A Vampire's friendship

"What are you doing here?!" Kurumu extended her claws.

"Giving you a hug!" Kokoa pulled Kurumu in for a hug.

"No! I mean what happened to you?!" Kurumu fought to free herself, to no avail.

"Oh, that," Kokoa released her death grip, "You may want to sit down."

"Sure," Gilda promptly sat, followed by a hesitant Kurumu.

"So?" Kurumu asked.

"Well it's been a while since I last saw a someone even close to me," Kokoa sighed.

"So it's been awhile, why should I care?" Kurumu folded her arms.

"No I mean it's been so long since I last saw any of you," Kokoa waved her arms, "Kinda forgot you all hated me."

"Why do you think they hate you," Gilda asked.

"Back on our home world, I did things and said stuff," Kokoa took a breath, "They were both childish and stupid."

"Wouldn't they just forgive you?" Gilda asked, "I mean, that's what you do right?"

"Why should I forgive her?" Kurumu scoffed, "What she did was unforgivable!"

"What?! It's not my fault!" Kokoa took up a defensive pose.

"Whoa! Whoa!", Gilda stopped them right there, "Now what exactly did you do?"

"Well, it happened after I had first arrived at Yokai," Kokoa paused, " I had finally caught up with my big sister, I charged her, I wanted a good fight, I picked up a desk and ran at her, but instead of hitting her, she was pushed out of the way by her friend, Tsukune Auno, and I hit him on the head."

"And I said I would never forgive a first year for touching him," Kurumu folded her arms and huffed.

"What's so special about this scone guy?" Gilda never understood love, even when she had it.

"Tskune, is the most kind, loyal, and happy person I ever met," Kurumu stated.

"Yeah, he was always so nice, even when I was a jerk to him," Kokoa slumped, her past always brought her spirits down.

"Hey, you went and atoned for those sins," Gilda patted Kokoa's shoulder, "Don't worry about the past."

"Atoned!?" Kurumu almost stood up, "You can't atone for the things you did!"

"She can and she did!" Gilda snapped.

"Hah whatever," Kurumu waved them off.

"I sure did miss you," Kokoa straightened up again, "Even if you didn't miss me."

"Wow, how long were you stuck here to start missing me?" Kurumu waited intently for the answer.

"I lived among the fine griffons for two years,"Kokoa smiled, "How else would I be such a high ranking officer?"

"Two years!?" Kurumu gasped.

"Yeah," Kokoa chuckled, "What a great two years."

"You got here two years ago?" Kurumu's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, went looking for you guys at some point," Kokoa kept smiling.

"But that's not possible I just got here!" Kurumu was freaking out.

"Well you must have known, I mean how can I grow and get a manecut, all while you talked to Gilda?" Kokoa pointed out.

"But how did you get here?" Kurumu immediately rephrased the question, "Like how did you end up here with the griffons?"

"Oh yeah, let me tell you," Kokoa began her tale.

===

Kokoa had been seized by a horrible nightmare, all over the events she had endured only hours ago, she was gliding through the world of the intangible, experiencing the good, the bad, and the ugly. She saw his face again, Paradox, what a name, he looked so kind and caring, but something about him put her on edge. 'Come on, I want to show you something,' He beckoned her closer, capturing her mind with his wonderful voice and handsome face, as she moved closer to him Kokoa pulled him into a hug, holding him as if he were her world, but something felt wrong. Ignoring her feeling she came in close, closing her eyes and pursing her lips, she felt him not inches away, but stopped when she felt a sharp plunge, her senses screamed for her to pull away. Kokoa again ignored her better judgement, opening her eyes to catch a glimpse at his warm loving gaze, but she saw hate and malice instead, he was grinning and chuckling, she pulled away from him, he held a knife covered in blood, who's blood? She looked down, her right side was cut open and bleeding profusely, she gasped as she tried to apply pressure, blood soaking her hands, her very being, a loud laugh filled her soul, she looked up to find his face right in hers', laughing at her injury, at her, at her naivete, she then collapsed, breathing heavily, she let out a bloodcurdling scream. 'No one will ever love you, they don't even like you!' Kokoa then fluttered her eyes open, sitting up and taking in her surroundings, before she got a good look she felt a sharp pain peirce her side, she checked and found the cut, but it was stitched up, had her dream been real? She was in a forest, surrounded by very dense trees, the foliage was unusually high and menacing, not to mention very unusual noises were coming from all around her. She went to call for the others but her voice was absent, she tried again, same results, she stood up on wobbly feet and turned a three sixty, searching for a way out, or even a path, before she could decipher any clear path she had to kneel down, her side was burning, she checked it again, it was bleeding the slightest bit, but she could manage, she was a vampire after all.

