Under the Shadow of His Eyes

by Sur-Toufaan

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 13578

A Vampire Hunter becomes the thing he hates the most.

Zuan-Ma'r Cromwell is a Vampire Hunter, feared by both the living and dead.
The Shadow Hunter, who has found himself obligated to become darker than the darkness itself.
What else should he do, living in a world where the two have become allies against him?
Despite his abilities, he encounters an enemy whose power exceeds his own, and finds his old life destroyed as he is cast out of his homeland and into an entirely new world.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-05 05:25:18 UTC

Green Blood and Awkward Introductions

"I'm sorry."

Mar didn't open his eyes.  He didn't need to, to sense that he was in an underground chamber, in an open coffin.  He felt the familiar aura of the Princess Luna, standing at his side.  She gently poked his arm.

"Hey."  She jostled him lightly.  "I saw your mouth move.  I know you're awake."

He opened an eye and looked at her warily.  "Why on earth would you think I wouldn't want you to know I was awake?"  He sat up groggily.

"Here."  Luna levitated over a jar filled with violently luminescent green liquid inside.  "Changeling blood."

"What?"

"Changeling blood.  It has stronger energy-restoring properties to it than most species'. I couldn't get you to drink any while you were asleep-"

Mar snatched away the jar and consumed the slightly viscous fluid, noting that it had a coppery taste.  He threw an accusative glare at the Princess.  "You stole this blood."

"W-what?"

"There is pain in this blood.  There may not be enough of it for me to gain the knowledge or abilities of the original owner, but I can still feel the sting of the blade that drew this."  He crushed the jar and flicked away the pieces that clung to his hand.  "Where did you get it?"

"I don't know where it's from.  My sister acquired it, and told me to give it to you, along with her most sincere apologies."  She paused, taking a breath.  "I'm sorry for this.  Neither of us had any idea that you were a vampire.  When my... er... what's the human word for visions seen while sleeping?"

"Dream?"

"Yes, that's it.  When I found your dream, and found out you were not yet in our world, I assumed that you were a dist...ah... important guest. When we detected the magic signaling the arrival of another human, we decided both to travel to Ponyville and meet you at the traveler's hotel.  If we had known that you were a vampire..."  She shuddered.  "Things went badly.  If you were a lesser vampire, you would have died from being in the same room as my sister, within moments. By the way, what kind of vampire are you?"

"What do you mean?  And why do you care?  Aren't you just going to lock me in a silver coffin and seal me underneath a mountain?"  Mar started to gather his energy in his palms, beginning a mental chant that would allow him to blend with the shadows.

"Excuse me?!  Is that how vampires are treated in your world?  You needn't worry.  In Equestria, all life is considered sacred.  Your right to a peaceful existence will not be infranged upon."

"Infringed?"

"Yes, infringed.  You, regardless of your species, or what any members of your species has done," Luna's eyes darkened momentarily, "as long as you live peacefully, you are just as protected under the law as if you were a pony yourself.  You may marry any sentient, adult being that you wish, take part in local politics, live where you want, and." She poked Mar lightly in the chest. "As a vampire, under Equestrian law, you may hunt any being defined as a monstrous being, or an enemy of the state.  Also, if any being unlawfully attempts to slay you, you have the unique right to hunt them down, to the ends of the earth if need be."

"Wow."  Mar stood.  "That's... rather generous."

"We have made many confessions-"

"Concessions."

"... Concessions, to allow vampires to live and survive in our world, and not be discriminated against or have to break the law to survive."  Luna gestured to the stairs that led out of the chamber.  "Now, would you like to go and sit down? I still have a lot of questions to ask."

"Well, after you, Your Highness."

Luna led him up the stairs, and into what appeared to be a small library of sorts.  She pulled up two chairs, one of which seemed to be specifically designed for humans, next to a small table.  She gestured for Mar to sit.  "Now.  What kind of vampire are you?  How many centuries old are you?  How many souls have you consumed?"  She asked with avid curiosity.

"Well, for one thing, I'm technically classified as a fledgling, since I've only been a vampire since about ten minutes before I arrived in your world, and I've never consumed anything but that jar of changeling blood."

"What?!"  Luna stared.  "But... I saw you glide up the stairs! And you survived a direct encounter with the physical embodiment of the sun!  There's no way you're just a fledgling."

"Did I glide?" Mar was surprised.  He hadn't even paid attention to how he had climbed the stairs.

"Yes. This is very strange... what of your sire? The vampire that made you?  What is he like?"

Mar took a deep breath.  "Him? Well, he was considered to be the most powerful vampire who ever lived.  He consumed over five million humans, and those are just the ones who were on the census.  He had the ability to transform himself into almost anything he wished, he could fly over open bodies of water for short periods, silver seemed almost useless against him, and he could stay out in the sun for a consecutive week."

Luna took a sharp breath.  "A Blood King."

"A what?"

"It's what we call it when a vampire consumes so much and grows so powerful that they are seemingly unstoppable.  Luckily, most of them have grown lazy, and various powerful unicorns have defeated them.  Only one remains alive, and she seems to have dropped completely out of existence."  Luna observed Mar carefully, taking in every detail of his appearance.  "I suppose that would explain how strong you are.  You're descended directly from the most powerful type of vampire known."

"Who's the Blood King you mentioned?"

"A Blood Queen.  It's... a long story."

"I have time.  And I'd love to know more about who I'm probably going to be compared to while I'm here."

Luna sighed.  She looked away from Mar.  "Shira." She said.  "She arrived fairly soon after humans began arriving in our land.  Right at the beginning of what seemed was going to be our greatest war with the Griffon Empire.  She was a fire mage, and a very powerful combatant. It was she that we chose as our envoy before the Griffon Army was going to invade our borders."

Mar adjusted his glasses, watching Luna's expression grow darker with every word.

"It just so happened that the Griffons had something up their sleeve. The last, seemingly most powerful Blood King.  A dragon, no less, disguised as one of their own.  When the two met, supposedly for final negotiations, he revealed himself, attacked her, aiming to turn her into a fledgling slave to use in the assault."

Luna's eyes were glazed over, her pupils fully dilated.  She was shivering.

"Something happened when they reached the first city that he was to destroy, Hoofington.  Nobody knows what, nobody knows why, but Shira broke her connection to the dragon, and, by some miracle, slew him, and consumed him."

"How? If she was just a fledgling, then how did she manage to kill such a powerful being?"

"We don't know... witnesses reported that she flew into a blood rage, tore him apart, then immediately departed the city." Luna looked down. "After that, she assaulted the Griffon Army.  Not a single one was still alive. five-hundred thousand warriors, all thoroughly slaughtered in less than an hour.  She supposedly released all of the spirits of the souls she consumed, including the ones she tore from her sire."

"And after that?"

"It didn't stop there.  With her newly acquired army of undead spirits, she attacked, and completely wiped out the four largest Griffon cities.  Almost two thirds of the entire population of griffons in the world... on that day, fifty years ago... were all consumed by the Blood Queen, Shira, the Burning Scourge."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be.  It wasn't your fault.  If anyone is to blame, it was the cursed Griffon King who thought he could bring vampires into a war without extreme consequences."  Luna scratched her leg.  "And after that, Shira came to visit me and my sister, in the throne room, in the middle of the day.  She just stood there, explaining what she had done, but never explaining why.  She stood, not forty hooves from my sister, almost completely unaffected by her power.  The only hint that she was at all injured was a single drop of blood from her eye.  She told us... that all she wanted was to live, and never be bothered again.  We haven't heard from her since."

"What would you do if she came back?  Or if she attacked your own country?"

Luna looked at Mar, complete, unadulterated fear in her eyes.  "Then we would die." She said simply.  "There is no force in this world that can defeat her.  The only reason why anything still lives is because she, at least for now, seems to be benev... er peaceful."

The door to the library opened.  In stepped a lively looking pony, the same size and shape as Luna, but with lavender fur and a straighter mane. She smiled.  "Sama, Luna! Suuna ye-"  She stopped when she saw Luna's morbid expression, and the shadowy human with the dark, ominously glinting glasses.  "Ano... Sa suui da?"

"Oh! Right!" Luna's face brightened.  "Sama, Twilight! Tol sha da, dei human *'Mar' numeizi. Tsioi Vampyrsa da. Noi da.*"

"Twilight" gasped excitedly, then ran up to him.  "Sama, *Mar! Deir deir posstana ta'sa lapar' larama! Sa da'wol Vampyrsa yei? Hemjensa yei? S'oo kalan yei?! Kaw'und lareia? Staa'sa kuss'nei sarai suum'ra lui da?*"

Luna stared.  "Umm... she says, 'It's nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be friends.'  She stammered.

Mar raised an eyebrow.

"Twilight... nobody's done the language conversion spell on him yet."

"Oh!" Twilight blushed.  "Sorry about that...  Let's start over.  Hello, I'm Princess Twilight, but most just call me Twilight."

