pony. She could have done the same to you."

"Well I don't know what Princess Luna looks like," said Twilight, "but I can't remember ever seeing an alicorn in my dreams.  But couldn't she just transform me without warning?"

"Maybe," said Fluttershy, "but I don't think she would. Maybe it wasn't her, but let me try one more thing to make sure. I might be able to jog your memory if you have one. Try clearing your mind for moments."

Twilight had plenty of practice clearing her mind so that didn’t take much effort.  But she hesitated, putting her guard back up when Fluttershy tried to suggest something directly into her mind.  It felt so alien having an image flash into her like that.  But a second was all it took, so it seemed.

The area they were in changed again, this time to the forest. Twilight quickly recognized the ruins of the bank and the vault with all the band books behind her. But this place wasn't as close to the real thing as the other two had been.

The trees looked like they were made of paint that became smeared. Most of the other nearby buildings were missing too. She found when she pictured what the forest outside the vault looked like in her head, the blurriness came into focus and the objects around her changed, coming more into line with how it truly looked

Twilight’s mind was blazing with curiosity about this place and dreamwalking.  She had so many questions about how this worked. But there was something else she was even more curious about, the image Fluttershy put in her head.  The moon.

She looked up at the sky and there it was. The sun was the best thing Twilight could compare it to, but it wasn’t exactly the same.  It was much bigger in the sky than the sun was, but glowed softly instead of brightly, barely lighting up the world at all.  It was so pale that Twilight could make out small dark spots along its surface.

Twilight felt a sense of awe staring up at it.  She didn’t know if it was her new instincts overwhelming her or if it really was that beautiful, but at that moment the moon was the most amazing sight Twilight had ever seen.  It felt at once overwhelmingly enormous, but completely gentle.  She couldn’t take her eyes off it.  And unlike the sun, you really could stare straight at it.  The light coming off it felt gentle, cool, comforting.

“See?  That’s called the moon.”  Fluttershy smiled up at it.  “This is what the sky will look like during the age of darkness, once the forest overtakes the world.  The sun won’t rise anymore, but the moon will take its place."

But despite it being a harbinger of doom, or at least cataclysmic change, Twilight couldn’t help but feel a longing towards the moon.  It felt like the first day of spring.  Twilight wanted to go outside and feel the moonlight, even though she still didn’t know what it was like.

"Could you maybe picture Celestia in your mind for a second?" Fluttershy suggested next.

Twilight couldn’t not imagine her after the suggestion.  An image of Celestia appeared in the forest.  Fluttershy quickly changed the illusion of Celestia, making her blue and changing a few of her features.  Her mane flowed like it was made of the night sky itself.  Her gold regalia was instead made of some black metal.

“This is Princess Luna, the rightful ruler of the entire world.”  Fluttershy put her hoof on her heart and smiled with such adoration at Luna.  “This is mostly what she looks like, anyway.  I promise you can’t even imagine how beautiful she is. Anypony who sees her for the first time falls to the ground in tears because she’s that pretty.”

Twilight wondered what that would even look like.  She already thought Luna was one of the most beautiful ponies she’d ever seen, assumed this image was an exaggeration.  It was hard to believe she could be much better looking than this.

Twilight read about the sense of awe that seeing an alicorn in person was supposed to inspire. Lately, she’d been skeptical about it, but looking up at Princess Luna in wonder banishes her doubt.

“I can tell you haven’t seen her, though,” Fluttershy said, disappointed. “So it wasn’t her that changed you.”

“Then what did?” Twilight looked at Fluttershy briefly, then quickly back to Luna. “You said you had other explanations.”

“The next most likely idea is that the fog is changing you faster than normal,” said Fluttershy. “I can’t know for certain unless somepony else eats the fruit, but some things do suggest it. Applejack seems to be suddenly as close to a bat pony as she can get without eating fruit, around where you were when I got back. That mist killed several of Sunset’s guards despite being further away than she was, but Applejack was mostly fine.”

That did make sense. Twilight was changing slowly until it showed up. Correlation didn’t mean causation, but she couldn’t think of anything else that changed since yesterday, or however long it’d been.

“But what the heck is that thing?” Twilight asked. “So much dark magic was flooding out of it!”

“I have no idea what it is.” Fluttershy shook her head. “New monsters appear sometimes. Dreadstalkers, jackalopes, and even us bat ponies didn’t exist not long ago. Luna’s magic isn’t creating anything new right now, only changing Celestia’s creations into creatures of darkness. Something was transformed by dark magic into that, but I can’t say what until I catch it.”

Twilight did feel a great deal of relief at that explanation, liked it enough to subconsciously accept it already. This wasn’t Rarity’s fault now. There was no way her gang could have known some new monster would suddenly start existing. And somehow that seemed like the most important thing.

As long as that was the case, Twilight could deal with a sudden transformation. Even if she did snap again.

“Is that monster still out there then?” Twilight asked. “Is everypony okay?”

“It got away for now, but you don’t need to worry about any of that. I’ll take care of everything myself.” Fluttershy stepped closer again. “But actually, there was one other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I think maybe even now I’m underestimating how high your affinity to the darkness is. Applejack said you already teleported with dark magic.”

Twilight nodded.

“Then I want to make you a more serious offer to come and work for me, Twilight.” Fluttershy held her hoof out to Twilight. “If we do nothing, it could be hundreds of years until the age of darkness begins. But if you help me, it could come about so much faster. I think your affinity might just be high enough to try something I was never able to do before. You want to be a mage, right? I could ask Moonlight to teach you. Just come with me to Luna’s castle as soon as this is all over.”

Getting trained by this pony certainly sounded tempting, but no other part of this was.

“Maybe you didn’t notice, but I’m a total delinquent.”  Twilight pointed at her hair. “I’m not going to accept the authority of somepony I’ve never even met. I’m not going to wake up an ancient, sleeping god unless I know for a fact that it’s a good idea.  And honestly, from the sound of things, it could go either way. Luna could easily be lying to you. She could be just as bad as Celestia! She seems fine with taking out all the daywalkers.”

Fluttershy, to Twilight’s surprise, softly giggled at Twilight’s beratement of her goddess. But she grew more solemn a moment later.

“Sorry. That’s just the same thing Rarity always says.  You really are one of her little friends now. But I understand Rarity and Rainbow Dash and I think I understand why you feel that way too.”  Fluttershy bowed her head. “Celestia hurt you. She hurt a lot of people. You can’t trust as easily anymore.  Celestia can’t apologize to you in her current state, so please let me do it for her.”

Fluttershy solemnly bowed down low before Twilight.

“As the real Princess Celestia’s last remaining servant, I’m sorry for everything that happened to you.” Fluttershy kept her muzzle against the ground as she spoke. “Both of us failed you. What she did to you was inexcusable, but I am doing everything I can to make it right. I will make it up to you for her, no matter how long it takes.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how she felt about the queen of the forest bowing in apology to her. True, it was far more kindness than she’d ever expected from Equestria, but she didn’t feel like it was Fluttershy’s place to apologize.

“Maybe you didn’t notice, but Celestia hates us. She had her goon break into my house and beat me up just for being one of you.”

“Yes. I’m going to have a talk with Sunset about that,” Fluttershy promised as she stood back up. “And it is true Celestia hates me right now. But that isn’t the real Celestia.”

Another image of Celestia appeared. Once again, as always, she was towering, flawlessly white, her regalness framed by her mystical mane and tail.

“That’s how you see her, that’s how everypony remembers her.”  Fluttershy smiled sadly at Celestia as though she was looking at the photo of a deceased friend. “That’s what she looked like when I was a filly. Things were better back then, in the high magic age. Celestia was so wise and kind, in a way that nopony alive today can even match. I can’t even describe how nice she was. I admired her very much.”

Fluttershy hung her head sadly before the image of Celestia, remaining silent for a long time. Through all this, one question burned its way through the others. She remembered Celestia never made public appearances anymore.

“Does she not look like that anymore?”  Twilight looked up at the tall, regal Celestia with her cosmic hair.

“No.”  Fluttershy shook her head. She lied down prone next to Celestia for a moment, then stood up, leaving an after-image of herself. “This is what Celestia looks like now.”  

The afterimage of Fluttershy quickly changed into a second Celestia. The second Celestia, if it was supposed to be Celestia, was lying prone on the ground now. Twilight knew Celestia was supposed to be unable to walk since getting injured so maybe she was always like that. But the other differences were odd.

Celestia was about the same size and shape as a normal pony. She was still white, but her hair was pink and completely normal, not cosmic or waving at all. Were it not for the wings and horn, you could mistake her for a normal pony.

She looked incredibly young, could easily pass for twelve. And even through that youth, she looked haggard, like she was till soar from that fight. One of her eyes was bruised and shut. The other eye was only half-open so Twilight could see of it was reddened as if from exhaustion. Even that second eye looked bruised because of how heavy its bags were.

“Is she aging in reverse?” Twilight looked over the younger-looking Celestia.

“Not exactly.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Her appearance is tied to how much magic she has and Celestia has nearly run out. She really does act like she’s twelve at the best of times. She just needs sleep to get better. That’s all I want, for her to be as great as she used to be.”

Fluttershy raised her hoof and the image of Celestia returned to her former glory.

“I know you think things are bad now, but you have no idea how much worse they could have gotten. You’ve never had to deal with chaos gods, Twilight. You don’t know how scary they could be. Discord and Cosmos would throw your life into chaos just because they thought it was funny. The Smooze was a horrific creature that could drive you insane just by looking at it. It was a long time before all six of them worked together towards anything, but it was horrific when it happened.”

Fluttershy created an image of one of the chaos gods, Loki, standing across from Celestia as if opposing her now.

Twilight recognized him, of course. Equestria never faltered in praising Celestia on how incredible her battle with the six chaos gods was so she’d seen this creature before. Loki was a small, blue fox with an expressive face locked in a smile and black stripes that flowed freely swirling into different shapes. 

“I met him a few times,” Fluttershy explained. “He’d tell me chaos wasn’t good or evil and that he had no motives. Sometimes he’d be very nice, but he could also be far crueler than any of the others. Maybe in a way, he’s the worst, because if there’s even a tiny amount of chaos magic Loki can reappear. Celestia drew all of it in the entire world into herself and destroyed it all, but something like that is going to have consequences. She saved us and freed us from the chaos gods forever. She doesn’t deserve to be like this. She told me she didn’t want this, gave me absolute immortality, and told me where Luna was so I could save her from this.”

Obviously, if all of that was true, it’d change the narrative about Celestia. But Fluttershy was a zealot and would paint Celestia in the best possible light no matter what. But at the same time, it was hard for Twilight to tell exactly how much Fluttershy would be exaggerating.

There was at least one thing Twilight knew about the alicorns, though, why she couldn’t trust Luna even in her current state.

“If this moon thing is brought into the world and Celestia goes to sleep it’s going to burn every Equestrian to death.” Twilight pointed up at it. “I don’t like the daywalkers, they’re all lame, but I don’t think they all deserve to die either. Asleep or not, Luna’s magic has already killed countless ponies!”

“They won’t die, they’ll merely change.” Fluttershy spread her bat wings to emphasize the difference. “Luna doesn’t want anypony to die, she loves all of us. All life will be transformed! Luna will have near-infinite power when she wakes up. She can stop every monster in the world and transform everypony instantly. It won’t be long or painful like it is for you, either.”

“So Luna will just instantly turn everypony into vampires-“

“Bat ponies.”

“Bat ponies without even asking them? I do want to become one of you, but I’m not sure how I feel about forcing it on everypony else.”

“I’m not sure exactly how it will happen,” said Fluttershy. “But I know Luna will do the right thing.”

“So in other words no. She’ll force everypony to change.”

“Is that really a bad thing?” Fluttershy asked. “If you’re worried about them dying, that’s what’s going to happen now. They don’t live very long at all in the scheme of things. If we don’t wake Luna up in the next hundred years, for example, nearly every single Equestrian alive now will die without ever getting a choice. Does that sound better?”

Twilight did need to think about that one. It was true that either way, an alicorn would be forcing something onto them and if Twilight had to pick, Luna’s was the better of the two. But then this could be another false dichotomy.

It was also possible Twilight only had so much resistance to all this age of darkness stuff because of cultural pressure, a lifetime of being told that’s what the bad guys do. Maybe she did need to think about this a little more.

Fluttershy could tell she was making Twilight think and continued.

“Things aren’t supposed to stay the same forever. Nature isn’t static,” said Fluttershy. “You haven’t even lived thirty years, so you can’t see it, but I’ve lived long enough. Species don’t remain the same, they change slowly to match the world. When the world changes massively, so must life. And the world will change no matter what you do, not even Celestia can stop it forever. This isn’t the first time our species has changed to meet the world, you know.”

“You mean the kirin?” Twilight looked up from her deep thought.

“Yes.” Fluttershy transformed herself into a kirin briefly to illustrate her point. “Celestia didn’t create us out of nothing. She transformed the kirin into the tribes you know today so light magic wouldn’t kill us. And before that, we were something else. This change isn’t something horrible, but wonderful. It’s part of the path to the will of our princesses. You’ve never heard about any of the ages before the age of fire, have you?”

Twilight shook her head. She knew Fluttershy was going to start preaching even harder if she didn’t stop her, but Twilight sincerely wanted to know about the ages of the past.

“Luna ruled over the first age, in a sense.” Fluttershy used her dream powers to change the scene again, or rather delete it.  There was nothing but blackness in every direction. “She created an endless void and the physical forms her, her sister and later we would take, but that was all she had power for. For ten thousand years Luna simply existed alone, waiting for her sister to awaken.”

Fluttershy waved her hoof across the darkness and all the stars appeared, as though they had been created that easily.

“And when Celestia woke up, the age of starlight began! Celestia created the sun and all the stars and planets before losing the power to create anything more. And she spent ten thousand years only slightly less alone.”

Next Twilight found herself deep underwater, in the dark depths of the ocean. Yet despite how dark it was, Twilight’s body could see perfectly. The water had a slight blue tint to it and around here there was some life. There weren’t any fish, but strange creatures.

She could see sea worms, creatures the looked almost like fish but with large bony plates over what should be their heads, and shelled creatures with long tentacles sticking out of their shells.

“Then Luna brought about the age of water. She created water and life, but it was simple. Just tiny little microbes up to some simple fish. But life finally existed.”

Another step forward and the world changed yet again. The sun was above them, but thankfully it was an illusion that did no harm. Perhaps even if it was real it wouldn’t hurt as much as normal. There was a thick mist covering the world and sky. It was a lush environment, Twilight found herself surrounded by thick ferns in every direction.

“In the age of mist, Celestia created the land and plants. She transformed life into something more complex, made reptiles and mammals and birds. Though you wouldn’t recognize any of the species from back then.”

Then it changed to something Twilight did recognize, had some knowledge of. The world changed to the age of fire. The moon hung above, but far more light was produced by the endless rivers of lava that flowed over a charred landscape. 

“At the dawn of the age of fire, Luna created fire. She transformed species of animals into dragons and kirin, granting life true intelligence for the first time. They were just as intelligent as us, but they weren’t social. There was no civilization because those species always lived alone, never sharing their wisdom and never knowing true friendship.”

Fluttershy changed the world again to the balcony of Celestia’s castle, overlooking the massive metropolis of Canterlot.

“And finally in the age of light, Celestia transformed us again and granted us that power of friendship and kindness and generosity. Ponies became social creatures and the first civilizations appeared.” Fluttershy waved her hoof one last time and Twilight was again in the forest. “But it still isn’t over. The sisters want us to be ageless like they are but couldn’t do it until the very end. Only once Luna is awakened can we become what our creators truly wanted us to be. We can go through this endless cycle of change with them!”

Fluttershy flew up into the air, placing the moon behind her.

“Princess Luna will make the world a paradise when she wakes up. She’ll stop all of the monsters and overthrow this abusive government instantly. She can make all death optional, banish all the diseases chaos magic left behind. Doesn’t paradise sound nice, Twilight?”

Fluttershy held out her hoof one more time, the light of the moon shining gently behind her.

But still Twilight refused.

“I can’t believe in paradise that easily.” She turned her head away.

Fluttershy frowned, then slowly landed in front of Twilight.

“I understand, Twilight,” said Fluttershy.  “And if I understand then Luna absolutely will.  I won’t force you to help me with this, but if you do want to help everypony and bring justice back to the world, this is the way.  Waking Luna up is the only way to fix the world you think is cruel and I hope you change your mind.  I’ll see you when you wake up.”

Fluttershy backed up and slowly vanished from the dream, leaving Twilight alone.  Twilight looked around the dream forest, wondering how she was supposed to wake up or even do.

As she wondered her mind started to get fuzzy again and she couldn’t remember what she was doing out here. She noticed the vault not far off and tried to open it to get inside where it was safe.  But no matter how hard Twilight tried, she couldn’t get the combination to work.
> Chapter 17.  Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight felt a sharp pain in her chest.  It hurt too much for her to fall back asleep, but at the same time, she was too sore to get up.  She knew in her sleepy mind that this pain would force her to get up eventually, but right now she was too exhausted to open her eyes.

It was warm, wherever she was, and she was lying on something soft.  Another pony was lying next to her, their wing draped over Twilight.  And Twilight felt safe for a moment. Imagined herself back in Rarity’s bed.

“Nah, see?”  Dash’s voice was right next to Twilight. Somewhere Twilight’s mind had already known it was Dash.  “All that and not even a little scratch!  That’s how sweet vampire armor is!”

“Bat pony armor,” Fluttershy softly corrected her.

There was a short pause like Dash was waiting for somepony to talk, but they never did.

“Hey, I’ll give you credit for getting out of there unscratched!”  Dash assured the mystery pony.  “I thought you’d suck completely, but you only sucked a little.  You know, relative to me.”

But still, they didn’t respond.

“Oh, what?”  Dash sounded slightly annoyed.  “Even after a near-death experience, you’re still upset cause I said the L-word or something?  You gotta get your priorities straight, daywalker.”

Twilight was curious who Dash was talking to now and opened her eyes ever so slightly and ever so briefly. She could see a pony lying on a couch not far from the bed, a pony that looked a lot like Applejack.

“I ain’t complaining about you.”  It sure sounded like Applejack.  “But Fluttershy, Sunset almost had that thing!  And you let it get away!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t kill it,” said Fluttershy.  “If it dies, I won’t be able to study it.  Think of how much knowledge would be lost if the poor thing got hurt!”

“Study it?”  Applejack sounded disgusted at the idea.  “Poor little thing?  That monster already killed loads of ponies and more ponies are likely dying right now.  I got nothing against studying animals, but this ain’t no time for that!”

