- ... Two sisters rule us, two sisters in their wisdom allow the day to be replaced at night, they indicate when the winter goes to summer. Thanks to them, Equestria is thriving ...
Applejack listened to the mayor's speech in half, more worried about Apple Bloom, who was standing next to her. She first appeared at the Choice Ceremony, before she and Big Tommy had protected the younger sister from all this, told only in general terms. But, as the granny said this morning: "No matter how hard you try to be careful with a holey basket, apples will spill out of it anyway."
"... The sun will not bring deliverance from nightmares, and the moon will not bring calm to those who were burnt to ashes by its light," the mayor's face flushed, she spoke with fervor, as if trying to convince herself.
Applejack looked around.
"Where's Annika?" She asked Tommy.
He shrugged.
"I haven't seen her since yesterday," Apple Bloom said in a whisper, yanking Applejack by the hand. - She planned to make an ogro-oh-ohm pie so that everyone could eat it after the Ceremony.
Applejack shook her head. Annika Settigren seemed to be friends with the whole city. I always tried to bring something good even in the most unpleasant days. And this is also after the misfortune that overtook her family, as if she did not need sympathy, but everyone around.
"This year," the mayor continued, "our city has been greatly honored!" Honor to serve the good of all Equestria!
"Honor" fell to their city every couple of years. The proximity to the capital played a role. Thousands of years ago, vampires came to the country, and two sisters, two bloodthirsty princesses, became the head of state. They and their immortal subjects built the city of Canterlot, which towered on the rocks with a dark colossus. And they declared their will: once a year, one of the cities of Equestria must give one of its inhabitants to vampires. The city was indicated by the princesses themselves, and its inhabitants were already deciding how they would make the choice.
Somewhere, as Applejack knew, they vote, somewhere - they send the oldest resident, somewhere - everything is decided by a loss in a sports competition or the "usefulness" of each person is calculated. But they decided to give everything at random to Cartenlot City.
The mayor finished the speech and put her hand in the barrel, where there were sheets of paper with the names of each of the inhabitants of the city, excluding the children.
Some said that the city council was tricky with the choice that they did not add their names and the names of their relatives, but Applejack remembered well how the name Spoild Rich had been dropped a few years ago. It's not that many loved her and her family, but you will not wish such a fate to anyone.
Meanwhile, the mayor took out a folded sheet and turned pale. After a second hitch, she read the name written on it:
- Pinkamina Diana Pai.
"Is that the full name of Annika?" Asked Apple Bloom in a whisper.
Applejack only nodded.

Pippi Longstocking's night has not been asked from the start. By and large, from the very day, because she decided not to go to bed until she finished with all the points of her plan. And there it was meant to "master teleportation over short distances." It didn't work out with small ones, and I had to walk several kilometers, hiding in protective magic. But the sun still managed to fry a little Pippi.
Almost all vampires could not tolerate sunlight, except that their magic was directly connected with it, like Princess Celestia or Sunset Shimmer, so they had to defend themselves with all available forces. Princess Luna sometimes hinted that it would be nice to immerse Equestria on eternal night, but admitted that then it would be too difficult for many served. Most preferred live food, and without sunlight, animals and people would die too quickly.
Therefore, the same Pippi, who recognized the need for the sun, and cursed in an undertone, reaching her castle. Then everything was even worse. A magical message came from the mentor, her radiant Highness Princess Celestia. In which she reported that a person would arrive at Pippi tonight. For what purpose - it is not clear. Because Pippi has made it clear many times that she, even without the presence of mortals, is not bad.
And then it turned out that all blood supplies had deteriorated. So she stood in the kitchen, looking at the fact that she would not be her breakfast.
"What a curse!" - Pippi waved her hand and destroyed the remnants of useless blood with a spell. "There's nothing to eat!"
Her dragon, Spike, calmly dozing on an armchair, raised his head and said thoughtfully:
"Maybe I don't understand something, but can't you drink the blood of the person whom they will send you?"
