Have Friendship, Will Travel

As they galloped full speed ahead, Alphonse couldn’t help but notice that he was doing so without any problems whatsoever. His venture to Ponyville had been a comparable to a penguin protecting its egg after mating season; now he was galloping full-speed ahead like the race-horses he used to watch as a child.

While he was curious as to how he was so coordinated, the thought was lost in the urgency of the situation. Screams of people could be heard among the ear-piercing roars emanating from the beast awaited him in the city; it brought back horrible flashbacks of his past. I used to be that beast...

Back when he didn’t have emotions, it wasn’t hard for him to simply brush off his past as something out of his control; with them, he felt responsible for every single innocent life he had ended. As the flashbacks played through his head like a movie, he began to zone-out of the current situation; that is, until Twilight broke him out of it. “Hey! Did you hear me?”

“I-uh, no. What did you say?”

“I said: What are we going to do once we get there? Whatever it is, is sounds huge!”

He tried to think of an answer, but he didn’t even know what it was they were about to engage. “I don’t know! We’ll figure it out when we get there!”

As they continued on their race to Ponyville, Alphonse tried to mentally prepare himself for battle. He was afraid and his nerves of cold steel had abandoned him. Get it together, Alphonse! What would Leonidas say?

When Ponyville came into closer view, they could make out the source of the commotion: a large hydra with four heads, stomping on buildings and eating any ponies it could get its maws on, while trampling on others; the sight was truly horrifying. Amongst the frantic ponies attempting to escape, a cyan pegasus with multi-colored hair was zipping around the beast, distracting it so others could escape.

On their way over to the beast, Alphonse began to announce the battle plan: “Twilight, run to the other side of the beast and distract it. I’ll hop on it’s back and sever its heads when it turns.”

“With what, exactly? You don’t have a weapon!”

“I’ll summon my runeblade once I’m in the air; being in full armor at the time of the jump will make me heavier, and I may not get high enough to land on its back.”

“Alright, lets do it! I’ll break right, you go left.”

“On it!” With that, they broke into a circle around the hydra. Twilight put on a spectacular light show to get the hydra’s attention while Alphonse ran behind it. Everything was going according to plan until one of the hydra’s heads lost interest and had a look around, noticing the pony charging directly at it’s behind.

When Alphonse jumped into the air to make his assault, the head bent around and snapped violently in Alphonse’ direction. It’s going to bite me in half... Before he knew what happened, he was knocked down out of the air by a blue streak, and landed on the ground with a hard thud.

Shaking the daze off, he noticed red drops dripping on his head coming from directly above. Before he could look up, he heard a blood-curdling scream from Twilight, followed by her unbridled sobbing. With slight hesitation, Alphonse looked up to see the cyan pegasus clamped hard inside the hydra’s mouth.

As the hydra’s mouth started to clamp down, the pegasus began breathing words so quiet that only a vampire could hear them. “Please... run...” After a loud snap sound, the mouth opened and the cyan pegasus fell down to the ground and toppled into a bloody mess.

Alphonse dragged himself over to the broken body, trembling. “I’m... I’m so sorry...” he breathed, fighting back the tears. The pegasus managed to turn her head and give him a calm smile, before her eyes rolled closed and she released her last breath.

She... saved me. An innocent mare just died... to save... me!

In the midst of her sobs, Twilight had given up hope on the situation; she just wanted it all to end. One her her best friends, among other innocent ponies had just been mauled before her very eyes; homes were destroyed, and Twilight was in the middle of it.

Before she could go back into her sobbing, she noticed a blood-curdling aura around her; a sort of unholy presence she had not felt before, as if death itself was brushing against her. This presence was followed by sorrowful weeping; looking around to make out where it was coming from, she noticed that Alphonse was starting to glow; the cyan fire in his eyes burned like wildfire, and runes were starting to glow over his body.

In a dark flash, a blade with runic symbols over it hovered in front of him, followed by a suit of armor, covering his whole body. His wings were different; instead of being regular pegasus wings, they were much larger and webbed like that of a bat. In addition, his voice was starting to change throughout his transformation; his sobs went from the deep yet soothing voice Alphonse carried about him to a distorted, hate-filled growl.