“There likely isn’t going to be just one of these,” Fluttershy warned.  “I’ve seen the forest create new creatures before and there’s never just one.  It might not be for a hundred years or so, but soon enough we’re going to have a whole lot of mist kitties on our hooves.  I need to understand them as much as possible by then, or else there could be a serious catastrophe next time.  Millions could die if we’re not prepared.”

“I feel like we got a serious catastrophe already,” said Applejack.  “Ponies are dying right now!  I sure ain’t willing to sacrifice anypony because maybe you’ll learn something and maybe you’ll do something good with it in a hundred years.”

“Ponies your age are always so short-sighted.”  Fluttershy sighed.  “I don’t think many more ponies are going to die.  I’m going to catch it and bring it to the center of the forest as soon as I can. I’m not risking a lot of lives.”

As Twilight began to wake up more, she started mulling this little moral dilemma over.  She honestly wasn’t sure what the right choice here was. But then it wasn’t her decision to make.

Twilight finally managed to open her eyes entirely and take a look around.

She was in Fluttershy’s house, lying on Fluttershy’s bed with Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy was sitting on a chair right next to the bed and across from them, on a couch, was Applejack and a pile of stuffed animals.

Dash was in her vampire form and still had that armor on, though now it was covered in huge gashes. None of the cuts seemed to have pierced all the way through, though.

Fluttershy was in her daywalker disguise and Applejack didn’t look well at all.  She wasn’t visibly injured, but she looked exhausted like she was having trouble keeping her head up.  She was pale, her eyes glazed over and with heavy bags around them.  Twilight quickly remembered the reason why. She’d donated Twilight a great deal of blood.

“Twilight, I’m so sorry!” Dash grabbed Twilight in a hug immediately.  “I messed everything up!”

She quickly noticed Twilight was in pain from the hug and pulled back.

“I should have taken this more seriously from the start!  I should have set up a rendezvous point last night!  I shouldn’t have let Sunset take you!  I should have beaten her up right then and taken you back by force! I shouldn’t have left you alone and-!” Dash hit her own head.  “Gah!  So stupid! I’m getting way too soft!”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said without really thinking about if it was.  “I don’t think any of this was your fault.”

She was certain it wasn’t Dash’s fault, after thinking about it, but she still felt uneasy, nervous. Maybe she had to wait a bit before she could calm down. Twilight tried to think of something else to talk about, to take her mind off this.  She turned to Applejack and remembered there was something she needed to do.

“Oh!  Applejack!”  Twilight reached out toward her.  “Thanks for uh, helping me.  And the blood transfusion.  I take back all the horrible things I said about you.  Or most of them, anyway.”

“Huh?” Applejack looked surprised.  “You sure figured that out fast.  Is it really that obvious I’m missing a lot of blood?”

“Um!”  Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, then back at Applejack. A twinge of fear when up Twilight’s spine.  Even after all this, she didn’t want to do anything to upset her vampire friends.  “Yeah!  You look pretty drained is all.”

She wasn’t going to buy that!

Twilight’s heart was racing!

She was shaking in fear but wasn’t sure what she was scared of.  She tried reminding herself that Applejack wasn’t going to kill her or anything! Even if she found out about dreamwalking what was the big deal?! But none of that seemed to help. It was only when a familiar feeling came back that she understood what was going on.

That longing for the forest, that feeling of disgust for not being inside it, they were both coming back. This was all her instincts going wild again.

It didn’t feel quite as bad as before.  Already Twilight suspected that was because Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were here. That helped last night, or whenever.  Her ability to sense dark magic had grown even more in her sleep, now she could feel it radiating off Dash and an even greater amount pooling around Fluttershy. And she could feel it coming off herself as well.

Yet even still, that mist monster was a greater source of dark magic.  Ever so gently, the dark magic of the three vampires was blown off to the east by the winds the monster created.  Twilight could feel its presence and longing towards it.

“I can still feel that thing pulling me!”  Twilight put her hooves over her head.  “How long is this going to last?!”

“Here.”  Fluttershy took out a chunk of a brown, gummy substance. “Try chewing on this.  I think it will help.”

Twilight desperately grabbed the mystery gum and started chewing.  And it worked!  She could already feel her heartbeat slowing down, feel that little nervous tick in the back of her mind quieting down. 

She felt a little too calm too fast.

“This uh.”  Twilight chewed the gum a moment longer.  She could feel a bit of a tingling sensation going through her nostrils.  Applejack was giving her a weird look that made Twilight wonder if she was blowing purple vapors, the kind only a daywalker could see, out of her nostrils. “This isn’t going to make me high, is it?”

“Oh, by the forest, no.” Fluttershy smiled gently.  “You’re nervous because you’re not in the forest, but I made this gum with the bark of trees from near the center.  It just tricks your brain into thinking you’re in the forest.  You end up breathing it in, you see?”

That kind of made sense.

"I made a whole lot of this for now.” Fluttershy pointed to a big, misshapen ball of the stuff sitting on her table.  “Just in case.  I have some painkillers for you too.”

Fluttershy gave Twilight a small bottle of pills.  And that was good.  Now that the panic was dying down, the pain in her chest was becoming less bearable. Twilight took the gum out for a second to swallow one, then put it back in.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else wrong with her?”  Dash asked. “I’ve never seen somepony go this crazy before.”

“You had a lot of time to get used to your new instincts, Twilight hasn’t.”  Fluttershy gave Twilight a reassuring little pat.  “But I promise you will get used to this.  It might take a year, but once we get you deeper into the forest it won’t be nearly as bad.”

"Well now that we're all awake."  Applejack cracked her neck. "I still got a lot of questions for you vampires."

“Actually,” said Fluttershy, “we’re called bat ponies.  Calling us vampires is like using the m-word for earth ponies.”

“Right.  Cause y'all never use the m-word.”  Applejack gave Fluttershy a deadpan stare.

“Well I don’t.” Fluttershy frowned at Rainbow Dash. “This is why you shouldn’t use slurs.”

“I like being called a vampire.”  Dash shrugged it off.  “What I don’t get is your problem with mud pony.  Mud’s probably important for all kinds of stuff, you know?  You should be proud to get compared to mud!”

Applejack just gave Dash a stern look.

"Oh, come on! This is why you gotta teach yourself to not let words like that hurt you." Dash rolled her eyes. "But the boss said to give you a chance if you came crawling over, so I won't call you a mud pony for 48 hours. How's that?"

Applejack clearly didn't trust her to do that just yet and instead turned back to Fluttershy.

“I feel like I got the right to know what you do,” said Applejack.  “You still know lots of things that’ll probably save lives if y'all just tell us about it!  Like why does the mist hurt the royal guard so bad but ponies like me are just fin in it?”

“That question's fair.” Fluttershy nodded.  “I suppose I should tell you that.  You see-”

“It’s 'cause you’re already one of us, dork,” said Dash.

Applejack looked offended by the idea while Fluttershy sighed at Dash’s less than graceful way of answering.

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked.  “I ain’t never touched any fruit from the forest!  I ain’t no vampire!”

“Magic seeps in from the forest all around Ponyville and you’ve been absorbing it probably since before you were born,” said Fluttershy.  “You’ve been part bat pony your whole life.  That’s why you do so well in the mist and can live so close to the forest. You can drink the water and eat plants from near the edge just fine.  You’re good at fighting monsters because they don’t go into a rage against you.  It’s why the mist is making you rapidly transform instead of killing you.”

“You’re saying I’m changing?!”  Applejack looked herself over.  She didn’t look physically changed at all.  “I don’t look like a vampire!”

“Bat pony.  Maybe you didn’t notice because the fog appears very thick to you, but-“  Fluttershy thought of the best way to phrase it.  “Well can you guess how bright it is in here, Applejack?”

“Well I’d say it’s a little dim but-“  Applejack scratched her head, knowing this was going somewhere but not sure where. It quickly dawned on her where this was leading and fear came back to her eyes. “Oh wait, is it pitch black in here or something?”

“Very close.” Fluttershy nodded.  “Your eyes are already getting closer to normal.  If they change much more, they’ll start glowing and you won’t be able to handle daylight anymore.”

“But-!”  Applejack looked like she just realized something horrible.  “Then you’re saying all of us are going to turn into vampires if we don’t get out of this mist?!  Like the entire town is gonna turn vampire?!”

“Bat ponies,” Fluttershy corrected her calmly.  “And I’m not sure yet.  Normally you don’t change much more than you already have unless, well-“

“The fruit of eternal youth,”  Applejack finished for her.

“Something like that. But I can’t say exactly what will happen since I’ve never seen this monster before.  It’s possible everypony in town will turn into bat ponies, but it’d still take a while.  And I won’t know if you’re still transforming until maybe tomorrow night.”

“Well then we gotta get everypony out of town even more now!”  Applejack tried to get up off the couch but stumbled on her way off.  Maybe she gave more blood than Twilight realized.  “I have to tell Sunset Shimmer about this. She’ll stop this quarantine thing once she hears. I'll come back later.”

“Now I just feel bad for you.”  Dash shook her head.  “Look, I made the same kind of mistake myself.  Sunset doesn’t give a buck about you or this town.  None of them do.”

”First of all, Sunset does care about this town. She's the one out there protecting this town right now." Applejack trudged over to the door and put her hoof on the handle. "Sides, I ain't doing it cause she cares about me, I'm doing  it cause it's the right thing."

“Listen to me!”  Dash shouted over her.  “You helped one of us, so I’m going to give you some advice here. The fact that you know about vampires is a bad thing right now.  Maybe you feel like you’re in Sunset’s club cause she gave you that spear, but she’s never gonna see you as her equal.  You and your family are in serious danger and not cause of the monsters.  If you’re smart, you’ll get your brother and sister and go hide somewhere till Sunset leaves.”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy.  “I think Sunset Shimmer is keeping you all here is to experiment on you.  She wants to know how this fog works too.”

“Experiment on us?” Applejack turned around to look at the others but kept her hoof on the door.  “Sunset wouldn’t do something like that!  She’s a hero!”

“I’ve known Sunset for a while and she’s a little um-“  Fluttershy tried to think of a polite way to say it.  “Neurotic because of everything Celestia puts her through. She might be doing that.”

“What do you think she’s forcing you all to stay here for, dork?”  Dash asked.

“I don’t know, but.” Applejack hung her head quietly for a moment, thinking about it deeply. "She has to have a good reason, right?"

"You already helped a lot, Applejack,” said Fluttershy.  “You saved Twilight and a lot of other ponies.  But you’re injured and should think of yourself and your family now.  You should rest here. I'll go get your family and bring them back here. Sunset won't touch them if they're with me."

Twilight made a mental note to complain that she'd gotten roughed up despite being under Fluttershy's protection, but decided now wasn't the time.

Applejack stood, deep in thought for a long while.

“Well it is true Canterlot only ever gave us trouble for knowing what we know. Sunset already confiscated all my books," said Applejack. "I gotta think of Applebloom first. And I suppose I'm likely to be working for y'all soon."

Applejack let go of the door and trotted back into the room.

“Hey!  See?”  Dash opened her forelegs, welcoming Applejack back.  “You’re not that stupid after all!  Come sit over here.  I’ll tell you about all the awesome fights I used to get into.”

Dash gestured to the chair right next to the bed where she and Twilight were lying.  Applejack kept her eyes on Dash as she went over to the couch instead.

“Ah, come on!”  Dash opened her forelegs wide.  “Don’t be like that. We'll be friends soon! Hey, I could tell you about that one time I almost defeated Rarity.  Smashed her right in the face, gave her the worst black eye I’ve ever seen.  That sounds like your kind of story.”

"That does sound nice." Applejack leaned against the pile of stuffed animals and closed her eyes. Already it looked like she was having trouble opening them back up. "But I'm mighty tired right now. Woo. Maybe it is good you stopped me from going back out there."

“Bleh.”  Dash leaned over, using Twilight as her pillow.  “Rarity would probably give me so much crap for telling that story to her anyway.”

“Hey!  Where is Rarity, anyway?”  Twilight asked.  “How long has it been?  Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

“She should.” Fluttershy peeked out the window. “It’s about noon.  None of us have seen Rarity or Pinkie since last night.”

“But it’s not like we went out looking for them, either,” Dash muttered, her eyes closed.  “She’s fine. Probably went looking through every basement for you till she got stuck somewhere. Those guards are all too weak to fight her. Only that stupid bonehead is tough enough to take Rarity and she was with Fluttershy all night.”

“I am a little worried,” said Fluttershy.  “Rarity's always been the rebellious one. She gets herself into trouble sometimes."

"You're always worried sick about Rarity." Dash shook her head. "But I trust the boss. Hundred percent chance she's fine."

Twilight lowered her head. She wished she could be a hundred percent certain too, but it wasn’t that easy.  In her heart, Twilight felt like the moment Rarity came back everything would be fine again, she’d be able to relax.  But that moment seemed so far away.

“Rarity is bucking tough. You have no idea how hard I tried to kill that mare, but it never worked.”  Dash gave Applejack a critical glance to make sure she was asleep before leaning in to whisper to Twilight.  “Don’t let anypony know I said this, but Rarity’s tougher than me.  We fought like a hundred times and I never won once.  If I’m fine, she’s fine.”

Twilight nodded weakly.

“Let’s all just try to get some rest for now,” Fluttershy said.  “I'll go out looking for her in just a little bit, then go after the monster."

It was true that even Rainbow Dash looked like she needed a nap. Twilight lied down and tried resting some more. Despite how tired and aching she was, she already knew she wasn't going to get to sleep right now. Finding Rarity felt like the only way she'd sleep ever again.

Twilight’s ears perked up when a sudden knock sounded from the door.  Her first thought was that this might be Rarity, but then she remembered that Rarity wouldn’t be able to get here during the day and her excitement died down.

The pony didn’t wait for Fluttershy to open before barging in herself.

It was Sunset Shimmer again! Memories of last time and fear gripped Twilight.  But Dash moved forward, defensively spreading her wings.

At least this time Twilight wasn’t alone.

“Do you where Rarity is?” Fluttershy was the first to speak up, asking the question a bit more sternly than Twilight was used to hearing from her.

“I haven’t seen her since she came over to yell at me last night,” Sunset promised.

Fluttershy watch her closely as Sunset gave that explanation and in the end decided she bought it.

“You better be telling the truth,” Dash warned. “Cause I already owe you two black eyes and you’re not gonna like what comes after that.”

“I’m not here to talk to you.” Sunset only spared Dash a brief glance. “Fluttershy’s the one I need to speak with.”

“You’re right, I do need to talk to you.” Fluttershy stood up. “I hope you realized how much trouble you’re in!”

Sunset let out a frustrated sigh.
“I already told Rarity I’d pay for everything I broke.” Sunset looked off to the side. “I don’t think there’s anything left to discuss. We’ve already talked about this for hours.”

“No, that’s not it! Poor Twilight almost died because of how irresponsible you were. You broke into my daughter’s house, you held a bat pony under my protection hostage, you let your guards hit her in jail and you didn’t escort her back even after you knew who Rarity was.”

“How was I supposed to know one of your daughters was there?!” Sunset snapped suddenly but then went back to her stoic look immediately, rubbing her eyebrows. “I had to figure out there were any vampires here at all by myself and you’re getting on my case for not also deducing they were with you? Nopony ever tells me anything. Celestia says ‘you’re going to Ponyville’, I say ‘why’, she says ‘well if you’re not retarted you’ll figure that out’ and that’s the story of my life. I have to go into everything full force. I need results or Celestia-“

“You didn’t get results,” Fluttershy lectured her. “You’re very strong, but that’s what’s wrong. You think that means you have to use your strength to solve every problem. If you’d been kinder you would have figured everything out in a few minutes, but instead, you wasted hours standing down with Rarity and now you’re wasting even more time. I hope this is a lesson for you.”

As Fluttershy lectured her, that stoic look Sunset always had begun to falter. It was just a little at first, but then it shattered into anger the second Fluttershy was done.

“Okay, Fine! I’m a completely worthless failure!” Sunset shouted back. “Believe me, I get that! Do you think I don’t constantly hear that from Celestia every single day?! I know I can’t possibly live up to you divine bucking beings, so I’m just slime to ponies like you and Celestia, right?!”

A small hush fell over the room after her little outburst. Twilight certainly never expected anything but endless confidence from Sunset Shimmer. Curious, she looked over to at Applejack to see the earth pony looking like she was watching a horror movie for the first time.

“I didn’t say that either.” Fluttershy sighed. “I wish I could praise you for how talented you are, but you’re never going to get the kind of acknowledgment you want if you always resort to force.  But I can’t let this slide either. You know I don’t like doing this sort of thing, but I have to do something you’ll feel. So Next time I see her, I’m telling Celestia that you’re the one who stepped on her bag of special potato chips.”

Now that would seem like a silly ‘punishment’ to the vast majority of ponies. But to see Sunset grow silent, clenching her teeth, and glance downward at the threat made Twilight realize it was more than that.

Sunset was afraid of Celestia.

And for a moment, Twilight felt like she had gotten justice.

“And I want you to say you’re sorry to Twilight,” Fluttershy added.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Sunset didn’t even look at Twilight when she said it. “I didn’t know you were with Fluttershy’s daughter. I thought you were just a bunch of rogue vampires. I only intended to hold you for a little while to keep your gang honest. I’ll reprimand the guard that hit you. Can we drop this already?”

“No,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah!” Twilight sat up. Knowing Fluttershy really did have her back gave her the courage to finally speak up. “Are you going to say you’re sorry to all the other ponies you roughed up?”

“Don’t act like you’re the good guy.” Sunset finally turned her eyes on Twilight. “Your gang’s been spreading subversive ideas and harboring banned books. Like Starlight says, ideas are just another form of violence. The ponies of Equestria have chosen to keep these dangerous ideas away and you’ve been forcing them on us. You spreading rebelliousness and trying to undermine our society isn’t any different than what I do to maintain order. Nepotism is the only reason you get an apology.”

Her statement wasn’t entirely inaccurate. The Blue Diamonds certainly got Twilight to rebel.

“Please.” Dash shook her head. “If your perfect society can be destroyed by asking questions then it deserves to collapse.”

“Yeah!” Twilight quickly agreed with Dash. “The only pony who ‘chose’ to keep knowledge out of Equestria is you! I sure as buck never agreed to live in a nation where I’m not allowed to think!”

