***

“You know,” Apple Bloom said to Applejack from her perch on top of the map table, “I really do think it’s about time you told Big Mac and Granny Smith. It don’t got to be about Amara but this vampire thing? They noticed that Rainbow Dash stopped by the last two Friday nights for a few minutes. Even if you start to switch it up, where you go see her, they’re going to figure out that every Friday night, you two are getting together for something that don’t take long. And with you being able to breathe fire, I mean…that’d be kinda useful around the farm or the house, cooking and such. They’d have a right to know that you got some of this extra magic that you get to use whenever you want.”

Applejack half-frowned, and a light blush flushed her cheeks. “I just don’t know, sugarcube. I’m a mite embarrassed by it all.”

“How long have you been a mev now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“A little over three weeks,” the elder sister admitted. She sighed. “Master, I don’t suppose you got any opinion on this?” she asked.

“Go with your gut,” Rainbow said. Her magenta eyes took a glance at Amara. “Or your heart. What feels right to you?”

“I agree with Rainbow, if that helps any,” Twilight offered.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave quiet smiles and nods that they agreed.

“Telling them, I guess. I won’t be able to prove I get fangs sometimes, but I suppose I can show the fire breath. That might actually be kinda funny.” Applejack smiled and lightened her mood at the thought of that. “You’ll back me up?” she asked Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom blinked and nodded with a sincere smile. “Of course, Big Sis. What are little sisters for?”

Scootaloo took her own small glance at Rainbow Dash, who was intently watching the two earth ponies with an endeared smile of her own.

“Well, alright then. Let’s all of us get a move on,” Applejack decided. “Come on you three. Sweetie, you’re staying with your parents tonight, right?”

“Yes,” Sweetie Belle said. She looked at Rainbow Dash.

“We’re leaving the crown and Amara with Twilight here for a couple of days since we’ll show them off at the pack meeting anyway,” Rainbow reminded her. “Do you need the bags themselves?”

Sweetie nodded and removed the crown, setting it by Rainbow Dash. Amara was still resting in the center of the table. The unicorn filly gave Rainbow a quick nuzzle. Pleased, the master mev pat her mane in response. Sweetie Belle then went to join up with Applejack. Scootaloo, feeling that she should do something as well, gave Rainbow a hug, and for that, she felt the warmth of a right wing return the embrace. “See you later Big Sis,” Scootaloo said with a warm smile.

Rainbow smiled back. “You too, Little Sis.”

With that, Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders left the castle.

“Well, I know that’s my cue to go find something else to do,” Spike remarked. “I’ll be taking care of things in the kitchen and then my room in case either of you need my help with anything.” Spike knew this Sunday night would likely go undisturbed, but as the resident assistant of the castle, he made sure to note he was available nonetheless. He hopped down from his seat.

“Spike the Brave and Glorious,” Rainbow said.

Spike blinked and paused to glance the master mev’s way. “Yes?”

“Thank you for all you did today. It was a big help,” Rainbow told him. She offered him a hoof bump, and he smiled sincerely to claw bump back.

“A pleasure, Master Rainbow Dash. Alright. I’m outta here.” And with that, the young purple dragon skittered off.

As he closed the door, Twilight Sparkle squealed in delight. “Master! WE DID IT!!! We did it! We did it! We did so much!” she yelled.

Outside the door, Spike glanced at the room, shook his head with an amused smile, and continued on with what he set out to do.

Inside the throne room, Rainbow smiled at her ecstatic friend too. “How long you have you been holding that in?”

“Forever! Do you have any idea what we accomplished today? This is just….there are no words.” Twilight hopped onto the table and pranced in place. “Amara, an invincible glass case, Fyra getting fire, Sweetie’s drawing…” She calmed down as she began to ponder aloud, “Well, I can’t remember the term or phrase for it right now, but that is truly a special skill. Made manifest? Channeled physicality? I’ve got to go and read up on what it’s called.”

“I want to give it a name myself,” the master mev admitted., “but another time.”

“Illustrative Transmission! I.T.! That’s it! That’s what it’s called!” Twilight realized and declared before Rainbow could ask the next question on her mind.

Rainbow chuckled. “Or we could go with that, sure. Shall we prepare or is there anything else you want to do tonight first?”

At that, the fledgling mev’s expression settled. She flapped her wings to lift herself and gently land between her throne and one of the doors. “Well, let’s go to my room to start. I have a trunk for super special stuff like this that’s empty at the moment. Then I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Rainbow raised an interested an eyebrow but grabbed her crown while Twilight carried Amara with her magic telekinesis. Once at Twilight’s own bedroom, they placed the items in the trunk and made for a place to stand near Twilight’s bed, which was where they did their last two flexchanges.

“So what’s up?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight was staring at the floor before looking up at Rainbow. She swallowed to ready herself for what she wished to say. “I overheard you mention something to Sweetie Belle earlier.”