Once the ghostly helm finished materializing on his head, Alphonse let his powers run freely. The ground became desecrated, and the few dead ponies laying around him started to stir.

This was Deathbringer Alphonse Runeweaver.

Everything was shaking in his rage; unbelievable winds were blowing and knocking things about. The sky was growing dark, if not black. Twilight felt like she might pass out just from the sheer power of it. She was about to call out to him when everything stopped; the winds died down, and everything went silent. She looked at Alphonse, then at the Hydra, then back at... Where did he...

Her thoughts were interrupted as the hydra let out an ear-piercing howl; one of its heads fell from the base of its neck, falling to the ground and recoiling about like a headless chicken as necrosis crawled up the severed head like a disease. Twilight looked around, and noticed that Alphonse was standing right beside her. “Get out of here if you want to live.” he growled, without taking his flaming eyes off of the hydra. “Wh-what?” she stood there, confused; she didn’t know what was going on anymore.

GO! LEAVE THIS PLACE!

With that, Twilight galloped out of there; not looking back, she wished this day was over. She wished it had never happened. She ran and ran until she made it to the designated emergency zone; it was on the outer borders of Ponyville, right in front of Sweet Apple Acres, where many citizens including Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy were standing there anxiously. Fluttershy was curled into a ball; Pinkie Pie looked depressed with her hair down straight over her face. The farm pony and fashionista looked about anxiously while they searched for their missing friends.

When they spotted Twilight, Applejack and Rarity made their way over and guided her into the group; with a light smile, Applejack greeted her friend. “Twilight! Yer okay! I thought sumthin’ awful had happened when I heard that you’d gone in ta’ fight that hydra.” Twilight, however, wasn’t smiling.

Rarity chimed in, trying to make light of the situation. “Twilight, dear, you look as if something awful has happened. Did the hydra hit the library? If so, don’t worry about Spike, he’s right over there. The poor dear passed out when he saw you running into town!”

After no response from Twilight, Applejack could tell something bad had happened, and by bad, she meant worse than the property damage that was taking place before their eyes. She knew that Twilight was always good at keeping a level head; even when Cerberus itself attacked Ponyville, she managed to keep a level head and take him back to the gates of Tartarus herself. Seeing this, Applejack feared the worst. “Oh, Twi... what is it? What happened?”

Twilight could only look up at Applejack, attempting to hold back the tears. Applejack could think of only one thing. Oh no... please no... not like this...  “Where’s Rainbow, sugarcube?” Twilight’s face twisted before she broke down into uncontrolled tears. With that, the mane five’s fears were confirmed and together they all mourned the loss of their most loyal friend.

Now that every living pony had evacuated downtown Ponyville, Alphonse didn’t have to worry about harming anyone in his rage. Letting his sadness and rage take over him, he set his focus on the hydra. So many innocent lives taken... I’m going to fucking kill you. There won’t be a shred left when I’m finished with you...

Taking to the air with his bat-like wings, Alphonse kept his eyes on the hydra; as much as he wanted to make the hydra suffer, he needed to end this horrific nightmare before anyone else could possibly get hurt. Deciding to put his dark intentions aside and end this immediately, he began to channel his finishing maneuver: The Dark Bladestorm. To prevent the beast from escaping, Alphonse covered the whole area around the hydra in a spherical magic prison. He then summoned 20 runeblades similar to his main runeblade; each of them took a place around the hydra within its prison.

This is where things got... messy. Empowering the blades with all his might, they shattered into countless razor-sharp pieces, before whirring around the prison at such a speed that you couldn’t see them anymore. From outside the magic prison, you could see as the hydra quickly dissolved into a pungent cloud of red. The swords recompiled themselves before fading out into the darkness. As Alphonse let the prison dissipate, the blood cloud fell to the ground from its suspension, leaving the area where the hydra once stood drenched in blood. The beast was no more.

As the mane five continued to mourn in quiet contemplation, they were interrupted by the immense power that was Alphonse. His power is immense; Twilight had never felt anything like it before in her life. As they looked up, they saw a massive magical sphere appear in downtown Ponyville; they could only make out the top of it, but from what they could see, the hydra appeared to be inside. What happened next shook each pony to the core; as the sphere became filled with a thick sanguine cloud, Rarity looked over at Twilight: "Who is doing that? I've never seen anything so powerful in my life!"