Pippi grimaced. She knew that, basically, vampires do this to those people whom they send as a tribute. But she considered it an occupation for an amateur. She happened to try human blood; even when refined, it was terribly bitter, and fresh was even worse. This is not to mention possible diseases or, it is scary to imagine, parasites. Pippi preferred artificial, sparkling compositions that she herself created, or, at worst, sheep's blood.
"I don't like people," Pippi said aloud, "why did Celestia think it would be interesting to me?"
- Perhaps, and because of your experiment? Spike suggested, stretching out clawed scaly paws. "You said you needed some kind of intelligent creature for him."
"I completely cost you," Pippi recalled. "Moreover, you are obviously smarter than most people."
"Well, understand that this is an insult or a compliment," Spike muttered.
There was a magical ringing that reported that someone had crossed the border of Pippi's possessions.
"Oh, here is your man," Spike said, and jumped off the chair. - Come, meet!
Pippi did not share his enthusiasm, but decided that, for the sake of interest, she should at least look at the person she was brought to. The coming night gave her strength and improved her mood, but the feeling that she did not ask did not let go.

A vampire castle was like a huge tree. Annika did not know what the vampire homes should look like, but it seemed to her that there must have been gray stones, blackened gates from time to time, and something like that. And not a tree at all, and judging by the green foliage, it's quite alive, inside which someone's house is built.
The driver left her right in front of the door and drove away faster than Annika managed to say goodbye. It would be possible to turn around and leave, but, firstly, it meant setting up the city, because then they would have to choose another victim, and, secondly, the local vampire must have spotted Annika.
She feared what might await her. It would be strange if not ... but mom always said that you need to treat your fears with humor, then it will be easier to overcome them. Annika sighed heavily: her family disappeared a few years ago. Parents, sisters ... everyone who was at Pye's farm ... No one could tell exactly what happened and why the house was torn apart as if by a huge hammer. They did not find the bodies, and Annika continued to consider her relatives alive, although everyone around her sympathized with her, calling her an "orphan".
The door opened right at the moment when Annika was about to knock.
"And you don't look like a vampire," she said, looking upwards at a small scaly creature with a crest on its back and a long tail ending with a sharp arrow. "More like a little dragon!"
"I am the dragon!" The creature said. "And also the personal secretary Pippi Longstocking."
"Oh, hello Mr. Personal Secretary, and my name is Annika Settigren."
The dragon grunted.
- I'm Spike.
He stepped back, and Annika was able to enter the castle. From the inside, he looked even less like a vampire home. A round room, wooden panels on the walls, many shelves with books and a bright lamp under the ceiling that did not leave shadows even in the corners.
- Oh! Well then! - Annika turned around and only after that noticed the owner of this place.
She looked a little more like the image that appeared in her head at the word "vampire". She had faded purple skin, violet-lilac hair bristled slightly, and a dark caftan with rich embroidery, high boots with trousers tucked in and a cloak draped over the top complemented the image of a night witch.
The vampire stood next to one of the bookshelves, arms folded across her chest, and looked at Annika with a strange expression: something between surprise and rage.
- Hi! - Annika went up to her and found that a little lower, but this was not surprising: even in Cartenlot City many girls towered above her. "Your dragon said your name is Pippi Longstocking, and I'm Annika Settigren, you can just Annika."
"Okay," the vampire said.
Annika looked at her mouth and asked:
- And how do your fangs fit? I have never seen vampires, can you imagine ?! But she always thought: "But they do not interfere?". Here I am, when I dressed in a vampire on Nightmare Night, they interfered terribly!
"Uhhh ..." Pippi said. - Do not interfere.
Annika realized that she stood on tiptoe and looks at someone else's face. It was not very polite, but she was worried. A joke or something, not every day you find yourself in a vampire castle!
"What will you do with me?" She asked.
"I don't know," Pippi seemed ... embarrassed, and it was surprising, because vampires should not be embarrassed as humans.
