Twilight moaned softly as she began to wake from a fitful sleep. Her violet eyes flickered under still closed lids as she threw one tired limb over her face as she rolled over. Her mind was thick and sluggish as she arose from the depths of slumber.

Eventually she gathered the frame of mind to open her mouth to yawn and push herself into a sitting position, eyes still closed. Her head pounded like a bass drum and her body felt like lead. She whimpered slightly as a spike of pain coiled around her head. No doubt the resultant hangover from a night out with Applejack. Strange though. She didn't really remember anything from last night. Hadn't last night been a patrol night anyway?

Twilight's eyes snapped open as memory came flooding back to her. Everything from waiting at the shop for Applejack, to the moment when Neon Lights had nearly suffocated her. And that man... That strange, darkly beautiful man. The one who had shot all of Neon followers.

As further memory came back to her, Twilight grasped at her chest, feeling for some kind of hole or bullet wound from where she had been shot. Her finger met silk fabric instead of smooth flesh as she had been expecting.

She looked down at herself to find she was wearing a set of indigo silk pyjamas. Something she had certainly never worn back home in her shared apartment with Applejack. They felt smooth and comfortable to her touch as her fingers slid down her body to grasp the hem of her night shirt. With trembling hands she lifted it upwards until at last she flung it off of her upper body and looked down once more.

She had been expecting bandages of some kind at least, perhaps coated in her own dried blood. But no. Her own, slightly tanned skin greeted her. She searched herself thoroughly, making certain that there was in fact no bullet hole in her body. When she was satisfied, she let out a sigh of relief that no such hole could be found. It had to have been some kind of dream, she reasoned. Just a crazy impossible dream.

As she reached over to pull her nightshirt back over herself, she looked around the room she had woken in and her reasoned argument crumbled into dust. This was not her apartment bedroom. The walls were made of cold grey stone with ancient faded tapestries for decoration. The floor was carpeted in a strange burgundy colour. In one corner stood an solid oak wardrobe and against the opposite wall a desk of equal grandeur. Such furnishings she and Applejack could never hope to afford.Which meant it hadn't been a dream. She had been shot. She had laid down in a pool of her own blood in that grassy clearing in the Everfree forest... That she had agreed to something in exchange for her life.

That man.

...

Alucard.

Twilight put her face in her hands and let out a low moan. Yes. Alucard. That was his name, though how she knew this she couldn't even begin to fathom. It was like the name was hardwired into her brain as if it was something terribly important. The man who had both shot and saved her. The one who had condemned her to her fate.

"Is that what you think of me, Police Girl?"

Twilight gasped and pressed her hands over her ears. The voice she had heard had spoken directly into her head. As if the speaker was in her mind. The same voice she had heard last night as she lay dying on the ground. The voice, of Alucard.

"You think of me as your executioner Police Girl, but it was your choice in the end."

Twilight screwed up her eyes in a vain attempt to blot out Alucard's words, before she opened them again in terror. There, in the darkness of her own closed eyelids, was Alucard. In that moment when she had closed her eyes she had seen him, standing there at the corner of her mind. Tall and imposing, his black hair flying wild in an imaginary wind, his red eyes glowing, no longer hidden behind his orange glasses and his white fang-like teeth sharp and imposing.

Twilight took a shuddering breath to gather her wits, and closed her eyes once more. There he was. Still standing in her mind's eye. He smiled at her, lips peeling back to reveal those white fangs.

"A fast learner I see," he said.

"What's going on?" Twilight whispered. "Why are you here? How are you here?"

"I am here because I saved you Police Girl," Alucard said. "I gave you a choice and you chose your path. The path of the Draculina. Of a Vampire."

Twilight stared at Alucard.

"I'm... I'm..."

"A Vampire, Police Girl," Alucard repeated. Then he paused slightly, before continuing, "After a fashion at least. You are a Vampire but only of a low variety. A Fledgling of minor powers. Stronger and faster by far than any human, yet you're abilities pail in comparison to a true Vampire." He smiled. "Still, you are a fitting recruit for the Hellsing Organisation, and will do well under my guidance to stamp out the vermin of our kind"

Twilight remained silent for a few minutes, letting the realization of her predicament sink in. A Vampire? Her? It didn't seem real... and yet it was true. There was no way she could be alive now if she wasn't.