Twilight looked over to Rarity, her eyes still bloodshot from crying: “His name is Alphonse; He’s a powerful mage who wandered into Ponyville this afternoon.” She put an odd emphasis on ‘powerful mage’ and ‘wandered into’.

Rarity paused as she processed that last statement; her eyes widened as she realized what Twilight was insinuating. “You don’t mean... like him?”

Twilight looked forwards and set her eyes on the magical sphere. “Yes. Exactly like him.”

They watched as light faded back into the sky, revealing a beautiful rainbow-coloured sunset. After taking a moment to admire its beauty, they returned to their mourning.

Alphonse walked over to the bloody cyan pegasus as he dismissed his armor. While his powers had faded back to the darkness, his emotions were now more amplified than ever before. He felt helpless; this innocent mare died protecting a murderer like me. Realizing there was one thing he could do for her, he began to weigh out the negatives and positives. I can resurrect her; but to do so would taint her with vampirism. She would live the rest of her life as an abomination, like myself. While she won’t know the horrors of being a Death Knight, she’ll need blood; the blood of innocent ponies to survive.

He looked down at her; that calm smile still on her face, clouding his thoughts. She was gorgeous, both alive and in-death. If I resurrect her, she may grow to hate me for all eternity; but if I don’t, her heroism will be wasted... on an abomination like me.

His emotions flooded his thoughts as he began to feel a new sensation in his chest; a sort of ‘tingle’, if you will. He almost didn’t care if she hated him; he just wanted to see her alive, badly.

Forgetting the negatives and the positives, he began channeling his dark resurrection spell; her body began to stir as dark energy filled her being. Alphonse could feel his blood-thirst rising as he channeled his energy; all the energy he had just expended slaying the hydra plus an additional dark resurrection would leave any Death Knight parched for blood. Ignoring the thirst, he continued his spell, until he had filled her entire being with dark energy.

With bated breath, he stood there and watched as she slowly opened her eyes. Instead of the maroon that they were before, they were now blood red and dilated horizontally like his own. She worked her way up to her hooves, analyzing the bloody scene around her.

“Unggh, what happened?” she asked, dazed and confused. Alphonse didn’t know where to begin. His thoughts were disorganized, and he was afraid he wouldn’t word his response properly. His first tangible thought was to get the mare’s name. “First, can you tell me your name?”

“It’s Rainbow... Rainbow Dash.”

“Hello, Rainbow; my name is Alphonse.”

Rainbow Dash took a quick look around the block, noticing the carnage that took place. “What... what happened here?”

“Well, after you saved my life, I couldn’t bring it upon myself to leave you dead, so I brought, um... I brought you back... as a” He was cut off by the pegasus who had apparently just remembered how she got there.

“Wait a minute! That’s right, there was a hydra! It mauled me and then I... died...” She looked at herself and the spot below her; both were covered in blood.

“Where’s the hydra!?” she asked, her face quickly twisting in a panic. Alphonse replied with a hint of darkness in his voice; “I killed it...”

She paused and looked at him, moderately confused. “Wait... what?”

“I destroyed it. It’s not around anymore.”

“You killed a hydra? How am I supposed to believe that?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain... but I--” Alphonse paused as Rainbow Dash’s attention appeared to wane from him to the ground around her.

The pegasus was looking around at the carnage again, her face twisting as she saw the bodies of dead ponies lying around. “I can’t believe that ponies actually died today...” The pegasus walked over to the body of a light golden mare with teal hair. “I knew her, y’know... her name was Raindrops...” Tears were now streaming down her face. “Wait; if you brought me back; can’t you bring them all back?”

“I’m not sure they’d want me to. I haven’t had a chance to explain the... effects... of your resurrection.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, turning around to face him, tears still rolling down her face. The hopeless look on her face made Alphonse want to cry.

“Well... I’m not sure how I can put this without upsetting you...”

Rainbow Dash cut him off, her voice carrying an air of irritation. “Well, then get it over with! I mean, if you brought me back to life, I don’t see how I can be mad at you for that.”

“Well... as a side effect of your resurrection, you are now effectively semi-immortal” The pegasus looked at him, mouth agape, with complete disbelief; regardless, Alphonse continued, “The only side effect is that you need the blood of living beings to live; not just animals, but sentient ponies or other similar beings...”