"Mar.  I'm not even going to tell you my full name, because I have a slight notion that you'd use it, regardless of how many times I tell you not to."

Luna nodded.  "Right, you are."

Twilight rolled her eyes.  "Oh, come on, no I wouldn't! Well, maybe.  Oh well.  My English isn't very good, so let's just get this language conversion spell over with."

"And how exactly does that work?"

She smiled.  "I'm glad you asked.  It's a spell that will give you knowledge of the Equestrian Standard Dialect.  It more or less embeds the language in your mind, and you can only have one language at a time.  Over time, however, your mind will adopt the foreign language, and the spell will wear off.  Any questions?"

"Hmmm.... nah.  Let's just do it."

"Okay then!" Twilight aimed her horn at him.  It glowed, first purple, then turning into a slightly tinted white.  Mar felt a tingling sensation in his head, and his vision went blurry.  A few seconds later, Twilight stopped and stood up straight.  "There.  All done.  Right now, I'm speaking to you in my native language.  Do you understand me?"

Mar rubbed his forehead.  "Er... yes. Yes I do."  He furrowed his brow.  "Wait a second. Earlier."

Twilight blushed slightly and looked away.

"You asked me how big...?"

"What? What's that?  No, I'm certain you misheard me.  That reminds me!  We need to get you back to the wayward human's hotel and get you processed into Equestrian society!  I'll go get your coffin!"  Twilight sprinted into the basement.

Mar looked at Luna.  "And did she ask me if I had a-"

"Yes, yes she did.  She gets kind of carried away, especially with how many rumors she's heard about vampires.  Don't take it the wrong way. She's..." Luna paused, looking for the right word.  "Enthusiastic about her studies.  She wants to learn everything there is to know about everything, and sometimes forgets what's appropriate to ask somepony."

Duality

Kite Runner was irritated.  Putting it lightly, at least.  Receiving a note from one's boss in the middle of the night was not something that really ruffled his wings.  Especially getting a note saying that one's services are required right now, acting as if a late notice was something to be expected at any time, sleep be damned.

Trudging groggily down the street, he attempted to arrange his mane to look as if he hadn't been asleep ten minutes ago.  He waved to Countermelody, the odd pony who was always sitting in front of her house softly playing whatever instrument had currently drawn her interest.  She gave him a slight nod, not interrupting her music, carefully drawing a mournful song from her violin.

He stopped in front of the wayward human's hotel, checking his reflection in a puddle by the light of the candle that was always lit.  Luckily, his dark-blue mane lay flat, as he usually styled it.  He sighed, turning to slowly walk up to the door and nudge his way inside.

"Oh, good, Kite.  Thank you for coming in this late.  Our latest subject is in 13C, and I doubt he'll be settling in for the night anytime soon."

He stood for a moment, before he blearily recognized he was being spoken to by his employer, Mrs. Ironwood.  "Oh, er, good... evening?"

She chuckled softly.  "Morning's more like it.  Sorry again for the late letter."

Blinking slowly, he replied, "No.. problem, Ma'am.  But why..? Don't we, you know, wait until the next day to introduce humans that come in this late?"

"This is the one that we were supposed to introduce last night. He had a... accident, in a manner of speaking, and I figured it would be better to introduce him as soon as we could.  He's.. a rather interesting human."

Kite grinned.  "Oh, another one of-"

"He's a vampire."

There was only silence.  After a moment, Kite stammered, "B-but... is he safe to be around? How do we know-"

"Don't worry about him.  Once you talk to him a bit, and get him out of his shell, he's actually really friendly.  And I'm certain we can trust him not to cause any trouble.  Princesses Luna and Twilight escorted him here personally, and he seemed to be on fairly good terms with both of them."

No longer thinking he would need coffee, Kite shifted his hooves and flexed one of his wings uneasily.  "What subspecies is he?"

"Unknown.  Not a Tempter, and not an Illusionist.  So that's good." She gestured down the hall.  "Just get in there!  The more you think about how badly he wants to eat you, the harder it's going to be."

He gave Mrs. Ironwood an irritated glare, then sighed,  "Alright, then.  Here goes nothing, I guess."

"Who knows, you might like him."  She winked, giggling at her own joke.

"Yeah, yeah, you're hilarious. I had almost forgotten." He rolled his eyes. Picking up the case file, trotted lightly down the hallway to room 13C.  He knocked on the door, and waited for a moment.  He heard what sounded like "Come in." and the door opened.

Kite walked slowly into the dark room, glancing at the ceiling, the walls, then to the far side of the room, by the window.  There sat a human, with long, wavy, dark hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail.  The only visible part of his face was his circular-rimmed glasses, which dimly reflected the pale moonlight.

He is kind of sexy, just sitting there like that. Kite shook his head.

"Good evening." Said the human.  He stood, and walked slowly over to Kite, who was now staring at him in awe, afraid to move.  He knelt down and extended a hand.  "My name." He reached up and removed his glasses.  "Is Mar."

Now more terrified than ever, Kite simply stared at the human's right eye, which was no more than a socket filled with ethereal shadows and a glowing red iris in the middle.

Mar hastily put his sunglasses back on.  "S-sorry... I forgot about my eye.  I'll just leave these on."  He stood, and walked back to his chair.  He turned back to Kite, who was still standing in the same place.  "Oh, come on. Just relax, already.  I'm not going to eat you, for fuck's sake."

"Oh, er, right. Sorry about that, I've just never met a vampire before, let alone a human vampire. My name is Kite Runner."  Kite trotted over and sat across from Mar.  "Right."  he opened the file, looking over the details.  "So... you've met Countermelody, Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, and that's it.  Correct?"

"Yeah, pretty much.  Didn't get a whole lot out of the unicorn, I didn't speak Equestrian when I met her.  Luna and Twilight already explained a lot about this world."

Kite smiled.  "Good.  I hate sitting here giving humans a long lecture about how Equestria works."  He closed the file.  "Okay! So all you really need to know is that you can stay here for a while, we'll find you a job somewhere in Equestria, it may take longer for you, being a vampire.  And I'm here to talk to you, help you get familiar with how pony society works, and offer to spend the night with you."

"Wait.. what?"

"Well, yeah. A lot of humans have trouble adjusting to life here, and they can't cope with being alone.  So we, the aid workers, rather often stay with them, and keep them company."

"So why did they send me a male pony?"

Kite raised an eyebrow, confused.  "Well, there was the questionnaire you filled out when you got here, and on it, you filled out that you aren't attracted to females."

Mar crossed his legs.  "I don't really have an issue with it, I'm just surprised.  In my world, attraction is legally only between a male and a female."

The pony nodded.  "Yeah, we hear that from a lot of humans.  But here, we realize that when it comes to that, there are no real boundaries."

"That's... that's actually really cool."

"I can't imagine what life would be like if we only realized relationships between a mare and a stallion, actually.  A lot of ponies would be pretty upset."  Kite shifted in his seat, avoiding eye contact with Mar.  "So... how do like Equestria so far?"

"It seems almost too good to be true.  I feel like something's going to come along to remind me that this isn't as whimsical as it seems."

Kite brushed his mane out of his eyes.  "Well, there isn't much left to say but good night.  Would you like me to stay?"

Mar shook his head.  "Nah... I don't sleep at night, and even if I did, I wouldn't ask you sleep with me in that coffin over there."

His wings twitching a bit, Kite looked at the gleaming glasses just a few hooves from his face.  He didn't say he didn't want to...  "Well.. do you want to hang out sometime?"

"You want to do what now?"

"You know, go out somewhere... Not like a date or anything, I mean... just... hang out." Kite said nervously.

"Is 'hang out' a colloquialism or something?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Mar smiled.  "Alright, why not?  How does tomorrow night sound? Right after sunset? Except..." He frowned.  "I don't know of anywhere to go."

"I may know a place.  How about we meet in front of the hotel?"  Kite's expression brightened, his wings extended slightly.

"Sure."  They both stood.  Kite stood on his back legs and gave Mar a brief hug.

"It was nice to meet you. See you tomorrow.~" He left, a slight bounce in his step.

Mar waited until the door was closed before turning around and staring out the window, his crimson eyes glowing through his glasses.  "Well, now, I have a few questions to ask you." He adjusted his glasses. "Shira."

Around the block, Countermelody stopped playing and set aside her violin for a moment.  She turned to the direction of the hotel.  "Well, then."  She smiled, revealing a gleaming fang. "Come on over and ask them, Shadow Hunter."

Mar glided silently across the rooftops, keeping to the shadows in a way that he never would have been able to as a human. He followed the sound of a violin playing, knowing that the only one awake at this hour could be none other than the one he wanted to speak to. A few blocks away, he saw the tree-building amalgamation where the princess lived. Well, as I've been told, there's another pony who may still be awake.

Jumping across an alley, he landed on the roof just above the source of the music.  He crept slowly over to the edge of the roof, and gazed down at Countermelody, who was on the porch, playing what appeared to be a crystal violin.