“As if I’m the one who gets to pick what’s on the banned book list.” Sunset sighed, shrugged, and shook her head, not realizing she just proved Twilight’s point. “Look, I’m not interested in having a debate with you delinquents. We have a mutual enemy right now, so if nopony else has any complaints-“

“Actually.” Applejack got up off the couch. “There was something I really need to ask you about.”

Sunset was already groaning in anticipation of another lecture.

"Why are you keeping everypony locked in town?" Applejack asked.  "We need to evacuate!  It ain’t safe to stay here! This mist might be changing ponies.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything!” Sunset snapped at her.

Applejack kept her ears turned back, silently digging into her anger at that response. Twilight got the sense that Sunset was about to lose her confidence forever right then.  Maybe Sunset could tell too and backed off a little.

“Look, I’m under a lot of stress right now!”  Sunset rubbed her forehead.  “I know the mist is changing ponies and that's why we're staying here. This is like a quarantine.  If I let you out of this town, you might bring this magic with you. You already know vampirism is contagious. We don't know what anypony exposed to the fog will bring with them. None of us can go north of here yet.  That includes me if that makes you feel better.  I’m staying in the fog just as long as you are.”

Twilight could tell it did help.  Applejack lowered her guard just a little.

“Everypony will be fine,” said Sunset.  “I can protect them all.  No one in the center of town’s gotten hurt yet, have they?”

“Well no.”  Applejack sat back down.

“Come on!  You’re not seriously falling for this, are you?” Dash asked.  “Sunset and her stooges beat the crap out of Twilight for no reason!  They’ve been roughing up innocent ponies all over town.  They don’t care about the ponies in this town.”

“Nearly everypony in this town belongs in jail and you’re partly to blame for that," said Sunset.  "Frankly, I feel like the four of you belong in jail, too. The only reason you’re not is because of our truce. Are you really going to trust them, Applejack?  A bunch of delinquent vampire monsters from the forest?”

Sunset pointed over at Twilight.  She didn’t have time to style her mane for what was two days now, but it was still spikey.

“They have zero respect for us or our way of life,” said Sunset.  “I’m willing to bet that they’ve never done anything but mock you for being an upstanding citizen, for valuing wholesome ideals.  All vampires are the same.  They do nothing but run around cursing, eating candy, spreading their corruption, trying to undermine the society we all want!  Tell me I’m wrong!”

Twilight wished she could object, but Sunset was totally right.  They constantly mocked Applejack and her worldview.  Dash couldn’t disagree with that, either.  She too remained silent as Applejack mulled that over.

“I understand all that.” Applejack looked down at the ground, ashamed. “But they’re the only ones who can help me. They’re the only ones willing. So…”

“Oh?” The wheels turned in Sunset’s head as she quickly deduced what was going on. “You mean your farm? I could help you with that.”

Applejack lifted her head, looking at Sunset eyes wide with amazement.

“What?”

Sunset nodded, back to her stoic, in-control look, obviously pleased with whatever scheme she just came up with.

“Obviously I could save your land. I have enough money and magic” Sunset held her hoof out to Applejack. “I don’t know what horrible things these ponies will ask in return, but all I want is for you to help me stop that monster. Most of my ponies can’t get close to it, but you can.”

“Applejack, don’t-“ Dash started, but Sunset spoke over here.

“I have a plan, but I need another pony to help me.”  Sunset held her hoof out to Applejack.  “You said you wanted to help me save this town, right?  This is your chance to be a hero. Your family fought against the Everfree for generations, right? Do you really want to be the pony who had to surrender to it? Or do you want to fight?”

Applejack was tempted by the offer and this was one thing Twilight didn’t blame her for.  It wasn’t long ago that Twilight looked up to Sunset Shimmer too, would have been in awe at such an offer from the unicorn. 

“Look,” said Dash, “if you go out there, I guarantee you’re going to ‘accidentally’ die.  I used to work for these guys.  I know how this goes! Anypony who asks you to fight in your condition isn't your friend."

"It's true," Fluttershy agreed. "I can take care of the monster myself. You don't have to risk your life. You have type O blood and Twilight has most of it. There's a blood shortage so if you get cut it could be really dangerous."

"I won't ask you to do much fighting," Sunset promised. "I can keep you safe. I am the strongest unicorn."

After a painful bit of thinking, Applejack finally made her decision.

“I- I agree.” Applejack nodded and stepped over to Sunset’s side once again.  “Sunset ain’t trying to consume the world with the forest or nothing.  Of course, I trust her more.”

Sunset gave her an approving nod as Dash gritted her teeth, seething with hatred at the unicorn.

“You’re not going to stop us?”  Applejack asked Fluttershy.

“No.  Fighting each other is a bad idea right now,” said Fluttershy.  “But I don’t think you should go, Applejack."

“I need somepony to help me save this stupid town,” said Sunset. "And you're in better shape than most of them in this town.

Applejack nodded and trotted after Sunset as Sunset turned to leave.

“Don't trust her!”  Dash called after her.  “She’s gonna stab you in the back!  They did the same bucking thing to me! These ponies always-!”

But by then, the two of them were already out the door.

“Feh!”  Dash brooded.  “That bucking idiot.  Don’t forget I tried to warn her.”

“Well it’s not like you haven’t made any bad decisions lately,” said Fluttershy.

“Huh?”

“I treat the four of you like responsible adults and let you come up here and then you get into big trouble like this,” Fluttershy scolded her.  “Twilight nearly died!  As far as I’m aware, Pinkie might have too.  Who knows how much trouble Rarity’s in.  Really, she’s three hundred years old and I still have to take care of her fledglings for her.”

“Ah, come on.  We’re fine now!”  Dash assured her.  “We just gotta find Rarity and then-“

“No.”  Fluttershy gave Dash a swat on the nose.  “You’re waiting here with Twilight.  I’m going to go find Rarity and Pinkie, then I’m going to go get the mist kitty while you all wait for me here.  Then all four of you are coming back home with me and you’re all grounded for fifty years.”

“What?”  Twilight blinked.  “You can’t ground me, Fluttershy.”

“Actually I kind of can. I’m the head, head vampire, remember?” Fluttershy pointed at herself.  “I’m your ruler now, Twilight.  Though we can call it being reverse banished if that makes you feel better.”

“But you said I had a choice if I went with you or not!”  Twilight protested.

“You get to choose if you help me save the world or not.”  Fluttershy shook her head.  “But you’re one of my children now and I take responsibility for that.  I can’t leave you here in such a dangerous place.  I’m bringing you back to my house and that’s final. We’ll talk about what happens next once we get back home.”

“Yo, Fluttershy!” Dash let out an exasperated sigh.  “Sparks is a rebel like the rest of us now. Twilight probably already wants to go into the forest with us, but you trying to force her to do something is gonna make her want to do it less.”

“Yeah!”  Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Sides, do we really even have to go back yet?”  Dash asked.  “Unless Rarity did something to really peeve those lameos off, we can just wait for Sunset to hit the road.  Twilight might even be able to change back a little if we get her out of the fog.  Then she can have more time to decide and stuff.”

"That's too dangerous," said Fluttershy. "We need to get Twilight back immediately. What if Sunset finds out about Twilight's high dark affinity? Twilight's too important. I want you to keep her here and safe until I get back."

"Too important?" Twilight remembered something from her dream. "So this is about my dark affinity! You're trying to strong hoof me to be on your side! I was never told I was being recruited into some kind of army or whatever! Is that what this was really about?"

Twilight turned to Dash. The two of them stared each other down for a moment.  For a second, Twilight wasn’t sure if Dash was going to stand up for her or not.

“Fine.”  Dash crossed her forelegs.  “You’re the queen, Fluttershy.  I’ll make sure Twilight doesn’t leave.  I’ll drag her down to the cavern grove if I gotta.”

“What?!”  Twilight looked at Dash with disbelief.

“Good.”  Fluttershy nodded but kept frowning.  “I know it sounds harsh, but I just want to keep you all safe and apparently that means I have to treat you all like children. I’ll be back with Rarity soon and then we can talk about this. Stay."

Fluttershy said that last part like the two of them were dogs.

Twilight glared at Dash and Dash looked Twilight over with a serious look.  Was she seriously going to force Twilight to stay here?  Not that Twilight had anywhere else to go.

Who was Twilight kidding? She'd immediately go crawling back to Rarity even if this was all some recruitment thing. But she still wouldn't be happy about it!

“Yeah, I can tell you wanna bail on those try-hards, right?”  Dash jabbed her claw blades towards the door.  “I say screw all of them.  You wanna leave, you can go.  But I’m gonna follow.”

“Wait!”  Twilight got stunned a second time.  “Oh, so you were just playing along.”

“Duh.  Hey, if you still want to turn back this is your last chance.  Once your fur changes color you’re one of us for good and you’re already starting.”  Dash combed her blades through Twilight’s mane. Remembering she hadn’t checked in a while, Twilight looked down to see her fur had a very slight lavender tinge to it now.  “I dunno if it’ll work, but I’ll take you north of Ponyville.  I figure if you get out of this invisible fog and get some sun you’ll start going back.  I understand what happened to you sucks.  I won’t be mad.”

“But isn’t going north of Ponyville against your truce?”  Twilight knew that much about it, at least.  “Won’t Equestria come after you if they find out?”

“Compared to sneaking into the cavern grove as a daywalker that sounds like a relaxing vacation.”  Dash blew her mane out of her eyes.

“But you’d be disobeying Fluttershy too!”

“Pfft!  Yeah, I’ll get in trouble.  With Fluttershy.”  Dash laughed. “She’s the biggest softy in the world! I’ll be fine.  I bucking hate authority in case you haven’t noticed the whole punk thing I got going on. So you going back or forward?”

Twilight calmed back down. Dash did have her back.

“I’m still nervous about all this stuff with, you know, Luna and the forest and everything,” said Twilight.  “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just thought I’d have more time to figure all of this out, to see everything before I had to decide what side I’m on."

“You’re thinking of this like a dork.”  Dash gave Twilight a playful whack on the ear.  “You don’t gotta be on Celestia or Fluttershy’s side.  Me?  I’m on Rarity’s side and that’s it."

“That sure sounds like what I want.” Twilight stared off into the distance. One thing Twilight knew for sure, in her heart, was that she wanted to be with Rarity and the rest of her friends. “But I still don’t know what being on Rarity’s side means. I still don't know what to believe in. You know I'm no good at making decisions this fast.”

Dash stared off quietly with Twilight.

“You know, I was one of just five daywalkers to get to the center of the forest without changing," said Dash.  "I was the best, but even I got all kinds of messed up getting there.  I got poisoned, emaciated, anemic, basically everything bad you can think of. I can’t think of a single bone I never broke.  I ran into Fluttershy and her old crew a few times and had to fight them.  Rarity was the one I hated the most.  I like her attitude now that we’re on the same side, but back then that smug little smile she made my blood boil!”

“Heh.  That’s kind of what happened with me too,” said Twilight.

“I nearly died, but I did what they wanted and came back barely alive. I thought I was a hero. They told me I was." Dash looked up at the ceiling.  "I thought I’d get to go home; they’d give me a medal and a parade and everypony would love me.  But nah, nearly killing myself wasn’t enough.  My reward for going through hell was getting sent on a suicide mission. They wanted me to get something from the center, from past the wall of mist.  Going past that means certain death for if you’re a daywalker.  They knew that.  I knew that.”

“And you know what, I was actually gonna do it.  Daywalker Rainbow Dash was so bucking stupid that I actually went back down there. I was seriously, seriously going to kill myself. Then Rarity showed up and when she heard what happened, she offered to go there for me and bring back what I was supposed to get... cause she didn’t want me to die.  I realized that my worst enemy was the only pony in the world that cared if I lived.  And-“

Dash got choked up for a moment.  She closed her eyes to keep a tear from coming out.

“And that was the first time I thought about what the buck I was doing with my life.”  Dash needed another moment, but opened her eyes and was back to her confident self soon enough.  “So as far as I’m concerned, Rarity is my princess!  People who don’t give a buck about you don’t deserve your loyalty.  If this other wannabe princess wants my respect, she can earn it like Rarity did.  It’s my friends I’m loyal to now. If you ask you go looking for stuff to believe in, you're gonna end up like me every time. I say instead you should ask what you care about."

Dash held her hoof out for Twilight.

There was only one thing Twilight was certain of in all this.  She did love Rarity and all of her friends.  Maybe that was all that mattered.

“I think you’re right.” Twilight bumped hooves with Rainbow Dash.  “I don’t know how I feel about the forest, but Fluttershy is right when she says we’re family now.  You three are what matter.  Buck everything else, right?”

“See now you got it!” Dash ruffled her hair then turned away. “Man, I kinda hate all this sappy stuff.  But the feeling’s mutual, Sparks.”

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash."

"Hey, you can call me Dashie." Dash looked away. "Just don't tell the others you got my permission for that, kay?"

“Then we’re going to go find Rarity and Pinkie?”  Twilight asked.

“Yeah, well- not yet, no.” Dash looked over at the window.  “Rarity's probably going to come straight back here looking for us. But if she's not back by midnight we can say buck it and go start a fight."

Twilight nodded.

She felt confident in herself again.  This was the right path.
> Chapter 18. The light of Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eleven PM and still no sign of Rarity.

Twilight’s fur was lavender again, in her own eyes, meaning Twilight officially crossed the point of no return.  She was a creature of darkness forever now.  The only thing left was to grow a set of fangs and finish her transformation into a monster like her friends.

But even just having Dash by her side was enough for her to return to welcoming the change. Maybe the gum helped too, but the change wasn't nearly as frightening anymore. Now only her worry for Rarity and Pinkie remained.

Twilight managed to get a few hours of rest, but by now she didn’t even feel tired and doubted she could sleep even if she was.  She wanted to go out and look for them, but Dash still seemed to think it was a bad idea.

“How much longer are we gonna wait?” Twilight asked.

“Till midnight,” said Dash. “I know it sounds counterintuitive, but this is the fastest way to find Rarity.  We agreed that if either of us finds you, we go back to Fluttershy’s house and wait there.”

After talking with Dash for a while, Twilight learned that Rainbow Dash had gone to that tomb shortly after Twilight left it. In retrospect, Twilight could have saved a ton of trouble by staying put and trusting the others to come to find her. Even still, it was a hard lesson to swallow right now.

“That is a good point, but-“ but Twilight couldn’t not worry.  “Well something unexpected could happen, right? This whole incident is unexpected!”

“Sure,” said Dash.  “Which is why we’re going to go out after midnight. But I’ll bet you my favorite earrings that-“

Dash’s ears perked up and she looked to the north.  Twilight was still new at this and needed a moment to focus, but she too could feel something moving through the dark magic, coming towards them from the north.

This wasn’t the first monster she’d felt come near Fluttershy’s house tonight.  For the past several hours, distortions in the winds of dark magic would come and go.  The difference was that none of them had ever come from the north, the ponies from Canterlot seemingly having gotten that area under control.

“That’s a pony,” said Dash. She had enough experience to tell what each monster was.  “Feel that nice, smooth flow?

Twilight nodded; certain she knew what Dash meant.  It’d take a while for her to learn to recognize different sources of dark magic.

“But is it Rarity or Fluttershy?”  Twilight asked.

“I mean.”  Dash closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. “Could be both.  It feels kind of off.”

“Off?”

“Hard to explain.  I’m not sure how many there are.”  Dash shook her head.  “Guess we’ll know in a second.”

Shortly after Twilight felt their presence herself, whatever pony was causing this distortion started coming closer rapidly.  It was as if they’d felt Twilight too and were eager to get here as soon as possible.

Twilight sat up with rapt anticipation, hoping this was Rarity or Pinkie.

It wasn’t long before they were right outside the door.

“Knock knock!”  The pony banged on the door.

Twilight’s heart jumped when she heard the voice.  It was Pinkie Pie!

“I know you’re in there!” Pinkie jiggled the handle from the other side, but the door was still locked.  “You can’t hide from Pinkie!”

“About time.”  Dash jumped off the bed and trotted over to the door, unlocking and opening it for Pinkie.

“Wait!”  Pinkie grabbed the door, stopping Dash from opening it all the way.  “Before I come in, is everypony in here cool?  Cause I got the sweetest candy of all out here if you catch my drift.”

“Yeah, I get you” Dash leaned around Pinkie and looked outside.  “It’s just me and Sparks.  We ain’t gonna rat on you for nothing.”

Pinkie gasp.

“Twilight?!”  Pinkie shoved Dash aside and ran into the room.  “Is she here?!  Twilight!”

Pinkie was in her true form.  For the first time, Twilight got to see her as a pink bat pony, her blue eyes shining brilliantly through her now untinted glasses.  Twilight could tell she’d been in a fight recently, she had a bruise on her left cheek, one that took out a small patch of fur and was still bleeding slightly.

“Pinkie!”  Twilight couldn’t help but smile wide.

“Twilight!”  Pinkie flared her wings out in excitement.

Pinkie bounded forward, but stopped suddenly, stumbling and nearly falling from the momentum.

“Oh!  Sorry!  Hold that thought for one second!”  Pinkie ran outside then quickly returned dragging something behind her.

Pinkie had a makeshift sled with her.  It was a door she must have ‘borrowed’ from somewhere with two pieces of rope tied onto it. Whatever she was carrying was big, at least the size of a pony, but covered completely with blankets so Twilight couldn’t tell what it was.

She dragged this over to Fluttershy’s stove, the one keeping the house warm, and left the sled next to it as if intending to warm up or perhaps dry off those blankets.

Once the sled was there, Pinkie promptly ignored it and rushed over to the bed, using her wings to flutter up on top.

“Anyway, like I was saying.” Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a top hug. “Twilight!”

Pinkie hugged Twilight way too hard.  Even with the painkillers, Twilight felt a sharp sensation in her chest.

“Yo, Pinks!”  Dash shoved Pinkie off Twilight immediately.  “She got hit hard in the chest.  You gotta be careful!”

With curiosity, Pinkie looked down at Twilight’s chest.  She sniffed the air and ‘oo’ed at whatever she smelt.

“Is that Applejack’s blood?” Pinkie lightly prodded Twilight’s chest wound.  “I didn’t know you were that hardcore, Twitwi! You get we're not that kind of vampire, right?”

“It is,” said Twilight. “But I’m disturbed you can tell.”

“Oh, I make it a habit to know what everypony in Ponyville’s blood smells like,” said Pinkie.  “It’s my job.  But you look way more okay than we thought you’d look.  Heck, you look a million times cooler!  Your eyes are so pretty now!  No offense, but non-glowy eyes look kinda gross, right? All you need now are some fangs and you’ll be just like us!”