Her face dropped, before she walked up to him. “Wait... so you’re saying that I’m a vampire now? How the hell does that make sense? Vampires don’t even exist... You - You’re lying!” She was now visibly upset, and Alphonse was starting to second guess his decision to afflict her with his burden.

“Well, if you’re having doubts, let me ask you this: Look at your friend Raindrops; When you see and smell her blood, does your thirst grow?”

The pegasus stopped in her mental tracks. She began to process his words. Wow... I am verythirsty... not to mention that I was dead. I remember dying! I was cut up beyond repair, but I’m standing here without a scratch on me...

After a short pause, she began to process to simplicity of the truth: “So... for the rest of my life... I’m going to have to drink... blood?” She walked over and sat down on the steps to the entrance a nearby shop, putting her head down into her hooves. Alphonse followed her over and sat beside her.

“How will I fit into society? Everyone will be afraid of me! Or worse! What if they hunt me down like in the movies! What if they kill me!”

“Well, they’d have to cut you up pretty badly to do that...” The image of that pink monster flashed by his face; he simply brushed it off before continuing. “There are many ways to conceal your vampirism from others, but it doesn’t hurt to have those you can confide in. When I first met Twilight, I mindlessly told Twilight about my vampirism and it didn’t even phase her. It was like she’d expected it or something...”

“But you don’t understand! What about my life! What about food? What about finding your special somepony and growing old together? What about my dreams? How will I become a Wonderbolt now?” A wonderwhat? Rainbow Dash continued, “For the rest of forever... I’m going to have to drink blood... or die...”

She stopped as she looked up at Alphonse, tears in her eyes. “Why me... why did you bring me back? Of all the other ponies here, why would you choose me?” The tears in her eyes were now flowing freely; it broke Alphonse’ heart.

“I’m sorry, I just... I couldn’t leave you there after dying for a monster like me. I let my emotions get the best of me... I mean, you were so... beautiful.” Alphonse covered his face with his hooves; he couldn’t believe how pathetic he sounded. Half expecting a slap across the face, he looked over at the pegasus, who was now staring him in the eyes.

“What did you say?” She asked, her twisted face falling to a serious glare. Alphonse cleared his throat, expecting her to become enraged. “I-uh... You were laying there with a soft smile on your face; I just found you to be so... captivating... and I let my emotions get the best of me...” He closed his eyes, before feeling two hard hooves knock him in the chest; he flew back and hit the shop wall hard before falling down with a thud; He had forgotten how hard vampires could hit. Shaking off the daze, he looked around to see that Rainbow Dash had disappeared.

He quickly sprang up to his hooves before yelling out to the sky at the top of his lungs: “Wait! I have more to tell you!” Rainbow wasn’t anywhere in sight, and he couldn’t sense her location as she was no longer living. Dammit! How could I be so stupid!

Alphonse figured that Rainbow Dash would likely go straight to Twilight Sparkle, or one of her other friends. Unfurling his wings, he set off to find Twilight.

Alphonse flew around at top speeds looking for Twilight Sparkle; there was much destruction left in the hydra’s wake; he could only look in awe at the aftermath.

When he caught a whiff of her blood-scent, he locked on and soared to her as fast as he can.

As she came into sight, he flew in her general direction and tried to land. Realizing that he’d never landed when flying so fast, he tried to slow himself down only to lose his balance and hit the floor with a dull thud. Ow...

The mane five stood in front of him, just watching. Pinkie Pie, with her hair still down and straight managed to grin a little at the sight. However, she was still deeply depressed about losing one of her best friends, and the grin dissipated within seconds.

Getting up to his hooves, he walked over in the lavender mare’s direction. “Twilight, I need to speak with you, alone; it’s about Rainbow...”

“Is it so important that you can’t say it in front of her best friends? And did you kill the hydra?” Twilight knew he had killed the hydra; she just needed to hear him say it himself.

“Yes, I did; Rainbow’s more important at the moment... and I’m not sure how I’m going to explain it to you, let alone her friends.”

Twilight couldn’t help but show her concern: “What do you mean?”

“Look, I really can’t say it in front of them; can you please come with me?”

