Puberty or vampirism?
It’s been a rough couple of hours for Fluttershy. First, she misses her period which had her mother in a frenzy, next she failed her history exam on account of having a splitting headache and lastly, she butchered the next door neighbour’s cat, Mittens.
She stood in her room and looked at herself. Her reflection was somehow getting paler and more see through. She felt her own forehead to make sure that she wasn’t having a fever and hallucinating.
“Ow!” she brought away her hand quickly.
Her forehead was freezing cold. She shook her head and fell back on her satin sheets. Presently, a fluffy white ball bounced onto her chest and slid down her breasts to rest on her neck.
“Oh, Angel,” she whined. “What do you think is happening to me?”
The rabbit tried to offer an explanation but his squeaks went un-understood. Fluttershy smiled appreciatively at the effort and allowed him to snuggle up to the side of her face.
Badum!
Her eyes opened wide. What was that? Was someone at the door?
Badum!
That sounded way too close to be at the door. Her window?
Badum!
Her floor?
BADUM!
Her head?
BADUM! BADUM! BADUM!
She turned to her pet. Angel? He wriggled a little to get comfortable. The steady beat kept up in Fluttershy’s head. Then she realized what it was. She was hearing his heartbeat.
BADUM! SHHHH!
Blood flow. And what was that intoxicating scent? It made her so… hungry.
“Angel,” she whispered.
The rabbit turned its head to face her as if to ask what she wanted. She smiled, her eyes glazed over. She blinked and a red glow bathed the bunny. He began to shiver but his body refused to move. She reached out her jaw muscles toward his neck. Fangs grazed the poor animal’s neck before she snapped to attention and realized what she was doing.
“Fluttershy!” Kind Heart called from downstairs. “Dinner!”
Dinner? Dinner meant food.
Fluttershy jumped up and practically crashed through her door. She slid down the banister; something usually left up to her little brother Soul Searcher. She hopped into her chair and picked up the fork. She stared at the empty plate in front of her.
“Where’s the food?” she asked.
“Someone’s hungry,” Kind Heart observed as she came out of the kitchen with a salad bowl.
“You wouldn’t think so after she ate Mittens this morning,” Soul Searcher voiced.
“Stop it,” their father, Care Taker, ordered. “That’s a mean thing to say.”
“But it’s true,” Soul insisted. He turned and pointed to his sister. “She really did eat him. You can fi—”
Fluttershy silenced him with one of her trademarked Stares before he could reveal the existence of Mittens’ carcass in her closet.
“Food,” she insisted.
Kind Heart scooped up a heaping helping of lettuce and cucumbers and placed them in her daughter’s plate. She arranged the carrot sticks neatly in a circle around the edges of the plate and stacked tomatoes in the middle.
Fluttershy was not impressed. She sniffed the salad as if to question its authenticity and wrinkled her nose. This wasn’t food. Not by her (new) standards.
“Where’s the meat?” she asked impatiently.
Everyone at the table gasped.
“Shy,” her brother said. “You’re a vegetarian, remember.”
She gave him a tired look. “This isn’t food,” she told her mother. “It’s green.”
“Fluttershy,” her father spoke up in one of his few moments of authority. “You’re going to eat it.”
The teenage girl jumped up angrily. “How about I eat you?” she growled. Her teeth filed themselves to fangs and gleaned menacingly at Care.
Everyone backed down. Fluttershy’s eyes burned red for a good twenty seconds before cooling down to their normal cyan shade. Her fangs retracted to rounded canines and her angry look became apologetic.
“I’m sorry,” she squeaked and ran from the table, up the stairs to her room.
She slammed the door and bolted it. What was she thinking? Was she going to… eat her father?
Fluttershy wasn’t sure what was going on but one thing was sure, she couldn’t stay in the house. At least not for that night. She’d almost eaten her pet rabbit and her father and it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet.
She went to the mirror to get a good look at herself but her reflection was completely gone. This was just too weird.
She went across the room and opened the window. She stood on the sill and looked out at the town. The wind whipped around her pink hair and cooled her already icy face. It would be great to just grow wings and fly like she did a few weeks ago with that Twilight Sparkle girl. If only her wings hadn’t vanished after they defeated Sunset Shimmer. She spread her arms and whined to the sky:
“I want to fly!”
From her back, two thin bat wings expanded. She looked at them in a mix of pleasant surprise and horror. She… just grew wings. She flexed them and they responded accordingly. Could she fly with them?
No. It was a stupid idea. She turned to go back inside when she heard Angel’s heartbeat again. Not just his, she heard the heartbeat of everyone in the house. If she stayed, her new appetite was going to make her do something she would regret. Mittens regretted it.
With another flex, she spread her wings and a contract caused her to take off.
Flying was the best feeling ever. The wind was chilly but the feeling of freedom was amazing. She marveled at it for a full two minutes before she remembered that she was afraid of heights.
She immediately set her sights to land in the nearest open area.