Pinkie hissed to show off her own fangs.  Twilight did agree with the sentiment.  Daywalker's eyes seemed a little dead.

“You’re taking the fact that I’ve suddenly transformed into a vampire in stride,” said Twilight.

“Oh, me and Rarity spent the last half an hour figuring this might have happened to you.”  Pinkie flicked her wrist.  “So I’ve had plenty of time to get used to it.  This just means you get to be one of us sooner, right?”

“Well, yeah.” Twilight switched out her current gum for a fresh piece.  “But all the stuff changing in my brain this fast is making me go nuts.  I snapped and ran into the forest before.  I almost died!”

“Oh no!  Poor Twitwi!”  Pinkie nuzzled Twilight.  “Once we get into the forest where we belong, I bet you’ll feel better!  As soon as Rarity gets here, we can get out of here turbo speed.  We’ll take care of you.”

“Where the buck is the boss?”  Dash asked. “Do you have any idea how worried you made Twilight?”

“She’s not-“  Twilight looked over to the sled Pinkie left by the stove.  That lump was about the size of a pony…

Pinkie followed Twilight’s eyes over to it and laughed.

“Oh, no!  That’s not her, silly.  She’s over uh-!”  Pinkie ran over to the window and shouted out of it.  “Rarity!  You’re too slow!  You’re gonna miss the party!”

“Pinkie!”  Rarity’s had to shout, but she wasn’t far away.  “I told you we can’t run right now!  They might get hurt!”

“Sorry!”  Pinkie called out the window.  “I just got too excited!  Guess who’s here?”

“Well if it isn’t Twilight, I’m going to be very upset at you for asking that,” said Rarity.

And then Rarity, in all her stunning glory, came in through the door.  Rarity locked eyes with Twilight instantly and once again Twilight was staring into those gorgeous, glowing eyes, the most beautiful thing in the world.

The second she saw Rarity, all of Twilight’s doubt vanished.  It felt, at the moment, like having all her friends here really was the only thing that mattered.  

Rarity was uninjured for the most part, but it looked like she’d narrowly avoided something much worse. Her mane was far shorter than it usually was, with scorched tips like it’d been on fire a bit earlier.

It took a moment, but Twilight realized that Rarity had a kid with her, a filly of maybe ten years old riding on her back.  Twilight couldn’t recognize who the filly was, but then again how could she?

Rarity wasn’t wearing her jacket right now, instead, the filly had it, and several other pieces of clothing, on.  The kid was so completely covered it looked like she was about to go play out in the snow. She even had a knit cap and scarf on, so all Twilight could see were her eyes.

Her eyes were red, though her pupils were so dilated they looked black, and her fur a dark orange, but that was hardly a clue to who she was because those wouldn’t have been the colors Twilight would have seen two days ago.

As Rarity trotted towards the bed, Pinkie scooped the filly up and fluttered her over to the far side of the bed where she quickly tucked the kid under the blankets, between Dash and Twilight.  The filly was shivering badly and her eyes were dazed like she was about to pass out.  If she had any aversion to physical contact, she was well past the point of caring about it. She just lied down between the two mares and tried going to sleep.

Rarity first gave Dash a brief glance.  Dash hit her chest and shrugged and that was all Rarity needed from her.  Then Rarity turned to Twilight, jumping up on the bed where three ponies now lied, looking dead serious.

Rarity looked Twilight over with concern, brushing her mane aside and looking deep into Twilight’s eyes.  She looked at the right eye, throbbing and swollen, then down at Twilight’s bandaged chest.

“It was those filthy daywalkers,” Dash spat out the last word like poison.  “They beat her up in jail.  Then we ran into a monster and got those cuts, but we’ll be fine.”

“You poor thing.”  Rarity held Twilight close but loosened her grip when the pain in Twilight’s chest made her wince.

Twilight remembered back when she first started hugging her friends, how she’d nearly cry every time. It was like she was back there once again, struggling to keep herself from bursting out into tears.  But she knew she’d be safe even if she did cry.

“I’m so sorry.”  Rarity moved back and brushed her hoof near the side of Twilight’s good eye.  “I was afraid this was the case!  Twilight, I think you’re past the point of no return now. There's something in the air that causes ponies to change faster, I’m sure of it now.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too.” Twilight nodded.  “But it’s okay.  I’m fine with this.  Becoming one of you is what I wanted, anyway.”

“Well I’m not fine with this,” Rarity said, her eyes closed.  “I want my fledglings to willingly become mine.  I hate that this was forced on you.  And as my fledgling, I’m responsible for you.  I shouldn’t have let you get hurt this badly.”

The idea of being mad at Rarity for anything, ever, just seemed so ridiculous at this point.  Maybe someday Twilight would think of a reason to be upset with Rarity, but right now there was no doubt in her mind that being with her was the right thing to do.

“I promise you I don’t like forcing you to make this decision,” said Rarity, “but the three of us have to leave immediately.  Right now. But I want you to come with me more than anything in the world.  You’re part of my family now.  I’m certain you’re still nervous, but-“

“Of course I’m going with you!”  Twilight said that a bit louder than she meant to.  She probably sounded desperate, like Rarity was about to leave without her.  “Rarity, I- I love you.”

Rarity finally smiled, that little winning smirk that Twilight went from hating to loving.

“And I don’t blame you for that one bit.”  Rarity kissed Twilight on the nose, then more softly on the lips.  “I do want to take you back home with me and have you be mine forever.”

Twilight nodded, accepting the offer.  She felt like she was safe again.  Finally.

Pinkie came bounding up onto the bed a moment later.

“Daw!”  Pinkie scooted up onto the bed, sitting next to Twilight so that she was surrounded.  “And what about me?  Do you love me too, Twilight?”

“Of course I love you.” Twilight smiled.  “Just in a slightly different way.  The three of you are my real friends.  I want to be with you all wherever that is.”

“Well that’s great!” Pinkie pressed herself up against Twilight.  “Slightly different love is my favorite kind of love!”

“Yeah,” said Dash, “this is great and all, but seriously.  Where the buck were the two of you?  Twilight was worried sick!”

“Yeah and who is this kid, anyway?”  Twilight looked down at the filly lying next to her.  The question simply couldn’t wait any longer.

“Did you already forget about me, Twilight?”  The filly wearily lifted her head and asked with a familiar voice.  “It ain’t been that long!”

Twilight recognized the voice immediately, but the answer was so bizarre that it took her a moment to accept it.

“Applebloom?!” Twilight ducked down to study what little of the filly’s face she could see.  This was one of those explanations that made you more confused, it was like the one incorrect answer to this filly’s identity.  “What? But why?!”

“That’s a bit of a story, isn’t it?”  Rarity looked over at Pinkie, who stuck her tongue out.  “Well, I suppose the short version is that I mistook her for you and ended up heroically rescuing the wrong pony.”

“Mistook me for her?” Twilight looked down at the filly.  “How did you manage that?  She’s tiny.”

Rarity used her magic to lift the oversized snowcap off Applebloom.  Applebloom shrank away, lowering her ears like she was ashamed of something. But lowering her ears was exactly what revealed what was going on.

Applebloom had fully grown ear tufts!

“You?!”  Twilight gasped.  Everything made sense but at the same time, it made no sense at all.  “You ate the fruit?  But your sister hates us!”

“I didn’t want to!” Applebloom snapped back like she was being accused of something.  “Those ponies from Canterlot tricked me into drinking this stuff that made me real sick! And now I’m turning into a filthy, disgusting vampire!  No offense. Y'all are really nice.”

“It’s alright.”  Rarity plunked the snowcap back on Applebloom’s head. “You see, Twilight, when you didn’t return, I imagined Sunset was up to no good.  To make matters worse, I felt the dark magic of a fledgling being kept underground in a heavily guarded area.  When I asked about it, they tried telling me it was ‘none of my business’ and they were wrong about that.”

“It was amazing, Twilight!” Pinkie jumped in.  “We got into this huge fight with twenty ponies!  One of them was the legendary vampire slayer Octavia. I never heard of her, but I think she's legendary anyway. She had a sunrise sword and there were explosions everywhere and we started a riot!  It was so awesome!”

“And that is precisely why we need to leave right now,” said Rarity, “before Sunset Shimmer or, forest forbid, Celestia figures out what happened and comes after us.”

“But hold on, they did this to her on purpose?”  Twilight took a careful look at Applebloom’s eyes.  They were normal, but clearly, Twilight’s cat-like eyes were making her even more scared than she already was.  “But why?  Sunset hates vampires.  She’d want there to be less!”

“It seems the real reason for this quarantine is to experiment on ponies,” said Rarity.  “They want to see what effects this mist is having. One of them must have suspected the mist might accelerate transformations, so they tested it out on this poor child.”

“But why would they choose Applebloom of all ponies?”  Twilight asked.  “Aren’t there a million delinquents in this town?  Why would they do this to the Apples after they’ve been loyal for so long?”

“You honestly think these dorks give a buck about that sort of thing?”  Dash asked.  “Like I said, they were probably planning on getting rid of the Apples in the first place. Their family knows too much and isn’t useful to them anymore.  Applejack should have gotten the buck out of here when she had the chance.”

“But even then, doesn’t she have an older brother too?  They could have used him instead of a child.”

Rarity sighed and gestured to Pinkie.  Pinkie went over to that makeshift sled and finally lifted the blankets to reveal its contents.  Twilight could see there was a large stallion under the blankets, unconscious.

Twilight didn’t know Applejack’s brother very well, couldn’t even tell you his name, but she knew he was a big guy just like this stallion.  It didn’t take much to deduce that this was him and he’d met with the same fate as Applebloom.

“Oh buck.”  Twilight sighed.  “Applejack isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“I can still change back, right?!”  Applebloom got worried when Twilight said that.

“Yes,” Rarity promised. “As long as we can get you out of town fast enough, that is.  Just get lots of sunlight like I told you and you’ll start going back.  It won’t be fun, but you can do it.”

“But- but what if I don’t get out in time?”  Applebloom asked.  “I heard y'all don’t age, right?  Would I be stuck being an eleven-year-old blank flank forever?”

“Not forever, dear,” Rarity said, “but a long time.  I’d say at your age, you’d need perhaps sixty years to grow into an adult, but it would happen.  Even if that does sound fun to you there are a few other complications, so that’s why you need to leave now, too.  Tell your sister to get you out of here as fast as she can.”

“Ah, great!”  Applebloom buried her face in the blankets.  “Another sixty years till I get my cutie mark?!  And- and!  Even if I do get out where are we gonna go after that?  Equestria is like, the enemy now!  They’re just gonna arrest us again even if we escape, aren’t they?”

“Well we aren’t going anywhere after this,” said Rarity.  “I’m dropping the two of you off with Applejack and getting out of town. You’re her responsibility, not mine. I don’t suppose either of you might know where Applejack is right now?”

“Oh, this is great!” Dash leaned back and turned her hooves up.  “Applejack is with Sunset Shimmer right now.”

“Of course she is.” Rarity sighed and tapped her hoof against her forehead.  “Of course she is.”

“I told that idiot not to trust her,” said Dash.  “But she didn’t listen.  This is the price of faith.”

“Hey!  My sister ain’t dumb!”  Applebloom protested.  “Once I tell her what happened, she’ll know Sunset’s no good!”

“But then what, kid?” Dash asked.  “You think Sunset’s just gonna let the two of you walk away?”

“Oh.”  Applebloom lowered her head.  “Right.”

“Now what am I going to do?” Rarity wondered to herself.

“We don’t need Applejack,” said Dash.  “I could throw the kid on my back and fly out of here as fast as I bucking can.  I think going to Equestria is a bad idea right now, but I could take her to one of those old expedition forts out in the woods. It’ll be safer there than in Equestria. The kid and her brother can change back then do whatever it is daywalkers do.”

“It’ll be safe once you get there, anyway.”  Rarity motioned at Applebloom, still shivering under the covers.  “You know how fragile ponies get when they eat fruit for the first time, especially foals.  Applebloom nearly fainted just walking over here, I’m not sure she’ll survive flying a hundred miles an hour for half a day. Chain teleportation won't be much safer either.”

“Then what?”  Dash asked.  “You saying we gotta get her out of here fast without actually going fast? You’re speaking a language I don’t understand, boss.”

This was an interesting puzzle. But that was something Twilight was good at.

“What if we move that monster?”  Twilight suggested.  Rarity gave her a curious look.  “Oh! Maybe you didn’t hear yet, but that invisible fog is coming from some monster.  I don’t know how long it takes for the fog to dissipate, but if we move the monster away it’s gotta die down at least a little, right?  And we can move the monster as fast as we want.”

“I like that idea,” said Dash.  “Fluttershy’s way faster than me, too.  We gotta tell her to grab that thing and book it.  She flies west by southwest, we go east by southeast fast as we can without hurting the kid.  That’s the best chance, in my opinion.”

“Now see!”  Rarity winked at Twilight.  “This is one of the reasons I love you so much, Twilight. The only problem now is getting to Fluttershy.”

“Well she’s going to be near the monster.”  Dash looked off to the west, where Twilight could still feel the presence of the monster. “She keeps insisting on calling that thing a ‘mist kitty’, by the way, so I guess that’s what it’s called.”

“Finding her is easy, yes,” said Rarity.  “The problem is dealing with this ‘mist kitty’ and Sunset Shimmer if it comes to that. We need to find someplace safe to hide these two, at least.  Maybe the vault would be the best option.  I suppose Sunset doesn’t know what we do just yet.  Slipping a message to Fluttershy might be enough.”

“But what about my sister?” Applebloom asked.

“What about her?”  Rarity asked back.  “Your family, including Applejack, has repeatedly assaulted me over the years. You should be thankful I’m even saving two-thirds of you. But I'm not sure I want to risk fighting that unicorn for her.”

“Well-“  Applebloom hung her head in shame.  “Well I’m real sorry for what they did, then.  You’re a lot nicer than everypony says.  But are you a hundred percent sure you won’t save her too? Please?”

Applebloom tried making puppy dog eyes, but they were all red and swollen at this point.  Rarity sat, stoically considering if this was cute enough to change her mind.  Maybe it was just enough for Twilight.

“Maybe I should tell you,” said Twilight.  “Applejack saved my life. I guess I kind of snapped back there and teleported into the forest.  And she gave me a lot of blood after I got injured. She wanted to accept your offer and was kind of on our side for a while, till Sunset showed up that is.”

“You want to help Applejack now?”  Rarity raised an eyebrow.  “You do realize that Sunset Shimmer is a strong as they say, it’s not just propaganda. Fluttershy told me as much.  If we start a fight with her one of us could get seriously hurt.”

“We can take her.”  Dash hit her chest.  “You and me are already overkill.  But if Fluttershy’s gonna be there, Sunset doesn’t even have a chance.  I say we do it. I've been wanting to beat the crap out of that little dweeb since the second I saw her anyway!”

“You too?”  Rarity was seriously starting to think about it now. “You really do start to like anypony you get into a fight with.”

Dash blew her mane up.

“Please,” Applebloom begged. “I really am sorry about all the stuff my ancestors did. I'll throw out all those books that say mean things about you and I'll tell my kids that you're a nice pony! I’ll do anything if you help her! I-I’ll even let you turn me into a vampire when I’m old enough and be your vampire slave or however that works. Please.  Just help my sister!”

It was that very last part that finally got to Rarity.  For a moment, she looked so sad, but then closed her eyes to get rid of whatever sorrowful tears she had and smiled.

“Maybe I have a soft spot for little sisters.”  Rarity gave Applebloom a small pat on the head and smiled.  “Alright.  We’ll help Applejack if we can.”

“Really?”  Applebloom looked as though she’d briefly recovered from her illness.  “Thank you so much, miss Rarity!  I take back every bad thing my family ever said about you! They were all wrong!”

“Yeah!”  Dash smacked her hooves together.  “Let’s bucking do this, then!  That little dweeb doesn’t know who she just bucked with!”

“You know how much I love your enthusiasm, Dashie.”  Rarity smiled over at her, “But we need to go about this carefully.  We don’t want to underestimate Sunset or the monster.  We need to prepare first.  The two of you go get our carts and bring them back here. Twilight, you go find all of Fluttershy’s blankets.  I’ll show you how to enchant them to keep them warm.”

And every pony in the Blue Diamonds gave their own ‘yes boss’ before going about her task.

After only a little bit, Rarity and Twilight finished gathering all the blankets in the house, which was a surprisingly high number.

“Twilight.”  Rarity put her hoof up against Twilight’s forehead like she was checking for a fever.  “How confident are you in your ability to use dark magic now?”

“Well I managed to teleport earlier,” said Twilight.  “So pretty confident!”

“Really!”  Rarity’s face light up.  She kissed Twilight on the cheek.  “I’m so proud of you!  You really are a talented little filly, aren’t you?”

“Heh!  Thanks.”  Twilight found herself blushing heavier than, well since the last time she was with Rarity. “I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll go on to do lots more impressive things.  For now, let’s work out what we need to do if we encounter certain problems.”

“Do you think we can beat her?”  Twilight asked.  “I get that most of what I heard was probably just propaganda, but-“

“I have little doubt that all of us together will be enough.  The only problem is beating her without any casualties.  Though it is possible we might not even have to fight Sunset at all, if I can get Applejack to follow me.”  Rarity contemplated the situation.  “But I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t given her any reason to trust me and we can hardly bring Applebloom into what might turn into a fight.”

Rarity thought about it for another second before turning to Applebloom.

“I don’t suppose your sister was smart enough to think up any code words for you?”  Rarity asked.  “Or maybe you have some secret you can share with me so Applejack knows you’re really with me?”

“No.  Or-“  Applebloom looked like she’d just remembered something risky.  “Well, there is one thing.  It’s something I’m absolutely never supposed to tell anypony outside of our family. But since it’s life or death…”

_______________________________________________


The things they’d need to make the trip and some of their most valuable possessions were already loaded up onto a small train of carts.  The others, Twilight learned, had spent that first day loading these carts up in anticipation of needing to make a quick getaway.

They carted Applebloom, and the rest of their things, to the vault where that collection of books and movies were stored.  This was undoubtedly the safest place for them to be right now.  With the enchanted blankets, they would survive until the initial poison wore off, at least.

They left Applebloom with written instructions on how to open the vault from the inside, if it came to that, and the cart with all the provisions.  They would be fine even if, for some unforeseen reason, Twilight and the rest couldn’t come back for her.

Then it was time to go find Fluttershy.

Pinkie, with her keen senses, stayed out in front, was able to lead them through the forest without getting close to any monsters.

