Equestria might seem like a happy and decent kingdom, full of fun loving and innocent pony folk. But as many events have demonstrated, such prosperity is only seen in its most recent history. A thousand years ago, the kingdom was in a state of much anarchy, including such events as King Sombra having enslaved the neighboring Crystal Empire, Discord shredding the laws of reality, and the rebellion of Princess Luna who would become the sinister Nightmare Moon.
In fact, it is the night princess' legacy that concerns our story this time, for even with her transformation into a darker being, Nightmare Moon knew she could not single-hoofedly defeat her sister, Celestia. After all, Celestia had an entire army and kingdom to support her, and if Nightmare Moon was going to overthrow her, she would need similar allies. And so in her madness, she devised a new race, the Vamponies.
Designed to be the ultimate subjects of Nightmare Moon's regime, the Vamponies remained awake and active during the night, and in an effort to keep them enthralled to her power, she cursed them to burn when exposed to the rays of Celestia's welcoming sunlight that the other ponies so enjoyed. No Vampony could remain in direct contact with sunlight for more than a minute or so, before they were reduced to ashes, and so they could not rebel against their mistress and side with her sister.
The Vamponies were many times faster and stronger than any Earth Pony, and they were granted wings that could maintain flight like the Pegasi. But these wings were not beautiful feathers like the singing birds who frolicked in the sun, but leathery membranes resembling those of the nocturnal bat who emerged to feed at night.
The Vamponies were pseudo immortal, able to heal from even the most critical of injuries within a matter of hours, and with life spans that could last for many centuries at a time. It seemed the only way to truly kill them was through means of excessive violence and cruelty. Burning them to ashes, hacking them to pieces and scattering the remains, or complete obliteration were acceptable methods. However, they needed to feed upon the blood of others to maintain their physical health, and refusing to consume blood gradually weakened them until they fell into a lethargic state, incapable of moving unless someone force fed them.
Vamponies had the ability to turn others into more of their kind by feeding a pony some of the blood from one who was powerful enough to hold the rank of Master Vampony. Each member of the original Vampony brood were all master ranks, and they were the founding members of the clans. Each clan possessed a variety of supernatural powers. One clan was gifted in the arts of stealth and had such powers as invisibility, teleportation, and astral projection. Another clan was gifted in the arts of combat and had such powers as super pony strength, incredibly high damage resistance and the power to dive into a blood rage that rendered them invulnerable to fear or pain. There were approximately 8 different clans in that time.
In the final battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, most of the Vamponies were hunted to near extinction, but one managed to survive long enough to slip into hibernation. The last surviving member of the original Vamponies, who awaited the day when his mistress would return to seek her rightful place. The last surviving clan of the Vamponies, and one with the greatest abilities their kind possessed!
In the Everfree Forest, the crumbling ruins of what was once a fortress of Nightmare Moon's army, an ivory box lay in a dark and forgotten dungeon. A faded name plate was half hanging on the box as it was propped against the wall. The name was barely readable "Moonlight Silvermane", and the box appeared to have been weathered from age. Suddenly, a cracking and snapping sound came from within the box as the lid began to creak open.
Inside the box was a creature who appeared very much like a pegasi, but with different wings, like those of a bat, but were proportionate to its body size. Its gender was stallion, and its coat was pale as snow, with a mane and tail that grayed from age, its color apparently having faded over time. The creature gasped sharply and then promptly collapsed onto the floor of the ruins.
The creature looked emaciated, like it hadn't eaten anything in months. Its ribs being visible under the skin, and its belly sunken and concave. The creature was starving, and struggled to push itself to its hooves as it desperately sought anything that could satiate it.
"Blood..." gasped the strange pony, its legs shaking with every step as it began to ascend the stairs leading to the surface world.
Princess Luna, having returned to Equestria roughly two years ago and being cleansed of the taint which turned her into Nightmare Moon was currently sitting upon the throne. It was night time, after all, which meant Princess Celestia was resting. Princess Cadence was declared the ruler of the Crystal Empire which had managed to return to power, and the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle was still undergoing training before she was assigned to any royal duties.
Tonight was a full moon, her creation illuminating the night sky brilliantly and her night guards keeping watch over the sleeping pony folk. Suddenly, however, a jolt ran through her senses as she felt a twinge of power she faintly recognized being awoken somewhere in the kingdom.
Her eyes widened as she gasped in surprise, but the feeling quickly passed, leaving her confused, as well as the guards which stood in her throne room.
"Is something wrong, your highness?" asked one of the guards, a mare dressed in the purple and black armor uniform. She was standing on the left side of the throne, one of the closest to the princess. She had dark green fur, and a violet colored mane and tail.
"I am not sure, Emerald Dream." Princess Luna replied, addressing the guard by name. "I... I need to visit the castle library." She said, before rising from her throne and trotting off down the hall, Emerald Dream following after her, serving as a bodyguard.
The previously starving pony was crouched over the body of a massive bear, who's eyes were now rolled back into its head as gulping, chugging sounds emanating from the stallion. It had clamped its jaws around the bear's neck and was sucking greedily at the bite mark, tearing itself away to give a moaning hiss of triumph, revealing a flash of pearly white fangs that did not belong in the mouth of a herbivore species like the ponies. His face and chest were caked in the bear's blood, but his physical appearance seemed to have improved dramatically.