Her horn glowed momentarily, and Mar felt his hand slip off the roof.  He slipped clumsily off and hit the ground.

"HEY! WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"  He shouted, jumping to his feet.

Countermelody giggled.  "For being a naughty vampire and spying on me, of course."  She set down the violin.  "Well, what are you doing standing out on the street?  Get up here, take a flank. Not mine, of course."

"Take a what now?"  Mar jumped up onto the porch.

"It means sit down.  You know, bend your knees and set your ass on a chair."

Mar shrugged, sitting on one of the inconveniently small chairs.  "I suppose I walked right into that one."

"They always do. Now.  What questions did you want to ask helpless little Countermelody, hmm?"  She batted her eyelashes.

"How did you know I wanted to ask you something?"

Countermelody raised her eyebrows in mock confusion.  "Huh?  Well, that's what you said, isn't it?"  Adjusting a pair of invisible glasses, and glaring madly at the moon.  "Well, now, I have a few questions to ask you, Shira."  She put on a sideways grin.  "Hardly anything in this village escapes my notice. You're no exception."

"Well, I guess that means stealth was out of the question."

"Oh, please. Your aura is about as stealthy as a club in downtown Manehattan if someone set the building on fire and started shooting flares out of it, and kept the music going. Which has actually happened." She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Now seriously.  Your damn questions already." She pulled out two cigars, and offered one to Mar.

Taking the cigar, and lighting it with a small burst of magic, he said, "Might as well get the difficult questions out of the way. I heard about the war, and what you did. I also know you didn't explain exactly what happened.  Care to tell me?"

Countermelody's expression turned sour.  "Well, as you may have guessed, it's not something I like to talk about. Let's just say, a vampire in a blood rage is extremely dangerous.  And, given the correct circumstances, and a certain amount of power, which I gained from killing that fucking dragon, a blood rage can be extremely catastrophic. I'm not proud of what happened.  I wish I had never become a vampire, never met that dragon, never slaughtered all of those griffons." She took a long, deliberate puff.  "The Burning Scourge is less of a title, and more of a brand, signifying that at one point, I lost control, and others paid for it."

"Alright. I guess that's a good enough answer. I won't press it. So why do you do what you do now?"

She raised an eyebrow.  "What? Live in peace? Only hunt monsters? Not offer my service to royalty?  Believe me, being a warrior was very fulfilling.  But now... when there is no opponent left who could possibly match me, battle becomes a massacre. A massacre that leaves behind families, lovers, and friends with nothing but sadness and hatred.  I'd prefer not to kill at all. But you know how it is to be a vampire." Her eyes glowed softly.  "We have to kill. It is our nature, our way of existence."

"I haven't."

"Not yet you haven't, but you will. Vampires as a species have enemies."

"But, as long as I don't hunt ponies or cause trouble-"

"You won't be attacked? You think that, just because you're protected under the law, you're safe? Did living peacefully protect vampires from you?" She turned quickly to stare at him, the cigar hanging loosely off her lips.

Mar didn't answer.  He sighed, bowing his head. Flicking off the ash from his cigar, he said, "No. I suppose it didn't."

"Hey, don't worry about it.  Vampire hunters will come, offer their heads to you, so to speak, and you'll have a steady supply of food and easily obtained abilities as long as you don't hide yourself."

"And what if they manage to kill me?"

Countermelody snorted. "Kill you?  How?  You used to be a vampire hunter as well, so you know how to kill vampires, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So I wouldn't doubt you know how to not get killed as a vampire, right? And besides, you have vampiric powers that rival those of adult vampires, not to mention your freaky knowledge of magic. I saw you light that cigar. And I felt those shadow spells you cast to hide yourself coming here. They almost managed to conceal that obvious-as-all-hell aura of yours."

Mar shrugged.  "I suppose I'll take your word for it." He pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "What can you tell me about Kite Runner?"

"What's this?  You've already got yourself a date?"  Countermelody snickered.

"W-what?!  No! He just asked me to er.. hang out, was it? Hang out, tomorrow night!"

"And you really thought it was just hanging out?"  Her grin widened.

"Well, obviously..."

"Gods above, you're so imperceptive. In case you somehow hadn't noticed, that one plays for the same team."

"Plays for...?"

"Shit, man, do you even know what an idiom is?  It means he's a Coltcuddler. You know, gay, a homosexual, a man's man, or in this case, a stallion's stallion, nonpolar, a-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. And no, I hadn't noticed. Although, I guess having a straight stallion offer to be an overnight comforter would be asking a bit much of your employees."

"Yeeup it would.  So yeah.  You have a date. But damn, he's hot!  Especially when he's done flying, or practicing with one of those kites, and he's all sweaty..." Her eyes glazed over.  "I'd like to fuck the blue out of his adorable mane."

"Umm... Countermelody?"  Mar flicked away the butt of the cigar.

"Oh, right.  He's yours now. I almost forgot.  But you know, if you're ever up for a threesome, I can always take the form of another stallion."

"Hell's motherfucking Boundaries, Countermelody! I'm not in a relationship with him! I wasn't even aware it was a date until you just told me!"

"Damn right." She said. "But, in case you two do start going steady, that option's as open as my sexual preference."

"What is it with you and sex?"

"You try having the body of a nineteen year old for fifty years.  Shit starts to happen."  Her eyes widened.  "Oh yeah, before I forget, there's a group of four ponies and one human, approaching the town from the east.  Judging by the fact that they have guns and silver blades with them, not to mention black motherfucking trench coats, kinda hot if you ask me, they're probably vampire hunters, coming here to find you and kill you.  I recommend dispatching them before they enter the town."

Mar stared.  "And you just barely decided to tell me this?!" He growled.

"Well, to be fair, they've only been within my range of detection for about a minute."

Mar jumped off of the porch.  "Hell's motherfucking Boundaries, woman!" He shouted back as he ran east.

Countermelody chuckled.  "Well, this will be interesting.  I really hope I don't have to intervene."  Her ears perked up, and she turned toward a house down the street.  She grimaced.  "Ugh... maybe knowing everything that happens around here isn't such a good thing..."  She narrowed her eyes at the pony in the house, who continued his activities, not knowing he was being observed.  "Oh, come on, that's just nasty."

The Gunslinger

August drew his revolver, the last remnant of anything he had left of his life on earth. He flexed his fingers excitedly. It was almost time.

When he had arrived in Equestria, he had been overjoyed to find such a harmonious, Utopian society.  After years of living in fear of monsters, he was finally free.

That was, of course, until he had discovered the existence of vampires. Filthy, unholy beasts that stalked the innocent under the cover of night. He glanced back at his crew.  One was a master of offensive spellcasting. Two were earth ponies, one had exceptional skill with hoof to hand or hoof to hoof combat, not to mention throwing silver daggers with alarming accuracy. The other had designed a suit that allowed him to stand and fight like a human, but with much more strength.   The last was a younger unicorn, who his spellcaster had insisted would be the key to avoiding powerful illusions.

"Alright, we'll hold here.  Claw, get your gear ready. And you, rookie!" He pointed at the unicorn.

"Y-yes sir?"

"Keep your ass back and do whatever you're supposed to be doing here."  August turned to face the village.  He gave his weapon a soft kiss. "By the grace of the goddesses." He took a low stance.  "We will eliminate this beast!"

"You know, you really shouldn't shout. You might warn me of your position."

August whipped around to see the unsuited earth pony, hanging by his neck from a shadow whose eyes emitted a dark crimson.  His eyes widened.  "What... how...?"

"Oops.  Too late." The beast grinned, dropping the lifeless body.

"Stupid colt!  WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US?!"  August shouted.

"He wasn't using vampiric energy!  I didn't see him coming!"

"The kid's right. I know much more magic than just that which is inherent in vampires." He stepped forward.  "My name is Mar, and you'll be serving me dinner tonight."

August brought up his pistol and fired a shot directly toward the vampire's heart.  Mar stumbled back, his hand covering the wound.  "What in the hell is that?!"

"What's that?!"  August grinned.  "Never seen a gun before?!"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Then allow me to introduce you!  BOYS!  NOW!"

The pony in the humanoid suit charged forward, claws extended, and slashed at Mar's face.  Mar dodged, delivering a swift kick to the pony's stomach, then leaped sideways to avoid a barrage of glowing arrows from the unicorn.

August grimaced. I've never seen a vampire recover from being shot by a silver bullet that fast.  He drew a hand of silver daggers, launching them toward the vampire. Could he be more powerful than our reports said?

The earth pony launched himself toward the human again, taking a lower stance and slashing at his midriff.  Another barrage of ethereal arrows exploded out of the unicorn's horn.  Two of them pierced the vampire, who growled and flipped over the earth pony, using him as an improvised shield.

No, August thought.  He isn't healing fast enough. His wounds are still open, but they don't slow him down as much as they should. He aimed at the vampire, trying to get a good shot. What the hell kind of vampire is this?!