Rainbow Dash was practising her soccer skills in the field of Canterlot High. Being the team’s star player didn’t just happen, it came with four hour practices in the field at nights. Coach didn't know about it but it was unnecessary for him to. She had made friends with Gate, the head of security and he let her in every night except on weekends when he wasn't working.
To stay awake for four hours, she had to hit back a ton of Red Bull. It kept her alert but it had its side effects such, say, seeing her timid friend fly overhead on transparent bat wings and land at the end of the field.
She was so surprised that she kicked the ball at an awkward angle. It hit the goal frame and ricocheted right back into her face. She landed flat on her back.
Fluttershy ran over to Rainbow Dash. Her friend lay unmoving on the grass with her ball rolling comically beside her.
“Are you okay Rainbow?” she asked.
Rainbow sat up.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “That hurt like hell though.”
Fluttershy smiled at her friend’s attempt at bravery. She patted Rainbow on the back and helped her up. Rainbow threw her head back and took a deep breath. Several red blobs splashed on Fluttershy’s sweater.
The athlete looked down at Fluttershy then touched her own nose. Her fingers came away bloody. She shook her head dismally but generally unconcerned.
“Sorry Flu—”
Fluttershy silenced her with a roar. Rainbow Dash cowered as her friend’s eyes became red. Fluttershy grabbed her and bared her fangs.
“Shy,” Rainbow pleaded. “I’ll buy you another sweater. Calm down!”
The timid girl licked all the blood from Rainbow’s face and savoured it. She let out a sound akin to a purr. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and snapped at Rainbow. The other girl moved back as much as she could and Fluttershy only caught her shirt, which tore.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow screamed. She struggled from the other girl’s grip and hopped back a couple paces.
Shy growled. Rainbow used her feet to pull the ball to her and kicked it in the air. Shy advanced on her but she kicked the ball straight in Shy’s stomach. The ball bounced back and the vampire gagged. She looked up with one last hateful look and ran off toward the school. She dived through the window with Rainbow staring after her.
It was almost five minutes afterwards that Rainbow managed to sum up what she was thinking:
“What the fuck just happened?”
This... is... (not) Equestria!
Sunset Shimmer had been a bitch to everyone when she was consumed with rage. She was particularly mean to Fluttershy. It wasn’t voluntary favouritism; it was just that the girl didn’t seem to mind any amount of abuse. It almost became a sport for Sunset to make the girl suffer.
At eight thirty that night, Sunset was in the school’s library with Applejack reading. To be honest, she was reading but Applejack was flipping through picture books. Words were never her favourite; give her a messy field over calculus any day.
“Sunset?” the farm girl asked. “Are we almost done here?”
Sunset shook her head and her flaming curls flashed about like a blazing fog. Her nose was buried too deep in the book for her to respond verbally.
“What’re yah doin’ anyway?” Applejack questioned, her accent clearly audible in her speech. “You ain’t lookin’ up no more a that magic business, are yah?”
Sunset didn’t reply.
Applejack snatched the book from her to quench her curiosity. Sunset only spared her a threatening look and picked up another book from her pile. She was sitting on a makeshift bed of books that was created by Twilight Sparkle shortly before she had Sunset shot out of the sky by a rainbow. As expected, it was constructed of the more magic related books in the archive.
Applejack read the cover out loud: “The Occultist Guide to Reanimating Dead Magical Gateways? Now why in the name of all things great and mighty would Principal Celestia allow a book like this to be in the library? Why’re you even reading this?”
“Homesick,” was the only answer the other girl offered.
“Applejack? Sunset Shimmer?”
The two girls looked up to see Fluttershy by the doorway. She was wearing her favourite yellow sweater but it looked dirty and a few red spots could be seen even from a distance.
“Fluttershy?” Applejack queried. “What are you doing here so late, Sugarcube?”
“I—” Fluttershy cut herself short. I suddenly became a blood-sucking demon just didn’t sound like it would hit home with AJ.
“Why are you guys here so late,” she countered.
If AJ realized, she didn’t let on.
“I volunteered to help Sunset with the rebuilding of the front of the school,” she replied. “But all she wants to do is slack off in the library.”
Sunset laughed sheepishly. Since her reformation, she’s been really nervous around Fluttershy. Though Fluttershy had been the only one to completely forgive her for her behaviour, she still expected some sort of surprise revenge. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she deserved it but she just wanted to be ready. Pride forced her to make sure that she had knowledge of everything that was about to go down.
She began to flip quickly through the book while trying to avoid eye contact with the girl and not look guilty at the same time. “Just doing some research for— OW!”
AJ turned to her friend. “What’s the matter, Sugarcube,” she asked. She coughed as she realized who she had referred to by her universal nickname. She made a silent note to try and break the habit.
“Papercut,” Sunset Shimmer responded. She held up her bleeding middle finger as proof.
Applejack cringed. She wasn’t the squeamish type but the cut was pretty big for something caused by paper.
“Put that thing away,” she ordered. “It’ll bother Shy.”