No longer was its mane and tail faded, but had now become a bright, shimmering, silver hue. Its previously withered body had now bulked up, showing firmly toned muscles, and full stomach, no longer sinking in on itself. Its eyes were a brilliant and mesmerizing shade of violet.
The newly revived pony was impressively sized in comparison to the average Equestria citizen. It stood roughly 6 feet tall, around the same height as Celestia or Luna themselves, though with a thicker build due to being a male. As for its cutie mark, it was the image of a pair of eyes with swirling pupils, and an open mouth with blood dripping fangs protruding from the upper gums.
"This beast was stronger than most ponies." The pale stallion spoke to itself, "A shame I can not sire it." He turned, renewed vigor in his previously shaking limbs, "I am the last of my clan, I shall have to repopulate quickly if I am to rejoin my mistress' army."
And with that, the stallion's wings spread wide and gave a flap, propelling it high into the night sky in search of hapless ponies to prey upon.
End of Chapter 1, Tell Me What You Think!
Princess Luna stood in the royal library, pouring over historical documentations from ancient times. Unfortunately, the Nightmare Moon rebellion was a mark in history that Celestia would have rather been swept from the public knowledge, especially now that her sister was restored to her former self, and much of the accounts seem to have been removed, if not destroyed. She found some dusty old records that had been overlooked, but they failed to go into any great length of detail in regards to what happened over 1,000 years ago. There were plenty of references to Discord and Sombra, even some mentions of the Changelings, but most of what included Nightmare Moon was only references and little more than cameos.
"Sister, did you have to remove all the records?" Luna said to herself, rubbing her face with a forehoof as she was preparing to give up the search. Perhaps the jolt of power she felt was simply a flare of magic and nothing more. After all, it had only been for an instant, and she hadn't felt anything since then.
Using her magic, she rolled up the scrolls and placed them back onto the shelves, until one document caught her attention. As she was placing the last scroll away, she set it next to a book with a rather unusual title.
"Creatures of the Night: Servants of Nightmare Moon" is what the title read. Princess Luna was intrigued, staring at the cover of the book and thought that her sister might have missed this book as well, or perhaps she kept it around just in case anything went wrong.
As she retrieved the book, she noticed it had a midnight blue cover, with the image of Nightmare Moon rearing on her back legs and laughing maniacally on the front side. Luna's ears folded back at the sight of the insane figure she had once been. She was tempted to begin reading the book, until drowsiness began to set into her mind, and she realized she had spent much of the night on this venture. It was almost time to lower the moon so that Celestia could raise the sun and rule over the day time.
"I'll read this later." She said to herself, carrying the book with her magic as she headed towards the exit of the library, the night guard, Emerald Dream awaiting to escort her. Emerald seemed even more exhausted than Luna was, but that was likely due to the fact Princess Luna was essentially a goddess and had far more stamina than the common ponies.
"You are relieved, Emerald Dream." Luna said, "I shall be retiring to my quarters after lowering the moon." She said. The loyal mare bowed in response as she opened the door and the two of them went down the corridor to their respective living arrangements.
Moonlight Silvermane had spent much of the night flying over the forest, descending back to the ground to consume the blood of animals and even monsters. With every meal, he felt more of his old power returning. By his estimation, he was at roughly 25% his original strength. The blood of these creatures was able to provide him with sustenance, but he had been designed specifically to prey upon the ponies of Equestria. If he could get his hooves on a fellow equine, his powers would return much faster.
However, the night's sky was beginning to brighten and he realized that any minute now, the sun would crest over the horizon. He needed to seek shelter immediately, or he would be caught in the open.
Suddenly, he noticed it, a tall mountain looming over a village below. The peak of the mountain held a massive cave entrance, one he could easily take refuge in. With a powerful thrust of his wings, he went soaring up towards the mountain and landing gracefully at the mouth of the cave.
"This looks like a dragon's cave, but it seems abandoned." Moonlight said to himself as he strolled inside. The cave was dark and ominous, but his nocturnal vision was able to see clearly within. "Excellent, this shall be a suitable lair for rebuilding my clan!" He declared proudly.
The cave was enormous, for it had, indeed, once been home to a full grown dragon, as well as his treasure hoard. However, the dragon's slumber would have covered the land in an atmosphere of black smoke, and so a brave group of ponies had been sent to convince the dragon to move somewhere else. Now the cave remained abandoned, and the treasure cleaned out. It could easily fit upwards of about 50 ponies, possibly even more.
He looked behind him to see that the sky was now turning a bright pink, the sun was already rising, but it would be hours before it was high enough to stretch its rays inside the cave. Even then, he had inspected the cave and found that it was properly constructed to block out as much of the light as possible. After all, it was supposed to have been a place for the dragon to sleep for 100 years, and having the sun shining down on your face would have been less than productive to that goal. He flapped his wings and took off into the air once again, only to land upon the roof of the cave, hugging his legs around a stalactite and folding his wings over him like a blanket. He hung upside down as he began to drift off to sleep, awaiting for nightfall once again.
He would begin establishing his clan from the village below, after a good day's rest from an all night feeding spree.
End of Chapter 2. Please remember to comment! ^_^
Author's Note
I find that it gets me motivated to write faster when I have people comment on my stories. If nobody votes or comments, I feel like its being ignored, which saps the drive to continue the series. If you like Return of the Vamponies (or even just have something to say about it), please comment on the subject and help keep me inspired.