As they got closer, things seemed far calmer than they’d been before.  Almost no monsters were around, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Evidence of a fight became increasingly apparent.  Trees had been cut down, craters laid into the ground and they even passed the corpses of a few dread stalkers and timberwolves on the way.

And finally, they came to the center of the dark magic, but there was no wall of mist now.

Fluttershy had it, the mist kitty.  She had her forelegs and wings wrapped tightly around it so only a small amount of the purple mist leaked out.  But Twilight could feel that bottomless source of dark magic coming right from where Fluttershy was, could feel the satisfaction from being close to it.

Sunset Shimmer and Applejack weren’t far off.  Applejack had overexerted herself in whatever played out here, didn’t look much better off than her sister. Still, she pushed herself hard to remain standing.

Despite that, the two of them were largely uninjured.  They were both wearing enchanted gold-colored armor, but only a light amount, and gas masks.  Sunset had a thunder lance levitating on either side of herself, both crackling with lightning. 

She and Applejack were loaded up with holy water. Applejack had two tanks on her back, at least two gallons each and Sunset had that plus a belt and saddlebag filled with vials of the stuff.  In the forest, you’d need that stuff to cast a lot of big spells, but this was the holiest water Twilight had ever seen anypony carrying.

Twilight could smell the light magic emanating from Sunset, it burned her nose like acid even from here. Just touching Sunset would burn any of them.  But then dark magic was extremely poisonous to Sunset in turn and there was a lot more of that around.

“I can be persuaded to let you take it without a fight.”  Sunset approached Fluttershy like she was a cornered animal.  “But I want something in return.”

“I suppose it don’t matter either way now,” said Applejack.  “Important thing is getting this monster far away.  You’re sure she’s going to keep her word, though?”

“Yes.”  Sunset nodded.

“Hm.”  Fluttershy looked down at her mist kitty, considering her circumstance.  “I suppose that’s fair.  What do you want?”

“First of all, I want to see that purple vampire again,” said Sunset.  “Celestia thinks there’s something odd about her. Two, I want you to not tell me about the potato chips. Three-“

“Ah!  Well, I can help you with the first one!”  Rarity came out of the woods, Rainbow Dash close behind while Twilight and Pinkie hid in the woods. “Twilight’s a dear friend of mine, you know.  Would you like me to take you to her now?”

Sunset slowly moved her eyes across the forest, looking for the rest but unable to see them through the darkness and fog. She knew Twilight was injured but wasn't sure how much. As far as she knew, Twilight may very well not even be here.

It was hard to tell which of the three disapproved of Rarity’s presence the most.  Applejack looked so exhausted and she’d just been told she had to run ten miles, Sunset held back her seething anger and Fluttershy looked deeply disappointed.

“Why did you come out here, Rarity?”  Fluttershy sighed.  “Rainbow Dash, I told you I would handle this alone!”

“We already settled this matter,” said Sunset.  “You can leave.”

“Not entirely,” said Rarity. “There’s something urgent I need to discuss with Applejack.”

Sunset gritted her teeth just then.  Twilight was almost certain she knew exactly what this was about.

“What do you want?” Applejack took a step forward.

“Don’t.”  Sunset stopped Applejack.  “They’re clearly up to something.  Let’s get out of here.  We don’t have the same… negotiating power now that there’s so many of them around.”

Applejack nodded, more relieved at not having to do more work than anything else.  Then the two of them turned and started trotting away.

“Little Applebloom is with us, Applejack!”  Rarity called after her.  

“What?!”  Applejack turned around, suddenly angry, suddenly forgetting how exhausted she was.  “If you did something to her-!”

Rarity beckoned to Applejack with a cocky smile, as if taunting her to charge over and punch her. It probably was the fastest way to get her away from Sunset and it almost worked.

“You!”  Applejack moved to charge forward, but Sunset stopped her before she got anywhere.

“I said don’t!” Sunset snapped at Applejack, even angrier than Applejack herself was at thinking her sister was in danger.  “It’s a trap.  They’re lying.”

“Applebloom told me something,” said Rarity.  “The secret ingredient in your apple pie is that you put a single pear in with all the apples, right?  Something about your mother.  I assure you, she’s with me.”

“What?”  Applejack’s anger broke into stunned amazement.  “But that’s- she wouldn’t have told you that unless…”

Sunset was looking particularly tense like she was trying hard to calculate a way out of this situation.

“Alright, fine.” Sunset suddenly calmed back down. “Maybe they’re holding her hostage.  I’ll go with you to where your sister is to make sure she's okay.”

“You will?”  Applejack let out the most unwarranted sigh of relief in history.

“Yeah.”  Sunset kept her eyes deadest on Rarity. "I owe you."

And now it was Rarity’s turn again.  Bringing Sunset near Applebloom was a terrible idea.  After a brief hesitation, Rarity decided to cut to the chase.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Sunset know where she is.”  Rarity turned back to Applejack.  “Sunset Shimmer, or her lackeys at least, forced her to eat the fruit of eternal youth. She held her captive to study her. Applebloom’s presently transforming into a vampire.”

“Sunset!”  Fluttershy scolded the unicorn.  “Is that true?  Did you seriously force a child to transform like this? You know what happens if you do this!”

Without waiting for a reply, Fluttershy closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to see if she could feel Applebloom.

“Of course not.  This is all slander! It wouldn't make any sense for me to do that, would it?”  Sunset grabbed Applejack and started dragging her off.  “We don’t need to take this.  Let’s get out of here before we get hurt!”

“But my sister!” Applejack pulled back against Sunset but hardly had much strength to resist.  “They got her either way!”

“It is true!” Fluttershy opened her eyes back up, having sensed Applebloom’s presence.  “Sunset! How could you?  You were already in a lot of trouble, but this is even worse!  This is absolutely a violation of our truce!  When Celestia hears about this-“

“You think I came up with this stupid idea?!”  Sunset snapped back at Fluttershy.  “I had everything under control!  I told Celestia this was a bad idea, that it was going too far. I said this would only risk getting you to turn on me.  But she told me I don’t understand anything!  She made me do it!  She always ruins everything and then acts like I’m the idiot!”

Fluttershy was honestly taken aback by that revelation and her anger slowly turned to sadness.

“You admit it?” Applejack’s look wasn’t one of shock or disgust, but horror.  “But- you?  Why? My family’s fought for Celestia for-“

“Shut up!”  Sunset shouted at her.  “I didn’t have a choice.  Celestia made me do it.”

“Even if she told you to, you didn’t have to listen to her.”  Fluttershy shook her head.  “You know Celestia isn’t well right now.”

“Oh!  You think I have a choice?!  You think I get to decide what orders I follow?! You think you can just say no princess bucking Celestia?!”

“I know Celestia hurt you too, and I’m sorry for that.  I feel like I failed you.”  Fluttershy bowed her head.  “But you don’t have to let her do this to you anymore. This job is taking a toll on you. If you want, you can come with me to the forest.  I’ll-“

“No!”  Sunset stomped her hoof.  “The reason I stay is because I hate Celestia. I can’t possibly imagine why you’d want Celestia to be a trillion times more powerful.  There’d never be any escaping her then. I’m going to keep a lid on that nightmare as long as I possibly can!”

Fluttershy looked at Sunset with a sad little frown for a long time before speaking again.

“Then what are you going to do?”  Fluttershy asked.

Sunset needed a moment to figure that out.  She looked from Fluttershy to Rarity, then through the rest of them.  She looked like she was doing some complex mathematics, trying to figure out some way out of this.

Maybe Twilight wasn’t entirely free of all that propaganda she’d been force-fed but seeing Sunset unsure if she could win a fight seemed wrong.  

“Alright, here’s my offer,” said Sunset.  “I’ll let you take that stupid kid and the monster and leave without trying to stop you.  I never wanted any part in that anyway. Celestia will call me an utter failure for losing her, but she always does that no matter what. I can live with that. We all just walk away and nopony gets hurt.”

“That sounds fair!" Rarity reached her hoof out to Applejack in offer. "Just send Applejack over here and I promise I'll let you walk away from this unharmed."

Applejack realized her life was in danger at this point and didn’t wait for Sunset’s response.  She tried moving over to the Blue Diamonds straight away, but Sunset tripped her with a spear.  Drained beyond her limit, Applejack fell to the ground and struggled to get up. Sunset needed only to put a hoof on her back to keep her down.

“No.”  Sunset leaned on to Applejack.  “I can’t fail completely!  Somepony has to take the fall for this and it’s not going to be me.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Applejack cried.  “How could you do this to us?  My family fought for Equestria for generations!   You’re supposed to be a hero!”

“I am a hero,” said Sunset. “This is the sort of thing heroes do in real life.  Heroes sacrifice to protect the system.  I need to keep order!  I need to keep civilization from collapsing!  All of this is going to cause mass panic but think of how perfect this all is.  You had all those books about the forest.  Reading about the forest drove you insane and you were the one who caused all of this.  A perfect cautionary tale; a perfectly open and shut case.”

Applejack was too stunned by all of this to even respond.

“You see?”  Sunset turned back to the others as if she honestly expected them to be impressed.  “All the pieces would have fallen perfectly into place.  My plan would have worked!  You wouldn’t have come here and ruined everything if we didn’t mess with that stupid kid.  But Celestia went too far and she’s going to blame me!"

“Oh please,” said Rarity. “You aren’t sacrificing anything for ‘the system’, you’re just forcing other ponies to sacrifice for you.”

“I don’t care what you think.  I only care about what you’re going to do.”  Sunset looked at Rarity, then Fluttershy.  “I don’t want to hurt either of you for the same reason I didn’t want to hurt Applewhatever.  I don’t know who I’ll be making angry.  But nopony cares about some stupid farmer.  It’s not worth it to you.”

“Yeah?”  Dash started stalking around Sunset, Sunset watching her carefully.  “Well, I’d say you don’t know who you’re making angry either way.”

“One more step and I attack,” Sunset threatened.

“You know something, Applejack?”  Rarity took a step back, closer to Twilight, and got ready to cast a spell. Meanwhile, she signaled for Dash to start stalking forward, past the ‘line’. “I hate this unicorn a lot more than I hate you.”

“Then we’ll do this the hard way.”  Sunset pressed the tip of her spear down against the back of Applejack’s neck.  “I’ll kill her right here unless the rest of you leave!  I’m only intending to throw her in jail forever, so-”

This was one of the circumstances Rarity and Twilight had prepared for.  Rarity jumped back and Twilight jumped forward, out from her hiding place.  Twilight grabbed onto Rarity’s back and Rarity teleported the two forward.

In an instant, they were an inch from Applejack and Sunset.  Twilight ducked down and grabbed Applejack while Rarity shot a burst of magical fire at Sunset’s face.  Sunset blocked the fire with her magic, giving Twilight a brief second to act.

Twilight grabbed Applejack and now it was her turn to teleport.  She moved the two of them back to where Rainbow Dash was.

Touching Applejack burned Twilight’s hooves.  She had to take them off immediately, but she did get Applejack away.

Sunset looked around. There was no way she could see them through the darkness and mist, but she could still sense the light magic radiating out from Applejack’s holy water.

“We gotta get rid of this stuff.”  Dash slashed one of the plastic tanks open with her claw blade.  The water poured out, but the repugnant odor caused both her and Twilight to gag.  “She can track you through it.  Can’t get away until-”

Sunset teleported to where they were a second later.

Now her spears were crackling with lightning.  She moved to thrust one at Applejack and one and Rainbow Dash.

Twilight wasn’t supposed to fight, she was just supposed to run.  So she grabbed Applejack and teleported back to where Rarity was.  Dash, meanwhile, clashed her claw blade against the spear.

“Owe owe owe!” Twilight blew on her burning hooves.

Rarity wasted no time ripping the remaining tank off Applejack and throwing it far into the distance with her magic.  Meanwhile, Applejack began throwing off pieces of her enchanted armor as fast as she could.

Twilight wanted to help her get it off but still couldn’t touch it without burning herself.

Dash was swarming Sunset as best she could, swiping furiously at the unicorn at an unsustainable pace, making it hard for Sunset to concentrate enough to teleport or to counterattack. But that wouldn’t last long, so Twilight braced herself to teleport again.

Applejack managed to get the last of her armor of just in time.  A flash of light warned Twilight that Sunset was teleporting back, so Twilight teleported herself, this time off towards where Pinkie was.

When Sunset got there, she looked around furiously to see that Twilight and Applejack were already gone.

Now they were safe!  There was no easy way for Sunset to find them in this darkness, certainly not while being attacked by two other ponies.

Instead, Sunset thrust her spears at Rarity.  Rarity easily created a shield in time, but when the spear collided with the barrier several blasts of lightning shot along the side of it, impacting Rarity hard enough to force the barrier back.

Sunset repeatedly hit the shield over and over while Rarity just kept blocking, making it look like Rarity was on the defensive.

But a moment later, Dash came in from the side and, with her claw blades, grabbed the pole of one of Sunset’s spears just as she was pulling back to strike with it.  After a brief struggle, Dash managed to pry it away and throw it far into the distance.

Sunset swung her spear at Dash, but suddenly Dash went on the defensive, focusing on dodging and blocking her flurry of attacks.  But she didn’t have much time to attack before Rarity suddenly switched over to attack.

Rarity cast a spell that animated the nearby plants.  Several vines whipped forward and grabbed onto Sunset’s water tanks and saddlebags. Meanwhile, a few nearby trees bent towards her, swinging their branches like claws.

Sunset easily dispatched of it all, burning the vines with one spell and splintering the branches with a lighting blast with another.  She swung around to swat at Rarity, only for Rarity to put her shield back up and Dash to jump forward and slash at one of her water tanks, destroying it.

The two of them had a good rhythm to their movements.  When Sunset was focused on Dash, Dash would go on the defensive while Rarity came at Sunset from behind.  And if Sunset switched her focus to Rarity, suddenly Rarity would start blocking and Dash would attack.

Pinkie watched them for just another moment. 

“Okay,” Pinkie whispered to Twilight and Applejack.  “Time for us to skedaddle.”

Twilight felt a little bad about retreating, but she very seriously doubted she could keep up with those three in a fight. Pinkie would be able to use her keen senses to guide them through the woods without running into another monster.

“Are you sure they don’t need our-“  Applejack tried to stand up, but lost her footing, almost fainting right there.

“Applejack, you can barely stand,” Twilight whispered at her harshly.  “You’re way too stubborn.”

Twilight looked Applejack over quickly and she did have a bruise that was bleeding.  It wasn’t bleeding a lot, but Applejack absolutely couldn’t lose any more blood right now. Twilight quickly closed the wound with a spell.

“A papercut could probably kill you at this point,” Twilight warned.

“Maybe you’re right,” Applejack relented.  “Let’s go.”

Pinkie scoped out the forest with her superior sight before pointing in a direction.  Twilight and Applejack started following, but they didn’t get very far.

Sunset was more desperate to keep them trapped than Twilight would have imagined.  The unicorn cast a spell, creating one massive shield around the entire surrounding area.  And she kept fighting while channeling it too!

It was impressive but would have been more so if it weren’t so reckless.  This was going to take up a lot of her concentration and burn through her holy water fast.  If Dash and Rarity got rid of her remaining bottles she’d be done for.

But it did work.  Twilight couldn’t teleport through this stuff.  It blocked the flow of dark magic, so the winds wouldn’t blow through.  There was still way more dark magic than light inside the barrier, but it did mean there was no easy way out.

“Nevermind,” Pinkie whispered.  “Let’s uh, hiding spot instead.  No worries, I’m so good at hiding even I can’t find myself sometimes.”

Pinkie found the best spot in an instant.  She took them to a shallow ditch Twilight never would have found on her own because it was surrounded and partially covered by shrubbery.  Even if Sunset came over here by accident, there was a low chance of finding them

To be extra sure, Twilight created a shield around the three of them.  With this much dark magic around, she felt confident she could block at least a few attacks, certainly anything that ricocheted in this direction.

For now, there wasn’t much the three of them could do but watch.

The battle was slowly turning against Sunset.  One of her pouches of holy water and one of her spears were gone.  Rarity and Dash were targeting the remaining holy water, Sunset’s source of magic, but Sunset was guarding them more carefully now.

Sunset had adapted to their strategy and was relying much more on teleportation, trying to strike them from odd angles or attack both at once with her spells.  She would often slam her remaining spear into the ground to send lightning coursing through the ground, trying to hit both of them at once.

As impressive as it was seeing Sunset hold off two skilled fighters at once, it seemed like only a matter of time before Sunset would get exhausted from fighting this hard.  It was very likely she would lose, but the question was whether or not Sunset would seriously hurt one of them beforehand.

But still, there was Fluttershy, whom Twilight expected was by far the strongest one here, looming over all of them.  Yet this whole Fluttershy had merely been observing all of this with a small frown.

The only reason Twilight could think of for that was that holding on to the mist kitty was harder than it looked.

“What are you even trying to do, Sunset?”  Fluttershy sighed.  “There’s no way you’re going to beat them and escape.”

Sunset took a brief moment to stop and consider that, before switching her target.  It was a move that took Twilight off guard, Sunset locked her sights onto Fluttershy!

Sunset tried teleporting away from Rainbow Dash and towards Fluttershy.  She rematerialized that spear and thrust forward at the misty kitty. That must have been her real target. Fluttershy was ultimately invincible so maybe Sunset was planning on saving face by killing the mist kitty before teleporting away.

Fluttershy went up on her hind legs and kicked off the ground, sending herself backward several meters.  Sunset relentlessly pursued her, but even with just her hind legs, Fluttershy was much too fast for her.

“If you get me to drop her, you might die,” Fluttershy warned.

But Sunset was clearly beyond that point.  She went all out, swarming Fluttershy as hard as she could with her remaining spear and spells. Lightning and fire ripped through the nearby trees, splintering them. Blasts of light blinded Twilight and forced her to retreated into the ditch while bits of wood and stone pelted her shield. It was too much for Dash and Rarity to get near her right now.

It was incredible to watch, but Sunset was burning through way too much light magic trying to end this as fast as possible.

Maybe Fluttershy was waiting for Sunset to wear herself down or maybe she legitimately didn’t think she could get through this, but she remained on her hind legs, darting circles around Sunset, doing nothing but dodge her attacks.

“Rarity!”  Fluttershy called out to her.  “I just need one second!"