Applejack cut in: “Now who do y’all think y’are? We’re her best friends, and we don’t give a flyin’ feather whether or not you want us to hear it or not. Yer gonna tell us everything you know about Rainbow, or else.”

Alphonse, who felt his frustration building, retorted with a dark rumble in his voice: “This is none of your business! Something good and bad has happened, and I need Twilight’s advice alone on the matter. Now get back and mind your own business!”

Before Applejack could voice her rebuttal, Fluttershy got up and walked over to Alphonse, her face twisted with anger. “How dare you... how dare you!”

“Listen here, mister. Just because you’re powerful doesn’t mean you get to tell us we’re not good enough to know what happened to Rainbow. You may have fiery eyes and use powerful magic; but you do not - I repeat - you do not ignore us. If there’s something we can do help Rainbow Dash, YOU WILL TELL US, NOW.”

Alphonse was frozen; something was wrong. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t use his trinket. He was frozen there. Without his permission, his mouth started moving. What the actual buck is happening? Mind control? This is... buck!

“After Rainbow Dash was killed by the hydra, I killed the hydra and resurrected Rainbow Dash as an immortal vampire.” For buck’s sake! What’s going on! I can’t stop myself from talking... “She ran away after I told her she was a vampire and that she’s beautiful and now I can’t find her.”

Fluttershy involuntarily dropped her control on him; the entire main five stared at him, their mouths agape.

“Y’did what now?” Applejack’s rage had boiled over; she was furious at this Alphonse character, and he knew it very well once she gave him the hardest applebuck she’d ever given anyone. Holy shit... how is she so strong? He flew back at least 7 feet before landing hard on his back. “Boy, Ah’m gonna beat you like a rented mule...” Now scared for his life, he got up on his feet. Thinking fast, he quickly bound her in chains of ice; while she was physically restrained, she kept her verbal abuse flying; using words that would make Celestia blush, Alphonse could only resist the urge to strangulate her.

Before any more chaos could unfold, Twilight ran in-between them. “Stop it you two!”

“Applejack, stop it, now! Alphonse, drop this spell immediately!” Alphonse complied as Applejack glared at him with looks that could kill.

“How could you let her get away, Alphonse?” Twilight was visibly upset with Alphonse, but it was apparent her concern for Rainbow trumped that of her anger, if that’s what it was.

“Well, she got mad and kicked me into a wall; by the time I looked around, she was long gone.”

Twilight paused before continuing: “Alright everypony, try to think of places Rainbow Dash would go if she was upset and was hiding from us.”

Each pony thought the question through as they came up with their own answers.

Rarity spoke up first, “I’d think she’d probably go to her house above Ponyville.”

Pinkie Pie jumped in next, “When I’m really sad, I like to eat lots of sweets! Maybe she’s hungry and stopped by Sugarcube Corner?” Alphonse sighed mentally to himself. She’s hungryalright...

The group looked at Fluttershy; she hated being in the spotlight and tried to answer as soon as possible: “Maybe she’s in the clouds?”

After hearing the random possibilities provided by the four mares that stood in-front of her, she decided to declare the plan of action: “We need to split up if we’re going to find her faster. Fluttershy, you fly up to her house and see if she’s there. Pinkie Pie, do a quick run around Ponyville to see if she’s hiding around town. Rarity, I want you to go to the library to make sure she’s not hiding there; if you could also take Spike with you that’d be appreciated. Applejack, I’d like you to search around Sweet Apple Acres with Big Macintosh to see if she’s hiding around the orchard. Alphonse, you’re coming with me. If after two hours from now you can’t find her, head back here and we’ll regroup.”

With that, the mane five plus Alphonse set off to find their most loyal friend.

Rainbow Dash sat down in her cloud shower, lamenting her newfound immortality.

After finding her way home, she looked in the mirror only to have the eyes of a true vampire stare back at her; the sight threw any trace of hope out the window. As the water streamed down her face and body, she tried to recollect herself as she always had.

Her mind was spinning faster than ever, and it was beginning to take a toll on her. I’ll never be able to do the things I loved before; things I never even knew I loved! I’ll never eat delicious food again... I’ll probably never become a Wonderbolt like this... and... and...