'Where am I?' Kokoa wondered, she stood up and wobbled toward a section of the forest that seemed to be a little thinner then the rest, wobbling a couple of times more she proceeded to go up hill without realizing, the trees were thinning a bit more, she stopped and caught her breath, she really needed to take care of her injury, she was looking down, panting up a storm when she noticed a gravel path, she had hope again.Coming up the very old path, Kokoa came across a small rock field with a large cave in the back, inside the darkness of the cave came what sounded like a loud moo, several others were heard as well, then came a stamping that grew louder and louder. Kokoa jumped into a battle stance, wincing at the pain that cut from her side, she knew she could handle whatever came, but being in the center of the field didn't make her feel confident. Out of the cave came a large group of cow snakes, she could hardly process what she was seeing, a herd of cow snakes surrounding her, they mooed at her constantly, watching to see her next move.

"There you are!"Came a voice that made the cow snakes stop, turning around Kokoa caught sight of a winged yellow horse with pink hair, she noticed it, or she was holding some form of cloth, it resembled what she presumed was a bandage. "Oh you really must lie down, you are really hurt," She turned her attention to the cow snakes, "All you  Ophiotaurus should apologize, I saw you circling her like she was an enemy," Kokoa turned and saw them back up, then looked back at the horse, the horse was giving them a look that shook something in them all, "Yesss misss Fluttershy," one said, they all then mumbled some form of apology, looking down as they did.

"Oh my, will you be alright?" The horse Fluttershy asked, Kokoa hadn't noticed, but she was panting pretty heavily, she held up a hand to signify to give her a minute, she caught her breath and was about to stand, a hoof touched her back and stopped her from standing, " You need to rest, let me bandage you up." Her gently hooves went to work as she slowly and kindly wrapped Kokoa's injury, she was humming as she did so, Kokoa was not used to this much kindness, Fluttershy spoke up again, "I was going to wrap this back in the forest, but you had run off, you had me worried." Kokoa had never met this pony, but she genuinely felt bad for what she did, she didn't know what it was about her, but Fluttershy was intimidating, Kokoa was about to voice an explanation, but found she could still not speak. Having finished bandaging the injury Fluttershy helped Kokoa to her feet, "Come with me, I can't carry you to my home, but if you come with me I can take care of you," Kokoa smiled and accepted, letting some of the weight onto the horse, she walked back along the path she came up, Fluttershy was again humming some tune as they walked. Kokoa managed to get Fluttershy's attention, she then pointed to her bandaged side, immediately the horse got it, "Oh, I'm not sure how you got that, I assumed you got stabbed by a branch when you fell," So, Kokoa had fallen, but it didn't feel like a simple branch injury, she then flashed back to her horrible nightmare, she gave a gasp as she suddenly felt a stab of pain erupt from her side, "Whoa easy there, take it slow now," Fluttershy slowed the pace a little. They continued to walk in near silence, except Fluttershy hummed a few songs, it was becoming dark, both Kokoa and Fluttershy noticed a light ahead, it was a relief to both when they saw it and they even picked up the pace. Once they came into view of the light source they stopped, at the exit of the forest were posted twelve guards, all in bright shining golden armor.

The one with the horn spoke, "You there! You must exit the forest immediately!"

"Oh my, well alright," Fluttershy and Kokoa walked forward, heading to exit the forest, before they cleared the tree line two of the guards spears crossed their path, without warning the horned guard pulled Fluttershy away from Kokoa, holding her in some kind of forcefield, the other tackled Kokoa and held her face down on the ground.

"Ma'am, this creature was attempting to hurt you, it is too dangerous to be let go," Holding her down the guard stomped his front hooves on her back repeatedly, he then backed up and kicked her in the side, partially reopening the injury.

"No stop it! She's injured!" Fluttershy cried, attempting to fight the forcefield, she wiggled helplessly as her new friend was beaten by a guard, "Let me go! You cannot harm her you bullies! Quit it you worthless shit!"

Every guard stopped what they were doing and stared at her, the guard assaulting Kokoa stopped and walked over to Fluttershy, "Hold her," The guard commanded the horned one, who spread Fluttershy's four legs and her wings, the guard then hit Fluttershy right in stomach, making her gasp and fold her head down, then he proceeded to uppercut her right in the snout, sending her flying back, out of the guard's forcefield, walking over to Fluttershy laying on the ground he stepped on her wings, breaking it, "And I will mark you down for treason."

Kokoa had watched in horror as Fluttershy lay there, hurt and crying, being abused by the guard, it pissed her off, she slowly rose to her feet and growled, she ignored the pain and rushed the horned guard, as soon as she reached him she did a high kick, missing his head, but breaking off his horn. The once horned guard lay on the ground, Kokoa was ready to rip him apart, but before she even did anything she felt a huge hunger pang, and the guard began to look absolutely delicious, during this pause the other guard that had assaulted Fluttershy tackled her, hitting and kicking her. The other guards had only watched, two or three of them went and pulled the injured horned guard away, many laughed at the spectacle of their captain taking on this creature, only one guard, an orange pegasus, shook his head at the display, he turned and ran toward the nearby town. As the guards continued to laugh they failed to notice a large dark mass flying toward them, they only watched the fight continue until the captain pinned Kokoa, then a loud screech rang out, the guards looked up and searched for the source, several blurs hit the guards, taking out a different one each time, the blurs were griffon soldiers, none of the guard stood a chance, many had their throats slashed before they could scream. Not many were fighting back, they mostly ran, the captain had jumped up and took on the griffons, he managed to take out a few, he tripped a smaller one, cornering it by a tree, "Any last words?"

