Author's Note

This story was supposed to be finished last October. Obviously, I overshot the mark quite a bit, but even so I hope you all enjoy it.

One

It was a quiet night in Ponyville.

To be fair, after the sun went down it was usually quiet, but tonight it was dead silent. There were no ponies on the streets. No laughter or talking could be heard from any house. Even the usual sounds of the nighttime animals were absent. This silence seemed nervous, almost frightened, as if the town’s inhabitants were under siege.

They were, in a sense, and had been for nearly a week.

Under the orders of Mayor Mare, no mare or stallion could leave their home unless it was the most dire of emergencies. This was to protect them from the one that so many were afraid of, the one that had been stalking the streets and the rooftops. It was because of this creature, this terror that Anonymous found himself walking through the streets at ten-thirty at night.

Unlike most of the town, Equestria’s only human didn’t seem ill at ease walking around at night. For one, while his sense of smell was much worse than a ponies he could see much better in the dim light, so if anyone were attempting to sneak up on him he had a good chance of seeing them. He was also considerably larger than any mare or stallion. Even Princess Celestia, known as a giant amongst ponykind, was shorter than him by a head.

His confidence might have been unfounded, but he was relatively confident that he’d be able to defend himself if needed, though he really didn’t want to. This was because the person that had the whole town in an uproar, the one that had ponies putting boards over their windows and extra locks on their doors, was a mare known by all that lived here. A mare that had become a monster through no fault of her own, and the reason why he was making his way to Twilight Sparkle’s castle.

The castle’s doors, usually unlocked and open for any, even this late, were shut tight. No doubt Spike had blocked them with a board bigger than he was. Anon grabbed onto the tasteful knocker and slammed it against the door three times, each heavy, dull thud echoing into the night.

“Who is it?” a voice called almost immediately from the other side of the door. “We’re closed, especially if you’re a creepy monster!”

“It’s me, Spike,” Anon said.

“What’s the password?” Spike demanded.

The human frowned. “Password? I didn’t know there was a password.”

“There… isn’t,” Spike admitted. “But how do I know if you’re Anon? You could be the monster making yourself sound like him!”

“You remember when you asked me to buy that dirty magazine when we were up in Canterlot? If I remember it was called Busty MILFs Three--”

The front door swung open. Spike, who was wearing a pot on top of his head, holding a ladle, shushed him. “Alright, alright. It’s you, it’s you,” he said, eyes darting around. “Come on in.”

He waved the human in with his free claw, looking outside before disappearing back inside. Shaking his head, Anon followed him. He barely managed to step inside before the drake slammed the door, locking the door, then the other ten locks that appeared to have been recently installed. Sure enough, he also had a 4x4 leaned against the wall. He picked it up, struggling to place it into metal hinges that had also been recently installed. Anon, trying not to laugh, took pity on the little guy, taking it out of his claws and putting it in place.

“Whoo. Thanks,” Spike said, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow.

“You sure you don’t have enough locks?” Anon teased. “I bet you could one or two more at the tippy top of the door if you really want to.”

“Har, har, har. I’m not taking any chances with a monster running around out there.”

“And why not? A monster comes to town and wrecks the place like once a week.”

“Not this kind of monster. Not…” Spike looked around, then whispered: “Not a vampire.”

There was a burst of light, followed by a loud boom. Anon jumped, looking through the front door’s glass window.

“Was that lightning?” he said. “I thought we weren’t getting any thunderstorms until next week…”

The human looked around a bit and, seeing no rainclouds--which only confused him more--he turned back toward the dragon.

“You’re going to be fine,” he said. “And don’t go calling anyone a monster. Fluttershy isn’t a monster; there’s just something weird going on with her.”

“She’s going to eat somepony!” Spike said, looking around the hall fearfully, as if he expected the yellow pegasus to be hiding in the shadows. “Or turn them into her thrall, or a zombie, or--”

“You need to quit reading all of those comic books, buddy,” Anon said. “She’s not a--”

He turned, looking outside.

“Vampire.”

There was no flash of light, no boom. Frowning, Anon nevertheless continued.

“I really don’t know what’s going on, but what I do know is that Twilight is gonna fix it. She’s gonna fix it, and probably use some Rube Goldberg machine while doing it.”

Anon began walking down the hall. Spike, clearly panicked at just the thought of being left alone, was quick to follow him.

“I know she will. That doesn’t make this any less scary,” the dragon said with a shiver. “Just the thought of her biting into my neck gives me the hibby jibbies.”