The most painful part of it all was slowly making its way through Rainbow’s mental gears before dropping down into her stomach with an incredible thud. I’ll never find my special somepony... I’ll spend the rest of this wretched life alone...

Her tears were now overflowing; placing her face in her hooves, she let the tears flow freely. I wonder what my friends would say if they found out about me... Fluttershy would probably be terrified of me; every time I’d come around she would curl up into a ball and beg me not to eat her... the rest would probably abandon me, or report me... or worse...

With the picture of her five best friends repeating itself in her mind, she returned to her sobbing. Never before had Rainbow Dash felt so alone.

As she scrubbed off the blood that the water had failed to remove on its own, she began to think about Alphonse. That bastard... how dare he do this to me! I saved his life and he gets all sappy over me and brings me back like this! Who does he think he is, telling me I’m beautiful and captivating. That isn’t a good enough reason to force someone into this; no reason is good enough! This isn’t right. I shouldn’t be alive...

Rainbow paused as that last sentence echoed throughout her mind. But... I want to be alive. If it weren’t for Alphonse I’d still be dead. If I was dead, I couldn’t see my friends anymore. Sure, I may have to hide my vampirism from them, but I’d way rather be with them with a dark secret than never see them again... Realizing that she probably owed Alphonse an apology, she got up in her shower and turned the rain nimbus off, before stepping out.

After she had finished drying herself off, she walked into her living room to make her way to the door. As she walked to the door, a worried Fluttershy barged through it, crashing right into Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy’s head hit hard against the now twenty percent sturdier skull of Rainbow Dash, causing her to bleed out a little.

As Twilight and Alphonse walked together, she managed to get him to spill the detailed beans on what had happened after she fled from the hydra earlier that day. Once the initial awkward tension between the two mages had dissipated, Twilight decided to speak what was on her mind. “Thank-you.”

“Why? What for?”

“For giving us Rainbow Dash. Even though she may be... different now, we’re so glad to have her back. I’m sure there are details we don’t know about vampirism that will complicate her day-to-day life, as well as ours, but I’m just glad to have her back.”

“Well, uh - You’re welcome.”

“Is it true what you said? Do you really think she’s beautiful?”

Caught a bit off guard, Alphonse decided to tell her the truth; it hadn’t come back to bite him so far. “Yes... Before I resurrected her, I tried to weigh out the negatives and the positives of bringing her back like this; but as I looked at her, I became overrun with emotions and completed the resurrection without considering the costs.”

“Well, I think it’s noble of you. Y’know, I think you two will end up being great friends.”

“Why is that? Last time I saw her she kicked me into a storefront wall...”

“Because like it or not, you two are now the only two of your kind here in Equestria, that we know about. If she really is immortal like you said she is, you two will be the only survivors of time once this generation and the others to come pass away...”

Giving her words some thought, he looked up at the night’s sky. He was about to suggest that they move on and continue searching for Rainbow, however, he couldn’t get the words out; his body had become very weak, and he fell to the floor with a rather soft womp.

“Twilight... augh... something’s wrong.”

Twilight knelt beside him. “Woah, hey! Are you alright?”

“I’m just... so tired.” This was not supposed to happen. Vampires and Death Knights don’t need sleep! Why... am I... so tired. Alphonse closed his eyes and he drifted off into unconsciousness.

In his unconsciousness, he started to have a vision. It was a first-person dream of him being in his human body. At first he thought it was a memory, but he soon realized that he had never been there. He was riding beside a Death Knight who looked identical to Leonidas... in fact, if he didn’t know better he’d say it was Leonidas. As the two rode onwards he realized that they were approaching a small Alliance town.

What happened next made Alphonse sick to his stomach; in his dream, he and the other Death Knight started killing every person in sight. Men, women and children; none were spared their wrath. Within five minutes, not one single person remained.

Once every person in the town had fallen, his vision shifted from a first-person view to a third-person view overlooking the two Death Knights. They both stood there, inanimate as if time itself had stopped.

In his dreamy daze, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hello, Alphonse.”

Turning around, he saw a close friend staring back at him; his eyes glowing bright with fire.

“No way... it’s you!”

A/N:

I want to personally thank Urdreth and ThArcanist for being the bestest pre-readers and anypony could ever ask for.

I sincerely hoped you enjoyed chapter two!

• Taktician