Mar grabbed the earth pony's arm, and twisted it.  The pony let out a shrill scream of agony as his arm was torn off.

August fired a shot that penetrated the vampire's leg, knocking him back and causing him to stumble.  "You bastard! CLAW!"  August ran forward, drawing a short sword.

The vampire smiled, and threw the screaming, struggling body toward him.  Jumping backwards to avoid another volley of glowing arrows, he flipped around and sprinted toward the unicorn. He dodged through arrow after arrow, one of them tearing into his left cheek.

When the two were barely five meters away, the vampire grinned, and muttered a short phrase. A sigil appeared on his forehead, and he melted into shadow and disappeared in the grass.

August gently pushed Claw off of him, and crawled to his feet.  "Where did he go?!  Rookie!"

The spellcaster stepped back, looking at the grass.

"I don't know where he is! He's using conventional magic!"

"What?!" Growled the older unicorn.  "What do you m-ACK!" The unicorn's exclamation was cut off by a hand, made of shadow, protruding from the ground, around his neck.  He looked down to see two eyes, one the normal shape of a human eye, and one a seething mass of solidified shadow and crimson.  "No."  He whispered.  His horn lit up.

Another hand burst from the shadow and grabbed his horn.  "No.. please, I'm sorry!  Just don't... AUGH!"  The horn shattered.  The second hand grabbed the pony's shoulder.

Mar lifted himself out of the puddle of shadow.  His body was entirely black, except for his eyes, which were glowing brighter than ever. He leaned in next to his victim.  "Die..." he whispered, a hint of a grin in his voice.

August stared, watching as the last fighting member of his team begged for his life.  He felt paralyzed, unable to do anything as the unicorn screamed apologies, then fell silent as the vampire tore his head away and consumed his blood.  August fell to his knees.  "Please... just make it stop... I don't want this to happen again." He whispered, tears leaking out of his eyes.

Mar finished feeding.  He turned to face his final opponent.  He approached slowly.  "Well, look at this.  Of all of the enemies I fight tonight, the one who gives up before he's even injured is the human."

His expression hardening, August leaped to his feet.  He drew up his revolver and emptied it into the vampire's chest.

Stopping, Mar lifted a hand, and pushed his fingers into one of the wounds, withdrawing a bullet.  "Silver projectiles?  Without any kind of enchantment, no binding spell, no burning agony curse, absolutely nothing?"  He dropped it. "I'm insulted."

August lifted his sword, and charged toward the vampire.  "You're going to fucking pay!" He slashed at his enemy's neck.

Mar caught the sword.  "No, that won't do."  He tightened his grip around the sword, breaking off the tip. "Poorly made, and also not enchanted."

Dropping the sword, August threw a punch at Mar's face.

Mar caught the fist, holding it in an iron grip.  "Have you even killed a vampire before?" he crushed the hand.

August dropped to the ground, clutching his hand.  "Y-you... piece of shit... all of you deserve to die a slow, and painful death.. you monster."

Mar grabbed the human's head, and lifted him off of the ground. In English, he said,  "Yes, I used to think the exact same thing.  But what does that make you, who would, unprovoked, try to kill me? A man? or a monster?"  His eyes flared.

"D-don't try to make yourself sound-"

The vampire lunged, latching onto his victim's neck.  He quickly drew all of the blood from his veins.  Dropping the body, he turned to the pony in the suit, who had long since bled out.  He extended his hand, and all of the blood spurted into the air, toward him.  He absorbed it directly through his skin.  Mar smiled.  "Ah... that was a fine meal."

Mar's shadowy appearance faded, and the light in his eyes died.  He pulled his glasses out of his chest pocket and put them back on.  He turned to the last pony left, a young unicorn male with maroon hair and a pale coat, who had not lifted a hoof in battle.  "What are you doing here, kid?"

The unicorn, who had been paralyzed by fear, was taken aback by how casual the vampire sounded.

The vampire looked around.  "And what have I been doing around here? Oh, yeah, that's right." Damn everything, Shira. You never mentioned that I would go into a blood rage for my first kill.

You never asked. Mar heard what sounded like a chuckle.

Mar turned and walked toward the unicorn.  "I'm not going to kill you.  I owe you that, until you try to kill me."  He knelt down in front of him.  "What's your name?"

"U-umm... my n-name is D-Daydream. Daydream Illusio."

"And what were you doing with these idiots?" Mar gestured to the scattered flesh behind him.

"The unicorn, he found me after I graduated from Canterlot University, he told me he had heard of all my research into illusions created by dark beings, and that he had a job for me."

"But... you didn't do much studying into illusions created by neutral magic, did you?"  Mar smiled a bit.

"That I did not." The pony shuffled his hooves a bit.  "So what now?  Are you just letting me go?"

Mar nodded.  "Yes I am. As long as you don't target me, or anyone around me, or assist any more vampire hunters, you're free to go."

"Deal!" Said Daydream, his expression brightening. "So... I think you said it earlier, but I didn't catch your name."

"It's Mar." He extended a hand.  "It would be a bit weird to call us friends, so... allies?"

Daydream shook his hand.  "Allies." He turned and walked away. "Goodbye!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Mar walked over to the body of the human. He picked up the strange device that he assumed was the gun.  "Huh." He said, looking it over.  "I don't see how this is at all practical. I guess I'll ask Shira."

"Questions? Again?  Really, Mar?" Countermelody sighed, setting down her violin.

"Yes indeed, miss.  You see, in that battle that I'm about sixty percent sure you set up, I came across this weapon."

"Ooh!" she shouted, grabbing it with her magic, inspecting it it closely.  "Hmm... not a design I recognize.  I wish I could have looked into the owner's mind to see where he got it from. Oh well." She handed the pistol back to Mar.  "So, how was the fight? Did you enjoy it?"

Mar narrowed his eyes.  "Well, aside from the fact that I've only been able to remember fractions of it, and the fact that I killed the first human I've met here who wasn't a vampire, along with three ponies..." he sighed.  "Yes. I'll admit.  What I remember, I enjoyed.  It made me feel powerful. It made me feel..." He looked up at the moon.  "Alive."

"Well, you're not technically alive anymore, but I guess late is better than never." She shrugged. Lighting another cigar, she said, "It's getting early. You should probably get to coffin before the sun comes up." She chuckled.  "Besides, you have that date in the evening."

Mar rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right. See you later, Countermelody."

"See you later, Mar. Don't fall off any roofs."

He was in the desert. It was a full moon, and there was a light breeze.  He looked down the hill he was on to see a tall, female human with long, black hair driving an odd looking carriage down a road.  He felt compelled to follow. He ran down to the carriage, following closely behind it.  The human inside paid him no attention.

After a few minutes of running, they came upon a small town. There was a small bar near the edge of town, it seemed to be the only establishment that was still in operation at this hour. The woman rode into the town like a demon out of hell, and the carriage slid to a stop right outside the entrance, just barely managing not to smash anything.  The woman jumped out.  She put on a cowboy's hat and lit a cigar.

Mar walked through the wall of the bar.  The woman shoved the doors wide open, striding in with an aura of supreme confidence.

"What the hell?  Who is that?"

"You know what, I bet it's that vampire that just killed all of the griffons!"

"Nah, no way!  She's way shorter, and she has red hair! 'Sides, she don't dress that way."

"Y'all think she'd show up wearing her usual getup? Of course she'd be in disguise!"

The woman turned to glare at all of the ponies in the booths. She narrowed her eyes, then turned back to the bar.  "Yo, barkeep, I'll take a shot of whatever your strongest drink is."

"Comin' right up, pretty little lady."

Mar walked behind the bar to look at the woman.  When the drink was delivered to her, she picked it up and knocked it back with a single swig.  "Hit me. Nah, fuck it, get me four more."

"Are you sure that isn't too much, miss?"

She glared at him.  "I'll tell you when I've had enough. Until then, keep them coming."

The bar was almost silent, save for the constant buzz of conversation. The barkeeper walked up to the woman.  "So, what's a pretty human like yourself doing all the way out in the little town of Appleloosa?"

"I'm here to deliver a message to someone. Some guy named Braeburn."

"Oh! Well, you've come at a good time. He usually walks in here about five minutes from now. What kind of message is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I actually do mind you asking."  The two lapsed into uneasy small talk.

Mar's attention was drawn by a pony at one of the booths.  He was giving the woman a suspicious glare. He reached slowly down by his side, pulling up a revolver, and silently aimed it at the back of the woman's head.

Without a word or any indication, the woman drew her own pistol in a flash and shot the pony, through his left eye. The bar went silent.

The woman gestured to the corpse at the booth. "If anyone else wants to pull a gun on me, please do so now. I'm not in the mood for bullshit.  Anyone?" She looked around, all of the ponies she looked at shook their heads vigorously.  "Alright. Good. Sorry for interrupting the fun. Carry on."