“She’d probably have a hard time with your scales. That and you can do the whole fire breathing thing.”

“You’d think that’d keep me safe, but that’s just t wouldn’t help at all. Their fangs can punch through diamond! They can turn into things too. Mist, worms, wolves! Fluttershy could be in here right now and there’s nothing we could do about it! We wouldn’t even know until we felt her breath on our--”

Anon placed a hand on Spike’s head. The dragon let out a yelp at the contact, and would have jumped up toward the ceiling if not for that hand.

“You’ll be alright, buddy,” he said. “And hey, do me a favor and try not to think like that huh? Twilight’s probably been worried about this, Starlight too I bet. You need to step it up and be the man of the house. Be their strong dragon rock.”

Spike took a deep breath. “You’re… you’re right,” he said, puffing his chest out. “I need to be strong. For them.”

“You always are, my man,” Anon said with a smile. “You just need to be even stronger. Just for a little while until Flutters is fixed.”

Spike nodded, looking up at the human with a smile. “Thanks, Anon. I needed that.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, why don’t you take me where Twi is. I might be leading right now, but I have absolutely no idea where the heck I’m going.”

Spike quickly took the lead, marching forward with purpose on his stubby little legs. Twilight was, no surprise, in the library.

While the old treebrary had been destroyed and Twilight was now a princess, the alicorn was still a nerdy librarian at heart. She had created a public library in her castle, and even now insisted on organizing every shelf at least twice a month. It wasn’t as popular as Twilight hoped, as the country folk of Ponyville really weren’t all that interested in books--they hadn’t been even when she was a unicorn, much to her dismay--but she still put in the effort, and that had to count for something right?

The library was usually the textbook definition of neat. Books all perfectly lined up on their shelves, and not a speck of dust to be seen. As Anon stepped through the open doors however, it was everything but.

Books were stacked right on nearly every table. There were a dozen chalkboards with formulas that the human couldn’t make heads or tails of. Starlight was draped over a couch, her mane and clothes a mess sawing logs.

Twilight was pacing back and forth in front of a chalkboard, hands behind her back. Just like her library, the usually well put together mare was a mess. Her vest was completely unbuttoned and dirty. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a week, and her wings looked even worse. Her eyes were bloodshot, and there were bags underneath them. She was mumbling something to herself as both Anon and Spike entered the room, looking down at the floor.

“Twilight?” Spike said. “Anon’s here.”

The princess’s ears perked up. Looking up at them, she smiled.

“Anon, thank you for coming.”

“No problem, Twi,” Anon replied, making his way over to her. “You, uh… you alright there? It looks like you haven’t slept for a month.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Twilight said, running a hand through her mane. “Just a few days. Starlight and myself have been looking through every book to try to find out exactly what’s wrong with Fluttershy. That and going with the other girls trying to find where she hides when the sun comes up…”

She let out a sigh, shoulders slumping.

“It’s been… rough.”

“I’m sure. You find where she goes?” Anon asked

“We couldn’t find her anywhere,” Twilight replied. “We looked through the Whitetail, and through the Everfree, and anywhere else we could think of, but it’s like she’s a ghost. We tried to wait when the sun was about to come up to see if she goes in a certain direction when she leaves, but she just disappears. Not only that, but she can teleport around town. I’ve had ponies telling me they’ve seen her looking at them through their windows at the same time another hears her flying around through the streets!”

The alicorn threw up her arms, exhaustion turning into frustration.

“Alright… if you can’t find her, have you at least figured out what happened? Why is she like how she is now?” Anon asked, walking over to place a hand on her shoulder.

“I… think so,” Twilight said slowly. “There’s a collection of journals written during the Equestrian Civil War. Nightmare Moon and her followers were losing and desperate, so they began creating things with some very dark magic. They made weapons, potions, but more importantly, they infected animals. The journals said something about them infecting fruit bats with a magical disease that turned regular ponies into--” She looked around. “--Vampires.”

Again, a flash of light could be seen through the windows in the library, followed by a boom. Anon jumped, brow furrowing as Twilight began pacing again.

“In fact, I believe that the legends about them stem from the ponies that the rebels experimented on. They were supposed to sow discord in Celestia’s ranks; make it even more dangerous than it already was, as well as be a tool of terror for the populace. The journals said that the war was won before enough bats could be infected, and the notes about it were burned and the animals were culled to keep anypony from getting their hands on them.”