“And?” Rainbow pressed for more.

“You said that you think by now, you could grow a unicorn horn of your own if you wanted,” Twilight said. She looked up from the floor and met Rainbow’s eyes to see her master’s reaction.

Rainbow’s eyes darted up in contemplation, as if she could search her head by doing so. Her expression showed a wish to give a serious and proper answer. “Well, yeah. I mean, of course there’s the feedback from Ocellus though that would have limited turns. On top of that and the chaos magic, I have repeated flexchanges with you, likely the first alicorn ever for a mev pack, Starlight, probably the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria, and Rarity, another unicorn. More alicorn magic from Princess Luna. You get the idea. I’d be very surprised if I couldn’t do it with something in all of that,” she said.

“If you did want to do it,” Twilight began, “how or what magic would you use? Does it take from the reserve?”

“Oh, well…” Rainbow gave it some thought. “That’s a tough one. It would depend on the why. Like for today, I think something from your own essence in the reserve would have worked fine. Why? Did you want me to do it for some reason?”

Twilight blushed. She had been looking at the floor again and gave a sideways glance, not saying anything for a moment and hoping that Rainbow figured it out by now.

“You do want it,” Rainbow uttered in the desired realization.

Twilight swallowed again for a moment to nervously explain herself. “I don’t know if it’s weird. I mean, we’re already a vampire servant talking to her vampire master, so what’s another layer of weird on that, right? I thought it might be…nice to be able to touch horns with you during a flexchange or even just have your company as an alicorn. You know, there are only five of us in all of Equestria and the Crystal Empire. I can’t really do anything like how a flexchange feels with its special kind of intimacy, with any of them. But with you… I mean, I guess the intimacy can’t be done with any type of pony besides you, but still…”

Rainbow’s magenta eyes lit with another quiet realization. Her nocturnal fangs peeked out between her words as she spoke. “It would give you pleasure, my dear Rexa?”

Twilight nodded. “Much,” she admitted with an embarrassed smile.

Rainbow’s gaze pierced deeply into her fledgling as she said with utmost sincerity and firmness, “Then it shall be done.”

“So the magic?” Twilight asked, her eyes full of concern.

“It’s our magic,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “The reserve fills from our flexchange, from the special bond we share. I wouldn’t be doing it to channel magic for a job out there. It’s for here. It’s for you. For us. This is our special bond. It’s our mev magic. The master takes care of her fledglings. You are the alicorn mev of my pack. I’ve had your magic with me as my fledgling for three weeks now. Flowing, exchanging, growing. This is your desire and mine to fulfill it. So long as I know this is what you truly want of me, it can be done. I will be more than happy to do it.”

“Really?” A hopeful smile grew on Twilight’s face.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Really.”

“Alright then, Master. One other thing. Sort of a request, sort of not because I know I don’t really have to ask,” Twilight said, her smile both bashful and sly.

“Which is?” Rainbow was curious.

“Nocturnivlair,” the fledgling said with sincerity.

Rainbow smiled wickedly at that, her own feathered wings fluttering in delight at the prospect. “You’re right. You most certainly don’t have to ask.” She chuckled deeply and then hissed, her eyes shimmering red, her fangs sharp and gleaming.

Twilight only looked on with the same hopeful smile as she saw the desired unicorn horn take shape.

Rainbow Dash felt her wings grow, and her height increase slightly. She extended one wing to see the extra feathers. “Even get that too,” she noted in amusement.

Twilight nodded without a word and simply kept smiling as she waited.

Rainbow Dash coiled her wings. She approached and forcefully pulled Twilight closer to touch Rainbow’s own horn to Twilight’s. A red stream of mev magic winded its way through the air as it met a magenta one of alicorn doing the same, letting the intimacy linger in the moment. Another hiss soon followed, this time breathing onto the purple alicorn’s neck hairs. “You’re mine,” the master told her in a low growl. She laughed a little more, deep and mischievous.

“Of course, Master,” Twilight admitted in a whisper, blushing, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment.

Rainbow’s fangs dug in for their weekly bite. Her fledgling’s heightened pleasure tasted delicious. Twilight’s fangs grew soon after. She took her turn when she was ready and bit right in. When the two stepped away, Rainbow met the purple alicorn’s gaze with a proud smile and gleaming eyes. “Is my Rexa pleased?” she asked.

“Very,” Twilight bowed graciously and stood once more. She heard Rainbow shake her own body, fluttering her wings in place to dial the nocturnivlair down. Twilight hugged the fanged alicorn tight. “Thank you so much, Rainbow,” she whispered. “Thank you so, so much.”

Rainbow stroked Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “You’re welcome, Twilight. I’ll do it whenever you want for a flexchange. A little something special for us,” she noted with a small smile.

“So very special,” Twilight agreed.