"Fuck you, Gilda doesn't do last words!" The smaller griffon spat as she coughed out blood, the captain chuckled and readied his spear, before he could carry through with it the hunger of Kokoa peaked, she tackled the captain and began to rip him apart, shredding his armor she dug right into his side and began to pull off chucks of flesh, she stuffed them into her mouth and ate, she could only think of more, more delicious meat, as she broke the rib cage she caught his final screams, he was screaming a prayer. After the battle ended and Kokoa had had enough pony they all stood and looked around, they began to search for survivors, Gilda got up and wiped herself off, she stared at the once whole body of the guard captain, then at Kokoa, who was covered in blood, "Man that was brutal, get a bit hungry?"

"Hey we got a survivor," Everyone looked over to a black griffon, a few walked over, "Looks like a civilian, broken wing and some broken ribs," Kokoa sighed, she was happy that Fluttershy made it, "She's in bad shape, get a medic over here, and bring that...thing with us when we finish."

===

"Wow," Kurumu was enthralled by the tale.

"Pretty amazing huh?" Gilda smiled.

"But wait,"Kurumu looked between the two, "Why did you eat that pony?"

"Well Gilda and I theorize that being here increases my appetite for meat," Kokoa said, "As only they can provide."

"Oh, is that gonna happen to me?" Kurumu asked.

"It's alright, we got meat in the house, wanna come have some?" Kokoa asked, she waved toward the house, "Come on I'll make lunch."

"Yeah, Lunch," Kurumu had a smile grow on her face, "Sounds good."

~~~

~~~

Tsukune and Mizore were sitting in a cave, they had run through the forest and made it to the mountain where they had discovered the cave, both watched for any sign that they had been followed, neither liked those ponies very much, especially that crazy rainbow one.

"I think it's safe to relax," Tsukune let out a sigh, "So much for peaceful meetings."

"What are we going to do?" Mizore asked, "We don't even know where the others are."

"True," He turned and face the forest, "Let's setup a shelter here,"

"Okay," Mizore quietly agreed.

"I'll go get some wood," Tsukune walked toward the forest.

"I'll go search for food," Mizore walked toward the forest in another direction, "Keep safe my Tsukune."

As they set off they both kept on guard, for even the most simple disturbance, they didn't want to run into any ponies, but that was not what they needed to be worried about, another threat was waiting in the forest, one all too familiar to them.

===

Tsukune had been walking for half an hour, he had managed to find some wood, but not much, as he went to pick up another stick a whooshing made him drop the wood he was holding and take up a fighting stance, another whoosh made him spin around, he listened for another, again a whoosh could be heard behind him, this time he did not turn, he closed his eyes and felt his surroundings, he say many energy signatures. Most of which matched closely to what he thought was a wolf. a few were very large and unfamiliar, and the last, was far too familiar, he thought it impossible. He jumped into a bush near him, the familiar energy began to run, it was quick, he ran to keep up with it, it was evading him, Tsukune jumped over the wolf energy and sped after the familiar one, he couldn't be sure who's it was, but he knew it. Suddenly it made a sharp turn left, leaving him in the dust as it sped forward, he made a sharp turn as well and ran after it, running with his eyes closed meant he didn't know where he was going, but he knew he needed to find out who this was. Running he saw another energy, Mizore, she was up ahead, the familiar energy passed right by her, as did he, not that he didn't need her help, but he was too busy on this strangely familiar energy, it soon jumped, disappearing from Tsukune's sight, he opened his eyes to perhaps see it.

Looking around at his surroundings Tsukune noticed he was in a cave, nothing ahead of him, just the back wall of the cave, but then he heard a distinctly female voice call, "Leave me alone," He looked shocked, the voice was so familiar, yet so foreign, footsteps tore him from his daze, turning he saw Mizore run up to him, she looked worried.

"Are you alright Tsukune?" Mizore hugged him, "What happened?"

Tsukune came out from his trance, "Thought I saw someone, guess not."

"Lets go back to our cave," Mizore grabbed his arm and pulled him with her.

"Yeah, our home," Tsukune liked the sound of that.

As they departed they talked and laughed with each other, they were happy, from the back of the cave a figure walked out from a fluctuating back wall, the figure raised it's forest wand and made a bright flash, "Protection act 'Golden washtub' active, pray for mercy intruders."