“Oh sorry,” she apologized. “Sorry Flu—”
She didn’t finish the thought before she found herself held against the bed by frail hands. She tried to push up but she couldn’t even struggle properly under the iron grip of Fluttershy.
“What the hell, Fluttershy?” she wondered in surprise.
“Finger!” the oppressing girl barked.
“Finger?” Sunset was confused, but then she remembered her cut. “Look, I’m sorry about that. I forgot that you were haemophobic.”
Applejack was still in shock as to how fast Fluttershy had moved past her. She still stood with her mouth agape staring at the spot where her friend had been standing.
Fluttershy grabbed Sunset’s injured hand and pulled it up roughly. Sunset grimaced but her stubborn pride forbade her from screaming. Fluttershy sniffed the wound and bit her.
None of her fangs went in but she still made the most of her incisors, grinding into the bones.
Fuck pride Sunset thought. She screamed out in pain which broke Applejack’s surprised concentration.
She looked around for nothing in particular. She picked up the comic book she’d been reading and flung it at Shy. It was incredibly light and veered off course from her head and brushed past her shoulder. She stopped biting Sunset and looked at Applejack as if to say “Was that the best you could do?”
Sunset used the opportunity to push off Fluttershy and shuffle back to Applejack’s side. The pink-haired girl growled at them, displaying her fangs and crimson eyes. A thin line of blood drained down the corner of her mouth.
“What is she?” AJ asked.
“I’ve read about this in my studies under Celestia,” Sunset said. “She is a reanimated corpse with a desire to drink the blood of the living in order to sustain immortality. You humans would call her a vampire.”
AJ looked at her as if she’d suggested that Fluttershy was purple elephant with polka dots. “Principal Celestia told you all that?”
Sunset flicked Applejack. “Princess Celestia, dummy,” she berated.
Applejack poked her hard in the side. “You flick me one more time and I throw you back to her, understood?”
The flaming-haired beauty cradled her injured arm. “Understood,” she confirmed.
“Now, how do we calm her down?” Applejack asked.
“We could stab her through the heart with a wooden stake,” Sunset suggested. “That would kill her.”
“No. Try again.”
“Put her in sunlight, that’ll turn her to ashes.”
“It’s night-time.”
“Force-feed her garlic. It’ll poison her.”
“Okay, something non-fatal, please.”
Sunset thought for a while. She ran through all the knowledge of human vampires that she’d acquired from Celestia. In the meantime, Fluttershy was sitting on the book bed boredly waiting for them to make another move.
“A cross!” Sunset Shimmer blurted out.
“A who?” AJ questioned.
“Apparently, vampires are weak to the Christian cross,” she explained. “Some magic man died on it long ago and it burns them or something.”
“But it won’t kill?” queried AJ.
Sunset shook her head.
“Okay, fine,” Applejack agreed. “Where do we find one of these crosses or whatever?”
Sunset dug into her pocket and removed her lipstick. She took Applejack’s hand and drew it on her palm.
“That should work,” she said. She pushed Applejack forward, “Go get her.”
Fluttershy, realizing the activity stirring up again, jumped up and growled.
“B… Begone!” Applejack shouted at her brandishing the lipstick cross.
Fluttershy looked at it and then looked at Applejack. By the expression on her face, she was unimpressed. Applejack slinked closer with the cross hand outstretched. When it was pressed against her forehead, Shy’s hand shot forward and gripped her neck.
Applejack wriggled and writhed to get away. Fluttershy shook her violently leaving her limp in the vampire’s arms. She grinned a fanged grin and brought her friend’s neck closer to her.
In one last burst of effort, Applejack leaned back her head and slammed it painfully into Shy’s. Fluttershy dropped her and gripped her own head. She roared in pain causing the books on the shelf to rattle. She was hungry before but now she was straight up pissed. She advanced on the farm girl but was promptly kicked back.
She was surprised but she tried again and again Applejack kicked her away. AJ sent on a barrage of kicks that were usually meant for her trees back on the farm. Fluttershy kept hopping back to avoid getting hurt again. She moved back until she was propped against a window that enveloped a whole wall in the library. AJ took a deep breath and kicked again. This time, however, Fluttershy caught her foot and twisted it. That threw her off balance and she fell.
“HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”
Fluttershy looked up to see Sunset running toward her.
“YAH!” the ex-pony screamed and jumped into a flying kick that sent Shy into the window.
The window shattered as she blasted through and fell into the room below.
Applejack stood up and brushed off all the glass that had fallen on her. She cut right to the chase.
“The cross didn’t work,” she stated.
“I noticed,” Sunset commented. “But it should have. I’ve seen the movies.”
Applejack rubbed her chin. “Then that must mean that Fluttershy’s not a vampire.”
Sunset ignored her hypothesis and instead looked out the broken window. “Hey, can Fluttershy swim?”
Applejack was confused by the random question. “She’s terrified of any water that’s deeper than her bathtub.”
“Well, that’s bad then,” Sunset replied. “Because I think I just kicked her into the swimming pool.”