That's what everyone said.
"What do other vampires do with human sacrifice?"
"They are eating," Pippi answered briefly, "they are experimenting."
Annika did not like the options. Although it did not look like they would eat it right now, it was not worth losing vigilance.
"Oh, and I thought they were converting," she said. - Well, you know, from a bite of a vampire, a person becomes a vampire and begins to drink blood himself!
Pippi raised her eyebrows.
- Seriously? Do people believe that?
"How else should vampires appear?" Annika asked.
"Like everyone else," Pippi replied, and then added: "But I won't eat you." I do not like human blood.
It was nice to hear that, and Annika was relieved from her heart. Although she tried not to lose optimism, her thoughts about what would happen to her did not leave all the way to Pippi Castle. While it was possible to rejoice, and then look at the situation.
"That's wonderful," she clapped her hands. - And where is the kitchen? And what foods do you have ?! I don't drink blood and did not have breakfast, and I just have to bake cookies in a new place.
Spike, who silently watched the exchange of remarks, waved his front paw.
- Come on, I'll show it. If you're not afraid of me, "he said.
- Why should I be afraid of you? - surprised Annika. - At my place a tiny crocodile lives, he is like a real one, just very, very small. You would probably make friends.
She smiled once more at Pippi before following Spike.

Pippi could not understand why Princess Celestia sent a person to her. She knew that she didn't need it. After reading the message over and over, Pippi tried to understand the hidden meaning. Celestia wrote that there was no need for a young vampire, like her, to sit alone. But how was it worth understanding?
Watching Annika Settigren run around the castle trying to find something edible was interesting, but nothing more.
Pippi had just entered the kitchen when her new headache, folding a tower of stools, climbed to the upper drawers.
- And if we go to the nearest city and buy flour, sugar and everything you need? Annika asked. "Or is it too late, and they will not sell us, what do you think?"
She turned to Spike, who ran below, now and then stretching out her paws, when it seemed to him that Annika was swinging dangerously and was about to fall.
"It is unlikely," he said, "and besides, until we get to the nearest village, it will be even later."
"And that is true ..." Annika noticed Pippi and waved her hand. - Hey, what do you think? Maybe you'll come with us, I'm sure that they will open the vampire, simply because fear ...
She could not resist at the top of the tower. The long hem of the pink dress shot up, but Annika sank softly to the floor, caught in Pippi's magic.
- Thank! - Annika was greeted by lush curly hair, not that it changed anything, they still stuck in different directions.
"I can move you with magic," Pippi said, "to some city." And you will return under your own power.
She did not say that she would prefer Annika Pye to disappear, run away from her, stop Tommyng noise and create a mess in such a calm and orderly life of Pippi.
- This is wonderful, Twiley! - Annika clapped her hands, and then added, as if reading her thoughts: - Don't be afraid, I won't run away.
- And I will not allow it! - proudly added Spike.
Pippi grimaced and prepared to move them away.
"Wait, are you really really not going to eat me?" Yes? - asked one more question Annika. - And turn into a vampire ?!
"I'm not going to," Pippi replied, and before she was again bombarded with questions, she waved her hand and moved Annika and Spike to the city at the distance of the daily passage.
This should delay them for a while.
"There are people," Pippi shook her head, "you can earn indigestion from someone else!"
Of all the Pippi vampire acquaintances, only the princesses themselves, Starlight Glimmer and Sombra, ate human blood. Even Sunset Shimmer switched to magical compositions some time ago, believing that it is easier and morally cleaner. Although this, of course, did not interfere with her experiments, often leading to the death of participants. This attitude always struck Pippi a little and seemed inconsistent. But the system continued to work, and so far, human cities have been required to send not only cattle, but also individuals to meet the needs of vampires. Pippi told herself that this is how life works and that it just doesn't happen otherwise. She was fortunate to be born to those whose well-being is taken care of. To people - no. Not to think about this topic was noticeably easier when there was no Annika nearby, and humanity seemed just a conditional mass of some not too rational creatures.