"Does it upset you Police Girl?" Alucard asked, surprising sympathy in his voice. "To know you will never again feel the warmth of the sun on your face?"

Twilight looked at Alucard.

"My name isn't Police Girl," she said, her voice strong and unwavering. "I am... was, Inspector Twilight Sparkle of the Ponyville Police Department." She smiled and Alucard raised an eyebrow. "And to answer your question... It shocked me at first yes... It's not the sort of thing you hear everyday. To be told that you're a Vampire."

Alucard didn't say anything. He simply waited for Twilight to finish.

"But no. I'm not upset," Twilight continued. "My life was going nowhere. I joined the Ponyville Police Department to help people. And that night... I saw how helpless we really were against that kind of threat. So if being a Vampire is what it takes to really make a change then it's a price worth paying."

Alucard looked genuinely surprised, before he smiled. This smile turned to deep chuckles that shook Alucard's body.

"Such fire, such passion," he commended, raises his hands to applaud Twilight. "I can see I chose right when I offered you this... opportunity."

Twilight stared him down. "I didn't have much of a choice did I? You did shoot me after all."

Alucard smiled again, his form growing fainter in her mind. "War requires necessary sacrifices Police Girl. I hope you will learn that soon."

The sound of a door creaking open surprised Twilight, reminding her of a world outside of what she had experience in communication with Alucard. She opened her eyes to look up as the door swung slowly open. The one who had opened it stepped gingerly through, as if they were afraid of waking a sleeping lion.

"Applejack?" Twilight breathed.

The blonde haired woman looked up sharply at Twilight's voice, before her tanned and freckled face broke out into a wide smile, rushing to Twilight's side and embracing her friend in a hug so tight Twilight thought her ribs might crack.

"You're okay! she cried, burying her face into Twilight's neck. "You're really okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Twilight croaked from under the bone cracking hug Applejack had her in. "Applejack.. can't... breathe."

Applejack either didn't hear her or simply refused to let her go. Indeed, it seemed she tightened her grip on Twilight, 'til the slighter woman could feel the tears pressed into her neck and the sobs that shook Applejack from head to toe. It was at this point that Twilight stopped squirming to get free and instead gingerly wrapped her arms around Applejack.

They remained like that for several minutes, before a soft voice cleared its throat.

"You're an agent of Hellsing now AJ. Have some restraint."

Applejack broke apart from Twilight and spun on her toes, coming to an almost militant style salute.

"Sorry Sir," Applejack apologised.

The figure in the doorway stepped through slowly and smiled in understanding. "It's quite alright. Just remember in future."

Twilight stared blankly up at Trixie as she approached her bedside. The older woman looked down at Twilight with an appraising eye. Twilight had the bizarre feeling that she was being x-rayed and that every part of her being was being examined by the woman standing above her. It was unnerving to say the least.

Eventually however her gaze softened and she smiled slightly, before offering her hand to Twilight.

"I am Sir Trixie Hellsing," she introduced as Twilight gently took her hand and shook it. "I run Princess Luna's Hellsing Organisation and have done for nearly thirty years now."

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said softly. "Pleasure to meet you Sir."

"The pleasure is all mine," Trixie replied. "I must say I find your presence here rather intriguing. I look forward to seeing what you're made of Miss Sparkle."

"Thank you Sir," she said slowly. She let her hand drop and debated over her next question for a while. "If you don't mind me asking Sir, but where am I?"

"This is Hellsing HQ. The Hellsing Organisation coordinates its operations all across Equestria from this central point. We have smaller command posts in the further regions of the country, but for the most part all orders are relayed from here."

"And Hellsing employs Vampires right?" Twilight said.