“So, you think some of the bats actually got away then?” Anon asked.

“It’s possible,” Twilight said with a nod. “The disease must have morphed over these thousand years into something completely different.”

“Different?”

“Yes, since the journals told of how those ponies infected turning into husks and grew rows of teeth like sharks.”

“That’s pretty… metal.”

“They said a lot worse, and you wouldn’t want me to really go into detail. As unlikely as it seems, Fluttershy must have been bitten by an infected bat, which turned her into the apple addicted creature scaring the daylights out of everypony.”

Twilight shrugged.

“Though that’s just a theory. It could be a hundred different things, but until we bring her here and I can take a look at her we won’t know for sure. Which is where you come in.”

She walked over to one of the chalkboards. She flipped it over, revealing the other side, which had a drawing that sorta looked like him. All around that sketch was more formulas and numbers and some random words and letters.

“There might be a chance that Fluttershy’s bite can infect other ponies. This is why I asked Mayor Mare to order the emergency curfew. Equestria doesn’t need night-loving, fruit addicted, fanged ponies running around. No good will come out of that. Since you aren’t a pony, and since you seem to be highly resistant to most forms of magic, dark or otherwise--you walking through a field full of Poison Joke being an example--I’m very confident that even if she bites you you’ll be fine.”

“Confident, but not one hundred percent sure?”

“You can never be completely sure about anything, Anon.”

“If I’m trying to capture a vampire pony then I’d sorta like my chances of being okay to be one hundred percent, Twi.”

“You’ll be fine,” Twilight said with a wave of her hand. “I’m… eighty-seven percent sure. She seems to mostly stay around Sweet Apple Acres to feed so it shouldn’t be THAT difficult to find her. The tricky bit will be capturing her, but I believe you can do it.”

“...You know that mare can throw bears, right Twilight? Like tossing an actual black bear through the air like it was a stuffed animal. Are you sure you can’t just use your magic to teleport her here or something?”

“Anon, please,” Twilight said, clasping her hands together. “I know it doesn’t sound like the best plan, but I don’t want another pony getting bit. I’m also wary about using magic on Fluttershy in case whatever turned her into this reacts negatively. Ponies around town are starting to get really scared, and I don’t want them trying anything they’d regret. I need your help. Fluttershy needs your help!”

Anon looked down at the desperate mare. He was no master tactician, but he couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t the best of ideas. Why not leave traps around down? Maybe a bunch of nets, or a few cages with apples in them? At the very least, he would have liked some sort of backup.

As he looked in the princess’s eyes, he could see that she was near the end of her rope. He owed this little purple dork a lot; far more than he would have liked to admit.

Sighing, he nodded. “Alright. I’ll go see if I can get her,” he said. “I’ll need a day or so to get some things ready though. Is that alright?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up, a great big smile coming to her face. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” she said, leaping toward and aggressively hugging him.

Anon had to tilt his head back to keep her horn from hitting his cheek. He gave her back a few pats.

“You’re welcome. Now why don’t you go ahead and get some shuteye?”

Twilight pulled her face from his chest. “But--” she began.

“I need you in tip-top shape,” the human interrupted. “You and Starlight. Neither of you can be in tip-top shape if you haven’t slept in days.”

He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her away. He then leaned down so that they were face to face.

“Go to bed. I’ll be back at the castle around noon. If you don’t sleep Spike will let me know, right buddy?”

“Right!” Spike chirped with a smart salute.

Twilight’s shoulders slumped a little more, her wings drooping nearly to the floor. She looked down at the floor, ears folded against her skull.

“I… alright. I’ll try to get some sleep,” she said.

Anon smiled. “Great! Spike, why don’t you escort Twi to her room? I’ll grab Starlight here.”

Spike scurried over, grabbing Twilight’s sleeve. The alicorn made no resistance as he lead her out of the library. Anon, meanwhile, walked over to Starlight. Bending over, he carefully scooped the mare up into his arms. Despite his best efforts, Starlight stirred, one of her eyes cracking open.

“Hmm… Anon, what’s going on?” she asked with a yawn as he stood up.

“Don’t worry, Glimmy, I’m just kidnapping you is all,” Anon replied as the unicorn stretched lazily.