As for the transformation, Pippi was slightly underestimated. As far as she knew, attempts to turn people into vampires were ongoing. Especially many such experiments were conducted by Celestia and the Moon. But the only successful experience was with an angel girl, who herself agreed to participate. Pippi had known Cadance since childhood, and, according to the words of a turned-winged vampire, it was an accident and something that she could hardly ever repeat.
"And it's good that way," Pippi thought, "the world would not have endured for too long someone like Annika Settigren."

Spike loved Pippi in his own way. Once, with her magic, she helped him hatch from an egg thrown by dragon parents.
But she always seemed to him a little strange and unsociable. She sat all day, buried in books, or practiced magic until the violet skin went into an unhealthy blue. Since she started the Owl, it has become boring until the gnashing of teeth, but Pippi's pet was not too active either.
Spike seemed to save Spare the rare trips to those acquaintances who talked with Pippi, and invitations to the court. Otherwise, as he himself believed, the very thing was to die of longing.
So the appearance of Annika Settigren really brightened up Spike's life. Only if Pippi still shared at least a little of his enthusiasm ...
"She doesn't like me," Annika said for the second week of her stay at the castle.
"Nonsense," Spike answered.
They made a cake and baked chocolate chip cookies. And separately, at his request, with a crumb of preciousny stones.
"She always says she would rather not see me," Annika continued. "No, well, I don't mind that she's not trying to eat me ... But I can't return to Cartenlot City!"
- Why?
Spike tried to fit his paw into a bowl of dough, and Annika gently hit him with a whisk.
"They will begin to suspect that punishment will fall on the city," Annika said, "because they didn't accept the victim, and so on and so forth." When it happened to Lira three years ago, she was expelled.
"But you could go anywhere!" - said Spike. "I mean, I don't want you to leave." I like you. And Pippi is more fun with you ...
- You think? Annika asked suspiciously, and then she shone. - Exactly! She is just shy and does not know how to talk about what she feels. Gotta have a party.
Spike covered his eyes with his paw. He grabbed this gesture from Pippi and did not think that it was shameful to use a dragon like that.
"I don't think this is such a good idea," Spike said. - Party, in the sense.
"We need to ask Pippi!" - Annika said decisively and, leaving a bowl of dough, almost ran towards the library.
Spike did not even have time to grab her dress, the same pink as the five others that she had bought the last time in the city.

- Well, Twiley ...
"No," Pippi replied sharply, laying down her book and looking displeased at Annika, "no parties in my castle, no noise and dancing." Nothing that can ruin my focus!
She sat at the table in her office, while Annika stood in front of him, her open hands resting on the countertop.
"Well, you like it when I sing," Annika raised a finger.
There was nothing to answer. Pippi told her this last week. Annika sang while cleaning up the kitchen, and dismissed the offer to remove everything with magic. Pippi watched her arrange the dishes, moving fast, but very softly and smoothly. And she listened to a song, for some reason about stones.
Then she said, as Annika finished the verse:
- You have a beautiful voice.
"Thank you," Annika answered, "my sister Maud came up with the song, and I came up with the melody." The mod is terribly talented, and also wonderful! You would definitely love each other!
Pippi nodded. Although they were creatures of various kinds, she felt familiar with the sense of sisterly pride. She herself had a brother who served in the personal guard of the princesses.
"Maybe you can go to the family," Pippi suggested, "no one has ordered us to be together all the time."
"I would be glad," Annika answered, wiping the table with a towel on which she had already managed to embroider a pattern of multi-colored circles, "but they disappeared." Instead of a whole farm, the footprint of someone huge, can you imagine? And no one knows what it was! But they didn't find the bodies!
Hearing this, Pippi thought for a moment.
"But this did not happen when Tyrek broke free?" She asked, recalling a not-so-old case.