The barkeeper stared at the woman in awe.  "That... was quite impressive, actually! How did you even know he pulled out the gun?"

"I got ears, don't I?"

The door to the bar opened. A pony with a tan coat and a slightly darker mane walked in. He looked at the body in the corner.  "Well, I say, it looks like I missed something! What's going on here, Wheat?"

The barkeeper snorted. "That fool over there tried to shoot this here human girl in the back, and I swear to Celestia, she didn't even turn around, she just pulled out a revolver and shot him in the head! I tell ya, she's a might fine gunslinger!"

Braeburn looked at the human, and his eyes grew wide. He looked at the barkeeper.  "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

"Sure thing. The back room, right through that door over there."

Once they were in private, Braeburn whispered, "Shira, is that you?!"

She nodded.

"Wha... what happened? With the griffons? And where's Mina?"

Shira's eyes glinted. "I don't really want to talk about it. But I have to give you a message for your cousin, and the Princess. I can't go near Ponyville again, and I think it's likely that I'll never see any of them except for Twilight for the rest of their lives.  So please." She pulled an envelope out of one of her pockets.  "Take this to them. Let them know that I'll always care about each of them, and regret everything that's happened. Tell them." A bloody tear ran down her face. "I'm sorry."

"Well... O-okay, miss Shira... I just don't understand why..?"

The world faded to black.

"Shira...? Are you okay?"  Asked Twilight.

They were in the middle of a burning city.  The sun was almost set. Princess Twilight was slowly approaching a short female human with red hair.

"Shira, please, talk to me! What happened?" Twilight walked up and poked Shira. "Shira...?"

Turning around, Shira glared at Twilight.  Her eyes had no pupils, just a pair of glowing, enraged, crimson eyes. Her teeth were clenched.  "Twilight." She said in an oddly calm voice.  "They're all going to pay.  "Every single one of them is going to pay. Do you hear me?"

"What do you mean...?"

"THEY'RE ALL GOING TO PAY! THEY'RE ALL-" Shadows exploded out of Shira's shoulders, assembling themselves into wings. "Going to die." She growled.  She took off, gliding away into the distance.

"Shira!  Wait!" Twilight shouted, taking off and trying to chase her, to no avail.  She was too slow.

"SHIRA!"

Mar woke up, punching the lid off of his coffin.  He sat up quickly, and the lid fell down on his head.  He fell back into the coffin. "Ouch..." He grimaced, rubbing his head. "I really shouldn't do that..."

Pushing the lid aside, he sat up.  "Ugh... what time is it...?" He looked out the window.  The sun was down.

Sunset....

Date with Kite Runner...

"Oh, Hell's motherfucking Boundaries!"

Reminiscence

Kite stood patiently outside the hotel, whistling a soft tune. He tapped his hooves, fluttered his wings, and did all of the usual small motions one does when they're nervously waiting. A vampire.  I'm going on a date with a vampire. He giggled in excitement. Wait, no, this isn't a date.  Not yet. Tonight, we're just hanging out. Come on, get a grip on yourself, Kite! He glanced around, wondering if Mar would come out through the window, or drop down from the roof, or-

BOOM.

Mar crashed through the front door of the hotel, flying through the air before landing flat on his face in the street. He groaned. "Ow... I swear I meant to do that."

Kite stifled a laugh.  "Are you okay? What happened?"

Mar picked himself up, making sure his glasses were still in place. "Well, I realized I was late... so I was in a hurry... and I tripped on something right in front of the door."

"Are you sure you're actually a vampire?"  the pony laughed. "Come on, I know you'll like the place I picked out." He gestured down the street, nearer to the center of Ponyville.

Walking by Kite's side, Mar checked to make sure his glasses were still on. "So where are we going? And for that matter, why are there still ponies outside?"

"Oh, didn't you know? Tomorrow's a holiday!"

"What kind of holiday?"

"Well..." Kite tapped his chin with a hoof. "Actually, I don't know."

"Ponies really take their celebrations seriously, don't they?"

"Hey, come on! This isn't a big holiday like Hearth's Warming or Nightmare Night, everyone remembers those-"

"It's Princess Twilight's birthday tomorrow, Kite." Said a smooth, female voice. Countermelody walked up beside Mar, her hair dyed black and tied into a loose ponytail. "You really should know, being her honorary nephew. Hello, boys, mind if I join you? Or are you two on a date?"

"No!" Both Mar and Kite shouted simultaneously. "We're just going to hang out, you know, two friends going to-"

"Vinyl's?"

Kite stared at her. "How did you know we were going there?"

Countermelody chuckled. "Oh, dear Kite. I have eyes in places you'd never guess." She pulled out a cigar.

"Sweetie told you, didn't she?"

"Well, obviously! She is my friend, as well as my boss."

"Who obviously doesn't know how to control her mouth..." Kite mumbled.

Countermelody spit out her cigar, laughing.  "Don't even get me started on how well she can use that mouth, Kite!" She looked down. "Aw, I wasted one..." She pulled out another cigar.

"Countermelody, that's nasty. She's like, sixty."

"Now, that isn't fair, Kite.  She looks very good for her age. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she looked to be in her forties! And by the way, she still kicks flank with a guitar."

Kite rolled his eyes. "We're here." He gestured to a grey building with large murals made of neon lights. "This is the place. The first real modern music club in Equestria."

"Well, the music's not very modern anymore, is it, Kite? They're still playing music from when Sweetie was at her peak, and Sonata Sparks, and Shadow Tailor."

"Yes, yes, C, they still play alternative. Your choices in music are better than anyone else's." Kite turned to Mar. "There's a bar and restaurant upstairs, they serve some of the most awesome food and some of the best drinks I've ever had." Kite frowned. "Can you eat and drink? I probably should have asked you that before I picked this place... sorry..."

"Yeah, I can eat and drink, but the only thing that'll do anything at all to me is alcohol." Mar chuckled.

"Ooh! And they have a cigar bar! I'll bet they might even have cigars from some of the human worlds!" Countermelody bounced on her hooves.

Hehe, she thought to Mar. What he doesn't know is that I was both Sonata Sparks and Shadow Tailor, at the same time!

Mar raised an eyebrow. How does that work?

Countermelody visibly shuddered. Lots of costume changes, and remembering which one I was at the time. I was almost relieved that I had them both killed in accidents.

The three walked inside the double doors, the bouncers parting at a nod from Countermelody. As they crossed the threshold, Mar was blasted full force by loud, heavy, low pitched music. He took a small step back. "Burning Hell below." He said.

"Hey, yeah, that's the name of the song, isn't it? How'd you know that?" Kite said. He grabbed Mar's arm and lead him off to the side of the sea of dancing ponies. He looked up on stage to see a group of ponies, a few playing thin, shiny guitars, one sitting behind a mishmash of percussion equipment, and one at the very edge of the stage, singing passionately and gesturing to the crowd.

Mar was completely taken aback by how aggressive and unconventional the music was. The beat was rough, the melody was hard to follow, and the overall feel was that of darkness. He decided that he liked it.

The singer, a male unicorn with a grey coat and a black mane streaked with thin white stripes, spotted Mar staring at him from across the crowd. He grinned and winked, before continuing with the next chorus.

Up the stairs in the back, and they arrived in a bar lit with a dim blue light. The music was quieter up there, and the air was filled with a haze of colorful smoke. Seating themselves at a circular booth, both Countermelody and Kite sat rather closer to Mar than he felt comfortable.

"Uh..." He said, freeing his arms from underneath them. "What are you doing?"

Countermelody laughed. "It's a pony thing. If we're going to drink, we all get close together so it isn't as weird when it happens naturally later. Also, the waiter knows who and who not to offer drinks to." She gestured around the room, to all of the other groups of ponies. They were all bunched together, save for a few. "It's not just us. Also, you're in the middle because you're the biggest, and you're the best to lean against."

Three Hours Later

"And.. and then, I told my mom, 'There's no way I'm letting Fluttershy babysit me! I know she's the one who takes care of all of the animals! I'm not an animal, you rainbow bitch!' So then she tells me to shut up and listen to miss Fluttershy or I'm going to have another thing coming!" Kite hiccuped. "And then the next day Pinkie comes back and tells me the real meaning of that word." He snuggled closer to Mar. "So anyway, yeah, that was the day I found out that bitch isn't just a different way of saying mare." He giggled. "I called my mom a dog."

Countermelody chuckled. "That's fucking amazing, man. Tell us another one!"

"Nah... I think I'm just going to sit here and cuddle with this human... he's so warm... you'd think being a vampire would make him cold, but nah, he's, like, really warm and comfy..."

"I know, right?!" Countermelody held one of Mar's arms firmly.

"You know, guys, if I weren't so damn busy waiting for the waiter or whoever it is to bring us more drinks, I'd... I don't know, but I would!" Said Mar.

A pony with a gray mane and black hair walked up to the table. "Hey there again, C. Who's your human friend?"