Trixie gave a slightly forced smile. "Not usually. We don't go left and right picking up any stray Vampires we come across and recruit them. Only those sired by Alucard are permitted, as this is the only safe haven for them. And as to what Hellsing actually does, we are the ones who defend Equestria from the monsters who go bump in the night." Trixie turned around and began to walk back out of the room. "And as of last night, Hellsing means you two as much as it does the rest of us."

The door swung shut behind her with a quiet click. Twilight remained quiet for a few moments before looking at Applejack,

"I understand why I would be Hellsing but what did she mean by the two of us?" she asked with suspicion. Applejack turned to her and gave a sheepish smile and for the first time Twilight noted what she was wearing. An ochre yellow military style jacket and trousers with brown leather boots, and a red cap. Both cap and jacket were marked with a red and black shield. The crest of the Hellsing Organisation.

"Well," she started, "While you were asleep last night Ah may have signed a contract that may have had somethin' to do with joinin' up."

Twilight sighed. "You enlisted in Hellsing."

Applejack scowled at her. "Ah couldn't jus' leave mah best friend here by herself now could Ah? You would've done the same for me and don't say you wouldn't."

Twilight chuckled. "I guess you're right." She smiled at Applejack. "I'm glad you're here anyway. It's good to know I always have a familiar face to turn to."

"Likewise," Applejack said. She scuffed her feet and cleared her throat awkwardly. "So... how does it feel?"

Twilight cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Applejack muttered, still not meeting Twilight's gaze. "What's it feel like to... to..."

"Be a Vampire?" Twilight finished. Applejack nodded emphatically.

"Yeah... that."

Twilight pulled back the covers and slid out of bed. She yawned deeply, stretching her arms on her head as she let her body relax. She looked at Applejack and then at her own hands, as if expecting something different about them. She flipped them over, shrugged and looked back at Applejack.

"It doesn't feel any different at the moment. I mean, if there is anything different about being a Vampire I haven't noticed it yet."

Applejack nodded, before slapping Twilight on the shoulder. "Well, Ah reckon we'll see what you can sooner or later. Now how's about you get dressed and we'll go grab a bite to eat?"

Twilight laughed a little at that.

"Sounds good."

"You summoned me my master?"

Trixie stiffened involuntarily as Alucard spoke. She had known the Vampire for thirty years or so by now, and still she was startled by his sudden appearances. It did certainly make her question whether or not she was truly ready to be in charge of Hellsing sometimes. Still, she was here, and she had a job to do.

"I wanted to ask you something Alucard," Trixie said, turning from the paneled window of her study to face him, the moonlight bouncing off of her silvery hair. It almost seemed to glow.

"Then ask away my master and I shall answer," Alucard said, straightening up from where he had knelt upon the floor. He wasn't wearing his hat or his glasses, Trixie noted. Given that the moonlight was the only sort of illumination that lit up the study tonight, Alucard almost blended perfectly into the darkness. Only his pale skin indicated his presence.

Trixie made certain that Alucard was looking at her before she spoke. "Why?"

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "I am... unclear Sir Trixie. Could you clarify?"

"Why did you turn the Police Girl?" Trixie rephrased. "I have seen you kill many in my time as your master. Some of them the enemy, some of them innocent. And yet she is the first you took pity on. Explain."

Alucard blinked, before he let out a low chuckle. "'Twas not pity that moved my hand Sir Trixie. You forget I feel no pity, mercy or remorse."

"Then why-?"

"I admired her."

Now it was Trixie's turn to blink. Alucard admired Twilight Sparkle?

"You heard me correct my master. I admire the Police Girl. The way she fought on when the odds of survival were staked well and beyond against her. When death was almost a certainty she continued the struggle to cling on to mortal life. Such passion, such strength. A truly spectacular display of humanity. It was this that cause my admiration for her to bloom. This which made my mind up and offered her the power of Vampirism."

Trixie blinked and smiled. "Are you certain you made the right choice?"

"Only time will tell."

Author's Note

Okay sorry this is a day later than planned. Had a bloody power cut yesterday and lost the wi-fi.
So anyway, thanks to all of the following for Favoriting:

axelhemann,
eyedef,
themultiversewatcher,
RiZa,
Cyclez,
Rarity 3Trill