“Oh, okay. Just make sure there’s no books wherever you’re taking me,” Starlight mumbled, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes. “If I look at another book again I swear to Celestia I’m going to be a villain again…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

The next day came quickly. Anon admittedly didn’t get as much sleep as he would have, but even so was at the castle at twelve o’clock sharp. Twilight and Starlight were up and looking much better. The other girls were there as well, each looking as just exhausted as the two had looked last night.

Over some coffee and donuts, Twilight told the girls her plan. Rainbow, who was the most affected out of all of them over what was happening to Fluttershy, had attempted to insist that she accompany the human. It took almost an hour of arguing for Twilight to explain why that was a horrible idea. The others, though not as stubborn as Dash had been, still had concerns over the plan.

Each gave their own thoughts and ideas on how things could be improved. Hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Anon found himself with a rope, a magical flare that would alert the girls if things went south, and some clothing for Fluttershy, as Rarity insisted the poor girl needed them since she had been, “galavanting through Celestia knows what for days on end.” What might have been the most important thing however came from Pinkie Pie.

The party pony had created a muffin especially to attract Fluttershy. While it looked like an ordinary muffin, the mare had insisted that it was the most apple-y muffin that had ever and would ever be created. What she exactly meant by that Pinkie had refused to elaborate. It did smell a lot like apples, so it might help.

Applejack had mentioned that she had seen a lot of apple cores all over her western fields. Fluttershy would no doubt be somewhere around there during the night, as the pegasus seemed to really enjoy granny smith apples.

By the time that the sun came down, Anon really didn’t feel as if the plan had gotten all that better, but he was already in too deep to back out now. Hopefully the ponies were just making a mountain out of a molehill and this would be a piece of cake. Hopefully.

As the sun began to set, the girls wished the human luck and went back to the safety of their homes. Anon went with Applejack to the farm. He was led to the farm house and was invited in for some cake and coffee with the family. Mac and Applebloom seemed relieved that he was here to get rid of Fluttershy. Apparently, her nightly visits had made sleeping difficult, as well as stressed out the animals. After the cake, Applejack let him know that if she saw his flare, her and Big Mac would come running, no matter what Twilight said. While he appreciated the thought, he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

After the cake, Big Mac led him outside. Pointing out the direction of the western fields, the big red stallion pulled him into a hug, wished him the best of luck, and disappeared back into the house. The second the door closed the sound of locks being turned could be heard as clear as day.

Anon stood on the front porch, now more than a little nervous. He watched the sun dip over the horizon, licking his lips.

“Alright. I got my muffin. I got my flare. I got these clothes. Time to go ahead and save the day I guess. God… I better not get eaten tonight. I got a dart tournament this weekend…”

With that, he stepped off the porch and began walking. Luna’s moon was already making its ascent into the sky, casting its pale light. The temperature was beginning to drop as well, causing him to shiver.

Anon had been to Applejack’s farm many times, but he had never seen it this quiet. It put him on edge, had his head on a swivel as he walked through rows upon rows of apple trees. He walked around for what felt like an hour, listening and looking. He eventually made his way toward a small hill and looked out on the expansive farm. There were trees as far as the eye could see, the farmhouse, and the barn. Miles away, he could see the houses in town, see lights shine out through windows. What he didn’t see was a yellow vampire horse woman.

“Well, I guess the night is young. Can’t expect her to fly here right away…”

Finding an old stump, he pulled out the box for the muffin that Pinkie had given him. He took the muffin out, placing it onto the stump. Stepping away, he then looked around. Still no Fluttershy. With a shrug, he made his way over to a tree and sat down. Leaning against it, he placed his hands in his lap and tried to get as comfortable as he could.

Minutes turned into hours. Things were still worryingly silent, but there was still no sign of the pegasus. Anon did what he could to keep himself entertained, looking up at Luna’s stars, then trying to count how many apples were in the tree he was sitting under. He did his best to stay vigilant, keeping an eye out and making sure that the muffin was still sitting on the stump where he left it.

He must have fallen asleep sometime in the night because he found himself jerking awake.

“Wha…”

Rubbing his eye, he leaned forward, looking all around. The field was still silent and still, but as he looked over to the stump he saw that the muffin was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.”

Pushing himself to his feet, he walked over to the stump. Seeing something on the ground, he bent over to pick it up. It was the wrapper for the muffin. Anon examined the wrapper, a frown on his face. He knew the critters on this crazy planet were a lot smarter than they had any right to be, but he had never met one that unwrapped food, which must have meant that he had himself a visitor of the yellow pegasus variety.