"He's... uh... Mar! Yeah." Countermelody said. "Yeah. And he's all mine." She poked the pony in the chest with a hoof. "And you can't have him, Philharmonico."

The pony turned to Mar.  "Uh, well, okay then. Hi, my name is Staccato Philharmonico."

Mar snorted, grinning. "I hate to break it to you, good looking, but I'm just as drunk as she is."

Staccato grinned. He leaned onto the table. "Drunk enough to accept an invitation to a date?"

"Well..." Mar put a finger to his chin. "I'm going to have to go with.... no." He raised his hand. "Yo! Waiter pony guy! Bring us another round of shots, I don't care what they are!"

Countermelody laughed. "You idiot, that last sentence was in human."

"Human isn't a language, you moron. It's a body."

Kite rubbed a hoof across Mar's chest. "A very sexy body... speakin' of which, you want to come home and spend the night with me?"

"Well.... eh, why the hell not?" Mar said with a smile. He threw his arms around Kite and kissed him full on the mouth.

"Oh, come on, I wanted the first kiss!" Whined Countermelody.

"Is this a bad time?" A pale white pony with a purple and pink mane stood at the end of the table.

"Sweetie Belle!" Countermelody jumped up and hugged her. "Hey, where did that ass Staccato go? Oh well. You." She poked Sweetie Belle in the chest. "We need to have a talk."

"Oh?" Sweetie Belle raised and eyebrow and grinned impishly. "Well, after you then."

The two walked away and took a seat in a private booth. Mar broke away from the kiss just in time to see the door close, and to sense a silencing spell being placed on the entire booth.

"You know... I had a really good time tonight, Mar.." Kite mumbled.

Mar kissed him on the forehead. "Yeah, me too."

"Would you mind... carrying me home?" Kite wrapped his hooves around Mar's neck. A few seconds later, he was asleep.

Mar chuckled, before returning his attention back to the booth. He narrowed his eyes for a second, then released the small spell that allowed the alcohol to remain in his blood. His body healed in a few seconds. Now sharply aware of the situation, he stared at the booth where Countermelody and Sweetie Belle were. He could sense no flaw in the spell cast over the door.

A few minutes later, the spell dropped, the door opened, and both ponies came out, their hair disheveled and faces red. Countermelody turned to Sweetie. "Well, I guess I'll see you later?"

"Of course, Shi-" Sweetie's eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth. "I mean, uh, Countermelody. I have no idea where that-"

"It's okay, Babe. He knows, and Kite's asleep."

"Oh. Good. Well, I'll see you all later." Sweetie Belle trotted away.

Mar turned to Countermelody. "You told a pony? And not some important pony who could protect you, but just some regular pony?"

"Protection? Oh, please, fledgling. I am the danger in this world. I have no enemies who could even nearly rival my abilities. What I really need is company."

"Well, alrighty then. You're the only one around here who can juggle the life of a blood queen and two celebrities, simultaneously. So I I guess whatever you say goes."

"Damn right it does."

Mar lifted the sleeping Kite into his arms and stood. "So.. I think we should be getting him back. And I guess we can have a cigar outside wherever he lives and talk."

"Talk about what?"

"Well, I want to know what it's like to be two famous musicians at once! And also, I've got nothing else to do for the rest of the night."

"Good point." They exited the club. Once out on the street, Countermelody lit a cigar.

"Hey, C."

"Yeah?"

"I just realized I have no idea where he lives."

Countermelody sighed. "I do. Follow me."

"So I kissed him? After agreeing to spend the night with him?"

"Yeah! And it was so hot!"

"Damn it, Shira, I won't be putting up with your teenage sex drive tonight! Why didn't you stop us?!"

Countermelody narrowed her eyes. "Well, aside from my aforementioned point about the sexual awesomeness of what you guys did, it's not really my place. If you two want to hit it off, kiss even before the first date, have loud, sweaty lovemaking sessions, get married, adopt a child or whatever, it's not really my place to step in and stop you. Also, don't call me by my other name unless I'm in human form."

The pair were sitting on the porch outside Kite's apartment, smoking cigars by the moonlight. "So what does your human form look like? I've never seen you as anything but a pony."

Taking a slow, deliberate puff, Countermelody said, "I don't take my human form because it's really recognizable. Also,

when I take that form, the aura I give off triggers a spell that little miss Twilight over there put in place. It's very specific, so it only works when I take human form, but it is very sensitive. If I wanted to take human form without her knowing, I'd have to go more than thirty miles away from town. And I don't really feel like going that far."

"Does she really want to catch you that badly?"

"I don't think she wants to catch me so much as she wants to see me. But being seen is a lot easier when there's a princess following you, trying to get you to talk to her. And so we would make the news, griffons would get the news, and I'd have an army knocking at my door."

"Well, could you describe what you looked like?"

"Sure. I had long-ish red hair, I was kind of short, pale skin, I wore boots, fingerless gloves, short shorts, and a long, tan cloak. The cloak was nice for living in the desert, it kept the sun and the sand off of me, and I could remove it quickly to use fire, if I needed to defend myself."

"You didn't wear a shirt?"

"No, why would I?"

"To cover your chest...?"

"Oh!" Countermelody raised her eyebrows. "You're from one of those worlds. In my world, breasts weren't really considered sexual like that. I mean, you have them, don't you? Why is it bad if I show mine, but okay if you show yours?"

Mar shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah. I was covered in tattoos I earned in my tribe. Most of my upper body, except for my neck and my head, had them."

"How did you earn your tattoos?"

"Feats of strength, magic, and intelligence. Your language isn't my native language, you know. I only speak it because most humans that come here speak it. My language is actually a lot closer to Equestrian Standard. I speak about ten different languages."

"How did you learn British?"

"Is that what you call it? We call it Britannian Standard, usually. I learned it from from my magic instructor, he was Britannian. What about you? Got any tattoos?"

"Yeah, I have one, on my back." Mar turned around and removed his coat and shirt.

ASK OF ME, AND I SHALL GIVE UNTO THEE THE SINNER

FOR THINE INHERITANCE, AND THE UTTERMOST

PARTS OF THE EARTH FOR THINE POSSESSION.

THOU SHALT BREAK THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON.

THOU SHALT DASH THEM IN PIECES LIKE A

POTTER'S VESSEL. BE WISE THEREFORE,

O YE KINGS. BE ADMONISHED, YE JUDGES

OF THE EARTH.

SERVE THE LORD WITH FEAR

AND REJOICE WITH TREMBLING.

KISS THE SON, LEST HE BE ANGRY

AND YE PERISH BY THE WAY

WHEN HIS WRATH IS KINDLED, BUT A LITTLE.

"Wow. You said 'one' and I thought it was just something small. Then you turn around and show me a tattoo that covers your entire fucking back. Who's the lord?"

Mar shrugged, putting his clothes back on. "That was a mantra that was found on pieces of paper that vampire hunters used to  drop whenever they scattered the ashes of a vampire. It was said to strike fear in the hearts of vampires, and keep them from returning. Whatever it's from is long gone now."

"So you were a vampire hunter, huh? How many vampires did you kill, anyway?"

"Around three hundred, I think. I lost count when I lured an entire hive into a building that was built on a dock, then blew up the building, drowning them all in the ocean."

Countermelody whistled. "Impressive. But then you met the one vampire that you couldn't beat, and you ended up here."

"That about sums it up."

The two sat in silence for a while. The sun started to peek over the horizon.

"Countermelody."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever considered revealing yourself? Do you really think the griffons would still try to kill you?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I don't really want to take that chance. If they do, then I'll have to repeat what I did fifty years ago." She tossed the butt of the cigar into the street. "But then, I would be entirely conscious of the slaughter, not in a blood rage."

"And I don't know if I'll be able to keep myself from enjoying it."

Bleed For Me, Vampire Hunter!

"What say you, Human? Have you had enough?"

Mar opened his left eye, his right having been torn out minutes ago.  He glanced around, seeing that his arms and legs were pinned to the rock behind him by daggers that seemed to be comprised of shadow and blood. The small clearing that he was in had been torn and bludgeoned into a smoldering waste. The night sky was devoid of stars, and the moon was glowing scarlet. His usual pair of dark, circular-lens sunglasses lay broken and trampled, half buried in the torn dirt.

However, none of that held his attention more than the being who stood a few feet in front of him. Cloaked in solidified shadow, surrounded by disembodied, floating eyes with red irises and slit pupils, stood the greatest slayer of vampire slayers.  He approached his human victim slowly, gliding softly across the ground.  The sky darkened until there was nothing visible but the vampires glowing, featureless eyes and his unnaturally wide, crooked smile.  He leaned down to look Mar directly in the eye.  He chuckled softly.

After a few moments, he turned around and floated back to his original spot.  He stared gleefully at Mar, who glared just as well as he could with one eye while blood dripped down from his forehead.