Rarity teleported near Sunset and tried creating a shield around the unicorn.  Such a strategy rarely caused more than a brief distraction against another unicorn, but that was all Rarity was going for.  Sunset pounded against the barrier a few times with her empowered spear, shattering it in seconds but by then Fluttershy was gone.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy kicked off the ground much harder this time and vanished in a blur.  Twilight looked around but couldn’t tell where Fluttershy went off to.  There was a short delay between a pony appearing somewhere and the magic from them becoming sensible, but Twilight was starting to feel a presence coming from…

“Hello,”  Fluttershy whispered.

“Gah!”  Twilight fell over.  Fluttershy somehow got right behind her, sitting down and holding tight to the mist kitty.  “How do you do that?!”

“I’ve been practicing for a thousand years.  That’s a long time,” Fluttershy assured her.  “Twilight, I could end this quickly if I didn't have to hold on to the mist kitty. But putting it down is dangerous."

“Um.  Okay?”  Twilight looked down at the mist leaking out from the tiny gap in Fluttershy’s wing.  “Did you want me to try teleporting the mist kitty somewhere?”

This close, it was apparent that not even Fluttershy was immune to this thing’s mist at close range. Clumps of fur and feathers were falling off her and Twilight could hear a slight sizzling sound as though it was burning her the whole time.

But Fluttershy’s absolute immortality healed her faster than she could get hurt.  If she was in any pain at all she was able to shrug it off completely.

But that hardly meant Twilight would be able to do the same if Fluttershy let go.

“No, that would be dangerous,” said Fluttershy.  “Can you create a shield around it instead?”

“I’m not sure,” said Twilight.  “Can I?  That little thing looks intense!”

“It is, but it’s also emitting lots of dark magic,” said Fluttershy.  “You can use that to power the shield you’re containing it with.  You’re good at wielding high amounts of dark magic and it’d only be for a short time.  I’ll come right back if it breaks and I’m fast.”

Twilight glanced back at the fighting.  Rarity and Dash were holding Sunset off again, but Sunset was firing off increasingly large blasts of magic.  This felt like the only way Twilight could help.

“I’ll try,” said Twilight.

“Good.  Pinkie, take Applejack a few meters away for a second,” said Fluttershy.

Pinkie grabbed Applejack and fluttered off into some nearby bushes.

Twilight created a shield around Fluttershy and the monster both.  Slowly, giving Twilight plenty of time to react, Fluttershy opened her wings.

As soon as the misty kitty was exposed to air, Twilight felt an incredible force slam against the barrier. Suddenly it felt like she trying to hold up a collapsing skyscraper with her shield.  Twilight tried to overkill the barrier, drawing dark magic into herself to put more force into the barrier than she should.

The inside of the barrier was completely opaque with purple smoke, while the outside of it cracked and shined brightly at the same time, threatening to tear itself apart from both overcharging and the force inside.  This wasn’t going to last more than a second or two!

But just as it began to crack, Twilight felt the winds from the monster inside blowing through.  That’s what she needed to use if she was going to have any chance of doing this at all and now that she could feel it that would be easier.

Twilight stopped drawing dark magic into herself, this new source would be way too intense to even attempt to do that with.  Instead, she swirled the magic around in circles around the barrier, using the monster's own magic to power its cage.

Just like Rarity said, it was much easier to control if you didn’t try too hard.  Twilight just let it flow through her, barely touching it, allowing it to power an increasingly strong barrier.

The barrier trembled but held steady.  Now for the hard part.

Twilight let go of the barrier and tried to create a second, smaller one around just the mist kitty.  Twilight gagged on the small amount of mist that leaked out, but Fluttershy was quick to blow it all away from Twilight with her wings.

There was another brief moment where the new barrier felt like it was being rammed with an incredible force, but the initial impact didn’t last long.  The new shield was stable but trembling.  Twilight wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up for.  If Fluttershy could hold this thing with her bare hooves…

This did finally give Twilight a chance to look at this horrible beast.  It did look like a cat, though a big one rather than a kitten. It was only half the size of a pony, a sleek cat-like creature with black fur and two long, flowing tails. There was something like cracks in its skin, thick carapace-like grooves near its shoulders, hips and behind its ears through with that mist was slowly emitted.

It looked up at Twilight with the most innocent eyes in the world, but Twilight wasn’t fooled.  At least it wasn’t making any attempt to escape.  It likely was completely oblivious to all the destruction it caused, idly and innocently pawing at the barrier Twilight was keeping it in.

Once it was securely contained, Fluttershy flew off so fast Twilight barely even saw her, merely felt a blast of air.

Fluttershy reached Sunset almost instantly and landed a blow like a train crash that threw Sunset forward several feet. Twilight saw a wave of crackling dark magic around Fluttershy's foreleg just before it hit and saw her leg twist out of shape just afterward. Fluttershy had hit Sunset so hard that she'd broken her leg! And yet it returned to its original shape a moment later.

Sunset's armor was completely destroyed by that one blow, shattering into pieces and left Sunset bleeding on the ground.

Sunset only managed to get away by teleporting a few meters away.  She landed on the ground with a thud and tried to get up, but clearly, that blow had broken one of her legs.

She had only a fraction of a second to recover, to realize that Fluttershy was no longer encumbered.

“Where is it?!” Sunset looked around desperately for the mist, but couldn’t find it, not that Fluttershy gave her much of a chance.

Already Fluttershy darted back to where she was.  This time Sunset tried to block her with a shield, but Fluttershy pounded on the barrier so hard that Sunset struggled hard to keep it up, burned her magic away fast.

Instead, she had to teleport away yet again.  Fluttershy followed almost just as fast, leaving Sunset only with enough time to teleport somewhere new.

Sunset could barely even teleport fast enough to keep away from Fluttershy.  Every time the unicorn reappeared Fluttershy darted to her position straight away.  Maybe if Sunset had more luck, she would have teleported right next to Twilight by mistake but instead, it was Rarity she accidentally teleported next to.

Rarity wasted no time casting a spell on Sunset.  Twilight recognized the one too.  A circle of purple light wrapped itself around Sunset’s leg.  This was a dimensional anchor, which would prevent her from teleporting anymore.

“I suppose that’s the end,” Rarity taunted.

“No!  I still have my highest ace.”  Sunset grabbed the pendant around her neck.  “Celestia is beyond all of us.  She could destroy all of you in an instant.  I can call her!”

“What?”  Rarity smiled confidently enough.  “And prove you are a failure who needs her mommy?”

That did make Sunset hesitate for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure.

“I’m not going to be goaded that easily.”  Sunset closed her eyes and held the pendant close to her chest.  “Celestia.”

And from that pendant Twilight felt a new force, the same slimy, burning sensation she got from being outside during the day.  It was as if the sun itself was inside the pendant.

Fluttershy glanced in Twilight’s direction, seemingly more concerned about Twilight dropping the barrier than a literal god showing up.

Twilight had no idea how Fluttershy and Rarity could look so calm about this.  If Celestia was going to show up or cast a spell or anything really, it’d all be over for them.  Just opening a communication link to Celestia was enough to burn Twilight!  Her mere presence could mean the death of all of them.

Sunset held the pendant, telepathically communicating with Celestia, her eyes closed as if in prayer.

But even though her god was listening, still no one came.

“What?!”  Sunset’s eyes opened in terror.  She held the amulet up and shouted at it.  “What do you mean?!  You’re- you’re-!”

Sunset held the pendant trembling for a moment, then that sickening magic that radiated out from it vanished.

“You think I’m a failure?!” Sunset’s fear flared into a burst of anger.  She tore the pendant off her neck and threw it hard against a nearby tree.

Rarity laughed.

“Oh my, dear,” said Rarity. “I was never worried about that pendant in the first place.  To Celestia, you’re just another pony who will be dead in sixty years.  You think she’s going to waste her remaining magic saving you?”

For a second there, Twilight seriously expected Sunset to fall to the ground and weep.

“Please.”  Fluttershy held her hoof out to Sunset.  “Let me help you.  You can-“

“Shut up!”  Sunset snapped, turning all her anger towards Fluttershy.  “I don’t need your condescending-!”

Sunset put all her remaining strength into firing a single laser at Fluttershy.  The beam was immense!  The light was so bright that it blinded Twilight.  She could feel the magic from it sting just a little from here.

All of this was really throwing off Twilight's concentration.  She couldn't hold this thing any longer!

But Fluttershy took a direct hit from it too.  Something like that would certainly vaporize a normal pony, but Twilight knew Fluttershy wasn’t a normal pony.  If what she’d heard was true, it didn’t even matter if Fluttershy did get vaporized.

It was hard to tell just how badly Fluttershy was hurt by that.  She wasn’t vaporized, but she was smoking when it was done.  Fluttershy fell to the ground, but her absolute immortality was so intense she was able to get back up moments later. Even something like that would only buy Sunset a few seconds against Fluttershy.

But Twilight didn't even have a few seconds left. The barrier around the mist kitty was cracking and about to break! Twilight glanced back at Applejack, unsure how close she could get to it without dying. Her only choice at this point was to try teleporting again!

Twilight let go of the mist kitty and jumped back to Pinkie and Applejack huddled together. The wave of dark magic that burst out as the shield shattered was so intense that teleporting was easy. Twilight flew off out of control, slamming against Sunset's barrier in a sense and the three of them fell to the ground. But they were a good distance from the monster.

Meanwhile, Sunset lifted all her remaining vials of holy water into the air and shattered all of them at once, absorbing all the light magic within in preparation to cast some massive spell.  Though Twilight could hardly imagine what Sunset could even hope to do against Fluttershy at this point.

To Twilight’s surprise, it was just another, even bigger laser.  It didn’t even look aimed at Fluttershy this time.  Instead, she skimmed it down towards the ground and began turning in a circle, sweeping the laser across the ground as she went.

Was she just hoping to hit whoever she could?

The flaw with this attack became immediately apparent when Pinkie grabbed Applejack and Twilight and flapped her wings hard to get some distance into the air.  Pinkie only managed to stay in the air for a few seconds, still not being a strong flyer, but that was all she needed.  When Pinkie fell back to the ground, the laser had long since swept under them.

For a moment, Twilight thought that was a pretty stupid choice for a final attack, seeing as nearly everypony she was fighting could fly or teleport.  But then she realized that the laser wasn’t the part meant to kill her.

The forest lurched and cracked all around her.  Sunset had just cut down every tree in a huge radius and now they were all about to fall. And those were big trees.

“Don’t worry, Twilight!”  Pinkie looked up at the trees, eyes, and ears deeply intent, taking it all in.  “This is my thing!”

Pinkie watched the trees for the brief second before they picked up momentum before making her decision.

“Right here!”  Pinkie darted over a few feet and lied down on the ground.  “Here!”

There wasn’t any time to think.  The trees were coming down fast now, so Twilight and Applejack ran after Pinkie, stopping right behind her.

Twilight looked up and her confidence in Pinkie was shaken.  She could see at least three trees about to hit them!  She got ready to try and blast the nearest one, but Pinkie grabbed her.

“Trust me!”

There wasn’t enough time to think over the decision anymore.  Twilight didn’t get the chance to fire off her spell but that turned out to be a good thing.

The three trees that were about to hit them all crashed into one another, their branches hooking together to ultimately stop them from falling.  The branches came close but didn’t touch the ponies at all, instead creating something of a makeshift hut above them.

Meanwhile, dozens or perhaps hundreds of trees slammed into the ground everywhere else, creating a terrible crash.  A particularly large one slammed into the ground nearby, where Twilight had just been standing.  They could have been killed by that!

As soon as the chaos died down, Pinkie ran off to check on the others and Twilight followed.

Pinkie noticed where everypony was first and let out a sigh of relief, but Twilight needed longer.

Sunset and Fluttershy were easy to find, being in the middle of it.  It was apparent Fluttershy had stopped the laser by smashing Sunset with a blow that left the unicorn bleeding on the ground, Fluttershy sitting not far off. Not only that, but at some point, Fluttershy had flown back and gotten the mist kitty before it could expel much more of its gas because she was holding it once again.

A moment later, Dash came limping out of the woods behind Sunset.  She’d been battered by the falling trees but was still standing.

Then, finally, Rarity reappeared, teleporting in close to Sunset.  And Rarity looked completely unscathed.

Sunset looked up at Rarity with a mixture of fear and loathing.  She looked over the rest of them, seeing she hadn’t managed to take anypony out with her last attack.

“Seriously?!”  Sunset tried to cast another spell, but her horn sparked.  She was out of magic and wouldn’t be able to cast any more spells until she was out of the woods.

“Ha!  Looks like I win.”  Rarity flicked her mane and took a step closer.  “So are you-“

Sunset grabbed a rock and threw it at Rarity.  She didn’t manage to throw it very hard, the wounds on her foreleg causing her to break halfway through.  Rarity easily caught the rock with her magic besides.

“Very persistent.”  Rarity tossed the rock aside and cast another spell.

Once again, the vines and roots of the forest snaked to life, wrapping themselves around Sunset. This time, Sunset was out of magic and hadn’t the strength to fight back.  In a few seconds, she was buried under plant matter, only her head sticking out, unable to even make the mass budge.

But even then, she wasn’t ready to surrender.  She scowled at Rarity one last time and moved on to her final measure.

Sunset closed her eyes and began to move like she was casting a spell.  Twilight realized what she was doing right away, she was trying to teleport away using dark magic!

But, because she was a daywalker, drawing the dark magic in didn’t go smoothly.  Her body started to twitch, already in the middle of a seizure.

“Wait!”  Fluttershy darted towards Sunset.

But she was already too late.  Just as Sunset lost control of her body and began to spasm, she vanished from sight.

By feeling the path cut through the winds of dark magic, Twilight could tell she went a great distance, probably several miles, but-

“It looks like she teleported in the wrong direction.”  Twilight looked deeper into the woods. "I can relate."

“Yes.”  Rarity looked off with her.  “She’s deep inside the forest now.”

“Ha!”  Dash laughed.  “What an idiot.”

“I’m kind of impressed she was able to do it at all,” said Twilight. "Casting a spell with magic you can't feel while you're having a seizure can't be easy."

“Well she’s dead now,” Dash concluded.  “Out of magic, injured, having a massive seizure, if not a brain hemorrhage, in the middle of all this.  We ain’t seeing her again.”

“Not necessarily,” said Fluttershy.  “I’ve seen ponies get out of worse.  You’ve gotten out of worse.  But I think we at least have a few hours to get out of here.  Celestia’s probably going to send more ponies out soon.”

“Oo!”  Pinkie came out of her hiding spot.  “So you think she’ll show up again later and we’ll fight her a second time and- and then we become friends!”

“Friends?”  Dash’s eye twitched with disdain for the idea.  “We’re never gonna be friends with her and not just because she’s dead.”

“I kinda got the impression she just needed some therapy," said Pinkie, "maybe a relaxing hobby, and she’d chill out and be our friend!”

“She might have a point,” Rarity teased.  “You used to be almost as high strung as that unicorn.  And it does seem you’re destined to become friends with anypony you beat up.”

Dash wearily turned toward Applejack, who was just now crawling out of the tangle of trees.  Applejack was very clearly drained but managed to stay standing anyway.

“Rarity, I-“ Applejack turned away, embarrassed.

“I understand,” said Rarity. “I won’t make you say it.”

“No.”  Applejack bowed her head.  “Thank you.  I was wrong about you and… well a lot of things, apparently.  I’m not sure what to think anymore.”

Rarity smiled but didn’t tease Applejack.

“Oh, wait!  Fluttershy.”  Twilight ran over to her.  “There was something we needed you to do.  Applebloom is still changing.  We’re thinking the only chance we have to stop her from going all the way is if you take the source of the mist and get out of here as fast as you can.”

“I understand.” Fluttershy went over to the mist kitty and cradled it once again.  “I’ll fly as fast as I can.”

“West by southwest,” Dash suggested.

Fluttershy nodded.

“Thank you for helping me,” said Fluttershy.  “I hope you reconsider my offer, Twilight.  But I want you to know that you’re one of my children now either way. I’ll see all of you again soon.”

Rarity came over and Fluttershy gave her a loving nuzzle before leaving.

Fluttershy zipped out of there faster than Twilight had ever seen anypony move.  It was a wonder how anypony could even go that fast.  The dark magic of both Fluttershy and the mist kitty were still pulling Twilight, but they were moving away so fast Twilight doubted it’d be a problem much longer.

“Rarity.”  Applejack hobbled over to her.  “You said you have my sister?  Is she safe?”

“Applebloom should be fine. She’s a little bit that way.”  Rarity nodded.  “Hopefully that last bit of light magic scared all the monsters away.”

And then Rarity began leading them off.  Dash only got a few steps before having to sit down.

“Rarity.”  Dash rolled onto her back.  “Carry me?”

“Aw.  Poor Dashie.”  Rarity nuzzled Rainbow Dash lovingly before levitating her onto her back.  “I hate seeing you like this.”

“It’s not that bad,” Dash muttered.  “I just need a minute.”

It took a while, given that nearly everypony was limping at this point, but they managed to make it back to the vault without anypony getting hurt.

As soon as they swung the vault open, Applejack ran inside.  Her siblings were there, of course, but both were asleep now.  

“Big Mac!  Applebloom!”  Applejack ran to each of them in turn, making sure they were breathing.  She put her hoof to Applebloom’s forehead, feeling her temperature.  “They’re so cold!”

Applejack hugged her sister tightly, trying to warm her up.

“That’s normal for what happened to them,” said Rarity.  “But it’s unlikely either will wake up for a while.”

As if to defy Rarity, Applebloom opened her eyes briefly, just enough for Twilight to see that they were glowing but not slitted.  Twilight glanced at Big Mac to see he’d still yet to fully grow ear tufts even.  This all but confirmed in Twilight’s mind that smaller ponies changed faster. Though Applebloom might have had a high dark affinity too.

“Applejack?” Applebloom looked even more dazed than before, barely able to focus on Applejack.  “I’m all chowder.”

“Chowder?”  Applejack held Applebloom as she fainted.  “Applebloom!  Is- is she gonna be okay?”

“Neither of them are going to die,” said Rarity.  “So long as you keep them warm and don't move them around too much there won’t be any permanent damage.  The blankets should be enough for that.”

“But she’s-“ Applejack brushed her sister’s ears, feeling the ear tufts.  “She’s really one of you now?”

“It might not be too late for them to turn back,” said Rarity.  “Your brother is going a lot slower, but I have to admit I’m not sure if we can stop Applebloom from changing all the way.  We’d have to get her out of the mist, leave here immediately, to have any chance at all.”

“But where am I supposed to go now?  I can’t go back to Equestria!”