Annika threw herself up.
- Who? She asked.
"Tirek," Pippi shrugged, "have you never heard?" The monster that the princesses sent to another dimension.
Annika shook her head.
"I only know that my family has disappeared," she said, "and no one can find her." You are the first to have any idea whatsoever!
And then she was again distracted by singing.
- So what about the party? Annika asked, tearing Pippi from her thoughts. - Come on?! Arrange ?!
"No," she answered sharply. "Although we can somehow go to my friends so you can see how unusual I am as a vampire."
Annika laughed.
"Hey, well, that's what I already know," she said, "though if you reminded me of this less often, it would be better." And then it feels like I should be grateful to you just for not trying to kill me ... no, I'm grateful, but this is not a special achievement.
Pippi blinked. She managed to miss the moment when the conversation about the party somehow turned into the fact that Annika was trying to blame her for something.
"Because, you know," that thought continued, "people don't kill each other!"
Here it is time to be surprised.
- Really? Asked Pippi. "I can recall a few ... thousand historical cases." This is not to mention wars between people.
Annika sat on the edge of her desk.
"Well, we don't do this all the time," she said, "and most of us don't eat people."
"Vampires, too," Pippi answered, returning again to the book. - And we certainly do not drink each other's blood and do not fight among themselves for strange ideas.
"Maybe it would be worth it ..." Annika muttered quietly, but added, before Pippi said something to her: "Think about the party anyway!"
"And I'm not going to." But we somehow go to my friend Babs Seed.

It was said that angels, vampires and people are descendants of the same creatures. Pippi supported this theory. Which was another reason to abandon human blood: it was awkward to feel devoured by someone who is not so far from you and is far from the point of view of science.
For a long time, the three species did not interfere in each other's lives. People plowed the land, raised gardens and raised livestock; angels whom they considered related higher powers, they lived in celestial cities, which seemed to shield the world below from the rays of the sun with a shield. If not for this, then the light would be harmful to people too. Vampires in this entire system were a deterrent, both in the banal sense of control over the population and in relation to magic. Their witchcraft penetrated into all spheres of the world, and without it, of course, nothing would have fallen apart, but life would have become worse. Vampires owned the night and those who were reckless or sacrificed themselves.
The system existed in harmony, but a thousand years ago, two vampire sisters changed this harmony to the one they thought was right. The one where they stood on top and their relatives. Angels preferred to make an alliance, and people ... those had to step aside.
Pippi tried not to think about how true the decision made by Celestia and the Moon was. She suspected that there were other factors, certain circumstances, and not just the desire to make the life of vampires better, pushing people to the very bottom of the food chain.
Although Pippi sometimes it seemed that Princess Celestia (and the Moon, for that matter) was trying to get something from her, some kind of thought or action, or reaction, but Pippi never saw the reasons why she should have been interested in humanity .
Now these reasons she began to appear. "Would I like Annika and I to be considered not just a predator and a victim? Pippi thought and grimaced at the thought. "But that is stupid." This is our mission, this is our upbringing. Even if I am not going to drink her blood, this girl will always be afraid of me, and I will always consider her a lower being. "
But Annika Settigren, singing cheerfully with Spike, didn't seem scared. She baked cookies, which, as explained, should be taken to Pippi's friend. Attempts to explain that Babs Seed is also a vampire were unsuccessful. Annika just said she and Spike would get more.
"Does the princess want me to make friends with her, or that I destroy her?" Pippi asked herself. The idea that she did not want to kill Annika, she drove with all her might. The castle became more comfortable with its appearance. And I wanted to try cookies, even despite the fact that the vampire body simply would not accept it.

Working with Tommy was a lot nicer than working with Annika Pie. She did not ask to do something even better. "I don't know how, but it should be cooler than it is now!", As Rainbow's explanations usually sounded. But Tommy did not spin, but obediently stood motionless and did not even breathe.
Truly an angel!