"Well? What will it be? Do you wish to continue, or will you simply die?"  He waved his hand, and a tall chair formed itself out of the shadow. He sat down lazily, summoning forth a bottle of wine and a glass.  "What did you even hope to accomplish here? Hmm? All you have managed was to entertain me. I shall allow you that. I haven't had a fight like that in over a century."  When he was met with silence, he raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, come on, there's no way you're dead yet!. I felt the residue of the spells you cast on yourself.  Much more of those regeneration and stamina increasing spells, and you may have become a vampire as well. Speak!"

Mar growled, attempting to move. "Fuck you, you bloodless piece of shit!"

He furrowed his brow.  "Two things. One, I think you've seen enough of my power to know that I have more blood than I know what to do with. And two, I have a name."  He strode toward Mar, grabbing a fistful of his hair and shoving his head against the stone. He gazed into Mar's single functioning eye. "Say my name. Say the name of the vampire who has beaten the human who beats down vampires. Say it!"

Mar narrowed his eye. "Zaalim Shaa-Nar, Vampire Lord, Scourge of the Desert."

Zaalim raised an eyebrow. "Well, the whole introduction was unnecessary, but yes." He released the hair, stepping back. "There's something I must know about your plans... If you knew it was me, then why did you come so unprepared? Only a few cursed-silver daggers, no sealing scrolls, and no armor? I would have thought you would have at least brought shadow-severing wire.  Come now, what did you take me for?"

Mar coughed, spitting out blood. "I didn't know it was you! From your attack pattern, I thought you were a younger vampire trying to consume enough blood to fight off hunters! If I had known it was you, I would have not even come to find you!"

"Really?  Well, consider me honored. Who would have thought that the only vampire the legendary Shadow Hunter would fear was myself?" Zaalim's characteristic grin vanished. He leaned back toward Mar. "Tell me, human, do you know what happens to vampires of this world after they are killed?  You cut off their heads to remove their energy source from their soul, pierce their hearts to stop the energy from flowing entirely, burn their bodies to disintegrate them completely, then scatter their ashes at a crossroads." He licked his lips.  "So far, I have noticed that humans only understand the first three steps.  Why scatter their ashes at a crossroads? Why, to confuse their soul and prevent it from regrouping its demolished body." His eyes grew brighter. "Yes. That's right. Every vampire you have killed lives on, wandering the earth in search of itself!"

He stepped back, the ethereal shadows around him growing and writhing in his resonant wrath. "They call out to me! They call for me to end their suffering, to save them from their fate! And I can to nothing!" His voice transformed, taking the sound of thousands of people growling and screaming at him, "This is the fate that you have doomed over three-hundred vampires to!  And now."  He opened his massive jaws, displaying his numerous, glinting fangs. "YOU SHALL SUFFER THE SAME!"

He bit into Mar's neck.

Mar attempted to scream, but only managed a hoarse whisper as the small amount of blood still inside his body was drawn away. Shadows engulfed his vision.

Mar was a child again, watching his parents going out for another visit to "relatives".

"Now listen, Mar, we're going to be away for a while. We're going on a trip to see-"

"Don't lie to me! You're going to kill more vampires, aren't you!" Mar grabbed the bag his father was holding and attempted to pull it away.

"Mar, stop that! Look, your mother and I don't hunt vampires anymore. Besides, it's illegal now." He looked to to his wife. "Honey, when is Mrs. Blackwood going to be here?"  She gave him a condescending glance.

"She already is, Jon, she's in the kitchen."

Hearing her name spoken, Mrs. Blackwood peeked around the corner. "Yes?"

Jon sighed.  "Could you take Mar here to the sitting room and do a puzzle with him or something?"

"Certainly, Mr. Cromwell. Come along, Zuan-Ma'r."

"I hate that name! Fuck it and fuck the king and fuck the vampires and fuck you two for leaving me here!"

"Zuan-Ma'r!" Shouted Mrs. Blackwood. "That's no way to speak to your parents-"

"Hold on, Ma'am." Said Jon.  He knelt down in front of Mar, and put a hand on his shoulder.  "Son, while I don't approve of that kind of language, especially when it's directed at the king or your mother, but I do understand your frustrations. How about this; when I get back from visiting your Aunt, I'll teach you some of those spells I told you about."

"But.. what if you don't come back? What if a vampire eats you?"

"Don't worry. We'll always be back."

His parents left. The sun vanished, and the walls of the house turned to ash and crumbled.  Mar turned to see Mrs. Blackwood grinning widely, her eyes glowing red.  She stepped forward. "Oh, but they didn't come back, did they?" Her face rotated a full circle, her grin widening as she stepped forward. "They never will."  She laughed softly.  She parted her lips, leaning toward Mar's neck.

The dream disintegrated, and was blown away by an explosion of deep blue light.  "Never fear, my subject. For this was simply a dream.  You are safe."  The light faded to reveal... a small blue horse.

Mar tilted his head.  "I'm not sure if I should be more or less afraid now."  He walked toward the horse, noticing it had a unicorn horn and fairly small wings.  now in adult form, he walked toward it, and knelt down.  "Exactly what the hell are you?"

The horse sputtered, shocked by his display.  "W-What do you mean?! I am Luna, Princess of the Night! Oh.. you must be new to Equestria.  I daresay an introduction is in order-"

Mar raised his hands.  "Whoa, whoa, back up a tiny little second, miss.  New to what, and, no, I'm not new to anything right now."

The Princess raised an eyebrow.  "Thou... er, you mean to tell me that you have not recently died and found yourself in a new world?"

Mar squinted, tilting his head.  "Uh... no?  I think I'm pretty close to dying, but I haven't actually died yet.  But.." he did a double take. "Wait, what...?"

Luna's pupils shrank, and she looked around, scratching the back of her neck with a hoof.  "Actually, We, er, I have to go, so... See you later!" She nearly screamed the last part before she vanished into the mild darkness.

Seeing that he was alone, Mar stood.  "Well, that was.... kind of an odd thing to dream about right before I die."

"Wake up, little Vampire.  Nap time is over."

Mar's eye's slowly opened.  He was lying on the ground.  All of his wounds were completely healed.  He looked up to see Zaalim grinning down at him.  "How does it feel, Shadow Hunter, to join the ranks of those that you so despise that you would seek to wipe them out?"

As Mar attempted to stand, Zaalim grabbed him by the hair and lifted him off the ground.  "Probably not very good.  You haven't fed yet, and you had a lot of wounds to heal." He shrugged. "Oh well.  I've had my fun with you. It's time for you join those cursed souls that travel the earth for eternity.  Goodbye, Shadow Hunter, the monster wrapped in human flesh, who dares to call the peaceful vampire a monster, only because of his circumstance of life."  He slammed Mar back against the boulder, and pierced his heart with one of Mar's own silver daggers.

Agony erupted throughout Mar's body, and he felt what was left of his energy start to fade.  Blood sprayed out of his mouth.

Zaalim licked a few drops of the blood off his lips. He lifted another of the daggers.  "May you wander forever."  He severed Mar's head, watching as it tumbled to the ground.

He sighed.  "Was that all you had? Such a... disappointment."

Countermelody liked to sing. Especially during a hunt.  And this had been one of her favorites.

She had set out at dusk, entering the Everfree forest under the guise of going for a long walk.  She trotted along the darkly lit path, for an hour only encountering a single cockatrice.  It had been a disappointing hunt, until she had run across a large pack of timberwolves.

The pack thought the unicorn to be an easy meal, that is, until she had unleashed a web of shadow chains, trapping three of them and tearing them to pieces within less than a second.  Then the pack fled.

She trotted along, singing a contrarily cheery song. She could hear the wolves. She could smell the wolves.

She could practically taste them, taste their fear, their confusion.  The trail they left reeked of it.

Before long, she caught up with a straggler, a young wolf with an injured leg.  It was hobbling along as fast as it could, but to no avail.  She walked right up behind it, still singing.  It turned around, and yipped as it attempted to increase its speed.  Countermelody summoned a chain out of the shadows, lifting up the young wolf, and shattering its body against a nearby tree.

Another wolf jumped out of the shadows, snarling and slobbering.  Countermelody assumed it was her latest victim's mother, come back to find her pup.

She grinned.  "Oh, I'm in love with somepony~" Wrapping the chain around the wolf's body, she dragged it to the ground.  Her horn glowed red "And it's not you!"  she ignited the wolf, laughing as it howled in pain, running around in circles.

She turned back to the direction the rest of the wolves were it.  She could tell that they were now much farther away.  She sighed and sprinted off after them.

She had hoped she wouldn't have to move much faster than a trot, but she wanted to get this hunt over with before the night was through.

The pack was now only a few hundred meters away.  They were huddled in a small clearing, unsure of whether the red-eyed demon pony was still chasing them.

Maybe, she thought to herself, I should do something extra special for this one.  I mean, they're all right in the same damn place.  And I've been killing everything in fairly similar ways for the last few months.  Maybe an explosion, or..?