They pulled away from their hug, and Rainbow used her magic to whisk the unicorn horn away. The rest of her body soon followed suit.

“Night reading?” Twilight offered.

“Of course,” Rainbow agreed.

Sunday night reading was what they did two weeks ago. They skipped it the previous week since Sweetie was staying at Rainbow’s house that first night as Rhezenda. Both mevs knew they liked it though, the night reading, and would do it on any Sunday night they could. After all, it was how they spent their first flexchange night albeit at the Castle of the Two Sisters instead of Twilight’s castle. The idea was to spend almost the whole night reading while also being able to stop and talk of anything of interest in what they were reading or to make general conversation. Once morning drew closer, before sunrise by perhaps an hour or two, each mev would then move on or depart to prepare for the upcoming Monday. Such was their intention this Sunday night.

***

Early Monday morning, early enough to still feel like a Sunday night at the castle, within the library, “Master,” Twilight Sparkle said as a thought occurred to her from her seat at a comfortable chair.

Rainbow Dash sat nearby reading a Daring Do book. She had not given her favorite adventure novels much attention with all of the other reading lately, so it was time to revisit them for at least a little while. “What?”

“Have you ever wondered about magical creatures you can’t talk to, like verbally talk to, and how to take their magic?” the alicorn mev asked.

Rainbow blinked. “To be honest, no.”

“Does your gut tell you anything?” Twilight hoped.

Rainbow took a moment to think that over and see if any answer would come to her. “Not much. Something having to do with Blitz, but Blitz can only talk to me in very specific ways with the chaos-mev magic I try not to overuse. I let her say something to Sweetie Belle once too, so I know she can talk to other ponies if I allow it. I have a general feeling of what she means in her body language or manner towards me. The only thing she can say to any other creature without chaos-mev magic is ‘Master’ telepathically and nothing else. I mean, I guess she has body language with them too, but still. We’re talking about talking. Plus, who’s to say the other creature could talk or communicate with her? It seems kinda hard.”

“That telepathic message seems pretty significant to me,” Twilight noted. “The word is very special to your power. I’m rather surprised your gut doesn’t have anything about Fluttershy.”

“Good point,” Rainbow acknowledged. “What sort of magical creature did you have in mind? I suppose I could just go out and try it myself,” she figured. “Maybe bring Fluttershy along anyway.”

“Rarity and Spike are going to look for Pee Wee in a few days. Rarity wants a phoenix feather for making a dress. I was just thinking of how phoenixes have the magical power of self-resurrection and then curious if that’s a kind of magic we could…get.”

“To reserve maybe. I doubt we could come up with a good enough reason to use it on a living creature besides a phoenix that lost that power some other way, or any type of creature with a similar power. If you go outside that, then you have to consider all living creatures and their worth or need of that power. Balance stuff. Mortals are fated to die. We might be able to use self-resurrection on magical objects or essences with signs of life like Penny or Amara, who have been touched by our mev magic, I guess. And believe me, I am seriously guessing,” Rainbow emphasized.

“Are we still mortal?” Twilight wondered.

Rainbow stared at Twilight hard without a word.

“You know what I mean. Cadance, Flurry Heart, and I are much younger than Celestia and Luna,” Twilight replied to the look she was given. “I can’t say for certain that I would be immortal without being a mev. I haven’t asked that kind of question to Celestia or Luna.”

Rainbow smirked. “But it’s totally cool to ask your vampire master that kind of question?”

“Well…yes,” Twilight admitted with blushing cheeks.

Rainbow bowed her head with tiny pride at having such an honor and put a hoof to her chin in serious thought. “If the land can give me power to do a job, I do believe that power can be revoked. We don’t know what happened to other mev packs. Did they die? Did they find their work needed in other dimensions? Are they still around in smaller unknown territories to us? Discord mentioned a unicorn village. If it is or was just the one master and no pack, well…I just don’t know. My gut won’t tell me an answer, just to focus on what I’ve got now and keep trying to be worthy of this calling. I really like being a master mev, so I’ll make the most of it while it’s who I am.”

Twilight smiled at that. “I like you being a master mev too though I might be a little biased as a bonded fledgling servant.”

Rainbow smiled back. “Right.”

“So, what do you think of trying to go with Spike and Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I’ll see if they can squeeze me in,” Rainbow figured. “I’m curious now too. You coming?”

“I wish I could, but I have other obligations when they do go. Are you taking Fluttershy?” Twilight inquired.

“Depends on the day. When is it?” Rainbow asked.

“Thursday,” Twilight answered.

“Fluttershy’s busy with the animal sanctuary that day. It’s not dire, so I’ll try with what I’ve got and then if it doesn’t work out, I’ll bring her for the next time,” Rainbow decided aloud.

“Sounds like a plan,” Twilight replied with an approving smile.

The two mevs continued to enjoy the rest of their night together.