Quietly, the human cursed himself. He could have caught Fluttershy on the first night, but because he couldn’t keep his eyes open she had slipped away. Who knows where she was now. No doubt she was somewhere in town, or in the Everfree. Heck, she could have been in Canterlot or Las Pegasus for all he knew.

There was a hiss behind him, letting him know that he was no longer alone. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder.

It was Fluttershy. The sweater and pants she was wearing were torn and dirty. Her ears looked more pointed and longer. Her mane, usually pristine, looked like a rats nest, all full of knots with twigs and other things in it. Her wings were leathery and bat-like. Her eyes, once blue and gentle, were blood red and almost feral in appearance. The mare had a half-eaten muffin in her hand, staring at him with her lips drawn back into a snarl, revealing a set of long, sharp looking teeth.

Anon turned to face her. “I guess Twilight wasn’t foolin’ when she said you changed,” he said. “You look crazy right now, Flutters. I mean, look at you…”

He took a step toward her. Fluttershy hissed again, extending both of her wings.

“Easy,” he said, making calming motions with his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you, Fluttershy. I just want to take you back to Twilight so she can take a look at you. You remember me, right? It’s Anon. Anon the human. If you can understand me why don’t you go ahead and say someth--”

He blinked, and to his surprise she was no longer standing in front of him.

“What the--”

Something jumped onto his back. Arms wrapped around his shoulders and legs wrapped around his waist. Before Anon could so much as make a sound, Fluttershy bit down onto his neck.

Those fangs of hers had looked awfully long from five feet away. Buried to the root into his neck as they now were, they felt a heck of a lot longer. They also hurt. A lot.

“Fucking--Owowowowowo!”

Anon flailed, trying to buck the pegasus off him. Fluttershy held onto him tightly, her tongue lapping up the blood that quickly began to seep from the bitemarks. Anon ran around the trees, swearing and yelling. He reached behind himself, trying to get a handful of her.

“Get off me… stupid… YOU’RE NOT A REAL GODDAMN VAMPIRE! YOU’RE A PEGASUS THAT’S SCARED OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR FUCKS SAKE! STOP BITING ME!”

After a few attempts, he managed to grab Fluttershy’s mane. He tugged on it, hoping that it’d make her let go. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, making her bite down harder, which had him yelping. His hand left her mane and moved toward her mouth. He managed to force three fingers into her maw, where he moved them toward the back of her jaw. Shaking from adrenaline, he forced her mouth open and yanked her head back.

It was Fluttershy’s turn to yelp, though it was more in surprise than pain. Her grip on him loosened. His hand left her mouth and grabbed a handful of sweater, yanking her around so that they were face to face.

Anon was panting, blood dripping down his neck. “What the FUCK is wrong with you, you crazy horse?” he demanded.

Fluttershy staring up at him. Baring bloody fangs, she hissed at him once again.

Now, before Anonymous had learned the magic of friendship from these lovely colorful horse creatures, he wasn’t what one would have considered the nicest of people. In fact, many would have considered him nothing less than an absolute shithead. He had calmed down considerably under Twilight Sparkle and her friends, but every now and again his old self would rear its ugly head.

The second he heard the hiss, something in him snapped. He remembered something that his old man used to tell him when he was very young. Do unto others as they would do you, but really give them the business if they try to screw you over. She wanted to pretend to be a knock-off Dracula and bite him? He’d show her how it felt.

He pulled her close, and moving his head right above where her sweater met fur he bit down as hard as he could. He bit down so hard that it felt like he was going to pull out his own two front teeth, but he was too mad to care. A pony’s fur was a lot thicker than his own skin, but even so he quickly tasted blood.

Fluttershy went as stiff as a board as he bit down. She grabbed his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his shirt. Her hooves twitched and jerked as she let out strained, quick breaths until, all of the sudden, she went limp in his arms, her bat wings drooping down onto the ground.

Anon pulled away, turning his head and spitting the blood out of his mouth. “How do you fucking like it?” he said. “Doesn’t feel too good, huh?”

Fluttershy said nothing. She just stared at him with half-lidded eyes, mouth partially open.

“Now, I’m taking you to Twilight’s. You try running or try biting me again I swear to God you’ll get a lot worse than a bite. You got me?”

The pegasus nodded. Cursing under his breath, Anon put her down, reaching up to touch the bite marks in his neck. As he did so he winced.

“Good. Now come on. I need someone to look at this. You better not give me horse rabies or something, I swear to Christ…”