BOOM.

Countermelody was shocked out of her thoughts. What the hell? Did someone beat me to it?  No, they're all still there, and there's something else... her eyes widened.  No... it couldn't be...That aura!

She sprinted over to the clearing, seeing that all the wolves were sniffing a body.  "Oh, mother of fuck... Oi! Shikaar klassa da! Laarsa, laarsa, bei-akul heiwaanat!"

The wolves sprinted away.  Countermelody growled in disappointment.  "You there!  Human, right? What language do you speak?"

The body groaned, shifting slightly.

Growing impatient, Countermelody trotted down toward him and kicked him lightly. "Hey! Get the hell up, you ass!"  She grabbed a bit of his hair with magic and lifted his face up.  She knelt down to look at him. Through his sunglasses, she could see his eyes were blood-red.  "Well, well, well, vampire, eh?" She felt his face with her hoof. Her eyes widened.  "Not.. not a single drop of blood?  Here." She pushed her foreleg between his teeth.  "Drink!" She shouted.

He lazily complied.  She narrowed her eyes at him.  "And not too much, now, just enough to get your sorry ass back on your feet!"

After a few minutes, the human was able to push himself up and sit.

"Alright, now, do you understand me?"

He nodded.  "Yes... yes I do."

She noted that his accent was completely unfamiliar to her.  "What's your name, fledgling?"

He gazed at her for a moment before saying, "My name... when I was a human.. was Zuan-Ma'r Cromwell."

"Well, what is it now?"

He considered for a moment. "I actually hadn't come up with one... I wasn't exactly planning on turning into a vampire."

Countermelody rolled her eyes.  "You don't need to make a new name when you turn into a vampire.  Zuan-Ma'r Cromwell... That's kind of a mouthful.  What do you go by?"

"Mar."

"Well, that's good enough for me. Well, we'd best get going."

"Why?"

"Well, we're about thirty miles away from the nearest town and I have a shit-ton of stuff to explain to you about this place."

"This world... it... to say the least is that it's nice."  Countermelody shrugged.  "Every aspect of it is.  The denizens, the scenery, the wildlife, the weather.... I can hardly think of anything I don't like about it."

Mar gave her a sideways glance.  She caught it.

"I know, I know.  It sounds ridiculous.  It sounds way to fuck-damn good to be true.  It sounds like you're going to have a moment of clarity and realize that everyone's under a spell." She spat on the side of the dirt path.  "Where we are now is called the Everfree Forest.  It is a place that I have found is much more similar to our own worlds than anywhere else here.  That's why I come here to hunt.  The animals put up a better fight than I could find anywhere else, and none of the ponies come around, so I can kill as much as I like without fear of being caught for what I am."

"A vampire."

"Wow!  You're really, really smart!  I can't believe you figured that out! I mean, it's not like anyone else wouldn't allow a vampire to feed off them!"  Countermelody said with mock surprise.  "But yeah.  I'm a vampire.  And, in case you were wondering, I'm not really a pony. I just prefer to live as a pony when I'm around the locals, and after a while, I got attached to the body type."

"So everyone in this world.. is a pony?"

"Well, a good portion of them.  But there are also zebras, buffalo, griffons, dragons, wyverns, who are all sentient, and other animals have varying degrees of sentience.  And then." She took a deep breath, "There are the humans."  Her horn lit up and she pulled a small cigar out of her mane. Igniting the tip and taking a drag, she continued. "Humans have been appearing in this world for a good little while now. Nobody can explain why, nobody can explain how.  All we really know is that they are usually males, between the ages of seventeen and thirty, who have had particularly troubled lives.  I would assume the same is true about you, yes?"  She glanced up at him.

Mar nodded slightly.

"Humans have, for the most part, been integrated into pony society, idolized by some for their inherent cunning, and unnatural physical strength.  Very few and far between are the ponies who hate humans, and they usually have personal reasons for it."

With his newly transformed eyes, Mar could see a soft light in the distance.

"Try to feel it."

"Huh?"

"You see the light from the town, don't you?  Ponies have very strong auras.  If you pay attention, you might be able to feel the energy radiating from them."

Mar raised an eyebrow.  "Well, sounds a bit creepy..."

Countermelody grinned.  "Oh, trust me, you can figure out many... interesting things about a pony by examining their aura."

"What... Hell's Boundaries, woman, is everyone here like that?  Am I going to have to put up with innuendo everywhere I go?"

She laughed.  "Not my fault you took it like that.  Even if that was exactly how I meant it.  But usually not.  It's usually considered really forward.  But seriously though, search for their auras."

Mar stretched out, feeling the dark energy congealed around him and Countermelody, past it, to the relatively mild, slowly flowing energies of the rest of the forest, then, just past it, a bright, warm, delicious hotspot.

Delicious...

He shook off the feeling.  Despite being a vampire, he was determined not to start that kind of life here.

"Well? Did you feel it?"

"Yes." He sighed.  "Countermelody..."

"Ponies usually just call me Melody."

"...Melody, is it usual to want to eat them?"

"You'll get used to it.  Wanting to eat every living thing all the time eventually kind of dulls the sensation."

"...Good? So... what happens when I get there?"

"Everyone freaks out, hides from you, you'll have to kill some guards, then one of the princesses will show up and find you, and find out you only did it out of self defense and you didn't mean any harm.  Then you'll become a celebrity, fall in love with a princess, get attacked by some bigots, discover you have magic abilities-"

"I already have magic."

"... for shit's sake, man, I was on a roll!  That was going to be really funny."

"Ha, ha, ha.  So what really happens?"

"They have a wayward human's hotel.  They'll ask you a bunch of questions, give you a room, send someone to explain how stuff works around here and make sure you're doing alright... damn, I'm sure I'm missing something... oh yeah, they'll have someone cast an auto-translation spell on you, so you can actually understand what they're saying."

"Hmm... alright. I think I get it."  He turned to Countermelody.  "So who are you?  How long have you been here, how old of a  vampire are you, what's your real name...?"

"Currently, I'm Countermelody, unicorn, musician extraordinaire, I was nineteen when I was turned into a vampire, and that was about fifty-five years ago."  She grinned playfully at him.  "How do you know Countermelody isn't my real name?"

"Well, you're a human, aren't you?"

"I'm pretty sure I never actually said that, but yeah.  As for my name?  You know how old I am, and there haven't been many human vampires in this world.  With a little bit of research, you'll figure it out."

Mar furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, alrighty then..."

"You know, you're really weird."

"How so?"

My aura usually causes creatures exposed to it to be at least fairly attracted to me.  I can read your aura like a damn book, and I'm not getting anything!"

Mar adjusted his glasses. "Now now, don't ask questions that you don't want answered."

Countermelody snickered.  "Oh... I think I get it.  Anyway, I'm really damn tired of walking, and I don't have shit-else to tell you. Mind if we teleport?"

He shrugged.  "As long as it doesn't kill me."

"No guarantees."  With that, her horn lit up, and with a flash of crimson light, the world shifted slightly, and Mar found that they had appeared in front of a small hotel.  The town was completely devoid of life at this time, the only light being cast from the moon and an occasional streetlamp.

Mar felt Countermelody stiffen upon arrival.  Inside the hotel was an aura that radiated sheer power.  It's Princess Luna.  Stay calm.  You have no reason to be afraid of her, yet. Don't worry about me, I can disguise my aura.  Mar stared at Countermelody.  "Did you just...?"

"Nani suui dei?" Yes I did.  Part of my cover is that I don't speak your language. She gestured to the door.  "Tasa" she pointed at him, then at the door again, "da'nan warsa."

Mar nodded.  He walked up the short flight of stairs, and pulled open the door.  As he stepped over the threshold, he saw the same damn blue horse had seen in his dream.

She smiled.  In slightly accented British, she said, "Well, there you are, we, er, I.. wait, yes, we have been waiting for you for quite a while! It's good to see you again."  She extended a hoof, having noticed that many humans extend their arms to each other as a sign of goodwill.

Mar did nothing.  Luna noticed that his hands were shaking, and that he was staring directly at the pony that had been next to her.

Another pony with both wings and a horn, whose fur was pink-tinted white, with a flowing, iridescent mane.

Luna's sister, Celestia, Princess of the Sun.

Luna gazed at his face.  A drop of blood rolled from behind the glasses he wore. Followed by several more.  Then he collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth, his glasses fell off and clattered across the floor.

Mar gazed hazily ahead, pain burning through his veins.  The sun princess's presence alone caused more pain than having been stabbed in the heart with a cursed silver dagger.

"Celestia! Sarsar, laarsa! Ouss!"

"Dossda?"

"Da Vampyrsa des!  Staasa ouswaal ma'ra kii!"

The last thing Mar saw before his vision failed him was Luna spreading her wings over him and a blue light igniting on her horn.

You bleed well, Shadow Hunter.