The message that Pippi came in the company of two more creatures overtook Babs Seed exactly at the moment when she had already finished fitting the second sleeve of Tommy's dress.
Glancing briefly at the mirror and adjusting her white suit and perfect hair, Babs Seed waited for the guests to enter the living room, and said loudly:
"I'm in the workshop." Pippi, who is it with you? Spike and someone else?
An unfamiliar high voice answered her, somewhat reminiscent of Tommy's.
- It's me! I mean, Annika Settigren, we'll be familiar! Oh, and where is the workshop, Twiley?
Babs Seed heard Pippi's voice, but couldn't make out what she had answered. A second later, she, the owner of an unfamiliar voice, and Spike entered the workshop.
There was already time to be surprised. Pippi was in the company of a human girl, short, ruddy, with curly fluffy hair. She was dressed in a simple dress, but with an interesting embroidery on her sleeves and collar. Babs Seed noted that the girl named Annika Settigren is not without a sense of style. How common was it for people.
- Oh!
Tommy screeched around and closed her wings.
- Wow! Annika froze, as did Spike, carrying a basket covered with a towel.
"She's not dangerous," Pippi grumbled, "Annika, you'll say now that you've never seen angels, right?"
- Why? - the human girl was not at all taken aback, as if it was usual for her to be in the company of a pair of vampires and an angel. - When I was a child, one fell right on the field near our farm. We nursed her for a week, probably ...
Babs Seed looked in the direction of Pippi, without a word asking what was happening. She just shrugged. No, it was logical in some ways to expect from a vampire who brought a dragon and an eagle owl that a person in her circle would appear ... but still, Pippi always made it clear that people were not interested in her.
"Tommy, I understand that this is a bad omen, but I just can't, don't ..."
Of course, Annika Pie couldn't just wait in the next room until her bride finished dressing. She had to break into the workshop.
Tommy, who began to lower her wings, raised them again, wrapping herself in them, as if in a cocoon.
- Oh, well! - a replica of Rainbow, to some resentment of Babs Seed, did not concern the designer dress, but Annika.
- Anna! It's you!
- Annika!
Babs Seed noticed that Pippi also grimaced when Rainbow and Annika rushed towards each other and began to mumble like an alarmed flock of bats.
- It seriously begins to seem to me that her magnificent highness Princess Celestia has arranged all this to me on purpose, "Pippi said quietly.
Babs Seed thought it would be very similar to their supreme ruler, but decided not to speak out loud. No one knows which wall will have ears this time. And what is excusable for the first student, for someone simpler and smaller - a death sentence.

Hiding in protective magic, Pippi watched the Annika Pie and Tommy fly home. The sun played on their wings, blue and gold. At such a moment, it was easy to believe in the divine nature of the angels, to see in them those who they were considered by people.
"They are so happy," Annika said.
She stood next to Pippi and also looked into the sky.
"They found each other," she said, leaning on the railing of the balcony. - For some it is very simple. It is enough to be born in one city and understand who you really need.
- And if you need someone not of your kind? Annika suddenly asked seriously.
She smelled of something sweet, and for a second Pippi thought: "What if her blood is not as bitter as people usually have? Suddenly, all the sweets that Annika cooked and ate will affect the taste? "
"I think there's no reason to try to make a bridge over the abyss," Pippi said, "but it's better to just stay on the side where you live."
"It's boring to always be on one side," Annika shook her head.
She smiled, looking into Pippi's face, and leaned forward. She covered her eyes, but Annika simply pulled a thread from her shoulder.
"Come on, let's have a party in your castle," Annika suggested. "Maybe you'll meet some good vampire?" Well, or a vampire.
"They'll eat you at the party," Pippi grinned.
"I won't give in," Annika winked.
- Need to think.
Pippi realized that she was smiling. And the proximity of the night had nothing to do with it.
"By the way," she said, "we can look for your kin." Suddenly it will work out.
Annika smiled even wider and nodded.