“You can do absolutely anything you want, Applejack,” said Rarity.  “As for me, I’m going somewhere deep in the forest.  You’re welcome to follow me.”

Applejack sat there, thinking in stunned silence as the rest of them started getting ready to leave.

Dash was too injured to walk right now and reluctantly lied down in the back of the cart.  The rest of the Blue Diamonds weren’t in very good shape either, but the three of them all hitched themselves to the chain of carts.

Rarity looked back at Applejack one last time, letting her know this was her last chance.

And Applejack took it, dragging her siblings over to the carts.  Despite Applejack’s protest, she wasn’t well enough to pull a cart right now either and ended up huddled together with Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, and Big Mac in the rear cart.

And then they started off for real.

Twilight turned to the north.  Even out here in the forest, she could see the faint glow on the north horizon. Only the faint light pollution of Canterlot remained in Twilight’s sight, and soon even that would be gone.

She looked up at the light of Canterlot for what might be the last time, before turning her back on it and following Rarity into the darkness.
> Chapter 19. One more step.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was an exhausting journey down to the castle.  The small caravan of ponies had to creep along, encumbered by their possessions and wounds, needing to keep a lookout for monsters or pursuers from Equestria. They walked all night without stopping and still it took them four days to reach their destination.

When they finally got to the ruins of the castle, Twilight felt as though she was sitting down for the first time in her life. Her body ached, but not in an overly bad way.  Everypony’s wounds still hadn’t healed entirely, they hadn’t gotten proper rest, but they could finally relax a little.

Somehow Pinkie Pie and Applebloom found the energy to spend the first day running through the empty castle, but Twilight and the rest spent it lying around.  Everypony was still too exhausted to unpack anything but sleeping bags and pillows.  Their chain of carts and saddlebags circled the immense great hall.

The entire group, both Rarity’s gang and the Apples were camped out in that first, massive room.  This castle wasn’t a tenth as big as Canterlot Castle, but that still left it at an enormous size.  You could have fit Twilight and Applejack’s house inside this one room alone!

The place was just too dang big.  It went on and on with empty room after empty hall.  The magic protecting the place was still active, so they didn’t need to worry about running into monsters.   But trees had torn into parts of the castle, so not all of it was safe to explore.

Besides this room and the basement, Twilight had seen little of what would be her home for either a week or three months, depending on what Applejack decided to do. And there didn’t seem to be a lot of good options for her at this point. 

Down in the basement were huge crates filled with ‘emergency provision bars’.  Applejack and her brother were the only ponies in the group who had to eat these and that was a good thing because, according to her, they were completely disgusting.

That was hardly surprising, considering they were a few hundred years old. Those things were invented long ago. They didn’t absorb dark magic and they had a shelf life of two thousand years, making them just about the only thing a daywalker could live off of in the forest. And, as was boldly printed on the cover of the box, ‘you can technically live off them’. They contained just enough nutrients that you could eat these exclusively for years.

But the word ‘technically’ was warranted.

Applejack tried to overcome the hideously dried-out nutritional bar by drinking a huge tankard of water.  But at this point, the dark water of the forest was all she could get.  To Twilight, that stuff was the smoothest water she ever drank, but Applejack described it as slimy and acidic. It was barely drinkable to her, but she could drink it.

Clearly, this was not a place she’d be comfortable in for very long. Equestria was far from safe now. And her only other option…

But for Twilight, at least, this place was hardly that bad! Once you were a vampire, nearly every plant in the forest was edible. If Twilight got hungry, she could just walk outside, grab anything and it would taste great.

Her fangs were only half-formed and were back to growing at a slow rate, but they were still there. They made eating things like grass, which needed to be chewed extensively, more difficult, but eating fruit became a whole lot easier. It was so easy to tear into them now. And they really did taste incredible, better than any fruit Twilight could have named a year ago.

There was one fruit with a thick shell-like a coconut. That one looked like it was specifically designed to be eaten by bat ponies. You could stab straight through the shell with your fangs and drink the juices like, well, a vampire. Sadly, Twilight’s fangs were still too short to pierce through, but they were getting just a tiny bit longer each day.

That was going to be her metric for the last part of the change. She’d bite into one each day and see how close she got to biting all the way through. When she could finally suck its juice out like Rarity could, her transformation would be complete.

But there was something else she was looking for right now, just outside the castle. There was no way to make coffee out here, but the leaves of a tree that grew not far from the castle could be used to make an extra-strong tea that was almost as good.

Already Twilight was getting a bit better at making it. She had to rube the leaves between two rocks to make abrasions, then dip them into a pot of boiling water to make the tea. That first part took a lot of effort, but it was worth it and soon Twilight was going back inside with a pot of tea.

Rarity was lying on top of a pile of sleeping bags, Dash lying at her side with a wing draped over her. Rarity opened her eyes and looked up at Twilight but didn’t lift her head.

Since she started living with her, Twilight learned that Rarity had a shortlist of weaknesses. One of them was that she was not a ‘morning’ pony.  Rarity needed at least a half-hour after waking up just to get out of bed.  Then she’d need at least a half-hour after that before she once again become her perky, cuddly, bossy, lovable self. Until then she was just bossy.

Trying to talk to her now would be met with a disapproving grumble.  Thankfully, everypony already knew what Rarity wanted so talking was unnecessary.  She demanded one of them stay in bed with her until she got up herself, that coffee and breakfast be brought to her and that nopony say anything to her until she was finished.

Dash, in no real condition to be up and running around, had been on cuddle duty for the past half hour or so as Rarity struggled to get up. Twilight brought the cup of forest tea and set it in front of Rarity.

Rarity muttered something that was likely a thank you and took the mug. Twilight tried drinking a cup of it too, but it was far more bitter than coffee. She needed to find something to sweeten it with.

Twilight noticed two sets of brightly glowing eyes dashing across the balcony that overlooked the great hall. And that was one more pair than anypony hoped to see when they got here.

“Another one!”  Pinkie’s voice came echoing from the second floor. She meant another mattress.  She and Applebloom were going through the castle collecting all of them.

The two of them shoved the mattress down the stairs, letting it tumble down onto a pile of moldy and petrified mattresses and pillows near the bottom of the stairs.  They’d already gotten a sizable pile of them.

“Twilight,” Rarity muttered harshly.  “Can you please tell them that those mattresses are disgusting, and we’ll have nothing to do with them?”

“Um.”  Twilight looked up at Pinkie, sure Pinkie and her excellent hearing already picked that up.  “Rarity says-!”

“Oh, come on!”  Pinkie yelled down at her.  “There’s gotta be some spell you know that can clean them up! Think of how cool it’d be if we piled them all at the bottom of the stairs and did like, mattress sledding!”

“I wanna do mattress sledding!” Applebloom agreed with her quickly.

“You’re not doing any such thing!”  Applejack, who’d just come back from the basement with another pile of boxes, was the one who scolded them this time.  “Just 'cause we’re enemies of the state don’t mean I’m gonna let you turn into some delinquent.”

“Oh come on, Sis!” Applebloom called down to her. “We’re outlaws now!  Shouldn’t I get to be just a little bit of a delinquent?”

“No!”

“Ah shucks.”

“And tell Pinkie she needs to wash her hooves before coming back down here.”  Rarity finally sat up with significant effort.  “This place is filthy enough as it is.”

“Rarity says-“

“Okay, okay!”  Pinkie rolled her eyes.  “Come on, Applebloom.  Let’s go wash our little hoovesies for Princess Rarity.”

“Alright, uh-!” Applebloom looked up at Pinkie. “What was your name again?”

“Pinkie Pie!”

And the two of them scampered off somewhere. Every time Twilight saw Applebloom’s eyes glowing in the darkness, she felt a twinge of defeat.

What disturbed her about that question wasn’t just that Applebloom had asked Pinkie her name two or three times a day since they started, but that Applebloom knew Pinkie’s name before that whole incident. She was experiencing memory loss as Rarity warned on the way here.

Despite going as fast as they could, despite trying to move them even during the day, they hadn’t been fast enough to stop Applebloom from getting to the point of no return. The fog hadn’t dissipated as quickly as they’d hoped and now Applebloom’s fur was back to yellow in Twilight’s eyes.

Applebloom was already a bat pony, she even had small, stunted wings.  She couldn’t fly yet, they had to grow more and it’d take a long time to learn after that.  It didn’t look like she knew what to do with them half the time, letting them just hang around or jutting them out at weird angles.  

Twilight wondered how jarring it must be to suddenly have a new pair of limbs.  At least an unexpected pair of wings was something Twilight would never have to deal with.

Applebloom’s brother, at least, would have a chance to back if he wanted it. But he was physically altered too, still had ear tufts for now.

Applejack was the only one with no visible difference in her. She looked up at her sister with the most fear and pity of all.

“You said she’s going to get better right?” Applejack asked. “I know it’s gonna take longer than my lifetime, but- I’m still not sure how worried about this I should be.”

Rarity sucked up her grogginess to try and take this seriously.

“All bat pony foals are very slow learners, that much is natural.” Rarity nodded. “But it is a lot worse in ponies who change instead of being born that way. She’s going to be having ‘amnesia fits’ for the next decade or two. But none of the memory loss is permanent, it always comes back in a few days, and by the time she’s an adult, they’ll be gone. But it’s hardly anything the ponies in Hallow Hold don’t know how to handle.”

“Right.” Applejack nodded, trying to take solace in that. “There’s that school she can go to… if I let her?”

“And more. Our foals are more fragile for much longer than yours so we’re even more protective of them. Trust me, in Hallow Hold you can clap your hooves and have twenty ponies lined up to help Applebloom,” said Rarity. “School is a different down there and I don’t just mean not watching the same movie a million times. You take one subject a day, rotating between twenty of them a month. I know it sounds strange, but it really is the best way for them to learn anything.”

“Twenty subjects a month?” Applejack asked. “Ain’t that a bit much considering her uh, condition.”

“Learning goes slow for them either way,” said Rarity. “As far as her intelligence goes, this is a good thing in the long run. When she does finally finish school, Applebloom will not only be overall her mental issues but she’ll have vastly more knowledge and skills than a daywalker could ever hope to attain in their lifetime. But she will need help getting there.”

Applejack relaxed a little, at the assurance, but not much.

“Maybe I don’t have any choice but to send her down there to be with…” Applejack hesitated to say it. “Her own kind. But- I got no idea what I’m supposed to do with myself. If I try to go with her like this, I’m gonna die.”

“You have a few options, of course!” Rarity held out her hoof. “You could stay here forever. You could get an alias and try to live somewhere in Equestria, hoping none of this ever catches up with you. Or…”

“I could turn myself into a monster too.” Applejack hung her head. “And take your offer.”

“Well even then, it’s not your only option. Maybe you could change by yourself and wander south to the Cavern Grove without me. But I’ll tell you something about how things work in Lunarel, in our nation. Families are organized around a, let’s say, ‘head vampire’, not too different than what you see with the four of us though usually bigger. Ponies who don’t have a head vampire they’re loyal to are called rogues. It’s not easy for you to get ahead down there unless an older vampire takes you under her wing.”

“But there are other vampires like you? And I could convince one of them to let us into their… family or whatever?”

“Of course! But I can’t say what they’ll ask in return. Only that all of them would ask for something.”

Applejack grew silent once more. She silently thought about things a lot recently. Eventually, she scrapped her hoof against the ground three times, swallowed, and looked up at Rarity.

“And if I do take your offer?” Applejack asked. “What exactly would I have to do?”

“Well I could have Dashie here teach you how to fight for real.” Rarity looked over at Dash. “You have some potential. But I suppose you’d be like my maid if I can’t find a better job for you to have down there. Don’t you think Applejack would look cute in a maid outfit, Twilight?”

Twilight wasn’t sure which type of ‘cute’ Rarity meant. Applejack wasn’t bad-looking, but she was a lot bulkier than Rarity or Dash. Maybe Applejack wasn’t exactly Twilight’s type.

“Maybe a little?” Twilight rubbed her mane. It felt weird now that her spikes were deflating from lack of hair care products.

“Alright.” Applejack scratched the back of her head, suddenly embarrassed about something. “I just wanna make sure. I wouldn’t have to, well you know.”

“What? You still think I eat ponies?” Rarity raised her eyebrow.

“It’s not that.” Applejack shook her head. “I meant the- well I can tell you have Twilight and Dash, uh- I ain’t into mares is what I’m saying!”

Rarity laughed.

“Well I’ve heard that one before.” Rarity pulled Twilight close. “I’m not asking you to be a sex slave. I never told you to do anything you weren’t absolutely ecstatic about, did I Twilight?”

Rarity gently bit down on Twilight’s ear. That was something she’d started doing once Twilight got her ear tufts. And it was something Twilight enjoyed a bit too much.

One of the little details about the transformation that never got mentioned was that ear tufts were like a sexy thing. They served no biological function outside of showing how healthy you were, were specifically there to attract mates. And Twilight learned this the hard way, by being attracted straight to them. Even now she had to be careful to not get caught staring longingly at Rarity’s ears.

And Twilight’s ear tufts were the largest in the group, which meant…

Well Rarity certainly appreciated them. She suddenly loved biting down on Twilight’s ears.

The only reason Twilight didn’t take this opportunity to escalate things with Rarity was that Applejack was watching, and Applejack still had that knee-jerk reaction towards any display of physical affection.

“Now don’t get me wrong.” Applejack held up her hooves. “I appreciate everything you did for me and my kin and I take back every bad thing I ever said about the three of you. But I still can’t approve of the way y’all are always cursing and hugging and whatnot and… well I don’t know what to make of all this. I have no idea what I’m supposed to believe in anymore.”

“Bleh. That kind of thinking is what got you burned in the first place, Daywalker.” Dash thrust her hoof out in Applejack’s dimension. “It’s like I told Sparks, like I tell everypony. You should be thinking about what matters to you instead.”

And Applejack did think about it for a moment, silently, before looking back upstairs. Her answer to that question, at least, was obvious enough that even Twilight would be her life on it.

“I just need a little more time to think, alright?” Applejack waited for Rarity to nod in approval before going back down to the basement in search of more supplies.

Rarity yawned before turning back to her newest fledgling.

“Twilight.”

“Right boss!” Twilight got up, already knowing Rarity wanted some warm water.

Already Rarity was combing her hair and quickly switched over to washing her face as soon as Twilight brought the bucket over.  Rarity, once she fully woke up, would call describe her morning self as a ‘hideous freak’, but Twilight thought she looked cute in a way, with her frazzled mane and fur.

“There!”  Rarity stretched out her legs and finally got out of bed.  “Much better! Now what were we up to again?”

Rarity tapped her chin as she looked over the disheveled room.  Rubble, cracks, dirt, and plants were everywhere.

“Hrm.”  Rarity gave the corners of the room, buried in cobwebs, the same critical frown she gave her clothes whenever she went to sowing.  “We really must clean this place, but then again that’s a waste of our energy if Applejack says no.  How do you think we should give her, Twilight?”

“We should give her a least a week, I suppose,” said Twilight.  “You think she’ll take your offer, though?”

“Oh, you still doubt me?” Rarity’s smile was confident enough. “Twilight, you should know that if I want somepony to like me then it’s hardly up to them anymore.  Yes, I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll get Applejack to swear her loyalty to me.  The real question is how long until she becomes a delinquent.”

Though it still seemed like a long shot, there was something oddly tempting in imagining Applejack becoming a vampire and turning just as corrupt as Twilight and the rest.  Rarity always used to say that the purest ponies were the most satisfying to corrupt and Twilight understood the feeling now.

Those stories were undoubtedly true that vampires lived to spread their corrupting influence.  Twilight felt it, wondered how Rarity even resisted the urge to go after Applejack this long.  Though maybe Twilight’s emotions were still wild.

“But that seems like it’d be a lot harder than it would with most ponies,” said Twilight.  “I can hardly imagine her dressing like a punk or eating candy.”

“Yes, well the same could have been said about you,” Rarity teased.

“Hey!  All I needed was to be broken out of a lifetime of borderline brainwashing and- yeah, okay I see your point.”

“I think this little incident destroyed Applejack’s worldview well enough,” said Rarity. “This was probably the only thing that could have gotten her to reconsider the way she looks at things, but it happened.  The rest is easy.”

“Ready?!”  Pinkie called from the top of the balcony.

“Yeah!”  Applebloom called after her.

Pinkie jumped off the balcony and spread her wings, gliding down to the ground with Applebloom on her back.

“See?”  Pinkie flared her wings out.  “Wings are one of the upsides of all this!”

Applebloom flared out her wings or at least tried to. It’d be more accurate to say she flailed them about helplessly before giving up on whatever she’d been trying to do.

“There’s tons of upsides, kiddo!” Pinkie promised. “You’re gonna love Hallow Hold! We got giant chickens you can ride around on and a monorail and a movie theater that plays actual movies and telephones and a waterslide and, and-“

“I’m pretty sure I asked this before but-“  Applebloom rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed.  “I’m not the only pony down there’s who’s stuck like this, right? There’s other kids in this place we’re going?”

“Ah heck yeah!” Pinkie cheered.  “There’s a bunch of kiddos for you to make friends within Hallow Hold.  You got Scootaloo and Dinky Hooves and uh, Rumble!  Technically those guys are in their 40’s, but that’s like 12 in bat pony years.  And they were all born as vampires so they’d probably love to meet somepony like you! You’ll be their friend in no time.”

“Do they have their cutie marks yet?”  Applebloom asked.

“Not last time I was there.”

“Huh!  Didn’t have any ponies my age without cutie marks around Ponyville, so maybe this is an upgrade.”  Applebloom thought to herself.  “Maybe we could all look for our cutie marks together!  I could start a program for acquiring cutie marks.  The Cutie Mark Acquisition Program!  Course, I’ll think of a better name by then.”

Applejack came back up the stairs shortly after, dragging a surprisingly unpetrified mattress with her.

“Hey look what I found!” Applejack called out to the others. “This one’s just fine!”

Applebloom shrank away from Applejack, hiding behind Rarity yet again.  She quickly realized this was rude, had only done it on reflex, and came out from hiding with her head hung down apologetically.

Applebloom wasn’t exactly helping with her sister’s depression.  Rarity was the biggest source of dark magic around and so the kid was drawn to her like a magnet, ended up following her around like a lost puppy all day, and could only part from her by following Pinkie or Dash around instead.

That was another major difference of bat pony foals- they stayed clingy towards adults much longer and were far more afraid of being alone. They had to survive a lot longer as children so they were more reluctant to leave the company of other bat ponies. 

But to Applejack, it must have felt like Rarity had stolen even her little sister away on some level.

Not that Twilight could blame Applebloom.  Even now Twilight had trouble dealing with her new instincts.  For a filly, that had to be even harder.

Applejack, meanwhile, was the one who looked like a monster now.  Looking into her dim, non-glowing eyes was like looking into the eyes of a corpse.  The light magic inside her felt and smelled acidic.  It all added up to this unsettling feeling.

Applebloom tried hard to overcome her fear of her siblings, but she was forcing herself to go over to them, and never lasted long before she had to retreat to the comfort of Rarity and the darkness.

“Guess what, sis!” Applebloom tried to be brave and make up for cowering a moment ago, but still had to cling to Rarity.  “There are other ponies down in other castles who are in the same boat as me.  And they ain’t got their cutie marks yet, either!  So I won’t be the only one in my class without a cutie mark anymore. That’s good, right?”

This had to be the fifth time Applejack heard this ‘good news’, but for her sister’s sake, she acted like this was the first and smiled.

“Well that’s swell but we ain’t a hundred percent sure where we’re going just yet,” said Applejack.

“Come on, Sis!  What’s even option B?  We stay in this castle eating emergency pro-whatever bars for the next sixty years and die?”  Applebloom asked.  “There ain’t nowhere else for us to go but some crazy vampire castle.”

“You’re gonna be twelve for another decade, so there ain’t no hurry.”

“There is a little bit of a hurry,” Rarity pointed out.  “I’m not staying here forever, Applejack.  I’ll give you a week or two to decide if you want to accept your rightful place as my vassal and if not- well you won’t see me for a few years.”

“Well if you’re staying up here can you at least let me go with Lady Rarity?”  Applebloom looked up at Rarity.  “I’m gonna go crazy if I’m stuck here with just you and Big Mac! I gotta be with other fillies and go to a vampire school, you know?”

Applejack, if she stayed as she was, wasn’t even going to live long enough to raise Applebloom to adulthood.  And it was clear Applebloom didn’t learn the same way she used to anymore. Applejack clearly cared a lot about Applebloom, but there just wasn’t any way she could help her sister, not here and not the way she was now.

But desperate and hopeless as it was, her sister was the one thing Applejack had left.

“I ain’t gonna make you go anywhere without me,” Applejack said. “And I know this Hallow Hold is likely the only good place for you to be, so…”

Applejack braced herself and turned to Rarity.

“Rarity. Applejack took her hat off bowed her head.  “I… accept.”

“Hm.”  Rarity frowned a little tapped her cheek.  “Lovely, but that’s not quite good enough.  If you want me to take you in, you’ll have to be a bit more convincing.  Bow down and swear your loyalty to me and then I’ll accept you.”

Applejack met Rarity’s eyes but kept her frown.  Then she bowed down to Rarity.

“I swear the loyalty of me and my kin to you,”  Applejack said.  “From now on, my family serves you. I apologize for everything my family has done. You win.”

“Of course!  I always win.  But look at it this way.” Rarity knelt in front of Applejack.  “If you’re on my side then that means from now on you always win too!  It’s all uphill from here, I promise.”

Then Rarity moved her hoof under Applejack’s chin and lifted her muzzle off the floor.

“Now stand up.  Now that you’re my servant, you’re above such humiliation.  Why, this is something to be proud of!”

“Yeah!” Dash chimed in. “You’ve been getting screwed over your whole life. You should be happy that’s finally over with!”

Applejack stood up, relieved that Rarity left it at that.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be proud of this.” Applejack put her hat on. “But if you keep your word, I’ll keep mine.”

“I can’t give you your farm back just now, but I promise one day you’ll have your land back,” Rarity promised. “But you do know what you have to do if you’re coming to Hallow Hold with us?”

“I do.”  Applejack nodded and turned to give Applebloom a serious look.  “Applebloom, if you’re stuck like this- then I’ll be stuck like this too. I ain’t ever gonna turn my back on you, even if I have to follow you into the dark.”

“You really are the best sister, Applejack!” Applebloom started tearing up with admiration at her big sister.

Applebloom overcame her instincts long enough to run over to Applejack and the two of them nuzzled the air instead of one another. Twilight felt bad that they were still so socially conditioned that neither of them hugged, though.

“But I still ain’t gonna run around cursing or nothing.”  Applejack turned back to Rarity, determined to be defiant about something.

“That’s fine!”  Rarity smiled.  “I’d be just as bad as those daywalkers if I made you do anything like that.”

“So what do I gotta do now?” Applejack asked.

“You already know how to change, Applejack,” said Rarity.

Rarity held out her hoof in Dash’s direction.

“Ah, geez.”  Dash ran off somewhere.

It took her a few minutes to go find a cup, a piece of fruit, and some water, but Rarity waited there with her hoof out the whole while.

Finally, Dash returned and squeezed a small amount of juice into the cup before handing it to Rarity. Rarity carefully studied the amount, then poured some water in and swirled it around.

“This will make you pass out,” Rarity warned, holding the cup out to Applejack.  “And you probably won’t get to go back.  This is the point of no return, my friend.”

“No.”  Applejack took the cup from Rarity.  “The point of no return was back in Ponyville and I got pushed over it.”

Applejack sat down on the mattress and gave one last look to her sister.  She held it in her hooves for what felt like a long time, starring down at the clear liquid like she was bracing to jump into ice-cold water.

Then she held her breath and gulped down as much of it as she could.  Applejack very nearly finished before coughing and gagging. She dropped the glass and began breathing in and out heavily, her eyes turning red and tearing up.

She fell limp onto the mattress and held out another second before passing out.

Watching all of this gave Applebloom the courage to overcome her instinctual fear of daywalkers and run over to her sister.  

“She’s okay, right?” Applebloom looked up at Rarity.

Rarity nodded.

“She’ll be sick for a few days like you were, but she’ll get better,” Rarity promised.  “Once she starts changing, we can head down to the Cavern Grove and you can make all your new little friends.”

Applebloom tried to sit down next to her sleeping sister.  It didn’t take long for her face to sour and she began to shift uncomfortably. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and ran back to Rarity.

She looked so ashamed at that, at not being able to even sit next to her sister right now.  

“Rarity!”  Applebloom looked up at her, afraid.  “I don’t wanna feel this way around my sister, but-!  I just feel so-!”

“It’s not your fault.” Rarity stroked her mane.  “And it will go away soon.  I’m sure Applejack understands, she’s going through a lot for you. Big sisters care a lot about their little sisters, you know.”

“Thanks.”  Applebloom nodded.  “You’re a lot nicer than everypony says. I swear my loyalty to you too, Lady Rarity! When I grow up, I’ll be a total badass like you all are, right? And then- well I’ll do cool stuff like you, too! You’ll be real happy I’m on your side.”

“Time is on your side now. I don’t doubt you’ll be a ‘badass’ one day, no.” Rarity gave Applebloom a reassuring pat on the head, something that gave Applebloom a tense shiver. “But you have a lot of training until then, so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Pinkie, would you mind watching her for a minute? I’m still not entirely awake yet.”

“Come on!”  Pinkie jumped in front of Applebloom.  “Let’s play smash all the windows and break all the stuff!”

“Smashing windows?” Applebloom looked back at her unconscious sister.  “That sounds like something my sister would never let me do.  So- yeah!  I’m a hundred percent in!”

“Haha!”  Pinkie patted Applebloom on the back.  “You’re fun, kiddo!  You stick close to your auntie Pinkie Pie!  ”

Then Pinkie lead what was likely a budding delinquent off into the other room.

“My, that child has a lot of spirit, doesn’t she?”  Rarity sighed.  “She’s almost as clingy as you are.”

“Well I have the same problem Applebloom has.  Your dark magic is sucking me in too.”

“Oh?  And are you certain that’s the only thing attracting you to me?”  Rarity flicked her ear a few times.

Twilight blushed and wondered why ear tufts were suddenly this hot.

“You know it’s still hard for me to control myself.” Twilight shifted uncomfortably in place.

“If you’re still trying to ‘control yourself’ then I haven’t taught you well enough.” Rarity turned her nose up just a little. “But if you want me to stop taking advantage of you just say so.”

And if she was being honest with herself, Twilight did want Rarity to take advantage of her. Twilight looked at that painfully fuzzy ear and couldn’t resist any longer. She took a step forward and bit down on Rarity’s ear.

Rarity made a satisfied little sound of approval and for that one second, this whole adventure was worth it. She kissed Twilight on the cheek, prompting Twilight to let go of her ear and then the two of them kissed on the lips. Rarity held Twilight close for a short time before finally pulling back.

“Well at least I’ll have plenty of receptive mares around for our stay here.” Rarity looked towards the door of the castle. “We just need to make sure there aren’t any Apples around when we’re having fun. We have two down. But where is their brother, anyway?”

“I think he’s out chopping wood or something?” Dash guessed. “That’s something stallions do, right? I can go find him.”

Dash tried to get up once again, but this time stumbled. She tried to carry on despite that, but it was clear her limp was back.

“Oh no, no.” Rarity levitated Rainbow Dash over to herself. “You’ve done more than your share for today. I shouldn’t have made you get out of bed at all.”

Rarity let go of Twilight and hugged Dash instead, gently stroking the Dash’s embarrassment towards her injuries away. And it wasn’t long before Dash’s tension melted away.

Twilight watched Rarity hold Dash in much the same way the two of them had embraced just moments ago. She still wasn’t sure what her relationship with Dash was and it only got more confusing over time. Back when she was jealous of Dash getting Rarity’s attention things were painful but made sense. Then she moved to being numb to it and now…

Twilight felt it was almost inevitable that she was going to ‘try’ something with Rainbow Dash eventually. They’d agreed that it was okay to cheat with Rainbow Dash, though it wasn’t something Twilight thought she’d ever take advantage of at first. But now she felt that dark temptation, the same sort she’d felt all through the past year, pulling her towards Dash. And Twilight had only ever given in to it before.

The two of them didn’t spend much time kissing before Rarity carried Dash over to the mattress where Applejack was and tucked Dash in next to the earth pony.

“I really do want to keep you out of these fights and spoil you.”

“I like fighting,” said Dash.  “It’s the only way I can make new friends like you said.”

“You never fought me and we’re friends,” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah? Well don’t tempt me, Sparks, cause I could totally take you even like this.”

“You’re not fighting anything any time soon,” Rarity said sternly like it was an order. “If it really comes down to it, I’ll fight Twilight for you so the two of you can be friends.”

“What?!” Twilight quickly ran over to her side. “Rarity, I can’t possibly beat you! I don’t have enough training!”

“Then be happy we’re on the same side,” said Rarity. “And be happy my Dashie does everything I tell her to, otherwise she absolutely would have beaten you up by now!”

“For you, Rarity, anything. Everything.” Dash held her hoof out to Rarity.

“And I’m glad to take it.” Rarity held Dash’s hoof with her own. “But for now you can serve me by taking a break.”

“I do everything you tell me to, boss.”  Dash laid her head down and closed her eyes.

Rarity let her go back to sleep and stepped away from the bed. And then Twilight and Rarity were alone.

“But what are we are we going to do for three months?” Rarity looked over the disheveled castle. “Being stuck here won’t be any fun at all.”

Twilight knew what she wanted to do right now but decided to save that till later.

“This place isn’t so bad.” Twilight looked around.  “Just needs a bit of cleaning.”

“Not so bad. Tut!”  Rarity puffed out one of her cheeks.  “No electricity, no plumbing, no theaters, no coffee, no society at all!  We forgot to bring a projector with us, and the radio doesn’t pick anything up down here. How am I supposed to deal with such dreadful conditions?  Twilight, comfort me!”

Rarity pretended to faint in Twilight’s direction, allowing Twilight to catch her.

“There, there.” Twilight nuzzled Rarity’s neck, unsure of what else to do.  “You still have like fifty ponies to wait on you.  And I snagged a couple dozen books from the vault on the way out.  Maybe we could set up a book club.”

“That’s a start,” Rarity muttered, then pouted. “But we were just a few days away from you taking me out on a romantic date!  But there’s hardly anywhere down here for you to take me to.  And now I have to wait months before we get to Hallow Hold to go on a date with you.”

“Maybe I could still take you out on a date here?”  Twilight suggested.  “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere expensive anyway since, well, now I have zero money.”

“Really now?” Rarity got back up. “So where were you going to take me then?”

“I was just going to take you out to the lake,” said Twilight.

“That is a nice spot. And whatever were you going to do with me there?”

“Nothing like that! I thought we could just do some stargazing?” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. She thought after standing up to Sunset Shimmer and a dreadstalker she’d never get nervous again, but this was getting up there with those two! The idea sounded incredibly stupid the moment she said it out loud. “You’re the one always teaching me new things, so I thought maybe if I found an obscure enough topic… maybe I could like, you know, teach you something?”

Rarity smiled at the idea.

“You think I don’t know anything about the stars now?” Rarity went right back to teasing.

Of course Rarity would know about constellations! She was like three hundred years old! It’d be a long time before Twilight’s knowledge base could match hers!

“Well I do know some really obscure facts!” Twilight didn’t give up just yet. “You know me, the more obscure a piece of information, the more I want it!”

“Well now! How about we make a game of this? I’ll give you one reward for each time you tell me something I don’t know.”

Twilight’s twisted, delinquent mind was already imagining the sort of ‘reward’ Rarity would give her.

“There’s probably some nice balcony we can go sit on.” Rarity tapped her cheek, thinking the idea over. “But then we can hardly go up there until we know what parts of this castle are stable. I suppose the next best bet is that little clearing outside. We could have a nice view of the stars there! Come along!”

Rarity beckoned Twilight to follow her and started out of the door.

“Dash was right.” Twilight helplessly followed after her. “You really do just take control over everything.”

“Like that’s a bad thing!” Rarity turned around to face Twilight. “Tell me you adore how bossy I am!”

“I love how bossy you are, Rarity.” Twilight nuzzled Rarity’s nose.

And it was absolutely true.

“There!” Rarity gave Twilight’s nose a quick flick before turning to lead her outside once more. “All better!”

They didn’t have to travel far. Just a little outside the castle was a tree that looked like it’d been struck by lightning long ago. That left behind a large gap in the branches for a clear view of the sky. It was late autumn now and all the leaves were falling off besides.

Even to her new eyes, the stars looked largely the same.  It was true that they were far away enough from Equestria now that there was no light pollution, that Twilight could see the full night sky for the first time. But that was hardly the reason Twilight felt awe towards it.

No, she was certain it was some new instinct, something that changed inside of herself that she could look at the sky once again with amazement. And it felt all the better with Rarity sitting next to her.

Twilight tried to think of the most obscure fact she could about the sky. She scanned the sky, looking for her target. It was easy to find because it was the only green star.

“So! That constellation is Verdis Draconis, the green dragon.” Twilight pointed up at the constellation. “These ten stars make up the head and then just three more for the rest of the body. But it’s called the green dragon because of that star right there, where the ‘eye’ is supposed to be. That’s Verdis, the only green star in the sky. I’ll assume you knew that, but do you know why it’s green?”

“Because it’s not green,” said Rarity. “It’s just an optical illusion.”

Maybe Twilight had underestimated Rarity! But she still had one level of obscurity left.

“But do you know why the yaks think it’s green?” Twilight asked.

“Hm?” Rarity looked over at Twilight with curiosity, giving the other mare confidence to go on.

“You see,” Twilight began to explain, “in their culture, well they’re total racial supremacists who believe only yaks can be correct about things. That’s why they never accepted all this stuff about planets revolving around stars, because if a yak didn’t discover it, it can’t be right in their minds.”

“My, I wonder why their civilization crumbled so long ago,” said Rarity.

“In their mythology,” Twilight continued, “our entire planet is inside a giant snow globe like we’re all under a massive glass dome. And every night, the great yak throws his coat over the dome and goes to sleep. But Loki poked little holes inside his coat, so the stars are actually pinpricks of daylight getting through. And that green star? That’s Loki’s green eye, peeking in on us while the great yak is asleep. They never look at Verdis because if you make eye contact with Loki, then you invite him to come to you.”

And of course, Rarity kept fearlessly looking up at the alleged eye of Loki.

“Good work!” Rarity turned back to Twilight with a smile. “That is something I didn’t know. You’ll get your reward a little later.”

Twilight blushed, a little proud she’d gotten it on her first try. Even though it probably wasn’t that hard.

“But that still doesn’t answer the question, does it?” Rarity asked. “You merely moved it a step so now the question is why does Loki have green eyes?”

“Um! Because chaos magic is green? No! It’s just colored that way in textbooks, uh-!”

Rarity giggled at Twilight’s attempt to actually answer the question.

“I am curious where you found that one,” said Rarity. “Were you reading about yaks?”

“Shiny- my brother I mean. He used to be really into this fantasy pretend game, but you needed at least three ponies to play it and he only had one friend, so he’d always make me play with them. He’d always look up weird stuff like that and make it part of the game. He used to dress up like a, uh-“

Twilight noticed Rarity was staring at her with a particularly pensive look. 

“Uh. What?” Twilight pointed to herself.

“It’s just you’ve never mentioned your family before.” Rarity smiled. “All this time and I don’t have your backstory, either!”

Twilight hung her head. She certainly felt like Rarity had the right to know. If they were going to start dating, she’d have to hear about this eventually.

But Rarity was right this was the first time Twilight dared to talk about them. The subject always seemed so frightening and terrible, but Twilight was braver now, death didn’t seem so close and she wasn’t’ alone.

“I was coming home for Hearth’s Warming break,” said Twilight.  “They were going to pick me up at the train station.  I waited there for six hours before…”

Twilight grew silent again. She really didn’t think this was going to help, felt more like this was something she was forcing herself through. Thankfully, Rarity wasn’t the type to force you to do something just because you were ‘supposed’ to.

“We don’t have to talk about that part, Twilight!” Rarity waved her hoof.  “You were telling me about some costume he used to wear?”

“Well…”

An idea popped into Twilight’s head. It was terrifying but at the same time, she felt safe enough, here with Rarity, that she felt she might have just enough courage to go through with it.

“Maybe.” Twilight offered Rarity a smile that likely didn’t do much to hide her fear. “Maybe I can show you?”

Rarity nodded gently and Twilight trotted off to the nearby carts, containing her few remaining possessions. Buried at the very bottom was the one box Twilight had never unpacked. Holding it once more didn’t fill her with the same sense of hopeless dread she’d once had. Here, in the dark, Twilight wasn’t alone anymore, wasn’t just waiting to die and perhaps never would be again.

Twilight sat down next to Rarity once again.

And she opened the box.